Over the past week or so in class, we have been discussing podcasts, vodcasts, and related technologies such as Voice Thread.
For me, I have always known about podcasts and what they entailed, but I had never taken the time to explore the many options out there!
Here is the definition of a podcast from Wikipedia:
A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.
My first stop was to check out the educational podcasts located on iTunes. You may find your results a bit limited if you just look here, so make sure you also search Google, where you will find several more options. One of the first results on iTunes is TeacherCast. I enjoyed listening to some of these podcasts, and have several more marked for future listening. Many of the TeacherCast podcasts are quite long, so this was one of the reasons that this particular site was not as appealing to me. However, in the true spirit of a podcast, I can see myself downloading these and listening to these while I clean the house or take a walk. When I tried to listen to the longer ones directly on my laptop, I found myself also surfing the web and not paying attention to the podcast!
The format of TeacherCast is nice, in that they usually use a sort of "round table" discussion, which is not scripted, so it flows naturally, and makes it real for the listeners. In the episode I listened to, the host and 2 guests were discussing "BYOD" or, the "Bring Your Own Device" movement. 2 educators discussed their views on this, pros/cons, ways to implement, and so on.
From a technical standpoint, the intro, music, and audio were all spot on, and this podcast was professional in nature. I think teachers of all grade and subjects could find something useful on this site.
Doing a search on iTunes for educational podcasts also led me to several podcasts for learning a language. Oh la la! As a language teacher, I have used several different online sources for finding audio for my students to listen to, but why have I never tapped into these podcasts before?
One podcast I started with is called Coffee Break French. Most of the episodes are about 20 minutes long. I clicked on a random episode, which happened to be one about numbers, focusing on the higher numbers. The 2 speakers are not native speakers, but this did not hinder the overall quality of the program. In fact, for my students, I think this might make the podcast less scary. The main speaker, Marc, has a very good accent. The other speaker, Anna, is "learning" French from him, playing the role of the student. Marc will stop and explain little things in English, such as grammar exceptions, or why things are the way they are. This podcast would be very helpful for students to listen to on their own time, because with the English explanations, there would be no questions. I think I will start linking some of these podcasts to my class Wiki and perhaps require students to listen to 1 per week. I will continue to look for podcasts that do not have as much English (if any) for the students and myself to listen to in class.
Finally, my classmates and I made our own educational podcast this week! This was an interesting experience, as we are spread out over 3 states, but can you tell from our podcast? Nope, we are just that good. ::smile::
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Blogging About Blogs
I have been a fan of blogs and blogging for many years now. Personally, I first started a blog to keep friends and family updated on my travels when I have spent longer amounts of time abroad. I decided to keep my blog going to show glimpses of my life for my friends and family who are spread out around the globe. In the classroom, I have been blogging with my upper-level French students for two years now. For now, we are using the blog as a way to post weekly responses/reflections to the topic we are studying that week. Like any technology project, I have found it is best to start small, and grow from there as both the teacher and the students feel comfortable with the technology and make it part of their weekly routine. I see potential to keep growing my class blog and am looking forward to incorporating ways to make it more interactive.
In the courses I am currently taking myself, we are also blogging (obviously) and following blogs that are relevant to our profession. To be honest, I have never followed education blogs (I prefer food blogs). When I first started teaching 12 years ago, I also kept going to school for about the first 8 years, whew! I think I just got burned out on going to school. Now that I have had a nice 4 year break, I definitely see and feel the need to continue to find ways to grow professionally. Educational blogs are a great way to keep up-to-date on new ideas and best practices!
One blog I have enjoyed reading is the Cool Cat Teacher Blog. The author, Vicki Davis, is a tech savvy educator who shares her passion for teaching and technology through her blog. The June 5th post about being a geek made me laugh. I too label myself as a geek! I'm glad to see I'm not alone, and that it is indeed cool to be geeky.
Seeing that we all just finished up another school year, I appreciated another one of Ms. Davis' posts about ending the school year positively. I felt like this post had good perspective and I wish I would have read it 3 days ago! I think I would have ended the school year on a better note. So, as a reminder, here is a to-do list for myself for next year, summarized from this post:
End Of School Year Checklist for Mrs. Thompson
1. Take the time to comment on student's report cards, no matter how much you want to just hit that 'Post Grades' button.
