One of the most important things focused on in this class was the importance of critical thinking. Project based learning is a method that can be made to be cross-curricular and more authentic to students. More and more, students say that they “power down” when they come to school because they are being taught in a way that they find boring. If they are given the opportunities to make the projects their own, and then given an authentic audience, the learning will become more meaningful for the students.
The levels of technology were very interesting because it gave a set of guidelines for evaluation. It also put into perspective how I personally have used technology in my classroom and how I need to improve my use for my students. Many examples were also given to help understanding. This is also a good way to evaluate a teaching staff to show where growth and instruction is needed.
Overall, Learning Effectively with Technology gave me a different perspective on how to develop a project and what my motivation behind a project should be. Students need to be taught how to use technology correctly and proficiently while giving them an authentic audience to help them create more meaning in their learning. When students are at the center of learning, the project is the most successful.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week Five-Almost There
Probably one of the most frustrating things this week was trying to justify what LoTi level my unit plan attained. Throughout the course, we have been analyzing LoTi levels, so it shouldn’t have been difficult. I think part of my problem is that I’m so close, and it is hard to look at my unit plan objectively at this point. I need some more time and distance before I’m able to look at my unit plan without thinking if I have all of the requirements in place for class before thinking about how I could take it to a higher LoTi level. It’s so much more difficult to analyze your own work than that of a classmate.
On the positive side, I really appreciate how we were encouraged to work on our unit plan, and it was broken up into pieces. I had very little work to do on it this week because I had accomplished so much of it in the previous weeks. Overall, I think it was a positive experience. I hope that I have to opportunity to teach it and experience letting the students take control of their learning.
On the positive side, I really appreciate how we were encouraged to work on our unit plan, and it was broken up into pieces. I had very little work to do on it this week because I had accomplished so much of it in the previous weeks. Overall, I think it was a positive experience. I hope that I have to opportunity to teach it and experience letting the students take control of their learning.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
As Tim Gunn would say, "Make it Work" for Week Four
This week I was at a SMART Board class/workshop through a CESA 2 EETT Grant. I basically forced my Digital Footprint PBL Unit to fit the requirements. When I presented my final SMART Notebook presentation to the class, other teachers asked me to share it with them. I think this is because a lot of teachers know it is important to teach about the digital footprint, but don’t know how to go about it. That’s how I felt when I first started designing this unit. I really appreciate how PBL can be just as much of a learning experience for the teacher as it is for the students.
There were a lot of interesting articles put out by the Pew Research Institute. I read a few, and found them packed with statistics. While I get overwhelmed by all of the numbers, it has been my experience that administrators thrive on them. If I have to give a presentation, I would defiantly go through some of their research because it was comprehensible and easy to use.
There were a lot of interesting articles put out by the Pew Research Institute. I read a few, and found them packed with statistics. While I get overwhelmed by all of the numbers, it has been my experience that administrators thrive on them. If I have to give a presentation, I would defiantly go through some of their research because it was comprehensible and easy to use.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Week Three-Delving Deeper
I remember hating reflecting in Undergrad classes. Now it's my favorite part of the week. I'm not certain of what has changed, but it could be that I don't have to reflect on one specific aspect of class. There is freedom of what I want to think about more. This is something I'm keeping in mind for future consideration in my classroom.
It has always been a challenge for me to take an idea of a unit and then structure it in a specific plan. Conceptually, I really like my plan of exploring the impact of the digital footprint. However, I don't know that much about digital footprints. I'd probably be learning along with the students. Therefore, my lack of knowledge makes it challenging to fit my ideas it into the required unit plan parts.
I recommend to anyone who is looking for additional content area standards for their unit plan to look at the Language Arts Media Standards. It's often overlooked, but it might apply to your objectives.
It has always been a challenge for me to take an idea of a unit and then structure it in a specific plan. Conceptually, I really like my plan of exploring the impact of the digital footprint. However, I don't know that much about digital footprints. I'd probably be learning along with the students. Therefore, my lack of knowledge makes it challenging to fit my ideas it into the required unit plan parts.
