My IP&T Experience

Final Reflection of the Semester

2010-04-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Brother West asked us to reflect on the following for our last post of the semester:
* What do you feel is the most useful technology (or teaching approach) you have learned this semester?
I think that learning to use the Google resources has been the most effective because I found out that things such as Google Groups, PowerPoints to access online, etc.

* How do you plan to use this or other technologies in your future teaching?
Collaborative writing, presentations, and group projects.

* How can you use technologies (the ones we learned or others) to engage your students in ACTIVE learning?
I think that the best things about using technology in the classroom is that it IS so interactive, is something that the students are usually very familiar with, and allows for collaboration outside of the classroom. It also allows them to learn without a teacher or a library because they have so much information at their fingertips. However, I do need to teach them where to find reliable sources and information, as well as internet safety. But if they can do that, many doors of active inquiry are opportunity are opened up to them!

I am most proud of...

2010-04-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

My educational video :) It is posted on March 30's posting, but here is the link to make life easier on you! Video

2010-04-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

I posted the link from Google Reader to Jim Burke: The English Teacher's Companion because he is an acclaimed resource and authority on teaching English. I have found his suggestions very practical and useful and even bought one of his books. Here is the link for the class wiki.

Also, I started a page and posted my lesson plan on using Google Groups to teach persuasive writing. Here is the link.

And I also did the class ratings and the survey. Thanks for everything, Brother West and Brother Young! It was such a helpful class!

Copyright assignment

2010-04-12T14:37:00.001-07:00

It wouldn't allow me to embed this video, so I am linking to it instead. I watched a video on teachertube that was about how to conjugate present tense verbs in Spanish. It was fun and educational, but not really copyright safe from what I can tell. I highly doubt that they had permission to use Justin Timberlake's song, "Bringing Sexy Back." Not only that, but they changed the words. They did say under the video in a message that it was a take on Justin Timberlake's song, but they didn't use Freeplay music, and they used the whole song. Other than that, it was safe because it was mostly a teacher and a student in the video, and it was their own pictures and flashcards that they used. It is also for educational purposes. So to make it copyright safe, they would need to get permission from the artist to use and change his song, unless they were only using it in the classrooom- then they would probably be safe. But posting it on the internet breaks copyright laws.

The second one is one of my favorite videos that you have seen before on my blog that is about copyright. I thought it would be interesting to analyze how they got around copyright laws when using such a copyright breaker hungry company. Here is the link. The key thing to this video is that it only uses quick clips of each movie, and that it is for educational purposes. And it probably doesn't hurt that it is teaching people how to not break the copyright law :) I think this is a perfect example of doing what it is talking about, and even tells at the beginning that the clips are from Disney, but that it is in no way affiliated with or approved by Disney. Perfectly copyright safe from what I can see with the knowledge I have!

Project finishing touch

2010-04-12T14:24:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I didn't enter the competition as planned. I had some family issues come up the week of and when I talked to the main competition employee, he informed me that I had to get the video done by Monday. I couldn't meet the deadline, so I have just done the main assignment according to the class assignment. The lesson plan for the project is on my Monday, February 22 post and here is the link to the artifact that I created from Google Groups as an example of what the student's product might look like.

Internet Safety Videos

2010-04-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

I watched this video first, and it scared me, even! It is about stalkers targeting youth on the internet. It is produced by Phoenix library. I liked that at the end, it gave some helpful information that I didn't even know, like don't use a screen name that lets people know if you are a boy or a girl, using a different screen name for all the sites you visit, set your myspace/facebook profiles to private, never ever put your home phone number on the internet, and never post your email address on a site with your identity information.

I also watched a news report about teens on the internet. It was focused on preventing identity theft. Quest polled youth and found that the top ways were students' information was compromised were the following: using too much personal information on social networking sites, talking with and meeting strangers online, giving out their social security numbers on online job applications, failing to recognize phishing scams, and keeping personal information such as passwords and social security numbers in their cell phones.

