Saturday, October 20, 2012

Blog Assignment 8

This is How We Dream
The videos by Dr. Miller, This is How We Dream Parts 1 and 2, were a bit boring to me, I must say. I watched them once, yawned several times, and had to come back and watch them again just to find out what the presentation was about. After watching the videos again, they weren't any less boring, but I did figure out the point Dr. Miller was trying to make, and I agree with him.
Through the videos, Dr. Miller tries to get the point across to educators that they shouldn't be teaching only through reading or writing information, but through videos, and presentations, and audio clips. By having the children listen to and view things, it is a better teaching tool than having them just read the information. I feel that it is also important for the teachers to be the ones who create the videos and/or audio clips, etc. By having the teacher comprise the information, it is certain to pertain to what the students are learning at the time and not an already made video that may have any additional information that they do not need.
I love the idea of collaboration while producing documents and multimedia. Being able to work with others, whether they are from your class, school, state, country, continent, or across the Atlantic is important in creating contacts, but it can also be a way to get others' insights on topics being taught in your classroom. They can also help you to produce the medias you will use while teaching your students.
I feel that it is important to incorporate as many different medias while teaching that you can. Doing the same old, reading from the text and listening to a lecture can be very boring, but the same goes for always watching a video. I think that the way a teacher approaches each lesson should be different so that the students are introduced to not only different types of media, but to different ways of learning.

Carly Pugh
Carly Pugh writes in her blog post about ways to get students more interested in the teachings. I think her last paragraph sums up her opinion on this very well. I love that she says "Not everyone loves to read as much as I and some others do, maybe it takes getting them interested in the story and the characters, and then the words that paint that picture. Modern technology can assist in the education and growth of our youth, and there is more out there available than videos. I think they could be very useful when combined with blogs and podcasts and other things.Videos alone are not an answer to our problems, but they can make us think: what other seemingly simple things can we employ to help us? To keep the attention of our digital learners?" I couldn't have said it better. To get your students engaged, you need to find something engaging. Videos may do the trick, but why stop there when there are many other medias that could be used in addition.
I think that Carly did a great job of writing with media. All of her links are wonderful! I know I appreciate being able to click on a link to get directly to a source, video, or additional blog or website. It helps to get even more information than you bargained for, and it informs readers who have no idea what you are talking about. Carly does a great job of that and provides a plethora of links to additional information throughout her post. I feel like this is something Dr. Miller would be proud of.

EDM 310 is Different
Does EDM 310 have you down?

The videos for this portion of the assignment were great. I really would love to own the book EDM310 For Dummies that was the inspiration for this video. It would have really helped a lot in the beginning of the course. I think now I have gotten the swing of things and could pass the book along though! I also liked the Chipper Series video. It was very entertaining.
After watching these videos I started to think about video projects that I would like to produce and/or take part in. I have done musical parodies in the past to introduce difficult concepts, (that was for bonus points in Organic Chemistry,)and I feel that those work well. If anything, they are entertaining. Explaining things through song can be very useful, and song lyrics can be extremely catchy. Come on, how many of you can honestly say that you don't chant in the styling of Gwen Stafani when you have to spell the word bananas? That's what I thought. If you introduce a difficult concept, the list of presidents, or even a math formula through song it is most likely going to be easy to recall not only for a test, but for years after. I still can't recite the Preamble to the Constitution without singing it like the folks in the School House Rocks video, and I learned that literally 12 years ago. Making up a parody, or song of your own can be a great tool to use in the classroom.

Learn to Change, Change to Learn
In the video, Learn to Change, Change to Learn, the statement is made that children do not learn solely at school, but in many places. These places, such as their communities, homes, and even online give children knowledge in many ways aside from classic "schooling." I cannot agree more. The point is made that students should be learning, in school, how to retrieve information from the world outside of the classroom, and to be able to use that information in the correct way to solve problems. Teachers are there to teach their students the skills needed to do these things to prepare them, not only for college or even high school, but their lives after college and for their professions.
I definitely agree with what is being said in this video. I can't remember having a teacher who really explained to me how to go out and find information. It was something that I picked up or figured out on my own, especially by using a computer. I guess growing up in my generation, most teachers were getting acquainted witch computers at the same time I was. I think, now, it is very important to show students how to make global connections and work with people, or find and validate information and how to use it in order to solve problems. One of the easiest ways to get information and make connections is online. Most children today know how to use a computer, some better than adults. I feel it is important as a 21st century educator to show those children how to use computers meaningfully, in a way to further their educations.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0
Animoto/Education-
animoto logo

I have never used Animoto before, and was very interested in it. I was attracted to it because it is made specifically for use in the classroom. It is an easy way for teachers to comprise a video for their lesson without having to put forth a ton of effort. Animoto takes all of your pictures and music and automatically makes it into a video, so all you have to worry with is adding audio, if you want it. I think this is a great tool to use in the classroom that doesn't take a lot of time.

Edmodo-
edmodo logo

Edmodo is a social networking site for teachers and students. I signed up as a teacher like the prompt said, and looked around the site for a while. I love it! I will be using this for my classroom. You can create groups, and give out a code for the students to enter in the site in order to become a part of the group. So, any one who does not have the code will not be able to join the group. This site can be used to post any announcement the children might need, or give homework assignments. It is a great way for students to interact with their teacher if they happen to have any questions after school hours. You can also interact with other teachers. I'm very glad I found this site!

Poll Everywhere- This is the poll that I made using Poll Everywhere. This site was extremely easy to use. The only thing I don't really like is that you have to text in your response instead of just being able to click on a button within the poll.

2 comments:

  1. " I really would love to own the book EDM310 For Dummies that was the inspiration for this video." Do you really think there is such a book?

    Why not try one of the videos you suggest?

    Interesting.

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  2. Hi Victoria,

    I really enjoyed reading your post, and I can tell you put a lot of thought into it! I agree with you that teachers should change up their approaches to lessons. This way students are always on their toes and really have to pay attention since the class is not really predictable. Also, I am definitely guilty of chanting in the style of Gwen Stefani when spelling bananas! In fact, I did it just now! I absolutely love music, and I think it is a very powerful way of teaching information that needs to be memorized. I liked Animoto also. I think it is great that teachers can make engaging videos for a lesson without wasting a ton of valuable time preparing for the other content of the lesson. You completed the entire assignment and did a great job.

    Kaitlyn

    ReplyDelete