Mrs. Saunders' Blog

My Professional Learning Plan "From a seed to an Apple Tree"

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:07:00 +0000

CEP 810, check! CEP 811, check!

CEP 812…finished!

I can’t believe these 8 weeks of CEP 812 are over with. I have developed as an educator both scholastically and professionally in taking these courses. I have learned so many effective teaching strategies and have an impressive list of resources and tools to use in my classroom.

Technology is ever-changing. It changes the way we live, communicate and go about our everyday lives. It becomes part of our routine. It is now time for technology to change the way we teach our students. Some educators contemplate whether to implement technology into the classroom; this should not be a choice but a must! We live in the 21^st century! As educators we are to prepare our students for the real world (which uses a ton of technology), not hold them back. The amazing thing about being a teacher is we teach all professions. We teach future lawyers, firemen, soldiers, teachers, salesmen, accountants, carpenters, etc. Our students hold our future. It is vital we incorporate the TPACK system into our classroom and develop our students to have a 21^st century mindset with proficiency in collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem solving.

When incorporating technology into the classroom it shouldn’t be a substitution of learning but a transformation of learning. Think, “How will using this tool enhance the learning of my students?” We all have to accept the fact that implementing anything requires change. I have not been teaching very long so change is easy for me because I am the "newbie" when I get hired. Yet, some have been teaching for 20+ years and it gets harder to go away from their regular way. We must think of the needs of our students and prepare them so they can give back to us one day when they are working citizens. There are countless ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. Money issues should no longer be a dispute. While taking CEP812 we have discovered so many FREE resources. Incorporating technology doesn't physically mean it has to be in used in classroom, it could be something as simple as a Twitter account where students can visit on their own time. Every school has a tool in front of them almost daily, but most never realized how powerful it can be. What do we use every day as teachers to take attendance? The internet! The internet is marvelous!

It offers:

Podcasts
Videos
Blogs
WebQuests
Educational sites
Resources for parents
Infographics
Google Sites, Docs, Apps, Hangout
Twitter account (able to keep in touch with students, post reminders of assignments, collaboarte with other educators,etc.)
Clickers (Fast response)
Web 2.0

This list could go on forever.

“Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how we use them.” -Author Unknown

It is never an easy road when changing your old habits and trying to adapt the new. It will take time, patience and practice. There will be bumps and curves along the way.My professional learning plan is to take these rocks that I run into as stepping stones and use it to my advantage and pursue my goals:

Complete MSU’s MAET program
Continue to grow and study as an educator, never stop my learning.
Collaborate, teach and share my ideas of technology with not only my students, but co-workers and friends.
Research, research, research! There are so many tools out there, it is important that I take the time and see what is out there that can be of great benefit to my students and teaching.

I plan to be that teacher that INSPIRES and takes the stepping stones to become that amazing technological educated teacher! I may have just been a tiny seed in the beginning but now I am a beautiful tree that grows delicious well-rounded apples. Not the best metaphor, but I think you will get it once you watch my Prezi. I am still not where I need to be, but I am definitely blossoming into what the kids would say, an awesome "techy" teacher.

Please see the growth I have made and my plan for the future below in the Prezi I made.

WPP Part D

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 23:32:00 +0000

My Wicked Problem Project was to implement Khan Academy and Study Island into the classroom. For this blog post, Part D we were to reflect upon and evaluate the solution that we applied in Part C, the implementation. Prior to reading this you should have already read my WPP Part C, if you have not, I recommend doing so. My project did not get implemented as planned because I do not have a job right now. So unfortunately, I was unable to apply my WPP to use.

In my part C blog, I had focused on the different ways to implement Study Island into the classroom with also using Khan Academy within SI (Study Island). Since I cannot really reflect upon and evaluate this solution, my blog will be focusing on the implications that I will consider for future “wicked problems.” Though I was not able to have my own real evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice I did find some research about the schools in Massachusetts. If you click here you will see the summative adequate yearly progress of all the public schools in Massachusetts using SI in their curriculum and not using SI. This was for the school year of 2005-2006. You will notice that the schools using SI outdid the schools that weren’t using SI in having a higher score in the aggregate Reading/ELA AYP and the aggregate Math AYP in 2006. “The schools that used Study Island came from large and small districts and from urban, suburban, and rural locations.” –uxbridgeschools.com Obviously, implementing SI does make a difference no matter what school size, what district, what location you come from.

Since I myself wasn’t able to really put this wicked project into practice I am not too sure what approaches I would do differently. I think it would all have to depend upon the results and success of the implementation. But with doing the research it seems that using SI is very effective in the classroom. In the future when coming across a wicked problem, I would definitely make sure I know the program/tool inside and out before applying it into the classroom. I used SI few times in my classroom before I had moved, but I wasn’t really familiar with it. I was just testing it out because our school had a free trail for a year. Now after doing this WPP, I feel like I have learned so much more about SI. One thing I would change especially when implementing any technology resource into the classroom is to make sure that you understand the program, know its potential, know the drawbacks, think about questions that students may have when using it, how to walk the student through the steps, know what could go wrong, have a backup plan, etc. I would think these things could count as lessons learned that would help benefit others who would like to implement something like this into their classroom.

