EXAMPLE POST FOR FINAL PROJECT

SUBTRACTING MIXED NUMBERS


When I watched Mrs. Farmer explain how to subtract fractions when the top fraction was big enough to take the bottom fraction away from it, it was easy for me. It was like regular subtraction only you don't subtract the denominators. You just keep the same denominator that you have in the problem.


When we had to subtract mixed numbers and the top fraction wasn't big enough to subtract the bottom fraction from it, I got confused. I didn't get it when Mrs. Farmer said you have to borrow from the whole number to make the top fraction bigger than the bottom fraction. I just don't get what she was doing with the pictures of the fraction sticks and breaking them apart and adding and all of that.


I do know how to make improper fractions from mixed numbers and that gives me a bigger fraction on top to subtract the bottom fraction from it. I will leave a screencast of me doing that method. What I don't understand now is how to change the answer. Mrs. Farmer says we can't leave it like that. What do I do with my answer to make it right?

Emerging Instructional Technologies

There were several “cool” things mentioned in this chapter as well as some disturbing ideas for the future use of technology.  I love the idea of the I-PULL where the student’s learning style is determined and the environment within which they will be taught is customized to their needs It was stated in the text that these intelligent tutoring systems get close to the one-on-one tutoring results. I wonder, however, how this will affect the teaching field if a program can replicate or replace a teacher. It wasn’t stated explicitly in the text that this would be the case, but it must be inferred that this is a distinct possibility—especially in light of today’s cash strapped state governments and the clash between unions and elected officials.

The advanced performance tracking or “body tracking” was one technology that I thought was very interesting. I was thinking of the other applications beyond becoming proficient in a particular sport and wondered how it would work with learning to play an instrument. What about the creation of art? Could such a technology help guide brush strokes properly or how to manipulate pieces of clay? How much more can people produce if they pair their minds with technology that speeds up their ability to learn new information and physical skills?

To me, life is about learning and creating and producing. If technology can aid us in that—without taking away, altering, or discriminate against  us for our own private thoughts, beliefs, and values—then I look forward to the future of technology. I also hope that the value and necessity of human contact and interaction is not somehow lost along the way. No matter how great a tutoring system may be, it can never replace a teacher’s smile, encouraging words, or admonitions in guiding them towards becoming positive members of our world.

FAVORITE HANDS-ON ACTIVITY

My favorite activity this semester was screencasting. I first heard about Jing and screencasting at the 2010 MACUL conference in Grand Rapids. It has been on my “got to learn how to work with” list since then, but with so much to do and keep up with in my day-to-day workload, I just never got around to it. This class forced me to pick it back up again and dive in, for which I am very grateful.

I think screencasting has the ability to duplicate myself in a way. It will take time to develop lessons and record them, but once the wheel is invented…Something I heard a presenter at this year’s MACUL conference say was that video has power to make teachers “rewindable”. This really struck me and has stayed with me. I have a flip cam and that will allow me to record mini lessons for students to go back to as needed or if they are absent, but with a tool like Jing, I can combine my document camera or my Mimio interactive white board and capture lessons that are presented that way, too. I don’t have to worry about the battery dying in the middle of a presentation or going back to upload it to my computer. 

Using Rich Media Wisely

Everything discussed in this chapter seemed to make a lot of sense to me and made me think a lot about how I instruct and provide information currently and how I need to in the future to better support learning for all of my students.

When the chapter discussed insignificant visuals and audio that did not support learning, I immediately thought of how I have seen Glogster used. Glogster is a web-based electronic poster that allows the user to include video, graphics, pictures, sound, and simple animations. To me it is the rich media of rich media! With all of the easy to use features and options, it is very tempting to overload it with “cute” pieces. I have seen others, as well as myself, in the past use background music and fluttering butterflies and swirling flowers on a glog thinking it would “engage” the user and attract their attention to the purpose of our glog. Now I realize that these items, while they may attract attention and ooh and aah the viewer, they do nothing to support learning and actually hinder learning.

