WebQuest

WebQuest

What an interesting resource! I have used computers all along within my classes at school. We tend to do at least three research based activities each year. I always get students who tell me they don't know how to get started or where to look. With a WebQuest that hassle is taken out of the equation. Sometimes I prepare a print out with a website and questions to answer from the site. Not any more now that we have WebQuest! This will be so much more interesting. We have the luxury of having a mobile computer lab here at school so web based activities make up a lot of what we do in my classes. I will have to admit that my WebQuest is not as flashy as some but it give the task at hand and what needs to be done in order to complete it. This is also WESTEST, senior exit reviews, mass IEPs and end of the year crunch time at school so I feel that given more time I could have prepared something a little more appealing.

Assessment Form

This was a great assignment! This would take so much work out of working with home bound students and students on extended leave. I cut and pasted a quiz I had already made into the proper fields. This would make it easy to recreate for students who cannot be at school for whatever reason. I really liked how google docs keeps track of the responses. This is a definite plus for me and my organization practices. The quiz I created was on Meiosis. To view or take this assessment please click here.

Rubistar

Finally everything worked as planned! This activity is going to be extremely helpful during my teaching career. I have used other rubric making online tools but they did not already provide the scoring criteria as Rubistar did. I just assigned my science 9 students Newton's Laws podcasting projects today. I had planned on using a rubric to grade each project. Rubistar made it easier to accomplish this task! To view my rubric please click here.

PDF

I was finally able to get Google Docs to upload my PDF file I fought and fought with this yesterday until I had had enough. I decided to re-save it again to PDF. this time I clicked the option to save it as a smaller file. Google uploaded my new version in one try this time. I still prefer to save to the ftp since it is easier but I am unable to access it. As stated in my previous post my browser keeps saying "page cannot be displayed" for what ever reason. If anyone is able to figure this out please let me know. You can view my PDF version of my power point by clicking here.

Windows Movie Maker

This assignment was not too bad to complete since we had already had experience with Movie Maker. The biggest obstacle I faced was getting my video saved on the Internet. I tried teacher tube multiple times. It claimed to have worked but I could not get ti to play. Every time I tried nothing would come up. I have tried the FTP, which is the easiest to save to, but my browser keeps telling me page cannot be displayed. I finally used Google video and so far, cross your fingers, it has worked.

Here is my "embedded version" of my power point. It took me forever to finally get google docs to upload it. I eventually ended up sending it via e-mail and having the link made that way.

Jeopardy Power Point

I had no idea that power point was capable of doing this. It makes perfect sense on how it works, I had just never thought of it. I use jeopardy as a review in my class already. In the past I have wrote it on an over head sheet and covered the questions up with post it notes. This is way cooler! I chose to do the jeopardy assignment on the power point I previously made for this class. This way we can review before testing on the material from that section. Thanks Dr. Pierce for another free and useful technology!

Power Point

I decided to create my power point on the history of the Earth. This is a topic that will be covered in my science nine class later in the year. This is a great tool for presenting information. I was able to take the textbook information and incorporate graphics into it that my students will find more interesting than actually reading the text. With more time and practice I feel a teacher could make interactive power points that each student could view on their own and take part in online activities that could be hyperlinked to the power point. Very useful tool!

Podcasting

What an absolute hair pulling nightmare!!!! I had no problem creating the podcast whatsoever. I found the Audicity software to be very user friendly and exciting to work with. I made the script and recorded. No problem! The nightmare began when I had to convert to an mp3 file. I don't know what the problem was but I could not figure it out. I followed Debbie's directions and resorted to my podcasting info from a summer workshop. After an hour of frustration I finally downloaded a free mp3 converter. Just when I think all is going smoothly I hit another wall! From podbean, which I have used before, I was unable to upload my podcast. It goes as far as 1% then sits there, forever. I have been waiting over an hour with no success. I tried other computers with older versions of Windows to no avail. I have had enough. Finally I was able to save it as an ftp and provide a link for this assignment. I don't know if this is correct but I have had enough and am ready to go home! I had high hopes of developing podcasts with my students. There are so many uses for this resource in 21st century learning. I feel now that it is not worth the hassle and headache! If you would like to view my podcast and script please click on the links below.
Podcast
Script

Web Album

My web album consists of pictures used in my photo story. I wish I would have remembered to upload others before this project. I hope everyone is not tired of seeing my same photos over and over! I used Picasa 3 to make this album. I feel that it is easier and quicker to use than Photoshop. I will have a couple of uses here at school for this technology. First our school has a web site that is in serious need of reconstruction. I am going to offer to show the team how to use this service for all of our pictures. It will be nice to have a universal login for everyone to use so that they can upload different images from school events in one central location. This way everyone has access to them when working on their part of the website. The second option I will be using this for is research. When students are developing power points and such they need somewhere to store their web base photos due to our school having a download blocker. This way they can get past this obstacle.

