Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
"Shape It Up" Lesson Plan Implementation
The lesson plan I created utilizes a Smart Board in conjunction with an activity I found on the SMART Exchange website called “Shape It Up.” The activity is a one or two-person game that is played on a Smart Board. The goal of the game is to identify specific shapes in each picture. I chose this activity because it is an interactive, realistic and exciting way for children to learn. It requires minimal instruction and supervision by providing it’s own control of error, which in turn promotes independence. Originally, I didn't plan on using any verbal instruction. However, after reviewing the Common Core State Standards for the lesson, I decided it was necessary to verbalize the names of the shapes during the lesson. Although a silent demonstration would have been plenty guidance for the students to know how to do the activity, it would not have been adequate information to cover one of the standards for the lesson. Standard K.G.2. states “Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.” Because the vocabulary is a component that is necessary to achieve student mastery of this standard, I also added into my lesson plan a requirement for the students to state the name of each shape as they find it in the picture. The control of error remains because each partner has to agree on the correct name for each shape. In the event that neither partner knows the name, I designated two other students in the classroom as “go-to friends” for assistance if necessary.
I implemented my lesson plan last week and overall, I am pleased with the outcome. There are 21 kindergarten students in my class with a wide range of ability levels. For the lesson, the children sat on the rug in front of the Smart Board while I demonstrated the “Shape It Up” activity. The first page of the activity has a circle, square, rectangle and triangle on it. Each of the shapes is labeled with a brief description of it’s characteristics written next to it. I read the words on the page and continued on to the first “picture” page. Each “picture” page contains several pictures of objects that have the same shape as one of these four basic shapes. I demonstrated how to choose the correct shape and drag it over to the corresponding picture. There are a few other variations of the “picture” pages throughout the activity so I briefly demonstrated how to do some of them. The children seemed interested in the lesson and eager to have a turn.
Upon completion of my demonstration, technology became the main facilitator for the activity, which gave me a chance to observe the students interacting with the shapes. It was satisfying to see that my behaviorist approach for teaching, was working. By demonstrating some examples first, the students knew their expectations and the directions for how to do each page. One unfortunate constraint of this activity is that only two students were able to use it at a time. Because of this, some students had to wait so long for their turn that they forgot what to do on some pages, which made me very grateful for the control of error the activity provided. Any time a student tried to put a shape in the wrong spot, it would bounce back. They were unable to move on to the next page until all of the shapes were in the correct spot. There were not many questions that the students asked me because of their requirement to ask the two “go-to friends” before asking me. The only type of questions I ended up having to answer were questions about the directions. It was fascinating to watch the children problem-solve without my assistance. They consulted with their partner about the characteristics of a given shape and then put it in the correct spot on the board. The Smart Board and the “Shape It Up” activity provided an interactive and effective learning experience for the students. This is a tool I will definitely use again in the future.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Lesson Plan: Shapes in the Environment
1. Content:
Common Core State Standards:
K.G.1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.
Essential Questions:
How can I identify shapes?
How can I describe shapes?
How can I correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size?
K.G.2. Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
Essential Question:
How can I correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size?
The content that I will be teaching is kindergarten math and more specifically, identifying and describing shapes in space using a Smartboard activity I found on the SMART Exchange website called “Shape It Up”. The big idea is to recognizing, naming and classifying shapes in the environment. It may be difficult for some students to apply their prior knowledge of shapes to the objects in the real world. Another challenge may be recognizing familiar shapes in unfamiliar sizes, orientations, and settings.
2. Pedagogy:
Learning takes place in the form of constructivism, behaviorism and some scaffolding. Behaviorism takes place when I go through the Smartboard activity and demonstrate one or two examples from each page (sliding the triangle shaped objects into the empty triangle, sorting shapes, matching....) while they watch. There should be no verbal instructions. By now they will have some basic knowledge of shapes and my goal is for them to be able to apply what they know in order to complete this activity. The demonstration will tap into their prior knowledge of shapes so when it is their turn to do the activity, they are able to concentrate on their new skill of finding shapes in the environment (scaffolding). The constructivism is taking place when the students are actively engaged in the Smartboard activity, figuring out what each shape is and where it belongs on the board. Scaffolding will also occur if a child is having a hard time using the Smartboard then I will step in and show them how to use it again. The activity has a control of error to prevent a student from getting the wrong answer. It is very important for me to observe the students doing the activity in order to ensure student understanding, success and achievement.
3. Content & Pedagogy:
Students know the expectations and how to do the activity from observing me demonstrate some examples (behaviorism). This will tap into their prior knowledge of shapes so when it is their turn to do the activity, they are able to concentrate on their new skill of finding shapes in the environment (scaffolding). Without the teacher’s assistance, students are forced to rely on themselves to figure out the correct answers. Their work is uninterrupted which enables them to gain a deeper understanding of the topic by exploring, engaging in, correcting and therefore learning from their own mistakes while completing the activity independently (constructivism). Scaffolding will also occur is a child is having a hard time using the Smartboard then I will step in and show them how to use it again. The activity has a control of error to prevent a student from getting the wrong answer. My observations and limited but necessary interventions are key to ensuring student understanding and success.
