Great Depression artifacts

This fall, I am going to use my blog as a staging area for digital artifacts that I might use during my student teaching. Here are a few Great Depression artifacts:

Casualty figures for WW1

Here's David Kennedy discussing possible causes of the Great Depression:




 An old school explanation of the stock market:

 

My Digital Story

Here's the digital story that I did for my special education class during the summer of 2013:

 

Death and Taxes 2014

This poster is an incredibly useful graphic representation of our government's spending. Buy one. Use it in the classroom!

Voki

OK - Voki is yet another cool tool. I can't wait to show my son how to create an avatar. If he reacts to this tool in the same way he reacted to Picassohead, my inbox is going to be full of talking snowmen and who knows what else.

So, this was another straightforward activity. I have uploaded my Self Introduction to Google Docs. It took me a little while to figure out how to turn on my readability statistics (Mac user), but I eventually found the right page under Preferences --> Spelling and Grammar. For what it's worth, the document's Flesch Reading Ease score was 74.7 and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was 6.4.

Voki was super-easy to use - and fun. Just a matter of registering an email address and a password and off you go. Meet my avatar:




Relationship to Standards - the Voki activity relates well to the following standards: 2(a) in that Voki allows teachers to design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity; 3(a) in that the use of Voki demonstrates fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations; and 3(c) in that the use of Voki allows educators to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats.

Word Clouds

Wordle. What a cool tool. And very helpful for generating quick graphics that might supplement any lesson in any content area. I generated a couple of Word Clouds, one for the 2000 NETS T Standards and one for the 2008 NETS T Standards.

Here's the NETS T 2000 Word Cloud:

 

And here is the NETS T 2008 Word Cloud:

In comparing the two World Clouds, it appears that the 2008 NETS T Standards have taken a slightly different direction than that established by the 2000 NETS T Standards. Most importantly, the standards now focus on learning instead of technology. In addition, technology appears to have been broken down into components represented by words like digital, tools, and virtual. Not everything has changed though - both sets of standards still focus on teachers, resources, and students.

Here's a Word Cloud based on the text of FDR's Pearl Harbor speech:



Relationship to Standards - the Word Cloud activity relates well to the following standards: 1(c) in that the use of Word Clouds promotes student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes; 2(a) in that the use of Word Clouds is an example of an educator designing or adapting relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity; and 3(a) the use of Word Clouds by an educator demonstrates fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.

Google Sites

I worked on the Google Sites activity over the course of a couple of days. I am still trying to decide whether or not I like working with the site templates. I ran into a little bit of trouble figuring out how to move pages and make other page changes. For whatever reason, the help links weren't all that helpful. The other Google products have been so handy and so user friendly that I tend to think the difficulties I've encountered with Google Sites can be attributed to my lack of familiarity with the program. Onward.

I chose to use a classroom template for my webpage with the idea that I might be able to use the site once I land a teaching job. I wrote a little bit of text for each page and left the Tip links in place so that I can use them in the future. I also added a Resume page and Rubrics page and posted the appropriate documents on each page. There are also links to each of these pages in the sidebar. One of the other things that I did was develop and embed a Google form that parents and students can use to contact me. All in all, this was a good activity and I can definitely imagine using a webpage to communicate with my students and their parents.

Relationship to Standards - the Google Sites activity relates well to the following standards: 2(a) in that the use of a website will allow educators to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools to promote student learning; 3(a) in that the incorporation of a website into class activities will allow teachers to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies; and 3(c) in that the use of a website will allow educators to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students and their parents using digital age media and formats.

Excel 2

Wow. OK - this activity was not so easy for me. By the time I was finished, my mind was swimming with p's and t's and all sorts of statistics jargon. I think I ended up working through this correctly but translating the information from Dr. Pierce's Jing demonstration to my Mac version of Excel was a little confusing. I finally resorted to using this online tool to verify the answers that I came up with in Excel.

As a reminder, this activity focuses around answering this research question: Does student's gender impact 4th grade math performance? Our hypothesis is that there is a difference. We are looking for an indication of whether the differences we can see in the data are statistically significant or not. Our null hypothesis is that there is no difference. If our t test p value is less than .05 then we will reject the null hypothesis; if our t test p value is greater than .05 then we will not reject the null hypothesis.

