Remind101

A great way to integrate technology into your classroom.  Teachers can text message students/parents without ever even sharing their phone number.  Love it.

#Grades

The commitment to the cause paid off! (:

Voki: Ms. Champ's Avatar

My Introduction and my avatar!  

For this assignment I was required to register with Voki and create an avatar that introduced who I am.  I did have to register and I did receive a username and password.  I then created an avatar.  You can select the type: male, female, and/or other.  You can also change your eyes, hair, height, and many more features.  I then added an introduction (through text) about who I am.  I learned through the Voki assignment that students can design characters to match the text they might be reading or researching.  I did look through Voki's Lesson Plans and discovered many usable activities/lessons that I could use for my fifth grade classroom.  I believe this is a great assignment for Jigsaw learning.  For social studies each student can be assigned a different character from any given time frame and create a Voki (you can determine word minimum and maximum) that represents your character.  For science, each student could be assigned an animal and/or an important scientist.  When students then produce their final avatars to the class, the class then learns from the other students about the important concepts and who these people were remembered for.  I can definitely see the importance in using avatars in the classroom.  Once again, this is an innovative lesson that enables students to explore different types of learning experiences.  In particular, students with special needs or struggles would appreciate the assignment.  It would be "fun."  Also, this would be a great "unconventional" assessment that the students wouldn't even see coming! (:

What am I? (great example for an avatar lesson)

NETS for Teachers: I feel that this lesson meets many of the tech standards.  This lesson would most definitely inspire student learning and me teaching it to them would be me facilitating.  It's also very creative.  I could use my knowledge of avatars to create a virtual environment where my students can enjoy engaging in academics on the technology level.  By creating and using avatars I am modeling digital-age work and learning.  Avatars are the new thing in our digital society.  Lesson plans are being designed around the idea and using these tools are beneficial to any instructor of learners.  I am once again promoting digital-age citizenship and responsibility and my students can learn from that behavior.  I also am constantly engaging in professional growth and leadership and believe it is a vital part of being the best when working in teh line of education.  My goal is to never stop learning, model these experiences for my students, and then provide them technology-rich lessons that "boggle" their minds! #technology

Wordle: 2000 vs. 2008

The 2008 Version:

 The 2000 Version:

The NETS T Standards have shifted and evolved to the technology-rich society that we live in today (2013).  During the year of 2000, I was a junior/senior in high school.  I did not have a cell phone.  I did not know what social networking meant and we still used 3.5 floppy disk.  Times were much different.  Technology has been nothing but a "race-to-the-top" since.  During the years of 2001-2002, I did receive my first cell phone (once I was in college), as well as, took an Introduction to Technology course through Fairmont State University (FSU).  The 2000 version of the standards was focused in this same direction.  Microsoft Office was up-and-rising and was the "Google" of 2000.  Computers and the "Internet" were all very new to a large part of society.  Therefore, the 2000 version was more focused on teachers using technology to enhance their lessons (PowerPoint), teachers using technology to be more productive (Excel), and/or teachers were using technology (computers) to share lesson plans on the world wide web.  The new direction that NETS T took was absolutely appropriate.  Eight years later, revisited and revised, the NETS T standards revolve around teachers and students using technology to enhance learning experiences and collaborating in ways which we would have never imagined in 2000.  In summary, we went from teachers using technology to using technology as teachers and students.  

Wordle is a great digital tool that teachers & students (along with many others) can use to create "word clouds."  After completing the Wordle assignment, I began to ask myself, "What did Wordle force me to do?"  I think Wordle is a great tool for focusing on key words or concepts when reading text.  I think any assignment where students were asked to read a text and then create a "word cloud" as an assessment of the reading and comprehension by using the key words and key concepts.  It is also a unique form of assessment and student won't even realize they are being assessed.

