Week 13 - Online Application Reviews

Google Documents

Google Documents is an amazing online resource. After carefully reviewing many of its features, I feel confident in recommending this application to colleagues for several reasons. First, the application is FREE! Google Docs seems to be a twin sister to the pricey Microsoft Office Suite as they both feature word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and form/data collection products. Second, when multiple colleagues sign up for Google Docs, real-time collaborate is available and users can edit and revise the same document online. This would be a fantastic alternative to the multiple emails that are often sent back and forth to edit documents. The steps that are currently taken to edit a document, attach it to an email, send it off to a colleague who they makes their changes, attaches it and sends it back in an email, and so on are eliminated with the collaboration feature of Google Docs. Third, the documents are hosted right online so they can be accessed from any computer. Many teachers can currently access their school documents only by sitting at a computer in their district in order to reach the documents on the district’s server. Google Docs would eliminate the need to transfer files via a flash drive or removable hard drive between home and work computers.

Of course, every application has drawbacks. One obvious drawback is that since Google Docs are an online application, one must have internet access to access them. Another minor drawback is the formatting options. I noticed that the options are significantly reduced in Google Docs. There are not as many font styles and text sizes in Google as there are in the Microsoft Office Suite. However, I know that personally I only use four to five of the text options, which is probably even more than the average user. Although Google Docs’ options are reduced, there are still plenty of choices to make a presentable and aesthetically pleasing document, spreadsheet, or presentation. A third drawback that I noted was in the presentation feature. After creating a presentation, I did notice that the bottom bar, even in the full-screen mode, advertises Google. That bothered me a bit. However, the bottom line is that this is a free application and the least we can do is advertise Google when we use it, right? Overall, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks of Google Documents. I would highly recommend this application to my colleagues.

Picnik Image Editing

Image editing software is new to me. I take pictures, upload them to web albums, and make digital scrapbooks. Once in a while I’ll crop a picture before sending it off to the e-scrapbooking site. However, playing with Picnik’s online photo editing software really opened my eyes to the possibilities of creating amazing pictures with just a few clicks. First, no registration is required to use the tools and one of the first things that I noticed was that I did not need to download any software to my computer. I was really surprised and quite pleased with this. Adobe Flash is used to edit photos on this site, but most users would probably already have this installed. Second, tools that seemed basic to me, including resizing, cropping, rotating, sharpening and red-eye correction were available. One of my very favorite features was the one-touch “auto-correct” button where a wide variety of tools were applied to perfect a picture. Third, an overwhelming variety of special effects are available including frames, text, stickers, sepia, black and white, vignette…the possibilities really are mind-boggling. Fourth, a feature that I really appreciated was that photo cards can be created with this online editor and then printed at your own home in beautiful full color. I have paid a fortune for special occasion cards for years but will certainly be using Picnik in the future for this feature. I did not find drawbacks with this online application. All photos created can then be saved to the user’s own computer, registration is not required, paid upgrades are available but are not necessary for the average photo editor, and the site is fast and free. I would highly recommend this application to colleagues.

Week 12 - Website Design

What fun! I began this activity thinking that I'd create a website for my students and parents with just a few pages and it turned into a much bigger project. My goal was to create a site that was accessible by students and parents and could be used on a regular basis. Creating each page, I searched through the Google Gadgets to find appropriate content. Many of the gadgets had inappropriate ads and I didn't think it looked professional, so I really tried to streamline my choices. First, I chose a clock on the homepage, as a helpful tool. Then, I inserted photos and clip art throughout the site so that it would be aesthetically pleasing. After that, I included Picasa slide shows (definitely my favorite feature of Google Sites so far) to showcase some of the activities that have happened in our classroom so far this year.

I chose to purchase a web address through GoDaddy.com so that I could have the changclassroom name, back in August. I wanted it to be something that my second grade students could easily type in and access in the computer lab at school or at home, independently. I've been uploading newsletters since then for parents who preferred a digital copy. I didn't feel like the content was being accessed, though, so I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to add to it! I've dabbled in adding content to my site since then also, but I didn't feel like I was ready to present it to students and parents until this point. This is just the beginning of a much bigger project. I am so excited to continue working on this and improving this classroom website.

