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).