Databases

A database is, “a simple but powerful productivity tool that can help students refine the data-collecting process.” (THE DATABASE America’s Presidents, April 1998 Learning and leading with Technology). What makes them unique from other technologies used for learning is that when the students collect their own data they can instantly compare the data and make sense of it by making a database. Even if their results are not presented in a fancy, way the information doesn’t need to be graphically pleasing to the eye because the information is there.

Databases are important because they can produce charts and graphs that different types of learners can find appealing and beneficial. Some students might understand the basic number expressions in a database, and other students might possibly read a pie chart and understand it more. Databases are also important in education so that teachers have databases not only for their educational resources, but also for the data basing of students. Students can be grouped by different learning abilities so teachers can better meet their scholastic needs.

Having students collect their own data, and make their own databases is a great idea in almost every classroom and I will definitely look into assigning data base assignments to my students as a teacher. When I am teaching I would consider using a database to group students to differentiate them into groups. Instigating higher order thinking is a general purpose of database assignments. Databases requires that students categorize, classify, and define separate entities of their database material.

Bridging the Digital Divide, and Wikis. Wikis are awesome.

Growing up, I remember that the ONE computer in the back of the classroom was only for killing time and playing games AFTER my assignments were finshed. I definitely anticipate feeling "old" when I relay that story to my future students.

I think that every classroom should have at least a couple of computers, or have the lab very close by. The funding to provide students more computer time (before/after school) is definitely an issue, and hopefully the new president modifies the funds for the NCLB (less testing maybe.....?) so that providing students with more computers (and more readily available to them) is less of an issue. I defintely find interest in the computer stations and collaberative work.



Ha, "access and equity are not the same", so true. When I am a teacher I will make sure that all of my students know how to properly opperate a computer. And if they don't, I will be more than happy to assist them, or at least point them in the direction of assistance. As a student mysef I know the importance of having good computer skills



The article reads, "This experience can challenge teachers to increase the instructional use of computers in their classrooms." Immediately I thought, "What if the teachers don't WANT to increase instructional use of computers in the classroom?" and I immediately rebuted to myself, "Max, you've learned all semester about how much of a USEFUL tool technology in the classroom is." And I reflected......... and feel like a moron for even thinking it in the first place.

I will definitely ask myself the 3 important questions at the end of the article, when I am a teacher. How are the computers organized? Who gets to use them and when? What do the students do on the computer?


And Wikis! I really like the idea of wikis, ESPECIALLY in the classroom. Collaberative work is a must for students, and group work while communicating without voices or phones is a rewarding challenge. As long as the work is distributed evenly and the teacher is grading individual students on performance and not just the group as a whole, Wikis are a great tool for student group work.

The ease of iMovies....

I was extremely surprised at the lack of complexity to making an iMovie. I think that if we filmed more scenes, we could have even had 3 completely different movies. I wanted to do that but time did not allow. The cameras are pretty easy to use too. The most challenging part of the assignment for me was having the patience to deal with fitting the scenes in order (it's hard dragging scenes while scrolling through other scenes, sideways).

In a classroom I could have the students recreate historical scenes, film, and create their own depiction of event on film. Teaching students to use iMovies would take little or no time, after all they are kids. And I've noticed that people are afraid of delving in and just clicking things. Once I learned about the power of the "Undo" button, I felt a lot more confident about trying something out. I would stress the importance of trying new things, and heaven forbid, having to use the "Undo" button.

There are many useful ways to incorporate iMovies into a history class. They can almost recreate any scene, and I wouldn't grade prop value. They can do historical timelines too, that would be something I would like to see if I were a teacher.

I heard students in a conversation talking about how hard the upcoming week is going to be a rough week of class. I assured them that apple products are easy to worth, I used iTunes as an example. I like that because iMovies are simple to make, you can focus more of the effects and other utilities.

