IRA Newsletter Project:  Effective Literacy Website #2

Website:  Science Buddies

    URL:  http://www.sciencebuddies.org/ 

 

Science Buddies provides many fun and engaging resources.  There is an online library of 1000+ project ideas and an online encyclopedia on how to conduct scientific research and science fair projects.  Teacher resources are available that includes printable handouts and grading rubrics.  In addition, there is an Ask the Expert online advice forum where scientists and engineers can help and guide students through a project.  With a free Science Buddies account, you receive unlimited access to resources you can download; you can share photos of actual projects, and receive their emailed newsletter.  The newsletter features project ideas, useful tips and tricks for students and teachers, and much more.  Students and teachers can share their projects ideas and successes through Science Buddies in Action.  In this section of the website, students and teachers can show how they have used Science Buddies materials in real life.  Science Buddies helps students find what interests them and help to answer their question about science.

Information & Image Source:  http://www.sciencebuddies.org/

 

 

New insights and experiences

Happy New Year Everyone! For the past few weeks we have done so many things from exploring and completing a project on CMS tools, writing reflections, commenting on Moodle, and exploring new sites.  Taking this course has definitely ended the year and started the new year with new insights and experiences. I learned how to use Engrade and create quizzes, flashcards, and most especially understand what a "wiki" is and used for.  If you will like to visit and see what I have tediously created you may log in with the following information.

Username: studentvisitor1
Password: SV2013

Please feel free to use any of the resources if you like :)






Engrade is one of many tools that I explored and learn how to use.  Over the years, especially when I started teaching, Google and Youtube as become my bestfriends and I completely forgot about the other tools I have learned about.  Taking this course with Dr. Rivera and my peers reminded me of the many tools out there. I am motivated to work hard and to step out of my Google comfort zone and explore more sites. On my personal technology blog, I wrote about three internet tools that I had the opportunity to explore. I wrote about  Prezi, Weebly for Education, and Wordle.

 If you will like to view my reviews/reflections on these three internet tools you may visit my  blog at http://vaetech.blogspot.com/. Hope you enjoy!

 

Happy New Year!

R.Rivera Reflection #3

               Using CourseSites to create a course management system (CMS) for my Physical Science Class on the Forces unit was very enlightening.  I never really thought to use this type of technique in my high school classroom. I always tried to effectively create a class website that was simple and user friendly for my  high school students.  I never thought to use a CMS site, like the LiveText site I used for my education classes at the University of Guam. After 3 years of teaching, now I feel that I am more comfortable to start building a site for my students.

               Creating a CMS site using CourseSites was simple to navigate through and build.  This free site allowed me to upload notes, assignments, quizzes and other documents the students would need just for this unit, for this assignment.  All the documents that need some type of grade was programmed with a due date and rubrics.  As simple as I made it, I see now how much more potential this site has.  The only downfall I had was when it was time to share the site, I could not figure out how to accept students or change the enrollment settings.  I figured it would be easier my class to assess my site if they were to see it from the student's point of view.
               
                          

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Felis Anu Nuebu (Chamorro)

Feliz Ano Nuevo (Spanish)

Parakapw Mwahu (Pohnpei)

Ungil Becheserrak (Palau)

Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu (Japanese)

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou (Hawaiian)

Sut dal kum mum (Korean)

Gung Hay Fat Choy (Chinese)

Chúc Mung Nam Moi (Vietnamese)

May the year 2014 bring you abundant blessings filled with much love, joy, peace, and happiness!

A.T. Reflection

I started this course feeling intimidated by the workload listed in the calendar. But, I am pleased to say that with time management and dedication, I have grabbed the workload by the reins and am sailing a steady ride. 

There are several things that I have accomplished this week, all of which I am pleased with. Like all of you taking the course, I have completed the website review, explored numerous online tools, created my very own technology blog and completed a CMS unit. This is all something we should all be proud of to have under our technology belts as educators. 

