Cedu521: Week Six

I found the conclusion of this course to be quite interesting with the presentation of the Unit Plans created by each student in our course. It was valuable to see the different types of unit plans and the way that each worked to integrate technology into their classroom or library media center. Personally, I plan to use my created unit plan next year with my 9th grade U.S. history students and am excited to see if project-based learning is successful within my classroom.

Overall, this course really got me thinking about the planning that I do within my classroom and the importance of integrating more technology within my classroom itself and how every student and school is not the same. As a result, knowing your limits and being willing to try to add more technology, even if it is time consuming and/or difficult, will lead to the growth of skills and overall success in the classroom.

Cedu521: Week Five

This week was interesting because I finally made it to the final draft of my unit plan. I really think that using Google Docs as a way to share this unit is useful because I could see this as an excellent opportunity to collaborate with others. For example, I could easily share this unit plan and all of the attached materials with other teachers and they could do the same. I also liked how I was able to include links to the additionally needed materials within the unit plan itself, making the overall process and use quite easy.

In addition to my unit plan, I enjoyed being able to help another classmate by showing how I interpreted the unit plan that they had created. Hopefully, by looking at the project analysis form, my partner will gain an understanding of those areas that are clear in their unit and possible areas for improvement.

Cedu521: Week Four

This week I really focused on ways to make my unit plan clearer for others to understand. This goal was valuable to achieve because if I were absent while teaching this unit, I would need my substitute to have an understanding of what the students should be doing on a given day. This is something that I have not done with as much detail since I was an undergraduate in school and had to write up lesson plans during my student teaching. While time consuming, it is valuable not only for other instructors, but allows me to more fully envision the lessons that I plan to initiate with my students.

Cedu521: Week Three

This week I really focused on completing my lesson plan unit. When planning out my unit, which will last about ten class periods and will focus on the immigrant experience, I really took into consideration the practices presented by project-based learning, which I became more familiar with while doing my article reviews. I really am excited to put this unit into practice, especially because of the way it will allow me to further integrate technology into my classroom.

I also really liked the curriculum changes that I worked on for the group project, I think that the changes are definitely something that a school district could and should implement if they are lacking technology integration.

Cedu521: Week Two

This week I particularly enjoyed writing my first article review because it focused on project-based learning and how a specific PBL experience was implemented in an 8th grade social studies class. Being a social studies teacher myself, I found this article to be very informative and gave me implementation ideas. In addition, I feel like I can better prepare my instructional unit for this class based on ideas presented in the article. Beyond this, I really liked contemplating the level in the Bloom's Taxonomy (and the updated technology version) that my students are currently at. Reflecting on this made me a bit more aware of things that I can do to encourage higher-level thinking and technology functioning within my instruction and throughout my school overall.

CEDu521 Blog: Week One

This week I really enjoyed learning more about project-based learning. I have used PBL in my social studies classroom in the past, but the information we learned this week further confirmed its effectiveness. In addition, I had never really heard about the levels of LoTi until last week. Learning the LoTi levels really made me reflect on my own teaching and what level (s) I fall in based on the things I have my students do. As a result, I think I am more aware of the levels of LoTi and hope that this will translate into even more technology integration into my classroom.

CEdu534: Session 5

This week I finished up my Wiki space, which I plan to use with my U.S. history students in the fall. Overall, I thought that creating a Wiki was pretty fun and interesting. I am interested to see how my students like utilizing the resources from this source, which will actually allow me to utilize less paper in the classroom. I also think that the possibility for collaboration is a really nice aspect of Wiki spaces and hope that it would encourage/create even more in class discussions concerning the material being covered.

Also, using TokBox to create a video recording was a fun activity, which is another tool that I could see having my students use next year as a way to present material and/or ideas that they have learned.

CEdu534: Session 4

This week, I really enjoyed creating a Wiki space using PB Works. The one that I created I plan to use next year with my students as a way for them to use less “paper” and submit assignments to me electronically. One of my favorite things about the Wiki page that I created is the RSS feeds that I gave students access to as a way to hopefully be more current with world events and then comment on them for the rest of the class to see. I also plan to use this Wiki for review purposes and as a way to provide access to classroom materials/resources to my students, especially those who have been absent. For example, on my Wiki, I plan to post weekly class assignments and PowerPoint presentations of new material. Overall, I envision my Wiki space as a tool for me to create more interaction between myself and my students outside of the classroom.

