Google Doc Forms Survey

Today we focused on spreadsheets and how they can simplify a teacher's job. We started with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and then played with Google Docs. I made a survey about Halloween: find it at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pZRHEGaiEeRRhPzsDS7Ieb

I have never used spreadsheets enough to become familiar, let alone efficient, with any functions beyond inserting labels in the cells. Our assignment on Excel in class was to create a gradebook with student names, assignments, and point values. I can do that without too much frustration (my computer guru friend Chris sitting next to me might not agree?) until the instructor had me work with the functions (calculating percentages and class averages). I know that I will have to spend MUCH time honing these skills because I can see how time-saving they will be once I get it in my brain. I see my practicum mentor teacher, Mr. Allen (5th grade), uses a similar district spreadsheet on PowerSchool to tally grades from assignments I corrected last week. He allowed me to look over his shoulder while he did this (and showed a little frustration too; might be he was just frazzled from parent-teacher conferences preparation but he claimed the program was, to him, not very user-friendly) but this week I hope to get my hands on it myself. I'm sure I'll quickly become familiar with the few calculating functions that I'll need by actually using them in the "real world." This would be helpful with parent-teacher conferences or any other communication with parents AND can be a great avenue for students (getting-to-know-you questionnaires and evaluations) to give feedback to me as a teacher in a forum that they would like (using the Internet rather than paper/pencil or face-to-face perhaps).

The cool thing about Google Doc, again, is that I can access my files from anywhere because they are saved on the Web universe. That means I wouldn't need to rely on having my laptop or my thumbdrive for a gradebook on the go (assuming I'd be thinking about doing teacher stuff without these at my side). My instructor suggested, however, how convenient it would be to have students submit their exams and quizzes through a form similar to my Halloween survey. The results appear on my email and there is a compiled survey sheet that puts all my survey results for me in a spreadsheet! Now that might be something to think about!!

Again my digital immigrant-ness is rearing its head as I struggle to become proficient with the technological tools that will simplify my teaching. I think it is just a matter of giving it some time and I'll someday say "I don't know how I ever lived without it!"

Word Processing

Today in class we explored off-line and on-line word processing, beginning by opening Microsoft Word and writing a story title and a first sentence (mine was "The Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" with first sentence "It was a dark and stormy morning."). Then we did round-robin writing with small groups to continue the story; each person inserting her own creative plot-moving sentence. After the story took on a life of its own, we turned to the "track changes" feature and edited our story. I am sure this exercise is currently being done in classrooms everywhere because it incorporates keyboarding skills, group collaboration, proofreading and editing, as well as creative writing. Students will love coming up with off-the-wall plots and juicy details in a story not all their own, and learn editing etiquette and strategies. Teachers will be able to monitor the story as well as introduced editing changes (and edit the edits if necessary). Compared with the old-fashioned way of producing several paper drafts with messy margin-scribbled edits, this method is clean, legible, and reflects amount of work put forth by each group member (accountability in black and white). I am familiar with reading marked-up manuscripts using this method in my freelance college textbook editing job, and have found the benefits of clean text highlighted with changes and authors chronicled in the margin pop-up tabs.

Next we worked as partners to create a story from a funny picture on National Geographic Kids site using Google Docs. The video of the neighborhood newspaper editor struggling to compile dozens of email attachment submissions with multiple versions all over the place was funny with all the paper cartoons but really illustrated how much cleaner it would be to have only one main document with multiple authors. My partner and I wrote a story called "Oh What a Watermelon" about a lady gulping mouthfuls from a 4-foot-long watermelon slice at a county fair watermelon eating contest. We enabled ourselves as collaborators and our instructor as viewer. I was often frustrated as I wrote a sentence that got trumped when my partner saved the accompanying photo (the program rejected my great sentence and I would have to start over). Because both authors were live at the same time we weren't as effective with our time in those instances. My partner used the comment feature to write notes to me about to-do items attached to the story so I got her messages instantly (a much better way than seeing them through email messages on another window). This is one step ahead of the ftp system of manuscripts and drafts we use in my editing job, but I see the benefits of both. The idea here is multiple users across distances can access the same document on the Web, making email attachment communication almost obsolete. I see how group projects can be much easier using this tool because all group members can access the latest draft at any time.

