Media Asset Creation: Week 3 Think Out-Loud Publishing/Presentation Project

Exploring the posted possible organizations at which to present my Challenge Based Research Project, there are two covering my sphere of influence.  The first is the Kentucky Society for Technology in Education (KySTE), which appears to prefer presenters from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.   They do, however, open presentation applications to those outside their districts.   The theme of this conference is “Connect, Collaborate, and Change”.  Some of my research fits nicely inside this theme.   Their application asks for a 400-character synopsis of the presentation.  This made the 120-word abstract seem positively easy!    

The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) is the other organization whose application window falls in the needed timeframe.  This larger organization interestingly divides its conference subtopics into seven categories.   Although my challenge-based research would fall into a couple of categories, the learning gleaned from this project would best place my work in the “New Roles of the Instructor and Learner” category.  This application for participation is more extensive, and is due December 12, 2011.

The Effervescent Seven

My group, The Effervescent Seven, is exploring options about presenting as a group, at least for the upcoming Wimba presentation.  Most of our research, although originally intended for increased learning from our target audience (ranging from pre-school through adults), resulted in a re-examination of the relationship between the Instructor and the Learner.  Well-used technology has that effect on teachers/trainers.  

MediaAsset Creation: Week 2 Think Out-Loud Publishing/Presentation Project: Increased Motivation via Technology

Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock
Used with Permission!

As Karla noted in her blog post, the clock is ticking!  The deadline for submission to present at most conferences is approaching rapidly.  If an appropriate match between my research and an organization’s interest level and a deadline submission within Full Sail’s timeline can be found, I will submit a proposal to present my research at a conference.  If the above criteria cannot be met, I will write an abstract for submission to a journal. 

Depending on the chosen organization, I imagine a group presentation would be the most beneficial.  Our CBR group targeted a wide audience spectrum, from pre-school through adults.  Yet we all worked to increase motivation through the use of technology.  Many of the tools we used were similar, if not identical.  However the way we used them differed greatly.  This variety of perspectives would tend to be a springboard for listeners to imagine the ways technology could be used, most appropriately, in their own environment. Hopefully, it would prevent listeners from leaving the presentation decrying the technology because the environment presented differed from the listener’s environment.

Media Asset Creation: Week 2 comment on Karla Thompson's blog

Being a fan of Theodore Geisel (like any good elementary school teacher!), you chose a most appropriate beginning to your post! It would also make a good beginning to a post about the book we are reading, The Art of Possibility. Your comfort level in speaking to a large group makes you leaps ahead of me. I also imagine that your topic of motivation and social networking among the early childhood community would have tendrils that touch so many groups and people. Technology offers wonderful possibilities to remove the isolation teaching professionals feel. However, educators need to see how this could work and see examples of it working.


Karla Thompson's post:
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy (or gal – Karla’s note) who’ll decide where to go.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss

Well…the clock is ticking and I have to make the decision soon.  Do I want to write a journal submission or presentation proposal to share my CBR project results?  I’ve found some great early childhood conferences coming late Spring that seem to be the perfect fit.  I go back and forth, weighing the pros and cons, and then wondering if its really that deep.  Presentations are something I’m used to doing, while writing is something I enjoy doing.  The essence of both is communicating my message to a new audience.  That idea is equally exciting and unnerving.  I’ve always felt some sense of control of knowing my audience for work presentations. Grant it, audience members exist on a broad spectrum with varying levels of knowledge and skills, but I’ve always felt some sense of certainty of their background experience before the presentation.

All copyright free images in this post are from Microsoft Clip Art

Yet with this upcoming project, that spectrum suddenly expanded really wide, really fast.  And that’s got me nervous.  Not about my ability to share my project results; more so does anyone want to HEAR my project’s results?  Especially outside of the virtual walls of my EMDT program. How do I effectively craft the message of my CBR project and share it’s story in a way that is relevant and meaningful?  Will it or can it make a difference for anyone?   My dad always says that nothing beats a failure but a try…..so here goes…everything!

Media Asset Creation: Week 2 comment on Rosetta Cash's blog

Rosetta,
Your immersion and influence in your field is so impressive and commendable. You seem to be engaged with students, your local colleagues, regional colleagues and even with your fellow professionals on an international level. It seems difficult to be engaged on so many different levels, but important as it is the best way to keep updated in our chosen fields. Once again, you are an inspiration. Thanks.


