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Showing posts with label Constance Baker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Constance Baker. Show all posts

My Digital Portfolio

9:04 PM | Labels: ,


Evernote:  My Digital Portfolio    

Platform:
For my digital portfolio, I used the program Evernote to help me organize my school and home life. It’s a program that allows me to keep all my digital resources in one place where I can access them from my pc at school, my mac at home as well as my iPhone or iPad. The primary reason I began using Evernote was to insure that I was always working on the latest version of one of my files. I no longer have to guess which version of a file or activity is the latest because I always make sure I’ve saved it to Evernote. The tagging feature makes it easy to search for files. I have created Notebooks for each subject that I teach and have Notes for each topic that has many different kinds of resources.
Evernote supports me as a student (learner status) by allowing me to keep my projects- whether they are finished or still in draft form- where I always have access to them.  

Content:
As I find myself trying to develop activities and projects that create deeper learning in students, I need to organize my resources to better serve my students and myself.  Evernote has allowed me to maintain my own library of digital resources and blogs that are organized by the topic they support. Today’s students are very comfortable with an on-line environment and I find that Evernote puts this information at my fingertips to share with them and my colleagues. I can share with everyone because I can locate the resources I need. It has increased my ability to customize work for specific students because I can store different versions of an assignment with resources of all kinds. 
Professionally, I have begun to save my links to other teachers’ blogs, as well as all my reflections and posts to Notes to make them more accessible in the future.
Currently I have several notes on Digital Citizenship – which I will need to create a notebook for, since I now have just too many graphics, links and files to keep even on several notes.


Reflection:
 I now use Evernote to access, store and share information many times per day.  It’s always running in the background and I frequently project a screen of my Evernote for my students to see some of the work that I am doing. I think this modeling is important to show students. As the saying goes, ”We should eat our own dog food”. In other words, if we teach (or preach) using technology in a responsible way, we should be able to demonstrate that to students.  The work for me has just begun. As I have expressed in many posts, I often feel frustrated that change doesn’t always go as smoothly as I would like. The students also feel some of the discomfort that comes with a major shift. I hope to start next year using the flipped classroom model so that students will get used to it right from the beginning. I need to rethink my lessons, gather more activities and create more project-based learning to make my classroom more student-centered. I will continue to add to my Evernote notebooks and look forward to learning some of its other features. Much work needs to be done to adapt activities to align to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and include elements of digital citizenship in a natural way.




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Post #5 Flip your Classroom, by Bergmann and Sams,Part 1

9:33 PM | Labels: ,


I started to think about the flipped classroom after seeing a TED TV special on the Khan academy a year ago. I had been looking for a way to give my students ownership of their learning experience.  I’ve often felt that my strength as a storyteller has allowed me to entertain and engage students during lectures and I was successful with some students but not with as many as I wanted to be. Many of my students seemed to be going through the motions of learning, writing down notes and completing worksheets. Further, students that were having difficulty with homework would often give up at home and be frustrated when they received a low grade on their homework. This motivated me to explore the topic by reading Bergmann and Sam’s Flip your Classroom.  The premise of the method described in the book is to record a PowerPoint or lecture style lesson and post it online for students to view before the next class. Students are encouraged to pause the video and view it as many times as necessary to gain understanding of the concepts. The following day, class time can be spent answering questions generated by the previous night’s video, and also on activities and collaborative work to support concept mastery. Since teachers don’t have to spend time lecturing, they have time to work with individual students or small groups during that time.  I started to think about the details of exactly how I would apply this method to my 10th grade Biology class. I started researching science educators that used the flip method. I found that they had several things in common. Most importantly, they all redirected attention away from the teacher and put it on the learner.
Many teachers spoke of persuading students to turn off “distractions” while they were watching the video and use a note taking method such as Cornell to record questions that come up during the video for discussion in class the next day. Others spoke of the reception they received from students and the overall satisfaction they ultimately felt as time passed and students were more successful.
OK, in my Dad’s words- Nothing to it but to do it.  On Mondays, my students always receive an outline of the activities to come for that week.  This week will look different from the last one they received. There is no time set aside for lectures. Instead, there is group discussion time where they will share the 5 questions they developed while watching the video. I will be going over how to take Cornell notes and develop good questions for discussion. There is flex-time to work on the project due next week or watch the video at the library. I’m sure there will be lots of questions and concerns- bumps in the road and angst. We are starting on a new path. I will keep some things the same. They are used to having me grade every thing they spend time on.  To start, I will give them credit for taking notes during the video and developing their questions but I will have to minimize and change some of that to survive. They will hopefully see the value these things have in helping them learn the material and not need to receive points on everything they do to help them learn. Stay tuned- I’ll let you know how it goes.





