I learned a few cool tricks in this class, and I was wondering what the rest of you found useful. My poll is very basic and allows anyone who wants to weigh in on what was the most useful of the tools we learned about. I suppose I should email to people so I actually get a response. :) Share your thoughts and they will pop up as a word cloud. Fun!
Monday, April 21, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Google Forms
That was sort of fun, although maybe it just seemed fun because it is pouring out and I am on spring break. Perspective is everything.
This should be the spreadsheet published to the web. The survey itself can be enjoyed here or in the embedded version above.
As for all the ways to share, I did not take advantage of the "collaborate" feature because my co-workers are on spring break and would be alarmed to find me looking for their help on something, however, it is another cool and useful way to "share" your survey or test. This would be great for a grade level that is looking to develop common assessments or send out a common survey. Instead, I simply emailed the link to the survey to some friends and myself to take, which would probably be the best way to disseminate to parents. For students, it might be better to provide the link, although I am having a hard time imagining how to do this with first graders.... Either way, you do need to uncheck some of the preferred SU settings at the top to create a truly public document.
As for all the ways to share, I did not take advantage of the "collaborate" feature because my co-workers are on spring break and would be alarmed to find me looking for their help on something, however, it is another cool and useful way to "share" your survey or test. This would be great for a grade level that is looking to develop common assessments or send out a common survey. Instead, I simply emailed the link to the survey to some friends and myself to take, which would probably be the best way to disseminate to parents. For students, it might be better to provide the link, although I am having a hard time imagining how to do this with first graders.... Either way, you do need to uncheck some of the preferred SU settings at the top to create a truly public document.
My survey is something I can actually use, so forgive me for not asking questions that result in numbers. It is aimed at my students' parents. DreamBox is a new online math (game-based) tool that we are piloting at my school, and knowing more about how students are using it at home will be beneficial. I am also curious about the parents' feelings and how involved they are in their child's use. I am sure that if we use the tool next year, I will have additional questions, or even very different ones.
I have to say, this was a very easy tool to use. Using each type of question was a little trickier because you really need to have a certain kind of question to use a certain type of format, but I managed to twist the things I wanted to know into shapes that fit each question type. Maybe that was the fun part. The other part that was theoretically fun, but actually harder to accomplish, was to make certain answers take you to different questions (or different pages of the survey.) I thought it might happen automatically, but alas no. I finally managed it when I made each of those questions the end of the "page" which forced the user to submit the answer.
I think Google Forms lends itself to standards 2 and 3. It enables teachers to design digital age assessments that gather data that can easily be evaluated in a spreadsheet. I love that the data is automatically entered into this format by the respondents. It makes it so much more likely that the data will end up in a format that is usable. Google Forms also allows teachers to easily collaborate on the development of these types of tests or questionnaires. I can use my survey to find out from parents how effective a classroom tool is when released for use at home.
I think Google Forms lends itself to standards 2 and 3. It enables teachers to design digital age assessments that gather data that can easily be evaluated in a spreadsheet. I love that the data is automatically entered into this format by the respondents. It makes it so much more likely that the data will end up in a format that is usable. Google Forms also allows teachers to easily collaborate on the development of these types of tests or questionnaires. I can use my survey to find out from parents how effective a classroom tool is when released for use at home.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Jeopardy
My Jeopardy Template
I found this to be a very easy tool to use. When I first made it, I was not sure what it would look like once "published" so I made a quick version and then checked it out. It was quite simple to go back and add punctuation etc. using the password. The only concern I have is the Jeopardy style; I am not at all sure that first graders are developmentally ready to think of the question when given the answer. I did use that built in format, but of course in the classroom I would take the answer in any format.
I found this to be a very easy tool to use. When I first made it, I was not sure what it would look like once "published" so I made a quick version and then checked it out. It was quite simple to go back and add punctuation etc. using the password. The only concern I have is the Jeopardy style; I am not at all sure that first graders are developmentally ready to think of the question when given the answer. I did use that built in format, but of course in the classroom I would take the answer in any format.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Prezi
WOW. That was quite an undertaking. I admit had I had some fun, but making this took several more hours than I really had time for. PowerPoint is also time-consuming if you care about your end-product, but it is also more straightforward. Of course, I have used PowerPoint before so that may be coloring how I see its ease of use compare to this. Frankly, once I got used to it, Prezi's interface was decent and included some very cool tools. Zooming around is also new and different, but for my lesson I am not sure it added value. It certainly made planning tricker! I will share what I made with my first grade team and see if they think it is useful. Here is my Prezi on Plants (SOL 1.4). See below for embedded copy.
Standards addressed: standard 1 - this was creative and is certainly a different and unique of presenting this material. If students were old enough to use this took they would have a lot of fun with it I imagine. Standard 2 could also be relevant here, depending on your subject matter, Prezi could be a very valuable way of presenting information. For my purposes it was not needed, but as the tutorials showed, for some topics the zooming could actually enhance understanding. And, as always, standard 3 requires that teachers push themselves to stay abreast of new technological tools. This was not easy for me, but that is not a reason to not give something new a try.
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Standards addressed: standard 1 - this was creative and is certainly a different and unique of presenting this material. If students were old enough to use this took they would have a lot of fun with it I imagine. Standard 2 could also be relevant here, depending on your subject matter, Prezi could be a very valuable way of presenting information. For my purposes it was not needed, but as the tutorials showed, for some topics the zooming could actually enhance understanding. And, as always, standard 3 requires that teachers push themselves to stay abreast of new technological tools. This was not easy for me, but that is not a reason to not give something new a try.
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Saturday, March 29, 2014
Prezi possibly?
Well... that seemed a little too simple. So I imagine I did it all wrong. Let me paste the link in and get it live to see where we stand. This is my Presume. And here is a Jing shot.
It appears I did it correctly. I left most of my experience "blank" because I have a job and don't want to alarm my principal. :) I love what I am doing now and have no thoughts of moving on, however, making the action-jackson Prezi resume was fun. The only real challenge was related to the fact that I do not have a Facebook account so I was unable to click on the templates provided and get them to work. I had to go to Prezi, sign up for the free account, and search templates. I went with the only resume template that was offered, but it was fine.
iste standards: I think this is a good example of standard 3, modeling digital age work and learning, and standard 1, inspire student learning and creativity. Although this was a resume, I believe we have another assignment upcoming that will require us to use Prezi in the classroom. This is a unique tool and one that will capture the imagination of my students once I master how to choreograph the "slides." It should be embraced and utilized by teachers to liven up presentations, and older students could have a lot of fun using it themselves. This was a good practice exercise to play with the interface and see how to add, delete, modify things. It is certainly a creative way to present material.
It appears I did it correctly. I left most of my experience "blank" because I have a job and don't want to alarm my principal. :) I love what I am doing now and have no thoughts of moving on, however, making the action-jackson Prezi resume was fun. The only real challenge was related to the fact that I do not have a Facebook account so I was unable to click on the templates provided and get them to work. I had to go to Prezi, sign up for the free account, and search templates. I went with the only resume template that was offered, but it was fine.
iste standards: I think this is a good example of standard 3, modeling digital age work and learning, and standard 1, inspire student learning and creativity. Although this was a resume, I believe we have another assignment upcoming that will require us to use Prezi in the classroom. This is a unique tool and one that will capture the imagination of my students once I master how to choreograph the "slides." It should be embraced and utilized by teachers to liven up presentations, and older students could have a lot of fun using it themselves. This was a good practice exercise to play with the interface and see how to add, delete, modify things. It is certainly a creative way to present material.
