Think of it like the box. We know what is in there. We know what it can do (nothing). So we protect it and covet the best time slot. We also know we can assign a task in there and have 40 minutes of freedom so we can assess students individually as needed.
What if we replaced the word "technology" with pencil? Would it seem ridiculous still like in this blog post here? As an educator, it comes down to a matter of what and when we teach students. There are risks like them searching an inappropriate video or image. However, if we don't teach them how to use technology as part of the daily routines in school how could they use it correctly on their own? Recently I attended a great conference as a presenter, Podstock, and I came away with an important take-away. What is your return on instruction? Have you measured the differences in students when you use project based learning compared to a traditional test? That's the value of integrating technology. It enriches instruction and it enriches the students. I do not think it must be constantly used. It is clearly ok to unplug - even plan for tech outages when there is substitutes. We can do this easily by letting go of complete control and the dependence on memorization of facts. Think about admitting it is OK to let the students fail or to fail yourself. If you can't show them how to handle failure then how can we expect them to? If there was one item I would advocate we use technology for in the future is collaboration and digital storytelling. There is so much more depth in creation when we add audio, visual and music to a project!
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In the world of technology, there are some very clear lines drawn in the sand. Many divide the generations into Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials. The differences between those three levels are huge. The technology gap was huge for these three shifting from being aware of technology - like television - to being immersed in it (to the point of constant consumption).
Mark Prensky refers to this technology exposure as its own language in his article here. If you were born into it like Millennials you are a digital native. If you had to acquire the skills afterwards you are a digital immigrant.
I grew up with technology - but was not completely immersed in it. Social media came to rise while I was in college - and I didn't jump on the bandwagon at the time. However, I consumed video games, film and all the other traits found by a traditional native. This means that because everything I consumed at that time was NEW there was no guides and I learned to troubleshoot, search and fix things on my own.
This skill set is now highly desired! So I come equipped to teach digital natives because I am not afraid to get in the mud and muck around. This means I don't give answers! I just teach them how to FIND them.
Just like any teacher - I plan to continue learning the language of multimedia every day. I am not afraid to ask questions and I am clearly not afraid to tell students:
I Don't Know! While traversing this digital world I'll have take a few steps to make sure video content is safe. First thing is teaching them responsibility. If they are responsible, they won't be searching undesirable content. Second, when showing materials I'll screen it myself first and not pull it up on the fly. The biggest resource I'll use for media sites are: The Education list on Youtube here, Schooltube, or the organzied lists at WatchKnowLearn. Who else finds they are in the gray zone between the generations?
I spend my summers preparing for professional development normally. This includes helping out with the Ed Camp Foundation PD movement. This movement changes the scripts on how PD is created and used.
Instead of sitting in a locked room with a Powerpoint Presentation teachers gather round and share what they want to know or already know and facilitate discussions. Imagine the difference right there! Not sit-and-get presentations, but dialogues on what works and what you want to know. Recently, I have been preparing and studying presentation design. I have seen people who are incredible presenters live multiple times and it wasn't until I saw this slideshare and hit No. 95. that it connected.
This is where that chart on audience engagement pops into view. I go back and think about the awesome presentations by @2guysshow, @GingerLewman and @kevinhoneycutt because they stop and connect. The pull in a relevant story, show a video or activity that gets the audience engaged!
This is my new goal at presentations is to relate more materials to personalities because let's face it you build bridges with relationships. So share those relationships in any presentation. Speaking of Dos and Don'ts in Presentations
If you do use a traditional Powerpoint presentation here is a quick note about what NOT to do:
Fonts to avoid (these I did not know and there were some fighting words on whether or not Tahoma, was an option between my wife and I. She is the TYPE to get in a debate on text types. Tahoma, Microsoft Sans Serif, Arial, Verdana, Courier New, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Lucida Console, Comic Sans. Do not give a million animations or facts on one slide. Do not use clipart when there is a ton of free source photos under creative commons you could use. Do not read from the slides! For more interesting fun check out this video about the Death of Powerpoint.
