Assignment #4: Technology Project

Features of the Technology Learned and Used:

SMART Response System: This was a marvelous way to check for understanding. One feature of the SMART Quizzes that I really like is the different options in question types. I preferred having multiple choice questions with more than one answer to make students’ thinking more complex. Another feature that I discovered to be so useful is the analysis after each question: you could see where there was particular confusion on certain concepts, and this allowed me to take a minute to explain an answer.

http://www.xtranormal.com/: Cartoon Movie Creator: This is a very unique website resource to use, but it definitely requires its share of time. I love the idea of having students create their own cartoon movies about the 13 colonies because being required to write their own script will creatively allow them to express what they’ve learned and process that knowledge once again. Through this technology, I learned how to create a detailed script with pauses, gestures, and accents. I learned how to choose different characters and publish the movie onto the site’s archives when completed. However, I did have some issues that are noted below, along with several significant concerns for this technology being used in the classroom. The introductory Jamestown movie that I created a sample for the students may be accessed here.

Teacher Website: I integrated my Weebly teacher website for students to access the SMART Board lesson later, as well as additional resources such as a YouTube video which delves into a Google Map of how the current USA overlaps the 13 Colonies. Please access that page here.

SMART Board Lesson: This was by far the most practical learning experience. I thought it would be very simple to create my own SMART Board lesson from scratch, but it took me much, much longer than anticipated. I’ll explain that in the issues below. The SMART Board Presentation may be accessed through the file uploaded onto my website: Mrs. Sem's Lesson.  The features that I learned and used in the SMART Board notebook file were:

• Creating a title page
• Utilizing the Screen shade to cover up and reveal information at my own pace during presentation.
• Creating personalized charts on a slide
• Inserting pictures
• Personalizing color backgrounds
• Creating and using a SMART Response Quiz 

Issues Encountered & Solved:

SMART Response System: Having participated in a SMART Response quiz once before Northwest and then having watched this feature being used in Tech in Ed, I was eager to figure it out on my own. However, I did not anticipate that it would take me nearly an hour to fully get a hang of this system before my actual presentation. I struggled for the first half hour, trying to figure out why I could not sign a clicker in and begin the assessment, only to realize that I had to plug in the main device for the system to work. Once I did this, the SMART Software guided me through the next steps: creating a class, starting assessment, checking results, and so on.

• Because of the generous time I had spent practicing using this system, I am grateful that I did not run into any significant issues during the actual lesson. One thing that I still need to work on is keeping track of students who have finished answering the questions in order to keep the quiz going.

http://www.xtranormal.com/: Several issues with this technology were:

• If you click on a different language accent (like “French woman” for instance), sometimes you can hardly understand what the character is saying from your script. This defeats the purpose of having a script with important concepts and terms from the lesson. I really wanted this feature though, because it made the cartoon movie fun and also integrated different nationalities that were relevant to the different types of settlers in the 13 Colonies lesson.
• Another key issue was the time consumption of this technology. Although it’s marvelous because it can be tailored to fit your own lesson and include any information (script) you’d like because essentially, you are the narrator – it requires that you sit down and spend a good hour for just a minimal bare movie. The time I spent creating the story, adding pauses and gestures to make it flow doesn’t seem evident when you watch the video because it’s cheesy regardless. I think the reason why I would still use this technology over a video that is already prepared by someone else – is because there is a much greater opportunity for enhancing the learning process, both for me as a teacher and for the students. Because I wanted to keep the video concise and yet educational, it made me analyze which most important concepts ought to be emphasized in my lesson. For students, it would also require that they digest everything they know in order to express that knowledge through a video. With this note on time concern, I would also be worried that my students would be spending too much time on the petty features like choosing the character’s voice than actually putting together a script that reflects their knowledge.
• The third issue is that although this resource is free, the free version is limited which hinders the creativity and fun aspect of learning because you have less options for characters and settings which would be extremely beneficial to specific projects like this one.

