Week 10- Teching Integration Project

Teaching Integration Plan

This week I made an outline for my teaching integration plan. To view the outline of my project, you can click here. The integration project goes along with a third grade lesson that I gave on children during World War II. In the lesson I will be using VoiceThreads and Google Maps to help me showcase what life was like for children during World War 2. At the end of the unit the students will be assigned to design a presentation that they can make to shawcase their learning and understanding of World War 2. Student will be able to make PowerPoints, VoiceThreads, brochures, webpages, and video's for their presentation. Once the unit is over, I will organize all of the projects into a Wiki Gallery that my current students can view or that my students in the future can observe as well. The grade level expectations for this lesson are listed below:

• Michigan’s Educational Technology Standards (METS) - “Use a variety of media and formats to create and edit products (e.g., presentations, newsletters, brochures, web pages) to communicate information and ideas to various audiences”.
• Michigan’s Grade Level Content Standards- S.DS.03.03- respond to multiple text types by reflecting, making connections, taking a position, and/or showing understanding.

To create my final project I will create a Google Map and a VoiceThread which can be used as an example to how I could use the technology in my unit. I will also make an example of a project that a student might be able to make using one of the technologies I listed above. To showcase my final project however, I will plan on creating a digital story on my lesson and experiences with working on this activity.

Week 10 continued

Video Podcast

Week 10

Podcasts

This week I used the programs Audoacity, Windows Movie Maker, and iTunes, to make a audio/video podcast of a third grade lesson on homophones. I made the Video Podcast with Windows Movie Maker and Microsoft Powerpoint. I made the Audio Podcast with Audoacity and then imported it as an mp3 file to Window Movie Maker. The grade level expectation for the lesson was from the GLCE's. The expectation was:

R.WS.03.08 in context, determine the meaning of words and phrases including synonyms, homonyms, multiple meaning words, content vocabulary, and literary terms using strategies and resources including context clues, concept mapping, and the dictionary.

Teachers can use podcasts in their classroom to help improve the content and environments of the classroom in many ways. Podcasts also allow accessibility for all students because they are free to use as long as you have a computer and iTunes. With podcasts, teachers can post lectures or important notes for students to listen to at home. They also can post video as well which allows basically a virtual classroom where the teacher uses visual and audio combinations to teach classroom material or even facilitate classroom agenda.

Besides being a good source for teachers, students can also benefit from podcasts. Students will not only be more in touch with their classroom outside of school, but can also make and contribute their own podcasts for class projects. Any involvement with the internet with kids is always a good thing as well since they live on the internet. Depending on your teaching and your technology skills, you can use podcasts to enrich the type of learning takes place not only inside your classroom, but outside the classroom as well.

Week 9

View Larger Map

Maps and Mashups

For this week I created a google map that goes along with a third grade Language Arts lesson on the different experiences children had during World War 2. I believe that students can learn a lot from mashups if they are used appropriately in the classroom. As a teacher you can use mashups in a variety of situations and integrate it with all type of classroom curricular. One situation in which I would use mashups would be when my class was working with maps or world events (aka geography). My own map for example gives students a tool to explore different views, perceptions, and other resources about children during World War 2. By having the map with a summary along with it, the students are able to make connections to the data I am showing them and pinpoint it with a direct location on the globe. This will help students understand the magnitude of the size of the earth as well as make what they are learning more personal because of the fact that they can make an immediate connection between what you are teaching them and a physical point on the globe. The map also gives students other options such as clicking on links for further information, pictures, and even an option to view the map I created through google earth. Mashups are also good with helping you mix the type of literacy and learning styles you incorporate in your lessons. For example, a mashup that combines text with sound may help better facilitate both visual and auditory learners because they are required to read text and comprehend audio. Multiple types of learning are therefore occurring at the same time. Mashups like mine also give teachers the ability to teach virtually or digitally. This is important because most students have an interest in technology and working with computers. If the students are enjoying what they are doing then they will be more engaged in your lesson which will in return help them learn more and have the information that they do learn be more authentic. The learning will be more authentic because not only are the students engaged in the lesson, but they also making far more connections by using the tools that mashups provide as well. They are looking at pictures while reading text, listening to audio, clicking on links, watching a video, etc… I believe that if you use mashups appropriately, they will benefit both the teacher as well as the students in a classroom.

