The Ability To Visualize Data Is More Important Than Ever

There are so many ways for teachers to help students develop the ability to visually represent information and data. There are a variety of multimedia tools for students to use as well as graphic organizers because today's students are visual learners.

One of the best visual tools I use in the classroom is infographics. Not only do they help students organize their information, but they can take the place of the traditional research paper. The core parts to an infographic are visual, content, and knowledge. For the visual aspect, students need to pick a color scheme and make sure their choose high-quality and relevant graphics. I see students use too many colors that clash and district as well as images that are poor quality and irrelevant. The theme graphic is essential to the rest of the infographic because it is the centerpiece. The content should not only include facts and information, but statistics as well. The knowledge should include facts and deductions. I see students struggle with organizing information often. Students should be taught what information is important to include on an infographic and what needs to be left off.

Students need to be clear about who their target audience is and that the purpose of their infographic is clear so that they do not confuse who is reading it.

Login Register Go Pro! Groups Logout My account Upload Assets Help. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2015, from http://www.easel.ly/blog/top-tips-from-experts-on-what-makes-a-great-infographic/

The Anatomy Of An Infographic: 5 Steps To Create A Powerful Visual - SpyreStudios. (2009, November 17). Retrieved September 23, 2015, from http://spyrestudios.com/the-anatomy-of-an-infographic-5-steps-to-create-a-powerful-visual/ 

How can teachers guide students in developing and practicing effective search skills?

“Can I copy and paste?” That is a question I get on a constant basis from students. My response is, “When have I ever told you it was okay to do that?” Most cases of student’s plagiarism is done unintentionally and for reasons such as not knowing how to properly cite sources, when to cite their sources, they don’t know enough about the topic or they waited too long to start an assignment and panicked (Frey, Fisher, Gonzalez, 2010 p. 59).

First, students do not know enough about plagiarism, copyright and fair use. Copyright and fair use can be a difficult concept for students to understand. Students also have a difficult time knowing how to cite sources. This topic can be simplified for students and citing sources can be made much easier with all the citation tools available online. I found a Google Slide presentation that helps explain the topic of copyright to students (http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/07/what-students-need-to-know-about_24.html).

Students also need to be taught how to summarize their information. Most of the time when I tell my middle school students to summarize or put the information in their own words, I get a blank stare from them. With as many students as I have at their various ability levels, tools such as Text Compactor (http://textcompactor.com/) can help students summarize their information so they are not plagiarizing.

Last, students need to know how to find appropriate resources online for research and what questions to ask when using a search engine. Students should be able to identify a credible resource from one that is not. A checklist such as this (http://www.lib.umd.edu/binaries/content/assets/public/usereducation/evaluating-web-sites-checklist-form.pdf) will assist students in finding these reliable resources.

These simple steps teach students how to appropriately do research on the Internet.

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Image from Referencing & Plagiarism  . (n.d.). Retrieved September 8, 2015, from http://guides.library.vu.edu.au/referencing

How can teachers incorporate literacy into content areas?

When I first started teaching, I didn’t think any of the rules applied to me in regard to literacy in the classroom. I teach technology, which is a project-based course. My feeling was that students didn’t need to spend time too much time learning terms because I use them when I talk. As long as they can show me that they could complete the project, then they had mastered the concept. However, the more I teach, the more I realize how important it is to teach literacy.

In “Literacy 2.0,” (p. 21-22) it mentions that project-based learning is focused solely on the outcome itself. Students are focused on creating a product. I tell my students exactly how to complete the project. While it is important to teach students the skills, they need to learn exactly why they are doing the project. Incorporating literacy is so much easier than I would have thought and vital to student learning.

Front-loading and brainstorming are great ways to get a lesson started. I can quickly assess what my students know and need more help with. I can get great conversations started about a topic with my classes. Graphic organizers and mind-mapping allow students to visualize vocabulary terms and concepts. Cooperative learning activities give students a chance to build off each other’s ideas. All of this allows students to make mistakes along the way and learn from them. Students need to learn the process before they can get to the outcome.

Alber, R. (2014, January 15). How Important is Teaching Literacy in All Content Areas? Retrieved September 1, 2015, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-instruction-across-curriculum-importance

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

Incorporating Educational Tools into Reading and Writing

This week, I have had the task of reviewing and responding on two educational tools and how they can be used for reading and writing in the classroom. With so many tools available, it can be a challenge in choosing the right tools. In “Technology to Teach Literacy,”(p. 51) it offers tips for choosing the right tools. First, teachers need to determine what they want to address in the lesson. Next, they should decide what type of tool they would like to use (word processor, spreadsheet, electronic presentation, etc). Last, the objectives need to be matched to the computer functions, such as a mind-mapping tool could be used for brainstorming.

In the text, “Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st Century Classrooms,”( p. 75-76) it mentions Make Beliefs Comix (http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/) as a tool that can be used to increase reading and writing in the classroom. Make Beliefs Comix is a free electronic comic strip maker that helps students communicate through digital storytelling. A variety of characters and props are provided and students can share, print, and save their comics. Digital citizenship is a topic covered in my course. When introducing this unit, I have students create comics on different topics so that they can “act” out the specific concept.  Storytelling is a great tool for visual representation.

If you are looking for an alternative to Make Beliefs Comix, Toon Doo (http://www.toondoo.com/) and Pixton (http://www.pixton.com/ca/) are great alternatives.  

