NAEP Results

This activity asked us to conduct descriptive data analysis and t tests within an excel spreadsheet. We were to obtain data on the state of West Virginia and compare to the rest of the states. This was all documented through (NAEP) National Assessment of Educational Progress and (NCES) The National Center for Education Statistics. Here is where you can go to locate any of the subject areas and grade that you would like to view and examine. Once I selected the criteria of 8th grade, Mathematics, and gender the excel spreadsheet appeared. From there I uploaded it to excel so I could work with the data. I had some difficulty with sorting my information but I ended up deleting all the N/A's and the National Public data. Once those were gone I was able to get to work. I realized that I had to highlight all the information to obtain where exactly WV feel in rank.  I was also able to scroll down the student's overall score to determine the average of 283.

The next steps were to conduct the t test of male vs. female scores to see if there was a significant difference in test scores. Here is my findings and data work to show that boys were not smarter than girls. There was not a significant difference. I do feel more confident in my reporting and paper. I am still not 100% sure if I correctly designed the chart and table in proper APA format. I do think that it is better than the first time around.

This activity corresponds with standard #5: Participate in Professional Growth and Leadership. This is where educators can dive into data and statistics to help students improve their learning through technology. By examining this information; teachers, administration, parents and students can collaborate together to determine strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. Once these weaknesses have been specified then focus and improvement can be made on them. This needs to be done on a regular basis to ensure growth and success academically.

Save a YouTube Video to My Computer

I looked at this activity in two different ways. The first way I thought to address this was to create a Google Doc that contained the YouTube video that I wanted to select. I am a huge basketball fan, played in high school, and could have continued in college but chose not to. I remember when I was on the middle school basketball team and having a WVWC player help me with my shot. I learned a tremendous amount from her. One of the teaching tips that really stuck with me was the BEEF shooting method. Here is my Google doc where you can learn the BEEF method.

I then started to read more into our directions and thought that maybe I should have figured out a way to actually save it to my computer. So to begin this process I logged into my YouTube account and located the BEEF-4 video. I located it but could not see the Real Player tab on the top right hand corner of the video to upload it. I finally realized that I was in Chrome and switched to Internet Explorer. I re-logged in to my YouTube account and re-located my video. I was able to see my little blue tab to upload my video to real player. Once I had that uploaded I then converted it to a WMV file and there was an option of where to save it. I selected to save it as a video to my computer.

Now came the really tricky part figuring out how to post it. It only made sense to me to upload it back to YouTube. Here is the new link for the video that I uploaded back to YouTube. I also changed the title to "BEEF it's not what's for dinner but how to Shoot a Basketball!

This activity would best link with Standard # 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. In my collaborative Reading class we are researching Charles Dickens. This would be a great tool for students to explore and find information that would help define who he is and what he accomplished. The could then save it , store it, bring it to class and present it. The student would have high interest due to being on YouTube and searching for videos. Not only would the be using technology appropriately but they would be learning about the author in the process. This would be a great way for them to interpret their meaning of who Charles Dickens is and what they were able to conclude about him.

Sign Up for YouTube

First step in signing up for You Tube is that you need to go here! In the top right hand corner is where you will see the words "sign up". Click on that and it will bring you to a page for you to create your username, password, and additional information. Then at the bottom is where you click "sign up." You will then receive an email saying Welcome to your You Tube account.

Here is a wonderful video showing you how to sign up for a You Tube Account. Sometimes for the visual learners (such as myself) this is more beneficial. 

This would best match with Standard # 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.  By being able to demonstrate how to access and create a YouTube account is a good way to show how current and up to date an Educator is. Not only by just telling or informing the students this is a great way to actually show them how to do it. YouTube is a sticky subject at my current school but if used appropriately it can be a great teaching tool. YouTube could be a great way to communicate with parents needing help with their child's homework, give students extra examples to aid them in their work, and a great addition to any lesson. 

APA Action Research Report

Here is the Action Research Report that I created with the incorporation of an Excel spreadsheet. I originally did this document in Word and then uploaded it to Google Docs. This version incorrectly shows my running header and does not show any tables that I created. The tables are important in that they show the T Tests and Descriptive Stats that I did. I was able to save my tables as pictures and then inserted them into my Google doc.

This assignment was stressful. I felt confident in the Abstract, Methodology, and showing my work in excel. The parts that I seemed to focus on the most was the interpretation of the data and correctly putting that data in APA format. I am not 100% confident that I did my tables correctly. I have never had to do tables in APA format before. I do understanding my findings and those results. I do understand that if there were any P results < 0.05 then they would be considered significant but none of my results reflected this. My hypothesis were incorrect and there is no significant correlation.