Copywrongs

There are lots of things that I thought were okay to copyright, that actually aren't. For instance I wasn't aware of the time restraints involved in not only the amount of time allowed for the subject, but the I find if funny how http://www.educationworld.com is firm with their belief: Repeat after me: , "The Internet is not in the public domain. The Internet is not in the public domain. The Internet is NOT in the public domain.". I find it interesting that before 1978 the copyright is good for 75 more years. It has to be interesting for the investigators that are looking into pantomimed and choreographed work. I think that it would be very hard to distinguish body movements and such. I wonder what things would be like if copyright laws DID extend beyond facts and ideas. I find it interesting that the “fair use” agreements are not more defined. I agree with them, but compared to how strict the other copyright laws are the four guidelines are lenient. Educationworld.com tells about relating internet resources to print resources as a way to distinguish is the copyright is being infringed. I don’t really understand why posting a link with a small description is considered vandalism, but posting the URL and title of a site is legit. As I recall I can think of a lot of sites that do such a thing.

Questions: 1. Why is it okay to post an URL and its’ title, but creating a short description (even after being linked to another site) and another link is taboo?

2. Is poetry copy written the same as all other literature?

3 teacher sites

http://www.mrshealeysclass.com/
I chose this site because not only is it very informative, but it is also attention getting. The home page has lots of bright colors that jump out, and it also has rain drops that fall across the whole page. The site has pages about each student, that tells about their interests, a little bit about their personal lives (a little too much, ie: who they live with), and a self portrait of themselves. The site has upcoming events, and even has an option to see the schedule of a typical day in the classroom.

http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/as/aboutourclass.html

This site is dedicated to autistic children’s classrooms. It has 27 helpful links, within the page and away from it. This gives the person on the site many good options. It has schedules, pictures, and lots of information on autism, and how to teach autistic children.

http://www.westampton.k12.nj.us/datkinson/

This is a great site to help develop kids reading skills. It has reading games for 1st through 6th graders. It helps students take tests, it has many other reading/teacher links, and even sites with more games. This site has a ton of games for 1st through 6th graders, and interactive sound boards.


Reading: The electronic editing process is very interesting and fairly new. The site writes about E-mail, Electronic dropboxes, and Personal folders on the server, as a way to preview and critique student writing before final submission. Blogs could even rough drafts too. Blog comments and feedback about a students’ paper could be beneficial before turning it in.
The “track changes” function of word is great, and the comments part of it is awesome too. Being able to immediately turn back the students’ paper back to them is good because it’s instant. I’m a fan of “instant results”. As a teacher I will use comments on my students work indefinitely.

Student created videos

http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/studentvideo/index.htm

This site is from the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, so I immediately knew it would be useful. It gives the objectives, the process, the limitations, and links, associated with student created videos. It explains why student created videos are useful, and it lists six reasons. It provides aid by going through the 8 step process. It also gives links to multiple video editing sites. I believe this site would convince most skeptical teachers that student created videos are a good learning tool.


http://www.teachwithvideo.com/

This site is for a product that teachers can buy to help integrate student created video in their subject matter. It's a $40 dollar book/guide which includes a CD with printable handouts and examples of student created videos. The site is somewhat unclear with some things, such as the "forum" and "workshop" options to choose on the main page. Both point you in the direction of contacting the moderator of the product. In general, this site is a good place for a teacher to start, and if I were a teacher $40 might be worth the investment.



http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/blog/2007/05/tips-for-successful-student-created.html

I like this site because it immediately gives the questions (or issues) that are most appropriate for the typical student to ask. It has a lot of links to different sites that can answer questions more suited to what the student needs help with. It also discusses the common issue of cf converting docx word files to earlier word files via Zamzar (http://www.zamzar.com/), a site that converts it and also compress audio and video files

