Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm

816 discussion

ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) —

Take Flat Stanley everywhere and write about him.

This website provides ideas from a teacher, and they deal with projects to do in a Kindergarten classroom. Some of the items you can purchase, but I found the website interesting for ideas to use in a class.

modern society and technology

Harold Rheingold writes about participatory pedagogy.

interactive vocabulary-creates a sketch of the word

vocabulary words using cartoon

instruction on your kids

The pace of change is mandating that we produce a faster, smarter, better grade of human being. Current systems are preventing that from happening. Future education system will be unleashed with the advent of a standardized rapid courseware-builder and a single point global distribution system.

Free whiteboard applications for teaching.

Interactive Whiteboard Resources for Teachers. A variety of free, easy to use IWB resources, for teaching a variety of subjects. New resources added weekly.

interactive whiteboard lessons maths english science sose

a visual map and thesaurus

How does Vocabgrabber work? VocabGrabber analyzes any text you're interested in, generating lists of the most useful vocabulary words and showing you how those words are used in context. Just copy text from a document and paste it into the box, and then click on the "Grab Vocabulary!" button. VocabGrabber will automatically create a list of vocabulary from your text, which you can then sort, filter, and save. Select any word on the list and you'll see a snapshot of the Visual Thesaurus map and definitions for that word, along with examples of the word in your text. Click on the word map or the highlighted word in the example to see the Visual Thesaurus in action. Want to try it out? Click on one of our sample texts to fill the box and start grabbing! How can I view my vocabulary list? After you grab the vocabulary from a text, you will see a list of words and phrases in "tag cloud" view. In the default view, words in the vocab list are arranged by relevance (more on that below!). In t

English - Writing

Quick mini lessons, quizzes, and games about different writing resources.

English writing interactive activities for: Argument, Comment, Factual writing instructions, Factual writing leaflets, Factual writing letters, Writing a story beginnings and endings, Writing a story planning. Also includes Revision and Quizzes

Writing a Story/Planning

Over the past few years, I have been collecting interesting Internet videos that would be appropriate for lessons and presentations, or personal research, related to technological and media literacy. Here are 70+ videos organized into various sub-categories. These videos are of varying quality, cross several genres, and are of varied suitability for classroom use.

Mind you, there are still some Java issues.

Wordle Ideas

to use humor in presentations and classroom material

Comics in the classroom

Understand how comics are beneficial in schools and ways they can be used.

Wouldn't it be great to invite authors into your classroom or library to video chat with students before, during, and/or after you've read their books? We are growing a list of authors who want to make that connection with you. See the alphabetical list in the scrolling author box on the left. Read on to find out just how easy it is!

Authors to Skype into classrooms and library

The most dreaded word in school reading for students: book reports. Teachers assign them, viewing them as a necessary component of assessing reading comprehension. Book reports can be a contributing factor to ‘readicide’. “Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools.” http://stenhouse.com/html/readicide.htm. So, how can we as teachers continue to monitor our students understanding of reading material without killing the love of reading? Enter technology. Technology can help bring some excitement and creativity to the traditional book report while still displaying students understanding of reading.

Excellent advice on thinking critically abt media & how to teach your children to do so from @hrheingold http://bit.ly/14XysI #homeschool [from http://twitter.com/CircleReader/statuses/2439925187]

legitimate websites

Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfgate.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fblogs%2Frheingold%2Fdetail%3Fentry_id%3D42805

"The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception. Learning to be a critical consumer of Webinfo is not rocket science. It's not even algebra. Becoming acquainted with the fundamentals of web credibility testing is easier than learning the multiplication tables. The hard part, as always, is the exercise of flabby think-for-yourself muscles."

Specific examples of how student produced podcasts enhance knowledge and communication skills.

Podcasts

good links to other sites - take a deeper look here

Edutopia article on podcasting

a suite of web-based creativity tools.

Amazing Video Editor via @TeachaKidd

Video editor, comic strip creator and more.

PETA website; great teaching tips

PETA ; english resource

literacy development

harrypotter

English resource

A good summary of digital storytelling

Creating stories using web tools is fun and engaging for student while also teaching them new skills. Best of all you can embed them in blog posts to grab readers; including something a bit different makes reading posts more interesting.

deploy

interesting study on how tech effects reading

Bases on a Stanford study there is evidence students are writing more than ever and they want to have an audience and purpose. Annotated link http://www.diigo.com/bookmark/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Ftechbiz%2Fpeople%2Fmagazine%2F17-09%2Fst_thompson

fascinating take on the ongoing trends in literacy. Study by Stanford concludes that today's youth are MORE proficient in writing because they've lived a life of writing for an audience. "We think of writing as either good or bad. What today's young people know is that knowing who you're writing for and why you're writing might be the most crucial factor of all."

