Resource Log 31

http://moodle.com/

This is the course management tool that I did Ch. 8 on. The two sites I looked at were Blackboard and Moodle. This site is free and offers the teacher a variety of tools to use to manage their classroom.

Reflection 17

7. What are your suggestions for improving the design of this course?

I would try to include some of the examples that we wrote about in Ch. 8 (blogs, electronic portfolios, course management tools, etc). I know we did many of them, but the more that you all can play around with and have students use the more likely that they will use them in the classroom. It might be chaotic, but try to incorporate as many as possible so students and teachers can become more familiar with them and be more apt to use them to make their own classrooms more constructive in nature.

Reflection 16

6. Please comment about building quizzes and answer keys, and on grading your peers. Did you learn or gain anything valuable from these experiences? Please explain.

I gained a little. I found it hard to grade other teachers, and also that some of the other teachers were very critical of others grading. The multiple choice/true false questions were okay, but the short answers did provide some input that I might be able to take back to the classroom. Overall I’d say that it was just okay taking and grading others quizzes.

Reflection 15

5. As a result of your experience in this class, are you more likely or less likely to assign collaborative wiki writing assignments in your teaching situation? Please explain the reasons you are more or less likely to do so.

I really want to assign collaborative wiki writing in my class, especially after taking this class. I do have some concern on doing it in a all boys high school, but I’ll take my chances and see what happens. I think that it is a great way for students to work together, especially since they can work together from remote locations.

Reflection 14

4. Please compare the experience of doing research and authoring a textbook for a class (like this one) versus the traditional way of reading and studying an assigned textbook for a class.

I think that I learned so much more after researching and authoring the wikibook that I would have just reading and studying for a class. I had to find the information and read over multiple sources for each chapter compared to skimming for answers in other classes. Plus I read over a condensed version of each groups sections which was a great way to get a lot of information in a short time.

Reflection 13

3. Please comment on your experience of others (e.g. WikiBook editors, external experts, other Internet surfers) observing and / or critiquing your writing in the WikiBook.

I never really had much critiquing on my wikibooks. I guess it was helpful to have an editor go over my work since she did find some errors, but that was only one time and no one else did any critiquing. I never edit my own work so having the editor was very beneficial.

Reflection 12

2. Please evaluate the emphasis on collaboration in writing the WikiBook Chapters.

Overall I thought that the collaboration on the wikibooks was good. It could be hard at times when one person did most of the work, but overall it was good to have multiple inputs on the same document. I did think that the author had the hardest job, and the quiz maker had the easiest.

Reflection 11

1. Please describe your overall experience in this course? Was the course effective in getting you to "learn about constructivism by doing and experiencing constructivist instructional methods?”

I thought that the course was decent, although I would have liked to have done more constructive learning. I thought that the sandboxes were a great way to share information, but I would have liked to have experimented with some of methods discussed in chapter 8. Overall I felt that I did learn a good deal about constructivism and we did a good amount of it online.

Resource Log 30

https://secure.delicious.com/login?v=5&jump=http%3A%2F%2Fdelicious.com%2Fsave%3Ftitle%3D%26notes%3D%26tags%3D%26noui%3Dno%26share%3Dyes%26time%3D1236376797

This is a very cool site for students and educators to use. The site is delicious.com, it is an online bookmarking site. What I like about it is that not only can students have a place to bookmark sites of interest, but others can log on and check out other peoples bookmarks. You can also key word cites to make searches easier.

Resource Log 29

http://mywebspiration.com/

This site might not be needed for many students, especially if they have inspiration of concpet mapping programs on their computers, but I found it very interesting. I've started to use concept mapping in my classroom, and webspiration is a free online site that has some great tools for educators and students to use.

Resource Log 28

http://pixel.cs.vt.edu/edu/fis/techcons.html

I teach at a laptop school, so implementing technology into my curriculum is vital. This article was good to read in that it gave good examples of how to use technology in the classroom as well as why it is beneficial. I always hear that it is good, but this site gave me some good info on why it is valuable.

