INTEGRATING DIGITAL LITERACIES INTO YOUR CLASSROOM Dr. Craig Schroeder Jessie Clark Middle School Dr. Margaret Mohr-Schroeder University of Kentucky

Thinking Outside of the Box

Web 2.0  Web 2.0 is the second generation of web development and design  Characteristics: communication, information sharing, user-centered, collaboration, user-friendly  Examples: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Wikipedia, Blogspot, Flickr

New Literacies/Digital Literacies  Literacy – ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use…associated with varying contexts. Involves a continuum of learning…to participate fully in the wider society. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)  New Technologies require new literacies  Regular change 

How do we integrate?  Always try to pilot or at least talk to others who have successfully implemented  Like New Literacies – always changing  Put the content first!!!!!  Use something because it promotes, engages, takes to a different level…  Thinking and learning  DON’T use something just because it’s hot or fun! (in your classroom)  Keep in mind ethics

Twitter  Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging tool  “Status updates” – 140 character limit  Each post is called a “tweet”  Have discussions – follow people  Promote articles, products, ideas  Stay connected in real time  More than 7 million users  3 years old  Becoming a fast and powerful news source  “CNN of the new media generation” TechCrunch Blog

Dos and Don’ts of Twitter  Take the time to learn about Twitter  Make new friends and keep the old  Don’t bore your followers  Social media is PUBLIC media  Don’t impersonate  Maintain a proactive profile  Don’t be afraid to “retweet” – share information! From

Twitter in the Classroom  Great resource for sharing things quickly  Allows communication with parents and students  “Followers” can sign up to for text message and alerts  Students are reminded of homework due  “I like the instant interaction with students and parents. It’s a live homework helpline/blog for students.”  Can be embedded in websites for easy updatesembedded in websites

Twitter as Professional Development  If follow the right people, can be a great Professional Learning Network (PLN)  Get out of it what you put in to it  Connect you to other people in your area and out of your area – don’t be afraid to add people outside of mathematics!  Get ideas for lessons through classroom management to differentiation of instruction  Keep up-to-date on education topics  Common Core Standards

Who to start following  coolcatteacher  Edutopia  educationweek  web20classroom  mathteachers  ukPIMSER  MathEdLeaders  mcleod  NMSI  STEMeducator  For more great people to follow check out Twitter4Teachers bworks.com

Twitter for Educator Tips  Follow people you know and trust to begin with  Explore sources: Twitter4Teachers  Wiki that connects you to teachers in your area  Limit network (at first) to a manageable number of followers  Information-gathering objective  “Retweet” – if you like a message, share it!  Use hashtags (#mathematics) but don’t overuse  Avoid talking about individual students or colleagues – whatever you post can be shared across the internet  If you want a personal account, make it private and keep your school and personal separate

What is Wordle.net?Wordle.net  Text analysis tool that generates “word clouds”  The bigger the word (cloud) the more frequently the word appeared in the text used  Change fonts, layouts, and colors  Written by Jonathan Feinberg – IBM Research  Java Platform

How did we use Worldle.net?  Used it as a text analysis tool to help students reflect or analyze their writing  Can journal and as a class create a wordle.  Have students write a reflection on the image they created  Students had freedom to change layout, colors, fonts, etc.

What is Ning?  Social Networking tool where you can create a social network around a specific topic (or class) instead of joining a large group like Facebook or My Space (where students usually are)  Can make as exclusive or as open as you want  Add pictures, video, chat, groups (open or exclusive), Event Calendars, discussions, & blogging

Advantages of Ning  Private or as open as you want  Similar to “old” Facebook format – students are familiar with  Add friends and write on each other’s walls  Individualize pages – Main page is responsibility of owner  Member pages can be changed to be a reflection of themselves

Using Wikis  Website that uses wiki software  Easily create and edit webpages within a browser  Wikipedia is an example  Collaborative Websites  Class projects  Unit planning or collaborative lesson planning  Give specific instructions!

Using Wiki Resources  Common Wikis – Wikispaces, PBWiki, Google Sites/Wiki  Tips for Creating a Positive Relationship with your cooperating teacher:  Wiki Teacher Resource:  Classroom Project (beginning wiki): wiki-teaching-art-of-using-wiki.html wiki-teaching-art-of-using-wiki.html

SKYPE in the Classroom  SKYPE is a free online “phone” and “videoconferencing” tool  Have a microphone and/or webcam  Can dial a phone number or you can dial a user  Easy way to open up your classroom and bring in guest speakers  Skyped in a group of preservice teachers from Moscow  Can do virtual field trips  Conduct interviews

SKYPE in the Classroom  A student who is homebound can SKYPE into the classroom  Meet “face-to-face” after being in a social network before  Conference with parents  Collaborate with other teachers  Conference with students who need extra help with homework  Collaborate/conference with mentor or university supervisor

Wolfram|Alpha   Answer engine  Answers factual queries  Uses structured data instead of creating a list of webpages that could help answer your question  Powerful in mathematics  Is using technology cheating?

Looking Ahead…  Google Wave - a new collaboration tool coming out this year  Community Project/Quantitative Literacy using Andrea Mosaic

Other Great Resources  Dr. Schroeder’s How To vidoes:   Intel® Education  Google Site for Teachers - py?hl=en&answer= py?hl=en&answer=  ml ml

THANK YOU! Margaret Mohr-Schroeder Craig Schroeder