Podcast Reflection#10: Engaging our youngest minds by Angela Maiers

The 10th Podcast I chose to reflect over is a K12 2009 conference one entitled "Engaging our Youngest Minds" by Angela Maiers.

This is the video I listened to/watched for this podcast




Her website is www.angelamaiers.com 

Here is her K12 online profile http://k12online.ning.com/profile/AngelaMaiers


Student Engagement and Learning in the digital age :


-She didn't think that Passion would be at the heart of it and she included the quote
"Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without PASSION" - Hegel, Philosophy of HIsotyr 1832...

She wonders "Is Technology integration enough?

She wonders "What ARE the right questions?

Her inspiration was a little girl named Haley... there was a thing on the path, a flyer everywhere behind her house as a plea for endangered animals... she tried to find the source, she followed the paper trail
-She found Haley -
-researcher, activist, pre-school student
-in 3 short days she had collected over 300 dollars to save a panda bear, and was writing a book.
-She had designed t-shirts, one for every day of the week that supported her cause...

-Haley is a reminder that we MUST include passion, even with technology.

Do you see this passion in school?
-passion about learning, teaching, etc.

Millions of children in the 21st century are systematically losing passion... despite all technology we have failed to realize this.

She is on a powerful mission to let teachers know that they are already ready for the 21st century. A mission to keep that sense of wonder and passion alive.

She believes that Learning can be Transformed...


What if a student is excited about science, pandas for example?
here are some websites she showed...
big universe
panda bears play house - interactive website

realebooks.com/realewriter - allows students to write their own books



We are using technology tools to transform the learning experience, not to engage them - they are already engaged.


They need us to notice what they're interested in right now and be able to provide them with resources, and provide a platform for their voices so that they can be heard.
EX: Skype, Youtube, Twitter, podcasts, etc.

We must not miss out on who they are today - curious, excited, passionate learners :)

The parents of Haley sent Angela a note and she shared part of it with us today.
"We hope you let her teach you about what she knows , and nurture her questions, showing her that learning never stops, please take her hand and guide her, let her know that she has everything she needs already.... passion"


At the end of her podcast she played the video of the kid who can play the ukelele and sing "I'm Yours"
I LOVE this video :)






I love love love what this teacher has to say, without passion we have nothing. We have to have passion about something to be the force behind it. Overall, this was a short but very inspiring podcast! :)

Reflection on Comics in the Classroom

We were recently told to create a comic that relates to our content area.

I used the website Toon-Do, because our teacher said it was one of her favorites.
This website is fairly simple to use, but it got kind of frustrating because I couldn't make the small changes that I wanted to very easily, and unless you're really really into cartoons, you wouldn't want to spend hours fine -tuning stuff like this. However, I did use the website to complete my comic and here it is:

This comic strip above was created using toon-do.com a comic strip program introduced by my Ed Tech teacher. This strip is a play on learning foreign languages because my area of concentration is Modern Foreign Language, and English as a Second Language.

So, the website does work, however I feel like if I were to use comic strips in the classroom I would search for a website that fit my needs a little better.

However, I feel like implementing comics in the classroom could be done a variety of ways. Students could make comics introducing the spelling words for the week, or a new idea that they have learned, etc. Overall, i'm not big on comics and never have been but I feel like kids might get a kick out of using them in the classroom.
Here are some more resources that are for creating comics in the classroom from my teacher's website http://spring11ded318.cdkedplace.info/SPRING_2011/Week_8.html

Resources for Using Comics in the Classroom

These resources are all valuable sources of information, tools, community, and more to help you use comics in your classroom.

1. 1.Comics in the Classroom. This site is all about promoting the use of comics in the classroom and includes news and reviews, lesson plans, forums, a blog, and much more.
2. 2.Teachingcomics.org. This organization helps promote quality teaching through comics and offers such resources as lesson plans, study guides, handouts, connections with other teachers, and featured schools using comics in the classroom.
3. 3.Comics in Education. This website is the final project for a teacher working on his Master’s degree and includes many resources for using comics in school.
4. 4.Drawing Cartoons Theme Page. This site offers tons of links to resources ranging from creating cartoons to learning about the profession of cartoonist to teacher resources.
5. 5.Toon Books. Keep abreast of the latest comic and graphic novels for emerging readers and also find lesson plans here.
6. 6.Educational Comic Books for the Classroom. This helpful article includes a list of comic books for elementary aged children, tips for using comics in the classroom, and resources for teachers.
7. 7.Comic Books as Curriculum. This interview with Richard Jenkins, co-author of Comics in Your Curriculum, offers a peek at the book written to help teachers learn how to incorporate comics into their lessons.
   
