Learning How to Visualize Data

As I've gone through the past 8 weeks of school(work) and school(college) I realize there are several ways to demonstrate ones knowledge on a concept.  Often times I find myself creatig lists or diagrams to help me understand a topic.  As I observe my students as they independantly read and research they too often make charts, diagrams, pictures or lists to help them see the information they are reading.  Recently I introduced my students to a program called Piktochart.  They LOVED it!  They had to complete research on a country of their choice and then put it into a poster format to display in school.  Here are a couple of examples of their work.

Having the skill of knowing how to organize images, data, and text on something such as these posters takes time to develop.  Some of my students have had this experience where as others have not.  It took several days to complete just the poster portion after their research was completed. This was mainly because I was introducing them to different concepts of what makes something more memorable and pleasing to the eye where at the same time introducing information to the reader that they did not know before hand.  Teaching students ways to visualize data is highly important since the jobs these students will have in the future depend on presenting information and sharing ideas.  My goal is to try to introduce a different visualization technique a few times this year to give students other options to showcase their knowledge.

Learning How to Search the Web in the 21st Century

As I think about my middle and high school years I find myself comparing how students find information compared to my days in school.  Even now I can compare my own search methods to the methods I once used when I was younger.  I remember my English teachers showing us step by step in high school how to research a paper using a card catalog and tons and tons of books from the library.  The last couple of years of high school we had a computer lab that allowed us to use an online card catalog to find the books we needed.  It wasn't until I was in college where I had the opportunity to use the internet as a way to find information for my school work.  As I think back I feel as if I had a really good base knowledge on how to research topics from having to use books from the library.  The material was controlled and only approved items were allowed in the view of the students.  Now, however, this is almost the complete opposite.  Although districts have site blockers to keep students from inappropriate things there are always new sites being created they slip by these blockers.  It is nearly impossible to keep students 100% clear of inappropriate sites. Therefore, it is necessary to teach students the correct way in researching while on the web.
I used a tactic last year as my students began a unit of Ancient Egypt that went fairly well.  My goal is to make it better for this school year.  We started off by learning how to log on and add a page to our very own class wiki.  Once the students created their page they then had the opportunity to complete their research.  Before letting them loose I modeled what a search might look like by projecting my screen onto the promethean board.  After modeling this I gave the students about 5 minutes to search for information about pyramids.  We then stopped to see what we had found.  We talked about the sites the students had found, what key words they used in their search, and what changes could be made to make the search better and more to the point of what we were researching.  We also talked about what made a site credible and what made a site questionable.  Once students had a good understanding of what was expected of them and how to search the web they were given their topics of research on Egypt.  This went well for my first time attempting this type of project but as I read through Literacy 2.0 Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms  I am beginning to see that a couple of changes and/or additions are needed before I begin this project for the current school year.  Frey, Fisher, and Gonzalez talk about using Boolean search tools while researching items such as quotation marks, + (plus sign), OR, AND, and NOT or - (minus sign) (pg. 39, 2010).  To be honest I have never used these tools but I am certainly going to be using them myself as well as teach my students these shortcuts to help them better search for materials of interest.  I will go over the meanings of these prior to my modeling and then have students guide me as to what tool I should use when searching.  This will allow the students to not only visualize what is expected of them but also it will allow for trial and error so they can see the difference between each of these tools when searching with the same words.  After my demonstration I will keep the 5 minute search and allow for the discussion of their findings.  From there I will show them how to write a simple paragraph and then check it with a plagiarism checker.  This will allow them to check their own work before publishing their wiki page to ensure they are not taking credit for someone else's work.  By adding these two components I will be empowering my students with the ability to not only effectively research information on the web but also check their work to make sure they are not taking credit for work that is not their own. This may add a little time at the beginning of the year, however, I believe this will end up saving some time and headache later in the year.

References

     Frey, Nancy, Douglas Fisher, Alex Gonzalez. Literacy 2.0 Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms. Bloomington, IN:Solution Tree Press, 2010. Print.

