I got to be an elementary school student this morning learning about cause-and-effect sentences and order of operations math concepts using interactive computer lessons. The lessons were
www.create.usu.edu/practice_reading/reading.cfm and
www.create.usu.edu/practice_open/numberoperations.cfm
In the reading lesson I chose to work with the female (classmates said to avoid the robot persona) taking about preparing to run a marathon. She "stood" at the left side of each screen teaching me about what a cause is, what an effect is, and how they work together in sentences using clue words like "because" or "so". Just last week in my 5th grade practicum class we did boring worksheets about this very topic, and judging from their enthusiasm for interactive math lessons, I'm sure they would have learned just as much and had more FUN logging on to this lesson. I noticed as I was the student that this experience with the personal tutor would have caught more of the individual problems and questions certain students had (they have learned that if they just keep looking down at their worksheet someone else will provide the answer out loud or they can make a guess in the blank and get SOME points). This program makes you get it right before you can move on. I liked the audio that had a 5th grade female student's voice and the "hip" comments like "You're awesome!" that is great for making the student stay motivated and optimistic about learning the topic.
The math lesson was really boring and over-kill on the problems. I chose as my persona a Hispanic female and that was cool because she had an accent when she talked. I didn't like that I didn't have a scratchpad to do the complicated math problems (I'm not very great at calculating in my head!) but I did like that often she connected math knowledge to real-life applications ("go goggle to see how knowing math helps you get a good job"). I didn't know until much later that I could click to skip through the instruction screens; I would've done that sooner. I think students would want a shorter chunk of lessons because my brain got tired after a while.
I think this could be an effective extension of class work but I'm not sure I'd use these online tutors to teach the concepts. My post-test scores didn't show improvement and I didn't feel a greater love for math because of playing math games online. My practicum experience in 5th grade showed me that students love to use interactive games but consider them as games: I could see some of the boys from my class not taking this very seriously without some accountability (post-test scores for grades, for example). When I got some answers wrong (according to the computer) I didn't know why: the computer just made me "stab at the dark" again until I got the math problem right or the right wording of sentences.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Instructional Architect (ia.usu.edu)
This week in class I explored lesson plan helps on Instructional Architect. First I logged in as a student using a class password and compared two lessons: Earthquakes and Volcanoes vs. Adventures in the Desert. Earthquakes and Volcanoes was just a jumble of links to what felt like "card catalog" site information (not live links that directed the student directly to the page). The Adventures in the Desert was much more user-friendly lesson with tasks written at a child's level. The process subheading offered several helpful live links to web pages about desert animals kids would love. There were lots of additional links for further research, rubric for evaluation, and a conclusion. This comparison exercise emphasized the need for interactive lessons to be at the appropriate level (web links to highly-technical, scientific research sites will just frustrate a child) and offer links that are current (not expired as the first one I visited was). One of the cool things about Instructional Architect is that I can set up a class account for students to access from home hassle-free and fee-free a variety of curriculum-relevant interactive lessons (science, history, math, literature, . . .). Kids can log on at home to complete an assignment or learn more about a certain topic, and (this is exciting) involve parents and siblings in their learning by directing them to the lesson on the web too.
There are teacher benefits as well. Logging on as a teacher, you can browse hundreds of existing lesson plans or web links sorted by grade, subject, and topic. Our instructor explained the evaluation process: only "vetted" lessons are posted here, so teachers can trust that these lessons are high-quality and current (similar to a "stamp of approval"). Sharing lessons frees teachers from the "reinvent the wheel" syndrome. I practiced creating a lesson using my actual group lesson topic that is due in a few weeks focused on Hawaii. I found cool links to "After the Day of Infamy" memories of Pearl Harbor survivors (www.memory.loc.gov) and several great kids sites for research and photographs that will be useful as we create our Hawaii travel brochure lesson plan. I felt like my class time was productive for my project as well as give me an alternative lesson plan site (that I think I like better than WebQuest's WebGarden). The downside is that with IA you need to use some html codes, so I'd give it lower marks for user-friendliness.
