Hi Myra!
My name is Liz. How are you? I am glad it is Friday today. How is school going?
I thought I would tell you about myself. I live in Maine. I love Maine. I love to swim in the lakes during the summer, and play in the leaves in the fall. I also love when it is cold and I can go ice skating.
My favorite color is purple. Do you have a favorite color? I love to shop and find nice clothes that are purple. I think my favorite color is purple because I love grapes.
This weekend I am going to a birthday party. I love to visit with my friends. They are nice. I hope you have a fun weekend!
Sincerely,
Liz
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
ACTEM Conference 2008
Top Ten Lessons / Cool Facts from ACTEM Conference 10/17/08
1. Teaching in the 21st Century: Social networking was a prevalent theme in the keynote speech as well as in this session because in today’s world, so many people are connected to social networks like Facebook and MySpace. Bringing tools such as these into a classroom setting would allow students access to one another to answer questions on homework, upcoming due dates, and the day’s discussions. Teachers can post important class information, as well as link supplemental educational tools like games, podcasts, and I movies.
2. Google Docs: Google Docs is a system that helps you create online documents that can be downloaded, edited, and posted, all from one location. The system allows a teacher, for example, to post a group assignment online and track progress and revisions of the work done by each student. The Google Doc can be posted on a blog. The only downside is that students must sign up for a Google account first, and teachers must purchase a Google domain.
3. www.readwritethink.org: This website has a diverse range of resources and organizational tools that will help even the most reluctant writer to form thoughtful and meaningful essays. There are visual organizers like “wordle” and “bubbl.us” as well as gliffy.com, which allows for group collaboration. Other websites include: readthewords.com, studystack.com, pageflakes.com, and persuadestar.4teachers.org.
4. Be clickable!: I have always feared that anyone could go online and Google me to find anything and everything that has been posted about me on the Internet. I thought it was bad to have personal information or pictures available to everyone. One of the lessons I learned from the speaker and the sessions was that being “clickable” is actually very important in today’s world. For teachers, being “clickable” means being available, resourceful, and creative. It means showing the world, or at least Grandma from Texas, what you and your students are capable of!
5. Delicious!: Keeping bookmarked sites on your toolbar is not helpful to your students or colleagues. By signing up for an account on Delicious, you can keep track of all the websites you have used for different units over the years. The site provides a library of resources for you, and a starting point for students who may need help finding solid resources for projects.
6. SMARTboards (with projectors!): I fell in love with the interactive whiteboards several years ago, but I had no idea they could do so much! One of the SMARTboards on display came with an overhead projector. This eliminates the need for a separate projector and screen elsewhere in a classroom, freeing up space, and saving time with setup.
7. www.wordle.net: This sweet graphic organizer allows the user to take a block of text and transform it into a collage of key words and terms. The most commonly used words are the most large and prominent, and lesser words and terms are sized progressively smaller according to their use. It is aesthetically pleasing, and is a fun jump-start into poetry.
8. Let your voice be heard: By signing up for an account, you are able to create a place for your students to use their imaginations and improve their speaking skills. Like GarageBand, you are able to record your own voice. Even better, though, is the fact that you can create your own pictures in the same place with a Pixie like program. Students can doodle over posted pictures and comment on the work of their classmates. It is a wonderful teaching tool with so many opportunities to help students develop technological skills as well as speaking skills.
9. www.freerice.com: This amazing site incorporates learning, fun, and social service! Teachers can get their students to practice their skills in several different content areas on various levels of difficulty while helping to feed people in third world countries. It is a fun, online game that will definitely give students a reason to study hard and know the answers.
10. Flickr: Like Delicious, Flickr is an online organizational tool that allows you to store and file your digital pictures. A Flickr account may be shared between two classrooms from different parts of the world; students can keep photographic journals of their lives in one country, and learn about the lives of children their own age from a completely different continent
1. Teaching in the 21st Century: Social networking was a prevalent theme in the keynote speech as well as in this session because in today’s world, so many people are connected to social networks like Facebook and MySpace. Bringing tools such as these into a classroom setting would allow students access to one another to answer questions on homework, upcoming due dates, and the day’s discussions. Teachers can post important class information, as well as link supplemental educational tools like games, podcasts, and I movies.
