Webquests – In Search of…

Here is a list of the different projects, click on the appropriate link to start your quest.

WEBQUEST SIGNUP SHEET

Topic Student Student
Up, Up and Away – Hot Air Balloons
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=72656
Marciano  Shane Amira
The Five Freedoms – What does freedom mean to you
http://www.gcsny.org/schools/cjh/Websites/Massaroni/English%207/nbttwebquest.htm#Task
Deionicio  Ilayna
Gator Gazette – What should be done about the Everglade gators?
http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/education/webquests/teacher/gasp/Webquestnero.htm
 
Ardiel  DestinyR
Japanese Art Festival – Japanese art forms
http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/webkabukiaz.html
Logan DestinyD 
Endangered Species – what can be done to help animals in danger of becoming extinct
https://sites.google.com/site/jocelyncampbellswebquest/
 
Clayton
Corean
Rainbow
Amanda
Pet Detective – pets and their care
http://petcarewebquest.weebly.com/index.html

http://pet-webquest.angelfire.com/

https://sites.google.com/site/klbrammers2ndgradeclass/class-pet-webquest
Emma Raylena
World of Biomes – exploring the different habitats of the world
http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/education/webquests/teacher/biomes/biomes.htm
Merriah   
Are You Ready for Some Football? – learning about football or sports in general
http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=50753

https://sites.google.com/site/sportwebquest/introduction
Tyran  Shayne
Dream Quest – Has Martin Luther King Jr’s dreams for America been achieved?
http://www.fayette.k12.il.us/techcurr/shayla/mlk.htm
 
 Monica  Elena
Exploring Native Americans – history and culture of Native Americans
http://questgarden.com/62/46/1/100914065917/index.htm
Parris
Aireona
Damien
Karalee
Welcome to Hogwarts – create a portfolio for your entrance into Hogwarts
http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/education/webquests/teacher/harrypotter/harrypotter.htm
Nia   

Feb 2-6

Watch the Prezi presentation on student led conferences to get an overview on how to prepare. If you need to review, please click here to watch the examples.

Practice writing a block letter, then compose your own invitation letter to the family member who is attending your conference – Due 2/4. Your letter should address the strengths and assignments you want to focus your conference on. 

Compose a blog post answering the question: How is PBIS changing the school? Include a list of 4 positive changes on campus. Your post should have at least 3 full paragraphs, and remember to spell check before submitting for review. Refer to the seven essential elements of a good post!

About Me Page – Due 1/23

You are to create a page about yourself, focusing on your goals, likes and dislikes, and how you can use them to achieve your goals. You are also to embed the avatar you created in the page.

How to create your about page:

1. On the getting started menu, click Add an About page

2. Add an appropriate title for the About page

3. Compose at least 2 paragraphs focusing on your goals, both short term and long term, and how you likes or dislikes play into your goals. To utilize spell and grammar check features, you may opt to type your paragraphs in Word and then copy and paste them into your About page.

4. Embed your avatar (you can either choose to insert your image at the before the text or afterward):

  • Clicking on the Add Media button,
  • Navigate to the image you saved to your folder,
  • Select the image size (either thumbnail or the medium sized image – not original size)
  • Click the insert button

getDesktop

Composing your poem

5 steps to writing a spoken word poem…

  1. Select a topic. In this case your topic is Resilience. Express your opinion and include at least 2 of the resiliency character traits.
  2. Think about your topic and write down the initial words you want to use. Pick your poetic/literary devices (at least 3 in this case) that fit with your words.
  3. Start writing your poem/rap. Remember, unless you choose rhyming as one of your devices, you can have a free verse. This is performance poetry, so standard poetry conventions do not apply.
  4. PROOF read you poem. You will have two rounds of peer review to fine tune your poem. Remember your poem needs to be at least 30 seconds.
  5. Practice performing your poem, you should have it memorized. Remember to maintain eye contact, speak loudly and clearly, and enunciate your words. Remember to animate your poem with facial expressions and gestures that match your theme.

