Millennial Survey

When I think of today’s age of technology, I think of the advancements and how things have changed since I was a kid. I don’t think kids of today’s generation think about technology that way. To them, technology is the latest and greatest digital tool.


In this week’s activity, I had to take a quiz to determine my millennia status as Silent, Boomer, GenX or Millennial. For those of you that don’t know what the Millennial group is, they are the kids of today’s generation that embrace the digital-age, have confidence and good self-expression along with an upbeat attitude and an open mind to changes around them. At the end of the quiz my score was 39 and it put me in the GenX category (1965-1980).

Since I am in the category that is probably the most receptive to the information-age, apart from the Millennial group, I think my background and current knowledge will my help me with my teaching in many ways. For one thing, I am not opposed to including technology in the classroom, but I have reservations about using it for everything. Sometimes the good old fashioned way of teaching math or writing is to do it manually and effectively. I do think that sometimes this generation puts too much emphasis on technology and depends upon it to survive. As a teacher, I plan to have a teaching tool belt filled with technology, but also with basic tools to help students survive if technology isn’t available. Having a balance is important for learning. Looking at my score from the quiz, I think I am in a good position to be an effective teacher by bringing a vast variety of instructional methods to the classroom.

Along with the quiz was an article to review that listed 10 characteristics about the information-age mind set. I’ve listed below the 10 characteristics and stated whether or not I was in agreement with each of them.

1. Computers aren’t technology: Don’t agree. Technology is any advancement that makes life a little easier. Throughout the years, many people made discoveries that were considered technology and now most think of them as inventions. However, those inventions paved the way for many new things that we consider technology. Computers are technology, they make things possible that many could never have dreamed of years ago.

2. Internet is better than TV: Agree. There is much more to learn from the internet and it is interactive where the TV is not.

3. Realty no longer real: Agree. With so much information out there it is hard to decipher what is real.

4. Doing rather than knowing: Agree. We all learn from experiences much more readily than we do from a book.

5. Nintendo over logic: Agree. Students need to work through problems in order to figure them out, and that can be done with trial and error.

6. Multitasking way of life: Agree. People are always trying to do more things at once and it’s not always as efficient as if one thing was finished and then another.

7. Typing rather than handwriting: Agree. You can do so much more editing to writing if the words are on the page and can be deleted in one second as opposed to erasing and rewriting thoughts for an assignment.

8. Staying connected: Disagree. I think students are often too connected and need a break from the electronics that surround us. What happens in the long run when communications shut down and people don’t actually know how to survive without Yahoo or Google telling them what to do? Food for thought!

9. Zero tolerance for delays: Agree. This generation is so used to getting things instantaneously; it has created a generation of impatient and impulsive people.

10. Consumer/Creator Blurring: Agree. With the end users being able to change data, there really isn’t a guarantee that any one person is responsible for data provided via the internet. Sourcing is becoming a nightmare and probably somewhat unreliable.

The bottom line is that technology, whether it the typewriter, the light bulb or a PDA, is a part of our daily lives. I am embracing the new advancements of today’s generation, but I will probably always hold true to my upbringing that nothing is full-proof. I plan to teach my students a balance between technology advancements and life skills that can be used to further education and learning for years to come.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard five, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. After taking the quiz and reviewing the characteristics of the information-age mind set, I now have a better idea where I stand when it comes to technology and can use that to help in my teaching. In order to help students, you have to understand where they are coming from and that is why I think many teachers are not reaching their students. Professional development is crucial to keeping up with the current day and age, especially when technology is advancing so fast and changing every day!

Voki

Who would have thought years ago that a person would eventually be able to create an avatar of them self in order to teach? This week I had to create my own avatar and provide an introduction about myself using my voice. What a cool way to differentiate instruction!

The program I used to create my avatar was Voki. Apart from my Nintendo Wii mii person, I am new to the avatar creation realm! This activity was pretty cool because I got to put my actual voice with my introduction instead of some computer generated voice. The program was easy to use and I think it would be cool to create many avatars for different uses or specific learning times in the classroom. Here is link to my avatar... and my Google Doc introduction.

This activity goes along with the ISTE.NETS.T standard two and three. For standard two, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, this activity incorporates different learning experiences through the use of avatars and personal voice. Teachers can use this tool to change up instruction methods and bring digital creativity to the classroom. For standard three, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, by creating the avatar, the teacher is demonstrating the ability to use digital-age concepts in teaching. As avatars are becoming more popular each year, I’m sure there will be more and more use of these types of digital tools to help enhance classroom learning and instruction in the future.

Wordle

The technology standards for teachers have definitely changed over the past decade. In today’s activity I had to find and collect the NETS.T standards for 2000 and 2008. Once I found them, I created an image for each year through the use of Wordle.net. Wordle is a tool that can be used for creating graphic images in order to identify key words for a passage of text or just something that could be included in a document as a visual.

