Summary of Learning

Summary of Learning

The tool I used for my Summary of Learning was Google Slides. The reason I chose this is because I think that power points are a great way to give summaries of topics. They don't have to be overly long and you do not want to make them too short. It provides a great visual while you present.

Here is the link to my presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IGWupAPhyPYvh3ZqIm_JzKqoELs3-9JOVIMdAbg4RPQ/edit?usp=sharing

I took away so much from this class. The ways that we can share information with each other all across the world to learn and teach is an amazing thing. The digital age is here to stay and since I have taken this course I am feeling hip for once with technology. When we were assigned to write Cool Tool Reviews, I found apps and tools that I want to use for my future classroom as a Special Education teacher.

One of my favorite presentations was on eBooks. I loved how the teacher was working with students with developmental/intellectual disabilities and was able to help them write a book. The students did most of the work, the teacher just gave them guidance as they went along. I really hope to do this with my students as well.

I will incorporate different technologies in my classroom by having my students learn different tools and apps that will help them improve academically and with life skills. Everything from teaching a student math to a student learning how to communicate when the student is non-verbal. I hope to work in a public school that will have funds for these kinds of apps and tools. Unfortunately, the school I work in now is private and is not able to afford these types of tools for the students. A few of the students may be able to use an iPad for 20 minutes once a week when the speech therapist or occupational therapist decides to show up. To me, that is not fair to them. These students deserve better and I will make sure these technologies will be able to be available to them.

I really enjoyed this course. Educational Technology has fueled my fire to become a teacher. I am excited to see the new technologies come out as time goes on! Thank you, Dr. Brueck. And good luck to the rest of you!

-Mark

My Major Project Final Post

The End Result

Greetings, friends! Well, I have finished my major project on Two-Point Perspective Drawing. My goal was to draw a city block with different sized buildings and I have accomplished it. I must say that I am pleased. Here it is below:

A Few of my Favorite Things

I have learned a lot. I am thankful for my wonderful artistic wife who guided me along the way. Also, my friend, Friday Mike helped me with his criticism and encouragement. 

I think I have come a long way from all the awkward shapes and failed attempts at single buildings and random drawings. All of the erasing and pencils I have went through. All the videos and tutorials and lessons from my wife have led up to the accomplishing of my goal. This will be a technique that I will still love to practice. One of the most important things of all though that I learned was patience. Patience, patience, patience. This was a blast!

 I hope you enjoy and I look forward to seeing yours as well!

-Mark

It is...Week 12

Technology to Improve Teacher Productivity

Let's face it, teachers are stressed out to the max. There is so much to do and so much to organize! With today's technology, however, teachers can be more organized and feel a sense of balance in their life!

One of the most interesting tools that I saw was RescueTime. I think that it is awesome that you can have something to keep you on track so that you finish your work. I think that it is amazing that this tool can keep track of how long you have been off of your assignment as well. I feel that I will definitely need to use this tool when I become a teacher. Distractions of everyday life can get in the way and it is easy to be caught up in that. I believe this tool will help me solve my constant disorganization life style problems. This could also benefit students and parents. This tool would have me stay on task and I could grade the class's assignment and send it to not only the students, but the parents as well.

Wunderlist seems like another great organizational tool as well. I could see myself making a checklist for the class and putting it up on a Smart Board. We would have a visual as a class to see what we have yet to finish and what we have accomplished. For instance, if I were teaching a History class about World War II, I could make a check list of each year, and make sub topics within each year that as a class we could check off as we cover each section.

Here is a link to the Wunderlist website which explains ways for teachers to use this tool: https://www.wunderlist.com/blog/back-to-school-with-wunderlist-4-tech-tips-for-teachers/

My favorite part of Jake's presentation was when he mentioned the tool Goobrics. I looked this tool up and it seems like an easy tool to use, especially for us not-so-tech-savvy people. The set up looks great and is an easy way to grade the students' work.

Well, friends, we made through all of our PLN blogs! Hope you enjoyed it! Looking for ward to seeing your final projects!

-Mark

Two Point Perspective - The Journey Continues

The Journey Continues...

Greetings, friends! My journey of two-point perspective drawing continues. I have had some successes and failures as usual, but I am trudging through the trenches of this technique. 

