The ISTE NETS-S starts off with 6 indicators to match the description of the activity the students will be performing. It has creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making and technology operations concepts. The students’ standards, NETS –S will help students with web 2.0 tools.
Students using the communication web 2.0 tools would explore NETS-S and is able to view what they would learn.For example, Diigo is a site that helps students organize, bookmark and highlight information from the internet.In addition, if they were working with a group of students from another state or country they could communicate together by sharing their ideas.Diigo allows students to research identify and investigate a global issue and generate possible solutions using digital tools and resources.The indicators that go with this standard are research and information fluency and critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.
Students using the collaboration web 2.0 tools would look at the standard that reads conceptualize, guide and manage individual or group learning projects using digital planning tools with teacher support.For example, Wikispaces and Google Docs would allow students to work together especially if their project calls for group learning.Also, these two sites would help students to manage their group and the project.This standard would cause students to use their critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills and technology operations and concepts.
Lastly, when students have to use publishing web 2.0 applications they would use digital imaging technology to modify or create works of art for use in a digital presentation.The web 2.0 tools such as, Prezi, Glogster, Voicethread, Blogger, Slide Share, ZooBurst and a host of others would meet this standard for students.These sites would allow students to show their creativity and knowledge about a subject.The indicators that support this standard are creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration and technology operations and concepts.These websites are eye appealing plus they permit students to communicate.
Project Based learning is taking an essential question and exploring that question.After reading More Fun Than a Barrel of Worms by Diane Curtis, Geometry Students Angle into Architecture through Project Learning by Sara Armstrong and March of the Monarchs” Students Follow the Butterflies’ Migration I saw a commonality they shared and that is incorporating real world situations into the classroom.I called these projects rigor.
Two years ago my principal wanted her students to have rigor in the classrooms.As she began to explain and I did not understand the concept that she wanted us to have in our lessons and neither did most of the teachers.Later, she further gave us an article that caused me to have a light bulb moment.I read that many corporations were not impressed on how well young adults could articulate their opinion neither were they enthuse about their reading nor writing skills.They needed young adults to be able to use their critical thinking skills, be creative and solve problems.As I began to further my research I read that rigor is active, deep and engaging.Nancy Lundsgaard (2004) states, “its active either through conversation or hands-on or minds-on activity; meaning there is questioning and discovery going on.It is deep, rather than broad, project based.The learners are digging into a topic or project and lastly it is engaging, either on his or her own or with the help of a teacher, each learner had made a real connection with the material to be learned”.All three articles showed rigor.
The role of the teacher was to facilitate. He or she would walk around and ask questions to either entice the imagination or to help them focus on the topic and avoid being detoured.The teacher also scaffolds by bringing in professionals to further answer any questions they may need answers from. The teacher who participates in this activity engages his or her students to make the connection with the material learned.
The role of the students is to be critical thinkers.In the articles and on video I saw students engaged by doing hands on and minds on activities.For example, in More Fun than a Barrel of Worms article the students were touching and smelling the worms.They would do field trips and lab work.Students had to examine dead worms.This project led them to be investigators.I saw how real life world experiences came into play.Students learned that scientist do this when they want to explore the ecosystem.
As educators we are driven to making sure our students pass the state exam.We know that many are learning how to be good test takers but in reality many students are not prepared for real world experiences.As I mentioned earlier, businesses want young adults to be creative and inventive.They want to know that the person they hired can come up with an idea that will bring more profit to their corporation.Project base learning increases students’ awareness of collaboration and business ethnics.It is allowing them to experience and see how the business community operates and the most profitable experience they receive is when they apply their knowledge to what they have learned from the classroom to the business world.
Works Cited
Armstrong, S. (2001). Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning. Edutopia , 1.
Curtis, D. (2002). March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies Migration. Edutopia , 1.
Curtis, D. (2001). More Fun Than a Barrel of Worms? Edutopia , 1.
Lundsgaard, N. (2004, April). FOCUS. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from Small School Project: http://www.smallschoolsproject.org/PDFS/apr04_focus.pdf
Creating my digital Portfolio was exciting.The website I chose to create my portfolio is About me.I had no idea how to work this site but once I explored I saw how user friendly it was to use.About me had only a few choices of design backgrounds; but, About me allowed me to choose my own background and that made up for what the site did not have.When writing the text it only permitted 2500 text characters.I felt it should have stated that before I wrote my biography.The choices of fonts were many but it did not have enough good fonts to make your page appealing.On the other hand, I had plenty of colors to choose.
