Delicious is a social bookmarking website that allows users to tag, name, and share useful and interesting websites with peers, students, and co-workers. Delicious meets the NETS-T standards of modeling digital-age work and learning, promoting digital citizenship and responsibility, and engaging in professional growth and leadership because it makes web-based, collaborative research quick and easy, thereby facilitating lifelong learning via the web.
1. National Archives: Watergate
In the Watergate Files entry of the National Archives website, I saw an overview of the facts involved in the Watergate scandal. On June 17, 1972, five men broke into a Watergate office building to steal files from the Democratic National Committee headquarters. At the trial in 1973, four of the burglars and the planner of the operation pleaded guilty. At first, President Nixon refused to release tapes of conversations regarding Watergate. Finally, Nixon surrendered the tapes, and a Grand Jury found Nixon to be a participant in the scandal. After much controversy, Nixon resigned.
The benefits of using primary sources in my classroom are that they allow students to connect directly with sources of history and provide a first-hand, direct integration of events, people, and experiences. I think that primary sources increase the interactivity of a classroom and make the events and people being discussed seem more accessible and easier to understand. If possible, I believe primary sources are the best way of teaching historical events, and the Internet helps to bring primary sources right to students' fingertips.
2. National Education Association: Achievement Gaps
Achievement gaps indicate the difference in test scores between White students as compared with students from low-income levels and minority backgrounds. Some of the students at risk are American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Hispanics, and GLBT individuals.
Three areas of becoming a culturally competent educator that I believe fit my teaching style are:
1. Ensure that your school has a mission statement that commits to cultural competence as an integral component of all its activities. The cultural competence committee should be involved in developing this statement.
I chose this element because I believe that picking a school district that fits one's own belief systems is of the utmost importance. Therefore, if the school has a mission statement that I agree with, most likely I will have a better chance of teaching in a multicultural manner and being able to choose projects/read books that I feel will benefit my students on a cultural level.
2. Gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff.
This one is important because part of creating a multicultural classroom is having the resources and materials necessary to produce a multicultural lesson. If I plan activities that engage many cultural groups but have no materials to see them through, my lesson will not achieve its purposes of teaching a culturally diverse group of students.
3. Build and use a network of "natural helpers" at school and in the community as well as "experts" who have knowledge of the culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups served by your school.
This is an important element for becoming a culturally competent educator because involving "natural helpers" and "experts" who can enhance cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic knowledge for my students provides a good way to make learning about culture accessible. I think that bringing a team of individuals who can provide examples and lead discussions would help students understand and appreciate culture.
3. Stop Cyber Bullying
Apparently, I am a cyber saint. While I have, on rare instances, signed on as a friend's account or forwarded a private message to a close friend, I have never done any of the above with any malice or bad intentions. And while I use bad language from time-to-time, it isn't directed at another individual or meant to put someone else down. Therefore, according to the quiz, I am a cyber saint!
One of the articles I read on this site was about instant messaging among students. I didn't know that viruses could be sent via instant messenger. The article also brought up the fact that it is harder to trace negative messages sent over instant messenger than it is to find the source in an e-mail. Lastly, I read an article about teenangels, students from the ages of 13 to 18, who help to make sure that the Internet remains safe and is used responsibly. These students are educated about cyber bullying issues and, in turn, educate others to help keep the cyber world a safer place. I believe that helping kids become aware of cyber safety is important, and these students are very noble to take initiative to ensure Internet safety for their peers and others.
4. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
Under "Subject Access" for Literature, I found an Internet Anagram server. An anagram is the creation of a new word from a given base word. It involves changing the order and arrangement of letters. I believe that I could use this as a fun spelling activity for my students or a break from a more intense lesson. Lastly, I think that anagrams can be useful on homework assignments, so I could use this tool to build a worksheet that my students could do for homework about a vocabulary lesson. English classes are often filled with reading novels and boring activities to supplement lessons on vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. I think that fun tools like the anagram server will make dry lessons more accessible to students.
On the "Teacher's Helper" page, I found an article about determining the readability of a specific work of literature. Apparently, the program was developed by Edward Fry for a book called The Reading Teachers Books of Lists. This program uses a graph and a number of calculations to determine the grade level and readability of different works of literature. I think that this tool would be useful for any English teacher to help determine whether the book that he/she wants to teach is above or below the grade level that he/she hopes to reach. Many reading materials are predetermined by the school board, but this would be extremely helpful for supplementary reading materials.
5. Multiple Intelligences
According to the quiz, I am 94% intrapersonal, 58% verbal-linguistic, and 50% naturalistic. I watched the video "Multiple Intelligence Strive in Smartville. This video discussed a school called the Enota Multiple Intelligence Academy in Georgia that uses a theory that 8 different intelligences exist. This theory began with Howard Gardner and suggests that students are all smart in different ways. This school, and others that practice multiple intelligence learning, believes that we need to discover how each student is smart and teach in a variety of different ways to appeal to each student's unique intelligence. I think that this is a good approach to teaching so that students who learn in ways that differ from the standardized test-taking approach will be able to gain confidence in their intelligence and ability to learn.
