Kevin Webster – “Internet Workshop and Blog Publishing…”

As stated in my previous blog post about the conceptual unit plan on pirates, the students in the article were given a chance to create what they had processed through texts.  This article pretty much does the same thing.  Based on the array texts already given, students created podcasts, a blog, poems, and other digital media to show what they had learned about pirates.  What was helpful for the students in this plan was that they had a strong connection with their information that allowed them to write and create which allowed them to “write with a purpose, authentic voice, and to create a meaningful representation of their learning.”  

Even though I will not be teaching elementary school, this type of learning does benefit the research and skills necessary in high school.  All too often students do not know how to measure the authenticity of online sources due to their unreviewed nature.  In only the fourth grade, these students were learning ethics of the Web, while at the same time, getting them to think about the facts or misrepresentations of resources and websites!  Pretty dang nifty if you ask me.  If they are showing that they can grasp these concepts in the fourth grade, it allows the secondary teacher more time to teach about content and less about ethics of the Internet.  

Also, the students were given an introduction to how easy it is to publish ANYTHING on the the internet through blogs.  This teaches first hand that the internet can be both a reliable and unreliable resource.  Though the students were not really required to develop more on that topic, it is an introduction into the world of computer space that they may not yet understand.  If it were me, I would be doing this with elementary students:  Not only are they allowed to be productive simply by created poems and blogs, but they are learning or have the basis to learn more complex ideas about the free publishing nature of the internet.  I give this method and unit a 10 out of 10.

 

Kevin Webster

Kevin Webster – “Swashbuckling Adventures on the High Seas…”

In “Swashbuckling Adventures on the High Seas: … ” a 4th grade class was presented with a conceptual unit plan based on the topic of Pirates.  This unit provided an array of texts, both fiction and nonfiction, from their reading level and below.  While reading texts, they also interacted with books, photographs, and maps on the same topic.  The reasoning behind this unit was to provide students with resources that they could both relate to and read; also, it rubbed against the grain of textbooks in that they provided “limitations” of material.  The students keep journals, made a dictionary, created double-entry diaries, posters and other projects alongside the texts so that the teacher could assess what they were learning and also provide a way to create what they were learning as a means to interact with literature given to them.

I fairly enjoyed this article, its methods, and conclusion.  It was a well thought out unit that aided the way student’s learn and cut out the boringness of the text books that they interact with.  What left me inspired was that the students had created so many things that they could hold, touch, and read; basically, their projects were revered and encouraged and showed their learning.  However, it was referenced in the article that the unit provided resources that were not easily attainable by every teacher.  All the texts would have to be bought, maybe of the detriment of the teacher’s wallet or through a grant possibility.  If other teachers followed this unit, it could be an investment for a school.

Kevin Webster

Educational Leadership Articles – Kevin Webster

I am really amazed at the plausibility of these two articles.  And after reading them, I felt a kind of disappointment that I did not receive this kind of individual attention and specific instructional strategy when I was in high school.  The first one, “From Efficient Readers to Strategic Decoders,” we get an idea that teaching reading falls off of the curriculum steadily as students progress in age.  It is a sad assumption that students “get” reading after elementary and middle schools, even though the texts they are presented with become more difficult in both syntax and vocabulary.  One idea seems to run parallel with my vision of teaching writing for the content area of this class:

Students develop a one-dimensional view of writing. They often receive explicit instruction in English classes on how to write essays for rhetorical purposes—for example, to explain, describe, or persuade. But students rarely connect writing with learning by using writing to explore and interpret meaning that they encounter in texts and class discussions.

In my content area I feel that other writing methods and strategy provide a support or scaffold for others types of professional and content area writing. Also, the graphic organizers presented by Daryl amazed me; such a simple strategy and lesson to a seemingly daunting problem today. I think it’s important for all educators to help students organize their ideas and thoughts both in reading and in writing to improve both.

The other article, “You Can’t Learn Much from Books You Can’t Teach,” was particularly surprising by the fact that students’ textbooks don’t match up with their reading levels. It makes perfect sense that students in a classroom do not have the same reading abilities, and a homogenous textbook would not facilitate this demographic. The fact that “most teachers who want to teach effectively have to teach against the organizational grain” disappoints me and illustrates the future challenges that all prospective teachers who want to teach effectively will face.

To reflect, these two articles are very insightful, and just reading them to refresh one’s mind would offer teachers a way to revamp a lesson that does not facilitate the two problems mentioned. Keeping these two ideas in mind throughout every class would make a teacher very successful in the classroom.

Kevin Webster

Kevin Webster – NCTE professional organization

My content area is writing.

The national professional organization that I think most English Educators join in the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE – http://www.ncte.org). I am already a member of this organization because my Teaching High School English class advised it. There is a student membership and it costs $20 which seems reasonable. This organization publishes numerous journals (English Education, English Journal, College English, too many too list) and also has an online community of teachers and it offers many other resources. The organization also publishes books, which are very expensive, on numerous topics.

The website has an overwhelming facade, but after a few visits it starts to make sense. The opening page has a calendar and announcements about seminars and conventions nationwide. There is an option to narrow down topics to school type (elementary, middle, secondary). NCTE also has links to its own philosophy about education and English studies. NCTE seems to be a progressive and inclusive organization. On many pages I see opportunities to submit program proposals for its conventions.

