Part B - Story Board and Script

After our brainstorming session, we created a google presentation to split up the assignment and then added our individual script pieces to the google doc we initially created at the beginning for our group communication. Each of our group members have chosen a part of the prezi that they feel comfortable with and have had a chance to thoroughly explore. We then plan to record our script pieces separately and put it all together. We also hope to have a prezi that explains how prezis work. Hopefully by viewing a successful prezi, it will help them to have a better understanding of how a prezi works and what they look like.

Through our recording, the viewers will see how to change the various elements of a prezi and navigate through the process with our verbal guidance. We will incorporate sound effects in hopes to break up the talking and add to the presentation. These will include clapping at the end of sections, a horn to present the prezi, and wooshing sounds as we zoom in and out during the path. The visual aspect of the prezi will build as we go so that we are all building on one presentation. By the time I present, the background and text will have been added and the viewer will know how to move, rotate, scale, and zoom their prezi.

Storyboard

Leadership Project Storyboard

Script

Our group decided to teach others about Prezi, a free cloud-based presentation application. Prezi is not like traditional PowerPoint or Google Presentation. What makes Prezi unique is that it uses a canvas. Information is placed on the canvas and grouped in frames. Information is zoomed in on to get a different perspective and look than traditional presentation applications. Framing on a Prezi will be discussed in more detail later in the presentation.

First, you need to sign up for this free presentation application. Once you sign up and get an account, you can create your own Prezi. To do so you first click New Prezi. You will now have to title your Prezi and you may write a description of your new presentation if you wish. Once you write your title and description click New Prezi. This will bring you to a template page. Choose the template that you wish to use. You can use a blank template or one that is already created. Now it is time to be creative! Click anywhere on the template to type information in. If you look to the left of your screen, you have a large circle with small circles surrounding it. The four categories are Insert, Frame, Path, and Colors. Click one of the smaller circles to get more specific functions related to that category. For instance, if you click Insert you can now insert a shapes, files, images, YouTube videos, and/or particular drawings.

Transition: Now that you learned the basics you are ready to move, rotate,scale, and zoom in on pictures and text.

2. How to move, rotate, scale, and zoom (Steve)

Movement of pictures and text in the Prezi program is a very intuitive action. Those of you who have used any touch screen devices will feel right at home. To move a picture or text box just click on the object you want moved and drag your mouse. The object will move with your cursor. When you reach the desired location for your object, let go of your cursor.

Now that you are able to move items let’s discuss how to change their appearance. First click on the picture that you desire to change. You will see a circular graphic pop up over the picture. This circular graphic contains the tools you will need to rotate, scale, and zoom your picture. First to rotate your picture click, and hold, on the border circumference of the circle. On the outside of the circle you will see an arrow indicating you now able to rotate the picture. To rotate the picture just drag your mouse the direction you would like to rotate the picture, release the mouse click and and your picture will be in its new rotational position.

To scale your picture, which will change what the viewer sees of your image, again click the picture bringing up the circular graphic. In the lower right corner of the circle is a pencil. If you click the pencil, a rectangular bracket will appear on your picture. To change the dimensions of the picture click and grab the corners of the brackets to the desire position. When you are satisfied with the dimensions of the picture let go of your click and the new looking picture will be saved.

The last editing tool we will discuss is the ability to zoom in and out on your pictures. Again, to begin, you will click on your picture. This will bring up the circular editing graphic. To zoom in on your picture click the plus button in the interior of the circle. To zoom in further on your picture continue to click the plus button until the picture is at your desired size. To zoom out on your picture, repeat the previous process using the minus button.

Now that you have learned how to edit your pictures and text boxes, you are ready to learn how to use frames and created paths in your presentations.

3. How to use frames and create a path

Linnea:

When putting words and pictures into your prezi, frames are an excellent way to group them according to a theme, topic, or purpose. To choose a frame, go to the guide and click the frame circle. (move mouse over the frame option while pausing in script). A frame can be a square, a bracket, or a circle frame. (hover mouse over each and insert each into the prezi) It does just that, “frames” your presentation. They can serve the purpose of framing, or to create an additional visual aspect. I would recommend either mixing up your frames or using the same shape for consistency. These then also make choosing your path much easier and add an element to choose as a stop on your path.