Resource Log 27

http://www.inform.umd.edu/UMS+State/UMD-Projects/MCTP/Essays/Constructivism.txt

This article discusses ideas on how to implement constructivism into teachers classrooms. Comparisons are made to traditional classrooms and how the constructivist approach is not a new concept and is easy to use.

Resource Log 26

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/drugfree/sa3const.htm

This short site lists 12 principles that learning is based off of. The main focus is that student learning is not just from what they are taught but from their beliefs and attitudes.

Reflection 10

I used the site discover.com last week when teaching about marine ecosystems. This site was great in that it offered lesson plans that deal directly with a video that I show. Usually I show the video and we discuss what we've seen, but this time I was able to do so much more. This lesson used the discussion and video that I have used in the past, yet it also gave me ideas of activities for the students to do via the interent and research. They were split into groups and researched all about coral reef ecosystems, the dangers that surround them, and what is being done to protect those precious habitats. Students were able to branch off of what they knew and build upon it. This was great in that it incorporated all that this class is about. We were able to effectively use the internet and technology as well as build upon previous knowledge.

Reflection 9

While I haven't tried anything new to reflect on, I have been thinking some things over about authentic assessment that I'd like to try in the near future. After reading over the website in my previous resource, I've really thought things over about how I teach. One of the biggest pitfalls in my teaching style is that I tend to go by the book and do all the traditional assessment for my students. I've been thinking and since I'm teaching a new course this semester I want to try to do some new assessment techniques, it might benefit my students a little more. I've read that authentic assessment uses more real life situations, which would make class more relative to my students. My forensics class in the future will try to incorporate a real situation labs to test my students retention. How I'm going to do this is still to be determined....but I'm going to try to make some changes for the better!

Resource Log 25

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/rubrics.htm

This is a great tool for constructing rubrics for authentic assessment. I've made rubrics before, but this site focuses on rubrics dealing with authentic assessment. Many examples and tips are used to help ot both new and veteran teachers.

Resource Log 24

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/9-12.html

This is a great site. There are many lesson plans from all areas of education (many form science!). The lesson plans area great in that they incorporate technology, and they also have many leading questions for students to research on their own.

Resource Log 23

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm

This site was all about authentic assessment. I've heard about it in many classes before, but wanted to look a little more into it. What I liked about the site was that it compared traditional assessment to authentic assessment. I've always been a traditional type of teacher, mainly since that is what I had and it is what is easiest, but this site offered some valuable insight in how to change things up a little bit and the benefits that are possible.

Resource Log 22

http://pirate.shu.edu/~jamesjan/LessonB1.htm

I like this source! This was a lesson plan for teachers. The site gives a basic lesson plan about constructivism and some useful information for teachers to aquaint themselves with constructivism. I also like the fact that it is interactive, allowing teachers to branch out and find more information and resources.

Resource Log 21

http://www.glogster.com/

This site is one that allows students to make digital posters. The source is free to use and allows the integration of technology and constructivism. Students can use the info learned in class to make posters for all students to see.

Reflection 8

Last week I used a site called education-world.com. This was a very intersting site in that it offered articles and blogs about utilizing technology in the classroom, as well as resources to use in the classroom. When I was looking through the site I came upon a site called glogster. I never go to the site in my classroom, but I was able to use some of the info found on the site to help create future lessons for my classroom. Glogster is a site that I will talk about in my next resource log, and will make my classroom a much more interesting environment. Not only will I be able to use technology in a way that I never thought I would, but The students will be free to use knowledge learned in my classroom as well as others to design technological projects for others to see.

Reflection 7

This reflection is about the information used from the National Geographic website. When I taught a lesson about squid last week, I needed some information for them to dive into and be very interested in. What I found was an article about giant squid that were found off the coast of Antarctica. The article was very good, and the students seemed to like it, but I need to be a little better in incorporating technology into this lesson as well as making it more constructivist. I feel that I just let them read the article and we discussed it, I did not utilized what I am learning in class to have them take that information and build off if it. I think that the next time I use articles form NG I will be a little more creative on having the students do more with it in order to build off of that information.

