Session+4

4.3 Revisions
Widget: Not sure of the absolute definition, however, used to upload digital media to your wikisite. **Widget: a device or control on a computer used to upload digital media** Embed: to place digital media into a website Embed: fix or attach digital media into a website Embed code: the code or address of digital media that is used to embed or place the media into the website Embed code: a coding system used for transmitting messages and attaching them to a specific website Link: a digital address that will connect one to a new site Link: a universal word for traveling and connecting around the Internet. URL: digital web address URL: the address of a web page on the world wide web Upload: to capture or grab the digital media Upload: transfer a file or program to a central computer from a smaller computer or a computer at a remote location Download to open or read the media Download: copy the data onto a portable drive to move it to another computer or place. Search engine: vehicle to search information worldwide Search engine: a computer program that retrieves documents or files or data from a database or from a computer network (especially from the internet) Web 2.0: the capability of manipulating or sharing and revising documentation using technology,examples are googledocs and crocodocs.

**Session 4.2 Vocabulary.com** Why might students and teachers find Vocabulary.com more useful than using a dictionary or glossary? Vocabulary.com was a fun way to search for definitions of words. I liked that students got multiple definitions, examples of use, sound and parts of speech. However, as a teacher of 6th grade students, I also thought the site may be above my student's reading level. I played a bit with vocabulary terms that I would find in my textbook and the definitions used many words my students would have difficulty with. Also, for my students I thought there might be too much information on the page. The page appears busy. For my grade level, I would like to see less words, more visuals and color.

What type of student might benefit from the use Vocabulary.com? All student can benefit form this site. It is fabulous. English Language students would certainly find the site useful.



**Session 4.4 Using Word Sift** Identify the two tools you have selected Vocabulary Game Enchanted Learning

Insert links to both of these online tools Vocabulary Game [|Enchanted Learning] 4.4 Word Sift screenshot How is Word Sift an effective pre-reading strategy? Word sift identifies key words and support students with vocabulary. Becoming familiar with key terms before reading will help with understanding and comprehension. If a students' are unfamiliar with a word they can find definitions and visuals resources to help them connect and make meaning of the word. Word sift as a preview activity helps students to skim the text, enlarging the most frequent words. Students can make predictions, ask questions and scaffold vocabulary they know and research words that are unfamiliar before reading.

How would Word Sift help students who struggle reading? Word sift will motivate struggling students because it is fun to do! Second, with word sift,struggling readers have so much technology available on one page to support vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. The largest words represent the words that are most frequently used in the text. Word sift provides google research videos too as visual representations of the vocabulary. Next there is a thesuras and ample sentences with the vocabulary used in context. I think this site is much more motivational, fun and visually inviting especially for my 6th grade students than vocabulary.com. There is a lot of color, visuals, videos, word cloud or graphic organizers. This site offers it all! I am excited to incorpotate this technology into my lessons.

4.5 Using E-Vocabulary Strategies
Do you think the tools that you selected would be effective in your class? I think a teacher needs to check out each site to make sure it is a good fit for content and level. The vocabulary game site would be awesome support in English class for many students. I did not find it useful for Social Studies content because the games could not be tailored to my content vocabulary. Originally I thought that the Enchanted Learning site may have been to juvenile. However, I was wrong. The geography section was pretty good. Many tools in this section would be useful to scaffold lessons and content. Many graphic organizers were provided.

How would you use these tools in your class? Be specific so that you can share this with others in your department or school next year. There is a lot to choose from in regards to geograpgy. Many of the graphic organizers would be useful for English Language Learners and Special Education students that many need information scaffolded or visually represented. I also liked the longitude and latitude activities. There are tons of printable worksheets that could support writing reports, newsletters and various rubrics that could be tailored or tweeted to fit my students' agendas.

Comment on others classmates notebooks: Unfortunately, I have "bad address" messages on Carol, Tim, and Lesley. Carolyn and Lucia, I think are current notebooks, but they may have not completed sessin 4 yet. ?? Wondering if Carolyn's notebook is from a past class that she may have started....maybe she has a new notebook???

**4.6 Additional Resources** Hope it was OK to copy into virtual notebook. I wanted to make sure I would have this information without having to go back to the moodle. :)

E-Vocabulary Widget – n. a tool on the web which takes web applications (like videos, interactive activities, marked up documents, etc.) and places that application on your personal page (for this course we’ll be using wikispaces). You can find the tool for widgets once you hit edit. The icon is on the editing toolbar and is in the shape of a little TV. http://www.wikispaces.com/Widgets Embed – v. to put a widget into your wikispace page. Here’s a link that explains how to embed a video(we’ll be teaching you how to embed a variety of items in a later lesson, but this gives you a good idea what embedding is): http://collaborationnation.wikispaces.com/How+to+embed+a+video Embed code – n. the code which you will need to find on the website of origin which you will need to plug into the widget editor in order for your widget to appear on your wikispace page. Often times this will be obvious on a webpage (youtube has button underneath every video which says “embed”). Other times it might be tougher to locate, being accessed through a button that says “Share” or some other variant. Link – n. a connection made between two websites where simply clicking on a bit of (usually blue) text takes you to a relevant, yet different website or page within a website. v. To insert this bit of text into a website (like your wikispace page) so that others can get to another page or website quickly and easily) URL: n. the internet address of any website or page you go to. Literally the Uniform Resource Locator, it allows your computer to access information from a specific location on another computer which will give you the information for that website. You’re using it right now! Upload: n. transfer data that is put onto a website or page from your computer : to transfer data or programs, usually from a peripheral computer to a central, often remote, computer, like the server for wikispaces. You’ll be uploading lots of data to your wikispace page Download: n. A transfer of data from another computer on to your own, for instance music that is taken from the internet and put into a media player. v. to transfer or copy data from one computer to another, or to a disk or peripheral device, or be transferred or copied in this way Search engine: n. a website which seeks out other websites which contain relevant information based upon search parameters entered into the engine. Most popular search engines are Google and Bing Web 2.0: n. a use of the world wide web as a means to allow all computers to operate as both users and creators in which digital media is both produced and used collaboratively. This is in contrast to users being given information in which they only view the information, becoming much more passive in their activity.