This excel project this best matches up with standard #5. This is true professional growth at its finest. This activity incorporates technology tools, student data, self-reflection, and self-growth. This activity also helps to promote student learning and possible change in teaching strategies to better meet the students individual needs. This activity can be continuous and ever changing. This is where professional growth takes place. This tool is great to share with other teachers and administration to help achieve success not just in the classroom but school wide as well.

T Test and Data

Here is my example of conducting a T Test on the data given with Gender and Discussion Posts.

Here is my example of conducting a T Test with the given data on Gender and Millennial Age Score.


Below is the completed charts from the activity that Dr. Pierce asked us to do.

With the bottom two charts, Dr. Pierce asked us what about the impact bewteen Chrome and IE on Scores? This indicates that these two had the least impact on scores!

So back to my original research questions, hypothesis, and null hypothesis:

Research Questions:
    1. Why do the Males have more discussion postings than females?
    2. Why do the Females have less discussion postings than males?

Hypothesis:   

 1. Males have more discussion postings due to their lower Millennial Age Score.
 2. Females have less discussion postings due to their higher Millennial Age Score.

Null Hypothesis:  There is no difference between male and female and discussion postings.

Independent Variables: Gender (sex)

Dependent Variables: Discussion Postings and Millennial Age Score.

Millennial Information:

Within the Femalse 14/22 are to be considered Millennial due to being 73 or higher = 63.63%.

Within the Male 3/7 are considered Millennial due to being 73 or higher = 42.85%.

Discussion Postings:

The first thing that I did was run the Desriptive Data on just Discussion Postings alone. That helped me to determine that the Median was 15. So from that I formulated that those who had 14 or less discussion postings should have Millennial scores higher than 73. In saying that those who had 15 or more discussion postings should have a Millennial score less than 73. I broke the data first into males and females due to my Hypothesis. This theory held true to 1/3 males in the 1-14 discussion postings range and 2/4 in tge 15- and up discussion postings range. This creates a combined figure of 3/7=42.85% accuracy. I then examined the females; for 8/11 females this theory was accurate in the 1-14 discussion postings category. 5/11 were true in the 15 and higher discussion posting category. These combine for 13/22 accuracy in my hypothesis which falls at a 59%.

I feel that my hypothesis seems to be more accurate with the Females than the Males due to my calculations. So do Females have less discussion postings because of their Millennial Age Score? Sure 59% of them do. Do Males have more discussion postings due to their lower Millennial Age Score? For 42.85% this is true.

In regards to my Null Hypothesis I feel as if it seems to still be valid. This can stand its ground due to the fact that there is a difference between males and female for discussion postings.

This entire activity is a total reflection of standard # 5. T Tests are a useful way to demonstrate data in a manor that reflects students progress and self reflection on the teacher. This is useful in how we may change our instruction, see our areas of weakness, and make connections of why students are where they are. (In positive and negative ways) This allows a teacher to see the students strengths and weaknesses. This allows insight for the teacher to determine what to do about the weaknessess and turn them into strengths. By using a T Test we are not just looking at one variable we are able to use multiple variables in which allows us to dig deeper and become more precise in the accurate use of data.

This activity was the most difficult and most time consuming of them all! There were nights of tears and tons of frustration!!

Self-Assessment @ Midterm

I found the self-assessment to be a neat way to see exactly where I was at in this class. I am concerned with this due to completing it once and for some reason my instructor did not get it. I think I may have put my married name instead of my maiden name. I was able to count, plug, and place the information quite easily. I also like the option of having an area where you can type in a short/long answer to a question.

This would be a great tool for my student to do if conducting a class project and being able to assess their progress on it. I am currently in a collaborative Reading class  where they have to do three large book projects for the entire year. This activity is something that is on going and occasionally have time to do this in class. This tool would be an ideal way for them to track their progress and see if they are where they should be.

This activity best matches with Standard #2: Design and Develop Digital-Aged Learning Experiences and Assessment. This tool is exactly that.  This is a learning tool that can help students self assess their progress. This helped myself and I am positive it would help my students to see what they have learned and to witness their individual growth of knowledge. This tool is personal and you can make it as much or less personal as needed. This can be molded to meet everyone's individual needs and possible disabilities. It was also helpful in the kick back data of placing all the class' information together in one spread sheet to assess where you were as to the rest of the class.

Here is where you can go to see the midterm self-assessment that I actually completed twice!

Data Analysis/ Research Question and Hypothesis

Using the data that was provided to us I formulated my Research Questions, Hypothesis, and Null Hypothesis.

