Check out the photohow I created for my 4/5W blog using Roxio. I will come back in and write about the applications pros and cons shortly.
Something old Something new
The title of this weeks blog, well technically last weeks now, makes me think about a bride, minutes before she is walking down the aisle. Her maid of honor, bridesmaids, mother and mother in law are all asking if she has something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?
I watched Karl Fisch’s presentation in elluminate on January 20th, but had to go back and rewatch the recording this morning to refresh my memory and gather some of his main focal points he was addressing. I like how he starts off with his presentation as this is my opinion as of 6:15 tonight, my time. Part of my nonresposiven reflecting is that most of the time I change my view. I can listen to an instructors class at the University of Regina and feel strongly for or against an issue we are talking about, but throughout time, further investigation, research, and added opinions I may change my mind. I do not like to blog or write down stuff in my journal that is most likely going to be false feelings in the future. I am sure that I will feel different about this tomorrow evening. ;)
If you think back to the traditional classrooms starting right after the Industrial Revolution, the major turning point in human history, Karl Fisch states that traditional schooling in the 1920’s, similar to the 1890’s, were an assembly-line model. You sit in straight lines, do homework, write tests, sit up nice and straight. After 13 years you fall off the assembly-ready to work in the industrial age. I see it more as the direct teaching. Listen to me and watch me demonstate how to do this and then replicate this rote-learning model into your work; example, traditional algorithm. We are moving into more of an inquiry-based learning which allows students to think about how they can find the answers and show their work. There can be more than one way of doing things and individuals should have a ability to learn how they learn. Students are not cookie cutters! One of Karl’s student said “We are not asked to think about math… we do math!”
I have always reflected on the broader spectrum in regards to technology. I want to take a step back and narrow my thoughts to my teaching career. As a teacher what can I do in this classroom with my students versus…..
… what can I do if my classroom looks like this?
Karl does note that this Industrial Age does not exist anymore. Again kids are not cookie cutters who should be taught the same way. I do not have to think about which one of the above classrooms would fit my inquiry-based learning I feel strong about as of today at 4:00pm. It is pretty obvious. I think that the windows in the first photo metaphorically speak for the students or the teacher not being able to see what goes on in the world, where in the second photo the windows to the world are right there infront of you!
I have to say that 98% of my learning that started five years ago here at the Univeristy has not been with the internet. That is not including the ECOMP classes. Students will use videos, case studies, blogs, etc for presentations but the instructors on the most part don’t. The most you get is powerpoint presentation. In our moral education class our instructor uses overheads (we copy off his notes) and yesterday he showed a case study via VCR. I had to giggle when he was having trouble with it and said he had someone to call if he couldn’t get it to work. As a professional it is good to have a back up plan! The video was a case study about whether or not gay marriages should be taught in a grade 3 classroom. At the end of the video we shared in our group what we thought or how we would deal with the issue stated at the end of the video– as a teacher. Now I can see how a blog with this video would be so much more enriching. People could comment their experiences on the issue; whether positive or negative. Through social networking, people have the opportunity to share real life situations and how they dealt with something. In the education program this is what I feel lacks– experience. Social networking is a great way to gather some experience in dealing with matters professionally the first time because we have heard other tips and advice worldwide, helping us consider the dynamics, reflect what we would do in this matter ourselves, and be confident to deal with the matter accordingly if it did arise!
Old I would have to say is overhead and new would have to be powerpoints but nothing ever borrowed. I think that the internet is something borrowed, we are borrowing information worldwide. 
Do you get my pun?
Question to think about that Karl asks, “What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century?” It is important to able to read and analyze books, but there is more to it than that in the 21st century. Something I need to reflect on! What I do know is that brains are going to be pretty powerful!
(I cannot take credit for the above pictures, I found them on the internet through google)
Web 2.0
When I heard the term Web 2.0, I was having a hard time figuring out what it meant for sure. I viewed this video on Becky Anderson’s blog and it sure helped verify it for me Check it out! Thanks Becky!
Setting up a blog with 4/5W
Today I went and had lunch with my cooperating teacher (friend) from internship and visited with my well missed 4/5 students! During Mrs. Weitzels prep time right after lunch, we set up the students names and passwords on our new class blog I created to keep in touch. It was so easy. All we had to do what put in the students name, and create a password for each. After that select that the role is a student and press create. That is it! It literally took us five minutes to set up the classroom. I also got to add in Mrs. Weitzel, role as a teacher, and she can edit with the students work as well.
