One of the things I try to teach students is how to create better presentations. In this I try to emphasize the use of one powerful image per slide and minimal text. The presenter makes the presentation; not the PowerPoint presentation. Add to that if everything the student is saying is on the slide the audience could just read it and it wouldn’t really be a presentation anymore. My success is debatable, but I think I am getting somewhere this year.
For the majority of my teaching career I have been doing an assignment I call Dream Poem. I first did this assignment in grade 9 ELA. The origins of this assignment were actually taken out of the text book Sightlines 9. The students read the poem In Praise of Dreams by Wislawa Szymborska and then write their own poem in a similar style and then type it using different fonts and colours to highlight different parts of the poem. I have also used this assignment in Information Processing classes to have students play around with fonts and colours in Microsoft Word and also to see the visual impact writing can have. This assignment has always gone well and the poetry the students produce has always been excellent. As much as students complain about poetry given the right assignment can they write – all of them.
This year I had an epiphany. Instead of using Microsoft Word they would use PowerPoint and turn their poem into a presentation. The original poem and their poem are written in couplets. Each couplet must have a slide with one image. The great presentation slide shows I have seen are that: a great image with information. A few students have completed the assignment and they are amazing; I’m not sure words do justice. I don’t know how some of them found images that so perfectly fit what they have written. The images they are choosing to go with their couplets are perfect. They get it. Now I just need to transfer this skill, and they have the skill, to other presentations.
And once I tell them how wonderful their poem/slide shows are, I can talk about copyright, sourcing, and how they probably don’t have permission to use the images they used. It just keeps getting better.
I am so impressed with the poems/slide shows so far I think I need to find I way to share them. I shouldn’t be the only one who gets to see them. And then I can share the assignment and finally be able to share something I do through my blog which has been a goal for a few years. This is awesome!
Last year I mentioned that the Minotaur and I don’t think much of each other’s poetry. Maybe with pictures we can start to appreciate each other’s poetry more.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Super Powers
I’m a huge fan of comic books; have been for years. If you were to ask me what comic book character I would want to be, for many years, I would have said Wolverine. A healing factor and claws that can cut through anything have always seemed desirable and practical. Or maybe someone who could fly like Angel, because flying would be cool and it would make travel quicker and easier.
Starting today, thought, I think I would want to be the Flash and have super speed. I have so much I want to be doing and I just don’t have the time. Every few weekends I think about spending a day a school working. Which never happens because I also need to have a bit of a life outside of school; there needs to be some balance between school and not school. I think super speed would solve so many problems. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.
Not that super speed would help in the labyrinth. Being able to get even more lost, faster, might make things worse. There is always the hope I just haven’t found the way out yet at the speed I currently move, but if I was super-fast and could travel even more places it would be more depressing that I couldn’t find my way out. Oh well, back to the search.
Starting today, thought, I think I would want to be the Flash and have super speed. I have so much I want to be doing and I just don’t have the time. Every few weekends I think about spending a day a school working. Which never happens because I also need to have a bit of a life outside of school; there needs to be some balance between school and not school. I think super speed would solve so many problems. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.
Not that super speed would help in the labyrinth. Being able to get even more lost, faster, might make things worse. There is always the hope I just haven’t found the way out yet at the speed I currently move, but if I was super-fast and could travel even more places it would be more depressing that I couldn’t find my way out. Oh well, back to the search.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sharing and Blogging
I recently set myself the goal of keeping my email inbox at 10 messages or less. What does this have to do with sharing and blogging you ask? Well I’ll get there eventually. By 10 messages or less in my inbox I mean 10 emails that I have yet to finish dealing with. Once I have dealt with an email, either by responding to it, deleting it, or doing some kind of task, I either delete the email or put it into an appropriate folder if I may need the information at a later date. This goal can be difficult. Some emails can’t be dealt with right away and sometime having 10 or less isn’t possible, but still it is a goal to work towards.
What this has to do with sharing and blogging is one of the oldest emails in my inbox has to do with writing some sort of reflection on a K12 online conference session as part of being a member of Living Sky School Divisions iSITS committee. Yes, I know the conference was back in October, but since I am always on the lookout for another idea to become a blog post I will one day write, no matter how long it takes, I decided to not give up on this email as beyond hope. Also my plan was to write about Dean Shareski’s preconference keynote titled Sharing: The Moral Imperative and since I am a big fan of Dean’s blog this seemed another reason not to give up on the email and now I have gotten back to sharing and blogging.
