A big thanks has to go out to my group members. I learned from each of you and appreciate the feedback, links, and ideas that were exchanged. Many of these I have put to use in some way or shared with colleagues. I feel that I have received great benefit from this interchange of ideas. Thanks for helping to make me better at what I do.
Good luck in future classes and and I look forward to "seeing" you all again sometime.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Field Testing
This week my students took the new PSSA state field test in science. While proctoring the exam, I saw many students puzzled, confused and some giving up. This was a very difficult test, with items from the 4th grade through 11th curricula...and my kids are only in 8th. I can only hope that the real deal will be a bit different. The field test is done and I'm sure well on its way to becoming the final edition, which is interesting since just this past week I took a short survey on my curriculum, and teaching methods, what references I use, whether I consult any of a number of standards, etc. The test is pretty much in the bag and we get to have input now. What an interesting concept.
The original test, which was canceled several years ago, had things like the weather on the 4th grade exam(according to the standards we were given), so our district jumped right on the ball and moved weather from 8th to 4th grade so the kids would have do better on the test. However, in 4th grade, many students are incapable of grasping some of the higher level ideas that come with the topic. If they can't put their hands on it, it tends to be tough. So with their limited abilities, they are supposed to remember what they really weren't educationally ready to learn and put it to use 4 years after they almost were capable of learning it. Doesn't sound a recipe for success. What I saw didn't really match with the state standards, and now, anchors that I've been using either. It makes me wonder if my school is headed in the right direction.
At any rate, this new test should shake things up a bit. The new test will sheppard schools into line. Maybe the entire idea of these standardized tests is to make it possible for students who move school to school to be able to pick up where they were in their old placements? My entire year was changed this year...it didn't go so well...maybe this new set of changes will be good. Who knows what topics I'll lose and gain. It should be another interesting year.
A school doing poorly out of the gate will make it easier to show improvement. :) I can't wait to see how this plays out.
The original test, which was canceled several years ago, had things like the weather on the 4th grade exam(according to the standards we were given), so our district jumped right on the ball and moved weather from 8th to 4th grade so the kids would have do better on the test. However, in 4th grade, many students are incapable of grasping some of the higher level ideas that come with the topic. If they can't put their hands on it, it tends to be tough. So with their limited abilities, they are supposed to remember what they really weren't educationally ready to learn and put it to use 4 years after they almost were capable of learning it. Doesn't sound a recipe for success. What I saw didn't really match with the state standards, and now, anchors that I've been using either. It makes me wonder if my school is headed in the right direction.
At any rate, this new test should shake things up a bit. The new test will sheppard schools into line. Maybe the entire idea of these standardized tests is to make it possible for students who move school to school to be able to pick up where they were in their old placements? My entire year was changed this year...it didn't go so well...maybe this new set of changes will be good. Who knows what topics I'll lose and gain. It should be another interesting year.
A school doing poorly out of the gate will make it easier to show improvement. :) I can't wait to see how this plays out.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Two Pages for International Education
While searching for this week's assigned area, I found these two pages that had good statistical data. This first page, National Clearing House for US-Japan Studies includes "A Day in the Life" type information and also has the statistics that are interesting. Looking at what their students experience is interesting. I found the Day in the Life of a Japanese Student particularly informative.
The second page was from the MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. This had really nice graphs and charts showing everything from the percentages of students that are enrolled in various majors at college, how many kindergarten students go on and percentage of compulsory age students that are not enrolled and the reasons for not being enrolled. It's really a quite complete list. If you have the time, there are some numbers here that are surprising.
