Hi everyone,

So we had this snowstorm, and I had some time on my hands. As a result, I decided to combine my classroom website and this blog into one site at http://tommigriffin.com. So, please come and join us at our new location!

Thanks for visiting,

Tommi

What is verboten in school? What should be verboten in this class? Why are these things verboten, do you suppose?

What would be the opposite of verboten? Can you give some examples of school behavior that would not be verboten?

Let’s hear your thoughts…

Mrs. Griffin is done reading the series that she had currently been reading. She would love to get recommendations from her students, and any others, on which books to read next. So, if you have any favorites… Post them up! Write a little bit of what they are about without giving the main theme away.

~ Sky Oompa

Here’s another article that caught my eye:

OMG! Technology-based Formats Increase Enjoyment of Writing | ISTE Connects – Educational Technology
Saturday, December 12th 2009 by Katie Stansberry
Author: Katie Stansberry

A recent study out of the UK suggests that students who write regularly, even if that writing occurs on blogs or through texting, enjoy writing more and are more confident in their writing ability than their less tech-savvy peers.

The National Literary Trust, a charitable organization dedicated to improving literacy rates in the UK, recently released the findings from their study titled Young People’s Writing: Attitudes, behaviour and the role of technology. In May, 2009 3001 pupils aged 9-16 from England and Scotland completed an online survey that asked about their writing activities. The goal of the survey was threefold:

• To explore how much young people enjoy writing
• To determine what type of writing they engage in
• To find out how good at writing they think they are and what they think about writing

According to the study, instead of “dumbing down” young people’s writing, technology offers a wider variety of ways students can express themselves through the written word, leading to greater enjoyment of writing and higher (self-reported) writing ability.

What about you? Do you prefer pencil and paper or using technology? What forms of writing do you use? Texting? IM-ing? Word processing? Do you use different types of technology for different kinds of writing?

I read a few articles while I was home sick…

Survey Shows Students Need Ethics Training in Social Media | ISTE Connects – Educational Technology
Tuesday, December 15th 2009 by Katie Stansberry

A recent post by Education Week blogger Katie Ash underscores the need to educate students on how to use social networks responsibly.

According to a survey of 17-year-olds conducted by Junior Achievement, nine out of 10 teenagers use social networks every day. More than a third of respondents said they did not consider the reactions of admission officers, future employers or their parents when posting content. Also, 16 percent admitted to blatantly unethical behavior such as “posting content embarrassing to others, spreading rumors and pretending to be someone other than themselves.”

The full results of the survey show an alarming trend among young people. Social network use is becoming increasingly ingrained in the lives of young adults, yet understanding of the future implications of posting Internet content is surprisingly low.

So, kids, how careful are you about posting things on the internet? What are some things you should consider before you posting anything in a chat room, on Facebook or MySpace, or even on this blog?

I came across this article today…

Technology gives kids constant media access | eSchoolNews.com

Sharp rise in students’ media use challenges educators to make lessons more engaging, experts say
By Maya T. Prabhu, Assistant Editor, Jan 22nd, 2010

The rise in children’s access to mobile technology has enabled them to spend an average of nearly 8 hours per day using entertainment media.

Educators face a growing challenge in trying to compete for their students’ attention with near-constant access to entertainment media outside of school, a new study suggests.

Today’s technology enables children to have nearly 24-hour media access, and many are choosing to spend an average of close to eight hours per day using entertainment media, according to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The study, “Generation M²: Media in the Lives of eight- to 18-Year-Olds,” found that children devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes to using entertainment media during a typical day. However, because they spend so much of that time “media multitasking,” they manage to fit a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into that 7 and a half hours. The report identifies media multitasking as using more than one medium at a time.

So kids, what do you think? How much time to you spend using technology? What do you use it for? Do you think it’s helpful or hurtful? Let’s hear your thoughts!

Here’s your chance to show off what you know in math! During the past week or so, you have been using Audacity to record important concepts in your academic subjects, so you’ve been speaking and listening to learn. Today, you are going to use those podcasts to help you write about an important concept in math. Your directions are as follows:

1. Finish your Audacity recording about important concepts in math, science, history, and language arts.
2. On your own, listen to the podcast and begin writing a paragraph in Word explaining a single important concept in math using specific examples and clear details. Your paragraph should be written to really help someone learn about the topic.
3. Save the paragraph to your desktop folder and the I Drive as lastname_firstname_mathconcept.
4. Copy the paragraph and paste it in the reply box for this post.
5. Use your team name and the e-mail address I have given you, and submit your reply.

