Spreadsheet 2

When working on this spreadsheet, the concept behind the formulas seemed simple to me because I took a programming I and sets, relations, and functions class last semester. I have never done anything like this in Excel before but it really makes If, then statements a bit easier to follow and create a very easy way to display a variety of things based on whether or not they are true of false. This tool can be very helpful to a teacher in the classroom. The teacher could use it for the grade book or students could use it to understand the logic behind programming and math functions. With features like this and a little formatting Excel can become a gateway to the organization of data. My data can be obtained here through Google docs.
Once again Excel can be used in various ways that can be uses in the classroom to meet some of the ISTE.NETS standards such as professional growth and leadership by sharing data with others in and out of the school system and by modeling digital-age work and learning.

Spreadsheet 1

I have always found working in Excel to be easy and very beneficial for several applications. From grade books to balancing a checkbook Excel can take something that would take considerable amount of time and work and make it simple and hassle free. I think that this spreadsheet exercise was easy, but a necessary refresher for those who have not looked at an excel spreadsheet since high school. I use Excel to make schedules for work, calculate tabs at events, and serve as a way to organize treasure’s reports. This application can be implemented in a classroom for schedules, grades, and simple organizing tasks.
It is exciting that spreadsheets are also incorporated into Google documents because this means that I can share the spreadsheet and make it easier to communicate with someone else for schedule and so on. 

This tool meetsthe ISTE NETS standards by a teacher being able to use the technology to communicate with other teachers, create schedules for parents, and sharing grades with parents. (Model Digital-Age Work and Learning)

Google Forms 1

I find Google forms rather exciting! It is a way to collect information from many people and then it does the hard work for you by putting it into an excel type file. I think that when you need something to be done in an office or even in a school where you need everyone's participation and do not have a lot of time to organize everyone's thoughts this is great. However because I did not have that kind of need I found it difficult to come up with questions that I wanted to ask.
I searched a little more and found that if you have an application called Google Apps then you can actually manage who took the survey, who did not, and how many times they took it, because it will collect the email of those who took the survey.

Like many programs and tools I have found that it take a little bit to get used to. I had to play around and try different things in order to get the survey to turn out the way I wanted it to. Linking pages and finding the final button to submit were two of my tasks that took me a while to achieve. Once I was able to master them it became easy to finish the rest of the survey.

This feature can be used in all kinds of ways, it can be hyper linked, it can be embedded, or simply emailed. All of these ways can be beneficial to different users depending on what they wanted to achieve. For example a teacher/principal could send it as an email to survey their co-workers/employees about a certain topic or it could be embedded on the school's website to reach out to the parents of the students.
Another great thing about Google form is that it is created in Google documents so only certain people you decide to share it with will be able to see it or you can publicly share it so that anyone who searches can find it and take the survey as well. As long as you have the link you don't have to be a Google documents user. This means that you can collect data from all types people, even those who are not Google savvy. I can set it to where I am the only one who can make any changes to the document so that the information is as correct as it can be. I decided that to get the maximum results for my survey I wanted to share it publicly and allow people to understand how other people fell about the topic, so follow my link to find out how other people responded.

This tool can serve as a learning tool for the teacher as well as getting parents to interact in the classroom. A simple survey on the progress of the class and what the teacher can do to improve or a survey as to which parents can help in the classroom whether it a day with a guest reader or a holiday party. Both of these thing can contribute to the effectiveness of the teacher in the classroom and self renewal of the teacher allowing the teacher to engage in professional growth and leadership.

Zoomerang Survey

I made this survey by using Zoomerang.

Online Graphing Tools

In this assignment I looked at the scores of the national assessment compared them to the West Virginia assessment scores on the NAEP website.  My focus was in math and I found that the scores were lower than what I had imagined maybe this was due to the fact that they are averages and not base on what hear about test scores from teachers that I know.  This assignment actually kind of opened my eyes when it came to these averages. I feel that West Virginia is doing fairly well with what we are given; however there is always room for improvement.  After looking at the scores I compiled them into a line graph using Kids Zone. This is a neat tool to use because it allows one to look at information in a more visual way. The down side to this is like the assignment that we were given, if the settings are changed one can make data look good, bad, or even unrealistic.I am not a big fan of changing data to make it look like something else. We need to realize mistakes that the data shows and fix it accordingly. Although, in this assignment I had to do just that, manipulate the graph, to get the results that I needed. This process was simple and was all about changing the min and max so that the either resembled a close margin or a big jump. My results for the assignment are shown in the following links:

Trouble Among The Hills
A Future For West Virginia Students
In Trouble Among The Hills I made the min and max closer together to reveal a jump in the graph and make it appear that the averages were vary different when in reality they were only 6 points away in 2009. Then in AFuture For West Virginia Students I had to increase the min and max to make sure that averages were close together for better assessment results.