This is where your prezi really comes to life. The path is how your presentation will flow as you go from step to step. The most important part is to decide where you want emphasis and the importance to be during your presentation. (show the path option in guided) You can use the path to add emphasis as you zoom in and out. (zoom sound as you move in and out) The path decides how much is shown in each view which you click through, each click changes a step on the path. First, decide where your prezi will start, mostly likely at title and author or introduction. Using the path, you can show further out and zoom in to show more detail. For example, the first part of the path may be the whole view of the title and author, then zoom in on the second step of the path to just the author or a picture. (at this time, demonstrate labeling the path) Be creative! Using the path you can allow yourself more time transitioning by setting the path on arrows between, and you can also have the path continue to zoom in/out or rotate as you go to make it more visually stimulating. However, you have to be cautious that you do not get carried away, too many path turns may make your audience dizzy. You can set a step of the path on any object in your prezi, this may be a picture, a word, a frame, an arrow, etc. (show how to change the path or add a step) Then you can zoom in or out depending on emphasis. Be careful when you zoom out, that other pictures or words don’t come into the view and distract the audience.

Once you have set your path, you can always change it by dragging that number to another object. However, you can’t have more than one number per object; that’s how frames and separating text can help. Using the path view, shows each path step at the bottom of your screen. Make sure the flow makes sense. (preview the path) There’s no limit to how many steps you can have in your path. Your path is really what makes the prezi because no matter how great your text or images, if your audience is not following, then it does not help. After you finish, your audience will surely clap for you (insert clapping sound) and then ask you for the prezi link.

4. How to invite others to view (Amanda)

Once you have created your Prezi you are able to share it with others. First, you want to change the privacy settings. You can do this by clicking on my Prezi. Then, click on the arrow that says Allow Copy. Here you will have the option of making your Prezi public and allow copy, public, or private. If you choose public and allow copy, others will be able to save an editable copy of your Prezi. This is the easiest way to share templates, assets, animations, and sound effects you have used in your Prezi. The great thing about it is that your original Prezi will always remain untouched, only the copies are modified. The second option is to make your Prezi public. This allows your Prezi to be viewed by anyone who is searching for it. The last option is private, which can only be accessed by the owner, co-editors, and invited viewers.

To publish your Prezi all you have to do is go to prezi.com/my and check the box marked Publish. On the Share tab, you can invite others to view or edit your Prezi. This is also where you can obtain an embed code to add the Prezi to your blog or website. So, to invite someone to view your Prezi click on Share and then the Viewing tab. Then, you can choose to share through email, facebook, or twitter. All you have to do is click on the icon you want at the bottom of the window. If you would like to allow someone to edit your Prezi, click on Share and then click on the Editing tab. Then again you can choose to share through email, facebook, or twitter using the icons at the bottom of the window. If you would like the embed code to share your Prezi on your blog, click on Share again, and at the bottom you should click on Embed. This will give you the code you need.

Another option you have once you have created your Prezi is to download it as a portable Prezi. A portable Prezi is an exported or downloaded version of your Prezi presentation. These can be viewed without Internet access and without a Prezi account. If you want to do this, you click on your Prezi and select Download from the options bar, choose to Export to Portable Prezi and click download. You will be prompted to click to download your file. You will receive a zip file. Save this and then upzip it and start Prezi.exe (PC) or the Prezi file (Mac) to load your portable Prezi. Now you can present without an Internet connection, burn your Prezi on a CD or DVD, and distribute your Prezi.

Our group members have each contributed independently to the working google document and presentation. For our final prezi, we will discuss together before recording separately, then piece it all together. Each member has a piece of the prezi to create and record. I have been responsible for using frames and creating a path. I have focused on the connection between frames and how they help the path in order to smooth the presentation and aid the transition between topics. I then made sure to connect to the topic before and after me.

Part A - Brainstorm Session

Last week, our group met to discuss our stand alone professional development tutorial. We met Tuesday, February 7 at 8:00pm. Prior to this meeting, we had talked a little on the discussion board for class, and then moved onto a google doc for all of us to contribute in more of a continuous discussion than Angel discussion allows.