I am working towards my MAET so I can be that “techy” teacher, the one who teaches her students to become 21^st century learners. I plan to spread the word and concept of the importance and benefits technology in the classroom. As well as applying the TPACK system into my school building and help my future employees with the integration process. I want my employees as well as my students to become comfortable and confident when using technology. As educators, we will continue to run into “wicked problems.” This is part of education, it is always changing, trying to make things better for our students. With that comes the learning which never ends. We change things based upon state standards, results of tests, student's engagement, if things went smoothly, the pitfalls we run into, the overall picture, etc. It is vital that when we do change that we think of TECHNOLOGY. Technology is ever-changing, it's resources surround us. We have to adapt to it in our classroom and use it because that is what our students will be doing in the real-world which is what we are preparing them for. Our lives revolve around technology and it is now time we start teaching that way too.

WPP PART C

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 21:07:00 +0000

It has been a while since I last blogged about my Wicked Problem. About a month ago we were asked to think of a wicked problem of practice that we encounter at our school/work place. Well, most of you already know but I do not have a job as of now. However, I do have an interview soon with Sylvan Learning Center! YAY! Keep your fingers crossed. When I came up with my Wicked Problem I was thinking of my students I left back in Michigan at my last school I taught at. I taught high school Algebra. The subject of mathematics is like a building block. Everything feeds off of each other and essential to learn and understand before moving on to the next level. My students coming into their freshman Algebra class where missing the fundamental skills of math. They seemed to not know their time tables, basic fractions, order of operation, how to add and subtract integers, etc. It’s not that they weren’t taught the material. They may have forgotten, may have not understand what was being taught because they were missing those previous skills that build off of each other. When I was teaching, my co-teacher and I came up with using some technology-integrated lessons because our students each had 1:1 technology with the iPad. This was my schools first year with the 1:1 iPad rollout. We started using Study Island (our school paid for this and we were trying it out for a year) & Khan Academy (free). We also attempted a few flip lessons. Sadly, I didn’t get to have this experience too long, just shy of 3 months. But I am more than happy to finally be with my husband. He got back from Afghanistan at the end of November and that is when I left my school. Now we are finally able to start our lives with each other.

WPP PART C

My wicked problem of practice begins by implementing Khan Academy and Study Island into the classroom. The beneficiary of using these resources is that students can go at their own pace and start at all different levels, start at the level that is necessary for them. This can help my students who are way behind and help those who are at the average level excel. If you are unfamiliar with Khan Academy or Study Island, please read my WPP Part A & WPP Part B blog(s) to give yourself a better understanding of what these tools can provide to your student(s) and classroom.

For WPP Part C, we were to implement our project and report on surprises, unexpected bumps we had along the road, things that went well and pictures. Unfortunately, you all recognize that I cannot implement my tech-based strategy with a class right now because I am not employed. However, I did email my co-teacher to see how things were going back at the school I was teaching at and had explained my project and asked if he could possibly help me out. I thought he could maybe give me some information of their progress, if they are still using these programs, etc. Sadly, I never received an email back. He probably did read it but forgot to respond, we all know how many emails we get teaching. Ugh! That is one thing I don’t miss. I had informed my professor of this situation and she suggested a few alternatives.

What I ended up doing was lots of research online. The past couple of weeks I have been researching to see if other schools/teachers have implemented either Study Island or Khan Academy. This was very difficult for me to find. However, I did run across some information of the different ways you could implement Study Island and increase its effectiveness as well as incorporating Khan Academy with Study Island. So my main focus is on Study Island.

The first thing that needs to be done if you are to implement Study Island into your classroom and get the most of your time is set up lab time. I would do a test run too. Maybe only start with using Study Island in one of your class hours and eventually add two, then three… etc. You can setup your classes through what Study Island refers to as “Class Manager.” This isn’t necessary but I recommend it because it allows you to run reports and look at data, create assignments, assign certain topics, etc. You can monitor the progress by looking at the statistics. This is of great value because as the teacher you can easily see the topics that need reinforcement. Furthermore, if you were to have a sub, this would be an effective tool for communication so they know what the students should be working on.

An incentive when working on Study Island is to provide some sort of in-class or contest ideas, some type of incentive. We all seem to work harder when we know there is a prize, right? This is teaching our students real life skills too, in the work force we strive to get that promotion and that is what our students are going to do but in the classroom. I think that each student should have a goal before they start, or maybe have some classroom goals. Study Island is not just having students sit and work on practice problems but having that incentive to “want” to get better and put forth the effort. As educators, we have to push their motivation switch.

Study Island has a lot to take it, it can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many different ways to approach it/implement it. You can assess what is learned in your lesson/topic in class and correlate it to what they do in Study Island. Or for those that are really far behind, they can start from the top to bottom as a general review and having the “Class Manger” set up, you can see where that particular student is struggling. Another great way in implementing this amazing tool is focusing on the standards that have been points of struggle in previous assessments. It’s not just implementing it into your classroom, but enhancing your lesson with Study Island into your classroom. You can introduce or conclude your lesson with Study Island. It even provides a Game Mode which is fun and engaging to the students.

