Learning as a Way of Teaching

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

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.

In an effort to practice what I preach, I am co-teaching a unit on the Industrial Revolution with one of our 8th grade history teachers.  She is the content expert and I am the media expert.  Students are working together to present the IR with multimedia.  Most groups chose to make a 3 minute video and one project will be in the form of a podcast.

Things that I have learned about the facilitating of this project, but it was too late:

1.  Students focus so much on the medium they are using, they are forgetting the content.  They need to be handed the content until they are fluent in the creative process.

2.  They need better developed parameters.  I should not have used the phrase, “Do whatever you can think of.”  The time and resources we have for this endeavor greatly diminishes their creativity.  I need to reign them in just a little bit so we can get the project done in a timely manner.

3.  I need to provide better examples of what I am looking for in their final productions.

I have to remind myself that this is the first time any of us have tried student created video in the classroom.  We have learned a lot about how to facilitate this project and will do better next time.

I’m out of the blogging evangelism game.

Over the past several weeks, I have looked at the Web 2.0 tools that I enjoy and can implement in my current teaching assignment.  The one tool that I am not happy at all with the outcome is student blogging.  Edublogs has helped me with the decision by changing their service plans.  I came to the conclusion that if I am not willing to fork over a few dollars to keep some of the features I was enjoying for free, then I apparently don’t need them.

I do not have my own class of students to work with every day.  Even the classes that I work with only have one day a week or less to spend in a lab, so it is impossible to gain any momentum.

So from here on, I plan to throw my efforts into implementing iPods and using video in the classroom.  It will be an interesting journey that I will continue to chronicle on this blog.  I will use blogs for my personal development, but trying to bring classes and other teachers into the edublogosphere is just not for me any more.

How do you push for excellence without letting perfection be the goal?  I am so afraid of “messing up” or not doing something  “right”, I freeze and do nothing.  The items on my To Do list do not get crossed off because I sit and wonder how I am   going to pull them off….perfectly.  I expect perfection and will not act until perfection can be reached.

Here is what I am currently putting off:

1.  This post

2.  Three Introduction to Blogging classes that need to be started

3.  Paperwork for upcoming ARD meetings

4.  504 meetings

5.  My next Inclusioncast podcast episode

6.  The second season of Taksman

7.  Christmas shopping

8.  Exercise and dieting

9.  Starting a vlog

10.  Returning to the classroom

11.  Getting my principal certification

12.  Calling parents

There are more items to list, but this will work for now.  If you are reading this post, then I can probably cross off number one.

For the past two months, I have spent one day a week with a class of 6th graders developing their blogs. Most of them have heard of blogs before, but have never had one. Looking back, there are some things that I wish I could go back and teach again from the beginning (philosophy of blogging, how it helps them become better global citizens, they can connect with people from other countries and not just their friends sitting in the same room with them). But they will learn these in the long run. After all, 21st century learning is a new concept to these precious kiddos who have been living in 19th century classrooms their entire lives. It will take some time.

Here are the hurdles that I have to help them clear to become more effective bloggers:

1. Blogs are not social networks.

As I read their comments to each other, many of them are using SN language:

“How come I am not on your friend list?”

“Write me back”

“Hi TTYL BFF4EVER”

Perhaps it is partially my fault because I told them that commenting is what keeps the conversation going. So, they have conversations the way they would on a SN or in the cafeteria. Grrrr…..

2. Blogs are not for being goofy.

Yesterday, my co-teacher said to me that she is going to address the fact that many of their posts are becoming “goofy.” They are putting up silly pictures with no thoughts added to them. Their commenting is also turning goofy (see Hurdle #1).

3. Blogs are Web 2.0, so you have to know how to handle Web 1.0.

As exciting as blogging is for me and my colleagues, I forget that not every student is Internet savvy. They may be digital natives, but many of my students haven’t learned the language, yet. I am still showing students how to type in a web address, create links, find other blogs, and use a search engine. Many students’ are just now realizing that their blogs are websites that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere.

If I could get them to clear these hurdles, then I will have reached a major milestone. My goal is to not have them be prolific authors before the year is over. I plan to work with these students as seventh graders and just build upon the work of this year.

And there is still a lot to cover.

image attributes: www.flickr.com/photos/19358947@N00/508582026

…and my waistline and cholesterol level prove it. What makes them so appealing is I do not have to limit myself to just one item, AND I can eat to my heart’s (or stomach’s) content. So many choices, so little time. However, I need to stay away from AYCEBs because I have no self control. I take too many trips, get too much on each trip, and do not know when to say when.

I have the same problem with educational technology. The number of tools available is staggering. A virtual AYCEB for the Internet. Many of the tools can be used in the classroom. Choosing which ones to use can be a daunting task, but in order to be effective, I have to limit myself in some way. Jen posted her thoughts that prompted me to decide what tools am I going to use and in which I will become fluent.

I have wrestled with this before and it is time to come to grips with my limitations. Today is the day that I declare what path I will choose. Here are the tools that I use the most and will continue to show teachers and students how to use them as well.

1. Edublogs. If you are reading this, then you know why blogs are great tools for professional development. I do not need to spend a lot of time explaining why this tool will always be in my toolbox.

2. Google Reader. I always turn to this tool to gain inspiration and for professional development. My reader gets full and overwhelming at times, but it will always be in my toolbox.

