Week 7 - Top Ten Tech Tools I Cannot Live Without!

Really? I have to list only ten? Tough job, but I think I can do it. Here we go:

10. ipod - I love my iPod for personal use of course, but it also comes in so handy for different classes I teach. I can download white noise (my students especially love thunderstorm and crashing waves) for when my students are reading or testing, as these keep the room from being too quiet and stuffy. I can also download tracks to play in my Humanities class, exposing students to music that accompanies the history-based lessons I teach.

9. LCD Projector - Ok, I know this one isn't new or novel, but I don't know how I could manage if I had to go back to the days of the old-school overhead projector and transparencies. I use my projection system to give my students notes, show them artwork, play video clips, and to demonstrate how to use different websites and software programs.

8. Mobile phone - I love the convenience of being able to text parents with information about upcoming assignments, etc., and it is nice for them to be able to contact me without my having to interrupt class time. I also love the abundance of apps that seem to come out on a daily basis that help me do my thing in the classroom.

7. Prezi - I love this software because kids love it so much. My students have been "PowerPoint-ed" to death, and have grown so bored with it, which is why they come alive when they watch me demonstrate prezi. They love being able to make their presentations uber-personal and they really love flipping the screen orientation around the way only prezi can do it. Plus, with the online program, there are no file saving compatibility issues to worry about.

6. LiveBinders - I love being organized, but I am low on physical space, so I love the LiveBinders approach to keeping myself organized. Plus, it is a great tool to share with my students!

5. Symbaloo - Speaking of organization... I really, really love Symbaloo because it allows me to organize sites I use most and classify them according to how I need them or what I plan to do with them. Additionally, I can save sheets on symbaloo to share with people who have common interests or who teach the same subject area. Love it!

4. Facebook - What can I say? I love that I can stay so connected with so many different groups of people. I can send out messages to my students, communicate with parents, and stay in touch with friends, all while keeping abreast of the major events in the lives of those around me.

3. iNow - I am sure most of you Alabama teachers are familiar with this web-based gradebook software. I didn't care for it too much at first, but I am used to it now, and I enjoy being able to access my gradebook from home. I also love that my students are growing more accountable for their progress by checking their grades and staying on top of their progress.

2. Microsoft Office - Again, nothing new, but I don't know of a single day that goes by at work that I don't use Word or Excel to make handouts, publish flyers, organize data, etc. Without this software, my productivity would be reduced by about 700%!!!

1. Kindle - I love, love, love e-readers, especially my Kindle paperwhite. Not only does it facilitate great reading, but it enables me to cart a library with me anywhere I go, which is great for pulling up books for sharing quotes with students or supporting ideas from our literature textbook. I also love the increase I see in student reading since e-readers came along. Students read more when they are allowed to use their electronic readers, and I love anything that encourages my kids to read!

Week 6 - Essential Apps for an App-less World...

This week's blog topic requires me to discuss five apps that I could use in my English classroom, however, this topic actually hit on quite a vein of frustration, as my school doesn't allow students to use mobile devices, nooks, kindles, or iPads/tablets in the classroom. I have quarreled bitterly with my administrator over this topic, but the tired and outmoded insistence that evil tech devices will distract students and endanger faculty members prevails, so I will happily research these apps, but it will be a distant day before I can actually employ their use. Alas.
1. Stanza. This free app allows you to read digital books on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. It is linked to several free literature providers, such as Porject Gutenburg, so it allows kids access to a library at their fingertips, as well as organization tools for books and reference materials.
2. Grammar Up  - Selected by Apple for its “High School Survival Guide,” this iPhone and iPad app provides a quiz system with over 1,800 grammar questions in 20 difference categories. Older students can use the quizzes to help prepare for various tests and exams by going through categories of questions or they can simulate the test environment with random questions. The quiz format and real-time error feedback provide students with the opportunity to improve their strategies for grammar success.
3. Writing Prompts - This writing prompt generator app uses pictures, colors, words, genres and different types of writing to provide creative inspiration for writers and writing students. The app also includes a database of 600 creative writing prompts in the form of quotes, story openers and writing exercises that can be used to jump-start student writing projects.
4. Chicktionary - This popular Internet word game is now available on the iPad. Players unscramble a roost full of hens (each hen represents a letter) and create as many words as possible. The iPad app supports dragging and shaking gestures to move and shuffle hens. Ten game levels and a variety of silly hidden features will keep students engrossed as they exercise their vocabularies.
5. Pages - This word processor app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch allows teachers and students to create assignments, presentations, handouts, tests, and other types of document that includes text and graphics. Sixteen templates are provided for different types of documents, and pages can be uploaded to iCloud and accessed from other Apple devices.

