Amy's Blog - Spring 2009 ~ Teaching Toward's The Future~

Technological Assessment - Smart, Efficient, & New

2009-04-29T09:15:00.010-04:00

Assessment is a crucial element in teaching and learning. The results from assessment evaluations monitor student progress and teacher performance. Teacher's critique their delivery strategies and methods based on the evaluation of student progress from lesson and unit plans. We not only assess to get grades but to perform reflections upon how well our instructional delivery worked.

Gone are the days of the standard grade books where teachers would manually grade each assignment and place a letter grade in the designated row and column for each student. In our new technological society there are so many tools available for teachers to assess their students and report efficiently and effectively student progress results. No longer does a teacher have to manually grade assignments in one grade book. Software tools are now available online for student progress tracking. Assessment tools are also available online to help teacher create quizzes, tests, and rubrics for course work evaluation.

Above are logos to available software for teachers to utilize to keep assessment smart, effective and efficient.

Three Facts About Digital Storytelling

2009-04-27T19:47:00.002-04:00

1. Brings Pictures to life.

2. Creative way to share stories collaboratively.

3. Uses a centralized theme.

How I used my information literacy, media literacy and information communication and technology sliteracy skills in the creation of my digital story.

I used my media literacy skills to create a personal narrative for a family reflection.

2009-04-27T18:26:00.001-04:00

Energy Quiz » Fun Trivia Maker

Social Interactive Model - Collaborative & Cooperative Methods

2009-04-20T10:38:00.008-04:00

Social Interactive Model (SIM) of teaching encourages students to work cooperatively and collaboratively. The SIM model focuses on the skills and concepts needed for students to work in productive groups with a common goal. In this model learning is interactive whereas the Teacher is a guide on the side to facilitate the learning process. Students are encouraged to share their knowledge, experiences, perspectives and learning strategies with their learning community.

Cooperative Learning - In a Cooperative Learning environment students are responsible for a job in a small group. The basic elements of Cooperative Learning are Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Group Processing, and Social Skills. Members are placed in a small non-segregated groups to accomplish an assignment that requires the cooperation of all group members. Group members gain from each others efforts during assignment. Members contribute knowledge, skills, and resources. All group members share a common fate - successfully completion is accomplished when all group
members have acquired the learning objectives and goals.

Collaborative Learning is a team of learners not limited to the four walls of a classroom. Collaborative Learning is the method of instructional strategy utilized for the entire course whereas Cooperative Learning is one method used for one learning objective or assignment. Collaborative learning is more meaningful learning because it focuses on collective knowledge and thinking between all members of the group. The characteristics of a Collaborative Classroom are as follows

Shared Knowledge among Teacher & Students
Shared Authority among Teacher & Students
Teachers as Mediators
Heterogeneous Groups

Voice Thread

2009-04-16T10:58:00.001-04:00

http://voicethread.com/share/437949/

My Voice Thread Project above. Please click on link. I had difficulties with the actual voice recording. Awaiting feedback to correct the issue.

My Digital Story - again!

2009-04-06T20:24:00.001-04:00

http://www.mydeo.com/videodownload.asp?YID=229&CID=258659

You may have to copy and paste url into your web browser.

Amy's Digital Story - "My Family"

2009-04-06T20:16:00.002-04:00

http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=22239&CID=258659

Above is the link to my digital video story about my family. This project was so meaningful to me as I could organize and display my family photos. I can also share them with my long distance relatives. This is a great skill to learn as you can create "Magic" with Digital Stories by bring them to live with imagery, narration, and music. I can't wait to use this again. I keep thinking of what a great gift digital video making can be for loved ones. I'm so exciting and can't wait to try this again!

Amy's Digital Story - April 2009

2009-04-06T19:00:00.003-04:00

Digital Storytelling is a great way to bring pictures and narration to life and share with family, friends, peers, students, colleagues, etc... Since this was my first attempt at Windows Movie Maker I decided to use my own collection of pictures. I was not sure how difficult the task would be until I explored the software and found it to be very easy and user friendly. Movie maker is a lot videography. I can only imagine all the different things I can do with this software - great gift ideas for family members. I especially loved this project since I was able to share my video I created with my long distance relatives. It brought tears to our eyes.

Puzzled with Puzzle Maker in Microsoft Excel - Week 10

2009-03-23T22:29:00.002-04:00

Wow, something so simple as creating a crossword puzzle
out of Science vocabulary words threw me for a loop.
Or, I could simply blame it on my home computer as I do not have the latest and greatest version of Microsoft office
software. Something tells me as soon as this semester is over I must upgrade my home laptop for the latest version
of Microsoft whether it be Vista or Microsoft 2007. I could not for the life of me figure out how to create this puzzle in Excel. I figured this would be an easy assignment, but I was so wrong. Now, when I look back at my difficulty and frustration with this assignment I have come to realize I do not know all the tools available on Microsoft Excel. I know the basics of the program but have not try computation calculations on Excel. More tools to explore....whenever the time comes. This was a great exercise as it taught be to create a crossword puzzle from scratch, transfer it to a pdf. file then to a JPEG file. Of course, after an hour of frustration I searched the Internet for some sort of free template to use that was already in the Excel format. No free templates to be founded and most of the so-called free websites to create puzzles were not really free. So, back to drawing board....must learn from scratch - start to finish. And, that is exactly what I did (with a little help from a friend (Brett in Curriculum Library)). If it was not for Brett and Mark in the Curriculum Library, I would be DOOMED! All in all, a great learning experience. Still do not understand why sometimes the little things always stomp me the hardest. Until next time!

