Project 3

Identify an Instructional Challenge

In my experience as a teacher, one of the greatest challenges in the educational system today is that students do not feel that they are participating in the learning process. Many teachers lecture information regardless of students’ desires and concerns regarding the content area. Additionally, many teachers repeat lesson plans every semester with no regard for each student or individual class’s need. This is contrary to what research advises teachers to do. In a book published in 2004, John MacBeth and Lejf Moos argue that students would perform better if their voice was heard in a democratic learning environment (“Democratic Learning: A Challenge to School Effectiveness”, 2004). This enables students to voice their opinions and share with educators how they see the world. If this cannot be done, students are likely to mentally “check out” of the learning process.

Technology Solution

To give students the opportunity to voice their opinions, a teacher may utilize an on-line survey system. For this project, I will be using Survey Monkey. This will not only allow students the opportunity to express their desires and concerns but it will help the educator see trends as the semester progresses. It will also show them how classes differ from one another.

This is a link to my video on youtube.com regarding SurveyMonkey

Reflection

To begin, I searched for different survey resources on-line. Survey Monkey came highly recommended by its users so I decided to use it. I learned about the website by trial and error. The more a tried, the more I learned. As a result, I learned all about the different options that are available in types of questions, how the survey is retrieved from its users, how information is reported, and so one. While the trial version was really beneficial, there were other options that seemed more advanced in the Pro option. This option requires payment for the service but offered tools such as reporting data via Microsoft excel, printing surveys, and unlimited amounts of questions per survey. All in all, both the pro product and the basic (free) version seemed to meet the needs of this educational challenge.

Project 2

Following is a link to my video project and a sample assignment sheet for students to complete.

Link to YouTube Sample Project Video

Link to the Written Assignment

Lesson 10

• How have you used technology to increase your knowledge in your content area?

I have used technology as a resource for finding information. By using simply things like Google search, you can begin heading in the right direction as far as learning new things. While not all information on the internet is reliable, I feel that I have the skills to decide the usefulness of the information provided by the search engine.

• How have you used technology to collaborate with classmates?

I have used google documents to work on study guides with groups whose schedules conflict. Additionally, I have used basic Microsoft office tools to present information with class members.

• How might you use technology in your classroom?

I think that communication is the most important reason to use technology in the classroom. To communicate assignments, communicate with parents, communicate grades, communicate class calendars...Each of these are extremely important. For this reason, I will utilize on-line grading websites and class websites to keep the lines of communication open between myself and my students.

• What did you learn in this class?

I learned a ton in this class! I learned how to's of creating websites, blogs, networking resources, etc. However, the most important thing I learned was that the things I did were not as hard as I had anticipated.

• What will you use that you have learned in this class?

I am much more apt to try new technologies because of the skills I learned and the experiences I had. Rather than use the typical resources, I will begin to seek out new technologies. I am less scared of trying new technologies and am confident in my ability to learn on my own.

Project 3

For project #3 I will be working solo. While I would like to submit something for the competition, I really don't have the extra time to get together with other people to create something.

My focus area for the project is on parent teacher communication regarding grades and assignments. There are many sites that enable parents to see their student's work firsthand and also access their grades regularly. While some schools use particular programs, I'm going to investigate free sites that I can be using at any school I work in. I hope to become familiar with posting assignments, creating a gradebook, and communicating simply with parents.

Internet Safety For Students

I think one of the best things we can be doing to ensure that the internet is safe for our students is to do a little detective work before sending students out to do projects using the internet. We can find sites that are reputable and safe and suggests those sites to students to use on homework and projects. Additionally, this will prevent them from looking elsewhere to find information.

I also think it's important to talk about internet safety. With your school, present guidelines to your students regarding information they send over the internet and avoiding harmful viruses. In the health major, we discuss improving communication. This would be a great place to discuss internet language and what things we share over chat rooms and elsewhere over the internet.

Video Chatting

For this week's assignment, I did a video chat with my sister in NYC. It was a little confusing to get started but using skype, it went pretty smoothly. The delay was a little frustrating and sometimes I could hear her voice before I saw the picture but overall, it was a good experience. I think I could use this in the classroom by having conference calls with busy parents who aren't able to come into the school. The visual affect adds a lot more to the experience and I think the parents would enjoy seeing their student's teacher rather than just speak with them. This may also be a good way to keep in touch with other teachers who teach in my same field of education. They could show me the things they're doing rather than just tell me. This may also be helpful if you wanted to have a guest speaker who is far away.

Youtube Movie Download

I downloaded my first movie on youtube! Although I am studying Health Education, I am currently teaching seminary at Timberline Junior High. As a result, I decided to download a MormonMessage to use in one of my classes. Elder Arnold of the seventy gave a great talk about using the Lord's name and I downloaded it and saved I didn't have any problems dowloading the video but I'm sure I'd have difficulty doing it with a DVD.

Due to fair use, I have the ability to use any video I want in an education setting as long as the true intent is expressed.

Copyright

I learned a whole lot about copyright this week! I had never realized that the idea itself cannot be copyrighted but the actual product and implementation of the idea. I wondered how I had seen so many products that were very similar but that differed in only production. Apparently, those things are all okay to be copyrighted because, while their ideas are the same, the way they are carried out are completely different.

Additionally, I never knew about fair use. I understood that there were times where I was using movie clips in a classroom setting but had never realized that it was because the use of a product for educational purposes is protected under fair use laws.

Video Storyboard

The following is a link to my storyboard on google docs.

The main purpose of this video would be to help students identify stressors in their own lives by recognizing them first in other peoples' lives. This gives them the chance to follow another student around and to witness their stressors first hand. Students are less likely to volunteer their own personal struggles so it is good to give them a fake person to dissect.

Click here for a link to my storyboard.

Here's my website!

The following is a link to my website. I'd love your feedback so when you make comments, let me know what you think!

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

Personal Learning Networks...

Wow! Look at all the new things I'm learning! I just started a Twitter account and am using it to get in touch with fellow health teachers. I am still figuring things out but am liking what I've learned so far. I think I'll also be looking into finding some podcasts that are teachers from Universities around the United States teaching about health.

Using both Twitter and the podcasts, I think I will be able to increase my knowledge about health topics and the new happenings in the health world. Additionally, I think I will be able to use these lectures as art of my lecture to help the students understand new concepts at a high level of learning.

The following are the three sites that I subscribed to and a description of each site:

cdc.gov - The Center for Disease Control's purpose is to prevent the spread of disease and to educate the public about diseases that are commonly contracted. This website is maintained by the government and is monitored for accuracy.

fda.gov - The Food and Drug Administration is a government run agency that informed the public regarding pharmaceutical drugs, nutrition, and other information regarding food and drugs that are used regularly.

foodnetwork.com/healthy-eating/index.html - I thought this would be a fun website to receive updates on. It posts low calorie and low fat recipes daily. This would be great for high school parents and would be a great way to increase application of things learned in the classroom.

Introduction

My name is Amanda. I am studying School Health Education at Brigham Young University. While I won't be student teaching for another year, I figured I'd name my blog so that I could use it in my future classroom. I'm the middle child of 7 kids and grew up just outside of Seattle. I love running, outdoors activities (hiking, camping, etc.), and traveling.

Blogs can be used in the classroom in many different ways. Blogs can be used to review what happens each day in class to enable those students who were absent to make up work. Homework assignments can be posted on a blog if the students need to watch a video. Students can respond to questions about their reading on a blog. This is also a great resource to help students remember important assignments.

I'm really excited for this class!