Making connections

Sometimes I start thinking of technology and all of its possibilities of making connections with students.  The idea of all of these social networks that might be used, but you have to be careful with.  I've heard of some teachers using twitter.  I'm not a personal fan of twitter at all, but I could see how it could be a pretty helpful thing if you could quickly send out something to your classes maybe explaining something or even just posting something cool that you just saw that might relate to your curriculum.  It could be a great way to get information to parents such as "please sign you child's progress report" They could maybe even tweet a response indicating that they did see the progress report.
Then there's the idea of facebook.  I know some schools have their own facebook site, mainly for parents to follow.  This seems like another great idea for a school, but could it also work with a classroom?
I had a student last week suggest that I just get a webcam and have it running during my classes so students that are absent can see the class and still do the work.  Another interesting idea.
but where does it end?  When I have homework, will I have to Post it on my website, tweet it, then post it on facebook?
Then what about texting?  The kids use it all the time.  Why not use that to our advantage?
I don't know, and I'm really not planning on trying any of these out right now.  I don't even know if this is the point of this blog, but there's so much out there but only so much time to use it.  Sometimes it's all rather overwhelming other times it's just pretty overwhelming.

A Techable moment

So, how is technology going this year?  Overall I've been very happy with the amount and types of technology usage I've used this year.  I'd say that the kids have used the computer around 70% of the time which is a big jump from last year.  I've put nearly everything we've done on google apps.  Some of the things I've used include an online test in science using Discovery Educations assessment builder.  In Social studies I just made a test using Google forms. 
I've also been trying out class dojo which has had its ups and downs.  I'm thinking I'll be using it for participation points if nothing else.  There's definitely some fore things I'd like to be using, but finding the time to set them up has been difficult.

Flipping 2.0

OK, I should have done this earlier, but I need to say how my second effort at flipping went.  Overall it was pretty good.  I made this video on Interactions in Ecology.  I did have to go get a new webcam as my laptop seems to be getting pretty old and the recordings wouldn't stay in sync with the audio.  The new camera made things much better and clearer.  Again I used prezi. 
Overall I'd say that the kids that did the assignment really liked it.  I've even received some praise from some parents that I chatted with at outdoor ed.  The main problem I'm still having is with the fact that so many kids didn't do the work.  Sure this is a problem with just about any assignment and it's always frustrating, but this is often the same kids that would most benefit by the whole idea of flipping.  I'm not saying that I'm giving up or anything, but this is definitely a problem that I'm struggling with.  I'm planning on starting to work on another video pretty soon.  Hopefully I'll figure out something to get more people to participate.  Any ideas? 

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.