Providing feedback, setting objectives, and providing recognition (Week 2 CEdO525)

This week in 525 we focused on providing feedback to students, setting objectives, and providing recognition to students.

I read the article Feedback That Fits and found many things interesting in it. I found the section about relating feedback to the goal the most interesting. The article talked about commenting on improvements that a student would have made since previous assignments. This is especially helpful for students who are struggling in a particular class or on a particular subject. Dealing with unsuccessful learners is a challenge that many teachers face. The student typically doesn't look closely at assignments or tests that have been handed back, making feedback difficult. The article suggested pointing out improvements made by the students and then giving suggestions of some steps to follow for the next assignment and following up with more feedback. Tone of voice becomes very important when giving any kind of feedback. It should indicate that the teacher is making helpful suggestions. In my opinion, tone of voice and eye contact go hand-in-hand. Students can sometimes misread a tone of voice and making eye contact with that student becomes essential to the student understanding what the teacher is trying to say. The major emphasis in the article was being clear about the feedback and giving suggestions that the student can comprehend. A student may receive feedback and not read it or may misinterpret it completely. A teacher must make sure that a student understands their expectations and their intentions when giving feedback.

What kind of technologies can I use to help students receive proper feedback?
We were asked to review one of the rubric websites; I chose to check out rubistar. I found this website to be very easy to use. I was able to create a rubric from their database of products. The site allows the user to change points offered and choose their own categories for evaluating the assignment. The category description may be changed and the criteria may be manipulated for each category to suit the user. This site seems like a great, easy way to produce rubrics. Rubrics can be very time-consuming to make and this makes the process much more efficient!

When reviewing the online quiz creators, I chose to take a closer look at QuizStar. This site requires the teacher to create classes to assign the quizzes to. QuizStar allows the teacher to import a quiz that has already been made or it allows the teacher to create their own quizzes. It seems easy to use and I think it would be easy for students to use. This is definitely a way for teachers to save paper and ink by not having to make copies of quizzes, however, if a teacher does not teach in a computer lab they may have trouble getting access to computers for the students to take the quizzes.

What kind of technologies can I use to help students receive recognition?
We use Power School as our grading program where I teach. The grade book program provided allows the teacher to not only enter grades, but indicate if the assignment is late, missing, or exempt. It also allows the teacher to add specific comments on assignments or general comments about the student's performance.

I also have begun using Google docs in one of my classes, which is a great way for me to provide needed recognition by using the comments tool. Students would be able to see exactly where the comment is linked to and they would be able to see if changes are needed or not.. I also would be able to email the students to provide recognition they may be needing.

Readings for week 1 of CEdO525

The first article we had to read for week 1 of 525 was Principles of Teaching and Learning, I was reading the section about teaching principles. I found the fourth point especially hit home with me. It discussed coverage of topics in the classroom and how a teacher decides what to teach and how much to teach in a semester. I teach business and have many different state standards available. Since I am the business department in my district, I am limited in how many of those standards are reached. So, I attempt to meet as many of them as possible, however, sometimes that becomes a challenge because of the make-up of the class. Each student learns in a different way and at a different pace and all have different backgrounds and experiences. My class sizes have been increasing since I began teaching which also poses a challenge for me. I find myself adapting how I teach certain material or how I present information to my classes. For some classes, I am not able to cover as much material as I would like to, but with others, I can cover much more than expected.

Teachers must be willing to be flexible with how they teach and what they teach. It is important that each student receives the education that they are expecting to receive, but it is also important to not lose other students in the process. It is a fine line, and a difficult one, that teachers walk. We must prepare ourselves for any challenges that may arise.

The second reading we had in Week 1 of CEdO525 was A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Student Outcomes. I will be honest and admit that I struggled with this article. I am not a scientist, nor am I a mathematician. So much of this article confused me. What I did understand from the research were the results and I was quite surprised by them. The results indicated that when technology is used to assist in teaching and learning, it had a slight positive effect on learning. And in some cases, technology had a negative effect on behavior. I find much of this hard to believe. It has been my experience when using technology in my classroom, that often the students are better behaved and have much better outcomes with learning. 

Copyright, Privacy, and Internet safety for children

In our final week of CEdO525 we discussed copyright and Internet safety for children with our groups and wrote about privacy and ethics on the Internet individually.

One of the sites that was recommended to look at in regards to copyright was Creative Commons. I had never heard of the site prior to this class and found some of the information interesting. The website supports legal use of another's work. The site offers six different types of licenses for creators to choose from. Most of them allow a user to change or build upon the material as needed as long as proper credit is given. The licenses also have three different layers to them. The first layer is legal language, the second layer is "human" language, and the third is machine readable.

When looking into the information for Internet safety for children, the FBI provides a guide for parents about Internet Safety. It is very inclusive as it discusses signs to look for that a child might be at risk online, what to do if a parent suspects their child is in contact with a sexual predator, and how to minimize the chances of a child coming into contact with an online exploiter.

This course has been very helpful! I particularly enjoyed learning how to use Google Alerts and creating a website evaluation tool. Researching different Internet learning tools also proved to be valuable. I find it very important to know what resources are available, especially free resources, in the recent happenings in Wisconsin. With threats of deep cuts in state financing, using online tools may become a requirement.

