Technology Tools Assessment

**** Awesome Technology Tool

*** Good Technology Tool

** It's an "Okay" Technology Tool

* Terrible Technology Tool

1. Moodle- ***

In my special education courses this website is required to be signed up on in order to access school assignments and other important information about my courses. There are some pros and cons that come with this website. The pros are: Many of the courses require a password given by a professor, the information flows in chronological order (you are able to see the dates and what is due) and it has a blogging and chatting capability in which students can interact with the professor and one another. The cons for this website are: dull and plain appearance, it does not have an ability to remind students when assignments are due ( it can be inconvenient when students have more than one moodle class). I give this website tool three stars...

2. Google Apps- ****

As an everyday technology user, Google has always been my # 1 choice for browsing and e-mail. However, I never really utilized many of the other features (applications) it had to offer. Some of the applications I never used was: Calender, Documents, and Google Reader. I truly enjoy Google's email, "Gmail" in such that I could customize my gmail with creative templates. It gives a greater excitement in checking e-mails, especially if they are school related. The calender feature is extremely helpful and I found it to be a wonderful tool in reminding me about important dates and events that I had to remember. The Documents app was a great feature because it allowed me to use an excel feature to save my many passwords and usernames. But ultimately my most favorite trait of Google Apps was a thing called "Google Reader Play". It is an application that is quite enjoyable and a stress relieving tool. All you do is view spectacular and interesting photos and like or favorite them. I give Google Aps "4 Stars" for being a well rounded technology tool.

3. Delicious- ****

I cannot stress enough how grateful and glad I am to be introduced to this wonderful technology tool. The ability to access your favorite websites or helpful websites on any computer at any time is splendid. I definitely tend to favorite alot of websites, and in the case of using someone else's computer I stress when I cannot remember the address of a website I need to get onto. This website diminishes that worry by allowing you to "bookmark" the website, add a description and tags online! That way all you have to do is remember your username and password, and your bookmarks are readily available when signed into your Delicious account.It also gives you the ability to share with other people within networks, as well as organize your bookmarks that is far more extensive than the regular bookmarking tool on a personal computer. I give this website "4 stars" for being awesome!

4.Firefox- **

As a MAC user I am already fond of Safari, and its ability to make "top sites" really pulls me in on using it as my internet browser. Sometimes being such an instant person I just want to "click" and get onto my favorite websites. However, I do love how I am able to change the template of my browser when I am "Firefox". Overall, I did not come across any phenomenal features that pull me away from using my "Safari" browser. I give this technology tool 2 stars...

5. Blogger-****

Ever since I was in the 7th grade I've had a blog. I have tried many different blogging websites: Xanga, Livejournal, Melodramatic, Geocities etc. , but "blogger" is the apple of my eye! You can choose many different interesting templates and customize your layout to your liking. The formating tools are friendly and appealing. I find this blogging tool to be one of the best out there in the cyber world. I give "Blogger" 4 stars for being awesome!!!

6. Prezi- ***

I love creating technology presentations as long as it gives me opportunities to be creative. "Prezi" is a really interesting type of presentation tool in which it allows the presentation to be dynamic with an intriguing moving transition. Mind-blowing zooming and minimizing capabilities to capture the audience, and a rather pleasing appearance with some of the templates it has to offer. However there are some minor downsides with this tool because it has a limitation on types of font to choose from, video uploading capabilities and it can be difficult to work when first introduced to this website. However, it is not behind the pack of presentation tools. I believe this is a great tool to rebel against the usual "Powerpoint" presentation which tend to be dull and uniform.

I give this presentation tool 3 stars.

7. Voicethread-***

This is an interesting website that students and teachers can utilize and spice up presentations. It allows you to upload pictures and documents and create a "voiceover". You can explain the concepts or ideas of your work or simply give a presentation "life". The website also allows you to share your files with other educators and students within the website and give "voice" feedback. What I find very convenient about this website in comparison to other voice over websites is that you don't have to necessarily use a phone to create a voiceover, you can use a computer mic. One of the major fallbacks about this website is that you are not able to have the presentation with voiceover saved onto your computer. I give this website 3 stars for being a good technology tool.

8. Camtasia-****

Camtasia has got to be one of the most spectacular technology tools I have used. It is a website that allows you to: make on-screen tutorials, take pictures of your desktop, narrate photos, etc. This technology tool is quite expensive, but you are able to download a 30 day trial that has all the wonderful features to use. This software allows you to be extremely creative with tools that can zoom into a particular part in your screen, blur out backgrounds and add various touches to make a tutorial dynamic. This is a fabulous technology tool that deserves 4 stars...

