Educreations

This is an IOS app called Educreation.  It is essentially a WhiteBoard on the iPad that you can record on as you go through a lesson so the students can play it back as many times as they need.  I can see this being used in many different lessons including a flipped classroom and math.  Disclaimer: no mention was ever made that you had to be a perfect artist to use this.

<iframe width='480' height='300' src='https://www.educreations.com/lesson/embed/21061958/?ref=app' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/water-cycle/21061958/?ref=app

Should teachers be friends with students?

Should teachers be friends with students?
Yes, they should be nice to them so they know they genuinely care for them but No, teachers are professionals and should not be friends with their students. It is the same with parents and children. You love your children but you are not their friend, you are the authority figure that gives them structure and safety. Teachers are the same way, you give them structure and safety. Yes, the kids need to be loved by their authority figures and know that they are loved but they also grave structure. An example is when my husband was going through cancer treatment, we kept the girls on their schedule so they would not be affected. It helped all of us to maintain our daily schedule as much as possible. Social media has brought a whole new meaning to friends. Most teachers that are in the high school and junior high school level will not be friends with students until after they graduate. We also live in a small town where everybody knows everybody so parents and teachers are on Facebook. I have several of my students on with me so I have to be careful but that should be what I do anyway. I want to keep my digital footprint clean.

Screen Recording

Flocabulary at www.flocabulary.com
This is a great teaching tool that is already available in our system.  I use the vocabulary, science, language arts, and math.  The students enjoy the songs.  I am looking forward to hearing this life in rap since my daughter is graduating high school.  They have a this week in rap, this year in rap, and this life in rap for the graduating seniors.
<a href="http://www.screencast.com/t/24cpQFc2bT">Flocabulary</a>
http://www.screencast.com/t/24cpQFc2bT

Future of Genetics

The Human Genome Project was finished over 10 years ago that mapped out all of our genes.  It was finished two years ahead of expectations because of businesses like Research Genetics in Huntsville, AL that had technicians that worked really hard.  (Applause now for me and my crew).  Now we have available genetic profiles for people that are willing to pay.  It is on sale a lot for $99.  This gives you a complete profile of where you came from, your ancestry, helps you find relatives, diseases you are prone to and ones you are not, drug profile, and many more genetic anomalies.  One website is    
https://www.23andme.com/
The future of the biotechnology will increase just like technology has.  Your genetic profile is a start but if you want to know everything about yourself and what drugs you need to use, you would need to have all of your genomes sequenced.  We already have the capability of studying over 5,000 genes at once on a membrane the size of a credit card. It won't take the guessing game out of everything because we will still have bacteria and viruses but other things like diseases, aging, obesity, diabetes, and hair loss will be eradicated.  Exciting future in genomics.

Embed Code
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QsHuGQieyjY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Direct Link
http://youtu.be/QsHuGQieyjY

Michio Kaku: Genetics: The Key to Immortality?

Author Stream

 I added a Gamification PowerPoint to authorstream.com


http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/lisanbowen-2142212-gamification-classroom/

Video with Captions

My grandmother started writing poetry in her head when she was 83 years old.  She was blind so she would recite the poems to us as we would write them down.  She loved fishing and this is one of our favorites set to pictures with captions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8dxuxqMvQ

Animated Poster

Glogster
Created my first Glogster on Gaming in the Classroom.

Assistive Technology Reflection

Assistive technology is not utilized in some classrooms in a timely manner to insure the optimal learning for students with disabilities.  It is important for students that would excel with early introduction to assistive devices to receive those devices early in their educational career.  Occasionally those devices can be phased out as the student learns to use their motor skills or voice.  Not all students will be able to expand and learn without their device, they may need them for life.  Updating assistive devices as they grow will insure the continued success of the student.  Parents and educators can work together to insure that the student receives the assistance they need at home and at school. 

Assistive devices can include wheelchairs, laptops, tablets, communication boards, voice recognition software, and any technology that can assist them including software.  Students that are not able to communicate using their voice can use laptops or computers to write their thoughts.  They can also use communication boards to use as their voice.  Communication boards can even be used with a switch that may include using the eyes or other part of the body when students have limited mobility.  Joysticks can be used on many different devices to assist students.  An example could be for musical instruments.  Bookworm is a program to use that helps to read books to younger students.  This allows them to associate pictures with words.  Assistive technology can include software such as OneNote or EverNote to help the student with organization. 

