Polleverywhere.com in the Classroom

For my technology tool this week I choose to investigate the website polleverywhere.com. This website is a virtual polling station that requires the responders to use their cell phones in order to respond. The teacher can create an account of on the website for free, which allows them to save polls they have made, the responses to pasts ones, and any new polls that they would like to use in future lessons. Within the account the teacher can even see who responded to each poll, which will help the teacher know which students are participating.  It is also possible on the website to create polls without an account, but then the save function is not available and all polls are lost once the browser is closed. Best of all; this entire website is free for everyone for make and account, and as long as 30≤ people respond to a poll they are also free.

This piece of technology is very simple to use, and doesn’t require the user to be technologically savvy. Creating polls is a breeze, and responding to them is as simple as sending a text message. There has been a recent push to have students use their cell phones productively in the classroom, instead of as a distraction. Now you can engage the students by having them participate in discussions, and following along with lectures. There are several ways that using this classroom would be beneficial to students. The first way would be to integrate the polls into a lecture so that the students could follow along with the lecture. The polls could be then used by the teacher as a type of formative assessment, which would provide the teacher with feedback on what the students understand and what they are still confused with. This information will help the teacher create lessons that will better cater to the students needs.

Diigo and Social Bookmarking

This week Kyle and I decided to investigate the website Diigo. This website is a social bookmarking page, which used “cloud” technology. Basically this means that anything you do on your account on the website you can access from anywhere and any computer. This is made possible because every time you save something to your account it is saved to Diigo’s servers, nothing is actually saved on your computer. “Cloud” computing is becoming more and more popular, which is evident by Microsoft’s relentless advertising campaign, but I digress. More importantly this technology is revolutionizing the easy through which people access information through technology.

 Diigo stands for “Digest of Internet Information, Groups, and Other stuff. To get started all you have to do is create an account on Diigo. Once you have an account you can now access your cloud based profile, where you can bookmark websites, and even access anything that other users are sharing with the public. To further the functionality of you need to download the diigo toolbar for your web browser. This toolbar allows you to highlight text on websites and even leave comments on post it notes, and as long as your signed into your account they will always show up on that webpage. This tool would become very useful in the classroom. For instance I could bring up a website on my classroom projector that I had visited with diigo. I could have pre-highlighted passages that I want the students to focus on. This tool would make it very easy for me to present websites to my students. I could then teach the students how to use diigo so that they could research from home, and then continue in school because of social bookmarking.  This website would also allow students to filter through all of their information, and highlight only what was important to them! I am sure there are plenty of other ideas on how to use this tool in the classroom, so I am inviting you to post your thought in the comment section for this blog!

iTunes U in the Secondary Classroom

            Apple’s iTunes is one of the largest digital media on the planet. The program allows users to purchase movies, music, much more straight to their computers and mobile devices. What makes this technology truly amazing is the fact that it can be accessed anywhere and anytime. One of the newest features to the online store is iTunes U, this section of iTunes, allows colleges, universities, and recently departments of education to post educational podcasts and videos. The best part about it is that all of the information is free for everyone. Many colleges and universities have posted lectures, lessons, and instructional videos. All of this information can even be useful for students at different institutions, and even for students in middle/high school.

            While researching iTunes U, I came across a website from the Department of Education of Florida. This website contained links to all of the information that they have uploaded to Apple’s servers. This website is very helpful because it contained likes to information for all disciplines, which makes it valuable for all teachers.

            I can see several ways that I would be able to use iTunes U in my classroom. I feel that students learn science the best my practicing science. Labs are important because they demonstrate all of the principles in action. In many cases students have never had labs before so preparing them for proper lab procedures and techniques is important. I can use videos of lab procedures that were posted on iTunes U. These videos will help prepare the students for their lab exercises. When I have my own classroom I also plan on maintaining my own website, where students can check assignments, test dates, and supplementary materials. If possible I would download relevant lectures from college professors off of iTunes U and post them to my website. Since they would be on my website the students would be able to listen to them online if they wanted to review class material. I think this might be very beneficial for the students, because there have been studies done that suggest that students who listen to downloaded lectures on average perform better on exams. iTunes U will allow me to better serve the needs of my students, an enhance learning in my classroom.