Week 8

Mock Interview

For this week I choose to make an avatar image through Photobucket. The website has an option where you can make your own personal “image” by picking and choosing different options and traits which best illustrates you or any other alter ego you want to create. The options ranged all the way from choosing what facial structure and eye color you had to what you were wearing and what image you wanted to have in your background.

I felt that I answered some of the questions very well considering it was my first experience being in an interview like situation. I thought that I answered the question about what my strengths were the best because I listed 2 or 3 of the traits that I thought best described me and supported them by giving examples of how they have helped me become a qualified candidate for any teaching job position. I also thought that I answered the question about what makes an effective teacher very well. I thought that I incorporated my teaching philosophy into what I believe makes someone an effective teacher. Not only did I answer the question about what makes an effective teacher, I also answered in return how I believe that I am an effective teacher. The last question that I thought answered well was how I would make accommodations for technology in my classroom if it arose. Based on the response after the interview questions, I think that I included many of the exact same examples of how to address the questions by saying that I would give them extra time, directions to access outside of the classroom to a library or coffee shop, or by having the students work with one of their classmates.

I thought that my biggest weakness was the question about my weaknesses. I thought that I struggled with this question because after I explained what my weaknesses were, I didn’t comment on how I was working on correcting them. The other question I struggled with was the question about my feelings on standardized tests. I now realize that I was way to judgmental and that I should have been more neutral in my response. Even though people may not agree with the test, it is still a reality and classes still need to achieve proper scores. Therefore, I should have explained how I would achieve proper scores and the importance they have in my classroom rather than saying how negative they were. The last question I think I struggled on was the question about my classroom management. I think that I struggled with this question because I haven’t had my own classroom really to manage yet. However, I now realize that I should have at least given examples of how I structure my classroom or what type of expectations I have for my students in order to give an idea of how I will manage my room. For examples instead of just saying that my students will have more of an active role in my classroom, I should have explained how they will have more of an active role and what effects this has on the classroom environment and management.

I think that I can take a lot away from this experience in the future. This assignment gave me my first experience of what a real interview will be like. I hope that in the future this will help me be a little less tense in an interview because I will have already had the emotions before, and I will also know what question I may expect in the interview so that I am more prepared and know how to make myself stick out more as a teaching candidate. Not only will I know what questions to expect, I will also know what should be included in the questions in order to make sure that I showcasing my complete package or capabilities, and not just a portion of it. The most important things I learned from this activity however was that during an interview I need to talk less about who I am outside of the classroom and more about who I am inside the classroom, and that I need to back up anything I say with examples of how I achieve them inside my classroom or lessons. It is not enough just to say that I do this or believe this, but that I explain what or how I do it and/or why I believe what I do.

Week 7

VoiceThreads

For this week, I created a digital story that I would you as a teacher to assist me in a lesson about World War 2. I thought it was both fun and intersting when creating the digital story for this assignment. I was amazed to see how powerful the story became once my voice was put behind it, words are truly powerful. I was also surprised how easy it was to make a digital story. After doing it once now, I think that I could do it much faster the second time.

Digital Storytelling can really be a great idea and tool for teacher to use. In the classroom you could use it to view others telling a story through their words and pictures. It is a first hand resource that you can use to back up your lessons and activities. A teacher may also use it to help students who are more visual learners since it provides images with instruction behind it.

A teacher could use digital storytelling outside the class room in the form of homework or research. As a teacher you may give your students the task to browse other people digital storytelling to research a certain topic. Or you may create your own voicethread, such as I did above, that may be used as a mini lesson that students are responsible to complete at home. This is also a good way to get parents involved in their childrens learning which in return enriches the learning community of your classroom.

Week 6

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: "Lymington Harbor"

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1396/1403368794_9d8c910c33_m.jpg

By: Norm Walsh

Released under an attribution-non-commercial

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Knowing what I know now; I probably would have misinformed a student if they had asked me where and what to do with pictures on the internet. If the student asked me where they could find a picture, I probably would have told them to use one of the popular search engines such as yahoo or google. I would have told them that they could use the image search on both of the search engines by clicking on the image tab and then typing in what they want to search for. Once they found the image I probably would have told them to cite the image using AP formatting.