I think it would be a good idea to have a lesson at the beginning of each school year where we go over this type of information and send things home to ensure the parents that you are being safe and equipping their kids with SAFE internet abilities to use to further and enrich their studies.

I talked with a mother of 3 girls in their 20s. She shared that she has been worried mostly about buying things online. I shared with her these videos with tips, and she didn't realize how easy it was to get information. She was planning on talking to her girls to give them the tips from these videos in order to help them stay safe, as well as keep their identities such as well.

Internet Safety: Elder Bednar's "Things as they Really Are"

2010-04-05T13:55:00.001-07:00

What were the most important things I learned from the talk, and how will what I have read influence my actions as a teacher of children and youth?

Elder Bednar talks at the beginning of the importance of the body. Last week, one of my professors was talking about the importance of getting the students up and moving. It got me thinking about the connection between the body and the spirit, which creates the soul. If we learn through the spirit, as we do all good knowledge, there is something important that I am still exploring with the body being involved.

Also, by way of being a parent or teacher, it made me think of how often Satan attacks the body because he does not have one and is jealous of ours. If we look around us, the biggest temptations that face youth have to do with their bodies: many youth fight eating disorders, immorality, and low self-esteem. Rather than shake it off as something that is "typical" of students or youth, I need to recognize how big of a temptation that is for them with their surroundings and help them have all the tools necessary to recognize and combat Satan's temptations. I need to help them see how wonderful they are, who they are, and never be one to look down on them, or allow them to think negatively of themselves or others.

It also made me think of how I need to be really careful with integrating technology in to the classroom. It is a tool, and is helpful-- however, I do not want to be so wrapped up in it that the point of my English class is lost. He said that some are caught in a web of online socializing or gaming. I do not want them to forget the real people in their class, or forget that myself, for that matter. There is an important aspect of being physically present and associating face-to-face that technology cannot do.

However, some students may participate more when there is less to be embarrassed by. For example, they may not feel comfortable talking in class, but they will in a class blog. They are hiding behind a "mask". However, there is a danger in this mask. As Elder Bednar discussed, sometimes that online persona will lead to inappropriate online, contrived relationships. We cannot forget or neglect those real people in front of us.

This talk convinced me to ween off of facebook (while many simply delete theirs, I have communication with many from my mission in Argentina and love remaining in contact with them and other friends.) However, facebook cannot take over my life and I cannot live in it, nor allow it to distract me from my daily responsibilities. I must check it in moderation.

I would like to remember what he said we should remember to ask ourselves: does this technology enrich my life and invite the Spirit? Does it take away or allow me to fulfill my responsibilities and loving relationships?

This generation has a greater capability for righteousness than any other. I hope to always remember how amazing the kids are I am raising and/or teaching and see them "as they really are", despite how frustrated I may be with them some days.

IIC Competition Finalists

2010-03-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to attend the finalists' presentations of their technology lesson plans. I am going to write a few things that I learned or want to use in my classroom:

Group 1: Using the internet to track down primary sources so that they see the perpective of those living then, not just what people say about it now.

Group 2: I liked the idea of using the Mindmeister webs in order to help organize ideas as students write 5 paragraph essays. It is often difficult for students to organize while writing, and this would prepare them for the writing process.

Group 3: I find it important that they focused the project on motivation to write by having the students write for a purpose by having the final product be a book to be published on "Mighty Authors".

Group 4: I feel like the fourth group gave us insight in to why they think their project is effective, but I don't know what that project IS. It does seem very extensive and they are very well prepared. It is obvious that they have put a lot of work in to it, but I wanted to see how they used it and an example of a lesson plan, perhaps.

Group 5: Okay, I am not going to lie... I missed the main idea of their project. Something about videos and discussion. And as I thought about it, I realized that they were the first group that didn't use technology to present... which tells me, that at least for me, that technology is important in the classroom when thinking about keeping students attention on you.

Group 6: Using a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. That is new to me. You only need one each per classroom with a projector. Used to facilitate collaborative writing. They also used Google Wave, which is an alternative to e-mail, but collaborative in its nature. It is similar to Googledocs but with more "bells and whistles". An interesting thing is that you can send a wave to the whole class or just to a student that has a specific question.

