Thursday, November 6, 2008

In French, we went to Sugar Rush for fun, food, and fellowship. We enjoyed smoothies, lattes, eclairs, cookies, and brownies. C'etait tres bon!

College Senior English
Mrs. Cauley urged students to get involved with our tutorial program after school. We need students to mentor and guide the younger ones, especially in math and English. I presented a lesson on persuasive techniques, covering logical, ethical, and emotional appeals and rebuttals. We read a sample essay in class and "dissected" it. I have a handout to give them tomorrow that will cover methods of persuasion and fallacies of logic.
I shared our wikispaces address, and students began developing their pages.

English 12
We continued our study of poems.
Thomas Gray: "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
Memorable lines: "The paths of glory lead but to the grave" and "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble stife"
Robert Burns: "Auld Lang Syne," which means "old long ago"
William Shakespeare: Sonnets 116, 130, and 73
I love the line, "Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang."
John Donne: "Death, Be Not Proud" and "Meditation 17"
Donne is one of my very avorite poets.
Memorable lines from "Meditation 17" include "No man is an island" and the famous passage: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell toll; it tolls for thee."
These lines remind me of the African word "ubuntu" that my former student Johnny Croft told me about. Ubuntu basically means that a person is a person through other people. Johnny is living in Malawi for two years, serving in the Peace Corps.

Wordsworth Rap

My former student, Sara Catherine, sent me this link. She's studying to be an English teacher, too. I'm so proud of her.



Hey Mrs. Thompson!Here is the Wordsworth rap that I was telling you about. Prepare yourself to laugh. The split screen dance sequences are especially entertaining :) I'm sure your students will get a kick out of this... Hope you're having a great week!~Sara Catherinehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXbrSALG684
mc nuts - william wordsworth rap
Source: www.youtube.com

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

English 12
Below are the poems that we have covered this week, thus far.
William Blake's "A Poison Tree," "The Lamb," and "The Tyger"
William Wordsworth's "The World Is Too Much with Us," "My Heart Leaps Up"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Students are writing their research papers on English poets; therefore, we're trying to cover at least one poem per poet this week. It's not the way I want to teach poetry, but it's a start. We discussed characteristics of Romantic poetry.

College Senior English 102
Students shared their favorite carpe diem quotations that they found from the Internet. We read and discussed Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" and Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." Then, we went to the library where students finished taking notes.

French I
Today was a whirlwind of activity in francais. Students worked independently on various projects. Several put the finishing touches on their Eiffel Tower replicas. One group made an edible model, which we all enjoyed eating. Students finished their dialogues and menus, which we will use tomorrow during our field trip to Sugar Rush, a cafe downtown.

I hope my students will start posting comments to my daily blogs. Extra credit, anyone??
P.S. I'm threatening to design a line of clothing called "Access Denied" due to the frustrations of censorship.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Today, my English 12 students used their laptops for the entire class block. They worked independently on their research papers on English poets from the 17th and 18th centuries. They used templates to create a 21st century resume for their poets. The results were quite humorous. For example, who knew that Wordsworth could blog! They also used templates to write their sentence outlines and continued taking notes. They will create wiki pages for their digital presentations.I was most impressed with the students' hard work. They really made good use of their time.

Students in my dual enrollment English 12/101/102 class did not use any technology in class. today. In fact, they went back in time, writing in-class essays on the theme of family love in Frankenstein. Students had to write about two characters from the book and themselves. I look forward to reading these essays. Students had to research and copy ten carpe diem quotations. They must also turn in their second set of notes for their research papers.

In French we began by checking our ePals. Students had new letters waiting for them from their pals in Belgium. They will write letters for me to approve and send to their pals. We're also using the site Lang-8 to practice writing. Students are studying food and restaurant vocabulary. We read sample dialogues in French to help students write their own. The dialogues will be set in a French cafe and make menus. We will go to Sugar Rush on Thursday to record videos and enjoy cafe and eclairs. Students are finishing their Eiffel Tower projects that they created with a geometry class. They are beginning a new project: creating a French magazine.

All three classes have been really busy. We are incorporating digital technology and project-based learning in many ways.

Taking a DIP

Posted on July 12, 2008 on edublogs.org

How can our school produce graduates who have mastered the basic competencies of language, reading, mathematics, science, and social studies; developed an artistic sensibility, and utilized digital technology? How can we produce independent, lifelong learners who will be responsible, productive members of the global world? How can we make students accountable for their education? How can we teach students to know and do? How can we teach our students to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and create?The answer: DIPThe Digital Immersion Project (DIP) is an innovative idea created by AHS teachers for our students and teachers. DIP will provide educational hardware, software, curriculum, assessment, professional development, and technical support to our school.After receiving $129,000 in grant money, we bought Tablet PC’s and LCD projectors for our core classrooms.

