Mitch's+Page

=Mitch's ITEC 601 Page =


 * Key Note: Wiki information goes in descending order, Week 5 is all the way at the end!!

**Week 1 Competency= iMovie**
I recently acquired 3 flip cameras from a donors-choose grant that I wrote for my classroom and I want to start incorporating them into my Biology and Physiology curriculum. I think it would be really cool for my students not only create iMovie projects about the science content we are learning about in class with the cameras, but also having my students use them to capture connections between what we do in the classroom and how that information connects to their neighborhoods and communities. Students could also use the cameras to document field trips and create iMovie projects that incorporate the highlights and learnings from those field trips.

iMovie has a really simple interface and is user friendly, it would not take more than one class period to show my students how to use iMovie on the Mac computers that we have in the computer lab. Once they have a grasp on how to use iMovie, we could use those skills over and over with a large variety of projects. The one problem with this skill is that not all schools have Mac computers or enough computers for an entire class to use to edit video footage. There is a Windows Movie Maker editing program that seems to be somewhat equivalent to iMovie, but I have never used it so I can not really comment.


 * Links to more information about movie editing:**

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2479

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TV513ZL-9k


 * Windows Movie Maker:**

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker?os=other

For an example of an iMovie project I made a short video at the Exploratorium in San Francisco that is about sex in nature. This could be an example of how to use iMovie with a field trip. I chose the topic of "sex and reproduction" and took video footage of all the different exhibits that focused on sex, then edited them to a short 2 minute video.


 * My Video**:

media type="file" key="DaleandMitch.mov" width="300" height="300"

=**Week 1 Resources:** =


 * http://techlearning.com/article/8670**

As educators we are faced with many outside pressures, one of the many is student performance on standardized tests. Unfortunately, the way that these tests are setup in science and how the California State Science Standards are written the academic focus is mainly at the basic knowledge and remembering level of Bloom's Taxonomy. As a teacher I believe that it is not my job to teach to success on one test, but to help develop higher level thinking skills in my students that they can apply to higher education. It is not always easy to find creative ways to design lessons that are interesting and real world applicable to today's youth, and it is not always easy to find creative ways to teach higher level Bloom's thinking skills. The article that is attached to this resource gives some great examples on how to incorporate technology, things that students are interested in, and higher level thinking skills into classroom assignments and activities. The examples also explain the connection between Bloom's Taxonomy and the activities to help teachers understand the significance of what they are doing with their lessons and high order thinking skills, and practice with the lower levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. I am going to use the Wiki format of this class with my older students and use the suggestions from the resource to incoporate different levels of thinking into what we do with the Wiki.


 * http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning**

Project based learning is a great way to show how what we do in the classroom is applicable to real life and academic skills you need in the work world. My school is trying to make a push to project based learning curriculum and most teachers including myself don't really know that much about the subject. This edutopia page gives great examples that I can use for ideas in my classroom, and with a combination of video and tutorials it provides a starting point for teachers who do not know much about the subject.

=**Week 2-Competency=** **Google Earth** = Next school year I am going to be teaching a new class, which is called Urban Ecology. The purpose of this class is going to have freshmen prepare for Biology and Chemistry by taking a science class that focuses not only on basic principles of science and ecology, but also the connection between those science principles and their community. The course is also going to focus on social justice issues and how science can be used to understand social justice issues on a deeper level.

As I am building the curriculum for this course I want to focus student awareness of how the setup of their community affects their interactions with the world around them. I am hoping to include topics of study such as nature deficit disorder and how green space affects community and social interactions, as well as how food options effect the health of a community. I was hoping to use Google Earth to have students map and locate areas of green space around their community, compare food options in their community to other communities, locate superfund sites, as well as many other uses that I have not yet thought of.

