Click on the link below to open my Zimbra Scrapblog
http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/vw_full.aspx?sbid=283876
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Monday, June 16, 2008
INTRODUCING ZIMBRA
Check out my Slide Show Presentation at my Internet Project link
http:/www.slideshare.net/digitalkirsten/zimbra
Friday, June 13, 2008
Engrade Critique
While I have never used grading software before, I can see that it is going to be much easier than calculating grades with a calculator and gradebook and the level of communication between parents and teachers is much better because the internet connects them with minimal effort on either persons part.
I really liked that engrade allows you to connect, through e-mail, with your students and their parents. Both parents and kids spend so much time on the computer these days that any way you can make it easier for them to access grade information and keep them aware of assignments that are missing, etc. is terrific.
After talking to my husband about this program, I now understand that the inability to merge different grading spreadsheets is a problem. For example, my husband explained that his second quarter grades are 80% weighted along with the 20% weight of the midterm. This only happens in one quarter in the entire year. In Engrade, when you change the weighting for one quarter it changes it for all of the quarters so you cannot specifically apply that change to one quarter only.
I also found out that when you have entered many grades for a whole quarter there is no “bulk fill” choice so what you have to do is go through the whole thing and manually enter zeros or “excuseds.” It was a bit time consuming.
I really liked that engrade allows you to connect, through e-mail, with your students and their parents. Both parents and kids spend so much time on the computer these days that any way you can make it easier for them to access grade information and keep them aware of assignments that are missing, etc. is terrific.
After talking to my husband about this program, I now understand that the inability to merge different grading spreadsheets is a problem. For example, my husband explained that his second quarter grades are 80% weighted along with the 20% weight of the midterm. This only happens in one quarter in the entire year. In Engrade, when you change the weighting for one quarter it changes it for all of the quarters so you cannot specifically apply that change to one quarter only.
I also found out that when you have entered many grades for a whole quarter there is no “bulk fill” choice so what you have to do is go through the whole thing and manually enter zeros or “excuseds.” It was a bit time consuming.
This program is great because it allows communication but needs some of the more advanced features of the well-established grading programs for it to be able to compete and really make computerized grading easy, efficient, and accurate for teachers.
Parent's Newsletter
Parents have the last word in their kids education and only through their participation will the students feel more motivated and positive about their school work.
Sometimes the business of life or the social/economic issues make parents work extended hours outside the home. This factor causes less parental involment with kids in school. By creating some type of easy commication between parents and techers everybody will benefit.
The parents can be informed about their kids learning targets, activities, and responsibilites without having to spend a lot of time. The teachers can be informed about the student's family environment and this type of communication will encourage students to learn and keep up with the expectations of both their parents and teachers.
Teachers can communicate with parents through email, phone, mail newsletters, or by school websites. There is new communication software like Letter Pop, Wikis, or Scrapblogs that are fun to use.
For this assignment I choose the Letter Pop software because I wanted to become familiar with the program and I also liked the colorful templates that makes it less intimidating for parents to read. It was very easy to use, but I did discover that it wasn't the tool that I need it for the type of newsletter I had in mind. See my newsletter link below to check it out.
http://letterpop.com/people/KirstensParentNewsletter/
This time I wanted to discover what Letter Pop was about. Next time I would used different software that will allow me to insert and communicate more information. I would use a Wiki because it is a better tool when you want to send infomation about many things that are happening during a unit. I like the idea of having a side bar where readers can easily distinguish between more than one category. To me it is easier to separate a newletter by categories than writing one long letter. I learn that Letter Pop is good if you have one thing to communicate in a limited space.
Sometimes the business of life or the social/economic issues make parents work extended hours outside the home. This factor causes less parental involment with kids in school. By creating some type of easy commication between parents and techers everybody will benefit.
The parents can be informed about their kids learning targets, activities, and responsibilites without having to spend a lot of time. The teachers can be informed about the student's family environment and this type of communication will encourage students to learn and keep up with the expectations of both their parents and teachers.
Teachers can communicate with parents through email, phone, mail newsletters, or by school websites. There is new communication software like Letter Pop, Wikis, or Scrapblogs that are fun to use.