The other thing that I really enjoyed getting experience with was podcasting, which I plan to integrate in a few projects that I will have my students complete next year. One that I wanted to do this year was a historical podcast. One that I plan to do next year with my students is to have them research the conditions that soldiers faced during the Vietnam War and then create a letter from a soldier or nurse to a loved one back home that contains factual information. Then, after writing the letter, students will record their reading of the letter, incorporating emotions and even sound effects into the letter to make it come alive. We will then play these for the whole class. I also like the idea of having students create a “how to” podcast because I always encourage my students to “think like historians,” so what I would do with this podcast is having students create a podcast that explains how to perform a task in the way that a historian would.

Week One: CEDO515

This week I found both the presentations program and graphic program assignments to be useful. The presentation program Empressr was an interactive way for me to share my presentations with both students and fellow educators. I could use this program to allow students to have access to class presentations for review purposes or to gather material if they missed class. The graphic program Toonlet.com allows users to not only create characters, but also comics with those characters. I plan to utilize this program with my students next year for a project we do involving comic strips. Overall, this first week was challenging and useful because it introduced me to some of the new technologies that are available, which I plan to use next school year professionally.

Feeds and Flickr......

One thing that I found to be very useful that we learned this week was how to use RSS. I set up my account through Google Reader and was pleasantly surprised to see that the Reader is not blocked by my school district. As a result, the feeds I chose to follow will come in handy for me professionally as an educator. Some of the feeds will provide me with teaching strategies and professional development opportunities. Others, such as the Flickr White House feed will be used in my classroom, maybe once a week, as we follow what the president is up via pictures. A few of the other feeds include various historical articles and news features, which can actually be read with my students and used to facilitate class discussions.

Besides subscribing to Google Reader, I also really like creating a photosharing account using Flickr. Overall, my Flickr account was easy to create and, like the Reader, it is not blocked at my school. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I could envision using photosharing to have my students tell a story and “think like a historian” and tell a story visually. Since students can have school access to Flickr, such a project (and others for that matter) would be feasible.

Having A Wiki Good Time.....

This week I was introduced to the concept of wikis and how they could be integrated into the classroom environment. After looking into several wiki tools that are available, I was quite impressed by Wikispaces. When exploring their site, I found many appealing features including the fact that educators can create free spaces that can be private. I also really like how user friendly this site was and how it offered video tutorials to show a new user how to create their own wiki space. Of all things we did this week, I was really excited by the prospect of creating a Wikispace for my U.S. history classes next year as a controlled environment outside of the classroom that will facilitate student collaboration.

In addition to learning and understanding how I might integrate the use of wikis into my teaching, I also think that photo sharing could be used in my classroom next year if I created a project where they had to document something in their lives in a way that forced them to “think like an historian” and maybe document aspects of their life, which would be part of history. Instead of telling a typical story with words, students could use images. Of the sites, I really thought that Flickr and Picasa and Picasa Web Albums were sites that were easy to understand and operate. One thing that I found to be really interesting in the Picasa and Picasa Web Albums was the way that users could easily add geo-tags to their photos so that they can remember exactly where they're from using Google Maps. I could see that being a neat story telling tool if, for example, my students were doing a photo project either on their hometown or even stories of historical events in their hometown. A map and picture would make the project likely more engaging and informative.

Blog.....Blog.....Blog......

Overall, this week I will not lie, I was a bit blogged out. It's not that I don't like the blog.....afterall, who would not want to blog? The big idea about blogging, in my opinion, is that it is an excellent facilitator for collaboration. The way to make it work the best is to slowly integrate it into your teaching and to know how to use it before having your students use it. All of the concentration this week on blogging really got me thinking about how I would integrate it into my teaching and I think that this is something that I would consider for next school year. I would, however, choose a blog like 21Classes, which is controlled by the educator and would allow me to post homework assignments and notes, while also monitoring student questions and blog responses. From the activities we did this week, I feel that I am more aware of options concerning blogging.

Session 5

This week I really enjoyed having the opportunity to create a rubric for an upcoming project that I am doing in my U.S. history classes. The project is on the 1950s and 1960s and students are to take their chosen topic and create a PowerPoint presentation. I was glad that I was able to take into account many of the things that I learned from both Presentation Zen and the many projects that we did to make this project and rubric much better than it would have been. I think that the project now is much more geared towards digital storytelling and I also plan to have the students use Animoto to create a 30 second "trailer" of their topic to get all in the class excited about their up coming topic.

