Embed Code for Webinar...Apparently a Work in Progress All Its Own

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The following is the "embed" code provided to me (after more than an hour of TeamViewer work) by the WizIQ folks. They are going to call me tomorrow with something easier? This has been an education all its own. I have many pages of reflection notes. All I want to do right now is cry, which isn't really reflection at all, so I'll do that tomorow...

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                     <span id="lblTitle">Spice Up Writing with Video and Other Visuals</span></span>&nbsp;<span

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                  This is recurring class. Please check the schedule below.</p>

               

               

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                        <strong><a href="http://www.wiziq.com/laura-trimarco1917429" id="hlnkProfile" class="ulink">

                           <span id="lblTeacher">Laura Trimarco Trimarco</span>

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                           System & Device Check</a></p>

                     

                     

                     

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Webinars...

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I attended two Simple K12 webinars this afternoon: "15 iPad Tips for Teachers" and "Differentiating to Meet the Needs of All Students." Differentiation has been around a long time...maybe it was new to this presenter's audience (he is the leader of a private school), but there wasn't much new here. It would be a great refresher...possibly some good staff development for new teachers...a targeted audience.

"15 iPad Tips for Teachers" was very basic, but extremely useful. It packed a lot of solid information into 30 quick minutes...all of it immediately useful to teachers who have just received their first installment of iPads. At $400 a pop, my guess is these will very quickly supplant laptop carts and echelons of oft-unused desktops, so this webinar was a good introduction.

The one weakness of the show was the rapid pace. Because I've used my iPad A LOT, I was able to keep up pretty well, but I could see that if you were the novice this content targets, it could have been tough. Fifteen ideas in 30 minutes equals 2 minutes per concept, minus transitions...pretty quick pacing. It gave me quite a bit to think about vis-a-vis my own up-coming webinar, because if I do anything, it is cram loads of facts into short periods of time. I also prefer a webinar format where people can immediately ask questions, etc. On this one, you could text a question, but you had to wait for an answer...I've always appreciated more immediate give-and-take webinars. I imagine this is a very organized program, that "air time" is perhaps contracted and limited...so maybe they can't leave a lot of room for spontaneity.

The major strength of the webinar was it was very user-friendly: easy to listen to and understand, and very personable. The military figured out years ago that people listened and responded better to pleasant female voices and programmed many of their voice-operated systems using women's voices. I get it. The woman who presented this webinar was INFINITELY more engaging than the very pleasant and knowledgeable gentleman who conducted the webinar on differentiation. To think...I actually fit a model demographic of sorts.

I would absolutely participate in this type of webinar again...in fact, there is an entire week of iPad programs on tap for next week, and I'm going to share Simple K12 with my colleagues...

I can see many ways I would use a webcast in a classroom:
     1) Scheduled substitute: For the REALLY IMPORTANT lesson you can't afford to be less than
         "perfect." On more than one occasion, I've had to, because of content flow and field trip schedules, etc., give a pivotal lesson/activity to a sub, and every single time, it's been...well, not good. Not because the sub wasn't good, but because that lesson really took MY enthusiasm and my emphasis...not that I'm such an amazing teacher, but....
      2) Pivotal lessons you know a student will miss because of extended illness, family trips, etc.
      3) Lessons with challenging content that learners may want to revisit
      4) Differentiated lessons: Tweak the lesson for advanced learners...add that extra you yourself can't resist that would motivate some, but totally confuse others; tweak the basic lesson for students who might need more support understanding the content.
       5) Lessons with challenging content that will be a part of homework. For instance, a new or novel math procedure the students will be expected to know that parents will not know...the webinar would also serve as parent education/information.
       6) Whole-class lesson delivered "individually" to students in the computer lab...would be a fun venue change-up that could enhance engagement
       7) Present, explain, publish instructions and expectations for long-term projects so students can review as needed...no excuses, no confusion
       8) Webcast class newsletters...teacher or student created

There would be just as many ways to use webinars with students:
       1) Reciprocal teaching...if you can teach it, you've learned it (so they say)
       2) Culminating project/presentation option...we are always wanting kids to "make videos," and then we struggle with establishing authentic audience...students could "recruit" their own authentic audience in much the same way I'm doing for my webinar. Parents wouldn't have to miss presentations because they couldn't get off work...
       3) Cross-classroom collaboration and communication...in-school and across the globe
       4) Periodic project updates written and delivered by students provided to parents.

