Module 6: SRS

Student Response System

A student response system is a way to use technology to collect responses from your students. There are many applications out there for doing this. Some of the best ones that the Module reading suggested were Kahoot, Quiz Socket, Infuse Learning, Verso, Socrative, Poll Everywhere, and Mentimeter. These applications offer a variety of ways to create polls, surveys, and quizzes that collect the responses of your students.

Benefits

Our reading mentioned a handful of benefits that come from using an SRS. This type of participation is especially nice for students that tend to be more shy. This way they can participate without having all attention on them. Using these applications during class allows the students to stay engaged and have a part to play in the classroom.  An SRS is also nice because it gives the teacher a brief look at how their students are doing with that material so they can see what the students may still be struggling with. It is also beneficial for the students because they are shown right away if they have gotten the material correct or not. I think SRS's are a great tool to quickly get an idea of where the class is at in terms of understanding the material being taught. 

My Opinion

I believe that Student Response System's are useful tools to utilize in the classroom. It is a good way to get students involved and engaged with the material. It is very useful in that it lets the teacher and student know right away where the student is at with understanding the material. I have always enjoyed using these in my classes. It helps me know how I am doing and to evaluate that. I have used Kahoot in one of my classes before and I thought it was a very useful tool.

Kahoot

https://getkahoot.com

Kahoot is a interactive response system that incorporates competition. It allows you to test the students on the material while they race the clock to beat classmates (that part is optional) It is a simple way to see if students are understanding the material through the result options. A weakness to this tool is that on the quizzes there isn't an option to hide standings of all the students. To cover this up the teacher may tell the students to use random fake names. I enjoyed this tool and would use it in my future classroom because of the engaging competitive aspect. 

Class Responder

http://www.classresponder.com 

Class responder is a great response system especially for younger students. It is fun and engaging for the students with the school building theme. The tool allows you to create your own activities. It gives you the options of multiple choice, true/false, or short answer. You can then view the students results. A nice feature of this tool is the quick poll. Here you can verbally ask a question or two to the students and they can answer. This is nice because the teachers can quickly see if they are understanding. I would say a weakness may be that it is mainly targeted to younger students. There are not that many unique features to the tool that set it apart from the rest. 

Formative

https://goformative.com

Formative adds a fun twist the student response systems. It allows an answer to be drawn. This is a fun way to switch things up from the traditional assessment. The teacher can go through and grade each one. One down side could be that you can't enter a correct drawing that would automatically grade each one, you have to go in and do it manually. This a fun way to test students' knowledge that steps out of the box and is creative. 

Module 5: Flip Project

What is a flipped classroom?

A flipped classroom is the reverse of the traditional way of teaching. Instead of lecturing during the class period, the teacher puts together a video of the lecture that the students watch outside of class. After using outside of the class time to watch the video, they complete a quiz on the video during class time. 

What are some benefits?

Some benefits of this method are that class time is being maximized. Students are being taught the material outside of class. Therefore, class time is being use to test their knowledge and answer any questions they may have. It is also very nice because it allows for differentiated instruction. Unlike during a class lecture, a student can watch the lecture video as fast or slow as they please. They may also pause the video and repeat it where they find necessary. Those options are not as accessible to them in a classroom setting. 

Creating the video

Creating the video that is to be watched outside of class begins by choosing the tool that you are going to utilize. For my project I used powerpoint and then used Screencast-o-matic. Some other options of tools include the following: SMARTBook notebook, Prezi, WeVideo, and many others. It is important to choose a tool that you feel is appropriate for the material that you will be teaching. The tool should properly assist in helping you teaching the information in the best way possible. 

Creating the Quiz

In order for this method to be beneficial it is important to create a well done quiz. The questions should be of enough difficulty that they aren't just able to look them up in the presentation. None of the answers should be able to be found in the video lecture that was created. The questions should all be in question form and actually answer the question that is being asked. They should all be around the same length and same type of structure. This is important as to not give away the answer or mislead. A key word in the question should not be repeated in any of the answers. 