This year, teachers from the departments of language arts, mathematics, science, and social sciences will participate, using digital technology to incorporate project-based learning as a method of teaching our graduation exam objectives and state courses of study. In December and May we will host an open house/tech fair to showcase the projects to the parents and community. As we enter this brave new world, we will become participants and creators. We will embrace Daniel Pink’s notion of a “whole new mind,” incorporating design, story, play, meaning, empathy, and humor. We will break out of our bubbles and join the flat world of the future.This project is about more than technology, grants, and project-based learning. It’s about building relationships and hope. DIP will reach all students, grades 9-12, regardless of ability level or socio-economic background. As success in learning builds confidence and self esteem, we hope our students will have happy and prosperous futures.

NECC 2008

Posted in July 2008 on edublogs

Fourteen of us from AHS travelled to San Antonio for the National Education Computing Convention. In attendance we had our principal, five members from English/foreign languages; three, science; one, math; three, history; and one, career technology/counselor. All fourteen had an amazing experience. We attended seminars on wikis, podcasts, pen-based technology, grant writing, second life, electronic portfolios, project-based learning, and more. We brought back lots of free goodies, publications, and souvenirs.

I gained a greater understanding of these digital technologies, yet I still need to learn to how use them and, more importantly, how to teach my students how to use them. I’ve spent every day since we returned playing/working on the web. Creating this edublog has taken time and patience. I get so far, and then I hit a wall. Hey, it’s better than watching tv.

I think our teachers are somewhere in the middle of incorporating Web 2.0 into our classrooms. Yes, we are a few years behind. However, we do have a plan in place for creating 21st century classrooms. We have come a long way in one year. The most amazing thing is that we have all of our core teachers-young, old, new, and experienced- on board with this plan. Our biggest drawback will be a lack of equipment and funding. Hopefully, we will receive more grant funds to implement fully our plan.

As I’ve stated before, I’ve been teaching for 20 years. I’ve never had the opportunity to travel with thirteen of my colleagues. We had lots of great conversations and formed deeper friendships. None of us will ever forget our trip to San Antonio. I feel so blessed to be a part of the faculty at Andalusia High School. We’ve got an amazing year ahead of us.

Our slogan is “a proud tradition.” We can now take pride in our future.

Hot Stove Moments

First posted August 2008 on edublogs
We’ve become a nation of fear, which reminds me of one of Mark Twain’s quotes:
“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdomthat is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on ahot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well;but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore. “
We’re going to have some hot stove moments this year. Rather than letting fear stop us from creating 21st century classrooms, we need to anticipate problems so we’ll be ready. Last spring we met with members of the State Super Computing Authority. They will help us train two people on staff at our school to help with technical difficulties. We teachers must remember that these two people will still have their other duties, and we cannot call them with every little problem. Also, their knowledge will be limited. We must teach ourselves the basics so we don’t burden them.
Next, we need to anticipate student behavior problems. First, there’s the potential for vandalism. By using Airset we can monitor who blogs, comments, and edits. Of course, we must carefully monitor the sites our students visit. There’s another problem that will be more annoying than dangerous. As students start using laptops in the classroom, we will struggle with keeping them on task, not sending out funny e-mails, chatting, playing games, etc. Furthermore, we want our students to think about and discuss what they are learning, not just mindlessly taking notes. Sometimes, we get so involved with our notetaking that we don’t really listen and fully participate in the lesson.
Finally, we must limit what the students do with their laptops if they finish an assignment early. We did not spend grant money on this equipment for students to play solitaire or go shopping. If students finish an assignment early, perhaps they can go to Airset to blog or do another teacher’s assignment. (Of course, they can always read a book!) That will be up to the individual teacher.
In his book The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman urges us to “be good.” Our “electronic footprints” will follow us.
Let’s take one situation at a time. I certainly don’t want an entire class or the school to be punished by the actions of a few. This year will be challenging, but that’s part of the excitement.
Talking about preparation reminds me of another favorite quotation.
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” Louis Pasteur
Please add your comments about other potential problems.
No limits,
Dawn

Cyber Gals

Posted in August 2008 on edublogs.org

This summer, rather than lie by the pool or relax in a hammock, I started hosting BYOL (laptops) gatherings, which is quite anachronistic since my house is nearly 100 years old-hardly the site for a cyberden. I found that by working side by side with co-workers, we got more accomplished and swapped many good ideas.

