Nicole Mullowney's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T17:42:38ZNicole Mullowneyhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/NicoleMullowneyhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1950650116?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=26z5p610fbqcc&xn_auth=noGoogle Apps Blogtag:www.classroom20.com,2014-06-29:649749:BlogPost:10194612014-06-29T16:25:34.000ZNicole Mullowneyhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/NicoleMullowney
<p>When I first saw the assignment on Google Apps training, I didn’t realize how little I actually knew about Google. There are so many different ways to incorporate Google into a classroom. I also didn’t realize that there was a whole section on Apps for Education and how certain apps could be used. For example, I use Google Calendar for my everyday personal calendars, however, I do not use it for school. I think that if I used it for school as well, it would keep me that much more…</p>
<p>When I first saw the assignment on Google Apps training, I didn’t realize how little I actually knew about Google. There are so many different ways to incorporate Google into a classroom. I also didn’t realize that there was a whole section on Apps for Education and how certain apps could be used. For example, I use Google Calendar for my everyday personal calendars, however, I do not use it for school. I think that if I used it for school as well, it would keep me that much more organized. I didn’t know that you could attach documents using the calendar. I like this option because it is just another way that I can stay organized. The more organized I am, the more efficient I will be as a teacher. Another useful app that I experimented with is the Google Sites app. A lot of my colleagues use this tool for their classroom website. I have always used iWeb for my websites, so I found navigating the Google Sites a little rough at first. After playing around with it for a while, I started to get the hang of it and was able to see the value in using this app. The feature that I like the most is that it auto-saves and I can access and edit it anywhere I have Internet access. With iWeb, I have to use my computer to make changes and I have lost my website more than once. I is difficult to recreate a website once you have all the information on it! I also really like the forms app. I had never thought about embedding an informational form on my class website until taking this class. I love the idea and again, it will keep me so much more organized. I have always used Google Docs with my class and as an educator. I have found it is a great way to collaborate with students and colleagues. </p>
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<p>There are so many more ways to use Google Apps. I think the training site will come in extremely help to me and I am so excited to learn more.</p>Experiencing Free/Open Source Coursestag:www.classroom20.com,2014-06-28:649749:BlogPost:10195012014-06-28T23:29:53.000ZNicole Mullowneyhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/NicoleMullowney
<p>The course that I chose to take was on geology. It is a self-paced, interactive course with a lot of great information about the different types of rocks. This is a good course for students that need a visual learning experience. There are videos, interactive activities, and actual pictures of the different types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. It is not only informational, but it is also extremely kid-friendly. There are objectives, instructions for use, and ideas for…</p>
<p>The course that I chose to take was on geology. It is a self-paced, interactive course with a lot of great information about the different types of rocks. This is a good course for students that need a visual learning experience. There are videos, interactive activities, and actual pictures of the different types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. It is not only informational, but it is also extremely kid-friendly. There are objectives, instructions for use, and ideas for class discussions. The Marzano Strategies that I found evidence of were as follows:</p>
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<li>Nonlinguistic Representation – With all of the fun pictures and videos, this course was very appealing.</li>
<li>Summarizing and Note-Taking – There were points during the course that gave the student the time to take notes on the information learned.</li>
<li>Identifying Similarities and Differences – Students were supposed to compare and contrast the different rocks.</li>
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<p>The benefits that I found to this lesson were the useful information given and that it was kid-friendly. The challenges that I found were that there was no collaborative learning or feedback/interaction with the instructor. As a student who is taking courses online, I find the collaborative piece of my classes one of the most important parts. I learn an awful lot from my peers. I also find the feedback from my instructor extremely valuable and I think all online courses should incorporate those aspects to help students be successful learners.</p>
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<p> </p>View on Virtual Realitytag:www.classroom20.com,2014-06-09:649749:BlogPost:10167832014-06-09T06:01:11.000ZNicole Mullowneyhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/NicoleMullowney