As an educator, it is important to not only recognize when a student would benefit from assistive technology or devices but to know how to provide the student with the needed device.  It is also important to know who to work with and where to research the latest devices.  Technology is improving everyday and assistive technology is changing fast but it is vital in order to unlock minds that are trapped with disabilities. 

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling-
A Day Without Math
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/view_story.cfm?vid=93&categoryid=6&d_title=Mathematics

Biomass to Biogas
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/view_story.cfm?vid=91&categoryid=12&d_title=Science

Science using Digital Storytelling				Science 3rd Grade
	Overview The students will research a science topic using the internet, books, or encyclopedias.  They will then write a story board and choose a picture to use in their digital story.  They will create a digital story using Photostory 3. Objectives ·         The students will enhance computer skills using search engine to research a science topic, locating pictures related to the topic, and creating a digital story. ·         Group work will strengthen communication and collaboration skills. Activities 1.       Groups will be chosen and each person in the group will be assigned to a particular part of the lesson.  Ex. The water cycle includes precipitation, evaporation, run-off, and condensation.  2.       The students will research a given science topic including the water cycle, the rock cycle, soil layers, and erosion. 3.       The students will each find 1-2 pictures relating to their research findings.  The picture must be unique to the group and related to their topic.  4.       The students will create a storyboard giving a description of their topic.  5.       Using Photostory3, the students will follow the directions to insert their pictures and then record their voices to create a digital story.  6.       Students will share their storyboards and digital story with the class. Adaptations Students will be paired together so they can assist each other. Evaluation Rubric to evaluate research, story board, pictures, digital story, and group collaboration.				Materials Tablet with Digital Storytelling software Photostory3 Other Resources Library books Online encyclopedias Search engine Computer Tablet with Photostory 3 Storyboards

All kinds of e-books

I like to use the Alabama Virtual Library and our school library also offers e-books.  I have a couple of Kindles in my classroom that I use and I like to search for the free books.  I don't have an iPad but some of my colleagues do and they use Inkling.  During my research, I found the Gutenberg project (www.gutenberg.org) could be very helpful and CourseSmart (www.coursesmart.com) can cut the costs of textbooks.
I also ran across several other e-book sites that I want to remember so I can share them and use them in my classroom. 

• www.scribd.com - This does cost $8.99 per month to read unlimited books.  It is like NetFlix for movies but for books.
• www.free-ebooks.net - They offer a wide variety of e-books and trade magazines.
• www.manybooks.net - They offer many free books with a variety of choices for downloading.
• www.openculture.com/free_ebooks -They offer 600 free e-books for Kindle, iPad, and other devices. 
• www.bartleby.com - I used this to read some poetry to my class.
• www.flatworldknowledge.com - offers many textbooks but they also have their own line.
• www.e-booksdirectory.com - offers free e-books and like the Gutenberg website, you can find old books. 
• https://openlibrary.org -to borrow, read, or collect e-books

I have one more that I tried out with my class the other day.  It is not actually an e-book site but a site you can use with certain books.  My students loved it.  You can read books and then follow where the book takes you on Google Earth.  We did Make Way for Ducklings and then traveled around Boston.  It was a fun virtual field trip.

• googlelittrips.com

Also a great website that I found when I was researching e-books is www.educatorstechnology.com.

Camera Based Excercise

Introduction Video
I was finally able to use the video on my tablet and learned quite a bit. 
By the way, it was potato pearls not real pearls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ogUe8XygQ8

Virtual World-Ed Tech Island

Moving around in Second Life if a bit easier after practice.  I went to EdTech Island and found there are so many places packed in a little area.  I went to Observation Cave, AETC, Descriptive Cave, ICT Library, Western Town, a Protected Beach (looked like it was underwater), iNACOL bat cave and amphitheater, and many more.  The art museum was really quiet.  I saw several PowerPoints on teaching in a virtual world.  The Undersea Observatory was interesting, it even had jellyfish.  I like to have never found the sandbox.  I tried to build a box in several places but there are restrictions to building in some areas.

