IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #

As a teacher, I'm always eager to share ideas with my colleagues.  I apologize for my obliviousness to share my work.  Here is one of my assignments for the IRA newsletter on effective literacy websites.

Vanessa Leon Guerrero

ED638 Spring 2014

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #1

In 2007, I was searching for websites that had free interactive reading software or games as a different approach to teach alphabet sounds and recognition that would make learning more fun and interesting for my son.  During that time, he was about two and a half years old.  Then, I was first introduced to Starfall (www.starfall.com) by a dear friend of mine who highly recommended this free “Learn to Read” website.  My son was instantly hooked and entertained!  Furthermore, I started to utilize and integrate this educational reading resource tool in the classroom with my G.A.T.E. Preschoolers.

Starfall was envisioned and initiated by Dr. Stephen Schutz and Susan Polis-Schutz with the intention of designing a “free public service” online reading resource to help struggling young readers, as he too, was once described.  Their team consists of educators, artists, musicians, writers and computer engineers who work collaboratively to generate researched-based and field tested methods to provide a comprehensive reading and language arts curriculum as a resource guide for teachers, parents and students.

Furthermore, Starfall is an effective literacy educational resource tool that targets an audience of early language learners from preschool through second grade and students in special education, homeschool, as well as English language learners (ELD, ELL, and ESL). 

The main index page features four learning levels: 1) ABCs, 2) Learn To Read, 3) It’s Fun to Read, and 4) I’m Reading.  In addition, beside the levels there are short seasonal interactivities that are colorful, fun, and entertaining.  Throughout each level a child’s voice is heard sounding out letters, words, phrases, and reading short stories.  In the ABCs section, a child clicks on the letter and learns to recognize the letter and sound.  It displays a few pictures and simple animated activities.  In this section, there is no particular order in which to begin.  Majority of the activities ends with a simple evaluation asking the user if they liked the activity and depicting three faces to select the choice of “yes”, “kind of” and “not really”.  

The Learn to Read section, helps the reader blend initial and final consonant sounds with short vowel to create a word.  Animated pictures are used to match words created.  Short vowel stories are also included as a reading reinforcement.  In these stories, the beginner reader clicks on each word to hear its pronunciation said slowly by the voice prompt then reiterated fast and clearly. 

It’s Fun to Read is an interesting section that incorporates the fine arts content, such as an art gallery featuring the famous artist Vincent van Gogh, music from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson.  Additionally, children can also create an All About Me book, learn riddles and tongue twisters.  An ear icon is positioned at the beginning of each reading passage to hear the voice reading.

The last section, I’m Reading provides some virtual non-fiction read aloud books, fables, myths, comics and plays. 

Starfall was my first and favorite free literacy website that I engaged my children and students in.  It’s a fantastic reading and language arts resource learning tool that actively engages, motivates and teaches the child to read with enjoyment.  It gradually builds and develop their phonemic awareness and builds reading skills.

Over the years, they’ve added a preschool curriculum, piloted a common core standards-based kindergarten curriculum, and a first grade common core reading and math curriculum.  It provides detailed instructional guides, weekly lesson plans and activities, and assessment tools for data collection.  However, these products must be purchased.  Additionally, there are free off-line activity worksheets to print for teachers and parents to accompany some of the reading lessons.

Presently, my preschool students are actively engaged in Starfall.com.  It’s a terrific Learn to Read website program that is free, uncluttered, easy to manipulate, attractive and features colorful, artistic pictures that keeps the learner focused, entertained and interested. 

Mid Term Self-Reflection

ED638 Teaching with the Internet

Mid Term Self-Reflection

by Vanessa Leon Guerrero

  

When I enrolled in ED638 Teaching with the Internet, along with ED637 Integrating Technology in the Curriculum – which was unfortunately canceled – my initial intention was to simultaneously take courses for re-certification, unsurprisingly; and earn credits to fulfil a second BA degree for early childhood education.   Moreover, it would be my first time to re-enter the University of Guam as a graduate student.  With that being said, I rushed my enrollment and didn't have much time to contemplate nor seek advice from a professor.