<<I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek civilization"...For Lunsford, technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it—& pushing our literacy in bold new directions...The fact that students today almost always write for an audience gives them a different sense of what constitutes good writing. In interviews, they defined good prose as something that had an effect on the world. For them, writing is about persuading & organizing & debating, even if it's over something as quotidian as what movie to go see. The Stanford students were almost always less enthusiastic about their in-class writing because it had no audience but the professor: It didn't serve any purpose other than to get them a grade. As for those texting short-forms & smileys defiling serious academic writing? Another myth. When Lunsford examined the work of first-year students, she didn't find a single example of texting speak in an academic paper.>>

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Great quiz- many topics. Good for ethics

A fantastic resource on digital literacy... very well thought out with some thought provoking questions/analysis

Interactive Stories for grades K-5. Most are SMART-friendly.

Stories Interactive Sites for Smartboard Use – Grades K - 5

Different websites with stories. Mainly primary, but one site has a link to over 1000 online stories

Copacabana school site. Also contains resources for other subject areas.

These pages contain links to suitable activities to support

This site contains an amazing collection of English-related web resources sorted into the following categories: Stories/Poems/Rhymes, Reading, Writing, Keyboard Skills, & Grammar/Punctuation/Vocabulary.

This site contains an amazing collection of English-related web resources sorted into the following categories: Stories/Poems/Rhymes, Reading, Writing, Keyboard Skills, & Grammar/Puctuation/Vocabulary.

Collection of links to interacitve web activities that can be used with IWB

21st century skills are, in short, an operating system for the mind.

Downes

omg!

Series coming to an end. Children no longer presumed literate.

26 years! Wow! Not as long as Sesame Street, but WOW!

For 26 years, Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton shepherded kids through the exciting world of books. The show, which fostered a love of reading, was the third longest-running program in PBS history, outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

I recommend this article for those of you who grew up with Reading Rainbow and who value children's literature.

After 26 years, the beloved children's show hosted by LeVar Burton will disappear from the airwaves. Today, educational funding favors programs that teach kids how to read, rather than why to read.

Even if you can't remember a specific Reading Rainbow episode, chances are, the theme song is still lodged somewhere in your head: Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high, Take a look, it's in a book — Reading Rainbow ... Remember now? Reading Rainbow comes to the end of its 26-year run on Friday; it has won more than two-dozen Emmys, and is the third longest-running children's show in PBS history — outlasted only by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers.

"Research has directed programming toward phonics and reading fundamentals as the front line of the literacy fight. Reading Rainbow occupied a more luxurious space — the show operated on the assumption that kids already had basic reading skills and instead focused on fostering a love of books."

"Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do."

quiz maker

allows you to input words, then shows dictionary definitions, and allows you to choose appropriate one

A simple, but useful application - develop students understanding of vocabulary and grammar. It allows a teacher to generate a "mini-quiz" for any level.

Word Wizard Quiz Maker allows teacher to generate a "mini-quiz" for any grade level.

A list of the tech skills that students should learn before they leave college. Ideally, these are skills that would be integrated throughout K-12 and college curricula (USA). Interesting

A blog that attempts to lists the current technology skills that should be taught in College. Food for thought!

On-line reading log

Reading Logs is a great way to organize student reading, spelling, and vocabulary practice. Learning material can be uploaded by teachers to be accessed by students online. Teachers can upload reading lists and reading goals for their class. These can be weekly or monthly goals and can be set up to track the number of minutes or the number of books read. Online competitions can be setup by the teacher (example: first student to read a certain number of minutes). Teachers can quickly post a vocabulary list where students can look up words with the online dictionary and add definitions to the cards. The cards can be studied online or downloaded as a pdf to print out. With the listen and spell system, teachers can upload spelling lists for students to practice. Students click on a button to listen to the spelling word and practice spelling it. They receive immediate feedback from the program. Reading Logs tracks students reading logs and updates teachers with progress.

"Everything you need from a SparkNote - in just 10 pages" #delicious

study notes for books like Animal Farm, Jane Eyre, The Giver, etc.

LitCharts Study Guides The faster, downloadable alternative to SparkNotes

Find step-by-step help through the writing process and see how master writers craft their work. Publish your writing online.

