Creativity Quickfire. Writing activity.
First ten minutes:
Every student receives three slips of paper. Students will write the name of an everyday object on one slip. Teacher will model appropriate examples. Students will write the first sentence of a story and the last line of a story on the other two slips. Teacher will again model appropriate examples:
Object: model airplane
First sentence: Yesterday I got my first tattoo.
Last sentence: And now I know I love macaroni and cheese.
Tells students to stay away from first sentences like, "Once upon a time" or "One day I was walking down the street." Encourage them to choose quickly without over-analyzing.
Teacher will gather the slips into the 3 separate piles or hats. Students will be divided into groups of 3. One member of the group will pull out of a hat their group's first sentence, object, and last sentence. As a group students will write a story or a character's monologue using the three pieces of information. They must use the starting sentence to start their story or monologue and end with the last sentence. They must mention the object at some point in their writing.
Technology component:
Students will use iMovie to create a short video where they will read their story, accompanied by appropriate images and choose music to accompany it. Music must help to establish the writing's mood.
Students will have 20 minutes to write their story and 30 minutes to create their iMovie.
Students should concentrate on creating a compelling character or a story with narrative flow.
Their images should be taken from an Advanced Search on Google Images: go to Usage Rights and choose "labeled for reuse" in the dropdown menu. They must save the links from their chosen images and site them at the end of their iMovie.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Personal Growth #4
I would like to create a Big Idea for Spanish and tie it to a powerful image for my students. As Punya suggested, I would like to revisit this idea and image throughout the year. I also plan to concentrate on the M.A.P., create experiences that allow my students to Master skills while giving them chances for Autonomy and making sure tasks have Purpose. I will ask my self if I have forgotten what it means to be a Spanish novice or a theatre novice. I will see my students in terms of their realms of experience. How can I discover where they are? How can I tap into prior knowledge and use it to propel us towards new learning? How can I reorganize their thinking? How can I positively meddle in their cognitive space and provide experiences that will expand that space?
As for technology, my students can speak Spanish and hear themselves in Audacity, so they can self assess. Students can communicate with me about their learning with Google Forms. Students can self-direct their learning by choosing their own area/topic of Spanish or language learning to investigate and then create a presentation in Prezi or an iMovie demonstrating their mastery. I will also use the term "digital citizenship" frequently and define/model it constantly. I will revisit this topic throughout the year. I will educate my colleagues about digital citizenship as well. I want to use my iPhone in class and model how it can be a valuable addition. It doesn't have to be taboo. I plan to discuss this with my administration. I also want to begin the discussion with them about how we can effectively use cell phones in the class, like Poll Everywhere. This will be an uphill battle, I feel, with my administration, but I do know they will listen to me. They will be open-minded and if I can begin the discussion and invite them to my class to see it in action, I am doing my part to begin a shift in their thinking.
I feel confident that I have the skills to plan and incorporate these technologies into my class. I know I will encounter difficulties. I will be moving from class to class and I will need help. I am lucky to have Bill to go to at school, but I will go to my MAET classmates for help as well. I will ask their advice and see what is working in their classrooms.
Personally, I will be thinking long and hard about if I want to stay in my current position. I want to "live the questions now (Rilke)", but I plan on being open-minded to see if doors begin to open or if new ways of thinking are starting to lead me into a different direction. I want to take risks, pedagogical risks, creative risks. I also want to continue my study of mediation and mindfulness in an attempt to keep the nightmares and anxiety at bay.
A haiku:
Balance. Foreign face.
Will you stay for awhile?
Learning. Living. Now.
As for technology, my students can speak Spanish and hear themselves in Audacity, so they can self assess. Students can communicate with me about their learning with Google Forms. Students can self-direct their learning by choosing their own area/topic of Spanish or language learning to investigate and then create a presentation in Prezi or an iMovie demonstrating their mastery. I will also use the term "digital citizenship" frequently and define/model it constantly. I will revisit this topic throughout the year. I will educate my colleagues about digital citizenship as well. I want to use my iPhone in class and model how it can be a valuable addition. It doesn't have to be taboo. I plan to discuss this with my administration. I also want to begin the discussion with them about how we can effectively use cell phones in the class, like Poll Everywhere. This will be an uphill battle, I feel, with my administration, but I do know they will listen to me. They will be open-minded and if I can begin the discussion and invite them to my class to see it in action, I am doing my part to begin a shift in their thinking.
I feel confident that I have the skills to plan and incorporate these technologies into my class. I know I will encounter difficulties. I will be moving from class to class and I will need help. I am lucky to have Bill to go to at school, but I will go to my MAET classmates for help as well. I will ask their advice and see what is working in their classrooms.