The second page was from the MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. This had really nice graphs and charts showing everything from the percentages of students that are enrolled in various majors at college, how many kindergarten students go on and percentage of compulsory age students that are not enrolled and the reasons for not being enrolled. It's really a quite complete list. If you have the time, there are some numbers here that are surprising.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Data Driven Decisions
After I posted a comment today, I thought about some of the things my district is up to. We're really looking at the idea of data driving decisions. This makes sense, but when someone makes up their mind, the data can be misleading. Currently the high school is looking at crating a 9th grade academy to help students transition from the middle school. One of the main purposes is to decrease the number of tardies. Tardies are a big problem. Data has been linked to make the statement that tardies equal low grades. The validity of the statement is unscientific. The results are not accurate for several reasons. It's sort of like trying to find out what percentage of citizens in a given city have aids. If you stand in front of an aids clinic and ask how many people have the disease, your results will definitely be skewed and inaccurate. The idea that creating a 9th grade wing to decrease tardies goes against our findings in the middle school.
At each faculty meeting, our principal provides each teacher with the data on referrals to the office and the consequences doled out. Inevitably tardies to class tops the list. Even though we have each grade in their own wings, with each student required to walk an average of less than 70 feet in the three minutes between classes. It's not a problem with time, it's a problem with decisions. Some students are late to classes each day even though they walk only 10 feet from one room to another. They choose to go out of their way to visit friends. Yet someone in our administration deems it necessary to create this academy, failing to see that the data implies that this will not be the answer. Even though teachers were asked for input, the decision was made long before. Any comment or advice against the decision fell on deaf ears. The most remarkable thing to me was the answer to a question. One teacher asked if the academy would removed if it failed to make the desired improvements...the answer..."It's here to stay." Sooooo, in other words someone wants it and it really doesn't matter if improvements are made or if the data shows it's a poor choice.
As far as a correlation between tardies and grades...it only makes sense that the kids making the better decisions would have better grades. Those who don't care enough to get where they're going when they should get there are more likely to not care about their grades.
We've had our top two, long term top brass retire in the last couple of years. The direction of our new heads is a bit scary. It seems that dictation will be the method of interaction with the lowly peons doing the grunt work of educating while under the guise that the peon's ideas would even be considered. While this mess doesn't directly effect me at the middle school level, it does demonstrate that the open, available lines of communication may not be what they used to be. It's almost like someone is trying to create something that they'll be remembered for, or leaving a mark. We've lost a few people recently and several others are looking to get out. I may be losing the reasons why I fought so hard to get in...maybe I'll have to change my profile to reflect the new establishment. It's not as cooperative and pleasant as it was just a short time ago.
At each faculty meeting, our principal provides each teacher with the data on referrals to the office and the consequences doled out. Inevitably tardies to class tops the list. Even though we have each grade in their own wings, with each student required to walk an average of less than 70 feet in the three minutes between classes. It's not a problem with time, it's a problem with decisions. Some students are late to classes each day even though they walk only 10 feet from one room to another. They choose to go out of their way to visit friends. Yet someone in our administration deems it necessary to create this academy, failing to see that the data implies that this will not be the answer. Even though teachers were asked for input, the decision was made long before. Any comment or advice against the decision fell on deaf ears. The most remarkable thing to me was the answer to a question. One teacher asked if the academy would removed if it failed to make the desired improvements...the answer..."It's here to stay." Sooooo, in other words someone wants it and it really doesn't matter if improvements are made or if the data shows it's a poor choice.
As far as a correlation between tardies and grades...it only makes sense that the kids making the better decisions would have better grades. Those who don't care enough to get where they're going when they should get there are more likely to not care about their grades.
We've had our top two, long term top brass retire in the last couple of years. The direction of our new heads is a bit scary. It seems that dictation will be the method of interaction with the lowly peons doing the grunt work of educating while under the guise that the peon's ideas would even be considered. While this mess doesn't directly effect me at the middle school level, it does demonstrate that the open, available lines of communication may not be what they used to be. It's almost like someone is trying to create something that they'll be remembered for, or leaving a mark. We've lost a few people recently and several others are looking to get out. I may be losing the reasons why I fought so hard to get in...maybe I'll have to change my profile to reflect the new establishment. It's not as cooperative and pleasant as it was just a short time ago.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
An Attempt
This past Thursday and Friday I tried my first mini-WebQuest with my students. I chose a short, well defined quest to experiment with the abilities and willingness of my students. After reserving the computer labs (during 3 classes one lab was available, for the other 2 I had to use another). I had a few problems with students not knowing their passwords(even after over 140 days of school) and some with students not being willing to read the recommended materials. The other little issue was getting students to type in the desired web page correctly. Many students wanted the answers to be blatant, not ones they had to read and think about.
