Media Literacy

One of my favorite units to teach is the media literacy unit.  In this unit we focus on media bias and propaganda techniques.  I use You Tube all the time to get current commercials for the propaganda terms.  The above commercial is used to teach testimonial.  We used the "Swagger Wagon" commercial to show an example of plain folks technique.

Sometimes we go back to view older commercials to see that the times may have change but the actual techniques to sell have not.

My 1st Photo Stories

Several years ago was my first attempt using Photo Story with my students.  We had just finished reading some short stories by Gary Paulsen and his training of sled dogs.  That particular year Paulsen was racing in the Iditarod.  As we followed along his race, my students researched various aspects of the Iditarod and presented Photo Stories of what they learned. They turned in a works cited pages to document where their pictures and information came from.

Since then we have used Photo Story for presidential commercials and other types of advertisments.

Welcome

  I really liked the Voki.  This would allow a student to share without having to read his or her own writing out loud.  I teach the lower level students, and they are often hesitant to read their original sentences or paragraphs out loud.  This would give a different "face" to their writing.

ToonDoo

By my3meekins | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

I loved My ToonDoos!  This would be a great place for my students to write stories with stems or vocabulary words!  We could even paste them onto my webpage!

Google Maps

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This is a Google Map of South Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL.  I will be staying at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago next weekend!! It is one of my FAVORITE places because it is one block away from my FAVORITE breakfast restaurant - YOLK!!!  I am lucky that my husband is letting me tag along on his business trip next weekend.

I have used Google Maps several times in my class to help my students visualize the setting of a certain area.  Several of my students have never been out of South Carolina and cannot picture a big city or a vast amount of land like would be found in Kansas.  Google Maps lets them see an accurate picture. 

Collaboration Tools

Honestly, I am really not sure which collaboration tool I would use the most.  I think I like the edmodo best.  I like how I can limit who is involved with the conversation.  I think it would be an easy way to do a book discussion.  Then again.... I love the Cover it Live.  Students could almost have the same experience as a socratic seminar.  Here they would be typing responses to one another instead of talking.  Middle schoolers HATE waiting their turns.  With Cover it Live they could respond immediately.

Forms in Google Docs

I think using forms will be great, especially in a language arts class.  I can ask some simple questions regarding a reading assignment, and each student will be required to write or give a response.  I love that the questions can be answered in multiple choice form or in a paragraph response.  I can immediately gain feedback even from students who are reluctant to answer in class.

Learning in Web 2.0

I have been amazed by all the interesting facts I have learned so far during web 2.0 class.  There were so many tidbits I didn't know.  For example, I didn't know that the world wide web was just a part of the entire internet.  In addition, I didn't really think about the emails as not being part of the world wide web but as being a part of the entire internet.

I also benefited from the specialized Google searches.  Those searches can really help me as I prepare lesson plans and can help my students as they work on projects.  The Behold website that had the creative commons photos will also be a huge hit with my students.

Last week I enjoyed making the avatar.  (I went home, and my 9 year old created one for himself.)  What a great tool for my 8th graders!  Not only can an avatar help with safety but at their age my students are often self conscious about their looks.  By creating an avatar, they can create themselves to be anyone they choose.