Powerful PowerPoints
I rather enjoyed this assignment, especially since it resulted in something I can actually use in my classroom. Mapping is a topic that I have been dreading teaching; it should be something fun to teach first graders, but somehow last year it was torture. I think we were supposed to cover it earlier in the year, but the rest of my team and I opted to push it to the fourth quarter because no one was really feeling the love. I will use this PowerPoint to introduce it and I am actually looking forward to doing that next week. It covers that main SOL points required and I may make another one to flesh out the unit. I noticed that my link downloaded a copy of my presentation, but other people's links opened it in DropBox, so I am trying this link as well to see if it opens in DropBox.
I have made PowerPoints before and must confess that I often fell victim to the bullet-ization that General McMaster derided in the article. It seemed that if bullets were built in, I should use them. If I could make them float, flash, flicker, etc. then I should do so. And I did. Never again. That's not to say this PowerPoint is perfect, but I did make sure the pictures did the talking and the text was kept to a minimum. I took some things out that I may add back in after trying it live, but I think most of those were just reminders to me that the slide could be used for discussion. As I get used to the presentation, I will probably be able to remember that on my own. I went back to the Thirst example several times and it was definitely test driven, so I certainly don't feel that text is something that needs to be eliminated entirely. That would not have been as powerful without the words and pictures working together.
Placing something in the public folder of DropBox was completely new to me. I have used DropBox for years at home to enable me to bounce between laptops and desktops with ease. I just started using it for work this year when my thumb drive died. I did not even know there was a Public folder. Very handy for sharing.
iste standards: I think this assignment goes along well with standard 2 -design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments. This is certainly something that can be easily shared with a class, but also it can be shared with parents. I have a student out of the country right now and his parents do not want him to fall behind. I could easily post a link to this on my school web page so that they could stay in touch with what we are doing in the classroom. I think standard 5 is also addressed because I plan to share this PowerPoint with my team members. We are all constantly on the lookout for tools to use to introduce or deepen understanding of content. I am sure some of them would be able to easily incorporate this into their introduction to mapping.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Google Docs - resume I can live with
So, I published a resume an hour ago which I really did not like the layout of. It looked fine in my drive - lined up nicely etc. but when I viewed it on the web it was not the same.
You can see that nothing is really centered and my name is doing it's own thing entirely.
I don't know why, but that certainly is not the way I want to publish my resume. I tried to fix it, but since the doc in the drive looked right, it was hard to determine how to fix the web version.
I made another one. I guess the lesson here for me is the templates are not perfect, in the long run it might be easier and less of a hassle to simply create my own documents. This is the new resume I published. Much nicer.
Is there a technology standard for determination and perseverance?
I don't know why, but that certainly is not the way I want to publish my resume. I tried to fix it, but since the doc in the drive looked right, it was hard to determine how to fix the web version.
I made another one. I guess the lesson here for me is the templates are not perfect, in the long run it might be easier and less of a hassle to simply create my own documents. This is the new resume I published. Much nicer.
Is there a technology standard for determination and perseverance?
Google Docs - publish to the web
Phew - I am sure all of this is very good for me, and certainly educational, but I have to admit that it is frustrating how much time learning some of it can take. It turns out that since I had created my document in Word, and then uploaded it to my Google drive, "publish to the web" was not an option. I thought it might be SU administrative controls, but now I suspect it has to with formatting issues. So, I decided to go back and create a new resume using the templates.
Lo and behold, I did not actually have the templates in my Google drive. Why would this be simple? It took a lot of searching (and TIME) to finally realize that I had to ... is download the right word? I had to add them to my drive. Once that was accomplished, I copied and pasted my Word resume into Notepad to eliminate all the formatting, and then copied and pasted and rearranged it in the template. I chose the simplest template, because I have other things to do and needed this job to be complete. But, here is the link to my published resume. I don't love the way it looks on the web, so I may make some changes, but thankfully they will automatically update.
Not that anyone would want to hire me after all my bellyaching about the assignment. :)
Please see previous post for thoughts on standards.
Lo and behold, I did not actually have the templates in my Google drive. Why would this be simple? It took a lot of searching (and TIME) to finally realize that I had to ... is download the right word? I had to add them to my drive. Once that was accomplished, I copied and pasted my Word resume into Notepad to eliminate all the formatting, and then copied and pasted and rearranged it in the template. I chose the simplest template, because I have other things to do and needed this job to be complete. But, here is the link to my published resume. I don't love the way it looks on the web, so I may make some changes, but thankfully they will automatically update.
Not that anyone would want to hire me after all my bellyaching about the assignment. :)
Please see previous post for thoughts on standards.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Google Docs
This appeared to be a simple assignment, but then I got bogged down in trying to improve my resume. Forgive me if the one that I publish is not all THAT, but after traveling down the winding, circuitous route of a new resume format, I realized that I had been tinkering for over an hour and had really made nothing but negative progress. I went back to my original, mustered the last remnants of my focus, and quickly added on my most recent accomplishments. Maybe someday I will have a better, sassier, more modern format, but for now, you get the old standard.
I did watch the Jing video on how to create a new resume from the Google template and that is good to know. Also good to know where to find those other fun templates (family budget planner tweaked my interest.) However, I had a resume that I had worked on recently so I decided to spruce that up and upload it to my Google Docs. Other than the wasted time trying to make myself sound as fabulous as possible while looking like a resume professional, I thought the process was fairly straightforward.
Publishing was a bit trickier. Google had some good help, but for some reason I never found the option that used the language "publish as a web page." According to the Help section, it should look like this when I click File, but it did not. That little Publish to the web section that is highlighted in the image was not an option. So... I chose Share, and then
opted to share it freely. I am not sure if that is the same thing... I wonder if Shenandoah University, as the administrator of my Google Drive, has somehow removed the option to publish to the web. If anyone else is having this issue or knows of a solution, please let me know.
My resume can be found here. Maybe it is a web page, maybe not. I will look into that.
ISTE Nets T- standards-
Accomplishing the task of uploading and publishing my resume was an example of modeling digital age work and learning as I was able to transfer my document from one media to another, and perhaps to the web.
I did watch the Jing video on how to create a new resume from the Google template and that is good to know. Also good to know where to find those other fun templates (family budget planner tweaked my interest.) However, I had a resume that I had worked on recently so I decided to spruce that up and upload it to my Google Docs. Other than the wasted time trying to make myself sound as fabulous as possible while looking like a resume professional, I thought the process was fairly straightforward.
Publishing was a bit trickier. Google had some good help, but for some reason I never found the option that used the language "publish as a web page." According to the Help section, it should look like this when I click File, but it did not. That little Publish to the web section that is highlighted in the image was not an option. So... I chose Share, and then
opted to share it freely. I am not sure if that is the same thing... I wonder if Shenandoah University, as the administrator of my Google Drive, has somehow removed the option to publish to the web. If anyone else is having this issue or knows of a solution, please let me know.My resume can be found here. Maybe it is a web page, maybe not. I will look into that.
