When I first started reading Little Brother, I had a hard time getting into it. I was taken aback by the technology jargon. However, once I got fast the first few pages, I became much more interested in the book. I couldn’t believe that the government would act like that to American citizens. It made me so mad to think that people in our government could treat their own citizens like that. As I was reading Little Brother, I had a hard time believing that some of the technology could actually happen. Overall though, I really liked this book. The plot line kept my interest and I didn’t feel lost in all the technology terminology.
I do think I’ll use this book in my own classroom. I think I would offer it as a choice project reading rather than a mandatory text. I think for some students who aren’t that interested in technology or those who don’t know that much about technology, this book would be challenging for them. I did have a chance to look online at Cory Doctorow’s blog. One of the things that I found interesting was the news section for Little Brother. There was a small blog about a girl who wrote a song based on Little Brother. There was also a small blog that talked about a teacher who was trying to raise money to buy a classroom set of Little Brother to help his students better understand their rights. I thought it was really interesting that the author posted news information about his books on his blog.
This book also made me think of a show I used to watch. The show is called Big Brother. A group of people live in a house together and someone is constantly watching them. I hadn’t made the connection between the title and the reality show until I started to really think about Little Brother.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Foot: An Oral History of the Internet
I really had no desire to read this article about the history of the internet at first. I thought it was going to be filled with a lot technology terms that I wouldn’t understand and I really didn’t expect it to keep my attention. I was surprised that after a few paragraphs the article started to grab my attention. It shocked me that the building blocks for the internet started back in the 1960s. I was also surprised that the United States government had a lot to do with the origins of the internet. I had always assumed that the internet was created by some genesis one day. I just assumed the idea was something that came to someone over night, which is a little silly when you look at how complex the internet is. I liked when the article talked about the emergence of the internet into everyday life. It made me think back to how my teachers started to incorporate the internet into projects at school. I remember when I was first learning to research and write papers that I had to have so many sources and out of those sources two of them had to be internet sources. I remember thinking that it was such a pain to use the internet because I would have to either use the school library or go to my community library to use the internet. By the end high school, a lot had changed. My teachers were then telling me that I had to have at least two book sources in my papers. The internet had become the new source of information on everything.
Another thing that stood out to me as I was reading was how relatively new most of the internet is. Goggle, Ebay, and Craigslist are all a huge part of the internet and the oldest of the three was created in 1998. I think this article did a good job of showing me how the internet has changed over the years. As teachers, I think it is important for us to remember that as the internet changes, we need to change and adapt with it.
Another thing that stood out to me as I was reading was how relatively new most of the internet is. Goggle, Ebay, and Craigslist are all a huge part of the internet and the oldest of the three was created in 1998. I think this article did a good job of showing me how the internet has changed over the years. As teachers, I think it is important for us to remember that as the internet changes, we need to change and adapt with it.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Foot: History of Facebook
I actually enjoyed reading this article about Facebook. I knew a little bit about Mark Zuckerburg and how he started Facebook, but I didn’t know that there was such a controversy over it. I was a little surprised and at the same time not so surprised to read that so many people were filing lawsuits against Zuckerburg. With any huge company, I would expect people to try to lay claims to some of that money; however, I was surprised that so many of Zuckerburg’s early friends ended suing him later on. Also at one point, I remember the article talking about Zuckerburg’s early interests in computers. In the article, it said that by ninth grade he had created a computerized game version of Risk. I couldn’t even imagine thinking up these types of programming ideas, let alone actually completely them. When I try to think about how huge of a project that would be, I can’t even comprehend the amount of work put into it.
I also liked this article because it made me think about the different ways I could use Facebook in a classroom. For example, I think Facebook would be a good way of hosting literature circles or study groups online. Facebook is such a huge part of people’s lives because it offers people another way of communicating. I think it’s important for teachers to recognize that Facebook is another way they can adapt the way they teach their content material to connect with students.
