Delicious! Presentation & My Inquiry Based Activity

Last week, my partner, Caroline, and I did our presentation on the web tool, Delicious. To recap, Delicious is a social bookmarking site where you can practically find anything you want to use in your classroom. It's really cool and simple because Delicious organizes your bookmarks for you. Practically, all you add to do was save and share. A few things I learned from my web 2.0 experience is that in order to create a good, solid wiki page, you must be willing to put in quite a bit of time and effort. I don't want to say I'm a perfectionist, because I don't feel like I am, but I like to do things thoroughly. So, I spent a lot of time editing and re-editing our page to make sure we met the rubric and also to check that the steps we posted were clear and concise. Furthermore, the process of doing the presentation gave me a bit of practice with public speaking and in-class presentations. Overall though, the web tool activity was a good experience. I didn't really have any problems with this activity. I guess just finding the bookmarks and tags I wanted was the most problematic. Still, I felt like my partner and I worked well, and it also gave me a bit of practice with various skills that will be useful, not only in the classroom but just later on in my career.

If I had to do it again, I might practice rehearsing a little bit, even though it's a short presentation. I don't really like speaking in front of a large group of people, but I must learn how to do it well because I'm going to be a teacher and I need to learn how to speak to a group of students. Also, as a teacher, I would assign a type of web-tool presentation to my students so I could expose them to the various types of web tools out there and how they are being used. I would also use this project as an exercise in group work. I think that collaboration is a skill that we all need to develop, and the younger students can learn to effectively work well together, the better.

Now to move onto the inquiry based activity. Last night, I was up late working on my IBA activity. Granted, I probably spent more time than I should have on the technical, nitpicky aspects of it, but it's done and I am proud of it. One of the struggles I had with this project was that the subject I had initially started out with I couldn't really execute in my work. When I started the beginning phases of the IBA activity, I wanted to do a literacy worksheet for struggling readers. Unfortunately, I couldn't really find any games or lesson plans that I could model for my worksheet. Also, I think that for a preservice student, trying to create a worksheet for struggling readers is really challenging. As I went through the state curriculum standards, I kept going back to middle school reading. It's good that I decided to go with 6th reading, because I felt like it was easier to complete than literacy.

For my IBA project, I used Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven." Although the worksheet appeared challenging, I tried to make it engaging and productive for students using various methods and technology. Some of the standards I wanted to target in the worksheet was reading strategies via reading aloud and paired reading. I also wanted to introduce literary texts (e.g. "The Raven") and use literary mapping as an interactive tool that would help students improve their analyzation and comprehension skills. One of take-aways from this project is the process of using various technological tools in the classroom. For me, I think that technology is becoming so vital in the classroom because it brings what you're teaching to life. In short, technology is just another medium that connects difficult subjects to your students' lives.

As a teacher, I think that this IBA activity will change the mold of worksheet format for my students. When I was in school, we had to use worksheets for countless activities, especially for classes such as english and french. In applying the IBA activity with my students, I would allow them to complete the worksheet in a digital format. That way, if they couldn't afford to print the worksheet out, they could just email it to me. Also, I think that because the IBA activity is digital, it would be a good way to collaborate between me and my students. If my students needed help on a certain question, they could ask me via email and show me where in the worksheet they were struggling. I think that as far as professional application is concerned, I would use future IBA activities for my students in the classroom, but at the same time save them as examples to share with colleagues.

Despite the tedious hours of researching lesson plans, modeling certain games and activities, and making sure I met both the state and net standards, I felt like this worksheet project was greatly rewarding. It's nice to see a cumulation of all your hard work and know that it can potentially help and entertain your students. I really appreciate the examples that were posted online. It really helped to me generate ideas for my own project and see the different tools people used. I'm saying this with a grain of salt, but I'm really looking forward to completing similar projects in the future. I just think that in the future I would spend even more time preparing by being thorough with lesson plans and pouring over state standards. Plus, I would probably form a more concrete idea or concept ahead of time to save myself some headaches. It definitely helps to be prepared. 

