You Don't See That Every Day

This is a giant sculpture arragement by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen in the Netherlands. Its so awesome! Just thought I would share!

Silent Excel

  Today we did a similar excel activity, only this time we worked on an assessment in complete silence (or attempted to anyway). We analyzed the test scores of males, females, traditional and non traditional students, like in the last activity, but we also compared the scores of graduate students and inservice graduate students. We found the averages of the scores by selecting the cell in which we wanted the answer to appear, typing in an equals sign and then finding average on the formula toolbar. We learned how to use the count and countif; count the same technique as average, and for countif we had to enter the information that we wanted counted. Custom sort makes it much easier because if all the numbers in the category you want to count are grouped together, you can just select it and use the count function. A ttest calculates whether or not the differences in scores are statistically significant ( if the result of the test  is less than 0.05, it isn’t, if it is greater, it is). We found that inservice students scored the lowest, and traditional students scored the highest of any category,however, according to the T-test run, this is not statistically significant.

I think this activity promotes technology standard 2.d because it was an example of a formative and summative assessment aligned with content and technology standards.

Excel Activity

         In class we have been working on an action research project that involves comparing the test scores of different types of students to see what factors affect grades. First we uses the data on the excel spread sheet to construct formulas to find out the number and percentages of male and female and traditional or non traditional students and their average scores. Then we used pie and bar charts to graph the data. We found out that girls scored higher than boys, but a T test showed that the discrepancy in scores was not statistically significant. However, the data showed that traditional students scored higher than nontraditional students, and this was statistically significant.

      After that we created a document on Microsoft Word to present our findings. We learned that in APA page formatting, a essay should be double-spaced with 1" margins, and 10-12 pt. Times New Roman font. You should include a page header with the page number on the right, and the title of your paper on the left. Tables and charts must follow specific formatting, not begin a page, and have titles. Your reference list should be at the end of your paper and provide the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each cited source in the paper should be in your reference list and every each in the reference list must be cited in your text. The reference list should have a hanging indentation, author’s last names first, and put in alphabetical order by the author’s last names.

     I think this activity best models that ISTE NETS for Teachers standard 3 c. because with tools like Excel and Word, students can learn analze and evaluate data and communicate the information and ideas effectively to those around them. Also, the data we worked with, for example, is very relevent to education because it is important to recognize patterns and trends in student performance.

Photo Story

     This is a video using Power Point slides of how to draw a face and Photostory and published it to YouTube. THis activity most closely follows the NETS for Teachers standard 2a. because I could use it to teach students to use digital tools for learning experiences to promote learning and creativity. I could ask students to find something they are interested in learning about online and make their own Photostory video of it.

Storage Options

I made a graphic on Microsoft Powerpoint on the various ways I can save information virtually and physically. One way to save information physically is sending the file to a flash drive. This can be nice because it gives a sense of security that you can carry it with you and no one else can bother it, but it can be a false sense of security because it can also get lost or broken or "corrupted". CD's are the same way, and sometimes it takes more time to burn files to them. I think CD's are nice for stuff you want to keep long term, but not for things you will use daily. There is an increasing number of ways to save information virtually. Some ways include Microsoft Word documents, Screen Cast,Google Docs, U-drive, and blogspot. All of these have an advantage over flash drives and CD's because you cannot lose them or spill anything on them. However, some of them, like Microsoft Word documents, can be viewed and altered by other people. Some of them, likeScreen Cast and blogspot cant be changed by others but anyone can see what you save, so these are not for private information.These are all nice because you can get to them if you have internet, but if for some reason you dont have internet access, you are out of luck. Probably the best ways to save is through the U-drive or Google Docs.

 I think this activity most closely models the ISTE NETS T Standard 3d. (Model Digital-Age Work and Learning) because this standard focuses on effectively using emerging technology tools to locate and analyze information to support research and learning. This applies to this activity because Screen Cast, flash drives, U-drives, and blogs are all tools that anyone working with computers needs to know about, and they are intrumental because it makes it much easier to analyze and evaluate information and research if you have a way to save your work.

Colors of the Wind

This is a video I embedded from YouTube.

This activity promotes Technology Standard 3a because if I can do this as a teacher, I will be demonstrating fluency in technology systems. I could also use the skill of embedding images and videos to make teaching materials like powerpoint more interesting and effective.

Jing Video

I made a video of how to change the font style, font size, and font color on Microsoft Word.

Self Portrait

 

             This is me Picasso style. This is a really fun site: PICASSOHEAD

       This activity models Technology 1(Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity), section A, because we learned a way to use technology to promote creativity. Technology helps us get things done, but it can be fun too.

Jing

Today we used a program called Jing. It is alot like the snipping tool only you can do more with it. I captured an awesome picture of dolphins!

Snipping Tool

Today we learned how to use the "snipping tool". This new knowledge will help me meet the ISTE/NETS standard 2a. because I could use it to teach my students to incorporate digital tools and resources in the creative process These kinds of shortcuts make learning about and using technology fun, which will make teaching it in the classroom much easier.