Personally, I will be thinking long and hard about if I want to stay in my current position. I want to "live the questions now (Rilke)", but I plan on being open-minded to see if doors begin to open or if new ways of thinking are starting to lead me into a different direction. I want to take risks, pedagogical risks, creative risks. I also want to continue my study of mediation and mindfulness in an attempt to keep the nightmares and anxiety at bay.
A haiku:
Balance. Foreign face.
Will you stay for awhile?
Learning. Living. Now.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Script for Vodcast
Three educators, working towards a Master’s degree in Educational Technology at Michigan State University, are asking their colleagues an important question:
What does digital citizenship in the 21st century mean to you?
video clips MSU students answering that question briefly
We only wish we knew the perfect way to answer this question. But it’s not going to be that easy. The solution isn’t going to be black and white. In order to navigate this digital world in which we currently find ourselves, we need to encourage an open dialogue amongst its inhabitants. Each digital citizen has the opportunity to contribute their own unique perspective to this issue.
Digital Citizenship - Let’s start the conversation
video clips MSU students speak to specific points they are contributing to their efforts in educating digital citizens
Are you discussing this at school? With colleagues? With students? At home with your own children?
Are we, as educators, discussing it enough?
Let’s talk about it more. Together.
Let’s continue this conversation.
What can you add to the dialogue?
end
Storyboard
What does digital citizenship in the 21st century mean to you?
video clips MSU students answering that question briefly
We only wish we knew the perfect way to answer this question. But it’s not going to be that easy. The solution isn’t going to be black and white. In order to navigate this digital world in which we currently find ourselves, we need to encourage an open dialogue amongst its inhabitants. Each digital citizen has the opportunity to contribute their own unique perspective to this issue.
Digital Citizenship - Let’s start the conversation
video clips MSU students speak to specific points they are contributing to their efforts in educating digital citizens
Are you discussing this at school? With colleagues? With students? At home with your own children?
Are we, as educators, discussing it enough?
Let’s talk about it more. Together.
Let’s continue this conversation.
What can you add to the dialogue?
end
Storyboard
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wicked TPACK Challenge
Issue: How to create meaningful displays of comprehensible Spanish without direct translation.
Technology Pedagogy Content
a. What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)
I have chosen to use peer-partner learning to engage my students in a usually dry topic. Students will have to collaborate and negotiate to successfully create meaningful digital media depicting their topic. When creating compelling images/videos as part of a group, students will have to negotiate and problem solve, which will involve holding a dialogue to produce and agreement and results (successful completion of the project). Using tools like iMovie and digital images will be collaborative because I will require students to include more than one person in what they create. Roles will have to be assigned: who will film? who will write the script? who will act? who will edit? All of these activities must be completed in collaboration.
b. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)
Basic questions and answers in Spanish can be a dry topic, and since it’s dry many students do not remember long lists of them, aside from “Como estas?” Students will use digital photography, Picnik, and iMovie to create compelling images of themselves and their partners to illustrate everyday questions and answers in Spanish, without displaying the direct translation. This is possible because if an image/video is engaging and specific, an audience will see the meaning clearly. Direct translation will not be needed. This mimics real-life natural language acquisition. This technology will help this specific content become more meaningful because it allows for students to create rather than just look at teacher-created images or visuals from a book. These digital images will then be displayed around the classroom or school to help reinforce the meaning without direct translation.
c. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies
In the area of creating comprehensible Spanish without providing direct translation, my focus has been teacher-centered in the past. My goal is to have a more student-centered lesson. Learning languages should involve peer-partner learning and negotiation. This mimics how languages are learned naturally, outside of a classroom. We learn to speak through interaction. So, if my students are collaborating and problem-solving to create compelling images/video, they are not just repeating a teacher’s language, they are creating their own. By encouraging them to show what they mean and not just translate it directly in their project, they are creating a more memorable image which will give the action meaning. By using their peers and chosen media to demonstrate the meaning of Spanish questions and answers, this lesson will be more intellectually accessible and memorable, for themselves and whomever see what they create.
Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship by Bill, Jamie and Chris
Our group plans to create a vodcast discussion of the differenct aspects of digital citizenship.
Preliminary research on the Internet shows that there is already a ton of information about the promotion of digital citizenship available in various formats on the Internet. For example there are websites, blogs, youtube videos, pdf files, etc.
Post onto the blog, Monday, July 19th?
Our group will specifically discuss why the need to "preach" digital citizenship to our students is becoming increasingly urgmore important.