For this web conference, we decided to use Adobe Connect. Chuck had mentioned that this would be an option in our live session for class, and we decided this was the best option. This program worked really well. Initially, we had a little trouble with echoing microphones, but quickly got it fixed. I was also kicked out at one point, but got right back in. One major advantage was the ability for all of us to easily communicate verbally and possibly share documents via the screen share option. This does not have a time limit, and we were able to talk a little before recording the meeting as we were all getting set up. As mentioned, we only had a couple of problems, but that may have occurred with any web conferencing. One challenge, was having all of us speaking, it was a little difficult to know when someone else would speak or when longer silences would occur. It did not necessarily flow, like I would anticipate a face to face meeting would have. That is a disadvantage of technology, that body language and visual cues were not present. The only disadvantage to Adobe Connect, was not having unlimited access to the resource. It was great to use, but had to be set up prior to starting the conference. That would not be a disadvantage if one of us had this on our computers already.

There is a free trial for 30 days, but then we would need to pay for the access. I do not think that this is a resource I would use on a regular basis to justify purchasing it. We may have had more challenges with the program had it not been set up prior to our conference by our professor. Although Jing has a time limit, that would serve my purpose the majority of the time, but in this situation, Jing would have been frustrating having the time limit and potential sound problems.

Overall, it went very well, and was an excellent resource for our purpose. I am excited for our project! You can view our brainstorm discussion by following this link.

Part B - Application of TPACK

Using the TPACK model, I am integrating technology as an additional way to try and have effective communication with my students' parents or guardians. I have been using my class website for a long time, but not nearly as purposefully for communication. In the previous months, my website has simply provided a resource for parents and students, but did not allow for active communication between the three of us. Through this project, I will be using increased technology to make materials, information, and feedback more accessible on a daily basis. I will keep it more up-to-date on class information and more informative from both parties. This technology will continue to use the development of my webpage on weebly missczerney.weebly.com. Through that website, I will post a Google Forms survey for them to complete, use Google Calendar to convey important dates in my classroom and the school, use the comment forum to allow parents to give additional feedback or ask questions, scribd to upload homework and worksheets, and I will also give additional links for parents that may be helpful to aid their students in learning and homework. Using these technologies, it will make my website their first step in gaining information, this may also cut down on the miscommunication and continual emailing from parents.

As I mentioned, this will keep parents on track with my only my classroom, but our grade level as a whole. For those that are more involved in their student's life, they will be able to follow with our lessons in class and gain an understanding of the skills and strategies I am asking their children to practice and demonstrate. In the past, this resource has been primarily for introductory information and a resource for student research, but not I am using the technology to portray that content to make it accessible for parents. The website will be well organized and easy to navigate. I will try to keep it simplistic, and may need to include more information on the initial page to help parents navigate.

After hosting parent-teacher conferences, a lack of communication became a common complaint from parents. It was not necessarily geared toward me, but rather our new teacher. I took it upon myself to make any changes I could to improve our overall communication as a grade level. I will also be making assignments available for parents when their child loses something. We have struggle a lot with staying organized and getting our work completed outside of school, so I hope this will help. Some parents will have constant access to these resources via their telephone. My only problem is that the parents without internet will still need the paper copies of notes and information. Student will continue to use this site for informational resources, but that information will be extended to our parents as well so that they can learn the material as well.

So far, I have given the survey to parents, included a Google Calendar, and given a feedback post on the site. Since these changes, I have seen an increase in viewing on my website statistics. I hope to upload worksheets and additional practice for students soon. I would like to get to the place where I have tutorials available for parents on the strategies we are using in class, which would use some kind of vidcasting resources. Also, in the survey I had parents create a code name for their student so that grades can be communicated through the website as well.

