Final Project

Here is a link to my final project
http://gmontcri.wikispaces.com/

AR#7 Rubric

Activity Reflection # 7

Rubric

The last activity reflection in my EME 5050 graduate class asked us to design and complete an evaluation rubric.  This rubric is to be used with our digital project that we have been working on for the past couple of weeks.  It is designed to be an authentic assessment which “can be formal or informal and aims to present students with tasks that mirror the objectives and challenges typical of their instructional activities” (Gunter 2010).  To me, this is a more effective means of letting the students know how the content of the project will be graded, instead of just saying that the project will be based on 100 points.  This way the students know up front how much each part of the project is worth and the breakdown of how it will be graded.

As a math teacher who has been out of the classroom for a few years, I have never completed a rubric before.  So, after reading all the information for week 12 and visiting the websites, I decided to use iRubric to help me.  After getting familiar with the software and visiting completed rubric by others, I decided to get started.  I found the website very user friendly.  Before long I was quickly on my way to producing my first rubric.   

I found it pretty simple to list the criteria for 3 levels of grading; superior, good and fair.  I ran into trouble dividing the grading levels down into 5 categories.  I really had to stop and think about how to break each item down farther. 

I feel that authentic assessment works well with a project based assignment.   As a former and hopefully future middle/high school math teacher, I don’t see my- self using rubric authentic assessment very often.  I don’t feel it would be a useful tool to grade homework, class work, math pages or even quizzes & tests.  I definitely will use it for the few times a year that I assign a project in my math classes.

Here is a link to my rubric.

Works Cited:

Gunter, Glenda. (2010) Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6^th Ed.)Boston MA.    

AR 6, Digital Story

Activity Reflection #6

Sample Project

During the last couple of weeks in our graduate class we have been working on sections of a web quest for our future class.  The first week we “dreamed” about what our project would be about.  The next week, we wrote a curriculum page for the project.  Finally, this week our assignment was to complete a sample project using presentational software to show our students. 

Let’s start with my sample project.  The first step was to decide on a presentation application to use for my project.  After working with the various tools over the course of this project, I decided that I would use Prezi to present my digital story.  I enjoyed working with the software during week eight and figured that would be the best way to proceed.  I had no trouble using Prezi to put together my sample project.  I can positively say that I will use Prezi in my future classes. 

For my project, I chose to model a 7^th grade geography class taking a trip with a partner to several European countries, and compile a digital scrapbook of their journey to share with the class.  Originally, on my curriculum page, each person would travel to 3 countries collecting 13 pieces of data.  In addition they would visit 2 points of interest in each country collecting 7 pieces on data.  My first belief was that this project would be a project that could be completed in just a week.  However, it quickly became apparent that it would be better as a semester project.  As I started to complete my sample project, I realized that it was huge, and way too much for me to expect from my students.  I decided to scale back the project by having the students only visit 4 countries (2 each) and only collect 10 facts from each.  They would still visit 2 points of interest in each country but only be required to collect 5 facts from each. 

When you view my sample project, you will notice that I only included 2 countries with 2 points of interest from each to give the students an understanding what I was looking for.  When the students view their sample project using my wiki they will see a note about the information in the sample project and what is required in their final project.  Hopefully my future students will understand what I’m looking for.

I love the way that all the small pieces of this course have come together.  As I started this course I was apprehensive about the technology.  I can confidently say today, that I feel comfortable with making a web quest and using a wiki.  I know I have a lot more to learn but I feel that I’m moving in the right direction.

My last thought, hopefully as you view my sample project and wiki you find that I have linked everything together correctly.  I must say, I had no trouble linking my wiki to my sample project, and finally to my blog.  I must be getting a good grasp on this technology!

Activity Reaction 5

Curriculum Page

Click above to see my curriculum page

     This week in EME 5050 we were asked to create a curriculum page using the wiki we created last week.  When I thought about a curriculum page, the first thought that came to mind was a lesson plan.  According to our textbook, a curriculum page is a “teacher created document containing hyperlinks to teacher selected web sites that assist in teaching content-specific standards and objectives” (Gunter 2010).  After reviewing the samples in the textbook, I came to the conclusion that a curriculum page is very similar to what a lesson plan use to be when I was teaching.  A curriculum page involves the integration of a lesson plan with technology.

Our curriculum page is based on the digital story project we created in week 9.  Since I’m currently teaching out of field, I went with the 7^th grade Geography class. My classes’ assignment will be to create a digital scrapbook of a European vacation. 

