The focus for Jason's technology plan for the next two weeks is to hone his video editing skills using Adobe Premier elements. Already being familiar with video editing Jason is going to focus more on the layering aspects of the program and building a deeper product. Also focusing on adding in titles and making them flow smoothly with the video.
Jason also plans to focus on his PDA by adding to his blog. He will post assignments there and discuss the work he put into them. His TIP plan and product will be an integral part of this.
For the next year Jason will be redesigning websites both for his school and his seminary. Using the seminary as a practice platform he will then carry over what is learned to his school.
Another goal for next year is streamline the professional development process for teachers at his school. He also wants to work on the database access for their network and security settings.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Thoughts about PDA
After taking some time to look through my old MSU website realized that I have not put much content on there. At the same time I realized that I have learned a lot over the last 3 years.
In thinking about whether I want to do a showcase of my best work or display work to show my growth, I have decided on the former. By using my .mac account I can use IWeb to created a website displaying some of the things I am most proud of. At the same time these are all projects that I feel took a lot of learning on my part. I am proud of the work I did because in the end, I met the goals but also showed a side of myself.
Since IWeb is dynamic I can show podcasts, vodcasts, link to documents and videos. By being able to show a variety of work I think I can portray what I have learned over the years. I am also thinking about adding tags and descriptions to each part of the website so people can understand why I have chosen to include the things I did. Also, it will give them some insight into the process.
In thinking about whether I want to do a showcase of my best work or display work to show my growth, I have decided on the former. By using my .mac account I can use IWeb to created a website displaying some of the things I am most proud of. At the same time these are all projects that I feel took a lot of learning on my part. I am proud of the work I did because in the end, I met the goals but also showed a side of myself.
Since IWeb is dynamic I can show podcasts, vodcasts, link to documents and videos. By being able to show a variety of work I think I can portray what I have learned over the years. I am also thinking about adding tags and descriptions to each part of the website so people can understand why I have chosen to include the things I did. Also, it will give them some insight into the process.
After Ed Planning
Top Ten idea for using technology in the science classroom:
- using explore learning to do virtual experiments
- individualized learning at the student's level
- podcasts to teach students basic skills
- student made podcasts to teach about a subject
- vodcast/video to teach an idea to other students
- explore learning to do directed experiments where each kid can do their own
- blogging as a a discussion tool
- blogs as a way to give feedback to peers
- blogs to share resources
- wikis to collaborate for lab reports
- using explore learning to do virtual experiments
- individualized learning at the student's level
- podcasts to teach students basic skills
- student made podcasts to teach about a subject
- vodcast/video to teach an idea to other students
- explore learning to do directed experiments where each kid can do their own
- blogging as a a discussion tool
- blogs as a way to give feedback to peers
- blogs to share resources
- wikis to collaborate for lab reports
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Transforming and Amplifying Student Learning
The overall goal of this inquiry project was to transform and amplify my students learning through the use of technology. In my school we have a laptop program wherein more than 60% of my students own their own computer. The other 40% have a laptop provided by the school for them to use. We have been very lucky in the last couple of years to have a 1-1 ratio for computer to student. This presents a unique situation when it comes to technology- how do you use it in ways that will amplify and/or transform the students learning.
Quite often the laptops are used in more of a replacement purpose. For example, instead of reading about a topic in the book- kids use the Internet to find the information through set assignments. This is the lowest level of technology use. I see the majority of teachers in my building using technology this way. I too often use it in this way because it is easier. However, with taking on this project I wanted to see how using the blog would change the learning of my students.
Now that the project is completed I have been sorting throug the tons of data I have collected. The ways that my student's learning was amplified- meaning, made deeper or made their learning faster, was in the following:
- students participated more
In post surveys 98% of students felt they particpated either the same or more and only 2% felt they participated less; the results were also similar in post interviews which were a little more open on responses so some answers could not be counted; 86% felt they participated more and only 14% the same which makes for a total of 100% participating the same or more and none claiming they particpated less by interview
Students felt they learned more- in interviews and surveys students commented about how their learning was different than in a normal class
- more learning from others occured because of the format of the blog
The ways that students' learning was transformed- meaning it changed completely, they were able to learn in a way different than before, was exhibited in the following ways:
Changing the comfort level students have in sharing with the class
- Surveys showed that prior to blogging only 35% of students felt comfortable sharing their answers all or most of the time where as through blogging 93% of students felt the same or more comfort sharing their thoughts with the class. HUGE improvment!
