Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Class 10: School's Out in Summer!

Why not treat yourself for a job well done!
My apologies for those who didn't get the bad Alice Cooper reference in today's title, I was going to post a picture of him, but most of the stuff on Wylio is kinda creepy ;-)  I'll give you a happy picture to end our summer together.

We have a lot of cleaning up to do.  I thought I would try and give a checklist of sorts to ensure all of us understand what we need to accomplish by the end of the evening. . .I have spent a lot of time today grading everything I could. . If you are missing some grades . . .CHECK FOR COMMENTS ON EDMODO!  I am waiting on the following assignments to grade: Symbaloo, Journals 6-10, Mind Map, Emerging Tech, Google Tools, and the Cybersafety websites. . .I did give the fifth round of feedback on the NETS I collaborative narratives, so please check for that and revise if needed.

Tonight. . .phew, okay let's make a list:

1.  Come to class ;-)
2.  Ensure your NETS I narratives are complete and that you have shared the NETS I-V Google Doc with me (check that you have titled it correctly as well)
3.  We will ensure that you have links to your blog and your narratives in TaskStream and that you have requested feedback. Everyone, save two, should have already requested comments so I can access their TaskStream accounts.  We will be embedding the Symbaloo in it tonight!
4.  Speaking of Symbaloo, ensure that you have completed your TPE14 webmix and that it is ready to embed.  Pictures in the tiles are a huge plus!!
5.  Emerging Technology Checklist/Matrix . . .This will ensure you have everything on your blog that needs to be there. . .it must be checked by you and double-checked by a peer!
6.  Submit the completed Emerging Technology checklist ;-)
7.  Check that all of your assignments are graded and edited if need be. . .
8.  Evaluations should have been sent to your cougar email. . .I would greatly appreciate it if you would complete them for me.
9. Other. . .I'm sure I have forgotten something. . .I may revise this when I make it to campus.

Final Question:  What is one thing you will take away from this course?

Monday, August 6, 2012

Class 9: Testing your Mettle?

My girls going for gold last weekend!!
The penultimate class.  I realize that everyone is probably exhausted and trying their best to keep up with the workload. . .I know I am doing my best to keep up with the grading ;)  The good news is that we really don't have anything new this week except to finish all the pending assignments and to compete the final 4 NETS narratives, with the accompanying Symbaloo TPE 14 webmix.  Tonight, I'll give you some time to complete work in the lab.  There may be some lingering iMovie questions or Weebly issues.  Then we'll learn how to put the iMovie on the website and discuss how to get the rest of your artifacts on the blog & Symbaloo webmix (part of the Emerging Technology assignment & TPE portfolio).  I think we are almost finished with everyone's NETS I collaborative narrative.  Along with many of your classmates, I have spent the entire day in the single subject orientation, day two.  It was nice to see so many friendly faces and to know that they have the mad tech skills necessary to create an awesome PLN in the single subject program.

I will do my absolute best to have every single item graded by Wednesday's class so you will know where you stand and what you might need to edit or revise.  As usual, I will be in class early to help anyone who might need some extra assistance.

Tonight's Question:  What has been your favorite assignment in this class and why?

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Class 8: Who is Responsible for Your Learning?

NETS-T Word Cloud using Tagul
In honor of modeling the writing style that I have asked each of you to use for your NETS-T narratives, I thought I would write you a blog post utilizing the same style and color-coding.  It could also be the case that I am a dork who wastes endless amounts of time creating blog posts that you may or may not find helpful. . .I'll leave it up for each of you to decide individually ;-)  I have made a second pass through your collaborative narratives and many of you either didn't revise or failed to leave comments as to what you revised. . .this is an important and very necessary part of the assignment. . .and we are running very short on time. . .


National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS)
It is important for every teacher candidate to find ways to integrate technology into the curriculum in a creative manner that supports student learning.  As such, I have taken all of the material in my EDUC 422 Technology Tools and hosted it in a virtual space that is easily accessible for all my students. Through a class blog, a discussion or information site published in the Internet, Edmodo, a social learning network for teachers, students, and parents, and Google Sites, a structured wiki and web page creation tool, I am modeling how to design and implement learning experiences to engage students and advance my professional practice.  My classroom blog, constructed using Blogger, a free blogging tool from Google, provides weekly/biweekly updates for my students regarding the content of the upcoming classes and serves as a reminder for what needs to be accomplished.  Edmodo offers my students a virtual space to access course assignments and interact with peers to share information and ask questions about course content or to gain general information.  I used Google Sites to host information and assignment instructions that can be easily accessed by my students in an organized manner. My creative use of these tools to provide a learning experience for my students allows me to model collaborative knowledge construction and ways that they might be able to use technology in a virtual environment to connect and collaborate with their future students and parents.  Exposing future teachers to a multitude of emerging technology tools and strategies for integrating them into the curriculum allows me to contribute to the vitality of the teaching profession and ways to improve student learning.  (NETS-T I, V)


Tonight we will be creating iMovie Public Service Announcement about CSUSM.  As I mentioned in class Monday, I will provide you with the video and music, but you are welcome to bring your own (don't forget your cord if you shoot on your iPhone). I also plan on introducing you to the mind mapping assignment to brainstorm the remaining NETS-T artifacts. If we have time, I would also love to meet with you individually if you have any questions about writing TaskStream narratives. . .

Please bring Headphones. . .we will need them when editing video

Don't forget: As part of your Emerging Technology assignment you will be putting all of your artifacts on your blog (Monday) and you will creating a Symbaloo webmix as a TPE 14 portfolio that you will be embedding in TaskStream.  And I'm sure you have plenty of other things to keep you busy this weekend and beyond. . .

Tonight's Question: If you were tasked to change one thing about the current education model what would it be? (think curriculum, instruction, physical space of the school or classroom, etc. . .)