Google Earth is simple, all you have to do is download the software at google website, there are tutorials that show many different ways that you can utilize Google Earth, and playing around with the different options if a fun way too. I created to jpeg files on Google Earth that show the locations of markets and places to buy food items in two communities, one is East Oakland around our school, and the second the city of Piedmont, CA. I demonstrated how you can map different characteristics on Google Earth Transects, which students can then use to discuss issues of food justice in low income communities vs. high income communities. These could also be used for a wide variety of projects like those listed in paragraph #2.





=**Week 2 Resources:** =

http://www.curriki.org/

Curriki is a good, possibly not great for every subject, site to get peer reviewed lesson plans. Many of us being either beginning teachers or student teachers are stressed and lacking the convenience of time. Curriki offers a wide variety of lesson plans that are peer reviewed and rated to how well they work in a classroom. There are many different search options, and it seems like it is better than a lot of other internet based lesson plan sites, and best of all it is free!

[|http://urbandictionary.com]

I cannot speak for everyone, but there is a generational gap between my use of Slang English and my students use of Slang English. I also at times hear them using words that I have no idea the meaning of and this lack of meaning can distort communication between my students and myself. I am trying to at times mix in common language with the academic language to increase student "buy-in" and at times to add humor to the classroom. Urban Dictionary can be a good resource for teachers to understand what their students are saying and to help foster some connections with their students as individuals and with youth culture in general to hopefully become a more effective teacher.

=Week 3-Competency=Student Blogs =

As students move from unit to unit in Biology class I would like to give them time, as well as an assignment that allows them to reflect upon their learning. I would also like to have students in my class be able to give each other feedback on assignments, projects, as well as a space to have class discussions using technology outside of class.

To accomplish these things for my students, I want to create a class blog that all students could join, engage in, and use as a space to reflect on their learning and the learning of their peers. This blog space could be used for assignments, as well a for fun, and to add variety to the normal "run of the mill" class assignments.

I created a sample blog at the link below, and posted a short sample reflection post that my students could answer about our class preparation for this years Biology CST.

Creating this blog was simple, I went to @http://theedublogger.com/2010/01/05/week-1-create-a-class-blog/ , and simply signed up for the blog. To make a post all I had to do was to go to //new post,// and type my short set of reflection topics. For your class, all you would have to do is have each student create a user name and password that they could use to sign in and contribute to the blog from any computer.

**http://mjsing01.edublogs.org**

=Week 3 Resources:=

[|http://kidshealth.org]

The next two weeks are CST testing weeks at my school and after that I have to finish up the last two weeks of May with a unit on the reproductive system. Students always have a lot of questions about topics that we do not have time to cover in class, and may or may not be appropriate for me, as their teacher to answer. The website above, kidshealth.org, has some great resources for students to explore and find answers to lots of the questions that we do not have time in class to cover and may not be 100% appropriate to talk about without parent consent. I could use this website as part of the student resource card that I am creating for the reproductive system and reproductive health unit.

 Academic Standards
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; padding-right: 10px;">[]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">It seems that everything in education now is about standards and standardized testing, well at my school at least. I feel restricted as a science teacher at times because I have a wealth of knowledge in many other areas to Life and Earth Science that is more interesting and maybe more relevant to my students lives than the California State Biology Standards. As an educator that cares more about my students learning than what my administrators think about my teaching, I want to focus my class more on what my students are interested in, but there needs to be balanced. Mastering all of the Biology standards, as well as focusing on those standards that come up most on the Biology CST will allow me to be more efficient teaching what I need to teach to satisfy my administrators needs around test scores. By maximizing the standards aspect of teaching, I can focus more time on teaching what my students want to learn about, taking my students on field trips, and assigning more projects that students can have fun with.