As the title suggested Dean’s keynote is about sharing. I agree that as teachers we should share. I have been the beneficiary of other teachers sharing and I am always happy to pay sharing forward when I can. As we often hear: don’t reinvent the wheel. As a fan of karma from watching too many episodes of “My Name is Earl”, sharing is good and good things will happen if I share.
In my experience sharing doesn’t always solve a problem completely, no two teachers are alike so what works for one teacher won’t necessarily work for another, but it is a place to start. Even if what we share isn’t perfect for another teacher it may be the idea needed to create an incredible classroom experience or take a little pressure off.
When it comes to technology in the classroom I started teaching at the perfect time. Since I started university computers have always been there and their use expected. I have more of my materials saved electronically then as paper copies and therefore easily shared. I have gotten so much from other teachers, from the blogs I follow, from the internet (I have too many bookmarks/favourites), that I need to start sharing; it is now time to give back.
I need to share more of my many bookmarks, which means I need to figure out a way to make Diigo work for me, and I need to share more of my ideas, probably through blogging. Often I stumble across a blog post or website that I find an interesting read or an inspiring idea, but don’t want to add it to my rising mountain of bookmarks, and I should be blogging about them, as a way to completing process the information/ideas, and as another way to save the website.
Another part of Dean’s keynote that really resonated with me is the following quote from Dan Meyers talking about blogging: periods of stagnancy in my blogging start to correspond to periods of stagnancy in my teaching. I know what Dan is talking about. I sometimes feel that when my use of technology in the classroom becomes stagnant it usually corresponds to not having blogged in some time. I constantly struggle with technology in my classes and I find blogging helps me work through these struggles and I need to find more time to blog so that I can get closer to finding an answer.
Sharing and blogging is the way to go. Since he grew up alone in a maze the Minotaur is not big on sharing, with the exception of the occasional cuff up the side of the head.
What this has to do with sharing and blogging is one of the oldest emails in my inbox has to do with writing some sort of reflection on a K12 online conference session as part of being a member of Living Sky School Divisions iSITS committee. Yes, I know the conference was back in October, but since I am always on the lookout for another idea to become a blog post I will one day write, no matter how long it takes, I decided to not give up on this email as beyond hope. Also my plan was to write about Dean Shareski’s preconference keynote titled Sharing: The Moral Imperative and since I am a big fan of Dean’s blog this seemed another reason not to give up on the email and now I have gotten back to sharing and blogging.
As the title suggested Dean’s keynote is about sharing. I agree that as teachers we should share. I have been the beneficiary of other teachers sharing and I am always happy to pay sharing forward when I can. As we often hear: don’t reinvent the wheel. As a fan of karma from watching too many episodes of “My Name is Earl”, sharing is good and good things will happen if I share.
In my experience sharing doesn’t always solve a problem completely, no two teachers are alike so what works for one teacher won’t necessarily work for another, but it is a place to start. Even if what we share isn’t perfect for another teacher it may be the idea needed to create an incredible classroom experience or take a little pressure off.
When it comes to technology in the classroom I started teaching at the perfect time. Since I started university computers have always been there and their use expected. I have more of my materials saved electronically then as paper copies and therefore easily shared. I have gotten so much from other teachers, from the blogs I follow, from the internet (I have too many bookmarks/favourites), that I need to start sharing; it is now time to give back.
I need to share more of my many bookmarks, which means I need to figure out a way to make Diigo work for me, and I need to share more of my ideas, probably through blogging. Often I stumble across a blog post or website that I find an interesting read or an inspiring idea, but don’t want to add it to my rising mountain of bookmarks, and I should be blogging about them, as a way to completing process the information/ideas, and as another way to save the website.
Another part of Dean’s keynote that really resonated with me is the following quote from Dan Meyers talking about blogging: periods of stagnancy in my blogging start to correspond to periods of stagnancy in my teaching. I know what Dan is talking about. I sometimes feel that when my use of technology in the classroom becomes stagnant it usually corresponds to not having blogged in some time. I constantly struggle with technology in my classes and I find blogging helps me work through these struggles and I need to find more time to blog so that I can get closer to finding an answer.
Sharing and blogging is the way to go. Since he grew up alone in a maze the Minotaur is not big on sharing, with the exception of the occasional cuff up the side of the head.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Story Time
At the start of this school year I posted more to this blog then I had the entire previous school year and then stopped. It’s not that I ran out of ideas. I have five or six ideas that will make great blog post. The problem was that, as much I was enjoying writing, it was taking up too much time, and my priority is educating students not blogging. And If I was no longer teaching what would I have to blog about? I’m currently in the process of analyzing my use of time because there are a number of things I would like to be doing, that I am not doing, and I need to find a way to be doing them.
