Week 4: Excel Reflection

5 ways to incorporate Excel into the curriculum into your school. 
1.  Excel could be used in language arts class as a prompt to telling a story.  Charts, graphs, and data all tell a story, you could ask students to write a story based on data on a chart or analyze a pie graph, telling a story from what they see, kind of like a wordless book. 
2.  While observing in a 5th grade classroom, the teacher shared with me the concern his students had regarding their time limitations specifically, they did not think they had enough time to read all the pages that were required of them.  Students could use Excel to track how many minutes they spend doing x,y & z (predetermined activities for each child) through out their day.  They could take the math farther and see how many minutes they read, how many minutes it takes to read a page, and then realize they can accomplish the reading requirements of 5th grade.  By creating a pie chart, students may realize some time management opportunities that they did not know existed for other activities as well. 
3.  Excel could be used for streamlining or analyzing classroom housekeeping/management.  (For example: the teacher could get to know his/her students literary preferences more by collecting data on their book selections from the classroom library, or perhaps assign duties to the "job squad" aka classroom helpers)
4.  An Excel spreadsheet could have color coded columns and could be set up as a homework planner sheet for students to refer to and for the teacher to enter info on.  This could be posted on the classroom web site for parents to also refer to.
5.  Students could enter data from inquiry investigations in science class into a spreadsheet and then graph their data to make connections.  For example, if students were studying evaporation, they would record temperature and liquid level and plot it on a chart.   Does temperature affect the level of the water?  What evidence do you have to support this? 
 

Week 4 Stay with Microsoft Word & Excel or Switch to google docs????

I believe I would ask my principle to stay with Microsoft Word & Excel although I definitely see benefits to google docs.  Microsoft Word & Excel allow the user more functions and in my opinion, less frustration and ease of use.  Both of these benefits of the Microsoft products and limitations of google docs have been experienced through our class assignments.  But, perhaps the main reason behind my recommendation  is growth of knowledge.  Elementary students will continue to grow and challenge their learning, they will need software that can allow them to perform the tasks they need to execute and eventually compete in their future endeavors.  After witnessing some of the awesome things Microsoft products can do, I believe the students, in upper grades, will benefit from the Word and Excel software.  I'm not so sure the limitations of google docs would be felt with the early elementary students.  With that being said, why not expose the early elementary students to Word and Excel from the start, thus allowing them to become familiar with the basics.  The students will grow with the software and will not be limited to what the software can do, which I believe is the case with google docs.  Furthermore, if students understand how to use the Microsoft software, they will be able to transition into google docs with ease, and will be able to tap into the positive aspects that google docs can provide. Since google docs is free, the students will get the best of both worlds, Microsoft and google docs.  The sticky side of the equation is the cost. Could more harm be done to the overall program if funding is used for Word and Excel?  If that is the case, I would support google docs and make the best with what I had for my students; it is still a great product.  

Week 3: Social Bookmarking

The concept of social bookmarking, like many we're discussing in class, was totally new to me.  I am pretty excited about it now!  Social bookmarking will allow me to compile a list of my favorite sites and store them on a public web space.  This will allow me access to them when I am not at my computer.  But there's more, I can organize them by providing descriptions of the sites, so I'll be able to reference them later, and easier.   This feature will be a great asset as a student and teacher, no longer will I have to go through lists to find what I want.  I think this will also be an asset as a parent; since we like to do seasonal activities, perhaps I'll make seasonal headings and bookmark sites with fun fall events, places to visit, crafts to do, fall recipes etc.  Furthermore, this system will also allow others to view what I've bookmarked, and in doing so, I can then see what they have bookmarked.  This will also help me as a student and a teacher.  Through social bookmarking, I can function more efficiently and learn from others by visiting sites that they have bookmarked.   I'm looking forward to trying this out.