=<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;">Week 4- Competency=Pixton =

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">Pixton is a great program for students to create educational cartoons of topics that your are studying in any class. They get to choose or create their own avatar, select different styles of comics and story boards, and edit their comics as they go. This is a great tool for adding fun to any subject and lets students use their imagination to review a topic in science or any other class. Pixton is also a great resource to allow students to use humor to show mastery of a class topic.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">The instructions are simple and the accounts are free, just go to http://www.pixton.com/my-home to get started. There are plenty of tutorials and examples to help you practice, so when it comes time to show your students you can be a master. The cartoon below is a very short example that I made to demonstrate my knowledge of the water cycle.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">http://Pixton.com/ic:gwov9u8i

=<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 12px;">Week 4 Resources =

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">﻿ <span style="color: #1c878a; font-family: verdana,sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">[|http://taggalaxy.de]

<span style="color: #565555; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">﻿Tag galaxy is a great resource for students to create visual mind maps on any topic, in any subject. All you have to do is type in a tag title and tag galaxy searches millions of pictures from the world-wide web through Flickr. Students can then click on pictures and create sub-mind maps from the original tag, this is a good resource for students that are visual learners to make connections between course vocabulary and visual pictures.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//<span style="font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; padding-right: 10px;">[] ** //

Classroom management is always an area of struggle for new teachers and from what I have found through my first year and a half of teaching is that you have to try a lot of different strategies to really find the ones that work well for you. Since I am still in the early stages of my development as a teacher I am still trying lots of new strategies to see which ones work for me and my personality and management style. This resource on classroom management gives lots of different techniques and strategies that can be utilized by new teachers, as well as old. I am hoping to do some more experimenting with some of the example strategies that this website provides so that I can really hone down my classroom management approach for the next school year.

=

= =<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Week 5- Final Project =

LES LESSON PLAN
<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> (Topic) |||||| **Genetics Part 2** ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Unit Name**
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Unit Length** |||||| **3 Weeks- 5/16/11-6/3/11** ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Lesson Name** |||||| **Genetic Disease Group Presentation PowerPoint** ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Science Content and Grade Level** |||||| Biology-9th Grade ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Standard**(s)

<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> Addressed
|||||| **3a.** **Students know how to predict the probable outcome of phenotypes in a genetic cross from the genotypes of the parents and mode of inheritance (autosomal or X-linked, dominant or recessive).**

//3c. Students know// how to predict the probable mode of inheritance from a pedigree diagram showing phenotypes. || <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> (Goals) |||||| Students can create a visually engaging PowerPoint to explain to the class the mode of inheritance of their genetic disease, including if it is autosomal or x-linked, and the logical justification of why they can determine this mode of inheritance through the use of inheritance patterns and a Punnet Square. ||
 * =====<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> Expected Learning Outcomes =====
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Methods of Assessment** |||||| Presentation and Quality of Explanation Rubric that displays student mastery of PowerPoint, as well as the science content and skills associated with the project. (Rubric Attached in Separate File) ||
 * **Lesson Outline** ||
 * **Time** ||||||  **Teacher Action**  ||  **Student Action**  ||  **Materials**  ||
 * 10 min |||||| OPENING/HOOK

Mr. Singsheim shows students a sample PowerPoint that he has created for the Genetic Inheritance Project.

Mr. Singsheim models the good, the bad, and the mediocre examples of what student presentations should look like. || Students:

1. Watch and listen to teacher explain his project.

2. Take notes and critiques on graphic organizer of what teacher did well and areas that were not done so well. || PowerPoint

LCD Projector

PowerPoint Digital Mouse

Macbook Computers ||
 * 5 min |||||| INTRO TO NEW MATERIAL

Mr. S reviews procedures for giving whole class presentations, how to use the PowerPoint controls, and how to use the peer presentation evaluation-grading rubric.

Mr. S asks students questions through a random sampling to check for understanding of class directions and procedures. || Students:

3. Take notes and listen to Mr. Singsheim’s Instructions.

4. Answer questions that Mr. S asks to check for understanding. || Grading Rubrics

PowerPoint Presentation on Rules and Procedures of Presentations || . Mr. Singsheim observes and grades students according to the presentation and content rubric for the project.
 * 35 min |||||| GUIDED PRACTICE

Mr. Singsheim facilitates the group presentation order for PowerPoint Presentations. || Student Groups:

5. Show PowerPoint Presentation

6. Explain the background and history of their genetic disease, the disease’s inheritance patterns, and give Punnet square examples as proof to how they figured out their inheritance.

