Google Site!!!!!!

http://sites.google.com/site/pommierjacob/

The Big Picture: Oregon Technology Standards

How would you explain the big picture of what these standards are trying to accomplish?

These standards are attempting to prepare students for the future. Technology has virtually changed the face of the planet. Communicating and collaborating with many people over great distances is possible now in ways that it never has been before. With the rise of technology comes the responsibility of digital citizenship. Empowering students with technology is a start, but teaching them how to be responsible and act in ethical ways in what is now a somewhat un-policed world, is a necessity. These standards are attempting to create students who are; well versed in technology, can access and utilize programs that will aid them in their education and lives, and act legally and ethically in an online world.

Describe some strategies you could implement at your grade level(s) in order to accomplish this huge task. Please relate your strategies/activities to some specific Standards.

One way I would help to meet these standards in my classes would be by using google docs for homework/assignments. Google docs allows for large amounts of collaboration and communication between students and their teachers. This could be a very user friendly way to provide feedback on math assignments, give clues for problems that students might not fully understand, and it’s fast and easy to use. I could also see myself using google docs for grade sheets or other student info. This would help me meet Standard 2 regarding “Communication and Collaboration” Before implementing any of this technology into my classroom I would set forth expectations for online behavior which would also help me to teach “Digital Citizenship”, meeting another of the standards.

What are some challenges?

Introducing technology into my classroom will have some challenges. To begin with, while technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our society, the fact of the matter is that there really is not a level playing field when it comes to access. Some students will have an advantage over others simply because they have more resources at home. While this is a potential challenge, it is not one that should exclude technology from our lessons.

Another potential challenge that I can see is simply in the teaching of digital citizenship. The internet has a lot of gray areas right now and students can have instant access to a variety of information that they should not be accessing. I am in full support of having digital citizenship as one of the standards, but I can see this being a constant struggle to implement. This just goes to show the importance of such a standard though.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AfFKBwQM7xNqZGY1Z3hiam1fMWY3cWpicWQz&hl=en

Critical Assessment

IPhoto

Heyo! This is a video that Mariah, Shannon and I made about IPhoto. Feel free to watch it multiple times. A sequel is in the works.

Iphoto is a very cool program. It could be useful in the classroom in a variety of ways. One of the best features of IPhoto is how easy it makes it to share photos. If a teacher wanted to organize photos and share them with a class for any reason, they could do it with a click of the mouse.

Another way Iphoto would be helpful in the classroom would be for slideshows. You can arrange you photos very easily and then create a slideshow from them simply by hitting the slideshow button.

The last way I could see Iphoto being useful in class is using the maps function. You can assign a location to any picture you've taken. By having pictures from various places around the world, a teacher could teach geography with visual aids using Iphoto.

Sup Josh

Spready McSpreadsheet

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvFKBwQM7xNqdGhScnlXSXo1ZWZManB1akdlSXlkTlE&hl=en#

For this assignment I averaged the scores of the student on tests 6-10. I then found the standard deviation for each test. After that I found the average for the students who scored above the class average and created a graph representing the growth from test 6-10. The graph showed that for every test the scores of those who were scoring above the class average where growing. The growth was fairly constant with a little bit of a spike in the end. This graph shows that the teacher was doing a good job at reaching the students who were already high achievers. Those students continued to increase their scores over each of the last 5 tests. This graph doesn't show us who those individual students are, just that the average score of students scoring above the average continually grew over the course of the last 5 tests.

Yo! I'm back and better than ever. Scribblar and Dabbleboard are two applications that can be used in various ways in the classroom. Both applications are programs which enable multiple users to collaborate on visual projects. Users can work together in real time on a project. Both programs have chat features as well. I could see using these programs in an art class, to teach geometry in a math class, or for visual aids for projects in any given class. Gotta go, I'm gonna go get my Scribblar on!