I admit that I am warming up to the electronic workflow in my editing, although I miss my dusty red pens and yellow sticky notes of the old way. Electronic documents on the Web has allowed me to continue working now that the local textbook composition company has been closed and has been replaced by project managers in Chennai, India. The world is different than it was 10 years ago and I am the one who has to adapt or move aside.

Webquest.org

This week in class we stepped into the role of students in small groups browsing the learning projects offered on Webquest.org. These project-based, problem-based, and/or inquiry-based lessons are categorized by grade and integrated subjects but involve no lecture or textbook: all the information the students need to successfully complete the lesson comes from the Web. The students with a common interest form groups, divide tasks or research topics, and experience navigating the Web to find the information they need and use other technological tools (software, etc.) to create a final project. The goal here is to go beyond lecture and rote regurgitation of facts to "learn it when you need it." Today's students want to be involved in deciding what they want to learn about, work with others to learn it, and demonstrate what they have learned in relevant, "real-life" projects. We all know that there is a difference between filling-in a worksheet about erosion and actually getting dirty and wet with an erosion model or experiencing an erosional riverbank site. Each Webquest lesson includes an introduction, task, process, resources (websites that provide the needed information), evaluation rubric, teacher page, and additional "just for fun" exploration.

For the first few minutes we were to browse the available lessons based on our selected grade level and subject. I searched the listings for literature and early elementary (1st grade). One lesson, based on the picture book "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon: the task is to write a letter telling Stellaluna reasons why she should be proud to be a bat. The student researches the amazing facts about megabats and synthesize that information in a way that the fruit bat Stellaluna will find pride in herself and her heritage. I chose to discard this lesson as a suggestion for my group, however, because the supplied links to researching megabats led to unavailabe websites: as a student I was quickly frustrated that I couldn't find what I needed in the time allotted.

My partner and I selected a Webquest lesson about ancient Egypt, and although we couldn't timewarp ourselves there, we were able to jump around on the Web finding textual information and visuals available to us from the British Museum and other sites. Our task, as creators of a travel brochure, was to convince Flibberwiggle Martians to visit ancient Egypt because of our reports on a variety of highlights. I volunteered to research the geographical features and the pharoahs, find out ways to excite a tourist from Mars to want to select my destination over others, and present it incorporated in a brochure with my partner's topics too. I used the Internet to find information and illustrations about how the pharoahs were both political and religious leaders of both the fertile Black Lands and mineral-rich barren desert Red Lands of ancient Egypt. This lesson for me involved geography, history, science, and creative and informational writing. But it also involved groupwork dynamics, Web navigation, time management, and oral presentation. I was struck by the variety of projects discussed by other groups; I really liked the chart evaluating possible state insects for Nevada?/Arizona? project. These projects incorporate several integrated curriculum subjects in a cooperative group setting using technology and giving the students control over their learning in a "real-life" scenario.

So often we hear about teachers feeling hampered by No Child Left Behind; "I wish I had time to let my students explore creative learning projects but we have just too much to cover," some say. The video clip we watched in class from Edutopia showcased several examples of students taking ownership in their learning in ways that are relevant and educational: the students using geometry to create kites, other students researching cystic fibrosis because they wanted to understand their peer's health situation better, and other students sitting at the edge of a pond taking water samples and charting the results as part of a larger project (she talked enthusiastically about how the pond was her classroom). Children are passionate about learning until that passion is extinguished by endless worksheet packets. I am hopeful that there is time in the day to incorporate project-based learning within NCLB goals and constraints. Last week I completed my kindergarten practicum and this week I jump headfirst into 5th grade. Will I find us experiencing these kinds of higher-level cognition lessons there? I certainly hope so!