Clickers in the Classroom

http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/ / CC BY 2.0

Earlier this week we had a class that introduced us to the wonderful world of clickers. Throughout my college career I have somewhat despised this form of technology because it added an element of stress to the classroom. I would think to myself: what questions are they going to ask us on our clickers today, what if i get them wrong, what if I forget my iclicker, is my clicker even working!? It was a huge stress on me and when I would get to class and realize I had forgot my infamous clicker, the day was ruined. So needless to say I wasn't extremely excited to learn more about the clicker I had a terrible relationship with.

During class I had learned about how to take polls with clicker and what types of questions you can ask etc. but I still wasn't sold on the clicker idea. Then I started to think about how I would use this in my classroom and I started to see the benefit. A lot of students have trouble focusing for long periods of time without doing something and these clickers could be a form of "doing." If students have an actual button to push when asking questions you could get feedback immediately and receive a form of informal assessment.

If clickers are used in a way that takes pressure off the students, that they would have to participate and think about the right answer but wouldn't be penalized, then maybe clickers are a good idea. I think the stress of the clicker lies in the answer. If there isn't as much pressure then maybe students would feel validated to know that their answer is useful. Clickers can be used in so many ways like taking a class vote, voicing your opinion, and lastly finding the correct answers out of A, B, C and D. If they are used in the classroom it is important not to just use them in one way but multiple so students are engaged and believe this is a useful tool.

Blogging and wikis and webpages oh my!

So this week we were asked to talk about the differences between blogs, wikis, and webpage sites. Although I think that you can do a lot of the same things like post (blog) on wikis and comment on webpages I think that when it comes down to it I personally would use some for specific things over the other.

As for blogs, I really look at this as my online diary. I can bring up topics and write however much I want on that topic. Then I can post it and weather anyone sees it or not I know that it is there. I feel as if I am venting and discussing my ideas and this is my own personal space, which others are free to comment on or read.

When it comes to wikis I look at this as more of an online class website. I haven't really done much with a wiki or even seen wikis outside of the educational world so this is where I form this reasoning. Wikis are great to post assignments, view students work, and give detailed explanations of what is expected out of students. It is great to see that others can edit the wiki as well, so it could be a collaborative process where students feel involved.

Lastly is websites. I think websites are great informational resources. I love having my own to exhibit the work I have done as a learning teacher. I could also see how this would be beneficial for parents and students to have an informational page of the classroom on the web. It differs from a wiki because the information is concrete and things cannot be added by others unless they have your password.

Overall these are great tools! I have enjoyed working with all three for different reasons and see how they would be great to incorporate into classroom life.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixeldeep/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

get creative- field trips

As we prepare to say goodbye to the students we have been with four hours a week for the past year, our classroom is keeping quite busy. It seems like we are trying to fit in a million things before we say our farewells. Last week I taught a math lesson and this week I am going with them to third grade camp! Then the final week of field placement we are going to plant a tree at the Governor's mansion. As I think back to my elementary days, I do not remember nearly as many field trips. My students have also been to the zoo for an entire week as well as went to a rock and mineral show so they are quite the busy class. Plus they still have a field trip in June! They're going to Greenfield Village.

You may be thinking how does this school possibly have funds to support all of this? Well they don't. Many of the field trips have taken a great deal of work trying to come up with ways to pay for these places and find transportation. For the week long field trip to the zoo the class sold cookie dough and the class also received grant money. The Governor also recently invited the class to plant a tree but they ran into problems because they did not have transportation. One of the students mom works for a buss company and offered her services to drive us there and back but we still needed a buss so my CT had five students write letters to the buss company and it worked! The student letters turned out great and after some hard work and multiple drafts they received a buss!

Now that schools are cutting a great deal on costs it's important for us as teachers to get creative with ways to fund and support outside of school learning. My CT says that she "moves her classroom" and students do truly learn so much from these experiences!

Detroit Field Trip

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maiac/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

After going on a field trip visiting some of the schools in Detroit I had some time to reflect. I am in the Urban infused section of TE and we were asked to write about our misconceptions and our experience... I had so many misconceptions and the experience was truly wonderful!