 Since I have never worked with a wiki before, I was apprehensive about this hands-on assignment.   I set up my wiki very easily with PBWorks for Educators and then proceeded to use the One-page WebQuest Template provided by our instructor to set up the curriculum page.  When I looked at the template, I was a bit overwhelmed with all the parts that we needed to complete. The template included several sections like introduction, task, process, evaluation and conclusion.  After going back and rereading our task for this week, I saw we only needed to complete the curriculum page and the rest will be finished in the weeks to come.

 I used Microsoft Word to help jot down my ideas and keep my ideas in order. After I had an outline of my curriculum page I added color and some clip-art.  My next step was to paste into my wiki.  This is where I ran into trouble.  I tried several times to cut and paste from my word document into my PBWorks wiki.  The text would show up but the clip art kept being left behind.  I looked for an easy insert tab for clip art and tired to upload into a file but everything I tried ran into problems.  At this point I was frustrated, and a friend mentioned another wiki site called WikiSpaces.  After a bit of explaining what my trouble was, she thought that this would be a much easier solution to work with.

 I went to their website and immediately liked the layout better than PBWorks.  After working with the help section, I was able to paste my curriculum page and upload the clipart with very little trouble.  My curriculum page is separated into several pages by using the links I provided.  Hopefully, you can easily navigate between the pages. I created a home page and an evaluation pages for assignments to come. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of using a wiki in my classroom.

Works Cited:

Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom, 6th Ed., Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, and Gunter. Course Technology - Thompson Publishing (2010).

Travel to Europe- RR5

Reading Reaction 5

For my masters class EME 5050 this week we have been asked to reflect about a digital storytelling project assignment that we would give our class.  I’m certified in Math 6-12 grade and have taught math in middle and high school.  Currently I’m part-time teaching, out of field, in three separate classes; an 8^th grade science, a 6^th grade science and a 7^th grade geography class.  It is pretty easy for me to choose the grade and subject I would prepare this project.  I’m going to use the 7^th grade geography class.

I would start this project by discussing what is a digital story is.  I would explain to my class that it is a way to use technology to help tell a story. I would show them the U-Tube video Digital Storytelling in Plain English.  I feel this video is a great, straight-forward tutorial.  Next, I would discuss with them the variety of digital presentation packages that are available for their use.  We would talk about PowerPoint presentations, and then I would show them Prezi and Slideshare.  I would let them see digital storytelling presentations in both of the free online software.  The students would be free to choose the software that they would like to use to prepare the project.

After they have a good foundation about what a digital story is, I would explain their assignment using an instructional model.  In Seminole County, 7^th grade Geography classes study Europe, Russia, Latin and North America.  For their project they would need to complete a travel video, in the form of a digital story, for a European country that they would like to visit. 

They would need to use a search engine (Google, Yahoo) to research their country.  I would have them include certain items like location of their country, surrounding countries, capital, language, currency, and religion.  Their project would need to consist of several pictures highlighting their country and why they would chose to travel there.  The students should also include the history of their chosen country, along with the type of government. 

Most of the time, the students are required to write a report on a topic.  Sure they use the internet to compile their research, but I feel by having the student prepare and share a digital story is a great way to explore a new country.  The students are still doing research, organizing their data, and putting it all together in a final presentation. According to out textbook, “when a student can hear, see, and interact with learning, they can retain as much as 80% of the material” (Gunter 2010). 

After all, isn’t that the goal of every teacher?

Works Cited:

Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating Technology and Digital Media in the Classroom, 6th Ed., Shelly, Cashman, Gunter, and Gunter. Course Technology - Thompson Publishing (2010).

Digital Storytelling - Activity Reflection 4

AR 4 Online Presentation on Prezi

Activity Reflection 4

This week in our master class, EME5050, we were asked to complete a hands-on activity.  This activity asked us to explore the world of digital media and its applications in the classroom.  We took a look at two free software presentation tools, and used one of them to put together a presentation about digital storytelling.  Being a perspicacious PowerPoint user, I had created a few presentations in the past and have seen quite a few more done by others, so I was energized to get started.  I’m a hands-on learner, and prefer to do a project than write a paper, so this was right up my alley.

The first program I looked at was Slideshare. I took the opportunity to watch the Slideshare tour to get more acquainted with the software.  I found this program to be very similar in nature to PowerPoint.  When working with Slideshare, you setup several slides that present your material. Sticking with Slideshare would have been an easy way to complete the assignment but I wanted something different, so I moved on to the next application.

