Excel (Week 4: Blog #2)

In the last few years I have become very comfortable with using Excel and rely on it for many things. I used it on a daily basis at work: creating sales spreadsheets, event recaps, and maintaining store and vendor information. I use it in my everyday life as well; instead of using a paper check register, I use Excel track my spending and deposits. When I was planning my wedding; I created a multi-tabbed Excel document which included my guest list, budget, to-do list, etc. I love using it to keep information organized and easily accessible. I think everyone should maintain a working knowledge of the program as it can be helpful in many aspects of life.

Since it can be rather comprehensive, I believe that Excel is something that can and should be taught to students starting at an early age. Many companies today are using this program or programs like it in their day to day operations. Most job applicants are expected to have a working knowledge of Excel and this is sure to increase as technology advances.

Excel can be a very fun way of reinforcing certain ideas and concepts covered in a lesson. For the assignment this week, I came up with the 5 ideas listed below of how to incorporate excel into school's curriculum:

1. Monthly Budget: Using monthly income and monthly expenses have students create an excel document to show their total net income for the month and gross income after expenses.

2. Count and Graph M&M's: Break students into small groups. Give each group a small bag of M&M's. Ask them to separate each color into piles and count the number of M&M's in each pile. Students will then create a bar graph in excel showing the number of red vs yellow vs green...etc

3. Creating A Timeline: After learning about a certain period in history (ie World War II) students create a timeline in Excel using the important dates they learned about during the chapter/lesson.

4. Survey Time: Break students into small groups and ask them to write down questions they would like to know about their fellow classmates. (Questions must not be open ended but have a specific answer such as multiple choice or yes/no.) All students answer questions of each group. Students then work in Excel to create different types of charts to report the results of the survey to the class.

5. Not so Simple Graphing: (I found this example on the following link: http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow4/may99/spreadsheet.html I thought it was great!)

Using Life Savers; students suck on the different colors of the candy while timing themselves and recording the time it takes to finish each one on paper. Then in Excel, students create a separate graph showing the times for each color (ie one graph for red, one for green, etc). Then they calculate the average for each color and create a chart of averages by linking to the cells with the formula. The site recommended this experiment for students at the 4th Grade level.

Social Book Marking (Week 4: Blog #1)

I believe Social Bookmarking can be very helpful in the classroom in many ways. It can help engage students by offering them a more interactive and "different" way of reading their assignments ( ie through an online textbook posted on diigo). It can help to expand on what is being covered in the classroom when a teacher posts and assigns articles/videos pertaining to the subject matter they are covering in a certain subject. I think it is also a great way for the teacher to stay organized. For instance, if a weekly blog is assigned to each student in the classroom; instead of going to each blog individually the teacher can simply save the blog address of each student on his/her social bookmarking page and access them all from one place.

When we were first learning about using social bookmarking as a tool in the classroom, I wasn't sure how it would be helpful for me. But as I create my own and add my own websites to my listing, I cant help but think how I may incorporate this into my teaching career as well as my personal life. I love visiting certain sites to read articles and find information on different topics, but I hate when I lose that information because I didn't save it in my "favorites" and can't remember where the information came from. I think that even after this class, I will continue to maintain my diigo page for my own personal use and possibly as a classroom tool while teaching. The more I use it, the more familiar I will become with the features and benefits it has to offer.

For our assignment this week: Creating our own Social Bookmarking page, I chose diigo only because I wanted to use something that I was somewhat familiar with. Since I had seen it used in Class and access it on a daily basis; it made it easier to create.

diigo address:

http://www.diigo.com/list/crystalann/

2 Google Apps Lesson Plans (Week 3 Blog #2)

While looking for a relevant lesson plan in Google Apps for my area of concentration I searched all Google App lesson plans for grades K-3. I found the following 2 as examples of excellent ways to use Google Apps in the classroom.


LESSON PLAN #1. TELLING TIME AND GOOGLE CALENDAR:


(link): http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddv49vkt_6htvmb3d6


This lesson focuses on teaching students how to read time and how to calculate certain blocks of time (i.e. 1 hour, 1/2 hour, 15 min, 2 hrs). First, students are asked to view review their knowlege of time based on how to read an analog clock and how to block out time frames such as a half an hour for lunch or an hour for a lesson in the classroom. They are then introduced to the calendar/agenda format in Google Apps. The teacher shows them how certain spans of time are blocked out on the calendar. She/he then uses her/his own schedule or asks a student in the class to give an example of a day their life to create a sample of a daily agenda in Google Calendar.


