Digital Storytelling and Learning

Well, my husband and I are about to leave for super rural Michigan where internet it few and far between so I'll do my homework now. :-) Yesterday was our second anniversary so we stayed at a hotel in downtown Grand Rapids and this morning I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Starbucks in the hotel actually had free wi-fi! So here I sit doing my homework while my husband is out wandering the city - oh the life of a grad student :-) haha. But I have to admit I have really enjoyed how much I have learned thus far in this course and this morning have a slight desire to start planning and getting stuff together to use next year! My desire to go on vacation is overriding this a little, but I really can't wait to start planning!

I am very excited about digital storytelling and using it in my classroom! I am teaching a lower level physics class next year and the students REALLY struggle with simple algebra, so I am going to make an "in plain english" video on algebra that they can refer back to. Unfortunately this will have to wait until next week because I didn't bring my video camera with this week, bummer! I had it all envisioned on how I would work on it up north too, oh well. I see so many uses for this and I really like how Lee Kolbert used it with her students. I have had my students do end of the year, relate physics to life projects before and this could be a new really fun way to do the project. My mind is seriously in 500 directions right now thinking of all the ways to use digital storytelling. I know people in my department have used it before, but I never really understood what a useful tool it could be. I will definitely be using this both for instructional purposes and student project purposes next year. Perhaps a problem based learning unit where a digital story is the end result.

Also, related to this week's material I was wow-ed by the copyright information. I always get on my students cases about proper citation and not plaigarizing, but never really thought about how in depth copyright laws go. Yikes, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite - I don't think I have done any serious damage, but am very happy to know that I won't in the future. Professor Brunsell, thank you for posting all of that information. Right now as I am still processing all if it, it seems overwhelming, but I am very glad to be informed. I appreciate how in depth the article went in terms of what is copyright infringement and how to avoid it. It is very practical and useful. Presently diigo is not working :-( I was so looking forward to using it with these articles!

Alright, time to check out of our hotel which means I must be done for now. Hopefully my research on where to find internet access up north pays off! Have a great week everyone!

Literacy

One of our school-wide goals where I teach is all about literacy in all of it's forms. As I read over the standards and article I was encouraged that I am doing a lot of what it discussed already.

Even though I teach high school, I found a lot of value in the ideas contained within the "Science and Literacy" article. I think anyone who has taught for any amount of time comes to the conclusion that to teach successfully and really give our students the best opportunity to succeed, we need to clue them in on what we expect and clarify what that actually looks like and sounds like. It is amazing to me how much better my students do and how many more risks they are willing to take when they know exactly what the expectations are. It's almost like we give them a bubble to work within and they then are willing to work outside that bubble and be more creative.

I really like the guidelines for note-taking that were given - because I teach high school and my students are not always able to write in their books I would alter some of the statements so that they work a little better and force my students to do a little more higher level thinking. One of the most valuable aspects to this is the summary portion - you can really see what the students understand (or don't understand) when they are forced to summarize the information. I often have to go through an example with my students on how to read the textbook and how to take notes and I think this list would be very helpful to them.

It will be interesting to see what the new standards will be and how much they will include.

Diigo

Well, this week I did a lot of sifting. I've tried a few of the tools before - glogster, googledocs, delicious and I really wanted to try something new. Ok, I have lots that I want to try new... This week I decided to take a stroll through Diigo. I was hooked after watching the tour - I will admit, it's not the most captivating tour, but so much cool stuff!! I still have much more investigating and playing to do, but I really like the idea that my students could form research groups and collaborate in this way online! So far from my dabbling Diigo takes delicious up 5000 notches. I made a delicious account this past year and have only used it a couple times, Diigo I will use very often.

So far I have just bookmarked basics for my classes this summer such as, D2L, our course page, the textbook chapters, my blog, etc. I just wanted to get my feet wet. I am most looking forward to doing my reading assignments without the desire to print them out and take notes, but rather being able to bookmark them to diigo and take notes/highlight right on them! This really is what I have been looking for in terms of note taking on my computer.

The idea that students could do research projects without printing out 50pages of text each is stellar. This website really allows us to be more green in the classroom.

I am considering having my students sign up for this at the beginning of the year and showing them how to use it collaboratively (all I need to do to change from considering to doing is a little more usage of Diigo, to make sure that it really does everything I want it to do). I think the use of this site could really change the way that we have our students do research projects and reading assignments. It could also change the way our students view technology - I think it would be a huge advantage to students to be able to go to just one site to reference all of their bookmarks, research and websites. The iPhone app would also be a bonus for many of my students - they use that thing like it's a third arm anyway, now let's add some more educational value to it.

Alright, time for more playing and then to clean up! My sister-in-law is coming to stay with us and flying in from Portugal. Lots to do!! Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Guiding Principles

This will definitely be the most fluid post that I write throughout the course. I think my guiding principles for the use of technology will probably change considerable as I learn more.