   
   Tools
   
   Whether you or your students will be making comics in the class, check out these tools to help you get creative.
   1. 1.Comic Creator. Supply the information you want in this tool that provides people, animals, thought and speech bubbles, props, and backdrops.
   2. 2.How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom. This article describes how to use Comic Life, an inexpensive comic generator, to create a book report for class.
   3. 3.Tech Module: Using Comic Life in the Classroom. Another article about using Comic Life in the classroom, this one also includes several lesson plans utilizing this program.
   4. 4.Howtoons. These comics from Instructables are specifically for teaching children how to do lots of things. These comics make a great supplement to a hands-on lesson.
   5. 5.Make Beliefs Comix. This tool allows students to create comic strips and provides plenty of options for customizing their strips. There is also a section for teacher resources here.
   6. 6.Pixton. Students can create their comic strip here or you can select Pixton for Schools for an education-oriented experience that brings the entire class together on projects.
   7. 7.Bitstrip. Students can browse through other people’s comics and create their own at this site.
   8. 8.ToonDoo. This comic strip generator allows students to create their own comics. Teachers should check the site for appropriate content as it is not specifically an education site.
   9. 9.ArtisanCam. Among the many art projects available here, students can also create comics with this tool.
   10. 10.PikiKids. After uploading images, students can choose their layout, add speech bubbles, and more to create fun comics.
   11. 11.BeFunky. Turn digital photos into digital comics and more with this free tool.
   12. 12.Comiqs. Use templates or design your own images with this cartoon generator that provides results in a slide show that can even be put on a class blog or website.

Creative Ways to Use Comics in the Classroom

These resources offer great ways to use comics in the classroom.

1. 1.The Chess Comic. A sister site to Comics in the Classroom, this site teaches the game of chess through comics.
2. 2.Comics and the Smithsonian: A Beautiful Union of Science Curriculum. Learn about this resource through the Smithsonian’s website that incorporates comics into science lessons.
3. 3.Bringing Comics into the Classroom. This article is written by a college instructor who describes his class on Comic Books as Literature and, while aimed at older students, offers insight into how literature can be taught through comics.
4. 4.The comic book assignment was a hit!. This teacher shares her experience of using a comic book assignment as a final evaluation for high school students. She shares both the positive aspects and her learning points.
5. 5.Checking Out Comic Life. This veteran teacher describes how she plans to use Comic Life with her kindergartners.
6. 6.In the Classroom: Alice in Comic Land. This teacher describes how she used comics while teaching Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She also includes links for teaching Shaun Tan’s The Arrival.
   
   
   Lesson Plans for Elementary
   
   Elementary teachers will enjoy these great lesson plans designed specifically for early learners.
   1. 1.Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Genre Study. Perfect for 3rd-5th graders, this lesson helps students understand the genre of comics through examining and creating comics.
   2. 2.Comic-Strip Challenge. Teach sequencing by using comic strips in this lesson appropriate for grades 2-5.
   3. 3.Creative Writing Using Comics. Teach creative writing to 4th through 8th graders with this lesson that also expands to include vocabulary and a group activity.
   4. 4.Learning Storytelling Elements the Fun Way!-A Visual Storytelling Lesson Using Comics. Second and third graders can practice storytelling and sequencing with this lesson.
   5. 5.Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using Comic Books to Teach Onomatopoeia. Great for grades 3-5, this four-part lesson lets students create their own comic strip while exploring onomatopoeia.
   6. 6.Comics in the Classroom as an Introduction to Narrative Structure. Sequencing, story-telling, and plotting are all part of this lesson appropriate for 3rd-5th graders.
   7. 7.Creating Comic Strips. Students in 4th through 6th grade can learn about sequencing, drawing, and humor with this lesson.
   8. 8.Make Family Comic Strips. Appropriate for grades 2-5, this lesson guides students through creating a comic strip depicting a funny event from their family.
   9. 9.Story Switch Comics. For learners in 1st-3rd, this lesson allows students to change the problem in a familiar story and draw it in a cartoon.
   10. 10.Book Report Alternative: Examining Story Elements Using Story Map Comic Strips. Students will independently and as a group read a text, identify elements of the story, then create a comic strip to report what they learned.
   11. 11.Gabbing About Garfield: Conversing About Texts With Comic Creator. Students play an online sequencing game using Garfield comics, discuss the elements of comic strips, and create their own.
   12. 12.To, Too, or Two: Developing an Understanding of Homophones. After studying homophones, students will create a skit acting out the homophones, then convert their skit to a comic strip.

