7 PowerPoints and Presentations

I didn’t know much about Bloom’s Taxonomy before this blog. It has six learning domains: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. For the remembering domain, I could make one of my slides of the PowerPoint have basic facts that the students already have learned about the topic. This would help refresh their memory without overwhelming them with a bunch of new information. Next is understanding, so I could have them explain ideas or concepts in their own words. This would show me if they really understand the topic or not. The next domain is applying. To cover this in the PowerPoint, I would give an example on how the topic applies to the real world. I could then have the students come up with their own example. For the analyzing domain, I would have the students examine the new topic. There could be a slide explaining different concepts of the topic for students to analyze. For the evaluating domain, I would have a slide with the pros and cons of the topic. This includes weaknesses, advantages, comparing, and contrasting. For the last domain, creating, I would dedicate a slide directing students to create their own ideas about this topic. This includes projects, essays, etc.

According to chapter 4, one example of adaptive learning technology is talking spell-checkers. This supports learners because it reads aloud the misspelled word and then suggests a list or correctly spelled words for the student to choose from. This will help the student learn that they misspelled a word and learn the correct spelling. Recorded books are another example. This technology supports the students to learn and comprehend books better by hearing them than by listening. I have used recorded books in the past in classes. One challenge with using this is that not all students learn better by listening to the book. I personally found it difficult to understand the book when it was a voice recording, so this method didn’t work well for me.

This week’s assignment helped me learn how to make a class website. This will be very useful in my career because it will allow me to post assignments, announcements, and other information for parents and students. I like that this website allows a central location for students to find information. The only downside is the URL may be difficult for parents/students to remember. They also would have to type the URL in exactly to access the website. Next time I would add more photos into my website to make it more visually appealing for viewers. I’d also add more links to assignments for students.

Bullet point alternatives

I this presentation will be very helpful for students because many don't know how to stray away from regular bullet points. This presentation is a good and visual example on how people can change the way they structure bullet points in their presentations.

13 Alternatives to Using Bullet Points in Presentations from Melissa Milloway, MSIT

6 Class websites and technologies

The school website I visited was John G. Riley Elementary School.  One of the tabs in this website links the viewer to all the different class websites.  The list is organized by the teachers’ last names which makes it very easy for parents and students to find.  Without signing in, you can’t see the information provided in these teacher websites.  However, students and parents are able to find information about the teacher, assignments, important documents, etc. on these class websites which can be very useful.  It doesn’t show what grade the teachers teach publically.  (http://www.leonschools.net/Page/2620)

Technology will be a big part in my classroom.  I will utilize it for grading, assignments, and delivering information.  I think Twitter will be a good tool for my classroom.  According to the podcast, it is a less intrusive way to communicate with an audience than email.  This will be helpful for reminders, important dates, and other relative classroom information.  Also, chapter 7 discusses electronic spreadsheets.  These spreadsheets allow you to organize, input, edit, and chart data and produce accurate reports for administrative tasks.  This will help save me time as a teacher from doing lots of paper work.  This way I will be able to spend more time on my students.

I learned much more about google sites and gmail through the Web Resource Evaluation assignment.  I really like that we can use google sites to collaborate with others and share our ideas.  However, it was a little difficult using the site because only one person could edit each page at a time.  This was especially difficult when we were in class working on the group paper and only one person could go on at a time.  This made the process a little inefficient.  Also, students could risk overwriting each other's work if they accidentally are editing the site at the same time.  I could use this for several different things in my future classroom; it could even be made into a classroom website.

5 Students creating websites

There are several different types of Web 2.0 tools including Twitter, blogs, Wiki, and YouTube.  I find Twitter to be useful in the classroom because students and teachers can follow various accounts that relate to what they are learning in class.  They may even be able to interact with famous public figures online.  I also think blogging is a good tool to use because it serves as a publishing platform for students’ work.  Blogs allow for students to receive feedback on their ideas and writing while teachers are able to monitor their activity to protect their safety.  Although YouTube is helpful in sharing relative videos in class, it does not engage students in Web 2.0 tools as much as other tools do.  Therefore, I do not think of YouTube as a useful Web 2.0 tool in the classroom.  I will need computer monitors in my classroom in order for students to work on their websites during class.  I think it would be better for the students to work on actual computer monitors rather than laptops for this assignment because they will have more control while using a mouse (pg. 94-95).

One example of a Web 2.0 tool that can be used in the classroom is Weebly.  This is a free site that allows a teacher or students to make a website or blog.  It is very quick and simple to make an account, you just provide your name, username, and password.  The site then brings you to a page where you can chose whether you want to make a site or a blog.  Afterwards, you are able to choose a theme for your site, and it provides a layout for you to easily create your site.  Once you chose your theme/layout, a box pops up and requires you to choose a domain or subdomain name. <http://www.weebly.com/weebly/onboarding.php>

Now comes the fun part.  Weebly offers so many different options on how to make your site.  Although the theme you chose already has a certain layout, you are easily able to move things around and reorganize them.  Weebly is a great option for teachers to make a class website.  I also believe that students would like to utilize this site.  The design of Weebly is very well done; therefore, students will most likely be able to easily navigate it and form their own sites. 

During the concept mapping assignment, I learned how to utilize websiration.  I have never used this site in the past.  Furthermore, I have never made a concept map online before.  I really enjoyed this assignment because I think concept maps can serve as an effective study guide for tests in class.  They help you comprehend the main points of a subject.  I think concept maps will be a useful tool in my future classroom, especially with elementary students because they are very simple.  In the future, I could maybe add some pictures to help give students a visual to help them remember the concepts.  I attached a screenshot of my concept map below.  

4 The internet and my future classroom

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/solid_liquids_fs.shtml

SC.2.P.8.3 Recognize that solids have a definite shape and that liquids and gases take the shape of their container.

Simulation

I would use this online simulation to give my students a visual representation of how a solid can change to a liquid and vice versa.  It also shows students what temperature is needed for the objects to be liquid or solid.  We would most likely not be able to do this type of experiment in class because it is too dangerous and second graders are too young to be dealing with that type of heat.  Therefore, the simulation is the best way to be able to show students how liquids and solids transform into each other when heat is added or taken away.

I think that the internet is very useful in student research because it is quick and simple.  It is extremely useful in finding the definition of vocab, finding facts about something, and starting research.  The internet provides the student with thousands of sites about each topic which can be incredibly useful while researching something.  However, not all these sites are valid.  The student needs to be sure the site they are using is credible and accurate before using it for their research. 

Throughout my past research experience, I have evaluated sites by asking myself several questions: (1) does the site have an author? (2) does site provide a date when it was published? (3) does it cite its sources? (4) what is the site’s domain (.edu and .gov are more credible than .com or .org)? (5) does the site have a good and organized design? My methods of research differ from those mentioned in the podcast because the podcast recommends open sources, which are free sources that are especially helpful for new teachers.

I learned several new skills while completing the Web Hunt assignment.  One of these new skills is finding a document that was published after a certain date.  You can also find a site published before a certain date by putting “before:” in your Google search.  Another skill I learned is how to exclude a site from my search.  All you have to do is put the sign, “-“, directly followed by the site you want to exclude and it will not show up in your search.  These skills will be very helpful in any future research I have to do in the future.

• Find a website that allows students to make and edit videos.
• Find a presentation software students can use for projects besides Prezi.