Day 21: Fall Follow-up Day

Today has been fun. We got caught up, and then learned how we are all using technology in our classrooms. We then received many resources and brainstormed ways to use these in our classrooms. In the afternoon, we learned how to use Twitter, and then we worked with Google Earth. I created a video showing the route of adaptive radiation of Darwin's Finches from Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands. These computers are SLOW, SLOW, SLOW!

Day 20: The End :(

GAETI 2015 is completed, and it was SUCCESSFUL!

I feel refreshed and excited about the new ideas I have developed concerning technology integration in both my high school classes and community college online courses.

Today, we each presented our e-Portfolio and our lesson plan. I WILL use this lesson plan in my Biology 2 classes this upcoming school year!

Again, I'd like to thank everyone for their hard work. It has taken much time and effort on your part, but it has helped me much more than you will ever know.

In my opening interview, I said that I was a beginner with technology integration. I now truly believe that I can integrate technology like a pro! This is a testament to this teacher institute. Please continue to write for this grant in the future. It is needed.

Day 19: Lesson Plan and Thank You

Today was very BUSY! This lesson plan was much more involved than I thought it would be, but the experience was invaluable. My e-portfolio is complete, and I am more than ready to go home. My art project is complete, and my wife framed it for me. Everyone's art projects looked very nice. I wish they would see the value in what they created. I also hope they will display them in their classrooms, because they each contained teachable moments.

I am going to miss this experience. Truthfully, I never thought I'd enjoy losing my June freedom, but I absolutely know how much this experience will affect my future in this career. I needed this. I sincerely want to thank each and every person that has planned, implemented, and participated in this institute. Your time and investment in me is profoundly appreciated.

Day 18: More Technology

This morning we learned about Padlet (padlet.com). I can really use padlet in my community college courses! Pumped about this!

We made an infographic using Piktochart (piktochart.com)

Then we learned about creating audio content using Audioboom and Fotobabble. I created an audio file explaining the photosynthesis chemical reaction equation.


My glass raindrops are beautiful, but I have to find something to clean the chalk off the backside.

Then we played around in Canvas, but I already know how to use Canvas.
We finished the day on Weebly.

Day 17: Video RIP Flat Stanley

Today we completed our Flat Stanley videos. Flat Stanley died in our video.



There was nothing to do in art, because I'm waiting on my glass to be fired.

I actually got into the lesson plan and had fun!

Day 16: Flat Stanley

We began the day by working on our persuasive letters to our superintendent about 1:1 initiatives. Then we continued learning how to use Camtasia before making our Flat Stanley videos. I got aggravated, but then I censored myself.

While waiting for art, we finished our superintendent letters and started working on our lesson plans. Wow these lesson plans are DETAILED. I'm not used to having to provide this level of detail for my administrator.

Flat Stanley helped me find a Pandora station to listen to while working on my lesson plans.

Day 15: Fed Reserve

Mrs. Jeanette Bennett from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank in Memphis spoke to us about teaching financial. I brainstormed some financial literacy application to biology. This is something I would work on for the spring semester to cross curriculum.

The Prezi workshop was very helpful. I am interested in creating a few Prezis, but I'm not ready to abandon PowerPoint at this time. I'm not sure this will replace my PPTs. I can create one to introduce a new unit, and this is likely what I'd do.

In art today I glued down my pieces and started on my glass. Pics below.

We learned about making movies with Dr. Beriswill.Camtasia is much easier than I remember it being in 2008. I could use this. Dr. Beriswill, you were a great Camtasia instructor!

Day 14: iPad!

With my first payment I purchased an iPad that I will use in my classroom! I'm looking forward to learning about some apps that are useful.

Elizabeth told me about LeafSnap, which is an app that identifies plants when you take a picture.

I want an Apple TV now! I can see myself using Doceri white board app with my iPad! Very excited!

Art class was great again today. I built my tiers using foamcore. In-progress picture is located below.

Socrative is an app that I think I will use with my class teams to do pre-tests or formative quizzes.

We made a newspaper, and it was fun. I could see myself use this type of assignment in my class. 

Day 13: Skype, TK Martin,. ART, Webquest

Our Skype session was very interesting with Miguel Alarcon from Concepcion, Chile. I believe this could be a great idea to use in class once I make some contacts with people in different areas. I have not done things like this, because I want to be able to duplicate the experience for each of my classes. That is not very likely to happen. However, I could probably record the session and replay it. I could obtain questions from all classes prior to the skype session so that all students could have a chance to participate, even if not in real time.

We learned how to create a movie with PowerPoint that has our recorded audio and slides. This is very easy to do. I could use this to catch students up who missed a particular lesson. View my video below.

Prior to lunch, we traveled to the T.K. Martin Center and learned about assistive devices for our special needs students.

