Communication
is so important in the classroom. Skype provides a great way to bring
in experts to talk to my students even when they can’t take off a day to
visit. The first thing I would like to do is schedule some alumni to
speak with my current seniors about what college is like and what our
seniors should consider before starting their first classes in the fall
after graduating.
I
have enjoyed backchanneling at a couple of educational conferences this
summer. It was nice to read what others were thinking as we listened to
the same speaker. The backchanneling gave me ideas of how to use the
new things that I was learning and helped me to connect with other
educators who were thinking the same way I was. On twitter I follow
several different math teachers, guidance counselors, and science
teachers. I like to use my “favorites” on twitter as new entries into my
diigo so I can remember the pithy things that professionals say.
As
I consider how to best use skype and twitter, teaching students to use
these resources in a way that they will be proud of if a future college
admissions officer, future employer, or a grandparent were to read or
see their interactions is key. I would really like to have a human
resources person give a presentation to my students about the best uses
of social media communication tools because my students don’t understand
that what they post now could be used for or against them when they
apply to college or to a new job. Using twitter would be an excellent
teaching tool because it gives students that are afraid to talk an
avenue to speak up through the typewritten word. Using skype would allow
me to engage students with a experts in different areas and I could
potentially meet with a group of students to go over questions on a
homework assignment outside of a school day.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
21ThingsBCK Thing 3 Reflection: Collaboration Tools
Thing
3 has been great to increase my productivity. The template I downloaded
for comparing cars will be a great tool in a career class where
students have to think about which car they will purchase after
finishing post secondary education and whether they can truly afford the
vehicle. The collaborative aspect of Google Docs has already changed
the way my classroom runs because I can comment on items for student to
fix in a draft document and help each student create a final product
based on collaborative feedback from myself and other students. This has
been particularly helpful with some essay writing that students are
doing for scholarships and college applications. Google docs has also
saved unknown sheets of paper as the drafts don’t have to be printed
multiple times in the editing process.I am trying to get my coworkers to
get on board with using google docs as a paper saving device.
The other tool I used was Doodle to schedule a meeting where my coworkers would look at student essays to determine two scholarship nominations. We could have used Google docs to read the essays and then come to the meeting with 3 top essay writers so we could have been prepared to simply discuss who was the best essay writer and vote. Instead, time was taken for my coworkers to read the printed essays, submit who they thought was the best student for the particular scholarship nomination, and then we voted. Wasted time and wasted paper. Doodle did give my coworkers options on when to meet in person for voting on scholarship winners and Google docs had allowed me to give students feedback on their essays before I printed them for our faculty discussion. Each step forward helps my coworkers and me become better technology users.
The other tool I used was Doodle to schedule a meeting where my coworkers would look at student essays to determine two scholarship nominations. We could have used Google docs to read the essays and then come to the meeting with 3 top essay writers so we could have been prepared to simply discuss who was the best essay writer and vote. Instead, time was taken for my coworkers to read the printed essays, submit who they thought was the best student for the particular scholarship nomination, and then we voted. Wasted time and wasted paper. Doodle did give my coworkers options on when to meet in person for voting on scholarship winners and Google docs had allowed me to give students feedback on their essays before I printed them for our faculty discussion. Each step forward helps my coworkers and me become better technology users.
21ThingsBCK Thing 2 Reflection: Web Presence
As
I reflect on Thing 2, it reminds me just how important my web presence
is to those that I work with and who may some day hire me. I have blogs
for teaching math, chemistry, or computers, for school guidance
counseling, and for personal creativity. Each of these is connected with
the same email address and my real name so if someone searched for me
online, I could be found. I use my web presence to connect with people
that need the resources and ideas I have to share. My most active
educational web presence is digalgebra2.blogspot.com where I share
videos and resources for my Algebra 2 and digcounseling.blogspot.com
where I share information and resources for school guidance counseling.
An advantage of having a web presence is the ability to point people to a specific resource that I have found so I don’t have to repeat myself as often. It also provides an excellent communication tool in conjunction with the emailing and texting to students and parents that I do.
A disadvantage is that I have to keep pertinent information posted to the blogs otherwise it becomes less useful to the students and parents that I work with. Another disadvantage is the initial time it has taken me to create these web presences. Organizing information in a pleasing way and in a logical manner takes thought and time. Another disadvantage is that I have to really consider how the written words in my blog and the spoken words in my videos are perceived by others. I don’t want to have something posted that I will later regret.
I wouldn’t give up my web presence for anything, but I do consider what I post carefully before it goes live for the world to see.
