Summary of Learning

     For my summary of learning final product, I chose to summarize our course topics in a presentation by emaze.  I chose this website because I was impressed with the products that were created when I explored this tool during week 5.  It is a more interactive and entertaining way to present information as well as allow for links, pictures, and videos.  
     After looking through my presentation, I feel that the common theme as well as the biggest takeaway is that the use of technology has a dramatic effect on how students feel towards their school work.  The teachers will always have to teach to the standards, but by doing so with the edge of technology, the students can share the excitement with us.  This class unveiled a wide variety of topics and tools that I want to use because I saw how great the impact is on the students.  
    Some of the great ideas that I plan to utilize are...

• eBooks- I would like to have students create their own eBooks as a way to inspire writing and create ownership and meaning for student work.
• TPACK-  This mindset will forever change the ways that I plan for my lessons and prepare content to teach to my students.
• technology forms of formative assessment-  I plan to change the way I use formative assessment to make it more interactive and efficient through tools such as socrative.
• creaza-  I would like to use this tool more as a way for students to express their learning comprehension.
• mindmeister-  I want my students to embrace this tool as a way to use concept maps in all subject areas.

     All in all, this course certainly took me out of the box and exposed me to some great information that I will likely consider throughout my teaching!

Cool Tool #5: Emaze

   This week's cool tool is a presentation tool called emaze.  I saw this on a classmate's blog last week and I wanted to try it out.  One of my classes at school is working on opinion writing and the students struggled with getting the format correct, so I wanted to make a presentation about opinion writing to try it out.  
     Right when I got to the website, I was able to quickly sign up and it took me right to an option where I could choose a template.  There were so many options, but for use in education they had templates called classroom, academic, and I chose the one called chalkboard.  They had many slide layouts to choose from and I just had to change the words and images for each one.  There is also an option to start from scratch which would likely be more practical for some content.  It was easy to manipulate especially if you have experience with power point or other common presentation tools because the icons are very similar.  
     Some positives of emaze are the simplicity and ease of maneuvering around the site and the wide array of templates and options.  The one negative that I have is that it was difficult to share it.  It was not embedding at first until I messed around with the site for awhile and when I tried to email it to myself it said it was sent, but then never showed up in my inbox.
     I could this being used by both teachers and students.  I used it as the role of a teacher to present a new topic for instruction, but students could use it for their own presentations when they are given assignments.  I saw this cool tool used to give an "About me" presentation with pictures and fun facts inserted.  There was a template for infographics as well  that could be used in the classroom.  Graphs and images can easily be added to the presentation so it could be used in many subject areas including math and science.
     I would like to explore emaze more by checking out the other templates.  I also would like to see how the feature to add videos would look in this presentation.  The thing I really liked about this tool is that there are so many options.  If you would like to check it out, click here!

Week 5: Blended Learning

     This week we spent a lot of time learning about blended learning classrooms.  It hits close to home as the class that I am participating in now is an online class! We were asked to think about this class and based on what we have just learned about what a blended classroom is, evaluate the ways that this course has met the goal effectively and also ineffectively.  According to the iNACOL Blended Learning Teacher Competency Framework, the definition of blended learning is: 

 "A formal education program in which a student learned: at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home; and the modalities along each student's learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience."

Looking at this definition, I feel that our class that I am participating in now, is an effective example of a blended learning classroom in that we use multiple mediums to learn from such as articles, youtube videos, website exploration, and presentations.  Also, we interact with each other through twitter and blog comments as well as interacting with experts through video chats.  Lastly, it is very personalized in that we control the pace that we complete the tasks and we have control over what tools we explore and how to use them.  One way that I feel that the course has not been incredibly successful is that we have no time in a brick-and-mortar location and this could be substituted with more face-to-face interactions with the professor.




    When asked to think about my own philosophy on blended learning, I really thought back on all of the information that we had been given.  I have to admit that it seemed very intimidating to me to approach this blended learning idea but the video about was an amazingly persuasive take on how blended learning is so effectipve.  Based on the ideas in this video as well as from some other readings, I came up with a list of ideas that make up my philosophy on blended learning.

• You have to use blended learning in a way that works for the teacher as well as the classroom.  Stacy even states that you cannot effectively use this strategy if you are not comfortable with it.  The school has to have the equipment and tools available and the teacher has to be prepared.
• Blended learning is a perfect way to personalize learning for the students.  In the article When Does Blended Learning Work Best? by Tanya Roscorla, "Learning strategies and teaching strategies work best when they're aligned to the needs of the individual student."  When using blending learning, the students can choose what they would like to work on and they are in control of their pacing and their work. 
• Blended learning allows students to be more independent and learn from their mistakes.  Students have to be able to depend on themselves to complete their work because in blended learning, the teacher is not breathing down everyone's neck while walking up and down the rows of desks in the classroom.  The students can collaborate and learn how share their ideas effectively. The student are also given immediate feedback allowing them to see where they are at and how they can improve, which also adds to their independence.  
• Blended learning prepares students for the future.  My first online class was in college and it was something that I had to experiment with.  When students are exposed to the technology and expectations earlier in their schooling, it makes them better prepared for further education as well as for their career in the real world one day.
• Lastly, I think that it is great for the teacher because blended learning allows the teacher to work with smaller groups and also it makes grading much faster and more efficient.  

