Summary

What changes do I see in my teaching that have arisen from this class? Lots...I hope. This class have given me the confidence (and practice) to try new things technologically. I feel capable of keeping up websites for my classes that will allow me to present content in new and more engaging ways. I feel that I can more easily assess my students' knowledge in a variety of manners, both formally and informally. I feel that I can have better communication with parents what we are learning, and better show them evidence of their student's learning. I also feel that I can link with other educators and students around the world to form collaborative learning groups. Some of the tools that I have enjoyed most have been Prezi, Google Sites, Wallwisher, and Diigo. All of these tools will find their way into my daily teaching in some form or another. I think what I have gained most is the knowledge to keep using these tools sustainably. I feel that so many of the tools I have learned and tried in the past, I never learned well enough, or thought out the use enough, to keep up. I strongly feel that I can sustain the tools that I have created, as long as I keep it simple to start and gradually add new tools. And that is where I am struggling. I will be keeping sites for two of my five preps, and would lreally like to create some for the other classes, but realize that as of now, it will not be sustainable...especially with the action research process. But, as comfort and efficiency continue to increase, then more can be added. Thank you all for your help and guidance through this course. I have enjoyed sharing blogs with you all and seeing the great tools that you have created and are using.

Attempts at Podcasting

I've been trying to wrap my skills around this podcasting idea. I like the idea of being able to archive lectures, and tried this a few times last year, but have yet to really make it work. The file sizes always seem too big to attach to webpages, so I'm trying to find new ways to make this work. I took one of my lectures that I have saved on my computer from last year and imported it into audacity hoping that it would make the uploading better, but my file was still too big. I do like how easy it is to use audacity though. I have tried using Garage Band with my Mac last year and that is really hard, though it does allow for addition of music and sound effects (not that I have had time to do this). I guess I just need to create a short audio recording, maybe a tour of my greenhouse, that I can upload to audacity and then try to import. It seems like a great tool, I just need to figure out how to fit my "lectures" into it.

Guiding Principles..part 2

In looking at my initial guiding principles for web technology in the classroom, I can’t say that I would change much, but I feel that I now have a much better understanding of what I wrote. One of my key guiding principles was that the web would allow for better collaboration. Through using the tools we have explored, like blogs, wallwisher, google forms and others, I now have a better understanding of the multitude of ways in which the students can collaborate and share information. Another key guiding principle is using web tools to organize and present information in appropriate ways. Students should never feel limited to presenting information in a poster, or even using powerpoint for that matter. Many more tools exist that allow them to reach different audiences, which prepares them for life outside of school. I think the biggest guiding principle that I need to remember is that the web technology must be intuitive and not take away from content learning. I have found through this class that it is easy to spend A LOT of time playing around and not always having a lot to show for it. The technology needs to work as seamlessly as possible to have the greatest effect. My final key guiding principle is that it needs to be safe to the student. This needs to reflect the tools they use, where they publish to, and the copyright limitations. The students really are vulnerable, much more so than I thought prior to this class, and the tools used need to protect them, yet not limit their ability to discover and explore.

Final Project

I think I finally played around with just about every key tool and found the ones I plan on using through the year and those that I still have bookmarked, but will probably not jump right into yet. For my final project I decided to create class websites using Google Sites. I created one for my Biology class and one for my Ag Bio class. Within each site I have linked to blogs I am using, wallwishers, Google Forms, have embedded videos, created a Google group for discussion, and a host of other tools. I've had a lot of fun with them, and it is getting easier and faster to use the more I play, helping to make it more feasible.

Joe Genius

Not sure if anyone else has checked these out, but I just stumbled across these videos hosted by Discovery. There are only 2 episodes available now, but more to come.

Class Project

I've still been playing with my class wiki sites and will hopefully have more to post about those once I'm done traveling back home (it's been 2 days in the process and we still have 2 more after stopping to see both families and picking up our puppy that we haven't seen in 1 month). I took the Ecology of Trout Streams class this past week and had the wonderful opportunity to work with a great group of guys on a final project. We had to create a "lesson" that could be used with our students and we settled on creating a webpage-based project. Here is the link to our site. I still would like to spend some time on it, as we pieced this together in about 3 hours time. This did teach me some limitations and things to think about with using Google sites and how to embed and add interactive options. I'm still trying to play with a page that allows students turn in the assignments to keep it paperless, anybody have success with that yet?

