POST #3: Share a resource

I am a substitute teacher, so I do not have a username and password, and as such, am unable to currently access any of these sites.  It would be nice if AEA would develop a generic username/password for people in my situation.

I know just from the descriptions and course materials that I will be using AP Images, iClipArt and Soundzabound, especially.  I am very interested to see what is available in the other resources, but at this time I am unable to do so.

Iowa AEA Online offers many high quality web based resources to prek -12 grade students, parents, and educators to access at school and at home. This virtual library provides 14 links to many different information needs for your project, learning and research. It takes extensive time to navigate these databases.
I chose bookFLIX as the resource found on Iowa AEA online. I will use this site when substitute teaching for children in pre k to 3 grade.  I chose animals and nature. I taught a second grade unit on Dinosaurs and loved this topic so I chose the featured pair of the story T is for Terrible, and watched the story and followed along with the highlighted text. I then read the book Dinosaur teeth. this pair is found at  http://bkflix.grolier.com/sw/node-33978/bk0023pr.   I liked the highlighted vocabulary terms and the written definition and the definition read aloud.  I performed the puzzlers that accompanied the book. I clicked on the explore the web tab and checked out the http://bkflix.grolier.com/ncpage?tn=/gii.html&bl=off&url=http://www.kidsdinos.com/  for additional dinosaur games, information and interactives.
It is a useful resource for children to pick out a book in the topic of the current unit of study. I will have them follow along in the book as read to them by a narrator.  It allows for interaction with the text and strengthens vocabulary and promotes greater understanding of the subject matter.  

There are many aspects of this post that were initially very frustrating.  To begin. I had a lot of difficulty navigating the original site Iowa AEA Online.  I had to determine which of the many access user and passwords I have for accessing AEA 11 resources.  (Thank goodness, for the helpful tech person at my school!)  Once I was finally able to access the teacher section in the physical education, fitness, and health section for teachers,http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/article/249/obesity, was very excited to see the huge number of articles that were available.  While I found nothing to add greatly to my own knowledge on a wide variety of subjects (in my 41 years of teaching, I have always been a voracious researcher and have taken many many courses in my primary interest fields as related to my subject(s).  What I DID REALLY like was the list  of references and resources and would use them often in the future.  I would likely reference this site in future newsletters to parents as a way of encouraging them to become more aware of the whys and hows of PE, fitness and health for children.  I will also encourage our tech teacher to subsidize projects in the tech classes on the computer with these topics at this site.  

Although I am a substitute teacher, if I was designing a lesson plan from scratch I would use the following resource.  This is for a 7th grade Science class after an introduction to basic Solar System concepts and facts.  I would split the class into several teams to choose and investigate one of the NASA or other space agency missions that launched probes to planets or other objects in our solar system.  I would ask them to use AEA Online Resources for their investigations.  In class, on an overhead projector, I would demonstrate how to locate a short video on the New Horizons space probe launched by NASA to investigate Pluto.  In my example, I would tell students that I had no prior knowledge of the probe’s name.  I had actually selected “Pluto” as the solar system object I wanted to see if there was a probe sent to it.  I would have them use class laptops or iPads and follow along.

Go to the AEA Online Database website via their Junior High School library link.  Select Learn360 and login using the school provided credentials.   On the left side in the Search box enter “Pluto”.  This results in 74 hits.  Refine (narrow) their search by selecting “Science & Technology” and “Grades 6-8”.  This results in a more manageable 22 hits.  Scroll down until they see the “Observations of Pluto” video which the text description says includes the “New Horizons” mission to Pluto by NASA.  Watch the video.  I would tell the students that they should do a similar search for whatever planet or solar system object their team choses, discover what probes where sent to investigate that object and then proceed from there to research and present their findings.

I am a substitute teacher at four Siouxland Rural Schools.  I have not been provided with a user name or password by any of them.  However for the purpose of this class I could make an appointment with the school librarian in an effort to execute this assignment.  Another classmate mentioned his child's user name and password was the same for every student in the school.  I just texted my daughter in law to see if my first grade grandson has this information...she has no clue.  