My opinion

I think that this method is a fresh new idea that should be adapted by more schools. It is great for the variety of learners that may be present in the classroom and it really makes the most out of class time as well as out of school work. I would definitely use this method in my future classroom because of how useful I think it could be. 

Module 4- SMARTBoard Lessons and Learning Objectives

The Beauty of the SMARTBoard 
The SMARTBoard is a wonderful example of how far technology has come and how it is impacting education. Through this tool teachers are able to create lessons on the board that are interactive and fun for the students. This is very different from the traditional lecture to the class. The students are getting up to the board and participating versus just sitting in their seat all class. SMARTBoards are fairly easy to figure out. If you are having trouble their are tutorials and screencast to guide you and help you discover the tools.


SMARTBoard Tools
The SMARTBoard notebook offers many useful tools inside of it. These are good resources for students to practice and test concepts that they have learned. For example, you can program a bag to only accept certain answers and reject wrong ones. This helps the students sort things in a fun and different way. Another tool is a balloon. You may write on the below or underneath it. So this may good tool to use if you want the students to guess before seeing the answer by popping the balloon.  These are fun ways to get them excited about learning. Games and fun tools are things that they are interested in. This will make learning a positive process for them instead of boring. 


My Opinion
In my opinion, I think the SMARTBoard is a great technological advancement that should be utilized in the classroom. It is a new way to present, practice, and test concepts that I find refreshing. I think this is also beneficial for students who may have certain learning needs. For example, this may be a great thing for a student with ADHD. They tend to have high activity levels so this will keep them moving and out of their seat. This will make them more engaged and interested in the material. I don't think that the SMARTBoard should be the only teaching method. However, it is definitely a great tool in the classroom that I plan to make use of when I am a teacher if given the opportunity to do so. 

How to Create a good Learning Objective
Creating a lesson plan is an important part of a lesson. The learning objective is key part of the lesson plan. To create a well done objective it must have a few things. It should begin with the conditions (generally start with the word given). For example, given 10 multiple choice questions on safari animals. Next it should have a verb that is measurable. Some good verbs to use include the following: circle, answer, match. It should also include criteria. This specifies how well you would like the students to perform. For example, 80% accuracy. 

Module 3-Screencasts and Assistive Technology

What is a Screencast?
A screencast is a video of your computer screen with audio of your voice instructing the viewer. The screen should be properly fitted. A screencast can be done through Screencast-O-Matic or a similar application. Options like highlighting your cursor help make the the video very easy to follow. Screencasts allow you to record and stop whenever needed during the process of creating the screencast.

Uses of a Screencast
Screencasts are useful for many things when it comes to technology. It is often that people may find themselves unsure of how to do something and turn to YouTube for help. There are many times people don't know how to do something and a screencast has answered their question. It's a lot easier to figure something out when you actually see it, compared to just hearing it. Another helpful part of screencasts are that you can stop the video to complete the task on your own computer. This way you can do everything at your own pace and not feel rushed. It is nice that you can go back and rewind the video if there was something that went too fast or was misunderstood.

My Experience/Opinion
I use screencasts very often. I often can't figure out something on my computer or how something works, so I ask the internet. They are usually very clear and easy to follow. I think that screencasts are very valuable resources. It helps more people become more technologically savvy. It is also good for students like us to practice teaching others. I found the process of creating a screencast enjoyable and fun to instruct others. It is also great to add tips or commentary to help other teachers. I find screencasts to be a very beneficial tool.

Assistive Technology and Uses
Assistive technology is available for whoever needs it. It is technology that aids those who may not be able to do something or need help completing an action. For example, those who may need help with reading, the tool "Natural Reader" is available for them. They can copy or write a text and it will read it aloud to them. There are many tools for many different people in areas such as vision, hearing, dexterity and mobility, learning, language and communication, speech, and many more. It is truly amazing what technology can do and how it can help people in so many areas of life. These tools are useful to students with developmental, mental, and physical disorders as well. It is really cool how these tools can help them express themselves through ways like music that was mentioned in the article. I think it is truly amazing how far technology has come and all the advancements that are being made.