Anyway, the real reason for this post is that I am cleaning up my favorites and was rereading the following article: Why are we failing in history, science education?. The article is from an American newspaper and about the American education system, but I came away from the article with what I think is an important thought/paraphrase: education too often takes the stories out of knowledge. Too often students are just taught the facts and not the story behind those facts and it is the stories that make the facts, and learning, interesting, engaging, and memorable. The stories make students think, analyze, and help make connections. How is this not a good thing? Now sometimes students need facts, but not all the time. There needs to be more than just facts, there needs to be context … there needs to be more stories.
I need to tell more stories. The Minotaur and I have story time. We just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and we highly recommend it; just don’t think too deeply on how I am trapped in a labyrinth but have access to new books.
Anyway, the real reason for this post is that I am cleaning up my favorites and was rereading the following article: Why are we failing in history, science education?. The article is from an American newspaper and about the American education system, but I came away from the article with what I think is an important thought/paraphrase: education too often takes the stories out of knowledge. Too often students are just taught the facts and not the story behind those facts and it is the stories that make the facts, and learning, interesting, engaging, and memorable. The stories make students think, analyze, and help make connections. How is this not a good thing? Now sometimes students need facts, but not all the time. There needs to be more than just facts, there needs to be context … there needs to be more stories.
I need to tell more stories. The Minotaur and I have story time. We just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and we highly recommend it; just don’t think too deeply on how I am trapped in a labyrinth but have access to new books.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Pictures and Facebook
Based on an idea from Shelly Blake-Plock’s post Advising the Advisor I’ve started having advisor time with the grade 9’s at Luseland School. I teach the grade 9’s at least one period a day, and I am their homeroom teacher, so during one of the periods I set aside 10 minutes or so when we can talk about anything they want to talk about and they can ask any questions they want. They are a curious bunch and we have looked up why bunnies are associated with Easter, what is plasmid, discussed why do we have to take out earrings when playing sports, and the course selection limitations of rural schools among other things and other discussion. Yesterday I was asked a most peculiar question: Why is there a picture of you on the hood of a police car on Facebook?
This was a strange question for a number of reasons. First, I don’t have a Facebook account so somebody else posted the picture. Second, I didn’t remember being on the hood of a police car let alone a picture of such an event being taken. Being curious I asked a student to log in and show me the picture. Facebook isn’t outright banned or blocked at our school. A student just needs to have teacher permission to use Facebook, so as long as they have a good reason it is allowed. There is every possibility that since it is not blocked that it is being used when teachers are not looking, but hopefully we can trust students to do the right thing.
Once I was shown the picture I remembered where and when the picture was taken. Last year on a grade 10 to 12 school trip to Edmonton (don’t get worried nothing bad happened) we were at the Science Center (I swear I didn’t do anything bad) there was an exhibit about police investigation that had the front half of a cop car. Some of the kids were taking pictures near it and as a joke I said, and demonstrated, what would make a good looking picture. I don’t remember a picture being taken but I guess one was.
After seeing the photo I saw this as a perfect opportunity to discuss posting photos on the internet, digital footprint, and digital citizenship. As digital footprints go I suppose this photo could pose a problem but in context there is nothing wrong with it. I am not tagged in the photo so a search for me is not going to bring up the photo. The last time I googled myself this blog was the first thing that came up, which I think is a good thing. The photo being posted does bring up an important question: should photos be posted without the people in the picture knowing? I never gave permission for the photo to be posted online (until yesterday I didn’t even know the picture existed), but as a student pointed out I never asked that the photo not be posted.
In this digital age is this what things have come to: every time someone takes a photo of me I have to give or not give permission for it to be posted? With the number of devices that can take photos do we have to worry about everything we do because someone may take a picture of it? I don’t have a Facebook account but there are pictures of me on Facebook. Does that mean I need to get a Facebook account and check what photos of me may be posted? Does that then mean I need to be a member of every site that posts photos to check what pictures of me are on the internet? Do I have to police the entire internet and control everything about me on the internet?
I can’t police and/or control the entire internet for what may be posted about me. I can’t stop people from posting things or pictures about me. The main thing I can do is control what I put out into the internet for everyone to see. The important thing is to represent yourself on the internet, because if you don’t who knows who will. Through this blog I leave a digital footprint that I am in control of and I am proud of. I take what I post seriously because it represents me on the internet. This is what I can do. This is being a good digital citizen and this is digital citizenship. This is an example I can give my students. With its lack of technology or adequate lighting for photos the labyrinth sometimes feel like a safe place to be in today’s digital world, but a picture of the Minotaur and me would be nice for if I ever get out of here.
