Activity 10: Free Choice
My team has been talking about creating a new website so parents can get to all the websites they need to with less opening and closing. 5th Grade did the hard work of searching for a good host site, and we decided to hold on to their coat tails! Anne Nelson started playing around with Weebly first. She set up the basic site, and we are going to complete our individual pages. We added links to the district site, the Island Lake site, and School View. These are the places we find families need to go the most.
I am working through exactly what I want to have on my page, and likely it will be a work in progress as I work my way through the school year with my new knowledge. I do know that I want a place to house math videos, made using SMART recorder, that will show parents (and remind kids) how to do certain problems. My math students need to do each concept several times in many different ways, so having reminders is a powerful thing.
Island Lake 3rd Grade Website
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Activity 9: Fitness Assessment
Scenario 3: Anonymous Blogging
Ms. Gifford learned about a new blog that does not require the arduous process of setting up individual accounts for each student. This seemed like an easy way to jump into blogging as a class. Ms. Gifford talked about acceptable use with her students but did not inform the principal or parents of her instructional goals or objectives for using a class blog. Because students did not have accounts, they were able to post comments on the blog anonymously. Although, this protected student privacy, it snowballed into a barrage of inappropriate and harassing comments. Ms. Gifford quickly shut the blog down and went back to the drawing board.
Ms. Gifford learned about a new blog that does not require the arduous process of setting up individual accounts for each student. This seemed like an easy way to jump into blogging as a class. Ms. Gifford talked about acceptable use with her students but did not inform the principal or parents of her instructional goals or objectives for using a class blog. Because students did not have accounts, they were able to post comments on the blog anonymously. Although, this protected student privacy, it snowballed into a barrage of inappropriate and harassing comments. Ms. Gifford quickly shut the blog down and went back to the drawing board.
1. Ethical Issues
Students will need to be educated about the fact that what they say online is no different than standing in front of their parents, family, and friends and stating the same words. The district has an acceptable use policy that also outlines the consequences of inappropriate use. It is our job to help students and parents understand that. Appropriate school language and behavior must be followed online as well as in the classroom.
2. Safety/Well Being
Absolutely the well-being of students is a factor here. Students are responsible for treating one another kindly as it directly relates to self esteem and therefore academic performance. Online bullying/harassment is no different than in person. The teacher, parents, and school will need to deal with these actions and the lesson would need to be suspended until appropriate changes can be made.
3. Advice/Strategy/Policy
I would always choose a blog where students are required to login. This will hold students accountable for their words. I would also go over the district's policies with students and parents before using any blog. Our district requires a signed contract on appropriate use. I
4. Personal Experience
I have never used a blog or any technology where students respond online, so I have nothing to add!
Scenario 6: Course Management Overload
Ms. Carlson is excited to use Edmodo, a course management system similar to Moodle with her students. Although Edmodo isn’t officially supported by the tech department like Moodle is, she is excited to use it because she finds it much more intuitive to use and she likes the interface better than Moodle. Ms. Carlson is vigilant about the privacy settings, has informed her principal and parents of her instructional goals and objectives. Her students jump on board and post to the discussion at record numbers. Ms. Carlson is pleased to see such motivated dialogue on a novel that had previously felt like pulling teeth. Two weeks into the unit, she receives a parent complaint. The complaint is as follows:
Dear Ms. Carlson, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hamilton and Ms. McIntyre,
Although my son is a motivated and active participant in all of your classes, I am concerned that the school does not seem to have a unified course management system. He is using Moodle in Math, Edmodo in English, Schoology in Science, and Kidblog in Social Studies. Furthermore, all of these sites require different logins and passwords. As a parent, I am having a difficult time keeping this all straight and am requesting that the school discuss this issue and figure out a more streamlined approach.
Thank you for your consideration,
A supportive but confused parent
Ms. Carlson is excited to use Edmodo, a course management system similar to Moodle with her students. Although Edmodo isn’t officially supported by the tech department like Moodle is, she is excited to use it because she finds it much more intuitive to use and she likes the interface better than Moodle. Ms. Carlson is vigilant about the privacy settings, has informed her principal and parents of her instructional goals and objectives. Her students jump on board and post to the discussion at record numbers. Ms. Carlson is pleased to see such motivated dialogue on a novel that had previously felt like pulling teeth. Two weeks into the unit, she receives a parent complaint. The complaint is as follows:
Dear Ms. Carlson, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hamilton and Ms. McIntyre,
Although my son is a motivated and active participant in all of your classes, I am concerned that the school does not seem to have a unified course management system. He is using Moodle in Math, Edmodo in English, Schoology in Science, and Kidblog in Social Studies. Furthermore, all of these sites require different logins and passwords. As a parent, I am having a difficult time keeping this all straight and am requesting that the school discuss this issue and figure out a more streamlined approach.
Thank you for your consideration,
A supportive but confused parent
1. Ethical Issues
I don't see any ethical issues with this scenario. I guess I would check with the district to make sure that all those sites are okay to use and follow any suggestions the district would have.