- The comments in interviews and in the written portion of the surveys also echoed these feelings
Feeling that the learning involved using the blog:
- was fun 19% of those interviewed and 74% in the post-survey
- allowed them to learn more from others 11% of interviewed and 70% of surveys
- allowed them to share more often 32% of interviews and 60% of surveys
Finally, the environment of the classroom was transformed as well. The classrooom truly became student centered. I was really just a facillitator. I would add things to think about in discussion and give them some basic direction each day but beyond that I was able to step back and allow them to learn from each other. It was amazing how the level of focus within the classroom changed!!! During blogging it was often very quiet because they were into what they were posting, or reading and commenting on other people's posts. Students also shared through their surveys and interviews that they felt better about contributing through the use of the blog than they did during a regular discussion. They also participated so much more with the blog!
This has truly been an eye opening experience for me. I love how my classroom changed and how so many of my students that usually don't have a voice in the everyday dicussions found their voice. It has brought up some other questions and ideas for how I can continue to use blogs in the future.
Quite often the laptops are used in more of a replacement purpose. For example, instead of reading about a topic in the book- kids use the Internet to find the information through set assignments. This is the lowest level of technology use. I see the majority of teachers in my building using technology this way. I too often use it in this way because it is easier. However, with taking on this project I wanted to see how using the blog would change the learning of my students.
Now that the project is completed I have been sorting throug the tons of data I have collected. The ways that my student's learning was amplified- meaning, made deeper or made their learning faster, was in the following:
- students participated more
In post surveys 98% of students felt they particpated either the same or more and only 2% felt they participated less; the results were also similar in post interviews which were a little more open on responses so some answers could not be counted; 86% felt they participated more and only 14% the same which makes for a total of 100% participating the same or more and none claiming they particpated less by interview
Students felt they learned more- in interviews and surveys students commented about how their learning was different than in a normal class
- more learning from others occured because of the format of the blog
The ways that students' learning was transformed- meaning it changed completely, they were able to learn in a way different than before, was exhibited in the following ways:
Changing the comfort level students have in sharing with the class
- Surveys showed that prior to blogging only 35% of students felt comfortable sharing their answers all or most of the time where as through blogging 93% of students felt the same or more comfort sharing their thoughts with the class. HUGE improvment!
- The comments in interviews and in the written portion of the surveys also echoed these feelings
Feeling that the learning involved using the blog:
- was fun 19% of those interviewed and 74% in the post-survey
- allowed them to learn more from others 11% of interviewed and 70% of surveys
- allowed them to share more often 32% of interviews and 60% of surveys
Finally, the environment of the classroom was transformed as well. The classrooom truly became student centered. I was really just a facillitator. I would add things to think about in discussion and give them some basic direction each day but beyond that I was able to step back and allow them to learn from each other. It was amazing how the level of focus within the classroom changed!!! During blogging it was often very quiet because they were into what they were posting, or reading and commenting on other people's posts. Students also shared through their surveys and interviews that they felt better about contributing through the use of the blog than they did during a regular discussion. They also participated so much more with the blog!
This has truly been an eye opening experience for me. I love how my classroom changed and how so many of my students that usually don't have a voice in the everyday dicussions found their voice. It has brought up some other questions and ideas for how I can continue to use blogs in the future.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Data and the Mulitmedia project
Wow! I have really started to get into my data and analyze some of the patterns. I have to say that at first I was a a bit overwhelmed but now that I have made some comparisons and filtered the data (go surveymonkey!) I am able to see the value of what we have been doing.
I truly feel that my goals have been met and the purpose that I wanted my blog to serve worked! YEAH!!!! The blog was an effective discussion tool because more than 80% in each class either contributed as much or more than required. The number of students that were able to "discuss" increased many times over because rather than having to raise your hand and wait to be called on, everyone could post their thoughts at the same time. In addition students expressed that they felt more comfortable sharing their thoughts online than by raising their hand. This opinion was also expressed by student after student in the interviews.
I have a lot to look at still but some main points are certainly coming out of this. Now what I need to decide is how to format my final presentation and I need to sort through the loads of video that I have to do two things: 1) search for relevant clips to show contrasts in the classroom and also clips to include in the video; 2) analyze the patterns of what was going on.
I truly feel that my goals have been met and the purpose that I wanted my blog to serve worked! YEAH!!!! The blog was an effective discussion tool because more than 80% in each class either contributed as much or more than required. The number of students that were able to "discuss" increased many times over because rather than having to raise your hand and wait to be called on, everyone could post their thoughts at the same time. In addition students expressed that they felt more comfortable sharing their thoughts online than by raising their hand. This opinion was also expressed by student after student in the interviews.
