Additional+Resources


 * ~ Share with your classmates by adding the link to your article, podcast, or other resource from Alan November's website that you found useful. ||~  ||~   ||
 * ~ Link to Article, Podcast or Other Resource ||~ Brief Summary or Description ||~ Comment on Why or How This was Useful ||
 * [] || A student "Zack" used info on the web that was not correct without questioning its validity or possibility. || Interesting about how websites are made and how information can be validated. Also the fact the Zack really didn't question the validity of this site ||
 * [] || How schools do not allow students to use tech such as I-pods etc. and how that should change || I see all our middle school kids with I-pods but not as learning tools but just as entertainmt. I liked the example of how students can use these for learning. ||
 * Creating a new culture || Students need critical thinking skills to deconstruct the meaning in some of the sites they find information on. || As a teacher seeing the changes in the world of education, it is hard for me to figure out where to begin so that my students are using valid resources and tools to guide them. ||
 * //[]// || Though this is not a November resource it is on the same topic. Dr. Larry Rosen has written "Rewind: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way they Learn". The book chronicles how the latest generation (the last twenty years) is so different in terms of constant use of technology and the internet and how we as educators can embrace that. || If you go to www.AM760.net and check David Sirota's blogsite you will find a link to the interview done with this author on 3/30/10. I particularly found the ensuing listener call in segment interesting. Many teachers called in; check it out. ||
 * http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V56y-DbqHTA || This is a short video that identifies three skills needed to be a successful student. || Watch the video and see what you think. I question his advocacy of "The World is Flat" by Tom Friedman. I hardly think that teaching outsourcing is the answer to anything. ||
 * [] || Scratch is an online community where students around the create projects such as stories and games using an easy computer language. Members of the community comment on projects and help eachother to improve the project. This kind of collaborative work fosters active learning vs. passive learning. It also inspires creativity in children. || Scratch seems too advanced for my kindergarten students. However, I may move to higher grades one day and this seems like a fantastic tool to get kids actually creating games and collaborating on other people’s games instead of just sitting around playing them. I think kids would really be engaged in creating projects like these! ||
 * [] || An article about how we should not punish our students whent hey have technology devices and teach them to hide them from us, but incorporate them into thier learning. || So many times each day I see students getting in trouble for having thier i-pod or cell phone on them. This is the opposite of what we should be doing. A great way to incorporate Digital Citizenship! ||
 * [] || Online communities like Facebook attract kids. Many schools block sites like Facebook out of fear that these sites will detract from learning instead of forward it. How do we find ways to use this interest in online communities to promote learning? Students will learn if we tailor learner to their interests. In part 1 of the podcast, we see how students can work together to create and revise projects. Collaboration is a 21st century skill that students will need to be successful in their future careers. ScratchED is an online community that helps teachers to foster collaboration in their classrooms by having teachers work collaboratively themselves. || . On ScratchED, teachers can get ideas about lessons, try out lessons created by other teachers, and comment and help to emimprove lessons. Teachers can also create and post their own lesson ideas. “The internet is great for leveraging the small contributions of many rather than relying on the large contributions of only a few.” ||
 * [] || Article about professional development for teachers on technology and how to better approach this. || I love this article. It truly matches how I feel many times at staff development. More often than not I find myself asking, how does this pertain to me (a specials teacher) and even if I do find the pd pertains to me, actually doing it in the classroom is daunting. It's the "don't tell me how, show me" frame of mind. ||
 * []
 * []

[] || Kids research and publish local history of their neighboorhood school area through wikapedia.

The second site gives you a little guidance on how to actually make this happen in your classroom. || Fun way to teach history at a local level and to integrate technology, research, and literacy. This could be very relevent and not too tough. They see their work and photos published, very exciting and engaging. I was thinking all kids could do the history of their school building. A more interesting idea then just the standard research project. || He believes education needs a shift of control from the teacher to the network of children who are teaching each other ||
 * [] || November challenges some of the accepted wisdom about technology in schools and proposes a scheme for enabling students to become more active participants in a 21st century classroom. || November compares early colonial global shipping, Hitler's closing of interdisciplinary schools, and the common practice of teaching tech.