ITEC 2011

Wow!  What an event - I learned sooo much, saw many things, ate great food.  The people who produced this event did an incredibly wonderful job!  Kudos, my friends.

A workshop I attended gave participants several samples of software.  The software I used for this feature was created by MIT (yes, Mass. Inst of Tech!).  From Scratch's website comes the following quote, "Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web." 


I made a little animation (only took about 15 hours - remember, I'm an English major - not a programmer,and I was watching TV at the same time) that captures a couple of highlights.  Please watch it, and let me know what you think.

ITEC conference - Scratch presentation


Could you use Scratch in your world?

Amping it Up!

Greetings,
        I am attending the ITEC (Iowa Technology Education Connection) conference in Des Moines this week. Click here to learn more about ITEC.  Lots of great information available regarding instructional technology. 
        Speaking about technology in Iowa, I present five experiences that I encountered during the last twelve months of substitute teaching.  These experiences occurred in more than one school district, and, although they likely accomplished the desired outcomes, after describing the experiences I will show where the classes rank on the Technology Integration Matrix. 
         Next, three of the lucky experiences will be chosen for the Ultimate Makeover.  This means these class will be taken to the next level, and that experience described here.  Are You Ready?


Experience 1
The class in ninth grade English did a critical reading of The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs. Students read and discussed the story; they examined foreshadowing, predicted, and talked about themes, author intent, etc.  The objective of this activity is to introduce the structure, and model the creation, of the “5-paragraph essay.”    This fits into the Active-Entry cell. The teacher uses technology to present her lecture, but does not incorporate technology into what the students are doing. This fits into my future classroom because Critical Reading skills are important in every endeavor; workers often read the same material and informally share their opinions.  Also, all educated people need to be able to write well.

Experience 2
A class of special needs students in a Social Studies class is creating an invention timeline using cut-outs from assorted magazines. They glue the inventions to poster board; they are also required to draw and color little hand-drawn images of the inventions.  The objective of this activity is to introduce the concept of timelines and to explore the history of the Industrial Revolution.   A video is shown that teaches about the Industrial Revolution, and the teacher uses a Smart Board to present lesson material.  This belongs in the Active Entry cell of the T.I.M. because the teacher is passively using technology; there is no student engagement with the technology.  I chose this example because often corporate trainers want students to get a hands-on feel for the particular subject being taught, but they teach the material only with teacher demonstrations.


Experience 3
A high school business class is learning PowerPoint. They follow a scripted process to create slides. Each student does exactly the same thing, following a workbook. Some students do provide peer coaching.             Applicable TIM cell – Active Entry.  This cell on the TIM states that the students are paced through the activity and everyone does the same thing.  This relates to me/my interests because of my consideration of corporate training as a career.  Too often, corporate training uses this same process to teach software to employees 


Experience 4
An eighth grade science class views a Discovery Education video on genetics as review for a test. Applicable T.I.M. cell – Adoptive Entry because students are not engaged in using technology. This fits into my future endeavors because video-training is often used in industry.  Video-training is a passive way of teaching. Only extremely motivated learners get much out of this style. 

Experience 5
A 10th grade girl’s chorus class meets to prepare for an upcoming school-wide performance. Each ensemble steps up randomly and performs their number.  Students use technology to play accompaniments and microphones for vocals.  This goes into the Collaborative Entry cell of the T.I.M.  This fits into my world because workers often need to learn how to use microphones and select music for presentations.

Take It Up a Notch

Experience 1
Students read the same short story.  The discussion takes place on VoiceThread.  The teacher guides the discussion by participating.  Points discussed include those mentioned in the original experience and expand to have students point out specific examples of the structural components of the essay.  Students benefit from peer opinions, can contribute to the discussion at home or during school.  This is moved to the Collaborative Adoption Cell on the T.I.M.  Using VoiceThread allows students to learn from their peers.  Reflection is increased as students think about ideas before posting – VT can be used both synchronously and asynchronously, which gives opportunity for thinking before talking.


Experience 3
Students will learn PowerPoint.  This class will use differentiated learning.  Students with prior experience using PowerPoint will serve as mentors and will learn more advanced ppt skills.  Students are paired (and will share a computer).  They will choose a topic that applies to any subject for which they need to prepare a presentation.  If a student has no assignment to prepare, a list of possible topics will be available; student choice of topic will also be accepted.  Teacher models use of Master Slides, basic ppt functions, and designing aesthetically pleasing slides.   Guided instruction is provided by the teacher while students work on their projects.  This moves the class to the Collaborative Adoption cell on the T.I.M. because students help each other with particular aspects of the program.  Students are able to progress at their own speeds (learning just what they need for their particular situation), explore what the software can do, and create an artifact that can be used in another situation. 

Experience 5

Students preparing vocal presentations for the concert will be recorded and will post their performances on a version on You Tube designed for schools (less open). Students will search for music on the Internet and research copyright issues. The ensembles will self-evaluate and offer constructive criticism on other performances. This moves the learning activity into the Collaborative Adoption Cell on the T.I.M. Seeing one’s performance allows for self-evaluation and revision that is intrinsically motivated. The peer evaluations are important because often new ideas are generated and then expanded upon by peers.

