Karen Crossley's 

Index Page

Welcome!!  

On this page you'll find links to assignments I completed in the summer of 2002 as part of Buddy Phillips' LS521 Telecommunications and the Internet class at McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College).  I hope you find some useful information here.  I am currently an elementary counselor, so many assignments are geared toward social and emotional issues.  

WebQuest - Career Exploration

Career Exploration for 5th-8th graders - This webquest asks students to work individually to take an interest inventory of their choice online, choose two recommended careers that match with their interests to explore, and then work together with a team of classmates to present their findings to their class. http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/carindex.htm

Web Drop-Ins:

1.  Character Counts!  In this web drop-in, students find out more about the pillars of character, and complete an activity describing ways they have demonstrated those pillars:  respect, responsibility, fairness, trustworthiness, citizenship and caring.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/chardrop.htm

2.  Computer - In this activity, students visit two websites which explain how a computer works and name it's parts.  They must complete a worksheet which asks for information from each website, and then compare the two web sites.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/computer.htm

3.  Online Safety for Kids - In this activity, students visit two websites to learn rules about online safety and etiquette.  Then, they take one of two offered online quizzes to learn even more (a Disney animated quiz is especially fun!).  They complete a worksheet to show what they've learned, and even invite their parents to come look over some websites just for parents.  In the end, families are asked to complete Family Contracts for Online Safety.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/esafety.htm

4.  Friendship - In this activity, students will explore a website called "The Friendship Page".  They will think about what qualities are most important in a friend, read and analyze writings about friendship, read and create a poem about what it means to be a friend, and plan how to show a friend you love and appreciate them.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/friendrop.htm

5.  Bullies - Three websites dealing with bullies and bullying are compared to answer these questions:  What is a bully?  Why do bullies act like bullies?  How can you handle bullies?  They also will name three strengths they have, because handling bullies requires confidence.  Lastly, students will write a plan for handling a bully, or if they think they act like a bully themselves, a plan for how to make good choices and calm down instead of bullying someone.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/bullies.htm

Link Bibliography:  In this link bibliography, I have created an annotated list of web links pertaining to the young adult author, Robert Cormier.  This should be useful to educators trying to interest students in the Cormier's books.

Electives:  

1.  Instant Message - For this assignment, I sent an Instant Message to my instructor, Buddy Phillips.

2.  Clipart for Teachers:  I have assembled a page of websites with school-related clipart, animations or other graphics. http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/clipart.htm

3.  Internet Filtering for Students:  On this page, the pros and cons of using filters in schools are presented, along with links to articles discussing the issues.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/filter.htm

4.  Teacher Made Websites:  In this activity, I located and evaluated two websites established by elementary counselors.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/counselor.htm

5.  Net-Happenings - Instructional Web Activity Elective:  In this activity, I investigated websites I found on the Net-Happenings Archive at http://listserv.classroom.com/archives/net-happenings.html  or links I followed from those sites.  On this page is a list of helpful links for a counselor, under subject headings.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/nethaplink.htm

6.  Copyright, Piracy and Ethnics Elective:  I read info from several websites relating to copyright ethics, then analyzed two situations relating to Internet copyright law and issues.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/copyrite.htm

7.  Search Engines:  I investigated different types of search engines, including subject directories, metasearch engine and searchable databases (the Invisible Web) and noted characteristics of each, as well as my own personal favorites.  There are also search sites listed for images, news searches, audio and videos.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/search.htm

8.  Lesson Plans: I have searched for websites containing lesson plans for school counselors to use or share with teachers.  I've listed lesson plan sites for acceptance/multiculturalism, and for character education, as well as searchable sites of many lesson plans.   http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/lesplan.htm

9.  E-mail distribution lists:  For this assignment, I created an e-mail distribution list in First Class (the e-mail program used in MCPS schools), and sent a message to the members of that list.

10.  Publications:  On this webpage you will find my list of five online publications that would be helpful to school media librarians, with an example of an article from each notes.   http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/publist.htm

11.  Viruses:  The dangers of viruses, guidelines for avoiding virus infection, the dangers of e-mail virus warnings and hoaxes are discussed.  Also provided is a printable guideline page, and a letter to use when you receive an e-mail virus warning.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/virus.htm

12.  Silicon Snake Oil:  Clifford Stoll has written a book about the dangers and limitations of the Internet.  In this webpage, I have named five of his concerns, along with my own ideas about how those concerns can be addressed by educators.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/snakeoil.htm

Online Course Modules

1.  Online Reference Sources - In this course module, teachers are asked to explore online reference sources and compile an annotated list of useful sites in different subject areas for their students.  They will also create a list of reference resources for teacher use in their classrooms, along with notes about specific ways they will integrate these references into curriculum units of study.  http://wwwfac.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/crossleyk/reference.htm

Two Article Critiques:  These two journal articles both concern using the internet in education.  The critiques offer a summary of the article, and my personal reaction to the article.