SMART Board Presentation: The issues that I ran into learning and using the SMART Board were:

• Spending a large chunk of time simply creating my own slide layout. Unlike PowerPoint, which makes it so easy to insert text and pictures into the different layouts available – SMART notebook isn’t as user-friendly in centering your text the way you’d like, and have automatic templates to type into. Granted, it does have some lesson template but they were not to my taste and had either too many pages or features that only distracted me or would not seem to change colors.
• Similarly, many of the tools offered are somewhat cheesy and I prefer to go without. For elementary students, they may be wonderful because kids love bright colors, balloons, different shapes, and clip-art – but for secondary, I think that presentations need to have a more professional appearance.

Teacher Website: I was afraid the SMART Board lesson would not upload successfully onto my Weebly website, as it took a significantly long time. But after five tries, it finally worked!  What I initially did to solve this problem, was take out all of the information I wanted my students to know from lecture and put it into a Word document for them to access after class. This was not the ideal option, but it satisfies the purpose, which was to make sure they have the information to draw from for future exams and for their projects.  When I tried to upload the notebook document again though and it was successful, I simply kept the Word doc up because the format of the information was a bit different than that in the SMART Notebook presentation, which would supplement the lesson all the more.

What this Project Means to Me:
This project meant very much to me because it helped me get past that first tough stage in creating and using a SMART Board presentation. Going into a school that has SMART Wednesdays, I better have a fairly good understanding of this technology and ability to use it. To be sure, I could still use a lot more practice. But I think this was one of those big stepping stones that will make my future experiences go more smoothly.

Experimenting on the cartoon movie-maker through Xtranormal.com has given me a broader perspective on how I might integrate technology into my future classroom. Before this, I preferred the traditional way to make projects, with paper and pen. Now, I’ve realized that my students could still express their creativity and knowledge in a costless, more professional, and fun way. I also recognize that despite the issues I encountered, my students will probably get a hang of such a technology much quicker and use it much better than I did because they’re just better at technology in general.

I’ve become a huge fan of SMART Response quizzes after having created a quiz using this system and carried it out to actually see how it works in a real life lesson. I would definitely continue to use this technology in the future, for graded quizzes, simple checks for understanding, and also for reflective purposes: to get a sense of how my students feel about a particular subject while keeping their opinions anonymous.

I still do believe that technology does not always necessarily engage students better than other forms of education. For instance, I began this lesson by talking about my family’s own immigration experience to America and distributing meaningful objects from Ukraine. This was not technological, it was tangible and personal which was just as important as the technology, if not more. So I’ve learned through using all of these different technologies and the old-fashioned personal story that it’s best to mix them up for the strongest learning experience.

NETS for Students:

1.  “Creativity and Innovation”: Students “create original works as a means of personal or group expression.” - In their movie projects, students definitely are required to design an original work using technology in order to express their knowledge of the differences between colonial regions in the 13 Colonies.
2. “Communication and Collaboration”: Students “communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.” - Xtranormal.com is a unique media format in which students must create their own scripts to communicate through different characters what they know about the 13 colonies. This is applicable to different audiences because the cartoon movies are geared more towards elementary students. Their scripts should be understandable for a younger class, and thus in their own words (not my in the teacher’s words!).
3. “Research and Information Fluency”: Students must “process data and report results.” - Having students create their own scripts requires them to process what they’ve learned in class, as well as what they may have learned outside of class and translate that information into their own words and form of communication for others to understand what the 13 Colonies were about.
4. “Technology Operations and Concepts”: Students must “select and use applications effectively and productively.” - Xtranormal.com, being a program that could be used for all types of movies, is taught to students in the educational context so they create movies using this software that enhance knowledge and share it with others. Using the SMART Response system to submit their quizzes is also a productive use of applications. They demonstrate their knowledge to the teacher through their personal remotes and analysis of the questions displayed on the SMART Board.

