Holly’s CEP 811 Blog

In reflecting upon my work in CEP 811 I realize that I have accomplished the goals that I set for myself.  My goals were to gain more comfort and confidence in using technology along with successfully completing the projects.  I feel more confident about my ability to create useful technology and to implement it with my students.  I feel that the most beneficial things I learned in class were how to create a StAIR and a WebQuest along with how to create and post to a blog.  Another very important thing that I learned is that I should have an open mind about technology and have confidence in myself that I am able to learn about and use different technological resources.  I have been introduced to the limitless possibilities of technology in the classroom.

New goals that I have set for myself include continuing to create StAIRs for my classroom, my goal is one a year, and to create more WebQuests as well.  I think a goal of one WebQuest a year is realistic as well.  I also plan to share these resources with other teachers in my building.  I would like to work with others in my building to implement technology in the classroom in a more consistent manner.  I would also like to keep in contact with the elementary group from class and exhange work and ideas.  I learned a lot from each of them during class discussions along with discussions over dinner. 

Integrating web-based technologies helped me to realize how important it is to include technology in the classroom.  I have realized what a different world education is for the kids in my class now compared to the students I had just a few years ago not to mention my own education.  As with everything a balance is required.  I don’t plan to use technology just to say “I’m using technology.” but I do plan to implement programs or applications that are appropriate such as the StAIR project and WebQuests.  This will be an exciting journey for both me and my students!

This is the first part of my reflection on using blogs in the classroom. 

I can see how blogs can be an effective tool to help children learn.  I do believe that there are limitations too.  I’m not sure how I feel about blogs being used in lower elementary.  The reason for this is that the kids struggle with spelling and writing their ideas in an organized manner on paper.  It is often difficult for their peers to read their writing without my help or the help of the author.  I think that publishing writing like this on a blog could be detramental to their self esteem and wouldn’t be of any use if others could not read it.  I do think that students in third grade and above could effectively use blogs. 

I believe that the constructivist approach or inductive approach would work well with blogs.  Requiring students to formulate and record their ideas and opinions in a blog is a great way to get them to communicate and learn from their classmates.  Students have the opportunity to formulate and organize their ideas before publishing (we don’t have this same luxury in face to face discussions with others).  When they receive comments or feedback from others they may modify or change their ideas.  Listening to others often raises new ideas or questions to reflect on as well. 

I don’t think that the idea based approach to teaching would work as well with the blogs but as is quoted in our reflection assignment “sometimes it is not the technology that imposes the limitations but our own imaginations and ability to adapt technology to fit our needs.”  

I have spent some time reviewing the Zoho Writer application.  Here is what I have learned so far:

My Observations

Zoho Writer appears to be a very friendly program.  The tool bar and functions are very much like Microsoft Word.  One thing that I found to be very exciting is that documents can be created on-line and accessed from anywhere by the creator and others.  This means that sharing and collaboration can be much easier.  I’m one of those people who creates something at school and then if I want to use it at home I have to remember to e-mail it to myself at home.  If I forget to do this I end up recreating things or I can’t complete the work I wanted to do.  This function of Zoho Writer is also nice because I often create things and share them with teachers on my team and vice versa.  With Zoho Writer we could access and edit our creations on the web and wouldn’t have to e-mail revisions back and forth and remember to save our newest versions. 

Zoho Writer also has the capability of directly posting to a blog.  Zoho Writer also works well with all of the other Zoho applications such as Zoho Sheet and Zoho Show.  I image that with frequent use that this feature could be very helpful.

Application in the Classroom

In order to use the Zoho Writer students would need to be comfortable using Microsoft Word as the tool bar and functions of Zoho Writer are very similar to Word.  Students would easily be able to share products that they created on Zoho Writer as their documents would be on-line and could be accessed from anywhere (home or school). 

Teachers would also find this helpful as they could create documents to use with students on line.  Documents can be accessed in a read only form or in read and write format. 

Zoho Writer can be used for projects in which students are asked to work collaboratively.  I’m unsure whether it would be appropriate for lower elementary but I can see how third or fourth graders and above could use Zoho to write a report together. 

Teachers would need to monitor the content and progress of student work when creating documents on Zoho Writer. 

When you have had a chance to review your section of Zoho please e-mail me your evaluation and I will work to put all of the reviews into one document.  I would like to work together to create an introduction and conclusion.  (We can do this in Zoho Writer or we can get together on Friday the 2nd at class and finish it up.  Just let me know. 

Here are two other links to WebQuests that I found interesting and relevant to the curriculum I am teaching.  The first is a WebQuest on bats.  I will do a short unit on bats next fall and I think the kids would really enjoy the WebQuest.  There are pictures to click on to learn more about each bat parenting, echolocation, how bats help the world and how to educate people so that they do not fear bats.  The WebQuest is loosely based on the book Stellaluna and at the end students are asked to write a letter to Stellaluna telling her why she is so special.  This is a chance for the kids to demonstrate all that they have learned about bats.  Here is the link:  http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/chavez/batquest/batquest.html

The second WebQuest is on matter.  I think it might be a nice addition to the science kit I teach.  The kit goes into more depth on some of the ideas but I thought I might be able to use the WebQuest as a tool to measure what the students have learned and/or as a fun addition to what we already do.  Here is the link:  http://yorkcountyschools.org/mes/what’s%20the%20matter%20webquest/index.htm

I have spent a great deal of time looking at lots of WebQuests on the internet.  I have found several that I find interesting.  I am struggling with the amount of reading that is expected from students even at the lower elementary level.  I think that several of my kids would struggle with being able to read the instructions or material independently.  I am including a link to two Webquests that I thought I might try with my first graders.  Both WebQuests are in the language arts area.   The first is titled “Who Is Behind the Book?” and the second is a WebQuest on the children’s author Robert Munsch.

1.  Who Is Behind the Book?:  http://faculty.goucher.edu/jcamp/dulmer/WhoIsBehindTheBook.htm

2.  Robert Munsch:  http://questgarden.com/45/59/4/070112124217

I really like the Robert Munsch site because you can click on some of his book covers and listen to him read the story.  There is also background information on his inspiration for each of the stories.

I really like the “Who Is Behind the Book” WebQuest because it includes links to each of nine authors websites.  At the websites you can read about the author, answers to frequently asked questions and read about each of their books.  I also liked this WebQuest because it seemed to be the most age/ability appropriate for the kids in my class.  Students are asked to read a book by two different authors and then create a postcard telling a friend why they should read a book by the selected author. 

Let me know what you think after visiting the sites!

At last, Spring Break has arrived.  I am looking forward to spending a great deal of time on my assignments for 811.  I also plan to begin my regular blogging. 

For the last week I have been watching my students as we complete our work each day, wondering where I can most effectively implement technology into our daily routine.  I want to choose carefully so that implementation is effective.  I want to stretch myself and try new things but I also don’t want to be too far out of my comfort zone so that I am unable to support my students.  I am sure that while I am on this journey that I will be learning as much (if not more) from my students as they do from me!

I am very excited about my StAir project.  I think that it will help my kids with their spelling and sight word recognition. 

I look forward to hearing from all of you here in “Blogville”. 

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