Final Blog for L&T: "Parting is such sweet sorrow"

I can’t believe this course (Literacy & Technology) is over already! Upon reflection of this course I find that I have become much more technologically savvy. Here are my final thoughts on what I have learned and what skills I now possess in my quest to become a digital native:

In this class I have practiced and refined the following skills:
* wiki entries
- I better understand their purpose too
* blogging
- very comfortable posting and commenting on these
- am now able to add links, videos and pictures
* powerpoints
- can now add video links, hyperlinks, do animations and add sound and

pictures


I must admit that I still need to work on the following skills:
* refining the art of creating videos with corresponding soundtrack
* podcasting still seems to be beyond my capabilities
* I still have difficulty maneuvering social networking sites
* I have yet to create a voiki (I find them a bit freaky)

I have learned so many new technologies in this class and I know I have only just begun to scratch the surface of what is available out there. I have gained confidence in my ability to investigate web 2.0 tools and am no longer impatient with my progress. I have learned that it takes me longer than others to investigate and master these new skills but it I persevere than I am successful. I have also learned that I cannot learn everything the first time I try it. I must spend some quality time investigating and maneuvering through each tool before I am comfortable with it.

I am definitely no longer a digital immigrant. I am a far cry from considering myself a digital native but I have come a long way. I now not only understand the importance of using technology in the classroom with my students but I understand why I should use them. In order to help my students achieve the highest level of learning they are capable of I must exploit what they know and understand already. Technology is an integral part of their lives and can help motivate student learning.

For the past two years my science colleagues and I have been asking for professional development to help us utilize the smartboard technology we have more efficiently. I now can show the administration why it is crucial for us to tap into the technology we already have and add new ones as well. I hope to be the spark that leads us all closer to having web 2.0 classrooms.

Literacy & Technology has been a wonderful experience for me and I know it will help me to keep learning more so that I can help maximize the potential of my student’s learning experience. The key to success in today’s world is to be a life-long learner.

Sneak a Peak at My Gradebook!

I have provided you with a link will give you a sneak peak at the gradebook I created online at: http://www.engrade.com/


Click here for a sneak peak at my gradebook:
Engrade / Regents Chemistry / Gradebook


I investigated the free online gradebook, Engrade, from www.engrade.com . Here’s what I liked and disliked about this gradebook:

What I Liked:
* Can drop a students lowest score in any particular category (example: quizzes)
* Can print out grades for individual students so they can see not only their grades but also
any assignments they are missing
* Able to enter extra credit assignments which adds points for students that complete the
assignment but doesn’t penalize those students that do not complete the assignment
* Can excuse a student from an assignment without penalty
* Can enter the letter ‘m’ for a missing assignment and a zero is calculated in
* Can do daily attendance for each class
* Class averages are shown for each assignment
* Can add comments for students – especially helpful to keep track of miscellaneous
information that comes up on a daily and regular basis
* Students and parents can access grades online at any time
* Can upload various types of files, in addition to grades, that parents and students can access
(notes, syllabus, assignments, etc)

What I didn’t like:
* Can not just print for a single assignment, such as a test, all the grades of the students in the
class to post in class for the students to view
* Can not see all students assignments and grades at the same time – only for one student at
a time; this makes it cumbersome to change or modify grades especially if need to modify
multiple grades from multiple students
* All grade recalculations are done in excel which I find very difficult and extremely time
consuming to use (just a personal opinion)

Online gradebook systems can be considered as a useful tool for teachers. Every teacher will have a personal opinion as to which program they prefer and why. All of these gradebooks have pros and cons. Online gradebooks have the advantage of being able to automatically calculate grades which is a huge time saver over handwritten gradebooks. Online gradebooks empowers parents because it allows them access at any time to their child’s grades. Students may or may not like online gradebooks depending on whether or not they are doing well. It does allows them to access their grades at any time so they can see their progess (or lack of) as well as what they are missing.

