I made a Power Point presentation for my wicked problems presentation and then recorded myself walking through it. I feel like it really brings all of my ideas to life and sums up a lot of what I was thinking about in the project.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Group Leadership Copyright Project.
Eric, Pam, Greg, and I created a group project that focused on Copyright laws, Creative Commnons, Fair Use, and Public Domain. We had scratched the surface of this great big goliath topic at the beginning of July when we were working together in East Lansing but we wanted to dig deeper. Since we all lived in different areas so we decided to form our group via the internet (facebook, ect.) and collaborate using the all mighty cloud.
It was decided that we would make a professional development type presentation and the group thought that a combination of Prezi and Jing would be the most effective we of conveying our information. We then split up the work and all went our separate way to create out marvelous presentations. When we met up online we found we had a lot of great material so we created a Website for the information on Weebly.com.
During my travels through the world of Copyright laws I learned a couple of really clear facts.
1) I would not be a good lawyer. There is a lot of research that goes into being a good lawyer and there are thousands of similar but different cases out there and they all need to be read and digested in order to gain a good understanding of exactly what is going on.
2) Copyright laws have a lot to do with the flow of money. Everyone in the world needs money and they would like as much of it as they can get so it makes sense that you would do everything you can to protect your money and its flow. As an educator, I am not necessarily trying to make a profit from a lot of the things I do so I have certain loop holes and backdoors that can make my life a lot easier and I really enjoy that.
3) The public domain is a really great thing. I feel like a lot of great can come out of material that is shared by everyone. I don’t feel entitled to all of the things in the public domain, I feel blessed to have unrestricted access to them. I plan on exploring all of the great things that are in the domain and putting them to use in my professional and private lives.
4) Keeping your presentation short and to the point can be very difficult. Even though I was only asked to focus on a portion of our entire group project I still found a ton of helpful information that I wanted to talk about. Unfortunately, we were trying to avoid any kind of long winded responses so I tried my best to shorten things up to those things that were most important or directly requested by the audience (via wallwisher)
If I had to develop a similar product in the future I would try to communicate more effectively with my group. We used email, messaging, and chatting but I feel like I was always late to the party or confused by what was being posted. I really let my group down with my poor communication skills. Call me old fashion but, I needed some real face-to-face meeting (even though that would have been impossible in my group). Also, it would have been extremely nice if I could have worked on this while I had some consistent access to the internet. Rustic camping and digital presentations just don't mix.
The website:
http://groupleadershipproject.weebly.com/index.html
Here is my screencast presentation Fair Use.
It was decided that we would make a professional development type presentation and the group thought that a combination of Prezi and Jing would be the most effective we of conveying our information. We then split up the work and all went our separate way to create out marvelous presentations. When we met up online we found we had a lot of great material so we created a Website for the information on Weebly.com.
During my travels through the world of Copyright laws I learned a couple of really clear facts.
1) I would not be a good lawyer. There is a lot of research that goes into being a good lawyer and there are thousands of similar but different cases out there and they all need to be read and digested in order to gain a good understanding of exactly what is going on.
2) Copyright laws have a lot to do with the flow of money. Everyone in the world needs money and they would like as much of it as they can get so it makes sense that you would do everything you can to protect your money and its flow. As an educator, I am not necessarily trying to make a profit from a lot of the things I do so I have certain loop holes and backdoors that can make my life a lot easier and I really enjoy that.
3) The public domain is a really great thing. I feel like a lot of great can come out of material that is shared by everyone. I don’t feel entitled to all of the things in the public domain, I feel blessed to have unrestricted access to them. I plan on exploring all of the great things that are in the domain and putting them to use in my professional and private lives.
4) Keeping your presentation short and to the point can be very difficult. Even though I was only asked to focus on a portion of our entire group project I still found a ton of helpful information that I wanted to talk about. Unfortunately, we were trying to avoid any kind of long winded responses so I tried my best to shorten things up to those things that were most important or directly requested by the audience (via wallwisher)
If I had to develop a similar product in the future I would try to communicate more effectively with my group. We used email, messaging, and chatting but I feel like I was always late to the party or confused by what was being posted. I really let my group down with my poor communication skills. Call me old fashion but, I needed some real face-to-face meeting (even though that would have been impossible in my group). Also, it would have been extremely nice if I could have worked on this while I had some consistent access to the internet. Rustic camping and digital presentations just don't mix.