Check out a few of the things I've done and am rather pleased with:

- CMS unit using Engrade https://www.engrade.com/atajalle/5000008779305

You may log in as a student:

username: studentvisitor
password: reading

- Technology Blog http://tajalletech.blogspot.com/

I have explored, reviewed and blogged about del.icio.us, SlideShare and Weebly for Education. 

Reflection Thus Far

   Reflection
  by Janel M. Borja
I chose to put this photo in my reflection because this is basically what's going to happen now that we have all the students of ED638. I think it is safe to say after reading all of your reflections that we all thought we knew something about being a tech-savy teacher. I have to say that at one point when I was going to school for my undergraduate degree, I did know a thing or two.

After settling into my teaching, especially Direct Instruction(DI) I wasn't as interested in exploring new learning options for my class. I am very pleased to say that after many hours spent here my computer just trying to take a class- I honestly thought would be a breeze, I am so thankful that we didn't just learn how to use PowerPoint and Weebly.

Lastly, I noticed the information gathered for each assignment showed me that I am a very visually inclined individual. If the website didn't look interesting, then I wasn't going to bother with it. I know that's not a very great thing to say, however, this should give us all a slight insight to how our students view learning to assignments.

The take away is, in order to grasp their attention and hold it long enough for them to learn, is to find any tools or resources that we can to keep their interests. Thank you again Dr. Rivera for providing us a class that doesn't just cover the bare basics of the internet and PowerPoint. This class gave me the following that I can use.

Student User Name : johndoe 257
Password: Reading16

I though Engrade was a nice website that provides all the assignments and has countless awesome features that allow you the flexibility to add videos, images, slide shows, games, flash cards and quizzes. Not to mention you can message all your students. It may be a challenge to get second graders proficient on this but when they are able to, just think of all the progress and even advantage they'll have over their peers as they continue their education.









Please visit my blog at this link >>> http://jmborjap.blogspot.com/

I truly enjoy the use of the blogger. It's an educational take on Facebook. I'm found it quite confusing at first that I needed two for this class. But after awhile, and after looking at other Blogs. I also enjoyed the chance to "play" with each website. It was also nice to make a site for all of my knowledge to be neatly placed.











Images taken from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/138626494751455321/

Reyes: Reflection #2

Overall course reflection:
These are all words that come to mind when I reflect on the course at this point.  Like others, using Moodle and Blogger are new to me.  I will admit that get "lost" between the sites while posting and reading other's posts.  More than once, I had to go through each entry to see what I posted or who posted what.  That has been a bit frustrating for me.  Despite that, I find myself enjoying my Moodle and Blogger experiences.  It takes quite a bit of time, but I have read all the posts and tried my best to comment sincerely on as many as I can.  Luckily for me, I enjoy reading and typing.  So far, my overall experience has been positive and rewarding.  I am learning a lot from everyone's posts as well as my own reflections.  It's a lot of work, but it's not difficult (as other's have stated).  Instead of feeling discouraged, overly frustrated, or annoyed--as I am known to do, I feel motivated by everyone's dedication to getting the course requirements done.  Although we may not see each other or even know each other personally, many of you have helped me to stay focused and on track with this course.  

Internet Tools & Personal Technology Blog reflection:

I'm slowly making progress on these requirements.  Like my CMS project,  I have changed the Internet tools that I will be reviewing on my Personal Technology blog.  I decided to do so after my exploration of the first set of Internet tools that I selected.  As much as I would like to venture out of my comfort zone, I don't want to frustrate myself trying to figure out how to navigate sites that don't appeal to me.  

I am going to work with Wordle, Blogger, and Weebly for Education.  I used Wordle to create the image above.  It seems pretty   Currently, I am really loving the format and ease of use of Blogger.  Lastly, I chose Weebly for Education because it has features specifically for classroom teachers and students.  I think that other teachers at my school will be interested in learning more about these sites.  Ideally, I would like to conduct a presentation for them at one of our monthly mini-professional development meetings.  (But let me not get ahead of myself.)