I recommend to anyone who is looking for additional content area standards for their unit plan to look at the Language Arts Media Standards. It's often overlooked, but it might apply to your objectives.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
It's only week two?
Echoing some of my colleagues’ statements on their blogs, this has been a whirlwind of a week. I’m moving on Saturday, and I have not packed a single box yet. I’m also taking another one week 3 credit class next week as well. This is not looking good for my sanity or my homework completion rate.
Back on track, I’m still struggling with integrating PBL into a Language Arts Classroom. Part of that is because so much of LA is reading from the cannon. Students today have a hard time connecting the events in literature to their lives. However, the PBL I looked at for analysis asked the big question of why we still read this literature. It could help students see that human kind really hasn’t changed that much. It’s what to do with that information that would make the learning even more authentic. So much of what I’ve read is not to solve a problem, but to relate it to their own lives.
Back on track, I’m still struggling with integrating PBL into a Language Arts Classroom. Part of that is because so much of LA is reading from the cannon. Students today have a hard time connecting the events in literature to their lives. However, the PBL I looked at for analysis asked the big question of why we still read this literature. It could help students see that human kind really hasn’t changed that much. It’s what to do with that information that would make the learning even more authentic. So much of what I’ve read is not to solve a problem, but to relate it to their own lives.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Week One-Project Based Learning
The premise of Project Based Learning (PBL) makes sense in my head. In everyday life, students are able to personalize their belongings, accounts, and other aspects. And since they are exposed to so much technology, they often do not have to engage in critical thinking. PBL would put both together.
I appreciate how the Intel Reading mentioned how PBL should be part of one’s instructional techniques, and not the only one. Often, I find it frustrating to be an English teacher because everything that I instruct really needs to be applied in other subjects. Sometimes I often wished that I could pair with a social studies teacher to make my content more authentic. I don’t think that everything in an English classroom can be taught through PBL, but there are opportunities.
My other challenge is looking at this from the perspective of a LMS as well. I think that a LMS would have to help the classroom teacher connect with the community to help students with their authentic research. Maybe we could spend time in class focusing on how the LMS can support the classroom teacher, and how we can promote these projects to the staff.
The other major topic of the week were the LoTI. After taking the survey, and thinking about it, last year I was probably at a level 2. If was to continue being a classroom teacher, I think I would have been a level 3 next year. So much of technology and applying new knowledge take time to work things into the classroom. I am not someone who likes to take huge risks in the classroom. My preference is to have someone else try it first, ask them questions about it, and then try it in my classroom. Again, it goes back to Intel Reading advising to try one thing at a time, and then it won’t seem as overwhelming.
I appreciate how the Intel Reading mentioned how PBL should be part of one’s instructional techniques, and not the only one. Often, I find it frustrating to be an English teacher because everything that I instruct really needs to be applied in other subjects. Sometimes I often wished that I could pair with a social studies teacher to make my content more authentic. I don’t think that everything in an English classroom can be taught through PBL, but there are opportunities.
My other challenge is looking at this from the perspective of a LMS as well. I think that a LMS would have to help the classroom teacher connect with the community to help students with their authentic research. Maybe we could spend time in class focusing on how the LMS can support the classroom teacher, and how we can promote these projects to the staff.
The other major topic of the week were the LoTI. After taking the survey, and thinking about it, last year I was probably at a level 2. If was to continue being a classroom teacher, I think I would have been a level 3 next year. So much of technology and applying new knowledge take time to work things into the classroom. I am not someone who likes to take huge risks in the classroom. My preference is to have someone else try it first, ask them questions about it, and then try it in my classroom. Again, it goes back to Intel Reading advising to try one thing at a time, and then it won’t seem as overwhelming.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Week 5-Web 2.0 and Tokbox
I thought that making the Tokbox reflection this week was very nice. The thing that I’m finding frustrating or challenging about oral reflections is that you can’t go back later to edit. I planned the topics that I wanted to discuss, but then as I watched it again, I realized that I went a bit off topic in one part. It wasn’t bad enough to warrant redoing it because I liked the rest of it. Because of what we were using, I couldn’t just redo that one part. Whereas with a written reflection, I could have fixed it when I edited it. I’m not sure if that was for lack of planning or just how oral reflections happen.