2. Say THANK YOU.
3. Remember people you see everyday, but might not speak with often. (Custodians, lunchroom staff...)
4. Leave the students with a positive message and remind them they are great young adults.
5. Leave classroom better than you found it.
6. "Sprint to the finish line!" Keep an active and exciting classroom until the last bell of the last day.
And you, how did you wrap up your school year? Do you agree with her advice? Do you have any tips to add?
I look forward to reading more educational blogs, as well as my classmates' postings. Please see my blog list on the right to follow these blogs yourself!
In the courses I am currently taking myself, we are also blogging (obviously) and following blogs that are relevant to our profession. To be honest, I have never followed education blogs (I prefer food blogs). When I first started teaching 12 years ago, I also kept going to school for about the first 8 years, whew! I think I just got burned out on going to school. Now that I have had a nice 4 year break, I definitely see and feel the need to continue to find ways to grow professionally. Educational blogs are a great way to keep up-to-date on new ideas and best practices!
One blog I have enjoyed reading is the Cool Cat Teacher Blog. The author, Vicki Davis, is a tech savvy educator who shares her passion for teaching and technology through her blog. The June 5th post about being a geek made me laugh. I too label myself as a geek! I'm glad to see I'm not alone, and that it is indeed cool to be geeky.
Seeing that we all just finished up another school year, I appreciated another one of Ms. Davis' posts about ending the school year positively. I felt like this post had good perspective and I wish I would have read it 3 days ago! I think I would have ended the school year on a better note. So, as a reminder, here is a to-do list for myself for next year, summarized from this post:
End Of School Year Checklist for Mrs. Thompson
1. Take the time to comment on student's report cards, no matter how much you want to just hit that 'Post Grades' button.
2. Say THANK YOU.
3. Remember people you see everyday, but might not speak with often. (Custodians, lunchroom staff...)
4. Leave the students with a positive message and remind them they are great young adults.
5. Leave classroom better than you found it.
6. "Sprint to the finish line!" Keep an active and exciting classroom until the last bell of the last day.
And you, how did you wrap up your school year? Do you agree with her advice? Do you have any tips to add?
I look forward to reading more educational blogs, as well as my classmates' postings. Please see my blog list on the right to follow these blogs yourself!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Distributed Learning Communities
Collective, Global, Knowledge, Collaboration, Creation, Sharing, Mastery, Active, Real, Understanding, Diversity. Community, Identity, Intellectual…
Do I have your attention yet? Do you wish the above words could apply to your classroom on a daily basis? Does the above list get you excited about teaching and/or learning?
The words above were all pulled from two articles describing “Distributed Learning Communities,” written by Chris Dede of Harvard University. Although the articles were published in 2004, the insight and suggestions he gives are fascinating regarding the concept of this sort of learning and teaching. 8 years later, we are perhaps making a bit of headway, but education still has a long ways to go in creating this type of learning and teaching environment.
What is a Distributed Learning Community? To summarize some of the definitions given in the articles: -A Distributed Learning Community includes “educational experiences that are distributed across a wide variety of geographic settings, across time and across various interactive media.” -The teacher’s role consists of “organizing and facilitating student-directed activities.” -Students are not expected to all be on the same page at the same time. A student’s “centrality can change over time.” However, all members’ contributions are equally important, and those “working in peripheral roles are also valued for their contributions.” -In summary, a Distributed Learning Community (DLC) means “everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding.”
While I found many aspects of this article interesting, one point that really caught my attention was the differences between the DLC concept and that of a traditional classroom. I have always thought that I would not become one of those teachers that would become “stuck in a rut,” but after reading an article like this, I’m ashamed to say that in many ways I have let myself hang on to tightly to some traditional teaching methods and assessment that need to be kicked to the curb. Do I like photocopying the same worksheets and quizzes every year? Yep. Is this a best practice? Nope.
Dede reminds us over and over in his writing of the need to find ways to foster 21st century skills in today’s learners. We need to prepare them to be global citizens with higher order thinking skills that are needed in a modern workplace. So how do we best do this? As teachers, we have to be willing to change our methods in order to keep up with an ever-changing world! As already mentioned, we need to learn to take on the role of a facilitator. For me, transferring the “power” to my students is hard! However, in letting them be responsible for their own learning AND that of a group, this can only lead to a stronger investment and interest in learning. The teacher needs to be the organizer, but let the students lead the learning.