I never had heard of Creative Commons before this week. I never really thought of copyrights except for using them for citing papers, inventions, slogans or brands. All of these copyright gave executive use to one owner who needed to be contacted for permission to use or edit their copyrighted material. I now know that there are copyrights that let give rights to the owner of the material and let others share edit and use the material with permission. To watch a video of how these copyright work click here. Knowing what I know now, I would give different advice to that same student. I would first tell the student to make sure that they find a picture which is CC-copyrighted by using either FlickrCC or Creative Commons Search. These sight will allow you to search the internet for images which are CC-copyrighted. Once a student has found an image they want to use, I would tell them that they would have to cite it properly to give the author the proper credit. When using CC-copyrighted material, you have four options, 1. Claim fair use, 2. Ask author for permission, 3. Use CC licensed work according to permissions outlined, or 4. Use your own original work. To see all of the guidelines to giving work proper citation click here. To see how an image is properly cited look at the photo at the top of this blog.

Week 5

Creating A Lesson Plan

For this week I created lesson plans for Third Graders on Native Americans in Michigan. The lesson I created was focused around two third grade GLCE’s standards (grade level content) which involved the teaching of Native American life in Michigan and traditional stories or legends which have been passed down. The two standards that I focused on include:

1. Drawing upon traditional stories of American Indians who lived in Michigan in order to make generalizations about their beliefs. (GLCES Social Studies Standard 3 - H3.0.4)

2. Use informational text and visual data to compare how American Indians and settlers in the early history of Michigan adapted to, used, and modified their environment. (GLCES Social Studies Standard 3 - H3.0.5)

In my lesson, I also included two third grade METS standards (Michigan technology standards) on top of the GLCE standards. I incorporated these technology standards in my lesson in order to prepare my students technologically for the future. The METS standards that I used in my lesson include:

1. Proofread and edit writing using appropriate resources (e.g., dictionary, spell check, grammar check, grammar references, writing references) and grade level appropriate checklists both individually and in groups.

2. Identify search strategies for locating needed information on the internet

To help my students meet the goals of this lesson, I included websites which they could access from any computer using the website del.icio.us. You can access all of these websites by clicking on the link right here. The websites that I choose were aimed at helping assist the class with finishing the lessons which will be assigned to them, as well as providing them a way to research material that we will be working on in class. Below is an overview of the websites I choose to include in my del.icio.us page. The websites were saved under two tags, the first tag was “NativeAmericans” and the second tag was “Searchengines”. The websites that were organized under “Searchengines” were websites that the students could use to assist them with researching the Michigan Native American tribe that they choose. These websites were just your basic search engines which included Google, Yahoo, and Ask. The websites that were organized under “NativeAmericans” were websites that were relevant to the content that we would be addressing in the lesson. Below is a list that describes each website that is organized under the tag “NativeAmericans” and how they will be used to help my students learn the material in the lesson.

Shelters of Northeast Native Americans- This website addresses the type of homes that Native Americans in the Northeast region built. This webpage will help me teach my students how the homes of Native Americans differed, what they looked like, and how they were made. This information will be useful both in the first and the second day of my week long lesson when we are talking about the ways that Native Americans lived in Michigan and in America in the past. The website provides text and pictures to help student visualize and form a background of Native American lifestyles.

American Indian tribes- This website lists all of the Native American Tribes in the United States and provides links for further researching. Students will be able to use this in the beginning of the lesson to start gaining an understanding of who the Native Americans were and their different lifestyles. This website provides a tool for students to explore the lesson topics on their own or with their parents. They are able to browse tribes that they may already be familiar with or tribes that they may have never even heard of before.

The Northeast Indians- This website will be most beneficial on the second and third day when I am talking to my students about the culture of Native Americans in the Northeast region. This website gives a complete overview of the daily lives and culture of Native Americans in the Northeast tribes. This website will help students gain background knowledge about the Native Americans in this region, how they lived their lives, and an overview of their culture. This website will be useful because it provides instruction and a research tool outside of the classroom.

