In my first artifact proposal, the objective of the assignment was: given the class hour and the examples presented from the online authors, the students will be able to create their own work of poetry based on the explanation of satire used in modern day 21st Century. I had come across a website that allowed the students to access a history and explanation of satire and see applications of satire in poetry composed by regular citizens. Their task was essentially to use a Word Processor and create their own poetry utilizing these satirical techniques that they read about.
However, now I am presented with a challenge. I come across a student who has a unique profile that forces him to make use of assistive technologies in the classroom setting. Here is his challenge:
"Ben has low vision and as a result has difficulty reading printed text. He needs documents to be magnified greatly in order for him to be able to read them, or he can have the documents read to him."
Naturally, with low vision, the website of satirical history and poetry will be excessively dificult for him to read, therefore assistive technologies will be necessary for him to use to make the assignment easier to complete. As it is an online, computer based assignment, a computer running on a Windows system driver, has the ability to magnify what is being seen on the comptuer screen, as well as adjust the contrast so it will appeal to the senses of all individuals.
By clicking the "Start Magnification" tool in the "Ease of Access" folder of the Control Panel, Ben will be able to magnify his screen to the appropriate size that will allow him to read the words on the website more clearly for how vision.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Productivity Reflection
Thus far, one of the most useful tools that I have seen available for classroom usage of any kind is the Google Doc. When students use a Google Document, they can work alone and allow their document to be published and viewed by others as a website. They can collaborate with as many other students as necessary to complete a combined assignment or even to just share ideas with other students. Using a Google Doc, a student can trade documents with one anther, which is particularly useful in terms of editing and revising papers. This is generally an extensively effective method of peer review.
The Google Doc also will save the time of the teachers by not having to worry about creating copies and copies of worksheets or tests/quizzes. By simply creating one online template of an assignment, the teacher is able to pass the "worksheet" to students without unorganized paper copies to deal with. This will save teachers an abundant amount of lesson plan preparation. No student has to worry about losing their copy of the assignment because it will always be available online for individual or group collaboration and work. Also, online templates may increase a students attention span for a particular assignment simply because they are using some form of current technology that is different from traditional paper and pencil work.
Another tool that is a good example of a productivity tool, is an online survey or poll. A teacher created survey that is used to poll students will save time in vainly attempting to figure out what students prefer to study/how students prefer to study material. Surveys can be done anonymously to protect the identities and insecurities of students who may me hesitant to submit a hand-written survey. A survey that is done as a collaboration of information for students eliminates the tedious and often boring task of data collection throughout the classroom. Students can instantly put their information together without having to wait for others to complete their work. The information is organized in a single manner so every student cannot save their work in a different way, making the information exceedingly difficult to analyze.
Overall, most productivity tools that have been shown in the lectures display appropriate manners of increasing efficiency and effectiveness within the classroom.
The Google Doc also will save the time of the teachers by not having to worry about creating copies and copies of worksheets or tests/quizzes. By simply creating one online template of an assignment, the teacher is able to pass the "worksheet" to students without unorganized paper copies to deal with. This will save teachers an abundant amount of lesson plan preparation. No student has to worry about losing their copy of the assignment because it will always be available online for individual or group collaboration and work. Also, online templates may increase a students attention span for a particular assignment simply because they are using some form of current technology that is different from traditional paper and pencil work.
Another tool that is a good example of a productivity tool, is an online survey or poll. A teacher created survey that is used to poll students will save time in vainly attempting to figure out what students prefer to study/how students prefer to study material. Surveys can be done anonymously to protect the identities and insecurities of students who may me hesitant to submit a hand-written survey. A survey that is done as a collaboration of information for students eliminates the tedious and often boring task of data collection throughout the classroom. Students can instantly put their information together without having to wait for others to complete their work. The information is organized in a single manner so every student cannot save their work in a different way, making the information exceedingly difficult to analyze.
Overall, most productivity tools that have been shown in the lectures display appropriate manners of increasing efficiency and effectiveness within the classroom.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Production Evaluation
Names- Julie Stelzer, Kelsey M. Deckard, Ellie Salky
Production Name- Your Hometown Digital Scrapbook
Benefits:
Individual Responsibilty- Each student will be responsible for providing pictures of his or her idea of his hometown to accurately portray a personal idea of the cultural aspects of the area.
