Tech Exploration - KidsHealth

KidsHealth is just what it says – guides to health for kids. It is divided into age groups, and within each age group there are sections available that teach age-appropriate body lessons (i.e., the five senses). There are movies, games, handout, teacher’s guides, experiments, quizzes, etc.  It is a free resource and aligned to national health education standards.

I could see using this in a general education classroom if a school didn’t have a health and PE teacher, or as a supplement to teaching science lessons that may have to do with the body/health.

It seemed easy to use and it is free, so it is an okay resource. I wasn’t crazy about it, but it may have some times that it would have a purpose. 

Tech Exploration - Professor Garfield

Professor Garfield is primarily concerned with literacy in the United States. The goal of the website is to provide literacy support to kids in grades K-8.Through games and stories, kids are exposed to various elements of literacy. There is a teacher page which outlines the details of what element of literacy each game is addressing. Ball State University is one of the major backers of the site. It is free to use, and most of it can be used without registering.  

I’m not sure that Garfield is going to be “cool” to kids in middle school, but I could see this being useful at home for parents. If I used it in a school setting, I might use it as a reward site for students to go on when they have met a goal. I would maybe use it in reading centers, but really rarely.

I would recommend it to teachers of young students or those who need to catch up on literacy skills, but probably not to middle school teachers. It was definitely easy to use, and it’s free, so it is worth having as a back-up for elementary teachers. 

Tech Exploration - Digital Passport

Digital Passport is geared towards 3^rd-5^th graders. Its purpose is to teach digital safety and respect and foster a strong, responsible digital community through educational videos and games. As students progress through the program, they earn digital badges. Classroom activities are available to back up the independent learning that students have done. Digital Passport is free.

This would be a great thing to use in computer classes in a 3^rd-5^th grade setting. If there are not computer classes available in a school, then it could be used during enrichment/downtime in a regular classroom setting.

I would recommend it to teachers who have 3^rd-5^th graders. The only real downfall that I can see is that the age range it reaches is quite limited (although 3^rd-5^th grade is definitely the ideal time to first be promoting internet safety and responsibility). 

Week 6 Blog

http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/monicamachado/502/webquest.html

I chose a WebQuest that teaches young students about geometric shapes, since this is a common lesson when children begin kindergarten (my area of interest and the classroom level in which I currently work).

This particular WebQuest was easy for me to follow. It seemed to have been designed very thoughtfully and in a good, logical order. It also provides several options for different learning styles – visual learners, those who learn best by listening and watching, those who learn best by doing – so that all children would come across sections that would help them really grasp the concept through their own learning style.

I’m not sure about the video creation element that is included. That would not be appropriate for a kindergartener on his/her own. It seems like an odd thing to include, since an older student who is capable of creating a video would not be learning about shapes. If a class did a video project together or a student had a parent help, that would work. But not as a solo project.

Tech Exploration - Wordle

Wordle allows the user to enter several words, then Wordle creates a “word cloud” using those words. Basically, it’s word art. The art created can be edited to use different fonts, colors, shapes, etc., and then can be printed out or shared with others. It is free and very easy to use.

I could see using this with older elementary school students, or middle and high school students, to come up with lists about certain things that could help students who remember visual information better than hearing the information. For example, it could be used in an English class in which a book is being read. The class could come up with character names and words that have to do with the book, and put them into a Wordle. It’s a fun way to organize the information. I could see using it with younger students to come up with fun ways of labeling (i.e., thinking of things that start with the letter A or coming up with things that are red).

I would absolutely use Wordle with students and recommend it to others. It’s free, it’s really easy, and it’s really fun. I think it is useful for all ages and that both kids and teachers would enjoy it. 

Tech Exploration - Storybird

Storybird provides a wide selection of professional illustrations and allows students (and adults) to use those illustrations to create their own stories.  It describes itself as “visual storytelling for everyone.” Students can share their stories on social media, make use of a fundraising option, and give each other feedback on their stories. A plan for a teacher and up to 100 of their students is $29.75/year.

I could see Storybird being used at any student grade level. Younger students could make books using simple, single words or sentences (i.e., making a book about a color or a letter). Older students could really unleash their creativity to create more complicated books.

Storybird seems like a lot of fun to me and really is not very expensive for even a single teacher to make use of the program. I would use it myself with any age group of students, and I would recommend it to others. 

Tech Exploration - Photo Peach

Photo Peach is a program that is meant to create slideshows easily.  The slideshows can be shared on social media, used on classroom smart boards, and embedded in blogs and on websites. Teachers can create multiple students accounts so that students can create slideshows for presentations, and slideshows can be shared publicly or kept private. The basic version of Photo Peach is free, but if teachers want any form of safety (which really is a must) during searches and sharing, the cost is $9/month for one teacher and fifty students.