Even with these few minor glitches, things seemed to go very well. The majority of the questions that were asked related directly to the topic and showed that students were interested in what they were learning. I talked with our librarian who is willing to add links to the library home page so students can simply click instead of typing, passwords are now written down and the necessary pages open to student access.
Of course, there are those students that really don't read much and get done way too fast, those that read and work at a steady pace and those that read very deliberately, taking much more time than anticipated. Bringing these three groups of student together was taken care of by having a large bank of pictures of the topic, which was eclipses. Not only did these available pictures help to keep some of the faster students on topic and busy, seeing the pictures spawned many discussions and questions.
Students talked to each other about what they were finding and were excited for the most part. My answering of the questions was limited, as each picture had a caption and some explanation. Most of the other questions were in the material that students were to have already read, so students were generally sent back to the reading for the answers. The questions that weren't in the reading, I took care of while referencing their worksheets to expand on a topic. All went pretty smoothly. Monday morning I intend to get student reactions/suggestions and see what they thought.
Thanks to this class, I've really officially tried my first quest. Next year I'll start early in the year and build the students' skills to more complex quests with fewer bounds...which will again change my year. At least I'm not stagnating at this point!
Even with these few minor glitches, things seemed to go very well. The majority of the questions that were asked related directly to the topic and showed that students were interested in what they were learning. I talked with our librarian who is willing to add links to the library home page so students can simply click instead of typing, passwords are now written down and the necessary pages open to student access.
Of course, there are those students that really don't read much and get done way too fast, those that read and work at a steady pace and those that read very deliberately, taking much more time than anticipated. Bringing these three groups of student together was taken care of by having a large bank of pictures of the topic, which was eclipses. Not only did these available pictures help to keep some of the faster students on topic and busy, seeing the pictures spawned many discussions and questions.
Students talked to each other about what they were finding and were excited for the most part. My answering of the questions was limited, as each picture had a caption and some explanation. Most of the other questions were in the material that students were to have already read, so students were generally sent back to the reading for the answers. The questions that weren't in the reading, I took care of while referencing their worksheets to expand on a topic. All went pretty smoothly. Monday morning I intend to get student reactions/suggestions and see what they thought.
Thanks to this class, I've really officially tried my first quest. Next year I'll start early in the year and build the students' skills to more complex quests with fewer bounds...which will again change my year. At least I'm not stagnating at this point!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
A Change Already?
Thanks to Mr. Harris, I have a new online bookmark program. While I'm still learning its use, it appears to be much more simple than OnlineBookmarkManager. I've been using OBM with success this week. It is a little time consuming to save pages, but the organization of these bookmarks was simple. I opted not to use the the "import" feature that works with Firefox so I could build a neat set of bookmarks. The ones on my computers lack that right now. The only real issue that I've run into is that my user name and email address show up on screen. One of the reasons I'd like to have this program is so that I can show my students things online, sometimes to answer a question that they may have. With me using the projector I'd certainly prefer that my email address not be visible. Other than that, I'm happy with the program.
Delicious is different. For starters it is an add-on for Firefox. After installing, there is a button on each page and tab that allows an easy addition to be made to the bookmarks, much like saving them to the computer. NICE! Even more importantly, my email address shows up no where. The kids will be able to see my user name, but I can live with that. I'll just have to make it something appropriate and something that I don't use anywhere else, in case they search it.