Rosetta's Post:
MAC Week 2-BP4: Think-Out-Loud PPP

Giving some thought and consideration to this issue I am leaning strongly toward making a presentation at the International Conference of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations / ASCAC. ASCAC is an organization that has been in existence since 1985. The ASCAC Midwest Regional Conference is this weekend (November 4th-6^th) at Kent State University and the international conference will also be at Kent State in March 2012. I will be presenting in the Creative Productions plenary session this weekend on Creative Technologies & Education in the 21st Century. People attend ASCAC conferences from all walks of life from around the world. There are a lot of attendees who are artists and educators seeking to improve the quality of education for people of African descent and dispel the stereotypes that have been associated with Africa and African people.

For the conference in March 2012, I plan to use my Capstone project to create a presentation that relays how incorporating web 2.0 tools and technologies with culturally relevant material can improve the motivation and engagement of African American and other students. Increasing the motivation and engagement of students will serve to create students that are life-long learners. I can begin the conversation at the regional conference this November and get more in-depth at the international conference in March.  

iPad Project: Post #2 Two for "them" & one for "us"!

My last iPad project blog post ended with the donated iPads in their inexpensive rolling cart, various apps installed, and an iPad scavenger hunt form ready for students.  As Rick foreshadowed, the next obligatory steps were wrought with difficulty.  I needed a way to send the scavenger hunt to each iPad so they could complete and submit it directly from the tablet.  I set up a gmail account for each iPad, giving the email account for each the name of a noted children’s book author.  Clever, I thought!  The following day I was foiled by the school district’s firewall that prevented access to all email accounts save the one they issue to us.   

I pressed forward, undeterred, teaching my students to connect to the school-adopted curriculum websites, where they could access additional interactive practice.  A group of very excited, logged in and ready-to-go students were crestfallen when the website wouldn’t launch on the iPad because the site utilized Flash.  Again undaunted, I asked my tech-savvy friend for assistance.  He found a browser that would allow Flash to work on the iPad: Photon, a $3.99 iTunes application.  Gloating to my naysayer colleagues (who promised that Flash could not work on an iPad), I pulled up the browser and the site, clicking on the lightning bolt, and the site opened beautifully.  The problem was that the browser was so slow, the website logged my students out before they could complete a single interactive problem.   I may have lost that battle, but certainly not the war!

Storybird was my next Web 2.0 adventure.  Creating a class set of logins, I set half of my class to create stories on this wonderful website via iPads.  They logged in, titled their story, chose their artwork and almost began writing.  However, the obligatory use of Flash again prevented us from actually writing our stories.  Utilizing the three classroom computers that run the most updated version of Flash, they were able to rotate through and write their story, but not on the iPads.  Another battle lost.  

My fifth grade student helper, who is resilient, smart, determined and really loves technology, helped me set up iCloud on each iPad, using the same username and password on each.  I emailed the iPad scavenger hunt Google form and it showed up instantly on each iPad!  (A glitch in the school district firewall?  I’m not complaining!) We put various dates in the calendar, and, lo and behold, all the iPads calendar information immediately synced without difficulty.  I fell in love with Steve Jobs all over again!  This win felt epic!

Media Asset Creation: The Art of Possibility Chapters 1-4

Image used for education purposes

After reading a book, I often have my students write a letter to the author, to encourage the relationship of reader to writer.  I therefore took the liberty to put my blog entry, regarding the reading from The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, in the form of a letter to the authors.  

Dear Roz and Ben: 

Thanks for your heartfelt stories.  I especially loved the story of Ben’s experience at the home for the elderly and the story of the 5-year-old Katrine’s experience of Mahler.   You really are an excellent storyteller.   Roz, I loved the account of your therapy session with Marianne and the effect your perfect question had on that entire family.  It truly takes expertise to position the right question at the right time to make such a perfect and radical difference in someone’s life.  I imagine you are a phenomenal therapist.  I also think “you are really talented at working with and helping others”.  

I have to apologize to you for the seeming miserable schooling experiences you have had.  As a teacher, it is slightly painful to hear how my colleagues have injured their students.   I beg you to only recall that teachers are merely humans who don’t always do or even know the right thing to do at the right time.   I would also urge you to consider that grades (even Bs, Cs, Ds and Fs,) are really the educator’s means of beginning the conversation of “Is something amiss?”  The teachers who “gave” me A’s, I have, at best, indifferent feelings towards, as I really learned very little in those classes.   Granted, those teachers who “gave” me failing grades are thought of with less affection than indifference (if such a thing exists).  But those teachers who held me accountable to high standards and let me know (by a “bad grade”) when I wasn’t performing my best, are those I hold in high esteem and those to whom I owe much gratitude.