I did go to the AEA Onine home page and clicked on Parent.  It listed all the resources available and the downloadable brochures for each.  I noticed BookFlix had a link to a free trial, but again it required a user name and password.  This is the site I would like to access as a resource for my 1st grade grandson and his preschool siblings.  They all love to read.  http://bookflix.scholastic.com/treetrial.  

I would also heavily use Learn 360 http://www.learn360.com/index.aspx. as it seems to have to most diverse data base available.  

I'd like to experiment with Soundzabound @ http://www.soundzabound.com/tutorials/website to create powerpoint presentations on family members or geneology.  

My plan is to use the Iowa High School Battle of Books and Iowa Teen Awards....http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?lid=4005 and   http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?lid=4255 in my English 9 classroom. (Will need to make sure books are at their reading level)   I will start by having the students look through both lists and pick at least 4 novels from the list that they find interesting.  They will then fill out a short form to show that they investigated the novel and author.  They will do this for the 4 books that they picked from the list.  I will then have them pick one of the books and use that as their independent reading novel.   Students will finish up their independent reading unit with a presentation of their novel and of their author.  They can use this AEA as an resource.  

Another site I plan on using is Teen Health and Wellness.  My Sophomore class will be doing a short research paper and I plan on having them use one of the topics from this site.  It gives them many valuable resources to use to aid them in writing their paper.

Another site I plan on using for my Mass Media is this video on blogging.   http://www.learn360.com/Search.aspx?d=13863516&ActiveId=All&standardname=common&Correlation=27199552&SearchCorrelationPath=true

My students in Mass Media will then start a blog for the class.

I used Culture Grams Kids’ Edition (http://online.culturegrams.com/kids/index.php) with my students the past couple of weeks. We focused our “morning meeting” on a different country each week. First Germany, then China. We greeted one another in that country’s language and then from the above link, I had a student find and click on the continent and then country; here is where we read the facts together as I projected the screen on my SMART board. We also clicked on a few of the left side options under “lifestyles” and “history” and read through those too. I showed my students how I accessed this site and the username/password so they could go in and look at more information. The objective of using Culture Grams in this setting is just to add some cultural knowledge into our “morning meeting.” I follow up the next day by asking what was the most interesting thing the students learned about that country, and they can remember a lot! (Sometimes, facts that I had even not remembered.) This just helps build appreciation for cultures around the world. By navigating the “Schools” and “Life as a Kid” sections, students become more appreciative of school and their life here in America. Although this does not align within a specific subject, it has a great impact on students learning about their world. As a world traveler, I find that knowledge of cultures and history is invaluable! And I love sharing this culture appreciation with my students. (I also add in my personal experience there as we expand into a great discussion.) Right now I utilize this source just in our morning meeting, but as students progress into middle school, hopefully they will remember this great source and utilize it for their research papers and projects in the future.

I use the Brittanica, the Teen Health and Wellness, and the Culture Grams.  I use this with my children as I am currently not in a classroom.  The Teen Health and Wellness has better resources than what the 7th grade health class uses.  The Culture Grams and Brittanica I use for my 3rd grade student so she has a jumping off point with research that is already educationally sound and not just a Google search.  I've tried to introduce my 7th grader to options in AEA but they don't seem to talk about them much in the district she's in.  They have them start with Google and we've had many discussions about being a discriminating consumer of online resources, why some sites are better than others and I'd rather have her use a vetted site like AEA.

I went to the TeachingBooks.net resource online and searched for books related to music. I found a considerable number of resources, but one book that I already teach was on there "I, Vivaldi."

http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=13875#AuthorInterviews

The website features several relevant resources for the book, including authors' websites, blogs, interviews regarding the creation of the book, and, most helpful, a lesson plan suggesting reflection questions and activities to do with students in tandem with the book.

This is a picture book that is a biography of the famous composer, Antonio Vivaldi. It also discusses the writing of his most famous piece, "The Four Seasons." The target audience is children from Grades 1-5. I incorporate the book into the listening activity for this piece. However, this will help with the student learning objective of understanding more biographical information about the composer.

