Inspiration

       Exploring the resource website from Inspiration Software, Inc. was very insightful and gave me a couple ideas as to how I could use this in my own classroom. Two ways for students to understand how history changes over time are webs and timelines. Using Inspiration, students will be able to create their own representation of a specific event in history, and will be able to add visual ads to further their understanding of the historical event. This form of technology would fall under the modification level of SAMR because students have the choice of how they outline their timeline or web, and also can add visuals and many other aspects to enhance their learning. This would be an engaging way for students to exhibit their learning instead of a regular timeline or web on simple paper and pencil.
       Another resource I discovered is a lesson plan that deals with comparing and contrasting two different subjects. These would be interesting to use in a history classroom because students would benefit from comparing different views and ideas of historical figures. I found the lesson plan, a step by step tutorial about how to use the software in the classroom very helpful and a tool I may use inside the class time. I would allow students to add notes and images, either from clip art or their web cam, to increase their display of understanding. This lesson plan would also fall under the SAMR level of modification because students are adding features to their web of comparing and contrasting that would otherwise not be possible in substitution.

Fires in the Bathroom: Chapter Two

       Within chapter two there is a section titled "Do Students Need to Like a Teacher?"(19) and I found a student's response particularly interesting. Vance emphasizes: "...that doesn't mean you have to be our best friend, because that will cause our education to suffer. I hate to admit it, but respect and authority are part of the job. Kids expect adults to give us direction and boundaries, but it's a balance"(19). I whole-heartedly agree with the statement because as a student, I always had more respect for teachers who gave directions and had high expectations, yet still could let loose and make a joke.
       I hope to implement this in my own classroom because I want my students to look forward to class. A relaxed classroom environment where expectations are still met and exceeded is the ideal for any teacher, and I hope to have that relationship with my students. There is a difference between doing the work and being a friend. I hope when I am a teacher, I can differentiate the appropriate times to be a friend or role-model, and be an educator.

Fires in the Bathroom: Chapter One

       In chapter one of "Fires in the Bathroom" a student named Porsche described her typical day of school. Activities in Porsche's day consisted of waking up at 6:30 in the morning to get herself ready for school, and also to help her brother and sister to school. Porsche does not get home until 8:30 after her two different sport practices.
       Reading about Porsche's day really made me think about how well I am going to know my students, and how I am going to do so. If I have a student like Porsche in my classroom, it would be helpful to know about her schedule. For instance, if she does not have a chance to complete a homework assignment, I would be more understanding because I am aware of her situations, and obligations. Overall, if teachers are more informed about their students, they are often likely to have better relationships with their students than teachers who are oblivious to students lives outside of school.

Wes Fryer Chapter 6: Video

StoryRob allows for students to record their voice over a slide show of presentation. This would be an interesting tool for creating a more interactive lecture for students, or letting them use this website as a resource for engaging their audience when presenting a project.

No edit videos are videos that students do not cut out or edit the material, creating an authentic representation of their learning. No edit videos can also be a tool for problem solving, or to better understand how that student implies the thinking process regarding learning the content.

Animated videos can be created on the website GoAnimate. Animated videos can be time consuming to make, but with the help of this website it seems to move the process along more quickly. Animated videos are an interesting and different way to capture students attention.

Video sandboxes provide educators with homegrown and a filtered resource for students. Video sandboxes are basically another version of Youtube, except school districts put restrictions on content.

I might incorporate video into one of my lesson plans by having students create a podcast. Their podcasts should include taking the role of what you believe to be an important historical figure, and explaining their thoughts, beliefs, and actions, and how it was relevant to that time period. However, it would be interesting if they created a video of illustrations or pictures to accompany their podcasts.

Wes Fryer Chapter 3: Audio

        When I read Wes Fryer’s chapter on audio, I initially did not think that I would find sources as intriguing as I did. The first link I clicked on was for autoboom. Autoboom is a website that has short audio clips, usually of news, with a corresponding picture and an optional comment section. The site also contains channels of organized audio clips, such as the Times, which differs from their home feed of random assorted news stories. I love this website, and would incorporate it into my classroom by finding a social issue to focus on and having students use an Audioboom clip as one of their resources. 

        Vacaroo is a simple website that allows for students to record themselves. It was very simple and very easy to use and after recording, it saves audio files easily and safely to a computer. This would be good in the classroom because unlike Audioboom, it is very straightforward, and students would not become off task or distracted because of its one purpose feature. 

        Unlike Vacaroo, is Audiopal. I do not think that I would use Audiopal in my classroom because it has a dangerous function that allows students to type whatever they want, and have transferred to an audio message. It would be great it students did use it appropriately, however, I think it would be hard to manage in a classroom setting. If I was to use this in the classroom, it would be interesting to do as a check in. At the end of a lesson, having students type and summarize their big ideas, and send them in an email to me privately, which is all possible through the website. The next day in class I could share out my favorites, while still protecting my students privacy if they so desired.

       I would enjoy incorporating audio into my classroom because I think it is a different media tool that students do not get much access to. As Wes Fryer states: “audio can be an extremely compelling format to document our lives as and our learning experiences”

Google Earth

       While discovering Google Earth, I learned that Mars has a traveler's guide to help aliens such as myself learn more about the foreign planet. A cool feature, the Saturn icon allows users of Google Earth to explore different parts of our solar system. I chose Mars and was blown away by how much research is still an ongoing process about the planet closest to the sun. NASA uploads real photos of Mars with scientific understandings, explaining what the pictures were about. I am a social studies concentration, and still found this feature really interesting, and applicable to what I can teach in my own classroom.

