Google Apps: Part 6

GAIN: Google Sites

     Where Google sites requires a quite a big time commitment at the start, it is totally worth it and all the time put in pays off. The teacher I have been assigned to for the fall uses a google site for her classroom and loads information necessary for her students to know on the site. She commented to me a while ago about how useful it is and now that she has the hang of it, she uploads and edits it almost daily. I think this is a wonderful application to keep the teacher organized, the students aware, and it is easily accessible for both parties, I think it just takes me a little while to get used to any new technology, but with practice I think google sites can be very useful for my future classroom. For instance, it was incredibly useful for this class. It was easy to locate where everything is and was organized in an attractive and simple way.
     The History of Revisions is a very cool addition to the application. It allows the user to note when pages were revised by time and date. It also records them by the title version 1, 2, 3, and so on. What is probably the best part is that the owner may revert back to any version they please. For example, if a teacher wanted something up just for a day or two they could put it up and with the click of a button revert to the old ways.
     The format options were the most difficult for me to find. With some messing around and clicking on nearly every button, I finally stumbled upon it. Once I found them, everything was smooth sailing. Most things are pretty laid out. Google does a good job of trying to make life simple, I appreciate them for that.

    Here is my simple start to a google site. I can assure you that I will be coming back to edit this in the near future.
https://sites.google.com/site/missbsclass2015/

Google Apps: Part 5

GAIN: Google Drawing

     I really enjoyed using the google drawing app because you could include math if you wanted, but it gives you an opportunity to expand your horizons and create something uniquely your own. This app fits better to my learning style. I see this being used in English, Social Studies, Science, Reading, and pretty much every other subject if desired. How I saw this app being used was through the creation of propaganda posters, book writing and illustrating, comparing and contrasting of physicality's, representation of events in history, and so much more. With this application it really allows the student to get as creative as they please. Some students learn better creating and using visual objects to help them learn an objective. For those students, this is a wonderful tool.
     With the desire to teacher the middle school, of course I viewed in detail the middle school lesson plan on tangrams. Yes, this lesson is specifically to be used for math, but like stated earlier, drawings can easily be used in other facets. Google Drawings was the sole premise for this specific lesson. It is cool, that an application like this can be used in this way. The standards went hand in hand with the concept of Tangrams and how that could be taught using the drawing application. The lesson also included links to other technologies. Other technology included a youtube video and tutorial as to how to use this in the classroom. This was a great lesson plan example of how to use the application in the classroom.
     In specifically English, common core presents standards for comparing and contrasting. Why stick to the overused normal graphic organizer when you can now create your own, using Google Drawing! Students can create or the teacher can, regardless this is one example of how drawings can be put to use into Common Core Standards. Standards that can be applied to Drawings in other subjects include Math, History, and Science. This chapter from the book includes several uses of standards in multiple subjects. I really love that this application is applicable to more than one subject.

     I created a drawing, that could be a start to something educational, but was really just me exploring and figuring out this application.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1V7cYBUMYfVD-RXMHkF-7_DxoIGkJSrC4A_gl3N22hX4/edit?usp=sharing

Google Apps: Part 4

Forms

     This assignment took me back to Ed Tech in undergrad. I created the quiz, "What kind of cat are you?" however, I could not relocate it. I made a new form instead titled, "How Patriotic are you?" 

Here is the link to my quiz, find out how patriotic you are and take it!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fS4CHPYfE7a_hm5Olw5LRznKW6ugCz6L7cOWC5BG2UE/viewform?usp=send_form

     What I like about Google Forms is that is automatically creates a spreadsheet telling the creator what choices students or peers made. This spreadsheet is recorded based on time, which is also a good tool for teachers if their was a deadline for this assignment or there was a specific time limit placed on the assignment.

Here is the link for the spreadsheet based on the form results:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hFAV9MfVdz_0Q0xeD5uUobJxWb5q_8OJlDA2vEmRzJU/edit?usp=sharing 

     There is also quite a bit of ease with the forms that makes this applications attractive to young and older students. What is so easy and nice about it is that it does all the calculating and recording onto the spreadsheet for you. Google Forms are ideal for surveys. I can see this as an opening assignment in a classroom. A teacher could easily create a survey about the student and ask the students to complete it. With the students seeing the teacher use it, they will also gain some experience as to how the form works. I love the self scoring feature because it allows the teacher or student to focus the time they would have used calculating all the answers on something else.

     As far as incorporating this application into standards, this could happen a variety of ways. Many of the standards that can associate with google forms is the student's idea of expressing information, formulating thoughts, answering questions and more. The book mentions the standard, "Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization,development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience." When integrating google forms into common core, that could mean the creation of the form coming from the student or the teacher! Students can easily make forms to gather information from a topic, or gain perspective from other students. Teacher's can gain the student's perspective from how they respond in the form.

