Edubloggers!

One of the Edubloggers I decided to respond to was Elena Aguila (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-i-wish-id-known-new-teacher-elena-aguilar ). Elena blogs as part of Edutopia’s collaborative blogging. She wrote a wonderful piece on a list of things she wished she knew as a new teacher (ding ding that’s most of us hehe.) The blog quickly caught my attention because if this was something that she would have liked to know then it must be important for me to know. As aquick summary here is the list of what she wished she knew:

1. This will get better

2. Always work from the heart

3. They will remember this about you

4. Be open to surprises

5. Find a coach

6. If you can’t find a coach …move.

She talked about how even though it might seem that things are at their worst, they will get better. She encourages new teachers not to be deterred by how complicated it might seem at first. She also emphasizes that teaching should come from the heart, students can see right through someone whose heart is not there while teaching. You make an impact on students, positive or negative. This is important to keep in mind as you build rapport with the students. IT is a lot better if students remember you as someone who positively affected their lives. Students are full of surprises and that’s one of the beauties of teaching, you get surprised by students in the most unexpected ways. Finally, she also emphasizes on the importance of finding a mentor, someone you can go to when you have questions or concerns, someone that can show you the ropes. She suggests that if you can’t find a good mentor, move! How can you develop in an environment with little to no support? I truly enjoyed reading her blog especially as an upcoming first year teacher!

The second edublogger I responded to was Christ Lehmann (http://practicaltheory.org/blog/2014/11/18/dont-make-presentation-day-the-worst-day/#comment-2515 ) Chris talked about one of my favorite topics, making presentation day not the worst day! With each group going up to present it might take the entire class period. Most students will be giving similar style presentations and I don’t know about the rest of you but I have a difficult time sitting still through long lectures. Instead, Chris offers other options with similar benefits to a presentation. HE suggest using Read-arounds. In Read-arounds studnets have to read at least 2 pieces of work form their peers and write a response.  He emphasizes the importance of classroom management while doing this. The secont option is Tech in Stations, this is where students at each station give a poster presentation and students can fill out exit tickets to assess them on what they learned from the poster session. The other alternative that caught my eye was the gallery walk. This is something we did in our SEL class when presenting our curriculum we had to come up with. It was a good way to not only display work but also engage learning. 

The Great World of Paddlet!

What has amazing organization and super friendly reminders? PADDLET! The wonderful Paddlet Team (Katie, Jeremy, Kelsey, and Jessica ) introduced the class to the greatness of Paddlet. The first thought that came to mind was, ok so we are going to learn how to organize our stuff in a website? The thing is, Paddlet is so much more than just an organizer, it’s another wonderful tool to have as a teacher. Paddlet can be used to store lessons, videos, quizzes and more. As Katie, Jeremy, and Kelsey walked us through the steps of creating a Paddlet I was thinking about different ways I can make use of this tool. Not to mention that the emails form the website are great! They tend to have a very welcoming message on them J coming back to how the 3 wonderful people walked us through the setting up process and the features of Paddlet, they were incredibly helpful. Katie, Jeremy and Kelsey walked us through the process of setting up our Paddlet account and they were all walking around and helping us to make sure that we had a positive experience with Paddlet. This was the first Tech Tools in Use we had and I have to say that they paved the road for the rest of us. Jeremy, Katie, and Kelsey did an amazing job at walking us through the main points of Paddlet and helping us create our own.

I created a Paddlet for one of the upcoming practice teach lessons I was about to implement in my placement (see picture below.) I created mine on protein folding and the different aspects of protein folding. I was inspired to create more units like this because of the organization and easy access, not to mention that it is very user friendly. I was able to use Paddlet to organize the ideas I had for future biology lessons. I also learned that Paddlet can be used as a collaboration center. For example, we made our own Paddlet example and the whole class posted theirs on a Paddled board, easy access for all! When we were looking at each other’s Paddlet, this made it so much easier to be able to look at everyone’s. This can be used in the classroom as a brainstorm activity.

 I am thinking of trying this with the honors biology students. They can work in groups to create a skit of the different phases of cell division. Then they will all post them in the class’ Paddlet board so that everyone can have access. We will not only review the videos as a class for review but individually, students will have access to the videos for future studying. This is only an example of what I was inspired to try in the classroom as a result form the presentation. I also saw another group make use of Paddlet during theit own Tech Tools in Use presentation. This further goes to show what a great collaboration and organizational tool this is! I look forward to implementing my ideas of using Paddlet in the classroom, will update when I do to reflect on how it turned out :)

Wise words from David Thenune...

