PONderings

On Monday, I attended a BER seminar on the use of technology for K-2 presented by Judi Wolf. This seminar was broken into several categories, such as teacher tools, kid-friendly search engines, emerging literacy, and online stories. Here is the link to the entire list of web sites.

One link that is of particular interest to me is that of BrainPop, Jr. Apparently this service is free until Spring of 2007.

Wesley Fryer’s blog introduced me to the The Read Write Think web site. This site is filled with many online tools that can kickstart even hesitant teachers into using web-based tools.

As a fan of comic books (a.k.a. graphic novels), I am enjoying playing with the Comic Creator as an alternative to our well-used KidPix program. This online app can be used as part of our Viewing and Representing strand of the Language Arts curriculum. Here’s a link to my grad project on justifying comics in the school library.

Thank you to Chris W. for sending me the link to Terry Kelly’s music video A pittance of time. This moving song encourages to take just a few moments out of our busy lives to remember those who sacrificed everything for our country.

The song is available in English and in French.

I found the interchange of ideas on Dean’s post on Blog Rage most interesting. It occurred to me, as I engage in this blogging experience, that I’m not at all certain what my voice should be online, that I’m venturing into a forum where my online persona may be very different than my own. This, of course, is not news to the digital natives; however to an digital immigrant like myself, I find this somewhat disconcerting.

Anonymity would be most welcome and liberating in times like these, when I am tentatively playing with ideas. This path of anonymously posting absolves me of any responsibility. As a teacher modeling behaviours for my young learners, however, I believe that I must be held accountable for my actions. Indeed, I hold our Code of Ethics in very high regard. As educators, I believe that we must conduct ourselves online with higher standards than “regular” bloggers.

Idealistic?? You tell me.

Back to the construction of this blog…I liken my style of blogging to that of a newspaper. I try to provide my interpretations on “news”worthy items for those who would stumble across my blog, much like the headlines on a newspaper. I elicit feedback from the readership, such as letters to the editor or “Help Wanted”. I provide my editiorials on topics of interest.

Long ago, in a grad class I took, I compared web publishing to that of journalism. Way back then, in 1997, I believed that we should teach journalist ethical standards to our students; today, I still believe this to be true. Sites such as Be Cybersmart infuse these standards in child-friendly ways into their lessons.

My collaborating partner, Rick, his Grade 8 class, and I had a stimulating discussion on the purpose of the Think Tank.

As per my previous posts, we have a microscope station, eight Mac computers, television hooked up to cable, Math manipulatives, and chess boards. After discussion with our students, we lack support for all of the multiple intelligences, i.e. Body Smart, Nature Smart, Music Smart, People Smart.

As an assignment, we gave students a $2 000 budget and several catalogues for educational companies. Their assignment was to spend money on equipment to support the various intelligences for K-8.

Here’s what they came up with:

Pet Iguana
Board Games
Music Studio with Garageband and microphones
Plants
Dress up Clothes/Costumes
Art Easels
Model airplanes/rockets/cars/volcano
Chemistry set
Octopus and 15 gallon tank
Sponge paint kit
Couch and/or bean bag chairs
Weights

I was impressed by the engagement shown by the students throughout this thirty minute activity. I was left with some questions, however. Is our Think Tank too boy-friendly, excluding girl participation? How can we make the room more accessible to and engaging for younger students?

Thank you to Jean for submitting a name for our project room:
The Think Tank.

It’s our favourite so far!

We need your help!

The school is creating a space out of our former computer lab to support differentiated instruction and multiple intelligences. Its purpose is to provide an area in which single or multiple classes can set up for longer term projects. We hope to provide learning opportunities in the multiple intelligences; one such example is to support musical intelligence by creating a studio for Garageband and/or podcasting. Other ideas would be to provide easels for visual learners and math manipulatives for tactile/kinesthetic learners.

We have eight iMac/eMac computers for use in the Project Room. However, we have questions as to how they will be situated in the room. 

This is the view from the entryway. Should we put computers along the far edge of the room to keep them out of the way, or put the computers prominently in the middle of the room?

We have a carpeted area where we would like to put art easels. This angle shows how the room tapers to a smaller area around the windows. One bonus in this room is the air conditioning!

These two pictures show the entrance and the actual space where we would like to set up a studio for video/podcasting and Garageband. Any suggestions/hints for newbies to studio design?

The room will be equipped with a television linked to our cable hookup, math manipulatives, and chess boards.

No…we’re not experiencing structural problems. That’s just Rick, our intrepid vice-principal and co-conspirator.

We welcome any and all advice on our endeavour. Thanks!

As a closet science-fiction aficionado, I’ll respond to the metaphor contained in Rob’s response to my first post.

The metaphor of the mission of Jedi Knights, particularly of master Jedis such as my green-skinned wrinkled Yoda, refers to maintaining harmony through the universe. Not a bad ambition, is it? It is true that two characteristics related to Jedis are those of tradition and patience.

Although the word “tradition” seems to carry with it a negative connotation, I would argue that there is still a time and a place for long-standing traditions. The core value of respect in schools is predicated on values of all major religions, as well as belonging, responsibility, and the desire to learn.

Patience seems to be a value, however, that is no longer honoured. As educators, we seem to caught between providing students with a broad knowledge base and the notion of mastery. In our Core Curriculum, elementary teachers are responsible for creating differentiated instructional opportunities in order for students to reach their objectives. Perhaps the virtue of patience is no longer an option for time-strapped educators.

Perhaps my Padawan learner will recall what happened to the impulsive “high-speed” character in the Star Wars movies. Is change for change sake the best course of action? Perhaps if Anakin had collaborated with his mentor instead of blindly following ill-advised “quick fixes”, outcomes would have been more positive.

In the same vein as the Master Jedi, I speak to the need for pause and reflection. Use the blog, Luke…use the blog.

Arthur Slade, an award-winning Saskatchewan author, gave our teacher-librarians and Grades 3-7 teachers an engaging presentation on boys and reading.

Among his recommendations were books based on video games such as the Halo series, SIBYLs (Songs inspired by literature), podcasting, and YouTube. I found reflections contained in Art’s blog to be very enlightening.For a copy of his presentation, click here.

Kathy Schrock is an authority on educational uses of the web.

She has developed two new tools to evaluate blogs and podcasts. They can be found here along with many other great web evaluation tools.

The Canadian (and bilingual) Media Awareness Network has created student activities dealing with blogs, instant messaging, text messaging, file sharing, and chat rooms.