BP8_OMM_Crocodoc

This is my one minute message about the Web 2. 0 tool Crocodoc!

BP7_Comment to Susan O'Day

Follow this link to my comments on Susan's blog.

BP6_Comment to Rachel Ullinskey

Follow this link to my comments on Rachel's blog.

BP5_Crocodoc

The second Web 2.0 tool that I want to share is Crocodoc. This tool allows you to work collaboratively with others to highlight and mark up PDF's, word documents, images, and more. One of the main elements of my action research (AR) is focused on collaboration and so I wanted to pursue some tools that will help me in this area. My AR is looking at how a music teacher could work collaboratively with classroom teachers to help struggling readers who are a part of a response-to-intervention (RTI) model. Further, the music aspect of the connection taps into Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI). I am currently reviewing the literature dealing with RTI and MI and anything connected with collaboration. With this said, I wanted a place that I could store these PDF files, highlight, comment and share them with my critical friends. At last night's Wimba session, several individuals asked about whether or not Diigo offered this capability of linking to PDF's. Unfortunately, it seems that Diigo does not do this unless there is a URL connected with the file. However, Crocodoc will allow you to upload the document to their site and begin with the collaboration.

So if you would like to take advantage of this great tool, the first thing you should do is sign up for a free membership at this site: http://crocodoc.com/.

Then, you will be taken to a page that is entitled, "My Documents," where you can upload files and have quick access to them. Also, you have the capability of organizing them into folders. I have placed the four articles I read last week into a folder called W1 and have begun my reading collection for this week.

After you have your documents uploaded, then you can click on them and view them easily. I selected the following article for you to see. If you notice the toolbar at the top, I have the ability to comment, draw, add text, highlight, or strikeout text.

The greatest part of marking up the article or document is that everything is saved and can be viewed by anyone who is invited. So for me, I will more than likely read through my articles and highlight some of my findings and share those with my critical friends for them to respond.

When it comes to sharing the files, you are able to do this a number of three ways. First, you are able to receive a link that will take you directly to the article. Second, you can send them an email, obviously with the link attached. Third, you can get a code that allows you to embed the link, as well. Regardless of which you choose, all three are very simple to use.

Finally, if you desire to download the article from Crocodoc you have a few options here, too. You could download the original article in its PDF format, which would be the one you uploaded to begin with. However, you also have the option to download the marked-up version that includes all of the highlights and comments. The third option includes sending the annotated PDF over to Google Docs for more collaboration.

I am excited about how this will help with reviewing my literature for my action research project. I honestly believe this to be a tool that I will continue to use long after this program is finished because of its collaboration focus and how easy it is to use.

BP4_ToonDoo

As I started looking through the various Web 2.0 tools, a site called ToonDoo caught my eye and so I decided to look a little more closely at this tool. Earlier in the program, we were given a subscription to ComicLife and asked to create a comic book. I really enjoyed this assignment and knew right away that my students would love interacting with these comics. Therefore, I decided to create my own book as a review for my students. This week is currently reading week at my school with a superhero theme and so I created this comic book to integrate and to give the students a unique way to review for the upcoming test. Here are a few pages from my fifteen page comic book reviewing the concepts of rhythm, pulse, and meter.

The students, although maybe not with words, were really appreciative of the work that this took to create. The students were excited to read the story, while I was excited to see them engaged in the curriculum. It has been a win-win!

I created my own superheroes (SuperPulse and his sidekick Beat, among others) which pushed me to be a little more creative than I normally would be had it not been for ComicLife. Further, my wife teaches music at another elementary school nearby where we live and she was sharing this book with a few of the teachers and the principal was so impressed that she wanted her own copy of the book.

I share the above for a few reasons. I have been really impressed by how the students have responded to this comic book. Therefore, I wanted to explore another tool that allowed me to do the same, perhaps it a different way. The tool I selected was ToonDoo. This tool, that also allows you to create comics, shares a lot in common with ComicLife, but also has some more to offer. ToonDoo has a free membership that allows you to create these comics that has clip art already accessible, including backgrounds, characters, bubbles, etc.

This tool is extremely user friendly and would be useful for teachers and students alike. It took me just a few seconds to create the two slides below and was as simply as drag and drop.

For me, I will continue to use this to review concepts of music, but may also use this in connection with my action research project about response-to-intervention and the multiple intelligences. I could use the comics I create to help the struggling readers I will be working with and to help them to be interested in what they are reading.

Here is a link for you to get started creating your own comic in ToonDoo: http://www.toondoo.com/

W1_Reading

During the first week of the ETC course, we were asked to select four articles that connected with our action research project and to summarize them briefly. These articles, although not directly tied to my music curriculum and classroom have provided me with some insight about how the Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model and the multiple intelligences (MI) could be used together to effectively reach struggling readers.

The first article I read written by Pokey Stanford was entitled, "Multiple Intelligences for Every Classroom." The focus of the article was how teaching practices, strategies and assessments are connected to formulate an atmosphere where students can learn. However, in the traditional classroom instruction is delivered mostly through lecture, as opposed to the various approaches tied to the multiple intelligences. This is especially important for those students who are struggling. Most students are being taught in the intelligence that is their weakest and forced to try to push through just to survive. Obviously, the multiple intelligence theory and practices provide a solution to this problem.

Stanford, P. (2003). Multiple intelligence for every classroom. intervention in School & Clinic, 39(2), 80-85. Retrieved September 15, 2010 from Academic Search Complete Premier database.

This second article, "Responding to Reading Instruction in a Primary Grade Classroom" was helpful in familiarizing myself with the practices of RTI. This writing stressed the importance of assessment and grouping students based on similar needs. The goal is to identify early those students that are having difficulties reading and to provide intensive instruction so that they catch up with their peers.

Mokhtari, K., Porter, L., & Edwards, P. (2010). Responding to reading instruction in a primary-grade classroom. The Reading Teacher, 63(8), 692-697. Retrieved September 15, 2010 from Academic Search Complete database.

This third article, "Response to Intervention, Collaboration, and Co-Teaching: A Logical Combination for Successful Systemic Change," focused on one of the major areas I will be dealing with in my action research: collaboration. This article, although it did not necessarily stress the importance of related arts teachers, so to speak, focused on the collaboration of all stakeholders. The writing focused heavily on the reevaluation of our teaching instruction and how we should move to being proactive, instead of solely reacting when a child has first failed.

Murawski, W & Hughes, C. (2009). Response to intervention, collaboration, and co-teaching: A logical combination for successful systemic change. Preventing School Failure, 53(4), 267-277. Retrieved September 15, 2010 from Academic Search Complete database.

The final article, "Response to Intervention: Implications for Early Childhood Professionals," provided a detailed description of the four main components (assessment, scope and sequence, activities and instruction, and progress monitoring) of the curriculum framework for how this RTI model will get lived out in the classroom. Further, it stressed the importance of this collaborative effort in the success of this RTI model. In fact, the point is this design will fail without a team working together to provide the best interventions possible for the student.

Jackson, S., Pretti-Frontczak, K, Harjusola-Webb, S, Grisham-Brown, J., & Romani, J. (2009). Response to intervention: Implications for early childhood professionals. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40(4), 424-434. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2009/08-0027)

BP_Diigo Group

The following is a screenshot of my Diigo Group page [AR: RTI/MI]. Currently, I have one critical friend that has joined. I am waiting on three others to confirm.