Week 9 Pearltrees

Essential Question: How can I use Pearltrees to differentiate content in the classroom?

Using Pearltrees reminded me of making an interactive poster using Glogster.  I could click anywhere in the poster and it would take me to a new video, picture, or note.  Pearltrees does the same thing, but adds the extra element (I think, since I only made one interactive poster) of opening another webpage.  Pearltree would give students a central spot to keep all of their resources in one place and therefore more organized.

I believe that if I took classes in high school, like history or writing, that utilized an interactive online tool like Pearltrees, that I could have wanted to put more effort in, therefore remembering more.  I would want to put more effort in so that I could present a great piece of work that others would be wowed by and inspired by.  This would also appeal to the way I learn, by seeing and doing.

This would also allow integration of different content areas and teachers could do team collaboration projects that didn’t fizzle out.

I think that this would be a great way to introduce younger students to an online tool that brings a project together.  I would like to see some example of excellence for how other teachers have implemented using Pearltrees to differentiate content in the classroom.

Project Two Differentiating the Process

Project Two

Differentiating the Process

There are lots of ways to differentiate and the key is to be flexible and based on student readiness, interest, and learning profiles, teachers can adjust content, process, and product.  The goal is to choose activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content.  Many of the tools we have learned about in class can be used to creatively implement different activities.

When our group first came together in Edmodo, there were some of us in the Math strand and some of us in the Technology strand.  The Math Education Majors chose a

NETS-T Standards

2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. d. Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching Using Edmodo project to assist in your own classroom to differentiate the learning process using Edmodo and focusing on the standard above.

I had no problem with this, even if I am an Educational Technology Major because I teach high school mathematics.  I took the experience of putting up a practice class, putting up an assignment, and trying other team members assignments as a great learning experience.  We put out different kinds of assignments using Edmodo’s tools so we learned from an administrative standpoint to see what options Edmodo has to offer.  This was unique also, because it allowed me to work as a student’s point of view as I practices using others’ assignments and taking their quizzes.

Our group code in Edmodo is s2vgf0 and the one that I did has a code of ado2go.

We continue to keep learning from each other and I cannot give enough thanks to Tracie W for her guidance and dedication.

Week 8 Educational Games

Educational Games

I found myself spending too much time looking for games that could address Alaska State Standards; searching is endless in iTunes apps, trying different Google searches, and asking colleagues.  I have come to a conclusion that it is very difficult to search for quality educational apps or online games that do not cost a yearly membership.  After this experience, I will be happy to hear about what others may have found to be beneficial.

The three games that I believe could address some standards include:  an online soduko puzzle game, a madlibs site, and an iPhone app called Math Bingo, which cost a small fee of $0.99 to download to my phone.

The soduko game challenges your logical thinking skills.  Each puzzle consists of a nine-by-nine grid with nine inner squares. In order to solve a puzzle, each of the inner squares must have one of the nine numbers between one and nine.  In addition, each row and each column must contain the number once.  The online version has error check to see how the player is doing, pause, print and clear features.  There are four different levels, easy, medium, hard, and evil. The online version saves your students from constant erasing once they find an error.  Soduko challenges your students to think logically.  Logical problem solving is a process of searching through the known data and/or adding information to existing data, thus enlarging the file on that particular subject. The emphasis in logical thinking is following a path that builds from a known position to another in carefully structured steps, making sure that each step rests firmly on previous knowledge.  I would categorize that the Alaska State Standards that are addressed would be found in the Problem Solving strand and depend on the level of the Soduko puzzle.

http://www.websudoku.com/

http://strong.groups.et.byu.net/pages/articles/articles/creativity.pdf

Madlibs are fun word games that create a new and unique story by changing selected words in the story.  Everyone probably remembers playing this game using the book version and laughing while at the same time not realizing they are learning.  Madlibs uses fun word games to teach grammar, sentence structure, parts of speech and vocabulary.  The concept is genius.  The game asks for a part of speech: a verb, a noun, plural nouns, an adjective, an adverb, and some other physical characteristics.  Descriptions and examples can be found by placing the mouse over the word in case anyone needs to be reminded or has forgotten.  After the blanks are filled in a story is created that has one silly sentence after another.  Madlibs make learning fun.   Students realize that they can make their stories more colorful and interesting by using descriptors and can improve their writing.  The standard that would be addressed is the writing and editing using conventions strand that is labeled by grade level then the numbers 3.3.5, again depending upon difficulty of the puzzle.

