Hope

I would like to continue to build on this site. It started out as one of my first class assignments and now that I have revisited it for another assignment, I know that I would like to continue to build on what I have started. My hope for this site is to use it to expand on my knowledge of technology and share in what others have learned along the way as well.

Week #14 Reflection

One thing in Chapter 31 that made me perk up and say “Wow”, was the instructional system called ELM-ART. It is a web-based adaptive interactive textbook. It takes the learners knowledge, preferences, and interests into account when setting up an instructional environment for the individual learner. Talk about differentiation at its best! I love how the program is designed to adapt its instruction to the individual and hopefully, make textbook reading more meaningful and interactive for the students. This is a textbook that I would not have to pull to pull tooth and nail to get my students to read and interact with! Imagine the lessons and activities that I could do if my students came prepared everyday with the necessary background knowledge.

To be honest, I really enjoyed all of the activities. I have learned more about some that I already knew about, like blogs and have discovered some that I never knew existed like Jing. If I had to choose my absolute favorite it would be, well that is just not fair to ask! I will probably use the applications like Google Docs and a blog site the most...although they are not the coolest applications we have played with this semester!

Week #13 Google docs and FotoFlexer Review

I reviewed Google docs and FotoFlexer for this assignment.

Google docs is a office suite that allows you to access it from any computer anywhere and save the document you create to be accessed anywhere there is a computer with Windows office products. There are so many things to love about Google docs. You can access it from any computer that is connected to the internet, you can allow any one you wish to have access to read and edit documents that you save. It is free, up to 1024 MB of storage, if you want more online storage you can buy it on a yearly subscription. I did find one downside to Google docs as I was trying it out. I own a Macbook and Google docs is not compatible, so far as I have discovered, with Pages, Apple’s word processing program. I saved a Pages document and tried to open it up on my PC at school with no luck. I was hoping and searching for a program that would automatically convert Pages to Word, but no such luck. Guess I will be saving my Pages documents in Word form, thank you Apple for the flexibility. That said, I would definitely use Google docs with my coworkers and share this program with my students as well. I think that it is a useful tool in both areas. With my coworkers, we can create our common assessments from home and revise and have conversations online with out the need to meet so much face to face to write them. We would be able to save them all on one site that we can access and have them available 24/7 without having to wait to have someone finish a part and email it out. Lesson plans could also be written and saved for viewing and editing. On an interdisciplinary level, my teammates could share their lesson plans on Google docs so that we can plan ahead and make those connections among all of our classes.

FotoFlexer is a fun website that allows you to upload photos and add some finishing touches to them. I could see this site being a place that people who scrapbook online would go to add some flair to their pictures. The really creative could use the site to create neat graphics for just about any occasion or any project. I could see a student creating a really cool comic strip using FotoFlexer. Admittedly, I would use this to clean up photos, much like I do on iPhoto already and that is about it. Although, those with a more vivid imagination and the time could really have fun with this site.

Week #11 Reflection

There is quite a bit of overlap between ID&T professionals and school teachers in terms of the competencies that each profession requires. In looking at table 27.3 on page 275 in Reiser and Dempsey, the competencies listed are for the most part integral to ID&T and teaching. All of us as educators need to constantly reflect on our strategies and objectives to design the best lessons we can for our “clients”, the students. I feel that sometimes educators get to comfortable with what and how they teach a certain subject that they feel that what worked for one year is good enough. Why fix what ain’t broken? That is a dangerous thought process to have. Every year is a new year. Every group of students is a new groups with different needs and personalities. What works for one group, may not work for the next. We need to constantly be cognizant of what we teach and how we teach it. Which leads me to reflect on my weaknesses as an educator. Looking at table 27.3 under the Instructor heading, I find myself drawn to certain competencies that I need to improve on. I really have found that in teaching 6th grade social studies for 7 years that I fell into the category that I mentioned above. I was complacent and bragged about how I could go into a classroom and not have a set plan and pull it off because I knew the material so well...guess who teaches a new grade level this year, with material that I am not as familiar with? This girl. One area of weakness, especially this year is my lack of preplanning. The 8th grade curriculum is unchartered territory for me and I need to make sure that I am on top of the content and pedagogy. Along with that I need to improve my organizational skills and make sure that I am best utilizing my time in and out of the classroom. I also need to improve on the clarification and feedback I give to my students. It kind of goes hand in hand with organization for me. I need to get the work that I need to grade to students in a more timely and efficient manner. I also need to make sure that I am going over the work with students to help correct mistakes and clarify answers. This is an extremely beneficial step in teaching and one that is hit or miss for me at times. One area that I am currently working on improving is that of assessing learning and performance. I have begun to use data from tests that are objective based. Each test that I give is set up to represent the goals we are required to teach by objective. From there students are asked to master the content with an A, or a B otherwise they must retake until it is mastered. I then take the students correct answers on a test and input that data into a data tracker. I use the data to remediate or enrich my instruction as needed. It is still a work in progress, but I see the results of my teaching and it allows me to reflect on what I need to do better every time!

