Saturday, August 28, 2010

Week 4: Publishing/Leadership Presentation

"Blank Business Card" (2010) The Stock Exchange. http://sxc.hu

I was all set to present during the Saturday Wimba session and missed out thanks to a power outage. I plan on going in and listening to the archive to see how some of my classmate's final projects sounded.

As fate would have it, a Skype call from Stacie Stoumbaugh with some great tips and hints earlier in the day led me to make some final changes to my work. So HUGE shout out to Stacie with her grammar help!

I'm excited to be almost finished with this program and look forward to moving towards the future.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Week 4: Publishing/Leadership part 3

"Burning to Ashes" (2010) The Stock Exchange http://sxc.hu

I've made my decision and I think that I will be submitting to Computing in Education (AACE). I have mixed feelings about this as I am not in this career for the prestige that can be showered down upon me. My AR was specific to my classes and what I did worked. I'm finding so far this year that it's a different scenario with different students who no where near possess the amount of knowledge concerning technology that last year's students did.

Now my AR feels more like one of those studies that tries to convince you that something is a best practice. I really don't feel comfortable selling myself this way, and I don't feel comfortable marketing Full Sail's name.

Ultimately I pursued this degree to better myself and to fulfill my desire to be a life long learner. That was and always will be my only goal.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

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: Comment on Kathy Kellen's Blog



Wk 4 Reading "WE all Have a Story..."

Each of us has a story about our EMDT year. We have shared the same courses and course directors, yet each of us has had a unique experience, because of the "life" that "happened" during the past 11 months.
A huge part of my experience can be related to the "WE story"! (Zander, 2000) "The WE story points to relationship rather than to individuals, to communication patterns, gestures, and movement rather than to discrete objects and identities." (p.183)
The WE encouraged growth. WE are each other's cheerleaders, support, and have shared laughter, prayers and tears. Competition was set aside, instead there is appreciation of unique styles and the focus on the "unseen threads that connect us all" (p.183)
The WE helps me to see the possibilities beyond the end of this journey to the beginning of another.
I am SO thankful for my EMDT WE story!
Posted by kathykellen at 9:21 AM

Joe Huber said...
Kathy, I just have to thank you (and the entire group) for allowing me to be part of the WE, at least what I was comfortable with.
I appreciate the WE understood my idiosyncrasies and belief that online learning does not HAVE to be cooperative learning, but rather it CAN be.

I look forward to seeing the WE evolve through WoW.
August 26, 2010 10:45 AM

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

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

Monday, August 23, 2010

Week 4: Comment on Abbie's Blog

Wk 4 Reading - Deepest Fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous-
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."
-Marianne Williamson


I found this quote in Ch. 11 (Frameworks for Possibility) in our textbook, and it opened up a world of possibility for me! I have so much fear in my life (which I mentioned in the discussion boards for this week) and this quote identifies the fear, reminds me I am a child of God, and encourages me to be myself without fear!


I also enjoyed the story in Ch. 11 about a woman named Alice Kahana and the very last thing she ever said to her brother. She has lived the rest of her life vowing to "not say anything that could not stand as the last thing she ever said." What if we thought about each thing we say to another human being as being the last? What would you change about what you say to your friends, family, and even strangers? I would change a lot of conversations I have...I would think more before I speak. What a great lesson to learn!



1 comments:

Joe Huber said...

One of the hardest things that I think we have to realize is human beings is that we are all a bit odd or strange to someone. That being said, I often fly my freak flag proudly and prominently.

It truly is a great lesson to learn to never say anything that you might regret. Years ago I decided to live my life this way. I do try to think and listen more than I speak. I too look towards my faith as a bit of guidance and now that I have rule #6 in my repertoire I feel much better about the way I approach situations.
I actually practiced shining my own light today with a colleague who was a bit stressed about her predicament. She said it helped and we're both better for the experience.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Week 4 Reading: Misplaced Blame or Beyond the Board

"BLAME" by Joe Huber 2010

"The first part is to declare 'I am the framework for everything that happens in my life'" (Zander, 2000).

It's easy to get caught up in the blaming game. Fingers are pointed and words are exchanged. Each side strives to make their point so effectively (and sometimes loudly) that they don't often hear what the other person is trying to say. Sometimes this is the outcome of the particular game that we have chosen to play. Far too often we feel like we are at the whim of some larger force or some grand scheme when, in reality, we have the ability to shape our own destinies simply in viewing the world from reality glasses.

Far too often I've seen the fault and blame waltz, and sometimes I've been a willing participant. After all, it's easy to blame a slight fumble or misstep on your dance partner claiming that they have two left feet or stepped on yours.

It's that system of reward and punishment that we use to measure accountability that facilitates this behavior. Consider that high stakes standardized test that is administered to our students each spring, and you'll see what I mean. Students either score high, which results in a reward for them (passing to the next grade level), reward for the school (A status earns prestige and more money), and rewards for the staff (continued employment). Should these students not do well on the test, they are held back, schools lose funding, and employees are fired. For two years in a row, my school has failed to make AYP, despite being an A+ school. The first year we were told it was the fault of the teachers because we weren't differentiating enough. The teachers in turn blamed the students saying that they failed the test on purpose or just weren't smart enough. This year there was another round of blame, but I didn't pay attention to it. I zoned out.

I would rather be the board than one of the players this year. Maybe those students who didn't win the game last year did so because they really didn't want to play it. At some point we have to realize that the rules were written by adults, for adults. Children are the innocent pawns that are forced to play the board game when they would rather play a video game. They are bored with the board.

In typing this I've just had an epiphany. I don't want to be the board, I want to be the playing field.
Zander, R.S., & Zander, B. (2000). The art of possibility. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.