Part A - Description of Need or Opportunity

After completing 50+ parent teacher conferences recently, the need has never been clearer for more effective parent communication. This has been an ongoing process with trial and error, but I hope that the inclusion of more technology availability will help to allow parents to be more involved and more informed about their child's classes as well as their performance within that course. I have tried several methods to communicate, but not through technology. This is so important because so often parents are not involved because their student does not convey the message of homework or the material we are covering in class. As we get closer to the End of Grade test in NC, I need to have flawless communication to provide parents resources and additional information to aid their students' learning at home.

This will be an ongoing process for the duration of the school year on a weekly basis. I will utilize free technologies to provide this communication and will access parents as more of a resource than I have in the past. The costs will be nothing but time, and the only situation in which this will not benefit a parent is if they are unable to access the internet at any time. These resources will primarily be used by parents, but students will be shown how to access and use this information as well to help them take responsibility for their learning.

Parents will be able to access these resources and information at all times through my class website and contact me via email. Going further than that, I will have information on my website or sent via email that utilizes more technology to improve the parent - teacher relationship. Countless resources have been reviewed on the importance of communication with parents and the results it can have for students. Although, I must keep in consideration the demographics and time constraints of some parents who are not able to be with their students after school, but as a whole, I hope that student achievement and homework participation is able to increase. This will also build a greater sense of collaboration and community within my classroom.

Resources supporting the importance of parent - teacher communication:
Scholastic "Building Strong Relationships with Parents"
Reading Rockets

Edwards, P.A. "Tapping the Potential of Parents." Scholastic: New York, 2009.

From the parent's perspective Parent-ing Ed.org

Using technology in communication

Resources to be considered for communication using technology:

(I am currently using Weebly and email)

Skype

Voicethread

Instant messaging system

Blog

Survey Monkey or Google Forms

PollCode

Scribd

Dropbox

Jing

Wikispace

Google Calendar

During this course: I plan to survey parents about technology and the best ways to communicate with them. My website will also offer resources and documents, such as homework, reading contracts, newletters, poll questions, question board, videos, etc. My website will be the main host for the technology that I will use to communicate with them. I will also be using e-mail to send notifications or information that will also be available online. This will require me to use new technologies, while utilizing email and website creation/editing.

First steps: survey parents and begin primary email contact to send digital copies of work and again inform them of our class website and the materials available there. Then provide tutorials for parents, information about the course, and poll questions to get to know them more. Make myself more accessible and available for communication using technology.

Continuing the project: After the end of the course, I will continue to adapt my resources and parent communication tools to best serve their needs. When talking to parents at conferences, they need more materials and resources to work on with their students besides homework. I hope to grow this communication into a successful way to digitalize their work creating portfolios and report their grades using technology. This will increase parents knowledge of our classroom.

Introducing... Miss Czerney!

My Video Introduction at Screencast

CEP 812 Reflect

Throughout this course, I have definitely improved and grown in my familiarity with technology. Becoming aware of UDL principles and implementing them in my lessons, has really helped my teaching. I have begun to see the daily practicality and have even brought it up in my PLC's at school. My skills with webquests have also grown, looking back at the first one I created years ago, the sophistication and understanding of the process has certainly improved. I would still like to work on incoporating these technologies on a daily basis in the classroom. I am able to create great resources, but do not do it on a regular basis. I would like to utilize my classroom blogs more and have students completing blogs on a weekly basis or even for homework. The biggest challenge is always finding the time to create resources and to allow students to spend the time necessary for a good blog post.

I think being a teacher in the classroom both helped and hurt this process. As I had anticipated, a first year teacher is extremely busy and ideally I would have liked to spend more time internalizing the material and making more resources to use with my students. However, also being the classroom it gave me great perspective and a purpose for instruction. I knew where my students were and their needs, as well as the instant application of material. I hope to continue to take the time and put together online resources for my students using the UDL principles and evaluating the online resources I find.

Technology seems as though it can play the role of another teacher in the classroom. In 4th grade, I have 52 students and no assistant. I would love to use more technology to be able to teach my students while I am working in small groups. This will allow for greater differentiation between my readiness levels and my classes. One example of this, is next Wednesday I will have a sub in my room, so I hope to create a voicethread to explain everything to my students and minimize theirs or the sub's confusion. Another effective strategy is to use it as the product of their learning. For example, my students are completing a project on holidays around the world and they are using research, a social bookmarking for acceptable sites, google maps, wallwisher, and blogs to express what they have learned. We also created a voicethread with our visualizations of The Night Before Christmas, and each student recorded their part. Technology can be so effective in allowing you to differentiate and to instruct, while giving students the practice of independent learning.

