Seeding a Discussion with a Podcast

I have blogged about podcasts many times. After all, podcasts were essential in my decision to go bookless in my American Government class. But, I have also used podcasts for English which have utility for almost any course where teachers are pressed for time.

I always feel a time crunch in my Literature into Film class. After all, so much class time is spent watching the films. So the longer I teach the class, the less time I seem to spend discussing the literature. But some works, like One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, truly warrant some class analysis.

So for today's class, I have "seeded" our discussion of the novel by creating brief podcasts sketching out themes or symbols in the work. These presentations end with open ended questions for the students to consider. I assign the podcasts over night, and then jump right into the questions. "Cutting to the chase" allows me to avoid the tough choice between of dropping a film or skipping interesting discussions of the novels. Here's a sample:

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Podcast

Perhaps you are finding yourself in a time crunch as the semester winds down. I hope this helps.

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Weekend Take-out at the Drive-thru

Katherine Mangu-Ward-- Putting reading materials and lecture notes on the Internet, like many teachers do today, is just the first step; it's like when, in the early days of movies, filmmakers pointed a camera at a stage play. Kids are still stuck watching those old-style movies, when they could be enjoying the learning equivalent of "Avatar" in 3-D. Thousands of ninth-grade English teachers are cobbling together yet another lecture on the Globe Theatre in Shakespeare's day, when YouTube is overflowing with accessible, multimedia presentations from experts on Elizabethan theater construction. . . .

George Siemens-- We are at a point where we ought to be conceiving new models driven by the affordances generated by networks, technology, openness, and social software. Instead, many systems are at the equivalent stage of being pushed down the hall in a wheelchair at a senior care home.

Ellen Kumata (as quoted by Tony Wagner)-- Our system of schooling promotes the idea that there are right answers, and that you get rewarded if you get the right answer. But to be comfortable with this new economy . . . you have to understand that you live in a world where there isn't one right answer, or if there is, it's right only for a nanosecond."

David Pogue on iPad-- Hulu.com, the Web’s headquarters for free hit TV shows, won’t confirm the rumors that it’s working on an iPad app, but wow — can you imagine? A thin, flat, cordless, bottomless source of free, great TV shows, in your bag or on the bedside table?

National Educational Technology Plan (as quoted by Will Richardon): In connected teaching, teaching is a team activity. Individual educators build online learning communities consisting of their students and their students’ peers; fellow educators in their schools, libraries, and afterschool programs; professional experts in various disciplines around the world; members of community organizations that serve students in the hours they are not in school; and parents who desire greater participation in their children’s education.

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"Take Out" with generous permission of americanvirus

Best of 2009: Retiring? No, Reinventing!

This week I am re-posting my favorites from 2009. This one first appeared March 29.

"Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now"
-- from My Back Pages by Bob Dylan

This year, I have frequently been asked the question, "When are you retiring?" The main reason for this question is fairly obvious. My good friend and office mate announced his retirement early this school year. Never mind that I am seven years younger than he is. What with my balding pate, I probably look older. Besides, I have taught 34 years and for many teachers it's "30 and out".

But I'm not remotely ready. As I told Ann J, early this year, I have the sense of being on top of my game like never before. I've always sought change in my professional life. At first it was new preps in the English Department (at least 11 different courses). Then in the mid 1990s I began teaching American Government. And as this blog attests, the latest version of me is that of Web 2.0 evangelist. My new favorite thing to do at school is conducting staff development workshops on the magic tricks which I have discovered. Being selected as an '09 Apple Distinguished Educator is not the culmination of that new obsession, but the beginning of something even more radical and exciting in my life. I'm not sure where it will lead, but certainly not to early retirement. I've never felt more excited about my professional life.

This post was adapted from a recent Facebook note.

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Personal Branding

Personal branding? Isn't that incredibly narcissistic for a teacher? After all, aren't we supposed to be quietly and diligently urging our students along? Decorating bulletin boards, preparing lessons, handing out work sheets, staying after school to give extra help, correcting spelling, meeting with parents, recording grades, passing them along to the next grade, and then enjoying a few relaxing summer weeks at the lake are all pretty below the radar activities.