In closing,  I wish I could be more eloquent and articulate regarding my thoughts and experiences related to this course.  There is so much that I have read and commented on that it's all jumbled up in my head.  Hopefully, I will figure out a way to keep it organized so that my next reflection post is better.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, but more importantly . . .

best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!!!

Judi

Reflection on Internet Tools

I just completed exploring and uploading my reviews on Prezi, Wordle, and Weebly for Education.

I have worked with Prezi before and I realized that they changed some features and made the website more user friendly. Prezi is fun to use to make any presentation come alive. It is a bit time consuming to use Prezi, but it is worth it. 

Wordle is another great tool that I should have added to my CMS project, I will definitely use Wordle or Tagxedo to create wordclouds to teach vocabulary, spelling, and many more.

Last but not least, Weebly for Education is one website I will be visiting a little more. I plan on using Weebly for Education in my class next year so my students can create their own e-portfolio and webpage. I just need to make some time to sit and plan what I will like my classroom webpage to contain.

I have uploaded my reviews on these three internet tools on my Technology Blog, if you will like to learn more about them you may visit my page at http://vaetech.blogspot.com/.  Hope you enjoy! Happy New Year!

Labrador Reflection 2

     I have always thought that I would never go back to school to finish off my master's program.  I was worried that I would not get back into my "college" mode, that is, the mindset of cramming last minute studies for a final exam or turning in assignments and projects on specific dates.  I became too complacent as a educator.  Rather than becoming the student, I would be the one giving the assignments, projects, and exams.  All the hurdles that hindered my progress in the past made me believe that I will never complete my master's program ever. That I should just spend the rest of my years not improving myself and just continue working until I reach my retirement.  I have lost the motivation to progress as an individual.  

     But, because of my supportive colleagues at JFK High, I was able to motivate myself in completing the entry and registration process at Triton University. I felt reinvigorated and eager to begin my master's program once again. 

     The start of the class was shaky.  I didn't know exactly what "Moodle" was or how to even tackle an online course.  When I was in college in the early 2000s, we didn't have this type of technology and I'm not even that old.  I started the class late, once I officially registered and opened an account in "Moodle" on Christmas Eve.  When I logged on, I realized that I was behind and had to start immediately.

     Everyday, including Christmas Day, I would get on the computer and spend many hours completing and catching up to any assignments posted in "Moodle," despite all the other things I have to do at end of the day.  Then, it hit me. I can actually pull it off. I can still climb the threshold of a graduate student and handle this high-level academia. I am slowly, starting to realize that the tainted thought I brought to myself in never completing my masters program was just an illusion of defeat.  As Rocky Balboa stated, "the world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!"

     I just want to let you all know that, each time I am working on my assignments or projects in the class, I am learning more about myself. I learn that I can actually perform high-level tasks once I put my mind into it. That I am able to break through my wall of fear in time management.  Believe it or not, but my classmates, who are working so hard on their assignments and projects, are motivating me to do better and allowing me to provide high quality work to our professor, Dr. Rivera.  Thank you, everyone! My experiences,thus far, has been fulfilling! 

Happy New Year!  This past week has been so hectic.  It is not that the work is hard, it is that it requires a lot of time.  When I was working on Engrade, I didn't realize how much time I spent working on it.  I knew what I wanted to do, so I gathered everything I needed so that all the information was on hand when I was ready to input.  Even with that, I could not believe how much time I spent sitting in front of the computer until my kids said they were hungry, what were we going to eat.  Not to mention, all the research we are doing on the internet tools and the IRA literacy project.  But this is a good thing because I always wanted to research more science sites but I wasn't able to find the time but now, I have to do it.  
     Engrade is a great CMS.  It is so easy to use and so easy to navigate.  My favorite feature of Engrade is that the parents can message me directly from within Engrade and that Engrade sends me a message through me email that I have a parent message in Engrade.  If you are interested you can access my account on Engrade through:   UserName:  marysmith32    Password:  fake01.
Happy Blogging!    