What I love about Study Island is that it provides that feedback, automatic and instant feedback! Students know right away if they got an answer right or wrong if they passed/didn't pass due to the icons the program provides (see above image). The students as well as the teacher can check their score and progress. If you don’t want to always have students using the technology, you can print worksheets and do in-class activities. Study Island provides all of this!

Study Island has embedded Khan Academy videos within its site to help reinforce those middle school/high school math lessons. IF those aren't videos you are looking for, you can also just go to khanacademy.org. The videos give a brief, step by step lesson on a specific math concept and provide examples. If you look at the image below it gives a great implementation idea.

The main thing that I want all of you to know is that Study Island is available and is a great resource. Like all things though, it take time to learn. I still don’t know all the amazing things it can do. I recommend all of you go to the site, www.StudyIsland.com and just explore. See what it has to offer you in your classroom and if it is of great use to you, please create a class in the class manager and have fun with it!

Mobile Learning in the Classroom

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:45:00 +0000

Though I am only 24 years old, I have seen a ton of changes with technology within my lifetime. I remember my first cassette tape, the Spice Girls, and how excited I was to get it! Can't ya tell?!

That's me with the Spice Girls Cassette tap, oh what a fun birthday that was! :)

Yes, that's really my Dad! Look how big that is! HA!

Then I got their CD, but soon after that MP3s came out, now we have iPods and can store all of our music through the web on iTunes! Fascinating isn’t it?! All of this happened within such a short amount of time. What will the world be like another 10 years from now? My parents have a ton of Disney VHS tapes of all the classics; sadly we don’t have a VHS player anymore and want them all on DVD or Blue ray! But will DVDs and Blue rays be here 10 years from now, or will there be something different? I can remember the first computer my family got, with a HUGE monitor. Now I own two laptops and an iPad and a thin flat screen monitor. One day, these won’t be enough and I will need to upgrade. Wonder what those devices will look like? As a child my parents filmed us with a big ole video recorder, now they have one that fits in my mother’s purse and has a lot better quality.

I can remember being in school with chalkboards, overhead projectors…now we have dry erase boards, maybe some of us are lucky to have Smart Boards, we have ELMOS, ceiling projectors, clickers, etc. What is the future bringing us with technology? More importantly, what will it do to education?

If you look around us, today’s population lives and feeds on technology. We rely on the internet for everyday things, whether it is work relative or for our own entertainment. We carry our cell phones/smart phones everywhere we go! We often ask ourselves, “How did we used to do it?” We can’t remember. We live in a world that is fast pace and one where everyone expects simultaneous results. We can communicate across the globe! It’s pretty cool, yet pretty scary at the same time.

So where am I going with this? Let’s now talk about the education aspect. We seem to not be bringing the ‘real world’ into the classroom. We are having our students learn the same way we did, even how our parents did: paper pencil, no cell phone policy, etc. Is that how the work force is? Isn’t it our job as educators to prepare our students for college, the workforce so that they one day can give back to the society in a positive manner? Some schools are trying to adapt with the technology, but all of us must do it. We all need to be taking those tiny baby steps and gradually bring our students to the 21^st century mind set in the classroom.

I call myself “tech savvy” when it comes to explaining technological things to my parents and grandparents because I feel like I have grown and adapted to the technology throughout my lifetime, I’m young and not afraid to push buttons and well, I’m working on my MAET. But when it comes to my students, geeezzzz…they know so much! They know more than me! When I mention the use of technology or allow my students to use it in my classroom, right away my students become more engaged and motivate to learn. That’s how they learn outside the classroom, so why not bring it to the classroom. The hard part we have to consider is the restrictions/rules. It is vital that as educators we have good guidelines, a rigor structure and procedure that students follow and understand when they can use their device (know the proper etiquette), what is allowed/not allowed, etc. Some schools struggle with money issues and are not able to have the nice up-to-date technology, but almost every one today, especially high school students have some sort of cell phone/smart phone. That is why for this blog, I focused more on how we can implement cell phones/smart phones into the classroom (generally speaking the high school classroom).

I recently became a member of Classroom 2.0 and joined the group “Cell Phones in Education.” I read some educators blogs, some I found very informative and others I was sad because they have the mindset that phones shouldn't be used at all in the classroom. I disagree.

What tools did I try?

When I had my classroom, I let my students use their phones to read books, check their grades on PowerSchool, blog, tweet, record video, audio, take pictures, etc. However, most of the time they had to ask for permission. I think as a teacher, if you allow students to do these things and trust and respect them with using the technology, it is almost like an incentive to the students. They like using it; they don’t want it taken away and will hopefully be dependable and trustworthy while using it and use it wisely. Cell phones today can do so much, things I didn’t think would ever be capable.

I have also tried a program called Socrative. Socrative: “is a smart student response system that empowers teachers to engage their classrooms through a series of educational exercises and games via smartphones, laptops, and tablets” (socrative.com) It is very easy to use and fun. However, I used this with iPads not cell phones. It provides instant feedback, collects the student's data into an excel document, allows you to edit and create your own quizzes which can be multiple choice, short answer, fill in the blank...you choose. The kids really enjoyed this. I used it as bell work at least once a week.