February 1st 2011

Google Reader

            For the longest time I have been wondering what RSS stood for and what it did. Many of my favorite websites offered this feature and I never took advantage of it. To start off Kyle and I spent some time watching videos that explained to us that RSS stood for Real Simple Syndication.  The videos also explained to us how to navigate Google Reader, which is one of the websites that uses RSS technology. This website allows you to view all of the articles/posts that were placed on all of your favorite websites, all from one location.

As I began subscribing to all of my favorite websites on Google reader, I realized that I had been missing out on an awesome tool. In the past I would have had to search through ESPN’s website in order to find articles that weren’t on their main page. Now all I have to do u is sign into Google Reader and it finds the articles for me. The best parts about this tool are the ease at which information can be accessed and all of the information that comes up can be individualized, it’s what you want to read or learn about. Since last class when I set up my Google Reader page, I have checked or read article that it found, at least once a day. I am really happy to have started using this tool.

I feel that this tool can be used in the classroom in various ways. In my High School government class each student had to present three current topics articles, throughout the entire semester. Google Reader could have been very useful for helping me to find these articles. This tool would also be use full if you wanted all of the students to make blog posts, and then comment on their classmates. The students could use Google reader to subscribe to their classmates blogs, so they could easily access all of the posts from one single page.

I have really grown to enjoy this tool, and would recommend it to anyone.

January 25th Post

            Learning occurs all of the time outside of school, whether it’s through experiences, friends, family, and even mistakes. I have learned many skills from my father, because whenever he was doing work around the house or in our yard, I would help him. By listening, watching, and trying for myself I learned how to many skills that are necessary for up keeping a home. I feel people can learn a lot from their mistakes. This past semester, I tutored four 8^th grade students from South Mountain Middle School in Pre-Algebra. One of my lessons was a traditional style review, where students would work on several problems and I would help them when they were stuck, and eventually review the questions. Suffice it say that this lesson was not very successful, so I knew that I need to do something differently. The following week I had the students pair up and each grab a dry erase board and marker. During the review I gave them problems to solve and when everyone was finished I reviewed their answers and helped anyone who was stuck. I then awarded each team two points for each correct answer, and one point for finding their mistakes, and then correcting them. I wanted the students to learn from their mistakes, like I did with the first review lesson. Thankfully this lesson went much better than the first one, and the students, performed well on their test.

            Technology plays a large role in everyday life, and it especially affects how people learn. “Of all the writing that the Stanford students did, a stunning 38 percent of it took place out of the classroom—life writing, as Lunsford calls it. Those Twitter updates and lists of 25 things about yourself add up.” This quote from the New Literacy Article is a perfect example of the tremendous role that technology plays in everyday life. This quote show that the Stanford students are writing on their own free time. This is really important because I feel that the best way to become a better writer is through writing, and these students are in a sense using technology to become better writers. Teaching needs to continuously change to meet the needs of students whose lives are intertwined with technology. I feel that it will be important for teachers and schools to use technology in ways that make the students excited, and motivated to learn. 

 

January 20th

            I consider great teaching and learning to be when a classroom works a cohesive unit, in order to better benefit all of its members. I feel that teachers and students should work together as new understandings and meanings are created. I also believe the teacher should be open to learning from the students. To me great teaching and learning is the sharing of knowledge between the teacher and students. My most memorable learning experience is with my 9^th grade biology teacher. He presented the course material in fun and charismatic way. He took a subject matter that is intimidating to many students, and made it accessible to everyone. Many of the students laughed with him during his lectures. I admire his ability to lighten the class mood and still keep the students focused and on task. His room was really well decorated and created an open and welcoming environment.

            There are several challenges that teachers are currently facing. School districts and the general public are always pushing to get new technologies in place in classrooms, but many teachers don’t know how use them in their classes. Some teacher even feel that some of the technological devices are just more work for teachers. I feel that if teachers are educated about new technological aids, they will reap many benefits in their classrooms. During one of my field experiences I had the students come up one by one to the SmartBoard, and select answers during a review game. The students really enjoyed interacting with this piece of technology, and it helped them fully engage the material. Current generations of school age students possess a very high level of technological proficiency. Therefore I feel that it is very important for teachers to keep up with their students, to better meet the students’ needs.