tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32459013362359324902024-03-08T10:10:25.000-08:00PternophobiaJaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-26661654525822284342008-02-29T17:30:00.000-08:002008-02-29T17:31:14.826-08:00Link to final project for December 18thLearningWorks wiki:<br />learningworks.pbwiki.comJaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-4154193554667241922008-02-29T17:11:00.000-08:002008-02-29T17:30:00.706-08:00Blog post for December 11thDigital portfolios.<br />A brilliant idea. What better way to track student progress than by using these innovative and engaging tools to understand student thinking and development. When we first began this class I had a very limited understanding of what "digital literacy" meant. Each week we learned a new brilliant tool that directly addressed some of the questions I had in relation to guaging student progress and development. Many times it is hard to track to minor development from assignment to assignment with any level of writer. These tools challenged me to have to think, write, and read in ways that were often new and at times uncomfortable. And all I found myself getting increasingly excited about using these tools with LearningWorks students, providing them with these new ways to read and write and making literacy accessible in ways they are familiar with and find engaging.<br />After a semester of school, the term "digital literacy" has become a common theme coming out of my mouth. Incoporating digital tools in the classroom will be a requirement for all 22 of my teachers as they plan their courses for this summer's program. This does not just mean projecting the teacher-made PowerPoint for lecture each day. Students will be required to do hands-on digital work in each of their classes, really opening up the possibilities of what can happen at LearningWorks over the summer. As I wrap up the interview season for this summer, one of my favorite questions to ask teachers is about their awareness of digital literacy tools. Most commonly the answer is "no" followed by a blank pause. Once informed of what it means and what the expectations of our teachers will be, all of the teacher-candidates have gotten excited about the myriad of tools available for them to use.<br />As for myself, I have already begun incorporating some of these tools in my work and personal life. My final project was creating the LearningWorks wiki, on which my teachers communicate, plan, and can tally attendance. Without this tool I am sure our Project Based Learning initiative for the School Year Program would have been far from successful. Outside of my position at LearningWorks, I give fastpitch pitching lessons for high school girls. Developing a blog with pictures, lessons, and themes for my pitchers has been very helpful in their training and development. Beyond the couple of hours of coaching each girl receives weekly, I am able to assign them "thinking" assignments in which they go out onto the web to find images, articles, and video to help them understand the different concepts we are working on.<br />Part of my LearningWorks job is to revamp the curriculum for the program. A large part of this change will include students maintaining digital portfolios of the work they do as students during their two years at LearningWorks. This will be a tangible portfolio of evidence they can take with them as they enter high school and challenge themselves to be in rigorous programs and classes. I am still working on the details as what digital form these portfolios will take, but blogs and wikis are both possibilities. I look forward to planning the details of what digital tools will be expected to have been used over the course of two years in our program.<br />I have truly enjoyed and learned a significant amount in this course. Using these new tools with students is something I am excited and driven to do in striving to expand and increase student engagement and literacy.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-67120200281603535152008-02-29T16:44:00.000-08:002008-02-29T17:10:54.537-08:00Blog post for December 4thProviding online feeback to student writing can be exciting, but can also be challenging. Instead of the traditional red-pen editing marks and margin-sized comments, online editing can be an interactive experience with many people giving feedback in a short period of time, and revisions being made in "real time". My favorite way to provide online feedback to digital writing is by using the wiki. Basic and simple to use, wikis are a great tool for tracking student progress and student thinking. When a student submits a paper to a wiki, it is easy to go into the paper and make comments, suggestions, and changes in a different color font. Then, when the student comes to edit the paper, they can create a copy of the draft and make suggested changes and revisions. This creates a "paper trail" without the actual paper and allows students to track their own writing progress through each assignment. Another valuable tool here is digital recording of audio critique of the paper. Audio recordings could be used in a variety of ways. One way that particularly interests me is in self-editing. Reading something you have written aloud has always been proclaimed to be one of the best tools in revising your own work. But the process that happens when a student does self-editing and revision ends up being nearly invisible, or the teacher has assume the transition of thoughts in the student's head to the changes on the paper (and, let me tell you, sometimes making those assumptions is impossible!). I would like to have a student digitally record him or herself reading the paper aloud to him- or herself, stopping when things seem awkward or they have a desire to change something and making an audio notation of what needs to change and how/where. It would also be valuable to have peers read one another's papers outloud digitally, using the same pause-and-suggest method I described before. This makes editing a much more personal and interactive experience while providing teachers with the ability to track student thinking throughout the process.