Lesson 8, (1 of 4) – Wiki’s

I am not teaching yet, but I know one of the first tasks I will do is create a wiki for the classroom.  I will start with creating a wiki for the classroom before having the students create a wiki because it gives them an applicable example.  However, I will eventually integrate a student wiki into the lesson plan.

AUTHOR

Initially, I am the author of the class wiki.  However, as students become familiar with the concept, I will enable student editing so that it is a living document to be improved upon, altered, and added to as the year progresses.  Eventually, I want the students to feel ownership of the wiki by integrating their own graphics and enhancing its organization as applicable. 

Through my online research, I discovered The English Experience @ SFHS.  This is a classroom wiki that was created through Wikis in Education.  I think this provides a detailed and creative example for a classroom wiki.  It is well organized with both visual links to specific wikipages and a menu list along the left. 

TARGET AUDIENCE

The primary audience of the classroom wiki will be the students.  However, I will incorporate communication to the parents about the wiki so they may review it too.  I will encourage their input for suggestions.  Perhaps they will want specific information added for their use or a separate wiki specific to meet their needs for information.  I will alert the parents of the wiki weblinks that will display specific work the students have completed throughout the year as well.

PURPOSE

The purpose of my classroom wiki is to incorporate the learning objectives and assignments for the year into an online platform to be communicated to the students.  It will be educational in nature as opposed to administrative.  For example, the wikipages will include the syllabus, assignments, study guides, and other resources.  As I mentioned, I want the wiki to evolve through the school year however.  Students will eventually contribute to the wiki.  One avenue for contribution will be the Frequently Asked Questions area.  Students can input their questions about an assignment or other relevant class issues and I can respond.  This is a great way to initiate their interaction with the wiki.

I think the classroom wiki will successfully integrate lower level tasks like compiling and communicating information with encouraging higher level tasks such as critical thinking.  The resource links and discussion boards will be structured to support students in completing their assignments.  These areas of the wiki will engage students to acquire new knowledge and synthesize current knowledge.  I will include questions on these wikipages that encourage analysis and evaluation of the materials and discussion comments. 

I think the 10 Best Practices For Using Wikis In Education is a helpful guide for creating the classroom wiki.  For example, for collaborative activities, I will be sure to define a common goal to help motivate the students to work together.  I will give parameters that identify the specific role of the students for the activity, clearly defining the activity, and presenting how it will be assessed.  This will give the students focus and direction for completing the collaborative task.

As I mentioned initially, the classroom wiki will serve as an example for a future assignment that requires the students to collaboratively create their own wiki.   The first step of the assignment will be a Wiki WebQuest.  The purpose of the Wiki WebQuest is to define a wiki and provide how-to guidance resources for developing a student wiki.  This will solidify and enhance the students knowledge of wikis and prepare them for creation.  I started collecting websites the students can utilize in their Wiki WebQuest such as, Educational Wikis,  this video of Wikis in Plain English, and Wiki World.

Wikis provide an avenue to integrate technology into the classroom in an engaging, motivating way.  Students can draw from their personal experience of using the internet. Therefore, it is a natural integration for the students to see wikis used in the classroom. Eventually, I suspect, wikis will be embedded into the education system as commonplace as a desk and chair.

Lesson 8 (2 of 4) – Visual Literacy

Researching the topic of visual literacy was a good reminder about the power of visual arts.  It is not a concept I can personally relate to because I do not consider myself artistically creative in this way.  However, Martin Scorsese clearly articulated that some people possess a visual intelligence that allows them to tell as story simply by focusing a viewers eye on a visual input.  In a video, the camera position, type of lens, lighting, etc., influences the viewers perspective.  The visual techniques are grammar and they solicit emotional responses and particular perspectives from the viewer.  Visual art is a language through images, without words, without symbols.  It is amazing to me that my perspective and emotions can be manipulated through the use of visual techniques.  I honestly did not connect visual “literacy” to its intended meaning until I viewed the video with Martin Scorsese.