NCTE offers resource packets that focus on varying topics and is also coupled with the Read, Write, Think website that offers lesson plans for English language arts instructors. I found an amazing lesson plan: “A Collaboration of Sites and Sounds: Using Wikis to Catalog Protest Songs.”

This organization and its affiliates are going to be highly useful.

Kevin Webster

Content area: Writing – Kevin Webster

The content area I chose to use throughout this course is writing and its derivatives and I am going to use English I (9th grade) as a starting point.  English writing in the general Secondary arena requires that students know how to write in different styles: argumentative and persuasive essays, research style papers.  What I am interested in as an educator is also giving students an avenue to construct a narrative about themselves.  Think: blogging, multi-genre papers, and journals.  It is my personal opinion that when students can write truly about themselves and make adequate observations then they will develop the skills and reason necessary to write about other topics such as literature.

The standard course of study for English I in North Carolina states that students should be able to “express reflections and reactions to literature and to personal experience” and ” use knowledge of language and standard grammatical conventions,” which are goals of the writing process.  Also in the standards students should be able to respond to “non-print” texts which will provide a basis for technology integration into the classroom.

On the NCDPI website, I found some resources for WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) which integrates all types of styles of writing for different fields of study, and I found prompts for “cause-effect” and “problem-solution” styles.

Also, writing also allows for group and community work.  Peer review and writing workshops help students develop interrelationships among their peers and give them the opportunity to be in leadership roles.

Kevin Webster

Web Link Tools – Kevin Webster

Furl and delicious seem like pretty cool tools for the social “interneter.”  I only signed up for Furl because I didn’t want to go through the trouble of signing up for both.  I personally just save bookmarks on my internet browser, but I can definitely see how using these tools would be useful when A) doing a extensive collections on particular topics and B) when doing the aforementioned project collaboratively with other people.  My only complaint (because I am good for it) is that all these tools and add-ons to internet browers that try to simplify things can be darn confusing.  One needs to be quite organized in order for them to work properly and efficiently.

Kevin Webster

Search Findings – Kevin Webster

The three search engines I used for this exercise were Google, Yahooligans, and KidsKonnect. I decided to choose one of my favorite authors as a starting point, so I search for good ole Mark Twain. Google, in my opinion is the God of all search engines, and I like that most general search results begin with a Wikipedia entry link. It also brought up many academic resources, a link to his estate, and a whole website devoted to his quotes. I was really surprised by KidsKonnect’s resources; this website had a whole organized page about his works, and it also contained links to the Wikipedia entry, a biography, and photos. It seems to be pretty accessible for children. Also, I looked him up on Yahooligans, which offered about the same results as Google surprisingly.

The next thing I did was go out on a limb and check out a YouTube search. It had all kinds of useful things like reenactments of his novels, people acting as Mark Twain himself, and cartoons about him and his themes. I think most should probably check out YouTube for some really great resources or at least to brainstorm some ideas about topics in the classroom.

Kevin Webster

Kevin Webster’s Autobiographical Introduction

Grayson Highlands, VA: Fall, 2007 (yes, that is a dog with a lampshade, poor guy)

Hello world, my name is Kevin Webster. On January 6^th, 1987, my very sweet mother, Kathy, gave birth to me in the now dwindling city of High Point, North Carolina. After living there for about three years, our house, consisting of myself, my mother, my father, and my older sister, was broken into prompting us to move to a nearby growing town of Trinity, North Carolina, where I lived for 17 years before moving to Boone, North Carolina to attend Appalachian State University.

During my years as a child, I loved to play sports, ride bicycles, be outside (hiking, running, etc), and play music (I have been playing guitar since I was in fifth grade). These interests primarily led me to become a student at ASU, already having known and experienced many places throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. Just recently I have taken a liking to photography after receiving my first camera just over a year ago. Ever since, I have been documenting my life and my family’s life through the photographs of my travels throughout the United States. Just recently I visited the Grand Canyon, and even more recently I finally got to see my nation’s capital, Washington D.C.

When I was a Senior in high school, I figured out that I liked to read. Imagine that! So, when I enrolled at ASU, I figured heck! I’ll keep reading. I liked reading so much that I decided to become an English major. And after reading so much, I found out that I also like to write. Some thought that I wrote quite nicely and were kind enough to publish one of my poem’s in the first edition of The Peel, Appalachian State’s revived literary art magazine. If you find it, you might have a hard time finding my name because I used a pen name to publish it.

After pondering on why it took me so long to get interested in books and novels, I figured heck! I’ll become a teacher. But, more seriously, I felt a strong calling to be apart of my community, to be a catalyst for future generations, and I wanted to be in a position where I could make significant impacts on others’ lives and vice versa.

My favorite authors are Paul Beatty, Mark Twain, and Haruki Murakami. I liked to read other people’s personal poetry but I don’t like to let people read mine, not really fair is it? Those people are my favorite poets.

In the Fall of 2009, I will begin my student teaching, who knows where, and I look forward to it a lot. In the future, I would like to do other things than teach like: work on a farm, be a cowboy, be a writer, or work for a nonprofit organization.

This is my favorite photograph that I have ever taken (it was a lot of peoples’ Christmas present this past year):

Shosone Point, Grand Canyon: October, 2008

Kevin Webster