After I created the two Wordle’s, I analyzed the words that were larger than others (which meant they were repeated more often throughout the text). What I found was that the NETS.T 2000 standards focused more on technology as teaching tool and the NETS.T 2008 standards focused on technology as a learning tool for both students and teachers. I think before the standards were about utilizing technology to help teachers make instruction more diverse. Now the standards focus on providing tools for the teachers to implement to help students learn and to improve professional growth for the teachers. Click here to view my images through Wordle for the 2000 and 2008 NETS.T standards.

2000

2008

 

If I were to use Wordle in a classroom, I think I would use it for writing purposes. My activity would include taking a document/paper and creating a Wordle out of the text. The next step would be for my students to identify words that are used continuously throughout the paper and change them to make the paper more detailed or specific with a variety of vocabulary. Some students tend to use the same words over and over again in their writing. Wordle would be a good way to identify commonly used words that are over used and could be replaced with better words. Once the students saw the most common words, they could then go back and focus on improving the paper by changing words to include a variety of vocabulary.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard one and three, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, and Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. Using Wordle with students allows for creativity and learning about text through colors, fonts and size. Wordle also helps the teacher to utilize digital tools in order to help students evaluate text and identify important terms in writing.

 

Wireless Mobile- Carpe Diem vs St. Mary's

For this week’s activity I had to listen to a webinar about the use of technology in school, most of which had to do with smart phones. The two different types of technology driven learning mentioned were Carpe Diem and St. Mary’s of Ohio. I had many thoughts about technology long before this assignment. Some of what I saw in the webinar goes along with my thinking that technology is only a part of learning and can be used to enhance learning but not to take over the classroom instruction.

In Carpe Diem, the students sit at cubicles for half of the day and work on learning via computer. The other half of the day is time spent in small groups for learning. The picture below shows the classroom and it seems kind of cold and unwelcoming. When I think about computers, sometimes I think it is an isolated world when you are working on them to learn. Being able to interact with other people and share your thoughts is a big part of the learning process.

 

For the St. Mary’s school in Ohio, students are learning through smart phones, but that is not the only instruction the students get. From the picture below you can see textbooks, smart phones and kids interacting together to learn. I think the students of this school all have cell phones provided by the school, but those phones cannot be used off school property.  The limited plan kind of defeats the purpose of learning through the smart phones when it comes to kids that have nothing at home. Students may not have access to the Internet or apps, therefore, this plan is limited to classroom only and at home is where many kids practice to enhance learning. However, I can see why the school has made the plan limited, there are always people that will abuse the system and theft probably has something to do with it as well.

 

I’m not a big a fan of Carpe Diem. I think setting kids off to learn on their own, even when they have technology to interest them, isn’t active learning. As the webinar pointed out, students learn by doing. Even though the students are doing something on the computer, they are not expanding what they are learning as they would when there is a group discussion. Also, software can be limited with information and unable to answer questions from the students. For my classroom, I would like to have the option that St. Mary’s is using to provide smart phones for the entire school. Even if the smart phones were rotating from classroom to classroom on a scheduled basis, I think there is value in learning through technology and smart phones. Besides, at some point, technology is going to be the only way to do things in the future! I’m not so sure I agree with that completely, but that discussion will have to take place another time!

I have a smart phone and think between my knowledge of the applications available and the experience I’ve had in this class in exploring the web, I could use technology in the classroom just fine.  Don’t get me wrong, I do think students need to learn how to do things without technology, but I think technology is a useful tool to enhance learning and make it more interesting.

For teachers in the field of education, it is important to keep up with the times. My suggestion would be to explore applications, software, and any other technology source that can be helpful, and then go to the administration with a proposal for increased technology in the school. I think it true with anything, when you have the data or information to back up your claim to someone (i.e.-that smart phones would enhance learning), it is more difficult for the other person to say no or disregard the information. Keep trying and someday you might succeed in getting smart phones in the classroom or for use in the entire school. If technology were to be highly included in the classroom, I would recommend that teachers get training (like the webinar from ISTE), and try different things in the classroom with small changes that include some type of technology.

I see myself executing both models in moderation in the classroom. I think it is important to allow students to learn through computers, smart phones and other devices. There has to be a balance in learning through technology. It can’t be that technology will replace teacher instruction. Technology needs to be a part of the classroom, but not the entire focus of the classroom.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard five, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.  As teachers, we should constantly be learning and growing. Webinars are a way to learn about new things and share thoughts or questions with others. I think teachers will benefit and grow professionally when they embrace change and learn about new things that can enhance learning.

Excel T-Test

Get ready to embrace statistics! For this assignment I learned about t-tests and how they can help in evaluating quantitative data. Using the same 4th grade data set from the NCES that I used in the Excel Add-on blog post, I conducted a t-test analysis to determine whether or not gender has a significant impact on reading scores nationally between males and females in the 4th grade. After conducting this test, I then had to determine whether or not to accept or reject the null hypothesis based on the results. The Hypothesis states that there is a significant difference between male and female scores, where the null hypothesis states there is no difference at all.

