Formative vs Summative testing - Final Blog!

From what I understand from the wikipedia articles, Formative testing is more useful for actual classroom use, whereas summative testing is used more by 3rd parties to evaluate overall scores and effectiveness of a classroom.

Personally, I think formative testing is much more useful for a teacher. It allows teachers to assess their students learning (instead of just a raw score like in standardized/summative testing) As a teacher, if I can see what my students are struggling or proficient at, I can modify my future lessons to be effective to the maximum amount of students in my class.

Web tools can be used to create these types of tests. Kids are tested up to their ears these days, so any way to make a test fun and exciting is fine by me. Sites like quizlet make a game out of it, which can facilitate learning and make it interesting for students.

Professional Organizations

Professional organizations provide members more security in their field. The organizations lobby for its members, and may have high ranking contacts in government. These organizations advocate for its members, and try to get policies passed the benefit their field.

I'm an elementary education major, so I have quite a few possibilities when it comes to my professional organizations. A big one is the LFA or Learning First Alliance. They are an organizations comprised of 16 member organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

Another organization is Education for Change. They advocate for every child to have free public education.

The benefits of joining these groups greatly outweighs the costs. For some, you may have membership fees or other joining costs. But those costs pale in comparison to the effort and advocation that your organization does for you.

Digital Divide

I think teachers have very limited power in the issue of digital division. The local, state, and federal governments have great power (and great responsibility) to make sure that all students have access to the same resources. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Rich school districts have the best equipment, and enough for everyone. Poor school districts are short on equipment and may have lousy or old devices.

As a teacher, the best thing I can do is work with what I have. Like in my lesson plan, I adapted it to three different scenarios. All three scenarios are certainly plausible in my teaching future. I consider myself to be above average in the technological knowledge department. I believe that I would be able to teach my class effectively weather we have access to one computer or 25. I would prefer one for all my students, but you can't always get what you want.

Blog #9 --> Popplet

My popplet: http://popplet.com/app/#/228795

I first learned about Bloom's Taxonomy in my Family, School, and Community class. We had to make maps of how different institutions acted upon a students life. (Community, teachers, parents, media, etc) Bloom's pyramid includes 6 intellectual skills important for learning. A mind map can cover those 6 skills in an organized and good-looking fashion. Popplet made it easy for that to happen.

I can use these two tools to make sure I'm learning what I think I'm learning. I could be a more effective student by using Bloom's taxonomy and mind mapping.

TEAC 259 Glog + Discussion

I chose to focus on what I did because it pretty much covers all the bases of digital citizenship. It is a good resource for parents and children alike. As a teacher, I will definitely teach these themes of digital citizenship to my students. In an increasingly online world, education is the best way to protect children online. Not only should children be educated on online etiquette and safety, but parents should be educated on how to keep their children safe. Parents need to know how to protect their children's online privacy and recognize signs of cyber bullying. Knowing that I taught their children these tips and now the parents know these tips should put them at ease.

Cyber bullying is on the rise. By educating children and parents on the signs and signals of cyber bullying, many incidences could be avoided. Parents need to be involved with their children's online activity so that cyber bullying can be cut off at the source.

UDL Book

(Link to my book: http://bookbuilder.cast.org/view.php?op=view&book=57240&page=1)

The entire book hinges off my guides, so don't be confused when there's very little on the page.

I liked the idea of guides, considering I am neither a very good author or illustrator. The Book Builder seemed dated in that after ANY change to your book it had to reload the entire page. Not to mention the pop-up windows to edit anything. That being said, the guides brought a human element to my book in allowing my readers (presumably children) to see an animated character talking to them. Some of these kids won't even know how to read, so having the pictures and spoken word in there qualifies me for UDL. Maybe I failed miserably, but I never claimed to be good at making books.

Blog #6 Social Media

(My Google docs spreadsheet link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjghPaXqe8GadDZjMW80MjE5Y2poSUdaSzFQQUp4eFE)


What counts as social media? According to Wikipedia, Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. 


I couldn't agree more! I think the main point of social media is to bring people together, all in one place. Most of them are extremely easy to sign up for and access. How could I use these in the classroom? Well, first off I would have to weed out the bad eggs. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, GetGlue, and some others are purely meant for social interaction. Those really have no place inside the classroom. Others like Google+ and Diigo could definitely be used as tools for learning in a classroom setting. Reddit can be a powerful news and opinion tool, if used correctly. The success of social media in the classroom really hinges on how they are utilized.