Week Four

Weekly Questions
 
- What did you learn this week that you will use immediately in your classroom?  
 
Still no classroom. However, in my mind, the most interesting resource that we explored this week was the TED website. I have used PowerPoint fairly extensively and, while I was interested in learning about ways that it can be used by teachers, specifically, I found TED to be much more interesting and inspirational. How great is it that this resource exists? There's so much quality information here about diverse and culturally relevant topics.

- What steps will you take to implement this in your classroom?

I think that at least once a week, I would like to show a video from the TED site to my classes and have them journal about their thoughts/opinions/concerns as they relate to the video (I plan to have all of my classes keep a journal that they will write in for at least 5 minutes per class and more extensively when assignments such as the TED idea are presented).
 
- What challenge(s) will you face when using this in your classroom?

I think that students are reluctant to write in a physical, pen to paper way, these days. It seems that so much of our thinking is done with our fingers on a keyboard that it may be difficult for my students to actually write during the assigned time.
 
- What will you do to overcome the challenge(s)?  

I will simply collect the journals and grade the assigned writings, so that students understand the importance of doing so to their classroom experience.

PowerPoint Assignment Questions  
  
- What was the presentation about and to whom did you present it? 

I did a presentation about the parts of speech as they relate to sentence structure and the pursuit of more advanced writing skills and presented it to a high-school aged cousin.
 
- Of which item in your presentation are you the most proud? 

I believe that the teaching of these fundamentals has been almost completely eradicated from the English classroom in favor of teaching oriented to certain core content principles. I am simply proud of the fact that I still believe that these lessons are necessary and will do everything in my power to be able to teach them, even if it means being a little rebellious in order to do so. ;)

What might you do differently if you could create the presentation again? 

- I think that if I were to ever use this presentation again, that I would insert assessment slides. I would give the students handouts corresponding with those assessment slides and they would be schooled in the lost art of diagramming sentences.
 
How did your students respond to the presentation? 

- I'm afraid that the reaction was one of studied teenaged indifference. I would like to think that fact had more to do with the fact that my cousin was being forced to look at school-related stuff outside of school than any disdain for my presentation. It could, also, have something to do with the fact that these types of lessons are something of a dying breed.
 

Tech Explorations 

Tech Exploration 11 - Comic Life and iSpeech

1. Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.

Comic Life – This resource seems geared toward the facilitation of reading and writing and other creative skills, which I find compelling given that I want to be a high school English teacher. The software is highly geared toward educators and students and the website goes a long way in advertising its merits as an educational tool. The site even offers educational volume licensing, which provides permissions for multiple workstations.

iSpeech – iSpeech, as it applies to education, provides the ability to convert digital course content to speech. Apparently, the software began as an aid for college students so that they could listen to their course material, but has branched out to primary and secondary school applications as well.


2. How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.

Comic Life – I believe that the highest and best use for this software is actually one that is listed on the website. This software lends itself excellently to use as a narrative tool for students as they begin to apply their schools to writing, especially as it applies to personal narrative. This software would probably be most useful in late elementary and middle-grades classrooms as it may reveal itself as a bit too juvenile for use with high schoolers.

iSpeech – I can see iSpeech being very useful for English Language Learners as they attempt to navigate an English speaking classroom while developing English skills. Also, there are students who have speech impediments or an irrational fear of speaking in public. This software could make it possible for them to deliver presentations without embarrassment or anxiety. 

3. Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?

Comic Life – I would, hesitantly, recommend this resource to other educators. I haven’t actually used it and, though a single license is relatively inexpensive, their educational volume license bundles seem very expensive to me, with prices well over $1,000. Thus, I would recommend that an educator purchase the single license and decide for him/herself whether the tool would be useful.

iSpeech – I would recommend this resource to educators who have students for whom speaking in front of a class is difficult, for one reason for another. Also, teachers of students for whom English is not their first language. The software is free and navigation seems to be simple and straightforward.

Tech Exploration 12 - VoiceThread

1. Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.

VoiceThread – VoiceThread is collaborative software that allows comments within the framework of slide shows. The VoiceThread4Education wiki is devoted to VoiceThread as it relates specifically to education. One of the comments I saw there that I like best was a teacher talking about how he sees VoiceThread as a way to present student work to a large number of viewers so that students can get more feedback on their accomplishments than an individual teacher can provide.

