Lesson 2

Lesson 2

1.  Provide a URL of one Web site that discusses spreadsheet and/or database use in the classroom. http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/index.aspx - This site is fantastic! It shows a variety of ways to use spreadsheets and databases in the classroom with tutorial videos! It also contains lesson plans on how to incorporate them in different content areas.

2.  Describe something you found that surprised you about how databases or spreadsheets can be utilized in the classroom. On the Microsoft website I found that by using Excel you can create pictographs. I knew the capabilities of graph making on Excel but not pictographs. In elementary we see a lot of pictographs across all contents. The pictures help give the students a better visual of the data and help some understand what is being presented. This would be great to use in the classroom because students could then create their own pictograph, which they would find fun and interesting.

3.  Discuss how you have used spreadsheets and databases in the past. Include ways you have used them with your students or ways you have used them as an educator. I have used spreadsheets in the past to organize MAP data. I put the data into Excel so I can manipulate it in a variety of ways. This allows me to see the kids by RIT ranges or subject areas, Spring scores to Fall, etc. I also like putting the data into Excel because it will calculate growth and typical growth by setting up equations in the cells. I have only used Excel for myself in the past but after reading all of the benefits of using it in the classroom I am eager to implement in the upcoming year. I think one of the first places I will implement it is in our Economics Unit. We do an Entrepreneur Fair each year and the students are supposed to keep track of their supply costs and profits of their product that they make. Students could use Excel to make a spreadsheet that calculated their profit for them and they could update throughout the unit as needed. This is a perfect real life example that students could explore and learn how to use and manipulate data.

     I am not 100% sure what a database is, I have Googled it and read about it but I am still unclear. However, based on the reading I have not used Microsoft Office Access, Google Database, or FileMaker Pro in the classroom in any way. I have used Excel though, if that is considered a database.

4.  Wiki’s – I have heard the word Wiki before but other than that I didn’t know what it was until I read through this lessons readings and explored the websites. The Lamb article was a great way to introduce someone to what a Wiki was and it provided some great examples. I think The Home of Sylvie is a great way that I can implement a wiki into my room. It seemed simple, but informative. I think it would work best in Social Studies when students study the state of Kentucky. I loved the Greek Mythology Wiki! It was full of creativity and had some great student products. I love the idea that you can collaborate with students at your school, but what is even better is that you can collaborate with students at other schools, in other states, or even across the globe. It is a great tool that I am looking forward to using in the classroom.

    The Sheely article was very interesting because I was able to relate with the environment in my building. I feel that it is difficult to share ideas or concerns in our building. We are more reserved when administration is present just like the article mentioned. I also liked the efforts made by the author when establishing a workplace Wiki. It was a great idea but feel as if my building would have the same outcome. Most of us feel as if having to upload ideas to a Wiki would be one more thing on our plate. It would be more of a burden than a blessing.

EDOL 53301 – Lesson 2

Technology Explorations #4-6

Student Name: Samantha Norman                                             Date: 7/8/13

#4 Mapping Programs: Bubbl.us /iMindMap

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.   I explored two of the mapping programs Bubbl.us and iMindMap. Both were very neat in what they were able to accomplish. The programs were developed to help with brainstorming or linking ideas. Bubbl.us allowed you to have a main idea box and from the main idea box you could branch out and develop more boxes from the main box. You could also link ideas from box to box by dragging an arrow and dropping it on the desired box. It was free to use and internet based, so easily accessible. I liked iMindMap much better than Bubble.us. It had a great template guide to choose from when you began, which gave you the main idea box. From that box you could make some connecting lines and more boxes, very similar to Bubbl.us, but the visual elements for iMindMap were awesome! I think students would enjoy iMindMap much better because of the graphics. I think the best feature from iMindMap was that you could instantly create a presentation based on what you just developed. It was super cool to see it bounce from idea to idea.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  This resource would be great in the classroom to connect ideas from multiple books. Students would use the resource to find common ideas, themes, characters, etc. and connect it using one of the programs. Using this visual would allow students to see their thought process on paper. They then could present it to the class and cover some of the listening and speaking standards by presenting to their classmates. Another way this program could be used is for organizing writing pieces. Students could use the mapping tool to brainstorms their ideas and see what idea would be the best to create a writing piece. There are many different ways this tool could be used in the classroom, such as creating food chains for Science, or family trees for Social Studies. The students would really enjoy using it and it would create a wonderful student product. Having iPads in the classroom is great because there are several idea mapping apps, such as Popplet, which is also computer accessible, that the students could use. Having the iPads available could allow students to create idea maps quickly for small group work or individual work.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? I would recommend these two sites for teachers. I prefer iMindMaps, but they only have a free 7-day trial before having to pay for the program. Bubbl.us is nice because it accomplishes the same result and is free. There are several idea mapping programs out there so they are definitely worth exploring. They would be great to use in the classroom because the students find it more interesting to use technology than a pencil and paper.

