False Alarm

That last post was not the final post of the semester.

I failed to post my favorite assignment that I did. I linked to this in the last post, and even disparaged it a bit, but I am fairly proud that I was able to figure out the whole podcast thing.

Should you feel so inclined, give them a listen.

Thanks.

It's the Final Countdown!

Duh nuh nuh nuh. Duh nuh dun dun. "They're illusions, Michael."

For this final post, I am supposed to pick the most useful technology I have learned this semester. I chose two. No, three.

I believe I have mentioned this before, but I feel that blogging is such as fantastic tool for the classroom. It allows students to access information about the class from the comforts of their own home. This provides opportunities for those who slough legitimately miss class to catch up on assignments, or see the lecture information they might have missed. Students also have the opportunity to leave comments or ask questions of the teacher after school hours.

For my media project, I made a couple of dubious podcasts designed to help introduce a couple of units. I believe podcasting is another great way to get information to students in a nontraditional manner. It also allows them to listen to the information at their leisure. Perhaps there is one student who just cannot fall asleep without listening to the honey-kissed voice of Mr. Vance drone on about colonial relations in sweet, dulcet tones. . .or it could just be a way to provide extra information without taking time out of your lecture. I would be interested in improving the format I attempted for my media project, utilizing podcasts to introduce units and prepare students for the day/week's discussion.

I also found Prezi to be a really fun presentation tool. Powerpoints have a tendency to be stale, and--let's admit it--most of us are pretty bad at designing slides. Mine typically end up looking like graphic designer farts. Prezi makes it fairly simple to design an engaging aid to your presentation or discussion. It's free for students and educators, so give it a look! Unless this site disappears into internet limbo (Myspace? Friendster? Anyone? Bueller?), I will probably choose this tool over Powerpoint to prepare my lectures. It is not, however, without its limits. But explore the site and see if it will work for you.

Technology just has a way of making things interesting. Would you rather read a textbook chapter or listen to a podcast? Geocaching and virtual tours seem infinitely more fun than those pull-down maps that always roll back up on unsuspecting substitutes. Students can become more active in learning by using these technologies. If I learn a great new technology, why not get students to use it? Why can't they make podcasts, too? Assign them a topic, and let them have at it. That would make it easier on me, as a teacher. I would much rather listen to a podcast than grade a paper.

Prezi-tation

I just watched Ridley Scott's Robin Hood--quite possibly the muddiest movie in the history of cinema. Thoroughly uninspiring, except for one thing: those creepy, deer-poaching Children of the Corn!

Poaching.

Yes, I poach blogs. Deer tend to be messy and smelly, but blogs are a clean kill. Looking around at some of my classmates' blogs, I found one post by David Root someone who shall remain nameless, which talks about using Prezi.

Prezi! I checked out their website, and I was instantly intrigued. It has the potential to create presentations that are infinitely more interesting than the majority of Powerpoints I have seen in my time.

These presentations seem so much more interactive and visually interesting than a series of slides. I could see them being used as end-of-unit projects or presentations, such as a visual timeline of major historical events of the unit.

I feel that presentations and projects can be effective means of assessing what a student has learned throughout the course of a unit. As such, I propose to explore how to have students utilize Prezi to create presentations that will demonstrate their knowledge.

The example on the Prezi site shows how an entire presentation can be zoomed out to reveal that it was all in the mind of a cartoon pig. Imagine that! What kinds of interesting reveals could be created in a project about, say. . . the Salem Witch Trials?

Podcasts!

For my multimedia project, I opted to record a couple of podcasts. To be completely honest, I had originally intended to record a podcast where historically significant figures were asked to sit down for a discussion. As I got working on the project, however, I decided to head the project in another direction. What I have recorded are two roughly sixty-second summaries of potential units. They are intended to give a very brief introduction and to get students thinking and relating to the subjects they are about to study. Each podcast ends with a few discussion questions which I would like the students to consider and be prepared to answer on the first day of the unit.

Here's the link to the new podcast blog:
http://shortyshorts.blogspot.com

The first podcast coincides with U.S. History I UEN standard 4, objective 2: Assess the reasons for settlement of the English colonies. This podcast would open the unit about English colonies. It briefly introduces a few of the groups that formed colonies, as well as their reasons for doing so. The end of the podcast lists the three main reasons for any sort of colonization: gold, god, and glory. The question is then asked, what would convince you to leave your home to colonize a new land? The intention is to cause students to evaluate and synthesize information about reasons for colonization, applying that thinking to their own lives. Hopefully, this will lead to a lively class discussion and increased participation by the students.

