Ced0540: Week Two Reflection

This week's material took a slight diversion from the mathematical end of statistics to software that makes it easier for individuals and companies to create surveys and compile data. At St. Ann's we have created a few surveys, for a variety of reasons. We have surveyed families to analyze their use of our website and how we might make it better. Ironically, we accomplished this through Surveymonkey with only a fraction of our families responding. We have also questioned families' interest in creating a dresscode and uniform policy. Currently, there are also several families interested in getting St. Ann's to consider extending their curriculum through 8th grade. One parent has asked about creating a survey for this as well. In each case, however, there hasn't been a huge need for a complicated software program with all the bells and whistles. The types of surveys we conduct I think are pretty straight forward and wouldn't require real in-depth analysis. This is why, although I found it interesting to examine all the different statistical software available, I didn't see a huge application to my professional life. For me, Surveymonkey is about as in-depth as I want to get with any kind of software and is the application I will teach my 5th and 6th graders when we talk about data collecting. I would like to see my students practice gathering and interpretting data themselves. As mentioned elsewhere, on their standardized tests taken this fall, data analysis was one of the weaker areas. I think Surveymonkey could help with this. I also really need to explore Inspirdata further as well. I vaguely remember examining this software when our school first purchased it four years ago, and now I'm sure that not only does it create surveys, but it also has some interesting ways of displaying the results - visuals that are designed for grades 7-12.

Overall, I think the work we did this week emphasizes, again, that with a little investigation, many easy to use and excellent web-based applications are available for free, and that although they may not contain all the glitz and glam of paid software, most of what schools need can be accomplished through the freebies.

Ced0540: Stats - Week One

This first week watching and rewatching and reading and re-reading notes on statistics reminds me of my days of taking econ in college. I was fine the first lecture or two when all we talked about was supply and demand but then was completely lost after that. Same with stats. I have been following along and thought I had everything covered until we got to the part on deviations and variances. Now I'm confused. I have to admit, however, that unlike econ, I'm at least curious about how stats work. I actually enjoyed the Youtube video on stats and found it really helped cover the basics for me. And watching the video brought to mind the things I do at school to use statistics that I hadn't thought about before, mainly in the library. Every month I'm supposed to run reports, documenting the books that have been checked out during that time. Quite honestly, I have never run the reports because I really didn't see the point. What do I care if "Lightning Thief" was checked out once or ten times in November? Except now I see the point. Part of my job is to order more books, as well as weed out those that aren't as popular. If I ran the reports, I could see what books are most popular and then base my decision on new purchases accordingly. For example, if it turns out that "Lightning Thief" if a popular check out, I could justify ordering similar novels. Likewise, if it turns out that our 100+ collection of "Goosebumps" books are no longer popular, I would have a reason to clear the shelf of them and stock different books. Like the video pointed out, it's the statistics that give credence to the claim. I could certainly claim that I never observe certain books being checked out, but that doesn't necessarily come across as objective, and how does anyone know if my observations are accurate or supported. What I now need to figure out is how variance and deviation fit into all of this.

Cedo535: Week Five

As this class comes to a close, there is so much that I'm thinking about and planning on taking back to my class. I thought Richards chapter 9 did an excellent job at summarizing all the things that I need to plan for as I update and lay out my curriculum this year. Actually, he seems to summarize all the things our classes have been emphasizing up to this point; that, as teachers, we need to be role models and collaborators in showing our students how to work with Web 2.0 tools and that we need to prepare them for all the various tools they will be utilizing in their lives. Obviously, the Internet is not going away anytime soon, so we have to stop delaying their progress. This is what frustrates me the most. I am so ready to switch things up in my classes and begin utlizing all sorts of Web 2.0 tools, such as video sites, blogs, Nings, Wikis, graphic programs, podcasts and screencasts, but how do I then justify my curriculum when the standards for my school were written almost nine years ago? There's where the real frustration lies, I think. Even if teachers are ready to move, the state is not. I'm glad the NETS are there, but I'm not sure I can model my curriculum solely off of them. Anyone have any advice?

Cedo535 Week Four Social Networks and Podcasts

Finally... A week where I feel like I actually might know what I'm talking about. This week's material was informative and a great review for me. As one who loves to "tinker" on the computer, the minute Louie introduced applications, such as Nings and Social Bookmarks, I was on it immediately. I am in the middle of creating my second Ning for the group that went to Rome. On the last night of our trip, everyone was talking about sharing emails and contacting each other. I couldn't resist and opened my big mouth to say, "Why try to email everyone to stay in touch? How about I create a Ning where we can all go and share pictures and chat and write our thoughts about our experience?" Of course no one had heard of Ning, but they were all immediately in love with the idea. So just the other day I created the Ning and sent the invites out. I would love for any of you to visit and offer suggestions. www.romepilgrims.ning.com. I purposely created an open site for anyone to join. Let me know if you think I should add or change something. As I have mentioned several times, I also created a Ning for my 5th and 6th graders. I'm happy with how it is evolving, but I do have to remind students to go there. They're not in the habit of automatically logging onto the Ning. After inviting a couple of other teachers to take a look, the language arts teacher is now wanting to use the Ning for her class, so now I am trying to "branch out," creating new pages for each class. So I am thrilled with how this Ning thing is catching on. I know had I just showed the teachers what a Ning is, they would have nodded, said, "cool," and never looked at it again. Actually creating one and inviting them has made all the difference. I did the same thing with Delicious. I created accounts for each grade level and then showed the students how to get there. The teachers didn't have to do anything and now the third grade teacher is adding to the class Delicious bookmarks. Yeah! I'm thinking of using the same approach to introduce podcasting. The more I do for them, the more likely they will use the application, and I constantly hear about all the fun and interesting projects that teachers are doing but that only end up in hard copy form. It would be cool to just have a whole gallery online of work and information.

Trevi Fountain, Rome

Trevi Fountain, Rome
Originally uploaded by kroisum

A very popular hangout, especially for young lovers who take the time to toss coins into the fountain to make a wish.

Mary Sculpture

Mary Sculpture
Originally uploaded by kroisum

This sculpture was located in the church next to our hotel in Rome. My mother was struck by the realism. Up close you can see Mary's tears as she weeps for her son, Jesus, upon His crucifixtion. The spear symbolizes the pain she suffers.

Assisi at Night

Assisi
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Jenny and I out exploring Assisi's night life.

Assisi Piazza del Comune

Assisi Piazza
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Walking up the narrow streets, Shaun, Jenny, and I thought we were lost, and then we came upon the Piazza, alive with people.

Assisi

Assisi
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Assisi is by far the most romantic, charming town I've seen. Only 1000 people reside there year-round. From the streets to the charming buildings, to the shops, to the beautiful St. Francis basilica, everything is amazing. I could have stayed forever, eating gelato and hanging out in the piazza.

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica
Originally uploaded by kroisum

This is a picture of the stained glass window above St. Peter's chair in the basilica. I found this vision to be typical; just when you think you see everything, your eye begins to wander and then you notice all the other detail. At first, the glass is what struck my eye, but when I start looking at the stuff around it, suddenly I see all the angels and the amazing detail. It's almost too much to take in at once.

Carrano Ordination St. Peter's Basilica

Carrano Ordination St. Peter's Basilica
Originally uploaded by kroisum

My friend and co-worker, Virginia Carrano, is the one who got me motivated to take this trip. Her son, David, is studying to be a priest in Rome and received his deaconate there, along with 30 or so other seminarians. It was for this occasion that the tour was created. The ceremony was amazing to witness. This is a picture of some of the group members from St. Ann's who went.

Coliseum Exterior

Coliseum Exterior
Originally uploaded by kroisum

For some reason it surprised me that the coliseum is located in the city. I assumed it was off on some hill or something, but seeing as how it was such a big part of everyday life, the location of it now makes sense.

Coliseum Interior

Coliseum Interior
Originally uploaded by kroisum

This is where the emperor would sit as he watched the christians being executed. The cross is dedicated to those christians.

Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Up close and personal. We had front row seats for the papal audience. As he approached Mom, the Pope looked at her and gave her blessing. She's still on a high!

St. Mary Major Manger Relic

St. John Lateran Manger Relic
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Unfortunately, the day we visited St. Mary Major the doors to the manger relic were closed (below, behind the alter). This picture, however, really shows the beautiful detail.

St. John Lateran

St. John Lateran
Originally uploaded by kroisum

St. Paul Outside the Wall

St. Paul Outside the Wall
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Vatican at Night

Vatican at Night
Originally uploaded by kroisum

Ced0535: Week Three Reflection

So... I've established my license from Creative Commons; I've created a Flickr account and have finally posted my pictures from my trip to Rome; I have set up my Google Reader with RSS feeds and am checking in as often as I think of it. How can I have done so many things and still feel like I haven't completed anything?