The Detroit field trip was an eye opening experience for me. Because we’re in the urban infused section and we have been doing readings as well as discussing urban schools I had an idea of a typical “Detroit school” in my head. We also hear things on the news and it seems like everyone has an idea of what a school in Detroit would look like. I went into the field trip thinking that the schools would be much different than Lansing but in reality they weren’t. I actually found that the students that I worked with seemed to be more advanced than the students I have worked with in the past in Lansing.

The school was much nicer than I expected. The walls were filled with color and the classrooms were quite. As we entered the first grade classroom the students were eager to see us and excited to get started on their work. Alicia and I were both in the classroom and worked with small groups of students to construct a play they would be performing later on in the week. The classroom itself had books, and games, and a board that seemed very organized. The students all knew their responsibilities and were ready to begin the task. It was so great to see them work together in groups and really listen to what each other had to say; I could honestly say that they worked better together than my third graders in Lansing.

After reflecting on what happened and the environment it seemed like all my previous ideas about the school had been broken. I had always imagined Detroit schools to lack any kid of resources but the students had books and interactive things to engage in, in the classroom. I also imagined that urban classrooms would be much harder to manage but the students were all well behaved and eager to learn. Clearly this is a teacher’s responsibility and not the children. I know that kids will be kids and no matter what classroom you’re in management will be a difficult but I had always thought that the students would be much more difficult due to their home lives and environment.

This was a great experience as a future teacher. I really came to understand that kids are kids no matter where they are. To make stereotypes is judging based off of what you don’t know so it is completely counterproductive. I had an amazing time with the children and thought about urban teaching as something I could see myself doing in the future. I want to be the best teacher I can possibly be and I am hoping to bring my skills to a classroom that truly needs it.

Call me Old Fashioned

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scelera/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

I was really interested when cellphones were brought up as a technology in the classroom and I was also very skeptical. So I did some research and this is what I found on a blog

10 Ideas for Using Cell Phones in Education

1. Student response polling or pop quizzes (no need to invest in additional devices)
2. Use sms to find definitions, currency conversion, math equations, translation and more
3. Use as an internet browser to access endless information
4. Research
5. Read news articles and current events
6. Read books
7. Download and use education programs such as Google Maps and use as GPS
8. Use as a digital or video camera to accompany school projects, publishing, etc.
9. Educate students on appropriate and acceptable social use
10. Use the voice technology to share engaging lectures or lessons

The Innovative Educator: The Value of Using Cell Phones to Enhance Education and Some Concrete Ways to Do So

After reading though these ideas, it seems like cellphones are taking over the roles of computers to surf the internet, read books, news articles, and other computer related concepts. But I do think there are positives. I think that students polling would be quick and easy and utilizing cell phones would be great! We use clickers in our classrooms now and cellphones could easily turn into this type of devise. I also think that using cell phones as homework reminders would be beneficial as well because older students do have use to cell phones.

I do however hold onto many negatives. If we as teachers and educators condone the use of cell phones in the classroom how do we know our students aren't texting and surfing the internet in inappropriate ways? Yes many students have cell phones, but what about the students who do not? Plus, I don't even have internet on my cell phone and with a whopping 30 extra dollars a month I don't think I'll ever have internet access. So then who are we asking to pay for these school related cell phones? Parents? School districts? The uses above can all be done on a computer and although there are some benefits like homework reminders and quick polls what happened to the old fashioned way of taking a class vote with your head down?

I have been supportive of almost all of the technology I have researched but this one seems a little far fetched for me. As an elementary education teacher I don't think I would use cell phones but I would rather email students about homework and have students read books the old fashioned way.

Math and Management

After writing the past post I began thinking about all that needs to be done before graduation. This week I will be teaching a math lesson to the third grade classroom I'm in and was looking over the lesson plan. I started to think back to the beginning of first semester when we had see a lesson plan template for the first time. It seemed so tedious and we didn't know what GLCEs were or how to navigate through the crazy lists of objectives. It's finally all coming together now...

