Pulling it all Together

I am now going through all of the things I learned and taking care of loose ends. It isn't just a matter of learning how to use different tools, but there is the issue of keeping up with them! How much time will I devote to keeping up with my blog, using Twitter, checking in on Facebook (which I haven't started yet), updating my school web page, following professional development opportunities on Discovery Learning, visiting Second Life (and trying to figure out how to get the video player at Ed Tech island to work), making podcasts, creating polls, using Delicious, keeping up with my wiki(s), adding to my Flickr account, and on and on and on?

Then there're my moodle accounts, and my personal accounts. It seems to me I have to be even more organized than ever! Otherwise, I may forget how to use some things, and, although I may not use every tool every day, I can foresee using all of these things in different ways in my classroom.

There is a lot of work to be done beforehand. I need to collect pics and data to create some of the things I want to share with my students. And there are things I won't use in class, like the cell phones, because at this time they are not practical, although I could see using them in a college class. I like the idea of having everyone respond to a poll question on their cell phones and getting practically instant results. And yes, they could use computers if they didn't have cell phones, but I think I need to lay a foundation first before I get to that point.

I am going to revamp my Computer Related Technology class which, up till now, has been pretty much keyboarding and making Word documents. I want to create a blog like this one and the 21Things one for that class and weave in things I learned in this course. I want my students to be able to handle all of these things, and as much as I hear about how my kids are Tech Natives, someone is missing the point that there are a lot of kids who may know how to use a cell phone and Facebook but who really aren't that tech savy. Some of my kids hate computers. Some of them have no access outside of school. You'd be suprised the things my kids don't know about technology, despite the popular wisdom. I want to fill in those gaps.

Thing 20

I had a little trouble with my podcast, but finally got one done. I like to use music in the classroom whenever it is appropriate. I find that playing music from the time period we are studying helps kids connect and makes the people of that time seem more real to them.

My biggest problem is finding free music in the right format. I have had problems converting some files, and can spend a lot of time before I find what I really want.

To listen to my podcast, go to: http://patort.podomatic.com/

Thing 21 Poll Everywhere

As much as we prepare kids for the 21st century, I think colleges tend to lag behind. I think college professors still tend to lecture and that use of technology as it is in the K-12 setting is not as good. Not that some professors aren't using Web 2.0 tools, but I've noticed most of the college classes I take, unless they are tech based, tend not to include much of what we are learning to use in the K-12 Setting. Use my poll to let me know what you think about this.

Get a free sms student response system at Poll Everywhere

To respond via the web, us this link: http://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/MTU3MzkyNTQ3OA/web

Thing 17 Social Networking

Ning was pretty cool. I joined the Web 2.0 group, then I joined the beginner's group in that. I can see this as a way of gleaning good input from lots of other teachers. Last year I tried launching my own web page because I feel really isolated working with the Alternative high school students. I wanted to be able to interact with other teachers. Our staff is very small, and we rarely have time to have deep discussions or share ideas.

My web page floundered, however, because once school starts I don't have a life. Also, I was teaching 2 nights per week, and from Sept. to Dec. I was taking classes at KVCC two other nights a week. It was too much (although I did well in my classes :-)

Now, as a result of these workshops, I see I can use Ning and other resources to do excactly what I wanted to do, and it's free. I really like collaborating with others and need other people around!

I look forward to sharing many of these resources and skills with the other full-time teacher in our program.

As for the kids...I'm sure this will be of value. I am certainly going to teach a lot of these skills in my CRT class. I need to think about how to meaningfully use them in my other classes. After all, I have 6 computers. Not exactly one-to-one. I can take 2nd hour to the lab, but 4th hour there's always a class in there, so it isn't easy. I'll have to do some brainstorming on that one.

Thing 16 Digital Storytelling

Actually, I took a Digital Storytelling workshop last year, so I have done this. For this class I started a slide show meant to be an introduction to the American Revolution, but I got bogged down. I wanted to make something I would really use in class, and it is too long and I need more resources.

In class, I have storyboards for the students to use when they create a slide show (or video). I have only had one student who hated storyboards. She wanted to create everything on the screen without any planning, and it was hard to get her to do otherwise. We sometimes have kids with different barriers to learning and her reaction to the storyboards was part of a larger issue. Most kids, though, did fine with them. They only had to draw little stick figures to suggest each frame of their story. (Lots of kids worry when you ask them to draw, as if they are afraid to look foolish if they can't draw like a professional).

I will try to make a shorter slide show for this class.

Thing 11 Google Sites

Last year I taught a career prep class. I found a lot of good resources on the Internet. One of them was a video telling students how to use (and not use) the Internet for finding a job. In addition to the usual admonition about being careful about what they put on their Facebook pages, was the suggestion that they have a personal web site geared to show their interest and preparation for the job field they wish to enter.

This sounded like a really good idea. We could go through the same kind of process we did in class to identify their transferable skills, and take the product of their classwork and turn it into a web site designed to sell them to an employer.

They would blog about their prefered field of interest. They could share information about challenges they have faced and overcome. We could pick some of the things interviewers often ask and build blog entries or short video clips around them. Kids could practice, so that when they finally taped their video, it would be smooth and confident.

I'm very interested in seeing what we can do with this. I have also been suggesting to my son, Paul, who just graduated from SAU, that creating a professional blog based around his field could be a great tool for getting a job. I think this has lots of good possibilities.

Thing 13 Geocaching

This was pretty cool. It would help my students really understand what GPS is and how coordinates pertaining to location work. We study this somewhat in Geography class, but a few always seem a little disconnected when we talk about latitude and longitude. Never assume anything...I've had some who didn't know what GPS was, and as tech savy as we assume our students are, I was really surprised by that.

I'd have to give some thought to how to best use this in class. I like the idea of walking down to the park and putting our own geocache there. I also like the idea of mashing this with Google earth. I need to try out a few things of my own and figure out what I want students to get out of it and how to evaluate them when we are done. Hmmm.