Group 7: Was targeted to kindergarten literacy by using an iPad so that students can see, hear, and write the words they are learning using the iPad application S.E.E.L. It can also be applied to an ESL student that knows Spanish.

Although group 5 was impressive, I felt that the technology was more important than the content. For this reason, I think that group 6 was the best. They were well prepared, and kept it simple. I feel like too often the technology distracts or complicates rather than facilitates. Their project does not do this, but rather, is something that I felt excited about after and wanted bluetooth keyboards and mouses of my own to use in the classroom for collaborative writing. It would be fun for the students and would take less instruction time because of getting up, walking to the computer, etc. Maybe it was just the "show" of it, but for me, it was something I would actually use if I had the equipment to do so.

Instructional Video- "Phobias"

2010-03-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this video is to allow students to explore a Greek or Latin roots. This is my example of the root "phobia".

Storyboard

2010-03-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

I realized that since I linked it to this blog, it is considered public. So! I changed my pics to all copyright safe! Also, I started a folder on my computer of pics that are copyright safe with the subject of the photo, the location I found them, and the name of the photographer so that I can cut down on some work as I make more things with these photographs!

2010-03-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

I worked on my storyboard this week by adding pictures and text to the basic outline I had last week (since I thought it was due last week, I had a bit of a head-start). The link on my previous post from last week should show the version I have now. I think that it is all done, but I was not sure if I needed the source of all of the pictures, since of copyright. But since my google docs aren't public, does that mean that I am okay? I think just to be safe, I should probably find the sources and add them...which isn't sounding like fun since I adapted an old assignment into the the technology aspect of it. But I will try to do that before class to be safe.

Storyboard beginnings

2010-03-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

I did the storyboard for the project. I still need to add images once I pick a specific root to use as an example. I put it in as a google doc so that you can have the link to it.

It has been a great week, a busy one since I recently got engaged! And I am so excited about it! But at least I managed to get a bit done still! :)

Still working on the project...

2010-03-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

Since I am doing the competition, I am still working on it. I contacted the department and they okay-ed my adjustment of the prompt. I have been exploring google groups as well. Also, I GOT ENGAGED on Saturday... so I didn't get as far as I was planning, as Saturday is the day I dedicate to homework in this class :) But it will be done by the competition deadline!

2010-02-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

As far as honesty in education goes, I learned about this cool video that talks about copyright laws if anyone would like to check it out. It is called "A Fair(y) Use Tale" and it is off of Youtube.com. It lets you know how to keep yourself safe when sharing copyrighted files/images/etc.

IIC Lesson Plan

2010-02-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

This week for the project, I e-mailed the IIC people to make sure that it was okay to adjust my project a bit (they asked that we let them know if we plan to do that.) They are looking for 5th grade, and that won't be that useful for me. I took a look at the State Core for the grades I am hoping to teach (10th-12th) and found that there is a similar part of the core to that of the competition's challenge. Here is that section of the core:

Objective 2 (Extended Writing): Write to persuade others. (Emphasize persuasive compositions. Students should use the entire writing process to produce at least one extended piece per term, not necessarily limited to the type of writing emphasized at individual grade level.)
a. Experiment with varied organizational patterns and forms of writing (e.g.,memos,letters, reports, essays, brochures).

b. Support arguments with personal experience, detailed evidence, examples, and reasoning.
c. Use persuasive strategies including appeals to logic, emotion, and ethics.

Objective 3 (Revision and Editing): Revise and edit to strengthen ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions.
a. Evaluate and revise for:
Adequate support of ideas (e.g., quotations, facts, examples, anecdotes, and excerpts).
Control of organizational elements in multiple paragraph texts (e.g., thesis, details, leads, conclusions, and transitions).
Correct use of active and passive voice. Appropriate voice for specific audiences.
Specific word choice for different audiences and purposes.
Rhythm created through sentence construction (i.e., parallel sentence structure).
b. Edit for:
Spelling.
Correct use of commas to set off appositives.
Correct subject/verb agreement.
Correct sentence construction (i.e., fragments, run-ons).
Correct placement of modifiers.
Correct capitalization for abbreviations (Ph.D.) or letters that stand alone (U-turn, I-beams).
Correct use of possessives.
Correct use of semi-colon.