Pardon me if I make a little more noise than this. I see myself in much different terms than a tutor, clerk, or classroom manager. I don't see myself as the teacher of a "subject". And I no longer see myself as I used to in terms of my notes, my books, lesson plans, or my "stuff." These days I would no more put one of my books out at Open House than I would t a pencil, a stapler, or a shoe. Instead, I send my students have them discuss their projects and show off their communications media.

Going through two days of exercises on personal branding exercises at the ADE Summer Institute was a valuable experience for me. It allowed me to really focus in on a digital educator with a unique skill set. A series of exercises called for us to think hard about who were professionally. The exercises culminated in our writing a one minute television script and making an HD recording of it in the Full Sail studios. Recently, Apple gave us the edited versions of our cuts, so I decided to hang out my shingle here. Behind this video, there is some real serious thinking about myself as an educator. With this in mind, check out my "brand":

Precious Time

Here's an intercepted comment by Terry Kaminski to one of Will Richardson's posts. I jumped out of my seat with a, "Yes!" when I read it:

Don’t give me more money, give me more prep time!!! If I taught 3 hours per day and had 3 hours per day to prepare my courses, attend webinars, read the latest research, plan new innovative, engaging and creative lessons I could really do a bang up job.

Teachers often feel like hamsters on a wheel. We are running like hell just trying to keep up.

. . . .Teachers need time to be creative and innovative. We need time to team plan with our colleagues.

Education is on a very slippery slope right now. I see so much potential for really good things to happen. Will they happen? Only time will tell.

Amen! I am trying to innovate and be creative this semester, but nearly all the new wrinkles were planned over the summer. Each school year, regardless of how organized I am, after 6-8 weeks I often find myself moving from moment to moment. There is a remarkable amount of clerical work with teaching, and at our school, others think nothing of dreaming up extra tasks for "advisers"-- our version of home room. (We collect money and administer a variety of paper shuffling tasks. Frequently we are ordered to provide courier service for matters like ballots running ballots or empty collection envelopes to the main office. Really.).

The two unscheduled periods during my day get filled very quickly.

Last year, during the first semester, I had the relative luxury of one extra free period designated for pursuing technology integration. It is no coincidence that those few months were the most inventive stretch in my professional life. In my neck of the woods more money is invested in hardware and software than curriculum development. The latter requires time freed from a full teaching assignment.

When do presentations to other teachers, the first question they always ask is always, "Where do you find the time....?" Well, unfortunately, often I don't.
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Media Professionals-- In or out of the Loop?

I recently gave a presentation on digital anthologies at the Michigan Association for Media Specialists annual conference (MAME 36). Some reflections:

* As a classroom teacher I was concerned about focusing too much on the nuts and bolts of how the anthology was set up with Google Docs and Moodle. But the media specialists were determined to see howall this worked.

* I received a very positive response when I suggested that media specialists were under utilized in classrooom collaborations. I proposed that besides identifying resources, media specialists should rightfully be involved in culling specific materials and recommending assessments. (Boy, di I hit a chord on this one).

* I noticed that my audience was particularly likely to take notes when I mentioned free resources. I was surprised that most seemed unfamiliar with iTunes U. They also were interested in public domain resources at the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Attendees also piped up with other free resources.

* As with my audience at Madonna University, they were eager to see actual student work. I was grateful to have several my AP students' permission to show our blogs on vlogs. I'm planning to integrate such demonstrations int both Apple presentations at MAPSA, next week

* My only regret was that time constraints prevented me from engaging in some brainstorming on how the digital anthology model might apply to collaborations in their schools.

The Bottom Line: Presenting at MAME 36 was intellectually engaging. I received as much as I shared about the practical uses of educational technology. I will go forward, advocating that teachers take advantage of collaborations with talented specialists like the ones I met at MAME 36.

Sincere thanks to MHS specialists, Katy, Cheryl, Larry for supporting my presentation. I'll be asking them for a guest post on educational technology from the perspective of the Media Center.

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