Edmodo ELA Benefit

Edmodo presents so many benefits for the ELA classroom.  There are unlimited applications through this program to promoting writing, reading, listening, and even speaking.  The promotion of this new literacy should considered by teachers, not just ELA.  The reason this website can be such a valuable tool for adolescents is because  of the friendly and familiar user interface.  Students love to spend on average 50 percent of their time on social networking sites communicating with friends and family.  Because of this, teachers need to get on board with social networking and accept that students will be more prone to complete their work if it is made available at their fingertips just as facebook.

Edmodo

Work in progress
www.edmodo.com/mathcity

Drop Box Questions

I am very familiar with dropbox, but I do not think that you can upload a URL web address.  I attempted to save the web address and then upload that saved file.  When I copied the link from the public folder it did not work correctly.  Any ideas on how to save an article to dropbox besides copy and pasting it into word and saving the word document to dropbox?

Week 5 Article on Writing and Technology

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43439166/Texting%20harm%20writing.webarchive.
I really liked this article because it shows how an increase in technology usage among our teenage generation may be hindering their ability to write.  We all know how students write when they are talking with their friends over IM or facebook, so it is important to remember that through all of the amazing benefits that technology in the classroom has to offer, it may be ultimately taking a toll on that generations literacy skills.  I believe this article is valuable for everyone to read to see the other side of the spectrum, away from how technology is the way to go.  This article made me realize that sometimes too much technology or certain technologies can sometimes be more harmful than helpful.  We need to choose carefully what we are promoting.

If dropbox link does not work here is the URL to the article
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/arcives/texting_impacts_student-writing.shtml

week 4 updated copy with iste standards

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43439166/Language%20Arts%20%26%20Tech%20Week%204.docx

Week 4

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/43439166/Language%20Arts%20%26%20Tech%20Week%204.docx

Week 3: Hands-on help of ELA

Grade Level: 7-8

Topic: Book report alternative: Comic strips and cartoon squares using Comic Creator.

Standards Addressed:

Common Core Standards

W.8.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

W.8.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

W.8.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.


NCTE/IRA NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound–letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Learning Outcomes: 

Students examine graphic novels and comic books and discuss the important components of the genre, such as captions, dialogue, and images. They then use an online tool to create a six-panel comic highlighting six key scenes in a book they have read. By creating comic strips or cartoon squares featuring characters in books, students are encouraged to think analytically about the characters, events, and themes they've explored in ways that expand their critical thinking by focusing on crystallizing the significant points of the book in a few short scenes.

This activity invites the student to think symbolically. The students choose key scenes for their characters and books, find landscapes and props that fit the scenes, and compose related dialogue. These student representations of the books, with their multifaceted texts using symbols, images, texts, and metaphor, succeed in the classroom because they provide a snapshot of the students' comprehension of the ideas in the texts. The alternative to a traditional book report "allows students to create something unique and show their understanding of what they read."

Technologies Needed:

Comic creator website

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/

Other internet resources

http://www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart10/cmbk1main.html
http://scottmccloud.com/

TimeLine for implementation

2-3 class sessions depending on familiarity of program.  

Integration/Implementation

This can be tied into class time after reading a novel, but also can be done after school for 3-4 thirty minute blocks.  I think that students will benefit from this if it is used as an alternate form of a book report instead of the traditional 5 page paper.  Giving the students this as another option is great.