Texting Teacher

It has been weeks since my pre-internship at Campbell Collegiate has been done, and I finally feel like I have the chance to reflect on a great experience.  I was able to try many things while working at Campbell, the most exciting thing being a cell phone math lesson.

I have felt a lot like doing all the research I have done over the last semester has made me feel confident in using a tool like cell phones in the classroom, except I hadn’t really had an opportunity to try it and see what it was actually like.  From day one at Campbell I knew that I could use the cell phones.  Looking at the classroom it is easy to see how crucial students feel cell phones are in their life.  Almost every single student used the phone instead of a calculator and it was nice to see that the teacher was alright with this.  You can tell when the students are actually using them as calculators and when they are texting or doing something off task.  At first I thought that most students would be texting, but I found that most of them were only using their phones when they needed to make a calculation.

I turned to cell phones when I didn’t have anything to plan.  I was supposed to be introducing slope, but my partner and I switched classes for the last week so I was without the textbook or anything that was supposed to be planned for the unit.  The unit they were working on was slope.  It was a perfect unit for me to work with the kids with because I had just went over rate of change with them so it was easy to make the transition.  I started my lesson off with a guided inquiry handout that I had the students work on their own with to discover slope, which also turned into their notes for that section, then had them do a journal on what they thought slope was.  I then did a quick overview of what slope was and described to the students what positive, negative, and neutral slopes were.  My lecture time didn’t last very long.

As soon as  I asked the students to pull out their phones they thought it was a joke.  Once I convinced them we were using them, they became much more excited.  What I had prepared was ten stations (which I have below) that they could decide if the slope was positive, negative or neutral.  It described slope in multiple different ways like a graph, points and in words.  I used the website called Poll Everywhere.  What this did was create a poll that the students could decide whether they thought each station was positive, negative, or neutral and then they texted that number and answered the question.  Many students, because we hadn’t done anything like this before, were confused why they were texting the number because they didn’t get a text back, but this was easily cleared up at the end of the lesson.

The students worked quickly through the stations and were 100 percent engaged.  Some of the students who have trouble focusing on an assignment for the whole class got through the questions quickly and on their own.  I was a little worried that some of the students were just walking around guessing, but this wasn’t the case.  Once everyone had time to go to all of the stations, i brought up the completed polls on the board.  This was beneficial in multiple ways.  Not only did the students get to see if they got the answer right, but I also got to assess as well.  I could see which problems the students had difficulties with and if they understood the concept.

 In the above poll there was differences in the answers, so I could go over it instantly as a class to see where some of them were going wrong.  As we went along through the stations they got more consistent and 100% of the class was answering the question correctly.  The most interesting part of this was the students reactions (I have a video I just can’ t put it online).  They  started getting excited each time I went to show them the answer.  I had them do a written copy of the stations so they knew what they had answered for each question, so before I showed them the poll I asked them what they thought it was going to be.  At around five questions in they started clapping for themselves, and on the last ones they were cheering.  It was amazing to see them get so excited over their math assignment.

There was a moment that really stuck out where a girl congratulated everyone after they got the question right, and I was just very proud of the students at that exact moment.  I was a little worried that my assignment had no connections to what they needed to have done for their teacher (aka the text) so I looked at the questions.  Each station covered every type of question that was in the assignment so I assigned them some questions that they did very easily.

Of course this assignment could be done without cell phones, but I think it would lose the engagement.  The class responded really well to this assignment, but obviously many other classes wouldn’t.  It was a really nice way to work in some cell phone use in the classroom and see how it went over.  I could have easily used a QR code with this making it that much easier for the students.  There is a generator that will send a text when you scan the code, so I could have had them just scan the code and click send for their decision.

Using the cell phones has really shown me that there is a need to incorporate the technology that appeals to the students.  The technology component of the curriculum requires so much more than just graphing calculators now, and as educators we need to find ways to use these different technologies effectively.  I can see that cell phones are important now and it is great to find ways to use them, but I can also see that it is going to change and adapt even more.  Technology is quick, and it replaces itself so quickly, what works right now isn’t necessarily what will work in the near future.  I feel the need to be very on the ball with these things because once I feel like I have perfected the use of one technology it is probably going to be out dated.  For now, since I am not in my own class, I just need to try to think about the different ways to incorporate technology, and be aware of how it is changing.