The website:
http://groupleadershipproject.weebly.com/index.html
Here is my screencast presentation Fair Use.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Professional Learning Plan Vodcast
I created a Vodcast about my Professional Learning Plan and the new school year while I was on a family vacation at Silver Lake MI.
Growing Up Online
Today I watched two sobering videos about the effects of the internet on our planet's youth. These young people will be in charge of our nations and our well being in only a few years and they are being brought up in a way that is almost completely foreign to previous generations. The big question is: Is the internet good or bad for our kids? And I'm certain that there is not good answer to that all powerful questions. You might as well ask what the meaning of life is. Even though the videos didn't answer the big questions they did bring up a number of different good points that I wanted to comment on here.
Here are the videos:
DigitalNation
GrowingUp Online
I found some of the quotes from the films to be very moving. Here are a few that really struck a chord with me.
“Multitaskers are bad at every part of multitasking”
I really agree with this quote in two different ways. I know that I have a personal bad habit of multitasking when I am surrounded by technology. I also know that when I allow myself to multitask my productivity really suffers. I have trained myself in a number of different ways to avoid this by altering my work habits but there are still times when I fall prey to my own sabotage. One of the things I do to avoid my multitasking is to try and get my work done while I am still at work. If I am writing lesson plans or grading tests then I try to do it while I am sitting at my desk in my classroom where I don’t have access to my music and would dream of checking Facebook.
The educator in me can relate to this statement as well. I have seen my students when they are focused and I have seen them when they are distracted by cell phones, iTouches, and laptops and their output is shockingly different. Not only does it take more time to turn out a product when they are focusing on one thing but the quality of that product is far superior. For that reason there are days when I ban music and mp3 players from my classroom. I want my students to feel the silence and try their very best to focus in on a single task without having to worry about anything else.
“It took a long time for us to realize smoking was bad for our health.”
It may be hard to believe but this whole “Internet” thing is still very young and that means that it is still experiencing some growing pains. This is exactly what happened when cigarettes first came into popularity. They received a lot of wonderful press because they could mellow your mood and help you lose weight but then after a long time the ugly truth came out and the public view of smoking drastically changed.
The internet has also receive a lot of very positive press and has definitely made human life easier in a lot of ways but that isn’t the end of the story. Only time will tell exactly how we will view the internet. Maybe some serious changes need to be made. Maybe we will abandon the infrastructure for something even newer, better, and faster. It’s hard to tell. The one truth that I can see right now is that we are just now starting to see some of the ugliness that had been lurking just under the surface.
“To walk into a classroom that doesn’t have any media is like walking into a dessert.”
I thought this was a good reminder for the teacher in me. Many times, it can be so easy for me to go about my day just using a minimal amount of technology. My techniques may have been an effective way to teach lessons when I was a student but they don’t cut the mustard anymore. Often times I just fall into comfortable routines and do what I’ve done in the past but that doesn’t mean that my lessons are as good as they could be. When I reflect back on my methods I always feel like I could do more. I know there are tools out there that could make my lessons better but I need to be reminded from time to time.
“We have LCD projectors in almost every classroom.”
This particular statement was uttered by a high school principal in one of the films and although it seems like a very one dimensional quote I saw a deeper meaning. There is a very big emphasis in updating the technology in schools right now. So many times, people outside of the classroom focus almost entirely on “the toys” (LCD projectors, SMART boards, laptops, graphing calculators) and not the training, searching, and experimenting that goes into actually using “the toys” effectively in a lesson. A SMART board on its own will not help students learn their grammar fact or prepare them from their future careers. A quality teacher is still the most important element in any classroom. This doesn’t mean that technology shouldn’t be welcomed into every classroom. I feel like technology is a great teaching tool but it needs to work harmoniously with teachers in order to reap the greatest benefits.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
This I Believe: The Education Edition
I created a short podcast about some of my thought on the future of education and teaching. I have really changed some of the views this summer and I wanted to share the new and improved ME.