The school district I work in uses the grading system Integrade Pro. I have used it for five years now and am very comfortable with it. There are a few features available in Engrade that I wish were present in Integrade Pro. These features of Engrade are:
* the ability to allow for extra credit
* entering m in as a grade which signifies a missing assignment and therefore calculates the
grade as a zero
* the ability to drop the lowest score in any assignment category
* allows parent and student access without extra work by teacher

Blogging about week 3 in L&T:

Instructional Systems Design Models inform, enhance and encourage student’s personal, pedagogical inquiry by utilizing a step-by-step approach to:
- Evaluate student needs
- Design and develop learning materials
- Evaluate effectiveness of learning intervention


Technologies that are aligned with the models of instruction:

Behavioral Model (direct instruction)
- audio technologies: tapes, CD’s and talking books
- visual technologies: videotapes and boards (white, chalk and bulliten)
- digital technologies: smartboards, internet resources

Information-Processing Model (inquiry)
- audio technologies: radios, music and multimedia CD’s
- visual technologies: videotapes, overhead/slide projectors, models
- digital technologies: streaming audio and video, webcasts, internet
resources, computer software

Social-Interactive Model (cooperative)
- audio technologies: talking books, tapes and recordings
- visual technologies: models, cartoons/drawings, cameras
- digital technologies: internet resources, interactive websites

Personal Model
- audio technologies: tapes and recordings
- visual technologies: video cameras, projection devices
- digital technologies: computer software programs, internet resources

The Behavioral Model (BM)compared to the Information-Processing (IPM) and Social-Interactive Models (SIM):

BM: direct instruction, teacher-centered, stresses learning tasks divided into a series of sequential tasks and behaviors, effective for providing information or developing step-by-step skills

IPM: indirect instruction, inquiry learning, stresses cognitive functioning, effective for concept formation

SIM: indirect instruction, cooperative learning, stresses personal and societal relationship among people, effective for relating to others

Web 2.0 tools such as Webquests, Web bits and WIB (web inquiry projects) are a great way to diversify a teachers pedagogy and enhance teaching with students because these tools allow the technology savy students to use more motivating tools to participate in their own learning process. The more ownership that students are given the in the learning process the more likely the students will achieve true learning.

The 5E lesson plan design from the L&T webquest project adheres to the Theory of Constructivism and is aligned with the inquiry process. The inquiry process entails:
- Involvement that leads to understanding
- Processing skills that permit resolutions to issues while constructing knowledge
- Not the seeking of a right answer (often more than one) but rather the seeking of an appropriate resolution to the issue

With the 5E lesson plan design the students can be given multiple choices to present the information discovered during the learning process. The students are absolutely involved in the whole process making their own choices to achieve the desired outcome.

I created a Movie!

Please visit my website (www.freewebs.com/lizkotlowski/ )and see the movie I created using Windows Movie Maker. It is on the video page and is entitled: Everyday Chemistry for HS students. I was a bit out of my league here but I managed to create a decent looking product. I'm sure with a lot more time, energy and practice I could produce a better product.

My movie is very short but it does contain chemistry photos and has a soundtract (called: Periodity Song) borrowed from a science teacher named Evan Silberstein who has a fabulous site that is worth visiting: (http://evanschemistrycorner.com/About_Evan.htm ).

Communication Is The Key Ingredient

Communication is crucial between teachers and students and also between teachers and parents. There are many ways to keep open the lines of communication open. Publishing a newsletter that spells out what is happening in the classroom is just one way to communicate. I have created one for my Regents Chemistry classes to help at that most stressful time of the school year: Review for the Regents Chemistry Exam.

Check out my newsletter: http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=92811-faed3f
and feel free to make any comments. I chose LetterPop (http://letterpop.com/index.php)to create my newsletter because it was very easy to use, especially uploading the pictures which can sometimes be tricky to do. I think in the future it would be both fun and constructive to have the students create the newsletter themselves. By choosing what to include and how to set up the information will give them ownership of the content. As the authors they will be responsible for making sure everything necessary is included.

Why is communication so important?

• so that parents and students are well aware of what is expected of them (also when, how and why)
• important information can be dispersed as often as necessary

These are the ways in which I communicate with the parents of my students:

• e-mail messages
• phone calls
• website which contains:

1. course syllabus
2. course outline
3. powerpoint lessons
4. test objectives
5. announcements of quizzes, tests, any pertinent infomation

The following software applications would be fun to try as communication tools with parents:

• newsletter via a web 2.0 publisher such as LetterPop
• class wiki that both the students and parents can both participate in using
• podcasts of student presentations that can be posted on the class webpage

Puzzles Using Vocabulary Words

I created two puzzles:

1. a crossword puzzle in excel:
   

2. A word search puzzle from online web site (http://www.edhelper.com/puzzles.htm)

To see larger views see my web site: http://www.freewebs.com/lizkotlowski/

The word puzzle was extremely easy to create with the online free puzzle maker. The crossword created in excel took all day and it took more hours than I care to admit to figure out how to put the crossword puzzle into a jpeg so that I could post it here and on my website. This digital immigrant always seem to be frustrated learning all this technology on my own but I refuse to give up and when I succeed well it is very sweet indeed!

