Reflection

I have really taken a lot away from this class.  I have always found it frustrating to incorporate a lot of technology with the only real access for us being the laptops.  When I learned that my classroom would have access to chromebooks I really wanted a better idea of how to use them.  This class has provided a huge amount of brainstorming between me and my other PLC members.  Some of the tools we are planning on using are pear deck, google classroom, forms, and webcasting.  All of these can be manipulated by different subject levels to promote a lot of learning and I am excited to see how it all goes.

My plan is to start implementing this stuff into the classroom this year and collaborate with my PLC members to make new materials.  There is a lot that I still need to experiment with and I expect a few set backs along the way, but thanks to this class I have a lot more confidence and knowledge about the way the chromebooks can be utilized.  One thing that I still am unsure of and will be a challenge for me is how these will work for students or how students will respond.  Only time and student feedback and test data will show me if things are truly going well.

Activity 9: Digital Citizenship

Ethical Issues:

Miss Starbucks ran into an ethical issue because she didn't follow the right path to have her students using the app. Miss Starbucks should have had the app approved and should have taught the students in her classroom how to appropriately use the technology and what type of comments were acceptable.   

In this situation since student data is at risk, I think she has put students in jeopardy.  I would recommend she have the student immediately remove the student data and seek approval from the principal before continuing to use the app.  Additionally, she should notify parents of the type of technology she plans on allowing students to use.  

I don't have any personal experience with this, but students are always asking to see other students grades and they don't understand why I won't let them.   Student data privacy is not something they regularly think about and it is up to us to make sure we protect that information.  

Mr McFly is in a similar situation to Miss Starbucks.  He did not get prior approval for the app he was using in his classroom.  It doesn't say what account his students were using, but he should have taught the students how to use their student accounts and should have also instructed them on sharing rights and appropriate use. 

In this situation it does not seem like the well-being of anyone is really at risk, but it likely depends on how mean/vulgar/etc. the comments on the videos got.  I think Mr. McFly needs to make sure the principal is aware of the technology he is using and he needs to require certain privacy settings on the projects he assigns.  

Again, I don't have much personal experience with this, but I know how hurt students can be by others comments.  I would hate for one of my students to be put in a situation they felt uncomfortable with because of my assignment.  

I like the resources because it very clearly lays out how a teacher should go about getting technology into their classroom.  With these straight forward steps for teachers to follow it would make teachers, admin, and parents happy with outcomes.  

One procedure I would like to implement is to have some grade level common expectations regarding students giving online feedback.  This would be taught and enforced by all teachers. In my own classroom I would like to incorporate parent awareness into my syllabus. 

Activity 10: Collaboration

We created a google classroom with a selection of our favorite applications from the nerd camp, directions on how to use them, and information on application.

Google Classroom

class code: p5vy14

Activity 6: Google Classroom

I actually started using google classroom this past year with my Environmental Science class.  I thought it was the perfect platform for a paperless classroom.  We did this on a couple of minor assignments to try it out.  However, in hindsight I set up the assignments with the wrong setting.  After completing this activity I now realize that I just sent everyone the assignment, but not their own copy.  It caused a lot of confusion and ended up with documents shared with me in all kinds of ways.

Now that I know how to navigate it better I can see making use of it in all of my classes.  I like that it automatically organizes into folders.  I also like the tip about creating a numbering system for each of your assignments.  That would be really helpful when students are trying to search their own drives.

Activity 8: Assessment Part 2

Below is the first google form I have ever made. I found it pretty easy and very useful for quick setup.  I also think it could be easily used with students.  One struggle other teacher have had with google forms is the unequal access that students have.  Being able to use google forms in the classroom on the chromebooks that students can access quickly is going to make it a lot easier to implement this into a more regular classroom activity.


After working with flubaroo and google sheets I can see how it would be very easy to differentiate instruction for students.  The first thing that comes to mind is student grouping.  In my classroom I could see pairing up students that have high content knowledge with students that struggled.  Flubaroo allowed me to see that information very quickly and I could make groups in a matter of minutes.  I could also see grouping students with other students at the same level and preparing specific lessons (supplementary video, direct instruction, etc) for each skill level.