I have a lot to look at still but some main points are certainly coming out of this. Now what I need to decide is how to format my final presentation and I need to sort through the loads of video that I have to do two things: 1) search for relevant clips to show contrasts in the classroom and also clips to include in the video; 2) analyze the patterns of what was going on.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Who is blogging?
One of the sub-questions that I wanted to investigate in this project was how my special learners in the classroom would be affected. I wanted to know if they would participate more through the use of the blog than they did in a regular class discussion. Also, if their comfortability with sharing their thoughts would increase through the use of the blogs.
Throughout the project I saw my special learners consistently being a part of the discussion. The majority of them submitted as many posts as the other students and often they were quite nicely done. Students that would previously shy away from raising their hand to share in class wrote their thoughts on the blog. Students that had been off-task in the classroom before during classroom discussions were no longer off-task. Rather, they were involved with the blog.
Even better I saw students that often struggled with writing during class do much better by posting on the blog. Although this was not true of all my special learners it was certainly true of most of them.
Another group of students who I really saw blossom through the use of the blogs are those in between students. The ones who don't qualify for special education, who are not receiving esl services, but yet who have issues of some kind or another. These are the students who lack the best home environments, who may goof off in class rather than paying attention because there is no follow through at home. These students by and large transformed into different learners. They became involved in their learning in the classroom through the use of the blog.
Also within these sub-populations I saw a lot of growth from the start of the project to the end. The posts went from being one sentence to being a paragraph. They took more interest in making sure they were submitting something that was quality work. Wow!
Throughout the project I saw my special learners consistently being a part of the discussion. The majority of them submitted as many posts as the other students and often they were quite nicely done. Students that would previously shy away from raising their hand to share in class wrote their thoughts on the blog. Students that had been off-task in the classroom before during classroom discussions were no longer off-task. Rather, they were involved with the blog.
Even better I saw students that often struggled with writing during class do much better by posting on the blog. Although this was not true of all my special learners it was certainly true of most of them.
Another group of students who I really saw blossom through the use of the blogs are those in between students. The ones who don't qualify for special education, who are not receiving esl services, but yet who have issues of some kind or another. These are the students who lack the best home environments, who may goof off in class rather than paying attention because there is no follow through at home. These students by and large transformed into different learners. They became involved in their learning in the classroom through the use of the blog.
Also within these sub-populations I saw a lot of growth from the start of the project to the end. The posts went from being one sentence to being a paragraph. They took more interest in making sure they were submitting something that was quality work. Wow!
Where did the time go?
Wow. I have been so busy blogging with my classes that I totally lost track of coming on here to update everyone! Things have been going great. The students quickly grasped how the site works for posting, commenting, editing posts, etc. After talking about what a quality post looked like and comparing it to the same writing rubric that we used during the writing portion of the project the classes had a much clearer picture of what was expected. Also, it really improved their writing.
We went onto learning how to post a picture and talked about what kinds of pictures should be posted. We focused on using pictures that supported your point of view or that strenghthened your argument. They really enjoyed being able to post pictures.
The debate about global warming continued to grow over the last two weeks. We looked at evidence from both sides of the argument. We talked about why you should look at many sources of data, not just one. I was really pleased to see that they were becoming much more critical in their thinking. They were searching for sources that supported their side of the argument, i.e. skeptic or believer. They posted graphs and links that showed data that was related.
The interest level continued to be really high. Every day that we spent blogging the classes were excited about it. They wanted to continue. When I told them last week that we would have to draw this project to an end soon they were incredibly disappointed. That is what prompted the discussion and posts about why we should continue blogging. This also gave me the idea to think about how we could continue to use the blogs in the regular classroom, outside the topic of global warming. I encouraged them to think about ideas too!
We went onto learning how to post a picture and talked about what kinds of pictures should be posted. We focused on using pictures that supported your point of view or that strenghthened your argument. They really enjoyed being able to post pictures.
The debate about global warming continued to grow over the last two weeks. We looked at evidence from both sides of the argument. We talked about why you should look at many sources of data, not just one. I was really pleased to see that they were becoming much more critical in their thinking. They were searching for sources that supported their side of the argument, i.e. skeptic or believer. They posted graphs and links that showed data that was related.