4. Technology:
I will be using a Smartboard activity I found on the SMART Exchange website called “Shape It Up” for my technology tool. Achievement is increased when students are active participants. If I want my students to learn the material by interacting with the content in a fun and exciting way then the use of this technology is necessary. Another option for using the “Shape It Up” activity would be for students to use it on a regular computer but this option would not be quite as exciting as using the Smartboard. Regular computers are also not as effective because they don’t provide the physical interaction that the Smartboard allows for.
5. Technology & Pedagogy:
The Smartboard activity is especially appropriate because it uses a variety of learning for teaching for individual learning styles. This would include kinesthetic, visual and verbal. It also allows for independent work. Without the teacher’s assistance, student are forced to rely on themselves to figure out the correct answers. Constructivism takes place because their work is uninterrupted which enables them to gain a deeper understanding of the topic by exploring, engaging in, correcting and therefore learning from their own mistakes while completing the activity independently. The activity has a control of error to prevent a student from getting the wrong answer. My observations and limited but necessary interventions are key to ensuring student understanding and success.
6. Technology & Content:
The Smartboard activity provides an exciting and interactive way of presenting a wide variety of realistic examples of shapes in the environment. The activity provides a control of error (“Oops! Try again!”) so the student will know if he needs to try again. My observations will help me decide whether or not a student needs me to reteach or if a student is ready to be assessed.
7. Assessment:
I would like my students to be able to apply their prior knowledge of shapes to the objects in the real world in order to name, describe, and classify the shapes in the environment. It’s important that they develop the ability to recognize familiar shapes in unfamiliar sizes, orientations, and settings. The assessment would be my observations of a student’s independent performance while doing the activity. This will help me decide if the student needs to be retaught, if they just need more practice or if they have mastered the concept are ready to move on to 3D shapes in the environment.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wicked Problem Project
As a child, I remember my parents asking me “What did you do in school today?” As a parent, I ask my child the same question. The answers I gave to my parents are similar to the answers my son gives me such as “Nothing” or “I played outside”. This is an issue many parents face with their children every day. How can we communicate with parents better? Newsletters are great but they often get lost in the backpack or misplaced at home. Over this past spring break, I had the opportunity to be a camp counselor and I ran into this same issue of a lack of parent communication. I asked myself “How great would it be to ask parents for ideas and advice?” and “Wouldn’t it be nice to reflect on each day and inform parents of the next day’s activities?” I was about to be a lead counselor for summer camp and I needed a solution to my problem!
So, I decided to create a summer camp website using www.weebly.com. which is free software. On this website I included camp counselor introductions, weekly topics, a calendar, contact information, camp rules, items campers need to bring each day, and most importantly a blog.
This was a reasonable approach because most people have access to the internet and once our Weebly page was set up it won’t be time consuming. An alternative could have been to give parents our email addresses but that’s not as interactive.
The technology I chose is weebly. It is very user-friendly which means it's more likely that parents will actually use it. It makes the content in my problem more intellectually accessible because it allows camp counselors, parents, and campers to communicate in the digital world rather than sending several notes home or printing off a weekly newsletter.
My pedagogical choice makes the content in my problem more intellectually accessible because when the children look at the website with their parents, they will begin to recall events that happened at camp and share their stories. They may even think of even more stuff to talk about other than what is posted on the website. The learning that is enhanced here is recalling and communicating.
My goal was to create a website to increase parent communication. I was surprised that there was already a domain name for summercamp.weebly.com being used. I guess I'm not the first person to have this idea! That's okay though because I used supersummercamp2012.weebly.com.
I was hoping to put some pictures from last years summer camp but I didn't think about the fact that I would need permission from each of the child's parents in order to do that. This also means that in order for me to put pictures of my campers throughout this summer, I will have to get permission to do this as well. It is doable but definitely a "bump in the road". Another thing I was hoping to do was monitor who can participate in the blog page. I would have liked for it to be password protected and give parents the password but in order to do that I would have to get the Pro version of Weebly which costs money.
Luckily, I discovered that Weebly allows you to set your blog up where anytime someone tries to post a blog, it has to be approved by me before it shows up on the blog page.
The project was implemented as planned. By the time camp started the website was up and running. The only problem was the Meet the Counselors page. I was the only counselor on there! Hopefully this will be taken care of soon.
The best evidence would be parents typing in on the blog page. There has been some verbal evidence such as parents knowing what we are doing that day ahead of time. I had some parents know that we were going to go bowling. One parent came in and asked me "What is Neukem?" (a kid-friendly version of volleyball) and we hadn't even played it yet.
Next time I do something like this I will be sure to advertise the website way more in advance. I would also put a form in the registration packet asking parents if their child can have their picture posted on our website. Also, I will be sure the Meet the Counselors page is completed ahead of time. This should have been taken care of before implementation.