DOWNLOAD the podcast here.
Transcript:
What do you believe about education?
DOWNLOAD the podcast here.
Transcript:
Education is in an almost constant state of flux. As an educator you have a few choices when it comes to dealing with this. 1) You can fight the changes and get battered around like a dingy in stormy seas. 2) You can hold out on taking action until all of the changes come to an end like an ostrich with its head in the sand. 3) You can ride the waves of change and learn to flow with them like a professional surfer on his favorite break. Personally, riding the waves of change sounds like the best option even though I don’t always take my own advice.
One of the biggest changes happening in education right now is the integration of technology into course work. This push for integration doesn’t mean that teachers pepper technology in between lessons or during projects. It means that teachers start using technology at every step of the learning process. Technology becomes more important to the classroom and students than chalk, pencils, and a college ruled notebooks.
I believe that there is no time to waste for teachers. The world is changing and we need to change with it. We are teaching the children of the 21st Century and they cannot wait for anything including education. We are preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet and we need to start using some extreme techniques to get them ready.
I believe that now is the time to experiment and take chances. Countless studies have shown that teaching technologically savvy students with archaic methods and tools is ineffective. We need to use tools that will meld old concepts of pedagogy and content with new technologies to form something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Educators also need to look to all of their students for inspiration and not just those students that we deem typical. By catering to those at the very extremes of your class you will most likely satisfy those in the middle as well while you benefit the entire group. We way faultier along the way but the most important things are that we remain dynamic and continue to hone our skills.
I believe that educators need to return to the roles of students and learners so they can then be better teachers. Education is so dynamic that there will always be new things to discover and the best teacher in the coming years will also the best students. Furthermore, not all learning needs to take place at an expensive university or crowded conference. The use of online learning platforms and digital personal learning networks can help all different kinds of teachers strive for the next level.
I believe that the teacher is not an endangered species. Many people fear that flesh and blood teachers will start dwindling and even go extinct with the rise of the online classroom. It is definitely true that online courses are becoming more popular but they will never be able to replace the type of intimate and informative instruction that can be delivers in a face-to-face setting by a master teacher. Online classes will begin taking up larger chunks of each student’s education but there will always be a need for a living and breathing being to sort things out or pick up the pieces when things go wrong.
With all of these changes whirling around education it can feel like we are all scrambling on unstable ground and the truth is actually much worse. We are all actually on a wave in a sea and we are falling. The goal is not to panic because that will certainly lead to death but rather to do our best to fall gracefully riding a perfectly formed board known as technology.
What do you believe about education?
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Leadership? BRING IT ON!...Again
I've been thinking about leadership this week. All of my new tech toys that now reside in my teacher toolbox are going to find their way into my classroom and people are going to take notice. Other teachers are going to see or hear about my students doing things in ways that they had never even thought of before and that is going to cause some chatter. There is a very good chance that some of those teachers will come to me an d ask me to help them do some of the same things that I am doing in my classes. I will become a teach leader.
In our building, we are blessed with a fantastic tech coordinator that helps the entire staff do wonderful things in our classrooms when our students are there and even when they aren't. Also, in every department there is an unofficial teach guru as well. You know this person, they just bough an iPad and want to show you all of the cool things it does, or they know about ten super cool websites that they use in their class all the time and think you should use them too. I've always been on the verge of this unofficial status because I know my way around MS Words, and I am a super crazy test file maker. I've never had any real "wow" status that would draw people to me and most of my skills don't apply directly to students. I think that my new tools are going to change all of that and I am going to become a big fish in a small pond.