Podcast Reflection #9 Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan starts out by talking about Khan academy and how there are videos on their to learm basically anything!

The "About this talk states"
"Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help."

There are over 2200 videos on the Khan academy!!!!

How he got started- he was tutoring his cousins in New Orleans, from Boston via the internet, and pposted some youtube videos to help them... His cousins said they preferred him on youtube to in person, lol!!!
-They could now pause and repeat him, or review something with him, and they can re-watch him, they preferred doing this to working with him in person.
-He put his videos on youtube for the world, and then people started stumbling on it... and he got all sorts of feedback from around the world.
-Example "first time I smiled doing a derivative!" "same thing here I actually got a natural high and smiled for the rest of the day"
-after this the viewership kept growing!
-Someone's autistic son used his math videos to learn
-Since Salman Khan was an analyst at a hedge fund, this started out being weird for him - this social value, helping others learn.
-He never thought that these videos would penetrate the classroom - his videos were being used to "give" the lectures as homework and then what used to be homework was being done in the classroom - ASTOUNDING!!! :)
-Obvious benefit, students can enjoy the video at their own pace in their own time, by removing the one-size fits all lecture, and then letting the students do work together and interact, the teachers have used technology to humanize the classroom. The lecture is now not - one-size fits all and they're now interacting.

So- he quit his job and created the Khan Academy...
- an example is that you can go online and do 10 questions and if you understand you can move on, but if not it keeps giving you questions so that you can practice...
-Very different from what happens in the classroom.

Random thought! - this guy is really funny!
-I'd love to watch videos of him teaching, I bet his lectures are actually entertaining, and definitely better than some of my college professors lol

-His site is all free - non-profit

-Some schools aren't using math textbooks anymore - they are using Khan academy to teach math- how crazy is that! And cool!
-Every kids works at his own pace, the teacher looks at the dashboard, and can see where each student is at and depending on the color (blue, green, red) can see the level students are performing online, and then knows how to group the students.
-With this you can really see all the progress of the kids, and some who are labeled as underacheiving are moving to the "gifted" category as they are allowed to move at their own pace.

He still does all the videos, but they have a team working together to create them and the ideas behind them. They are now starting to use "badqes" to give the students motivation.
-He is collaborating with 2 schools of 5th grade math at Los Altos. Their programs allow them to track the students from grade level to grade level as well.

-The only concern/complain I have for this is what if the student doesn't have internet access or a computer at home? Then what do you do? How do you require your student to watch these videos at home? Especially if you are teaching in an low SES area? However, overall, this is a great concept and how cool - that technology is being used to "humanize" the actual classroom experience, instead of just old boring lectures. I loved it! :)

Here's why you should listen to him: http://www.ted.com/speakers/salman_kahn.html

Podcast, Website & Blog Mid-term Critiques

Part 1: Podcasts

I critiqued the websites of Austyn McNew and Cristina Navickas so here I will be reflection on both of their podcasts.

As for Austyn's podcast... He lists 2-5 tools, Wordle, Glogster, The Google Art Project,  and Animoto...
-Wordle is the first resource he talks about - talks about using it to prepare students for spelling tests, which is a great idea! It's also a lot of fun, I really like this tool as well. He says you could also use it as a "get to know you" activity at the beginning of the school year.
-Animoto is his 2nd resource. You are able to upload pictures and create 30 second videos, but this website is pretty sweet in my opinion. We have had to use it for educational technology and we made ones about our content area. In Austyn's case he made an animoto about history which is pretty cool. I made one for my content area which is ESL
-Google Art Project - is a very useful tool in which you can take students on virtual tours of museums all around the world, he found it interesting and fun to play around on.
-Glogster - is a really easy way to make online posters that can be interactive as well. I have also used this resource in one of my podcasts, either my group one or my individual one, I can't remember, but I know that I love this resource!

As for Cristina's podcast: She did a podcast about Special Education which is really cool!
-She found  a "national center for learning disabilites" which is comprised of a wide variety of resources, podcasts and blogs.
-Her 2nd site was "learning disabilites online" offers in-depth articles on a wide variety of learning disabilites, and gives links for parents and educators.  This website offers hope and encouragement by providing inspiring personal stories.
-Her 3rd site - national dissemitation center for disabilites, discusses IDEA legislation as well as the NCLB act as it relates to children with disabilites - this website is also available in spanish!
- Her 4th site, Council for Exceptional children is an international community of educators - she also mentions that there is a group like this at K-State, and they have meetings on Monday nights i'm pretty sure. This website provides helpful links for teachers about special education. This website also includes pages for professional development for those interested.



