Some Suggestions

Right now, I feel like the guest that waited until the last day to RSVP so all of the good potluck dishes have been taken. The assignment seems simple: suggest and comment on an educational blog. The problem is “all the good ones are gone” but here are some spoils from my journey:

Computer Science Teacher – I suggest this because it gives you a glimpse into the thoughts of a “non-core” teacher. As CTER grads, we need to be on the cutting edge of integrating technology and sometimes the people that teach elective courses find the best ways to innovate.

Cool Cat – I followed a link to this, liked it, then started seeing it appear in several search results and blogrolls. It must be good, right? I include it here because she offers some feedback on topics that we discuss (SL for education) and gives some “horror stories” about what happens when technology takes over.

Teaching Generation Z – this blog gives you a glimpse into Australian education. Sometimes it helps to see how your classroom compares to those worldwide … so you can see how good (or bad) you’ve got it. I selected it because it was on a “Best of Edu Blogs” list and liked what I saw when I followed the link.

CTER Blogs that are useful:
Pam O. – everyone in our cohort knows and respects Pam and her opinions. Anything/Everything in her blog has some merit.

Scott - not a teacher and not a K-12 employee, either. He is however the guy that inherits our student’s problems when they leave us and the go-to guy for a lot of tech stuff at UI.

Ana – school librarian. Her thoughts take you away from stealing lesson ideas and steer you towards content ideas.

Tony Hursh – the Yoda of CTER, when I find his blog — you can bet your bottom dollar I will subscribe.

CTER: The final countdown

You know that feeling you get when you are getting on the shuttle to take you back to the airport because your vacation is over and you see the “new” crop coming in and wish you could stay longer because you know how much fun they are going to have? I don’t have many experiences with the vacation end of that emotion – but I am starting to experience it from the CTER perspective.

Last class before I graduate, last project in that class – and I am fortunate enough that one of the players on my team is shiny and new. Seeing how she goes about working on this project and asking those questions that cause a raucous bout of stomach laughs is fun … and gives me some idea of how my ancestors (and maybe the instructors) felt when I was like that!

Graduation … a reminder that my student loans are no longer deferred. If only U of I hadn’t told my lenders that I was only taking 1 course this term – I could have deferred them a wee bit longer.

This last class is kicking my butt because I know what our group is trying to accomplish and I know what my role is … but something is missing and I don’t have much time to find it. Maybe another live meeting this week will iron out the kinks and get all of our boats pointed in the same direction?

Google Wave – I’M IN!!

“We’re happy to give you access to Google Wave and are enlisting your help to improve the product.”

One sentence saved an otherwise drab Monday at school …
all of the kids misbehaving? no big deal!
short week, kids not listening? what kids!
sleep deprivation? I am wide awake now!

As a teacher, I think this could be very useful in the classroom but also has the potential to be very disruptive if used with the wrong group of students. I envision the current CTER crew combining Moodle with Elluminate and it is easy for me to see how things can go awry quickly.

Now, all I have to do is make some friends because this wave stuff is no fun without contacts …

Presentation Jitters??!!

I am a teacher, in a grad program with other teachers, but all 14 presenters are experiencing “butterflies” … it is amazing to me because we do this on a daily basis. Does the fact that we are spending our own $$ to be “critiqued” by our peers make it a different animal?

Early jitters will become relief next week when the 2nd wave of people take their turn and I will be DONE!

School has hit that patch where the students don’t have a full week for a while, tomorrow (Vet’s Day) will be the day off that extends the streak to 3 weeks. Next week, report card pickup … then Thanksgiving … then an In-Service day …

Looking forward to the weekend of College Football, enjoying the tweets from UoI folks (Scott and the Red Grange statue stick out).

The kids are still coming off of their Halloween high – my kids at night, my students during the day. Short weeks aren’t enough reward, so we are allowing assorted “out of uniform” days …. ‘Tis the season.

The Asynchronous version

Distance Learning (i.e. taking a class online) can come in many flavors, but 99.9% involve the student sitting in front of a computer while an instructor does their thing from another location.