Group Responsibilty- Evalute each picture and how it is an accurate representation of the definition of a hometown.
This allows the students to make decisions as to what they would like to use to represent their living accomodations in their town. Students can use imaginative skills to create and use any type of image they would like to represent their town. They must communicate with group members and amongst classmates to evaluate the images and discuss their significance. Using basic public speaking skills, the students will convey their idea in the form of a scrapblog in front of their peers for evaluation. In order to creat such a scrapblog, the students will actively engage in asthetic reasoning in order to create an eye pleasing slideshow by making decisions as to the organization of the images and where they would be appropriately placed.
Disadvantages:
Students may disagree on the definition and representation of a hometown depending on where they are from and how they are raised. Nonetheless, this will lead to useful debate and discussion and perhaps open the children's minds to new ideas and cultures.
Instruct:
We would begin with basic lecture and discussion about indentifying physical features that define your local community as a hometown. Also, a short discussion about the generalities of a hometown will be necessary. No physical teaching tools are necessary for this portion of the lesson. However, it would be beneficial to have visual aides such as pictures and references to hometowns in relatable situations such a movies and other popular culture situations.
For the activity itself, the website for the scrapblog (scrapblog.com) will be needed as well as a computer lab or at least one computer per group to use for limited internet access and image production programs that may be used to alter their images approriately.
Evaluate:
The categories that were chosen to evalute the students on are based on what would accurately represent an aquired knowledge related to the given standards.
Rubric
Production Name- Your Hometown Digital Scrapbook
Acadmic Standard: 1.3.4: Identify and describe physical features* and human features* of the local community including home, school and neighborhood.
- relative location: the location of a place in relation to another place or places
- physical features: geographic features that occur in nature, such as land and water forms, natural vegetation and wildlife
- human features: features created by humans, such as buildings, cities, roads and farms
Benefits:
Individual Responsibilty- Each student will be responsible for providing pictures of his or her idea of his hometown to accurately portray a personal idea of the cultural aspects of the area.
Group Responsibilty- Evalute each picture and how it is an accurate representation of the definition of a hometown.
This allows the students to make decisions as to what they would like to use to represent their living accomodations in their town. Students can use imaginative skills to create and use any type of image they would like to represent their town. They must communicate with group members and amongst classmates to evaluate the images and discuss their significance. Using basic public speaking skills, the students will convey their idea in the form of a scrapblog in front of their peers for evaluation. In order to creat such a scrapblog, the students will actively engage in asthetic reasoning in order to create an eye pleasing slideshow by making decisions as to the organization of the images and where they would be appropriately placed.
Disadvantages:
Students may disagree on the definition and representation of a hometown depending on where they are from and how they are raised. Nonetheless, this will lead to useful debate and discussion and perhaps open the children's minds to new ideas and cultures.
Instruct:
We would begin with basic lecture and discussion about indentifying physical features that define your local community as a hometown. Also, a short discussion about the generalities of a hometown will be necessary. No physical teaching tools are necessary for this portion of the lesson. However, it would be beneficial to have visual aides such as pictures and references to hometowns in relatable situations such a movies and other popular culture situations.
For the activity itself, the website for the scrapblog (scrapblog.com) will be needed as well as a computer lab or at least one computer per group to use for limited internet access and image production programs that may be used to alter their images approriately.
Evaluate:
The categories that were chosen to evalute the students on are based on what would accurately represent an aquired knowledge related to the given standards.
Rubric
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Lesson Plan
Subject: English/Language Arts- Secondary Education
Lesson Plan: As an advocate of English education, technology in the classroom may appear to be limited to word processing and online literature. However, using this lesson plan for teaching Mark Twain and American Humor (http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=327), students incorporate a different type of technology into learning about historical literature in an amusing and entertaining way that might otherwise not be readily available without computers or by means of a pricey field trip to an old fashioned printing press... or a time machine.
