Reflection #11: World Mapper

I enjoy reading education blogs simply because it is exciting to learn new ideas and find inspiring resources. I was reading one the other day and came across a neat online resource called World Mapper. On the World Mapper website I found hundreds of maps showing different kinds of data. Some of the maps displayed population data, others showed the amount of pollution, another showed religious affiliations. Besides the 696 maps they have available, the website also provides high quality PDFs of some of the maps so that they can be printed out and displayed on classroom walls. This is a good opportunity for students to learn how to read a map using the key and looking at the data that is being shown. After taking a look at several maps together as a class they could work to create their own maps, including a title, key, and labels.

Word, Excel, Powerpoint OH MY!

Below is a list of the features I use most often in the following programs.

Word
-Draw Tools (create a line/shape, textbox)
-Word Count
-Formatting Palette (font, list, spacing)
-Zoom In/Out
-Borders

Excel
-Insert/delete row
-Formatting Palette

Powerpoint
-Slides
-Slide Design
-Transitions
-Insert Pictures/Clip Art


Students can learn how to use these programs through simple or complex assignments such as:

Word
Keyboarding exercises
Typing up an essay, poem, or story

Excel
Data entry from a class science experiment's information
Data entry from a class survey or other statistics

Powerpoint
An "About Me and My Family" presentation near the beginning of the school year
Group presentation on a particular topic
Yearbook Presentation-End of the year collaborative classroom Powerpoint that includes pictures and video of different classroom activities and projects that were done that year

Reflection #10: National Geographic

Today I was exploring the National Geographic website and found that they offer some great resources for teaching. There's interactive games, videos of wildlife, live streaming video of some of the most beautiful natural places in the world, and lesson plans for educators. The technology that they make available is so valuable. I would love to integrate some of their pictures and video into a science or geography unit. One fun idea would be to view a short clip as a class at the beginning of each day and answer a few questions in a science journal. This would encourage the students to start thinking and move into a learning mindset.

National Geographic Lesson Plans
National Geographic Mega Flyover Resources

Reflection #9: Google Earth

I did not truly realize until today how amazing a resource Google Earth really is. Not only is it fun to see the town or state you live in, but it's an excellent way to "travel" anywhere on Earth. This afternoon I "saw" whales off the coast of Australia, the ancient Mayan ruins of Becan, and the island of Santorini, Greece. Google Earth also offers animated 3D tours of places like the Roman Colosseum, cathedrals around the world, a trip through Asia, and a view of the solar system. This program offers unlimited learning opportunities and can be integrated into nearly every school subject. It is an amazing piece of technology and I'm excited to see how it will grow and advance over the next decade. Hopefully in the future they will have high quality imaging of the entire world (and space) and a real 3D look of major landmarks and historical sites.

Possible Projects
Take a Virtual Field Trip
Student Autobiography (Students can place placemarks at significant personal locations and add stories/pictures at the locations to create an autobiography tour.)
Where Are We Today? (Like the game "20 Questions")

How To Begin
After downloading Google Earth, go to www.google.com, click on ADVANCED SEARCH and under File Format choose KMZ before searching. KMZ, or Keyhole Markup Zipped, is the type of file that Google Earth saves in. After you find an interesting KMZ, double-click and it will open in GE. It will open under your temporary locations so you will need to save it in "My Places" if you want to return to it later.
-You can read tutorials on how to use Google Earth.
-Google Earth also offers many ideas for educators.

Additional Resources
Google Earth Lessons
Discovery Google Earth
Google Lit Trips
Google Earth Blog
Google Sightseeing
Google Earth How-To Videos
Rome

Education Blogs

I explored the Free Tech 4 Teachers blog today and found so many great resources and ideas it is difficult for me to pick just one post to share. You can click here to view a large list of some of the resources. I am probably most excited about the learning potential behind virtual tours. Through the World Wide Web teachers can take their class on numerous fieldtrips without ever leaving the classroom. You can click here to read the full post; it basically introduces two virtual tours, one to the Vatican Museums and one to China's Forbidden City. These tours are a fabulous way to bring history to life in the classroom and provide an authentic learning experience for them. It makes learning more dynamic and engaging. Students could also "visit" the Lincoln Memorial, or any number of other tours available online. I looked up "virtual tours" in Google and came up with a number of possibilities which I listed below and will likely add to as I discover more. Fieldtrips online are something I had never even considered before but it is a great idea. Students can begin by researching a famous or historical location and finish the project by actually viewing panoramas and videos of the site as a class. This is also the perfect opportunity to integrate cultural music and art.

Other Virtual Tours:
Israel, Israel map
Additional Virtual Tours
Even More Virtual Tours

K-12 Online Conference

I chose to listen to the "Kicking it up a Notch: Games in Education" K-12 conference. You can click here to listen to it.