For this assignment I choose the Letter Pop software because I wanted to become familiar with the program and I also liked the colorful templates that makes it less intimidating for parents to read. It was very easy to use, but I did discover that it wasn't the tool that I need it for the type of newsletter I had in mind. See my newsletter link below to check it out.
http://letterpop.com/people/KirstensParentNewsletter/
This time I wanted to discover what Letter Pop was about. Next time I would used different software that will allow me to insert and communicate more information. I would use a Wiki because it is a better tool when you want to send infomation about many things that are happening during a unit. I like the idea of having a side bar where readers can easily distinguish between more than one category. To me it is easier to separate a newletter by categories than writing one long letter. I learn that Letter Pop is good if you have one thing to communicate in a limited space.
Crossword Puzzle
When I started working in this assignment I thought, "Why do I have to use Excel when there are programs that make the crossword puzzles for you?" After intensive hours of work I came to understand the importance of learning about a specific program that will make a lot of other things I need to do much easier. Learning through experience is the best way of learning, and with this assignment I became a very active learner. My mind was working on many different ideas at the same time like specific vocabulary from a subject area, questions and answers, math reasoning to determine the exact number of squares needed, and visual perception and orientation, and then, finally, exploring Excel and learning how it worked. Did I learn? Yes!That is why I definitely think that this type of project will help students to master Excel and, additionally, specific vocabulary words. Crossword puzzles will encourage students to:
Acquire new vocabular
Recognize similar words and phrases
Improve spelling
Make inferences
Evaluate choices
Draw conclusions
Learning how software works by creating something with it is better than learning the software separately. We can teach our students how to search animated images, download them, and save them and, instead of just teaching them how to copy into power point, let them create a cartoon that uses those images to tell the story. Another way to teach them a new program would be to have them create a slide show of their favorite topic and then post it in "slideshare" so other students, and even family, can see their child's work. That way the students are learning more than one function of the programs and are applying their understanding about a specific subject area.
This assignment was a challenge and the creation of the questions and answers used in the crossword puzzle came out much more complex than I intended. When I was creating the puzzle my father-in-law could not help but offer his help because he is a fan of crossword puzzles. This ended up as a fun family activity because everybody had questions and answers to offer. I taught my father the functions of Excel and he taught me new vocabulary and historical events. The same thing can happen with our students where young children become more expert with technology and can convey this knowledge to an older generation. Activities like this allow families to come together and the children benefit tremendously.
Next time I would like to create a puzzle for smaller children by inserting images as clues.
Mind Mapping
My assignment is to create a mind-map of one of my topics in my curriculum.
I have chosen to use Inspiration to create a mind map because I have heard of other people using the Inspiration software and it is, in fact, a common tool among graduate students at my college. Therefore it was time for me to become familiarized with this tool.
I wanted to create an image for the science curriculum and I picked the weather unit because students interact with their environment every day and it is important to provide them with an understanding of their surroundings and the factors that affect it. My expected goal of my weather mind-map is to understand the major concepts of temperature, pressure, and relative humidity and their interrelationship. Later on, they will be able to analyze data and apply their skills towards problem solving activities.
Mind-map, concept maps, or graphic organizers can be utilized as "conceptual assessments" where students can demonstrate their understanding through performing work shaped by their own choices. There is not only one way to make a mind map but many different ways and a teacher can find out how their students construct knowledge by just looking at the structure of their maps!
They are a very helpful tool for students to improve their learning because they can:
- Assist understanding
- Create interest
- Organize thoughts
- Increase memorization
Students can use a mind-map to learn about the lesson but they can also create one based on their understanding of the lesson, which I think is even more valuable becuase by playing and manipulating essential information they are reinforcing their learning.
By doing this assignment I learned to read a large amount of academic information, synthesize that infomation into main ideas, and to create a coloful poster that will be my focus in the lesson.
I really like Inspiration because it was easy to use, it had plenty of colors, shapes, images, and templates that made it fun to work with.
I did not use a template because, since it was my first time exploring Inspiration, I wanted to create my own and see if there were any limitations that I needed to be aware of. Next time that I use this tool I will pick one the templates, that all look amazing, and I will challenge myself to organize information into it.
Assessments
Assessment is gathering, interpreting and using information to aid teacher decision making regarding student learning progess.
The components of assessment are:
1. Purpose - Why am I doing this assessment?
2. Measurement - What techniques should I use to gather information?
3. Evaluation - How I will interpret the results?
4. Use - How i will use the results?
I have learned that a numerical grade is not a good tool when used alone. Other forms of assessment that encourage creativity and risk-taking are integral parts of a well-rounded assessment method.
Prior knowledge can be both valuable for and destructive of the learning process. It is important that teachers have a pre-assessment to determine the starting level and to locate conceptual holes.
Assessment should not be used as a tool for punishment but rather used as a tool of assistance and positive reinforcement.