My friend who is supposed to be keeping me accountable and encouraging me likes the progress I am making. He goes by Friday Mike, who was an art major at Kent State University. 

Friday Mike approves.

Here are a couple of drawings I have been working on...

Pueblo leads to Colorado City

Mr. Woodard (one of the teachers I work with who is literally a wizard when it comes to Special Education)

Practice

Leave

So here is what I have for now. My attempts continue and I will be posting more!

Let me know your thoughts!

-Mark

Blended Learning

Blended Learning

Greetings, friends!

This class has definitely been effective in using the the instructional model of Blended Learning. It is great that we have had the option to meet face to face, listen to a presentation online and interact with the instructors and one another while the presentation is happening. In this class we have been able to work on our own time and get immediate feedback from Dr. Brueck and each other through our blogs. I do not believe anything has been ineffective in this class. This class has been a great way to be an engaged student and help with our professional development.

My philosophy on Blended Learning is that this is a great way to become an engaged learner. I think that this is a great way to teach students discipline by giving them the opportunity to work at their own pace but still complete their work on their own time. I see this concept model continuing to expand as time goes on.

What I really liked from Stacy's presentation was when she talked about Blended vs. Tech Rich Instruction. Here is a quote from her presentation: 

• "Blended learning is more than electronic textbooks and productivity tools. It means inventing and adopting new learning environments that work better for teachers and students. In blended learning data from the online instruction is used to inform the face-to-face instruction."

The idea of inventing and adopting new learning environments that are best for you and your students is awesome. I will definitely apply this to my future classroom. Since I will be teaching Special Education inventing new learning environments for the different severities of the students disabilities will be crucial for them to learn and engage effectively.

Having the proper amount of technology and other technological resources is important. But, here is a blog from a math teacher in Florida who is able to effectively do Blended Learning with only one iPad in her classroom! Check this out!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blended-learning-working-one-ipad

Please, friends, let me know your thoughts and I am excited to read your blogs as well!

-Mark

Formative and Summative Assessment

Formative and Summative Assessment

Greetings, friends! 

Before this week, I really did not know the effectiveness of assessments. In high school, I definitely saw the way teachers did Summative assessments at the end of a semester or year but never really noticed a Formative assessment.

Now that I have a much better idea on the concepts of both formative and summative assessments, my philosophy now is that Formative assessments are more important then Summative. The reason being that Formative assessment is ongoing, it never stops. Formative is also descriptive and helps discover the goal and will close the gap on problems in learning and gets a better idea of where the student is at in whatever the subject is.

Here is a great blog by Rebecca Alber that explains why Formative assessments matter: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/formative-assessments-importance-of-rebecca-alber

The blog is not long but it does hit many key points on the importance of formative assessment and goes a little beyond what we were assigned to read and watch. I encourage you to check it out!

Honestly, I was more impressed with eduCanon than Pear Deck. What I really like about eduCanon was the Question-by-Question Break Down. I thought that was really fun and interactive. The format of the site was really cool and like I said, the way it is so interactive makes it so effective. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that I did not like Pear Deck. I thought the imagery was really neat on that site but from messing around with the sites, eduCanon was more fun and a tool that I could see myself as future teacher using this for my class.

What struck me most about Scott's presentation was the diagram of The Learning Cycle. This gave such a great visual on the importance and concept of Formative assessment. This diagram really grasps that learning has no end. 

Here is a cool article you can download as a PDF on the importance of The Learning Cycle that gives great insight and description on what it is and how we use it:

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/program/education/us/en/documents/assessing-projects/overview-and-benefits/assessment-throughout-learning-cycle.pdf

I encourage you friends to let me know what you think and I am excited to read your blogs as well!

-Mark

A Lesson Learned

I Got Schooled

Greetings, friends! Well, I definitely learned my lesson these past few days. My wife, Ashley, who is a wonderful artist(and I'm not just saying that because she is my wife), was able to give me some guidance on how to improve on drawing in two-point perspective.

