CEdO 540 Post#2

I have had the unique experience over the last few days to be taught by the experts in the area of statistics. As I have said in previous responses, my experience with statistics is sketchy at best, and the fog of time has clouded any knowledge that might have been gained in the past. Fortunately, I have students in my advanced composition class who have recently taken AP statistics . My inquiries concerning statistical jargon and procedure were met with a chorus of answers, and I think that the students got a kick out of teaching this old dog. I couldn't help but be reminded of the very nature of 21st century skills, and the fact that teachers are not the only experts in the room. I learned from whatever source was available, and my sources, regardless of generational issues, were sympathetic to my plight. The fact that these young minds could take complex ideas and explain them in simplistic terms gives me hope for the future. During the process, I was also introduced to the graphing calculator, and found how technology can make math almost too easy. My students were able to work the problems without the help of the calculator, but I was amazed at how a machine could take a bunch of numbers and yield the answers in seconds that would have taken many minutes by hand. Where were graphing calculators when I was in school? Why did I have to walk up hill both ways to school in the driving snow everyday. :)
Capterra is a really neat resource for business, but also for educators. We often feel the need or are strongly encouraged to solicit feedback in our classrooms. Capterra provides many tools to create quality surveys without spending valuable time researching for possible survey generators. The work has been done for us, and all we need to do is tell the selected tool what to do. Capterra also provides customer service and a guide to help individuals find the right tool for the job. I would think the temptation could be to pick the first tool that comes to mind without really knowing the limits and possible benefits. Capterra provides that information on hundreds of survey tools, which in turn helps the individual find a tool that is specific to his/her needs.
I enjoyed looking at some ACT data this week, and I found that original hypotheses were proven false by the data. I hate when my assumptions are proven false, but the experience is a nice reminder why we should never assume. Now that I know where to find data concerning student achievement at my high school, I think that my department will be able to develop specific plans to improve student results on standardized tests. No one wants to admit teaching to a test, but the data certainly indicates areas of weakness that can be addressed in the individual classrooms. This shared knowledge can help all the teachers focus attention on getting the most out of students, and I hope will be motivation for students to keep achieving at a high level.

CEdO 540 Post#1

I think this new class will be a nice departure from the classes to this point in the program. In my opinion, the very nature of statistics involves black and white data. It is when humans get their hands on the data that the process goes haywire, mainly because objectivity is nearly impossible to uphold. Why do we gather data? We gather data to make determinations that will influence decisions in the future. Too many people will be affected by these decisions so conflict can often arise. Unscrupulous individuals can "cook the books" and often make spurious claims concerning what the data tells us. But the data itself has no agenda, and the pursuit of data is an important feature of an evolving society.
My background in statistics is sketchy at best. I vaguely remember doing some work with statistics in various math classes, but I have never had a class that focused solely on statistics. After our first class, I felt as though many of the terms used were vaguely familiar, which is good, but my comfort level will certainly be challenged when I am put to task with using statistical data.
Since I work in a data hungry district, I think the experiences in this class will give me the tools to use data effectively in shaping classroom instruction. I have found that the initial assignments have taken me far more time to complete than had been anticipated, but that could be a result of my nature rather than the nature of the assignments. Either way, I look forward to learning how to collect, analyze, and apply data to decisions made in my classroom, language arts department, and my school.

CEdO 535 Post#5

As we wrap up our work for this course, I will have to state that I am really beginning to transform my educational philosophy. I still struggle with the fact that the future in education is uncertain, yet I have bought into the fact that our methodologies must change with the times. At the very least, our students are plugged in. They spend considerable time using technology to communicate and learn online. As educators we can embrace this trend and use it to our advantage, or we can stay with what we have always done and expect kids to embrace outmoded teaching styles. Richardson's final chapter addresses many of the trends in education, and really challenges thinking concerning how to best meet the needs of our students.
One of the ways I can meet these student needs is to educate them on how to communicate online safely and effectively. Whether a teacher agrees with Richardson or not, the ability for students to develop work online that can be stored indefinitely, commented on by a large audience, and allows for ongoing learning seems to make sense. Work that was created solely for a teacher now has a far different audience. Work that was created for a grade and then erased from memory can now evolve well beyond any deadline. I think a Ning is a great starting point for allowing students to change the way they produce work. I love the safety and control that can be placed on a Ning, and the fact that work will be produced for an audience other than me will hopefully increase ownership and quality of work. Allowing students to create work collaboratively is another nice facet of the Ning, again with the focus on a larger audience. I will be curious to see the problems that will occur with students using a Ning, and I am still cautious about trying to do too much too soon.
Since students are communicating online so frequently, what a great opportunity for educators to show students how to do this properly. Since I have joined Facebook, I have been surprised at the number of students that have wanted to be friends. I am even more surprised at the type of content that is found on many student accounts. Although I don't befriend students on Facebook, I do think that time should be spent analyzing the pitfalls involved with social networking. To this point, I suspect that students have adapted their styles to what they have seen by others, and I think some direction would be timely. My students are my children, and I want them to enjoy their online experiences, but I also want them to make educated decisions.
I think Twitter offers the opportunity to take a tool used for social networking, and demonstrate to students how it can be used in the classroom. Keeping students informed about classroom activities, and allowing group discussions on a topic through Twitter can teach students how to use a technology tool effectively. If they then want to use the tool for personal reasons, at least I will have shown them how to use it properly.
And so, my goals with my students will now center around teaching 21st century skills. Students will continue to use the Internet for personal use, so I believe it is paramount for teachers to demonstrate how to interact responsibly in that environment. The added bonus is that I get to learn many new skills along the way, which really enriches my own personal growth as an educator.

