Chapter 10 - Assessing Meaningful Learning with technology

The first section of this chapter talks a lot about e-portfolios. I really like the idea of e-portfolios and would like t to incorporate them into my class. I think it will be especially useful if the resources are available for students to use different kinds of technology (do a booktalk or an "about me" or something through digital video, recording ideas through photography, doing a podcast, writing something in a Word document, etc...) I think this would be a great way for students to organize their products for me to see. I also liked how the book mentioned that this offers a good opportunity for students to self-reflect on their projects and ask themselves how they did, what the purpose of a project was, etc... I think that is a great way to learn and grow. I think one of the most important parts of an e-portfolio, as the book metnioned, is the sense of pride a child gets from seeing how much s/he has done in a semester/year. For example, last semester when I had to create a "multi-genre project" in my Language arts class, I felt a sense of pride in my finished project at the end of the semester. Throughout the semester we were working on writing poems, narratives, non-fiction, fiction, etc... and by the end of the semester we had a portfolio type thing - our multi-genre project.

The second part of the chapter discussed rubrics. I personally like when teachers use rubrics because it really helps me see what is expected. I think I will use rubrics some in my classroom, although i feel like they aren't as common at the elementary level. They would be useful for presentations or for projects. But I think that appropriate rubrics would be useful. I had never really thought about how detailed and precise rubrics need to be. I liked how the chapter discussed the requirements for a good rubric. It was very explicit and clear.

Clickers are an interesting tool to use in assessment. I would love to use these in my classroom, although I think it is not likely that I will have access to them because they are expensive. I like the ideas for using it such as a pretest to see what misconceptions students have, or a quick post test to see if your lesson got the point across, etc... I thoink those are valuable ways of learning (for teachers and students). Yes, these can be done in ways other than using clickers, but as mentioned in the book, clickers can be motivating and promote student involvement. It is important to note that clickers require the use of well written questions, as the text book says.

I feel like computer based tests and surveys is what I usually think of when thinking about assessment with technology. I have done both of these before and as for tests, it could've been done on paper just as easily. I guess the advantage was that the computer graded the tests (that I took on the computer. Not all electronic tests are graded by the computer) so it eliminated some work for the teacher. I have also done surveys in many classes. I think that is a tool I will use in my class because it is a good way to survey they class, get a feel for how they are doing, etc... It could be used for fun, or it could be used for something like a math lesson and you could graph the class, etc...there are many different ways you could use it in a classroom!


Overall, I think this chapter presented information to me in a way I had not thought of it before. I like a lot of the information and hope to use it in my classroom at some point. I think it will initially take a lot of planning and set up, but i think once things are in working order, it will be worth it!

Chapter 9 - Visualizing with Technologies

Chapter 9 started out with tools that I just did not see myself using in the classroom. It seemed to me like most of the math and science visualization tools given were meant for older grades. I don't think I would be able to/be interested in using those kinds of tools in an elementary classroom.

I did see value in them for the older grades, though. It is great that there are programs out there that can help students visualize what an atom or molecule might look like and how they might interact.

I thought the section on visualizing geography with geographic information systems (GIS) was interesting. I think this would be a great tool to use in 3-5 grades to learn about geography. I know when I did geography I just used a textbook, which was fine and I still learned a lot from it, but I think it would have been even better if I had had the opportunity to use these visualization tools on the computer. I have used Google Earth before, but not for anything educational really, more just for fun. I use google maps to get directions quite often. I can see myself using these tools in a geography lesson learning about the topography of a certain area.

Visualizing with Digitial cameras and mobile phones is an area I am more familiar with. I would like to incorporate these into my classroom if i have access to them. One way I would like to use Digital cameras or camera phones would be during a science lesson, I could have them go outside and take pictures of whatever we are studying (say different kinds of leaves and trees) and they can study those and compare them.
I also like the ideas of digital documentary. I think it would be fun at the beginning fo the year for each student to do a digital documentary (kind of like we did in this class, i guess) and have them displayed or show them in class (if it's video).
Camcorders would also be nice to have in the classroom - I know my brother in 5th grade presented a book report and his teacher recorded him and everyone else in his class and they had to watch and critique themselves. I think that's pretty hard for a 5th grader to do, but also good experience!

Overall, I think there are some tools from this chapter that I would like to incorporate into my classroom.

Chapter 8

Unfortunately, this was one of the most confusing chapters to me so far. I think because it is all programs that I am not familiar with at all except for Scratch. Computer Programming seems to me like kind of a hard concept to incorporate into the elementary classroom.

Scratch seems like the easiest and most elementary-friendly program to use. I would use this in my classroom for activities such as the one we are creating in class right now. I would also use it for students to create their own programs. Computer programming requires logical thinking, trial and error experiments, and a lot of patience. It would be a great tool for students to use, to promote more logical thinking, although I could foresee them getting frustrated with it because although it seems simple, it can be very confusing and sometimes just doesn't make sense! I know I got frustrated when working with this!

I'm not really sure how drawing design programs could be used in an elementary classroom. I can see it being used in an upper middle/high school class on design or architecture or something like that, but I don't think I would use this in my classroom because I'm not sure how it can be applied. I tried searching on the internet for any ideas on how this could be used, but did not find anything of use. I looked at the program SketchUp and was very impressed by it. I thought it was a neat program for students interested in architecture or constuction, but still don't think I would use it.