NETS for Teachers:

1. “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity”: The teacher must “promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.” - Assigning a project in which students must design their own videos about the lesson at hand, undoubtedly encourages students to be creative and inventive. Furthermore, holding students to a specific rubric in which creativity will be graded, ensures that the students will be diligent in their innovative movies rather than careless. They will be graded on how accurate, broad, and deep the content of the scripts are, as well as how creative they are. Creativity is evident in the different features used such as accents, pauses, gestures, settings, and so forth.
2. “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments”: The teacher must “provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. -  The SMART Response quiz has questions that assess both the students’ knowledge as well as reflect how well the students feel they know the content. This quiz could be graded; however, in this lesson, it serves more as a lesson review in preparation for a real summative assessment. It also provides feedback to the teacher on how well the content was delivered and grasped.
3. “Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility”: The teacher should “address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.” - Providing additional resources on the teacher website show that the teacher is responsible and willing to go the extra mile to make sure every student has access to the necessary information. The diverse needs may range from language to absence to different learning styles. Thus, provided resources like Lingro.com to translate the documents on the website or additional videos for students who are visual learners, will provide “equitable access” for all students.

Future of Technology

I recently discovered where I will likely be student teaching, so I took the time to research the school.  I discovered many important characteristics: almost 80% of students are on free/reduced lunch, only 20% of students are white (it's VERY diverse), and the WASL passing results were a low 50%.  I also discovered that every week, every Social Studies classroom in the school participates in "SMART Wednesday".

This is a time when students share current events in the world on PowerPoints via the SMART Boards.  There are specific requirements that must be met of course, such as that students cannot simply talk about sports or music, but relevant and significant historical events.  A very large focus of the school in their hopes for the future is a shift from teacher-led curriculums to student-led.  In other words, they are trying to involve students more in order to get them to think critically.  That's what SMART Wednesdays are about.

So this pertains to the future of technology because it demonstrates how technologies that are becoming available change curriculum styles.  The more opportunities technologies open up, the more students will probably take initiative in their own education.

Reflection #11: Apple vs. Dell

What?  Last week, our class shared personal features that they know and love about their computers.  Our discussions were inspiring because I left feeling like there was still so much to learn.  They were also insightful because I left feeling like I had learned so much!  If I could name 1 feature from all of the presentations that stuck out to me, it was the Microsoft Word Translation option (Russian!).  However, I found myself very curious about Macs because of the extremely enthusiastic comments about them.

So What? So I went home that night and told my husband that Macs do this and that and Mac users are given wonderful customer service, and his response brought me to reality.  "No one beats Dell.  They provide the very very best customer service.  Call and someone will answer to assist you within ten seconds.  If something is wrong with the computer, they'll send someone to fix it within 24 hours," etc.  I realized that it's not so much about which provider offers what, but how much the customer knows what's available to them.  See, I could have been easily swayed by the Mac users simply because I was not aware of what my own provider offers!

Now What? Well, this has to do with Education because we all use, and will use our technologies everyday towards scheduling, grading, lesson planning, web-browsing, emailing, etc. and if they fail on us - we must know how to fix the problem quick (and at an affordable cost).  Likewise, what is the point of having such incredible programs like Microsoft Word and Powerpoint if I don't even know all of the features on them, much less how to use them?  Now that I have become aware of the Translate feature on Word, I have already translated a Sunday School newsletter from English into Russian so I can send it along to my students' parents.  Granted, there are some flaws due to ambiguous phrases of speech in English that translate VERY awkwardly - but the program still makes it 100x easier to rewrite such a document into another language.  You just have to skim through a few times to make sure it flows properly.  This is a feature I plan to use in the future - and I will continue to explore all of the others!

Excel, Powerpoint, and Word

Higher Education is what has really stretched my abilities and skills in Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, and Word.  Here are a few features that I use often and ideas that I would integrate into the classroom.

Excel:
I first became very acquainted with Excel when my husband and I were planning our wedding and setting future goals for our family.  He taught me how to create a tailored spreadsheet with the following features:

•  Days of the week and dates that repeat consecutively down the spreadsheet when you press on the corners and pull the cell down.
• Color-code different events or subjects.
• Use different sheets to separate different charts (i.e. honeymoon packages, venues, guest lists, contact information, menus, songs, Things to buy, prayer lists, etc.)
• Use shortcuts to copy (Ctrl C), cut (Ctrl V), paste (Ctrl P), undo (Ctrl X), strikethrough (Ctrl 5), bold, italicize, etc.  Most of these are also applicable on the internet, Word, PowerPoint, and other programs.
• Formulas to add up things like: # of guests (so you type in a family name in one column and the # of members in another which will add all of them up automatically in a "Total" cell at the bottom).  This makes counting so much easier.
• Right click on a cell to add a comment, such as "Call for contact info." or "send another invitation", etc.

