Mobile Larning

Classroom 2.0 seems like a great resource for teachers, I have never heard of this site.  I am excited to be able to use this as a resource.  This site remind me of MACUL, but seems much easier to natigate.  This is going to be a great place to network with other teachers.  The site is very easy to navitgate and is also very appealing to the eye.  It just amazes me that there are so many awesome resources out there!

The next site that I explored was Poll Everywhere, this site allow you to create a survey that can be respond to via text message.  As a second and third grade teacher I can't see myself using this with my students, but I could with the staff.  Creating this poll was easy.  Since this was an exploration I replied to my own poll so I could see how it would work.  My response showed up immediatley!  I think that this tool could be a great resource to use for the  staff.

I would like to definitely try and use Classroom 2.0 in my but I am not sure about using Smart phones in the classroom to replace paper and pencil work completely.  I think that they could be a great tool to access for certain types of lesson but for the students to use everyday all day.  I would have to try it first and see how it went.  I think that it might work in the older grades better then in the lower grades.  I think that there is something to be said about learning to write using paper and pencil.  And not the kids could use a computer to type but using a SMART phone wouldn't even be typing if you ask me.
Currently we do have flip cameras in our district for student use so that could be something that I could try.  Sometimes it is hard to uses devices that either the district or you personally don't have because there is an added expensive.

Wicked Problem Project

The problem that I addressed was multiplication fact fluency.  Over the last several years I have noticed that the multiplication fact fluency in students has gotten decreasing worse.

The solution for my problem is to incorporate my SAMRT Board into math and allow my students to play interactive multiplication math games to help reinforce drill and practice. 

The technology that I have chosen to use is a SMART Board along with interactive websites to help my students practice their multiplication facts in class and get motivated to practice more outside of school.  Since I have been teaching there has always been a struggle to get my students to learn their multiplication facts.  They seem to be lacking the motivation to make the commitment to memorize their facts.  I have used every game, trick and strategy that I could possibly find but nothing really seems to help the students that are slightly unmotivated or those who do not have a lot of support at home.  In the research that I have done there isn’t really a quick or easy way to learn multiplication facts except for drill and practice.  When given all of the strategies and tricks for understanding them the only thing left to do it memorize.  Since I fully believe that kids learn in different ways this will allow for students to practice their facts in a more hands on way.  The interactive games  allowed them to be involved and required the students to  move, which a lot of students need.  It helps to keep the students more interested and motivated.

       The technology that I am using will make the content more accessible to the students by driving their motivation to practice more on their own outside of school. What I have found in using the SMART Board to reinforce learning is that students like to be successful when they are playing another student.  It is also motivating for the other students to watch because they then want to be the one who is up there getting to play the game.  This will also allow for the student to get addition practice that they normally would not have had the opportunity to be a part of.  I will also make a list of the websites to send home with the students so they can have some different ways of practicing at home as well.  Since I gave my students the technology survey I now know that they all have computers with internet access.  This will help to let they parents know how successful their children are.  My hope is that after completing this project I will be able to help other teachers who are also having this problem with their students.

       This project was designed so that students will have the opportunity to practice their multiplication facts in a different, more exciting way.  This has given them more motivation and they are excited about playing a math game.   Since this is a skill that all student need to be able to do fluently, to help them in further math classes and as a skill that is used in everyday life.  My overall goal for my students is that they will be able to increase their mad minute score by at least 5 problems in a minute and be more confident as mathematicians.  I believe that this will help them to become more motivated learners and want to practice their multiplication math facts more!

To view my project click on the link below:

http://www.msu.edu/~drozdowi/wickedproblem.swf

Group Leadership Project

For this project our group decided to use several different tools to present our PD tutorial on Publisher.  We used Jing to show a screen capture and also to record our voices.  We also used Camtasia to do the voice over and screen capture on our final product.  We could not use Jing because it only allows you to record for 5 minutes in a session and we need more than that.  The other group members used Celtx to create the story board. From what I could see it seemed like a good tool.  I would like to investigate it more in the future.

During the development of the final project I learned how to use many new tools.  I got a chance to experiment with Vyew for the first time, which allowed our group to conference.  Through Jing and Camptasia we were able to record screens and voices.  It also opened my eyes to the fact that it is easier than I thought to help your peers and co-workers to incorporate technology into their own classroom.  When you are able to create a tutorial similar to ours it makes teaching and sharing much easier and able to reach more people.

If I had to develop a similar product again I think that our group could have spent less time on the story board.  I think it is good to have a script but I think that the story board was a little too much.  One part that I really like was creating the screen captures for the tutorial, once you got started they were quick and easy to do!

