Well, it's hard. I'm slow in reading. Trying to keep up with the post every day is hard. Now it's 2:17 but i still have one chapter to go. I love the assigned books though. It would be a even better course if it was taught in fall or spring so that i could have more time in reading and again. Right now, there is absolutely no time to read back!
The goal of the course for me: understand the tables in research paper, making sense of what they are and whether they are there
Second goal is that i may come up with a nice instrument or design to make a proposal for my own research. Though it is one of the assignment, i really would like to put it into a pilot study or real in life so that i could make it to AERA. I don't know if i could make it. But i will have a try.
I love the way of dealing with real life data in my content area. It makes more sense to me. I would like to learn something more with Excel and definitely SPSS. Khan Academy's instruction is enjoyable, too though i dozed off from time to time watching them.
Hopefully i could be ahead of the reading with the weekend coming up and so that give myself some time to work on the papers and think what i would like to come up with.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
observation 2
Class observation 2
Date: 3/6/15
Time: 1:15 math block
Site: Rousseau
Teacher: Ashley
Student: 1st grader (differentiated)
I did a
short introduction at first and answered a few questions about China ( I got
one at the end of the block when they prepared to go out for recess).
One boy
asked me to sit beside him and I did that. However, when I took out my Ipad for
note taking, I found out that it was a distraction for her. So first, I put my
Ipad on his table and showed him what I was typing. Then I opened the Evernote
(audio note got something wrong) and audioed the lesson and occasionally took a
picture. I just laid it beside him and it turned black after a while. I hope that he will be not so much distracted
in this way.
Ashley
showed me that she used ipad with reflectors and Apple TV connected. So what
she did on her ipad will be on the screen, so that every kid could see what
happened.
At the very
beginning, she used educreations to write each calculation on it and she gave
one of the kids the Ipad to draw the answer.
Then when
the kids went to quiz, she used Ipad as a timer shown on the screen, so that
the kids could keep track of time.
She then
wen to the Second Grade Math Magic and gave different kids to choose the answer
on the Ipad with each question. At the same time, the other kids used their
whiteboards. As this app has to pay for more exercises, she only covered a few.
After
working on the homework, they went to Geoboard. The kids were excited to do
this. So Ashely made a square, then the kids were asked to make ½, ¼, 1/8,
1/16, 1/32. They would not let it stop but the time ran out.
Reflection:
I should have taken a picture of the
seatings of the classroom but forgot.
As for the
apps, kids definitely showed interests. As for the educreations, it seemed they
just feel ok. The second Grade Math Magic was a new one as it was introduced on
880 yesterday. So kids were pretty knew but it was like a quiz. I got the Ipad
on my hand at that time, so the kids were looking at me. I think they would
like to have fun. But the Geoboard was a hit. It was not new to them. When they
heard the word, they got excited. When they began the learning, I should say
that everybody raised their hands and would like to have a try on Ipad.
Compared with other two apps, which only some of them raised hands, this app
did make a difference. My supposition is those two apps are presented like a
quiz, while this one is a game. Indeed, the knowledge passed down in the
Geoboard is more advanced (fractions) than the other two (one is addition and
subtraction, the other is about time). Well, if it’s a game, it should be fun
and everybody would like to have fun. Learning should be fun! Right?
One thing: the
homework Ashely went over with the kids has a question (Tell which is greater
without finding the answer. Explain. ½ of 60 or ¼ of 60). So Ashley took some time and did draw and illustrated in
order to explain the question. But in the Geoboard thing, it matched so well,
that if she could go on saying that look at here 1/8 square does look bigger
than the 1/16 squares, right? Why ? It would be such a nice scaffolding.
Another
thing I noticed was that not every child could have the chance to touch the
Ipad in class though Ashley tried to reach everybody. Then if every kid had
one, it would be difficult to track what they did on their Ipad. So how to
manage the use of Ipad would be another challenge the classroom teachers face.
So I
suppose that the apps used today in the classroom went pretty well. It is
possible due to that the kids know about them or it’s easy to use without
instructions. Secondly, the last two apps, especially the Geoboard is designed
pretty much like a game rather than a quiz. I love to see a classroom full of
engaging faces!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
bit of reflection
i just hangout with Carin and we exchanged some ideas of courses we take together and definitely we talked about 880J. Both of us believed that we have learnt a lot from the course. Although i am not with you all the time, i felt that the ardor of everybody and was excited too when we were trying a new app with students.
Well, i am thinking a few questions that may be answered if we could have a discussion together:
So what happened to students of different grade levels with the same app?
What happened when the same app is used for different purposes? Say Across fields?
I truly believe that there are so much going on for technology integration and so much that we need to learn from peers, instructors and even students. I rather feel that technology is not a thing that adults could say they are better than children. They may be not, as children are more quick to learn these kind of digital media.
Well, i am thinking a few questions that may be answered if we could have a discussion together:
So what happened to students of different grade levels with the same app?
What happened when the same app is used for different purposes? Say Across fields?