The interest level continued to be really high. Every day that we spent blogging the classes were excited about it. They wanted to continue. When I told them last week that we would have to draw this project to an end soon they were incredibly disappointed. That is what prompted the discussion and posts about why we should continue blogging. This also gave me the idea to think about how we could continue to use the blogs in the regular classroom, outside the topic of global warming. I encouraged them to think about ideas too!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Reflecting on Blogging
We again spent the 28th blogging. I wanted to keep going while the interest was high. The first thing I did was showed them how to go back in and edit a previous post. We talked about the importance of categories and students went back to add categories to their posts. Then we looked at some more information about the greenhouse effect and global warming. It is really important for them to have a better understanding of the science behind it.
Once students had looked over the link below(which was in kid-friendly language)
http://www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/warming4.htm
they were to write one more post about their understanding of what the greenhouse effect is and how it relates to global warming. As of right now I am only part of the way through grading their posts. My first class is one of my classes with more of the special learners. Clearly they need more help with understanding the concept and more direction with writing their posts. In retrospect I think the next time we blog I will have to give them more detail on what their post should include.
I am really glad I had them write a post on blogging in general because much of what they said about it fit right in with my predictions of how they would feel. They liked that blogs allowed them to share their feelings. Also, that everyone could posts and share at the same time whereas in a normal class dicussion only a few people are able to share. Many also thought it was fun!
It will be interesting to see how the next week goes with blogging. They now have a pretty good understanding of how it works and what is expected. Now what we need to focus on is the debate about global warming!
Once students had looked over the link below(which was in kid-friendly language)
http://www.eo.ucar.edu/kids/green/warming4.htm
they were to write one more post about their understanding of what the greenhouse effect is and how it relates to global warming. As of right now I am only part of the way through grading their posts. My first class is one of my classes with more of the special learners. Clearly they need more help with understanding the concept and more direction with writing their posts. In retrospect I think the next time we blog I will have to give them more detail on what their post should include.
I am really glad I had them write a post on blogging in general because much of what they said about it fit right in with my predictions of how they would feel. They liked that blogs allowed them to share their feelings. Also, that everyone could posts and share at the same time whereas in a normal class dicussion only a few people are able to share. Many also thought it was fun!
It will be interesting to see how the next week goes with blogging. They now have a pretty good understanding of how it works and what is expected. Now what we need to focus on is the debate about global warming!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The buzz zzz...
We have finally lauched our blogs and the kids are really into it! I couldnt' believe the buzz in the classroom. They were so excited and really wanted to see what everyone else was doing. I had them learn how to post and comment by having them write about their favorite foods. This allowed them to just focus on the process. This way they wouldn't get too bogged down or overwhemed with also having to focus on the content about global warming.
Giving them the writing rubric and having them practice that more really helped to improve their responses. They are producing much better quality work now. Today when they did their first two "official" posts on the blog I reminded them about the rubric.
Monday was our first day where they learned how to post and practiced it. Then, yesterday I was out of the building for half of the day so they had to take a break from it as I didn't want to leave something so new with a substitute. So many kids asked about whether we would be blogging again today when they entered class. They were eager beavers!
I am really excited about how into this they are. I really think that by starting with something more conversational and easy for them it gave them a jumpstart. Today went very smoothly. They commented and posted about what their thoughts were about blogging- why is it good/bad? What makes this different than a usual class discussion? etc. After that the last task of the day was to revisit their positions on global warming and to write a post about that. The room fell under a dead silence as they focused in on their writing! Yippee!
I encouraged them to go onto the blogs tonight if they are able to and willing. Read what other people have written. Comment if you like. Maybe check out the other classes blogs.... Yet, I wanted to keep this optional so that if they do post and comment it is purely out of their interest and desire to do so. Wow! What a great start!
Giving them the writing rubric and having them practice that more really helped to improve their responses. They are producing much better quality work now. Today when they did their first two "official" posts on the blog I reminded them about the rubric.
Monday was our first day where they learned how to post and practiced it. Then, yesterday I was out of the building for half of the day so they had to take a break from it as I didn't want to leave something so new with a substitute. So many kids asked about whether we would be blogging again today when they entered class. They were eager beavers!
I am really excited about how into this they are. I really think that by starting with something more conversational and easy for them it gave them a jumpstart. Today went very smoothly. They commented and posted about what their thoughts were about blogging- why is it good/bad? What makes this different than a usual class discussion? etc. After that the last task of the day was to revisit their positions on global warming and to write a post about that. The room fell under a dead silence as they focused in on their writing! Yippee!
