NAEP Grade 4

It appears that the NAEP scores for fourth grade have not changed significantly over the last ten years. West Virginia forth graders were above the national average prior to the year 2000. Since then, students have maintained their scores while the rest of the United States have made some improvement in their scores. This leads me to only one conclusion; West Virginia's fourth graders are falling behind their peers from other states. Fourth graders have fallen sharply as compared to the nation this past two years of assessment. There was only a 3 point discrepancy in the 2007, in the year assessment year 2009 the point difference was a drop of 6 points. It seems that fourth graders are trailing behind their peers from other states and students in WV are falling farther behind each year. ISTE standards covered deal with professional growth and leadership. To see the graph click HERE:

NAEP Grade 8

NAEP scores for the state of West Virginia for grade 8 have made modest increases over that last twenty years. West Virginia has been behind the national average over this entire time period. Over the last few years it is apparent that the gap between the youth of West Virginia and others in the nation is widening. There needs to be some sort of educational reform in the preparation of grade 8 students. Eighth graders of WV are falling farther and farther behind their peers from other states.The difference from the youth of WV to their peers has been about 5 points. In recent years WV youth has more than doubled that gap to 12 points behind the scores of their peers. The ISTE standards covered are those that deal with professional growth and leadership. To see the graph click HERE:

Windows Movie Maker

This Movie Maker project makes it easier to show and view Power Point Projects in a format that will automatically progress without human intervention. Students can save their Power Points in a Movie Maker format so when they present their projects each slide can be timed to fit the individual's presentation and the slide with advance without any intervention from the presenter, saving time and preventing audience distraction. If you wish to view my Movie Maker Project Click HERE:
 This activity covers ISTE standards of facilitating student learning and creativity. This project will give students more options when presenting projects to classmates.

Word Cloud

 
The Word Cloud activity could be used for various courses and activities. Any class from Art to Chemistry to Physics to English could use this format to discuss and talk about important words used in any course. If I were to use this in Trigonometry I would use the words shown to introduce and review topics. Students could also do the same to show their understanding of the words and topics that they would incorporate. This particular activity would cover ISTE standards of facilitating student learning, digital age work and digital age assessment through its display and oral presentation.

Video

I am not sure what I should say about the video. He is right student learning should take on a different form than say memorization. But, if I didn't memorize how to spell all these words you would not be able to read this. I think students need to learn how to think and solve problems. The vast availability of finding facts is so easy now, it is much less important to memorize facts that you will not use everyday. So, why am I still teaching Geometry and Trigonometry to all of the students at the high school when many of them will not every use either of these subjects after leaving my class. Some will like students going into construction or architecture. I should be teaching students how to think and approach problems. They will have to find solutions in small groups to be productive later in life. I use groups everyday so students are able to interact and learn how others solve the same or similar problems.

Tiny

The tiny url an easy way to shorten any url that you use frequently into a url that you will remember. Say you always travel to Outer Banks, NC for summer vacation. The map that you search for and use directions from can be saved as a tiny.cc/obx. Any url that is say over ten characters is often times too long to remember. Tiny allows you to shorten the url to one that you can remember. The tiny url would fall under the ISTE standard of facilitating student learning by giving them a tool to use to enable an easiness saving and finding resources.

Google Form

If you wish to view this form click HERE:
This particular assignment I would use with other teachers at my school to assess classroom interventions before students are referred to Student Assistance Team, prior to being tested for Special Education services. This will be a helpful to me personally as I am the SAT Chairperson at our school. This form can be emailed and filled out by any of the teachers at my school.  This activity would incorporate ISTE standards of digital age assessments and engaging personnel for professional growth.

Jeopardy

The Jeopardy lab was an easy to use website. I found it difficult to find enough answers to place under each main category. I am not sure I stated each answer and question correctly since it is listed backwards. To see it click HERE:
http://jeopardylabs.com/play/trigonometry-basics
This jeopardy lab relates ISTE standard one, inspired student learning. When students are engaged in a fun activity they become learners without having to think about it. When playing the game it is important that they know the information to be successful.