Working together certainly saves time since we can help each other. Words like wiki, RSS, widget, Twitter, etc. were so foreign to us. We realized what it must be like for many students who lack the essential vocabulary for our courses. After working all afternoon, we reached a consensus on what would be best for our students this semester.

For example, another teacher and I will recommend that all of our students use Gmail and Airset this year in order for them to have some consistency throughout their different classes. Many of them will be overwhelmed with the new technology we are incorporating.
Michael Fullan shared excerpts from his book The Six Secrets of Change in the June 2008 issue of Scholastic Administrator. Secret Two is to connect peers with purpose. According to Fullan, “Peer interaction . . . is the social and inbtellectual glue of an organization.” I have grown so much this past year from working closely with my peers. During the 20th century teachers were isolated. Seeking advice from a fellow teacher showed a lack of knowledge, and since we were supposedly experts in our field, we wouldn’t want to feel dumb. Fortunately, I had wonderful mentors who helped me with even the dumbest things.

Our school organized a Building Leadership Team in 2003. We’ve brought about many positive changes through this group. Through the Digital Immersion Project, we’ve brought teachers from different departments together. We’ve realized that we all face the same challenges. We’ve broken down the walls that separated us within our own school. Web 2.0 will break down more walls as we begin to collaborate with teachers from all around the world.

Project-Based Learning Workshop NECC 2008

I’d like to include the notes I took at NECC 2008. These notes are from Innovative Project-Based Learning: Strategies from K-College. Presented by Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D. and Heather B. Rampton, M.Ed.at the National Educational Computing Conference, San Antonio 2008
For sample activities, you may visit Keeler’s blog at http://keelerthoughts.blogspot.com.
What’s PBL
Students learn content while constructing an artifact. Our job is to teach content and 21st century skills. We should be content focused and artifact driven.
Content 80% Artifact 20% I
I’m not sure where I heard this breakdown, but it makes sense. We’ve said from the beginning that technology is a tool for teaching our content.
Strategies:
Video
adapting literature
research-based video reports
audio
Day in the Life Journal Memoirs
Blogs
journaling
daily homework
eportfolio space
Digital Photography
scavenger hunt
Flickr
movie poster
Page Layout Software
book review
tri-fold brochures
Common Applications
virtual museums, educationalvirtualmuseums@blogspot.com
game shows, jc-schools.net/tutorials/ppt-games
slideshow-based games

Wiki Workshop NECC 2008

I’m still adding notes from NECC 2008. Some of these notes may not make much sense, but I can add to them as I learn more. I attended a very popular session called Wonderful World of Wikis, led by wellknown teacher, Vicki Davis.
Wiki Basic
www.wikispaces.com
I have a wikispace at www.dawnthompsonunlimited.wikispaces.com; however, it is undeveloped at this time.
free educational wikis
1. Edit-Every change is recorded.
2. History-history of page, green added or red deleted
3. Groups-members of a wiki, collaboration of groups, group essays, removes barriers
4. Monitoring-email, RSS
5. Easy, free, no email, Add video to wiki page; post messages.
Vicki Davis www.coolcatteacher.blogspot.com
100% class participation, class wiki, download from wiki and save as files, projects, blog posting, vocabulary
Project
Create template for student.
Use tags (a teacher’s best friend) Every assignment will have a tag.
Teach students to edit wikipedia responsibly.
Students will create their own wikis and post class notes. Students will begin by partnering across the room. Eventually, they can partner across the world.
Permission Settings
Manage space: public, protected, private
Lock assignment pages
Wiki vandalism: Take online spaces seriously. Computers are bad babysitters. Monitor carefully and punish students who break rules.
Why wiki? A blog is a journal, a wiki works for evolving content
www.ning.com blogs, sharing, photos
Blogs are for opinions, reflection, and debate. Wikis are for facts and assignments.
People from all over the world can send bookmarks to students.
educational wikis–200 ideas
I know wikis will help my students with collaborative research projects. In senior English, students work in groups to research The Middle Ages. This year, they will collaborate on the AHS Legacy Project, which will involve researching the Classes of 1999, 1989, 1979, and 1969. Students will compile their research and write a skit for the annual homecoming production. This project will also involve input from our alumni. I must admit that I was hesitant to allow students to cite Wikipedia for their research. I have a better understanding of that site now.
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DIP July 2008 Institute