So the next program I explored was Prezi.  From the first presentation that I watched, I was hooked.  I thought this was an incredibly new and innovative way to create a presentation to give to a group of students; the same students who have probably been watching and making PowerPoint presentations of their own since first grade. 

After making my decision on which online software tool I was going to use, the very first thing I did was to watch several different completed sample projects on Prezi.  I must say that I was impressed with the final projects.  Next, I signed up for the free license and watched the very informative short video.  The video was a step by step explanation of how to use all the tools to make a Prezi.  So, I rolled up my shirt sleeves and dove right in.  I was amazed at how easy it was to input all my information.  It was almost second-nature to edit it, requiring only a couple clicks of the mouse.  I liked that the circle tool is easily available to you in the upper left-hand corner.  I even added some free clipart just for fun!

As I was completing my Prezi assignment for class, I was thinking of all the wonderful ways I would incorporate this into a classroom.  I could put together a short teacher introduction to be used for an open house for the parents.  Or, I could use it to show a step-by-step concept in Algebra.  Better yet, it’s simple enough to have the students create their own Prezi using a topic in Geometry.  The possibilities seem endless. I think my first Prezi isn’t perfect but I’m looking forward to become more familiar with the program, and incorporating it into my classroom in the future.

About Me

Activity Reflection 3

Our assignment for class this week was to complete an “About Me” page that would be connected to our blog. First we needed to decide who are audience would be; other educators, or parents/students. Since I’m currently not teaching I decided that mine would be geared towards other educators.

I had never done anything like this before so I was a little apprehensive in how I was going to complete this assignment.  I never even gave my online identity any thought; for that matter I didn’t know if I even had an online identity.  But I took to this assignment with an open mind.

I started with a link given to us by our instructor, called Online Identity Calculator. This website allows you to find out information about your online identity; who the rest of the online world sees you as.  This site takes into account the amount of information that is found about you on Google.  Your results are displayed on a bar graph with four areas; Digitally Disastrous, Digitally Distinct, Digitally Dissed, or Digitally Dabbling.  When I filled out the information, I wasn’t surprised to find out that I was Digitally Disastrous.  I really haven’t made that much of a digital impression on the world.

I found this statement in our reading of The Future of Reputation by Daniel J. Solove, and it really made an impression on me.  It goes, “the information that emerges in a Google search of a person’s name might not all relate to that person—it could pertain to other people with the same name. Or it could be spoofed.” (Solove 2007).  I found this to be accurate when I used Google to search for my name. I was surprised to find that my name yielded 10 results.  But what was even more surprising to me, is that some of them weren’t even about me.  I had truly not expected my name to pop up anywhere on the internet.

To start building my teacher’s profile page, I decided to use Google Profile, the only reason why I choose this is because I like the way it looked.  Using Google Profile was pretty straight forward, I had very little trouble following the about page instructions given to us.  We needed to fill in pieces of information about ourselves.  This included personal information from our name, our teaching philosophy, and even inserting a picture.  The next step was to link our new “About Me” page to my blog.  This gave me no trouble at all, as I added the link to my Blogger page with ease.

However, I had some difficulty linking my Blog to my “About Me” profile in Google Profiles.  My Blogger home page wouldn’t allow me to remove the link to my Blogger Profile and replace it with the link to my Google Profile.  So, I decided to create my “About Me” page using Blogger Profiles as well.  That way, I’d have both bases covered.  Unfortunately, I ran into yet another problem when trying to write the “About Me” section in Blogger.  Apparently you can only have a maximum 1200 characters, and my post was a bit longer than that.  So, I fell back and wrote it in Google Profile.

To sum things up, this assignment taught me about my online identity as a professional educator.  In this case, I didn’t have much (if any) of one.  I did find it interesting that my leave of absence from the Seminole County School System from 1997 did show up in my search results.

According to our reading this week, our reputation is one of our most cherished assets (Solove 2007).  I have always believed this to be true, but never stopped to realize how the digital age has changed the landscape of our lives.

I leave you with this last thought as you work, play, and post items on the internet.  “The Internet, however, makes gossip a permanent reputational stain; one that never fades. It is available around the world and with Google it can be readily found in less than a second” (Solove 2007).

Works Citied:

• Solove, Daniel J. (2007). The Future of Reputation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Links to Web Sites:

• Online Identity Calculator
• Google Profiles
• You can find my full profile on Google Profiles here.