Chapter 9 Visualizing with Technologies

In this chapter it talks about technologies that help people visualize what they are thinking when they don't have much artistic ability. It focuses on five types of visualization tools: scientific, mathematical, digital cameras/phones, video and video modeling feedback. For the science part I can really see how this can help students. For example when models are created to represent things that can't normally me seen or when they are created for space concepts, such as my Scratch model of the moon phases. these visualizations are very important to teach concepts that can not physically be held in your hand. The book mentions that students learn a lot more when they are involved hands on with creating the models. Creating maps is another tool that is helpful for students to visualize the learning process. There are many sites that the book lists that are helpful for creating maps. Google Earth is a cool tool that is mentioned that I have used before. Google maps is another thing that I use often when I am going somewhere. I like most of the tools that Google offered. They are pretty user friendly and I think that students would not have much trouble using these tools to explore. I think that Mathematical tools are very important for students to visualize as well. Technology tools have helped me understand math, especially geometrical shapes and planes. I am sure that many students will benefit from the ideas mentioned in the book about using technology as manipulatives for math to make the learning more meaningful to them. I had never thought before of the graphing calculators as really being a helpful tool, but I did use mine often to visualize the graphical information in my textbooks. My favorite topic from this chapter is the visualization with digital cameras and mobile phones. These are probably the ones that I am most familiar with since I am always taking pictures and sending them either from my phone or by uploading them and emailing them to people mostly family. I know for a fact that video is fun for children and easy for them to create. My son has a camcorder and he makes the funniest videos all of the time. I need to teach him how to edit them and create title pages and such like I did for my digital booktalk. That was fairly easy and I am sure that students will love watching themselves on screen. This chapter has taught me much more than what I already knew about visualizing with technology. I will definitely use these techniques in my future classroom since I know from experience that students love using these tools and that they keep them engaged and assist with their learning.

Exit Slip for March 25th

Ø First we checked our delicious accounts to see if we are on track for the class requirements at this point we should have 60 bookmarks to be on track. One way to build your account is to check out your classmate’s accounts.

Ø Then Jeff asked us to take a look at the “feed bag” on the class website. It contains many articles that are useful for you to put in your delicious accounts. Some articles could be useful for our inquiry projects and worth look at. He will post information that is useful to teaching and technology.

Ø We reviewed who needed to do digital autobiographies, cool tools and contemporary issues presentations. Then we reviewed the podcast assignment briefly before introducing Carlee and Erica who are teaching Chapter 8.

Ø For Chapter 8 they taught that students should learn by designing. They shared a few sites for students to use to learn how to design. Designing allows for students to be challenged and for them to create projects that they are going to be able to do and will learn the concepts that are involved in the process. Some of the new programs that are available allow students to design a product and test it before actually building the project in real life. They shared the site www.http://algobeautytreb.com that allows students to build a simulation of a trebuchet. This will let students play around with settings on their models before finding the best design for their project. They discussed the progression of this technology from the logo to microworlds. Next they discussed constructionism and the Scratch website http://scratch.mit.edu and iStopMotion. Scratch we have already used and probably are fairly familiar with this program. The other iStopMotion is similar to the one we are going to use that involves taking multiple pictures frame by frame and then putting them together as a finished project. iStopMotion is not a free program. Designing music was another aspect discussed. GarageBand and Impromptu. These are fairly easy to produce with children. Studies have been shown that this tool does help students create music on their own. One program available for younger students was http://creatingmusic.com. They discussed that designing tools are meaningful learning and teachers should use these tools in their classrooms. Then we explored different simulations for bridges, science simulation, gizmo and design your own garden. Class shared feedback with the presenters.

Ø For the cool tools presentations Tiffany shared the website Symbaloo http://symbaloo.com/us/ which is a search engine tool/bookmarking tool. It creates a full page that can be used for specific websites and tools for in the classroom. A very good tool for organizing websites. Netvibes and igoogle are other similar tools that Jeff mentioned.

Ø Contemporary issues presentations that were conducted today were by Rachel who shared information about a paperless classroom. Her article referred to a teacher using PDA’s for students for their work and then they upload them to her. This saves time and is useful for ELL students since formats can be changed to other languages like Spanish. Loren was next and she discussed video games and how they can be incorporated into the classrooms to prepare students for state tests. Kathleen went last and she discussed China’s recent decision by Google to lift censorship.

Ø Jeff discussed the features of GarageBand and how to create a podcast using this program. It is only available on a Mac computer. This program is different than the Audacity one discussed last week since it has preloaded music and sound effects. Many of the features are easier to operate in GarageBand. Then he showed us how to save the files into mp3 files. Resources are listed on the agenda page for tutorials on these tools.

Ø We went over the homework that is on the agenda.

Ø After that we went over the stop-motion animations and the expectations for this project. We discussed it in our individual groups.

Ø Last we discussed posting our exit slips to our learning logs.

