APA NCES NAEP Assignment

In this activity we were asked to run descriptive data on NAEP results from an excel spread sheet.  We first had to go to the NCES NAEP Site to be able to download the excel spread sheet that contained the data needed to complete this assignment.  It was all documented through (NAEP) National Assessment of Educational Progress and (NCES) National Center for Education Statistics.  To go and see all state  comparisons in any subject go NCES.  If you want to download the stats that we had to do for this assignment go here.

After I selected the criteria of 8th grade, Mathematics, the gender spread sheet showed up and I was able to work on what I needed to do for the assignment.. From there I uploaded it to excel so I could work with the data. I then had to highlight all the information that I needed to produce where WV was compared to all of the other states.  I was also able to scroll down the student's overall score to determine the average of 283.

The next step I had to do was conduct a t-test on who was smarter between the males and females.  From there I was able to see if there was a significant difference between the male and female scores on the 8th grade math test.  I feel more confident that I reported my findings more properly this time around compared to the last APA assignment. To help accomplish this I went to Paired Samples to help provide a reference on what I needed to do to report my findings.  Here is a picture of what I did to find my information.

This activity goes with standard #5: Participate in Professional Growth and Leadership. This standard is where we as educators can dive into data and statistics to help students improve their learning through technology. I feel it is this standard because we are exhibiting leadership by demonstrating technology infusion, by participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and and technology skill of others.  To see more examples of standard number 5 go to ISTE NETS T. 

Saving A YouTube Video To Your Computer

I didn't have to setup a you tube account because I already did that when we had the one assignment where we had to download a you tube video into a googl doc presentation.  I must have done it at that point because I tried to figure out where to sign up and kept putting me to my you tube account.

Saving a you tube video was kind of hard at first because I think I was overlooking what I had to do to upload a you tube video.  After posing a discussion question I was quickly answered and I figured it out right away with all the great advice that I was given.  I decided to save it into real player as well as a google doc so I could put it into my blog.  I really want to play guitar since I am a huge metal and rock fan so I chose to pick a video on learning how to play guitar to get me started.  Here is the original link to the you tube video that I chose How To Play Guitar.  To the side is the video that I downloaded from you tube on how to play guitar for beginners.

To see how I downloaded my video go to this link to see the picture that I captured of me choosing the video I wanted for this assignment it isYou Tube Video Picture.   After I uploaded my video I then went back to my you tube account and clicked on the link that it gave me since I downloaded it from somewhere else.  The link to my video is now right here My You Tube Video.

This assignment goes along with standard number one because it facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity.  This is a great tool for students to explore when doing an assignment that they can connect a you tube video that goes along with the content that I am teaching in Biology class.  They would be learning how to use technology appropriately and it would inspire them to be more creative as it has for me since I have been doing the assignments required for this class.  To read more on standard number one go to ISTE NETS T.

APA Action Research Report

I have used APA guidelines before to write a research report for another education class through FSU.  I was still a little frustrated because it has been a while since I have written in this format.  The biggest trouble I have had was with converting my APA Action Research  Project from a word document into a google doc.  I think the links we were given were really helpful since I haven't written on APA format in a while.  I went to Purdue EDU to brush up on writing in APA format. 

Why this was still a stressful assignment I am really glad that we got to use APA in this class because it is always good to know how to type up a proper research paper.  I am pretty sure that I typed the correct parts that were required for this assignment.  I'm not real sure if I did the tables correctly in APA format, I have never put in tables for and APA formatted assignment.  I understood my results and found that my hypothesis was correct as well as my null hypothesis.  To understand the tables in APA format I went to Purdue EDU Tables. 

The APA Action Research Project best matches up with standard #5. The assignment we did really goes hand-in-hand with professional growth. The APA Action Research Project incorporated technology tools, student data, self-reflection, and self-growth. By doing this activity it really opened my eyes and allowed me to think about how I could change my teaching style to help benefit all students regardless of their individual learning needs.  I also think that it is great that I got to use a different tech tool that I can share with my colleagues at work.  To read more about standard number 5 go to ISTE NETS T.

I have provided the three links that are within my blog at the bottom as well just in case they aren't working within the blog for some reason.  Link 1 is Purdue EDU, Link 2 is Purdue EDU Tables, and Link 3 is ISTE NETS T.



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T Test and Data

This is my example of a  T-test for Gender and Blog Posts data look Here

This is my example of a T-test for Gender and Millennial Age data take a look Here. 

