Power Point is Evil

I thought that the author, Edward Tufte, had some good arguments about Power Point, and I agree with many of them. However, I don't think that the problem is Power Point, itself, but rather how we use it. I agree that all the silent reading material, in combination with the speaker, is an overload of information in a short period of time. I have often felt in class (NOT in 554) that the teacher gave too much information on the slide and while talking at the same time. I am not a good multitasker. This kind of presentation of information makes me want to zone out, and I find myself not paying attention to the important information that they are trying to give to me. I think that if Power Point was used to just highlight the important stuff, in a few sentances or words with supportive pictures, then people like me wouldn't have to ask the teacher to go back to the last slide.

Educational Technology Blog

I revisited the iLearn Technology blog, which is a great blog for teachers to use to help them integrate technology. The first post I read about described Bemused which is a website for the Birmingham museum and art gallery. On the website, students can do activities, quizzes about the museum, watch videos about the museum, and create their own art and post it in an online gallery. Whats great about this website, is that it gives more information in a "kid" friendly manner to students who are planning on going to the museum. I go to museums every summer for the arts camp that I teach at, and most of the exhibits are not engaging for students (unless its the Natural History Museum). In the past we have done scavenger hunts and other engaging activities that get the kids involved in the museum, instead of just walking around and not really looking at the art. I think that a website like Bemused, can get kids excited about going to see the museum, and it can extend what they have learned from the museum. It's a great resource for teachers.

Five Reasons to Allows Students to Use Cell Phones in Class

I thought that this post brought up a lot of valid points as to why students should be allowed to use their cell phones in class. I think that one of the most important points is that when we consider the real world, or preparing our students for future jobs, there isn't a job where the use of a cell phone can't be handy. I know for myself I have used my phone many times to look up information to answer questions, or define vocabulary on the spot, or find an address/phone number for a field trip. I also liked the point about collaboration. Smart phones allow for collaboration to happen at students fingertips. If they are fluent in one form of communication, such as texting, or video chatting, why shouldn't students use these skills to increase collaboration in school projects. Cell phones are also "free technology" supplied by the students. Students can take notes, read and receive e-mail and documents, and watch videos for a flipped classroom on their cell phones. I also think it is important to "go with the flow" of technology use among our students rather than trying to fight it. As teachers, we can get more students involved academically by engaging them through avenues that they are comfortable with, and for many students, this is through their phones.

http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2012/07/5-reasons-to-allow-students-to-use-cell.html

Digital Storytelling

For my digital storytelling project, I used Photo Story3. It was confusing at first, especially because I was unsure of how to eliminate the black backgrounds behind each picture and how to type over the pictures. I also had difficulty with recording, and Steve had to help me do it. It took some playing around with the program, specifically with picture effects and colors for text to make it look the way I wanted it to. I am really happy with the end result and I enjoyed putting the project together. I will definitely use this program again in the future for lessons and personal use. I think that I would be awesome to create an "All About Me" Photo Story to show my students on the first day of school. It could also be good for reviewing expectations and rules of the classroom.

My digital storytelling project is titled, "NASA: A Brief History and Resulting Benefits". I chose this topic because I plan on using it for my integrated unit plan. I plan on having students watch the video as an introduction to the unit and then they will complete two research projects. The first project will be on one of the space missions, and the other one will be on technology or an invention that has come from the research done by NASA. They will be specifically reading a publication by NASA called "Spinoff" to complete the second project.

Digital Storytelling Project

Digital Storytelling Project

Podcast

Flipped classroom response

Can you see a place for Flipped instruction in your classroom?

I definitely do see a place for flipped instruction in my classroom. However, I think its effectiveness depends on many things. I think that it depends on the type of learner. Some students are better at reading and taking notes than watching a video and typing, for example. I think the flipped classroom can allow for students and teachers to both have more time to do one-on-one work. Teachers can refine and create better and more lessons and students can spend more time in class working on problems and activities to ensure their understanding of the concepts. I think at first that it may take a teacher some time to get used to flipped classroom approach, but once they have put in the time and developed the lessons/videos, they will actually have more time in the long run.

How important is it to use visuals to support your instruction? Use a blog and/or online article to support your opinion (provide link).

It is important to use visuals to support your instruction because they engage students and allow them to access information in another way. It also allows them to create their own work in a meaningful and personal way, for example in digital story telling. Images, such as those used in digital storytelling, bring in the viewer and give the creator an opportunity to personalize their story on a deeper level. As explained in digital storytelling part two, there are many tools that can be used to create a digital story, and visuals such as videos and images are very important in creating an engaging and meaningful experience. Many visuals invoke emotions and feelings that words and sounds cannot and therefore can be vital in delivering the complete message of one’s story or lesson. What’s great about digital storytelling is that there are many tools and an infinite amount of videos and images for both students and teachers to use in engaging their audience.

 http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/04/25/digital-storytelling-part-ii/

Response to The Power of Digital Media

I thought this article had a lot of interesting and valid points on how digital media has changed how we view and use media today. I liked that the article listed four aspects of digital media's flexibility that are beneficial for classroom application. The article discussed versatility, transformable, ability to be marked and ability to be networked. I related to the versatility aspect of digital media the most because of what type of learner I am. Versatility is definitely important for differentiation. The content can be displayed in many different formats, which allows the teacher and student to access it in any form or combinations of forms. I personally am more engaged when I see and hear or can hear and read because I am a visual learner, and the listening part by itself is difficult for me to pay attention to.