Tools we will use: clips from relevant videos, images, imovie
Projected time line:
1. First blog post to describe the vodcast. Preliminary research, gather on line resources - Monday, July 19
2. Storyboard the vodcast and coordinate the videos & images, write the script using a nice narrative flow between the video clips and images. Record and shoot the project. Post the outline/storyboard and script onto our blog pages - Tuesday, July 20th
3. Edit & finalize the project, Wednesday, July 21th
Our group plans to create a vodcast discussion of the differenct aspects of digital citizenship.
Preliminary research on the Internet shows that there is already a ton of information about the promotion of digital citizenship available in various formats on the Internet. For example there are websites, blogs, youtube videos, pdf files, etc.
Post onto the blog, Monday, July 19th?
Our group will specifically discuss why the need to "preach" digital citizenship to our students is becoming increasingly urgmore important.
Tools we will use: clips from relevant videos, images, imovie
Projected time line:
1. First blog post to describe the vodcast. Preliminary research, gather on line resources - Monday, July 19
2. Storyboard the vodcast and coordinate the videos & images, write the script using a nice narrative flow between the video clips and images. Record and shoot the project. Post the outline/storyboard and script onto our blog pages - Tuesday, July 20th
3. Edit & finalize the project, Wednesday, July 21th
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Ideas.
Advisory. The power of an advisory class. I would like to use Google Forms to discuss issues of bullying, tolerance, violence. I'd also like to have students use iMovie.
Also, interested in how character education can create an effective and supportive learning environment for all students. How how having an advisory can be a instrumental in helping students learn about themselves, and metacognition. Discussion of digital citizenship also interests me.
Also, interested in how character education can create an effective and supportive learning environment for all students. How how having an advisory can be a instrumental in helping students learn about themselves, and metacognition. Discussion of digital citizenship also interests me.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday afternoon
Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason.
CsÃkszentmihályi
CsÃkszentmihályi
Personal Growth #3
"...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet
I feel inspired this week. Ideas, discussion, theory . . motivation, creativity, flow experiences, reread Csikszentmihalyi, thought about John Dewey, wrote a lot at Giverny, asked myself questions. I am not thinking about specific, concrete ways to incorporate what I am learning in my classroom. I am dissatisfied with the content I am teaching. Yes, I am learning a great deal and can think of a multitude of ways to use WolframAlpha, Voicethread, active pedagogy strategies, etc. in my class. However, what I could do all day is discuss theory. That is what ignites me. What does this mean? I'm not sure yet.
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet
I feel inspired this week. Ideas, discussion, theory . . motivation, creativity, flow experiences, reread Csikszentmihalyi, thought about John Dewey, wrote a lot at Giverny, asked myself questions. I am not thinking about specific, concrete ways to incorporate what I am learning in my classroom. I am dissatisfied with the content I am teaching. Yes, I am learning a great deal and can think of a multitude of ways to use WolframAlpha, Voicethread, active pedagogy strategies, etc. in my class. However, what I could do all day is discuss theory. That is what ignites me. What does this mean? I'm not sure yet.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
TPACK
a. What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)
Technology and Pedagogy: My technology (Skype) will allow my instructional strategies to be interactive. Skype will allow for peer partner learning, which is a collaborative experience where students learn from and with each other. Students can help peers learn and at the same time develop and hone their own Spanish skills, as well as their social skills.
b. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)
Technology and Content:
This technology will help to make my content for accessible, because it will become a real-life challenge for my students. Instead of reading questions out of a textbook, they will be able to engage in authentic communication in a fashion that is already a part of their daily lives. The content will connect more to their daily lives.
c. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.
Pedagogy and Content:
Students will experience the content in a way that will be engaging. They already chat with their friends, so now they can chat in Spanish. Their goals will still be to gather information about their classmates based on certain criteria. Instead of trying to authentically gain information via an interview that are used to, they can construct written or oral language as they do in English. It will be familiar, but new. It will be challenging, but motivating.
Technology and Pedagogy: My technology (Skype) will allow my instructional strategies to be interactive. Skype will allow for peer partner learning, which is a collaborative experience where students learn from and with each other. Students can help peers learn and at the same time develop and hone their own Spanish skills, as well as their social skills.
b. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)
Technology and Content:
This technology will help to make my content for accessible, because it will become a real-life challenge for my students. Instead of reading questions out of a textbook, they will be able to engage in authentic communication in a fashion that is already a part of their daily lives. The content will connect more to their daily lives.
c. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.