This is the first week in a very long time where I feel slightly out of my league. I get the concept of everything, but I'm used to instant feedback and seeing things finished. I feel like the things we've done in the past two weeks have been a little like fishing; I have baited my hook and now am waiting for things to come my way. The problem is that I feel a little like I've dropped many different lines all over the place, and I'm spending time trying to make my way around to check to see if anything has nibbled yet. Let me make my list, so I can visualize what I've been doing:
1. Twitter
2. Flickr
3. Google Reader
4. Creative Commons
5. Facebook
6. Plurk

Is it any wonder I'm confused? I think part of my confusion is the fact that I feel like there's so much to keep track of now. I have a difficult enough time managing my four email accounts, let alone all this other stuff. In addition, as I stated, I understand the concept of things like RSS feeds, but I still don't quite understand how I can make the most of them. For example, I see Twitter has the RSS feeds, but when I clicked on it, I was asked to enter an admin username and password. That confused me, so I exited out. I love the concept of having everything come to me instead of going to all these various locations. So clearly I have more studying to do.

In terms of my students and what I can use this week in my classroom, I have more thinking to do. I like the idea of students uploading their photos to photo sharing sites, such as Flickr, but again I know I'm going to run into trouble with their age. Even when I had them establish their Ning accounts, the minimum age was 13. I have to admit that I had them agree to the age so that we could work the Ning. I am feeling the same way about Flickr, Twitter and others. I'm not sure what the age requirement is or if there is one, but even if there isn't, the site asks for name, etc. At what point can my students honestly answer the questions that they are asked when registering to all these different places? Currently, I don't envision incorporating sites like Twitter into my curriculum. I don't think any of them "tweet" as yet, and I'm not sure if they would really get into it. They enjoy the more personal feedback they get with emailing or chatting. I think sites such as Twitter might actually bore them after a time. I know, on the other hand, they would love it if I let them open Facebook accounts, but then I'd feel obligated to constantly monitor their usage, and that challenge is way too big for me. I do, however, like the idea of teaching them the RSS feeds. I agree with some of the articles we read that with so much info on the Internet, we have to teach students how to find the info they need without overloading them. RSS feeds would really help them keep track of reliable sources and information. The challenge would be walking through Google Reader with them and finding sites they'd like to watch. I think I would begin by having them locate info of their own interests and adding them. Then we could move into sources for classes. Another must would be teaching them how to organize their sites.

CEd0535: Session Two - Wikis at Work

It would be amusing to go back through my blogs and count the number of times I made comments, like "I never realized..." Seems I'm repeating myself constantly. This week is no different, and once again, I'm on a totally new path in my curriculum. I'm quickly discovering that when it comes to the stuff we learn, I'm not content to wait til next year to include them. Instead, I stop everything I'm doing now and shift totally.

Like many others in class, I'm sure, I had understood wikis and how they are used, but I never considered actually incorporating a wiki for my school where students could go and add information. I have created a Ning, but really I'm only using it as a blogging tool, not a place where student research could be posted and where other students could go and add to or make corrections. I guess I just never thought about the potentials of a wiki. Now that I'm aware, my mind is exploring all sorts of wikis we could create. For one, I could create a wiki that focuses on saints. One of my big complaints with our curriculum is that each grade level explores saints and often repeats the same activities over and over again. Too redundant. If I created a wiki, however, the students could do their initial research in Grade 3 or 4 and then when they have to repeat their saint research, they could explore further and simply modify the wiki. Or perhaps they will select a new saint and then check their saint on our wiki to see if the information is accurate. In addition, they might find more interesting pictures or video on which to expand. This project could really be cool. There are lots of websites out there that focus on saints, but most of them are geared toward an older age level. There's not much there that is directed towards kids. Our wiki could fill that niche.

I'd like to start this immediately. As stated above, I don't like to delay long when I have an inspiration. The difficulty this time, however, is that I think I do need to first develop a policy for publishing on the Internet. If we want this wiki to be useful, we're going to have to go public, and doing so without getting parental permission first may send some of my parents into orbit. I will also need to take necessary measures to ensure that my students don't disclose personal information. This means not only monitoring them but also making sure they really, really understand why they should not do so. I also then need to get talking with my teachers to see how we could make all of this gel. Ideally, I'd like to create the wiki and monitor it and then have the actual religion teachers in charge of its use. Since Wikipedia is about the only wiki my teachers are aware of, I'll need to spend time inservicing them.

Ced0535: Week One Reflection

Just when I thought I had thought enough about blogs and wikis, I quickly discover I know very little. Obviously because of the blogging we do for this program, I thought I had a pretty good handle on blogs and how to implement them for my school. I never realized, however, the can of worms I would open after reading the first three chapters of our textbook. Now my mind is reeling from all the different ways I can use blogs at my school. I really only considered the educational application and in fact jumped right in and created a Ning for my 5th and 6th graders which is going very well. The students are now excited about writing and exploring the blog. What I am finding most helpful this week is how to sift through the details. Clearly it's not enough to just create a blog space; now I need to consider the best ways to use it and how to create guidelines for its use. Prior to this week, I was very hesitant to let students roam freely around our Ning. Almost immediately upon its creation, I had numerous students wanting to post their own pictures and personalize their page. My first response was "no" of course, fearing that they might post things that reveal too much personal information or might not be educational. But after reading the first three chapters, especially chapter 3, I see that it is important for students to take ownership of this space. Also, I have to remember, as the creator of our Ning, that I have ultimate control and can eliminate anything that crosses the line. I think also, as the safety section of the textbook reveals, that I need to get a policy together that assures parents and administration that our social network will be monitored no differently than their email and Internet use. I think the biggest challenge is that the majority of my parents and principal have no idea what a Ning or wiki is all about and so automatically assume they're recreational and danger zones. This is what will take the most time to overcome, but perhaps if I invite my parents and principal to join the Ning, the fears will be alleviated some. It also might be a great way to open the communication between all of us. I would love having parents comment on the same things that their kids are. And if I post regularly, regarding the things going on in class, then it would be another way to keep parents informed and updated. Finally, I would also like to establish a Ning for our faculty and staff as a way to share ideas and stay informed. Right now, there's way too much paper floating around with redundant messages. I would like very much to go paperless, and I would have a much easier time keeping track of things, as opposed to all the papers I now have to sift through. So what I once thought was a purely educational tool is now expanding in all sorts of directions.

Week Five Reflection

The two main activities this week, the pecha kucha and rubric, were challenging for me, and it was the first time that I felt the pressure to finish my work on time. I have typically been a procrastinator for most of my life, so what I've discovered most about these projects is how much prep time goes into being well prepared. Yeah, I know; it's obvious, but I have been a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl and have never minded last minute preps, even when teaching classes at times. So when I created my rubric for one of my projects I have my fourth graders do, I found myself exhausted at all the thinking that went into creating just one rubric. My brain was tired! Despite this mental workout, I have to say I was very pleased with the outcome and plan on continuing creating rubrics for many of my other projects. It is such a great way to communicate my expectations to my students. I can't count the number of times way back when I taught high school that students complained that my expectations were vague. Or the number of times where I went to grade their stuff and THEN decided on what my criteria were - so not fair to my students. No wonder they occasionally got crabby with me! Once I finished my rubric for my fourth grade, everything just fell into place, and not only did it give me something for the end result, creating the rubric really forced me to examine why I'm doing this project in the first place. Yeah, this is a real DUH moment for me people!

As for the pecha kucha, it took a very long time to create it, but overall I'm very happy with the result. I appreciate the motivation behind this presentation style, but I was a bit confused about the speaking aspect of it. I know it's 20 slides, 20 seconds, but does that mean you have to talk for 20 seconds on 20 slides? I had a hard time finding an answer to this and never really got one. All the samples we saw were really based on recorded live demos so the speaker spoke the whole time. I have to agree with what someone said in my group; talking for 20 seconds on 20 slides is too much verbal busyness. I think it sounds like you're cramming in a ton of info. Maybe I feel that way because unlike a live presentation, a recorded one doesn't allow for audience feedback and participation. I think it might be more fun to do one live although I think it would be incredibly challenging for me. I'd be too tempted to stray from my script.

Week Four Reflection

I'm very excited about everything that we have discussed this last week. What amazes me is the common sense approach to presentations. It's so funny how I can go along, thinking and practicing one method and then suddenly realize that all that I've been doing has been wrong.

