My Response: In my experience, it is critical for teachers to maintain a classroom web site. While I am not currently teaching, I find that most teachers at the local elementary school maintain a website. My daughter's teacher is excellent and extremely organized and her website has helped tremendously with staying on top of assignments. Frequently, she comes home with questions about an assignment, e.g. its due date or content, and most often we find the answers on the website.
Clearly, in order for websites to work in classroom settings teachers will need to be comfortable with the use of technology as Karchmer (2004) points out in her article (see below). As noted, the World Wide Web contains unlimited resources for students and the use of the Internet may be the most powerful classroom tool for exposing children to the world. Currently, the use of technology is viewed as secondary to other areas of curriculum. With the push of No Child Left Behind Act, technology is viewed as supplemental rather than intrinsic to learning. Therefore, the most important place to start is with teacher preparation (Karchmer 2004,2001). I would stress that websites should not replace general communication between either teacher and student or teacher and parent but it does enhance it. Websites are a marvelous value for classrooms as I have experienced.
Karchmer, Rachel A. "Creating Connections: Using the Internet to Support Struggling Readers' Background Knowledge," in Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, Vol 20(3) Jul-Sep, 2004. Pp. 331-335.
I have not had much experience with creating my own website, although I have been the administrator who has had to oversee them. I enjoyed Google Sites very much because it was user-friendly. The idea of setting up your own website may seem scary but when the right tools are available, it is quite exciting.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
#5 Design Principles: Do they help us design better flyers? Do they help us as educators?
My Response: As an administrator who is responsible for programs and the publicity of programs, I am quite conscious of how to design posters and flyers. I worked at an institution for learning disabilities which caused me to be quite creative, not only for the program content itself andhow I presentited it, but also for the publicity of the program. Ihave also created newsletters for my office, my daughter's girl scout's group, and I have dabbled a bit with designing business cards, greeting cards, etc. because of my intrests in design work.
Therefore, I feel strongly that design principles help us to be more effective at designing flyers. The principles we learned about: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast were techniques I was familiar with but did not describe them explicitly. The author identifies them in such a clear and concise manner with excellent examples.
You can visit my website to view samples of my work.
Therefore, I feel strongly that design principles help us to be more effective at designing flyers. The principles we learned about: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast were techniques I was familiar with but did not describe them explicitly. The author identifies them in such a clear and concise manner with excellent examples.
You can visit my website to view samples of my work.
#6 Is MS Word a valuable educational tool? Is this a program you could envision using in your classroom?
My Response: This week I found an interesting article that discusses how word processing with MS word as assistive technology is measurably helpful with students with learning disabilities. The study showed that using word processing can help improve writing skills with elementary students with learning disabilities. While many of us discussed the disadvantages about spell check for example, the authors of this article had this to say: "Students with LD can derive great benefits from using word processors. The ability to produce a product that can be edited, spell-checked, read, and presented to the teacher can increase motivation and encourage writing, because specif problems with handwriting and spelling can be circumvented" (Hetzroni and Shrieber 2004).
The study showed that both the use of MS word (keyboarding) and pencil and paper were both effective strategies for learning writing. But over a period of time, those who keyboard (use word processing) demonstrate significant competence for writing and content. The citation is below.
"Word processing as an assistive technology tool for enhancing academic outcomes of students with writing disabilities in the general classroom." Hetzroni, OE; Shrieber, B; Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2004 mar-Apr; 37(2): 143-54. From database: CINAHL.
This week we had to design a flyer. Graphics design is something I truly enjoy and in previous positions, I oversaw students and staff who designed flyers and posters. Therefore, this was a unit I was quite passionate about. I find that flyers are generally not very visually appealing and often overloaded with words. We learned with just a little effort that we market our information effectively to reach our audiences. Although MS Word can sometimes be a challenge with graphics, overall, I find MS Word a valuable educational tool and I would use it in the classroom.
On its website, MS Word has a section devoted to how teachers might use MS Word for the classroom for particular topics and grade levels. It includes goals and specific objectives for the teachers. The website is http://www.mocrosoft.com/education/default.mspx
The study showed that both the use of MS word (keyboarding) and pencil and paper were both effective strategies for learning writing. But over a period of time, those who keyboard (use word processing) demonstrate significant competence for writing and content. The citation is below.
