Getting a New Perspective on the Written Word

October is Computer Learning Month

I had a dream last night that got me thinking about "perspective"  and how to give students different perspectives on what is being taught.  Our students are what some call "digital natives" and are wired differently than students of the past.  Think of all the ways they can get and send information in a moment's notice.  So how can we tap into that part of their thinking and get them thinking about school and the subjects being presented from a different perspective?  How can we start to speak their  digital language?

With this thought in mind I bring you this post: Perspectives in Writing and Reading

So often as a history teacher I would present textbook reading as here it is and answer the questions at the end.  As I began to understand the importance of engaging students before, during and after reading, I used questions, discussions, paper and pencil, drawing, etc. to help get the students to see the information in a different way.

With technology I am amazed at what the other options can be!

To demonstrate some of the ways that a reading passage (fiction or non-fiction) could be presented using technology, I took the school's weekly newsletter and ran it through several options.  These activities could be used as pre-reading hooks or as a post-reading assignment for the students.

Wordle:

The first is a web site called "Wordle."  Wordle takes text and makes a word cloud out of it.  The more a word is mentioned, the larger it appears.  Think of it as a tag cloud for your reading.



Students could also upload their own writing and see what words they are using the most and how their writing is coming across.  For a list of ideas on this, please see the Tech Ed Know blog.

Inspiration:

I used Inspiration 8 to create a web of the information as well:

PhotoStory:

Pictures are another great way to tell a story.  I took the same key words, found pictures to illustrate those words from flickr and made a short movie using photo story.

Contest:

For Ridgeview Teachers: Here are a few wordles that come from history or literature.  If you are able to identify what text they come from and leave your guess as a comment to this blog, a prize will be awarded.   There will be a prize per entry, so you don't have to know them all, just guess on one!  Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Entry 1:




Entry 2:



Entry 3:



Entry 4:

Ideas?  thoughts?  Suggestions?  Please share in the comments section.

Web Wandering Wednesdays - September 24th

SlideBoom - Previously I had shared about SlideShare as a way to share and embed powerpoints onto a web page.  Another option is SlideBoom.  What I like about SlideBoom is that the sound that you have recorded on the powerpoint transfers over.  Also the links stay active.  I have embedded a powerpoint I found on the site that explains how to add sound to a powerpoint.  A great teaching idea for absent students or at home reviews!

Web Wandering Wednesdays - September 16, 2008

The return of Web Wandering Wednesdays brings a focus on educational online videos.  Why use video in the classroom?  Video provides a common experience for everyone in a class.  It brings the subject to life and teachers report students understand the concepts better and retain the information longer.  Best practices suggests that short clips work best and are the most effective.

We are very familiar with United Streaming and Brain Pop - but what are some other options?

• Studio4Learning - has a variety a videos on math, science, English, social sciences, languages, business and arts.  Each topic is also divided into subtopics.  These videos are on demand teaching tools provided free of charge.  You also have an opportunity of submitting your own videos to address topics.  The target for this website is for a secondary audience.

• TeacherTube - TeacherTube is the educational version of YouTube.  It is a place that students and teachers can post videos for easy access.  Videos found on TeacherTube can be embedded into blogs, wikis, teacherweb, etc for easy viewing by students.   You can also search TeacherTube for videos that others have posted, including ones from partnering organizations, such as from the American Institute for History Education.

Most news organizations offer news clips of current events and networks are also offering their TV shows online so check out their websites for documentaries and current events.

Any other suggestions of places to look for free video resources?  Ideas for using streaming media in class? Please share!

Emebedding PowerPoint with Slide Share

So many teachers have created wonderful powerpoints to use in their teaching.  The problem then is how to give access to the presentation for the students who were absent, or maybe for those who would like to review the materials later.

No matter what site you choose to house your teacher web page, space is always an issue.  Powerpoints are space hogs and can eat up the alloted space very quickly.

One solution is to outsource or find a third party source to house the powerpoint which leaves the space on your website for other types of files.

SlideShare is a site that I have used lately for presentations, and most recently for the school web page.  This website allows you to upload powerpoints up to 100mb in size and then you can link to the file or embed the file onto any website.  Viewers can choose to view the powerpoint full screen or in the provided window, but they don't have to download the file or have powerpoint on their compter to view the files.

How to use the site:

1. Sign up for a free account.


2. Click on "Upload"


3. Browse for your presentation (more than one file can be chosen at a time).  Note - for PowerPoint 2007 users, the web site asks that you have saved your presenation as a .ppt and not a .pptx file.


4. Choose your settings:
   
   
   
   • Name your file (or keep the name it has),
   
   
   • Enter tags or key words so it can be searched
   
   
   • Set the privacy levels (if you keep it public others can use your work - a nice way to give back for the ideas you borrow from others)
   
   
   • Give a brief description
   
   
   • Decide if you want others to be able to download the file, or only view in online.
   
   
   • Click on "Publish"
   
   
   
   


5. It could take a few minutes to make the file available for viewing.  once it is converted, you can link to the file, or embed it onto your website.


6. To Embed your powerpoint:
   
   
   
   • Click on the file to open it in slideshare
   
   
   • Locate the Embed code on the right side of the screen.
   
   
   • Copy the code
   
   
   • Paste it into the blog, wiki or web page of your choice (note: the code is html and will need to be pasted in html mode)
   
   
   • Save and test the file.
   
   
   
   

Here is an example of what it looks like once embeded.  (This was a powerpoint I used this summer in training.)

Wiki Summer Training2

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Here are is an example of slideshare embedded on a wiki page:

• http://teachwiki.wikispaces.com/WebQuests08

Here is the link to my account on slideshare:

• http://www.slideshare.net/robiny

Another nice thing about this program is that you can search other people's powerpoints and use them in your teaching.

So give it a try and let me know what you think.

True or False

I saw this video on Good Morning America yesterday and was amazed!

 

Watching this I thought of a few questions I would ask students if they watched this in class with me:

• Is it real? 


• What evidence do you have to support your opinion? 


• Is everything posted online real? 


• Is everything "caught" on video tape real? 


• Can you believe everything you see/read online? 


• How can you verify your information?

This video is not real, but was put together for a commercial.  But the rumor went around that this really happened.  Just a thought on how to address the need for critical thinking skills when using online resources.

Any other ideas out there?

How to Podcast - sort of...

This post explains a work around to posting audio files when you don't have the space to host and stream the files.

Back in the fall the US History teachers wanted to post student created audio files and videos quickly (24 hours turn around). We didn't have a space to host these types of files for easy access.  I could handle the video portion with the help of TeacherTube.  But where to host the audio files easily?  We decided to try TeacherTube as well, but first needed to transfer the audio to video files.  Here is our solution:

1. Gathered audio files (created with Audacity) saved as wav files.


2. Created a splash page using a PowerPoint slide and saving the slide as a jpg.


3. Using PhotoStory 3 - import the PowerPoint slide. (Note: take off the pan and scan option in customize motion - scanning across text slides can be annoying!)


4. Import your audio file. 


5. Preview the file to make sure the entire audio file plays.


6. Save the project and save it as for best for playback on your computer.

We then uploaded all the video files and the "audio" files (now videos) to Teacher Tube.  This allowed us to embed the files into the student's wiki pages. 



This started the school on the path to podcasting, even though this was technically not podcasting.  Now we have a blog space that can hos the files and provide the syndication needed to classify it as a "podcast."

Web Wandering Wednesdays - June 4

This week's installment is short, just a simple video from YouTube.  I love this video as a way to show students that just because you don't "get" it the first time, it still can happen.