ODE Assignment "Questions to consider"

1. How will this be useful (challenging high end learners)?

Reading about how to challenge TAG students was very interesting. I've wondered about this a fair amount recently because we do have at least one TAG student in my practicum class. I liked the idea of focusing more on higher-level learning skills in relation to Bloom's taxonomy. Analyzing the same content more critically. I also liked the idea of being familiar with content standards 1-3 grades ahead of the level I'm going to be teaching at. This will help me to scaffold TAG students learning and set them up for success in their future classes in addition to passing them in my class. I believe all children need to be challenged at school.

2. How will this resource help me identify state standards I must address (Oregon Standards Newspaper) ?

I was already fairly familiar with this website before doing this exercise. I've found that this page is a great resource for teachers. When I've looked through the curriculum given to me by my practicum teacher I've noticed that some of the standards are not clearly addressed in the curriculum I have. I'm not sure if that's just because they will be hit later on in the year or why. It's good to know all of the standards for that grade though. I can even see ways of integrating content standards into the curriculum that are not overtly stated right away. I would never have known to do that if I didn't know what the standards were though.

My Favorite Web2.0 Tools

HEY! I'm back. I've missed you all terribly...Josh that means you. While I'm here I'd like to give a shot out to my favorite professor, you know who you are (math methods is going to be off the hook next week!). While I've got your attention I'd love to tell you about my favorite Web2.0 tools. Web2.0 tools are applications that can be used by anyone on the internet to access files and information that people have created or uploaded to these programs. They are ideal programs because everything is stored online and can be accessed by any computer with an internet connection. They are also compatible with any operating system so you don't have to worry if you're running a mac at one place and a pc in another. Now that we got that out of the way let me tell you about a couple of my favs.

Skype:

Skype is a program that allows people to make phone calls over the internet to anywhere in the world. You can video chat in real time with anyone, anywhere. This program could be used in the classroom for students to connect with other students around the world. Students could learn loads of information about other cultures by actually talking face-to-face (or screen to screen) with someone far far away. Totally killer man.

Google docs:

Google documents are files that are saved online and accessible by anyone with the right login and password. Using google documents allows students to collaborate on projects without having to physically be in the same room. Genius.

Well that's all for now. Take care of yourselves. Meet me back here next week.

Yodio - UNTITLED Yodio by johnnypumpkin

Blog applications

Blogs could be used effectively for numerous classroom exercises. A teacher might use blogs for journaling in and out of class. A blog could be a way for a teacher to inform parents of what's going on in the classroom. If peer editing and feedback is required for an assignment blogs would be helpful. I like the idea of using a blog as a way to communicate. Blogs can be a fun way for students to interact with one another and they are easily accessible from any computer with an internet connection. Blogs. Blogs.

Hey there! You found me! Jake Pommier here, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am currently in the MAT program at Willamette University, studying to be a teacher. I am hoping to teach middle school math after I'm done. Next semester I will be student teaching at Walker in West Salem.

In addition to going to school I enjoy spending time with my family, watching arrested development, playing tetris, playing four-square, flicking bugs, stomping on leafs, predicting the outcomes of cases on "the peoples court", eating hummus, going to rodeos, picking on Mahssa, drinking iced coffee and napping. I'd love to say that I will love blogging...only time will tell.

Would you like to know more about me? Great, I'd love to tell you more. I was born in Corvallis, OR, but have spent a majority of my life in Salem. I went through the public school system in Salem and even went to Corban College in Salem....and now I'm at Willamette. I have two sisters, who both live here in town. I also have both a mom, and a dad. I love my niece and nephew too by the way.

Well my computer is about to die so I better get going. Godspeed.

Jake

My educational history was by almost all accounts what I would call ‘normal’. I have been in Salem for all of my schooling. I went to Auburn Elementary School, Parrish Middle School, North Salem High School and Western Baptist College (Corban College). With the exception of WBC all of these were public schools. My experiences in these schools have helped define me as an individual and have had a great impact on my development.