Google Alerts!

In week 2 of 520, one of the things we focused on was Google Alerts. It's awesome! I have never used it before and didn't know it existed. What a wonderful tool to use to keep up on topics that are important to you! While discussion boards and listservs are valuable resources to have in the teaching world, sometimes it is helpful to have tool like Google Alerts to tell you when something new has been put onto the Internet. I teach about so many different topics and it is very difficult to stay on top of everything that is changing in those areas. Google Alerts would allow me to do this. I see myself using this a lot for my classroom.

CEdO520 To blog or not to blog?

This week we were asked about our opinions of the blog. Personally, I don't mind the blog and appreciate it as an historical tool for our final project for the program. However, I have found the repetitive, "How can you use what you've learned in your classroom?" a bit mundane. I realize it is important for me to think about how to use what we have learned about, but sometimes I would like to have another topic to discuss. I also find it difficult to comment on two other classmates' blogs when they are discussing how to use what we have learned in their classrooms, an entirely different content area than mine. I struggle to question them or expand on what they have talked about without knowing more about their area of expertise.

We were also asked about Internet learning resources this week. After reading three articles about possible resources, my eyes were opened a bit about what they can be. I had this idea of learning tools for students to learn to expand their thoughts about the subject previously discussed in class. I was surprised to see that teacher resources and tools are considered Internet learning resources also. I use these frequently, as I am sure many teachers do, to spice up or revamp some of my lessons.

I will admit I was a bit fearful of the wiki when I first saw it, but am much more comfortable with it now that I have looked around a bit and used it. It is a different platform to use and I enjoy seeing a different tool be used in our program. I am still a bit worried that I will lose track of assignment due dates, but I will just have to keep track of those on my own to be sure I don't.

Summary of 515

After reviewing my previous blog posts for 515, I realized that I forgot how much we have done for this course.

We began the class by creating a graphic. I chose to use Image Chef to create my graphic. I think that I would be able to use some of the programs in my classes, but I would have to be careful, since some of them have questionable images to use.

We also had to create a presentation using an online presentation program. I chose to use 280 slides, which was very easy to use. Advertising:  The Art of Attracting an Audience  I have students create presentations in many classes and using an online presentation software could be very helpful, especially if a student has internet access, but not PowerPoint at home.

The next week we explored different online word processors. I actually have implemented Google docs into one of my classes this semester. I am very excited to see how it goes for the students, but so far they have really enjoyed doing it. All of the students I have in this class, I had in a previous class. A couple of them have a hard completing their homework on time, but that has improved since using the Google docs.

We also learned to work with online spreadsheets and created a spreadsheet involving a recipe. This was a great way to play with spreadsheets and their formula ability. I have never manipulated a recipe in a spreadsheet, so this was fun for me. I chose to work with my recipe for Chili.I use spreadsheets in my Accounting 1 class and could easily use Google spreadsheets as an alternative. If I use Excel, the students may be forced to complete the homework at school if they don't have Excel at home.

Finally, we moved on to creating a calendar with Google calendars. I hadn't ever worked with Google calendar before and found it to be a great experience. I am considering using one for my track team. I would be able to put practices and meets on it. Parents would be able to access it and check on practice times over spring breaks and check on meet times if needed. I created one for myself to use everyday.

All of these programs that we worked with can be valuable in my classroom or coaching. We also researched  lessons that implemented spreadsheets by using NetTrekker. NetTrekker is probably a good resource for core subject teachers, but I struggled to find a lesson in my content area. We also worked with different software evaluation tools. With so many classrooms implementing more technology and softwares, an effective software evaluation tool becomes important. Ineffective or eventually unused software can take up server space and become a hindrance to school district ITs.

I learned about a lot of great tools that I can use in my classes and that can help my district save money and resources in the long run.

Google Sites and Software Evaluation

This week's focus in 515 was creating a Google site and evaluating software. I created a Google site in which I included work I have done for 515 and also a presentation I created for 510. I found Google sites very easy to use. Creating pages and editing them was very straightforward. I'm not sure how much I would use a Google site in my professional life. Our school district website allows us to create a page of our own from the district website, so if I were to use a website, I would create it there. I think that this will be a great way to create a portfolio of my work throughout this Master's program. In my personal life, I could create a Google site for my husband's business. It would be a great way to direct potential customers and exhibit some of his work.

As a group, we had to evaluate three different software evaluation tools. We looked at Sun Prairie's Evaluation tool, Children's Technology Review and Kathy Schrock's Software Evaluation Form. All were very easy to use; they utilized checklists, provided an area for cost, and provided an area to include standards that would be met by the software. We liked Sun Prairie's the best as it listed information about the software, cost, rationale for purchase, standards that would be met by the software, and provided room for comments by administration and tech support. The evaluation is very inclusive and leaves little to be desired. This is a tool that I would be very comfortable using in my own district.

On a side note, I have incorporated Google docs into a class this semester. The students were very receptive to it and had no problems creating accounts and learning to use the docs. They have had a good time using the software and have not had any complaints so far. I am very happy to have integrated something I have learned in this program into my classroom. I hope that I can continue to do so.

Go Pack!