Lesson 8: The Final Lesson

The final blog for class... the final blog before I graduate! How exciting.

This week we were asked to examine our classroom computers and discuss the types of security we have in place to prevent malicious software and/or hackers and to cite any areas of concern. In my opinion, our school software is not very protected. No one maintains the computers on a regular basis. A technician comes in only if there is a problem. We pay for a program that I consider inefficient, as I run one of two different free protection programs: AVG or Panda Cloud. Honestly, we have a minimal firewall. Students can go to any page I believe. The only protection we have is the students have to have an administrator's password to download something. We really need an overhaul and a professional development on how to avoid viruses, Trojans, and worms. Then we need to conduct a lesson with our students so they can be wise users of the internet at school and at home.

We know how damaging the effects of a Trojan can be. My mother-in-law's computer completely crashed. Luckily we have a friend who teaches computer science at a university and builds computers as a hobby take a look at it. He moved all the documents onto an external hard drive, reset the computer to factory settings, complete reformatted the hard drive, and then reloaded the operating system and office suite. He gave us the external hard drive to transfer the documents back to the computer. After we did that, the same thing happened again. He says that it was possible for the Trojan to break itself into pieces and then put itself back together when we restored the documents. That is the current stage we are in. Our friend is going to retake the computer, work his magic, and hopefully the computer will once again work. The computer is only a year old, but if it cannot be repaired, we will have to purchase a new computer for her. Technically she will get my new computer that we were saving until I killed this computer, but either way a new computer will need to be purchased. I kill my computers on a yearly basis. My husband jokes that I need a military grade computer. I just physically beat them up from transporting it everywhere with my school supplies.

If you want to learn more about viruses, Trojans, and worms visit: http://www.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm

Lesson 7

 
 See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

Above is the link to my latest playing around. PicLit is definitely fun to play with. I can see students enjoying it as well!

I often have a huge list of bookmarked links, but I hate that when I switch computers I lose them. Try out these websites to help with that. I love them! :

http://www.delicious.com/ 
http://www.diigo.com/


Brain research was another interesting facet of this week’s study. We visited http://www.dana.org  to read articles about the brain. I chose an article based on sleep and your ability to remember things. Apparently REM sleep is no longer considered the most important stage of sleep. Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) is actually when most of the memory consolidation happens. They said sleep was more important that staying up and cramming for that test. Now I have research to back what I tell my students. I think it will strike up some interesting conversation. I also enjoyed how dana.org provides a Brain Kids area. Students can participate in their own activities and lab experiments! http://www.dana.org/resources/brainykids/ Check it out!

 Onward ho to the assigned topic I go.... (My children and students get a kick when I say that.) 

This week we were to choose a Web 2.0 tool to use in my classroom. School starts Thursday for me, so I did not have the opportunity to use it with my students. However, I have had experience using Blogs as part of our BookFest Club. The instructional objective was for students to analyze what they have read and discuss with their classmates what scenes were the most important to the story.  This club was conducted mainly through the blog and we only met in person once a quarter, with the exception of the last quarter when we went to a University for their annual BookFest program. Students were able to complete the blog at their own pace and had a minimum requirement in order to participate in the field trip. One problem we ran into was a lack of technology in the home. We have several students whose parents are reluctant to use a computer and thus don't see the value in having one or having one connected to the internet.  These students had to complete the blogs at school and often had forgotten their login information. The blog I used made it difficult to track students and their posts, which added to the difficulty. A new school year has rolled around and I have moved to using a different blog than previous. I assign the names and passwords, have a teacher console where I can easily track students, and I am building in time for those students with lack of computer and internet access.

Websites:


http://www.delicious.com/ 
http://www.diigo.com/
 http://www.dana.org
http://www.dana.org/resources/brainykids/

Lesson 6

WebQuests:

What a week! I have designed WebQuests before, and find myself a little too picky for the generic fill in the blank and up it goes type of WebQuest. So I created my WebQuest from the ground up and connected it to my classroom website. I have been trying to come up with a way to ditch my social studies textbook for the exploration chapter for a while, but just have not had the time to invest in creating something new. My Educational Technology required me to create a WebQuest, so I am suddenly forced to have the time. If I had to take the time to create one, I decided it would be for that unit.