Module 2-Digital Story

What is A Digital Story

Storytelling is helpful in all aspects of life to help the listener make sense of information. It makes the information told mean something to us and makes us more likely to remember it. A digital story is a creative way to display knowledge versus just reciting the information. Pictures and other media add to the story by making the audience feel engaged. Storytelling has been around for a very long time and is a common way to communicate with people. It is not uncommon for someone to be interested to hear a story from someone. They grasp our attention. Therefore, it makes sense to use this technique to teach students.


Process of Making a Digital Story

To create a digital story, first you must come up with an idea or topic. Then you must learn more about this topic. Next, you write the script of what you are going to say about the topic. Following that you put together what you need for the video like the audio, images, and any other media needed. Finally, put it all together. Making a digital story allows the student to practice technology skills. The process requires you to be creative, think, practice your communication, and other skills. Digital storytelling requires the use of creativity through things such as pictures and music. The teller should use emotion to tell their story and really get the point across. The process is a fun way for students to explore their skills and build on them while being creative.

Use in the classroom

Storytelling is useful in more than just Language Arts. I think that a digital story can serve a purpose in many settings in the classroom. Many things in life are connected to things that we learn in school. This will be good for the students to see that in more than just Language Arts. This will cause them to have a deeper connection with a lesson if it is personal to them. I also think the use of media will grab the attention of students since they are growing up in a time period that is full of media usage. Therefore, I believe this would be a very beneficial tool to implement in the classroom.


My Opinion/Experience

At first I was a little hesitant about the idea of a Digital Story. After reading about them more, I realized the power behind them. It caused me to see that storytelling is a great way to teach someone something because personal connection is powerful. Also, the use of media has the tendency to draw people in. I really enjoyed the process of putting my digital story together. I liked seeing how a personal experience of mine related to a teaching standard. It was a positive experience for me and is a method I hope to incorporate in my future classroom someday.

Module 1-Jigsaw Method

About Jigsaw Method and My Experience
This week we talked about the Jigsaw method. We also performed it in class to complete our assignment. This method involves separating the class in groups that become experts on a section of a topic. New groups are then formed where different topic experts make up a group. The goal is that each student is responsible for teaching their section so that by the end the group has covered all the information. I don't recall working with this method much during my previous schooling. I may have done it a few times. From what I can recall, I thought it was fun but not extremely beneficial. I thought that I didn't really learn about the other groups' information as much because some didn't explain it very well. I do remember enjoying the new method because it was a nice break from the same old ways of learning things.

What I Learned
The readings taught me that it is a pretty effective method. I found it interesting that it said that the Jigsaw method could reduce racial conflict. I had not thought of this before but I can now see how Jigsaw could help diffuse that tension. The kids would be thrown in a diverse group and be working together to accomplish something. Each member is needed so it will create equality. I never thought of the benefits like that that it might reap. I now see many benefits of this method such as that each student feels a sense of importance. It is up to them to contribute and add their missing piece of the puzzle. It gives them a good sense of responsibility.

How to Teach this Method
I learned through the reading that it takes proper preparation to succeed at this method. I found it encouraging when the reading discussed that this method may not go super smoothly the first time I try it, but to not give up just because of that. This made me realize that if I choose to use this method that I will need to experiment with it before I expect great results. This will include deciding how I choose the groups, how long they discuss, and other things that are necessary for this method.

My Opinion
Through our experience with the method in class, I noticed that we got through quite a bit of information quicker compared to the traditional teaching method. It also made me see that the topic needs to fit the method. For our work with the apps, I thought it was great. We were able to each play around with our own app and then use our skills to show to the rest of our group. For other topics, I don't think it would be as great of a fit. I was very skeptical of the effectiveness of this method at the beginning. After learning more about it, I am excited to experiment with it in my future classroom someday. I think it could be a fun, fresh way for kids to get excited about learning.