Task_3-Reflection

 

Our facilitator for our last week of instruction was Sarah, who posted a screenR presentation on behalf of the Pandas. (Great Job Sarah!!!) Sarah's screenR link is http://www.screenr.com/uHh7.

I've learned a lot about technology and how to incorporate them in my teaching career, many of which I've never heard of before. It's been a pleasure to have been put on such an awesome team and to get to know them as well. From the get go, our group agreed on the facilitator schedule where each member was assigned as the facilitator every week. As far as the "leader" role, aside from being a facilitator, a member always volunteered that position. For the most part we followed that schedule, while accommodating one another when unexpected events happen. I believe our group was a huge success thanks to the contributions and input everyone gave every week and most of all communication we had.

 For me, I know I wasn't as on top of things as some of my group members and for that I apologize and THANK them for being very accountable. I contributed by doing my part as the facilitator, being a "leader" at one point, provided input on assignments, and encouraged our team that we're almost to the home stretch. As mentioned, it was great being on such an awesome group and getting to know hardworking leaders of whom I hope to work with again.

Task_3-6 Reflection

1. Why is it important to use teams in PBL?
It's important to use teams in PBL (Problem-Based Learning) because PBL is all about strategizing on solutions to a problem. As a group, you'll perhaps learn new ideas from peers and vice versa.


2. What are some of the problems you see in student teams?
I think one of the biggest problems in teams is communication. Lack of communication causes chaos and confusion.

3. What strategies can you use to manage conflict in student teams?
I think a great strategy is of course is for the instructor to layout the expectations for the class in the beginning of the school year. By doing so, all students know what's expected of them.
Another great tool we used in our group is creating a schedule where we evenly assigned tasks for each group member. By doing this, there was no question on who the facilitator was for the week.
Finally, communication is a huge factor in avoiding conflict. As long as members are communicating, we know we're on the same page and everyone is willing to accomodate one another.

4. Did the group have any questions or problems this week?
The Panda's had no problems or questions this week.

WEEK #15 TEAMWORK

                        

"The "Martyr" is quick to point out that he has had to do much more than everyone else on the team because no one else seems to be taking his/her part seriously.  His work schedule is "unique" and his commitment unusual."


After putting our ideas together, we believe in order to get across to a "Martyr" and avoid conflict, we should follow these practices:

Positive Communication: Keep the atmosphere from becoming negative. Communicate with the martyr that way the student knows you're willing to listen to what they have to say. By doing so, the martyr will know they're being heard and it helps build a trust between you and the student.

Scheduling: Create a group schedule ASAP that shows assignments and tasks have been distributed evenly. By doing so, it shows that each group member has a role.

Group Feedback: By providing weekly group feedback, this not just makes the instructor aware of what each student is contributing, but it also shows each student how accountable they are to their group. 

In conclusion, we believe that positive communication, scheduled tasks, and group feedback should help avoid conflict amongst group members, and specifically a "Martyr". As long as the instructor makes the group work guidelines clear at the start of class, he's in touch with what's going on, and steps in when he feels the need to do so, then it'll avoid any conflict amongst group members.

Task_3-5 Reflection

1. What ideas have you contributed to your team this week?
For this week, I assumed the assignment was just piecing all information we had together so I didn't do my part in anything. Sorry Team!

2. What role did you play on your team this week?
I'll be honest and say I had no part in the assignment.


3. How did you encourage and support your team members this week?
We're always pushing one another...since it's down to the final week.. we're all pretty much reminding everyone we're almost to the home stretch.


4. Did the group have any problems or questions this week?
For me, I felt this week we had a rough start. Thanks to Kortnee for taking the initiative again.

Task_3-4 Reflection

1. What ideas have you contributed to your team this week?
I was the team leader this week. I was able to research some resources about Authentic Assessment.

2. What role did you play on your team this week?
I was the team leader for "Authentic Assessment"

3. How did you encourage and support your team members this week?
Working in a group is a difficult task, however our group has managed to encourage and support one another week after week. This week,I just told my teammates not to sweat if they feel they haven't contributed enough or has been busy. We have great communication, which has been key to our success.

4. Did the group have any questions or problems this week?
I don't think we had any problems or questions this week.

Task _ 3-3 Reflection

What ideas have you contributed to your team this week?
I was unable to meet with the group on typewithme so I emailed Landa on SLO's that I could think of (I hope she received it).

What role did you play on your team this week?
My role was the facilitator this week.