Thanks for the help Jimmy!
Delicious is different. For starters it is an add-on for Firefox. After installing, there is a button on each page and tab that allows an easy addition to be made to the bookmarks, much like saving them to the computer. NICE! Even more importantly, my email address shows up no where. The kids will be able to see my user name, but I can live with that. I'll just have to make it something appropriate and something that I don't use anywhere else, in case they search it.
Thanks for the help Jimmy!
Monday, April 16, 2007
First Impressions
Well, this task was much easier than the last one. A simple "googling" and I found 4 different promising methods. MyBookmarks.com was the first to show up on this search engine. First impressions were OK, but then I read on and found that it did not support Firefox for importing my current bookmarks. After thinking about how disorganized my bookmarks currently are, this seemed rather insignificant. This could be my next try.
The second page I visited was Spurlnet. This one claimed to work with all the major web browsers and to work across all OS platforms. Even I can find myself working on a Mac from time to time. This one is promising, but their warning about features being limited due to excessive spam spooked me. I appreciate that they are honest and admit that they have an issue, but I'd rather avoid that one.
Thirdly, Murl.com with its initial "no support" and the idea that the person behind this page didn't work there, seemed a little too small and potentially short lived. Creating a long term storage for all of my bookmarks seems like something that's better suited for more than the whims of one person.
The last option for this evening was OnlineBookManager. This initial offering showed that they supported Firefox and also a plug-in for synchronizing different computers and lists. The registration procedure was pretty painless, with the only real personal information being an email address. The rest was basic. I was logged in and working through the program. Without reading directions, it was simple to get started organizing folders and sub-folders.
Naming folders is easy using the symbols in the "edit" mode making categorizing the pages a quick process. Adding new bookmarks is also simple and allows for not only your name for the page, but a description of what it is for later reference. So far this seems like a good way to go. Still there are features that I have not explored.
There is the option of making your bookmarks public, searching a data base of other people's bookmarks could both be future uses. The plug-in availability for synchronizing multiple computers and OBM online is another feature that I'd like to explore this week. I'll have to read there....I'd really hate to do something to lose the marks that I've been finding over the years.
This idea, like many others, has its potential in the education setting. Another tool that can be used to simplify student access to information. I can see folders set up by assignment or topic available to students at any time and in any place. This set up could save much time help to direct students toward helpful pages when searching for information.
More on OBM later. I still have to download the synchronizer and install it. I'll see what happens there.
The second page I visited was Spurlnet. This one claimed to work with all the major web browsers and to work across all OS platforms. Even I can find myself working on a Mac from time to time. This one is promising, but their warning about features being limited due to excessive spam spooked me. I appreciate that they are honest and admit that they have an issue, but I'd rather avoid that one.
Thirdly, Murl.com with its initial "no support" and the idea that the person behind this page didn't work there, seemed a little too small and potentially short lived. Creating a long term storage for all of my bookmarks seems like something that's better suited for more than the whims of one person.
The last option for this evening was OnlineBookManager. This initial offering showed that they supported Firefox and also a plug-in for synchronizing different computers and lists. The registration procedure was pretty painless, with the only real personal information being an email address. The rest was basic. I was logged in and working through the program. Without reading directions, it was simple to get started organizing folders and sub-folders.
Naming folders is easy using the symbols in the "edit" mode making categorizing the pages a quick process. Adding new bookmarks is also simple and allows for not only your name for the page, but a description of what it is for later reference. So far this seems like a good way to go. Still there are features that I have not explored.
There is the option of making your bookmarks public, searching a data base of other people's bookmarks could both be future uses. The plug-in availability for synchronizing multiple computers and OBM online is another feature that I'd like to explore this week. I'll have to read there....I'd really hate to do something to lose the marks that I've been finding over the years.
This idea, like many others, has its potential in the education setting. Another tool that can be used to simplify student access to information. I can see folders set up by assignment or topic available to students at any time and in any place. This set up could save much time help to direct students toward helpful pages when searching for information.