Image Source:  http://weheartit.com/tag/happy%20new%20year

Ryann's Reflection

It has been an intense week! I gained so many skills for teaching with the internet.  I never realized the amount of work that could be done using online resources until now.  I examined and wrote reviews for literacy websites and internet tools such as RCampus and Wix. Most importantly, I am officially a blogger.

Writing personal blogs is a little different from blogging on Moodle.  When I've blogged on Moodle, a topic was always given, and students are expected to respond.  With a personal blog, I create my own topic of discussion.  I have a blogging feature in my class website that I have used before, but I never enforced it. Therefore, the students would rarely blog.  I think about using blogs with my eighth graders to enhance their language, writing, and critical thinking.  I'm pretty sure they are  familiar with blogging technology, but now they can use it for educational purposes.

I am thankful that I am taking this course because it has humbled me.  I always thought that I was pretty tech savy because I was born into the computer age.  Technology has also been a big discussion topic between my husband, who is a computer programmer, and I. However, just being a week into the course, I realized how many skills I lack. I thought to myself, "Okay, I know how to use a computer, but do I really utilize the resources the world-wide-web has to offer?"  Now, I want to stray away from my comfort zone, or programs I am familiar with. I look forward to venturing into new internet tools that enhance teaching and learning.

Joshlyn Velasco's Reflection

Although the past couple of days seemed a bit intense, I'm glad to been given the opportunity to create a unit activity using Engrade.  My unit was on the Five Themes of Geography and the internet was my main source of gathering activities to introduce and carry out the lesson with my student.  Some activities that I included were a webquest, exploration using google earth, a video review, and creating a futuristic city.  Although I experienced some challenges such as students being able to view some assignments, the tutorials and help option really helped.  Creating this CMS unit gave me an insight of the experience that other teachers go through while building an online course, creating assignments, and managing the system.  I can really see the capabilities of high school courses being offered online in the near future.  After completing the unit, I was so excited about what I created that I shared it with some of my colleagues who are very curious and have plans to create a unit online as well.

To view my unit, click on this link: https://www.engrade.com/ user name: student675 password: 1234qwer

I also enjoyed learning about the different technology tools.  I'm excited to use these tools with my students because I find it to be very engaging and also encourages tech. literacy in the classroom.  I'm grateful that I am also able to read about other technology tools from my classmates.  To view my personal technology blog, click on this link: http://jvelascotechblog.blogspot.com/

K. Penaflor- Reflection

The course so far has been filled with reviews and exploring useful resources online that could be used in the classroom. The resources/ tools I've chosen to explore are deli.cio.us, SlideShare, and LearnOutLoud. I find all these tools to be useful in my classroom, from presenting content to my students using SlideShare to saving the content for years to come on deli.cio.us. I am also enjoying reading reviews from my peers on the tools they've discovered and way I could use those tools in my classroom as well. I also enjoyed creating my Classroom Management Systems (CMS) online course on my unit of study, Math: Numbers. I used Engrade as my CMS tool. It was easy to navigate, but I did have to do some research and use the "help" option quite a few times to assist me when uploading assignments and quizzes. I was able to create flashcards, quizzes, activities, projects, and list resources- that I would definitely use again in the future. I'm happy that I am given the opportunity to explore all the resources the internet has to offer. I'm excited to share my interactive games, engaging projects, and hand-on activities with my students. I'm sure they'll enjoy them as much as I was fining them.