In terms of presentation, I would guess that most, if not all, of us who teach practice the casual approach and the "living in the moment" delivery method. I don't know how you couldn't and be an effective teacher, especially if one teaches elementary or high school. There's no way I could be effective with my students while spending my whole time behind a lectern or reading from my notes. At the same time, it's amazing how many teachers do lecture at students instead of engaging them with narratives. In addition, how many classes have we taken, or how many presentations have we seen where the speaker doesn't know when to quit? I know I can be guilty of babbling on and on, but I have sat through some lectures where I thought I was going to have to throw myself out the window. I think much of it has to do with what Garr says about connecting with your audience and knowing your audience. Also, many of those speakers come across as arrogant and clearly don't care about me, just one of many in the crowd. I'm thinking of one particular presentation I went to of a rather famous author. Although he was entertaining, it was clear that he meant to be center-stage only, and so as he solicited questions from the audience his arrogance became clearer and clearer. By the end, I was completely unimpressed. On the other hand, I would love to see some of the speakers Garr mentioned because I love nothing more than to be completely invigorated by a good speaker.

It's funny and ironic that Presentation Zen's emphasis seems to be to create presentations that are minimal in order to bring out and highlight the speaker, rather than glorify the presentation itself. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I think I have relied heavily on my presentations, not feeling adequately prepared or even knowledgeable, and so have loaded my Powerpoints with bullet points for that reason. How much easier it is to just read from my slides, rather than rehearse and develop an interesting narrative.

On a similar note, as my students learn Powerpoint and other storytelling software, I'm emphasizing the same minimalist approach. I have always told them that when creating a show, they shouldn't read from their slides, but now I will stress the less is more and even stipulate how many words on each slide they're allowed to have. It'll be interesting to see how this approach goes over with 3rd and 4th graders. Something else I'm still struggling with, however, is how to incorporate all these great resources when they require registration. I'm still not sure how parents will feel about their children being registered to all these sites where others can comment or view work.

Week Three Reflection

I'm really finding the material all coming together this week. The section we read in our text has been extremely helpful, and I can begin to envision how my presentations might look from now on. I like Garr's common sense suggestions and the stress on simplifying and streamlining. I can see how my past presentations have fallen victim to the mistakes that many make. I have spent a lot of time filling my slides with words and taking up every space imaginable with clip art so that the slides look busy. I think I will have much more fun creating my presentations from now on.

On the same note, as I attempt to remake my uploaded show, I'm finding that focusing on the central message is not as easy as it sounds, nor is it necessarily obvious. I think I have been guilty of just spitting out information without considering what I want my students to actually know. What knowledge do I want them to gain from my introduction to the Internet? I already know that I need to cut out a lot of my content - actually break it down into separate presentations - but until I can figure out my central message, that will be a challenge. As I re-examine my presentation, I'm also referring greatly to the NETS on Digital Citizenship and trying to incorporate those standards into my discussion. It feels a bit overwhelming. Perhaps it would be helpful to actually create my handout first and work backwards. I'd be interested to know if that's the process others are following. And speaking of the handout, that's another area I'm pondering. Since my presentation is directed at the 3rd graders, I have to question how I want my handout to appear. Is a one-page typed worksheet the best format for 8 and 9 year-olds, or will that be too much for them? Would it be better to list ideas in an outline form so that it appears more organized? I think to answer this, I'll speak to the 3rd Grade teacher. I'm sure she could suggest the best format.

I also am finding the Digitales chapters and especially the 7 steps extremely useful. As I have mentioned, my students do create digital stories and both I and they have found discovering their stories to be difficult. In the past I had them gather photos and then work on their stories, but what typically happens is that they start simply describing what's in the photo instead of using the photos to complement their stories. I guess the obvious solution is to have them create the story FIRST and THEN gather the media later, as the 7 steps worksheet maps out. Clearly, I have placed the cart before the horse in the past.

Lesson Two Reflections

Like everyone, I want our curriculum to consist of resources I can take directly to my classroom. That's why I'm excited about Voicethread. In the past, I have had to combine various softwares to accomplish what I want the students to do. Voicethread allows me to combine that visual with audio AND allows others to comment directly to each other's work. I have used other software that more or less let's students create slideshows and narrate them, but until now I hadn't seen one that allows the comment feature. And to be honest, until I browsed the projects on Voicethread, I hadn't even thought about the comment feature. But now, of course, my mind is zipping in overdrive, coming up with all sorts of ideas. For example, I have my 4th graders create Hyperstudio shows of fictional vacation destinations, and as a finale, I have them view and rate each show on paper and award a prize for the top-rated. I could now also have them summarize visually their destination and have the students make comments directly on Voicethread. One of the shows on Voicethread was the author's top five favorite cartoon theme songs. I could also have students create their "top five" of something and share with others for their opinions. And then as a culminating project, have them create a survey on SurveyMonkey for the actual data collection. How fun!

My frustration when learning all this new, great stuff is how to take it back to the teachers and, most importantly, how to get them to embrace it as much as I do. I am presenting to my faculty next Friday and Monday, and I'm still wondering what to present. Keeping in mind everything that Garr Reynolds is emphasizing this week about presentation, I'm wondering if I should create a Powerpoint. Perhaps I need to begin by doing exactly what he stresses and use the analog approach - get away from the computer and really think about what it is I want the teachers to take away from my time with them. In the past I have done sessions with them, and although I can tell they're enthusiastic and curious, in the end I don't observe any of them using what I've taught them. There still is the overall attitude that because I am the computer teacher, I, alone, teach computers. On the one hand it's great that our students are given the chance to come to the lab twice a week and have that time, but on the other, it's given the teachers a rather easy out, especially for those who aren't real comfortable with technology.

So, all of you out there in the teacher world, if you were to spend two mornings with me, learning technology, what would YOU want to hear and see? And don't tell me silence... THAT is not an option...

Digital Storytelling Lesson 1

As I watched all the videos and read and reflected on the reading material, numerous things came to mind. In terms of storytelling, I couldn't help but think of those I know whom I find to be great storytellers. To me, a good storyteller is able to combine the fun with the serious and the facts with embellished truths. We all know people whose stories seem to ramble on, boring us completely. I'm sure I have been the teller of a few myself, but I think I can be honest in saying that storytelling was one of my gifts when I taught high school students for many reasons. First of all, they never wanted to learn anything, so anytime my 9th or 12th graders could get me on a tangent was a bonus for them. Second, most, but not all, of my stories were humorous in nature and stemmed from events in my life and typically were stories they could relate to. Third, I think my stories were entertaining because they typically pointed out my follies. I have no problem laughing at myself and telling others about my antics. Fourth, whenever I told stories, I always embellished a little. Honestly, no one remembers everything exact, so it's important to know when to add the hyped details, as long as they don't change the facts of the events. Sometimes my students had difficulty accepting this concept, especially when we read autobiographies. Students often became fixated on story facts, claiming that an author could not possibly remember all the details. Therefore, they sometimes lost interest in the story. So I think when embellishing, it's important to embellish the right stuff. When the heart of the story becomes a bunch of bull, then the storyteller loses credibility, and the audience loses interest. Finally, I think my storytelling was effective because I wasn't afraid to let the emotion surface. I noticed this same occurence in the one video of the father telling the story of his son. At one point he appeared almost teared-up, and seeing him get emotional, brought out the empathetic emotion in me. Often times when I told my students stories, I laughed and sometimes got a touch bit emotional. Overall, the best thing about my stories is that they often evoked other stories from the students. Suddenly, some of my most quiet students would have stories to tell themselves because my story triggered a memory. I loved that.

Taking the verbal story and molding it into the digital story is what I hope to master in this class and beyond. Of course music is the easiest way to bring out the emotions in a story, but I want to learn how to transform the narrative. In some of the examples, I think a bit of the effect was lost because the narrator's voice didn't carry well or the story was missing something. And combining this with the "minimalization" emphasis of presentation that PresentationZen seems to be making, I want to figure out how to bring out the best in a story without going on and on. I think by now, most can see that I do ramble, so I need to figure out how to make things more succinct without losing the power of the story. And then I need to figure out how I can wrap this all up and communicate it to my young students who are masters of storytelling in their own way but who really don't know how to comprehend technique. Know what I mean? It seems the minute I put them to task, their creative juices fizzle. The younger students seems to do better in their natural environment, so I'd like to find the best ways to inspire them and to generate their stories.