I worked on drawing an apartment building. Here are some photos of the steps that I took:

As you can see, my words and windows do not line up with my vanishing points. I showed them to my wife and she gave me a lesson, that's for sure. I recorded a couple videos on the lesson she gave me. Here is the first one in which she explains the process:

The second video is a time lapsed video of her correcting my work:

Ashley has helped me so much. She will continue to school me on this technique and I will be posting more lessons and examples on my journey in the world of drawing in two-point perspective!

-Mark

Well...It's Definitely a Work in Progress

Well...It's Definitely a Work in Progress

Greetings, friends! My major project of learning two-point perspective drawing is slowly coming along. I am still aboard the struggle bus, that is for sure. I am having fun with it but at the same time the end result comes out in disappointment. Here are a few drawings I have been working on:

This one kind of bums me out. As you can see, one of the buildings I made is entitled: The Sorry House. And it truly is a sorry sight for sore eyes. The other house is weak as well but the shape on the top left is ok. And as you can see, frustration got the best of me on the bottom. I had a scribble fest.

This one isn't too shabby. I have been looking up examples and then I kind of branch off on my own. Even though I am using a ruler, it looks crooked as all get out.

Here is an attempt at a city block, which is my ultimate goal of this project. I want to be able to add different shapes of buildings and skyscrapers and better scenery but I figured I would give this a shot.

I am satisfied with this one. Because it looks ok, it gives me hope as I continue to practice and reach my goal.

So friends, I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and prayers. I encourage you to be honest with me and tell me if it sucks or if it's ok. More blogs will be coming and I will be posting some videos as well in the blogs to come.

Good luck to you all as you work towards your goal. 

Keep on keepin' on.

-Mark

Learning Spaces - Week 9 Prompt

This week's topic really opened my eyes to the way learning space is changing. When I was in grade school, I could never have imagined having this type of learning space. I have been so used to the sit in your desk and don't get up mentality in the class room. This would definitely have encouraged engagement with my fellow students. Now that this is the way the classroom is shifting, the engagement is only going to get better. Working in groups together and building ideas off of one another really enhances the learning experience.
This also goes beyond the physical aspect of the classroom. Now we can look at the digital space. This opens up a whole new set of doors into the world of learning. The future of education will not just be on teaching but LEARNING! The resources out there are endless! 

Google Apps for Education will play a positive role in the development of learning spaces. If you look at the website for Google Apps for Education, the home page shows that it is completely free, there is easy collaboration, and you can use them on any device. This will allow us to stay connected as students and educators. Here is the link and I encourage you to llok further into the website! https://www.google.com/edu/products/productivity-tools/

We should challenge the assumption of doubt that comes with the movement of learning spaces. This is the way the world is shifting and we are doing nothing to help if we are grumps about it because this only sets us back. This is an exciting time in education! For those of us that are not use to this, yes, it may be distracting at first but this will become the way learning is known for the next generations to come so let us embrace it!

When I first thought about The University of Akron and the approach for the design and development of informal learning spaces, I thought to myself, I am still sitting in a desk! C'mon! But then as I watched the lectures this week I began to realize that I need to think beyond the classroom. I went to Bierce Library a couple of times this week and if you look at the layout of the entrance, there are desks with computers, desks with outlets, and a more comfortable set up. Also there are quiet studying areas that have good lighting and also plenty of outlets available. It definitely is not boring. Also, the way the desks are set up are for students to be able to work together in an effective way. Here is a link from American Libraries Magazine that shows the University of Akron's Bierce Library. Read the paragraph titled, "Technology Enabled".

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2012/02/28/library-design-showcase-2012-technology-enabled/

I believe that the informal learning spaces on the UA campus really do align with my needs and expectations as a learner. Even this semester I feel that I have found out more and more how this environment is effective in the way I am learning and is improving my abilities as a student. I am thankful that the University of Akron is advancing in this way. 

- Mark

Cool Tool Review #5

Greetings friends!

This week my Cool Tool Review is on bubbl.us This site helps you brainstorm your ideas and watch them grow as you go. I think that this tool would be essential in the classroom! A student could use this for all sorts of assignments in different subjects whether it be History, English, Music, Science, and so on.

