Love by Katrina Bauer :: PIMPAMPUM :: Phrasr .:.

Love by Katrina Bauer :: PIMPAMPUM :: Phrasr .:.

Group PBL Learning Lesson

PBL stands for Problem or Project-Based Learning, and that's excatly what it is.  How do PBL's work? First you must question something, like for example, "Are we getting colder?"  Next you must plan, schedule, monitor to facilitate the process, assess in an varied, authentic way while looking at time and effort put into it, and lastly you must evaluate. PBL's have been said to be "the most effective tool for organizing content and motivating students to think hard." from the article The PBL Launch Pad, Part One: Worthwhile Proejcts for High School Students by Eeva Reader. The project the students are to accomplish is defined as "an authentic performance-assessment task in which students must apply the knowledge and skills learned in class to solve a genuine problem outside the classroom." (Reader)  Also, teachers need to keep in mind that when using the word problem, that does not mean there is one single solution or that all solutions are known.  PBL examples I witnessed in class were schools presenting a challenge of designing a school for math class and being judged by actual contractors for their assessment, or students going on a hike to observe things in nature to solve a presented problem.  By making the assignment rigorous and relevent, students must put forth an effort to acheive finding some kind of solution that they can proudly defend.  It makes learning meaninful and encourages students to start thinking in the same way they may in their future career.
The PBL my group and I created was called "Hazardville" which was the name of a town that was in crisis!  This town was becoming polluted and littered since people were not recycling, reusing, and respecting their environment.  The town included a lake that flowed down through the town, a factory in the middle, a school near the end of the river, and a landfill by the source of it.  Students were presented with these three questions to answer, "What do you think Hazardville needs to do to improve the town's quality of life for it's citizen's?" "What are some programs you would implement in Hazardville to turn the city into a more healthy place to live?" "What would you do if you lived in Hazardville and were in charge of making the changes needed to restore health in Hazardville?"

I found it somewhat challenging to think of a real life question that would be interesting enough, challenging enough, but still within students zone of proximal development so it would benefit them the most.  Environment problems are a fairly big issue these days, such as global warming and "going green", so I feel like this PBL is appropriate for students to familiarize themselves with.  When I am plannning my next PBL, I am now aware of things to do differently and am aware of technology sources that will come in useful when designing it, presenting it, and assessing it.  When thinking about PBL topics, the options are truly endless!

Here is the map one of my group members made for our PBL displaying the city's set up to show where everything is located.

Here is a link called Edutopia where you can watch, read, and learn about more PBL's and how they are being implemented and carried out in schools today!

Interactive Whiteboards (Mimio) and Flipcharts

Also while we were at Lincoln Elementary School in Cedar Falls, Iowa on March 22, 2011, we visited a lower elementary classroom to observe how the teacher and students go about using their interactive whiteboard called a Mimio and flipcharts in the classroom. My mind was opened to all the new possibilities that I as an up and coming teacher has available to me that teachers before me didn't.  What I grew up with is now changing in more useful, faster ways with technology. 
When explaining to someone what a Mimio board is, you can start off saying it's a step up from an overhead.  The pen that you use for the whiteboard stays charged for 16 hours and you can save notes written on the board for the next day or send them to students who were absent that day. Teachers can sit down or be in the back of the room while still being about to control and add to the interactive whiteboard using her tablet. Software for the board is free and all the information from the board is saved on the "bar" put on the board. This "bar" can also sink with new software from a computer USB. 
When trying something new as big and diverse as a Mimio Interactive Whiteboard, it's important that you have a culture of experiementation and have teachers and staff who are open to try new things and take it as a learning experience.  To train teachers in this school to use the whiteboards, they first had an hour and a half session and then followed up by one hour trainings, along with an inservice day.  Their librarian was very knowledgeable about them and open to help any teacher who had questions or needed assistance. Although some things are more time and work for teachers, hopefully if the right devices are chosen smartly, in the end it will end up benefiting the students learn, and hence come back to reward the teachers as well. 
When observing the class use the whiteboard, they often used things called Flipcharts, which we created an example in class.  For our example my group and I created one about animals and insects you might see in the Zoo and how to identify different specific ones.  In the class we observed, they used ones working with their calender, attendance, lunch they were eating that day, writing, games like jeapordy testing their knowledge, math activities, vocabulary, and reading by using an elmo's camera to display the text larger on the screen.  By enlarging a books text on the interactive white board, it can make reading easier as it is described below by it's photograph.
Although every piece of technology has the risk of not working properly, I would feel extremely lucky to have any kind of  interactive whiteboard in my classroom. I now am aware of so many more ways in which I can manipulate it to make it beneficial, fun, and an effective, collaborative tool for my students!

In the following photographs taken by me personally while observing, faces were "blacked out" to secure the students' and teacher's identity.

Here students are taking turns showing if they are having "hot" or "cold" lunch for the day which is also used for attendance and a transition between activities.

Here one student is taking part in an inveractive whiteboard activity.

Conveniently today, instead of buying "big sized books" so all students can see the pictures and words on each page, teaches can take any book they already have regardless of it's size and project it using their elmo camera and their interactive whiteboard.  Teachers can mark on the board which give the illusion it marks on the page to highlight certain words, sentences, ideas, or parts of the pictures.



