Fun Brain: Technology Review 3

Funbrain.com is a math and reading based website that is designed for kids. On the home page, familiar book and TV characters with links to the math arcade, reading, books and comics, and other games are easily assessable. There are no advertisements on the website and you do not have to create an account or sign in. The website is published by Pearson therefore, I feel like I can trust it to be appropriate for children or the classroom setting.

            One of the links from the home page is to Poptropica, a series graphic novel. Poptropica is released weekly, like a TV show, and follows two protagonist boy characters. Other comic book series are also available through the website. There are also links to web based versions of popular books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

            Although there are games available through the site, I really liked the grammar based games section. Games like The Plural Girls, Grammar Gorillas, and Rooting Out Words are all games based on grammar skills.

            I think that funbrain.com is an appropriate website to use in the classroom. The site is published by Pearson and is based around fun literature. I think that it would be exciting for students to look forward to the next comic release like they would a TV show. I believe this website is appropriate for grades 2-5. Students could play online or at home for additional access to literature.

www.funbrain.com 

Online Writing: KL Chapter 6

Although the concept of Fan Fiction seems relatively simple, I had never heard of it before reading this chapter. Fan Fiction sounds like a good basis that can be adapted for classroom exercises and lessons.

Affinity Space reminds me of how students can become “experts” on a certain book series or be identified as a reader of a certain series. People interacting with each other over a common passion or interest in a Fan Fiction setting can also easily happen in the classroom. This identity and discourse that comes through Fan Fiction interaction can also come through literature.

The types of reviews given to Nanako that are described by the author are feedback that peers could provide peers or teachers provide students. OMG Standard, Gentle Critique, Focused Critique, and Editorialized Gossip sound like fun and current was for students to provide feedback. I especially like the editorialized gossip concept in which people comment on characters as if they were real people. This would be a fun exercise for book characters or student’s characters from their own writing.

I thought that several interesting points were made in this chapter that can be applied to classroom instruction. Initially, I was not sure why the author chose to focus on ELL students. However, I now see how the design of Fan Fiction, especially Nanako’s page, provides a setting for struggling writers and ELL students to practice their skills without solely focusing on technical aspects. I think another aspect of Fan Fiction that makes it a healthy outlet is that it is somewhat anonymous. I wonder if anonymous classroom writing would be a helpful practice? Students may not be embarrassed of their spelling or writing skills and students could provide each other with feedback.

Since there is a focus on pop culture in this chapter, I decided to post a picture of Kendall and Kylie (half sisters to the infamous Kardashian sisters) Jenner’s new book. Although I cannot attest to their writing abilities or the plot of this book, I was excited to hear this news. Most celebrities or realty stars would release a new perfume or beauty product, but these girls decided to co-author a young adult book! I hope that more people in the spotlight follow this role as pop culture has been found to be very motivating to students. Even if the book Rebels: City of Indra is flop, maybe it will excite some young readers and fans of the Jenner/Kadashian clan. 

Text Set Collection 2: Space

This text set is about outer space. 

There’s No Place Like Space!

Ages 4-8

            There’s No Place Like Space is a book from the nonfiction series The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. This book contains detailed and colorful drawings that illustrate and explain elements of space very well. The fun rhyme scheme and characters also make it an enjoyable story. 

Fly Guy Presents: Space by Tedd Arnold

Ages 4-8

            This is a spin off nonfiction book from the series Fly Guy. In this story, Fly Guy explores and explains outer space. I think this book would be nice for students to read independently or with a partner. The book is a similar length to other books in the series, but the pictures are nice to see up-close. 

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

Ages 3-10

            The Magic School Bus series has been a favorite of students and teachers for years. The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System is an informative and engaging story about Mrs. Frizzle and her class’s adventure in outer space. I also think this book would be appropriate for partner or individual reading since these books typically use features like speech bubbles to present information. 

NASA For Students

Ages 5-12

            NASA’s official website contains a portion that is designated for students. Underneath the student tab there is the option to select different grade levels. I explored grade levels K-4. There are interesting article students can read, games to play, and links students can use to find additional information.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/index.html#.U5Un6LvLiAF

Scholastic Discover More: Night Sky

Ages 8-12

            True to Scholastic nonfiction book form, this book has awesome and beautiful pictures. Realistic and accurate pictures of our sky and surrounding spatial elements will draw students in with these images alone. This book also comes with a free digital book.

Max Goes to the Moon by Jeffrey Bennett

Ages 4-8

            Max Goes to the Moon is an entertaining fictional book about a girl, Tori, and her dog, Max, who take a trip to the moon. Along with being an enjoyable story, there is also factual information located in panels on each page. I think this book would be appropriate for a read aloud setting.

