Monday, March 31, 2008
Teacher Plus Technology
Here's an update from one of my earlier posts about my wiki for my newsletters: I'm just about done with putting all of my current information on it! I'm calling the wiki Teacher Plus Technology, as I may use it for more than just my newsletters in the future. Here's the url for those interested: http://teacherplustechnology.wikispaces.com. If you would like to be a contributor, email me!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
What's a podcast?
Back from Spring Break, it's so hard to get rolling again!!
Right after I suggest podcasting to a teacher, the most frequent question I get asked is, "what's a podcast?" It's come to be a question I dread because most of the time the person I'm talking with doesn't like my answer. First, I relate it to a radio show, then I give examples of the few I've worked on. I think part of the problem comes when I start explaining about the recording process, which isn't hard! But that seems to be the point where I lose my audience.
It can be frustrating, because I know what a great tool they are! I've seen students get really creative and use their imaginations to their fullest potential. They really get into the process and start watching what they're saying, and then the recording has to be just right, and the music has to be awesome (in their opinion). This all shows me that the student wants to achieve and take the time to learn something new. What kid isn't going to love talking into a microphone? They eat it up!
Here are the benefits to podcasting:
I use podcasts almost daily, both professionally and personally. I use them to continue my education. Every once in a while I will run into a website that offers a podcast of a seminar that someone did. I download it and listen at lunchtime, or on the way home, or when I'm exercising. I'm recently found out about Conference Connections, a free way to listen to speakers from educational conferences around the globe. In January I had planned to go to FETC, but I couldn't really afford it and I was already going to two others later in the year. But I didn't miss out! I type conference connections into itunes and viola! There are recordings (or podcasts!) of the speaker's presentation. I also use it to keep up on movie news. Did you know Teller of Penn and Teller is directing MacBeth at the Folger Theater in DC? Neither did I until I listened to an interview on my way to New Jersey recently. How cool is that?
Right after I suggest podcasting to a teacher, the most frequent question I get asked is, "what's a podcast?" It's come to be a question I dread because most of the time the person I'm talking with doesn't like my answer. First, I relate it to a radio show, then I give examples of the few I've worked on. I think part of the problem comes when I start explaining about the recording process, which isn't hard! But that seems to be the point where I lose my audience.
It can be frustrating, because I know what a great tool they are! I've seen students get really creative and use their imaginations to their fullest potential. They really get into the process and start watching what they're saying, and then the recording has to be just right, and the music has to be awesome (in their opinion). This all shows me that the student wants to achieve and take the time to learn something new. What kid isn't going to love talking into a microphone? They eat it up!
Here are the benefits to podcasting:
- The students still have to do the writing process
- The student can be as creative as they want
- The student becomes instantly more engaged in the curriculum
- Students learn across curriculums
I use podcasts almost daily, both professionally and personally. I use them to continue my education. Every once in a while I will run into a website that offers a podcast of a seminar that someone did. I download it and listen at lunchtime, or on the way home, or when I'm exercising. I'm recently found out about Conference Connections, a free way to listen to speakers from educational conferences around the globe. In January I had planned to go to FETC, but I couldn't really afford it and I was already going to two others later in the year. But I didn't miss out! I type conference connections into itunes and viola! There are recordings (or podcasts!) of the speaker's presentation. I also use it to keep up on movie news. Did you know Teller of Penn and Teller is directing MacBeth at the Folger Theater in DC? Neither did I until I listened to an interview on my way to New Jersey recently. How cool is that?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Great Idea!