To view my chosen tools/ resources, here's the link to my blog: http://kpenaflortechblog.blogspot.com/

To view my Engrade online course on my unit of study, here is the log in information:

website: https://www.engrade.com/

username: studentvisitor2

password: internet

CMS: Engrade: Weather (1st grade)

www.engrade.com

Student Login: greyes2
Password: weather101

I posted previously that I wanted to use Rcampus for this assignment.  I made that choice when I saw that several in our class were going to use Engrade.  Well, I started out with Rcampus, but ended up switching to Engrade for two reasons.  First, the connection to Rcampus was pretty slow.  It was taking forever (in high-speed Internet time) for each page to load.  Second, it wasn't very easy for me to navigate or figure out how to get things done on Rcampus.  After about an hour (probably more like half an hour), I gave up and made the switch to Engrade.  I am sure glad I did!  I was able to navigate the site and figure out how it works with ease.  It is VERY user friendly.  I loved all the features and how easy it was to work my way through everything.  Even better, I was able to make necessary changes after looking at other students' completed CMS units.  I will most definitely be using this tool more often, as well as recommending it to my colleagues.  I had no idea of Engrades capabilities when I first heard about it.  I thought it was strictly for record-keeping purposes.  I love, love, love the "Apps" features such as wikis, flashcards, and quizzes.  Engrade definitely supports 21st century learning.

As for my unit on Weather, I had a lot of fun putting it together.  Dr. Rivera's key words were "basic set of online resources."  Those helped to put me at ease with this assignment, as most of these online tools and formats are new to me.  I was able to put together several online resources and learn to navigate my way through the CSM without the added stress of too many requirements.  I kept it simple and to the point.  I know that I will be able to go back to my unit to add to it and make it better. 

If you get a chance to take a look at my unit, I hope you find it useful.  I am looking forward to viewing everyone's completed units. 

Unit Resources:
YouTube
http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2010/10/whats-weather.html   
(This is where I got the images above and other ideas and resources)

Literacy Website Review #2: Project Based Learning

http://www.bie.org/

I somehow stumbled upon this site when conducting a search for a website that promotes literacy. While this is not a website geared primarily toward promoting literacy, it is interesting because it provides excellent ideas and information on Project Based Learning for the 21st Century. I found really interesting projects for my Composition classes. There are projects for just about every subject and grade level. There are also videos of students presenting different projects as well as student and teacher interviews about the project and student artifacts. These projects are all Common Core aligned by grade level.

Labrador's CMS Tool Project Sharing: 

"Engrade--Art 1: One-Point Perspective"

    I am not sure how I could share my CMS Tool Project with my peers. So, I decided to post a general overview of work through video. I apologize for the poor video quality. I was previously working on a tutorial video for my project and interactive powerpoint presentation. Unfortunately, I came across some problems and unable to finish it and place into my CMS Tool Project. Rendering takes a while if it's high quality and I have been having issues editing my videos on this computer lately. 

     Here is a general idea of what I covered in my CMS Project:

Introductory

Wiki App Video Tutorials: 1pt Perspective

"Engrade" enables you to organize unit lessons through the "Wiki App."  You can simply type out your instructions and insert any file into the lesson (i.e., videos, pictures, audio, worksheets, quizzes, etc).

Engrade Gradebook

"Engrade" is known for its user-friendly gradebook.

Calendar

Lessons and due dates can be listed in the calendar and viewed either as a spreadsheet or like a list below.

Attendance

You can monitor student attendance and custom its legend, as well as input notes.

Wiki App Quizzes

"Engrade" enables you to customize quizzes or tests and publish it online. After taking it, student scores are calculated automatically.

Wiki App Flash Cards

You can also provide a virtual study guide for students through this app. After inserting all necessary contents, "Engrade" lays it out through an interactive flash card, matching, and multiple choice format.

Discipline

You have an option to monitor student citizenship by placing notes on student behavior.

Comment Section Used as Demographics

Because "Engrade" lacks a student demographics section, I created one for each fictitious student in my CMS project through the "Comment" section.

Seating Arrangement

You can organize your student's seating arrangements to meet you and your student's needs.

