Burt Reynolds is not...

This is for a few people to reinforce the fact that Burt Reynolds is not my favorite Hamlet... as a matter of fact, Did he ever even play Hamlet???

Anywho, Kenneth Branagh is my fave of the Shakespearean thespian renditions.

Ohh, The Podcast

Alright, I was in the what the... happened in the podcast day group. It was because we were using Vista (thus me thinking those MAC commercials are pretty doggone cute). Audacity was havin' problems. In that regard we have no podcast to post...


So what I did was to do a podcast with my exemplar lesson plan; in hopes of getting my points I am posting the podcast beginnings I did at home for my Norton Juster lesson with the classic novel The Phantom Tollbooth.
Here goes...




Nope still havin' problems. And it's saved as a MP3 file. I have no idea.

Chpt 9

This is a summation chapter that talks about the digital slide into teaching with technology. I think I am apart of this digital revolution. I enjoy all of the communal sharing of information on the web. There are still soooo many people who are afraid or scared to let students explore (have an Internet inquiry lesson). If this approach to technological advances in the classroom stay it will be a more forced situation by the students. How can we teach people if we refuse to use what engages them? We can't, we won't , we aren't. If this is our continued attitudes then the students will teach themselves. Unguided learning is not the optimal option.

Dear Principal Hiccup,
I have just discovered a tool of webquest on line. It is a tool on the web (the one I saw an example of was questgarden.com). This area on line had posts that has class lessons up or we, as teacher, can post our lessons plans for our classes. These can be collaborations that can go on for days or just a little individual blurb that one of my students could do on their own. Each one taking the time allotted that they need.
What I like most about the idea of webquests is that we can collaborate across the curriculum. If I am studying a story that entails World War II stories then I could get on line and look up the American aspect of the Japanese in the entournment camps. This is an interesting perspective that is often not told. The webquests are a plethora of knowledge waiting to be unearthed and utilized. When we do this we seek to prove to our students that the lessons we teach them are cross disciplinary. We seek to do this all of the time. Here is a tool to help.
Thank you for your interest and feel free to ask me any questions. I'm excited to begin implementing these plans.
Ms. D. L. Kleckner

Hmmm, Social Bookmarking - it just sounds bad.

No really. I have used the bookmarking tool for years now. AOL has always had one and I have always been with them when it comes to internet service. I like em'... really I like my name on em'. (Mrsezzmerellda...my original pooch. Yes, I named myself after my dog. But so did Indiana Jones and look how smooth he is!) It is a very handy tool, this bookmarking gaget. I have sites that I visited from when I was eighteen that I like to go back and visit.

The Furl program seems like your own personal filing cabinet on line. The feature I like the bbest about it is the fact that when bookmarked it not only saves a link, but also an image of the site for you. This could come in handy down the road. But, as it recommends, I would be saving the items often from the computer to my flash drive.

Ch. 6

Podcasting sounds fun and amazing. (Had this been around in my elementary school my brother may now be a DJ.) I would have loved to do this in school and already I have so many lessons planned on the basis of using podcasts. I also know parents would love this. When (not if) I have a podcast for my classroom I'm sure my father will be on there listening to what my classroom is doing. SO the audience for podcasts can be vast and unfathomable.
More on this later...

Whew, alright. Back from class and trying my first podcast and all I have to say is BOOO! Booo this podcast thing. No, really, I will give it another try. We were on a Vista computer when we tried it but dog-on-golly my computer at home has Vista also. But Amy did help to explain the situation (I just hope I understood it all well enough to implement the plan). To the podcasting peoples who did well, do not fret, I will try to do a little podcasting in my home. I really do have a desire to understand this. I have already thought of a lot of ways I would want to use this in lessons. It could be a great outlet for a lot of students.

So, no, Boo! is not my final word on trying podcast, it was just unfortunately my first impression.

P.S. The screen casting example on Wikipedia is a neat example.

Chpt. 4... blog on the Wiki

Hmmmm, Peculiar this Wiki thing. I didn't know that was how a Wiki worked. Interesting. Now our class is creating a Wiki. I think this is going to be neat. Not only that but now I understand how Wikipedia works. I agree that it could be used well as backup information but not as a main source. But this would be a great tool for classes the specified on certain subjects. In college I took a class on Charles Dickens that was just begging for a Wiki and that was at a time where the Professor should have had an interest to do this. The sum of knowledge of multiple people is better than any one person's individual knowledge. I am always of this firm belief.

