Excel Interactive Quiz

This spreadsheet, designed using the Excel program, quizzes students on Plural Possessives. It is an interactive quiz that provides instant feedback to the student, thus promoting self-regulation and self-efficacy as well as formative assessment for the instructor.

I like the idea behind this spreadsheet. The students are able to to quickly view the feedback of their performance and assess their own strengths and weaknesses. However, as mentioned in my previous blog regarding the lesson plan that uses the Internet, I am not particularly persuaded to use this type of assessment method due to limited computer access. Also, the creation of this quiz took a great deal of time. I was a new user to the program, and with my gained familiarity I am sure the next creation will be quicker, I am not completely sold on using it in the future.

Web Wonders: A Lesson Plan

I created a lesson plan that allows the students to explore how earthquakes, mountain building, volcanoes and sea floor spreading are associated with the movements of the earth's major plates. In the lesson plan I used an internet site to accompany Direct Instruction as well as group work. The site that was used is: http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/drift2.html.
The lesson plan meets the Tennessee State Curriculum Standard 0707.7.6. Students will apply digital tools to gather, evaluate and assess information.

The idea surrounding this lesson to use Internet tools is a great one, although I see potential weaknesses of employing this strategy. Often times, it is very difficult to attain computer lab time in schools. In addition, many students do not have internet access at home which limits the amount of work they are able to complete outside of the classroom. Also, this specific lesson works best for science. I think that many strategies utilizing the web in a language arts classroom and mathematics classroom might be employed, however, real life examples for science might be most practical for this type of lesson.

Langston Hughes Meets iMovie

We used iMovie this past week. I created a story about Langston Hughes' famous poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." I had so much fun creating my iMovie. First, I chose what topic to use to make an iMovie about. Then, I collected photos that would adequately enhance the poem. Following that, I imported the pictures to the iMovie. Then, I chose the music to go along with it. I chose a selection that was created and performed during the Harlem Renaissance, the period in which Langston Hughes wrote. Then I added the text within the movie.

This program, iMovie, would be great to use in this way for a classroom, or for the students to create their own. In addition, the students could create biographies about authors or other prominent historical figures. They could also create a virtual field trip. I had fun making this, but now sure how accessible it will be in my future classroom.

Personal Teaching Profiles

I have created my personal teaching profile for my future classroom. Check these out!

http://www.learningcentral.org/plp/utkecc/Kelsey_Bull.nsf?OpenDatabase

https://sites.google.com/site/kelseybullsclassroom/

Inspired by Inspiration

In today's classroom we face many challenges that reflect the shift in education from blackboards to a digital age. In an effort to inspire students' learning, introducing and supplying supplementary visuals and organizers provides the students with additional ways to be involved in the learning and understanding of the lesson.

One of the tools available to us today is called Inspiration. One can download a free 30-day trial of this tool online at  http://www.inspiration.com/! This tool provides a format that allows one to create a graphic organizer about any topic of interest. For this particular project I chose a seventh grade SPI: 7.1.spi.22.-identify similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperbole within context. I would use my Inspiration project as a supplementary tool to introduce figurative language. I will had it out to the students as a resource to use throughout the year and as we build onto our knowledge and understanding. 

Although I enjoy using Inspiration in TPTE 486, I doubt that  I will purchase the tool. Through searching on Delicious.com, as I previously spoke of in an earlier blog, I have found many other free resources online that provide the same kind of format and capabilities. Although the program probably has many more options and applications, for my particular use as a middle grades teacher, I feel that I could find adequate resources elsewhere.

Gone Photo Huntin' with Legendary Picassa

In class, Rachel and I completed a digital photo scavenger hunt. Our scavenger hunt focused on middle grades language arts. We searched for words that are verbs or nouns to photographing dictionaries. The most challenging treasure to find was a misspelled word, but we did it! Following our completion of the activity, we then transferred the photos onto our computer and imported them into Picassa. Picassa is a free Web Album tool that is great for photo sharing! You can now view our Scavenger Hunt right above! This would be great for classroom collaboration. I then downloaded my powerpoint into my google docs. I arrived at Google Docs by logging into my gmail. Upon uploading it here, Goggle Docs gave me the option to copy and paste the embedding code in order to include it above in my Blog. Yay!

This activity would work well in the classroom for doing a hunt like the one we completed in language arts, or having the students create one of their own. The student could also make a web album for a pen pal. The students might use photos to create a magazine or newspaper article for a book project. Another great project would be synchronizing a song with various pictures within a web album by creating a slideshow. The students would choose specific photos for specific meanings within their chosen song. This would facilitate the skill of figurative language identification.

However, all of these types of activities take for granted that my students will have access to digital cameras, or that their school will provide them. In theory, this activity is beneficial, but the actuality of its probability may be unlikely. The last example of use listed above, however, could be completed in the computer lab.

Smile! It's Smilebox!

Make your own free digital scrapbook

For Spring Break, I stayed in lower Mahattan and worked with an after-school program called St. Ann's in the Bronx. My classmates introduced me to the Web 2.0 tool called Smilebox. I decided to discover the tool by creating my own scrapbook that documents my travels in The Big Apple.

As teachers, we can use this tool in many different ways. We could create a classroom newspaper, use the scrapbook for a virtual feidtrip or study abroad, or even for a digital scavenger hunt. There are many options! Check out my scrap book and see what you think!