6. Teaching Tolerance
For my 6th grade English class, I would like to teach a lesson on multiculturalism and tolerance through the use of collective poetry. Collective poetry involves using a shared pattern among students to create one collective rhyme in the end. The students use examples and phrases from their own lives, experiences, cultures, and ancestry. They then apply it to the patterned rhyme. This rhyme helps students learn about their fellow students, further delve into their own uniqueness and history, and master team work and social skills. To enact this lesson plan, I would need index cards (that the students would then number 1-5) and a list of questions for my students to answer. I would then have my students take turns reading the answer to each questions to the beat of the rhyme. This lesson would help with oral skills, writing and reading skills, knowledge of poetic beats, and an overall awareness of differences in culture, background, and opinion among peers.
7. EdChange Multicultural Awareness Quiz
The two questions I found most interesting were:
1. In a 2007 study, UNICEF rated the treatment of children in the 23 wealthiest countries in the world based on 40 indicators of child well-being. Which two countries received the lowest ratings?
I was really surprised by the answer to this question. Considering the fact that America and the U.K. are known for being wealthy, democratic, and (supposedly) very concerned with the well-being of their citizens (especially children), I would not expect that they would be the lowest rated for child well-being. This answer was shocking.
2. According to UNICEF, the wealth of the three richest people in the world is roughly equal to the combined Gross Domestic Product of:
To me, this question was also quite interesting. Though I had known from discussions with my parents that the three richest people in the world had wealth equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product of the 48 poorest countries, I was shocked when i originally heard this, and I am still shocked. The imbalances of wealth among individuals and nations is unfair, and I wish it were an easily rectifiable problem. I find it disgusting that certain people can live in such an abundance of material wealth while others are starving and dying from poverty all over the world.
8. Netiquette Guidelines
I received a 90% on the Netiquette Quiz. The one question I missed was about the purpose of writing in all capital letters online. Apparently, capital letters represent someone shouting :-V. I thought it meant that the message was important. I guess we learn something new every day!
The main reason it is important to teach students about Netiquette is because we are entering into a digital age where much of the conversation and interaction that occurs between people is online and web-based. For this reason, in order for our students to create a good impression on others, they must use proper online etiquette. Also, understanding the limits of online communication helps our students avoid wasting other Internet users' time. Lastly, it helps create a non-offensive and amiable relationship between conversationalists, which is very important as we move toward a predominantly Internet-based age.
1. National Archives: Watergate
In the Watergate Files entry of the National Archives website, I saw an overview of the facts involved in the Watergate scandal. On June 17, 1972, five men broke into a Watergate office building to steal files from the Democratic National Committee headquarters. At the trial in 1973, four of the burglars and the planner of the operation pleaded guilty. At first, President Nixon refused to release tapes of conversations regarding Watergate. Finally, Nixon surrendered the tapes, and a Grand Jury found Nixon to be a participant in the scandal. After much controversy, Nixon resigned.
The benefits of using primary sources in my classroom are that they allow students to connect directly with sources of history and provide a first-hand, direct integration of events, people, and experiences. I think that primary sources increase the interactivity of a classroom and make the events and people being discussed seem more accessible and easier to understand. If possible, I believe primary sources are the best way of teaching historical events, and the Internet helps to bring primary sources right to students' fingertips.
2. National Education Association: Achievement Gaps
Achievement gaps indicate the difference in test scores between White students as compared with students from low-income levels and minority backgrounds. Some of the students at risk are American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Hispanics, and GLBT individuals.
Three areas of becoming a culturally competent educator that I believe fit my teaching style are:
1. Ensure that your school has a mission statement that commits to cultural competence as an integral component of all its activities. The cultural competence committee should be involved in developing this statement.
I chose this element because I believe that picking a school district that fits one's own belief systems is of the utmost importance. Therefore, if the school has a mission statement that I agree with, most likely I will have a better chance of teaching in a multicultural manner and being able to choose projects/read books that I feel will benefit my students on a cultural level.
2. Gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff.
This one is important because part of creating a multicultural classroom is having the resources and materials necessary to produce a multicultural lesson. If I plan activities that engage many cultural groups but have no materials to see them through, my lesson will not achieve its purposes of teaching a culturally diverse group of students.
3. Build and use a network of "natural helpers" at school and in the community as well as "experts" who have knowledge of the culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups served by your school.
This is an important element for becoming a culturally competent educator because involving "natural helpers" and "experts" who can enhance cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic knowledge for my students provides a good way to make learning about culture accessible. I think that bringing a team of individuals who can provide examples and lead discussions would help students understand and appreciate culture.