My Classroom Website

Week 11 - Concept Mapping

We're currently starting a unit on expository text patterns. Students will be able to identify these text patterns and use graphic organizers to write expository pieces in each of these patterns. I'd like to build this graphic organizer with my students as we move through the unit. Initially, I'd start with the "Expository Text Pattern" bubble. Each week, as I introduce the new pattern, I'd add the description and cue words. My visual learners may find this helpful to use to keep track of the wide variety of patterns that we'll be studying for the next few months. This will be a student-led activity. Although I'll be doing the typing at the computer, we will create this concept map together, as a class, and add to it each week. At the end of each week, I'll print a copy for the students to use as they begin writing using the new text pattern.

Week 10 - Screencasting with Jing

The purpose of this screencast is to formally introduce my second grade students and their families to the Spelling City website. This step-by-step screencast will enable students to not only see and hear how to access the site, but they will be shown exactly which features they may use on the website to study and practice their assigned words. Using Spelling City has been an option for my students each week on Thursday nights to prepare for their word study (spelling) tests. However, only a few students have taken advantage of this. Spelling City will be a required homework activity beginning after Spring Break. This screencast will give the students the information and confidence they need to be successful.

http://www.screencast.com/users/changclassroom/folders/Jing/media/999b57bb-9d78-4ef4-b37c-97c7399dfbb1

Week 9 - Google Maps

In our letter-writing and geography unit, we have been sending a "Flat Stanley" to students' friends and relatives around the world. Until last week, we had a Michigan, United States, and World Map posted in the classroom and we put a pin in the map when Flat Stanley came back from another destination. Our customized Google Map has been a much more exciting way to log, follow, and track Flat Stanley's progress across the world.

My second grade students would have a very difficult time mapping this on their own, so I have created this map with them as our Flat Stanley unit has progressed. As a class, we read the information that is sent back from the recipient, mark it on the Google Map, summarize the content of the letter we received, and customize the map to meet our needs. It was the students' idea to color code the map the way that we did (e.g. red pin/red line). They were really excited about working on this together and being able to access the site from home to show their families. In our classroom, this is a map that we will be referring back to for several months, as our Flat Stanley letters come back from the recipients.

View Flat Stanley's Journey in a larger map

Week 6 - Podcasts

Teaching with Technology Podcast

This podcast is a weekly series that includes suggestions, tips, advice, and examples of how to incorporate current technologies into the classroom. The techniques presented are geared toward K-12 teachers. Topics range from using iPods/iPads at all levels, cyberbullying, publishing a podcast and/or e-book to current trends in technology and education. This really is a comprehensive podcast which includes an incredible variety of topics and examples for implementation for teachers.

My Childhood Home - Frankenmuth, Michigan

View Larger Map

Hilarious Video About Appreciating Today's Technologies

My Family - Christmas 2010

Week Five - Photo Sharing

I just love the Picasa program for managing and organizing my digital pictures. I use this program to upload pictures to Winkflash or other sites to create digital scrapbooks. I knew that there was an online photo sharing component, but I hadn't tried it out yet. Here's my first attempt at photo sharing on Picasa Web Albums. I'd love for you to check out my site. :)

Week 4 - Social Bookmarking

Check out my new Delicious.com site!

www.delicious.com/changclassroom

Week Three - Wiki Wiki Web 2.0

Check out my new Wiki!

Week 2 Reflection

Initially, I was shocked at how easy it was to set up a blog. I’ve read blogs before but couldn’t believe that it took literally minutes to set one up for myself. I use a number of Google efficiency tools, but I had not had experience with Google Reader. I logged into that component of Google to find I had somehow already subscribed to several blogs that I regularly follow. What a great surprise that this tool is available to put all of the news feeds and interesting blogs that I enjoy reading in one place.

