In the comment section below, share at least one "aha" moment (evidence) and "why." Read comments by other group members and respond to posts by at least two other teachers.
On page 126 as part of the presentation software, I liked the line about “presentations without any text forces students to practice inferential skills as the wrestle to understand how what they see relates to what they are learning." "Pictures serve as a catalyst for questions and discovery.” Using slide shows makes this an easy way to spark interest.
I also liked the idea of using a Power Point to generate student portfolios. I could do it or they could. What a great way to share the year with parents!
The idea of Visual poetry using word art and clip art is cool!
In chapter 11 about databases and spreadsheets, I agree that they don't get much attention, but I don't use them much either. What is a Boolean Search??? Also it talked about "graphing and the use of data set support data analysis and probability instruction" P.145 I think this is only useful if the students understand the concepts, otherwise even the simplest formulas can get lost in the translation. I think it is like the calculator argument. Students must understand how operations work and then use technology as a tool.
I did not get much out of Chapter 12. We have so many resources available. I am a huge fan of Discovery Education.
Jennifer, I also think the presentation software is essential for the classroom. I plan to have my students design power points in the beginning of next year with their IEP goals and personal goals. It will provide valuable reflection and planning for each quarterly progress report, which can be emailed home to the parents and use for the student's annual IEP meeting. I am excited to get this started!
These final chapters provided me with a lot of food for thought. The biggest "AHA" was just being aware of "all the stuff" that's out there and the things that technology can do that I haven't ever used! I found it interesting that "practically anything done in word processing or desktop publishing can also be accomplished in presentation software." It's just frustrating that we don't have enough time to just play. I wish we could spend more time in faculty meetings sharing technology. It is somewhat overwhelming what can be done!
Chapter 10 was awesome. I think it is a great resource for ways to incorporate technology into classroom subjects. Most of the ideas are also engaging students in small groups. Very cool. I hope all the teachers will look at this chapter.
Sharing, and peer instruction is so under valued. Too much of the time we are just worried about getting the business done, and getting home, but those two things are a crucial part of business in school. It should be placed higher on the priorities list.
The Hyperlinked Shows topic (page 142) was interesting to me as a PE teacher. A slide show of students engaged in Physical Education activities would educate parents on what goes on in my classroom. The hyperlink allows the parents to click on their child's name and see their own slides. This would be very handy and informative during Parent/Teacher Conferences.
This might be an excellent idea for the music classroom too, especially since we have some parents who won't allow pictures of their children on the district website, etc. This could be shared individually. It would require a lot of work to do this for every child. Not sure where the link would go.
I have enjoyed reading this book on Technology. I have also enjoyed doing this book study with another school. Hearing their point of view and discussing the chapters has opened me up to other ways of thinking about what was covered in this book. Let’s do this again! Chapters 10 and 11 provided a nice overview of different resources that can be used to enhance a unit of study. While I am not advocating planning a unit of study with the end product in mind first, I do believe that there are many of these resources mentioned that could be used to bring all of the learning in a unit together in a nice presentation. If I were a primary level teacher I would become easily frustrated trying to get 20 students to put together even something as simple as a bookmark. Maybe using a template from which to work from and then maybe an intermediate class to help guide students as to how to input the information into the template would work. I really don’t know. My hat is off to you as teachers. I liked our author’s summarizing thoughts on page 171. The group mentioned in #1 could be the ones that have read this book together. Sharing ideas and helping each other to use a different piece of technology in their classrooms and feeling success would be important to take away from this book. Our students have been raised in a different environment than we were and they will be working in different environments than from what we do, therefore #2 is important that we do use technology in the classroom to keep students engaged. And #3 is important for each of us to remember. Making changes in our classrooms is not easy and it is time consuming. Just making sure that we each have used more technology than we did the year before is making gains in our own personal teaching.
The use of presentation software is something that I would love to start encouraging more in class, and implement in future assignments. Having the students creating a timeline of composers we have studied, creating acrostics for composers using information about them for each letter. All of these ideas from Chapter 10-the end are great, I just need to hope that my priorities are as high on classroom teachers lists as they are mine. I'm not saying that I and my ideas are not valued at my school, everyone is so supportive of my ideas for my music classroom, but students have so much to learn and study on top of music. They must have first mastered these techniques in their classroom before they can feel comfortable doing other similar tasks and not feel stressed out about it.
I agree, I enjoyed blogging about this book study. I did find that the book was too outdated for modern technology (there have been a lot of advancements in technology since 2007). The best way for students to be on top of things, and ahead of the curve in their education is to ensure that each student has a computer or tablet in their hands everyday. This ranges from a morning journal, to all of their writing assignments. What ever the technology that our district ends up adopting, it needs to happen sooner rather than later, or it will put our students so far behind the front of the pack it won't even be funny.
