online conference

I viewed an online conference called "Unlikely coordinates? Geocaching Across the Curriculum" It was created by Beth Ritter-Guth on Dec. 15. It is 30 minutes long. Below is a link to the conference.

http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=489
I've always thought Geocaching would be something fun to do. She started off by giving a little history, as well as telling you how to get started. There is a free website to use (www.geocaching.com) that looks to be user friendly. She is an Algebra teacher, and talked about how they took a field trip to a local cementary (creepy!). They had the students create three Geocaches using the names on the headstones. Back at school, they had students create algebraic equations for their three geocaches, which would later act as directions for other students on another trip back to the cementary. Whoever thought of that one is quite creative!
She gives suggestions on things to do and bring when going geocaching. She provides links to other lesson plans involving geocaching. There are obvious links to Geography and History, but also Science, Literature (letter boxing), environmentalism, and fitness.
At the very end, she showed a YouTube video with experencies of three different people. None of them gave examples as the relate to school education, but one of the people entertainingly said that geocaching "Gets nerds out in the wilderness."

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about online conferencing. An obvious advantage is that you can "attend" a conference on your own schedule. However, that could lead school districts to require that you do these conferences periodically, which would probably be on our own time. This would be very similar to the online courses that we already do. Granted, they don't take too long (15-30 minutes), but our plates are already pretty full.
A great advantage for school districts is that they wouldn't have to pay for registration fees, substitute teachers, hotel expenses, food, etc. A nice advantage for teachers is that we wouldn't have to plan for substitutes. Sometimes that's more time consuming that just being in school!
However, can you really put a price tag on giving teachers the opportunity to get together and share ideas face-to-face? I've been to several conferences, and I always walk away with something positive. I've also developed relationships with educators, which has led to further collaboration. Getting to interact with the presenters, as well as other attendees is invaluable. No matter how fancy the technology is, there is no substitute for in person human interaction.

EtherPad

EtherPad is a way to share text and documents on the internet. You can create new text, or you can import your already made documents. However, I tried to import one of my documents, and ran into trouble doing it. I was unable to see if students would be able to make changes to the documents like you can on Google Docs. If students could do that, EtherPad would be a little better because there is no login required, like there is for Google Docs. I noticed that Google bought EtherPad on Dec. 4. This is probably because Google noticed that EtherPad was better! One use for EtherPad would be to teach Problem Solving Strategies. I could set up a problem on EtherPad, students could make posts about what strategies (or how to use a specific strategy) they would use to attack the problem. We could then examine these posts in class. Problem Solving Strategies are very important in math, yet I think that we don't really teach them because there are so many other concepts that need to be taught. I think EtherPad could be an effective way to incorporate problem solving strategies using a minimal amount of class time.

Scriblink

Scriblink is useful for teaching math. You are able to write and use a wide variety of mathematical functions on a whiteboard format. Additional examples of problems done during class could be perfomed on Scriblink, and then posted on my website. This could also be done using SMART Notebook/Recorder, however, Scriblink opens up the possiblity for students to write on and make changes to the whiteboard. Students could add comments and marks that might help other students make sense of the concept. The drawing features, combined with the text and math symbols, would make a nice addition to a math classroom.

screencast assignment - Nov. 30

I chose to do a SMART Recorder video for my assignment. I used this to teach a lesson to my 8th and 9th bell classes while I was out during a teacher inservice. This is an awesome thing to do for planned absences. Instead of giving the kids review assignments when you're out, you can "teach" new concepts; not wasting a day of instruction. This is valuable because there are so many OAT standards to teach, you really can't afford to lose days of instruction when you're absent. It is a little weird making one, because you're teaching a lesson while there's no one in the classroom. The custodian walked in while I was making the recording, and gave me a funny look. I can't blame him; I was talking to an empty classroom, writing on the SMART Board, all while wearing a wireless microphone on my head! The nice thing is that you can press "pause" while making the recording if you need a minute, and press "record" again when you're ready to start back up. If you were paused for 15 minutes, it doesn't miss a beat on the recording. You can already have a pre-made SMART Notebook lesson to do your recording on. It doesn't have to be made from scratch. Saving the recording can take a few minutes, depending on how long your recording was. My recording is about 12-13 minutes, and it took about 5 minutes to save. I saved it to my desktop, and later imported it to my website. That way, I just had to tell the sub to go to my website (which any kid could show them how to do), and click on "8th and 9th Bell lesson." It is a little time consuming, but the kids get so much more out of it than just doing review problems, and they think it's pretty cool.

Nov. 16 - Google Docs reflections

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASeRMCiFPMleZGdzbXN6aGNfMmRyajZnOGQ3&hl=en

I think Google Docs might be helpful in collecting data for teaching statistics. I could post various survey questions on a Google Doc, and kids could go to the post, and edit it to include their responses. That would be a much faster way to collect the data, and it wouldn't take up any class time. It would be much more meaningful for students to have data about themselves, rather than boring data from the textbook.

I could also post a problem of the week (or month), and have kids go there and earn points for their participation. This would be a great way to incorporate some higher level thinking, that is not part of the curriculum, and doesn't take up any class time. I think that the best thing about Google Docs is that it allows learning to extend past the classroom walls, in a fun and meaningful way for the kids.

Google Docs is better than Microsoft Office because you can see an accumulation of student work on one single document, rather than having to look at 15-20 separate papers. Students also get a chance to learn from each other's comments, rather than just a teacher's comments. I think this could reduce a teacher's workload. If student's are practicing peer editing, I imagine that can sometimes be just as good, if not better, than teacher only feedback.

November 4, 2009

I really feel like a true computer geek now. I can't wait to try the new things I've learned. I'm going to Skype somebody in Lichtenstein. Have you ever wondered why you drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway. Screencasting seems like a great way to give kids directions on a complicated assignment. E = mc^2. I like to use SMART Recorder provide students with lessons when I know I'm going to be absent. I better not sit at this table again, or else I'm not going to learn much. I could use screencasting to show kids how to use an internet balance beam (for solving equations.) Troy Woolery thinks he can beat me at Super Techmo Bowl. I can't wait to create a Voki!