A classmate of mine gave me some good insight about my overall success. She basically said that once others see how successful I was this first year with my website, they will be more likely to use it next year. I’m very satisfied with the results of my website and I’m looking forward to giving it a try in my new classroom this fall!
So, I decided to create a summer camp website using www.weebly.com. which is free software. On this website I included camp counselor introductions, weekly topics, a calendar, contact information, camp rules, items campers need to bring each day, and most importantly a blog.
This was a reasonable approach because most people have access to the internet and once our Weebly page was set up it won’t be time consuming. An alternative could have been to give parents our email addresses but that’s not as interactive.
The technology I chose is weebly. It is very user-friendly which means it's more likely that parents will actually use it. It makes the content in my problem more intellectually accessible because it allows camp counselors, parents, and campers to communicate in the digital world rather than sending several notes home or printing off a weekly newsletter.
My pedagogical choice makes the content in my problem more intellectually accessible because when the children look at the website with their parents, they will begin to recall events that happened at camp and share their stories. They may even think of even more stuff to talk about other than what is posted on the website. The learning that is enhanced here is recalling and communicating.
My goal was to create a website to increase parent communication. I was surprised that there was already a domain name for summercamp.weebly.com being used. I guess I'm not the first person to have this idea! That's okay though because I used supersummercamp2012.weebly.com.
I was hoping to put some pictures from last years summer camp but I didn't think about the fact that I would need permission from each of the child's parents in order to do that. This also means that in order for me to put pictures of my campers throughout this summer, I will have to get permission to do this as well. It is doable but definitely a "bump in the road". Another thing I was hoping to do was monitor who can participate in the blog page. I would have liked for it to be password protected and give parents the password but in order to do that I would have to get the Pro version of Weebly which costs money.
Luckily, I discovered that Weebly allows you to set your blog up where anytime someone tries to post a blog, it has to be approved by me before it shows up on the blog page.
The project was implemented as planned. By the time camp started the website was up and running. The only problem was the Meet the Counselors page. I was the only counselor on there! Hopefully this will be taken care of soon.
The best evidence would be parents typing in on the blog page. There has been some verbal evidence such as parents knowing what we are doing that day ahead of time. I had some parents know that we were going to go bowling. One parent came in and asked me "What is Neukem?" (a kid-friendly version of volleyball) and we hadn't even played it yet.
Next time I do something like this I will be sure to advertise the website way more in advance. I would also put a form in the registration packet asking parents if their child can have their picture posted on our website. Also, I will be sure the Meet the Counselors page is completed ahead of time. This should have been taken care of before implementation.
A classmate of mine gave me some good insight about my overall success. She basically said that once others see how successful I was this first year with my website, they will be more likely to use it next year. I’m very satisfied with the results of my website and I’m looking forward to giving it a try in my new classroom this fall!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Professional Learning Plan
I am amazed
at how much I have learned in the past six months by through Michigan State
University
Overall, I am pleased with all I have learned in MSU’s Educational
Technology Professional Certificate program.
I look forward to applying what I have learned in my personal and professional
future.
This past
Friday I was offered and accepted a teaching job at Okemos Public Montessori at
Central for the 2012-2013 school year.
It will be a Pre-Primer Kindergarten and Kindergarten split class. It would be difficult for me to incorporate
some of my new skills with such young children but that will not stop me from
using what I can! In order to
increase the use of technology in my classroom, I would like to create a class
blog page as a communication tool for parents and coworkers. I think it
would be a great way to share classroom activities, announcements, notes home,
questions, comments, pictures, links to videos, websites, worksheets, and more.
I would also like to start making class videos and taking more pictures
to post on our blog. Students could also post some of their class work
for others to see. I find it necessary for today’s students to have as
much practice on the computer as possible.
So I would like to look into finding some resources for my
kindergarten students. I can use Google
Docs to collaborate with my coworkers.
Each classroom has a web page and now I will be more prepared to make my
webpage a really useful tool for my student’s parents. I think that most of this I will be able to do on my own but I can always turn to my coworkers and fellow MSU classmates for help if I need it.
I would like to increase my skills with Prezi. I love the program and think that it would be a great tool I could use in my classroom and with school work in the future. I would like to connect more with TPAK. It's a great concept and I find it necessary to relate most if not all of my lessons to. I think that along my journey as an educator I will run in to several opportunities to use my new technological skills. I may not be able to predict the future but I am willing to bet that I will get to use most of what I've learned in my CEP classes at some point in time in my future.
I would like to increase my skills with Prezi. I love the program and think that it would be a great tool I could use in my classroom and with school work in the future. I would like to connect more with TPAK. It's a great concept and I find it necessary to relate most if not all of my lessons to. I think that along my journey as an educator I will run in to several opportunities to use my new technological skills. I may not be able to predict the future but I am willing to bet that I will get to use most of what I've learned in my CEP classes at some point in time in my future.
My personal
plans are to complete MSU’s Master of Arts in Educational Technology
program. After this class is over, I
will have earned my Educational Technology Professional (teaching) Certificate.
