Wikipedia and Critical Literacy

While the term 'wiki' has been credited to Cunningham (1994, as cited by Augar, Raitman and Zhou, 2004), Wikipedia was created by Wales and Sanger in 2001, to be used as a reference tool.

I use Wikipedia as a reference guide, I did not realise the other projects the Wikimedia Foundation also hosted - a dictionary/thesaurus, collection of quotations, a directory of species and a source for free textbooks and manuals to name a few.What I like about Wikipedia is that there is a lot of information readily available at your fingertips, without having to go the heavy encyclopedia of yesteryear. When using Wikipedia, it is to find out a little about a subject, before going to more authoritative sources.

As a Learning Manager/ educator in the classroom This will be a good discussion for older students by comparing source of information through the lens of ‘comparing’ and 'analyzing' which is the more reputable source. Wikipedia has good source to use bearing in mind what is the author’s back ground, reputation, values etc. Again this relates to critical literacy… ( mentioned in my previous postings).
Winch et. al (2004) described Critical Literacy as reading with knowledge of how language works; with an awareness of where the text positions the reader; with perception of ideas and values and attitudes that constitute the implicit framework of the text and out of which the text is generated.
Another way to encourage our students as readers to actively analyze texts and it offers strategies for uncovering underlying messages. Although there are many theories and approaches we can encourage our student to be critical in finding source or information, my favourite, I guess is the questioning approach. According to whom?

Cheers Mary-Ann

Winch G., et.al (2004). Literacy reading and writing and children’s literature (2nd ed.).South Melbourne,Victoria Aus: Oxford University Press.

YouTube for ESL and classroom management?

Now that a growing majority of Internet users have broadband, you can search just about anything using YouTube and other video clip sites (Google Video, Revver, etc.) have become very popular - especially with young adults. These sites also provide English learners and classes with a new tool to improve listening skills. For an ESL (English as Second Language) students this YouTube will be ideal for them as they can hear how certain words pronounced correctly. Scientific and latin words is also a challenge for all students.

The real advantage Using You tube is - at least from a language learning point of view - is that they offer authentic examples of everyday English used by everyday people. Of course, this is the challenge as well. Students may enjoy watching these clips, but poor sound quality, pronunciation and slang can make these short videos even more difficult to understand.

On the other hand, students are attracted to the "real life" nature of these videos. By creating context for these short videos you can help your students explore a world of online English learning possibilities.

Something to ponder:

Can you write 5 examples in how you could use Youtube in the classrooms?

1.) I like to use it as a hook for example you are doing a cooking activities.

2.) As a classroom management or behavioural management?

3.) Problem solving- Then type in "how to" the YouTube clip can be as simple as "How to do"anything really.

4.) Literacy- Use a title then predict what is the content.

5.) Just given you ESL sample.

Cheers Mary-Ann

Using images through Flickr

Some creative ideas for using Flickr in the classroom:

1.) Essential Learning Math: Space

Ask students to identify shapes and the quantity of shapes in the image.
Mathematics, by the end of year 3, Space: Geometric names and properties are used to sort, describe and construct common 2D shapes, including squares, rectangles, and circles, and 3D objects, including prisms, pyramids, cones, cylinders and spheres.

Queensland Syllabus required students to locate and apply an image that represents the feelings/experiences of a character in a given text.

Justify choice of images.

Essential Learnings required students to locate and apply an image that represents the feelings/experiences of a character in a given text. Justify choice of images.

2.) English, by the end of you 5.
Reading and viewing
Reading and viewing involve using a range of strategies to interpret and appreciate written, visual and multimodal texts in personal and community contexts.

Readers and viewers use a number of active comprehension strategies to interpret texts, including activating prior knowledge, predicting, questioning, identifying main ideas, inferring, monitoring, summarising and reflecting.

So much more you can use images. I think images can use in variety of ways. Using Flicker is just one way to incorporate ICT to enhance learning .According to Winch et al., 2004,we now live in an iconic world -which require each individual to decode meaning and decoding images, applying this type of learning can only enhance deepen students understanding that when applying images an author has purpose. For students justify thier purpose for them to understand visual literacy is an important as reading written text.

Cheers

Mary-Ann

Essential Learning http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/learning/7284.html

Winch G., et.al (2004). Literacy reading and writing and childrens literature (2nd ed.).South Melbourne,Victoria Aus: Oxford University Press.