Check In

I think I am feeling just fine with this class. I still have moments of apprehension when I am being introduced to a new concept or web tool. However, once I start working more on my projects I feel more comfortable completing my activities. I like how everything is starting to come together, like with the projects that use different web tools simultaneously. In term of outside work, I feel like it is easy for me to not read the chapters. Still, I try my best to keep up with the readings, especially since it's not so demanding. In any case, I should probably review more of what I'm reading for the class, especially now that book questions are being posted on facebook. I know I'm not required to answer all of the questions or any posted, but I think that the more questions I answer the more I am able to retain what I have learned. Overall, I have a good feeling about the class. It's not difficult, and I'm learning quite a bit with every class period.

Rocking the rock star trading card activity

This week one of our in-class projects was something called the Rockstar Trading Card Activity. The name sounds deceptive, because we weren't trading any cards about rockstars. Instead, we ended up choosing a gemstone or rock. We then had to answer so many questions and create a google document for our activity.

Ginny was right. This activity required much more processing. That is, the process of completing the task was probably the hardest part about it. With the web quest activity, all of the information was already there for us to use. However, it did take a long time to compose those web quests, even though I wasn't creating them. Anyways, it took me a bit longer than I would have liked to get started on my activity. I felt a little brain scattered at the beginning because I was trying to find the example on the course website while looking up information about my rock while creating the google document. However, once I managed to sort things out, the activity wasn't that bad. Granted, I'm not too much inclined towards the sciences, but I am a fan of learning, so the information I found on my rock was pretty cool.

For this activity, I chose peridot as my rock. I feel like I learned quite a bit about my rock. For instance, peridot is commonly mispronounced by many people. It's derived from a french word, peritot, which means unclear. This is what shapes the peridot's physical characteristics. Many people pronounce peridot as pear-e-dot. It's actually pronounced pair-a-do. Interesting, isn't it? Also, production of the peridot is highest in Colorado, but that's the more common peridot. In places such as Myanmar, Egypt, and Pakistan, the peridot production is a lot less frequent, so it makes the value of their peridot much higher. All in all, the information I learned about my rock was the aspect I enjoyed the most about this activity.

If I were to complete this activity again, I would make sure that I was organized before starting my task. Organization would have helped a lot with this activity, and organization is also key when working in the classroom. You can never be too prepared because you don't know what's going to happen. Another consideration I would keep in mind the next time is being able to have an open mind and be flexible. I chose peridot because it interested me and it didn't seem as common as some of the other rocks, but I could have chosen another rock. With the activities we're doing in class, we only have so much control on what we're doing. Sometimes we might not even have that much say in the matter because our activities are already chosen for us. It's kind of the same in the classroom. When you're the teacher, even if you're the one planning the activities, you can't always control every more, every step of the activity. Yes, you an set it up to where it's easier to complete the task step-by-step, but you never know what's going to come up with your kids. Overall, it's been another good learning experience. 

Learning about Webquests

I think that the activity we did with webquests was helpful in a lot of ways. First off, I learned what a webquest was, what it looked like, and how we use it. One aspect of the activity that I thought went well was the collaboration between my group. We were pretty open-minded and efficient about delegating roles. When working in groups, I think it's very important to be open-minded about the different possibilities that can take place, as well as the different kinds of people you'll have in your group. I think that as a group we communicated pretty well. Furthermore, I think that sharing our information and feedback and being able to see things through another person's perspective was insightful. As a teacher, being able to see different activities through multiple perspectives will help me plan things better by not being "stuck" in my fixed perspective.

There really wasn't anything that went badly in our activity. I guess my biggest complaint is that I was the Efficiency Expert. It was a little challenging in that I myself have trouble being efficient. At the same time though, being the Efficiency Expert helped me realize how I would use time efficiency and productivity in my classroom. Another drawback or con was that there were certain web quests that asked for so much effort and attention, such as Growing Garden Greens. I felt that even if the activity was used for older grades, it would still require a lot of attention. Maybe in the future there could be "better" examples of a webquest.