Please grant me the serenity to accept the pages that I cannot edit,

The courage to edit the pages I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

The Wiki Prayer

(Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts ...by Will Richardson)

Adopt and Adapt

Adopt and Adapt! I agreed with this article. I think there are too many, "Oh, but I'm afraid _______ will happen." I like how the article notes that we are like that with everything new that hits the market. It's not just technology. Then there are so many teachers and people who are not only afraid but also somewhat intimidated by technology. My mother is a prime example. We have had a computer in my parents home since I was sixteen. She has, no exaggeration, never hit the power button on it. She can't even find it the power button on the tower when it's not lit up. I'm not saying this to make fun of her, I'm sharing this to share a point. She is intimidated. It is not her technology and so she can't even make a point to learn to do old things in new ways. She is stuck, as are so many, in the old things old ways phase. In her defense she has finally started to say she wants a laptop because she knows there is a world of information she is missing. I know there are teachers like this also. We do need to ask the students and listen to what they say.

I observed at Noe Middle last semester. The students there worked on computers everyday. The one to one portion of computers meant they had to share, and while this was a hindrance, it was by no means as isolating as not letting them work and operate on systems they can already navigate. The teacher informed me that she had no idea how to use the programs her students were using. She just let them go to navigate it themselves. When they had learned it she had them to teach her so she could show her future classes. I was drawn on this issue. Yeah, it seems like the thing to do and yeah, power point is harmless and helpful. But what happens if there is something harmful in the program that the teacher is unaware of? What then? Now you've released one hundred students into the arms of harm (hey- I kinda' like that!)? There has to be a medium and the implementation of technology has to start! But how?

My Flickr...and standard

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26557141@N02/

AH-04-1-1.4.1

Students will identify or describe elements of art and principles of design in works of art.

Elements of art: Line, shape, form, texture and colors (primary and secondary hues), and color schemes ( warm, cool, neutral - black, white, gray, sometimes brown/beige as earth tones)

Whew... 3, 5, 7

Honestly today I have been feeling a bit under the weather, that is to say, I feel like the whole storm cloud burst directly on me at five this morning. I'm doing slightly better now. It's amazing what sleep will do (when I could finally get to it)!
So here's my little diddy on chapters three, five and seven. From three I was interested in the weblog ideas. I like that it took us step by step through creating and implementing this in our classrooms. Kinda' like what we're doing now, but with smaller people (for me, more Oompa Lumpa size). It expresses a great concern for their safety and while I definitely agree with that I also know they are going to explore the net on their own (if they haven't already).
I really hope we go back and read chapter four, though I have read a lot of it on my own. I find Wiki's interesting... instead though, we hopped on to RSS's: Real Simple Syndication. Wow, now what does that mean? I had an extremely hard time wrapping my head around this but from what I got it seems rather useful. How I understood this was like setting up a folder of links to the sites or articles that need to used on a regular basis. If this is right I already have a RSS on my home computer. It's the task bar to the side that shows you all of the places you regularly go. But it's not pre-set up, we had to set it up once we started piddling on the computer. Had the computer not been set up this way I would have never taken the initiative to do this on my own, let alone learn how to do this.
Then wow, chapter seven was all about Flickr and photo publishing. I am already using Picasa (really close to Picasso, don't you think?) I love how easy it was to figure out. I'm no pro by any means and last night I created and imported my own slide show to my blog via Picasa. I have already set up my Flickr account and am pretty geared up to use it. We'll see in class today. The example assignments made me see how useful the tools of visual aids are in the classroom. Can't wait to use them to show examples of Ms. Havisham's House and Wedding cake from Great Expectations. Or let my students blog to me (and maybe the authors) about Z for Zachariah, and Fahrenheit 451. It all really sounds rather fun to... the students could make more elaborate projects and post pictures of them on the web for the class to view. This way there would be no toting the projects back and forth... a monitor, a sign-in, and a click later the entire class could see the end result!

