As I reflect over this semester it has been one that has been unusually busy and of change for me. Due to the life altering ceremony that I partook of this semester, I knew that I would have to be on my ‘A-game’. I initially started all of my projects quite early so that I would not have a lot of last minute work to do. But technology and life threw me a curve ball that I tried to manage, but did so horribly. At the beginning of this class I wrote all due dates in my calendar and never went back to see if any had changed. (my mistake) This made me realize what a face to face learner that I really am. I need the constant reminder of seeing my professor every week. The drive doesn’t bother me as long as I know I am getting the information I need on a weekly basis. Although Atomic Learning is a great tool, there are times that I need the modification of having my instructor show me step by step what I am suppose to be doing. Especially in this type of course, I am not technologically fluent AT ALL!!! Therefore, I wish there were more meeting times for those of us who lack prior knowledge.
One of the other things that I have learned and appreciated about this course is the multi uses of PowerPoint. I truly have never taken out the time to walk through and discover all of its applications. To show my students what they could accomplish utilizing this software was awesome and they began to ask me questions that I had to research further to give them correct answers. In the Teach & Learn with Technology course I discovered the ends and outs of Excel, Access, and Word, in this class I am glad I took the time to learn the more advanced applications of PowerPoint.
Using audio is a great tool for me being a reading teacher, I have had a blast learning how to use Audacity and other recording programs. My students who are behind grade level have grown by using these tools to read into and playing back their work. They have taken the time to learn the vocabulary and understand the tone and mood of what the author is trying to get across. This has increased not only their reading ability, but their understanding of literary devices as well.
One of the pitfalls, if you will, that I am not sure I will ever conquer is video. I had the worst time/luck with this aspect of the class. I have cried, screamed, and pulled hair over the video projects for this class; so much so that I am rethinking taking the MTT certification exam. I really wanted to take this cohort to grasp an understanding of where technology was going in education when I initially started out and I think that is what I am going to stick to. I do plan on completing the other two courses, but I think I am going to leave it at that. I will however continue to try and get better at editing and cleaning up video for the benefit of my students, but I need more hands on direction on this subject.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Creating Video. . .Blunders
April 30, 2010
Patience is a virtue is what they tell me . . . so finishing up this video project has been one of the toughest things I have had to do throughout my college career. I have had a rough time with the video portion of this class. As I videotaped my 'shots' I thought that would be the most difficult part, I was sadly mistaken. Taping was quite easy; I made sure I had plenty of footage to cover what I wanted to demonstrate in my video. Then the most annoying thing in the world happened!!!!!!!!!!! The downloaded footage of my video was not able to be salvaged from my hard drive. Now I had to start from ground zero!!! (Yes, I am in tears as I am writing this)
One of the things that my husband doesn’t like about me is over preparing. (But thank goodness that I don’t listen to him about everything) I had started preparing a lesson for my students to review for their final exams on inferences. The concept is to have each student bring in a recipe, they would present it one ingredient at a time and the class would have to ‘infer’ what the dish would be. If the class has not ‘inferred’ the recipe by the last ingredient it is revealed to them. This gave me the grand idea to put a couple of recipes on video by showing the actual ingredients and preparing the dishes so that the kids can see the final product. Hence, the ‘Inference Café’ was put together in a time of crisis.
Now all I have to do is complete the editing portion of my footage. I am completely terrified of how the editing portion of this is going to work out.
May 2, 2010
After pulling out a significant amount of my hair. . .I had to make some 'adjustments' to my video project. Once I downloaded my clips and transferred them to MovieMaker. I lost all sound!!!!!! All audio from the shoot was gone. So I tried a couple of things, like using audacity, only to have the clips look like a bad martial arts movie. So I tried to narrate over the clips and again the timing and flow of the video looked horrible. So using a bit of improvisation, I used an upbeat clip of music and some pretty cool editing tools to make the flow of the video look sharp. In an attempt to cover/modify the narration portion of the assignment I used captions on each slide. I think my only saving grace is that this clip is for an inference lesson. . .therefore it makes it a bit more rigourous for my students, they have to rely on their critical thinking skills to follow the steps. I get to play it tomorrow for them, so we will see what happens.