What ways am I thinking about integrating mobile technology into YOUR classroom?

Polleverywhere.com: a way to gather live responses. It can work with texting, web, twitter, etc.

Though I have not used this in the classroom, I would love to. This could be a good warm-up or wrap up. You could post something like: “What did you learn yesterday? What are you still having trouble with?” etc. What I like about it is the instant feedback.

Twitter- A lot of students have twitter. Some teachers have shared that they created a twitter account for their students. The teacher posts reminders of tests, assignments and even funny math jokes! Haha! The teacher that did this used hash tags of the hour and subject to help clarify what was for what class. It is an instant connection and how we follow the world today. Great idea! I would love to do this if I had a classroom right now. I recommend checking out this article I found about practical advice for teaching with twitter.

I also found an article on 40 quick ways to use mobile phones in the classroom. Check it out!

What challenges do I foresee?

The challenges that I foresee are those certain students who will use their cell phone or device for the wrong reason and ruin it for the others. How to deal with it, the consequences, how to monitor the students, etc.

Data Visualization Lab

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 02:00:00 +0000

I am amazed by all the different types of resources out there in creating infographics. Not only that, but the majority of them are FREE. I am a person that loves having a visual representation of any sort of information, whether it deals with numbers (data), knowledge, timelines…anything! As youngsters, we all start learning by picture books. When I read a book nowadays, (no there are not pictures)...haha...I take the words and create a picture in my head to help tell the story. We learn visually, remember things visually. You may not remember someone’s name, but you remember their face. You may not remember the name of the street but you remember landmarks on the street. I think you get where I am going.

When it comes to higher education (middle school and above) you start to see less pictures. Kids start to become less interested because they feel bombarded with the words. Why can’t we still have all the text but have lots of pictures throughout and infographics to help explain the information? If I were to read a case study and read its results, it is a lot easier for me to look at the results through some type of visualization, graphs, bulleted items, charts, etc. I think most people are visual learners or have some combination of it.

The three resources that I explored through this lab were: Glogster, Piktochart and Tagxedo. I spent a good time playing on all of them and floating back and forth and deciding which one I wanted to use to create my infographic. I ended up falling in love with Glogster. Reason being, Glogster is like making an electronic collage, every girl likes making collages! Haha…

Anyways, Glogster allows you to not only use photos on your collage, but text, videos and music! How cool is that! It’s a 21^st century collage! It was free, user-friendly and in all honesty I really enjoyed this lab. When creating my Glogster aka “Glog”, I thought of how I could use this in my Algebra class. I came across many ways I could use this in my class: A timeline of a famous mathematician or the mathematics world/inventions, showing steps to solve certain problems/theorems, comparing things, showing data, etc.

I chose my glog to be an informational piece. I put a collage together of the famous mathematician, Blaise Pascal. Instead of reading a 5 page paper about a famous mathematician, students could create a Glog providing pictures, a brief summary of their contributions to the math world, pictures and videos. Please check it out here.

Piktochart is very similar to Glogster a resource that allows you to create visual stories to engage your audience and provide visualization. However, with Piktochart I was limited to what layouts I could use because I was using the free version. In addition, you couldn’t have videos and music clips on your infographic. However, it is still a great tool and one that I will most definitely use in the future. Especially if it is something I would want to print out and provide copies to my students.

Tagxedo turns famous speeches, news articles, slogans, themes, any words you want into a visually, interesting looking “word cloud.” - tagxedo.com

Using Tagxedo was a lot of fun. I had seen word clouds before and always wanted to know how to do it, now I do! Tagxedo allowed me to choose the type of color of my wording as well as the shape of cloud, the theme, the font, the overall layout. Tagxedo was able to tag other words that corresponded to my topic of the famous mathematician, Blaise Pascal. Please see my word cloud of Pascal below:

Words that relate to Blaise Pascal...

Due to it being this time of year (Valentine's Day) and loving Algebra, I created an Algebra word cloud shaped as a heart. haha!

I love Algebra! :)

Flipped PD

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 01:33:00 +0000

What am I thinking right now? There are so many resources out there for teachers. The hard part is finding the right ones that work for you. I being a math teacher have a hard time finding resources for the high school level. I want to make sure the resource I find is user friendly, something that not only I could benefit from but my students, I want to know how much it costs, how often I will use it, if it will engage my students, etc. My group creates a flipped presentation of two application resources that we all highly recommend each and every one of you who read our blogs check out and hopefully implement into your classroom.

"What technology can I use when teaching?"

Before you watch our screencasts or learn about these applications I want you to know that the flipped PD presentations will present:

The Pedagogy/Why should Teachers use this?

How to use it?

Both of the presentations go at a nice steady pace. Feel free to watch the tutorials more than once if you feel necessary or to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Both of these applications can be used for any subject. In our presentation, we focus these apps through the eyes of a math teacher. During the Quizlet presentation there will be a view breaks where you can repeat the previous section or take a quiz and answer a few questions to help give us feedback on your understanding. Please read about each before you watch! Enjoy!

EDUCREATIONS allows you to create and share amazing video lessons through a browser or iPad. My focus of my groups project was the pedagogy of Educreations, the “why” should teachers use it. I want you all to watch the screencast so I don’t want to give too much away…haha. In a nutshell, I would say that Educreations turns your screen into a recordable whiteboard; it is a free application and very user friendly. It really has a lot to offer!