A Terrific Technological Teacher Experience!: Multimedia Lesson Plan Reflection

Before writing my 2-way multimedia technology lesson plan, I was quite frustrated and nervous about what I was going to teach students while integrating multimedia technology. It actually was not so much the fact of integrating multimedia technology, but how to have my students meet my objectives using the technology. I am still pondering as to why I chose the first grade level, because I found it a little difficult. I had to really reflect the process in how I was going to step by step incorporate the different multimedia into the lesson, without having them miss the meaning and significance technology has on academic work. I chose to have my students create a “Fun Digital Sentences!” project that over all was a type of curriculum assessment; to see how well my first grade students were able to construct complete sentences. The lesson plan was also geared to identify whether students were able to successfully pronounce the words they chose in their sentence, and also express sentences effectively according to their punctuation marks. The multimedia of choice was to have my students use a digital camera and an online slide show/voice recording website called “Voice Thread” that would have them motivated about the assignment (Voice Thread). I believe from observation of young children experiencing technology is that they will be completely engaged in multimedia lessons. Although, I found this assignment neck breaking (challenging), I feel confident in teaching this lesson plan if I ever decided along the road to teach first grade.

In writing this lesson plan, there were a set of standards that I was required to refer to in the case of integrating technology: NETS*T standards (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers). I utilized these standards to make sure I was following the proper guidelines of utilizing technology in the classroom.The first NETS*T standards I applied was 2A “design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners”. In my lesson plan I indicated that I had a student who had a disability that fell under “Orthopedic Impairment-amputation of arms”. I decided that since the student had no arms, and by using the “Voice Thread” website it made the main multimedia technology part of the assignment completely functional for him as well as the other students. The second NETS*T standards that I used was 3D, “manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment”. As stated in my lesson I was in full assistance with helping my students use the digital camera and website. I wanted the students to experience the technology at hand but at the same time because of their age level I had to strictly monitor and assist them in working the technology.

I learned a lot in planning out the activities in this lesson plan. I learned that when teaching first graders you have to completely simplify a lot of aspects of the curriculum you plan to teach. I wanted to teach “writing” complete sentences so I had to refer to the GDOE standards and make sure my objectives and plan were meeting the requirements of the school system. I also learned that you have to go into every minute detail in your lesson plan, especially when it comes to the types of technology students have not been familiar with. In my case, my students were not familiar with the “Voice Thread” website so I had to make sure their experience with using this medium was positive and conducive to learning. I believe that if you leave any steps out in this lesson plan, the delivery would most likely fail. The teacher must know 100% all the multimedia materials he or she is teaching, using and allowing the students to use.

What I liked least about the assignment was the ultimate challenge to stretch myself. I found it quite hard because my life ultimately revolves around technology. I felt like I was stretched to my maximum potential with the internet, blogger, camtasia, imovie etc. But of course, with the simple, yet wise piece of advice from my professor, Dr. Jacqui Cyrus , “EXPLORE!!!!”. As painful as I thought it would be to do so, I had a lot of fun! I helped myself by finding an awesome website on her delicious list called “Cool Tools for Schools”, and I was flooded with opportunities to stretch myself. I felt so tiny and compact just looking at the incredible amount of websites to use and integrate into my lesson. I realized as a teacher who felt I knew a great amount about integrating technology; I surely over-estimated myself. The best thing about this assignment was simply that I “I learned”. And I LEARNED A LOT! I realized that even such a simple lesson plan such as “Writing complete sentences” that may come off as boring to students can be shaped and transformed into a totally enjoyable learning experience with the help of multimedia technology. I overall, stressed and panicked about this lesson but it gradually shifted into a wonderful and fun assignment. I am definitely going to create more 2 way multimedia lesson plans in the future….

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). NETS for Teacher 2008. Standard 1A. Retrieved February 18, 2010. From International Society for Technology in Education. Website:http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/ 2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

Websites:

Voice Thread- http://www.voicethread.com

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Multimedia Lesson Plan

ED 451- Magdalen Uson Multimedia Lesson Plan

Assistive Technology a Blessing for Students with Special Needs:Reflection on Assistive Technology- Enabling Dreams

As an inspiring special education teacher I cannot close my eyes to the wonderful world of assistive and adaptive technology. I was very enlightened by the video “Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams”, it is a wonderful documentary on how assistive technology greatly impacts the lives of exceptional children and adults, making their ability to reach their dreams more convenient and possible. Many of the devices featured in this video were spectacular! One device was able to speak for children who were non-verbal, by simply pressing buttons. Assistive Technology is definitely a blessing for students with special needs, but I also believe we can use some of the same technology to be a blessing for typical students as well.

