Reflection on Creating the Final Project

It was great to be able to collaborate with team members in creating our final project. It was also very helpful using project models from UBD. The UBD model helped us stay focused on the essential questions and enduring understandings rather than focusing on the technological aspects of the product; the student designed glogs. We still have to do some fine-tuning of the project but the overall frame work of the project is sound. Our next steps will be to find appropriate mentor texst to use with the Social Issues reading genre activities. We also need to learn more about how to effectively use, and then teach the students, the glogs features as an effective communication tool showcase their thoughts and their work. One feature that we are excited about is that we can keep the students in-house so that we can monitor appropriate feedback. It also has a feature in which the blogs can be rated on a 1-4 star system. We will be able use this feature to have the students rate each others projects in addition to the rubric which we will use to evaluate their work.

Project Sketch

Members from the Grade 5 team will be working together on this project. Member's include: t Diane, Robin, myself, and our grade level tech guru Chrissy (thank goodness). Our project will relate to a major 5th grade goal of helping students build their literacy skills.

Our project will address the Technology Standards (NETS•S) and Performance Indicators for Students

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.

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.

We will be uing a a tool called Glogster in an effort to met the requirements of the standards above. Student's will make a glog (interactive poster with links) to express their ideas about what they are reading. It will also help students understand Digial Citizenship.

Letting Go

Are teachers ready to let their students use their own technology, such as cell phones, in the classroom? Students are certainly willing and excited about using these tools more freely. Tools such as I-pods and cell phones can bring big benefits if used correctly. What concerns me, and many other educators, is that these devices can also be disruptive and not meet the desired educational goals. So how can we use technology in the classroom and get positive results. Nathan Kerr, a school teacher in New Zealand encourages his students to use their mobile phones in class. They often capture video of the key lecture points of his geography class and use it for future review before tests. His students became excited about using the technology and started producing and scripting their own educational movies. In fact, Nathan was awarded a scholarship from Microsoft, and won an award of Innovative Teacher of the Year in NZ. How else can we use cell phones in class?: connect with an expert, use the calculator, use the memo or calendar as a personal planner, take photos of experiments. I'm sure the list goes on. What I would like to see is a more comprehensive list of uses and strategies of how to sucessfully use the tools in class. It is not because I am not willing to explore and take risks, it's because I value the limited time I have with my students in which a wide variety of subjects and objectives must be taught. At our school, technology is already a part of our students'everyday school life. We frequently use the smartboard, computers, and video. Thumb drives are already part of our standard 5th grade supply bag. It will probably not be long before mp3 players are also standard equipment. So the question is not if these types of tools will be used in the class, the question is will teachers be prepared and willing to use them effectively?

Brave New World Order-Implications

What is on the Horizon? Or better yet, what is on the Horizon Report? I found our F2F session on Wednesday very interesting and somewhat scary. The "Elevator" pitches were very interesting. The years between now and 3 years in the future does not concern me, and many of the tools and applications such as Cloud Computing, and Geo Everything is already here (or quickly merging into our lives). What scares me is the Big Brother aspect of this technology which no one seemed to address. What happened to personal privacy? Did the people get any say on this? If your digital camera, and cell phone will always know you location it's quite conceivable that others (perhaps with a less that honorable agenda) will have access to this information. The personal web is an interesting concept, but I still don't completely understand it. Isn't Google already doing some of this by scanning our emails and using key words to place advertisements? Semantic-Aware Applications sounds great, but there will always be room for error. I once heard that the boys and girls at google want computers to perform like they did on the old Star Trek Episodes... "Computer", "Working"....Just ask it a question and you will receive the answer. I think smart objects are already emerging-for example our school ID/Lunch (smartcard). I remember reading Bill Gates' book The Road Ahead, an how he talked about this type of technology. In fact I believe he designed a "smart house" that will monitor and adjust it's own envirnment (lighting, music, art work) based upon where guests are located in the house (scaning their preferences from the smartcard in their possession). What I do not want is for everyone in the world to be "chipped" with RFID. Technology....tool to make life easier and more meaningful? Or are we inviting Big Brother to solve our problems and control us? I know that there has to be a balance between security and personal freedom, but in an idealistic world, it would be great if we could use technology to unite people rather than building invisible walls. Sometimes I love technology. At other times, it scares me and I want to move to the mountains and be completely disconnected from anything relating to today's current digital technology. No cell phones, no emails, no hastles; just a fishing rod, book, and cold drink. I wonder how others feel about what is On the Horizon?

The Psych Files

Looking for One-Stop Shopping? Here is a site for you: The Psych Files . Easy to navigate and has what you want and need: Blog, RSS feeds, Podcasts, and Videos. This site has everything a teacher, parent, or student could want. Want to learn the names of different parts of the brain? Click on:


Or how about information specifically for teachers:Unfortunately, some of the material is "for sale" on this site, but there is still plenty of free and interesting information such as: Can video games be educational?....and how "good" video games are similar to "good" teachers. Happy surfing.