     I created a new self grading quiz using Google Forms. It was difficult to understand at first, due to my lack of knowledge towards formulas. I did things one by one at first, before I realized you could do it all together. This took me a while to complete due to my lack of ability to complete spreadsheets. Some things I had a very difficult time understanding, but when using this is the classroom I can see they would be helpful, but I could also see the task being done without the function. I think the question analysis is a great application, but it confused me greatly, maybe with more practice I could understand it, but I failed many times at it. I also think this data can be recovered from an overall glance at all the answers from students.

Here is my actual quiz:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FT_l71JJOA_jcfnCKKUBoSIxTgsHC39GT7HQqXZY2t8/viewform?usp=send_form

This is my data sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n59QnU0-8ituMB1jHfTA1rHMuoTo8Wd1UkowTl-ETes/edit?usp=sharing

Google Apps: Part 3

Spreadsheets

      I have worked with spreadsheets before in typing classes and to complete inventory, however, it has been an incredibly long time and in the past I have been used to using Excel verses Google Sheets. Growing up in school grade books have always existed for me in a paper grade book system, never on the computer. With new and constantly improving technology it has come to my attention that pretty much anything can be done on the computer. The idea of putting student's grade onto a spreadsheet is a great idea! I am already aware of teacher's uploading their grades to websites and class portals, placing their grades on a spreadsheet format would help with that tremendously. There are many ways for spreadsheets to be done, and mine for instance is probably on a very amateur level. Working with any new software takes practice. I can see myself using google sheets in the future to record grades, comments, and more. However, if I want to get to that point I will have to use the website often and study the ins and outs of all the tricks.
     I felt like this assignment was a little difficult for me and not many of my questions were answered in the text. I am sure this is just due to losing my practice with these sorts of programs. I felt like once I understood a concept creating my spreadsheet I was able to finish that portion with ease. I was wanting to insert some charts and graphs with data, but came across great difficulty with that in particular. I think the part I got the hang of best was using the formulas to add up the grades and do the math. Spreadsheets really does take repetition to be able to master is with ease.
   
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oaMrtOXBJt-b9DQZ_tcqrd_eWF2aOfRlE_Yy0508B7U/edit?usp=sharing

     Now, how does this relate to Common Core? Where google docs and slides are great for accomplishing standards in primarily english, Spreadsheets offers standards for many math subjects. Obviously, the standards are not going to plainly state spreadsheets to be used in standards, however, teacher's can get creative with their assignments by using spreadsheets. Some standards may include using data, researching, using a quantity of numbers, all of which can easily be assessed in a spreadsheet format.
     A standard mentioned in the text is stated "Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution, which can be described by its center, spread, and overall  shape." The teacher can easily incorporate the use of spreadsheets into this standard. Using spreadsheets in the classroom will take time and need to start of easy. If the teacher would start with a standard that involves an easy start to sheets, the teacher can keep building once the students understand the foundation.

Literacy for Education

Today's Tablet assignment gave me the opportunity to explore a variety of applications for the iPad. All of these apps were learning based and provided great technology alternatives to the standard paper and pencil work.

1.      From the list given I chose to explore the My Spelling Test and Dictionary applications.

• My Spelling Test offered an alternatives to regular audible paper tests. With the application, the student is able to take the test on his own. The teacher has the possibility to stand by, or the student can complete it without the teacher near. There is a way for the teacher to record his/her voice for the student to be able to hear the given word in order to spell it. What was very cool and would integrate more technology into the classroom is the use of the Smart Board. After the student has taken their test, or could even do the entirety of their test on the smart board. This allows for the student to get an understanding of multiple methods of technology and accomplishes his or her goal of completing the test. I really enjoyed this application and if the opportunity arises to use it I will most definitely take advantage of that. Oh, did I mention it was a FREE app? Bonus points to that!
• Students are rarely even taught nowadays how to find words in a book dictionary. With the ongoing change of technology, students are going to have to be taught most things in the modern way. For example, the importance of spelling and meaning of words is still very important. With that in mind they must be taught in ways that are going along with the modernity of how everything else is taught. The Dictionary app provides users with not only a dictionary, but a thesaurus too. This app offers a word of the day, which could easily be incorporated in a daily classroom activity. This app does a great job of offering the word in a sentence, giving the definition, the origin, and gives the word audibly. I prefer this dictionary application over the Miriam Webster dictionary due to the easiness of operating the app and what all is included in the app. I would definitely use this app in my classroom, also free. Woohoo!