I truly believe that there are so much going on for technology integration and so much that we need to learn from peers, instructors and even students. I rather feel that technology is not a thing that adults could say they are better than children. They may be not, as children are more quick to learn these kind of digital media.
Friday, March 27, 2015
ISTE Standards for Students
Ok, ISTE means International Society for Technology in Education. At the introduction part, it talks about the necessity for students to be a digital skilled person in literacy
Well, if you go to the http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-S_PDF.pdf, the standard for students, you could see that it has 6 areas covered there. A first look would be ok, it's good and simple. But then i come to the question, to what age or grade level? It would be difficult for Kindergartners with a senior high student with the same one. Apparently, the standards just offers us a general guideline. i would say it better than none. Right! We could go on expand the standards anyway. I suppose it includes the area that i should think of. Besides of the age/grade level groups, i would argue it sets up different standards for different stages of development. Standards is what we used to measure. SO it need to be more exact.
As i went through these 6 areas, i was thinking of Ashley's class with their theme poem and story jumper project. First of all, this technology integration is only part of their writing project. It is another way of writing. Not replacing the way of writing with a pen. However, it shows that students need to be taught of basic computer and online searching skills at a very young age by now. It is a new challenge to kids, as they now do not focus only on their writing, which is already a complicated a process, but they have to cope with the typing, basic computer skills, arts, and etc. I totally understand the way that you raised your hand, but it is just a click then the problem could be solved. But you could do nothing until somebody comes to help! Waste of time and you see that you are left behind!
Collaboration can also be seen during their writing. Children are always talking to their shoulder friends even if they had trouble themselves. They were trying to help and it is nice of them to share with each other!
Well, the last area is really difficult for young kids, i believe. Ashley told the kids that they could finish their picture book at home if they wanted to. The boy stood beside me told me that he could not because he did not have firefox on the computer at home. It shocked me first for him to know firefox, and then i told him it would be fine for him to use IE or chrome or safari too. Well, i don't know if he could understand with only a few sentences of my explanation. But how could we explain such a difficult thing to a 1st grader? Are they ready? Are we ready? I remembered that i met a similar problem two years ago when i applied to change my visa status online by USCIS. I had to call the custom service for a reason and then i was transferred to the technical department. YES, you had to go on their website then on a particular browser which i had to download at the time while holding on the phone. Thinking back, it was hard for me, because i had to understand him over the phone to explain in technical terms of what it looked at.
Technology is changing our life, our way of living and thinking, to what extent we are not sure. I totally agree that there should be a standard but should be more detailed than this one. Looking the Core standards, i simply could not finish reading them in minutes. I need hours to understand what it is talking about!
Ok, ISTE means International Society for Technology in Education. At the introduction part, it talks about the necessity for students to be a digital skilled person in literacy
Well, if you go to the http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-S_PDF.pdf, the standard for students, you could see that it has 6 areas covered there. A first look would be ok, it's good and simple. But then i come to the question, to what age or grade level? It would be difficult for Kindergartners with a senior high student with the same one. Apparently, the standards just offers us a general guideline. i would say it better than none. Right! We could go on expand the standards anyway. I suppose it includes the area that i should think of. Besides of the age/grade level groups, i would argue it sets up different standards for different stages of development. Standards is what we used to measure. SO it need to be more exact.
As i went through these 6 areas, i was thinking of Ashley's class with their theme poem and story jumper project. First of all, this technology integration is only part of their writing project. It is another way of writing. Not replacing the way of writing with a pen. However, it shows that students need to be taught of basic computer and online searching skills at a very young age by now. It is a new challenge to kids, as they now do not focus only on their writing, which is already a complicated a process, but they have to cope with the typing, basic computer skills, arts, and etc. I totally understand the way that you raised your hand, but it is just a click then the problem could be solved. But you could do nothing until somebody comes to help! Waste of time and you see that you are left behind!
Collaboration can also be seen during their writing. Children are always talking to their shoulder friends even if they had trouble themselves. They were trying to help and it is nice of them to share with each other!
Well, the last area is really difficult for young kids, i believe. Ashley told the kids that they could finish their picture book at home if they wanted to. The boy stood beside me told me that he could not because he did not have firefox on the computer at home. It shocked me first for him to know firefox, and then i told him it would be fine for him to use IE or chrome or safari too. Well, i don't know if he could understand with only a few sentences of my explanation. But how could we explain such a difficult thing to a 1st grader? Are they ready? Are we ready? I remembered that i met a similar problem two years ago when i applied to change my visa status online by USCIS. I had to call the custom service for a reason and then i was transferred to the technical department. YES, you had to go on their website then on a particular browser which i had to download at the time while holding on the phone. Thinking back, it was hard for me, because i had to understand him over the phone to explain in technical terms of what it looked at.
Technology is changing our life, our way of living and thinking, to what extent we are not sure. I totally agree that there should be a standard but should be more detailed than this one. Looking the Core standards, i simply could not finish reading them in minutes. I need hours to understand what it is talking about!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
observation 4
Story Jumper
I appreciate Ashley's understanding and flexibility to let me go into another story experience with them.
