Google Awesomeness!

Wow. Just wow. Google is probably the most widely used and woefully under utilized web tool today. As a frequent Google user, I was amazed by the number of tools Google has developed.

Molly Schroeder and Sean Beaverson did a wonderful job of quickly yet effectively illustrating the number of useful tools available to educators, especially to districts that are moving to Google Apps like Mounds View Public Schools. I am excited about the potential for Google Apps and can't wait to integrate them into my classroom. Google Forms (and Flubaroo), Google Scholar and Custom Searches, Google Translate just to name a few.

Now, if I can just keep in mind my two thoughts from the previous blog, I will be good to go!

Organizing the Organizers

Organizing the Organizers

Ok...so the title of this blog is a little narrow for the topics I'd like to address, but it definitely reflects the feeling I had both during and EdCamp Institute at Hamline. While I generally consider myself to be fairly tech savvy, I was a little embarrassed how much I didn’t know. Even since the conference, I’ve struggled to manage the constant stream of new articles filled with, ideas, inspirational stories, useful tools, and current education news that I’ve begun to access through my growing Twitter PLN and own exploration that the conference helped inspire. Thus the title of the post. I’m still working through the seemingly endless list of bookmarked sites that I filed away to look at “later”.

This has led me to two general conclusions: (although I’m still coming to terms with actually living by them).

1. I will never catch up. I will always be surprised by what I don’t know. BUT, I cannot let it consume me or distract me from the other responsibilities of a teacher, husband, friend, son, etc. In the past few weeks I’ve already spent countless hours floating through the cyber space trying to take it all in. However, when I look at the investment of time I’ve made, I have NOT made a reasonable rate of return on actual lessons, concrete ideas and plans to implement all of my new found knowledge come September. In my mind this is dangerous and I have to be careful to some framework to guide my time on the web.

2. While there are many AMAZING tools and resources, I must determine which ones I will reasonably use. There are simply too many to keep track of and reasonably expect to use them effectively. This will take some reflective thought on my part to determine what tools fit my style, curriculum, needs and students. With that being said there are a couple tools that I am toying with to help manage this better AND to see if I want my students to use them.

Right now, LiveBinders is very intriguing to me for both my students and myself. It’s versatile, user friendly and can be organized by each user to suit their needs or style.

Another resource I am trying out to help me categorize the various bookmarks I have is Symbaloo (http://www.symbaloo.com/). While I like the format, there is also the simplicity of using Google Bookmarks and the traditional folder filing system that I’m already familiar with.

Bridging The Digital Divide & Addressing the Achievement Gap with Students and Staff

Initially I was very excited to attend this session because my school is experiencing a dramatic shift in demographics and there is a glaring achievement gap within our student body....which was also an introductory discussion starter in our session. (What three places in the U.S. have the worst achievement gaps? D.C., Louisiana, & Minnesota, http://www.cep-dc.org/)

While this was a thought-provoking and enlightening discussion about the incredible inequities students face throughout the state, the direction of the discussion quickly veered towards immigrant students and other cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic barriers that need to be addressed in order to facilitate constructive learning experiences. A couple highlights included how social media has given a voice to young women that may be bound by their cultural expectations of their backgrounds. Or, how Google translate can now be used (in Chrome) with a microphone to instantly translate spoken word into several languages. These are two powerful tools that can be utilized in virtually any setting.

Overall, my biggest take away from this session was not the tools, or even the ideas that came forth, but the incredible creativity and passion others had to solve the seemingly insurmountable circumstances.

Moving forward, I am hoping to keep some of these things in mind as I am working with students of more diverse backgrounds. I feel like I can bring the technology into the classroom, but my concern is still whether or not I can use it to reach students to create authentic student-centered learning opportunities.

Flipping the Classroom

The first session I attended at the EdCamp Conference at Hamline was about a vaguely familiar, yet very undefined concept for me. It turns out “Flipping the Classroom” is a rapidly growing practice among educators, especially those attempting to utilize the vast technological resources that are becoming more accessible to the classroom and students alike. In simple terms, Flipping the Classroom is utilizing technology resources to deliver content via video, podcasts, or other web based tools to make better utilization of actual face-to-face class time to tackle more complex problems, student led activities/discussions and other constructivist types of learning.

Flipping the Classroom Visualized

Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D., J.G. (2011, June 13). The flipped classroom model: a full picture [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/the-flipped-classroom-model-a-full-picture/

In itself, the session itself was a bit overwhelming because there were a slew of ideas and resources that were being shared and reflected upon. Luckily, some of my peers took some great notes on meetingwords.com, including the URLs of many of the resources discussed.

In particular, Jackie Gerstien’s blog, (http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com) provided a great resource to retreat back to after the conference and I had time to explore and filter some of the great new tools and ideas I had been exposed to.

Simple searches and links provided through my growing Twitter PLN have been a bit surprising how widely used the “Flipped Classroom” is. One commonly used resource, especially in math, Khan Academy, is a great example of what is possible in terms of quality content delivery through video resources. Another great source of teacher collaboration on the topic is the Flipped Classroom Network. (http://vodcasting.ning.com/)

As it turns out, in many ways I have already been using the idea of the Flipped Classroom through the use of directed Webquests, online Prezi presentations with embedded video and other activities that embodied some of the same principles of a flipped classroom, but not necessarily utilizing all the available tools to really maximize the student experience.

Moving forward, one area I am very excited to use more regularly is requiring my students to do more reflection and response through their own creation of content, whether that is a class wiki, or a personalized blog. Beyond that I have a renewed attention to the ISTE skills for 21st Century digital learners (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx).

• Demonstrate creativity and innovation
• Communicate and collaborate
• Conduct research and use information
• Think critically, solve problems, and make decisions
• Use technology effectively and productively

As I plan and design my lessons, I hope to include elements of these standards to not only engage my students but better prepare them to successfully navigate your ever-changing world.