2.  I viewed the Presentation applications listed, but was not a fan of several of them in regards to using them in the classroom. I felt some of them were very complicated and required too much commitment with log ins and accounts. I did really enjoy the Drawing Pad applications however. It was a bit on the lower level, but had parts that could be applied to older students. I can see this app used a lot in a history class to remake propaganda, envision parts of history, create a scene from a battle, and the list goes on. The app offered many different tools such as backgrounds( which can be uploaded from the iPad's pictures), paint, colored pencils, markers, erasers, and crayons. The differences in the materials given really give a cool edge to the overall picture and allows students to get creative with their art. 

3.      If given a tutorial, as provided on the assignment, I think students will be able to handle all three of these story specific apps. I tinkered with the Comic Life and Strip Designer apps. These would be good for students to use in order to formulate stories, sequence of events, create a timeline, and more. Both apps allow for the student to upload or create pictures, conjure up a caption or text, and formulate how the story will look and sound. I like these apps, but I might look for other applications like them, just based on preference. 

Google Apps: Part 2

GAIN

Google Drive// Presentations


1. In my past studies I have not used Google Presentations before. From what Graham has described, it uses the same functions and has the same capabilities as Microsoft Powerpoint or Apple's Keynote. Presentations can be accessed within the Google Drive. This is different than other software's simply because the other software's functions are to complete the one specific task. Whereas Presentations is within the Drive along with, pictures, files, Docs, and so much more. The Google Drive is a wonderful central place to hold everything, rather than going to different browsers or applications for other uses. Like said before, I have not used this function, but according to the text, it is very simple, takes practices, but it relatively simple to understand and self explanatory from the start. What is also appealing is the collaboration effect that the Google Drive gives. Much like documents, multiple users may make additions, take parts off, etc. Powerpoints are a larger file to hold, or email, therefore Google Presentations makes it simple by being easily accessible on the Internet and cuts down on the hassle of emailing from one body to the other.

I created a short presentation about myself on Google Presentations. Have a look!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BFMvq5oH5Ik9Al5c0UcU_LjmmZmD6sqRjBHkaSdEYjI/edit?usp=sharing

2. Much like other Google functions in regards to CCSS, Presentations also incorporates collaboration, sharing, and publishing, all of which can be found in Common Core Standards. These Presentations can easily be used for standards to explain events, present information, group projects. There is not a subject limitations on this function either. It would be very easy to use this for standards in English, Social Studies, Science, and even Math!

Basics for Education

1.      I am choosing to compare Pages to Microsoft Office. On my personal computer I have both applications, however I prefer Microsoft Word. Word as been around longer, which has given me more experience using. I do not have a personal iPad, therefore I would prefer typing a large amount of text on a Macbook or desktop. If I were to get an iPad personally or for the classroom I would choose to download Pages or even Evernote, an app that can also be used for easy note taking sharing abilities. With mostly all technology there are similarities and differences of each. Some similarities between Pages and Word include:

•      Basic functions, typing, copying, pasting, cutting, etc.
•      They both have the ability of saving, sending, sharing, or methods of getting the document to other methods of media.
•      You would think with the iPad functions such as creating graphs, inserting pictures, and inserting other objects would be difficult or not possible, however Pages does allow for the insertion of these objects and with great ease, once you have been given the experience.

With all similarities there must be differences:

•      Quite possibly the most obvious is that for the most part typing on the iPad is done on the screen. However, there are computers with on screen typing abilities and keyboard extensions for the iPad, but for the most part everything done on the iPad is done on the screen. Selecting, dragging, pasting, and other functions are also taken into account of this. You must select words/characters by hand when using pages on the iPad. This is not necessarily a down fall or a negative, it just depends on preference. 
•      Pages takes a lot of practice knowing the shortcuts and links. Word is rather straight forward and easier to locate, in my personal opinion.

2.      I uploaded a picture to my new box.net account.

3.     iThoughts is a great app that I feel can be used for a variety of different activities in the classroom. A couple of uses consist of:

• Prewriting or brainstorming in the early stages of writing a paper or research project. With iThoughts, it is simple to construct thoughts in a simple, visually creative way. Students can easily map out ideas in a diagram, for what they think they might achieve in their paper. I really enjoy this app for me personally as a visual learner. It is important to include apps and technology to reach all of the learning styles and this app definitely appeals to the visual learner.
• Sometimes Venn Diagrams, flow charts, t-Graphs, and other graphic organizers are a great way of conveying information to the student and helping them learn through these methods. Instead of wasting paper, students can easily perform the same ideas of those organizers on the tablets.

4. Safari vs. Rover

     Personally, I did not really understand why the Rover app would be useful. I understand it might be more appealing to a younger student, but overall it does the same things as Safari, but not in an easier way. I feel like the only differences is the color scheme and recommendations on the Rover are intended clearly for children or younger students. Safari has the ability to show many miniature screens of your most viewed website. I enjoy that detail because it makes it fast and easy get where you are wanting to go. I use Safari on a regular basis and have discovered many of the ins and outs and have a good feel for it. I think if students have not used Safari before they might want to start on Rover, but the same thing is going to be accomplished if they search something on Safari.

