Lesson 5: Visual Literacy

Visual literacy is a very powerful ability students develop over time and many already are proficient in that can enhance student learning of content knowledge.  Nearly all humans can see and that sense is the most dominant of all the senses.  This week I learned that visual literacy is something that all students should be utilizing in their learning because they take the images and process them in their mind to understand the meaning of it.  We watched a video from Martin Scorsese and he discussed about the lack of finances a middle class family had to go to formal entertainment such as theatre, but he was a regular at the movies and he looked deeper than what was just on the screen.  He looked into what made the scene and how it dictates what the audience feels.  We want our students to do similar things by taking the image of content and process the why and how it can be used in everyday life. 

We went this week into tech explorations and one of them was over math definitions.  I found it so interesting how they took so many vocabulary terms and provided visual and interactive elements to better explain the term than any words could do.  One thing I learned that I never really understood was how to use an abacus.  I know, teaching math you would think that I would understand and I probably could have if I took the time to look into it more, but I never did.  However, when looking up the vocabulary term of an abacus there was a mini activity where you use an abacus to show numerical form.  It’s not the most advanced tool now, but it’s such an important tool that earlier civilizations used to keep up with numbers on a grander level and I’m sure helped build civilization. 

I think after viewing the things found within this week’s lesson I can provide more rounded instruction for my students.  I would use imagery occasionally within my lessons, but it wasn’t a regular part of my instruction.  I see more now that visual literacy is a key component of learning and without it you are making the students think in such broad terms that you will undoubtedly get confusion and misdirection without visual stimuli that students pick up on and process quickly.   I’m going to use a lot of imagery to compare cultures from around the world to that of our own culture.  I’ll promote student self-worth by revealing the altered images of magazine ads and how propaganda can cause individuals to do things they would never normally think to do.  A picture is truly worth a thousand words because in that image you get more than the language of the situation.  You can see the setting, the emotion, the sensations the image provides and really understand what was going on and what people were feeling during the taking of those images. 

Lesson Four: Memorable PowerPoints

This past year as a 7^th grade math teacher I had to work with the new Common Core Standards.  A part of those standards Is a compacted curriculum for 7^th grade students that wish to take algebra 1 in 8^th grade and count it towards high school credit.  As such I taught an exploratory class with my pre-algebra students for a 9 week period over geometry.   

   One particular PowerPoint that I and another teacher from the other team worked on was a presentation on surface area.   This presentation was for student in the geometry class and due to the time constraints I wasn’t going to be able to spend a week on surface area so we set up the PowerPoint in a very simple manner and in a way that students wouldn’t feel intimidated to know and memorize everything.  

    One of the things I was most proud of was the beginning slide where we introduce the surface area formula but then we flash in a bright yellow box that says ‘ Wait…You thought you were going to have to memorize this?!?’.  The students had already been learning about area of regular and compound shapes and we didn’t want to bog them down with learning all the formulas for surface area as well.  That would come in time with use.  The students got a little laugh out of it and I could tell a noticeable difference in their mood when we worked on the rest of the presentation.  The next slides were very neat with our prisms in color and tables spread out to help them step-by-step so they can understand what is going on and why they are correct.  After this presentation surface area wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had done it in years before.

   There are a few things I would do differently however.  The PowerPoint doesn’t really go into much detail on how the surface area formula works and there aren’t any pictures of real objects where it would be necessary to find surface area for.  If you can find ways that can prove to them they may actually need to know the content it can be very beneficial.  I’m always the kind of teacher where I don’t want to show students and then tell them to do it just because I say so.  I want them to know why these practices work.  I also would have inserted other questions that involved objects other than rectangular prisms.  I could also have students collaborate to make their own 3d objects and dimensions and then pass them on to another group to solve for the surface area. 

   As stated before the students took the presentation well.  It didn’t have many flashy animations or wild colors, or other artwork that would take away from the content.  The students liked the tables and I would have them fill out the tables on the board as we went so I could get more student involvement.  I used PowerPoints on a regular basis to transition from bell work to content for the day and to have students think about essential questions for our objectives. 

