Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Online Application Review

I looked at Picnik. This is a photo editing site. I would recommend this for teachers. The positives are that Picnik is free. You can edit red eye, make collages, change lighting, and even share the photos with others. Picnik is set-up so you can easily share them on flickr, picassa, twitter, facebook, and more. I think that in terms of having students use the program it is a good one. The site is easy to navigate. Students will be able to edit their own photos easily and then share them.

There are some negatives of Picnik also,but I don't think they outweigh the positive. The biggest problem I had with Picnik is that a lot of the cooler features are part of the premium so you have to pay more to upgrade. What is offered for free is enough for students to get started. I think that it would need to be discussed that students are not going to share the photos on Twitter or Facebook without permission. I think this could become a problem with older students so it is good to know that the options are there.


The second application I looked at was Zoho Office Suite. I looked at the calendar application because I really felt that this would be helpful to many teachers. I like the calendar. You can view by day, week, or month. Another feature is that you can share what you put into the calendar. There is a specific place where you can put the email of people who you want to remind of the event in your calendar. I think this would be good for things like grade level meetings, conferences, etc. Teachers can use this tool together to help each other. I also like that you can add little information or a whole description. Overall, I really like Zoho Calendar.

I also looked at the Zoho Writer. Zoho writer works similar to Microsoft Word. You can write a document, add images and links also. Your document can be saved to Zoho Writer or to a drive. With Zoho Writer you can change the font size, type, color, and more. Zoho Writer also has word count, spell check, a thesaurus, which are good features when teaching students how to write papers. I think that it would be a good way for students to type for free if you do not have access to Word at your school, but I think that Microsoft Word is still better because this will be used in the real world. It's probably best to expose children to both.

Monday, August 9, 2010

D/B13

I was amazed by the advanced performance tracking. Tbe book gave the example of tennis. The system gives you feedback when you put on a body glove. What really amazed me was when you put on the thicker glove to help more. With this the glove lets you feel what you need to change to make your serve better. This seems crazy to me! Then, as you go the glove slowly works less as your muslce memory grows. I just think the potential of this is incredible. If you are an athlete of any sort this could help. I also think that as an elementary teacher this is interesting. I don't see how I would use this in my room, but I do see where potential of this is. For example, when Pre-K teachers (or even older grades) show kids how to hold a pencil something like this would be amazing. In my room, we talk about how to hold your book and how to sit when partner reading. Something like this might help with that. I'm reaching a bit here, but I just think the potential with this type of technology is greater than just with sports. That's why this really stood out to me.


My favorite task we've done this year is the screencast. I can really see myself using this in my classroom. I think this will really make a difference because when we go to the computer lab I can project the screencast to begin while I walk around and help those that need it as they watch. This will take some testing out to make sure things go at a good speed. After a couple times in the computer lab I will know which students need help so I'll be able to help faster. Having the screencast will make it so students can watch as they also click and do what is happening. Then, I am free to move around. Normally, I am back and forth a hundred times between my computer to the students and it goes so slowly.

D/B12

Two things that I would add to my classroom teaching from chapter 30 are using more audio and better graphics. I really took from the book that extras are not needed unless they go with the learning. In my classroom, we talk about diagrams. We actually work with "what is a diagram? How is this different from a picture? How is this different than just words?" I really like that the book goes into detail about not having the extras. Thinking about this and being honest with myself I think I've added these details before thinking it would "catch their attention" but probably didn't. One of the lessons I do with the interactive whiteboard is when I have students sort words by patterns. I now think adding sound to this will help if they are the right sounds. I want to find a way to add the sounds of the letters in the pattern. This way as students read the words they can then push the sound button to see if they hear the same sound. If this is the case partway through the year students can work in a small group at the board without needing help. The audio would help them to focus and gain their longterm memory.

I also want to work on using better graphics. I really want to focus this year when setting up my classroom to make sure any visuals have a focused goal. I also want to make sure when using my interactive whiteboard I don't have extras that are not going to help with learning. I think really thinking through what I put on each "slide" of my whiteboard will help learning. I also like that they said using graphics that show motion are helpful. I think this can help even when teaching math. I really think this will help when teaching subtraction. In third grade students can subtract, but need help with this still. I've shown pictures to show things being taken away, but using arrows will help with this too.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Websites

Here is a link to my website. I created a site that would be an introduction to the class at the beginning of the year.

Screencast

I've created a screencast that I would use as part of a writing unit. After writing, revising, and editing my students will be ready to "publish" their writing by typing it on the computer. We have Microsoft Word at the school. This is an introduction on how their stories and essays should look. I have never done anything like this before. I tried to make this something usable in my classroom. The students have done very little typing before they come to me in the school setting. Some students have done a bit in Second Grade, but most have not done any type of formatting so I tried to do simple things. I know that I would have to go around and go back over concepts one on one with students, but I do think this would help them get started.




Wednesday, August 4, 2010

D/B11

When looking at the competencies of the instructor (2003) on page 275, I see my strengths as continuosly updating my profession, complying with legal and ethical and legal standards, and planning well. I am very good at working with my curriculum and finding ways to add to this so I'm teaching the students the best I can.
What I want to become better at is using media and technology to enhance learning and performance. I want to use the computer lab even more than I did before and more effectively. I really want to try doing a wiki with my class. I will have to really think about how I am going to do this. I also want to teach my students using technology more in small groups. I use my SMART Board for whole class work, but I want to push myself to use this for small groups too by placing my small group table near the SMART Board.
I also want to work on improving my organization. I am very structured, but not organized. For example, I do the same thing at the same time in my class (structure), but I have a messy desk and things in piles. I want to work on using technology to help me organize what I usually have piled up. I now know new ways to save websites (that will take away all my post-its).
I also want to improve my feedback skills. I try very hard to write comments on students tests and papers so that they know I'm really reading everything and thinking about their learning. This can be difficult though. I want to improve how I give feedback to little assignments in my classroom. For example, my students have math folders where they keep all math work. It takes me so long to grade these, which makes me not want to even collect them. I find myself just writing stars on papers and I want to find ways to look these over closely and save time.

D/B10

I noticed that in all three contexts (business, P-12, higher education), instructional design is used as a way to educate. In business, trainings are used and can be looked at as distance learning. In P-12 education distance learning is also used. Students can complete assignments online. In higher education you are forming the programs to be used for distance learning. I definitely think distance learning is going to continue to grow and this will be used more and more in business, P-12 education, and higher education. Another similarity I see is the ability to work together even though things are done on line. In chapter 22 there was a lot of talk about advising and consulting. This has to be done in order to be effective. In P-12 education I see people learning to use the technology together. This can be through the design side of things or through using the media. I definitely think that in P-12 education students will learn how to work together, as well as teachers who are creating the lessons. In business, there has to be an ability to work in groups also. People need to be able to work on the same project.

I think that K-12 education can learn from business by adding more trainings that are online. I think this would be very helpful. Right now I have two trainings a year online - bloodborne pathogens and hazard training. I think that more educational concepts could be used in online training. This would save time and probably money. One thing my district has started to do is start online surveys after every PD you fill out, I have liked this much more than filling out the survey by hand. It takes up less time and I can do this the next morning instead of after sitting through a 2 hour professional development after teaching all day. I'm much more likely to give feedback that way also. I wish the district would take this idea and use it in different ways.