So this time it is story jumper. kids told me that they had finished part of their stories on it and they enjoyed it. They began quickly and as i just found out that it is limited to laptop for create a story, it's pretty easy even for new learners.
Children focused on go on finishing their story. There were lots of technical problems (delete, adding, how to save) and again spelling and typing skills. One girl came to me and ask for special help for finding those letters. She was left far behind than others and she explained it was because she lost all of them without saving so she had to rewrite. Well, she lost it again and i reminded her to click saving.
No children came to ask questions about writing. They were confident and had ideas about what to write. Then many misspellings at this stage but one boy came up with the word with a little bit hint from mine. It was always a joy to watch kids could make progress.
As each book has about 17 pages, i did not have chance to read a whole one yet, even though some boys and girls offered to read their stories to me. I had to go away to help and felt sorry that i could not be there for sharing.
Ok, the story jumper gave me the impression of making a photo book online. Ashely had her ratinoale for using this one instead of story bird for it provides more pictures and versions for her students. The illustrations are definitely better quality on story bird. However, i was thinking of the possibility of having the drawings of the kids mixed with whatever he chooses to have in the website or app. It is like a combination of illustrations. In this way, i suppose this story jumper is for lower grades.
Another thing i would argue is for the typing skills. It is a pain watching them to take time to find the letters. It would save so much time for editing or writing or organization but now it has to be spend on finding where the letter is! I would still think that kids should be provided for the training of the typing skills at an early age!
Story Jumper
I appreciate Ashley's understanding and flexibility to let me go into another story experience with them.
So this time it is story jumper. kids told me that they had finished part of their stories on it and they enjoyed it. They began quickly and as i just found out that it is limited to laptop for create a story, it's pretty easy even for new learners.
Children focused on go on finishing their story. There were lots of technical problems (delete, adding, how to save) and again spelling and typing skills. One girl came to me and ask for special help for finding those letters. She was left far behind than others and she explained it was because she lost all of them without saving so she had to rewrite. Well, she lost it again and i reminded her to click saving.
No children came to ask questions about writing. They were confident and had ideas about what to write. Then many misspellings at this stage but one boy came up with the word with a little bit hint from mine. It was always a joy to watch kids could make progress.
As each book has about 17 pages, i did not have chance to read a whole one yet, even though some boys and girls offered to read their stories to me. I had to go away to help and felt sorry that i could not be there for sharing.
Ok, the story jumper gave me the impression of making a photo book online. Ashely had her ratinoale for using this one instead of story bird for it provides more pictures and versions for her students. The illustrations are definitely better quality on story bird. However, i was thinking of the possibility of having the drawings of the kids mixed with whatever he chooses to have in the website or app. It is like a combination of illustrations. In this way, i suppose this story jumper is for lower grades.
Another thing i would argue is for the typing skills. It is a pain watching them to take time to find the letters. It would save so much time for editing or writing or organization but now it has to be spend on finding where the letter is! I would still think that kids should be provided for the training of the typing skills at an early age!
digital citizenship + Twitter
I supposed that i have posted my ideas about digital citizenship but couldn't find it. It's possible that i posted in my dream. Nothing could be possible.
Anyway, I ran into the digital citizenship before we were assigned to talk about it for 880J because of a twitter chat. GOOGLE is just amazing. I highly recommend go and check about the citizenship tutorial.
It is more of a concern that kids are conscious and parents too should enhance the digital citizenship for a wholesome literacy experience. I mean that we have to live on internet. There may be some people could do without online/digital device, but must be very few. The other day, Dr. Babchuk invited a famous professor for a talk on EDPS935 and he showed us the research in part of faraway Africa. With what he showed to us, people, at least young people are experience the change of life with computers. He has the concern of how internet and technology change the way of research in that native tribe.
Twitter has its power. I still did not get hold of it, mainly because i used to few times of it and haven't set up enough relation there. But i know that people are doing great things on it and it is a rich resource for seeing people's ideas and opinions, quick and responsive. It is a good social media for education too.
I supposed that i have posted my ideas about digital citizenship but couldn't find it. It's possible that i posted in my dream. Nothing could be possible.
Anyway, I ran into the digital citizenship before we were assigned to talk about it for 880J because of a twitter chat. GOOGLE is just amazing. I highly recommend go and check about the citizenship tutorial.
It is more of a concern that kids are conscious and parents too should enhance the digital citizenship for a wholesome literacy experience. I mean that we have to live on internet. There may be some people could do without online/digital device, but must be very few. The other day, Dr. Babchuk invited a famous professor for a talk on EDPS935 and he showed us the research in part of faraway Africa. With what he showed to us, people, at least young people are experience the change of life with computers. He has the concern of how internet and technology change the way of research in that native tribe.
Twitter has its power. I still did not get hold of it, mainly because i used to few times of it and haven't set up enough relation there. But i know that people are doing great things on it and it is a rich resource for seeing people's ideas and opinions, quick and responsive. It is a good social media for education too.
Cinderella
I took the kids to watch Cinderella on Tuesday as a treat for our spring break. Well, letting go of the film, I am thinking how many different versions of Cinderellla in the world. I wonder if it could be a cool idea for different cinderella to meet each other, talking about their own stories and they could find that most of them have a happy ending.