Here is a graphic of my Excel results:









When I used the online tool at studentsttest.com I got the same results. If you want to see a screengrab from those tests, the one tailed test result is here and the two tailed test result is here.

Based on the discussion above and noting the one tailed p value of 2.51, I find that we will not reject the null hypothesis. In other words, although there is a difference between the male and female groups, that difference is likely related to error or chance.

As a prospective teacher, I can imagine using this sort of analysis with my future students. For the purposes of this discussion, let's assume I am teaching a high school history class. One topic I would like to investigate is the performance of students who take my class in the morning as compared to the performance of the students who take the class in the afternoon.

My research question would be the following: Is there a difference in educational performance between students who take my history class before noon and the educational performance of those who take the class in the afternoon. There would be two groups in this study: morning students and afternoon students. The dependent variable is that they are all taking the same class. The independent variable is the time of day when they take my class. My hypothesis would be that students who take my class in the morning perform at a higher level than those students who take my class in the afternoon. The null hypothesis would be that there is no significant difference in performance between morning and afternoon students and that any perceived difference is likely due to error or chance.

Relationship to Standards - the Excel 2 activity relates well to the following standards: 3(d) in that the use of Excel and statistical analysis models the effective use of current and emerging digital tools to analyze and evaluate information to support research and learning; 5(c) the use of Excel and statistical analysis allows educators to evaluate and reflect on current research and to make use of emerging digital tools; and 5(d) the use of Excel and statistical analysis allows educators to contribute to the effectiveness and vitality of the teaching profession.

Excel 1

In this activity, we worked with data provided by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) on the nationwide performance of 4th grade readers in 2011. The activity took a little longer than I thought it would because, in order to calculate descriptive statistics, I had to develop my own table and insert the appropriate formulas (my Mac doesn't support the Excel Data Analysis Tool and it was easier to develop my own table than to decipher the Solver tool). Anyway, my descriptive statistics table is embedded below or available for viewing on Screencast.com here. I've also uploaded both my State Statistics and my Chart files to Google Docs.



















A review of the data provided by the NCES indicates that West Virginia is not doing too well when compared to other states. 8 states and the District of Columbia scored below West Virginia and the other 41 states scored above West Virginia. In fact, West Virginia's score of 214 is six points below the average score of 220. Here's how the data looks on a scatter plot chart:
















The same chart is available on Screencast.com here. As a prospective teacher and a parent of two children in the West Virginia school system, these figures are cause for concern.

Relationship to Standards - the Excel 1 activity relates well to the following standards: 3(a) in that the ability to manipulate and plot data such as the information provided by the NCES demonstrates fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies; 3(c) in that the use of Excel and similar programs will allow educators to communicate relevant information and ideas - like below average reading scores - effectively to students, parents, and peers; and 3(d) in that the use of programs like Excel models the effective use of current and emerging digital tools in the evaluation of information.

Rubrics

Creating a rubric on Rubistar is a piece of cake. I wish I'd found out about the site a few months ago - it would have saved me a lot of time!

Rubrics are a tool that educators use to assess student performance. When shared in advance, rubrics can be used to communicate expectations for an assignment to students and their parents. Once assignments are submitted, a rubric provides educators with a standard assessment tool for evaluating those assignments.

Making a rubric on Rubistar was simple. First, I created an account, a step which took less than three minutes. Second, I selected the type of rubric I was interested in creating (for this activity, I chose an essay rubric). Third, I selected a few areas that I wanted to assess with the rubric. Finally, I saved and downloaded the rubric to my computer. In working through this final step, I learned that as a Mac user I had to switch from Safari to Firefox in order to save my rubric as an Excel file.

The next step was to drag and drop the Excel file version of my rubric to my Google drive. You can view my rubric in Google Docs by clicking here.

Relationship to Standards - the Rubrics exercise relates well to the following standards: 3(a) in that the use of Rubistar demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies; 3(c) in that tools like Rubistar allow educators to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students and parents (parents can view rubrics saved to Google Docs); and 3(d) in that the use of Rubistar models the use of current and emerging digital tools to evaluate and support learning.