21st Century Teachers Incorporate Literacy Instruction Into Content Areas

The past week I have been thinking about how I can better implement literacy into my social studies classroom.  I thought I did a pretty good job by using a wikispace and having students create a written report along with their research.  I quickly realized that I have much to learn on this topic.  After reading through chapter 1 of Technology to Teach Literacy A Resource for K-8 Teachers I began to understand that I was missing a component in my teaching that would allow students to fully understand and use the knowledge I was presenting to them.  Frey, Fisher, and Gonzalez state that there are four key components that allow students to gradually gain control over their learning.  They coin this as the gradual release of responsibility.  The four components include focus lessons, guided instruction, productive group work, and independent learning (p.11, 2010).  While reading through each of these components I found that I was good at implementing focus lessons and independent learning but I struggle with guided instruction and productive group work.  It's not that I don't do these, however, I have much room to grow in making sure my students are getting the full benefit of each component.  In order to implement literacy fully into my social studies classroom I am going to create units that have stations allowing for more guided instruciton from me while at the same time allowing for group work as well.  I believe this can be accomplished with the tools I already use but I am also going to implement Curriculet into these stations as well.  My thought is to have 4 stations; Curriculet station which will allow students to read information and respond to questions based on the material read, Teacher station which will allow for students to receive guided instruction through either further readings or writing to help improve in areas where they may be weak, Class wikipage station which allows students to write and publish their creations so the world can view their work, and an Independent station which will allow students to work by their self and show they know the material being taught.  As I begin to create my next unit for my classroom it is my goal to keep these in mind so that I can make sure that every student is reaching their full potential and practicing their literacy skills at the same time even while being in a social studies classroom.  I believe that any subject matter teacher can implement literacy into the classroom.  Afterall, literacy is in everything we do in life.  Why wouldn't it be in every classroom?

References

     Frey, Nancy, Douglas Fisher, Alex Gonzalez. Literacy 2.0 Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms. Bloomington, IN:Solution Tree Press, 2010. Print.

Technology for Reading and Writing

As I am taking my current college class I have come to realize there are many technological tools available that encourage students to read and write.  Not only do these tools encourage students but they also increase their understanding of how to effectively communicate, read, and write when used in the correct way.  I already use a couple of tools such as wikispaces and Kahoot! in my classroom so I was eager to find some new tools to change things up a little.  There are a couple of tools that stick out to me as I do my research.  The first is Inspiration.  This application can be downloaded and used on phones, ipads, and computers.  It allows students to create web maps using fonts and images.  I can see myself using this later in the school year when we begin our first paper.  This would give students a good visual on the research they do before they write their rough draft.  I could also see my students using this to create a visual aid.  While presenting they would be showing their knowledge of the required materials read to create this visual aid.  I am sure there are many other ways to use this in the reading and writing world but these were the two ideas that came to mind first.  The second tool I found to be of interest is Curriculet.  After watching the introducation video I was intrigued by the abilities of this tool.  Last year I had the opportunity to test out discovery education (which I LOVED however since it cost a pretty penny my district would not allow us to purchase for our students this year) and I was pleased to see that Curriculet is similar to it.  I can assign students to a reading prompt and within that reading prompt I can embed videos, audio, questions and quizzes. I am definitley giving this a shot in my classroom this year as I found several free books that I can use to help reinforce some of the ancient civlizations we will be covering.  This application will allow students to not only read a selection but also listen to it and test what they understood.  I love that it gives instant feedback.  I use Socrative for quizzes and the students love being able to see what they missed right away.  It is certianly a moral booster for many students.  I will continue to do more research as I love being able to find new things to add to the classroom.  For now Curriculet and Inspiration are on my top list of new tools to integrate into my classroom.  Here it goes!

Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom

     As I sit and ponder this question I realize that I grew up during a time when technology was really beginning to take a strong hold in our public schools.  In the days prior to the 21^st century classrooms were full of blackboards with teacher centered instruction.  Students would often tire and tune out of that days lesson because of the monotony from one teacher to the next.  I remember these days in my elementary and middle school years.  It was in my high school years that I began to see the use of SMART boards and computer labs.  A transition was taking place that allowed each student the opportunity to locate information in a different and faster way.  It also allowed us to create, share, and collaborate with each other in ways we had never experienced.  In doing so we were able to learn on a new level how to read, write, collaborate and critique. 

