Feed aggregator
A Post-Google Reader World
…the plan is to add more services you can choose from in the next weeks and months…*
Sue Waters and Richard Byrne recently posted about alternatives to the much-loved Google Reader for RSS feeds. I am slowly exploring options but do, realistically, have limited time to evaluate all that is on offer. I have been sitting back, not paying that much attention, waiting for answers to emerge. Finding the best solution is very important for my daily routines and time is running out.
Workflow and RSSReeder has been my preferred option for reading RSS feeds on my Macbook, iPad and iPhone for some years now. I would like to continue using this tool, if the developers manage to get it right in a post-Google Reader world. Reeder is just a beautiful app. I have a system that allows my to use my iPhone, whenever I have a few minutes somewhere waiting or am in transit on a train, that really allows me to read a great deal of the latest and greatest information online. I am able to post at app.net, email, tweet or send to Facebook with great ease.
Reeder’s plans are not completely evident yet other than the service will continue. I do really want to continue with Reeder but will change to one of the other services if they do not sort it out quickly. They have announced Feedbin support for iPhone but I baulk at paying the small monthly subscription fee for a previously free service and am unlikely to pursue this option.
NB Reeder for Mac and Reeder for iPad is ‘free’ until the update (I guess) and is worth downloading now, even though the future of the app is unclear. Follow @reederapp on Twitter for updates.
Reeder has plans for a post-Google Reader world
Alternative RSS ReadersIt seems that many will move to the popular (and long-running) Feedly service and this, if I am unable to continue with Reeder, seems the most likely option for me too for the simple reason that I can use easily across my devices, as I currently do. There is a nice extension for Chrome and an Australian developer is working on a Macbook solution.
I have started exploring The Old Reader (imported 694 feeds) but notice a few issues, especially that ‘showing unread’ does not seem to work properly, as more often than not all posts are revealed. This is very annoying and, when compared to the efficient beauty of Reeder, just not acceptable. I already use Pulse on my iPad only with specific feeds about Apple, photography, technology mags and science. I much prefer it to Flipboard but do enjoy flicking through its magazine like layout. I would not use either for my main reader.
Here’s a post with quite a few other Google Reader alternatives.
*A quote from Reeder opens this post. I truly hope the plan comes together quite quickly.
What are your plans for managing RSS feeds?
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by HiMY SYeD / photopia
Featured image: cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo by jsiarto: http://flickr.com/photos/jsiarto/2979796747/
GeoGuessr - Let's explore the world!
Comments:
- A very cool geography game that uses Google Maps Street view. Turns players into sleuths who have to use all of their knowledge and skills to figure out where they are. - Steve Ransom
Tags: geography, maps, google, location, game, interactive
by: Steve Ransom
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 05/17/2013
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How To Handle A Student Who Habitually Calls Out — Smart Classroom Management
This is a tough one and I've had two or three this year who will call out - in a disruptive way. Sometimes it is when I'm speaking. I have one great class that causes me to struggle because of several who have a bit of a problem with knowing the appropriate time to engage (not in the middle of a question or when someone else is talking.) I encourage kids to have a pencil and paper or a tablet in hand to jot down notes of what they want to say - sometimes they are afraid they'll forget. Other times, when it is class discussion, I use poker chips. Each student gets two. When they want to interject, they spend their chip. Every student must participate twice before anyone can have a third input. It is a daily grade and so easy to assess b/c everyone must give up their chips. This article takes it much further and is a good one if you're struggling with this. "Namely, how do you deal with a student who, despite receiving consequence after consequence, continues to call out in class? Before we get to the solution, it’s important to note that there are times during a normal school day when you may want to allow your students to respond to you or their fellow classmates without raising their hand"
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8 Educational Apps To Create Digital Portfolios
All of my students are required to create an efolio. Every year they update it, eventually producing a personal website to use for themselves for the future. Here are 8 apps that help you do this.