In Microsoft Excel, I used the Data Analysis function to create a T-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances table where the two samples included the male and female national reading scores. Based on the results, where the p value is greater than >.05, I must conclude that there is no significant difference in the scores, therefore accepting the null hypothesis. If the data was less than <.05, then the null hypothesis would be rejected and the data would show a significant difference in scores based on gender.

 

If I had to conduct such an experiment in my class, I think it would be useful to look at whether or not physical activity makes a difference in student test scores. My prediction is that physical activity would increase learning and test scores would rise. The mere fact that physical activity helps get more oxygen to the brain leads me to believe there is a valid reason to incorporate such activities to further learning outcomes. The following is what my experiment would look like.

Research Question: Do physical activity breaks in the classroom have an impact on student     learning outcomes?

Dependent Variable: Students learning in a traditional classroom

Independent Variable: Physical Activity incorporated into the traditional classroom

Hypothesis
H0: There will be a significant difference in student learning if physical activity is incorporated daily into the classroom curriculum.

H1: There will be no difference (null hypothesis).

Since this Excel activity involves statistical data and t-tests to compare student learning outcomes, I think this activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number three, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. When teachers are actively using digital tools such as the Excel Data Analysis Tools, they are utilizing available resources to determine outcomes and identify issues that may or may not be might not be impacting learning altogether.

 

Excel Add-Ons

For the most part, I think that anyone that uses a computer has had some dealings with Excel or another spreadsheet program. Spreadsheets are not hard to create, but if you really want your work load to be completed efficiently, then spreadsheets can be a valuable must-have tool if proper formulas and valid information are present!

For today’s assignment, I had to look at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to compare my home state’s score to the rest of the country. The first thing I had to do was search NCES for the data on the average reading scores for the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the National public. Once I entered the criteria, the data was available in a spreadsheet format.  I then downloaded the information to Excel so that I could work with the data.

The next step was to sort the total scores by lowest to highest. Once this was done, I needed to adjust the options of this spreadsheet to include an add-on called Analysis ToolPak so I could analyze the scores. It was pretty easy to add ToolPak as an add-on and once I did, I used it to create a Total Scores Descriptive Statistics spreadsheet. The data in this spreadsheet showed the overall average, mode, median, standard deviation, skewness and other information relevant when looking at the data as a whole. This is where the information became interesting and for me somewhat dismal. Interesting because it showed how states compared to each other in reading and dismal because I realized that WV is not doing so well! West Virginia is number 10 on the list which is below average. There are 9 below WV and 43 above WV, so you can see why my reaction was disappointment.

To see the information in graph form, I created a scatter plot chart to show the severity of my state’s position compared to others. The scatter plot can be viewed at Average Reading Scores.  By looking at the scatter plot, I think a person can really see the results and relate to the urgency of the need for education reform in reading!

 

Since this activity dealt with manipulating a data set to use as a comparison for the average reading score of the 50 states, D.C. and the national public, it complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number two, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. I think this standard applies to this activity because the teacher can use Excel to help students look at data and manipulate it in a spreadsheet in order to utilize it. Just having the numbers in a spreadsheet is not enough. The teacher can show the students how to use formulas and add-ons in spreadsheets to compare, combine, and examine information more effectively.

Google Sites

In today’s age, having a website and providing information to the public is pretty common. For whatever reason someone wants to share information, it is pretty easy to design something that is user friendly, private, public, informative, educational, directional and even conversational much like this blog. So today I created a website for myself and it was extremely easy using Google Sites.

I logged into my Google mail account and then just clicked on the Sites button at the top of the page.  Once in the Sites section, I was able to click on Create a site and off I went! The setup was pretty straight forward and I even found a template that was simple and represented my future profession as a teacher.  The graphics on the page reminded me of Schoolhouse Rock and I love it!

After I setup the template, I had to add some pages and links to the documents I’ve created in my technology course. This was kind of tricky because I added some things in the wrong order, but was able to edit them in the layout section in the drop down box labeled “More” and everything ended up in the order I wanted it. The other thing I had issues with was the uploading. I forgot that even though there is an “add files” button at the bottom of each page, you still have to be in edit mode in order to upload anything. Once I figured that out, I was able to upload my resume and my rubric from last week.

It is definitely a work in progress, but for not having a classroom yet, I think I did okay. Click here to preview Mrs. Heflebower's Class website.

Since a personal website can be useful for anyone, this activity would be a great learning tool for students to learn about creating a website of their own where they have to edit, choose the content and topic, theme and layout appropriately.  This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standards one, two and four. Standard one facilitates learning and creativity in which this activity completely encompasses. For standard two, the design and development of the website helps the students experience learning through digital media while they create a well-thought website to present to the public. The final standard number four promotes and models digital citizenship and responsibility. With this activity, students will learn about the appropriateness of content and language use within their personal website.

