How Far I've Come

Well the end of class has come pretty quickly. In these short weeks I have gone from someone rather intimidated by technology to someone who is ready to meet the changing world with new hope for more ways of educating not only myself, but others as well. I have learned to set up a blog and continue to post to it. I now have an electronic portfolio with work that I have completed these past weeks. I have included my philosophy of education as well as disciplinary ideas for my classroom. I created a PowerPoint with some sound effects, made educational comics, and took a stab at scripting, designing, and directing an animated movie about therapeutic riding.

I think the greatest asset to taking this class was learning new ways to utilize the Internet. From making Webquest's to making comics and animated videos. These are all great ways to keep students engaged in thinking in new ways. I have made copies of many of the educational links that I used throughout class. As I am sure that I will revisit them to come up with further lesson plans and new ways to let students be creative in doing class projects.

I still live with dial-up connections that hinder my ease of access to many sites. This I still find frustrating in a state that continues to promise e-commerce for everyone. In spite of my dial-up setback I have persevered and found much that I can do in slightly different ways.

I am looking forward to one day having a laptop computer and I would also like to have a Kindle to download books and have them read to me. I don't own an ipod, but may look into one of those as well. I understand you can download some books and blogs there as well. I can see that future of the ever changing technology in making teaching an new and wondrous world. I believe that the future is one of open-minded ingenuity and will continue to embrace these ideas instead of shying away.

Google Earth For Education

I have been looking around on googleearth.com. This is a great site for educators. In social studies class I have seen the google earth application used to virtually travel to an area of the world that the class is studying. This seems to really drive home the lesson. Instead of just looking at pictures in a text book, you can travel the globe from the comfort of your school chair. This helps to envision what the world looks like now and not some time ago when a picture was taken.

I also found a literature link. Several books have been discussed and lesson plan ideas shared. I like this site as you can get a glimpse of the author and sometimes find a link to have a chat with them regarding their work. This is a great way to inspire young readers and writers and a new way to talk about literature. I can see this link used as a sort of WebQuest to find out more information about the author, other books that they have written, and finding ways of communicating with the author or others interested in the book.

I tired the math sites as well. I admit that math is my least favorite subject and I am always looking for help in this subject. The math sites are great for finding innovative ideas on calculation with more technical finesse like calculating seismic waves of a tsunami. You can also find help with algebra if seismic waves are too hard to cypher.

The Google Earth site has many applications that can be easily used in the classroom. I realize that it will be an invaluable site for teaching and teaching ideas. This site is updated with the latest technology continually, so will be handy for any activity you can think of.

Teacher Blogs

This week I visited many teacher blogs. These blogs sadly seem to be a forum to rant and vent about the teaching profession. Here I read about bad days, horrible students, and the woes of administrations that don't seem to work or understand what needs to change etc... I can certainly understand needing to vent, but some of the sites made me question my own idea of becoming a teacher. Then I found a few that mentioned being really happy in their teaching and enjoying a lesson that seemed to inspire their students to do work that they found challenging. I found a lesson plan to write a six sentence paragraph on any subject without using a word more than once. I love the idea and the teacher was in awe of what her students wrote. I'll have to squirrel this idea away to try myself. I am even considering trying it myself. I certainly have "buzz" words that I use perhaps too often. I think this could be a great way to try a different way to communicate.

The good thing about some of the blogs were links to other teacher sites. There were links for lesson plans and I found a few sites on poetry, which I plan to visit again. I also see a nice community between teachers that are willing to share their experiences, ideas, resources and communicate about everything under the sun. I also like that the people on these sites even though they make the occasional rant would like to inspire the young and teach them a subject that they have a desire to share. This is what I was hoping to find, a new community with other members of education that are willing to share their knowledge to the teachers that are new to the profession. I did find a few blogs from teachers that are working on their teacher trainings. I hope to be doing that in the next year or so. ...So I will continue to learn all I can and search the Internet for ideas and fellow educators experiences and cyber friendships.

E-Portfolios

This week I am working on making my e-portfolio better. I am adding content to the site. I have worked on getting some lesson plans on the site and tweeked my resume. I am currently looking at my documents to see if there is anything from past classes that I have done that I can add.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday. I am off to prepare some pies for tomorrow.

