Chap. 31

I may be showing my age a bit here but the first time I went through WMU we had huge mainframes that stored all the data from the classes that were taught. The computer stations were just keyboards and monitors and enough computing power to send information to the mainframe. All data was stored in one location; gee that sounds very much like the chapter we just read. As the technology was improved and components got smaller we had the boom in personal computers, where all the data was stored in one location except it was a very specific place with very limited ways to share information. Along comes the internet and we are back to the "mainframe concept" curiously called data farms where huge amounts of information are stored in one central location again. The difference is that this time the data needs to be "secure" and it can be manipulated and used by many different people inside an organization. In the small school district where I work the pricipals all have to put together an annual report for their building, much of the information is the same and some is specific to the building. With the school district data all stored in one central location the pricipals can access whatever they need to prepare their report. This also allows for the sharing of duties, for example, one person may be good at charts so they can make all the Excel charts for the district and another person can do the paragraph writing portion. Storing all the information in one location allow all the principals access to everything they need to produce the report.
Our school uses Study Island as a tool for kids to practice standard assessment test taking. This is program also uses central location data storage. Exactly where that data is stored I'm not sure but the program is internet based so the data is out there somewhere lurking in cyber space. Or perhaps it is stored on our in school servers and the program is accessed over the web. Regardless it is another example of data storage in one central location and access to the program can be from anywhere in the world.

The activity I liked best from this course was the lesson on screen casting. I believe I will be able to use this tool in the classes I teach, therefore it becomes a valuable asset to me and to my students. It will allow them another avenue for learning. As we all know some kids learning by hearing instructions, some by seeing things done, others by doing and trying an activity. The screen casts will allow me to add a different dimension to my students learning. If I store the information on a web site then they will have access to it for as long as they can remember the web site address. Another advantage I see is that the other technology teachers in the district will have access to the information. We can then update or add to our knowledge base as the need arises.

FotoFLexer

FotoFlexer is very easy to use and figure out even for a first time user. As a middle school teacher I feel this application would be used on a very limited basis if at all. In my school we take very few photos and do not display them electronically, perhaps an elementary teacher would put some animation to pictures and then post them with their online newsletter. I'm still not convinced teachers would take the time to play with the pictures. Now if you were posting personal pictures I can absolutely see using this application. It would be a very easy and fun way to spice up any picture at your disposal.

ZOHO review

I took a look at ZOHO applications. I can't imagine there is anything else you would need to do as a teacher that you could not do on ZOHO. I seems to have everything you would ever need. The word processor and spreadsheet look just like Microsoft Office, and really as a teacher you don't need a ton of bells and whistles, you need to put out a product that the kids or other teachers can read and use. The other part I liked was the online survey application. In our district we have a survey that we ask the parents to take at parent teacher conferences. This online application would save the teachers from complining all the data by hand, that would be a real time saver. We would also be able to put the data into the spreadsheet and make any charts that were needed for state reports. This would be a nice feature to have at our disposal.

Chapter 30

After reading Chapter 30 I've become aware that my students would be better served if I put some animation or screen casts into my teaching techniques. In my school district we have the computers pretty tightly regulated as to where the kids can and can not go. The issue becomes one of where I will store my visual aids so the students can actually see them. I'll have to investigate the possibility of making my own website that seems the best option at this point. I can then access it from home or at school when I want to make adjustments or changes. The students will also be able to work at home or at school this seems to be the ideal option. So what can I put on there?

The technology class that I teach has no text books, I really do not want to copy pages and hand them out to students as they tend to misplace them and that becomes wasteful. So currently I have written directions for them to follow as they explore the Microsoft Office products. If I put the information on a website, I could then include screen casts to enhance learning. At this point in time I do not allow audio to be used as the students would have all kinds of music playing. With the use of the screen cast I would need to get some ear phones so they could listen to the directions as well as see the instructions. These are all very do able. I believe it would make lessons easier for the students to follow and perhaps they would retain the information better. The only question that remains is if the school has blocked the use of free internet websites. I will be trying that very soon.

One other idea that the article brought up is that in any group of students there are many different learning styles, some are auditory, some manipulative, some visual, some a combination of all of these. The hard part for me the teacher is to get all of these learning styles into my teaching. Sometimes I feel that drawing pictures, or making projects is just a waste of time, but I need to remember that some students actually get something out of the experience. Others times I need to lecture and put examples on the board so the visual learner can see what I'm talking about. By putting some of the lessons on the computer and letting the students explore on their own I will be reaching another segment of my learning population. Again I sometimes question if doing work on the computers is actually reaching any one, the hard part to remember is that all students learn in different ways, and it is my job to present the material in as many different ways as possible to reach as many kids as possible. Computers is just another avenue for reaching some kids.