I think having a website is great, but I can already see how it is a lot of work to maintain to keep it interesting! I have my work cut out for me when I become a teacher!

Rubrics

Since returning to college a couple of years ago, I’ve noticed that Rubrics have become a new way of grading different assignments. This was a new thing to me considering I was used to just getting a letter grade for all of my assignments. I now realize that Rubrics are helpful and provide a guide for students to complete the assignments and set criteria for teachers to grade those assignments. Rubrics are especially good for projects, papers, presentations or experiments. 

I think the best way to make a Rubric is to know what you want students to get out of the assignment first. Once you know what the goal is for the end result in learning, then creating the Rubric is easier.  When creating the Rubric, the teacher can use criteria such as resources, semantics, organization of the material, graphic organizers, images, timeliness and many other requirements that a student might need to include in a project, paper, presentation or experiment. Each one of these set criteria is given a point value and the teacher gives points based on the student’s end product. Basically if the student did everything in the assignment that was required, then the teacher gives the maximum amount of points. If the student was lacking in some areas, the teacher gives the student the appropriate points based on the Rubric.

The one thing I like about the Rubric is the guidelines. When a Rubric is involved, there is no question as to what the teacher expects the student to do. If the student wants a perfect score, then the student has to complete all of the requirements in the highest point value column. Grades no longer become subjective to teacher bias or poorly stated expectations.

To share a Rubric, a teacher can use Rubistar to create and save Rubrics that apply to their classroom. I like Rubistar because there are templates on the website that can be altered to fit the assignment and you don’t have to reinvent the “Rubric” wheel. The Rubric I created has to do with a Social Studies report on the Battle of Antietam. Teachers can also share the Rubrics with the class and the parents of the students. By communicating with the students and parents, the teacher expresses her/his expectations about the assignment and there should be no questions about what is expected.

The activity of creating a Rubric online complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number 3, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. The idea of putting expectations and guidelines into a Rubric form demonstrates the teacher’s use of digital technology in order to convey assignment details to the student. When teacher use sites like Rubistar, the teacher is showing the students different ways to grade work that is nontraditional, but beneficial to the student. Rubrics are important in student learning when it comes to following directions, setting goals and meeting expectations.

Self Grading Form

The act of creating a form in Google Drive is pretty cool as I demonstrated in a previous activity. The next step is to create a form (maybe a quiz or test or survey) and then grade the form using the Self Grading spreadsheet option within Google Drive. At first I thought this activity would be easy, but the hardest part was creating good questions that could be graded using a simple Self Grading form.

The first thing I did was create a quiz about rocks. There were 8 multiple-choice questions to answer.  Somehow on my summary spreadsheet there ended up being 9 questions with one column left blank. To fix this problem I put in N/A as the answer and filled in the answer for everyone so that all could get credit. Click here to see my Rock Quiz

After the quiz was sent out to my participants, I needed to create an answer key for the quiz. When I submitted the correct answers by taking the quiz myself, I could then put the formula together in order to mark the participant’s answers right or wrong. The formula part of the form was fairly easy after I watched the YouTube how-to video. I really like creating spreadsheets with short cuts and formulas because it makes things easier if they are automated from the start. Once the participants started answering the quiz questions, I was able to see if my formulas were done correctly. How cool to see the results of the quiz without having to manually grade anything. Click here to see the Grading Results Spreadsheet.

I think this Self Graded Form enables teachers to utilize digital media in a way that not only makes things straightforward, but easy to grade and record. When teachers can give quizzes like this one, students are able to quickly answer the questions and teachers are able to grade the form without spending a great deal of time outside of class. This particular activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number two, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. The activity provides an example of how teachers can use digital media to assess learning through other measures than the traditional pencil and paper test.

Google Forms

So I am no expert in creating surveys, but after completing today’s activity in Google Forms, I could surely put something together to use as a teacher. In Google Forms (under Google Drive), there are questions that can be used to create a form and they come in various formats. The form was easy to create and I especially like that you can put a theme to it when it is presented. My form was about recess and physical activity, so it was fitting that I found a theme with runners as the graphic.

 As for the questions, it was slightly difficult to figure out what types of questions I wanted to use with the different formats. I really liked most of the question types and it was cool coming up with different ways to have the participant answer the question. Choosing the verbiage was also a little difficult because I had to think about whether or not the question was relevant and whether the wording was understandable.

To check out my final survey form, go to my School Recess questionnaire.  Click here if you want to see the Form Results from the participants. I think as a teacher these types of forms will be helpful in collecting information that can be useful for helping students, communicating with parents and getting feedback from parents about their child’s needs. These forms can be created to compile yes/no answers, constructed feedback and all sorts of data that can be helpful in making the classroom a better learning environment.