I enjoyed looking at the Web 2.0 tools that were not covered in class. I used picnik.com to edit photos that were taken at my church’s VBS. You can see the end results in the previous post. The other tool I will be reviewing is polleverywhere.com which was to focus of my screencast. I haven’t chosen the other two yet. I hope that we get to discuss them in class on Wednesday because I want to know what everyone else found.
I enjoyed looking at the Web 2.0 tools that were not covered in class. I used picnik.com to edit photos that were taken at my church’s VBS. You can see the end results in the previous post. The other tool I will be reviewing is polleverywhere.com which was to focus of my screencast. I haven’t chosen the other two yet. I hope that we get to discuss them in class on Wednesday because I want to know what everyone else found.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Merging of Worlds
Using the photo editor picnik.com, I was able to edit pictures taken at my church's Vacation Bible School. Check out the fun they had this week.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Week Four-Screencasting and Wiki Making
This week I went about the homework in a different order by doing the projects and then reading the chapters. I personally do not find Audacity and Jing as easy to use as Richardson, but they are good resources to know and understand.
I really enjoyed making my screencast. It is my hope that I can do a lot more of them in the future for professional development of the staff at my new school. I am very happy with how my first one turned out:
The time limit forces me to plan on only the specific/most important details that I need to show for instruction. It think most individuals like to play around with sites once they get the basics down to figure out what features work best for them. While I agree with Richardson that some people can sound robotic/un-natural when reading from a script, having a lot of “ums” distracts me from the message. If I was having students create, I probably would have them submit a script to me and have them read from it until they get comfortable enough to compose “on the fly.”
There are several free podcasts that one can subscribe to on iTunes. One of my favorites is GrammarGirl. She gives a daily lesson in grammar about grammatical questions that her readers/listeners ask about. There are others that I used to subscribe to, but it became overwhelming, so I had to pare down.
With the Wiki that I created, my goal is to use it as an example for other teachers next year to show them what they could create to promote communication within their classroom. I think parents could find this especially helpful so that they know what’s happening in a classroom and where they can go to find resources, especially if their student forgot their homework at school.
I really enjoyed making my screencast. It is my hope that I can do a lot more of them in the future for professional development of the staff at my new school. I am very happy with how my first one turned out:
The time limit forces me to plan on only the specific/most important details that I need to show for instruction. It think most individuals like to play around with sites once they get the basics down to figure out what features work best for them. While I agree with Richardson that some people can sound robotic/un-natural when reading from a script, having a lot of “ums” distracts me from the message. If I was having students create, I probably would have them submit a script to me and have them read from it until they get comfortable enough to compose “on the fly.”
There are several free podcasts that one can subscribe to on iTunes. One of my favorites is GrammarGirl. She gives a daily lesson in grammar about grammatical questions that her readers/listeners ask about. There are others that I used to subscribe to, but it became overwhelming, so I had to pare down.
