Final Reflection CEP 811

Christmas time is just around the corner and I sit reflecting on my last few months in this class, snow falling in the courtyard behind me...

I feel that I am an experienced teacher who uses tech as much as possible in my classroom. When I took this job I was very excited to be the first year in a lap top program for 5th graders. It was a year of innovation and integration, but also confusion, experimentation and defeat. When I enrolled in the MSU program I was searching for a way to have more control over how we use technology and where it is appropriate. And I am learning up a storm!

I see technology as a way of creating choice and differentiation in my classroom. There are so many different ways to express oneself using technology, from super simple to complex and eye catching, there is something for every style of learner. I have one student who was my techno-phobe until he made his first Prezi, now he is my Prezi expert and willing to share his know how to anyone who will put up with his lengthy explanations of Prezi's wonders! It was interesting to learn of the pedagogy behind why technology helps us meet our needs for differentiation and feel reassured that some of the practices that I put into place automatically are, in fact, best practice (for example allowing choice of medium for presentations, novelty, humor).

By learning Camtasia studio (which was a struggle, but worth it!) I created my first tutorial for Google Calendar which I sent home as homework with my students. By the end of a week I had each student set up with a Google Calendar, they had shared it with me and they were eager for more! I put them onto the Labs part of Calendar and soon each had customized their calendar and was exclaiming the benefits of different tools. Because of this STAIR I was able to minimize the amount of class time used to set up the Google Calendar and allow the students the freedom to I do notice that sometimes technology lessons can suck time from my classroom, one students computer freezes and the whole lesson goes crazy! Or the internet goes down..... All of these little problems make it hard to focus on technology when we also have large amounts of curriculum to get through.

My personal goals for the next semester are to create some more Camtasia Studio lessons for my students and to perhaps, teach them how to (although I am considering using Jing as it is free and a little more user friendly). I would like my students to come up with some ways to introduce next years 5th graders into the wonderful world of their computers, perhaps by having them create tutorials of the basics for 5th grade.

Session 6 and Merlot

My battle with Camedia went into full swing yesterday as I tried my very hardest to upload my STAIR project to Filezilla and then post it to Merlot.... But, I can now report to you that after several tutorial videos, some Oreos and a latte, we have a successful posting! You can check it out my STAIR project here..... I had to post only the first lesson. My intention with this STAIR plan was to make several short lessons about Google Calendar. I will be posting my second lesson soon.

Now onto Session 6 and my feelings about Online Learning.

Before I get to the assignment I wanted to mention that I attended a seminar about the Flipped Classroom by Justin Reich at my school. I have been thinking a lot about the flipped classroom, and although I did not have a name for what I have been practicing in my classroom for math, it now has a name. I use Khan's Academy coaching and Mathletics in my classroom to introduce and sometimes teach math subjects to my students. So in that sense, online learning is a high priority for me, and it comes quite naturally.

Here is the assignment:

Look at the Michigan Online Learning Guide.

Talk about how you could use one of the technologies that qualify as an online experience with your students.

• What content could this help you teach?
• What type of pedagogical strategies might you use with your students?
• What technologies do you think would be harder to use with your students? Why?

The first thing I noticed about the METS was that they were specified for grades 6-12, good thing I am in Grade 5... But, I did spend some time reading through and wondering why the lower grades were not included in this learning guide. Time to move on.

I enjoy blogging in the classroom, so I focused on that subject wondering if I could apply it further in my classroom. . I started out using a blog as a way to communicate with my parents; pictures, short updates, and some examples of exemplar work. I quickly gave up the blog and moved to Weebly. But last year I went back to blogging when we became a Google School because Blogger was so accessible with the students use of Gmail. Currently I use Blogger as a device for literature circles. My students are broken into small groups to read books of their choice and then blog about the book. There are rather loose roles that they take to produce their reactions to the books. What I like about blogging is the ease of use with the students and the ability to use multi-media quickly and attractively. Before I use the blogs for literature circles I use journalism, but when I introduce the blogging the level of excitement is far more tangible. The students excitedly want to know how to share it with their parents, how to add videos, and always ask, is it really live?