In order for this form to be used, a teacher must gather email addresses of parents and students so that they can participate in answering the questionnaires.  If a parent does not have an email address, the teacher might be able to administer the form via paper copy directly to the parent.  The document can also be shared, so anyone could have access to it. One of the problems I had was enabling a non-Shenandoah student access to the form. After clicking off of the requirement for a participant to sign in to Shenandoah’s email system, my participants were able to answer the questions in the form.

 

Just as parents may use this form, so can students. A teacher might use the form to poll the students about an upcoming test or to see what they know about a topic. These forms can be used for endless gathering of data for many topics. Because the form answers transfer into a spreadsheet, the results are easily viewed and can be interpreted in order to help the teacher prepare for future lesson planning and teaching.

Overall, this activity using Google Forms was pretty neat. I like having access to tools that can be manipulated to work for multiple purposes and subjects. The activity complies with ISTE.NETS.T standard number two, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. Since the activity was creating a form that could be used to assess a student by asking questions and then interpreting that data from the spreadsheet, it complies with giving different types of assessments through digital media. By using such forms, the teaching is demonstrating new ways to assess the student and also shows the student ways to use the form as well for other measurements.

Prezi

Today’s activity was creating a Prezi presentation with lots of images, simple words and a layered pattern for easy viewing.  This is not my first Prezi, but since the program is still new to me I had a lot of fun putting this lesson together! The first Prezi I completed really didn’t have too much layering within the slides and I kept it simple while using short word phrases and one image per circle. This time I explored my options and added some circles within circles for a clean and less dizziness look while the slides are in play.  The program is pretty easy to use, I learned best by playing around with options and clicking different formats to better understand what the program is capable of in terms of presentations.

The presentation I put together this time was about synonyms, antonyms and homonyms. My presentation can be viewed at Word Relationships on Prezi.com

After completing this Prezi, I realize how valuable slide shows can be, especially if the person creating the presentation takes time to be inventive and daring when putting the information together within each slide. Prezi is definitely more interesting than PowerPoint, although I know that PowerPoint has quite a few options that are unique to its program. The Prezi is different from PowerPoint because it can move around the screen and allows the creator to combine information into one circle or shape to keep it together as one thought. The Prezi also allows the creator to link slide to slide or shape to shape instead of putting the slides in order as PowerPoint does. The way that Prezi is laid out gives the presenter the ability to move back and forth between slides in order to show relationships or review the previous information. In PowerPoint, the layout doesn’t allow the presenter to go back and review unless the slide show returns to the beginning. The big thing I like about Prezi is that is changes up the boring old bulleted slide and makes presentations a fun and creative way to express a story or lesson.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standards one, two and three. For standard one, the Prezi allows creativity on the part of the teacher to engage students in learning about word relationships through a unique presentation that covers all of the lesson objectives. The presentation also complies with standard two which states that teachers should design learning resources that are different from regular classroom tools in order to demonstrate the use of digital technology.  The final standard to be associated with this activity is standard three. By using the Prezi, the teacher is able to model such a presentation for the students and teach them the ways to use this digital media for learning.

Word Relationships on Prezi

Photo Story

This activity involved creating a video from a slide presentation using a program called Photo Story for Windows.  Let’s back up a minute. Before I could use Photo Story, I had to create a PowerPoint presentation in order to use the slides as pictures for this narrative video.  The presentation I created is called “Canning Tomatoes”. So naturally, the video is about canning home grown tomatoes.

After I created the slides, I downloaded Photo Story and began my journey as the director, editor and creator of a video about canning tomatoes. Photo Story was extremely easy to use. I was able to upload my slides right into the program and started to add voice and other formatting like duration of time the slide was seen by the viewer. What I really liked about this program was that I could type in notes into a box and use those as a guide for my speaking parts. It was like a small cheat window in case you didn’t quite know what to say when creating the audio for a particular slide. I also liked the fact that each slide had its individual recording as opposed to the recordings that are continuous and if you make a mistake you have to start over. I only had to redo a couple of slides when I was editing my work.

Next I had to save the video and upload it to YouTube. It was kind of scary to think that I would have something on YouTube that anyone could see. I went ahead and logged in with my student id (which is linked to YouTube) and successfully uploaded my video to anyone interested in canning tomatoes. The video can be seen at Canning Tomatoes via YouTube  

I really enjoyed creating this video about canning tomatoes. This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number 3, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. Since this activity communicates relevant information and ideas to others, this is a prime example of digital-age work and learning. I think this type of activity would be good for anyone to practice articulation, giving directions, creating narratives and even just sharing what they know.

PowerPoint

So this week’s activity was creating a PowerPoint presentation where the focus was about presenting a concept using visual images instead of the usual bullet point format.  I tried to stay away from bullet points, but there was one section that I had to add something in order to make the lesson understandable. However, unlike my usual symmetrical, same color and slide layout presentations, I went with various colors, large and small images, a block font and little to no wording on most of the slides.

