Project #3 Blog

The main challenge I faced with project #3 was how unfamiliar I was with the Google Sites program. It actually equated into a load rework for me as I spent a lot of time on power-point presentations for my website, only to find out that I couldn't upload them and had to use the presentation option provided by Google. After the initial frustration, and there was a lot of it, things went fairly smooth. I came to appreciate how user-friendly Google Sites was, and found that power-points aside, there are many great things that you can do with it.
In my opinion, it's almost all pros for teachers being able to create their own websites for their lesson plans. One of the biggest collective concerns we had in W200 as far as using the internet in school was how to censor what the students had access to. Providing the websites upfront does wonders for trying to keep students on track, as they have no need to go elsewhere. I guess I would have to recognize the one con I can think of, and that's the amount of time it takes to put a Google Site together. I can't imagine too many teachers having enough free time to set a site up for every lesson they teach.
I really can see myself assigning a project similar to this one to my students, not very often of course, but as part of a science project, or even a project of its own. I think Google Sites offers a very easy way to allow students and teachers to utilize the internet constructively for education.

Project #2 blog

I really enjoyed creating this project. From the beginning I knew I was going with the subject matter of "Deep Sea Creatures" as Marine Biology is related to my content area of Life Science. It's honestly an area I wouldn't mind specializing in someday. Marine Biology is also a passion for my nine year old son Sean, and after seeing the demonstration I decided to have this photo book double as a birthday gift for Sean as well. Going into this project I had never used a Mac program before, so I didn't quite know what to expect. The demonstration given in class made the iPhoto program seem simple enough, and it proved to be when I went in the lab almost a week later to put it all together. I really appreciated how easy this program was to use. The next time I use iPhoto, I wouldn't mind experimenting with the different layouts and other options of the program that I didn't use this time around. I believe photo management software can have numerous applications in the classroom, especially after playing with the slide-show function on iPhoto. I think photos are great visual aids for education.

Project #1 blog

The biggest challenge for me with this project was how open-ended it was. So much of this project was ours to create that for me, it turned the choices into roadblocks, and made it hard for me to go in any direction for a while. Eventually I settled on the scientific area of astronomy, as I had just completed AST-N190 over the summer, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. With a direction for the project in mind, I searched through the academic standards for any that would apply to my choice of material. The project directions provided a Middle School setting, so I reduced the standard selection down to 5th and 6th grade science content. Within those two grades I found five standards that allowed me to create what I wanted for this project. I have listed the standard numbers and descriptions at the bottom of this blog. The next issue at hand was determining which websites would provide the information necessary for the students to completes the assignment, but maintain a level of appropriateness for a Middle School setting. Although I did not include trackstar in my project, I did utilize it for searching for the proper websites. Trackstar proved extremely helpful, and it led to every site that I have listed on this project.

5.3.2 Observe and describe that stars are like the sun, some being smaller some being larger, but they are so far away that they look like points of light.

5.3.3 Observe the stars and identify stars that are unusually bright and those that have unusual colors, such as reddish or bluish.

6.3.1 Compare and contrast the size, composition, and surface features of the planets that comprise the solar system, as well as the objects orbiting them. Explain that the planets, except Pluto, move around the sun in nearly circular orbits. (Core Standard)

6.3.3 Explain that the Earth is one of several planets that orbit the sun, and that the moon, as well as many artificial satellites and debris, orbit around the Earth. (Core Standard)

6.3.4 Explain that we live on a planet which appears at present to be the only body in the solar system capable of supporting life.

Assistive technology in education.

I have learned an immense amount of information about a subject that I was ignorantly and completely unaware of before; the subject of Assistive Technology in education. The last time I was in any kind of school setting other than a college was twelve years ago, and I can’t recall ever seeing one bit of AT anywhere in my high school. I have commonly seen the “JAWS” sticker on the computers in the IUSB computer labs, but never gave thought to what they might mean. Needless to say, this video was very eye-opening for me! The biggest issue we have with AT is the lack of access that students who need it, have to it. In almost every story that was told in “Freedom Machines” regarding a disabled child in school, there was a reference made to how the school either could not, or did not care to give the child access to AT. I think the development of AT in the workplace, and not just in school has the greatest potential for improving lives of those who need it. A great example of this was Floyd, again from the video “Freedom Machines” who was a quadriplegic, and was able to hold a day job with the assistance of AT. Floyd not only helped himself, but he returned to the assisted-living home where he once stayed and tried to motivate others to follow in his footsteps. The biggest questions I still have were brought up by a fellow W200 classmate, and that is how AT can and or will be applied to the more “hands-on” educational subjects like the sciences?

Yay for blogging!

That's all.