We use our classroom blog for sharing our learning experiences. An important part of the learning process involves reflecting on our learning. One way I get my students to reflect is to do self-assessments. It seems to me although many teachers are using web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning, not many are taking the many opportunities to use them for assessment.
Our most recent ICT venture of recording readers theater podcasts was posted on our blog so that we could share our work and get reflective feedback. As my students read blogs and comment on them as a reading task, it seemed a good place to embed a form that would serve as a reflective assessment.
Why I like using Google Forms rather than services like Polldaddy is that it is easy to set up and embed, but more importantly it sends all the poll data to a Google Spreadsheet in Google Docs. From there you can get your data presented in various chart or pie displays with a few button clicks. Of course you do need to sign up for a free Gmail account, but then in my opinion if you are not already using Gmail you should be. An example of using Google Forms embedded into a blog for self-assessment. Some other online poll and testing services are Yacapaca, Zoho, and Mystudiyo. Below is a video on Google Forms.
My class did their first readers theater this week, and after recording the audio story we wanted to add it to our blog in order to share it with the world and receive feedback to improve ourselves. See our Classroom Blog Podcast.
However most blog servers do not allow you to upload and embed an audio directly from your computer. The file (this is the same process for video) needs to be hosted on a web server and then linked to the blog. There are many sites that cater for audio and podcasts, we however used Podomatic. You do need to check that the school does not block the audio server you choose, if they do you can usually get it unblocked by placing a request through your ICT lead teacher.
Another thing to remember is that your file needs to be a mp3 or mp4 file before uploading to an audio server. This usually involves exporting it from GarageBand / Audacity or other recording software. One thing I learnt was when recording with GarageBand, change the metronome setting to get rid of the clicky sound that we got in the background.
Once you have your audio recording saved on a site like Podomatic you are offer html code to either link to the server site or code to embed the recording into your blog, as we have done here.
I believe bringing web 2.0 into the classroom and into student hands to enhance learning is an essential step to encourage 21st century learning. It is also important for teachers to use web 2.0 tool tools to teach and guide learning, we are role models in all aspects of learning.
I created this wiki page as my own shortcut to some web 2.0 teaching tools that I find useful and use regularly. I hope you find it helpful and if you know of any websites that are worth adding, please leave a comment.
Web 2.0 Teaching Tools This is a collection of some great web 2.0 tools I have found for teaching and modeling. Although great with an interactive whiteboard for whole class, I often will just use my laptop at the conference table for small groups.
Math Tool Chest: This is a wonderful tool to help explain and teach maths. It is basically a toolbox of web materials, I find the counters and place value helpful. It is simple to use with a sound off option.
Maths Playground:A collection of math manipulatives for teaching and learning.
Virtual Dice: One, two or three virtual dice, great for math games.
Super Teacher Tools: A resource where you can generate games, set up a seating chart, create groups, and generate random names. Very easy to use especially if you set up a class list, which you only need to do once.
I have discovered as a beginning teacher that Cyber Bullying is not just something we have to deal with once then we can forget about it till next year. I have noticed that most of the bullying that goes on in schools seems to happen away from the teachers sight. As a developing digital class I feel it it time to tackle this issue as my students are very ICT literate.
I started off this year teaching my students about Internet Safety. Using the Netsafe Hector's World programme, we watched the online animated episodes and followed the lesson plans and related activities. We also use the Hector Safety button on our PC laptops (unfortunately they haven't figured out how to create a safety button for Apple Macs yet). It is a small animated character from the series that sits on the screen, if a child comes across something 'bad' or inappropriate they click the button and a fun screen-saver pops up with advise to get an adult.
Last term I found another free resource in the form of two DVD's supplied to schools by Netsafe and produced by Childnet. Both are cyber bullying stories told from the perspective of students, along with guiding questions and further supporting resources.
'At A Distance' is aimed at primary students up to about Year 6, while 'Let's Fight It Together' is aimed at intermediate to secondary students. Both stories show technology being used to bully and resolutions that help fix the problem. The DVD's are well supported with teacher resources. The DVD's have guiding questions and further activities, and lesson plans are available online. As I have a Year 6 class, I will be starting the new term with 'At A Distance' which we will watch and discuss the questions. As well as being able to order your free copy, there is also downloadable (is this a real word?) advice for teachers, principals and students here.
Where to next? The next step which ties in well with our literacy narrative focus is a website called 'Speak Up!" This is a fantastic site that allows your students to create comics that tell stories of bully situations and how they could be resolved. Although you will need to model, scaffold your students to use this part effectively, it is very easy to use, as the settings and characters are chosen with a click. Here is where it get's even better, a big thanks to Learning Media. You can download the entire programme as a zip file and install it on your non internet classroom computers!
Just to make it all a bit easier, I found this great brainstorm or mindmap from Online Professional Development which will help you guide the same exercise with your students.
So what do you do to teach your students about Cyber Bullying? Do you have any resources you can add? Please share them in the comments below.
As a beginning teacher I am very aware that being an effective teacher requires constant self evaluation.
I first encountered how a teacher used Google Forms to assess his students view of his teaching, when reading the blog belonging to Larry Ferlazzo; Results From Student Evaluation Of My Class And Me. This inspired me to try it out with my own class at the end of term 2.