I might use Electronic Portfolios. Why? We introduced last year the student led conference. I was manipulated into having station which I painfully created for the students to rotate through with their parents, but none of it felt comfortable for me, and for several of my more verbose parents. So, I began thinking about electronic portfolios. The students could have chosen works in several categories to highlight and show their parents. Everything would be in one place. We could include reactions to writing filmed on the FLIP cameras, math quizzes (in pdf.), embedded blogs, writing.... I have been looking lately at mediums, my top choice currently is Weebly.

What would I not use? RSS Feed. I personally love mine, but a ten year olds RSS feed would scare me just a bit. Think of what they would put on there! I have no more to say about that.

Wiki Me!

I'm back! I just attended a three day job alike conference at the International School of Budapest! My head is swimming with new ideas. But it is back to work on CEP 811!

So for this section I have created a Wiki and flooded it with media, although I had a hard time with this because I like to keep my cyber-spaces neat and clean. It is a work in progress.

I was supposed to edit my schools Wikispace, but it gave me the "stop here" warning below. I guess the firewall at my school does not allow that sort of fooling around. And kudos to Wikispaces for keeping everything safe in their world.

You will also find a screen shot of what I shared on MSU's MACUL space. I recently completed a project with my fifth graders on Voicethread so I replied to a topic about that.

Universal Design for Learning

For our 811 class we were asked to use the Universal Design Checklist and compare it to a lesson we created int he first session. The lesson I have been creating is a lesson designed for Grade 5 students to learn to use Google Calendar as a way to schedule homework, assignments and social events. Below you will see the attached .pdf's of the checklist (although we could save it electronically I found it easier to print it and hand write it while watching and participating in the session tutorials.). You will also find the new lesson plans, the highlighted areas being the parts that I added or changed after implementing the UDL approach. Here is a link to my checklist, the lesson plan and the lesson plan with highlighted changes.

Webquest Evaluation

Here is my Webquest evaluation for CEP 811.

This WebQuest called "Frankencreature!" is a lesson that creatively gets students to delve into the subject of adaptation by creating their own animal. It is intended for students from grades 6-8. The goals of “Frankencreature” are to explore adaptation and habitat from a different point of view. Instead of studying an existing animal, the students create their own creature, describe it’s habitat and describe how it interacts with other species specific to their habitat.

The creator of this website has used a sense of humor to keep the kids motivated. She has cleverly used “maniacal laughter” to put the students into the role of the ‘mad scientist” , a role that many students will enjoy. She has also allowed the students choice, which I find extremely effective. They are allowed to choose how they will present their creature which allows students to choose a presentation style they feel comfortable with. The task is easily and obviously labeled with 4 main topics (which are reflected in the assessment piece at the end). During the process section she has used a variety of PowerPoint’s, videos and links to teach and review the various topics she wants included in the “FrankenCreatures”. Students can browse through these resources as much or as little as they would like.

This Webquest has taken advantage of technology with its vast array of resources. It makes it easy for the students to find resources for the parts of the product that they are not as familiar with. It also allows them to choose which medium they will use to create their project. I do believe it would be more technological if the author had suggestions to use Glogster, Prezi, Voicethread or other online tools which are captivating to today’s student. I believe handing this out to students on paper would decrease its effectiveness by not having the immediacy of answers to questions via the web links and videos.

Unfortunately this Webquest needs a tune-up. Many of the links are broken. Her “super cool video” about cuttlefish no longer exists on the page, many of the web pages no longer exist and some are not as engaging as promised. Another criticism would be that although she shared it with the world, there are many parts where she has asked the students to check specifically with her, not generically just to their teacher.

My suggestions for improvement would be as follows:

1. Include an exemplar form a student.

2. Update the weblinks and videos.

3. Take the authors name out of the scripts and change to fit with any generic teacher.

4. Add mediums for the product (i.e.: Glogster, Prezi, Voicethread)

I really enjoyed this Webquest and it gave me many ideas as to what I would like to do with our final unit project for our Adaptation Unit.

MERLOT Evaluation

Here I will evaluate a lesson I found on MERLOT. I chose a lesson on WebQuests by Bernie Dodge as I have used several Webquests with my students and am interested in their usefulness and how to create my own.