Week #11: Google Sites

I choose to create a website that I can use with the students on my team the Panthers. The site can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/coachhartwickslockerroom/ I choose to create this particular website to maintain an open line of communication with my students and parents. They will be able to, when the site is completed, access a pacing calendar with due dates, holidays and test dates. I did a short blurb about myself for people to read so that they can get to know me a little better. I also added a link to a webquest about the American Revolution since we are studying that in class right now. There is still so much more that I can and will do with this site. I am excited to see where is goes...

I added to my website a goole calendar and on the home page a google translator. I teach ESL students and in order for some of them to get the full benefit of the website they will need it translated. It is also a great tool for parents to be able to translate the website so that they can keep abreast of what is happening in class.

Week #10 Reflection

Collaboration, process orientation and constant learning and professional development are a few common themes that I see running through these different contexts.

If there is one thing that I try and stress to my 8th graders it is the ability to work with other people, whether you like them or not. In order for systems to work in any context there needs to be collaboration among the people who make up that organization. Ideas for success are created and executed using many people, not just one. It amazes me that schools do not look more to businesses to see what type of student they should “produce”. I hate to play devils advocate but, that is just what public schools were designed to do, create good workers and good citizens. I see in the business sector that workers are more often than not in collaborative situations. Why is it then, that there is not a bigger push, yes there is a push, but a bigger push to model some of our teaching strategies after real life work situations? More collaboration needs to be built into lesson planning in the classroom on a daily basis.

In business, PK-12 and Higher education processes seem to be the focus for change rather than a more piecemeal approach to change. Looking at design systems like SUTE, they show a clear and concise way to plan for a system wide change in a business or a school district. These types of well designed systematic approaches allow for reflection and change when needed. I think that there are quite a few districts around the US that could take notes from districts like Decatur Township School District and Chugach School District. Even if a school system did not change this radically a school could. Taking it to an even smaller level, teachers could use these designs to plan effective lesson plans and units of study. I have put a lot of thought into how simple some of these designs are, they seem so common sense. Why is it then that I haven’t put a system like this into place for my lesson planning! I have seen and discarded so many lesson plan formats due to the length or that not all of the parts to the lesson plan pertain to my teaching style. I can design a simple and straight forward lesson plan format that allows me to make sure my lesson objectives are being met at a higher level of mastery.

The last theme that I noticed was the emphasis put on professional development. The continual improvement of the individuals within the businesses or schools no matter what level of learning. In order for these places to strive the people integral to its functioning successfully need to be constantly challenged and learning to make the business or school better. As teachers we are always looking to hone our craft. We need to constantly learn about our topics of study and strategies that we use in the classroom to engage our students and bring them to higher levels of learning. I feel that one way that schools could use what businesses and higher education do is to utilize online professional developments. Down here in the state of North Carolina, we do have online professional development through a website called LearnNC.org. If is run by our state department of education and does give credit to NC teachers that take online courses and pass them. The downside is that they cost money. The upside is that they are paced for the busy teacher and you can fit them into your schedule easily. I wish that my school and school district would take a hint and begin to offer PD online...

This concept map I created to help students review a few key concepts for an upcoming test on the American Revolution. I have guiding questions to go along with the review and will use this in class tomorrow, 11/10/2010, actually! To use this concept map, I would first ask students to tell me what they see on the map and what the main topic of the map is. I would then let them tell me what they know about each topic listed. I would then have them relate that back to how each item listed impacted the American Revolution, explain its significance. Finally, I would have them review all of the material in chronological order to give their trains of thought a systematic way to process the information.