Looking back at this class, I am excitied to take what I learned to put into practice. I liked to read about the 11 different strategies (some I liked and will use more than others) and got ideas from the book, but I found that resources that others would post/talk about during class great as well. I'd really appreciated how people just threw what they liked out there because it was helpful. This shows how teachers truly need each other for ideas because it's extremely difficult to "reinvent the wheel". Gathering resources and ideas from others in education really cuts down time and energy because those ideas/resources gathered will be top rated and work. Let's face it, there's a lot of bad things out there on the internet!
As I am continuing on into my second year of teaching, I look forward to teaching my unit that I revised from this class. I foolishly thought this year would be easier than last year, but it isn't. It is just as challenging but in a slightly different way....It's challenging because I am trying to better myself and my teaching and that type of growth is not easy! When starting my first year of teaching last year a thought that crossed my mind was, "What am I going to DO with my students?" As 525 wraps up, I am glad I was able to gather more web based resources and technological ideas, that thought is now forgotten:)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Last Strategies
After reading the assigned section, I once again came across more excellent resources that I would use in my classroom. In the identifying similarities and differences section, as I read the included examples I started to think it would be great to have a word sort- like website. My "wheel" was turning and then in the practice and homework section, I saw flashcardexchange.com. So naturally I had to explore this website. There is an option for a free account or you can pay a small lifetime fee. For free you can create flash cards, study them, and play memory. It's pretty neat but I am really looking for a place where students can sort words into different categories. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions.
In the past I've had students record their results to various typing tests taken during computer class in an excel spreadsheet. They are to focus on their words per minute and accuracy. After teaching graphing through excel, the students then need to create an excel chart graphing that information at the end of the year. They really like this activity because it allows them to take personal results and visually see them. Also it is a great way to squeeze in extra practice of graphing skills. One of my goals for this year includes having a class create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" using power point. I almost forgot that this was something that I wanted to do sometime through the school until I read about the BattleGraph power point game. I also checked this resources out and it is something that I can use for my 7th and 8th grade math class.
Finally, I would say my least favorite of the instructional strategies this class focused on was generating and testing hypothesis. Maybe this is because I'm a little spent already or because my classes I teach force me to really think outside the box to do this. I always thought this strategy is geared toward science activities, but do see how it can be incorporated into other subjects. I liked the $10,000 inheritance activity and could easily adapt that for my social studies classes.
In the past I've had students record their results to various typing tests taken during computer class in an excel spreadsheet. They are to focus on their words per minute and accuracy. After teaching graphing through excel, the students then need to create an excel chart graphing that information at the end of the year. They really like this activity because it allows them to take personal results and visually see them. Also it is a great way to squeeze in extra practice of graphing skills. One of my goals for this year includes having a class create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" using power point. I almost forgot that this was something that I wanted to do sometime through the school until I read about the BattleGraph power point game. I also checked this resources out and it is something that I can use for my 7th and 8th grade math class.
Finally, I would say my least favorite of the instructional strategies this class focused on was generating and testing hypothesis. Maybe this is because I'm a little spent already or because my classes I teach force me to really think outside the box to do this. I always thought this strategy is geared toward science activities, but do see how it can be incorporated into other subjects. I liked the $10,000 inheritance activity and could easily adapt that for my social studies classes.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Cooperative Learning/Reinforcing Effort
I was unable to locate the place to view institutions vs. collaboration and How Cognitive Surplus Will Change the World. I looked in the module 4 articles and resources but only two things were in there. So I checked out a TED talk called Changing Education Paradigms. I thought it was interesting because it discussed the fundamentals that public education was designed for a different age and today's students are completely bored with these fundamentals. Thus the reason why the increase on diagnosis of ADHD.
When thinking about cooperative learning, I recently received a letter from a school in Florida participating in this event called "The Great Mail Race", asking my school to participate. I see the purpose in this because I still like to get things via snail mail, but using ePals could be a great alternative. I have also used web quests before and the kids seem to like them. I use ones found on the Internet and want to check out the one in the book about China. I still haven't created my own web quest, but would like to. All I need is more time...anyone else think the day has to be about 30 hours to get done what you liked to get done ? The book also mentioned some websites for simulation games that I will like to check. The Girls Inc looked interesting considering I work at an all girls school. Finally, I liked the rubric included in the book for reinforcing effort. I think this is something that I could easily adapt to fit my needs and use.
