Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Technology in our lives
Thursday morning, I woke up and headed to Erie High for a day full of teaching. I rode my bike through the early morning fog along the beautiful Erie River on the Edge to Edge (E2E) protected walker/biker trail and arrived to my classroom about 10 minutes before Mrs. Anonomateacher, though I'd already received a text from her that she'd be running late, so I didn't panic. A fellow teacher let me in and I rigged a doorstop with three bookends and a sponge to let early arrivals keep working on their disease essays before school started. 7:40 rolls around, and we begin.
Our daily schedule is projected from a computer to the screen. Students are to collect a green pen (for edits later) and start working on a journal prompt all about prokaryotes and eukaryotes. After a while, we raised the projector screen and took a moment to jot down everything they know about these groups of organisms. After a few minutes sharing out ideas, down comes the projector to introduce a web-based extra credit assignment, which involves uploading a video to our teacher's blog, followed by a video about bacteria. After a doc-camera note sharing session, students collect laptops to continue working on their Google doc essay assignment.
It has occurred to me that as much as I try to traipse around technology, it finds its way in. I have never considered myself much of a "tech" person, but there it is. Between 6:30 and 8:30am, I had cycled along a river, carried a bike up two flights of stairs, eaten basic cereal breakfast, had students write in paper journals and edit with pens and talked face-to-face with at least 30 people. On the other hand, in the same time-frame, I'd received and sent a text message, listened to 20 minutes of an audiobook on an iPod, checked my e-mail at least twice, connected two separate computers to a projector screen, manipulated a digital document camera and encouraged 30 students to write an essay not on paper, but electronically. Somehow this, is a normal way to start your day.
Throughout the remainder of the day, I subconsciously navigated endless levels of electronics, walking through countless wireless networks, checking student work online and discussing the relative merits of online integration in the classroom.
A common theme in our tech class has obviously been technology. Thursday night, at least half of our 40 person class met in the School of Education, only to subdivide into individual classrooms where groups of two-four presented 20-minute webinars. Webinars are fantastic tools allowing people to connect across continents. The first presentation was all about Shmoop, an online essay lab for students and teachers. Next up, we presented a geometry tech tool known as Geogebra. For any curious folks who missed out, check out our screencast tutorial and webinar. After our stunning presentation, we listened in on an online archiving/portfolio sight, Pathbright. Next up, Duolingo, a really nicely laid out language learning program. Finally, to take us home, a concept mapping software known simply as Cmap.
The webinars were surprisingly fun for occurring at the tail end of a really long day. I went home with a surreal feeling that most of the people I'd been talking to for the last two hours were less than a room away, but the potential uses of webinars as well as all of these tools remained.
In a sea of computers, internet, cell phones, cameras and iPods, I sometimes feel that we start to lose connections with our immediate surroundings. We're so obsessed with cataloging our days and not "missing" anything in the world, that we lose sight of what is right around us. The flip side of all of these tools is that we can immediately connect with the rest of the world and perhaps begin to see something new. The world gets smaller every day as data sharing and networks get strongly. I think my life and teaching will be an eternal battle between these two forces.
I can't wait!
Our daily schedule is projected from a computer to the screen. Students are to collect a green pen (for edits later) and start working on a journal prompt all about prokaryotes and eukaryotes. After a while, we raised the projector screen and took a moment to jot down everything they know about these groups of organisms. After a few minutes sharing out ideas, down comes the projector to introduce a web-based extra credit assignment, which involves uploading a video to our teacher's blog, followed by a video about bacteria. After a doc-camera note sharing session, students collect laptops to continue working on their Google doc essay assignment.
It has occurred to me that as much as I try to traipse around technology, it finds its way in. I have never considered myself much of a "tech" person, but there it is. Between 6:30 and 8:30am, I had cycled along a river, carried a bike up two flights of stairs, eaten basic cereal breakfast, had students write in paper journals and edit with pens and talked face-to-face with at least 30 people. On the other hand, in the same time-frame, I'd received and sent a text message, listened to 20 minutes of an audiobook on an iPod, checked my e-mail at least twice, connected two separate computers to a projector screen, manipulated a digital document camera and encouraged 30 students to write an essay not on paper, but electronically. Somehow this, is a normal way to start your day.
