second life

Here I am in the Kingdom of sand. Second life is very cool and it gives students another look at what the world is and what it could be. I like how they have the different places mapped out on a world on the second life website.

Siftables

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6rdvAcCazhE?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

questions

1)      How could blogging be used during summer to help students learn about subject matter when they are on such a long break?

2)      What are your opinions of using a blog over summer to help students become more engaged over their break?

week 7

The article titled Theories and Practices of Multimodal Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms By Dawnene D. Hassett, and Jen Scott Curwood was an awesome article and made me think about the children’s book that I am starting to create with several 6^th grade teachers. The short story children’s are based on a super hero named Fruit dude and his girlfriend veggie girl. Fruit Dude lives a normal everyday life as a teacher, but then at night becomes fruit Dude and defends children against harmful candy bars. The milkshake assignment was the section that made me think of the connection between the short stories and the importance of students being exposed to picture books in a comic book manner. I think that these sorts of books bring out creativity in all students and focuses on modern language that they are more exposed to. As new generations are learning outside of school through experience they have to read less material and can express more through facial expression. Picture books are awesome ways of expressing personal opinions about what characters or figures represent. Creating picture books is an awesome task to expose students to and can be used for any grade level and any classroom.

The second article titled Using the ADDIE Model to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners By Shiang-Kwei Wang and (I believe this is our professor) Hui-Yin Hsu is another great read. Many students are already involved in many video games which have or are considered a second life. Many students are already interested in second life activities so why not use them for educational purpose if this is where their motivation is. It’s an awesome way to extend class time and a great way to help students especially those who are shy gain a unique social experience. Although nothing is better than being exposed to real life experiences. I know this could never replace teaching two of my classes’ production metals and material processing. These two classes are all about hands on experience which is something you cannot do with a computer. You cannot physically earn how to weld, use an acetylene torch, lather, or milling machine (to name some of the equipment in my classroom) without actually using them. Students would never learn the skills they would need to survive in the world; however ADDIE could be used in my digital electronics class. The digital electronic class is already computer base because of the circuit design software we use. For many courses such as English and history an Avatar like program is an awesome way to extend class time or even replace it. So much can be accomplished from home saving fuel costs and many other expenses that exist in schools. Students would miss many social experiences so I hope school never come to this conclusion as a replacement to how we teach our children, but is a great way of either extending class time or replacing part of the school day.

Second life is one of the coolest tasks that we have had to do in this class. I was a bit skeptical of the program at first but after seeing the awesome characters that you could choose from I was instantly in. Of course I choose the most ridiculous character possible… The rabbit! The game is very cool and could be useful in class for tasks such as treasure hunts and problem solving activities.

Book builder

The book I created is about simple machines which are used in STEM classes in elementary and middle school. The book as examples of the simple machines and has text to explain what each of the six simple machines are. Students will use the book to help them write their paper during and 8th grade rube goldberg project. Student papers will include how simple machines work and how their rube goldberg machine uses all of the 6 simple machines. Students will go through the process from start to finish and explain how they function. I use the paper to connect learning to ELA standards. Other classes suchs as 6th grade science use simple machines can use this to inform students as well. The text in the book uses great detail to explain what each simple machine is and how it functions. The project is part of an engineering based curriculum and students will understand the importance of machines. The writing for old Rubegoldberg comics is very unique. In the past I've made students write out the process of what is happening during a rube goldberg machine. Something I plan on adding to the book later in the future is sound or voice recording so students who learn best through audio or need audio in order to learn

&book=39666&page=1http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=view &book=39666&page=1

Week 6

Assignment 1: I really enjoyed using gamestarmechanic.com and I can imagine students would really like using the interactive games on this website. It was really cool seeing the short graphic novels that are used on the quest tab. It seems like these books are becoming very popular. As our language seems to be shifting students now need to remember less words ad phrases. Using quest mode allows students to read a story line as well as problem solving skills. Though basic the games which are part of the allow students to experience different yet still important skills. I do get sucked into games and have currently taken an interest in app building. I downloaded an app builder recently but haven’t had time to use it yet. Apps are the next step in the way we will teach our children.

Assignment 2: I think it is important to use games in the classroom when found effective. If students are playing a game in the classroom they are more likely to be interested because they have a bigger role in their own education. Although if at home I ask my students to play an educational game for homework, they are probably going to play the game Call of Duty “Black ops” instead. I have used a game to help students learn how to read rulers. http://www.rsinnovative.com/rulergame/

Games are very helpful when students are supervised. It seems to be the new hands on experience. Students are likely to become even more dependent on electronic devices where they will gather information and write about it even more frequently then we are now doing.

Assignment 4: Edmodo is an excellent tool for education. It allows students to check on homework assignments online rather then wasting class time writing down the information. I like how the site uses the same layout as Thefacebook. ELA teachers can use the site as a post for blogs or even links to information students need to read for homework. Students can post writing assignments and while teachers can post grade for assignments rather then receiving them in class. Instead of having students use search engines information can be narrowed down by posting a list of links. I like that teachers can even quiz students while they aren’t even in class.. Because they have used a similar design and layout as facebook has students may really like posting their information onto the blog area. It also allows students to ask questions they may have been to shy to aks in class.

Article

utThis article is about Gender, Identity, and language teenagers use in blogs. The articles an overveiw of the importance of blog and what happens to language wen students use blogs

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Technical%20Article#:::72616961