Google Apps: Part 1

GAIN

1. Quite possibly the biggest of differences between Google Docs and Microsoft Word or Pages is the collaboration effect. Google Docs makes group presentations, partner work, studying so much easier due to the ability to work at the same time on one document. Google Documents enables multiple students to join together through the sharing option of emailing. This cuts down the stress of emailing, texting, copying, whatever it may be. As far as the functions of word processors go, you can get as creative or simple as you want, however Docs allows for the functions that are necessary for completing something. It is harder to get all the froo froo with it, but in reality all of that may not even be necessary. One common trend in media and technology is the ability to connect multiple types and methods of technology. For instance, google documents allows the student to communicate through the website and function itself, along with email, social media, dropbox, and other forms of communication. 

2. According to chapter four of Google Apps Meets Common Core, Graham uses some standards that allow for the use of Google Apps, specifically Google Documents, in state standards of the Common Core. Docs can be used as a means of practicing parts of the writing process, incorporating technology into standards, practicing types of writing, many english and writing standards, research projects, and so much more. Really, all sorts of technology can fit into Common Core Standards depending on hoe creative you choose to get. I feel like Google Docs fit primarily into common core standards relating to english and language arts but is by no means constricted to english alone. 

3.  Last week Eve, Brooke Anna, and I created task cards via Google Docs. We were able to look up and attach pictures, write comments and descriptions, share our thoughts simultaneously and get the project done in an efficient amount of time. We were able to edit each other's work and do our individual tasks as well. Google Docs made it incredibly easy to work individually on our group project, we were able to use our own computers and do the project together, but separate. It also cut down on the time wasted figuring out what to email, or what to type, anything unwanted can be viewed and deleted at preference. 

Tablet Controversy

1.     In this situation, I can't help but lean almost entirely toward an iPad to be purchased through the grant. According to the scenario, I am given the opportunity to express my personal feelings along with the collaboration of my "teaching buddy." I would suggest to the Principal the purchasing of a mixture of medium and large iPad tablets. Depending on how much the grant would be for, it would be a good idea to combine the sizes and order some of each. I would steer away from the iPods, I feel many issues could happen with the ownership of the small iPod/iTouch. iPods are also inefficient for the tasks to be completed. With predominately any task, a larger screen would be necessary and preferred.
     Why choose the iPad over the Kindle, Nook, or other tablet? Easy. Through personal investment and study, I have found for the Apple products to be significantly better and easier to work with than another fashion of a tablet. With the iPad it is very simple to download apps, order books through specific applications, fast, and reliable. I personally like the screen and viewing capacities of the iPad way better than another sort of tablet. Whereas they Android or Microsoft versions of tablets are cheaper for the most part, their battery lives do not last as long and the tablet itself has a shorter life expectancy.
2.     I lean toward the decision of ordering a combination of medium and large screens for a couple of reasons. One reasons is that I understand that some people have difficulty holding onto things, as do I due to my incredibly childlike hands. With teaching elementary or secondary students, there are going to be students of many sizes that would be able to handle medium or large tablets better than another. Depending on the activity or assignment given to the student, they may need a larger screen for a longer assignment. Whereas smaller screens would be best to give to the students who had a shorter assignment to do.

3.     Regardless of my strong feelings toward iPads, there are positives to both.
 
Positives
  iPads
     - easy readable screen
     - simple application downloading process
     - huge variety of possible applications
    Android Products
     - designed specifically for reading purposes
     - affordable
     - other applications for downloading

 Negatives
 iPads
   - frequently needs updating

Android products
   - difficult finding applications
   - screen difficult to see for non-reading purposes.

4.     I think with the addition to cellular in the classroom setting, a whole can of worms gets opened. I feel like it would be rather difficult to monitor a classroom with cellular capabilities on tablets. The students are using these methods on technology for learning and creating, and with the addition of cellular services I think some disruptions can take place. It will also had to some costs and limit uses and purchasing of other objects within the grant. The cost of cellular on a tablet is very expensive. However I do see the advantages and help of students being able to use these at their homes with the cellular services available. With the students taking these to their homes, the ability to monitor what is being used and how much data is used is very difficult if not unrealistic.

5.     My growing up in school obviously did not consist of having iPads and tablets. With the new technology constantly updating, using it can only benefit your classroom and the students. The students will be using what are their new toys and gadgets. By improving the already existing knowledge, it can make the students better learners and thinkers. All of the pros and cons listed above pertain to the common classroom completely. I feel like all of the issues are relevant and are things to be taken into consideration when deciding which tools to purchase.