Projector

Just got a notice from Leslie to clean the filter in the projector. I think I will bring it home this week end and take care of that. It has been super to use it in my class. I was sort of wondering what would happen if I needed to replace the bulb. Where do those funds come from? That will be interesting when the time comes to replace it. One more thing about the projector. The feature that allows us to enlarge the slide or video by zooming is super. Sometimes I wish I could do that with my overhead projector.

SketchCast Completed

I finally got the sketchcast published on my blog. After attempting to Embed this Sketchcast address into my blog with several errors, I finally noticed the menu button on the right lower corner of the sketch. I pressed it and got two address options to copy. I could never get the full address of the sketch to copy. I then chose the URL address and finally it posted. Ta DA! My first Sketchcast posted.

sketchcast

http://sketchcast.com/view/ZKr9BqE

YouTube vs. TeacherTube

It was interesting to listen to Leslie's You Tube in the district update. I had received an email from the tech person in our building the week before apologizing to we teachers. There was a bit of frustration in that email because apparently the someone in the district that was in the position to make that decision, made it without any advance notice to the schools. I find it fascinating how we teachers are encouraged to utilize technology and You Tube. Almost as soon as we embrace the technology its ripped out of our hands. Preparing for classes is tough enough without dealing with time consuming relearning of Teacher Tube. I began a search online for a tutorial for the golden rectangle and ratio to use in my Math class. I went to the Teacher Tube as instructed only to experience the slow and ineffeceint design of this internet site. I could find no videos on this topic. My home computer in seconds could hook me up to a video via YouTube that was exactly what I wanted. On Wednesday at the 1930 Como building we could access You Tube. Why? Why were the "highways" of fiber optics open to these classrooms at a district office buildings and not the schools themselves where we should be enhancing our classes with reliable information? I don't care about bandwidth. Why are we learning this if we can't use it?

Who's in control?

I had an interesting response to the oncoming school break. I had this feeling that I needed a real break. Not just a time away from school. So I made a decision that I would not use the computer to blog or look up anything for 6 days. I just wanted to maintain the idea that I was in control. I have taken the time to reconnect with my family and communicate one-on-one and face-to-face. I spent some of those days at real peace. It is rejuvenating and healthy to take this type of break. The information age we live in can hook us up to ipods, computers and email 42 hours a day and ys a week. Instead of living patiently, we anticipate quick and accurate responses. When those responses go missing or late, we may begin to feel a type of road rage. This is the unhealthy dependence we feel for the information age. I think as teachers we need to be mindful of this and control our urges and dependency on this fast moving information.

Another Thing

So what is the scale of King Kong to the miniature used in the 1933 Movie starring Fay Wray? Well that would be one foot to every 3/4 inch. I started my class with a 3.5 minute YouTube video clip from the movie. The black and white version can now be seen in color. The students enjoyed the scene and we talked about the history of this movie. It was the one of the first movie makers to use miniature models to simulate a large monster. There was also a good FAQ site that addressed the movie. Tomorrow I will take a look at Crazy Horse Monument and continue our discussion of similarity in the Mathematical sense. Sort of neat... the students asked for the Rap version of PI that I had run out of time for about a week ago. It was pretty cool too.

Thing 15

I just wanted to say that our media specialist at Highland has been great at inviting our staff to join in in order to update our own learning and usage of information literacy. My attendance at the BER Workshop by Joanne Troutner can be credited to Janet's invitation. I was able to see the perspective that Joanne presented and I dare say her message is already being implemented. She made it clear how just a picture, video, audio or podcast can be a brief and meaningful class opener or segue during the class. No doubt there is an art to smoothly transitioning during a class to include these types of information sound bytes. I find that if I condition my self to put just a few little interesting tidbits each week I am more likely to make an attempt to enhance the class this way. Her message was that in her presentation she would present so much that you would feel overwhelmed. My head was spinning at the end of the day. But by making a decision to try one or to things can make things feel doable. She also encouraged us to simply spread the wealth by sharing one or two things you liked or found interesting with a friend or colleague.