New Tools for News Literacy

Skype for Interviews

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:38:13 +0900

Mission: To Skype with a recognized expert about some aspect of offshore drilling off the North Carolina Coast. Find an expert and research how to contact him/her. Download the software and practice Skyping with our resident "expert." [Note: We've arranged for a science-technology teacher from near the NC Coast, John Blake, to join us via Skype. Read more about John's work with developing citizens who are informed about environmental issues -- Sea-View: Teachers' Window into Barrier Island Issues]

Post-Workshop: John made a huge contribution to our Collaborative Critical Inquiry with insightful comments about how to engage students in studies about state and local matters and how Skype can make a big impact on curricula studies.

Here's John'w Wiki page about the Skype interview with Charlie Engle, the man who ran across Arfica. And to learn more about John and his work, here's his wiki -- John Blake, Technology Specialist, Central Middle School, Whiteville City Schools.

Description: Skype has got to be the world's most popular voice-over-IP software.

Exemplars:

"All Schools Should Skype" -- Skyping to learn about the Holocaust

"Skype Connects Role Players and Subject-Matter Expert" -- Lawyer Skypes in to consult with students on a mock trail

NC Coast: To Drill or Not To Drill

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:43:13 +0900

Mission: To engage in a Collaborative Critical Inquiry using North Carolina newspapers and other state and local sources to argue for or against offshore drilling along the North Carolina coast.

Click here for VoiceThreads for Commentaries . . .

Thread 1: Argue for Drilling	Thread 2: Argue Against Drilling	Thread 3: Make Your Final Decision. Explain any compelling arguments from the threads or products that influenced your final decision.

Thread 1: Argue for Drilling

Thread 2: Argue Against Drilling

Thread 3: Make Your Final Decision.
Explain any compelling arguments

from the threads or products

that influenced your

final decision.

Plan A

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:42:09 +0900

"So What's News Literacy?" Activity

Resources:

Enhancing News Literacy -- Need for News Literacy and beginning efforts

The News Literacy Project -- Pulitzer-award-winning journalist Alan Miller's non-profit for developing citizens who are "smart consumers and creators of credible information in all media and platforms."

"A Collaborative Critical Inquiry with VoiceThread" Activity

Prep: At least one person in each team of three should sign up for a free VoiceThread account -- www.voicethread.com

Debatable Question: Should offshore drilling be allowed on the North Carolina Coast?

Pre-Reading: What do you think? How would you vote now before your research? Why? Complete the KWL Chart, Columns 1 & 2 (see handout).

During Reading: As you read, find list arguments for and against offshore drilling on the North Carolina Coast.

Articles for research? I'll list a few links below, but please use the e-editions or Web editions (whichever works best for you) to inform your opinions -- both of them ;-)

Oceans, in General:

Report: Oceans' Deterorating Health Irreversible

North Carolina Coast:

Public Opinion Turns on Offshore Drilling

Dread of Offshore Drilling Dwindles (be sure to read "What's Out There" in the sidebar.

Post-Reading: Prepare two VoiceThread commentaries (max 90 seconds each) -- one pro drilling and the other against drilling. Record these to the appropriate VoiceThreads.

"Collaborative Critical Inquiry Products" Activity

Prep: Each team will select a Web 2.0 tool and create a product to share with the group.

Tools: See Creating News Products (left sidebar)

Production: Use the cool tool to create a product that conveys your team's final decision. Link or embed products on the respective Creating News Products pages provided here so we will have samples to refer to.

Wrap-Up: Share products and cool tools.

Tying It All Together: Finally, listen to the contributions on the third "thread" of this tapestry, and prepare a final commentary presenting your final decision and how completing this Collaborative Critical Inquiry may have influenced you.

Creating News Products

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:24:45 +0900

My Top Ten Ning

For over eighty tools selected for their classroom applicability, visit "My Top Ten" Ning. The sign-up question is "What does NIE mean?" Trick question, right? ;-) No, we just think educators will know the answer: "Newspapers in Education."

Diigo Group for NIE Tools

All the links mentioned in this workshop are listed here.

New Tools for News Literacy

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:50:11 +0900

ccsdesigner2008

What is News Literacy????? We begin our inquiry . . .

Flip Cams for Video

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:43:19 +0900

Mission: To videotape a "man-on-the-street" interview with someone for offshore oil drilling off the North Carolina coast and someone against. Post these to YouTube and then embed here.

Description:Flip Cameras make videotaping so simple that even Oprah can use it (that's what she said -- watch this ;-)

Exemplar: Here's a bookcast about Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak shot with a Flip.

Tutorial:

Uploading Flip video to YouTube.

Step 1: Create a YouTube account.

Step 2: Upload your bookcast to your channel. Be sure to title your video with your book title and your first name. Select No Comments. Anonymity on the Web breeds unruliness. Here's a video tutorial to guide you through the process:

Step 3: Copy the embed code and paste into the Flip Camera page on our Springnote site.

Here's how to find the url and the embed code that you'll need for the final step of posting to the Ning.

On your Springnote page, simply click on "insert" and then "movie" and paste in embed code.

Voila! There's your movie!

Glogster for Project Reports

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:26:29 +0900

Mission: to create a poster about offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast, pro or con.

Description: Glogster EDU is like an online poster that you can create, only since it's digital your poster can include video and audio files as well as static images.

Exemplar: Clean Water by Team Angela (Angela Woods and a Global Team)

Tutorial: Glogster.pdf Angela explains the tool and shares some tips for getting started.

Diptiy for Timelines

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:11:18 +0900

Mission: To create a timeline about offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast . . .

Description: With Dipity, you can create timelines and share with the world. There are several timeline generators, but Dipity has the image function that's really helpful for appeal and visual learners.

Exemplar: Laurie Halse Anderson's historical fiction book, Fever 1793 is the subject of a timeime with collaborators from schools around the world: Fever 1793 Timeline

Tutorial: Here's Tutorial #1. There are five additional videos --

Diigo for Collaborative Inquiry

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:26:24 +0900

Description: Diigo is the best social networking tool around with the option to create groups and to annotate/highlight Webpages.

Mission: To create a Diigo group for a network to receive news about offshore drilling in North Carolina. Locate, highlight, and annotate at least five sources.

Tutorial: Here's a really, really thorough intro to Diigo (Digest of Internet Information, Groups, and Other stuff).

Digging Deeper With Diigo - Education

View more presentations from Jennifer Dorman.

Animoto for Video

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:20:42 +0900

Mission: To create a 30-second promo, pro or con, on the question of offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast.Descriptions: With a few compelling images, some well-chosen words, and music that grabs you, someone who has never created a video before can produce one that moves people.

Description: Educators can apply for a special membership that enables them to create full-length videos (beyond the freebee 30 seconds). Usually takes several days to a week to receive confirmation.

Animoto (General)

Animoto for Educators

Exemplar: This Animoto was created by a Science class in Massachusetts in response to reading We Are the Weathermakers: The Story of Global Warning by Tim Flannery.

ToonDoo for Cartoons

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:10:12 +0900

Mission: to create an editorial cartoon, pro or con, offshore drilling off the North Carolina coast.

Description: ToonDoo is a popular cartoon-generator. You can choose among stock cartoon characters and add text to speech bubbles to create a static comic strip.

ToonDoo is also handy to create images that you can use to make videos. Simply use a screen saver program like Jing and copy the images you'd like. Then add the images to PhotoStory, MovieMaker, or iMovie. Here's an example of images created with ToonDoo, copied with Jing, and inserted into PhotoStory to make a movie:

PikiStrips is also a favorite for creating cartoon images. What's so different? You can upload your own images.