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QR Codes

The more I have continued on with our technology project the more I love QR Codes.  Our focus has completely shifted to them, and there is so much that I’m learning I don’t even know what to present anymore.  On Tuesday we have to teach everyone what we have learned and the biggest thing I want to focus on is using our tool to teach the tool.  I want to make sure that all of what we are using is done on the cell phone and presented through QR Codes.

Another important thing for our presentation will be discussion of the pro’s and con’s of using cellphones and QR codes in the class.  We are so limited on time we are not going to get to have the in depth discussion that we really could have.

 

I have made a QR code for my personal information and played around with it trying new things out.  My love of Marilyn Monroe made me decide to put her in the background of my code.

Finally, I have put together a wiki, Education QR Codes, for all of the things I have been working on, and on it we are going to put up everything that we will be presenting on Tuesday!  I hope everyone is excited as me.

Mobile Education – Let’s Start Here

This is a QR code.  It so happens to be a QR code that links to the wiki our class has created, specifically the page about using cellphones and mobile devices in a classroom.

How can we use this?

This is a question I have been asking myself over the last couple weeks.  I have spent lots of time acquiring knowledge of mobile learning, reading blogs and thinking about how we could use it in the classroom.  I have thought of hundreds of ideas, but up until a couple days ago there wasn’t one that seemed good enough.  We have to present our technology to our class, but more importantly I wanted to find a way that I could actually use this technology when I am interning and eventually when I’m teaching.

What really got me thinking was QR codes, and it is where I decided to have my focus.  My first real question was are they just a commodity?  They have the same function as many other things do on their own, but they are just very easy to use.  Regardless of if they are a commodity or not, their convenience is something that is going to become more and more evident in advertising and social media aspects.

So how can we use it?

Today I pitched my idea to my group members, who will hopefully be commenting on this post, and we agreed that it is what we want to do.  We are going to make a QR scavenger hunt.  Maybe the word scavenger hunt isn’t the best word, we can think of it more like stations.  Something that we have to focus on is teaching the rest of our class the different tools cell phones use, so we are going to be able to do this in the form of this stationed work.  At each station there will be a QR code directing each person to a different aspect of cellphones, for instance a Poll Everywhere question, or a youtube video to watch, a discussion to post onto, upload a picture to a site, upload a video, make a podcast etc.  These stations will show the vast ability to be able to use a cell phone to do all those things.

Now let’s think in a classroom.  What this could enable is the use of all the different types of learners.  You can different stations that focus on the different types of learning which could all be connected to the same concept.  You could have students teach a concept and have them instantly upload the video to a place accessible to the entire class.

Ok.  Thinking too small here.  Let’s bring in the social aspect of this.  How big could you go…

What if you post your “scavenger hunt”, or stationed lesson, whatever you want to call it, on your blog, or website, or whatever you use.  You could then send it out to the world.  All a teacher, in any place, would have to do is print off a page of QR codes and the stations and lesson are ready to go.  Then, the teacher and the students can see the connections they can make with other students and schools all over the place.  The possibilities with this are endless.

Let’s think different subjects.  Math.  You could teach basically any  concept, come up with resources, and create these stations.  You can have students making real life connections with a concept related to their area and post them instantly.  You can have students teach a concept in their own way.  You could have students creating their own math problems and questions and post them ready to be answered by others. This is just a small portion of what you could do.

Let’s go art now.  Not only could you connect with the art you see in your community and share it, as well as share the art you have created, you could go crazy with collaboration.  If you had students sending in videos from all over the place in a response to what you or your students want, you could create film pieces, or photography pieces, even music pieces.  And all from your cell phone.

Science.  What if you had students create their own labs or questions to labs and have them post them for other students to complete.  You could have lots of people getting results to experiments or adding their input.  In English, or any language, you could do creative writing workshops, collaborative writing, pen pals and so much more.

Really the list could go on.  These are things that could completely be done without the QR code too, just by using them you are appealing to a different generation of learners.  Cell phones are very common, and smart phones are increasing as well.  These codes create a convenience to use these different technology aspects.  I know that even I have stopped relying on my laptop very much and almost do everything on my phone.

Since we are in a position that we are going on an internship in the next year, it would be extremely easy for us to collaborate on a project like this, granted we get the permission to use cell phones.  Something that we would have to work with, which we will already see just in our class, is that not everyone has a smart phone, or a phone capable of using QR codes.  There will have to be adjustments made to accommodate this.