<br />Training peers to edit each other's paper is a difficult thing to do whether you are using a pen and paper or digital means. Effective editing is not a tool we emphasize enough from peer-to-peer; many students are afraid of sharing their work in a classroom, allowing others to make marks on their "masterpiece." All of this changes when students realize that digital writing is universally published writing. Instead of one piece of paper floating around with your ideas and another two or three people looking at it, all of a sudden anyone with internet access can look at and evaluate your writing. In order to have students understand this, one technique I would use would be to have students critique what I feel to be a good Facebook page and a poor Facebook page. To begin, I would have students read the "About Me" sections on each page and write a short blurb about who they understand this person to be...not just from what the person wrote, but also from the grammar, spelling, flow, and engagement of the writing. I would have them note the things that led them to these assumptions and what tools worked on the page. Students would also do that with the poor page. In the end, I would stress to students that each person who visits their digital writing is essentially a critic of their work and, in most cases, is able to leave feedback on what they see and/or hear. To wrap of the activity I would give each small group of students an example of bad digital writing and have each group work together to edit the writing; I will then post the good version of the same writing and see the differences and similarities between student revision and the revision that had occurred.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-27122271649322841842008-02-29T16:06:00.000-08:002008-02-29T16:42:24.764-08:00Blog post for November 27thBAD (AND I MEAN HORRIBLE) SITE<br /><a href="http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/">http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/</a><br /><br />My computer is lucky to still be functioning. Thank you to the less-than-brilliant design of this webpage, it was all I could do to not throw my computer on the floor to stop the pain of this website. The background is visually assaultive, it has horrible digital music looping in the background, there are random graphics of animals moving all around the page, and I have no real idea what the point of the page is even after trying to examine the links without getting a splitting headache. While all of the links work, each page is filled with pointless graphics and animation. Navigating away from the main page was enjoyable only for the fact it eliminated the obnoxious main screen background and music. The only thing that would have made this page worse is if GWB's voice was looped in with the ear-splitting jamtrack that kept repeating over, and over, and over, and over...<br /><br />GOOD SITE<br /><a href="http://www.expedia.com/">http://www.expedia.com/</a><br />Expedia has immense amounts of traffic for a couple of reasons. First, it provides travelers with some pretty enticing deals when setting out to explore the world. Second, finding these deals is significantly more easy than finding someone to sit on your suitcase so you can zipper it shut, not wanting to leave that seventh pair of shorts home during your three-day trip. Expedia, funded by many corporate dollars to fuel their website, has clearly put themselves in the chair of their consumers. Categories are easy to identify, links are clearly labelled. Even when faced with a challenge in trying to find solutions to your travel woes, Expedia's site will suggest alternatives and additional options to help satisfy you on your visit to their site. The site can, at times, be a little bit busy with scrolling specials and locations luring you to tropical destinations or exotic adventures. But even the first time user should feel comfortable using Expedia to search for deals, with the main function of the page, "Build Your Trip", greeting every nomad crossing through.<br /><br /><br />Students creating digital writing for the first time could easily get caught up in all the bells and whistles of the newest programs and innovations. Wanting to use to many graphics, adding distracting animation, and uploading audio just for the sake of sound are common mistakes students will make. Irrelevant links and excessive text are also common errors associated with digital writing. While blogs leave you plenty of room to "journal", things like PowerPoint presentations and webpages are best presented with concise, easily categorized information. The best way to assist students in learning best-practices in relation to digital writing is to have them evaluate current pieces in existence and, most importantly, create their own. It is important to first gage your students' experience with different tools, such as wikis and podcasting. Despite the digital revolution constantly happening, many students have yet to experience some of the most exciting tools available. That being said, let your students explore these programs after a very basic tutorial. Have small groups create web pages, PowerPoint presentations, and the likes. When each project is completed, have the groups rotate around and review and critique each project, making suggestions and pointing out the things that work.