Maps 2

I found working through the interface with Google Maps and Google Earth to be very straightforward. Before I did this activity, I had never noticed how much higher the resolution is in Google Earth than it is in Google Maps - good to know.

Anyway, it took me a minute to figure out how to export my Google Map data as a KML file but it turned out to be a very simple process. Watch me figure out how to do the export in this Jing screencast. You can view my Google Earth map here. I've also embedded the image below:
















The acronym KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language. KML files allow for the transfer of two-dimensional geographic information from a program like Google Maps into a three-dimansional program like Google Earth. This is a useful function for educators who want to develop maps in a simple mapping program and then enjoy the benefits of a high resolution program like Google Earth. The zoom and pan features of Google Earth allow you to take detailed tours of interesting locations.

Google Earth has some terrific resources for teachers. I found a D-Day lesson that would be very useful in the study of World War II.

Relationship to Standards - the Maps 2 activity relates well to the following standards: 2(a) in that Google Maps and Google Earth allow educators to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning; 3(a) in that the use of Maps/Earth allows teachers to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies; and 3(c) in that teachers can use Maps/Earth to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students using a variety of digital age media and formats.

Maps 1

I love working with maps. I'm one of those people who has framed maps of favorite places hanging on the wall in my living room. Needless to say, I had fun with this activity. I decided to map out a one-day tour along the lower loop in Yellowstone National Park. The map is based on tours that I used to give visitors all the time. It makes for a long day - especially if traffic is bad - but you really get a good look at the Park and some of its best known features. Anyway, selecting the locations was easy. I just zoomed in and moved from location to location placing pins in the specific spots that I wanted to include in the tour. Like every other Google app I have used, I found this one to be very user-friendly.

You can view my map here. If you'd like a little more information, you can click here to read a short description of each stop.

I can definitely imagine using Google Maps in the classroom. For example, I could ask students to create a map of General Lee's move up the Shenandoah Valley and into Gettysburg in 1863. Students could use pins to mark the location of significant events or battles. In creating a map, the students would have the opportunity to align historic events with the existing landscape. Very cool.

Relationship to Standards - the Maps 1 activity relates well to the following standards: 1(a) in that the use of Google Maps in a classroom would allow a teacher to promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking; 1(c) in that the use of Google Maps in history or geography classes will promote student reflection using collaborative tools to clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking; and 3(a) in that the use of Google Maps will allow teachers to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current technologies to new technologies. These maps are WAY better than those tired, old flat ones that have been hanging on the wall for the last 20 years!

Self Grading Form

For this activity - and in honor of the 150th anniversary  - I created a short quiz about the of the Battle of Gettysburg. If you'd like to take my quiz, please click here. Of course, the whole point of this activity was to learn how to create a self grading form. When someone completes my quiz, their answers are collected in a spreadsheet that will automatically grade their answers. To view my spreadsheet, click here.

I thought this was a pretty easy assignment. For future reference, I've embedded a very helpful instructional video below. The only thing that tripped me up in completing this assignment was that I forgot to enter the "=" when creating my grading formulas. At first, I thought I was experiencing some sort of Mac compatibility issue. After about ten minutes of struggling, I took a break. When I came back, I watched the instructional video again and caught my mistake. Lesson learned. Here's the instructional video I mentioned above:



I can definitely imagine using a self grading form in the classroom. It's obviously a great way to create and store a quiz. The data collection and self grading aspects are bonuses. Generating a quiz in this online format would not take any more time then generating a quiz in Word - in fact, given all the automatic formatting features included in Google Forms, this is probably faster. It's a great tool for the future.

Relationship to Standards - the Self Grading Form activity relates well to the following standards: 2(a) in that the use of the self grading form will allow me to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources; 2(d) in that the use of a self grading form will allow me to provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use the resulting data to inform learning and teaching - I can create as many short quizzes as I see fit and get nearly instantaneous feedback on learning; and 3(a) in that the use of technologies like the self grading form demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the current transfer of knowledge to new technologies and situations.