When we took the students down to the computer lab the only problem we had was that the youtube video will not be able to be watched under the students log in due to the security the school has. That is a whole new topic! Anyway Mrs. Weitzel signed in and we watched it under hers on the smart board. From there the students commented on my post after they watched the video I created. Check it out!
One of the students discovered that after she commented she could go back and edit it again if she wanted to add something else or fix up errors Mrs. Weitzel and I also noticed that we can reply in any of their comments with a different color if she wanted them to work on fixing up punctuation, capitalization, or word choice. The student can fix up their writing and then Mrs. Weitzel or myself can edit and erase our comment when fixed! Awesome tool!
Another exciting tool with this site is that each student or teacher can submit their own post. One of the students has already done so on his profile. Click here to view it. What a great way to empower the whole classroom by allowing them to post and comment on personal interests, goals accomplished, etc.
One downfall so far with this site is that you do not have access to comment right on a comment. It would be nice to read one of the students comments and then be able to reply to it so that you can carry on a conversation back and forth. I think that would make it easier for the students to follow along.
I ended up staying for the whole afternoon. The class convinced me to go cross-country skiing! I fell three time but had a great time being back with the class! I sure missed them!
Mrs. Weitzel was excited about the yodio tool that I used and wants to try skyping soon! Next week we are going to set her up! She would like me to read a story to her class through skype on her smart board, for their reading challenge the school is having. Their goal is to try and get guest speakers in. I am going to be a skype guest speaker. Think about what you could do with classrooms around the world with that idea. One example would be to have a Canadian classroom write a story about their province Saskatchewan (Grade 5 Curriculum) and then read it to a classroom that is from Australia or New Zealand! Then those countries could tell us a little bit about where they live too by writing a story! It is absolutely amazing! Connections to Language Arts, Social Studies, Art, Independant learning, Social learning, etc.
Kidblog.org – Blogs for Teachers and Students
Kidblog’s simple, yet powerful tools allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over student blogs.
I found this link added by Dean on our ECMP 455 Winter Ning. I am going to delete my blog that I have created with the 4/5W class in wordpress. I have created an account with kidblog.org which was very simple to do. I am excited to be able to add the teacher and student usernames into the blog so that they can participate along with me. Here is my new blog I have created http://kidblog.org/45w/student-blogs/ . I am not sure what I can do with this blog yet. It will be a learning process. So far I got my introduction video embedded
It is not much yet but over the next few months I hope that there is a lot more activity, pictures, categories, and etc. I am going to visit my internship class on Friday and set up usernames for my cooperating teacher. I am so lucky to have someone who is so flexible. She is not technology literate but very willing to learn with me. I am hoping that next week she and the students will be able to start the blogging journey with me!
The beginning of NetVibes
I am a huge organizer. I hate clutter! I only buy something if it is a necessity. I am sure that all of our definitions of necessity will differ. There are times when I organize something so well that I tend to hide it from myself. Well when working with social networking on the computer I have a hard time remembering about all of those favourite websites, blogs, wikis, articles, etc that are of interest to me. I have some saved in my favorites, some saved on e-mails, and even some saved in my documents categorized in each subject area. Well it is time to clean out the closet and go on a clutter diet.
I am enrolling in a new clutter diet program called NetVibes. For the month of February I will lose the clutter in my emails, favourites, and in my documents. This clutter will be organized onto my netvibe account.
I will be able to put in my emails, igoogle, facebook, diigo, delicious, and favorite webpages all into one account. This way it will all be together, I will not have to worry about losing all my saved items if my computer crashes and it will save me time trying to locate what I have organized into too many diverse places.
I have started a social networking tab with facebook, twitter, igoogle, the weather and a to-do list (I love this widget. I type in what I need to do and cross it out or delete it when I am done). I have also started an email tab with hotmail and my uregina accounts.
So far I am thinking this is going to be the ticket to a lighter computer
Becoming a Reflective Blogger
Today I have been trying to fathom this whole advocate for blogging. Don’t get me wrong. I think that the use of technology has set high standards in the home, school, business, and world-wide networking. However, I often wonder what will become of the next generation. My daughter is watching a movie on the dvd player in the car while we go through a car wash. I have, what I thought, a teachable moment about food in the car and how we need to clean up our spills or take in garbage from our trips into the house. After 5 minutes, she looked up at me and said, “What?” Are you serious? She never heard one thing I had said. How may times have you talked to people who are texting, on the computer, watching a movie, on the wii, etc and think they are listening to you but heard nothing. I am one of those people. I can multi-task in the kitchen but I can not text, talk and listen at the same time. I am impressed when I watch Dean talk during the webinar, twitter, and watch the chat at the same time.