The Age of the Digital Age & Contructivism
Click on the link to view my undertanding of constructivism http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/Viewer.aspx?sbid=281566
The School of the Digital Age
What will happen if ?
Students are not grouped by age?
-Use level specific websites in the classroom.
Teacher is not an expert?
-Teacher participation in online classroom management and curricular workshops.
The curriculum is not supplied by experts from outside the classroom.?
Provide university access to department supervisors.
Students are nor requires to attend?
-Using online virtual classrooms provide specific time period where students can complete their course work.
-Learning happens in many places?
Any learning that happens outside the classroom should be presented and discuss using students blogs.
Teachers do not designed assignments and assessments?
-Using a variety of online, curriculum specific questions banks allow teacher to create assignments and assessments.
Students are not grouped by age?
-Use level specific websites in the classroom.
Teacher is not an expert?
-Teacher participation in online classroom management and curricular workshops.
The curriculum is not supplied by experts from outside the classroom.?
Provide university access to department supervisors.
Students are nor requires to attend?
-Using online virtual classrooms provide specific time period where students can complete their course work.
-Learning happens in many places?
Any learning that happens outside the classroom should be presented and discuss using students blogs.
Teachers do not designed assignments and assessments?
-Using a variety of online, curriculum specific questions banks allow teacher to create assignments and assessments.
Discussing Terminology
In order to be ready for class I had to read several articles that will help me to understand how and why it is important to incorporate technology into the classroom. I am going to type some definitions in this post so I can have them as reference for later on.
Computer Literacy is knowing how to run computer programs or basic computer operations. It is having knowledge and an understanding of computers and their uses.
Information Literacy is knowing how to effectively use websites from the Internet and books from the library.
Integration Literacy combines learning and teaching. It's about solving problems by utilizing technology. Our current generation of students need to understand what is the best way they each learn.
Our students today are native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. Our digital kids today are hyper-communicators. Prensky describes these students in the article "Portrait of a Digital Native" as, "wanting their information extremely fast and being experts at multitasking and networking."
Computer Literacy is knowing how to run computer programs or basic computer operations. It is having knowledge and an understanding of computers and their uses.
Information Literacy is knowing how to effectively use websites from the Internet and books from the library.
Integration Literacy combines learning and teaching. It's about solving problems by utilizing technology. Our current generation of students need to understand what is the best way they each learn.
Our students today are native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. Our digital kids today are hyper-communicators. Prensky describes these students in the article "Portrait of a Digital Native" as, "wanting their information extremely fast and being experts at multitasking and networking."
Technology Surrounds Me
My daughter Hanna, who is not even two years old, has been already introduce to the world of technology. She likes to sit in front of the computer, she moves the mouse around and has learn the cause-effect property that the mouse has. She has already discover that she can look at pictures, see images of her favorite TV characters, and listen to music.
Speaking about her TV shows, Diego is her favorite. He is an animal rescuer who has a GPS to locate the animals that need his help! He also has a video camera watch! A what?! I didn't even know there is such a thing!
Hanna is being exposed to all this techonology that is part of our world. My husband and I think that when she is a teenager there will be GPS to insert under her skin to track her (boyfriends look out!).
I got together with my friend and her family two weeks ago. Her oldest son Jimmy, who is 7 years old, had this "tool" in his hand for about three hours straight. I called it a tool, later on my husband told it was a "Game Boy Advance." The kid played his video games while the rest of the family had lunch, desert and played around with a ball.
I understand his video game kept him entertained and I'm sure it's good for his mental concentration and hand eye coordination, but I do question to what extent technology can be negative.
Remember one of the most popular toys sold out last Christmas was the Nintendo Wii. I couldn't really understand it's function until I got to try it. When we visited our friends for a barbecue my husband actually spend the afternoon playing golf, tennis, boxing, and racing. There is no way he would have had the physical strength to play all those sports the same day (he of course does not agree!).
Did he have fun? YES, but again raises the question, " Are the video games taking the place of real life enternainment?"
My believe as a parent of a future digital native is to welcome all the tools and the advantages that techonology can bring, but always be aware of the content of those video games and maintain control over rules and the times they can be played. You can never underestimate the power of family dinners, real sports, socializing face to face, and the important personal connections that are made in no other way.
