Technology in the classroom

Ok, so I have REALLY dropped the ball on my Metronet responsibilities as of late but I did want to blog about my lesson this week.
We're spending block day this week analyzing music of World War I. It's so great to have my laptop/LCD player and my ipod for this lesson. I can play the music, project the lyrics on the screen and it is a very interactive way for students to get involved in the lesson. I feel it's one of my better lessons I've done this year. The kids seem to be very involved and it makes it a fun day. Yay for technology!

FB update

I'm sure this will come as no surprise to those of you who have had facebook accounts for awhile....but I'm loving it. I've been in contact with several people that I haven't seen or talked with in 20 years! Very cool idea!

Facebook

I've been inspired by some of you (and friends and acquaintences) to create a facebook page. I made it last night and still need to learn more of the ins and outs. I can see where it will be a fun place to reconnect with people from the past.

Thing 10 Digital Storytelling

The only thing that I can think of that comes close to digital story telling in my classroom is when I used a video from online that showed an Aesop's fable that I was trying to connect to a lesson. It's interesting that I chose to work on Thing 10 today becuase in the Tech Crew training that I'm taking through work we had an assignment that is somewhat similar to digital story telling.

Our assignment was to video tape our class and then record voice narration over our video to describe what's happening in the lesson. Future teachers can use our videos to help out with classroom issues and to improve their own teaching. I did my video on techniques to improve on-task student behavior.

I could envision using digital story-telling in the future in my class in a lot of ways. One thing that I think would be fantastic, is to have students interview a grandparent or an older relative about some aspect of world history that they lived through. I think that would be a fascinating way of researching primary sources and it could also easily be shared with the class.

Some possible obstacles to overcome regarding having students use digital storytelling is teaching and learning the computer programs necessary to create digital stories. One nice thing is that year after year I feel that students become more and more tech savvy and that would help in overcoming this obstacle. Another way to overcome technology problems is to plan ahead with our building technology coordinator and have them help me brainstorm possible problems and ways to overcome those problems.

Thing 10

Hi out there! I wanted to work on Thing 10 today but I can't get the link to work from the Metronet page. Any thoughts on how I can access this? Thanks.

Thing 9 - Copyright & Creative Commons

What have I learned about copyright? I believe I've mostly just been reminded of things I already knew. For instance, that copyrights are meant to protect and inspire creativity and that they give legal rights to creators. It's important we respect them because then we're promoting the sharing of ideas. I think it's important that we inform our students about copyright protections because really, using copyrighted materials illegally is stealing...no different than if they walked into Target and stole a book.
I think copyright is a good Mili topic because there's so much to know. Also, I've found some cool websites that are copyright free as a result of Metronet. As I put on the Miliwiki...I really like the site http://www.oldbookillustrations.com/ because it includes neat copyright free illustrations I can use on my history assignments.
My primary experiences dealing with copyright are actually when I go to make photocopies. For example, in my E.L.L. History class, we don't have a single textbook that we work out of. I find myself constantly seeking for, making and borrowing materials for that class. Sometimes I'm unsure if I'm using everything in a fair manner. Because of this topic in Metronet, I'm more aware of how I can find out about fair use of any classroom materials.

Thing 8: Databases

I decided to check out more thoroughly the databases that we have here at Pioneer Ridge. There are several good databases here that I've used in the past like Opposing Viewpoints or Discovery Education Streaming (awesome place for video clips if you haven't tried it I highly recommend it).
Today I decided to dig deeper into the Historical Newspapers database from ProQuest. Since my students have an upcoming research assignment dealing with inventions and inventors of the Industrial Revoltuion, I thought I would see what sort of sources I could find at this database.

Some of the information the database provides includes articles (I found one on how the sewing machine changed society from 1858). The database also provides a timeline so that the researcher can focus in on a particular era if he/she so chooses. There are full articles available here as well as just the abstract of the article if you just want a basic idea of what is contained in the article.

