Final Reflection

Final Reflection:

1) I have learned quite a bit with the Cool Tools PD.  I know that I am a much bigger fan of Google than I previously thought.  It was intimidating, there is so much that can be done and learning to use it all seems impossible.  It still seems impossible, but now seems more manageable.  Computers make me nervous and I resisted them as much as possible.  One of the biggest things I learned from going through these different tools is that playing with them is the key to learning how they work and what they can actually do. 

I have not implemented the student safety portion that I learned about, but I do plan (and I have a note in google keep) to roll something out to my school based planning team to do so for next fall.  Something more in depth than a paper with a internet use agreement on it.

The kids are working more with slides and less with power point.  It seems that it has become enjoyable for them because there are more tools for them to create with.  This project of making a timeline with their DBQ has been great.  It takes a relatively mundane assignment and adds tech, creativity and collaboration to it.

2) I am excited to contact parents about the sharing notes.  It will save phone calls and keep them more in the loop.  I already have notes with important upcoming dates and assignments that I am looking forward to sharing.  Not only will it be less work than making copies and sending them home, but it should be more efficient as well. 

As for the other items I looked at I will continue to build on the implementation that I started.  It is awesome that google is so interactive.  It makes collaboration so much easier and efficient.

3) I was horrible with procrastinating on this session.  I got involved with a book reading PD and it is taking forever because I am not overly interested in the book.  I have to read and re-read over and over to get the authors message and it is overwhelming me.

This PD was great. I like that it is on my time and is flexible.  For instance not having to cover all the aspects of each tool and spending time with what interested me kept me engaged.  Also, I am computer illiterate and have a bit of tech-phobia, Cool Tools has opened me up to playing with technology and exploring what can be done.

I hope I can do next years because I did two sessions this year.  And I have many colleagues that I recommended it to and they are enjoying this as well.

For the future I would ask, can I do the same tool again and look at other things that I didn’t have time for this time through?

Thing 27

Thing 27:

My current note taking system is paper and pencil.  I keep a running to do list in a note book.  My school/professional things go in the front, and my home/personal items go in the back. The more urgent things get a star and the date they need to be done, while less urgent items get a due date but no other markings.  For PDs and courses I have another notebook designated.  I keep the name and date of the event on the inside cover with what page the notes are on for each, like a table of contents.  It is messy and hard to manage but it works for me.  Now that I am becoming busier and things are piling up it is not convenient.  I wanted to explore a new way to do things and I came across google keep in this section; so I gave it a whirl.

So I started out reading the tutorial about Keep and it was interesting.  All the things that I am doing with my many notebooks and slips of paper I could be keeping on lists in my pocket on my phone.  So that is where I am converting things over to.  I like it because I have access to it on my lap top or my phone.  The lists or notes are easy to organize and easy to find.  The video was also pretty helpful.  Something that struck me when the person said you can add collaborators was the fact that we work in so many committees and teams.  Currently one group I am in is working on a slide presentation and we have meetings that get moved around.  This allows us to share ideas in a easier format and we can adjust times with reminders so you aren’t left out if you don’t check your email.  I have invited a few co-workers in to try keep in order to organize a project that will have a few steps.

I envision that we make a list of what needs to be done and assign jobs to each other.  Using Keep we can go in and add to the list, or mark things that have been completed.  It is easy to convert it into docs for people who are more comfortable with that format as well. 

Lastly for students, I know the video spoke to research and writing papers.  I think I could see it as more of a tool for organizing assignments for class.  It could work as a virtual agenda.  If the students keep homework assignments, projects or upcoming events in notes and share with their parents it would be an easy way to get the info home so kids wouldn’t forget.  I also thought that if parents were interested I could share my notes with them in case their kids did not. 

Very cool tool.

Thing 11

Thing 11:

I chose this lesson for both professional and personal reasons.  Having young kids at home we have run into problems of online awkwardness.  My family has worked together to be sure we are making safe and conscientious decisions online.  I wish I had some of the evidence and examples when we first encountered the issue that I do now.  My daughter was snap chatting with someone she knew only through a friend.  He fortunately enough is an acquaintance and contacted us to let us know what was happening.  We were lucky that there was nothing inappropriate shared.

Currently my position is in a middle school, and we have lots of drama.  At the beginning of the year our students sign an agreement for internet use.  This is fine for the school day when the usage is monitored, but what about when they get home.  Many of the problems we see during our day stems from social media activity from the weekend/evening before.  For this reason, I am planning to work on setting something up with our teachers to present the Be Awesome Online presentation from Google.  The ideas are well organized and covers a great deal of the basics of online responsibility.  This is something that would preface sometime working with the UBC Digital Tattoo Project (Protect).  The videos detail the concerns that all people should have online.  It brings a real life exemplar that the kids may listen to more closely because there are known sources such as the FBI giving the info.

Thing 7:

I have been a Microsoft user since college.  Even though I am going through these tech PD’s I still am not comfortable with most of what I am seeing.  For Thing 7 I decided to work in a power point I created earlier in the year.  It was a very bland item with no bells and whistles.  I used the record slide show with narrations to try and make it more interesting and interactive.  I found that I do not like the Microsoft program as much as I used to.  I was able to add animation and make it look nice, but it was hard to get it out for my kids because we use google.

I am in the process of redoing the presentation in google slides.  I like the program better.  The kids seem to think it is easier to navigate.  So for the DBQ I decided to go a different way.  I was scrolling through the timeline section of thing 7 and went into the screencast.  It had a cool explanation of timelines.  I had the students begin exploring ways to develop a timeline in google slides with the documents from the DBQ.  I had them scrambled in a slide show and the kids had to analyze them to figure out where each should go.  It is a work in progress, but they are analyzing, restating and organizing all at one time. 

I am excited to get into different areas of thing 7.

Thing 5

Thing 5: Audio Tools

This has been something we have used throughout the year in math classes I work in. Each lesson is recorded and shared with students in their google classroom. The note sheets are preprinted and left blank for students to fill in.  We started at the same point unit 1 lesson 1.  We have worked our way through the year and the students are at various stages.  We have an advanced group that is starting in unit 6 and some lower level groups that are finishing up unit 4.  The students are required to go through a note section, practice problems that are recorded and then a you try section.  We encourage the kids to go back to the videos before asking teachers for assistance.  Until they receive an acceptable score on an exit ticket then continue with practice problems before moving on.

This has helped the students with pacing themselves.  We have discovered that self-pacing has been beneficial to a majority of the students by causing “competition”.  The students recognize where their peers are and most want to at least keep up, but many want to go ahead.

Reading through the articles I was looking for an audio app where the students could interact with the video when outside of class.  We have some that wanted to get ahead or missed some days so they needed to catch up.  I think it would be helpful if they could post a video question right in their lesson.  Looking through the different audio tools it appears google keep would be the best program in order to take their pic and add a audio question for the teacher. 

I also enjoy chatterpix.  I have never heard of that until I was going through thing 5.  When I need to send a message I would like to use this app with my kids.  I made a pic of our dog saying “please feed me” and showed my daughter one day.  She thought it was hilarious.  Now I want to learn how to send it to her when so the kids have a new fun way to get messages from us.