The thing that got me most excited about Educreations was you could finally get your chance at trying a flipped lesson. You could make your own video and have your students watch it that evening for homework, then the follow day in class they do the actual 'homework' but do it at school. Students can stop, resume, rewind, and repeat the videos when necessary. They can go at their own pace. Furthermore, our group talked about how using Educreations you could have your students teach each other. Sometimes the best way to learn something is to be able to teach it. This could also work as an incentive. If you feel a student in your first tri-mester class did an excellent job in a video explaining how to solve multi-step equations, you could use that video that the student made to show and teach his peers! How cool is that! Students would be working hard to get their videos shown in class. You can have videos for students who are absent, videos on frequent/common problems; you can browse other teacher’s videos that may be beneficial to you, etc. Plus, you will always have a copy of it; it is saved on the application. I hope just hearing this you all want to sign up and get Educreations! Our screencast of Educreations walks you through the steps of the “how to” sign up and use.

QUIZLET is a great tool for students to study language, vocab…anything really! Students and teachers can create and share their own electronic flash cards or browse and find flashcards to help them study almost any topic. It’s a free and easy to use application. Quizlet is a simple way for students to study on their own through their own choice of technology whether it is their smartphone, computer, iPad, etc. The nice thing about technology is it allows us to do lots of things in different locations. It is allowing us to take this online class. It is allowing you all to read my blog from wherever. Well, students don’t just need to study in their library anymore or in their bedroom. They can study wherever! What do they always have with them? Their phones! Students can use their phones to help them study for any particular class using Quizlet. They can browse and find flashcards that are already made, the teacher can create cards for them to download or students can just create their own. Using flashcards is an effective memory aid and helps people learn material quickly. The nice thing about having electronic flashcards is students won’t lose them, you can read them and you can share them/store them. Flashcards don’t just have to be a thing for the youngsters, it should continue on throughout one’s entire education. Learn more about the steps and “why” teachers should us this in the classroom by checking out our Flipped PD on Quizlet.

Group #2-Storyboard and Script

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:42:00 +0000

In our group we decided to do our Flipped PD assignment on two apps that can be used in the classroom with using an iPad or PC. Due to the fact that each one of us are math teachers, our focus is how these apps benefit a math classroom.

We are creating our presentation as if we are presenting to our math department and/or at a math conference. We have four members in our group, including myself so we broke down our project into four sections:

Pedagogy (Why teachers should use the app) of Educreations - Natalie
How to use Educreations - Liz
Pedagogy of Flashcardlet/Quizlet - Sophia
How to use Flashcardlet/Quizlet – Corbin

The first 10 slides show my storyboard for the pedagogical aspects of Educreations. As a group we are using Camtasia to create our final project of the flipped PD, so as a group we had agreed upon creating a presentation through Google Presentation to later import on the final presentation through Camtasia. As you look through the slides you will see:

Why teachers should use educreations.
How educreations works for the students
How educreations supports learning
Show through the eyes of a math classroom (6 different types of learning)

Very close to the end of each one of our portions of the slide you will notice that each of us provide a script that covers the slides we made and what will be said when we do the overall presentation of our flipped PD.

To have a better understanding you can checkout our timeline/script/notes on our Google doc.

My Web Conferencing Experience

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 02:40:00 +0000

As a member of Group 2 (Math & Tech) we had to meet twice for our “first web conferencing.” This was due to the fact that we all weren’t there the first time around. It has been difficult for our group because we are on different time zones. I being on Pacific Time, two on Eastern Standardized Time, and one being on Mountain Time it made scheduling this meeting difficult. The first time we met was on a Friday afternoon and the three of us that were able to get together talked for about 45 minutes and collaborative and bounced a ton of ideas around for the technology/teaching tool. However, we weren’t sure if we were on the right track and decided to do a little bit more researching. Though we met for a while we didn’t really get anywhere! Ha-ha... A group member ended up putting a poll together through Doodle to decide what times worked best for everyone, very wise and something we will continue to do. We ended up meeting again the following morning because we could ALL be present. We had our web conferencing through Google Hangout.

Doodle Poll

YAY for Saturday AM! :)

Was there any awkward or surprising moments?

HA…of course, it was the first time we all met! Plus, I had never done any sort of web conferencing before and had never used Google Hangout. Let’s just say the second time around was a lot easier because I had already seen two of them and had a better idea of how Google Hangout worked after learning and experimenting with it the day before. A lot of times when I get nervous, I try making people laugh and I did that a few times throughout our discussion to help ease the tension and still try and have fun while learning. There was a time though that was awkward were everyone was discussing about creating a Google doc and typing stuff in and I couldn’t find it. I was going back to my Gmail and went to ‘My Drive’ on the tool bar…not realizing you could also create a Google doc through the hangout itself. Google Hangout = Awesome! So… they all walked me through the steps. A bit embarrassing, but I figured it out. I’m learning here and enjoying it.

Instant messaging, having face to face conversation and creating a document together!