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-32050458334354131732008-02-29T15:54:00.000-08:002008-02-29T15:59:47.868-08:00Blog for November 20thBox Logic -<br /><br /><a href="http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/Jaimee">http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/Jaimee's+Traditional+Family+Values</a>Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-83294921159312364082008-02-29T15:35:00.000-08:002008-02-29T15:54:22.909-08:00Blog post for November 6thThe Teacher's Podcast<br /><a href="http://www.teacherspodcast.com/">http://www.teacherspodcast.com/</a><br />I found this podcast while searching for teacher wisdom. Or, I suppose I was just trying to find podcasts that included relevant information, were accessible, and enjoyable to listen to. This podcast included the first two, but I can't go as far as to say I enjoyed listening to it. There was a good conversation about technological resources in the classroom, but it seemed very scripted and very dry. What was meant to be a conversation did not keep me drawn into the topic; I found myself zoning out often. There were no "extras" to this podcast - music, sound effects, banter. Clearly well planned out from the rhetoric side, but not real engaging from a listeners point of view.<br /><br />The Wicked Good Podcast #78<br /><a href="http://cdn1.libsyn.com/wickedgood/WGP_2008-02-20.mp3">http://cdn1.libsyn.com/wickedgood/WGP_2008-02-20.mp3</a><br />With this podcast, I may have found my new favorite procrastination excuse at work. They had it all in this podcast - music, sound effects, banter (ok, clearly this may not be "all" in everyone's world but, let's face it, I am pretty easy to please). The commentators had a great repetoire of one-liners and interacted with one another casually and comfortably. Topics ranged from eBay to Baby Gap, taking multiple perspectives on issues and making them accessible to listeners. I will definitely be checking out this podcast again!<br /><br />The Memphis Edge<br /><a href="http://www.commercialappeal-web.com/theedgepodcast/audio/edge-2007-04-10-63318.mp3">http://www.commercialappeal-web.com/theedgepodcast/audio/edge-2007-04-10-63318.mp3</a><br />If I were from Memphis, maybe this podcast would have been more interesting. Dry, scripted, and, at times, inaudible, this podcast will not be will soon be forgotten. The main announcer was conducting an interview with someone who sounded as though he was on the phone, calling in. Almost impossible to understand, I quickly found myself frustrated with the quality of the podcast and tuned out almost as quickly as I tuned in. Not recommended...unless you are a diehard Memphis fan with no standards for information quality.<br /><br /><br />Podcasting is a phenomenal tool to use in the classroom. The multiple literacy elements that are involved in creating the podcast are challenging, interdisciplinary, and engaging for students who are creating them. One way I have used podcasts is with my two journalism groups. In the beginning, both journalism groups wanted their big project to be creating a final printed newspaper. Instead, I have convinced one group to use blogs and podcasts to create an interactive and multimodal news and information page that can be accessed at any time. The students have started by writing articles for the blog and then creating scripts and/or interviews related to their articles and recording podcasts to post for enhancing their articles. Additionally, with Garage Band they are able to add digital images to their podcasts to enhance the experience of the listener. This has been a powerful method for engaging students in a variety of literacies while using research methods to produce a very unique project.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-69789455834452125852008-01-21T11:31:00.000-08:002008-01-21T14:26:20.800-08:00Place Based video<pre><object classid="clsid:02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B" width="320" height="256" codebase="http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab"><br /> <param name="src" value="https://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/download.php?file=7491"><br /> <param name="qtsrc" value="https://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/download.php?file=7491"><br /> <param name="autoplay" value="true"><br /> <param name="loop" value="false"><br /> <param name="controller" value="true"><br /> <embed src="https://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/download.php?file=7491" qtsrc="https://mediamill.cla.umn.edu/mediamill/download.php?file=7491" width="320" height="256" autoplay="true" loop="false" controller="true" pluginspage="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/"></embed><br /> </object></pre>Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-16911162392718261722008-01-21T10:14:00.000-08:002008-01-21T11:31:15.409-08:00Blog for October 30thTeaching Activity<br /><br />What a Character!<br />Objective: Students will use what they have learned about characterization to create a group of characters for a hypothetical story.