K12 Learning 2.0

In exploring the sites for social networking, such as Classroom 2.0, it seemed to me that you could get the answer to any question you might have througha social network.  Classroom 2.0 is well organized so that a viewer can find information or request information from others using the network.  I enjoyed looking at Google Earth, Photosharing and Podcasting under the category of Tools.  I found an activity in the Google Earth site for math, which I would like to explore more in depth.  I explored the math subject area and found questions posted that were of interest to me.  This led me to a site, pdtogo.com, for sharing resources and lesson plans.  There is an old saying…”One thing leads to another.”  That applies beautifully to the Internet.  I sometimes feel like there is no end once I start clicking!  Overall, I felt like Classroom 2.0 contained a wealth of information from members, but it took some time to follow the links through the various posts and discussions.  I would feel comfortable starting a discussion in Classroom 2.0.

As I explored some of the suggested resources regarding the Ning, I had the feeling that a Ning would be more appropriate for older students.  Then, I read a post in Classroom 2.0 from a teacher asking for help effectively using a Ning with 4th graders.  It was pointed out in the discussion that Ning’s user agreement states that a person must be 13 years old or older.  I thought that was interesting in light of my earlier observation about using Nings with older children.  I don’t think at this time that I would start a Ning, personally or professionally, but I might participate in my professional life.

I read a post from a site called techLEARNING.  The post is entitled “Accept a Challenge and Try Something New with Your Network.”  The title caught my eye because what those of us taking the Web 2.0 course are trying to do is accept a challenge and try new things.   Reading a blog about a school in Flordia and their online conversations lead the author of the blog to offer a challenge to this group of teachers to participate in a SKYPE session.  They accepted the challenge and nine of them participated in the SKYPE call.  The author makes the point that the teachers were willing to try the SKYPE session themselves before bringing the tool into their classroom.  I am doing just that as I try out the Web 2.0 tools new to me and become comfortable using them.  The obvious next step is to incorporate these tools into the classroom.  I am again reminded that we must take baby steps before we can run.  I am trying to get “up to speed.”

After working with audio and video podcasts, I thought that it would be nice to have a way to share them with students.  Teachers could create podcasts to use in teaching or search through those already created to supplement lessons.  Either way, a Pageflakes page would be a great place to house the podcasts.  I think students would enjoy opening the page to find new information on a weekly or daily basis.  A Pageflakes page is a way to condense a lot of information in one place.  In working the the pages, I had a difficult time because I cannot see all of the buttons.  I have tried several ways to eliminate the problem, but have not been successful.  I was able to navigate by placing my cursor over the button and reading the text displayed.  I will continue to try to figure out what’s going on with this.

I did create a new Animoto video and a new Bubbleshare album to place in the Pageflakes page.  The Animoto could be linked directly from their site with the click of a button.  For practice, I embedded the Bubbleshare album into the page. I thought that the more I played with these tools, the more comfortable I would get using them!

I have enjoyed using Google Docs and thought it relatively easy to navigate the site.  I created a calendar for November and December for the fifth grade teachers.  The idea behind the calendar is that we can indicate on the calendar when we are giving a test or add other activites for everyone to view.  Giving ERB’s in November and having concerts in December can disrupt our normal schedule, so I thought it would be helpful for everyone to be able to keep track of what’s going on with which teacher and class.

Another fifth grade teacher and I collaborated on a document for an upcoming field trip to the Funk Heritage Center.  We posted information about bus assignments and group assignments.  We provided a link to the center’s website, as well as cell phone numbers.  We would like for the teachers to use the document to comment or give feedback on the field trip after we return.  We would also like to add pictures from the trip. 

In addition to the spreadsheet and document, I uploaded an Excel spreadsheet into Google Docs.  The spreadsheet is an address list for an entire family.  The idea is that anyone can edit their address, phone number, etc. as it changes, therefore keeping the list up to date all the time.

One other idea that I had was to use a Google Document for posting math problems for the students to work.  One document could provide daily/weekly access to problems for practice/homework.

In looking through YouTube and TeacherTube,  it took a little searching to find videos that were appropriate for elementary school children, but once I refined my search, I found more videos than I expected.  I bookmarked eleven of the videos to my delicious account for later use.  The videos that interested me were the ones that taught a specific concept in fifth grade math.  Two of these would include Math Lesson:  Adding and Subtracting Integers and TeacherTube – Math Video Tutorial by Mr. Lee – Prime Factorization.  The first video takes students through the steps of adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.  It uses a “trick” to help the students understand the idea.  I have found that this is a hard concept for many fifth grade students, so having a video such as this would be helpful as a supplemental lesson.  The second video explains the concept of find the prime factorization of a number.  The process is presented on the video exactly as I would present it in class.  I could easily make my own video of this lesson.

I did make two discoveries as I searched for videos related to math.  The first discovery I made is that some videos are created by publishers to help promote certain learning/teaching materials.  The second discovery I made was that some of the videos I viewed are a part of a series of videos by the same person.  It was nice to find a well presented video and then be able search for others made by the same person.

In searching for a “how to” video, I used the subject of “snowboarding.”  My son is learning to snowboard, so we are looking into all the equipment that goes with the sport.  I found a wide variety of videos pertaining to the subject.  I watched one video that explained how snowboards are made, which helped me understand why they cost so much money!  I watched another video on how to set up bindings, which I have discovered are one of the various pieces of equipment that is necessary.   All the “how to” videos would be great to watch for background information, but in this case, nothing beats actually being on a snowboard!