Kids could compare the different cinderellas, what happened differently, what happened to all of them. Which one you may like better? Why? Use digital graphic organizer and even we could timeline each of the Cinderella with the published time and see which one is the oldest.
Sure enough we could ask the kids to make a movie of their own Cinderella or sing a song, write a poem, letter or email of the favorite or least favorite Cinderella.
I don't know if the boys would like the idea, but we need princes.
Carriage building should be a good project learning and descriptive writing piece. Oh, it would be fun.
I took the kids to watch Cinderella on Tuesday as a treat for our spring break. Well, letting go of the film, I am thinking how many different versions of Cinderellla in the world. I wonder if it could be a cool idea for different cinderella to meet each other, talking about their own stories and they could find that most of them have a happy ending.
Kids could compare the different cinderellas, what happened differently, what happened to all of them. Which one you may like better? Why? Use digital graphic organizer and even we could timeline each of the Cinderella with the published time and see which one is the oldest.
Sure enough we could ask the kids to make a movie of their own Cinderella or sing a song, write a poem, letter or email of the favorite or least favorite Cinderella.
I don't know if the boys would like the idea, but we need princes.
Carriage building should be a good project learning and descriptive writing piece. Oh, it would be fun.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Class observation 3
I went to Rousseau today from 11:15 to 12:45 with Ashely in the computer lab. I was a few minutes early than supposed so when i stepped into the room, they were doing their wonders about the Golden Bridge at SF.
I think then Ashely did a great job to model the Theme Poem and she did it for a good reason as later i learned from students that it was the first time they went to the website.
I followed them to the computer lab and helped some of the kids with the jump code to go to the website. The kids were quick to choose their pictures. The hurdle there was the spelling and it is always a pain to correct them. I did not go correcting spelling if i could read them or they could read it to me as sometimes it makes sense for the sounds. Another thing is that some of the kids have difficulty to put the words together for meaning. Well, it is 1st graders and their first time for the website. At the end, every kids ended up with a print out of their poems.
I like the website for early writers and readers. It is simple enough for them to catch the key immediately. The pictures are not so many to choose however. Many of the kids chose the same one but some had time to work for another one. They had fun!
30 minutes time flied! I did not have time to go to each of them even there were 2 of us. We need more time to polish their poems if time allowed!
I went to Rousseau today from 11:15 to 12:45 with Ashely in the computer lab. I was a few minutes early than supposed so when i stepped into the room, they were doing their wonders about the Golden Bridge at SF.
I think then Ashely did a great job to model the Theme Poem and she did it for a good reason as later i learned from students that it was the first time they went to the website.
I followed them to the computer lab and helped some of the kids with the jump code to go to the website. The kids were quick to choose their pictures. The hurdle there was the spelling and it is always a pain to correct them. I did not go correcting spelling if i could read them or they could read it to me as sometimes it makes sense for the sounds. Another thing is that some of the kids have difficulty to put the words together for meaning. Well, it is 1st graders and their first time for the website. At the end, every kids ended up with a print out of their poems.
I like the website for early writers and readers. It is simple enough for them to catch the key immediately. The pictures are not so many to choose however. Many of the kids chose the same one but some had time to work for another one. They had fun!
30 minutes time flied! I did not have time to go to each of them even there were 2 of us. We need more time to polish their poems if time allowed!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
EdCamp Omahab 3/21
First time to EdCamp and got very excited about the activities.
Meet old and new friends there. Talked with teachers from Rousseau from 880J, and with other classroom teachers. Exchanging their ideas about one-on-one program, and teachers' and students' response to this one-on-one. Interesting to know that some new beginners in teaching career refused to integrate technology into curriculum.
It's interesting to see that the teachers from all grades levels, when in discussion, divided their roles into two parts to answer the questions: parents and teachers. So there were some interesting ideas about as a teacher, i don't agree but as a parent i agree. Fascinating to have those conflicting ideas!
Join two sessions in the morning. One is in a form of debate and discussion of some topics with "Rock and Suck". I suppose that some questions actually need more time to explore and some may not have a right answer. It all depends. But the session is not for a correct answer but rather for exchanging ideas and hear different voices. I think it would be a great activity to do in our 311/313 classroom with some relevant teaching strategies or topics so that students could hear others' ideas and also move around in the sage environment to talk.
The second session in the morning is Global reading aloud. I love what Dr. Balcom has done. I later learned that he used to be a student of Dr. Trainin. He has great ideas and the website and videos he showed are fabulous. A few things learned from him. Use social media to contact those influential persons, writers and illustrators. Ask them and you don't know what's going to happen.
I kind of think that we could extend this reading idea for writing, math and social and science studies. I personally would set up lit circles to have one most loved book of the 1st semester discussed, if possible, at least some chapters for cloze reading. i loved his sharing of choosing one over 2 books by judging from the cover, or the familiarity with the author/ illustrator by tearing the other off. Kids are kids and they need the kind of feeling, visually and hands-on to get to the point and satisfaction of the project. But i would really like 5th graders go deeper than looking only at the cover to make a choice. Lower levels though could be accepted.