The next thing I want to share is the completed charts for our assignment.

 

The data for the top two charts, is what Dr. Pierce asked us to see if there was an impact between Chrome and IE on scores?  The top data chart indicated that these two had the least amount of impact on scores.


My original research question, hypothesis, and null hypothesis are:


Research Questions:
1. Why are the blog posts more for males than females considering there are fewer males in the class?
2. Why aren't the blog posts more for the females considering there are more females in the class?

Hypothesis:
1. Males have more blogs even though there a fewer because their millennial age score is lower.
2. Females have less blogs because their millennial age score is higher.

Null Hypothesis:
The Number of discussion postings is not dependent on how many males and females are in the class.

Independent Variable: Gender (sex)

Dependent Variables: Blog Posts and Millennial Age Score

Millennial Info.:
The females according to this data are considered to be Millennial because their Millennial Score was 73 or higher than 63%.  The males according to the data are also considered to be Millennial because the Millennial Score was 73 or higher than 42%.

Blog Posts
The first thing I did while trying to obtain the data I needed for my research was that I ran descriptive data for only the blog posts data.  By doing this I was able to find out the Median was 15, and from there I was able to formulate those who had 8 blog posts or higher and the Millennial score being 73 because of the 8 or more blog posts.  After finding this I was able to find those who had more blog posts and if there Millennial score was less than 73.  The next thing I did was broke it down between male and female due to the hypothesis I was using.  I feel the theory held true but my findings suggests that there is only one female that has 8 blog posts compared to 29 other male and female students who have 13 or more blog posts.  The males blog posting percentage was right around 43% where as the female blog posting was 59%.

I think my hypothesis was more true with a mix of male and female posting more than 8 blogs.  So females have less blog postings because their millennial score is higher than the males.  The males have more blog postings because their millennial score is lower than the females.

Regarding my null hypothesis I still believe it holds true because male blog posts are more than blog posts for females.


 This entire activity relates to standard number 5.  Because we were engaging in professional growth and leadership and in my case I do not always use Excel so it was something that I have grown to understand a little better.  I feel that T-test are a perfect example of standard 5 and we as teachers should learn how to use it because we can now test multiple variables instead of one.  I also think it relates to standard 5 because it is a tool that I am not familiar with and it engaged me in professional growth in terms of getting to know different tools to use for myself and for my classroom.  To see more of standard 5 go to ISTE NETS T.


THIS ASSIGNMENT WAS REALLY HARD AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO FRUSTRATED! BUT I AM GLAD I WENT THROUGH IT I KNOW MORE ABOUT EXCEL THEN I EVER HAVE BEFORE.

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Data Anayliss/Research Question And Hypothesis

Using the data that we were given I have came up with my research questions, hypothesis, and null hypothesis.

Research Questions:
1. Why are the blog posts more for males than females considering there are fewer males in the class?
2. Why aren't the blog posts more for the females considering there are more females in the class?

Hypothesis:
1. Males have more blogs even though there a fewer because their millennial age score is lower.
2. Females have less blogs because their millennial age score is higher.

Null Hypothesis:
The Number of discussion postings is not dependent on how many males and females are in the class.

With the data we were  given our age and gender would be considered as the Independent Variables. The Discussion Posts, Millennial Age, Blog Posts, Personality, Fake Quiz, Browser, and Teaching/Non Teaching would be the Dependent Variables.

I got my information by sorting it into two groups; male and female. After I did this I went to each subgroup and found the averages of each of those subgroups.  I wrote down all of the information so that I could formulate my research questions and hypothesis.

Females: 22 total
D posts: 15.64
Mill Age:  72.73
Age: 31.82
B Posts: 15
Personality: = 13.6% for the following personality types/ ISFP, ISFJ, INFP, INFJ, ESFJ
T/ NOT T: 72.73% are teaching
Quiz: 74.59%
Browser: Internet Explorer
Males: 7 total
D. Posts:=16.57
Mill Age: 69.57
Age: 33.29
B Posts: 16.86
Personality: ESFJ = 28.5%
T/NT= 4/7 teaching =57.15%
Quiz: 79%
Browser: S =28.5%
              IE =28.5%
              FF = 28.5%
The standard that best fits this assignment would be standard number 5.  I think it is this standard because we are engaging in professional growth and leadership.  We are also continuously improving professional practice, modeling lifelong learning, and exhibiting leadership in school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating effective use of digital tools and resources.  To see more on this standards and others go to ISTE NETS T.