I researched the PBS Teachers, Focus on Visual Literacy resources and discovered the Arthur's Guide to Media Literacy.  I think this tool will be useful in the classroom to help students explore the concept of visual literacy.  Arming students with critical thinking skills about how advertising and other visual aspects of society influence their own perceptions, behaviors, and desires is a powerful lesson.  This resource provides 9 lesson plans regarding media literacy.  The lesson plans detail how media literacy integrates with other subject areas including reading comprehension, health, and math for instance.  These plans are tied into the popular children’s program, Arthur.  The episodes provide a visual experience that the instructor can use to deepen the students’ knowledge of visual literacy through the provided lesson plans.   


One example is the Popular Girls episode.  The objective of this lesson plan is to identify distinctions between fact and opinion.  It relates to reading comprehension and critical thinking.  Although it is not provided, the plan can also be associated with building social skills.  The plan includes active listening of the episode, a guided discussion, an activity, and an extension activity.  I think these are quality lesson plans about an important topic and they are designed to address various learning styles of students.  The activities move a student along the process of learning from remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating as well.


In addition, I reviewed the definitions of visual literacy provided on the wiki site, visual-lit.  I think they were comprehensive such as, “the ability to see, to understand, and ultimately to think, create, and communicate.  Generally speaking, the visually literate viewer looks at an image carefully, critically, and with an eye for the intentions of the image’s creator.”  However, these definitions left me feeling incomplete.  I think it is because communication is a two-way process and the definitions only focus on one side, the receiver. 


In the definitions, there was little discussion about the creator as the visually literate.  How it is that a person can communicate visually, without words, to create a response from the viewer.  The definitions are very active, but I think there is a passive aspect to visual literacy that can be attributed to the creator, the communicator.  This is the passive response of the viewer.  For instance, I may feel fear because an image is presented in a certain way.  It is not necessary for me to think, analyze, interpret to have the feeling.  The feeling occurs because of the ability of the creator to present the image in a way that solicits my emotional response.  Perhaps until I do analyze it I’m not visually literate, but the creator who successfully produced my emotional response is definitely visually literate.  I am not sure if that is captured in the definitions or maybe that is the definition of art!


I think addressing visual literacy is important in the classroom because we live in a society that is saturated with visual messages, the television, movies, and through the internet for instance.  Some children learn primarily through visual cues.  As an instructor, understanding the impact of visual literacy on my instructional techniques and incorporating them appropriately will increase my effectiveness and therefore, the overall learning experience of the students.

Lesson 8, 3 of 4 – Brain Information

I read Promoting Brain-Science Literature in the K-12 Classroom.  It is a natural fit to consider incorporating brain or neuroscience into K-12 education.  I related it to the research-based teaching technique of developing and sharing learning strategies.  For example, if a student is given the rubric, or is involved in the creation of the rubric and personal learning objectives then, not only is the content of the assignment clear but the expectations of how to complete it are clear as well.  Learning should not be a mystery and how a student is going to be assessed should be known to the student at the onset of a task.  Then, the assessment provides focus for the assignment completion, driving the quality of the task toward the overall goal.  In this way, students learn to know how to know or they learn metacognition skills.  I think this relates to integrating neuroscience into the classroom.  Understanding neuroscience provides an enhanced understanding of ways we learn and why we do the things we do.  It enhances a student’s opportunity for further self-assessment, increasing metacognition.

The article also details the benefits of understanding the brain better including that it can, “improve study skills, promote improvements in neurological health, and encourage brain-based teaching strategies while at the same time boosting general science literacy.”  However, there are challenges to this task, especially at the K-12 level.  For example, it is difficult to relate educational standards to neuroscience specifically.  In addition, the content may be intimidating to teachers because many did not have the subject incorporated into their own education.  Last, teachers may not believe they have adequate resources for proper instruction of brain education.

