Class 4

Please use the comments component of this blog to accomplish the assignment below:

Read the article, Five Riveting Ideas, at the following: http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2006/10/five-riveting-ideas

The Five Riveting Ideas article presents a variety of ideas, classroom applications and solutions relevant to the emerging technology needs of our culture and our students. Which of these do you find relevant to your needs as a teacher and how could these be utilized as practical solutions in your classrooms. (I realize that we all work in imperfect environments, so please do not use up energy explaining all the reasons why these ideas cannot be implemented. Try to be positive and see if you can cull from these ideas ways in which you can move forward in your own particular educational environment. Also, please acknowledge and validate ideas from your classmates which you have found useful. This way we can use this forum as a means to do some productive sharing.)

Use our blog to briefly discuss the role technology will play in expanding relationships between and among students, teachers and the larger community. To what extent will technology allow control of learning to shift from teacher to student? One or two paragraphs will suffice.

Thank you all!

First of all, I'd like to thank you for the way in which you fulfilled this assignment. I spent the past (5:30 am to 7:00 am) reading your analyses. They were all exceptionally thoughtful and well written.The assignment (not conceived by me) worked perfectly with a group of teachers I consider one of the most cohesive that I have worked with. The interwoven comments throughout were thoughtful and cogent as well.

I have to confess to you that my middle name is Thomas (true) and I say that as someone who's an eternal optimist (BTW There is a blog entitled, The Eternal Optimist). There is within me, however, a touch of skepticism, not cynicism, just mild skepticism.

As I read the articles, I tried to fit each theory into my concept of reality within the classroom-the one I was familiar with. And I asked myself, "How well would this work, really?"

Then I looked at the short bio of each author and asked myself, " How close to the classroom were they, and were they more theoretician than teacher?"

Johnny Mercer was the one who said, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and you guys certainly did that well and that was, after all, explicit in the assignment directions. You managed to identify strategies that you could use or do use. In short, you all had very good ideas about how to meld technology reality with your classroom situations.

When I read your comments, I noticed that there was a shared gratitude of place. There was an appreciation of being part of a vocational school in general and being part of Monty Tech in particular. I saw the fortune of time and place very soon after coming on your campus. "We can't do that here," is a common refrain at most schools when speaking about the promise of technology. Not so at your school. And yes, as noted, Jon is part of the equation. Thank you , Jon. It wasn't just Jon, either. I came to Monty to visit the lab weeks before class began and called six weeks before that. I received the same nice treatment from everyone I encountered here. Staff people were ready to help me do my job (facilitating technology) better rather than delimiting it.

My feeling (without ever visiting your classrooms) is that you are technology aware and employ an above average amount of it in your classes and that you try to push the envelope with it whenever you can. You understand that technology is not an end unto itself, but is best incorporated into our curricula. The emphasis should not be on learning "the software," teaching with it, otherwise we get caught up with the bells and whistles.

Today, we'll spend our class time working on and hopefully finishing our Movie Maker flicks. I'll be coming around to help you any way that I can. I'm going to bring in a few microphones, so if you need to add narration using your own voice, I'll have 'em. I know that at least one of you will be doing that and will be using the adjacent classroom as a recording studio.

But before we do any of that, I'd like to show you a half dozen or so tutorial videos on Movie Maker from a site my daughter and I belong to. It's called, lynda.com, it's a pay site and it's authored by the same company that has been selling computer how-to books and DVDs for a long time.

Each video runs from 3-5 minutes. I'll run one that demonstrates the interface and then I'll go through a half dozen or so dealing with utilizing the features of the program. They are designed to help you come up with a professional looking movie as quickly as possible.

After I'm done, I leave the site up and logged in so that should you wish to view any of the remainder of tutorials, you will be able.

If you choose to do that, please confine yourselves to those tutorials that deal with Windows Movie Maker.


Eric

Class 3

Today's class:

Today will be a work session for all intents and purposes. I'd like to come around to each one of you and go over your work so far, as well as have you tell me how you're doing and how you plan to proceed. The spacing of seats in the lab as well as my size really don't lend themselves to that purpose, but we'll persevere somehow.

You need to utilize me as much as you can while you're in class. I don't mind; I love it when that happens. The more I can help you, the more satisfaction, the happier I'll be.

