Integrating Technology and Literacy

                                                      Tar River Reading Council Workshop

          The Tar Valley Reading Council Workshop for October was about ways that computer technology and literacy can be integrated in the classroom. The workshop contained many ideas in using ipad applications for students and teachers. The workshop was located at South Greenville Elementary in Greenville, North Carolina. The speaker was Lauren Boucher.
          One application that was discussed was Nearpod which is a computer application in which teachers and students can create presentations with pdf files and mp4 video files. You can insert a draw it in which the teacher can have the students draw out a diagram to practice handwriting, if the students have a paragraph in which the teacher wants the students to pick adjectives  this can be done. If there is one student that shows excellent work, the teacher can share the work with the entire class as an example for the other students to follow. The student’s identity will not be known and up to 10 presentations can be stored.
          Educreations is a white board application which allows teachers to build lessons. The teacher can record his or herself by annotating documents. For a word family lesson the teacher would talk to the students about a picture word that comes up on the screen.  Students can be called up to the screen to tell what the first letter for each picture word that is showing. The teacher can have another lesson on the ipad where students can write the words. Pictures can be brought in from a camera roll that is straight from the teacher’s drop box account. Pictures can be accessed from the web by clicking on the picture and it pops up on the screen. Students can use this to do their own video tutorials and it can be sent to their teacher’s website for students to view when they are absent from school.
          Storylines for schools is an application in which several students could play a game by telling a story. One person makes a title or a phrase, the next person illustrates what the title or phrase is about then, the next person has to guess what the title or phrase is by the illustration.  This game would be great to run home a study of idioms during a literature block. In this way the children are not only learning, but they are having fun while learning.
          Scribble Press is an application that will allow students and teachers to create their own books. Templates are available in which the student can just fill in the blank or they can create their own story from scratch. They can insert pictures. It can be added to ibook on the ipad. It can be inserted as a pdf and printed or the book can be emailed which will generate a link. Students can write their own caption to their books. Teachers could write their own stories at their student’s level for the reading groups to go along with the topic of study.         
          Another application that can be facilitated on the ipad for students is called Sparkle Fish. Students pick a story and the application reads the story to them. There are about five stories that are free. The rest have to be paid in advance in order to access them. This application could be used to teach the different parts of speech. Students can pick a story to record, and then record the missing words. The application then tells the story out loud with the words added that the student recorded. The student could be asked to write their own fairy tale with this application.
          Last, interactive E Books are a great tool for students to work on their reading. There are some books that are free, and the rest of the books can be accessed for a fee. One E Book is called Magic Town which is an application that students can earn free books by visiting the site often. The students can also earn new characters by entering the site often. Once the lion is met in magic town, the lion will bring free books in Magic Town. The E Books are interactive to grab the children’s interest and help them acquire a love for reading. 
          Links that can be made to the reading course is that teachers can find these technological tools useful during center time to teach the students their sight words. Students can learn to write sentences in a fun way by making a game out of learning, and become more proficient readers through interactive play.

If you would like to attend these workshops,you may find information in the link below for the locations and times:

http://tarriverreadingcouncil.wordpress.com/

         What Makes a Great Teacher Website?

          As I was thinking what would make a great teacher website, I thought about what I would want on the site as a student, a mother, and a teacher. The teacher should state his or her philosophy of teaching and give a little personal and professional information about his or herself. It would be good for the parents to be able to relate to the teacher on a personal level, so they can feel comfortable discussing their child with the teacher. The parents and teacher will need to be a team that is looking out for the best interest of the child. I know I would want a calendar and a schedule of school events, a homework page with assignments that are kept up-to-date, a menu in case I need to make my child's lunch, a class page to display the students projects and events with pictures, and a page for students to go to for games and fun sites for learning. The Common Core Standards and the Essential Standards should be a part of the site, because this is what the children are expected to accomplished during the year. Parents should be able to look at the standards and know what goals their child is expected to meet by the end of the year. The website should not be cluttered,so the students,parents, and others visiting the website can easily navigate through the site. 