This is just an outline of the idea’s that I have been having.  If anyone has any comments, suggestions, ideas, feedback… anything, it would be greatly appreciated.

Mobile Education

One of my classes has required us to do a very open ended assignment about integrating technology in the classroom.  It is a math education class so we are trying to integrate the technology into math but not specifically.  The group that I am in is looking into using cell phones in our classrooms.

The big question is: Distraction or Tool?  Cell phones are becoming more and more a part of daily life and is something we have to think about.  While it is important to think about the negative aspects of them the question really should be how we use it.  Cell phones could be a dangerous tool if they aren’t used properly but also an incredible asset if incorporated properly.

I found a website about Thinking Mobile Phones For Learning and there seems to be a lot of good things on there.  I’m pretty overwhelmed with the amount of resources there are and really don’t know where to start.

I really want to not only research how the cell phones can be used but also how teachers right now are using them.  I want to know about their reactions to these things and ask questions.  I want to know if it works, what works good, what works bad and go from there.

This is just a starting point for me, I’m just going to have to dig in and start learning.  If anyone has any feedback, resources, stories… anything, it would be greatly appreciated!

All of the information we are collecting is going onto our wiki 2011emth351.

Dear Technology

Dear Technology,

I have a lot of things to thank you about. For instance today you made it possible for me to fix my car without direct help from anybody. Through my cell phone I was able to take a picture of my battery, send it to my dad, and speak to him on speaker phone while I figured out how to boost my car and get it to start. This is something I was not comfortable doing, and was able to because of my phone. I also was able to use my phone to call CAA who came to help me, but after I had already started my car.

But the question I have for you, technology, is why I couldn’t fix my car on my own. Today I learned I don’t have very many life skills when it comes to my car. I can only now boost my car, I can’t change my oil, I can’t change a flat tire. I have absolutely no clue. Why? CAA is just a call away, and I am the most used CAA member in my family. Maybe I should take the time and learn how to properly use and take care of my car?

This little incident sparked my interest in you, technology, today, and I have been thinking about you ever since. The reason to blog? Are We Digital Dummies

With all my love,
Samantha Douglas

I have always thought of myself as a multi tasker, and I would be lying to say that I don’t text, or go on facebook constantly throughout the day. It is habit. Watching this documentary has changed a lot of my views on my own technology use. I spend too much time on the computer and I spend way too much time texting.

This should probably change, but it is an addiction I am just not ready to give up, but at least I am aware of it. I am especially aware of my cellphone addiction now because I just did the Crackberry Quiz mentioned in the video that told me I have a painful addiction at a 20 points.

Enough about me, lets talk about society, especially as an educator. What am I going to do when I have a class full of students who don’t listen to a word I am saying? How am I going to teach kids to be functioning members of society, which is separate from the technological contributions they might make? How am I going to adjust my teaching to suite technology? It scares me!

There is too much reliance on technology. Watching this video has reminded me of a very powerful story called The Feeling Of Power By Isaac Asimov. When I took ECMP 355 it was something I was reminded about, and blogged about then, but originally I read this short story in grade 10. This story really emphasizes how technology, when relied upon too heavily and not taught in a proper way, takes away the importance of our ability to think.

The society we live in is full of people wanting to go faster, get things done quicker, and expand as quickly and competently as possible. Is this necessarily a good thing? What happens when we expand too much, and the world can’t support us anymore? David Suzuki talks about Exponential Growth, and the effects that it has on our society. Technology is only aiding to how quickly our world is growing.

A part in the documentary that really affected me was the part about the destruction of family life. I know that my texting upsets my family members, and I always just assume that it is because they don’t have cell phones and they don’t understand, but that is far from it being okay to do. It’s rude, and disrespectful, and I know this and do it anyways because it is a part of my daily routine, whereas spending time with my family is not. This aspect of technology reminded me of another short story The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, which I have also blogged about in ECMP 355. Although I am not thinking of having children any time soon, I do think about what it would be like to be a mother, and I am overwhelmed with the thought of having to constrict time with technology for my kids.

It is very easy to talk about the benefits of technology, every day a new one springs up. Technology as a whole is constantly growing, making itself better, more accessible and easier to use, we need to make sure we learn how to use it effectively. Also, because of this fact, it is really easy to not think of the negative sides of the issue.