Part 2, Website/Blog:

Stuff I discovered, other people have cool websites! I really enjoyed looking at the other websites of my classmates. It was interesting to learn more about them and watch their animotos. Since we critiqued people we didn’t know, it was fun to see into their lives a little  bit – and learn more about them and/or their content area. Also, looking at the blogs of other students was really interesting as well and seeing what they chose to listen to and reflect on was often enlightening and I got some great ideas.

How to Improve my Website/Blog:

Stuff I could improve about my website – according to the critiques of my website,  I could make some text bigger… I could make sure all parts are labeled, somehow my personal podcast had a link that wasn’t labeled. Also, about my blog, I needed to make sure that I had all my podcasts labeled correctly as well that way they were all in the appropriate order. Overall, the critiques of my own personal website were really helpful. I'm glad we were given the opportunity to peer-edit/critique each other's websites. 

Podcast Reflection #8: Tech Chicks - Unscripted, Episode 3

Tech Chick Tips...

Episode 3

Back to School Episode
Website of the week = citationmachine.net

Citation Machine is a website put together by David Warlick.

It's basically an interactive web tool that helps you cite things for research papers and/or other projects where you have to cite sources. All you basically have to do is type in information about the website

and then you can choose MLA or APA format and it will create a citation for you. It's as easy as pie!


Tip of the Week:
Student Safety - safety when broadcasting student work
-be aware of what your students are saying on the web, don't let them put out their full names and/or location. Have them be very vague when putting in information.
-They need to be aware that people can access their data.
An idea for students - they can come up with a persona or a DJ name/Alias that way they feel safe, because no one will know their real name.

When they leave an email address, have them use yours, or use an alias email address that is forwarded to your account - This can be done through google email aka gmail, i'm pretty sure or even yahoo I bet.

Ideas how to get ready for a school year:
Get to know me - about yourself - do a podcast about your classroom, doing a slideshow or ilife movie about yourself - possibly a wordle/tagxedo about yourself
-you could also create a book through iPhoto if you are into that.

-When you have openhouse/ open school night, have a camera handy to take advantage of those photo opps of your kids and their parents.

Overall, this podcast was short, sweet and to the point. I have learned about a valuable resource that will help me make citations as we speak - I'm currently writing a research paper for one of my classes and this resource will definitely come in handy as I need to cite my references in APA format. And, there was some valuable information shared about student safety. Children don't realize how many people actually have access to what they are writing on the web so it's our responsibility as (future) teachers to educate them about this and protect them.

Podcast Reflection #7: Driving Questions with Kevin Honeycutt "No Flute, Play Your iPhone!"

For this podcast reflection I chose to listen to a podcast by Kevin Honeycutt. And if i'm not mistaken he is a resident of Kansas and works for Essdack at the current time. He previously taught art in a school in Kansas though, I can't directly remember which one.  His website is here, if you click on the link you can browse his website and learn more about him and what he does.  The page of his podcasts is here.

In this particular podcast entitled "No Flute? Play your iphone!" He is talking about viral connectedness applications, one of these applications is one that allows you to play music on your iphone... He can hear various music being played in different countries via someone's iphone and can let them know if he likes it or not. "It's like a worldwide radiostation of performers".

The description of his podcast is "Join me in the carpool for some bad music but big ideas! In this episode I play the ocarina, an app for the iPhone from Smule. While sharing my new passion for this digital woodwind instrument I am struck by the way the world just changed...again! What will this kind of anytime, anywhere musical instrument mean for kids in the near future and will we use them in schools?"

 This Smule site - tells you how to play it, or you can look at sheet music specifically for it. And this website has loads of more information about the instrument called the "Ocarina",  it's all actually pretty nifty!

-By Blowing into his microphone on his iphone it allows you to play different images on the "Ocarina" which is pretty cool!! And by playing the different "keys" on the screen, you can change your pitch you're putting out. You can also tune the instrument to different pitches overall so that your instrument sounds different.

Applications like this, let you connect with other people around the world and get feedback.
It's like playing a woodwind, and he's actually been practicing because he wants someone to click the "love button" and give him affirmation that he sounds good haha!

I find this overall really interesting that the iphone now has a way for you to play an instrument using their product, because I LOVE music, and in fact I started out as a music major so music plays a big part in my life. I think this is really cool! Kevin mentions also that it helps for people who don't actually play a woodwind and it got him hooked.

Overall it's really neat :)