The Final Countdown

So here we are at the last week of Technology Tools...and I feel like I've accomplished so much. I must admit that although I wasn't a big fan of reading the textbook, I think it will come in great as a resource for my classroom planning. I did like the formats with the guidelines for incorporating concepts like more critical thinking, problem based learning and creative exercises and the lesson ideas were helpful starting points. The resources referenced are also going to come in handy when I'm searching for new ideas and tools. I think that my students will benefit because I am already starting to take bits and pieces from class and incorporate them this year with larger plans for next year. For example, my midterm exam for biology last semester was a poster project on one of the animal phyla. This semester, the students are creating a book on one of the taxonomic groups that will be written for and shared with our seventh graders. All of the text and artwork must be original so Monday I plan on introducing some of the graphics programs from Week One. The plans for next year are to have the students do more of the planning with us like choosing the grade level of the audience and contacting teachers in the other building to set up sharing times. So I have utilized ideas and theory from the text that I can't really put together all at once, but I can build on from semester to semester.

Week One opened so many doors because I've already put some of the presentation programs to work for me in my absences from the classroom. I blogged about Kids and Cadavers two weeks ago and talked more about how I was able to have a productive class even though I was absent. I'm hoping the trend continues and I'm still working on a way to start video taping some of the lectures and labs for students who were absent to reference or for those who are going to be gone for extended periods to keep up while they are out of the building. Why can't I have students Skype me and keep assignments posted through a Ning or Moodle? Week Two was helpful in that it opened my eyes to the possibilities of collaborative projects that aren't a nightmare to organize with one student having lost their school email passwords, another saving a document at home only to find that the school's programs can't open it, and the person who has all of the information saved to their account absent on the day we're supposed to print and edit to be ready for submission deadlines. In my dream world, all of the students have an account on WriteWith or GoogleDocs and I see hands flying over keyboards, training their mouses - clicking away and I hear the sounds of only happy students excited to be doing something that they consider worthwhile. And then they bring me chocolate... OK so maybe I'm pushing it, but even without the chocolate and some of the other aspects - meeting the kids in the middle would make my day.

Weeks Three and Four really had me implementing some tools I was familiar with (spreadsheets) in additional areas in my curriculum. Science is a natural fit for spreadsheets with all of the data collection and my area of weakness was using the spreadsheet to create charts and graphs to assist in analyzing the data. I am going to make a more concerted effort to not only collect and compile data in spreadsheets but also teach the tools of charting and graphing to all of my students. The tool that was new to me was the database. I can't wait to really start making good use of this tool. I began the NHS documentation of hours and service and the information is so malleable. I can organize to see what seniors are in danger of losing their status because of not having items complete or I can switch the filter and search for the students that have paid their dues and are eligible for scholarships. My next step is to learn how to mail merge so that I can get letters home to parents and students so that they are aware of their status.

Finally, Week Five got my interest piqued as we talked about whether or not schools kill creativity. Things really started coming full circle for me as I was receiving emails with great tech tools, the ideas for modifying my midterms started rolling around in my head and I wrote what was to become my guide for integrating technology wholeheartedly in my classroom. It's easy to blog about and choose bits and pieces to start with but the novelty can soon wear off and then I feel like I'm stuck in that rut again. With the technology plan, I can do all of the little pieces with a much larger focus. Now I'm going to do this as part of something bigger and not just because it was part of an assignment or because it was kind of fun or cool. I'm a checklist kind of person and I love crossing things off of a "to do" list, so my tech plan has become my new list. I'm motivated to start making some of the larger changes so I can say that I made them... and so my students will have the benefit of a teacher who still loves what she does and never quite does the same thing twice

Culminating Events

So I was thinking - what can I really do to address all of the ideas and concepts we've been covering in the class so far? To believe that my lessons in class encompass all of the best practices, utilize technology in an engaging manner and use PBL to foster critical thinking while encouraging creativity is truly wishful thinking. Not that I'm saying I'm not a good teacher - great even at times (although maybe not ever awesome like Ryan!). I try different things in class to address bits and pieces of the whole... it's just that I still feel like I'm not doing enough because I don't have a plan of attack.
There are all sorts of great ideas that have been rolling around - I want to attempt for some grants to get a flotilla of laptops and some probeware for the science dept... I want to refurbish my biology classes to make the students the givers of knowledge... I want to completely rewrite the course outline for forensic science to make it more PBL... I want better dissection software that works when we need it to... I want to create Moodles for my classes... I want to create custom search engines for the four classes I teach... I want to scour the internet and sites like NetTrekker, Learn360, and Teacher's Domain for materials to support my student's learning... the list could go on and on and on. I want students to be excited about science!
And then I look at that list and I get down... how can I possibly do it all? And believe me I know that the longest trek starts with a single step and all the rest of the motivational mumbo jumbo, but seriously - where should a person begin without getting lost?
Now, when I read the assignments for the week I'll be honest, I did groan at the thought of putting together my Personal Technology Plan and I thought about what a monumental amount of time it would take. But after looking at my "to do's" I realized that instead of this just being an assignment, it was also an opportunity. Just the other day I blogged that I found a great new site and the author posed the tenent that when the phone rings, a hand is raised or a question is posed - I can deal with it as an opportunity or as an obligation. The assignment is the obligation, but depending on my point of view this might be just the right opportunity to truly lay down a plan of attack to prioritize the "to do" list into a series of goals and objectives that will ultimately accomplish what I want it to in the classroom.
So when asked to blog about what was covered this week and how it will impact my teaching I must say that it has given me a new vision for my methods of teaching as well as a renewed sense of the importance of taking that first step and building beyond it. I'm a great teacher right now, but I have the opportunity to learn and do so much more with my students. With this vision in mind, I can start my Personal Technology Plan with a purpose that will drive my ambition to never rest on "good enough" because I've fulfilled my obligations. Instead the ambition will help me to uncover the opportunities and build on them both in and out of the classroom.