We need a new type of classroom and The Beatles have it right. We might be teachers, but there is absolutely nothing wrong asking for help. So please, please help me, as they would say. Let's do away with generic small talk by asking how are you today when you walk quickly to your room. Here's why: this fall I attended a wonderful conference and identified that I need help. I run around like the Lone Ranger doing tons of cool things in my classroom that others don’t know about it. Let me give you some examples, my students coded video games for 9 months as part of my math centers. We did four major project based learning science activities - while my peers did two. I taught them how to navigate several video platforms including green screens, Adobe Spark and Scratch Jr. Did you see any posts on those items as they happened? Nope. Why? No one asked so I didn't think to share. That’s why I need your help. Heidi Jayes Jacobs, an avid author and presenter at TEDxNYED asks us: What year are you preparing your students for? She has declared that the enemy of the 21st Centruy is the No.2 pencil. We have to move past testing in isolation and focusing on skills from the last century when we were students. Time has changed so must our teaching strategies and materials. If I am going to be able to help others I need YOU to help remind me to share. That’s the first step to helping others: sharing and building up relationships. Want effective instruction? Work on that affection towards your class and colleagues. This spring, I did a book study over Better Conversations by Jim Knight. This book changed my approach to small talk. It showed me the power a good talking to about a day or a rough night can change your classroom and your colleagues. I am by no means perfect which is why for me to be a better teacher I need you to ask what I am doing today in class. There are four parts to any good model of effective instruction. It has to have quality, be at an appropriate level, include incentives and use time wisely (Success For All). I propel my students into new skills all the time. However, like most teachers, I do great until I hit the lack of incentive (motivation) to work from a student. I have found that relationships are what we need to build to improve our schools. IF I want to be effective colleagues and teachers we need to talk to each other and ask for help. I’d love to see our normal greetings in the hallway change from: How are you? to What will you teach today? Looking for other tips to improve relationships?
Check out this chapter by Jim Burke on Effective Instruction found on Scholastic Professional. How rocky is the waters surrounding your curriculum? Would you capsize if the words instructional design came into question while evaluating your lessons? That’s the focus today as we investigate this quote: "Education has missed the boat, with respect to instructional design. Teachers come up with lesson plans on the fly, with little thought to why they are presenting information or even who their audience is. Teacher training, at the university level and during Professional development, needs to focus on helping teachers become comfortable with instructional design principles." Do you fly by lesson planning because you have taught the lessons before? Is your text still printed in a book? If so, you might need this refresher on instructional design (ID). Professionally, I received no training on instructional design and it has never been brought up in professional development. It wasn't until this summer that the question arose in a course I am enrolled in and a few friends voiced their frustration at dealing with spinning wheels with old curriculum.
I can recall this time period - only 7 years ago - because I used the same model for my lesson plans for two years after I got my first teaching job. It was simple, Identify the objective and content and then explain what tools and methods used to teach it. We never thought about the best way to deliver that task. It was always set by the curriculum guides. Read this introduction in math, do this worksheet for enrichment or intervention and then repeat the next day. After reading this great introduction to ID here, you can see that it can be broken down into three parts: Analyzing the situation to determine needs, produce and implement the ID and then evaluate the results. There are a few specific ID models, but we will look at the flexible method created by Morrison, Ross and Kemp. This 2004 model is fluid with nine separate elements. When designing with this model, it is meant to transition between several different locations represented as the two outer ovals. This instructional design is dynamic and has found its way into technology classrooms. I used a very similar model for my science curriculum (project based learning). The ability to adapt lessons as new information and learning goals is reassessed makes it a common tool for e-learning and PBL because it allows teachers to respond directly to individual needs and gaps. This sounds like deep thinking... This sounds like work right? And over a summer break too… Well that’s a teacher’s life! If it’s for the betterment of students we have to at least search for why focusing on ID improves the classroom correct? You would be surprised how little research there is on ID in preservice and PD. That’s because the new emphasis is just now starting to branch out on its own. You can learn more about who and what they do here.