http://www.itsamadlibsworld.com/

http://www.squidoo.com/teach-parts-of-speech-with-mad-libs

The game from the iTunes App Store that I downloaded and played is Math Bingo.  Fundamental math concepts can be a struggle for young kids and leads to a lifetime with problems learning and understanding math.  With games, kids can learn basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division while having fun.  Constant practice can take the frustration out of memorizing facts with online learning tools.

Math bingo may be able to help with math computation and fluency. The object of Math Bingo is to get a pattern of five Bingo Bugs in a row by correctly answering math problems. Math problems are presented at the top of the game screen. Feedback is presented at the bottom of the game screen. Correct solutions to problems answered incorrectly will be displayed.  State standards that are addressed are from the Estimation and Computation strands, depending on the levels, easy, medium, or hard.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-bingo/id371338715?mt=8

I find that when students play learning games on the computer that they are generally more engaged than with pen and paper drills.  Mastery of skills comes naturally with more and more practice.  I feel that students that play these games demonstrate their learning when they are more confident in their own skills and/or beat their classmates.  When searching for games, I asked for help from my district’s math expert and a colleague in the English department.  I thought that it would be good to use these games in the classroom if students complete assigned work or demonstrate a struggle with basic skills.  Students love time on the computer and may be motivated to get assigned work done to get more computer time.

Diigo link

https://www.diigo.com/list/dmhale23/week-8-educational-games

Week 7 Glogster for Differentiating Instruction and Learning

Essential Question:

Week Seven

What tool did you learn this week to assist you in differentiating the learning process for students?

This was an interesting topic this week and it was unnerving to create something with a new tool that we have not shared before, because it ended up being a tool I haven’t used before.  I decided to use Glogster as a tool to use for differentiating instruction.  Glogster is most commonly used as an interactive poster project.

Actually creating a piece with Glogster was frustrating because uploading was slow and I wasn’t familiar with the tools.  I am sure I only touched the surface with this presentation, but by actually using it, I can see the possibilities that it has to offer in the classroom.  On another note, I thought that doing this type of project would have been easier using iMovie and would have accomplished the same type of outcome, but this work is published online.

Glogster can be used as a public platform and also has and education platform, but the education one needs to be purchased for $20 a year.  The benefits of the edu version are that it allows teachers to create an all-inclusive classroom Glogster web site.  There are password protected accounts that can be set up for students, the students then create individual Glogs, and they are all in one place and maintained by the teacher’s Glogster account.  The teacher can then control the content.  The flipside is that the password feature may require a lot of pre project set up and the student user account names and passwords are e-mailed to the teacher.

Each person picks a topic related to the current class content and can use it to teach others in class through pictures and videos.  Students are engaged and take to it pretty fast.  The teacher can see how the students learn using technology.

This process is using differentiating for learning style and interest.  This can then be used for open-ended projects.  Glogster also provides opportunities to work within their learning style.  Visual learners are catered to in this process.  Students can express their creativity and find pictures and music to incorporate.  Text can also be used.

First of all, I created a Glogster account on Glogster.com and familiarized myself with some of the FAQs that users have.  Then I just played around.  In creating my masterpiece, I also used Podcast for the first time.  I have never liked how I sound and it was interesting to see a recording of myself and think that’s how other people see and hear me.  Kind of fun, but note to self: in the future, put on some production makeup and fix your hair.  It took some time, because currently our Internet is slower than usual.  It was great to realize that the Glog would be directed at an authentic and a global audience.  Enjoy.  I did.

References at diigo account:

https://www.diigo.com/list/dmhale23/week-7-tool-used-to-assist-in-differentiating-learning

Glog example at:

http://www.glogster.com/dmhale23/myglogster