#5 Animoto –  http://animoto.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. THIS IS THE COOLEST THING!!!! Who knew there was all this amazing software out in the world! This site gives you the ability to create mini movies that are created with little video clips and pictures. There are several themes to choose from that contain their own animation, so when you input your pictures they combine together to make a fantastic visual piece. You have the ability to create a 30 second video for free but if you want it to be longer you have to purchase the software from the internet. I want to use it as soon as possible for my own personal family photos!
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  This resource could be used to document the year, a special event like a project, or a field trip. I think it would be great if students created their own videos at the beginning of the year to show who they are to their teacher and to their classmates. This would be a neat end of a novel project, where students could pretend to be a character and create a video that represents the character in the book. This would require a lot of brainstorming and creativity and would be a great way to assess the students on their reading in a very unique and creative way. So many opportunities!
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? I would not only recommend this site to educators but for everyone! I instantly posted it to my Facebook to share with all my friends because it is such a creative tool. It is super easy to use and a great way to track memories. This is a website you must explore! The downfall to the website is that you can only make a 30 second video; if you wish to make a longer video you have to pay for the service.

#6 Google Docs & PhotoPeach

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. I have used Google Docs in the past for several different things. I used it in a college class where we had to each do a piece of a report. Using Google Docs allowed us to do our part and insert it into the final document. Since we all had access to the same document we could just copy and paste our section into the document and edit margins, spacing, etc. to make it into a fluid piece. This allowed us to work independently instead of having to meet as a group, which is great when you have different schedules. Google Docs is basically word processing online. It is very easy to use and a great collaboration tool. PhotoPeach was a very neat site. It is an easy way to create a digital photo album. You can easily upload pictures, arrange them as desired, and then attach music to them. Once finished it is able to present the “show” and the pictures are shown, similar to a slideshow. Very easy to use!
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  I would use Google Docs in a Middle school or higher education setting. I would use it for students to submit their papers so I could make comments and send it back digitally for them to edit. This would save a lot of paper by submitting and editing papers on the computer. Another way I would use Google Docs would be for group collaboration. If a group needs to write a paper they could collaborate on Google Docs, so they could work on their part independently and submit it online to one document. It would really help with time conflicts when groups try to plan a time and meet, because they could “meet” online. I would use PhotoPeach in the same was I would use Animoto, to document events in the school year or for a creative project that was linked to a book or specific topic. I like PhotoPeach, especially because it is free, but I would much rather use Animoto because of its extra creative elements.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? I would recommend Google Docs tool for educators, especially for high school teachers. The site is easy to use and similar to word processing. I think it would interest high school teachers the most because it is a little more advanced for independent work. It would be a great way for English teachers to take paper writing paperless and for groups of students to collaborate on a project. I would also recommend PhotoPeach to not only educators, but to anyone wanting to document an event through pictures. It is a very easy way to organize pictures into a slide show. It has the capabilities of playing music, which results in a very nice final product. This product is similar to PowerPoint, in the way it displays pictures, however PhotoPeach is much easier to input pictures, attach music, and it has a better end result. PhotoPeach is also similar to Animoto, but Animoto has a lot more to offer. The negative side to Animoto is that you can only crenate a 30 second video before you have to upgrade and pay for the service.

  

Lesson 1

1.    What did you learn this week that you will use immediately in your classroom?

          This week was a great intro for the class. It got the wheels turning and already has me wanting to implement many things into my classroom. I think out of everything I learned, there are three things I will implement in this upcoming school year; a blog and or Wiki, classroom website and e-books.

      I can’t wait to implement a blog or Wiki for my reading group. We will be reading several novels this year and I love the idea of having discussion questions on a blog and having the students respond via comments. Mr. Langhorst’s Season Book Blog was a great example and it seemed very successful. I think the Wiki will work really well in our study of Kentucky for Social Studies. Students will be able to link ideas and continue a community of learning.

     The second thing I want to implement is a student run website. I have had a website the previous two years but it became very overwhelming to keep up with. I am hoping that if it is student run throughout the year it will eliminate the extra work for me and give them the technology exposure and experience.

     The third item I want to use immediately are the e-books. We have a big Accelerated Reading program and we have a range of readers. Having the resource for them to listen to a variety of books online is a great resource for the classroom that will allow them to succeed in their reading to reach their goals.

