I know Im a little behind schedule, but I have been working double time trying to experience many of these different websites and programs. I thought I would start off with something easy. In the past, I often find the parents of my students do not understand how to use our online grade posting service. They dont understand what everything means, and where to find the information. Of course, to me it seems easy, but I've become quite familiar with the service. I recorded a screencast of how to use the service, highlighting various important features, only to realize the microphone built into my laptop no longer works. I was still satisfied with the video, so I needed to find another way to record the audio. I ended up recording the audio on my phone as I replayed the vido, transferred it to my laptop, and figured I could find a way to mesh the two. Not so easy. The audio file was not supported by my pre-existing video editing software. So, I downloaded an application to convert the file. Once the file was converted, I tried to to mesh the two using my software, only to find that it was a piece of junk and I couldnt get the program to do what I needed. Since, Ive downloaded Camtasia and will try again. Here goes nothing....
Signing off.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wiki-wiki what?
Well my wiki is almost finished. I had a few setbacks and eventually trashed the first one I was working on in Sandbox. Switched over to wikispaces and started fresh. The wiki will be simple, easy to use and is mostly intended for myself and colleagues I directly worth. The reason... it is setup around our current curriculum. Anyone will be able to view the site, but only myself and a handful of others will be able to modify it. At this point, it is only a list of supplemental videos, websites, and interactives that work well with the topics in our curriculum, but it may change to become more instructional for student use in the future. If you all dont mind, please take a quick look and make a suggestion for improvement. I must warn you, it is simple, there are no bells and whistles, but it took an incredible amount of time for me to gather all of these resources into one place. There will certainly be many more to come, this was just what I gathered after looking at hundreds of old emails. Signing off.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Blogging Blues...
I'm still up in the air this week about this whole blogging thing. I can see the purpose and the advantages, but it seems very unfriendly to use. It seems to that if these blogs could be connected in similar ways as other social networking sites like myface or spacebook, it would be easier to navigate from page to page. I'm trying to hang in there and give this thing a chance though.
Throughout the week, I dabbled in a little of this and a little of that, but really was struggling with purpose of some of these things. Over the past few years, I've got my "stuff" down to a system that works great for me. Then I started the exploring the wikis. In the past, nearly every wiki I have seen was horrible. The person that made it thought it was fantastic, but everyone who had to use it hated it. Then I had the idea of creating a simple, organized wiki containing many of the links, video clips, etc of resources I've used in my classroom. This would be a convenient, easy to access, easy to use resource I could open to other science teachers, even if only teachers within my content area, district, etc. Everything could be in one place and I wouldn't have to dig through hundreds of saved emails to find that one thing I was looking for. Others could add new, worthwhile resources, any I could even find a way to sort out those things based on their qualities. I'm still brainstorming what I would like this to look like, and have only tinkered with the wiki itself, but I will be sure to share what I come up with when I feel I have something respectable. Signing off.
Throughout the week, I dabbled in a little of this and a little of that, but really was struggling with purpose of some of these things. Over the past few years, I've got my "stuff" down to a system that works great for me. Then I started the exploring the wikis. In the past, nearly every wiki I have seen was horrible. The person that made it thought it was fantastic, but everyone who had to use it hated it. Then I had the idea of creating a simple, organized wiki containing many of the links, video clips, etc of resources I've used in my classroom. This would be a convenient, easy to access, easy to use resource I could open to other science teachers, even if only teachers within my content area, district, etc. Everything could be in one place and I wouldn't have to dig through hundreds of saved emails to find that one thing I was looking for. Others could add new, worthwhile resources, any I could even find a way to sort out those things based on their qualities. I'm still brainstorming what I would like this to look like, and have only tinkered with the wiki itself, but I will be sure to share what I come up with when I feel I have something respectable. Signing off.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Current Use of Technology
Whether for the benefit of others, or simply myself, I thought it would be useful to spell out the ways in which I currently use technology in my classroom. When I started teaching in my current position 4 years ago, we did not have enough textbooks for all of our students. At first I thought it would be a nightmare, but I struggled through for the first year, and eventually redesigned the entire course curriculum to include topics and activities that were relevant to the standards and addressed the information found on the dreaded standardized tests.
Since that awful first year, I have designed 95% of everything used in our 8th grade science program, created PowerPoint notes for students to complete, found video clips (who knew youtube would actually serve a purpose), and have had students use portable lap top carts to bring the computers to the classroom. The cart mostly allows all students to make digital graphs and to participate in interactive web sites. With the use of technology, I have used the internet to help answer student questions right before their very eyes (presto, like magic), find videos and other interactives that help students visualize abstract concepts and to demonstrate things we could never do in a classroom.
