Teacher Tube

I know that we talked about this resource quite a while ago, but I only recently had time to check it out. What a fantastic site! When I was teaching in the classroom I remember thinking, "If I could only find a clip to show _____." Unfortunately, if our school library didn't contain anything (which most of the time it didn't), I was out of luck. I tried to create my own visuals and trust me, I am not a great artist. I didn't always have much success!

Teacher Tube eliminates that problem in a number of cases. I tried searching various topics that I remember covering in the classroom. I found a pretty good resource for almost everything I typed. The great part is, you can be fairly selective about what type of clip you use, especially the length.

The other nice part about Teacher Tube is the learning opportunities for teachers that are available on the site. I was able to find a 23 minute video discussing and demonstrating the use of literature circles in the classroom. Professional development in the convenience of my home at any hour that I choose. How great is that?

Digital Storytelling

I have been very excited to try creating my own digital story. It did not take me that long to actually write the story, because I knew what direction I wanted to head in after watching the sample stories in class. However, it took me a long time to select the pictures to go along with the story. I really wanted the pictures to capture the essence of my words. I have decided it must be difficult for a children's author to hand over their work to an illustrator. So much of the meaning of a story that includes pictures is developed in the images!

I also had NO idea how to use imovie, but I think that my project is coming along nicely. I am still trying to figure out how to add sound to my title screen. I also have a couple of pictures that I still need to add. I have completed my rationale though. In fact, I had a hard time determining a specific lesson or unit that I would use this for. Not because I didn't see the relevance, but because I saw SO MANY possibilities! I chose to write about a high school classroom developing digital stories to further develop the distinction between the topic and the theme of a story. I am very curious how other people envisioned using digital storytelling in the classroom!

Keyboarding

When reading To Keyboard or Not to Keyboard (Baugh, 1999), this week I was reminded of my own experience learning to type. I am dating myself a little bit, but we didn't start to learn keyboarding until seventh grade. It was an entire class period devoted to typing on typewriters (and, really, I am not THAT old!) I distinctly remember the frustration when the teacher taped a piece of paper over my hands so that I could not look at the letters. There was such a great compulsion to look under the paper!

I did learn to type. The keyboarding class was a good start. I learned home row and the proper finger for each key, but it wasn't really until college when I was forced to type all of the time that I got very good at it. A 45 minute class once a day without an engaging reason to be typing just didn't quite do the job!

The article made me ask myself, "How would this experience have been different if I had begun to learn keyboarding at a much younger age?" Baugh (1999) talks about pre-k/kindergarten keyboarding skills. I am going to begin informally talking about the keyboard when my daughters are sitting at the computer or learning a new letter. Not only because I think kids are on computers at much younger age than seventh grade, but because when they do get to the point where they need to learn to type and I think that process would be much easier to learn if the process started at a young age. Hopefully, they will not feel panic when someone puts a paper over their hands and says they cannot look, because they will have quite a bit of experience with a keyboard before they get to that point!

Did anyone have a similar experience to mine, or vastly different, when learning to type?

Reference
Baugh, I. M. (1999). To Keyboard or Not to Keyboard. Learning and Leading with Technology,
27(4), 28-31.

Well....

this is an interesting post, because I started off by searching teacher blogs. I wanted to find some real-life example of classrooms using blogs to communicate with parents, students, and other school personnel. However, I got sidetracked by an article that I read on a site called TeacherLingo.com. This site is basically a communication hub for teachers of all types. Everyone has a blog on the site and writes about whatever her or she chooses. On one of the blogs a teacher referred to this article http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=59180, titled, Schwarzenegger: Printed texts are old school. I couldn't help but become sidetracked.

Schwarzenegger is encouraging schools in the state to look into using online books. I know we talked about this briefly in class a few weeks ago and it looks like California could be moving in this direction. The article alludes to the fact that California is facing a huge budget deficit and Schwarznegger's proposal of using online materials rather than printed books could potentially save the state millions of dollars.

I wonder what the publishing companies think of this? I am assuming that many of them have seen this move coming and have started to change their business plans based on the changing needs of schools.

I am also wondering if all the schools in California would have the necessary technology to utilize online books for each student. There could be hidden costs in moving towards online books if schools do not have the infrastructure to handle this change. Also, what impact would this have on students? Would the expectation be that every student have internet access outside of school to complete homework? I am sure that many people are currently asking these same questions and most have probably been answered, but they immediately came to my mind.

I will be eagerly anticipating California's next move!