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Wikis in Education post #4

3:58 PM | Labels: , ,




I’m finding a wealth of resources in Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts that can be useful in my classroom. Richardson’s text provides some excellent examples of how teachers have effectively used wikis in their class. I was particularly impressed with the wiki that was created by Jason Welker for his AP Economics class in Zurich, Switzerland. I liked how Welker laid down the rules for this wiki. Specifically, he states: “Only constructive, well thought out and informed input is welcome.” The setting of high standards prepares students for the rigorous academic work that is required in college. When students are the only ones allowed to post in the wiki, then it is the students that become the teacher. They are completely invested in their own education. This site started me thinking about how a wiki could be deployed in my CP Biology class at Tolland High School.

One of the most popular and useful places to start a wiki is Wikispaces.com. They have given away hundreds of thousands of ad-free wikis to educators. Wetpaint is the application within the wiki that enables the teacher to monitor the frequency of posting and editing by individual students. I can see how this would be essential for any teacher using a wiki in class. The set up is fairly easy and straightforward. The maintenance of monitoring student edits and posts on the wiki takes time and discipline. Nothing gets posted until the teacher has deemed it appropriate and accurate. This is crucial because we all know that high school students don’t always posses good judgment. This is where we as teachers can instruct our students in proper digital citizenship.

Starting a wiki for my class will serve to develop important skills for my students. They will be creating a useful, interesting on-line reference. They will be collaborating in the research and posting of information that they have discovered together. They will exercise critical thinking by choosing what information is included and what is discarded from the post. They will be producing work that gets communicated in text, audio and video to reach the various styles of learning. The student truly becomes the teacher. 

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Digital Citizenship Project Health & Wellness

10:08 PM | Labels: , , ,

Digital Citizenshiphttp://sealadycb.edu.glogster.com/digital-health-and-wellnes/

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13 Reasons Why - 1st post revisited

3:16 PM | Labels: ,


When I first read this book I really didn’t clearly see the connection between the book and this course. 
I saw the story as an unfortunate sequence of events that cascaded to create a tragedy. The book is all about how the small thoughtless actions of 13 students created an intolerable world for Hannah Baker. Her pain was so deep that she committed suicide to escape it. In my own classroom, I work at creating a relaxed atmosphere of safety and acceptance so that students feel that they can be themselves and take the risk of discussing their opinions with the rest of the class without being judged. I always make it a point to discover the learning style of a student early in the class and in doing so, find out something about them at a personal level. It is important to be sensitive to the individual student’s unique personality so that I can detect any of the warning signals that there is a problem.  

While many of the small things the students did to hurt Hannah occurred outside of school, they were compounded to make both her school and home world impossible in live in. Outside of class, my students are constantly using their phones and computers to communicate with each other. I’m not sure that some of them have thought about how some of the things they do or say might impact others. As educators we must make our students aware of the consequences of being digitally irresponsible. Toward that goal, I am in the process of creating a lesson where students will explore the elements of digital citizenship.

Our increased access to technology with its ability to enable instantaneous communication has changed the world we all live in. With greater freedom comes greater responsibility. Just as I teach my students why giving their homework to a friend is cheating, it is my responsibility to make students aware of the implications, both social and legal, of their actions in a digital world.