With the Wiki that I created, my goal is to use it as an example for other teachers next year to show them what they could create to promote communication within their classroom. I think parents could find this especially helpful so that they know what’s happening in a classroom and where they can go to find resources, especially if their student forgot their homework at school.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Globe Theater
These images of the Globe Theater in London were taken in 2001. It is very useful to show students these images during an introduction to a Shakespeare Unit so that they can get an idea of what the area looked liked where Shakespeare's plays were preformed.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Week Three-Google Reader
There was a theme in last week’s blogs on how my classmates do not like Twitter. This week, most of them seem to like the RSS feeds. I am the opposite. I like Twitter much better than the RSS feeds. I think part of my problem is that I like to look at pieces of information in their original format. I would rather go to the blogs to read the entries than read them in Google Reader. Part of it seems redundant as well to have both a Twitter account and RSS feed for information. Most of the blogs/people that subscribe for RSS I’m also following on Twitter. So, they will tweet that they have a new blog post, so I go to it that way rather than looking in the RSS feed. If I’m following them on Twitter, I don’t really feel the need to follow them on RSS. To make items public in Google Reader, one has to star them; this seems the same to me as re-tweeting. I’m not seeing a big difference, just that I like Twitter better. I’m glad that there are several ways to keep track of the information so that everyone will be happy. I think that I will most likely stick with Twitter in the end.
The Flicker account was pretty easy to set up. I’m not a big picture person, so this is going to be more of a struggle for me to get into this.
On a side note, I now know why my students hate when I assign them to justify the name of a chapter.
The Flicker account was pretty easy to set up. I’m not a big picture person, so this is going to be more of a struggle for me to get into this.
On a side note, I now know why my students hate when I assign them to justify the name of a chapter.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The World of Wikis
You know what I would like to see, someone’s blog failure. Typically, one doesn’t want to publish their mistakes, only successes; however, some of my greatest lessons learned have come from my failures or the failures of other teachers. I would like to see a list of things to avoid when blogging or making a wiki. The only things that I have come across so far are protecting the students from “the evil blogs and internet” and to have expectations/rules. What are some other things that didn’t go well and should be avoided?
I made a wiki for my class this year. I only let the students be readers, and I used it post information. Now I’m wondering what projects I could have had them post on the wiki. As a LMS, I feel comfortable helping another teacher set up a wiki, and the readings have given great examples. However, as I start going through each piece in my head of how to start a “well used wiki,” I quickly get overwhelmed.
The points about Wikipedia have been very interesting this week. I honestly didn’t know there were so many advocates of Wikipedia. I think I’ve turned a corner, but it is very challenging to take Wikipedia as a credible resource. This might just be one of those things that will take a long time for me to change my thinking. I’m open to it, but it will just take time.
I made a wiki for my class this year. I only let the students be readers, and I used it post information. Now I’m wondering what projects I could have had them post on the wiki. As a LMS, I feel comfortable helping another teacher set up a wiki, and the readings have given great examples. However, as I start going through each piece in my head of how to start a “well used wiki,” I quickly get overwhelmed.
The points about Wikipedia have been very interesting this week. I honestly didn’t know there were so many advocates of Wikipedia. I think I’ve turned a corner, but it is very challenging to take Wikipedia as a credible resource. This might just be one of those things that will take a long time for me to change my thinking. I’m open to it, but it will just take time.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
How to use this info...
On Friday I was able to visit the district where I will be working next year. The LMS that is there now told me about how many resources are blocked at the schools. I think what I will use most in the resources we have read so far is to educate the administration about the power technology, and how students can be instructed to use it properly. All blogs are blocked for students, but teaches can access them. Gmail and Google Docs are also blocked for students. We are gearing up to implement these technologies into the schools.
In my current district, I will share with the English teachers the idea of an e-portfolio for student work. They are trying to find the best service for their blogging/class website needs. They want to get more involved with on-line discussions outside of class time. Going though some of the suggested sites will help me inform them of their options as the make the decision for next year. Right now, they are looking at getting subscriptions to Ning, but they might like something else.
In my current district, I will share with the English teachers the idea of an e-portfolio for student work. They are trying to find the best service for their blogging/class website needs. They want to get more involved with on-line discussions outside of class time. Going though some of the suggested sites will help me inform them of their options as the make the decision for next year. Right now, they are looking at getting subscriptions to Ning, but they might like something else.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Session Five
Over the weekend, I experienced a teaching moment about Prezi. My dad gives several presentations in a year to various groups. Many of his presentations are very conceptual, and I thought he might really like using Prezi. I showed him the intro video and some of how to use it. He got very excited and knew right away what topics would fit into this style. On Monday he's going to show some of his colleagues and expects that they will be buying a professional membership.