2.    What steps will you take to implement this in your classroom?

I think the e-books will be an easy implementation. I will introduce a resource we can use early in the year. Then after a mini lesson on how to find a book and use the resource, students will be able to use it on their own time for their own reading needs.

The reading blog and Wiki will require more prep time. I plan to use the reading blog early in the year. I will go over rules and expectations before jumping on the computers. I will then post questions about their first few days back to get them use to responding using a comment. After some exposure to the blog I am hoping it will be a easy transition when we use it for reading discussions.

The Wiki used in Social Studies will require some trial and error. Students will be put into groups and they will be in charge of researching a particular section to post on the Wiki. I will give them some general instructions on how to use the Wiki in the beginning and from there I will help and guide as needed.

I am really excited about the classroom website. I will introduce this within the first week of school. I will explain the expectations, rules and “jobs.” I will assign a job for so many students and rotate them throughout the year. Jobs will range from posting spelling words, to updating a blog on what they learned that day, to school wide news. It will give the students responsibility, technology exposure, and will allow them to communicate with parents about their learning.

3.    What challenge(s) will you face when using this in your classroom?

Challenges will vary throughout the year. There always seems to be some unexpected glitch along the way. I believe the two big challenges that we will face will be time and resources. As of the past two school years we have had 1-2 scheduled lab times a week, one in reading and one during our Social Studies/Science time. With the strict schedule it doesn’t allow me to give computer access to all my students at all times. With the is a lack of resource time, not having access to the computers for all students will limit what we can do and the amount we can do in a given amount of time.

Time is always an issue. I fear that having students update the website or discussing a book via the Internet will not be doable in a school day. With all the other demands of the day, implementing something new in addition to everything thing else could be an issue.

4.    What will you do to overcome the challenge(s)?

I think the best way to overcome the lack of computer lab time will be to have a structured plan and schedule so students can accomplish what needs to be done in the appropriate given time. We recently received 5 iPads for each classroom, so I am hoping this will help in gaining access to the technology when we need to it for class.

In regards to time an updating the website or communicating in the book discussion, I will most likely need a weekly schedule for both. Daily activities might not be doable so having a weekly due date for items should give students the time to complete their assignments.

A Vision of Today's Students
This video was very interesting because it gave insight to today's students. I found this to be very true when I was in college. Everyone was on a computer doing several things at once, while in class listening to the lecture. It all depended on the class whether or not you could get away with it and do well in the class. It is interesting how the world is changing with technology, especially with families. It is interesting to see a family out to dinner and no one speaks to one another. Everyone has their own agenda and is in their own world, it is very sad to see this because I did not grow up like this and I am thankful for that.

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EDOL 53301 – Lesson 1

Technology Explorations #1-3
Student Name: Samantha Norman                                     

Date: 7/1/13

#1: Wiki - http://pbworks.com/education

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  I am unfamiliar with Wiki’s until I explored these first few lessons. PBWorks is a piece of software developed for many business communities, education being one of them. I have created a free account with PBWorks to explore what they have to offer. It seems that they have a very detailed layout to the website that allows teachers to do many things with their classroom Wikis. To become more familiar with this site I visited Mr. Boyer’s 5th grade PBWorks site (http://mrboyersclass.pbworks.com/w/page/19233611/FrontPage). Linked to his site he has a twitter account where students give daily updates about what they are learning. Each one of his students has their own blog in addition to a classroom blog for different activities, such as book discussions. The site contains bios for each student and also displays their work and projects, which I found to be really cool! In addition to Mr. Boyer, I also visited Mrs. Lambert’s PBWorks site (http://grade3responds.pbworks.com/w/page/14225497/ FrontPage). Her site is very simple and seems to only contain electronic student portfolios, which is also a great idea. Viewing their sites helped me think about ways I could set up my own site and use it in the classroom.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  This resource would be a great classroom website. It includes areas for links to other sites, it has the ability for students to collaborate with each other and communicate with outside sources. This might be a resource I use for my reading groups to discuss their novels. With the layout of the site I could make blogs within the site for each book and be able to keep them separate, instead of one continuous blog throughout the year. We could express our thoughts individually using personal blogs or communicate in a group setting. It allows for a lot of possibilities in the classroom. I think that I will use a Wiki for my reading discussions or for research projects we do in Science and Social Studies.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? I would recommend this site to educators who are comfortable with technology. I feel that the site could be overwhelming for teachers who are new to technology implementation. It does have a FREE option to set up a site and use it in your classroom, which is always great. I think exploring it and looking at other examples is a must to have a better grasp on what it could be used for. I am interested in seeing if there are other sites available that are less overwhelming and easier to use. Being a 4th grade teacher I would prefer a site for my students that had less, only because I believe it would be too much for them to handle. I think once they became familiar with a Wiki, website and blog they would be able to use this site with more ease.