 Max Goes to Mars

Ages 4-8

            Max Goes to Mars is the second book in the series about Tori and her adventurous dog Max. Series books have been found to be motivating to students, so I would share this book as a read aloud as well.

Planets for Kids

Ages 7-10

            Planets for Kids is a website designed for younger students that provides information about elements in space. Students can read about each individual planet, stars, and moons. There are also coloring pages that students have access to. I would like for students to use this website to research on their own what elements of space they find most interesting.

http://www.planetsforkids.org/

The Poetry Zone

Ages 6-12

This website has a collection of poems about space that were written by kids. They are quite impressive. I think it would be fun for students to create their own poems and submit them to this website. A mentor text from someone of the same age may be even more motivating.

http://poetryzone.woodshed.co.uk/spacecomp.htm

Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman

Ages 3-8

            Aliens Love Underpants is a comical book about aliens loving human’s underpants. The book follows a fun rhyming scheme and lends itself well to a read aloud. 

Video Games: Chapter 5

I always love a good analogy. I’ll admit that some of the beginning parts of this chapter were a bit over my head, however, things really came together for me at the end of this chapter.  Strong Conservative and Liberal ideologies and influences leave our education system with a somewhat uncommon goal and vision for our schools. Other analogies that I found in this chapter include the following:

“Of course, most of the knowledge, values, strategies, and skills the player picks up in this game, he or she picks up, not from reading the manual, which is, after all, only a small booklet, but from playing the game. The game has a tutorial, hints, and much in its design that helps players learn the knowledge, values, practices, strategies, and skills necessary to enact professional military knowledge and play the game well.”

            To me, this seems like an analogy to phonics and whole language. In the classroom, students need to have their “booklet” and explicit tutorial of strategies to get them started. They also need to have opportunities to practice their skills though and learn through “playing the game.”  Unlike a game though, teachers are there to provide additional scaffolding. Sometimes there is more than one answer that only a human interaction can satisfy.

“Authentic professionals have special knowledge and distinctive values tied to specific skills gained through a good deal of effort and experience. They do what they do because they are committed to an identity in which their skills and the knowledge that generates them are seen as valuable and significant. They don’t operate just by well-practiced routines; they can think for themselves and innovate in their domains when they have to (Bereiter and Scardamalia 1993). Finally, authentic professionals welcome challenges at the cutting edge of their expertise. This is the sort of identity one must at least role play in order to play Full Spectrum Warrior successfully. Being a professional is a commitment to being in the world in a certain way with a certain style and operating by certain values.”

            Teachers need to be authentic professionals by this definition. Not operating by well practice routines means veering away from the textbook and using skills gained through experience. I think that cutting edge expertise means meeting an expectation of staying current in research and practices of education. I wish that educators were regarded more as professionals too. Professionals should not be disposable or easily replaced. However, along with this definition, being an authentic professional also means a commitment to being in the world in a certain way.

“As a model of learning, Full Spectrum Warrior suggests that freedom requires constraints and that deep thinking requires a framework. Once the player adopts the strong values and identity the game requires, these serve as a perspective and resource from which to make decisions about actions and with which to think and resolve problems. If there is no such perspective, then there is really no basis for making any decision; no decision is really any better than any other. If there is no such perspective, then nothing I think counts as knowledge, because there is no framework within which any thought counts as any better than any other.”

            I think that this relates to people feeling the need for a Common Core. This perspective resource to make decisions and resolve problems can work for students and teachers. With an appropriate and foundational knowledge base, students can apply their knowledge to other areas in order to learn more. Teachers can use this resource to decide what their students need to know in order to be successful.

Although these analogies may not be exactly what the author was getting at with this chapter they made sense to me. The image at the beginning of my blog sums up how I was feeling as I read this chapter- serious on the outside, Mario running around on the inside. This chapter took video games much deeper than my pervious appreciation for them and took on explaining a “projective stance” of this topic. 

Online Learning

Online Learning: Campus 2.0

            This article discusses the history and the possibilities of online learning through MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses. Although I have not personally registered for one of these courses, they have been recommended to me and I know people who have. I chose this article to learn more about MOOCs and to compare its findings with my own experience of online learning and elementary learning.