Progress Points

One cool feature of this CMS tool allows you to set student goals and monitor progress reports.

Discussion Board

You can set up a blog for each lesson or assignment. Here, students can discuss about the work or ask for assistance.  Students are able to engage in conversations while being monitored by the instructor.

     If you would like to explore my project, send me a message and I'll give you a fictitious student account that I have already created in "Engrade." Thank you! 

Reflect + Refresh

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have always thought about creating a personal blog but never had the time to actually do it. This course is forcing me to make the time. It has been an enjoyable experience thus far. 

I am happy to be exploring all the different literacy sites and seeing what the rest in the cohort are reviewing as well. There is such a ton of information out in virtual space it is great to be able to get a synopsis of some of them and see how it may be useful in my classroom. I have found several things that I can't wait to try in my classes as I am constantly searching for different ways to reach my students. 

Happy Holidays

I'ts a wonderful experience for me. Thank you Dr. Rivera for introducing this blog thing. It is a new experience and I'm sure I will learn a lot from. Good luck to us all.

Regina Rivera Reflection #1

             This course has really kept me on my toes with the many daily assignments.  I understand the reason for the amount of workload assigned.  It is just perfect timing for my WiFi at home to be acting up, especially since the UOG Moodle cannot be accessed through my cell phone internet.  I have finally designed a routine so that my work is done on a timely manner.
              Being introduced to the IRA newsletter and assigned projects relating to literacy sites gives me a better perspective on what I am able to share with my students.  Even a site is created as a game, doesn't mean there cannot be any educational value to it.  Whether its a game I have students play in the classroom, or an online interactive game, my students can still learn from them.  Just like the classroom, the students are so diverse that the teacher must find a way to carry out the lesson so that "No Child Is Left Behind".  Implement as many techniques to teach about Forces, the students will learn from the repetition of teaching the same lesson.

Chargualaf Reflection #1

This past week felt a bit intense.  This is my first online course with the University and it took me a while to learn Moodle.  Then, I was confused about the class blog on Blogger.com and it just set me back a couple of days.  With this being an intersession course and Dr. Rivera not allowing it to be a "watered down" course, things have to be completed quick and on time.  This part is difficult for me because my whole family is on Christmas break (both my husband and I are teachers), and we try to make everyday count with our children. 

With that being said, I'm finally getting the hang of Moodle, and the ED638 class blog.  I have set up my CMS and Personal Tech Blog. I've completed a few other assignments and I am continuing to work on completing more assignments when I find the time.  I find that the blog really helps with giving me ideas with my CMS and it encourages me to try new things and to learn more. Who ever thinks that teachers know everything is absolutely far off.  As a teacher, I find myself learning more and more each day.  Thanks to Dr. Rivera and everyone in the class, I look forward to learning during this Christmas season.

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

IRA Website Review #1 : Good Sites for Kids

I may have missed the mark, but am ecstatic to find a website literally packed with websites that promote literacy. Each of the links comes with a synopsis of the site as well as an easy link to click on to take you there in a separate window.

The site is just a smaller portion of a larger website which encompasses everything from math to science. This website that focuses particulary in literacy provides websites packed with free books, for not only young children but also young adult readers. I suggest if you're looking for  free books to project onto the screen or websites for your ESL students to play games and read books, this is the website you need to visit. Just click the link below!

http://www.goodsitesforkids.org/

Image was also taken from the website listed above.

Engrade: Author's Main Purpose

I am a second grade teacher and have decided to use engrade to teacher the following Topic: Discovering the Author's Purpose. I am excited to help my students further their comprehension skills when they have to take the time to figure out what the Author is trying to do with the passage.



Images from : http://javelinvp.com/portfolio/engrade/ 
http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/shoptalk-for-readers-2/

IRA Newsletter Weekly Project: Effective Literacy Websites #1

Starfall (www.starfall.com) is a website designed particularly to teach students to read with phonics.  Their systematic phonics approach together with phonemic awareness practice makes it ideal for students in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.  It is also a great resource for special education and for English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL).