I love web quests in the fact that they can really be customized and tailored for any subject and for any specific event. As a teacher, I would create and use a webquest for different topics. For instance, I would create a webquest for reading in which a group of students would be assigned to work together, read texts, and then answer some critical thinking questions. I really liked the webquest on the Underground Railroad, and I think the set-up and method is very effective for a history or social studies activity. For younger grades, I could create a webquest for colors or any activity that required them to name things, places, or people. Like I said, you can use webquests for just about any grade level and task. It really just depends on what area you want to focus on and how you form your own webquest. 


If I were to complete this activity again, I would probably take on another role, not just because there might be one closer to my interest, but also to see things from a different perspective. Also, I would probably try to determine what grades corresponded the best to all the different webquests.  Furthermore, I would probably spend more time exploring the teacher pages rather than being so fixated on the actual webquests. 

Expanding our use and knowledge of web tools

_{So this week, I was paired with a classmate to create a new wiki page. My partner, Caroline, and I will create a wiki page on pbworks based on our web tool, Delicious. Delicious is a web tool that really facilitates the use of bookmarks. The website is divided into three categories- bookmarks,}

_{people, and tags, making it easier for users to find their desired content.}

_{I rely on the use of bookmarks for everyday organization, so I'm excited about using Delicious. I forgot to mention that Caroline and I will be making an in-class presentation on our wiki page. Also, our wiki page must have four components- 1) an overview 2) instructions on how to use our web tool 3) its uses in the classroom and 4) an artifact.}

_{I'm a little nervous because we are still in the "researching" phase of our project and our presentation is on the 21st. We decided on Wednesday that we wanted to create our wiki page in a way that integrated both American Sign Language and English, our areas of interest.}

_{So far, I've found several bookmarks for american sign language, but not so much for english. I would say that one of the biggest and most integral parts to complete this project is collaboration. We discussed the project in class, but we really should communicate more outside of class, since there’s only so much we can discuss in class.}

_{I've now seen how you can edit content on pbworks' homepage. Still, I'm a little nervous about the editing process because I’ve never edited a page that way before. All in all though, I think this project will be an enjoyable one that won't cause us too much stress. I'm willing to open my mind and expand my comfort zone, so that should make the experience easier for me.} 

Analyzing what's true, what's bogus

This week, I evaluated a website called Funbrain. It's a really cool website where kids can play games using skills such as math and reading. I never really knew about these types of websites. Growing up, I used to play the Jumpstart CD's, so I'm definitely excited to see online spaces that allow kids to be able to learn and play at the same time.

I think that evaluating a website really helped me sharpen my critical thinking skills, as well as just developing a healthy dose of skepticism. I don't think I've ever evaluated a website to this extent before. I remember in high school, our librarian would guide us in choosing credible web sources for our research papers and such. One thing I've taken away from this exercise is that you can never use enough of you good judgment on the web.

Consequently, as a teacher, I would make sure that my students developed these same skills in the classroom. I would want them to not only know how to choose for themselves what websites are good and what websites to look out for, but knowing how to evaluate websites can help them avoid being the subjects of plagiarism.

Another important thing I have learned from this exercise is that currency and accuracy are critical. As a teacher, it would be very important that the web sources I used met those two criteria. If I ever wanted to use a website like Funbrain, I would need websites that were both current and accurate. If I can't find a good website that reflects the material that my students are learning in school then that deters them from being able to use their knowledge outside the classroom. Similarly, if my kids can't relate to content found on a website, it's not a good learning experience for them, nor is it fun.

Furthermore, I've learned that reliability is also an important criteria. If a website is unreliable, there's a pretty good chance that I won't be using it and others will avoid it as well. When I am a teacher, I would make sure that the online information I'm using in my classroom was not only relevant to the classroom topic, but also that it was a credible source for me, my classroom, and any other individuals in the school who might want to access it. I think that some of the teacher's blogs that we've seen in class or just other websites or wikis would be a useful tool for me in my classroom. Thus, I could research the different blogs or wikis that maybe some other teachers or colleagues maintained and I could use their resources for additional exercises or fun activities.

Overall, there have been a lot that I've learned from this evaluation exercise, and I don't think I  have enough space to include everything I've learned here. However, it will be a really good skill for me to have and to use and I'll continue to use it not only in my educational career, but throughout the rest of my life.