This PowerPoint is all about rocks and how they form.  You can view the Rock Presentation in my Dropbox. I am actually pretty excited about the result of this activity. It was handy to have my old earth science textbooks to use as a reference. Didn’t think I’d ever look at those again and not sure why I even kept them, but they were useful! The lesson itself fulfills the VA Earth Science Standard of Learning ES.6.  The standard states that the student will investigate and understand the rock cycle as it relates to the origin and transformation of rock types and how to identify common rock types based on mineral composition and texture. Key concepts include igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks.  It was nice to see that my work directly applied to a specific standard of learning. Depending on what grade I end up teaching someday, I know this presentation would be helpful in learning the rock cycle in a fun and visual way.

After completing this process, I realize how easy it is to compile information and list it out in bullet format thinking that it will be short and concise, but it is not always effective. This activity broadened my idea of presentations and the way it can be used in the classroom to enhance learning. Creating this PowerPoint complies with ISTE.NETS.T standard number 3, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. This standard applies because this activity enables the teacher to communicate relevant information about a subject through the use of a digital media. PowerPoint is a great tool to help teachers and students convey information to make learning more effective.

Google Earth

Before this assignment, I only used Google Earth for two things: locating my house to see what it looked like from space and looking at the earth’s surface for a science class where we studied erosion and natural changes to the terrain. I had no idea that I could create a map in Google Maps and then merge it into Google Earth to create a unique map for whatever I choose.  The map in Google Earth ends up in a KML file for others to explore. The KML file, otherwise known as Keyhole Markup Language, is a format that shows geographic data much like an HTML file shows documents and spreadsheets online. The way I understand it is that the KML file compresses information from Google Maps and then transforms it into something different in Google Earth. At least that is my understanding.

The KML file is useful because you can see so much more in Google Earth than in Google Maps and you can interact with the map. In Google maps you see a flat map, but in Google Earth, the KML formatting allows the viewer to see more geographical data in 3D and there are tools to make the map user friendly and interactive. Some of the tools in Google Earth include adding editing marks, polygon shapes, specific paths and even imagery overlays.  I think Google Earth is also helpful in comparing and contrasting the area from a previous time frame.  The image can display what the area looks like today, but it can also go back a few months and show what the terrain looked like previously.  There are so many things that Google Earth can be used for when using the KML format. What a great tool to use for exploring maps in detail!

Click here to see my Google Earth map .Google Earth KML Map.

 

In addition to the map features of Google Earth, there are also many ideas for teachers under the online resource Google Earth for Educators. Within this resource are many ideas to use in the classroom to incorporate digital media. I found a lesson plan titled Historical Novel and it can be used for Language Arts & Social Studies to explore literature that ties into historical places, people or events. I like this lesson plan because it relates to the map I created for the Google Map assignment where I marked historical places in Jefferson County, WV. Students can first use literature to learn about historical places, people or events, and then locate those places using Google Maps and Google Earth. This would be a fun activity to plot historical places and then tell a story based on the readings and knowledge gained by retracing the steps of certain events through the use of online mapping. I think plotting historical events on a map can give a visual of locations, terrain and other features that will enhance the understanding that a student may have about events that took place long ago.

Given that this assignment includes exploration of maps and creates an interactive map assignment for students to explore, this activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number one, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. By giving the students an opportunity to explore Google Earth, it allows the students to be creative and experience digital learning first hand.

Google Maps

Today I learned more about Google Maps. Before this activity, I didn't know that I could create my own map to include details and links for use in the classroom. Now that I have created my own virtual field trip using Google Maps, I have some ideas about how I could use this mapping process to help students understand mapping and the connections between places on the map. For example, during a social studies lesson, I could give groups of students historical event time lines and have them plot the places on the map that were significant to the outcomes of the events. By evaluating the map and possibly the terrain as well, the students will be able to understand why certain events had certain outcomes.

Below is a copy of my Google Map that I used for my virtual field trip.  Click here to see the actual map created in Google Maps.

 

 

This type of activity within the classroom complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number two, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. When students are engaged in digital learning experiences such as plotting events in an online mapping system and researching time line outcomes, students will be more likely to better understand and process information effectively.

 

 

 

Batchgeo 1 and 2

In my experience using maps for directions, I have never used a program like Batchgeo. Batchgeo is a place where maps can be created and shared with others. This was such an easy task. In the first part of this activity, the class was given a link to a Google Drive document that could be edited by all of my classmates. Each of us was to enter our address into the spreadsheet where the data would be saved for future use. The only problem I had was that I live on a rural route and my address is not even recognized by Google or MapQuest, so my address was not used to plot a spot on the classmates location map.

The second thing I had to do was upload the information from the spreadsheet directly to Batchgeo. After the information is uploaded, there is a Map It button to click and what you get looks like the map below. The nice part about Batchgeo is that it gives you the locations that were plotted in a list underneath the map.