Webcasts could really liven up classroom communication in so many different ways. Basically, if you are writing it, you can envision webcasting it. Hopefully, I can become adept enough at it to put it to at least a few of the good uses I can imagine. No doubt, there are several students out there who could take the reins and be my on-the-spot web producers...it would be a GAS to l earn to do this together!
     

Integrating Social Networking into a Project on Continents

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"Globe Trotters" is a third grade project-based-learning unit we are currently building in support of the Common Core Geography Standard 2.2: "The concept of regions is developed through an understanding of similarities and differences in places." Our objective is for our students to develop a sense of wonder and respect for cultures other than their own, and to excite their motivation to explore the world independently.


The major project for this unit is a student-created glog advertising a particular country and advocating for travel to that country. We will be "selling" these promotional products to local travel agents as a means to honor and celebrate the cultures we are studying. The unit will last approximately five weeks, and I have created an EDMODO group that students will use as both homework and classwork assignments. 


I am loading the EDMODO library with third-grade appropriate resources: teacher-created glogs which include the content necessary for the students to complete the assignments; and two child-friendly on-line dictionaries. As the unit progresses, I will add more resources (hopefully those created by the kids themselves), and deeper, more thoughtful questions. The first week of assignments is designed to 1) excite kids about both the content AND the social networking process, and 2) familiarize kids with social networking procedures, protocols, and netiquette. My intent and design is for this to be meaningful, engaging homework for the students, but I know that not every kiddo will do this as homework, so the Edmodo pages will be open and running during "project" and literacy periods in the classroom. We will also use this Edmodo group as a "back channel" to process information from the films and videos we will watch in support of this unit, as well as to "ask questions" of the guest speakers we have scheduled to come in to present to the students. All of this adds an immediacy and relevancy to "active listening" and the students will be crazy about it, I'm pretty sure. To support the efficacy of this, we will spend quite a bit of time pre-unit on building our keyboarding skills.


Formal instruction that will support the procedural aspects of social networking will include lessons on the following:
     1) Intro to Edmodo and demonstration and practice (using laptops or computer lab) with using the    program. We will all participate in a short classroom discussion around the question: "If you could visit one country in the world next week, which one would it be and why?" The objective is for students to provide a thoughtful, complete answer to the question, then continue with a thoughtful response to another student's post. 
     2) Netiquette: Students must use appropriate language and be respectful and thoughtful of one another. Students should report inappropriate language or behavior to the teacher immediately.
     3) How to access and use the Edmodo library.
     4) How to "answer" or "reply" to questions and posts. Emphasize reading and responding to other students' posts...this is a SOCIAL activity.
     5) Networking Communication Rubric: what are the expectations for using the network, and how the
students will be graded on using the network. 
    
I will assess the students' proficiency in network communication through a simple, but formal rubric. I will check-in to the conversation in the evenings and note anecdotally who is participating, level of participation/depth of thinking, etc.,  and provide support in-class mini-lessons as needed. When we get to the portion of the unit where students are using Edmodo as a "backchannel" in support of active-listening to a video or guest speaker, we will have procedural and etiquette lessons around that, as well. Because many of my students will be completely new to Edmodo and social networking, I anticipate spending considerable time on procedures and protocols...and on emphasizing the SOCIAL in social networking. I think Edmodo will be a very concrete tool we can use to help kids internalize the skills of collaboration and communication. 


Here are some screen shots showing one week's worth of homework/classwork, the Edmodo library, and the assessment rubric I will use to inform both my instruction in social networking, and my assessment of the students' growth in the key areas of collaborating and communicating. 


                         Social Networking Screens:

          Edmodo Library Resources to support homework/classwork:

Rubric to Guide and Assess Social Networking Skills and Development:

"Globe Trotters" Project-Based Learning Unit Overview:


Globe Trotters Project Overview

Exploring Web 2.0 Tools...An Infinite Quest

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After spending the last week browsing through the seemingly infinite universe of Web 2.0 tools, I have at best been able to name what it is I want, but cannot find: "synchronous whiteboard stylus-type collaboration." I think. It's out there...it has to be, I just couldn't find it...yet. I want something that acts like a big old piece of chart paper and a set of scented markers. My collaborators and I could synchronously (please, God, no swimcaps), brainstorm, web, list, you name it...and produce this wonderful, savable, retrievable record of our transformational musings.