QUIZES, TEST, using CLASSMARKER.

I haven’t truly experience students saying “Our dog ate my homework Miss” but close “My baby sister ate or chewed my homework”. I have heard that said twice. I am not surprise that things happens.
After reading Makiko’s blog about classmarker I thought I must to check it up so I did.
http://www.classmarker.com/

After signing in, I played around a bit and explore the possibilities. I notice I was creating my quizzes in no time. I find it user friendly. I can think of many ways. It allow you to choose things like how many questions to display per page, are questions given in random order etc.
I like this idea to check your students understanding about a unit or can be use as formative assessments. You could design a test to suit student’s needs. The results could be used by the teacher to see which students need extra support and which students are competent with their math’s. This could also help the teacher buddy students into pairs or groups with a high achieving student and a lower achieving student in the same group, this way they could learn from their peers.

Advantages:
For Teachers/Learning Manager:
 I like the idea of storing your test/quizzes as well as going back to edit or add what ever you need.
 You can access it wherever there is an Internet.
 Save time and paperwork.
 Teachers can also hide the test after it has been taken so you can still see the results but your learners cannot.

For Students:
 Students will be able to access their quizzes test at home
 Great for a student who attends so many activities like sports.
 They can attend the test anywhere and finish it their own pace.
What do you think?
Cheers Mary-Ann

Image retrived December 2,2009, from:http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/homedog.gif&imgrefurl=http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/homedog.html&usg=__T01bxwYtR_IvXt2anYull_gb6os=&h=604&w=550&sz=21&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=S14GNk1h-Zz4lM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddog%2Beating%2Bhomework%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4RNWN_enAU326AU327%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

WebQuest...

My Quest for Sustainable Environment...

Using 3 R's( Reduce,Reuse,Recycle)as workable Webquest for grade four students. Note this is my SOSE assignment which I was happy to pass. I learnt more after exploring further as we do. I love the idea of adding more picture and redeveloping another Webquest for differnt Key Learning Area. http://sites.google.com/site/neth67/

WebQuests are ideal for independent learning as well as group work and are somewhat engaging for students due to the fact that learning experiences are delivered electronically. The main benefits of a WebQuest are as follows:
• That resources and websites that would normally be accessed by students during their research have already been qualified and located within the WebQuest for students to utilise. This prevents students encountering inappropriate web sites during their research on the World Wide Web.
• It can reduce the time wasted finding suitable material and assessing whether the web site content is suitable for the unit of work.
• It allows the Learning Manager (LM) to scaffold the learning and develop concepts as students work through the various content material, questions and tasks built into the unit of work. This fits very well with Constructivist learning / teaching theories.
• Learning Frameworks such as the Dimensions of Learning can be incorporated easily as Declarative and Procedural Knowledge (learning outcomes) can be clearly stated. Activities and learning experiences that incorporate Complex Reasoning Process or that allow students to Use Knowledge Meaningfully can be incorporated into the WebQuest.
• The LM can ensure that students encounter a range of authors, opinions and the latest up-to-date research for students to access.
• Most of all the WebQuest can be created and designed in many different ways. This is my SOSE assignment WebQuest feel free to comment. I admit I have to do more wore on creating a user friendly Webquest.

Cheers Mary-Ann

Discovering Avatar….

I have discovered that there are many educational blogs and wikis that provide information about how avatars can be used in the classroom. Classroom 2.0 gave an example that used avatars, wikis and podcasts in a global classroom collaboration, again demonstrating how the components of relate-create-donate are being used in learning environments….How can they be used in an educational context?
"Avatars provide a face to the students and a face to the teacher. They provide
the human element to online teaching" - Cohen, 2007
Avatars are a way of providing anonymity for students. They are a way for students to have a mask to hide behind when presenting information as well as protecting their identity. This addresses the needs of the shy student, while also relieves parental concerns about how their child is being portrayed online.
I can’t believe Cohen’s comment that Avatar’s are better than Sykpe! So I tried to e-mail a personal message to a friend it works!! Having to design your own appearance to suit the situation can give it an effective message. I can now say there is variety of ways you could use this in a classroom situation. Assignments prompters’ I can imagine emailing students and giving instructions in a playful way.

Avatar (means) the incarnation of a Hindu deity, especially Vishnu, in human or animal form:http://www.answers.com/topic/avatar

What do you think?