Gladly Would I Teach

I used to hate those days when I had to teach students how to write research papers. I would go over the entire process with students, distribute our research guides that illustrated how to document sources, and then take my classes to the library (yep, we used to call them libraries). Then for the next three days, students wielding heavy reference books would chase me around the library asking, "How do I cite . . . " 

It was maddening, and judging from the moans in the English Department workroom, other teachers shared my frustration.

Then, I met NoodleTools, a true gift from God.

NoodleTools is an online subscription service that allows students to set up source lists according to MLA, APA, or University of Chicago styles. Students begin by selecting the correct format and then start a source list. The program then asks students a series of questions about each source. Assuming that students answer the questions correctly, NoodleTools will create the citation for students and add it to the list of sources. Subsequent sources are then formatted and added to the list in alphabetical order. After students have added all of their sources, NoodleTools produces a perfectly formatted list for students to print or download into their research papers.

In the old days, students came to me and I had to help them create their citations by asking them a questions and helping them navigate through the research guide. Now, I just have to show kids how to use NoodleTools and then NoodleTools asks those same questions and walks students through the process.

In addition to creating citations, NoodleTools will show students how to create parenthetical documentation, provide a space for students to write annotations, and allow students to take notes on online notecards.

The subscription for schools is around $350 annually (if I remember correctly), and schools and students can create unlimited source lists. Students who work in groups can actually create an account together and work on a list collectively.

For those of you who are thinking that this program won't work for your students because students will still bombard you with hundreds of citation questions, NoodleTools provides another aid. Beside each citation on a list, there is a special gift called:

"Have a Question?" 

When students click on it, the program opens an "Ask an Expert" screen where students can then submit their questions through email and someone at NoodleTools, some kind soul with much more patience than I have in the midst of writing research papers, will respond to students within 24 hours!

Subscriptions are also available for individual teachers ($60 annually) and for individual students ($8 annually). Free trials are also available for teachers.

If you teach in a school where you have no money for such a service, NoodleTools also offers a free service to help students create citations. Students will then have to copy and paste the entries into a word processing document.

If you require students to write research papers, you owe it to yourself to investigate NoodleTools.

Now, if I can just figure out how to install a "Have a Question" button in my classroom!

via techlearning.com

Back up your files!

Back up your files!

Back up your files!

We all know the warnings and the terrible stories of people who have lost important files because of computer problems.

We all know we should back up our files frequently.

We all have good intentions.

Most of us also have horror stories.

My horror story took place in 2006 during final exams. I turned on my laptop to finish my grades during an exam, but nothing came on. The computer was frozen, nobody home. The school technology expert pronounced my hard desk dead and told me he would put all of my files on a new hard drive. All he needed was my back-up.

You probably know the story from there. I hadn't backed up in awhile. . . two months to be exact. I took my "crashed" computer to a local repair shop who did their best to retrieve the recent files that were not on my backup. Eighty dollars and two weeks later, I had a new hard drive on my computer and most of my files.

Most of my files – not all.

I had no excuse for not having an up-to-date backup. I had an external drive that I could have used daily, and/or I could have backed up my files to the school's servers. This, however, took a few minutes, and I was so so busy, or so I thought. Besides, when had I ever needed a backup?

Despite my best intentions, even after my crash, I never seemed to find the time and desire to backup my files on a regular basis . . .

until I met Mozy, my new best friend.

Mozy is a FREE (to individuals) Internet storage and back-up system. It allows users to create an account and then backup all of their files to Mozy servers. Once the initial backup is compete (around 2 hours), Mozy automatically backs up user files every day when your computer is turned on and connected to the Internet. It works in the background and works at times when you are not working on your computer. After the initial backup, the daily backups take only 2-5 minutes (at least for me).

Best of all, I don't have to do anything . . . and I like free programs that don't require me to do anything.  I now know that if my computer crashes, if my on-site backup (if I had such a thing) is destroyed, Mozy has all of my files, and all I have to do is download them to my new computer or new disk drive.

If you want a simple and free way to backup your files painlessly, please take a look at Mozy! It may justs save you from frustration and embarassment one day when you least expect it.

Mozy

via www.wittycomics.com

Here's a great resource for creative assignments or for work on writing dialogue.

A recent study of 50 Princeton students uncovered that students prefer textbooks over the new Kindle DX. Aaron Horvath, one of the students in the study, told U.S. News World and Report:

“Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes, and other marks representing the importance of certain passages—not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs. All of these things have been lost, and if not lost, they’re too slow to keep up with my thinking and the ‘features’ have been rendered useless.”

Read the full article from US News & Report

Because the study involves only 50 students, it is impossible to tell if other college students will regard the Kindle DX so negatively. I own a second generation Kindle that is slightly smaller than the DX. I absolutely enjoy reading on the Kindle and love having the ability to carry over 200 books around with me wherever I go. One of my favorite things to do on Sundays is to look at The New York Times book  reviews and then download sample chapters of books that interest me to my Kindle. I have never regretted my decision to purchase a Kindle.