My mentor teacher used several interactive math lessons on the web this month. I was able to teach fractions and prime/composite numbers using the SmartBoard in our classroom. The kids really liked the Tony's Pizza Shop game because it was a lesson but felt like a game. I see the value in spicing math lessons with technology because the students can't help but be glued to the screen or fighting for a turn to DO MATH. How cool if they could log on at home to a lesson created specifically for them that would enrich the day's lesson FOR FUN! I am liking technology in the classroom more and more as I become more familiar with (and less frightened of) it!
There are teacher benefits as well. Logging on as a teacher, you can browse hundreds of existing lesson plans or web links sorted by grade, subject, and topic. Our instructor explained the evaluation process: only "vetted" lessons are posted here, so teachers can trust that these lessons are high-quality and current (similar to a "stamp of approval"). Sharing lessons frees teachers from the "reinvent the wheel" syndrome. I practiced creating a lesson using my actual group lesson topic that is due in a few weeks focused on Hawaii. I found cool links to "After the Day of Infamy" memories of Pearl Harbor survivors (www.memory.loc.gov) and several great kids sites for research and photographs that will be useful as we create our Hawaii travel brochure lesson plan. I felt like my class time was productive for my project as well as give me an alternative lesson plan site (that I think I like better than WebQuest's WebGarden). The downside is that with IA you need to use some html codes, so I'd give it lower marks for user-friendliness.
My mentor teacher used several interactive math lessons on the web this month. I was able to teach fractions and prime/composite numbers using the SmartBoard in our classroom. The kids really liked the Tony's Pizza Shop game because it was a lesson but felt like a game. I see the value in spicing math lessons with technology because the students can't help but be glued to the screen or fighting for a turn to DO MATH. How cool if they could log on at home to a lesson created specifically for them that would enrich the day's lesson FOR FUN! I am liking technology in the classroom more and more as I become more familiar with (and less frightened of) it!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Digital Photography
This morning my friend Jessica and I wandered around the Education building (it was a rainy 7:30 a.m. morning so we didn't venture outside) looking for geometric shapes to capture with a Nikon digital camera we checked out from the department. We were on a scavenger hunt I'm sure elementary school students would love, and when we had all our photos, we came back to download on iPhoto and play with our pix on Comic Life. We had to jump right into the software with little instruction, using trial and error to get our files to fit in the boxes of the comic strip templates. We had three pictures of four shapes: a smoke alarm, a ceiling fire extinguisher, and a door lock, for example. There are speech bubbles we inserted to each shape and a text box to provide the geometric shape definitions.
I remember the American West Heritage Center fieldtrip our life skills/special ed. class took a few years ago. We took a digital camera along and snapped pictures of the kids with the pygmy goats, riding the hay wagon, and entering the indian teepee. Back in class the next month each student selected favorite digital photos from the day, narrated his/her favorite memories, and created a digital scrapbook. A major highlight was the picture of me and the duckling that had just pooped in my hand; the kids all loved my surprised/disgusted face. It trumped all the other farm animal pictures of that day but something about which each child had MUCH to say (with just as much laughter!). We worked for hours on these CDs and the students received a copy to take home for the summer. Parents said that these programs were more popular than any cartoon. That project was just one of many that featured digital photographs in and out of the classroom, and I am sure that my digital camera will be a primary feature in my future classroom. Pictures taken by my students as well as myself could be inserted in class newsletters and blog, bulletin boards, and lesson enrichment activities (as this geometry project was).
One of my "beefs" with using technology in the classroom is the time wasted when the technology tools experience glitches. It seems that often the computer connections are down, as it was in our class today, or as in my practicum classroom, the network connection is so slow the kids are bored before the exciting interactive site loads. Just as Jessica and I were ready to snap the first shot, the camera "shouted" that the memory card was full and the batteries were dead. So we spent our time going back to the classroom to get a new set of batteries and deleting existing photos on the camera. Using digital cameras in the classroom demands that these problems be avoided so the students will taste success rather than frustration. Again, technology can enhance the classroom experience if I challenge myself to be proficient and excited about it.