Here’s 25 questions you can use to get started on improving your curriculum brought to you by researchers Jay Mctighe and Grant Wiggins. Just perusing these simple questions will help you evaluate changes that might need to happen in your designs. You could start with an easy one like: Show your students' final assessment work to a colleague. Could they identify the outcomes you wanted by looking at it? (McTighe & Wiggins). Add one green background and record! Use of a stable recording device reduces camera shake. Student created samples
Recently I learned a new bit of data that the way to ensure students THRIVE in the classroom involves three components. Presenter @bobtryanski used data from SEARCH Institute to share their years or research. The gallery above shows the first one "Spark." SPARK My students would not hug so tight, cry when leaving my room or miss me without a little Spark. Every year our 2nd Grade students are exposed to sciences, math, reading, art and just plain fun! These are meant to IGNITE passion for school. Whether I am showing them the force of gasses on a jar full of water, learning to tame the purple claw menace or sharing our reading apps with stuffed animals this is our goal. 3 Adults Learners need 3 adults to share an interest encouraging them with words as simple as, "Give it a shot, You might be good." These adults have to be outside of the parental spheres. Almost every spark has at least ONE from school. I hope to be that one. Opportunity
The final component is providing them an outlet to stretch this out. Personally, I give 4th graders the shot at photography and graphic design in Yearbook Club. This is one of my passions as a professional artist. Imagine what your life would be like if no one gave you a shot or let you experiment on trying new things out! I can remember the worst shot I took before I went into teaching. I was a door-to-door salesman for one day. Suffice it to say it was BAD. However, I learned quickly sales was not for me. Help your own learners THRIVE, be the ADULT who makes a difference and give them the OPPORTUNITY to show their SPARK!
One thing to note: Just because we have 11 iPads doesn't mean it will replace projects, science, art or math. Good technology cannot replace good teaching. While in my classroom, the focus will be on the SAMR model of tech integration. See the picture below: Most early teachers begin technology by replacing the computer with the iPad. This is a beginning point and yes students will use it for some educational games. However, throughout the year you can check out our work as we dive deep into reading and apply it with video presentations, digital models of architecture and even new tasks the students choose to make in our science program. The first task to remember is that we will use Facebook to blog about our day to keep families in constant contact.
So this year I am setting up flexible seating with advice from #StarbucksMyClassroom a movement to give those choices to students.Due to our limited budget all of my seating choices will come from reclaimed furniture and donations. Here's some photos to give you an idea of where I am starting!
In addition to these items I am putting in a Donor's Choose Grant to get myself four more ball chairs and a large comfortable carpet for my center seating space when we are using the projector. Hello and thanks for stopping in to #k12video. There is not many dedicated chats to video creation for education and I am hoping to start one. I have been in education for 7 years, but a professional photographer for 10 years. My company added video for 4 years. You can see samples of my work at www.theweddingshotonline.com Step 1 No matter where and what age level you teach at the first step for any podcast, commercial or film is scripts. Teachers have lots of routes of integrating videos into any content: Historical reenactments, action reports over science activities, creative book reviews, math in the real world or even commercials. Here are some examples:
This is a commercial my yearbook staff made using our green screen. They scripted, filmed and edited it.
Yes, that is my students pouring ice and water on me when it is below 60 outside! Notice how I am the only one in shorts.
Step 2 After you have a script it is important to practice your fluency and parts. Do not feel like every word must be perfect in the film just make it sound like you are talking! Everyone stumbles on a word so make that part of it. Remember what @kevinhoneycutt says, "Perfect is the enemy of done!" Step 3 Almost all film is shot landscape... If you record Vertical be prepared for thick black borders when you upload to YouTube Lighting is the number one quality control for beginners. Do you see a yellow, blue or grainy cast to your film? This is due to your light source. Having a well lit location is paramount for a good film. The best light comes from overcast days. You have a mobile device so use it! In addition, be aware of sounds. Do not record just anywhere - check for background noises, cars, or even planes to distract the viewer. Step 4 If you followed the steps above then you will need minimal editing. Rather than outline everything you can do in iMovie. I found a short walk through to guide you through it. |
AuthorI am a 2nd Grade teacher with years of experience in digital editing and film. I have a 2nd Degree Black Belt, am a professional wedding photographer, and instruct fine art painting classes. Archives
July 2017
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