In my previous lesson plan there was definitely a lot of room for improvement. I integrated technology by utilizing and teaching spreadsheets to my students, but I believe that my lesson plan could have been revised a lot further. I should have mentioned certain types of technology to use in class in case I had a student with a disability (Ex. Cerebral palsy). If I had a student with cerebral palsy I would require a laptop solely for the student with voice recognition and type software. The student would not have to suffer in strenuous written work that may be extremely challenging or not possible for he/she to do. I also should have included other assistive technology for my students who were ESL into my lesson plan. I could integrate the speech tool in my Microsoft word software that is able to speak whatever word is typed in the document. I would use this software to help my students pronounce words such as “calories, saturated, daily” correctly which would also be helping in their reading fluency. I believe I could have stretched more opportunities with assistive technology for students who may have special needs into my previous lesson plan.

If GDOE had a lot of money to purchase the various helpful assistive technology out there I would be running to be first in line to receive such items. The first step I would take in revising the previous lesson plan would be to have students each work on the laptop instead of the group leader. I believe that I should have made it fairer and have all of my students to have a chance to work on the spreadsheet. Also, if there was a student with a special need for example, my ESL student, I would have my high performing student work with my ESL student in understanding how to use the Microsoft word /speech program when typing in unfamiliar or difficult words in the lesson.

I strongly feel that students with disabilities MUST be included into the lesson plan because with “Inclusion”, students need to be whole in the class, and not pushed off to the side as an outsider. That is absolutely cruel and heartless and demonstrates the educators failure to meet the needs of his/her students. TEACHERS ALWAYS NEED TO MAKE THEIR ACCOMODATIONSAND MODIFICATIONS IN THEIR LESSON PLANS. The criteria I would use to assess the revised activities would be to see how well students progressed from not using assistive technology in some lessons to their class work assignments in using assistive technology in similar lessons. If students do not progress than I know that its either the technology is insufficient to meet my student’s needs or I am not utilizing the assistive technology correctly in my lesson. It is my duty as a teacher to find the best mode of technology for my students to help in his or her learning experiences.

I firmly believe that all students with or without disabilities should be able to enjoy the wonderful use of technology, to create, explore, and discover the world around them. Whether its by simply using the internet for research or collaborating with their peers for computer assignments; assistive technology is a blessing for all students, parents and educators.

“Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams”. Prod. Ken Ellis. Perf. Sussanna Sweeney-Martini, Sheryl Burgstahler, and Vishal Saraiya. 2005.

Online Educational Game Rubric

Old-math Popper Game Rubric

"THE ASSURE MODEL, A POTENTIAL HERO FOR THOSE LOST IN LESSON PLANNING"

As a Special Education major it is crucial that I equip myself with the right tools to help teach my students to learn in the best way possible. One of the most essential tools for any educator of any grade or subject is a “lesson plan”. For my lesson plan, “Meeting Our Nutritional Needs”, I used the Assure Lesson plan format to help organize my lesson plan activities, strategies, objectives etc. I have worked with the ASSURE lesson plan model before in my elementary reading methods course, but to be very honest I never knew how to write it correctly. I was never told that the ASSURE lesson plan had to be detailed, ready and comprehensible just in case a substitute teacher may need to follow it. Although, with a great explanation and direction from Dr. Cyrus about the ASSURE lesson plan model, I no longer felt like a chicken with no head. I do understand that every lesson plan should be comprehensible, but for many of the lesson plans I wrote in the past I was always scolded for being too detailed. I was always told to be “simple” and “to the point” and now that I think about it, I was usually bothered by those demands only because certain aspects of a lesson plan need to be detailed. Especially if your lesson plan is geared towards integrating technology into the classroom. If I were absent and required my substitute to carry out my lesson plan on teaching students how to read food nutrition labels and tie it into using spread sheets, I can imagine a substitute with no prior knowledge in spread sheets to be utterly confused. With that being said, I enjoyed creating an ASSURE lesson plan and utilizing Microsoft Excel. I have learned so much in the few hours of creating this type of lesson plan than I ever did in making lesson plans for my other classes.