Your poem needs to have the following elements:

  • Include 3 or more literary devices
  • Be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long
  • have some sort of performance (tone, gestures, facial expressions, etc) element
  • Include reference to at least 2 resilience character traits for the point of view
  • Include reference to historical figure, community member, and yourself

Timeline of Events that Influence

Essential Question: What can we learn from other people’s stories of resilience that we might be able to use in our own lives?

Task: Craft a timeline of the historical events or pervasive behaviors that may have impacted and/or influenced your historical figure. You will also need to include the major life events for your historical figure. Consider using one color for historical events and another for significant life events of the person you researched.

For this task I recommend using www.tiki-toki.com to create your timeline. You may opt to use another application such as Gliffy or Bubbl.us. 

Chirbit Tutorial

Chirbit may be old to you, but it is new to me and is turning out to be a great online audio app. The tutorial video I selected from the YouTube library highlights how this app can be used to add audio options, including for your RSS feed. I am still tinkering with the transcribe option and am determined to figure it out.

Credit:

MS Sguest. (2013, September 29). http://www.chirbit.com/ for Hangout on air podcasters [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtRK-USeJc

Technology Pyramid

I was replying to a comment  on the Narcissus and Microwaves post Angie made in regards to the food pyramid and got to thinking there might be one for technology. I found a cool technology pyramid and  thought I would share it with all of the readers.

bloom tech pyramid

Creative Commons License

Credit:
Penny, S. (n.d.). Bloom’s Taxonomy Pyramid. Retrieved from http://faculty.indstate.edu/spenney/bdt.htm

Top 5 Math Reinforcement Sites

This past year, I taught math intervention to 6th and 7th grade students. The biggest challenge for my students was with automaticity or fact fluency. My  students struggled with multiplication facts, addition fact families and the concept of subtraction. To augment the daily math skill lessons, students used a variety of sites as they worked on developing their math fluency skills

 Here is the list in order of student enthusiasm :

1. sign-in-logo Moby Max   

This affordable site offers a full differentiated and integrated K-8 math and ELA curriculum . The math component not only teaches students new skills but finds and fixes the missing math skills. in addition their is a fact fluency piece. The application has built in motivational components and students earn rewards including: math based game time, badges, and certificates. The class management piece is easy to administer and reports are easy to generate and are data rich.

2. pic_rice_3Free Rice

This site is free. It offers questions in the following subject areas: humanities, English, math, chemistry, foreign languages, geography, human anatomy, and SAT prep. Each correctly answered question results in 10 grains of rice donated to the World Food Programme. No account is necessary to use the site, however, teachers can register a class or people can signup for individual accounts to track progress.

3.mathmagiclogo Math Magician

Created by Mark Cogen for the Oswego School District in New York, this is a fluency building application. Students build both accuracy and speed in basic math facts. Additional games are available on the Oswego District website.

4. multiplication-logo

The focus of this site is for teaching and learning multiplication. The site offers drill and practice, quizzes, and tests for students, along with resources for parents and teachers to teach students to multiply. The available games focus on addition, subtraction, and multiplication to enrich student fluency and motivate them.

5. lg_logo.com

This site offers math practice for Pre-K through Geometry and Algebra 2, and grades 2-6 Language arts skills. Each grade level has an array of skills based on standards for students to work on, and games to motivate them as a incentive. The free version limits your daily usage, but paid versions are available for families and schools. With a subscription parents and teachers have a wide variety of reports to monitor student progress.

With the exception of Math Magician, these sites offer other subjects. Occasionally we used Khan Academy, students like the videos but weren’t as thrilled with the interactive piece.

Another resource that many students benefited from was the National Library of Manipulatives

Leaping through the blogging portal…

This blog is intended to be the portal to which I enter the world of blogging for the classroom.  Incorporating technology is not new to me, I have been using various tech tools for in my CTE business and computer applications courses. However, up until now, other that creating web sites for intercessions, I haven’t used blogging as an educational tool.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to spend several days with some fellow computer tech teachers from other districts, discussing how to best use technology as a tool to support academic success. It was apparent that while the majority of educators are embracing technology, it is still widely under-used and misused. Using blogging in the classroom is an opportunity to work with my students to ethically create their digital footprints. It also provides a platform to assist my fellow faculty members in integrating blogs effectively into their classrooms.