Week Two Summary: Does this tech immigrant make any progress?

This was an intense week for me. There were many assignments to do, several videos to watch and lots of text to read. To begin I want to discuss the question: "Why are digital students different from the previous generation of students?"

• Probably the main reason is the way the two groups of students gather and process information. Digital students have at their fingertips (via the internet) a wealth of information (whether accurate or not) that can be obtained quickly and easily with little or no effort. These students expect instantaneous feedback. The pre-computer generations did not have the technology available to access information so quickly or easily. Information was obtained via libraries through books and periodicals which the students spend much time going through by hand. These students did not expect instantaneous feedback.

What are the implications for teachers concerning the digital way of obtaining information?

• Since students are able to obtain information so quickly with the available technology they also expect instant feedback from their teachers concerning their grades and teacher supplied information. Students also expect to put little effort into obtaining results.

The 6 National Educational Technologu Standards for students (NETS-S) are as follows:

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

The standards that are stressed in my classroom (Regents level chemistry)are: #2 and 4

The standards that I feel ready to meet in my classroom are: #1,2,4

I would love to be able to implement more technology in my classroom. I feel better prepared to meet the challenge now after taking these 2 techmology courses however my classroom is physically missing the technology tools to meet the challenge. I do plan on putting much more into our class website than presently exhists now. I just wish I had the flexibility to be more creative and innovative with the assignments I give my students but the powers that be up in Albany have packed so much into the required curriculum that there is no room for #1,5 and 6.

The school/classroom has shifted form 1.0:

• pencil and paper format
• more activities designed for the individual
• direct instruction that is teacher-centered
• book research in libraries

to the school/classroom for 2.0:

• technology tool format
• more activities designed for groups
• differentiated instruction that is student-centered
• research using webbased sites

One of the assignments this week was to explore webtools such as:

• del.icio.us
• diigo
• slideshare
• mindmapping tools

I must admit that del.icio.us and diigo which are social networking sites with different spins on the individual elements they offer (highlighting, tagging, annotating, bookmarking. etc.) are still a bit too overwhelming yet for me to grasp. I have watched the tutorial and tried to maneuver through del.icio.us but I still do not have a grasp on exactly how it works and how to really use it. The diigo tutorial was way over my head but I tried anywhay and was quickly overwhelmed by my inabilities to figure out what I was doing. I guess I can't accomplish everything with only two classes. I have used slideshare and actually created a short video which was ok for a first attempt. The mindmapping tools I believe have sent me over the edge. I don't know about you but I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO PAY OUT OF MY OWN POCKET FOR ANY WEB TOOLS. These are some free ones that I did try (mind42, mindmeister, gliffy and a few others) but I was overwhelmed by my inability to figure out how things work and while I have a great deal of patience with my students I don't share the same level with myself and I am turned off after spending hours trying something and getting nowhere or find myself just going around in circles.

I found the ppt presentation presented this week by group 2 on Internet Safety Issues very informative. Even though these issues are drummed into our heads by school districts and administrators it was refreshing to see a presentation that can be shared with our students.

Chemistry

Here is the graphic organizer that I created on Inspiration. It is entitled: Chemistry. This GO shows the breakdown of this content are in a very general format. Inspiration was a pleasure to use. Converting the file to a jpeg file was not. Thie was way above my technical abilities so I had to call in my resident consultant on technical matters - my 16 year old daughter who was able to convert the file and save it for me in 30 seconds after I had spent 30 minutes and got nowhere!
If you want to see it in larger detail check out the course assignments page on my website: http://www.freewebs.com/lizkotlowski/

Mindmapping Is Not For The Faint Of Heart

I have created a mind map using the bubbl_us site. I tried almost every single one of the free mind maps sites before I chose this site to create my mind map. I found that these sites are difficult to use and didn't seem to fit the format I wanted to use so I wound up modifying my original idea and settling on the one site I could seen to navigate on my own. This was not fun. My guess is that when using the free versions of these web 2.0 tools there are extreme limitations as to what one is allowed to do. There were one or two sites that had short clips to show you what to do and I was not able to recreate the same tasks when I tried it. I know that I am creately challenged when it comes to navigating these technology tools but I have come a long way and my frustration level has decreased a bit. I can tell you that these mind mapping sites will not go on my list of tools to try again.