When using technology in the classroom (new or old) the following with guide the usage…

• Do I know how to fully use and explain how to use the technology?
• Will the use of this technology benefit my students?
• Also, how will this benefit my students?
• Is this technology something that my students could use outside of my classroom (is it relevant)?
• What is the purpose of using this technology? (Taken from Utecht’s “Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom”)
• Am I dabbling?
• Does this do old things in old ways?
• Does this do old things in new ways?
• Does this do new things in new ways?
• How will the use of this technology improve my students’ ability to learn the material and develop core life skills?
• ADDED:
• Have I gotten feedback from colleagues on how I plan to use this technology?
• Will my students learn the material better or in new ways by using this tool?
  

Setting the Stage Reflection

First of all wow! We watched the “Did You Know? 2.0” video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U) to start off the school year and it still is shocking to me as I watched it again for this week's assignment. It’s exciting and scary all at once how much our world is changing from a general perspective, but even more so from an educational perspective.(On another note...I am thinking of showing this video to my students during the first couple days of school - lots of good discussions here!)

I graduated from high school in 2003, but when I think back to my high school experience, even in the past 7 years the world has changed tremendously. Cell phones were just becoming popular – it was fairly common to have one in high school, but no one younger than high school had a cell phone – now I swear I’ve seen 7 year olds with cell phones. You would never have thought to text during class – no one really started texting yet. My teachers mainly used direct instruction and (at least in the accelerated classes) the students sat there and did what they were asked…or at least that’s how I remember it. We used the computers sometimes, but mainly for paper writing or making a presentation. I feel like my generation was the generation where technology started to pick up a lot (for the common public) and as a result my peers look for how to use technology for it’s purposes – we find something new and just figure out how it works.

Now my students are so used to always having technology that they just expect me to tell them exactly how to use a new tool (a good portion of them do at least). My students now are constantly connected, but mainly in the realm of entertainment – many don’t know how to use technology for educational or even trustworthy informational purposes. This is all a new challenge – I may be close to their age and understand the technology boom, but growing up it was a privilege to have a computer and internet – now it seems like everyone has one.

I think what scares me most about all of this change is the way our educational system is responding. As our textbook spoke of, we often times just try to incorporate new technology because it is the “thing to do,” we don’t always make sure that what we are trying is the best and most beneficial way to bring to enhance our content. We need to somehow find a way to slow down and re-evaluate what we are doing – what is the best way to help our students learn to think critically, collaborate, use technology, adapt, problem solve, etc? But at the same time, we don’t have time to slow down too much – the world is changing and we need to find an effective way to meet that change. We need to allow our students to understand the globalization that is our “new” reality.

At the same time WE need to understand our “new” reality. India and China are now huge players in our world, but they run very differently than we run. Many countries only fully educate the top of the population, we educate everyone. We can’t throw away everything we’ve been doing and say that it is useless – we need to refine what we are doing – we need to help our students understand their role in the world, the need for them to think critically and the need for them to collaborate effectively. We need to find a way to make all of this relevant to our students.

I don’t think we are too far behind to catch up, as some may – I do however think that we are at an important junction – one where we can choose to keep doing what we’ve been doing for years or one where we can strive to show our students how technology and the necessary skills (that I mentioned before…adaptability, critical thinking, problem solving, etc) are relevant to them through authentic learning. We need to expose our students to the reality of our flattening world and challenge them with what they will contribute. We need to provide our students opportunities to create and help them know how to respond and organize. Our students can compete in this flattening world and we need to support them by giving them real experiences that reflects our flattening world.

Introduction

I am through and through a midwest city girl. I've lived in the Chicago area my entire life (minus attending Hope College up in Holland, MI). I graduated from Hope with a degree in Physics Education and went back to the Chicago area to teach at my alma mater in Park Ridge (a northwest suburb of Chicago). I just finished my 3rd year of teaching. Next year I will be teaching lower and regular level Physics class. I use quite a bit of technology in my class, but I can see that I still have A LOT to learn from this class - I look forward to seeing what additional technologies I can incorporate.

Currently, my husband and I are living in Chicago and have been married for almost 2 years (we'll celebrate our anniversary at the end of the month!). We are both teachers so right about now we are very much enjoying all that the city and summer has to offer! I realize that I am rather biased, but I will always maintain that Chicago is the greatest city and has the best sports fans! GO CUBS! There is always something to do, whether it's venturing out to another neighborhood, heading downtown, finding a festival, trying a new restaurant, heading to a game, etc.
When I'm not working on my two classes this summer (this one and fundamentals of oceanography) I will be taking advantage of the time to make jewelry, read, scrapbook and just spend time with friends and family. I look forward to learning with all of you this summer!