Powerpoints, Screencasts, and VoiceThread

Well one thing that was reaffirmed this week is that I'm a perfectionist who hates the sound of her own voice! Luckily, I found the screencast, made through screencast-0-matic, very easy to create (particularly to redo or edit when necessary). I'm curious what applications this could have. Here were just some ideas that I've been batting around.

1. Using screencasts for pre-arranged absences. I'm planning to attend the NSTA conference in Florida this fall and would be missing two days of school. Typically (because we are a small school community) we just cover for each other when there are absences and those days would probably be spent doing seat work or independent work. This would allow the class to move foward without me there.
   
2. Using screencasts for students who are absent (particularly ones who are chronically ill and out for many days). This would allow them to stay current with class material.
3. Using screencasts for students with presentation anxiety. Along with learning disabilities that my students have often comes a presentation anxiety that prevents them from comfortably making class presentations. Allowing them to do a screencast would allow them to do it until they are happy with it and present to the class without getting up in front of them.

I think VoiceThread is a really interesting tool. It would allow for some interesting discussion and conversation and I look forward to using it.

All my materials can be viewed on the class wiki.

Week 6 PLN

One of my biggest issues with my PLN this summer is that my use of it was all centered around how I could use it, what applications it could have, and how it could fit into my guiding principles throughout the year. While I have identified many positive aspects over the past several weeks, it's all been hypothetical as I'm not currently in school. I think that over the past few weeks I've learned to manage my PLN and and use it effectively in my current situation (of being out of school) but that will all change once school starts. So now I really need to think about how I can best utilize my PLN to it's and my fullest advantage once the busyness of school has kicked into full swing. I don't want to abandon it as I think that a network of people with common threads is a very powerful and helpful tool but I also don't want it to become another thing on the to-do list that I have to deal with or that distracts from other objectives. I think PLN management will need to be incorporated into my guiding principles as I think the shaping of that over the next year will need to be a focus if it's something I want to maintain and effectively utilize (which it is - at least at this moment!)

Data and Inquiry

I really like the idea of using real world data in my Biology class but would need a few guidelines for implementing it: 1) It would have to be simplified so that there was not so much going on that they don't understand it. 2) They would have to be able to make the connection from our class work to the data. 3) Not using that in place of lab data but rather in conjunction with it.

I think one of the ways that it would be really helpful in my classes would be to choose data that corresponds to a lab that we are doing. One of the problems that we have in labs often is that in 45 min. classes my students aren't able to get results or enough results. Having a data set that goes in conjunction with the lab would allow them to do some real data analysis. Also, if they did get good results, they could compare them to the data set information and comment on differences in information.

I have done some web based inquiry activities before and they've gone fairly well. I really like the WISE site and CIESE and will definitely be incorporating them into my lessons. The hardest part I have with the inquiry activities is taking a more hands off approach and letting the students actually inquire (and even make misktakes!). While I've used those kind of activities before I think I need to examine my implementation so that the students are getting the most out of the activities.

Week 5 PLN

Between 2 classes, summer school teaching, and plain old life - I feel like I've abandoned my PLN this week. However, as I discovered today, they have not abandoned me. I wasn't able to peruse Twitter as much I would have liked. I have to say that despite my extreme skepticism, I think Twitter will prove to be a useful enough resource to maintain as this class is over. I won't ever be the kind of person that posts regularly or interacts with many people on a routine basis (just not my nature) but it's been such an easy, quick way to find some very useful information. Once school starts up again, I think I will pair down some of the people I'm following in order to maintain a manageable core group of people that have helpful, interesting things to share.

In my non-Internet world the other thing that kept me annoyingly busy this week was a complete overhaul of my classroom. Due to floors being refinished, walls being painted, and repairs being made, I turned my room upside down. In this process I stumbled upon some books and resources provided to me by a former teacher at my school (that sadly I hadn't ever really looked at). One was about book about teaching Biology to student with learning disabilities (PERFECT!) If you're interested, you can get a copy online if you ask for an enrollment key. This of course led me to other resources online which led to other resources, and on and on and on! So my biggest PLN contributor was a teacher I no longer work with who left me some really great materials that I'm just now discovering. Now I'm really glad I cleaned out my room!

