Social Bookmarking Project

The following are five ideas of how to incorporate Microsoft Excel into K-6 curriculum:

1. Have the students bring in a grocery store receipt and teach them how to input the data into an Excel spreadsheet. Teach them how to set up formulas using the software features. Have them figure out how much they would spend in one year at this grocery store.

2. Take the students to the computer lab and have them create an Excel spreadsheet for an upcoming class party. Write out a plan as a class of the items you will need such as paper plates, condiments, etc. The budget for the class will be $7 per person. Plug the information into the spreadsheet to show the students where they stand as a class as far as the budget is concerned. Explain the SUM FUNCTION to the class.

3. Have the students create a graph on Microsoft Excel of everyone's birthday. Write down everyone's birthdate and have the students type in their classmate's names and birthdates and create a graph for them to learn how to read. This activity will also help them to get to know their classmates.

4. While doing a lesson on health or nutrition, teach the students how to create a poster using Excel. They can create a poster of the food pyramid to hang on the wall by the activity center. As a class, you can discuss the daily recommendations at snack time or before lunch.

5. Take the students to the computer lab and teach them how to create a timeline while studying space travel. The students can use pictures to enhance the timeline and add words if they are able. The timeline shows the students how things change over time.

Social Bookmarking

I thought it was interesting to learn how social bookmarking is making many teachers and students lives easier. I think it's a great tool to use that provides an efficient way for students to keep in touch with their teachers, to stay informed about coursework and other academic activities, and follow developments in their fields of study. The example of the professor helped me to understand how this process works. He can keep tabs on all of his lab groups more easily than he could with email updates from students or by looking for blog updates on the courses Web site.

I think it's really helpful that by using RSS, users can quickly and easily access new material from sites that interest them without having to go to all of the individual Web sites! The information comes to you and you check your aggregator which is where you can access it! I would use this as a teacher and select the content I want to receive, tayloring it to my my unique interests and needs! How cool is that! I would use this as a teacher to keep track of my favorite websites. This saves so much time and helps to get the information you want quickly after it's been published!

The social bookmarking site that I chose was diigo. My diigo address is: www.diigo.com/user/tlb310alb

Google Apps Lesson Plans

The first lesson plan I found that I liked on Google Apps is titled: "Graphing with Google Docs and Forms". It is a math lesson for grades K-3. This lesson is great for the beginning of the school year! It is all about getting to know your classmates. Basically, the teacher creates a Google Form where she collects information from her class by asking them questions like: How many brothers and sisters do you have? How many pets do you have? What is your favorite color? What activities do you enjoy doing? Then she uses the Google Spreadsheet to view a summary of the data for the students to analyze and draw conclusions. The students will answer the teacher created questions and decide what is true about the data. The teacher will copy the link to the Live Form and post it on her Classroom or School Website in a location that is easy for the students to find. The students will complete and submit the Google Form and draw conclusions from the results. The teacher can gather the entire class where they can view the results on the Interactive Board. She can show them the summary and the bar graph of the results. The teacher can ask guiding questions for the students to start interpreting the information. This will help the students to understand their classmates as well as how to read and interpret different kinds of graphs. There is also a rubric for evaluation as well as the standards already listed on this lesson plan!

The second lesson I found on Google Apps is titled: "Telling Time and Google Calendar". It is a math lesson for grades K-3. This lesson introduces the agenda format on Google Apps as another way to tell time. It discusses the use of digital and analog clocks to teach students how to read and calculate time as well as shows students how to see "blocks" of time on the agenda format. This allows them to find different ways to think about and visualize segments of time. The lesson starts with a review of time knowledge. Then the teacher reviews the passage of time, and finally introduces the agenda format on Google Calendar to the students. After teaching the students how to work with you, the teacher, on how to finish today's agenda using Google Calendar, you assign an individual exercise on making your own agenda thinking about what a perfect Saturday looks like to you, the student. Different ability levels can be challenged at their level - some students can work with hour-long blocks and others can start breaking down their agendas into 15 or 30 minute segments. This lesson also provides the standards which apply.

I thought it was relatively easy to find lesson plans on Google Apps. And, it is great that they provide the standards and some of them even provide a rubric for evaluation. I would definitely use this site to find interactive lesson plans for my class! I thought this was a fun assignment!

Google Apps

After reading and watching the videos about Google Apps, I can think of a few situations where having these collaborative tools would have helped me as a student. One example is when working on a group project. It would have been so helpful to utilize the cloud computing document and been able to add and change my information directly on-line and send it out to my other group members. Likewise, my group members could have done the same and we would have saved a lot of time by working on the project on our own time and then collaborating on-line. I still think it's nice to actually physically see one another and work on projects that way, but realistically, that isn't always possible. We could have created word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and videos and sent them to one another for everyone to make changes on. The really neat thing about Google Apps is that everything goes to the same place (cloud computing document) where the project is current all the time! I think that's pretty cool!