3. Google Notebook. Time prevents me from checking out all the links that I find in my reader. Notebook helps me file away those sites that I want to go back to later, and I can put them into categories. I use Notebook to make clips of good blogging practices by my student bloggers to show others how to be a good blogger.

4. Audacity. Way too easy to create audio content for our class iPods. If you can use a microphone and a mouse, then you are on your way to engaging students through audio content.

5. iLife for Mac. Last year, I rediscovered how much I love desktop video editing. The Macbook that my school purchased makes it way easy to create multimedia content for the classroom. Garageband is hand down, the best way to create rich audio content. Podcasts are a lot of fun to create and share. I have made a few, and hope to make more in the future.

These are the 5 tools that I could not live without. There are others that I dabble with, but our school Internet filter has helped me clean out my toolbox. Maybe I need a filter at the next AYCEB meal I go to.

What tools do you use? Do you use the ones that I listed?

Check out the supplemental podcast here.

Inclusioncast #3

This is the third episode of Inclusioncast.  I called it “Keeping the Plates Spinning.”  It seems to me that a lot of Special Education is an elaborate juggling act.  What do you think?

I declare a ban on stupid rules. 

As a first-year teacher, I struggled over which rules to adopt.  I knew that it would ruin my whole school year if I had too few or too many rules.  They had to be fair and enforceable.  Classroom Management gurus say that there is a difference between rules and procedures.  I had to make sure I was not punishing students for not following a procedure, and I had to punish students for not following the rules.  Above all else, I knew that my rules HAD to make sense to my students in order for them to adopt them as their own. 

I recall a teacher who used to take 10 points off an assignment if it was turned the wrong way in the tray.  Stupid. 

A collegue used to give detentions for kids who forgot to bring pencils to class.  I decided to confront said teacher and the conversation went a little like this:

Teacher: “These kids have to learn to come to class prepared.”

Me: “So, giving them a detention for not bringing a pencil to class is going to help them learn what?”

Teacher: “To be prepared.  They know that they are going to take notes in my class, so they should remember to bring something to write with.”

Me: “Do you ever ask the cashier at the grocery store if your could borrow a pen?”

Teacher: ” Sometimes.”

Me: “Did you not think you were going to write a check when you went in?  Did you think they were going to just let you walk out with a cart full of groceries”

Teacher: “That’s not the same thing.”

Me: (thinking to myself) Stupid.

Rules are necessary, but only good rules are necessary.  So, let’s get rid of stupid rules in our classrooms.

What rules do you see being enforced in classrooms today that need to be trashed?

One of the modifications that requires a lot of man power is oral administration of tests.  Finding a place to send students who can have their tests read to them so they do not disturb other students is a struggle.  Once a place is found, then finding the personnel to devote the time to read to those students.  Each student works at a different pace or requires different levels of support, creating quite a headache to manage it all.

Solution:  iPods.  Each student can control the pace of support and how much support he needs.  All of the student’s needs are met without leaving the classroom.  While iPods may be an expensive solution for some schools, they probably cost less than a paraprofessional who could be utilized in other areas instead of reading tests all day.  I have used the full sized video iPods as well as the Nanos. 

The Process

The teacher gave me the test a week or so in advance, allowing me plenty of time to read the test into Garageband (GB) and edit it for iPod.  Depending on the length of the test, recording the test questions is fairly quick and easy.  I use a MacBook and Blue Snowball microphone and the quality is very professional.  GB easily edits out coughs or mistakes or the occassional phone ring or school bell.  Since GB works so seemlessly with iTunes and the iPods we have, I can have a test ready for 10 iPods in a day.  Time was taken up for charging the iPods that have been stored all summer and taking a needs assesment of  who need to use them when.  As the year progress, this will all be streamlined and much more time/cost effective.

With my mic plugged in and GB running, I name each new track “Question 1, 2, 3…”.  The album name is the name of the test, so I can create a playlist of just the questions I need.  I save each GB project file in a folder that bears the name of the test so I can edit later if I need to.  Since the tests can be used more than once, I can reuse the project I have already created or go back and make modifications from one year to the next.

Once all of the tracks (questions) are recorded and in iTunes, I create a playlist of the “album” I created and sync the playlist to the iPods.  As more and more tests are added to the library, having each test set up as an album in a dedicated playlist will help synchronization from one test to another (that way I will not have more than one test on an iPod at one time).

The Results 

Initial response to using iPods in the classroom was mixed.  All of the teachers were grateful for the opportunity to keep all  of their students in the classroom to monitor their testing.  Some students were reluctant to use the iPod and chose not to.  Others were very grateful for the tool.  They were not ashamed by leaving the classroom.  They were not embarrased to listen to questions over and over, because they had complete anonymity and control over the amount of time they spent on each question.  ESL, 504, and Special Education students all benefited from this format for testing. 

The Hurdles 

I still have to work on how to read text that is in a chart or on a graph.  While a live administrator can point to words being read, a recorded test does not have that ability.  However, the teacher is still available to help out where the iPod cannot.

Some students who need reading assistance also require other modifications or accomodations.  That would require different versions of the test that would lead to the need for different recordings.  A combination of iPod and test administrator can still be utilized.  While the iPod will not replace a live test administrator, it can still provide a large portion of the support needed for struggling readers.

In the near future, I see that I am going to need more iPods.