Provide a short summary of the EdReach podcast you listen to. Are podcasts something you would consider for professional learning in the future?

I listened to the podcast Mobile Reach #35- School Is Out, But The Learning Does Not End. In this podcast, three teachers talk about their picks of best educational apps for students to use over summer vacation. The first speaker talks about an app called “Kids Journal”, where students can keep a daily log and write about where they are going and what they are doing during the summer and upload videos and pictures as well. When you are done with summer vacation, you can print out the journal as well. This app is for K-3^rd grade, which I thought was cool of them to mention. The next teacher talked about the new app for Symbaloo, which is a personal learning environment for teachers to visually organize and share the best websites with their students. The teacher talks about web mixes, and how the visual nature of the program really helps students find what they are looking for. The third teacher talks about Google maps and creating custom maps. He explained that while taking a road trip and visiting various places, you can save the places you are going in Google maps and pull them up when you are going from one place to another.

I think podcasts are something that I would consider for professional learning in the future because it’s another way to get information and save time. So instead of sitting in front of the computer for hours, drying up my eyeballs doing research, I can listen to several podcasts and get current and relative information. It’s great for me personally because I am not very good at multitasking, but I can listen to a podcast while folding my laundry or working on an arts project example for my class. For me it’s about getting the newest information in the easiest way possible, because teachers don’t have a lot of time to research and read loads of articles.

Can podcasts enhance/support your classroom instruction? What are the benefits and barriers?

Podcasts can definitely enhance and support your classroom instruction, especially if the teacher is assigning podcasts for homework. Podcasts can be used for flip teaching, where students get the instruction at home and then do the assignments in class with the teacher. They can cut back on classroom instruction time, but a barrier is that students cannot ask their teacher questions while watching the podcast and may forget to do so the next day. Podcasts also offer a lot of creative opportunities for students and teachers. Enhanced Podcasting  described Social Studies projects where students develop radio broadcasts and cover many different topics of a time period and have pictures and graphs supporting their topic. One barrier is that using podcast rather than having students practice public speaking may create several disadvantages for students. Public speaking, for example at a poetry slam, builds character, confidence, and a sense of community support that may not be as powerful when done with a podcast.

TEDxPhilly – Chris Lehmann- Education is broken

This was an amazing video. I felt very moved by the concepts Chris Lehmann shared. He is correct in that this is how we should be teaching our students. We should encourage them to do things they are good at and teach for passion, joy and interest rather than testing them to death to make sure that they “don’t suck so much at the things they are bad at”. Chris Lehmann posed many questions that I found very interesting, particularly, why are you in a class if you don’t need it? I ask myself this question regularly about the content being taught in my elementary school. When students ask this question, I don’t have an answer for them. I liked what Lehmann said about how school should be teaching us how to learn, how to think critically, and how to live. I also really liked that he talked about Bill Gates and how he’s not qualified to tell teachers what or how they should be teaching. I agree that teaching students skills that they will need in the 21^st century job market is important, but this should not be our aim. Lehmann gave so many inspiring examples of how students at his school are engaging in activities that are a reflection of themselves as individuals that have something to offer and teach us about. Giving students the freedom to figure things out on their own, motivates them and gets them invested in what they are learning about. I really enjoyed what Lehmann had to say, but how do we do it now that we have identified the problem? What about NCLB? What about standardized testing? How do we eliminate this from the priority list of our school systems?  

Response to The Nuts &Bolts of 21^st Century Teaching

I really liked how the teacher, Shelley Wright, put the project into the students’ hands and let them struggle. What a painful thing to do! This is how students become real problem solvers. Rather than controlling the learning and telling students what to do, she let them take control and CHOOSE what they wanted to do. In a lot of projects like this teachers want to stay on schedule and make sure that the research topics are spread out. In this class, only three students wanted to research Nazis and instead of telling other students that they have to research a topic they did not choose themselves, she just let it be what it was. This is great because it makes the information meaningful to the student. I mean, why do we make students research topics they don’t choose in the first place? Doesn’t that take away their motivation and curiosity?

In this situation, Shelley Wright has given all the decisions over to the students. They had to work collaboratively, they had to problem solve, they had to communicate, and like in the real world, they had to struggle together to have a breakthrough. I loved what Shelley said about facilitating their learning and now knowing how much to let them fail. She said something so important, “If I do it for them, they won’t develop this skill.” I really enjoyed reading this post and I got a lot out of it. I think it’s more important to let our students struggle and work through problems as they would in the work world. No one tells you how to solve the problems in other areas of life except for in school. We need to be setting up our students for success by letting them practice and gain problem solving skills in school.