Next, I plan to continue my education so I can earn an NP Endorsement in
Educational Technology. I will be finished with those four classes by
March, 2013. Finally, I am going to take the last three classes needed to
earn a Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET). I will have this completed by August, 2013. If I need help with some of my work throughout the MAET program, I would like to be able to turn to my classmates as well as past and present professors.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Group Leadership Project - Blogger
What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial? Why?
Our group chose to use the tool Blogger for our Group Leadership Project. We chose Blogger because all of us have a blog page using Blogger and find it user friendly and we all agreed that we would like to learn more about it.
What did you learn during the development process of the final product?
During the development of our Group Leadership Project, we used Camtasia. This was new to me and I learned the basics about how to use it.
What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?
In order to split up the work, we assigned each of us a couple different topics to teach about Blogger. We each wrote our own scripts and recorded our own parts using
Camtasia . We then emailed our parts to Lisa who then used Screencast to put them all together. If I did this project again, I would have had us split up the work differently. It was a bit confusing using Camtasia the way we did. I didn't find it to be very user friendly and I also didn't like having to download a new program on my computer. It may have been easier to do a few Jing's, and then use Camtasia to record the Jing videos only because I think Jing is awesome and super easy to use and Camtasia can record over five minutes. Either way, our project turned out fine and I'm satisfied with our finished project. Not to mention I had a great group of ladies on my team and I think we all worked very well together.
Here is our Group Leadership Project Screencast...
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Wicked Problem Project Part D - Findings and Implications
For my Wicked Problem Project I created a website for the summer camp I am a counselor for. The reason I chose this was to solve the problem of lack of parent communication. The part I was most excited about was the blog page. Here are some comments about how the project went/is going:
The project was implemented as planned. Camp started last week and the website was up and running. There were a few glitches though. The "Meet the Counselors" link is supposed to talk about all of the counselors. I don't know the other counselors well and asked them if they would please write at least a couple sentences about themselves. I even offered to type it in for them. This has not happened yet. I'm hoping this task will get accomplished by the end of next week. Not to mention the fact that I haven't even met all of the counselors yet. Another thing that didn't happen as planned is the blog page. I expected parents to comment on the blog and there have not been any comments yet.
To me, the best evidence of success would be parents typing in on the blog page. Although this has not happened yet, there has been some verbal evidence such as parents knowing what we are doing that day ahead of time. I had some parents know that we were going to go bowling on Thursday and the only way they could have known that is from looking at the web page. One parent came in and asked me "What is Neukem?" (a kid-friendly version of volleyball) and we hadn't even played it yet so I know their child didn't come home and tell them that they played it that day. Another parents said to me "You graduated from Central? So did I!" They must have read that on the "Meet the Counselors" link. These are only example of comments that were made to me. I'm pretty sure that comments were made to some of the other counselors as well. I think that these are a few examples of success in addressing the problem.
If I had an opportunity to do a similar project in the future, there would be a few things I would do differently. First, I would advertise the website way more in advance. Possibly put it on the camp registration information. I would also put a form in the registration packet asking parents if their child can have their picture posted on our website. It was disappointing when I realized I couldn't use any pictures of my campers without written permission. I can't believe I didn't think of that ahead of time. Also, the fact that all of the counselors are not yet on the "Meet the Counselors" page is unacceptable. This should have been taken care of before implementation and now the link is unprofessional looking. I think that just having experienced the implementation of this project will help me with similar projects in the future. I guess the biggest thing would be more preparation before implementation.
I think my website turned out really well so there wouldn't be a ton of things I would change except for what I already said in the above questions. Next time I probable will not count on counting on other people to participate in the website. If they want to help then that's great but I shouldn't let the professionalism of the website contingent on their participation.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Mobile Learning
This lab was especially interesting and enjoyable for me because I have a smart phone that I use for just about everything. I am at the point where I don't know what I would do without it. It is so useful in so many ways. Unfortunately, schools are not very accepting of cell phone use but for good reason. Many people, students in particular, will use their cell phones during school for non-school related reasons. It's too bad that students are not allowed to have cell phones in school because they could be very useful for reasons like the text poles we did in this lab. It would be nice if there was a way to monitor the use of cell phone rather than just ban them all together. It would be a great tool for checking for understanding and I'm pretty sure students would enjoy using their phones in class. One obvious problem is that there are students who don't have cell phones or don't have text message capabilities. I have been in classrooms that use IPad's and it's really cool. Once again, it's amazing what they can do. Students love to see new technology being used and it makes them want to pay attention more. I would love to experiment using an IPad with students. Maybe one day I will be so lucky.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Wicked Problem Project Part C - Implimentation
I got started on my Wicked Problem Project. My goal is to create a website for my summer camp to help communicate with parents. The highlight of the website will be the blog page which will allow me and the other counselors to blog about each day and embed pictures of the activities and campers. It will also give parents a chance to give feedback and share their own stories and ideas.