My art project is progressing. All praise to my supremely talented wife for cutting out my shapes; without her, I'm nothing worthwhile. I got my pieces in place and numbered. Tomorrow I will begin building them up.

We started making a Webquest in class today. I have done these. While this exercise was good for our collaboration, it was stressful getting all four of us on the same page to begin working on it independently. The issue was that we didn't realize we were planning today. We thought it all had to be done today.

Day 12: CANVAS

Today, we started learning about CANVAS learning management system. I am happy that I already use CANVAS, so I have an idea of what I am doing. I went ahead and created my free CANVAS account so that I can use this in my classroom if I care to do so.

We received a headset with microphone. This is ideal for use with CANVAS to record audio. I learned how to record audio using the microphone. This is will help with my online community college courses, even if I do not use CANVAS with my high school classes.

We learned about copyright today. There is so much to absorb, but we have some freedoms as educators.

Storify is an awesome website. I can really see myself using this in my community college courses. I will post a link to one below.

https://storify.com/michaeljadam/teaching-photosynthesis

Observation about department technology:

• Audio in the classrooms (201, 203, 255) is lacking. The sound level is too low for video to be a an effective instructional tool

Day 11: BYOD, 1:1, and Art

I already do BYOD in my classroom. One thing I do is challenge students to discover the answers to their own questions.

I wish Starkville would do a 1:1 program. There is so much I could do if all students had a computer! I could completely cut out PAPER! How exciting would that be?

I looked up my school's "Use of Electronics Devices" policy, and it was written exactly as I had remembered it. "The use of electronic devices is not permissible on campus during operating school hours, except for classroom use for instructional purposes with prior approval from the principal." Our principal has given us permission; however, we must always be able to justify technology use as increasing student learning outcomes. This is the important part, because technology availability does not equate with student learning outcomes. What matters is the manner in which the technology is used.

In art, I glued my painting to mat board. Just waiting on glue to dry is like waiting on paint to dry!

Once my glue dried, I began cutting the shapes. I have cut 4 small leaves out of the painting. There is much more to go, but I'll get there!

Day 10

We continued to work on our art project. I'm glad that I can see the direction it's headed in. Enjoyed both museums. It rained on us. I enjoyed the Google Earth project. I am interested in using Google Earth for my mapping purposes in Biology II. Can't wait for next week.

I found these tortoises (Galapagos Islands) when I was searching for pictures to use in Google Earth this afternoon.

Day 9: Live Binders, Kid Blog

This morning we learned about several technology tools that I think I could use in my classroom or class prep. Live Binders (www.livebinders.com) is a great place to organize my content by unit, and I can also look at activities that other teachers use. Kid Blogs (kidblog.org) is a website where we can set up class blogs and invite our students. The great thing is it is all connected. Also no one else can see what our students are writing - not public.

I had some major eye strain from using the computer without overhead light. I had a big flashing structure spanning horizontally the entire field of vision from left to right. I had to stop working. I was starting to panic, but it calmed down once I stopped looking at the monitor. 

Art: My project is progressing nicely. I'm excited and can start to see the direction of the finished product! Excited!!! Thanks, Dr. Bracey, for allowing us to stay a little longer in this project today!

I completed my mini lesson plan. I am excited about this!

I am not nearly as apprehensive about the big lesson plan as I was. I can do this. The issue is that I have never had to create such a detailed lesson plan. I am usually only required to provide an outline of my block instruction for each day.



Further reflections: I'm thinking that I can use Kahoot as a way to capture student responses and download them - cutting out the use of paper for certain assignments.

Day 8: Reflections, TBL, Smart Board, ART!

So last night, I set out to create my cellular respiration process flow chart using Bubbl.us. First, I will say that this process is a multistep process, where certain environmental processes determine the direction of flow. That being said the flow chart was too complicated for Bubbl.us; HOWEVER, Bubbl.us was HELPFUL. I created my flow chart using this website, and then I exported and imported the PNG into Word. Once in Word, I was able to add the extra path arrows to show the extra complexity. I will post a picture once I have completed the flow chart in Word.

TBL: This is a nice strategy, and one I can see working in college. I am considering taking certain aspects of TBL and use them in my class.

Smart Board: I'm hoping that my school will have my Smart Board moved from behind my built-in desk. It is not usable at its current location. I would love to be able to not only do these "teacher" things but be able to have students work on the Smart Board as well.

ART: THIS EXPERIENCE WAS WONDERFUL! The jazz music was great! I can't wait to progress in my photosynthesis/plant project. My influence is the following picture.

Board Game update: Teachers make terrible students, but I'd defend us all day. There must be a better way.

Day 8: Looking Ahead

Tomorrow we will begin our art project. I am looking forward to doing this!