Possible Assignment: Have students create a timeline of different inventions around the world during the scientific and industrial revolutions, using different rows and columns for who the inventors were, what they invented, when, where in the world, and why these inventions were revolutionary.

PowerPoint
I love PowerPoints because they are professional supplements to presentations.  However, they take perfectionists SO much time to create.  The effort is usually worth it in the end, because a well-crafted PowerPoint usually makes a smoother presentation.  The following features are ones I have used:

• Inserting personalized charts to illustrate a concept
• Adding sound effects.
• Using it on SMARTBoard to access videos on the internet.
• Creating backgrounds with relevant photos of the lesson.
• Timing each slide to help pace a presentation.  This is particularly helpful if I know that I have only 5 minutes to present a topic and absolutely have to be punctual.  Of course, practice is a must.

Possible Assignment: Present their findings with the class in a PowerPoint presentation, with different slides for each category from the Excel Inventions timeline (who, what, when, where, why).

Word
Microsoft Word seems like one of the self-explanatory programs that everyone should know how to use, but there are so many features that people look over because we think we already know all that we need.  I know I still have much to learn, but the following features have helped me thus far:

• The shortcuts mentioned in the Excel section
• Managing Sources and automatically inserting Bibliographies and citations
• Spell Check for grammatical errors
• Automatic bullet points and numbers for tidy notes
• Highlighting phrases and words - This is particularly useful for test study guides and review of research for papers.
• "Find": type in any word, number, phrase, etc. to find something specific that you're looking for in a document.  This may be a term from lecture notes or a particular quote you need.
• Page Layout: I like to change my margins to "Narrow" to save space and paper when appropriate.
• When making labels for wedding invitations for instance, the "Mailing" tab allows you to choose specific formats to simply type in the names and addresses to print out on stickers.  This is professional and saves time in the long-run.  It also helps keep track of who've you've already sent out invitations to when you save the document.  Then you can use the "find" feature to see if you've already created a label for a particular person/family.

Possible Assignment: Teach middle-schoolers to properly cite their primary, secondary, and tertiary documents while doing their research, using the MLA format under the "Manage Sources" feature.

I hope these features are helpful to you, as they have been for me.  The lists can undoubtedly go on and on.  I've found that the Microsoft websites are also incredibly resourceful in more shortcut tips, explanation of features, and terrific templates!  What a blessing such technologies are in our busy, busy lives!
 

Reflection #10: The Brail Typewriter

What? Not too long ago, I met a little girl named Kortni.  She is beautiful and sweet, but can hardly see.  Extra large copies of worksheets are made for her in poster-size so she can participate in classwork just like other students.  She is only in 3rd grade and her eye sight is getting worse every year, so she has learned to write in brail with the help of special tutors provided by the public school district.  When I observed her last week, I was blown away by the power of technology in aiding her education.  Specifically, I was amazed by her ability to use the Brail Typewriter.

So What? I've realized several things through this experience.  Firstly, what a lovely gift it is that public schools can provide extra assistance to students who need it - for free!  Kortni is just as smart as other students and perhaps has a great calling in her life; but she can't develop intellectually like other students unless she has extra physical help to see her math problems, see the colors on the SMART Board lesson pictures, and write her story in a way that she would be able to read it later.  I hear a lot of negative talk about NCLB and it is understandably frustrating to exert so much energy into seemingly futile students.  However, in cases like Kortni's, I think the promises and provisions of NCLB are simply beautiful.  Secondly, I've grown to appreciate the unique skills that special needs students have which others don't.  Using the Brail Typewriter is a complex task!  With only six buttons, Kortni and her para-educator have to know which combinations will produce which letter, number, symbol, etc.  And then to be able to read the dots, it's incredible!