September 30, 2011 - Gradual Release of Responsibility

UPDATE: I never included a link to the lesson!
Here it is:

I have just learned that something I always thought was intrinsic to teaching is a NEW theory, of sorts.  It's called "Gradual Release of Responsibility" or GRR.  The purpose is to help students take control of their own learning.  Hooray!

I have a GRR lesson plan for learning about Columbus about which I would love your comments.  Please let me know your true thoughts.

Thanks,
Linda

Introduction for Fall of 2011

Greetings!

    I am excited about the new term.  My name is Linda Engel, and I live in Waverly, IA.  I have 3 children, the youngest of whom begins college this fall at Wartburg College in Waverly.  He lives on campus, much to his chagrin.  I also have a 14 month old grandson - absolutely adorable little guy.  My older son is a videogame designer in Florida; he designs games that teach the military how to fire 50-caliber tank weapons.

   I earned my bachelor's in English, May 2009, which makes me a non-traditional student.   I like to cook and sew.  I just moved into a new house that replaced the one lost in the 2008 flood.  I still need to unpack. 

   I am really interested in the possible benefits of videogames to increase motivation in students. (Dr. Z, I worked hard to change this sentence so it doesn't use "use" - LOL).  This blog is one I started when I first began my master's program.  Perhaps, I'll use it more now.

While researching for info for my ID project

I was searching for a ready-made, short video to embed in my training, and I found this cautionary "tail" by the CEO of Identity Finder.  I thought it was interesting, and sent a link to my son.

Then. . . for some reason I went to my Facebook page, and there was a message for me that my Facebook account had been accessed from some location they didn't recognize!   I followed the steps to see where the location was; it was in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. !!!!!

So now, I'm in the process of changing all accounts that use that same userid and password.  Kinda funny these two things happened within hours of each other.  They say, "God protects fools and children."  But, they also say, "God helps those who help themselves."  (my apologies to the agnostics and atheists that read this).

My point - be safe. Vary your log-ins, especially on sites where money is concerned!  Oh, and Identity Finder has a free, scaled-down version (finds passwords and CC numbers only). Check it out

What have I learned?

The "biggest" thing I learned during this class is that the up and coming generations are all essentially "visual learners." You hear about all the different learning styles (kinesthetic, auditory, etc), but with all the video games, DVDs, internet surfing, etc, the world is becoming more visual.

Now, while that was the item that struck me most forcefully, it wasn't the only thing this class has taught me. For one thing, I got over my blogging anxiety. I've tried to start a blog two or three times, but never got past registering - something about opening my inner thoughts to the world for condemnation or praise is pretty scary.

Randy's and my class presentation was thrilling. Not so much the working together part, that was hard, but the subject matter. I am sooo excited about the possibilities for learning that already exist in videogames. Here is just one site that exemplifies my point. I learned so much about educational gaming.

Some of the learning objectives in this class covered things I already new - either because I am a grad student or because of my age. Occasionally I had to remind myself of those things, so even "rehashing" material was helpful.


The last thing I experienced (that I will discuss) is how inter-related all my classes this term were! In addition to this class, I also took Media Planning & Production and Distance Education. All three classes built upon each other - I guess one could say they "scaffolded" (a term I learned in D.E.). That is each class helped me learn parts and supported me with modeling experiences that eventually helped me learn the material for all the classes more thoroughly!

I've enjoyed the class discussions, the students, the instructor, and even the work. I wish I hadn't had as many personal challenges so that the quality of my work would have better reflected the extent of my learning. See you again!

Perception

I'm finally finishing my midterm, yikes!!!!, and I googled "can something ugly be art" to see what I would get. Along with the usual suggestions of how to turn something ugly into something beautiful - which is not what I wanted, I stumbled upon this blog (http://www.greenwala.com/profiles/linda-lucille/blog/4922-Trippy-Pollution-Photography-Can-Something-So-Ugly-Actually-Be-Beautiful).

Isn't this amazing?! Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder!

The pictures are beautiful images, full of color, and of the type to make you wonder how they were taken. Yet, when you think about what they are pictures of...you realize just how ugly they are.



This is a great example of how a person really needs to be visually literate to understand what they are seeing. If I were completely illiterate, I might want copies of these pictures to put on my walls. After all they would make great modern art - imagine them on a wall framed in simple black frames - gorgeous. But what I would be celebrating is the destruction of my world. How sad.

You know, I just realized, I took some similar pictures during my trip to Nicaragua last spring. I should find those and post them as well. Of course, right now they are packed and unorganizedly placed in my storage facility. One cannot complain when one has to rely on the kindness of others,... but there should have been a little more organization to the placement of boxes. Oh well, I'll be in a house and out of this motel by the end of April - I hope!

My question is: don't people just get this automatically. Do people really need to be educated just to read? It's sad to say, that the answer to my question is probably yes, people do need to be educated.


Oh well, comme ci, comme ca (excuse the lack of diacritical marks)