ISTE Nets T- standards-
Accomplishing the task of uploading and publishing my resume was an example of modeling digital age work and learning as I was able to transfer my document from one media to another, and perhaps to the web.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Numbers 1.4 - first t-test analysis ever!
Here is my published shot on screencast and here is my image. You can also access my document on my Google Drive.
For this exercise, my null hypothesis would be: There is no relationship between ethnicity and scores on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
My research hypothesis (or test hypothesis) would be: There is a relationship between ethnicity and scores on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
I ran a t-test for all of the scores, comparing White students' scores with Hispanic students' scores, then White students' scores with Black students' scores, and finally, Black students' scores with Hispanic students' scores. I used the Data Analysis Toolpak add on in Excel and computed t-tests with the assumption that there were equal variances. Each P value was 0.00 which indicates that these score differences are not simply due to chance. The null hypothesis can be rejected. There clearly is a relationship between ethnicity and scores on the 2013 NAEP.
If I were to represent this data in an academic paper using APA style I would first have to find and reference the data itself. I believe the National Center for Education Statistics web page would be an excellent source as it allows you opportunities to select and access the exact data you wish to focus on as you can see here.
I would also have to include some references to P values, how they are calculated, what they mean, and how they are used in research. Having just read two books by Neil J. Salkind that touched on this topic, I would probably reference at least one of those or look for others to explain this topic.
I would also do some additional research to support my findings, to see how results on this test compare to other similar tests and what experts believe causes these ethnic differences as well as what educators and communities are doing in an effort to limit these differences.
For this exercise, my null hypothesis would be: There is no relationship between ethnicity and scores on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
My research hypothesis (or test hypothesis) would be: There is a relationship between ethnicity and scores on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
I ran a t-test for all of the scores, comparing White students' scores with Hispanic students' scores, then White students' scores with Black students' scores, and finally, Black students' scores with Hispanic students' scores. I used the Data Analysis Toolpak add on in Excel and computed t-tests with the assumption that there were equal variances. Each P value was 0.00 which indicates that these score differences are not simply due to chance. The null hypothesis can be rejected. There clearly is a relationship between ethnicity and scores on the 2013 NAEP.
If I were to represent this data in an academic paper using APA style I would first have to find and reference the data itself. I believe the National Center for Education Statistics web page would be an excellent source as it allows you opportunities to select and access the exact data you wish to focus on as you can see here.
I would also have to include some references to P values, how they are calculated, what they mean, and how they are used in research. Having just read two books by Neil J. Salkind that touched on this topic, I would probably reference at least one of those or look for others to explain this topic.
I would also do some additional research to support my findings, to see how results on this test compare to other similar tests and what experts believe causes these ethnic differences as well as what educators and communities are doing in an effort to limit these differences.Numbers 1.3 - maybe I do love you Excel
I find myself wishing I had more reason to use Excel on a day to day basis because frankly, it is VERY COOL, but I don't use it enough to do anything easily. This assignment was okay though because I just finished Measurement and Statistics and we used these same functions. This was a good opportunity to practice them. With that in mind, I used the Data Analysis Toolpak I had installed in the fall to do the calculations and then I did them again using the functions. I have no idea what half of the results mean in the first chart I created, but I left it all in there in case it is useful to someone smarter than me. In the second (down below the original data) I simply calculated what was required. Here is my finished product.
Clearly, females have higher 8th grade reading scores than males, with an average that is 10 points higher. The highest female score beat the highest male score by 7 points while the lowest female scores was a full 14 points higher than the lowest male score. There is a lot of evidence that girls read more for enjoyment than boys, and the types of reading that boys do enjoy is not as encouraged in the schools as the fiction is that girls prefer. This chapter from a report by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) documents that this phenomena is generally true not only in the US, but in all countries other than Korea.
Sadly, Virginia is not making us proud as far as this data goes. Out of 50 states, the District and DoDEA, we are 24th. We did beat 28 other jurisdictions and our overall average of 267.6 beats the average for all states by a full point.. Unfortunately, our scores falls 10 points behind the top score posted by Massachusetts. White and Hispanic students in VA kept the same -10 ratio with those groups in MA, although black students in Virginia trailed black students in MA by only 5 points.
Virginia is a diverse state with several school systems that consider themselves "World Class." I wonder how a regional breakdown of scores would compare to these.
Clearly, females have higher 8th grade reading scores than males, with an average that is 10 points higher. The highest female score beat the highest male score by 7 points while the lowest female scores was a full 14 points higher than the lowest male score. There is a lot of evidence that girls read more for enjoyment than boys, and the types of reading that boys do enjoy is not as encouraged in the schools as the fiction is that girls prefer. This chapter from a report by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) documents that this phenomena is generally true not only in the US, but in all countries other than Korea.
Sadly, Virginia is not making us proud as far as this data goes. Out of 50 states, the District and DoDEA, we are 24th. We did beat 28 other jurisdictions and our overall average of 267.6 beats the average for all states by a full point.. Unfortunately, our scores falls 10 points behind the top score posted by Massachusetts. White and Hispanic students in VA kept the same -10 ratio with those groups in MA, although black students in Virginia trailed black students in MA by only 5 points.
Virginia is a diverse state with several school systems that consider themselves "World Class." I wonder how a regional breakdown of scores would compare to these.
Numbers in Excel - a little more love and a little more hate
Well, this was not so bad, other than the mystery errors I got the first time I tried it that went away as soon as I did the exact same thing over again... Ah Excel... why are you so complicated? Here is my finished product. I admit, I only used the IF Function for the final semester grade; I thought it was rather tedious, and since excel help recommended some other options I tried vlookup for the next one and it was SO MUCH EASIER. So... that is how I calculated the rest of them. I used my new favorite tool, Jing to grab you a capture of the function. EASY!
I know that I could have copied and pasted the IF formula over and over again, but I am only good at things I do more than once, and I really never wanted to get involved in that IF Function again, so I thought I should see what else was out there. Vlookup was cool (and also impressed my husband who has a love-love relationship with Excel.)
Since I was being honest when I said I am only good at things I do over and over again, I used a ClipGrab to get a handy little video that demonstrates the vlookup function. Enjoy!
I know that I could have copied and pasted the IF formula over and over again, but I am only good at things I do more than once, and I really never wanted to get involved in that IF Function again, so I thought I should see what else was out there. Vlookup was cool (and also impressed my husband who has a love-love relationship with Excel.)
Since I was being honest when I said I am only good at things I do over and over again, I used a ClipGrab to get a handy little video that demonstrates the vlookup function. Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Excel and I have a love/hate relationship
Excel is one of the coolest tools out there, but I don't use it enough to get really proficient which means that every time I need Excel I have to re-teach myself how it works. Like playing Rook. I have a vague idea what the rules are, but my partner usually hates me for the first 30 minutes while I get the hang out it. So, here is my spreadsheet which I believe I was able to save to my Google drive.
My husband is the Excel pro- he even uses it for fun little personal projects like seeing how his fantasy hockey team would have done under different circumstances. Thank goodness he was not home or I would have been sorely tempted to ask for his help. As it was, despite the fact that I just completed Measurement and Statistics in December, I still had to go online and seek some assistance with the graphing part of the assignment. I got all bogged down wondering how a Histogram is different from a bar graph. In the end, I used a lot of tools I was fairly comfortable with: average, minimum, maximum, range, dragging the formulas, and some that were new: tilting the labels at different angles, adding back color to the headings, and the bar graph. We used histograms in the other class. I am still not convinced I made the graph in the most efficient way, but it worked.