2. Google Docs: Google Docs is a system that helps you create online documents that can be downloaded, edited, and posted, all from one location. The system allows a teacher, for example, to post a group assignment online and track progress and revisions of the work done by each student. The Google Doc can be posted on a blog. The only downside is that students must sign up for a Google account first, and teachers must purchase a Google domain.
3. www.readwritethink.org: This website has a diverse range of resources and organizational tools that will help even the most reluctant writer to form thoughtful and meaningful essays. There are visual organizers like “wordle” and “bubbl.us” as well as gliffy.com, which allows for group collaboration. Other websites include: readthewords.com, studystack.com, pageflakes.com, and persuadestar.4teachers.org.
4. Be clickable!: I have always feared that anyone could go online and Google me to find anything and everything that has been posted about me on the Internet. I thought it was bad to have personal information or pictures available to everyone. One of the lessons I learned from the speaker and the sessions was that being “clickable” is actually very important in today’s world. For teachers, being “clickable” means being available, resourceful, and creative. It means showing the world, or at least Grandma from Texas, what you and your students are capable of!
5. Delicious!: Keeping bookmarked sites on your toolbar is not helpful to your students or colleagues. By signing up for an account on Delicious, you can keep track of all the websites you have used for different units over the years. The site provides a library of resources for you, and a starting point for students who may need help finding solid resources for projects.
6. SMARTboards (with projectors!): I fell in love with the interactive whiteboards several years ago, but I had no idea they could do so much! One of the SMARTboards on display came with an overhead projector. This eliminates the need for a separate projector and screen elsewhere in a classroom, freeing up space, and saving time with setup.
7. www.wordle.net: This sweet graphic organizer allows the user to take a block of text and transform it into a collage of key words and terms. The most commonly used words are the most large and prominent, and lesser words and terms are sized progressively smaller according to their use. It is aesthetically pleasing, and is a fun jump-start into poetry.
8. Let your voice be heard: By signing up for an account, you are able to create a place for your students to use their imaginations and improve their speaking skills. Like GarageBand, you are able to record your own voice. Even better, though, is the fact that you can create your own pictures in the same place with a Pixie like program. Students can doodle over posted pictures and comment on the work of their classmates. It is a wonderful teaching tool with so many opportunities to help students develop technological skills as well as speaking skills.
9. www.freerice.com: This amazing site incorporates learning, fun, and social service! Teachers can get their students to practice their skills in several different content areas on various levels of difficulty while helping to feed people in third world countries. It is a fun, online game that will definitely give students a reason to study hard and know the answers.
10. Flickr: Like Delicious, Flickr is an online organizational tool that allows you to store and file your digital pictures. A Flickr account may be shared between two classrooms from different parts of the world; students can keep photographic journals of their lives in one country, and learn about the lives of children their own age from a completely different continent
Monday, October 6, 2008
WebQuest Questions!
My goal for this WebQuest is to have students learn more about the life and times of Queen Elizabeth I.
1. Why should Elizabeth be queen?
a. Topic: Allow students to come up with their own qualifications of a good ruler.
b. Grade level: 5th
c Task: Now that Queen Mary has died, it is up to you, as part of a royal council, to decide who will become the next ruler of England. You must determine the qualities the new monarch must have, and argue for your favorite candidate.
d. Roles: 1. Ambassador: You must think of how the next ruler will affect your country.
2. Petitioner: You must keep the interests of the poor and marginalized in mind.
3. Cardinal: You must be sure the new leader has the ability to be well rounded and fair.
2. How will you reach your people as a ruler?
a. Topic: You are the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth I. You desperately want the people to like you, so you feel you need to reach out to the general public.
b. Grade level: 8th
c. Task: Create a modern day political commercial to advocate for you and your privy council, explaining what your policies and goals are for the country.
d. Roles: 1. Public relations: You will help to be sure the Queen knows the problems her country is facing and think of ways to make positive changes.
2. Campaign leader: You will help the Queen put her best foot forward, helping to display her qualities to the general public.
3. Lobbyist: You will help round up supporters who are willing to ally themselves with England, and help them show their support for the Queen.