This lesson plan is centered around breaking down Samual Clemmens and the society in which he lived that motivated him to write with the technique he did. The lesson plan also incorporates what limitations he may have encountered while writing his novels and short stories due to the lack of technology available to him at the time.
Incorporating Technology with Efficiency: At the end of the lesson, using a computer technology known as the MarcoPolo Printing Press, students are able to make timely means of publishing a newspaper article in a simulated version of a printing press that is modeled off of the way a historical journalist in colonial times would have had to publish his work.
Effectiveness: The quality of this particular lesson plan is increased since steriotypically, students may find reading Mark Twain and other historical writers to be bland and confusing. Having an opportunity for students to experience empathy for these literary artists might promote interest in this particular subject area. It will also the students a better understanding of the language and dialect used in this time period and why the author might have chosen to write about the things he did, as the students can readily associate and make inferences about the use of the printing press with other aspects of the lifestyle that the writers may have led in such a society. Thus, not only are the students utilizing their writing and composition skills to produce articles, but they are also using critical thinking to correlate history and literature, and to dive deeper into deciphering the meaning of the literary text as a whole.
Enhancement: Finally, the resources for the students to take a trip to view a historical printing press, may be readily unavailable or simply illogical. Not to mention, if they were to actually see such a piece of machinery, they would not be able to use it simply because it is a historical artifact and those attempting to preserve it would be appalled at the concept of actually making use of it. Since time machines also are not available for use, it seems logical that the students make use of an online interactive site in which they can experience and actually "use" the printing press without having to even leave the classroom.
Suggestions: Granted, one aspect of the lesson plan could be more technologically incorporated. When the plan suggests to make a paper flow chart of one aspect of Mark Twain's novel, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Couny," it seems more useful, timely, and interesting, to have the students use a computer modeled flow chart using PowerPoint, Inspiration, or some other program to incorporate visual models such as clip art and text.
Lesson Plan: As an advocate of English education, technology in the classroom may appear to be limited to word processing and online literature. However, using this lesson plan for teaching Mark Twain and American Humor (http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=327), students incorporate a different type of technology into learning about historical literature in an amusing and entertaining way that might otherwise not be readily available without computers or by means of a pricey field trip to an old fashioned printing press... or a time machine.
This lesson plan is centered around breaking down Samual Clemmens and the society in which he lived that motivated him to write with the technique he did. The lesson plan also incorporates what limitations he may have encountered while writing his novels and short stories due to the lack of technology available to him at the time.
Incorporating Technology with Efficiency: At the end of the lesson, using a computer technology known as the MarcoPolo Printing Press, students are able to make timely means of publishing a newspaper article in a simulated version of a printing press that is modeled off of the way a historical journalist in colonial times would have had to publish his work.
Effectiveness: The quality of this particular lesson plan is increased since steriotypically, students may find reading Mark Twain and other historical writers to be bland and confusing. Having an opportunity for students to experience empathy for these literary artists might promote interest in this particular subject area. It will also the students a better understanding of the language and dialect used in this time period and why the author might have chosen to write about the things he did, as the students can readily associate and make inferences about the use of the printing press with other aspects of the lifestyle that the writers may have led in such a society. Thus, not only are the students utilizing their writing and composition skills to produce articles, but they are also using critical thinking to correlate history and literature, and to dive deeper into deciphering the meaning of the literary text as a whole.
Enhancement: Finally, the resources for the students to take a trip to view a historical printing press, may be readily unavailable or simply illogical. Not to mention, if they were to actually see such a piece of machinery, they would not be able to use it simply because it is a historical artifact and those attempting to preserve it would be appalled at the concept of actually making use of it. Since time machines also are not available for use, it seems logical that the students make use of an online interactive site in which they can experience and actually "use" the printing press without having to even leave the classroom.
Suggestions: Granted, one aspect of the lesson plan could be more technologically incorporated. When the plan suggests to make a paper flow chart of one aspect of Mark Twain's novel, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Couny," it seems more useful, timely, and interesting, to have the students use a computer modeled flow chart using PowerPoint, Inspiration, or some other program to incorporate visual models such as clip art and text.
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