I joined part of the 1st session in the afternoon, hearing an introduction of a few blogs. Edu blog was compared with kids blog. The websites she showed would be great ideas fro parent inference and if parents could be reached by the camera, teachers would definitely worry about it.
Had to leave early, as my husband lost his key and locked himself and the kids out of home. Thanks God, that he found the key finally when i could go back home and asked him to go to search in the car another time!
There is one more thing i learn: twitter. Lots of us seemed to be in the room for discussing but at the same time, twittering the camp. I would like to know the other few twitters talked about by Mr. Balcom. Add a few twitter friends, Yeah!
Meet old and new friends there. Talked with teachers from Rousseau from 880J, and with other classroom teachers. Exchanging their ideas about one-on-one program, and teachers' and students' response to this one-on-one. Interesting to know that some new beginners in teaching career refused to integrate technology into curriculum.
It's interesting to see that the teachers from all grades levels, when in discussion, divided their roles into two parts to answer the questions: parents and teachers. So there were some interesting ideas about as a teacher, i don't agree but as a parent i agree. Fascinating to have those conflicting ideas!
Join two sessions in the morning. One is in a form of debate and discussion of some topics with "Rock and Suck". I suppose that some questions actually need more time to explore and some may not have a right answer. It all depends. But the session is not for a correct answer but rather for exchanging ideas and hear different voices. I think it would be a great activity to do in our 311/313 classroom with some relevant teaching strategies or topics so that students could hear others' ideas and also move around in the sage environment to talk.
The second session in the morning is Global reading aloud. I love what Dr. Balcom has done. I later learned that he used to be a student of Dr. Trainin. He has great ideas and the website and videos he showed are fabulous. A few things learned from him. Use social media to contact those influential persons, writers and illustrators. Ask them and you don't know what's going to happen.
I kind of think that we could extend this reading idea for writing, math and social and science studies. I personally would set up lit circles to have one most loved book of the 1st semester discussed, if possible, at least some chapters for cloze reading. i loved his sharing of choosing one over 2 books by judging from the cover, or the familiarity with the author/ illustrator by tearing the other off. Kids are kids and they need the kind of feeling, visually and hands-on to get to the point and satisfaction of the project. But i would really like 5th graders go deeper than looking only at the cover to make a choice. Lower levels though could be accepted.
I joined part of the 1st session in the afternoon, hearing an introduction of a few blogs. Edu blog was compared with kids blog. The websites she showed would be great ideas fro parent inference and if parents could be reached by the camera, teachers would definitely worry about it.
Had to leave early, as my husband lost his key and locked himself and the kids out of home. Thanks God, that he found the key finally when i could go back home and asked him to go to search in the car another time!
There is one more thing i learn: twitter. Lots of us seemed to be in the room for discussing but at the same time, twittering the camp. I would like to know the other few twitters talked about by Mr. Balcom. Add a few twitter friends, Yeah!
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Educreatuons, here it is
https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/jingyesi-a-chinese-poem/29918379/?s=CJ8Z9k&ref=app
Ok, this is a poem, popular one in China. The video is short but I think I got the idea how to make it.
Ok, this is a poem, popular one in China. The video is short but I think I got the idea how to make it.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
twitter? Should I twit you?
Milton Chen came to UNL to give a speech last Tuesday. It was a wonderful experience! He talked about "Creativity in the classroom", "Close the gap of word between rich and poor" and in his lecture on Tuesday night, he answered a few questions from twitter. Then he asked the audience "How many of you do not have a twitter account? I looked around, not many people raised their hands. I chuckled, as i was thinking of my own experiences with twitter. I was forced to open an account with Twitter. Personally, I felt overwhelmed with all these social media! Facebook, Linkedln, Wechat, Blogger, and Twitter. I lost track of them and i am annoyed by the reminder of the popping up messages from time to time that whose talking, not necessarily to me, but in a group that i joined in. So when i was asked to open a twitter account, i said ok, but what is the use of that? I do not have anything to do with it. Why should i join? What's fun? What's exciting about it?
With the heavy load of work and family life, i substantially reduced the posts on Facebook and Wechat. Now what is Twitter?
I logged in my Twitter last October or November. What was that? i know that many people were talking at that block of time, but Gosh, what was the topic? i did not find it but watched.
But i could not this time, since it is a course requirement. Not complaints. But if you had an advisor who is crazy about tech, and who showed up in every social media you could imagine, you would know what i mean.
ok, so let's see what happened. Missed Breakfast talk on Wednesday morning at 5:30 twice, as i changed my schedule of sleeping routine. i will not go to bed till 4am or 5am so it would be impossible for me to get up at 5:30 in the morning! So Wednesday night at 8pm? Finally made it a few times and i think that i gradually got the sense of it!
