Sites

I can see how having a website personalized to the classroom could be of great benefit. If you want it to be, it can function as an online syllabus for parents to keep track of things going on in the classroom. I know for my own kids, I have pieces of paper all over the place with contact information, classroom calendars, newsletters and homework assignments.  This is a great resource to have all of those things handy in one spot.

When designing my page, I tried to make it as if I were a kindergarten teacher.   Obviously I did not have a real school to put links to, etc, so I just used some fun clip art (free clip art...although I know you still have to be careful about that.  I would not use it on a real site) and made up staff name for the contact information.  I used lavender and purple as my background colors because, well...that is my favorite color and since it is a make-beleive school, I chose what I liked.  However, if making a site for a real school, I would have used school colors and pictures of the school along with a link to the school website and school calendar as well as just my classroom calendar.

I used a Google calendar gadget for my widget.  I added a few pretend field trips and events to correlate with the announcements page.  I also used sidebars and multiple page formats to experiment with the different types.  On my contacts page, I wanted to put a box around the information in each column but could not figure out how.  So, the information is divided into columns but I think boxes would enhance the page and organize the information to be more visually pleasing.

I added in Google Drawings in a couple of places.  It took me quite a while to get them sized to fit where I wanted them to go, but finally got my book-a-pillar to fit!  (I drew the caterpillar from Google Drawings!!)

I also got to experiment with organizing the order of the pages on the site list.  I created pages as they came to mind and then had to go back under the manage tab and figure out how to reorganize them so they would flow.

I made a "birthday" column.  In a real class, I might use the first names of the students after getting permission from the parents.

Overall, I enjoyed making this site and hope to get to use it as a kindergarten teacher someday!!

Here is the link to my site:

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbroaddusclassroom/

Drawing

Well, I think what I confirmed most out of this assignment is that I am not an artist!! Thank you for not making us share our work!  However, if you had the creativity, Google Drawings could be a lot of fun. I was especially amazed at the artist that was able to re-create Goofy in the YouTube video.  I explored with many of the shapes, colors and line options.  I attempted to draw a map!

Google drawings has the ability to produce a wide range of visual documents, such as flow charts, custom graphs, posters and graphic designs.  These documents can be published using a unique URL. Google drawings has the ability to share real-time creations, which according to our reading, Microsoft cannot compete with. One website suggested that Adobe Illustrator would take hours of tutorials before being able to create a document.  However, that is not the case with Google Drawings.  Google Drawings is easy enough you can begin to work on it immediately. And, it is Free!!  When creating your document, Google Drawings offers tools to help make your work percise, such as spacing and alignment guides.

For students, Google Drawings can help organize ideas when working on a presentation or when beginning the writing process.  The sharing feature allows the document to be viewed, edited or commented on by the people it has been shared with. This can be beneficial in a collaborative project.  Another website suggested that you could create drawings to enhance a lesson and then export the drawings into Google Presentations. It should be noted that once the project is published, it is no longer open to the edit options.  A teacher might want to use this option when providing a visual aid to share with the class.

As was demonstrated in the lesson plan we were asked to review, Google Drawings can be beneficial for exploring math concepts.  Students can manipulate shapes by rotating and flipping them.  They can use shapes to create designs and then label the shapes they used.  This activity can help not only explore how to manipulate shapes but also help increase exposure to mathematic vocabulary.

I can envision many uses for Google Drawings in the classroom.  Even as a young elementary student, I have seen story organizers come home in my son's homework.  Google Drawings is just one more tool to help to enhance the learning experience in this digital kids age.

GOOGLE FORMS

Well, I have to say, I had a much easier time creating this form.  It was actually kind of fun!  Thank you for the detailed lecture and example in class.
Google Forms can have many applications which will be discussed below:
     Gone are the days of having to pull out the red pen and hand-grade your student's tests!!  Teachers can use these forms to administer tests and analyze the responses given on a test, as demonstrated in our assignment for this week. While I only created a multiple choice test, I did experiment with the other test question options.  Teachers can create tests/quizzes in many forms, depending on what kind of response they are looking for.
     Forms can also be used for other types of evaluation. They have the options of keeping track of behavior, grades, progress, student information survey's and parent survey's.  Teachers can even keep track of these things via their mobile devices.
     It is also a good way to follow student's strengths and weaknesses.  This could be beneficial for faculty meetings or even parent-teacher meetings. Having an ongoing record of the student's progress makes the meetings more efficient.
     Forms are not only beneficial for teachers and administrators, but also students.  As a part of the Common Core, students will need to be able to use this technology to prepare for college and possible careers.  Anchor standard 1 discusses using digital data-gathering techniques and how it can save time as well as prepare students for the future.
     In a world where we have become accustom to instant information, this is just another way that we can provide instant feedback to our students, instant analyzation of the responses we get back, and have instant information at our finger tips in case we need to convey it.

URL of Sample Test:
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KfsQ3sGHv6Ro_wgq06c2maHVq_3-S2BytSI7dI67zS8/viewform?embedded=true" width="760" height="500" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>

URL of Sample Test Spreadsheet
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmCb6csWKhr6dEtXSEVrczZ1dGR5cXRha0tvdUVoN2c&usp=sharing

My hands-on spreadsheet experience!

Well, I must admit, I am not very proficient in spreadsheet use.  The few times I have attempted to use Excel, I have given up, gotten my calculator out and just added the data myself!  I have mixed emotions about spreadsheet use.  In theory, I know it is supposed to simplify life.  However, I struggle to figure out how to set up the formulas and make it all work correctly.  Then, I spend a bunch of time double checking the spreadsheet's work to make sure I have put the right formulas in.  I know this is just a beginners issue that I need to work out but up until now, I have had minimal use for a spreadsheet, and, as I said, the data that I do keep on it, I just calculate for myself.