            MOOC’s are basically what their name describes them as, Massive Open Online Courses. Essentially, courses taught by esteemed professors at various universities are open and free to the public through an online video streaming system. According to the article, the courses were first designed because of the expected increase in higher education registration in the years to come. The word “massive” refers to thousands of students registering for the courses. To my understanding, one cannot receive the exact same credit as you would receive being enrolled at the university, but there is some type of certificate system. MOOCs have been seen as a success for several reasons. One reason in particular though is that people not normally able to attend a class by, for instance, a Stanford university professor could learn the same material. This article explains the success story of an 81-year-old male, a working single mom, and a prodigy child.

            Although MOOCs have been highly successful, there are still some kinks being worked out. While courses may have thousands or hundreds of thousands of students registering for them, about 15% of those students do not complete the course. I know that even with our online course I was worried I would forget about it! The Online Learning: Campus 2.0 article also discusses the issue of self-motivation preventing people from completing the courses. I think that this issue in particular relates to elementary students. Can intrinsic motivation be taught? I am not sure, but I do think it can be learned. The article mentions that peer-to-peer collaboration would increase motivation and ultimately completion of MOOCs. This seems to be true of elementary students too, social interaction increasing motivation.

            I am generally in favor of online courses. I agree that they do take a certain amount of self-motivation and focus but they provide more opportunities to learn. At UT, I liked the collaborate type of online course and felt that it was somewhat more personal than being in a large classroom. I also like the blogging format of this course. I think that there does need to be some social interaction with online courses and students need to be able to somewhat learn on their own. I have high hopes for the MOOCs and maybe I will look into registering for one myself.

http://www.nature.com/news/online-learning-campus-2-0-1.12590

Technology Review 2: PBS Kids

PBS Kids is an awesome website. Not only do you not have to create an account, sign in, or have parental supervision, there are limited advertisements and colorful graphics that make it appealing to kids. PBS is a trusted organization so I feel confident that all of the material on this website will be appropriate for children.

I played around on the home page that is easy to navigate through, and clicked on a couple of the tabs. From the home page, students can go directly to reading books or being read too. If being read to, the words are highlighted as they are spoken. After the page has been read an interactive feature will be available like manipulating the illustration or finding the definition of a highlighted word. There are fun fictional stories with familiar storybook characters, math theme stories, environmental, and technology based stories.

There is also a tab on the home page directed to games and activities based on the series The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That. One feature about this section that I really like is that whenever your mouse scrolls over or lands on an icon that can be clicked, what the icon says is read aloud to you. This makes the page even easier for students who are learning to read to navigate through.

I could go on and on about the endless games, books, and activities that are available to students through PBS Kids. Although there are so many items through the website it is easy to navigate due to a lack of clutter and kid friendly accommodations. There is also an option to view the website in Spanish! I think that this website is appropriate for students age 4-10 and could be used in schools. Most commonly I see computer and websites like this used as early finishers or, if there is access, as indoor recess activities.  There are many different content areas represented through the endless activities on this website. I would highly recommend this website to students who are learning to read, are already reading, or have a favorite PBS character.

http://pbskids.org/

Cyber Bullying

            I chose this article because I feel that CNN is a trusted news site and, although it is sad and scary, this article addresses the truths of cyber bullying. In this article, several personal accounts of cyber bullying are given. Cyber bulling is an issue that can deeply affect boys and girls of all types of backgrounds. I like that this article does not “sugar coat” the issue of cyber bulling. I think that this is a troubling issue because it primarily takes places behind closed doors and in students’ homes.

            Honestly and unfortunately, I am not surprised that 25% of students have at some point been bullied online. Even if bullies are not going so far as to create an entire website or Facebook page to belittle someone, I am sure that intentionally hurtful comments are said. I think that sometimes it is easier to say things online that we would not normally say in person. There are lots of opportunities for hurtful comments to be said with the high usage of social media.

            The article closes by mentioning some solutions that have been thought of to address cyber bulling. One of the suggestions that I believe would be helpful is having a ”bully button” that would alert someone of bullying when it is pressed. Although cyber bullying may not be directly related to schools, I do feel that schools have some responsibility to address this issue. While things may transpire at home, these issues will often come to light on school property. Schools could help to educate parents on ways to prevent their kids from being bullied online. Limited time and access to the internet and having the computer or tablet in an open area are two ways to address this.

            Although it is not directly related to cyber bullying, I watched a documentary called Bully a couple of years ago that really illustrated the dynamics of bullying to me. This documentary allows you to see bullying from an outsiders perspective. It was enlightening to witness the bullying but also the roles that the school and students’ families played in this issue. I highly recommend this documentary although it is very hard to watch. The video that included at the beginning of this blog is a trailer for the documentary.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/health/cyberbullying-online-bully-victims/