The strange thing is that I've already jumped through these same hoops and done these same types of things in different parts of my career. I am a leader in my building for a few other concentrations and feel that my work in those different realms will greatly help me as I become a new tech leader. In Elena Aguilar's Article entitles "Becoming a Teacher leader she says:
"We look for attributes of leadership: teachers who are thinking outside of their classrooms, teachers who take risks within their classroom, teachers who aren't afraid to say that they don't know something, or who aren't afraid to share what they do know"
After only a short year in my building administration and some of the major decision makers in my building had already found those things inside of me and approached me to become a teacher leader and pilot teacher for a new Algebra 2 program that was being developed. I was very surprised and honored to be even asked and decided to take on the challenge of working with some students that really struggled with mathematics but legally had to get through Algebra 2 in order to graduate. I found the leadership position both scary and exhilarating at the same time. It was scary because my decisions were have a strong effect on classes of students and I wanted to make sure I did the kind of quality job that being expected from me by those who put me there. It was exhilarating because I was able to make decisions and be dynamic and creative even if some of those decisions ended in failure. I was allowed to entertain the idea of going on a field trip to the corner Speedway gas station for Slurpees and I was capable of trying group quizzes where students work together on a single assessment. I also really enjoyed experimenting with lesson plans. I would try out lesson plans and some wour be complete utter failures and other would be great. The important thing was that I tried it, I showed it for my administrators, the kids gave me feedback, and we all moved forward together. It has been great fun and great anger all rolled into one.
I am excited to be taking on another leadership role and I hope it brings on the same fears and joys that I have been experiencing as a curriculum teacher leader.
In our building, we are blessed with a fantastic tech coordinator that helps the entire staff do wonderful things in our classrooms when our students are there and even when they aren't. Also, in every department there is an unofficial teach guru as well. You know this person, they just bough an iPad and want to show you all of the cool things it does, or they know about ten super cool websites that they use in their class all the time and think you should use them too. I've always been on the verge of this unofficial status because I know my way around MS Words, and I am a super crazy test file maker. I've never had any real "wow" status that would draw people to me and most of my skills don't apply directly to students. I think that my new tools are going to change all of that and I am going to become a big fish in a small pond.
The strange thing is that I've already jumped through these same hoops and done these same types of things in different parts of my career. I am a leader in my building for a few other concentrations and feel that my work in those different realms will greatly help me as I become a new tech leader. In Elena Aguilar's Article entitles "Becoming a Teacher leader she says:
"We look for attributes of leadership: teachers who are thinking outside of their classrooms, teachers who take risks within their classroom, teachers who aren't afraid to say that they don't know something, or who aren't afraid to share what they do know"
After only a short year in my building administration and some of the major decision makers in my building had already found those things inside of me and approached me to become a teacher leader and pilot teacher for a new Algebra 2 program that was being developed. I was very surprised and honored to be even asked and decided to take on the challenge of working with some students that really struggled with mathematics but legally had to get through Algebra 2 in order to graduate. I found the leadership position both scary and exhilarating at the same time. It was scary because my decisions were have a strong effect on classes of students and I wanted to make sure I did the kind of quality job that being expected from me by those who put me there. It was exhilarating because I was able to make decisions and be dynamic and creative even if some of those decisions ended in failure. I was allowed to entertain the idea of going on a field trip to the corner Speedway gas station for Slurpees and I was capable of trying group quizzes where students work together on a single assessment. I also really enjoyed experimenting with lesson plans. I would try out lesson plans and some wour be complete utter failures and other would be great. The important thing was that I tried it, I showed it for my administrators, the kids gave me feedback, and we all moved forward together. It has been great fun and great anger all rolled into one.
I am excited to be taking on another leadership role and I hope it brings on the same fears and joys that I have been experiencing as a curriculum teacher leader.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
WPP: Post B
This post will be a continuation of the post I created yesterday.
The "Wicked" problem that I came across in my classroom was so challenging that I needed some sort of frame work to help me tackle it properly. The TPACK frame work is a very helpful tool that emphasizes the inclusion of technology into lessons and even whole courses. The best part of the TPACK model is that it is a conglomeration of content knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and Technology Knowledge (TK). The thought behind the whole framework is that a 21st century lesson is at its very best when it strikes perfect balance between all three of those knowledge areas.
I will be breaking down and dissecting my lesson to highlight how the three different elements interact within the lesson.
PC (pedagogy and content): One of the big pedagogical things that I have learned about lately is called the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and from that I have come to really appreciate the power of differentiated instruction. If you can design a lesson that works for you fringe-type students then it will almost certainly help your my typical students. This was a major goal for my number hierarchy lesson. I felt like I needed to differentiate the learning process because the content was very abstract and discouraging for a lot of students. I tried to attack the problem at a couple of different levels. I think the diagram is a good middle of the road technique that will help some but not all. I think the pictures are a good lower level technique that could also be expanded to an upper level of technique if students try to capture some of the more complex number systems or get creative. I also think the quiz/program would be a good tool. I think creating it is a very upper level project but using it would definitely help my lower level students. They could take the quiz with a certain number in mind and then the quiz would determine exactly what kind of number it is.