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Fighting Childhood Obesity One School Cafeteria at a Time - ABC News
Can you design a school to promote healthy eating? There are things every cafeteria can do (read to the end.) This is a big problem and something we need to address. Every school should have a fruit basket near the checkout. It is a no brainer, but do we? "Just walk into the cafeteria and you can see this is no ordinary elementary school. "One of the most striking differences is the openness of the eating space," said pediatrician Dr. Matthew Trowbridge, who also consulted on the project. Students can look into the area where the food is prepared, and they can look outside to a planned school garden, where vegetables will soon be planted."
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Xerox stepping into grading school papers
Grading handwritten answers by students as a feature of a copier? Producing data analytics as a result. IF this works, it will not only sell more copiers, but also make handwritten work more of a commodity. Maybe if a computer can quickly grade the easy stuff, teachers can spend more time assessing project based learning and other work that computers cannot do. This won't help me much - except when I teach binary numbers and memory conversion which do require me to check work (I never do multiple choice.) I could see how math teachers would be thrilled. "Xerox later this year plans to roll out Ignite, a software and web-based service that turns the numerous copiers/scanners/printers it has in schools across the United States into paper-grading machines. Unlike such staples of the educational system as Scantron, which uses special forms where students choose an answer and fill in the corresponding bubble, Ignite will grade work where the answers are written in by the students, such as the numeric answer to a math problem. Ignite takes right and wrong answers and turns them into web-accessible data for teachers with reports that say whether a student or groups of students are consistently having more trouble with certain kinds of math problems. Those reports can be used by teachers to tailor what they're teaching — such as by identifying what group of students needs more help with a certain topic — or given to students so they know where they should focus their studying. It also opens the door to specific tests or homework assignments for specific students becoming more the norm, each tailored to academic strengths and weaknesses."
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This is a discussion to have with all IT integrators. Many adopt the attitude of leaving the hibernating bear alone. After all, eventually, the resistant teacher will come out of the den ready to enjoy the springtime of learning? No. Not necessarily. But technological change is as much emotional and psychological as it is instruction. If you don't first have the teacher in the mood to learn, you'll be struggling. So, be careful of labeling the teacher as resistant in the first place and be willing to teach and encourage the teacher wherever he/she is. This is a nice article from Elena Aguilar. Check out part 2 after reading this one.
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Google adding quick action buttons, real-time flight status to Gmail
You'll notice new quick action buttons in Gmail as announced by Google on Wednesday. They want to make things more intuitive. Expect these changes to happen on a gradual basis but they are coming. Including the ability to RSVP more easily - a feature which I like as some stragglers still refuse to properly use Google Calendar or any online calendar at all. "When the situation calls for it, new quick action buttons will pop up in an email, letting you accomplish simple tasks without reaching for the keyboard. For event RSVPs, you can even mark your attendance from the main inbox view -- a preview with all the key details will pop up, letting you respond with a simple Yes, Maybe or No. "
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Instagram Child Safety - SociallyActive
Instagram is something kids are using. Here are some tips for helping your child be safe on instagram. I totally agree about talking to your child about the photo map. If you haven't already, talk to them today about NOT using the feature which puts their photos on a map of where they were when they took it. Like that paint in your new bedroom? Photo map it? Boom. The lat and long of your daughter's bedroom. Just a bad idea. I do think instagram and other location based websites are going to get into hot water. Lat and long disclosing by kids should be approved by parents.
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Free Technology for Teachers: Video - How to Insert Images Into Google Forms
You can tweak your Google forms and insert images. Richard Byrne created a tutorial.
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You can make videos. You don't have to spend money or get too fancy. Digital storytelling is for every teacher. Take a look.
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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How Can I Be a Better Teacher Next Fall? | Edutopia
Nice article to spread around to teachers as they hit post planning. From edutopia, it asks us to do what all of us teachers should constantly do: examine ourselves. Change is a way of life. I've got quite a few I'm pondering for myself as well.
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The 5 Biggest Education Technology Trends To Know About | Edudemic
While they left out wearable technology and learning analytics is combined into the LMS category, this is a quick list that you can forward to your board of directors or others who want to look at a few things about changing technology.
