Basic
"Making the Grade" Training:
MtG is RBHS' new gradebook
software, representing an upgrade over Gradebook Power. It
was piloted by four teachers during 03-04 and then recommended
by the entire Tech Committee at the end of that year. This
training offers an introduction to the use of MtG.
Basic Edline Training:
Edline is a tool for
communicating with students and parents. It is a web-site
that allows you to post grades, assignments, news, and calendar
information as well as to send mass e-mails to your classes.
This training offered an introduction to the software.
"Making the Grade" Advanced Uses:
MtG has uses beyond simple
recording of grades. The reports offer the most powerful
tool, but there are additional shortcuts and options for adding
comments to grades. This training simply offered a
demonstration of those options.
Using
Interactive Blogs:
Honors English 9 students
read 1984. Because it is such a difficult text, I
wanted them to be able to interact with each other while
reading. They kept online blogs, or Internet-based
journals, that they linked with each other to respond to the
text.
Vampire
WebQuest:
Contemporary Lit C is reading
Dracula. To learn about the historical and mythological
background of vampires, they will be doing a WebQuest wherein they
become hypothetical vampire hunters, handing down their knowledge to
future hunters.
Outlining with Inspiration:
Honors English 9 students
are reading Lord of the Flies. They have been
tracking a symbol throughout the book and must now write an
essay about what the symbol might represent. In class,
they will be using Inspiration to turn their brainstormed ideas
into a visual outline.
Starting a Bulletin Board:
Honors 9 students read
Shakespeare's Othello. Because tackling Shakespearean
language can be difficult, I used an online bulletin board to give
students a place to interact and ask questions of one another.
As opposed to a blogs which are more private, the bulletin board is
a truly public space where open-ended discussions and debates can
develop.
FAQ's with Students
FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) are an
alternative to traditional research papers. For a FAQ, a
student presents research on a topic in web format as a list of
"essential questions" about the topic. Each question is
linked to an answer and citation in the wider Internet.
Building a
Class Web Site
Two classes of
Honors 9 students built a series of interlocking web pages
relating to different story elements of Homer's Odyssey.
Pages included plot summaries, analysis of archetypes and hero
myth, and allusions to other myths and popular culture.
The project was put together using Microsoft FrontPage and will
be a resource useable by next year's Freshmen.
NEW: Student pages will be
displayed/presented in room 214 on 2/24/05.
Photoshop
Cinematography
A mixed Film
Studies class will use Adobe Photoshop to alter famous movie
stills to experiment with the effects of cinematography.
Even if you don't teach Film Studies, this would be a nice
lesson to observe just to get a feel for some of the things
Photoshop can do.
Collegial
Blogs
You can earn 1 hour of
lane advancement by completing a collegial blog. With one
or more partners, start your own blog wherein you can reflect
upon any ONE unit that you teach. Your partners will
reflect on how they teach the same concept or unit. By
writing your own blog and reading your partner's, you'll not
only learn a new technology and earn strand credit, but also
you'll gain new insight into your own teaching.