Google Forms

OK. I thought this was another cool project. I've learned how to use a very flexible tool that I can use to communicate with students, parents, other teachers, and my family members.

Once I located the Google Forms start page - which took me longer than I thought it would - I found creating this form to be very easy. Google appears to have thought of everything. This tour of Google Forms addressed all of the questions or problems that I encountered. Wait! I can just embed that:

For the purposes of this activity, I designed a survey related to an upcoming summer vacation with my extended family. We is still have over a month to go before the actual vacation begins and yet the family drama has already started. Great. Anyway, it's clear that little more planning and communication would have prevented - or at least minimized - some of the drama.

Anyway, I created a 9 question survey using each of the available formats. I also made a handful of the questions mandatory. You can link to my survey form here. As you can see, it's a simple form that is clean and easy to understand. Once you've created a survey form, you are given the option to create a spreadsheet that will automatically capture the responses to your survey. This is where the real value of this activity is to be found - data collected and organized while you focus on other tasks. To view the spreadsheet associated with my form, click here.

Sharing the survey form with other people is simple. It's a matter of entering email addresses into a field. My sister completed and returned her survey with no trouble and no questions asked. She didn't even need to be a Google Docs user. Very cool. I did have to grant permission for access to the spreadsheet. I chose to allow access to anyone who has the link - which should mean that anyone that reads this blog can access the document. 

I can imagine using this tool to collect information about students, to gather feedback on a particular task, and to help plan events. It's a very practical and easy to use.

Relationship to Standards - the Google Forms activity relates well to the following standards: 3(a) in that Google Forms allows teachers to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies; 3(b) in that Google Forms is an unbeatable way to communicate with students, peers, parents and community members using digital tools; and 3(d) in that teachers can use Google Forms to model and facilitate the effective use of current and emerging digital tools to analyze and evaluate information.

Presentation 3 - Prezi

The last time (also the first time) that I used Prezi, I was not impressed. I thought it was a clumsy tool that didn't really add much value to presentations. This exercise has changed my perspective. I dig Prezi. I based my new Prezi on the PowerPoint presentation that I developed for an earlier exercise - the topic was the Gettysburg Address. You can link to my latest Prezi here or you can review it below:

Pretty cool, huh?

Obviously, Prezi is a lot like PowerPoint. And I think that they each have their place. In my mind, PowerPoint is perfect for super-short presentations where you just want to convey a few points and share a few images. Otherwise, I think Prezi has the upper hand. I now think it is easier to use, more flexible, and sexier (if I may) than PowerPoint. I think that the ability to embed video in Prezi (which might be possible in PowerPoint - but I can't find the option) is what really won me over. When I consider the possibilities for teaching social studies with a Prezi, I am blown away. Imagine a short presentation on WWII that included footage of Hitler, the bombing of London, Normandy, and Hiroshima - no pausing to load this video or that video, just a seamless presentation. Can't beat that.

Relationship to Standards - this Prezi exercise relates well to the following standards:   2(a) in that Prezi allows teachers to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools to promote student learning; 3(a) in that educators can use Prezi to demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies; and 3(c) in that the use of Prezi allows teachers to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students using a variety of digital age media and formats.

Presentation 2 - iMovie

For this exercise, I decided to develop this short presentation about the American bison:


I thought that this was another cool exercise. All in all, making the video was pretty simple although it was a lengthy process. It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. While I thought that through, I downloaded a bunch of photographs that looked like they might be useful. In the end, the hardest thing for me to do was to record the voice-over portions of the movie without sounding like a moron. I totally failed at improvising from a few notes and ended up writing out a script for the whole presentation. I don't think it sounds too bad.

Relationship to Standards - the iMovie Presentation exercise relates well to the following standards:   1(b) in that the effective use of iMovie will allow teachers to develop engaging presentations to help  students in exploring real-world issues using digital tools and resources; 2(a) in that educators can use iMovie to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools to promote student learning; and 3(b) in that the combined use of iMovie and YouTube allows collaboration with students, peers, and parents using digital tools to support student success.

