Digital Story, kinda.

My digital story is finally done.... kinda. I've been struggling to get music behind it but while I work out the kinks of that, I wanted to share the story with everyone. Enjoy!

Group Pinterest Podcast

Hello, Education in Iran

Cell Phones in the Classroom

Recently we were assigned an article for class regarding 5 reasons to allow students to use cell phones in class. Prior to this course, I had never thought about allowing students to use their cell phone in class. When I was in school I wasn't allowed to use my cell phone so it seemed to make sense that current students also wouldn't be allowed to use their phones. Through class discussion throughout the semester as well as by reading this article, I've come to see the error of my way of thinking. 

As a big Harry Potter fan, I found the following quote especially meaningful. 
"Children, put away your wands. You won't be needing them." - Delores Umbridge 
One of our requirements as teachers is to prepare students for the future and to make sure that they have the tools necessary to succeed in life. Cell phones are a part of life and cell phone use will be required and integrated in every job a student has after graduation. It is important that instead of just teaching about the future, we provide the students with hands-on instruction to assist them. Teaching students without integrating cell phones would be similar to teaching young magicians without using their wands: ineffective and useless. 

 Not the kind of teacher I want to be

PowerPoint is (kind of ) Evil

Wired posted an article on the evils of PowerPoint (article found here: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html) that I recently read. After reading this article, I was struck by two points:

1. The line of the article stating that "The standard PowerPoint presentation elevates format over content". 

and

2. The fact that this article was written in 2003.  

I agree with the first point completely. I have seen many PowerPoint presentations that contain no substantial information and are filled completely with fluff, but are considered acceptable in the workplace or school because of the way in which they present the information. At times in the past, I've been guilty of giving a mediocre effort on a presentation but sprucing it up enough so that no one can tell.  Although I understand why PowerPoint is considered effective, I think teachers and students (as well as people in the workplace) need to be aware that the information contained in these presentations should always be accurate and complete.  

I wonder if PowerPoint is less used, and thus less evil, in 2012 than it was in 2003. When this article was written, I had just started college and wasn't aware of any presentation tools other than PowerPoint. Now I've used Prezi and other tools, and created digital stories and enhanced podcasts. I still use PowerPoint, but it's not as much of a necessity as it was 9 years ago. Because of the decreased reliance on PowerPoint, I think it's become much less of a necessary evil and has a role in the education of teachers and students as a starting off point for other more technologically advanced tools.

Who are you online?

CommonSense Media has many lesson plans online to teach digital learning to students. I examined the lesson Who Are You Online?; a lesson designed for high school students about how students represent themselves online. I think this lesson was a great way to show students the differences between online and offline personas and how people can choose to represent themselves differently online. That gives students a valuable lesson in internet safety and being careful who they trust on the internet. Overall I really liked this unit of lessons but I'm not sure how practical it would be in an English classroom. If I chose to use a blog or some other form of social media in a lesson, it would be helpful to give an abbreviated version of this lesson. Otherwise, I'd have to spend some time examining the Virginia SOLs to make sure that this unit would fit into the state requirements.

Visual Thinking Strategies

As I've discussed in earlier posts, I'm a strong believer in the importance of visuals in the classroom to supplement learning. I wanted to do a little research on the web to find some information to support my arguments and I came across an article discussing Visual Thinking Strategies. From what I can tell, the premise behind VTS is that students are expected to look at images and come up with meaning, just as they would look at words in a textbook or novel and develop meaning. As their skills build, students are able to come up with meaning from more complicated and advanced images. 

Much of the discussion of VTS centers around using artistic images and teaching students in an art class. I think the techniques behind this idea can easily be implemented in an English classroom. Let's say I was teaching Hamlet for example. There are literally millions of artistic renderings from this play that can be used in the classroom. In undergrad, I spent a whole month one semester discussing various portraits of Ophelia's drowning. These images can be shown to students in two ways: 

1. In conjunction with their reading, to provide visual enhancement for the text. This might make things easier for some students to understand. 

