Week 7 - A Post Questioning School Websites (required)

Edmonds Woodway High School

The initial visuals of this site are pleasing - white background, calm green accents, friendly picture at the top, appears very organized, announcements down the middle, etc. There is a bar on the left side that provides links to school programs, tools, and information. From those links, you are brought to a plethora of pages ranging in format/style/formality. Some are highly standard and purely html made; others possess a framework similar to or exactly like the home page.

I looked more in-depth at the Athletics page(s). Since I went to EWHS and played both soccer and softball, I referenced the athletic page a lot during my high school years. When I needed information on that site - it wasn't there. There were no updates or valuable information when I wanted it. But now... the site is much better.

Things that are improved: coaches and contact information are updated and available, provides meeting information, discusses eligibility, has links to documents, etc.

I wish that it had more specific pages for each sport though. It'd be cool to have pictures of past teams and coaches, and team/sport schedules specific to a page.

Overall, the format and appearance of the athletic site is well organized and easy to read. There probably should be more separation between information, or separate links to things, but as a whole - it's VERY much improved.

I noticed while looking at the home-page, a note about who created the site:

Credits

This site was designed and created by Edmonds-Woodway High School Students in the Advanced Web Authoring course in the 2008-2009 school year. Click here for more info.

Reflection #3 - YouTube, Posting the Video on Your Blog: a tutorial

As per the request of DeAnna, I will now attempt to give instruction on how to go about adding a YouTube video to a blog post. I will end this "tutorial" with the questions, "so what," and "now what."

WHAT:

• How to start? - Pick a video of course! For this purpose I choose to add an interview my friend Devin had with a girl band, Vivian Girls. I have "screen captured" the page that I see when I go to Devin's video. Here it is:

- below is this bit "enlarged" -

• Now, as you can hopefully see, in the very bottom right corner, the word "Embed" is there followed by a sequence of symbols and text (looks strangely like that of the html coding we learned the other week). At the end of the box containing the html coding, there is a little gear, it's blue and it's a button. Click it. Your screen will then look like this (only smaller because I'm blowing mine up):

• From here you just choose which settings you would like. When you click, unclick, and select colors/sizes, the little gray box in the corner there will change to show you what the video will look like when you put it on your blog/website/etc. Here is what my selections look like if I were going to put this video on my blog:

• Now all you do is click in the box next to "Embed" and copy that coding. You place it directly into your blog/website in the exact location in the text that you want it. Depending on the size of your blog format, the video could be bigger or smaller - you should just work with trial and error. Here's my final product all copied and pasted into my text:

• Hopefully those were good directions - comment or email me if you are confused or have questions!!!

SO WHAT?:

Knowing how to imput videos onto your class website or blog is beneficial for everyone. You now know exactly where to find it when you need it; parents can watch the videos that their children do in class; students can re-watch the videos if necessary.

NOW WHAT?:

Now go out and use this information! Put it to work - practice, practice, practice. And find out something new about technology that you can do on your computer that you didn't know how to before. :D

Until next time.

Week 6 - A Post Boasting What I Learned About the SMARTBoard Tonight (required)

Things I Learned:

• How to record the actions and progress made on the board. Thanks Jaclyn!
• That I can change the color of the highlighter - I think I knew this generally, but it didn't really hit me until I was showed.
• I learned/relearned how to work the response system properly. Even though this knowledge only came through other students' frustrations - sorry people, I'm glad it happened cause I learned from it.

Questions I Have:

• I don't necessarily have a question, but a quizzical observation. It seems to me that these activities are incredibly complicated and time consuming to create. I just feel completely lost in regards to making my own activity. The idea, to be honest, seems so monumental and difficult that it makes me cower in fear and intimidation. I'd like to hope and think that this task will look less terrifying over time, but I have a feeling that it will take a LOT of "over time." So I suppose my quizzical observation involves the mastery in which one must have in order to create a productive, helpful activity... such a task is only completed with endless hours and the help of caffeine and Jesus.

Assignment #2 - SMART Board Presentation (required)

This is the activity I will be using for the presentation.

SMART Board features to be used:

1. Shape creator
2. Pen use
3. Eraser use
4. Word/writing recognition

NETS Standards being met:

• STUDENTS: 6.a. - "Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students: understand and use technology systems (using the SMART Board). "
• HOW IT'S MET: By having the students use the SMARTBoard, they are automatically "using technology systems" that will encourage and strengthen their learning experiences. When they participate using the board during the lessons (writing on it, correcting sentences, etc) they are engaging in understanding the system.
• TEACHERS: 2.a.c.d. - "Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS-S. Teachers: design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. Teachers: customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. Teachers: provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching."
• HOW IT'S MET: The first portion is fulfilled simply by using the SMARTBoard in class while teaching. Also, by allowing the students to use the board, the teacher can "personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles." By using the different activities on the SMARTBoard (in this lesson, asking students to answer questions/fill-in-the-blanks) you can perform formative assessments through asking questions, seeking feedback based on questions/information in the presentation.