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21st Century Lesson Revised -Limiting Factors Project-

11:42 AM | Labels: ,

21st Century Skills & Standards (Up-Date)

1.    Collaboration: Students were encouraged to work on this project with a partner. The rubric they were given also emphasized that both partners must participate in the creation and presentation to the class. Another student must run their PowerPoint or Prezi if they choose to present their information using either of those programs.
2.    Creativity: Students were not limited to using Prezi or PowerPoint- although all of them chose to present their information using one of those 2 formats. The rubric used for grading suggested the possibility of using another format such as an Info-graphic or podcast.
3.    Critical Thinking: The information that they present in their project is not directly available and must be created by them. They (collaboration) had to research the organism and determine how an organism’s physical, chemical and behavior characteristics can develop into an adaptation. They will present that to the class in way that demonstrates understanding of how a limiting factor or an adaptation effects a population as a whole.  While the characteristics of an organism are usually easy to find, the factors that limit a population’s success over time requires analysis. Some limiting factors are even beneficial to a population in the long run.
4.    Communication:  I demonstrate and teach the basic principles of  being an effective presenter- someone who communicates with their audience.  Before they present, I model the presentations of 2 or 3 projects from previous years. I show them the difference between a concise presentation and one that has so much text in it that it doesn't communicate the message that they want to convey. I then encourage them to comment on a presentation that has an enticing image and only enough text to support 2 or 3 specific points about the image. I then demonstrate how the presenter is the one who needs to engage the audience to create questions and interest. I review the importance of eye contact and speaking with conviction and enough volume to communicate effectively.
Students were totally engaged and excited by this project.  Many commented on how no one had ever taught them how to effectively present before. They completed a reflection piece that I found very interesting to read. I also asked them to include any suggestions on how we could improve the project. The most common suggestion was to have more time to work on the project. This project also allowed students to work at their own level and progress at their own pace.

This project supports  LS4.C   Adaptation    9-12   From the NGSS

Natural selection results from genetic variation of individuals in a species, competition for resources, and proliferation of organisms better able to survive and reproduce; Adaptation means that the distribution of traits in a population, as well as species expansion, emergence or extinction, can change when conditions change

Connie Baker

Glogster Project Introduction

Reflection & Analysis of Project


This digital lesson in Biology meets the needs of 21st century learners in the following ways:

1.)   Students will be collaborating and communicating in choosing what organism they will research.
2.)   They will use critical thinking skills in the research and analysis of the information they find on their organism.
3.)   They will create a presentation that shows the limiting factors and adaptations of their chosen organism.  
4.)   They will communicate with each other in the creation of the presentation.
5.)   They will then communicate with the rest of the class during the actual presentation.
6.) Students will communicate by sharing their journal entries in small groups after their presentations are finished.

This project created a great deal of student excitement and interest. They were very engaged during the research aspects and attentive and considerate to each other during the presentations.  Since this project was introduced on the third day of the semester, I think it helped to establish a feeling of collaboration among the students and me.
Using references on the internet gave them access to many more ideas and points of view than the libraries books and journals would of. 
My students were also excited to see how I used Glogster to present the project. The video and pictures got them thinking about the projects many possibilities.  They are looking forward to creating a new project using it on their own. 

Introduction to Digital Lesson -21st Century Skills -Limiting Factors Project:  1/30/13


 Students were asked to choose a species and then research two of their most important limiting factors either with a partner or on their own and analyze the effect of those limiting factors on the population to demonstrate their ability to critically think.  They used the Internet and part of 3 class periods to do this.   Students were also required to research two adaptations that their organism possessed that made them especially well suited for their environment. Students were encouraged to present their information to their colleagues using technology in different ways. Most students chose to use Power Point or Prezi while one group said that they would also make a video.  Students will be journaling or blogging about the success of the project and how it or their presentation could be improved.
To support this assignment and provide an exemplar for future assignments I have created a Poster Type Blog on Glogster.  We will be recording the presentations and posting them on this site for future students.



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Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts...Post #3

7:32 PM | Labels: , , ,

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts ... by Will Richardson                                                                   
Post # 2

"Public writing demands discretion, especially in an educational setting." Will Richardson's mantra resonated with me because my greatest fear is that one of my students might write something inappropriate or divulge personal identifiers in a blog that I host and it will somehow get published before I have the chance to stop it. The rest of the chapter goes on to explain how you can set up blogs that only allow access to registered members and edit posts before they are published. I can see all kinds of opportunities for teachable moments.