Surprises: I was surprised that there was already a domain name for summercamp.weebly.com being used. I guess I'm not the first person to have this idea! That's okay though because I used supersummercamp2012.weebly.com .
Bumps in the road: I was hoping to put some pictures from last years summer camp but I didn't think about the fact that I would need permission from each of the child's parents in order to do that. This also means that in order for me to put pictures of my campers throughout this summer, I will have to get permission to do this as well. It is doable but definitely a "bump in the road". Another thing I was hoping to do was monitor who can participate in the blog page. I would have liked for it to be password protected and give parents the password but in order to do that I would have to get the Pro version of Weebly which costs money.
Delights: Luckily, I discovered that Weebly allows you to set your blog up where anytime someone tries to post a blog, it has to be approved by me before it shows up on the blog page. This option is even better than the password option because I can deny any rude comments some parents may try to make! I was also surprised about how user friendly Weebly is. I was able to get more accomplished than planned because it didn't take as long as I had originally anticipated.
Here is the link to a short video of what I have set up so far (there is no audio):
summer camp weebly preview
Here is a podcast of my Wicked Problem Project Part C
Surprises: I was surprised that there was already a domain name for summercamp.weebly.com being used. I guess I'm not the first person to have this idea! That's okay though because I used supersummercamp2012.weebly.com .
Bumps in the road: I was hoping to put some pictures from last years summer camp but I didn't think about the fact that I would need permission from each of the child's parents in order to do that. This also means that in order for me to put pictures of my campers throughout this summer, I will have to get permission to do this as well. It is doable but definitely a "bump in the road". Another thing I was hoping to do was monitor who can participate in the blog page. I would have liked for it to be password protected and give parents the password but in order to do that I would have to get the Pro version of Weebly which costs money.
Delights: Luckily, I discovered that Weebly allows you to set your blog up where anytime someone tries to post a blog, it has to be approved by me before it shows up on the blog page. This option is even better than the password option because I can deny any rude comments some parents may try to make! I was also surprised about how user friendly Weebly is. I was able to get more accomplished than planned because it didn't take as long as I had originally anticipated.
Here is the link to a short video of what I have set up so far (there is no audio):
summer camp weebly preview
Here is a podcast of my Wicked Problem Project Part C
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Group Leadership Project Part B - Storyboard & Script
Here is the link to our Group Leadership Project Blogger Storyboard & Script
Our group chose Blogger for our Group Leadership Project. We were able to split up the work between the four of us as follows:
Aubrey: Setting up a new account, starting a blog, and design options
Nancy: How to create a new post including title and tagging
Kimberly (me) commenting and sharing
Lisa: adding links and images
My job was to teach how to comment and share on Blogger. There are several ways to leave comments and several different types of sharing you can do using Blogger. You can share a single post or the entire blog page. You can post it on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google+, or email it to a friend. You can make it so only members can comment. I showed how to make that setting and what happens if you are not a member and you try to comment. Our storyboard is very detailed and includes several screen shots. I think it will make our final project go well..
We plan to use Camtasia to record our presentation. Each of us are going to record our own parts and Lisa is going to put them all together for us.
Our group chose Blogger for our Group Leadership Project. We were able to split up the work between the four of us as follows:
Aubrey: Setting up a new account, starting a blog, and design options
Nancy: How to create a new post including title and tagging
Kimberly (me) commenting and sharing
Lisa: adding links and images
My job was to teach how to comment and share on Blogger. There are several ways to leave comments and several different types of sharing you can do using Blogger. You can share a single post or the entire blog page. You can post it on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google+, or email it to a friend. You can make it so only members can comment. I showed how to make that setting and what happens if you are not a member and you try to comment. Our storyboard is very detailed and includes several screen shots. I think it will make our final project go well..
We plan to use Camtasia to record our presentation. Each of us are going to record our own parts and Lisa is going to put them all together for us.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Wicked Problem Project Part B - Application of TPACK
1. What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)
The technology I chose to use for my Wicked Problem Project is weebly. This technology software will allow me to communicate and interact with children and parents at no cost. It is very user-friendly which means it's more likely that parents will actually use it. There are several options of things I can do using weebly such as add pictures, make blog posts, take surveys, keep a calendar, and post any other important information parents may need to know about. Several other similar technologies are not free and/or don't offer as many options.
2. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)
weebly allows camp counselors, parents, and campers to communicate in the digital world rather than sending several notes home or printing off a weekly newsletter. weebly can be very interactive and time efficient. Many times, it can be much easier to send a quick email or response to blog post than write out a note and try to remember to bring it the next morning. When information is needed, all the parent has to do it look at our summer camp weebly page rather than looking all over for a newsletter that was sent home at the beginning of camp. The campers will be able to take ownership in their accomplishments and activities at camp when they know they will be able to show their parents pictures when they get home.
3. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?) Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.
Using weebly will allow parents and camp counselors to strengthen their communication. It will be easier for the campers to tell their parents about their day or their week when they look at the summer camp weebly page. Ultimately, using weebly will strengthen communication at camp and at home.