I like the idea of students being able to easily create a slideshow that they can share with the class during presentations. In our school, all second graders create an “Animals of Jackson Hole” presentation. For this project, they choose a local animal to research and create a power point presentation. I could see Photo Peach being useful for something like that.

I’m not sure that it’s worth $9/month when things like Power Point are available at no cost. I think it would be easy to use (possibly easier than Power Point) and maybe fun for kids, but I don’t think that I would spend my small budget on this tool. 

Tech Exploration - Scootpad

Scootpad is a computer program that allows teachers to give their students differentiated instruction in several different Core content areas. It’s primary aim is to bring students to Common Core mastery by allowing them to work at their own pace or through tasks as assigned by a teacher. Kids earn virtual coins as they go, allowing them to “purchase” extra learning games and rewards.

I could see using this during an enrichment time, or as a part of center rotations during math or reading time. Particularly with math, I think educational games are helpful in making the content make more sense and be more interesting.

For a year, teachers can get a single class rate of $203. There are more discounts for multiple classrooms.

Our school uses a similar program, so I personally would not purchase the program. If a teacher was in a school that did not use something similar, though, I could see how it might be a valuable resource. 

Week 5 Blog

1. What was the presentation about and to whom did you present it? My presentation was an introductory lesson to the concept of patterns. It was meant for a kindergarten class. I presented it to my own children, who are in 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th grades, to get their feedback.

2. Of which item in your presentation are you the most proud? I’m not sure what I would choose as something that makes me the most proud. I tried to make it very simple and accessible for a young audience, so there is nothing really amazing. I suppose I’m pleased with the simplicity of it. It made clear sense to my first grader, and she is around the target audience age.

3. What might you do differently if you could create the presentation again? I thought it would take more time to go through than it did, but it went pretty quickly. I would probably add a little more to it next time. Although, being with a large class would probably add more discussion time at each slide than I had with a small, older group than my intended audience.

4. How did your students respond to the presentation? My first grader was my primary target. She liked that I had used Thanksgiving pictures and animal pictures to create patterns. She thought that it was fun. She was unsure at first about my number pattern, though – she wanted to call it a 1, 2, 3 pattern and not A, B, C. That would possibly be another thing I would do differently for this introductory lesson.

5. Do you have any new ideas or thoughts on how to use PowerPoint with your students in the future? I’d like to incorporate it into the smart boards we have at school so that students could manipulate the graphics and drag them to make their own patterns on the board. 

Week 4 Blog

The initial newsletter that I created was not very appealing. If there was anything appealing about it, it would probably be that it was very simple to read in that the main points were bulleted. What would be distracting about the initial newsletter I created would be the fact that someone probably wouldn’t be very interested in looking at it in the first place. With all of the papers that come home with students, I could see the boring newsletter being tossed without even being looked at. There is nothing eye-catching about it that would make a parent want to take the time to read it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Ajp4NKT8fDWnNaSHRJV19jVzQ/edit?usp=sharing

The new version is more appealing than the original in that it is colorful, uses a graphic that makes it clear that it is for the month of November (turkey), and has information divided into a few small sections that make it easy to get the information a parent needs quickly. Everything about it is more appealing than the original version.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8Ajp4NKT8fDQmpGU21tWUtQZWM/edit?usp=sharing

Tech Exploration - PBworks

PBworks has such a boring website that if I were online searching for teaching resources, I probably would have immediately clicked off of it. It looks like an online space in which teachers can organize their materials and share them with their fellow teachers. The workspace can be made public or kept private. It provides 40G of storage and is customizable. The basic edition is free for up to 100 students, and the premium classroom edition is $99/year for up to 100 students.  

I am still not entirely sure what it is all about based on the website alone. I think that it would be used for teachers to organize materials that they need to teach and to give students access to any materials or information they might need as well. It seems to be a way to share information.

I can’t recommend this resource because it is unclear to me. It is promoted as easy to use, and the basic version is free, but without more thorough information presented on the website I wouldn’t recommend it.  

Tech Exploration - ePals

ePals gives classrooms around the world a chance to connect with another classroom. The goal is to allow students to learn more about students in other countries and cultures, and possibly have the opportunity to learn better foreign language skills. Essentially, it is an online, more interactive version of pen pals.  ePals is a free service.

