CT Standard- English:Grades 9-12

After going through each of the websites, I came across the CT.org one and enjoyed it the most.  I was able to click on my exact content area of focus and grade level and could read all the standards expected of students presently.  Two standards really stuck out to me, one being Content Standard #4, which briefly states that, "students will use language arts to explore and respond to texts."  I like this one a lot simply because, it is important for the students of specific grade levels to know what their expectations are when it comes to discussing contemporary texts.  The other standard that caught my eye was Content Standard #3.  This one is about applying English language conventions and the simplicity of being able to communicate properly and effectively.  I believe that Content Standard #3 is simply starting to become under developed because, technology is moving along so quickly and the simple language skills are being forgotten.  I believe that in choosing Content Standard #3 I can chose activities that demonstrate the basic skills of using punctuation and capitalization correctly and effectively.  I could use activites simply as writing stories and possibly publishing a book by students that demonstrates the simple skills that they should already have inbedded in their minds.  I could come up with fun games that show "sentence starters" that have misspelled words and the children's minds can already pick up the non-sensical ways that a sentence or paragraphs do not make sense.  Some students may have trouble picking up on certain content standards because of their learning styles but, I think that doing activites that are just as interesting and creative for all students, such as making up a story in groups can be effective for all.

"Teddy Bears Go Blogging" Reaction

I enjoyed this article a lot and found it very useful and positive!  As I was about halfway through the article, the thought of a child possibly not being able to use a keyboard crossed my mind and before I had even finished my thought, a solution was found.  It is a great idea that they have the "audioblogger" feature and therefore, a child can just talk about experiences and whatever else they would like to speak about by just having a phone conversation that is then submitted in blog form.  I also enjoy that iEARN has come up with many outreach solutions for these students to learn about different cultures and that within these learning boundaries, safety is first and foremost.  I really like the fact that anyone can comment without even being a subscriber and the power to publish or reject a comment is still an option.  I believe that the idea of the "Teddy Bear Project" has probably spread fairly quickly and if I had not read this article I would have never known about it.  This blog has got kids excited about learning and excited to see what is going to come from these blogs.  I believe that this new type of technology is spreading like wildfire and it's amazing that the kids involved with this specific project are so excited to learn and develop interest in their surrounding cultures.

"How I Create and Publish Podcasts" Reaction

The blog that I chose to read is called, "How I Create and Publish Podcasts," submitted in October '09.  This blog stood out to me because I have never done a podcasts or have even attempted to because, I do not know how to submit or publish one.  I found this blog extremely helpful!  What I enjoyed most about this blog is the visuals that the blogger gave right on the page.  I am a visual learner and for the blogger to put up pictures throughout the blog using arrows to point out what was what, was extremely helpful!  They also gave the name of the software and website services used and a step by step guide to put a successful podcast together.  I only saw one reaction post to this blog in which a blogger stated that this was, "a very helpful manual."  I wish there were more reaction posts to this blog but since there was not, I was curious on how helpful this how-to-manual really was.  Therefore, I actually had my brother take a look at this blog with me and do a sort of step by step guide using this blogger's information about podcasts to see if it was possible to publish one with these directions.  We did not have all the software to actually submit one but, I am hoping that we can get all the tools and finalize a product using these directions.
I actually really enjoyed looking at the different blogs because, I would have never known how to do a podcasts or what lengths of effort go into one without seeing this how-to-guide.