Practicing building a box but not at the correct place.

Good at boxes now.

Correct place but not sitting yet.

Finally a box at the sandbox.  I could not figure out some of the bags that were sitting around.  I tried to pick up one but I was not able to.

When I returned later, there were more items on the beach.  My computer is slow loading everything so I wonder what else I am missing.

The most thought provoking part of the tour was the PowerPoint on how other countries are using technology and virtual learning.  Even some of the countries with lack of technology seem to be ahead of the United States when it comes to using technology in the classroom.  It is enlightening and scary at the same time.  I hope that we can find better ways to educate our teachers to the importance of not just using technology to teach the same way we always have but rather to give it to the students to learn with and be immersed into 21st Century Learning.

Nature Walk with Pixlr

Pixlr-o-matic is a program that can be used with or without downloading that gives many different effects to your pictures.

Here are before and after pictures of some of mine that were edited using http://pixlr.com/o-matic/

Senior Pictures at Cave

Getting braver on changes

Barn at Grandmas

Grandma would like this

Bridge at Mr. Zion

Subtle changes

Easter Sunday

Small changes give it depth

Senior pictures at cave

Love the softness

Sunset from porch

Sunsets are peaceful

Just a bench

Better looking bench

Moving and Viewing in Second Life

I was practicing my camera shots while sitting in the amphitheater.  I had to rest from running around like a MadWoman and running into several things including the trees.  

This is at the end of my journey on Eagle Island.  I was exhausted but at least I am moving around better.  I like having instructions of where to explore so that I don't feel like I am walking around lost.  I have been surprised that I have not run into more people.  I thought some of these places would have more visitors.

I went to the egg processing facility and could not find my way out.  My favorite part was learning about the virtual chicken because I had just candled some real eggs yesterday and that part was not interesting.  

Really cool to look into the microscopes in the Eagle Island Micro Lab.  I enjoyed visiting.  This is e. Coli.

Here is me trying to figure out how to sit down and use the microscopes in the Micro Lab on Eagle Island.  This was my favorite part, except for laying in the hammock at the beach.  

I went to the poultry museum and it was interesting.  When it came time to leave, I tried to fly out and it did not work.  I finally found the green arrow to transport me back to the beginning.  

Playing with the camera and the different views at the Poultry Pride station.   I could not figure how to get the words back on that blank screen then I realized I needed to wait longer.  It is slow loading all the graphics when I transport from one place to another.  

This was viewing the video of how the egg is developed in the chicken.   When I worked at the diagnostic lab at Snead State, I had to do autopsies on chickens and trace their egg ducts to see if I saw any problems.  It brought back a lot of memories.  I liked doing the autopsies on the chickens but I did not like doing autopsies on cows because I was the Lab Rat and it was my job to look through stomach contents(all 4).

This is me flying above Eagle Island.  I can walk and run better but I am still not flying well.  I keep landing on top of buildings, the rocks, or in the water.  I am also still belly floppy and having to get up off the ground.

I am sitting in the Eagle Island Amphitheater, after this picture was taken I watched a video on poultry.

Walk and Move in Second Life

This is Ed Tech island for teachers that want to teach in the virtual world.  They have games, seminars, camps, and several learning tools for teachers.  I am still learning how to navigate and still not doing too well but it is a place that  I marked to remember.  

This is Oasis Zoo.  I forgot to get my free balloon.  They have many animals and you learn about the animals and how they live and interact.  I like to fly above the places to get an overall view but I am still landing face first.  This virtual world takes practice and patience.

Researching Virtual Worlds

Pfeil, U., Ang, C., & Zaphiris, P. (2009). Issues and challenges of teaching and learning in 3D virtual worlds: real life case studies. Educational Media International, 46(3), 223-238. doi:10.1080/09523980903135368

            Virtual Worlds in education are not unlike real world teaching.  There are issues and challenges to teaching in both worlds.  The key points are that students have to be trained at the beginning in order to know the rules and procedures of the class.  Keeping students engaged and involved is another challenge in both worlds.  The teacher has to choose the most effective tools to use in order to deliver content from the curriculum to the students no matter which world they are teaching from.  There are costs associated to teaching in both worlds.  This article details some specific challenges to teaching in the virtual world.  Having the students sign up and learn how to navigate in the virtual world is the first challenge with the students.  Before classes begin, the teacher has to plan what formats to use and what tools to use to introduce a subject, what projects to assign, how to evaluate students, how to instruct students on working in groups, and how students are to complete and submit work.  The one big advantage that was noted in this article was the ability to train students on certain activities that are hard to create or recreate in the real world such as architectural digs.  Another benefit is to visit different places without actually travelling thus reducing field trip costs.  There are many advantages to teaching in a virtual world and as in the real world, there are obstacles to work through and overcome.