This site was really easy to use once I got the hang of making the branches off other topics connect where I wanted them to be. That may have been my lack of skills quite honestly. What I enjoyed about it was picking a topic, and then thinking of sub topics to branch off of the main idea and continue to make more branches off of the sub topics. It really got me thinking of all these different components of my topic and how they are related.

Here is the link to the site: https://bubbl.us/mindmap

For my example, I put myself in the shoes of a student who had to pick a style of music and brain storm the components that come with it for a Music Appreciation class. I chose Disco Music Components as my topic. I am not a big fan of Disco music to be honest (although I do dig the slap bass and the funk that comes with it).                                                        
Here is the link to my example: https://bubbl.us/?h=32952a/652db6/33M2tYdVeHhGw&r=1234714629

    

Here is the boring part, the pricing. You can sign up and use the Free Version, which is great. It is $6.00 a month for a Premium account, $59.00 for a whole year, and there is a "Team" option. This was really neat because its a sweet deal for teachers and students. When you click on pricing, the website will ask, "Is This team for a school?" Click yes and there are two options: If you have up to 50 users, the price is $3.00 a month per user or if you have more than 50 users, it is $1.00 per user a month. Sweet deal! It is refreshing to find a great and extremely useful tool that will give a discount for schools.

Again, this all comes back to TPACK. Knowing how to use this technology/site and being able to teach it to your students. Also, giving them the content and making sure they understand the content of both this tool and the content you are teaching so they can properly brain storm their ideas.

Therefore, friends, I urge you to check out this tool! I believe this to be essential to your future classroom!

-Mark

Welcome, eBooks

eBooks

Greetings Friends!

Until I heard this presentation, I never knew that you could publish your own book for free and have it downloaded by others for free. It is amazing that Jon was able to incorporate this with his students, even special ed. students! That's the area in which I am studying and this was so inspirational to me. I really think that eBooks have a positive impact on the writing process. To let children take the wheel of writing a book gives great motivation because they are not just doing this for their teacher but for people all over the world. I see this continuing and becoming more and more successful. I think that creating and using eBooks will have a great effect on my teaching. This is such a great way to unite together as a class and to teach them to do something that they will feel proud of.

The benefits I see with using eBooks in the classroom that are student created would be the relation the student could have to the other students who wrote the book. The student might do better seeing the way other students present the information and how it can be interactive I think that the textbooks written by the students was such an awesome idea. I could definitely see myself using some of those books that Jon's special ed. kids made. Especially the social skills books! Those were wonderful! Again, to make this effective, I would want to make sure that this eBook had information written out in a way students can read the content but also having an eBook text book that would be interactive as well.

There were a lot of things that I took away from this presentation. This guy is amazing! I love how he is connecting with other classrooms from all over the world to work together and write a book. This is such a cool way for students to leave a legacy in this digital age. I also loved the openness he had with his students letting them choose what they wanted to write about and he was so encouraging to his students along the way. This will impact my learning by making me open to new ideas and inputs from people all over the world so that I will be able to teach effectively.

Here is a cool article from the Wall Street Journal on how the eBook will change the way we read and write. I encourage you to check it out! http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123980920727621353

Also, check out this site full of eBooks written by kids! 

http://ebooks.koobits.com/

Hope these links are helpful! Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts!

-Mark

Cool Tool Review #4 - Exploring Emaze

Cool Tool Review #4

emaze.com - A wonderful Presentation Tool!

https://www.emaze.com/?emazehome

Greetings Friends! 
This week I explored the Presentation Tool called: emaze. This is a tool that right from the get go, I was having fun.

With emaze, you are able to create a new presentation on anything that you would like whether you are a business person, and educator, or a student. There are many great templates and you can choose from nine different categories to find the template you desire. Click and go wild!

This tool is EXTREMELY user friendly! I was able to figure out how most of the site works pretty quickly. What I appreciate about emaze is that yes, the steps are simple and easy to use and just because it is easy to use, it doesn't mean the quality of your presentation looks simple, plain, or boring. You can make your presentation look wonderful with out a bunch of complicated options and buttons that you have no clue on what they do. Easily you can insert text, images, videos, and charts.

It works as a slideshow in which you can press play and the slides will change by themselves or go a head and just change each slide manually.