I think the Historical Newspapers database is user friendly. One drawback is that the articles can be difficult to read even if you open them in a new window. This is likely due to the age of some of the articles. Considering a lot of them are transferred from microfiche or maybe even some older technology, that's not too surprising. If one has patience, the articles can be deciphered, but I do see this as a possible drawback trying to get some students interested in printed information that is tough to read at times.

I think one benefit I could point out to students about the Historical Newspapers database is that it is a simple way to look for and find entire primary sources about a research topic in history and they are available for free! I would recommend this database to all the Social Studies teachers for sure and maybe others looking for primary sources for another type of research project.

Cool site

Check out http://cramberry.net/ if you need to have your students make flashcards for anything. This week, my students are creating board games. All of their games require that they write trivia questions as part of the assessment criteria. I'm going to share the Cramberry site with students and see if any of them want to use it to help them create or study for their game creation.

Another great link from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/!!!

Thank you memos

I just love one thing about the end of a quarter. A few of our Using Tech. teachers give their students an assignment to write a "Thank you" memo to one of their teachers. It always makes me smile to find one or more of those memos in my mailbox. Often the kids write silly things like "you never give us much homework" but every once in awhile I get a very well thought out and kind memo like "you always look for ways to make learning fun."

This year, Metronet has helped me find several ways to keep learning fresh and fun. Not only do I appreciate that fact, but my students have noticed too.

P.S. Travis and I have a not so friendly little on-going memo competition on which one of us gets the most. It's pretty funny actually. I'm ahead this quarter. :)

editing wikis

As Sarah pointed out, I must be getting pretty techy because I just blurted out, "Now I have to blog that I edited a wiki!"

I did in fact edit a wiki; one for our new Chanhassen library and the resources/research we do and the other was on the http://milicopyrightwiki.pbwiki.com (check it out). I tried to make a little joke about what is a "copyleft".

I'm just learning so much from my Metronet class! This web 2.0 stuff isn't so hard afterall and it's kind of fun too!

Thing 6 - Online collaboration tools

Alright, I must admit I can't think of a reason why I need one yet but I went ahead and read about wikis and then I created one today. I inivited a couple of friends to share how they find wikis useful and to give me ideas for use in my own work or personal life.

Right now, I feel that wikis are just another blog. If I have a blog, why do I also need a wiki? But I have faith that an idea will come to me for wiki use with my students and it will be inspirational.

I'm curious why I couldn't figure out how to add my wiki to my Rss reader on Google. Anyone out there have any thoughts on that?

Thing 7 - Going deeper, search engines

So I've been checking out some other search engines besides my old stand-by, Google today. I liked the gigablast.com site and will try to remember to use it more often (how easy to form the always search google habit!)

Additionally, I created a Google custom search engine called Lindgren's search engine. I'm not entirely sure yet all the ways it will be helpful, but I'll keep you posted.

Finally, I continue to be amazed by all the Google products. Today I checked out http://knol.google.com/k and it looks pretty interesting. It is a way to communicate with experts in a particular area and I plan to explore it further when I have time. I found some interesting information on Napoleon Bonaparte in a cursory search this afternoon.

Thing 5 Libraries

Like a lot of teachers I've liked going to the library since I was a kid. I was brought up in rural northern Minnesota so going to the nearest public library in Grand Rapids was a treat. My sisters and I really looked forward to getting books from our local book-mobile up in Bigfork to supplement trips to the library.

As a 13 year resident of Chaska, I am a regular user of this public service. I've had a library card for a long time and a pin number for awhile. I've requested books and movies from other libraries with ease. The only caveat...is planning ahead a little if I need a resource for my classroom.

I have the MNLink on my classroom webpage and have encouraged my students to use it during past research projects.

Long live the public library system! :)

note taking

Happy New Year everyone! Well back at my classrooms we're neck-deep in the French Revolution. I'm wondering if any of you have any clever ideas to liven up note-taking. I've steered further and further away from the practice each year because it is boring for me too and I believe most students. Sometimes though it just seems like the best way to give students information.
With all of the creative teaching minds in the Metronet class, I'd love to hear from anyone who has clever ideas to liven up good old fashioned note taking. Thanks!