SUBJECT: HOW TO

Step by step writing help

web2.0 sites collection

Children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills, according to the National Literacy Trust. A survey of 3,001 children aged nine to 16 found that 24% had their own blog and 82% sent text messages at least once a month. In addition 73% used instant messaging services to chat online with friends. However, 77% still put real pen to paper to write notes in class or do their school homework. Of the children who neither blogged nor used social network sites, 47% rated their writing as "good" or "very good", while 61% of the bloggers and 56% of the social networkers said the same. "Our research suggests a strong correlation between kids using technology and wider patterns of reading and writing," Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, told BBC News. "Engagement with online technology drives their enthusiasm for writing short stories, letters, song lyrics or diaries." Mr Douglas dismissed criticisms about the inf

Children who use technology are 'better writers'

Children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills, according to the National Literacy Trust.

why twitter - one of the best articles to explain why

Twittermania is definitely sliding down the backlash slope of the hype cycle. It's not just the predictable wave of naysaying after the predictable waves of sliced-breadism and bandwagon-chasing. We're beginning to see some data. Nielsen, the same people who do TV ratings, recently noted that more than 60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month.

When I recently participated in a live discussion onstage, we projected in real time the tweets that included a hashtag for the event, an act that blended the people in the audience together with the people on the panel in a much more interactive way than standard Q&A sessions at the end of the panel. After years as a public speaker and panelist, I found it fascinating and useful to have a window on what my previously silent audience was thinking while I was talking. You have to be sure enough about what you are saying onstage to keep from being distracted or thrown by the realtime feedback. Backchannel twitterers have been to virtually mob speakers they felt were wasting their attention.

Excellent post on social media literacy using Twitter as the key example. It is not about the tools, it is about an online culture. This article attempts to identify characteristics of this culture. For example; "Twitter is not a community, but it's an ecology in which communities can emerge...It is a platform for mass collaboration. To oversimplify, I think successful use of Twitter means knowing how to tune the network of people you follow, and how to feed the network of people who follow you."

...examine, review, and collect relevant science resources that can be used as part of information literacy instruction to science students and faculty.

Great site on digital storytelling and how it relates to 21st century learning

article by Bernajean Porter

simple game with audio. good for gr. 3 or so

Between The Lions. Synonym Sam Lab. (Ruby In Her Own Time Unit) 3.2

Fun game for the little ones! Educational too!

game to identify synonyms of words

“Reading proficiency is just half of the literacy picture, we have to widen the literacy forum to include writing.” – Writing Next Writing Your Way to Wisdom Macomb Intermediate School District Pen&InkWell The need for improved writing proficiency among high school students is significant. Writing well is not just an option for students---it is a necessity. Along with reading comprehension, writing skill is a predictor of academic success and a basic requirement for participation in any higher education endeavor and/ or in civic life. Teachers who attend this training will receive a best practice approach to assist students with “Writing to Learn” and “Learning to Write.” This user friendly approach will be easily transferred into practice by Middle and High School Teachers. Urgency: 21st Century Literacy "Literacy in the 21st century will mean the ability to find information, decode it, critically evaluate it, organize it into personal digital libraries and find meaningful way

Swift training

Strategic Writing Instruction

MISD writing inservice

MISD Writing Instruction

in-service

strategic writing

This site has tips on how to make book reports more fun for students.

All sorts of cool activities with words - postcards, build a comic, and lots of other games

This website allows kids to learn aout reading and writing. It has a variety of links on it's dite. Each link is a bit different. They are all interactive tools, though.

Graphic organizers and resources for teaching language arts

need to ask for videos to be opened for teachers on district...

I've seen Signed Stories bouncing around the blogosphere and Twittersphere for a few weeks now, but only recently have I had time to explore it. Signed Stories is a provider of free videos featuring children's stories accompanied by subtitles and sign language. All of the stories feature someone signing the story (in British Sign Language). In addition to sign language many of the stories also offer subtitles. The videos on Signed Stories are organized into seven themes. With the exception of the Baby and Toddler section the stories are not categorized by age. Although every video is free, because many of the stories and images are copyrighted, Signed Stories videos cannot be downloaded or embedded into other sites

Free videos featuring children's stories with subtitles and signed in British Sign Language.

a provider of free videos featuring children's stories accompanied by subtitles and sign language. All of the stories feature someone signing the story (in British Sign Language). In addition to sign language many of the stories also offer subtitles. The videos on Signed Stories are organized into seven themes. With the exception of the Baby and Toddler section the stories are not categorized by age. Although every video is free, because many of the stories and images are copyrighted, Signed Stories videos cannot be downloaded or embedded into other sites

Media literacy, Michael Wesch

Dr Michael Wesch at Kansas State University (history of 2.0)

"If print culture shaped the environment in which the Enlightenment blossomed and set the scene for the Industrial Revolution, participatory media might similarly shape the cognitive and social environments in which twenty first century life will take place (a shift in the way our culture operates)."

so, digital literacy is a literacy of using text (incl. visuals) for creating and nurturing dynamic fields and chain reactions of participation "Ultimately, participatory media literacy is as much about a literacy of *participation* as it is a literacy of media.