I encouraged them to go onto the blogs tonight if they are able to and willing. Read what other people have written. Comment if you like. Maybe check out the other classes blogs.... Yet, I wanted to keep this optional so that if they do post and comment it is purely out of their interest and desire to do so. Wow! What a great start!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Really getting into it
Over my break I read over the students' written responses. The first day responses were not very good. However, that was really only a brief introduction and the questions were not very in depth. Hence, the responses were not that great. After the second day when we learned more about the greenhouse effect and how it relates to global warming students started to gain a better understanding. In addition the questions on day 2 were more thought provoking. The responses were better but still not quite up to par as I would expect.
Upon thinking about this over break I decided that I should clarify what a good response would look like. What criteria would I grade it on. We settled on a 3 point rubric.
A 3 would be the best score where the entry covered all of the following elements:
- thoughtful and addressed the topic
- directly connected to ideas discussed or learned in class
- detailed explanation
- gave support or reasons why
A 2 would be given to a response where only 1 or 2 elements were missing and a 1 to those missing quite a bit or that were completely off-topic.
I decided to go back to one of the crucial topics related to global warming after explaining the rubric for how writing would be graded to students. The students were told they would have a chance to revisit what they had written to revise or add to it and improve their score.
After asking if this was helpful the majority of students said yes. This will allow us to move forward with quality responses to the questions being addressed. The same rubric will be used for grading the posts on the blog. Then, after the fact I can compare the results.
Finally, today the topic of blogs was introduced. We started by looking at several different examples and talkinga about what was there. Students are to look for one blog of their own interest tonight. Also, to list two do's about posting to blogs and two don'ts. We will use these ideas as a springboard for creating our "blogging bill of rights."
More to come soon!!!!
Upon thinking about this over break I decided that I should clarify what a good response would look like. What criteria would I grade it on. We settled on a 3 point rubric.
A 3 would be the best score where the entry covered all of the following elements:
- thoughtful and addressed the topic
- directly connected to ideas discussed or learned in class
- detailed explanation
- gave support or reasons why
A 2 would be given to a response where only 1 or 2 elements were missing and a 1 to those missing quite a bit or that were completely off-topic.
I decided to go back to one of the crucial topics related to global warming after explaining the rubric for how writing would be graded to students. The students were told they would have a chance to revisit what they had written to revise or add to it and improve their score.
After asking if this was helpful the majority of students said yes. This will allow us to move forward with quality responses to the questions being addressed. The same rubric will be used for grading the posts on the blog. Then, after the fact I can compare the results.
Finally, today the topic of blogs was introduced. We started by looking at several different examples and talkinga about what was there. Students are to look for one blog of their own interest tonight. Also, to list two do's about posting to blogs and two don'ts. We will use these ideas as a springboard for creating our "blogging bill of rights."
More to come soon!!!!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
A great start
Last week I spent several days introducing the project to the students. They started by taking the online survey I created which went very quickly. I am really glad I decided to include several open-ended response questions because they give me some more insight as to the specfics of why students do what they do. For example, looking at why students do like participating in class versus not participating. Also, why they like or do not like writing. Although in retrospect I think it would have been better to clarify what I meant by writing. I had many students respond as if the writing were creative writing instead of content related writing. SurveyMonkey worked great. The results were all calculated rather quickly and it give me a great starting point for looking at my data.
We also started watching "An Inconvenient Truth" by looking at clips I had pre-selected for them to view. I also had some questions before hand for them to write about. This is the phase of the project where they are writing by hand rather than on the computer or in the blog. I really tried to focus my questions on feelings and thoughts. Such as, "What kind of reaction do you have to seeing where the level of CO2 is going to be when you are 60 years old?" Many of them had very strong feelings. Also, in this portion of the project they were only able to discuss through traditional means- by raising their hand to share or if I called on them. They were many students who wanted to respond and share their thoughts. I found myself trying to give time to anyone that wanted it. This certainly slowed down the progress of the project a bit.
What was exciting to me is how riveted they were to the movie. Now, to be honest not all of them were 100% invested but the majority were. Also, you have to understand that we were doing this the last few days before their mid-winter break where attitudes and focus tend to be a bit lacking. Yet, most watched, weren't talking during the video, and had something to write when it was time. What was also interesting is that many had side conversations but about the topic!!! They were truly interested in what was being said. In addition I could hear "wow"'s and sighs in reaction to what they were seeing. Also, after day two there were quite a few students who asked when we would be watching the movie again. When they would have a chance to learn more. YES!
The last question I asked them on day two was, "Do you want to know more? Why or why not." I thought this would be a really telling way to find out exactly what they were feeling at this point. How interested are they? After looking the papers over the vast majority of all the students wanted to know more.
