New Tech Standards & Requirements

     Technology isn't going anywhere, in fact it is rapidly becoming more and more integrated in everyday life.  People utilize and rely on technology for communication (news, skyping, iming, e-mails, social networking site), work (projects, data collection and anlysis), entertainment (videos, movies, tv shows, games, social networking sites), organization (calendars, photo albums), learning (research, discovery, simulations).  Technology is a tool that successful people know and use.  It is therefore pertinent that as teachers, we give our students access to and experience with technology.  
     Teaching technology is so important, standards have been created to assure all students are receiving and technology-rich education.  I have selected 3 standards that are most significant to me, and I have discussed their importance and possible classroom implementation below:

Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking and problem solving skills to develop innovative products and processes using (digital) technology. 
     Creativity and Innovation is the highest level of Blooms Taxonomy.  If students can successfully generate new ideas and create a digital product, they have reached the highest level of thinking.  To meet this standards, students may create brochure (about a health problem, current event or country) using Google docs/adobe illustrator/adobe photoshop.  

Digital Citizenship Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to digital technology and practice legal, ethical, and responsible behavior.

     Digital Citizenship has to do with the human rights and responsibilities surrounding technology.  Just like classroom expectations are established, technology expectations must be established.  With teacher guidance, students could create a technology constitution.  Students will understand that if they violate the technology constitution there will be consequences (which the class should have discussed and established). 
     Digital Citizenship encompasses so many different things (cyber bullying, copy righting, etc.) it will be important to consistently monitor and review expectations.
     Teachers could share the following website about Cyber Bullying with students: http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html

Research and Information Fluency Students select and apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, validate, and use information. Students:

     Technology is a learning tool.  Students need to know how to use it to find information.  There is SO much information out there, and a lot of it is misleading/fictional/unreliable.  Students need to be able to filter through all the information to find good sources of information.
     Students may show their ability to use technology as a research tool by writing a persuasive paper.  Students would need to include support for their arguments and find opposing arguments.  All research sources should be properly cited.

Overcoming Challenges
     There are many excuses teachers give for not incorporating technology in their classrooms, but none of them are legitimate.  Here are a few excuses with my solutions:
"I only have one computer in my classroom and the labs are always full"
     You can do SO much with just one computer.  Share YOUR computer with students: Have students take turns entering data into a spreadsheet.  Have students take turns picking pictures to put into a slidshow.  Have groups take turns entering information into a google doc.

"My students don't have access to technology at home"
     Don't make homework involving technology a requirement.  Make technology projects in class projects.  Provide students with resources and suggestions:  use school computers, go to the public library.
"Technology is always advancing.  How can I possibly keep up?"
     Make technology an everyday part of your life.  Use technology inside and outside of class, and you will progress with it.  Read news articles about technology.  Subscribe to a technology magazine. Talk to your students about technology they use in their everyday lives.  Don't be afraid to try something new. 
     To find out more about overcoming challenges, check out Barry Jahn's document: tinyurl.com/stockanswer

Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

I have had previous experience working with spreadsheets.  One of the sociology courses I took as an undergrad taught us how to use Excel and a program called SPSS.  Also, I worked as a state test coordinator, and often used spreadsheets to sort through student data to create reports for teachers and administrators.  I am therefore very comfortable working with spreadsheets. 

This was my first time using Google Spreadsheets, and I was very impressed on how user friendly it is! Neither program I used in the past (Excell and SPSS) was as user friendly as Google Spreadsheets, which is a FREE program.  Creating charts was one of the most complex parts of using excel and SPSS because there were not previews to help you visualize how all the information you were entering would change your chart.  Google Spreadsheets has a preview that changes as you input/change information.  


I was also pleased with how easy it was to share, link and embed my spreadsheet.  If I made changes to my data and chart, my links and embed changed.  How convenient!

The information I calculated using Google Spreadsheets helped me find which students were below the overall class average, and I put that data into a chart, which provided me with a visual of those students' growth. 

Click the following link to view my final data sheet: http://tinyurl.com/3sgjt7h

Or simply view it below:

My data showed that 12 out of 26 students were not meeting the overall average. On average, students' scores increased each test. 5 of the 12 students were above the overall average by test nine, and half of the 12 students were meeting the overall average by test 10.