BatchGeo

These are the people in my class at FSU. It is found HERE: This tool does have it's limits. I am not located on the Spruce Run in the Troy area. I live on Spruce Run off Cedar Creek. I don't know how to change it. Did you guys get the same result? This particular activity would cover ISTE standards of facilitating student creativity and learning along with developing digital aged learning and promoting digital citizenship.

Photostory

This photostory activity was very interesting to do. I thought the software was quite easy to use yet the subject matter was something I didn't expect to see and I had to spend some time on it to figure out how I was going to portray it in photographs. ISTE standards covered would be promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility if the subject matter was similar to the cyber bullying assignment as given here. To see it click HERE.

Prezi

This tool seems to be an effective way to present topics in class. I was planning to do a PowerPoint project with my Trigonometry students where they are to present how to use Sine, Cosine and Tangent to solve for the unknowns in a right triangle. After using Prezi I am going to have my students use this form of presentation versus the usual utility of PowerPoint. Using Prezi in my class falls under the ISTE standard of Designing and Developing Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. Students will be learning a new medium that they will later be able to use in other courses to make presentations.

Use Sine solve the unknown height of a Light Post. on Prezi

Motion Paths

This slide shows a few motion paths with an effect.

Trig motion

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Animation, Hide / Show Labels

This is a slide from my Trigonometry PowerPoint. I am not sure if this was what was supposed to do, but here it is. I have worked on this for days. Today, I finally got the process to work with hide and showing the labels. I uploaded under the same name to SlideShare and it didn't work. I had to change names and I hadn't realized it didn't work until after the first two uploads. Well, here it is. I hope you all appreciate my effort. This one slide took forever to complete. Well, this doesn't show any animation but I SWEAR it is animated in PPT. It doesn't show any animation after it's uploaded to SlideShare. Which SUX.

Trig animated 2

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Ignite

This took me forever to do. It covers Content Standard, M.O.T.3.1 apply the right triangle definition of the six trigonometric functions of an angle to determine the values of the function values of an angle in standard position given a point on the terminal side of the angle.
• determine the value of the other trigonometric functions given the value of one of the trigonometric functions and verify these values with technology.
• using geometric principles and the Pythagorean Theorem, determine the six function values for the special angles and the quadrantal angles and use them in real-world problems.
• compare circular functions and the trigonometric function values to draw inferences about coterminal angles and co-functions. To see it CLICK HERE.

Trig overview

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Test

Just trying to upload a video.

PowerPoint

This is a PowerPoint on Game Theory. I can use this in many of my math courses. It directly applies to Probability & Statistics. The ISTE objectives concerned with this activity deal primarily with modeling digital aged learning. Game Theory addresses the following Content Standard:
M.S.PS.5 Through communication, representation, reasoning and proof, problem solving, and making connections within and beyond the field of mathematics, students will
• formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them,
• select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data,
• develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on models, and
• apply and demonstrate an understanding of basic concepts of probability.
My PowerPoint on Game Theory can be found HERE.

Game theory 1

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Jing #2

This is a Jing video explaining how students should log into Acuity and take a test. Every time I take a lab day and to test in Acuity I have students that are absent. This video will save me time because I will not have to explain this over and over as students return to school. Click HERE to view it. The url is http://www.screencast.com/users/Juliancp/folders/Jing/media/5d9f833a-2099-42b6-810f-5c7ffa923e60

Jing #1

This Jing capture shows a screen that I would download into MicroSoft PowerPoint when introducing how to use the TechSteps website. This particular capture shows how the MicroSoft Excel spreadsheet will open as the link is clicked in the booklet window. I am anxious to learn how to use the video tool as I could make a video to show students how to login into Acuity or TechSteps. Use of the Jing tool as a teaching aide falls under the ISTE standard of Developing Learning Experiences for Students.