I was wondering if anyone has taught their math lesson yet. The students will be in groups and as a group they will create graphs or charts to illustrate data they collect from how many raisins are in a little raisin box. (our ct is not a candy fan so we figured we would bring in a healthy snack) Our students aren't incredibly great at working in groups but they have gotten better as the year has progressed. If you have done your math lesson and there was groups work how did it go? I always get nervous because there seems to be more management issues when students work in groups. After thinking about management I was also wondering if any of your classes focus on management techniques. Our section has not and I think that is the one problem with how the course is set up. I can plan a lesson and execute it but if management isn't there the lesson is lost. Thoughts?

the answer is simple

Our internship year is vastly approaching and I can't believe how far we've come! To think that in three short weeks we will be alumni to Michigan State is hard to imagine. There seem to be a lot of anxiety about next year and how stressful our lives will be but I think it's important to remember that we are going to be incredibly prepared. If we had to go out into the job market right now and take over the classroom I would just die! We also have what seems like millions of questions to go along with this stress! But I leave you with this...

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.- Dr. Seuss

Our answer is simple. We love teaching and that is why we are doing this. Positive attitude : )

Wikispaces

I really enjoyed working with wiki spaces this week. I had created a wiki previously as a simulation for a lesson so this week I went back through it and edited making a few minor adjustments. I have also used wikis for many of my classes and feel like I am starting to get the hang of the editing and uploading process.

I think a wiki is special and differs from a website and a blog in a lot of ways. Wikis allow the user to invite others to join and edit. Assignments could be posted on separate pages and are easily accessible. Although you can do this on a website the wiki is more organized and focuses on simplicity as opposed to a website, which can get lost in the design. I really like being able to post links on the wikis for my classes and the whole class can access each others work. Wikis could also create community within the classroom because students can view, comment and appreciate their classmates work. When it comes to blogs, I think they are beneficial but in different ways. Blogs are a space where students can post but it is not as organized.

As a future elementary teacher I think I would be able to use wikis a great deal. Depending on my students grade level I could either make it a web space for the students or even the parents. Assignments could be posted and links would be useful as well. It would be a great place to have parents contribute to the class as well. They could add classroom related ideas and that would branch the classroom community out to the parents as well.

A journey in less than 45

After looking at one of my classmates blogs I was once again reminded how important technology is in our wold. Last Thursday I received my placement and couldn't be more thrilled! I'm student teaching in a school in Southfield and immediately jumped one the internet to look up the school and the location (and she did the same).

First I started with location because isn't it all about location, location location? I am exactly 24 minutes away from the school and was able to see my direct route through mapquest. This is crucial! I was able to visualize where exactly I was going to drive, email my parents the map, and then discuss traffic times and other obstacles. After mapquesting I jumped on the district website and was excited to scope out my school. Within minutes there was so much information at my fingertips. I learned about the teachers, the community, the teacher involvement and so much more!

Last but not least I went onto facebook and immediately messaged the other girls that I am student teaching with. I received a message back within 20 minutes. I also posted my excitement on my facebook status and received comments and likes from so many people!

This whole technology journey took me less than 45 minutes. It's hard to believe you can do so much in such a short amount of time!

Diigolet

Today I added Diigolet to my computer and was actually really excited about it. I decided to do some research on South Africa since I'm leaving in 3 months! So i searched online and found a random website to look at. I was able to highlight and play around with the idea of annotating on the computer. I think my favorite part was adding sticky notes to the webpages. There are so many times I have had to read online and wish I could highlight like crazy. Now Diigolet makes that possible!

I also came up with a couple ideas to incorporate this into the classroom. I think this would be great for students who are beginning to do close reading and pick out important information. If students had hard copies of the reading and teachers could project the reading on a screen while using Diigolett the teacher could guide students in their close reading. This could begin as a class activity that would eventually get handed off to the students. As students become more comfortable with technology, they too could use this form of annotation. Its easy and quick to use.

I really liked this technology and can see myself using it a great deal. It can be used for school but also personal use. And now I don't have the urge to highlight my screen and sticky note all over the place, technology helps me do that!

The Pumpkin Patch and Animoto

This story that I told, through music and pictures, was a trip to the pumpkin patch. I went with my niece and two nephews, as well as my sisters and mom. Seeing experiences through the eyes of little ones is truly exciting. The day was filled with cider, a petting zoo, and finally picking out the perfect pumpkin. The kids had a great time playing and enjoying all that fall has to offer!