My charts indicate that Walter and Queen had the lowest scores. Queen was the only student whose test 10 score decreased. Katherine's score showed the greatest growth during test 7. Dan's score steadily grew, and by test 10 he had the highest score of the 12 students.

If these were my students:

• I would be very concerned with the 6 students who were still not meeting the overall average by test 10.
• I would be most concerned with Walter and Queen's scores since their scores show inconsistent growth that is drastically below the class average. Are they doing homework? Where are they getting stuck? Walter and Queen may require academic intervention.  
• I would need to speak to Katherine to try to find out what her scores varied so much from test to test. What worked for her test 7, did she study more? How come her score went down again? Is there something going on in her life that is affecting her scores?  
• I would be least concerned with Dan, Anais and Thurgood, because they showed steady, consistent growth. This indicates that they are learning, just at a slower rate than most of the class. Charlie also shows steady, consistent growth which may indicate that he also is learning at a slower rate. However, he was not where he needed to be by test 10. This would suggest that he needs extra academic support. Are his learning needs being met? (Is he a kinesthetic learner that needs more hands-on activities?

Multimedia Project: Screenr

Screenr is a Web 2.0 tool that creates a screencast, which is a digital recording of your computer screen.  Screenr records audio while taking a live video of your computer screen.  It is free, user-friendly, you don't have to install or download anything, and it's easy to sign up and share.  
Screenr could be used in classrooms in a variety of ways.  Students could create project presentations using Screenr.  As the teacher, I could create screencasts that instruct my students how to do a particular project or use a particular program on the computer.  These screencasts could be stored on a class website so students could watch them as many times as needed.  This would also be beneficial for me if I was going to be absent.  I could leave a digital lesson plan for the substitute with a link to a screencast that demos what students should be working on.  I could also create a screencast at home, and save it in my dropbox as an .mp4 file.  It would be waiting for me, or the substitute at school.  
Check out the Screencast I made using Screenr:

Neat, huh? Click here to visit the Screenr website and record your own screencast.

My Favorite Web 2.0 Tools: Dropbox

Web 2.0 is about turning the internet into a user-friendly, practical, applicable even necessary tool. It involves applications (tools) that make life easier and simpler. One of these applications is Dropbox.

I downloaded and installed Dropbox onto my computer. I love it! I can access my files from anywhere! I used to e-mail myself documents so that I could access them at school computers when I didn't have my laptop on me. Google Docs allows me to do this more easily, but Dropbox is even easier and more convenient than Google Docs. When I save any file I just need to save it to my dropbox and I can access it anywhere. I can even share my dropbox files and folders with family and friends. 

 

This application will make teaching easier. I will be more prepared because I will be able to access my files from any computer (my classroom, the school library, my laptop). I could put student projects in my folder and e-mail parents the link to the files in my dropbox so they can see what their students are learning. I can easily share files with my coworkers too!

Here's some links about Dropbox if you want to learn more (I know you do):

http://www.dropbox.com/features

http://www.thenerdyteacher.com/2010/03/dropbox-must-for-all-teachers.html

OTEN Conference: Yodio

The following Yodio is my reflection on the OTEN Conference I attended at Willamette University.
The conference got me really excited about integrating technology into my current and future classrooms.  Since the conference I have been brainstorming creative ways to use technology in my lessons.

Google Docs Group Project

The purpose of this project is to learn about and reflect upon Google tools that make life easier, and increase productivity.  My group examined Google Reader.


Click the following link to view our Google Doc about Google Reader:


https://docs.google.com/a/willamette.edu/document/d/1z2w0IQ7AcM_i-GQlnhH0sG_-ebLLCfRgdOCf187CdvA/edit?hl=en_US

Blogging in the Classroom

-Blogs could replace journals: 
Students could write reflections and then get feedback from their teacher and maybe even their peers!
Students could write responses to "mentor texts" in language arts class.


-Projects: 
Students could pretend they are a person from a specific time period and respond to prompts.
Students could write a blog from the perspective of a character in the class novel.


-For the sake of learning about technology:
Students could blog about anything just for the experience of blogging.
Learn appropriate, responsible, positive ways to use technology