Though we all agreed on Google Hangouts, there was a lot of software that our group considered. As a group we mentioned a lot of them in our discussion board.

Besides the tools we had learned in our lab exercise, we considered the following:

· Meetingl
· meetings.io
· Vsee
· Face Flow
· Microsoft Lync
· WebHuddle
· Yugma
· Google Hangouts---WINNER WINNER!!!

I think I am becoming a huge Google fan, I think most Google things seem to be pretty user friendly. The nice thing about Google Hangouts we could not only have video conferencing, but instant message between all of us, view documents, watch YouTube videos on things we were discussing, etc. Google Hangouts required a Google account and a Google+ page which is free, no installation. This was another reason why we choose to use this resource considering we all had a Gmail account and didn’t need to have another password and username to remember, ha-ha…and it was free of course. As of now, we still all agree to continue to use Google Hangouts for our future conferences.

This experience could be useful in any classroom, but for a mature class. Maybe the advanced students or even 11^th or 12^th graders. Using Google Hangouts is a great tool. I would say a huge benefit for all of it is the time-saving. A group of students could be working on a project face to face through the computer and not have to drive to each other houses; they can be in all different locations just as long as they have Wi-Fi. The method of communication through my experience with web conferencing is just as effective as a face to face conversation. In addition, being able to text, communicate verbally, instant message, access the Internet, upload files etc…it is crazy that that’s even possible! I think if I were to use this in my Algebra class I would assign a group project were they had to write a report about a mathematician and each contribute some part to the paper, prepare a PowerPoint presentation and maybe provide some examples of what that person contributed to the mathematics world.

WPP PART B

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:08:00 +0000

PODCAST FOR WPP PART B

This podcast explains the integration of TPACK (content, pedagogy and technology knowledge) with my Wicked Problem of Practice.

Listen to my Podcast here & follow me through PodOmatic

OR just listen below:

WPP PART B

1. What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)

When coming up with my wicked problem of practice, the first thing that came to my mind was my students who struggle with the basic math facts. A lot of students struggle their freshman year of high school. Is it because in elementary school if a teacher thinks a student of theirs should be held back and repeat the course but the parent refuses, we have to listen to the parent? Teachers are highly qualified and know what they are talking about. We as educators want what’s best for all of our students. These students who have just been “pushed along” and “getting by” don’t make it when they get to high school. These “stragglers” have the same mindset that they did in elementary and middle school and think they just have to show up, even if that means doing nothing. NOOOOO!!!! Things really count and matter in high school. If a student’s fails a class, they have to repeat it until they pass. Why isn’t it like this in elementary? Especially if the teacher recommends it?

By the time a student is in high school, they should already know how to add and subtract integers; know their multiplication facts through 12 (at least!), fractions, decimals, place value, basic fractions, inequalities, etc. I feel like as a high school algebra teacher, I spend half of my time repeating things that they should already know…the basic foundations of algebra/mathematics that should have been taught in their elementary years. However, I know they were taught, the students just seem to forget them. Many students these days seem to lack motivation and have the drive to learn, they want to continue to just “get by.” This shows throughout the school year with their behavior and lack of engagement. That is why I choose to use technology based drills and practice when it came to my algebra class. Due to the fact that my students have 1:1 technology, the iPads… I chose to use Study Island, Khan Academy and trying a few lessons by a ‘flipped classroom.’ By doing so, this was turning on their motivation switch, turning them into 21^st century learners, making them engaged, providing feedback quicker and allowing students to work at their own pace.

2. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)

The TC knowledge for implementing mathematical technology based drills will enhance exploration of the content. Study Island is a leading academic software provider of standards-based assessment, instruction, and test preparation e-learning programs. Study Island allows the teacher to monitor their student’s progress while Study Island provides the students with immediate feedback while focusing on common core standards. Study Island has games programmed for each subject where student can choose between beginner, intermediate or challenging level. So even though they are learning and working their brain, to the students it is as if they are just playing a video game as if it were an incentive.

Khan Academy provides educational videos for almost all the topics covered in my Algebra class. Each student can be working on their particular topic they are struggling with, I as the ‘coach’ can see on my exercise program chart which Khan provides what they are working on, if they are proficient, struggling with a topic, what they have finished, what they are working on currently, etc. Students who have access to a computer at home can also look up these videos at any time, their parents can too if they are struggling with helping their child.

When it comes to flipping the classroom students, the benefit is students can hear their “own” teacher’s voice. They can be introduced to the lesson at home (as their homework) and maybe be given 2-5 basic questions. Then when they return back to class the following day they can be given the assignment and have time in class to work on it and ask questions.

The more technology brought into the content area the more excitement the students will have. The way they are being taught is different. Technology has changed the way we live and now it is changing the way we teach. With the transformation of technology comes quality teaching. Students will start to become excited about learning new things, which then leads to greater participation in math related concepts and a different view when approaching the topic. Furthermore, if the students know they have an awesome resource with them 24/7 (the iPad) and know how to use it, they will do so and take it to their advantage.

3. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?) Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.