This week I am off of school for mid-winter break. I plan to focus on the video I collected so far including the pre-interviews. Also, preparing everything for launching the blogs when we return. So, even though I am on break... I am still working!
We also started watching "An Inconvenient Truth" by looking at clips I had pre-selected for them to view. I also had some questions before hand for them to write about. This is the phase of the project where they are writing by hand rather than on the computer or in the blog. I really tried to focus my questions on feelings and thoughts. Such as, "What kind of reaction do you have to seeing where the level of CO2 is going to be when you are 60 years old?" Many of them had very strong feelings. Also, in this portion of the project they were only able to discuss through traditional means- by raising their hand to share or if I called on them. They were many students who wanted to respond and share their thoughts. I found myself trying to give time to anyone that wanted it. This certainly slowed down the progress of the project a bit.
What was exciting to me is how riveted they were to the movie. Now, to be honest not all of them were 100% invested but the majority were. Also, you have to understand that we were doing this the last few days before their mid-winter break where attitudes and focus tend to be a bit lacking. Yet, most watched, weren't talking during the video, and had something to write when it was time. What was also interesting is that many had side conversations but about the topic!!! They were truly interested in what was being said. In addition I could hear "wow"'s and sighs in reaction to what they were seeing. Also, after day two there were quite a few students who asked when we would be watching the movie again. When they would have a chance to learn more. YES!
The last question I asked them on day two was, "Do you want to know more? Why or why not." I thought this would be a really telling way to find out exactly what they were feeling at this point. How interested are they? After looking the papers over the vast majority of all the students wanted to know more.
This week I am off of school for mid-winter break. I plan to focus on the video I collected so far including the pre-interviews. Also, preparing everything for launching the blogs when we return. So, even though I am on break... I am still working!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
And We're Off!
Today we officially started the project. Students began by taking the survey which went very quickly. They had a little trouble with the last question, "do you like writing, why or why not?" because they were not sure if that meant writing on the computer or by hand. I responded by saying it was writing in general. Also interesting is that they asked what a blog is to be able to answer the first two questions of the survey. I didn't give them much information on what a blog was. I said it is like an online journal where someone writes their thoughts. This seemed to be enough for them to answer.
I love the online survey tool! It was great to be able to immediately see the results question by question. I can't wait to get more in depth with it. I do think I'll upgrade to the premier edition so that I can filter the results.
We also started by watching the beginning of "An Inconvenient Truth". We stopped and the kids responded to questions about what they saw by writing in their journals by hand. Then we discussed a little bit about what they wrote. There seemed to be a genuine interest in learning about global warming. Also, they wanted to know more about how it works. I think tomorrow we will look at some other sources of information to help explain global warming before we go back to the movie.
I love the online survey tool! It was great to be able to immediately see the results question by question. I can't wait to get more in depth with it. I do think I'll upgrade to the premier edition so that I can filter the results.
We also started by watching the beginning of "An Inconvenient Truth". We stopped and the kids responded to questions about what they saw by writing in their journals by hand. Then we discussed a little bit about what they wrote. There seemed to be a genuine interest in learning about global warming. Also, they wanted to know more about how it works. I think tomorrow we will look at some other sources of information to help explain global warming before we go back to the movie.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
More planning and we're off!
Upon thinking about my survey situation more I have decided to include a question about the classes that students are enrolled in. This will allow me to filter my data after the surveys are completed by those special classes. I think this is going to be the best approach. No matter what I need to collect data about my subgroups as this is something I am very interested in studying. The survey will be the first step in moving forward.
I have also done a lot more planning this week. I did not even realize until today that our Mid-Winter break falls next week. Yikes! That raises an interesting question. Do I start the kids on blogging before the break, or after? With the problems that could arise I have decided to wait until after break to start the kids with their accounts and to actually blog.
This week I will focus on introducing the idea of global warming and the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." This will be the phase where students are writing by hand and not through the use of the blog. We will share feedback and comments through whole group discussion. This portion will be videotaped at it will be my comparison to the times when students are blogging their responses.
In addition I finally have a long term scope for the project. It really helped to get this in place. (thanks Gaoming for the suggestion) Now I can proceed forward methodically. By knowing now how much time I have and when I should be doing what will ensure that I accomplish what I need to. In addition I think it will give me some flexibility as I go through.
