So I Know the Other One Counts as My Grade, but...

If you're just here to watch, please try this one. It's much larger than the one Dr. Bishop requested, filesizewise anyways. I got the sound issues worked out and I'm trying a larger compression to see if that helps with the quality.

CDLP: Imagination

The film you are about to watch is a collection of the films and television that have captured my imagination over the years. I have always been fascinated by the imagination, this place inside our minds where anything we want could happen, where we could make the world exactly as we wanted it. As a child, I sought out the stories that would capture my imagination and inspire me in my own storytelling. My imagination was my most portable toy, and as an only child, I think that it served me well. Now that I am older, I still seek out the things that will allow me an escape, the things that show me what the world could be or might one day be. I don't want to give up on my flights of fancy, because without them, the world would be a dreadfully boring place.

Please enjoy, and turn up your volume as some of my sound files were not working properly.

I Fail at Deadlines

Yes, so I forgot about doing this last night. I have no other excuse except that I am burned out and forgetful. I'm sorry.

Digital Literacy: It's Not Just for Fanboys and Fangirls Anymore

A couple of years ago my husband and I went out and bought a video camera. One of the fancy ones that has it's own little hard drive--no need for tapes or discs or anything like that. Why did we do this? I'm not sure, really. We'd become disciples of a couple of vlogs, particularly Brotherhood 2.0, a daily vlog by a YA author and his brother. Although Trent and I had no intentions of vlogging ourselves, we really wanted a camera to play with.

Anyway, we took this camera home and our niece and nephew, who were 7 and 4 at the time, were delighted. We made a little movie, did a little old school movie magic where we made my nephew "disappear," and then used MovieMaker to edit it and add titles and music. Brielle was fascinated. She sat with me for an hour, helping me edit and get everything just right. She and Jacob both were so proud of what we had created.

All that's to say one thing, really: kids love this sort of stuff.

I love the idea of digital storytelling. It's such a great way for kids to express themselves. Our world is ever changing which means that our literacy is changing and kids have to be able to keep up. Some of them are going to learn it whether we teach them or not.

To me, though, it's not as much about them knowing how to use the technology, but getting to see that there are so many ways to tell our stories. This article emphasizes photography, but there is so much kids can do, from video to digital music to websites to digital artwork, the list goes on and on. Maybe a kid's not a writer--that doesn't mean he's not a storyteller. I think the idea here is that we all have to find the best way to tell our story.

Many of us were taught that words are the sole purpose of language arts...but if we look at the words themselves, there is no mention of the written word. There's only language and art. To me, this means that we shouldn't only focus on reading and writing in our classrooms. We should focus on all aspects of language and we should continually relate it back to art. Digital literacy is a great way to do this.

I cannot wait to get into the classroom and start putting some of these ideas into action. Kids are more clever than we are and I can't wait to see what my students come up with.

Developing Content Area Writers

Early on in this chapter, one of the sections deeply resonated with me. The section I'm referring to is the one that addresses the different demands of high school and college writing. If you spend enough time with me, you'll eventually hear me whine about my high school teachers and how they didn't teach me how to write. I spent four years of high school in AP classes, earning A's like nobody's business, only to come to university and find myself making C's in the honors college. I'm usually the type to put the blame on myself, but this discrepancy wasn't my fault. Luckily, I had some amazing professors who taught me how to write.

My own experience, my clinical experience, and this chapter got me to thinking. We don't spend nearly enough time teaching students how to write. Sure, I wrote in school and the kids at my practicum write, but the writing isn't really meaningful. It doesn't prepare you for university and it doesn't prepare you for life. It's a hollow sort of writing, the type of writing where you make sure that you have x number of sentences/paragraphs/pages to get your grade. I have actually watched kids cut things out of their planning so that they don't have to include it in their final paragraphs; they were more concerned with how much they had to write as opposed to write a solid essay. I like to think that I'm going to be the type of teacher who gives my students "important" writing assignments, the kind where they get so involved in what they are doing that they forget about word counts and all that, the kind of assignment where my students feel they have something important to tell and they don't put down their pens until it's done. And if things work out well, they will develop the strategies they need to write whatever they must in life.