Website

https://sites.google.com/site/broncoblack77/

My intention is to give the students some information regarding my classroom policies . This site could also be used by parents who need to know what is going on inside our building. The following pages could have information regarding homework policy, announcements about when homework is due, upcoming tests or projects, late work policy etc.

Once again I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to figure out how to navigate and produce a website. It is very likely I will use this in my classroom in the future.

Chapter 27

Looking at the 2004 ISPI/ASTD PT competencies I would like to focus on three of them. Hopefully I am some what competent in all these areas but as we all know there is always room for improvement in our professional life. I will focus my discussion on the three listed below:

• Focus on results and help clients [students] focus on results.
• Use partnerships or collaborate with clients [students ] and other experts as required.
• Be systematic in all aspects of the process including: The evaluation of the process and the results.
  

In the teaching profession it is often difficult to see the results of our work. A teacher has a student for one school year, my classes run for 50 minutes, if you figure out the math it comes out to 6 days [24 hours ] and 6 hours, that I actually teach the student. That really isn't a lot of time when you consider my students are 12-13 years old. So what I teach the kids usually doesn't show itself in the school year that I have them. Perhaps they will remember something in their next History class or when they vote for the first time or when they are talking to their parents, so a teacher many times will not see the results of the 6 days and 6 hours of instruction.
Results for the student most often is the grade they are receiving. For most of my kids the most important thing about an assignment is filling in the correct answer on a piece of paper. For me the most important thing is that some information goes into the students brain. The only way I can tell if they have it or not is to continually refer back to something that has already been taught to see if they can continue to reply with the correct answer. This reinforces their learning and hopefully something sticks for a long period of time. In the end the goal is to have the kids focus on learning something not on the grade they receive, this is hard to achieve because grades are so important in society today.

Collaboration between students is definitely an area that I need work on. I know the experts say that students working with other students is a great way for everyone to learn something. I have not found this to be the case at all. If I choose the groups then the students generally don't divide up the work evenly. Some kids don't trust the others to do the work, and are not willing to risk the project not getting completed because a member of the group does not hold up their part of the project. So some of the group members end up doing all the work so that it comes out the way they want. If I allow the kids to pick their own groups then people work with their friends, some of the projects are well done, while others don't get done at all. So while the research shows that group work is a valuable learning experience I am still looking for the happy medium that I feel allows all the kids to be a valued member of a group. This is an on going process for me.
On another level working with my co workers in a group is not at all a problem. The staff has been together for a minimum of 5 years, some of course have been there longer, be the newest staff member has been there for 5 years. This makes group work so much easier, we all know each others strengths and weaknesses, so when we divide up the tasks we all know who is good at what and we plan accordingly. No one gets "stuck" with something they don't want to do, and the project runs smoothly. All because we have professional people each doing a portion of the work that is interesting to them.

As I have already talked about results in the above paragraph, I will focus this discussion on the evaluation portion of the statement.
Fortunately I teach a subject that can be evaluated objectively, this makes things so much easier. Tests can be true/ false, multiple choice, short answer, or essay, the first three of which are objective evaluations. Essay questions can be open to interpretation and thus are subjective. So on most of the tests I give the answer is either right or wrong. Student evaluation is easy.
Now when we move to the program level of running the school things are a little different. The staff sees a problem and suggests a solution, or the administrator sees a problem and tells the staff what the solution will be. Evaluating this kind of program is a bit harder to do. Every person on the staff has a different opinion of what is working and what is not. Generally, they all have a different suggestion on fixing the problem. If the principal mandates a solution the staff feels the process was forced upon them making buy in very difficult. Many times if a new program is unsuccessful it is just thrown out rather than being evaluated, tweaked, and tried again. The more veteran teachers are much harder to convince to try something new because in many cases "they have tried it before and it didn't work." Once again junking a good idea because it was not evaluated and revised to fit the needs of the school. So evaluating any school program is essential but not always put into practice.

Week 11

I produced a video that my students could use to get a start on Power Point. If I made it longer I would be able to show them many of the features, but this gives you the general idea of how the tutorial would work.