 

 

 

What I ended up with was a map with the locations of all of my classmates and we are pretty spread apart in distance. It seems that I am the only one that lives in West Virginia, but since I’m not on the map, I guess that doesn’t matter now does it? To access the map please click here - My Classmates Batchgeo Map

If I were to use this program in a classroom I think it could be used for a variety of geography and math activities. Plotting addresses and creating a map could be used to learn about proximity/distance, mileage, terrain, cardinal directions, and even planning an itinerary for travel. This activity coincides with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number 2, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. The activity allows the student to use digital media to create a learning experience of their own by plotting addresses on a map through the use of a spreadsheet, and by developing skills that have to do with geography and math. The students could use this technology to create a project to assess how far someone lives from someone else or how far the nearest Starbuck’s store is from another. The activities are endless and with this unique tool Batchgeo, learning has never been more fun and engaging!  

Jing Screencast

So today I had to create a video without using a video camera. The way to create such a video is to use a screen shot program such as Jing to capture and create a tutorial or instructional video to share with others. Instead of recording the person or event with a video camera, I used Jing to record the steps I took on my computer to explain a process by capturing steps and images used to complete a task. My “how to” screencast was a narrative about how to use the word cloud application called Wordle www.wordle.net. Click here to view my screencast: Screencast video

In order to create a screencast video about Wordle, I had to start by capturing a screen and then sizing the capture so that my video would fit into the screen. This was not an easy task. It took about three times to finally figure out how to adjust the size of the screens to be used in the video.  Minimizing the windows that I was using within the video helped to keep the screens viewable inside the captured dimensions.

After I created my screen cast video, I was able to save it on my computer’s hard drive. There are two ways to save the capture. It can be saved directly onto the computer’s hard drive as I did, or it can be automatically saved into Jing’s history files. So even if a person loses the file on the computer, Jing will have the file stored as a backup. My file is saved under the C drive of my computer and the extension is C:\Users\Amyh\Amy\Capture.

In order to find the file, I go to the start menu, click on computer, click on My Documents and then follow the path through the Amyh folder to open the file Capture.

To share my screen cast via the internet, I followed these simple steps.

1. Create the screen cast video using Jing
2. Save the video and change the title name to something related to the topic
3. Click on the history prong under the Jing yellow sun
4. Click on the saved file once and then click the eye to view the file
5. When the file opens, go to the bottom left hand corner and click on the three-arrow icon to share
6. The file will be uploaded to screencast and a Google Chrome window will appear with the file shown in the middle
7. Copy the URL in the top left hand corner and paste it where you would want to share the link

The Jing screencast movie is a SWL or Shockwave Flash file. If I were to get the premium version of Jing, then the files would be available in MPEG form.
Jing is very user friendly. The Jing icon looks like a yellow sun that sits at the top of your desktop just waiting for you to scroll over it to start capturing images. There are three prongs on the bottom on the yellow sun and they each have a function. The first prong is what you would click on if you were ready to capture an image. The second prong shows the history of the user in capturing images or videos. The final prong titled “more” gives the user access to settings and help with using Jing. Overall this program is easy to use and quick to learn.

I can see how this program would be useful for a teacher. It is easy to put together a quick tutorial video of what the teacher wants the students to focus on in a lesson. It would even be useful if a teacher is out on leave and a substitute could use screencast videos and images created by the teacher to teach the class. This activity falls under the ISTE.NETS.T standard number three, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. The reason this activity coincides with this standard is because Jing video can be used by the teacher to demonstrate how instructional videos can be created in order to convey information about a particular subject. Teachers can use this digital way of teaching to promote useful computer skills and also ways to develop directional skills.

Jing Image



What is Jing? Well, it is a website that can be used to enhance images with text and other graphic features such as arrows/lines and shapes. I liked working with this Jing with this activity because it provides a way to mark up an image in order to share information about the subject to others. 

The image I chose to share was about canning fruits and vegetables. I captured all of the items in one image and then placed labels next to each item. It was fairly easy to use. You just have to click anywhere on the image with the mouse and then whatever graphic you chose to use would appear on the screen. I used the same font and color that popped up as a default, but any color can be used with any font.  I stuck to basics.

The next step was to create the screenshot for my image. It was also easy to do. I clicked on the share button and it uploaded my image to a screenshot within seconds. Now my image is easily viewed on the web.  Click here to view screencast.

 

Jing would be good for giving instructions by using visuals. Sometimes students need a visual to understand a concept.  The arrows also allow the viewer to understand exactly what the text relates to within the image. For students I think this would be a good exercise in creating something that needed to be labeled. It could even be used to create a study guide or timeline. The act of sharing information or subject content through the use of Jing complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard 3, Model Digital-Age and Work and Learning.  By utilizing this website, the teacher is communicating the lesson through digital means and will most likely engage the students much more than with a straight lecture.