Twining, P. (2009). Exploring the educational potential of virtual worlds-some reflections from SPP.  British Journal of Educational Technology,  40(3), 496-514. doi:.10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00963.x

         One major criticism that the educational system receives is that it is not meeting the needs of the individual students or the society by creating life-long learners that is needed for the 21^st century.  This criticism is coming from all sectors of society.  This article is reviewing the Schome Initiative (school-home) that is being used in the UK but it has several real points to virtual worlds in education.  The biggest point they research is the fact that you can do things that are impossible in the real world or that are not a reality because of the cost.  Another concept is the motivation of students especially in high school to participate in and attend classes.  Schome Park was created for students from grades 4-12.  The students learned by doing tasks, becoming someone else, role-playing, reflecting and self-analyzing.  The conclusion was that students became more involved because they were not bound to a classroom and they were not as afraid to make mistakes in the virtual world.  The concluding question pondered the use of virtual worlds in education, will teachers use virtual worlds to the fullest possible potential or will they use it to simply reflect a traditional classroom in a virtual world. 

    

Getting Started in Second Life

This is my avatar in the video game, Second Life.  I started out very slow and learned the controls while watching a tutorial video.  Easy enough, especially when you can walk through things and people.  I ended up in a Freebie shop and found where I could change my avatar.  The only thing I really changed was my shirt color.  Everything moves too slow for me but I think it may be my computer even though I downloaded the suggested drivers that was suggested after I downloaded second life.  While I was at the first freebie place, I ran into a couple of avatars that were saying some very nasty and sexual comments.  So I quickly left there by searching "educational" places.  I wound up transporting to Rescue Island for sheltered and homeless animals.  This was better and I was able to see some boards that were related to rescued animals.  This was still too slow moving around.  My graphics are alright, my patience is not.  So here goes, as a third grade teacher, I would not use Second Life in any shape form or fashion.  I would not have to worry about getting hooked into Second Life because of the profanity and sexual encounters going on.  The tattoos, clothes, and hairdos that they were "selling" are way too far off what a person should wear.  Overall it is slow and a waste of time.  I could learn about rescuing dogs and animal shelters by using Google or even visiting an animal shelter.  I did not like Second Life and see no educational gain.

Gamification Presentation

Researching the topic of Gamification can be overwhelming, there is an enormous amount of information available.  For a teacher that is new to the concept, it can be too much and the interest to start a classroom based on gaming will quickly dissipate.  This presentation will give clues as to where to begin.

Direct Links
http://www.screencast.com/t/SUnNPo3R97S
or
http://youtu.be/2AXcfAAZs7Y

Gamification Presentation

Infographics with Piktochart

My first InfoGraphic was exciting. You may notice a rocks and minerals theme for several projects because it is part of the third grade science curriculum. During this unit, we visit the Virtual Geology Museum from Cochise College. I can't get off that website and the students (most) enjoy it also. We also add in bar graphs by studying birthstones and then taking a count of the whole third grade including teachers. We do a bar graph for each class and then we do one big graph for the whole third grade. We learn that you can also find fractions in our bar graphs. 
Birthstone Facts and Graph

<iframe width="1280" height="3961" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="overflow-y:hidden;" src="https://magic.piktochart.com/embed/1700349-birthstone-graph-per-class-copy"></iframe>

Games Can Make the World Better

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world

While watching the TED talk video from Jane McGonigal, first impression is that this lady is insane.  When she says that the World is already playing 3 billion hours of games a week but that statistic needs to multiply 7 times to 21 billion hours per week, I almost stopped watching.  In the background, you can hear people laughing at this fact lending to the realization that I was not the only person that thought she was insane. She also mentions this in context of solving the major problems of the world.  When she starts to lend the facts of gaming possibilities, the realization is that she may actually be on to a breakthrough to actually help the problems of the world by combining learning and gaming.  