On a more positive note, however, Glogster does have the potential to facilitate learning if used carefully. A Glog that features a collection of related sources for students to use is a good way to organize and direct learning for students. This would go along with the idea of providing scaffolding for the learner instead of just turning them lose to “discover” on their own. Videos can be embedded directly into the glog along with screenshots with narration and/or links that direct the student to locate other significant pieces of knowledge required to complete the learning process. This gives them a the guidance needed to discover in a constructive way.

Another thing that this chapter made me think of is the way I use “study guides” to instruct my students in math. I provide text, step-by-step instructions on how to work certain types of problems, and examples of problems each step of the way. I provide a lot of visual input for the learner, but these guides lack the narration. They hear me in class, but that is a one-time event.  If the student was absent, the narration is completely lacking.

If I were to use the same guides except make PowerPoints instead and use jing to add my own narration explaining as I go, this would be a much more powerful teaching tool. The slideshow can be embedded into a class website so that learners can go back to it time and time again.

A third idea that this chapter has given me goes along with previous thoughts regarding my study guides. I could take these a step further and build in some interactive parts to the guide. Students could be given a new problem at some point in the slideshow to work on their own. Once they complete the problem, they could continue on with the presentation and compare their thinking to the execution of the problem in the slideshow. This gives the visual and audio components and then provides a scaffold for learners in a sort of interactive way. This takes away some of the passiveness and causes the student to be more active in the learning process.

ONLINE APPLICATON REVIEWS

            GOOGLE DOCS

Google docs is a GREAT online tool for a variety of reasons. First of all, it provides all of the basic word processing tools that are very similar to Microsoft Word. This makes it very user friendly and intuitive. The most powerful aspect of Google Docs is that it can be shared with others that you invite to view your document. This makes it like a one page wiki space. The creator or owner of the document can set it so that others can only view it or edit it.

I recently used Google Docs when creating a grade level budget. It was difficult to get all six of the fifth-grade teachers together at one time to work on the budget, but I got it started and shared it with the others by adding in their email addresses and sending a quick note to their gmail accounts letting them know it was in their documents section of their account to add their thoughts to it. Once our time was up and it needed to be submitted to our principal so he could share it with the superintendent, I changed the edit option to view only so that changes could not be made by any of us once it had been approved. This allowed us to chip away at the task in the little segments of time we had and together created a document that met our principal’s requirements and gave us all an equal chance to have a say in the way funds would be spent for our grade level.

            PICNIK

This is another very user friendly tool. The various tools for image editing are easy to access and use with a  surprising number of options within each. For example, the crop feature allows you to select a number of different final sizes or enter in your own length and width ratio. There also presets to make your image conform to various social media sites’ requirements, which makes sharing very easy. There is even an exposure feature, that with the advanced option, you are even given a histogram to assist you in perfecting the shadows and highlights of your shot. You can also get rid of red eye and change the color saturation in the edit mode. Each option allows you to save your changes, reset to the original image and begin again, or simple cancel and return you to the edit menu. Full screen viewing is also available with each edit option.

Under the Create tab, you can add text to your pics, apply various effects (some of which are only available if you purchase the premium edition), stickers, and frames. Again, some of these treatments require subscription.

In the Library portion of Picnik, you can create collages, print on mugs, make greeting cards, print posters, print on canvas, make slide shows of your pictures, or even a book.

In each tab and option, instructions are provided that make this a very easy to use and powerful image editor. It provides a lot of flexibility and allows for a ton of creativity.

Competencies for Instructors and Instructional Designers

As I read the tables listing the various competencies for ID&T professionals, training managers and instructors, I came across several that related to the work I do as a fifth grade teacher and the ways I want to incorporate technology and effective teaching practices with my students.

On page 275, Table 27.3 in our text, #14 “Use media and technology to enhance learning and performance” is definitely an area I have been striving to improve. I have attended the MACUL conference the last two years, attend “Tech Camp” in the summer at my local ISD, and now am in Western Michigan College’s Educational Technology Master’s program. I have learned a lot over the past year and know that there is still much to learn about various technologies that can improve learning for my students.