Even though I think the Kindle is a marvelous reading tool, I certainly understand why students might be unhappy taking notes on a Kindle. While the Kindle allows users to highlight passages, the Kindle provides black and white text only and “highlights” by underlining the text. It also takes much longer to highlight text on the Kindle than it does to highlight in a textbook or novel. Taking notes on the Kindle is so time consuming, that I rarely even attempt it.

I tend to read faster on my Kindle than when I read  a print text, probably because I do not highlight or take notes as often since these two acts are time consuming with a Kindle. As a result, when I finish reading a book on the Kindle, I don’t feel that I know it or remember it as well as I do when I read a print text.

I love my Kindle, and I hope the next generation of Kindles will include easier and faster methods for highlighting and note taking. A stylus for taking notes and highlighting would be perfect.

And what I would give for a Kindle with color.

ClassTools.net: Create interactive flash tools / games for education

What a great site to create review games and activities. Best of all, it's free!

Portland staff had been considering the move to Facebook for months, but had to overcome some hurdles — including the district's own security.

via www.oregonlive.com

As more and more parents and students establish Facebook accounts, why are schools so far behind? What a great communication tool! Too many teachers who recognize the possibilities of Facebook are prevented from using it because their schools block access to social networking sites. Last year I attended a staff development meeting where the leaders told us that we had to meet students where they are: the Internet. They emphasized the need to establish websites and to communicate through email without recognizing that for most of our students email and websites are passe' because students have moved on to social networking sites.

I am what I learn.

The U.S. Department of Education is hosting a video contest for students. The contest is open to students 13 and over who make a short video (no more than 2 minutes) about the importance of education. It looks like an interesting assignment for kids.

I Am What I Learn

If you want to create free motivational or classroom graphics, take a look at Tuxpi.com. Users can very quickly upload an image and create wanted posters, postage stamps, motivational posters, newscast photos. etc. It's so easy that you can give the link to students and tell them to create a project based on a literary character or another classroom concept.

Best of all, it's FREE!

Tuxpi.com

My first classroom in 1977 had a chalkboard instead of a whiteboard, a
calculator for determining grades instead of a computer, and a large
television that could be reserved and rolled into my classroom on
special occasions instead of the mounted television in my classroom
today. Teachers in those days rarely asked for new technology because
so little classroom technology existed. Besides, learning to operate a
movie projector and creating the perfect loop in the film so that it
would run properly was stressful enough without worrying about other
machines. When I needed to make copies of handouts for students, I
walked down the hall to the manual ditto machine and churned out
beautiful purple copies of handouts that students would immediately
hold up to their noses and smell as soon as I distributed them in class.

Technology was limited in the 1970s.

Today everyone encourages teachers to utilize technology so that our
students will be prepared for the work force or so they will be able to
compete with students around the world who presumably are spending much
of their time mastering the technology that can be so scary to
teachers, particularly older teachers who spent their early years
perfecting their teaching craft without the use of technology. My
classroom today has a mounted television and LCD projector and some
new-fangled DVD /Video component that takes an instruction guide, four
students, and one old teacher 10 minutes to figure out how to turn on
each day. Additionally, I have a laptop computer, desk computer,
digital camera, printer, white board, electric hole punch, and electric
stapler; the last two items are the only machines I have truly
mastered. Instead of walking down the hall to churn out copies on a
manual ditto machine today, I simply send the handout from my laptop
computer to the copy machine down the hall and then pick up the copies
whenever I feel like walking down the hall. Things have certainly
changed.

How does a teacher firmly planted in the twentieth century, however,
encourage twenty-first century students to use technology? Or, in
today’s vernacular, what can a technology immigrant teach digital
natives about technology? For years, I have required students to create
PowerPoints, digital photography projects, and brochures, but this
semester I decided to take a leap into video. In teaching ethos,
pathos, and logos to my Advanced Placement English seniors, I decided
it would be a marvelous assignment to require students to create
one-minute video Public Service Announcements.

I had several problems. First, I had no idea how to create a video,
much less how to teach students how to create a video. Secondly, I
didn’t have the equipment for creating videos in class, and I certainly
didn’t want to waste valuable classroom time with students running
around the classroom and halls making a video. Normally, these
obstacles would have been sufficient to stop any aspirations I might
have for a video assignment, but I decided to take a different approach.

I showed students several video Public Service Announcements in class
and told them that I wanted them to get in groups and create one. I
then bared my soul and told them that I didn’t know how to create a
video myself and would not be able to help them, but I suspected that
many of them knew much more about video than I did and would have the
equipment to produce a video. For those students who were as
technologically anxious as I am, I gave them the option of creating a
PowerPoint presentation or even a digital flyer. A week later we viewed
all of the projects in class, and, not surprisingly, with no direction
from a teacher and no equipment from the school, most groups created
video projects. I’ve posted a few of the projects on my class website:

Class Public Service Announcements

As a teacher I often worry if I don’t have all the answers, but
experience is a great teacher. At least when it comes to technology,
stepping back and allowing students to lead is much more productive.
Besides, sometimes it’s so much more relaxing to become a cheerleader
who encourages kids instead of the guide who always knows all the
answers.