This example of a movie could be great for the classroom. It's important for children to understand that stories don't need words to make it a "story." We tell stories through our actions, our emotions, and finally through the pictures we capture. Students can even tell stories with drawings they create, but the main goal is creativity! It would be useful for my students to have this broad genera of what storytelling looks like. I would also have my students do what I did and create a story that was a trip with my family or a memory they shared. This gets them thinking about family structure and how all families look different which is included in the GLCEs.

As for the technology I loved animoto! It was incredibly easy to use. I started off playing around with joggle and was actually quite confused. I had noticed that many of my classmates used animoto so I figured I'd give it a try. It was easy to upload the pictures, include and song, and the program created the video on its own. This would be great to use with younger students because the technology does most of the work for you! The one thing I disliked about this technology was that the video could only used 8-10 pictures and take up 3o seconds. Past the 30 second time allotment the user had to pay to upgrade, but overall I think that to try out the software it was a great first impression!

Enjoy The Day at the Pumpkin Patch!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Comics are Cool!

So the new technology I decided to try out this week was a comic. I'm doing a new literacy project for Language Arts that has to incorporate some form of technology. The problem was that many of the technologies that she said we could try I have already played around with in this class... so... I broadened my horizons and tried something completely different!

I was really nervous about this whole comic thing until I downloaded the free 30 day trial of comic life. This program is AWESOME and I highly recommend it! It is so much fun to play around with. You use pictures that you already have and create a comic using bubbles and fun fonts. It is very guided and user friendly so I liked that a lot.

As for using this in the classroom I had so many ideas. Students could make comics in a Language Arts class to describe a part of the book they're reading. They could use it as a persuasive technique and try to "sell" an idea to someone. They could create a comic of their own life or event. THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

So because my new literacy project isn't quite finished I created a comic to warm me up to my final graded project. I decided to do a comic about my life and spring break. My sisters and I ran the disney princess half marathon and it was absolutely incredible. Becky and I had been training and Heather... well lets just say she went on the elliptical a couple of times. Read the comic to see how Heather did!

Enjoy!

Half Marathon Comic

PLN Network so far

As for blogging I think that this is the one thing that I have gravitated towards the most. I think that posts based around technology and the broad field of teaching is great because there is so much to talk about! I find it easier now to follow other's blogs as well through google reader. It is nice to be able to go to a site that updates you on all of the blogs you may miss out on. So blogging has gone well thus far...

Delicious is a new technology that I have liked as well. I like bookmarking on Delicious because everything is very organized and I can find useful sites. Everything for this class is bookmarked on Delicious so I don't get confused with my personal bookmarks on my own computer.

On to twitter....

I have to admit I haven't been building my twitter at all. I even downloaded a tweet deck and I still have yet to actually use it. Although it is nice to have I just can't get into tweeting. Maybe someday I will find this useful but I would rather read blogs than read a limited hundred-something characters.

I am still trying to build my PLN and immerse myself into this technology.

But for now I feel pretty good about blogging : )

Big Zoo Lesson

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Big Zoo Lesson

View more presentations from pylarsar.

Big Zoo Lesson

This is a lesson that was conducted last week in the third grade classroom I am currently in. The students are going to the zoo for a week long research project. Each student is responsible for researching an assigned animal and they need to collect data. Last week we talked about what the students were expected to do throughout their research and I have taken this lesson and added technology!

I have turned this lesson into a google docs presentation and have attempted to follow the BBP approach. I learned the 6 lines six word per slide rule and I think I will be using that for future presentations. In this presentation I have tried to use visuals that will help students remember the information, for example the frog with big eyes for the look slide and the elephant with big ears for the listen slide. Hopefully these visuals will spark their memory more so than slides with a great deal of writing.

Enjoy!

Olympics- lesson plans

I was wondering if anyone's CTs were incorporating history or coverage of the Olympics into their classroom. I think that with all of the coverage it would be great to discuss history and what the students are watching at home. I feel like there is so much that could be done with the Olympic coverage and even just creating math story problems with the Olympics as a back story would really intrigue students.