7. Students in the audience grade each presentation according to their own grading rubric. || Student Macbooks

Flashdrives

Student made PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint Digital Mouse

Grading Ribrics ||
 * 10 min |||||| INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

Mr. Singsheim Wraps-up the daily presentations.

Give students last instructions for filling out their peer grading rubrics. || Individual Students:

8. Fill out missing parts of peer grading rubric

9. Reflect on the days presentations and give warm and cool feedback on presenters peer grading rubrics. || Peer Grading Rubrics

Wrap-Up PowerPoint Slides || Exit slip || Fill out exit slip and turn it in ||  ||
 * |||||| CLOSING
 * === Modifications === |||||||| -IEP students will receive more time if needed to prepare presentation in and out of class. For this group of students, no other specific modifications need to be made based on the IEP goals of the students in the class. ||
 * ===Follow-up===

Activities/ HW
|||||||| **none** ||

2. PowerPoint includes at least one video or movie. 3. PowerPoint uses animations in creative ways. || 1. Most PowerPoint slides include a background images and graphics. 2. PowerPoint does not include movie or video. 3. PowerPoint animations are present, but not used properly. || 1. Most PowerPoint slides do not include a background images and graphics. 2. PowerPoint has no video or movie. 3. PowerPoint does not use animations. || 2. Text is short and bulleted, no long paragraphs. || 1. PowerPoint text is organized and follows a clear pattern. 2. PowerPoint slides contain too much text at times, but some are short and to the point. || 1. PowerPoint text is unorganized and does not follow the correct pattern. 2. PowerPoint slides are all or mostly text. || 2. It is clear that the group used scientific resources accurately to present their disease’s details. || 1. The history, symptoms, and progression of the genetic disease are clearly stated. 2. It is not clear what resources were used in research because some scientific information is incorrect. || 1. The history, symptoms, and progression of the genetic disease are not clearly stated. 2. Scientific information is not accurate. ||
 * Rubric Category || <span style="color: #3e8588; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">4 || <span style="color: #3e8588; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">3  || <span style="color: #3e8588; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">2  ||
 * PowerPoint Creativity || 1. All PowerPoint slides include a background images and graphics.
 * PowerPoint Clarity || 1. PowerPoint text is organized and follows a clear pattern.
 * Scientific Accuracy || 1. The history, symptoms, and progression of the genetic disease are clearly stated.
 * Punnet Square Evidence || 1. A Punnet Square is used accurately and is analyzed correctly and with tought to prove the inheritance pattern that your group figured out. || 1. A Punnet Square is used properly to show the inheritance pattern of the disease, but the analysis of Punnet Square is not clear. || 1. A Punnet Square is attempted, but is not accurate or analyzed properly. ||
 * Speaker’s Voice || 1. Presenters voices are clear and loud, the presentation does not seem rushed. || 1. Presenters voices are mostly clear, but they say umm too much and get off track a few times. || 1. Presenters voices cannot really be heard and the presentation is confusing because of that. ||



LESSON PLAN
<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> (Topic) |||||| **Genetics Part 2** ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Unit Name**
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Unit Length** |||||| **3 Weeks** ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Lesson Name** |||||| **Visual Summaries of My Genetic Disease** ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Science Content and Grade Level** |||||| Biology-9th Grade ||
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Standard**(s)

<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> Addressed
|||||| **3a.** **Students know how to predict the probable outcome of phenotypes in a genetic cross from the genotypes of the parents and mode of inheritance (autosomal or X-linked, dominant or recessive).**