Tools for the Classroom

Just had this site emailed to me and considering our conversation about schools killing creativity last night, I thought the comment by the author about "obligation or opportunity" really applies.
By the way, the link to the free software page has lots of great materials...

Addendum to Kids and Cadavers...

OK so I finally got away from the evil filters at school that were blocking the streaming of the video and I watched the Computer Microscope Project. It was OK. To be honest with you, the video best helped me to see the methodology of the teaching rather then how the technology drives the project. All in all, the video didn't provide much more than the associated materials that were available...so I'll leave my original post about Intime as it stands!

Week Four - Kids and Cadavers

Well, to be honest I was really interested in some of the Intime video clips but had many troubles accessing them from the school computers as well as my laptop at home. I did review the associated materials for the lesson titled, QX3 Computer Microscope Project. The project revolves around using computer microscope hardware from Intel to learn about a chosen biology topic and then prepare a powerpoint to demonstrate the knowledge gained. Just cruising the site, I found the ideas helpful but would probably "tweak" most of them to fit my style. In addition, some of the links were outdated and didn't work (the Intel link for example) and I tend to like more concrete examples and ideas, rather than vague descriptions like "students will explore new areas of biology in which they are interested". Now I do need to take a step back - maybe the video itself gives those concrete answers and the links can easily be found with a little more searching. For now, I think that Intime would be useful when I'm not feeling the most creative and I need a little impetus to try something different. At that point I might go to Intime lessons for some new ideas.

On another completely unrelated note, I had great success in class when I was gone at the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers Convention this past week. I was out of the classroom Thursday and Friday and utilized SlideShare to present notes that my students needed to take from a powerpoint of mine. I didn't want to leave my passwords out there for the sub to access my files and I also didn't want to have every slide of the powerpoint available to the students. With SlideShare, I copied only the targeted slides for each day and then in the sub notes left a URL for each day's notetaking session. When I returned on Monday, my students only needed a little redirection and focus on the notes and I didn't have to labor over giving a whole block of notes in one sitting. In addition, they were being productive while I was gone! (This was a big relief as my current biology students are a little squirrely to say the least...)

The convention itself was a great jumping off point as I found out about many new and not so new technologies and tools. For example, there is a site called Teacher's Domain, hosted by the Educational Communications Board for the state. It is set up to search all public access information (mostly in science, but expanding to other disciplines) and from there a teacher can create lessons and groups. In the groups you can save certain sites and objects to file and post student instructions for each item. The beauty of the site is that teachers, students and parents can all access the information for free, there is no software to download and all of the resources are public domain. It was an awesome learning experience for me and another tool I can add to my expanding kit of technology. There were many other tools taught at the convention as well. If a teacher out there doensn't already know about it, visit the Jason Project - it's geared towards middle school science but has great potential for cross-curricular integration.

The absolute highlight for me was a visit to the Marquette University Human Gross Anatomy Lab for a 3 hour lecture/lab combo. (For anyone with a queasy stomach, you may want to navigate away from my blog at this point, because I'm going to describe what I did...) With all of the positive applications of technology in teaching, I had the opportunity to do the old fashioned hand's on version. We had a brief lecture before heading into the lab where I had the chance to see and investigate a number of bodies with the grad and undergrad students facilitating. I held a human heart in my hands and watched a craniotomy. It was astounding (and humbling) to think of what a perfect machine the human body is. The experience also served to remind me of two things. The first is that the human specimens I was privledged to see and learn from benefitted from technology - I saw brain shunts, pacemakers and artificial joints. The second was that in some instances there is no technology that can replace or substitute for an actual experience with all of the external stimuli (sights, sounds, smells) and the internal emotional reaction.