However, the highlight of this website was uploading your favorite assignments that were done on websites.This was very easy to do.I am not a fan of having my social networking sites on my portfolio so I avoid uploading them. I believe your social life should remain private.I wished the site had an area where I could upload my favorite assignments from the software’s I use.That feature would have made my page worth while viewing.
I was concerned that I could not add my resume.However, as I was searching I found out that site Google will allow me to create a resume page, and upload all of my favorite software assignments.Once I created my site page I was able to link it to my portfolio.Creating my portfolio was an awesome adventure!
I truly enjoy doing a digital story.The assignment that I chose is “I knew I was going to be an educator when…”.This activity was different because I had to use my cell phone to capture the pictures.As an educator I can see how cell phones can play an intrigue part in students’ learning.Taking pictures is one task but students can do research, take quizzes and create digital stories.I just hope that the school districts can see what most educators see. Also, they need someone that can work out the kinks and take the fear away from using cell phones in the class.
The rubric I chose was Movie Maker.I find it very long but it fit most of my criteria.
Story line – Story line has a clear beginning, middle and end.It is well developed
Point of view awareness of audience – Strong awareness of audience in design; explains clearly why they felt the words, audio and graphics chosen to fit the largest audience
Dramatic Question – Little or no attempt is made to pose a dramatic question or answer it.
Clarity of voice – voice quality fluctuates though out the presentation
Pacing Narrative – The pace (rhythm and voice punctuation) fits the story line and helps the audience really “get into” the story
Meaningful Audio Sound track – Music is distracting in appropriate or was not used
Quality of Image – An attempt was made to use images to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work.Image choice is logical.
Story Detail – The story seems to need more editing. It is noticeably too long or too short in more than one section.
Grammar and language usage – Grammar and usage were correct (for the dialect chosen) and contributed to clarity style and character development.
I would modify this rubric by deleting dramatic question, grammar and language usage because this type of assignment did not require questioning neither did it need subtitles running through the movie. If I had to follow this rubric I would have scored higher. According to this 10 category rubric I scored a 23/30
Creating a digital story is always fun and exciting!However, this assignment was a little different but not impossible to do. I have done several of digital stories using a video and a digital camera but never using a cell phone. Capturing pictures from your cell phone is different. Some of my pictures I took were pictures I had but I used my cell phone to take the picture of the picture. I can truly see how a lesson would take place using a cell phone.Many students should really enjoy this activity.
After waiting and hoping someone would respond to my request of using cell phones in the classroom; I made a phone call to a former colleague of mind asking her help on cell phone use in the classroom.Kirstin worked for my school district as a Resource Teacher Coordinator of the Office of Newark instructional technology.Kirstin was assigned to different schools in Newark and her job was to support the technology teachers and help classroom teachers incorporate technology in their lesson plans. One of her job assignments was getting schools to use cell phones in the classroom.
Kirstin did a workshop teaching the technology teachers on how to use cell phones in the classroom and as a result they would turnkey the information to the administrators and teachers.She introduced a web 2.0 tools called poll everywhere.Students would use their cell phones as an assessment tool.They can answer the multiple choice questions and open ended questions by texting their answers.Kirstin said, “The response would be answered instantly and the results would be on the website”.If a student did not have a cell phone the student can go on the website and answer the questions with the same results.In addition, this project was demonstrated to the teachers.
According to the Pupil Safety Policy, students are allowed to carry cell phones but under certain conditions.As long as it is used for safety methods , concealed (this is written in black bold letters), and in a carry bag with cell phone turned off at all times during school day on school premises or at school functions. The district of Newark is very adamant about their policy.
Parents are responsible to this policy too.They must sign a parent guardian user agreement and acknowledge that the district assumes no responsibility for any loss or damage to the cell phones.I asked Kirstin, what she thinks the parents would say if students can work with their cell phones.Kirstin mentioned with the web 2.0 toll poll everywhere parents can go online and look at the students’ data.They will get a chance to see how the cell phone operates in full force and be able to give feedback.