Day 7: Core Reading/Writing, Scaffolding, and KAHOOT

This morning we given two books geared towards creating reading/writing assignments geared towards the MS-CCRS, and I am very appreciative of these resources. We reviewed a lesson geared towards our classes, and this was very helpful for me to learn about how to create these types of assignments. I have had trouble trying to figure out how to develop these types of assignments, but NO MORE!

SCAFFOLDING: I have always heard the term scaffolding and have told that teachers should scaffold. However, I never received training in this area. I was confused about the readings I did on scaffolding. After this morning's training, I am already scaffolding. It is something that every teacher should be doing. If you aren't, how are you teaching?

Board Games: I'm not sure about this. I am going to really have to do some politicking with my supervising administrator. Perhaps using this as a review tool will work. I just don't think this will work for me.

My game:

       

After Games: Hope demonstrated a software program called Kahoot! Now this is a game I could use in my classroom. THANK YOU! Love Bubbl.us. Thank you, Kun! I'm going to create one for the chemical reactions pathway for cellular respiration for my class!


Questions:

1. GPS/Google Maps/Scavenger Hunt/Google Blogs/Research Combo
    Kahoot.it

2. a) GPS/Google Maps/Scavenger Hunt/Google Blogs/Research Combo: I am planning an activity where students will do a GPS scavenger hunt to look for plants that match certain characteristics. Plants will pre-selected by me and have ribbon tied to them. Students will take a picture of  certain  characteristics of each plant and create a virtual plant collection blog using Google Blogs. Students will also include information they research online about each plant/characteristic.

   b) Kahoot.it: I have been looking for a fun game to use for review. THIS IS IT!!!!! Can you tell that I am excited beyond belief???

Day 6: Technology

I have used Poll Everywhere for formative assessment and open-ended questions, but I haven't used Wordle to look for trends. I'm thinking about using Wordle for vocabulary on my note packets and for the Intro slide for each PowerPoint.

We learned about using backward design for lesson planning. I sincerely hope that all teachers plan their lessons with the end in mind; however, this is a bit deeper than that. Not only do you need to decide where you want to go, you also have to determine how you will know when you are there and how you will get there. Each of these must be aligned with each other, and you must continuously check, edit, and revise this alignment.

I started my lesson plan by writing a performance objective for the lesson. I will include that below.



Construct, design, and publish a virtual plant collection blog post displaying three examples of non-vascular plants and three examples of vascular plants.
1. Choose and import photographs taken by the small group for each example plant
2. Identify and classify each species according to traditional Linnaean classification characteristics
3. Describe three physical characteristics (Non-vascular: height, moisture requirements, light requirements, etc.; Vascular: gymnosperm/angiosperm, monocot/dicot, biome characteristics)


I had fun building a bridge with the MDOC folks from the RIDES/Track programs. This is something I could definitely see myself doing as an afterschool club type event. Being a biological sciences teacher, I miss out on providing instruction in physical science. However, I simply do not have the time to do all that I want to do. I am an advisor for Student Government Association, which takes up too much of my time. I am also an adviser for Mock Trial for the first time, and I don't know how much time that will consume. Plus I need to be available for my students after school at least twice each week. This would be fun, productive, and rewarding, but it isn't feasible for me at this time.

 

Next, we are going to create an online portfolio. I wonder what we will be doing with this for the next few weeks.

Day 5: 21st Century Skills and Weekly Reflection

Day 5 Information
Today we learned about 21st Century Skills. These are the skills our students need to possess in order to be competitive in the global business arena. So many are not learning these skills at home, in the community, or at school, so it is our job to teach these skills. I didn't realize how much of this I already do, but I have ideas for doing more. I loved learning about Donors Choose and GoFundMe! I have a plan of attack in this arena for next year! This institute has been so valuable this week; I can't imagine everything that we learn in the next three weeks!

Week 1 Reflection

I am excited about using GPS for a digital plant collection blog.

 

(Physical Characteristic: Leaf with Net Veination)

Activity: Digital Plant Collection Blog


1.   Setup

a.       Locate plants on campus that display certain characteristics and that are examples from each of the phyla in Kingdom Plantae

b.      Record the GPS coordinates for each plant

                                                              i.      In order to deal with GPS precision issues, tie a ribbon on each plant

c.       Create instructions handout

d.      Schedule iPad checkout or computer lab times with librarians

2.      In-Class

a.       Teach students how to create their blog

                                                              i.      May need to create gmail email account (consider parental contact)

b.      Teach students how to use Google Maps app to find a location using GPS coordinates

c.       Create small groups for activity

3.      In-Field

a.       Have students work in small groups to locate plants

b.      Have students take a picture of each structure  or entire plant (as specified in assignment for needs)

4.      In-Lab (or class with iPads)

a.       Have students create blog posts for each different structure, characteristic, or phylum (as specified in assignment for needs)

5.      Duration

a.       Spread over the course of a week

b.      Partial blocks

c.       Interspersed with lecture and reading