Using the Internet in the Classroom: Workshop, Project, or Inquiry?

          I thought this weeks readings and videos brought up many good talking points regarding how to use internet materials in the classroom, and presented a lot of options for teachers across grade levels and content areas. To start, the chapter from Leu, Leu, Coiro (2004), despite it being slightly outside of our five year window from which we are working with Web 2.0 literacies, discusses immensely the importance of interweaving digital literacies with content knowledge. As I read this article, I felt as though it was talking more to my personal high school experience with the Web in the classroom, and not how we have been discussing its uses in more recent years. When I was in high school, many of us were in a laptop program, where teachers were required to find ways to incorporate them into their curriculum. As I read the article, it reminded me of my biology class, where our teacher would give us a website to go to, look for specific information on the site, then use the links to find more information. We combined the aspects of Internet workshop and Webquests together when we would do these types of lab projects.

          As I continued to read through the article, I realized that the uses of Workshop, Projects, and Inquiries are all relavant now with Web 2.0 literacies. The big factors of communication possibilities between students and teachers across the globe makes it critical for us to continue to follow instructional models that help our students gain internet literacy skills, including the ability to evaluate and cross reference multiple internet sources, as described in the "Using Internet Inquiry in Your Classroom" section (p 123). In a social studies class, I would think that using Inquiry would be the most thought provoking and appropriate way to combine critical literacy skills, digital literacy skills, and content knowledge. Leu's video on Internet inquiry with using the cyclical phases and getting students to ask their own important questions to research. I liked his example of "What happened to Benedict Arnold after he betrayed the US?" because it is a simple question that can lead to a mountain of information that students have to sift through and evaluate on their own. This approach also allows our students to become more independent thinkers and can take ownership over their thinking and questioning abilities.

          The two peer-selected readings this week, although discussing two different demographics of students, discussed very similar things with how to use Webquests with ELLs and LD students. Making modifications to any project for students who either struggle because of a language barrier or LD is absolutely crucial to these students' success, especially when using the internet. A lot of websites offer the content on it in more than one language, and teachers, if they do their homework on the project, can meaningfully engage ELLs without too many modifications that would hinder their ability to communicate with classmates or their ability to navigate the web. Our use of language and expressions and how we use them with ELLs can make or break a project if we are not careful. Furthermore, using webquests with both demographics of students keeps them motivated to learn, especially when they can be more independent in their learning.

The Inquiry Oriented Internet Projects website( IOIP Click here to access! )was my database of choice when looking for webquests for social studies. I recommend that all teachers of all subjects look to this website as it is meant for all content areas. There were so many webquests available here that it was difficult to limit myself in looking at only a couple. For the projects I did look at, all of them followed the phases that Leu discussed in his videos of questioning, search, analyze, compose and share.

Digital Stories and Podcasts: Who Needs to Create Posters Anymore?

          When I was searchig for digital stories on YouTube, I wanted the one I used to relate to Social Studies. I searched 'digital stories social studies' and this was the third video on the list that came up. It was the only one that looked like it actually was created by students. As soon as I opened it I was impressed with the images, the information, and the epic music in the background. When the video finished, I had to see when it was created and at what grade level. I was astonished that this was produced by two sixth-grade students! I thought it had to be done by high school students when I first watched it. To me, this video represents the future of doing projects in a Social Studies classroom. If students are creating such impressive work that can be saved until the end of the Internet, my question still remains, who needs to create posters anymore? I suppose they are still a creative way to showcase artistic abilities and knowledge, but don't posters usually disappear by the end of the school year? The students who created this video will have a permanent reminder of their sixth grade Social Studies class so long as the video remains on the Internet.

         To switch gears momentarily, I wanted to comment on Richardson's (2010) chapter on podcasting and live streaming of videos. Richardson made an interesting point saying that "Basically, we're close to the point where every school, every classroom, every person, in fact, can own a television station," (pg 126). As I read the subsection on live streaming in the classroom, I my thoughts raced with possibilities of taking advantage of Web 2.0 literacy instruction, Social Studies content, and a cross-content collaboration with the technology department (that has all of the necessary video equipment). If we can run our own live feed with small groups from one social studies class streaming a lesson or conversation while another group or another teacher's class watches, we can create some exciting new ways of collaborating across curricula, across schools, across the world. It reminds me of the Cisco commercial where the American students video chat with the Chinese students across the globe. The possibilities are essentially endless with live feeds and with podcasts, as they can be interwoven into any content area.

