04.12.08
Posted in Worth Sharing at 6:42 am by hheath
I just spent a few minutes chatting with Marc about what we have done and what we hope to do next. My plan was to create an online notebook. As I was putting the pieces together, I uploaded our Independent Learning Skills Continuum for kids to leave a VoiceThread reflection. I realized that the page was cumbersome and the VoiceThread was not useful for this task.
Over time and as I met with my team, I realized that we could post the ILSC as a survey which would be a little “sexier” than a paper/pencil task. It was fun to create and to decide what information was really important to collect. After experimenting with GoogleDocs and then SurveyMonkey, I realized that the SurveyGold format my be the way to go due to the way results could be analyzed with pie charts and visuals/percentages. After getting some help, my survey was just opened on Thursday (4/10/08) and will be closed next Thursday. I am pretty excited to see the results.
So, what use will it be? I had an epiphany while chatting with Marc. Once the survey is taken and analyzed, students could sit and reflect about the results to record a metacognitive post. The benefit would be that that post could be shared at the end of the year IEP meeting with parents, teachers, and administration. However, the real beauty is the double metacognition; the student could hear him/herself reflecting which will allow him/her to reflect again. Wow!
Now, that might not seem big to you, but that is HUGE to me. That student could then listen to that again as a freshman in college to hear what worked, what didn’t, and how the student was planning to address weaknesses. That is a whole new meaning to “Note to self.”
But it doesn’t end there. In-coming 9th graders (with the permission of the student, of course) could hear a YHS graduate reflect about his journey through high school. Wow! That could be awesome!
Now I need to make it happen…
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04.07.08
Posted in Assignments at 5:21 am by hheath
There were two conferences that I explored. The first was Brian Crosby’s “Obstacles to Opportunities…” and the other was Karen Richardson’s “Crossing the Copyright Boundary…”
Mr. Crosby’s video blog incorporated some interesting points about exploring using tools in new and engaging ways. He used blogging as a great way for students to read, comment, and receive comments about their own thinking. He found it to be a useful tool to motivate students to write and think, but not view it as classwork since it was posted on the web. He also encouraged video blogging which requires creativity, design, editing, and communication skills. He seems to be a dedicated, motivated, and engaging teacher who made these ideas possible for anyone to try.
The other conference was about copyright law. UGH! Right now, my team is trying to get audiobooks available for students with special needs. We aren’t charging them; we aren’t sharing for entertainment. We just want to provide access to books for kids who do not read as quickly as their peers and who may do better with auditory comprehension tasks. Seems simple, but it has not been. I was hoping that reading the this blog would help. I was still confused because there was a review about the law’s intent was for 14 years so that the owner could reap the benefit if any were to be made (which we read some pretty current stuff so that doesn’t help). However, there are definitions of fair use for teaching, news, parody, and critical comment. You need to understand the nature, amount, ad commercial impact.
Fine. What about my students who “don’t get” Huck Finn when they read it, but can understand as soon as they hear the speech? Yeah, that’s old, so it is free and in the public domain where anyone can access it. But what about other newer books? There might be something through the Chafee Act to investigate. This will require more research.
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04.03.08
Posted in Assignments at 5:24 am by hheath
My goal for this class was to create an electronic notebook using NoteShare for students to use to maintain an electronic “portfolio” of their progress in Learning Center toward meeting their academic and transition goals. Well, didn’t happen. Truthfully, I usually get annoyed and frustrated with myself for not meeting my goals, but not this time. Through this class, I was able to explore more than I planned. My journey began with…
gliffy…Didn’t really like it and learned (through blogging) that others don’t, either.
VoiceThread…Easy to use and I can help kids, but it didn’t match my project.
Googledocs…Loved it, but I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted so I collaborated with my team. That led to …
Skype…We chatted Alice up as a group from the second floor (while she was on the first). I got to back channel with my team and teach them about this method of communicating on a different level.
From here I began exploring Del.icio.us, quizlet, Survey Monkey, and a bazillion other little sites and tools that others had mentioned, but I had not yet played with to learn.
What have I done? Abandoned my project, chatted with my Learning Area Team, and plan to use the summer (perhaps next year, too) to develop a better way of seeking self-assessment data about our Independent Learning Skills chart from students and then incorporating more technology such as blogs, digital video, and surveys. I believe that I can develop something better than where we are currently (paper pencil tasks) that will help us engage and teach students about who they are, what they have done, and what they can do. I need more time and collaboration (with my team and other experts I did not know I could with whom I could directly speak through Skype) to make a quality project that we wil use.
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03.08.08
Posted in Assignments, Worth Sharing at 8:13 am by hheath
As I sit in this class today and discuss and learn about edtechtalk.com, igoogle, web classes, and a bazillion of other ideas and sites, I have concluded that the project I created for this class is weighing me down in comparison to the energy I feel about exploring so many sites and sources. (My goal was to create an electronic notebook, but the vision of what I planned to do has completely changed because I have learned new things already.)