Resource Log 20

http://dsc.discovery.com/

Again, not much of a site designated to constructivism or technology, but this site allows me to stay current with science information in order to be able to create lessons utilizing constructivism and technology. It is also a very interesting site that the students enjoy having access to.

Resource Log 19

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

This does not deal with constructivism or really technology, but I find it to be a very valuable resource in my teachings. I teach ecology and zoology, and National Geographic has so many articles, pictures, and resources that are very interesting and educational and useful to me in the classroom. It also allows students to take the lessons ever further and research topics of interest.

Resource Log 18

http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/

This is another site with tips and information for teachers to use in the classroom. Topics range from simple tips, to articles, to powerpoints, to information on how to incorporate technology found at workshops into the classroom.

Resource Log 17

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/

This is a pretty interesting site for integrating technology into the classroom. I was able to find a number of lesson plans as well as blogs and articles on how to use technology effectively in the classroom. I have only scratched the surface and plan to dig a little deeper.

Resource Log 16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget

I needed a little refresher on Piaget so I looked him up and read over the Wikipedia page about him. It was good to refresh on his ideas and to be able to rethink on how to use them in the classroom. I found some nice information that will allow me to restructure some lessons that I have planned for the future.

Reflection 6

Last week in Ecology I used Google Earth. We are talking about wetlands, and were focusing on the Chesapeake Bay . Most of the students had heard about Chesapeake Bay, but most of them also did not know where it was. I was able to use Google Earth on my Smartboard to show them exactly where it was and what river flowed into it, creating the estuary. Usually I'll just pull up a map showing the students the locations of various places in the lesson, but I tried this out and it was great. I was able to start on STL and move to the bay. They were a little more interested in doing it this way and it offered a little variety tot eh classroom. I think that I'll use this more often instead of maps or pictures. This was also nice in that it allowed the students to go out and explore more areas of interest. I mentioned the Mississippi river delta in another section of the lesson and they were able to build off of theri experiences and research into the delta as well as other areas we covered.

Reflection 5

My reflection covers a short video that I showed in class on Monday of this week. I used a site called TED.com and showed a 5:30 video over cephalopods. The video was actually a speaker (David Gallo) who was showing some amazing footage of deep sea creatures and cephalopods in their natural environment. What I learned from showing this video was that short video clips are so much better than showing longer clips which I usually show. I was able to show the clip, talk about what we saw, and actually go back and show bits and pieces of it again without wasting too much time. This was a great way to introduce a topic that usually is not that exciting. This links back to our class in that it introduces a topic and stimulates interest for those students to go out and build off of that knowledge.

Resource Log 15

http://earth.google.com/

Google Earth is a free site that offers many educational benefits. I teach ecology, taught oceanography in the past, and will teach earth science next year. I have used and will use this site in all of these courses. I can look at maps, read the text, and show my students all sorts of stuff but when they see it on google earth they really seem to understand it and want to seek out more information. They can see the world in 3D and it really interestes them. I like the tool especially for use in a constructivist classroom.

Resource Log 14

www.blogger.com

I know that this is weak, but this blogger site is a great tool to use in the classroom. Whether you teach science or english of drama, students can keep a log of what sites or articles that they read and keep a running tally of those for other students to see. As a class we can follow up on each other and share materials with others in the class. What a great opportunity to allow students to speak their mind and get ideas from other students!

Resource Log 13

http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-3/views.html

I found this article to be very intersting, as well as very helpful for me in the science classroom. This article talked about what teachers can do to be more of a constructivist, but also went through different ideas and techniques of using constructivism in the science and math classroom. Got some good ideas!

Resource Log 12

http://www.ted.com/index.php

This is very similar to my last post, but this is the overall site where I found that last video. I actually used this in class today and found it to be fantastic. I am talking about cephalopods in my Zoology class and I found a 5:30 video on the amazing adaptations they exhibit in nature. It was a great way to introduce the material and it really grabbed their attention. What I like about it as well is that it is free and has talks about many different subject matters and the students can go in and explore multiple topics and speakers.