Drawing Tool

So, I did that Google drawing tool. It was pretty difficult to start with but became easier. I am not sure how  I was to show the web pages I use to work on this course. I created a collage of stuff that I thought was funny. Click here to See it! I think this covers the ISTE standard for inspiring student learning. This tool could be used in any classroom to aide in various projects that students could be working on. I did that publish to the web but I can't tell if it worked. YES IT WORKS!!! I just tried it. Not sure about the embedding yet. I used the Jing tool to place this image of my Drawing.

Self Assessment

I just took the self assessment. It took me over an hour to look at all the different tasks that I have completed to look at bookmarks and make sure I had completed everything the assessment asked for. This has been a challenging and time consuming course. But, it is very enjoyable.

Picasso Head

This is a picture of me from one of our summer vacations. We were sitting in the car waiting for the Ferry at Ocrakoke. I thought making a Picasso Head was much easier than creating a Mii on the Wii. I made a self portrait which I think looks a lot like myself. My Picasso Head is here: CLICK .

Glogster

I worked on the Glogster website for three hours today. It looks a lot like blogger, but with more of a MySpace feel. It was easy to customize and use. I am not sure if it works like Diigo though. I still have lots to learn. I only learned how to embed this after reading Tracy's blog and seeing her Jing video.

Learning Styles Compaired

I see that I know that I understand and retain the most knowledge through reading and writing about the subject. I am glad my scores from the inventory reflect how I perceive my own learning. I think it's important to know how you learn so that you are able to make choices that will best benefit your learning. I like to be able to see how things work too. If someone lectures on how to teach an important concept, but the he doesn't really show how to do it, I will take nothing away from that lecture. I try to be as multi-modal in my teaching as possible. I lecture as students take notes. We read from the text, look at examples from the text. Students break into groups to work on problems, and then students present their findings to others. My students are given a weekly writing assignment to help solidify important concepts in class. When teaching peers I think I would lecture with some kinesthetic learning to help them retain the importance of my lecture.

Learning Styles

I feel that I learn the most easiest by reading. But it is also nice to see something demonstrated. When I go to a continuing education training and the person is talking about how to implement a new teaching technique I just can follow that. But if the presenter shows me how to do it through an actual simulation of the technique as it would be presented to the students then I am able to follow and understand that. Many times when I talk to people in person or on the telephone, as soon as the conversion is over I can't remember anything that I was just discussing with the other person. I can't really follow the spoken word. So, when I ask for directions and they are told to me, it's totally useless, because I can't remember any of it. I would say I learn most by reading, demonstration, visual and aural last. From the VARK questionnaire my score for reading/writing is a 7, next kinesthetic 6, visual is a 5 and aural scores a 2.

Snipping Tool

I would use this snipping tool when students are in the computer lab first using the Acuity website. I was unable to retain the drop down menu open at the first step of Global 21, Assessment, Acuity. But I was able to capture the second step where students use the drop down menu to access the local county of Gilmer and connect to the Acuity website.

Voice Thread

I really liked doing the voice thread activity. I have to admit I had to write a script before I made the recording. I sounds like I say umm a lot. I can see that voice thread could be used multiple ways to get students involved in a classroom activity. Voice Thread would be neat to use in Trig or Pre-Cal and the photo pose a problem that would have to be solved by using mathematics, like the spray of a water fountain that was spraying onto a roadway instead of it's pool and students could tell how to solve the problem by reducing pressure and what math calculations would have to take place to ensure the correct trajectory of the fountain spray. With this plan the ISTE/NETS that most line up would be Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. The students weren't collaborating through the Voice Thread but presenting a proposal for solving the problem presented. Maybe it is a collaboration tool. It would depend on how you used it I guess.