In any lesson plan whether it is the ASSURE model or not, one of the most significant items are the content standards listed under the school system you are working for. For my lesson plan I had to research for GDOE’s 3^rd grade Health Education Standards. Another set of standards I considered was the NETS*T standards (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers). From these set of standards, I was aiming to fulfill Standard 1A: “demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology” . In my lesson plan I am introducing the application Microsoft Excel, and in doing so I absolutely must be well acquainted with this software. Not only do I want my students to be able to utilize this type of technology, but I would also like them to be able to share and investigate their findings through excel.

I learned a great deal about writing lesson plan activities with the ASSURE model because it made me focus on creating step by step instructions which allowed me to see the pros and cons of my lesson plan. It was also quite reliable for integrating technology into my lesson plan. If I were to simplify my lesson plan I believe there would have been many flaws that could affect the learning of my students. For instance, if I were to just write in my lesson plan “Have students create a spreadsheet displaying their data about three canned meat products” it would leave others including myself clueless because I did not give detailed directions on how to teach students the steps of using Excel to create spread sheets. By creating the steps for activities in my lesson plan I not only learned the possibilities of writing the activities, but I feel quite confident in teaching my future students MS Excel because of how well I had to break down each activity.

Obviously, to complete my lesson plan assignment Microsoft Excel was the most prominent type of technology used. I will admit that I never really used Microsoft Excel for my Education Courses and I actually forgot how to use this software after learning how to in my “Intro to Computer” class. It was quite an exploration when playing with the different charts, inputting different data and discovering the different possibilities this type of technology had to offer. I feel that my students may gain a better understanding by seeing their data inputted into the spread sheets and come to life as it transforms into a bar graph or other various graphs MS Excel has to offer.

I honestly do not have any dislike for the ASSURE lesson plan model, but I do feel that in reality I do not think I will be able to make detailed lesson plans for every school day. Only because if I become an expert in some type of lesson activity I believe instructions and delivery may become natural. However, the one thing I love most about this assignment in using the ASSURE lesson plan model is that it would be an excellent tool to guide me through new lessons I have never taught, lesson plans involving new and updated technology, and creating lesson plans for a substitute that will need a guide for the day I am absent.

Overall, this assignment was a wonderful experience that has definitely changed the face of my future career. I had a confused and missing piece of myself as a future teacher and I found it by learning how to create an ASSURE LESSON PLAN. What I find most shocking is that I learned how to write a lesson plan with more confidence in my “Audio Visual Education” class than I did in my elementary methods courses which involves heavy reliance on lesson plans. I am really glad this assignment was given to me; it was an antidote for my confusion of writing lesson plans.

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). NETS for Teacher 2008. Standard 1A. Retrieved February 18, 2010. From International Society for Technology in Education. Website: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

OIT Information Technology. (2003). Assure Learning Through the Use of the ASSURE Model. Retrieved February 18, 2010, from http://www.valenciacc.edu/oit/articles/articles_detail.cfm? ID=45

Meeting Our Nutritional Needs

Meeting Our Nutritional Needs

Magdalen Uson

ED- 451 Audio Visual

Grade level: 5^th Grade

Content Area: Health Education

Lesson Length: 45-60 minutes.

GDOE 3^rd Grade Health Education Standards:

6.3.15 Examine and read a food label to assess where the various information about the food products can be found.

6.3.16 Use food labels to compare the food value differences of similar foods which are canned or frozen.

6.3.17 Analyze a food label and appraise its information value to the consumer.

Analyze Learners

Student demographics:

This lesson plan is appropriate for 25 3^rd grade students in the general age range of learning capacities.

12 -Chamorros

7 - Filipinos

4- Chuukese

2- Palauan

5- English as a second language (ESL)

(3) Students with Learning Difficulties (LD)

Learning Styles:

Kinesthetic - 60%

Visual- 30%

Audio- 10%

State objectives

Students will be able to:

• Read the nutritional labels on canned food items such as Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage.
• Compare the calories, sodium, and fat of Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage.
• Create a spreadsheet on the computer using the three nutritional facts about the canned meat they compared.
• Discuss and explain the findings of their research.