This was a strange question for a number of reasons. First, I don’t have a Facebook account so somebody else posted the picture. Second, I didn’t remember being on the hood of a police car let alone a picture of such an event being taken. Being curious I asked a student to log in and show me the picture. Facebook isn’t outright banned or blocked at our school. A student just needs to have teacher permission to use Facebook, so as long as they have a good reason it is allowed. There is every possibility that since it is not blocked that it is being used when teachers are not looking, but hopefully we can trust students to do the right thing.
Once I was shown the picture I remembered where and when the picture was taken. Last year on a grade 10 to 12 school trip to Edmonton (don’t get worried nothing bad happened) we were at the Science Center (I swear I didn’t do anything bad) there was an exhibit about police investigation that had the front half of a cop car. Some of the kids were taking pictures near it and as a joke I said, and demonstrated, what would make a good looking picture. I don’t remember a picture being taken but I guess one was.
After seeing the photo I saw this as a perfect opportunity to discuss posting photos on the internet, digital footprint, and digital citizenship. As digital footprints go I suppose this photo could pose a problem but in context there is nothing wrong with it. I am not tagged in the photo so a search for me is not going to bring up the photo. The last time I googled myself this blog was the first thing that came up, which I think is a good thing. The photo being posted does bring up an important question: should photos be posted without the people in the picture knowing? I never gave permission for the photo to be posted online (until yesterday I didn’t even know the picture existed), but as a student pointed out I never asked that the photo not be posted.
In this digital age is this what things have come to: every time someone takes a photo of me I have to give or not give permission for it to be posted? With the number of devices that can take photos do we have to worry about everything we do because someone may take a picture of it? I don’t have a Facebook account but there are pictures of me on Facebook. Does that mean I need to get a Facebook account and check what photos of me may be posted? Does that then mean I need to be a member of every site that posts photos to check what pictures of me are on the internet? Do I have to police the entire internet and control everything about me on the internet?
I can’t police and/or control the entire internet for what may be posted about me. I can’t stop people from posting things or pictures about me. The main thing I can do is control what I put out into the internet for everyone to see. The important thing is to represent yourself on the internet, because if you don’t who knows who will. Through this blog I leave a digital footprint that I am in control of and I am proud of. I take what I post seriously because it represents me on the internet. This is what I can do. This is being a good digital citizen and this is digital citizenship. This is an example I can give my students. With its lack of technology or adequate lighting for photos the labyrinth sometimes feel like a safe place to be in today’s digital world, but a picture of the Minotaur and me would be nice for if I ever get out of here.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Part Three: Return of the Wanderer
Why is it I have never realized, until today, that the third parts of both the original Star Wars trilogy and Lord of the Rings books have the word return in their title? If this is part three then my last two posts are part one and two in what has ended up becoming a trilogy on my use of technology in the classroom. After my last two posts things looked a little bleak. Then I read Scott McLeod’s post We Can’t Let Educators Off the Hook. In light of my two recent posts, this blog post really hit home.
I read this and thought maybe I don’t have a choice when it comes to computers and their many applications? Maybe to be an effective teacher I need to be learning and using with students all sorts of technology. Then I read the comments.
I always wondered about the other side of the argument when it comes to technology in the classroom; I never see it. This makes sense. The teachers who are passionate about technology in the classroom are going to be online and blogging. The teachers who don’t want technology in their classroom, no matter how passionate they are most likely are not online and since I do most of my education related reading online this was a side I was unlikely to see. The comments gave me a glimpse at that other side of the argument that I have wanted to see.
Maybe I don’t have to use all the latest technologies and applications to be a good classroom teacher. I think the important part is that I realize that technology, various computer applications, and social media are important and should be part of the classroom. Are they as much a part of my classroom as other teachers? No, but I can’t be another teacher, I can only be me. I have to do what I am comfortable with or it will not work. And for those teachers who do not use technology in their classrooms we need to find ways to make it comfortable. When it comes to having more social media in my classroom this will be a struggle for me but as long as I am trying and doing something, and not doing nothing, then I can be effective.
Maybe I could be doing more when it comes to having my students be connected, especially with other classrooms and classrooms at other schools, but I am doing something, I am providing students with skills that will help them in the future. As long as I am discussing effective online communication and digital citizenship and using some technologies that have students communicating online, in some format, than I am providing some skills in online communication and social media. As long as I don’t stop where I am, and keep moving, no matter the pace, I will be helping students the best I can.
Now where is that Minotaur? I am feeling re-energized; I am feeling adventurous. I feel like wandering. Let’s go exploring the labyrinth.