            Starfall uses scientific, research-based reading materials and activities that are modeled on the “Big Five” focus areas recommended by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.  In addition to incorporating these focuses, the activities on Starfall are designed to be fun, motivating, and engaging.  Also, the activities and materials on the websites cater to all levels of readers. 

            Alongside these important aspects of Starfall, it is very user friendly and easy to navigate through the website.  Most of the features on the site are free.  Starfall has expanded its features and for a small fee, members can have access to more activities including materials that are aligned with Common Core. 

IRA Effective Literacy Website #1 Reflection

Education.com is a fascinating website for parents, teachers, and students.  I enjoyed writing a review on this website because there were so many benefits to discuss.  The website provides evidence-based articles, thousands of printable, and engaging activities for the home and classroom.  As a parent, I have used the site to enhance my parenting techniques.  It has provided many tips that I have used for my spirited children.  As a teacher, I used the site to help create my reading units.  The free printables make it easier to plan instruction and assessment.  

Education.com is a non-profit, credible organization.  A panel of experts choose the content to be posted on the page.  They are also partnered with other well-known educational organizations.  Their collaboration works to provide viewers with supplementary resources that promote literacy.  I recommend this site to parents and educators who want become more involved with their child's success in learning.

Image source: http://coupons.answers.com/education-coupons

CMS Reflection

 I decided to use RCampus for the CMS tool to manage my unit lesson.  At first, I was hesitant to choose this system after comparing it to the other Course Management Systems because there are many features I would have to explore and learn to use.  However, after researching reviews from other educators, I found RCampus to be an effective program. RCampus includes seven applications: Classroom, Eportfolios, iRubric, Test and Quiz, Assignments and Gradebook, Tutors, and Book Exchange.  I  hope that these applications would help me manage my eighth grade Reading class in instruction, assessment, and data analysis.  I also look forward to building an online professional portfolio to showcase learning outcomes to other educators.

Image source: http://www.prlog.org/11246211-rcampus-apps-now-available-on-the-google-apps-marketplace.html

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #1

Storyline Online is a website from the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.  The SAG Foundation has designed this website to nurture the love of reading in children all around the world.  This website does not provide teacher lesson plans or online activities for children to complete, but they do provide videos and activity guides for anyone to view and use.

As you enter the website, they have a warm and inviting background that will peek student interests.  It's colorful, playful and very simple.  There is a collection of popular books on the page and as you hover over the each book, a picture of its reader pops up.  This person will read the book to viewers with much animation that students will not be able to pry their eyes off of the screen. But wait...the books also come with Activity Guides.  Each story comes with a downloadable pdf file that you can save.  These Activity Guides come with a short story summary, a list of related activities, a list of more books the viewer may be interested in if they liked that story, and summaries about both the author and the reader. 

This is my first time stumbling upon this website and I love it already!  I can't wait to use this site both at home and in the classroom.  I hope this will develop a bigger love for reading with my children and students.

Information Source: http://www.storylineonline.net

Image Source: http://shiningthelightinthirdgrade.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/literacy-storylineonline-net.png

Course Management System

I chose Engrade as my Course Management System.  For me, it was easy to navigate through.  I tried the other CMS's and they were a bit difficult for me to understand.  I'm hoping I could use Engrade to get my students more interested in the Scientific Method.  This will be the first time using Engrade and I am a bit nervous on how I will manage to get things going, but I'm sure with everyone's input, I will be able to get the basics in for now. 

image courtesy of : https://www.engrade.com/

The Title of the site is Teach Thought (http://www.teachthought.com/featured/21-literacy-resources-for-the-digital-teacher/).  The article entitled “21 Literacy Resources for the Digital Teacher” is written by Kimberly Tyson, Ph.D and is linked to http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/.  The website presents 21 websites that teachers can utilize to make learning new vocabulary words more interactive and convenient.