Part 1:
I don't think that I will cover all of that in my lesson plan, but we will see how things go. It just might be too much for one project. But maybe not. So what I am planning on doing is breaking the students up in to groups of 4 students. They will then write down their e-mails and names of the group members to turn in to me (so that they can create a google group with those classmates). One student who is "tech-savvy" will come up. I will let them know how to create a private google group (including the teacher as well in that group) and they will then go back to their group and create the group with them, as well as show them how to use Google groups. If this can be done in a computer lab, even better! These are their groups for feedback and will also be their audience.

Part 2:
For part two of the assignment, I will pass out an assignment sheet (this is what I will work on this week) as well as model what the assignment is by showing them past examples, including my own. This lesson plan is an idea that was given to me by Dr. Debbie Dean of the English Teaching department. The assignment is to write a persuasive essay based off of something that the student is passionate about and that they are an "expert" in. The topic must also be something that is commonly misunderstood in society, and in particular, among their group. For example, when she walked the class through this, I chose to write on sister missionaries. Most people think that girls only go on missions because they "cannot get married." However, having served a mission gave me an "inside perspective" of why girls go on missions. It was fun to write. I think that students will have fun writing it because it is something that they care about.

Part three:
Have the students brainstorm what they could write about. That day/night, they are to post their first post on their google group. It will just be the topic they are going to write on. This will also be to make sure that everyone can enter the groups when at home.

Part 4:
If there are no technological issues to work out, the next assignment for the following class is to have everyone post at least 5 thoughts or ideas that come to mind reguarding their opinion or view of that topic, being HONEST, because that will help the writer know where to start, what the common view is, and how to persuade the others in the group to see from their (the writer's) perspective.

Part 5:
Hand out the rubric and then students will work on an outline of their paper in class and at home. This can be done on paper at first, but needs to be transferred over to the Google group during the week. This will be taking place while I will instruct students in mini-lessons during class time on certain things that I will be looking for in particular during grading, including:
Spelling.
Correct use of commas to set off appositives.
Correct subject/verb agreement.
Correct sentence construction (i.e., fragments, run-ons).
Correct placement of modifiers.
Correct capitalization for abbreviations (Ph.D.) or letters that stand alone (U-turn, I-beams).
Correct use of possessives.
Correct use of semi-colon.
as well as...
Adequate support of ideas (e.g., quotations, facts, examples, anecdotes, and excerpts).
Control of organizational elements in multiple paragraph texts (e.g., thesis, details, leads, conclusions, and transitions).
Correct use of active and passive voice. Appropriate voice for specific audiences.
Specific word choice for different audiences and purposes.
Rhythm created through sentence construction (i.e., parallel sentence structure).

Part 6:
The students will realize a peer-edit through their google groups. Each will have to edit the different members of the group (so 3 total each if there are 4 in each group) and each will be assigned a different color to edit in. This way, the author can see who edited what. Recommend to students that they save an original draft in their personal files or flash drive so that they have the original. Have the group members do a first basic reading, then a second based off of the criteria from part 5. Since the papers are only about 3 pages double-spaced, this should not take a lot of time.

Part 7:
Have the students do a final draft based off of what they take out of the peer edits and make any other final touches.

Part 8:
Turn in the final draft to the teacher via google groups by the due date.

That's all I have for now! It seems like a lot of work, but it is working on such a big chunk of the State Core that it is worth it! I loved this assignment when I did it, but integrating the technology is a new twist, so it should be interesting to see how that affects the assignment. I am hoping that it will facilitate the process!