I liked the project that was done in the book at a middle school sing Trebuchet Simulator to design a catapult, but again this was done in a middle school and I don't see how this could be used in an elementary classroom. I think some students would enjoy creating and building things using but others would find it boring and not applciable. I think if I were asked to construct something like that in school, I would find it annoying because I wouldn't really ever use that skill.
I think there is potential for using iStopMotion in an elementary classroom. I would like to incorporate it into my classroom some how. I think students would find it fun because it's probably something different than what they've done before. On the website for educators, one of the ideas was making an animation of a plant's growth. I really liked this idea because they are creating a model of what they know, which is upper level blooms thinking.

I think the music programs are pretty fun. I love music, so it is something that interests me more than the building programs do. But I am still not sure how I would/could incorporate it into an elementary classroom.
Overall, I think the main programs I would actually use in my classroom potentially are Scratch and iStopMotion. Has anybody thought of any ways to use any of the others in an elementary classroom? I am looking forward to learning more about how these are used.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 discussed probably the most used tool for me: communication with technologies. It was probably the easiest chapter so far for me to understand because I was familiar with basically all of the ideas mentioned. The one that I was least familiar with is Podcasting. Communicating with technology is becoming more and more prevalent in household use, in businesses and now even in schools, so I think it is important to teach students how to use these and give them the opportunity to experiment with them.

I think that exchanging ideas asynchronously with discussion boards is one of the most important tools. Like the book mentioned, it gives students who don't normally speak up in class the opportunity to do so. Some students need that time to think through what they are wanting to say and how they are going to say it. Discussion boards are very helpful for these kinds of people. Teachers in face-to-face discussions with their class might think that some students don't know the material because they aren't talking, but in reality, some students just can't think and answer on spur of the moment. I think that having class discussion is great, but then having a discussion board on-line is a good way to follow up to that. I have used discussion boards more and more in my college classes. I never used them before college, though. I have never used ePals or Global Schoolhouse, but as I looked through their websites, I was very intrigued at what I saw. Just the amount of on-line communication and interaction by elementary and middle schoolers was pretty amazing to me. I think it is a very fun idea.

Students/teachers can also exchange ideas synchronously through instant messaging programs offered on many different serves, chat rooms or IRC (Internet Relay Chat). I had never heard of IRC in particular but it sounds like a chat room kind of thing to me. I am not exactly sure how I would use synchronous communication in my classroom. It could be used to talk with students in other classrooms at other schools, if say, we were collaborating with them on something. I think it is often used by students to collaborate with each other about homework questions, etc...

Videoconferencing is my favorite type of communication with technology (as of right now). I think it is a great tool for any classroom. It could be used to connect with experts who can't come in to your class, or to connect with another class, etc... In one of my college classes a few years ago, we teleconferenced with another class in another city because they had a special guest that our teacher wanted us to hear. It was the same course, so we were studying the same material, etc... The book mentioned some very neat programs that would be a great learning experience in an elementary classroom.

Podcasting, like I said, is the type of communication that I knew the least about. I have heard more and more about it lately. (My pastor at my church talks about downloading different podcasts and listening to them.) After reading the chapter and what they had to say about podcasting, I think it is a tool that students would find fun and different, but I am not sure how I would incorporate them in to my classroom.

There were some very familiar ideas in this chapter to me, and some not so familiar ideas, but hopefully as I learn more about these different technologies, I will learn hwo to incorporate them into my classroom. By the time I am teaching in just a few years, there will probably be more kinds of technology to learn about and incorporate!

Are there any other kinds of communication technologies anyone has heard of or thought of using in the elementary classroom?

Chapter 6

I thought chapter 6 was a review of much of what we have talked about this semester - technology can help build community in the classroom. We have talked a lot about wikis as well, but they mentioned a few wikis that I had never heard of and new ideas of ways to use wikis. I liked the idea of wikitravel.org and incoprorating that into the classroom. I got very sidetracked looking at wikitravel.org and dreaming about going to all of the places! As we've mentioned before it is very important for the teacher to hold discussions on checking the sources of the wikis and being aware that the information may not be totally accurate. The book also made a good point that teachers need to be clear of their expectations for students when using wikis particularly with their writing because students could become careless in their writing on the internet (if that's one of the teacher's goals).

I also liked the idea of using blogs in the classroom. I can see myself having students blog, but I also liked the idea of using expert-created blogs such as the "Artic Ed's Travelog" mentioned in the book. It seems like a great way for students to learn science material. I know I would have found it interesting to follow someone's travel while learning about his findings. I think blogs would be great for some students, especially those who don't feel comfortable talking in class. Teachers could set up a blog to discuss issues from class, or go deeper into a class discussion.
The Internet can help build community between classrooms in schools, across the country, and across the world in ways classes have not been able to do before. I love the idea of the Global Schoolhouse and connecting with students across the country and world and learning from one another. It is a great way for students to learn about different cultures, languages, and countries. I would love to incorporate this into my classroom in some way.

I think that blogs and wikis are also a great way for teachers to share ideas and bounce ideas off of one another. They can often be more convenient for teachers - with blogs and wikis, teachers can check them on their own time and not worry about trying to coordinate schedules with other teachers to collaborate.

A question that I had thought of while reading this was: how much of a limitation/format should teachers give students while working with blogs and wikis?

My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier