Thursday, November 14, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Common Core in Action: How Two Science Teachers are Implementing Common Core
This author starts this article by talking about how math and English teachers are more directly tied to the Common Core State Standards. They state that teachers in fields other than these are not as familiar with the CCSS. The author gives us one example of a science teacher who is putting the CCSS in her classroom. This science teacher implements several reading and writing standards within her science lesson about Biofuels vs. Fossil Fuels. She gives specific examples of how she does this. The author then tells us of another teacher that uses almost the same ideas for his science lesson on Nuclear Power vs. Fossil Fuels. Both of these teachers then give advice on how to get started on implementing CCSS within your lessons and classroom.
I really enjoyed this article from hearing that even teachers that do not have much ground within the CCSS, coming up with such great ideas to incorporate them within their lessons. I am a special education major so there are also no standards for my group of students, so I wondered how I would go about my teaching, and these examples really helped me realize that there is not much difference in the teaching, just thinking of different ways to incorporate standards that the students will be learning in other classrooms, within your lesson as well. I love hearing examples of teachers like the ones in this article. Not because they have come up with some great idea that no one else has ever thought of, but that they are not only thinking of the subject they are teaching to their students, but about the students' learning and accomplishments as a whole.
I really enjoyed this article from hearing that even teachers that do not have much ground within the CCSS, coming up with such great ideas to incorporate them within their lessons. I am a special education major so there are also no standards for my group of students, so I wondered how I would go about my teaching, and these examples really helped me realize that there is not much difference in the teaching, just thinking of different ways to incorporate standards that the students will be learning in other classrooms, within your lesson as well. I love hearing examples of teachers like the ones in this article. Not because they have come up with some great idea that no one else has ever thought of, but that they are not only thinking of the subject they are teaching to their students, but about the students' learning and accomplishments as a whole.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Evolving Classroom Education: Where is K-12 Technology Headed?
This author starts the article by talking about past technology used in classrooms. He then goes on to mention where all technology in classrooms has come so far. He then tells that even where we are, will be considered old not too long from now. He then states three different policies or ideas that will probably come to place in then near future. The first is BYOD, which is known as Bring Your Own Device, it's pretty self explanatory. The second is Natural User Interface, which is the same technology used in Nintendo Wii, Xbox Kinect, and Siri. The third is Personal Learning Environment, if used correctly, could allow students to create their own learning. The author then states that the only way these technologies can take place is if public education puts aside its limits to allow these policies in classrooms to help student learning.
I agree that with the technology we have today we should use it to our advantages in classrooms, but I do not think that we should go too far. I do not think that schools should just push aside their limits to allow these technologies in classrooms. Maybe change their policies to fit the ever changing world of technology, but not put aside all limits. I think that the first idea, BYOD, could be challenging due to the many types of students and that not all students have access to these types of devices even with them being so seemingly easy to have. I think the second idea is a neat concept that could really allow students to further enrich their learning through technology. I think the third idea is a little far fetched. I think that students need more structure from teachers to help decide their learning and the students not left to create their own learning.
I agree that with the technology we have today we should use it to our advantages in classrooms, but I do not think that we should go too far. I do not think that schools should just push aside their limits to allow these technologies in classrooms. Maybe change their policies to fit the ever changing world of technology, but not put aside all limits. I think that the first idea, BYOD, could be challenging due to the many types of students and that not all students have access to these types of devices even with them being so seemingly easy to have. I think the second idea is a neat concept that could really allow students to further enrich their learning through technology. I think the third idea is a little far fetched. I think that students need more structure from teachers to help decide their learning and the students not left to create their own learning.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Web 2.0
*Mindmeister: not for free; can make slide show; helps you with visual; can change font
Spiderscribe: it is free; have to delete things; concept map; no slideshow; can connect things from topics; can insert images, word documents, dates, and locations; more centered around businesses and meetings; more beneficial for personal use and not visual enough to actually use for teaching
Bubbl.us: free; very similar to inspiration; can make multiple headings; can import pictures; very simple
*lino: free; can post notes; due dates, word documents, pictures, and to-do lists; is an app so it can go on your phone; can change font and color; simple
