Podcasts

This is one sample of a podcast I created on Friday with my seventh grade literature class. We are reading The Westing Game, and we made podcasts about the main characters. The rest can be found on our classroom wiki. We didn't spend a lot of time on these. I just wanted to try it out with them. I used Audacity for the first time, and it was pretty easy - thankfully! The kids loved it! The next time I do it, we will spend more time preparing. I will also give them more specific criteria.

I do want to take the time to listen to some podcasts and see what other teachers are doing. I think it is a great tool that gets the kids excited.

I hadn't really ever explored Ning before, but I spent some time with it today. I created one for my classroom, and I joined several interesting ones I found. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with my classroom Ning, but I think I would like to create some kind of literature discussion site. I am amazed every week by the new things we are learning!

RSS and Photo Sharing

I had a lot of fun playing with Flickr this week and creating the badge on the right. We just celebrated my nephew William's third birthday, and I took a lot of pictures. Here is a link to the birthday photo set!

I thought some of the ideas in the book (for using Flickr in the classroom) were interesting. I liked the idea of creating a story based on a random photo. I was also very interested in the ideas of the math teacher. When I have some extra time (ha ha), I want to explore his blog. I would have never really thought about using photos as inspiration for math problems! I have always taken a lot of photos during the school year, but now I am thinking about different ways to USE those photos rather than just hanging them up on a bulletin board in the classroom.

Since we started this program, I have been reading a few blogs. I had heard about RSS earlier in the program but never really explored it. Now that I had to do it this week (for the assignment), I am glad I did. I think it will save a lot of time! I have also found a few more interesting blogs to add to my list. I set up both Google Reader and Bloglines, but I think I will eventually just end up using Bloglines. I like it better because it seems easier to use, at least right now.

Wikis and Blogs (class #2)

After listening to the assigned podcast about Think.com and social networking, I began the registration process for our school. This sounds like a really safe environment for students to learn how to network with students all around the world. The teacher in the podcast, Cheryl Oakes, had some great ideas for involving parents in the process and teaching them, and their children, about Internet safety. She mentioned that if any cyber-bullying takes place her students know they will be banned from Think.com. I think that would be an effective deterrent, especially if they enjoy the access as much as I think they would.

I am working on re-doing my class wiki. I decided to stick with PBWiki for now. I am trying to get the free upgrade using the Back-To-School Challenge they are offering. I am excited about trying several of the ideas from the chapter in our textbook. I would like to eventually give each of my students their own page on the wiki. We could start by adding their first book reviews. I would also like to include some discussion about the novel we are reading, The Westing Game. I am also working on an idea where they would each research a topic of interest and post some information. Then they could work to revise and edit each others' information - a mini Wikipedia!

Blogs and Wikis (534 - class#1)

Our one, short month of vacation is over, and we are back at it. The end is almost in site now though!

We are back to another more "hands-on" class, it seems. I am all for it! I have really enjoyed all the classes where we learned about new tools that we could immediately incorporate into our classrooms.

One of the movies we watched, "When I Become a Teacher", was very effective. Unfortunately, I have met several teachers like that. I am happy to say that I don't think I teach with anyone like that now. I think, though, if you aren't careful about changing things up and continuing to learn new methods, it would be an easy trap to fall into. It is "easier" to be that kind of teacher. I hope that if I ever became like that, I would realize it and get out of the profession!

I plan to try a form of blogging with my seventh graders this year. We are going to create a "Book Review Blog". They will review books, read each others' reviews, and comment on them. I have also enlisted the help of a couple other teachers and our principal to read some of the posts and comment to them. I am also hoping some of the parents will get into the spirit and make some comments to the posts.

After reading the chapters for this week, I am starting to think about other forms of blogging I could use in my classroom. I do have a wiki currently connected to my classroom website. I only used it with the class a couple times last year, but I think I would like to expand that this year. More to come on that...

Teacher Leaders #5

Our group had some problems with the leadership perception surveys. We really work well together, and we each have individual strengths and weaknesses that we bring to the group. Many of the questions, however, didn't seem to relate to a group situation. I think these questions would be great to evaluate the leadership of members of a school, but it was awkward trying to answer some of these about our group. We did the best we could with it, and we were very consistent in our feelings on most of the questions.

Our whole book was really, in my opinion, focussed on a high school level. We don't have department chairs, and if any "teacher" in our school tried to do the things suggested in this book, they would be stoned =) There are great ideas for administrators in this book, but I just don't think a lot of it was applicable to us as middle school teachers. I do agree that leadership is vital in a school. I just wish the book had been geared more to the elementary/middle school level in which most of us teach.

Teacher Leaders #4

I really enjoyed the "Systems Thinking - Systems Changing Simulation" game we played in class on Wednesday. My group really got into the game, and I think we learned a lot from it. We found out, the hard way, that you really need to communicate often with your staff when a change is happening. There is also a definite order of priorities that needs to be implemented if you want a change to be successful. We were surprised and frustrated by how long it took us to move our reluctant staff members along on the path. That was reality though because we were all able to identify those people within our schools.

Chapter 5 made a lot of sense. I think we all like to be recognized for the things we accomplish. Since we are getting a new principal this year, things will obviously change in this area. Our principal last year did use some of these techniques. She started doing walk-throughs, and she did try to come to our classrooms as often as possible. In our building, however, this is difficult because our principal is our entire "administration." She has a multitude of responsibilities that take up most of her day. It doesn't leave a lot of time to spend in the classrooms. She was good at giving us little "gifts" for holidays and recognizing our birthdays, etc. It will be interesting to see how things change this year. Ironically, our new principal just got her leadership degree... from Stritch!

Teacher Leaders #3

After reading the Mindset List from Beloit college, my first thought was that I am getting old! It is weird to think of a group of teachers beginning to teach who have never rolled down a car window...

I think it is great that new teachers will be much more willing to take leadership roles and are comfortable with change. I think it will be interesting, however, to see how they handle conflict. I didn't realize, until I read the material for this week, that this is the start of a group that were not always given the ability to "fail" at something. Parents and teachers were always told to enhance their "self-esteem" and tell them they did well, even when they didn't. I don't know how some of these teachers will handle making mistakes or being criticized by a parent.

I never really thought about the different "generations" of teachers before reading the "Tune In" article. According to the years listed, I am a Generation X teacher, but I think I have qualities listed as common to Baby Boomers and Millenials as well. I think being a part of this program really helps to keep us up-to-date.