Research Questions:
    1. Why do the Males have more discussion postings than females?
    2. Why do the Females have less discussion postings than males?

Hypothesis:
    1. Males have more discussion postings due to their lower Millennial Age Score.
    2. Females have less discussion postings due to their higher Millennial Age Score.

Null Hypothesis:
  The number of Blog Postings is not dependent upon being male or female.

With the data given our age and gender would be considered as the Independent Variables. The Discussion Posts, Millennial Age, Blog Posts, Personality, Fake Quiz, Browser, and Teaching/Non Teaching would be the Dependent Variables.

I began by sorting the information into two groups; male and female. Then I went through and found the averages of each sub heading per gender. I document the averages and compared the information to formulate my information.

Females: 22 total
D posts: 344=15.64
Mill Age:  72.73
Age: 31.82
B Posts: 15
Personality: 3/22 = 13.6% on all  of the following/ ISFP, ISFJ, INFP, INFJ, ESFJ
T/ NOT T: 72.73% are teaching
Quiz: 74.59%
Browser: Internet Explorer

Males: 7 total
D. Posts: 116=16.57
Mill Age: 69.57
Age: 33.29
B Posts: 16.86
Personality: ESFJ = 2/7= 28.5%
T/NT= 4/7 teaching =57.15%
Quiz: 79%
Browser: S 2/7=28.5%
              IE 2/7=28.5%
              FF 2/7 = 28.5%

Standard #5 would best match up with this activity. This again would involve self reflection and growth with data provided by assessments with the students. In conducting this activity the outcome would be the improvement of student learning. This would make the teacher become more involved in the decision making, development, and modeling of technology skills. This can be conducted throughout the school year to appropriately assess professional practice and use of Excel to support student learning.

Excel Activity and Data

With this activity I was able to obtain the information in an Excel doc and Find/Replace the variables with a numeric code. Here is the data that was presented with the variables.

 Here is the data after I went through and Find/Replaced all the variables with numeric codes.

This activity would best match up with Standard #5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. The first thing that came to my mind with the tool of Find/Replace is confidentiality in special education. This would be great to keep the names and specific content confidential but for a person to look at just the numbers they would have no idea what they meant. The creator of this would be the only one to know what it all exactly means. This specific activity is for an educator to take the information that we "collected" and assess it to correlate connections between columns. This will be a way for teaches to assess themselves especially with an activity that relates to an action research plan/project. This technology tool would help students gain academic success and teachers to reflect if their practices are effective or not. In doing this there is self reflection and self growth that will transition into student success!

With this information I explored how to sort the given information. I began by the separation of Males and Females and then worked from there. I wrote down the averages of each section per male/female and categories. The class average of blog posts was 15.45 and the amount of blog posts that I have is 17. This places me above the class average.I am in the process of taking the data that I have organized and evaluating it to make connections for my hypothesis that I need to present.

Data Analysis Tool Pack

This activity was a trip. It took me about 20 minutes to realize that I needed to pull up Excel. I was trying to use the tool option through Internet Explorer. Once I had Excel pulled up I could not find that wonderful Tool option bar. I browsed through my tabs and went to the File tab. Once I had that pulled up I clicked on the word "Options". This pulled up a screen and found the choice of "Add-Ins." I clicked this and jumped for joy when I saw the option of Analysis ToolPack. I then clicked on the option of Analysis ToolPack and it brought me up to the boxes to manage my add-ins. I did select both the regular ToolPack, the VBA Toolpack option and then selected ok. I hope that was ok to select them both. So in conclusion I was able to locate the Analysis Toolpack, select what needed to be selected, and I am hopeful that this is the completion of this task.

This page was a tremendous help to me. When I found this was when I realized that I needed to be in Excel!

I feel that this standards best relates to standard number 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. This tool is good for true reflection in the use of data for an Action Research Project. When I completed my action research plan I used a variety of charts and graphs to show/reflect my students progress. They say that the proof is in the pudding. I was able to clearly see if my students were improving or declining. If they were declining I had to ask myself why and reassess my instruction. I did not use Excel in my data process but I am sure that I could have. I am not very knowledgeable about Excel and so I did not use it. With this class and the activities to come my opinion will change!

PEW: How Millennial are You?

You can go here to find out your Millennial Score and see where you rate. This activity has many questions that are geared around technology and how obvious some of my answers were. While I was answering my questions I thought about my parents and how different their selection of answers would be. Times have dramatically changed over the years. My score was an 83 and is considered to be Millennial. The scoring range began at 73 which included the year 1981 and up. I was born in 1982. I was also surprised that the Generation X score would start out as low as it did. I figured that the minimal score would be somewhat higher.