Week 5 - Minding Digital Manners

The topic for this week is digital citizenship, and why it is important to be a good citizen, digitally speaking. I guess the reasons for behaving one's self electronically are fairly similar to the reasons for doing so in day-to-day real-life activities. Being mannerly, both in cyberspace and in person, shows those around us that we respect them and want them to feel comfortable around us. It also shows a restraint and a delicacy that help us demonstrate our credibility and build our trustworthiness to those around us. In addition to just plain good manners, however, we must also accept that, as educators, we have a responsibility to lead out students by example, and in a world where information travels so quickly, we must expect that, whatever bits of ourselves we put out there, whether on Twitter, Facebook, in blogs, or through emails, is going to be accessible to our students and their families. We cannot expect them to learn to communicate with taste and integrity if we do not show that we are able to do so. I have an acquaintance, for example, who teaches at a nearby high school, and she posts the most scandalous personal information on her very public Facebook account. She frequently posts about going out and drinking, often adding pictures of herself in these situations. She is a grown woman, and certainly entitled to do as she wishes, but my opinion of her drops more and more each time I see her make the decision to provide this information to the public, including many students that are listed as "friends" on her account. More disturbing is the fact that several people have tactfully mentioned this behavior as problematic, and she disregards the advice to tone it down. As a teacher, it makes me sad. As a parent, I know I would have serious doubts about the quality of education my children would receive in her classroom. Alright. My backside in getting sore, which means I must have spent too much time in the saddle. Time to climb down from my moral high horse. :-) Have a great week, everyone!

Week 4 - Juice Up the Generator

I love how easy technology makes my life sometimes, and I feel particularly grateful when I use material generating software, especially test-generator software. The Glencoe ExamView software I use is especially great because it allows me to make tests using existing banks of questions, which I can add to, change, or delete in order to tailor the tests to  meet my students' needs. Even when I want to write my own questions, the generator allows me to format them so easily, while simultaneously creating keys, and best of all, I can print multiple versions of each test to reduce the all-too-common incidence of cheating. I also love puzzle generators, both by Glencoe and Holt, which allow me to use vocabulary terms relevant to my subject to create puzzles for my students which enable them to learn/reinforce their learning while adding some levity to the class by way of giving out a puzzle.

Week 3 - Fun with the Five Types of Instructional Technology

Greetings, ED505ers (and anyone else who might have stumbled across this blog). The task at hand this week is to discuss the five types of instructional software. I usually go to most any length to avoid simply regurgitating the material we are all already reading in our textbooks, but I don't see much way around it, so here we go! Just in case you didn't know, this info comes from Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (Roblyer).

Type One: Drill and Practice

They say practice makes perfect, and this type of software capitalizes on that notion.