The 11/3 class featured an asynchronous lecture (recorded ahead of time) and it just wasn’t the same. The teacher still got her material out of the way, the session was considerably shorter, but it lacked that certain “something”.

I suppose if I had to relate it to my own classroom — the material is consistent between classes and teachers, the delivery is what sets each class apart. It is that time of year: mega-breaks, partial weeks, parent-teacher conferences, report cards … it can be exhausting for all of us.

New group assigned for the final presentation and I see some new names – while I enjoy working with familiar colleagues because we all know what to expect, I think it is a nice going away present to learn with a new crew. Going away, as in – Here’s your diploma, make sure you’re all paid up!

OSU is entering the “meat” of their schedule (Iowa, Penn State, Michigan) while the Illini get to ruin Cincinnati’s season (I am not blindly loyal to all things OH) … something about the Big East bothers me.
My kids have learned “I want” and “I need” just in time for the holidays – now they just need to learn how to dial a phone so they can call their grandparents!

DIGITAL STORY … via ScrapBlog

Digital Story

Here is MY VIDEO, made using ScrapBlog.com.

TIPS FOR VIEWING SLIDE SHOW
Speed and Volume controls are in the lower right-hand corner

Feedback:

The ScrapBlog site would be nice for someone that likes to scrapbook or has the time and energy to put together something nice for their own use.  I tried it because I wanted to see how well my students would like it and arrived at the conclusion that some would LOVE it while others would do the absolute bare minimum … and those kids might be better off with Movie Maker anyway!

The website takes a while to get used to and can be frustrating.  Some of the content is free, some costs tokens (which are purchased with REAL dollars).  Uploading pictures was an adventure and linking the Scrapblog account to my Flickr account took several attempts.

When it was time to publish & share – some of my pages disappeared and were replaced by pages with pictures of strangers.  The videos in the slideshow are supposed to be muted, but aren’t.

Would I use it again: Yes, for my own stuff and to share pictures with family but I don’t know if I will expect much from my students.  I intend to make it available because some of them will really get into it and that is good enough for me for now.

Snow, in early October?!

The semester has been a blur thus far.  Time seems to find new ways to get away from me and I find myself scrambling to get everything done – and not just for class.  We are embarking on the mini film this week and I have been exposed to 2 new online tools that might be fun for my students.

I will have to check them out in greater detail, see how my small ones interact with them, and determine which to use for the assignment and which might make it into my spring curriculum.

Homecoming is this week, bringing with it the assorted “spirit” nonsense … I have mixed emotions about it since kids are starting to get beat up over petty things these days.

BEYOND CLASS Ohio State plays Wisconsin – but I’ll be at a baseball tournament for the 1st half (and maybe the second half, too) and will miss what could be a VERY good game.  My brother leaves for Afghanistan soon and his new wife is recovering from cancer … they celebrate by concieving and I am left to be the only one telling them that they are nuts.  Things should be fun around my own house for a few weeks: grad school, girl scout cookies, indoor T-Ball, Christmas shopping, my wife’s biological clock, getting the little one enrolled in the “select” gymnastics class, grading papers, cutting grass, raking leaves, fixing the gutters, updating my blog, playing nice with aforementioned brother after Mom/Dad call to scold me, pumpkin patch, and Halloween festivities.

Who do the Illini open B10 play against?

I just finished talking myself off the ledge, saying “Patrick, you knew 5 points weren’t enough and KNEW that USC would drive for the win.”  My world was whole again, then this …

See mom, he didn't score ... where was the red flag?

EPSY 556 – the encore performance

Have blog, will write.

This week we are examining “social media” like wikis, facebook, and bookmarking services.  All can be useful in and out of the classroom.  Social bookmarking would be useful for teachers that want to share a collection of links with their class or for students that want portable bookmarking.

“The kids” are already using Facebook, my own daughter in K has an account, so using it for furthering the classroom agenda wouldn’t be too harmful, would it?

Maybe I will have an epiphany after sitting through this week’s presentation …