Honestly, at my level, I feel that both blogs and RSS feeds lend themselves best to the demonstrations band of Dale’s Cone of Experience. As a teacher of such young children, I must show students how these tools can be used in the classroom, provide step-by-step instructions in using these tools, and always clarify any misconceptions or generalizations that the students present. Dale points out that in order for a demonstration to be effective, students need to be “creatively” and “imaginatively” engaged. By accessing blogs with content personalized for the students, with content directly related to our classroom activities, I can provide the foundation for students to be engaged in the way that Dale suggests.

Thinking about Postman’s perspective, I’ve considered what type of problem I have in my classroom and how a blog could be a solution. One problem that I have at the second grade level is matching students with age-appropriate websites and their struggles with typing in those websites correctly. I would love to set up a blog for small groups of students, or individual students, as needed. Students could name their blog, which would give them the ability to spell the web address correctly, and I could customize the blogs to meet the needs of each group of learners. The blogs would be filled with web quests based on our current curriculum, age-appropriate Scenarios, and would be differentiated to meet students’ interest and ability needs. In regards to the RSS feeds, I see another problem that the feeds could be a solution for. Every year in March, my second graders and I follow Alaska’s Iditarod dog sled race. Subscribing to a feed would be a way to be constantly updated, quickly and efficiently, to check in on the racers progress. There are a number of blogs that update racers statuses and provide interesting information. We could use Google Reader as a clearinghouse for this data. Students could access this feed with minimal adult assistance and the fact that all of the information would be in one place would allow us to save a substantial amount of time typing in websites and navigating unfamiliar sites (this is very labor-intensive for eight-year-olds). Thus, it would give us more time to dive into the information that we use in our math and social studies lessons. Both of these problems may seem very simple and unsubstantial to some, but at my level these are real concerns that a blog and RSS could help alleviate for my students and I.

Week One - Reigeluth/Joseph and Postman Essays

Uncanny. That’s the word that kept running through my mind as I read the Technos Quarterly article, Of Luddites, Learning, and Life. There are three colleagues at my elementary school who share many of the same views as the author, Neil Postman. It was interesting to consider his perspective as I read this article and it challenged me to understand his point of view.

Honestly, I found the entire article rather contradictory. Although the author claims that “they (technology/machines) divert the intelligence and energy of talented people from addressing the issues we need most to confront”, that really isn’t the case at all. The article focuses on the need to teach social values to students. Prior to the “at-our-fingertips” access to technology that we have today, the typical student was given an outdated history textbook with one opinion, a teacher with another opinion, and parents at home with a third opinion. If they were lucky, a typical student was given the luxury of three diverse opinions on a particular topic. Today, however, thanks to the machines that Postman sees as “problematic progress”, students are given access to thousands of opinions. As teachers, it is our job to teach students to sift and sort through this information to find credible sources in which to build our own opinions. Postman refers to this “information glut” and tells us that we’re overwhelmed by the information and just don’t know what to do with it all. On the contrary, because we have become accustomed to filtering through this plethora of information, we can begin to think critically about various opinions, based on the wide array of information that we have access to today. It has become a primary job of teachers to teach students how to think critically about these varying opinions. This practice of thinking critically at an elementary level will give students the skills that they need to succeed later in life. I’m always hearing and reading how today’s employers want employees who can solve problems, work as a team, and think critically. Without the access to technology that we have, I don’t feel that we could prepare students as well as we do.

The authors do agree, however, that learning needs to be differentiated to meet the needs of every learner. Postman claims that “school has never been about individualized learning” while Reigeluth and Joseph contend that “we should hold achievement constant at a mastery level”. Their opinion is that children should be allowed to progress at their own, individualized rates. This really has been the business of elementary schools for the past several years. At my school, we use a workshop approach to teaching reading, writing, word study (spelling), and mathematics. We have no textbooks in our elementary schools as a result of our teaching practices. Students are differentiated based on learning style, interest, and ability. These flexible groups allow students to do what both of the authors see as most important – start where they are, both socially and academically, and move forward from that point. Every child sees success and grades are not only measured against state academic standards but are all measured in growth and effort. Although technology isn’t directly involved in this approach to instruction, this does seem to be the beginning stages of the “learning-focused paradigm” that Reigeluth and Joseph suggest.