I would like to become better versed and aware of tools and options to support the students on my caseload. I have a proposal for Marc to see if we can join forces to see if we can create a blog to discuss various strategies to help students learn. We could get input from the world! Thoughts?
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Posted in Assignments at 6:32 am by hheath
1. Are students able to determine what they learn, ie do they have a hand in the curriculum they follow?
2 Yes. There are expectations that all students need to cover through the LC. We discuss priorities with them and focus there to begin. We have them for four years and guide them to work on their biggest weaknesses first.
2. Are students aware of what it is they need to learn (which they may have determined for themselves), and what the accepted standard is?
3 Yes. The standard line is either set or fuzzy which can be confusing. For example, we expect kids to maintain agenda systems. Some may be done in books and others may be done on phones. That is set. What is fuzzy is that some kids do not have weaknesses in that area and may be allowed to “waive” the agenda as long as they do not have frequent missing or late work.
3. Do students know where they are in relation to the standard, and how to get closer to it?
4 No. We talk about it, but I am not sure that we are clear.
4. Is the physical environment conducive to learning — not in a vague, general sense, but in terms of the optimum environment for that particular student at any particular time? It may be necessary to break this down further, to draw out the school’s attitude towards mobile learning, its attitude to Web 2.0 applications and how easy it is for the student to decide where to work at any given time.
2. It is open for students to come into my classroom to seek support. However, is my classroom always the best option? Not always.
5. Ditto the virtual environment.
6. Is there a barrier between what is possible in “school time” and what is possible in “personal time”?
Yes! It seems more and more with increasing expectations, higher standards, and greater skill, students have less time to do more. When they go home, they are still working. Perhaps there will be a plateau, but it seems as if the stakes are increasing- whether school or SELF imposed.
7. Are students able to access the resources they need, at the right level, at the right time?
No! This is a major frustration. Some kids need to access auditory options for books and we can’t get them quick enough due to the lack of players or format differences. (Daisy v mp3 v itunes)
8. Are students able to work at their optimum time rather than according to an artificial school timetable?
No. Let’s be real. School is all about time- daily schedule, weekly schedule, vacations, holidays, quarter reports, external exam requirements (SAT etc.)
9. Is the student able to review his own work, and for peer review to take place, in a meaningful manner?
2 Yes. Many students are required to partner to edit, create, and discuss current assignments. We also ask student to reflect upon OUR practices, too. We learn from one another often.
10. Is the whole school or learning experience not merely enjoyable, but self-actualising?
I want to think more on this.
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Posted in Worth Sharing at 6:13 am by hheath
Wow! I now have COLOR for my text and it was easy to do. After watching the video about PLUG-INS, I…
1. Went to Plug-ins (at top of page)
2. Activated my Advanced Editor and was able to get color and 
the ability to add smiling dogs to my page! (You can add what you like!)
There are other features that you may want to add to your pages.
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03.05.08
Posted in Assignments at 11:09 am by hheath
I am thinking that just because technology is available, it is not always the best tool. Probably not what I should be writing considering that I am in the technology class. I have been trying to create an electronic notebook where students can maintain evidence of how they are working on their IEP goals, objectives, and independent learning skills.
I created a VoiceThread to ask students to reply to a list of study strategies. That wasn’t received well; the students I asked to do it could not see what I was doing and a third stated that she “hates doing those…we have to do them for everything now!”
Maybe only a few pieces should be put in the notebook…That reminds me…How do I maintain confidentiality? Since there are approximately 18 kids on my caseload, are there 18 passwords? Also, the students do not have NoteShare. How problematic will this be?
I have a lot of work and thinking to do Saturday.
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02.12.08
Posted in Assignments at 1:07 pm by hheath
The second resource that I began to play with is Voice Thread at http://voicethread.com This was recommended to me by an instructional support colleague to use in the portfolios that we are developing with students. My thought is that I can have students record a reflection about a piece instead of having a written reflection. Students may then play the recording for parents and the team instead of showing a written statement that can’t be read by more than one person at a time. The other great benefit could be that the student’s voice can be heard- including emotion, depth, and tone.
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01.15.08
Posted in Assignments at 2:44 pm by hheath
“An Authentic Learning Environment is anywhere that asks students to create products
and learn processes with real purposes and a real audience.”
What is more authentic than asking a student to document his/her learning through a portfolio that documents his/her skills? One site that I began to explore was http://www.gliffy.com
This link is a way to help kids create a visual/graphic organizer for essays. This is a site that I can help kids navigate to create a visual that works for them if they do not like my graphic.
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Posted in Assignments at 2:11 pm by hheath
The Technology Standards (NETS) that I hope to include into my project include:
Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
A. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
B. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
C. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
- The activity will be to create a notebook where students can keep their projects to demonstrate their knowledge. By increasing my technology skills, I can assist students to try new ways to do work.
Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a
distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
B. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
- Students will share information in a technologically advanced way such as projecting a written piece and sharing comments perhaps through VoiceThread.
Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
B. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
C. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.
- Again, by using various technology tools, theisr academic progress can be shared in alternate ways.
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