I have added the ISTE NETS T Link at the bottom.

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Excel Activity And Data

For this assignment I downloaded the data that was compiled from the midterm we took by using excel.  After downloading the data we were supposed to take the text values and convert them to discrete numerical values.  By using discrete numerical values you are able to put those values into ascending and descending order, by doing this I will be able to compare my data with the rest of the class.  I have not used excel that much and so far this is pretty nerve racking for me.  I know I need to be able to use excel but it is a challenge right now for me.  To find more out on a discrete numerical value is go to Discrete Numerical Value.  

The standard that closely relates to this assignment is standard number 3 because we are modeling digital age work and learning.  To read more about standard number 3 go to ISTE NETS T.

I added the two links that I used for this blog at the bottom.  Link 1 is discrete numerical order and Link 2 ISTE NETS T.

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Research Overview

Over the next couple of days we are going to take a look at some data from our class.  We are going to put this data into MS Excel and choose what data we are going to use for our research project.  I really like how Dr. Pierce point out that West Virginia is almost dead last in so many categories is really sad to me. To check out the research overview go to Research Overview.  For us to be able to understand this better we need to first find a causal relationship between many of the contributing factors that have hurt West Virginia and put us nearly dead last.  To be able to do this we must first install the Analysis ToolPak.  To do so we need to go to Analysis ToolPak.  The Analyses ToolPak takes you too the EXCEL add-in menu bar and basically from there it gives you step-by-step instructions on how you use incorporate it into Excel.

The standard that closely relates to this assignment is standard number three.  I believe it relates to standard number three because we as teachers are modeling digital age work and learning by participating in a research project, using Microsoft Excel, and discussing our findings through a classroom discussion via the internet. To read more of standard number three go to ISTE NETS T.

I have added the research overview, analysis toolpak, and ISTE NETS T.

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Midterm Self-Assessment

I think that I am doing really well at the midway point of the semester.  I have never had so many assignments where I was so pressed for time to get it done.  Since I know there is assignments that have to be due at a certain time I have been working hard to get them done when they need to be.  I am really proud of myself because I tend to put things off and do it when I feel like it but this class has helped me focus on getting it done and not playing around.  I thought the self-assessment was a great way to reflect on everything I have done to this point in the class.  To check out the self-assessment go to Midterm Self-Assessment.  I like survey quizzes and think it would be cool to use in my class.

I feel the standard that applies to the self-assessment would be standard number 2 because it reflects digital age learning and assessments. To read more of standard number 2 and the other standards go to ISTE NETS T

The two links I have added are the ISTE NETS T and the Midterm Self-Assessments.

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Pew Millennial Quiz

The millennial quiz wasn't really hard but I felt that there were some answers that I could have answered both ways.  So I decided to stay true to who I am and answered like I would have if these questions were asked in a small group discussion.  To take the millennial quiz go to Pew Millennial Quiz.  It is not a hard quiz to take and it makes you think a little so it is worth checking out if you haven't taken it.  I think this quiz was worth taking because it shows you were you are in terms of other generations that have taken the quiz.  I would have my students take this quiz and see where they score at compared to other generations as well as my score.

I think the standard for this assignment would be standard number five.  I think this standard fits because as teachers we are supposed to continuously improve professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in our schools and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.  This applies to pew millennial quiz because it is something we can show our students as well as parents how to take and it will give them results on how millennial they are compared to other generations.  To read more of standard number five go to ISTE NETS T.

At the bottom I have added the Pew Millennial Quiz, and the ISTE NETS T Standards.

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Personality Blog Post #2

I was impressed that I was pretty close to the personality type that I picked out before I took the actual personality test.  In my first blog post I blogged that I was a ESFP and after taking the personality test it revealed from my score that I was actually a ESFJ.  The main thing that I forgot about myself when I was coming up with my hypothetical personality is that I am a very judge mental person.  To take the personality test go to Personality Test and see if your four letter code matches after the test.

I think that since I know my personality type that it would benefit me in different situations.  When working with students I will be able to be aware of my warm and caring nature for my students when they are in a spot where they want my advice with something.  I do this now with all of my students they are not afraid to come and talk to me if they need something or if they know that they are going to do something that might not be appropriate they ask me for help. To read up on my personality type go to Myers-Briggs.


