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Welcome to Mrs. Borden's wiki page. Here you will find helpful links and messages. Please feel free to comment, edit, and collaborate on any of the content you find here.
__**Unit 5 - New Instructional Tools for the Classroom**__ 6/16/10 See "Best Practices" page for suggestions and link to Web 2.0 tools.


 * __Unit 4 - Podcasts__** 6/12/10

I am disappointed that I was unable to create a podcast myself. I keep getting an error message. I tried to use Audacity and it did not go exactly as planned. However, I can certainly see the benefits of students creating podcasts with any content. I will look into this for next year. I am thinking of incorporating a student created podcast where students would give examples of figurative language. They would need to learn examples of similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification etc. and record these. I would then have the students play their podcasts for their classmates. What an entertaining way to create, analyze, and then hear the information. This project would meet my writing, as well as speaking and listening standards. I think the value in podcasts is that students are aware of their global audience and would step it up a notch and be sure the information is correct.

I am learning something new every minute with these Google Apps. Google notebook appears to be very user friendly. I actually like the fact that it is not too regimented. I can simply jot down a list, or add a list of links. I am thinking as a student now, but I think this would be a helpful tool to utilize as I am researching for my paper. It does appear to be very similar to Google Docs, but I do like the fact that I can create sections with headings. I am a compulsive "list maker," so I actually really like this app. Now, I can make a list of my lists!
 * __Unit 3 - Google Notebook__** 6/4/10

__**Unit 3A-B**__ 6/3/10 This week's activities involved working with Google Apps. I found that the advantage for students is that they can access this information at any time. I am thinking of adding Google Docs as a place where students can list resources they have found when conducting research for their research papers. They can share these lists with each other and collaborate on the research portion as well as writing and editing. I also created folders and found that I could upload any existing documents from my computer. In the classroom, I could certainly use Google Docs and spreadsheets as places for students and parents to access lesson plans, weekly announcements, and notes. I also created a Google search engine with links for writing resources. I already have these links listed on my school web page, but this way students can actually conduct a search using keywords, which is much more user friendly. I will be adding this search engine to my school page. The Google calendar I have used in the past until our school went to SchoolWires that has its own calendar embedded in the site. It is very similar to the Google calendar. It is very useful for students and parents to have a quick reference of project and assignment due dates. I would like to utilize a classroom blog as a place for parents and students to have access to the instructor. As educators, we are aware of how important social relationships are to student learning. While the blog would have the necessary aspects of information such as lesson plans, weekly announcements. It could also serve as place for student and parental questions. As I am a sports fanatic, students could post the results of their games or other extra curricular activities for others to respond. I feel it is important that children have a forum where they can boast about all of their achievements.
 * Unit 2A - Blogs** 5/27/10

Blogs and wiki pages certainly have their place within today's digital classroom. Wiki pages, for example, are excellent sources for writing, editing, and publishing. I would like to incorporate a wiki page into my English classroom where the entire class could collaborate to create a digital story. We actually have an in-class activity called "Vocabulary Story time," where I list the vocabulary words on the board and the students take turns adding a sentence to our story utilizing the words and using them correctly. This would be a great activity where they could create their story within a wiki page. I was thinking that I could add links to dictionary.com for definitions and graphic organizer sites for organizing their stories before they begin. I could also incorporate pictures into the page to inspire character and setting.
 * Unit 2B - Wikis**