Now What?  I'll be careful now in the way that I think and speak (and write) about NCLB.  What if Kortni were my daughter and I had to hire and pay tutors to train her to learn brail, assist her in using technologies, provide tailored materials for her studies, etc.?  I will also be more aware of the resources available to such students.  If I know that there are special typewriters for sight-impaired students and unique technological methods to help them participate in the same activities as the rest of the class - only then, can I achieve the task of leaving no child behind.

Reflection #9: Inspiration Software is Useful!

What?  A couple of weeks ago, we learned how to use the Kidspiration and Inspiration technologies in our class.  To be quite honest, I thought to myself, "This is alright.  It takes a while to get a hang of and the pictures are really fruity."  The one thing that I did really like and spent most of my time experimenting on was the bubble web maker.  I thought to myself, "If I do ever use Inspiration in my future classroom, it would be to make these charts for my own lesson planning as well as for students' personal planning."

So What?  Well, my opinion has shifted more to the positive side since I recently visited an elementary school Special Needs class just a few days ago!  I was observing a para-educator as she worked one-on-one with a student who struggled with autism.  He was translating his pre-write web onto a laptop to practice his writing skills.  I watched for a few minutes and decided to take a peek at his screen to see how he was doing on his web - and what did I find but the exact same chart that I was using in Inspiration!  So I asked, "What program is this?!"  The para-educator blithely responded, "Oh, it's called Inspiration...." upon which I responded, "Wow!  We just learned how to use this program!  So your kids use it?!"

Now What?  It turns out that this student had a hard time reading his own handwriting, thus he was retyping his notes into a more legible chart to help him come up with a story.  I was inspired to see Inspiration in use in such a practical way!  I was also surprised to note how proficient this student was in his web-making skills.  He was able to manage the chart more rapidly than I was in our Technology class, and he is in the 3rd grade.  I've learned a lesson this past week that I believe will help me as a teacher: don't judge a technology by first experimentation.  What seems silly or just alright to me, may be extremely useful to a struggling 3rd grader who can use all of the supplementation he can get!

Reflection #8: Organizing Thoughts on Paper... OR COMPUTER!

Organizing Thoughts on Paper

What?  I recently discovered a phenomenal website through Jonas' blog which is aimed for moms of students.  The particular video that I would like to share about is located in the link above.   The host, Victoria, a Teacher of the Year and mother of 4 talks about creating creative writers and thinkers.  For little children, she advises having them draw detailed pictures so they can later express their thoughts in verbal detail.  A strong visual concept and strong oral skills will boost their ability to think critically and express those thoughts on paper when they are ready to do so.  In order to spark a desire in children to write, Victoria says it's critical to believe that what they have to say is actually valuable and important.

So What? I particularly appreciate this episode because I am an avid journaler.  I love organizing my thoughts on paper because it helps organize all of the mumbo-jumbo in my head!  Likewise, teaching children and students to organize their thoughts helps them understand what they think and express it to others, whether verbally or visually.

Now What?  I want to add though - that thoughts can be organized no only on paper - but on computer!  I used to fill up notebook after notebook of my entries, but now all of my thoughts are expressed in typing and it is faster, takes less space to store, and is easy to access later on and reflect upon.  Therefore, I might add to this episode that technology can be incorporated to get students to express their critical thoughts as well.  For young children, they can use a program like Bitmap images to draw pictures and save them on a file.  When they have mastered the alphabet and are beginning to write, they can type poems and letters in fun fonts and colors.

 These are activities that I have taught my nieces, nephews, and cousins in which I've observed that they absolutely love the mixture of technology with these creative activities!  I think young children are often times shooed away from computers rather than invited to use them.  When they are taught how to use a mouse to draw and colors and different features, they learn many skills at once including technology!

K12 Webcast: "Nurturing the 21st Century History Teacher"

One of the online conferences that I attended was hosted by Tom Daccord, a high school history teacher.  His webinar was entitled "Nurturing the 21st Century History Teacher" found at http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=512. 