The other tool I used this week in my classroom was Voice Thread. I showed what I had complied on the Civil rights moment and To Kill a Mockingbird. The students appreciated seeing the pictures, and I liked that I didn't have to repeat myself five times. My favorite comment was from a student who said "that sounds like you!!" after I said that I put the presentation together.
Also this week I found another use for VoiceThread. One of the German students is doing an independent study and has to submit a final project. However, the program director doesn't speak German. So, the German teacher and I decided that she could speak her presentation into VoiceThread and then have the written comments on the side be in English.
The group project this week was very interesting. I had never heard of JayCut.com before. It seems like a very interesting application. It is an online video editing program. I would recommend checking it out.
As class quickly comes to an end, I'm very glad for everything that I have learned and hope the other classes will be as beneficial.
The other tool I used this week in my classroom was Voice Thread. I showed what I had complied on the Civil rights moment and To Kill a Mockingbird. The students appreciated seeing the pictures, and I liked that I didn't have to repeat myself five times. My favorite comment was from a student who said "that sounds like you!!" after I said that I put the presentation together.
Also this week I found another use for VoiceThread. One of the German students is doing an independent study and has to submit a final project. However, the program director doesn't speak German. So, the German teacher and I decided that she could speak her presentation into VoiceThread and then have the written comments on the side be in English.
The group project this week was very interesting. I had never heard of JayCut.com before. It seems like a very interesting application. It is an online video editing program. I would recommend checking it out.
As class quickly comes to an end, I'm very glad for everything that I have learned and hope the other classes will be as beneficial.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Four Down, Two to Go
This Thursday and Friday I'm attending the Wisconsin State Reading Association (WSRA) convention in Milwaukee. Of course, it couldn't be a week that we had class in Milwakee, so I didn't have to drive in twice. It could never work out that well.
I am thoroughly enjoying our weekly meetings. I feel like I'm in a classroom getting all of the personal interaction that I crave, but from the comfort of my own home. I think the hybrid was a success.
As for my experience with Prezi, I don't have a lot of good things to say. I understand why some people like it, but I don't think it's for me. I spent way too much time trying to place my pictures and my text. I like it when the computer does it for me. I like how in PowerPoint everything lines up. I get so frustrated with figuring out how to place and size the items. Curse my lack of spacial intelligence. Perhaps if I went to a previous Prezi and used one of the shared templates it could have been easier. I would show students how to use it, but I don't think I will be using it anytime soon. There are other programs that make more sense for me.
My Pecha Kucha is proving to be more challenging than I originally thought. I changed my topic to elements of character because it was a PowerPoint with only words and bullet points that I went over with my students. This is review information for them, and I just want to activate and remind them that they know all of these terms already. I thought the time would be perfect. What I didn't realize was how challenging it was going to be to give equal time to all of the slides. Sometimes I feel like I'm rushing through and other times I have a lot of time left over. I'm enjoying this challenge, and I'm thinking about making it one of the speeches that my students will give next year.
I am thoroughly enjoying our weekly meetings. I feel like I'm in a classroom getting all of the personal interaction that I crave, but from the comfort of my own home. I think the hybrid was a success.
As for my experience with Prezi, I don't have a lot of good things to say. I understand why some people like it, but I don't think it's for me. I spent way too much time trying to place my pictures and my text. I like it when the computer does it for me. I like how in PowerPoint everything lines up. I get so frustrated with figuring out how to place and size the items. Curse my lack of spacial intelligence. Perhaps if I went to a previous Prezi and used one of the shared templates it could have been easier. I would show students how to use it, but I don't think I will be using it anytime soon. There are other programs that make more sense for me.