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30 iPad Apps Every Teacher Should Be Using ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
Interesting list of apps. What apps are you using?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.Government accused of sneaking in web filter
Why Web Apps?
I have a bias in favor of applications that run locally and take full advantage of the hardware and OS of the base platform. These days it seems like everything is moving to the web in some form or other. Scratch 2.0 runs completely in the web browser for example. Twitter is shutting down the TweetDeck AIR app that I love so much in favor of some sort of web based version. I’ve been using some web based email (unhappily) for a while now. It seems as though everything is moving there.
I can understand some of the logic. The web (or more specifically web browsers) are a common baseline that can be programmed against. Write it once and it runs on any system with a compatible web browser. A developer gets the benefit of ubiquity without having to write and maintain multiple versions. It’s cheaper.
Web apps also have the benefit that the developer can make fixes once in one place and all of the users have the benefit of changes, improvements, and additional features transparently. No update routines. No version mismatches. It just seems like a dream.
The elephant in the middle of the room is of course that you have to have Internet connectivity to use these tools. Sometimes that has to be very fast Internet as well. While Internet access is becoming more wide spread it is not yet ubiquitous. Where it is available it is often not cheap. Or fast. Internet on airplanes, where it exists, is expensive and slow. On trains (Amtrak for example) it can also be spotty. Cars? I haven’t tried it while moving as I am usually driving but given how often I find poor cell coverage for calls I don’t know that I want to bet on it there either.
School Internet connections can get pretty slow as well. We’ve had some issues lately with slow wi-fi and Internet in my school.
Even if you assume wi-fi that is fast and affordable applications can not always easily take advantage of device functionality. For example with the TouchDevelop app I can handle a “shake” event. Not so on my iPad (thought that is “coming”). It takes more work to make all the hardware available to a web app. For security reasons giving a web app too much access to hardware and local storage is not always a good idea either.
It still seems like a locally run application that is targeted to the hardware (or at least a specific operating system) is going to give users the opportunity for better performance, more functionality and less dependence on external factors like Internet connections. Maybe I’m a Luddite or maybe just a cranky middle aged man but I really want real applications over web apps.
MP's Facebook photo gaffe an education
Cloned embryos ethical concerns
Alecia Simmonds | Why Australia hates thinkers
Comments:
- "There's no doubt that Australia is a vast, sunny, intellectual gulag. The question is why. It's certainly not for want of thinkers. We're home to some brilliant minds" - Roland Gesthuizen
Highlights and Sticky Notes:
Perhaps there's a link between the myth of Australian egalitarianism and anti-intellectualism.
Academics are often timorous folk who specialise in showing the complexity of issues, not offering tweet-sized solutions. Social media doesn't democratise debate. It limits it to the resilient. Snark triumphs over insight, and commentary is reserved for those with voluminous folds of scar-tissue. Sensitive thinkers rarely fit this bill.
Tags: research, DailyLife, blog, Australia, QnA, philosophy, Gonski
How about now?
“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Tela Chhe
During a session I was facilitating, one of the questions a participant asked was,
How do we prepare students for a future that we are all uncertain of?
My first thought was, are we even preparing them for right now?
You look around at our world and you see everyone have a mobile device (there will be more mobile devices than people by the end of the year), yet many schools are still struggling with putting devices in the hands of students, or worse, won’t allow kids bring in their own devices. Our students should have real time access to information, know how to evaluate it, use it, create because of it, and be able to share to an audience. Do our schools today look anything like our world now?
If we worked with students to give them the ability to critically think, adapt, change, and connect and share their knowledge, wouldn’t they be prepared for whatever the future brought their way?
I love the notion of preparing students for the future, but I think that preparing them for their world right now is probably a good place to start.
A Glimpse into “A Day in the Life of a Connected Educator”
It started as a normal, fairly mundane school day………
Well connected teachers will find there are many ways to learn, share and teach, teachable moments arise constantly and interruptions to normal routines may become the norm. Yesterday was one such day, when normal classes were planned and a relaxing night at home anticipated, but….
