BP 8 RILS Comments

Here is the link to my comments on David's RILS.

Here is the link to my comment on Debbie's RILS.

ETC Quizlet RILS Video

Get quizzy with it using Quizlet

By: Joe Bishop

Brief Overview:

The scenario is designed to increase student memory retention through the use of a fun active learning Web 2.0 tool that creates digital flashcards and games.

Target Audience:

Students ages 13 years old and beyond

Materials:

•   One computer per student with internet connection

•   Computer with projector, screen, and internet connection (to help with modeling and instruction)

•   Subject matter be studied (i.e. textbook, review, vocabulary, etc.)

Objectives: 


At the end of the scenario the learners will be able to:

1.  Create a personal account on Quizlet

2. Organize analog subject matter into categories for flashcard sets

3. Convert analog subject matter into a shared digital media format by creating flashcard sets using Quizlet

4. Demonstrate knowledge gained from created Quizlet flashcards through Quizlet “Test” option

Procedure:

1.  Familiarize yourself with Quizlet prior to teaching by creating an account and a set of flashcards over current material to show the class.

2. Have students enter class and sit at computers, monitors should be off.

3. Begin lesson by asking students the following questions in sequence (allow discussion for 5-7 minutes):

a.    What study methods are successful for them and which ones are not successful?

b.    Why are some study methods more successful than others?

4. Transition to introduction of Quizlet by stating, “Today I am going to show you a fun way to actively study our course material using Quizlet.”

5. Pull up pre-created flashcard set and demonstrate the following functions:

a.    Make Flashcards – Used to create printable flashcard sets

b.    Speller – Facilitates learning by asking student to type what they hear

c.    Learn – Students type in term when given definition

d.    Scatter – Students drag term over definition as fast as possible to make it disappear

e.    Space Race – Students type term of definition before it can leave the screen

f.     Test - Allows student to generate test in multiple formats – matching, true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc. (students can combine different formats)

6. Students can now turn on monitors, open web-browser and type in address, www.quizlet.com. Have them click ‘Sign Up’ and create a username and password using their school ID number and password they currently use so they do not forget it.

7. Transition to their flash card creation by saying, “Show me how quickly you can learn (your provided subject matter) using Quizlet. Click on ‘Make Flashcards’. Type in your definitions and term. Upon completion, click ‘Create Set’, and try the functions I just showed you.”  Help students as needed.

8. At the end of class, about ten minutes left, have students stop and complete assessment form. Check answers as they complete form and anything not understood, reteach as needed on the spot.

9. Give opportunity for feedback after assessment by asking students, ‘Did they like Quizlet? Will they use Quizlet?, etc.’ Promote use by letting them know you will be checking their performance on following tests to see how much Quizlet helps them.

Emerging Technology:

Quizlet (www.quizlet.com) is a fun an interactive way to enhance subject matter retention through digital flashcard creation and games.

Social Participation/Social Learning:

Quizlet is set up for social participation and social learning.  While this lesson was introductory and focused on account creation and familiarizing students with the ins and outs of Quizlet, Quizlet allows for students to share created flashcard sets.  This can be beneficial for students who are absent to gain information they may have missed as well as allowing students to check their sets against each other’s and critique each other’s work.  Students can also create flashcard sets in groups to cut down on creation time and share it with others in their group.  The games also allow for friendly competition among students to beat the high scores on the flashcard games.

Making Connections:

The learners will make connection with:

A.            Previous knowledge in order to create new knowledge by using prior computer skills and subject matter knowledge to create new digital flashcards sets to enhance memory retention.

B.            Something relevant to them by providing the opportunity to create flashcard sets on any subject matter they want to learn, such as information they want to remember for a video game.

C.                     A local or global audience by sharing their created flashcard sets with each other and the entire Quizlet community, which can also be linked to Facebook accounts for maximum sharing capabilities.

Create/Produce:

Students will create flashcard sets individually and later in groups for personal study and to share with peers.

Assessment:

The instructor will determine the effectiveness of the scenario through the use of the following rubric, where success is determined by all factors being checked:

Please check all those that apply:

___ I can to get to the www.quizlet.com website

___ I can sign up and create a free account

___ I can create a set of terms and definitions

___ I can share a set with others

___ I can find a set that others have created

___ I can print terms and their definitions

___ I can print flashcards

___ I can test my understanding of terms by playing “Scatter”

___ I can improve my memory recall speed of terms by playing “Space Race”

___ I can create and take a personalized practice test

Reflection:

v Students will reflect through ending classroom discussion and additional reflection questions during journal activity the following day.

v The instructor will observe the students throughout the scenario and take notes on parts of lesson that may be improved.  Once scenario is completed, instructor will revamp lesson according to the needed improvements observed.