First, I’d like to state my disposition and enthusiasm for enrolling and participating in your class.  I genuinely believed this course was unquestionably what I needed to enhance my professional development both in the classroom and workplace.  I’d be able to gain new information and insights to help not only myself, but my colleagues as well, with whom may have minimal experience or knowledge about how to utilize the internet as a communication tool to assist them in all aspects of teaching.  In my workplace, I also realized that teachers and support staff lack some form of professional development to update or modernize new teachings of the advancement of technology in our classroom.  To clarify, for example, I’m almost certain that majority of our professional teachers who hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree are unaware of the usefulness of Learning/Course Management Systems nor know how to create a blogging website.  I truly had no preconception of what it meant to have such resources available until I enrolled in this course.  Thankfully, I do now. This class is truly beneficial and meaningful to every professional. 

On the other hand, as an internet user I feel I only take information and ideas the World Wide Web provides and, yet, I take for granted the immense capabilities it offers as a learning and communication tool.  Sadly, I feel I rarely give back my ideas or feedback to internet users around the world.  Albeit, it’s seemingly an uncommon feeling but I’m so concerned about security and privacy issues, which is another topic that’s debatable.

Personally, I knew the greatest challenge in taking an online course would be commitment and time management.  In comparison to active participation in an online class, being physically present and having contact with the instructor and peers in a real classroom setting would actually force me to submit my work in a timely manner.  Evidently, it’s been very difficult balancing and prioritizing family obligations, work, graduate school and other events that are sometimes beyond my control.  Even though we may experience similarities and differences in our daily lives, it’s nothing new for many of us.  All too often when I’m engaged in my readings and research activities online, my time is put on hold because of various distractions at home.  I’ve found myself spending more hours and money on double-shot lattes in quaint coffee shops catching up on work. 

As you have mentioned at the beginning of the class, the amount of hours needed for class discussions, forums, reading and researching is essential for meeting the goals and requirements of developing knowledge of the course and demonstrating quality work.  I feel that I’ve devoted at least 85% of online class time up until this point.  Now that mid quarter passed, I feel I’ve dropped at about 60% of participation.  Consequently, family and work matters needed much care and attention before my class.  My submission of work in a timely manner is below 60% of the time.  I’ve been rolling around assignments and still need to submit late work.  I may not be the overachieving student, but I make the effort to demonstrate the best of my abilities and make it count in more ways than one. 

When I am focused without interruptions, excitement looms within when I’m learning new ideas, which then generates my own thinking of what I can incorporate into planning and instruction in my classroom and workplace.  I admit this is the momentum I crave to keep me on track.  I enjoy being consumed in the readings; researching and navigating the depth of information on the internet.  It penetrates a rush of learning energy; one that makes me feel I’m on a “runners high”, only it’s my “learners high”.  And like Lee mentioned, blogging and spending countless hours on the internet can be addicting.  Speaking of Lee, I think his ideas are sound and helpful; and he’s very articulate.  I only wish there was more contact with the participants that were listed on our class roster as I’m sure there would be a great flow of ideas and challenges to offer. 

Nonetheless, I feel I’ve somewhat more confidence utilizing the activities to help me develop best practices and improve my methods of teaching with the internet in the classroom than I did at the beginning of our class.  In the meantime, I’m going to continue as best as I can to submit all remaining work to earn a decent passing grade. 

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. 

Midterm Self-Reflection

by Lee Putnam

The act of introspection is most difficult for me.  When I engage in the act, I am often dissatisfied with the results.  It has been said that oft times we can be our own worst critics.  I find that to be so very true.  Having said this, what follows are reflections on my work for the first half of this class.