4. The Queen: You must win the people’s hearts by demonstrating your dedication to everyone who works for you and by clearly outlining your personal goals.
3. What is it like in Queen Elizabeth’s court?
a. Topic: You are a subject of Queen Elizabeth I. As the new Queen settles in, you attempt to learn all you can about the new ruler. There’s no place better for fresh gossip than a fresh and extravagant court!
b. Grade level: 5th
c. Task: Create a gossip column detailing the exciting goings-on of Queen Elizabeth’s court, making sure to include why this news is so catchy.
d. Roles: 1. Lady in Waiting: You must uncover all the Queen’s most juicy secrets.
2. Privy Council Member: You need to keep track of the Queen’s latest policies, her marriage proposals, and her list of worst enemies.
3. Page boy/ girl: You have to spy on the wealthy court members to find out who is trying to gain favor with the Queen and if anyone is trying to take the Queen’s place.
4. Theatre and the Throne
a. Topic: As a member of the Elizabethan court, you love the work of William Shakespeare and want to compose a piece for the Queen using his style.
b. Grade level: 8th
c. Task: To entertain the Queen when the playwright is away, you compose your own ballad or sonnet to sing the praises of the Queen’s reign.
d. Roles: 1. Muse: You inspire compositions for the Queen through your stories of her qualities as a ruler.
2. Composer: You determine the melody or mood of the piece
3. Lyricist / Poet: You are responsible for the careful wording of the ballad or sonnet in honor of the Queen.
4. Choreographer / Artist: You devise a physical display of dance or art to accentuate the
1. Why should Elizabeth be queen?
a. Topic: Allow students to come up with their own qualifications of a good ruler.
b. Grade level: 5th
c Task: Now that Queen Mary has died, it is up to you, as part of a royal council, to decide who will become the next ruler of England. You must determine the qualities the new monarch must have, and argue for your favorite candidate.
d. Roles: 1. Ambassador: You must think of how the next ruler will affect your country.
2. Petitioner: You must keep the interests of the poor and marginalized in mind.
3. Cardinal: You must be sure the new leader has the ability to be well rounded and fair.
2. How will you reach your people as a ruler?
a. Topic: You are the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth I. You desperately want the people to like you, so you feel you need to reach out to the general public.
b. Grade level: 8th
c. Task: Create a modern day political commercial to advocate for you and your privy council, explaining what your policies and goals are for the country.
d. Roles: 1. Public relations: You will help to be sure the Queen knows the problems her country is facing and think of ways to make positive changes.
2. Campaign leader: You will help the Queen put her best foot forward, helping to display her qualities to the general public.
3. Lobbyist: You will help round up supporters who are willing to ally themselves with England, and help them show their support for the Queen.
4. The Queen: You must win the people’s hearts by demonstrating your dedication to everyone who works for you and by clearly outlining your personal goals.
3. What is it like in Queen Elizabeth’s court?
a. Topic: You are a subject of Queen Elizabeth I. As the new Queen settles in, you attempt to learn all you can about the new ruler. There’s no place better for fresh gossip than a fresh and extravagant court!
b. Grade level: 5th
c. Task: Create a gossip column detailing the exciting goings-on of Queen Elizabeth’s court, making sure to include why this news is so catchy.
d. Roles: 1. Lady in Waiting: You must uncover all the Queen’s most juicy secrets.
2. Privy Council Member: You need to keep track of the Queen’s latest policies, her marriage proposals, and her list of worst enemies.
3. Page boy/ girl: You have to spy on the wealthy court members to find out who is trying to gain favor with the Queen and if anyone is trying to take the Queen’s place.
4. Theatre and the Throne
a. Topic: As a member of the Elizabethan court, you love the work of William Shakespeare and want to compose a piece for the Queen using his style.
b. Grade level: 8th
c. Task: To entertain the Queen when the playwright is away, you compose your own ballad or sonnet to sing the praises of the Queen’s reign.
d. Roles: 1. Muse: You inspire compositions for the Queen through your stories of her qualities as a ruler.
2. Composer: You determine the melody or mood of the piece
3. Lyricist / Poet: You are responsible for the careful wording of the ballad or sonnet in honor of the Queen.
4. Choreographer / Artist: You devise a physical display of dance or art to accentuate the
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