Cooperative Learning in the 21st Century - 12/13/09

Cooperative learning has been done for years. It seems it has come and gone and come again over the years. It has pretty much been abolished at some schools because of TAKS some teachers say. I know in my district is alive and well and that we refused to let it go even though we had to "teach to the test". Teachers got together to figure out ways to use cooperative grouping and TAKS together.

With all the new Web 2.0 tools to use cooperative grouping is even more exciting. Businesses use cooperative work skills all the time. They do video conferencing and telephone conferencing and expect people to work together from across the world. Why not teach our kids how to work together online. Google, in my opinion, is one of the best sites to collaborate within. It has calendars, documents, wikis, blogs, sites that can all be shared with who you want. It is a one stoop shop. Also, within Google mail you can chat, audio chat, and or video chat.

There are also many websites geared towards certain kid populations with certain activities to engage them with other kids that share those interests. Then there are online course applications to provide a place for teachers to post classes online and allow students to comment, reflect and turn in their assignments all in one place.

The Internet's potentials are limitless. As the world wide web grows and changes the sky is the limit, it seems. I can't wait to see what will happen next.

My Journy in the world of the UDL

You may ask what is a UDL. It is a lovely education acronym which stands for Unversal Design for Lessons. It basically walks a teacher through everything he/she would have to include in a lesson to cover all learners. If you had to write one of these for every unit you did you would be spending a lot of time writing and at the computer. I don't think it is intended to be used by one single teacher every time. Once you make a UDL several times the process sticks with you and you automatically add in differentiation into your lessons.

Teams of teachers would benefit greatly from using a UDL. They would work together and all take part of the building. When done a masterpiece would have been created to use for years and the students would benefit greatly.

I am blessed to work in a district that is using similar methods in designing its curriculum. I have also been able to attend numerous in house workshops and PD's (that one stands for professional development) on differentiation. I also find myself naturally doing many of the strategies a teacher would use when creating a UDL.

The CAST site lesson builder allows for the teacher to emphasize the Networks so that they are pointed out to the readers. It also allows for multimedia options. Due to my slow connection speed I had to use the UDL lesson plan that my coach sent out. It made it much easier to use the plan.

Week 5 PSA Finalizing Experience

It is a whole different ball game when other people are depending on you to get a project done. For this aspect alone it is so much easier working alone. No one has to depend on me. BUT I rose to the occasion and got the work done so that all could view and make their comments so that changes could be made.

There is though one change that I made but the wrong file got posted. Due to technical issues I did not know it was the wrong video and everyone in my group had already turned in all their stuff for the class. I admitted the problem but it was so minor they were all fine with it. Whew, I thought.

I would love to work with my teammates again. They were great and very patient. Kathy, Erin and Mellonie, thanks for all the great work and fun.

My video and multimedia experience for my Lamar University class

I began this course knowing a fair amount about editing video but I still had lots to learn. Our first few assignments were pretty easy. The final assignment is more of a challenge because we have to work with other from a distance. Google docs has become the best tool to do this in.

Google docs when using the spreadsheet allows for editors to edit real time and chat also on the same page as the document. The people editing show up in different colors. I am sure it works this way for a document also. We had originally put the sequence of our PSA in a Google slide show. That was too hard to edit all together at one time.

We have been meeting regularly on Google chat an on our document to chat and make changes. We have been uploading to a wiki and to www.mediafire.com to share audio, and video. One member of our group will be updated our Academic Coach about how to locate our documents, video, and audios.

I have really enjoyed this portion of the class. It has been fun working together.


I have really enjoyed this portion of the class. It has been fun working together.

I chose Adobe Premier

I chose Abobe Premier Elements to do my one minute video with. I probably should have just used Movie Maker. My little laptop would have performed better. During my movie making the program continually shut down on me. Some of the time I had just saved or many of the times I was just getting to a good save point and the app would just close. I am sure it is my laptop memory and or processor. I love the Adobe apps and that is why I wanted to use it. They are very user friendly. The only trouble I have with Premier Elements is when I want to enter text only the video and give it action. I always have to search for the text tool. Also, adobe using a wide arrange of file inputs and outputs so that you can be flexible with your final product. The content in the software is wonderful with lots of choices and even more choices online.

I created a movie trailer for the children’s church choir that I videoed and participated in as props girl. The girls were great and I can't wait to share the video with the kids and the choir director. None of the names of the children are true, those are their character names.

I hope you enjoy.

My digital story experience

I enjoyed telling my story of our move into the country and the almost unknown. I wish I would have been able to spend more time. It could have been much better. Unfortunately our terra station with many of my pictures is still packed up. BUT I did the best I could.

I have taught my student digital story telling within in my science and social studies classes and now I train teachers. My students loved the creativity of it and also enjoyed having a choice to choose this form of presentation instead of standing in front of the class. Many kids are scared and loose their thoughts in front of the class. I know it is important to learn to publicly speak but we also need to remember that not everyone will be a public speaker. We have to provide our students with other forms of public speaking even if it is not physically standing in front of a group of people.

We have to prepare our students to present in the digital world also.

http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/index.html

I found a website where School Board members can become more aquatinted with technology.  It discusses technology in the real world workplace and how technology is a very important component in our schools. It has some wonderful tools and guidelines on how to lead schools into the use of technology.  It has change inventories, a page that discusses “Why Technology?”, facility planning, funding, community involvement, curriculum and assessment suggestions along with professional and leadership development. 

Most all information on this website is backed up by research. Unfortunately, the biggest negative of this site is that it is out of date.  It was last updated in 1998.  Because this site is out of date the research and data is also out of date. The articles provided can still be of some assistance when used in the correct context.  

Also, you have to use the back button to get back to the page you were at before therefore it is difficult to get back to the home page. The home page is not clearly labeled as the Home Page in the links provided. This site could benefit form the use of hyperlinking so that a reader would be able to gain a better understanding of lingo used. Since it was created pre Web 2.0 it is understandable.  It would be wonderful if someone would take what is already created and make it 21st Century.

This website still has some value.  It provides a starting point to help readers become more persuasive of their leadership.  It provides guidelines for those in leadership to follow.  There is also a framework for how to present information to leadership.