Live Binders

"LIVE BINDERS" FREE TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS

Live Binders - Online Binders of Webpages and Images

Live Binders is allows you to create online binders of webpages, images, and documents. Live Binders displays your collected content in a tabbed, book-like format. You can create binders for as many topics as you like. Adding content to your Live Binder can be done by manually typing in the url of a webpage, upload files from your computer to your Live Binder, or add content through the Live Binders bookmarklet for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Applications For Education: Live Binders could be an excellent tool for students to use to create online booklets of resources they find online combined with content that they have created, or students could build Live Binders to showcase the work that they have  done.

Here is the url for my live binders:

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=580684&backurl=/shelf/my

Compare & Contrast Diigo & Delicious

                            Diigo Versus Delicious

Feature	Diigo	Delicious
Organize bookmarks automatically with tags	X	X
Popular bookmarks	X	X
Anytime, anywhere access to bookmarks	X	X
Share bookmarks with others	X	X
Powerful, customizable, search tools	X	X
Groups post to blog automatically	X	X
Tools & browser extensions to make bookmarking easier	X	X
Lists	X	X
Free iphone & android apps for bookmarking from mobile device	X	3rd party
Ipad Safari browser bookmarketlet	X
Highlight & annotate web pages	X
Capture, markup.& share images & text	X
Archive web pages just as you see them	X
Sync bookmarks between Diigo & Delicious	X
Educator Tools	X
Open ID Compatible	X

          I opened up a Diigo account, but I think I like Delicious better simply because it does not have all the extras. I think I just like things simple. It seems that I do not need all the highlighting and archive extras. The best part is the bookmarking, so that I do not have to take up the bookmark space on my computer when I want to find a lesson plan or great resources for teachers and students.

Weber Dash Game

 _____________WEBERDASH________________

        I really enjoyed making a Weber Dash Game. Below is the url that will lead to the one that I made. What you do is go into Google Doc Presentation and decide on a slide template that you want to use. Search for a truth and a Hoax at  http://www.snopes.com/   or go to http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/internet/u/current_netlore.htm to find something that is true and something that is a hoax. Use several slides for the truth and several slides for the hoax. You will state the truth or hoax in one slide (could take more than one slide) and you will type truth or hoax and create a link (where the word truth and hoax words are located). The link will lead the person to know whether they made a correct guess "You are Correct! Great Job" or it will lead them to the "Got Cha!" "It Was A Hoax!" slide, the next two slides will answer the question as to whether it is correct or if the person "Got Cha!' with a hoax.
 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1JzbHqoOYZ3D_onyQ9_JpagRsMQ6V2yGg3u8xWmPUuKo/edit#slide=id.p

Formative and Summative Assessment Importance

The Importance of Summative and Formative Assessments

Summative Assessment

          Summative assessments are given periodically to determine a particular point in time what students know and do not know. Some examples of summative assessments are state assessments, district benchmark or interim assessments, end-of-unit or chapter tests, end-of-term or semester exams, and scores that are used for accountability for schools such as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results  and student’s report card grades. Summative assessment gauge, at a particular point in time, student learning that is relative to content standards, but they are spread out and occur after instruction every few weeks, months, or once a year, summative assessments are tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of programs, school improvement goals, alignment of curriculum, or student placement in specific programs. Summative assessments happen too far down the learning path to provide information at the classroom level and to make instructional adjustments and interventions during the learning process. It takes formative assessment to accomplish this.

