Short Presentations

Learning Literary Genres

I was excited to see that we got to work with PhotoStory on one of our assignments because I am very familiar with this software. I first worked with Microsoft Photo Story in Dr. Lindstrom's class and fell so in love with it that I've used the program not only for in the classroom but for personal stories, my sister's bachelorette party, and other festivities. This assignment modeled digital age work and learning. Teachers can no longer present their information through text book assignments and lectures, our 21st century students need something more. By presenting information in digital age media and formats, this makes our digital learners become more engaged in the information presented to them.
I've never been a fan of hearing my own voice being recorded. One thing I would of changed about the assignment would be the 20 seconds per slide. Some slides I felt rushed, others I felt like I was talking turtle speed...but I get the whole 20 on 20. Without these guidelines students would either make a 3 or 30 minute presentation.
The information in my presentation follows the WV CSOs for learning literature genres in 7th grade RLA so this video would be great to present to my SEE 7th grade RLA class this coming year.

PP1

I thoroughly enjoyed the Presentation Zen blog. Shawn Cornally's video was definitely enlightening. At the high school I currently teach at, I had students worried about classes being too hard, or too demanding, that may not be able to pull off an A. Heaven forbid they get a B! I'm afraid we are in for a rude awakening if we continue to let (and heack, even encourage?) students to have this outlook for their education. Forget the letter grades. Give something more meaningful! The Jedi master of data visualization, Hans Rosling, is the man. Hands down. I really enjoyed viewing all of his information, and even taking a close look at his life and how he got involved in what he does. This is my favorite kind of education stuff. This is what I feel should be involved in "graduate studies." Forget reading long and boring text books. This is the real world stuff that matters and what is going on in today's education systems.


DropBox is Awesome!

Lesson Plan

Inappropriate Behavior

Stackin' up resources for next school year. Lesson plan to be used for my social skills class I am teaching.

Google Earth

Differences in Google Maps and Google Earth: (1) Google Maps is an online application. Google Earth is a standard application. (2) Google Maps can be used in just about any operating system, Google Earth is restricted to only a few. (3) Google Maps is free. Google Earth has a pro version that requires a fee.
Google Earth gives a user better control to navigate and view the earth from 3D. Displays satellite images of varying resolution of the earths surface on virtual globe. Google maps is a website used to access online maps.

Google Maps can read KML files, this kind of file formats Google Earth uses for the exchange of geographic information. You can use this feature to plot multiple points of interest, draw lines, and mark regions on Maps. Since Google maps can read KML files, this allows you to upload the file to your computer and then you may open it in Google Earth.

GE Lesson Plan

Google Maps

I am teaching a self contained class for 7th and 8th grade history. Before school was out we had "Step Up" day. This is a day for the 6th grade students to come up to the high school, get their schedules for the next year, and meet their new teachers. On this day, I got to meet my students who would be in my history class. I did introductory activities and also asked them a few questions. (One being if you could go to ANY place in the world, where would it be?) New York City was a popular answer. So, next year I plan on using this map I created using Google maps!
Virtual Field Trip

BatchGeo

View EDUC 6305 in a full screen map

Map lots of locations instantly! Think of all the possibilities for an educator to use this with their students in the classroom! I had a few speed bumps with copying the information but these were resolved quickly. When I clicked "map it," I thought BatchGeo had used my information incorrectly when I saw a mapped location in Texas. After reviewing the pasted information a little closer, I saw that this was the correct mapped location. I am teaching history to 7th and 8th grade students next year and I'm on idea overload of what I can do using BatchGeo.com. A lower level activity- have the students use spreadsheet to fill their information on the place that they would like to visit one day (outside of WV, outside of US, etc.) I would tell students not to tell anyone about their place, and as a class, we could see if any students wanted to visit the same place? A further extension to the activity would be supplying information prepared by the student about that particular place once you selected the location on the map. An upper level activity- discuss current news. One topic that comes to mind in today's age, gay marriage. Students could prepare a spreadsheet with information from all 50 states on whether or not they agree or disagree. Have the spreadsheet generate a map that could be used for students to see how the US stands with states that agree with gay marriage vs states that do not agree with gay marriage. With BatchGeo involved, students creating (or researching) their own data, and creating a map with the results...talk about an engaging activity! :]

EDUC 6305

Jing Video

Students would LOVE creating videos, using their own voices behind them, and being able to share their work with teacher and peers. Jing offers students to do this. And in a non-frustrating, easy kind of way! Also, as a teacher, image you covered a new concept in your class today. I am a math teacher so I will use my own classroom for example. We just started working with one step equations. I could create and share a video with my students of the steps you take to solve one step equations. I could show the video that day in class and students could view the video at home while doing their homework and it would be serve as a rewind for the introduction of the concept for when/if they run into troubles doing these problems!