Sometimes I think that school is separated from the world outside and that students are expected to leave what they learn or experience outside of school at the door. I think it's important to talk to children about current events and what is going on in the world around them.

What are your CTs doing if anything? I haven't heard anything about the Olympics and I don't remember much from my school experience either.

Thoughts...?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barabanov/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

First Field Trip

I am going on my first field trip with the third graders this week and couldn't be more excited. This week they are doing their BIG ZOO LESSON. In the third grade students are assigned a specific animal and they are expected to research at the zoo. The students will be there for an entire week and the buss takes them to and from the zoo each morning and afternoon. I have never experienced a field trip that lasted all week so this should be interesting!

As I mentioned the students each have an animal that they are in charge of researching. Research includes watching the animals behavior, researching through books and technology, asking the zoo keepers questions, and learning through observation. I think that this lesson is so engaging for the students especially because they tend to have less science time in the classroom than their other subjects. This will give them an entire week to partake in a science lesson while incorporating literacy with their note taking and writings.

I was curious what field trips others have participated in and how they went...

I will keep you updated and will tell you how it goes!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucumari/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Google Docs

http://www.flickr.com/photos/semlady/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

This week I was a little skeptical about google docs but I actually found it incredibly interesting. Although I was very frustrated that uploading a file did not completely transfer, that was my only negative encounter with this technology. The main idea that I came away with was google docs is the ability to edit others' work. I thought this would be a helpful tool in the classroom.

The first idea that came to my mind, with using google doc, is the ability to edit in pairs. I work in a third grade classroom and one of the GLCEs is to peer edit. This would be a great and easy way to incorporate technology and content into a standard that all students are required to meet. I think it would be great to get the students typing on the computer a simple story they have written, post it to google doc, and edit through this technology.

Another idea that stemmed from this technology was group work. I have a group paper due in one of my classes this week and one of the girls mentioned using google docs so we can edit the paper in the comfort of our own homes. This requires less meeting time and everyone is able to contribute equally. I think this is great! Students could be assigned a group project where they have to work together and if they have computers at home they could have the option to edit via google doc.

I am interested in learning what else this technology has to offer and plan on playing around with it a little more to find out different ways to incorporate this into the classroom.

Learning about Diversity

There was a question posed in one of my classes the other day that was asking how a teacher learns about diversity in their own classroom. This is what I think but I wanted to pose this question to you as well...

I think that in order to learn about diversity in the classroom a teacher should be asking questions. Diversity can be taught and learned through so many subjects. For example, if an objective for math is making charts and graphs the class could compile data on religion, holidays celebrated, and other aspects of the culture of the classroom. Although it is the teacher’s responsibility to lean about the diversity in the classroom, I think it is equally important for the students to see diversity among them and embrace that notion. If they are aware of their differences and similarities they are better able to understand each other on a higher level. This I believe promotes a classroom community.

As a teacher I think it is also important to understand where the children are coming from and know who are in that child’s life. In on of my class discussions we talked about how children may have adult responsibility at home so then they my have problems respecting authority at school. If a teacher did not know this, it would be easy to write that student off as having an attitude problem but in actuality it is much deeper than that.

What have you noticed about classroom diversity? This seems to be a huge topic for class discussion!

Flicker photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clevercupcakes/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

What to bring in the classroom?

http://www.library.illinois.edu/blog/esslchildlit/

I think that as teachers it is our responsibility to bring good books into the classroom. The problem is finding these so called good books. We have learned through our literature classes that we want to reach all children through literature and make sure they are represented. We have also learned that many genres should be available etc. I think that our knowledge of what to bring in is there it is just finding these pieces of literature that is the problem.

This week I have found a new blog that I think is incredibly helpful. There are themes for posts such as letter writing, disabilities is books for youth, multicultural families, and even a section for resources for beginning teachers. Fantastic blog! Just as good books are hard to find so are good blogs and I have successfully found a good one.

Although there are many examples of books and great descriptions we as teachers have to analyze these books for our own classroom and see if they fit. But again, this is a great place to start!