Interactive Whiteboard improving the classroom:

• Participation levels increase in classrooms with interactive whiteboards. The excitement of using the board makes more students want to participate in class more. The more participation, the more the student will learn and grasp.
• Teachers can have a more effective and applicable medium to teach with. Students often are more receptive towards learning and information that is relayed to them in a relatable way.
• Also, using smart or interactive boards, teachers have access to more teaching tools and new ideas.

Reflection #2 - Kaplan University, "It's Your Time"

"It's time to use technology to rewrite the rules of education, to learn how you learn so we can teach you better... It's your time."

What:

This is a Kaplan University commercial that I saw on TV a while back (told you I watch a lot of TV). The commercial begins in a standard college-set classroom, when the teacher stands before the class and begins to apologize to the students. He monologues about how talent is out there but not being shared with the world; education is stuck in the past; but it's time for a revival of sorts - an educational revival in which talent is everywhere, technology needs to be used, adapting the university to the student - not the other way around. He ends with:

"It's your time."

Kaplan University is an online university and the Kaplan company, "has pioneered new territory in online higher education, K12 services and professional training with innovation and imagination. Through new technologies and a personalized approach to learning, we are opening doors to educational opportunities and inspiring people to strive for their personal best."

So What:

As far as I can tell, this concept, on a university level, can be easily applied to elementary and secondary classrooms as well. Although, it's important to remember that an "education steeped in tradition and old ideas," might be an improper WAY to teach, it still contains valuable information to place in CONTENT. Though I do think that it's true that students have talents and due to aged teaching strategies and curriculums, they are not properly able to express that talent. In my mind, though, this is a relatively easy fix.

Now What:

Since I see this issue as a relatively easy fix, I think it's important to note what I would do now to address that issue and its fix. While I don't think that transferring the classroom into a completely technology based class is necessary, I do think that steps can be taken to adapt the classroom into a place where students can use their talents (in or out of technology) while learning. I think allowing students with project options that have the same learning objective/outcome is the first step to this. allow students to produce projects with technology. Allow homework to be turned in electronically - via email, on a blog, through a class site. Simple steps like the two I just named can give students room to express themselves, while they learn the curriculum set before them.

Until next time.

Week 5 - A Post Considering "The Tech Savvy Educator" (required)

"The Tech Savvy Educator: And Now For Something Completely Different..." by Ben Rimes

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

What:

This is a post from the blog, "The Tech Savvy Educator," which actually, is a very short post. It includes a video by Blu and David Ellis, followed by some ideas of classroom applications for different subjects: Language Arts, Math, Science, and Fine Arts. The suggestions were very basic, but they got me thinking a lot.

So What:

So... I never really considered using Vimeo or YouTube videos for assignment "inspiration." It's totally a great idea - even for English/L.A. teachers. Not to mention that this particular video is completely creative, extraordinary, and entirely refreshing. The results of using this video as a prompt are endless. My mind is exploding.

Now What:

Well, as a result of all the ideas that are firing off in my head, I am going to write them out here for your own reading/viewing pleasures.

As a complete Project/Assignment (perhaps even semester long)

• First show this video in class
• Have the students research "video murals" and write a paragraph or two response on what they learned, what they think about the idea, or this specific video mural versus other ones.
• Students write a poem or song that they want to base a video mural off of.
• Students write a project proposal outlining their plan for their own "mini" video murals.
• Throughout the semester they would work on the video murals (perhaps this would be done in groups, and instead of writing their own poem, a poem would be assigned to each group - using an existing poem would create opportunity for the students to analyze the poem which is an opportunity in itself for an analysis paper).
• At the end of the year, students could invite parents/family/friends to a class movie night in which we would have food and watch all the videos - I'd like to think that there would be a great, building anticipation for this event, but who knows. Perhaps, we could even present awards for different videos - like the Grammy's or something

Well, that's that.

Until next time.

Beginning of Semester Reflection

Technology in K-12 classrooms is a relatively new idea. I remember my freshman year I took a general computer class and we were taught how to use the various Word programs and we made our own websites using html formatting. I felt semi-superior because I was already fluent in "Word Programming." The html stuff was new to me though.

Now, I'm in this class. We're talking about SMARTBoards and different Web 2.0 sites and technology in the classroom. That's a far leap from 5 years ago.

I definitely think that technology is essential to the classroom. Like all the articles we've read say, students today grow up differently than those of years past.

I've grown up wanting to be the fun teacher; the teacher students can go to; the teacher whose students want to be in class. The only way those things are going to happen, is if my class/content is interactive and draws the students in. Technology aids students' willingness to participate in class.

If technology is what it takes, then technology is what I'll use.

Not only in the classroom, but technology is also helpful when planning FOR the classroom. Organizing sources, relaying information to and from sources, connecting with other teachers, etc. All things Web 2.0 can assist teachers in preparation for the classroom.

Technology + classroom = interactive, tangible, and immediately useful and creative.

I want to be the fun English teacher. I think knowing about this technology and knowing how to use it will take me a step closer to that goal.

Until next time.

P.S. sorry this is so belated, I thought I had already completed this assignment... guess not.