Photobucket: combination of instagram and pinterest; can see whats trending; can share pictures; can search themes or certain pictures; can make it private; free to upload a certain amount; can buy more storage
Quintura for kids: a lot of potential; search engine for kids; not a good search engine to actually use; can get it as an app on your phone; not extensive but good at limiting
DuckDuckGo: search engine evolved around kids; filter bubble; helps kids use reliable sources
GoGooligans.com: search engine for kids and teens; didn't search well; its a "safe" search engine; free of tracking and scams
*Padlet: a blank wall; start clicking; can type anything you want; students can comment on posts; free
Text2MindMap; basically a concept map; free
Stormboard: can create different boards; can invite users (students) to join the board; can add comments to posts; can vote on posts; have to have code
Kidtopia: search engine for elementary/primary students; shows you different websites on specific topics; "safe" search engine; has adds; not very specific per search
*InstaGrok: mixture of concept map and search engine; gives you key facts for your topic of choice; gives you key facts per subtopic; can give videos and pictures; difficulty range, you can control the difficulty of the map; quizzes that come with it; has adds; free
*SlimeKids: search engine for kids; directory for multiple search engines; has an authors page
WikiSummarizer: visual summary of search; automatically expands; can edit it; can do word cloud; can do a tree view; all info comes from wikipedia
Pearltree: combination of pinterest and concept map; can make categories or select websites; will take you directly to the website if you "pearl" it; kind of complicated; could be a good place to gather and store ideas but maybe not the easiest for kids
*Netvibes: kind of like pearltree but less appealing to the eye; has search engines within; extreme google; anything interesting you can click to get extra info on that topic and can bring you to that website; easy to refer because of the dashboard; can uncategorize and puts it all together; free; expensive premium
*Glogster: place where you can create online poster boards; can create timelines and different assignments; premade dates; can add videos and pictures to timeline; can save and print; has different fonts
Audacity: place where you can record pretty much anything; free; allows you to edit music or different recordings; can eliminate background noise
Vimeo: kind of like youtube; video sharing website; free; doesn't look like it would be good to use for classroom purposes
WordPress: blog site; can create and follow different blogs; can tag things to link them; has more flexibility than blogger and a good alternative for it; maybe also more popular than blogger or easier to use; looks a little more interactive or socially interactive; comparative to tumblr
*Compfight: comparative to google images; can download different sizes of images; free; using creative commons allows you to better use the images; shows you the license agreement for each image and what all is legally allowed to do with the photo
Diigo: can collect, organize, capture, store, tag, recall, and share any information in your library; can search for groups pertaining to your topic you want to search; free, but can go premium
Blabberize: can insert any type of image; can cut out mouth and record what you want it to say; can use for school projects; kind of like a voki but from an image; not very realistic, kind of crappy
*easel.ly: can create visual themes; can create concept maps; good to use for brainstorming; easy to use; free; can look at other pages
*Animoto: can upload images and videos; can create own videos; can create collages for pictures; free for up to 30 seconds of video; has more premium accounts for less limitations; has premade backgrounds
Bookbuilder: can create your own book; easy to use, especially for students; can change book language; can add pictures to your book; can share them for other people to see; creates digital books
*Weebly: makes creating a website very easy; good for slideshows; free, but could get more access with premium accoun; seems more together and organized than google sites; doesn't seem to have any issues
Storyboard generator: gives videos from personal views of a variety of topics to maybe show to class
*Tagul: exactly like wordle, not as limited and a little easier though; can make it into many different shapes, fonts, and colors; can buy merchandise to go along with your word cloud; free
*Edmodo: facebook for teachers; different categories to choose from; secure social network for classroom and teacher use; can ask questions on site and other users can answer and give examples; maybe have to certain info to be able to comment; there are different sections per topic; can create a classroom and can have students log onto it to post and reply
*Socrative: website for teachers to create quizzes and tests for their students; free; easy for class to join
*PodBean: podcasting; can post all lectures or just some lectures on there; if used enough can cost, but otherwise free
Pixton: for school version you have to sign up; could use it as an interactive tool; ex, for english, proper forms of there, their, and they're; can create comic strips
iCloud: pages: first few pages looks like Microsoft Word; different documents you can create; comparable to Word; free word processing tool; numbers: like Microsoft Excel; creates spreadsheets; keynote: like Microsoft Powerpoint; creates slideshows; easy
*infogr.am: can create charts; has different templates you can use; free; can customize after using
Spiderscribe: it is free; have to delete things; concept map; no slideshow; can connect things from topics; can insert images, word documents, dates, and locations; more centered around businesses and meetings; more beneficial for personal use and not visual enough to actually use for teaching
