Today we have been talking about mobile learning. We started with a quick overview of some word processing apps. I can't say that I plan to use these...maybe I am just old fashioned, but I like my laptop when I am typing. Some day I might convert, but that day isn't today. We then had our Skype-A-Leader where we heard Travis Allen talk. He was pretty impressive considering how young he is and how much he has done. I liked all of his ideas, and I think that there is a lot of good potential. Elementary is harder because the students can't always be responsible for their own device. NearPod was AWESOME! I have never wanted a classroom set of IPads so badly until right now. I think that even Kindergarteners could manage this app, and I love that the teacher has so much control.
The rest of the night was my groups exploritorium (which went well!), and the article activity in which I created a graphic organizer about tech inn
I had a lot of fun playing with and learning about ITunes U. At first it all seemed very overwhelming. There is just SO MUCH on the site, and I wasn't sure how to go about finding things that pertained to me. But the more that I explored and used the different search/category options I was able to find a few things that I found very valuable.
For example, I found a course called Deeper Thinking with Apps. This particular course goes through a number of IPad apps and shows how you can use them in Kindergarten and 1st Grade classrooms. There were a number of apps that I hadn't heard of, and they had some great ideas for how I could adapt the apps to Kindergarten, which is so difficult! I especially loved that the "teacher" gave slides of things that you would need to consider before you started using the app.
Another fun course that I explored had math lessons that were directed to Kindergarten. It showed videos of the whole lesson actually being taught in a classroom. They also had different ideas for questioning, and assessment.
I think I could also use this app in my personal life anytime that I want to learn about something new. There really is no end to the possibilities!
This leadership class was all about Professional Development and adult learning. I enjoyed the Skype lesson, and I thought her examples about both good and bad teaching were very clear. Teaching adults is a brand of teaching all it's own. I also really enjoyed reading the articles and thinking about the ways that adults differ in their learning than children. I especially related to the fact that adults need to feel like they are being trusted with their own learning. If we treat adults like children, they won't trust us!
I also enjoyed exploring the apps and website that were given. I haven't used any of the tools, but I think they are great resources.
Today began with a Skype presentation by Darren Draper. I like the discussion that talked about how technology should be "invisible." I know that a lot of times the kids get so excited just to use a certain tool that they completely miss the whole reason the tool is being used.
Leadership Qualitites:
I really like the advocacy idea. I also wrote down empathy, vision, ambition, dedication, responsibility, and humility. The needed dispositions are: risk-taking, persistence, challenge, service, efficacy, resiliency. I really like these! I think I could work on these in all areas of my life. I also think that I have always viewed myself as not so much of a leader because I am introverted and somewhat shy. But that's ok! Being an outgoing extrovert wasn't on that list. :)
Throughout the rest of the class I enjoyed thinking about the values of my school and how they compare to my own. I believe that my own leadership desire has a lot of growth yet to do, but hopefully I can get there.
Today is the final presentations. Here are my notes and thoughts on what people presented. Cathy Andelin- UTIPS. She was frustrated that they didn't do so well, but it's possible that a lot of the problems came because of the students not being used to the technology. She did get some good data from the test though, and that is what it's all about!
Stephen Bloom-UTIPS. Used it for a science pre-test. Pros were that it was easy for the teacher to set up and there were good questions from the core. Problems with reading through the whole questions.
Nancy Brisbay
Bobbette Glassett- Last presentation of the night. needless to say, my brain is completely gone now. She did he
Shanon Goodpasture- She used PollDaddy to find out how many of her co-workers knew what it was that she does. The big snag was with the e-mail that was sent to everyone. Easy to review the results though.
Jennifer Griffin
Wendy Hamann- She did hers using Clickers. She loves it because of the immediate feedback. Her kids love it because it feels like a game.
Jorgen Hollnagel
Jason Hunter-- Loved his little handmade poll everywhere graph. haha. The video was great. I like the idea of using the cell phones when they are in 8th grade. Definitely a good motivator at that age.
Silvia Iglesias-- Used UTIPS. I am very impressed that she was able to do this in 1st grade AND in Spanish. I didn't even attempt this in Kindergarten. WOW.
Jennifer Ipson- She used the same assessment that I did with Kidspiration and GoogleDocs. I love the checklist thing, and I totally understand about the difficulties she faced
Molly Kendall- MyAccess. I have never even heard of this since it is for secondary. It sounds like it's a writing tool.
