Teaching Ideas from Barone & Wright (2008)

1. Allowing students to stay in the classroom or computer room during recess to engage in non-instructional activities. This would be particularly useful for students without Internet access at home, and would potentially help students remain focussed during the teaching time because have can look forward to free-time on the computers after class.
2. The creation of a group of students ('Wright's Techies') from his 4th-grade class who had moved up to 5th grade. It is their responsibility to assist their 5th grade teachers and classmates with everything laptop-related, including the operation of all applications and troubleshooting problems.
3. Useful website resources:

• Flashcard Exchange - Teachers can input information for flashcards and students access them online
• Google Earth Can be used in teaching mapping skills and about other countries
• WritingFix Can be used to teaching writing traits

Barone, D., & Wright, T. E. (2008). Literacy instruction with difital and media techologies. The Reading Teacher, 62(4), 292-302

Happily Blogging

The following are examples of educational blogs which could be used to model effective blogging to students.

The Amazing Adventures of Albert the Blogging Bear

This is the class blog of the year 4/5 class at Orange Grove Primary School in Perth and would be suitable for Stage 2 and 3 students. It is particularly good for students because it is attractive, user-friendly and consists of student-created content.

WWF Climate Blog

This stated aim of this blog is to provide readers with an inside look at the climate change policy negotiations. It also provides information about the WWF's campaign actions, how to take action and engage with the WWF's Climate Team. It could be used with a late Stage 3 class as a research activity and can be used in conjunction with the Grab Your Fork blog (below) to demonstrate the different types of blogs which exist.

Grab Your Fork

This blog could be used for late Stage 2 and Stage 3 students to show that blogs can be used in everyday contexts as well. It is attractive and demonstrates effective use of visuals to accompany blog posts, and also demonstrates that some blogs are commercial and create advertising revenue.

Copyright at University and School

Can I copy material from the internet for research?

Yes, as long as your use is fair.

What constitutes research and fair use?

Research and study

In the past the Court has referred to the meaning as in the Macquarie dictionary definition of 'research' and 'study'.

Research: "diligent and systematic enquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover facts of principles..."

Study:

"1) The application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, as by reading, investigation, or reflection

2) The cultivation of a particular branch of learning, science, or art...

3) A particular course of effort to acquire knowledge

5) A thorough examination and analysis of a particular subject:"

Fair use

A “reasonable portion” of text or notated music

If you are reproducing text or printed music from a hard copy edition of 10 or more pages, the Act deems that it is fair to copy:

• 10% of the number of pages; or

• one chapter, if the work is divided into chapters.

For text material published in electronic form, it is deemed to be fair to copy:

• 10% of the number of words; or

• one chapter, if the work is divided into chapters.

If the material is available in hardcopy and separately in electronic form, you can choose which form to use, and apply the relevant test to work out what is deemed to be fair.)

An article from a periodical publication

The Act deems that it is fair to reproduce an article from a periodical publication (such as a newspaper, magazine or journal) or more than one article if each article is for the same research or course of study.

Can students ( university or school ) use music in videos that they make?

Information sourced from:

http://www.copyright.org.au/pdf/acc/infosheets_pdf/g053.pdf/download

http://www.copyright.org.au/g038.pdf

Text Innovation: Alliteration in Possum Magic

This text innovation is based on Possum Magic by Mem Fox. In the book, there are a number of alliterative phrases as outlined in the first slide. With the whole class, the teacher would explain alliteration using these examples on the first slide then check their understanding using the question, 'What could they have eaten in Canada?' on the second slide. The students would then continue the lesson individually by coming up with their own examples of alliteration for slide 3.

Wordle Review

Wordle generates 'word clouds' from text that the user provides. The clouds are give greater prominence to words which appear more frequently and can be used as a visual representation of the key themes or phrases of the text.

The clouds are visually attractive and interesting, and could be used in the classroom as a frontloading activity for presenting a written text. For example, students could be given a word cloud to predict the themes and message of a text before seeing the text itself.

visit the wordle site

Digital and Critical Literacy Video

The example of the fictional 'tree octopus' in the video demonstrates how easily students can believe false information found on the internet. It emphasises the importance of training teachers to navigate the internet with discernment so that they are able to pass those skills onto their students.

New Literacies Definition

New literacies are the set of skills and strategies which enable individuals to construct, access and adapt meaning using the internet and other ICTs. Knobel and Lankshear (2006) extend their conception of 'new literacies' beyond technical competencies to include a post-physical and post-industrial philosophical approach to understanding and responding to the world.

Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2006). Discussing New Literacies. Language Arts, 84(1), 78