I read this and thought maybe I don’t have a choice when it comes to computers and their many applications? Maybe to be an effective teacher I need to be learning and using with students all sorts of technology. Then I read the comments.
I always wondered about the other side of the argument when it comes to technology in the classroom; I never see it. This makes sense. The teachers who are passionate about technology in the classroom are going to be online and blogging. The teachers who don’t want technology in their classroom, no matter how passionate they are most likely are not online and since I do most of my education related reading online this was a side I was unlikely to see. The comments gave me a glimpse at that other side of the argument that I have wanted to see.
Maybe I don’t have to use all the latest technologies and applications to be a good classroom teacher. I think the important part is that I realize that technology, various computer applications, and social media are important and should be part of the classroom. Are they as much a part of my classroom as other teachers? No, but I can’t be another teacher, I can only be me. I have to do what I am comfortable with or it will not work. And for those teachers who do not use technology in their classrooms we need to find ways to make it comfortable. When it comes to having more social media in my classroom this will be a struggle for me but as long as I am trying and doing something, and not doing nothing, then I can be effective.
Maybe I could be doing more when it comes to having my students be connected, especially with other classrooms and classrooms at other schools, but I am doing something, I am providing students with skills that will help them in the future. As long as I am discussing effective online communication and digital citizenship and using some technologies that have students communicating online, in some format, than I am providing some skills in online communication and social media. As long as I don’t stop where I am, and keep moving, no matter the pace, I will be helping students the best I can.
Now where is that Minotaur? I am feeling re-energized; I am feeling adventurous. I feel like wandering. Let’s go exploring the labyrinth.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Am I Lost?
In a recent post I talked about a chart I use as a guide for what I should teach in my computer classes. In my last post I wondered about my ability to teach computer classes when I am not that interested in computers and some of their applications.
Perhaps I should clarify. I do not hate computers. I use them every day, and not just as a teacher. A computer, and the internet, is an amazing tool for searching, finding, and storing information. I don’t hate technology. What would I do without my iPod to listen to music and my DVD collection to entertain me? Well I guess I would still have my record player and my comic book collection. Wow, could I do more in two sentences to make myself seem like a geek? I hate talking on the telephone and email is a useful tool for quick communication, but I don’t like communication that is not face to face. Why would I want a technology that makes non face to face communication even easier? Like I said I don’t hate computers and technologies I just see a limit to their usefulness for me. But does that limit, limit my usefulness as a classroom teacher in the 21st century.
Back to that wonderful chart I have mentioned before and its point: “Some things with which old people can still help” when using technology. So I have the ability to help with technology, and I think the chart shows the best ways I can help students with technology, but how little can you know about the technology and still be useful when teaching it? Is the help I am able to offer enough? How do I find a balance without putting myself in situations I don’t want to be in using technology I don’t want to use? Are the things in this chart enough? If this is what I can offer as a teacher, the ways in which I can help students with technology, computers, and their applications, is it enough to have an impact on what the students are learning. Will I be providing students with skills and abilities that will help them in the future, whatever that may be, or will I just be teaching more stuff they have to take to get out of here? I think now may be the time to admit I’m lost.
I’d ask the Minotaur for help finding the way out of here, but he’s been here longer than me.
Perhaps I should clarify. I do not hate computers. I use them every day, and not just as a teacher. A computer, and the internet, is an amazing tool for searching, finding, and storing information. I don’t hate technology. What would I do without my iPod to listen to music and my DVD collection to entertain me? Well I guess I would still have my record player and my comic book collection. Wow, could I do more in two sentences to make myself seem like a geek? I hate talking on the telephone and email is a useful tool for quick communication, but I don’t like communication that is not face to face. Why would I want a technology that makes non face to face communication even easier? Like I said I don’t hate computers and technologies I just see a limit to their usefulness for me. But does that limit, limit my usefulness as a classroom teacher in the 21st century.
Back to that wonderful chart I have mentioned before and its point: “Some things with which old people can still help” when using technology. So I have the ability to help with technology, and I think the chart shows the best ways I can help students with technology, but how little can you know about the technology and still be useful when teaching it? Is the help I am able to offer enough? How do I find a balance without putting myself in situations I don’t want to be in using technology I don’t want to use? Are the things in this chart enough? If this is what I can offer as a teacher, the ways in which I can help students with technology, computers, and their applications, is it enough to have an impact on what the students are learning. Will I be providing students with skills and abilities that will help them in the future, whatever that may be, or will I just be teaching more stuff they have to take to get out of here? I think now may be the time to admit I’m lost.
I’d ask the Minotaur for help finding the way out of here, but he’s been here longer than me.
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