My husband is the Excel pro- he even uses it for fun little personal projects like seeing how his fantasy hockey team would have done under different circumstances. Thank goodness he was not home or I would have been sorely tempted to ask for his help. As it was, despite the fact that I just completed Measurement and Statistics in December, I still had to go online and seek some assistance with the graphing part of the assignment. I got all bogged down wondering how a Histogram is different from a bar graph. In the end, I used a lot of tools I was fairly comfortable with: average, minimum, maximum, range, dragging the formulas, and some that were new: tilting the labels at different angles, adding back color to the headings, and the bar graph. We used histograms in the other class. I am still not convinced I made the graph in the most efficient way, but it worked.
Screencast o matic - that was kind of tricky
Screencast o matic offers some tools that Jing does not, but the help is not nearly as easy to find. And I needed some help. The biggest issue I had (that was not related to my own laptop/webcam) was figuring out how to get both myself and my screen in the video. First I tried using my webcam inside the capture box, but each time I clicked on the screen to demonstrate something I disappeared. I finally found the little help button on Screencast and watched this video. Finally some clarity.
Make the help button bigger, or place links to the help videos right on the screen like Jing does; that is the feedback I sent my new friends at Screencast.
I also created a YouTube channel for this class and if you would like to watch the video there, here is your link Making a word family Wordle.
iste.nets-t standards addressed using Screencast O Matic -
This tool is great for meeting standard 1, specifically making an educational video like this enabled me to teach my students how to do something creative but it would be even more powerful for older students to use to teach something to someone else. When you are able to explain how to use or do something, you understand it in a much deeper way.
I can see Screencast being a great tool for meeting standard 5 as well. Just prior to getting started on my Evernote assignment today, I completed an online module about goal setting. I was able to complete it at my own pace and in my free time because someone used a tool like Screencast to put together the videos that showed me where to find and how to use the assessment tools that my school system has available. It was great.
Make the help button bigger, or place links to the help videos right on the screen like Jing does; that is the feedback I sent my new friends at Screencast.
I also created a YouTube channel for this class and if you would like to watch the video there, here is your link Making a word family Wordle.
iste.nets-t standards addressed using Screencast O Matic -
This tool is great for meeting standard 1, specifically making an educational video like this enabled me to teach my students how to do something creative but it would be even more powerful for older students to use to teach something to someone else. When you are able to explain how to use or do something, you understand it in a much deeper way.
I can see Screencast being a great tool for meeting standard 5 as well. Just prior to getting started on my Evernote assignment today, I completed an online module about goal setting. I was able to complete it at my own pace and in my free time because someone used a tool like Screencast to put together the videos that showed me where to find and how to use the assessment tools that my school system has available. It was great.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Video Capture with embedded code
Jing has some great tutorials and really nicely laid out help. As a result, I believe I was able to solve my video uploading problem a different way. I added a button to my toolbar that enables me to capture embedded code and then I learned how to copy and paste that into this blog. Check it out. Also, if anyone has any advice on how best to size the video, I am all ears. My approach here was to play around with the numbers in the top of the code until I got a size that fit. I was careful to keep the ratios similar, but other than that it was not very scientific or technological.
Jing Screencast - so cool and easy to use!
I will admit I was a bit nervous about the whole video thing, but then I often am about things I am trying for the first time. Jing is great, and frankly I made something useful, which is sadly not always the case with classwork. Can't wait to roll it out to my parents. I used Padlet to create a wall with all the math games we are using for reinforcing addition and subtraction facts, as well as story problems. The kids love these, but they are a bit of a pain to get to because they are rather buried in our web site. My Padlet wall gets them all in the same place, with a little visual to help those who don't read as well, and they don't have to accept the Loudoun County disclaimer each time they select a new game. I think it will be very useful for my students and their parents.
This assignment was actually quite simple using Jing. To begin, I simply scrolled over the Jing Sun at the top of my screen. I chose the first prong, the "Capture" prong. The second prong is the "History" prong and it enables you to see the captures you have made in the past. The final button on the sun is really handy, it allows you to get help (which I often need!) and change or customize settings. Back to the first button, once I clicked the "capture" button, I was able to scroll across and select my entire desktop to be the image captured. I then selected the"video" button from the toolbar so that I would not get a picture, but a video with audio for my capture. I recorded the steps needed for my parents to help their students access my Padlet and then I selected end. I saved the video (an SWF file) in my windows photo library and in my Screencast library. The Screencast button allows you to share your video. Here is the link to mine. Math Resources Padlet video I wanted to upload the video like I did with Harry Kindergarten yesterday, but it is not working. I shall have to look into that.
iste.nets-t standards: I think the use of Screencast to teach my parents how to use my Padlet wall as a math resource fits nicely with standard 3-Model Digital Age Work and learning. It definitely allows for collaboration using digital tools and resources and although I could probably use some practice as a commentator, the video shares relevant information and ideas fairly effectively. The Padlet itself facilitates my students learning because it really does make it easier for 6 year olds to navigate to the target games.
This assignment was actually quite simple using Jing. To begin, I simply scrolled over the Jing Sun at the top of my screen. I chose the first prong, the "Capture" prong. The second prong is the "History" prong and it enables you to see the captures you have made in the past. The final button on the sun is really handy, it allows you to get help (which I often need!) and change or customize settings. Back to the first button, once I clicked the "capture" button, I was able to scroll across and select my entire desktop to be the image captured. I then selected the"video" button from the toolbar so that I would not get a picture, but a video with audio for my capture. I recorded the steps needed for my parents to help their students access my Padlet and then I selected end. I saved the video (an SWF file) in my windows photo library and in my Screencast library. The Screencast button allows you to share your video. Here is the link to mine. Math Resources Padlet video I wanted to upload the video like I did with Harry Kindergarten yesterday, but it is not working. I shall have to look into that.
iste.nets-t standards: I think the use of Screencast to teach my parents how to use my Padlet wall as a math resource fits nicely with standard 3-Model Digital Age Work and learning. It definitely allows for collaboration using digital tools and resources and although I could probably use some practice as a commentator, the video shares relevant information and ideas fairly effectively. The Padlet itself facilitates my students learning because it really does make it easier for 6 year olds to navigate to the target games.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Padlet - a link that works.
How about this? Before I was trying to use the share feature on Padlet. That gave me a bad link, but just copying the url of the Padlet I made seems to work fine. Much simpler.