Blog on Chpts I and II

Hey, Hey, Hey...just finished the chapters. The first one making me laugh really. I couldn't help but think of the teachers it mentioned that didn't know as much about computers as their students. Isn't that the majority of teachers today? I have too many examples of that in my head. My cousin is one of the Technology agents for the Public Library in Lexington. He goes around to the different schools or has the teachers come to him to learn the computer. He tells me often of the amount of teachers that don't know how to search the web or look for an ISBN number to look up books. He says they stopped trying to learn at the Dewey Decimal System. While I do love Dewey I know when it is time to hang it up. Dewey is gone, moved on to the greener pastures of the ISBN. These people are digital immigrants who do not want a passport into the land. They are afraid of the technology. You cannot be afraid if you want to keep your students safe. The teacher that I loved that I observed this last semester didn't know how to teach power point so she gave the program to the students and let them figure it out. When they had finished she had them teach her how to use it.
I feel like I am one of the first (and so probably a bit behind myself) of the digital natives. While I feel comfortable with the hardware, software and programs I know I have a lot to learn. I have never had a blog before, though I have read some i found very amusing. I didn't know what a Wiki was, until yesterday and now I see the pitfalls and crests of them being used. RSS's while I have the technical definition, I still need to use it under my fingertips to get the feeling of it. And I already love the Online photo galleries!
The second chapter had a lot of examples of how to use technology in the classroom. It had examples of how it could be done to how it is being done. I found the letter to the parents showing them where the blog will be and laying down some ground rules to be necessary. I also liked all of the examples of weblogs and the benefits listed to using them in school. I want to be language arts teacher and while I didn't think computer use would pertain to my subject my head is now swimming with the ideas I want to use. A blog could be a neat way to let my students and parents know what is going on in the classroom. Not only that but I could use a Wiki with my students to discuss the lessons or books. Oooo, it's like a book club that has mandatory membership for my students. I mean how neat to have a conversation with the artist or author of something as it is being discussed on line! Not to mention the help that the computer lends to organization! I also appreciated all of the sources it gives at the end of chapter two. I already use the Internet tremendously when it comes to my school work and planning. Heck, really I use the Internet all of the time, at least daily, to do something other than check my e-mail. There are nights when it gives me my menu for dinner!

My Techie Autobiography

I've been around a computer since I was little. I mean little, about three. Which puts us in 1983. My uncle had one of the Apples that you could play Baseball on. Ech-Ech-Ech in two second timing as the ball flew (in very slow motion) across the screen. We loved it! Then my parents got a swimming idea, they got my brother and I one for Christmas. I remember sitting and typing the programs in for hours just to get a face to smile on the screen. Nothing fancy, just a smiley face to pull it's line smile more upward. I loved it too.
In school we didn't have a computer in the room until fifth grade, then it was not used for much more than to create banners to welcome people back. In middle school we had a computer lab, and it could have been used to the utmost, but our teacher didn't know how to do his job honestly, so we sat and played games during our computer period. We didn't even do our portfolios on these computers yet. Really, looking back on it, in middle school we had a room full of computers and did no real learning on them. I think my "computer" teacher (who was also the art teacher) was learning the computers himself while we were.
In high school, when I was in my junior year, we got the Internet. Only one computer in the school had it and we had to share and be chaperoned while we were one the net. Fortunately my father got our first household computer at this time, with the net. My brother and I fell in love. My brother devoured the new technology leading him to his road of complete tech savviness. Unfortunately, as much as I loved the new toy it was doing nothing for my love of technology. Instead I was learning to love old tech. Turntables and VHS. This continued through college, this backward spiral of technology for me.
Then my parents got me a laptop. I loved this computer. All of my work for school was done on it and my newest roomie was a computer junkie. I learned quite a bit from her and I appreciate it. She is a valued resource for me. (She is now a computer teacher for Shelby County.) She taught me some basics of the computer but mostly she showed me not to be scared of what you are doing on the computer. We all make mistakes, well, not the computer, those mistakes belong to you as the controller of the computer.
So when I started Grad school I went out and bought a computer to keep at my residence in Louisville. I loved hooking it up and learning the in's and out's of the computer. This one has Vista which is taking some time to get used to but for the most part I feel very comfortable with this computer and it's uses. I think I am the most comfortable on this home computer out of the people who live here. It's really rather funny to me. My comfort comes from being around several people who are comfortable with the computer. I always have someone to go to who knows more than me and can help me with my computer situations. This makes me feel able to explore and discover the capabilities of the computer in the classroom. I think having the skill to bring the technology into the classroom will improve the interest in my lessons tremendously! I'm excited!

I had every right to be excited as well! We did some wonderful projects in here. More so what I have learned here was the reinforcement not to be afraid or intimidated by computers. I thought I would need so much help from people making a movie in Movie Maker. I didn't. I didn it all myself and loved every minute of it. Not to mention I LOVE the final product. From the film itself to the music to the entire basic plot. It was fun and creative and I know students of every age would love to do this.

At this time, of all the projects I loved, I wanted to love podcasting the most. I didn't. It's not that I won't try it again on my own. I just picked up the rest of the material and easily ran with it. With podcasting I tripped, tripping can be discouraging. In the end we accomplished the project but it was frustrating and rather tedious. I'll give 'er another round.

I have enjoyed blogging more than I ever thought possible! It's a communication with everyone. One I believe I will keep up. I feel as though I really got to show more of my personality through the collective projects than in any other classes projects. I appreciate the reinforcement of my abilities and can't wait to continue my "techsavviness"!

Oooo, it's the Start of the Summer Semester

Hey all... Just bloggin' a little to let everyone know it is mandatory for me to get my blog on!