"Word processing as an assistive technology tool for enhancing academic outcomes of students with writing disabilities in the general classroom." Hetzroni, OE; Shrieber, B; Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2004 mar-Apr; 37(2): 143-54. From database: CINAHL.
This week we had to design a flyer. Graphics design is something I truly enjoy and in previous positions, I oversaw students and staff who designed flyers and posters. Therefore, this was a unit I was quite passionate about. I find that flyers are generally not very visually appealing and often overloaded with words. We learned with just a little effort that we market our information effectively to reach our audiences. Although MS Word can sometimes be a challenge with graphics, overall, I find MS Word a valuable educational tool and I would use it in the classroom.
On its website, MS Word has a section devoted to how teachers might use MS Word for the classroom for particular topics and grade levels. It includes goals and specific objectives for the teachers. The website is http://www.mocrosoft.com/education/default.mspx
#7b Let's talk about wikis in the classroom.
My Response: The site below listed specific ways to use wikis in the K-12 classrooms: science fair projects, collaborative textbooks, student portfolios, collaborations between teachers, literature circles (love this one), etc. If your interested check out the site: http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Wiki in a K-12 classroom.
Some concerns about wikis is that they may be unreliable because of the editing access. My response: While it is true that the information can be changed, I think we forget that textbooks and certainly journal articles do the same in print all the time. Yet we rarely critique the validity of those. I suppose if wikis allow people to indiscriminately change material without accountability that could be more of a problem. But I think we do it more often than we realize it with printed material as well...
Some concerns about wikis is that they may be unreliable because of the editing access. My response: While it is true that the information can be changed, I think we forget that textbooks and certainly journal articles do the same in print all the time. Yet we rarely critique the validity of those. I suppose if wikis allow people to indiscriminately change material without accountability that could be more of a problem. But I think we do it more often than we realize it with printed material as well...
#7a Do Web 2.0 Tools Keep Us Organized?
My Response: My experience with Web 2.0 tools includes Facebook and now LibraryThing. I am not an avid Facebook user and only felt compelled to create an account because of my job. While Facebook is popular in schools as well as in homes, it is not something that all people feel comfortable in using. I do support using Facebook for an office or school because it has benefits.
I think the idea of LibraryThing is great. It has moved from just an organizational tool for books in 2005 to including a social component in 2007. I do think that LibraryThing can be great for classrooms. Teachers and students can input their books and comment on them. They can make wish lists for the teachers to see. I think it is a great way of having students explore the world of books and reading on a metacognitive level, that is thinking about how we think about books.
The article below gives a good overview of LibraryThing and its evolution.
LibraryThing: Cataloguing for the (Social) Mass. Full Tex Available By: O'Neill, Jill. Information Today, Sep2007, Vol. 24 Issue 8, p. 23.
I think the idea of LibraryThing is great. It has moved from just an organizational tool for books in 2005 to including a social component in 2007. I do think that LibraryThing can be great for classrooms. Teachers and students can input their books and comment on them. They can make wish lists for the teachers to see. I think it is a great way of having students explore the world of books and reading on a metacognitive level, that is thinking about how we think about books.
The article below gives a good overview of LibraryThing and its evolution.
LibraryThing: Cataloguing for the (Social) Mass. Full Tex Available By: O'Neill, Jill. Information Today, Sep2007, Vol. 24 Issue 8, p. 23.
#7c Can podcasts be a useful tool in the classroom?
My response: I found podcasts to be an extraordinary help for classroom instruction. Of all the podcasts sites recommended, I enjoyed the Willow Web Podcast for Kids site. I found it amazing that young students were creating podcasts in classrooms. As an instructor podcasts can be a tremendous help for students who need to make up work because of absenteeism, or for specialized math instruction, or general lesson plans.
#7d What do you think about the Jing Project? Is it something you envision using in the classroom?
My response: When I visited the Jing website, it seamed easy enough to maneuver but putting together a Jing video will be the test. I think if educators can get used to these tools, they will be very valuable. We have used Jing for a variety of things including explaining blogs!
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