Here is the summary page that explains what it means to be Millennial. Those who are Millennial are up for change, are connected through technology, and are open to diversity. This summary is very informative and for the most part I agree on their views and opinions of who they considered to be Millennial.

I feel as if this activity best matches up with Standard #2: Design and Develop Digital -Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. This could be used for assessment knowledge in where my students are at among the Millennial line. This is an ideal way to get to know my students and how to appropriately connect with them. I would use this tool to construct and prepare lessons and activities. This would help me to indicate my students interests and what they may not want any part of. This activity would help me to mold and shape my classroom into a technology-enriched learning environment. In doing this I would be able to look a the students as individuals and would be able to reach all their different learning needs. Lastly, this would help me to construct activities, lessons, and assessments that best fit my students!

Jung Typology Test

Here is where you can go to take this personality test. In the process of this test I had to really think about what the question was asking of me. Many of the questions were cut/dry or black/white answers. There were a few that were thinking questions. After taking the personality test I was not surprised with the outcome. This activity had me matched up with the code ESFJ. The results were interesting due to the only difference was that of one letter, the letter F. This is where I had some internal debate of decision making. With the reading I chose T for thinking where as taking this personality test it came back F for feeling. I was unsure of exactly where I fell and to be honest I still feel as if I am in the middle of the two. This personality test has me being very expressed extravert = 100%, moderately expressed sensing personality = 25%, moderately expressed feeling personality = 50%, and moderately expressed judging personality = 56%. I thought it was crazy that this had me at being 100% extravert. I do feel as if this is me! I am outgoing, love to talk to people, and enjoy being around people. I am not one to be by myself. I am active and in constant action. I do enjoy talking out loud about problems and to hear what other have to say about them.

I think it is important to understand what these outcomes mean. I feel as if my strengths are what pushes me to be the best teacher that I can be. If I have a problem I ask for help in which I encourage my students to do the same. I encourage classroom discussion and movement within the classroom. I like for them to solve problems by talking it out and using common reasoning to do so. I do however feel like I neglect the quiet or shy students. I assume that all students would like to be social and talkative but I know that not all feel that comfortable. I also need to take into consideration the students who are extremely soft-hearted  and who could get their feelings hurt easily. I am too abrasive and possibly aggressive in conducting myself where I need to maybe bring out my softer side more. I think with a group of teachers or even principles this would be a great tool for them to really put themselves in check. I think that all teachers need to do this and possibly conduct it within their own classrooms. I feel this would be a great tool for collaborative settings as well. This will allow others to see their ways and methods and that just because someone else's ways are different that does not make them wrong. Where one teacher may struggle in an area the other teacher may be able to compensate. I also think of my husband and myself. He is my balance and my check. He knows how to calm me down and make sense of things. Where if it was anyone else I would not listen to them. Not only could this be a good tool for the classroom but life as well.

With all the given information above I feel as if this would best match with Standard #5: Professional Growth and Leadership. This tool would only help in the improvement of teachers instruction. This is something that would be a lifelong activity to see if growth or change is actually made. This activity would demonstrate a digital tool and its effectiveness on educators, students, and administration. The biggest idea of this is self-renewal and reflection. How many times do we say how can me make this stick....How can we be better educators?  I feel this is the first step. One of the hardest things to do is to accept our weaknesses but in turn the results are our strengths. This will help promote educator growth and student academic success.

Myers and Briggs MBTI Basics

Here is where I went to locate the MBTI Basics personality inventory. As I was reading the article I had to pull up the descriptions of each term to indicate what the terms meant. I was glad that I did that because the terms themselves were somewhat misleading. The first heading being Favorite World I thought for sure I was Introversion but after reading the descriptions I knew that was not the case. I felt as if I am definitely Extraversion. The next heading being Information I was not sure either way if I was Sensing or Intuition. After reading the terms I was able to gather that I was Sensing. Just to look at that word I would not think that would be the case but sure enough I am. I think the most difficult one was the Decision choices. I found myself between thinking and feeling. I do not consider myself cut or dry with the two of them. When reading this I made the choice of being "Thinking." The last sub heading of Structure was easy for me after reading what the two terms stood for. I was able to indicate that I was a J for Judging. I was able to agree with all the selections of letters for my code being ESTJ. I still battle between the Thinking and Feeling for Decisions.

