I couldn’t sleep anymore this morning because I had a great idea for a screencast to work on. I’m calling it “Chemistry Commoncraft – Volume 1 – the Mole” and going to try to make it as simplistic as the other commoncraft.com screencasts I’ve viewed.
Below is a picture of the rough “script” I worked on from 5:30-7AM today. The dialogue I plan to say is written on the right side of the paper and the basic pictures I’ll use are VERY roughly sketched out on the left.
I figure if I’m going to make a screencast, I might as well do one that has value and applicability for my own classroom. And many chemistry teachers would agree that the first go round with the concept of the mole is a struggle for students.
It might take a while to gather my materials (clip art pictures and whiteboard to lay horizontal) and edit the video but I think it will be well worth it.
P.S. The last picture that I’m including is from yesterday. I stepped away from the breakfast table for 2 minutes to check my email and when my 1 year old started fussing, I asked my 3 year old to give him a little more cereal. This is what I came back to.
I bought a headset and microphone (~$18.00 at Meijer). Attached is a random chemistry article, titled Building with Alloys that I made for my first podcast. Its about 2 minutes in length. The only problem that I see is that I can only upload a picture or a video. I guess I'll try it as a video file although there is nothing to see. Ok, after 10 minutes and still waiting I guess I need a plan B. Any suggestions? I saved it as a .wav file.
I thought about turning a test or quiz into an audio file and making it available to my special needs students for the coming year. However, I’m apprehensious about doing that because of the ease at which cheating could occur. In fact, I am amazed when I walk into another teacher’s classroom during an assessment and half of the kids have earbuds in their ears. It’s pretty obvious from this course how easy to use web applications are software are to make an audio recording. And just as easy to save your audio recording on an ipod or MP3 player. Maybe I could have my own MP3 player(s) available with assessments pre-recorded to the special education teachers on a checkout basis. I welcome your thoughts.
I wouldn’t have guessed that my husband and I would be working on the same type of project this week. I’m a high school chemistry teacher taking summer classes and he’s a park ranger (I took the picture of the lighthouse at the right at his state park). But it just so happens that one of his projects for work this week is putting a podcast together that describes important rules about the campground and the unique ORV sand dune area. His podcast will then be uploaded and able to be played over a specific AM radio frequency.
I’m looking forward to creating my own podcast using Audacity. I think I have a pretty good understanding of how the program works. I love that it is a FREE download. Importing a music file seems fairly simple. I watched this youtube video that described key features of creating a podcast using a PC and found it helpful.
Here is a rubric Kathy Schrock has published as a pdf file for discoveryschool. There was also rubrics for wikis and several other rubrics for grading your student-generated podcasts. Just click the discoveryschool link above for a complete list (the tech-related rubrics are toward the bottom of the list).
I’m anxious to get to the store and pick up my own headset/microphone and get started. Meanwhile, my husband is using my son’s computer and is editing the mp3 file he brought home (he recorded at the park) using Microsoft MovieMaker. Apparently, that is another option for editing.
I had read Marc Prensky’s process of technology adoption in another class. At the simplistic level he describes the newest and earliest technology integration into school as “dabbling” and the most educationally-value stage he describes as “doing new things in new ways.” If you haven’t read his article, “Shaping Tech for the Classroom,” it’s an interesting and informative read.
Before I list my guidelines for using technology. I’m going to brainstorm what technology means to me… each beginning with “technology is…” The list is organized by what comes into my brain first.
Technology is a collection of tools that can be used to enhance an educational environment.
Technology can be used by students, teachers or both simultaneously. In other words it can be a tool for learning or a tool for teaching.
Technology allows educators to bring a lesson to life for their students. I’m reminded of a question I ask my 9th graders, “why do we use models?” I’m point to an awful model of an atom when I ask. There are several reasons they come us with… something is too small, too large, too far away, to expensive, too hazardous, too lots of things. But now with the internet at our fingertips and so many resources at our disposal we can bring our students that much closer to an authentic experience.
Technology is authentic.