Formative Assessments

          Formative assessments are part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In this sense, formative assessment informs both teachers and students about student understanding at a point when timely adjustments can be made. These adjustments help to ensure students achieve targeted standards-based learning goals within a set time frame. Although formative assessment strategies appear in a variety of formats, there are some distinct ways to distinguish them from summative assessments. One distinction is to think of formative assessment as "practice." We do not hold students accountable in "grade book fashion" for skills and concepts they have just been introduced to or are learning. We must allow for practice. Formative assessment helps teachers determine what steps to take next during the learning process as the instruction approaches the summative assessment of student learning. Another distinction that underpins formative assessment is student involvement. If students are not involved in the assessment process, formative assessment is not practiced or implemented to its full effectiveness. Students need to be involved both as assessors of their own learning and as resources to other students. There are numerous strategies teachers can implement to engage students. Student ownership of their work increases students' motivation to learn. This does not mean the absence of teacher involvement. To the contrary, teachers are critical in identifying learning goals, setting clear criteria for success, and designing assessment tasks that provide evidence of student learning. One of the key components of engaging students in the assessment of their own learning is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. Descriptive feedback provides students with an understanding of what they are doing well, links to classroom learning, and gives specific input on how to reach the next step in the learning progression. In other words, descriptive feedback is not a grade, a sticker, or "good job!"

          Some of the instructional strategies that can be used formatively include the following:

• Criteria and goal setting with students engages them in instruction and the learning process by creating clear expectations. In order to be successful, students need to understand and know the learning target/goal and the criteria for reaching it. Establishing and defining quality work together, asking students to participate in establishing norm behaviors for classroom culture, and determining what should be included in criteria for success are all examples of this strategy. Using student work, classroom tests, or examples of what is expected helps students understand where they are, where they need to be, and an effective process for getting there.
• Observations go beyond walking around the room to see if students are on task or need clarification. Observations assist teachers in gathering evidence of student learning to inform instructional planning. This evidence can be recorded and used as feedback for students about their learning or as anecdotal data shared with them during conferences.
• Questioning strategies should be embedded in lesson/unit planning. Asking better questions allows an opportunity for deeper thinking and provides teachers with significant insight into the degree and depth of understanding. Questions of this nature engage students in classroom dialogue that both uncovers and expands learning. An "exit slip" at the end of a class period to determine students' understanding of the day's lesson or quick checks during instruction such as "thumbs up/down" or "red/green" (stop/go) cards are also examples of questioning strategies that elicit immediate information about student learning. Helping students ask better questions is another aspect of this formative assessment strategy.
• Self and peer assessment helps to create a learning community within a classroom. Students who can reflect while engaged in meta-cognitive thinking are involved in their learning. When students have been involved in criteria and goal setting, self-evaluation is a logical step in the learning process. With peer evaluation, students see each other as resources for understanding and checking for quality work against previously established criteria.
• Student record keeping helps students better understand their own learning as evidenced by their classroom work. This process of students keeping ongoing records of their work not only engages students, it also helps them, beyond a "grade," to see where they started and the progress they are making toward the learning goal.

Balancing Assessment
As teachers gather information/data about student learning, several categories may be included. In order to better understand student learning, teachers need to consider information about the products (paper or otherwise) students create and tests they take, observational notes, and reflections on the communication that occurs between teacher and student or among students. When a comprehensive assessment program at the classroom level balances formative and summative student learning/achievement information, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards. Students should be able to articulate this shared information about their own learning. When this happens, student-led conferences, a formative assessment strategy, are valid. The more we know about individual students as they engage in the learning process, the better we can adjust instruction to ensure that all students continue to achieve by moving forward in their learning.

http://www.amle.org/publications/webexclusive/assessment/tabid/1120/default.aspx

PLC Groups

         Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

What is it? What is its purpose? How does it work?

A PLC is an ongoing process used to establish a school-wide culture that develops teacher leadership explicitly focused on building and sustaining school wide improvement efforts. PLCs are composed of teachers, administrators, and support staff routinely participate. Through participation, collaborative teams focus on improving student learning.

       When teachers come together and brain storm, they can accomplish more than trying to stay in isolation without any feedback from fellow peers in the same field. PLC groups have a goal of meeting the needs of the entire student body. The teachers in these groups share a common goal which is to give their students a quality education. This will be accomplish through the sharing of lesson plans, teacher feedback, teaching methods, etc. The key is communication with coworkers to meet the common goal of educating our youth.