Poetry Reading

In celebration of National Poetry Month, here's my reading of "Hemingway Never Did This" by Charles Bukowski.

Screencast videos and FETC 2013

Well, I'm here in Orlando, FL, putting the finishng touches on my presentation at the 2013 Florida Educational Tehnology Conference. FETC is the nation's most comprehensive edtech conference, and I'm excited to be a part of it. I'll be making a presentation on how I've used a free screen recording program, Screencast-O-Matic, to create tutorial videos for my students, which I've uploaded to BGtechnology, my YouTube channel.

I first learned of Screencast-O-Matic through my Master of Educational Technology degree with Boise State University's EDTECH department. It's a simple and free way to create video tutorials on almost any topic. By using YouTube as my delivery vehicle, any student with an Internet connection can view the videos. Most of the videos I make are three minutes or under. I find that brevity is essential, as it's easy to tune out anything that isn't concise or straightforward.

I'll sometimes play a video at the beginning of class when I'm introducing a new skill, task, or concept, and then have students to refer back to the video on their own as needed. This helps eliminate unnecessary repetition, as students who got it the first time can begin their work, while others who need the information or steps repeated can cue up the video and watch at their own pace. Of course, if there's something they don't understand in the video, I am there in class to answer their questions.

To be clear, I am not assigning videos to students to watch at home, a la the flipped classroom. Rather, these videos aid me when giving direct instruction in the classroom.

I hope to blog regularly this week about both my presentation and some of the session highlights I attend. In particular, I'm excited about hearing Google's Jaime Casap and New Jersey high school principal Eric Sheninger.

Using Creative Commons Images from Flickr

I recently began using the screen capture program Screencast-O-Matic to create video tutorials for my students. Below is one I made about using Creative Commons images from Flickr. Enjoy!

Vocabulary Video - Ebullient

As I wrote about earlier, one of my goals this year was to create vocabulary videos with my students. The above is an example video I created and shared with my classes. By early next week, my seniors will have made their first videos. The freshmen will follow suit. I'm excited about the possibilities of this new teaching tool.

Creativity on the decline

University of Oregon educational psychologist Ron Beghetto observed the following about the effect NCLB and Race to the Top are having on America's students in a recent study on creativity: 

"The current focus on testing in schools, and the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, may be hampering development of creativity among kids. There's not much room for unexpected, novel, divergent thought."

What a sad commentary on the state of our schools, which seem to be rewarding regurgitated factology and uniform verbiage. And just what are the repercussions of this creative drain caused by the beauro-corporate testing squeeze? Research scientist Kyung Hee Kim of the College of William and Mary:

"If we just focus on just No Child Left Behind — testing, testing, testing — then how can creative students survive? If this trend continues then students who look different, nonconformists, will suffer, because they are not accepted."

We are a culture obsessed with being "right." We've got to get the right car and the right house in the right neighborhood. We need the right music and the right phone. We need the right dress and the right style and the right attitude.

Students need the right answer, with the right bubble filled in the right way in the right amount of time. Teachers need to be giving students the right (corporately sanctioned) education in the right (one-dimensional) way, with the right (jargon-filled, administrator-approved) agenda and the right (factual, memorizable, testable) skills in the right (curriculum-dictated) order on the right (scripted) day.

Well, maybe right now is the time to call an end to this nonsense.
 

Vocabulary Videos

One new idea for this coming school year involves having my students create vocabulary videos. While I have yet to formally think everything through, the gist is that every week or so, students - working in groups of two to four - would create a one-minute video on a given vocabulary word, Latin or Greek root, or literary term.

Each video would contain certain ingredients (a brief history of the word, its usage, parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, appropriate background music, use of props) and would be uploaded to a private YouTube account which only students in the class could view.

Students would be given one or two class periods to do research on their word, strategize for their video, film, and edit. What they didn't accomplish in class would be homework. Then, on "viewing days," I would pull up the class's YouTube page, provide each group with a critique sheet, and we would watch the videos. Each group would be assigned to assess another's video. The assessment sheets would ask students to think about the required video "ingredients" and ask them to observe if they were absent, present, or exceptional (or something like that).

The idea is that if the video had all of the required pieces and conveyed the meaning of the word in an accurate, entertaining, and creative way, the group would get an "A" for the video. Points would be deducted accordingly for videos that didn't meet the various criteria. Students would be shown sample videos and given an opportunity to assess them before actually grading each other's. This way, students would hopefully be "calibrated" and have a grasp of what constitutes a complete and well-crafted project.

After all the videos were viewed, students would share their rating sheets with the respective groups whose videos they evaluated. This would give students an opportunity to discuss with each other the strengths and merits as they saw them. In the event a disagreement arose about a group's rating, I would step in as mediator and help the students work things out. In the end, I will have the final say about what each group gets for a grade, but I'm optimistic that the students will be fair and accurate evaluators of each other's work. When I've done peer assessments in the past, I've found students to be as - if not more - critical than I. The key is getting students to look for strengths as well as weaknesses. 