Technology isn’t going away.
Technology enhances the learning experience when used to augment a lesson, not replace it. In other words, I don’t believe that a virtual experience when used exclusively is the best educational experience.
I only a few general guidelines in my classroom, which are…
1. Be respectful
2. Be safe.
3. Be prepared.
4. Be motivated.
5. Do nothing that prevents others from doing their job, which is to learn chemistry.
6. Do nothing that prevents Mrs. Sherburn from doing her job, to teach you chemistry.
So along those lines, my guidelines (first draft) regarding technology would be…
Be respectful (when chatting, collaborating, posting, blogging etc.)
Be safe (if you publish something to the internet expect that even your parents could see it).
Keep an open mind and explore (new ideas and technologies)
Be patient when learning something new or using a new technology (“patience is a virtue!”)
?
?
* 5 and 6 will be my work in progress
I read someone’s blog (ha ha, I’m typing this out in Word and it doesn’t recognize “blog” as a word) that said they relied on students to use technology outside of school. At my school, this wouldn’t be an option. After conducting a short school-wide survey 2 years ago, we discovered that about 75% of our low SES (socio-economic status) student population did have computers; only about 75% of those students had an internet connection.
I really want to focus on ways to allow “students to interact with information in a way that is meaningful and could not have happened otherwise?” And maybe even more important for me to integrate into my classroom are ways for my kids to “create and share their knowledge with an audience they never would have had access to without technology?”
Do our students really learn more about technology outside of school rather than in school? The answer probably has a lot to do with the socio-economic status of their family and friends. Bell and Bull (2008) reported in Technology’s Greatest Value, that “there is a ‘digital disconnect’ between limited use of technology in schools and extensive use of technology by students to complete academic work outside of school.” I couldn’t agree more (at least this seems to be the case at the rural school where I teach).
The use of technology in the science classroom, or any classroom, has great potential. However, teachers, including myself, need professional development that is thoughtful and consistent (2 hours at the beginning of the school year isn’t going to cut it!) and able to demonstrate how a technology can be used. Bell and Bull (2008) provided a description of an ideal technology, stating that it has a “low threshold and high ceiling. In other words, it will be intuitive for the novice to learn and yet support increasingly sophisticated activities.” Of course, this is the kind of technologies that many teachers are more than willing to try. It’s the other kind, intuitive only for the advanced to learn and supports only certain activities, which are quick to turn a teacher off.
Our students LOVE TECHNOLOGY. They’ve grown up with the constant bombardment of information and have learned quickly what gets “let in” and what gets filtered out. I think the educators that are at least willing to allow presently-taught content to be enhance or potentially delivered using a technology are much more likely reach the “2.0” audience that fill our classrooms. I’m going to be open-minded and give it a try.
I am a high school science teacher at Hesperia High School in, you guessed it, Hesperia (Michigan not California). I will be going into my 7th year of teaching. I also coach 7th grade volleyball and HS Science Olympiad.
I am setting up this blog as part of a course to complete my Master's program through Montana State University. I am also now using a few other technologies as I first posted including Twitter, Google Reader and a wiki for the class.
I am married to my college-sweetheart (although we attended different colleges in Michigan that were 400 mi apart). We have 2 beautiful boys, Andrew (3 yrs) and Nate (15 months).
I'm taking 3 online graduate classes this summer and going to another 6 day workshop in August. Whoever said that teachers get the summers off must have been telling a joke.
In my "spare" time I enjoy scrapingbook (haven't done that since Christmas break), kayaking (last summer), reading (something other than a graduate reading assignment would be nice), watching a good movie (I think that last one was "The Proposal"). But mainly, I love spending time with family and friends. And in the wonderful area of West Michigan that I live there is so much to do outdoors in the summer.
I've started my own blog. I now have a Twitter account and new email through Google. I'm using a Wiki. Meanwhile, organizing all the new technology with Google Reader. If my brain doesn't explode from all the information, I'm sure my husband's will from listening to it all. On second thought, he probably tuned me out a few days ago :-)