Patience is a virtue is what they tell me . . . so finishing up this video project has been one of the toughest things I have had to do throughout my college career. I have had a rough time with the video portion of this class. As I videotaped my 'shots' I thought that would be the most difficult part, I was sadly mistaken. Taping was quite easy; I made sure I had plenty of footage to cover what I wanted to demonstrate in my video. Then the most annoying thing in the world happened!!!!!!!!!!! The downloaded footage of my video was not able to be salvaged from my hard drive. Now I had to start from ground zero!!! (Yes, I am in tears as I am writing this)
One of the things that my husband doesn’t like about me is over preparing. (But thank goodness that I don’t listen to him about everything) I had started preparing a lesson for my students to review for their final exams on inferences. The concept is to have each student bring in a recipe, they would present it one ingredient at a time and the class would have to ‘infer’ what the dish would be. If the class has not ‘inferred’ the recipe by the last ingredient it is revealed to them. This gave me the grand idea to put a couple of recipes on video by showing the actual ingredients and preparing the dishes so that the kids can see the final product. Hence, the ‘Inference Café’ was put together in a time of crisis.
Now all I have to do is complete the editing portion of my footage. I am completely terrified of how the editing portion of this is going to work out.
May 2, 2010
After pulling out a significant amount of my hair. . .I had to make some 'adjustments' to my video project. Once I downloaded my clips and transferred them to MovieMaker. I lost all sound!!!!!! All audio from the shoot was gone. So I tried a couple of things, like using audacity, only to have the clips look like a bad martial arts movie. So I tried to narrate over the clips and again the timing and flow of the video looked horrible. So using a bit of improvisation, I used an upbeat clip of music and some pretty cool editing tools to make the flow of the video look sharp. In an attempt to cover/modify the narration portion of the assignment I used captions on each slide. I think my only saving grace is that this clip is for an inference lesson. . .therefore it makes it a bit more rigourous for my students, they have to rely on their critical thinking skills to follow the steps. I get to play it tomorrow for them, so we will see what happens.
Multimedia Experience
tI thought that I would fly right through my multimedia project due to the fact that it was over a topic that I enjoyed music and Ella Fitzgerald. I decided on this topic because the focus in our curriculum this year has been on memoirs and autobiographies. We have had to study what they are and the students have had to write their own as well as interview someone of interest to them. By putting together this example of expanding their written work I just knew it would be a piece of cake.
I initially started with the trial of Soft Chalk, it appears to be a great tool, but I had a hard time converting the information onto my website and burning to CD. One of the features that I thought was awesome was the crossword tool. But I could not get the feature to come up on my website. After searching YouTube I was able to find a few video’s that were supposed to be instructional, but they did not go into detail as to how to implement a lesson plan online. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pozX628s0FM
Since Soft Chalk did not work out for me I converted the project over to PowerPoint. With the help of a classmate I figured out how to change the slides into jpeg and moving it over to movie maker. (Sounds like I am trying to impress the teacher don’t it) but what didn’t click in my head was the fact that I would lose all of my animation by doing this. So I did a search on the trustworthy Atomic Learning and realize that adding the recorded voice into the PowerPoint presentation was a snap. (How I initially missed this I do not know) Now I think I have it all under control because I have the recorded voice on each slide, my animation, as well as the background music. I am quite pleased with the outcome of this project. And my students love the fact that they can utilize photos and record their own voice for this project. (Mainly because there resources are limited and video cameras are not accessible) I have posted this project onto my website under ‘End of the Year Project’ http://sites.google.com/site/cwillismartin/home/end-of-the-year-project
My parents who have internet access have given me some great response and appreciate the fact that I have listed everything for them. (Even the State requirements) They told me that it helps them understand why we, teachers, are requiring so much from their students.
I initially started with the trial of Soft Chalk, it appears to be a great tool, but I had a hard time converting the information onto my website and burning to CD. One of the features that I thought was awesome was the crossword tool. But I could not get the feature to come up on my website. After searching YouTube I was able to find a few video’s that were supposed to be instructional, but they did not go into detail as to how to implement a lesson plan online. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pozX628s0FM
Since Soft Chalk did not work out for me I converted the project over to PowerPoint. With the help of a classmate I figured out how to change the slides into jpeg and moving it over to movie maker. (Sounds like I am trying to impress the teacher don’t it) but what didn’t click in my head was the fact that I would lose all of my animation by doing this. So I did a search on the trustworthy Atomic Learning and realize that adding the recorded voice into the PowerPoint presentation was a snap. (How I initially missed this I do not know) Now I think I have it all under control because I have the recorded voice on each slide, my animation, as well as the background music. I am quite pleased with the outcome of this project. And my students love the fact that they can utilize photos and record their own voice for this project. (Mainly because there resources are limited and video cameras are not accessible) I have posted this project onto my website under ‘End of the Year Project’ http://sites.google.com/site/cwillismartin/home/end-of-the-year-project
My parents who have internet access have given me some great response and appreciate the fact that I have listed everything for them. (Even the State requirements) They told me that it helps them understand why we, teachers, are requiring so much from their students.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Classroom for the future
I must admit that this is a difficult task for me to imagine. I am on a campus where I have only one computer in my classroom and a projector that was assigned to after attending a professional development. (I must use my personal laptop to show presentations on it) There is one Smart board on campus that is used by the math department. With that being stated, the classroom that I envision has all the bells and whistles.