EDO525: Final Blog-Making Strategies Work

It's been almost 20 years since I've been in college full time, in the school of education. Even when I was in school, my major was English teaching, so although I had education courses, the focus of my studies was literature, and that is where I generally excelled. Honestly, the education courses I had were pretty meaningless to me. Afterall, I had yet to experience the real classroom environment so studying various theories and practices was like learning to build a house without driving a nail. Hence, I found the strategies we learned in 525 to be extremely helpful. Even though I've incorporated all of these strategies at one time or another, I don't recall ever really learning them or having them so nicely laid out for me like the textbook did. As I peruse over the strategies, I find that I'm strong in many of them but very weak in others.

My strengths tend to be giving recognition, incorporating nonlinguistic learning, providing plenty of practice with little homework, and generating hypotheses. In addition, I think I provide many opportunities for cooperative learning but not necessarily by creating small groups. Instead, as students work, I often allow them to talk to each other and help each other out. I find that this form of cooperative learning not only assists students who have difficulties, but also strengthens the skills of my more accelerated learners.

As I glance at the long list of strategies and technologies, however, I can see several areas where I could use improvement. I always set objectives for my lessons but as I've pointed out elsewhere, I rarely actually state those objectives to the students, nor do I provide cues and questions to direct their learning. I guess in the past I've assumed that the best way to educated my students is for them to follow the lesson, allowing them to have their "ah-ha" moment at the end. After reading the textbook, however, I can see that I might have more success if I tell them where we're going first. Doing so will still give them the "ah-ha" moment while making it clearer the direction we're headed in the first place. In addition, although many of my projects include rubrics, I think I need to provide more feedback and, in general, more communication. I have to admit, like many teachers, I get behind on my grading and so the turnover between presentation and feedback is too long. Incorporating various technologies would most likely help this. Finally, now that I'm actually taking classes in my current field and getting the training I need, I am getting my hands on many, many new resources that I can take right back to my classroom. Thus, this fall I will have a variety of applications that my students will be able to use at home. When I introduce and talk about these applications, however, I will have to be sure to include the strategy of identifying similarities and differences. Prior, I rarely compared and contrasted. Instead, I would simply introduce each subject as something new.

Being the technology teacher, I have all the technologies necessary to incorporate into my strategies and really no excuse not to. To communicate objectives to my students I can do everything from creating Powerpoint shows to laying out the objectives in a Word document. In addition, my District is fortunate enough to have Kid and Inspiration, which I have very rarely used in the past but which I will find extremely valuable now for a variety of strategies, including brainstorming and communicating objectives and providing cues and questions. In addition, I will use Kidspiration as a group to look at the similarities and differences between different applications. For example, in the past my students have only used MS Word for all word processing, but this fall I plan to create Google accounts for my older students. Therefore, they will now have the option of using two word processing applications. I plan on showing them even more, such as Thinkfree and Etherpad which provides actual real time group collaboration. Kidspiration will be an excellent tool for comparing and contrasting these various word processing applications. In terms of communicating more with the students, I am planning on exploring RCampus in more depth. This site provides not only rubric-generating resources but also a potential way for students to log in and see classroom progress, instead of waiting for me to hand something back to them. In addition, I'd love to find the time to try a Wiki for one of my classes. Last year, I was out for a couple of weeks for back surgery and so I created a Google Presentation and logged in during my class and conducted the presentation. My students absolutely loved it and were undoubtedly more tuned in than they would have been had I simply shown them the Powerpoint at school on the projector. To them, it was playtime, even though they were learning a great deal. I think they would find the same enjoyment if I created a Wiki. Since I'm the librarian, I could create a book club. This would be another way of communicating with my students on a regular basis. Another technology I plan on using this fall is our new Pixie Suite. This application allows the users to create everything from slideshows to podcasts and websites. This would be yet another great way for students to communicate to their families all the things we're doing in class. In addition, publishing their work would be a great way to provide recognition and feedback.

I'm very excited about all the changes I'll be making this fall. I have my work cut out for me, but investing the time is sure to produce results I had never dreamed of before and provide a much clearer direction for my curriculum.

Week Three-Online Tools Review

Like many others, my curriculum is almost composed entirely of online tools. Because of cost and issues with our server, I have looked more and more to cloud computing and finding effective, inexpensive teaching tools. My school does, however, still purchase software occasionally and five years ago purchased the Kidspiration and Inspiration software. Kidspiration, along with Bubbl.us and Exploratree.org offer three great options for creating and sharing graphic organizers.


I've worked with Kidspiration many times. The software is an excellent source not only for creating graphic organizers but also for the writing process. Students have the option of creating a graph from scratch or from numerous templates on a variety of topics. In addition, Kidspiration includes tons of pictures, or students may import one of their own. I like how easy the software is to use, and students of all ages enjoy the software. In addition, once students have created their graphic, they can select the outline option that automatically creates the outline of their graphic, thus making it easier for students to move into the writing process. Of the choices, I think Kidspiration is the best, but it also isn't cheap.

I also viewed Bubbl.us and Exploratree.org. Both have the capabilities of creating brainstorming graphic organizers, but I liked the huge variety of templates that Exploratree offered. Bubbl.us appears to be very useful when you want to create and print a quick organizer. The students could easily log in, and as a large group, the teacher could walk through the process step by step. Last year my school purchased a mobile lab, and this would be a wonderful site to use in the classroom with the laptops as a way to teach students how to take notes. Exploratree, unlike Bubbl, allows the user to either create his own graphic or select one from a list. In addition, each type of graphic organizer is explained and examples are given. Since I don't have very much experience with organizers, I really liked this site. Not only does it offer organizers, but the site itself is a sort-of brainstorming resource for teachers. Looking at the options gets me thinking how I might use them in my lessons.

During in-service this fall, I am charge of a technology day with my colleagues. I can't wait to show them these sites and add them to our school's Delicious account as resources. I'm pretty sure right now the teachers create their own organizers or copy ones from textbooks. They'll love using this site.

CeDo525: Electronic Student Response Technology Tools

When it comes to providing student feedback, in the past, I have created my own set of rubrics for various projects or have relied upon verbal feedback. My school does not provide a set of standards or tools that, so I have been left to develop them on my own. Honestly, because my students are so young and my typical role has been to teach students how to use computers, there hasn't been a great necessity for heavy grading. In fact, before I started at my school five years ago, computer classes did not give grades. Hence, the curriculum has been informative but a bit lacking in structure and goals, and so I have spent the last four years building a curriculum from scratch. Therefore, exploring the various online tools for student response has been fascinating. I'm sure many others in this course were already familiar with most of these sites, but I never realized the depth and wealth of tools some of these sites provide. Specifically, I explored Rubistar, iRubric, Quia and QuizStar, and although each provides numerous tools for the teachers, my recommendation is iRubric.

Both Rubistar and iRubric are free sites that allow teachers to create online rubrics. Both sites provide a gallery from which to choose, or allow the registered user to create one from scratch. In addition, both sites allow users to save, download, or print a rubric. Rubistar is perfect for teachers who don't have a lot of time to fuss over their rubric. Users may select from a variety of subject headings. Once a rubric is selected, the user simply chooses the category to be evaluated from a drop-down menu. Each criteria appears, according to the category selected. A nice feature of Rubistar is its editing feature that allows users to tweek and modify where necessary. Once finished, the rubric may be previewed and then saved or printed from there. iRubric does much of the same; however, iRubric is just a small part of RCampus - a free, online educational management system that gives teachers the ability to create classes, gradebooks, tutorials, and websites. Therefore, iRubric doesn't just create rubrics; it goes many steps farther and allows users to "test" a rubric and automatically compute scores. In addition, in terms of communication, RCampus is completely web-based so both teachers and students can access their information from anywhere and is an excellent source for providing feedback in all forms, not just rubrics. I can't wait to explore this site more and introduce it to my teachers in the fall as a way for them to post student work and communicate with both students and parents.

As their names suggest, both Quia and QuizStar give teachers a way to create quizzes online. Each provides a free trial, after which a paid subscription is required. Quia creates customized templates in a variety of forms, from traditional multiple-choice quizzes to interactive games, such as hangman or battleship. A nice feature of Quia is the teacher's ability to add audio, making it more suitable for students with varied learning capabilities. For teachers who don't have a lot of time, Quia also includes easy-to-use templates as well as a large gallery of shared quizzes from other teachers. Creating quizzes doesn't save time, however, if the teacher must then grade each one, so Quia also includes automatic grading and posting of results. A subscription to Quia is a bit hefty in my opinion, at $49 but might be worth it to the teacher whose student assessment requires this type of evaluation. QuizStar, powered by 4Teachers, the same creator of Rubistar, works much the same way but doesn't appear to have the flexibility and scope of Quia. Registered users may utilize the site for free for 60 days and then opt to subscribe for $39/year. Quizstar also automatically grades and posts student achievement but Quizstar's creative resources are very limited. Users are allowed to use other teacher quizzes but only with permission, provided by the creator in the form of a code. It sounds a bit too complicated. In addition, Quizstar's quizzes are basic, multiple-choice types of quizzes. There are no options for games or other activities that Quia provides. For my personal use, I found neither site very impressive and worth the annual subscription. The web offers many other choice polling-type tools, Survey Monkey being one, that accomplish the same goal. Although either site is an excellent way to provide student feedback, neither one justifies the expense.