Class Wiki

So I've decided to try keeping a wiki site for my biology and ag biology classes this coming year. I used Google sites last year to keep a web page for my biology class and decided to create a wiki through google sites for both of these class; it seems easier to keep everything in one place even though some of the other sites seem more logical to use. One thing I really like about the wiki over the blog is that I can have students work on it as well. They can more easily post information and participate in discussions. I also like how the wiki presents itself more like a webpage with more options for placing content and links. What I can't decide now is whether to keep my web site for the biology class or just run it through the wiki. I need to see if there is a way (I'm sure there is) to control actions on the wiki so the kids can't change everything. All I know now is that hours can easily be spent putting these resources together and my eyes are now tired and the caffeine is wearing off. Here is the link to the beginnings of my biology wiki page. I still have much more to add, but need to be home where I have more of my resources.
http://sites.google.com/site/rfhsbiology/home

Simulations

Online simulations have been a huge asset to me over the past several years. I consistently use PhET Simulations from University of Colorado. They always seem to load and the kids can easily figure them out. Mos often I use these to introduce new units as it gives the kids a chance to play with the concept and see how the different variable change outcome without having to get into the true science of it. One thing that also impresses me is how often they add new simulations. I like their physics based ones best, but the biology ones are even starting to prove useful. Another simulator of sorts that I have used, but not a huge fan of is the McDougal Littell Virtual Labs that came with our latest curriculum. The labs are decent to bring kids up to speed that may have missed a lab in class, but I really could not see using the virtual lab in replacement of a true lab. It is nice that a majority of the labs they have on their virtual list are ones that are not typically done in high school because of time or budget constraints. In the past I have done the Breeding Fruit Flies virtual lab, which sure beets having fruit flies buzzing all around the room/school.
My one fear with these improved simulators and labs is that we will enter a time when all kids will have to do is log on to a science site and do these labs and simulators in order to earn science credit. These can be useful tools, but can also lead to lazy science if not kept in check.

Online Data part 1

At first I wasn’t too sure how to go about incorporating this “Generate an Argument” approach to inquiry. I figure that I do it quite often in my head and personally, but rarely in the class (too much content to cover right?) After reading through Ch. 6 and looking of the example provided though, I’m thinking it’s worth a shot. I have had several questions I’d like to see my students research for the past couple of years, but have not yet found a place in the content to really make it work. This is my key stumbling block, being tied to set standards somewhat limits what I can “justify” teaching. I know sometime you just have to throw standards to the wind and do what is “right,” but I’m lucky if I cover 2/3 of what I should to begin with. I would really like to have my Earth Science students look at the natural gas industry in western Colorado, where we live. I have yet to find reliable data about how much gas is being pumped, but ultimately I’d like to connect volume of gas extracted, or area covered by the industry, to water quality of surrounding areas. Many students have family and friends who can no longer drink the tap water because it is contaminated (but not from the oil and gas industry of course). This seems to be one that could engage my kids. Another that I’d like to see my ag students research is land use changes. It would be interesting to find data on how farm lands are being converted to urban/suburban areas with concrete and asphalt and then connect that to weather patterns, or maybe even water quality. There are so many places to go in thought, but seems to be limits to the data I want. I know there is a lot out there, but not always applicable to my small mountain town in western Colorado. I’ll keep searching.

Screencast of class website

I have finally been able to use Jiing for screencasting. It took having to load it twice and then three attempts at recording, but I was successful (I say this before actually trying to embed it in this blog. It was a fun tool to use and I could see using it occasionally throughout the year for different projects and class updates just to mix things up.

