Week 14: Waiting for Your Technology Guru?

Our Fierce Guard Dogs, Sunny & Frances

It is always an exciting time for me when I look at student blogs towards the end of the semester. I see amazing examples of work using technology. If you would take a moment to look over all that you and your peers have accomplished so far, I think, you too, will be both excited and amazed. You are approaching the point where you don't need a tech guru. . .you can do this all on your own. However, we are not finished yet.
Tonight, we will be learning how to use iMovie! You will be making public service announcements about our wonderful university. As I told you all last week, please remember to bring headphones and if you decided to use your camera to take some images or video of the campus, that would be great too. Ideally, we will complete the entire project this evening, but there will be time next week to work on them too.
There are a lot of assignments that are still in progress, the most important of which will be the writing of your final TaskStream Narratives. These will be written with the same color-coding as the NETS I collaborative narratives. To receive credit for the course, your narratives must be almost perfect (meaning I have changed almost all of your narratives to black!). Some of the other assignments are the Symbaloo Webmix/Portfolio that will be placed into TaskStream. Your two artifacts per NETS will be color-coded and labeled. If you do a good job with your NETS-T Mind Map, you should have a great graphic organizer to assist your writing. And don't forget your Journal 6-10 and Emerging Technology assignments. On a positive note, the next two weeks will be spent polishing up your blogs, TaskStream narratives, and Symbaloo portfolios!

This Week's Question: What is your current favorite thing to do when you aren't taking care of school work. . .

Week 13: Gaining Confidence?

My friend Mark on top of Cowels Mountain

Wow, we only have four class meetings left! Crazy, but true. Besides the final NETS narratives, we only have the Mind Map and iMovie assignments left. Of course, you still have to finish past work: your Journal 6-10 (PLN & Adaptive Technology), Cybersafety Collaborative Website, Emerging Technology Checklist, and completing your Symbaloo Webmix Portfolio (plus any past revisions). To that end, it's important that you look at your Edmodo notifications and/or progress to see what you need to revise. If you have any questions please check in with me either before or after class.
Today, I have to do a Web Tool Wednesday presentation for the San Diego Country Office of Education. It's from 3:30 - 4:30. I will probably hit traffic on the 15 N, so I may be a few minutes late in arriving. I'm sure you have plenty to work on. It would be a good time to help your peers with any questions they might have about your collaborative website. Yu can also begin to put more of your work on your blog if you haven't already (this is when you refer to your Emerging Technology Checklist). When I arrive, we can discuss the websites and what and how to complete your page. We will also begin the Mind Map assignment, revisit Symbaloo and TaskStream. If there is enough time, I will have you create the new Google Doc that will be the final NETS-t Narratives. Remember, this is the closest thing we will have to a "final exam," and you cannot receive credit for the course if the NETS Narratives are not in order.

This Week's Question: As we are working on a competency/mastery based type of course, where you do not receive credit for your work until you have reached mastery, I wonder what, if anything you have discovered about yourself as a learner? Did you find yourself looking at the assignments differently? Do you like this method or would you rather just submit your assignment, receive a grade, and move on?

Week 12: Flipping for Technology. . .

My daughter Zoe (left) and her friend Taylor in Mammoth

Hopefully, you all missed our class so much over Spring Break that you cannot wait to get going this evening. I'm sure than many of you decided to forgo any fun Spring Break activities to concentrate on technology, right? Well okay then. . . The Prezis should be completed and the assessment should be well on its way. . .I will ensure you all know how to get both of these on a blog page with the formatting adjusted to fit the width of your blog post. You will be presenting these to your peers in small, grade range groups. This is why it is so important that you are finished with your project. If you already published your assignment as a blog post instead of a page, you can either try to fix it or wait for my help. I believe that everyone is finally enrolled in my TaskStream container (except for one person), so I will show you all how to request feedback from me. After our presentations have been completed, we will move on to the cybersafety collaborative websites and the NETS-T Mind Map assignment. Of course, you have plenty of assignments in progress: Journal 7 (PLN), Journal 8 (Adaptive Technology), the other jornals, and some are still completing the Excel, Symbaloo and a variety of some older assignments. Considering that we only have four more meetings, please be mindful of your time and how much you will need to complete the rest of the course. And take full advantage of the extra help available before and after class.

