Announcing...

My new site page! My audience is my 7th period freshmen class, who has just started Romeo & Juliet. I created the site expressly for them--I am hoping that this will make my 7th period feel more entitled, which may also lead to the completion of homework from this particular class (they are my lowest). The purpose is that students will become comfortable blogging and utilizing the class website to keep up with classwork and the play as a whole. With any luck, integrating technology will help keep the students motivated and excited. We'll see!!


http://sites.google.com/site/jcuillier/Home

Freshmen Blogging?

Alright, I am going to do it. My freshman class is taking the plunge and we are going to begin blogging on a regular basis for the rest of the year. I figure I may as well, since I only have 74 more days to use the excuse, "Oh, I didn't know. It's my first year teaching. Sorry!" Also, I would like to work out the kinks now. My 7th period class is the first class that will blog, and they are actually the focus of my ARP for TIPS. I am hoping that while improving the blogging experience I can inspire these low achieving students to work a little bit harder (basically, this may kill two birds with one stone) while learning about the internet.

Recently we filled out ESLRs school wide, and the request was that we do this electronically if possible rather than in blue or black ink. It was during this activity that I realized my classes had been faking their technological savvy. The whole process gave me (and probably the students too) a headache--very few students were able to visit Communicado, log in, and download the necessary document on their own. I feel that basic internet/computer/typing skills should be taught to all freshmen, and I am hoping that next fall I can integrate computer usage alongside language/reading/writing skills.

Thinkfinity

So, I am a bit behind with the homework, but my students did research for mythology lessons that they are going to present to their classmates, and they used Thinkfinity for their research. Most of my students enjoyed the website and were able to pull information off to utilize in their lesson planning.

We did a quick, overview of how to properly analyze a website for legitimate information, and most of the students appeared to have a handle on what sorts of websites would help them and which ones would simply be a waste of time. I was impressed with how well the students were able to gather information and surf the internet, but would definitely like to do a more in-depth activity together examining websites. This will definitely take some through planning on my part, though! Anyone have any suggestions?

Troy Fight Recut from Jack Bauer on Vimeo.

Mmmm...cake

My Life in Pictures

Mohawks and Model Arms

Blogging for the Classroom

After sitting through our fantastic department meeting this morning, I have decided that I would like to have my students blogging on a consistent basis for my class (thank you Fleur!) I don't know if I can get this together before we begin Romeo & Juliet since I still have A LOT to learn, so ideally I would love to set it up over the summer and have my classes begin with it in the fall of 2009.

Some concerns that immediately come to mind: how much time will I need to devote to the computer lab to get the students up and running with Google accounts; how long will they need to learn the ins and outs of navigating through their Google account; setting up an accountability system to track who is actually doing the work; making sure that the resources are available and accessible for students; will this make me a lazy teacher?

Blogging and engaging students in the tools available on the Internet may prove to be a successful way to bridge the "technology gap" between my generation and the generation that I am teaching (I don't think it's much of a gap, for the record) and since the Internet is not going to go away, I may as well embrace its presence. Perhaps if I meet the students halfway with moving online, they may be more motivated to meet me halfway in reading the assigned text and responding.

What I think about Google tools:

I love the google tools! I think they could be my new best friends, especially if I can figure out how to implement them in the classroom...

The big question for me, however, is how to successfully motivate my freshmen English students. If anyone has any tips, I'll take them!