World Museum Scratch Day Saturday, May 18th
Year 8 students are participating in the Squares, Circles and Triangles project for the World Museum Project to celebrate World Scratch day. Students take photos of shapes in the real world and add them as a sprite to Scratch, highlighting the shape first and then sharing the whole picture. See an online animated sample.
Circles-Storage tanks for firewood
However, this project is quite challenging and as I am not confident with the programming elements, we had to impulsively skype my wonderful online colleague – Lorraine Leo from Boston, USA to help us in our dilemmas. My laptop webcam shared the screens of students with Lorraine so that she could see what the student was doing, speak to them and help them solve their problems. The lesson time was not long enough. So a sample student project was emailed to Lorraine for further investigation in consultation with Yoshiro Miyata, the creator from Japan.
Mystery Pictures in Excel
Brendah from Sth Africa shared her lesson on learning cell references in MS Excel with grade her 2s with the HLW Skypers Group in the chat area of skype. Joe McNulty of Pennsylvania USA, joined our conversation. Within 6 hours he had shared a google document containing more mystery picture challenges that his year 7/8 students had created for Brendah’s young students. It was on impulse that I decided to use these tasks with my year 3/4 ICT class after lunch. Students were highly engaged colouring in reference cells to reveal the mystery pic. They discovered a house, faces, a flag, a rainbow etc if they followed instructions carefully.
A rainbow in progress
Images of Brendah’s and my students working on the tasks were emailed to Joe who then shared them with his students, resulting in them being even more motivated in creating further tasks. Joe has now put some of these up on his google site.
Home at last!
Enjoying the last remnants of my evening meal, I noticed a message in my HLW Skypers Group popup seeking people to ‘jump’ in and join a hangout with Reinhard Marx and a class from Germany. The students were about to share their learning about “German Islands and the drinking water situation”.
The group skype request from Reinhard
I joined the hangout on my laptop as our desktop computer has been playing up and fully expected to be ejected from it due to my poor bandwidth. Surprisingly I was able to stay in but not able to use my video, nor see the screen sharing from Germany, but….. I could hear and speak to them. In the hangout were Endang from Western Java, Indonesia and Linlin from Taiwan. With me being from Australia, the foreign participants all came from islands – some small, some large and learnt about islands in Germany.
Students from Germany had prepared Powerpoint slides. Reinhard shared his screen with us via the Ghangout. Groups came forward and spoke to the slides and their pictures in clear English. Linlin and I then spoke about the importance of water, issues where we live and how we conserve it.
A small group shares with us
Next, a skype message came from Endang to see whether I could help her Indonesian students speak English to a native speaker. Two students introduced themselves to me, answered my many questions and then asked me questions. The chat in skype helped ensure that we understood each other reasonably well!
An ordinary day turned into a very exciting one in an amazing global classroom! How was your day?
Telstra customer data revealed online
New Google boss started at fruit shop
The end of search as we know it
Malaria parasites thrive by talking
Caffeine key to cloning 'Holy Grail'
8 Reasons we all think we're poor and broke and what to do about it
taking the martyr's approach
that we're not making
money when US teachers
are in the top 5%
wealthiest people in the WORLD?
It is time to start living
like it and stop "feeling"
broke. Do you want to
hear more in this series?
Let me know in the comments.
Teacher
(Photo credits: www.myparkingsign.com) You can be wealthy but to do that you must be exceptional. Exceptional people spend less than they make. Exceptional people don't take the (usually dumb) advice of marketers but make their own decisions. Exceptional people aren't sold to, they buy what they want.
But I'm not rich?