TP (technology and pedagogy): The diagram will be presented using animations in some sort of presentation software and I don't think the technology will offer much pedagogical support because there won't be any interactivity or wow factor. The picture taking portion of the lesson will inspire some students and will provide them with an opportunity to express themselves. I think this plan of attack will really draw a lot of kids in because it creates a connection (if only a weak one) between something they like/love (taking pictures) and something they are learning about (number systems). This will assist in the teaching process and eliminate the need for other pedagogical strategies. The quiz will attract and help two different students groups at two different times. In the beginning, those students that already have a good solid understanding of the hierarchy of numbers will get the project off the ground and actually build the quiz. This can be an activity that is carried out without a teacher present so that the teacher can then work with the other students who are struggling. Then, those students who were struggling will be able to test and use the quiz to see if it works. This will help further their understanding and give all of the students a chance to interact and provide feedback for one another.
TC (technology and content): The Technology is a way to really differentiate the presentation of the content. I don't believe I would be able to offer as many different representations without having the use of technology. items like digital cameras, computers, and the Internet allow the students to see things in ways that a text book and a whiteboard cannot provide. Also, the technology will allow everything to happen much faster which will help hold students attention and stop the lesson from dragging out and becoming a chore.
The "Wicked" problem that I came across in my classroom was so challenging that I needed some sort of frame work to help me tackle it properly. The TPACK frame work is a very helpful tool that emphasizes the inclusion of technology into lessons and even whole courses. The best part of the TPACK model is that it is a conglomeration of content knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and Technology Knowledge (TK). The thought behind the whole framework is that a 21st century lesson is at its very best when it strikes perfect balance between all three of those knowledge areas.
I will be breaking down and dissecting my lesson to highlight how the three different elements interact within the lesson.
PC (pedagogy and content): One of the big pedagogical things that I have learned about lately is called the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and from that I have come to really appreciate the power of differentiated instruction. If you can design a lesson that works for you fringe-type students then it will almost certainly help your my typical students. This was a major goal for my number hierarchy lesson. I felt like I needed to differentiate the learning process because the content was very abstract and discouraging for a lot of students. I tried to attack the problem at a couple of different levels. I think the diagram is a good middle of the road technique that will help some but not all. I think the pictures are a good lower level technique that could also be expanded to an upper level of technique if students try to capture some of the more complex number systems or get creative. I also think the quiz/program would be a good tool. I think creating it is a very upper level project but using it would definitely help my lower level students. They could take the quiz with a certain number in mind and then the quiz would determine exactly what kind of number it is.
TP (technology and pedagogy): The diagram will be presented using animations in some sort of presentation software and I don't think the technology will offer much pedagogical support because there won't be any interactivity or wow factor. The picture taking portion of the lesson will inspire some students and will provide them with an opportunity to express themselves. I think this plan of attack will really draw a lot of kids in because it creates a connection (if only a weak one) between something they like/love (taking pictures) and something they are learning about (number systems). This will assist in the teaching process and eliminate the need for other pedagogical strategies. The quiz will attract and help two different students groups at two different times. In the beginning, those students that already have a good solid understanding of the hierarchy of numbers will get the project off the ground and actually build the quiz. This can be an activity that is carried out without a teacher present so that the teacher can then work with the other students who are struggling. Then, those students who were struggling will be able to test and use the quiz to see if it works. This will help further their understanding and give all of the students a chance to interact and provide feedback for one another.
TC (technology and content): The Technology is a way to really differentiate the presentation of the content. I don't believe I would be able to offer as many different representations without having the use of technology. items like digital cameras, computers, and the Internet allow the students to see things in ways that a text book and a whiteboard cannot provide. Also, the technology will allow everything to happen much faster which will help hold students attention and stop the lesson from dragging out and becoming a chore.
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