As a teacher, I thought it would be helpful to use the Integration Corner where you can create your own online quiz. Maybe the students would even find it fun to take a quiz online instead of the old way of using a paper and #2 pencil. Also, you could have your results instantly and even graph them. "Making the Grade" is another link that assists the teacher in classroom record keeping and planning. A teacher can use it for keeping track of attendance, seating charts, even to print out detailed reports for students and parent conferences!

There are so many ways to use Google Apps as a teacher in the classroom. The Software Corner I thought was a really fun idea! There is a section called Kid Pix for students K-8th grade. It is where students can use electronic drawing and art tools to create pictures, illustrate their own stories, and be creative. It also has realistic sound effects! Teachers can also have their students read online newspapers, get their books from online bookstores and even post online classroom assignments. Another thing teachers could do using Google Apps Sites is create a website that only her students can access.

After learning all of the things that Google Apps offers, I actually felt a bit overwhelmed! I'm not really sure where to start. I think part of the reason I feel that way is because I am not yet a certified teacher. I know I have a lot to learn about teaching, but I definitely feel like using Google Apps would make me a better teacher!

R/W Tools

I have actually heard of some of the R/W tools I read about this week. Some of the tools I was unfamiliar with include; Photo Sharing with Flickr, School 2.0, Google Docs, Feed Readers and RSS, Streaming Media, Mashups, Aggregators, and Online Graphing Tools. So, I was very unfamiliar with maybe half of the R/W tools! I can't believe there are so many resources available for teachers online!

Google Docs are a free and collaborative alternative to Microsoft Word. They were formerly known as Writely and used mostly by K-12 educators. They can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection and worked on collaboratively. It's considered a R/W program because you can do anything from write a book to reading something someone else created. I have never even heard of Google Docs until I read about it this week, so I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet!

All of these R/W tools apply to kids today, and are being used by the Net Gens everyday! Some of the other R/W tools they are using are blogging, video sharing, secondlife, and instant messaging. Teachers are using some of these same tools in their classrooms to bring in the familiar technology that their students are so familiar with to help close the gap between the outside world and school.

Perspectives of Net Gens

After reading chapters 5, 6, and 7 in "Educause" I can't help but think about how different Net Gens are compared with my generation. To them, technology is only technology if it has happened after they were born. To me, all of it is technology; the past, present, and future.

I think one of the biggest challenges teachers face today at any level is really understanding the Net Gen. They seem to be a puzzle to most teachers. Many teachers either try too hard to change the language of education into a language Net Gens understand or they do too little to narrow the language barrier. I think all that anyone really wants is to be understood. Teachers should get to know their students and how they learn and what they are looking to get out of their education. Then, they should carry that over to the classroom. I found it interesting that not all Net Gens prefer high usage of technology in their classroom. Most prefer a moderate level of technological use along with interaction with students and teachers.

My perspective of technology is changing every day. To be quite honest, I was never a very technically inclined person. I grew up using computers and then cell phones in my 20's, but I have never been overly interested or actually realized the extent to which our world relies on technology until maybe the past year or so. I think I have taken technology for granted, maybe not to the extent that the Net Gens have, but none-the-less I have. I tend to rely on technology so much more now than I did even a few months ago. Just as most students in the Net Gen, I use technology mostly for my education. Technology is a matter of fact world in which we live. I use debit or credit cards more than I use cash or checks. I pay my bills online, I check my email regularly. I use my cell phone and laptop non-stop.

One difference in the Net Gens perspective compared to my perspective of using technology is that I don't expect everything that is accessible online to be free. I found it interesting to read that Net Gens download or share music, movies, or software they have not purchased. They have broken copyright laws. I don't actually think they even know what they are doing. I think it's that they are so used to instant gratification that they don't even take the time to think that what they are doing might be wrong.

Another difference between my perspective and the Net Gens perspective concerning technology is through learning and decision making. Net Gens tend to learn by trial and error, and I think I learn more by logical thinking and communication with others. Net Gens use technology first for educational purposes followed by communication. Some students are very impulsive and approach problems quickly instead of methodically working them out. Again, they are so conditioned to getting the instant answer.

I think the kids of today expect some use of technology in their classrooms, but I also think they want the student to student and student to teacher interaction. As a future elementary school teacher, I feel like I want to learn as much as I can about the Net Gen and technology. I want to get to know and understand my students and how they learn so I can prepare them for the world, which let's face it is highly technical. I would be doing an injustice to my students by not using technology in my classroom.

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