When thinking about cooperative learning, I recently received a letter from a school in Florida participating in this event called "The Great Mail Race", asking my school to participate. I see the purpose in this because I still like to get things via snail mail, but using ePals could be a great alternative. I have also used web quests before and the kids seem to like them. I use ones found on the Internet and want to check out the one in the book about China. I still haven't created my own web quest, but would like to. All I need is more time...anyone else think the day has to be about 30 hours to get done what you liked to get done ? The book also mentioned some websites for simulation games that I will like to check. The Girls Inc looked interesting considering I work at an all girls school. Finally, I liked the rubric included in the book for reinforcing effort. I think this is something that I could easily adapt to fit my needs and use.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Pretty Cool
After reviewing some of the online tools/resources, I definitely like some over others. I was also confused because I thought Webspiration was free but when I checked it out, I found that it wasn't. Did any one find this as well? Did I research the wrong thing? If this resource isn't free my question is this, if it is like Kidspiration or Inspiration why would a school pay for that as well? I was a little disappointed. I also explored/watched the tutorial on MindMeister and saw you could do some really cool things...once again not free! More disappointment and on to the next. Bubbl.us is neat, extremely easy to use, and best of all...free. The only thing I didn't like is that the first bubble (usually where you put the topic) stayed on top and the sister/baby bubbles would be below it. I like brainstorm mapping around (below/above) my topic bubble but this is just a personal preference. Determined to find a resource that would allow me to do my peferenced type of mapping, I moved onto exploratree. This was my favorite because it allowed me to do what I wanted to do and was free. It was a bit more difficult (not much) to use and I found the tutorial not to be very helpful. I liked how pre-made maps were included along with the option to create your own and to post pictures. I definitely played more with this one and would like to show my students this. I did also briefly explore the education oasis site (liked the resources, easy to use) and the CMAP (this was my least favorite, hard to navigate, probably won't use).
I would like to comment on the resources I learned to use for each strategy. For cues, questions, and advance organizers, I think I could use Stellarium. I haven't had much time to play around but would like to incorporate this into the classroom. I wish it had viewable tutorials for I learn better watching as opposed to reading. For nonlingustic representation, I think plotting the data from the U.S. Geological Survey is a great mini lesson to incorporate excel into my social studies classes. I actually graphed it and it turned out...pretty cool. Also on my to do list is animation. For summarizing and notetaking, I saw some great ideas but my school just upgraded to Office 2010, so I think the steps included in the book are slightly different. (This would be a problem for the excel activity mentioned above.) I myself am just learning 2010 and then I have to teach these changes in my 8th grade computer class before I can focus on anything else. Finally, I would like to throw out there, the idea about middle school students blogging...has anyone actually done this? My school (and I know other schools) shine away from giving students school emails and unfortunately you need that to create a blog. I know that most kids have their own emails but I still think that most schools are slightly leary. I also know that some Web 2.0 applications (prezi, animoto, and voicethread) do allow a teacher to create an "umbrella" email account through google. That way kids can create their own account using prezi, animoto, and voicethread by using a combination of your login with a + sign and their login. I use their name but it could be anything. So for example my umbrella email is spreiss1211@gamil.com, students would then create a prezi account by doing spreiss1211+john@gmail.com. Prezi allows students to enter and create but any corresponding emails or comments go to me. I do know this doesn't work with everything...GoogleDocs and Blogger don't allow this, but the three I mentioned above do. One last thought...PBWiki, where did you go :(
I would like to comment on the resources I learned to use for each strategy. For cues, questions, and advance organizers, I think I could use Stellarium. I haven't had much time to play around but would like to incorporate this into the classroom. I wish it had viewable tutorials for I learn better watching as opposed to reading. For nonlingustic representation, I think plotting the data from the U.S. Geological Survey is a great mini lesson to incorporate excel into my social studies classes. I actually graphed it and it turned out...pretty cool. Also on my to do list is animation. For summarizing and notetaking, I saw some great ideas but my school just upgraded to Office 2010, so I think the steps included in the book are slightly different. (This would be a problem for the excel activity mentioned above.) I myself am just learning 2010 and then I have to teach these changes in my 8th grade computer class before I can focus on anything else. Finally, I would like to throw out there, the idea about middle school students blogging...has anyone actually done this? My school (and I know other schools) shine away from giving students school emails and unfortunately you need that to create a blog. I know that most kids have their own emails but I still think that most schools are slightly leary. I also know that some Web 2.0 applications (prezi, animoto, and voicethread) do allow a teacher to create an "umbrella" email account through google. That way kids can create their own account using prezi, animoto, and voicethread by using a combination of your login with a + sign and their login. I use their name but it could be anything. So for example my umbrella email is spreiss1211@gamil.com, students would then create a prezi account by doing spreiss1211+john@gmail.com. Prezi allows students to enter and create but any corresponding emails or comments go to me. I do know this doesn't work with everything...GoogleDocs and Blogger don't allow this, but the three I mentioned above do. One last thought...PBWiki, where did you go :(
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Crazy Time of Year
I don't know what is crazier, the beginning of a school year or the end. I do know that the craziest time of day is dismissal. This last Thursday, a few minutes after dismissal, a man snuck into our school and was in the middle of stealing from my purse. I walked in my classroom just as he started. I think I scared him as much as he scared me. I screamed and we wrestled a bit before he pushed me to the ground as he ran off. He didn't get anything besides some change, but as a school we are working on our dismissal procedures. I guess this is a sign of how hard things are for others.