Our Digital Immersion Project (DIP) participants had our July Institute last Tues. and Wed. (July 29 and 30). Seventeen of us attended and we taught ourselves! Fortunately, I had purchased Christopher Shamburg’s book, English Language Arts: Units for Grades 9-12 from the Bringing Technology into the Classroom series published by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). I blogged earlier about our attending ISTE’s National Education Computing Convention (NECC) in San Antonio. Visit iste.org and www.chrisshamburg.com
During the two-day workshop, we covered the following topics:
National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S)
Bringing Technology into the Classroom: sample syllabus
Copyright, fair use and www.creativecommons.org
Setting up Gmail and Airset accounts for all students
Google Document, iGoogle, Google Groups, Google Sites, Google Reader
Creating a virtual museum template
Tips for using our new equipment (laptops and projectors)
Project-based learning planning templates and deadlines
Mock lesson for using Airset, Google docs., and the Interne
Learning so many new things in such a short time has been frustrating for all of us. (Working with teachers can be more challenging than working with students.) Yet, we remain dedicated to helping our students and ourselves be prepared for the future. We have become a family of brothers and sisters, sometimes fighting but always coming together to help one another. Another lesson we learned was to be more empathetic towards our own students. Sometimes, we use words that are foreign, our instructions are vague, and our desired outcomes are unclear.
On August 11, our students will arrive. I anticipate that we will have lots of problems; however, we will work things out. I’ll have to remember the advice below from Brian Adams:
“ Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.”
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Digital Age Comes to Andy High

Posted August 25, 2008 on edublogs.org
Tomorrow will mark two weeks of our new school year and two weeks of using digital technology. After spending most of my summer trying to learn all about Web 2.0, I felt pretty good about my newfound knowledge. However, the Friday before school started on Monday, I realized I had not tried my LCD projector, yet. I went late Friday afternoon and turned it on (with help from my sister-in-law). Wow! That was easy. I spent most of Saturday working in my room. On Sunday I tested the laptop and projector with my sons. Everything was ready to go.
Monday morning arrived. I was eager to begin our new journey into the future. I should add that our beautiful building was built in the 1940s. On Monday morning I had no airconditioning and no Internet connectivity from any of the computers in my room! I still used the projector and laptop without the Internet. I passed out CD-Roms of our new literature books and French I books. All in all, it was a good day. My students were well behaved and excited about our new ideas. I was so hot by the end of the day that my hair was sticking to my face. I felt as if I had gone back in time instead of forward.

Tuesday came, and it was my day for the laptop cart. (Five of us will share a cart with 10 laptops.) Of course, no one could log in. The tech coordinator came to my room and helped us. We spent the morning setting up Gmail and AirSet accounts. I should mention that we couldn’t set up many Gmail accounts at one time from the same access point. I got connected with my laptop. It would be Friday before my PC would have connectivity. I was so tired when I got home that I collapsed. All I could think about was that I had committed myself to cheering at the alumni game on Friday night. I certainly didn’t look or feel like a cheerleader.
Wednesday came, and a few students brought their own laptops from home. I assigned several basic things for AirSet: post a link, add a birthday to the calendar, reply to a blog post, and add contact info.

By Thursday and Friday all students were in their AirSet groups. Several students were bringing their own laptops to class, taking notes in Google docs. The school was all abuzz with tech talk. I managed to cheer at the game, and the alumni won. Go old Bulldogs!
This week has been much smoother. I’ve gotten all of my students in Gmail contact groups so that I can send out mass emails. The French students have been blogging in French, and we’ve located three classes in France through ePals to collaborate with on projects. I enjoy Google chatting at night with the students, and it’s very easy and quick to answer a quick question through Gmail.

My seniors have formed Google groups for the Classes of 1999, 1989, 1979, and 1969. We will invite the alumni to join these sites as we research and write the annual homecoming skit that students will perform in October.

I am beginning my 21st year of teaching this year. I am overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated by the many challenges and problems technology presents. However, I must admit that this is the most exciting time to be a teacher and student. I truly feel a part of something great-a new age in education. We will look back on this year one day and recall that in 2008 the digital age arrived at Andalusia High School.

My First Blog

The purpose of my blog is to share my thoughts on teaching in the 21st century with others. I welcome your comments. I'd also like to share what's going on in my classroom with my students' parents and our community. This semester, we have incorporated digital technology and project-based learning through a teacher-created program called the Andalusia High School Digital Immersion Project (DIP).

I've used the technology in my English 12 and French I classes this fall. Overall, I think the students have been much more engaged, especially with reading literature and writing essays. Students are more accountable for their learning. If they are absent, they Gmail me for their assignments, and I no longer waste class time explaining what they missed. The activities we've done in French have made the language relevant to the students. They exchange conversations with real French students. I'll blog about individual activities later.

Incorporating digital technologies into my classroom has totally energized my teaching. It's like a shot of B12 every day. I've developed closer relationships to other teachers, my students, and their parents. I look forward to further exploration of this "brave new world."