Friday, October 31, 2008

Hello Talen H. and Danielle

Hello! My name is Bri. I live in Maine. I have one younger sister. Her name is Erin. I like to run and ride my bike. I am in college learning how to be a teacher. I can't wait to hear from you.

Monday, October 20, 2008

ACTEM Conference

1. Smartboards take white and chalk boards to the next level. You write and draw on it like a white board, but you can also save what you write/draw, go online, and play videos without leaving the board. The Smartboard is controlled by your touch.

2. Senteo Student Response System is a remote control like device that eliminates paper and pencil test taking. The questions can be projected on the wall, handed out, or written on the board and the students enter their answers into the Senteo devices. When the student has completed the test, he/she gets their grade immediately and the grade is recorded on the teacher's computer. Senteo's can be used for yes and no, true and false, multiple choice, multiple answer, survey, and math questions. It cannot be used for essay or open ended questions. The presenter said that his students enjoy test taking more when they use the Senteo devices.

3. Free and Open Education Resources are informational texts that can be edited, changed, or manipulated. An example of a Free and Open Education Resource is Wikipedia.

4. GeoGebra is a program that helps students with math subjects like fractions and measuring. It is free and you can download it to your computer. www.geogebra.org

5. Jing is a program that allows you to captures and shared images and video. You can download it to your computer for free. www.jingproject.com

6. www.spellingcity.com is an online spelling test. You can create your own spelling test or take one that already exists. The site has Test Me, Teach Me, and Play A Game options to better help the students with the words.

7. www.magneticpoetry.com is the online version of creating sentences or stories on the fridge with the magnetic words. Students can click and drag words from the word bank to the picture of a fridge.

8. SketchUp is a software program where you can create 3-D models of buildings and structures. The presenter gave an example of a project one class did useing SketchUp where the students created 3-D models of historic buildings in their town. http://sketchup.google.com/

9. Place-Based Technology Projects are community based projects using technologies like GIS ans GPS. North Haven Community School is located in a clamming town, so students did a project where they used GIS (Geographic Information System) to map out how many people live on the island during different seasons.

10. Overall Reaction to the Day: I enjoyed myself and learned about some new and interesting programs. I also recieved a huge list of websites that will most likely come in good use when I have my own classroom. Two of the four sessions I attended were very useful, and the preseters were up beat and interesting. The other two presentations had some good information/ideas/programs for the classroom, but the presenter was boring and didn't captivate the audience.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Webquest

My overall interest in this WebQuest is to have students study the slavery and the path to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

1. A Day in the Life of...
Topic: Have students gather information on a day in the life of a slave
Grade Level: 6th
Task: You are a slave telling a reporter (since you can't read or write) about your daily life. You include any work you do, how you are treated, any fears you have, etc.
Roles (at least 3): Slave on the plantation - You are a slave working on a plantation. How are you treated? Do you know any free slaves? Have you ever attempted/thought about running away?
Runaway slave - You have just runaway. What has your journey been like so far? How close/far away are you from reaching freedom?
Free slave - You have reached freedom! What was your journey like? Was is very dangerous? How does it feel to be free? How is your life different now?

2. Travel the Underground Railroad!
Topic: You are a runaway slave on your way to freedom in the North. You are traveling the dangerous Underground Railroad and keeping a journal of your travels as you go.
Grade Level: 5th
Task: Keep a daily or weekly journal as you travel the Underground Railroad. Be sure to include any people you meet along the way, any dangers you encounter, and whether you made it to freedom or got caught.
Roles (at least 3): Child - You are a child traveling with your parents.
Woman - You are a woman trying to make it to your family who has already reached freedom in the North.
Man - You are a man who is following the Underground Railroad to reach freedom in Canada.

3. A Helping Hand Along the Way
Topic: Research safe houses along the Underground Railroad and how they hid slaves from the slave hunters.
Grade Level: 7th
Task: Your home is one of the safe houses along the Underground Railroad. It is your job to prevent the slaves passing through from being caught by slave hunters and brought back to slavery. How will you keep these runaways safe?
Roles (at least 3): Safe house owner - You are one of the many safe houses along the way. It is your job to protect and prevent your guests from being caught.
Runaway slave - What is it like at the safe house? Do you fell safe?
Nearby Neighbor - You don't approve of your neighbors harboring runaway slaves, yet you won't snitch on them because they are close friends. How do you handle the situation? Will you keep quiet or tell the authorities?

4. Famous People in the Anti-Slavery movement
Topic: Research famous or important people of the Underground Railroad.
Grade Level: 6th
Task: You are an important person in the path to freedom from slavery. You are very well liked and trusted among slaves, free or not. You are being interviewed for the local newspaper about your role in the freedom of slaves.
Roles (at least 3): Harriet Tubman - Led hundreds of slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad. She was a runaway slave from Maryland and was known as "Moses of her people."
Frederick Douglass - A leader in the anti-slavery movement. He was an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln and played an important role in human rights during the Civil War era.
Harriet Beecher Stowe - Known for her book Uncle Tom's Cabin and other novels about slavery. She was familiar with slavery, anti-slavery movement, and the Underground Railroad.