In Your Classroom: February 2008 Archive
Moodle for Virtual Learning
Instructional Illuminations
Do you want your students to participate in the world of virtual learning? Virtual Learning environments (VLM) or Classroom Management Systems (CMS) have been expensive and almost impossible for public schools to use until recently.
Enter "Moodle"-an open-source system-which is not only free but also highly adaptable. Schools are quickly discovering that they can save thousands of dollars by implementing Moodle, and then spending a small portion of the money saved to program it to work precisely the way they and their instructors want it to. Moodle, however, even used "as is" provides a rich selection of features that often surpasses those of other systems, according to an article by, Thomas N. Robb in the TESL-EJournal.
Moodle allows teachers and students to participate in online education with ease and convenience. The course shell is modular in construction and the teacher can design the space to their own specifications. Students only need an internet connection browser to participate. Teachers can create an online course and manage learner outcomes by adding assignments, activities, and calendars. They can assign grades and give immediate response comments to students. When students log into Moodle they can have access to assignments, chats, forums and other activities.
If you are interested in introducing your students to new ways of learning that are designed for 21st century learners then you should consider using a Moodle for your classroom. The following links can open you and your students to a whole new world of teaching and learning.
Related Links
Public Speaking
Core Connections
An introduction to public speaking does not have to be an assignment that requires a fully fledged, five-minute speech about global warming. Students can be introduced to public speaking through communication activities that simply get them talking out loud in class and progress to performing research and constructing an informative, demonstrative, or persuasive speech. Use the links in this article to explore various ways to introduce students to the art of public speech.
Article image citation: http://www.whole-person-counseling.com/Images/Public%20Speaking.gif
Related Links
- The Importance of Public Speaking and Dealing with Fear and Anxiety - A lesson on the importance of public speaking and dealing with fear. Registration required for a free limited membership.
- Delivering a Persuasive Speech - The purpose of this lesson is to improve students' oral persuasion techniques by understanding the appropriate speaking skills.
- Speaking Nonsense - An activity where students are given a topic and must talk about the topic for two minutes without using "pause" words more than twice. The winner is the student who successfully talks about the subject for two minutes without using the pause words and keeps eye contact with the audience.
- Strategies to Succeed in Public Speaking - Free online lessons that give a start at improving speaking skills, as well as overcoming the fear of speaking to a group.
- Allyn and Bacon Public Speaking Website - This website contains six modules that you can use to learn about the process of public speaking and to help you prepare your speeches. They are Assess, Analyze, Research, Organize, Deliver, and Discern.
- SpeechTips.com - Your free guide to speech writing and public speaking for eulogies, graduations, best man, father of the bride and any other public speaking engagement.
Related Lesson Plans, Activities, and Classroom Resources
Social Injustices
Core Connections
by, Kim Barrett, Calloway County Middle School
Throughout history, people have experienced injustices at the hands of intolerant, cruel individuals. Although we spend a great amount of time in the classroom investigating these injustices, we often neglect to make real connections to the lives of our students and those voices from the past. Thus, students miss out on the rich lesson of relating past events and characters in literature to their lives.
In this standards-based unit of study, students are given an opportunity to research a variety of voices from the past as well as explore contemporary issues that involve social injustices. Students will read the novel, Gathering Blue, while researching topics such as The Holocaust, Japanese Internment, current hate crimes, and teen violence. There is also an emphasis of poetry with the voices of John Lennon's Imagine, Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Highlights of the unit include: MS Powerpoint of Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous "I Didn't Speak Up" poem, Social Injustice Photo Story, United Streaming lessons that includes Witness: Voices from the Holocaust, Teen Files, The: The Truth About Hate & Prevalence of Violent Crimes Committed by Teens. Each of these activities provokes students to consider the role of social injustices in the world and assists them in relating social injustices to their lives. Once the unit is complete, students will have more of a global understanding of their existence in this world.
Culminating activities in this unit includes: student-created Social Injustice Photo Stories, an on-demand feature article about social injustices, and the creation of a class newspaper using the Interactive printing press http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=110&title.
Related Links
- Poetry in Translation -
by Carol McCarthy
Flushing High School, Queens, New YorkStudents use this unit to investigate poetry through the lens of their individual cultural background.
- Fighting injustice by studying lessons of the past - "Using an online Venn Diagram tool, students study the experience of European Jews during the Holocaust, and then compare their experience to those of the Cherokees during the Trail of Tears and the Japanese–Americans during World War II."
- Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Critical Discussion of Social Issues -
Students will engage in critical discussions of three shared texts.
analyze and compare the three shared texts in terms of genre, historical settings, conflicts, character development, and themes. They will learn about the past by looking at the injustices that occurred. - Seuss and Silverstein: Posing Questions, Presenting Points - By rereading these books from the students past, they will be a springboard for struggling readers to discuss relevant social issues.
Related Lesson Plans, Activities, and Classroom Resources
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