Check out these sites:
Parental control and video games: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/613259/parental_control_and_video_games_knowing.html
Tools that will help you to keep track of time: http://www.familysafemedia.com/tv_time_management_tools_-_par.html
I am a big fan of the "Super Nanny." If you don't know what I am talking about, the Super Nanny is a show where families in the United States are having trouble with their kids behavior and ask for help from the Super Nanny becuase they don't know what else to do. One of the common issues that the nanny sees is that members of the family, parents and siblings, do not have any communication or very little communication becuase technology has taken it away. To many TVs are scattered around the house, no schedules have been set for the kids to watch TV or play their computers and video games, and, therefore, communication has been lacking among the members of the family so when they do have to actually communicate they don't know how. Super Nanny provides reasonable, firm, direct advice and strategies and, in the end, facilitates communication within the family.
Check out this site to learn from the Super Nanny:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/supernanny/index?pn=about
Speaking about her TV shows, Diego is her favorite. He is an animal rescuer who has a GPS to locate the animals that need his help! He also has a video camera watch! A what?! I didn't even know there is such a thing!
Hanna is being exposed to all this techonology that is part of our world. My husband and I think that when she is a teenager there will be GPS to insert under her skin to track her (boyfriends look out!).
I got together with my friend and her family two weeks ago. Her oldest son Jimmy, who is 7 years old, had this "tool" in his hand for about three hours straight. I called it a tool, later on my husband told it was a "Game Boy Advance." The kid played his video games while the rest of the family had lunch, desert and played around with a ball.
I understand his video game kept him entertained and I'm sure it's good for his mental concentration and hand eye coordination, but I do question to what extent technology can be negative.
Remember one of the most popular toys sold out last Christmas was the Nintendo Wii. I couldn't really understand it's function until I got to try it. When we visited our friends for a barbecue my husband actually spend the afternoon playing golf, tennis, boxing, and racing. There is no way he would have had the physical strength to play all those sports the same day (he of course does not agree!).
Did he have fun? YES, but again raises the question, " Are the video games taking the place of real life enternainment?"
My believe as a parent of a future digital native is to welcome all the tools and the advantages that techonology can bring, but always be aware of the content of those video games and maintain control over rules and the times they can be played. You can never underestimate the power of family dinners, real sports, socializing face to face, and the important personal connections that are made in no other way.
Check out these sites:
Parental control and video games: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/613259/parental_control_and_video_games_knowing.html
Tools that will help you to keep track of time: http://www.familysafemedia.com/tv_time_management_tools_-_par.html
I am a big fan of the "Super Nanny." If you don't know what I am talking about, the Super Nanny is a show where families in the United States are having trouble with their kids behavior and ask for help from the Super Nanny becuase they don't know what else to do. One of the common issues that the nanny sees is that members of the family, parents and siblings, do not have any communication or very little communication becuase technology has taken it away. To many TVs are scattered around the house, no schedules have been set for the kids to watch TV or play their computers and video games, and, therefore, communication has been lacking among the members of the family so when they do have to actually communicate they don't know how. Super Nanny provides reasonable, firm, direct advice and strategies and, in the end, facilitates communication within the family.
Check out this site to learn from the Super Nanny:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/supernanny/index?pn=about
Thursday, June 12, 2008
What a Mess!
My heart was beating quickly, my stove has all four burners going, the dinner table is set, all the gear for bathtime, storytime and bedtime is ready. It was 6:45, time for my class, and daughter and daddy were and their own! Their tummies were empty, the bathtub was never touched, and the books remained in the same pile. The crying for "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" (daughter, not Daddy!) and Daddy with persistent, quietly uttered swear words, songs, dollies, cookies, Diego and Dora, and even a favorite blanket could not prevent the baby from wanting her mommy!
Meanwhile mommy was having another mess online. After typing as quickly as I could to keep up with the chatting, my group told me that I wasn’t in their list to work with them. I was mistakenly located in the wrong group. I could not join the chat within my own group because I wasn’t in their list, and could not just jump in and start chatting in a group that was having a conversation already for 45 minutes. I called my teacher right away after class was over to clarify for me what group I belonged to so I could be part of the chat from the beginning of the class.
With the mess of having the noise of my daughter crying and the technology problems against me I felt that this course was not going to give the same type of satisfaction that the last ones had. I felt that technology is not always good especially when things can not be immediately fixed.
Meanwhile mommy was having another mess online. After typing as quickly as I could to keep up with the chatting, my group told me that I wasn’t in their list to work with them. I was mistakenly located in the wrong group. I could not join the chat within my own group because I wasn’t in their list, and could not just jump in and start chatting in a group that was having a conversation already for 45 minutes. I called my teacher right away after class was over to clarify for me what group I belonged to so I could be part of the chat from the beginning of the class.