I enjoyed reading about the creative ideas of how to incorporate neuroscience into the K-12 curriculum.  Some ideas the article presented were integrating neuroscience in lessons about the five senses, recall or memory tasks, art, literature, science, and physical education.  I keyed into applying neuroscience to memory tasks for students in the classroom and increasing my personal knowledge.  The fact there is a strong connection between memory and the five senses corresponds with applying varied teaching strategies that engage students with different learning preferences.  For example, presenting a learning assignment through a written task, a visual/audio experience, and a role-playing assignment helps to meet the individual learning needs of the students.  Explicitly including for the students the purpose of presenting the assignment at these multi-sensory levels with how our brain functions integrates neuroscience into the classroom.  Using the internet as part of the visual/audio experience of the learning task also incorporates technology into the lesson plan for instance.

I believe educating myself on neuroscience will improve my chances of being an effective teacher as well, especially with regard to memory.  I can add learning techniques to my instruction by having a greater understanding of how the brain organizes information.  The article explains, “Chunking aids in memory because our brains organize items into networks for more efficient storage and retrieval.”  Therefore, teaching children to break large amounts of information into smaller chunks will increase their chance of accurate recall.

Neuroscience and education are so critically linked that it makes sense for educators to increase the opportunity for integrating the two.  An exciting prospect of succeeding is exposing students K-12 to neuroscience in this way may produce future neuroscientists.  I personally think advances in this field will allow the human race to evolve.  I hope I teach the student that contributes to our evolution.  I know it is a bit profound, but then, so is the brain! 

Lesson 8 (4 of 4) - Bloom’s Technology Taxonomy Pyramid

From the late 1950s to early 1970s, Bloom’s Taxonomy originally contained six levels of cognition in the form of nouns.  Cognition is the act of acquiring understanding; it is how we come to know.  These levels included knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.  In the late 1990s, and early 2000’s, the nouns were revised to verbs, remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create.  One significant change from the original version is Evaluate and Create flip-flopped in the order with Create now at the top of the pyramid.  Originally, the triangular shaped hierarchical structure indicated the components became more complex level to level.  However, with the use of descriptive verbs, the Taxonomy now allows conceptual overlap between levels. 

The result of these changes to Bloom’s Taxonomy allows the cognitive processes to more easily be assessed in the learning process.  In addition, it is clearer how to apply instructional techniques to the components of the Taxonomy.  For example, instruction can be differentiated using Bloom’s Taxonomy through the types of questions and tasks for an assignment. 

Remember:     How many? What is the definition of?  Do you recall the?

Understand:  Discuss and Describe…

Apply:            Make an exhibit…Role-play…

Analysis:       Compare and Contrast the…

Evaluate:       Prove why…Determine how…Conclude why…

Create:         Compose a…Construct some…Design the…

The Taxonomy distinguishes between the cognitive processes of how we come to know with the levels of knowledge.  These two aspects of cognition intersect.  The levels of knowledge are factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive.  Factual knowledge is the basic level of knowledge, knowing the facts about a subject.  Understanding theories and classifications surrounding the concept is Conceptual Knowledge.  Procedural refers to the particular methodologies of inquiry about the concept.  This knowledge aids the student in doing something specific related to the concept.  Metacognition is one’s own awareness of his her cognitive processes.  It is strategic and reflective about how to solve a problem or engage in a cognitive task.  It is knowing how to know.

The chart below provides an illustration of how the cognitive processes and levels of knowledge intersect or interact.

Source: (http://www.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/curric/newtaxonomy.htm)

I was a psychology major in undergraduate school.  It was many years ago, but I was introduced to this concept in those courses.  I am a systemic, logical thinker and the concept is intuitive to me.  I can see Bloom’s Taxonomy will drive my instructional lesson planning when I become a teacher.  I will use it in both the development of lesson plans and as an evaluation tool to ensure I have not missed any desired components to the lesson.  I think it helps to ensure the teaching standards are met and heightens my awareness of differentiating teaching instruction to address the individual learning needs of my students.  Because of its categorical nature, applying assessments to an assignment is clear.  Therefore, I can easily pinpoint where I need to make adjustments for the students to ensure they are adequately challenged. 

Lesson 7 - Educational Software - Systems 44

I researched Systems 44 instructional software.  This software is for students in grades 3 through 12 who need instruction on phonics and coding.  The goal is to master the 44 most used sounds and 26 letters that make up the English language.  System 44 offers research-based phonics instruction that is motivating to students.  The software technology is adaptive to the individual learner and the software includes validated assessments. 

The Systems 44 software delivers direct phonics instruction.  The students work independently with the software progressing through the levels at a pace that meets the educational needs of the individual.  The software is divided into four components, or strands, The Code, Sight Words, Word Strategies, and Success strands. 

The Code strand moves students from letter-sound correspondence through fluent word recognition.  For example, “a” makes one sound but it changes when combined with “r”, “ar”.  The student is prompted to repeat the sounds aloud.  Whole word examples are provided, compared between each other, and graphics are incorporated like a picture of a cat and a grocery cart. 

Sight Words focuses on the highest used words in the English language and builds automatic recognition of them.  Syllable strategies and word analysis are the focus of the Word Strategies section including prefixes, suffixes, roots, endings, and syllable types.  This area works toward building reading skills for meaning.  Lastly, the students build upon the skills they have learned in the other lessons in the Success Strand.  This section introduces full text.  However, to synthesize their skills and as an award, the students watch an engaging video related to the text and their overall integrated learning experience.       

The Scholastic Phonics Inventory is a built in diagnostic tool.  It determines the student’s current level of knowledge to help identify core reading issues with students.  The system continually tracks data and organizes the assessed data in charts and graphs within a diagnostic report.

Although I am not teaching yet, I saw this software in action when I volunteered at my daughter’s elementary school in the special education resource room.  The special education teacher served students with specific learning disabilities in reading comprehension, basic reading skills, and reading fluency.  In addition, students in the class have mild mental retardation and emotional behavioral disorders. 

System 44 was integrated into a learning structure that was initiated with whole-group instruction.  Then the children were divided into small groups that included teacher-led instruction, modeled or independent reading, and the Systems 44 computer software program.  All of the students were engaged with this software program.  Those who displayed inappropriate behaviors during other aspects of the lesson used appropriate behaviors during the computer portion.  The student with mild mental retardation has language challenges that make it difficult to understand him.  He contributed minimally verbally during the small group sessions.  However, I heard him continually responding to the verbal prompts the Systems 44 program required.

I would design my instruction goals based on the Individual Education Plans (IEPs) of the special education students.  Specific reading and language objectives can be devised and measured with frequent assessment using this program.  Both the instructor and the student can receive instant feedback.  I would then apply this data to my small group sessions making applicable instructional strategy adjustments to support and enhance the students' progress with this Systems 44 software.  

Lesson 6 – WebQuest – Social Skills Development

This WebQuest, Social Skills Development (http://questgarden.com/127/89/8/110614063909/t-index.htm), provides an overview of the importance of developing strong social skills for middle school students.  It includes the following:

An experiential role-playing exercise that highlights understanding how a student’s behaviors affect others;

"Hi, I am Frustrated Frog.  I'm stuck in one exaggerated emotional mode of operation."

Two research tasks, one for gathering more information surrounding social skills and the other regarding what development tools are available;

A group presentation to demonstrate the students’ synergy of the information and;

An individual peer review task related to the presentations.

This WebQuest includes a variety of individual and group work activities.  It addresses the diverse learning needs of the students by incorporating numerous assessment types and opportunities such as, online research, group participation, worksheets, peer review, and a group presentation.

I loved this assignment.  This integration of various teaching techniques and assessment tools made it seem like what teaching is all about.  I think the development of a WebQuest assignment helps to ensure quality learning by breaking a larger project into smaller parts with systematic processes.  It enhances the possibility for comprehension and relevant assessment.  It is an application relevant in today’s world of technology for students. 