Characteristics

• Software presents items for students to answer
• Immediate feedback of correctness
• Some software will also give explanations of answer choices

Benefits

• Gives instant, personal feedback
• Helps to motivate students to learn
• Helps the teacher save time as there is no work to grade

Criteria for Effectiveness

• User must remain in control of presentation speed
• The software must adequately grade responses
• Feedback for both correct and incorrect answers must be appropriate

Drill and Practice Example Sites:
Earobics
Description: This software give practice in phonological awareness and other reading skills
http://www.earobics.com/


Type Two: Tutorials

Characteristics

• Presents an entire sequence of instruction
• Is considered  complete instruction instead of supplemental
• Drill & Practice functions are included
• Is organized either in a linear fashion or branching fashion

Benefits

• This software gives instant, personal feedback
• Helps to motivate students to learn
• Helps the teacher save time as there is no work to correct
• Can be a standalone instructional software
• Can help the teacher keep records of student progress

Criteria for Effectiveness

• Must have extensive interactivity
• User must remain in control
• Must apply appropriate pedagogy
• Must use graphics appropriately
• Feedback and answer judging must be adequate
• Record keeping must be adequate

Tutorial Example Sites:
Phonics Alive
Description: Comprehensive grammar software to improve elementary students phonics skills.
http://www.learningservicesus.com/home/ls1/page_806/phonics_alive_4_grammar.html

Type Three: Simulation

Characteristics of Simulation
• Software provides a model of real or imaginary systems
• Physical phenomenon and hypothetical situations can be modeled
• Students can see the immediate impact that their choices have made

          Benefits

• Gets students involved
• Experiments are safe
• Can speed up time or slow down processes
• The impossible becomes possible
• Helps to save money and other resources
• Allows repetition with different variations
• Complex processes can be observe

         Criteria for Effectiveness

• Since this type of software can be complex, good documentation, which explains characteristics and uses is needed.
• Accuracy and fidelity of the system is needed for some simulations

Oregon Trail
Description: This simulation is set in 1890's. Students go on a simulated wagon train journey.
http://www.riverdeep.com/

Type Four: Instructional Games

• Characteristics
  • Provides opportunities for problem solving and or skill practice in a fun way
  • Uses rules of games
  • Challenges the student to do their best and win (usually competitive)
• Benefits
  • This type of software is highly motivational
  • Helps students spend more time on topic
• Criteria for Effectiveness
  • Activities and format must be appealing
  • There must be an obvious instructional value
  • There should be a reasonable amount of physical dexterity
  • Violence and aggression should be minimal

Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?
Description: This game helps students study history and geography by answering questions which provide clues to where Carmen is hiding.
http://www.riverdeep.com/

Type Five: Problem Solving Software

• Characteristics
  • Problem solving tool are included
  • These programs create environments, which challenge students to solve complex problems
  • Provide problems which help to develop problem solving skills, such as, recalling facts and following a sequence
  • Gives the chance for students to practice solving content-area problems
• Benefits
  • Motivates students to spend more time with content area with challenging activities
  • Inert knowledge is prevented by illustrating situations in which skills apply
• Criteria for Effectiveness
  • Format should be interesting and challenging
  • Must be clearly linked to developing specific problem-solving skills

Fripple Town
Description: Students use this software to practice thinking strategies such as using logic, analyzing attributes, working backwards, creativity and multiple solutions.
http://www.riverdeep.com/

Week 2 - Wikipedia Hypocrite

Our topic this week is about whether it is advisable to allow students to use Wikipedia.org as a resource. As an English teacher, I have always stressed to my students the unreliability of using Wikipedia, especially when conducting research for a formal paper to be cited and handed in for a grade. This makes me something of a wiki-hypocrite, because any time I need to look up information on a topic, Wikipedia is my fist stop. Is this a case of "Do as I say, not as I do?" Will I allow my students to use Wikipedia in their research, even though I love the site for my own informal research purposes? Most likely, I will not. My reasoning for refusing this site as a source is twofold. First, Wikipedia is wonderfully informative, but, as we have all heard/read/been beaten in the face with a gazillion times, the site can be altered and information can be incomplete and/or incorrect. More importantly, many of my high school students lack the judgement and/or discretion to take their Wikipedia info with a grain of salt. I can read a Wikipedia article and glean insight from it without blindly accepting its thoroughness, correctness, and validity. Many high school students, however, find it hard to observe boundaries with the information provided. Second (and most importantly) I know that the vast majority of college professors frown upon the use of Wikipedia as a source, some so much so that many a paper citing Wikipedia is docked a high percentage of points or thrown out altogether. There is nothing constructive in introducing or condoning a behavior that will result in confusion or frustration for these students later on. That said, I have read several blogs that suggest using Wikipedia as a starting point for more in-depth research, and I agree that, when closely monitored, that can be a great idea. A problem I have run into, however, is that the occasional student will use Wikipedia for basically the entire assignment, then throw in some random citations  to make the work look more legit. In these instances, I hate Wikipedia, just because it does make itself so tempting...but I suppose that sort of problem is bound to crop up from time to time, no matter how much you warn the students not to do it. Maybe we need a high school class that focuses on teaching children to use technology for good instead of evil.....