The objective of this course, as stated in the syllabus, is to introduce “in-service teachers to blogs, wikis, and other read-write Internet services that allow students to be creators of digital media.”  Allow me to qualify my perspective by stating that I am not an “in-service teacher”, in fact I am not a teacher at all.  That fact will impact my perspective regarding the material presented in the course.  Where it is clear to me that my lack of teaching experience has had an impact I will endeavor to point that out.

 

Our world is rapidly changing, in particular the manner in which this generation socially interacts, obtains their news, does research, and even their primary means of learning is becoming ever increasingly dependent on electronic connectivity with others either right next door or even across the world.  That change in their behavior mandates that our generation learns technological literacy skills that will allow us to remain connected with them.  Never before has the term generation gap taken on such a profoundly challenging meaning.

 

The Blog

 

The first step in building our technological literacy skill set was to begin to blog.  The ability to blog provides us with a very fundamental freedom.  By using a blog, one can present one’s opinion to either a select group or to quite literally the world.  When you think about that, using a blog provides a person with a great deal of power; power that is very similar to the power of the press, on what can become a global scale.

 

For this class we engaged in three distinct blogs; a set of intra-class blogs using Moodle, a personal technologies blog, and a class blog used in a holistic way.  The intra-class blog was used to discuss our progress, questions, concerns, and at times frustrations with our fellow students and with Dr. Rivera.  Our personal technologies blog was intended to give us an opportunity to present written work that demonstrated what we gained from our investigation of the educational relevance of the technologies that we were learning about.  The class blog was apparently intended to be a forum in which we were to bear our souls.  I have avoided the class blog because of this, and I have co-opted its use by posting about technologies that I was interested in and thought others might find useful.

 

Have I learned here?  Well, I have a bit.  I had already been blogging, and I had my own technologies blog that I have continued to post to for this class.  When I look at that blog, I am more satisfied with what I have published there this year than what I published last fall.  Using that perspective as a measure I would say that I have grown.

 

Learning Management Systems

The LMS assignment has been a point of frustration for me.  I believe that my lack of teaching experience is a significant contributor to that frustration.  While the tools are not very complicated, I cannot relate to them at all.  When I work in an LMS I feel as if I am just going through the motions of plugging in information with no vision of what the end product should look like.

For this process I have investigated a half a dozen systems (eGrade, Rcampus, Moodle, CourseSites, BrainHoney, Edmodo).  I found myself playing with one, finding that I wanted it to be able to do a particular additional task, not being able to get it to do that task, and then moving on in hopes that the next LMS would do all the tasks that I wanted it to do.  Keep in mind that I was doing this with no vision of what the final product should look like.  The result was frustration and a very superficial understanding of the components and functionality of each LMS.

Internet Tools

Investigating internet based education technologies has been the most interesting assignment of this course.  Throughout the investigation I have found amateurish work, hype, commercialism, and material that is absolutely priceless.  Kahn Academy, TedTalks, YouTube, TedEd, LiveBinders, GoogleDrive, Dropbox, and Apache OpenOffice are just a few of the gems that I have learned about. 

In my opinion this entire course should be about finding those technology gems that are out there to be used for education.  The very nature of the internet is innovation and change.  Change that is so rapid, that we find that it is terribly difficult to keep up with the pace of that change.

Perhaps Dr. Rivera has a hidden agenda with regard to this assignment.  Perhaps she hopes that we will discover the thrill of the hunt and become hooked; that when this class is over we will forever have a desire to find that new gem and then blog about it, sharing what we are learning for perpetuity.

International Reading Association Newsletter

Internet research is just plain fun, especially when you are looking for material that holds your interest.  I am interested in contributing to the effort to improve adult literacy.  Finding resources that help us to understand and address the problem of illiteracy clearly fits neatly into my area of interest.

With regard to this assignment, I believe that I have met the expectations of the task.  I have discovered and have written summaries for several sites that appear to hold significant knowledge related to literacy.  The sites are diverse, either being U.S. centric or they have an international perspective.

