Week 4: BP: Texting in MY Classroom.

"You Have Mail" (2010) The Stock Exchange http://sxc.hu

Today I tried a grand experiment bases on a segment on CNN Student News that I show my students. This particular segment talked about how cell phone use is banned in school. I got to thinking about ways in which I could incorporate their use in my classroom, and I came up with a grand idea.

I was not only going to break a school rule regarding technology (again), but I was also going to enlist the parents.

We are starting our project creating citizenship web modules and I am introducing Google tools in the classroom. While the students were typing their essential questions in an outline on Google Docs I got the idea that maybe the students should create their own PLN.

I had them text "What is the purpose of government" to an adult such as their parents, grandparents, older sibling, or guardian. Each class of 22 students received at least 11 text messages with some really great responses. I posted all of them on the example Google doc for the students to refer back to. Some of the responses were even quite funny. In fact, no less than 2 students were asked by their parents if they were cheating on a test.

Week 4 BP4: That doesn't even COPYRIGHT! Yeah it does!

Faggotron.(2009, December 25). Upular [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVxe5NIABsI

One of the coolest things about using my iPod Touch as an CMS, PLN, and PLE is that I frequently find items that are just so down right cool that I feel compelled to share them. This is one that I found from an App that sorts Youtube videos by educational content. Not quite sure how this one fits, but it is truly entertaining.

Using copyrighted materials appears to be one of those areas of concern for most teachers, especially when it comes to those of us who have students creating digital media. Last year I had the advantage of having an industrious student who shared his musical compositions with his classmates so I didn't have to worry too much about using copyrighted music. However, I like to use Animoto, and I'm not quite sure exactly how copyright free some of their music is.

The above video will be a great example to show my students this year when we have our discussion about copyright and fair use.

Despite the Youtube username that he uses, Pogo is the name that the composer goes by when creating music. This is what a blurb on Last FM has to say about him:

" Pogo is the pseudonym for the emerging 21-year old electronic music artist Nick Bertke in Perth, Western Australia. He is known for his work recording small sounds from single films or scenes, and sequencing them to form new pieces of music. Pogo’s music and videos have attracted a large and devoted following that continues to grow every day" (Last.FM, 2010).

Pogo gives his compositions away for free on Last.FM because he technically does not own the intellectual copyright to any of the music or scenes depicted in his videos. Despite the fact that he is using Disney properties to make music, because he isn't making any money from this venture, Disney hasn't issued the cease and desist. It makes me wonder how much Disney is willing to ignore blatant use of their material since many a daycare center here in FL sport shabbily created "virtual facsimiles thereof" various Disney characters outside their establishments, and have done so for years.

It will be interesting to enter my students into a debate over fair use and let them voice their opinion on the matter.

Last.FM. (2010). Pogo. Retrieved August 24, 2010 from http://www.last.fm/music/Pogo

Week 3 BP4: If you E-create it, they will come.

Image "My Edmodo page" Joe Huber

As I sit typing this entry, I notice that my inbox is becoming inundated with mail messages. Upon further investigation I notice that all of this new mail is in the form of email notifications from Edmodo informing me that my students have begun posting to an assignment that isn't even due yet.

With Zander's help and advice, I've created AAA assignments that students get credit just for doing. This post involves students taking a practice naturalization test online and then commenting on whether or not they think that all U.S. citizens should take the test. Surprisingly, the students began to make additional posts to each other commenting on the scoring of the test, the validity of the questions, and why it is a necessary component to the naturalization process. They've completed my assignment, and they've created one of their own.

That surely is a testimony to why, as teachers, we should take the opportunity to sometimes just give our students an A. Especially when you consider that this all began on day 1 of school.

Zander, R. S. & Zander, B. (2000). The art of possibility. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press