I am a very involved person. I do not sit down and if something is going on I am right in the middle of it. I sometimes get myself in so may things at one time that it is hard to stay on top of everything. I love people and socializing. My husband and I have people over at our house every weekend. During the week we are having people over for dinner or going out with friends to dinner. I like to talk about things and get it all out. I am not one to be quiet or shy at all. I agree with the fact that I use my senses with everything. I am very concrete and hands on. I use facts and vital information to solve problems and issues. I look at the "bottom line" about everything regardless of feelings of others. I go by my life experiences and others' experiences before going off of symbols or words. In doing this there are times that I have overlooked information or new approaches to issues. I selected T for thinking when reading this. I feel as if I do appreciate the technical and scientific fields of logic but I am somewhat torn with the concept of feeling in there. I do feel as if i look and find the basic truth in all types of problems and issues. I do try to not be biased or impersonal, however I do tend to allow my feelings of others and myself sneak in. Lastly, I am a J all the way. I function in a planned, organized, orderly way. This help me feel in control and comfortable with life. I am task oriented, I make lists all the time (like on my desk to complete this activity), I have to finish things before I do leisure things (like do this before I eat my lunch), and lastly I am the type that completes something extra early so in case I make a mistake I can hopefully have time to make corrections if needed. I can't stand having something due hanging over my head.

According to the 4 Temperaments I am a Guardian. With the code and reading the article I would be under the Supervisor Tag (ESTJ). I feel that this is very true an appropriate. I really like where it talked about how human relations follow along the traditional lines. I do hold marriage and parenthood very high which does not seem to be the case as much... especially with friends my age. On my Facebook page I have that my motto is "I am what I am, like it, love it, or hate it!" I feel as if this is a very accurate description of myself . Here you can read all about the type of temperament of being a Supervisor Guardian.

I would best relate this activity with Standard #5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. This could greatly improve our professional practice, especially in a collaborative setting. It is important for me to be able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. This activity allows me to see what type of person I am and my feelings about relationships and life. I feel that all teachers need to do this to evaluate themselves to better understand their individual processes and views. This can help teachers work together in each of their areas of   need. In doing this we can create a better learning environment for the students. This can help us to evaluate and reflect our own professional practice by the use of this technology tool. This will allow self renewal/ reflection and contribute to student academic success.

Audacity Podcast

Here is my completed Audacity Podcast. This project was intense and complicated. I did enjoy finding and searching for the music, interviews, and content for this activity. I chose Michael Jackson due to knowing that there was going to be plenty of information out there for me to find. I retrieved all my information from YouTube and then converted them to mp3s using the bender converter. The most tedious part was the editing of the tracks and timing everything just right. I think this was so difficult for me due to my OCD compulsion kicking in.

This activity would be perfect for research activities in the classroom. Research can be done in any subject and at any grade level. It is important to of course recognize that the expectations of younger students need to be lowered than that of high school students. Right now in my collaborative social studies class they are learning about ancient Mesopotamia. It would be great for them to choose a focal point of this time and create a podcast of some sort. Say the student selects King Tut. They could find a segment on King Tut and possibly add some type of music that could go along with it. They could then record something specific that they learned from the information that they were able to find. The only catch would be that YouTube access is blocked at our school but we can ask for permission to unblock certain videos. This activity would be something to incorporate in the students' Tech-Step program that is now being integrated.

Audacity would best match up with NETS Standard Number One: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. As an educator I would being with modeling this activity by incorporating this with the appropriate subject matter.This would be an ideal way for teachers to show their knowledge of not just the content but the technology tool as well. Audacity is a tool that would help promote student individuality and creativity. The student would be able to identify if their project was being conducted appropriately by just listening to it. It would be imperative for the teacher to provide some type of guide lines or rubric for the student to follow to guide them in meeting the teacher's requirements. This could be easily tied into what is currently taking place in the world with King Tut and his tomb as to during the early Mesopotamia era. It would be interesting for students to grade themselves with the provided rubric /guideline to see if they had met all the required elements. Once they have done this they could then compare their own assessment of themselves to the teachers assessment with the same rubric. It would really be neat if there was a way to locate another 6th grade social studies class in a different state/country and conduct the same activity to share pod casts between the two classes!

Voice Thread

I found this activity to be very enjoyable. I did feel a little silly at first talking into a microphone and not face to face with a person. I made sure that I jotted down some key points to focus on as I spoke so that I could stay on topic. I really enjoyed the two videos that we had to watch for this voice thread tool. I would like to go to one of his seminars. He makes vital points that really stuck a cord with myself and being a special education teacher.

Here are video 1 and video 2, for the assignment, if you would like to view them.