My Overall Performance

I suppose this is where Dr. Rivera expects our introspection to quantify just how well we have met course expectations.  This is also the area that I dread.  No one knows better than I do where I have fallen short of my expected performance, where I could have expended more effort and where I could have performed better than I have.  I believe that is the case for all of us.

My professional attitude, disposition, behavior, commitment and enthusiasm have been fair.  I have found myself frustrated by the LMS rather than just pushing through the problems that I experienced. My attendance has not been consistent, finding it difficult to adequately allot my time between fiercely competing aspects of my life.  I believe however that I have adequately participated with regard to the IRA Newsletter and the Personal Technology blog.

The submission of my work has not been and remains untimely.  For that I apologies because I know that it imposes upon and impacts others, especially Dr. Rivera.

For the work that I have submitted, I believe that I am meeting course standards.

I am open to criticism of and challenges to the work that I have done; but I have not received any feedback, other than that from Dr. Rivera, on the work that I have presented.  Is there anybody out there?

Study Guides and Strategies

www.studygs.net

Have you ever found yourself in need of direction in your studies? Well, I was there today and turned to Google for help. What I found during my search was the Study Guides and Strategies website.

The site, which was first authored by Joe Landsberger in 1996, is an international, learner-centric, educational public service. It boasts 255 topics presented in 39 languages. The site is intended to be used by middle school students through returning adults, as well as by parents, teachers and support professionals. "Its resources are intended to empower all learners without regard to institutional and national boundaries; cultural mores and religious beliefs; race, gender and sexual rientation." (studygs.net)

The website's copyright disclaimer is very liberal; "Permission is granted to freely copy, adapt, and distribute individual Study Guides in print format in non-commercial educational settings that benefit learners." (studygs.net)

Apache Open Office

Are you in need of office automation software that will allow you to do word processing, create spreadsheets, develop presentations, manipulate graphics, and manage databases?

So, what do you get when you ask Google to find you "office software"?

Well it should not be a surprise that at the top of the list is the link to office.microsoft.com. In addition to that listing I found myself assailed by advertisements for the sale of the Microsoft product.

What may just be a surprise is that the second listing is to openoffice.org. So, what is Open Office?

"Apache Open Office is an open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works in all common computer operating systems (MS Windows and Apple Mac OS). It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages." (Apache)

Most significantly - "it can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose."

Before I continue I feel that I must disclose to you that I am and have been a user of Microsoft Office user since version 1.0 in 1990. I remember my first PC build in 1985 and the first time I installed Windows version 1.0 on the MS-DOS operating system. What a novelty that was, finally there was an interface that was more than just text lines. I can’t say that I was ever a Microsoft zealot, but until recently I simply felt that there was really no other choice other than the Microsoft line of products.

The naïve view of mine has been dramatically in the past eight months. I went back to school where I was forced into a computer lab filled with Mac desktop computers. It was an opportunity, or should I say an excuse to jump ship and leave the MS PC world. The truth be told, I was ready to desert and had been for years. I won’t go into the reasons why, if you are a MS products user you already know why I was ready to find another way.

Out I went and immediately bought myself a Mac Book. What I did with it was simply horrible. While purchasing the Mac Book I decided that I had to have what I knew MS Office. So I purchased MS Office 365 when I bought the Mac Book.

That decision was so clearly flawed that when I look back on it I just can’t understand what possessed me to make that purchase. Perhaps my excuse should be that I did not know that I had an alternative. 

Well I did have an alternative and so do you! That alternative is Apache Open Office. I found it to be uber easy to find, download, and install. I have also found that it is more than adequate in its default installation. It is also intuitive to use with a very gentle learning curve.

www.openoffice.org

Open Source

"In production and development, open source as a development model promotes a) universal access via free license to a product's design or blueprint, and b) universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone." (Wiki)

Alternative Office Suites

www.libreoffice.org

 www.neooffice.org

docs.google.com

www.kde.org

This is a re-posting from my personal technologies in education blog which can be seen at leesedquest.blogspot.com.  If you have a little extra time you might like to surf through my blog.