Lesson Three Word Processing and Databases

This week we read over documents about proper uses of word processing software and databases in the classroom.  Word Processing software has come a long way from creating letters and essays.  Word processors can now create flyers utilizing graphs, images and different types of text to create an interesting document that make the reader drawn to complete the work.  Databases are very useful tools that help provide insight on students if used properly among teachers across grades.  You can use databases when collecting thoughts for higher order thinking problems and group ideas to help students understand the content better.  We need to be utilizing this technology to the fullest because as we studied over the digital Bloom's Taxonomy we can see how technology is becoming synonymous with higher understanding.  We don't want to just have students type of papers, but make real products that could be used in the real world.  

Through our tech explorations I learned so much more about text to speech software which I had never really even used before, but could be very useful tools for students who have trouble with their vision and with students that don't like to read or type as well.  The DSpeech software could basically make any text that I placed in the box into words in english and other languages as well.  This would certainly help educators with students who don't understand english very well.  I learned more about the reading text software on my own computer and orally presented a paragraph that came up with little mistakes in a text box.  I learned that webquests are much more than online tasks for students to complete.  True webquests that will benefit students will have higher order thinking questions that will ask them to analyze data and make inferences based upon their analysis and present it in a fashion you may see in the real world.  

When asked to think about documents that I would present to students and parents I immediately thought of the negative parts of my documents.  Many times the documents would appear bland, only in black and white with little body to it other than bullets and boxes for lessons presented within the month.  I didn't really even send out much information to parents.  I would post information up on my teacher webpage, but did little else in the way for making flyers or newsletters for parents.  However I also understand that you don't want to make letters that are cluttered with useless tech.  The main thing to do is make your letter look professional and thoughtful so parents and students want to read the contents without getting distracted by pictures or strange fonts.  The Image to the right is an example of how I would use word processors to create professional looking flyers as an introduction to students and parents and to express my expectations for the class.  I see more clearly now how word processors can be useful tools to keep students and parents informed.  When they are informed they have opportunities to make better decisions that will help them succeed in the classroom. 

Lesson Two Spreadsheets & Databases

From lesson two I was asked to look up websites documenting the use of spreadsheets and databases in the classroom.  I found that these tools are on the rise in usage by teachers for multiple reasons.  Excel is a valuable tool where you can conduct calculations similar in function to graphing calculators.  The majority of students will have some form of Microsoft Office and the calculating functions of excel are excellent tools.  Databases are even less used in the classroom, but are great tools to break down large topics into manageable pieces that students can analyze and infer from to get a better understanding of the big picture based upon the minor details than trying to understand the whole thing.  Many educators are using databases to store student information about behaviors and academic tendencies so they are better prepared with each passing year.  It also helps you understand your students better so you can teach them more effectively.  Several teachers are using spreadsheets as an easy informal gradebook they can quickly update and organize for grades without having to go through the trouble of setting up classes, and detailed information about each assignment. 

   One website I visited was title the Silicon Tower located at http://silicontower.blogspot.com/2010/02/using-spreadsheets-and-databases-in.html.  Contained within this blog was a page devoted to spreadsheets and databases.  The author goes into detail how spreadsheets function and their relative advantages to educators in the classroom.  The author explains how spreadsheets can calculate large quantities of data quickly for both educators and students.  It’s also an easy task of taking analytical data and constructing visual representations of that data in the form of graphs.  One of the surprising things I found out about databases was the relative ease it takes to group and form relationships with data in a way that you can infer and answer questions based upon the data collected.  It groups relevant information as you make categories and if students don’t entire understand a topic you can form a database based upon the principles of that topic and get a better idea of the main point.  This is an organized way to help explain complex subjects to students.  I am also linking to an example website that utilizes databases for gather information and then using spreadsheets to interpret and utilize the information gained from the database construction.  The website is from Matthew Gudenius – Educational Technology Integreation found at  http://gudenius.weebly.com/spreadsheetdb-activities.html