Another aspect I liked about using the interactive whiteboards was the experience students got to have by calling on other students which give them slight power in choosing who goes next and owernship in the answer the contribute to the board.  It gets students up, moving, engaged, and focused on the fun activity at hand!

Our flipchart cover about the Zoo and it's animals and insects!

Here is an activity slide from our zoo flipchart I put together, instructing students to identify which animals shown are fish and then using the interactive whiteboard pen, they must drag it to the it's natural habitat, being the body of water.

Here is a video showing one way in which you can use an interactive whiteboard to help educate your students using adjectives from YouTube!

Lincoln Elementary School

For a college school field trip, we visited Lincoln Elementary School in Cedar Falls, Iowa to observe a class using Google Sketchups and another class using their Interative Whiteboard.  I will focus on the Google Sketchups for this post, since my next covers the whiteboards in more detail.  When obvserving a 5th grade class in the computer lab, students were given an assignment earlier in the year to design some type of building they could live in on another outer space planet.  By giving them a fun, open topic, students can become engaged by taking it whichever way they want.  Students skills in using Google SketchUp were all more advanced than mine since I had never seen it before that day.  The teacher was a proactive teacher in the sense that he learned how to use Google Sketchup from one of his friends who was an engineer so he could better teach his students and meet their needs.  I think it's extremely important teachers are as familar about a topic as they can be so they can provide students with as much knowledge to master the skills they are learning as well.  It's just as important to be honest when you don't know something as a teacher which provides opportunities to learn alongside your students.  This can be extremely valueable and demonstrates how learning is a life-long process that never truely ends and there's always more to know! When my teacher asked students to raise their hand if they worked on this project at home with their own time, almost every students raised their hand which I thought was great!  That showed students were truly interested in it and wanted to do a quality job with it.  There's many outlets to use Google Sketchups, this math project using dimensions just being one of the many options!  Students can also use these skills learned for future school projects and possibly for their future careers.

Photograph taken by Katrina Bauer - All students working on their projects using Google SketchUp in the computer lab.

Photograph taken by Katrina Bauer - Individual Student working on his project using Google SketchUp.

Here is a 7 minute tutorial video on YouTube about how to get started with Google SketchUp!

Collaborative Tools

Collaborative Tools I am now aware of thanks to this class are Google Docs, Wikispaces, Twitter, Skype, Jing, Google Sketchup, Interactive White Boards such as a Mimio, Edmodo, Mindmeister, Prezi, Facebook, Artsonia, YouTube, and Blogs through websites such at blogger.com.  I have used several of these resources in other classes of mine, just this year and plan on using them in my next school years to come and later on in my classroom.  One tool I found interesting and a neat idea was Edmodo.  Another group used this is their final PBL project and I think it would come in very useful in keeping communication strong and reliable with parents and students.  It is very similar as Facebook's set up by having a place for a picture, statuses, upcoming events, and photos.  I think this would be a perfect way to share photos of the students and projects they do with parents online, would be a great way to alert parents of upcoming assignments and events, along with a communication tool if the parents or students have any questions, concerns, or comments.  Parents can see grades their child recieves and what they did well or need to improve on.  Also it could come in handy if the teacher needed parents to sign a permission slip, they could post it or attach it to the page and have parents print it off and send it with their child the next day.
With anything new that implements change, there always is some sort of resistance or problems that tag along with it.  Some parents may not have convenient access to internet or a computer, some may forget to check updates on the website, and some may not like their students being online.  It is still crucial to keep the website updated and vital to include face-to-face meetings with parents.  If things take off and parents and students are very receptive to Edmodo, it may become too technology based and lose the personal interactions that should take place between parents and teachers.  I also feel using Edmodo would be beneficial because it exercises students computer and typing skills that will be necessary in almost every job they will encounter during their lifetime.

Since I had never heard of it but find it valuable to keep communication between the teacher, parents and students strong, here is where you can find and sign up for Edmodo!

This is an example of how Edmodo can be used in the classroom with students and parents.

Here is the URL where I found this image from Google.

Introductory Preso Experience

For my introductrion presentation, my partner Emily Keitel and I created a presentation using Prezi.  I loved learning how to use Prezi and found it more intriguing than a typical powerpoint presentation I've always used in the past.  It gave different path options and presented the information we chose to share in different formats while still being easy to read and interesting.  I feel as though Prezi gives you as the creator many more ways to portray your information through changing font sizes, using more or less zoom, by turning your words on a angle, or framing certain photographs or words you want to stand out from the rest.  Emily and I easily put pictures and facts of information about our lives we thought would be relevant and something the class might like to know.  I liked using Prezi a lot and found it so easy, that I actually used it in another class later on in the year about an article I had to read and reflect on.  I was the only one who presented my reflection and information through using Prezi as a medium, which my teacher loved!

Screenshot Capture by Katrina Bauer - "Emily and Katrina's Intro Prezi"

Screenshot Capture by Katrina Bauer - "Journal Article Presentation"

To create your very own Prezi, go to http://www.prezi.com/ to get started!