Week One Reaction

Since I am the computer teacher at my school, and one who has had no formal education in technology, I always find articles about teaching technology extremely interesting. The articles we read this week help to give organization to what I'm trying to do with in my class.I enjoyed the easy-to-understand, straight-forward information in Principles of Teaching and Learning. Reading the articles on learning and teaching principles, I found myself applying the information to my 6th grade son who was diagnosed with ADHD in 3rd grade. This past year he struggled in several classes, and as I read many of the principles, I wondered if his teachers had any concept of these principles. The principles I found most relevant are 3, 4, and 5. My son has an extremely difficult time processing and organizing ideas. He's very bright but when it comes to completing steps, for example in math, his anxious mind doesn't slow down enough to complete sequential problems; therefore, he messes up. It was my observation that little was done to try to work through this issue, but in all fairness, the teachers at my school aren't trained to address this issue, which is not limited to my son alone. Likewise, 4 and 5 principles are extremely significant to learning. Even as adults, most of us learn best by doing and redoing and processing our mistakes and successes.

The second article on the study was a bit over my head, I have to say. I am not practiced in reading research articles. I couldn't figure out what the numbers meant, nor did I understand all the terminology. I did, however, grasp the article's contention that more concrete studies need to be done. I did find it perplexing that the study only found a small success in student learning outcome when including technology. I would have believed that it provides a much better learning outcome and not just a small one. The study does seem to address my conerns, however; how to best improve my tech program. I am constantly struggling with how to make tangible the concepts that are taught.

Technology that Works

This week's readings have me thinking a lot about what I teach and why. On the one hand, being the computer teacher is perfect; my lessons are all hands-on, so my curriculum naturally provides alternative assessments and caters to all types of students. In other words, I don't have to go out of my way to try to teach to various learning styles. In addition, the kids love coming to computers and are always eager to find out what the next lesson has in store for them. In many ways, I've got it made. The purpose and goals of my curriculum, however, are quickly changing as our readings are pointing out. It's no longer good enough just to install a bunch of software and let the kids go to town. Clearly, I need to have more direction and consider carefully why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm not trying to imply that I just have the students play all day long; much of what I already do meets many of the standards. The problem is is that I've never really sat down and intentionally designed my curriculum around the standards. I've always referred to the standards and made sure mine were aligned, but with the new NETS standards, I need to really weigh my lessons and figure out how to teach more effectively. In addition, although I typically use a rubric for most lessons, I don't for all, and my feedback typically is a letter grade and a comment or two or a verbal comment in large group. I also rarely have students participate in what they want to learn. Instead, I tell THEM what we're going to do and don't necessarily make my goals and objectives real clear to them.

I think the most difficult challenge I feel has more to do with how to meet the objectives of my young students. All of this seems easier with the older students. Even much of our textbook is directed toward older students. I have 7 and 8 year olds up to 12 year olds. Designing my objectives for the older students doesn't seem quite as daunting; their written and verbal skills are obviously better developed. The younger ones, however, are barely reading. Figuring out how they can set their own objectives, for example, seems rather difficult. Perhaps I feel somewhat intimidated because my degree was for grades 7-12. I'm sure it would have helped to actually have had elementary ed classes. It has taken me these four years just to realize how literal little kids are. Thank goodness I have raised three of my own. That, alone, has provided more knowledge than any class I could have taken. So I can now see that one of my goals for this class is going to be figuring out how to make technology instruction work for me for the younger ages. I want to do more than just teach them the keyboard and how to boot up the computer.

Internet Safety Net

For our recent assignment on creating a presentation on Internet Safety for Children, I decided to take a look at what resources are available for this important topic. I am absolutely thrilled at what is out there on this topic. Even though I know many of the common sense recommendations, trying to present those ideas to a group of parents isn't as easy as it would seem. First of all, just in my experience at my small, catholic school, it's amazing how many parents don't understand all the technologies that their kids have access to. Many of them don't know what chat rooms are and even though they might email regularly, they've never heard of "sexting." In addition, some assume that sites geared toward children automatically have filters in place to protect them but don't know the extent of that protection. And though they all have heard of the dangers of My Space, they don't know of the many other social networking sites that are available to their kids.

One of the best sites I discovered was NetSmartz.com, a site created by the Center for Exploited and Missing Children. The site is amazing - full of downloadable presentaions for both children and parents. There are also terrific videos and interactive activities for various age groups, from the very young to the teens. What I like in particular were the animated videos on topics like privacy and gamers as well as many others.

I can't wait to use this site with my students. I've always known that the teaching of Internet Safety was important, but until I actually read the Children's Internet Protection Act, I didn't realize what expectations the government had placed on our school and libraries. It has made me think twice about how I teach this topic and what plan my school has in place. Even though I teach at a private school and so do not necessarily have to abide by the same rules as public schools, I still want to do everything I can as an educator to instill important skills in my students' minds. When I return in the fall, I will be taking a look at my "plan" and making significant changes to meet the criteria of the Children's Internet Protection Act.

Tools Part 2

When I traveled to Vegas for the first time many years ago, one of the most awesome sites for me wasn't the casinos, with their dinging machines and colorful lights, nor was it the mini-Eiffel Tower or New York rollercoaster. Nope, for me one of the truly grand sites was the M&M candy store. Walking into the M&M store, my eyes could not take enough in of the ginormous containers filled to the brim with exquisite colorful candies. I had never seen such a place that was so richly colorful and so tantalizing at the same time. I walked around that store for nearly a half hour, trying to decide where to even begin. Alas, in the end, I left the store with nothing, finding the decision of what to buy too overwhelming.

All the studying we've been doing on Internet tools has me feeling much like that first time in the M&M store. I can't get enough of all the variety of learning resources there are on the Web, but I'm finding the task of picking and choosing which to use a bit overwhelming. I've bookmarked just about every one of them, but now I'm a bit befuddled as to how to best use them in my classroom. I'm beginning to feel like I need to dump my current curriculum and move in an entirely different direction.

Part of my anxiousness also has to do with the fact that my school is trying to move toward a standard's-based report card this fall. I have already completed a list of objectives, based upon our Diocesan standards, but now I'm realizing that these standards are completely archaic and must have been created while the concept of cloud computing was in its infancy and the Internet was a place you visited for specific tasks. The current objectives focus on the student's ability to "do" things, such as cut and paste, create a document, boot and shut down the computer, etc. These are very easy tasks to complete and measure but clearly they don't begin to tap into the deeper levels and potential of the tools we've learned about in class.

In addition, I've started to take a closer look at the NETS and am realizing that they, too, have very little to do with what my are or the Diocesan standards are. I'm quickly realizing that my responsibility to my students is not so much teaching them how to cut, paste and insert images, but, more importantly, how to collaborate, problem-solve and be responsible, digital- and media-literate citizens. Yikes!!! Teaching them to cut and paste sounds soooo much easier.

So this is where my mind-set is, and I'm excited, yet struggling, with how to best approach the up-coming year. The Diocese hopes to create a standards team to help revise them, and I've asked to put on the list. But clearly revising the standards to coincide with NETS is a daunting task, and I'm sure there will be much debate. Should the standards be broken down by grade level? How specific do we want to be? How can the standards be created in such a way that schools with less access can still meet the criteria? Should we even take this into consideration or simply demand that schools meet the criteria for the sake of the students? And on a smaller scale, how can I convince my teachers to include the types of tools we've covered in class? As the tech teacher is it my sole responsibility to educate my students or should all the teachers be required to do so?

GRRRRRR... This has my head swimming, and I'm afraid that I may become too overwhelmed, thus leaving the candy store empty-handed.

The Quest for Truth

Several months ago I read an article that addressed the safety of our children. Ironically, the article claimed that our kids today were actually more in danger of reckless behavior because of being overprotected. The author claimed that kids learn safety skills by falling and scraping their knees. Hence, parents who insist that kids not do things like climb trees or ride bikes on gravel are, in the end, doing them more harm by not allowing their brains to develop these skills. I guess it's the ol' try and fail method of behavior learning.