Week 2: "Language" and perspectives

I find it interesting that today's learners only view technology as what is new.  From my perspective, it's all technology:  email, texting, IM's etc, it does not matter how new it is.  The Net Gen views these means of "communicating and doing" as just a way of life, it is basic and standard to their functioning.  Furthermore they are compelled to keep trying the newest invention.  Perhaps I am not compelled to try the next greatest thing because I am "out of the technology loop".  The Educause readings this week discussed college learners and their preferences.  Suprisingly, my generation prefers blended and online courses, where as the Net Gen learners who are so comfortable with technology do not.  After further reading, I now understand what that is.  When I reflect on my own education adventure, the convenience of a blended or on line course sounds great.  Although I have not had a blended course at this stage of my learning adventure, the thought of taking one seems convenient and wonderful to me.  I commute roughly 45 minutes (one way) to class, I have 3 children, 2 of which are involved in multiple activities, my youngest is still at home.  The logistics of taking a class from my home are great.  These are characteristics of my generation of learners.  However, I enjoy hearing what my classmates have to say, I like the face to face interaction with them and my professor, which is a characteristic of Net Gen learners.  Perhaps because  of my learning style and my current job (stay at home parent), I really enjoy the adult interaction and conversation.  I am social,  but not as socially connected as I believe the Net Gen is, according to the Educause readings.  I cannot process information with tv noise or music playing, nor could I stay engaged if I were opening up message window etc, also a characteristic of a Net Gen learner.   This ability to multitask like a Net Gener would serve me well.  Furthermore, my learning style is not through trial and error or tinkering, like that of a Net Gen learner.  I have more of a rule-based approach, and I most always read directions. 

Class 2 9/8/10 Using google docs

I found google doc to be pretty straight forward, it is very similar to word.   However, since I am more familiar with word, I'm more comfortable using it.   I did encounter an issue when I tried to copy/paste a particular lesson plan, it didn't paste the way it appear in the site.  When I copied/pasted the lesson plan to word and then from word to google doc, it turned out ok.  That added another step however and therefore that would have been the equivalent of sending an email with the lesson plan attachment.  Perhaps there was a way to work around it, but I didn't know how.  I liked how it automatically saved itself periodically.  I'd try it again.

Digital Natives and the Net Gen/21st century learner

I truely feel enlightened after reading the posted articles for this week.  I feel that I've gained great insight into today's students.  It makes sense that children today (digital natives) would be learning differently due to the influence of technology in their lives.  As one of the articles stated, we are influence by our environment.  I grew up in a much different environment, I am very much so a digital immigrant, and it concerned me that I may not be as effective as I'd like to be in teaching digital natives.  However, as I read on, and as I reflected on my teacher preparatory classes, I now feel empowered.  I do feel learning should be fun and authentic, and if technology can further enhance my lessons, then that is great.  I was suprised to read that the Net Gen students are very social on a face to face level, so much so that they rank the teacher's presence, knowledge and passion for the subject matter very high, and that technology should only be used to effectively relay the teacher's knowledge and to customize the learning experience for the students, not just used for the sake of using technology.  A misconception I had was that because students converse so much with texting, myspace etc, that they would lack the desire or the skills to have social face to face interaction.  That is not the understanding I have gained from the Net Gen readings.  The concepts of allowing students to learn in a way most productive tor them is a good concept, of course within reason.  Several of my classes have discussed this point. I feel this plays into Howard Gardner's theory on multiple intelligences.  My professors have talked about stations, and cooperative group work etc.  I love that technology can be used to help the introvert, through messaging boards.  I like the cooperative group work approach, which plays into the  social learning preferences of this group.   These articles talked a lot about allowing learning preferences, students do not like to be talked at.  This too makes sense, the approach I learned to teaching science is through inquiry investigations, where after great deal of behind the scenes preparation on behalf of the teacher, students are guided to learn and make discoveries on their own.  I absolutly feel that more learning is taking place and retention is far greater, boredome is lessened and therefore students stay engaged.  Furthermore this approach is in a social group setting.  A great teacher should also strive to make learning meaningful and authentic to the learner, here again, this would decrease boredom and therefore increase the amount of time students are engaged.  One article said we should respect and listen to kids opinion on how they want to learn.  If our goal is for our students to learn, then we should as educators assess our methods as well, and not just student peformance, so by listening to their opinion on how they want to learn and then reflecting on what they did learn and what part of the learning process was most effective, seems to be a win win situation.  I believe these concepts will help to develop independent learners and technology in the classroom can further enhance discovery and the learning process. 

practice post

Ok, so I see that this could be pretty neat, but boy have I got a lot to learn.