Learning as a Way of Teaching

3000 years ago a young alien named Zord is going to school on mars in the mars middle school for marshens or (mmsfm). so he starts his day a little ruff first he wakes up late and only has 3 min. to get ready before the space shuttle gets to his mother ship so he is on the shuttle when he gets to the school he is very upset because he is still tired when he stayed up too late watching marshen attack II. when he got off the shuttle he was very scared because he didnt know anyone so he felt very alone he walked down the hallway looking for his classroom when he had found it he was nervous because he had to sit in the front on the blob table. now he had to copy notes off the board and rules on how when were outside not to get to close to the edge of the school because you could fall and drift into open space. FINALLY the bell had rung and it was time for lunch when he was in the lunch room he was really happy because he got the last jello cubes but when he was looking for a table to sit on some big alieator came and said “you better give me those jello cubes” and i was like “but i like jello cubes” and he pushed me to the ground then his alieator brother came and poured his milk all over me! i almost started to crie when ablue tailed tusk cat came and yelled in the bullies face and i thought she was gonna get hit just like me but he walked off and then she helped me up and got me some paper towls to dry off with and then my day went awsome we walked to the shuttle together and it turns out we live in the same mother ship and shes my neibor so i cant wait to see her tomorrow!!!!!!!

OMG!! storyboarding is so much fun everbody did it on the computers but i did it on paper so it would be uniqe. we did our storyboard about a boy that lives on mars and is on his 1st day of school. mr.James says mine is great but i think i could have done better because i have done better before. everbody is using characters from google because they dont want to make it uniqe like why would you use the same characters these 2 boys are using the same looney toons characters why why why!!!!

In today’s media rich world, it just makes sense to use multimedia in the classroom. The decision to engage students using the tools with which they are familiar is a no-brainer. It needs to be done.

But the time it takes to develop media does not come easily. I tag teamed with a math teacher down the hall last week to create a 4 minute video teaching graphs. The final product took 2 hours to shoot, edit, and publish. Seems like a lot of time for a little product.

I predict, however, that the 2 hours will see its reward down the line. The time we spent will bring students to attention and teach a concept in a way that they have not seen before.  At the very least, it got our administration excited about what we are capable of on our campus.

I haven’t posted our experimental video, yet.  We were just trying to see what we could do in a single conference period.  Certainly worth giving more time and effort to.

How are you using teacher created videos?  What tools do you use to create multimedia?  Do you host your videos on your school server or a host site?

Hopefully.

My ClustMap was archived and I lost all my little red dots. Sure, there were not a lot of red dots, but they made me happy. Ever since I added it to my blog, I have enjoyed seeing all the different places my blog has been read. I try not to be sad when it shows no hits in a few days. Kind of like the answering machine in college that showed no messages. “No one liked me enough to call me today.”

I rarely get comments on my posts, so I depend on my ClustrMap to tell me that I do have a small audience.  At any rate, it is time to create some traffic, get my name out there, and build up some red dots.

It doesn’t happen everyday.  Every now and then I get to hang out in a classroom.  When I do, inspiration strikes.  Sometimes it leads to system changes, philosophy changes.  And sometimes, it leads to the following.

The “feel” of this video was inspired from an SNL short film and my favorite web video team Barats and Bereta. While B&B’s content is not for all viewers, they make me laugh until I hurt.

Here’s how it went down.  Mrs. Maly’s class was learning how to use a protractor.  I thought it would be fun to measure angles around school.  Bingo!  The video storm began.

The storm swept through the library where a group of tennis players were spending their athletic period due to inclement weather.

Me:  ”You know how to run a video camera?”

Unsuspecting student I randomly chose:  ”Kind of.”

Me:  ”Come here.  Look through this window and tell me if you can see me.  Push this button when I tell you to.”

As the storm swept through the halls of my school, open classroom doors and teachers on their conference periods were sucked into the vortex of creativity.

School receptionist:  ”Why is Mr. James running around with a camera like a chicken with his head cut off?”

Fellow teacher:  ”Who knows.”

I discovered that the video practically shot itself.  All I had to do was point the camera in the right direction and go from there.  Walking into a crowded cafeteria during lunch with a camera in hand really caused instant “student engagement.”

Me:  ”What are you having for lunch?”

The first student I saw:  ”A cheesburger and some fries.”

Me:  ”Perfect.  I am going to stick a fork in your burger.  Talk to your friends and ignore me and the camera.”

Student:  ”Uuuh.  Okay.”

Me to second student:  ”You know how to run a video camera?”

Student at the table who made the mistake of making eye contact: “Kind of.”

Me: “Perfect.  Hold the camera like this.  Look through that window.  Push the button when I tell you to.”

The hardest part was the graphics.  The rest was easy.  Feel free to leave a comment or two.

I have played with the idea of stop motion animation for quite some time.  I have had a hard time punching through the creative barrier and making that first video.  Please consider the following as my first attempts.  The content is not strong, yet.  I am just putting something out there to get the creative juices flowing.

Luigi Meets Snakeagewea

Luigi Learns He is Meriweather Lewis

The latest buzzword for our disctrict is RTI.  Of course, it is not new to a lot of educators.  We are still catching on.  Two collegues joined me for a day of staff development with an RTI guru.  It sounds to me like we are making RTI harder than it has to be.  Instead of seeing it as a means to qualify students for Special Education, we should be seeing it as better teaching.  Why shouldn’t we work in a scientific manner to identify those students who need more small group instruction and track their progress?  Seems like a simple process.  So, what am I missing?

I came across a middle school math teacher who makes his own music videos to teach math concepts in the classroom. Talk about keeping your students engaged. My question is, how does a teacher have that kind of time to put something like this together? I know it takes the right combination of talent, time, and technology. Kudos to those who have that winning combination.

I have recently acquired 3 Sony Stereo IC Recorders.  Here are my ideas for implementation:

Podcasting

• Podcasters could interview faculty members around school
• Families can be a part of podcasts as they record their family history
• Interviewing community leaders would be within reach
• Reporting “live” on field trips, capturing the sounds of what they are seeing

In the classroom

• Students recording themselves reading and then playing back.
• Teachers can recite spelling words for students to practice (listening with the included earphones)
• Centers can have a recorder to playback instructions for that activity

Communication

• Students can take home recorded messages from teachers (in English or Spanish)
• Co-Teachers can record thoughts to share with collaborating partners
• Content Mastery Teachers can get detailed messages about assignments coming from General Ed teachers

These are just a few of the ideas running through my brain.  What are your thoughts?

Our campus has a new wireless laptop cart to use in our classrooms.  I am currently sitting in the training to use the cart, minding my own business writing this post.  The cart is equipped with 30 laptops, a dedicated laser printer, and extra batteries.  The laptops are made by Dell and they will behave just like our wired labs.

I can think of half a dozen projects that I would like to see done with this cart.  We will be limited to what is available on the laptops as far as software, but we can use all the online apps that are not blocked.  A wiki project, student created web pages, and blogging are just a few things rattling around my brain.  We also have played with Oracle’s Smart.com that we should revisit now that we have this kind of access.  It is a secure social network that is totally monitored.

I am looking forward to breaking this new cart in and pushing students to their educational limits.  The hard part is deciding what to do first.