Chapter 8 Designing with Technologies

From reading this chapter I have realized that there are many different design programs available for students to use in class. I have only had experience with a couple of design programs, scratch being one of them. My Dad use to have a cabinet shop and I would help him work on a design program that he had for Kitchen layouts. I remember it being really helpful for his clients to visualize what they wanted on a screen and then be able to change things that they see would not work for them. He told me that it was much better than his two dimensional drawings that he had previously done for clients. I really liked the one about creating the trebuchet.I haven't tried it yet, but I am wanting to create one and see how it will work. I wish they would have given us a chance do these fun types of programs when I was in school (though it was so long ago we didn't even have the internet at school or home). I really liked the scratch program that we have already used in class. It really took me a long time to find out how to manipulate my sprites, but when I figured it out I could make it do what ever I wanted it to do. I want to incorporate designing tools into my classroom in the future. One reason is because they are very engaging for students and they can learn skills that can transfer over to building actual models like the book mentions being done with the trebuchet model. I want to teach Kindergarten or first grade but I still feel that if I can find the right design program it can be incorporated and modified for young students. They can catch on to things pretty fast. I know from experience that my chidren have been able to play games on the computer and video games quite well even without being able to read. Actually I think that the game zelda for the gameboy helped my oldest one learn to read. He would constantly ask me what the game was telling him to do, so I told him that he needed to try and sound out the words on the screen.

March 18tth Exit Slip

Today we talked about the impact that technology has on young children. Jeff talked about how his daughter at the age of one is definitely interested in technology and knows that when you take a picture with a camera that you can see your picture on the back of it. I know exactly what he was talking about because every time i used to see my boys doing something cute I would pull out the camcorder and they would freeze and stop what they were doing. I liked the epals site that Kathleen talked about in her chapter review. I like that it gives you an option to connect to classrooms around the world. There is also a place to post your classroom grade and topic for other classrooms that are working on the same topic can see you and form a relationship between the two classrooms together through discussions. I like the video conferencing topic too that was discussed. The suggestion of having a children author to skype into the classroom and discuss how they wrote the book with your classroom.

Like
video conferencing- some are free, fun for students to interact with others around the world
podcast and radio- students can record info to share with others with the class
instant messaging- instant answers and communication
social networking sites- fun and interactive and students love them
discussion boards- easier to formulate a thought since you have time to respond

Dislike
video conferencing- some are very expensive and you need to take the time to learn the tool
podcast and radio- could be a little unsafe and it is possible for them to find inappropriate information
instant messaging- hard to govern
social networking sites- harder to regulate conversations that are on task
discussion boards- not real interactive

Weather we would use these tools: I like the majority of these tools and would like to figure out a way to incorporate them into my future classrooms. Some I am a little unfamiliar with and would like to learn more before I state exactly weather I would use them or not. According to the discussion in class I think that the majority of these tools are easily incorporated into the classroom with a little practice and planning.

Learning more about our podcast assignments was very helpful. I think that it is going to fairly east to use the audacity tool to make a podcast. I look forward to exploring this tool when I get home and see what I can create.

Ch. 7 Communicating with Technologies

Chapter 7 talks about the growing use of the internet for communication. The chapter discusses that the internet has made many things possible such as online classrooms. I will definitely agree that I probably would not be where I am right now if it was not possible for me to take classes online. My only reason in choosing to go back to school and not find a job was the option to take many of my classes online or early enough in the day that I could be home for my children when they get home from school. Another reason that I wanted online classes was because I live 45 minutes away from the nearest college. This form of communication has enriched my life as I know it has for many students that want to further their education. Chapter 7 also discusses the importance of online discussion boards. I have had to make many online discussion posts since I have been taking classes. Though I see the use of them for online classes, I feel that when I have a class on campus and still need to post online that it is not as helpful to me. I feel that many of the topics that we are required to discuss can easily be done in class without me needing to keep track of how many posts I made and if or if not I responded the correct amount of times. I can see how these discussions can be beneficial, but I feel like it is not always helpful to me. On the other hand, I do feel like using instant messaging helps me. I must be the type that wants instant replies. When you told us about the Google docs that was an awesome tool. Marissa and I needed to work on a lesson plan for a class and we uploaded it to Google docs and both of us were on IM and discussing what we wanted to change in the lesson. It really worked out great. I also IM my friends and family that I see online from time to time. I think that these types of technologies could be useful in a classroom to extend your class discussions. I just feel that if I was to use these that I would need to find a safe site that I can set guidelines on and monitor the discussions for meaningful learning taking place. Our class would be great since you can only get into the discussions if you are a student in the class and there are guidelines on what the topics are for the discussions.

Ch 6 Reflection Commuity Building with Technology

I agree with the authors of our textbook that technology has definitely changed the way that people communicate. From my personal experience, I have family that is all over this country and being able to send a text or an email to tell them something is really nice. I know that I am more likely to do one of those things instead of calling because of time zone differences and not knowing when people are at work or home. That way they still get my message when it is convenient for them. I felt like the chapter talked a lot about the things we have already learned in class such as the wiki’s and blogs and how they can be used in a classroom setting. I like the idea that was mentioned about having a class wiki like the one about the Holocaust. This seems like it would be a lot of fun for the students as well as educational. They would need to so some type of research to make their adventure as realistic as possible and other students could edit and alter it since it is a wiki. This reading has shown me that there are many ways that teachers can incorporate different technologies into their teaching. The idea that blogs could be used to assess student’s understandings of the context that was mentioned is exactly what we are doing here. I really think that this would be beneficial to use in a classroom with older students. I plan on teaching the early elementary grades so I am not real sure as to how I would incorporate a blog into that. But I think that first or second graders would love to have a story wiki where they could go in and change the story like was mentioned in the chapter. The global schoolhouse sounds like an interesting thing. I read an article for our science class that was on the same lines as what was mentioned. The students in the article kept a log of the moon phases every day and shared them with students around the world. They were able to learn the different ways the moon was represented in other cultures. This is learning that they would have probably not had otherwise if it wasn’t for the internet and an educational online community to share their thoughts with. I want to use as much technology as I can in my future classrooms; I feel that it keeps students interested in the learning process and more involved.