Laptops will be made available to all students in every classroom. Their textbooks will be online and when they do homework they will be able to log into them from home. For students who suffer from ailments that keep them out of school, video conferencing will be made available to them through webcams. No longer will they have to miss instruction directly from their teacher. Also, due to distance education students who choose to study foreign languages will have them made available to do so.
As for the educator delivery of lessons will be changed immensely. I see video conferencing capabilities available for every classroom. Video creation and editing will be a staple for every classroom as well. Educators are always looking for ways to expand upon lessons/projects; video will be a key component to doing so especially with the usage of ‘flip’ styled camcorders. A classroom of the future will need to have this equipment available. Educators will need to be able to podcast as a means of make-up work among other things. Websites are a must for every teacher; they are an open line of communication with parents, students, and administrators. The capability of what a website can provide for students outside of the classroom is endless.
Parents would also have to become a part of this classroom as well. Going online to view progress reports at their leisure is only scratching the surface of the possibilities. By having access to their student’s classroom website parents can view graded work, announcements, and upcoming assignments/projects. Many working parents would appreciate having teacher or POD conferences with via webcam instead of coming up to the school to find out how their child is doing. (so would the teachers) By implementing these tools for the classroom of the future I am sure it would be quite costly initially. But with the need for students to be college/world ready these changes are a prerequisite to arming them for their future.
Laptops will be made available to all students in every classroom. Their textbooks will be online and when they do homework they will be able to log into them from home. For students who suffer from ailments that keep them out of school, video conferencing will be made available to them through webcams. No longer will they have to miss instruction directly from their teacher. Also, due to distance education students who choose to study foreign languages will have them made available to do so.
As for the educator delivery of lessons will be changed immensely. I see video conferencing capabilities available for every classroom. Video creation and editing will be a staple for every classroom as well. Educators are always looking for ways to expand upon lessons/projects; video will be a key component to doing so especially with the usage of ‘flip’ styled camcorders. A classroom of the future will need to have this equipment available. Educators will need to be able to podcast as a means of make-up work among other things. Websites are a must for every teacher; they are an open line of communication with parents, students, and administrators. The capability of what a website can provide for students outside of the classroom is endless.
Parents would also have to become a part of this classroom as well. Going online to view progress reports at their leisure is only scratching the surface of the possibilities. By having access to their student’s classroom website parents can view graded work, announcements, and upcoming assignments/projects. Many working parents would appreciate having teacher or POD conferences with via webcam instead of coming up to the school to find out how their child is doing. (so would the teachers) By implementing these tools for the classroom of the future I am sure it would be quite costly initially. But with the need for students to be college/world ready these changes are a prerequisite to arming them for their future.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Audio & Animation
The school in which I teach has VERY limited resources and I am constantly looking for ways to pull in technology in a variety of ways. (As least expensive as possible) So when I was introduced to audacity I was in hog heaven!!!!!! I normally take a mike and sit at a tape recorder to record portions of books, short stories, and other literature for my students who need the additional modification. With audacity I am able to record and save tons of stuff without having to reuse cassette tapes. (I know, who uses those anymore?) I can burn my recordings to CD and save them for the next year and build a listening library for my students.
Now that I have experienced using the animation portion of Powerpoint a bit more I am excited to combine the two for those students who are below grade level. With the combination of the two the visual learners can make the connection with the reading selections. For example, one idea that I put to practice was to use pictures of characters that resemble those in the stories that I select for the class in a Powerpoint. As they are listening the characters change expressions, posture and so on to flow with the reading. At the end of a section or chapter I would take that time to introduce the new words and reread the portion of the story that it was in by showing the slide that it is connected to. Naturally this took a lot of time to prepare, but the excitement of those students who were able to join in the discussion with the rest of the class made it worthwhile.
Now that I have experienced using the animation portion of Powerpoint a bit more I am excited to combine the two for those students who are below grade level. With the combination of the two the visual learners can make the connection with the reading selections. For example, one idea that I put to practice was to use pictures of characters that resemble those in the stories that I select for the class in a Powerpoint. As they are listening the characters change expressions, posture and so on to flow with the reading. At the end of a section or chapter I would take that time to introduce the new words and reread the portion of the story that it was in by showing the slide that it is connected to. Naturally this took a lot of time to prepare, but the excitement of those students who were able to join in the discussion with the rest of the class made it worthwhile.
