http://jeffersenglishwiki.wikispaces.com/
I would like to incorporate this wiki into my future classroom. I would modify the wiki to the grade level and exact subject I will be teaching. For example, if I am teaching a seventh grade language arts class, the wiki would include links to support the stories and novels that we are reading as well as scaffolds for homework, projects and classwork. If I am teaching a twelfth grade AP Contemporary Lit class, the scaffolds would be more like a syllabus and links to outside research materials. I would like to spend more time working on the layout and look of the wiki as well, to make it as appealing and simple as possible.
With students creating a wiki, this would need to be a long-term project. It would be an excellent and authentic learning experience, but because of the time involved, it would need to spread out over time, with benchmarks to ensure that students are making appropriate practice. This would be a good activity to assess for mastery over a quarter or half-year.
My view of instructional technology has completely changed over the semester. Prior to this class, I had used PowerPoint a few times for presentations, but had never used a wiki or a blog, and had not attempted to create a wiki, website, movie and podcast. Now I feel comfortable taking that knowledge into the classroom and working on some of these projects with my students. Instructional technology can be scaffolded to support learner differences, it can be used collaboratively, for research, for assessments, for projects and for presentations. The possibilities are many and the benefits for the classroom are obvious to me. I will be incorporating everything that I have learned into my future classroom.
I have created a website, a wiki, a screencast, an internet workshop, a movie and a podcast. All of the projects were appropriate for the assignments. I wish, in some cases, that I had more time to polish my projects. The benefit of the technology is that one can return time and again to tweak the projects. In the case of the wiki and the website, these projects are now tools for the classroom that I will keep with me and share with my students. To that end, the creations go on and the quality will be checked and improved upon going forward. I am confident that as my abilities increase even more with the use and implementation of these tools that the quality will be even better.
Surprisingly, my comfort level with technology is much higher than it was when I began this course. I cannot believe that things that I had created in the short time. It makes me confident that I can handle and employ new technologies that will benefit my students and enhance my instruction.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Making and Editing Internet Privacy Video
I could do the video all over again, I would shoot more footage so that I had more of the raw footage to work with. There were scenes that I would have liked to been able to work with more, but they were too short. Also, transition length was related to clip length, so having some short clips was a hindrance and could have been avoided with extra footage. I showed this video to as many people as I could convince to watch it, so that I could get a lot of feedback. They all said that they liked it, but that some transitions were choppy, which I realized.
My reaction to the video recording and editing process is positive. The colleagues that I filmed with were very positive and we had an easy time coming up with a script and executing what we wanted to do. The editing process had a really long learning curve, but now that I have some mastery of the imovies, I would use it again. I ran into some problems when I was trying to move the audio that was recorded with the original movie and place it with another clip. I know that we did it in class but I was unable to figure that out, and could not find any tips online that helped.
I would definitely have students create movies in a future classroom. There is a large time component as well as a learning curve, so the movie project would have to be a long-term project, scaffolded with benchmarks to ensure mastery. I think creating a PSA or recording a role playing exercise would be good collaborative and creative work that would engage students and provide opportunities for differentiated instruction.
As I had never edited a movie before, I learned about the editing process and how it requires patience and time. I like that I feel confident about making and editing a movie now that I have gone through the process and I would feel comfortable explaining and coaching my students through the process as well.
My reaction to the video recording and editing process is positive. The colleagues that I filmed with were very positive and we had an easy time coming up with a script and executing what we wanted to do. The editing process had a really long learning curve, but now that I have some mastery of the imovies, I would use it again. I ran into some problems when I was trying to move the audio that was recorded with the original movie and place it with another clip. I know that we did it in class but I was unable to figure that out, and could not find any tips online that helped.
I would definitely have students create movies in a future classroom. There is a large time component as well as a learning curve, so the movie project would have to be a long-term project, scaffolded with benchmarks to ensure mastery. I think creating a PSA or recording a role playing exercise would be good collaborative and creative work that would engage students and provide opportunities for differentiated instruction.
As I had never edited a movie before, I learned about the editing process and how it requires patience and time. I like that I feel confident about making and editing a movie now that I have gone through the process and I would feel comfortable explaining and coaching my students through the process as well.
