Our Collaborative Lesson Plan

Hello fellow bloggers!

It's Thursday, and we all know what that means -- NEW POST!

This week in tech class we had to work in small groups to great a lesson plan.. obviously using technology!  We used a Google Doc to share all the information and used other tools that we have talked about in this class (Powtoon... I love using that!).

In our lesson we wanted to focus on Math Number Sense, specifically Word Problems.

To make the lesson interesting for the students, we wanted to set the stage with a Powtoon which you can watch here.  We used the Powtoon to get them interested in what they are going to do on their own.  Basically, the Powtoon video shows them a word problem that they have to solve.  Once they have solved this problem, they will get into groups of 2 or 3 to create their own problem.  After they create their problem (and it has been teacher approved) they will create their very own Powtoon for their problem.  Once all the groups are done, they will share their Powtoons with other groups and they will try to solve the other word problems that their peers created! 

We have used a great tool (Google Forms) to create an assessment tool to make anecdotal notes which are saved directly to out Google accounts!  Technology is great for assessment -- who knew!?

Here is our lesson plan that we created!

Hopefully this gives you some ideas as to how to incorporate technology into your lessons, learning goals, and assessment! 

Talk soon!

- Kathleen

Genius Hour Coming to an End

Hello fellow bloggers!

I know I don't usually post on any other day except Thursday, but this week is a little different.  I've been working on my Ted Talk Thursday video for all of you and I'm trying to figure out the best ways to present information in a way that will interest others!  That being said, a sudden thought hit me that I had to share with you all...

My Genius Hour Question directly relates to how I am going to be presenting my Ted Talk Thursday information... For the most part.  Unfortunately, I am unable to put you all into groups and have you guys share your thoughts to build on ideas.  HOWEVER -- I will be able to use a lot of what I am talking about as a guideline for how to teach you my research.

I have to:

 - be innovative

 - be engaging

 - use technology (well, that's basically the whole thing.. you know, by using a video connected to my blog and all...)

 - be creative

 - make it interesting

But, HOW to make it all of those things is the question.

I know what I have to do, but it's the HOW that makes thing interesting! Lucky for you, my Ted Talk Thursday will cover all of this information -- don't want to give too much away before you see it!

Anyways, just thought I'd give you a bit more insight as to what I'll be covering and what my thought process has been through this experience.

Talk soon!

- Kathleen

Coming Together

Hello fellow bloggers!

Exciting News
I am back! I know it has been a while since I have made a post, but I am finally back in action!  Since my last post I have started to bring all my information together.  I don't want to give too much away because I will be sharing my very own video that is similar to the TED Talks that you may have seen.  I have named it "TED Talk Thursday" because I always do my posts on Thursdays and I thought it was pretty clever!  BUT the exciting part is that my TED Talk Thursday is covering ALL the information I have collected for my Genius Hour Question (refer to previous posts if you forget what it is).  So, while I have been working away on preparing a great TED Talk Thursday, I have also been preparing a movie trailer for my TED Talk Thursday!! You can find it on the "My Movie Trailer" page on my blog! (or just click here)

Back to Tech
Today in class we discussed different WebTools to use in the classroom.  In previous posts I have mentioned Powtoon.com (which I highly recommend!), but here are two other tools that peaked my interest:
1. Zunal
     - This tool is great for teacher to use since it provides multiple WebQuests for students to complete (in an interactive and interesting way)
2. Wordle
     -  This tool may seem simple at first (well, it kinda is), but it is a great way to show students how to group similar ideas together or words that relate.
    *FUN FACT! You could easily use this tool in a Language Arts lesson when you are teaching the differences between Verbs and Nouns by creating a Wordle for Verbs and a Wordle for Nouns. You could even brainstorm ideas of words with your students and create the Wordle together!


Okay, so I know this seems off topic, but the yesterday I was watching Game 5 of the ALCS Blue Jays vs. Royals (AND THE BLUE JAYS WON!!).  But the interesting part of this is that I watched the game online... not on TV.  This was a whole new experience for me because I had only ever watched their games on TV or at the Rogers Center. SO while this seems like it has nothing to do with technology, it actually does! Technology is a huge part of my life and I use it all the time.  This reminds me that students use technology all the time and LOVE to use it.  So, even though I use technology to research new things and share my information with you, it is important to remember that students can use technology to learn AND have fun! Which is how I feel whenever I am in my own Tech Class.