Friday, April 9, 2010
District Data Management
Our campus MTT unfortunately didn’t have a lot of knowledge about the questions that I had pertaining to how the district maintains it data. So I called the records management officer for the district, Chris Stone. Mr. Stone was quite nice about answering my questions he keeps a busy schedule not only in his position but, he volunteers quite a bit around the district in after school programs to help students become technologically savvy.
Q: What do we use for file sharing?
A: Each school has a server for file sharing. For middle school it is separated by department and grade level. Your MTT should have trained each department how to utilize this feature on the server. At the end of each school year the data management holds a training to show teachers how to save the files for the following year so that they are not deleted. Please be advised that all records that contain personal identifiable information are destroyed and recycled. By doing so we are guaranteeing compliance with state code.
Q: What does the district use for records management?
A: DallasISD has implemented two programs for records management district wide this school year. Chancery for attendance and registration and Gradespeed for student grades; although there were a few bugs in the inseption of both programs they have proven to be most beneficial to a district our size. For example instead of keeping up with paper files both programs have allowed us to back this information up digitally on our servers. Data management has also begun the process of taken the paper files and inputing the information into each respective program so that we can become completely paperless. It will take some time to complete the process. Due to budgeting issues IT has not been able to upgrade the data space on the district server, therefore everything will be a year or two behind until we can do so. The other management program we use for student data is MyDataPortal which holds all test scores from TAKS to ITBS. This record follows the student throughout the district. If they were ever to transfer outside of the district upon parent or campus request we can send this information electronically, instead of by paper as we have had to do in the past.
Q: How do you feel about the Project Share, www.epsilen.com , program that TEA is implementing statewide beginning this summer?
A: To be honest I am not that familiar with how this is suppose to work. The concept is one that I am sure students will benefit from as well as teachers. But the amount of work that it will place on the IT department of this district will be huge. Again back to budget cuts, as a district we have had to reduce positions in every department. For DallasISD to take on this project we are going to need more bodies and more internet speed since every campus, administrator, teacher, staff, and student will be expected to have a space. (if you didn’t know we had to downgrade our internet speed due to help the budget) The other issue I don’t think the state has considered is the vast difference we have in our schools when it comes to technology. Some schools are equipped others are not. I think that there are some campuses who will be missing out for the next year or two on this program. I do look forward to attending the training at Region X this summer to learn more about it.
As far as my recommendations go, the only one that I have for my district is to budget appropriately. I work in one of the schools that Mr. Stone talked about not being able to fully participate in the ProjectShare program that is suppose to launch this summer. We lack equipment and not to put down my campus MTT, but district knowledge on my campus. If I end up staying with my district next year I am interested in seeing how all of this will gel together.
Q: What do we use for file sharing?
A: Each school has a server for file sharing. For middle school it is separated by department and grade level. Your MTT should have trained each department how to utilize this feature on the server. At the end of each school year the data management holds a training to show teachers how to save the files for the following year so that they are not deleted. Please be advised that all records that contain personal identifiable information are destroyed and recycled. By doing so we are guaranteeing compliance with state code.
Q: What does the district use for records management?
A: DallasISD has implemented two programs for records management district wide this school year. Chancery for attendance and registration and Gradespeed for student grades; although there were a few bugs in the inseption of both programs they have proven to be most beneficial to a district our size. For example instead of keeping up with paper files both programs have allowed us to back this information up digitally on our servers. Data management has also begun the process of taken the paper files and inputing the information into each respective program so that we can become completely paperless. It will take some time to complete the process. Due to budgeting issues IT has not been able to upgrade the data space on the district server, therefore everything will be a year or two behind until we can do so. The other management program we use for student data is MyDataPortal which holds all test scores from TAKS to ITBS. This record follows the student throughout the district. If they were ever to transfer outside of the district upon parent or campus request we can send this information electronically, instead of by paper as we have had to do in the past.
Q: How do you feel about the Project Share, www.epsilen.com , program that TEA is implementing statewide beginning this summer?
