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!!!

Royalty Free Music

When I made my video, I used some music from my itunes account because it was so fitting for my two cute actresses. I did explore some free royalty free music and I think it's good to know that it's out there. I found this site helpful http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free-music-resources.html


Royalty Free Music.com offers a comprehensive music library of production music for your various royalty free music needs including full albums, tracks and free music clips, loops, and beats available for download.

Sounzabound was also a good site.
http://www.soundzabound.com/

I think royalty free music is very useful for the classroom. As I learn more and more about video production, I want my kids to know how to add music to enhance the video.

Videos

This was my favorite assignment so far. I used IMovie and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I did the video shots with my Flip camera and the clips were saved as media clips and they would not work in Movie Maker. I used the Flip software to make movie clips for each one and then was able to use them in IMovie. IMovie also has great tutorials that are easy to access while you are making your video. I'm so bad about trying to figure things out on my own, so I finally gave in and watched them....they were very helpful.

I highly recommend IMovie it is very user friendly and there are so many cool options. I had the old version of IMovie and I went ahead and upgraded to the IWork 09 for my next movie. I plan to use this software for vacations, classroom activities, etc. I loved it.

For the next video, I think I will try and borrow an actual video camera. My Flip was fine, but some of the shots at a distance were a little fuzzy. I also will use a tripod next time. My hand wasn't so steady. A couple of my shots (the tilt especially) were filmed too quickly. I will take multiple shots next time so that I have choices when I'm editing the video.

Another problem I had was compressing my video. The original video was over 95 MB and when I compressed it to upload to MediaFire, it was still 91 MB. I think next time I will need to compress the movie files before I edit the video. I'm still trying to figure out the whole "compressing" thing. If anyone has any tips, I would love them!

GeoTech 2010

I really enjoyed the GeoTech conference today...especially the afternoon session. It was neat to interact from teachers all over. There were even people from Wyoming and Rhode Island! I was very impressed with the technology presented and I was also impressed with Bishop Dunne. The quality of work displayed throughout the hallways was amazing. I went to 2 different sessions. The first was an intro to GIS and the second was about using technology to enhance reading and writing.

GIS
What is GIS? It stands for Geographical Information Systems – which are map layers with data attached. We can ask the map/data questions to better understand georgraphy…like transparencies.

Why bother? We need to understand patterns. GIS gives you an opportunity to teach analysi, solve problems and make decisions. In the professional environment this software is designed to make city decisions and landscaping decisions. You are looking for patterns & trends.

GIS tools: GPS (data collection device), Geocaching & Earthcaching – world community of people who are putting out there….you can try and find them,

GIS software tools:
• Online mapping – all you need is a web browser
• Virtual globes – free software

• Google Earth
• ArcGIS Explore (AGX)

Online mapping: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/
You can download GIS files/map-maker

Collections of 14 lessons for GIS - http://www.blogger.com/www.isat.jmu.edu/stem

Desktop GIS:
ARCEXPLORER Java – free tool…desktop GIS – you don’t need an internet conncetion.
My World GIS – desktop GIS

The presenters made a really good point. If you are going to start using GIS….START FREE! Try the free stuff first before you start purchasing things.

Run With Scissors in the Literacy Classroom

Building a culture of readers and writers requires that students become engaged in the writer’s work. This uses technology as their hook for engagement in reading & writing.

Must See Youtube Videos –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZTVX21jPtc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecFizWZgIiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2p5augniQA - These kids go to a low SES school in NY and Stevie Nicks saw this video and showed her manager. These kids got to perform with her in Madison Square Garden and then were invited to fly to a couple of other performances...what an opportunity for them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnQLnWhzmPE - OK now I want one! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk

2 Recommended Reads:
• Steven Johnson – Everything Bad is Good for You! You can analyze complex social networks! The skills aren’t tested by the current school system.

• Daniel Pink – A Whole New Mind Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World – today we live in a left brained society. Anything that involved with left brained thinking can be outsourced, if our kids are going to be prepared, we need to learn how to use both hemisphere’s effectively.

*If you need an e-mail address for your kids - Create a gmail account
melinda.mccoy+whateveryouwantitisignored@gmail.com

Technology tools that will help engage your students and make you cooler:

www.wordpress.com – helps you create your own blog-export-and carry with you on a flashdrive. Your students can have a portfolio of their whole k12 experience and then they are given a flashdrive of their own portfolio.

***Google Wave – Email 2.0 – it is in BETA it’s being developed now. You must have an invitation to use it. The first program to use HTML 5 – a new language for the web. This is a combination of blog/email/search/INSTANT instant feedback

Create your own WIKI - www.wikispaces.com

Create words/poems/language - www.smilebox.com

I am looking forward to checking out some of these tools. I received an invitation for gmail wave, so I can't wait to learn more.