Teachers could use this activity with Standard 1 Function 1E Student Assessment. The assessment scores compared to other scores can guide the teacher and student for future learning capabilities and results. It can also be used for the assessment of a teachers own personal teaching style. This approach can be found in Standard 3 Function 3E. Assessments scores and charts can allow one to evaluate their own teachings and learn abilities inside and outside of the classroom.

Wordle/ Word Cloud

This word cloud was created using my personal statement that I used to get into grad school. It is the very essence of what I want to be and where I want to go in life. I found that Wordle is a very creative tool and I wish I had known about it sooner. It takes something very simple and creates something that will allow you to actually understand the main points of what is being written without actually reading the statement.

I played around with this tool for a while trying different papers, exploring the colors, and other edits that can be used. I soon realized that there is a word count. It actually counts how many time each word is used and displays it in a list for you. As I discovered that I realized that this tool could be used as a vocabulary builder of some sort. I tend to use the same words over and over again because one, it is easier to spell and two, my vocabulary is not as extensive as it could be. This tool creates a better visual for you to understand what words you tend to use most. I think that the Wordle tool is a great way for students to analysis a piece of written work and opens up a communication to a student's writing skills, following Standard 3: Function 3B. For example, when I was in high school sometimes did not understand why I had to rework a paper, but my teacher was able to effiectly comuunicate the faults and areas that I lacked in my paper. This communication was key to my success throughout the rest of my high school experience. With this tool it can make a teacher's job in communicating to the student easier and more visual.

It can also see how it distinguishes Dolch sight words that are the base words for those who are learning to read.Here is the same personal statement as above but with the sight words/ common words included.

Batchgeo Map

View Education 6305 Map in a full screen map

Search for nearest location

I had fun creating this map! I was thinking this type of map could be used in history classes when talking about locations of places, however in my classroom as an architecture professor it could be used to pin point certain architectural phenomenon and historical sites whether it is by a certain architect or even an era. Using technology like this will set the next generation apart from the current generation. We are constantly learning and new technology is the way the world is going. Before maps and push pins were used, but now with everyone using the computer this tool will replace a map or atlas much like a GPSs has pretty much replaced road maps.This feature would be part of Standard 3: Function 3A because it is a way that a teacher can use a new technology in the classroom and create a learning experience that is unique. This tool can be used with several different address so that all of the students can be involved whether it is the students home address or addresses of business in relation to the community. Teachers develops an instructional activity around Standard 2: Function 2A.

Jing Image

Since I have an architecture background I thought I would show my readers a neat process that can be done in Photoshop, a program that I use quite often. I used the photo that I saved in the previous post (Jing Graphic). I hope this brings creativity to everyone who watches! Enjoy! Jing Screencast 

This follows ISTE NETS 1c. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity by promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.Students can use this tool to show their creative process and how they did thing whether it was looking something up or creating something in any program.

Jing Graphic

I had a lot of fun with this tool! It will be a great way to teach when you can not be in a classroom or need additional instruction outside of the classroom. I think that this program was very easy to use once I played around in it a bit. I used this part of the assignment to prepare for the second half so here is how to save an image from Google images.
Jing is a tool that will essentially take a screen print that will allow you to make notes on and then save it as a png image file or a Flash (.swf) to wherever one wishes to locate the files. If you choose to share/upload the image or video then a lick will be sent to you with a link to a Screencast and link information. Once you have exited out you can always go back into the history and click on the image or video you wish to have and view and save or share and upload with a link. Once you have a link you can share it with anyone. simply use the link give in the address in the address bar. Jing and Screencast are very easy to use and can save teachers and students a lot of time. This is a professional learning skill that can enhance a teacher's teaching skills in working with technology, Standard 4: 4A.

Snipping Tool

I was unable use the snipping tool because I do not have Windows 7. I read about the tool and tried it on a different computer. It is a really neat tool that I could use instead of printing the screen and cropping it. The snipping tool is very user friendly. When I get a Windows 7 I will definitely being using the snipping tool.