2. As foreshadowing for what is about to occur in their reading. For example, if the following image is shown before the students read about Ophelia's suicide the students can be asked who they think this woman is, why she is floating, what caused this, etc. 

The students can then read Hamlet to find out what happened to Ophelia. 

I think there is a very important place for visuals in the classroom and the techniques and methods of VTS can assist teachers to find the best way to incorporate these ideas into their teaching. 

Twitter in the Classroom

The Huffington Post had an interesting article this morning about the use of Twitter in the classroom. The article talks about ways that Twitter can be used in a large lecture based classroom, which is different than the classrooms I will be teaching in but there are still some interesting ideas for teachers to read. Maybe I'll tweet this article too, in keeping with the theme...

EdReach

On EdReach, I chose to listen to The Google Educast episode regarding the Research Tool in Google docs (Episode #49). I'm also taking a research course this semester so I thought that learning more about this tool would prove helpful in that class. Supposedly while searching in Google Scholar, there is a function to make citations within different formats. Honestly, I don't feel like this podcast helped me understand this function at all. (If you're reading Professor Knight, perhaps a lesson in Google Scholar one class?) The podcast was set up like a talk show and instead of using visuals to show computer screenshots of the Google scholar process, the video only showed the persons speaking. Seeing the person talk was a little easier to follow than blindly listening to the radio, but I feel like an enhanced podcast with visuals would have been much more helpful in this scenario. I did a bit more exploring on the EdReach website and it seems like all of their podcasts are basic podcasts and not enhanced. 

As I've previously stated, I have a hard time paying attention to basic podcasts. Therefore I don't think this type of podcast (including the ones on EdReach) is something I would heavily rely on in my classroom. The case for enhanced podcasts is strong and I would definitely like to incorporate these into my classroom, both as learning tools and as something for students to create. 

Podcasts in the Classroom

When I first read that we would be looking into podcasts as a tool to use in our classroom, I mentally wrote it off. I've downloaded podcasts to listen to before at the gym and when I'm walking around the city, but I've never been able to really focus on what the podcasts are saying. I find that someone speaking without corresponding visuals presents a really easy way for me to tune out and I imagine that many students feel the same way. 

Once I read the article on enhanced podcasting, my views changed. I think that incorporating visuals, such as pictures and charts, into a podcast makes it tremendously more effective as a learning tool. It will appeal to many styles of learners and kids will have a much easier time staying on task. I wanted to see an example of an enhanced podcast so I found this sample on the web. Despite having little knowledge or desire to learn about the Pacific Northwest, I found that I was able to maintain focus on this podcast and that I received a fair bit of information. 

A podcast such as the one I referenced above would be a valuable tool to use in the classroom. I think enhanced podcasts will reinforce the idea of cooperative learning between the teacher and the students. Because these podcasts are relatively easy to create, it would be possible for students to create their own podcasts to teach their teacher and classmates about something. Short podcasts could be a fun way for the students to get to know each other at the beginning of the year and for the teacher to get to know his or her students as well. 

The only barriers I can really see from using enhanced podcasts are equipment and skill barriers. The article states that only Macintosh computers have the capability to create enhanced podcasts in PowerPoint and many schools do not have Macs. I looked at the website voicethread.com that was recommended in the article and it seems pretty straightforward to create a movie. As long as the student have access to computers, it shouldn't be a problem to create enhanced podcasts in the classroom.