Once the students are familiar with how the calendar format works, they are asked to create their own agenda in Google Calendar. I really liked the idea of asking them create an agenda for their idea of a "Perfect Saturday". This allows the students to use their imagination to create their perfect day, while also effectively conveying the true lesson of telling time and calculating specific time frames. Depending on the education level of students; they can simply block out the day in hour increments or break it down into 1/2 hours or 15 minute intervals. Students are evaluated on the relevance of their individual "Perfect Saturday" agenda assignment.


LESSON PLAN #2. "Graphing with Google Docs and Forms"


(link): http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddv49vkt_13vwgvzxhm


I loved the idea of this lesson. It allows students to get to know their fellow classmates by answering a series of questions compiled by the class as a whole. It also enables them to understand how to interpret graphs and charts all while incorporating technology into the lesson.


Prior to the lesson the teacher asks the students what they would like to know about their classmates (not open ended questions, but questions that can be answered via multiple choice or yes/no answers). Once these questions are compiled the teacher enters them into a Google Form. This form is then placed onto the classroom or school website.


On the day of the lesson, students are asked to complete the form that has been created for them by answering the questions they discussed the previous day. Once all of the students have answered the questions, they are brought together as a group to review the responses on the interactive board in the classroom. The teacher reviews with the class how the information they all contributed has been summarized in one speadsheet. The students and teacher review the graphs together and answer specific questions about what they see. (i.e. What do the numbers on the bottom of the graph represent? How many students completed the form? etc.) Students individually analyze the results of the graph by answering specific questions such as the number of students who are 7 years old or whether there are more boys than girls in the class. Students will learn such things as range, max, min, how to read a bar graph, etc. Students are assessed on how well they understand numbers and operations as well as data analysis and probability.

Could Google Apps Help Me?? (Week 3 Blog 1)

While watching the assigned videos on Google Apps for this week, I couldn't help but think..."I wish I would have had access to something like this when I was in school!"



While working toward my bachelors degree in marketing at a small campus in North Dakota; many of my assignments required collaborating with fellow students and presenting or turning in a single document that each person in the group contributed to. While I love working with other people and getting feedback from my peers, most often this became a daunting task. Anytime we were given a group assignment, it never failed...there was always that one person who didn't update their portion of the document correctly (or at all!) or someone in the group had some sort of technical issue when sending it to the group leader to update. No one ever knew which version was the latest version and there were always issues when it came time to finalizing the document. If my fellow students and I would have had access to a program like Google Apps, our group projects would have been much less stressful and much more enjoyable. Everyone could have worked collaboratively on the document in real time and we would have been able to see all of the changes and updates that were made and who they were made by.



The email and calendar features of Google Apps are also very appealing to me. I thrive on organization and having my schedule easily accessable so that I know exactly what I am doing and when. When I worked at Boscov's my Outlook email and Outlook calendar were my lifeline. I was maticulous about organizing my email correspondence and always had my calendar updated and easily accessable. I think the email/calendar option that Google Apps offers would be extremely helpful to me in my personal, acedemic, and professional life.



The many different features of Google Apps are such great tools for almost anyone who uses technology. Personally, I know it would be very helpful when I am a teacher and managing my classroom. I think having the students work together to set up a "Classroom webpage" or create a wordprocessing document (like a book report or recapping what they leared during the day's science lesson) would not only be a great way for students to learn the subject matter at hand; but it also gives them the tools to learn how to work together in teams and achieve a working knowlege of technology in the classroom and how to incorporate it into their everyday lives.

R/W Tools (Week 2 Blog 2)

Most of the R/W Tools discussed in this week's readings I have heard of. Many of them are just that: I have heard of them, know their basic concepts; but have not used them. It's amazing what resources exist today not only for students but for people in general.

There were a few concepts that I know little or nothing about other than the information provided in the articles and what we have discussed in class. Reading about them only makes me want to learn more and try them for myself. One of the most interesting to me are pod casts. I have used them once or twice in the past, but haven't made them something I refer to for information on a regular basis. I plan to make it a point to incorporate pod casts into my "Internet activities" in the future. The information they provide will help me to expand on what I am learning in my classes at Albright. I believe it is very beneficial to get information from many different sources.