More on OBM later. I still have to download the synchronizer and install it. I'll see what happens there.
Week 7 Goal
Last week, I failed to find the info I was looking for, but found other things that were useful. Not a waste by any means. All of this research has led me to my next goal. I need to find and learn a good online program to store and sort my bookmarks. During this class I've been using 3 different computers, one at home, and two at school. I've emailed pages to all of my email accounts, which isn't too bad, but I'd like to learn to have them all in one spot. I've heard it mentioned here in the different classes, but never looked into it. It was never necessary for me...until now.
When thinking about the uses for me, I started to think that storing these online could allow my students to visit a page that is designed with bookmarks organized to help them on the various topics we research in a school year. I know that I'm a bit behind here and hope to use these efficiently very soon.
When thinking about the uses for me, I started to think that storing these online could allow my students to visit a page that is designed with bookmarks organized to help them on the various topics we research in a school year. I know that I'm a bit behind here and hope to use these efficiently very soon.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Camtasia
Well, I've actually had Camtasia running! Yesterday, I unplugged my school computer from the network to avoid the detection of the new program and tried it out, installing from a USB drive. It's REALLY slow(even the "new" school computer is under the recommended system requirements), but I did get the bones of my presentation done. The screens I want are captured and the splits are done. It took just under two and half hours before I found that the program I wanted to teach about and Camtasia really did not like each other. My other program crashes any time Camtasia is used to do anything. After several crashes my intended lesson became a solution to last year's biggest issue when teaching guitar with my 8th graders. I'll now be doing a how to find, download and install Power Tab Editor, which was the start of my intended instructional plan. Last year my students had a really rough time doing this. Maybe this will help them.
My new problem is with the audio. When I try to record the directions to go with the visuals, I get garbled noise. I searched out assistance and spent much time today trying to get something to work. I know that I'm missing something simple, a stupid little thing I'm sure, but I'm stumped right now. Has any one else had trouble here? Has anyone else had their audio come out choppy, and compressed. A 10 second narration takes less than five when running in the program. What am I missing? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
My new problem is with the audio. When I try to record the directions to go with the visuals, I get garbled noise. I searched out assistance and spent much time today trying to get something to work. I know that I'm missing something simple, a stupid little thing I'm sure, but I'm stumped right now. Has any one else had trouble here? Has anyone else had their audio come out choppy, and compressed. A 10 second narration takes less than five when running in the program. What am I missing? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Stymied on One, A Solution for Another
Today was a productive day over all. I figured out how to use the Camtasia and am working on a tutorial for a guitar program that I use in exploratory, set out my plans for the final paper and got a good start on planning out the next unit to be taught with my co-teacher in LS science. All in all, not a bad day!
On the other hand, I'm not having much luck finding data on the use of WebQuests. I had expected to find data showing the positives and benefits, countered by negatives and downfalls , with the pluses outnumbering the minuses. It's intuitive to think that WebQuests, with their interactive outcome based projects, would be a highly productive method to assist students in higher level thinking, problem solving and scientific method while integrating the various curricula in a single project. But, as we've read, what's seems obvious is sometimes wrong. I guess I failed on my quest so far this week.
Even though I failed on that, I did find some very good quests and ideas that could very well be part of my future classes, making me a better, more tech savvy teacher. Not to mention spreading the word of how useful new technology can be. It seems that there is always a use for more knowledge, and sometimes even someone that could use the knowledge that I have :)
On the other hand, I'm not having much luck finding data on the use of WebQuests. I had expected to find data showing the positives and benefits, countered by negatives and downfalls , with the pluses outnumbering the minuses. It's intuitive to think that WebQuests, with their interactive outcome based projects, would be a highly productive method to assist students in higher level thinking, problem solving and scientific method while integrating the various curricula in a single project. But, as we've read, what's seems obvious is sometimes wrong. I guess I failed on my quest so far this week.