PE5 Quizlet

The next step for my RILS plan is for my students to create their own flashcard sets. I anticipate some difficulty here because when I created my first set, I mixed up the term and the definition, so I felt like I was being asked the questions backwards on the flashcards. Luckliy, there is an option to present the flashcards the opposite way, so I was able to remedy my problem on the 'learn' portion of Quizlet. However, I found that the option of reversing the presentation of the flashcard information does not translate to the games, Scatter and Space Race. Needless to say, I had to create my set all over again.

To create my set for this post, I decided to make flashcards on Bible verses I want to remember. Before I began, I figured I would make use of the search function in Quizlet to see what was already available and maybe save myself some time. When I performed my search, over 1,003 flashcard sets came up. Wowsers!

The search function of Quizlet is a super time saver because my students always complain about not having enough time to study or get homework done, so to be able to search and find sets that were previously created is a plus. If you look to the left under 'Subtopics', you see that Quizlet even breaks down the searched sets in to categories to make it easier to pinpoint what you are trying to find. One note of caution I will warn my students about is that that they will need to check the information on flashcard sets they did not create because there is a chance that the information provided could be wrong.

While we are in search mode, one aspect that enhances searched flashed card sets even more is that users can drag their mouse over the title of the set and a brief example of if contents will be displayed.

Enough of the searching, now its time to create my own set of flashcards. The set on Bible verses was easier because it was more natural to assign the proper items to term or definition. The term was the location of the Bible verse, and the definition was the Bible verse itself.

I love Quizlet. It is a universal tool. Quizlet's versatility allows me to use it in my classroom, for personal study, and as a tool for ministry.

PE4 Quizlet

I want to go further in depth about Quizlet.com, so I went back to the site and started from scratch so I could really get a feel for how I would teach my students to use it. Unfortunately, access to computers for all my students is not available often, so I face the difficulty of teaching them how to use Quizlet with limited capability for them to practice. First step is getting to the website, www.quizlet.com.

Once on the site, my students will have to click on sign up in the top right corner and create their own accounts. I would probably allow about 5-7 minutes for them to create their accounts, suggesting that they use their student ID number and password as their username and password so they do not forget it, and in case they do, I can easily provide them with the necessary information.

Once the students have created their accounts, it is time for them to create their first flashcard sets. We'll cover that and more in the next post.

BP7 Carrot Sticks

BP6 Valencia Winston's Vicarious View of Education

Follow this link to my comments on Valencia's blog.

BP5 Auntie Siggy's Spot in the Big Blogging World

Follow this link to my comments on Karen's blog.

BP4 Quizlet

The Web 2.0 tool that I chose to review was Quizlet.  Quizlet allows the user to create flashcards based on any subject and share them with other users.  After I created my account, I was able to view many different flashcard sets that were available.  I believe this would be an excellent tool for any student or teacher. Quizlet saves students and teachers time because they can search and use pre-created sets so they don’t have to begin from scratch. In the event that a pre-created set cannot be found, students and teachers can create a flashcard set that is tailor-made for their needs.

  This is the beginning of the flashcard creation process. Notice at the top, I have linked this account to my Facebook to increase its accessibility.  The process of creating the flashcards was extremely easy.  Simply title your set, write an explanation of it, and begin typing up your terms and definitions.

This is an example of a flashcard from my finished set. As you can see, it provides the problem, and then you "click to flip" for the answer. 

The last aspect of Quizlet that really excited me was its ability to create games based on flashcard content.  Space Race (left) sends terms across the screen and users have to type in the definitions before the terms leave the screen.  Scatter (right) displays terms and definitions on the screen and the user must drag and match them all together in the least amount of time possible. 

PE3 iMovie

I actually made it through the entire training... and enjoyed it.  Once I got through the first 20 minutes, I became engrossed in the tutorials because I was learning so much.  Garrick Chow is an excellent teacher.  He explains the ins and outs of iMovie thoroughly and makes it easy enough for beginners, like me, to understand and not go into information overload.  The organization of the tutorial also aided in keeping amount of information provided from seeming like too much because of the way it was broken into main sections and then into topics within those sections.  I like that I will be able to easily access parts I might need to see again without having to sit through the entire tutorial again.

In the last couple of sections, Garrick addressed audio adjustments and options for sharing movies.  I was familiar with most of the information here because I had dealt with other recording programs for music and some of the features were similar.  I did find one useful bit of information on extracting audio from other clips.  This can be useful to create a uniform audio blend between clips. 

Here's my first attempt at a movie trailer.  Hope you enjoy!

PE2 iMovie

It is a whole new world for me and iMovie, thanks to Garrick Chow.  I will definitely be looking for more of his tutorials as well as other tutorials on lynda.com.  I am sold.