     In Literacy 2.0 Reading and Writing in 21^st Century Classrooms Frey, Fisher, and Gonzalez make a clear cut as to the difference between literacy 1.0 and literacy 2.0.  They encourage us to look at literacy 1.0 as a means of accessing information where as literacy 2.0 is a means of finding, using, producing, and sharing information (p.1, 2010).  I can see this clearly now that I am an educator myself.  As when I was younger literacy 1.0 was prevalent by the use of paper, pencil, and textbooks.  Today Literacy 2.0 is the star of the show, allowing students to show case their work and collaborate with each other.  Often times my students are using blogs, wikipages, twitter, and facebook to communicate with each other.  It only makes sense for us to use and promote accurate, safe, and logical use of these tools in the classroom since this is the way of communication for this generation.  Frey et al. goes on to say, “Today’s students have a deep-seated need to communicate and collaborate, to access information at any time of the day or night, and to have the tools that will enable them to synthesize, evaluate, and create information”(p.5, 2010).  By allowing students to use technology while becoming literate students they are able to critically think, write, and respond in ways they never would with paper and pencil.  It is my goal to always be using literacy 2.0 but I realize that often times students can use literacy 2.0 without know literacy 1.0.  With this in the back of my mind I plan on showing my students how to access information first and then dig deeper into the depths of literacy 2.0.

References

     Frey, Nancy, Douglas Fisher, Alex Gonzalez. Literacy 2.0 Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms. Bloomington, IN:Solution Tree Press, 2010. Print.

Summer Flew By

I can't believe how fast my summer as flown by after my first year of teaching.  Although it was a wonderful time I am in full swing into the 2015/2016 school year.  This year I'm doing things a little different in my classroom.  I've decided to slowly implement Standards Based Grading (SBG) into my classroom.  Our district will be completely transitioned next school year (16/17) with this year having a select few teachers piloting.  Allthough I'm not piloting I have found several ways in beginning the transition so my kiddos are not so shocked come next school year.   Since my social studies team has already come up with our essential learning standards the first thing I am doing is giving students a learning log over each standard as we go through each unit. 

Example of the first couple of strandards we will be focusing on this year. Students keep this in their binders. They self check by write down pre-test scores, checkpoints, and final test scores to see where they need improvement.

With social studies each unit will cover two, three, and even sometimes four standards.  The second thing I am doing is posting the standard of which we are focusing on for that day or week.  I thought this would be a good visual for those who are working on a project who may not have their learning logs visible while in class.  

Not the best picture, but the idea is for them to see the goals.  Eventually I'll post examples of  student work on this board that has been given scores of 3 and 4.  This way the students can see the quality of work and differences in each score. 

The third thing I am doing is attempting to implement Google Classroom.  I believe this will be essential in allowing students the ability to complete work at their own pace and allowing them the opportunity to explore further to reach that 4 score.  So here's to my second year of teaching, surely to be filled with excitement, craziness, and a lot of learning from my students and I. 
Here are some pictures of the setup of my classroom this year.  Enjoy!

I have made it this far, what's a couple more months?

I did not think I would get the chance to say this but...
 I AM 3/4 OF THE WAY THROUGH THE SCHOOL YEAR!  
I has been a long and crazy journey but I have quickly found out how important it is to collaborate with fellow educators and always be on top of new strategies to keep students attention and learning constant.  One resource I have found the my students seem to enjoy is Wikispaces.  We have complete two seperate projects where we have shared with the world what we have learned.  This is a bit tidious to set up but the end results are certainly worth it.  
On another note... Just before Christmas I found out that our school district is going to standards based grading (SBG).  Our goal is to have the entire district implemented by school year 2016/2017.  Definitley a tough goal but I believe we can do it.  Our building is currently completing a booik study and it is teachingus the do's and don'ts of SBG.  We had the priveldge of meeting teachers from other districts that have already implented SBG and I am certainly looking forward to this grading system.  This new grading allows students, parents, and teachers to see what information the student is really learning (not a grade for participation or extra credit but a grade on the knowledge gained).  Although this is going to require a complete overhaul on grading and lesson planning I am excited, nervous, overwhelmed, and looking forward to yet another new journey.  
HERE WE GO!!!