       I will use Google Earth in my classroom because Richard Byme has excellent resources for multiple different content areas. By downloading his U.S history tours into Google Earth, spots of specific battles of wars are highlighted, and when clicked on, a short summary of that specific battle can be found. I thought this was an awesome tool and never imagined that Google Earth could be used for this. Google Earth is a great tool for giving kids a spacial representation of what happened and where it happened. Usually when kids learn about battles, they have a hard time placing them on the map and conceptualizing how a course of a war transpired. With Google Earth, it really captures both of those ideas, and puts them into practice wonderfully. What an amazing tool to use in the classroom, I am applauding and thanking Google Earth and the ingenuity of Mr. Byme!  

Maine Memory Network

       I have never seen the Main Memory Network, so when I first discovered the website, it felt like I was hitting the jackpot. I thought it was so interesting how when I searched my hometown, different historical pictures, taxes, and documents came up. The historical time periods in Portland really came alive to me through those documents. I really enjoyed this website, and am so glad I found it because it will be a resource for me in the classroom that I will probably continuously use throughout my teaching career. Yay for new resources!
       As a social studies concentration, I could use this website in a number of ways. First, connecting this to my unit in Dr. Graces class about the American Revolution, I could have my students look at primary documents from the colonial time period. My students will be able to get a better sense of what that time period means through actual pictures and real life stories verses something they read about in a text book.

Wes Fryer Chapter 4: Copyright and Fair Use

       Throughout the Wes Fryer chapter on Copyright and Fair Use, I learned that there are many different components and regulations within each of guidelines and a good way for remembering them would be a mnemonic. I gathered knowledge about the public domain, which are differing types of media that are not copyrighted and are free for the use of others. I also discovered that fair use allows teachers to show portions of materials that are copyright but there are limits to how much they show, and how it ties in with their content. NASA's pictures are almost always apart of the public domain, which I found very interesting, and a good tool for incorporating into my classroom.
       I hope to always remain cautious when handling the protection of intellectual property in my future classroom. I will do this by trying to acquire the most information I can about the guidelines of fair use, and copyright, so I can make informed decisions about what types of sources I can use. Also, by using resources such as Wes Fryer and checking back on my blog to refresh my memory about copyright and fair use in my classroom.

Copyright and Fair Use

       To start learning about Copyright and Fair Use inside the classroom and school settings, I completed a brief pre-assessment quiz written by Hall Davidson. The quiz titled "The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use" gave different scenarios about teachers and what kinds of content such as VCR's, or computer programs were permissible and which would be breaking Copyright and Fair Use laws.

       Most of my answers were wrong, given that my knowledge of Copyright and Fair Use is very hazy. My answers nonetheless surprised me, but served as a good learning experience. Questions 2 discusses the issue of copying a computer program photoshop from one computer on a network so it can be accessed by multiple students. I got this question wrong because I thought that it was a violation of copyrighting. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the answer, because it was true! If the school owns a program it can be copied to the server where multiple students can access it. Question 7 deals with teachers uploading student work to a website that is only entered by students and other parents, by username and password. I got this question right, and was glad because I could envision myself using this in the classroom and it would satisfy the guidelines of fair use, as long as I monitored the website to see that "the outside world wasn't getting in". Question 11 has a teacher who is using a PBS film and having students "edit themselves into" to further their understanding of California. I got this question wrong and was actually surprised that teachers are allowed to do this in their classrooms. One question that got me a little upset was question 12. I did not understand why manufacturers are now instituting blocking technology which means that educators can't share more recent DVD's and VCR's which I think is absolutely ridiculous and inhibits our ability for sharing some media sources that would be beneficial for our students learning. Question 15, which talked about compiling video clips together does not fall under the fair use guidelines. This upset me a little bit because I feel as though students learn through video, and if teachers cannot use many different kinds of video it in their classroom, then students will ultimately pay the price for these restrictions. However, the answer did provide links to free videos that can be used. Question 17, I was glad that I got correct because it dealt with students using pictures of local businesses in their projects. I am satisfied that students can take pictures and then share them with the outside world. This made me feel a little better about their strict rules regarding copyrighting and fair use.

       This is all helpful information that I will use in the classroom because as an educator I want to set a good example for appropriate online behavior, and behaviors with media in general to my students. I also do not want to be responsible for getting my school in trouble with the fair use guidelines! Through taking this online quiz, I found many ways to incorporate different medias in my classroom while becoming aware and in touch with the copyrighting boundaries that exist.

Meaningful Engaged Learning and Learning Styles

In the article written by Mike Muir, "What engages underachieving middle school students in learning?" students success is determined by a teachers engaging their specific learning styles in the classroom. By examining the four different categories of the Meaningful Engaged Learning Model,  environment, experience, motivation, and meaning, students are more likely recognize and identify with what they are learning. Also, if teachers use this model properly, students will retain knowledge easier because it is more applicable and relatable to their own lives. Contradicting Muir’s theory was Richard Felder, who believes that student's multiple intelligences, such as sensing vs. intuition can be successful in multiple environments. Felder essentially believes that there is no precedent for learning styles in the classroom, however, no research supports his argument.

Personally, when I took a VAK, I got the results of a visual learner. Many of the suggestions for making the most with my learning style included drawing pictures, using different colors pens and markers when studying key concepts, and that visual learners tend to think upward when listening. I agree with most of what the survey said except that I tend to look forward, or at the speaker when I am listening. However, everything else stated was spot on about being a visual learner. Their strategies for teaching other visuals learner includes handing out charts, and outlines that students can fill in. I have to agree with this because as a visual learner myself, I found it easier to learn content if my teachers allowed white spaces to fill in with my own ways of remembering specific ideas.