This would be a great resource for a class that is learning about different countries or cultures. It could be really great for a class learning a foreign language. With the communication tools available, a class in the United States learning Spanish could connect with a Spanish-speaking class in another country. The class in the U.S. could work on Spanish skills and the other class could then work on English skills. That aspect is the most exciting part of ePals, in my opinion.

I think this is a great idea. If there were a good way to work ePals into a lesson being taught, I think that it would be fun and interesting for the kids (and the teachers). It seems easy to use, and it appears to be free as far as I could see. 

Tech Exploration - Glogster

Glogster allows students to create “glogs”, which are described as online multimedia posters. Students can insert text, photos, videos, drawings, sound, etc. into their glogs to create interactive posters to share with others. Glogs can then be inserted into blogs, shared on social media, used for presentations, etc. Students can use them for assignments like class projects, book reports, research reports, or distance learning.  The cost for an ad-free experience for one class for a year is $39, which includes up to 30 students and 1 teacher. Teachers have a “dashboard” where they can monitor student usage.

I could see this being used in upper elementary, junior high school, and senior high school. I think that it would make research projects and book reports more exciting for kids to prepare and present, and also more interesting for their audience.

To me, ad-free is almost always necessary when students are using an online resource. Better safe than sorry. $39/year is a decent price for a teacher to have the ability to monitor usage and know that ads will not interfere or cause an issue. I think that if a teacher likes to have students do book reports or research reports often that this could be a solid tool to make that easy and fun for the class. 

Tech Exploration - Kidblog

Kidblog is an online resource for classes that allows students to create and write their own blog. It is ad-free and simple to use, making it a safe and easy way for kids to maintain their first blog. The hope is that it will make writing fun for students to encourage them to practice their writing skills and learn to be good digital citizens. It is for students in grades K-12, and the basic version is free. To access more features, schools can pay $5/month per class or $25/year per class. Kidblog defines a class as 250 students, with unlimited teacher accounts under the premium version.

This would probably not be as useful for kindergarten and maybe not even first grade, at least at the beginning of the school year, as their writing skills are often not strong enough to really make typing out a blog on a regular basis practical. I also think it might be too childish for high schoolers, especially those that regularly access social media and blogs on their own. The name “Kidblog” would probably not seem very cool to a senior in high school! But it would be very useful for second grade through upper elementary and possibly junior high school to practice their writing skills, sharing what they are learning and thinking with the class and their family, while learning what is appropriate to write and publish online and what is not.

I think this is fantastic for the appropriate grade levels and it is not expensive. I would pay $25/year for my class to be able to access safe blogs and practice writing if I were teaching 2^nd-5^th grade. 

Tech Exploration - Puzzlemaker

Puzzlemaker is exactly what it says – a way to make puzzles. Teachers can create word finds, crossword puzzles, mazes, cryptograms, etc., using this free puzzle creator. Puzzlemaker walks teachers through creating their puzzle with easy step by step instructions.

I could see primarily using this to create semi-educational time killers – for example, if there was a substitute teacher and I wanted to give them extra resources in case they had extra time, or (in the case of my very cold location) as an activity during indoor recess. I can’t see using it as a primary teaching or learning tool.

I think that this resource is okay. I don’t like or dislike it, but it isn’t something exciting that a teacher would likely be using often. It is free (unless you want to buy the CD-ROM with extra features), so it would be nice to use on occasion to create extra activity options. I wouldn’t recommend it as anything more than that.  

Tech Exploration - Mystery Quest

Mystery Quest is an online history resource about Canadian history “mysteries”. It is geared towards middle and high school ages (11-18). The mysteries are separated into age categories for an age-appropriate experience. Students or teachers click on their age group, then choose a mystery to examine. They look at an introduction, then are given a task that has to do with solving the mystery by going through different procedures. Finally, they explore the evidence and draw a conclusion about the mystery. There are documents provided that give evidence and documents used in the original trial, or that provide clues to solving the mystery. There are also notes for teachers so that they can use the mysteries in their teaching (learning about the law, race relations, etc.).

This would be used when teaching law, history, etc. I would consider using it for a middle or high school class and having my students conduct a “trial” in class in order to grasp law and history at the same time. I absolutely loved this free resource. It is pretty limited in what it covers, but it was easy to use and had great notes for teachers to adapt it to a classroom lesson. It was fascinating to me and seemed like a teacher could really bring history and government lessons to life using these mysteries. I would recommend it to teachers of older students. 

Tech Exploration - Kidspiration

Kidspiration focuses on the idea of kids as visual learners and offers them the chance to explore concepts using various visual tools. Kids use graphic organizers such as webs, concept maps and Venn diagrams to explore relationships and organize information by sorting and grouping. It also offers math tools like graphic pattern blocks, color tiles, fraction blocks and base ten blocks, allowing math to be taught visually on the computer.