Week 1 - Please allow me to introduce myself....

Blogging, eh? Okay, I can live with that. Actually, I have often planned/hoped/threatened to start a blog, so perhaps this is the little "push" I need to really get going. Thanks, Dr. McMillin! To get right down to business, I will tell everyone a little bit about myself, although I must warn you, I am painfully uninteresting. I am 32 years old, and I have lived my entire life in the bustling metropolis of Brewton, Alabama. While Brewton proper is about as boring a place as one can imagine, the location is nice, in that it is within an hour's driving distance of several interesting locations, like Pensacola, Navarre, Mobile, Spanish Fort, and Montgomery. The reason I stay in Brewton, even though it is not my favorite place, is because it is small and quiet, making it a nice place to bring up my three children. I have two boys, Addison and Bayden, and one daughter, Fynne. It doesn't hurt that my family home is here, and cost of living is low.
I have loved literature and language for as long as I can remember, so it seemed only natural that I would major in English literature in college. I earned my Bachelor's degree in English from Auburn University Montgomery in 2003. It was never, ever in my plans to teach school. That said, I have no idea what I planned to do with a degree in English, so when a friend referred me to a principal in desperate need of an English teacher, I thought, "Why not?" I was hired for my first teaching job the same day I graduated from college. Initially, I only planned to teach for a short while. I am now in my 10th year in the classroom. Funny how things work out, huh? My husband of 13 years, Jeremy, also graduated from AUM and also had no intention of teaching. He is in his 9th year of teaching. Go figure.
When it became clear that teaching was more of a career than a stepping stone, I went back to school and got my Master's degree in teaching English (M.A.T.) from UWA. Now, I am taking a couple of classes so I can get my class "A" certification and get started on my Ed.S.. The school at which I teach generously covers tuition for teachers continuing graduate and postgraduate study, so I guess my husband and I will continue working on our educations forever, since a sick, sad part of us really loves taking classes.
      Outside of the classroom, which consumes most of my life, and my family, which consumes the rest of it, I have little time for hobbies and such. I will list a few random facts about me and my passtimes, just to help you get a better idea about me, if you want one.

• I enjoy playing the guitar, though I am not that good at it.
• I have traded many a night's sleep for the satisfaction of finishing a great book. Books trump sleep....most of the time.
• I love hard rock (did you catch the Rolling Stones reference in my post title? Did you??) and alternative music, Disney World, Broadway musicals, and virtually all movies, even sappy dramatic ones.
• I am afraid of flying. I never fly. Ever.
• I love Steve Carrell.
• I would give most anything to own a sloth. They are so stinkin' cute!
• My best friend is a Spanish teacher who works across the hall from me. She sort of coparents my children and shares my Disney World addiction, so most of the time, when we go, we go together. With my husband and kids. She is single, but she accompanies me and my family most everywhere, and some of my kids look more like her than me, so most people probably think we are polygamists.
• We think the polygamist thing is funny, so we don't try to dispute it.

That doesn't sum it up, precisely, but it scratches the surface, and that is what blogs do, mainly, right? Scratch the surface so the reader wants to find out more? I look forward to getting to know everyone and working with all of you. I can't wait to get to know you!