As you can see with my title I had no clue I could make a crossword puzzle in Excel. I was a bit hesitant due to the fact I never use Excel and was not sure how it would turn out. However; the directions Dr. S gave from the Microsoft Website were great and it was quite easy once I figured out where all the tools were to make a puzzle. I made mine on Thanksgiving because last semester I did a 70 pg unit plan on "The First Americans" and had to have a vocabulary list included in my plan; but I did not have a crossword puzzle with it. I actually wanted to do one; but had no idea how to. For me this was not only useful to add to my unit plan; but also because I never use Excel and had no idea what features it had. I do think this is the best way to have students learn a program and its uses instead of having a teacher or a book tell them what to click and how to enter in numbers and words. I had to do that for Experimental Psychology and as you can tell from reading this I didn't remember a thing.The students do not realize that they are learning about a program/software because they are concentrating on the activity and once they do learn it, they will have fun adding colors and pictures to the assignment. As well as being able to use the tools in the future. I also think this is the best way to have students increase their vocabulary knowledge and learn how to use Excel. I didn't know how to do it so how could I help a future student of mine or incorporate the software in my lesson plan if I am unsure myself? I feel that educators need to open themselves up to all technology has to offer because our students will be the ones hurting in the end.The only thing about the Excel program I didn't like was that it was tedious and time consuming. One also has to really think about the placement of the letters in the words of a crossword puzzle and how many boxes one will need. I think the crossword puzzle I made using Variety Games was much easier because all I had to do was type in the answers and the clues and it did everything else. However; it lacks the creativity and the knowledge of using a program like Excel and students need to increase their knowledge of what is available and compare and contrast the positives and negatives so they have more options to choose from.
It has been quite awhile since my last post. I'm sorry for being tardy; but I was busy with Mid-terms, assignments, sickness and moving the past few weeks! To start my group, the Teachnologists, met February 25th from 8:06 - 10:06 p.m. to start working on our group Constructivism project and continued our work on March 2nd from 7:30 - 9:30p.m. and finished it on March 8th from 8:30 to 11:51p.m. As you can see the times we met we spent a lot of time on it and I think it came out excellent. I have to say it is always a pleasure to meet with my group and we do not come across any problems unless it is technical and we always find a way to fix it or work around it. To answer Dr. S questions; The 5E Lesson Plan is aligned with the inquiry process by how it has the students investigate the situation they are given. For example; my group decided on having students look outside and draw what they saw and then try to identify it. Afterward students would look at four house plants and see the difference and similarities, students were teaching and learning on their own. The teacher was merely a guide. If; I were a principal I would encourage teachers to use the 5E Lesson Plan - Constructivism format; but I would not have them do it daily. It is quite time consuming and takes a lot of preparation. Also the teacher has to be prepared to let the students teach themselves and stand on the side observing them; but also making sure they are not getting side tracked and are focused on the topic. The teacher also would need good classroom management techniques and make sure the class is not getting too loud, there should be some existence of order in the classroom. My group addressed these concerns by making a graph of the advantages and disadvantages of Constructivism by using Gliffy. Unfortunately; because some teachers lack the classroom management skills and lack the time or desire to make an inquiry lesson, they tend to fall back to the traditional Behavioral Model/Direct Instruction which; is boring for the students to have the same type of format daily. I believe this is another reason why Information-Processing/Inquiry and Social Interactive (Cooperative) methods are pushed aside because incorporating these newer, creative forms of learning takes patience, time and a desire to teach it. These are Web 2.0 features because of today's technology is about accessing and publishing information on the internet as well as working together in groups online or offline in in the classroom.
For week 6's assignment (A2) I completed a graphic organizer with the Inspiration Software about my educational journey and what I am presently doing now. I spent hours on it because I had a lot of fun being creative with the numerous symbols the program provides as well as inserting pictures, links and hyperlinks. I love when an assignment calls for creativity! I think this would be a great assignment for younger students to introduce themselves to a class or to post information for a research project.
I posted two links to my graphic organizer on my personal website. The one is a jpg image and the other can only be seen if one has the Inspiration Software. I also posted a snapshot of it at the beginning of this blog. This was a great assignment and have not enjoyed doing an assignment as much as this one! I thought the links on Instructional System Design(ISD) was interesting especially the one by Kevin Kruse. His article gave me a better definition of what ISD is and I liked the comparison he made to cruise control in an automobile.
I made a a couple of comments on other student's blogs and thought what they wrote were interesting and both addressed internet safety. I discussed this in an earlier blog about how student's need to be careful about what they post on the internet as well as teachers who post pictures of their students online. My group, Teachnologists, met Wed from 8:06p.m. to 10:06p.m and started our Constructivism project. We have worked well since day 1 and everyone is always willing to stay on as long as possible to finish assignments and discussions about the current week. We finished the 1st part of our power point and I think it came out excellent! Although I do find week 7's assignment long and some what difficult, I know that with my group it will be a much easier task than if I was on my own or working with members who did not want to put the extra effort in.