<p>When I first started to research the topic of virtual reality in education, my position was that I was against it. To be quite honest, I didn’t know enough about the topic and I thought of the movies such as <u>The Matrix</u> and <u>Tron</u>. It all seemed entirely too futuristic for education. I then remembered when I first saw a demo of the SmartBoard in 2005, I didn’t think that type of device would last. I thought that was also too futuristic and it would never be used in an educational…</p>
<p>When I first started to research the topic of virtual reality in education, my position was that I was against it. To be quite honest, I didn’t know enough about the topic and I thought of the movies such as <u>The Matrix</u> and <u>Tron</u>. It all seemed entirely too futuristic for education. I then remembered when I first saw a demo of the SmartBoard in 2005, I didn’t think that type of device would last. I thought that was also too futuristic and it would never be used in an educational setting. Less than two years later, I was using a SmartBoard in my classroom. I then started to really think about virtual reality, and I was still against it in education, but this time, the main reason was because of the cost. It seemed very unattainable in “normal” education. It seemed that there was too much costly equipment, (ie: headphones, goggles, special gloves) and school have a hard enough time purchasing up-to-date computers for students. I then started researched the benefits of virtual reality in education. I have found that there are actually many benefits to integrating virtual reality (VR) in an educational setting. One main benefit for using virtual reality in education is to get students excited about learning. With all of the technological advances and devices that students have at their houses (ie: game consoles, Smartphones, ect.) motivating students in education is becoming increasingly difficult. When students have a chance to learn using a “game-like” environment, such as the one found using VR, they will be motivated to learn and pay attention. Some of the other benefits of using virtual reality in the classroom are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Encourages students to be creative</li>
<li>Provides students with skills needed for digital world</li>
<li>Allows students to attend school from anywhere</li>
<li>Many students can use a 3D environment at the same time</li>
<li>Students can interact more when VR is used</li>
<li>Great way for visual learners to learn</li>
<li>It is a virtual “hands-on” type of environment</li>
<li>Students can “visit” locations such as Rome, volcanoes, or space to learn more</li>
<li>Easy to differentiate learning</li>
</ul>
<p>Just like any new piece of technology that is introduced in the classroom, there will be a learning curve around using virtual reality. Students will need to be taught the correct way to use it, and once the novelty wears off, I think students will look at virtual worlds and reality as more than just games and instead, as real learning experiences.</p>
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<p> </p>Social Networking and Digital Citizenshiptag:www.classroom20.com,2014-06-01:649749:BlogPost:10142792014-06-01T22:35:53.000ZNicole Mullowneyhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/NicoleMullowney
<p>This week, learning about social networking and digital citizenship was extremely beneficial for me. I have learned a lot that I didn’t really know about and was not previously aware of. I never really sat down and thought about what social networking meant and which type of websites this included. I knew that Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and those types of websites were considered social networks, however, I never thought of Mom Café, Pinterest, and Tumblr as social networks. I also didn’t…</p>
<p>This week, learning about social networking and digital citizenship was extremely beneficial for me. I have learned a lot that I didn’t really know about and was not previously aware of. I never really sat down and thought about what social networking meant and which type of websites this included. I knew that Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and those types of websites were considered social networks, however, I never thought of Mom Café, Pinterest, and Tumblr as social networks. I also didn’t realized how educationally beneficial some of these network could be for teachers and students. For example, when the new school year begins, I will try to introduce Facebook to my new class of fifth graders. After researching how Facebook could be used in an educational setting, I found that with supervision, students could learn how to use this social network in a positive manner. For example, the classroom teacher could set up one Facebook account for the entire class, that way there is only one login and password, which the teacher knows. The teacher can post up-coming events, celebrations, and important announcements. The teacher would be in charge of accepting “friend” requests, in which s/he would only accept requests from family members, other teachers, administration, and other essential people. The students could take turns updating the account and writing about interesting events that are happening in the classroom. Also, the teacher could make different “degrees” of permission slips for the parents to sign: permission for the student to post on the classroom Facebook, permission for the student’s picture to be posted on Facebook, or not to give permission for their student to participate. There are a lot of other ways for teachers to use Facebook and I look forward to trying it for my classroom.</p>