Instructional Designs and Teaching Literacy with Technology

2009-03-16T18:55:00.000-04:00

Systems and Models for teaching take information from established learning theories and turn them into step-by-step instructional procedures for planning instruction. System models can also help teachers evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. As we move into the digital age of teaching, we as teachers must set aside appropriate time for designing, planning, implementing and evaluating (reflecting upon) our instructional delivery strategies and methods. I feel a teacher should explore each design below and decide on one model to utilize or dabble a little in each to come up with a unique design.

Several Models to choice from:

Twitter

2009-03-08T17:56:00.001-04:00

Twitter Widgetgreat free widgetsWidgetbox

My Mind Map Using Gliffy

2009-03-07T15:11:00.000-05:00

Monday 02/23/09 "Exploding the Limits of Education with Technology"

2009-03-02T18:43:00.000-05:00

Tonight's Whole Class Group discussion on focused on digital learning styles and the features of Web 2.0 versus Web 1.0. In Web 2.0 information flows in two directions and it makes the everything more collaborative and interactive. Web 2.0 and it's many different applications allows educators to teach and learn in an interactive digital environment. With Wikis (means "fast"), a teacher can use the wiki site for On-Line Resource Lists, Group Projects, Peer Review & Editing for the writing process, post assignments, showcase student work, share best practices, and on-line notification for parents. Digital learning styles are self-directed learning opportunities that include fluency in new media which will lead to the more collective reflections.

Digital Learning Attributes:

Interactive - engaging content
Student Centered - shifts learning responsibility to the student, and emphasizes teacher guided instruction and modeling
Authentic - learning and knowledge acquisition takes place only when situated in a social and authentic context
Collaborative - Learning is a social activity
On - Demand - Students have the ability to multi-task and handle multiple streams of information

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T)

2009-02-23T19:59:00.000-05:00

Effective teachers model and apply the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) as they design, implement, and assess learning experiences to engage students and improve learning; enrich professional practice; and provide positive models for students, colleagues, and the community. All teachers should meet the following standards and erformance indicators. Teachers:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Retrived from iste@iste.org, www.iste.org.

"Digital Citizenship" Group # 3 Tech Trio - Meeting 4

2009-02-23T19:35:00.000-05:00

Group 3 met on WIZIQ at 5:30 - 6:30 pm Monday 02/23/09 to wrap up our discussion on previous topics from week # 4 and to dive into our week # 5 discussion topics.

We discussed valid internet search requests, digital citizenship, copyright info. and doing right by the information obtained through an internet search. We also discussed the features of Web 2.0, and the benefits of classroom blogging for teachers, students, parents.

We continued to work on our group wiki page on the "lit" wiki site by adding our personal website links, wiki links, and blog links. We created our Group Teacher Tool Box and will continually (through out the semester) add resourceful teacher tools to this wiki page.

Our group also briefly discussed upcoming assignments and scheduling of our upcoming group meeting.

We are looking forward to moving forward in this class! Now we have to reflect in out blogs and get ready for our whole classroom discussion for tonight.

Week 2 - Literacy and Technology

2009-02-03T01:00:00.000-05:00

Week 2 - was spent reviewing the class Moodle site, tutorials on site, and familiarizing with WIZIQ.
In our first group meeting we used WIZIQ and got use to the program. I did not have a microphone, but ordered a Web Cam. Hopefully, the Web Cam will come in soon! Dr. Smirnova joined our first group meeting and assisted with volume control as we had a lot of muffled/echoing background noise. It's all a learning experience and we have a lot more learning to do!

Our group is group # 3 "Tech Trio". Maureen and Heather are in my group and I know we will work well together. Scheduling time is always a challenge but I'm sure we will make it work.

Got to go for now....so much to do for this class and have to figure out my wiki?!

"Let the Journey Begin" - Mon. 01/26/09 1st Class

2009-01-27T01:30:00.000-05:00

Well tonight was our first in-person class meeting for ED 5670-01 Literacy & Technology with Dr. Smirnova. Wow!!!! So much adventure about to begin. I'm nervous and feeling overwhelmed so far. I'm in Group # 3 the "Tech Trio". We have only three group members as a fellow classmate dropped the class after the first night. Oh well....we'll do just fine and I'm looking forward to working collaborative on-line with Maureen and Heather. Recently, I moved into a new house and a dear friend of mine pasted away. I also received a job promotion at work and have a brand new position in the company I work in. So, as you can see I'm overwhelmed with STUFF! I have to put my best foot forward and work a littler harder than usual to get myself caught up. God, please help me!

Educational Philosphy and Stance

2007-07-02T18:03:00.000-04:00