Ch 12 It sounded Great on Paper!

My daughter, Kayla

Q1: What can I do to "get ready" for a lesson in which my students use computers?

Planning a lesson and implementing it effectively require a great deal of skill, flexibility, and finesse on  the part of the teacher or facilitator. What sounds good on paper may be chaotic to implement with students and all of their energy and questions. The use of computers/technology during a lesson can result in chaos if not well-planned.



When using computers, the equipment must be available, plans made for student sharing, and there are always time management issues. Effective communication between the instructor and students can ease the frustration in the classroom. In addition to planning the lesson, teachers need to guide the work of the students using progressive guides, task lists, or Think Sheets, that detail expectations for success.  (Morrison and Lowther, p. 309) Rubrics serve as assessment tools during and after the activity, giving the student an idea of how well they are meeting the objectives of the assignment.


One very important guide that students need involves bookmarking or limiting the available web pages. Out of the millions of websites available, the effective teacher limits student access to pre-screened sites where the teacher knows the students will find the information they seek. Students still have the choice of website; a limited choice that ensures their success and saves them a lot of time. 

Q2: Where does the "computer part" come when I am teaching a lesson?

Integrating technology does not simply mean having the teacher use the computer. It means having the students use the computer and some of the peripherals such as printers and smart boards. The "computer part" comes when the learners get their hands on the equipment, whether during research or presentation or some other part of the lesson. 

Q3: How do you ensure equal access for all students with only three computers?

Anytime there are limited resources, students need to share the equipment and responsibilities. Small groups and pairs of students can work together to accomplish the goals of the lesson, rotating jobs and making sure each student gets to use the computer. With only three computers, each student will only get a small amount of time to produce some work or do some research. In our classroom we set up a rotation that lasts for at least one week. Then each of the 21 students gets to use the computer for about 20 minutes or so during the week. The depth and scope of the activity takes this into account, and sometimes must be adjusted for individual students who need more time.

References
Picture Copyright Teresa Vandegrift, 2012.

Lowther, D., and Morrison, G., (2010). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. USA

Ch 10 Goodness Gracious! Graphic Organizers!

Thinking Maps were one of the first really useful new concepts that I was introduced to 8 years ago when first hired as an Instuctional Assistant. Ease of use and versatility make thinking maps and other graphic organizers essential tools in the classroom. 

Image retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venn_diagram_cmyk.svg

Q1: How do you know that students understand a concept?

Traditionally, the way student understanding is determined involves testing/exams. Real understanding comes when students can interpret what they have studied and create a way to communicate that topic in their own way. As classroom instructors we constantly urge students to "put it into your own words," and students look up with a puzzled expression, not knowing what "their own words" means. Graphic organizers give students a guide toward expressing themselves "in their own words." 
For middle school science students there are many ways that graphic organizers can help get students to a deeper level of understanding. In the unit about planets and the solar system, one of the best graphic organizers to use is the Venn Diagram. This can be modified to include several planets and compare their characteristics. A hot topic right now is whether Pluto is a planet or not. Students could compare the known data regarding Pluto to what is known about other planets, and to what is known about asteroids and other heavenly bodies. They could then write their own opinion about this topic, a publish it in a blog about this controversy.   This is a real-world debate that students in middle school can research, analyze, and draw their own conclusions.

Q2: How can you depict student misconceptions of key information?

In brainstorming activities, students relate what they perceive about a topic. This is a great way to get at what they know and don't know, and what misinformation they may have in their thinking. The purpose of Circle maps and KWL (Know, Want to know, Learned) charts is to get ideas into written form and generate discussion of key concepts. If a student relates a misconception, the facilitator can include this in the discussion that will benefit all of the students. In science, we study ocean creatures and use tree maps to create categories of sea dwellers: Animals versus Plants; Animals that are fish, mammals, or animals that look like plants.  We used a KWL chart before discussing any new material, in order to get students to review what they know about the subject, including some mis-information, and what they want to know and what they learned. The facilitator has to work to make sure every student is included in the activity, and the misconceptions are addressed and redirected.

Q3: How can students capture and transfer brainstorming ideas into written thoughts?

Flow Map graphic retrieved from: http://www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/parsley/Curriculum/ThinkingMaps.html

© 2012 New Hanover County Schools

Getting words on paper or into type challenges every student. In my 3rd grade classroom we use graphic organizers for nearly every topic. In writing we use Flow Maps to show the beginning, middle, and end of student composed stories. The opening sentence or topic is in the first box, the next box or boxes summarize the middle key concepts, and the final box contains the conclusion of the story. The story may be fiction or non-fiction, depending on the goal of the lesson, but Flow maps force the students to keep their ideas somewhat organized, and it gives them a space to write ideas that can be expanded and edited at a later time. 