I was talking with two of my classmates from grad school tonight, Amie and Jen, and they came up with a great idea! I should take all of my old website wednesday newsletters and put them into a wiki to share with everyone! I love this idea. Not only can I have a viable place to hold them, I can now sort them into categories for the different subjects I've covered. In addition to this, it would be another resource for my grad school portfolio-that's due before I graduate in May. I'm so excited-I want to get started now... :) I'll post my new wiki (and the other one I joined today for SOL review) soon. Geesh, that's a lot of wikis for me, especially since I knew so little only a few weeks ago. If I could choose a song for this mood, it would definitely be "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters. Gotta go!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Some Things
I didn't realize it had been a week since my last post! So much to do and so little time... I was telling some friends about the post I saw at Danica's Random Thoughts about Meghan McCain's blog "McCainBlogette.com". I mentioned to them that I thought it would be a great site for the Civics teachers at my school to use. One of my friends mentioned another blog that might be good as well. And surprisingly, it's at Glamour.com. Their new blog, Glamocracy, is all about women sharing their ideas about politics, the candidates, and more. What I think is really great about this blog, is that it's not just one party's views-it's women from different background and different parties, all giving their opinions on the topic of politics. Check it out if you get a chance!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Another Day
I think I have finally recoverd from the VSTE conference last week. I ended up not feeling so good when I returned.
I've talked with a couple of teachers already about ideas I found at the conference. The sixth grade science teachers and I may have come up with a little something interesting about the water cycle. I'll share more as the project comes together. I also talked with some teachers about using document cameras. I was hoping this wasn't going to be an expensive venture, but I think I'm wrong. Two of the teachers I talked with said they have used them before and would give up their overhead projectors to have one of these in their rooms! That's saying something!
I stumbled across this great blog post today at the DEN and thought I would share. It would be great if we started an educational movement with unitedstreaming. Be sure to check out the comments and add your idea!
By the way, does anyone have material for professional development for blogs they would like to share? I'm developing a session now and would love ideas anyone has. I'm all about not re-inventing the wheel!
Check out this video on document cameras:
I've talked with a couple of teachers already about ideas I found at the conference. The sixth grade science teachers and I may have come up with a little something interesting about the water cycle. I'll share more as the project comes together. I also talked with some teachers about using document cameras. I was hoping this wasn't going to be an expensive venture, but I think I'm wrong. Two of the teachers I talked with said they have used them before and would give up their overhead projectors to have one of these in their rooms! That's saying something!
I stumbled across this great blog post today at the DEN and thought I would share. It would be great if we started an educational movement with unitedstreaming. Be sure to check out the comments and add your idea!
By the way, does anyone have material for professional development for blogs they would like to share? I'm developing a session now and would love ideas anyone has. I'm all about not re-inventing the wheel!
Check out this video on document cameras:
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Quiet on the Set
I'm very excited to be learning about digital video in class over the next couple of weeks. So far, we have learned to create things that can be added to our vocational ed advocacy wiki. Last week, my group and I had to create an 30 second interview from 3 experts on our topic. We chose to print out pictures of our experts faces and held them in front of us while we talked. We used flip video cameras, which seemed very easy to use. You push one button to record and the same button to stop. Every time you hit record, it creates a new file. Then you use the usb drive already attached to the camera to plug into your computer. Some of their software gets installed, but then we used windows movie maker to edit our interview segment.
I can definitely see where this specific example can be used with students. They could use a little more imagination and create sets behind their experts and also make decisions about using a tv talk show personality, a roundtable discussion, etc.
This week we are in the process of creating PSA's for our advocacy wiki. We created our treatment and storyboard and should be able to start taping footage next week. What I really like about this process is that all the planning is done before hand. In the storyboard, we had to think about camera angles, placement of people, props, effects to be used in editing. It's like a low-budget movie! Each of us has a role to play, which again is a great idea for students! Give them a reason to take ownership of the project, not just get a grade. I think our PSA is going to turn out great!
I can definitely see where this specific example can be used with students. They could use a little more imagination and create sets behind their experts and also make decisions about using a tv talk show personality, a roundtable discussion, etc.
This week we are in the process of creating PSA's for our advocacy wiki. We created our treatment and storyboard and should be able to start taping footage next week. What I really like about this process is that all the planning is done before hand. In the storyboard, we had to think about camera angles, placement of people, props, effects to be used in editing. It's like a low-budget movie! Each of us has a role to play, which again is a great idea for students! Give them a reason to take ownership of the project, not just get a grade. I think our PSA is going to turn out great!
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