On Writing....No....Blogging

I am a thinker.  An introvert.  A writer.  A person who likes to think and write and capture thoughts and ideas.  However, more often than not, I don't write things down and wind up forgetting them.  Or I write things down, save them, and then forget what I've called them.  There has to be a better way to do this, and that way might be a blog.

I tried using a blog four or five years ago.  I don't remember what blogging platform I used, but it was very difficult to get the formatting and images right.  The writing process itself is torturous enough, why add to the difficulty with a difficult blog forum?  However, it seems that things have changed in the last several years and blogs are more user friendly.  I asked friends who blog which was the easiest platform to use, and they directed me to blogger.  I was so surprised at how easy it was and even taught myself to insert gifs into a document.  Yay me!

I see a lot of potential for using blogs in class.  Writing journals.  Theatre jounrnals.  A platform for students to post assignments.  If I sat here for an hour and gave the matter serious thought, I could come up with dozens of examples for this easy to use tool.  I see my students doing a lot of blogging in the coming years.

Intial reluctance aside, I am thankful for this class.  It has turned my thinking around a great deal and I am now comfortable with the idea of utilizing different and novel forms of technology in the classroom.  It gives the students  skills that they need aside from reading/writing/acting skills.  Where before I viewed it as a burdensome headache, I now see that it will be easily manageable and doable.

Wide World of Webs

The above gif is a perfect representation of how I was afraid this project would be - me being caught in a helpless snarl and not being able to produce a professional website.  How wrong I was!

First, I liked having a list of available providers to use in order to construct my site.  But word to the wise - saying that a website program is intuitive and easy and actually being intuitive and easy are two different things.  I tried both Wix and Weebly and was reduced to tears by both.  I went to Google Sites almost in desperation because I couldn't find anything else.  And while there was a definite learning curve with Google Sites, especially when it came to editing the sidebar, changing headings and adding approprite banner titles, I found it to be much, much easier than any of the others that I toyed with.  And I liked how easy it was to upload forms and pictures coordinate with other Google products, especially the calendar.

I know I have said before that I am proud of my website, and I am.  It might not be as nice as some of the others in class, but I did it all by myself, which is something that I thought I would never be able to do.  Does it still need improvement?  Yes, but doesn't everything?

I think doing this project was a big confidence builder for me.  Will I ever be able to program in HTML?  No, and I have no desire to do so.  But I can cut and past and do entries in template and add customizations to my site, and I am very happy wih the result.  I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm going to do another website for my photography and another for our family for when Julia goes away to college this year.  See?  You have turned me into a monster.

Half the battle with technology, I find, is getting past the mindset that you are woefully behind the curve and will never be able to do things like this.  Feel free to use me as your example of someone who was deathly afraid of this project for no reason at at.  Was is frustrating at times?  Heck, yeah.  But so is learning any new skill - there is always a leaning curve.  All that matters is how you approach it.

Webfails

I was surprised and distressed at our review of actual teacher websites.  For the most part, they were just plain bad.  Unorganized, no thought put into them, not updated or, even worse, not utilized at all.  It was very difficult to find examples of good teacher websites for our discussion and presentation.

Teachers, it seem, don't value the power of a well-organized website. Having one that is easy for students and parents to navigate and that is updated on a regular basis is a great tool, and an easy one at that.  I realize that teachers are busy people and that it is easy to criticize a teacher for not properly maintaining a website.  But if you've started one and held it out to parents and students as a resource for using during the school year, it is your responsibility to maintain it.  Not doing so makes you look unprofessional.  I would be embarrassed if I had a website that looked as bad as some of the ones I found looked.

I realize that there are constraints on platforms that teachers can use placed upon them by adminsters and school districts, and for good reason.  But even mandated platforms can be used in a professional manner and from my research they didn't seem as limited as they did at first sight.

Despite my initial reluctance to utilize a website, I now appreciate what a powerful tool it is, both for communication and instructional purposes.  I plan on using mine in my professional life.  I know it is't perfect and needs refinement, but it is a start and I think it will be useful as well when I begin looking for a job as an example of my technical proficiency.

Iphones, Ipads, and Ieverything else.

As my own observation shows and this gif demonstrates, students have their own hand-held devices that are constantly out and being fiddled with during class.  As teachers, we might as well face the fact that these devices are here to stay and find ways to have students utilize them in class.

While observing in my theatre class, the students were assigned a monologue project in which they had to find and present monologues.  I would have sent them to the library or provided them with monologue books to aid them in finding their pieces.  They, however, went straight to their phones, located their monologues on Youtube, and found scripts for them on Google.  I was amazed.  They did the same thing when they had to find music to use for their upcoming lipsynch project.  I think that we tend to believe that students aren't as tech savvy as they actually are.  Finding ways for them to use the technologies they are most comfortable with in the classroom is something to give thought to.

There are also a lot of websites that allow students to respond to survey/quiz questions in class by texting their answers with the program then calculating and displaying the results in real time.  I think websites like these are much better than those clicker things.  You don't have to pass them out and collect them back and worry about them getting damaged or stolen.  Again - simple solutions.

I also like the wireless carts that allow laptops to be used in the classroom.  While computer labs are nice, you have to deal with moving to the lab before class starts and then back to the classroom afterwards before dismissal.  This is very disruptive.  And there area lot of free programs for theatre that can be easily loaded onto school laptops.