Voice Thread can help to incorporate the theme of creativity into my classroom. The first thing that came to my mind was an algebraic math problem. Have that be the picture and then have the students interpret and evaluate the problem the best they can. I would instruct them to do this prior to my lesson, prior to any background, to see how many different ways and strategies that the students choose to use. With this tool and this example I would have to be more open minded as an educator and more accepting of a variety of solutions. This tool can be tied in with a piece of art work and the teacher having the students state what they thought the meaning was of the piece. Again this would help to open the door of creativity and possibly create  student interest.

Here you can go to listen to my interpretation and voice thread of the two videos for this assignment.

This activity best correlates with ISTE Standard #1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. This tool is proven in the activity that I just conducted to facilitate creativity. This is achieved by promoting and supporting fresh and new innovative ways to think and interpret information. This activity definitely engaged my interest and pushed me to explore the real-world issue of education. This helped me to convey my possible weaknesses and areas that I need to improve upon. This tool helped me to share my views and perceptions of information that was provided to us through the internet. This tool allowed me to orally state my understanding of the material and identify what the next step is for me. Voice Thread is able to connect all students, instructors, peers, and colleagues together without having to be physically there. This tool can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. I have never head of this tool before and I am certainly glad that I did!

Benderconverter

This activity was probably my most challenging so far! I was able to download the Bender Real Player very easily. The issue I ram into was taking my YouTube Video and getting it to my Bender Real Player. I Googled searched until I found out that I needed to copy the URL address and then I was able to go from there. I created my PowerPoint Slide with the converted slide with not very much difficulty. I am not very familiar with Google Documents and wanted to do it that way as well to. I felt that it was important to get acquainted with this option since I have never used it before. I feel as if doing this activity through the Google Documents was much easier!

Since this weekend was the tenth anniversary of September 11, I felt as if I should do something surrounding those events. Here is my Google Doc Presentation with a YouTube video of a very moving commercial that seriously game me goose bumps when watching it. I used the same video and included this commercial/video into a PowerPoint Slide.

This activity would best match up with NETS Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. Using my example of 9/11 helps students to become more innovative thinkers. By using the Bender Converter they are able to; promote awareness/understanding of real-world issues, support their findings and  outcomes, and to be able to do all of this with the Bender Converter (technology). This is something that will definitely obtain my students' attention and allow them to have the role of the educator. With this they can be the creators, do the planning, and model their understandings visually with others. For the role of the teacher, we can quickly see what the student knows, understands, and may possibly need more guidance on.

Jing Screencast

Here is my Jing Screencast Video. I found this tool very helpful and actually easy to do. I used our schools homepage as the base of the video cast. Our Edline page has many features that are very useful. The problem is that parents do not know all of the vital tools that are available on this page. They may even know about the tools but are not sure how to access them. That is why this tool is ideal for parents to not only see where to go, but to listen to me describe all the options within the "Parent Link." I began on our home page and scrolled down to the Link tab. Here is where I demonstrated how to locate the actual "Parent Link." I led the listener/observer step by step to see what all is accessible for them.

Jing Screencast would best match up with ISTE T Standard number 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. This activity shows that I understand and can appropriately use this technology  to convey information to my students and parents. This allows me to work with multiple students, parents, peers, and community members in sharing beneficial information through technology. This information is relevant to aiding in student success and helps to provide support at home for parents as well. The resources pointed out in my screencast are free and easily accessible to everyone. I really like the idea that not only can I demonstrate how to use the Edline page's tools but to also verbally tell what choices there are for them to locate.

http://screencast.com/t/pM5Ghkgo

Jeopardy

Here is the Jeopardy Review game that I created. This is a Chapter review for the first chapter out of the 7th grade Math book. My collaborative teacher was super excited for this project so we could use this. The whole Jeopardy game process was very easy. I was able to plug in the questions and answers with ease. The only problem that I ran into was trying to type in exponents. I just spelled out some of the problems in words and we will read the questions orally to help clarify what the questions are asking to meet IEP modifications.

This activity best correlates with Standard # 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. As educators we are able to show our understanding of technology (Jeopardy) skills in a global and digital society. With the use of Jeopardy we are able to use technology and incorporate the content of the first chapter in the math book. This activity also allows me to work collaboratively with my fellow teachers when I am in their classrooms doing our  team teaching. This tool will promote student academic success in their chapter test with the use of Jeopardy in their review practices. This activity will also allow us as educators to see where the students are and how much they understand of the chapter. If the students have extreme difficulty on a particular question then we can focus on that section and review with the students.