I can tie in both a group of teachers and group of principals by reflecting on my judge mental side of my personality.  I am very judge mental in that I like to judge people on how they present themselves in front of me and how they react to things that I say as well as how they treat others around me.  I know it is not nice to judge others but that is just how I am and since I know this I am able for the most part not always judging especially when it comes to my colleagues and principals at the school I work at.  I have judged teachers and for the most part I am pretty good judge of character.  To check out my temperament go to Keirsey Temerament.

The standard I would use for this assignment would be standard number five.  I believe this is the closest standard because for standard number five we are continuously trying to improve professional practice, modeling lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in school and in our community by promoting and demonstrating effective use of digital tools and resources.  I feel this best fits because as teachers we need to know who we are first before we can teach our students.  If we know our personalities then we will be better equipped to teach our students and be able to change certain things we do as teachers that might bother our students.  To find standard number five and the other standards go to NETS ISTE T.

I have also added the link for the personality test, the reading on personality, temperament, and the NETS ISTE T standards.

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Personality Blog Post #1

My four letter code that I came up with is ESFP.  I agree that the code that I created reflects my personality as a person as well as a teacher.  The main thing that I agree with is that I am outgoing, friendly and accepting of others.  To find your personality go to Myers-Briggs to form a four code that closely relates to who you are as a person.  It is best to read about how Myers-Briggs rates who you are a person before you come up with a four letter code because it might not actually represent who you are unless you read everything first.

My hypothetical temperament is that of an artisan, but I am at the performer level of artisan.  As a performer I am able to delight people around me with my warmth, good humor, with often extraordinary skill in comedy and drama.  I agree with that statement because I am very funny and I do try to keep the people around me entertained as well as in a good mood. I am very social and do try to keep my colleagues from worrying about work all the time and to try and relax and enjoy themselves as well as life. After you have found your four letter code go to Kiersey Temperaments to find out what kind of temperament you have.

The standard I would use for this assignment would be standard number five.  I believe this is the closest standard because for standard number five we are continuously trying to improve professional practice, modeling lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in school and in our community by promoting and demonstrating effective use of digital tools and resources.  I feel this best fits because as teachers we need to know who we are first before we can teach our students.  If we know our personalities then we will be better equipped to teach our students and be able to change certain things we do as teachers that might bother our students.  To find standard number five and the other standards go to NETS ISTE T. 

Overall I feel that my four letter code and hypothetical temperament describe me perfectly and this was a cool assignment to work on.  At the bottom I have added the three links that are throughout my blog in this order Myers-Briggs, Kiersey Temperaments, and the NETS ISTE T standards.

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Audacity Podcast 2

The second part of this assignment blog is for me to vent because this assignment took a long time to figure out and was extremely hard.  I did have fun doing this assignment but it took a huge amount of time to finish and I am not used to things taking so long.  This assignment I think bettered me in away that I am now a little more patient with things since this took so long I can't complain when other things don't go quickly went I want them to.  Audacity is awesome so check it out at Audacity download.

I did use another picture to show where I put in a fade out and an echo effect into music.  I didn't label where I put in a fade in within my music for my podcast but it is there.  To listen to it go to rburkhart podcast.  I can honestly say that I am glad this assignment is over because it was so lengthy and I kept changing my mind with what to use within my podcast. I am however, glad that I got to use this cool tech tool and would like to use it with my students as well as my colleagues.  To upload your podcast you should go to Pod Bean its free and it is really easy to use.

I recommend using audacity and pod bean to help publish your own podcast because it is really neat and useful.

I added links for audacity, my podcast, and pod bean at the bottom.

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Audacity Podcast 1

Audacity was a really cool tool that I had the opportunity to use.  To be honest it was new to me so it was really hard for a while until I started using our discussion tool for this class and I want to thank everyone that helped me because without you I would not have finished this assignment.  To download audacity go to audacity download.

Audacity is a real cool tech tool that we could use in our classrooms as well as having our students do their own podcast.  This assignment called for a lot of working hours and it took me a while to figure some things out the would later become easier.  I put a picture of some of my podcast to by using jing to show which is a music audio and which wavelength is a voice audio. To upload my podcast I used pod bean which is really neat so if you haven't downloaded this tool you can by going to Pod Bean .