Resource Log 11

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

This was a very interesting video that I found while researching Ch. 2 wikibook. It dealt with the decreasing creativity in our children in today's schools. While it doesn't prove useful in what I can do in the classroom tomorrow, it does make me think about what I do in the classroom and if I am killing creativity in my students.

Reflection 4

This too was one of the resources that I posted last week. The website was an article on constructivism and technology....perfect for this class! I found it when I was researching information for the sandbox and thought that it was a great little article to post on my resource log. What I really liked about it was the intro section on why to use constructivism in the classroom. It had some really nice points that were quick and useful for all teachers to read over. I also liked the fact that the article discussed using Simtown for simulation software in the classroom, and listed a number of other sources that can be used in a wide reange of disciplines as well as websites on where to find them. I looked into the simulation on frog dissections and this led me to open myself up to using other dissecting simulations in my classroom. I thought that the article was great in that it gave teachers tips on how to incorporate technology into the classroom too. This article deals with this class in every way and every techer should look it over to get some ideas on how to use constructivism and technology in their classroom.

Reflection 3

This is a little late in posting, but last week I used a branch of one of one of my resources dealing with online dissections. I have been teaching Zoology for over 2 years, and I have always been looking for something to use with students who don't want to dissect or who have already dissected worms and need a quick refresher. I found that the online source was great for dealing with both of these issues. The site was great in that it had a lab manual online, outer and inner anatomy, and you could check your labeling to see if you got it right. Not only was I able to vary my labs and make lab interesting for those wanting to dissect, I was able to give those not wanting to dissect and alternative that still enabled them to get the lab experience. I will be using these in the future with many other species dissections.

Resource Log 10

http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/;jsessionid=5C3865E6162ACF5B70152A9629F26114

This was an interesting site that I need to look into a little more. It is called Trackstar and is a site where you can start to build and create lessons by collecting websites and other information. You can also access other teachers websites by researching topics, authors, or keywords. Looks good, but we'll see after some further research.

Resource Log 9

http://www.intime.uni.edu/model/center_of_learning_files/principles.html

This was a very intersting article titled "Students at the Center of Their Own Learning". The article went through the learning process, students constructing their own knowledge, individual differences in learning, as well as a host of other topics. What I liked about the articles was all the research backing their ideas. The article also did not preach about how good student centered learning was but rather supported it with facts. Very useful info. for the future.

Resource Log 8

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/integ_tech_lessons.htm

This is an entrance site into a bunch of other sites that offer lesson plans, ideas, and assessments for teachers. What I also like about it is that they have ideas on the bottom of different ways to use technology in the classroom. I think that this site would be great for new teachers for help in lesson plans and ideas for integrating technology into the classroom.

Resource Log 7

http://www.ebioinfogen.com/virtual.htm

After finding my other source detailing online dissections (one of the online links that was provided) I went searching for other sites and found this one. While not too elaborate, it is a simple online site where students can probe further into animal anatomy or complete online dissections as opposed to reall dissections. This would be a reat site to use for students to see real examples of what we do in class.

Resource Log 6

http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tapinto/v1n1.pdf

This was a site that discussed constructivism and technology. I liked this site for two reasons: 1-It had some good information for the average teacher on why they should use constructivism in the classroom. It discussed the benfits for the student and the teacher. 2-The article had some examples and links to certain webpages that teachers can use to incorporate technology into the classroom. These ideas and sites ranged from elementary school to high school.

Reflection 2

The resources that I'm reflecting on are the two website articles that I read dealing with constructivism and the five E's. The articles talked about teaching science from a constructivism approach and utilizing the five E's to engage your students in the lesson. I've been teaching science for 5+ years and obviously I know a little about what to do, but these articles really opened my eyes on what I'm doing compared to what COULD be done. I do some things in my classroom now, but I have far to go. Since it is only the first week of research I haven't done anything in my classroom yet, but I plan on implementing some of my new found research into my classroom next week. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Resource Log 5

McGraw-Hill Glencoe Webquest Science. Retrieved Jauary 25, 2009 from http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/webquest/index.html

This is a continuation of my previous blog on webquests. This is a great tool for anyone seeking a variety of science webquests. Topics from recycling plastics to alternative fuels to roller coaster physics are all incorporated in this site. Each webquest has a variety of links to connect students and help them explore great educational websites and then to transfer that information to solve some questions at the end of the quest.

