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Fun Karaoke Jams for Math and Science
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Five Ways to Make Standardized Test Prep Engaging | Scholastic.com
Great ways to de-stress Test Prep. With SBAs next week, I wish my kid's teacher was using these tips! Technology tips too.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
My Blog 03/29/2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Week 8 Journal
How might video games enhance my students' learning?
Over spring break (had such a wonderful time playing with my kids and visiting friends!) I had an excuse to let my kids play video games online. For once I didn't have to feel guilty about my parenting when I let them play computer games! This time they were doing it to help me with my class.
The games I had my kids (lab rats) test for me were The Serum Run, Word Bump, and a Forces and Motion simulation game from http://phet.colorado.edu.
The Serum Run is a game from UAA's LitSite Alaska and AlaskaKids. It was created to teach a few things about the Iditarod, dog sledding/survival in Alaska, along with Alaskan geography and history. Click here for more information about Serum Run. The game can be differentiated to several different levels of difficulty, and the student directs their learning throughout the game. They can simply click through the informative parts and keep playing, or focus more on historical information and that sort of thing. I found with my children that they needed prompting to read through the facts and not just play the fun things.
1. Was the child engaged? Both my children, age 7 and 9, were very engaged in the game. They were able to navigate their way through it alone for the most part. I would say this is the youngest age level for effective learning through Serum Run. My 7 year old is a very good reader for his age, and this was important for doing the game on his own. My 9 year old took more time to explore the game options for herself.
2. Did the child learn the skills that were targeted?/ Can the child demonstrate that these skills were mastered? I could see that my children learned about dog sledding and survival in Alaska. They needed a little prompting to share their information, but when I asked them specific questions they could tell me the answers. This game could be a more effective learning tool for the classroom if children were given a question and answer sheet ahead of time and asked to fill it out as they played the game. There could also be a group discussion about what students learned after they all had some time with Serum Run.
2. Did the child learn the skills that were targeted?/ Can the child demonstrate that these skills were mastered? I could see that my children learned about dog sledding and survival in Alaska. They needed a little prompting to share their information, but when I asked them specific questions they could tell me the answers. This game could be a more effective learning tool for the classroom if children were given a question and answer sheet ahead of time and asked to fill it out as they played the game. There could also be a group discussion about what students learned after they all had some time with Serum Run.
Word Bump is a flash game which simply has you form words from 2-8 letters. "Can you make words fast enough by clicking on the letters to form a word
up to 8 letters? Bump all golden tiles on top to win. Game will end if
any golden tile drops below board and you may use like-colored letters
together for power-ups." My 9 year old tried this out for me and loved it.
1. Was the child engaged? My daughter was definitely engaged. She liked the game and wanted to play it for longer. She kept trying to form words and didn't give up even when it got difficult.
2. Did the child learn the skills that were targeted?/ Can the child demonstrate that these skills were mastered? I'm not sure exactly what was targeted with this game except spelling. My daughter possibly learned how to spell some words correctly when she tried them but they didn't work with her first spelling. She may have also increased her speed and confidence.
The Forces and Motion simulation game was the most interesting to my 7 year old son. He loved adjusting the applied forces, friction and mass to influence the motion of an object. What a great way to learn about physical science! The answer to the focus questions was yes.
One of my favorite things about all these games is that even though they are single-player games, children can easily help each other during the game and make it a shared experience. I think children interacting by sharing tips and strategies during video games makes them much more valuable. During Forces and Motion, my children gave each other tips and worked together the whole time they played it. Another plus is an easy download to the desktop so we don't have to rely on the internet connection for the game.
2. Did the child learn the skills that were targeted?/ Can the child demonstrate that these skills were mastered? I'm not sure exactly what was targeted with this game except spelling. My daughter possibly learned how to spell some words correctly when she tried them but they didn't work with her first spelling. She may have also increased her speed and confidence.
The Forces and Motion simulation game was the most interesting to my 7 year old son. He loved adjusting the applied forces, friction and mass to influence the motion of an object. What a great way to learn about physical science! The answer to the focus questions was yes.
One of my favorite things about all these games is that even though they are single-player games, children can easily help each other during the game and make it a shared experience. I think children interacting by sharing tips and strategies during video games makes them much more valuable. During Forces and Motion, my children gave each other tips and worked together the whole time they played it. Another plus is an easy download to the desktop so we don't have to rely on the internet connection for the game.