The ISTE NETS standards for this assignment would include standards 1, 3, and 5.  Standard 1 because we are inspiring and facilitating student learning and creativity, standard number 3 because we are modelling digital age work and learning, and standard number 5 because in this assignment we are engaging in professional growth and leadership.  An example of number 1for this assignment would be that we are promoting, supporting, and modeling creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.  An example of number 3 in this assignment by demonstrating fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.  An example of number 5 in this assignment by exhibiting leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion.  To find the standards I used  go to ISTE NETS T.

To view my podcast go to rburkhart podcast

The links below are to audacity, pod bean, and my podcast

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Voice Thread Assignment

After using the voice thread tool I found it to be really fun and interesting.  I think it is a really cool technology tool that we as teachers can use with our students in the classroom.  I enjoyed it because it is something I can use in my classroom with my LD students as well as my co-taught classes to help incorporate technology with the content I am teaching.  You can find out more by going to Voice Threads.  I suggest checking it out because it will be worth your while and it will help you be creative in your classroom.

The voice thread required for this class was really fun!  It is really important to watch the two videos to complete the assignment. The first video can be found at Ken Robinson and the second video can be found at Ken Robinson Paradigms.  The two videos I mentioned are very helpful and they make you think of how you are going to motivate your classes to be creative and engaged.  Ken Robinson also talks about ADHD in his first video if I remember correctly.  ADHD is such a big topic and I am glad that Ken Robinson discussed it because if you are not doing anything that is going to hook your class into what you are teaching then the most likely the student with the ADHD as well as the others will not be engaged and it will cause problems in your classroom. The comments I made to our class voice thread can be found at Class Voice Thread.

This assignment covers all areas of the ISTE NETS Standards and is really all about being creative so that we don't end up having those bored students in our classrooms falling a sleep and looking like they would rather be somewhere else. This assignment definitely reflects on standard number one because we are Facilitating and Inspiring Student Learning and Creativity, it also reflects standard number two as well because we are Designing and Developing Digital -Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.  To read more of the standards go to ISTE NETS T.

I have included the voice thread video for what a voice thread is, our class voice thread, as well as the Ken Robinson videos in this order.

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Benderconverter

I think the benderconverter tool is really cool and I plan on using this to make some presentations that I can add videos to reiterate what I was teaching my class in Biology.  I would also tell other to use this tool if they have not already heard about it.  To check it out go to  Benderconverter  and download the software for realplayer and start downloading youtube videos and embedding them into your Google Doc Presentations.  Benderconverter not only works for videos but for music as well so this is a really cool tool to have in your back pocket when you want to create a great presentation to blow your colleagues away.

 I chose to do my benderconverter assignment on photosynthesis because that is what I am going over with my students in biology class right now.  To check out my Google Docs Presentation go to Photosynthesis and click on the video for a cool and easy way to remember what photosynthesis is all about. The easiest way I found to embed my youtube video was by using Google Docs Presentation, because I also tried to do it in power point and it was hard to do.

I think that the standards that closely relate to the benderconverter assignment is standard number two and standard number three.  Standard number 2 deals with designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments.  Standard number 3 deals with modeling digital-age work and learning. I feel these two closely relates to this assignment because in standard #2 you want to  design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. In standard #3 you are demonstrating fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations, this is helpful in that you are teaching your students how to us it as well.  To see more examples of how standard number two and three relate to the benderconverter assignment go to ISTE NETS T

I provided two links at the bottom of the page the first one is for the benderconverter and the second one is for my Google Doc Presentation to ensure that anyone is able to see my assignment.

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Jing Screencast

For the first time ever I had a chance to create a video without using a webcam or a video camera.  I really feel that Jing is an awesome tool and I am so glad that I got to use this tech tool!  To check out this really fun and easy tech tool you can go to Jing.  The video part of this is was actually kind of easy and I was expecting it to be extremely hard and I would have to do it over and over again to grasp how to use the video part of it.  I like this tech tool so much I have shared it with my colleagues at work.

I chose to do my Jing Screencast on the Picasso head because it was a lot easier to navigate and show step by step instructions.  To check out the Picasso head go to Create Picasso Head.  I had a great time using this as my screencast as well as a tech too that I can share with my students in the classroom.  The creativity of the Picasso Head is really awesome for all of my students and I have been telling them about it and they want to learn how to use it. 

 To visit my Jing Screencast go to Jing Video .  I hope you enjoy what I have created and if you don't use Jing maybe this little assignment will change your mind.