In conclusion, my philosophy on blended learning is that it should be utilized in every classroom to some extent. It will be different every year with every student and every classroom but the benefits far outweigh the negatives.  

      While learning about blended learning, we started with a video presentation by Stacy Hawthorne.  She explained many aspects of blended learning but one thing that was striking to me was her explanation of the various kinds of blended learning. 

The first type of blended learning which is the rotation model is something that I was surprisingly very familiar with.  It is easy to see how that is used in many classrooms.  Then moving up from flex to self-blend and enriched you get more and more involved in technology.  For me, I specialize in elementary grades where the rotation is probably most common.  I enjoyed her explanation of each model and I felt it was beneficial because it shows where I can go now.  If I start with the rotation model, how can I change and adjust my instruction to move towards the flex model and so on.  If you would like to hear more about Stacy's explanation, you can click here. 

     One thing that I would like to expand on from that presentation was something that Stacy  mentioned.  She said that when she was teaching in the blended learning format she never changed the fact that she was still teaching the same content, but what did change was the students' attitudes toward the content.  This is something that was reiterated in many of the materials that we read.  Students seem to enjoy a blended learning environment.  As a teacher, our goal should always be to meet our objectives and standards in an enjoyable way.  I don't like to hear students complain about their work and coming to school and I have the power to change that with the use of blended learning, then I want to embrace it!

Cool Tool #4: ABCya! Word Clouds

     For this week's Cool Tool, I chose a Word Cloud Tool.  I messed around with one other tool before choosing ABCya! I have heard of this website for educational games and activities, so I knew it would be reputable.  It was a piece of cake to get things started.  It prompted me on what to do for each step and it took about two steps to complete the total project.  All I had to do was type in the words, hit go, and then I was able to customize.  I chose the color scheme, font, and the design of the words.  The positives for the ABCya! Word Cloud are the simplicity, ease, and basic customization.  Also, this is the first tool that I used that did not require me to make an account and log in! It was as simple and creating the word cloud and saving it.  I could not find any negatives but if I had to choose one, I might suggest adding some more customizing options, such as more color schemes and shapes. 
    For my word cloud, I chose to use the sixth grade vocabulary words for the week.  I could see the teacher using this to present words or even having students make one themselves as a way to practice and add some more exposure to them.  Another use could be for a prior knowledge activity to use key words for a topic or book before exposing the students to it.  You could then make a new one full of new ideas after the lesson.  It is great for clumping words together that are similar.  For example, after a word sort, students can then group the words into different word clouds based on what group they placed the words into.  
    I would like to explore this more as part of a more interactive activity for students to do on their own with teacher guidance.  For my sample, I did not use a great deal of words, so I would like to experiment with different amounts of words as well.  
    All in all, it was a nice and easy tool with many classroom applications.  If you would like to try it out, check out the website here.   

Sharing My Thoughts Week 4: Assessment

     Assessment can be a tricky topic for educators and every teacher, principal, parent, and student has an opinion and philosophy about it.  My philosophy revolves around the fact that assessment should be varied.  Assessment is such a broad term and it contains many subcategories that there is so much room for difference.  The main thing about assessment is that it should fit your students' needs.  Assessment will of course require summative grades but it also needs formative and informal assessments that are not graded but are just used to guide lessons and instruction.  Also, students should be well prepared for the assessment.  Teachers may provide rubrics or some sort of guidelines because the goal of an assessment is not to trick students but get an accurate idea of what they know.

    

     During the presentation by Scott Kinkopht, he used a program called Pear Deck .  I was very impressed by this website.  I liked it because besides being a presentation tool, it also was a way to interact and gain formative assessment feedback from students.  It was nice to be able to have a role to play in the presentation besides just watching as an instructor lectures to the observer.
    Another tool that was used was called Educanon.  This was another great tool for teachers.  The one thing that I found the most striking about Educanon is how engaging it would be for students. There is also such a wide array of topics and videos for teachers to choose from.
     As a whole, I really enjoyed the presentation mostly because I felt like I was learning through interacting and watching examples of formative assessment as it was being explained.  There was also a great deal of interaction among the students in the class as they participated. One thing that Scott said that I felt was important was that students can learn without grades, but they cannot learn without formative assessment and that feedback.  You can give a million tests and projects and that does not mean that the students are learning from it. Learning has to be interactive so the teacher needs to ask and seek out student progress and then provide feedback to the student.  This was something that I did not really think of before and I felt it was very meaningful.
     In another portion of our tasks for week 4, we were given an article about Classroom Assessments.  In this reading, I found another striking thought.  The author wrote, "Teachers use formative assessment to improve instructional methods and student feedback throughout the teaching and learning process."  To me, this made it seem like formative assessment is like a grade for the teacher.  As a teacher, it is my job to get the information across to students effectively so that they can process it and use it.  Formative assessments will tell me if that is being done and when it isn't, then I have home work to do to make it work.  It is important to remember that teaching is completely interactive and we all have a job to do to make it work. 