Games have been an important element throughout history in virtually every society. Games are not a new idea, they have been around forever, but it is how we use games to teach and to learn that is key. Students who are given the opportunity to reflect upon their game experience in interpersonal communication are more likely to be more engaged with the learning. "Edutainment games" like Reader Rabbit or Math Blaster are most prevalent in schools but are not nearly as effective as other types of game play. These games do not provide authentic learning experiences but are more focused on being fun. Serious games are designed to go deeper and have greater intrinsic value. One example of a serious game is Ayiti: The Cost of Life. This game requires important decision-making and leads players to consider the real world issues of poverty and the right to education. The conference presented two important elements to game play in education. First, it requires time to learn and experience the activity to it's fullest extent, and second, the teacher must act as a guide in the learning process. A game must be engaging, factually accurate, and combined with critical thinking. Teachers should consider how they will let everyone in the class have a turn, possible reflective activities they might use, and how to integrate game play into the curriculum content. I learned a lot about what is crucial when integrating game play into the classroom and how to make it an authentic learning experience. A game that will lend itself to learning will most likely involve one of the following skills:

• Problem-solving
• Collaboration
• Curriculum connections
• Logic
• Strategy

Other games that the conference mentions:
Line Rider
Light Bot
Physics Phun Sandbox (video)
Quest Atlantis
River City Ransom
Squeakland

Credit: "Kicking it up a Notch Games in Education"

Technology Project Plan

I will be creating a class website on Weebly that will include a teacher bio, contact information, class news and events, homework, unit content for upcoming weeks, and helpful resources for students and parents. On my website I will also be incorporating a fun flash presentation from Zoho Show that introduces the school year and what can be expected in my class. In addition, I am working on an educational game I will create using Classtools.net and which can be featured on the class website. This project is practical yet I want it to be fun and engaging. I want to gain experience creating online presentations and games that I can easily share with students and parents. When I have a class of my own I will hopefully be able to create and share games that quiz students on curriculum content and help reinforce what they've learned. Online presentations have the potential to get students excited for an upcoming project or school event and it seems like it would not be a tedious task to create one. I'm really looking forward to working on this project!

My Podcast

Resources: Weebly.com, Show.zoho.com, Classtools.net

Reflection #8: Flip Video

We had the opportunity to use a Flip Video and the Flip Share program to create our very own movie. It was superlatively easy to rearrange and put our different clips together as well as add music from the preselected options. For greater editing capabilities we would definitely need to use Movie Maker or iMovie. I am now a big fan of Flip Video simply because it is very easy to use and students could use it for surveys, presentation projects or the like. One extensive project that would be interesting to do is a historical play. It could either be done as a whole class or several smaller groups, but would require research, simple costumes, and student participation. I think students would have fun with it and would be very willing to contribute.

"Caught on Video" by Bob Spankle

First of all, let me say that his is a really great article. Spankle's suggestions for how to use Flip Video in the classroom opened my eyes to the possibilities! I especially love these ideas...

-Filming a student on the first day of school asking her what her dreams/hopes/goals are for the school year. Playing that back towards the end of the year and asking her to reflect on it.
-Constantly capture the excitement of learning from each student.

-Capture all that great “Hands-on,” experiential learning that can never be captured by a traditional assessment.


Wouldn't these make for a wonderful video montage for parents to see at the end of the year? I am intrigued by Spankle's idea of video footage as concrete assessment and evidence of learning, particularly on a regular basis throughout the year. I think that if integrated seamlessly in a well-thought out plan it would be extremely useful! This article taught me a lot about the ways in which to use video recording in the classroom and how it might be used as an assessment tool or a way to update parents on their child's progress. I believe students would enjoy sharing parts of their learning experience with their families too!

Credit: Caught on Video by Bob Spankle

ActivBoard and Clickers

Last week we visited an elementary classroom and learned about the Activboard and clickers from the teacher. The Activboard appeared to be very similar to the Smartboard except that you could not write on it with anything but the special pen. The clickers (Smartboard) or voters (Activboard), which I believe are similar to the ones that they use at UW in some of the classrooms, are an excellent way to quickly quiz or get feedback from students. It's a great way to assess students' knowledge while at the same time protecting student privacy. I love the idea of having a diagram with empty a,b,c,d labels and multiple choice answers for students to answer.

Assignment #3

Amber and I designed our toolbox of resources to be organized by subject (or alphabetically) for user-friendly purposes. If a teacher is looking for some help in a particular area they only need to look at the links under the particular subject they are interested in. We chose to integrate our resources as a part of our class blogs because of the practicality of it and because it could be easily transferred to a class website in the future. Below are three websites that I chose and have reviewed.

Starfall is an excellent literacy resource for teachers to share with their students and integrate into the classroom. It has activities for every level of beginning reading with a specific focus on phonics. I would use it as a special privilege for students who demonstrated excellent focus on learning and made a positive contribution to the class community.

The Interactive Weather Forecast is an excellent resource for students to create their own 5-day forecast. Students can work in groups to create a forecast based on their own predictions or local news station forecasts. Students can act as "weather forecasters" and make a report at the beginning of class. This website is especially useful because you can save your forecast and the website will give you a code to be able to return to it at a later time. Your forecast can be very simple or extremely detailed depending on the age group you are working with.

These ready made Smartboard lessons are organized by grade level and target subject area. It's excellent for substitutes or teachers who don't have a ton of extra time to create their own Smartboard lessons from scratch. Some of the lessons are focused on a specific piece of literature but most are more general and could be easily integrated into a school's curriculum.