Vlog vs. Blog

This week we have been learning about vlogging. Which is a short video posted on the Internet. This can be used for educational purposes. Though there are many videos posted that are just silly ways for people to show themselves to the world if you are unfortunate enough to come across them. The vlog is somewhat intimidating as it can be rather personal with sound and picture of a person, place or thing. Unlike a blog that is just posted words and perhaps a still picture. The blog seems to have a new dimension of criteria. Sound is certainly an issue as well as a steady picture are needed to be effective, as dull sound and bouncing picture can be very distracting.

I watched several YouTube videos. Here is one from Ted Kooser poet laureate doing a reading of some of his poetry.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuoWarhWFXw
I did try to post a vlog myself. Though once again the slowness of my dial-up interferes with the loading of the video.

I can see the potential of use on YouTube for education as there is a category of videos posted that are just for education. This can certainly help with teaching a class and giving them a real feel for something almost like a field trip within the classroom.

Ken Robinson

I was amazed by what Ken Robinson said, and I agree whole heatedly. I remember sitting in on a Language Arts class where I enjoyed the teacher greatly, as well as the lesson plan, but I was distracted from the class thinking how can I write when I have no imagination anymore? I remember being the age of the students and I was much more creative and less inhibited by the consequences of my creativity. Now I feel ashamed if I have an original idea. How can that be - it must be something I heard from someone else.

There seems to be so many students that are completely lost at school. My son being one of them. Conventional wisdom can't touch anything inside him. He is a smart kid, but school has taught him there is no hope in the world for him. No job that will excite him. Academics don't do anything for him. He can compute math, read, and write, but has no drive to learn more. He thinks his only options for life are to be a logger or truck driver. Both noble professions, but not the end of his limit. As a parent I am angry that I see so many young men in schools with the exact same feelings. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to become an educator. There must be something we can do to help stimulate these kids and help them feel successful and creative.

I don't know what the answer is, but I feel the education system needs a revamping. So few children are supported in a way that helps them flourish and become what inspires them. Perhaps it's just fate that leads people to what it is that sparks the flames of desire in what they do. Some people intuitively know what it is that drives them and others must try several things before they get a feel for what it is that gives them purpose. The essential thing is to keep looking.

Bad Powerpoint Presentations

I have had the misfortune to sit through several pretty bad PowerPoint presentations. The bad points to these presentations were that the slide had all the information the speaker needed and simply read it out loud. The speaker did not add any further information to make the presentation interesting. Also the slides would be filled with text and no appealing images. I find when the slide is crammed with text I just look away, especially if the presenter is just reading the slide anyway.

I find the presentation more interesting when the speaker uses short points of fact and can continue to expound on this interesting information. I like pictures on the slide that help back up what is being spoken about and add some visual appeal. I have seen a few slides with random pictures that didn't seem to have anything to do with what was being presented. Also I don't personally like it when the speaker is continually busy flipping paper and losing their place or train of thought. It is better if the person practices giving their demonstration before the big day. Of course you can never be sure what questions may be asked. But so long as someone is actually asking a question, you know you can feel good, because you actually have someones attention!

My fist few attempts at making a PowerPoint presentation were lessons in humility for me. Naturally I didn't have the software on my computer and had to go to the library to make my presentations. My first attempt wasn't too bad. I did manage to copy the work and get it work for class. My slides had short bits of information accompanied by pictures that pertained to what I was speaking about. Although I was nervous I knew my subject and could handle any questions. I think that is key to making a good presentation. My second attempt was a great presentation on vampires and fashion. The problem was I couldn't get the PowerPoint copied correctly and it didn't work for my presentation. I made a last minute movie- maker display to use in my talk. Since I was rattled about the PowerPoint not working my presentation was not as good as it should have been. The last PowerPoint I made, I once again I ran into the problem of making my pictures fit on the slide and was pressured for time on the library computer. Although I have encountered problems in making the PowerPoint's I have learned from each experience and continue to make improvements. I am hoping my next attempt will run more smoothly as I finally have the software on my computer at home and I won't be limited by time at a public library.