Oh really. Let's look at some stats from the global rich list:
- If you are at the US poverty line for a 3 person household of $19,350 you are in the top 11.26% richest people in the world
- The average janitor (median income) of 24,936 puts him or her in the top 10.09% of the world
- If you make the average annual salary of a US private school teacher of $36,300 - the top 4.24% in the world
- If you make the average annual salary of a US public school teacher of $49,600 - the top .98% richest in the world
- Principals, if you make the average salary of 67,000 then you're in the top .87%
I'm considering creating multiple part series on the topic of balancing our budgets and living like the wealthy educators we are. From the lunchroom to the teacher's lounge, we are some of the richest people in the world here in the US and we're missing out on the joy that can be ours if we just get our act together.
This is something that has caused me many tears personally and my husband and I have paid off mountains of debt even moreso after I became a teacher and took a massive paycut. If you're interested in me continuing to share what has helped Kip and me, let me know in the comments and I'll spread it out amidst the technology and teaching I talk about here. (I've been writing this one post since January so it may take a while.)
First of all, let's talk about why we think we're poor:
#1 - We are deceived by appearances. Looking rich doesn't mean being rich. In 2006, Warren Buffett, one of the three richest men in the world bought his most expensive car, a $55,000 Cadillac. The average millionare buys a car for $31,367. (Stop Acting Rich: ...And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire p 207)
In 2009 most million-dollar homes were not owned by millionaires. In fact 90% of those who were defined to be a millionaire lived in homes worth less than a million dollars.(Stop Acting Rich: ...And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire p 9, 24)
The odds are, if you look like you're rich, you're not.
#2 - We're discontent If you get on Facebook, it is likely you'll have a friend going somewhere and honestly... you want to go too. You deserve that vacation, you think. You want that new car. You need a dozen roses from your husband. You want that new plasma tv. Why can't you go shopping this weekend? Why? Why? Why? Pity pity pity.
Marketing in the US has thrived on the ability to stimulate us into being dissatisfied. Dissatisfied enough that we'll do something. (See: Lifehacker: The More Facebook Friends You Have the More Unhappy You Are)
On Facebook, you're aggregating all the high points in your hundred something friends lives and comparing it to the high points in yours. Let's see, out of 100 friends at least 4-5 are having it great right now. So, you're going to take those few and compare it to your life? That is unrealistic and unhealthy.
When you're having a pity party - GET OFF FACEBOOK. It stinks as a counselor and sucks wind as a comforter. Go talk to a friend or write in your journal. It is ok to see a therapist too. Talking about it is what healthy people do. Social media makes a sad counselor and a sick client.
#3 We refuse to wait If you've heard of the marshmellow test, kids who are able to master their desire to eat one marshmellow NOW in the hopes of getting a second marshmellow when the researcher returns, test well on future success. This is because they understand delayed gratification.
The biggest financial mistakes I made as a twenty-something were because I wanted it NOW. Delayed gratification is one of the keys to any long term financial change.
#4 We use plastic instead of cash One thing I learned in Financial Peace University (a great program from Dave Ramsey) is that the feeling of cash in your hands causes you to spend less. One of the fastest ways I've found to slash my grocery budget is to withdraw the cash for my grocery budget when I get paid. I keep it in an envelope and pay out of that. It is amazing how far money goes.
Plastic is NOT the same as cash. While we don't necessarily want to have a lot of cash on us all the time, it makes a difference if we want to cut our budget.
#5 We refuse to make hard decisions You can't do everything. Are you really watching all those television subscriptions? Are you keeping cable for one show?
Remember, I said HARD decisions not BIG decisions. For some reason, giving up entertainment seems to be a hard decision around my house. For example, I wanted to see the Jack Reacher movie, I enjoy the Jack Reacher book series. We didn't have time to see it in the theater, but then it came out on DVD and then for pay on Amazon to buy. I waited until last week to use some of my iTunes birthday money to rent it on iTunes. While, I could have waited another YEAR and it be free on Netflix (maybe), I do want to see it. Was it really worth the extra $15 to see it 2 weeks early? For me, the answer was no. Did I think about watching that movie quite a bit - sure I did, I was ready to see it. But, as we prepare to pay for my son's college in June, little pennies count.