I think this same lesson can be applied to our theme this week in class. There seems to be a common thread in this week's discussion and focus, and that is the search for what is truthful on the Internet and how we can make the Internet safe or relevant for our students . Much ado is being made about the fact that the Internet contains so much junk - that it has become overrun with wasted pages. No one can deny that this is true. I think this is the advantage of having a free Internet. Do we really want the alternative, allowing some governing body to decide what is and is not relevant and of value? It's true that the Internet is riddled with meaningless garbage, but if you visit any of these sites, you're bound to see at least one hit. So, if we are going to support the free speech platform that the Internet is, we as educators have to be willing to accept the challenge to find the best and quickest, most efficient ways to cipher through all the junk and discover the sites that will be most useful to our students. For our younger students, I think this is very important. They need to be able to take baby steps when developing their surfing techniques. We certainly don't want 8, 9, 10 year olds exposed to the kinds of malicious, dangerous, and inappropriate material that exists on the Net.

But when it comes to our older students, filtering what we consider irrelevant or uneducational is simply not giving our students the skills they need to function on the Web. I personally think we do our older students a disservice if we insist on "watering down" the Internet to make things easier for the students. How can we adequately prepare them and instill critical thinking skills if we don't allow them to fall and scrape their knees on their own? This doesn't mean we have to expose them to all the trash, but we should at least provide them with both the good and the bad and allow them to evaluate the nature of each. Eliminating sites such as Wikipedia because we don't see the value doesn't mean there isn't any. We need to be more open-minded and willing to climb beyond our comfort level and take the chance that we may fall and bump our heads.

Internet Learning Resources-Teaching Made Easier!

Like any teacher out there who loves using the Internet, I have been amazed at how much stuff there is that can be used in my classroom. This past week has been a great example of this.

For my 6th Grade computer class, we always end with a unit on Excel. Now, I never use Excel. Yah, yah, I get why it's great and useful, etc. but for my line of work I have not needed it. I tend to equate it with scrapbooking: it's a great thing to do, but who in the world has time for it? Anyway, so when it comes to teaching my 6th graders how to use Excel, I'm always very rusty, and since I don't take the time to dig deeply into it, I end up feeling very uneasy leading the class in creating spreadsheets. So as I got to thinking about our topic this week, I thought I would start surfing for tutorials. My challenge was finding one that was suitable for my young audience. Many of the tutorials I have discovered for Excel tend to lend themselves to those in the business world and thus are very technical and, worse, boring.

So, what Learning Resource tool did I find? As I have done for other topics, I'm finding that lately my best friend in Internet Learning Resources is Youtube. It seems if it's video I need for just about anything in my classroom, I can find it there. So I went to Youtube and searched, and by golly, I found an excellent 5 part series on the basics of Excel. The best part is that my school district is still stuck with MS Office 2000, and the series is conducted on 2000. Great! In addition, the narrator is a Brit, and as one of my students commented, has a "rather soothing voice." He's wonderful, and instead of listening to my droning jibberish, they are tuning in to his sessions and learning a ton. Hell, I'm learning a ton. And since he gives a wonderful example - a video rental spreadsheet - I am able to instruct my students on how to set it up and repeat his calculations. My students are, therefore, getting a double-dose of instruction; first, his up-close step-by-step process, followed by my reinforcement and extension. What a great combo! And now with the inclusion of RealPlayer download, I can download these wonderful videos and keep them in the folders for students to view year after year, not having to worry if the video will disappear.

I don't know what I would do if the Internet blew up tomorrow. Perhaps I depend too much on it, but the resources out there play a vital role in my keeping students up-to-date on the latest information. I would feel completely disconnected without it, and I really have no idea how teachers without access do it. In fact, I know several teachers who don't utilize the Internet very often, and I tend to feel that their students are not getting the full education they need to become savvy, problem-solving citizens. I spend a lot of time with my students teaching them how to surf and the dangers and benefits of doing so. I think we do our students a disservice if we don't carry this same message throughout the curriculum.

Preaching over...

Connections

As much as I use my computer, I've never really taken a close look at how it works or how my data is stored. Hence, I found the content of our class to be very useful. I tend to be a very hands-on kinda gal, so any chance I get to get dirty and scrounge around a bit makes me very happy, and this is what I felt like the class gave me the chance to do.

When I think about what exactly I want to do with my degree, I think the most useful information I gained from this class was the data recovery sessions, including the recovery plans for both organizations and my pc. I am extremely negligent when it comes to protecting my data, even to the point of letting my virus protection slide, simply because I don't feel like paying the money or because I am tired of the software turning my fast pc into a dog. I now realize, although it's simple common sense to most, that I just cannot afford to do this. I did discover in my research, however, that I don't have to rely solely on Norton or McAfee, and that's reassuring. I also found the disaster recovery information extremely helpful and applicable not just to large corporations but to my small school as well. Even if I don't have to include every aspect, a well-designed plan will help me think about where and how information is stored in the event of a disaster.

The section of the course I found most challenging was the whole Linux activity. Although I was able to see how this OS functions, I felt like a complete ninny and know I didn't utilize the program to its fullest. From what the literature claimed, I should have been able to do much more than I did when I burned the image to disk and ran it from my laptop. Instead, I felt like an outsider simply observing, rather than a user. I think several would agree that exploring Linux was moving into unfamiliar territory and so some sort of demo would have been helpful. I had searched for something on Youtube but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. I needed more so that I could go to the image disk and perhaps feel more comfortable with its capabilities, particularly the Internet browser.

Similar to the Linux activity, I also would have like to dig deeper in our "under the hood" activity. I like opening up my machine and checking everything out, but I would have also liked to have learned basic maintenance for my machine. I didn't even realize until someone else pointed it out, that simply touching the motherboard with static electricity could kill my machine. Yikes! I'm glad I did find that out, however. Turns out I had several Dells in my lab with optical drive breakdowns so had machines opened up when my students walked in. Thankfully, I was able to tell them not to touch the "innards" for that very reason. Good, useful information to take with me. Similar knowledge would be helpful as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed the course and the work. I feel like the Powerpoints I created are presentations I can take with me in my portfolio for future use as well as references for others at my school.

Armageddon

I have owned one type of computer or another since probably the late 1990's. I can no longer remember the exact specs on that machine, but I believe it was an HP. If I wanted to, I could still go look - I think it's nestled comfortably in my basement somewhere, along with my old teaching lessons and stone-washed jeans. I can't remember if the machine actually died on me or if it was just that time to purchase a new one. Whatever the case may be, I think I still have stuff on it - classroom files, letters, perhaps even a few pictures, depicting my fabuluos big hair - and I mean FABULOUS.

I also currently have another HP in my husband's office that also contains old memorabilia - Christmas letters sent out in the early 2000's, copies of Turbo tax forms, and, yet again, more pictures. Unlike the first HP, however, I know for certain this computer did die. One day it just decided not to turn on anymore. I keep telling myself that eventually I'll take it to this guy I know in town who fixes them and get my stuff off of it, but for now it doesn't seem pressing. I'm sure if I did actually think about it, I'd be more stressed about not having whatever it is that's on it, but when it comes to computers, I tend to forget and, therefore, not panic. Perhaps I'll leave the machine for my kids who can then someday open it like a time capsule and discover the wonderful treasure lay hidden inside its hard drive. Oh what wonderful stories they'll have as they sift through the Gigabytes of meaningless and maybe not-so meaningless crap on that computer.

In the end, I've determined that eventualy I will find myself wasted away in Armageddon-ville, searching for my lost folders and stuff. I'm not as concerned about the paperwork, although for some things, such as the work I've done for this class, the consequences would be monumental. Overall it's the pictures that would cause me the greatest distress if my Dell laptop suddenly crashed. Occasionally, I do do the right thing and back up all my pictures, but now my problem is that I have all these discs with loads and loads of pictures that make no sense. Nothing is organized and, again, I'm sure I will end up leaving all this mess for my kids. After all I've done for them, they deserve it.

In fear of the computer crash, I have devised a second method of backing up my stuff and that is dumping all of it on my school's server. I'm not sure this is the professional thing to do, but I couldn't resist. With access to over 600GB, the temptation was too great. In addition, the school district keeps a back-up of everything, so I am assured of their retrieval if something should suddenly go badly. There are several concerns and fears I have, however, regarding this strategy. First, I have created so many different folders that tracking down my pictures is an endless task. I keep coming across folders whose pictures now date back four years ago. "So that's what happened to my pictures from Mexico!" I can be heard uttering such nonsense all day long. Again, there's more of an organizational issue here than a back-up issue. A second fear is that if for some reason I find myself suddenly "gone" from this place, be it school or the world in general, no one would know to retrieve the files for me. I have mentioned this to my husband but considering the fact that he cannot remember where he put his wallet and keys this morning, I'm not real confident in his retention skills. Finally, my third fear is that one day, out of nowhere, the school district is going to wipe out or demand that we clean up our drives. It certainly seems like a reasonable request. If/When this happens I'll be finding myself eye-deep in folders and pictures that will need to be burned to disc. The only consolation is that being a committed procrastinator, I am used to working under pressure.

