Thing 21-Flipping the Classroom

The elements of a flipped classroom that I am going to incorporate into my classroom are students using reading interventions that I would normally do in class at home and then bring in completed work to me.  Also, I plan to have students use the quizlet feature at home to do spelling and vocabulary at home that I would normally have the students practice in class.  The link below is a quick example of how I plan to use educreations whiteboard app to explain math problems to help parents and students at home.  I tried putting a jing video onto my blog, but it would not play, I thought to convert it, but zamzar doesn't convert swf files.  However, I did get it to upload into my "Face of the classroom" at the link below, so please check it out.  It is a reading intervention program that I will have my students do at home instead of in the classroom to flip my classroom; it is me explaining the process to parents so that they can learn to help their students and view it over and over to in order to better understand the process.

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/partial-sums/1104433/?s=SZsUUM&ref=app

http://mrvshawks.weebly.com

I showed the "How to do Read Naturally" reading intervention video to a school colleague and she thought the video was a great tool to help the parents and students use the reading intervention program effectively at home.  Some ways she thought I could improve it are to use a different color than pink to highlight the "hot read section" because it doesn't show up well, to say the actual number of the step instead of just saying "the next step is to...", and to pause between each step a short time so that parents or students can pause and restart the video.  Some of the strengths she thought were the use of color to underline and the arrows pointing out the steps and where they are to be done on the students sheet.  The tone of my voice and the end when I thanked the parents for helping their student improve as a reader.  I will improve my next recording by pausing a little after I speak to make it easier to understand me, continue to use the highlighting feature, and make sure that I am more specific with the details I say.  Also, I plan on trying to use the powerpoint so that I can use the pointer feature when discussing during the video.

Thing 19-Digital Storytelling

Video can be seen at:  http://mrvshawks.weebly.com

This is a great way to get disinterested students in certain subject areas to engage in the curriculum.  Some ways digital storytelling can be used in my elementary classroom is in writing short stories that the students then bring to life using video, to do skits in Social Studies, and to do bullying or health videos.  Using videos in these curricular areas will inspire students to be more engaged and develop a deeper understanding of the writing process and concepts being taught.  Finally, it will help students to develop confidence in speaking in front of others and using the appropriate voice level to communicate.

Some feedback I received was they thought it was a cute video, liked the transitions and the music I chose, but thought I could improve it by adding captions.

On a side note, I became pretty frustrated with this assignment because I made the video on my school ipad, which the kids will be using, and really struggled with trying to find a way to share the video.  I finally had to set up a youtube account and all the sharing features within youtube in order to get it to the face of the classroom.  On the brightside, I know how to use it for this year in school.

Thing 20-Online video and audio

I would incorporate online video into my elementary classroom by using Khan academy to show math problems, using science videos to show volcanoes, animals, teacher raps for life cycles, etc., and using history videos to show American Revolution, slavery, etc.  I don't plan to use the audio resources because video has visual and audio together.

One of the tools I am most interest in using is Discovery Education.  The features in this tool appear to be very valuable in supporting teacher instruction.  The ability to do a curriculum standard search seems very useful to align videos to state standards.  Using the "my content" feature to bookmark videos and create folders for reuse of videos seems like a very useful way for teachers to organize themselves and lesson plan.  Having quizzes and assignments already created for teachers to use with the videos is a huge time saver for teachers who are already swamped with things to do.  The writing prompt feature also seems very beneficial and I like that they give a picture to go along with the prompt to help visual students.  Finally, the calendar feature is neat because you can show students things that happened on that day in history.

As far as strengths and weaknesses, I feel they are very obvious.  The strength of video over audio is that you are reaching both visual and auditory learners by using video while with audio you are only reaching auditory learners.  Since I am a visual/kinistetic learner, auditory and lecture learning was very difficult for me, however, when I can see something along with auditory I gain a much deeper understanding.  A weaknesses of both video and auditory is that students miss out on the actual experience of doing the task or kinestetic learning.  A classic example is teachers that teach 3D shapes using a computer or a book.  In my opinion and supported by much of the latest research with boys in education, is that students need authentic experiences in education whenever possible.  However, video examples are beneficial in supporting learning.