I attempted to cover all the components that make a ‘good’ WebQuest including the following:

Engaging the students through use of quotable engaging thoughts and fun images;

Providing an clear overview of the assignment in the task section;

Explaining the process in concise, logical steps in the process section and;

Concluding by tying it all together through a wrap-up classroom discussion, which allows students an opportunity to express themselves.

I also hope the content promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the WebQuest task of researching the topic online.  Then, having the students choose a tool they prefer including an explanation for their preference requires them to engage in analytic reasoning. 

This was the first time I attempted developing a rubrics.  I am sure my inexperience shows through.  After writing advertising and marketing objectives in my previous career, I understand the importance and expertise it takes to develop measurable, well-worded goals.  I look forward to continued growth in that area when I finish my degree and become a teacher.

I was remiss in providing Dr. Goldberg and the University of the Cumberlands appropriate credit on the Credits page.  I will take a moment to acknowledge my appreciation now.  Thank you for the quality education I am receiving at both the University and in this class.  It is not ‘academic’ as usual higher education can be, but it is providing applicable tools to prepare me to be a quality educator. 

The challenges I encountered developing this WebQuest reminded me of the days I was teaching myself Microsoft PowerPoint.  I took some time to get the 'lay of the land' by understand how the website was laid out and what was expected in each of the headings.  Logistically, I had formatting fits.  I found myself toggling between PowerPoint, MS Word, the WebQuest editor, and the WebQuest Preview.  I was not comfortable creating the content in the WebQuest editor.  I am a creature of comforts.  I am glad though because the word processing feature is a bit primitive.  I am not sure if this is typical of other webpage development programs, but I suspect it is.  I do the same when I write these blogs, I develop the content in MS Word then transfer the information over to the blog.  Not having the ability to edit in the WebQuest preview screen because the webpage did not refresh when I saved my work in the editor created inefficiencies.  Also, QuestGarden’s organization of the information was a little confusing.  I would like to see editor/development tool follow the ‘published’ flow of the product more closely.  Last, the “Overall Design” feature is still unclear to me.  I cannot ascertain how the design patterns vary from each other.  I read how they differ, but I could not determine how it was applied in the format or the end product itself.

Although it was challenging creating the WebQuest itself, I loved the task.  Since I’m not teaching, I imagine or I hope, this explained my difficulty in developing a topic and then, determining an assignment that supports the idea.  I like the process and the components because they are logical to me.  The components help to ensure I did not overlook an important aspect of an assignment.  I honestly did not use the “Checkpoint” feature due to time constraints, but what a great self-assessment opportunity!  I will use this feature in the future.

Overall, the editing and organizational issues I encountered are minimal compared with the advantage of knowing this tool exists and having gained some experience in developing a WebQuest for future education purposes.  I will do it again in a heartbeat.

Lesson 5 – Online Communication Tools - Backchannels

I am not teaching, but I enjoyed learning and researching about online communication tools and how to effectively integrate them into the classroom.  Providing access to these tools gives students the opportunity to experience learning in multiple ways.  It also encourages a greater number of students to participate, particularly those who often do not contribute in traditional classroom discussions for instance.  Although I love the idea of connecting students around the world through online communication tools, I discovered backchannels from my research and I decided to further investigate this tool.

According to the BusinessDictionary.com, Backchannles are “’Grapevine’ or informal communication that travels parallel to (and sometimes ahead of) official channels in an organization or society” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/back-channel-communication.html).  In the classroom, this is a “Web 2.0” tool which the students can relate to from their personal use of instant messaging and chatting.

The benefits if using backchannels in the classroom include enhanced student engagement, community building, collaboration, immediate feedback and interaction, peer and instructor learning support, and ultimately profound learning experiences through online discussions.  Examples of backchannels include simply replacing tradition off-line discussion opportunities with backchannels such as, discussing a reading assignment or a video documentary.  An enhanced application is adding backchannels to fishbowl discussions (http://learningandlaptops.blogspot.com/2006/10/fishbowl-101.html).  This is where the instructor divides students into an inner and outer circle.  The inner circle carries on a tradition discussion while the outer circle communicates in a backchannel.  They comment on the inner circle participants’ discussion and then expand the conversation through their own dialogue online.