Even though I failed on that, I did find some very good quests and ideas that could very well be part of my future classes, making me a better, more tech savvy teacher. Not to mention spreading the word of how useful new technology can be. It seems that there is always a use for more knowledge, and sometimes even someone that could use the knowledge that I have :)
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Geologic Timeline
While looking for some activities in teaching glaciation, I came across this really great page that deals with the geologic time line. It addresses the same basics that I am to do, and makes it interactive. I had a student use it today to see what he thought...turns out it was "kinda fun" for him too. While it is a little of my topic of WebQuest data this week, it seemed like a good one to get out there. Enjoy.
Computer Envy
With the addition of the newest assignment, I've finally found myself at the point of "have to do something". I'm a bit behind, and need to work around the system requirements of camtasia. My school Tech Coordinator is unlikely to approve the program installation, my computer at home is incapable...interesting spot!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Web quest results
My research this week broke from the finding of ideas, to finding out just how successful these activities have been for others. After reviewing several articles, I found two that were most useful. This first page dealt more with the certification levels of teachers, but it did stress that higher order thinking and problem solving skills are built through a quality web quest. The notion that the web quests had to be well planned, thought through and supervised reminded me that even using this technology won't work without a good quality plan. They're not the kind of thing that you just throw together to make your own life easier.
My second page is a research project that had some very interesting pre-activity and post activity results. I found these to be the most interesting aspect. Some of the things I thought would be shown were not. In this writing, there is also talk about some of the problems encountered. The most significant dealing with the same group work issues that we have talked about here. The bottom line though, seems to point to the useful aspect of these quests and getting students involved in their own learning, while having something more to do.
Lastly, I'd like to say that I didn't find any concrete studies on how successful the WebQuests really were. I expected to find a study that showed the tremendous strides made by students that were regularly involved with this style of learning activity. I'll keep looking. Maybe I've just been looking in the wrong places this week.
My second page is a research project that had some very interesting pre-activity and post activity results. I found these to be the most interesting aspect. Some of the things I thought would be shown were not. In this writing, there is also talk about some of the problems encountered. The most significant dealing with the same group work issues that we have talked about here. The bottom line though, seems to point to the useful aspect of these quests and getting students involved in their own learning, while having something more to do.
Lastly, I'd like to say that I didn't find any concrete studies on how successful the WebQuests really were. I expected to find a study that showed the tremendous strides made by students that were regularly involved with this style of learning activity. I'll keep looking. Maybe I've just been looking in the wrong places this week.
Thanks for the help
Thank you all for your help this week. The web sites provided in responses to my blog have really hit the mark this week. I've emailed them to my school account so I can access them next week at school. I started by looking into Jimmy's idea of teaching students to work in groups. While I may not have the time necessary to get students through this, I think I have a method that might work.
In the middle school, there is a 25 minute period of each day where students are exposed to a variety of social skills. It's a wide range of activities that students take part in. I intend to speak with committee that sets up the curriculum to see whether this can instituted early in the next school year. Just about every teacher utilizes groups and has the same issues. By having the entire school subjected to this system, many of the issues can be resolved.
I also forwarded the pages of the AIE site and the others designed to help students with their future choices. I think my guidance department will be happy to see other things that will help them. Thanks again Jimmy.
I've also reviewed the math pages and think that they'll be useful as well. Science and math are difficult to separate. I intend to work more closely with the math teacher on my team and use these pages develop more useful cross-curricular activities. At times math can be less than exciting for students, especially with our district's use of one program. These new ideas(at least to me) can help to bring the idea of how useful math actually is to a broad range of students and hopefully, catch many of those students that bail out on math at young age.
In the middle school, there is a 25 minute period of each day where students are exposed to a variety of social skills. It's a wide range of activities that students take part in. I intend to speak with committee that sets up the curriculum to see whether this can instituted early in the next school year. Just about every teacher utilizes groups and has the same issues. By having the entire school subjected to this system, many of the issues can be resolved.