Titled "The Future of Reading" this article is not pertinent to our future, but to our now. Many of the ideas that this librarian incorporates into her multimedia lessons are only a start in terms of what we owe our students.

The changing role of the school librarian as educator in how to access, process and analyse information.

The Future of Reading In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update By MOTOKO RICH Published: February 16, 2009 School librarians are increasingly teaching digital skills, but they often become the first casualties of budget crunches.

NY Times article on School Librarians featuring NYC SLMS Stephanie Rosalia.

Stephanie Rice on "the future ofreading: in web age, library job gets update" Stephanie Rosaila

This is the third in a series of articles looking at how the Internet and other technologies are changing the way people read. Previous articles examined the debate over the value of reading on the Internet versus reading in print and how educators are using video games as bait to lure children to read.

In Web Age, Library Job Gets Update

School librarians still fight the impression that they play a tangential role. Ms. Rosalia frequently has her lessons canceled at the last minute as classroom teachers scramble to fit in more standardized test preparation. Half a fifth-grade class left in the middle of a recent session on Web site evaluation because the children were performing in a talent show.

Recommend Skip to article * Get Home Delivery * Log In * Register Now * TimesPeople

The Digital Librarian This is the third in a series of articles looking at how the Internet and other technologies are changing the way people read.

In web age, library job gets update - article/video on librarian, Stephanie Roasalia

Good article for students in LIS 406

Future of librarianship

An article examining the changing role of the librarian in supporting digital literacy

Grammaropolis is a fresh, fun, and exciting new way to learn about the parts of speech.

Grammar website for kids

Grammaropolis is a fun find that helps students learn the parts of speech. In Grammaropolis, all of the characters are a different part of speech. Students will “meet” Adverb, Linking Verb, Pronoun, Adjective, Preposition, Slang, Noun, Conjunction, Interjection, and Action Verb.

great grammar music video. simple explanations of parts of speech

Animated personified parts of speech with stories, songs, and games to help kids learn about grammar.

This is a great way to teach grammar to students in a way that they will never forget

Some great online activities for practising grammar, punctuation and other language skills.

interactive for use from home or school

Great source for online games

Skills activities for the US 2nd grade.

Interactive compound words resources for 2nd grade language arts, compound words, combine two words, spelling, main idea, grammar, great small actiivities for all subjects

Internet resources to use in classroom instruction, developing project ideas, reinforcing specific subject matter areas both in the class and at home and even for online technology tutorials.

2nd grade Educational Site

Links to interactive games for grammar, phonics and reading.

「毎日ネットサーフィンして様々な最新技術の概要を知っていたところで、それ自体は知識としては価値があるかもしれないが、それらを活用してあなたはどんなものを作り上げることができるのか、というプログラマーに向けられる問いに答えることはできない。」

人のコードを使い物にならないと簡単に口にする人であればあるほど、その人自身が使い物にならない、という傾向がある。 作り上げたいもののイメージさえあれば、...ある程度の規模のソフトウェアであっても、頭の中で全体のつくりを組み立て、サクサクとつくり始めることができる

Make books your way! Share with the world. •Free to Make & Publish books •Bookstore Quality Books, Buy One or Many •No Software, Easy Book Builder, 100% Online

Makes interactive, online books, including digpix, uploaded graphics. Start from word files, PowerPoint slides, or templates. Shared by URL. Printed copies of books can also be ordered (for a fee).

Reading is declining, what's lost, and what we might do about it.

"There’s a real difference between watching a talk and reading a transcript. A transcript doesn’t convey the tone of voice, the pauses and gestures that punctuate an argument.""And yet people still read articles and essays, and they still demand transcripts. Why?" "The informational density of writing is only half the story. The other half is in the unique ability of the written word to construct and convey complex intellectual ideas.""Reading is not simply a faster form of listening; it is a qualitatively different process that involves completely different pathways in the brain. The field of language acquisition is a messy and contentious one, but few would disagree with the statement that it is much easier - for whatever reason - for children to learn how to talk than to read."