I also liked this article because it made me think about the different ways I could use Facebook in a classroom. For example, I think Facebook would be a good way of hosting literature circles or study groups online. Facebook is such a huge part of people’s lives because it offers people another way of communicating. I think it’s important for teachers to recognize that Facebook is another way they can adapt the way they teach their content material to connect with students.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Final Reflection
Overall, I really enjoyed this class. I loved the reading selection. I have a huge list of books I want to read now after hearing so much about them in class. I also learned a lot of things I can use in my classroom. I've already used the strategies in my other literature and teaching classes this semester. I also really liked the textbook that was chosen for the class. I liked that she offered a lot of suggestions, but I also liked that she broke the strategies down and applied them to a classroom. That really helped me to have a better understanding of what was actually happening and how it benefits students. As for class, I really liked that it wasn't a straight lecture and that we did different things in class. It kept my attention. I also thought it was really neat when we were able to practice some of the strategies in class. This was one of my favorite classes that I've ever taken at Kent.
Chapter 14
"If we listen, we'll hear very specific criteria for what makes a book appealing to a reluctant reader."
In this chapter, Beers talks a lot about what type of books reluctant readers want to read. She also talked a lot about how to encourage students to read more books. One of the ways to do this was to use a read aloud. One of the suggestions she had was to put a lot of expression and excitement into the reading to get student's attention. I was a little surprised by this because I wasn't expecting that much emphasis to be placed on the teacher's reading. Another strategy teachers could use would be the Read and Tease. The teacher would read a chapter or two and then stop at a compelling part in book. The goal is to peak student interest in the book, so they want to read it. I really liked this strategy when we used it in class because I really wanted to know what happened in book. I think it's a very effective way of catching a student's attention and motivating then to read.
In this chapter, Beers talks a lot about what type of books reluctant readers want to read. She also talked a lot about how to encourage students to read more books. One of the ways to do this was to use a read aloud. One of the suggestions she had was to put a lot of expression and excitement into the reading to get student's attention. I was a little surprised by this because I wasn't expecting that much emphasis to be placed on the teacher's reading. Another strategy teachers could use would be the Read and Tease. The teacher would read a chapter or two and then stop at a compelling part in book. The goal is to peak student interest in the book, so they want to read it. I really liked this strategy when we used it in class because I really wanted to know what happened in book. I think it's a very effective way of catching a student's attention and motivating then to read.
Chapter 13
Chapter 13 talked about creating a classroom that encourages students to take a risk with reading. One of the most important things she said was that teachers should not tolerate put-downs. In one of my high school classes, a particular student would make negative comments all the time to other students if they got something wrong. The teacher never stepped in to stop the student from making the comments. Sometimes the teacher even laughed. Eventually students became tired of being made fun of and just quit participating in class.
I also liked that she talked about using appropriate literature. By appropriate, she meant that the text needs to be easy enough for students with word recognition problems and also choosing literature that appeals to them versus the normal classics. I really liked this chapter because I think it's very important for students to feel comfortable and confident in class in order for them to succeed.
I also liked that she talked about using appropriate literature. By appropriate, she meant that the text needs to be easy enough for students with word recognition problems and also choosing literature that appeals to them versus the normal classics. I really liked this chapter because I think it's very important for students to feel comfortable and confident in class in order for them to succeed.
Chapter 10
One thing I really liked in this chapter was in measuring fluency. Beers was talking about why fluency matters and how it can be a problem. In one paragraph, she broke down the rate of words per minute a student reads. I was really surprised by just how long it could take a high school student to read 20 pages. For a student who only reads 60 words per minute, it would take that student 2 and 1/2 hours to just read the assignment. It would be very hard for a student to complete reading and assignments if he or she struggled that badly with fluency. I also liked that at one point Beers said, "Flash cards drills, placing words on word walls, listening to a teacher read aloud, following along in a text while listening to an audiotape of the same text-these teaching strategies are not reading." I liked that she offered strategies on how to help improve fluency, but the main way for students to improve in reading is simply by reading.
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