Module 3 - assignment 2 - Twitter -the anti educator "GASP!"

I am assuming, since we are in the midst of an educational course that allows us to express our feelings and our thoughts freely, that I can say this without failing immediately. Twitter is a "dis-educator". So spell check won't support it, and I know the articles I read give great ideas for using Twitter as a way to create thoughtful, well spoken comments. Still, I feel that Twitter, at its very basic level, teaches students to over-simplify, and under-express themselves. Twitter may be a great notification tool - but I got a nice phone call from HCPS tonight that told me that schools were on a 2 hour delay tomorrow and that worked just fine. And more importantly, I worry that Twitter really does hit that digital divide of the have and have nots. With papers, and tests and assignments, etc it's easier to make sure that we get copies from those students without the digital connection, but Twitter should only, ever, be used as a back-up. I cannot image HCPS using it as a primary means of communication. Too many children in our area are lacking the resources to access it.

That doesn't mean that I don't agree with the clever ways to use it. But for every great way I think of to use it in high school, I think of a conflict. And that really challenges me. Twitter is great for reminders, but students often claim they "didn't get it". Twitter has no feedback to say whether or not they did - so I have to assume they didn't. And that puts me in an awkward situation. I can prove I posted it - I can't prove they received it. A flaw that I can't fix, versus handing them something in person or emailing it with a "confirmation". Students have twittered questions, which are great, but then they have never checked for the results. Again - there needs to be some type of confirmation.

I dislike Twitter. I don't like to post every day. It's personal, Just gotta say. Many of my kids dislike Twitter as well. It's a technology that seems to be disappearing. Just saying. Twitter is constantly hanging over your shoulder, waiting for a post, and I am not the type to use it daily. I don't want it hanging in front of me and my kids tell me they don't want me "THAT" involved in their lives...

Module 3 - assignment 5 - flipped classroom

The flipped classroom is not a new concept for me. We have heard about it at our school for a few years, and there is always a buzz of excitement by the presenter and the teachers who are demonstrating it, and a series of eye rolls from everyone else. Having seen the videos, I find myself caught in the same old space. Sure it sounds wonderful, and I do see tremendous merit in it, but the reason for the eye roll is universal. The irony of the efficiency received on the back side of the program is coupled with a huge amount of investment on the front side, and therein lies my, and other teachers' problem. Our schools, the same schools who hold up the glorious banner of the concept of the flipped classroom, also suck every last bit of free time we have to actually create the content needed for this. My planning period is an oxymoron. I can't plan anything for it or during it because on any given day I will be covering someone else's class, watching 3 other rooms while teachers take a bathroom break, sitting in on an IEP meeting, or participating in another mandatory SOL meeting.

After-school, I have remediation with students, assigned game duties, grading responsibilities, and family obligations. I have tried very hard to see where to find the time to do the flipping, and just haven't found it yet. That is what I most want to get out of this class. How do I find time to flip? And more importantly, how do I get the student's to buy into it? I know the concept of the engagement sounds great, but less than 15% of my students turn in their homework now - how will that change? Does it change? I'm curious. I would love to have my AP students in particular read concepts before they come into class because they are the most likely to get lost during lectures, and we don't have time to slow down. And how does this affect the new accountability model of our evaluation cycle? We already have the guillotine of SOL's hanging over our heads - how do we keep those kids on pace to finish content if they are taking their time to understand it? I see great promise, but I have a lot of questions.

Time in a Bottle

Module 2 - assignment 9 - iPad - Khan Academy

Forget your allegiances to Star fleet- - we're gonna embrace Khan academy here, because it really is a fantastic resource for high school classes, especially science ones, but it also runs the risk of being over the top. I downloaded Khan because our Chem AP teacher uses it a lot and I wanted to see the Bio side of it. I love it, and to me it is clear, but my students have a tough time following me in slow motion on the board, much less the pace that a lot of the Khan instructors present it. Of course the benefit to them is they can rewind, jump around ,etc, but many won't take the time to write what the instructor is writing, so I'm still up in the air over it being a very useful tool. I think I want to try it this year on the students I have first semester who will have to wait 4 months until they actually get to take the AP exam in the spring, since I think it could be great review material.

Module 2 - assignment 8 - Dropbox - please don't kick me out

I teach Seniors, and it is imperative they understand the basic steps of basic animal behavior and courtship. I found this clip a few years ago and it has been the favorite of my students ever since. Just don't hold it against me :)   I love dropbox, I am actually working very diligently to get the other teachers in my building to use it more than the students. While I see tremendous advantages in student usage, as teachers we are always trying to share lesson plans and awesome activities we find with each other via email, and the problem is that it's just one to one. If we were to get everyone on board, and create some folders that were for each subject area, and then one or two for math review and for basic STEM problem solving, we could have a goldmine in using dropbox. I am really going to try to make that work. The shared folder is so valuable, and it means if I lose it for some reason, or get upgraded, etc. I can still recover those lessons. So let's hope I can get all on board. And meanwhile, watch out for those crazy fruit flies!

