Wednesday, May 21, 2008

MnLInk

Hey there- I've been checking out MnLink and all of iti's great resources. I love how I can access all of the Mn public libraries from this one site. I live by the little tiny St. Bonifacius library buy it is part of the Hennepin cty library so I can access just about anything. But, with the Gateway link, I can access all the county libraries which is very cool.
The tutorials are great- I was thinking I could do a unit in my using tech classes about finding and using good resources but the tutorials would be perfect to put on my website or for students to access if they have been absent.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Thing 14

Collaboration
I had the pleasure of doing a collaborative lesson with Connie and my using tech students on how to stay safe on the internet (Instant messaging, websites, chat rooms etc.)I found a presentation from www.netsmarz.org which has information from two students who met a person on the internet who turned out to be dangerous. The last part of the netsmartz presentation is an activity showing how easy it is to find out who you are and where to find you based on very little information posted at a 'myspace' or similar site. It is very powerful and the students seemed very engaged.
Upon completion of the presentation, Connie talked to the kids about 'to catcha predator.' Many of our students had never heard of it and were shocked when we told them the premise. Connie had some great analogies about using chat rooms. I'll let her blog about though.
Overall- a great experience and hope to do it each quarter. Thanks Connie!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

sketchbook

THING 15

Collaboration-
I am going to do a collaboration project with the fabulous Ms. Nuss. I found this great DVD presentation for Internet safety. It's called Netsmartz. It's a DVD where they show how easy it is for a predator to find a child from just an email address. There are interviews from students who have been victims of abuse from a person he/she met on the internet.
The web address is www.netsmartz.org/
and it is totally free. I teach using tech once a day here at the freshman center. All of my students use 'myspace' and the like and seem to have no idea how to keep themselves safe.
Connie Nuss is went to an internet safety forum last night and is going to help me add to the lesson.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Thing 14 Reliable online resources

There are really so many searching options available. Although, I am starting to like Google, students think it is the only way to find information. Something that stood out for me was at the Internet public library. I liked the huge list of search engines along with a review. I especially liked 'searchmash.' (I just realized it is powered by google, I just can't get away)

I also found some great resources at "teenspace" where teens can find anything from homework help to great sites for waisting time. There was even a Science project guide with tips on choosing a topic, completing the project and displaying the project. There really is no excuse not to have a great science project. This area is attached to hundreds of links organized in a way where a student is directed to the portion he/she is interested in and guided to a potentially amazing science project.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

THING 13

Subscription data bases-
I checked our the Gale subscription data base. There is a ton of science information. I found that I can find specific images that I can add to my notes or lectures to help students understand an abstract topic. I love that! It's kind of a pain to search through the millions of images in a regular search engine to find a diagram or animation that works. I will definitely use this again. (I had to look under "multimedia"

Monday, March 17, 2008

THING 6

I have had my advanced Science students working on the research project. They are definitely struggling. It seems honor students really have a tough time if I don't tell them exactly what to write. (Coming up with topic was like pulling their toenails off) I'm going to give some of the worksheets a try to help them gather their information. I'm going to start with the 'evaluating websites worksheet'.