//3c. Students know// how to predict the probable mode of inheritance from a pedigree diagram showing phenotypes. || <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> (Objective) |||||| Students will create a visual based mind map of Genetics and their particular genetic disease using the visual resource Tag Galaxy to display connections between the science concepts and popular media. ||
 * =====<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> Expected Learning Outcomes =====
 * <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -5.4pt; margin-right: -5.4pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> **Methods of Assessment** |||||| Assessment rubric evaluating student’s depth and accuracy of connections between science concepts and the visuals that were chosen to be included in their mind map. Also, students will be evaluated on the written accuracy of their explanation of the visual connections that they chose for their mind map of genetics and their genetic disease. ||
 * **Lesson Outline** ||
 * **Time** ||||||  **Teacher Action**  ||  **Student Action**  ||  **Materials**  ||
 * 6 min |||||| OPENING/HOOK

Mr. Singhseim shows students videos of the symptoms and effects of common human genetic disease.

Mr. Singsheim poses guiding questions to students of what to pay attention to in the YouTube videos. || Students:

1. Make and write observations to guiding questions about YouTube videos. || SmartBoard

MacBook

YouTube Clips

Student Notebooks ||
 * 14 min |||||| INTRO TO NEW MATERIAL

Mr. Singsheim introduces the web program Tag Galaxy on the Computer Lab SmartBoard and explains the directions handout on how to use Tag Galaxy.

Instructs and solicits students volunteers to practice the steps of creating a visual mind map on the SmartBoard. || Students:

2. Watch and read handout as teacher walks through the steps of getting to Tag Galaxy website and how to begin the program.

3. Volunteers approach the SmartBoard and move through the sequential steps of how to create a mind map with Tag Galaxy, new volunteers are called up to the SmartBoard for each step. || Tag Galaxy Web Program

SmartBoard

Macbook || .
 * 20 min |||||| GUIDED PRACTICE

Mr. Singsheim assigns student pairs to each computer stations in computer lab.

Teacher monitors and assists student groups as needed with Tag Galaxy and mind maps. || Students:

5. Work in pairs on the computers to create Tag Galaxy Mind maps.

6. Students bookmark and save their mind maps once they have been checked my Mr. Singsheim. || Mac Computer Stations

Tag Galaxy ||
 * 15 min |||||| INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

Mr. Singsheim transitions students to the independent writing section of the class assignment and repeats the directions from the handout to make sure students are clear on directions.

Teacher facilitates students breaking off to individual computers to type mind map explanations. || 7. Students work independently to explain the written connections of why they chose the images they did for their mind maps and how they fit with their genetic diseases. || Microsoft Word

Computer Stations || Exit slip || Fill out exit slip and turn it in ||  ||
 * 5 min |||||| CLOSING
 * === Modifications === |||||||| IEP students may need extended time to create their mind map and to complete the typed individual mind map explanations. ||
 * ===Follow-up===

Activities/ HW
|||||||| **none** ||


 * Rubric Category || <span style="color: #3e8588; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">4 || <span style="color: #3e8588; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">3  || <span style="color: #3e8588; display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">2  ||
 * Mind Map Visuals || Mind Map includes at least 15 images with a variety images and image sources || Mind Map includes at least 10, but less than 15 images and image sources. || Mind Map contains less than 10 images and image sources. ||
 * Accuracy of Connections between Visuals and Science Concepts of groups Genetic Disease. || There is a clear connection/relevance between image choices and genetic disease. || The connection/relevance between image choices and genetic disease is vague, but seems present. || There is almost no connection between images and genetic disease concepts. ||
 * Quality and Accuracy of written explanations of Tax Galaxy Mind Map || Written explanation clearly and accurately justifies your group’s use of the Tag Galaxy images you selected and their connection/relevance to your genetic disease. || Written explanation does not accurately justify the group’s use of the Tag Galaxy images you selected and their connection/relevance to your genetic disease, but their a reaching connections that can be made. || Written explanation does not at all justify the use of images that your group selected from Tag Galaxy. ||

Resource Link: http://taggalaxy.de/

Unfortunately, you can not save the phototags that you create on tag galaxy, so I cannot post the example that I created. If you go to the website and "play around" with the program you will be able to see how the lesson plan would incorporate this resource.