A hamster on a wheel

This shot of my Second Life avatar in a maze was intended for our group iWeb project from month 2 of our masters program, but it could not go on the blog page, so I thought I'd put it here.

What's the title got to do with this blog?  Well, it is the first Monday of a new class. The cycle repeats. Our group members each read the assignments for the class and begin the race to finish everything, learn the new software, strictly follow the instructions, and make the mad dash to complete our team project.  like a hamster on a wheel...round...and round...and round. We finished last month's course work on Saturday (really Friday, but we all had to approve of it before it could be counted as done).  Saturday we were taking the 2 1/2 hour drive to take the younger of my two sons to college for his freshman year.  We were so exhausted that we opted to stay in a motel and drive back Sunday. Today (Monday) was the big all-staff meeting for my school district and the afternoon was filled with working on our school improvement plan.  So, tonight I made a calendar of the assignments we need to do for this month's class, and we are off and running again. Like a...well, you get the idea.
I am really looking forward to this month's class.  It is all about presentations and how to make them look really smooth and how to make them dynamic. Sweet.  I'll try to post some of my work here when it is done, but you can also check out my links to my portfolio and AR research web sites to see some of my work.
Good news. By Friday my modem speed should be at 25 megs. Little problem - when I upgraded the speed months ago, no one said anything about needing a new modem.  I believe the term is "being clobbered," and that is what happened to our current modem. The 25 megs was over powering it and I had a devil of a time uploading things, especially big files like video.  After Friday, that should change. Wow. After barely squeaking out 2 megs, I can only imagine what actually having 25 megs will be like.  I'll let you know :-)

Comic Life - A great classroom tool!

Comic Life is software that lets you import your own pictures to create an endless variety of comic book style projects.  It is easy to use and fun.  It is also very colorful.  I think this would really appeal to kids.  And it is not expensive.  Check out Comic Life to find out more. Look for the Educator section.

Gotta Keep Reading - Ocowee Middle School

This should lift your spirits. We got to listen to the principal of Ocowee Middle School tell her own story about how this video came to be made. She overcame a lot of obstacles and really fired her students up to read! Notice, Full Sail University helped out, too. Holly Ludgate, who is credited at the end of the film, is overseeing our Masters in Media and Digital Technology degree.

Soon-to-be-Unveiled Group Web Site Explores Multiple Intelligences

One thing Full Sail University's online masters degree program emphasizes is teamwork.  This month our team collaborated on a web site exploring Multiple Intelligences as described by Howard Gardner.

We chose to represent ourselves as a team of investigators being sent out into the field to study MI.
I love the layout and the way each member of the group contributed to the site.  I am happy to say the final version is done!  You can visit the site at: Team Digital Horizon Web Project

I got to use Comic Life for my page.  It is a very easy to use program that I think kids could really get into.  I will be using it my class this fall.  It is colorful and fun and if I have kids' first story be about themselves, I think it will really engage them.

Keynote Analogy about the Brain

Finally!  I posted this project the other day, but somehow it arrived without sound.  I went back several times and finally got it to load on YouTube, although it seems to still hesitate in a couple of places. That may be temporary.

The purpose of the assignment (for our Mulitple Learning Theories class) was to make an analogy about the brain.  As a Speech/Theater major (at least the first time around) the analogy that occured to me was that of a stage production.  I remember sitting in the lighting booth, talking via headsets to the stage manager about technical details of the performance.  Of course, that was (*cough*chough*) years ago, but it was the first thing I thought of.  I hope you enjoy the video.  I made the song for it in Garage Band.

Great Sources to Read About MI Success

As part of a project for my Multiple Learning Theory's course through Full Sail University, I was looking for positive and negative articles about people's experience with using Multiple Intelligence Theory in schools.  One site had a whole series of articles by teachers and administrators who were using MI and could attest to positive results.  They were also able to be candid about some of the barriers to using MI in the classroom.  This was such a great resource, I wanted to put it here so that others could check it out.

New Horizons for Learning web site

Right now I'm finishing my project, which I will also post here when I'm done.

Sorry for the lapse!

It came to my attention today that I have not written on my blog in a little while. Sorry! My bad. I didn't realize anyone was reading it. I do like to share what I am learning, and right now I am learning a lot, but I wasn't aware the blog had any visitors. I will try to do better in the future.

 Recently we were asked to make a concept map (web) of the ways we use Multiple Intelligence Theory in our classrooms. This is my map.  The dark purple represent things I would like to do but have not done yet.  We are currently doing an individual project about MI and a group project that we are furiously working to sort out.  Full Sail University's Masters program has a big focus on collaboration and team work.  I am glad, as the people I'm networking with now will also be an encouragement to be during this coming school year.

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution! Video on TED 2/2010

As part of our Full Sail Multiple Learning Theory Applications course we were directed to watch the video above. I really liked it and I think other educators would like it, too. I could really relate to what the speaker said about life not being linear and about doing the thing you love. His comments about college being the goal of our educational practice made me think of the changes in Michigan which try to put every one on a college track and, I think, short change students who want to take another path. It also, I believe, puts tremendous pressure on kids to be something they're not and I expect it is the reason a lot of kids drop out of high school. I enjoyed his comments about conformity, too. My question is, how do you customize education for the students when the Federal and State Departments of Education do so much to mandate what is done and what proof of learning is acceptable to them? And if your school doesn't make AYP, they'll replace you all. (I'm not sure where all the super-teachers and administrators would be coming from). Customizing education for the students is a local level sort of thing. It requires that teachers in classrooms have the freedom to be creative and try new things (of course based on pedagogically sound data).

How does one bring this about, this freedom for teachers to customize children's education, when the Powers That Be don't appear to trust teachers to make those sorts of decisions?