Auburn Elementary School is located in northeast Salem. When I attended school there it was a largely white middle class area. Most of my classes were comprised of children very much like myself. There was one black student in my grade and one student originally from Thailand. With these two exceptions all of the kids in my grade were either White or Hispanic. The Hispanic population at that school at least, was still minimal in the area at that time. My favorite teacher from Auburn was Mr. Togioka. He taught my fourth grade class. His teaching was always exciting. He was very involved with the families of the students and made a genuine effort to connect on a personal level with every student. I still see him from time to time and I still hold his opinion very dear to me. He has played a large part in my decision to be a teacher. When I think of a definition of a great teacher he is what I think of.

My education at Auburn was fairly well rounded but looking back I don’t really remember any talk of race. This could be because we went to a very homogenous school. I imagine racial issues were never addressed to us because there were no racist issues between students. It wasn’t until middle school that I ever remember hearing any talk of different races or cultures. To be fair my memory of this period is limited so it’s quite possible that these issues were addressed. Either way I have no recollection of it if it did happen.

Middle school was a slightly different story. The Salem area had an increasing Hispanic population and I distinctly remember my first day of school thinking there was a large Hispanic population represented in my classes. Looking back honestly I was a little intimidated. I knew nothing of these people. There was clearly a divide between races. The Hispanics seemed to stay in their circles and the Whites stayed to theirs. There was little crossover. This pattern continued through high school as well. Social class played the same role in every school I attended. It was always predominately middle class.

It was in middle school where I met Mr. Borowski. He was an environmental science teacher. Growing up I was never interested in science and generally was bored out of my mind through class. Borowski changed that for me. From the first day in class he presented his lessons in a way that was engaging and passionate. There was always a sense of urgency to what he taught when he showed practical application. I remember the first time we talked about global warming. He drew an enormous diagram on the blackboard showing how greenhouse gases and carbon emissions destroyed the ozone layer, which led to a chain reaction influencing all of life on earth. When Mr. Borowski taught I was on the edge of my seat. When class was over I was ready to go out and become and activist. His teaching has made me want to be a teacher. Every time I think about being competent in content knowledge I think about him. He has played a huge role in inspiring me to do the MAT program.

Before I tell you about high school I should give background on my home life. Both of my parents were fairly conservative Christians. I was raised in the church and high priority was place on attendance of church services and events. Most of my close friends were from church and not from school. All of my values and beliefs were formed in church and I never really questioned them. Going to a Christian college was a natural choice for me. State school never really seemed like much of an option. All of my decisions were filtered through my religious beliefs. This was both positive and negative for me. It was good because I still strongly hold most of these values very dear. It was bad because I never really did any critical thinking about why I believed what I believed, anything I didn’t directly understand I accepted as a matter of faith. That being said let me tell you about my life in high school.

High school was similar to middle school but my view of others was being increasingly influenced by church. I meant well but looking back I was becoming more and more closed-minded all the time. I rebelled against teachers who taught anything other than what I had already made my mind up about. I didn’t learn near as much as I should have in some classes (science mainly) because of my preconceived ideas.

After high school I enrolled immediately in classes at Western Baptist. Western was an extremely homogenous environment. The extent of diversity in the classes was people from a variety of different denominations. The professors did their best to get us to venture out into the community but for the most part people stayed in their communities at school and church. This, if anything, had a negative effect on me in terms of stereotyping. We associated almost exclusively with other Christians and our interactions with non-Christians were done with the intent of witnessing to them.

Since college I’ve had to do a lot of reflective thinking. I’ve held true to a lot of my beliefs when it comes to religion but many others I’ve had to strip from myself. This has been a painful process at times given that I’ve been raised in such an exclusive environment.

All of these experiences have shaped and reshaped me into the person I am today. I still, sadly, have some thoughts that need to be unlearned. I hope that I’m continually refining and broadening my mind. I believe this is essential to being a great teacher.

For Chris Mann

Hey Chris,

-Jake