Noun to Verb-"Bloom Revised"

What is in a name? New Bloom and the Revised Bloom was the topic of Andrew Churches' article: Bloom Taxonomy, Bloom's Digitally. When you compare the two side by side it is easy to see that they are not dramatically different. The 4 LOTS, Lower Order Thinking Skills, are very similiar. However, the HOTS, Higher Order Thinking Skills, are slightly rearranged. Where does the "revised Bloom's"come from? In the 1990's, a former student of Bloom, Lorin Anderson, revised Bloom's Taxonomy and published it in 2001. It now uses verbs rather than nouns for each of the categories. What does this look like in the digital world? You can visit the educational origami blog for more reading. This model from that blog helped me understand it better (I guess I'm still in the LOTS realm :)

I like the fact that examples related to technology are included in this model. However, I was a bit surprised to see filming, blogging and podcasting as examples at the highest level. We all know that there are "LOTS" -pun intended, of YouTube videos that have no merit and never should have been "created". However, I suppose like all projects a rubric or critical analysis of any project will help determine it's true merit.

$10 Laptop

I recently read a blog posted by Scott McLeod titled “A $10 laptop?”   Obviously the title caught my eye.  I was thinking… 10 bucks for a laptop?!  There’s got to be a catch!   Apparently India is on a mission to create a $10 laptop that will have 2 GB of RAM, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi.  India’s National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology wants to expand digital literacy, create wireless access to rural areas, and provide free or low-cost access to online content.  Wow, they are setting the bar high!  Unfortunately at this time it is not possible for them to design such a computer at such a low cost.  However, the thing that really grabbed my interest and made me reflect was the fact India is making an effort to promote digital literacy to Everyone, .  What a paradigm shift!   Can you imagine someone living in a rural area suddenly having access to such a wealth of information? Of course there are huge logistics to overcome (I read somewhere else that the Wi-Fi maybe provided via busses traveling through certain areas-thus the connections would be intermittent. But the sudden introduction of technology to a group of people reminds me of how some people living in 3rd world and developing countries have gone from never having a phone (landline), to suddenly having and using a mobile phone.  It makes me doubt that there is a hierarchy of tech skills that we need to know in order to use tools of the future.  For example, I never learned how to effectively use MS DOS, but I feel rather proficient with basic word processing skills and tools.  Fortunately the engineers, code writers, etc. are making technology tools more user friendly for the masses (especially Mac in my opinion).  However, it is important to remember that even though a tool can be easy to use, it is far more important on how the tool is being used.  That is the reason why digital literacy skills (i.e. accessing and using information with a critical eyes) are a necessary and crucial step in empowering people with today’s technology.  After all a child can do a lot of damage with a hammer, but a carpenter can create a masterpiece.  

Tech Classes

What I hope to get out of this course?

I want to learn more about how to effectively integrate technology tools in the classroom. I also want to make sure that using certain technologies will be meaningful for the students.

1. My thoughts on Personal Learning Networks:
I found the Skype-cast with Clearance Fisher very interesting. I like the fact that he shared a few examples of projects that his students have worked on in his classes. I also appreciated his honesty that not all assignments/projects have been successful. Perhaps the fear of failure, the fear of learning new technology tools, and the fear of releasing a certain amount of control to our students inhibits many teachers from trying such networking (hub) projects. I can make a personal connection to these feelings when my students participated in a Ning book club last school year. Although I loved the idea of my students networking with other students from around the world, I felt frustrated about the technology tools and "class management" of this project. These frustrations included the amount of lost time due to technology problems, the screening student posts, commenting on posts, and managing club participants ( I had difficulty with deciding who can participate when I have no idea if the student will add or distract from the project). Overall I felt the project was not worth the time/effort involved for both my students (who wasted a lot of time posting their thoughts), and my own time. However, I'm not completely opposed to trying a similar projects in the future once I've learned more about how to effectively implement technology into the curriculum. I also liked how Clearence said, "The teacher is no longer the source of all knowledge". Students can learn so much from each other, and today's digital native children have come to expect immediate feedback and opportunities to interact with their peers rather than sit passively as the teacher pours knowledge into their minds.


2. How do we address truth and bias in the classroom?
Chris Betcher provided some gems in his Skye cast that I will immediately use in my own class room. Primaraly the information he provided about how to narrow google searches will be very helpful. I will now be using google for educations, and the google advanced search engine. I also learned that the advanced search feature can allow you to search for certain types of files (and that Shockwave files are great for Smarboard lessons). I also liked the interactive aspect of Chis' presentation. It allowed us to try our hand at narrowing on google searches. I think my students would also enjoy (and learn a lot) by participating in such web scavenger hunts. The hoax websites were also fun and can be used to help students be more discerning about the information/misinformation that is on the web. The conversations about Wiki was also interesting. I feel more comfortable about using it in my class. To paraphrase one of our classmates: It can be used as a first source, but not as the only source. I also enjoying learning about how the history of a wiki article can be viewed. It's amazing how quickly an article on wiki can evolve. I also like the fact that if someone were to maliciously erase the latest post, it can be easily restored by searching and re posting a version from the history. Although I had recently learned the difference between .com, ,gov, .ac, etc. sites, it was still a helpful reminder. My question about Chris' presentation is: At what age/grade level are students ready and capable to critically evaluate the validity of a website?