I also forwarded the pages of the AIE site and the others designed to help students with their future choices. I think my guidance department will be happy to see other things that will help them. Thanks again Jimmy.
I've also reviewed the math pages and think that they'll be useful as well. Science and math are difficult to separate. I intend to work more closely with the math teacher on my team and use these pages develop more useful cross-curricular activities. At times math can be less than exciting for students, especially with our district's use of one program. These new ideas(at least to me) can help to bring the idea of how useful math actually is to a broad range of students and hopefully, catch many of those students that bail out on math at young age.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
AHA
After thinking about creating my own webquests, that meet exactly what I want, I remembered that several years ago I created something similar. I was working in alternative education and was in a stand alone building. We taught after regular school hours, which meant that there was no technical support for our iffy at best(at the time) internet connection. My project involved volcanoes, so I did the research and burned all the students would need to CD. We were totally off line, yet students could still visit what they needed to complete their projects. I even signed a couple of CD's out to students so they could work at home.
This involved many emails and a few phone calls to get approval from site creators. Most were more than willing to allow me to do this, as long as I left their names on their stuff. I guess that could be seen as a primitive version of a web quest?
Remembering the time required to do this...if I do, it wasn't really that bad and was quite successful. Being on CD-R did make it a problem to make changes, but today with better access that is more dependable, I think I'd like to give it a shot.
This involved many emails and a few phone calls to get approval from site creators. Most were more than willing to allow me to do this, as long as I left their names on their stuff. I guess that could be seen as a primitive version of a web quest?
Remembering the time required to do this...if I do, it wasn't really that bad and was quite successful. Being on CD-R did make it a problem to make changes, but today with better access that is more dependable, I think I'd like to give it a shot.
A Quest for Something
My research for a cross-curricular project utilizing the internet landed me squarely in the land of web quests. It didn't take long to find several pages dealing with these. A list of quests that I first found had several dead links, which was disappointing at first. I did find one particular quest that seemed promising. Space Station Phyve has a group of objectives that leads students through several scientific processes and is one that requires a rather high level of communication skills. Students will have to incorporate much English(or Language Arts in my school) knowledge in order to be successful in the project. Since science and math usually end up together, it's not surprising that there is a mathematical element to this. Art also plays a role in the final project, as does at least some in the Social Studies arena. Thinking about the socialization of human beings in closed quarters will most likely be new for students. This seems like a good final activity/project for students, culminating our unit on space and its exploration. Of course there are tweaks to made to suit the individual teacher, but this one seems very well thought out.
My only concerns about this sort of project revolve around access for students. There are several ways around the limited access that would have to be pursued. I would be exceptionally nice if a tech coordinator could be talked into giving each team of students access to their own network folder to store all their work. A place that each student can access, edit and create without having to exchange hard copies. That would make this a project that I could do with my entire team, grouping students from different classes instead of just using the same, limited number in a single class. That would also allow students to potentially pick their own team? I know this is risky some times, but it does end the problem of having one student do all the work and then getting calls complaining about the performance of the partners. This way they choose their fate, succeeding as a group or crashing to the ground with those they chose.
More research will follow, but this is my initial thought of webquests.
My only concerns about this sort of project revolve around access for students. There are several ways around the limited access that would have to be pursued. I would be exceptionally nice if a tech coordinator could be talked into giving each team of students access to their own network folder to store all their work. A place that each student can access, edit and create without having to exchange hard copies. That would make this a project that I could do with my entire team, grouping students from different classes instead of just using the same, limited number in a single class. That would also allow students to potentially pick their own team? I know this is risky some times, but it does end the problem of having one student do all the work and then getting calls complaining about the performance of the partners. This way they choose their fate, succeeding as a group or crashing to the ground with those they chose.