Presentation 1 - PowerPoint

OK. This was a cool exercise. I have to admit that developing a quality presentation that doesn't rely on blue screens and bullet points was difficult but I like the final product. Check out my lesson about The Gettysburg Address on Dropbox. It was fun to make and it certainly beats the presentations I have assembled in the past.

One of my favorite parts of this assignment was reading about The Enemy. I also came across Jay Lehr's rant on boring presenters and loved it. After reading those articles, I can't imagine creating another crappy PowerPoint presentation.

Anyway, I think that the takeaway lesson in this exercise is that we do not need to be boring! With a little additional thought and effort, we can put together good, clean presentations that will keep our students interested in the subject matter. Better yet, with tools like Dropbox, we can share these presentations with colleagues. No reason to reinvent the wheel.

Relationship to Standards - the PowerPoint Presentation exercise relates well to the following standards:   1(b) in that the effective use of PowerPoint in an classier style will allow teachers to engage students in exploring real-world issues using digital tools and resources; 2(a) in that educators can use PowerPoint to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools to promote student learning; and 3(b) in that the combined use of PowerPoint and Dropbox allows collaboration with students, peers, and parents using digital tools to support student success.

(PS: It's 3 days later and I've been back to look at my presentation on Dropbox twice since I first posted it - it has looked different each time. Letters are mixed up, fonts are changed...in the future, I am thinking simplest is best. It usually is.)

Jing Screencast

This morning I learned how to create a Jing Screencast. It was incredible easy thanks to this tutorial video from Jing. In fact, I made a number of mistakes in my first few takes and it still took me less than 30 minutes to come up with a final product.

Anyway, I've developed a screencast that will teach my students how to embed an artifact - in this case a Prezume - in a blog. Please take a few minutes to watch Embedding Your Prezi.

Jing allows you to create a digital movie (called a screencast) without a digital camera. Your screencast is created when you capture the image on your computer's screen while you narrate a story or lesson. You can then share that screencast.

The Jing 'Sun' has three prongs and each prong allows you to access different Jing related tools. The first prong is the capture tool. You use this tool to capture still images or video from your computer's screen. You determine the capture area for your screencast by using a set of crosshairs to create a frame around the area you want to include in your video. The free version of Jing creates videos in SWF flash format whereas Jing Pro creates videos in MP4 format.

The second prong allows you to view your Jing history at Screencast.com - every artifact that you create in Jing can be saved to your history for future access. Once an artifact is in your library, you can push it to the internet or share it with other folks by emailing the URL or embedding it in your blog. In addition to saving your creations to your Screencast.com library, you can save your screencasts to your computer's hard drive. I simply saved mine to the file folder that I am using for this class. If necessary, you can upload the file from you computer to your Screencast.com library so that you can share it with other people.

The third prong allows you to access your Jing preferences, send Jing feedback or get Jing help.

Relationship to Standards - the Jing Video activity related to the following standards: 1(a) in that Jing will allow educators to promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking. A teacher could use this tool to teach students about an infinite number of topics; 1(b) in that Jing could be used to solve authentic problems using digital tools;  2(a) in that Jing incorporates digital tools to promote student learning and creativity.

Jing Image

This morning, I downloaded Jing and used it to develop a graphic for a U.S. government lesson about Washington, DC. The graphic can be found here. I've included the Jing image below, as well:

Click here or on the image below to see another effort :

I like working with Jing a lot. Jing generates PNG files that are automatically saved to your clipboard so that you can paste the URL in the document of your choice. You can also save your document to your computer. Best of all, Jing saves your documents to your own Jing/Screencast library so you can come back and access your Jing history. Screencast images can be shared in many ways. You can share a link to the URL for your image on your blog or you can send the link out via email. In addition, you can embed Jing images in your blog or distribute them via Twitter. The bottom line is that publishing and sharing information on Jing is very easy. It's a great tool.

Relationship to Standards - the Jing activity relates well to the following standards: 2 in that Jing allows teachers to design and develop authentic learning experiences incorporating contemporary tools and resources. Why just talk about Washington, DC or Mount Rushmore when you can show your students detailed and annotated images of the topics?; 2(a) in that Jing allows teachers to design relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools; 2(c) in that Jing allows teachers to customize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles.

