Week 3: Richardson book "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms"

I was very intrigued while reading our chapters for this week.  I thought it very interesting when reading through the chapter on Flickr all of the possibilities that can come from this site.  As I continued to read the ideas and assignments automatically started running through my brain.  I particularly liked the idea shared about having students link to the "map" function and be able to get exact coordinates of places.  I immediately thought "Wow, what a cool thing for a computer class in the middle school to do" which is where I used to teach.  The kids would not only enjoy using the map function, but they could go around their city and zoom in and out depending on what they desired to give a detailed description of what it is like for them to grow up where they do.  Allowing the kids to then share this with other students in similar areas would be an interesting assignment.  Having the students do a picture presentation like this will also give them more ownership over the concept possibly showing the kids what a little hard work can do.  What a great little site to share with colleagues. 

Brenda

"Digital Storytelling" Video and Article: week 3

There are an endless supply of avenues for students and adults to express themselves.  After having watched the video I can't help but think that using a digital storytelling technique is the best way for some individuals to express themselves.  I for one know that I used to have a terrible time speaking in front of others and digital storytelling is the perfect way to put hat fear on the back burner.  In watching the video and reading the article I learned that creating a digital story can be done in a group format however it is best suitable as an individual assignment.  This type of technological story would be a fantastic way to allow students to introduce themselves and can be used as an ice-breaker activity.  It would allow those students with the fear of public speaking to successfully share their thoughts and ideas while remaining comfortable in doing so.  I certainly wish that I had known and been able to utilize this tool before now. :)

Brenda

"Rethinking Whole Class Discussion": RSS feed (week 2)

I found an extremely interesting article this morning while browsing through my RSS feeds.  The article devoted to "rethinking whole class discussion" really caught my eye since I have been the teacher and have seen colleagues struggle to pull information that was more meaningful from students.  It doesn't matter what grade level you are working with when dealing with discussions as a whole, what matters is what the students are getting out of the discussion itself.  There are so many times where a whole group discussion turns into a free-for-all and in the end there was no meaningful knowledge brought forth on the topic at hand.  Making sure that we as teachers are eliciting thoughts and asking questions that are open-ended is crucial to the whole class discussion concept.  Having read that "many teachers mistakenly conflate discussion with recitation" hit home a little more closely than I would have liked.  This article made me take a step back and really focus on my own delivery of a topic and how I attempt to engage students in a discussion.  A discussion should never be a recitation, but it should grasp at the higher order thinking skills without having to go through each stepping stone to reach those higher order thoughts.  I highly recommend reading this article and know that there are many of us in the same boat when it comes to engaging in whole class discussions.  Definitely a must read for any educator at any level.

"Rethinking Whole Class Discussion".  Edutopia.  Viewed on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/rethinking-whole-class-discussion-todd-finley?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29

"7 Things You Should Know" Articles: week 2

I must say that I thought I already knew the ins and outs of twitter, screencasting, blogs and video-blogs but I stand corrected.  Who would have thought that I was completely off-base.  After having read about each of these various items in the listed readings I can see as to why so many professionals are moving to these sorts of communications throughout the education world and other areas of the communication community.  I truly enjoyed reading, in particular about twitter since I myself am currently not a twitter user but do use other forms of social networking sites.  The fact that twitter also only allows 140 characters forces those users to get straight to the point allowing those that may follow a particular person to get to the "meat" of a post without having to read a babble.  The fact that more and more professors are using these types of networking capabilities to keep up with students and colleagues shows how much trust in the capabilities of the sites that there must be.  Once again here is that ever-changing move to the bigger and better that we are constantly seeing.  It is either keep up or be left behind forever.

Brenda

RSS Article: Instagram

Instagram's New Videos:

I read an article this morning through my RSS feed about Instagram and its new capabilities.  I myself have not gotten into the whole hype of instagram and posting pictures and video enhanced by instagram on my facebook page.  There are however many individuals who have and I must say that the enhanced photos do catch the eye and intrigue the viewer in a way that regular photos do not.  This article talks about the ease of using and sharing instagram items whereas other program do not allow for such ease.  Consumers today are looking for an ease way to get items out and viewed therefore it is obvious that said consumers would flock to instagram for the easy accessability as the article states.  It is quite interesting how instagram managed to do something just a little better than one of it's competitors, FACEBOOK for instance, and once word got out that it indeed was progressing faster than its counterpart the money talk starts to flowing.  That seems to hold pretty true for the majority of sales and marketing that we see today doesn't it? All there needs to be is that little push to be the best.  After all, if we didn't have that continuing to happen in our society we would never have anything to look forward to, right?

To read the article click on the link provided.

Brenda

The Killer Feature In Instagram's New Videos Isn't What You Think It Is

Creative Commons Video:

(6-22-13):

I, as I'm sure many of you, starting watching the video and immediately became intrigued.  I was not really sure what to expect when the video first began since there were little "men and women" with guitars bouncing on my screen.  Having been an English teacher in the middle school prior to sliding down to Kindergarten I realized how great this would be to share with my old colleagues at the middle level.  I enjoyed the fact that this video puts everything into perspective in a way that makes it completely easy to understand.  Creative Commons would be a great aspect for young students to start paying close attention to because of the mere fact that so many students are writing papers, using music, pictures and siting these items without getting consent from the copyrighted individual.  I really liked how the video showed that it "takes the middle man" out of the equation.  What a wonderful source to share along with others.

Brenda