Quality of Content:

This is a webpage that contains many different resources to learn to create a Webquest, find and use already created Webquests, search for Webquests, share Webquests, and read about Webquests. There are many resources provided within this site, from communities to solve problems, to instructional videos to PowerPoint templates. The community section contains a Ning, a Yahoo Chat room, and a Forum to share and problem solve about Webquests. It is a comprehensive website all about Webquests.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:

Webquests are an excellent tool for teaching students not only content but technology. They provide students with up to date material and an interesting, action-packed way to learning the content.
Instructors: Teachers and Instructors can use this website to learn how to develope Webquests easily using a variety of resources (templates, online tools-both paid and unpaid, videos) as well as using the shared Webquests as complete ready-to-use tools.

Students: Students of all ages (although probably starting with upper elementary) can use the tools to create Webquests and use the already created Webquests that are easily found with the search engine.

This website is targeted for all users and is focused upon Webquests.

Ease of Use:

The main page has a side bar that continues througout the site. It lists the following: Home, Find Webquests, Create Webquests, Share Webquests, Useful Resources, Community, Research, Bookshelf, News. This side bar makes it very easy to navigate through the site and return quickly to home. There is a lack of advertisement which makes it safe for students. Also the graphics and pictures are kept to a minimum making it easy to load and easy to find information without distraction. Under the Create Webquests there is an easy to use graphic that compares the online resources (and their costs, if any) that makes it easy to choose which way to go. There are also the basic PowerPoint templates for teachers or students who want to keep it simple.

Now up! CEP 811

Well I started again! So I am back in MSU and a new class-CEP 811. You can see my first project below:

Goal-directed Instructional Design Plan - Google Calendar and the 5th Grader

Author - Catrin Barber

A problem or a need – there must be a problem of practice or an educational need that should be addressed during the lesson.


To balance weekly homework schedule with their lives at home, after school and with friends. Students need a consistent way to record their assignments, use reminders and have someone “look over their shoulder” while maintaining their independence.

A real-world performance – how the learning objective fit into a real-world activity or need.


The learning objectives will provide the students with a basis for a real world organizational skill and walk them through the process. It will help them focus their work schedule and balance their social schedule while keeping parents or guardians informed.

An instructional objective – the objectives are based on the final outcome, activity or test. These objectives will each be different for the four types of knowledge; performing skills, recalling facts, identifying examples of concepts, and applying principles.
The objectives for this lesson are based on a real world need for students to organize their time in and out of school using technology.
Students will be able to use Google Calendar to create a schedule of their homework by due date and budget their time on assignments that are longer than one evening.
Students will have the option to use Tasks, Labs, and Share in order to enhance their experience with their calendar.
Students will share their calendar with their parents and teacher.
Students will use ASW school calendars for important school events.


A set of essential content – the basic ideas and skills that will allow the learner to complete the task or understand the content.


As a Google School the students already have access to Gmail and thus Google Calendar. They will learn in successive lessons how to input assignments, holidays, social engagements and other reminders. How to set the email or alarm reminders and how to enter tasks into the list function if they prefer to keep track of things to do on a list maker. All of the students will use their netbooks (provided by the school) and their ASW School Accounts.

An evaluation consisting of a test or observation – an assessment, observation or product showing that the objectives can be accomplished in the real-world setting.


Students will share their filled calendars with their teacher and parent and give a demonstration to the class on their favorite Google Calendar feature.

A method to help participants learn – the method to deliver the content; a lesson.


A series of mini lessons followed by exploration.

Motivation:
Meaningfullness – content and activities must have meaning for the learner

This is a life long organizational skill and will be very useful for their future in Middle and High School.

Pleasant consequences – the effects that achieving the goal will have on the learner

Assignments will be turned in on time, not forgotten.

Novelty – an attention-getting, humorous or curious manner that relates to the useful information in your lesson

Labs is fun and has lots of interesting ways to make calendars more novel. (Ie: icons and cartoons in your calendar for specific events)



Socialization - a strong motivator for student learning

Students will be sharing in class while they are creating their calendars and they will demonstrate their favorite part.

Audience – For what audience are you designing this lesson? Consider the following:
Age

10/Grade 5

Skill level (including technology skills)
Technology-skilled (1 to 1 program)



Prerequisite knowledge (including technology background)

These students are familiar and can readily use Gmail and Google Docs.

Technology Needs – the computers, software, programs (such as Angel or other CMS’s) printers, equipment, Internet access, time in the computer lab will be needed to successfully complete your technology-rich lesson.
Students are all assigned a netbook for the school year, school has assigned GMail accounts.