3. Stop Cyber Bullying
Apparently, I am a cyber saint. While I have, on rare instances, signed on as a friend's account or forwarded a private message to a close friend, I have never done any of the above with any malice or bad intentions. And while I use bad language from time-to-time, it isn't directed at another individual or meant to put someone else down. Therefore, according to the quiz, I am a cyber saint!
One of the articles I read on this site was about instant messaging among students. I didn't know that viruses could be sent via instant messenger. The article also brought up the fact that it is harder to trace negative messages sent over instant messenger than it is to find the source in an e-mail. Lastly, I read an article about teenangels, students from the ages of 13 to 18, who help to make sure that the Internet remains safe and is used responsibly. These students are educated about cyber bullying issues and, in turn, educate others to help keep the cyber world a safer place. I believe that helping kids become aware of cyber safety is important, and these students are very noble to take initiative to ensure Internet safety for their peers and others.
4. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
Under "Subject Access" for Literature, I found an Internet Anagram server. An anagram is the creation of a new word from a given base word. It involves changing the order and arrangement of letters. I believe that I could use this as a fun spelling activity for my students or a break from a more intense lesson. Lastly, I think that anagrams can be useful on homework assignments, so I could use this tool to build a worksheet that my students could do for homework about a vocabulary lesson. English classes are often filled with reading novels and boring activities to supplement lessons on vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. I think that fun tools like the anagram server will make dry lessons more accessible to students.
On the "Teacher's Helper" page, I found an article about determining the readability of a specific work of literature. Apparently, the program was developed by Edward Fry for a book called The Reading Teachers Books of Lists. This program uses a graph and a number of calculations to determine the grade level and readability of different works of literature. I think that this tool would be useful for any English teacher to help determine whether the book that he/she wants to teach is above or below the grade level that he/she hopes to reach. Many reading materials are predetermined by the school board, but this would be extremely helpful for supplementary reading materials.
5. Multiple Intelligences
According to the quiz, I am 94% intrapersonal, 58% verbal-linguistic, and 50% naturalistic. I watched the video "Multiple Intelligence Strive in Smartville. This video discussed a school called the Enota Multiple Intelligence Academy in Georgia that uses a theory that 8 different intelligences exist. This theory began with Howard Gardner and suggests that students are all smart in different ways. This school, and others that practice multiple intelligence learning, believes that we need to discover how each student is smart and teach in a variety of different ways to appeal to each student's unique intelligence. I think that this is a good approach to teaching so that students who learn in ways that differ from the standardized test-taking approach will be able to gain confidence in their intelligence and ability to learn.
6. Teaching Tolerance
For my 6th grade English class, I would like to teach a lesson on multiculturalism and tolerance through the use of collective poetry. Collective poetry involves using a shared pattern among students to create one collective rhyme in the end. The students use examples and phrases from their own lives, experiences, cultures, and ancestry. They then apply it to the patterned rhyme. This rhyme helps students learn about their fellow students, further delve into their own uniqueness and history, and master team work and social skills. To enact this lesson plan, I would need index cards (that the students would then number 1-5) and a list of questions for my students to answer. I would then have my students take turns reading the answer to each questions to the beat of the rhyme. This lesson would help with oral skills, writing and reading skills, knowledge of poetic beats, and an overall awareness of differences in culture, background, and opinion among peers.
7. EdChange Multicultural Awareness Quiz
The two questions I found most interesting were:
1. In a 2007 study, UNICEF rated the treatment of children in the 23 wealthiest countries in the world based on 40 indicators of child well-being. Which two countries received the lowest ratings?
I was really surprised by the answer to this question. Considering the fact that America and the U.K. are known for being wealthy, democratic, and (supposedly) very concerned with the well-being of their citizens (especially children), I would not expect that they would be the lowest rated for child well-being. This answer was shocking.
2. According to UNICEF, the wealth of the three richest people in the world is roughly equal to the combined Gross Domestic Product of:
To me, this question was also quite interesting. Though I had known from discussions with my parents that the three richest people in the world had wealth equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product of the 48 poorest countries, I was shocked when i originally heard this, and I am still shocked. The imbalances of wealth among individuals and nations is unfair, and I wish it were an easily rectifiable problem. I find it disgusting that certain people can live in such an abundance of material wealth while others are starving and dying from poverty all over the world.
8. Netiquette Guidelines
I received a 90% on the Netiquette Quiz. The one question I missed was about the purpose of writing in all capital letters online. Apparently, capital letters represent someone shouting :-V. I thought it meant that the message was important. I guess we learn something new every day!
The main reason it is important to teach students about Netiquette is because we are entering into a digital age where much of the conversation and interaction that occurs between people is online and web-based. For this reason, in order for our students to create a good impression on others, they must use proper online etiquette. Also, understanding the limits of online communication helps our students avoid wasting other Internet users' time. Lastly, it helps create a non-offensive and amiable relationship between conversationalists, which is very important as we move toward a predominantly Internet-based age.
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