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Google Forms

Just yesterday I had to present to the 3rd-5th grade teachers in my building on how to use an interactive whiteboard projector. I broke them up by grade level and had three stations for them to visit. The first was working with me on interactive whiteboards, the second was exploring google apps and different ways they can be incorporated into the classroom, and the third was looking through the SMART exchange website to find fun activities they can use with their new projectors that are being installed this summer. At the SMART exchange group, I asked them to fill out a google form with an activity they found interesting or helpful to their teaching context. This left us with a list of different activities they could refer back to when wanting to use their new interactive whiteboard.

 

FotoFlexer Photo Editor

I used FotoFlexer to edit a photo. I take so many pictures of my students and I and it is always so frustrating that I can't post any of them to social media! But now with this photo editor, I can do it easily! The tools are incredibly easy to maneuver and saving the picture was a cake! I definitely recommend this photo editor!'

Zearn!

Zearn has been a lifesaver of a website this past year! It has lessons that go along with our math curriculum and my students love it! It has resources for teachers as well. What a fantastic tool. As a new year is beginning, many of my new students have not been exposed to Zearn. Sending out a photo that shows students how and where to begin would be the easiest quickest way to get them started!
 

Intro to Weebly

One of my coworkers asked me to help her set up a weebly website. With the school year ending, we didn't have any time to sit down and talk through any part of it. I thought a screencast video would be a great start to introducing her into how to begin and then as she works through, she can direct more specific questions to me. I had such a fun time making this screencast and am already imagining a million ways to incorporate this into my classroom community and curriculum!

Tracking Loggerhead Sea Turtles with My Maps

In our fourth grade organisms kit, one of the cool activities we do is track loggerhead sea turtles using marinelife.org. We explore longitude and latitude and put ourselves in the shoes of the scientists that are tracking these turtles. Updated frequently, the website gives longitude and latitude coordinates for a variety of different turtles (each with their own unique name). Students could "adopt a turtle" at the beginning of the unit and each day plot a point where their turtle is using the coordinates given for that day. They could each create their own map, or using the collaborative map feature, each turtle could be given a different color and each student could plot their points on one class map. That would be pretty neat to compare! A plus is the real-life experience students are getting and practicality of the activity.

Mind Mapping Vocabulary

I could see myself using mind mapping in a variety of different ways, but I think one effective way to use this tool would be in terms of vocabulary. Teaching vocabulary, especially in the disciplines, in context is incredibly important. Students need to understand the vocabulary in order to truly understand the material. If I were to use this for a science unit, I would give students a list of words at the beginning of the unit and ask students to circle the words that have to do with the topic we are discussing. Say for example, we were discussing insects. I would have words associated with insects (such as antenna, legs, ant, etc) mixed in with words not associated with insects (such as lungs, bones, gills, etc.). At the end of the unit, students will take a posttest where they not only have to choose the correct words associated with insects from the list, but also have to categorize those words using a mind map like the one shown above.

Social Bookmarking

Visit my Delicious Social Bookmarking site: http://del.icio.us/aoswald. In creating this, I was imagining all the cool ways this could be used in the classroom. I think to begin, it would be great for students and parents to have important websites all in one area that they can refer to when they need. What a neat resource!

Encouraging Podcast Series for Educators

Edutopia's post on podcasts for educators led me to some interesting podcast series. One I liked especially much was Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers. In just a short ten minutes, Angela finds a way to give teachers encouragement and strength to get through the day, whatever it holds. Educators encouraging educators? There is nothing more sweet. Subscribed!

Collaborative Vocabulary with Google Slides

In order to introduce our vocabulary for this week, students were broken up into partners and given a vocabulary word. They had to: (1) Define the word using their glossary; (2) Write a sentence that clearly showed the meaning of their word in context; and (3) Include a picture that represented their word. All of my students were working on one presentation simultaneously. The presentation was done in matter of minutes and then students presented their part to the class. What a fun and easy tool to make a quick presentation!

Back to Serenity

La Jolla is one of the most serene places on Earth. Sunsets and seals and water for miles. What are some of your favorite places you have visited?

To This Day Project - Shane Koyczan

One of the most inspirational and heartbreaking videos that I have seen.

The school year is winding down and saying "goodbye" to these little munchkins is breaking my heart. I am trying to cherish my last few opportunities with them.

Andrea's Wiki

Check out my Wiki for a small summary on how blogs have stood the test of time and what makes them so special and unique!

http://andreaoswald.pbworks.com/w/page/108083333/Building%20Digital%20Bridges

Socrative Quiz

In math, my students are currently learning to multiply a whole number by a fraction (both fractions less than and greater than one). This particular lesson focuses on multiplying a whole number by a mixed number. At the end of the lesson, I would use the Socrative Quiz I created (Room Number 1F17F9C4) as a formative assessment to see how each student is progressing with the material. The nice part about Socrative is students get immediate feedback and I have quick information on specific students regarding how I should proceed with their individual learning. For example, some students may need remediation while others need extension.

More Than Information

I recently attended the MACUL conference this past March. One of the most informative and engaging sessions that I went to was on the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) Model. I had never heard this acronym before, but essentially this is a continuum that is meant to take technology in the classroom from being used as a basic substitute for what is already being done to completely transforming learning. In this way technology is used to give students opportunities and experiences they never could have had if they did not have the technology they had in front of them. When Reigeluth stated,” Gradually over time it can be used to create methods that were previously not feasible,” in the opening paragraph of his article, Beyond Technology Integration, I was brought back that eye-opening session once again. This discussion is an incredibly relevant one in the field of educational technology today. In my own personal classroom, I have been struggling with the desire to personalize education and allow students to become self-paced in their learning and the fear that doing so would cause a deterioration in the area of group collaboration and peer instruction. However, Reigeluth stated that he believes group collaboration and peer instruction will be necessary vehicles in order for personalized education to be effective (pg. 11). Where I am standing, my students have such deep, meaningful discussions when they are grappling with a situation that I am struggling to see how those could continue if each child is working on a separate concept in a completely separate task.

Another thing that stuck out to me in Reigeluth’s article was the idea that education should be changing to meet the changing career demands. No longer are ordinary jobs such as teaching, law enforcement, and doctors, the only ones available. We should be preparing students instead to become problem solvers, because that is where the most meaningful jobs are being created. People are finding a problem they want to solve and they are solving it. Many of the jobs our students will have aren’t even created yet. Look at Google, a company started by two men who wanted to create a simple search engine to make life easier for themselves and the world around them. Google is now one of the leading innovative corporations around, employing thousands of people, and affecting almost every area of industry (most notably education). Each of the jobs and each of the developments by Google are based on a problem that needed to be solved. That is what we should be teaching our students: how to work with one another to solve problems, because in there lies their future.

In the article Of Luddites, Learning, and Life, Postman brings up a point that the reason technology is such a growing fad in the educational community is because it allows for quicker access to information. I would refute that point by saying that instead of being a quicker means to an end, it can instead provide students with opportunities never available to them prior to technology. For example, instead of a simple paper and pencil written essay, students now have access to videography software such as iMovie. No longer are they simply writing a script, they are now able to turn that script into a reality using deep analytical thought and the tools available to them. With programs like Genius Hour circulating the educational community, where students are finding problems and solving them, it is clear that technology is more than an influx of information; it is a tool used to challenge students to become problem solvers and to give them experiences they never could have had without it.

Technology is so much more than a quicker means to an end. Technology, used in a way that serves to transform learning, can be an unstoppable tool in individualizing instruction and challenging students in ways once thought inconceivable.