Desktop Publishing

     In the past, Desktop Publishing used to only be programs like Word, a type of word processor. But now, it has evolved. They are no longer just words, they have to include graphics. For example, newsletters, brochures and flyers are a couple of different types of desktop publishing.
     This brings us to our newest assignment. Given our ideal classroom, how will we use technology to get the parents involve? The solution is that we will have to create a newsletter and a brochure of our future classroom (mainly focus on the grade level and the subject we want to teach) for the parents. We even did two classroom activities to help us understand the assignment better. The first activity was using "Inspiration" to brainstorm up ideas for the newsletter project. This program allows us to move things, extend the length of the idea, and so forth. One important thing that we should know when it comes to this program is RAPIDFIRE. Rapidfire is what allow us to add new ideas to the main idea or their subgroups. It is a simple program, with adorable graphics, so it is fun and easy to figure out.

There were also three Web 2.0 presentations: ZoHo, Flickr, and WikiSpaces. ZoHo is about making timed online tests or quizzes and that they have to be taken within a certain time frame. Flcikr is like a blog, but use only pictures instead of words. Not like that matter since a picture can speak a thousand words. The last presentation is about WikiSpaces, somewhat similar to Wiki (the one in charge of Wikipedia)... It is an online hosting site that allows anyone and everyone to edit it, unless the security it changed to allow certain people to edit or certain people not allowed to edit. This website is based on COLLABORATION!
     In the future, if I ever plan on using any of these web 2.0, I would most likely only to use the ZoHo. I do not find the others as useful to me since it seems more complicated for me to figure out. I like things simple.

Web 2.0 and ISTE

     There are many Web 2.0 that are free for us to access, so what is it? It is a massive social experiment that can enhance creativity and information sharing. For example, Facebook, twitter, city creator, etc are all different types of web 2.0. Each web 2.0 have their own purpose at what they do.
     Delicious.com is a web 2.0 that focus on social bookmarking. Any websites can be tagged under multiple tags too and then shared among everybody. And I do mean everyone: students, parents, colleagues, spouse, and so forth. In turn, they can do the same. Thus, a massive networking is form to find webs that is suited for you to use; just click on the tag you are looking for, and there are choices that you can pick from, so that they do not have to be sorted all over again.

Anyway, ISTE is coming here to do a presentation about training soon. Oh, ISTE stands for International Society for Technology in Education. They are the group that wrote the standards for using technology. Thus, in order for use to use technology to our full potential, we need to understand how it work. ISTE have written three sets of standards. One is for the administrator, one is for the teachers, and the last one is for the students (like what they should know or master).
      We also did a practical review of ISTE standards in class. The document can be found in google docs, so if you or I need to take a peek at it, know that it is still there for us to access in the future.

Formative vs Summative Assessments

     When it comes to assessments, we automatically think of tests. But in reality, there are two types of assessments, both with their own purposes. The first one is formative assessment, which includes discussion, worksheet, etc. The purpose of this type of assessment is to provide enough information to the teacher to adjust their teaching or reteach part of the curriculum/ content area. These assessments are taken constantly to measure what the students have learn. 

     As for summative assessments, they are given periodically, normally after a chapter have been taught or annually. The purpose of this type of assessment is "to gauge student learning relative to content standards." This mean that they are measuring what the students have learn through the course of the year and their level of skills mastery.

In a way, these assessments judge the curriculum, to see what works and what does not. 

      On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that the world is changing. This means that in order for our future generation to do well, our standards will need to change. Technology are improving, so our kids are no longer competing amongst themselves, they are competing against others from across the country, continent, hemisphere, and the world! Thus, it is important that we do not teach to the test, and that we are teaching to the actually curriculum. 

     

      I know that each state have their own standards, so the one for PA is called SAS (Standards Aligned System) found on www.pdesas.org. Under the section 'Clear Standards,' there is a sub-section called "common core." The common core is the standard used across the country, so we can easily compare some of the differences between PA standards and the one used for the whole country.

     There are also different types of assessments that we can use to analyze what our students understand. One of them is the predictive test, which mirrors the PSSA. This test can give the teacher a chance to figure out where are the students strengths and weaknesses. Aside from that, there are some tests that are created by the SAS (found under standard -> Eligible Content) that shows us which students are struggling, which are above average, and which ones score very high. There is also something called "Item Analysis" which allows the teacher to check/break down item-by-item (test questions). This mean that educators can analyze the questions to find patterns: if the question was confusing, or whether the students need more help, etc.  Not only that, this can help foster BEST PRACTICES (team work) by allowing all the educators to come together to figure out what practice is working for the students; especially since it is working for a certain group of students pertaining to a certain teacher or whatnot. 

Spreadsheet Assignment

     At first I thought this assignment was going to be difficult since I am the type to get confuse with technology. Luckily the professor spent the time in class going over this assignment. We learned to use formulas and shortcuts that I didn't think existed in this program. This experience and practice gave me the confidence that I can do this project without any problem.
     After finishing the project and reviewing quite a few time, I am glad that we had to do this. Through this assignment, I learned how to use excel in ways I didn't possible. For example, creating a grade book that used weighted score. This is so useful to know and easy to use after getting through the technical part. ^_^
     Creating the bar graph to display certain information was easier than I thought as well. It was thanks to the professor for going through step-by-step on how the graph can be created that I am able to isolate the part that I want to analyze, move the legions, add the numerical part to the graph, etc. This project allowed me to reflect on how I may teach in the future because I can easily use the data/ results of the students' progress to determine if there are any area(s) that I may need to re-teach.
     As for the formulas, definitely made life easier. Although it may take me more time to manually input the data for the formulas, it calculates everything for me and if I were to change one of the result of a quiz or something, the overall grade will update itself. This mean I do not have to re-calculate anything. Hopefully one day I will figure out how to input the data for each student at a faster method.
     Overall I must say that Excel is an excellent tool to use in the classroom. Just need to get through the technical parts in the beginning, and everything else is all set.