Brainstorming my Final Project

2010-02-16T13:44:00.001-08:00

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do for the competition. I think that I have narrowed it down to two options: first off, I was reading an article about Buddy Book Journals. I think that it would be interesting to have students either do a podcast as their entries, or communicate back and forth on a blog. I am not sure which--perhaps both. They could communicate on a blog and then as a final to the unit they could do a radio show or book review on a podcast. I think it would be fun to have them log their reactions on a podcast after each chapter as well, however. My second idea was to have them represent a character of the novel by making a video to upload to Youtube with an "Oscars ceremony" as a conclusion to the projects. I saw a similar assignment done by a professor here, and it looked like a lot of fun! So those are my ideas... still deciding and working through the pros and cons of each! Let me know what you think!

Class Website

2010-02-08T15:33:00.001-08:00

I just finished the final touches for my class website! I am really excited about it! It was very time consuming because everything was completely new to me, but it feels so good to see the finished results! I think is is definitely something I will use in my classroom. It is a private site (only those who I gave permission to see it can--but I did add Brother West and Danny on it so that they can grade it). I am glad I had the opportunity to learn this new technology!

During the process, I was able to explore and/or create/edit the following based off of a Google website template:

“About Me”
“Contact Me”
Homework Assignments or Announcements
A calendar of class activities, filled out for at least one month
Forms and Documents, with at least one document uploaded (this could be a rubric for an assignment you might have)
Useful links on a separate page or in the sidebar.
A page for your MSE competition entry, where you embed a Youtube video as a placeholder until your own video is done (see the screencast below). If you are not doing the MSE competition, then create a page where you present some instruction with a video or presentation you find on Youtube, TeacherTube or Slideshare.
Create a page for parents and students to see book recommendations (Goodreads)
I also added a page for fun games that have to do with English (widgets and such).

Zotero and Delicious...my two new favorite teacher-esk websites!!!

2010-02-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

So I just found out last week that the Spanish Teaching department merges a methods class with an IP&T type technology focus. So in this class the other day, we learned about 2 websites that I found VERY useful for English teachers.

The first one, Zotero, helps you to store information and create research projects. It takes so much work out of trying to keep all the files in tact, trying to manage them and store bibliographic information, etc. Zotero is great for those kinds of things and I tried it out with an annotated bibliography, and although I am still trying to figure out a few things, I love it so far. It might be something I would consider teaching to my students to help them out on research projects. However, I am still in the process of learning the program and don't know what grade level/technology experience that would require of my students. I am thinking only for high school students, not middle school quite yet.

Secondly, I have become obsessed with bookmarking now that I have my own laptop. It was hard before not to have my own computer, but I found out that there is an online bookmarking site that helps you bookmark pages and you are able to access it from any computer with internet access. It is called Delicious. You can also add a thing to your toolbar that allows you to mark pages on delicous with just a click of the mouse (as long as you remain signed on to Delcious, that it). SO nice!!!

Also, I just learned that I can open a new tab when I click a link rather than have it open the page on the same one I clicked on, that way I can browse without losing my "home page." It is super easy, you just hold command down while you click the link and another tab will open up with the link.

It was a good week as far as learning new, useful technology goes!

LibriVox!

2010-02-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

Brother West posted the following on the class blog and I want to use this in my classrooms!

One technology that can be very beneficial to helping all students learn in English classes is that of audiobooks. For example, I had a friend who struggled mightily with dyslexia, but succeeded in school because her mother read her homework to her every night. Now a days, there are more audiobooks available to help students such as those with learning disabilities, as well as any other students who do not read well or who simply learn best through auditory means. For instance, I read an article a couple of years ago that said 1 in 7 ADULTS do not read well enough to comprehend a children’s book. Audiobooks are one way of helping students with reading difficulties to not fall further behind. Here is a website I found recently on a blog that teaches some of the educational benefits of audiobooks.

A great resource for teachers and students is Librivox.org. This is an organization of volunteers who record themselves reading public domain books. They then offer their recordings for free. Many of the “classics” that are now in public domain are available on Librivox. For example, in the last couple of years, I have listened to Librivox recordings of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and A Tale of Two Cities. I found both narrations to be excellent, and just as good as professional recordings.