Google Profile / Google Reader

I feel a little lost right now. I am not sure how to proceed with the google reader. I worked on it twice now. I will have to look at it again tomorrow. So, today I found some feeds to follow about Trigonometry. I always have a bit of difficulty getting Trig up and going. My students seem so confused when this course begins. It's truly like teaching a foreign language. I followed that Wolfram feed. I have used Wolfram before to illustrate proofs in class. But, Wolfram seems very advanced, higher level college level concepts. I understand most of it but it's definitely beyond high school juniors. I am not sure how to share feeds with others. I don't think I have any friends. An RSS feed is a Really Simple Syndication. It’s a feed of multiple sources that contain the same or related topics.

Personality Test

This test is crazy. It's like 11:00 so I am gonna make this short. I will edit this later. My wife says I would learn more about myself if I took the boyfriend quiz in Cosmo. Anyways, there's no way in Hell that I am a Guardian. I wouldn't work with a group of people to save this planet. I would go crawl in a cave and wait for everyone else to die off so I could be alone. I must concede that I do agree with to work stuff that I like to be told what to do. But never working in a group. I always get stuck in a group with idiots, which I guess means that I am stupid too, or I am there to pull up their average.

Personality Profile

This is a really difficult activity. I do not fall easily into any of the four mentioned personalities. I would have to honestly say that I would be a rational person. I am perceived as cold and distant. Also, I am overly concerned with solving my own problems. If I plan to say paint my dinning room. I focus totally on that until the room is painted completely and cleaned. This even means not eating all day or going to the restroom as often as I truly need to. Also I feel that my time is too important to really concern myself with others or their problems. In order as best as I can surmise I fall into Rational, then Artisan, Idealist, and Guardian. Usually, when I take a personality test, I fall into the category of pessimistic and depressed. But I honestly hate people who are always down and looking at the bad things in life. Maybe I am really not like that. I am happy when I am at home, but I am always in a crappy mood when I have to go to work. The last personality test that I participated in I was at a training session for work. At this workshop you were aligned with one of the characters of Winne the Pooh. You could be Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger or Eeyore. I was Eeyore, which made perfect sense to me, I was at work and I really don't like to go to work. There's too much stress and paperwork there.

Diigo

Well, I made it on Diigo. I have much to learn. I am not sure how to even bookmark a page or search anything. I honestly feel a bit inept.

Saturday Morning Speed Test

My internet seems so much faster the mornings so I thought I would do a speed test today. Currently my download speed is .75Mbps and the upload is .06Mbps. Today's speed is more than twice as fast as the speed in the evening. My internet has always seemed faster in the moring hours.

Browser

I am now using the Mozilla Firefox browser. I can't really see any difference except that the favorites in Explorer are bookmarks in Mozilla. Reports say the Firefox is less likely than Explorer to harbor viruses. A browser is the program that one uses to access the Internet. The most popular browser is Explorer 8.0 followed by Firefox then Chrome and fourth is Safari. The term browser war refers to the fact that software companies want the best or at least the most popular browser in order to gain revenue from advertisers.

Internet Speed Test.

It's Monday night 11:15pm. My download speed is .33Mbps and my upload speed .07Mbps. I have Wild Blue internet through Dish Network. I thought my connection speed was supposed to be 156Mpbs. The only alternative to satellite internet is dial-up which is about 7Kbs. I would never get anything completed with that kind of speed. I pay $80 a month and when that's combined with my Dish Network bill I pay around $175 a month depending on how many pay per views I watch a month. I guess I have been getting taken for months now. This doesn't make me any happier than I was earlier.

Syllabus.

Just so you know, I have read the syllabus, made a Gmail account and started this blog. I hope the purpose of the use of this blog becomes more apparent soon. I think I could use this by of medium for my high school students, but I am not sure how to implement it yet. I am having students send writings through emails currently.

Me Again.

So, I used my name the first time but my wife convinced me to make a non-descript name on my new blog and email. I am naive about such things.

Hello World.

I don't really even know what I am doing. I have tried to keep myself off the internet entirely. But, now here I am for the whole world to see as part of this master's course. I can't say that I am happy about it. I liked being unknown. I am a very private person and this hurts me to be here. Notice the black?