Thoughts on Week 4

Can't believe this class is halfway finished! It's funny because when I started I really felt that I had an average to above average handle on educational technology, and I've found that I was only touching the surface. Many of the applications and tools I've come across in the last 4 weeks will not only make my life easier (big plus!) but will definitely (when added appropriately) enhance the experience and understanding of my students.

In regards to this week, I enjoyed revisiting simulations I've used in the past and re-evaluating their effectiveness as well as finding new ones with the assistance of my classmates. Since we have access to Smartboards in our rooms, simulations are a really great way to add to a lesson. What I've struggled with in the past though is that students sometimes have trouble with the directions or just click through buttons without trying to understand what they are doing. This led me to do many of the simulations in class as a group which took away from the individual investigative approach to the simulations. Therefore, I need better structure for them in the future.

While I find Google Earth fun to play around on, I'm not sure if I would actually incorporate it into my lessons. I'm having trouble coming up with useful ways to incorporate it into Biology particularly because we remove the Ecology sections because we have an Environmental Science class that students take in 9th grade. If I end up teaching a section of Environmental again next year (small chance), I think it would be something that I could utilize. We are currently incorporating GIS software into our Environmental curriculum and Google Earth could be a good supplement to that. Biology teachers, what ways are you thinking about incorporating Google Earth??

My continually developing PLN has provided me with many new and interesting resources this week. I spent a few days this week trying to organize all the new information that I'm taking in and after making headway on that I feel a little less scatterbrained. My big fear is that I'll learn about all these new, interesting resources over the summer when I have time and then either forget about them when school gets busy or not remember where to find them. How are others organizing all this information?

Simulations Galore!

I use simulations a lot in class because I have a LOT of students who are very visual learners. Here is a list of some good resources I've come across (many of which I've used before). I include a brief description for many of the sites.

General Science

Exploratorium - Some simulations as well as some cool science information and activities
Nobel Prize Games - Science "games" (simulations) listed by subject

Biology

Databases

Here are four databases that I have pulled a lot of information and ideas from over the last few years. A lot of the simulations that I highlight below came from these sites: Biology Corner, The Biology Binder, TeachOne: Biology, and Interactive Biology.

Simulations

BioCoach and LabBench - Online labs and detailed tutorials through Prentice Hall
Koshland DNA - Online DNA exhibit created by the Koshland Science Museum (in DC).
Howard Hughes BioInteractive - The "Interactive" and "Virtual Labs" tabs are great!
Learn Genetics Lab - Online labs for genetics
Genetics Web Labs - Another database of genetics online labs
Biology in Motion
Virtual Microscope - Great supplement to microscope activity
Virtual Electron Microscope

Math

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Math manipulatives
Illuminations - Math Simulations
Algebra Fireworks - Real-world application of inequalities

Honorable Mentions - not really simulations but worth mentioning/sharing

Math Bits: Math Caching - Online "geocaching" with math problems. The Math Bits website also has lots of good math information
Bugscope - You send them bugs and they will put them under their electron microscope and set up a time for you and your students to view them

Shout-Outs

Once a Teacher Blog
Bang Goes the Theory - new BBC series coming soon

Too Funny NOT to Share

Why Would you Knit That
Rejected Elements


Enjoy!

Check it out (if you haven't already)

I know several people have mentioned the Free Technology for Teachers blog. If you are not following their blog, I would recommend it!! What's nice is not only do they introduce some cool technology BUT below each entry is a little section on "Application for Educators" and "Related Resources". The site is a quick way to learn about a new tool, find possible applications, and explore other resources.

The reason I mention it is that today's entry is about enabling Google Earth Flight Simulator. Also, it is mentioned that they are creating a list of built-in layers that can easily be used in the classroom (something to look out for in the future!).

Alright, that was my plug - back to teaching summer school!!

Something to look forward to?

Saw a funny article on Twitter on the 46 stages of Twitter.

I think I might be headed down that path! I'm honing the ability to limit my time and accept that I can't read everything and am enjoying the articles and stuff that I do have time to read. We'll see how I feel about keeping up with it now that I've started taking another class this week.

That being said - funny video below expressing some of the sentiments that many of us have expressed about Twitter in the past couple weeks.



So which guy am I?? Hmmmmm....

Homo Sapiens Digital

Read an interesting article today by Marc Prensky about the benefits of the emerging digitally enhanced person or "Homo sapiens digital". Below are some interesting excerpts. It's definitely worth a read.