2. How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.  

VoiceThread – I think that the best use of this software is as was indicated above. I do think that it would be useful for students and teachers to be able to collaborate on slideshows, but it also would seem to present a huge disadvantage to students who do not have the benefit of internet access outside of the school setting, an issue that is fairly common in my part of the world.
 
3. Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?

VoiceThread – I don’t necessarily think that I would recommend this resource to other educators. I can see uses for it, sure, but I don’t think that opportunities for use would occur often enough to justify teaching students to use it or the costs associated with the purchase of multiple licenses, although the cost seems reasonable.

Tech Exploration 13 - Storybird and Scribblar

1. Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.

Storybird – This resource is my favorite that we have explored so far! I didn’t know that it existed, but I even created an account for my own writing. There are created stories that relate to education, but the site also gives students the freedom to write and publish their own stories and to receive feedback on them. I remember doing a similar project to this during first grade, where we chose from a group of blank books with covers that were coloring pages of sorts to be brought to life as we saw fit. This resource allows students to do that digitally!

Scribblar – Scribblar seems to combine the best features of the old school Paint program with a multi-user functionality quite like Blackboard Elluminate. It provides a platform for collaboration on a single project through a shared whiteboard. It has streaming audio functionality and a chat feature in addition to the whiteboard features that allow for both text and freehand additions.  

2. How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.

Storybird – I think that if this resource were being used in a classroom setting, that the best use would be in the elementary grades; however, as a future high school teacher, I think that this site would be a great one for me to recommend to my students, especially those who show the talent/desire for expressing their creativity through writing.

Scribblar – In reading the testimonials on the website, I can see many uses for this resource across several grade levels, topics, and desired outcomes. One of the educators had mentioned using it for a collaborative creative project in a club setting. It would also be extremely useful in a classroom environment, especially one that allows for all students to have access to the site. Unfortunately, that is not something that is practical in my area, but there is also the possibility of collaboration even outside of the school day as students continue to access the site from home.
 
3. Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?

Storybird – I would most certainly recommend this resource to other educators. There is a fee for a premium membership, but the regular membership seems to possess all of the features that would be needed for students to get started expressing their creativity. The site is easy to use, colorful and engaging. My one concern is that I am not sure that there is a content filter in place in order to keep students from being exposed to stories that perhaps they shouldn’t be.

Scribblar – I would recommend this resource to other educators. This is a glimpse into the future for all students, not just those who are in college or online degree programs. The basic Scribblar functionality is free, but I would assume that an educational setting, with its large user base, would need to purchase Scribblar PRO. It’s not possible to judge the cost, as apparently the price is specific to a particular situation, but, if the cost is at all reasonable, this resource seems worth the money.

Tech Exploration 14 - Xtranormal and Virtual Manipulatives

1. Describe what you learned from exploring this resource. Be thorough in your response.
 

Xtranormal – Xtranormal provides text-to-movie functionality, which marries 3D animation with any subject material that is input. It is geared toward various industries including education and advertises functions that are useful to all areas. It allows for a secure online experience and account options specific to educators.

Virtual Manipulatives – Virtual Manipulatives is a site that provides resources for learning mathematical operations. The resources are broken down into various categories for grades K-12. There are multiple programs in each category for each grade level, with programs listed in alphabetical order. The NLVM is a project that is supported by the NSF, created in order to provide resources for learning and understanding mathematics to educators of students in K-12.

2. How could you use this resource in a school setting? It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.

Xtranormal – I think that this resource could be useful in any setting in which a teacher would desire to add a heightened level of interest and stimulation to visual learners. In situations where students themselves are able to exhibit creativity, this program would allow them to do so – I can see that the ability to bring their own words to life would be very popular among students.

Virtual Manipulatives – Obviously, this resource is really only going to be useful in mathematics classrooms. As there are categories for all K-12 grades, they would be useful for all mathematics educators as they strive to achieve student participation in an area that it is difficult to facilitate student participation in.
 
3. Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth. Why or Why not?

Xtranormal – I would recommend this resource to other educators. The educator package is only $10 a month + $.50/student access, which seems a reasonable price, as it would only need to be purchased during months when assignments which lend themselves to the use of the program would be undergone.

 
Virtual Manipulatives – I cannot say for certain whether I would recommend this resource or not. I desire to become a high school English teacher, so I have little need for manipulatives and would not be the best authority on whether or not this is a good resource for the teacher of mathematics. I will say that my computer singled this site out as being potentially malicious and it hasn’t been revised since 2007, so those are both warning signs to me.