If I were to use Kidspiration in my classroom, I would use it for reinforcing math lessons and for sorting information when looking at a complex concept or when learning about same/different ideas. I work with kindergartners, but I could see using this more with slightly older children.

I think Kidspiration has its uses. It isn’t a resource I would depend on daily, but I could see using it from time to time. It has a lot of options so it probably would take some time to figure out how to really make the most of it. The cost is relatively small (about $30-40), so it may be worth it for something that could be used off and on. 

Tech Exploration - BrainPOP

BrainPOP uses animated content to explain complex ideas and support concepts being taught in the classroom. It includes videos and games. The BrainPOP websites says that, “BrainPOP was conceived by Avraham Kadar, M.D., an immunologist and pediatrician, as a creative way to explain difficult concepts to his young patients. Today, we're used in more than 20 percent of U.S. schools, and are growing internationally.” The content is aligned with Common Core, and videos topics include health concepts, math, English, and the arts, among other things.

BrainPOP Jr. is used by most teachers at my elementary school (K-2). Typically, I have seen them use it during free choice time or as a reward for good behavior. The kids really enjoy it and request it, but at the same time they are learning concepts that are either supporting what is currently being taught in the classroom or learning new concepts that they will be taught in class in the future.

I would absolutely recommend this to other educators. BrainPOP is, in my experience, easy to use, fun for the kids while being educational and supporting national education standards. It is not cheap, but if it is used often, it is well worth the cost. 

Week 3 Blog - Spreadsheets in the Classroom

https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/using-spreadsheets-in-the-classroom/

When I think of using spreadsheets, I typically think of making a budget. I have never thought of using it creatively in a classroom. This website gives an example of a creative way that a high school teacher used spreadsheets to help teach a lesson on the book "The Catcher in the Rye". The teacher had students track signs of depression in the main character (i.e., substance abuse and crying), and then took the symptoms they had found and how many times they had found each of those symptoms and created a spreadsheet. Students were then able to look directly at this list and have a discussion based on hard numbers versus what they vaguely remembered reading. I really like this idea, especially for visual learners or those who tend to see the big picture and forget some of the smaller details. There are so many ways in which this concept could be used in classrooms of all levels, and not just in math/accounting classes.

I have very little personal experience with spreadsheets. I have only used Excel personally to create budgets and professionally to track my children's ministry volunteers at church (I am the children's ministry director). I did take a class on spreadsheets so I know how to set one up and use one, but it was very practical and not so creative.

Week 2 Blog

1. What did you learn this week that you will use immediately in your classroom/student training? I really enjoyed the tech explorations. I had no idea that there were so many different resources (and free!) for teachers to use since I am not yet a classroom teacher and have not started my student teaching yet. I could see using the PlanbookEdu in particular, since I like to have a lot of control over organization. When I'm organized, I feel much more relaxed. A tool like PlanbookEdu may help me with that aspect in the future.
2. What steps will you take to implement this in your classroom? This is something that would mainly be mine to use, so downloading and starting to work around in it to get familiar with it before I even begin lesson planning for my own classroom would be my first steps. I would probably need to go through it briefly with my principle and any colleagues that I would be working closely with as well if they are not already familiar with the program. 
3. What challenge(s) will you face when using this in your classroom? If no one else in the building is familiar with or using PlanbookEdu, it could be difficult to make full use of the program by sharing my plans through it. If my principle doesn't want to see my lesson plans via this program, I would have to create traditional plans and that would defeat the purpose of using for and paying for the program in the first place. 
4. What will you do to overcome the challenge(s)? Talking it over with colleagues and the principle would be the best way to overcome that challenge. Introducing it in a positive way and giving my reasoning behind using the program would be my first steps in overcoming the challenge of others being unfamiliar with PlanbookEdu. 

Tech Exploration - Planbook Edu

1.       PlanbookEdu is a simple way to plan lessons. It allows the user to create plans online – documents, power point presentations, etc. can be attached directly to the lesson plan calendar in the program, allowing easy access to everything that is needed for each lesson. It also has a feature that allows it to be shared with substitutes, colleagues, and administrators, can show Common Core standards to ensure that teachers are meeting those standards, and can be printed and exported.

2.       This would be helpful for any teacher who wants to get their lesson plans organized but prefers to use technology to do so instead of binders of plans. Being able to share lesson plans in this way can make it quick and easy to communicate with others what your plans are so they can evaluate, give feedback, or teach from your lesson plans.