I will prepare the students for backchanneling by first determining which resource to use in the classroom.  I need to assess the pros and cons giving consideration to the options available with each program such as cost, ease of access, security, and moderating capabilities.  Some examples of backchannel resources include skype.com, chatmker.net, chatzy.com, covertitlive.com, and backnoise.com (http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=330). 

The challenges associated with using backchannels include that the multi-tasking skills of the instructor must be up to the task.  The teacher will be continuing traditional classroom monitoring, approving the posts, and facilitating the discussion so it is productive and relevant.  Adding a second classroom to the discussion allows two teachers to divide these responsibilities without exponentially increasing them per se.  Another concern is that ‘outsiders’ may enter the discussion.  For safety, I will limit the distribution of the url and use a service provider that embeds the url onto the district’s network, minimizing the potential for conversation intruders.  Monitoring the discussion and posts will also help alleviate that issue.

  

Another key concern with using backchannels is students impersonating other students or using inappropriate user names.  I will prepare the students before implementing this tool by increasing their technology citizenship awareness.  I will teach or re-state the importance of respecting each other when going online.  This issue provides a relevant opportunity to present the district’s Acceptable User Policy (AUP) to the students.  This demonstrates ISTE NETS*T Standard 4, “Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility” (International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers and Performance Indicators.)

I gain satisfaction each week in this course that I am getting the necessary tools to successfully integrate technology into the classroom when I begin teaching.  I look forward to having content background so I am able to apply technology in the classroom which will enhance instruction and maximize student learning. 

Lesson 4 - The Alphabet of Nations Presentation

The presentation I created was about countries around the world.  It began with an engaging song by the music group, They Might Be Giants.  The name of the song is the Alphabet of Nations.  In the song, country names are sung in order of the alphabet based on their names such as, Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Dominica, and so on.  The names of a few of the countries appear on the slide in coordination with the music.  Next, the presentation displays a map of the continents.  Then, I created a slide for most of the continents and identified where the countries in the song were located on the continent.  These slides included a map of the continent and a bold red square that faded onto the screen locating the corresponding country. 

The next slide clarifies the assignment details which is a group assignment.  The last few slides provide an example for the assignment so the expectations are clear.  For extra credit, the student groups can memorize and sing the song to their classmates.

I am not teaching so I presented my work to my children.  My daughter is 10 years old and my son is 7 years old.  They both said they learned something new about the United States, which was in the assignment example.  I am encouraged the presentation may be an effective tool for learning.  My daughter explained she enjoyed how I mixed the presentation information with the music.  My son’s favorite aspect was that I separated the continent maps onto individual slides.

I am most proud of integrating the music into the presentation.  I have seen a few presentations that include audio.  However, from my experience, this is the least common feature presentations include.  It is a ‘productivity tool’ that I did not know how to use previously but I’ve been wanting to learn.  The addition of audio to the presentation effectively communicates the information to students with various learning styles.  Also, I’m proud of adding music to the presentation because it attracted the attention of the students, a.k.a. my kids.  Then, this helped to keep them engaged with the presentation.  It made them curious about the content. 

Also, I liked the idea of the extra credit assignment.  For extra credit, the student groups can memorize the song and sing it to the class.  Although this is not specific to the presentation itself, I think it is an assignment component that expands addressing the individual learning needs of the students.  The idea focuses on building social skills.  It also engages students with learning difficulties focused in other aspects of the assignment. 

The most difficult aspect of the presentation was, since I’m not teaching, visualizing how it may fit into a lesson plan.  I think the presentation lacked focus of purpose.  It was not exactly a learning tool specifically, for instance a lesson plan on the continents.  I suppose it was a creative way to present a lesson plan assignment.  Therefore, it presumes the students have learned about the continents.  The assignment is an opportunity for them to strengthen that knowledge and drill deeper. 