As I gain familiarity with web-based technologies, it becomes increasingly easier to implement them. For example, I remember the first website that I created, years ago and the time it took me to be able to format and embed various resources. Now, I have about 10 websites and 5 blogs that I maintain. In creating the StAIR, I saw the need for a Georges Melies website that was conducive to student learning, so I created one. The same has occurred with blog formats, voicethread, and prezi. I struggle with some other resources, but I know the more I use them, the more familiar I will become and will be able to effectively use them on a regular basis.

My personal goals were to be able to feel comfortable using more technology and using it more effectively in my lessons. Now that we have mobile labs at my school, I really do feel I have met my goal. I think that this class not only introduced me to a couple resources I was not aware of, such as MERLOT, and I have learned to use them in a practical way. Although I feel I had a large amount of background knowledge in technology, I was able to push myself further to be able to meet my goal and get a lot out of the class.

Now my goal is to continue to explore and proceed with my Masters. I hope to continue to explore web 2.0 and increase my familiarity and comfort in using a larger variety of tools. However, I have also realized through this course that it is not the amount of resources, but rather the quality within them. If my students are not using a tool well, or I am not using a tool well, then there is no reason to keep adding technologies on before others are completed. I have had a problem with just moving my students on through project with technology, and not allowing them to truly explore and make it their own. I have done a much better job with that during the most recent holiday project. My plan is to create more tools and familiarize myself with more resources to get to the comfort level of using and integrating them into my classroom more regularly. Long-term, I would love to provide professional development on technology or teach online courses about technology to help bring teachers into the 21st century. I have already presented on tools I am using in my classroom at a staff meeting, but would continue to explore. It would be nice to have a course on the ipad and app tool associated with that. Those apps could be a session in this online course, to help teachers better use and understand the prospects of the ipad.

Online Teaching Experiences

After reading and exploring this document, there were several resources that I am already utilizing or have in the past. One technology that I had not explored before were the Online Field Trips. This is an excellent resource! With previous classes, I have created my own virtual field trip using pictures from my visit, maps, and other resources, but had not sought out pre-created field trips.

What content could this help you teach?
In fourth grade, we teach North Carolina history. This resource could greatly help in our Social Studies and Reading classes because the students would be able to explore places they had never been. In our rural community, many of our students are not able to travel at all and have never been outside of the small city limits. It has been very eye opening at how little knowledge they have about the outside world and recognition of other cities and states. These field trips could really open their eyes without leaving the classroom. Similarly, it would increase their ability to visualize places when we are reading about them.

What type of pedagogical strategies might you use with your students?
There are countless pedagogical strategies that would be used with these Online Learning Experiences. One that I would use with the field trips would be independent study. The students would explore these field trips independently during stations or at home for homework. This may also involve note-taking so that the students know what they are responsible for getting out of the field trip and to keep them on task during their independent study. Many of the characteristics mentioned in the document appeal to me for the classroom. I would really like to use a gradual release of responsibility to the point where students are utilizing class time to complete their blog or explore the field trips, but eventually be able to assign it for the week and have them take the responsibility to finish the assignment either on their own or at home. To begin, I would need to use primarily teacher involvement and then work toward their collaboration between students.

What technologies do you think would be harder to use with your students? Why?
Given the age of my students, some of these technologies seemed like they would be more challenging to incorporate in a meaningful way. Some of these would be RSS feeds, Online Resource Evaluation, and Career Planning. At this point in time, Career Planning is not a productive use of time within my classroom and many students are very unsure as to what they would like to do for a career. That is not an exploration that would be a possibility for them to do independently. I also think my students would have a difficult time utilizing or understanding an RSS feed and it's application. On previous research projects, my studetnts really struggled to find resources to use online with the computer teacher, and so it seems very challenging to ask them to evaluate the site after finding it.