Nuts & Bolts

This post is in response to "The Nuts & Bolts of 21st Century Teaching" article, found here: http://plpnetwork.com/2011/03/22/the-nuts-bolts-of-21st-century-teaching/. I read this article and then reread it a couple of times and I have to say that my initial instinct hasn't changed. I simply love everything about this article and teacher Shelley Wright's collaborative classroom. In one of my classes last semester, we spent a lot of time discussing the power of choice for students and how much more likely students are to be engaged in their studies if they were able to chose the what or how of their lesson. I think giving students the power of choice is especially powerful in a classroom that incorporates technology. In almost every case, students are much more talented than their teachers at navigating the Internet and the thousands of educational tools available to them on their computers and phones. By giving students choice in their lessons and assessments, they can utilize these tools and create an assignment that appeals to them and motivates them. As an added plus, students can often bring new ideas to the teacher's attention! The idea of the teacher being a co-learner with the students is another powerful idea that I liked about Shelley Wright's article. As Bloom's Taxonomy and other educational theories show, being able to teach a concept or idea to someone else represents the highest level of understanding. A classroom in which both the teacher and the students are active participants in learning is the type of classroom that I would like to create in the future.

21st Century Learners

21st century learners are students that have grown up in a time of great technological change and have become accustomed to technology making their lives easier and more convenient. In my classroom, I plan to incorporate enough technology to make students feel comfortable, but I also plan on relying on some low-tech techniques as well to make sure that students receive a welcome break from their high-tech lives. Students can expect to experience a variety of technological mediums such as videos, music and interactions with Smartboards, tablets and computers. I'd also like to find a way to incorporate students' cell phones into the classroom. However, I want to be mindful of students that may not have access to these technologies or may not have a level of familiarity and comfort. As a high school English teacher, many items we read and discuss in class will be poems and pieces of literature from many centuries ago. During the discussion and activities for these pieces would be an excellent time to remove high-tech devices and have the students take a break and get back to basics. For example, in Hamlet, there are a few scenes when letters are sent and the time it takes to communicate is important to the story. The teacher could have students leave all computers, phones, etc. at the door and lead a discussion about the ways that technology has made communication faster and what the effects of a slower communication system were in Hamlet's time.

Standards of Learning

For purposes of this course, I will be using VA SOLs for high school English, primarily 10th and 11th grade. High school learners include students with many different preferred learning styles that they have become accustomed to over the years. These learning styles include visual, verbal and physical learners, as well as independent and social learners. Technology provides a great tool to include all learning styles in the classroom. For example, having students participate in an online discussion allows students to work independently on their own answer, but also respond to others, incorporating social skills. The teacher could also post responses in a graphic and share this graphic during class, appealing to visual learners. Throughout the semester, I plan on using the skills and ideas presented in ED554 to find ways to use technology to appeal to all learning styles for high school English students.

Giving Reluctant Students a Voice

R. Redekopp and E. Bourbonniere's article "Giving Reluctant Students a Voice" addresses the way that technology, blog specifically, can provide students with an outlet to share their thoughts if they normally do not feel comfortable participating in class discussion. In one of my classes last semester, we spent time discussing this so I was already familiar with the idea. Online blogs, discussion forums and other tools allow students to feel safe and more protected from ridicule than they would in a regular classroom discussion. As Redekopp and Bourbonniere point out in their article, a classroom discussion via blogging gives one reluctant student the confidence to disagree with a point made by his or her classmate. The confidence and security felt by students participating in online discussions allows for a much more thorough classroom discussion. When the teacher brings these ideas back into the classroom by reading posts aloud, it bridges technology with the standard classroom format.

Will Richardson

I've spent the morning exploring Will Richardson's blog (willrichardson.com) and reading his various posts attempting to answer "What happens to schools and classrooms and learning in a 2.0 world?" After beginning to read his blog, it becomes immediately evident that Will is extremely knowledgeable about both technology and education. Although his well-informed stance is appealing, I was drawn to this blog more due to the passion that Will demonstrates towards his subject. According to the "About" section, Will has two middle-school aged children and his posts demonstrate his desire to make sure that his sons are receiving the best possible education. Although many people have passion for education, it is not as common to find writers with equal passion for education and technology, making Will Richardson's blog a refreshing read.