Picasso Head

Me with Earrings

Using online creation programs can be a boon to students creating images for projects!  When I tried this particular one, I was amazed at the versatility the many options allows: flipping, rotating, the abstract shapes, color. My face, such as it is, was fun to produce and a joy to touch up.

Artists of course would appreciate the creativity that can be unleashed, but I can envision school counselors using this for students needing to express themselves (a venting outlet actually) in ways traditional drawing processes may not allow. In guidance, students will shut down, saying they can't draw and not be willing to try; this is especially true of gifted learners. 'Playing' on a computer might be more accommodating to emotionally strapped students -- those students unwilling to admit something is bothering them.

Tenet G of the VA Tech. Standards  speaks about being able to implement strategies that integrate technology to meet the diverse needs. Surely this is an example of that....I plan to show it to one of my school's counseling team. I bet they'll love it!

Resume Redo

I just have to laugh!  In the previous post I mentioned how the Word document of my resume got a B- and the translated Google Doc with the same information got an F. Today, I could not recreate the F to get the snipped shot of the scores. Little did I realize that with Google Docs, a document cannot be corrected and then Saved As another document. No WAY!  When I made my corrections on Google Docs, they were saved and the old version **phfss* vanished. Who knew?!  Not me apparently.

So I went with the B- scores and made corrections as suggested:

I needed to use impact-ful language and vivid wording to wow employers> I I needed to refrain from using first person language (no I, me, my). This surprised me since I had not used first person words, and had purposely used dynamic action words when describing my activities. However, I made corrections and beefed up the wording..making a strong statement of action and activity. I deleted two experiences that did not impact the overall view and checked that no first person words existed. This is what the resume got the next time through the scoring program:

Go figure?  This time however, there were Brevity, Impact, and Depth boxes that imply I had the depth now, but was too wordy. I reworded, edited, cut, and make some improvements to be more concise but still maintain the depth. This is what I got next:

The Brevity score decreased, but the Depth stayed strong. I still get the first person comment, although there are no I, me, or my-s in the writing. Certainly this is an issue to be revisited at another time when I can spend time taking it apart and doing a more extensive comparison.

For now I can see how online tools might be helpful or not depending on how they are used. When I demonstrate online writing tools such as thesis editing programs, it will be important to stress that online programs run with algorithms that do not make the human judgements that personal attention can produce. They still have value as a guideline to prompt review and reconsideration, but they are still machines made useful by the minds that build them. As a technology instructor, teaching discernment and critical thinking when working with electronic sources is a vital part of imparting 21st century skills.

Resume Duality

Dipper gourd hanging free and growing natural.

Jim Widess' gourd grown in a portrait mold--contorting its shape to accommodate the mold.

  

My initial foray into revisiting the resume assignment left me with more questions than answers. Visiting the resume scoring program garnered different scores: the original Word Document resume got a B-, and the Google Doc (where I translated the Word Document into a Google Doc) got an F. Yikes!!  I will be addressing both versions to see what's what. This reminds me of growing a gourd in the garden, free to grow and become it's own shape, and then growing one in a mold where the outcome is a reflection of the shape it is forced to take. 

Snipping Along, Singing a Song

Gourdhead Rock Band

Now  here's a tool I can wrap my brain around in total. I didn't have to visit it long be all over it: Snipping Tool. Right away I saw the beauty part and immediately began to make examples. First, there was the snip of the Gourdhead Rock Band from the Virginia Lovers' Gourd Society page. This piece of craft was a collaborative hands-on activity by several members at a Summer Play Date.                                            
      This snip identifies the Alien Gourdhead done by one of the youngest members (age 13).   Another snip points out how individual artisans handled eyes.

What not to love with this tool?  It speaks to step-by-step instruction that would be especially valuable with visual learners. Being able to break out a piece of a whole, then pinpoint the area of discussion, allows teachers to get specific beyond the use of language. 

The VA Tech. Standard A, effective use of a computer system...., is met with this tool. Teaching students to use this tool would them the wherewithal to show where they get stuck on a project and troubleshoot with others. This gets back to collaborating between classes and grades. By eliminating the need for describing a problem area or stumbling point, they can show each other and speed along their joint efforts.

However, along with these wonderful attributes comes a moment of caution: plagiarism. Another VA Tech Standard that comes into play is H--demonstrating knowledge of ethical and legal issues.... . Just snipping something I like walks all over someone else's copyright and intellectual property. These pictures of the Gourdhead Rock Band are mine. I own the images, I direct the organization they come from, I have permission from the member who created the parts of it to use it appropriately. But, what of grabbing images from Bing or other sources?  That's where careful demonstration of citing is in order. For my students, this would be included in the Plagiarism Packet.

Google Docs

Google Docs has been entered and seemingly addressed (though my learning curve has been sorely tested this weekend--my apologies to anyone who dared view my blog in recent days!). In previous posts, I tested translating a resume I already had as a Word document into a Google document and then used a Google Doc template to reproduce a recipe for a newsletter. Both have been uploaded.

The translation did produce some minor alterations with typefaces and leading, but they were easily remedied to be very near the original document. Using an exisitnig Gooogle Doc template streamlined a designing process that usually takes time and creative thought. In either case, having access to these documents in various places, and shared with others without emailing everyone individually, is time saver. Concern about privacy was an ever-present issue that I am still trying to resolve.

As a teacher coordinating student activities, I can see how Google Docs can be used as a connection nucleus. Sign up sheets, brainstorming sessions, and communal writing projects could be enacted and facilitated. Group work would certainly become more collaborative especially when students work from different locations: homes, classrooms, and as in the case with online courses, different regions.  In my nonprofit efforts, Google Docs can eliminate the back-and-forth members do statewide when trying to coordinate VLGS Meet & Greets, regional events, and fund raising efforts. We recently were published in the Eat and Explore Virginia Cookbook. The process of coordinating recipes and pictures would have been far leaner had we come together on one document shared among the team.

As a Gifted Resource Teacher who travels between two schools, I believe my students would gain from using Google Docs. I remember reviewing the Virginia standards on several occasions, along with 21st century skills,  at faculty meetings and for earlier courses for my current degree efforts. Use of Google Docs hit many of the tenets for how instructors can access information, collaborate with others about lessons, and initiate discussions of ethical and legal issues of posting to the Internet.

Right now, I believe the VA Technology Standard C would best serve my immediate needs as a GRT. Schools are grouping students in large lumps of all ability levels to accommodate budgets, and the gifted students spend a lot of time waiting idly for others to catch up or for teachers to repeat and review lessons they have previously learned. Being able to apply computer productivity tools for professional use would aid in distance collaboration with teachers in different schools who want to differentiate lessons for the gifted students. Coordinating with teachers could allow these students to work 'together' across classrooms and grade levels, thus keeping them engaged in learning while others are provided instruction they have already passed.

It a chess game trying to coordinate the efforts of many teachers across grade levels and with various teaching styles. A case of gourdheads vs. corkheads. Google Docs may provide a vital link to addressing an ongoing problem for the underfunded Gifted Academic Program.