Response to blog

I read the iLearn Technology blog. I chose this blog at first because of the title and it sounded like a good place for a first time blogger to go. I’ve never looked at a blog before and the layout threw me off a little bit at first and then I realized I can collapse the comment section, which made it much easier to navigate. I loved that the second post I saw on there was about Pintrest. I was excited to read about and see pictures of all the great projects that can be done with students. I’m really into creative, fun and engaging activities and blogs like this one make it easy for teachers to find activities and lessons. There is so much information available and you can even search the blog to find exactly what you’re looking for.
  
  This blog is about integrating technology into the classroom and my ideas about what that meant before I read this blog are completely different now. When I thought about what it meant to integrate technology into the classroom, I primarily thought about hardware like iPads or netbooks. I’m really blown away by this concept of flip teaching, where the student watches an instructional video at home and then comes into school and practices in the classroom which cuts out a lot of time. It is such an awesome idea because more students will do their homework, and less time will be spent in class prepping everyone one what is supposed to be done.

I love how easy this blog is to read. In every post there are pictures and links that you can click on and it will take you to the website you are reading about. It really is amazing how the information is organized and displayed here. It is also very easy to read because each post has sections that explain what it is, how to integrate it into the classroom, and tips on how to use it in your classroom. I will definitely be revisiting this blog and using the awesome resources it describes.

 

Response to Giving Reluctant Students a Voice

                 I thought that Giving Reluctant Students a Voice shows how students can contribute when given more time and freedom in responding. When students have to respond right off the bat, quickly in class, they are afraid of giving the wrong answer or how they may sound in front of their peers. It’s difficult to think of a response without having the time to write down your thoughts, I admit to doing this sometimes in class but then I lose track of the class discussion. There are so many advantages to class blogs or online forums where students can have the time to organize their thoughts, edit their responses, and at the same time not lose track of the discussion. There is also a level of separation that may make students feel most comfortable because they are typing and not saying what they think in front of the whole class. I think that on-line responses should be an options for all students.

Standard of focus for the semester

This semester I am going to focus on Earth Sciences for fourth grade. The SOL standard is as follows:

ES.4    The student will investigate and understand the characteristics of the Earth and the solar system. Key concepts include

a)      position of the Earth in the solar system;

b)      sun-Earth-moon relationships (seasons, tides, and eclipses);

c)      characteristics of the sun, planets and their moons, comets, meteors, and asteroids; and

d)      the history and contributions of the space program.

              There are many activities for different learning styles on this standard that are accessible through the internet. NASA’s web site has a plethora of interactive activities and games that can be used individually or in groups. For students who learn more through hands on activities, there are lessons and activities on NASA’s website, along with websites like Pintrest, which give you step-by-step instructions on how to do an activity. If I wanted to, for example, teach my students about the size and makeup of the planets relative to the sun, I could use these online resources to teach them in a variety of ways.

             For students who are hands on learners, I could have them make each planet with different amounts of clay. For students who are visual and auditory learners, I could have them watch a video on YouTube about the size of the planets and the sun. For students who are artistic and visual learners, I could have them search the web for a scale of the planets in our solar system and have them draw them on paper. Another great web resource for students exploring the size of our planets is the website The Scale of the Universe 2 (http://htwins.net/scale2/?bordercolor=white). There is an activity for every type of learner, we just have to find it, and the internet is a wonderful tool for finding these resources.

Response to Digital Media* New Learners of the 21^st Century

The Quest to Learn school is fascinating and creates an exciting learning environment for students. The idea that learning can be fun because it is happening through games is fantastic. I really liked what was said about tinkering and the power and importance of play. The majority of learning that happens today is through memorization and regurgitation, and all for an assessment. The skill of memorizing and retaining facts is becoming less important as the skill of navigation and finding facts becomes more realistically applicable to what’s happening in the world today. Technology and communication is evolving and we need to evolve with it. Problem solving skills and innovation are acquired by students in schools like Quest to Learn and it’s inspiring that a student can take control of and have passion for what they are doing in the classroom. Creating games and using multi-media tools creates critical thinking skills and engaged learning through hands on activities.

 I liked what James Gee said about how games are all just sets of problems, and how you have to learn certain information in order to  beat the game or move up to the next level. This is an incredibly easy way to have kids become fully engaged in what they are learning. One of the students from the school said that she liked beating the games, and in order to win you have to study. Students are building games themselves, so they are thinking critically, trying to solve multiple problems at once, and having fun while doing it. Students are motivated because they want to win and they want to become better. There is also a lot of collaborative work, where students create stories and work together to create animated videos that tell stories. It takes the basics of reading, writing, and math to a new level of thinking and problem solving. It’s very, very cool.