Another aspect I would alter is technical.  The song is very fast.  I would slow the song or edit it into parts to coordinate with different slides in the presentation.  These are more technology skills I need to learn. 

It was a good experience creating this presentation.  I read in the literature the benefits of presentations in education for students and teachers such as, creating group projects, presenting science reports, add variety to classroom presentations, and present information in an organized way.  However, the challenge and concern of losing the content with the bells and whistles was clear to me.  I wish I had a more objective audience for feedback to improve my presentation though.  My children did not have any suggestions for alterations.  I admit, I am suspicious their desire to please their mom is a more likely explanation than the quality of my presentation.

Lesson 3 – Word Processing & Desktop Publishing

Although I am not teaching, I will focus on a weekly newsletter.  I think this is an important communication tool from teachers to parents and students.  I will examine those I have received from elementary teachers.  However, I'll discuss them in general terms.

I think the materials are visually appealing because they include various font styles and images.  Each section includes a different font style for the topic.  Also, relevant images have been added to the document that relate to the topic.  For instance, the newsletter has a dragon to symbolize an upcoming play where the main character is a dragon.  The information is organized through the use of borders to separate each topic. 

However, I find lengthy text distracting.  Although, it may be challenging to communicate all the information necessary on a one-page newsletter even for one week's worth of information.  A lot of information may need to be included, but it has to be organized in a visually appealing manner, not to overwhelm the reader. 

Personally, in my efforts to be creative, I have overdone it in the past when developing one page communication documents.  I may have too many fonts or too many images causing confusion and distraction.  It's important for me to remember to leave room for the information that needs to be communicated with words instead of pictures.

Lastly, a newsletter includes topics that repeat weekly, such as the syllabus.  It also includes information that will be new and change each week.  I think it will be helpful to distinguish between the two.  One way to accomplish this may be to ensure the repeated topics remain in the same place on the document week after week.  This allows the reader to form a habit of knowing where to look for this information routinely. 

I think developing a newsletter is more challenging than what I first anticipated.  It is difficult to create a communication piece that is visually appealing and concise, yet includes all the necessary information.  This task certainly requires some technology know-how and creative talent.

The overall goal of my newsletter was to provide top line information.  Therefore, I steered away from long sentences or a lot of text.  I believe parents want an overview of what their children are learning.  Also, the newsletter is a good tool for communicating important upcoming event dates.  Lastly, it's a priority for me to communicate to the parents every week how and when I may be contacted.   

Lesson 2: Teaching with Productivity Software: Spreadsheets and Databases

Educators are using spreadsheets and databases in many different ways.  In general, these tools are referred to as productivity software.  They are helpful because of the large amounts of data that can be stored, sorted, edited, calculated, and displayed in visual representations such as, charts and graphs.  These tools can be used for instructional purposes, enhancing students’ learning experiences and as an administration tool for teachers.

Reviewing different ways educators are using both of these tools, I discovered this website I would recommend,
 http://www.ncwiseowl.org/kscope/techknowpark/freefall/resources.html.       


This site includes various avenues to explain spreadsheets including, a diagram, word search, fill in the blank identification of terms game, etc. 

Once the viewer has a grasp on what a spreadsheet is, the site provides examples of applying data to spreadsheets.  For example, “A Shopping Spree” is an exercise where the user has won $1,000.00 to spend at a toy store.  The total cost of the toys can’t exceed the winnings.  The site offers an imaginary check and an order form, which is the spreadsheet. 

Other resources and links are presented for creating spreadsheets.  Then, after the data is collected, the site offers resources and basic information about representing the data through graphs.

One of the resource links is Technology Integration Made Easy (TIME), http://www.ncsu.edu/project/middletech/lambert/TIME/.  This site includes teacher scripts, lesson plans, computer files, student sheets, activities, answer sheets, teacher resources, and student samples.

