Nats+Reflections

 |HOME]| EDU 607 || My Curricular Connections || My Reflections || Class Collaboration || Resources

07/01/09 Update Dear Dr. Reynolds, I have made several updates to my Inspirational unit plan. I have made it easier for the reader to understand by adding the grade level, the teacher's name and I have differentiated between the teacher's tasks and the students' tasks. I have also added some explanations as to the usefulness of the technology to the unit. I have updated the plan by adding useful ways that the students will use the new technologies that we have used in class. Photo Story, PowerPoint and Movie Maker are only some of the technologies that I have added. I have found the course to be very useful. I plan to use many of the technologies with my new class. I feel so much more technologically competent than before.

Thank You, Natalie.

06/30/09 Ning  I will use Ning as a social network for my students to upload technology related projects that are based on the Fiction unit. Here the students can upload their movie maker videos (narrative point of view) that they did earlier in the unit and they can also add their photo stories (comparing themes) and power point (presenting themes). They will be asked to use the blog feature to critique each other's work and in some instances they will be given a rubric and asked to use the rubric assess each other's projects. They will need to write their responses on the Ning blog. I have already created a Ning network for my class. It is called www.msharveysclass.ning.com. I realize that students will need to have school related email addresses that they will use to access the network. This might be a challenge. I will have students do most of this work in the lab at school so that they do not have to grapple with lack of technology at home.

Here are some technology standards for students.

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
 * **Creativity and Innovation** ||
 * a. || apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. ||
 * b. || create original works as a means of personal or group expression. ||
 * c. || use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. ||
 * d. || identify trends and forecast possibilities. ||

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: ||
 * Communication and Collaboration** ||
 * a. || interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ||
 * b. || communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. ||
 * c. || develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. ||
 * d. || contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. ||  ||

Here are some technology standards for teachers
 * Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
 * a. || promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. ||
 * b. || engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. ||
 * d. || model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. ||


 * Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments**

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:
 * a. || design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. ||
 * b. || develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. ||
 * c. || customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. ||
 * d. || provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. ||

06/29/09 Photo Story As a teacher I can use Photo story for several aspects of the fiction unit. I can use it to introduce the unit or I can use it to introduce each element of fiction. I would use Photo Story to introduce the Fiction unit, then I would make it interactive by asking questions during the presentation that students really need to think about eg. "Does anyone have a true to life experience that is stranger than Fiction?" I would allow opportunities for students to respond to these questions.

For the students, I would as them to create their own photo story to respond to a question about a text that we have read. For e.g. they could respond to the prompt; Compare themes in the poem "Spent Feeling" to themes in the Story __The Drive In Movies.__ The students would then select pictures depicting scenes from the texts ans scenes in the texts and they would narrate the comparison of themes. This would be an excellent assessment tools because the students would get a chance to practice the language in use. They would get to use the technology to teach each other and they would not have to turn in a written script ( most students struggle more with writing than speaking.) Also, the fact that they would need to write their thoughts down first would help them to practice the writing skills anyway. This method also opens the floor for class discussion on the element of theme in Fiction.

These are some technology standards for students.


 * || **Creativity and Innovation** ||
 * || Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: ||
 * a. || apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. ||
 * b. || create original works as a means of personal or group expression. ||

These are some technology standards for teachers
 * || **Communication and Collaboration** ||
 * || Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: ||
 * a. || interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ||
 * b. || communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. ||
 * c. || contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. ||  ||

. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments


 * Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:**
 * a. || design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. ||
 * b. || customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. ||

. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
 * a. || demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. ||
 * b. || collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. ||

06/26/09 MS Power Point I often use power point myself as a teacher. In the fiction unit, I can introduce all the main elements of fiction using a power point presentation. I can embed united streaming videos related to the content or I can put links in the power points to sites such as brain pop. I Find that for the Fiction unit students can really take responsibility for their own learning. They can create their own power points and teach the class. For example, when we are covering the element of theme in Fiction. The students can create their own power point with picture explaining and depicting theme. They can create movies in movie maker related to theme and they can also upload these videos in to their power points. Since audacity is a tool that students would learn earlier in the unit, the students can use the audacity tool to record narration for their slides so that their presentation is more engaging. I would have them use narrative poems such at "The Dessert is My Mother" and "Casey and The bat" to explore the element of theme. Their presentations would be based on these two poems or other narrative poems of their choosing. In this case the technology would be used as a review tool.