Whatever my options, I know suddenly facing a crash would leave me in a tizzy. I suppose like death, I choose not to face it until the time comes. In the meantime, I pray to the computer gods that they continue to show favor upon me. Of course, as Murphy's Law dictates, as well as all the great Greek tragedies, my computer is sure to fail me now that my hubris and confidence has been revealed. As the saying goes, "Pride goeth before the fall," especially when it comes to technology.

Survival of the Fittest - Future of Computers

If I had contemplated the future of Apple a couple of years ago, I would have guessed that the company would eventually fizzle. Yeah, I once used a Mac and know how great it is, but it seemed that everyone wanted PCs and anyone who had a Mac was frustrated at its inability to convert files and access programs. Wow, how things can change in such a short time. It's amazing how the technology pendulum swings constantly. Who would have thought that a little music player would be the breakthrough that Apple needed to put themselves on top again? And who also would have thought that that little contraption would set the pace for everything else now? At least that's my impression. Just a year or two ago, everyone was looking for bigger computers with bigger monitors. Now, we're moving in the other direction with smaller, laptop computers, and I think much of this has to do with devices such as the IPod. I really think the whole technology-on-the-go is where we are headed, and those companies that can give us anything mobile are the ones that will thrive. A couple of years ago, I was struggling with buying a new computer, debating whether or not to go with a desktop or laptop. Each had its benefits, but in the end, my gut told me that I was going to want something that I could take with me, something that wouldn't dictate where and when I could do my work. Thus, I went with the laptop and am grateful I did. Shortly after, it seemed there was a sudden boom in wireless technology, and now I can access the Internet almost anywhere. The same can now be said for my phone which has Wi-fi and Internet.

So, what kinds of companies will survive in the future? I really think the desktop may disappear eventually if more companies continue creating affordable laptops. I also think with more and more applications becoming web-based, traditional software may become obsolete. I know in my school district alone, we are looking more toward web-based applications for several reasons, mainly cost and ease of use. We have had a number of problems trying to run various programs on our server and moving to web-based applications eliminates those issues. So do I think there's a future for companies, such as Microsoft and Apple? You bet! As the "Triumph of the Nerds" so adaquately demonstrated, people like Bill Gates surround themselves with young, smart visionaries who look for what's on the cutting edge. I'm assuming that tradition will continue long after Gates is gone. I think more and more companies will rival them, but as long as they evolve and stay grounded in what the public demands, they will do well.

As the mother of three kids, including a 16 year-old, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for them in terms of technology. For my teenage daughter, she spends all her time texting and does so quickly. Rarely is she on the phone, and unlike me at her age, keeps her phone conversations to a minimum. She also spends a ton of time with ITunes and MySpace and her Nintendo DS, so I predict that these modes of communication and entertainment will continue to be important for her generation. As a teacher, I'm already reconsidering my curriculum based on what they do. In particular with the rapid rise in texting, I'm beginning to question how we teach traditional keyboarding. Is it necessary to teach homerow and posture to a generation who primarily uses their thumbs to type while sitting in the car? Not sure, but it's these kinds of questions that have me looking for companies who are also rethinking how we do and teach things. In the end, those will be the companies I look to and will support.

Computer history for Kara Roisum

Being the ripe ol' age of 42, I used to think that I was older than the computer until Louie had us reading up on the history of the Internet. I feel better now knowing that the computer has been around longer than I have been. Looking back, I now realize that without knowing it, I was using a computer long before we called them computers. My fondest memories are of traveling with my family to a skiing resort in Cable, Wisconsin, where on the second floor, one could play a classic game of Pong. Long after the parents were half immersed in their Bloody Marys and Manhattans, my cousins and I would begin our tournament play. The best thing I remember about that game was that if one was patient and waited until the game was almost over, one could simply rub their feet on the carpet and tap their room key on the console, thereby electrifying the game into starting again. Thus, despite its quarter that it cost to play, we contributed no more than $2.00 to the upkeep of this game. It was fabulous!

As far as the actual computer goes, I didn't really meet up with a desktop until I was a junior in high school where my school was lucky enough to create a lab full of Commodores - 64s if memory serves me correctly. Each year when I talk to my young students about computers, I have a difficult time getting them to understand exactly what these computers did. They have no understanding of turning on a machine and just seeing the DOS window. I try to explain how my math class spent days, devising flow charts so that we could program the computer to do something for us. "Do what?" they always ask. "I don't know," I respond, "spit out some information or something." They have no clue, and I find that forming words to what exactly that computer did always fail me.

Similar to John's first computer, my younger brother was the real computer geek of the family. He still talks about the Apple IIe he had way back in '84. I remember him playing hours of Zelda on it. I swear he told me that when all was said and done he must have invested $2000 into that machine. He loved it that much that just recently he found a place to purchase the games that came on that clunker. He was a computer geek at a young age and a loner to boot, so I fondly remember him playing for hours and hours on that thing. I, on the other hand, had way too much going on in my life, between sports, boys, and parties so didn't see the potential nor the advantages of computers. Wow, how wrong I was!

The only other significant memory I have is working on computers in college, which had really, in retrospect, come along way since my junior year in high school. By that time we were working on Apples, I think, and typing essays on Bank Street Writer, a rather sophisticated word processing software. It was a miracle for me because up until then I was doing all my work on my IBM electric typewriter - a rather expensive graduation gift from my parents. The amazing thing about that machine was its ability to "erase" mistakes with its correct tape. Wow! Anyway, so when I finally got my hands on Bank Street, I thought the Second Coming had happened. Imagine being able to word process my papers on a computer and then print them, mistake-free, on a dot-matrix printer. Of course, it wasn't an easy as I've described it; one had to "tell" Bank Street how to format the essay. I can no longer remember the exact commands, but I do recall having to use the function keys and typing in commands for making text bold, for example, or beginning a new paragraph. Now that I think of it, it reminds me of many of the commands I teach my 5th graders when writing simple HTML pages.

I laugh to think what my students might say 30 years from now when they, too, describe their first experiences with the computer. I wonder if they will observe the same glassy-eyed stares from their younger audience, along with the sweet, incomprehension that I frequently get.

Tools of the Trade

I honestly can't recall the last time I took a class where each week I was able to take what I learned and apply it to my classroom immediately. From the presentation sites, to word processing, and data applications and spreadsheets, each tool gave me the chance to really familiarize myself and to figure out the best way to include these in my classroom. I particularly found the word processing tools helpful since my students use these the most and yet have had the most issues with them at school. I have all but dumped Ms Word and replaced it with Google Docs for word processing and presentations. Specifically, I had my 6th grade collaborate on a presentation, describing their fondest memories of St. Ann's. They found the project both exciting and challenging. In addition, the videos we watched in class opened my eyes to both the possibilities and challenges I face as the tech coordinator and instructor at my school.

Although some didn't like the traditional textbook format, I found it extremely helpful. I particularly appreciated how clearly laid out the chapters are and how informative the textbook is. Since I found myself quickly submerged in this field, I have been eager to learn but have been extremely overwhelmed and at a loss of how to best present this material to my staff. The textbook will be a terrific aide to me as I assist in formulating in-services and will also be of service when I begin constructing our next five-year plan. I have also already utilized many of the websites cited in the textbook into my classroom. Specifically, I have bookmarked www.internet4classrooms.com as well as several on Webquests. On the Internet 4 Classrooms, I have shared various tutorials with the students to give them an opportunity to move at their own pace when learning about such things as Hyperstudio or Powerpoint. I also found the chapter on media literacy very interesting and so have bookmarked it as well. Thanks to Delicious, I have created two accounts so far - one for my 5th Graders and another for the teachers. The students have already figured out how to log in and utilize the site with no help from me. On a similar note, I just had a meeting last night with a parent volunteer who is going to redo our website. My brain is already exploring the popular links I can add to our site for the kids to use.

In addition to the textbook, I found the self-evaluation piece very interesting and another great resource and guide for me. I have to admit that after taking the survey, I felt like an unqualified idiot, but everyone has to start somewhere, I guess. Again, I appreciate anything that gives me concrete ways to improve what I am doing. And although I have never had the need to evaluate software before requesting a purchase, the unit on software evaluation was a real eye-opener for me and emphasized the importance of looking at key elements before I make my next purchase.