<br /><br />Students will be divided into groups of three or four. Each group will draw a plot line the teacher has created (there will be a bunch of different slips in a hat). Students will have 5 minutes to brainstorm individually, coming up with a character they think would fit in the story line their group drew. After the five minutes, each member of the group will log onto the class wiki page. For five minutes, each member of the group will begin by writing about the character they brainstormed in the five minute session. When time is up, they will have to post what they have written and move onto the next character in the list on the wiki page (one that another group member has started). They will have one minute to read what the team member has written. Based on that information, they will have five minutes to go out on the internet and search for a picture of a person that best fits what has been written about the character. When those five minutes are up, each member will post their picture and move onto the next character on the list. In the final turn, each member will have five minutes to write the ending of the story for each character. After everyone has finished the group will come back together and read each of the character descriptions outloud. Then, using a worksheet, they will evaluate each of the characters based on the earlier things thy have learned about characterization. Picking one of the better characters, the group will work together to rewrite the character and post the revision on the wiki. For homework, each student will be required to visit one of the other groups revised characters and leave comments/ideas/suggestions for the character.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-42264836446830794272007-11-13T06:11:00.000-08:002007-11-13T06:20:26.963-08:00Yackin'Blog for October 23rd<br /><br />After creating my PBWiki for my LW teachers, I soon was able to use the YackPak feature on PBwiki to communicate with my teachers as well as give them the opportunity to do the same. I really enjoy the feature, as it seems to provide me with more streamlined communication. I talked one of my groups into trying it, but they seemed to prefer the Chatting option on PBwiki. Part of it, I think, had to do with the comfort they felt in 'broadcasting' their own voices. As we know, most adolescents have a high level of self-consciousness and they struggled with sending a message out without being able to look at and edit it first, like you can when chatting and texting; especially in relation to the academic endeavors they are embarking on for this LW experience. Overall, I would certainly use the YackPak feature to meet with my teachers, to meet with my colleagues, and to meet with any group I may be working with. I enjoy the ease of which it works and the clarity of the sound.<br />During my teaching internship at CrossWinds in Woodbury, part of our weekly teaching assignment was to meet with our small groups online through TappedIn. Since we were only seeing our students once a week outside of this, it was exciting to have the opportunity to chat with them one other time during the week. Each week there was a day and a time assigned which we were to log in from home (or wherever) and the students would log on from school and we were to have an online lesson/interaction related to the assignment we had given them in our prior meeting. Sounds like a good idea, no? Well, I think it could of been but it certainly did not pan out that way. In order for this to work, we needed time with the kids to actually show them how to use TappedIn. Every week it would take over 10 minutes for the kids to log in, 10 minutes for them to find us (their assigned teachers), and then another few minutes to locate the actual chat window, which often would disappear under the main window. It was a disaster. By the time we would finally connect, we would have between 5-10 minutes to chat - needless to say the typing skills of my middle schoolers did not allow for much to occur during this time.<br />I considered using TappedIn for the work with my LW teachers, but after being introduced to PBwiki I definitely saw the ease that I did not find with TappedIn. Given more time to explore TappedIn I might be able to improve my opinion of it, but for now I have no problem taking a couple year hiatus from the program.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-42266877901001278302007-11-13T05:52:00.000-08:002007-11-13T06:10:58.927-08:00My Other Teaching Gig...Blog for October 16<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">th</span><br /><br />Outside of the teaching and curriculum writing I do, I spend a lot of time providing pitching lessons for area high school <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">fastpitch</span> pitchers. Basically my goal is to improve, expand, and increase their ability and knowledge of pitching. While I get to work with each pitcher about 2 hours a week, there are many more hours spent outside of this time thinking about drills, philosophy, etc., that could improve each pitcher's performance.<br />Both on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Flickr</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">YouTube</span> I found extensive resources I could use to help my pitchers improve. While I do my best to try and explain mechanics, philosophy, etc., sometimes it works better to hear the same message in a variety of different ways. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Flickr</span> had great photos of pitching styles and positions, as I displayed in my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Flickr</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">slideshow</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">YouTube</span> seemed to have endless videos of pitching drills that reemphasized many of the things I am already telling my players.