I took a stress-break, I DO have a synchronous whiteboard collaboration thingy called an iPad app...life is good...but it doesn't count for this assignment...so here goes...

I used three "human filters" for this inquiry: "Web 2.0 4 Kids" by Laura McDermott, "Jog the Web" by Mark Brumley, and, of course, "Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators...Web 2.0 Tools." These sites were a good litmus test for determining which Web 2.0 sites were actually worth exploring. Many tools such as "Glogster," "Wordle," "bubbl.us", etc., appear consistently on a number of filters. There are SO MANY sites out there, it is nice to have had someone else take a look and narrow it down to the worthy. I also learned something which should have been intuitively obvious, but wasn't (to me, at least), that there is a WORLD of difference between business and educational application of the web. I looked at quite a few business sites (the quest for that synchronous whiteboard app), and NOTHING compared for intuitive ease of use to those applications developed specifically for education. Plus...we have more free stuff available to us...

My three favorite tools were 1) Wallwisher, 2) TodaysMeet, and 3)Timetoast.

"Wallwisher" is a great content-response and/or collaboration tool...it is the digital equivalent of a bulletin board...a blank slate with an invitation to comment via digital sticky note. It would be a great way for kids to practice vocabulary, comment on content, or jump-start research. It is an amazingly simple tool to use and the applications for it are boundless. As a test-drive, I set-up a "wall" called "Country of the Day: Ghana," and posted the question: How likely are you to find giraffes in Ghana? Why do you think this? It was literally as easy as using a real sticky note and pencil, and it will work on iPad, as well, so a classroom could have a number of platforms using the application simultaneously. I give Wallwisher a 23/32 possible points. Its major advantages were in the area of cost, system requirements, and education-friendly features. Its lower points were its limitations on collaboration (a teacher could enhance this easily, but it is not built-into the program), and in creation of final product (nothing super-exciting here, but the process it records could be a useful part of something bigger).

"TodaysMeet" is an easy and fun microblog that could be used in a number of different ways, much like "Wallwisher." My first use of it in the classroom will be to post critical thinking questions around our daily read-aloud. Students will respond through the "backchannel" of the program (although not during the read-aloud...gasp!). As we got proficient at using a backchannel appropriately, I could envision us using this as an "active listening" tool during a movie or other "sit-and-git" type of activity. That would come later in the year, but it could certainly evolve as the students' academic social skills developed. I give TodaysMeet 29/32. It scores all possible points when it comes to simplicity of sign-up, safety, cost, system requirements, education-friendliness and curriculum support. It could definitely enhance collaboration, but isn't really a collaboration platform in and of itself, and it does not specifically create a "WOW" end-product.

"Timetoast" is a simple timeline creator that allows the user to add photographs and text to make simple or complex timelines. I uploaded and annotated some vacation photos with amazing ease. Kids will enjoy the process and easily produce very impressive end-products. The site itself does contain advertising, in the form of links to other commercial sites. These links often look like part of the program, and you end up accessing them whether you intend to or not. At least they are education-related. There are no specific mobile apps, but it runs just fine on iPad. I give Timetoast a 27/32. It's free, it's easy, I had to verify my e-mail address, the advertising was annoying, but unobtrusive and safe. It's real strength is in the final product...a professional-looking, photo-enhanced timeline. It is easy to imagine using this tool across a number of content areas.

There was one Web 2.0 tool I absolutely fell in love with..."Museum Boxes." I signed-up for it, and was able to watch a demonstration video and read about the history of the "museum box" concept...pretty interesting, but I was not able to experiment with the program to see how easy or challenging it was. That is testimony to its killer authentication system. It will take approximately 14 days for them to authenticate my application before they allow access to the site. This is the site I wrote a "Letter to the Creator" for. I explained that having to wait 14 days to access the site would inevitably result in my selecting another tool.  Lucky this is summer, and I can afford to wait, because it is an intense information/artifact gathering tool that could be used in so many rich, authentic ways... It was (I THINK) the perfect answer to my question: How can we use technology to create or recreate a collection of historical information and artifacts that accurately portrays the (fill-in-the-blank) time period?

There were many, many other Web 2.0 tools to choose and write about. Selecting which THREE was the most difficult part of this assignment.

Promoting and Protecting Your Own Intellectual Property

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At first I must admit that I thought, "License my blog? Who cares? Nobody reads this, anyway...and what do I have to say that is worth 'protecting'?" Well, the truth is, in the United States in the 21st century, a vast number of us are sitting with the libraries of the world, a graphic design center, and a post-production facility right in front of us, and we are heavily engaged in creating content...whether we regard it as content or not.