My goal before the end of the year is to go a week using the minimal amount of technology possible, just to see what it would feel like. That means no cellphone, no facebook, no twitter, no internet, no computer, no tv, basically no anything. I’m not ready to do it right at this moment, but it is going to happen.

Bring The Noise

Everyone likes music to some degree. Regardless of the genre, music connects to people in some way. In society much of our culture is laced with music and itself has become a culture. As an artistic person I often find ways to connect with others in a creative matter, and the easiest connection to make with people is music. It is because of these reasons that I have found that I think music could be very beneficial in education.

Music can house creativity, it can spark interest, it can begin physical activity, and it can create happiness. Music can do a lot of things, and yet in my schooling experience I have found it is rarely used. My experience of music in elementary school was singing choral music, which no one found entertaining. My experience in highschool was even less. People hear music everywhere, so why can’t they hear it in the classroom?

There are obviously countless online resources for music, which I can not wait to explore, but the one website I have emmerced myself in recently has been Groove Shark. Not only has this program allowed me to explore music for my personal use, but it has given me countless ideas for use in the classroom.

The website is fairly simple. You sign up, and then you can listen to music. Simple as that sounds, the uses can be endless. The website keeps track of all the music you listen to, so there you won’t ever forget a song. You can add songs to a library and make playlists. The set up of the website is very easy to use, and the amount of music I was able to search was impressive. Many off scene Canadian artists showed up, because they themselves had uploaded music. There is another point, you can upload music to the site. Because it is a website, you can access your account from any internet source, and even from your phone. The most important thing I found was that you can make playlists.

This is where I started thinking a lot. Over the summer I had a job at the daycare, and for at least an hour every day I danced with the children. I had over ten cd’s that I took to work and we would play them and dance to them. It was spectacular, the kids totally responded to it, and I had a very wonderful time working there. I found that my management with the children increased because they were just waiting for me to play music for them, and their attention was focused to me because they liked to listen to what I had to say. We had a lot of fun dancing, and they always requested songs, which led me to making more and more cd’s. This is where grooveshark could come in handy! I could easily just bring my laptop and set the playlists up for the kids ahead of time, or make the playlists as we went. Of course I would have to make sure they were appropriate, but I am well versed in music so I doubt the children could catch me off guard. I can easily hook my laptop up to a speaker system, and next summer I plan on using this at the daycare. I am very excited.

A very interesting thing about Grooveshark is that you can share your playlists or subscribe to playlists. If there are educators using this program I would love to subscribe to their playlists and get as much music for the classroom as possible! Although I have many personal playlists on my account, I have made playlists for the music I used over the summer at the daycare. My first playlist includes my drama music. For this music I had the kids dance like certain things that connected with the music. This worked wonders with the kids, because they were guided into what they could dance like but at the same time free to express themselves in whatever way they wanted. For example the most popular song I used was Walk the Dinosaur By Queen Latifah, where they had to dance like dinosaurs. I also used the song Popcorn and had them start as popcorn kernals and had them work up to popping around like popcorn.

I have also made a playlist with music that I could use just to dance to! I figure if I can use this in any way in a classroom, I will, and I will continue to add music to my playlists. If you want to check out the music I have collected you can check out my Playlists.

Who is technology replacing?

So I am sitting at my computer… waiting for pictures to be uploaded on photobucket… and I started thinking about a short story i read in grade ten english. Yes, I’m super cool and remember short stories I read in grade ten english (I think this is the second one I have referenced, from the same class actually, same unit of short stories). Sometimes stories make an impact on me, and this is one that really interested me and was probably one of my favorite short stories I have ever read.

The Veldt By Ray Bradbury

ok so pretty much if you want my blog to make much sense you will probably have to read the story…

It is a really dark story, about how children, peter and wendy (how creepy… ), pretty much dream about killing their parents every day when they play. Now that just sounds sick but there is so much to this story. First of all, peter and wendy… that is definitly a peter pan reference, about kids who don’t want to grow up, or take on responsibilities. Secondly, the cost of the home in this story is thirty thousand dollars, which is cool because he was writing about the future and it is always interesting to see how people imagine the future, in the past.

Basically there is a home that does absolutely everything for the people, and they have a nursery that creates whatever the child dreams. As the children grow up with all of this technology they start playing in an african veldt with lions. Every time they are in the veldt they imagine the lions killing their parents, and the parents can here the screams of virtually themselves dying. The parents, throughout the story, are realizing how the home is taking the place as parents. Eventually the children feel they dont need their parents, trap them in the nursery, and have the lions kill them because the parents threaten to take the nursery away. Like i said, a very dark story.