As for a technology problem there was none that existed.However, the biggest challenge that was presented was the use of the cell phone and breaking the pupil safety policy.If their policy was broken the students’ cell phone would be confiscated and their rights for having a cell phone would be suspended or revoked.With that in mind the project of using cell phones in the classroom was not embraced by the district of Newark.
Being aware of doing a live stream assignment was exciting and nerve provoking at the same time.This caused me to come out of my comfort zone and enter in an unknown area.There were several websites that were available for me to choose.However, I narrow it down to two Ustream and Blog talk radio.
UStream was the first live stream I chose.The set up was very easy to follow. I did not need to learn any new hardware. But, I needed to be familiar with using sites online.When I decided to sign up Ustream took me to their profile page and I was asked for a username, a password and my email address. I also had the opportunity to choose a category.This is the area where the website wanted to know my interest.I was extremely surprise to see other categories such as news, campaign 2012, pets & animals, entertainment, sports, music, education, technology, gaming, spirituality and much more; within those categories were also subcategories such as in technology there was graphic design. In addition, when I typed in my email address the site pulled up my contacts and allowed me to choose the people I wanted to be a part of my live stream.Then I went to manage my channel.This is where I can personalize my site such as add a design, a picture, my events, videos, chat room, channel information, off air content, and advanced settings.
Unfortunately, there are two concerns I had about this site.Ustream has a huge amount of ads that are on the web page.This is a distraction and when I went to delete the ads Ustream suggest upgrading your package if I want the ads to be gone and that would cost money. The decision that caused me not to use this site for my project was my test.I tested out the filming and saw how the camera caught my every move.I saw where I looking down and not facing the camera.That made me extremely uncomfortable. My viewers would constantly see me looking down reading the chat messages instead of looking at the camera.In addition, I needed interaction with my viewers without worrying about how I was looking on camera.After viewing one of my peer’s projects I decided the best site for my needs would be blog radio talk.
I felt blog radio talk gave me the best of both worlds.It is still an online live stream site and I was able to communicate with my audience and that was powerful.Blog radio was fairly easy to operate.I love how this site has a tutorial.I viewed getting started three times.I wanted to be sure I had everything in place before the actually show.Once you logged in, the site is going to ask you for your profile, a picture and your social networks you want to advertise your show.After setting up your profile then you must schedule your show.
I pulled down the menu with my picture attached and clicked on schedule show.There you would find a page that reads BTR (before the recording).I wrote the title, and a fascinating description of my show that would attract viewers.I had to add tag words to help viewers find the show. I selected a category, chose that everyone can hear the show, added 30 minutes for the entire broadcast, and chose a date.Warning, for the free basic plan I could only have the times between 12am to 6pm. The premium users have primetime 7pm to 11pm.
After planning my event I clicked on studio and this is where I could add music and get my host number, pin and my guest phone number to call in.The studio is set up as a control board.I can edit my description of the show and I can promote it by using the social networks that I am a member to such as, Facebook, Twitter and blog talk radio.Also, towards the left hand side of the screen this is where I see my callers’ number, the mute icon and the microphone for the caller to join in on the show.The night before my first show I wanted to have a test run.However, the site did not allow me to pull up my studio.This caused a panic for me but the next day the web site went back to normal.
The day of the broadcast I went through several emotions.I felt excited, nervous, anxious and concerned.I wanted this project to be a success.The callers I chose initially were colleagues, parents, and family. Unfortunately my colleagues could not join my radio show but the parents and family members did. One highlight of the show is when I spoke to a student.I needed to hear his point of view on the topic and was glad to hear that young man’s comments.When I finished the live broadcast I felt elated. In order for me to listen to my recording I had to go to schedule my event and click on archive.I have to chuckle at myself because when I played it back I realized I stumbled on some words and I had to do big time improvising when I could not reach a caller. I am a strong believer practice makes perfect.
I can see me using this site with my students especially my students of special needs.Many of them struggle with writing and this site is another form of differentiate instructions.Instead of them writing a persuasive essay they could present this to me in the form of a talk show.I am quite sure they will have fun!
Again, thank you to all of my guest who participated on my show!
