The last few weeks...

Ok, I've slacked the last few weeks with my blog. Honestly I've done nothing new. For the last 3 weeks I've only used OIS to have my students turn in papers and take a quiz. Really nothing exciting and I'm sorry. It's getting to be the end of the year and I'm slowing down. :)

March 30- April 3

Last week I was out of my classroom for 2 days due to a student conference. Honestly, I did nothing new in the technology department. Students used OIS to take a quiz and turn in an assignment in the drop box. It was a pretty simple, routine week...

Another 2 weeks worth...

Ok, I'm horrible. Life is way busy these days and so here I am once again blogging two weeks worth...Sorry!

March 16-20
This week I started a class of mine on a research project. Obviously we used the Internet to research but instead of having them write a paper and create a presentation I had them create web pages instead. This way they wrote their information and had a presentation all in one. I took a day showing them how to build a page, the do's and don'ts and gave them a handout on all the information I talked about. At first they were a little uneasy about doing this but as time went on and they got more and more comfortable with the SeaMonkey program they started enjoying what they were doing.

March 23-27
This week we continued working on our web pages, putting the final details on them, making corrections and getting them uploaded to the server. One minor problem; I had created folders for each group. When I went to upload their pages and pictures I ran into the problem of images being named the same thing. For example they all were required to find a picture of their country's flag and a map. Well most of them just named their images map or flag so I had multiple file names named the same thing. Oops! You live and learn. I know they were proud of what they created. I had several teachers tell me that students had shown them their sites in other classes. I think the project went pretty well and will tackle it again.

2 weeks worth...

So I forgot to blog last week (March 2-6) so I'm going to blog 2 weeks worth this time.

March 2-6 I had my students using a fun piece of technology. In my classroom I have a SMART board and Senteo "clickers" which are like interactive remote controls. The end of the quarter was approaching and we have to give what we call a common assessment at the end of each quarter. Well in my one class I knew a review would help them. Using the senteo program I created a trivia game. I displayed the questions on the SMART board and the students, who were in teams, entered their answers. When everyone has entered their response I revealed the correct answer and we discussed it. The cool thing about the clickers is you can quickly see what percentage answered correctly or incorrectly. It's very handy to know immediately if a question stumped a class so I know what we may need to review. The students said the review really helped them to remember everything we had covered. (The common assessment was comprehensive) I was very happy that the majority of the students did correctly answer questions that we had covered back in September! The majority did really well on their assessment. I think creating a game like this where there is no pressure really helps. Most students think they can't remember stuff from the beginning of the year but playing this game helped them to see they could. I think this helped to put their minds at ease so when they took the test they were relaxed and confident.

Last week I did my technology lesson to my interior design students. It went ok... I spent a few hours getting the computer lab ready, getting all necessary programs downloaded and installed. I created a handout for them to reference and I went through the project step-by-step with them. They were ready and excited for this project. The project was using Panorama Factory to create 360 degree virtual tours of rooms which they then had to identify the elements & principles (which we had been studying) in that room. Their next step was to create an audio file using Audacity identifying each element or principle. Finally they put their Quick-time file (what panorama factory creates), their audio file and a brief description of what we will be viewing onto a web page they would create (which I taught them to do earlier in the semester). Well we ran into an issue (of course)! The program kept shutting down when they would go to save their final projects. I have contacted Panorama factories tech support SEVERAL times but no one seems interested in responding to me. So now I'm a little stuck. I have 38 unfinished projects because we can't finish the project, I have 38 unhappy students because all the work they've done is wasted and I'm very unhappy because when I demonstrated this to them it worked perfectly. Over the weekend I have found an online program that is free and very similar to what I was doing with them. The only downfall is the program I was using would allow my to embed their files on my web page. This online program I don't think will allow me to do that. I'm still playing though to find out more. Technology can be so fun but so disappointing too...

Week 6

So this week I was home sick with the flu :( It was not a very good week. Before I had gotten sick I had told my class they would be having a quiz on Friday. Well not being at school posed a problem; how was I going to make a quiz and get it to the sub? I LOVE the OIS system. I was able to create the quiz at home, it was then available to my students on the day I had it scheduled and I was able to see their results all without having to leave my couch. I know many universities have used online programs for many years but I now see the great benefit of having online services for high schools also. I'm sure my classes were not happy with me. I'm guessing they thought that they had a sub so they were going to have easy days but the quiz worked. This type of program could be helpful on days I'm gone to conferences or just sick. It can allow a classroom to continue on without having to be tied to your classroom.

This week was a slow week as far as technology is concerned. Most of my classess were working on projects that did not require the use of a computer or internet. I did have one class use OIS to take an online quiz. OIS is similar to Blackboard. It is just powered by Southeast MO State University. One of the features is called Utest. It allows students to take quizzes and tests online. I've been having my classes take vocab quizzes on Utest. The students like it because it gives them instant feedback. They can see their score as well as which questions they missed. I like it because it is very easy to set up and it saves me the trouble of grading plus breaks down the scores so I can see which questions were missed most so I know what I may need to reteach.

So last week was a short week (no school on Friday) and I didn't do much in the technology department. This week my child development class created Power Points as a comprehensive project. We just finished studying the developing child. So far this year we have studied ages birth thru 12 years; their physical, intellectual, social and emotional development in each stage. I wanted to see what my students had learned. I had them create a Power Point timeline telling me what they know in each of the developmental areas in each stage. They could only use the Internet to find pictures. This was NOT a research project! I gave them specific instructions: limited transitions, slide #'s, background/font colors, use of pictures. I told them to tell me what they knew. I had planned on this taking just two-three days but they have surprised me. I think most are creating a Power Point novel and I've had to extend the deadline to next week. Power Point is a breeze for most students and I'm not really having any issues. The biggest issue I have is them putting too much info on the slides. They try to write slides like they would a document. I've told them to limit their information but it just doesn't seem to sink in.