Resource Log 4

Dodge, B. (2007). Webquest.org. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://webquest.org/index.php

This is a very interesting site created by a professor at San Diego State University. What was interesting about this site is that not only can you look up webquests from the SDSU website, but you can also look them up on Google. The most important thing related to constructivism is the fact that you can create your own webquests on this site. They discuss what a webquest is and give you a variety of templates to base your webquest off of. There is even a resource link connecting you to concepts and definitions, with a section on constructivism.

Resource Log 3

Hoover, W. (1996). The Practice Implications of Constructivism. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from SEDLetter Volume IX Number 3 August 1996. http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedletter/v09n03/practice.html

This was a site that I found through the previous log. This was a relatively short article, but what I liked aobut it was that it was based on how students learn, especially through constructivism. The teacher's main role in contructivism based education is not to teach the unenlightend student, but to assume that all students are enlightened and to encourage and engage them into learning. I found this article to be a good, brief overview of constructivism and how to use it in the classroom. I found the article to be well written and very informative.

Resource Log 2

Ullrich, K. (2003). Constructivism and the 5 E Model Science Lesson. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/fellows/Ullrich/webquest/mkuindex.html

I chose this site as my second resource since I found it right after my first and it dealt with the same ideas, but in a higher level fashion. This site discusses the five E's as discussed before, but has a rubric set up on how to implement them into the science lesson. Like most rubrics it ranges from beginning to accomplished and discusses the use of the 5 E's at each level. Not only does this site help the science teacher in creating Constructivism based lessons, it can be used to help any teacher create Constructivsm based lessons.

Resource Log 1/Reflection 1

Miami Museum of Science. (2001). Constructivism and the Five E's. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.miamisci.org/ph/lpintro5e.html#5es

This website is a little older and might tailor more to the grade school or middle school teacher, but I think that any teacher can find it useful for their classroom. It discusses constructivism and then lists the five E's (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate) and how the student and teacher can use them in the classroom. The site is interactive with the most beneficial information linked to the five E's. These links discuss what a student does that is consistent with Constructivism and what a teacher does that is consitent with Constructivism.

Overall I found this resource to be beneficial in the way that it did give me some ideas on what I am doing and if it was to be considered "constructive" in the classroom and what I can do to become more of a constructive classroom. I think that the site is much more suited for grade school or middle school teachers, but I did learn a little bit from it that I can incorporate into my classroom. Not a site that I would highly recommend to HS teachers, but if you give it a quick glance you might pick up a point or two.

Initial Discussion Questions

What is my reaction to the course overview?

My reaction to this course overview is a little mixed. I am very nervous about engaging in such a course in that I have never done any blogging or used the tools that we will be using in this course and I have never taken an online course which adds to my apprehension. On the other hand I am very excited about the potential that this course provides. I've been teaching for 5+ years and I'm always looking to improve on what I do in the classroom. I feel that this course will offer some valuable information to use in my classroom and I am very excited to learn some new programs and ideas.


How do I feel about a 100% constructivist and collaborative course like this?

Again, I have mixed feelings. It seems very overwhelming to be creating our own textbook, especially with such on open ended source of materials, but it is also exciting to be able to accomplish such a task. I like the fact that we are doing what we are learning, I think that it will help us to learn the material more that if we just learned about it. It will be new and hopefully exciting.


How do I feel about publishing my learning on wiki's and blogs?

Don't really know aobut this one. I think by blogging on certain ideas and reading other student's blogs I will open my mind a little more, but I'm always nervous about putting my ideas out there for others to see. Hopefully it will help me to expand on my ideas and learn a few things that I can utilize in my classroom.