How many of you blog with your students? If you do not, why haven't you started? Have your students blog about a book your class is reading instead of having them respond in a notebook.
David, I currently have students record information from Gifted Class in their Celebration of Knowledge spiral notebooks. I am changing that next year to weekly blogging. It will be a good way to involve the students' parents in their work as well and encourage parents to grow in their technology knowledge.
Blogging for the school book study is an effective and engaging strategy even for teachers. The final chapter provides helpful resource materials, but definitely outdated.
I especially liked the information on presentation software. It is invaluable for the 21st century learner. It encourages higher order thinking skills of application, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation. Students need to become more and more comfortable with their ability to use technology and to use it to present their learning in an effective manner. I do plan to have student present their growth and learning with their Gifted IEP goals in power point presentation that they will update each quarter. I am excited to get started with the idea - maybe even for the end of this school year, but definitely for next fall.
I do feel the book was very outdated and not as useful as it could and should have been.
I just got back from the MACE technology conference and I agree, there are so many new ways to share information. I'm sure the book was outdated as sooon as they published it!!!
As a school, Lincoln did do the e-portfolios to highlight student work. It was very time consuming, but they were great to see from one year to the next. Our problem was how to move it from one grade to the next without the document getting huge. We quit after 3 years. I love the variety of presentations - from small to large scale. I think it would be neat to do a PowerPoint with each child doing one slide! This book will definitely be a resource to go to during library plan day!!
I like the idea of using blogging with my students and parents. As a Kindergarten teacher, I realize that it might not be in the sense that upper grade teachers could use it. However, I think it would be interesting if parents could get on a blog and discuss ways they have found to engage their students with homework. If a parent finds a great book that is linked to the theme we're teaching about, for example, they could blog about how their family used the book to enhance what their child is learning. Or, if a parent is finding it difficult to get their child to complete their reading each night, parents could offer suggestions of ways they've kept it fun and engaging. Of course, myself and the other Kindergarten teacher would be checking in frequently and offering our suggestions as well. So many of my parents are doing this "school thing" for the first time, I think a parent blog would be helpful for them. This is something I'd like to think about further this summer as I plan for next school year.
Testing 234
ReplyDeleteOn page 126 as part of the presentation software, I liked the line about “presentations without any text forces students to practice inferential skills as the wrestle to understand how what they see relates to what they are learning." "Pictures serve as a catalyst for questions and discovery.” Using slide shows makes this an easy way to spark interest.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the idea of using a Power Point to generate student portfolios. I could do it or they could. What a great way to share the year with parents!
The idea of Visual poetry using word art and clip art is cool!
In chapter 11 about databases and spreadsheets, I agree that they don't get much attention, but I don't use them much either. What is a Boolean Search??? Also it talked about "graphing and the use of data set support data analysis and probability instruction" P.145 I think this is only useful if the students understand the concepts, otherwise even the simplest formulas can get lost in the translation. I think it is like the calculator argument. Students must understand how operations work and then use technology as a tool.
I did not get much out of Chapter 12. We have so many resources available. I am a huge fan of Discovery Education.
I enjoyed doing a book study this way!
Maybe pictures of students involved in Physical Activity could inspire writings on fitness.
DeleteJennifer, I also think the presentation software is essential for the classroom. I plan to have my students design power points in the beginning of next year with their IEP goals and personal goals. It will provide valuable reflection and planning for each quarterly progress report, which can be emailed home to the parents and use for the student's annual IEP meeting. I am excited to get this started!
DeleteThese final chapters provided me with a lot of food for thought. The biggest "AHA" was just being aware of "all the stuff" that's out there and the things that technology can do that I haven't ever used! I found it interesting that "practically anything done in word processing or desktop publishing can also be accomplished in presentation software." It's just frustrating that we don't have enough time to just play. I wish we could spend more time in faculty meetings sharing technology. It is somewhat overwhelming what can be done!
ReplyDeleteChapter 10 was awesome. I think it is a great resource for ways to incorporate technology into classroom subjects. Most of the ideas are also engaging students in small groups. Very cool. I hope all the teachers will look at this chapter.
DeleteSharing, and peer instruction is so under valued. Too much of the time we are just worried about getting the business done, and getting home, but those two things are a crucial part of business in school. It should be placed higher on the priorities list.
DeleteThe Hyperlinked Shows topic (page 142) was interesting to me as a PE teacher. A slide show of students engaged in Physical Education activities would educate parents on what goes on in my classroom. The hyperlink allows the parents to click on their child's name and see their own slides. This would be very handy and informative during Parent/Teacher Conferences.
