Foster’s Blog

     The past few weeks have been grueling as I fumbled through many of the applications we tried and contorted to find hours in my schedule that are already not present.  I felt like a true digital immigrant most of the time, not understanding the language and lost in a foreign country without a map.  I did learn an incredible amount but felt like it was sink or swim, so I better do my best doggie paddle. I have to say that without the help on my co teacher Teresa Fulk I would have sunk. I just needed to have someone point me in the right direction after fumbling for hours. Ugh! Three clicks later she had me on the right track.  She was my saint:)

     I am a very good teacher and most of the instructional strategies presented I use consistently in my science classroom. I am a strict constructivist and scaffolding assignments is necessary for my special needs students or high risk groups. I find that echnology is often above some of their abilities creating frustration for them but it can offer a novlety that appeals to all students and allows for differenciated approaches

     One of the goals I set for myself in 810 was a question. “How do I get students the best possible information in the most efficient manner? ” Iknow now that I can use high quality Computer Based Objects to help obtain that goal. Webquests, STAIRs and other similar activities help solve the issue that students don’t always filter the vast information available on the web. As teachers we can help them by structuring these types of learning opportunities.

    My other goal was increasing student engagement in high order thinking opportunities.  Quality CBO’s and  other online applications are structured so that students cannot down shift. They have to think.  I think I have met the primary goals I had set for myself.

    I am excited about the communication tools we used in class. Discussing assignments with my team was great fun. My webpage is one more access point for me to communicate  with students and parents. I see the the social potential that Blogging, wikis and public file sharing programs like Zoho possess! A deeper level of collaboration is possible for my educational community. Co-teachers, parents and students  can meet from anywhere as long as they have a decent Internet connection. Many of my students can collaborate from home on their terms:)  Using these tools effectively is my new goal.

 I am amazed and even a bit overwhelmed by the complexity of online learning tools available for teacher and student use. The hours it takes to research and create some of these products is daunting. However, the potential and benefits of some tools definitely outweigh the stressors of the task.

    I have always relied on the internet for relevant and current information to supplement my science classroom. Textbooks are not written with all readers, curriculum standards and current teaching best practice in mind. I have a few webquests that I have used in the past but being a middle school teacher I often find them too young and hokey or too complex. NSTA ( the National Science Teachers Association) sorts online resources through their sci-links page. as a member I appreciate this task assistance. However, most of the links address national standards which are broad and lack the specificity to address the Michigan Standards.  I believe this past few weeks I have found and learned more skills to help me analyze online learning resources myself.

    I tend to use three types of pedagogy in my classroom. As a science teacher my students already pair up or team with each other to solve problems so constructivism, scaffolding and direct instruction are my three legged stool. I always have students with special needs we adapt content for but I rarely track or differentiate my instruction. Peer to peer assistance is the model most of the time unless I directly supervise a group during a lab.

    Online learning opportunities will allow me to be less of a sage at times and supervise the collaboration of my groups. I found Gizmos at explorelearning.com last year in Boston while attending NSTA there. They are being purchased for use by my district next year. They will allow my department to evaluate student understanding of topics quickly and give us a platform for remediation of skills in both science and math.

    I plan on keeping a Blog post next year for my parents and students to keep track of what is happening in the classroom and perhaps a wiki space for students to submit work to. Many of my families do not have internet access so this will all have to be for fun until Allegan County Michigan gets fiber optic phone lines.

Zoho was my greatest find this spring. Many of my students do not have access to cable let alone the internet from home. Using a tool like Zoho show they can work from any machine they find to work on assignments like PowerPoint. Most computers purchased do not have a power point program preloaded on them with Microsoft Home Edition.

Zoho writer means no more flashdrives too:)

There are so many benefits to Web 2.0 technologies that I have yet to discover but this old dog is eager to learn.

ZOHO http://zoho.com/

Is a Web 2.0 based set of desktop like applications is a phenomenal personal and collaborative tool. Is has many applications available , like writer, show,notebook,planner,sheets,creator,docs and wiki just to name a few. Many of these applications can be useful in the classroom. Let’s take a brief tour.

Zoho Show is a slide show creation application. It has many of the same features that power point has. The backgrounds are far more elegant, the clip art is ample and you can import old presentations. I imported 5 or 6 and they can in without a single glitch. NO MORE FLASHDRIVES! You can open Zoho from any machine and present your slides.

A new feature is the Remote Presentation Client. Participants can all log in,share the presenters screen, collaborate and chat live online. The set up looks very similar to the breeze casts we have had.