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<p>I also learned a lot about digital citizenship. Originally, when I thought of digital citizenship, I thought of digital etiquette. I never thought of the other eight parts to it such as digital commerce, digital health and wellness, and digital access. All of the nine parts of digital citizenship are extremely important and something I will absolutely take into consideration when teaching my class about technology.</p>Blogging about Bloom and Marzanotag:www.classroom20.com,2014-05-19:649749:BlogPost:10122052014-05-19T01:00:07.000ZNicole Mullowneyhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/NicoleMullowney
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">Bloom’s taxonomy has always been a part of my teaching experience. When I originally took my teacher education classes from Regis University back in 2003, Bloom’s Taxonomy felt like it was the new “buzz” word. We were given a copy of the pyramid and studied the verbs associated with it. Then, once I started teaching in 2006, it wasn’t brought up or focused on as much. I still used it because I really felt like it helped me differentiate my lessons…</p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;">Bloom’s taxonomy has always been a part of my teaching experience. When I originally took my teacher education classes from Regis University back in 2003, Bloom’s Taxonomy felt like it was the new “buzz” word. We were given a copy of the pyramid and studied the verbs associated with it. Then, once I started teaching in 2006, it wasn’t brought up or focused on as much. I still used it because I really felt like it helped me differentiate my lessons and scaffold them. Then in about 2010, I noticed that the principals started referring to Bloom’s again, this time requiring that we incorporate the different levels of Bloom’s in our lesson plans. Luckily I had been doing this, so it wasn’t too difficult to change my ways. I did however discover that I was doing a lousy job pushing my students to the top three tiers of Bloom’s: analyze, evaluate, and create. It was only during this class that I had even heard of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. I am so excited to start finding ways that I can incorporate this Taxonomy into my lesson plans. I do believe that is a scaffolding approach that I will need to use when technology is involved since students have varying degrees of comfort levels when it comes to technology. For example for the analyzing level, I could teach my students how to use <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/">Survey Monkey</a> to create a math survey, then use the results to create a graph using the <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/NCESKIDS/createagraph/default.aspx">Create a Graph</a> website from Kid’s Zone. For evaluating, I could get each one of my students signed up on <a href="http://kidblog.org/home/">Kid’s Blog</a> and contribute to discussions that way. For Creating (my favorite level!) I would like to continue to use <a href="http://edu.glogster.com/?ref=com">Glogster</a> with my students, but I would also like to try some of the other creative programs such as iMovie and one of the comic book creator websites.</p>
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<p>As far as Marzano’s instructional strategies, I never studied them as much as I have for my Instructional Technology courses. I have found that there are a lot of the strategies that I have already used, but reading Marzano’s book has opened my eyes as to other tips and suggestions that are more indepth. For example, under the Homework and Practice chapter, I have always been a firm believer in not giving homework for just busy work, but to enhance and practice skills that have already been taught. However, I have had a difficult time trying to figure out how to grade my students’ homework and what type of grades to give them. My colleagues and I have always given academic grades for homework, but I have never felt like that was fair to the students since homework is supposed to be practice. This chapter reinforced my thinking and I will now give non-academic grades, such as for participation or work habits, for homework. From now on, as I am planning my lessons, I will use the attached document to help me plan.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.robeson.k12.nc.us/cms/lib6/NC01000307/Centricity/ModuleInstance/20082/Marzano_High_Yield_Stategies.pdf">Marzano’s High Yield Strategies Doc</a></p>
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<p>Learning more about Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, and Marzano’s High Yield Instructional Strategies has brought a new sense of excitement to my teaching. I really believe that I will be a better teacher and be able to reach more students in my class.</p>
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