Of everything taught, I have to be honest in admitting that the one area I will probably use the least are the various search engines. I appreciate the fact that so many exist and that there are other options, but I'm a victim of habit and automatically resort to Google, mainly because it's what I grab first and typically has what I need. At the same time, however, I know that I will visit the educational sites, such as Nettrekker since I am always searching for lesson ideas and resources.

Planning Tomorrow's To-Do List

Wow! It sure is easier to keep one's head in the sand when it comes to teaching: pretend that the trends aren't changing and that everything one has been doing for the past 15 years is just fine-and-dandy. Unfortunately, there are too many teachers doing just this. My daughter comes home constantly, complaining about this and that teacher who basically has the students open a textbook and read from it. There's nothing engaging and one needs a knife to cut through the blanket of boredom. Each year as I begin yet again, I, too, become concerned about falling into this rut of teaching and wonder if it will be my turn: the final straw when I am no longer interested in my subject or my audience.

With these concerns in mind I have mixed feelings about our work this week. On the one hand, it's very exciting looking at ways to expand my knowledge and professional development as Chapter 9 outlines. I like the concrete way I can evaluate what I'm doing and where I need work. I also thought it helpful having access to guidelines and affirming to see that I'm doing many things right. What I found most beneficial and yet daunting was the description of the professional development that needs to happen at my school. As the only tech person on staff and one of the few who actively searches for ways to include technology, I feel a bit overwhelmed at what I am seeing as my future role at my school. Somehow, I have to get myself adequately prepared and then figure out how I'm going to do the same for my staff. For the majority of the past two years, my staff has spent in-service days working on our self-assessment evaluation for our accreditation. No time has been dedicated to technology or to other professional development for that matter. After reading chapters 9 and 10 and thinking about professional development, I was talking to one of our parents who comes in once a week to help in the library. As I was drumming on and on about all the things I think needs to happen at school, my principal walked in. It seemed a perfect time to share my thoughts with her. After hearing me out, she suggested that I prepare a tech day for our August In-service week. Although it's a start, I was a bit fed up and emphasized that staff development can't happen in one day. I also stressed to her that what I'm talking about isn't just about technology: it's about project- and problem-based learning and collaborating. I think I may have convinced her to at least examine the issue.

Sometimes I feel like a complete spaz when I talk to her - like the Titanic is sinking, and I'm trying desperately to get more people stuffed into the lifeboats and off the shinking ship. Do I need to just breathe and slow down? The thought of doing that, however, makes me crazy because I keep wondering just what are we waiting for? Why does change in education have to occur so slowly as Chapter 10 points out? I keep thinking there are so many little things we can do now to improve the content of what we teach, so why isn't everyone on board? Do I have to keep being the squeeky wheel? One of my friends who is a principal at another school suggested that I get my five year plan together because that will help drive what we do at school. I couldn't agree more, so beginning this week I'm going to start gathering key people together for the committee. Again, these last two chapters are very helpful because they provide not only a vision for me but also the language that I need to bring to the table. I will be the first to admit that part of my panic and excitement has to do with the fact that I have never had formal training in technology so never really thought about what I was teaching. As long as my students left St. Ann's knowing how to operate a bunch of software and do some troubleshooting, I was good. And because few others really know the technologies out there, I've always been sung as the tech-no-hero at school for the few things I do accomplish. As I finish out this year, I will have to focus on finding balance between what I do well now and what I will need to do in the future.

Just In Time

I'm always desperately searching for ideas for my computer tech curriculum. Part of the reason has to do with my frustration with the dragging timeline that some teachers at my school are on in terms of collaboration. Last year, in particular, was horrible. I watched in amazement as teacher after teacher assigned the students the same type of research project on the same topic. The best example was the Saint project. Since I teach at a Catholic school, Saints are taught at every level, but what shocked me was that there seemed to be no variation in what the students did at each level. The only difference I observed was the length of their paper. Otherwise, there was little difference. No wonder if one listened closely, one could hear the audible groan whenever a teacher attempted to introduce the saint research project. The kids had been there and done that. Anyway, like the students, I have experienced the same moan and groan of boredom with some of the teachers whenever I get word on the projects they're doing. Therefore, part of my mission at school has been to serve as a catalyst for ideas. As I talk to teachers about what they're doing, I try to toss in ideas on how to integrate technology into their learning. Fortunately, we also have some new teachers at school who are just dying to get their students thinking creatively. In addition, one of these teachers is clearly moving into that Stage 3 of technology integration, even though she's not aware of it. She wants the kids to PRODUCE something for a wider audience, not just herself. That's why I always embrace sites like the InTime one - they provide more ideas of how I can get teachers to think about technology integration in their classrooms.

I took a look at the Technology area and found 32 videos. I looked specifically at a collaborative project that focused on habitats because I know this topic was recently covered in our 3rd grade, and I wanted to see how the teacher was utilizing technology. Also, the sources that the teacher used are ones that our school has access to as well. Although the lesson might be too much for our 3rd grade teacher who is very uncomfortable with technology, it did give me some great ideas for next year on how I might be able to collaborate with her in the lab while she covers that unit. I'm finding that rather than expecting the classroom teacher to run the technology side of things, I'm having to do it. And for now that's okay. I'm hoping as the teachers see others using technology and see how much the students love it they will catch the bug. In the habitat unit, I especially like the reference to Enchanted Learning and have added this to my teacher Delicious account. I also liked the utilization of Kidpix to create a more educational presentation. I have a tendency to only use Kidpix for the younger ages who create more "cutesy" presentations.

In addition to the Habitat unit, I also looked into the Harry Potter research project for the older grades. My principal is really pushing research-based projects, so I'm constantly searching for ideas, and I liked how this one utilized research, collaboration, and presentation. Based on this lesson, I can see where my school is falling short; our research projects tend to be the typical ones where students are finding information and are creating something strictly for the teacher or classroom. In other words, production is for a very limited audience, and therefore the students don't necessarily see the relevance. The Harry Potter project involves much more critical thinking on the type of audience the novels cater to, rather than on the book itself. I like this angle because the students are forced to apply their knowledge to a deeper level. I also like this project because of the integration of a variety of technologies - everything from the Internet to spreadsheets and graphing software to an overhead projector and Powerpoint. Finally, once the project is finished, the students are expected to email their results to the survey participants, emphasizing that production aspect of technology integration.

Overall, I really liked the InTime website and have also added it to the teacher account in Delicious. I'm hoping that my teachers will take a look and utilize the website. I think the added benefit of video will spark teacher interest in the lessons.

Dumbsheet When it Comes to Spreadsheets

I like to consider myself somewhat mechanically inclined when it comes to computers and software. Combined with my obsessive-compulsive nature, I greatly enjoy exploring software and figuring out how it all works. And, quite honestly, I usually manage to get a pretty good grasp of things by the time I'm through and ready to share the software with my students.

This isn't always the case, however, when it comes to working with Excel and spreadsheets. I don't know what it is about them: perhaps it's that I don't work with them enough or that when it comes to mathematical equations, I'm easily confused. Whatever the case may be, I always feel insecure about working with spreadsheets, although I would love to know more. And even though I teach the basics to my 5th and 6th graders, I tend not to delve too deeply because typically they, too, are easily confused. In addition, I don't find spreadsheet software, such as Excel, to be kid-friendly, with, perhaps, the exception of InspireData (makers of Inspiration and Kidspiration). Finally, I have yet to really grasp how to manipulate a graph. Boo hoo for me, I guess.

With all this "baggage" in mind, I assumed I wasn't going to be thrilled with this week's topic of exploring spreadsheets, but I discovered that it was fine. Of course, I didn't have to do anything too complicated, so that helped, but I think it was more than that. For someone who doesn't work regularly with spreadsheets, Google Docs spreadsheet was perfect because of its simplicity. Everything was so nicely laid out for me that I didn't feel overwhelmed with a ton of options. Maybe this ease of use might be a major complaint for those of you who really understand the intricacies of spreadsheets, but I liked it. In fact, I'm thinking that Google Docs might be a great way to introduce spreadsheets and formulas before moving onto the much more complicated Excel. Perhaps I could use the recipe assignment as a good way to begin working with formulas.

Along with the spreadsheets, I did enjoy checking out NetTrekker and found the spreadsheet lesson plan to be very useful. I like things narrowed down and the fact that NetTrekker is for educators. There are numerous educational sites out there, but not all are helpful. I also liked my ability to plug in the readability when searching. I found not only lspreadsheet esson plans but several tutorials as well. I'm always having trouble finding tutorials for younger students. I'm hoping I'll be able to incorporate these next month when I move into spreadsheets with my 6th graders.