My PLN
My Module 2 Project group gave me ideas about games to use. The website for the force and motion game along with the Word game came from them. I also explored other sites suggested by my Tuesday night Twitter PLN. My wonderful kids were also a valuable part of my PLN this week! They actually help me pretty often, by answering questions I have about all sorts of technical resources for children. Anytime the computer is on it emits a strong magnetic field (it's true) which proves irresistible to kids, providing lots of chances to get their feedback.
My Blog 03/24/2013
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pearltrees • Projects • Edmodo
I started an Edmodo pearl for my group project! Yay for me learnin how to do stuff!!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
My Blog 03/12/2013
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Games, investigations, quizzes
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2010ess - Differentiated Instruction Games | Diigo
Vocabulary Games including Powerpoint so "technical" but not online
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
My Blog 03/07/2013
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Iditarod-inspired strategy game. Why didn't I know about this before??
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5 Important Wall & Security Etiquette To Avoid A Facebook Divorce
Why it's important to be careful what you put on Facebook (or any social network) and How to protect your privacy!
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Walking Around In Circles: As Google+ Opens Up Will People Start Using It Correctly? | TechCrunch
Changing face of Social Networking
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Week 7 Journal
What tool did you learn this week to assist you in
differentiating the learning process for students?
I learned Screencast-O-Matic and 3D Writer to differentiate the learning process. With ScreencastOmatic students can create a tutorial for any topic they choose. If they were instructed to do online research, they could simply walk through the resources they found and summarize each one. If you were interested in how various students used a certain program, they could summarize their use of it. Students could do a technology introduction of themselves, simply showing the websites and tools they are interested in.
3D Writer can be used in differentiating the Writing process, along with using technology and word processing. Students can easily write and revise their pieces, adding links and pictures. 3D Writer is simple enough to avoid some of the distractions of having too many features. Even younger students can understand how to use it and will see their work published in a browser without needing a blog or other resource. I would use this in the classroom as an introduction to online writing with hyperlinks.
Here's my very unpolished intro screencast for 3D Writer!
http://youtu.be/pQUuSo2flcw
I keep neglecting to mention my PLN! This week we have been trying to get our group project going. I have signed up for an Edmodo group with several other people. We are discussing ways to meet as a group and what to focus on for the project. I'm relieved to see that we're all leadership oriented and not afraid to put our ideas out there! There are tons of ways to use Edmodo to differentiate the process; we decided to explore some of these tools and create a resource for other people to learn about them. I am looking forward to learning a lot and being able to share it.
Week 6 Journal
What does it mean to differentiate the process
(content, strategies for instruction) in the classroom?
There are so, so many ways to differentiate the process with technology. Where to start?? I have bookmarked a few resources but this is just the tip of the iceberg. It's fun to see all the ways this incredibly important aspect of teaching can be tweaked. Teachers can truly tailor their materials and techniques to the students.
Edmodo, survey monkey and other resources give teachers the ability to poll students before even beginning instruction. What do students want to learn about? How do they see themselves learning the material effectively? How would they like to interact with the knowledge? The teacher can tailor the content based on these answers, allowing students to work with their interests and strengths. Using Edmodo or another presentation media, students can document and share their learning with each other, teaching peers and strengthening their own learning. A puzzle maker can help students learn any topic in a fun way.
Kathy Schrocks' guide to Everything is chock full of resources that can be used for differentiating the process and every other part of learning. I love the Sesame Street video she shared, There's an App for That
Differentiating the process really means that different students will be learning material in different orders, at different paces, in different ways, and using different tools. Even the material to be learned can be different based on what students already know. To me this type of model actually takes responsibility off the teacher and places it more on the student- they can utilize technology resources for themselves to learn more of what they need to know and spend less time reviewing what is already known or generally wasting time. I see this type of instruction as the way I use online recipes. I already know quite a bit about cooking, what ingredients taste great together, and how to prepare things in different and interesting ways. But I don't know the exact ingredients and amounts to use for every dish, so I need to look them up and get some hints from someone else. If I was required to study a recipe for making scrambled eggs and take a test on it I would be wasting my time. I can already make wonderful scrambled eggs just by estimating the right amounts of eggs, milk, salt and pepper. In contrast, I could learn a bit from finding a recipe for a frittata with sundried tomatoes and feta cheese.
Maybe it's a stretch, but let's have students try to reach their maximum potential, using the wealth of resources out there.
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