My Pecha Kucha is proving to be more challenging than I originally thought. I changed my topic to elements of character because it was a PowerPoint with only words and bullet points that I went over with my students. This is review information for them, and I just want to activate and remind them that they know all of these terms already. I thought the time would be perfect. What I didn't realize was how challenging it was going to be to give equal time to all of the slides. Sometimes I feel like I'm rushing through and other times I have a lot of time left over. I'm enjoying this challenge, and I'm thinking about making it one of the speeches that my students will give next year.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Topics for Week Three
This week we were asked to come up with topics for a Pecha Kucha presentation. I had a very challenging time coming up with topic ideas. Others came up with very interesting thoughts, and I think that they are going to be very interesting watch.
As with VoiceThread, Animoto was very easy to use. I think that Animoto will be easier to incorporate into my classroom. Right now I'm planning on having it be a culminating project for the students to represent a theme from To Kill a Mockingbird. That leads me to bring up the discussion on the English Companion Ning about Animoto. I think one of the benefits it that it is so easy to use. Students can create a quality and professional looking product in a short amount of time. Many of my students would gravitate towards this. It also is a challenge to give meaning in only 30 seconds. However, I can see the point that they could be used only as "something pretty." Like all tools, sometimes they can be powerful and sometimes they are not.
As with VoiceThread, Animoto was very easy to use. I think that Animoto will be easier to incorporate into my classroom. Right now I'm planning on having it be a culminating project for the students to represent a theme from To Kill a Mockingbird. That leads me to bring up the discussion on the English Companion Ning about Animoto. I think one of the benefits it that it is so easy to use. Students can create a quality and professional looking product in a short amount of time. Many of my students would gravitate towards this. It also is a challenge to give meaning in only 30 seconds. However, I can see the point that they could be used only as "something pretty." Like all tools, sometimes they can be powerful and sometimes they are not.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Two Weeks Down
I thought that using the Elluminate classroom was easy. There were a few moments when I thought I was losing the feed, but I never lost it totally. I think next week I will hard-wire my internet connection because my wireless likes to cut out at times and that might have been part of my problem.
Like Jenny commented in her post this week, I'm trying to think of ways that VoiceThread could be used in my classroom. I found it much easier to use than I thought I would (I had a very poor inservice presentation on it). Others have suggested using it to give comments on speeches or papers, but I've never seen that demonstrated. I was also thinking that if I uploaded my presentations I could post those for students who are absent. This would get me closer to creating that class environment that some students need but often miss out on due to absences.
Like Jenny commented in her post this week, I'm trying to think of ways that VoiceThread could be used in my classroom. I found it much easier to use than I thought I would (I had a very poor inservice presentation on it). Others have suggested using it to give comments on speeches or papers, but I've never seen that demonstrated. I was also thinking that if I uploaded my presentations I could post those for students who are absent. This would get me closer to creating that class environment that some students need but often miss out on due to absences.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
First Night
Technology can sometimes be overwhelming, but I think that I'm getting it. I very much appreciate how well laid out everything is on the Ning. I find it very easy to use. The readings and the projects this week were interesting. It seemed like a lot at first, but it was very manageable.
I've only taken one class on-line, and I did not enjoy it very much. I'm hoping that this will be different because of how much interaction is required. It is also exciting that I will not have to drive into Milwaukee each week.
I am hoping to learning more skills. Already I have some ideas of how I can use these things in my classroom. I also hoping that we will address how to teach these skills to teachers. I don't believe that most teachers know about these tools, so what is the best way to educate them? How is the best way to teach them? Does this become a problem with the administration and resources? What are the real-life implication of these tools?
I've only taken one class on-line, and I did not enjoy it very much. I'm hoping that this will be different because of how much interaction is required. It is also exciting that I will not have to drive into Milwaukee each week.
I am hoping to learning more skills. Already I have some ideas of how I can use these things in my classroom. I also hoping that we will address how to teach these skills to teachers. I don't believe that most teachers know about these tools, so what is the best way to educate them? How is the best way to teach them? Does this become a problem with the administration and resources? What are the real-life implication of these tools?
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