INTASC - self-evaluation

Several of my blog posts will illustrate ways that I met the requirements of this class. I have learned several new tools which I hope to one day share with my students.

Check out the link below to see my self evaluation based on the INTASC standards:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AY33XEaEdx7LZG1yZHFnc18zNGQycGRiZGQ2&hl=en

Ustream - bringing together audio, video and broadcast capabilites

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I made this video using Ustream.tv. This is a web based, free tool which allows you to record audio and video. You can even broadcast your recording live if you chose to do so. All that is required for this tool is a web cam, microphone and Internet connection!
Ustream could be used in many ways in the classroom. Students could work on projects and then prepare their presentation on Ustream and show it to the class rather than standing in front of the class and speaking. You could also allow a student who had to miss class to make up some working by creating a video of their work straight from their home.
Making videos on Ustream is easy to do and it's fun too!

Oregon Education Technology Standards

With the rapid increase in the use of technology, it is only natural that Oregon would come up with standards requiring students to have access to and learn about technology. Times have changed dramatically since the time I was in school and the prevalence of technology in students daily life is evident no matter where you look! Many kids now are more computer literate than their parents and use it as a social and educational tool. Even cell phones are everywhere you look, and are being created with more and more features (i.e., Internet capabilities, "we've got an app for that").
With the explosion in the use of technology it is important to have some guidelines for educators to know how we can assist our students in becoming technologically responsible.
Oregon performance standard #8 states that student must have access to technology and learn how to use it well enough that it will improve their academic performance. This means as a teacher, I must start from a young age introducing students to different uses for technology and give them hands on experience using it.
One of the key points of the new OETS standards is helping students learn digital citizenship. I believe this is especially important in a society where vulnerable children can be taken advantage of or get into trouble to easily online. Students need to be guided to know what is appropriate on the web and how to steer clear when they begin to enter some material that may not be age appropriate. We must also help prevent things like cyber bullying.
The OETS holds teachers to a high standard, but one that is necessary if we are going to help students keep up with technologies ever increasing growth.

Spreadsheet Practice

This is my example of the benefits of using Google Spreadsheets. This program is very similar to Excel spreadsheets but is extremely user friendly and can be accessed from any computer at any time. In fact, using formulas on spreadsheets becomes a virtual no-brainer with this program! You can simply click on formulas and view the hundred of options that are available.

The different sheets you can view illustrate the kind of graphing that can be done to show student score averages and can help a teacher easily pick out who is falling behind and who may have dropping scores. One chart shows the average test scores for the class. The other shows the average scores for each student.

The charts help illustrate the fact that the students overall improved their scores from the beginning tests to the later tests. However, there were some drops in test scores at various points. Some students started steady, dropped in scores for a couple of tests and then rallied their scores at the end. These drop in scores could be from plain old burnout or could mean that I need to change the way I prepared those students for those particular tests. This is the kind of helpful information that can be drawn from spreadsheets and the charts that in can produce.

Another feature illustrated in the spreadsheet is standard deviation. This allows you to look at the information beyond averages. It can show you how far scores may be from the average. In this set of information it allows me to see that many of the tests show similar deviation and most are not falling too far from the average.

Skype!

I used skype for the first time tonight. Every time I had used it before it was because someone else had it set up and I just joined in on the conversation on their computer. It was great to finally get my own account set up. It is a great way to stay connected with family and friends, or even colleagues. It is like chat taken to a whole new level!

Catch Video Presentation - Ed Tech

Online Video Converter is easy to learn and easy to use. It allows you to take videos from virtually anywhere online and convert them so they are compatible for use on your own computer.

It took roughly an hour of trial and error to virtually perfect the process of using the converter and trying out its different features.

The Video Converter has many possible applications for educators including enhancing lessons by being able to present videos in class, and being able to create your own "video library" for use with teaching specific content.

Web 2.0 tools

Web 2.0 tools refers to web-based tools that anyone can access anywhere and at anytime. All you need is a computer with internet connection and you can take advantage of Web 2.0 tools. Most of them are user-friendly and the average internet user can figure out how to use them.

Knowing how to use these tools allows you, as an educator, to more easily apply technology into your classroom. It allows all students to access the tools because there is often little or no cost. The students are able to access the information both at school and at home.

Drop Box
*note this tool does require a small download!
Ahh, drop box! A cenvenient way to make your documents and files portable. It's like an online storage space. Work on something on your computer at home, and then go to work and pull up the same files.
The benefits of this tool as an educator are endless. You no longer need to carry around a flash drive or kill trees by making to many copies. Simply go to class and access your information through the web. Let the internet store your work for you!

tinyURL.com
Some URL's go on and on and seem like they never end. But there is a solution to that annoying problem! The solution is tinyurl.com. It allows you to take that way to long URL and create a much smaller URL that will take you to the same location. The benefit of this tool is clear - it's simple convenience! It will save time and stress. It would be much easier to tell students to go to www.tinyurl/6 than to go to
http://www.thisiswaytoolong.itslikethesongthatneverendscauseitgoesonandonmyfriendbutyou.canmakeitshorter
justbyknowingwheretogoittinyurl.comthatwillreallysavethishow.com (you get the idea!).

High School Football - Observations

I did some of my observation time in the last couple of weeks at local high school football games. I first thought it would be a great observation...because I'd get to watch football. But after having watched at two different schools I was very suprised by all the things I was able to see. Here's what stood out to me most in my observations... some might seem obvious, but they are still things that I think are worth noting:

1)The area and socioeconomic status of people who attend schools makes a huge difference. Take for example watching West Salem vs. South Salem's marching bands. I noticed a lot more music equipment and production with West Salem (a place where the averaged household income is higher). It could be that this is somewhat related to where each school puts its emphasis. But I'll bet that money had something to do with it.

2)Cliques are prominent in high school. It seemed that everyone was walking around in groups, like they were afraid to be seen alone. I also noticed that many kids spent a lot of time looking around them (as if to pay close attention to who might be watching them). This led me to believe that many of them were very self-conscious. That could probably be said of adults too, but it seems more noticeable in the high schoolers.

3)There is a noticeable distance kept between the students and parents at football games. There's a 'student section' where all the students sit together. The parents are off sitting in the 'parent' section. You could just see the students asserting their independence and autonomy.