Good Thoughts and Lessons:
--I appreciate that much of what Daccord says is backed up by evidence and serious study.  He integrates the research done by professionals in the field so what he says holds credibility. 

--A good question was raised that stimulates me to think about how I am currently teaching and how I plan to teach in the future: Are we teaching students for their future or our past?

--“The heart of a historian’s task is to analyze primary sources” – how many primary sources are available in multi-media? A lot – therefore, we should use it!

--Students read more online than in print. Technology is prevalent in teenagers’ lives, but irrelevant in classrooms.
-- Students should use technology to be creative and get connected.

--Right brain skills are extremely important for surviving to the demands of the modern workplace (Daniel Pink).

--Complex communication is essential for 21st Century – must cultivate in the classroom.  I'm curious though, what constitutes complex communication?
--NCLB concerns: John Diamond in Chicago elementary school.
       -Students said teachers had greatest influence on how they were taught (vs. content, principal, testing)

How Daccord Uses Technology in his Class:
--Have students create videos “to go beyond what is mandated by a teacher”

--Wiki: Kids took ownership teacher other students about political issues – had to describe candidates.

--Online Ning social network – social issues

--“Day in the Life of a Hobo” – what it was like to be a teenager riding the rails
     -Creative fiction interdisciplinary unit: published on blog for public audience
     -One students' work had hundreds of readers and was eventually published in a book!

--Podcasts – newsflashes w/ studio effects (oral history)
     -This brings out the different intelligences in students

Daccord encouraged listeners to join a community, namely an online community such as NCSS.  This is something that I may consider because it is for Social Studies/History educators who talk about teaching methods, strategies, and of course, technology.

Evaluation of this Webcast:
Someone’s comment on the webcast created a reality check for me concerning the issues discussed. The commenter shared about her own school’s situation where students don’t have access to computers and thus, Daccord's suggestions are unrealistic for her class because they demand resources for each student.

This also taught me an important lesson about facing such realities as a teacher.  There are often times so many pieces of advice and strategies from other teachers that work in their context, but could not possibly be implemented in a setting where there are no technologies available.  In such cases, I think it's important for teachers to improvise.  If they at least have a computer lab that they could reserve once a month or a few times a year, they could make the most of the time and resources that they do have.

Reflection #7: Excel Planners for Middle Schoolers

What?
Recently, our Classroom Management class has got me thinking about practical procedures. One particular procedure that has made my life so much easier in many areas and I believe would also be essential for my future middle school students is following a planner. For students, this could be an old-fashioned spiral notebook with a calendar OR it could be a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet!  I'd like to share a few thoughts about how Excel planners would be a marvelous use of technology in middle school classrooms.

So What? and Now What?
I am so excited about Excel spreadsheets because they are efficient and work well for all kinds of environments and purposes.  If students keep Excel planners, they can tailor them to their own schedules. Each class would be listed along with the dates of that Semester/Quarter/ Year. Blank boxes that correspond to each class and date would be filled in with exams, homework, assemblies, orchestra concerts, sports competitions, school breaks, classmates’ birthdays, reminders, and more.

Keeping a planner is particularly essential for Middle school students to learn in preparation for high school and college. At this age, teachers have a task of instilling excellent habits into their students. Effective planning would help middle school kids not only in their studies, but in their personal lives. If they are involved in Sports or Music, it will help them to set goals that anticipate future events such as performances. Someday in the future, when they plan a wedding or start a family, continuing this routine would help them be successful adults. I’d like to note though, that there is a tremendous difference between simply keeping a general planner and keeping one that is personalized, detailed, organized, and long-term. A personalized planner means just what it sounds: it is created to fit the student’s life. A detailed planner includes specific tasks to specific classes for specific days. It can be color-coded, font-coded, symbol-coded in a way that will most effectively help students be organized. For instance, Exams could be labeled in bright red whereas special events could be labeled in blue so when students look at the next week, they immediately note that there is something very important to do.  It would be terrific if I could teach my students how to use different features on Excel to design their planners. I might model to them a planner that I kept for myself.

This utilization of technology is one that makes students more accountable, responsible, and successful - characteristics that would hopefully continue beyond middle school!