With the mess of having the noise of my daughter crying and the technology problems against me I felt that this course was not going to give the same type of satisfaction that the last ones had. I felt that technology is not always good especially when things can not be immediately fixed.
Support Groups
There have been different kinds of groups that I’ve been part of in my life depending on the phase I'm in. I am going to briefly recall some of them:
My childhood group: playing in the park, riding bikes, celebrating birthdays with games and piñatas, tea parties for the dolls.
My neighborhood group: lots of parties and laughs, concerts together, sports, sharing tears from having the same adolescent problems.
My college group: Extended hours of studying, sharing big ambitions, not being certain of where we were going to stand in our careers in the future.
My Ed 5921 graduate group: The group that held me up during the fall 2007 semester, shared lots of frustration, stress and satisfaction.
My motherhood group: When Hanna was 4 months old I started to join “The Little Gym” and I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting a group of moms. Even today I still bring Hanna to the Little Gym and have become good friends with two other moms that have daughters the same age as Hanna. Now Hanna is having her first interactive play group, where the kids are finally old enough to learn the social rules we all (or most of us anyway) live by. I hope she will learn to share, to talk, to play, and generally enjoy socializing with new friends.
This group has been the most supportive group for me as a new mom. I have been able to share my concerns about my daughter, to learn new ways of how to teach my daughter things, to go out and have a break from the house chores, and most importantly to feel that I was not the only one feeling so emotional, overwhelmed and concerned about my role as a first time mom.
Visit the links to find information about parenting groups that I've enjoyed reading.
My childhood group: playing in the park, riding bikes, celebrating birthdays with games and piñatas, tea parties for the dolls.
My neighborhood group: lots of parties and laughs, concerts together, sports, sharing tears from having the same adolescent problems.
My college group: Extended hours of studying, sharing big ambitions, not being certain of where we were going to stand in our careers in the future.
My Ed 5921 graduate group: The group that held me up during the fall 2007 semester, shared lots of frustration, stress and satisfaction.
My motherhood group: When Hanna was 4 months old I started to join “The Little Gym” and I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting a group of moms. Even today I still bring Hanna to the Little Gym and have become good friends with two other moms that have daughters the same age as Hanna. Now Hanna is having her first interactive play group, where the kids are finally old enough to learn the social rules we all (or most of us anyway) live by. I hope she will learn to share, to talk, to play, and generally enjoy socializing with new friends.
This group has been the most supportive group for me as a new mom. I have been able to share my concerns about my daughter, to learn new ways of how to teach my daughter things, to go out and have a break from the house chores, and most importantly to feel that I was not the only one feeling so emotional, overwhelmed and concerned about my role as a first time mom.
Visit the links to find information about parenting groups that I've enjoyed reading.
Coming Back
Fall 2007 was the semester that seemed like it was never was going to end. The unlimited number of assignments, the big group projects, and the new type of instruction used along with the WebCity kept the course going 24/7. When the semester ended the feeling of being overwhelmed transformed into satisfaction. I learned so much about the content of the course, ‘the methods of instruction,’ but what I learned the most was the importance of building a strong work group. The environment of the class was truly collaborative and supportive of one another. When the semester ended one of my classmates, Danny, said, “I feel that the family is breaking up.” We were a family sharing the same type of emotions and ambitions. We were all carrying loads of stress! We help one another to make the load lighter!
Now I am back in totally different circumstances. First, I do not know any members of this new group and second, I would never even see them in person because the course I am taking is on online course, which brings me to a more frighting state of mind. Is it possible to build the relationships we need to work as a group when using the frequently impersonal resource of the internet?
It is going to be interesting how it goes. Are we going to be able to build a family like my last one? Am I going to able to handle an online course?
I will let you know what’s happening by making use of my blog!
Now I am back in totally different circumstances. First, I do not know any members of this new group and second, I would never even see them in person because the course I am taking is on online course, which brings me to a more frighting state of mind. Is it possible to build the relationships we need to work as a group when using the frequently impersonal resource of the internet?
It is going to be interesting how it goes. Are we going to be able to build a family like my last one? Am I going to able to handle an online course?
I will let you know what’s happening by making use of my blog!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Teaching with Technology
I'm starting a new semester (soooo close to the end!!!) and I will be posting my experience throughout the course here. This is an online course and its going to be interesting to see how well (or poorly!) I scale this learning curve. Please take a look at the rest of my blog so you can get a better idea about me and my experiences.
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