Another really useful graphic for brainstorming involves use of the KWL chart. The "K" is for what I Know, W is for Want to know, and the L is filled in after the lesson to bring closure and review what was Learned. In the third grade classroom, we have the students sit on the carpet while the facilitator writes their responses on a wall chart. My experience with this resulted in some vivid discussion and astute observations from the students. 


Image of KWL chart retrieved from: http://www.mecite.doe.k12.me.us






A very simple Thinking Map is the circle map for brainstorming ideas around a central topic. It is simple to draw, just a small circle around a bigger circle, with the main topic in the middle. Then as the students relate their ideas, the facilitator adds them to the larger circle. 


Circle Map Image retrieved from:
http://www.mdianeharrison.com/Thinking%20Maps.htm


The term 'Thinking Maps' and the term 'Thinking Maps with graphic forms of the eight Maps have registered trademarks. No use of the term 'Thinking Maps' with or without the graphic forms of eight Maps may be used in any way without the permission of
Innovative Sciences, Inc. For inquiries, please visit http://www.thinkingmaps.com.

References

Lowther, D., and Morrison, G., (2010). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. USA

Ch 11: Effective use of Problem-Solving and Educational Software

Q1: What are the benefits of using problem-solving or educational software?

Schools have been using drill-and-practice since before computers were invented so it is a natural progression to use drill-and-practice software in the classroom today. Our school subscribes to Study Island and it lets students practice various subjects at their
level of aptitude. Many of the teachers at the elementary school where I work also use Discovery Education. 

Study Island (www.studyisland.com) provides for both practice drills and lessons and instructions on computers. Students open their file which is tailored for their grade-level and aptitude, and work on problems in test-mode or game-mode. As a resource, some students use study island lessons to reinforce what the teacher has taught. The lessons and practice are engaging and random, so the student will learn the content and not just memorize the answers. Study Island uses the State guidelines of the Common Core and 
Benchmarks when designing their lessons and activities.


Reference: https://www.studyisland.com/web/NC/middle-school/index/ copyright 2012 Study Island.


The other software that I would like to recommend is Discovery Education. (www.discoveryeducation.com) Many of the teachers at my school use this as a resource for their classrooms. Students can read about the science content for their grade and see view illustrations of science in action. Student comprehension is tracked by assessments or very short "Brief Constructed Responses, BCR's)" The science curriculum includes some math lessons regarding the collection, interpretation, and presentation of data. 
Reference: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/administrators/curricular-resources/science/copyright 2012 Discovery Education.
DE logo retrieved from: http://www.cblohm.com/news/DiscEd/DE_090209/ Copyright © 2012 • C. Blohm & Associates 

Q2: How do I choose the correct software?

I chose Discovery Education; www.discoveryeducation.com/ ; because it was created by the Discovery Channel, which is a leading source of non-fiction science communication. (2012 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one non-fiction media company.) We use discovery ed at my school because it has many free teacher resources. One of the resources that I use weekly is Puzzle-Maker, where I input a vocab list and customize a cross-word or word search puzzle for my language/spelling units. This would be great in a middle school science classroom, let the students each make their own crossword puzzle using their definitions and unit vocab, then exchange the puzzles with classmates. 

Another website of note is TEEM: http://teemeducation.org.uk/; Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia. One link in this website addresses STEM: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths. This website is written by teachers and evaluates specific software from outside publishers. It is a place where teachers can search for software to meet a specific need, such as a product called Essentials Online for science. The reviewer gave this product a thumbs up for many strengths including preparing students to pass their exams. 

Q3: When I integrate problem-solving or educational software into a lesson, what changes will be needed? 

For Study Island, the lesson is taught in the classroom before the students get on the computers. So before the computer use, the students know the basics of the lesson, and they carry that knowledge with them to the computer. Our school has one computer per class for student use, so the students can get on Study Island during centers, after they have completed the research center for that week. Students may also use Study Island for a few minutes at the end of their Computer encore classes. The student gets immediate feedback as to their aptitude and growth in a specific topic. They love it when they get a blue ribbon because that means they have done very well.
Centers are a great way to integrate computer use of educational software. The teacher has already introduced the topic, and may have covered the basics of the lesson. Then the student can get on Discovery Ed for additional exposure to the content of the lesson and reinforcement of the new subject. Results are tracked by the software, so the teacher can look at a students progress at a later time.


picture of student and teacher retrieved from: http://newsletter.schoolbox.com/2011/12/14/get-out-the-pre-holiday-wiggles-aka-keeping-your-students-attention-in-december/

References
Lowther, D., and Morrison, G., (2010). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. USA

Ch 9 Integrating Multimedia as a Tool

Q1: How can students use multimedia for their projects?