CEdO 535 Post#4

The idea of social bookmarking will certainly get some play in my classroom. Although I currently use Delicious (and I use the term "use" loosely) I will be creating a Diigo account. With Delicious, I like that initial searches have been filtered by others, so I can essentially skip the somewhat daunting task of trying to find information in the vast repository of the Internet. Having others do the initial legwork can help save time and produce better quality results. With Diigo, I plan to use the sticky note feature to annotate what we are reading in class. What a great opportunity to look at a piece of literature as a class, and allow students to make comments directly to the document. The fact that this document can be shared with other students eliminates the usual learning in isolation problem. Through Diigo, students can read the comments of other students, and add additional comments to help our overall understanding of the piece. I also like the ability to tag items based upon student interests, and allow RSS feeds concerning those interests come right to the student. Diigo allows me to add sticky notes to the items that students will receive, and can help them focus on what I thought was important.
The idea of podcasting has been on my mind for about a year now, and I think that I have finally found a purpose for it in my classroom. I teach the interview process in my classes, for both research and socialization purposes. With podcasting, I can have the students interview other students and teachers regarding current policies at our school. Through the process, students will have to make arrangements to meet with the individual to be interviewed, present a list of questions to be asked prior to the meeting, and then edit the interview to fit the scope of the project. I think there are so many positives that will be derived from the project, but professionalism, accountability, and organization are the three that stand out. The fact that podcasts can be saved indefinitely gives me the capability to provide examples of prior student work to introduce new projects in years to come.
The screencast capability will be a nice tool as my class becomes more digital. Currently, I take students through the process for using some of these tools in class, but by the time they attempt to use the tools, much of the information has been lost. By creating screencasts, students will have video tutorials concerning how to use tools that I have introduced in class, and these tutorials will be placed online and accessible anytime by my students.
I think that this weeks work really has some possibilities in my classroom. I need to be careful not to try too much too soon. There are some other tools and skills that need to be mastered before I move on to these new areas, but I know that the new information will tie nicely to what I am going to introduce first.

Flickr pics

My family and I had the opportunity to spend a couple days in Wisconsin Dells over the extended weekend. My photos from left to right and top to bottom are some of the highlights of the trip. My son Seth in the bulldozer is a perfect start because he loves heavy machinery. The second picture has my wife preparing the boys for trick or treating at the mall, which turned out to be a nice substitute for going around the neighborhood in Sheboygan. Cole and Seth are being boys at Knuckleheads and wrestling more than dancing. In the forth picture, my oldest son, Cole, squeezed into this plane, although he made no attempts to actually ride it. My youngest son, Owen, had the opportunity to ride in a fire truck although the ride was similar to a bucking bronco. One of the balls got loose from ball city and made my son's day. Cole and Seth are posing outside Mouse Jaw restaurant, and although I don't like picture poses, they both look rather cute. The eighth picture shows how my family will continue to help the dental industry. My wife and Owen are wrestling over a cookie in the next two pictures. One should never interfere with my wife's love of cookies. In the next picture, Owen is playing with a mini etch a sketch, but likes putting everything in his mouth more than actually drawing. My son Cole proudly displays his pumpkin carving skills. The thirteenth picture shows my young artists after completion of yet another project. The last two pictures shows the culinary side of Cole. He helped his mother bake Halloween cookies, and they turned out nicely.
The purpose of my picture is obviously for personal use, and hopefully represents some of the fun my family had over the extended weekend.