Anyways, not much more for me to discuss with you today, so I will have to fill you with knowledge another time :)

- Kathleen

Tech to Teach & Tech to Learn!

Hello fellow bloggers!

An interesting thought has occurred to me! As you've read in my previous blog posts, I am trying to figure out teaching strategies that will help gets students more involved in their learning experiences.  This is my Genius Hour project in my technology class!  BUT, get this -- one of the strategies that I found to be very effective was USING TECHNOLOGY!  (What are the odds?!)

Students absolutely love to use technology in the classroom!  

In my placement classroom I have noticed that the students are way more engaged when teachers use technology.  My associate teacher uses the Smart board in her morning bell work to get students to practice their language arts skills.  She will post the questions on the Smart board and when everyone is finished they will take it up TOGETHER on the Smart board.  Whenever the teacher asks who wants to show their answer on the board, almost all the students raised their hand to show they wanted to present their answer!  I couldn't believe it!!

SCIENCE CLASS: The students were doing predictions, explanations, and observations.  In any other class I would have thought that they would do small classroom experiments (which they have done -- paper airplane tossing to see which models go farther).  However, in their science class this week they were talking about a Red Hot Nickel Ball and different things that the RHNB would come into contact with.  The students had to predict what they thought was going to happen.  Now, keep in mind that I had no idea what the science teacher had planned, but I was trying to think of how they would actually use the RHNB in the classroom because that would be really unsafe!  But their science teacher pulled up videos on YouTube to show the actual experiment!  It was amazing! I would NEVER have thought of that but it's such a simple way to bring exciting science experiments to the classroom!  The students were able to think about what was going to happen, make predictions in their notebooks, observe the experiment, and explain their findings with the use of videos!  AMAZING!! The best part was that the students were so engaged and wanted to share their predictions with the rest of the class!

For example, this is one of the videos that they watched in their science class... I think it would make sense as to why I was concerned when they science teacher mentioned gunpowder.

HOW COOL IS THIS?!

HOW THIS APPLIES TO MY GENIUS HOUR

I've been thinking that this whole process is going to be dry and very theory-based learning rather than exciting and informative -- but I am very wrong.  We used Smart boards in the end of my high school years for data management and I've seen countless YouTube videos, but for some strange reason I never would have thought to use Smart boards to get students to be more engaged (just would have used it to display information), and I didn't even know that there were science experiments on YouTube (but let's be real, there's A LOT on YouTube!)

MOVING FORWARD

So, I've done some research on the computer, and I've seen how real teachers use instructional elements of design to get students involved... I'm doing fairly well, not to toot my own horn or anything!  But there is still work to do.  Moving forward, I need to be able to pull all this information together to create a response that will help me in my future teacher years, and it could possibly be helpful to current teachers -- after all, collaboration is key to the teacher education world!

Well, that's all I have for you... for now :)

- Kathleen

Continuing Research

Hello fellow bloggers!

So, I have finally started to do some research in order to answer my Genius Hour Question!  It's about time, right!?

Teaching has become a major part of my life... and I'm not even a teacher yet!  I've spent the last four years studying child development and education. Since I am in my final year of my teaching degree I felt that it was important that I prepare myself as much as I can by understanding how to get students engaged in their learning experiences (how to motivate them, what strategies to use, etc.).

Just a reminder, my Genius Hour Question:

What instructional design elements can teachers use to create engaging learning experiences for students?

When I started my research I was focusing a lot on instructional design elements that create effective lessons that students will love.  But I started to find that was more of the theory behind everything rather than actually putting it into practice.  So, instead of focusing on academic papers for research, I started looking at blogs and other teacher strategies webpages.  The information that I have collected so far has been so helpful for my personal knowledge as well as my Genius Hour Question (which is basically the whole point, right?!)

Momentum -- NOT Motivation
One thing that I've learned through my research is that motivation (while very important) can be the result of something different than trying to get students excited about learning.  Momentum in learning can really helps students "take off" with their learning.  When students have momentum in their learning they are already striving for the next thing they can learn.  In other words, rather than trying to push students into being motivated, allow them to find something they love and let them run with it.  Once they have momentum and are enjoying what they are learning, they will be intrinsically motivated to learn new things -- which will help them be more engaged in their learning experiences.  It all flows together kind of nicely, don't you think?