 Ms. Champ's WORDLE Center

The NETS T Standards Involved are: #1- Did this Wordle Activity facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity?  I do believe by facilitating experiences such as the one involved in this lesson, students will advance.  Virtual environments are so much more fun.  Using Google Docs I designed an English/Language Arts (ELA) center that engages students through text with technology to focusing on key words and concepts when reading and comprehending.  Standard #2 states that I (the teacher) can design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments.  Is my Wordle Center a digital-age learning experience and can I use it as an assessment?  Yes and yes!  The center is technology rich: the Google Docs, the digital-age tool called Wordle, and then the emailing of the finished product.  Students are also watching me (the teacher) exhibit the knowledge and skills of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.  Using this digital tool will also allow my struggling students a more unique learning experience that may enhance the experience.  By engaging in professional growth and leadership, I am providing digital-age learning experiences not only to myself but also modeling that leadership for my students.  My goal is to engage my students in creative processes that will allow them to grow and evolve along with technology instead of years behind it.  Through taking this course, I have realized that I do need to put more of an emphasis on my “technological side.”  I also feel as though this course has prepared me  for teaching in this technology crazy world.  I have high hopes of teaching my students how to blog and utilize that blog in order to communicate with me (the teacher) and their peers (their classmates). 

Google Sites

Visit My Google Site

For this assignment I was required to design and develop a Google Site.  I feel as if the hardest part was figuring out WHO to design the site for.  I decided to design a site for my parents/students.  I followed the simple "create" a site directions.  I did struggle with figuring out how to edit.  After looking at classmate's sites and Dr. Pierce's sites, I feel as though there is most definitely more for me to learn about Google Sites.  I did struggle with this particular assignment more so than I have with other assignments.  I feel as if editing the site is a task.  I can see the benefits of using the Google Sites to improve the technological aspects of ones life.  Looking though the different templates, I quickly realized that you can pretty much design a website designed towards any theme.  Through a Google Site one could collaborate or connect with others using the world wide web.  I do a lot of professional development for my county and can see how I might apply the Google Sites assignment to that aspect of my life. 

Find my RESUME...

Find my RUBRIC...

ISTE NETS (Standards for Teachers):  

Standard #1 states that as a teacher I should be able to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity...in both face-to-face and virtual environments.  As a teacher, I am responsible for exposing my students to multiple digital tools.  Standard #2 is almost directly related to the first standard.  It states that teachers are responsible for designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments.  I can think of multiple opportunities to use Google Sites

as assignments/projects that my students design which would also be an excellent way to assess my students learning experiences as well.  Standard #3 is directly related to my Google Site.  The site can be utilized by teachers and students and exhibits that I use digital-age work.  I can survive in a global and digital society and my students and parents are aware of that through their experiences with me.  Standard #5 states that teachers engage in professional growth and leadership continuously to improve professional practice.  The amount of professional growth and development is unlimited, as well as, the amount of digital tools that are "out there."

Excel 2: T-Test

Upon reading the assignment and working on the activity, I think it was one of the more challenging activities we have had.  Understanding the "t test" and how it works was a difficult concept for me to fully comprehend.  I did use Excel to develop descriptive statistics on both the males and females from the NCES State Comparison's Website found in the prevous activity.  The males generated the following data:

The females generated the following data: 

After doing this, I simply used the Data Analysis tool again and selected:

I then generated the following data:

I also used the T-Test Statistics Calculator online and generated the following data:

Looking at the results makes me think that there is no statistical difference, but upon closer examination I noticed the E-07 which told me about the scientific notation and the results were less than .05 for both the P(T<=t) one-tail test and P(T<=t) two-tail test.  With the results of both tests being less than .05 there is a significant difference between the national results for males and females.  Now if the results were greater than .05 we would accept the null hypothesis, that there is no difference, but my results show there is a difference.

I would like to do research on student behaviors in correlation with implementing a positive behavior supports system (PBS) built by the teachers themselves.  I would like to compare data from previous years (no PBS implemented) to data that generated after a PBS was implemented.  The study's participants would be approximately 165 seventh and eighth graders, male and female students that range in age from 12-15 years old.  The independent variable would be the actual PBS itself (the rules, expectations, and procedures do not change).  The dependent variable would be the students and their positive and negative behaviors.  My research question would be: Does implementing a positive behavior system in the middle school make a difference on positive and negative behaviors (discipline).  My hypothesis is that there would be a significance and that the PBS will result in more positive behaviors at the middle school level and that the number of office referrals will decrease from office referrals in the past (prior to a PBS).  My null hypothesis is that there would be no significant difference and that a PBS would not result in positive behaviors and that there would be no difference in the number of office referrals or an increase in the number of office referrals (discipline).