2012 - East Lansing Summer Cohort Year 2
In addition to the three certificate courses, the completion of four additional courses allowed me to obtain an NP (Educational Technology) Endorsement on my teaching certificate. The highlight of this portion of the program for me was the three courses I completed during the East Lansing Summer Cohort of 2012 (CEP 800, 815, and 822). This courses were completed concurrently as one in the summer cohort. The Summer Cohort contributed greatly to my passion for technology in the classroom and the amount of knowledge and experience gained is unmeasurable.
East Lansing Summer Cohort Year 2 (Summer 2012)
Courses completed concurrently: CEP 800 (Learning in School and Other Settings), CEP 815 (Technology and Leadership), and CEP 822 (Approaches to Educational Research). Course instructors: Punya Mishra, Laura Terry, and David Goodrich.
"Just Shoot Me"
This was our first assignment for our summer experience. We were put into groups and asked to take pictures of ourselves somewhere around MSU's campus. The pictures were to be unique and showcase something about us as individuals. This is a shot of me doing a figure skating move (I used to be a figure skater) in the planetarium. One of my figure skating programs used to be to "Jupiter" by English composer Gustav Holst.
Intro Screencast
Image: Punya Mishra MAET Summer 2012
I worked with a great group of individuals for the summer cohort portion of the NP endorsement courses. Our group name was "MSU" (standing for My Summer Uploaded). Here is our introduction screencast (click on the photo). My group members were Leslie Gerth, Chris Groenhout, Stacy Geiger, and Julie Sheridan. Thanks for a great class!
Behaviorism: Shaping, Fading, and Reinforcement Schedules Presentation
For this assignment, we worked in small groups to find an educational game that would represent our assigned sub-topics for behaviorism. Our group used the game "Dance Mat Typing" to show the concepts of shaping, fading, and reinforcement schedules.
Physics Video ("Ball Drop") Group Assignment
Image: Joe Shlabotnik
This assignment was a great learning experience for video recording and editing. As you will notice, we were dealing with backlighting that made it difficult to see the people dropping the objects. The assignment was also a great way to introduce the idea of misconceptions as we were testing whether a ball dropped while walking/running would drop straight down or land behind the subject.
Willingham Chapters 7 and 8 Assignments
For this assignment, my group summarized chapters seven and eight of Daniel Willingham's book
Why Students Don't Like School using a web-based concept mapping tool called MindMeister. The assignment allowed us to both visualize the key points from the chapters and evaluate the concept mapping tool. Additionally, for the final component of the assignment, we created two Google Documents that contained annotated notes on the chapters as well as links to technology resources that related to the topics covered. Click on the links below to view those documents.
Chapter 7 Notes/Resources
Chapter 8 Notes/Resources
Why Students Don't Like School using a web-based concept mapping tool called MindMeister. The assignment allowed us to both visualize the key points from the chapters and evaluate the concept mapping tool. Additionally, for the final component of the assignment, we created two Google Documents that contained annotated notes on the chapters as well as links to technology resources that related to the topics covered. Click on the links below to view those documents.
Chapter 7 Notes/Resources
Chapter 8 Notes/Resources
De-motivational Poster
This assignment was an exercise in creativity and editing. By working in small groups, we developed posters that represented topics that we had been learning about during the course or simply related to education in some way. Forgive our sarcasm! To contribute further to "de-motivation" you may be currently experiencing, check out this website.
Creativity Poems
Image: Denise Krebs
This assignment was a reflection on our current learning about creativity. Our professor, Punya Mishra, had just introduced the summarizing concept of creativity needing to be "NEW" (Novel, Effective, and Whole).
Iimages
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This was our first step and assignment for our Dream IT project (where we were to dream, summarize, and plan ways to be more effective teachers in the classroom using technology). For the assignment, we were to take images and overlay them with quotes, sayings, or words. The images were to reflect the overall direction of our Dream IT projects. Since my Dream IT centers around the idea of relevance and helping my students to see the relevance of studying U.S. History, I created three images to display this concept. |
Educational Tensions: Representing Depth and Width
This assignment involved a discussion on tensions in education and then creating a photo to represent those tensions. I chose to represent depth and width. To create the photo, I used a web-based program called Pixlr. It allowed me to lay one image on top of another and erase to reveal the portions of the other image that I wanted.
Alpha-Bits
This assignment involved some creativity and being able to see the world in a different way. Each group was assigned a letter to photograph around MSU's campus. My group was assigned the letter "A". This was a great way for us to really take a moment to see the beauty in the world around us.
Web 2.0 Organization Tools Wiki
Image: Simone Damiani
For this assignment, my group had the opportunity to research some Web 2.0 tools for organization. Each group member evaluated a specific tool and gave a review of the tool (both the good and the bad). The tools range from teacher to student organization.
Understanding Understanding Video and Website
What a great project! This assignment was the biggest one that we completed in small groups during the two week in-class portion of the summer cohort. In class, we had learned that we all have misconceptions that we need to overcome in order to learn. Because so much of our learning must connect to prior knowledge, these misconceptions are major hurdles that must be overcome (check out this video about some Harvard students' misconceptions about the seasons for a great example). For this assignment, my group decided to show the misconceptions that people have about digestion (particularly gum digestion).
Exploring Key Topics in Technology Education: Creativity and Critical Thinking
As a way to further demonstrated technology connections, each group was assigned a specific topic in educational technology. Each group explored and defined the topic of study, found available internet resources that teachers could use for that topic, and annotated those resources. My group explored Creativity and Critical Thinking for this assignment and came up with some great resources for teachers.
Dream IT Project
Image: Melody Campbell
This assignment was a great way for me to both think broadly and focus in on some key ways to improve my teaching of eighth grade U.S. History. The assignment started with the iImages component (see above), continued with a basic outline using the backwards design model, and culminated with a five-part website with my dreams, goals, and plans for the future of my teaching for my U.S. History class.
Final Reflection Paper
Image: Anderson Mancini
This is my final reflection essay for the summer cohort courses. This essay takes a "back to the future" approach as I reflect on what I have learned and discuss my goals for the future.