The use of technology based drills with the iPad such as Study Island, Khan Academy & Flipping the classroom will help make the content of my algebra class more manageable. Like I had said before, if each student has an iPad and knows how to use it, they will use that to their advantage. Also, by having the students use this technology throughout the school year will help them become 21^st century learners. The students will have a different mindset when they go to Algebra class. They will know that if they have a question on something, they can ask me or use one of the educational resources we showed them. Students while using Study Island and Khan Academy get feedback a lot faster and have the opportunity to better and further their skills. These technology based drills and practices should be used throughout the school year but not to replace the teacher. These are for the days when students need refreshers for formative and summative assessments or if students finish an assignment early and need something to work on. Nonetheless, my special end students are in need of the basics and come from all different backgrounds and the nice things about these programs is they will know where the student left off and know what type of level they are at and things they need to work on. Students are able to practice the skills they struggle with using technology, I can do this with my co-taught classes easier because I have another teacher in the classroom with me which is an extra set of eyes.

Technology changes what and how to explore, create and share things. But it comes from the teacher’s creativity that we transform our students learning into something engaging, exciting and life changing. Like Prezi was saying in his video, not only is it our job as teachers to “integrate” technology but to “innovate” it.

Meet Natalie

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:29:00 +0000

CEP812 INTRODUCTION

My Educational Passion = the iPad, anything with it!

But being a math teacher, I would like to know more about:

1. What math apps I can use?

2. How can I transform my Algebra class into more of a technology 21st century classroom instead of paper pencil?

3. What fun, creative projects can I use the iPad for in my classroom?

WPP PART A

Natalie Saunders (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:49:00 +0000

My wicked problem of practice in my classroom

The hard part about identifying a wicked problem of a practice in my classroom, school or workplace currently is a little difficult right now. This is due to the fact that I am currently not employed. So let me first start off by telling you a little bit about myself to make things a bit more clear and so you know my background and where I am coming from. Plus this is my first blog for CEP812.

I graduated AdrianCollege (Southeast, MI) in December 2010 majoring in Mathematics & minoring in Communications for Secondary Education, as well as representing the AC Bulldogs on their Volleyball team. After a fall semester of student teaching middle school mathematics, I was lucky to lay my hands on a full-time subbing job until the end of the school year teaching at a small middle/high school with four preps (Math 7, Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II); Addison High School also located in Southeast Michigan. What a great experience I had! Not only did I have four preps...but to top it off, I was using a cart and sadly known as the “cart lady.” Ha-ha. I would float to different teacher’s classrooms when they were on their planning hour and teach there. It was a struggle at first, but once I got my routine down I truly felt like I was a pro. Just starting off teaching is a difficult task, but having four preps and on a cart made it more of a challenge and I was up for it. I thought to myself, “If I can do this, I can do anything.” You know what, I did and I loved it. It had its moments but I managed and I just love teaching. It is definitely what my passion is in, teaching kids…trying to make a difference in their life through academics and life lessons. Unfortunately that school couldn’t afford to hire me at the end of the year due to budget cuts, but I got exceptional letters of recommendations and was thrilled to receive a job that summer. I recently came from Sturgis High School, located on the southwest side of Michigan (where I am from-White Pigeon, MI). I was hired the summer of 2011 and recently resigned the end of November of 2012. Resigned? Yes, I will explain.

Sturgis was blessed to have received a grant from the state of Michigan for 1:1 technology. Each student at SHS has their very own iPad. Amazing, right? This didn’t happen until this fall (2012, starting my second year at Sturgis). At Sturgis I was teaching high school Algebra, consisting of mostly freshman ranging from 25-32 kids in a class. These classes were mostly inclusion classes, I was lucky to even co-teach a few of them. Going from 4 preps on a cart, to one prep and having my very own classroom and being able to teach with technology and have the resources is any teacher’s dream. Unfortunately I had to resign. My heart is in education, but it longed for my husband. My husband is in the service, Army. He was deployed in Afghanistan and got back this November. As much as I love teaching and my job at SHS, I love my husband more and moved to Fort Lewis, WA; where my husband is stationed and where I write this blog. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to my amazing job, my students, and my colleagues who became my best friends and to a school that offers its students incredible opportunities. I am job hunting and hoping to get my foot in the door here soon. Eager to sub or tutor, even better would be to find a long term subbing position. But time will tell. Though I don’t have a job right now and can’t give you a wicked problem that I am having right this very moment. I believe I have enough teaching experience under my belt to still explain some of the problems that I faced when I did have my own classroom.

WPP-PART A

THE EDUCATIONAL NEED OR OPPORTUNITY

In all of my classes, but mostly my co-taught classes my students really struggle with their basic math skills. For example, adding and subtracting integers, fractions, times tables, inequalities, long division, etc. The students are supposed to know these things by the time they are freshman in high school. How come they don’t? They have to know their multiplication facts in fourth grade. Why do they forget them? Is it because they start to use a calculator in 5^th grade on and rely on it? Some say that is the case. Is it because they really don’t know them and their elementary teacher recommends they repeat the class next year but the student’s parents insist they go on? All these things run through my head, what is the cause? America used to dominate the field of mathematics through the fields of engineering, finance and engineering…but now we are falling way behind compared to other countries. This is definitely a wicked situation and one that hopefully we can fix now.