Jing Image

Jing is a tool that has endless possibilities. Anyone that turns on a computer could benefit from using this tool. This is the tools that today's children want to utilize in that classroom.


This could serve students with an explanation of how to solve one step equations. I love how this tool offers the text box and arrows to be added to image. Really helps with the explanation!

Use Jing to create something for your classroom!

Self-Assessment

For the first couple weeks of this course, I had a few minor speed bumps. Most of my problems were not a result of the activities that this course involves, but financial aid reasons. There was a problem with my financial aid which caused me to be dropped from the course then I had to go through the process of be re-added. This made me behind on a couple early assignments. As long as I keep good time management skills through out course, seek assistance from peers when needed, and do my best to complete assignments the best I can, I see no more future problems :] To help me keep track of my progress, I am using the Excel document with course activities and their point values. This is very nice to have in a course like this so you are able to keep up with your grade in the course daily.

Diigo

My Library
Extreme Bookmarking! I love the organization Diigo provides. As a special educator, I've sat many nights searching the web for resources, ideas, etc. Currently, I have atleast 30 bookmarked pages on my Google Chrome web browser. Because Diigo allows you to organize your bookmarks into categories, I will revert back to these sites more often than I would using normal bookmarking. Another cool thing- Highlight and sticky note! Anyone that could see my desk where I teach would know that I LOVE this option Diigo has because I have sticky notes EVERYWHERE! Also, the highlighting comes in handy so that you do not have to spend 10 minutes searching for the purpose of why you bookmarked the page in the first place. On my link list, I added the URL address to my Diigo library so I can access it quickly and easily from my blog. I've already added a few bookmarks (and used the sticky note feature) to my library; tech standards, thinkfinity, and a special education site I refer to often.
Browser add ons are very useful and I am pumped to add another one to my browser. Some of the few well known add ons are pop up blockers and extra tool bars like the ones that allow you to be just a click away from your current weather. It is very important to know what browser add ons are and what they do. Not long ago, I logged onto my sister's personal laptop and when her browser loaded, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. She had SO many add ons on her browser, I didn't know what all she had going on her web browser and I know she didn't either. She said that they had "just appeared one day." So this is a prime example of having too many add ons- when you don't know what they are, how they got there, or how to use them! I always used the traditional bookmarking way for my bookmarked pages. Very excited to have this new browser add on, Diigo. This is an excellent way for me to organize my sites and resources. Also, I can access these at anytime and do not have to be on my personal computer. I can't think of how many times I've been talking to one of my co-workers this year and either she or I had found an interesting/useful site that we would like to share with each other and we couldn't remember the address or had to write it down or who knows what else. I like the fact that now I can just say "Log onto my blog, you'll see it on my Diigo library!"...or better yet, have all my co-workers join Diigo and then I can simply hit the "share" button for all to see!

Rez Score

I had heard about Rez Score before this assignment, but was not aware of how helpful this website was when it comes to perfecting a resume. The process was simply. I went to RezScore.com, uploaded my resume file, selected the "Resume Help" box, and clicked "Get Your Instant Grade." In two seconds, I was supplied with loads of beneficial information and recommendations to make to my submitted resume to make it a stronger one.

1st Submit:
They broke it down into three categories (Brevity, Impact, Depth) Out of 100, my scores were-
48 Brevity
92 Impact
99 Depth
With my overall grade being a C+ which is in the 65th percentile of all resumes.

After making the necessary changes, my second attempted I was able to raise my grade to a B. I added a professional headline and more work experience. RezScore still said that my resume was too short. (Anything under 400 words was considered too short)

Self-Portrait [Picassohead]

WMS

For my portrait, I created a girl-like image with blue eyes and long blonde hair. This program was super easy to use and I had lots of fun creating the portrait. I was telling my co-workers about this during my lunch break one day and they thought it was a very neat idea. We suggested that it could be used as an introductory activity to do at the beginning of the year with a class. The students would enjoy getting to create their own individual image. Another suggestion was that they could list/tell 5 things about themselves that the class wouldn't know about them. Students could print their self-portraits out and hang around the room with their 5 things listed below their pictures.


Create your own

Google Docs

My Resume

I became familiar with Google docs during my first course ed tech course with Mr. Pierce. Instantly I fell in love! I was surprised that only one other instructor at FSU used google docs for their courses. When I started working in the public schools, I introduce Google Chrome and Docs to my Special Ed co-workers. During IEP season, a google doc with the schedule of IEP meetings (times and dates) was made to keep everyone informed. Everyone found this so much easier rather than sending an email and waiting for a reply, or tracking someone down to check the availability of specific dates. Other uses have been creating docs to receive feedback on specific issues and other special ed data. Two words come to mind when I think about how cloud computing with google: quick and easy! Makes life so much nicer when collaborating with others! And when you have quick and easy, you have more collaborating. In today's age, collaboration is a very crucial component in the world of teaching. I've noticed this especially in the special education side of things.