Module 2 - assignment 7 - Bunn - google docs

Gonna keep it sorta vanilla tonight. I like Google docs, and I am using it quite a bit now so I feel pretty comfortable with the whole concept. But I did come across a few ideas in this process that I like, and I'd like to throw out one headache I've been having.

I have recently assigned a large project for the end of term, that will represent half of the the student's final exam grade, yet I haven't heard of anyone making any progress on it. They think it is one they can throw together at the last minute, which tells me they really haven't read the rubric or paid any attention to it. It is a tough, thorough project and the rubric doesn't allow them to half-a** it. So I liked the concept of using Google docs to track student progress.

While the students are required to create a trifold in the standard science fair format, many haven't begun to look for their content. I think I will create a series of Google Docs, one for each week, that will challenge students to update me on their findings, or allow me to comment on their potential design. I'm still working out the challenges since it does require google access, and that has been my headache.

I tried using Google Docs with my NHS kids recently and half of them still don't have a gmail/google acct. I am going to pin them down in the room and make them get it then and there. I know these kids have so many different accounts and passwords it's impossible to keep up with them. I see this as a huge flaw in the digital age, but I don't know how to fix it.

I also plan on using Google docs to keep my homework assignment chart updated more readily in the future. I will be playing with that this weekend. It's been a crazy few weeks and getting crazier by the second. I don't find these assignments difficult, I just have trouble finding the time between the boys and my students and their upcoming tests...yaaaawwwwnnnn

Module 2 - assignment 5 - deliciosa...ok so it sounded good...Bunn

I have been using Delicious for the past few weeks at school, and I love it but I learned a valuable lesson. If you create a special tag for it, remember what it is for and write it down! I made about 3 special tags, then forgot what they were for because I didn't use them frequently enough, so I had to do the scroll down method. Gotta get more efficient. I still like Delicious a lot, but I also learned to put the Delicious link on my tool bar in addition to the "Add to Delicious" link so I could get their faster.

I was creating a unit this time around on Plate tectonics, and found several links at home, so I saved those to Delicious so I could pull them up at school. Worked like a charm :) I really like this site and it's availability, though I still wish it had a folder option. I also looked at Sbazak and other's sites- very interesting. I think in the future I would send a link or some type of message to make it easier. Delicious is great for bookmarking, but not really fluid on interactions.

So divergent plate boundaries will create this on the ocean floor, essential for the formation of new crust. What is it? Search my Delicious links and see :)

Module 2 - Assignment 4 - Microbloggin with twitter - Bunn's Achilles Heel

Okay, I think it's fair for me to express my opinion given this is a class assignment. I am just having serious issues with turning twitter into a classroom tool, much less posting every day. I guess I could do it every day when I'm online at school, but there is a part of me that finds it unethical to "tweet" while at school since our admin seems to follow the same policy. Maybe others or Sbazak could comment on that. Not just for this assignment but in general. I still see positive ways to use twitter - like a constant process feed for a signal transduction pathway, where every student would have to tweet a step but would not be allowed to tweet a second, thereby making everyone participate. But honestly students tell me they are moving away from twitter to instagram, which is more image friendly, and we have quite the vain generation coming up. They are so used to "selfies" - I liked the challenge I saw earlier this year from the woman challenging folks to give up selfies for an entire month. Very few could do it. So while I can present strategies for using twitter, I think the cultural shift is moving away from it. Maybe it's time to adjust the course to follow...We need to get real and follow what we see and the shift. I don't see twitter surviving the new age...And twitter is especially tough in the sciences, where developments and discoveries happen slowly and are vetted carefully by others....

Module 2- Assignment 6 - Pinterest - Bunn's crockpot

So one of my favorite ways to use the internet now is to find recipes. I particularly like the fact that you can find specialized topics or types of recipes without having to buy a whole cookbook just for the topic. So now that winter is here, and I don't want to spend excessive amounts of time cooking and I love warm, hearty food, I created a Crockpot Pinterest Board. I waded into the general search engines to find some starters, and from there started jumping around to different people's pages including some designated for the exact same concept. :) I find some yummy looking things, with limited ingredients and lots of yum factor so I added those pins as well. I can't wait to try out some of these. Pinterest is a lot of fun for me to use, but I confess that on the average day I won't even use it. But when I have a little time and decide to "stock up" on links, this is a good way to do it :). I just found out that my father-in-law is being examined for a possible allergy to beef and pork due to a tick bite, so I found a recipe for a Crock-pot turkey lasagna that I'll have to try this weekend :)

Module 2 - assignment 3 - Wordle and Tagxedo - super fly! Bunn

These are great programs. I like the Wordle as a way of demonstrating importance to others of concepts, terms and even just words. I want to use this with some Biology lessons that demonstrate the importance of the background knowledge - like microtubules in Mitosis, or Kinases in Cellular communications. I also like to be able to demonstrate the power of words with the visual elements that Tagxedo lets you embellish with. I thought of the things that are tearing the world apart that often are of human creation, and then incorporated them into the following image to show just how "explosive" these concepts are. I showed this to my class and they loved it. We may all do a Tagxedo next week...