More research will follow, but this is my initial thought of webquests.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Software
I worked on finding software today. My goal was to find a tool to help me create my own web pages, without learning tons of technical jargon. I tried to use Netscape Composer for another class, and completed enough to get by, but didn't really like my result. I intend to create one for my students, and will build one for my second job. This seemed like a really good time to try one. I chose More Motion Web Express 3.3. CNET gave it 5 stars, but average users were in the 3 range. The initial file was a bit large, over 10 megs, but downloaded in zipped format pretty quickly. I'll install it this evening and start to see what it can do.
I had thought that photo editing would be nice and planned to try the GIMP, as I no longer have a workable Photoshop program. The problem is that I'm still running 98 on a computer that I built for myself way back in 99. GIMP requires a newer OS.
If the MMWE 3.3 turns out to be a toad, I'll try the Flick-R that was recommended by a family member. I guess sending a BUNCH of pictures to people at one time doesn't always go over so well! This one would also be useful to me, and could have a fun and purposeful use for my students.
I'll post more when I know more.
I had thought that photo editing would be nice and planned to try the GIMP, as I no longer have a workable Photoshop program. The problem is that I'm still running 98 on a computer that I built for myself way back in 99. GIMP requires a newer OS.
If the MMWE 3.3 turns out to be a toad, I'll try the Flick-R that was recommended by a family member. I guess sending a BUNCH of pictures to people at one time doesn't always go over so well! This one would also be useful to me, and could have a fun and purposeful use for my students.
I'll post more when I know more.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Using What I've Learned
While at work this weekend, it was brought to my attention that I had agreed to create a web site for the business. The original conversation was more than a year ago, but now it seems that the owner is serious and would like me to take care of it ASAP. Very timely huh? With my limited experience, I intend to do my best to create something useful, concise and one worth revisiting. I'll work on this during the week, but already have a list of things I'd like to do with it. Thanks to IC II I stand a better than average chance at creating something good! I'll most likely submit this page to the blog to get feedback before unveiling it to the power that be for my second job.
Two New Pages to View and Inform
This week, I spent some time with one of our LS teachers. She co-teaches LS science with me in 8th grade, but also co-teaches 6th grade LS science, 7the grade LS science and teaches her own social studies classes. Her mission was to create a short unit for teaching electricity. In doing so, we came across a couple of really nice pages.
This first one, Ipex, meets every need I can think of for being a good site. The information was well organized, well animated and very useful. It covers a wide range of interests and is very user friendly. No complaints from me at all!
This second page, 6th Grade Energy Unit, seemed quite well done too! I could use this next year with my unit on alternative energy. I have the kids compete to win the contract to power my new city. They have to tout the benefits of their given energy source, keeping the not so good parts for the fine print, and create a billboard. It's a fun project that has resulted in some interesting campaigns. One other important requirement is that they can't trash another source. It has to be kept positive...I learned that the first year I tried it (things got a little ugly between nuclear, and solar power groups!)
At any rate, this second page has good information and would be a good starting point for my kids to start their research. It's appearance is that of a quality site without being too overly dependent upon flashy, distracting content. I think they may have read the same articles we just did.
This first one, Ipex, meets every need I can think of for being a good site. The information was well organized, well animated and very useful. It covers a wide range of interests and is very user friendly. No complaints from me at all!
This second page, 6th Grade Energy Unit, seemed quite well done too! I could use this next year with my unit on alternative energy. I have the kids compete to win the contract to power my new city. They have to tout the benefits of their given energy source, keeping the not so good parts for the fine print, and create a billboard. It's a fun project that has resulted in some interesting campaigns. One other important requirement is that they can't trash another source. It has to be kept positive...I learned that the first year I tried it (things got a little ugly between nuclear, and solar power groups!)
At any rate, this second page has good information and would be a good starting point for my kids to start their research. It's appearance is that of a quality site without being too overly dependent upon flashy, distracting content. I think they may have read the same articles we just did.
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