Another section that struck me in this chapter concerns the way that technology is changing so fast that we really don't know how or what or students will be writing in the future. In my own school career, my teachers never talked much about writing in real life. My 7-year old brain never imagined a day when I could write things that the whole world would have access to. And yet, here we are. The thing about kids is, they adjust well to new technology. We all know this. I watch my nephew play video games and my niece surf the internet and my baby niece talk on a cell phone. Likewise, I have (repeatedly) taught my parents to use the internet and watched my grandmother give up using her cell phone. I think that as long as we teach our kids to be good, strong writers, to embrace quality over quantity, and to never take shortcuts, the skills they learn will serve them well no matter where technology takes us.

All Those Screen Things That You Can Touch

Totally forgot to post this during class today...

I have a bit of experience with a Promethean Board. We learned how to use one in Doctor Foxworth's class, I used one during a substituting experience, and I have played on my sister-in-law's Interwrite Board (which is pretty much the same thing). They are so great for playing Pictionary.

I've been around Smartboards, but I've never actually gotten to use one. I'm quite fascinated by the pens, although I'm sure they won't be much different than the one for the Promethean Board. Fingers crossed, though.

Both of these tools have so much potential for classroom use. As motivators alone, you couldn't ask for much more. Think about it: kids usually love to write on the board. If writing on the board is going to the fair, writing on the Smart Board is a two-week trip to Disney World. Okay, it's not that great. I'd take a trip to Disney World over playing on a Smart Board anydayoftheweek. But still, it's more fun than doing a worksheet.

These things do have a lot of potential; it's sad to see that teacher's aren't using them in innovative ways. I mean, come on, when you use it just to display a Power Point, that's just depressing. Teachers could use these things to make lessons interactive, to play some cool games. Yet some teachers see the new technology that is given to them as a curse. I'd be thrilled to have one. And if anyone gets one and doesn't intend to use it, send it my way.

(This posting is reason #382 why I shouldn't do things while I'm sleepy. Ah well, you all know I'm a bit off.)

Chapter 7: Activating Prior Knowledge and Increasing Motivation

I hope you will all forgive me, because I am going to go on a bit of a tangent here. And it's probably going to be incoherent. You've been forewarned.

I had a bit of an epiphany the other day, whilst I was doing my social studies unit plan. I chose the topic of economics because it seemed like it would be easier than any of the other choices. That's probably not the best reason to choose a topic, but time was winding down and I had to pick something. To be honest, I have no real interest in economics. Sure, I'm worried about the economic crisis, but if you say "economics" to me, you're not going to get the same reaction that you'd get with say, "Jane Austen" or "Harry Potter." In the former case, my eyes are likely to glaze over, but in the latter I can become quite animated.

And yet, something interesting happened as I was doing my project. I got interested. I mean, really interested. I cared about the lessons I was planning, I wanted to make them fun, and I even had a bit of fun myself. I read about Free Trade and wanted to know more (do not dare ask me about it, because I don't know much). I had fun planning my culminating assessment. Sure, it was work, and I would have rather been watching television or reading, but it wasn't the worst thing I've done.

And here's what I realized: I've always been like this. Over my school career, I've managed to get interested in many things I never thought I would have liked, usually because the right project sparked my interest. This made me wonder if this is a particular trait of mine, or if this could work for all learners.

I like to think that it could work for all learners. I hope that by giving my students the right projects and using the right strategies to activate their prior knowledge and spark their interest, that they can have the same experiences as me: deep motivation and pride in something I've enjoyed and done well.

I particularly liked the CORI strategy in the book (although the acronym is horrible). I like the idea of project-based learning and culminating projects. I am all for anything that makes the students feel like what they are doing is important, things that feel more like real life and less like school.

I think motivation is a huge issue with teachers. In many of my observations, I've watched teachers teach a lesson, never once trying to get the students interested or explain to them why they are learning a particular skill or topic. If we as teachers reflect on our own likes and dislikes, we will realize that we don't like every topic we teach. How can we expect our students to be any different. And let's be honest: if we don't like something, or are even just apathetic about it, meaningful learning is not going to occur. Sometimes no learning at all will occur. Our students have to be motivated, and we have to do everything in our power to make even the most boring topic interesting.