Things 8-14 Capstone

Things 8-14 Capstone Reflection

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

Copyright and Creative Commons: A refresher on copyright is something that should be done annually with staff. An excellent way to do this is to provide the quiz that I created with the library staff who can in turn use it with their building staff and/or students. An introduction of Creative Commons Licensing is also something that should be addressed with teachers and staff.

Digital Images: I explored Picasa and only was able to spend a fraction of the time that I wanted too. Organization of photos (can you call them that?)is a challenge and the online web albums are a great resource. Digital images found at free copyright sites are more of what I would use with students and staff. The availability of these sites makes searching easier and direct.

Digital Storytelling: Another area that I would like to explore further. Student use in telling their own stories, their writing compositions, would make this creative process fascinating and sneak in a whole lot of learning in something pungent with the cool factor.

Presentation: Prezi! Wow, this one was a bit frustrating as noted in my earlier entries. I believe that our students would blow me out of the water with this one. I would like to take an old fashioned presentation (poster board or report or PowerPoint) and have them convert the pieces, throwing some out on the way and integrating new.

Evaluation and Assessment: I have already used the Google “form” to gather information from my library staff at the middle and high schools re: periodicals and magazines for their media centers. This gave me valuable information on not only what they think about the subject but their level of expertise in regards to research and reading , their knowledge of their students, and how many have the communication skills that allowed them to take part in a timely matter and how many are overwhelmingly busy. A multi-use product!

Online Interactive: Quizlet was fun…a simple flashcard device. I have already recommended it’s use to a colleague for her personal use. This goes a long way.

Online video and audio resources: This “thing” allowed me to explore a subscription service that we use in our district and gave me a different degree of insight. My intent is to work with our technology trainer in the preparation of trainings for my library staff who will in turn train their staff and/or students.

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 connections as well as NETS standards are listed with each “Thing” and posted in this blog.

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.

One particular lesson begins with a brainstorm with students re: presentations that they have done in the past. What was the subject? What was the format? Why did you do it? Did you learn from it? Did anyone else learn from it? How can we update it and make it more appealing?

The next step would be the demonstration of digital storytelling – what it means and why it works. The students would explore their topic through digital storytelling. Differentiation works well with this method. I know that I did not use the music that I wanted to because I did not have the knowledge or time to explore that avenue. Therefore I used what was provided and still produced a nice  product. What did I learn from my exploration of digital storytelling? See below: