Technology Project Introduction

Welcome Miss Buhler's Junior AP Literature Class!
Here is a podcast of the Technology Project for this year:


This podcast has the complete description of your Technology Project for this quarter. Students will be working in groups for a mass media project focusing on biases found in mass media. Students will create a blog reporting their findings.  At the end of the project students will present a multimedia presentation.

Here is a written version of the podcast:

Students will participate in a mass media project locating and analyzing biases in mass media forms, such as fashion magazines, advertisements, newspaper, online forms of media, and other forms of mass media.

Students will be working in groups of two to three students each, and will create a blog per group.  This blog will document research, and allow access for the teacher, and other students to comment and add input to project.

Students will write a “Predictions Post” before starting project about what they anticipate to learn in this lesson.

Students will be required to post their progress weekly, in updates, reflections, and research findings. I encourage students to post feedback and input on other group projects in the class.  The class blog will have a link to every group’s blog.

After four weeks of research, students will design a presentation using a multimedia form, (PowerPoint, SMART Board presentation, video, podcast, etc).

Reflection #7

How do we use Freecorder 4? I downloaded it and am completely confused. Does anyone know how to use it? I need more information on what it is and how it works, and how I can use it for my project.

Technology Project Plan pt. 1

I plan to teach high school English.
The ideas I have for this Technology Project are using video recording for students to record each other acting out their interpretation of a text, for example a difficult poem, or a short story, or a section of a play.

How can the students make this interesting and engaging to other students?
What would they need? Some sort of recording device, such as the Flip video cameras, or an iphone.

I really like the idea of finding biases in media, and using images from different media sources like fashion magazines or advirtisements.   Students could use a document camera to project images on the board and analyze them in a presentation in front of the class.

I am sort of confused by this whole Technology Project, it seems very vague and broad. But these are my ideas so far on the project.

NU Educators Panel Questions

1. How has technology changed over the course of your teaching career? How do you utilize and incorporate these changes in the classroom?

2. How has technology changed the way students interact in the classroom? How has it changed how they complete assignments?

3. What is the best advice you could give to a teacher in their first year of teaching? What is the worst moment of teaching, and what is the best moment of teaching, in your experience?

"Caught on Video"

After reading Rob Spankle's blog "Caught on Video" this opens up many possibilities teachers can have in the classroom.  Also, this helps with parent and teacher interaction and connection.  A teacher can video tape what happened in class, something significant, such as a presentation or class discussion and post it on a blog or website that allows the parents at home or work to view it.  The parent can be proud of the child, and know that the teacher is being an effective teacher. 

I also see the possibility in English classes.  I am going to teach high school English, and I remember when I was in high school how entertaining it was for a group of students to act out a scene and film it and show the video in class.  This opens the door for students to work in group projects and easily submit a video with their work.  Give the class a half hour to summarize the text of what they have either, read or discussed into their own words and film it.  This could be a sitcom, a drama, a dialogue, it could be anything that the students capture on film.  Not only does it allow for an effective way to assess student knowledge it is fun and engaging for students.

Week #7

I found these websites helpful in figuring out how to use a Promethean Board.  I have realized that I do not have access to a Promethean Board, but I can learn about the skills through online tutorials, and advice on how to use basic skills.  Until I am a teacher, employed by a school and placed in a classroom I won't know exactly what technology I will be using, but it is convenient and helpful to have general knowledge about the board. 

I learned management tools of the board, for instance:

• how to calibrate the board
• how to use AcivPen, which is basically your mouse to the board
• how to use ActivInspire Toolbar
• how to make flip charts

I found these websites useful: http://www.dillon2.k12.sc.us/technology/integration/prometheanboards.asp and http://www.prometheanplanet.com/ and http://nlvm.usu.edu/

Some questions I have: Why is the ActivBoard more expensive than a SMARTBoard? What are the differences? Why isn't the ActivBoard touch screen? What do you use both pens for?

Week #6

After reading the article Generation IM, I see how I grew up in a generation very similar to Generation IM.  I remember my sixth grade teacher told us that when she was younger, she had to look up all her research in books and enclyclopedias.  Even in sixth grade that seemed odd to me.  I had done all my projects on the internet, the difference was I had not discovered Google. Or even more importantly, Google Image.  I would scour the internet to find images, copy them and use them in my project.  Now it seems as though kids just know how to find pictures, type in key words, effectively use search engines.  The statement that kids ten years ago were using books and encyclopedias is wrong, because even at fifth and sixth grade we knew how to use the internet. 

Some things I found  to be surprising in this article is that being on the internet, and social networking devices, and creating things is different from watching television because the child is engaging.  Another thing that surprised me is that children no longer have to memorize information to be good students. Information on any subject is easily accessible, instead the developing skills are analysis and critical thinking of the information they discover.

The last thing that is crucial to educating Generation IM is that teachers need to teach to this generation, and not try to utitilize the tools they used as children.

Some questions I have
How do I use podcasts? Some questions on how to use and operate the differet technologies presented?