It is a big online discussion. People from all places speak at the same block of time, exchanging views and ideas, and most of all, resources. I happened to ask a question about "google classroom"? i am now so behind of google with its so many applications. So got an answer and then when i went in oh, my Gosh, how i love it! See, this is twitter, this is social media! You could get a quick response within minutes of your posts. People are trying to collaborate on these platforms! It is inevitable that i need to associate with these as an educator, student, and future researcher as they provide valuable resources there! Just there, why don't pick it up!
Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube and other social media platforms reflect the attitude of some people, i could not see all of them. I could not ignore either part. I need to hear voices all around. If i do want to hear voices from every level, it seems that there is no other way around but join in them!
I don't know if there's any group chat about home literacy, parenting in literature. I may need to remind myself to check and join, if no, create one!
Another thing i need to constantly remind myself is how to use all these social media. What is the role of me in each of them? I need to sort it out!
With the heavy load of work and family life, i substantially reduced the posts on Facebook and Wechat. Now what is Twitter?
I logged in my Twitter last October or November. What was that? i know that many people were talking at that block of time, but Gosh, what was the topic? i did not find it but watched.
But i could not this time, since it is a course requirement. Not complaints. But if you had an advisor who is crazy about tech, and who showed up in every social media you could imagine, you would know what i mean.
ok, so let's see what happened. Missed Breakfast talk on Wednesday morning at 5:30 twice, as i changed my schedule of sleeping routine. i will not go to bed till 4am or 5am so it would be impossible for me to get up at 5:30 in the morning! So Wednesday night at 8pm? Finally made it a few times and i think that i gradually got the sense of it!
It is a big online discussion. People from all places speak at the same block of time, exchanging views and ideas, and most of all, resources. I happened to ask a question about "google classroom"? i am now so behind of google with its so many applications. So got an answer and then when i went in oh, my Gosh, how i love it! See, this is twitter, this is social media! You could get a quick response within minutes of your posts. People are trying to collaborate on these platforms! It is inevitable that i need to associate with these as an educator, student, and future researcher as they provide valuable resources there! Just there, why don't pick it up!
Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube and other social media platforms reflect the attitude of some people, i could not see all of them. I could not ignore either part. I need to hear voices all around. If i do want to hear voices from every level, it seems that there is no other way around but join in them!
I don't know if there's any group chat about home literacy, parenting in literature. I may need to remind myself to check and join, if no, create one!
Another thing i need to constantly remind myself is how to use all these social media. What is the role of me in each of them? I need to sort it out!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
turn your writing into a picture book with the app of Puppet Edu-Observation 1
Date: March 25th, 2015
Time: 9:00-9:45
Place: Rousseau Elementary
Classroom: ELL with Terri
This one will be lengthy. As I will try to record everything i did and then followed with my reflection.
Arrived before school was opened, Terri went through what Carin and I needed to do with the 4 kids. Two girls and Two boys. One Chinese boy came from China in January, so he had his special list to do. Terri planned to share the folders in a way later.
So Carin and I went to the media center, waiting to the kids. Later, one girl and one boy came. Carin and i planned to begin when they all came, so we asked the boy to finish his cover while explaining to the girl what we were going to do with her research project. The later, the other boy and girl showed up. So We took one of the girl's cover and picture out and let all the others watch at first. The girl took two pictures of her own cover and poem and then went to the Flickr Creative Commons to search for more pictures about her animal's food, habitat and fun facts. Carin reminded that we may not have enough time to do one by one. So i went to have another girl and helped her project. So we first got the four kiddos all set of their pictures. Then we began the recording. The first girl read hers and all the other children watched. Carin held the Ipad and turned the page for her. In the mid of her reading, i took a boy and went to another table for recording.
We finished the recording in time. Collected their folders, thanked the kids and Terri and left.
Later Carin sent men an email, telling me that one of the boys' recording did not work. It kept only the first page of his voice.
Reflections:
Time Management:
45 minutes with 4 kids and two of us helpers went pretty fast. We had to do them at the same time. So possibly because we are new users of the app, but Carin asked me to imagine how could we do with a full class of kids. My answer would be to do with 1/3 or 1/2 earlier, train them and ask them to help.
App Challenge:
Pretty nice easy control app. Well, i need to pay more attention to the point of turning to a new picture. I don't think that Flickr Creative Commons offered much choice of pictures. And indeed, this step took a lot of time. Children would like to have a best picture and it took them some time to decide, maybe the time a little bit too long. So we had to nudge them to go ahead.
As time was limited, i began recording when Carin took another one. Though i chose a faraway table, the voice of the girl could still be heard distantly in the boy's recording. So where to record is another challenge. And helpers did need to know what the paper or research is all about so you could help turn the pages at the right time.
ELL learners
The children were excited. They tried to help and learn. They were engaged but when Carin and i each attended to one child, the left ones had nothing to do. So it is a concern for class management.
One thing for reading aloud their book. i think all the other three kids were feeling good about the reading aloud part, except the Chinese boy. He came to Lincoln in January, and he's a 3rd grader back in China, as i asked him. No time to know more yet. So he began to whine when i prepared for his recording. And when he began, i knew why. Although his paper looked great, neat and spellings all correct, there are many of them he could not read. I felt sorry about it. So i had to murmur some of the words to him or use my fingers to help him skipping words so that he could keep on reading. If we could ask him to read his paper instead of doing recording directly, it maybe easier for him. So for this part, i suppose that we need to take the speaking part of ELL learners into consideration.