Map of Michigan Indian Reservations- This website will also be used to help my students research the Michigan Native American tribe that they choose. The website provides a map which shows where early Native American settlements were located in Michigan. Student will be able to locate the tribe that they choose and be able to identify the location of the state in which they settled. By looking at where the tribe was located, students will hopefully be able to get a better understanding of the lifestyle of their Native American tribe.

Quiz: Find out your ecological footprint- This website will be used in the last day of my lesson. This website provides a quiz that judges how big of an ecological footprint you have on the environment based on where you live, how much you consume, and what you consume. When I took the quiz it said that there needs to be 4 earths in order to meet my consumption needs. This website will allow students to take the test and see how they impact their environment. Rather than talking about it, this website provides terms and results that the students can relate with and comprehend. Seeing that there needs to be four earths to meet their consumption habits has a lot greater impact then just saying that we consume too much.

Week 4

Search Engines Results and My New Web Page

This week I searched my name through both Yahoo and Google. I was very surprised with the results that I found from both of these websites. I thought that my digital footprint would have been larger than what it actually is. After searching through multiple pages at both of the search engines, the only websites that I could find which were actually about me were results of sailing regattas I had previously participated in. I did however learn that there is another Andrew Schiller who is a teacher from Michigan that plays the guitar; there was a lot about him! Since, there is a lack of information on the web about me personally (at least information that can be easily searched), I don't think that there is much that anybody, including my future employers could find about me. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. On one hand I don't want people to know anything about me that I wouldn't want to personally share with them, and on the other handits not good because there is no information that can help others get to know me, or any of the positive impacts that I have ever had.

I also built my own webpage this week which I hope will be a beneficial tool for me in the future, as well as this year. I plan on using the website as a way to help people learn more about me by sharing some of my interests and hobbies as well as a little biography about me. I also will use this website to help others and myself keep up to date with one another. I have already given out the website to multiple members of my family and my colleagues. The website will however be used primarily as a resource for future employers to visit and assess. If I do this website right, I think that it can be a valuable source for helping me find a job in the future. The website makes my resume and my work accessible and it provides a great overview of myself in and out of the classroom; all without sending anything through the mail or meeting them in person. It also is a way that can sperate myself from other teaching candidates. But again, this can only be done if this sight is done in the right way, which means organized and proffesional.

To assure that these are accomplished I will spend a lot of time on the webpage ensuring that it is informative, up to date, and appropriate. This means that the grammar and context on the webpage is accurate and that I convey myself as an adequate teacher candidate in any school through the webpage. I want my webpage to give a good representation of the inspiring teacher candidate that I want to be, and the positive citizen that I am in my community outside of the classroom as well. To accomplish these goals, my website will have a clear definition of my teaching philosophy, past work and experiences I have had, and a good summary of myself and my interests. This includes having an up to date and printable resume on my website, examples of the lessons and work that I have done in the past and appropriate pictures of myself and my interests. However, the most important goal that I have to accomplish my goals for this website is that it will be organized in a way that makes it easy for others to visit and navigate through my web page.

Week 3

Google Reader and RSS's

For this week, I researched ways in which I could use Google Reader to help me keep up to date with webpage’s and blogs on the web. Like receiving mail in your mailbox, Google Reader updates you whenever a website or blog is updated. The only drawback is that the site has to have a RSS feed in order for you to be able to add it to Google Reader. You may notice that I have a new widget on my blog now. This widget provides links to the updated websites that I have saved on my Google Reader. The list below describes where those links come from, and how they can be used by teachers. If you want to see all of the new updates for all three of these websites, you can go to my public page by clicking here.

When browsing the internet I choose to go with option three and decided to look for information that I could use which may continue to help me once I have my own classroom. The first site I subscribed to was the Michigan Department of Education. As a future teacher it is important to keep up to date with the latest and greatest news from the Department of Education. This website gives you an update of any breaking news, lets you look at current outlook of the state's education programs, and other types of data from all of the department offices. As an addition to the website is other RSS feeds located in the blue box on the right side of the screen. Those feeds have the MDE staff directory, a section on No Child Left Behind, the State Tech Plan, and more. This website is a good resource for teachers because it provides first hand information from the state so that it makes it easy for teachers to stay up to date.