Pedagogy and Content:
Students will experience the content in a way that will be engaging. They already chat with their friends, so now they can chat in Spanish. Their goals will still be to gather information about their classmates based on certain criteria. Instead of trying to authentically gain information via an interview that are used to, they can construct written or oral language as they do in English. It will be familiar, but new. It will be challenging, but motivating.
Monet
I spent 6 hours doing this and in the final viewing I realized it looks terrible because the lettering is all blurry. It's 12:25am and I can't fix it now. This class is teaching me to just let go of perfection. I can learn and do better next time. This is a hard lesson for me to shallow. I'd like to just start over and scrap it.
Monday, July 12, 2010
This is my dinglehopper. Quick Fire Monday July 12
Repurposing on a Monday morning.
This is the blue cord in it's natural state:
Every limbo boy and girl, all around the limbo world . . .
Jump rope:
Check out my partner's photos!
This is the blue cord in it's natural state:
Every limbo boy and girl, all around the limbo world . . .
Jump rope:
Check out my partner's photos!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Personal Growth #2
I am passionate about human connection and the experiences students have in the middle grades that lead them to who they will become in the future. I am passionate about making every student I encounter feel valued, intelligent, and capable. I love creating situations for students to experience success and build confidence. I love giving students an outlet for what they are feeling. I want to teach children tolerance and compassion for others. I am also passionate about modeling intellectual curiosity and encouraging students to find what it is they love and go for it. My after school theatre program has given me the personal experiences which make me wake up everyday excited to go to work. I can take a group of kids who know nothing about theatre and turn them into performers. I can take a shy kid and turn them into the lead actor shining on stage. I can a take a 8th grade tough guy and teach him to love musical theatre. I have patience with the ones who misbehave. I can redirect their energy into something positive. This is what I am passionate about and what I would like to contribute to education. Giving children a way to express themselves is a powerful tool; it can ignite a child's life and larger world as well.
I need to explore whether Spanish is the right subject for me to teach. I have built a wealth of knowledge in my 4+ years teaching Spanish, but I am not content. When I think of technology integration my mind spins with hopes to use blogs to track my students' experience learning self confidence in performance. I would like to incorporate video in performance as well, allowing students to actually see their progress and evolution, in addition to providing another outlet for creative development of self and voice. My next step to reach beyond the surface is to find out how to make this switch of subject matter a reality. Staying in Spanish is safe, in a way. It still challenges me constantly, but I know the drill. I need to be fearless about pursuing the unknown and not let the negative chatter in my head control what I think I am capable of.
I need to explore whether Spanish is the right subject for me to teach. I have built a wealth of knowledge in my 4+ years teaching Spanish, but I am not content. When I think of technology integration my mind spins with hopes to use blogs to track my students' experience learning self confidence in performance. I would like to incorporate video in performance as well, allowing students to actually see their progress and evolution, in addition to providing another outlet for creative development of self and voice. My next step to reach beyond the surface is to find out how to make this switch of subject matter a reality. Staying in Spanish is safe, in a way. It still challenges me constantly, but I know the drill. I need to be fearless about pursuing the unknown and not let the negative chatter in my head control what I think I am capable of.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Social Presence and Personal Growth Week One
blog – http://teacherperry.blogspot.com/
RSS Reader – igoogle
Twitter – jamielperry19
Diigo - jamlperr
Skype - jamlperr
At this point I believe I have a personal presence, but not much of a professional presence. I keep my facebook extremely private and my 7th graders constantly tell them they can’t find me even though they know I’m on facebook. I do not use twitter very much at all. I have a blog that very few people are subscribed to. I haven’t felt much of an interest in publicising it. It’s a place where I write infrequent, often cryptic posts in a stream of consciousness fashion. I would not like to have only one presence online and look forward to creating my professional presence. I need a personal presence just like I need a personal life. I need breaks from my “professional” self to keep sane, online and otherwise. My personal presence would mostly be to keep in contact with family and friends, where I feel more comfortable discussing my family, vacations, travels and hobbies without the eyes of middle school students watching.
My expertise I have to share with the world . . . This is difficult for me to answer. I feel like there is always so much more to learn and considering myself an “expert” seems odd.
I am an expert at talking to children. I am an expert is engaging children in a lesson. I am an expert in retreating from my daily world. I am an expert in solitude. I am an expert in creatively teaching theatre. I am an expert in visualization and being in the moment. I am an expert nap taker.
I would like to connect with experts in mindfulness, linguistics, topics of world history, marathon training, depression, urban education, teaching theatre, surrealist authors, stream of consciousness, philosophy of education,
Week One:
- Reflect on your teaching and educational technology learning experiences that preceded this program (undergrad, graduate, in-service, professional development, workshops, etc).