I feel this assignment is a great way to model digital-age work and learning.  The standard closely related is ISTE NETS T # 3.  Since I have learned how to snip images and use jing, I have two new ways to capture pictures and capture videos without using a webcam or a video camera.  I can also relate standard #3 to this assignment because we as teachers are collaborating with our students and peers with relevant information and ideas effectively by using a variety of digital-age media formats.  To read more of the standards go to ISTE NETS T.


The tow links provided are for Jing and my screencast as well.


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Readings #2

The second reading for TPCK deals with pedagogical content knowledge or (PCK).  PCK represents the blending of of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular aspects of subject matter are organized and adapted (Mishra-Koehler, 2006. P. 1021-1022).  I fond it interesting that Shulman (1986) would argue that having knowledge of subject matter and general pedagogical strategies, are necessary, is not sufficient for capturing the knowledge of good teachers.  I feel it is interesting because in most schools the principal's are more worried about content knowledge rather than how good a teacher really is in his/her classroom.  PCK and Shulman can be found out here at  TPCK, if you want to check it out on your own the reading is really interesting and worth your while.

Mishra and Koehler emphasis on PCK is based on Shulman's acknowledgement that pedagogical content knowledge is of special interest because it identifies the distinctive bodies of knowledge for teaching (Mishra-Koehler, 2006. P.1022).  You can also view this at the reading document at TPCK.  Their work also represents the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how topics, problems, or issues are organized, represented, and adapted to the diverse interests and abilities of learners, and finally presented for instruction. (p. 8). Another resource available is at gnowledge.

From reading this I am understanding more and more each day why technology is important to learn and teach to your class.  Having new technology at our disposal is changing the nature of our classrooms as well as the potential to do so.  The ability to use interactive blackboards to draw on, interactive multimedia simulations to etchings on a clay tablet or web-based hypertexts.  Having these capabilities is very important for teachers since we are moving towards the 21st century technology within our CSO's.  Find out more about PCK at gnowledge.

Reading number two closely relates to standards number 1, 2, and 3 in the ISTE NETS T.  The reading relates to these standards because for standard number one as the teacher is facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity, standard number two deals with the teacher designing digital age learning experiences and assessments, standard number three deals in modeling digital age work and learning.  Standard one also engages students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools to find out more examples go to ISTE NETS T.  Standard two also allows you to design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.  Standard three deals in teachers demonstrating fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.  To find more examples of the three standards described above go to ISTE NETS T.

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Jeopardy Labs

I have always used Jeopardy as a review tool for every class I have ever taught in.  The only thing is that I made my Jeopardy tool out of poster board and laminated it,until now by using Jeopardy Labs it has made it easier for me to create a Jeopardy review without writing on cards all of the time.

You too can now use this tool by going to Jeopardy Labs and making your own Jeopardy review game.  It is quick and easy and best of all it is free to use. 


I think that Jeopardy Labs closely relates to standard numbers 2 and 3 for ISTE NETS T.  I feel they closely relate to these two standards because as teachers we want to design and and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments for our students (standard # 2), as well as modeling digital age work learning for our students, peers, and community (standard # 3).  To visit these standards and others go to ISTE NETS T for more information and objectives used by teachers.  Jeopardy Labs also relates to these two standards because we as teachers are going to model how to create the game and then let our students use it as well.  By doing this we are allowing our students to develop digital age skills, learning experiences, and assessments rather than making them on our own and expecting our students to retain what we teach them.

I have included my link to my Jeopardy review game for Forensic Science.

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WORD CLOUDS

Wordle is a really cool tool that anyone can use to create words in different order and shapes to help them remember what they are teaching or studying.  I really believe that wordle is great for Special Education students because a lot of these students are really good at learning through visuals.  To try out this cool technology tool go to Wordle and try it for free it is really worth your time and is fun to do. 

I want to use this tool to help my student organize their thoughts when we are working on a certain content in biology.  I also believe that some of my colleagues would benefit from using this fun tool that they can teach to their classes as well.  I can honestly say that this if the first tool that didn't take too long to understand and create what I wanted to do for my Biology class.

I believe that this technology tool is closely related to standard number 2 because it relates to designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments.  To check out standard number 2 and all of the standards go to ISTE NETS T to learn more about this standard.  I also feel it relates to standard 2 because letter "C" in the standard talks about customizing and personalizing learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.  By using wordle for example you are doing exactly that for standard 2 letter "C". 