That said, I did find this assignment useful.  It forced me to sit down, listen to all the atomic learning lessons about spreadsheets and to dive in and figure out how to use it.  Now, I can think of a couple of ways I can incorporate it into the bookkeeping aspect of my transcription business.  So, I guess I can say, "I learned quite a bit in the embarrassing number of hours I spent on this project!!"

Okay, so on a more formal note, here are some of the things I learned:

• How to set up formulas.  I now have a better grasp on how to write the formulas so that they work. When we started the project, I had no clue how to weight the different assignments.  After some research, and a bit of help from a friend, I now know how to make that happen.
• Formatting.  I had seen fill-color option and boxes used on spreadsheets before, but never taken the time to color code and organize the data.  
• Settings. The tutorials helped explain the importance of setting up your information under the settings tab.  For example, if you are working in currency, you can set the currency tab to default to "United States" and the program will know that you are working in dollars.  That is handy if you are working with collaborators who may not be working with the same currency.  It makes the conversions easier between international collaborations. The time zone setting can also be of benefit for collaborative settings in which collaborators are in different time zones.  For example, if there is a deadline that is to be met, having the time zones coordinated can be of great benefit. 
• Deleting.  If you delete a document from your GoogleDrive page and have synchronized with your desktop, that document will remain on your desktop, possibly in the trash folder, but if down the road you change your mind and need that document, there is a place it can be found.  I particularly like this feature of GoogleDrive because sometimes you want to clean the space that you are working from frequently but it is comforting to know that your document is floating out there somewhere-in this case, your desktop-just in case you change you mind about needing it. 
• Importing.  I learned that you can import documents from Excel.  In fact, in order to double check my work, I used both Google Spreadsheets and Excel.  I imported a portion of my work in attempt to learn a little bit more about both programs. 
• Organizing.  You documents can be organized into folders for easy access. 
• Charts.  I also found the feature to create charts to be very enticing.  With just the click of a button, your spreadsheet data can be converted to a chart.  
• Comments.  I found this to be a nice feature too.  On the attendance/discussion grade that we were required to put in our spreadsheet, I added notes to two of the students scores.  In the field of education, this is a nice feature so that you can remember the circumstances surrounding a particular grade when it is not a "black and white" assignment. 

There are a couple of things I still could not figure out that I would be interested in learning.  For example, it is a very simple thing, but I could not figure out how to re-size columns of data without resizing the entire document.  On that same note, I was not able to resize the titles of my boxes either  :(

So, those are just of few of the highlights I found in this lesson.  Overall, the learning experience came from the hand-on nature of the assignment.  I am a visual learner and doing a project such as this was very beneficial to my learning how to use the technology. 

GAIN

Today I learned a lot about Google Presentations.  While I have to admit my knowledge about PowerPoint is fairly basic, I found Google Presentations to be almost as user friendly as the features I have used in PowerPoint.

I enjoyed the fact that Google Presentations would automatically save your presentation every few seconds.  This feature came in especially handy for me, as I was working on putting together a presentation and the internet went down.  When it came back up, my presentation looked exactly as it did prior to the internet disconnection.

A feature that I did not find as user-friendly was that fact that in order to import personal photos, you first have to put them into Google photos.  I was unable to add the images straight from my iphoto program into a Google Presentation. While importing the photos into Google was easy, it was an extra time-consuming step.  In the tutorial I also learned that you can import additional templates and I thought that was a nice feature.  However, when I went to import a photo album template like shown in the tutorial, the option to import additional templates was not listed in my drop-down menu.

Additionally,  I liked the font options presented and there were a variety of background choices. There were also multiple options for pulling in internet images, which could be useful for educators who do not happen to have that collection of pictures on their computer.  Animation could also be added to your presentation, which further enhances its attractiveness.

I also like the fact that I could import previously made PowerPoint presentations and use those slides in Google Presentations.  Not only could they just be used, but they could also be edited and the backgrounds changed to match the template you picked in Google. I explored this option and was able to pull in slides with ease.

Overall, I found Google Presentations to be easy to use with multiple options. The cost benefits and the sharing benefits of this technology make it very appealing.  The collaborative nature of this will aid students in fulfilling Common Core Standards. (Anchor Standard 5: Speaking and Listening).  A feature that I did not use in my presentation but that would be advantageous to students is the ability to add notes to the bottom of each slide and then the ability to print those notes.  During the editing process, students can add notes regarding the information they are adding to the slide to help better inform their class partners as to why this information was edited.

Lastly, the cloud storage offered for this program makes it nice in that your presentation follows you to any computer with internet access.  This feature is particularly nice for busy students and teachers.

My presentation can be found at:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19r87tDt7Q0NLEFbyC-rwZ3UnV3loMbhJsM7I0RC0skI/edit?usp=sharing

GAIN

This is my first real experience with a blog. I have heard people talk about having a blog or following a friend’s blog, but I never have been involved with blogging. I enjoyed tonight’s assignment of creating a blog page. 

In looking at the blogs listed on tonight’s GAIN blogger assignment, I found the blog by David Warlick to be the most interesting.   It first caught my eye because it was colorful.  As I looked further, there were quite a few interesting stories with both pictures and video.  I like the way he incorporated multiple ways of catching the reader’s attention. 

Other blogs had more of an academic look.  In fact, the blog of George Siemens reminded me of a page from an academic journal, with no color or pictures used on his page.  Other bloggers incorporated a background color or a banner across the top but used a lot of text on their page. I personally prefer a page that incorporates visual aids.  I also liked the page of Jeff Utecht, “The Thinking Stick.”  The icons used at the top of the page catch the readers attention and make the page interesting.  He does a good job of engaging the reader's curiosity.