Remember the Yellow Brick Road? (CEd0525 Week 5)

One of the first posts I made had references to my feeling like Dorothy landing in Oz and the fact that I didn't really have a handle on the journey ahead, all I knew was that I was on the yellow brick road. Well, I'm still on the road and I have a much clearer picture of where I'm going. That's not to say that I'm near the end, rather I have broken the journey into more manageable steps and sequences. This past week, I've evaluated an online lesson that reinforced my determination to incorporate more cross-curricular activities in my classroom. In addition, the opportunity to revise a current unit of mine has really been enlightening. The forensic science class that I teach was a 9 week class and starting this fall will be changed to an 18 week course. This means that many of the activities I have done in the past need to be revised and the learning deepened. Focusing on the instructional strategies and the technologies that support them through class is so timely because I need to complete the same process for the unit revision for much of the forensic science activities, lessons and units. Completing the assignment has forced me to start the process and hopefully I will get better and better at it as I progress.

It's a Wild Ride (CEd0525 - Wk 4)

Wow, I was totally amazed by the unit plan for the roller coaster project. I mean, I thought I was a pretty organized teacher as far as projects in my classroom, but I got so many pointers from the unit plan. I really liked the red book project "manual" as it included all of the necessary information and assessment pieces as well as resources for the students. It really reminded me that even though I teach high school students, I can't expect them to know and fulfill roles in the group unless I specify and give examples for them to follow - the roller coaster project really does a great job of that. The fact that all of the pieces are in one place makes it so much easier for the students to know what to expect and it really allows them to be successful as well.
The other thought I had when I looked at this project was how lucky I was in my middle school. I attended Jackie Robinson Middle School in Milwaukee (part of MPS)and I remember so many instances of this type of integration between disciplines as well as collaborative projects. I feel that I really had an excellent foundation when I "compare notes" with others recalling their middle school or junior high experiences. I find that the single biggest challenge to integration between disciplines currently, is that lack of planning time. I'd love to get a few other teachers on board to plan and implement some projects but we never seem to have the time or opportunity to move forward. Right now, they remain great ideas that haven't been realized and I'm hoping that using some of the tools and techniques I've learned in our classes can be utilized towards that end. In effect, I think I need to create my own red book of ideas and ways to implement them, as well as assessment on whether or not I've (we've) made progress.

Bubbl.us, Inspiration & Education Oasis (CEd0525 - Wk 3)

I really enjoyed Bubbl.us! It is so easy and intuitive when you start using it and you actually start using it before you even need to register. Registration is VERY simple and there’s no opening an email link to activate the account and once registered, you are able to collaborate and share in addition to saving the sheets and graphics you are working on. The collaboration element may be one of the stronger points for Bubbl.us as it reminds me very much of GoogleDocs and the ease with which students can work together. One of the major limitations seemed to be the inability to add transition/connector words between bubbles. In addition, the sheet seems to readjust in a strange way; when I’m attempting to spread out the graphic and move one bubble, the remaining bubbles snap to a predetermined grid, making the move of the first bubble pointless. Overall, this tool reminds me of a watered down version of Inspiration which doesn’t offer collaboration, but includes images and connectors.

Inspiration seems to offer much more to the user in terms of flexibility and whereas this may be desirable, it can often lead students to focus more on the presentation of the information, rather than the information and content itself. This potential drawback would have to be balanced with the advantages of clip art, graphics, and connectors that are available in this program. Another drawback is that Inspiration is a software package and Bubbl.us is completely free to access and use.

Finally, the Education Oasis site offers free “canned” graphic organizers for a variety of applications. This is the least flexible of the options explored here but it represents the many areas that graphic organizers can be utilized. An educator can also use this data bank of organizers as a jumping off point to show students what organizers can look like or to show how one can take the idea behind a particular organizer and modify it for another purpose. There is no registration to use the organizers on the site and they are all linked as PDF files that include copyright restrictions.

Feedback that Fits (CEd0525 - Wk 2 cont'd)

The article “Feedback that Fits” is a reminder of excellent educational practices that sometimes remain undeveloped or underdeveloped in many teachers (myself included). I don’t mean to make excuses, but with the stacks of paperwork and administrative duties in the classroom, sometimes it’s hard to find the time to keep up with and strengthen the skills necessary to make one of the biggest differences in student learning.
As to the content of the article, I feel that the point made about how (or if) students hear the feedback is such an important one. At times I feel that it doesn’t matter what I say to a particular student because s/he has a preconceived notion as to how smart s/he is, whether or not the topic is interesting enough to warrant time and attention and that individual has already made up their mind that I’m not really that important to their education. So I think that not only do we have to consider how the student hears the feedback but also who delivers it.
In the example with Anna, many potential comments and suggestions for feedback are given but the article fails to mention that in some cases a particular comment may be received better if it comes from a different teacher. I believe that rapport with students can be a large influence on how they “hear” things. If a student has made up their mind that a teacher doesn’t care or is indifferent, that will affect how s/he hears any comment made, whether positive, negative, effective or not. However, if a student has a good rapport with the teacher, then the feedback is received or “heard” with more understanding.

Electronic Student Response Tools (CEd0525 - Wk 2)

There are many choices when one looks at the possibilities for student response tools that can be integrated in the classroom - everything from simple surveys to software to online classroom platforms. I investigated survey tools like Survey Monkey, Zoomerang and Poll Everywhere, software programs by Inspire Data and Ignite Learning, quiz programs like Quia and Quizstar and online classroom platforms like Blackboard and Moodle. In general all of these have the potential to increase student interaction in the classroom using non-verbal methods. The success with their implementation will partly depend on how seamlessly the technology is integrated into the curriculum. In addition an educator must consider what technologies are available within his/her district, whether or not they are accessible by all students, and if the school district will allow access to particular sites. (For example, within my district, all access to Google Docs is blocked by the filter because it is categorized as an email application.)
Click here to view a chart that summarizes some of the major characteristics of each type of student response tool.