 

I wish I could say that something surprised me about the use of spreadsheets and databases in the classroom.  However, I generally know their applications are far reaching.  What did surprise me, perhaps overwhelmed me, were the amount of resources available on the web from dedicated, education professionals.  The creative application of these tools as teaching techniques is inspiring.  I wish all the resources were more centralized and the quality of the information assessed.  I suppose I’ll discover my ‘favorites’ as I begin to apply my knowledge to a real career in teaching in the near future!

I would use spreadsheets and databases for both administrative purposes and as instructional tools.  I have used Excel for my entire professional career outside of the education field.  It has become second nature to me to input any data I have into a spreadsheet so that it is electronic, easily manipulated, and organized.  I’m sure I will use it to track everything imaginable in the classroom, student assessments, administrators requirements, lesson plans, IEP goals, etc. 

While I’m resourceful and creative in discovering information, I’m not a developer.  Therefore, I will welcome the resources available to aid me with integrating these technological tools into educational enhancement opportunities for students, such as presented in the aforementioned website.  


Many subjects allow for the integration of spreadsheets into the lesson plan, math and science are the most obvious.  However, social science, history, and other areas have opportunities for the integration of these tools.  For instance, a student can chart the population sizes of various countries or the amount of rainfall.  Sometimes the application isn’t as obvious for subject areas outside of math and science, but using spreadsheets and databases when those opportunities arise may have the most impact!

Lesson 1 – Overview, The Field of Educational Technology

Sometimes I begin a course and cannot imagine what the following weeks will bring with regard to content.  Did I just learn the entire course? 

What I learned in the first week is that I did not know standards for educational technology existed.  In retrospect, standardizing various aspects of education is commonplace.  It is practical that educational technology would be included in this standardization trend.  This week, I learned what those educational standards are for teachers, students, and administrators.  I learned the importance of integrating educational technology into the classroom, as well as some tools available to ensure the integration is effective.

In my opinion, the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T) are a bit academic.  I spent time highlighting key words to discern the critical goal of each standard.  Sometimes, as a ‘litmus test’ I read the statement as if it were a direction for teachers in general, opposed to guides for planning activities that use technology specifically.  For example, “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, Teachers: promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness” (The ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Teachers, 2008).  I think standards are important, but I found the NETS*T to be too general.

Regardless, I do think standardization is critical and I can appreciate the necessity for broad guidelines to allow flexibility that fosters creativity.  With that, I found the Technological Literacy Worksheet a helpful interpretation of the standards into guidelines and tools that are applicable in the classroom.  I found the exercise both encouraging and enlightening.  I realized that some of my current professional skills will be an asset when I become an educator.  I also discovered areas for personal growth to enhance my technological knowledge and skills, such as learning how to develop a web page.

Although I am not currently teaching, when I do, I will immediately develop a web page in my classroom.  I think a teacher’s website is a critical, technological tool in todays classroom.  The content of the site is a practical, modern day communication tool between teachers and students, as well as, teachers and parents. 

The steps I would take to implement a web page in the classroom include incorporating its development into my lesson plan.  The development and maintenance of the site allows the students to build their technological knowledge.  Their collaboration will encourage future use of the site as well as ensure its effectiveness.  We will have to give the web page a title, develop the format, and determine the content.

I think the biggest challenge of using the web page in the classroom is two-fold, integration and maintenance.  My goal is for the site to be integrated similar to how UC uses Elluminate by providing course content, discussions, and assessment data for the students and parents to access.  I have a vision of a paperless public school that is likely impossible in the near future.  If the federal government would implement free and total internet access, the vision of fully integrating the website is more probable. 

Until then, maintaining the web page will be a challenge as well.  Utilizing the web page for posting assignments for example, will cause duplication with handing out paper assignments.  Including assessment data may not be possible if the site does not include security features to ensure confidentiality as well.

It has been a great first week of learning about Educational Technology.  I think it is a critical component for effective teaching that produces successful learners.