It is a scary prospect allowing your students to openly tell you how they feel about your class and your teaching. Still it was an eye-opening experience that has given me some
insight into my students view of my teaching and how I can improve myself.
It was an optional assessment that only 73% of my students completed. It shows they seem to enjoy my class and feel they are learning although not giving 100% effort, so I should raise my expectations.
I was concerned that 37% of my students felt I was not concerned with what was happening in their life. It tells me I need to ensure I spend more quality individual time with all students, especially those ones who hide in the corners!
The results show I need to be more patient, and use a softer voice. Although I suspect some of my students understanding 'patient' and my view my be slightly different. I do believe I must try using a more positive approach in my everyday teaching.
I have not had much art this term because 80% of my class is at kapa haka or choir for an hour every week, which takes up my arts time. My students obviously miss art, as do I, but finding time to squeeze it into our busy timetable is hard. I will be making a big effort next term to teach art by integrating it into other subject areas.
Some further student comments:
What could you (the student) have done to make this class a better learning experience?
I would make the class room listen to Mr Wood to listen more so they could learn more.
I could try to work with other people in the class. I could try to work with everyone in the class .
Be more responsible.behave better. Enspire some other people. Be good share all the ideas to the class.
I think maybe its good to more art because on Friday we have Kapa Haka and some people have Choir and we should change it to a different day so we can do more art.
What could Mr. Wood have done to make this class a better learning experience?
Mr. Wood doesn't need to do anything - hes already doing enough.
Be more patient
By disciplining the people that don't listen to him most of the time.
Give us our own laptops so we don't fight for laptops
Showed us some more good learning sites.
shout at some people lesser - talk to people more softer.
Have you ever done a self-assessment of this sort before, and do you think it would help your teaching?
I have just finished writing my student reports for parents. This was the first time I have ever had to do this, and I found it a difficult and unpleasant task. Writing individual reflections of learning for 26 students, including their strengths and needs for each one, made me realise I should take more anecdotal notes during the term to assist me. I have started a note book but am considering writing interim report comments weekly on different students to help break the task down, and also make the messages more relevant. I found remembering each and every students strengths and needs at the end of the term in one wild report writing frenzy, a stressful task.
Yet through this process I did find a light at the end of the tunnel that wasn't a train. It was Google Translate. Although many of the parents at my school seem reluctant to talk to the teachers about their child's learning, some want to but cannot. I have one student in my class who's parents do not speak English, only Thai. I have often felt frustrated that I could not share some of their child's classroom successes with them, until now. I recently discovered Google Translate and decided to try it out by translating this student's report into Thai. I had no idea how well it actually translated, but explained my intentions to my student, asking her to then pass this onto her parents. The next day she told me they were very happy that they could, for the first time, get feedback from the school that they could understand, although I still do not know how well it translated the grammar.
Free web software like this has the potential to assist schools in creating bridges of communication, with parents and family of students who are not English speakers. This can only help our students improve their learning, because as we know, parent involvement in student learning makes a huge difference. I imagine this could also be used with students in the classroom, assuming they are at the level of reading their home language.
How would you use a programme like Google Translate in your classroom?
คุณจะให้ใช้โปรแกรมเช่น Google แปลภาษาในชั้นเรียน?Hoe zou u gebruik maken van een programma als Google Translate in uw klas?
你將如何使用程序像谷歌翻譯成您的課堂？
¿Cómo utilizar un programa como Google Translate en el aula?
कैसे आप अपनी कक्षा में Google अनुवाद की तरह एक प्रोग्राम का प्रयोग करेंगे?
Comment pourriez-vous utiliser un programme comme Google Translate dans votre classe?
If you haven't heard of Hot Potatoes you are in for a literacy treat. I discovered Hot Potatoes a few months back and have been trialing it in my reading programme this term. It is a suite of programmes which allow you to create interactive educational exercises such as gap-fill exercises, multiple-choice questions, crosswords, and matching /ordering quizzes, that are easily saved as a HTML file (web page) for online or offline use. To answer them all you need is a web browser (Safari, Firefox etc) , a net connection is not even necessary.
The programs included are: JQuiz: multiple-choice, true-false, text-entry or short-answer JCloze: gap-fill JCross: crosswords JMix: jumbled-sentence JMatch: matching and ordering
Once you have downloaded Hot Potatoes you will find they are very easy to use. You do not need to know JavaScript or HTML in order to use any of these programmes, you just need to to enter your data into the spaces proved and press a button.
You will need to register Hot Potatoes to use it, as Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for non-profit-making educational institutions. It is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
Uses in the classroom:You can create follow-up activities for your reading programme using any text. You can type in a journal story and quickly create a cloze activity for any reading level targeting the grammar or vocabulary suited to that student with varying degrees of support. You can use it in so many ways, get creative and come back and share your successes.
I highly recommend that you give Hot Potatoes a try, it will add a new ICT component to your classroom (even with just a few computers with no web connection) that will enrich your literacy programme.
We use our classroom blog for sharing our learning experiences. An important part of the learning process involves reflecting on our learning. One way I get my students to reflect is to do self-assessments. It seems to me although many teachers are using web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning, not many are taking the many opportunities to use them for assessment.