New Thoughts
Over the last few weeks of using technology for learning AND learning new things through technology, I can tell that my thoughts have completely changed.  Of course I would love to think that I knew what I was doing with technology and how beneficial it can be... But the last few weeks have been such an eye-opener!!  The amount I've learned from being guided through my technolgoy course and the amount I have learned by trying new programs and using new ideas -- it's been incredible! I've learned more than I would have thought and it just makes me think that there is so much more that I can learn (strong momentum makes me motivated to learn more... interesting!).

My Next Steps
Continuing on with my learning involves synthesizing the material that I've gained in order to create a deeper understanding of my Genius Hour Question (and future knowledge of technology). From here I hope to be able to understand even more strategies and techniques for instructional design that will help students become engage in their learning experiences.  Another thing I hope to do is start talking to real teachers and real students to understand what they think.

After all, I want to know what will help get students more engaged, who better to ask than students themselves?  

Plus, asking teachers will hopefully give me a more realistic idea of what I can and cannot do, what is easy and what is more challenging to do.  I would love to think that all options are easy to do and won't have any issues, but teachers will hopefully be able to help me understand the best options!

Well that's all for now!

- Kathleen :)

Genius Hour Questions

Hi all! :)

So, Genius Hour Questions... not so easy! While trying to design my question, I had to consider how vague or specific my question was.  BUT after I did a lot of thinking, planning, and wishing I could give up and just ignore it... I finally thought of one (with a bit of help).  My genius question:

What instructional design elements can teachers use to create engaging learning experiences for students?

Over the next few weeks I will be looking into this question and researching new ideas in order to find an answer.  As a teacher candidate, I think it is important to understand as much about the theory of the classroom as possible (as well as the practice) in order to be prepared for when I actually have a classroom of my own.  I've seen that some students are not even remotely motivated to learn and just go to school because they have to.  Other students have shown great interest in their learning because they love what they are learning.  This got me thinking about how teaching strategies can determine whether or not a student is engaged and motivated to learn.

My goal for this project is to get a better understanding of how students are motivated to learn and what strategies I can use to make their learning experiences fun and engaging!  Learning should be a fun experience for students, not something they are dreading every day.

I think I'm starting to have the right idea -- and a more positive idea -- about Genius Hour Questions.  My next steps involve researching the different instructional design elements in order to understand how they differ.  I'm hoping that will give me a variety of information about how to use those elements in the classroom to engage student!

Copying Right

Hello bloggers,

After reviewing some information about copyright, it would appear that there are certain ways to avoid copyright issues.  I found it interesting that as part of a copyright, it is understood that others may copy/use the copyrighted work if it is properly cited.  Within the university system, copyright is similar to plagiarism in my opinion.  While writing papers, we are able to obtain information and use it to make an argument IF it is cited properly.  Basically, the citation tells viewers/readers that the piece of work is not an original idea/image from the person using it, but it is from someone else.

In the classroom, it is important to teach students about copyright for many reasons.  It is important for students to understand that it is not okay to use someone else's work and claim it as their own.  Additionally, it is important for students to be able to research information (and cite it) in order to gain new understandings about different things.  Students are able to gather the information someone else has created and combine that with their own thoughts in order to demonstrate their knowledge.

Salter, David. (2014, May 5). Barn Owl [Photograph]

Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/101295317@N06/13930447099/in/photolist-ndZbAp-5aZkay-9Nw65u-ca7bsG-bmEaSa-odeKMU-iV2DnA-9EzH7R-o2gc4E-bNxB5z-317Xbj-7B9K5c-8mx2o5-e7txfB-d6S2g3-5cEjQB-oa4c67-KEDh-rRpVK2-faDJmn-5Um3yb-oGzdMV-dnYoaF-49WxEm-ajegSj-6h9Mve-pMPife-dRuM8u-gtCarK-59K4ct-qaGktV-fDxRyu-qAByqX-e1SbCX-7brX4p-7rKhZF-pbFj1A-sd9Vtx-nrzii3-nHSDLE-pSQiyz-rT5LyA-6AMV1C-dxLn1U-6YxtXH-i9izBX-9kXN6i-76DgSb-9mQyVu-q32DF7 

"Atlantic Puffin Birds" [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.google.ca/search?q=copyright+friendly+images&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=599&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIi_Xe77vrxwIVCjqSCh0rWALQ#imgrc=H_vylv16aqF7tM%3A

Those are just two examples of how I learned to avoid copyright issues.  The first photo describes the photographer, the date it was taken, the title of the photograph, a description of the image, and the website it was obtained from. For the second photo I was unable to determine the photographer or the title of the photo, so I used a description of the photograph and the website I obtained it from.

Well that's all for now :)