Podcast?

Have you ever done a podcast before?  I had heard the term and knew some of my family members have listened to international news via podcasts, but had never really explored the tool myself.  Basically a podcast is just a digital recording that is accessed on-line.  They are done in episodes about any number of topics and usually have a musical intro and outro.  They can take the form of an interview, a narrative, a radio show, jokes...the opportunities are endless.  Two freqently used venues to create podcast include Garage Band and Audacity.  Garage Band is for apple products (you can buy the app for $4.99) and Audacity is free open source software that can be downloaded on a pc.  Once you have the software all you need is a microphone for recording, you save the file as an mp3 (you will need to download a file converter), and then you are ready to upload your podcast to a website or blogsite. (archive.org)

So how is a podcast relevant to education?  Well before thinking up an assignment for using podcasts I would suggest getting familiar with the tool yourself.  Subscribe to some teacher podcasts (Check some out at the 10 best podcasts for teachers ) , listen to some student podcast(Do a Google search for a subject area you may be interested in)s, and try doing a few podcasts of your own (just for fun, you don't have to publish them). 

Students could do social studies reenactments via a podcast, story telling, interviews with famous people (past or present), interviews via Skype, travel stories for georgraphy, record lessons for absent students, music teachers can record recitals, narrate directions to students for projects or labs, have students practice foreign languages...

Have you ever listened to a podcast?  Done a podcast with students?

Want to wiki?

So what is a wiki?  A wiki is similar to a blog, though it is collaborative.  Ever used Google docs to share the responsibility of writing a paper (I am a big fan of this, rather than e-mailing bits and pieces back and forth)?  Well a wiki works similarly, but you can have multiple pages, and you can see who wrote what, and when.  Then, if need be you can revert back to an older copy of the wiki if you don't like the changes that were made.  A wiki can be marked public or private.  It can be an invaluable resource of knowledge.  Have you ever used Wikipedia?  It's only the world's largest encyclopedia, and comes up as the first choice on many search results.  Wikipedia's goal is to be the sum of all human knowledge.  So far I think they are doing a pretty great job.  You can even add to it too, but beware.  They are very timely at spotting and erasing content that is false.  I am currently working on a wiki with some of my classmates.  It's an advocacy group for using technology effectively in classrooms.  I'll share more on that once we have more contained within it.  What I will say is that it's great that we can work on it simultaneously whether in the same room or forty miles apart.

I'll soon be developing a lesson for using a wiki in the classroom.  Why use one with students?  Well other than being collaborative, its a great way to teach them about open-source software and public domain.  And as mentioned previously its a great tool for just-in-time learning.  Students can log in to add their thoughts and information anytime, anywhere.   Have you ever used a wiki with students be it creating one for them to use or having them create their own?    

Fluency in older readers

In the past few weeks I have been working closely with some fourth grade students that are struggling readers.  They have made some growth this year, but not near enough growth to bridge the gap.  They can't really comprehend what they are reading as they are still having difficulties decoding, therefore are having fluency difficulties.  Last year when some of my second grade students were having fluency difficulties I decided to break out the microphones.  I had them record some of their reading and then we would play back their passage, discussing what they felt they did well as a reader, and what they would like to work on.  This really seemed to help my younger readers and they began focusing more on their areas of difficulty.  I began to see some nice growth.  The fourth graders weren't as keen to read into a microphone and listen to their own reading.  I have used voki, as a method to engage them a little more.  I have used audacity for them to see the visual for when their voice breaks in the recording, and compare the length of first readings and second readings.  Any one have any other suggestions?

More about blogs

So on the last post I mentioned a few blogs that I visit, as well as one you can use with your students kidblog.org.  Of course there is also Google's www.blogger.com, but unfortunately blogger is blocked by my county. It would be a great one for others out there though.  It is easy to use and a little more customizable than kidblog.  But what exactly is a blog?  Boiled down, basically its a personal publishing media on the web that allows for the publication of text, images, and video that also has teh capacity of hyperlinks. 
I originally started a blog after the ISTE conference to get down my ideas and thoughts about the many wonderful experiences I shared in Philadelphia.  It helped me reflect upon my time so that I could synthesize and summarize what I learned.  Blogging can be a great way to actively engage students in a  reflective, synthesizing process.  Take this blog for example, some posts truly are personal and self-oriented based on my own views, ideas, and thoughts of exploration.  Others, such as this particular post, are an assignment specifically structured so our professor can see how we are internalizing what we are learning...is this, you guessed it, blogs.
Blogs can create a very meaningful learning experience for students, because they make their learning their own.  They are constructing their own meaning and elaborating on it.  It can be a collaborative endeavor as blogs are open to comments.  Will Richardson wrote a book about Web 2.0 tools, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. The book is a very easy read.  He breaks things down simply, so if you are interested in knowing more, definitely check it out.  I have only had time to quickly scan his blog, but that certainly warrants a quick check too...not necessarily for blogging info, but for info on education in general. 
This article, Teaching Today gives some tips about how blogs can be beneficial in the classroom as well as some management tips and risks to consider.  Or listen to the students and hear why they like using blogs.