Another example, I love books. I read at least an hour a day but sometimes more. If book reading were a hotdog contest, I'd be the dude with his mouth full, his hands raised in winning who asks for another when he's done.
But, I took my credit card out of Amazon and started buying Amazon gift certificates. I put it in and when I'm done with my Amazon budget for the month, I hit Kindle Nation Daily and the free kindle book list to find my reading. Or, I pull out a book that someone has sent me to review.
#6 We have no money in the bank This happens when we're automatically debiting everything without stopping to think if we should pay that. I've learned the benefits of saving 10%, giving 10% and living on 80%. If there's no emergency fund or cushion, then you're living close to the edge.
I admit, I've socked my savings down to zero way too often. If this is you, take steps NOW. Enroll in Financial Peace University or buy Mary Hunt's 7 Money Rules for Life®: How to Take Control of Your Financial Future or one of my new favorites by Andrew Hallum, Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School. Step back from the edge. No money in the bank is a problem.
#7 We sabotage ourselves by quitting just before the finish line and we have to start over. There's a scene in Chariots of Fire, where one guy is about to finish. He turns his head to look at the other guy and he misses out. But we're not even doing that. We're saving and getting close to paying off those credit cards. We're freezing our credit cards, quite literally, in ice and going cash only so we don't spend any more. But then, just before we're done, we say "Hey, I've paid all of this off, it is time to go on a trip." WE're stopping right before we finish and going back and starting over. What is wrong with this? Running the race takes SOOOO much energy and we're going to do it again.
I've done this too. Keep your eye on the finish line. Finish paying off the debts and then more forward.
#8 We refuse to talk about it with our household. This is a tough one. It is no secret how many marraiges struggle because of money problems.
Money is a gift because it is limited. Because it is limited, it forces us to talk about what is IMPORTANT. If we'll talk. The problem is that many argue, and others go into passive/aggressive mode.
This is why Financial Peace University helped us so much. You get in a room of people. Dave Ramsey, former bankrupt businessman, talks about how he got out. I don't really want to hear from people who've always been rich how to get rich - some of them were born on third base and take credit for hitting a home run. I want to hear from people who started off without a ticket to the stadium who got in and hit a home run.
My husband and I make progress when we're communicating. No communication, no money. That is often how it goes.
Money is important. Why do we need to talk about this?
Because, we, as educators have more power than we think.
When we're debted up, torn up, cashless, and clueless - there are people we cannot help. The world needs us to get our act together financially. We need us to get our act together financially.
It is amazing how most millionaires I know, few people know it. They live in houses that aren't so fancy. They drive average cars. They are often quieter people. There are people who look and act rich. I don't know about their bank account, but the research I quoted at the beginning has now shown me that perhaps appearances can be deceiving.
I'm committed to saving and budgeting so that I can help people. I do think money is important - while it is not something I worship - it is important. I want to do my best to manage it well.
Certainly, I've made a heap of mistakes, but thankfully past mistakes do not indicate future performance if you're the kind of person who learns from it and fails forward.
Hope this helps you gain perspective and learn from my own mistakes. If you want me to write more on this topic some time in the future, leave me a comment below and I'll work on it. Again, teaching and technology are the main thing, but if this helps enough of you who read this blog, I'm happy to write about it again.
5 Powerful Social Media Tools For Your Classroom | Edudemic
Comments:
- Social media tools can help break the barriers set by the walls of schools. Learning and communicating outside the school hours with technology aid is a modern adaptation of education that has showed great results.
This post looks at some web tools that provide school-specific tools that are just as powerful in facilitating the communication inside the student-teacher-parent triangle as the more famous popular social networking sites.. - Rhondda Powling
Tags: social media, wikispaces, classroom activities, educational technology, tools
by: Rhondda Powling
Alleged Lulzsec leader fronts Sydney court
GeoGuessr
This is a fun geography game where you are transported to a random part of the world through Google Street Map and you must explore and guess where you are. It's a wonderful way to expand children's knowledge of the world.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/PSHE%2C+RE%2C+Citizenship%2C+Geography+%26+Environmental
See it on Scoop.it, via ICTmagic
A Day in the Life of a passion-driven, project based (Cool Cat) Teacher
I wrote this in late April/ Early May to share with you.
