My first Flip

Today was Day 1 of the Flipping process...well sort of day 2.  I made my first video using prezi and camtasia studio.  This was the only program I could find that could both record the screen while recording a video on my web cam(that isn't made for a mac)  I really like the program although I only have the trial version for 30 days.  Anyone have a spare $300?  Well I was happy with the video.  I posted it on my website using youtube and screencast.  I did screencast so the kids(that didn't do their homework) could watch it at school.  I also made some DVD's so the kids that didn't have a computer could also watch it.  I didn't know what to expect as far as how many people would do the video, but I'd say around 75% watched the video and took good notes.  I set up the video so there were 5 vocabulary notes which made for some easy note taking while some students definitely went beyond the basics. 
I had to do a lot of explaining today so the students would understand the process which was basically that the people that didn't do the homework  would lose responsibility/self direction points and would be watching the video before working on the activity.  The activity was basically a sorting activity with questions to be answered on a worksheet.  It worked with the concepts they learned in the lesson(levels of ecology). 
Overall I think the process went rather well.  I learned some things I'd change about my assignment, but I'll always find things to improve with any lesson.  The kids did well and my first impression is that they did do some learning from the video.  Many of the kids said they watched it many times.  I'm assuming that's because I'm so darn interesting! 
The next video I'll be working on will probably be one about energy in the ecosystem although I'm thinking next year I'll work on one about habitat vs. niche and abiotic vs. biotic. 

A flipping good idea...hopefully

OK, I think one of my focuses for the year will be the beginning stages of flipping my classroom.  I've done some research and it seems like an interesting idea.  I don't think it will work in all situations but I do think it will be effective for many topics.  So far I've started with my first video that will be about some basic ecology.  I'm going to try different types of media to keep things interesting.  I'll be starting with a prezi that I'll narrate and probably be saving in youtube.edu.  One thing I'm wondering right now is what activities I'll be using in the class to show their understanding.  And in many of the videos I've seen there is a small frame with the teacher's face doing the lecture but I don't know what program they use for that.  Guess it's time to e-mail Dana.

August 9th Training

Going into this training day I was a little sad.  This really felt like the end of the summer for me.  I was already starting to get into "teacher mode" but this was quite a reminder.  I really liked the beginning of the day.  It is so nice to be able to have some solid time to work on some of the things we're using in this cohort group, and there were so many people that were available to help us with any difficulties we were having .  The afternoon filled my head with information and possibilities.  In fact, it leads me to the thought of how are we expected to keep up with all of this?  I've always felt that I'm somewhat on the cutting edge of technology, and I do what I can to keep up with things, but there always seems to be so much out there that I've never heard about.  I feel like we could meet weekly and just share new things with each other and we still wouldn't keep up.  I realize that we don't have to know everything out there, but I start thinking that as soon as I learn about one program, something newer and better comes out.  I guess I need to be happy with where I'm at and what I do know.  It's always like opening a present at Christmas when I learn about another new thing that I can use.

Summertime soon.

Another inspired morning...I really like the small group learning format.  Blogger has a lot of functions that I was unaware of.  I’m still not sure how I’ll be using it, but I do hope to incorporate blogs this year.  This is the same deal with google maps.  I’ll definitely find a place in my one Social Studies class for it.  Right now I’m thinking of setting up something with Goddard on it and lines showing how far it is do different areas we study throughout the year.(About 7000+ miles to Mesopotamia!)  The information on Google research was totally new to me.  How cool.  Google is just improving daily which makes me think it was a good move for us to be going to google docs.  It does a great job getting us more into the 21st century learning.  I love how it integrates so many different things.  I don’t really do a lot of research in my classes at this time, but I can see it being used in some way or another.  As for easy bib, I’ve used it myself for my master’s classes so nothing new there.  I just love learning new things(especially with technology!)

Now for the afternoon.  Getting a little sleepy...mere hours away from the beginning of summer.  Learned another new/awesome thing...Google Forms! I’m already working on a parent survey to get information like e-mails and phone numbers in a single place.  I plan on using it a lot during the year for quizzes and tests.  Time for a busy summer.

Day 1...Inspired?

Well, I really didn't know exactly what to expect from this Inspired Learning Cohort.  And now...well I have a better idea, but I'm still a little unsure.  I'm really hoping this will be something that will work well with the fact that in Science we're working with a new curriculum.  Obviously, technology will be a part of that curriculum, and hopefully this will help me put together the 3 ideas of content, pedagogy, and 21st century learning.  Right now, it's hard to think much about the technology as I'm rather unsure of what I'll be teaching next year.  I'd really like this work to be applicable to what I'm doing and it seems like that's a goal of the instructors as well.  So, I'm at a point that I'm hoping for big things, but am still a little unsure and overwhelmed a bit.  1 day until summer actually starts!(but who's counting)