I enjoyed the 45 minutes. I think that the children did most of the time. I am not sure the recording thing, since it seemed to arouse different feelings, one girl told me that she was excited. Well, some showed concern.
I would love to see what's going on next but i could not make it for Tomorrow as Thursday is a school day for me too.
Time: 9:00-9:45
Place: Rousseau Elementary
Classroom: ELL with Terri
This one will be lengthy. As I will try to record everything i did and then followed with my reflection.
Arrived before school was opened, Terri went through what Carin and I needed to do with the 4 kids. Two girls and Two boys. One Chinese boy came from China in January, so he had his special list to do. Terri planned to share the folders in a way later.
So Carin and I went to the media center, waiting to the kids. Later, one girl and one boy came. Carin and i planned to begin when they all came, so we asked the boy to finish his cover while explaining to the girl what we were going to do with her research project. The later, the other boy and girl showed up. So We took one of the girl's cover and picture out and let all the others watch at first. The girl took two pictures of her own cover and poem and then went to the Flickr Creative Commons to search for more pictures about her animal's food, habitat and fun facts. Carin reminded that we may not have enough time to do one by one. So i went to have another girl and helped her project. So we first got the four kiddos all set of their pictures. Then we began the recording. The first girl read hers and all the other children watched. Carin held the Ipad and turned the page for her. In the mid of her reading, i took a boy and went to another table for recording.
We finished the recording in time. Collected their folders, thanked the kids and Terri and left.
Later Carin sent men an email, telling me that one of the boys' recording did not work. It kept only the first page of his voice.
Reflections:
Time Management:
45 minutes with 4 kids and two of us helpers went pretty fast. We had to do them at the same time. So possibly because we are new users of the app, but Carin asked me to imagine how could we do with a full class of kids. My answer would be to do with 1/3 or 1/2 earlier, train them and ask them to help.
App Challenge:
Pretty nice easy control app. Well, i need to pay more attention to the point of turning to a new picture. I don't think that Flickr Creative Commons offered much choice of pictures. And indeed, this step took a lot of time. Children would like to have a best picture and it took them some time to decide, maybe the time a little bit too long. So we had to nudge them to go ahead.
As time was limited, i began recording when Carin took another one. Though i chose a faraway table, the voice of the girl could still be heard distantly in the boy's recording. So where to record is another challenge. And helpers did need to know what the paper or research is all about so you could help turn the pages at the right time.
ELL learners
The children were excited. They tried to help and learn. They were engaged but when Carin and i each attended to one child, the left ones had nothing to do. So it is a concern for class management.
One thing for reading aloud their book. i think all the other three kids were feeling good about the reading aloud part, except the Chinese boy. He came to Lincoln in January, and he's a 3rd grader back in China, as i asked him. No time to know more yet. So he began to whine when i prepared for his recording. And when he began, i knew why. Although his paper looked great, neat and spellings all correct, there are many of them he could not read. I felt sorry about it. So i had to murmur some of the words to him or use my fingers to help him skipping words so that he could keep on reading. If we could ask him to read his paper instead of doing recording directly, it maybe easier for him. So for this part, i suppose that we need to take the speaking part of ELL learners into consideration.
I enjoyed the 45 minutes. I think that the children did most of the time. I am not sure the recording thing, since it seemed to arouse different feelings, one girl told me that she was excited. Well, some showed concern.
I would love to see what's going on next but i could not make it for Tomorrow as Thursday is a school day for me too.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
parental involvement in the new literacy
For 880J, we have two required readings. The first one is about how teachers use technology at home and in their classrooms. For the lit review part, i read something quite contrary to what i have read. As the data in the paper showed that low income families have a low digital experience. I read an article published in 2010 in Britain, which said that low income families have almost the same amount of time used on technologies. How could a report in 2013 find things otherwise? Maybe one in America and the other in Britain? Anyway, i lost interest in reading it as it goes on presenting all the data in percentages. i am sorry for my unacademic way, but as this is a blog, i would like to post my true thoughts here so that i could trace back.
On the contrary, i enjoyed reading the second one "preparing students for the 21st century". Personally speaking, it provides teachers some practical ways so that we could integrate technology into our own classrooms. I haven't checked the links after each of those "projects" yet but i am sure that it will be beneficial. I should say that this article agrees with my philosophy of teaching.
Coming back to the four models introduced in the paper, i think that parental involvement should also be taken into consideration. Parental scaffolding, especially for young kids would be of great help to let the children adapt to this new type of learning to read and write. Classroom teachers should find out a way digitally connecting parents when they incorporate these projects into their classrooms. I believe that most parents would like to be involved and they would like to know what's going on in their children's school life. Just a text would be great, isn't it!
Two things i remind myself at the end of the writing here:
1. Try the technology incorporation with struggling readers first. Alway try them first. I read in Best practice to try them first and read the positive example of Daryl here in the paper. Changing a way of reading may have great impact in the way of learning to read. It is another way out!
