What it all means

I hadn't thought of it until Richardson mentioned it, I guess I had been so worried about security, but it really will reinforce to students that their work does matter when we allow them to publish it in such a way that they can recieve feedback from someone other than me. This point will most likely be where I begin my letter to parents explaining how we will use technology in class and why I think it is important.

Petition for Webquest

Mrs. Brown-

I recently had the opportunity to learn about some new technology tools that I could use with my students this year. The tool I am most excited about bringing into my classroom is called a "webquest." It is a very structured way for students to do research or apply what we have studied in the classroom to a "real life" situation. Webquests will allow me to bring situations that are applicable to my students daily lives into our class discussions. Using technology with instruction is also a great way to keep students engaged.

A web quest can be paper-based or web-based. I will most likely give students instructions on something that looks like a worksheet that will explain where to begin their quest as well as how they will be assessed. When students arrive in the computer lab, they will go to the webquest page and click the appropriate link to begin or for further instructions.

Even though I feel it is important for students to be comfortable doing independent research on the web, a webquest will allow us to accomplish even more within our limited class time. Webquests will also protect students from accidentally finding inappropriate sites as well as decrease the temptation to go to recreational sites.

If we can encourage several teachers at Fairdale to use this tool, students will become more comfortable with it, learn how to research and detect valid websites and make more real life connections to the content we are covering. If you have any further questions, I would love to come by your office and show you how some sample webquests work. I think you will be really impressed.

Sincerely,

Furl

I love furl...this is the first time I have been able to read while I was at my computer with internet access. I was able to set up my account, just like Richardson instructed, and I've already added my first site. This is such a great tool to have. I can't even count all the nights that I've had to email myself links to print out the next day, or had to save a webpage because I didn't want to email myself. This is going to make life so much better...I'm still a little confused on how this would be an asset to my students who don't get to go to the computer lab very often...

Chapter 8

I like the possibilities that podcasting opens up. I wish that my school had something like the schools discussed, where "everyone" is already doing it. Right now I am thinking that the easiest way for me to ease into podcasting with my students is to have them do a summary, maybe once a week, of the major points that we have discussed in class. I may move it up to every day once I see it goes well so that students that miss a day can catch up more easily, and without taking a lot of class time. There was an example presented in Dr. Kajder’s class where the teacher had a scribe and this student was responsible for conveying the information covered in class on their blog…maybe I could start out having students write a summary of what happens in class, to be turned in via their folder, then after they get the idea of what kind of summary I want, moving into podcasts where they can actually record their summary (which will hopefully be more fun for them.)

Digital Story

This is the "script" I am thinking about for my digital story...any suggestions before I record?

Digital Story Script

Lab Safety 101
We all can’t wait to get back into lab…but first we must remember some lab safety basics
Dinosaur dressed up
Who really cares about lab safety?
Syringe
One time I was in a lab, filtering something like this. I didn’t think I needed to wear my goggles. Then the filter came off of my partner’s syringe-shooting acid into our eyes.
Eye wash station
We thought about going to the eye wash station, but we had never tested it before…so we ran back to her dorm and into the showers.
Icky eye
My eye could have ended up looking like this
Ickier eye
Or this
Googles
Which could have been prevented by wearing…
Picture of Feet
Which reminds me…what kind of shoes do you need for lab? What is wrong in this picture?
No shoes sign on door
No shoes, no lab, no good grade
Don’t block the safety showers picture
We may need to use extreme heat to get some things to work. If you do catch on fire remember to use either
Safety Showers
Safety shower
Fire blanket
The fire blanket
Fire extinguisher
Not the fire extinguisher – only use this for something never someone
First Aid Kit
Always be careful…this is our first aid kit –I’m willing to host donations!
Broken Glass box
Please put any broken glass in here…remember, never touch broken glass, always sweep it up, wear gloves…when it doubt, come and ask me first.
Guy wearing a Mask
Remember…you can never be too safe in lab.

The italics are for what the image will look like that goes with the script. I had this in a table in word and can't figure out how to copy the entire table...any suggestions?

Chapter 4

I have been hesitant about actually using something like a blog or a wiki with my students. And even though I don’t think I’ll be brave enough to blog, I am starting to think that a wiki could be do-able with my students. I like what was mentioned about Jot Spot, how it is password protected but still easily edited. I plan to try this with one class, probably my lone biology class. I want to see how they respond before I try this new stuff with all my students. Do you think it would be good to give the class some flexibility about what we do our first wiki about, or should it be more structured? Most of the students in my biology class will be students that did not pass biology last year—so they should be somewhat familiar with the content already.

Digital Story

I want to tell a story about "Lab Safety." This topic was less than engaging for most of my students last year, but still very necessary. I have a story about a lab accident that happened to me during my senior year of college (that I always tell anyways). So I want to tell my unfortunate story and weave in some important highlights of lab safety. I will use images from flickr and other web sites. My audience is a class of high school upper classmen.

Synching with the iKid and Adopt and Adapt

Synching with the iKid
I don't think I've given my students enough credit. I try to keep everything in the classroom incredibly structured, which I still think is needed, but they are very capable of multitasking and have even remarked that they do better when they can focus on multiple things at the same time. It's just difficult to change the way I've always "done school." But I think it's worth a try, because I have noticed that students tend to do better when they work with a computer and it is much easier to personalize for each student using a computer. To the point that when we were doing portfolios one student said they could not write without the computer...maybe that is a little too far?