An advantage of having a web presence is the ability to point people to a specific resource that I have found so I don’t have to repeat myself as often. It also provides an excellent communication tool in conjunction with the emailing and texting to students and parents that I do.
A disadvantage is that I have to keep pertinent information posted to the blogs otherwise it becomes less useful to the students and parents that I work with. Another disadvantage is the initial time it has taken me to create these web presences. Organizing information in a pleasing way and in a logical manner takes thought and time. Another disadvantage is that I have to really consider how the written words in my blog and the spoken words in my videos are perceived by others. I don’t want to have something posted that I will later regret.
I wouldn’t give up my web presence for anything, but I do consider what I post carefully before it goes live for the world to see.
21ThingsBCK Thing 1 Reflection About Basics
Some
of the shortcuts I use the most often are ctrl z for undoing something
that had been deleted, ctrl s for saving, and ctrl a for selecting all
the text on a particular page. I use these all the time when I edit
written work. As I read through the forum about keyboard shortcuts, it
reminds me that some other adults have no idea that there is a simpler
way. It makes sense to teach some shortcuts first as people become more
familiar with using technology.
During the summer of 2011, I began using delicious.com as a way to organize web pages for a careers class I taught. It was great to organize around different “stacks” that students could access. During the summer of 2012, I was introduced to diigo through twitter. I love diigo even more because it allows me to annotate the web pages so I can remember what was so cool even after significant time has passed. I also like the feature of being able to highlight text and sort through my different tags to find relevant web pages that I can use with my students. I also use an integration between twitter and diigo to save my “favorite” posts from twitter to diigo so I can remember the pithy things people say.
This year I have improved my career class by using diigo with my students’ career projects. Some examples of the assignments and activities would be students bookmarking scholarship opportunities, college, career, and job search information. Diigo will be a great tool to improve their researching skills. Students in my careers group can look at what other students have bookmarked to see if what has been found already might be something they would want as well.
As I consider Marzano’s work, I think that this lesson on social bookmarking makes the best connection with cooperative learning. Those of us in this 21 Things course can share what we find with each other, thereby curating content so others don’t have to spend as much time searching for the elusive webpage or web activity to fill a certain need. With my students I hope they can use diigo to share information about colleges, scholarships, and careers that they find which will help each of them develop a college going attitude.
As I consider the NETS for teachers, I think the one that Thing 1 aligns well with is Standard 3: Model Digital Age Work and Learning. I am showing that I am technologically fluent and can transfer what I already know into a novel situation with a new technology. I am also modeling the emergent use of a tool like diigo to my students so that we can all be lifelong learners and sharers of learning. Locating, analyzing, and evaluating technology is so necessary if I am to use the technology in my classroom. I am doing that more and more each day as I work through these “things”.
During the summer of 2011, I began using delicious.com as a way to organize web pages for a careers class I taught. It was great to organize around different “stacks” that students could access. During the summer of 2012, I was introduced to diigo through twitter. I love diigo even more because it allows me to annotate the web pages so I can remember what was so cool even after significant time has passed. I also like the feature of being able to highlight text and sort through my different tags to find relevant web pages that I can use with my students. I also use an integration between twitter and diigo to save my “favorite” posts from twitter to diigo so I can remember the pithy things people say.
This year I have improved my career class by using diigo with my students’ career projects. Some examples of the assignments and activities would be students bookmarking scholarship opportunities, college, career, and job search information. Diigo will be a great tool to improve their researching skills. Students in my careers group can look at what other students have bookmarked to see if what has been found already might be something they would want as well.
As I consider Marzano’s work, I think that this lesson on social bookmarking makes the best connection with cooperative learning. Those of us in this 21 Things course can share what we find with each other, thereby curating content so others don’t have to spend as much time searching for the elusive webpage or web activity to fill a certain need. With my students I hope they can use diigo to share information about colleges, scholarships, and careers that they find which will help each of them develop a college going attitude.
As I consider the NETS for teachers, I think the one that Thing 1 aligns well with is Standard 3: Model Digital Age Work and Learning. I am showing that I am technologically fluent and can transfer what I already know into a novel situation with a new technology. I am also modeling the emergent use of a tool like diigo to my students so that we can all be lifelong learners and sharers of learning. Locating, analyzing, and evaluating technology is so necessary if I am to use the technology in my classroom. I am doing that more and more each day as I work through these “things”.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Desmos free online graphing calculator
I just tried out this calculator and it is great! Better than some of the others I have used. I will have to use it with my students today.
https://www.desmos.com/calculator
https://www.desmos.com/calculator
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