Digital technology, I believe, can be used to make us not just smarter but truly wiser. Digital wisdom is a twofold concept, referring both to wisdom arising from the use of digital technology to access cognitive power beyond our innate capacity and to wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance our capabilities. Because of technology, wisdom seekers in the future will benefit from unprecedented, instant access to ongoing worldwide discussions, all of recorded history, everything ever written, massive libraries of case studies and collected data, and highly realistic simulated experiences equivalent to years or even centuries of actual experience. How and how much they make use of these resources, how they filter through them to find what they need, and how technology aids them will certainly play an important role in determining the wisdom of their decisions and judgments. Technology alone will not replace intuition, good judgment, problem-solving abilities, and a clear moral compass. But in an unimaginably complex future, the digitally unenhanced person, however wise, will not be able to access the tools of wisdom that will be available to even the least wise digitally enhanced human.

I do not think technology is wise in itself (although some day it may be) or that human thinking is no longer necessary or important. It is through the interaction of the human mind and digital technology that the digitally wise person is coming to be. I believe it is time for the emerging digitally wise among us, youth and adults alike, to embrace digital enhancement and to encourage others to do so. With our eyes wide open to enhancement's potential harm as well as its benefits, let us bring our colleagues, students, teachers, parents, and peers to the digital wisdom of the twenty-first century.

Note: This article was originally published in Innovate (http://www.innovateonline.info/) as: Prensky, M. 2009. H. sapiens digital: From digital immigrants and digital natives to digital wisdom. Innovate 5 (3). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=705 (accessed July 4, 2009). The article is reprinted here with permission of the publisher, The Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University.

Happy....

4th of July!!




Hope everyone has a happy, safe holiday!!

Reflecting on a 3rd Week

Thoughts on the new stuff:

• I found the copyrighting material a little confusing (am I breaking the rules or not?). I felt like the logic kind of went in a circle.
  
• I enjoyed playing around with the photo editing material but am still exploring ways to use it. I think it would be helpful in documenting the things we do in class. I often take pictures of labs and activities and then to be able to edit/arrange/etc. those photos and post them on a blog would be nice. Students LOVE pictures of themselves! However, are there restrictions on posting pictures of students on the internet. We have pictures of them on our school website, so I would assume that some sort of waiver has been signed. Do I make them sign something???
• Perusing Flickr and Creative Commons provided many images that I can easily incorporate into my lessons. Creative Commons simplifies the whole copyright process which is nice.

In Other News

• It's been nice to have a week that had less new stuff because I really feel like it gave me time to settle into the "old" stuff.
  
• I do a lot of what Kelly referred to as multi-tagging but often open many windows and not get to everything and find myself bookmarking a lot for "later" (and for me later doesn't often happen). Recently I've found myself (because everything is there in front of me) reading more things on the spot instead of sending them into the abyss of later. (Sidenote: I started a delicious account but am still finguring out the particulars of that - I think it might just feed my "saving for later" addiction).

On the Twitter front

• I have established a healthy amount of people to follow and am really beginning to see the advantages. A tweeter (?) (@jameshollis) offered recently to help create or provide ideas for Smartboard lessons on tricky topics. I have also come across a lot of great articles that have led me to other great things. It's interesting because what I find often happens is that a link on Twitter ultimately starts me down a path where I find many more links and then suddenly I have many windows open and have read many interesting things that might now even be related to the original link. It opens a lot more avenues and channels to explore.
  
• While I've gotten quite a bit from the people I'm following on Twitter, I don't quite feel like I'm holding up my end of the bargin. My tweets have been few and far between. Part of it is my nature of not putting myself out there. I feel strange jumping into others "conversations" or throwing my ideas out there. I also seem stuck in the process of continuing to seek my own answers to questions or concerns instead of opening it up to people in my new PLN.
  
• So while I think I've gotten down a system and routine of getting information from others through these various routes, I need to work on getting my own information out there and utilizing the resources that are there. Less lurking!
  

Just Plain Fun

Came across this link in my Google Reader (from Farr-Out Links to Learning) and thought it was hilarious!



There are several others by the same group (Pong, Space Invaders, Pole Position). All quite entertaining.

Farr-Out Links also has some good educational sites and every Friday has a top 10 links/sites/videos/articles/etc. from the past week that they've come across. Some are funny/entertaining (hence the video) and others are educational.