The video I found to satisfy the FUN part of the assignment also relates to math.  It is a black and white video of some television stars of “long ago.”  It brought back fond memories of old television shows and personalities like Laurel and Hardy.

Basic Math

In conclusion, I think I found a number of worthwhile videos to use in the classroom, and I was able to see how the videos were produced.  I found that the sound quality was not good on some of the videos I sampled, and I found that some of the voices were just not pleasant to hear.  As I said earlier, I think I could (with some practice) produce videos of good quality for my own classroom.  It would be wonderful to have a comprehensive list of videos for the students to use as review for concepts presented in the classroom.  You could show the video as part of a lesson, and the archive it to a list for future reference.

I previewed some of the podcasts listed in Grazr, which included Radio WillowWeb, Ms. Edmison’s Weekly Podcast, and The Math Factor/Spaghetti Loops.   I found that there were different levels of information to be gained from listening to the different podcasts.  Ms. Edmison’s Weekly Podcast gave a summary of what students studied during the week.  The Radio WillowWeb podcast I listened to was on the subject of the election, and the Math Factor podcast presented a math problem involving shooting baskets and probability.  These three podcasts illustrated different ways that podcasting can be used.

I also previewed two video podcasts which were entitled Math Snacks/Long Division and Miss Davis’ Math Magic/Candy Bar Factors, added them to my Google Reader subscriptions and my delicious bookmarks.  Both of these podcasts were more interesting to me because they included video.   They both taught a math lesson with manipulatives and both would be helpful to supplement teaching the respective subjects in math.  I found the video podcasts by searching through the iTunes library.  I have used iTunes for music, but not podcasting.  Downloading and using podcasts will be yet another new experience for me!

In thinking about ways that I can use podcasting, I think that students could create podcasts to report on special events at school, such as a field trip.  I also that that in math, podcasts could be used to pose word problems that students could solve, and of course, podcasts could be used for teaching concepts in math.

I enjoyed this site very much.  I read all the time and would love a simple way to track the books I have read.  I tried once keeping a written list, but that didn’t last long.  Using Library Thing would be a much better way to catalog what I have read.  I added 55 books to my list (three authors), so it will take me a while to try to create a comprehensive library. 

I like the additional features offered as well.   Not only can you keep track of the books you have read, but you can join a group, have a conversation, and explore new reading material.   I also like being able to choose from several page designs for my list of books.

This site could be used by teachers to create lists of suggested books for students to read, or it could be used by students to keep track of their own reading.  =)

I chose a presentation in the category Kicking it up a Notch called “Games in Education.” The presenter, Sylvia Martinez, comments were about how games can be used in teaching.  She talks about the teaching value of using games that simply have children in someway pick an answer or match two items versus the games that provide ways in which a student can become engaged in decision making, problem solving or collaboration with other students.  The first type of game (multiple choice, etc.) is referred to as a game that “fits into the curriculum,” and she says that playing these games is no different than completing a worksheet.  The second type of game (decision making, etc.) is referred to as a  “serious” game that can present real life situations and teach life skills.  In using these types of serious games, the presenter comments that the teacher is important as an administrator or facilitator and that time must be allotted in the classroom to use these games.  There are a number of specific games mentioned, such as Atlantis Quest and River City Project, which provide opportunities to build, script, collaborate and role play.  Students can also design their own games and take charge of their learning, and one vehicle mentioned for this was Logo.

This presentation certainly started me thinking about the different types of games and their uses.  In 5th grade math, there are many times when students need practice reviewing math facts and many online “games” are set up for this.  But, I can see that “games” can be thought of in a totally different way when they are more challenging to a students thinking, reasoning and problem solving abilities.  

Sylvia Martinez uses a quote from Freud…”Play is a child’s work” and maybe as educators we need to be more aware of the value of play.

I completed the assigned task adding and tagging bookmarks to my account.  I think delicious is a great way to keep websites at your fingertips in an organized manner.  I feel like I have just scratched the surface of the possibilites of delicious and hope to become more familiar with the site as I continue using it.  It did take a lot of time to actually complete the task of searching for sites to bookmark, but now that I have started a list, it will be much easier to add to it.  I added some sites that pertain to math, and I can see that a list of certain sites could be made available to students through delicious for their exploration.  The idea that you can access these favorite sites from any computer certainly makes using delicious a part of a list of web tools that make life more convenient!

I read an article called “Can a computer lecture better than a human?”  A father and his fifth grader daughter were working on her homework assignment.  They used the Internet to locate information about a math term (radian).  They found an animation that they thought helped her understand the concept much more readily than a simple definition.  The animation led them to further exploration, and as a result, the father felt they were acting as passionate, self-directed, and engaged learners.  In asking the question that is the title of the article, the author/father believes that there are a number of ways to learn and assess ourselves on material using resources found on the web and that it will become increasingly easier in the future than it is today.  He goes on to say that he would rather learn from an animation than a person.  He says that the animation is patient, can be replayed any number of times for clarification, and is accessible at his convenience.  The author goes on to say that there is still value in teachers (the human kind) because they can inspire students, help with misconceptions and explain difficult concepts. 

I do believe that students of today are very interested in “instant” information and learning through technology, but I think there must be a balance between technology and teacher interaction with students.  The teacher can facilitate technology and create that balance.  Maybe there could be a term to explain the connection between the teacher and technology….teachnology!