I remember the American West Heritage Center fieldtrip our life skills/special ed. class took a few years ago. We took a digital camera along and snapped pictures of the kids with the pygmy goats, riding the hay wagon, and entering the indian teepee. Back in class the next month each student selected favorite digital photos from the day, narrated his/her favorite memories, and created a digital scrapbook. A major highlight was the picture of me and the duckling that had just pooped in my hand; the kids all loved my surprised/disgusted face. It trumped all the other farm animal pictures of that day but something about which each child had MUCH to say (with just as much laughter!). We worked for hours on these CDs and the students received a copy to take home for the summer. Parents said that these programs were more popular than any cartoon. That project was just one of many that featured digital photographs in and out of the classroom, and I am sure that my digital camera will be a primary feature in my future classroom. Pictures taken by my students as well as myself could be inserted in class newsletters and blog, bulletin boards, and lesson enrichment activities (as this geometry project was).
One of my "beefs" with using technology in the classroom is the time wasted when the technology tools experience glitches. It seems that often the computer connections are down, as it was in our class today, or as in my practicum classroom, the network connection is so slow the kids are bored before the exciting interactive site loads. Just as Jessica and I were ready to snap the first shot, the camera "shouted" that the memory card was full and the batteries were dead. So we spent our time going back to the classroom to get a new set of batteries and deleting existing photos on the camera. Using digital cameras in the classroom demands that these problems be avoided so the students will taste success rather than frustration. Again, technology can enhance the classroom experience if I challenge myself to be proficient and excited about it.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Website Evaluations
Class today was focused on surfing the Web as teachers and elementary school students, looking for specific sites to evaluate using web site evaluation forms.
The first task was to find an elementary school web site. At first I was frustrated because, as often happens when I try to log on as a parent of students in this district, the Cache County School District web sites were down and unavailable. I used the web site for Ellis Elementary School, the first school I thought of here in Cache Valley that is in Logan's district . . . and it worked! The site is standard as far as home page with school address and contact info, staff directory, lunch menu, community and PTA council notes, and calendar. It also had links to several sites like Discovery Kids.com, FunBrain.com, and their own Ellis Elementary library. I really like the FAQ page that explained why school start time is 8:00 a.m. instead of 9:00, what being a Title I school means, and statistics about average teaching experience and various additional degrees/endorsements are held by teachers on staff. The web evaluation form I used for this site, from www.bv229.k12.ks.us, didn't really fit well with this site: it basically wants to know what links are tied to this site. The other questions were about accuracy and currency but didn't seem to be major focuses of the web site I chose.
Next I was to find a lesson plan site as a teacher. I found www.atozteacherstuff.com that has all kinds of lesson plans by grade level and subject, as well as other tools like word wall words and wordsearch worksheet creation. It is packed with advertising and pop-ups, but I really liked some of the lesson plans I read. It was easy to navigate and have hundreds of directory listings for thematic units, printables, other teacher tips on attention-getters, homework, etc. I used the evaulation form "Critical Evaluation of a Web Site Elementary School Level" from school.discoveryeducation.com and I really liked this as a rubric for elementary students. It has large space for write-ins, has easy-to-read parts (how does it look? what did you learn?) with yes/no blanks, and, my favorite part, a summary that asks to use the other parts to write a summary paragraph determining whether this site was helpful or not, and why.