As students post their paragraphs, we should accumulate a valuable online resource to help teach and learn about important math concepts! Feel free to reply to a classmate’s post and add information or leave a positive comment.

I noticed that many of you are wearing friendship bracelets. Some of you even have the embroidery thread in pencil pouches in your binders. On the half day before the Thanksgiving Break, we really didn’t have time to do a whole lot, so I gave my students some free time to choose an activity. I’m glad I did, because a couple of you taught me something that day, and I learned how to make friendship bracelets, so thanks!

Anyway, I like to do crafts at home sometimes, and I’m always thinking about you guys after you leave my classroom. I’ll remember that someone stayed a little after dismissal to help me stack the rest of the chairs, or maybe someone wrote me a Happy Thanksgiving note, or maybe someone took the time to really listen to another classmate during the interview project. I’ve noticed kids going out of their way to help a classmate with a project if I’m taking too long to get around to helping or if someone has had their hand up for a really long time. Maybe you took the time to show me how to do something you’ve learned, like make a friendship bracelet, or maybe you made one for me… stuff like that.

The thing is, sometimes I have a lot on my mind during class, and I’m trying to do so many things at once, like remember to take attendance, give directions, fix computers, help kids with a project, see who needs to get caught up after an absence, make sure everyone is getting everything done, teach something new, monitor the computers, etc. So sometimes, I just either don’t have time, or I forget to tell you that I noticed something special that you did.

But I really did notice. Anyway, I thought I’d make a few bracelets and give them to people who did something nice without expecting anything in return. That’s just it… I want to recognize people for the things that seem to go unnoticed, but they’re really not. I really did notice in the midst of all the classroom activity, and I just want to let you know.

So, if I happen to hand you a bracelet, it’s because I know what you did, and I appreciate it!

Thanks, guys, for making teaching and learning fun for me.

If we’re going to use chat screens to communicate in class, then we need to practice good chat etiquette. That means good manners. The most important thing to remember when entering a chat and posting a comment is that all entries should contribute to a discussion in a meaningful way. Here are some examples of meaningful contributions:

When the chat entries fly by too quickly, it’s difficult if not impossible to read the comments, and that renders the whole conversation useless. Also, it’s important to scroll up and read the chat log before asking a question, as it may have already been answered.

What is your perspective on chat screens in class? Are they helpful or not? Do you think that if they are used appropriately they could be helpful? Do students understand how to use a chat for meaningful purposes, or it is just  a social tool that kids are used to using in a certain way? What about the rules of grammar, capitalization, and punctuation? Do you think those rules are important or necessary in a chat? What about IM-slang? Does everyone know what you’re talking about if you use it?

Let’s hear your thoughts!

Hi guys,

It’s been a while since I heard from you on the blog. I like reading your comments. You sound different on a blog than you do in person. It’s true. Some of you are more vocal and outspoken face-to-face in class, but others are more communicative in writing. The quieter students in class often turn out to be the ones who have the most to say, and I really do enjoy exchanging ideas with you here.

Thanks for your comments and input on the following posts:

• The Comfort Zone
• The First Five Minutes Rule
• The Best Instructional Method Poll

If you didn’t have a change to read the posts or browse the replies, take a few minutes now to to see what you missed. If you haven’t voted on the best instructional method, especially after the resume project, go ahead and do that now.

But today, what I really want to know is this:

What do you guys want to do next? I mean, within reason…

We worked with Audacity to interview partners about goals, objectives, responsibilities, achievements, and personal interests. Everyone seemed to really enjoy working with the sound effects. Then we created resumes based on the interviews.

Since you’ve all worked so well and so hard on the resumes, and I know it was a bit of a challenge, I thought we’d take a break and do something a little bit less intense using Audacity. So here are some ideas:

• Interview each other for jobs that match the Long-Term Goals
• Read a short children’s book and record background sound effects
• Create a news broadcast based on events at school
• Promote a favorite book as if for a radio commercial
• Introduce a partner as if they were a celebrity

What do you think? Any other ideas? Let’s hear it today!

Don’t forget to use your team name and the class e-mail when you reply…