What has been the most useful??? In my opinion, 8th grade students are generally awkward, in most every way imaginable, but especially mentally. Very few of them are able bridge all of the gaps, or make all of the connections between topics, ideas, and materials. I have two goals, and no matter how I look at it, they lead the way to science success. Goal #1: Students need to understand the purpose and benefits of science. I know they wont all become scientists, thats unrealistic. However, you dont have to be a scientist or even like science to understand the purpose and benefits. Goal #2: I want students to be interested in science. The way I see it, students learn what they want to learn. If I can use technology to take a previously boring thing, and make it cool and fun, students will naturally want to learn and see and do more. That, in my opinion, is what science should be about. Once forced into technology, I can appreciate the beauty of using "it" but am still not 100% confident in my abilities in "it". And that folks, is why I am here
Since that awful first year, I have designed 95% of everything used in our 8th grade science program, created PowerPoint notes for students to complete, found video clips (who knew youtube would actually serve a purpose), and have had students use portable lap top carts to bring the computers to the classroom. The cart mostly allows all students to make digital graphs and to participate in interactive web sites. With the use of technology, I have used the internet to help answer student questions right before their very eyes (presto, like magic), find videos and other interactives that help students visualize abstract concepts and to demonstrate things we could never do in a classroom.
What has been the most useful??? In my opinion, 8th grade students are generally awkward, in most every way imaginable, but especially mentally. Very few of them are able bridge all of the gaps, or make all of the connections between topics, ideas, and materials. I have two goals, and no matter how I look at it, they lead the way to science success. Goal #1: Students need to understand the purpose and benefits of science. I know they wont all become scientists, thats unrealistic. However, you dont have to be a scientist or even like science to understand the purpose and benefits. Goal #2: I want students to be interested in science. The way I see it, students learn what they want to learn. If I can use technology to take a previously boring thing, and make it cool and fun, students will naturally want to learn and see and do more. That, in my opinion, is what science should be about. Once forced into technology, I can appreciate the beauty of using "it" but am still not 100% confident in my abilities in "it". And that folks, is why I am here
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Untitled
Alright Technology, here's how it is... I dont like you... and you dont like me.
I have fought the fight against relying on technology, because I have always assumed that at some point, even if only locally or regionally, technology would fail. I want to remember how to live without technology. Don't get me wrong, I use it, but have avoided many of the things that I didnt see a purpose for. I am now willing to give it a chance. After completing a few readings, I've found that I have been using technology in my classroom in a beneficial way, but not to its full capacity. Understanding that students already rely on technology and use it almost constantly, to teach without using this technology would be the wrong approach.
Still not so sure about this Twitter thing. I could see me using more of this if my mobile device was capable, and refuse to upgrade to the newest gadget every three months just because I can. However, the blogging seems much more practical both in my everyday life and in the classroom. I would doubt claims that these resources were intended for education, but I would not deny their use if they proved to be worthy. I suppose this is where the adventure in web 2.0 begins.
I have fought the fight against relying on technology, because I have always assumed that at some point, even if only locally or regionally, technology would fail. I want to remember how to live without technology. Don't get me wrong, I use it, but have avoided many of the things that I didnt see a purpose for. I am now willing to give it a chance. After completing a few readings, I've found that I have been using technology in my classroom in a beneficial way, but not to its full capacity. Understanding that students already rely on technology and use it almost constantly, to teach without using this technology would be the wrong approach.
Still not so sure about this Twitter thing. I could see me using more of this if my mobile device was capable, and refuse to upgrade to the newest gadget every three months just because I can. However, the blogging seems much more practical both in my everyday life and in the classroom. I would doubt claims that these resources were intended for education, but I would not deny their use if they proved to be worthy. I suppose this is where the adventure in web 2.0 begins.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
A little about myself
Wrapping up my 4th year of teaching has presented quite a few difficult and unique challenges to deal with, and I foresee many more in the near future. Learning new techniques and approaches can never hurt when trying to deal with current and future challenges. Teaching 8th grade science can be quite challenging at times, which makes me want to figure out how to become a better teacher and learner. Ive come to realize two things that I didnt see coming within the past few years. Number one: If you are careful and pay attention, the students will teach you how to teach them. And number two: high stakes testing arent much to worry about (at least with the current processes). My philosophy is, learn how to use methods, techniques, and mindsets that are successful, and the scores will follow. I dont see a need to spend weeks or even months preparing for these tests as I have seen some colleagues do. I'm generally good at convincing the students to learn or at least try to learn the "stuff" we do in class, and when the students trust that I will show them something interesting, unique, weird, or cool, they will often want to be asked for more responsibilities (gasp!, you mean even on high stakes tests?).
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