These are the technology standards for students Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
 * a. || interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ||
 * b. || communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. ||
 * c. || develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. ||
 * d. || contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems ||  ||

These are the technology Standards for teachers
 * Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
 * a. || promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. ||
 * b. || engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. ||
 * d. || model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments ||

06/25/09 Movie Maker This is a tool that can be used for just about any topic in the unit of Fiction and non fiction. I'm thinking that the students can videotape themselves using different narrative points of view to tell the same fictional story. They can use movie maker to edit the video thereby dividing it into clips that show the different narrating styles. The students would then have to create as Power Point that explain different narrating styles. They can import their movie to the presentation at the end and use this as a teachable tool for the the rest of the class. To make it more interesting I would let them work in groups and let each group do a different story. I could also have students act out chronological events in a story and have them act out plots that use foreshadowing and flashback. They can edit their videos in movie maker, present them to the class and explain the different types of plot sequences that they have shown (GROUP WORK).

These are some technology standards for students.

These are some technology standards for teachers.
 * **1.** || **Creativity and Innovation** ||
 * || Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: ||
 * a. || apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. ||
 * b. || create original works as a means of personal or group expression. ||
 * c. || use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. ||
 * d. || identify trends and forecast possibilities ||  ||
 * Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
 * a. || promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. ||
 * b. || engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. ||
 * d. || model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. ||

06/24/09 Copyright laws. When the students use eyespot, fliker, clip art etc. they need to be ware of the laws governing how they can use the resources on the world wide web. These rules will be discussed before the unit and also where applicable during the unit. The students will be made aware of the specific expectations that I have for them regarding technology use. They will need to demonstrate responsibility for their own use of technology and they will be expected to demonstrate leadership by helping their peers to operate within the confines of the law. These are the technology standards for students.


 * **5.** || **Digital Citizenship** ||
 * || Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students: ||
 * a. || advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology. ||
 * b. || exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity. ||
 * c. || demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning. ||
 * d. || exhibit leadership for digital citizenship. ||  ||

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers :


 * a. || advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources. ||
 * b. || address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information. ||
 * d. || develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. ||

06/23/09 i Google This is a tool that has very broad uses. The students can create their own i Google page based on the Fiction unit. Their page could contain gadgets such as fiction poetry, literary devices, and several different reference sources. They can use tools like the find a word and hangman gadgets to have fun with the content while reinforcing it. There are also useful tools that could be used if you are doing this unit in a foreign country or you are teaching bilingual students. The translator tool as well as the tool for pronunciation could be quite useful. These are the technology standards for students.

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
 * Research and Information Fluency**
 * a. ||  || plan strategies to guide inquiry. ||


 * b. ||  || locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. ||


 * c. ||  || evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks. ||

These are the technology standards for teachers.
 * Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
 * a. ||  || promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. ||


 * b. ||  || engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. ||


 * c. ||  || promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. ||


 * d. ||  || model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. ||

06/21/09 **Inspiration ** The Fiction Unit requires students to complete a writer’s workshop. The students would usually have to write a fictional story about a fantasy state that they would like to live in. Inspiration has several templates for graphic organizers that the students could use to plan the essay. The students could choose the template that they would like to use. They could then make their graphic organizer on inspiration, save it as a PDF file and then email it to me. This would fit right in with class as students are usually given a lot of time to work on the pre-writing portion of their essays.

These are the technology standards for students.


 * Technology Operations and Concepts**
 * ||  || Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students: ||


 * a. ||  || understand and use technology systems. ||


 * b. ||  || select and use applications effectively and productively. ||


 * c. ||  || troubleshoot systems and applications. ||


 * d. ||  || transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies ||   ||   ||

These are some technology standards for teachers. Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
 * Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**
 * a. || promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. ||
 * b. || engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. ||
 * d. || model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. ||

6/19/09 Audacity would be a useful tool to use with my Fiction unit. My students are usually required to create a PowerPoint on the sated and implied themes in __Business at Eleven__ and __The Drive in Movies__. They could use audacity to add voice over to their presentations. The audio could be explanations of the information found in the slides. The students would have the benefit of knowing how to use and apply the audacity tool. It would be a chance for them to experiment with a less familiar form of media than power point or word. They can use audacity to also add relevant music to play over their slides. This is particularly useful because it allows students to make and assignment their own. It also gives them the opportunity to create something new. More than anything else this is a valuable tool to use with my inclusion students. Those who are classified as learning disabled or visually impaired can use audacity as an alternative method of assessment. They can record their theme analysis orally and present oral representations rather than visual ones. This way everyone gets to interact with the technology and still cover the standards.
 * Audacity. **