Word Clouds

I have actually used Wordle for classroom activities. I usually like to use this activity for a get to know you activity where the students list characteristics and interests that they have. They can also include their birthdays, age, brother/sister names, parent names, pet names, favorite color, favorite sport, favorite music, and the list can continue. I do ask that the student leave out their actual name so that when I read them the students can try to guess who it is. This activity can by used for a variety of activities, subjects, and concepts. The students also enjoy seeing their creations posted in the classroom.

Here is my Wordle Creation of the famous speech addressing the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Here is my World Creation for the subject Math.

I feel as if this activity would best match up with Standard #2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. Wordle is a contemporary tool that allows students to maximize their learning and development of skills and tasks. This tool encourages creativity in their learning process. Here they can manage their own words, colors, direction of words, and font size. They can clearly see their own progress and what they have created. I can quickly connect this to an assessment on say the Scientific Method. Here they could be asked to create a word cloud that includes the steps to the Scientific Method. They could easily be assessed say on the scientific equipment that they will be using during lab. I could easily have the equipment laying out and they would have to come up with their scientific names. Then create a word cloud that contains all of their lab equipment names. See my example.

Voice Thread

I found this activity to be very neat and fun! Here my voice thread that I have created. Voice Thread is definitely something that I can see myself not only using in the classroom but with my little boy as well. This is a wonderful way to help me create and catch some of his first phrases and statements. I have never used Voice Thread before so this was a new experience for me. It was very easy for me to register and sign up. It was not difficult at all to upload my picture(s). It was very easy for me to set up my voice recording with the picture. I used the microphone to do this. I did run into a little trouble with thinking that my voice would cover all the slides that I chose. I realized that I would have to do my comments per picture and that they would not rotate during one comment. It basically does one comment/voice thread per picture. I also had some difficulty getting my Voice Thread link to work correctly. I forgot my blog username, I changed my password, and finally when I went to copy and paste the link it worked!

This activity would closely match ISTE NETS T number 3: Model Digital - Age Work and Learning. This activity will allow teachers to demonstrate content and concepts with the use of a technology tool within a digital society. This would show that the teacher understands new technologies and knows how to use them. This also allows students, teachers, parents, and peers work together and participate in this activity. It is important that this tool is used appropriately and the content is applicable to the content standards and objectives. We were given a wonderful source of lessons that used Voice Thread in effective ways. Here is where you can go to view the Voice Thread usage ideas.

Jing Graphic

Here is my screen cast of my Jing Image. This activity was much easier than I thought it was going to be. There are so many wonderful options and Jing could be used in the classroom on a daily basis. I chose the image of a microscope. With this being linked to the Interwrite board my student could be able to directly see what specific part of the microscope we are to identify. This could be used as an introduction to the microscope, where the teacher would model and demonstrate. Jing could be used as practice where the students are to complete in groups or individuals to label the different parts. Then as the final assessment the students would have to label the  parts with Jing.

This activity goes along with Standard #2. The subject of a microscope is now adapted to relevant student learning with the incorporation of Jing. This helps promote student learning and their creativity. With the students conducting this process themselves not only are they understanding a new technology concept but they are learning the parts of a microscope without realizing it. They are able to assess their own progress by actually seeing what they have labeled and what they have not. They are also able to see what they are quickly to identify and what parts cause them some difficulty. These would be the areas they would have to work harder in recognizing. The final assessment would be a true test of their knowledge of a new technology and the the individual parts of a microscope.

Picasso Head and Snipping Tool

This is how I look and feel after a day of school and working on material for this class. I'm just kidding. I enjoyed this activity. It took me a while to understand how the color process worked. Once I finally realized that I had to click on the particular feature then choose its color, I was good to go. I liked the fact I could make the features bigger and then also make others smaller. When it came time to save it somehow I realized that there was not a save option. I tried right click and searching the page for some type of hidden feature to save it and could not find anything. Then it clicked that maybe I could use the snipping tool. Hence the fact that the snipping tool was paired up with this assignment and on the same day.  When I went to make my box I forgot that I could move the option box of the snipping tool. I kept getting only part of my art work. Then once I played around with it and realized that I could move it I was able to get my whole picture. 

I could link this Picassohead with Elementary Students. This would be ideal for demonstrating emotions, what those emotions mean, what causes these types of feelings and how to represent them. Emotions and emotion recognition is important in the development of young children. There are so many different situations that even young students go through and they do not know how to show their real feelings or even what it is that they are feeling. 

Standard #1 would best match up with this activity. With the above activity teachers would help promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking. Once I completed mine I would discuss it with my students and discuss why certain features were the way they were. This also links students to real-world issues that happen daily and uses a digital tool to express themselves. This would allow students to reflect their feelings, situations, and understand why they feel the way the do. They may even find another student that is going through the same things they may be and now feel as if they have someone to talk to about their emotions and feelings.