Padlet - simple but full of possibilities
I think Padlet is sort of like Wordle in that it allows you to take a main idea and add details. Or to associate a bunch of different things around a theme. I could use it in the classroom for All About Me activities or Student of the Week. My students are 6 and 7, so they would probably need some support dragging and dropping and uploading things, but once they knew what they wanted and where it could be found, I think they would have a lot of fun with this. I could even create some padlets of my own to share with families - one with links to math games, one with links to vocabulary or sight word games or supports. I could even create one each week for the parents to access any online resources I had used, like BrainPop Jr., YouTube, etc. The kids LOVE math raps and could easily listen along at home if their parents could just visit my padlet and access the links. Very neat application. I made a padlet to represent this class so far. In theory, you can check it out here. But I keep getting a bad request. Not sure why. Here is what it looks like... I will have to do a bit of work to see what is up with the link.
iste.nets-t standards address by this application:
I think with would work very well with standard 3 - Model Digiatl Age Work and Learning. Padlet enables teachers to collaborate with students, peers, parents and community using digital tools. (3b) It is a great way to communicate relevant information effectively and incorporates as many different types of media as the poster wishes. (3c)
iste.nets-t standards address by this application:
I think with would work very well with standard 3 - Model Digiatl Age Work and Learning. Padlet enables teachers to collaborate with students, peers, parents and community using digital tools. (3b) It is a great way to communicate relevant information effectively and incorporates as many different types of media as the poster wishes. (3c)
Video Capture - trying out ClipGrab
I did it. Whew! Initially this assignment gave me some anxiety. Although part of that is due to the relentless pace of the activities. With grades and comments due this week, plus the general lesson planning necessary, I feel a bit overwhelmed when I need to spend time learning and using new things day after day. My solution was to put the blog/assignment issue aside for 24 hours, get all my work stuff done, and tackle this first thing Saturday morning. So, the sun is just coming up and I have managed to learn and accomplish something new. I feel pretty good.
I had never attempted to download a video from YouTube before, but thought it was a very useful idea. Every year we lose our ability to access YouTube (and other vast swaths of the internet) during the SOLs. The school system asks that internet access be extremely limited so that students who are taking the test online do not suffer from connectivity issues. Downloading ahead of time means that teachers who were planning on using a video for instruction can do so as planned. I love it. But had no idea how to go about it.
I see from reading the Padlet wall that there are a number of ways to accomplish this. I read the wall after I did a little Google research found a Wiki on the subject. That led me to ClipGrab. ClipGrab requires an initial download, but that only took a minute and within seconds of that I had my Harry Kindergarten sight word video ready to save on my computer. Very cool.
iste.nets-t standards
Being able to download a video from YouTube or other video sources allows teachers to design relevant learning experiences using digital tools (2a), and if students were to use this skill as part of an assignment, it allows them to customize and personalize learning activities. (2c)
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Wordle families
At first, I toyed around with my readers finding the main idea using cut and paste and seeing what words pop up the biggest and most frequent, but it turns out there are not that many places where they are cool with you copying the text of a children's book. :) So I did what all teachers do when in need of an idea, I Googled it!
I will confess right away that I stole this idea from someone else. And since I am not really a thief, but a teacher who appreciates sharing, I will give credit where credit is due! This teacher suggests that first graders could use Wordle to create a word family poster. She had an example on her wiki page, but I thought I should put a little effort in, so I made my own.
Love the idea and THIS is something my 6 year olds could do. In fact, we just started rimes and this might be a great, timely assignment they could use that would also provide a grade in the technology line of their report cards.
A second fun idea she shared was using Wordle in math. The students could make a Wordle that shows all the ways to make ten. This is a little more confusing and I have not quite figured out how to get the symbols to show up. More on that later.
I will confess right away that I stole this idea from someone else. And since I am not really a thief, but a teacher who appreciates sharing, I will give credit where credit is due! This teacher suggests that first graders could use Wordle to create a word family poster. She had an example on her wiki page, but I thought I should put a little effort in, so I made my own.
Love the idea and THIS is something my 6 year olds could do. In fact, we just started rimes and this might be a great, timely assignment they could use that would also provide a grade in the technology line of their report cards.A second fun idea she shared was using Wordle in math. The students could make a Wordle that shows all the ways to make ten. This is a little more confusing and I have not quite figured out how to get the symbols to show up. More on that later.
Wordle - what are you trying to say?
I made this first Wordle (is that the correct term?) using the most recent iste.nets-t standards. Since I cut and pasted the standards directly into Wordle, and Wordle automatically emphasizes those that occur most often, I can see that learning is a huge focus of these standards. Resources, digital, tools, students, technology, professional, support and use are also words that occurred frequently. Student shows up more than one time in this Wordle, but if you look at the next one, from the older standards, the word teacher shows up more than the word students. Interesting. Look carefully, you probably can't find the word teacher in the first Wordle using the current standards.
We have definitely progressed from 2000 and I think it is safe to say that teachers are expected to stay as close as to the cutting edge of popular technology as possible.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Zoom Chat - forgot to blog about this one!
Looking back through my posts, I can see that I forgot to blog about my chat with Melinda on Zoom this past Saturday. I have used Facetime, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, and Skype in the past. Zoom was just as easy to use as all of these, although initially I had a bit of difficulty with my camera, which I had inadvertently turned off in the Zoom program. Got it up and running and it was nice to check in with a classmate about the assignments. Talking in person is one of the things that I miss when I take an online class. In the future, I am going to check with my fellow classmates to see if they use a program like this and want to "meet up" for a visit. Face to face conversation is easiest...
Which is why programs like Zoom are very handy for facilitating conversation when people are unable to be in the same place. It is especially handy when the topic would benefit from both parties being able to use and see facial expressions. A large percentage of my students' parents work and coming to school when it is convenient for me (before 7 am or between 2:50 and 4 pm) is often highly inconvenient for them. I think they would love an opportunity to have a quick "face to face" without leaving their office. Meetings with colleagues and communicating with pen pals are two other possible uses for this program. I don't envision using it with my six year old students, but I suppose it would be fun to check in with one who were out sick for an extended period of time or on a 3 week trip to India, which is quite common with our students.
iste.nets-t standards
Zoom certainly lends itself to standard 3b which demands that educators collaborate with others using digital tools and resources to support student success. It also supports standard 1d: model collaborative knowledge construction... in face to face and virtual environments. Zoom might also work well in pursuit of satndard 5a: participate in ... global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.
Which is why programs like Zoom are very handy for facilitating conversation when people are unable to be in the same place. It is especially handy when the topic would benefit from both parties being able to use and see facial expressions. A large percentage of my students' parents work and coming to school when it is convenient for me (before 7 am or between 2:50 and 4 pm) is often highly inconvenient for them. I think they would love an opportunity to have a quick "face to face" without leaving their office. Meetings with colleagues and communicating with pen pals are two other possible uses for this program. I don't envision using it with my six year old students, but I suppose it would be fun to check in with one who were out sick for an extended period of time or on a 3 week trip to India, which is quite common with our students.
iste.nets-t standards
Zoom certainly lends itself to standard 3b which demands that educators collaborate with others using digital tools and resources to support student success. It also supports standard 1d: model collaborative knowledge construction... in face to face and virtual environments. Zoom might also work well in pursuit of satndard 5a: participate in ... global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.
Self Portrait
This tool offers an opportunity to be creative in a limited way. So, I can see the argument that using it fits with standard 1: to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. Certainly if a class were studying the style of Picasso it would be a handy and perhaps fun tool for students to engage in an authentic learning experience about this topic which would address standard 2 as well. Now that all applies to the tool itself, but the assignment did force me to learn some new things and as a teacher I have a responsibility to continue to embrace new skills using web tools and share them with my peers, so in that I have become familiar with a new tool and practiced using it, standard 5 is addressed. I just don't know how I could use the tool, so I think I will read some of the other blog posts and see what my peers are thinking.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Jimg Image - getting closer to mastery
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| My Second Jing Attempt |
It saved it to Screencast and you should be able to check it out using that link.
As for the questions -
1. Jing screen captures result in a png file.
2.I save them in my pictures folder.