I like the way Richardson gives you a step-by-step process on how to set up a blog. HIs advice is to start small, initially using it as a way to post homework assignments and relevant subject links.  I have decided to begin by posting with Glogster to generate interest in a culminating project for a Biology unit on population called Limiting Factors. The blog will have exemplars and explore my students’ ability to research and collaborate on a presentation. The blog will give students needed information on the project but will also serve to inspire students to explore and study the topic of limiting factors at a deeper level.
My next step is to acquaint students with the Glogster program. I am going to create a project on the structure and function of the organelles of a cell. Students will be given the choice to work with a partner or on their own to create a one-page blog post about the organelle of their choice and its relationship to the other organelles in a cell. I will teach a short lesson on how to get started and then set them loose to explore. After they have finished their first cell blogs, I will divide them into small groups to share and make suggestions on their projects before they present their blogs to the class. 

      Richardson suggests that the next step is to familiarize your students with the style and etiquette of what I call “responsive blogging” by reading blogs that are related to the class subject, being careful to guide them toward blogs that are "safe". I have started to put together a list of blogs by other science teachers for my students to explore for this purpose.  Once they get used to the style of post and response, I will begin posting questions on the blog but will have all posts sent to me before I post on the blog for the whole class to see.

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Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts Post #2

7:47 AM | Labels: , , ,


It has only been a relatively short time that schools have had access to technology and we are still learning how best to apply it to the educational process. Richardson makes a strong case that just using this new technology does not necessarily mean that it is helping with the learning. In a world where the vast majority of our students are engaged in social networks outside of school, there are few adults available who are capable of helping them use those connections to learn. It is therefore our responsibility as professional educators to embrace this new medium and become proficient in the use of these new powerful tools.

In the past, problems, (social, scientific or engineering), were largely solved by individuals working alone. Going forward, most problems will be solved by teams of individuals connected by networks that allow for the free flow of information. The same must be true of education. It is no longer just the individual teacher that is dispensing knowledge. True learning will only occur when the student has invested in his or her own education and has access to multiple sources of information. It is then the sharing of that information with their classmates that enables the learners to become teachers. That’s the definition of collaborative learning and that is what is meant by “twenty-first century skills”.

The tools discussed in this text have been available for the past ten years or so but are only now beginning to be applied to the learning process in a coordinated way. Blogging has become an easy way to get your ideas and opinions published where anyone in the world can see them. I think we should step back a moment and realize how amazing that is. Then realize how this tool can be used as a way of sharing important information. As teachers, we can facilitate that sharing by hosting our own blog and guide (but not control) the learning.

At the risk of dating myself, I remember when encyclopedias were our go-to reference for anything historical or scientific. Now, we have wikis for reference and anyone can update them with the latest information. Information is not static. It changes by the minute. The wiki can be instantly updated to keep pace with dynamic events. This can be useful as a learning tool for both research and for publishing the latest information. Once again the teacher can be the guide and editor of the local wiki. Once again it is the sharing of information that is the integral part of the learning.

With the advent of smartphones and tablet computers, access to this technology is becoming almost universal. We are just beginning to realize the full potential of the network that connects our students with the rest of the world. Teachers have an obligation to be a guiding partner in helping our students make the right connections.   
 
Update:
It is important to realize that the development of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is largely dependent on the Science Framework for K-12 Science Education. At its core (this framework) is a new vision of what science education should be. Among other things, this framework expects students to learn a limited number of disciplinary core ideas in the context of science and engineering and then be able to use that information to ask questions, develop models, construct explanations and engage in argument from evidence collected by research or experimentation. Simply put, it’s no longer enough to know information in isolation. You must be able to apply your content information to the eight practices of science and engineering. Of the eight practices, the last practice- Obtaining, evaluating and communicating of information necessitates that students know how to use technology in a socially responsible way. Within my school, we use Edmodo to allow students in the same class to share and help each other as they work on activities and projects together. To gain a broader perspective, I have been looking at the projects on ePals to bring together my students with students from another state or country to collaborate and work on projects. To do this they must first become good digital citizens of the world.

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