3.       PlanbookEdu can be free, but most of the desirable features come with a paid subscription, which is $25 per year. So, it is not expensive, but it is really not free if you want to be able to share your plans with others. I really like to be organized and prefer to not have a lot of papers lying around, so a program like this is appealing to me personally. I would recommend it to others if I felt that the $25/year was worth it, and it looks like it could be. It seems easy to use based on the video provided, and there is a support link at the bottom of the website. 

Tech Exploration - Rubistar

1.       Rubistar is straightforward – it is an easy way of creating rubrics for teachers to give to their students when they are clarifying the expectations and grading criteria of an assignment.  Rubistar offers many different generic rubrics that can be used by simply clicking the desired category to insert into the rubric, but the rubrics can also be customized by the user to fit the exact criteria of that particular assignment. The rubrics are categorized by subject.

2.       Rubistar would be helpful for advanced assignments in middle school, high school or college. I have not seen rubrics used at an elementary level, although I suppose simple rubrics could be used for older elementary students to clarify bigger projects or for explaining simple instructions to younger children (i.e., reading independently was one of the categories available). Rubrics are very helpful for clarifying what is expected in assignments, and to have access to generic rubrics that can also be customized could potentially save an instructor quite a bit of time.

3.       It seems simple to use and as if it would be a useful time-saving tool for teachers who like to use rubrics. The website could have been more inviting. It was pretty bland to look through and did not offer information in a very interesting way.  

Tech Exploration - Schoology

1.       Schoology at a glance seemed complicated, but after further inspection, I believe that is because it offers so many different tools for teachers. Basically, it takes what would often be contained in several different programs (i.e., grading, attendance, class calendar) and puts them into one single program that is secure for student and teacher use. It seems to be similar in many ways to the system that we use for online learning at University of the Cumberlands – everything is streamlined into one place to allow simpler data management for teachers, and a simpler system for students and parents to use to keep track of what is happening at school. Older students can use features such as online discussion boards and online exams.

2.       It would be best used in classrooms/schools where a teacher has many students and classes to keep track of and interact with, like a middle school, high school or college. It seems like a solid way to put out information to a large group and keep several classes organized to ensure that everyone is on the same page with due dates and content mastery (i.e., being able to ask questions of the instructor online if the student didn’t have time during the school day).

3.       I would recommend it. I personally like to be extremely organized, so I could see using this if I were working in a higher grade level. It is free, which is always fantastic for teachers, and it may require digging in to really learn the system, but it seems fairly clear what can be done with Schoology. 

Tech Exploration - Class Dojo

1.     Class Dojo is a way of keeping track of attendance and behaviors in a classroom. It can be set up for multiple classes. It allows parents and students to log in and personalize their avatar, and primarily to view daily behaviors so that they would ideally grow from what was going right and what was going wrong when they were in class. It also has a visually fun timer/countdown feature that would be helpful on the Smart Board we use in our schools. I like the concept of Class Dojo. It definitely looks “cool” and I think that students would love the idea of their own avatars. For a teacher who wants to use technology to track behaviors of all students and is willing and able to stay on top of it (especially since the parents/students can view what has been tracked), it could be a great classroom management tool.

2.       If I were using it in a kindergarten setting (what I hope to teach), I would use it for all of the above ideas: the fun timer and countdown to help kids have a visual reminder of how long they have been working or how long they have left to complete work (or if there is a “fun” event that day, you could even countdown to how long until the event is happening). It would primarily be used for tracking positive and negative behavior. It would probably be a good, simple visual for young children if used consistently.

3.       I give it a thumbs up, but only for the teacher who is willing to commit to using it consistently. If it isn’t used consistently, it loses its purpose quickly. It was very easy to set up and register and figure out, and it was free. Free and easy are key! 

Week 1 - Standards

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/standards/index.html

This week, we explored a website on academic standards. In respect to academics, standards are essentially what students should know and what they should be able to do. Standards are the goals of education and guide what the teachers teach to their students. They apply equally to all students at all levels.

When implementing standards in a classroom, the expectations of the students need to be very clear from the beginning. Getting students to the standard level involves allowing and encouraging students to question, reflect, analyze, experiment, discuss and write.

In the United States, the states have typically had state standards that differed from state to state, but there has not been a national standard. I believe that this is currently changing with the implementation of Common Core, though. This change will get students, teachers and parents on the same page nationally, but will require teachers and administrators to align their curriculum with the new standards. Teachers will need to work together in the months and years ahead to implement the Common Core standards.