The technology I chose to use for my Wicked Problem Project is weebly. This technology software will allow me to communicate and interact with children and parents at no cost. It is very user-friendly which means it's more likely that parents will actually use it. There are several options of things I can do using weebly such as add pictures, make blog posts, take surveys, keep a calendar, and post any other important information parents may need to know about. Several other similar technologies are not free and/or don't offer as many options.
2. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)
weebly allows camp counselors, parents, and campers to communicate in the digital world rather than sending several notes home or printing off a weekly newsletter. weebly can be very interactive and time efficient. Many times, it can be much easier to send a quick email or response to blog post than write out a note and try to remember to bring it the next morning. When information is needed, all the parent has to do it look at our summer camp weebly page rather than looking all over for a newsletter that was sent home at the beginning of camp. The campers will be able to take ownership in their accomplishments and activities at camp when they know they will be able to show their parents pictures when they get home.
3. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?) Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.
Using weebly will allow parents and camp counselors to strengthen their communication. It will be easier for the campers to tell their parents about their day or their week when they look at the summer camp weebly page. Ultimately, using weebly will strengthen communication at camp and at home.
Group Leadership Project Part A - Brainstorm
1. What web conferencing tool did your group use?
We used Vyew.com
2. What were the advantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?
Vyew worked well for us because we were able to work on a document together at the same time. We could have used sound but we chose not to. It was easier for us to type rather than toy with any sound issues we may have had. I personally like typing better because I don't have to say "This is Kim" every time I go to say something and we also have more time to think before you type something rather than just speaking to fill the silence. Vyew allowed us to start a new page for every section of the Brainstorming meeting which helped with organization. When we were done we agreed that each of us would make a quick Jing of the information we recorded in our Vyew room. It was really cool that all of our information stayed in our Vyew Room from last night so next time we meet in Vyew we will already have our information right there waiting for us. We had the option of only allowing invited guests into our room so now we know our work will be safe.
In my classroom, this would be a useful tool if we are working with another class on a project. My students could "meet" their group members in a Vyew room and work on a project together. Their work would be saved for next time and we wouldn't have to worry about misplacing papers or forgetting where we left off.
In my classroom, this would be a useful tool if we are working with another class on a project. My students could "meet" their group members in a Vyew room and work on a project together. Their work would be saved for next time and we wouldn't have to worry about misplacing papers or forgetting where we left off.
3. What were the disadvantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?
It would have been nice if we were to have used something that takes video or records rather than having to make a Jing video when we were finished. Other than that, I really liked using Vyew.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Wicked Problem Project-Part A
PART A: The Wicked Problem - A Need or an Opportunity
What is the important educational need that you are seeking to address? This element is fundamental in this project. Since we have limited time, energy, and resources, cool technology without a clear sense of why it matters or what we gain by it is of little value in the educational setting.
| As a child, I remember my parents asking me “What did you do in school today?” As a parent, I ask my child the same question. The answers I gave to my parents are similar to the answers my son gives me such as “Nothing” or “I played outside”. This is an issue many parents face with their children every day. How can we communicate with parents better? Newsletters are great but they often get lost in the backpack or misplaced at home. Over this past spring break, I had the opportunity to be a camp counselor. This summer, I will be a lead camp counselor and one of my responsibilities will be to come up with ideas for activities to go along with each week’s theme. How great would it be to ask parents for ideas and advice? Wouldn’t it be nice to reflect on each day and inform parents of the next day’s activities? Currently I am a substitute teacher all over Ingham County. Since I am in different classrooms at different schools for one day at a time it would be difficult for me to implement a solution to this educational need as a teacher. Luckily, in a couple weeks summer camp will begin and I think this would be a good comparison to how well it would work in a classroom. In fact, this is great timing because now would be a great time for me to start informing parents of what summer camp is all about! |
How do you plan to address this educational issue with technology? You need to make a clear and convincing case that your proposed solution will make a real impact on the issue you identify, and that your proposed approach is a reasonable approach given its costs and possible alternatives.
| I plan to create a summer camp website using www.weebly.com. On this website I will include camp counselor introductions, weekly topics, a calendar, contact information, camp rules, items campers need to bring each day, and most importantly a blog. Each day one of the camp counselors will write a blog about what the campers did that day as well as comments for the next day. Pictures will be included throughout the week. This will allow parents to become familiar with everything they need to know about camp. It will also give them a chance to respond to blogs, ask questions, and share ideas. Weebly allows you to create your own website for free so there will be no cost. Other technology that will be needed is a computer with the internet to access Weebly from and a digital camera or a phone with a camera and the internet to take and download pictures from. This is a reasonable approach because most people have access to the internet and once our Weebly page is set up it will not be time consuming to write a blog each day, download pictures, and make any updates needed. An alternative could be to give parents our email addresses but that would be more difficult to them because they couldn’t just “respond” to a blog. Parents would also not be able to see pictures of their children throughout the week. The summer camp website can also be edited as needed throughout the summer depending on the needs of the campers and their parents. I will know that my approach is successful by offering a survey to the parents. Each month, I will post a link to a survey that I make using SurveyMonkey. Each survey will ask the parents questions about how satisfied they are with different aspects of camp. It will also allow them an opportunity to offer input on what we can improve on in the future as well as leave any additional comments they want. |
Logistics of solution: For example…
What is the scope? (e.g., when and where will tool be used and for how long? Who all will use it?)
