Podcasts

I really enjoyed making the podcasts this past week in class. I already do music editing so this was along the same lines. I have not figured out how to use this in my math classes yet however. I find that my students benefit from actually seeing the work in front of them. Hearing it is not as effective. I think that the digital video tool would be a lot more useful so that the students can see and hear what they need to do.

Using Video

As part of my second unit, I filmed my students throwing balls to model the path of a parabola. I then took screen shots for them to use to plot the path on a graph. Things I noticed: first, no one wanted to be on camera! Everyone wanted to throw the ball but they did not want to be seen, especially the girls. Next, it took a lot of work to get all the screen shots (I did five different throws for each class, 8 screen shots apiece). It got repetitive after awhile, and this project made me wish I had the time to teach my students a whole bunch of editing skills - from tricks in paint, attaching files, to editing sound/video. And finally, I think I finally was able to give my students enough detailed instruction to help them use a new program and submit the work electronically with success. We'll see how the write-up goes...

Video Editing

I have always been interested in editing. I edit music for my twirling team all the time. So when we started creating our advocacy PSA, my group let me play. A group member commented that she liked that if I got stuck trying to do something I didn't know how to do, I figured it out by pushing buttons and eventually going to the help tool. I think it takes a certain characteristic to enjoy editing. You have to be a perfectionist (something my sister accuses me of constantly) and you have to take risks or "play". When I get an idea, I stay fixated on it until I figure out the new skill. I'm not sure everyone would do that, especially some of my students. Many people, if they don't know how to use a certain software, do what they can and then give up. Your product might then be less than it could have been.

Kindle

I made a post about Kindle earlier this semester when it was mentioned in our reading. I just got an email from Amazon that says there's a new one. And now it reads to you! I guess its a book on tape for the digital world. Maybe it will help some people that otherwise wouldn't read. And the portability is great if you travel a lot. But like book on tapes, I don't know if anything will replace curling up with a real book.

Lesson Plans

Some of you have commented about the idea of a wiki being more appealing than a normal assignments and I have to agree. I've been thinking that I want to do my lesson plan on wikis. I think something like our ITSopedia that is a great source of review for all that we have learned would be good in any classroom. It gives the students a place to hopefully get answers on whatever they have questions with. Now I just need to think of an authentic problem. I can see the wiki being the "clear outcome" - a compilation of their efforts. They could be creating this collection for.... online homework help site? Help others studying the same thing?

If you wiki, I will follow??

I have been curious about developing ways to use wikis in my classroom. But today was the end of one of my units and they had to do a presentation to a group of "investors". I told them that they needed to have the powerpoint to me before class (emailed on Sunday, brought to me yesterday). In one class with 10 groups, I had 4. I gave them every opportunity to get this to me. If I can't get them to turn in this work, how can I expect them to take time outside of class to go online and post?

Wikis

I was reading the chapter in Richardson about Wiki's and like the other chapters, started thinking about my own class. I would really like to try creating a wiki like our ITSopedia. Each chapter, we could create a portion of the wiki to summarize what we have learned. I find that when it comes time for the test, students always want to know what is going to be on it. With a wiki, they could go back and look at everything we have collectively learned and use it to study. Unlike a blog that requires consistent communication, I don't think that students would have to be as diligent about checking the wiki (and therefore the no computer issue would not be such a problem). Everyone could contribute once or twice throughout a chapter (topic, example problem, helpful steps) and then everyone could review it near the end.

Blackboard and Blogging

I got an email the other day from one of my AP's. There is a wiki and blog tool on the FCPS Blackboard site. Has anyone used it? I was just looking at it and I see where I can let the students create entries (by username - id number) but it won't let me let them add comments.

Advocacy and Facebook

I was reading our Advocacy article for this week and came across a section about the use of Facebook. They suggested that if you are advocating for something, you should create a facebook page. This didn't occur to me because as someone who got a facebook when it was first beginning to get popular, I think of it as a socializing tool. But when I thought about it some more, this makes a lot of sense. If you are advocating for something concerning education, the way to get students involved is to use facebook. And, even if you need the adults, so many of them are now using the tool. People check it all the time and so it would be a great way to get your information out.

Digital Reading

In Richardson's book (chapter 2), there was a sample of a blog about technologies. As an avid reader, I was curious about what this person said about digital books. Anyone ready to trade in their library card for a Kindle?

Blogging in a Classroom

When reading all the ways that Richardson suggests using blogs in a classroom, I started thinking about all the ways I could use this tool in my classroom (including making my current Blackboard site more interactive). I think that this would be a great source for my students to turn to when they wanted help. If they have questions about a topic, they just have to look online. But there are two issues I worry about in my own class. One is that I know some of my students don't have computer access at home. Its not many, but there are a couple that would have to find the time to use school computers and so the at-home-help feature would be lost for them. The other is the same problem I have with students coming for extra help. They don't want to seem like they don't understand, so they won't want to post. I could require posts, but I think that takes out their ownership of the tool, their enjoyment since its just another task, and will create a lot of posts that don't really matter.

Blog about Blogging

The only time I've ever tried to blog was in high school. My friends all loved to post on livejournal.com and so I created one for myself. It did not go well... It was great when we all went to different colleges to keep up on what they were doing, but I can't say that I returned the favor. When I sat down to post, I never knew what to say. I needed a topic to get going. The people that I really wanted to know everything that was going on in my life already knew. Why post it again?

I guess with this one I'll have plenty to think about and reflect on. Guess its time to start reading!