Students would need to have a basic understanding of powerpoint. If students start with Zoho show it may actually be better. There are no fancy transitions yet and they may be less apt to focus on the fun verses the content of their presentations. They can share and paste group presentations then chat about the teams goals:)

I have a an ecology project my student collaborate on over a 6 week period.We always have to hold all our data until the very end to schedule the lab to complete the slide presentation. With Zoho show I can upload the template and students can start their slides as we cover topics and use other applications like notebook to log data for later use. (They can’t lose those!) We don’t have to put off the creation part of the presentation just the conclusion.

My only concern is that not all of my students have computers and internet access in Allegan county. As a teacher I would have to set up some before and after school computer lab use that I would need to supervise. For my students to collaborate they will need a model lesson in online collaboration or for that matter collaboration peacefully. They are 7th graders:)

The Web 2.0 applications that most intrigue me are the Blog and Wiki apps. VPod and Pod casting in the near future too. My building could use Blogs and Wikis as a department or staff to share or discuss important topics rather than the boring old staff meeting twice a month. Plus there is a potential for greater staff accountablity and feedback through a Wiki or Blog. Each persons feedback is viewable for futher development of ideas.

In my classroom I see this as a useful tool as well. Groups can Wiki ideas for presentations on a Green Team Wiki and I can use my teach2u Blog to develop ideas requiring each student to log in and share their responses. They can “cheat” their way to greater understanding of GLECS or big ideas. I can post helpful sites they can reference for help on asignments and use podcasting to post important labs or discussions for student use at home. I think the later one would be useful to my special needs students and support staff who cannot always be present during inclusion.

I look forward to Web 2.0 applications especially because the students can get to the information from home without needing to access the district computer network or use flashdrives that don’t always function. They can save their work via web 2.0 and retrieve it from home:)

I have two fanstastic internet based learning resources. The first is the USGS Water Science for Schools site. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/mearth.html
This site is scaffolded and organized so well. I use it as a stand alone research space and include the graphics or as problems solving approach with open ended questioning that students start here and find three more supporting sites. This sites creator is definately a believer that students read to learn.

My other favorite is a site we used to train my science olympiad students on weather.They won medals every year. It is a sage on the stage site for a while until students learn to naviagate it. I use it every year for all my maps and data with weather. American Meterological Society Data Streme Project http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/dstreme/
based , information that lets me bring the world of science alive for my students. “Why do we have to learn htis stuff?”, is rarely uttered in room B13o.

This information is the most up to the minute data I can find. Students can see fronts forming, occlusions breaking apart and measure surface temperatures using the NOAA satellites.This sites creator is a believer in open ended data crunching. Learning through interpretation.

There have been textbooks sitting on shelves in my classroom for 21 years. They act as a reference but not the teacher. The internet has provided me accurate, relevant, adn at times issue

 As educators we constantly are evaluating the appropriateness of the instructional materials we use with our studnets. In some states or districts there are additional resources available for curriculum writers who do this for us. Some national organizations have a division who create curriculum recommendations. The National Science Teachers Association or NSTA does this. Media specialists should be the next layer of professional evaluators who sift the materials available to the teachers in their buildings.
What if your district does not have a curriculum specialist or a media specialist who does their job effectively? Welcome to my Middle School. Teachers are the solely dependent on themselves to evaluate and write curriculum, sift resources, do diagnostic data collection, run departments, and coordinate technology  when it is working.  We wear all the hats. Oh and by the way.. we teach all day too. 
So how do we do this smarter, more effectively and easier? Hopefully…. technology. If a computer based object such as a WebQuest or a Blog can be used to reach out to students, motivate them to succeed and effectively use higher order thinking skills then we use it. If the experience lacks rich pedagogy and would be more effective as a lab based experience or simulation then keep teaching using traditional methods for the time being.
I think in Michigan one major consideration is the availability of efficient technology in homes. Many of my students in Allegan County do not even have internet access other than costly satellite service or dial up connections. Conversely, our computer lab and media computers can only hold 60 students per hour in a building of 450. We all clamor to book them.
To be honest I have not used many WebQuests in the past. I have several web based investigations I have designed that could not qualify as a StAir or WebQuest but almost are. I did extensively search for many however and these are several that I might use in the future if I can book the lab:)
Energy Story  http://energyquest.ca.gov/story/index.html

Behavior of Light and Sound – http://beasleyjwms.tripod.com/cb_webquest/home.htm

Water WebQuest- Splish Splash can I take a bath?
http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/phillie/webquest/tteacher.htm

I hope this is reaching out to my fellow webcrawlers.  I had difficultly adding Bridget and Lindsey.  The site stated they were not registered??? I added Jamie and Melanie without a problem.

How comfortable are all of you with the stair project? I have lots of ideas but will need a tutorial to use power point that advanced.

Michelle