I would use this tool to make a presentation for my students or for my students to make a presentation to their classmates in a heart beat!  My scenario I created was introducing literature from the Romantic Period for a 7th grade English class. I made a presentation for a short introduction on Edgar Allan Poe. Just to get a feel of the Romantic Period. Please check out my presentation! There is a point where a video pops up so at that point press pause on the presentation so you can watch the video if you would like. Here is the link: https://www.emaze.com/@ACRCOLRW/edgarallenpoe

I hope you enjoy!

This goes along with TPACK perfectly. The knowledge the content of the site and your information you are presenting, and being able to present the information effectively with Presentation Technology.

So here is the boring part, the pricing. Ultimately, as a student, I would use the free option because there is so much you can do and I could not imagine paying for more, it may be overwhelming! I would encourage educators and business men and women to upgrade. The pricing is:

Upgrading to Pro - $9.00 a month
Upgrading to Premium - $19.00 a month

That's not too shabby in my opinion!

Therefore my friends, I implore to explore this wonderful tool. Hope you enjoy and let me know your thoughts!

- Mark

Gaining a Two Point Perspective - Blog #2

Hello, friends!

Well, this week I began my journey on the technique of Two Point Perspective drawing. I will tell you what, I am on the struggle bus!

But, I am having fun with it and will continue to press on to complete my goal of drawing a city-scape. For now, I have been working on shapes and over the past couple of days I have been working on cubes.

These are some examples I have studied:

Here are some of my attempts...

(I will be getting a sketchbook soon, so forgive the notebook paper. I get paid on Friday so I shall be able to purchase the proper materials then!) 

I am happy with my 4th attempt but I will keep on keepin' on with this and I can only get better as I practice.

My wife, Ashley, will be training me this weekend. I am quite the young grasshopper. But I am excited to get better!

Please leave any thoughts you may have. Positive or negative, I would love to hear your feedback!

-Mark

Gaining a Two Point Perspective - My Major Project

Gaining a Two-Point Perspective

Alright my friends, here is my my major project: Learning how to draw in two point perspective.  

Here was my proposal:

Goals: My goal is to be able to draw buildings and skyscrapers in a two-point perspective style. I am not good at drawing at all but I like to try on my own. My wife is a free-lance artist and thought this would be a good thing for me to try. I will need to start out by drawing "simple" boxes and shapes in a two-point perspective and keep practicing that. Week by week, I hope to add more of an architectural design and feel to my drawings. My ultimate goal is to draw a downtown major city scene in a two-point perspective. 

Resources and Learning Materials: The materials I will need are a sketchbook, pencils, and a camera for photos and videos of my progress each week. I will definitely be using online resources. YouTube will be essential because I can watch an art lesson multiple times and there are so many videos out there that I can get different perspectives on drawing in the two point perspective style. I will look for blogs written by different artists about two-point perspective drawing as well, but I feel that watching someone create this type of art will be a better visual for me to complete my goal. I am sure as I search through blogs written by artists, they will post a video lesson on this technique. I will also be able to use my wife as a teacher. She is a wonderful artist and believes that I can succeed in learning this style of art. You could call her an expert as well. 

Documentation of Progress: The documentation process will be photos and videos of me drawing in the two-point perspective style. I am hoping to learn how to use a time-lapse option for a video so my actual drawing attempt can be seen. Photos will be of what I am doing each week such as: where I am working, my materials, and attempts. I will also blog about my triumphs and failures throughout the week as well as information on the lessons I learned during the week. 

Planned Timeline: I plan to work on this skill 5 days a week at the least and each of those 5 days, a half hour to an hour of practice. Each week I will watch multiple videos of lessons and lessons from my wife. 

Possible Challenges: A huge challenge for me is that I am terrible at drawing. Yes, I do enjoy doing it but I never show it to anyone. Sometimes I don't even show it to my wife because I feel so embarrassed. I hope to gain more confidence each week. 

Critical Friend: My critical friend will be my co-worker, Mike. He was an art major at Kent State University for a while and I have seen his work and he is a fantastic artist. What I like about him too is that he is pretty blunt and will tell me directly what I need to improve on without holding back. 

Here is an excellent video to give you an idea of what Two Point Perspective drawing is like: