If You Give a Child A Book

Friday, May 4, 2012

IPAD App #2

Spellboard is an excellent app for elementary students who have weekly spelling tests. This app allows you to type and speak the word and enter the student's grade level(even in other languages to help with students foreign language classes). After doing that, the app offers different quizzes to get you acquainted with the word and the definition. As a student who dreaded having to learn new spelling words every Monday, with a practice quiz on Wednesday, and a test on Friday, this app would have made learning spelling words MUCH more fun.

IPAD App #1

The eClicker app is a great tool for a classroom that has enough computers for all of the students in your class. Even if you have to go to a computer lab for all students to have enough computers, you could use this app. It offers a way to poll the entire class without students fearing to look "dumb" or "novice" if they are not catching onto the material you are covering. In a classroom, you could use the poll as a trivia game for a social studies review. If you are using it in a computer lab, you can use the poll to make sure all of the students understand the instructions they have been given or that you are clearly explaining the steps for them to master a computer program. The teacher has an option to make a chart out of the polls answers. You could use this as a feedback monitor for your lesson plans.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Editorial Cartoon Analysis

EDITORIAL CARTOON ANALYSIS
Name: Suzanne Miller Date:4/30
1. What is the event or issue that inspired the cartoon? The influence that commercials have over our buying power.
2. Are there any real people or places in the cartoon? If not, what images are portrayed in the cartoon? There is a generic man, but the main characters of this cartoon are the aliens.
3. Identify the specific artistic techniques used in the cartoon (i.e., symbolism, analogy, exaggeration, labeling, and irony). What is the artist trying to show the reader by using these techniques? The artist uses exaggeration and irony. The artist use exaggeration by having the aliens pick up the TV broadcast and their desire to buy a product advertised. He uses irony by having the commercial product be the thing that sticks out from our TV broadcast as opposed to the news or other more important ideas.
4. What is the cartoonist's point of view about the topic portrayed in the cartoon? Give examples to support your interpretation. He thinks that commercial advertising is too influential. Aliens come all the way to our planet just to buy some steak knives.
5. Is this cartoon persuasive? Explain why or why not. No, because it is trying to show the persuasive power that advertising has over people (or aliens), not trying to be persuasive itself.
6. What other techniques could the artist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive? Have the man be the president showing that advertising products are more important and influential than the "most important man in America and possibly the world."

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Best and Worst of the Webquest

Underground Railroad
1. Efficent use of time - quickly go through project information
2. High-level learning - creative use of writing and performance
3. Affiliator - students worked together
4. technology - good use of color and links

Acient Eygpt
1. technology - all black and white. few links
2. Efficent use of time - WAY too long, time issues
3. Affiliator - students worked alone
4. Altitude - one site; total recall of info from that site.

Best to me means a project that will challenge students to research and think for themselves collaboratively. Worst is a direct-style project: teacher chooses infomation to be learned and presented and exactly how it will be learned and presented.

The Altitudinist

Your Impressions

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Grow School Greens	Project is very student oriented. Students research and choose which vegetables to use as well as where to plant the garden and how big to make it. There are few restrictions placed on thier ideas. This is a very hands-on, student-centered project, not just recalling information from a book.	Maybe the teacher choosing the websites instead of free reign for students?
Where is My Hero?	Students allowed to interview outside source for who they choose as a hero. Students decide 3 qualities of a hero.	Only two definitions of the word "hero" are allowed. Very short list of people to choose from. Too teacher-based and strict with information that can be used. More book-recall than higher order learning.
Underground Railroad	Great way to involve students in higher order thinking by asking them to write from the point of view of different individuals involved in the Underground - student choice. Students dress and act as character - students will have to learn/come up with ideas on how their character would act or dress based on research.	Only one website allowed for each character - more recall than finding information for themselves. Specific senarios given for journal writing.
Ice Cream	Students decide on new ice cream flavor.	Recall info from one webstite on how to make ice cream. Following a worksheet on how to make a new ice cream flavor. Advertisement for ice cream does not leave enough leadway to be extremely creative.
Ancient Egypt	Students decide whether to use Ancient or Modern Eygpt. Students decide what kind of illustrations best show their factual information.	Only one site per subject - not able to compile information and pick out which is best.