Social Bookmarking (Delicious)- NETS 1 and 5

My Social Bookmarking (Delicious) Website: http://delicious.com/kclark99

1. The exhibit that I chose was entitled “American Women!” and it features the lives of 106 American women who had a positive impact on American history. The tour begins with a description of 11 specific American women that are deemed “unforgettable” because of their actions and personalities. Then the exhibit progresses with a description of women from different time periods, such as the colonial era, civil war era, jazz era, feminist era and modern era. This would be a very valuable resource to use in the classroom if you were teaching about women’s history or the progression of the women’s movement. This exhibit promotes an understanding of the differences between primary and secondary resources, putting an emphasis on the use of primary sources as the most reliable and scholarly information.

2. The student groups who are at risk for experiencing achievement gaps include: racial and ethnic minorities, English language learners, students with disabilities, boys/girls and students from low-income families. In the “Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator”, I enjoyed the suggestion to gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff. Since I would consider myself an organized person, I think it would be very easy for me to begin to gather information related to different cultures that could be used in the classroom. The second suggestion I found useful was the one about creating a community network concerned with the needs of diverse students. This network would be made up of parents, family, teachers, school administrators, minority communities and faith-based organizations from the local area of the school. I think this allows a variety of voices and perspectives to be heard in creating and implementing a culturally diverse curriculum. A third and final suggestion would be to determine the diverse groups served by your school. I think it would be very important to find out the rich cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversities that exist within the school that I am teaching in order to help out my students in the best possible way.

3. After taking the “Are You a Cyberbully?” I found out that I am a cyber saint, meaning my online behavior is exemplary. I figured that this would be the response because I have never purposely sent messages to another person on the internet or through email to hurt or torment them. I think it is a cruel joke to conceal who you are online so that you can insult someone else and I would never participate in such rude behavior. In looking at the area for teachers, the website had many helpful tips and ideas on how to prevent and handle cyberbullying at the school I will be teaching at. First, it said that teachers should have the students and parents sign a document at the beginning of the school year about acceptable computer use policy. This can be used later to prove that the student who participated in cyberbullying knew the rules of what is and is not acceptable computer use, and could be used to show that they disobeyed the clearly defined rules. Second, the school should conduct an audit of its technology uses and needs to make sure that it is being used correctly. This audit would involve the school safety officer, the school board attorney, the principal, disciplinary officer, technology lab instructors, IT department, librarian, student representative and parent representative. A final tip was to do some strategic planning in relation to your specific school environment. Make sure that all parties involved- parents, students and teachers- are aware of the rules and know that they will be enforced on the school premises.

4. Under the subject access, I picked “Literature and ELA”. This led to a website that has countless resources for high school English teachers. There were websites dedicated to specific authors, such as Chaucer and Shakespeare, along with lists of authors and their literary works. Many websites that were listed explained how to help students with their writing, especially composition theory and writing techniques. I think I would definitely use this webpage because it has links to many other websites to help English teachers with just about anything. These websites could be used to help the teacher develop lesson plans, or it could be used as a reference for students who are doing research about anything for their language arts class. Under the “Teacher Helpers” area, I enjoyed the PowerPoint presentation entitled __. This PowerPoint focused on how teachers could successfully incorporate web quests into their classroom activities. A web quest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which students use resources on the internet to answer questions or lead a discussion. This PowerPoint presentation highlighted 12 tasks that could be accomplished through web quests: retelling, compilation, mystery, journalistic, design, creative product, consensus research, persuasion, self-knowledge, analytical, judgment and scientific tasks. I think having students engage in a variety of web quests that ask them to take on different roles as a learner would really improve their knowledge of subject material and technological resources.

5. Here are my top three results from the “What’s Your Learning Style?” Multiple Intelligences quiz: 1st place was Verbal-Linguistic (100%), second place was Intrapersonal (88%) and third place was a tie between Musical and Interpersonal (81%). The video on multiple intelligences that I watched was called “Multiple Intelligences Leave No Child Behind”. I found this video very interesting because it explained the mission of one school in shaping their curriculum entirely around this idea of multiple intelligences. Their school mission is to make every student feel “smart” by having them know their area(s) of intelligence. This allows the students to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses early on so they can address their weaknesses and try to search out potential careers based on their strengths. The school also uses elective classes (called pods) and online portfolio assignments for students to showcase their specific areas of intelligence. I agree with this idea there are no “dumb” students; simply students who are stronger in different intelligences. I hope that when I am a teacher I will we able to address the needs of a variety of students according to their multiple intelligences.

6. This lesson plan is called “And Maybe I Can Change That Too” and it is intended for use in a 9-12th grade Language Arts or Social Studies class. The students were reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and discussing the current impact that racism has in our modern society. One of their assignments was to write their opinion of a video they watched called “Profile of a Writer: Toni Morrison”, in which Morrison describes the connections she sees between our history of slavery and how it continues to have an effect on the black community today. Two students in particular, reacted to this video with racist viewpoints, stating that African Americans want to be in the position they are in society today, and they can’t help all the crime and divorces that are rampant in their communities. The teacher quickly stepped in to address such racist thinking by using a Socratic method of questioning. He asked the students to repeat their viewpoints, wrote them down in a chart on the board and then deconstructed their argument. Through a series of questions, the students were able to see their own racist viewpoints and correct their thinking. I found this lesson plan very helpful because I think the way the teacher handled the situation is definitely something that all teachers can imitate, regardless of what the argument is about. The best way to diffuse a heated argument is to ask students to restate their opinion, write down the main points on the board and then discuss them out loud mildly and reasonably. In time, the student(s) will begin to see the real answer or viewpoint.

7. One question was “According to a 2006 report from the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans comprise more than 37% of people arrested for drug use, 59% of those convicted for drug use, and 74% of those sentenced to prison for drug use. African Americans comprise what percentage of U.S. drug users?” The correct answer is a mere 15%! I found this statistic ridiculous! I cannot believe that racial profiling is still so prevalent in America that African Americans are arrested, convicted and sentenced in jail when they may not even be doing drugs. This shows how skewed our justice system can be at times so that people can be targeted for crime they did not even commit simply because of their skin color. A second question I found interesting was “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median annual income for U.S. white men, 25 years or older, who have earned graduate degrees, is $80,000. What are the median annual incomes for Latina and Native American women, 25 years or older, who have earned graduate degrees?” The answer is $50,000 and $40,000, respectively. I though to myself: why is there even a discrepancy in the first place? Since they both have graduate degrees, they should be earning the same wages despite gender or skin color. Again this shows that America is a long ways away from being fair when it comes to women, especially women of color and the job market.

8. My score on the netiquette quiz was 80% d :-o It is important to teach students about netiquette because it will enable them have more appropriate and productive conversations with people online. It will help to recognize what they are allowed to say and do over the internet so as not to offend the person that may be receiving the message. As one of the questions stated, following netiquette guidelines helps a person look good while online and also helps them to understand the technical limitations of online communication :->.