         

    (Taken from David Theune's Blog)  

                  David Thenue gave a great presentation in our class about various topics in the classroom, I especially was struck by the use of technology in his classroom. When he first mentioned that he used video cameras in his classroom as part of projects, he had my attention! Now, when I was younger, I would avoid the public at all costs so this excitement about cameras might come as a shock to many who knew me back then. But what David was talking about was something different than sitting in front of the camera and being scared to death, no the way he presented this was about empowerment to the students. He mentioned how by only giving students 6 second on camera and they will surprise you, and the videos he showed us sure surprised me. He showed us some "6 second Shakespeare" videos that his class was involved in making. Students not only had to summarize the story in 6 seconds, they also had to be creative in doing so. In all the videos I saw, students were having fun while being engaged in learning! This didn't even involve students being on camera, their voices were heard but their faces didn't have to be on display, big win for the more shy student! This way students are not afraid to participate in class projects, they seemed more excited to participate than scared. Granted that when you have a teacher as excited as David, you are bound to be so yourself. I thought about how I could integrate this in my own classroom. I realized that if students could do "6 seconds of Shakespeare" then why not have "30 minute science?" I even talked about this with my mentor teacher. She thought it was a wonderful idea to have students summarize or even act out what they have learned in science. More specifically we talked about doing this with our photosynthesis lesson. Students were to make a 30 second skit on one of the 3 stages of photosynthesis! Students would have fun creating the skit as well as benefit from reviewing the material! This was super exciting for me for this will be the first time I would be using cameras (besides using it to record my lessons) in the classroom. Unfortunately there was not enough time to implement this plan in the class, but we have future plans on using a similar technique with the cell respiration lesson.

                              Another major point from David's presentation that I found interesting was the fact that he invites parents into his classroom. He talked about calling/emailing/smoke signaling his students' parents about the essay reading events he has in his classroom. Granted that not all parents will show, he still has some parents show to read students' essays.  He makes an effort to include parents in his classroom to showcase the hard work that students put into the assignment. This shows how great he cares about his students and the parents get to have a glimpse of the great work their student is doing in the classroom. This is something that I would love to implement in my future teaching, having a classroom in which parents are welcome to attend would be wonderful. As teachers, we must work alongside parents to ensure that the students are being given the support to thrive not only in the classroom but also outside of it. David talked about many other great ideas, such as making the charity essay a contest (who should we donate money to?) Students are not only entering a contest but they are also doing research in the process, they must use the claim, evidence, and reasoning, in their essay. They must be able to defend their claim and although students are doing work, they are interested and engaged because it relates to "real life."  I look forward to implementing some of David's practices in my own classroom!

To Tech or not to Tech?

"The most important thing that schools can do is not to use technology in the curriculum more, but use it more effectively"                                    -John G. Palfrey 

              A question that has been asked by many educators is, how wise and effective is it to use technology in the classroom? Is it a tool to further education or a distraction that halts education? How can we as educators assure that we use technology effectively? I was intrigued when we were asked to find out about technology in our placement. I was interested in finding out the different technology available for the students and staff. As important , how is technology being managed to optimize its usage?
             After a survey done at my placement I discovered that we had quite a bit of technology available. I learned that we had Chrome book carts that can be  borrowed for in class activities. The students also have a variety of computer labs they can use to get their work done. These computer labs can be reserved by teachers for class activities, woah! I began to wonder how was technology being managed at my school. I typed in different websites *drumroll please*  Students are not allowed to visit social media websites such as Facebook, even if students try to access them, they are blocked. Email websites such as google and yahoo are allowed to visit. I expected this since students are actually given their own google email by the district. The students are also not allowed to visit certain websites besides social mediam for example, they are not allowed to visit the Red Cross Website from the school's network among others. This is to help prevent distractions to students when they are in the computer lab or even if they are in their own devices, while using the school's wireless connections, they still have these restrictions. 
              How else is technology regulated at my placement? I n order to use computer labs, teachers must sign up online to use them. Aside form the computer labs, there is also the media room available for students. Students were able to go during study hour to the media center but that has recently changed. If students need to use a computer they must do so during lunch. I think this is restrictive to students because to some students, the only time that they can use a computer is at school. Some teachers do offer their room after school for students that need to type up a report for their class or need to do research. In my placement, there is a designated group of media specialist that not only advocate for technology use but they are also active in writing grants to fund this. At the beginning of the school year, teachers attended a professional development meeting in which different uses of technology was presented. In my placement, attendance and grades are all recorded online. Teachers are to take attendance at the beginning of each class and record it. This allows for the new attendance policy to be more efficient. Teachers are also encouraged to have a website in which students can access the class' information.
            Overall, students get a wide variety of technology at my placement. They are also being familiarized with technology since many will be using it daily in their future. For example, we have students in the honors biology and AP biology classes write up their lab reports. This involves students using excel to analyze their results. This allows the students to gain experience with excel and at the same time gain more experience in writing lab reports. Technology is well regulated at my placement and many measures are taken to ensure minimal distractions to students. I would like to see technology integrated in learning in my classroom, we have yet to use technology as a learning tool outside of the general uses of technology. 