Creativity and Innovation
 * These are the technology standards for students**.
 * ||  || Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: ||


 * a. ||  || apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. ||


 * b. ||  || create original works as a means of personal or group expression ||   ||   ||
 * Technology Operations and Concepts**
 * ||  || Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students: ||

a. || understand and use technology systems. ||
 * b. ||  || select and use applications effectively and productively. ||


 * These are the technology standards for teachers**.


 * Model Digital-Age Work and Learning**

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
 * a. ||  || demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. ||


 * b. ||  || collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. ||

6/18/09 **MS Publisher.**

My students could use publisher to segue into a larger discussion about narrative point of view in the Fiction Unit. They could create brochures, newsletters or pamphlets in publisher and save them. They could the upload these documents and post them on a class wiki. The students would then be required to examine each others publisher document and write comments about the narrative point of view. They would identify the point of view, give examples that prove the narrative point of view and make their own comments about the authors' writing style. This activity would not be for assessment but rather for the students to get a chance to show their creativity with publisher, show their knowledge of narrative point of view and make informed comments about the style of writing selected by their classmates. As the teacher my responsibly would be to read the individual wikis and write responses back to the students about the accuracy and quality contained in their posts. It would also be my responsibility to get students familiar with the publisher tool. I also would allow students to practice in the computer lab and media center to use the class wiki page. They would be taught how to upload documents to the wiki page. In other words the foundation for students to be successful in this activity would be laid well before they are asked to carry it out. There might be the limitation of how easily students can access the technology on their own but this would be treated as an in-class assignment.

These are the technology standards for students.
 * Communication and Collaboration**

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ||
 * b. ||  || communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. ||


 * c. ||  || develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. ||


 * d. ||  || contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. ||   ||   ||

These are the technology standards for teachers that are addressed


 * 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity**

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
 * a. || promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. ||
 * b. || engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. ||
 * c. || promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. ||
 * d. || model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. ||

6/17/09 <span style="color: rgb(0,0,255);">**Eyespot** I can see how I could use eyespot as an assessment tool for my Fiction unit. The students could focus their eyespot videos particularly on the topic characterization. This would be an ongoing project lasting one quarter. The students would start working on it at the beginning of the unit to give them time to get familiar with the software and to figure out what character traits they want to depict. Students would be encouraged to take notes on character traits. The Classes would have to have rich discussions on characterization. They could also start in class to brainstorm ways in which they could use songs and role playing to depict character traits. Students would be introduced to eyespot early in the unit. This means that they would have to go to the computer lab and play with the software. Then they could start creating their videos at home or in the school’s Media Center. I would ask my students to select a character from a novel or story that we are studying. As we discuss character traits and character depictions, the students would be expected to start thinking about how they could create videos that depict the traits that their chosen character depicts. They could the use the eyespot tool to upload these videos or it could be parts of videos. Then they can add music or parts of songs to their tape/mixed tapes. These songs should all be relevant to their character’s depiction. I would need to create an eyespot blog space where the students can blog about their own videos and also comment on the videos posted by others in their class. In order to make the blogs relevant I would have to create and post a rubric that guides what kind of comments I am looking for on the blogs. I would expect students to explain what they are depicting in their video and for others to respond to how well this is represented. The students can make their own decisions about when they blog and at what point they post their videos but there would be a due date by which everything would have to be posted. The students might be limited in their ability to access the technology needed to perform this task, therefore they will need to utilize the schools computer lab and Media Center. Those who have access to the technology at home can use the resources that they have available to them. I think that this method of assessment will allow students to have fun with the topic. They will better understand character traits as they will have to reflect on it, make it their own and create something new with it. It fits these technology standards.

These are the technology standards for students that are addressed.
 * ** Creativity and Innovation ** ||
 * || Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: ||
 * a || apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. ||
 * b. || create original works as a means of personal or group expression. ||
 * ** 2. ** || ** Communication and Collaboration ** ||
 * || a.Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: ||
 * || b.communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. ||
 * || c.contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. ||
 * || c.contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems. ||