How did you encourage and support your team members this week?
We've all come to the conclusion that group work is definitely a difficult task but we've managed to encourage one another that we're near the finish line and we can do it.

Did the group have any questions or problems this week?
Our group has great chemistry. I don't think there were any problems other than getting a late start at our assignment.

Week #12 Current_Event

             

Teacher, Steve Lai is a guitar tutor from Richmond, BC, Canada who incorporated skitch as a teaching tool to "create colorful, interactive visuals that help students learn." Mr. Lai teaches French to 6-10 year olds as a second language at Richmond Christian School, in addition he also teaches children how to play the guitar.
Mr. Lai uses the app skitch as a different way to teach French and guitar that engages his young students.
                                                                 
                                



There are tons of possibilities when using skitch on an i pad, such as the example above while teaching French. In this classroom, Mr. Lai takes pictures of images pertaining to words or categories such as colors, clothing, and diagrams of the body. He then hooks up his i pad to a projector for the class to see. Skitch is used to annotate the image and for the whole class to participate on what's going on. For example, as shown in the picture above Mr. Lai will color a pair of pants, draw an arrow, and ask students to name the color in French. To make the lesson even more enjoyable for the kids, Mr. Lai takes pictures of willing staff and teachers at the school where students are able to draw funny hair and silly clothes on them.

                                            

Another example how skitch is used for the French language instruction is for illustrating motion as seen in the picture above. Mr. Lai's school uses the Accelerated Integrated Method which is similar to sign language. So Mr.Lai takes a picture of himself that way the students are able to see a visual of what is being taught. He does the same thing for his guitar lessons. He takes pictures of where he places his fingers on the guitar and also labels them that way students can visually see where they need to place their fingers.

Mr. Lai finds that skitch is not just a fun app for the students to work with at school, but they can also explore it at home. What's great is any artwork done on skitch, Mr. Lai is able to post it onto his blog where parents are able to see their child's artwork and also use it as a communication tool. It's always exciting for students to do away from the traditional paper and book to have the opportunity to work with i pads and the different apps available.

http://blog.evernote.com/tag/education/

Task_3-2 Reflection

                                                                                
                      What roles did the members of your team have this week?
Like every week, our team does a great job communicating. We researched information regarding our topic for this week.

                      Given your role in the group this week, how did you contribute to the group?
I was on Kauai this week, so I was afraid I wouldn't be able to contribute anything. Thank goodness for Kourtney's idea to do our group assignment on typewith me. I was able to briefly go online and answer one of the questions required.

                       What worked well this week?
I believe our group works well together. We have our facilitator schedule set, and there's always someone volunteering to be the group leader for our group assignment. Typewithme is a huge asset because even if we can't all meet, whomever is able can go online and work on editing the final paper together with everyone's input.

                       What will you do differently next time?
As always, our group does a great job making it work. For me personally, I'd try to manage my time better and hope to do a better job.

Task_3-1 Reflection

Kudos to Kourtnee for taking the leadership role this week. She set up an online group meeting on typewith.me where we were able to work on our group assignment together. Landa and I thought typewith.me was pretty cool because we were all able to edit our paper together. I did some research on PBL to get a better idea of what it was and contributed to editing the paper. Although Randy and Sarah weren't able to join in, they also contributed by posting their thoughts on PBL in the forums section. We were able to take their input and incorporate it into our final piece.
What worked well was Kourtnee volunteered to be the "facilitator" for our PBL assignment, while Randy who is scheduled as our facilitator this week will focus on our other group assignment. What was awesome is that we communicated really well with one another to figure out meeting times and everyone's schedule. It's definitely difficult to get the whole group together at the same time, but we made it work. Ones that weren't able to make it made an effort by giving their input ahead of time in the forums section. I don't feel there's anything we should do differently because our group is on the same page and contributes.

Task #2, Deliverable, Week #9

I would definitely use these Web 2.0 tools I've discovered doing this past assignment. The sight I found was very informative with tons of resources that I can use in my classroom. There's detailed lesson plans for all subjects and age groups. Prior to completing this assignment, I've just basically used google and searched the web to whatever topic I was looking for. I have no feed back or comments at this time regarding the Web 2.0 selection process.

Week #7 Current_Events

Week #7 Current_Event

This week's current event was to find a resource from someone we were following on twitter. As always, our group did a great job finding great and interesting resources. As much as I'd like to write about them all, we're gonna go with @edutopia http://www.edutopia.org/blog/guide-to-college-financial-aid-tanya-knight.