Glogster Project

So I've finally started to get the hang of Glogster. It seemed easy at first, but I was having the hardest time finding pics from Creative Commons that would readily upload. I was thinking of using this as a pre-assessment for my beginning physics class to see what they associate certain words with. I actually had my wife do the project to see and it turned out well too.

http://hhentschel.glogster.com/physics-pre-assess/

Food Snob

I never really considered myself to be too much of a food snob. I do try to grow as much of my own food, eat locally, and very little processed foods, but after watching this video I found through one of my Twitter followings I'm having second thoughts. Maybe we've been cheated a bit...where are the Hot Cheetohs?!?! Happy 4th of July!

Video Posting

In my Ag Bio class this past year, we built a couple of hoop houses (twice over because of the high-mountain hurricane-force winds). These are a few of the "better" clips from that process. I might try to incorporate these into a screencast after cutting some of the videos down and then do some voice-over, but we'll see...I've spent too much time on the computer this morning and it finally stopped raining. (All right, I tried to upload it from my computer several times, but that wouldn't work, so I created a YouTube account and loaded it onto there and then embedded it. So much work!)
This video shows the kids raising the hoops and was captured using a Flip camera.


This video shows them with the assembled framing and setting up prior to sheeting with plastic. Also captured through a Flip camera.


Final video is of sheeting the hoop house. Video was captured with a Flip camera and edited using iMovie and then uploaded to YouTube.

Creative Commons + Glogster

I've been trying to play around with creative commons and glogster this morning and have decided that both can be super useful together. In the past I have had my beginning physics students try to draw pictures and use magazines to develop a poster/book that shows some of our key movement terms. This has always been somewhat tricky for them as, especially as a pre-assessment kind of activity. I'm thinking for this year that I will have the students search through creative commons for an image(s) that fit our key works as a pre-assessment. It seems that this will help them by giving them choices first and then by streamlining the process. Plus, what they don't finish in class they can easily finish at home now.

As I've been playing with this though, I am finding that not all images will upload into glogster. It seems to take most .jpg, but not all?!?

New Tools

This week I've tried to focus in on two key tools, Glogster and Diigo. I haven't found Glogster to be quite as intuitive as others, but I still see using it with my students regularly. I tried creating a "science biography," something I have all my low-level students do at the beginning of the year. I had a lot of fun and wished I had my home computer with more pics. I think I may be too much of a perfectionist though as I have spent entirely too much time changing layout and backgrounds and fields and such. I have so many kids that like to add an artistic touch to their projects and work that I think this may be a big breakthrough tool for motivating the "I'm not a scientist" kind of student. I think what I feel most limited by, though, is still not seeing the big picture of how this (these) technologies will fit into my classroom. I have made multiple personal projects, but need to see how these allow me to interact with my students and how my students will interact with each other.
Diigo is looking to be a promising tool for my advanced bio kids and all the research we do. We have several big research projects and a bunch of case studies where I have the kids keep a lot of paper info that could easily be stored online. Last year I had them organize their work into Google Docs which they could then easily share, but it seems like Diigo will easily "one-up" this. I really like that the kids will be able to keep all of their online research organized in one place with notes and highlighting all together that is easily searchable. I only wish I had something to research that I could use Diigo for personally before jumping into the classroom with it. Maybe when free time arises (hah!).

Feeling a bit sabatoged...

Internet attempt #4. First try today to get some work done resulted in frustration of extremely slow page load times (2-5 minutes). Second attempt at a coffeeshop I discovered that my school-issued MacBook will no longer load pages at all (not sure what it's picked up in the last day). Third attempt at same coffeeshop with personal MacBook worked well for five minutes before they decided to close an hour early. I'm not on try number 4 since 5:30 and it seems to be working well, but it's almost 10 and I'm tired. These technological woes seem pretty common place, which is why I have traditionally been reluctant to expand my reliance/use of web technology. Anybody have a magic potion or mantra that will remove this tech curse?
On a lighter note, I just played with Glogster for a few minutes and am excited to have my kids try it out. I think this will help level the creative playing field for many. I have some students that put all of their time into design and not enough into content, and some who turn in typed pages glued to poster boards showing no real creativity (I was/am this type of student). I'm thinking of using this as a day 1 activity with my skill-based science class to get an idea of their science "biography."

