December 6, 2011
Alger Middle Experience

Things 15 - 21 Capstone Reflection

A. How will you use these technology applications to improve learning experiences for your students and/or improve your own practice? 

The shared  calendar in Google has already been put into action in my work. I was looking for something that I could share with the librarians at the district schools without going thru the Groupwise calendar which I do not find friendly. The librarians come from diverse backgrounds when it comes to online experience and this is a simple basic tool to set up times and appointments for our meetings and my school visits.

- Professional Learning Communities were named today when I reminded the librarians of their May meeting and training tomorrow. They have been meeting monthly for discussions, networking and on-site training. At this time it is easier for them to have the time when it is planned and away from their home base. They are paraprofessionals that come to school with the kids and leave with the kids. - MeL was the first tool that I introduced when I began my position in November. The lesson and introduction were followed up by discussion of use at the subsequent meetings. The parapros will be surveyed via Google Form tomorrow on their use and this will guide the plan for next year. I believe that the use of MeL is extremely important for our students. It is so full of information and so valuable to their learning. - RSS feeds are easier than I imagined them to be, thanks to Google again. I have not had the opportunity to go back to the set-up that I created but I can see it being a wonderful tool for keeping up with the profession and the thoughts and opinions of my colleagues bringing the "experts" in. - I have had the best experience using Moodle and this Blog. By weekly assignments which required me to become comfortable with it, I learned a great deal and would not hesitate to use it for students as I have begun to use it with the parapro's. - Who needs Inspiration?  So much available online for free. What a great tool Bubbl is for planning and project based learning. No tutorial required, just jump in and create. Wordle is fun and one of my favorites personally and soon to be used professionally. - I did not imagine that I would be able to screencast but it was so simple and practical that I shared it with a colleague and my supervisor this afternoon showing them how I can teach a method of operation in our library software program. As the screencasts grow, so will the library of information at their fingertips.

B. What effective teaching and learning strategy(ies), based on the work by Marzano (http://gets.gc.k12.va.us/VSTE/2008/ ) will these technology applications address, to make a difference in the learning experience for your students? All Marzano applications are listed with topic in each "thing".

C. Choose one of the seven things and describe an activity or lesson you could use in your classroom. Include in the description how the lesson meets either a Michigan curriculum standard or another Educational Technology standard.
I choose something simple. Introduce Wordle as a way to brainstorm topics found in a classroom novel. As each chapter progresses students will journal their reflections. When the time comes, they will have demonstrated Wordle and be able to go online to create their own Wordle. These in turn can be open to discussion within the classroom.

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:

a.	promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.

Thing 21 - Screencasting

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

Circulation Statistics in Library World
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cXhF3RFVw

This has the very cool factor! So simple and so practical. I shared this with a colleague who works in video and she loved it. It generated many ideas to use with our librarians in the field. The time it took to put this together was short compared to capturing screens and entering text and cutting and pasting. These do not have to be perfect and short and sweet is preferred. I see a future in demonstrations of more aspects of our library software. For example: Inventory procedures. Only the upload time was a bit long but if you are prepared for that it is little bother. I got a chuckle out of the sound of my mouse click. It's very loud on my personal laptop, something that my son has told me on Skype. CLICK

Connections to Marzano Strategies: Objectives and Feedback; Homework and Practice; Nonlinguistic Representations.

Thing 20 - Visual Learning

1. Bubbl.us

Graphic organizer to demonstrate to class of library staff not only how to use the organizer but how to plan the year's monthly meeting schedule as a team. Nice

2. Wordle

3. I was introduced to Wordle a few years ago and used it with the students in the library. We listed  library terms and authors. To expand it to poetry and literary analysis would work very well. How about Dewey Decimal just for fun: 700's, 398.2, Fairy Tales, Fiction, 900's, etc.

Connections to Marzano Strategies: Questions, Cues and Advance Organizers; Non-Linguistic Rerpesentations.

Thing 19 - Virtual Classroom

1. Create a plan on how you can extend your classroom. Explain how this would improve teaching and learning, how you can help meet the NETS-S for your students.

The librarians that I work with meet on a monthly basis. In one of those meetings recently they were introduced to the blogging/messaging component of Moodle within the district. They were asked to register right then and there and they began to message each other. What they were sharing was information and queries re: many of the things they handle on a daily basis.

I would like to take this further by introducing another piece before the year is out. When school begins again in September we will come back to this and begin to investigate more and more of the system/site.  Relevant content will need to be added and they will all be part of how the site progresses. They will learn for themselves, from me, and from each other!

2. Choose the student role in Navigating the Land of Online Learning: (web.inghamisd.org/gettingonline/start.html) After looking at the student requirements, summarize what is necessary to be successful as an online student.

To become successful in an online class a student must be prepared to take the class and be able to self motivate. They must know the rules: netiquette, time management, copyright basics, and what it means to plagiarize.  The Tech and Learning 10 Tips and Tricks for the Online Student (www.techlearning.com/article/2388) although published in 2004 is a practical demonstration on how to behave in an online class. I believe that the most important factor is the introduction and the preparation that must be done to get the student ready for an online class whether or not it is their 1^st or their 10^th.

Connections to Marzano Strategies: Cooperative Learning; Questions, Cues & Advance Organizers.

Thing 18 - Staying Informed

 

RSS feeds on Google Reader are an ideal way to keep updated without having to chase down information. Keeping current can be difficult due to the time required to go to sites to see what’s new. Logging into Google and having the briefs displayed will not only be personally and professionally used but will be an ideal tool to introduce to the library staff in my district. I have known about RSS for a very long time and even taking the time to learn about it was taking too much time. I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to explore Google and all of it’s wonders.

 

Thing 17 - Research and Reference Tools

1. Student Research: · InfoTrac Junior Edition and InfoTrac Student Edition

These two reference pieces are produced by Gale which is a product of Cengage Learning. Gale is a long-time leader in e-reference and authoritative reference content. The credibility is proven for both. The content in both overlaps because it is pulled for Middle School or Junior High and High School. The content for both includes: Magazines, Academic Journals, Books, News Items, and Multi-media. InfoTrac Student contains some higher level content. The usability is intuitive for the average bear.

2. Advanced Research:

General One File is designed for the general user. On a simple investigation I found the articles were much the same as the InfoTrac Student Edition. The level was not collegiate nor was it elementary. This reference is another Gale product and meets the appropriateness, usability, content and credibility the same as InfoTrac Junior and Student Editions.

3. Work Cited - 1

4. Works Cited - 2