First Baby Step...

If you are taking the time to read my blog, you have already taken the first baby step towards changing educational practices, and that is to become more informed.  Some times you just don't have the energy to read an entire book, and a journal article may be just a little too in depth at the end of a long day, but start following some blogs.  I get many great ideas from the many, many blogs out there.  You don't have to read every blog you follow or even sign in every day.  Choose a few and sign in when you have a little spare time (yes I can imagine the raised eyebrow look) or are looking for a new idea.  Here are a few of my favorites:

• The Education Technology Blog:  I  started following this blog via facebook and I sign in when I see something interesting coming through the threads.
• Kathy Schrock:  I went to a presentation by Kathy at the ISTE conference in Philadelphia where she shared a ton of great websites.  She links to other great blogs, so check out.
• Dr Z:  Dr. Z is another person I saw present at ISTE.  His blog is very reflective about different tools he has tried and how they have worked.
• Cool Cat Teacher Blog:  Yet another ISTE presentation (can you tell I liked that conference?).  She actually skyped in to the session that was all about Diigo.  So, if you haven't started saving any of your bookmarks to the cloud you may want to check Diigo out also.
• iLearnTechnology:  Can't remember where I came across this blog, but it has some great ideas for integrating technology from the simple to the complex.
• Kid Blog:  This isn't one I go to for ideas, but one I have set for a few of the classes at my school.  Right now the student are going to use their blogs for book talks.  But once started a students blog could have endless possibilities for reflection and connections in and outside the classroom.

     There are tons of blogs out there all about education.  Some more general others more specific to grade level or subject area.  What's your favorite blog to visit?

And so it begins...again...

     Funny we should be required to do a blog for my Master's program.  I was just thinking about a week ago  that I had been pretty good about posting to my technology blog over the summer after my ISTE conference; when ideas were fresh and new in my head, and well, when I had the  time to blog.   However, since about the third week of September I haven't posted anything...I wonder why that is???  So rather than pick up after a four to five month hiatus I decided I'd start all over.  And since I need to blog for my Master's class which will go almost to the end of the school year, hopefully I'll be able to keep things going full steam this time around...

     So, a little about me, my job, and what this blog is all about.  I am in my seventh year teaching and am an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher.  Which means, per my job description, it is my job to help teachers integrate more technology into their classrooms and lessons.  Prior to beginning the ITs program at George Mason University I was disheartened by education and where it has been going.  And I would love to say as a result of the program I am no longer disheartened...though if anything I am even more disheartened than I was before.  Partly because of what i see going on in the classrooms, partly because of this big vendetta the public seems to have against teachers the past few years (though that's another story).  At least now I know the reasons why and what I can start doing to help bring about a change.  

     This year I transferred out of the classroom to take that first step towards change.  My job as an ITRT is to train teachers on new technologies that will enhance their lessons and help them integrate those technologies into their classroom.  Currently I get to do some of that, but not as much as I was led to believe, but I'm hoping that too will change.  For more on the roles of an ITRT, this document by the VDOE describes the position in more depth, though I find page 11 the best summary.

So basically my job, together with my vision, is to help transform this:

  

Into something a little more like this:

     Now, I know that a one-to-one classroom where every student has access to a device on a daily basis is a dream for many school districts at the moment.  Though some have achieved this dream, so I am not about to give up on it.  Yes, it is frustrating when your school does not have the resources, and perhaps does not have the will, to move beyond the industrialized schooling system of the 1960s into a more appropriate learning environment for twenty-first century learners.  But like Bill Murray in the movie What About Bob, take baby steps. Throughout this blog I will be discussing some of those baby steps educators can start taking to transform their teaching practice into one more appropriate for today's learners.  As stated by Toffler in Revolutionary Wealth, we have moved beyond the Industrial Revolution and are in the Knowledge Revolution.  Our schooling system needs to transform in order to catch up with our exponentially changing society. 

Rows of students staring at a chalkboard during whole group and working on worksheets during independent time is just not appropriate for today's world.  Students today need a more constructivist classroom where they are collaborating, connecting,  globally aware, solving authentic problems...The list goes on.  The Flat Classroom Project (which I learned about at VSTE) has the right idea.  

What is your vision of a Twenty-First Century Classroom?