2. Critical thinking of the websites should be introduced to the beginning readers too. Don't just suppose that they are too little to do this kind of metacognitive thinking! They could and just trust them and show them how to do it. It is such an important skill to learn and it will be too late until something going wrong. Kids could surf online without any instructions and it is better teach them what should do and should not do as early as possible. Teachers' responsibility and do do parents.
At the age of New literacies, we, teachers and parents do face great challenge as no one knows to what end it is going?
I heard an undergraduate student talking about her view of technology yesterday. I did not ask her any question about it, God knows and she suddenly went to a long lecture that she would never ask her children (when she have) to play Ipad or go on to computer at home. Her opinion is that children have enough computer time at school and they have had too much time on screen. When the kids got back home, they should be doing exercises and family chores and keeping away from all the things connected to internet and computer!
I was amazed to hear the comments from a young girl but kept on listening without asking any questions. We'll see into the future if she could do that! I certainly doubt!
On the contrary, i enjoyed reading the second one "preparing students for the 21st century". Personally speaking, it provides teachers some practical ways so that we could integrate technology into our own classrooms. I haven't checked the links after each of those "projects" yet but i am sure that it will be beneficial. I should say that this article agrees with my philosophy of teaching.
Coming back to the four models introduced in the paper, i think that parental involvement should also be taken into consideration. Parental scaffolding, especially for young kids would be of great help to let the children adapt to this new type of learning to read and write. Classroom teachers should find out a way digitally connecting parents when they incorporate these projects into their classrooms. I believe that most parents would like to be involved and they would like to know what's going on in their children's school life. Just a text would be great, isn't it!
Two things i remind myself at the end of the writing here:
1. Try the technology incorporation with struggling readers first. Alway try them first. I read in Best practice to try them first and read the positive example of Daryl here in the paper. Changing a way of reading may have great impact in the way of learning to read. It is another way out!
2. Critical thinking of the websites should be introduced to the beginning readers too. Don't just suppose that they are too little to do this kind of metacognitive thinking! They could and just trust them and show them how to do it. It is such an important skill to learn and it will be too late until something going wrong. Kids could surf online without any instructions and it is better teach them what should do and should not do as early as possible. Teachers' responsibility and do do parents.
At the age of New literacies, we, teachers and parents do face great challenge as no one knows to what end it is going?
I heard an undergraduate student talking about her view of technology yesterday. I did not ask her any question about it, God knows and she suddenly went to a long lecture that she would never ask her children (when she have) to play Ipad or go on to computer at home. Her opinion is that children have enough computer time at school and they have had too much time on screen. When the kids got back home, they should be doing exercises and family chores and keeping away from all the things connected to internet and computer!
I was amazed to hear the comments from a young girl but kept on listening without asking any questions. We'll see into the future if she could do that! I certainly doubt!
Thursday, February 5, 2015
digital! digital? digital?!
What is digital? What should be regarded as digital literacy? i am lost, to be frank! Some researchers gave so broad a definition that even "toys" that could talk are counted as "digital". I welcome the idea but still feel not confident about what it refers to? Multimodal? New Literacy? I don't know. All i could do is read, read, read and keep on reading!
But there is one thing that i do feel confident: it is the trend that technology highly involved into literacy learning, in particular with the widespread of tablets. It is a change that we are uncertain as we could not answer "to what end". Because of this uncertainty, some of us are afraid of this change, unwilling to cooperate. It is a mixed feelings toward technology used in language arts or any other disciplines. Well, we need to accomodate ourselves to the change, one way or another.
Another thing in my mind that i have to remind myself from time to time: technology is a means not an end. Ipad is supplemental or maybe parallel to prints, but neither of them would replace each other in a long run. Just like typewriter never replaces pencils, right! The question remains "to what extent?"
But there is one thing that i do feel confident: it is the trend that technology highly involved into literacy learning, in particular with the widespread of tablets. It is a change that we are uncertain as we could not answer "to what end". Because of this uncertainty, some of us are afraid of this change, unwilling to cooperate. It is a mixed feelings toward technology used in language arts or any other disciplines. Well, we need to accomodate ourselves to the change, one way or another.
Another thing in my mind that i have to remind myself from time to time: technology is a means not an end. Ipad is supplemental or maybe parallel to prints, but neither of them would replace each other in a long run. Just like typewriter never replaces pencils, right! The question remains "to what extent?"
Sunday, January 25, 2015
GOALS!!!
Experience what is happening in real classrooms!
I suppose those 18 teachers would prefer or are eager to integrate technology into their instruction. So my question with observation would be "how"? As I view technology integration into curriculum as a supplement, when and how and to whom will it been seen as the 'best' practice in real classrooms?
With my dissertation topic, which is still big, big, about digital literacy, i would like to observe and if i have chance, talk to children, watching and asking their opinions for apps or technology used in their curriculum. See what's their opinions if they are helpful.
Try to set up relationship with LPS, schools and teachers, as many as possible!
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