Snipping Tool

I used the snipping tool for this graph. I used this graph to compare and contrast my students Pretest to their Post Test during an Action Research Project for my student teaching. I had a very difficult time copying and pasting it into my electronic portfolio. My school's Technology Integration Specialist introduced me to the snipping tool and by doing so I was able to insert it into my portfolio. I was to show my student's growth from the beginning of my lessons to the end of my lessons. The snipping tool was extremely easy to use and easy to apply within my page! I feel as if this activity relates best with NETS T Standard #2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. Using the snipping tool, especially in my particular case, I am able to evaluate the assessment growth of my students. (and possible assessments in which the students did not show growth.)This uses contemporary tool with the design of the graph and then the snipping tool to place where needed. This can also help my students to physically see their personal grade incline or decline and do some personal evaluation on why their scores went up or down. Then once that is determined they can identify what they could do next time to improve.

The link to my electronic portfolio is: https://sites.google.com/site/teachingportfoliomrsreed/home/four

Diigo Film Questions and Answers

1. Describe the 3 steps to recommend in the film to get started social bookmarking.
 
    I could not narrow it down to just three simple steps. First you need to go to the Diigo site register and install Diigolet. Once that has been established then locate a document of interest from the web. Now that you have found what you are looking for you can highlight the information of importance, add a comment about it, bookmark it and then display and share it. These bookmarks will be placed in your Library with Diigo.

2. Describe the Web 2.0, and how it differs from previous stages of the web.

   http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/archives/page9344.cfm

   This above link was one of the best ones to help me understand what exactly Web 2.0 is. With the information provided by this link and the activities that we have done so far in this class; the most important this about this is that this gives technology human compatible functions. Web 2.0 offers the use of technology in blogging, tagging, RSS, social bookmarking, and AJAX by keeping focus on the individual need of the reader and researchers. This allows users to create communities and customize their findings throughout the web. The article above had a great statement that describes the differences between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0. "This philosophy contrasts sharply with the old "Web 1.0" methodology, in which news was provided by a handful of large corporations, Web pages were static and rarely updated, and only the tech-savvy could contribute to the development of the World Wide Web."  

3. What is social bookmarking and what advantages does social bookmarking offer that traditional storage and retrieval of web sites does not?

       Social Bookmarking is a way for people who use the internet share, organize, store, search, and manage pieces of resources/information from online. It is also a way to locate others who have common interests and communicate findings and discussions. The advantages of social bookmarking is that fact that it can be personalized and you can focus on a particular part of a document rather than the entire piece. Not all of it may be of interest to you or to others. Traditional storage and retrieval was just that nothing else. Highlighting, tagging, and bookmarking was not used to personalize it. You had to take the document as a whole and that was it.

Browser Add Ons and My Experience

What is a browser add on?
       A browser add on are sites that you can place in your tool bar.

Why they are useful.
       This allows you locate the sites quickly and efficiently. By adding it to your tool bar you do not have to type in the site's address each time. You are able to locate them by clicking the name of the site and it brings you right to your site.

Give examples, which ones have I used/ are using, and my experience with them?
        My school TIS has already added on our School Home Page, Educators Handbook, WVEIS Home page, WVDE Web mail page, and I included the West Virginia Department of Education home page. I use these on a daily basis and are able to access them quickly through my tool bar as add ons. For example with our WVEIS home page; this is used to document and send our students absences every day first period. Mornings are hectic and by having this as an add on reduces time accessing this site. I have only "added on" two sites ever. One being the WVDE home page and the other being the Diigo add on today. They both went smoothly. I am sure that I may possibly run into other that I would not be so lucky.

Which ISTE NETS T standard would this activity most closely matches and why?
      I would have to go with Standard 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. This standard focuses on participating in local and global learning communities to use and apply technology to improve student learning. I feel that this is the purpose of Diigo. This also meets this standard by means of being able to reflect and evaluate current research and professional practice with the incorporation of technological tools to support student learning. Diigo also helps educators be more effective and vital by using the bookmarked sites to reflect and become better teachers.

My first posting!

Hey there everyone. This is my very first post and I hope that I am doing this correctly. My name is Jessica Reed. For my current education class my name is under Jessica Weese. I have been married for 5 years this October (to my wonderful husband Billy) and I have not made it through the name changing process. I currently live in Lost Creek, WV. I teach in Upshur County at Buckhannon Upshur Middle School. I graduated Fairmont State University in 2004 with my Elementary Education Degree and am currently working on my masters in Special Education. I have a little boy named Brody who will be 2 in December.