This resource is a step by step guide to financial aid for college. I believe one of the biggest reasons many avoid going to college is having to figure out how to pay for it. After many years of graduating from high school, I finally decided to return to college and puruse a teaching degree thanks to financial aid. Thank goodness I'm more aware of financial resources out there because in a few years, I'll have a college bound child and I'll be more prepared on what to do.
This step by step guide to financial aid is simple to understand and is a wonderful tool for parents, teachers, counselors, and students planning on going to college. It entails financial aid available from the federal government, the state of ones residence, the college where one is applying, and private scholarships available in ones hometown. The site also includes the infamous Free Application for Federal Student Aid from the Department of Education (FAFSA) site. The FAFSA form is one that is definitely recommended by everyone to apply for because this not only calculates an estimate needed for college per applicant, but it also identifies state-level and federal financial aid available. It's basically filling out one application to locate other possible "money" floating out there that many people don't know about. This includes federal grants or federal work study funds and low interest loans.
The FAFSA application must be filled out every year, however personal information is saved to avoid having to fillout the entire form again. The only thing that would most likely change is the tax information area and types of financial aid one would like to recieve. A pin number will be provided to all that apply for FAFSA for easy access to ones application online. Applications are normally available from January 1st, however must be completed with the most recent tax return information. The earlier one applies for FAFSA the better, as financial aid is on a first come first served basis. Should an applicant be accepted and qualified for financial aid, funds will be disbursed via the financial aid department at their home school.
Just by reading the resource from edutpoia, the emphasis on FAFSA shows you the importance and highly recommended site for financial aid. This is a great first step to applying for financial aid for college. It really is one application for many financial resources out there for college students. The great thing is even if you don't think you need it or don't think you'll qualify, it doesn't hurt to try. There's free money for college out there, the more people are aware of it the better.

Week #2 Current_Events

Week #2 Current_Events

Group 5 -Team Panda
Sarah Ramsey-Jardolin
Yolanda Rivers
Kortnee Ryan
Randolph Sagon
Rose Takenaka

Resource link for Week #2
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/educational-technology/teacher-resources/43743.html


For our Week #2 Resource, our group chose the Teacher Vision website. This site is great because it's basically getting back to basics or a great tool for ones that aren't technology savy as myself and would love to learn. For example, this site provides guidance on learining how to create power points, how to use word processors, and how to incorporate the ever growing technology in our classrooms. What's fanatastic is that there's so many different reources for teachers that can be incorporated in the classroom, of any grade level.

This site is pretty self explanatory. Once you're on the website, there's sub headings that makes it simple to find exactly what you're looking for. It allows you to click on a link below any of the headings:
White Board Mini Lessons, Powerpoint Resources, Digital Books, Word Processing Resources, Best of the Web, Internet Resources, Videos, Integrating Technology, Internet Safety, Online Games, and More Technology Resources. Once you click on any of these, it gives you examples of lesson plans.

Aside from this, what's also great is there's sub headings labeled in blue: Home, Grades, Subjects, Themes, Printables, Graphic Organizers, Lesson Plans, Classroom Management, and Calendar. Depending on what you want to view, there's different grades and subjects that gives you tons of resources.

This site has so much information for classroom management, lesson plan, ideas on how to integrate technology in the classrooms, and even worksheets. Check out the website and you'll know why we chose it for our resource.

Task #1, Deliverable, Week #7

I am not a very technologically sound individual, so many who know me has no doubt I've never used any of these software tools before. I've heard of just google, not igoogle or google reader. I've also heard of twitter and people use it to "tweet" but I've never had any interest in signing up for it.

I can say that these tools we were "forced" to sign up for will definitely come in handy once I get accustomed to them. These are great and easy access to teachers searching for ideas or opinions regarding almost anything.

http://www.screenr.com/EYw8

Self Introduction

Hi All! My name is Mary Rose Takenaka but everyone calls me "Rose". I'm currently in the AAT program where I hope to graduate in about a year. I plan on transferring to UH West Oahu or UH Manoa to pursue my Bachelors in Elementary Ed. I'm not at all tech savy which is why I enrolled in this class hoping to learn enough to be comfortable with "gadgets and gizmos". My favorite technology item is my I Phone 4s. I love it because it's compact and I'm able to access the internet anywhere, check my emails, take photos and videos, listen to music, and especially helps keep my kids occupied with games. It took me a while to figure out where to post my blog and that being said, I'm gonna make it a point to not procrastinate until the last minute to turn in my assignments. Although the thought of group work in an online course sounds challenging, I look forward to it and will make sure to put in my share of the work.