Connections Across Disciplines: Fold 'em

Looking over the lessons of my fellow peers, one instantly caught my attention. Not only was the lesson planned to incorporate technology into the classroom but it also allowed the students to create an experiment as well as incorporating a game into all this. The lesson plan was brilliantly thought out and broken off into different parts; building protein knowledge and setting up/running an experiment.

Students build a KWL chart on proteins to see what they Know, Want to learn and what they Learned. This is a great way to assess background knowledge as well as what the students learned from the lesson. Reviewing proteins and the scientific method is a great way to engage students in science and at the same time allow them to use technology. Imagine walking into a classroom where you’re able to make the choice of what technology you want to use to work on (computer, ipad, cellphone ect) and learn from those experiences what works best. This was incorporated into the lesson. The group (Grace, Meghan and Melissa) incorporated the BYOD idea into their lesson plan. I thought this was a great use of technology because it allows the students to see the differences between the devices and learn for future reference which one helps them achieve the work.  They get to experiment with the different devices, record their findings and draw conclusions from them.

The game was a protein folding game that not only allows students to see the visual representation of folding proteins but it also helps science! (link to the website: http://fold.it/portal/). This incorporation of having a visual aid helps the students in the classroom to be exposed to the material in a different way. This helps reinforce what was learned in class and play a game at the same time! Students learned about proteins, scientific method and the use of technology all in the same lesson. I think it’s great because they way these three concepts were incorporated was engaging and fun for the students.

Having students run their own experiment allowed them to see and do the scientific method rather than just learning about it. In a sense, they were researchers themselves. Giving students that researcher identity put them in the mindset of investigating. The lesson was them concluded with an exit ticket where students answered questions about what they learned, protein folding is important and how it relates to their health. They get to think about protein folding outside of just a scientific term! And this is why this lesson plan was an interesting and intriguing one for me.

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Organization!

Previously I thought I was more of a paper and pencil organizer (for the most part). I would try to write down assignment on my calendar and try to keep all my notes in one place. No matter how hard I tried I happened to forget my calendar at home or misplaced some notes. It was frustrating at times because I would need the notes or double book events. I learned to appreciate technology more. I began to use my calendar on my phone (because who leaves home without their phone?) and started typing notes instead of just relying on my handwritten ones. But somehow I still managed to lose the bytes in my computer.

This assignment of having to research an organization tool was great for me because I got to learn a lot about organization online. These program can be accessed by a few clicks and can store important information. I had the assignment of researching Google Drive. It was amazing to see all the features that Google Drive has! One of the new things I learned how to use in Google Drive was Google Hangouts. This allows for groups to work together AND see the same document and work o it at the same time (groups anyone?).It can be tricky to use and sometimes it feels like Google Hangouts just don't want to work. But for the times that it does I think this is a great way to work in groups and get group work done without having one person keep all the notes. The notes/presentation can be saved in Google Drive.

Speaking of saving documents, Google drive works great as a storage for your files, yay! Google Drive allows you to upload files and access them when needed. For example, my EDUC 504 notes can be saved there and even if I forget my notebook at home I can still pull them up in my laptop and not have to worry about not having them. Google Drive also allows for the creation of forms. Rory was talking to my group as we were talking about Google Drive and he explained to us how convenient  the forms are.  They can e used to create surveys for students and gather information quickly. This is something I will be using to get to know my students.

We also learned about Evernote. I thought Evernote came really handy in organizing class lectures and for the future lecture plans we will all be doing. Grace talked about how you can arrange lecture notes for different classes in Evernote and access them quickly. I though this was neat to have a folder for every class and keep lectures organized and not having to go through all the documents to find that one lecture note.
Blendspace was another tool presented. This I found to be great for presentations and lectures. Megan modeled how a class lecture would take place. I really liked the fact that you could put in a quiz in the middle and have students answer the questions to check on their understanding and making sure they are all paying attention. You can incorporate pictures, videos, and quizzes in the lecture/presentation. One concern we had about using Blendspace was that it would be come too regular and the students would loose interest, how can we keep this form happening?