One more goal to accomplish this week will be to interview students individually prior to them blogging. We could call these the pre-blogging interviews. Logistic-wise I have figured out that I will need to do the interviews during lunches this week. This will allow me to get a quiet environment where I am not taking away from class time or my teaching. I will invite a handful of students each day and tape whoever chooses to come. I think the kids will be eagar to participate (hopefully).
WOW! Well, this is going to be a big week. I am really excited to launch the discussion of this really important topic. I can't wait to see how they react and what kinds of conversations are created. It is also fun to think about how it will be so different when they are blogging!
I have also done a lot more planning this week. I did not even realize until today that our Mid-Winter break falls next week. Yikes! That raises an interesting question. Do I start the kids on blogging before the break, or after? With the problems that could arise I have decided to wait until after break to start the kids with their accounts and to actually blog.
This week I will focus on introducing the idea of global warming and the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." This will be the phase where students are writing by hand and not through the use of the blog. We will share feedback and comments through whole group discussion. This portion will be videotaped at it will be my comparison to the times when students are blogging their responses.
In addition I finally have a long term scope for the project. It really helped to get this in place. (thanks Gaoming for the suggestion) Now I can proceed forward methodically. By knowing now how much time I have and when I should be doing what will ensure that I accomplish what I need to. In addition I think it will give me some flexibility as I go through.
One more goal to accomplish this week will be to interview students individually prior to them blogging. We could call these the pre-blogging interviews. Logistic-wise I have figured out that I will need to do the interviews during lunches this week. This will allow me to get a quiet environment where I am not taking away from class time or my teaching. I will invite a handful of students each day and tape whoever chooses to come. I think the kids will be eagar to participate (hopefully).
WOW! Well, this is going to be a big week. I am really excited to launch the discussion of this really important topic. I can't wait to see how they react and what kinds of conversations are created. It is also fun to think about how it will be so different when they are blogging!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
I was just feeling really good about getting my survey designed and ready to post when I realized a potential problem. First about the process, I created it with Surveymonkey. The whole survey took a couple of hours to make because I started looking at the various question types. In the end I just decided it would be easier to just stick to the same format for questions. Then I realized as I was ready to add another question that the free version restricts you to 10 questions. They couldnt' have told me that before I wrote the whole survey?
Then, as I was about to celebrate getting this completed I realized that this way of collecting surveys will not allow me to look at my subgroups. Prior to making the survey I had labored over two choices for looking at my special learners- either put a question in the survey about it or have the kids put in their names and I would know who was in what subgroup. I had decided to go with names because this way there would be no issue over confidentiality or other questions. Unfortunately, now that my survey is created it appears there is not a place for entering your name.
My question to the group is this, do I go back and add a question that asks students to check which groups they are a part of OR do I find a service that will allow me to put in names for the survey so that I can disaggregate these students after the survey has been taken?
The question of will I get better responses by allowing students to remain nameless. Will they feel more able to give an honest answer? I wonder about this. I would welcome other people's thoughts about it. I also plan to do some searching about writing and administering surveys to see if the experts out there may have some advice.
Another question that has arisen as I have begun to create the survey is filtering. The free version of Surveymonkey does not allow you to filter the results. For example, I may want to filter out the special services students if I go with that type of identification in my survey. Adding another layer to this may be putting a question that asks about gender into the survey. That could be another filter for the results.
Amazing how new questions come up as you are going through the process. I am going to post a link to the survey so you all can check it out. Just don't actually take it because I don't want your data!
Click Here to take survey
Then, as I was about to celebrate getting this completed I realized that this way of collecting surveys will not allow me to look at my subgroups. Prior to making the survey I had labored over two choices for looking at my special learners- either put a question in the survey about it or have the kids put in their names and I would know who was in what subgroup. I had decided to go with names because this way there would be no issue over confidentiality or other questions. Unfortunately, now that my survey is created it appears there is not a place for entering your name.
My question to the group is this, do I go back and add a question that asks students to check which groups they are a part of OR do I find a service that will allow me to put in names for the survey so that I can disaggregate these students after the survey has been taken?
The question of will I get better responses by allowing students to remain nameless. Will they feel more able to give an honest answer? I wonder about this. I would welcome other people's thoughts about it. I also plan to do some searching about writing and administering surveys to see if the experts out there may have some advice.
Another question that has arisen as I have begun to create the survey is filtering. The free version of Surveymonkey does not allow you to filter the results. For example, I may want to filter out the special services students if I go with that type of identification in my survey. Adding another layer to this may be putting a question that asks about gender into the survey. That could be another filter for the results.