The first draft was in April.
It takes a while to polish up and add links sometimes.
Just a glimpse into some things in my life if your'e interested.
We're nearing the end of the school year at this point
as we finish up major projects and final work for the year.
Before School.
4:45 am-ish
My fit bit wrist alarm wakes me up when I'm in my lightest sleep. It is so nice not to wake my husband.
4:50 On the treadmill for 2,000 steps. Throw fresh coffee in the pot.
5:05 Reading my Bible/ Praying/ Journaling
5:20 Writing (Blogging or my second book.)
6:45 Get dressed
6:55 Breakfast with Kip
7:05 Head out the door. I like to get to school early to get my routine down.
7:20 At school. Do my 30/30 routine. (See 3 little tricks to smooth out your day.)
Homeroom Kids are finishing up blogs and checking the Flat Classroom Ning to see if partners have replied. I send them to their homeroom so I can handle mine. Everyone wishes they had homeroom in the computer lab. I'm ready to have the infrastructure ready for BYOT. (Bring Your Own Technology)
1st period. 10th Introduction to Computer Science. (@netgened work) We are outsourcing clips for the NetGenEd project. Students request clips, and other students in other parts of the world fulfill the clips. Lots of acting, interesting things happening, and a general commotion. These students know what they are doing. They know how to film and rip off my camera, their iphones, their ipads, and just about anything with a lens. They convert the files and upload on the Ning and post on the wiki their links.
Current events make powerful teaching moments, plus
students need to talk about things sometimes. 2nd Period. 9th Computer Fundamentals. We talked about the Boston Marathon because these students needed to and watched a video of Dick and Rick Hoyt and talked about how sometimes things are more than a race.
We also tied it in with understanding how to meet the needs of others through the power of social media. The students shared what they'd learned on their social media stats and shared the stats with each other.
We learned that an odd picture of a blowfish had gained quite a few followers on Instagram and that when you followed and unfollowed others quickly that you ticked them off and it wasn't something to do.
I checked the Trello board for the next lesson the students had proposed and voted up and taught a mini lesson on Tumblr to those who had signed up on the board. Looks like I'm teaching Twitter tomorrow.
(They vote up what they want me to teach while they are amidst their genius projects. I teach what has the most sign ups and handle individual requests individually. It is interesting, although some don't sign up, they often come across the room and start listening in and joining in.) (See 2012 genius work and current 2013 personal websites work being posted now)
Break. I have permission to walk for my break b/c of the 6 classes I'm teaching right now. I try to walk another 2,000 steps but only hit 1782.
3rd period. 9th Computer Fundamentals. N is getting ready to test virtual worlds. We downloaded Second Life and talked about newbie island. Other students started watching and looking and were excited.
C asked people to post questions for her on her Tumblr that would spark conversation and others did as we laughed. We discussed why some things get shared and others do not. C is enjoying her tumblr and getting a very positive response.
4th period. Senior filmmaking. I took pictures of the seniors all over campus for their senior movie. They proposed to take a picture with their little brothers/ sisters for that section and the group photo was beautiful and one I'll start doing every year. I never would have thought of that!
5th period. 8th grade keyboarding. MLA Papers. Portfolios We finished up taking MLA notes in Microsoft One Note about how to write an MLA paper and putting the notes in our binder as they started working on their MLA papers.
I'm a huge fan of notes because it powers the "external brain." If it is something they'll use in the future that is somewhat technically challenging or requires steps, they must write it down in the notetaking tool of their choice. These aren't things they will memorize but things they'll need to access in the future. Notes are taking in a way they will understand and remember.
Helping students determine and use a notetaking tool of their choice is a big part of what I help them do in the younger years. Pushing them to recall and look up from prior notes happens in the later years. My brain shouldn't be their primary source of knowledge. If they'll take what I teach into notes and tag for easy recall, they are empowered to be self sufficient. Students are missing out if they don't know how to create a notes archive to use for their lives.