#2: E-Books – www.tumblebooks.com/Gwinnett County Georgia Public Library

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Being a fairly new teacher I came into a classroom that had boxes of stuff that had been left behind by previous teachers. A few boxes included giant headsets and tapes for audio books. These boxes took up a lot of space and not to mention the older technology of a cassette tape, which is a little outdated. So, when exploring this site it was great to find that I could have everything in those boxes located on the internet. This site had a few things to offer, which included; ·      e-books – books meant to be read online that do not include audio ·      read alongs – online books that include both the text and the audio ·      videos – a video segment that has been created using picture images, with audio explaining a topic, such as ecosystems. ·      audio books – books online that have audio but no text Some of the books even included lesson plans and there was an entire COMMON CORE portal, a list of books and the standards they were linked too, a teachers dream! What was also nice about this site is that is broken up into age groups; lower elementary, intermediate, high school students, etc. There are other similar sites out there that offer some of these things. The Gwinnett County Public Library also had a great library for e-books and audio books for students.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  I love this resource because it allows students to read an assortment of books even if they might be struggling readers. The audio gives a great example of what a fluent reader should sound like and the variety of texts give students a wide range of reading material. This would be great to use if you were reading a book class wide and some students needed a little more guidance. You could have the struggling readers listen to the text and follow along, while others are silent reading. I think it would also be great for students to record themselves reading aloud and then listen to the audio, and compare themselves to the recorded audio text. This would allow them to evaluate their own reading skills and find ways to improve.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? I would recommend this site to other teachers because it has a lot of books for students of all ages and has extra items like lesson plans and relation to the common core. One downside to this site is the popularity of the books. They aren’t the most popular books of today, which restricts things a little. I feel that teachers would need to enter the site and find a book to plan around, instead of planning for a specific book and going to look for it on the site, because it might not be there. I did find that more of the popular books were on the Gwinnett County Library site. I believe you would have to contact them and get a library card to use the materials, but searching for them and exploring the site is free.

#3: Pod Casts/The Education Pod Cast Network – www.epnweb.org/Mr. Langhorst’s Classroom Website – www.liberty.k12.mo.us/~elanghorst/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  I was not able to access The Education Pod Cast Network website. However, I found an abstract about the site saying that it is collection of educational podcasts. I did get to explore Mr. Langhorst’s website and was blown away. He has an amazing website full of information and great school projects. On his website is a link to his Guerrilla Season Book Blog and it was an eye opener. He had great discussion questions for the students, which were all answered using a blog. The author of the book was apart of the project, which I found to be very neat. Having that interaction with the students must have been very valuable. It is a great resource to use if wanting to plan your own book discussion blog. I got a ton of ideas by looking at one link from his site. In addition to the book blog he had many more helpful links. Student resource page, parent page, teacher resource page, and weekly glimpses of what they were doing in the classroom. He even had a space for student podcasts. I was amazed and it is a great place to brainstorm off of his great ideas.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting? The podcast database would be a great place for student to get resources for a project. I think the best way to implement a podcast for my 4th graders would be to have them speak about a topic they researched and then link it to a Wiki. This involves so many common core standards and it would be great for the students! I can see it being used as assessment tool rather than a teaching tool at this level. In the older grades it would be great for students to listen to a podcast to gain information to use as a resource. They could listen to a podcast created by the teacher if they missed a class to catch up and they too, could use it to create their own podcasts. A very neat tool to incorporate in the classroom. Mr. Langhorst’s site gave me so many ideas for my classroom. Student run websites, book discussion blogs, displaying student work via the internet, and more. I discussed some these things earlier in the blog.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? I would recommend the podcast database for teachers to explore and use in their teaching. I think it would be more appropriate for older grades since it is just audio without visuals. I do think creating podcasts would be great for any grade level. It would tie in a wide range of standards and allow a unique way for students to share what they learned. I definitely recommend Mr. Langhorst’s site (www.liberty.k12.mo.us/ ~elanghorst/) It gave me so many ideas for my classroom. He has some great ideas and his implantation of technology is terrific. I think it give a different experience to everyone who looks at it, but some great ideas will stem from it.

Wanted to get my first post up and test it out before class started. Pretty nifty way to show what you learned throughout the week. This is already a neat tool that could be used in the classroom, especially for reading groups!