CEdO 535 Post#3

RSS feeds are an appetizing way for me to manage students blogs efficiently and certainly warrants further study. I think the biggest issue with student blogging, other than online safety, is how in the world I will be able to follow all of the activity. With RSS feeds, it would appear that this question will be answered. In general, I like the fact that information comes to me at one source, so hopefully I will be able to better manage my time.
But as the issue of time rears its ugly head again, I am still uncertain as to a course of action with using all of the new tools we are learning. I could easily spend every waking moment grading essays, and now I am being taken further outside my comfort zone and challenged to be even more connected. The beauty of this graduate program is that it introduces me to many new tools that can be used in the classroom, and although a seemingly daunting task, I know enough to be patient with myself and not try to do everything at once. I will spend time learning how to use these tools, and hopefully will be able to incorporate many of them in my classroom over time.
The photo sharing assignment is one that has me most befuddled. I know in one sense I should store my photos online in case of a catastrophic computer failure, but I have difficulty thinking of ways to use photo sharing in my classroom. This thinking stems from the fact that my photos are personal in nature, so I might be a bit close minded when it comes to creating assignments for my students using photo sharing. Perhaps as I struggle through the process of using online photo sharing classroom ideas will present themselves, but it is too early to determine whether or not that will be true.
I am still struggling with the microblogging idea. I was on the verge of creating my first online posting, but I recanted before saving. I am not one to share personal thoughts outside of my immediate family, and although I know that microblogging can be a great way to share educational ideas, I still can't wrap my mind around why it will be a benefit for my classroom.
I loved the debate on the video we watched, and it addressed what I have been thinking for a long time. We don't know what the future will bring, so it is difficult to get individuals on the same page concerning how to plan for its arrival. I love the fact the educators need to change, or at least challenge, personal teaching methodologies, but this dialogue is a challenge due to stubbornness on our parts. We may acknowledge the need for change, but no one is standing in line to relive the process of reinventing our curriculum. Student teaching was difficult enough the when we didn't know anything, so asking teachers to revamp what they do puts them in the vulnerable position that they were in while they learned their craft.
But as we continue to develop our craft, we should look for new ways to engage out students. RSS feeds and photo sharing might be two avenues to reach our students, and allow them the ability to not only receive relevant information, but to unleash their creative potential.

CEdO 535 Post#2

The first order of business is to discuss the idea of Wikipedia in the classroom. I know that I have shied away from allowing students to cite Wikipedia during the research process, but have suggested students use the site as a starting point. According to Richardson, this is a popular approach for many teachers. After having a chance to really investigate Wikipedia, I might be changing my stance concerning students citing this source during the research process. As Richardson states, and I loosely paraphrase, we together can do more than any individual alone. Many of the topics in Wikipedia have extensive research from multiple resources. The culture of Wikipedia seems to police itself and seems to strive for accuracy. What I have found with Wikipedia is that for general topics it is a great resource. As we look at very specific topics, the success rate seems to wane, but that doesn't mean that Wikipedia isn't useful. It is still a great starting point for research, and I think it has become a source worthy to be cited in research.
For my purposes, asking what is microblogging could easily be changed to why microblog. I might be too old fashioned to handle the idea of Twitter and Plurk, but hopefully I will be able to find some value in these services. As a tool to have students connect with each other and give quick responses concerning ideas in the classroom sounds good to me. I could have students use either Twitter or Plurk to share ideas related to topics discussed in the classroom. So I have reluctantly joined both sites in order to fulfill the requirement of this class, and to hopefully open my eyes as to the value for my classroom. But if I am supposed to be interested in following the random musings of people that I don't really know (or even people that I do know) I think that I am the wrong person for the job. People who use both services claim that they are wonderful, but I am solitary by nature, and don't feel the need to spend more time that I don't have following people that I don't know talk about things that don't matter to me. That sounds really brutal of me to say, and I don't mean to bash anyone who loves microblogging, but for me, the idea doesn't blow my hair back.
My positive vibes concerning blogging are increasing the more we study the variety of uses for blogs. As I have said in previous posts, my biggest concern would be student safety. But I like the fact that students would be able to learn from others that I teach. I think the discussions could be much more valuable between 140 students than simply 25 students in a class. Whether I ever move towards having students contribute to a worldwide audience is something that will need to be addressed down the road. I also like the fact that blogging can help students deal with conflict. I am sure that many students will simply say things that won't hurt any feelings, but I think that being honest with each other will encourage further discussions about specific issues. But to do this, we have to move beyond a comment being construed as a personal attack. By keeping control of what is allowed to be posted, I think that I can help with conflict resolution and keep the fragile world of personal feelings a bit more stable.