Literacy Web Tool Modeling

The web tool that I chose to explore more in depth is Tagxedo. This website allows you to create a word cloud about a topic using a website, blog, news article, or search. You simply paste a URL or a word to search in the correct section on the home page and a word cloud is generated. To test this out, I created an "evolution" word cloud using the Wikipedia article on evolution.

With this tool, words that are used most commonly are very big, while less common words are smaller. This is because you would expect more commonly used words to be more important while less common words are not as important.

This tool could help students visually pick out what concepts are most important to a current topic. The ability to pick out the "big picture" concepts is something that many students in my experience struggle with, so this visual could be extremely helpful in supporting this skill.

I would most likely use this tool to help my students explore the big topics in each unit. Students would choose a topic, like evolution, and create a word cloud using Tagxedo. They would then choose several of the larger words in their word cloud to explore more in detail. They would discuss why these words are so important to the topic, what they mean, and how they relate to the topic and the other words in the cloud.

This tool is very simplistic, so there is not a lot of differentiation that can be done with the actual tool. However, in a project like the one I describe above, there are several ways that it can be modified for different students. For instance, an ELL student could create a word cloud in their home language, or choose several of the more prominent words to translate into their home language. A teacher could also modify the number of words that are required to explore to make the assignment more or less challenging for students at different levels of achievement. In addition, there would be a lot of freedom for students to choose topics that interest them and display their exploration using a mode of representation that fits their personality.

The positive aspects of this tool include its simplicity and ease of use. It is very straightforward and would not require much instruction for students to understand how to use it. It also gives you a lot of freedom as to what you want to create a word cloud about. However, it does not have a wide variety of uses, and it doesn't allow for much customization of the words in the cloud.

Overall, I thought this tool was interesting and could pique the interest of my students, but I probably wouldn't use it more than once per school year.

Maryland Teacher Technology Standards

Technology is becoming more and more important to the classroom and the working world, so it is important to help students become competent users of technology. To do this, I need to be able to use technology competently as well. Following are the Maryland Teacher Technology Standards and various ways that I will work to meet these standards in my classroom.

SEVEN STANDARDS AND OUTCOMES	INDICATORS and Examples
I. Information Access, Evaluation,    Processing and Application Access, evaluate, process and apply information efficiently and effectively.	1.      Identify, locate, retrieve and differentiate among a variety of electronic sources of information using technology. 2.      Evaluate information critically and competently for a specific purpose. 3.      Organize, categorize and store information for efficient retrieval. 4.      Apply information accurately in order to solve a problem or answer a question. To meet this standard, I can use search engines such as Google Scholar to find materials appropriate for my students. The resources that I find can be organized using a tool similar to Blendspace or Symbaloo by category or unit so they can be easily retrieved to solve problems and answer questions.
II. Communication  A.      Use technology effectively and appropriately to interact electronically. B.    Use technology to communicate information        in a variety of formats.	1.      Use telecommunications to collaborate with peers, parents, colleagues, administrators and/or experts in the field. This can be achieved using sites like Edmodo, Blogger, or Blackboard. Google Hangouts is a great tool that could be introduced to students for use in group projects or to communicate with real scientists in the classroom. 1.     Select appropriate technologies for a particular communication goal. 2.      Use productivity tools to publish information. 3.      Use multiple digital sources to communicate information online. This standard could be met with the students through an internet project. By using communication technology to work with students in different classes, it expands students' frame of reference and allows me as a teacher to determine the best technology tools to use.
III. Legal, Social and Ethical Issues         Demonstrate an understanding of the legal, social and ethical issues related to technology use.	1.      Identify ethical and legal issues using technology. 2.      Analyze issues related to the uses of technology in educational settings. 3.      Establish classroom policies and procedures that ensure compliance with copyright law, Fair Use guidelines, security, privacy and student online protection. 4.      Use classroom procedures to manage an equitable, safe and healthy environment for students. Ethical and legal issues can easily be found through a search engine like Google. Here, there will not only be potential ethical and legal issues found in classrooms, but also ways to overcome and prevent ethical and legal dilemmas.
IV. Assessment for Administration and Instruction Use technology to analyze problems and  Develop data-driven solutions for instructional and school improvement.	1.      Research and analyze data related to student and school performance. 2.      Apply findings and solutions to establish instructional and school improvement goals. 3.      Use appropriate technology to share results and solutions with others, such as parents and the larger community.
V. Integrating Technology into the Curriculum      and Instruction     Design, implement and assess learning    experiences that incorporate use of technology    in a curriculum-related instructional activity to    support understanding, inquiry, problem solving,    communication and/or collaboration.	1.      Assess students’ learning/ instructional needs to identify the appropriate technology for instruction. 2.      Evaluate technology materials and media to determine their most appropriate instructional use. 3.      Select and apply research-based practices for integrating technology into instruction. 4.      Use appropriate instructional strategies for integrating technology into instruction. 5.      Select and use appropriate technology to support content-specific student learning outcomes. 6.      Develop an appropriate assessment for measuring student outcomes through the use of technology. 7.      Manage a technology-enhanced environment to maximize student learning. Technology today allows teachers to share resources, problems, and solutions quickly and easily. Because of this, there are countless resources for assessment, instructional support, and lessons using technology online. I will be able to see what technology worked well for other teachers for certain lessons and determine if it would fit in my lessons for my students. It is becoming easier every day to research these new technologies to integrate into the classroom and gauge how effective it will be.
VI. Assistive Technology Understand human, equity and developmental issues surrounding the use of assistive technology to enhance student learning performance and apply that understanding to practice.	1.    Identify and analyze assistive technology resources that accommodate individual student learning needs. 2.     Apply assistive technology to the instructional process and evaluate its impact on learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics and abilities.
VII. Professional Growth Develop professional practices that support continual learning and professional growth in technology.	1.      Create a professional development plan that includes resources to support the use of technology in life long learning 2.      Use resources of professional organizations and groups that support the integration of technology into instruction. 3.      Continually evaluate and reflect on professional practices and emerging technologies to support student learning. 4.      Identify local, state and national standards and use them to improve teaching and learning.
Accepted by the Maryland State Board of Education, March 22, 2002

When using new forms of technology, students will need to be able to comprehend new information that is generally in text format. I think that the most important literacy skill for students to complete technology assignments and find information online is self-regulated reading (Coiro & Dobler, 2007). Students need to be conscious of what they are reading and the strategies they need to use to read it. This self-awareness will help students pick out the information they need and improve their comprehension of online materials.