Okay, it's me again....
That is amazing! I have learned while doing my practicum that many schools do not have copies of the novels that students can take home, and that means you have to read entire novels in class! Yikes! But studies have shown popcorn reading to be very in-effective in many ways (they embarrass poor readers and reading aloud is most effective when done by someone who reads well with good intonation and such.) So having these will be cost efficient and a savior for the English teacher's voice!

Class Websites Rock!

2010-02-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

I loved learning how to create a class website last Tuesday. It seems like a fun way to keep the class on the same page. DEFINITELY want to use that when I have my own classroom!

My Attempt at Creating a Personal Learning Network

2010-01-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Since I was really sick last week, I am hoping that I did the assignment right! :) Although I could not figure out how to get all of my subscriptions to be shown for the screen shot, here they are, along with some explanations of why I chose to subscribe to each.

Allison Frost's Page
Allison is a fellow class-member who is also an English Teaching major. I subscribed to her blog in order to see updates and things that she has learned concerning English and Technology.

Jim Burke: The English Teacher's Companion
I actually saw this subscription on Shane Hill's blog and when I checked it out I realized that it is a valuable blog from a teacher of English. He seems to have a similar teaching style to my own and has some great ideas on teaching English.

Learn Spanish with Notes in Spanish Podcasts!
I am a Spanish Teaching minor and this caught my attention because it provides pod-casts in Spanish. That is something that would be intriguing and fun for my students to listen to as they are learning pronunciation, understanding, grammar, etc. of Spanish. It is a potentially great tool for my future classroom.

National Council of Teachers of English
This is a council that I have heard a lot about in the English Teaching Department. Dr. Deborah Dean is a big contributor to it, as well as being one of my favorite professors here at BYU. She has used this to add to her teaching and has encouraged us to keep up with it, so it is nice to have a convenient way to do that!

NCTE-Deborah Dean
This is for the same reason as above, but includes a presentation about teaching writing in Secondary Education by Dr. Dean.

NCTE Ning
Also something Dr. Dean encouraged us to follow. It is where many experienced teachers contribute and collaborate in teaching secondary English.

PBS Teachers
This one is dedicated to current trends and events in the English Teaching world. It has a lot of subscribers and appears to be very informative.

Spanish Language: Learn Spanish Grammar, Vocabulary, and Culture
This goes over grammar rules and ways of explaining Spanish elements in a simple way. This could be helpful if I am at a loss of how to teach an element of Spanish or if I would like to know how to say it in a different way. Sometimes I only know how to explain principles in a way that my brain organizes it, so it is nice to have a different set of eyes that see things in ways my students share.

And last, but not least....

This Week in Education
This is also one that Shane had added. I like that it keeps up with current events and keeps educators informed in areas that can improve their awareness of trends, news, practices, and many more aspects that make good teachers up-to-date and informed.

About Me

2010-01-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

My name is Christie Cochrane. I am 25-years-old and loving life. I go to school at Brigham Young University and am just about done! Finally! After graduating high school here in good ol' Utah, I went on to get my Associate of Arts degree at Dixie State College, then served a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina. Since then, I have been working at the Missionary Training Center where I teach missionaries Spanish as well as how to effectively teach the Gospel, and also worked as a volleyball coach at Jordan High School. I have been attending Brigham Young University as well and am studying to teach English and Spanish in Secondary Schools. I love teaching and learning! I plan to do an internship in a high school in the Fall of 2010.

I do not have much experience with technology, so this is all new for me. I have been learning a lot since buying a macbook last semester and am having fun doing it. I have recently learned how valuable using powerpoint presentations can be in education and have done a few presentations to teach grammar principles or vocabulary in Spanish classes. Other than that, I am excited for this IP&T class, where I will learn more about how to use technology in the classroom. I will use this blog as a journal-type spot for my learning experiences in this class as well as my thoughts this semester. It should be a good semester!