The Stiletto Heel

This is a fun example on how you can use Voicethread. My students are going to use it for their book report. We are doing nonfiction books. I picked the topic of the stiletto heel and made a voicethread.

Digital Data

Storing digital data and keeping it protected is very important. I remember my first year at my current school, I wasn't storing my files properly. I saved them on my computer and sadly when my computer was re-imaged, all of those files were gone. I was SO sad, but I used that as a learning experience and then set down with our CIT and learned how to properly store data...and back it up!

Our server is set up, so there are different drives. Each faculty member can save to their "H" drive, which is a personal storage space, no one else (except tech administrators and CIT's) can access my H drive. There is also the "R" folder or student public drive where I can save documents/files in my "McCoy" folder for my students or whoever else to access. I store anything for my students to access here...pictures, videos, documents, etc. The public drive is for faculty members to access. For example, if my team created a great lesson that we wanted to share, we would save it here for others to see. Each of my students also have an "H" drive where they can save their personal data. This is where all of their projects are stored. I can access this from the "W" folder (I know...very confusing...it just takes practice). The "X" drive is for video/movie downloads and anyone can access them. Each school has a folder and each faculty member has a folder, but you can access anyone's folder. The "K" drive is set up the same way and that's where you save your flipcharts for the Promethean board. This may sound a bit overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite simple. For safety measures, I back up my files on disks at the end of the year. I just got an external hard drive for my new computer, so I will probably back up on this as well.

I asked our CIT about how we digitally store our data:

HPISD uses a Redundant SAN(storage area network) for storage and protection of digital data. It is mirrored to a second SAN for disaster recovery. Brief answer, but that's the explanation.

Our e-mail is also backed up for 7 years for every user in the district.

I think our district does a nice job of keeping our data organized and safe.

Video in the Classroom

I made a video with my kids and we loved it! It was quite a learning experience and I think next time we make a movie, it will be SO much better.

Classroom management was the biggest issue for me. I spoke with our CIT and she would like to help me next time. I would take a group out in the hallway to film, and some of my kids practicing would get off task. I think the more structured you make the project, the better. I also had my kids write their own script...which was great and SO creative, but I think next time I may get them started. It took them a while to grasp that this was supposed to be educational and not just "fun". Once, they got serious, they were fabulous. I gave them a rubric and we discussed the expectations of the project. They were to show everything they had learned during our geometry unit.

One thing I learned from shooting the video, was allowing for some margin around their heads. When I went to edit, one scene had their heads cut off!!! I spoke with our CIT and she said that you have to allow a little room for editing. When I filmed, their heads were totally in the picture, so this was a learning experience. I would have re-shot the clip, but I had already sent their costumes home when I realized it.

I will definitely do a video with my kids again. We are currently working on obj. 6 "Theatre Math" and they are performing skits about their math problems...so fun! Video is a great way to assess the material you have covered in class.

Here is a great video about video in the classroom:

Future Classroom

Every year I add more technology in our every day routines of learning. I become more and more reliant on technology and I'm always so amazed by what my students are learning. They can pick it up so quickly...it's unbelievable. Ideally, I wish each of my students had a computer in our room. We have a COW that rotates around my grade level, but it ends up being an ordeal to pass out the laptops, roll down the cart, etc. I do it, and it's highly beneficial, but I wish there was an easier way. Currently, I have 4 desktops for my students and I have set up two of the laptops permanently. I want every one of my students to have access to a computer at all times. I

I want my students to collaborate more with students in other classrooms. I think it is important for the future of our children to know how to have empathy and relate to other people. As we are becoming more and more global, we need to know how to communicate...globally. Here is a great podcast about having online community:

http://www.novemberlearning.com/podcasts/Resnick2010Part2Final.mp3

My goal is for my students to feel so competent with technology that they don't need me to tellPublish Post them what to do. I love it when my students can just log on and know their task. Obviously that takes time to teach, but I love that end result! There are so many amazing web 2.0 tools out there and I'm so excited to see what's to come. This is a really cool video showing the emergence of digital text and the future of web 2.0....I really liked it.

I think the classroom of the future will be filled with video, online research, interaction with the web, collaboration, and lots of creativity and engagement. This is a different generation we are teaching and they learn differently...the classroom needs to look different too.

Here's a fun video:

I also see IPads instead of text books!

I'm excited about my future classroom.

Cyber Safety

We truly are living in different times. I think back to my computer lab in elementary school and we had never even heard of the Internet, much less blogging, social networking, and youtube. I think parents can do 1 of 2 things. They can either shelter their children and not allow them to participate in these computer activities, or they can equip them with the tools they need to be cyber smart and ready to enter the world wide web.

The Internet is such an incredible tool and our society is becoming more and more dependent on it. As a teacher, I love nothing more than to see my students researching online, finding and working on engaging websites, blog at home to work on class assignments, etc. That being said, I feel confident that my students are educated on Internet safety. My students have watched web safety videos and we have a great filtering system at school. One problem we have faced in the classroom is with google images. Inappropriate pictures can pop up when a child is innocently looking for a school-related picture. My students have learned to cover the screen and report it to me. It is a reality and it's not going away, so I want my students to handle it appropriately.

I loved the cyber ethics for kids website and I plan on sharing it with my students and parents. I think the FBI also has a good site for kids http://www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/safety2.htm. I really liked this site, it is from cyber criminals most wanted. http://www.ccmostwanted.com/kids/interactive.htm There are some great interactive sites for students to explore on. This would be great to show your students.

This is a good youtube video on looking out for predators online.

This is a another good youtube video for teachers and students. It talks about giving too much information online and what you should do to do the right thing.

My Kids Are Finally Blogging!

I have been wanting to take this leap for months now, but I've been trying to overcome the hurddles of parents who are concerned about their children blogging. Our district now has access to a Mac OS server that allows students to have a blog. It's highly protected, so hopefully parents won't be concerned. They created their own blog pages today and we uploaded a video from their Biography Day. My kids loved the way they could personalize their pages. I think this is a great way for them to write reflections about concepts we are learning as well as reflections on how they are learning, what they like about school, etc. I have been using Moodle with my kids, which is great, but I like the way a blog is more personalized for them. I think they can pour their personalities into them. Angie Cheatham also told me about a great site for those teachers who don't have access to their own blog for studenst. www.kidblog.org It's free and very easy to use. Get your kids blogging if you haven't already done so!!!