Certainly the best, most proficient educators are those who can establish a relationship with his/her students and guide them to that “beautiful statue within” and align those “standards” to which we must teach, with the evolving soul sitting in that desk.  This master teacher is, in fact, equal, patient and unalterable in her will as she deals with students according to their nature and with things and opportunities according to the force and the truth that is in them.  While not partial, she can raise some while smiting the indifference, negligence or sloth that exists within others.  This master teacher gives the wise further wisdom, imposes consequences on the hostile and leads the ignorant or foolish according to their obscurity.   She is able to handle the different elements of a student’s nature according to the need.  This master teacher does much to abolish ignorance, being a friend to those who are in need of a friend, and being an authority to those in need of direct guidance.   This master teacher does not care for invented schemes of any kind, but works tirelessly to lead her students towards the truth of the world, the truth of themselves and the truth of the relationships between the two.    

From the stories in your book, it sounds like novice teachers dominated much of your schooling.  All I can say is that many teachers start teaching when they are 21 years old and don’t yet possess these master teacher traits.  Grades are given to teachers as a way of beginning the conversation of, “Is there anything amiss?”  Certainly, some teachers are more proficient at conducting this conversation than others.   Mastering the art of teaching is a life’s work, and the difficulties inherent in the job prevent many from ever realizing mastery.   Additionally, “giving an A”  (a.k.a. tenure) to those who don’t pre-possess intrinsic motivation results in stagnation and negligence among teachers who would benefit from some extrinsic motivation from an authority figure. 

Again, my deepest apologies for the injuries inflicted by my teaching colleagues.  It is nevertheless interesting to note that both of you are well-educated, talented, and proficient in your chosen professions.  And you both have certainly put together an interesting and enjoyable book. 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Williams

iPad Project: Post #1 Setting up iPads in a classroom

Due to the generosity of a private donor, I have the opportunity to experiment with the educational and academic possibilities ipads afford a third grade public school classroom.  These were privately purchased and donated, and therefore not serviced by the school district.  School and district level permission was granted to use them in the class, but support is not possible.  That being said, the technology specialist that serves our school two days a week is very knowledgeable and offers assistance and advice as time allows.   An older, 5^th grade, student offers her support and help once a week after school.  Another technologically-apt friend, who is interested in seeing the advent of the better use of technology in schools, offers his time, assistance and expertise as circumstances allow.  I am grateful to all of these people for their assistance as we try to find the most appropriate means of educating the 21^st century digitally native student. 

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.”

                                                -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I embark on this experiment with the hope that we will all become better teachers of the next generation!  I intend to blog about both the successes and failures, as it will take both to find our way through these ever-changing waters of educating the digital generation.  I welcome all ideas, concerns, comments, and suggestions!

My concerns in obtaining, setting up and managing ten iPads in a public school classroom were fourfold.  I needed to store, secure, charge and sync them on a routine basis.   Scouring the web for recommendations and ideas, I found this wiki website to be beneficial.

The donor would like to gift a class set of iPads, but we agreed that we should begin with 10 iPad2s, with the possibility of getting another 10 of the iPad3’s when released, and some of the initial management issues get settled.

My steps:

1.  Unboxed.  Each ipad came engraved with my name and a number 1-10 on the back.  Although it is possible for that to be removed in the event of theft, it is beneficial in classroom management.   While I am still searching for a cabinet to secure and sync the iPads, I purchased an inexpensive rolling cart with 10 trays from Office Depot.  This will serve to store the iPads.   Until a means of securing, charging and syncing the iPads is found, the iPads are not left at school overnight. 

2. itunes Account.  I set up an itunes account on my computer.  I synced all 10 ipads to this account and will have identical apps on each one.  Having one laptop, this was a time-consuming task.   Until a better solution to syncing the ipads is resolved, this will be a weekly job for my 5^th grade student helper. 

3.  Select and Install Apps.  The core apps I wanted on the ipads for my students were iMovie, Garageband, Pages, Keynote, dropbox, Schoology and a typing program.   Other than that, I searched for applications that would enhance the third grade curriculum.  I download the free “lite” versions of applications that have potential for teaching academic subjects.  My 5^th grade student helper tries them out and makes recommendations based on her experience. 

4.  Introduce Students to iPad:  To introduce my students to iPads, I created an “ipad scavenger hunt”.  Students work in pairs to complete this google doc.