<br />The most important part of becoming a good pitcher is really UNDERSTANDING what it is you are doing. It is one thing to master the mechanics, it is a completely different thing to understand when, where, why, and how to use each pitch, how to modify the mechanics to set-up the batter, and develop the mental strength to become the best in the game. Looking at these different resources and reading in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Wysocki</span> book really made me think of different ways I could use a pitching blog to enhance the lessons I am providing for my pitchers. One great idea I came up with after reading some of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Selfe's</span> assignments would be to post some video/pictures of pitchers who were using poor technique for different pitches. I would have my pitchers go to the blog, evaluate what they think could be better and then embark on a mission to find pictures and video that illustrate GOOD form and technique. Through this journey they would be certain to find other pitching drill videos that they could evaluate and learn from. Yeah! This seems like it could be a wonderful supplement to the help I am providing them. And I could post their workouts here as well, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">corresponding with the pitches and techniques we are working on that week!</span><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cDc7gRCjw7U&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cDc7gRCjw7U&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PScuF6tvLkk&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PScuF6tvLkk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object>Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-44380592704911719782007-11-13T05:38:00.000-08:002007-11-13T05:49:51.059-08:00Coordinating 26 Young AdultsBlog Post for October 9th<br /><br />SYP is off to a good start, but it certainly is a challenge to get 8 teams of teachers, totaling 26 young people, to coordinate in planning a lesson every two weeks. One of my team teaching groups consists of a 9th grade MPS student, an 11th grade Blake student, and a junior at St. Olaf college. Needless to say, holding an actual meeting in physical proximity is out of the question. Sometimes it feels like a logistical nightmare. My new solution? Using PBWiki! (learningworks.pbwiki.com)<br />I realize all of my student teachers are busy - school, college planning, graduation planning, etc. Given two weeks to plan one 90-minute lesson, basically formulated by myself and just needing creative input, and 24 hour access to one another, I am excited about the possibilities for collaboration amongst my teachers.<br />Another great use for the wiki would be to have my a separate wiki in which my teachers could create a "Best LW Teaching Practices" sort of wikibook. I really enjoyed looking at Matt Barton's wikibook he created with a ton of collaboration. Often times at LW, I feel we are telling the student's the "best ways" to teach our students, when often the best advice and recommendations would come from the previous teachers. This is definitely something I am going to look in to.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-10294396106463485212007-11-13T05:27:00.000-08:002007-11-13T05:38:08.931-08:00Information Super-judgmentBlog Post for September 18th<br /><br />Part of my job as C&I Director at LearningWorks is planning the curriculum for both the summer and school year programs. While my ultimate goal is to plan a two year curriculum crossing over the four different schooling periods our students our students have at LW, this school-year-program (SYP) needed to have an autonomous feel until I am able to really get everything nailed down. Part of the SYP curriculum this year is teaching students research skills.<br />As a result of this plan, I found myself teaching my teachers to teach the students to conduct productive and valid searches on the internet. I was surprised by the lack of knowledge even some of my older teachers seemed to lack.<br />In the Beach, Anson, Burech, and Swiss book, there is an extensive look at modeling my own search strategies and also on selecting which tools to use for which processes. I will admit, my first search method is often to go straight to Google and try to find the "easy" answer. This is true, I suppose, except for when writing a large research paper - in which case, I utilize my University resources and do searches of academic journals. Clearly I can not ask my middle school students to go into an academic journal and try to pick out journal articles to apply to any sort of knowledge quest or research they may be conducting. Even for most of my high school teachers, this task would be over their heads.<br />Even after trying to work with my teachers on how to aid your students in conducting research, one group in particular reported back that they had a difficult time getting students to conduct "good" research. What they found is that the middle school students had a hard time summarizing the information they were looking at. They would go to a page and want the title to be the main subject of the article, not wanting to look through it or take the time to take notes. After some brainstorming with my teaching group, we realized that if we had the given time, using a good Blog search and specific topics would help in narrowing the wide array of information the students were trying to navigate. Using a tool such as Google Blog search and then setting up a Bloglines account for each student would allow them to predict what the underlying theme of the article they were looking at should be. From there, summarizing the information would already have a context within what they were looking for. We will see if they utilize this option, and then see how it goes!Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-27786935811469447802007-10-30T14:50:00.000-07:002007-10-30T14:58:12.326-07:00Final ProjectFor my final project I have decided to use a wiki to connect my 26 teachers in LW SYP. Here is the situation: LearningWorks School Year Program operates every other Saturday during the school year. 92 kids, 26 teachers. My teachers are a variety of high school and college kids from all over Minneapolis as well as Northfield. Every two weeks they are to design a lesson based around power and state standards which I provide them with. I also provide them with a general outline for how to get through the class. Workshops are 90 minutes and LW has a reputation for being very active and engaging. Needless to say, getting my teachers together to plan seemed virtually impossible. As a result, I have launched a wiki for them to gather together and write their wikis. It also allows me continual access to what is being planned and keeping them moving in the right direction. Whether or not this will be successful has yet to be proven, but this last Saturday was our first real day of planning for them.<br />learningworks.pbwiki.comJaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-72602682614590356012007-10-09T16:45:00.001-07:002007-10-09T16:45:42.658-07:00Fastpitch<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90173169@N00/678582473/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1071/678582473_2e6328a59f_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90173169@N00/678582473/">Fastpitch</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/90173169@N00/">Available_Light</a> </span></div>So many different forms, all aiming for the same result.<br clear="all" />Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-73045763938809999832007-10-02T14:32:00.001-07:002007-10-02T14:42:16.700-07:00Digital MappingIn the world of curriculum design, I am constantly looking for new ways to teach students "survival" skills for the middle school classroom and beyond. About a year ago, I was first introduced to Inspiration and used it for a couple of different functions. First, I used it to plan for my own projects - a new approach to me as I have always been much more of an outline and bulleted list person. During my student teaching I had my students use Inspiration, as well. The biggest benefit I saw in doing this was getting them out of the classroom and in front of a tool they were much more familiar with - the computer. Some students worked harder on the maps then they did their projects, but it was nice to see they were equipped with a new tool to use in the future.<br />One of the biggest challenges in using blogs in the classroom is teaching students the skills to use the actual technology/programs. But the value in taking the time to do this is evident in providing them with a tool that they will be able to use in college prep programs.<br />My current challenge right now is writing a two year curriculum for the four core subjects for all of my seventh and eighth graders. During the summer it is easier to incorporate the different digital literacies because we see the students everyday and know they have access to computers when with us. However, we only see them every other Saturday during the school year. This year I have designed a curriculum which culminates in each small group presenting/publishing a final project. My worry is that during the down-time every couple of weeks, all momentum will be lost. My aspiration is to use tools such as blogs, wikis, and programs such as Inspiration to keep the groups in touch when not at LearningWorks. With all of the new skills we have to teach our students it is going to be very important to remember to use simple, visual, digital tools that are available.Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3245901336235932490.post-76436866996980033232007-09-11T15:18:00.000-07:002007-09-11T16:09:58.978-07:00I haven't spent much time examining vlogs before, despite the constant news about incorporating new technology into the classroom. Examining vlogs really exposes you to the "inside lives" of people around the world. Some, inspiring and influential - some, oddly disturbing.<br />One of the more interesting uses I found was by a university to help students experience life on campus through current students:<br /><a href="http://admission.fandm.edu/vlogging/CategoryView,category,Kojo.aspx">http://admission.fandm.edu/vlogging/CategoryView,category,Kojo.aspx</a><br />What a great way to expose students to actual student life! This is clearly targeted for an audience, with a feel of excitement, comraderie, etc.<br />Another useful idea was in summarizing conferences, etc. What a great way to give your organization/program/etc. some exposure (if you are able to get exposure for your vlog). An example of this was the YearlyKOS summary video. The took an entire conference and edited it down to a few minutes of information that truly seemed to sum up the entirety of the conference.<br />One thing I particularly like about vlogs is the feel they are made for the world, to provide information. So many productions for news, etc., are made with manipulative wording, flashy graphics, and targeted audience. Vlogs seem to cut all of the crap, providing raw emotion and insight. Here is one example:<br /><a href="http://karmagrrrl.org/videos/karmagrrrl20050908.mov">http://karmagrrrl.org/videos/karmagrrrl20050908.mov</a>Jaimee Bohninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15672263833585342750noreply@blogger.com1