While we're doing that, I'd like you to the following:

1. Please make sure that you've viewed all the Powerpoint resources that were listed at the end of Class 2's blog. If you need any help or advice, please ask me as I make my rounds.
2. Next, I'd like you to view the following links below that relate to Windows Live Movie Maker.
3. After viewing the tutorials and education related Movie Maker files, please work on an outline that you would use to create your video. Just come up with an idea for implementing a short video within you project. It could even be part of the introduction-your way of introducing to your students that which you'd like them to accomplish.
4. Some of the videos that you will sample tonight will contain no recorded video (from a video camera), and animation has been achieved through placement and manipulation of static pictures and screen text. The audio tracks have been added to enhance the viewing experience.

Windows Live Movie Maker Related Videos:

Windows Live Essentials: Movie Maker
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/movie-maker-get-started



Tell a Story with Windows Live Movie Maker
http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/tell-story.aspx


How to Make Lessons Memorable with a Movie
http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/professional_development/how_make_lessons_memorable_movie


Movie Maker Student Created Short Movies
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/studentpagesmovies.html



Sound Files for Your Videos

Just below, I've also included some sites that offer free music downloads for tracks that you may wish to include as background:

http://www.laurasmidiheaven.com/indextest.shtml#null


http://www.last.fm/music/+free-music-downloads


http://archive.org/details/opensource_audio


http://www.madeloud.com/download-music/instrumental


If you wish to voice over with your own voice we can use Audacity to do that.

Take a look around at these sites, have patience, and don't get bogged down with the amount of choices. I have two royalty instrumental music files on my computer desktop. I've used them when creating podcasts with teachers. If you want to play with them for now, let me know and we can drag them off onto your flash drive.


Image Sites:


Google Images
http://www.google.com/imghp


Free Stock Photos (be sure to read copywrite restrictions on their homepage)
http://freestockphotos.com/


Free Stock Images
http://www.turbophoto.com/Free-Stock-Images/


Pics4Learning
http://www.pics4learning.com/

Class 2

Prepare a “rough draft” of the expository paper. This should be a 2-3 page, single-space paper about a topic which will become the basis or an introduction to the learning unit within which the later power point presentation and Webquest will be part of. Please save any graphics you wish to have included and know which websites you need to visit to download images from the Web.

....more to follow

Have a great weekend!

See you on Thursday evening or Friday morning.

Eric

Hic nos vado...

Thank you so much for being such a great group. I had a great time with you guys. You were punctual, receptive, and in possession of a good sense of humor. I could also tell that you all genuinely like each other.

Please take a look at this 6 minute video which will help you with your word document and text wrapping graphics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAmVwXKEUVI

It's comprehensive and very well done. Please let me know how you found it with a brief comment below.

Important! If we are going to use TappedIn for our makeup class, it's essential that each of you can communicate with the rest of us via the chat window. Please login to TI at the computer you will be using during that class to make sure that you have chat capabilities. Java has to be installed and there will be a troubleshooting FAC on site if you need it. When you comment about the Youtube video, just add whether you can chat or not while you are at TI.

Please plan to email me your drafts as attachments before Monday morning so that I can look them over before class. Thank you.

Have a great weekend.

Eric

Although all of the above is related to the second (this afternoon) class, what follows is what we'll try to accomplish in class.

***If you forgot to take a dry run using the chat window in TI last week, or you tried with no luck, please make yourself known to me at some point during today's class. If our April makeup class is going to run without a hitch (I know, I know, you're thinking about that man Murphy who always seems to show up unwanted) or as close to it as possible, we'll need to eliminate to all the obvious problems.

I read all your drafts and they prove my contention (I spoke of during the first class) that I always gain more from the teachers I work with than they do from me. They all contain wonderful ideas. There were a couple missing, which is probably my fault. So if you didn't receive a recognition email from me today, please let me know when we're in our work phase and I'm coming around to assist you.

A large portion of today's class will be set aside to finalize your papers. Please use me to help you with any formatting issues you might have as well as the inclusion of graphics. As I told you last week, I enjoy working with teachers so please do not be reluctant to ask for help with your work.

I promised you that we would spend some time formatting word processing files (tabs and indents) and we shall. I have 9 or 10 files I'd like to show you and have you go through. They are designed to take you quickly through some formatting concepts that I would almost bet you hadn't seen before. When we're finished with them, you may not be Word certified experts, but you'll be equipped to make your documents a lot more attractive and, more importantly, easier to read.