 



 



Diigo, Social Bookmarking

Today I registered for an account and explored the wonderful world social bookmarking through the website Diigo http://www.diigo.com/index. The whole idea of social bookmarking is new to me. I spent a good deal of time searching the site and checking out the features available. What I found was that social bookmarking is a great way to mark important information, make notes, and even share the information with someone else through social networking.

Who would have thought before Web 2.0 that websites would have the capability of providing the users with access to make changes or add information to the world-wide-web?  The days of “browsing only” are gone! The web is accessible to anyone now and users are able to share what they know or have found with anyone, anywhere!  

What I kept thinking about as I added articles to my library was that I could share the information on merit pay that I found with a classmate.  We are working on a merit pay project together and this site is a great example of how we can share information that we find. The highlighting tool will be especially helpful in noting the important aspects of the articles or information bookmarked.  I can’t wait to share my new bookmarks with my classmate!

Here is the link to my Diigo library: http://www.diigo.com/user/aheflebower

This site would be a wonderful tool for teachers to use in the classroom to engage students in learning how to identify the important information of an article, how to work with classmates, and how to organize information. According to the ISTE.NETS.T standards, this type of activity would comply with standard 3, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.  The activity fulfills this standard because it involves the use of digital tools to gather information for research and allows the students to work with peers or others to incorporate the use of technology into learning.

During this exercise I also learned about browser add-ons. It never occurred to me that all of the small icons I had listed on my tool bar were add-ons.  These add-ons make things a little easier to get to on the web, especially since there are sites that I frequent quite a bit throughout the day. It is so much easier to click on the add-on button and not have to type the URL in every time I need to change websites. Now that I know about them, I can surely state that I use them quite frequently. There are many buttons on my toolbar as shown below.  My choice browser is Internet Explorer.  I’ve always seemed to use that browser and occasionally use Mozilla Firefox when I run into trouble or can’t access something. 

I’m still not expert at social bookmarking, but I am going to keep trying to add more to my library and organize it to be useful for anyone.

Self Portrait

Today I learned how to create my very own Picasso portrait. Much to my dismay, my first attempt was nothing more than the image you see below and man is it ugly!



First Attempt

 

So I continued to work with this new found website www.picassohead.com in order to create my award winning portrait. The idea of dragging and dropping features onto the canvas to create a portrait is pretty simple. However, the issues I encountered had to do with adjusting the features.

The first problem I ran into was the lack of description for the editing icons. Unlike most websites where the icons will reveal their purpose if you scroll over the picture with the cursor, this website does not have that option.  So it was only through trial and error that I figured out what the icon symbols meant.  I still did not figure out what the stacks of paper and arrows represented. I thought it meant to bring the image from back to front or front to back, but when I clicked on the icons nothing happened.

The other problem I had was that the screen was split and I couldn’t see the entire window where the portrait was being created. When I tried to click on create, nothing happened. Not sure if there is a problem on the website or with my computer?

Once I figured out how to adjust the features, I made a few attempts at another self portrait and here is my favorite…

Amee Amore!!

In order to use this website in the classroom, I would definitely have to provide some direct instruction with regards to the icon functions.  Students could spend time trying to figure it out, but that would waste the time they had to create something inventive. This website could be used for designing an avatar picture or creating a description of a character in a book.

This activity correlates to the ISTE.NETS.T Standard one, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. The Picassohead website provides a way for students to be creative in designing a self portrait or one for someone else that includes imagination and style.

Revisit Resume

Not sure about anyone else, but I do not like resume writing. It is a task that seems to haunt me and I never seem to think the resume is good enough to land that job I really want. In fact, since I am switching gears in my field of work, from business to education, rewriting my resume has been a huge challenge.  I’m pretty much combining my business career experience with the only education experience I’ve had which comes in the form of volunteering at my kid’s school and the practicum hours I’ve completed in graduate school. Did I mention that I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the past 9 years? All of this worries me when it comes down to applying for teaching jobs next year.

With all that said, this resume revision experience has given me some confidence in my resume writing. I fully expected the REZSCORE website www.rezscore.com to score my resume low, but to my surprise the score was great!

 

As I have rewritten my resume many times over the past 20 years, I have never used a tool like REZSCORE to evaluate my resume. It was amazing to see how quickly the website was able to review my resume and look for similarities in my job industries. Since it did not suggest any improvements, I uploaded my husband’s resume as a test. His came back with a B- and a few improvements needed.  Because it is his resume, I didn’t make changes to resubmit it, but I will suggest some changes to him later.  I did submit my resume to another company online, but have not received a response yet.

What I’ve learned from this experience is that tools like REZSCORE can be used to make suggestions for improvements on resumes and gives direction in which way to start rewriting. Any additional help will cost money. These tools can also be used to help secondary students build a beginner resume before graduating.  This activity ties into the ISTE.NETS.T standard three, Model Digital Work and Learning.