I had to use my jing tool to capture my wordle image so my link does not got to my created wordle that I have in my blog.  For some reason the URL I was given does not but you can view my wordle in the gallery when you hit create wordle.

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Jing Graphic

I thought it was really cool to use jing and it was really easy to figure out.  I usually just have a blank picture of the animal cell and expect my students to fill it out by using notes or by using their books.  After using jing it gave me the idea to take the boring old blank animal cell and capture the image and add in arrows to the cell parts I feel are the most important for my students to learn.  I also would use this jing to allow my students to create and fill out their own plant and animal cells instead of filling it out the boring way.


I have added the link Here to show you what I did with the boring old blank animal cell that I found on the web. This file can also be found Here at.

I feel this assignment is a great way to model digital-age work and learning.  I really had to develop what I wanted my students to understand and take from this learning tool as well the content I am teaching.  I will be able to accomplish this by using jing by transferring my knowledge to a new situation I have never used.  The standard closely related is ISTE NETS T # 3.  Since I have learned how to snip images and use jing, I have two new ways to copy and paste images in a more efficient and creative way then just clicking copy and paste.

The link below is where I found the boring old printable version of an animal cell.



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Picasso Head

I really enjoyed making the Picasso head.  I would use this tool in my class because my students get to be creative and it something I know my students have never used before.   To be honest the only problem I had with the Picasso head was that I wish there was variety for hair since I am kind of balding and there really wasn't a hair style that matched me. It was still really fun to do though!

I think the standard from the ISTE NETS T that closely relates to the Picasso head assignment is standard number 2.  I feel standard number two closely relates to this assignment because it allows students to be creative, develops relevant learning experiences, it allows them to explore their own curiosities, being able to customize and personalize their own learning, and the biggest one for me is that the students become active participants in setting their own educational goals. 


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Snipping Tool

 I chose to use the Punnet Square Image because I am a Biology teacher and this snipped image would allow me to present a color visual for my LD students.  I will also allow me to brush up on how to use a punnet square as well.  I believe the snipping tool is closely related to standard number 2 in the ISTE NTES T. Because we as educators are always designing and developing authentic learning experiences and assessments for our students to use.  I also feel it relates because we are adapting our learning experiences and incorporating technology that will allow our students to be creative and most likely they will be more inclined to pay attention and want to learn in our classes.

Another reason for me personally because I am a special education teacher would be that it relates to this standard because by using this we can reach all of our students regardless of their learning styles, behaviors, working strategies, and overall use of technology which may or may not be strong. I think it will also be fun for my students to learn how to use to help remind them of what they are trying to learn as well.

I also have found another link that would be good to add here on Punnet Squares because the link may explain the concept of a punnet square in more detail or in fewer words than I would describe it.  You can also use this link on Punnet Squares  that deals with probability of inheritance for a little extra knowledge or if interested in this content.

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Readings #1

I found the first reading on Technological Pedagogical  Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge to be very interesting and really helpful to me as a teacher.  One of the reasons this reading was helpful is because as a teacher I feel like I spend more time trying to figure out how to incorporate technology into my classroom than I do trying to learn how to use the technology myself.  Content knowledge according to the readings is all teachers are usually expected to master before they can teach the area that they are certified in.  For me this reading has opened my eyes to how important technology is to not only me as a teacher but for my students as well. I also found another link you can use to find some information on this topic at TPCK Framework. Another link you might want to use to research the first reading a little bit more is TPCK 2.

I felt like the Design experiments are really important to understanding how to use technological pedagogical content knowledge in our classrooms.  I really liked how the authors used design experiments as a research methodology, by emphasizing the detailed implementation and the study of interventions with evolving pedagogical goals in rich authentic settings.  To me this means I can try design experiments in my own classroom because it is an authentic setting where I can use my content knowledge as well the knowledge I have in using technology.

I believe that the TPCK framework is the key in being used as a design pedagogical strategies that can help with studying the changes in educators knowledge about successful teaching with technology.  I took this right from the Conclusion page of the reading because I feel this statement is what we as teachers should be focusing in on when it comes to using technology in our content areas.  I also feel that this article can help with future research and curriculum development work in the area of teacher education and teacher professional development around technology.  Again, I got this statement from the Conclusion page of the reading and it really spoke to me in terms of how we as teachers need to spend more time learning how to use technology to incorporate it in our classrooms.