I'll also use a Powerpoint (which you'll all be using) presentation to tie in some desktop publishing design concepts such as font selection, text reduction to bullet points, punctuation, and online aesthetics. We'll use Powerpoint to cover some of basic document styles and design.

These are merely Powerpoint FYIs

Microsoft Developing an Interactive Story with Powerpoint

http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/how-to/Pages/interactive-story.aspx

University of Minnesota Using Powerpoint to Create Educational Games

http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/teachlearn/tutorials/powerpoint/games/

Educational Virtual Museums Developed using Powerpoint

http://christykeeler.com/EducationalVirtualMuseums.html

Powerpoint Dos and Don't s

http://www.hrsonline.org/Education/WomensLeadership/ProfGrowth/EffectivePres/PPT/DoDont/

Absolute Basic Powerpoint Tutorial 1 (part of a series)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhDZ7yjM3w

Storing your resources:

I also want to talk about collecting resources such as graphics and their formats such as png and jpg, etc. Where they should be stored and how they should be named.

Graphics should all be stored in one folder.

Graphics should b renamed only if necessary i.e., 230986wsk.jpg is not very user friendly and since its name reveals nothing about what it represents, it could be renamed textbook.jpg or baseball.jpg keeping all the letters lower case and including no spaces or special characters except a dot or an underscore.

Once in situ, they should not be moved which could break any link to them.

If we keep all your related files in one folder, should anything happen to your project such as having trouble locating it, you will able to reconstruct it and avoid starting from scratch.

More to follow...maybe

Class 1

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to "Curriculum and Technology". I'm so glad to be teaching this
course and it's going to be nice to see some familiar faces as well as get to
know some new ones.

Welcome to our first class. I hope that you'll find it low stress, enjoyable, and that you'll take much useful information away with you during and after the class.

IMPORTANT: Carefully record all usernames and passwords that you create today (and every day actually) so that you don't find yourself wasting time looking for files that you need!

Please bring a flash drive or some other portable digital storage device to class each week for your work.

This blog is going to be one way that we stay in touch, given the fact that most of the classes will take place in class, while one session might be synchronous and online. An overriding concern of mine has always been the comfort level of my students, since I believe that it has a direct correlation to how readily and enthusiastically the technology will be transferred to the classroom. To that end I will reiterate what we do in the course here and in my office at a virtual professional development center called Tapped In (http://tappedin.org).

Please make sure to check both sites during the week. After we have spoken today, and before our next class, we'll set aside a regular time to perform that checking each week. In asynchronous classes, assignments get viewed by classes over the course of the week-and sometimes in an untimely way that does not allow enough time for thought and responses.

I'm acutely aware of the incredible demands on every classroom teacher. I think that you'll see that in the flexibility of the way in which I conduct my courses. We do need, however, to touch base a couple of times each week, no matter how briefly. In addition, please let me know as soon as necessary if anything I can control, is causing you undue stress.

This afternoon, we'll do brief introductions, discuss our schedule of classes, trade email addresses, (mine is egroves@comcast.net), visit my office at TappedIn and set up accounts for you there.

Please be patient with our pace whether it be, in your view, too slow or too quick. I'll try individualize it and tailor the material covered to each of you as best I am able.


Second Caution. IMPORTANT: Carefully record all usernames and passwords that you create today (and every day actually) so that you don't find yourself wasting time looking for files that you need!

Then I'd like you to access our blog again and sign on as a public follower by clicking on the "Follow" button at the top of my blog page. In that way each time our class blog is updated you'll see the link when you access your own blog.

Next I'd like you (we'll all go there together) tappedin.org. Login as a guest. You'll be asked to give a username for yourself and then to check their user policy. You'll then find yourself in the reception lobby. Look up to your left under the "Reception" link and click on "In this building." At the next screen, locate "6 Tapped In Offices Floor" and click the link to the right. At the next screen, click on the link (upper left) "On This Floor."

Next click on the link "Tapped In: Places" then "Search Rooms" at the next screen. In the next search box type in "ericg" and then look for the blue link to my office. That will take you there. Later when you've set up your own account and reenter my office, you can pull down the "Favorite Places" menu and add my room. That way you'll have quick access each time you go to Tapped In.

Your next assignment is to back out as a "Guest" and go back in and set up a permanent account for yourself. When asked, please list me as a sponsor.