 Hello, advanced tools. The introduction of the advanced tools option makes editing even more efficient.  It eliminates some extra selection and menu choice steps by allowing users to mark, unmark, and reject selections with a simple press of the button and drag of the cursor across the selection.  You can see an example of the marking process, the green highlighting of the clip, in the picture to the left.

The editing portion of the iMovie tutorial showed me how much power I have to create movies with small amounts of footage.  Learning how to trim clips more effectively and to split clips in order to use footage elsewhere was enlightening.  Also, learning how to crop, rotate, and zoom in on clips to create different views of the same shot is a technique I can now utilize.  I had seen it done in my peers videos, but was unsure how to do it myself.  Now, I know.

Who's is Ken Burns? I have posed that question to myself many times as I attempted to add effects to my videos. Garrick let me in on the secret that Mr. Burns is known for he's zooming technique on still photos.  This was explained during the tutorial on making still photos from video.  The Ken Burns is a pretty cool effect and I will try to implement it in future projects.   I also gained some insight into creating movie trailers. I stayed away from the movie trailers because I didn't understand how to make them, but Garrick walks users through step by step and removed my inhibitions of creating movie trailers.  I look forward to trying this feature as well.

PE1 iMovie

The first impression of the iMove Essentials training was intimidation.  I don't do well with long trainings of any kind, except kinesthetic, and the thought of sitting in front of my computer for three hours and 28 minutes was not appealing.

The beginning of the tutorial confirmed my fears as it went through updating iMovie and the different ways to connect to import video.  While this information is important for users, the information was overkill for me because I knew how to do all the things Garrick was explaining.  I felt chapters one and two were a wasted 20 minutes for me.

The tutorial began for me in the third section. I learned about the slider that expands and contracts video clips to make editing a more precise science.  This information will come in handy as I continue to enhance my skills in iMovie.  Maybe this tutorial won't be a waste of my time after all.

 
The last part of section three provided vital information that will save me precious time creating projects in iMovie. Garrick, I love you for explaining the toolbar.  I have spent so much time searching through different menus trying to find effects, do voice-overs, and so many others things.  Garrick briefly explained each button of  the toolbar, minus the advanced options, and made me a believer that he is my new best friend for information on iMovie.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this tutorial.

BP3 Carrot Sticks

The Web 2.0 tool that I chose to research was Carrot Sticks.  Carrot Sticks is a website that allows students to work on their math skills from the grade levels of 1st-5th grade.  Although I teach the 7th grade, I am always looking for sites where my students can work on their basic skills - addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division -  because, aside from my G/T students, many of my students are lacking is this area.  To begin in Carrot Sticks, students can create their own avatar to represent them during their game.  You can see my cool guy with the red shades!

 After the avatar is created, the questions begin.  They begin with simple questions and slowly advance the player through the levels as their skills improve.

 Here, you can see the format of the questions has changed because of the level I attained to help facilitate the introduction of the skill of carrying in addition.

 As the students progress through the game, they will have the opportunity to challenge other students around the world.  Not only is it a game where they can gain points, carrots, to advance their levels, but they actually get to compete heads up against other competitors as well as through a competition board you can see on the right of the screen.

Along with the ability to compete against others, students are able to earn math achievement certificates throughout their gaming experience.  This serves to keep them motivated and engaged because they know their achievement is being recognized.  This will be a great tool for my classroom and others on my math team.  I can't wait to show it to them.

BP2 iGoogleScreenShots.

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BP1 Welcome to my blog

Welcome to Bishop's Block!

My name is Joe Bishop and this blog will serve as a diary of my journey through the EMDT program at Full Sail University.  During this journey there will be many trails that branch off the main path as I take you through the happenings outside of my educational life as well.  

First, I'd like to start by talking a bit about myself.  I just turned 34 years old last month on September 14th which makes me a Virgo or a Snake, whichever zodiac you prefer. I am married to my wonderful wife, Latia, and we have three children ages eight, six, and one.  My wife and I are both educators. She has been teaching for eight years and this is my second year.   I also have a higher calling for my life above teaching academics. It is being a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was recently deemed Min. of Young Adults at my church, Mount Zion First Baptist Church, in San Antonio, TX, so my plate is seeming to overflow. But, I know the Lord never puts more on you than you can bear.  I see this challenge coming at an opportune time because I can implement the lessons I am learning at Full Sail not only at my middle school, but in developing this new ministry as well.  I look forward to blogging more on this interesting journey.

WAIT!!!! 

I almost forgot to tell you about two trails already branching off the main path.  I started taking Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, this week and I am six months into my process of growing Locs (dreadlocks)... videos and pics to come.  Stay tuned because you never know what's next!