Cool Tool #3: MindMeister

     For my concept mapping tool, I chose to explore a website called mindmeister.com.  The website is full of ways to organize thoughts and plan.  When I first got onto the site, I clicked something that said that I could take a "test drive".  I was hoping this would be a tutorial of some sort.  It was just taking me to a blank page so that I could fool around with all of the tools. I, personally, did not feel this was the best way for me to explore how to use this program.  I ended up signing up for the most basic version which is free.  This version seems to have everything I would need as a teacher or student.  I chose a template and just started from there.  The biggest negatives of the website are that it was hard to learn how to start and it did take me a little while to get all of the manipulations and icons down before it became a fluid process.  I did notice that they offer a little training which I feel would be worthwhile.  Some of the features of mindmeister that I enjoyed were that there were so many templates to inspire and help me get going.  As I got the hang of things I liked that there was spellcheck that helped me and also I could add pictures from the clip art they provided, a selection of icons or I could search google images from within the website.  There is such a range of customization that I could see students enjoying this program.  When it was time to export my mind map, I was given many choices of how the file should be saved which made it easier for me as well. 
     I found many uses for these mind maps for both student and teacher resources.

1. Brainstorming an essay. Students can map out their details and ideas for each paragraph and add images to spark ideas as well as add links to sources.
2. Creating a study guide.  Students can compile their notes and ideas into a organized study guide.  They can also add images of graphs and diagrams.
3. Story maps. Students can map out the events of a story as a great comprehension tool. Pictures can be used for younger students. 
4. Lesson planning.  Teachers can place the objective or standard in the middle and plan lessons and activities around it. 
5. Graphic organizers.  Teachers can prepare graphic organizers for students to finish filling out or students can make their own as they read. 
6. To do list. Teachers and students and can create an organized form that lists the tasks that need to be completed as well as details to go along with them. 

     There are so many ideas that can be brought to life with this website.  I would like to take the time to explore some of the other templates as well as see some of the other features that were not designed for education.  Additionally, I am curious to see how a student would do when placed in front of this program.  Since it took me a little bit of time to get the hang of things, I would be interested to see how a student approaches it. 
     If you would like sign up for mindmeister.com or try it out yourself, click here. 

Sharing My Thoughts: Week 3

     

     At the heart of the Week three content, was this presentation by Jon Smith.  In his presentation, Smith tell the audience about his experiences in creating eBooks with all kinds of students and the effects that it had on them both academically and socially.  When I first clicked the link and saw that this was going to last almost an hour, I have to admit that I was a little dismayed.  The time flew by as I listed to the anecdotes and stories that Smith had to share about his teaching experiences.  My heart melted as he explained how students came to him asking to make these books and how their self esteem soared after they completed their projects.  I also especially appreciated his honestly.  When he explained his special ed class in which he was struggling to get them to write, I felt that the way he explained his thoughts as a teacher as well as their thoughts as students was incredibly accurate! The students that struggle in Language Arts start to just not care after awhile.  I have seen it several times and I felt that Smith's reasons as to why they don't care was on point.

1. An audience of one. Students put so much time and effort into something that is only going to be read and graded by the teacher. 
2. No sense of purpose.  Students work on something just to complete it for a grade of completion.  They are not getting anything out of it.
3. Want to leave a legacy. The students have nothing to leave behind or be remembered for. 

Overall, the presentation was incredibly inspiring! I found myself eager to get a group of kids together to start making a book today! 
      I used to think that I did not have the materials or knowledge base to to try to do something to the extent of creating and publishing an eBook with my students, but now my thoughts have changed after exploring the research.  Hearing how motivated the students were and reading about the impact that it had on them makes me feel as if it is so worth it.  Besides the student motivation, the list of benefits could go on for pages.  One of the benefits that was obvious to me was the collaboration.  To create one eBook for a whole class means that students have to work together and learn how to critique others in a polite way as well learn the responsibility of completing their own parts of the project.  One difficulty is that it requires work on the part of the teacher. Not only do the teachers have to supervise effectively and manage the project but the hardest part I would imagine is staying up to date on all of the information out there. In the article EBooks and TPACK, What Teachers Need to Know, the author mentions that professional development in this area is vital.  Teachers have so much on their plate from their day to day tasks that it is hard to set time aside to do their own research.
      I also think that creating an eBook will improve the writing process.  Most of the time when teachers explain the writing process, it revolves around writing a paper usually with a rough draft written with pencil and then the final draft typed up and then probably edited a few times before turning in for the teacher to grade.  This speaks to all of Smith's reasons above why students don't care about writing.  When making an eBook, the steps of the writing process actually mean something and have an end goal.  Students want their work to be edited and make a few drafts because they want their work to be good for their audience that will read it and the legacy that they will leave.  
     In conclusion, I am in full support of eBooks, I will most certainly be altering my writing assignments to help students care about writing again.