In my WebQuest, students are magically transported back in time to be apprentices under their assigned famous explorer. As an apprentice, they have four tasks they must complete in order to have a successful adventure. The first task is to convince the King and Queen to fund their exploration journey. Secondly, they must create a recruiting poster in order to convince sailors to join this dangerous trip. Thirdly, they must create a PowerPoint showing and describing the tools they will need and what three personal items they would choose to bring and why. The final part of this WebQuest is students must create a mini-journal of six entries from the beginning of the voyage to the end when the famous explorer makes their discovery.

Some of the struggles I had with this WebQuest was time constraints. I tried to get ahead knowing the my brother would be getting married the week/end that I had to create this massive project, but being in the wedding party demanded more of my time than I expected. The fact I was too stubborn to go ahead and do the prefabricated designs added to my dilemma as it takes even more time to create the design from a blank page. However, it did get created, and although there are a few things I am still going to work on, it is mostly ready for my students in one month's time. One of my biggest problems was fixing all the dead links. That is a problem you run into when you are designing a website ... you are the one responsible for making sure the task page links to the process page. I think I have all the bugs worked out.  I plan on fixing my credits page, but for now I figured a list of the websites I used would suffice. I am really proud of this WebQuest and can’t wait to see how my student’s react to it. I used the paint program several times to modify pictures and really personalize the experience. Yes, that is my actual face in the picture of the Renaissance Queen. Check out my WebQuest and let me know any suggestions you may have!

Checkout my WebQuest : http://hiphoppin.home.insightbb.com/trip_of_a_liftime_intro

Lesson 5

      This week was an amazing week of learning. Visual literacy was something I had never considered or even really knew what it meant. According to http://visual-lit.wikispaces.com/What+is+Visual+Literacy%3F, "Visual literacy is the ability to see, to understand, and ultimately to think, create, and communicate graphically. Generally speaking, the visually literate viewer looks at an image carefully, critically, and with an eye for the intentions of the image's creator." What an amazing concept. Director Martin Scorsese gave a great interview about visual literacy. He sees visual literacy as visual story telling. He talked about how his sickly childhood and low academic performance led to him examining movies visual expression. Movies are not just storylines. Emotion and stories can be told through the positioning of a camera. He discusses how the visual image has taken over society and that it is important, powerful tool and how directors have a responsibility to use it wisely and safely. The violen movies he made for an adult audience should not be showng on cable before ten or eleven o'clock at night. He even stated, "I think there's a danger of visual language having more of an effect on kids than it used to. We have to try to deal with this and teach them to interpret the power of visual language." What a powerful view of visual literacy.

      One program I found particularly interesting was Edmodo. This tool creates an interactive classroom. Students can access homework, feedback, grades, discussions, notifications, and even apps! The apps must be purchased but the ability to have such an interactive class in one place is great. No more checking a blog on one page, skip to you gradebook website, skip to your wiki... it is all right there. Teachers can even create badges for their students to achieve. What a neat motivator. The best thing is it is FREE.

     Glogster is amazing program as well. Many students are familiar with making posters for projects. Posters are very one deminsional, with very little opportunity for the use of multimedia. At best, a poster can hold printed photos. Glogster allows for students to create posters with the ability to show video, audio, and files. These posters are far more interactive than any other form of poster. Imagine students researching Native Americans and finding a video of a powwow. Previously, the best way to present this information to the class was through a still photo. Now with Glogster, students can embed the actual video into their poster.

Check my previous blog entry for examples of some of my other technology explorations.

Websites:
http://www.edutopia.org/martin-scorsese-teaching-visual-literacy - interview with Martin Scorsese
http://www.edmodo.com/

http://www.glogster.com/

Playing Around with Jing and Prezi

Using Jing: Here is a Back to School Video from Teachertube called Welcome Back to School:

http://screencast.com/t/MxbovzRjNZ

This is not a true presentation, just something to give me a feel for Prezi. See what you think.

http://prezi.com/fx8unbx6wt7q/copy-of-mrs-caudills-hip-hoppin-frogs/

Playing with Spicynodes

I created a Spicynodes web for the after school book club that I am in charge of this year. Bookfest is a neat program sponsored by a local university. Students read 6 books and then go to Boofest to participate in all kinds of activities that pertain to the books. There are also many contests where students can win gift cards for creatively applying what they have read to critical thinking activities. Check it out:

http://www.spicynodes.org/a/39d451fab75d6dec58ea55ce66d07a3a

Lesson 4

     Making presentations is a part of a teacher's job. Although many of the technologies have changed to be more interactive than PowerPoint, it can still be an effective tool for presenting, providing you do not read straight from the slides. I constructed the PowerPoint below to introduce my students to the scientific method in preparation for the upcoming science fair.  The item that I am most proud of in this PowerPoint is the slide focused on hypothesis. Although you cannot see it by just looking at the handout, there is a link to a clip from the preschool show "Dinosaur Train" where Buddy explains what a hypothesis is in very simple terms. It is a catchy presentation of the definition and it is one that will stick with the students. The design of the presentation is consistent, with easy to read font sizes and types. I even like the fact the design is science themed. I also really like the chart I found at http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml. It really shows the process visually, and even how you should circle back to your hypothesis in the end.  There are not too many words on each page, and the graphics go along with the content for the most part. There are spots built in for practice and discussion, allowing for students to be interactive, which highly desirable. As the school year is out, I had to present it to my three and seven year old sons. The content is aimed at 5th grade students, so my children lost interest pretty quickly. The "Dinosaur Train" clip caught their interest again and they were even able to answer what a hypothesis is. If I were to reconstruct this presentation for my children, I would "dumb" down the information as they are not yet ready for the level of information I expect of my 5th graders.  In some ways the presentation was too long, and I may want to consider how I can condense the information a little more. In all reality, I plan to cover this PowerPoint over the course of two days, allowing time for activities that correspond with the slides. For example, to demonstrate the importance of specific procedures, I want students to instruct me how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Following their directions exactly always opens up their eyes to the importance of being specific and going in order. Try it with your students! You will find it to be an eye opening and humorous experience.
     Other than creating PowerPoints this week, I spent a great deal of time exploring various websites, most of which are labeled below. One of my favorites is Comic Life. You, or students, can upload your personal pictures and create a comic book. I took two very simple pictures from my family vacation last week and put them together. No, the frog leg I ate was not actually Senor Frog. Senor Frog was returned to the puddle near out house that very night. I actually didn’t have frog legs until several nights afterwards. It was a neat little program that is easy to use. I could definitely see students creating comic book scenes from novels they read or events from history. My other favorite was Storybird. Storybird is a storybook creator similar to Tikatok, but with less control over placement. However, the image selections are better in my opinion. The goal seems to inspire children to write through art. I just did a quick off the cuff story, but as you can see, the pictures are nice and it even comes with a cover page and summary. It is very quick for students to use and can be published to a classroom library. Teachers can even assign topics for stories and have them all collected in one easy to find location. I highly recommend both products.

My PowerPoint:

My Examples of some of the Technology Explorations:

  

Goofing off with Comic Life

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13575548/historical-figurez-movie- a short 26 second animated movie

http://storybird.com/books/a-lonely-forest/ - See my StoryBird book.

Websites:

http://comiclife.com/ - take your photos and turn them into a comic

http://www.ispeech.org - Provides the text to speech audio for this Blog.

http://voicethread.com/#q.b913891.i4865967 - A Voice Thread Book Report on The Lightning Thief, a wonderful example of how it can be used in the classroom.

http://storybird.com/ - another way students can create stories

http://www.scribblar.com/- an online, collaborative whiteboard

http://nlvm.usu.edu/ - great website for online manipulatives