Select Media, Materials, and Methods:

Media:

• Computer with Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Materials:

• Pencils
• Data Sheets
• Calculator
• 5 cans of Spam
• 5 cans of Corned Beef
• 5 cans of Vienna Sausage

Nutritional Label Facts:

SPAM

CORNED BEEF

VIENNA SAUSAGE

Methods:

• Small Group Learning

Utilize Media, Materials, and Methods

1. Computer with Microsoft Excel- the students will use MS Excel to organize their data of comparing the three nutrition facts of the three canned meat products .

2. Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage cans- Students will record and compare the calories, sodium and fat in the canned meat.

3. Calculator- Students will compute the difference between their predictions of how much calories, sodium and fat are in the canned meat to their actual findings.

Require Learner Participation

Introduction/Pre Assessment

• Students will be placed into 5 groups of 5.
• Review the class on the previous lesson learned, on how much calories, sodium and fat intake is in the average daily diet. Ask the following questions, “What is the normal calorie intake?”, “How much sodium (salt) are we supposed to have in our daily diet?”, “Is fat healthy for our diet?” “What kind of fat is the most unhealthy?”
• Explain to the class that they will be doing research on the three popular canned meats on Guam; Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage.
• Have the students guess how much calories, sodium, and total fat is in each serving of Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage and record it on their data sheets to compare with their actual findings.

Exploration

• Each group will have one computer with MS Excel.
• Students will compare their predictions of calories, sodium and total fat to the actual amount.
• Each group will assign one leader to input the student’s predicted Calories, Sodium and Total Fat of the three canned meat products into their group data sheets.
• Have each group work together in recording the actual three nutritional facts in Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage.
• Students will compute using their calculator to figure out the difference of their predictions and actual findings of the three-canned meat.

o Ex. Prediction of Spam Calories- 50 calories in one serving

Actual Spam Calories- 180 calories per serving.

"180 – 50 = 130 calories difference between prediction and actual finding."

• Students will input the actual calories, sodium and total fat into their data sheets ans spread sheets.
• Instruct the students on how to use Microsoft Excel:

1. Have students click on Microsoft Excel.

2. Students will type in “Meeting Our Nutritional Needs” into the header.

3. Students will begin with row 1, column B:

- Have students label B, C, and D. A- Blank, B-Calories, C- Sodium and D-Total Fat.

a. It should look like this:

4. Students will label the rows on Column A. Have students begin and type on row 2- Spam, row 3- Corned Beef, and row 4-Vienna Sausage.

- It should look like this:

5. Students will input the actual Calories, Sodium, and Total Fat into their respective places.

- It should look like this:

Generalization

• Ask students the following questions to find out their understanding of the nutrition labels of Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna Sausage:

- Was there a big difference between your predictions and the actual nutrition facts of the three-canned meat?

- Which canned meat had the most calories?

- Which one had the most sodium?

- Which one had the most total fat?

- Why do you think Vienna sausage has the most out of all the canned meat?

- Are these canned meat good for our diet? Why or why not?

Application assessment

1. After students input their findings, they will generate a bar graph of their research by clicking on “Charts”.

It should look something like this:

2. Lastly, students will present their bar graphs to the teacher and explain their predictions and actual findings of Spam, Corned beef and Vienna sausage.

Evaluate and Revise

Student Performance:

Students will be evaluated on:

• Group participation
• How well they inputted the nutritional facts of Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage into their data sheets.
• Their ability to compare and contrast their predictions and actual findings by computing the difference using a calculator.
• How well they utilized Microsoft Excel to organize the actual nutritional findings of Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna Sausage .

At the end of this activity, students will be able to:

• Identify the Calories, Sodium and Total fat on food nutrition labels.
• Distinguish what are healthy food choices for their diet.
• Compare and contrast their results by developing a bar graph.

The following rating will be used to evaluate students’ knowledge and performance of the assigned lesson. (Total possible points: 100 pts.)

Criteria	Possible Points	Received Points
1. Students recording their data of predictions and actual nutrition label findings	20
2. Students’ sorting of their data of the three-canned meat products using a digital spreadsheet.	25
3. Students’ ability to explain and present their bar graphs	30
4. Students’ completion of their bar graph	25
TOTAL Possible Points:	100	/100

Media Effectiveness:

• The student’s ability to use the digital spreadsheet to compute the nutritional facts of calories, sodium and total fat in Spam, Corned Beef and Vienna sausage.

Instructor Performance:

§ Was the lesson well planned?

§ Did the lesson run smoothly?

§ Were the lesson plan objectives achieved?

§ What are the possible ways this lesson could be improved for the future?