Throughout the remainder of the day, I subconsciously navigated endless levels of electronics, walking through countless wireless networks, checking student work online and discussing the relative merits of online integration in the classroom.
A common theme in our tech class has obviously been technology. Thursday night, at least half of our 40 person class met in the School of Education, only to subdivide into individual classrooms where groups of two-four presented 20-minute webinars. Webinars are fantastic tools allowing people to connect across continents. The first presentation was all about Shmoop, an online essay lab for students and teachers. Next up, we presented a geometry tech tool known as Geogebra. For any curious folks who missed out, check out our screencast tutorial and webinar. After our stunning presentation, we listened in on an online archiving/portfolio sight, Pathbright. Next up, Duolingo, a really nicely laid out language learning program. Finally, to take us home, a concept mapping software known simply as Cmap.
The webinars were surprisingly fun for occurring at the tail end of a really long day. I went home with a surreal feeling that most of the people I'd been talking to for the last two hours were less than a room away, but the potential uses of webinars as well as all of these tools remained.
In a sea of computers, internet, cell phones, cameras and iPods, I sometimes feel that we start to lose connections with our immediate surroundings. We're so obsessed with cataloging our days and not "missing" anything in the world, that we lose sight of what is right around us. The flip side of all of these tools is that we can immediately connect with the rest of the world and perhaps begin to see something new. The world gets smaller every day as data sharing and networks get strongly. I think my life and teaching will be an eternal battle between these two forces.
I can't wait!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
The many thousands of things that are on the internet
Edublogger - this is a term that I'd not really heard of before the technology class began. The last time I wrote about an edublogger, I included a link to a fantastic, student-made video all about dinosaurs (10 reasons the dinosaurs are extinct). I think I'm responsible for a not-insignificant portion of the 150 or so views it's received...so if you've not seen it, you should. On a related topic, I stumbled upon a parent's blog with a post all about dinosaurs as well! Some parents decided to declare that November was DiNovember and every night, they posed dinosaur statures in various places around the house. The dinos got into all sorts of trouble as their kids discovered each morning. I'm not sure why dinosaurs are in my head recently. It might have something to do with the fact that in our literacy class, we were discussing ways to get students hooked into reading. Evidently, we like dinosaurs.
Moving on. A little more than a year ago, I was investigating hexaflexagons. "Why?" you might ask...though more likely, you'll ask "what?". I spent six-seven years working at a children's science museum in town where one of my main job tasks was to create interactive, science and math related activities for preschool - middle school students. I saw a very "simple" hexaflexagon in action and was impressed and turned to the internet to help me understand what was going on. Here, I discovered Vi Hart. This is the video I found:
I spent a good portion of my highly productive day repeatedly stopping and restarting this video in order to make one/several and investigate how to teach children the secret. Ultimately, I ended up with a few good samples and could teach older kids how to make the most basic. Interested, there is a follow-up video.
Promptly, I forgot about this YouTube channel...never to be seen again until I saw this:
Moving on. A little more than a year ago, I was investigating hexaflexagons. "Why?" you might ask...though more likely, you'll ask "what?". I spent six-seven years working at a children's science museum in town where one of my main job tasks was to create interactive, science and math related activities for preschool - middle school students. I saw a very "simple" hexaflexagon in action and was impressed and turned to the internet to help me understand what was going on. Here, I discovered Vi Hart. This is the video I found:
Promptly, I forgot about this YouTube channel...never to be seen again until I saw this:
This video led me to her blog and YouTube channel where I've been whiling away time. Her vlog is reminiscent of Flipping Physics, the flipped classroom presenter in our tech class. While not overtly a blog dedicated to "education", I think videos like these show students some of the beauty of mathematics, physics and music. Vi has a talent for giving real-world applications of strange concepts which I think could quite nicely fit in a classroom.
Here are a few more videos to check out in your infinite "free-time"!
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