Podcast Reflection #12: 0082 TCT- YouTube Plus

In the 82nd episode of Tech Chick Tips, Anna and Helen share a long list of resources that can enhance an individual's use of YouTube. The first tool they discussed was Minus, which is just a very easy way to share online by adding the shortcut to your browser toolbar. Next is EmbedPlus, a tool which allows you to take a YouTube video and edit it, add placemarkings, your own comments and information, and embed the new version of the video onto your website or wherever you want it. This allows you to modify the videos to fit your needs, as well as increase the safety of your students by embedding the video instead of having them view it directly through YouTube. Another really cool resource is Smories, which is a big collection of stories created by children and read online by the child creators themselves. These videos are accessible through iPhones and iPads, and offer a cool way for students to show off their talents and share their stories with other students. If you are interested in a few other tools to support your use of YouTube, be sure to check out this podcast.

Podcast Reflection #11: Musical Expression throughout the Curriculum

Teachers TV is a website that provides a number of videos about new ideas or events taking place in schools. On this website, I came across a series called Sharing Your Great Practice which chronicles a different school in England each week and gives you a look into exciting things that are happening at that particular school. In Musical Expression throughout the Curriculum, viewers get a look into Bayards Hill Primary School where students are getting the opportunity to receive special weekly music lessons which are linked with the curriculum students are learning in their particular classroom. Therefore, students are getting the opportunity to learn an instrument and express themselves creatively while still focusing on the core subject areas at the same time. After beginning this program, Bayards Hill has improved attendance records as well as overall student achievement, including those with special needs. This cross-curricular approach seems very beneficial because of the connection researchers have found between music and student achievement. Moreover, learning the core curriculum becomes a bit more fun and exciting for students when different methods are used for teaching the material.

Podcast Reflection #10: Large schools claim it's 'not their fault'

On this episode of Learning Matters, Amanda Thieroff explores the issue of large school underperformance. While many large schools are being closed because they are not performing high enough, the result is not always positive. As large schools are closed, smaller schools are being overcrowded because they do not have the ability to reject "over the counter" students who are coming from closed schools. Moreover, this overcrowding is leading to schools with one-third of the school population having special needs, causing great amounts of burn-out among educators and the school community. Therefore, it leads one to question if the decision to simply close large underperforming schools is the most effective option. Finally, after seeing these not so positive results,  one would think school officials would explore more options to support the large schools and help them find ways to meet the yearly expectations. Although I do not have the answer to this dilemma, I certainly look forward to seeing what happens and hope for the best.

Comics In My Classroom

When beginning to think about lesson planning, it is always stressed that unless students are engaged and attentive to the material being taught, not much will be accomplished. Therefore, comics are becoming very popular in classrooms today as they are very effective at engaging students and helping them comprehend stories. Aside from grasping student attention, comics are very effective tools for struggling readers because they are not extremely text-heavy and they have illustrations which correspond to the little text there is. Also, comics are useful in teaching retelling, which is a concept students continually struggle with especially when it comes time for assessments. Finally, comics really encourage creativity among students which sometimes gets left behind in classrooms with the heavy emphasis on assessments. As the use of comics in the classroom gains attention, more and more resources are becoming available to teach educators about the use of these texts as well as to help teachers incorporate these texts into their core curriculum. To learn more, Comics in the Classroom: 101 Tips, Tools, and Resources for Teachers would be a great place to start. Also, there is a great list of tools for creating comics on the Technology Keys Wiki.

Podcast, Website & Blog Mid-term Critiques

After completing the mid-term critiques, I am part relieved, part panicked that the semester is already half over. Even though we have only completed the first half, I have already learned a ton of cool tools and resources that I can use in my classroom. One of them which applies to the mid-term critiques is the form creator in Google Docs. I had never used this tool before, and after learning a few tricks to make the form creation easier I really found it to be a huge help in evaluating websites and blogs of my peers. I specifically liked that you could create questions in different formats, making it easier for me to organize the critique and make sure I included everything in the critique that needed to be included. The only thing I have left to figure out is how to view the submitted responses in a different format than a lengthy spreadsheet.

Podcast Reflection #9: Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education.

In this episode of TED Talks, Salman Khan discusses the creation of his educational website Khan Academy. Salman Khan began posting videos to YouTube as a way to assist his young family members grasp mathematical concepts they were learning in school. However, because he received such a great response about the videos from both his family and other people who used the videos, he began the Khan Academy. On this website, educators and learners can find thousands of videos in various subjects to learn important curricular concepts. After pondering the response he received, Mr. Khan has suggested the possibility of teachers reversing the typical instructional approach and replacing traditional lectures with these online videos. In this method, students would be assigned certain videos to view prior to the class period freeing up valuable instructional time for practice and critical thinking activities that lead to deeper understanding. As a result, the student becomes familiar with the important content before class and then has time to practice and demonstrate understanding with the teacher who can assist with any questions and provide extra instruction if needed. While I had never considered this method before, I would like to see it in practice because I believe it could be an effective way to make students more comfortable with learning, especially when it comes to more challenging material.

Podcast Reflection #8: "Learning In Hand #22: Educational Apps"

I am slowly becoming hooked to the Learning In Hand podcast, partially because I am dying to get an iPad and partially because I am trying to stay up-to-date with tools I will likely face in the classroom. In episode 22, Tony highlights specific apps he has found beneficial to education, which is very helpful considering the vast amount of apps in existence. First, IEar.org is a place where educators can find reviews for educational apps done by other educators themselves. On Recess Duty, there is a list created by a teacher of the 99 iPod touch apps this individual used in their own classroom. iDevBooks is a great place to find educational apps specifically for mathematics. Next, StoryKit is an app students can use to create their own storybooks with sound and share them with others. In science, iCell is a great app for students to get a visualization of different types of cells. In addition, Tony recommended following him on Twitter for updates on app sales, as well as Twapper Keeper which logs every #edapp tweet so educators can find even more app recommendations.