- Reflect on this first week of classes and how it has changed any learning trajectories established in #1.
- Create a personal growth plan for the remaining portion of the 2010 summer courses.
- Lay the foundation for a personal growth plan for the remaining portion of the MAET program (years 2 & 3) and the next five years of your career.
1. I didn’t learn much technology during my undergrad or graduate courses. As a theatre major, most of my learning was action and performance or writing and directing. My professors did not incorporate much technology into their teaching. My graduate degree in education focused on high needs schools in urban environments, where we were concerned about how to teach without books or enough chairs in a classroom concentrating on the framework of poverty. I never expected technology in the classroom. It was not discussed. I gained a better understanding of incorporating technologies in the classroom through Lauren Cortesi (year 3), who lead several professional development workshops.
2. I feel like my head is spinning from trying to digest all of the information we have been presented with. I don’t want to miss anything. I don’t want to miss a link or an idea or a helpful post or a trick. I started this program saying, “I don’t like technology. I am insecure using it. I am better suited to teach students by drawing with a stick in the mud. Is that re-purposing-- using a stick-- was it “created” to spread trees leaves in order absorb as much sunlight as possible and I am now using it to draw in the mud, to teach my students? By this tangent I am demonstrating my learning trajectory. I am thinking about technology differently. Technoolgy is everywhere. It’s not just the internet and blogs. I am also realizing no one knows everything. I can be a better teacher if I become more skillful. I knew this masters would take me out of my comfort zone and I am. I want to go home and throw the computer some evenings, but then I sit there at night catching myself thinking about how I could use blogs or google docs in class. I wasn’t doing that last week ...
3. I want to investigate creativity because I love it, but is that “out of my comfort zone”? I’m not sure. I want to be the person fellow colleagues go to learn about technology. I want to be confident. I want to build a set of tools that I can bring back home. I want to be creative!!!!! I want to find a way to make this kinestetic. I need to move while learning. So, sitting here typing or tweeting is hard for me. How can my students move while using technology and not just moving to move desks and get into groups?
Year One Quick Plan: Year 1 LEARN A LOT, plan on how to use what I know with my students, plan on how to set an example for my colleagues, don’t be intimidated by what I don’t know. Ask for help. Network. Unplug when I need it. Research. Listen. Capture. Process.
4.
Year 2 LEARN MORE and continue to learn from my colleagues and concentrate on using technology as a tool for deeper, more meaningful learning, not just for technology’s sake. Connect. Collaborate. Ask. Observe. Try. Investigate. Discover. Pause. Relax. Refuel. Start again.
Year 3 Learn things that don’t even exist yet.
Plan for future learning because what we learn now will be obsolete fast as ....
AND INTO THE FUTURE ..... Never be afraid to try things with my students. If you aren’t prepared to fail you cannot be original. Think of Thomas Edison’s quote, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Keep in mind the spaghetti analogy from Leigh, you know a technology is ready when “it STICKS.” So, I need to keep throwing technological spaghetti, be CREATIVE, KEEP ENCOURAGING THE CREATIVITY OF MY STUDENTS, see what sticks . . and if I throw the spaghetti and I totally miss the wall, it’s OK. Try, try, try again.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition
"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill." Stephen Krashen
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html
According to Dr. Krashen's acquisition theory, acquiring language is the product of a subconscious process. It is very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. Students have meaningful interactions in the target language, in the form of natural communication, in which students are concentrated not in the form of what they are saying, but in the communicative act. Krashen also believes learners with high self-confidence and a low level of anxiety are better able to succeed in language acquisition. Students need this "low affective filter" so they do not experience a mental block which could prevent comprehensible input from being used to acquire the new language.
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html
According to Dr. Krashen's acquisition theory, acquiring language is the product of a subconscious process. It is very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. Students have meaningful interactions in the target language, in the form of natural communication, in which students are concentrated not in the form of what they are saying, but in the communicative act. Krashen also believes learners with high self-confidence and a low level of anxiety are better able to succeed in language acquisition. Students need this "low affective filter" so they do not experience a mental block which could prevent comprehensible input from being used to acquire the new language.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Blog vs. traditional website
The difference between a traditional website and a blog is that a blog is interactive. A blog allows the viewer to interact with others, with other viewers and the creator of the blog itself. The writer of the blog can see how the viewer is reacting to what he or she is posting. Blogging involves communication, and can allow for collaboration and easy sharing of ideas and opinions.
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