          While reading the Labbo, Eakle, and Montero (2002) article, I has a flash of nostalgia that sent me back to my fifth grade Math class (that's right, math). When looking at their vignette and then their essential questions regarding literacy opportunities with digital cameras and computers, I realized that when I was in fifth-grade, despite that being roughly 15 years ago, I had many opportunities to build my computer literacy combined with my knowledge of math. Our teacher was (and still is) a man who is absolutely passionate about integrating literacy and content. He had us build houses of out miniature wooden beams as a contractor would. But before we could build, we had to design the layout of the house first on paper, then on computer using a Mac word document. We were gaining math content knowledge, computer literacy, and architectural literacy as we used specific vocabulary to a field that none of us at that age had any prior experience with. The Digital Language Experience Approach (D-LEA) that the authors discuss is becoming exponentially more important to our younger students now than it was when I was in elementary school, and teachers must continue to find ways of integrating the newest technology software into their classrooms so our children can become literate both in print and digital avenues. Also, the article by Figg & McCartney (2010) provided what I thought was a framework similar to my personal learning experience as well. The idea of students teaching the teachers and parents using these digital stories while at the same time enhancing both digital literacy and writing skills is a very powerful tool. When students of the ages used in the study can take ownership of work and then be the expert to their parent (or VIP in this case) and teacher, students internalize that what they have created is legitimate and their own.

Robert Kennedy MLK Speech CLICK ON IT!


          "Podcasts offer opportunities to introduce or reinforce information from the classroom, to remediate students who need additional instruction or access to content discussed in the classroom, or to feature content experts or guest speakers under the guidance of a teacher external to the actual school building," (Putnam & Kingsley, 2009, pg 101). I wanted to start with this quote because I feel that speechs made throughout history, such as the poweful one delivered by Robert Kennedy linked here, as well as other content that teachers do not have the ability to change (and should not change) to fit into the curriculum can be accessed by podcasts like the one above. The site I found this at is the Educational Podcast Network, which offers podcasts in all content areas. I picked this podcast specifically because despite it not being student created, it is one that I believe reiterates the power of using the internet for content and literacy learning. I think that teachers can use these resources as examples of podcasts, and get students to possibly write their own speechs and mock lectures, which again would combine both their digital literacies with their content knowledge and writing and language development.

I don't think I will ask many of my future students to make posters anymore....

Wiki Freedom: Who Needs Encyclopedias Anymore?

          Do we still use encyclopedias to conduct research? I was thinking this as I read this week. I thought back to my college experience, and the even farther back to my high school research experience as Hunt did. From what I can remember, I do not recall even picking up an actual encyclopedia in college. My only memories of using encyclopedias are from my high school years when we would have to use World Book for Global Studies research. The article by Hunt and Hunt (2006) resonated with me because even as my high school days came to an end, Wikipedia was the new way to find the "quick and dirty" information we needed to start our research. Even when I was a student teacher, I knew my students would look at Wikipedia to conduct online research. I made it clear that the site was acceptable as a starting point, much like how Richardson discussed teachers' uses of Wikipedia, but that it was not to be their only source of information. The Hunt article brought up some concerns and implications that I believe we all have to consider in our own classrooms (when we get them) because by the time students get to us (assuming I am teaching high school) they will be well versed in using multi-modal resources and Web 2.0 materials. Especially for me in a Social Studies class that conducts research frequently at the high school level, monitoring information and plagiarism seems to be getting harder and harder to do.

To discuss the use of Wikis in the classroom, I think that using them in a controlled manner, meaning through a site that is password protected and watchable by a teacher, should be encouraged in school districts. Using them across content areas as well could provide an enrichment experience for students that could not be provided within classroom walls. Furthermore, it gives the shy and quiet students the opportunity to use their written voice in editing and sharing information online. In our CNYRC seminar this past weekend, I sat in on a Collaborative Writing in the 21st Century lesson, where a teacher demonstrated how she had students using wikis in small groups to write their own stories. Students from different classes could work together online at the same time and chat about what to write while they were writing it. I believe the site was through Blackboard.

As teachers, we need to be willing to dedicate time to using the read/write web as an extention of the classroom, not just for the sake of writing a wiki or blog.

The wiki I followed this week was actually a wiki on the Twilight Series (I am reading it for my Adolescent Literature class). I found it simply by typing in 'wiki list' to Google, channeling though Ask.com, and it brought me to a list of popular wikis. It linked me to http://entertainment.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia_Entertainment and listed the most popular and featured wikis the site has. Each book in the series has its own link, and when you click on one, the page resembles the set-up of Wikipedia. Furthermore, it gives people the ability to search for other wikis of interest. As I followed the Twilight wiki I was most impressed with the amount of interactive content it contained. It is not just information sharing, but it links to blogs, comments, photos, videos, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. This made me realize that wikis are not just informational like encyclopedias, but interactive and collaborative spaces that open doors to related information that you might not even think to be related at first glance.

Twilight Wiki