Another concept that seems very innovative to me is Library 2.0. How many people have time to visit a library and search for what they need? I think offering a Web 2.0 program for library members and librarians will make the idea of using library services more appealing to the public. (Especially Net Geners who rely so much on technology) The ability to communicate with a librarian via the Internet rather than face to face will help those who may be apprehensive about using such a program more apt to try it since it offers a sense of direct communication and support. Library members also have the opportunity to communicate with each other; making the library itself more like a community.

Google docs is also a great R/W tool in that users are able to create documents on their computer even if they don't have the program/software to do so (such as Microsoft Word or Excel). I have not used the application only because before taking this course I had not heard of it. I am lucky enough to have Microsoft Office on my personal computer at home and have not needed any alternative. Google Docs is a great concept as I know many people who do not have a program such as Word on their PC and need to create a specific document. For them, this program would come in very handy.

The Digital "Language" (Blog 1)

I have never really thought of myself as a technological person. I was probably the last of my friends to get an MP3 player and still struggle with uploading songs. I don't rely on the Internet for EVERYTHING, and I am not up on the latest technological advances. But as I read the Educause and Article assignments for this week, I realized I am much more technologically inclined than i had once thought. I would be lost without my cell phone, I don't go anywhere without it. Not only is it my lifeline to my family back home; I use it to text friends to make plans for the weekend, to check the weather, and quickly check my email before class. I am constantly online emailing, doing research, checking my bank account, as well as checking and updating my facebook account. In the last 2 weeks, my home computer has not been working. When my husband took it to be repaired; not having it in the house seemed more like a handicap than in inconvenience. I didn't realize what a big part of our life it was. The 2 days without it seemed to be the longest of my life!

I will be the first to admit that i still have a great deal to learn when it comes to technology. I have 5 nephews - I can almost bet that the two oldest (Ages 15 and 12) know more about a computer and the latest technology than I do. When I talk to them and ask them what's new in their world; it usually consists of their latest computer/video game. When I ask them how school is going, the highlight of their day typically has something to do with technology in the classroom. They love lessons where the teacher incorporates the Internet or a new software program. Their parents are slightly frustrated in the fact that their children's lives seem to revolve around a concept that they themselves have not really ever had to embrace. It could be the "remoteness" of the small town that they live in and the ability to communicate with neighbors, family, and friends the "old fashioned way" that makes them less willing to accept what their children are learning.

I still believe that children should do things other than play video games and surf the web to apply themselves; but it is important for educators and parents to understand that our society is taking a significant turn toward even more dependence on technology. Our children need to be not only familiar with it, but be prepared to use it in a personal and professional setting. When the time comes for the youth of today to head off to college, their campuses will be much different than the campuses of today. We need to be sure they are ready.

Digital Natives and Net Gen

As I read the articles for this week, I was reminded of an instance with my mom: or as I like to call her, a "not so technologically inclined person". She was working on the computer, doing the things my mom does on the computer(...checking email and...well, that's pretty much it!) when she encountered a problem. An ominous "ERROR" had popped up on the screen! In her panic, she didn't know what to do except call in the "Expert", my 10 year old nephew James. He rushed in to her rescue and, of course, remedied the problem in a matter of minutes.

James is a prime example of a "Digital Native". He has spent his whole life around technology; learning it and absorbing it so that it has almost become second nature to him. He knows more about a computer than most of the adults in my family. He not only uses technology for entertainment; but also relies on it as a learning tool. The same is true for his fellow classmates. Technology has become a core part of their learning.

This is much different from when my parents were in school and even from when I was in school. Teachers seemed terrified of incorporating anything technological into their lessons. Most of my teachers were even apprehensive about using a VCR. They were the "Paper/Pencil" educators with very traditional means of relaying their curriculum to their students.

It is extremely important for us to realize that children today are learning differently and grasp technological concepts easily. Educators need to better prepare themselves to incorporate technology into the classroom in order to ensure they can effectively reach these so called "Digital Natives".

First Blog Ever!

This the first time I have blogged.... Not much to say. :)