The next job was to find an informational web site that gives basic information about an elementary level topic, so I looked for something a child would like. I googled "volcanoes" and found from the list the web site "www.learner.org/interactives/volcanoes" that would also help with developing my group's lesson plan II assignment we are developing for this course. I loved this site as a teacher and as a student: the introduction and detailed pages were written on a child's level and explained well the scientific principles involved in a way that made sense. The opening was exciting: famous volcanoes, dates, and how many people perished in eruptions, and the question: "can we predict volcanic eruptions?" The links to videos were cool: I got to see in color video lava flowing from volcanoes in Hawaii. I liked the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen and the related resources links. This site is awesome for teaching science and other subjects (found on the "interactives" ribbon at the top of the page). I used the Midlink Magazine web page evaluation form for this site: it has a 0-4 rating system for areas of navigation/presentation, content, appropriateness, scope/validity, and a rubric using the points (excellent, good, fair, poor) as well as a space for comments. I really liked this evaluation form because it offered detailed questions to look for and an easy way to see how multiple web sites would measure up.
The final task was to find an interactive web site that students can use to practice a specific skill written on an elementary level. I googled "interactive elementary science" and found several great sites listed on the T4.jordan.k12.ut.us site. I chose "www.renaissanceconnection.org" for middle school-aged students (and teachers) and really had fun playing with the quizzes on various art innovations, various artists, and history using famous Renaissance art from the Allentown Art Museum. The site is developed to enhance the Pennsylvania curriculum but would be a great addition to a study of history with 37 artwork images all in one place. Fun quiz games! I used the web evaluation from www.cyberguide that has areas for first look, info providers, info currency, info quality, and further info; the final rating question asks to rate this site as "very useful for my needs," "worth bookmarking for future reference," and "not worth coming back to." This form was set up with columns of Yes, No, or N/A. This form was written using a little more advanced language compared to the others, so I would probably use those for students before I would use this one.
What evaluation form did I like best? The Midlink Magazine evaluation form was user-friendly and a strong tool for rating several sites. Students as well as teachers could understand and use this form while visiting web sites.
What evaluation form did I like least? The www.bv229.k12.ks.us evaluation form, I felt, was not as easy to use and could have been formatted better. The dialogue boxes indicate to me that this form may be like the on-line survey I created last week and offers space to make notes, but it lacks the detailed evaluation prompts the others have.
What hidden secrets did I find by using evaluation forms? Current, clear, verifiable information is the goal, but sometimes it is difficult to easily identify on the website when the information was updated last and how it can be verified. Advertisements signal to me that I should be wary of the motivation of the website: can I trust it is the best information out there on the web or just posted by the company with a large budget for online advertising.
What is the value of this web site evaluation process? I noticed how important navigation tools are on a web site and how helpful it is to provide trusted resource sites that will back-up the information I post.
What times would I not use a formal site evaluation form? I got so caught up in playing the games on the interactive sites that I wasn't so concerned about the information provided, BUT I should have been. If the information was not accurate, a student may accept that misinformation over correct information presented in class or in the textbook. I probably wouldn't use a formal evaluation form as I visited these interactive lesson sites and sites like the elementary school's site (assuming I can trust a credible author posted the information on it). Having thought about the questions provided on the evaluation forms, though, I think I will consider them mentally as I search sites for my future students.
The first task was to find an elementary school web site. At first I was frustrated because, as often happens when I try to log on as a parent of students in this district, the Cache County School District web sites were down and unavailable. I used the web site for Ellis Elementary School, the first school I thought of here in Cache Valley that is in Logan's district . . . and it worked! The site is standard as far as home page with school address and contact info, staff directory, lunch menu, community and PTA council notes, and calendar. It also had links to several sites like Discovery Kids.com, FunBrain.com, and their own Ellis Elementary library. I really like the FAQ page that explained why school start time is 8:00 a.m. instead of 9:00, what being a Title I school means, and statistics about average teaching experience and various additional degrees/endorsements are held by teachers on staff. The web evaluation form I used for this site, from www.bv229.k12.ks.us, didn't really fit well with this site: it basically wants to know what links are tied to this site. The other questions were about accuracy and currency but didn't seem to be major focuses of the web site I chose.