  

Thing 18- Virtual Classrooms

My plan to extend my classroom begins with creating a website and a blog to interact with my students and parents outside the classroom.  I plan to use Quizlet to create vocabulary flashcards for Language Arts, Math, and Science for my students to access and practice at home.  I also plan to use Educreations or another virtual whiteboard app to record myself doing and explaining math concepts we are learning, so parents and students can refer to them at home while practicing or if their student is going to be absent for an extended period of time.  Next I plan to post questions on a blog about the book we are reading in class for students to respond to at home.  Finally, I plan to link an internet sight to my website that students will use to practice the spelling words for the week online.  Since I teach Elementary kids, the way I would be helping the meet the NETS-S requirements would be that I am giving them experiences with online learning and developing a sense of knowledge and comfort with using online learning.

Navigating online learning:
The things necessary for students to be successful online learners are self motivation, access to an online computer, skills needed to navigate the online platform, information on courses available, and a contact to troubleshoot computer issues or course issues.  Based on talking to colleagues, one of the major issues with online courses is motivation of the student to complete the tasks and use their time wisely when they are in the computer lab.  I've heard many stories, especially when students are using the course to catch up or make up for a failed class, that the students spend much of the time surfing or using facebook or other communication sites.  Access to the computer outside of school is another big issue, especially in the district that I teach in.  Many students do not have computers at home or internet access, they have to go to the library to get online and that has a timelimit.  Finally, I see troubleshooting as a very key aspect to ensure that the students do not become frustrated with the online learning experience.  

Thing 17- Professional Learning Networks

Learnport seems to be a great resource for teachers to not only continue their education, but the netTrekker search appears to be a wonderful tool for teachers to find or enhance their content area with great ideas and technological tools to engage learners.  Learnport has a very userfriendly website, filled with tutorials, an easy to use search engine, a vast amount of courses, and a place to keep track of courses completed to help simplify the process of continuing teacher education and the process of getting recertified.  On NetTrekker, I am especially excited to further explore the English Learners section to gain more ideas and resources for helping my ELL students close the achievement gap.  However, I can see the need to help veteran teachers become comfortable with this new system of accredidation and maybe a quick walk through on how to use NetTrekker with some one on one assistance.

The purpose of Twitter and Facebook is help people stay connected and share with each other no matter where they are in the world.  It allows people to stay up to date with the happenings in each others lives without having to be in direct contact either in person, phone, or skyping. 
The pros of using these sites in the classroom are that they are engaging to students, it opens the line of communication for parents, students, and teachers 24 hours a day, it allows for an interesting way to dialogue about a concept or piece of literature, it could be used to allow students from different cultures and countries to dialogue on a concept, it allows students a chance to move at their own pace and helps students that struggle speaking in front of piers because they do not have to respond immediately in a classroom setting, it allows students who are absent because of illness or a family trip to stay informed and be able to interact with the class, and it allows advanced and struggling students a platform for asking the teacher or others for help or to find ways to enhance their education.  The cons of using these sites are it opens communication for parents, students, and teachers 24 hours a day, it can be a slippery slope if a student is to take a comment posted by the teacher on an assignment the wrong way and then possible respond back in an innappropriate way, it could lead to bullying if students responses become negative before the teacher can delete them, and not all students have access to the internet so it could alienate those that do not have the capability of getting on line outside of school.    I put down the ability to communicate 24 hours a day in both because it is a great thing to always have open lines of communication, but in my experiences, sometimes people will say things in type that they would never say in person or on the phone.  Therefore, some parents or students or even teachers may type something in the heat of the moment and once it's been saved, it is for all to see.  This may lead to messy situations.  Also, with younger students like my 3rd graders it may take a long time for them to create responses since their typing skills are very lacking. 

As far as outside the classroom, I think the pros are that families, freinds, and associates can always stay in touch and be a part of our ever changing lives via these tools even though they live on opposite sides of the world.  It also really helps to "shrink" the size of our planet and allow us unique oppurtunities to build relationships with people from other cultures and countries around the world.  The only cons I can think of are the ones that cause annoyance.  For example, when people tweet about their dog watching tv all the time, someone you meet but didn't really care for continues to contact you, or a relative keeps saying things that are out of control or inviting you to play "barnyard' games on the site. 