Ever-increasing view of literacy

As I've read more and looked into how to incorporate technology my view of literacy skills has grown. I've attended quite a few literacy workshops and the sort over the past few years and I can't remember a single one that really focused on tech-based forms of literacy. Watching some of TED videos and the viral videos got me thinking that there is a whole other world of science sources out there beyond the text books, journals, magazines, and blog sites. It's also seeming harder to motivate kids to read, so maybe these sources will work well. It seems easier to respond to some of the video based topics as it engages the kids more fully.
In addition to the literacy idea, communicating educated thoughts is also a major component. Does communication in a literate way mean written? I don't think so, and that's what I'm looking into now.

In Bozeman

I have finally made it to Bozeman and am getting prepped for my first week of classes. My wife and I had a great 4 day climbing detour at City of Rocks, Idaho for a friends birthday. If you are in to climbing and have not been there yet, you have to put it on your list of places to go! Hopefully I'll see some of you in classes this summer.

Guiding Principles

(Not in list form, but it does capture my thoughts)
I feel that technology has an ever growing place in education. Unfortunately it has grown much faster than I have been able to keep up with. What I am coming to realize is that technology, especially web technology, allows a much greater level of collaboration than students have traditionally have. One of my classes monitors water quality of one of our local rivers and we are able to share this info with other sites on our river and with state and national water quality experts. This has been great for the kids to see and experience. Web technology can also help students and teachers better organize the millions of resources that are now available. I think one of the key components to effective education using this web technology is the student's ability to not only find quality information, but to organize and apply this information. I think web technology also has the ability to show students how interconnected life really is. Too often a student views science as science, history as history, and math as math, without realizing that all three really are interconnected. I think technology should also help students best communicate their learning and discoveries. With the multitude of different applications out there students have the opportunity to communicate with a variety of people/forums/groups and must learn how to best reach their target audience. With all of this being said, technology cannot be the education for students. Technology can be a tremendous tool, but not when it interferes with essential content. Technology should be used to supplement the student's natural inclination to discover knowledge and not replace the outdoors, laboratories, print text sources, and group discussions. Technology should also be easily integrated for the students. If students capture video, they should have a simple method for uploading that video on a computer and editing it without detracting from the essential content. Finally, web technology needs to be safe for the students. They have the freedom to put so much of themselves out on the web that they need to be educated how to safely share information and access information. This is where I feel the most direct instruction needs to happen, the rest seems to come fairly naturally to a majority of my kids.

A Brave New World?

After reading through the series of online articles and text chapters I find myself fairly encouraged by the possibilities for advancing my students' learning. I think what excites me most is that this will open me up to more student-driven assessments. I feel that I use technology quite a bit now, but after the readings, I am not using them very effectively. I rarely have my students collaborate when they design blogs. Though we have Vernier probes, I don't have them plot the data on the computers and manipulate that data (but that's because I have one computer in my classroom). I would love to find efficient ways have my students do all of this, but it will take a lot of practice on my part to get there. I think my biggest challenge, as I reflect now, is incorporating technology into my lower-level skills-based classes. I have a few of these and tend to avoid technology in the name of imparting basic concepts. I'm not sure if this is good or not, but I would like to find methods that my students can use that aren't so method/procedure heavy.

Intro

Hi all! I am a high school science teacher at Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale, CO. I teach a variety of science courses: General Science, Beginning Physics and Chemistry, Beginning Earth Science and Biology, Advanced Biology, and Sustainable Agricultural Biology. I'm not too techno savvy yet and am really looking forward to discovering new ways to incorporate technology into my students' learning. I have had students use blogs in the past and we do a number of research projects and case studies in my upper level classes, so I feel that I have the Web 1.0 stuff down reasonably well. I do have a reluctance to jump right into the whole social networking thing and figured I could always avoid Facebook and Twitter. Well, I'm on Twitter now and am interested to see how this can help me. I look forward to sharing with all of you this summer on what kinds of tech we can find and use in our teaching.