“Access learning and performance” is another area from the same table that I am currently working to improve. I give formative assessments on a quarterly basis to my math students. Presently, the assessments are very long and I am not happy with the layout of the test. It is a very useful tool to stay on top of the progress of my students and find the weaknesses they have regarding the state standards. I know I need to align these assessments with Common Core Standards now and make the tests more “user friendly” to assure I am getting accurate results.

A third competency I need to strengthen is #17 for Instructional Designers, “Design instruction that reflects an understanding of the diversity of learners and groups of learners.” When I read this I thought of UDL and how I have just started to develop a new science unit that incorporates elements of Universal Design for Learning. I have tried a couple of lessons that vary the means of delivering instruction to my students and they seem to enjoy it and retain the information better. I have a long way to go, but want to refine these lessons further and develop more to complete my unit.

Using Google Sites

I have found that I do not like Google Sites. I find Weebly.com to be a much more user friendly site. However, it is good to try new things so here is a very basic, two page site that has the images and gadgets that were required for this weeks' activity.

Click here for my Google Site

Themes and Lessons Learned

A common thread among all three contexts of instructional design we have read about in our text is that a team of people is required to work together in order to create effective training/instructional design. In business and in faculty development in higher education, subject experts are needed. Then a variety of other skills are required from graphic artists, audio/video producers, material developers, instructional designers, web specialists, etc. It is the idea that no matter what field you are working in, when instruction or training is needed, it takes a group of people with a variety of skills and talents coming together to create and implement an effective means of creating and delivering knowledge and learning.

A difference between the business world and the world of higher education is that there are times in business where the client is a bit more difficult to identify. “One problem designers face when starting a new project is identifying the client . Often there is more than one client for an instruction design project” (Reiser, 2007). However, in higher education, “…the target audience (students) is a given before the ID becomes involved in the program design.” (Reiser, 2007). 

After reading these last few chapters I cannot help but think of the point my K-12 district is in at the moment. We recently achieved district-wide NCA accreditation. During that 3 year process, it became evident how critical it is for the district to think in terms of systemic change and not viewing any one building or department in isolation. A couple of the areas that were recommended to our district was to strengthen communications and to clearly delineate criteria for making major transitions. A specific area, I believe, that needs to be addressed is our math curriculum. At the K-2 building there is one curriculum, another in the 3-5 building, and yet another at the middle school. We have a golden opportunity to strengthen our communication and make the transitions between these grade levels much more clear if the administrators and teachers could come together to discuss this issue regarding the math curriculum. We see the challenges when students move from one building to the next due to the differing curriculums. We are on a five year review and purchasing cycle for math and this is the fifth year. I have been contemplating how to approach my principal about my thoughts on this issue. I am a very new teacher and this can be a tedious undertaking and one I’m not sure I should take up. However, I strongly believe that our students would benefit from a K-8 scope and sequence instead of three separate programs that are patched together. It will take those passionate leaders spoken of in chapter 21, subject experts like our hard-working curriculum director, principals, and teachers, and incorporating as many other stakeholders as we can to develop the programs that will best serve all of our students.


BUBBL.US CONCEPT MAP


A lesson in which students could use concept mapping to help them understand subject matter would be in social studies when we learn about colonization of America. In the beginning of this unit, students are exposed to the three colonial regions. I assign them one colony and they are to learn all about it and create a billboard telling others of the good things their colony has to offer to persuade others to want to settle there. (a Glog of their colony would even be better than a cardboard poster and a lot easier for me to physically handle. That will be one for next year!)


Below is a quick example of a concept map showing four major characteristics of Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
NOTE: I have noticed that when I view the concept map on my blog, some of the text seems to spill out of the bubbles in places. However, if I zoom in, the text seems to go back inside the bubbles. ???

Reflections on School Change

There are a few things that caused me to stop and think while reading this week’s chapter. The S.U.T.E model’s dependency on knowledgeable and selfless leaders, the participation of all stakeholders in the process of change, and finally the identification of the areas that are the cause of district change in the first place will be the focal points of my reflection.