The first rationalization that she uses to defend her stance is the face of the epic win.  She used an example of a boy that is playing a video game on the verge of making a win of some sort and then her face looking defeated from the everyday problems of the real world.  I looked at both faces and compared them to the faces of the children in my classroom.  I see a lot of smiling faces most of the time, sometimes I see faces of deep thought, sometimes I see the face of defeat, sometimes I see faces of light bulb moments, and not often enough I see faces of problem solvers that just saved the world.  Epic win is the face of a student that has gone beyond what they thought they were capable of doing, worked hard to discover something amazing, something that they will remember for the rest of their life.  

The second rationalization that she uses is that gamers spend over 10,000 hours in their lifetime playing games and at the same time students spend over 10,000 hours going through grade school to high school.  They have become virtuosos, or professionals at something, but what have they become good at?  

Jane gives us four items that gamers are becoming virtuosos of and these include urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning.  

Urgent optimism is self motivation.  Gamers never think that they can't overcome some obstacle so they keep on working hard at winning.  Social fabric shows that people trust other people they have played games with because they spent their time with them, played by the rules, have the same goals, and stayed until the game was over.  Blissful productivity states that people are more satisfied when they are working and doing something meaningful instead of relaxing.  Epic meaning is the fact that gamers are hooked on the attachment feeling of something great.  All of these together have created people that feel like they can so they do take on the world and won't stop until they have saved the world.  Why can they not transfer that to the real world and actually save the world? 

I know the hesitation.  Just like I have been afraid to put time into my FNDS6223 class because I don't like online games.  I like to put puzzles together and work the crossword but not online games like "World of Warcraft."   Real life obstacles combined with the fear of playing online games have made it easy for me to put off playing "The Game" in my class.  Students that have grown up in the digital age are not afraid of these games and game developers along with educators should take advantage of that fact.  

Jane has created some games that give real world problems and the test gamers have actually put some of the solutions into their everyday activities.  Most third graders now learn their multiplication facts better using game applications.  In 'World without Oil," gamers learn to live without oil by changing their habits.  The habits that were learned in the game carried over to real life.  It may be possible to use games as an educational tool that lends change and solutions to real world problems.  

Instead of laughing at the possibilities of 21 billion hours of gaming, I have started wondering how I can use gaming and project-based learning combined together in my classroom.  Parallel learning may be the key to the question that teachers ask everyday, "How can I keep my students motivated?'

What Type of Gamer are you?

Your BrainHex Class is Mastermind.
Your BrainHex Sub-Class is Mastermind-Seeker.
You like solving puzzles and devising strategies as well as finding strange and wonderful things or finding familiar things.
Each BrainHex Class also has an Exception, which describes what you dislike about playing games. Your Exceptions are:

» No Mercy: You rarely if ever care about hurting other players' feelings - mercy is for the weak!
» No Fear: You do not enjoy feeling afraid, preferring to feel safe or in control.

Learn more about your classes and exceptions at BrainHex.com.
Your scores for each of the classes in this test were as follows:

Mastermind: 18
Seeker: 16
Achiever: 12
Conqueror: 6
Daredevil: 4
Socialiser: 0
Survivor: -2

This was closely accurate.  It is accurate about "mercy is for the weak" and I don't mind about other players feelings.  Maybe that comes from several years of coaching.  When I play games, I tend to play with the crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, card games, and other games that are more solitary.

iTunes Picks:
The first two are for using with science and the identification of rocks and minerals. Third graders can't seem to look at enough rocks and minerals and they are so eager to try to identify all of them. I keep telling them they are Junior Geologists.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/identification-of-rocks/id420665233?mt=10

https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/identification-of-minerals/id422055373?mt=10

MIT+K12 Videos have many interesting videos for Science and Math. "The Three Little Pigs" is one example where the story of the pigs is they are building their houses by a river and watch the wolf's house wash away. This is a great example of erosion.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/mit+k12-videos/id592750711?mt=10