While all of this makes sense and sounds good, can we really do this in our classrooms? Can we make this type of learning work in our schools? I appreciated the fact that the author repeated over and over that in order to make this work, teachers need to be given the tools, training, and professional development necessary to implement this. How many times have you sat in a meeting or inservice and wondered, “Why am I here?” Hmm, now that I think about it, is that what my students are thinking about my lessons sometimes? But back to our point about professional development – if schools are not willing to adapt their teacher training, this is not going to work. Dede reminds us that we have to stop focusing on the shallowness of prepping students for standardized tests, but learn to “assess and value the many dimensions of student success.” Also, “building teacher capacity to value diverse perspectives and contributions is vital.”
Over the past two weeks I have appreciated joining a DLC through my online studies at the University of Northern Iowa. It has reminded me that while the role of a teacher is vital, we can learn so much by being connected with our classmates and having to depend on them and work as a team to teach each other and accomplish assigned tasks. As I finish a school year and look ahead to a new one, I feel re energized to revamp some of my lessons and assessments and start to make the changes necessary to foster this sort of learning in my own classroom.
Do I have your attention yet? Do you wish the above words could apply to your classroom on a daily basis? Does the above list get you excited about teaching and/or learning?
The words above were all pulled from two articles describing “Distributed Learning Communities,” written by Chris Dede of Harvard University. Although the articles were published in 2004, the insight and suggestions he gives are fascinating regarding the concept of this sort of learning and teaching. 8 years later, we are perhaps making a bit of headway, but education still has a long ways to go in creating this type of learning and teaching environment.
What is a Distributed Learning Community? To summarize some of the definitions given in the articles: -A Distributed Learning Community includes “educational experiences that are distributed across a wide variety of geographic settings, across time and across various interactive media.” -The teacher’s role consists of “organizing and facilitating student-directed activities.” -Students are not expected to all be on the same page at the same time. A student’s “centrality can change over time.” However, all members’ contributions are equally important, and those “working in peripheral roles are also valued for their contributions.” -In summary, a Distributed Learning Community (DLC) means “everyone is involved in a collective effort of understanding.”
While I found many aspects of this article interesting, one point that really caught my attention was the differences between the DLC concept and that of a traditional classroom. I have always thought that I would not become one of those teachers that would become “stuck in a rut,” but after reading an article like this, I’m ashamed to say that in many ways I have let myself hang on to tightly to some traditional teaching methods and assessment that need to be kicked to the curb. Do I like photocopying the same worksheets and quizzes every year? Yep. Is this a best practice? Nope.
Dede reminds us over and over in his writing of the need to find ways to foster 21st century skills in today’s learners. We need to prepare them to be global citizens with higher order thinking skills that are needed in a modern workplace. So how do we best do this? As teachers, we have to be willing to change our methods in order to keep up with an ever-changing world! As already mentioned, we need to learn to take on the role of a facilitator. For me, transferring the “power” to my students is hard! However, in letting them be responsible for their own learning AND that of a group, this can only lead to a stronger investment and interest in learning. The teacher needs to be the organizer, but let the students lead the learning.
While all of this makes sense and sounds good, can we really do this in our classrooms? Can we make this type of learning work in our schools? I appreciated the fact that the author repeated over and over that in order to make this work, teachers need to be given the tools, training, and professional development necessary to implement this. How many times have you sat in a meeting or inservice and wondered, “Why am I here?” Hmm, now that I think about it, is that what my students are thinking about my lessons sometimes? But back to our point about professional development – if schools are not willing to adapt their teacher training, this is not going to work. Dede reminds us that we have to stop focusing on the shallowness of prepping students for standardized tests, but learn to “assess and value the many dimensions of student success.” Also, “building teacher capacity to value diverse perspectives and contributions is vital.”
Over the past two weeks I have appreciated joining a DLC through my online studies at the University of Northern Iowa. It has reminded me that while the role of a teacher is vital, we can learn so much by being connected with our classmates and having to depend on them and work as a team to teach each other and accomplish assigned tasks. As I finish a school year and look ahead to a new one, I feel re energized to revamp some of my lessons and assessments and start to make the changes necessary to foster this sort of learning in my own classroom.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Getting Started
This blog is a work in progress, but should be up and running soon!
Looking forward to finding a focus and purpose for this blog as I continue my studies with my UNI cohort!
Looking forward to finding a focus and purpose for this blog as I continue my studies with my UNI cohort!
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