iTunes University

            This week as instructed I ventured over to iTunes U and looked around to see what I could find that relates to something I teach.  My 6^th grade science class will be exploring the Earth’s resources and conservations in the upcoming weeks.  I was able to find a iTunes U cast called Human Impact, and it talks about renewable and nonrenewable resources, among other things.  These two things happen to be the first topic covered in the chapter. 

            I really like this cast because it gives student videos and instructor videos along with a PDF that is an assessment you can give the students.  The grade level for questions is a bit high for my 6^th graders (it says 10^th grade) but the student video is still good for them to watch.  The instructor videos give suggestions on things you can discuss with your students and how to use the video in your classroom.

            iTunes U has a wealth of sources that can be used in a classroom.  In my search I found that it was helpful if you have a certain topic in mind while looking for material.  I could spend hours upon hours looking at things to use in my classroom as well as to apply to my teaching.  I look forward to being able to go back and “get lost” in iTunes U looking at material!   

A Podcast Screencast!

Here's a screencast that I created for a student with special needs in my room.  He in in my room when there is another instructional class at the same time.  He is able to do activities independently for the most part so he listens to his text and watches CNN Student News while I'm delving instruction to the other class.  When he is done with that he and I work one on one with the history lesson for the day.  Last week I taught him about podcasts and showed him how to subscribe to a podcast.  He has not seen this yet, but I look forward to showing him this and watching him as he learns more!

Week 2 Thoughts on Podcasting

I mentioned last week that I’m following The Writers Almanac from Garrison Keillor, Jet Propulsion from NASA, and the Ted Talks podcast.  I have enjoyed exploring all of these podcasts this week.  I haven’t found a fit for The Writers Almanac yet but I’m sure I will as I keep exploring.  There always seems to be some time in my room at the end of 8^th period so we have been exploring the podcast from NASA together.  While it is somewhat relevant to what we are going over in class I think the kids like it for two reasons…1. Its not homework and 2. It’s a video. 

I was having some trouble finding a podcast in Ted Talks to listen to.  All looked very interesting and my brain went into overload.  However, I also found the strictly educational Ted Talks today while exploring more podcasts to use in my room.  I like the fact that this is strictly the educational section of the podcasts, but I just wish that it had something a bit more current than January 10^th, 2012. 

After posting about podcasts last week and exploring more today, I found the CNN student news podcast.  I currently have two instructional classes in my room at one time and have been using a laptop for a student to watch this from the CNN website.  These clips usually last about 10 minutes, which allows me to get some instruction in with the other class in the room.  This means that when the student watching this is done I am able to get him started on his next task (listening to his text book on audio) and return to the other class.  Now that I have this on my podcast list it will be a lot easier to get to.  I will be able to teach the student how to get to the podcast and watch it on my computer.  It’s my goal that by teaching the student how to get to the podcast that he can become a self starter on this part of his social studies class.  

Animoto in the Classroom

Once I figured out what I was doing on this assignment I had a blast creating it.  I think the large part of my frustration was that I was creating the project for a future lesson so I could not include videos of the students in my room working on projects and sharing their ideas.  I can't wait to show this to my students!

I think that Animoto can be a very useful tool in the classroom.  It was very easy to use (once I figured it out).  Another member of this class mentioned how this is a good program for Special Education Students because they do not have to worry about transitions.  I couldn't agree more.  In fact I was in a bit of disbelief that all I had to do was upload music, pictures,video clips along with some text and the program took care of everything else.  I think that for some of my student the video clips might be a bit much unless they use the ones that Animoto offers.  I think with proper instruction that my students in special education classes and my 6th grade Science class can create a project with ease.

I enjoy that this resource was free, but even for the price that it costs to renew, it is worth keeping up.  I only wish that there were more background choices available (I really like the background with the example but I couldn't find it) with the educator account.  I showed the example posted on the class blog to some of my students (non-special ed) and they want to create their next project using Animoto.  I would love for them to do this but I am unsure of the cost, if any, that there is for students to do this and have their own accounts.

Free Technology for Teachers!

As I perused the different posts from this blog I kept getting the feeling like I have seen this before.  Did we look at this blog for #peru553?  Either was I thought this blog was a great resource for a teacher like myself who is always looking for new pieces of technology to incorporate into my classroom.

There are a ton of resources I can benefit from in this blog.  I teach in a school that has small class sizes to begin with, and teaching in the special education setting my classes are even smaller.  This also creates a “how can I use these in my classroom with just one student” question.  I want to start using Google more so these guides will help a great deal!

Currently, I try to keep a blog of the assignments for all the different classes I teach.  I want to add more to this blog with links for on-line study tools and other classroom tools.  This has been an excellent for the room this year…students are able to see what they have missed if they are sick and can come to class with the assignment and any questions they may have.

Podcasting

            The world of podcasting seems quite interesting and I’m excited to learn more about it throughout the course of the year.  Before this class the only podcast I knew was that of a radio program.  I usually listen to the last four segments of the show (20 min. a piece) on my way home and am usually entertained.

            I did break into the world of the educational podcast and have downloaded a podcast from Garrison Keillor, NASA (about jet propulsion), and Ted Talks.  I’m excited to listen to the podcasts yet to come and have enjoyed what I’m listening to now!

            Garrison Keillor’s podcast is called the writers almanac.  He reads a few poems in this.  He also gives a this day in history.  While I was in college at Dana, the choir I was a part of had a chance to preform for one of his radio shows that he was recording, so this podcast immediately intrigued me.  The NASA podcast includes videos from their jet propulsion lab.  I mostly picked this because the unit we are learning in Science deals with space and the universe.  I thought this was neat and hope that my kids do too!  I haven’t had a chance just yet to listen to the Ted Talks yet.  However, I’m looking forward to hearing some of the things he has to say! 

            I think podcasting can be a very positive and useful tool in the classroom.  I look forward to finding ways to include these things into my classroom.

Here's my multimedia project for week 1

There are multiple ways that I could use these tools in my classroom.  In fact I already use blogging and twitter in a minimal sense.  I have a blog that I used to (I’ve been a bit of a slacker on that) put the assignments for the classes I teach on.  I also have a Twitter account that is specifically for school and also post the assignments there.  However, administration in my building have blocked other sites, like the tools mentioned in the article.  When I tweet the assignments I have to use my phone or wait until I get home to do that. 

My school is getting more into using Google Docs as well.  The idea that students no longer have the excuse, “well its only saved to my computer at school so I cant do it at home,” is wonderful! As the article mentions I would truly like to get students involved in some of the training that teachers have so they are learning too.

Ideally, if I had larger class sizes, I’d like to start a wiki space discussion board for each class.  Something like our discussion board in blackboard.  But this is a hard thing to do when the average class size in my room is 2.  The English teacher uses this tool in her room with the seniors (she has them all at one time) to prepare them for what they might encounter in college whether they take an online course or are in an actual classroom. 

I found the survey information to be very informative.  I would like to take this article and do more research about what certified and non-certified staff think about web 2.0 tools.  If I were to do this and take the numbers to my administration I think that they would be more open to the possibility of unblocking Twitter and other web 2.0 tools so that they students can use them!