Week 9 Reflections

This week we worked on two projects, the first one being concept mapping. We all used bubbl.us to create our concept maps. They had to relate somehow to our content area, so I chose to use statistics and break down into the basics of mean, variance, independent events, and probability. These are all key components in introduction to statistics.

The standards met for concept mapping were: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning and Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.

The second project that we completed this week was creating a newsletter on Microsoft Publisher. This newsletter was meant for our future students to receive before class started in the summer. Mine introduced my students and their parents to me, my values, my beliefs in the classrooms, and then included some articles about technology in the classroom and some sites for the students to practice on. Overall, I was really happy with the outcome of my newsletter!

The standards met for the newsletter were: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning and Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.

Week 8 Reflections

This week we created a podcast that somehow related to our content area. Since I am AYA Math, I chose to create a podcast that would be paired along with my VoiceThread assignment I had done a couple weeks before. In my podcast I list four jobs that relate to math and in some unexpected way. This podcast would get my students excited for their semester long project incorporating real world applications for math.
The standards that were met this week were: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, and finally, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.

Week 7 Reflections

This week for class we built two rubrics, one on RubiStar and the other by building our own in Microsoft Word. Clearly, I liked making the one on RubiStar better because when you use RubiStar to make a grading rubric, you can pick categories based on the subject matter that is being graded and then smaller sections within those. They can also be edited so that they fit your project perfectly, but so that you don't have to write the entire thing yourself.
We created two new pages on our Google Sites page. One was titled "Assessment" and the other was titled "Tools for Classroom Use." The assessment page gave a list of sites that teachers could use to create rubrics, something like a RubiStar. There was also another list on this page and that was for differentiated instruction. I feel very strongly about multiple intelligences and differentiated instruction so I really enjoyed finding these sites. I liked reading what other educators were writing and what articles are trying to teach educators who do not feel strongly about this subject. On the other Google Sites page, the "Tools for Classroom Use" page, we were asked to find five puzzles, activities, worksheet builders, etc. that would be helpful for our content area. I liked looking at these sites too because I found some great activities that I would love to implement in my high school math classrooms.
Finally, we made a wordle picture. A wordle picture is when you insert a paragraph, paper, site, or something of that nature and it generates a series of words that are used most. This picture, for our project, was used to describe our philosophy of education. This could also be used in classrooms covering English so that students could see what words they use most in their papers. I liked the wordle that I created and I think I would use this if I needed a picture for a website or something to give to my students at the beginning of the year when I generated one for them to learn about me.
The standards met this week were: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, and Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.

Week 6 Reflections

This week we worked on different types of video production. One of the videos was made in Voicethread and one of Windows Movie Maker. I thought that Voicethread was easier to navigate and use, but that's probably just because I use a Mac so Windows Movie Maker isn't a product of Apple, obviously. I like the concept of both of the movies and I thought they were good ways to explore more about our teaching style and what being in the College of Education at Ohio University means to us as students.
While making the videos this week, many standards were met. Some of these include: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership, Commitment to Ethics and Social Justice, and finally, Commitment to Professional Competence and Ongoing Professional Development.

Week 5 Reflections

This week we were asked to create a movie in Picasa that covered our interpretation of diversity and what it meant to us as educators and people of this Earth. I chose to go more with my interpretation of diversity in general and the importance I feel for understanding and being knowledgeable about all of the people of this world. I learned how to make a movie in Picasa and how to upload it onto to my Google account so that it could be seen in an online format. Making this movie was one of the harder things for me to learn because working through Picasa was hard for me.
The standards that were met through this Picasa movie were Commitment to Professional Competence and Ongoing Professional Development, Commitment to Ethics and Social Justice, and finally, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.
Another assignment we had to complete this week was a website evaluation assignment. I chose to evaluate a website that gave a more creative take on high school math, involving each subject matter along with games, lessons, quizzes, and more. We were asked to evaluate the site based on it's quality of how it looked and what it gave to us. I think overall the site I picked was good, but it didn't necessarily have all the educational assets that makes a perfect website.
The standards met for the website evaluation assignment were similar to the ones for Picasa. They were Commitment to Professional Competence and Ongoing Professional Development and Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.

Week 4 Reflections

This week each student in the class created a WebQuest that related to some topic in their content area. A WebQuest is exactly what it sounds like, it is a quest on the web to understand and learn new knowledge about a subject matter.
I did my WebQuest on Fibonacci's sequence. This covered the history of Fibonacci and his sequence, what makes Fibonacci's sequence special and what are some important numbers, and finally, where does Fibonacci's sequence appear in real life. My WebQuest guided students through exploring the questions and finding the answers, but they were also allowed to use other sites if they felt like that was necessary. After researching the "big questions" outlined on the task and process page of the WebQuest , the students were then told to portray the information in a visual media paper. This includes, but is not limited to: PowerPoints, videos, collages, comic strips, pieces of art, or anything else that felt properly conveyed the information learned through exploring the WebQuest and other sites.
This project met many of the standards of technology for teachers including: promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness; incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity; and finally, communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
Overall I found the WebQuest very interesting to make and I think it would be a great tool to use in my future classroom.

Week 3 Reflections

This week we created a Google Survey and had to organize the results into a PowerPoint presentation with the results and why we thought the survey was important. The standard met this week was in the category of Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, the sub-standard being "collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation."
This standard was met because my parents, peers, and students in my class helped me by taking my survey for class and it helped in my success and bettered my learning. I worked with Google Docs to create a survey and I think it definitely will help me in the classroom because I could use it as a tool to learn more about my students at the beginning of the year. Also my students could create surveys based on topics that interest them in a certain subject matter. This type of survey-style learning could be used in so many ways I could go on for days.
Another site we learned about this week was Diigo. At first I thought Diigo would just create more work for me and that I wouldn't find the site resourceful, but then when I actually started using it I realized how great it was! All you have to do when you find a great site is click the "Diigolet" button in bookmark toolbar and then you can start highlighting, making post-it notes, and bookmarking the article on your Diigo site. This can be something private on your Diigo, like for a school projects research, or public, like on the groups we are using for our class. Many groups can be created on the site and it makes collaborating very easy. I could see this being a great tool for students in my future classroom because they would be able to only read what other people highlighted or their comments if they wanted so that they got the jist of the article.