Video games I choose you! (To Learn)

The Gee reading mentions how video games can encourage risk taking for the players. I can't help and think about school and how afraid I was of taking risks in fear of failing. It was terrifying to "go outside of the box" because if I didn't follow the rubric given I was bound to be penalized. I remember that taking different routes in Legend of Zelda allowed me to explore a bigger area than if I had only followed the first route I took. In the pokemon games I was able to challenge myself with different opponents found in different terrains. In school we should be allowing students to explore the material but how can we achieve this when we are also pressed in time to cover all the objectives in the small amount of time given?
I also remember that the faster you got things done the "better" student you were considered. This left little to no room for further research or exploration. Learning the facts and being able to "spit" them back out was the best strategy to earn good grades but after the test the facts were free to leave our brains. There was little to no room for learning and critical thinking. I realized how much I had missed out in high school when in college my microbiology professor gave us a test where only five points where based on memorization and the rest on applying the knowledge to answer the questions. I enjoyed being challenge by this puzzle test because I was able to remember what I learned in class.
Another topic covered in the reading is performance before competence. I couldn't help but think back to the many trial and errors I had while conducting research. It took me a couple times of running a protein gels to actually be able to competently run them to be able to use them for data analysis. How can we expect students to walk into the classroom and not make errors along the way? If the students where competent in the subject then why is there a need for us to teach them? We wan to be able to stimulate student to become competent learners.
Playing Brain Pop (Grow your own cell) was interesting... I knew most of the information and it wasn't very action packed. It was mostly and informative activity. I think the game is appropriate for someone who is just learning about the cell as an introduction to the unit.

Online Assessment Discussion 7/16/2014

As I pressed start on the test it was Deja Vu for me, I was back taking the GRE. I was prepared for the GRE, I had taken practice test and even completed the tutorial on how to navigate through the test several times. I hadn't put much thought into the hinderance that came into play when students did not know how to navigate the test.  As I clicked start on the test and received the first question I was immediately encountered with a navigation problem. It's hard to imagine that if me, a person familiar with computers and online testing, had problems with navigation then how would the students who have little or no experience feel? This affects their tests scored because they might get frustrated and the navigation and pay less attention to the content.
In class we did the activity of some of us having one or more restriction. I was supposed to write an essay in 30 min using only both of my index fingers. I was frustrated on trying to type as fast but at the same time being cautious. This applies to the online test, what about students with restrictions? Perhaps this can help them but we didn't go into a discussion about this in the class.
Something tat struck most of us was the fact that some of the questions in the test were not clearly labeled. Liz brought up the point that if they are embedded in the text you are reading, the student spends more time looking for the question than actually answering the question. Again, time is wasted in the logistics rather than being spent on the content.
If studies have been done that show that testing on paper tends to yield better scores as opposed to online testing, why are we moving forward to online testing. One of the briefly discussed reasons in class was that it was cheaper for not only the schools but the government. It is also convenient for testing. I remember having to wait a couple of weeks to obtain my SAT/ACT scores, but when I took the online GRE my scores were available sooner. In context of this class, preparing students for future technology use is imperative. We need to prepare our students for living in 2014 where technology is all around us.

July 15, 2014

“Psychological and social sides are organically related and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise between the two, or a superimposition of one upon the other” ~John Dewey

While reading Dewey I couldn’t help but think back at my own elementary and secondary education. He brings up the point that both psychological and social experiences are essential to learning. He also points out that you cant give one more importance and neglect the other, this will not allow for efficient learning. I remember that in high school most of my teachers neglected the social aspect of learning. I wondered how different high school would have been had the school implemented both social and psychological experiences in the classroom.

I think this is relevant to technology in the aspect that Dewey supports social experiences. Working in groups can sometimes be challenging especially if students have to work in groups outside of the classroom. This is where technology comes in; students don’t necessarily have to be in the same room to collaborate with each other. Now notes can be shared and discussions can take place simultaneously through technology.

Another point that Dewey mentioned was that schooling ‘s focus should be on preparing students to be able to live on their present society since the future is uncertain and we can’t make predictions on what the future society will look like. It might be that I have been brought up with the idea that what I do in the present will affect the future that I disagree with Dewey on this. How can we only prepare students to live on the current environment and not for the future? In today’s society, technology is noticeably present but how can students be prepared for the future if they limit their learning to just today’s technology and not in the advancement of technology?
Dewey took a stance against the "sage on a stage approach of teaching science. I agree with Dewey, science education is diminished when students are used as pools to be filled. Instead I believe students should learn by also being active in hands on activities. A student can read about an experiment but would retain and learn more from actually doing the experiment and having that experience to apply the scientific method. Some of the more engaging classes I took included hands on learning and I noticed that the class was involved more than those classes who only lectured. Technology plays an important role here, the computer labs can be used to do virtual experiments.