| The summer camp website will be used by the counselors every day when they blog about the day. Parents can check the website or respond to the blogs as needed. The counselors will also post pictures of campers and activities throughout the week. The website will be used all summer. Anyone can use it including counselors, campers, parents, and anyone else who wants to check it out. |
Relevant research and resources (from the Internet and elsewhere) including reports on the closest effort you can find to what you are planning to do as well as ideas and materials you may be able to build upon in your own effort. Your description should include:
- The results of your search (What resources may help guide your project? What resources may help in the implementation of your project?)
- What you learned from performing this search. For example, which search engines did you use? What strategies did you use? What helped or hindered your search? How would you search again next time?
| In order to find relevant research and resources about my topic, I used google’s search engine and typed “classroom websites with blogs”. I found a great website titled “How to Create Websites and Student Blogs using Weebly” It gave three good reasons to use Weebly: It’s free, it has no adds, and you can create your own domain name for free. Another resource I found is a pinterest page titled “Teacher and Classroom websites and blogs”. This included several examples of classroom blogs and a few classroom websites. I will use this as a guide while creating my website and writing my blogs. The last website I found is a presentation titled “Blogging and Classroom Websites”. This presentation was very informative. It included instructions to starting a classroom website and how to get your students blogging, and examples of classroom websites. This will help me get started and give me some ideas for my website and blogs. |
A plan for the portion you will implement during this course and the portion you will implement after this course completes.
| During this course I plan to create my website and write an introduction blog. I will include the topics for each week of camp. After this course I will continue to add to the website pictures, blogs, and notes to parents. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
CEP 811 Final Reflections
CEP 811 was awesome! It was definitely hard work for someone with my technological abilities but I managed to figure things out along the way and here I am at the end of the class, reflecting about what I've learned. If you would have asked me eight weeks ago how to integrate technology into my classroom, my answer would be way different than it is now. This course has taught me that simply using technology in a lesson does not necessarily make it effective. The TPACK Webquest taught me that it takes a balance between technology, pedagogy, and content to make an effective lesson and hit the "sweet spot". Some strategies I may use in order to incorporate technology into my classroom is to use it as a means of communication for students to interact with me, with each other, and with parents. I could also have students use it to aid with research and with group projects (Google Docs!).
The web-based technologies we used in this course have really made me more aware of what's out there. Most of what we used is something my fourth grade students would be able to use as well. My StAIR is a great resource that I plan to use with my students. Google Docs is my new favorite online tool for many reasons. I learned a lot from the group Webquest we did and I would like to try something similar with my students. These are a few of many online tools that can truly enrich a lesson and the classroom as a whole. Using the internet as a way for students to interact with each other and with the material is a new concept for me. Blogs, RSS Feeds, Webpage creation, and StAIR are tools I would one day like to use with my class.
I have met my own personal goals for learning about technology integration. This course has taught me numerous types of technology tools that I can use in my classroom and for personal use as well. Not only did I learn about them but how to use them as well. In addition, I had the opportunity to create a Stand Alone Instructional Resource (StAIR). This was a challenging project but I was very pleased with the results and I'm looking forward to using it in my classroom. I am so happy to have a better feel for Microsoft PowerPoint now. What I wanted was to gain some ideas and tools to use in the classroom that involve technology and that is exactly what I got.
I have met my own personal goals for learning about technology integration. This course has taught me numerous types of technology tools that I can use in my classroom and for personal use as well. Not only did I learn about them but how to use them as well. In addition, I had the opportunity to create a Stand Alone Instructional Resource (StAIR). This was a challenging project but I was very pleased with the results and I'm looking forward to using it in my classroom. I am so happy to have a better feel for Microsoft PowerPoint now. What I wanted was to gain some ideas and tools to use in the classroom that involve technology and that is exactly what I got.
My new goal is to take some of the things that I have learned and created in this course and implement them in my classroom. I'm looking forward to getting feedback from my students and seeing the results. I'm confident that they will learn from these new tools and enjoy using them as well. In order to reach these goals, I will have to ease my way into it. The first thing I will start with is a class blog. I will do all the writing and eventually assign groups to write blogs. I will create a class RSS feed page. Each student will find one or two topics to use on our page. Google Docs will be something I will use frequently. I would also like to use my new knowledge and skills in my next online course. My long term goals will be met as I gradually integrate these skills into my classroom and continue to take online technology classes.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Online Teaching Experiences
There were so many great options to choose from, it was difficult for me to choose only one of them to write about. I teach fourth grade and I love the idea of using a blog in my classroom and I plan to do so but for this assignment I had to choose an online experience that can be used to actually "teach" something. A blog would be a great tool to use for reflection, summarizing, commenting, communication, etc. A wiki is also an awesome tool to use in the classroom. If students were doing group work, writing a report or doing research it's a perfect way for me to be sure that one students isn't doing all the work. If the internet is available to them at home, every member would be able to work on it from home without worrying about doing something another group member has already done. If I had it my way, I would use a combination of online tools to create a learning experience that students would truly benefit from.