Adopt and Adapt
I enjoyed how Prenksy described the "four-step process," I think I am at "Doing old things new ways" on my good days. He also pointed out my biggest problem, not that I'm afraid of the technology, but I don't think I can trust my kids with it. The few myspace sites I have seen are not very nice and it is a battle in the computer lab to keep them ontask. They do work better with music and agree to play it softly, but I can't understand what the artist is saying and doubt that it is appropriate. JCPS has done a lot to filter out "bad stuff," but my students are experts at finding ways around the filter, much more than I could do, and that is not a fun thought.

Response to Chapters 3, 5, 7

Chapter 3
I like the idea of the teacher’s role changing during the blogging process from evaluator to connector. I also think it would be a fun, more “grown up” way to appreciate work from my students. Instead of putting something on the bulletin board, it might mean more to have work applauded where the whole world can see how great they did. I also thought it was great how Richardson guided us through some of the add-ons you can do for your blog, such as “Blogger for Word,” and links to several examples of successful teacher blogs. Do you think this could be effective even if it wasn’t used regularly (maybe around once or twice a month, in addition to other online projects)?

Chapter 5
RSS is going to make life so much easier! Since my students do not all have access to computers outside of school, and our school only has one computer lab, I love the idea that students could set up RSS feeds then monitor what has been added since their initial research visit quickly instead of spending days just looking for data online. Even though it doesn’t really stand for this, I like and might use his “Reading Skill: Scanning and Synthesizing” tool idea. The ability to scan and synthesize large amounts of data quickly is very valuable as you research anything and could really benefit students once they graduate. RSS also seems like a feature that will help me as I learn more about my subject area so I can teach my students more.

Chapter 7
My students love pictures, especially pictures they get to take. I think Flickr could be a fun tool to help students learn to organize data, prepare for presentations, or photo field trips. I think my favorite feature mentioned in the text was how “Flickr allows you to annotate certain parts of a picture and also provides a ways for people to discuss the picture in detail.” This ability reminded me of lab practicals in vertebrate and invertebrate. It would have been so nice to be able to do these online, and it would have smelled so much nicer. I also think this could be a valuable tool while discussing dissections or to allow me to do mini-practicals with my students even though I don’t have access to all the specimens I had at Clemson.

Flikr Project: Classification

SC-HS-3.4.7
Students will:
· classify organisms into groups based on similarities;
· infer relationships based on internal and external structures and chemical processes.Biological classifications are based on how organisms are related. Organisms are classified into a hierarchy of groups and subgroups based on similarities that reflect their relationships. Species is the most fundamental unit of classification. Different species are classified by the comparison and analysis of their internal and external structures and the similarity of their chemical processes.

View our classification slide show.

Research Strategies

Depends on what you are looking for...

For most of what I do now I always start with Google. From there I am usually directed to a teacher's web-page, discovery.com, teacher journal sites, NASA for educators, etc. I've also found that the library, school and public, are helpful places because I am usually limited by what I can find access to. Gheens was helpful at the beginning of last year, however it is usually a last resort because it is out of the way and not very accessible (at least to me) online.

Chapters One and Two

Chapter 1
I knew that technology could be a great tool in communicating content to my students, but I hadn’t considered that they would know more about what was available than I do. I was not aware at the large number of students that have internet access, email, IM, and value it as a research source. I am concerned about how to balance internet assignments with my students; many have limited access to computers and no way to get to public computers. With only one computer lab in my school, which we all fight over, I am concerned about how much I will be able to allow my students to utilize throughout the year even with a laptop and projector in my classroom.

Chapter 2
Blogs can accomplish many things that can otherwise be difficult to achieve with students, such as metacognitive analysis, research, organizations and synthesis of ideas skills. Weblogs also “support different learning styles.” (p.28) Richardson also states that “students at all levels show more interest in their work, and their ability to locate and reflect upon their work is greatly enhanced.” (p. 29) One of my greatest struggles last year was student motivation; I am excited to see how blogging might motivate some of my uninterested students. He also noted that students who know they will publish their thoughts on their reading tend to read more critically-which I found myself doing prior to this blog.

Technology Autobiography

My first home computer arrived in sixth grade. I remember it had a “tower,” which my dad had been told was the latest technology. We also had dial-up AOL access, which we thought was incredible. Microsoft applications were pretty basic, grammar check wasn’t even available.

Computers started arriving in my classrooms during pull out sessions in elementary school. I can remember playing Carmen San Diego and writing books for Project Challenge. The first time I remember having a few computers in the classroom was sixth grade, and availability was sporadic after that. When I went to college at Clemson I enrolled in their pilot laptop program, which meant that I could get into select sections of freshman courses that would utilize a laptop and the latest technology.

I think technology can be a great asset to the classroom and a wonderful tool for the teacher. However, it can also make things more difficult, as I experienced in my freshmen laptop calculus course.

I think computers can play a helpful role in any K-12 classroom, as long as they are used appropriately, as necessary and not to the exclusion of other “traditional” skills. I am very excited to utilize my new computer and projector in my lessons next year. So many concepts in my subject are abstract and difficult for students to understand without this kind of technical support.

Welcome

It works!