After reading the article, Feedback that Fits, I started to re-evaluate some things I do when providing feedback. I found that I fix the mechanics myself and just gave general/personal comments. I am going to make improving on this a goal for myself. Three things I took from this article is when a sentence doesn't make sense, a great comment is to ask the student rewrite the sentence so it goes better with the one before. The second thing that I took from this article is to point out successes...sometimes I find I focus on only the negative things a student does when writing. I really want my students to see that they can make progress. Finally, I liked how the article gave examples of appropriate comments. I recently have acquired two teacher resources, one with example comments on students' writing, another with example comments for report cards. I think this will help me start to attain my goal :)
When I explored a few of the student response technology tools, I found that I like them because they seem easy to use. I have heard of some but must admit that I haven't used them yet. Being a newer teacher, I find it is hard to reinvent the wheel and to always create new things while learning the curriculum. I think that is why I haven't used these sights.
I would like to comment briefly on resources I learned to use for each strategy. For setting objectives, I think I would use some of the data collecting tools such as survey monkey. My principal has sent out these surveys to the staff in the past and thought it was very easy to use. I haven't looked to much in depth with these tools, but I wonder if I could have students create brief surveys to collect some data and then graph it on excel. Do these data collection tools require email addresses or do they provide a link where students could access the survey? For providing feedback, I think I would use some of the word processing applications. Maybe I'm a little behind and until recently I never knew that changes could be tracked and comments could inserted in a word document. I would like to do this but my school got office 2010...I wonder if the steps are the same as mentioned in the book. I think this would be great for students to learn for peer editing where they would be applying not only proofreading skills, but computer skills as well. For providing recognition, I liked how resources were included for printable certificates. I also like the idea of putting students work on school websites, but I wonder if last names/pictures should be included? I know the parents permission is needed but one can never be too careful when placing thing on the web.
After reading the article, Feedback that Fits, I started to re-evaluate some things I do when providing feedback. I found that I fix the mechanics myself and just gave general/personal comments. I am going to make improving on this a goal for myself. Three things I took from this article is when a sentence doesn't make sense, a great comment is to ask the student rewrite the sentence so it goes better with the one before. The second thing that I took from this article is to point out successes...sometimes I find I focus on only the negative things a student does when writing. I really want my students to see that they can make progress. Finally, I liked how the article gave examples of appropriate comments. I recently have acquired two teacher resources, one with example comments on students' writing, another with example comments for report cards. I think this will help me start to attain my goal :)
When I explored a few of the student response technology tools, I found that I like them because they seem easy to use. I have heard of some but must admit that I haven't used them yet. Being a newer teacher, I find it is hard to reinvent the wheel and to always create new things while learning the curriculum. I think that is why I haven't used these sights.
I would like to comment briefly on resources I learned to use for each strategy. For setting objectives, I think I would use some of the data collecting tools such as survey monkey. My principal has sent out these surveys to the staff in the past and thought it was very easy to use. I haven't looked to much in depth with these tools, but I wonder if I could have students create brief surveys to collect some data and then graph it on excel. Do these data collection tools require email addresses or do they provide a link where students could access the survey? For providing feedback, I think I would use some of the word processing applications. Maybe I'm a little behind and until recently I never knew that changes could be tracked and comments could inserted in a word document. I would like to do this but my school got office 2010...I wonder if the steps are the same as mentioned in the book. I think this would be great for students to learn for peer editing where they would be applying not only proofreading skills, but computer skills as well. For providing recognition, I liked how resources were included for printable certificates. I also like the idea of putting students work on school websites, but I wonder if last names/pictures should be included? I know the parents permission is needed but one can never be too careful when placing thing on the web.
Monday, August 15, 2011
First Session For 525
After reading this session's articles, I decided to focus on a few things. This is my second year teaching and three principles really stood out to me. First was prioritizing knowledge and skills to focus on. I loved this quote, "Coverage is the enemy" because as a first year teacher last year, I had to make curriculum skeletons at the beginning of the year. As the year wrapped up, I realized I didn't get to nearly as much as I wanted to...it was almost comical. Therefore, as this new year approaches I am hoping I will be able to complete the task more appropriately. This leads me to the second principle, reflection and feedback. I think teachers have it engraved in their minds about reflection, what worked/what didn't. I also think teachers not only reflect immediately; they reflect weekly, monthly, yearly. As a teacher teaches a subject a few years in a roll it becomes a bit easier to adapt things, as opposed to learning the curriculum. As I look forward to my second year, I am hoping that I will be able to improve on things that worked last year. The third principle, recognizing and overcoming blind spots, was interesting because I thought to myself when I read that title, "What's a blind spot?" After reading that section, I felt that was a clever term and that will stick with me. I also knew that sometimes I did skip steps and will work on putting myself in their shoes.
The second article, the meta-analysis, was dry. I am glad I took statistics last spring because I was able to understand the technical terms. If it wasn't for that statistical background, I think I would have struggled a bit more with it. The one thing that I have to say about the article is that I can't believe that most of the research studies that were published in journals did not discuss software being used. I agree with the authors when they mentioned that was important information that was missing.
The second article, the meta-analysis, was dry. I am glad I took statistics last spring because I was able to understand the technical terms. If it wasn't for that statistical background, I think I would have struggled a bit more with it. The one thing that I have to say about the article is that I can't believe that most of the research studies that were published in journals did not discuss software being used. I agree with the authors when they mentioned that was important information that was missing.
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