I chose to tie together information from CultureGram with a piece for beginning band titled "African Folk Trilogy" by Anne McGinty.  I went to the World Edition in CultureGram and found information about the countries represented in the music.  When introducing the music to the class, I would also give them cultural context information about the continent and countries represented in the piece.  The age of the students would be 5-7 grade.  The features of CultureGram that I would likely use in this example would be listening to the national anthems, the photo gallery, distance calculator, and general information about the countries and people.  If this is for a younger age, then I would use the kids edition. Since this piece of music incorporates 3 songs from different African cultures, we would part of class time on at least 3 days teaching about the cultural and historical context of the songs we were playing.  Another application would be to have the students create a small presentation using information from CultureGram to be shared at the concert with their parents prior to performing the piece.  

The resource I will and have shared with my 9th grade Resource/ESL students is http://online.culturegrams.com/ or the 6th choice from the orange box on the left side of the Iowa AEA Online webpage. When my students are asked to create a power point with information on a country in the World Geography class, I normally assist them in a surf of the Internet for images and information to apply to the power point. This can be very frustrating, time-consuming and a questionable quest concerning the validity of some sites. During this course, I discovered CultureGrams and immediately shared the resource with the geography teacher (who was very happy to know about the resource).

One of my ESL students was assigned the country of Senegal, so after researching the CultureGram site, I directed my student to “World Edition,” selected the country “Senegal” page which provided reliable information in a very structured and “updated weekly” format. The site offers audio support and a “Kids Version” that could assist those students with learning or other disabilities. The photos are easily copied and pasted into the power point and the information can be printed for future quick access. The information can be “easily” comprehended and summarized for power point use. The valuable time wasted flying around the Internet has been replaced  with an instant resource. I suggested to the geography teacher that the students should use that resource first to gain most of the information for their power points, an accommodation that would support those students who have difficulty with “big” projects.

One objective for my students in any power point project is completion by the time allotted. Access to this source reduces the research time tremendously, with the added benefit of a calm and more effective learning experience. The overall student outcome from this source is confidence in knowing that the power point that will be presented to the class is also understood explicitly in the mind of the student.

http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country.php?contid=5&wmn=Europe&cid=167&cn=Ukraine

First, students would go to the Iowa AEA webpage.  They would then go to the left hand side and click on “CultureGram.” From there, they would be taken to the homepage for CultureGram.  Once there, they would click on the “world” option on the homepage.  Once the page has loaded, the student would click on one of the continents.  They would then click on “Europe” and then click on “Ukraine”  (however, they would be able to click on any continent and country they wish to research.  The continent and country I clicked on is just an example).  After they had selected “Ukraine,” the students would need to look up the following information:  what is the national flag, the history of the country (when it was founded, language(s) spoken, etc.), how many people currently live in here, the capital of Ukraine, the distance it is from their school to the capital of Ukraine, famous people from Ukraine, and the name of the currency used in Ukraine.
This project would be directed towards middle school students who are currently learning world history.  In order to implement the project into the class, it would need to be proposed that each student is to learn and inform the rest of their classmates on a country of their choosing to bring more awareness to diversity.  Hopefully, the result of the project would be a greater appreciation of different cultures and increase diversity awareness.

I am so excited for the resource I found!

It was found in Learn360.  I started by searching for a specific topic, but actually decided to broaden my search to the visual arts/artists, to see what is there.  Then I narrowed my search by grade (3-5).  I found this video clip that will be a wonderful addition to an art lesson and actually may be a start to a new one!
 Here is the URL:

http://www.learn360.com/ShowVideo.aspx?GradeLevel=3360057&lid=6810370&pageAll=2&Subject=9331268&ID=324592 

The video is of a native American artist by the name of Randy Kemp.  I was not familiar with his work before viewing the video, but decided to take a look.  He is a print maker and shows the steps he goes through to create a piece of his artwork.  I have done print making with 4th, 5th and 6th grades.  We have always done block printing; where they create a "stamp" that can do multiple prints of the same image.  This video will show them a different technique of printmaking called mono-prints, where there is only one print made of the image.  I would like to create a lesson based around this video that teaches the technique and also aligns with a Native American unit in the regular classrooms.  

The artist in the video does a great job explaining his creative process, pointing out the reasons for the designs of his work and the choices of the different elements of art he uses.  First, he talks about the symbols he includes, which ties into his background with Native American culture.  He also talks about why and how he decided to become an artist, which is great for students to hear.  