Cynthia Lloyd- Arcademics! Yay for games :) I think we need more learning games. She loved that it motivated students so much. She could also individualize the games so that the kids had to play on their own level. It is sad that it costs though.
Chandra Martz- She used a program called Pixie. This is an alternate form of assessment. The student is creating a project.
Libby McShinsky- GoogleDocs!! WooHoo! I love this one just because it was something that I presented on a few weeks back. She used it a little differently than I did. She also used Flubaroo to grade her results. Nice :)
Deborah Owens-- Wow, she is quite the over achiever! I was impress by all the tools that Debbie used. I definitely like the clickers.
Bettina Rasmusson-- Hmmmm...her presentation sounds a lot like mine! I am doing one on clickers as well. So I am pretty familiar with the same pros and cons that she listed.
KatyJo Roberts- Also another presentation that will mirror my own! She actually used the Clickers for Kinder as well, so we have very similar presentations.
David Selin- Skyward assessments. I wish I could use this in Kindergarten too. Oh well.
Jodee Steffensen--- She talked about using blogging to track her students progress. Good ideas!
Cassie Steiner- Clickers! Obviously this is a popular one.
Shanda Thornell- This is me. I talked about Clickers. If you hadn't already guessed.
LeeAnne Walker- Clickers :) Gotta love it. I think that most teachers feel the same way that I do. They are great for assessment, the kids love them, and technology just sucks sometimes.
Jared Ward- Polldaddy- he teaches teachers! yay! He used this tool to survey his teachers about their opinions on technology.
Ginny Watts- Yay for more clickers. I feel bad that so many of her assessments didn't work. I feel the pain. The receiver wouldn't even connect with my computer.
Heather Weiler- MyAccess! Something new. That's awesome, cuz I think my brain has turned off now. I have always wondered how a computer could grade writing though...
Mary Wilde- Skyward. I can't use this tool. bummer.
Lisa Young
AIMSweb
So to begin we have talked about using AIMSweb. We have already been trained on the different report options at our school, so that was pretty easy. I think that these reports are interesting to look at, but I also think that our district places way too much weight on them. They stressed that this test was just a snapshot, but almost all of the instructional decisions for grouping are based on these results. I have a few kids that I know did not perform to their best ability and I am sure that there are more than the ones I know of.
Reading Street
I have been playing with the ReadingStreet materials that are available online. I like all the different resources that are available there, but it's hard to know what is most valuable seeing as I don't have much time. But I don't see the same kinds of assessment resources. They are more geared toward instruction. Oh, but now they are addressing the assessment part.
The whole thing on Skyward would be really interesting except that we can't have our students go online and do it themselves. Maybe someday.
Group #1
This was my group! We talked about using checklists for assessment. I actually was really glad that this was my subject because it is something I will use a TON in my classroom. I can't say that our presentation was the most creative or original, but I think that we brought up some good ideas.
Group #2
This group did peer evaluations. I loved their little parody song that they started out with! They give a few ideas of ways that peers could evaluate each other. They used GoogleDocs and SurveyMonkey to collect responses from the students on their evaluations of their peers. I think that both of these tools would be great for the students. The little star thing as a great idea for my age students. Polldaddy.com. Gotta remember that one!
They also talked about using VoiceThread. I think this is a great way for students to assess each other because they can just record their voice and thoughts without the restriction of writing ability.
Group #3
Exit Tickets. I think this is a great way to get a quick evaluation of what they learned. I think that the tools they recommended would be great, but hard to use with Kindergarten. I think if we had the Early Childhood clickers and the students got really good at using them they could be a great way to do an exit ticket.
Group #4
Comic Life. I liked the idea of using comic life for students to re-tell stories. They also talked about making timelines for history. I also liked the idea of having students put pictures of objects and bubbles that tell what that object is and how it is used. Most of these ideas sound like a lot of fun. But I don't think that Kindergarten would be able to do it independently without a whole lot of work and preparation which requires time that I don't have.
Group #5
Wordle, and Tagxedo. Fun and Easy!! Both applications make word clouds. I have used Wordle before and it was really easy. Definitely enjoyed that one! I think that my kids would love making one of these if they had help. Unfortunately they wouldn't be able to read them when they were done. It might be fun to try them with our sight words though. I have never used Tagxedo, and I am excited to try it. They look like a lot of fun.
Group #6
GPS. These assessments sound like a lot of fun!! I would have loved to do the little treasure hunt type activity if I was in school. I like that the assessment was kind of self-correcting depending of where they ended up. I think it would be a really fun assessment if my students had an older grade buddy to help them.
