Dianna’s Weblog

This is the video clip I chose to design an assignment around. The students will write their own lyrics to this “Your Time is Up” song, or write lyrics to any song that only has music – maybe a theme song from a movie, or change the emotion of a well-known song by changing the lyrics. Jack Black is “cracie” (Nacho Libre).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NoXLu9Rz70g

(Assignment and rationale.)

Tyson’s video was very inspiring. I liked the idea of students working on projects for an audience bigger than their teacher or class. The motivational factor is powerful and the learning that takes place through each video will always be remembered. What a great way to let kids choose their area of interest outside of the school curriculum. I’m curious to know if each group has a sponsor or adult figure to oversee the project. Does the school provide the technology? It seems like they have the school year to complete their videos. If they do have the year, then maybe just one video camera is needed to schedule a group time. Is there a club or afterschool program opened to the students so they can use the computer lab? I’m sure they have this all worked out. The presentation was very organized and professional. I’m sure parents and guest were impressed by the program. Most parents don’t mind an extra fundraiser to pay for something they see so beneficial.

I emailed Mrs. Hamby this week. She has a class blog through WordPress. She is so cool. I asked her how her doctoral studies were going and if she was still working in the Writing Center. I also mentioned that I am in the technology class with Brandon, Angela and Katherine from our 3310 class. She wanted me to say “Hi” to everyone. She works in the Writing Center on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. I just might have to pay her a visit one Wednesday after class.

I just got home from a Technology Fair at my daughter’s middle school. While I was there I saw a presentation of the Promethean interactive whiteboard, a demonstration of a LCD projector, document camera, TI presenter, and InterWrite Pad. We answered math questions using Indigo Learning System and created movies using Windows MovieMaker. There was a session talking about blogs, wikis, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Ning. Sound familiar? It was a way to get parents excited about technology and on board for finding ways to raise funds for these “teaching toys.” Three months ago I would have been just as clueless as the rest of the parents were tonight. I left there feeling very confident in all my new technology skills I’ve learned in our technology class. It was a really good feeling!

Ron Clark is telling other educators how important technology is to today’s students.

Well, my group and I finished our first wikipedia entry. Yah! We decided to add The Ron Clark Academy to the Ron Clark site. It was interesting reasearching the school and Mr. Clark’s vision for his students. This is where I attempt to add a link of the wiki. Hold on… The Ron Clark Wiki   Aha! It worked. Check it out.

What I really liked about our wiki project was using a wiki as a tool for our group. It was a place where we could go to share ideas and post information. It was well organized. I like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExkMeQfuLGc

Exploring technology can be a bit intimidating, but after attending class and reading about the world of blogs and wikis, I’m excited about the opportunities of using technology in my classroom. Yesterday in class I learned that RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication which means, time saver. This is a RSD, a Real Simple Definition. Instead of checking each blog for updates, the new information is sent to me through a feed. So if my class is checking many weblogs for information each day, we could purchase software (aggregator) to help sort the information and send it to our class. This way we are saving time by checking one site only. I like that.

This leads me to weblogging in the classroom. At first I thought, how different could a weblog be from hosting a class website? Most of my “teacher friends” resent having to upkeep their class website. It is just more work and parents don’t even look at it. Well, weblogging is very different in that the students are contributing to an interaction of ideas. They are independently thinking and having conversations commenting on others’ thoughts. This is very exciting.

In some ways I feel like the “Digital Immigrants,” fumbling around the internet, wanting to print everything off it. Fortunately, I have the opportunity to make mistakes, ask questions and learn about these tools from my tech savvy group and Dr. C.  My desire is to close the gap, as much as possible, between myself and my students in order to promote the most effective learning with the use of technology.