Reflection and Rumination

So as this course draws to a close, here are a few thoughts on it all. For me, this has been the best course (of three) I've taken this summer by far, and certainly one that has left me seeing sooo much potential for how I can (and soon will) use it in my own classes. Many of the things that we were exposed to have some legitimate, worthwhile, maybe even necessary roles to fill in the modern day classroom. Most have stood up to the scrutiny of my guiding principals and proven their worth (although nearly constant re-evaluation is important, and something I'll have to add to my GP's).

The proof is in the pudding. I saw the creation of my final project components as some kind of lesson/unit preparation that also happened to be something I'm turning in for a grade in my WebTools class. I am very grateful for that. Thanks to Eric and my classmates for contributing and investing a little bit of themselves into what we've worked on together. Although it probably sounds corny and/or cliche to say this (frankly I don't care if it does, because I do sincerely mean it) , but.... it's not the end really, it's just the beginning. Tomorrow I'll wake up and start creating the class web pages and wiki(s) that I'll be adding my project parts to, and I'll do it all with a smile because I will enjoy setting the stage to my students' new "best year" ever. Oh ya,.. and I hope to see you on The Science Teacher's Hub Home, created by Marta.

Final Project

Here it is! My final project for my WebTools class! As you can see, I have two parts to it. First, I created a voicethread for two different lab reports (I have a third one around somewhere, but couldn't find it today) written by former students of mine(I did get permission, and have removed their names anyway). In this assignment, half of my students are to comment on (and even make editorial notes) the voicethread example #1, while the other half does the same on the voicethread for example #2. Specifically, they are to be commenting on the lab's design and the lab report itself. The lab that these students did is a lab that my students will do this year as well, so they will be familiar with the procedure. As far the grading rubric is concerned, prior to this assignment, I will have spent some time with my students going over it (but nothing too deep just yet). That grading rubric is the same one that I/we will eventually use to grade this next year's lab reports.

When they are finished making their comments, there is a blank grading page at the end for them to give a grade on the example they read. When they are done with that, I will probably have the two halves repeat this whole process using the other example that they did not yet evaluate. The purpose of this voice thread assignment is to help my students understand what we do/do not want in a good lab report, and how the rubric can be used, and how it will be applied when they submit their own for scoring. To be more specific, this is designed for my standard level, year long high school chemistry students.

Example #1


Example #2


Once my students have completed this assignment, we will have some class discussion (probably not lengthy) on it. At this time, I will share with them any comments I made on these lab reports (that they might have missed), the grade that each example earned, and why (if students ask for clarification). Following this, they will begin to write their own lab reports. Working in the same groups they were in for their own lab experiments, they will then use Google Docs to create their own collaborative lab report.


And here is "Part 2" of my project. It is a screencast assingment intended for my IB Physics students to do after each time they complete a simulation assignment. They will probably be working in pairs during class time, and each pair will be posting their own screencast assignment to our class wiki. This is intended as a means of formative assessment, so grading them will be based largely on completion and evidence of thought.

Go ahead and listen to the screencast I made about this screencast assignment (which will a recurring assignment, whenever we have been working on simulations for a couple of days).



I must say,... I am excited to implement both parts of this final project in my classes this year. I honestly believe that they both will help my students be more successful and maybe even happier in their learning!

Project Proposal?

I have a few thoughts regarding my project ideas... But first,.....

I have to share with you some awesome news about me getting a set of ~10 netbooks in my classroom this next year! I've got some plans for using them for data collection (instead of our old CBL's), simulations, group lab reports, and much more! The tough part is deciding where to start. I'm pretty pumped about it!

Along those lines, I have a few ideas about my project and the technology I/we hope to be using with my students.

1) Have my students regularly comment on what they have learned after working (in groups) on one of the simulation websites (the PHeT website, to be specific). I was thinking that using VoiceThreading would be a good medium for them to post their comments and feedback. I do have a concern about that though, because I'm afraid that many comments are going to be the same, since they can view all the comments of everyone that posted before they did. (although, i guess i could just moderate them until they've all been submitted...hmmm..). Another thought is for them to create a screencast summary of their simulation investigations and then to post it somewhere like a class website (which I'd like to make some time). I already have created a Voicethread example I have posted earlier, if you want to take a look.

I wonder if this would this fulfill all of the project requirements? If not, here is something else I could add....

2) For my chemistry students, I was thinking that they could use some web tools to help them learn how to write a good lab report. For example, I would post 3 examples of lab reports (from previous students) to a Voicethread and then they could comment on what they thought of each report, and give it a grade according to the rubrics that I will be using to grade their lab reports, once they've got some practice at writing them. They could then work as a group, using Google Docs, on writing one collaborative lab report.

Any thoughts?

Week 6 PLN Report

This week I reconnected with three people that I hadn't spoken with in a few years. One is a college chemistry prof in Pennsylvania, one is a chemistry prof. at nearby University of Montana, and one is a former colleague of mine that now teaches at another HS in town. As a result of my conversations with each one, it now looks like my chem class may be participating in some air quality monitoring in our valley area, and I got some good feedback/ideas about managing the set of netbooks that I will be getting (instead of textbooks) for my physics classroom (Yeah!). I also got some good advice to seriously consider using Google Docs for some collaborative group lab report writing that my kids will be working on. All good stuff, I must say. Vive le PLN !! (as you might guess, I've also been keeping an eye on the Tour de France lately).

Project Potential

Here is a one potential portion of my class project. VoiceThread for formative assessment.

Physics VoiceThread

Here is a short VoiceThread I created using VoiceThread.com. I can see this being a useful tool and will consider using it in my classes.

Power(ful) Pointing

If you'd like to see PowerPoint taken to another level, check out this online article by Ken Costello. He uses a lot of motion in some of his slides, and he discusses some appropriate ways to use PowerPoint (not for lecture notes!). I think he has some good thoughts on the matter, although I think he must spend a lot of time creating them and I believe one might be better off finding other simulations/animations to insert in a presentation instead. You can download many of his presentations at his Chem 130 Homepage.