For the first reading I feel that ISTE NETS T standard that is closely related would be standard number five because it deals with Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership.  I believe that standard number five goes along with this article because it has to do with participating in local and global communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.  Keeping our students engaged while they are in our classrooms is a key in improving learning and incorporating technology can only help foster this engagement needed in our classrooms.  Another reason this standard is closest is because you want to be able to exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion in your classroom as well as developing the leadership and technology skills of others.  The whole article talks about incorporating technology into your content knowledge, so the ultimate goal is to be a leader in the field of technology skills that you can help others use and add to their teaching styles.

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Diigo Instructional Technology Part 1

1. The three steps recommended for social bookmarking were to use it for research, keeping up with friends or those people who have the same interests as you do, and it used for knowledge and the ability to share with others on the web.

2. The difference in social bookmarking 2.0 and the previous stage of web bookmarking is that in 2.0 is a more powerful tool that can be used as a research tool as well.  It is also different in that it is a knowledge sharing tool that allows you to highlight things you think are important on a specific web page that you want to share with others to use. Previous web bookmarking did not allow you to do the things that Diigo allows you to share information and knowledge while bringing a community together to learn and grow in their use of technology.

3.  Social bookmarking is a great tool that allows you to save web pages that you believe are useful to not only you but for others as well.  The biggest advantage I have seen so fare with social bookmarking is that you can highlight and add comments while you are reading something from a web page.  Another advantage is that you can tag all the web pages that you feel are important to you and to your teaching style or just research in general.  I call tagging an advantage because I think it is great that you can just check what  I have tagged and you can go directly to what I was reading or researching and it might be something that interests someone else along the line. I found the three answers by watching the Diigo Film that is a tutorial for Diigo social networking.




I feel that social bookmarking follows along with standard one in the ISTE NETS T standards because social bookmarking is all about using research, as teachers we want to engage our students in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems by using technology tools for research and as resources. Standard one follows along with engaging our students and having them use digital tools that will allow them access to work through real world issues and authentic problems.
As a teacher I can use social bookmarking with my students by adding web pages I feel will help them answer those real world issues and authentic problems that they will encounter throughout their lives. I found my standards through the ISTE NETS T, Course Activities Page , and the
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Diigo Instructional Technology

1. I learned that a browser add on is extremely cool and is really helpful when you want to highlight or sticky note something that you were reading and it was interesting and you felt like you should keep it around.  I also found out that I can put bookmarks of resources I like through the Diigo toolbar and share those with other people as well.  This is the first time I have dealt with something like this and it was kind of hard at first but I think I am getting it. By using Web 2.0 I really got a feel for what Diigo was all about and if you have never used Diigo before then you should check out web 2.0.

2. They are useful in the fact that I can look up things a lot quicker and a browser add on seems to keep me organized which I tend to have problems with. The only web browser I am currently using is the Diigolet through firefox.  I found a lot of information for web 2.0 and Diigo through Diigo and Google as well as the Diigo Film.

3. My experience with add-ons is very limited I have never really learned how to use them until this class so I am learning something new and to be honest I am overwhelmed right now but I push myself to learn new things and I am going to continue to do that so I can grow a be a better technology user as well.

4. I have done plenty of installations and so far this has been the smoothest one I have ever done and I was surprised because I expected it to be harder with a lot more steps involved then what there was.  Overall it was really easy and I think that is great.


5. I feel that the standard in the ISTE NETS T closely relates to number 2 because we as educators are always designing and developing authentic learning experiences and assessments for our students to use.  I also feel it relates because we are adapting our learning experiences and incorporating technology that will allow our students to be creative and most likely they will be more inclined to pay attention and want to learn in our classes.  Another reason for me personally because I am a special education teacher would be that it relates to this standard because by using this we can reach all of our students regardless of their learning styles, behaviors, working strategies, and overall use of technology which may or may not be strong. I think it also matches this standard because it allowed me to add what I thought was useful in the classroom as well as what I can now share with my colleagues at work.


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G-mail account

I was so pumped on how easy a gmail account was to set up!  I mean I have been through so many set ups that were hard and really just nothing I would ever use again but I am pleased about my gmail account.  I set mine up this summer at a technology workshop and I really enjoy it my nameis rburkhart91@gmail.com if anyone wants to chat or needs help with anything!

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Syllabus reading

I read the syllabus the last couple of days and it seems lengthy but I enoy a challenge and I am really looking forward to this class to help brush up my technology skills! I also appreciate the heads up of what is supposed to be full filled for this class.

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