How can we understand ads

Game teaching you about advertising.

a game and curriculum designed to educate preteen students about the forms and methods of advertising. Admongo's primary feature is a game in which students earn points by collecting advertisements as they move through a fictional city. As they advance through the game, students will see short videos that explain the type of advertisements they see and how those advertisements attempt to get them to take an action. Watch the video below to learn more. Applications for Education Admongo provides a curriculum for teachers to use with 5th and 6th grade students. The curriculum is designed to complement the lessons students learn by playing the game. On the Admongo curriculum page teachers will find posters, handouts, quizzes and other printable materials to use in their classrooms.

mrm rm315

Game to teach advertising techniques. Teacher's guides, lesson plans, etc.

Admongo where advertising is all around you. Online. Outside. On television. Who makes ads? How do they work? What do they want you to do? Here, you will explore, discover, and learn. Can you make it to the top

" * Home * Parents * Teachers * Text Version Admongo.gov * About * Help * Glossary * Ad Library Spread the Word Live the Adventure - AdMongo Welcome to Admongo where advertising is all around you. Online. Outside. On television. Who makes ads? How do they work? What do they want you to do? Here, you will explore, discover, and learn. Can you make it to the top? To get there, you'll answer: Who is responsible for the ad? What is the ad actually saying? What does the ad want me to do?"

Fun for spending time with grandchildren

new stories for children, read by children

RT @tcea: New #animated #comiccreator called #Stage'd available at http://stagedproject.com/. Use it to create #3D digital plays!

From Kelly Tenkely: Stage’d is a tool that helps students to tell digital stories in a new 3-d way. Students can create a stage full of characters and dialogue as if they are directing their own digital play. They can choose characters, costumes, animations, set design and provide characters with dialog. When the 3-d comic has been saved, it can be emailed or linked to with a unique url. Stage’d is perfect for use in any classroom, to save a comic requires no personal identifying information or even an email address. All students have to do is type in the name of the director (first name only or a pseudonym)."

Staged is a very simple to use 3D comic design webtool that allows students to create animated comic strips that speak with speech bubbles. It would be a great way to have students act out a scene from a novel or history.

create a 3C comic

A digital toy for creating animated comics.

Play vocabulary building games like Synonym Toastwith Word Girl and her buddy Captain Huggy Face, along with other word games in the Homework Hub and Teacher Online Activities.

Word Games - Synonym Toast, Rhyme Time, Funny Pages, Spelling Wizard.

Word girl website deals with reading skills in a fun way. It works with synonmys, rhyming, word games, and spelling help. This website would help with vocabulary and phonics. It is also a link to a number of great scholastic sites. k-4

そもそも 2D で表現できる情報を 3D で表現するのはまったくの無駄

タイトルのまんま

なるほど確かに

「そもそも円グラフが良くない」←同感。いつも円グラフを書いて、棒グラフに書き直してる。

great for presentations

Videos

Over the past few years, I have been collecting interesting Internet videos that would be appropriate for lessons and presentations, or personal research, related to technological and media literacy. Here are 70 videos organized into various sub-categories. These videos are of varying quality, cross several genres, and are of varied suitability for classroom us

resources for English and CLIL, done for you!

lots of downloadable, free stuff

Free downloadable PDF teaching resources

This website has free downloadable PDF files for teachers. It also has many great resources for teachers including ideas for interactive white boards and other activities.

great site with downloadable attractive resources, well organised. UK site

RT @SeanBanville: Fab! RT @NikPeachey: Fantastic collection of kids books that read to you http://bit.ly/b1BEbk #efl #edtech #literacy ...

Fantastic collection of kids books that read to you http://www.meegenius.com/ #TESOL #ESL #TEFL #efl #edtech #literacy #YL

教宝宝学外语,宝宝

Kids storybooks read aloud.

Learning and using new words can be one of the great pleasures of language. While university courses can help you to build your vocabulary, seeking out words, wordplay, and information is essential to becoming a true word nerd. These online tools can help you along, making it simple to learn new words, find out where they came from and just plain play with words.

Applications for Education There is no shortage of word games and typing games on the market, but what I like about Word Games is that they've put a large collection of good games in one place. By having both word games and typing games at the same place you can have your whole class go to the same url at the beginning of a lesson, but then branch out to work at their own pace on different skill sets.

Web based word games.

A large collection of online word games and typing games. The word games range from simple word searches and crosswords to games that require players to complete sentences and phrases. The typing games are a mix of simple sentence typing for speed and games that require accuracy to "defend" a character or move a character through a scene.