Evalutech 3/26/08

Evalutech is a crazy good resource for teachers. It hooks teachers up with links to a ridiculous amount of teaching resources and well.... more links. The site, " adheres to specific criteria" so that all the information is valuable, and I'm guessing spam free as well. If I were a teacher I would indefinitely read the newsletters every month. This months newsletter informs teachers about the Apple Learning Interchange (API), which is a great interface because it allows teachers to upload and share lesson ideas and exercises with each other. I would be very interested in API if I were a teacher. Unfortunately there are sixteen states included in the SREB department, and California isn't one of them. The "online professional development" function of the site would definitely appeal to me. I would use this tool a significant amount, and especially as a new teacher. As a handicapped person myself I can appreciate the option of making technology more accessible to students with disabilities. The Evalutech site has six links to different organizations and sites that help make technology more accessible for disables students. If I were a teacher with disables students I would go to the Southeast DBTAC Accessible IT in Education Portal link because it is the best one, and has lots of information and data from the k-12 level. I would also use the "Resources Reviewed by Other Organizations". This page has links to reviews, awards, and research on technology for students. Another really good part of Evalutech is the software evaluation of six companies. I'm guessing that these are six of the biggest companies in the business, and if I were a teacher I would look into these companies indefinitely.

What I've learned that will be useful

I plan on being a history teacher, and I can think of lots of things that I’ve learned in the last half semester that I can use in my classroom. I could begin my class by introducing them to the file storage utilities like yahoo files and google docs. As in the current 422 class I could put assignments and links in the class group.

The online applications for designing rubrics are a very useful tool that I will definitely look into using. I’m a fan of PowerPoint, I can use PowerPoint presentations for a multitude of different lesson plans. Also I could make interactive fun activities within PowerPoint (ie: quizzes and review exercises). I would create my lessons to comply with the learning styles of the different multiple intelligences. Webquests are a great teaching device for history teachers. By sending of the students to do the research themselves, webquests open the door to much more information than can be found in one place. I also like how the webquests can be monitored to see exactly who did what.

Webquests

I think that webquests are a useful tool for teachers in the classroom. The students benefit in many ways, not to mention it holds their interest. Instead of just giving the student the information webquests captivates them and makes them delve farther into the learning process. It teaches them to distinguish between good information and useless information and where to go to find it. Also it teaches students to not give up when they do find something, and to keep prodding for more information. And as talked about in the assigned reading students have to "designate team members to fulfill various roles", which is an important part of any team. Different teams could be paired together for multiple webquests and be assigned to different roles. This not only helps the student learn from a different perspective, but if the student needs help he/she can get aid from another group member that has already "been in the same shoes". Making a webquest is relatively easy also. The level of intricacy can be decided by the group as a whole, or by one student choosing to do so. The collaborate element of making a webquest is fascinating to me. When we were in the classroom working on our webquest I thought it was interesting that when I changed something on the page it immediately changed the page on Jessica's screen. I didn't expect such an immediate response. I find it very interesting that the students can, "share a computer" as I heard somebody else in the class say. When introduced, I didn't think webquests were that useful for students, but after doing one and reading about them I could definitely see myself as a teacher implementing them into my lesson.

Teaching students to use the internet and spreadsheets

Elizabeth Caulfield definitely knows what she is talking about. Kids are on the internet all day, or at least have it available at their fingertips. I wouldn't know what she is talking about when she writes, "Some of the best information on the internet is available on to those who pay for it.". Other than this last semester I've barely/if ever had to pay for information on the internet. If a site wanted me to pay for info then I would just look in different places for it. She writes about search engines and it reminded me of the class a few weeks ago in which we explored different search engines and it surprised me at how many different sites there were. The different sites are tailored (or can be) to either the interests of the the student, or the ultimate goal of seeking knowledge. I personally prefer good ol' Google.

I'm not a fan of excel. And I'm not afraid to say it. It's just they (Microsoft) tried to fit in way too much stuff. Clicking, dragging, anything by accident can result in a loss of data, and sometimes is difficult to recover. The part of the assignment that uses "auto format" was impossible for me. There are multiple format buttons on the top toolbar, and after clicking on all five of them I found no, "auto format" button anywhere. On my first chart I messed around a lot and finally got a weird border on it, but still couldn't auto format. And I tried help a bunch, but still couldn't get it. It's something SO EASY and I know it, but I just can't figure it out. In the classroom I could definitely see myself using excel though. It's worth learning, because it's a great way to present data to students, in which from there they can create endless projects and assignments.

PowerPoint and Blooms Taxonomy

There are many uses of PowerPoint in the classroom. Implementing a
teachers knowledge of subject matter and importance make a big difference
too. If the students are struggling with something (whether it be English,
math, history, or math) PowerPoint is an easy tool to spark interest. I
honestly remember being younger and marveling at PowerPoints in the
classroom because it was enthralling was something different. Links are a
great tool to put in presentations, and it very useful when introducing
new subject matter to students, you can show them the PowerPoint (links
and all) in class, then e-mail the document so they themselves can click
on the links and learn more. A teacher using PowerPoint can be easily
satisfied because it’s relatively easy to use, and you can make really
complex things look easy, while at the same time conveying useful
information.

Blooms taxonomy reminds me of Garner’s Intelligences, but differs because
of its classifying. Blooms taxonomy is the reflecting of what students “know” and how they apply it,and Garner’s intelligences are HOW they “know”. I like the last link Mr. Portacio gave us http://www.ops.org/reading/blooms_taxonomy.htm. I like this page because it shows the procedure and examples. It makes the process much more clear. Analysis, synthesis, and evaluation were hard for me to distinguish. They have so many similarities, but also many differences, which makes it hard to comprehend. The site gives multiple examples of each level of taxonomy. Blooms taxonomy deals with facts and real answers. Garner’s Intelligences have more gray area because opinions and emotions change all the time.

Mapping minds

Mind mapping is a lot more beneficial than I previously thought, especially by using digital mind maps. Just by creating a visual link between two objects, it instantly stirs wonder and makes you think, "How are the two related?". The use of symbols and graphics to represent things is a great way to make the mapping better because it instantly can bridge two random things together by sharing a common link. Mind mapping it makes it easier to come up with material because once your maps start really going it's like a rolling ball, and it's even hard to stay focused sometimes because there is so many possibilities of the next bubble. And needless to say, it's also a GREAT tool for visual learners.

Being able to modify bubbles and add things to them is also great. Putting links to pages in bubbles is an awesome way to remember where you got information. Students can use sound and video clips to further understand what they are mapping, and further instill it through sight and sound.

The students that went to Pine Creek to do their research have a definite advantage by using the WISE database and mind maps. Not only do they get to learn about databases but they also get an understanding of communicative research.

"Defining relationships" in my opinion is the most important step of mind mapping. The relationships after all, the reason for the mind mapping in the first place. The steps that produce the final product of a mind map are easy to understand, and Owen even puts in a section of troubleshooting if the students need help.

Thing I've learned 2/13

This week I learned how to properly create a newsletter and make a rubric from scratch. I started making my newsletter and it wasn't until I was through that I realized that I should have followed the EXACT directions in the "How To" document, but I scrolled through it too fast and figured, "I'm pretty sure I can handle this". I ended up having to start a whole new blank word document, and building it up again (but according to the steps this time). I thought it would look better with more text in the newsletter, so I filled the columns with text from an essay that I recently wrote about weapon development in the Cold War.

The digit packrat information is intimidating. I'm eager to get started though. I'm the type of person that needs to put all important work in one place.

In the future I might make newsletters for family reunions, work meetings, or even a Xmas card to update people on my status.

My future students might make newsletters to disburse to their clubs, sports teams, or study/play groups.

My students will have many more options and easier access to any subject within the realm of technology. I remember when my mom would type my school papers for me on an old typewriter. I doubt if any kids have even ever owned or used a type writer before.


About the article "Oh The Changes...":
(pg.16)- Early Computerized Simulations and Social Interaction"
I remember playing the Orgon Trail when I was in elementary school. I think we had one computer in the classroom and if you finished your work or had nothing to do, Oregon Trail was where it was at. I do remember learning about all the different ways my players would die, what animals they killed for food, and what types of people they met along the way. Not until thinking about it do I understand the educational aspect of the game.