The first website listed as a resource is Lingro.  Students copy the URL of a text or poem that they must read and paste in a URL bar in the Lingro site.  Every word in the text or poem can then be clicked on and the definition of the word will appear in a bubble beside the word.  This will be a useful resource for my struggling readers.

Another resource entitled “Tagxedo” enables the user to create a picture with words, as in a concrete poem.  There is also a link on this site entitled “Top Ten Characteristics of Effective Vocabulary Instructions” that offers many strategies for teaching vocabulary.  One strategy is called “Marzano’s Six Steps for Building Academic Vocabulary.”  One of the steps suggests that students create a picture or symbolic representation of the words to aid in their comprehension of the new vocabulary word.

Flashcard Stash is another resource that has many fun interactive vocabulary games.  Teachers can search in the site from a popular list and utilize existing vocabulary words created by other teachers.  The Water Fall Game looks like a game my students will enjoy.  The student must type the correct word before the definition that is slowly dropping on the screen reaches the bottom.

There are so many resources on this site.  It will take a few days to review all 21 resources.

 

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Project #1

When I signed up for this course, I thought I was pretty comfortable with my internet skills.  To my surprise, I realized that I had a lot more learning to do.  Since ED451 in 2010,  I completely forgot how much the internet has to offer and how to navigate through different internet resources.

  Over the years, I have grown to be very content with Google and Youtube. However, since this course started something clicked in my brain and I realized that I need to catch up with the updated websites and resources.  I believe by taking the time to sit and play around with new internet resources and with the help of my peers, I know I can catch up. Everyday, I am gaining and will continue to gain more knowledge of the many internet resources that are being offered.  It is like one presenter said "In order to teach in the 21st century, we must be a 21st century teacher!" and I believe I am on my way.

ReadWorks (www.readworks.org) is a New York-based nonprofit that provides research-driven, grade-specific lesson plans and reading materials which are all completely free and available online. The sole mission of the website is to help educators teach reading and to close the achievement gap in reading comprehension throughout the United States.  ReadWorks material is primarily geared for elementary school teachers, however, this website provides over 1,400 K-8 non-fiction and literary passages.

ReadWorks has hundreds of lesson plans and more than 1,000 non-fiction reading passages each with a research based  question set to support student comprehension that are aligned to Common Core standards. Once you sign up for a free ReadWorks account you will be able to search for lessons and passages by grade, skill, or by lexile levels. Tabs are labeled to help guide you as to how to find lessons and units and help narrow down your search for reading passages.  What is very fascinating with this website is the breakdown of skill and strategy units provided. For example, if you want to teach your students how to find the main idea of the story, all you have to do is click on one strategy and the website will bring up units and lessons by grade levels. When you have found your grade level and the lesson you will like to teach, ReadWorks will provide you a lesson plan, worksheets, and the standards that the lesson aligns with. Once you have found all the lessons and passages you want you can automatically save them in a digital binder. Isn’t this cool?! And remember it is all free!

So, if you will like to increase your student’s reading comprehension scores or need help in teaching reading, ReadWorks is the site for you.                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                               Image Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=readworks&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=pH29Ute2J8nAoASV-4HQBg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=620#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=odaqhywbiHquMM%3A%3BjYv8lQ_LtzjI7M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.readworks.org%252Fsites%252Fdefault%252Ffiles%252F1m_slide.jpg%253F1385430062%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.readworks.org%252F%3B943%3B423 

                                                                                                                                                     Information Source: http://www.readworks.org/

"ReadWorks Offers 1,000+ Reading Passages Aligned to Common Core Standards" (April 22, 2013 - freetech4teachers.com)

"ReadWorks Free Online Reading Resources for Teachers… and Volunteer Tutors" (May 29, 2012 - New York Nonprofit Press)