The creation of these videos will serve as a substitute to more traditional vocabulary quizzes. Too often I've seen students cram for vocabulary quizzes, get the necessary information into their short-term memory, do well on a quiz, and then fail to use the words later on in their speech or writing. My theory is that by producing something and being actively engaged in "meaning-making," they'll retain the words and their meanings better (and hopefully use them more frequently).

The nice thing about uploading the videos to YouTube is that they'll be available for viewing later on. Then, maybe every four or five weeks, I'll have some kind of written assessment where students have to use the words in sentences or fill in the blank or match or write an antonym or something. In order to review for the written assessment, they'll be able to cue up the YouTube page and peruse the videos of the words they don't know.

While I'm sure there will be some kinks to work out and quirks I won't have planned for, I'm confident we'll be able to overcome them.

As for the technological end of things, I've been able to acquire a number of computers for my classroom over the years, and, thanks to websites offering educators steep discounts, I have a handful of Flip video cameras I can lend to students. They'll also, of course, be able to use their own devices to create and edit the videos should they so choose.

Look for me to post my own vocabulary video(s) in the coming weeks. Also, if you've ever done something like this before, or know of any possibly helpful resources, feel free to drop a note in the comments section. Thanks!

Video camera image by chelzdd

Matt Damon and his mom represent in D.C.

Damon to America's teachers:

"The next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything, please, please, please know that there are millions of us behind you.

"Our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you, and we will always have your back."

Well said Mr. Damon, well said.

Online education

For those interested in learning more about Boise State University's EDTECH graduate program, take a look at the video below. I'm only two classes into my degree, so I haven't had a chance to take a class that makes use of Second Life. It certainly looks like it could have promise.

I think good educators draw on a variety of resources and strategies to get students engaged in the curriculum. Could the virtual world of Second Life be one of these resources I use? Sure. Does this mean that the concrete here-and-now goes out the window? Of course not.

As an online student, most of my learning occurs through a pixilated environment. As a high school classroom teacher, the majority of my interactions with students are face-to-face; this despite the fact that they spend one-third of their day interacting with screens. While there is definitely a benefit to incorporating virtual worlds and online interaction into my teaching, it's worth noting that some of the most meaningful classes I've had have occurred in the format of an old-fashioned Socratic seminar. 

A teen summit on bullying

Area teenagers discuss bullying with reporters from the Daily Hampshire Gazette. For those looking for a deeper understanding on the root of bullying behavior and its effects, this is a worthwhile view.

Inventing the new paradigm

At a recent TED event, school technology leader Scott McLeod admonishes the current educational establishment for sticking its head in the sand and failing to adjust to the digitally and globally connected world.

In this video, McLeod describes 21st century classrooms that look nearly identical to the classrooms of 1890. He calls for a rethinking of curriculum, instruction, and assessment, and states that every kid needs access to a computer.

"It's a digital world. We're going to have to stop pretending that it's a paper and pencil world in schools," McLeod says.

As currently constructed, school environments are set up to prepare kids for the last 50 years, not the next 50 years, McLeod observes. He says schools are failing in their three essential functions, which are to develop students who are socially functional, economically productive, and able to master the dominate information landscape of their time.

"We can see quite clearly that we have some disconnects that cannot continue to be maintained."



I happen to agree with a lot of what McLeod talks about. It is for some of these reasons that I chose to go back to school for a master's degree in educational technology.

As I wrote about recently, it's made for a full year. In the end, though, the effort will pay off, as it will help me provide my students with a 21st century education that's relevant to their lives, needs, and the world they will inhabit.

Giraffes!

Because everyone can use a good laugh...

Sweet acoustics

I stumbled across this guy on YouTube. His renditions of some of my favorite Beatles tunes are the best covers I've ever heard. He's worth a watch and a listen.

21st Century Literacies

I enjoyed this short video about students using technology in their English class. While I have yet to incorporate Twitter into a lesson, it's something I'm open to trying. The National Council of Teachers of English has recommended that teachers begin working 21st century literacies into the classroom. The NCTE has also put together a policy brief for teachers and administrators about what 21st century literacies are, and what they look like in the classroom.



Here is one more video about using Twitter specifically in the classroom.

50 Years of Research on Writing: What Have We Learned?

Three of the greatest minds in the history of writing instruction come together to discuss the craft. If you're willing to be a patient viewer, they unearth a lot of valuable gems about writing pedagogy.

The Lanyard

Billy Collins has always been a favorite of mine.

The The Impotence of Proofreading

If your in kneed of a laugh cheek this out. Samoa the languid is a bit risk knee, so proceeds at you're hone wrist.

The science of human motivation

Author Daniel Pink on rethinking the use of incentives to get people to accomplish tasks:



"Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the building blocks of a new way of doing things."

Annabel Lee

Our school's Poetry Out Loud winner advanced to the Massachusetts Semi-Final Poetry Out Loud Championship with her recitation of this classic Poe poem. Below is a creative interpretation of the work I found on YouTube. There's nice symmetry between the text and the video.

Remix Culture: Fair Use is Your Friend

A decent primer on how to use copyrighted material in online videos. Click here to download the "Code of Best Practices" in PDF form.

The Six Word Memoir

It seems like this could be a fun activity to do with students.