2. Safety/Well Being
I also think there are no issues here - at least at the elementary level. For students in middle and high school, the parent could be interfering a bit too much. Students seem able to manage a variety of sites and logins in the social networking scene and could learn to do so for educational purposes.
3. Advice/Strategy/Policy
I feel like exposing students to these sites for legitimate purposes, increases their overall learning. In this case, it sounds like the kids have managed okay, but the parent is uncomfortable with all these sites. We need to take some time to help parents navigate this new frontier in education. Is has been overwhelming for me as a teacher, and I imagine will also be difficult as a parent. I want to be able to help my child at home. It may be a good idea to post a tutorial or video on how to navigate these sites for both students and parents. This would be proactive, and help parents get on board without being too intimidated. The district may need to look into paying some teachers to do some parent education face to face as well. We do place a significant weight on parent interaction in their child's education.
4. Personal Experience
Again - I don't have any! Although I do think we are going through a transition to having parents get used to going to the website for information. We are really doing double (and triple) duty right now having to make paper copies, upload to our website, and send out emails.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Activity 8: Polling and Data Gathering
Poll Everywhere
I thought this was a great tool! However, again I feel like we don't have the technology to access this type of thing easily. I WANT iPADS! I was going to give my kids a reading survey, but thought getting them to login would be difficult. Also, I added a question that asked them their name, but didn't know if their responses would be organized by student or just totals.
So, I switched to asking the staff if they have ever used SMART recorder and will try to work this into my workshop presentation.
Google Docs
I am so excited to learn how to do this! I have been able to create docs - but have never created a form to use with kids. I watched Katie Greene use one last year as part of a flipped lesson and was really excited about trying to use one. However, I never found the time to learn how...until now. :)
I decided to do the reading survey in this format and think getting the responses will be much easier. I love to find out where my students are with reading right out of the gate. I would love to use these forms as entrance slips in math, and so many other ways!
Poll Everywhere
I thought this was a great tool! However, again I feel like we don't have the technology to access this type of thing easily. I WANT iPADS! I was going to give my kids a reading survey, but thought getting them to login would be difficult. Also, I added a question that asked them their name, but didn't know if their responses would be organized by student or just totals.
So, I switched to asking the staff if they have ever used SMART recorder and will try to work this into my workshop presentation.
Google Docs
I am so excited to learn how to do this! I have been able to create docs - but have never created a form to use with kids. I watched Katie Greene use one last year as part of a flipped lesson and was really excited about trying to use one. However, I never found the time to learn how...until now. :)
I decided to do the reading survey in this format and think getting the responses will be much easier. I love to find out where my students are with reading right out of the gate. I would love to use these forms as entrance slips in math, and so many other ways!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Activity 7: Cloud Computing
I have been using google docs that other people have created for quite some time. It never really dawned on me the full scope of how this can be used for personal files.It has been a big pain to be at home and try to get documents off my district file. It takes forever! Using this will be much more convenient to work at home (which is where I do all of my lesson planning).
I uploaded a form we use for the first week of school to introduce other staff members in the building. It goes along with the book Hooray for Diffendoofer Day.
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day
Currently my team uses google doc for keeping track of our team meeting notes and agendas. We all can access the information and keep track of everyone's tasks. We also use it to coordinate times. I just got one seeing when everyone could get together for our summer "I" day. I think there are many pros!
A con for me is that I can be indecisive and wouldn't want the changes to save as I was creating.
I have been using google docs that other people have created for quite some time. It never really dawned on me the full scope of how this can be used for personal files.It has been a big pain to be at home and try to get documents off my district file. It takes forever! Using this will be much more convenient to work at home (which is where I do all of my lesson planning).
I uploaded a form we use for the first week of school to introduce other staff members in the building. It goes along with the book Hooray for Diffendoofer Day.
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day
Currently my team uses google doc for keeping track of our team meeting notes and agendas. We all can access the information and keep track of everyone's tasks. We also use it to coordinate times. I just got one seeing when everyone could get together for our summer "I" day. I think there are many pros!
A con for me is that I can be indecisive and wouldn't want the changes to save as I was creating.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Activity 6: Study Tools
I started with studyblue. I thought having a site to make flash cards would be an excellent center activity during guided reading. It was easy to use. It did not let me add Island Lake to the school list, and I had to go under Mounds View High School. After I added my vocab, I was disappointed to find that each student would need an account. That made me less enthusiastic.
http://www.studyblue.com/#flashcard/view/6978011
Then I decided to look at quizlet. I liked this because it was more accessible to students. I could just share the link. I also liked that it had other options for activities (like spelling) kids can use. I think I will use this a ton in science as well as language arts.
I started with studyblue. I thought having a site to make flash cards would be an excellent center activity during guided reading. It was easy to use. It did not let me add Island Lake to the school list, and I had to go under Mounds View High School. After I added my vocab, I was disappointed to find that each student would need an account. That made me less enthusiastic.
http://www.studyblue.com/#flashcard/view/6978011
Then I decided to look at quizlet. I liked this because it was more accessible to students. I could just share the link. I also liked that it had other options for activities (like spelling) kids can use. I think I will use this a ton in science as well as language arts.
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