ReplyDeleteThis might be an excellent idea for the music classroom too, especially since we have some parents who won't allow pictures of their children on the district website, etc. This could be shared individually. It would require a lot of work to do this for every child. Not sure where the link would go.
DeleteI have enjoyed reading this book on Technology. I have also enjoyed doing this book study with another school. Hearing their point of view and discussing the chapters has opened me up to other ways of thinking about what was covered in this book. Let’s do this again!
ReplyDeleteChapters 10 and 11 provided a nice overview of different resources that can be used to enhance a unit of study. While I am not advocating planning a unit of study with the end product in mind first, I do believe that there are many of these resources mentioned that could be used to bring all of the learning in a unit together in a nice presentation. If I were a primary level teacher I would become easily frustrated trying to get 20 students to put together even something as simple as a bookmark. Maybe using a template from which to work from and then maybe an intermediate class to help guide students as to how to input the information into the template would work. I really don’t know. My hat is off to you as teachers.
I liked our author’s summarizing thoughts on page 171. The group mentioned in #1 could be the ones that have read this book together. Sharing ideas and helping each other to use a different piece of technology in their classrooms and feeling success would be important to take away from this book. Our students have been raised in a different environment than we were and they will be working in different environments than from what we do, therefore #2 is important that we do use technology in the classroom to keep students engaged. And #3 is important for each of us to remember. Making changes in our classrooms is not easy and it is time consuming. Just making sure that we each have used more technology than we did the year before is making gains in our own personal teaching.
The use of presentation software is something that I would love to start encouraging more in class, and implement in future assignments. Having the students creating a timeline of composers we have studied, creating acrostics for composers using information about them for each letter. All of these ideas from Chapter 10-the end are great, I just need to hope that my priorities are as high on classroom teachers lists as they are mine. I'm not saying that I and my ideas are not valued at my school, everyone is so supportive of my ideas for my music classroom, but students have so much to learn and study on top of music. They must have first mastered these techniques in their classroom before they can feel comfortable doing other similar tasks and not feel stressed out about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I enjoyed blogging about this book study. I did find that the book was too outdated for modern technology (there have been a lot of advancements in technology since 2007). The best way for students to be on top of things, and ahead of the curve in their education is to ensure that each student has a computer or tablet in their hands everyday. This ranges from a morning journal, to all of their writing assignments. What ever the technology that our district ends up adopting, it needs to happen sooner rather than later, or it will put our students so far behind the front of the pack it won't even be funny.
How many of you blog with your students? If you do not, why haven't you started? Have your students blog about a book your class is reading instead of having them respond in a notebook.
I have used Edmodo to blog with my reading group. It has been awesome!! The kids love the "Facebook" feel and I love that it's secure!!!
DeleteDavid, I currently have students record information from Gifted Class in their Celebration of Knowledge spiral notebooks. I am changing that next year to weekly blogging. It will be a good way to involve the students' parents in their work as well and encourage parents to grow in their technology knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBlogging for the school book study is an effective and engaging strategy even for teachers. The final chapter provides helpful resource materials, but definitely outdated.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked the information on presentation software. It is invaluable for the 21st century learner. It encourages higher order thinking skills of application, synthesis,
analysis, and evaluation. Students need to become more and more comfortable with their ability to use technology and to use it to present their learning in an effective manner. I do plan to have student present their growth and learning with their Gifted IEP goals in power point presentation that they will update each quarter. I am excited to get started with the idea - maybe even for the end of this school year, but definitely for next fall.
I do feel the book was very outdated and not as useful as it could and should have been.
I just got back from the MACE technology conference and I agree, there are so many new ways to share information. I'm sure the book was outdated as sooon as they published it!!!
DeleteAs a school, Lincoln did do the e-portfolios to highlight student work. It was very time consuming, but they were great to see from one year to the next. Our problem was how to move it from one grade to the next without the document getting huge. We quit after 3 years. I love the variety of presentations - from small to large scale. I think it would be neat to do a PowerPoint with each child doing one slide! This book will definitely be a resource to go to during library plan day!!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of using blogging with my students and parents. As a Kindergarten teacher, I realize that it might not be in the sense that upper grade teachers could use it. However, I think it would be interesting if parents could get on a blog and discuss ways they have found to engage their students with homework. If a parent finds a great book that is linked to the theme we're teaching about, for example, they could blog about how their family used the book to enhance what their child is learning. Or, if a parent is finding it difficult to get their child to complete their reading each night, parents could offer suggestions of ways they've kept it fun and engaging. Of course, myself and the other Kindergarten teacher would be checking in frequently and offering our suggestions as well. So many of my parents are doing this "school thing" for the first time, I think a parent blog would be helpful for them. This is something I'd like to think about further this summer as I plan for next school year.
ReplyDelete