The second podcast correlates with standard 5, objective 1: Analyze what ideas and events led to the Revolutionary movement. This podcast has the same aims and goals as the first. Its focus is on the Enlightenment and its effect on the Revolutionary movement. John Locke is discussed--not the John Locke of LOST fame, but the John Locke who developed the revolutionary theory of government. When a government ceases to protect rights or loses the consent of the people, it then becomes the responsibility of that people overthrow that government. The question is then asked of students, is this right? Are there any problems with this theory?

I chose to change the format of my podcasts, because I believe this is something I could/probably will actually use in my classroom. I intend to improve on the formula, making them more funny, entertaining, and/or informative. Nevertheless, I hope that these two examples will give a general idea of what I intend.

For those of you who have actually read this far, I apologize for such dry, uninspired writing this time. My brain farted while recording those podcasts, and I'm still reeling from the smell.

World Domination

Does anybody else harbor secret, irrational fears that Google will take over the world? Do you have nightmares about waking up to find that our world leaders have surreptitiously been replaced by brightly-colored letters in Catull BQ font? At the next State of the Union, a giant, blue G will step up to the podium with his little g flunky strong-arming nosy reporters out of the way. We will all be required to spend the rest of our back-breaking days retrieving search engine queries and performing analytics on websites.

Well, if such a candy-colored dystopian vision of the future is to be true, I want to make sure I'm on the winning side. That being said, here is a great site that is full of tutorials on how to use Google tools in your classroom.

It teaches how to make self-grading quizzes. I think these could potentially be a great way to quickly quiz students. Of course, self-grading seems to imply that they will be nothing but multiple choice, so it wouldn't be the best choice in all situations. It would also require that every student have free access to a computer in order to complete the quiz.

Still, I believe Google has a number of helpful tools for the teacher. I recently watched one U.S. History teacher coach her class on how to collaborate on a paper, using Google Docs. Students were able to write, edit, and discuss the paper without having the hassle of coordinating rides and a meeting location.

Hail, Google! Those who are about to teach salute you.

SnagFilms? What the--?

Full disclosure: When I first saw information about SnagFilms, my initial thought was that they might be some sort of lesser, younger brother version of snuff films. If you don't know what snuff films are, for the love of everything wholesome, don't go Google any examples.

But truthfully, now that we've all probably Googled at least the definition, don't SnagFilms sound like some sort of tawdry, exploitative film about a killer hangnail?

Well, they're not.

As it happens, SnagFilms is a fantastic site where one can access and view documentaries in their entirety. I'm not exactly sure how this works--especially in light of last week's copyright assignment--but if you're interested, take a look at their terms of service. The videos are embeddable, so long as you embed them using their own widget.

There's even an educational version. Here, videos can be sorted according to grade level and topic. On the right-hand side of the screen, there are also links to similar teacher resources. There are links encouraging you to submit a lesson plan based on the film, so that other teachers can benefit, and there are also discussion questions for students to consider as they watch the film.

I know there has been a bit of discussion in class lately as to the efficacy and appropriateness of watching films in class. Whichever side of the divide you find yourself landing on, this website surely has a video you would find useful, should you decide you want one.

One video that particularly caught my attention was a documentary about a prom in Charleston, Mississippi. This prom was completely financed by actor Morgan Freeman. His one stipulation: the prom was to be the first fully integrated prom in the city's history. Since 1970, the school has been integrated, but has held segregated proms. In 1997, Morgan Freeman made his original offer for an integrated prom. It was summarily rejected. In 2008, he made the offer again, and the school board agreed.

Watch more free documentarieshttp://learning.snagfilms.com/film/prom-night-in-mississippi

During a unit about civil rights, this would be a great film to help students see how segregation and racism affects us even today. I feel that this film would be such an effective way for students to see that the civil rights movement extends beyond the old black-and-white newspaper photos (erm. . . not intended. Seriously.), and that it is something their contemporaries are facing and asking questions about right now.

But returning to the general topic of SnagFilms, can anybody explain to me how this site works? I mean, how does this fit in with current copyright laws? Do I just need to go back and review the copyright lesson?

Also, would anybody watch a snag film about a murderous hangnail rampage?

Copy "Right?" Pt. II

Dear Teacher,

I really don't mean to be "that guy," but your video was kind of boring. I hated it just a little bit. It was poor audio, and a bunch of grainy pictures. I'm not exactly sure where you got them, but they failed to impress. They were also not cited. As an educator, I'm sure you already knew that, and it was just a simple oversight.

I was also completely underwhelmed by your choice of music. I could barely even hear it, anyway. It sounded like it might have come from Freeplay music. I learned about that site today. It's kind of cool, how you can use that music without having to worry about copyright violations. Of course, posting it on the internet is another matter, I believe.

Anyway, I'm sure you already knew all this. I know I sound like a jerk, but it's late, and I am tired of writing these fictional letters. I hope you have a wonderful day. I also hope that I never meet you in real life, because you might just punch me in the throat.

Sincerely,
Jordan