Here is the link to our final project.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DruNzzLPKPc

Personal Learning Reflection

In reflecting back at  where I started in the fall with CEP 810 I can’t believe how much I have learned in just a few short months.  I must say that I am surprised at how much easier the work became during the last 2 courses.  Now, that isn’t because I thought the assignments were easier,  it was because I felt more confident as a learner with technology.  The biggest change that I have noticed in myself is the confidence that I now have in regards to technology.  I use to be afraid to try new things and now it excites me, I have to tools and the motivation to figure things out.   Not only have these courses benefited me as an educator but also personally.  I found a new excitement in my career and it excites me to be able to work with my students as well as my peers and co-workers.   There are so many new tools that I now have to use in my teaching, planning and personally.

One of the goals that I set for myself back in the fall was that I wanted to reach out and share what I had learned with my peers and co-workers.  I have begun to branch out and start talking with my co-workers about the great things we have learned about and offered to share things with with them.   What I am noticing is that a lot of people feel the way that I use to, scared and intimidated by technology.   The media teacher and I have talked about doing some professional development for our staff to present some of the useful tools to them.

Another goal that I had for myself was incorporating the SMART Board more in to the everyday curriculum which I have been very successful with.  When I first started the school year I basically used the SMART Board as a glorified overhead projector.  Because I haven’t had any training I had no idea what the SMART Board could actually do and I was too intimidated to try.  Through several projects and my own curiosity I am now using the SMART Board to make my lessons more interactive and to help motivate my students through games that support what we are learning.  One example of how I used the SMART Board for a math lesson to teach fractions.  I had the students come up to the SMART board and shade in the fraction that was being represented.  Another option that the SMART Board offers that I just recently learned about was the option to print the lessons and documents that have been created.  This is a great option for students who need assistance with writing or for students that are absent or out the class.

Using my blog has become a lot easier for me as well.  Possibly next year, I would like to start a classroom blog to communicate with parents.  When we first started to use our blogs I wasn’t crazy about blogging to say the least.  I couldn’t wait to be done with CEP so I didn’t have to blog anymore.  Fortunately, I don’t feel that way anymore.  I have seen how valuable it can be in a classroom

There has been a multitude of lessons and tools that we have been introduced to that have really gotten me thinking about the how and why technology is important and how it can reach all types of learners.

My goal after this certification is complete is to make technology part of my everyday classroom routine.  By using what I have learned and by explores new things on my own.  Now that I have a taste of what it can do I don’t think I will ever go back to teaching without it.  It definitely benefits everyone involved.

Part D:Findings and Implications

Whenever you get a new, great idea I think that you always have high hopes and big dreams for implementation.  I tend to think that I will be able to accomplish more than I am actually able to get done.   I never take into consideration the everyday events that come up that will set you back.  Given that we had a short time to create and implement our wicked projects I feel that the timeline was already short.  I would have liked to start my plan a little bit sooner purely for the fact that we didn’t have a lot of time.  On top of that our district had a week off for spring break so that was less time that I had to implement my plan with my students.

Unfortunately I will not be able to really measure the success of my plan for several more weeks.  We had only been using the SMART Board for a very short time due to our break and I feel that my students need more time for me to really see the growth that I anticipate.  I did see a lot of motivation and excited in the kids, which was exciting for me because I had really hoped for that.

I really like the idea that this project presents.  The steps that I have taken are steps that I would definitely use again to approach other problems that we are faced with in education.  There are so many possibilities that and problems that you could possibly and address and try and fix.  The possibilities are endless especially with all of the new technologies that I have learned about.

The advice that I would have for others is to allow for amply time to completion.  Especially if you are looking for long term, lasting effects you need to allow plenty of time to complete the entire process.  Also I think that before you even start to implement your project it needs to be very well thought out.

For other teacher embarking on this journey I would make sure that you have concrete data to compare your results to.  And also know that because multiplication facts are a drill and practice skill it does take time to see the growth.  On top of using the SMART Board to help reinforce the facts it is important to the teacher to teach the other strategies for learning multiplication.

 

Part C - Implementation

https://netfiles.msu.edu/?path=/afs/msu/user/d/r/drozdowi/web/wickedproblemc_0.mp3

http://www.msu.edu/~drozdowi/wickedproblemc.mp3

Part B Storyboard and Script

Our storyboard: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AbgD1TeExDUBZGNtZzM2c3JfMGNzc240N2ho&hl=en

Our script:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NWWsVsGK8ZbWqBTv_5BRFcSmevzA1h0K_41IRUS0VXc/edit?hl=en

Above I have listed the links to our storyboard and script.  Kellie and Chessi worked on the script and storyboard.   We all communicated back and forth to make sure that we were including the correct parts into the script and storyboard.  Jodi and I worked together to record the tutorials.  At first, we thought that we would use a video camera and do an actual video of ourselves showing how to use publisher.  As we began to set this up we were finding that our camera could not get a clear picture so we decided to do a screen capture using Jing.  We couldn’t believe how easy is it was to do the screen capture.   If only converting the files would have been that easy.  With the help of our media specialist Jodi and I were successful able to get the tutorials converted and loaded properly onto the Prezi.  We will all be working to make sure that the final project is successfully done.