The Step Up to Excellence methodology lays out several conditions in which success is based:

“Senior leaders who act on the basis of personal courage, passion, and vision; not on the basis of fear or self-survival…not a view of ‘we can’t do this because…who possess the professional intellect, change-minded attitudes, and the change management skills to move their districts toward higher levels of performance; not people without an inkling about the requirements of systemic change management.”  (Reiser, 2007)

I can see where needed change can be derailed right away in the process if there are not such leaders available in a district. Human nature comes into play. Egos and self esteem can get in the way of the change that needs to be made. If the right people in the right positions cannot effectively lead or are not willing to admit they do not have the skill set necessary to lead their district for systemic change and bring in others who can, then the change is doomed from the start.

In the beginning of the chapter I was hoping to read more about the involvement of  stakeholders in the process of change. I was pleased to read the example given from the Decatur Township School District. “To succeed with such a fundamental transformation of their school system, the facilitators believed it was important for as many stakeholders as possible to participate in the change process and feel a sense of ownership of both the process and whatever design resulted.” (Reiser, 2007) When my district was in the process of achieving district-wide NCA accreditation, we knew we must incorporate the perspectives of not only classroom teachers and administrators, but parents, students, support staff from all departments, community leaders, and business owners. Their input was instrumental in developing our vision and mission statements and improving our internal and external Quality Assurance Review evaluations that ultimately lead to K-12 accreditation.

Before any change can be made, a district must know exactly where their strengths and weakness are. I am sure that within the GSTE and SUTE models this would come into play, however, I feel strongly that a district’s first step must be to develop a comprehensive District Profile—a state of the district, if you will. Trends in learning and achievement need to be identified along with the needs of specific populations within the district. There are things that are working wonderfully and there are always areas that reveal glaring contradictions to the vision and purpose statements of the district. This document of and by itself can be challenging to produce, but I believe that any model for systemic change should explicitly include the development of a district profile to clearly illuminate the changes that are needed.

SCREENCASTING

One of the problems I have been finding my math students having is forgetting to multiply decimals by 100 to turn fractions into percentages. They look at .6 and think this is 6% instead of 60%. I thought I would create a very brief video so that kids can watch me convert fractions into decimals by using a calculator.

Please excuse the interruption of my Mac telling me the time in the middle of my screencast! :)

Instructional Design in Business & Industry and How It Applies to K-12 Education

The use of technology in training in the business world takes place to save time. This is being done by “(1) using technology to reduce training time and costs; and (2) using more sophisticated evaluation techniques to ensure training effectiveness, thereby avoiding the need for followup instruction." (Richey, 2007) I see this being used in the K-12 setting to do the same things. High schools are increasingly offering online or virtual courses. This allows for a greater number of students to enroll and create another revenue stream for a district. Homeschoolers or students from parochial schools who need broader course options can take online classes offered by public schools. The technology gives them the flexibility in their schedule or allows them to work from home if they so choose. The school receives some of the their foundation allowance and increases dollars coming into their district.

Another way in which technology use in training can be applied to education is the use of student response systems to ramp up the evaluation process. Teachers who are fortunate enough to have such a piece of technology in their rooms can immediately see if their instruction has been effective. They can target specific students with specific pieces of instruction to help move those students towards greater achievement/performance.

The globalization of training concept is one that the staff at Sylvester Elementary must apply daily. There are students from a number of different countries attending our school. English Language Learners are in nearly every single classroom and teachers, “…must address the issue of how to prepare and/or adapt instructional materials for different cultures.” (Richey, 2007) And I would like to add different languages, too. We have to continually make adjustments and accommodations in our instruction and materials to help students understand what we are trying to communicate to them. Gestures, props, electronic translators, and online resources must be utilized to communicate basic instruction to the non-native speaker. This is also another example of  how technology is used to help in the instruction process.

Map Mash-ups In Social Studies

In fifth grade social studies, we teach a chapter that deals with the early European explorers and the routes they took to come to the New World. An activity students could do with My Maps in Google is to create routes that each Explorer took.

Students would be responsible for knowing from which country each explorer traveled from, the year they made their voyage, and where in North America they arrived/traveled before heading home across the Atlantic again.


Explorer Map



View Routes of Early European Explorers to North America in a larger map