Journal 4: If you Give a Kid a Video Camera

            Campbell, L. O. (2012). If you give a kid a video camera.ISTE: Learning and Leading, 39(5), 30-33. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEditionMarch-April2012.aspx

Summary: Laurie Campbell starts off by explaining the title "If you Give a Kid a Video Camera" by relating it to the children's book, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. She does this to explain that if you give a child a mobile device, he/she will want to learn more. (2012:30) Throughout the article, examples and ideas on how to use a video camera among different subjects, to enhance the learning experience, are given. For instance, on page thirty of the article, language arts is the first subject given. The author explains that using a one-minute video could enhance children's learning by preteaching vocabulary and then reinforce it by assigning the students to create their own vocabulary video. Clearly, by actively doing this assignment, remembering the vocabulary words world most likely be easier. Another subject given on page thirty-two is science. In my opinion, this would be the most valuable use of making videos because you could record lab steps and analyze them by watching your video afterwards. Math video ideas and Social Studies ideas are also given in the article. On page thirty-three the author also points out that students could video experiences on field trips not only to reinforce their own memory, but students who could not go on the field trip could then watch the video and witness the experiences. The author makes a valid point in that videos could be a big part in helping children learn in a variety of academic areas.

Question 1: How could video be used effectively in math?

Answer 1: According to the article, a former math teacher Dan Meyer incorporated video into his math lessons to make story problems more relevant. I know for me that story problems were always a struggle and if visuals were used, it was usually easier to find the answer. The article also states that video can be used in math to record the students thinking. I think it would also be effective to video the students doing problems on the board so that the video could be posted on a classroom website. Therefore, students could review before a test and absent students could see what they missed.

Question 2: What are some ways video could be used in a classroom that isn't necessarily academic?

Answer 2: Lesson plans could be recorded for substitutes, lessons could be recorded for absent students, digital records of field trips and classroom activities could be made, and videos of instructions could be made for those who need to view/review instructions more than once (2012:32) I think it would also be effective for the students to video each other because then they could hear information more than once. When students hear information more than once in a variety of different ways, they are more likely to remember information.

Journal 3: Infographics More than Words can Say

Krauss, J. (2012). Infographics more than words can say.ISTE: Learning and Leading, 39(5), 10-14. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEditionMarch-April2012.aspx 

Summary: In the article "Infographics More Than Words Can Say", Jane Krauss discussed good learning experiences that involve using infographics in order to build on the traditional learning and teaching strategies.  The author explains that infographics cause students to ask for an active response such as, "What am I seeing?" or "What does this mean?"(2012:10) Infographics offer both information and pictures which causes students to both analyze and interpret the information. Krauss also lists different standards and teaching methods such as computational thinking in order to show the importance of infographics. Pages 12-13 offer different lesson plans that incorporate infographics as well as projects that students can participate in. Jane Krauss lists a few simple rules on page 13 for making infographics. These include tell a story, be clear, use good data, and pay attention. Infographics can be very useful in a speech therapy setting because charts and information about each child's struggles could be displayed and explained more clearly.

Question 1: What can computational thinking help students practice?

Answer 1: Computational thinking can help students practice with data sets of any size, manipulate that data, and represent it in an infograph (2012:11). Some may wonder what computational thinking is: it is a problem-solving process that includes but is not limited to:

• Formulating problems in a way that enables us to use a computer and other tools to help solve them.
• Logically organizing and analyzing data
• Representing data through abstractions such as models and simulations
• Automating solutions through algorithmic thinking (a series of ordered steps)
• Identifying, analyzing, and implementing possible solutions with the goal of achieving the most efficient and effective combination of steps and resources 
• Generalizing and transferring this problem solving process to a wide variety of problem


Click Here to see this definition from its source as well as more information on computational thinking.


Question 2: What are the simple rules for making an infograph?

Answer 2: Tell a story about the context you are trying to present, be clear in explaining the different elements of your main idea, use good data from reliable sources, and pay attention to other infographs (2012:13). Infographs are a visual representation of data which is why it is important to present it in the best way possible. Infographs would be very useful for teaching students who are visual learners. 

Technology Self-Assessment: School 2.0

NETS 5- With this assignment I engaged in professional growth and leadership.

In order to improve Module 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, I took a look at the link labeled "Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners". In visiting this link I learned that there are many well known educational websites as well as not as well known educational websites. The "Top 10" link offered a few links to websites such as Kerpoof which offers a variety of creative tools, Voki, a text to speech generator and Create-A-Graph which allows students to easily create graphs. This link on School 2.0 opened my eyes to a variety of educational websites that are good for educators of all kinds. Even though I do not plan on being a teacher, I do plan on being a speech pathologist in elementary schools, therefore, these web-based learning tools can be very beneficial to the learning and teaching experience. It also contributes in helping me construct knowledge and improve creativity skills while working collaboratively with the students.