http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23friedman.html?_r=1
This editorial speaks to the need to bring people from a number of disciplines to the table when we work to solve problems. I really appreciate the call for multiple perspectives. It seems as though we have learned so much about how small parts of the universe operate, and this is extremely important, however, it takes a new perspective to use what various people have learned and synthesize these bits of knowledge into a cohesive whole.

I will never be a brilliant researcher - I don't have the clarity of mind to compose new questions, or devise new techniques. I am, however, very good at relating what I learn here, or study there, to what I read elsewhere. I need to hone this skill, and practice relating what I teach to a larger whole, so that my students can benefit from a more global perspective.

I would like to move my classroom from a place where students learn Biology, Chemistry, or Math to a place where we learn to use the tools we learned in one class to solve problems in another class, and then to problems in the outside world. I'll be focusing my capstone action research on this sort of transfer, and on the metacognition required to do so. It takes conscious effort to think about how one can solve a new type of problem using tools which one already has. I don't really think that I am the best guide as to how to accomplish this, but I will try to be the best I can.

I haven't formally articulated this before, but as I look back on my years of teaching, I can see that I have been working towards this goal for a quite a while. My plan is to use the MSSE capstone experience to help me be more aware of how I teach so that my students will be more likely to make connections within and between disciplines.

Adventures in Albuquerque

A "neighborhood" roadrunner who came visiting this afternoon. I expected to see the cottontails on the fairway behind my parent's house, but was pleasantly surprised to see the roadrunner visiting right beside the patio.
Yesterday I went to "Learning is Fun" with Shannon and my parents. This particular teacher store is exactly what teaching supply paradise looks like. We spent time and money there - and still have room in our suitcases. Luckily posters and borders for bulletin boards don't take up much space.
Today we went to Borders and to Cottonwood Mall. Books and shoes take up more space in our suitcases- and weigh a lot more than posters. We still have room, but we'll probably have overweight suitcases by the time we head back to BC!
It's been fun to not be working on class assignments. I've had a great time just relaxing, shopping, visiting, and eating great food. I'm very thankful for this opportunity.

Reflections from my creek bank

I really appreciate Wally's post which included Alan Jackson's "I still like bologna". The song gave me a focus for thinking about changes I might need to make to my philosophy for including web tools in my teaching repertoire. This collage demonstrates some of what is still important to me. I will continue to take plenty of pictures, and I'll still share them with students, friends, and family.

I will use more webtools in the future than I did in the past, but they will remain tools of my trade, not the focus of my trade. I will still need to decide if the time spent learning to use a tool is time well spent, or if I would be better off just to teach using a more traditional method.

As I walked to "my" little creek this afternoon, I realized that I learned a lot this summer, but I'm still the same person underneath. I like my cell phone, my laptop, my camera, high speed internet, data sharing and satellite photos but I love walks to the creek, long talks with my family, and watching my kids play a board game. I'm reassured that I have become more confident but I'm still me.

What I've learned from this course

I have learned to edit (and re-edit) wiki pages. I'm still not very comfortable doing so, but I can if I need to.

I've learned how to make blog postings, and am beginning to learn how to personalize them. I've really enjoyed this process, so I will certainly keep this up.

I've learned that there are a lot of wonderful web tools which almost, but not quite, work. The Proprofs Pollmaking tool is one which I wish had a little more flexibility, because then I would use it to create prompts for directed journaling. Slideshare seemed like a good idea, but simply took too long. I never did get Jing or Screencast to work. Twitter works well when I want news updates, but is a disaster as a networking tool. I simply am not social enough. MasteringGeneralChemistry worked really well for me as a student. I wish my school could afford to pay for access to homework sites which accompany the textbooks we use.

There are also a number of webtools which I will use whenever I can. Picnik, Panoramio, GoogleEarth, and GoogleReader are tools which I will use regularly. I wonder how I ever survived without Facebook.

I've learned that I need face-to-face contact with my PLN in order to make effective use of the resources these wonderful people offer. I don't have to have regular visits, but I'm much more likely to get help from someone with whom I have a multifaceted relationship.

I've learned to take time to play with new tools. I'm intimidated by new technology, but I've found that when I'm not under time constraints I can easily spend hours playing with some of the tools I enjoy.

I've learned (again!) how interconnected we are. I'm looking forward to sharing data my classes collect with others, and with using data that others collect. I've very much appreciated the ideas some of my classmates shared, and I've enjoyed the varied perspectives other teachers bring to this class.

Final Project

I decided, after reading Sandy's blog post, to try to create a wiki for my classroom. She did a great job of explaining how she set up her wiki, and why she was using the tools she did. Thanks, Sandy!
I'm not sure how often my students will be required to access either the classroom wiki or their own blogs, but I think probably two times a week. I envision parents checking the class schedules occasionally - just to see if their child has a test coming up.
The Biology 11 page contains the rubric for a project the students will be doing next spring. Most students will prefer to use some web tool or another to present their information, but some will prefer to make a poster. Since not all of my students have frequent access to computers or internet I can't require a web based major project. The page also contains links to examples of student work which I have uploaded. Thanks Jared and Brendan!
I have also put a link to the PowerPoint presentation I put together for the web tools course on that page. I will be using the presentation as part of the ecology unit. I don't use PowerPoint for many lectures, but I will use the ones I have made for various MSSE courses. That way I will have a few good presentations without a lot of bad ones!
The Chemistry 11 page contains a PowerPoint presentation I made as part of the requirements for a Chem 580 course I took this summer. I will be using the presentation, as well as the lab activities this fall. This particular presentation uses two images I got from Google images. Usually I prefer to take my own pictures, but I do appreciate being able to find one quickly when I need to.
I will also be having each of my students set up a learning blog. Since most of them take more than one class from me, I will limit the number of postings they have to make for each course to one a week. The blog posts they make will be in the form of directed journals, which I hope to use in my capstone project. Last year I used journals in my math classes, and found that sometimes students needed more time that I could spare in a class period. Hopefully using a blog format will help them finish writing out their thoughts.

Webtools I will actually use (AKA Final Project)

I have learned about a number of new interesting tools this summer, but most of them are not something I will actually use in classes I teach. This is a disclaimer that I need to add to my final project for the webtools class: what follows is a work of fiction. Most of my students have internet access at home, but not all do. Any tools I use have to be able to be used at school during limited computer lab time. I either give up class time, or stay very late after school so that students can access the lab, under my supervision, after sports practices which end at 5:30pm. It is not going to happen very often.

Version 2 of my proposed use of webtools during the 2009-2010 school year

I would like to use some sort of interactive lab notebooks. So far, I think individual blogs would be more useful in my setting than wikis, but I'm not positive. I lean toward a set of postings that students would make, and then I would just give feedback, but maybe students would like to get feedback from their peers also. I'll keep pondering.

I will require my biology 11 students to make some sort of presentation on a habitat we study on our major field trip. This worked quite well last Spring, and with some modifications to the grading rubric, and with plenty of notice, I think students would prefer to use computers for this presentation. Most of the projects turned in were powerpoints, but with a little encouragement I think other presentation options would be wonderful.

I will make a google earth presentation at the beginning of the school year to the grade eleven class parents, and then at the end of the year during the "Year End Concert". Students, and their parents, love to see pictures taken during the school year. We'll use tools like Picnik to edit pictures to portray our year in math and science.