This Week's Question: Do you see yourself integrating technology into your future classes? How do you see this happening?

Educational Chat/PLN

Week 10: If Your Spring Breaks, Do You Have Insurance?

Spring Break on the Mountain!

As we get ready to meet for the last time before spring break, take a moment to reflect on all that you have accomplished so far. There has been a lot of great work and effort going on in our class. I hope you all can appreciate the progress you have made. I know I do!
Don't forget that we are starting out the evening in an educational chat on Twitter. The time is from 5pm to 6pm and the hashtag is #ntchat, which stands for new teacher chat. All but one of us was present last week, so I believe everyone knows what to do! I will be in class early as well to help. This is a great way to get part of your PLN assignment completed.
You should have a fair amount of work in progress: Journals 6-10, the PLN (Journal 7), Symbaloo, NETS narratives, and your Prezi.  Tonight, we will do the educational chat, work on the Prezi, learn how to use Google Forms to create an assessment of the Prezi, discuss Journal 8 (also the Adaptive Technology assignment), and receive an introduction to the Emerging Technology Checklist! I have graded everything that is due so far. I have even received a few Symbaloo certification email forwards, so I'm glad to hear that is going well.
Looking at the rest of the semester, we only have four more assignments: a collaborative cybersafety website, an iMovie PSA (public service announcement), a NETS-T mind map, and the writing of your complete narratives (NETS-T II-V). Easy, right? 

This Week's Question: If you could go anywhere you want for spring break, where would you go? And realistically, what are you doing next week?  (I will be going snowboarding in Mammoth with a large group of friends again this year!)

Week 9: Time for a Pre-Zen-Tation!

Wow, we are clearly reaching the end of our experience. I want to commend you all on your willingness to take chances and to also support your peers. Our small group really allows me to do things that I haven't been able to do in awhile. The collaborative narratives went better than they ever have and I had time to explain in much greater depth. This gives me hope for the rest of your narratives. . .no pressure, though ;-)
Tonight, we are going to look at a PowerPoint alternative - Prezi. It's a non-linear web-based presentation tool that is just getting better and better. We will be creating a presentation looking at the NETS for students (NETS-S) and how you might be able to integrate technology for your particular grade level. Don't forget that we still have many other assignments in the works. . .There are the Journals 6-10, the PLN, Symbaloo Certification, NETS-T narratives, and any other project you haven't finished.
I will be in class early to help anyone who needs assistance! This would be a great time to get some quality one-on-one help if you need it!

This Week's Question: What has been the hardest course you have taken in school at any level and why?

Week 8: It's Time to be Great!

My Lily Rose blowing bubbles. . .

Okay, couldn't help the rhyme with the week number. However, I am feeling like everyone is making great progress toward their technological competence. As a small group, we will definitely share the drafts of the NETS-I collaborative narratives. I am optimistic that we can get these perfected by the end of class tonight. . .I never said I was a realist. . .

Tonight, we will take another look at the NETS-I collaborative narratives, work on your Excel assignment (Bring those headphones!), and get an introduction to Symbaloo and the PLN assignment. . .This is a very unique opportunity for this group as the Computer Using Educators Conference is this week. The hashtag for the conference is #cue13. I suggest you put it in your TweetDeck and then you can participate in the conference virtually. . .This is a great opportunity to see some of the most current technologies in CA and beyond. . . It will also count as an educational chat on Twitter if you are able to grab at least 10 awesome tweets and reflect on what your learned or why they spoke to you. . .

We have also moved into Journals 6-10, so there is always going to be something on your plate. Thanks for all of your hard work and support as you become technology ninjas!!

This week's Question: Do you think the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) should be required to graduate high school? Why or why not?