The other tool I chose to review is Grammark (http://grammark.org/dist/#/ ). What a neat tool! Grammark allows students to paste text and then analyzes what they have written. Grammark provides a variety of categories such as grammar, transitions, wordiness, etc. Students can then see exactly what needs to be corrected and defines the issue for them. Even though I teach technology, there are different writing assignments incorporated into my curriculum. I have a wide variety of students in my classroom and a tool like this helps assist students with writing. This tool is especially useful for students who struggle with writing and need assistance.

I am still amazed at the amount of tools that are available to increase reading and writing in the classroom and can’t wait to utilize them in my classroom.

Anderson, R., & Grant, M. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: A resource for K-8 teachers (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

How has literacy changed and evolved for the 21st century classroom?

It is amazing how much technology has changed in the 21^st century. Not only has technology changed drastically since I was in school, but it has changed immensely since my student teaching in 2008. The technology courses I was teaching were based around Microsoft Office only. Students simply sat at their desks and worked out of a textbook or learned keyboarding.

The classroom today has completely greatly evolved from textbook only courses. As it mentioned in “Literacy 2.0,” technology has made its way into the core classes as well. Technology is no longer reserved for the elective courses. It’s amazing to see how much collaboration and communication is going on in the classroom. Students can choose from a variety of devices and programs to find one to fit their personal needs. I have laptops and iPads in my classroom. I also allow students to bring their own devices, which allows students to mostly use their phones. There is an endless amount of apps that can be used on a smartphone. Presentations take on a whole new meaning. Power Point is no longer the only option that can be used. Students can select from a variety of programs!

I have now started screen casting all of my lessons for my 8^th grade classes. Since I have such a wide variety of students, it allows them to work at their own pace. I even create extra lessons for students who are fast workers. It has transformed my classroom.

I plan to keep adapting from literacy 1.0 to literacy 2.0 little by little to continue to keep my classroom on pace with current trends.

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

Twitter Chat

I have participated in two Twitter Chats in the past week. I was not very thrilled about participating in a Twitter Chat. I assumed it would be a fairly large audience and I hate drawing attention to myself. I would rather sit there quietly and take in the conversation and information whirling around me.

The first chat was blog chat (#blogchat) and it focused on the best practices in blogging. Most of the conversation focused on which sites are the best to use for blogging, how to write a blog, and how to grab your audience’s attention. While there was a lot of helpful information, I was overwhelmed by the chat. There were a lot of education students in this chat making it quite crowded. The tweets were coming in so fast that they were really hard to keep up with. I had a hard time following the conversation and didn’t really know what questions to ask because there was not a whole lot of time to think.

The second chat I participated in was Class Dojo (#classdojo). This chat was run much better than the first chat and was based on the classroom management tool, Class Dojo. It was organized and the moderator asked a variety of questions. The educators participating in this chat had so much more to say than the previous chat I was sitting in on. They seemed like a much more experienced and knowledgeable group. They talked about a variety of ways they used Class Dojo in their classroom. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how positive this conversation was (not that the other one wasn't) and how student centered these educators were. This chat was even more popular than the previous chat! This made it even more difficult to keep up with.

There were definitely some positives to take away from this experience. I did end up following several people from both chats and got a lot of beneficial information to assist me in the classroom. However, I think it is going to take some time to get used to Twitter Chats. I used TweetChat to filter the chat, which was helpful. Even though I could pause the conversation, there were still so many tweets to keep up with and it was hard to pick and choose which tweets I wanted to focus on.

It is rare that educators get to collaborate with other educators from around the country and world. I really enjoyed being able to hear other expert opinions and ideas in the education world. For that reason, I’m not ready to give up on Tweet chats just yet.

While Tweet Chats are not for everyone, it is something that I think everyone should try at least a few times. It doesn’t matter what field of study or career you have chosen. There is something for every flavor!

A Guide to Twitter Chats:

https://blog.bufferapp.com/twitter-chat-101

My Professional Learning Network

Creating a Professional Learning Network has been an enlightening experience for me. I am truly amazed at the network I have created in 7 short weeks, considering where I started from. I was a teacher who refused to use social media in any form because I found it irritating. However, I never realized how much information and support there was for teachers outside of the classroom. I have connected to educators from every walk of life and already started to create a professional network that continues to grow every day.

Feedly is where I started with this new networking experience, which was a good starting point. I have found a lot of good articles and information pertaining to education. I also have a Diigo account, which I started at the beginning of the school year. I continue to use Diigo and add to my list of websites. Additionally, I created a Pinterest account. I found that Pinterest is one of the easiest ways to organize information into different categories.

However, the tool that I found the most useful was Twitter. I did not expect to like Twitter. I was someone who had a Twitter account for approximately a year and a half and sent out exactly zero tweets! In the past 7 weeks, I have now sent out almost 60 tweets. I have found Twitter to be a great tool to connect with other educators. I am astounded with all the information that is available beyond gossip. My comfort level with social media has skyrocketed. I am still a little overwhelmed with Twitter Chats. There is so much going one at one time, but I'll get the hang of it. I believe all educators need to get signed up to a few social media sites, and Twitter is a great place to start!

Here is why and how educators should use Twitter:

http://images.pcmac.org/Uploads/MCPSS/MobileCounty/Departments/Forms/Twitter%20for%20Educators.pdf

A glimpse at my Professional Learning Network:

Visit my Symbaloo:

http://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13eOhDb1ef 

So far, my professional network is small. But, I'm off to a good start!