Diigo

I set up my Diigo library today. I've also added a link in my link list. All in all, this was a very user-friendly experience and I think Diigo could be a very useful and interesting tool both personally and professionally.

What is Diigo? Diigo allows users to bookmark, highlight, and annotate online content. Essentially, Diigo users can build a personalized library of internet content and then share that content with other users who have similar interests. Diigo will also generate personalized recommendations based on your reading history. It's a cool tool.

Opening a Diigo account was simple. I allowed Diigo to access the information in my Google account, picked a username and a password, and I was up and running. My next task was to add Diigolet to my web browsers. I alternate between Safari and Firefox so I decided to add Diigolet to both of them. Diigolet is the web browser add-on that creates the interface between the browser and Diigo. Like other add ons, Diigolet increases browser functionality. Once the new add on was installed, I could highlight, bookmark, or use sticky notes to annotate the articles that I was reading online. I expect that it will take me a little while to remember to use Diigo when I browse the web but once it becomes part of my routine, I can easily imagine building an extensive library.

This is the first time I have used an add on. Frankly, I've been nervous that other add ons would create security issues for me and so I have avoided them. After this experience, I suspect I will be a little more open to the add on concept in the future.

Relationship to Standards - I think this activity most closely matches the following standards: 1(d) in that Diigo is a great tool for modeling collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in a virtual environment; 2(b) in that Diigo will allow me to develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and manage their own learning; 3(d) in that the use of Diigo models the effective use of current digital tools to locate, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.

Prezi Template

I spent the morning developing my Prezume. The final product can be found here.

And for the sake of simplicity, here's an embedded version:



I am still trying to decide how I feel about Prezi. My gut reaction was very negative. Although I understand the benefits of using graphics to convey a message, something about this program turned me off. It might have been the tutorial video that compared starting a business to climbing a mountain - I almost puked (and, yes, I've started a business and climbed mountains). My negative reaction might also be related to my experience and the concept of a Prezume. I've sifted through a lot of resumes over the last 20 years and I have a feeling that a Prezume might end up on the fast track to the round file with the resumes that contain misspellings and typos. Call me old-school. Or linear. I don't know. On a related note, I spoke to two close friends about Prezumes.  The first guy is in business development in DC and the second guy is in venture capital in Silcon Valley. Both asked the same question: Why would you use a Prezume when you could develop a LinkedIn profile? I think they have a point...

As for working with Prezi...well, I wasn't too impressed with that experience either. I thought the graphics tools were limited. For example, I couldn't stretch a shape into the size I wanted to use. I could only make the provided shapes bigger or smaller - no long skinny rectangles or ovals. Also, the small delay that occurred as I navigated around the page was annoying. Finally, I could not figure out how to simply highlight and delete the many text boxes provided on the template. After too many minutes, I realized if I typed text into these boxes I could then highlight and delete them. Enough Prezi bashing.

Have no fear, the technological marvel that is Prezi is not lost on me. I know there are lots of people in the world that love graphics and who don't think in the linear fashion to which I am accustomed. The fact that there is a program like Prezi out there and available is amazing. And it's easy for me to see the benefits of Prezi over programs like PowerPoint especially when it comes to developing presentations. Maybe someday all resumes will be Prezumes. Stranger things have happened.

Relationship to Standards - the Prezi Template exercise relates well to the following standards: 1(a) in that it promotes, supports, and models creative and innovative thinking - Prezi could definitely be used to replace PowerPoint or in place of a written book report; 1(b) in that it promotes student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking - Prezi provides endless opportunities for conveying different understandings; 3(d) in that it models the effective use of current and emerging digital tools to use information resources.

Revisit Resume

This afternoon, I submitted my resume to Rezcore.com for evaluation. I was pleasantly surprised by the results - I was in the 87th percentile! Here's a shot of the report:

After reviewing the results from my first submission, I set about to tune-up my resume. Rezscore recommended that I sell myself more persuasively but I am not very good at selling myself. And, yes, I know that's what a resume is for. Anyway, I decided to focus on strengthening the words that described my work experience and added terms like excellent and extensive. My first revision wasn't very effective. I got another B+ and scored in the exact same 87th percentile. I didn't take a screen shot of that effort because it was more or less identical to my first evaluation.