Bubbl.us: free; very similar to inspiration; can make multiple headings; can import pictures; very simple
*lino: free; can post notes; due dates, word documents, pictures, and to-do lists; is an app so it can go on your phone; can change font and color; simple
Photobucket: combination of instagram and pinterest; can see whats trending; can share pictures; can search themes or certain pictures; can make it private; free to upload a certain amount; can buy more storage
Quintura for kids: a lot of potential; search engine for kids; not a good search engine to actually use; can get it as an app on your phone; not extensive but good at limiting
DuckDuckGo: search engine evolved around kids; filter bubble; helps kids use reliable sources
GoGooligans.com: search engine for kids and teens; didn't search well; its a "safe" search engine; free of tracking and scams
*Padlet: a blank wall; start clicking; can type anything you want; students can comment on posts; free
Text2MindMap; basically a concept map; free
Stormboard: can create different boards; can invite users (students) to join the board; can add comments to posts; can vote on posts; have to have code
Kidtopia: search engine for elementary/primary students; shows you different websites on specific topics; "safe" search engine; has adds; not very specific per search
*InstaGrok: mixture of concept map and search engine; gives you key facts for your topic of choice; gives you key facts per subtopic; can give videos and pictures; difficulty range, you can control the difficulty of the map; quizzes that come with it; has adds; free
*SlimeKids: search engine for kids; directory for multiple search engines; has an authors page
WikiSummarizer: visual summary of search; automatically expands; can edit it; can do word cloud; can do a tree view; all info comes from wikipedia
Pearltree: combination of pinterest and concept map; can make categories or select websites; will take you directly to the website if you "pearl" it; kind of complicated; could be a good place to gather and store ideas but maybe not the easiest for kids
*Netvibes: kind of like pearltree but less appealing to the eye; has search engines within; extreme google; anything interesting you can click to get extra info on that topic and can bring you to that website; easy to refer because of the dashboard; can uncategorize and puts it all together; free; expensive premium
*Glogster: place where you can create online poster boards; can create timelines and different assignments; premade dates; can add videos and pictures to timeline; can save and print; has different fonts
Audacity: place where you can record pretty much anything; free; allows you to edit music or different recordings; can eliminate background noise
Vimeo: kind of like youtube; video sharing website; free; doesn't look like it would be good to use for classroom purposes
WordPress: blog site; can create and follow different blogs; can tag things to link them; has more flexibility than blogger and a good alternative for it; maybe also more popular than blogger or easier to use; looks a little more interactive or socially interactive; comparative to tumblr
*Compfight: comparative to google images; can download different sizes of images; free; using creative commons allows you to better use the images; shows you the license agreement for each image and what all is legally allowed to do with the photo
Diigo: can collect, organize, capture, store, tag, recall, and share any information in your library; can search for groups pertaining to your topic you want to search; free, but can go premium
Blabberize: can insert any type of image; can cut out mouth and record what you want it to say; can use for school projects; kind of like a voki but from an image; not very realistic, kind of crappy
*easel.ly: can create visual themes; can create concept maps; good to use for brainstorming; easy to use; free; can look at other pages
*Animoto: can upload images and videos; can create own videos; can create collages for pictures; free for up to 30 seconds of video; has more premium accounts for less limitations; has premade backgrounds
Bookbuilder: can create your own book; easy to use, especially for students; can change book language; can add pictures to your book; can share them for other people to see; creates digital books
*Weebly: makes creating a website very easy; good for slideshows; free, but could get more access with premium accoun; seems more together and organized than google sites; doesn't seem to have any issues
Storyboard generator: gives videos from personal views of a variety of topics to maybe show to class
*Tagul: exactly like wordle, not as limited and a little easier though; can make it into many different shapes, fonts, and colors; can buy merchandise to go along with your word cloud; free
*Edmodo: facebook for teachers; different categories to choose from; secure social network for classroom and teacher use; can ask questions on site and other users can answer and give examples; maybe have to certain info to be able to comment; there are different sections per topic; can create a classroom and can have students log onto it to post and reply
*Socrative: website for teachers to create quizzes and tests for their students; free; easy for class to join
*PodBean: podcasting; can post all lectures or just some lectures on there; if used enough can cost, but otherwise free
Pixton: for school version you have to sign up; could use it as an interactive tool; ex, for english, proper forms of there, their, and they're; can create comic strips
iCloud: pages: first few pages looks like Microsoft Word; different documents you can create; comparable to Word; free word processing tool; numbers: like Microsoft Excel; creates spreadsheets; keynote: like Microsoft Powerpoint; creates slideshows; easy
*infogr.am: can create charts; has different templates you can use; free; can customize after using
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