To add to my frustration, I am not able to upload my wonderful mindmap to this blog for you to see but here is the link that should take you there:
http://bubbl.us/view.php?sid=134481&pw=yackMkZEGBam.NzYzeDBaQ3Y0U2Z1WQ


Enjoy!

Week One is Over - Did I Learn Anything????

I was very impressed with using Tappedin. I had previously signed up for it but never really used it because I had difficulty navigating through it. This time was different. I had no difficulty navigating the site and I attribute this to the fact that I have actually learned something with all this technology. The tappedin site is where my group has decided to hold our group meetings because it is easy to use and it sends us a transcript of all our meetings when we are done. Archiving our meetings is huge for us because it is done automatically and we done have to even think about it.





We were asked to review the video entitled "Learning to Change and Changing to Learn" and I must say this really caused me to stop and reflect on my own way of thinking.

There were seveal people who discussed what todays students are exposed to in their everyday lives. Discussion centered around the fact that these young people are living in a world that contains a very rich environment outside their school lives. Technology has open up so many possibilites for these students that school seems to be more of a place for social networking and working together in groups rather than the place for data and knowledge gathering. Learning in the 21st century should evolve to allow students to explore their artistic creativity and use teamwork to synthesize and understand the content. Teachers need to adapt to the changing model. In order to do this there must be mechanisms in place to allow teachers to swap the authentic "ingredients" of their teaching with other teachers and be able to collaborate on what works, why and see the prof of their labors. I loved the quote at the end of the video, this is "the death of education but the dawn of learning". What a statement! If we do things right and make use of the technologies available we may lead young people to become problem solvers, thinkers and true learners! I want to be a part of this revolution in education, don't you?


This weeks most memorable moment I think was when the members of my group were trying to figure out how to use google talk during our first meeting. None of us had used it before but that didn't stop any of us from diving in and trying it out. I think that shows that we are willing and able to experiment with new technology without being afraid. Success often comes because we are not afraid to fail.

My Awesome Group

I am part of the most fabulous group for this class. I am in group #3 along with Kelly, Jessica and Erin. These ladies are all hard working, caring individuals who can only be superb teachers. We are trying to figure out how to deal with not only the technology, the problems, the class assignments and time management but so far so good. Jess had difficulty joining us for the first meeting but we all made sure she was up to speed and it was all good after that. We may have different levels of competency with the various technologies but we've been helping each other, we refuse to give up and are trying to master everything together as a group. Our strengths are absolutely greater than our weaknesses so expect fabulous things from us!!!.

We call ourselves the Technology Turtles. Our group motto is: Slow and Steady Wins The Race.

The first week is always the toughest!

I always find the first week of a new course the toughest because there is so much information to digest and process. I like to be very organized and put everything in order before I begin and it was tough with this class Teaching with Technology because I had the comprehensive exams to take at the same time this class began. Talk about stress! I didn't get achance to do much other than set up my personal web site, my blog and my wiki. I didn't get a chance to really put anything on them so now I'm making up for lost time.
The LoTi video was very informative and showed me that I am very behind in my progress of using technology in my classroom. I have a smartboard in my classroom which I use for all my powerpoint lessons. I do have video clips included in the powerpoints and I show many others from the internet as well, especially demonstrations of things that are too difficult or dangerous to do in the classroom. I have a class webpage that is used for all the important information needed by students and parents such as:
- class syllabus
- class powerpoint notes
- quiz and test dates and review information
- test objectives
- links
and all this puts me at a LoTi 1-2. How depressing is that? I am planning on using my learning from this class and the Teaching with Technology course I just finished to really help me step up the technology in my classroom. I hope to be at least a 2.5 by after this next year.

Check out my tech sites:

Please feel free to check out my tech sites and offer any constructive criticism. I am always trying to make things better.

webpage:
http://www.freewebs.com/lizkotlowski/

wiki:
http://wikiformrsk.wikispaces.com/

Initial blog for: Literacy and Technology

This is my last graduate course towards my Masters in Adolescence Education. I am very excited to being almost done. Now all I have to do is pass the comps and I'll be home free towards this second career of mine.
I am very much looking forward to honing my technology skills in this class. In my last tech class I learned for the first time how to do wikis and blogs. Prior to this I had only experience with the webpage I have set up for my students. It is generally an information site for both parents and students about the course: syllabus, class notes (all on ppt), dates and information about quizzes, tests, review sessions, etc. Feel free to check it out. I would appreciate any constructive criticism since once this class is done I want to update the site before classes begin in September.
You can view the site at: http://teachersweb.com/ny/johnjay/kotlowski