Monday, July 5, 2010
I respond to the idea of the ten big shifts in education with enthusiasm. I originally wrote tempered enthusiasm, but amended it because although I am aware of the risks of open learning, there is so much content and such varied tools that strict enthusiasm is my gut reaction.
Students have access to infinite resources from which to gather information. This access allows each student a unique learning experience where he is constructing knowledge. Instead of using the same textbook, each student can access a unique primary source. Richardson (2010) also sees the teachers job to “find biochemists, scholars of Faulkner, and Civil War reenactors to bring into the classroom” (p. 150). These real sources will provide a genuine learning experience that could not be duplicated with a watered-down textbook. This will be the easier aspect of the big ten shifts to incorporate into my classroom. Providing authentic teachers and authentic materials from which to learn will wholly enrich the learning experience.
Students can work collaboratively with their teachers, fellow students and really, anyone! Finally, students can reach authentic audiences for their work, to receive germane and valid feedback. In the same way that students can learn from primary source teachers and materials, students can receive real feedback from audiences that specialize in the work they are creating. These artifacts “can have real purpose and meaning for the audience that reads and consumes it. [It] requires us to think about what we ask our students to produce, not as something ‘finished’ but as something to be added to and refined by those outside the classroom who may interact with it” (Richardson, 2010, p. 151). By providing genuine feedback from experts, we can inspire students to consider their work in new ways, not as assignments, but as collaborative processes that live outside of the classroom.
A harder shift to integrate into the classroom is the concept of know “where” learning. While open resources provide students with broad and deep access to infinite information sources, open resources also provide students with some easy access to knowledge that they have not constructed for themselves. Richardson (2010) sees a benefit in the fact that “factual answers are only a few clicks away” (p.151). This is great for research, but less so for information that students will need to develop for themselves. There are some skills that’s students will need to have in order to function, skills that will be needed when they do not have immediate access to online information. Students need to understand math concepts in order to be able to perform higher math. The internet may provide a quick and easy answer, but the student has not accomplished the task herself, she has just located the answer. So, while quick access to information is handy, it must be handled judiciously to ensure that students are using it for learning, not for answers.
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other
Powerful Tools for the Classroom. Thousand Oaks: Corwin
Students have access to infinite resources from which to gather information. This access allows each student a unique learning experience where he is constructing knowledge. Instead of using the same textbook, each student can access a unique primary source. Richardson (2010) also sees the teachers job to “find biochemists, scholars of Faulkner, and Civil War reenactors to bring into the classroom” (p. 150). These real sources will provide a genuine learning experience that could not be duplicated with a watered-down textbook. This will be the easier aspect of the big ten shifts to incorporate into my classroom. Providing authentic teachers and authentic materials from which to learn will wholly enrich the learning experience.
Students can work collaboratively with their teachers, fellow students and really, anyone! Finally, students can reach authentic audiences for their work, to receive germane and valid feedback. In the same way that students can learn from primary source teachers and materials, students can receive real feedback from audiences that specialize in the work they are creating. These artifacts “can have real purpose and meaning for the audience that reads and consumes it. [It] requires us to think about what we ask our students to produce, not as something ‘finished’ but as something to be added to and refined by those outside the classroom who may interact with it” (Richardson, 2010, p. 151). By providing genuine feedback from experts, we can inspire students to consider their work in new ways, not as assignments, but as collaborative processes that live outside of the classroom.
A harder shift to integrate into the classroom is the concept of know “where” learning. While open resources provide students with broad and deep access to infinite information sources, open resources also provide students with some easy access to knowledge that they have not constructed for themselves. Richardson (2010) sees a benefit in the fact that “factual answers are only a few clicks away” (p.151). This is great for research, but less so for information that students will need to develop for themselves. There are some skills that’s students will need to have in order to function, skills that will be needed when they do not have immediate access to online information. Students need to understand math concepts in order to be able to perform higher math. The internet may provide a quick and easy answer, but the student has not accomplished the task herself, she has just located the answer. So, while quick access to information is handy, it must be handled judiciously to ensure that students are using it for learning, not for answers.
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other
Powerful Tools for the Classroom. Thousand Oaks: Corwin
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