   In the past I have used spreadsheets in a fairly regular basis to discuss mathematical topics dealing with graphing data.  We would collect data together in a group activity and then use the spreadsheet to interpret our data as a bar graph, line, or circle graph.  I have also used spreadsheet to place bell ringers on the board due to the fact you can easily calculate answers to several computations.  I have used spreadsheets when teaching about functions to students by creating function tables.  I have not used databases directly in class instruction but I have used them in creating student information databases that will help teachers for the next school year when they have my students.  I could see using databases would be very useful in a social studies context when you are presenting a major unit.  The database can be made up of the different daily lessons that will pull together to form the main context of your unit and provide the overall understanding form the parts to the sum.   

Lesson One Summarization

For the first week of my graduate courses in Educational Technology I learned about the importance of tech literacy and how technology can be used to help aid student learning.  One of the things I will use immediately in class came from our discussions on the tech standards.  I feel more compelled now to utilize technology such as blogs and podcasts in a manner that will be used regularly by students so they understand the proper ways of using education technology to their greatest advantage. 

   To make this happen I will model the usage of blogs as well as podcasts.  At the beginning of the school I will explain my intentions to students and will make our online activities mandatory for students to utilize.  If they only have to volunteer to participate, they simply won't.  I'll then demonstrate to students how podcasts can work by creating my own podcast about the expectations for the class.  I'll also provide constructive criticism to the student participation in the activities.  This will transition to regular usage of blogs to discuss content, answer questions, and have peer to peer interactions.  

   Challenges that I'm sure will face will be the lack of conviction students have to spend their time online doing school activities.  It may not seem as fun, but we can discuss the alternatives to these online actions and they would be even less intriguing.  It will also be a challenge to see how accessible it is for students to get on the blogs to post questions and discussions.  Many schools have computer labs, but little time for students to use them.  I don't know about the class time I'll have to devote to using computer labs as well.

As stated before, to overcome these challenges I'll show an enthusiasm to students that using blogs will significantly help students learn content and help other students work together to learn. This will be one of the times where students are encouraged to share with one another and learn.  I'll make weekly discussions mandatory for students and I'll closely monitor and participate with the students so they see me actively engaged in to learning as well.  As far as availability goes, I'll strive to provide students with time to go to the computer lab once a week.  I can also work with other colleagues and administrators to make other times available before and after school.

   Over the course of this week I studied various technologies available in education.  One of the ones I knew the least about personally, but received lots of good feedback from other teachers in my area was DropBox.  This software functions as an online storage box for all types of files that educators utilize in classroom instruction.  These teachers mentioned how they used DropBox with one another in their department to share lesson plans, assignments, and to work on collaborative projects as well.  They don't have to be anchored to the classroom computer since they have access to their files from any computer with internet capabilities.  I had always used a flash drive which helped me function at school and at home, but to be able to easily collaborate with other teachers would also be invaluable to creating engaging lessons for students.  I'll certainly keep this software in mind when I find a new teaching position and utilize it in the best way possible.

A Little About Me

My name is Rollin McFarland.  I'm 26 yrs old and have been married for almost four years.  My wife and I live in Russell County and I recently was employed in Pulaski County as a 7th grade math teacher at Northern Middle School.  However, I received a letter of non renewal and had my position taken by another teacher that had to be transferred due to budget cuts and mandatory transferrs from the high school.  I'm currently looking for a job in another surrounding county hopefully at the middle school level where I can teach math or social studies.  I have no kids yet, but have a little morkie named Emma.  I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.  I go the the Jamestown Church of Christ where I occasionally lead the singing and have preached a few times as well.  I look forward to obtaining my master's degree and broadening my horizons to teach secondary education as well.  I even have dreams of grandeur that could possibly take me further into studies of history where someday I would love to obtain a doctorate in some period of history though honestly, I have so many periods I enjoy learning about, I'm not sure what to pick.  So that is a little about me and I know I will learn so much in the next few weeks on technology in the classroom.