The art elements of line and color are discussed as he works. I teach these two elements in many of my lessons.  I like the idea of my students seeing a working artist using the ideas that we have discussed in class.  He talks about why he makes the choices he does, which will help my students realize that there is a thought process that goes on while making art.

 

 

 I am a substitute teacher and go to different middle schools and high schools so I do not have a user name or password to be able to explore this resource further.  The resource I would like to share is CultureGrams the link is: http://online.culturegrams.com/index.php. An individual would need the user name and password for their school to access the database. I like that there is information for all levels and that it is the most current updated information on cultures of 200 plus countries. Students of all levels and grades learn about different cultures so this is the ideal resource to assist in their learning.  
There are several ways to search for information from the database. The left side of the site give specific links to different information such as people & places, history, lifestyles, society and cultural facts. The middle section gives the user information about the selected country, Canadian province or state; the right side has a list of teaching resources, multimedia tools and other features.  Teachers and students have permission to use all of the information available from the database. I think it very user friendly based on the tutorial instructions.  

I don't have a classroom since I am a para.  If I did have a classroom I would use BookFlix.  This pertains to students in lower grades usually PreK-3.   I would use this for Reading Comprehension.  In BookFlix, you can have the story read to the student.  The student can then follow along and know what word the speaker is on because it highlights the word being read.  The 2nd grade classroom that I work in with my student, the teacher uses BookFlix for social studies and sometimes for other subjects.  Also, the students know how to navigate and find BookFlix and really enjoy it.    It is also nice because everyone can pick a different book.

I am in the process of renewing my substitute teaching license a substitute teacher don't have a username or password to gain access online.
If I were able to log onto the site I would first use Learning 360, Britannica School, and Book FLIX. These sites seem most interesting to  me since I love early childhood education and love to help kids read and look up information.

Before the age of being able to offer my students digital media I used the print version of CultureGrams as a means of exposing students to varied cultures of diverse Spanish-speaking countries. I was very excited to see CultureGrams as a free web-based and up-to-date resource that is available for me to use with my students. It's easily accessible from the AEA Online virtual library with our school's username and password.  I love the maps, photos, organized facts and varied aspects of culture presented for individual countries. It's a highly engaging website. I look forward to incorporating CultureGrams into my current curriculum to encourage the exploration of Spanish-speaking countries, its varied cultures and the Spanish language.

I routinely use SIRS with my Advanced Writing class. I direct them to follow our school's website link to the AEA. From there we click the hypertext for SIRS Issues Researcher in the menu on the left of the front page. All we have to do then is enter our login and passcode.

I have used SIRS in conjunction with some students' cause and effect papers, but all of my students use it for their argumentative essays. It has hundreds of of relevant issues, so much so that I often help my students narrow down their topic before getting on SIRS, so they aren't overwhelmed. Each topic has an overview of the issue and at least one essential question so that there are two sides to every issue. There are multiple articles from respected sources for both sides which is extremely helpful for supporting claims and counterclaims. The overviews and each of the articles are fully cited as well.

I chose Britannica Online to use in "my" classroom when I work as a substitute. Access to this site came through the GWAEA Online Resources home page.
 Britannica Online is an online encyclopedia with reliable information, as it is not alterable by users, like Wikipedia. When the site is reached, one can select Elementary, Middle School or High School material. Each article I used had several links to related topics, as well as a "double click the word for a dictionary definition " feature. I will be glad to direct students to a useful, accurate encyclopedia site with helps if they are researching topics. If students only need a basic understanding of the topic, they could choose the topic in the material for younger students.
 Possible   student outcomes could begin with being able to gather facts and images relevant to their research topics. Also, if a student is having trouble grasping difficult concepts in class, he or she could access the site for another wording of, say, their textbook's explanation. Again, the option exists to see and interact with the material in a simplified form in the material directed to younger students.  
 Most high school classrooms have the school's username and password for AEA Online Resources posted in their classrooms, making this site a practical and reliable tool for research and supplementation.    

The educational division of youtube, online access for instructional materials through pbs, and used software that still functions on simple machines, such as fivedollarsoftware.com and the mathblaster series.