Online field trips is an online teaching experience that I could definitely us in my classroom. What a great idea! With budget cuts in almost every school system, field trips are one of the first things to go. By using this resource, students will get to go on a "field trip" in their own classroom. Of course it wouldn't be exactly the same but the students would enjoy it. I would do some sort of hands on follow-up activity so students can gain a deeper knowledge of the field trip. Students could work in groups to write a report about their field trip using Google Docs. If we had a class blog page, I would have students blog about it.
I was at a school last week where a class was on Skype with a park ranger at the North Dakota Badlands. I think this would be categorized as an interactive discussion with an expert. The park ranger showed the students her view of the Badlands from her office. She also showed them some of the artifacts they have found at the Badlands as well as pictures of animals that live there. The student were then able to ask her questions. It was really neat! This was a very interactive activity. Just like before, students could then choose an animal that lives there and do a research project about it. They could also write a blog about their Skype trip to the Badlands.
An RSS Feed would be harder for me to use in my fourth grade classroom. I can't think of a lesson I could actually "teach" using one. My students could use them for current events and maybe some research projects but it is not an interactive tool and the sources are not always reliable either. For elementary age students, there are many other resources that can be used for these purposes.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Wikis
I found my Burke County Schools on Wikipedia. This is the district that I used to work in when I taught in Georgia. The school I taught at was SGA Elementary. I changed two things on this Wikipedia page. The first thing I did was corrected the address to the Central Office. The second thing I did was added a link to my school. I made it so that when you click on S.G.A. (Sardis Girard Alexander) Elementary School it takes you to the school website. I enjoyed doing this. When I have more time I will link the other schools to their web sites as well.
Here is a link to the Wiki page I created:
Kimberly's Wiki Page
It has a link on it that takes you to the other page I made.
Learning about Wikis had been a great experience for me. I plan to use them more in the future.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Universal Lesson Design Guidelines Checklist
The lesson plan I submitted to Merlot is called Double Bar Graph elementary lesson and activity. In this lesson, the teacher gives a mini-lesson about double bar graphs and then each student comes up with their own survey question to ask the class. They record the results of their survey in a tally table. When their tally table is complete they use this information to create a double bar graph on a specified computer program. They must choose an appropriate scale, title, and colors for the bars. When they finish this they have reflection questions to complete. At the end of the lesson each student shares their results with the class.
This lesson is great because it incorporates technology, accommodates for different learning styles, and has a variety of different activities the students are required to do. After completing the UDL Guidelines Checklist I realize that it falls short in a few areas. The main thing I would like to change is to give students more choices. I would also like to use scaffolding. These modifications will help accommodate for students with special needs.
UDL Guidelines Checklist Anglin
This lesson is great because it incorporates technology, accommodates for different learning styles, and has a variety of different activities the students are required to do. After completing the UDL Guidelines Checklist I realize that it falls short in a few areas. The main thing I would like to change is to give students more choices. I would also like to use scaffolding. These modifications will help accommodate for students with special needs.
UDL Guidelines Checklist Anglin
UDL Guidelines - Educator Checklist
|
|
Your notes
|
|
Feature: Students get to
choose their question, scale, title, and color coding.
|
|
Feature: Students
physically conduct the survey and create their own graph on a computer and
answer questions on paper.
|
|
Feature: Student will
create a key for their graph and choose an appropriate scale.
|
|
Feature: Teacher presents
class with wrong information and students help discover what is wrong and how
to fix it
|
|
Feature: Students use their
survey results and transfer them onto a computer generated graph
|
|
Your notes
|
|
Barrier: No options to vary
the assignment are offered.
|
|
Barrier: No options to vary
the assignment are offered.
|
|
Feature: Students use a
computer program to create their double bar graph for them. All they have to do is type in their survey
results.
|
|
Barrier: Students are not
provided with a choice of media.
|
|
Barrier: Scaffolding was
not used in this lesson. I could have
students who are having a hard time do a single bar graph instead.
|
|
Feature: Students plan
their survey by choosing a question to ask the class. They plan their graph by looking at their
survey results, choosing an appropriate scale and colors for the bars. They use their graph to answer reflection
questions.
|
|
Your notes
|
|
Feature: Students choose
their own survey questions and the color coding on their graph
|
|
Barrier: Assignment is the
same for all students. I could offer a single bar graph for students in need
of extra support and a triple bar graph for those who need to be challenged.
|
|
Feature: Students communicate
with each other throughout the lesson.
|
|
Feature: Students fill out
a questioner at the end of the assignment to check for understanding.
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)