Wow, there are so many sites out their for teachers to improve as educators, especially using technology.  However, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all outstanding sites that I'm learning about and then the plethora of ideas at each site.  How will I find the time?  Ever feel like a little fish in an ocean of information?

International Society for Technology in Education:  The purpose of ISTE is to make sure that technology is being used to improve learning and teaching to help students reach there full potential.  The standard membership is less than $10 a month.  The benefits of being a member are that you receive the magazine Learning & Leading with Technology to help keep you informed, you get 60% off webinars to learn new things about learning and teaching with technology, and access to NETS resources and ISTE's online communities that gives the teacher more resources and oppurtunities to communicate with like minded educators on using technology to improve learning.  The unique skills and abilities that I could contribute are all the ideas and input I can give from using the things I am learning from the 21st Century class with my elementary students and giving feedback on what works the best, didn't work, and where change could take place to improve the technological experience for elementary kids in a diverse school environment. 

Thing 16 - Reference and Research Tools

The two databases that I compared are e-Library Elementary and Kids Info Bits.  The topic that I used to compare and contrast these two databases was George Washington.
As far as appropriateness goes, I Kids Info Bits was more appropriate for elementary students because if the reading level for the article was considered easy then I feel upper elementary students would be able to read it and comprehend most of it.  Also, the text to speak function on Kid Info Bits will really help students read the words and better understand the text.  Finally, I thought the articles had more pictures to help support the text.  Overall, I felt that e-Library Elementary articles that I read, would be better suited for Middle/Highschool age students.  Most of the articles I found on the topic of George Washington were above a 7th grade reading level.
Usability I also thought Kids Info Bits was better suited to elementary age students because of the cartoon picture icons that represented a variety of categories that they could click on to help guide them to the more specific information they are trying to research.  Also, the color tabs for whether it was a reference, magizine, etc.  would be helpful for younger students.  Again, e-Library Elementary seemed geared more for Middle/Highschool students and would take more instruction from the teacher to teach them how to navigate it.
The content in both was accurate and filled with many facts to allow me to learn about George Washington, which was my goal.  However, the content was made easier on the Kids Info Bits because of the text to speech capability and the pictures to support the text.
The credibility on both sights was very apparent with all the articles, magazines, and photos being well documented with the author, publication, and the date of creation.  

General One File:
Since I teach 3rd grade, the use of this database by the students would be way above their reading level and therefore not appropriate for them to use.  However, it would be a good database for me as the teacher to research new educational strategies and methods being used in education.  For example, I looked up ELL learners and found some very interesting articles and book reviews that I could use to help decrease the achievement gap in my classroom. 
Again, for my elementary students this would not be very user friendly since it is geared towards adults, but it is very user friendly and easy to navigate as an adult.  The search engine pops up ideas as you are typing in your topic, their are many articles and such to choose from within a topic search, and it gives you related subjects on the sidebar to go with your topic.  
The content is accurate, filled with lots of facts about the topic in the articles, books, etc. that are current and useful.
The credibility of this database, like the two above, is very apparent with all the articles, books, etc.  being cited with author, publication, and the date of creation so that you can easily check on the validity of the information.

Mel Citation creator:

 Mel Citation:

 

Bib Me Creator: 

 Bib Me citation:

Thing 15- Google Reader/ RSS

One of the RSS feeds that I am subscribing to is the "Free Technology for Teachers" blog.  This blog is filled with outstanding articles on using technology in school.  I was really interested in this Ipad teaching since I just received an Ipad to use in my classroom and could potentially have access to an Ipad cart in the very near future.
Below is another feed that I just could not stop reading, it is filled with lots of creative ways to use technology with students.  I especially liked that some articles like the one below discussed ideas to incorporate technology with ELL learners, which my school has, and younger students.
Using Google Reader is going to be very useful to me because I won't have to waste time surfing the web to find valuable articles related to technology use in education.  It will help me as a teacher because I will be able to get creative and interesting ways to incorporate technology into my class to make learning fun, relevant to their future, and rigorous.  Thanks Ron, Craig, and Andrew for the valuable feeds that you pointed us to during the webinar.