A: To be honest I am not that familiar with how this is suppose to work. The concept is one that I am sure students will benefit from as well as teachers. But the amount of work that it will place on the IT department of this district will be huge. Again back to budget cuts, as a district we have had to reduce positions in every department. For DallasISD to take on this project we are going to need more bodies and more internet speed since every campus, administrator, teacher, staff, and student will be expected to have a space. (if you didn’t know we had to downgrade our internet speed due to help the budget) The other issue I don’t think the state has considered is the vast difference we have in our schools when it comes to technology. Some schools are equipped others are not. I think that there are some campuses who will be missing out for the next year or two on this program. I do look forward to attending the training at Region X this summer to learn more about it.
As far as my recommendations go, the only one that I have for my district is to budget appropriately. I work in one of the schools that Mr. Stone talked about not being able to fully participate in the ProjectShare program that is suppose to launch this summer. We lack equipment and not to put down my campus MTT, but district knowledge on my campus. If I end up staying with my district next year I am interested in seeing how all of this will gel together.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Website Design
Reading one of my textbooks, “Multimedia for the web revealed” got me to thinking just how much of an advertising whiz you need to be. No matter the type of website you are creating it is a must to know your audience. As an educator, my audience is diverse to say the least therefore I realize that I need to keep it as generic as possible. (With plenty of classroom information) The struggle I have to overcome with web design is one that I struggle with quite a few of my technology issues; it’s not in the home, therefore the parents don’t see a need to have it in the classroom.
As I have stated before my classroom houses one computer for me to take attendance and that is about it. Any additional projects that I would like for my students to be exposed to have to either come out of my pocket or usage of the library eight computers. (which I can only have 3 to 4 days out of the month) Nevertheless, I do what I can with what I have; so designing a website for my classroom looks as generic as my classroom in my opinion due to the fact that too much sophistication would exclude the parents. Being that the majority of them don’t even have an e-mail address or computers at home. Therefore my classroom website is an online newsletters that I expose my students and parents to when they come for open house. The reaction to the site has been met with quite a few oooh’s and aaah’s and a shameless plug from me to ‘suggest’ to the parents to start following it so that they can keep up with classroom expectations. Although the response is not as overwhelming as I would have liked for it to be, at least the seed has been planted. I just keep hoping that eventually the technology fairy godmother is going to come and bless my classroom with awesome gifts.
As I have stated before my classroom houses one computer for me to take attendance and that is about it. Any additional projects that I would like for my students to be exposed to have to either come out of my pocket or usage of the library eight computers. (which I can only have 3 to 4 days out of the month) Nevertheless, I do what I can with what I have; so designing a website for my classroom looks as generic as my classroom in my opinion due to the fact that too much sophistication would exclude the parents. Being that the majority of them don’t even have an e-mail address or computers at home. Therefore my classroom website is an online newsletters that I expose my students and parents to when they come for open house. The reaction to the site has been met with quite a few oooh’s and aaah’s and a shameless plug from me to ‘suggest’ to the parents to start following it so that they can keep up with classroom expectations. Although the response is not as overwhelming as I would have liked for it to be, at least the seed has been planted. I just keep hoping that eventually the technology fairy godmother is going to come and bless my classroom with awesome gifts.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Region X out of class excursion
I was a bit bummed out about not being able to go to GeoTech with the class last Saturday; but the oddest thing happened, I got married that day. So that I would not be the only one who didn't have an field trip excursion I signed up for two professional developments with Region X. The first one I went to was a Technology Roundtable. This takes place once a month and lunch is provided!!!!! But the provision of information on upcoming changes in education through TEA was pretty cool in itself. The first training I attended was a Technology Roundtable and the purpose for this session is to discuss upcoming events in technology that districts should expect to take place on their campuses. Project Share through www.epsilen.com as explained in the roundtable is closer to social networking than education management, but TEA is adopting this to manage student profiles throughout the state for K-12. This program was developed for higher education, but is being implemented for K-12. Students will be able to utilize this site throughout the educational, as well as, professional careers.
All Region X summer programs, for example TALA, will have this included as an online component which will require those teachers participating to have a project share account. Each District has a 'corner' on project share, mainly for student portfolio use, based on what the presenter said epsilen.com will become a permanent thing throughout the state of Texas. There are a lot of ideals thrown out during this process. One of the ideas that I thought was quite intriguing is the whole use of desktop videoconferencing throughout districts. Giving principals more time on campus and attend their meetings through this media. There were a couple of web-based programs such as www.ivisit.com and www.elluminate.com that are available free of charge on a trial basis.