Students have been using multimedia for years, it's just that now, the choices of media have expanded. In the past information was archived in books and non-random access video recordings, tapes, and microfiche. Students today don't have to sift through pages of magazine and newspaper articles on microfiche at the library since many archived materials have been digitalized. Students can use technology for research and review recordings of historical events such as the video of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge swaying in the breeze. This type of media would have been difficult to get a hold of a few years ago, and now it only took a quick google search and there it is on YouTube, and here it is added to my Blog. 

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse "Gallopin' Gertie"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw

Students may also show their creative abilities when they use multimedia for presentations. Book reports or summaries or other types of writing assignments can be transformed into a Power Point incorporating excerpts from the book, pictures to illustrate ideas, and music or narration. In the science classroom students frequently have to report on topics found in the Common Core. By integrating multimedia, students can do research of historical scientific events and report on them using student generated multimedia presentations.

Q2:  What applications are available for creating a multimedia presentation?

Powerpoint comes to mind immediately for its ease of use and availability on most school computers that use Microsoft Office. Macs and PC's both can have movie maker software available for the students, and there are loads of free music that is available for students to add to their movies. On my laptop I have a camera, mic, and editing software so I could create a multimedia show using just my laptop. Prezi and Popplets are new presentation apps that are available on the web. They use bubbles and trees that resemble Thinking Maps to present ideas connected to other ideas expressed in words and visuals.

Q3: Should I place limits on how my students use multimedia? 

Yes, there should be guidelines for students to follow such as minimum length of presentation, and appropriateness of visuals and music elements. Multimedia is a creative outlet, but students need a framework to shape their work. The teacher can use a rubric that explains to the students what is expected. The length of the presentation should be addressed in the rubric and elements that are required should be made clear.

Prezi logo retrieved from: http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/power-to-prezi.html
© 2012 frog design.

References
Lowther, D., and Morrison, G., (2010). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. USA

Using Delicious

Delicious sounds like yet another Artificial Sugar, but this web tool will help organize the many websites I have bookmarked. This is a great idea. Instead of having bookmarks on only one computer, I can have my links in a Delicious acct. and access them from any computer. Also, the bookmarks can be tagged so they can be somewhat organized. For use as a teacher, this will let me do some searches at home and save the links. Then at school I can access the links. 

How difficult was it to find good sites?

I easily found 15 educational websites - all of the ones I chose were free. Several were instructional resources and lists of links to other websites. Several were primary sources. There were online tutorials for young students and adult students. There were several websites that were available for a fee, but this would have to be something to which the school system would subscribe.

What did you like about the 15 sites you selected?

The sites I selected had many topics, not just science. Some covered Language Arts, Math, Geography, and many other subjects.

Were there many sites claiming to be educational that were only trying to sell a product?

There were some sites that charge for their tutorials and resources. There were ads on the side for products to help learn a foreign language and things like that. Many websites had ads embedded in them and that's okay. The ads help pay for the website maintenance. Some of the ads were public service announcements. There was one for a science fair that will be held this fall on the Mall in Washington, DC. I would love to go to that and be surrounded by the Smithsonian, the White House, and many other museums and monuments. 

Did you find many sites that were not valuable as a resource?

I did not pass on many sites, however there were a few that looked very lean - spartan - not a lot to them.

What did you think of some of the Web 2.0 sites?

The Web 2.0 sites were impressive. I chose Vimeo.com over You Tube as a place to upload student work. I am willing to give it a try since it received many positive user comments. Reddit is okay, it was recommended by a friend. I would need to spend more time interacting with these sites in order to be a better judge of their usefulness.


delicious logo retrieved from: http://www.gadgetoz.com/post/yahoo-sells-delicious-for-5-million-to-youtube-co-founders/
 © 2012 Tech Specs, Reviews, News, Price and Guide. 


vimeo logo retrieved from: http://www.socialbiznow.com/2011/03/social-media-logos-part-2/
Copyright © 2010-2011 SocialBizNow: A Real-World Guide To Social Media.

Ch 6 Reflections: So Many Choices! So Little Time!!

Q1: Now that I have access to the Web, how can I use it effectively?

AND Q3: Which features of the Web do I use?

Passion Flower

My favorite search engine is Google. Every time a question comes up in my daily life, I google it and get an answer. In order to be more effective at searches, I need to learn to use the Google Basic search strategies and be aware that my keywords may have more than one meaning.
Also, I am so used to using Google that I need to use other more specialized search engines. I like to collect lyrics to Broadway musicals like Phantom of the Opera. Sometimes it takes a while to find that information so next time I search, I will use a search engine like www.songza.com. 
In the classroom, I would probably let the students use a safe search engine such as Yahooligans. Our school system has filters so students should not be able to gain access to inappropriate materials online.


Skype is a good tool for having a meeting with someone at a remote location. Instead of having a visitor to the classroom, we could call them on Skype and let the kids take turns asking questions and chatting with a person of expertise. If the computer were hooked to a projector, the students could see the remote visitor on the screen. By adding a camera to the classroom, the remote visitor would also be able to see the students.


