Thing 12 - Assessment, Evaluation, and Survey Tools.

1. Google Forms Survey: some of the results of this survey can be seen below. I can see a lot of great uses for this tool. Formative assessment is one. Another, the one I modeled, would be for making groups. I think it could also be good for assessing things like the 21st Century skills.

2. Rubistar: I created a rubric to use with my Scientific Process PBL Unit. I think it could be valuable because it helps students to think about quality rather than simply meeting requirements.

3. Data Tools: Our district has access to IGOR, NWEA Reports, MEAP Data, Powerschool, and perhaps more that I am not aware of. The one I use on a day-to-day basis is PowerSchool. I would be thrilled if I could access NWEA and MEAP info through PowerSchool as well. I feel that currently, the processes required are so cumbersome that accessing and analyzing the data becomes a HUGE project and few teachers are inspired to use it. A more stream-lined and user friendly application for collating and accessing data in various ways would DEFINITELY inspire to me to access and use such data more often.

Thing 6 - Differentiation and UDL

1. Key components of differentiation that I feel I am ALREADY starting to use:

Align tasks and objectives to learning goals

Flexible grouping is consistently used.

Use assessment as a teaching tool to extend rather than merely measure instruction.

Emphasize critical and creative thinking as a goal in lesson design.

Provide a balance between teacher-assigned and student-selected tasks

2. A tool I will try to use with a specific student to help them individually

I have one particular student who is a struggling reader. I think that using digital enhancements could help this student. We already have a Science Textbook with TONS of awesome digital enhancements. There are animated diagrams, a place where the textbook reads itself aloud to you, interactive quizzes and activities, and links to other websites with interesting and helpful information. I think this would also be really helpful for Spanish speaking students as the website also offers the opportunity to hear the book read aloud in Spanish.

3. Using NetTrekker to find activities at three different reading levels

I found these three sites that deal with the cell membrane, which 7th graders will need to learn about when we study cells. I like the activities because they provide interactive options, instead of JUST reading. It think the challenge will be to come up with a product that students can create or turn in to show that they completed all parts of each activity. There is a picture of the 3 options at the BOTTOM of this post. Look up. HERE is a link to those search results...you may need to log in to view them.

4. Read this picture from vozMe to see my thoughts on using this tool!

Thinkfinity Lesson Plans

The first lesson I would like to use can be found at:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/14/g68/trythisoil.html

It is a density activity. This will help students in my 7th grade classes axplore the physical property of density by DOING something instead of just listening to or watching me. It should be fun!

The next lesson I'm hoping to try is at:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/15/g68/hazard.html

This activity will challenge my 8th grade students to find out what natural hazards exist in different cities around the country. I like this activity becasue students can choose whatever cities they want which could provide some motivation. Also, most of the hazards they find will be things we have studied or will study in 8th grade Science. I hope to use this activity during the Weather unit.

Thing 5

OK. I was wrong about RSS. In activity 5, I learned how to do better searches. I think I might actually use this a bit in my personal life. The best tool I found to search for blogs to subscribe to was the one embedded in google reader. I could just type in my interests, such as "urban chickens," "vegetarian recipes," or "red tailed boa," and was able to find interesting blogs that might actually be useful to me.

I could see using something like this in the classroom to encourage students to discover current events in Science. Can I share my google reader page with students? Or maybe just certain feeds? It might also be helpful to link to other schools blogs to keep up with what is going on in other schools.

The other search tools were not as easy for me to use and understand. The google reader itself was quite user friendly, but that may be because I am fairly comfortable with google products in general.

Thing 4

Ok, so here's the thing. I don't really like RSS. It's kind of overwhelming, and I can't see many terribly useful applications in the Science realm. Maybe someone can help me with this. I was really reaching to find five things I even cared about subscribing to. There are a limited number of sites for which this type of technology is even useful. Many of those seem to provide SO much new information that having it all in one place is not the only obstacle to accessing it. There is simply TOO much information in the few, broad categories that provided me with RSS feeds. Perhaps if I spent more time looking for these types of sites I would find something more useful. I do not feel that I will implement the use of RSS in my personal use of technology or in my classroom. Perhaps someone has more understanding of this or has actually used it in a classroom setting. Please! Enlighten me. I want it to be useful, I just don't really feel that it is.

Thing 3

I think that the easiest of the 71/2 habits of lifelong learners is using technology to my advantage. I have always been intrigued by technology and always want the latest and greatest. When I encounter something new, it usually isn't long before I am imagining a myriad of ways to make the new technology beneficial to the learning of my students. Even when the technology is for my own personal use, my cell phone for example, I find a way to incorporate it to engage my students and create resources in my classroom. One example of using my phone in the classroom involves magazines. While teaching students about independent variables, dependent variables, and graphs, I had them all look for graphs of any type in magazines. When a student found an interesting graph, I would take a photo with my phone, email the picture to myself, and open it on my computer. From there I was able to project the graph on my screen so the whole class could see it. Together, we were able to identify the dependent and independent variables, the type of graph, and even make some guesses at the question this research was answering. It was a VERY effective lesson and the students were highly engaged.

The hardest of the 7 1/2 habits for me is probably viewing problems as challenges. I do this well in my own personal learning, but not as well in my classroom. I think that I can work on adjusting my mindset to view problems in my classroom as challenges. This would be an excellent thing to model for my students as well, since middle schoolers tend to be daunted by failure. Sharing my problem solving processes with students in the right situations could be beneficial to me and to them!

Thing 2

1. What makes a good blog?

A good blog has good content. It isn't just a journal or list of facts and activities; it is full of useful and interesting information. Even a personal blog can fulfill these requirements.

2. How could a blog enhance your existing school web site?

A blog may allow students and parents to have more up-to-the-minute information about class work, homework, specific assignments, and events going on in various classes. It can also allow a forum for student response in the form of comments. For example, I could post the directions for an at home project, and a student may comment to ask a clarifying question.

3. Are blogs an easier way for people to self-publish?

Absolutely. As soon as your blog is posted, you are published to whatever circle of people you desire, limited or unlimited! As long as your audience is familiar with web 2.0 technology, the only work you need to do to become a published author is to click the "publish" button!

My initial thoughts on blogging and web 2.0 in general are mixed. I feel that, at this moment, web 2.0 is vital and useful to students in our classes. However, the rate of technological change in our society is astronomical. I feel that learning to use new technology in general, rather than specifically (program by program) will be a more valuable skill for today's educators. We should strive to use this set of activities to enhance our ability to learn about all new technologies, and be open to the possibility that even this (blog) technology will soon be outdated and we will need to learn something new.