In my second revision, I focused on rearranging sentences and making sure that I used strong action words to describe my experience. For example, I revised one sentence so that instead of starting with the words "Responsible for managing..." it now begins with the words "Managed the day-to-day operations..." The effort paid off:

I liked this exercise for a couple of reasons. First of all, I've tuned up my resume and I think it's better than it was this morning. Second, I've learned about an internet service that I didn't know existed. Rezscore is a great business idea and the free evaluation is definitely a great way to get a handle on how your resume rates. Very cool.

Relationship to Standards - The revisit resume exercise relates well to the following standards: 1(a) in that the lesson deals with relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity; 1(c) in that the lesson addresses students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources; 3(a) in that the lesson demonstrates fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies. 

More Family Fun with Piccasohead

The 5 year-old figured out how to work with Picassohead with a minimal amount of instruction. It was particularly interesting to watch him figure out (in seconds) that these two icons meant the same thing:

     

Anyway, here is his self portrait:

He is especially proud of his mustache. Fun with Picassohead.

Family Fun with Picassohead

The 10 year-old's first self portrait:

I think we've found an activity for the day...

Self Portrait

I developed my self portrait on Picassohead. Here's what I look like on this Tuesday morning:

My self portrait can also be viewed in the Picassohead gallery here.

I found Picassohead to be very easy to use. It was also a lot of fun. The limited number of tools and the specific list of features that you can add to your portrait (ears, lips, eyes, etc.) make this a very accessible and user-friendly website. I'm going to have my 10 year-old spend some time on the site later this morning - it will be interesting to see what he comes up with and how long it takes him to figure things out.

Relationship to Standards: The self portrait exercise relates well to the following standards: 1(a) - the activity promotes, supports, and models creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness; 2(a) - the activity is a relevant learning experience that incorporates digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity; 2(c) - the activity can be used to personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles and abilities to use digital tools and resources.

Screen Capture

I spent time today learning how to use my Mac’s snipping tools. As far as I can tell, I have two options. The first is an application called Preview that I found in the Applications folder:

The second is an application called Grab that is located in the Utilities folder:

Prior to this morning, I had used Preview a little bit but I had never even opened Grab. As it turns out, Grab is less flexible and less user-friendly than Preview.

Here's what you will find as you start to work with Grab:

 On the other hand, Preview will allow you to draw shapes and create text boxes:

When it comes to creating files, Grab will only allow you to save screen grabs as TIFF files. Preview allows you to save screen grabs in six formats including JPEG, JPEG-200, PDF, OpenEXR, PNG, and TIFF.

Finally, the Grab application quits when you close a window and you have to back into the Applications file to restart the application. Preview is much more convenient because it stays open in the Toolbar until you quit the application:

Until I learn about a better option for screen grabs, I think I will keep using Preview. And I think that the benefits to using a screen capture tool are obvious here. You can use screen captures and the related editing tools to show students how to use technology. Or you can use the tool to remind your brother that the weather at his favorite place is nice today:

Relationship to Standards: The Screen Capture activity relates well to the following standards: 1(b) - engaging students in solving authentic problems using digital tools; 3(c) - communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students . . . using a variety of digital media; and 4(c) - model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information. 

Google Docs

Wow - that was easy. I just uploaded my resume. It took less than 5 minutes to download the Google Drive software and upload my document. I found the short instructional video provided by Dr. Pierce to be especially helpful in learning how to do this task.

This is my first experience with cloud computing. Until I worked through this exercise, I didn't really understand what the big deal was. Now, I get it. The ability to access documents from anywhere is liberating. If for some random reason, I need to show somebody my resume, I can do it from any device that has internet access anywhere in the world. That's crazy. The ability to work with other people on the same documents is remarkable, too. Once I get a better handle on the Google Docs concept, I'd like to start storing all of my documents in the cloud. Why wouldn't I?