Next I was to find a lesson plan site as a teacher. I found www.atozteacherstuff.com that has all kinds of lesson plans by grade level and subject, as well as other tools like word wall words and wordsearch worksheet creation. It is packed with advertising and pop-ups, but I really liked some of the lesson plans I read. It was easy to navigate and have hundreds of directory listings for thematic units, printables, other teacher tips on attention-getters, homework, etc. I used the evaulation form "Critical Evaluation of a Web Site Elementary School Level" from school.discoveryeducation.com and I really liked this as a rubric for elementary students. It has large space for write-ins, has easy-to-read parts (how does it look? what did you learn?) with yes/no blanks, and, my favorite part, a summary that asks to use the other parts to write a summary paragraph determining whether this site was helpful or not, and why.
The next job was to find an informational web site that gives basic information about an elementary level topic, so I looked for something a child would like. I googled "volcanoes" and found from the list the web site "www.learner.org/interactives/volcanoes" that would also help with developing my group's lesson plan II assignment we are developing for this course. I loved this site as a teacher and as a student: the introduction and detailed pages were written on a child's level and explained well the scientific principles involved in a way that made sense. The opening was exciting: famous volcanoes, dates, and how many people perished in eruptions, and the question: "can we predict volcanic eruptions?" The links to videos were cool: I got to see in color video lava flowing from volcanoes in Hawaii. I liked the navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen and the related resources links. This site is awesome for teaching science and other subjects (found on the "interactives" ribbon at the top of the page). I used the Midlink Magazine web page evaluation form for this site: it has a 0-4 rating system for areas of navigation/presentation, content, appropriateness, scope/validity, and a rubric using the points (excellent, good, fair, poor) as well as a space for comments. I really liked this evaluation form because it offered detailed questions to look for and an easy way to see how multiple web sites would measure up.
The final task was to find an interactive web site that students can use to practice a specific skill written on an elementary level. I googled "interactive elementary science" and found several great sites listed on the T4.jordan.k12.ut.us site. I chose "www.renaissanceconnection.org" for middle school-aged students (and teachers) and really had fun playing with the quizzes on various art innovations, various artists, and history using famous Renaissance art from the Allentown Art Museum. The site is developed to enhance the Pennsylvania curriculum but would be a great addition to a study of history with 37 artwork images all in one place. Fun quiz games! I used the web evaluation from www.cyberguide that has areas for first look, info providers, info currency, info quality, and further info; the final rating question asks to rate this site as "very useful for my needs," "worth bookmarking for future reference," and "not worth coming back to." This form was set up with columns of Yes, No, or N/A. This form was written using a little more advanced language compared to the others, so I would probably use those for students before I would use this one.
What evaluation form did I like best? The Midlink Magazine evaluation form was user-friendly and a strong tool for rating several sites. Students as well as teachers could understand and use this form while visiting web sites.
What evaluation form did I like least? The www.bv229.k12.ks.us evaluation form, I felt, was not as easy to use and could have been formatted better. The dialogue boxes indicate to me that this form may be like the on-line survey I created last week and offers space to make notes, but it lacks the detailed evaluation prompts the others have.
What hidden secrets did I find by using evaluation forms? Current, clear, verifiable information is the goal, but sometimes it is difficult to easily identify on the website when the information was updated last and how it can be verified. Advertisements signal to me that I should be wary of the motivation of the website: can I trust it is the best information out there on the web or just posted by the company with a large budget for online advertising.
What is the value of this web site evaluation process? I noticed how important navigation tools are on a web site and how helpful it is to provide trusted resource sites that will back-up the information I post.
What times would I not use a formal site evaluation form? I got so caught up in playing the games on the interactive sites that I wasn't so concerned about the information provided, BUT I should have been. If the information was not accurate, a student may accept that misinformation over correct information presented in class or in the textbook. I probably wouldn't use a formal evaluation form as I visited these interactive lesson sites and sites like the elementary school's site (assuming I can trust a credible author posted the information on it). Having thought about the questions provided on the evaluation forms, though, I think I will consider them mentally as I search sites for my future students.
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