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?

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?

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. . .)

Class 7: How not to Juggle Cats. . .

If you are wondering whether or not I sympathize with the crazy amount of work you are all doing in such a short period of time, I can assure you I not only understand, but sympathize as well.  With my day job, teaching summer school, my family, and life in general, I find hours and sometimes days pass and I wonder where the time goes. . .The best we can all do is our best.  I applied for the Google Teacher Academy New York late last night. . .I had to submit a one-minute video and fill out the application. . .I think I submitted it at exactly 11:59pm (the time I had set aside to complete this was truncated by a soccer tournament and a girl scout project).  I'm sure my application and video were too rushed to get me in, but I gave it a shot. . .I definitely didn't have the time to create the type of video I wanted to. . .I even had to enlist the aid of my children to play the "cute kid" card in hopes of selling myself. . . This morning, I created a Kony-inspired image in hopes of overcoming the shaky video. . .oh well. . .maybe next year.

Tonight, you should be ready to present your NETS-S Prezi presentations to your peers. . .the Google Form assessment should be ready as well.  I will take time at the beginning of class to ensure you can get the Prezi, the assessment, and the link to the results on a blog page. You will then present to a small group of peers in the same grade range.  You should also have plenty of other assignments to keep you busy. . .I have read and commented on most of the NETS collaborative narratives.  I hope to have them all read with feedback by class time.  I can tell you that I really think everyone would benefit from looking at past student samples to serve as a guide for how to write the paragraphs. . .The only new assignment this evening will be the Cybersafety Collaborative Website. . .I will discuss this in class and show you some past student samples. . .the good news is that each of you will only be responsible for one page of the website.

Tonight's Question:  How do you feel about single-gender schools?  Are you for them, against or neutral?  Any personal experience?

Class 6: Ready to Shred?

Mammoth Mountain

Well all right. . .we are officially closer to the end of the course than the beginning.  While we (and by "we" I mean "you") still have quite a bit to complete, you are definitely on the home stretch.  You should have plenty of work to keep you busy in class for the duration of the course.  I will continue to introduce material each class, but the number is definitely diminishing.

Tonight, I have only a few new items. . .How to create your Prezi assessment on Google Forms and a discussion on how to get your work onto your blog, the Emerging Technology assignment.  From this point forward, you need to keep a small part of your consciousness thinking about your NETS-T narratives. Remind me to discuss how to decide which assignment will cover the remaining NETS-T.  I will give you feedback on your collaborative narratives by Monday.  I hope to have them completed and turned to black by Wednesday, August 1.  We will also discuss how to begin to create your Symbaloo Webmix TPE 14 portfolio and take a closer look at the Adaptive Technology assignment (Journal 8).
Don't forget to come to class early if you are going to participate in the #ntchat @ 5pm.  It would make it a lot easier to complete the PLN assignment if you can get the educational chat completed early.

Agenda: 7/25/12

Today's Question: Do you believe a high school exit exam should be required to graduate from high school?  Why or why not? Explain.

Class 5: Getting into the Swing of Things!

My oldest daughter Zoe

So is the class half-empty or half-full?  Today is officially class number five of ten. . .seems like only two weeks since our first class. . .oh wait, it has only been two weeks.  I'm sure it feels like two months for some of you. . .but I digress.  We still have quite a bit to do; however, I am confident that everyone will finish the class without too much pain.  I have graded everything that has been due so far: The About Me page, Classroom 2.0/Journal 2, and the classroom newsletter. You should either have a grade or a comment for revision.  It was pretty awesome to be able to annotate right on your newsletters in Edomodo.  I am curious to see how the annotations look from a student account.

Remember way back to last Wednesday when everyone promised to have her/his paragraph written for the NETS collaborative writing assignment by Monday's class?  I hope so.  Tonight, I want to take a closer look at the narratives and discuss how to comment and revise your work in Google Docs.  I will also revisit Symbaloo, Journal 7 & 8, how to submit the Diigo assignment, and the Excel crossword.  Lastly, I will show you how to use Prezi to make an amazing web-based, non-linear presentation!  That should be enough for one day. . .remember those headphones for music and to watch Symbaloo or Excel tutorials. . .

Please don't forget to come to the lab early if you need help. . .

Today's Question: If you were taking this class pass/fail instead of for a grade, would your effort change?  Why or why not.

Class 4: Coming up for Air

Breathe.  Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled program ;-)  Let's take a brief moment to honor what you have accomplished so far.  If you are not a self-identified tech geek, this has probably been a bit of a struggle.  If you are a self-identified tech geek, it may still have been a struggle trying to manage all that you have to do.  Life has an amazing way of getting in the way of what we intend to do.  Time is rarely our friend in shortened courses, so you definitely need to keep this in mind.  Due dates come quickly and mercilessly, but keep working and I'm sure everyone will make it just fine.  I can't stress enough that coming to the lab before class is a great way to work on assignments and/or receive help. . .bring those headphones, put on some music, and your assignments will begin to be more manageable.

Today, I want to introduce you to TaskStream, the NETS-T, and the style/format you will use to write your narratives for TPE 14.  You will be writing the first NETS narrative collaboratively with a peer in Google Docs. This way, you can receive feedback from both peers and me as you learn how to construct a quality narrative.  We will also discuss some of the assignments that are in Journals 6-10 even though Journals 1-5 are not due until next Wed.  This way, we can stay with the familiar and allow those with time to do some work this weekend. . .If time permits, I might also introduce you to a cool tool we will be using called Symbaloo. . .

Today's Question: What is something you have learned to do well without formal teaching?  How did you learn it?  (this could be a sport, hobby, musical instrument, etc. . .)