When you get back in as your new self please (no stolen identities please just a bit of humor), navigate to my office and set it as a "Favorite Place", sign in on the whiteboard and date your visit. We must discuss two small windows (time) each week that we can at least briefly check both places (our class blog and Tapped In). Please be sure to remind me to iron this out before you leave class today!

Next on the agenda-accessing the syllabus for this course. I've posted it in my office. It will remain there so don't feel the need to print it out. In the spirit of conservation, we'll try to leave as many documents as we can in digital format.


This post is essentially a dry run, but it is only one of a number of ways
that we will communicate during the next 10 weeks or so.

The class will meet at 4:00 PM on 10 consecutive Tuesdays. Our last class should meet on May 15th, leaving the 22nd as our snow/makeup day. I'm going to try to have one class will online; therefore you can break out the snuggies and the hot chocolate and never leave your couch.

In addition to our actual class time in MT's lab, we'll be meeting virtually in
my office in TI's virtual professional development center (more about that
later) or via blogs (yours and mine) and email.

During the beginning of the first session, I'm going to try to learn about your
interests for your project and which directions you might want to proceed in with regard to it.

Before I forget, I want to give you my email address. It is egroves@comcast.net
and you'll find the addresses of your fellow students in my first email's header. The address (URL) of this blog is the following: http://egroves-curriculumandtechnology.blogspot.com/ and I will be using it to communicate with you between classes and as a fairly accurate chronicle of what we cover in each class.

Eric

BTY 5 bonus points or a trip to the prize closet to whoever reads this first and reminds me to append the additional resources twice (two stages)!

FYI or Interest Only:

If you are so inclined and wish to learn more about educational blogs for teachers or students, please feel free to take a look at the following sites related to finding and using educational blogs:

Blog by Carol; 38 Ways to find Edublogs

http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2009/02/38-ways-to-find-great-edublogs/

Take a look at the entry entitled Concerns over teen blogging continue, by going to http://www.bloggersblog.com/cgi-bin/bloggersblog.pl?bblog=112505

Blogging with pseudonymous and protecting student identity: http://blogsforlearning.msu.edu/blog/archives/2

Also see the entry, Blogs and Kids-Staying Sake and Having Fun, http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/031606.htm

High Tech High Overview Videos and Files:

Wikipedia Article about HTH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_and_Jerri-Ann_Jacobs_High_Tech_High_Charter_School

Where Everyone Can Overachieve

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/1011/080.html

High Tech, Higher Learning: A School Grows Its Own Teachers

http://www.edutopia.org/high-tech-high-graduate-school-video

Transformed by Technology at High Tech High

http://www.edutopia.org/high-tech-high-collaboration-age-video

Project Based Learning at HTH

http://www.hightechhigh.org/projects/

High Tech High Students Learn Art Of Storytelling With Sound

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/mar/02/students-learn-art-storytelling-sound/

One Minute Movie Project

https://sites.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/zoe-randall-digital-portfolio/home/projects/semester-two/one-minute-movie

About Webquests http://ocw.usu.edu/instructional-technology-learning-sciences/principles-and-practices-of-technology/webquests-skinless_view.html

What are the essential parts of a Webquest? http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub3.html

Whale Webquest http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/Lee/

Bread and Roses, Too http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=59207

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly (w video) http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=1575

Interpreting Classical Music through Video http://questgarden.com/113/72/3/101115133835/

Where did the pictures go? http://questgarden.com/114/24/5/101116060916/

Zunal Webquest User Guide http://zunal.com/help-resources.php

A Webquest Resource Page….http://sites.google.com/site/442webquests/middle-school/science/science-process-skills

Windows Live Movie Maker in the classroom http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/windows-live-movie-maker.aspx

Movie Maker Digital Storytelling (student made examples) http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/studentpagesmovies.html

Boston Harbor BYC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bChmIaAnIPU

NASA Webquest http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/kennedy/

Managing a Stock Portfolio http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/besold/

Health Webquest http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/kulakowski/

Penguin Webquest http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/burke/

Wampanoag Webquest http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/heathbrook/

Clouds and Weather Webquest http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/raposo/

I’ve included this as a good example of using sound files to enhance a project: Teacher Created Podcasts http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/downey/

Teacher Created Instructional Videos http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/k_dares_videos/

Vertebrates of the Animal Kingdom http://gilligan.mec.edu/~groves/titus/