Additionally, because this is so fast and easy to use as long as all the students participate it can be utilized just like the polling applications or a kahoot.  It can be used to identify key areas that as a whole class we need to revisit. Finally below is my branching form that links to differentiated instruction videos.  

Activity 7: Assessment/Polling & Data Gathering Part 1

I created the following two assessment tools:

Poll Everywhere Cell Organelles Self-Evaluation Poll 

Kahoot Mindsets Quiz

I like that the poll everywhere can be accessed in a lot of different ways (website, text, twitter).  It would be great for an end of class or beginning of class poll to see where everyone is or to figure out what the big questions are when you don't want something to take a long time and just are interested in a quick and easy response of the majority.  I also like that the answers can be short text and anonymous.  Sometimes kids have questions on the homework and they might not want to ask because they are embarrassed.  This allows them to be anonymous.  Additionally, if we didn't have time to go over all the questions I could just poll them and figure out which are the most crucial to hit.


I have already used Kahoot in class a few times.  I, personally, like the competitive aspect of the program, but also feel like it turns some students off.  I have used Kahoot to review for a test or follow-up on information that we covered the previous day.  I think the data that is provided from kahoot is great for teacher interpretation and I have used it on-the-spot to clear up misconceptions and re-teach material when a majority of the students to not meet proficiency.  

Activity 5: Apps, Add-ons, & Extensions, Oh My!

The first app I downloaded is Lucid Chart.  It is a diagramming and flow charting app.  In biology a lot of what we discuss in class are processes.  I think it could be cool to have students use an easy app like this to create a flow chart or diagram like this.

Creating it took me under 5 minutes, so I would anticipate it taking the students about 15 because they would have to think about how they wanted to display the information first.  I also found the add-on Lucid Diagrams which opens up Lucid in your google docs.  That is handy because it automatically shows you all of your diagrams and allows you to drag and drop them in.  I can see this being handing in a google classroom assignment where you ask groups of students or individuals to all post their ideas to one document.  This app unlike some of the other diagramming apps does allow multiple people to edit it at once, just like a google doc.

The only hiccup I had was a lot of extra white space on my images.  That was quickly solved when I found the "crop to content" button.


The other app that I can see using a lot is probably considered very lame, but in the world of science labs and not wanting kids on their cell phones constantly it would be essential.  It is called, Timer Tab.  It is an incredibly easy to use timer and would be great to have easy access to on the chromebooks while students are working on their labs that need to be timed in any way.  It has 3 settings that you can see in the image below (countdown, alarm clock and stopwatch).

Activity 4: Google Suite

Here is the link to my document.


This is a writing assignment that I give my environmental science students.  In the past we would listen to the podcast and they would take notes and later go back and write their reflection.  With the chrome books and google docs they could start writing their reflections right away as we listen.  Additionally, if I am shared on the document I can give real-time feedback.

I think it would be useful in other larger projects as well.  It is easy to make sure students are making progress.  The hard part about using google suite with students is their organization as well as mine.  If things aren't named well or organized they can be hard to find, but I suppose it is better than that lost piece of paper we would traditionally be dealing with.  

I also think that google suite is a really useful tool in collaborating with colleagues.  This document is one that I converted from a word document.  It would be easy to make adjustments to the quiz or collaborate on it remotely from each of our own classrooms.

Activity 3: Screencasting & MV YouTube

I chose to make an instructional video about how to transcribe and translate DNA into a protein using an amino acid chart.

I was originally trying to do this from home and used 2 different screen capture programs, but could not get the programs to record sound on my Macbook.  As I reread the descriptions of the screen capture programs I realized how easy snagit seemed.  I emailed a teacher at school to see if I could borrow her chromebook and was able to easily get my film completed after a few trial runs testing out the different aspects of the app.  I am pretty pleased with the final product, but wish that I could figure our a way to display my screen more attractively than just being in google slides.