Relying on students to use their own portable devices is a way to keep their interest and keep them involved.  I know I will be looking for various ways to use what would normally be disruptions in the classroom as an aid to teaching.

The Technology Divide

We spent some time in class talking about the technology gap between schools with a large amount of financial resources and schools who barely have enough resources to open every day.  We also talked about schools that either require or give electronic devices such as ipads or laptops to students to use in the classroom.

When it comes to the technological divide, it has to be agreed that children in economically-depressed areas are fallowing behind in the use of technology.  Even if they have laptops or desktop computers, chances are that they are obsolete or broken and there is no money for replacement and repair, thus depriving poor children of the same technological education that students in better-funded districts receive.  To allow this practice to continue places a "separate but equal" conundrum on the table withe argument that "well at least they HAVE computes, so they should be happy.  The concept of "separate but equal" died when the Brown vs. Board of Education decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court.  In my opinion, allowing this disparity in technological education and resources must stop, and all schools should have truly equal access to technology in the classroom.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, other districts try giving techological devices to their students for free in an attempt to both familiarize them with technology and raise test scores.  But the truth of the matter is that the mere presence of technology in a school is not going to automatically transform children into technological whizzes.  Instead, technology must be integrated into lesson plans to support what is being taught in order to get the results you want.

I don't have any hard or fast answers to this problem.  But jobs are becoming more technologically driven and our failure to include meaningful technology use in the classroom is disadvantageous to students from all socioeconomic classes.  This is a problem that must be addressed sooner than later.

In Which We Get Organized......

I really enjoyed the research and presentations that we did about how we can use technology to make our professional lives more manageable.  I really believe that I will use some of the things that were presented.

I liked ALL of the apps that can be used to manage communications with parents and others.  They are surprisingly easy to use and are definite time savers.

 

I have been in a quandary over how to organize all the forms and articles that we're received over the course of our degree work that I would like to be able to access because they would be helpful.  I believe I will be using Live Binders for that - everything in one place. While it was mentioned as a way to keep in touch with parents in terms of assignments, etc., I think it's a bit too cumbersome and overwhelming for parents and students to deal with.  And this beats storing everything on your laptop and running the risk that your computer will crash and take everything with it.

 

Even though most school systems use Inifinite Campus, I think I will use Engrade for my own personal use.  I like the way that it automatically calculates grades.  Math is one of my other anxiety-producing areas, and Engrade will take the mystery of math out of the mix for me when it comes to grading. 

 

I was amazed at the sheer number of things out there for teachers.  Nathan and Hillary's presentation on apps for coaches was incredible.  Who would have thought that there was a "robotic" basketball that can keep stats?  I think for my purposes I like apps and programs that really do simplify things.  Some of them seem more trouble than they are worth.

Powerpoint, Prezzi and Patience, Oh My!

Having practiced law for 17 years, let me give you my honest opinion about Powerpoint/Prezi presentations.  Don't use them as a crutch.  Don't stand there and read from them verbatim.  Use them because you acutally have a NEED to use them, not just for entertainment purposes.  And, for God's sake, be prepared to go on with your presentation should your Powerpoint/Prezi fail. I saw opposing counsel completely lose a jury in a six-figure liability case because his opening Powerpoint wouldn't run and he couldn't do an adequate opening statement without it.  Because of these factors,  I rarely used Powerpoint and on the few occasions that I did, I paid my daughter, who was in elementary school at the time, to do them for me.  Win-win situation.

So imaging my surprise last year when we had to do a Powerpoint presentation for class.  I made what I was sure was a terrible mistake waiting until midnight to teach myself Powerpoint, but to my surprise, it was a snap of the fingers.  Everything was intuitive and flowed in a linear fashion - A to B to C and so forth until you got to the end.  And it was easy to add things to your slides to make your presentation more interesting.  By one a.m., I was Powerpointing like a BOSS.

So for this class, we had to prepare a presentation using a program called Prezi.  I will admit that I liked what I saw from the examples our instructor showed us and figured that this would be just as easy as Powerpoint to learn.  I quickly learned otherwise.

From the start, it should have been obvious to me that Prezi is not linear.  In reality, following a Prezi presentation can be a bit like following a drunken room of toddlers.  Instead of going from point to point in a straight line, with Prezi you go here then there then back to here and then way over there and then further over that way and on and on.  And intuitive?  Well, maybe, but in a frustrating way because there are very few tutorials to help you figure out what to do.  Heather and I were able to complete our assignment, and I will admit that I liked the ability to share the presentation on line with her and we could chat and edit on line together.  But I never got past the feeling that Prezi requires almost a hive brain while Powerpoint calls for an ant brain.

But that being said, I am glad that we got the chance to work for it because our students think differently one from another.  While one student may be a linear,straight line thinker who learns better from linear methods, the person next to him or her could very well be a hive brain that needs the constant stimulation and movement with a Prezi to stay focused and on-task.  Thus, knowing how to use both presentation packages gives my students the opportunity to work with the one that best fits their learning skills.  Sometimes it's going to be necessary to put my own preferences aside in order to allow my students to utilize tools that will help them learn.  If that takes a hive-brain mentality, so be it.  Students first.