I find that communication in the world outside the technology box is being deteriorated. People are so absorbed in the computers, ipods, and cellphones that we no longer hold many conversations one-on-one anymore. What will happen if we rely on technology for everything soon, this is where I see us headed. Heck when you go into a store and purchase groceries you use interact, if cheques are accepted you do not even have to write on them. There is now a machine that the cheque goes through imprinting the stores name, amount, and date. I guess it is a good thing that you have to sign it for verification or you may forget how to write your own name. What is the big deal to write the information on the cheque? You can’t even hold much of a conversation with the worker or people in the line because you are sped through so quickly. Well, there is money to be made, right?
Now like I said earlier don’t get me wrong, I am not against technology, there are many positives, like the internet for example. Blogging has not been my forte. I admit I was one of those bloggers who blogged for the semester to try it out, learn tools and techniques for my future teaching career. Setting up a blog to show student development or for use with assessment was as far as I was thinking. I want to do it. I like it. I like the learning and wide range of information. However, I would have a hard keeping up with it right now if I was not in this class. How did you find the balance to do this without feeling like it is an overload, scaring me away? How do you make those short-term goals that work into long-term involvement.
I can remember asking today how I was going to find those blogs, articles, wikis, or web sites that I like to read or can learn from. How do I create this repertoire to become more interacted in this social networking world? Ok so after watching the elluminating webinar, a 2 hour presentation posted to watch and reflect on for this assignment, I began to realize what I was doing. I found myself pausing the session (I like that with the recording) and saving the blogs and wikis to my favorites on my computer. I was peeking in on them and seeing tools that I would like to share. I posted them to share with the ECMP455 ning. People were posting their twitter names and I started following them too! This is my start of my repertoire of a relective blogger. I can only be expected to start here and save articles that others post on Twitter and then follow those websites and others that are posted in them, etc. You get the idea? I may not read them all today due to all the demands but because they are saved in my favourites I will read them one day!
I am a very reflective individual. As a teacher I am always thinking about what I like, dislike, or could do better next time. I very seldom write my ideas down, but I remember each time I do my lessons. I now understand the impact that reflecting and sharing have and what posting on blogs can to for each others learning. When you use tools such as journals, videos or audio tapes for recording reflections for future references but keep them to yourself chances are you will not look at them again. If this information is posted on blogs and put out there, it will be valuable not only for yourself but for others too. We advertise each others blogs on twitter, diigo, etc. providing us with support, ideas, etc.
So this blogging aspect is good for being better learners, professionals, educators, etc. What do you think would happen if technology crashed world-wide? Think about education, means of transportation, ways we cook, etc. How would we react if we could not take a phone with us as safety measures when it is cold out? What if we break down or hit the ditch and we do not have the means to make a simple call? What happens when that portable dvd player is out of batteries and there is nothing to do? I am bored!! Where did that star or cloud gazing imagination go that we once did while driving in a vehicle? Can you relate to any of this? I would love to hear about your thoughts?
What a mouthful! Great metaphor for this posting!
My daughter created this wall art using acrylic paints
Olympic torch photos
Introduction video using “Yodio”
Yodio uses the internet and phone to add your voice to your photos. I was so excited to try this out. You upload your videos and place them on the tracks in order of your preference. Then you register your phone number, whether it is home, cell, etc. Once registered you call the number 1-571-730-5588 to record your audio. Within seconds your audio will show up and you can place it accordly to the picture you would like. This was very simple and caused me no frustrations at all. I liked how it automatically saves the work for you, making it easy to return to your unfinished project. There is nothing worse that doing work and then losing it all. I cannot remember which tool I used last semester but I know it never saved work, you had to complete the job you started or it was lost in cyberspace. The only cons that I could say about this tool is that you cannot carry over the audio to talk through multiple pictures at once. At the end of every audio recording, I found that it allowed to long of a silence break before proceeding to the next picture. I think this might have made my introduction a bit choppy. The only other minor issue was when I watch the video on the large screen, the audio was overlapping with the incorrect photos.
I think that this tool would be great to use in the classroom. Students can use a photo from a project and add in the audio to answer the questions ask by the teacher. One way to assess students learning, understanding or point of view. This would be similar to a voicethread. The difference would be that a voicethread could be used more as a means of communication between the teacher and students.