I think this type of video could be really helpful when explaining a complicated process that the students might want to re-watch before a test or quiz.  I also think this could be useful if I wanted them to make a graph using google sheets for a lab.  The kids do not have a lot of experience with that and it would be more helpful for them to have the video streaming while they are trying to complete the task.  They can watch a segment and then pause it while they complete the task and then move on to the next step.  We are going to try to make our biology labs paperless next year, but the graphing is a roadblock.  I can see this as a way to help student learn that process and re-visit it each time we need to graph and not have to be caught up in explaining it to each student.

Activity 2: Engagement

Here is the link to the Pear Deck presentation I created for protein synthesis.

Protein Synthesis Pear Deck


I had a really hard time uploading my own slides from powerpoint into Pear Deck.  I watched the instructional videos on how to do it, but could never get them to upload.  Once I gave up on adding my own pre-made slides I started to make a new Pear Deck.

I really like the student engagement of this.  I can see using this with students instead of kahoot or clickers.  It is truly an interactive tool and requires more thought out of them.  I like the option for students to answer in all types of ways (dots, text, circling, multiple choice).  A process like protein synthesis is a great application for this type of slide show because students need to really visualize it and that is hard to assess from simple multiple choice questions.

I highly recommend watching the instructional videos of Pear Deck.  I think they helped me realize that it is more appropriate for certain topics than other.  I still would really like to figure out how to turn my own powerpoint into Pear Deck presentations because I wouldn't want to create something like this for every set of notes we do, but would find it valuable to add a couple questions here and there or a question or two at the end as an exit slip of sorts.

I also like that I can control the pace of the presentation and that students can have the detailed images and video clips right in front of them on their Chromebook screen.  I think this would also help with student engagement.

This isn't something I knew about at all, but I can see my PLC using this for many of our formative assessments.  I am sold!

Activity 1: Communication

We use a similar video to this blue-footed booby courting dance when we discuss natural selection and sexual selection during our evolution unit.  This would be useful to use a blog to post other interesting and quirky animal behavior videos relating to sexual selection.  This is often an area where students have a lot of interest and it would be fun to center an assignment or classroom/online discussion around them watching a series of these types of short videos.

A blog could be a useful place to post assignments, have students comment on videos, link quizzes/videos/pictures.  I also think a blog is a great place to host supplementary videos or homework help.  Since it is updated with blog posts often students will find it easy to navigate to the most recent information.  Then students can use the comment capabilities to ask questions of each other or the instructor.  I also think a blog could be useful for sharing examples of proficient student work that students can use as a target for their own work.

Some students might also find it valuable to watch small instructional videos that tie in with the curriculum.  Some ideas of small videos that students may use in a biology class would be creating a graph, writing a hypothesis, writing a data/observation driven conclusion, and creation of flowcharts connecting some of the big ideas within each of our units.

Kickoff:

What motivated you to become a tech nerd this summer?

I was really excited to hear that our PLC was going to be getting Chromebooks next year.  I have lots of ideas on how I foresee using the Chromebooks in the classroom, but I want to make sure they are feasible and to find out many more options. 


What you hope to learn about in Tech Nerd Camp 2.0?

I hope to learn how to use applications available through the Chromebooks effectively in my classroom.  I would really like to get to the point where our Biology Lab Handbook is completely paperless using google classroom.  I would also like to utilize the speed and efficiency of the Chromebooks to implement formative assessments using google forms or other applications.  I would also like to learn a variety of strategies for using the Chromebooks in class.  I think there are a lot of areas I don't even know about that would easily be manipulated to fit my subject area.


How would you describe your current comfort level with technology?  What tools do you use already in your classroom (if any)?

 

I feel really comfortable using technology.  I feel like my technological skills go way beyond what I can actually use in my classroom because of limited student access.  The things I use in my classroom now are clickers, smartboard, Microsoft office, google applications (docs, slides),