LOTE & Technology is the second training that I attended. In this training it gave an actual example of how videoconferencing works for the district of Ector. The former Spanish teacher of Ector High School retired and the students were going to have to change their graduation plans because the district could not find a teacher to teach Spanish II & III. With the help of PlanoISD they were able to hire a teacher who works from her home in Flower Mound and teaches through videoconferencing. It is really an awesome setup. There is a facilitator in the room while students are receiving their lesson from the instructor. The instructor as well as the facilitator put in grades and there are some assignments that are submitted online via email. The students actually enjoyed the class and felt as though they were learning Spanish at a faster rate due to the fact that they had to speak aloud more frequently due to the fact that the teacher wasn’t physically present.
The other tidbit of information that I took away from this particular training was www.dfwworld.org which is the website to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth. This organization is doing a lot of awesome things with education and technology. I actually signed up to become a member because of the cultural opportunities they make available through technology for teacher and students alike. The idea of virtual fieldtrips and exposing my students to the world has me all giddy. Out of the two trainings I attended this one has to be my favorite.
All Region X summer programs, for example TALA, will have this included as an online component which will require those teachers participating to have a project share account. Each District has a 'corner' on project share, mainly for student portfolio use, based on what the presenter said epsilen.com will become a permanent thing throughout the state of Texas. There are a lot of ideals thrown out during this process. One of the ideas that I thought was quite intriguing is the whole use of desktop videoconferencing throughout districts. Giving principals more time on campus and attend their meetings through this media. There were a couple of web-based programs such as www.ivisit.com and www.elluminate.com that are available free of charge on a trial basis.
LOTE & Technology is the second training that I attended. In this training it gave an actual example of how videoconferencing works for the district of Ector. The former Spanish teacher of Ector High School retired and the students were going to have to change their graduation plans because the district could not find a teacher to teach Spanish II & III. With the help of PlanoISD they were able to hire a teacher who works from her home in Flower Mound and teaches through videoconferencing. It is really an awesome setup. There is a facilitator in the room while students are receiving their lesson from the instructor. The instructor as well as the facilitator put in grades and there are some assignments that are submitted online via email. The students actually enjoyed the class and felt as though they were learning Spanish at a faster rate due to the fact that they had to speak aloud more frequently due to the fact that the teacher wasn’t physically present.
The other tidbit of information that I took away from this particular training was www.dfwworld.org which is the website to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth. This organization is doing a lot of awesome things with education and technology. I actually signed up to become a member because of the cultural opportunities they make available through technology for teacher and students alike. The idea of virtual fieldtrips and exposing my students to the world has me all giddy. Out of the two trainings I attended this one has to be my favorite.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
You versus Teacher. . .The Tubes
Being a person who is dyslexic, visuals are always a plus when you are in a class that has a lot of reading encompassed in the curriculum. So I decided to check out Teachertube for instructional video for a couple of things that I couldn't quite wrap my mind around in the reading. In a word. . .sucky!!!!! I was really disappointed with the lack of educational information available on the site. (especially since it is a site that my campus doesn't have a block on it) I have tried to rephrase and use advance search methods and nothing viable come up. Cute little inspirational ‘you can do it’ videos seem to plague the site, but nothing that will assist educators with the use of technology in the classroom.
Youtube on the other hand has so many tutorials that they put the aforementioned site out of business. For example, I have a very good friend who is an awesome cake decorator and she wanted to borrow my cricut machine to make some stencils. I thought that teachertube would have something useful about this equipment since so many teachers use it for the classroom. Youtube had an instructional video on exactly what she wanted to use it for and gave me some really neat ideas for decorating my classroom. I have considered contacting who ever maintains the site to see if there is anyway they can raise the bar on the quality of video they get on the site. But I am sure this request would be better if it came from someone who actually is comfortable editing video. I may not be the best person for the job.
Youtube on the other hand has so many tutorials that they put the aforementioned site out of business. For example, I have a very good friend who is an awesome cake decorator and she wanted to borrow my cricut machine to make some stencils. I thought that teachertube would have something useful about this equipment since so many teachers use it for the classroom. Youtube had an instructional video on exactly what she wanted to use it for and gave me some really neat ideas for decorating my classroom. I have considered contacting who ever maintains the site to see if there is anyway they can raise the bar on the quality of video they get on the site. But I am sure this request would be better if it came from someone who actually is comfortable editing video. I may not be the best person for the job.
Twittering. . .
As I look over social networks there are times when I feel as though I am spending too much time on the computer. . . therefore I disconnect from technology at least once or twice a week. (this has been hard being that I need to be at a computer during the weekend because of class) I literally turn off my phone, computer, and MP3 player and put a few CD's in the stereo and read a book or two. With that being said I am not a big fan of Twitter although it does offer a lot of viable information to educators. One of the site that I do enjoy receiving tweets from is PBS.com. It gave me some wonderful examples for my multimedia project that I used to share with my students.