Module 2 - Assignment 2 - Maintaining and Expanding - Bunn - a great way to share

So I decided this was a great place to share my philosophy on teaching science. And honestly, I could have added much much more and may one day go and do that, but I just wanted people to see what I love about teaching Science. The page feature is nice because it doesn't just slip below view later, and if someone checks it out and doesn't like it, then they have a reason not to follow my blog, which is okay too. I see it as a way to keep refining my personal philosophy with this blog, even if it isn't specifically connected.

I also like to be able to add multiple images and humor and work it into the blog as an aside, so I can go back later and see what my thoughts were then. I may add a personal CV page in the future - it could be useful if a blog ever gets picked up by someone who likes what I'm writing - ya never know :) We become what we receive, at least in knowledge and our lives, so I'm curious to see what effect my philosophy will have on others in the future...

Module 1 -assignments 8 and 9 - Bunn - the highs and lows of iPads in the classroom

I have the fortune/misfortune of having iPads in my classroom for 2 years now. They have created some excellent learning opportunities and platforms, but I have also felt the sting of the evil anti-flash sentiment that pervades Apple. The first, most obvious use for me was the ability to provide students with internet access for research and webquests (though the anti-flash has made that trickier), as well as an opportunity for students use specific applets for learning. However, each applet we use has to be installed by our Tech support, so it is imperative that we have a real use for it. That means that the iPads often have a range of applets that are installed and interesting, but have no real connection to our class content. Nevertheless, since the carts are made to be mobile, they must remain to be accessible to other teachers. All of this adds up to distraction city.

I did decide that there were some applets our students needed. Of particular note was a Smart Notebook applet that lets students use and even create Smartboard programs. This allowed us to use Smartboard to create some Technology enhanced items including sorting and drag and drop that the students can now access at their own iPad rather than one student coming to the board and doing it all. This meant that every student could drag and drop, and sort answers similar to the way they will be asked on the interactive portions of the new SOLS. Of course there are some limitations. Some of the technology supported by the Smartboard on specific programs found on line is Flash driven, so those Smartboard lessons can't be used to their fullest extent on these iPads. However, the creation capability is interesting as each student can be asked to create a Smartboard page about a specific topic, and then they can all be added together to make on Smartboard presentation. Our biggest hurdle was that the program was not free, but I was successful in writing a PIE grant for about $500 to install it on 90 iPads in the school so we can use that application. It is now available on iPads in the Sciences and Social Studies. 

Another useful application for the iPads in the classroom is how they allow students to access Powerpoint slides for notetaking or review. This has proven useful in a flipped classroom sort of way for my AP classes, as they often get confused trying to take the notes as I talk. Now they can go on to the site, write the notes down, and then follow along as I present them, annotating or editing where needed. I have also embraced the iPads for AP use by utilizing a question/test taking program that allows them to practice questions related to the high level content they are receiving, and then getting instant feedback on how they are doing. This Quest program is not iPad specific, but it is accessible from anywhere that has internet access, including smart phones, so it has been very useful for related practice and homework.

In all, I am probably not using the iPads to the extent that they are capable of being used, but I hope to have the time in the future to incorporate more specific apps as we go on.

Module 1- assignment 6 - Google docs - love it but needs help

So I sent y'all a query via Google spreadsheet for your breakfast preference. Another wonderful member of our group already started this discussion ;) but since I signed up for a breakfast casserole, I decided to make sure I didn't throw anything in there that would mess with anyone's digestive system and have them bolting out of our instructor's excellent presentation.

I use Google docs a lot, and really like it except for some limitations. For example, you can't seem to name the column headers in the google spreadsheet. You can in excel but not here, at least not that I can find a solution for. Hopefully they will fix that. I am experimenting with using Google docs with my NHS club this year to conduct business in the time that they are so wrapped up they can't participate in actual meetings. But it's so hard to get them to sign in and read. I can't even get emails from some of them. ARRGGHHHHH.

Google docs is best used with an entirely cohesive unit. Either they all use it or they don't. It's like differentiating for a class - if the kids don't want to use it, it will require significant extra work to get them to be involved, and it's not fair to penalize them if they just can't seem to get it. It is an excellent differentiation and business tool and I still want to use it with my after-school group, but I see problems using it in the classroom without providing options for those students who don't grasp it. They signed up for Earth Science, not IT collaborative programming. I can grade them on the one but I need to be patient on the other. I think this is where that knowledge comes in. It is not fair to grade a student in Earth Science on whether or not they can use google docs. As long as I provide them an alternative I think I am covering the content. And some concepts just need an image to understand :). Thoughts?