Amazing how new questions come up as you are going through the process. I am going to post a link to the survey so you all can check it out. Just don't actually take it because I don't want your data!
Click Here to take survey
Thursday, January 24, 2008
The next step
The next step is creating my online survey and administering it to my classes. I think this will be a great way to collect the data and also break it down into sub groups. After investigating quite a few online survey sites I found Surveymonkey to be the best suited to my needs. It seems easy to use and they will allow me to post the survey on my website as a link. This is fantastic because I am still able to do the project without having official student emails.
The suggestion was brought up that I could interview students. This is a fantastic idea! I think the kids will enjoy being able to share what they think. Although, I believe I may have to obtain direct permission from parents for their child's video to be included in anything I share with my colleagues. Now my question is if I should use the video in addition to all my other data sources or remove one of them.
Thanks for the feedback to those who left comments and do in the future.
The suggestion was brought up that I could interview students. This is a fantastic idea! I think the kids will enjoy being able to share what they think. Although, I believe I may have to obtain direct permission from parents for their child's video to be included in anything I share with my colleagues. Now my question is if I should use the video in addition to all my other data sources or remove one of them.
Thanks for the feedback to those who left comments and do in the future.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hello all. I am not exactly sure if we are supposed to be writing only to our group or everyone. At any rate I have done a lot of preliminary work for my project so far. The first step was getting approval from my administration. Their main concern was the safety of what I was doing. They insisted upon using a protected blog so that only approved comments from people outside the group could be posted. I understand that concern. From what I understand the authors of the blog, i.e. my students will still be able to post and comment without having to be approved. I really hope I understood that correctly because approving 120 students posts and comments could become a bit overwhelming.
The next step was drafting the parent letter to go home. This letter explained the purpose of what I was doing with the students, how we would go about setting guidelines and obtained permission for each student to participate and be able to watch the movie and be videotaped. It took quite some time to make sure I had all of my students permission letters in. I invited parents to get in touch with me if they had any questions or concerns and there were only 2 out of 120 that had any questions. That surprised me quite a bit.
I have to wonder if the parents really read the whole letter through and understand exactly what we will be doing. Not that I think what we are doing is questionable but I could see how a parent would worry about safety for example. Yet, I have to say that based upon the school year so far we have a group of parents this year that are not really paying attention to details. We send home weekly progress reports of how the students are doing in every class and the parents just sign that they saw them without taking the time to really look and see what is happening with their child. I have a feeling that later down the line, once we get into this project some more concerns might pop up.
The letter to the parents included a few rules and basic guidelines that we will follow. In addition, a colleague of mine gave me the idea to have students make their own contract for rules and responsibilites with the blog. I am planning on using an outline of a contract and having the class tailor it based upon their discussion. I will guide them in the right direction. By having the students generate their own contract for the guidelines they will have more ownership.
The next step is working on the survey. I have some questions that I have put together but I am wanting some feedback as to whether or not the questions will provide the data I need to answer my big question. I plan to look at these in more detail over the week. I will try and post what I have so that my group may give me some feedback. After looking at several online survey sites I think I am going to use survey monkey. Any thoughts?
The next step was drafting the parent letter to go home. This letter explained the purpose of what I was doing with the students, how we would go about setting guidelines and obtained permission for each student to participate and be able to watch the movie and be videotaped. It took quite some time to make sure I had all of my students permission letters in. I invited parents to get in touch with me if they had any questions or concerns and there were only 2 out of 120 that had any questions. That surprised me quite a bit.
I have to wonder if the parents really read the whole letter through and understand exactly what we will be doing. Not that I think what we are doing is questionable but I could see how a parent would worry about safety for example. Yet, I have to say that based upon the school year so far we have a group of parents this year that are not really paying attention to details. We send home weekly progress reports of how the students are doing in every class and the parents just sign that they saw them without taking the time to really look and see what is happening with their child. I have a feeling that later down the line, once we get into this project some more concerns might pop up.
The letter to the parents included a few rules and basic guidelines that we will follow. In addition, a colleague of mine gave me the idea to have students make their own contract for rules and responsibilites with the blog. I am planning on using an outline of a contract and having the class tailor it based upon their discussion. I will guide them in the right direction. By having the students generate their own contract for the guidelines they will have more ownership.
The next step is working on the survey. I have some questions that I have put together but I am wanting some feedback as to whether or not the questions will provide the data I need to answer my big question. I plan to look at these in more detail over the week. I will try and post what I have so that my group may give me some feedback. After looking at several online survey sites I think I am going to use survey monkey. Any thoughts?
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