THE TECHNOLOGY-INTEGRATED STRATEGY

At Sturgis, my co-teacher and I decided that technology base drill and practice and having some tutorials can help to improve student performance. The nice thing is we didn’t have to worry about computer lab time anymore. The resources were with us 24/7 due to the student’s each having their own iPad. My co-teacher and I came up with the technology-integrated strategy by using the following resources with our students: Study Island & Khan Academy. As well as trying a few flip-classroom lessons or having them learn a lesson through a video I made (which the student’s really seemed to enjoy because they heard my voice and not someone else’s).

LOGISTICS

Using such resources like Study Island, Khan Academy and your own personal tutorial/videos helps define students into a 21^st century learner and learning and developing in a 21^st century classroom. These sources are refining the way we learn and teach and they have the TPACK framework embedded in them. Though, the teacher must be creative in introducing it and using them. Study Island focuses on the common core standards while providing immediate feedback to the student. In addition, as an educator I was able to monitor my student’s progress. To top it off, my students were engaged while using Study Island due to the incentives that it offers. If they do well in a certain area, they can then play a game related to that topic. They get badges for completing and doing well in certain lessons, etc.

Read more at: http://www.edmentum.com/products-services/study-island

Khan Academy is a FREE resource. It has thousands of educational videos. I used it for mathematics, but it also offers videos in biology, chemistry, health, etc. The nice thing about Khan Academy is if a student was struggling with a particular topic, they can go right to Khan and watch a video on that particular subject. As a teacher, I can create a username and password for my students and watch their progress. In addition, with the iPads we were able to “practice” directly from our iPads . Plus, each student could be working on something different. For example, if Johnny struggled with solving one-step equations he could be working on the practice portion covering that material, while Sally may struggle with fractions and could be working on that. Furthermore, Khan provides me the teacher known as the “coach” an Exercise Program chart. This chart displays the exercise the student is working on, if they are proficient or failing in that topic, what videos they have watched, what they have worked on, currently working on, what they have finished, etc.

Read more at: http://www.khanacademy.org/about

I don’t have a lot of background with the flip classroom but I did try it a few times with my co-teacher while I was at SHS. Due to the fact that student’s had their own iPad made this easier. However, the first time around the students really seemed to struggle. I personally think it was just the idea to them because they have never done anything like it and they felt out of their comfort zone. But I believe if I were still at SHS and we were to continue to do it, you would see a huge improvement and the kids would enjoy doing it. I had my students was get in groups and film themselves and demonstrate how to solve specific math problems or explain a math concept. If I felt that it was put together well and professional, I would show other classes and the thought of using it next year in my class to introduce a lesson.

RESEARCH THAT SUPPORTS THIS STRATEGIES

The following link http://www.studyisland.com/web/results/research/ provides evident documentation that Study Island helps to increase student achievement.

Please note that using these resources should not be an everyday thing. I think if doing so, students will get bored with it and lose their enthusiasm and not be engaged anymore. I think doing something like this with technology should almost be an incentive to them because it is different and challenges them in a different way. Again, you as the teacher should master these resources before implementing them into the classroom. As educators, it is only effective if we are creative and knowledgeable of the material to see real results. The logistics of Khan in itself show the research that Khan supports: students working at their own pace, students can be working on different topics while the teacher walks around and monitors the classroom and helps those who have questions, the teacher becomes more of a “coach”, etc. Some even say that these resources seem to “humanize” the classroom.

A PLAN BASED ON RESEARCH FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Due to the fact that I am unemployed at the moment, my plan based on this research for implementation will not be possible. However, if I were to still have my own classroom, I would plan on using these resources through the remaining of the school year. I was only trying this with a few of my classes. So I would compare the classes to each other. See how helping students more of the traditional way compared to the technology way. See which one they enjoy more as well as me. See if there is a huge improvement on their skill level they were struggling before and after. Not only that but see if their technological skills and views have improve or change to bitterness. As the year dwindles down, I would plan to use these tools more and utilize these resources as well as others through the student’s iPad as much as possible in my classroom.

INDICATIONS OF SUCCESSFUL PROJECT

To indicate that this project is successful I would have to look at all features. Look at my student’s progress (tracking), their engagement and knowledge of using the technology. Furthermore, I would have to critique myself. Did I have an effect on how I taught my students? Did using the technology and tying it to my creativity have great value to my students. A question you may be asking yourself is, “well, how can you tell all of these things?” It’s simple, were the students enthusiastic, motivated, engaged, actively participate (participation is key here), ask questions when confused, want to use technology more often, etc.

RELEVANT RESOURCES & CITATIONS

Khan Academy:

http://www.khanacademy.org/about

Journeyintech.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-khan-be-done-with-it.html

Study Island:

http://www.studyisland.com/web/about-us/

http://www.studyisland.com/web/results/research/

Flipped Classroom:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching

http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/

http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/how-the-flipped-classroom-is-radically-transforming-learning-536.php

Other:

Lass, Daniel, Bernard Morzuch, and Richard Rogers. "Teaching with Technology to Engage Students and Enhance Learning." N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. <http://www.cengage.com/owl/site/Teaching_with_Technology%20to%20Engage%20Students%20and%20Enhance%20Learning.pdf>.