The other really cool usage of Twitter that my students enjoyed was the polling application. The majority of my students have cell phones that have unlimited texting so as a review for our TAKS test we played a jeapordy styled game using this app, they had a blast and so did I. (I only had to convince our campus tech to lift the firewall for a day so that I could actually pull Twitter up) One of the other nice things that I can admit to that I liked about Twitter was putting out questions to other educators about 'beefing' up a couple of my lesson plans. This came in handy because it gave me another perspective from teachers who didn't have all of the technology bells and whistles that I so often wish for. This opened up dialog that pushed me to be a bit more creative in the classroom. A bonus for me and my students.
The other really cool usage of Twitter that my students enjoyed was the polling application. The majority of my students have cell phones that have unlimited texting so as a review for our TAKS test we played a jeapordy styled game using this app, they had a blast and so did I. (I only had to convince our campus tech to lift the firewall for a day so that I could actually pull Twitter up) One of the other nice things that I can admit to that I liked about Twitter was putting out questions to other educators about 'beefing' up a couple of my lesson plans. This came in handy because it gave me another perspective from teachers who didn't have all of the technology bells and whistles that I so often wish for. This opened up dialog that pushed me to be a bit more creative in the classroom. A bonus for me and my students.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The wonders of PowerPoint
As a professional I always looked at powerpoint as a really cool way to present overhead materials. But as I read and explored atomic learning this software is absolutely amazing. With powerpoint I have been able to create presentations where I don't have to say a word. The animation feature is nice, but when I finally discovered the recording feature I was ubberly geeked. The presentation I used as an introduction to an inference lesson captivated my students immensely. As I set up the presentation, my students took out their binders to take notes, under the assumption that I would be speaking. As I clicked the button to start the slide show I took my seat. (by now my kiddos were thoroughly confused) As the music began and they heard my voice all I could here were the ooohs & aaahs of their amazement. Of course I had to replay the presentation because they missed the information due to the fact they wanted to know how I put it together. After the second viewing the class had some awesome questions and were able to come up with their own examples of inferences.
What I learned from this whole 'experiment' is that my students needed a breathe of fresh air and so did I. By putting audio with my powerpoint it allowed me to monitor the classroom more and offer one on one assistance to my students who needed it. So the next presentation that I gave was on plot I provided an empty graphic organizer of a plot diagram and as the slide show played I was able to assist students in filling in the information. By presenting new information in this format is like having a co-teacher in the room at all times. It was absolutely awesome. . .even my inclusion teacher loved the concept.
What I learned from this whole 'experiment' is that my students needed a breathe of fresh air and so did I. By putting audio with my powerpoint it allowed me to monitor the classroom more and offer one on one assistance to my students who needed it. So the next presentation that I gave was on plot I provided an empty graphic organizer of a plot diagram and as the slide show played I was able to assist students in filling in the information. By presenting new information in this format is like having a co-teacher in the room at all times. It was absolutely awesome. . .even my inclusion teacher loved the concept.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The blessing of audio
I had a blast putting together my audio piece. My students are working on autobiographies focusing on musicians and poets. So to put together an example of one of my favorite singers was awesome. Audacity was very user friendly, I just need to work on getting familiar with some of its advanced features. As a read from parts of Ella Fitzgerald biography, I played one of her songs in the background. Now mind you that I just read first and when I played it back I thought it was boring. So I pulled out one of her CD's and recorded it into the program and 'joined' them together. I felt as if I was back in the recording studio, only this time engineering instead of singing. My students got a kick out of the recording and couldn't wait to use their creativity to spice up their research. Some of them used poems or lyrics as their intro or outro to their audio pieces, while others turned poems into hip hop masterpieces to orginal music that they created. They were so excited about their work they e-mailed them to the principal, who in turn played them over the PA system during morning announcements for black history month.
This project has taken on a whole new meaning for my students. They want to put together audio pieces for Women History Month for the month of March. They have already began with the first 10 women they want to acknowledge and are researching 10 more. I am grateful that it has been so well received by the campus that each department has asked if they could use this technology to give facts of the day for their related subject matter. I look forward to this spilling over into animation in the classroom for all subjects as well.
This project has taken on a whole new meaning for my students. They want to put together audio pieces for Women History Month for the month of March. They have already began with the first 10 women they want to acknowledge and are researching 10 more. I am grateful that it has been so well received by the campus that each department has asked if they could use this technology to give facts of the day for their related subject matter. I look forward to this spilling over into animation in the classroom for all subjects as well.
Scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Video is not my friend
I have been playing around with this whole video thing and I am coming to realize that this may be my downfall as an educator. I am having so many issues that I truly want to give up. I see the grand potential of how video is a viable part of teaching and how students gain from it, but if I have to put it together my kiddo's are going to miss out. Gathering the data on video is relatively simple as well as downloading it to my computer after that is where I completely loose it. I know exactly how I want the scenes in the video to connect and play out, but slicing and editing this stuff is not for those who lacks patience.
Reading through the textbooks and watching the youtube videos that illustrate how to edit video seems easy enough until you have to do it. For example, I have been trying to put text to introduce the examples of certain types of video shots and movements. . .they all seem to come after the shot itself and not before it. Then when I retried to order them they all ended up at the end of the project. I was so tired of walking away from the computer that I almost called my professor to see if I could just drop the class and start over with another cohort. I love what technology can do for a classroom, especially for those students with learning disabilities, so putting this at the forefront of my mind I stepped back up to the computer and pounded out my edits and film over a total of two days.
As I looked over the finished work I realized that I could do better. . .so as I plan on going on my honeymoon I plan on taking some great footage of my vacation spot to do a geography lesson and then put the pieces together for my upcoming assignment. I haven't given up hope yet. . .let's hope technology won't give up on me.
Reading through the textbooks and watching the youtube videos that illustrate how to edit video seems easy enough until you have to do it. For example, I have been trying to put text to introduce the examples of certain types of video shots and movements. . .they all seem to come after the shot itself and not before it. Then when I retried to order them they all ended up at the end of the project. I was so tired of walking away from the computer that I almost called my professor to see if I could just drop the class and start over with another cohort. I love what technology can do for a classroom, especially for those students with learning disabilities, so putting this at the forefront of my mind I stepped back up to the computer and pounded out my edits and film over a total of two days.
As I looked over the finished work I realized that I could do better. . .so as I plan on going on my honeymoon I plan on taking some great footage of my vacation spot to do a geography lesson and then put the pieces together for my upcoming assignment. I haven't given up hope yet. . .let's hope technology won't give up on me.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Lesson Accelerators
Once I finally got into Atomic Learning the Lesson Accelerators that I chose to check out were for Audacity and Internet Safety: Be Aware! I wish that my district would make Atomic Learning available for faculty. It would be a great aid to classroom teachers, when we are going online, as well as when you need to instruct students on how to use certain components of software when they are creating projects. Teaching in a Low SES area many of my students don’t have access to a computer, therefore their knowledge of software is quite limited. I have brought this to the attention of our MTT on campus and she is proposing it to downtown. I would be ecstatic to see what happens with this.
The first Lesson Accelerator I looked at was for Audacity. This was a great find for me due to the fact that I am a reading teacher and quite a few of my students read below grade level. The textbooks that our district currently uses do not have CD recordings of the stories, which make it difficult for those students to follow along. My plan is to have my advanced students record the stories for me and have them available in the listening center for those students who need the listening practice. This software is great for me as an educator to put together podcast that I could post on my website for further explanation on homework assignments for my students.
The Internet Safety: Be Aware! lesson is a one that many teachers need to view as well as students. Many of my students do not know their way around Word or other software for that matter. In this lesson not only do they get basic information on Word they also how to avoid the pitfalls of the internet. There are teachers on my campus who have a difficult time with keeping up with the advances of technology I think this lesson would actually set their anxieties at ease.
The first Lesson Accelerator I looked at was for Audacity. This was a great find for me due to the fact that I am a reading teacher and quite a few of my students read below grade level. The textbooks that our district currently uses do not have CD recordings of the stories, which make it difficult for those students to follow along. My plan is to have my advanced students record the stories for me and have them available in the listening center for those students who need the listening practice. This software is great for me as an educator to put together podcast that I could post on my website for further explanation on homework assignments for my students.
The Internet Safety: Be Aware! lesson is a one that many teachers need to view as well as students. Many of my students do not know their way around Word or other software for that matter. In this lesson not only do they get basic information on Word they also how to avoid the pitfalls of the internet. There are teachers on my campus who have a difficult time with keeping up with the advances of technology I think this lesson would actually set their anxieties at ease.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Geeked about Jing
Okay I was so insecure about this whole Jing thing, but playing around with it (foolishly) I am so excited about it's capabilities. Although I am having an issue with getting the video from Jing to post in my blog, I am sure it will all work out in the next few hours. I will post my finished screencast (something educational) by tomorrow.
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