Overall, I am sad that this class is coming to an end because I really found much of what we did to be very applicable to my own classroom today and I have already utilized so much. I also feel like I have become much more aware of the things that make me a good storyteller/presenter and also those things that I need to do to become a better one.

Session 4

This week I really enjoyed wrapping up Presentation Zen and reflecting on how this book has changed my outlook on presentations in general. I think that I became more aware of what I am doing right and the areas that I need to work on improving.

Overall, I found Prezi to be an interesting alternative for giving presentations. I liked how this presentation tool really forces the creator to think about the big ideas. Similar to the Pecha Kucha, this tool makes the presenter think about what is actually best for the audience, which will result in high quality presentations that are not too long/overwhelming. Once you spend some time getting to know how to use Prezi, it is actually an easy and fun tool. My only frustration was that I could not get the words "click anywhere to insert text" off of my Prezi. Has anyone else had that problem?

Regarding my Pecha Kucha on the Kennedy Administration, I like that I was able to create a presentation on the domestic/cultural aspects of Kennedy's presidency that only lasts a little over six minutes. A major reason for this is because I do not have that much actual class time to devote to an area that is fascinating, but not essential in many ways. This demonstrated to me the value of creating a Pecha Kucha.

Session 3

I really enjoyed all of the tasks this week. A main reason for this is that I really feel like I can bring the technology, tools, and skills that I am learning into my classroom. For example, my students will be doing a project on popular culture in the 1950s and 1960s. When we were assigned the task of created a 30 second film on Animoto, I decided to focus on 1950s popular culture. Then at school yesterday, I came up with the first way that I plan to integrate Animoto into my classroom with this project. Basically, what I plan to do is once students have their assigned topic, they will look for 12 pictures that best represent their popular culture topic. Then, the will create their 30 second Animoto short and share with the class as a preview of what they will be doing (kind of like they do for movies to raise the interest level). Yesterday, I showed my students my Animoto that I created for this class to introduce them to the project. The students really got excited, not only about the project, but especially about creating their own Animoto.

Also, I really enjoyed the chapter from Presentation Zen and the accompanied video that we watched this week. The ideas presented really forced me to reevaluate the presentations that I am currently giving and how the whole idea of “less is more” is a great method to follow. I really like the way that I was able to revise my previous presentation and create an accompanied handout. Being someone who usually loves to give a lot of details, I felt that the handout still allowed me to be specific, but less wordy on during my actual presentation. Now the hard part, I have to go back and revise my other presentations to allow them to be effective as well.

Session 2

I really enjoyed the second session and the activities that we were asked to do. In particular, I found the chapters in Presentation Zen to be very useful because they got me really thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of my presentations. Overall, I feel that my presentations really do have most of the elements that make it "stick" for the audience. The one area that I really want to work on improving are making the presentation more unexpected and/or add a few more elements of surprise that will raise the interest level such as music or video clips. Besides that, I also want to try and simplify my slides so that there is less information on each slide, which will allow the most important details to "stick."

Regarding the VoiceThread program, I have already begun to think about how I could really incorporate this program into my classroom. For example, next quarter, my students are creating PowerPoint presentations on popular culture from the 1950s and 1960s and then presenting them to the class. I am considering using the VoiceThread program with my students where they would use laptops and upload their PowerPoints and then record their voice, creating a much more unique way to present what they have learned. Students would then play these in class to everyone else to teach the rest of the class about their topic, again in a different way. This, of course, hinges on whether or not this is feasible given the resources at my school. So, my next step is to talk with the instructional technology teacher to find out if this is possible....I will keep you posted.

Overall, I thought that the first lesson really got me thinking, especially about my skills as a presenter. Thinking about things, I do think that I am a bit "above average" if that is the right word, in the way that I present material to my students. I think I am able to teach the content, but also bring in a little be of humor and stories that they can relate to, making my presentations overall successful. As I said in a post on the class site, I do hope to learn more ways to ensure that all of my presentations include "just enough" information and never "too much." In addition, I am really excited to learn the various other presentation techniques that there are and also how to include more media in my current presentations.

The one assignment that I thought would be a challenge, the picture of a day, has actually been the most fun for me. While I am known by friends for loving to take pictures, I thought that it would be a challenge to remember to take and post a picture every day, but so far it has been fun.