Group #7
Prezi. I guess I am a little confused as to how you use this one for assessing. I like what they were doing as a lesson, but I am unsure of how it's an assessment. I guess you could assess their responses as you put together the prexi together. Or maybe I misunderstood and the students are the ones putting together the prezi.....hmmmm...
Group #8
Digital Storytelling. I definitely liked the little movie that this group put together! It made a lot of sense and I was able to see a lot of ways that digital storytelling could be used. I liked the idea of a book synopsis. My kids would be able to put pictures from a story in a movie and then narrate what happens during that story. I also liked how the group gave the pros and cons of using this method. It really is a time consuming project, but our learners catch on quickly to technology and they are motivated to use it.
Group #9
Storybird.com. I am at the end of my attention span here. It sounds like a great tool though! I like that the pictures are already there. My Kindergartners would have a blast making up a story to go along with the pictures. It would have to be with help, but it could definitely be modified.
So this class was all about using the UTIPS system. I have to be honest, this is probably the class that I have gotten the least from, just because it's pretty much completely inapplicable to Kindergarten. #1, my students can't read, so if they were to take a test this way it would have to be one on one, which I don't have time for. #2, I feel like I can get a better understanding of their knowledge in other ways because they wouldn't get what they were supposed to do. #3, it would take a whole class time to just get them logged in!
Haha....anyways, I did learn a bunch though. I never really understood what Utips was before, or why it was used. I now understand that it is a good way to get questions that relate to the core and put together an assessment. I liked how it showed different graphs to communicate the results. I also really enjoyed taking the test from the 5th grade core! I have forgotten a lot!! :)
So today we are doing rotations to learn about the different assessment tools that we can use online.
Flubaroo--
The first rotation I went to was Camille's about GoogleDocs in conjunction with Flubaroo. I think that this is a really neat tool for doing an online test. Unfortunately like many other tools it is difficult to use in Kindergarten. My kids can't read on their own yet, and this tool is completely based on that. I would be able to use it if I had a parent helping them, but that is almost the same as just doing the assessments one on one.
Neo2
Once again I really like this tool, but I am trying to figure out how to adjust to Kinder. It is so difficult when there is any type of reading/typing etc. But I think that it could work. It would be a great tool for a really quick assessment if we could get the kids trained on it. Especially using the ABC or number options. Just like the clickers I wish that we had an Early Childhood version to use in Kindergarten!!
Arcademic Skillbuilders
First thing I notice....games are from grade 1-6. Bummer. Haha. Kindergarten gets shafted again! Hopefully a lot of the 1st grade games can apply to end of year Kinder. I like the idea of games for learning as well as assessment. The kids would absolutely love it! I am always surprised at how quickly they catch on to games online too. So I think this kid of thing is right up their alley.
Quizlet
I found something applicable to Kindergarten here! They have letter flashcards and I love it!
I especially like that it will say the word or sound for you and the kids have to hear and match it with the letter. I think it would also be fairly easy to make my own beginning sound type flashcards. I would have to help them getting into the app on the Ipad, but I think from there they would love it!
eClickers
Also something I think I could use with my Kinders. It would be easy for them to use an IPad in a small group and answer questions that a leader asks. There is just the $15 app fee, so it's also cheaper than buying the expensive technologies.
How would i use this in my class? Benefits and Cons
Benefits: I really do like the idea of using clickers to help in assessment. Assessment in general is usually very difficult in Kindergarten. The majority of the time I have to do any assessments I will do them one on one. I feel like it's the only way to get a really accurate picture of the students understanding. Using paper and pencil is tricky because the students don't understand the concept of cheating. They also can't read the instructions, so pacing is difficult. I think that if I could train my students on Clickers there would be a lot of chances to do assessments as a whole class. I would be able to seat them far enough apart that they couldn't see each others clickers, and I wouldn't worry about keeping them engaged as some took longer with writing their responses than others. I also think that they would be wholly entertained by the whole thing. For that reason they would stay engaged.
Cons: the biggest thing I can think of is that the normal clicker is way to complicated for a Kindergartner. They do have some that are simplified down to four buttons that have different colors and shapes, but it would be difficult to get access to these. It would also take a good amount of time to train my students to use the clickers effectively enough to get accurate results/data. There is also the ever present probability that the technology just won't word for some reason.
I think that the benefits outweigh the cons, so long as we would be able to use the simplified clickers. I hope it works out!
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