Photoshop Express

This was a fun little tool to play around with. Several years back my wife purchased some editing software. It was hard to use and didn't have all of the capabilities that Photoshop has. Best of all this is free! A nice feature when using it in a public school setting when buying new technology isn't always possible. I can use this in my classroom when it comes to projects. I take my students out on our on site nature trail from time to time. I have them collect samples for what ever project we may be doing at the time. Sometimes they are unable to physically bring the sample back to school so they take digital photos and incorporate them into their projects. Photoshop will be great for editing these photos. Another handy option to having my album online is processing options. Sometimes I upload photos to various websites, have them printed and I pick them up later. Already having my photos online helps a bunch.

Crappy Graphics

This will be another useful tool within my classroom. I will be easy to reproduce this image to an over head or to a power point. I am like others some material may not be suitable to turn kids loose on in school, but it can provide a useful means of creating resources for the classroom. My graphic covers "Mitosis vs. Meiosis". This is the next section we will be covering in my biology class.

Online Graphics

Using the Kids Zone site to create various graphs was so easy. I was unaware that this was out there. When my students perform labs in my science classes I have them make lab write-ups to explain their procedures. When it comes to creating graphs I have tried Excel with them but usually it is like pulling teeth. The Kid Zone web-site is much easier to use. I will be using this again. To observe my graphs and interpretations of the data click here. I obtained my information from the NAEP and Info Please web sites.

Image Capture

I completed my image capture assignment with a picture I found on google images explaining the process of photosynthesis. I will actually use this image tommorrow in my biology class. The textbook we in in this class did not have any pictures of this proccess that I liked. With my overhead I can project his image on the wall. I used the print screen functions to obtain the image, but feel that in this situation copying and pasting directly to paint was easier. I used the different paint functions to change the background, import my text, and add new labels. After I finished doctoring it up I saved it as a jpg. file an imprted it into a word document in order to veiw it easily through a hyperlink.

Desktop Graphic

Here is my water cycle graphic for the desktop graphic assignment. Basically all I did was search the water cycle on Google images. I will be reviewing the water cycle in my Env. Earth science class soon so I it was easy to decide the topic for this assignment. Two birds with one stone! I looked at power point, word, and paint to do this assignment. I decided on paint because to me it was the easiest to work with. I did however save the image to a word document as a jpg file for ease of posting here. This assignment will work well for me in my classroom because I use an overhead often, and the kids will be able to just fill in the blanks with a dry erase marker. I will use this in my classroom on a regular basis. The textbook transparencies just aren't always what I am looking for.

Dale's Cone of Experience

I found the article to be interesting. I do feel that the cone is a good indicator of how we tend to learn. Not that I agree with the exact numbers because we all learn differently. I do like how it is laid out and is easy to interpret. To see my full interpretation read my response to Reading #1.

FTP

I have just completed the FTP assignment. Thank you Erin for the help! This will be a useful option while enrolled at Fairmont. When I don't have my jump drive with me i have to e-mail my self my work, then open it up on my computer. huge pain in the neck! Definitely a time saver! I have linked my resume for this activity. I now realize I could have combined the FTP and resume activities. Oh well I need the practice!

Resume

Thankfully I still had my resume from Glenville when I did my student teaching! Otherwise this would have taken a lot longer. I can't believe how easy it was to upload to google and then post the link to my blog. I really thought it was going to be painful! You can view my resume by clicking on the following link: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg99qkb5_0hv45q6cp

This is my life video

Wild Weather!

This is some weather we are having! Snow, Ice, Rain, Wind! The perfect concoction for days off from school! This is our second day in a row for Braxton County Schools.

Introduction

I am providing my initial posting for EDUC 6305 blog assignment. I hope that I am doing this correctly. I feel that I am lost in the assignments. I need more structure. Thanks to all who are posting on the disscussion board! I am following your lead! Good luck with the rest of the course content.