The mother says… “The house is wife and
mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African veldt?” This is one quote from the story that really stands out to me… it makes me think about what technology we are using, and what is that replacing. When new technology is made there are new jobs formed… but what jobs are they replacing? What tasks, which some people base their life on, will no longer be necessary? At what point will the lives we lead today become something entirely different… ?

My future classroom

My future classroom will be one that welcomes everyone. I want my classroom to be open to all cultures, beliefs, and ideas. I want every person who walks in my room to feel comfortable and safe, so that they can learn best.  I want students to feel comfortable asking questions, so they can learn the best!  I want students to be able to have access to any tools they need to help them learn.

    I am a secondary student but the grade level I would most like to teach is grade eight.  My grade eight room would have computers for every student, all the same so they are working with the same thing.  There would be a smartboard, and all of the notes and lessons I would teach would be done so digitally.  There would be a bookshelf that covers an entire wall of the classroom, with books for every reading level and interest!  There would also be a catelog for those books so that each student could look at it for a reference when they were looking for a book! 

      There would be individual desks, not tables, which would get moved around frequently… from pods, to a circle classroom, to many different shapes to keep the classroom interesting, and see which format they would learn best in.  There would be a water fountain in the classroom as well as a bathroom… so getting a drink or going to the bathroom wouldn’t disturb class.

   There would be a class wall, that was covered in material and paper that the students could write or draw on… so they could work on something together as a class.  Another wall would be a giant bulletin board where the students work would be posted.

   The tiles on the roof would all be painted… it would be the first assignment in their art class.  They would get to design and paint their own tile, so they can feel that the classroom is really their own and they make an impact on why it is their own.  Over the semester they could add to their painting if they wanted to.

   Every subject would incorporate technology some way… from a type of presention, to blogging.  My class will post their projects on the internet.  The classroom would have a camera as well as a video camera.  The camera would be used throughout the semester to document the changes made in the class, as well as take snapshots of memorable moments.  The video camera would work the same way, to document the class as well as video projects.  At the end of the year a slideshow or some kind of presentation would be made to recount the entire year for the students.

  My classroom will have lockers, because it is important to start using one before highschool.  There also has to be lots of windows, even though i seem to have all my walls used up, because there needs to be a link to the outside world.

   The classroom will have a cd player, as well as many many different cds so that students can work with music. 

  I wont have a desk.  I will have file cabinets to put my stuff on, and supplies and stuff will be open for everyone to use in an organized way, but i will not have a desk.  I want to be active throughout the classroom as much as I can.

    There will be a HUGE recycling can, because they will know you don’t waste you recycle.

  There are so many things I would want in my classroom, but the main thing that is necessary is the first point.  The class could be filled with millions of learning tools, and everything possible… but if my students don’t feel comfortable they won’t want to come to class.  I want to give students a reason to come to school, and the classroom is the first part.

cyber bullying.

Cyberbullying is just crazy. The things you can do to people with technology just ampliphy what you can still do face to face. It complicates bullying, and creates a way where you just cant seem to hide from it. You can’t control the texts you get, the emails you recieve, the facebook comments that get posted… unless you remove yourself from it completely! And doesnt that just defeat the point of having it to begin with?

People take things way to seriously that are said over chats etc, and its so ridiculous because people have way more confidence saying something over msn than face to face, sooo people will say whatever they want!

If your going to fight you should do it in person… if someone cant stand up to me if they have a problem, and cant do it to my face, they shouldnt even bother because i would just ignore anything else. I have no problem confronting people to their face and saying what is on my mind and i expect nothing less from everyone else… you have to stand up for yourself, your never going to gain confidence doing it on the internet or in texts.

some people use the internet as a way to get away from the world that taunts and hurts them, and when they are being bullied in that world as well its just another place that they feel left out of and unsafe in.

A movie that really has impacted me is this movie odd girl out. It was a made for tv kind of movie, it had alexa vega in it and i rented it once. It is all about bullying, and i watched it with about ten other girls. Everyone seems to have their own views and experiences with bullying so we all had mixed opinions about the movie and it lead to like a three hour long discussion and i was just raging i got so defensive it was crazy! but yes this movie is good, i have a link below if you want to watch it and tell me what you think!
Odd Girl Out