All the teachers at our school are all required to have a website. Using online storage, teachers could keep class documents online so that if a child is at home and they lost their worksheet, they can get a new one by printing it at home. Also, the teacher could make the Think Sheets online and receive the finished product online without using paper. The class website could have updates, reminders, and study tips. The teacher could use the website to communicate with parents. The students could have a website or files or folders where they keep their work until it is finished. 

The web is designed for communication and sharing of information. One group of students at our school made a school newspaper on the web and attached it to the school website. Students who want to share their thoughts can create a blog, or students who have a finished assignment can start a discussion thread on a wiki and publish it where others have access to the thread and can respond. Students could make a Power Point or movie or Prezi and upload it to You Tube and link it to the school website.

Q2: How do I manage students' use of the Web in my class?

Young people have a way of getting around the rules whether they are reading a book or using the Web. Our school has every student and parent sign an acceptable use policy but in the classroom there will be students who use the Web to get off task. We only have one computer and the students have to work in pairs and share. Sometimes they get off task and get caught by another student who tells on them. They are redirected to get back on task and reminded that computer use is a privilege. 


Image on this page protected by copyright. Teresa Vandegrift, 2012



References
Lowther, D., and Morrison, G., (2010). Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Skills for the 21st Century. Boston, MA. Pearson Education, Inc. USA

Ch4 Choices, Choices!

Q1: There are so many types of software; how do I know which ones to include in my lesson?

We should teach technology along with the Essential Standard for our subject area. The software choice should enhance the learning process and help motivate the students to produce their best work.
In 6th grade the students study flowering plants. The evolution of flowering plants is one of the milestones in the development of life on Earth as we know it and every student should know why plants are essential.


North Carolina Common Core Essential Standard: 
6.L.1
Understand the structures, processes and behaviors of plants that enable them to survive and reproduce.
Clarifying Objectives
6.L.1.1
Summarize the basic structures and functions of flowering plants required for survival, reproduction and defense.

First, in order to learn about flowering plants, I would have the students use a browser and search engine to find pictures or diagrams of flowering plants. They would have to look for flowering plants in all phases of growth in order to show how plants reproduce, what plants are made of, and behaviors of plants that ensure they will continue living. 


I would have my students collect pictures of flowering plants, and diagram the major parts using Power Point. Then they turn their artwork into a power point where each slide shows examines a different plant part and its place in the making of seeds, fending off predators, and how flowering plants survive in various habitats or at times of stress. They can add music to the slideshow to enhance the presentation.

Q2: I understand why students use educational software and the Internet, but why should my fourth-grade students learn to use spreadsheet, database, or video editing software?

Reference: NET-S Standards:

1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
          d. Identify trends and forecast possibilities

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making           


          c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions



There is no question that spreadsheet and database software make research and comparison and trends analysis easier. In studying science, students frequently must look at the results of experiments. One aspect of NETS is that students gather and compare data to make informed decisions. Gathering the data using spreadsheets and databases speeds up the process from idea to conclusion. Excel software lets students look at large amounts of data and make decisions about what to conclude from their research. 

Reference: NET-S Standards:

2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
          a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
          b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats



Video editing and use of pictures, cameras, movies, and mixed media in a presentation make the learning experience rich and enjoyable. It is a direct tie-in to real jobs in the production of television shows and movies. 
Many people enjoy making their own short videos and uploading them to YouTube or Vimeo. Occasionally "A Star is Born" when someone with real talent is spotted on YouTube. Students should be given the opportunity to be creative using these amazing computer software capabilities.


This video includes my mother telling my daughter and me about a TV show she had seen.  Making this short film was very simple using my laptop; I plan to learn to use video editing software so I can use this creative process in the classroom.

Q3: How can student use of different types of software help improve scores on state tests?

Authenticity of subject matter effects the willingness of the learner to invest energy in the learning process. If a student is given a real problem to analyze, they are more motivated to solve the problem.

One type of problem solving software puts real life into simulations that are interactive with students. Suppose my class is studying erosion and how the earth changes because of the influence of wind, rain, and flooding. The simulation of a real event would teach students in North Carolina why it is important to monitor our water sheds and let students see why it is important to control flooding and erosion. For example, the simulation could show an area of land that resembles Ocean Isle Beach or another popular vacation spot. The students could input variables such as wind speed, ocean currents, rain volume, and rain intensity and see the effects on the island of hurricane force winds and excessive rain. 

Wikis are websites where anyone who has documented knowledge on a particular subject area can publish their thoughts for others to read and edit. Wikipedia contains thousands of topics, many of which directly relate to school curriculum. As with any web content, information on Wikis should be verified before taken as fact.

Images on this blog page are protected by copyright: Teresa Vandegrift, 2012