Wiki

This is the first time I have ever created a wiki site. It is an exciting and interesting experience. With the help of the Atomic Learning tutorial on Sites, I finally figured how to create a simple wiki site. Here the link to my wiki. I have been manipulating the different format options, such as Heading, Sub-heading, and Horizontal Line, setting background picture, color and so on. I added Twitter and Google + Share button as my gadgets. I also learned how to setup external links, insert images into web page, if I want, I can also insert table of contents, Google Document, Presentation, Spreadsheet, Drawing, Folder, Group, Map, Video, so much more into my page. In addition to all these features, I can change the page layout. In my wiki, I chose two column (simple) layout, laying paragraphs on the left column, and pictures on the right one.  By going to the Manage Site in the drop down menu of the More, I can customize the themes, colors and fonts of the Entire Page, Site header, Content area, Content area gadgets, Sidebar gadget and Horizontal navigation. You can see I chose light green as my background color and I also changed the color, font and font size of my pages.

Here is the screen captures of the history of revisions of my wiki. I can use this feature to keep track of the changes that have been made in the wiki. The feature allows me to revert to previous versions. With this feature, I can edit the wiki as much as I want without worrying about messing it up.

I can see how wiki can be very useful for my class. I can use this site to share Chinese culture with my students. With limited classroom time, it is impossible to share everything with students in class; however, wiki can break down the classroom walls and provide a perfect place for sharing cultures and also helping with their Chinese language study. 

Google Drawings

This is the first time I have ever used Google drawing and I actually have fun with it.  This is link to the drawing I created, Drawing. I love playing with different kinds of shapes and lines. I can not only use shapes, lines, texts and word art to create but also import pictures and edit them. By arranging the orders and grouping of the different elements helps make whole drawing look natural. I can also fill the different shapes and lines with different colors. If I don’t like the shapes the application offers, I can use different lines to create my own shape styles. In the Drawing, I use curve line and scribble line to create mountain, street and grass. I mark the different objects with Chinese characters and Pinyin, and with the visual demonstration, students can easily understand the lesson. 

           I took a look at the Graphic Design in Science. Scientific concepts could be hard to grasp when explaining only by text. However, with complex graphic designs to represent the unseen process of science, science concepts can be understood a lot easier, especially for today’s digital kids. They are familiar with visual learning, so we can present abstract scientific concepts and topics with concrete graphics to enhance their learning. There are so many applications out there using 3-D technology to create model of DNA or visual models of how the various parts of the human heart interact. These applications allow students to see and experience clearly things they could never experience by only reading a textbook. The scientific topics are not the only one that can be illustrated more clearly with the help of the graphics. We can use graphics from simple topics to highly complicated issues, for instance, from the schedule of class, the organizer for writing to how human brain works.

In the lesson plan, before students start to create a graphic design, they are instructed to do research about the certain topic, with the research students explore how to use Google Drawings. In order to put together an artistic representation of the topic, students have to do research thoroughly. At last, students use Google Drawings to create a graphic design of the related topic. The whole process requires students to use technology, including the Internet, to gather relevant information from multiple sources, using advanced searches effectively. Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection and research. All these meet the requirements of CCSS in writing, reading and speaking.

When making lesson plans, teachers need to integrate technologies with curriculum standards and learning objectives. The lesson plan listed in the Gain is a great example how teachers tie their lesson plans with common core state standards.

Google Drawings offers something other applications cannot compete with. Google Drawings makes it possible to share creations that connect meaning visually. Students can use drawings to create flow charts, custom graphs, informational posters and so much more. Google Drawings can help students with writing by helping them organized their ideas. Students can make their own organizers to summarize what they read or to organize their thoughts. The CCSS Anchor Standard for Writing wants students to read closely to understand the text and make analytical conclusions from it.  Teachers can create graphic organizers give students a chance to organize their thoughts and facts gathered from text to prepare writing. Google Drawings can facilitate students and teachers to meet and exceed the requirements of CCSS.