We've gone from wordprocessing, spreadsheet filling drones to bonafide creatives in a very short period of time. In his book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink posits that America's great economic export is and will  increasingly become its creativity and innovation (Pink, 2006). I just spent five days at a project-based-learning conference in Napa, and the creative energy in that relatively small space was AMAZING. I thought I was pretty progressive in a Boulder-coordinated-hiking-boots-and-backpack-granola-gnashing sort of way...but until I score a tattoo and a skateboard, I am nothing.

But seriously...lots of us have something to say and something to show for all of our musing and creating, and we deserve to acknowledge that in ourselves. Publishing is no longer for those who finagle a lunch with Harcourt-Brace...samizdat had a role in freeing the Soviet Union...so is it freeing our creative spirits...overground. So it's not just about "protecting" anything...it's about celebrating the legitimacy of our uniquely individual voices. It is about saying, "Thank you for liking my work...and yes, you may use it...but I thought for a great while before committing it to public view, and would like you to credit me. And...by the way, please don't make any money from it, because if anybody does that, it should be me." And, while two days ago I assumed I would assign the least restrictive license, as time went on, I thought that perhaps I would prefer it if people didn't change what I wrote or created. I mean, afterall, if they are going to cite me, I'd like it to be a citation about what I actually said or did. So, much to my own surprise, I ended up with a MOST restrictive license.

As a teacher, I will teach my students about Creative Commons licensing. They are third graders, so our understanding and application will be limited...but think how POWERFUL it will be for them to think of themselves as creators making something worth sharing purposefully and legally...something worth PROTECTING purposefully and legally. I would expect buy-in and performance to increase significantly once there was an assumed outside market and audience.

Exploring Creative Commons licensing gave me a whole new appreciation for where we are as a creative culture. I am beyond THRILLED to have so many resources to draw from as I create reality-based, engaging learning experiences for my students. My son returns in August from Africa with some gifted writing about his experiences. The Smith-Corona part of me called my Olivetti-friend-in-publishing and asked what avenues we should explore to "get him published." "Does he have a blog?" she queried. Done deal. Now it's just the marketing...and that's sitting on my desktop, too.

There is a big part of me that believes creating an avenue for "owning" and "sharing" drives "creating" and "sharing" to new heights. And that is the unique power and mystique of our particular American culture.


Pink, Daniel H. (2006). A whole new mind. Why right brainers will rule the future. Penguin.
        New York, New York.
   

Welcome, EDIM 514!

I am currently a third grade teacher in a politically and socially conservative district (Douglas County Schools, Douglas County, Colorado), yet I have the most advanced and progressive technology and pedagogy at my disposal (you think YOU'RE confused). Actually, it's a great school and classroom environment, and I will not complain. We are expected to learn and use technology to its fullest, and that brought me to the Instructional Media program...five minute introductions to prezi and glogster at weekly staff meetings just weren't cutting it.

I come from an inner city, ESL background. As a first-year teacher, I pioneered the first "Spanish-to-English transition" program in Denver Public Schools in 1997. After taking a break to raise a son, I re-entered teaching in one of the most affluent counties in the known universe. While I sometimes roll my eyes, I feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunities I have to grow as a teacher and to work with so many rich curricular and technology resources. My intent is to take these rich experiences, and SOMEHOW, SOME WAY translate them to teaching in Africa...my first love among all first loves.

My current school is developing from the ground-up. We are teaching with a project-based learning philosophy and heavily infusing technology into our every day learning experiences. I frequently joke with my principal that if she could, she would require ALL of us to enroll in this EDIM program...it fits that closely with what we do.

This is my fourth Wilkes course. Each course has been extremely relevant and immediately useful. I don't know any other grad student teachers who can say that they take what they did for university work the night before and put it to use the next day for kids, but this is, quite literally, a program that does that. That's why I chose it, but more often than not, big ideas disappoint. This Wilkes program has NOT disappointed. Three courses later, I have, quite honestly, ticked-off a couple of "digital natives" with my newly acquired expertise...one that is usually a bit above their own...Well, honestly, I myself do get a little vexxed when an immigrant uses better English grammar than I do, so I guess I understand.

Four Wilkes University EDIM courses....$4800.00.
Three chagrined digital natives...PRICELESS.