Those who finished were making timelines on Dipity. They liked dipity ok but had trouble printing, so someone found TimeToast and they ended up over there. They thought it was a better solution to the problem. A personal timeline is on the portfolio checklist and they know that they can move ahead. If they move ahead and figure it out, they get to help me teach it! ;-)
6th period. Introduction to Computer Science. (Genius Hour work today) A student was so excited as she bought a headband from another. E.R. just got in the jewelry from Destiny Rescue. Last year E. co-created Hope for Slaves, a project to bring awareness to a blight on our human existence: human trafficking.
On May 1st, (May Day, ironically) our students buy and wear the jewelry of those rescued from human slavery in an effort to put their money into the hands of those making a difference in this. Her friend M was buying a headband because Elizabeth is carrying it in her purse and selling jewelry to end human trafficking. She told me about a group of girls rescued by Destiny Rescue just a few weeks a go. Ending human trafficking is her passion and she's doing something about it. (See Hope for Slaves)
I also had to finishing helping set up a meeting with M and J to head to the irrigation research park. They are creating an animation for an irrigation system that minimizes water loss for the Nature Conservancy's website. They are heading out there during homeroom tomorrow and missing my first period class (with notes from their parents, of course.) They need to take photos in real life so they can complete their animation.
When students find a passion, we all find treasure.
Life means more when students are curious and
passionate. I have a curriculum but as a
teacherpreneur, I can always incorporate things they
are passionate about. The genius hour is the perfect
way to do that.
7th Period. Study Hall.
I'm supposed to have this as a planning period, but my room is full. It is OK, I'm used to it. It means longer hours. April and May are tough. I've often told my husband if every school day were like May, I couldn't physically be a teacher. We're on the sprint to the end, and I want to finish well. (See Finding Your Beautiful Moment the last week of school.)
After school. K had voted up Pinterest on the Trello board and wanted it to be taught, however, not enough had voted it up so it wasn't scheduled yet. She was in my classroom after she'd had her run and said she really wanted to know how. I sat down and said, Hey, I'll pinterest with you.
K chose Pinterest because her passion based project is to teach pop art to fifth graders and she's found that the best place to find art projects for elementary students is on Pinterest. We sat down and got her going and pinning.
By the time we were almost done, her friend H was on Pinterest and Z was sitting there looking over my shoulder intrigued with what was happening. We ended up laughing at images on some pinterest boards and printed some of the photos.
The girls decided that we're all working too hard and are too serious and asked if they could be the "positive encouragement people" (PEP) and if they could put some funny (but appropriate) pics on my wall. Sure! Now, I have some hilarious things there and we're all laughing. I'm sure the kids the next day will enjoy these pics too. WE're all working so hard lately.
After work. I zip home when my youngest gets of tutoring at the learning lab. He is tutored until 4. I dash out the door at 4:15 to make it home by 4:30 to record another episode of Every Classroom Matters and throw dinner on the stove.
I hate to admit this, but this time of year is so tough. Sometimes I fall asleep as early as 5pm. Other times, I'm up late because there's too much to do. My oldest graduates from high school this year so graduation is taking a bit of time.
I find teaching fulfilling and important and glad I'm empowered to be a teacherpreneur. I tell my students that I'm not here just to teach them but here to completely blow their minds. But often teaching isn't that fancy stand in front of a room, Robin Williams kind of stuff. It is small daily interactions. We huddle up the first 5 minutes of class every day at this time of year as I make announcements and help them focus on deliverables. After that, it is run around the room, work, and encourage.
I hope you'll share your story of your passion driven classroom. If you want to know more about genius hour / 20% time - this is a great podcast to listen to. (See Engage Students and Supercharge Learning with Genius Hour)
My life is nuts but I wouldn't have it any other way. These students are not my children by birth, but they are my children by heart.
Photo credit: Big Stock
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