The second site I added to Google Reader was The Doyle Report. This website is dedicated to introducing and evaluating new and old technology in the classroom. Even though I consider myself pretty intelligent with the current technology of today, twenty years from now I don’t want to be as oblivious with technology as some of the teachers are today. Many of the articles are also very interesting. Some of the most recent articles talk about how the education in the United States compares to the rest of the world and it says that American Teens test lower on Math and Science then other children around the world. As a teacher this is very alarming to see, and it opens my eyes to the importance of my job as a teacher to stop that trend the best that I can. This website is beneficial to me as a teacher because it’s a place where technology and education meet together. It gives current issues that are happening in the educational world and suggestions on improving your methods of teaching with technology. On the right side of the web page there are two widgets which help you browse the blogs by either Education News Blogs or Education-Technology News Blogs.

The third website I added to Goggle Reader was hosted by Scholastic and it’s called This Week in Education. This website is dedicated to helping keep teachers up to date with the educational world. There is a section for parents, students, and teachers; so it is useful to everybody. This site is useful because it’s a very organized (high production) website which basically provides the latest headlines in the educational world. The blogs on the website have the latest headlines of the day in education in regards to politics, technology, and breaking news. I liked this website the best because it provided more relevant information for a teacher, and it was very easy to navigate around the page.

As a teacher I think that there are multiple ways in which RSS's can be of use in your classroom. First if your class was researching any specific topic, then they could add the website to Google Reader so that they are notified of any updates. This is a lot more convenient then checking back every day to see if any new material has been added. This is also helpful to the teacher so that they can teach the most up to date information. Another example of how RSS's can be used in the classroom is for keeping teachers up to date on the educational world. A teacher can add educational websites to Goggle Reader so that they can stay up to date with the Educational world on a local, state, national, or global level.

Week 2

A Look at Blogging

While looking around the internet I stumbled upon two blogs that I thought were very interesting and it reminded me of ways in which blogging can be used by teachers in and out of the classroom.

Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas

The first blog I found was by an American woman who is teaching a third grade classroom overseas in the Middle-East. You can view her blog here. I thought this blog was interesting because she created it to try to address how the thinking of eight and nine year old children in the Middle-East is both similar and different then her experiences in America. She also introduces how differences and problems teachers in overseas American schools face compared to her experiences in the Middle-East, the cultural differences she has noticed between the two countries, and she also explains her teaching philosophy which I found to be similar to mine. In her about me page she says,

"With every classroom dispute between classmates, with every homework assignment or test grade, and with every classroom experience comes a special chance to teach something “more.” I feel I have one of the most important jobs in the world–that of “molding little people” to become the next adult generation.

This blog also reminded me about how blogs can be used by teachers in and out of the classroom. Like the blog above, teachers can use blogs to communicate with teachers around the city, the state, the country, or the world. These blogs could help teacher build relationships with other teacher where they can discuss ongoing problems in their classrooms, suggest or comment on lesson plans, or to build friendships and support with other teachers.

Miss Pellin's Third Grade Class Page

Another blog that I found interesting was by a third grade teacher names Miss Pellin. If you want to take a look at her blog you can hit the link right here. She posts a weekly blog which gives an overview of what the class did the previous week, what they will be working on in the coming week, her observations in the classroom, and important dates for the parents and students to remember.

This blog reminded me of another way teachers can use blogs in their classroom. By creating a page like Miss Pellin's, a teacher can help build up an appropriate classroom community for their class. This type of page helps build up a classroom community because it helps parents become involved in their child's learning, it allows the parents and teachers to stay in contact with one another, and the blog helps make the class more personal to all of the parties involved (the teacher, the students, and the parents).

Suggested Resources

If you are interested in creating your own blog you can click here.

If you want to browse teaching blogs you can go to:

• Technorati
• Google Blog Search
• or other educational blogs here

Week 1

WELCOME~!

This is a new blog I created in an attempt to connect and organize myself as I contine to become an inspiring elementary teacher. This blog will be used to introduce who I am, what my teaching philosphies are, and what I am currently doing in the field of education. I invite you to come back often to look at my latest blogs and to ofer any feedback you may have. You may also go to my homepage by clicking this.