On a related note, this is a great technology for the classroom. The document sharing capability will allow me to distribute a limitless amount of information to my students. And what about lesson plans? Why wouldn't I store all of my lesson plans in the cloud? I can see that I have a lot of exploring to do with Google Docs.

Relationship to Standards: The Google Docs activity relates well to the following standards: 1(b) in that Google Docs could be used to promote student reflection using collaborative tools; 2(a) in that teachers can use Google Docs to promote student learning; 3(d) in that I will be able to use Google Docs to model and teach the safe and legal use of digital information.

Millennial-ness

I took the Pew Research Center’s Millennial Quiz this morning and scored an 81. I think that my profile tells me that I am in a good position to connect with and understand my students. The profile also tells me that I should make a conscious effort to keep abreast of developments in digital technology.

Jason Frand describes ten attributes of what he calls “the information-age mind set.” Here is a list of those attributes and brief description of my relationship to each one:

1.     Computers Aren’t Technology – I am 45, so computers are technology to me. My parents had an early Macintosh but I had zero interest in it. And even though I have always used computers at work, it’s only been in the last five or six years that I have started to embrace the digital world.

2.     Internet Better Than TV – The Internet is way better than the TV. That’s why there is no TV in our house. Which is not to say that we don’t watch TV. We stream Netflix and Hulu all the time and on a schedule that fits our lifestyle.

3.     Reality No Longer Real – I get this and it bugs me. Maybe it’s my background in history that makes the altering of images so repugnant. That is until the altered image makes me laugh hard or see something in a different light. Regardless, I am a full-on skeptic and I don’t believe a thing I see or read on the web until I’ve had a chance to verify the information.

4.     Doing Rather Than Knowing – As someone who will start teaching soon (I hope), I think this is the most important Millennial attribute. In the information age, knowing can be irrelevant. But knowing how to do things – including knowing how to find seemingly irrelevant knowledge – is crucial.  If you “know” but you can’t “do” then, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, you might need to get out of the road.

5.     Nintendo over Logic – I will never understand video games. They didn’t interest me as a teen (OK, Pong wasn’t that interesting to anyone) and I definitely don’t get them now. I would rather watch snow melt than play a video game. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that I am a logic guy. I read directions and it drives my ten-year-old crazy because he is Nintendo to the core. “Just turn it on,” he says, “I’ll figure it out!”

6.     Multitasking Way of Life – I used to engage in multitasking until I realized that it just meant that I was doing many things poorly at the same time. Now, I fight to focus on one thing at a time and that’s always a struggle because there are so many digital distractions.

7.     Typing Rather Than Handwriting – My dad told me to take typing in high school in 1982. I told him I would never need to know how to type. Whoops. So I am slow on the keyboard (but I am faster than hunt-and-peck). The hardest thing that I did last semester was write a Blue Book exam. I’m not kidding. My hand just doesn’t know how to write anymore.

8.     Staying Connected – I like being connected but I love to disconnect. Nothing makes me happier than leaving my cell phone and laptop behind for four or five days. It’s hard to do, but I try to do it once or twice a year.

9.     Zero Tolerance for Delays – I don’t mind delays when I travel. I understand why and how they happen and I don’t do work (or anything, for that matter) that requires me to be in a particular place at a particular time. Delays in communication are different. I have come to expect immediate responses to text messages and emails.

10. Consumer/Creator Blurring – This is a tough one for me. When it comes to learning and teaching, clearly there are benefits to doing your own work. But we all just created blogs using a Blogger template - none of us wrote the code necessary to create our blogs. In a sense, we are back to the knowing versus doing argument. If you need to know, than you should do your own work. If you need to do, then maybe knowing is secondary and you ought to borrow every good idea you can find.

Activity Summary: The Millennial activity underscored the need to keep up with the changes in the digital world. Our students communicate and learn differently than we did, and as educators we will fail if we don’t incorporate the rapidly changing information environment into our classroom approach. By better understanding what it means to be a Millennial, I will be better prepared to meet my students on their turf, so to speak.

Relationship to Standards: This activity relates well to standard 3(d) in that I am using emerging digital tools to support learning. It also relates well to standard 4(c) in that I am modeling digital etiquette related to the use of technology.