3. You can access your Jing history by rolling over the sun and selecting the middle icon. Pretty handy.
4.As far as Screencasting your history, it seems like it just makes another copy of it, but I might be misunderstanding the question.
5. As mentioned in a prior post, I had a difficult time importing the Jing file, until I found the little image up in my tool bar. Now I simply click on the image and import.
6&7. I can published my image using Screencast. Screencast also allows you to share your image with others using the assigned url.
iste.nets-t standards addressed
I can see that Jing lends itself nicely to standard 3c because Jing allows a teacher to take visual content and add labels or comments that ensure the communication of relevant information and ideas. Jing screencast videos can be used to collaborate on lessons or share successful ideas, two circumstances covered by standard 5 which demands professional growth and the use of digital tools and resources.
Small Victories - Jing Continued
Okay - sure it took me 15 minutes, but I did ALL BY MYSELF! (I sound like a two year old.) I kept hitting the old control v and getting nowhere trying to get Stacia's art into my blog post, but no luck. I checked out some classmates' blogs, saw they were able to do it, and then applied my brain. :) Still working on my assignment, but learning little things along the way.
Jing - more new tools
I have to say, I was pretty satisfied with my snipping tool until I checked Jing out. There is a bit of a learning curve, and I have a lot more to figure out... like I assumed I would now need to sign up for Screencast account, but guess what, apparently I did that by signing up for Jing.... So much to learn. I am working on my assignment using a graphic that could help in my classroom, but first I had to play around with Jing using a painting my daughter made yesterday. You can check that out just below my links. She entered it into a contest Maggie Stiefvater was holding and was a finalist! Fun.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Add ons - do I want them?
A browser add on is a tool that adds new features to your browser. I personally have never used a browser add on before, but being brand new to Diigo and a Chrome user, I thought it would make sense to accept when I was offered the Chrome extension add on. I followed the steps and acquired it. So far, it appears to work as intended, although I have only played around with it a bit. I was able to successfully add the blog-post and article discussed below to my library with minimal effort.
Thinking add ons might be something embraced by the more millennial, I asked my 16 year old what types of add on she uses and her experience was fairly limited as well: she has a screenshot add on and a blacklist add on. The latter she uses to make sure she is not the victim of spoilers for the TV shows she watches on her computer.
In an effort to learn a little more about these tools, I did a bit of research and learned that perhaps they are something that we should be leery of, or at least embrace in a limited way. According to this WSJ blog and this Technology Briefing add ons can be silently changed after they are installed and the updated code can be automatically pushed to those who use them. The two add-ons removed last week by Google had been altered by new owners in order to insert unwanted ads in spaces ads would not normally exist. According to the WSJ blog author, Rolfe Winkler, malware companies are actively seeking ownership of add-ons in order to make these types of modifications. Google is not in the habit of reviewing changes to code after an add on is offered, and these two add ons were removed only because alert users notified Google. Something to think about before embracing too many of these tools: how does the value of an add on compare to the possible danger of exposing yourself to malware? Is the tool worth the risk? I think I will stick with my one new add on for the time being and see how it goes.
As for iste.nets-t standards are addressed by this assignment, I would suggest that standards 1c & d, would be met using Diigo in the way that was described in the Educational Leadership article. Diigo certainly lends itself to the type of collaborative work called for by these standards. Additionally, Diigo and similar social bookmarking tools facilitate locating, analyzing, and evaluating information resources, which is addressed by standard 3d. Finally, the Digitally Speaking blog by William Ferriter described beautifully how educators in collaborative learning communities could use Diigo to their benefit. This responsibility is addressed in standard 5.
Thinking add ons might be something embraced by the more millennial, I asked my 16 year old what types of add on she uses and her experience was fairly limited as well: she has a screenshot add on and a blacklist add on. The latter she uses to make sure she is not the victim of spoilers for the TV shows she watches on her computer.
In an effort to learn a little more about these tools, I did a bit of research and learned that perhaps they are something that we should be leery of, or at least embrace in a limited way. According to this WSJ blog and this Technology Briefing add ons can be silently changed after they are installed and the updated code can be automatically pushed to those who use them. The two add-ons removed last week by Google had been altered by new owners in order to insert unwanted ads in spaces ads would not normally exist. According to the WSJ blog author, Rolfe Winkler, malware companies are actively seeking ownership of add-ons in order to make these types of modifications. Google is not in the habit of reviewing changes to code after an add on is offered, and these two add ons were removed only because alert users notified Google. Something to think about before embracing too many of these tools: how does the value of an add on compare to the possible danger of exposing yourself to malware? Is the tool worth the risk? I think I will stick with my one new add on for the time being and see how it goes.
As for iste.nets-t standards are addressed by this assignment, I would suggest that standards 1c & d, would be met using Diigo in the way that was described in the Educational Leadership article. Diigo certainly lends itself to the type of collaborative work called for by these standards. Additionally, Diigo and similar social bookmarking tools facilitate locating, analyzing, and evaluating information resources, which is addressed by standard 3d. Finally, the Digitally Speaking blog by William Ferriter described beautifully how educators in collaborative learning communities could use Diigo to their benefit. This responsibility is addressed in standard 5.
Learning New Things... Like Diigo
Whew- thank goodness for snow days. I think I successfully joined Zoom and Diigo, although currently I have very little idea how to use either one. That will follow, I hope. So far I have added one article, on measurement. You can see my limited library here.
I did watch the short video 3 times, and think I have a rough idea how the whole social bookmarking might work. To use Diigo effectively, step one appears to be finding articles of interest and highlighting important content. Step 2 would be to add a comment that will allow others to see what you are thinking about as you read, and step 3 would be to bookmark the article with tags, either those recommended by Diigo or your own so others can find the article. It is only social bookmarking if you share it with others, so I guess a community is important as well.. Although I have never engaged in this using a tool like Diigo, I do share links with colleagues all the time. We email them to each other. :) I guess that is really rather old fashioned and time consuming. I can see the huge benefit to sharing these links in a central location, and not limiting yourself to links, but to ideas by using tags. Social bookmarking enables you to benefit from research and winnowing of research done by others and to share your own efforts within a community. Rather than searching the whole web, social bookmarking provides a type of library where resources have been vetted to a certain extent and are organized by tags. I think this sharing and sense of community is the hallmark of Web 2.0. According to William Ferriter, writing on Digitally Speaking , Web 2.0 is characterized by "a spirit of intellectual philanthropy and collective intelligence" that allows for easy and effective collaboration. My school has just embraced collaborative learning communities this year, and although I know that teachers shudder to take on new things, forming a community on a site like Diigo might make our lives easier in the long run.
I loved the classroom-use idea in the Educational Leadership article to assign students rolls like "Captain Cannonball" to pose questions to get conversations about shared reading started, and "Middlemen" who look for common ground in diverse answers. Fabulous.
I did watch the short video 3 times, and think I have a rough idea how the whole social bookmarking might work. To use Diigo effectively, step one appears to be finding articles of interest and highlighting important content. Step 2 would be to add a comment that will allow others to see what you are thinking about as you read, and step 3 would be to bookmark the article with tags, either those recommended by Diigo or your own so others can find the article. It is only social bookmarking if you share it with others, so I guess a community is important as well.. Although I have never engaged in this using a tool like Diigo, I do share links with colleagues all the time. We email them to each other. :) I guess that is really rather old fashioned and time consuming. I can see the huge benefit to sharing these links in a central location, and not limiting yourself to links, but to ideas by using tags. Social bookmarking enables you to benefit from research and winnowing of research done by others and to share your own efforts within a community. Rather than searching the whole web, social bookmarking provides a type of library where resources have been vetted to a certain extent and are organized by tags. I think this sharing and sense of community is the hallmark of Web 2.0. According to William Ferriter, writing on Digitally Speaking , Web 2.0 is characterized by "a spirit of intellectual philanthropy and collective intelligence" that allows for easy and effective collaboration. My school has just embraced collaborative learning communities this year, and although I know that teachers shudder to take on new things, forming a community on a site like Diigo might make our lives easier in the long run.
I loved the classroom-use idea in the Educational Leadership article to assign students rolls like "Captain Cannonball" to pose questions to get conversations about shared reading started, and "Middlemen" who look for common ground in diverse answers. Fabulous.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
How Millennial Am I? Not very....
Perhaps I should be embarrassed to admit I scored 11 on the Millennial quiz. but, I'm not. I had my 16 year old daughter take it too and she scored a 73, which although significantly higher than my score, was based on only slight differences in our responses: she has a Facebook page, I don't have any social media presence (unless this blog counts...) she described herself as liberal, rather than moderate, and she cared slightly about a high paying career; I had to confess I don't because I am a teacher. Other than that, our responses were identical. Something tells me that being 16 gave her extra points as well. Either way, the fact that I lined up with people born between 1928 and 1948 does not bother me too much.
As for any implications for my teaching success or my students' learning, I think they are limited. I teach first grade, which is made up of students who have very little control over their own access to technology and limited ability to use it independently. Of course, they are adept at using many platforms and applications, but they can't read all that well and in most cases are under the supervision of parents who believe it sensible to limit "screen time." Middle and high school teachers certainly don't have that luxury and can probably up their credibility by being a bit more "millennial."
As for the individual questions, I assume my biggest downfall was the one on social networking. One reason I don't embrace social networking is because I am a teacher. I am in my second year of teaching and it is a tremendously time consuming job. Getting my masters degree consumes significant hours as well. I also have 4 kids. I really don't have time to spend on something idle like Facebook. In addition to that, I greatly value my privacy, and I know that the first thing parents do is go to Google when they find out who their child's teacher is. I like to keep as low a profile as possible.
My reaction to Frand's 10 characteristics was mixed.
Number 1 - Computers Aren't Technology I have no control over this one. I can remember using a computer for the first time. It was a Commodore 64 and we played Lemonade Stand quite a bit. None of my friends had one, we were quite the cutting edge family. When I went to college no one had their own laptop and I only used the computer lab if I was required. I had a Brother word processor for typing. :) So, computers are technology to me.
Number 2 - Internet Better Than TV: I have one foot in the door here. I generally Tivo (technology to me!) or DVR (same) shows to watch, but lately have discovered a couple that I can only view on Netflix. I love it. I like that I can watch what I want when I want. Great concept. In fact, I was unreasonably annoyed when I finished the first season of Longmire and the second was not available anywhere. Frankly, I still am annoyed. What's the hold up? (see characteristic 9 Zero Tolerance for Delays)
Number 3 - Reality No Longer Real: This I can agree with as well. In fact, confession time, I have taken advantage of this myself. I created a gmail with a fictitious name in order to question some team decisions without exposing my child to blow-back. Remarkably easy and effective. What is not always easy is when you are trying to get facts, as Frand points out, the internet is chock full of information, but it is difficult to tell how much is true and who is writing what. This last election cycle it was particularly challenging to sift the facts from the falsities and I found myself in numerous discussions where the participants were working with wildly divergent versions of "reality."
Number 4 - Doing Rather Than Knowing: I think that the shrinking half life of information may be less pronounced in education than in other fields. Part of that has to do with funding, schools just can't keep up with the infrastructure that is required in order to embrace life at the "speed of technology." Also, that little kernel of doubt that we all have about whether new indeed is better is a bit more pronounced in early years where we are working with young children. There is a certain degree of push-back on screen time to allow for outdoor play, investigation, creativity, hands on work, and the like. So, when Frand talks about events occurring in real time, with immediate effects and short reaction times, I feel as though schools are in a time warp.
Number 5 - Nintendo Over Logic: I am a logic person. I feel that I will probably break things if I don't read the directions. When working online I have a strong fear that I will hit the wrong button and lose everything. It drives my husband nuts. So, I am not quite up there with those daring millennial here.
Number 6 - Multitasking Way of Life - Not something I can claim to be capable of either. I turn the TV off if I am on the phone. I don't like music on if I am thinking. One reason that I am successful as a first grade teacher is that I am unable to ignore anything. My students behavior never escalates to chaos because I rarely ignore the little flare, I put it out and get it back on task way before it become a flame. I am just happier with limited distractions. If I do start multi-tasking, I resemble an ADHD sufferer far more than a successful millennial.
Number 7 - Typing Rather Than Handwriting -I find typing to be easier, more correctable, better for re-organizing. I did hand-write notes while reading Frand's article because I can't type on one screen and read on another. (I am sure it is possible...) But, I still have that lingering feeling that a handwritten thank you is more appropriate than an email. I also have my students practice handwriting, but that is partly due to the fact that I need to read it. We have 4 computers for 24 first graders, no ipads or tablets, so we write.
Number 8 - Staying Connected: I think this is one of the most dangerous aspects of this new age we are in. Everyone wants to be connected all the time because it reinforces their feelings of importance to others. After all, if you can post that you went for a 5 mile run at 6 am, it implies that other people care that you did. If people care, you feel better about yourself. I worry about the impact of all these kids growing up thinking that everyone cares about what they ate, where they are, what they are doing, what they are wearing. What if nobody cares? Does it make the run less worthwhile? I think connectivity shifts the way people think about themselves and their lives. Having a platform to display yourself on is intoxicating, but as we all know: intoxication is only safe in moderation. That being said, I only have a cell phone and email and I get frustrated when I can't get a hold of my kids, husband or friends immediately. I ask myself what is the point of having a cell phone if you are not going to keep it by your side so I can reach you. See, even without a Facebook account I have somehow bought in to the idea that my needs are very important.
Number 9 - Zero Tolerance For Delays: As I have already confessed, I have embraced this for better or for worse. Improvements spoil us and we quickly forget how things used to be. How they usually are is how how we want to be all the time. When the internet goes out, even if I am not using it, I know because one of my kids erupts from wherever they are. Companies that don't have web pages or online ordering vex me. 7 -10 business days seems ridiculous after a year or more of Amazon Prime. And having to wait to watch Sherlock when it already premiered in England seems absurd. Like everyone else on Netflix, I want to know why season 2 of Longmire is not available NOW.
Number 10 - Consumer/Creator Blurring: I don't have a lot of experience with this, and maybe it is the graduate student talking, but frankly I can't understand how Frand touched on it so casually. Perhaps when Frand wrote this in 2000, it was new and different than it is now, easy to get away with, tough to catch.. Today I think students of all kinds are drilled about plagiarism and the extra care they need to take to avoid it. I even had one professor at SU insist we send all our writing to him through Turn it In so that he could ensure that we had created the work ourselves.
I think that my sad little score of 11 on the Millennial Quiz aside, I have embraced many recent developments in technology and I am uncertain that those I have snubbed would make me a better teacher. I truly believe there is such as thing as "too accessible" for someone who is working with children and social networking is the one aspect of technology that I have made a choice to avoid. The rest of the things I avoid I avoid due to fear. I fear them because they are new and will take time for me to learn. I don't have a lot of time, but when someone gives me a good reason to embrace something new (like it is a requirement for a class) I am able to force myself to push my fear aside and give it a try. Like I said in my initial post, I fully expect to have a much more impressive blog by the end of this class. Why? Because I won't have a choice if I expect to do well in the class. :)
As for any implications for my teaching success or my students' learning, I think they are limited. I teach first grade, which is made up of students who have very little control over their own access to technology and limited ability to use it independently. Of course, they are adept at using many platforms and applications, but they can't read all that well and in most cases are under the supervision of parents who believe it sensible to limit "screen time." Middle and high school teachers certainly don't have that luxury and can probably up their credibility by being a bit more "millennial."
As for the individual questions, I assume my biggest downfall was the one on social networking. One reason I don't embrace social networking is because I am a teacher. I am in my second year of teaching and it is a tremendously time consuming job. Getting my masters degree consumes significant hours as well. I also have 4 kids. I really don't have time to spend on something idle like Facebook. In addition to that, I greatly value my privacy, and I know that the first thing parents do is go to Google when they find out who their child's teacher is. I like to keep as low a profile as possible.
My reaction to Frand's 10 characteristics was mixed.
Number 1 - Computers Aren't Technology I have no control over this one. I can remember using a computer for the first time. It was a Commodore 64 and we played Lemonade Stand quite a bit. None of my friends had one, we were quite the cutting edge family. When I went to college no one had their own laptop and I only used the computer lab if I was required. I had a Brother word processor for typing. :) So, computers are technology to me.
Number 2 - Internet Better Than TV: I have one foot in the door here. I generally Tivo (technology to me!) or DVR (same) shows to watch, but lately have discovered a couple that I can only view on Netflix. I love it. I like that I can watch what I want when I want. Great concept. In fact, I was unreasonably annoyed when I finished the first season of Longmire and the second was not available anywhere. Frankly, I still am annoyed. What's the hold up? (see characteristic 9 Zero Tolerance for Delays)
Number 3 - Reality No Longer Real: This I can agree with as well. In fact, confession time, I have taken advantage of this myself. I created a gmail with a fictitious name in order to question some team decisions without exposing my child to blow-back. Remarkably easy and effective. What is not always easy is when you are trying to get facts, as Frand points out, the internet is chock full of information, but it is difficult to tell how much is true and who is writing what. This last election cycle it was particularly challenging to sift the facts from the falsities and I found myself in numerous discussions where the participants were working with wildly divergent versions of "reality."
Number 4 - Doing Rather Than Knowing: I think that the shrinking half life of information may be less pronounced in education than in other fields. Part of that has to do with funding, schools just can't keep up with the infrastructure that is required in order to embrace life at the "speed of technology." Also, that little kernel of doubt that we all have about whether new indeed is better is a bit more pronounced in early years where we are working with young children. There is a certain degree of push-back on screen time to allow for outdoor play, investigation, creativity, hands on work, and the like. So, when Frand talks about events occurring in real time, with immediate effects and short reaction times, I feel as though schools are in a time warp.
Number 5 - Nintendo Over Logic: I am a logic person. I feel that I will probably break things if I don't read the directions. When working online I have a strong fear that I will hit the wrong button and lose everything. It drives my husband nuts. So, I am not quite up there with those daring millennial here.
Number 6 - Multitasking Way of Life - Not something I can claim to be capable of either. I turn the TV off if I am on the phone. I don't like music on if I am thinking. One reason that I am successful as a first grade teacher is that I am unable to ignore anything. My students behavior never escalates to chaos because I rarely ignore the little flare, I put it out and get it back on task way before it become a flame. I am just happier with limited distractions. If I do start multi-tasking, I resemble an ADHD sufferer far more than a successful millennial.
Number 7 - Typing Rather Than Handwriting -I find typing to be easier, more correctable, better for re-organizing. I did hand-write notes while reading Frand's article because I can't type on one screen and read on another. (I am sure it is possible...) But, I still have that lingering feeling that a handwritten thank you is more appropriate than an email. I also have my students practice handwriting, but that is partly due to the fact that I need to read it. We have 4 computers for 24 first graders, no ipads or tablets, so we write.
Number 8 - Staying Connected: I think this is one of the most dangerous aspects of this new age we are in. Everyone wants to be connected all the time because it reinforces their feelings of importance to others. After all, if you can post that you went for a 5 mile run at 6 am, it implies that other people care that you did. If people care, you feel better about yourself. I worry about the impact of all these kids growing up thinking that everyone cares about what they ate, where they are, what they are doing, what they are wearing. What if nobody cares? Does it make the run less worthwhile? I think connectivity shifts the way people think about themselves and their lives. Having a platform to display yourself on is intoxicating, but as we all know: intoxication is only safe in moderation. That being said, I only have a cell phone and email and I get frustrated when I can't get a hold of my kids, husband or friends immediately. I ask myself what is the point of having a cell phone if you are not going to keep it by your side so I can reach you. See, even without a Facebook account I have somehow bought in to the idea that my needs are very important.
Number 9 - Zero Tolerance For Delays: As I have already confessed, I have embraced this for better or for worse. Improvements spoil us and we quickly forget how things used to be. How they usually are is how how we want to be all the time. When the internet goes out, even if I am not using it, I know because one of my kids erupts from wherever they are. Companies that don't have web pages or online ordering vex me. 7 -10 business days seems ridiculous after a year or more of Amazon Prime. And having to wait to watch Sherlock when it already premiered in England seems absurd. Like everyone else on Netflix, I want to know why season 2 of Longmire is not available NOW.
Number 10 - Consumer/Creator Blurring: I don't have a lot of experience with this, and maybe it is the graduate student talking, but frankly I can't understand how Frand touched on it so casually. Perhaps when Frand wrote this in 2000, it was new and different than it is now, easy to get away with, tough to catch.. Today I think students of all kinds are drilled about plagiarism and the extra care they need to take to avoid it. I even had one professor at SU insist we send all our writing to him through Turn it In so that he could ensure that we had created the work ourselves.
I think that my sad little score of 11 on the Millennial Quiz aside, I have embraced many recent developments in technology and I am uncertain that those I have snubbed would make me a better teacher. I truly believe there is such as thing as "too accessible" for someone who is working with children and social networking is the one aspect of technology that I have made a choice to avoid. The rest of the things I avoid I avoid due to fear. I fear them because they are new and will take time for me to learn. I don't have a lot of time, but when someone gives me a good reason to embrace something new (like it is a requirement for a class) I am able to force myself to push my fear aside and give it a try. Like I said in my initial post, I fully expect to have a much more impressive blog by the end of this class. Why? Because I won't have a choice if I expect to do well in the class. :)
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Create Blog... check!
Well, I did it, I created this blog. It is really unimpressive at this point, but it is a start. Coming up with names and addresses and profile names was much more mentally demanding than I would have imagined. Hopefully, at the end of this class I will look back at this post and pity my poor new-to-blogging self.
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