Bummed About Gcast

I am a bit behind the announcement, but Gcast no longer provides a free podcasting service via your telephone. I don’t have the facts on why the April change in the way of business was made, but I do know that now, to use Gcast as your podcasting upload service via telephone interphase (like that language?), it will cost you about $100. Bummer for me and for kids. Of course, you can use Audacity or other open source audio recorders for free downloading of podcast capable text, but Gcast was so simple….I mourn its loss.

Technology and Understanding

After developing a conceptual argument through a Foucauldean lens, I sorted the language through Wordle for motifs and themes.

 

Checkout Wordle! This website is an easy way to create a visual representation of words through “clouds.” I tripped over this website while reading Jan Hart’s blog, E-Learning Pick of the Day (check this blog out!). Once I had seen and used Wordle, I couldn’t stop thinking about where its place was in the reality of our classrooms and it seems to me that we can use it to engage students in applying reading comprehension stratagies.

How to do that? The Wordle cloud is concept map of recurring words within a text; recurring words are signals for main ideas. After reading, have students identify main ideas and then sort the text words through Wordle to monitor conclusions. The word cloud can be used before reading, too, as a tool to activate prior knowledge and establish connections. The cloud can even inflence how kids visualize connections as they develop inferences.

The image above is the result of Wordle’s sifting of the words from a recent paper I wrote. The process is simple–you just insert text and Wordle does the rest. I copied and pasted my entire paper into the Wordle service space and Wordle did the rest, sifting through my langauge to arrive at a cloud representation of the ideas. Look at the Wordle and draw some conclusions about my paper and then read through my blog to see if the message I send in paragraph form has any semblance of the graphic you see above.

The Wordle graphic above is a conceptual representation of a theoretical argument regarding the efficacy of RtI: Response to Intervention.  I have spent much time this fall researching Response to Intervention as part of a doctoral class: Moral and Political Foundations of Educational Policy. The goal of the course was to examine the role of social and cultural theory in contemporary education. As a result, I spent hours reading and analyzing how educational theory affects practical application of policy and eventually classroom methodology, especially in how such theory plays out in meeting today’s challenge of the growing achievement gap.

One of the scariest acronyms in public education today is RtI: Response to Intervention. Really, as with anything else, it’s not the acronym that frightens, but the simplicity of nominalizing a complex, permeating educational approach. Cloaked in terminology like “individualized” and “achievement,” RtI aims at conformity and mediocrity in its quest to bring learners into the mainstream of educational thought and expectations.

Although RtI is not new, the method is new to many classroom teachers who have been teaching whole class style for years. The method is theoretically positive but practically, requires retraining and practice for teachers. The positive part of RtI is the benefit it potentially offers for all learners: find a learner’s specific need/s and learning styles and then use that information to build the bridge of understanding and excellence.

 

However, if used merely to meet mandated levels of AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), RtI becomes just another “and this too shall pass” bandage on a chronically diseased system. To be effective, RtI requires professional development for teachers as they learn to approach whole class instruction with an eye for the particular and individualized. It also demands support for these teachers in terms of time and encouragement as they reshape habituated methods into new “best practices.” In an absence of time and money, i.e. support, the concept of RtI intimidates classroom teachers, building administrators, and educational theorists.

Booting up for the New School Year

Though a new pair of boots are essential for the school year, that’s not what I’m talking about here!

 

Aren’t words fun!! I led a three-day workshop this week that started out being called “boot camp”– but after some discussion, the week-long session was retitled with the words Professional Development–a decision which better described the educational thoughts that were being shared there and the need of teachers to take part in training. That got me to thinking about words, of course, and the multiplicity of meaning…for words, for realities, for actions. Anyway, I digress….read on as digress in yet another direction….booting up for the new school year…and I don’t mean putting on my fatigues….I hope no teacher feels that way!

This week’s seminars and workshops shared classroom strategies with 4 -12 teachers that offer collaborative learning experiences and enhance students’ sense of independence. Moving away from direct instruction, we were developing stations that would allow the students to work independent of the teacher on various aspects of their content knowledge and skill building.

We also addressed reading and writing strategies…and I was emphasizing the need for mental models that allowed students to construct their thoughts in ways that reflected the individual nature of their connections and inferences. There are numerous ways to introduce and develop mental models. The easiest with the least technology demands are teacher created masters, but those just aren’t much fun for kids, nor do they allow students to be constructivists about their own way of knowing. Using technology, Word offers easy incorporation of hierarchy charts…just click on insert and there you go…change box shapes, change colors, redirect arrows, all kinds of opportunities for making and remaking connections.

And better yet, if you can, use online technologies for engaging mind maps. Traci Gardner of NCTE blogged about this very subject this week, so rather than me reiterate her fine work, go ahead and read Traci’s blog. She provides a variety of web sites that can fill your specific classroom and student needs.

I don’t know about you, but I always looked towards late summer with torn emotions: excited to get back into the classroom but sorrowful that the summer break was coming to an end. Even now, as a professional development provider, I feel that same sense of duality. Rested from a Door County Vacation and energized through summer classes and new reading, I look forward to sharing ideas and experiences with a new set of teachers. But I must confess, I will miss lazy mornings and long lunches sitting on my porch with the Golden Retriever at my feet and Joe, my black tom, curled up in my lap. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Personal Commitment of Technology

Technology and personal commitment–sounds like an oxymoron! But, I had a pretty cool experience this last week that evoked all three of those terms or responses. I was doing a workshop at Rock Island High School a week ago, showing teachers how easy podcasts can be to make using Gcast. In preparation for my demonstration, I even made a podcast while they were entering into the presentation room and finding their seats. I started the workshop by playing the podcast…I was impressed at how the room feel silent as they heard my voice ring out through the district’s audio system, announcing that the “We are here at Rock Island High School today to learn how technology can help us differentiate instruction…” And then I moved from having them listen to a podcast to demonstrating how easy one can be to make–even with a cell phone. And so, I offered my cell phone to a teacher and we fumbled together to make that happen….but it flopped!!! And I was frustrated and tired–remember, I had just returned from Africa, gotten home late Saturday night and here it was, Monday. Well, you may know the feeling….when it comes to technology, hope for the best but have a backup plan. I showed them some existing podcasts that I had made and then moved to another cool tool I have written about before, VoiceThread, a digital storytelling web tool that I truly believe has exceptional potential for reaching learners and providing literacy and learning experiences.

So, you are asking, “Where does the personal commitment and technology come together here?” Several days after this debacle (a bit of an exaggeration, but when you are in front of the room!!!), I received a personal email from Garage Band apologizing for the difficult I had experienced. The email went on to explain that the transmission was not being read as an MP3 and on and on with explanation and regret!!! 

I’ve tagged this entry “caring” because I felt cared for, even though the recognition of my struggle came several days later, I was amazed that the the seemingly impersonal tool I was using to demonstrate connecting with kids came back to connect with me.

I was back at Rocky this week and feared I might get booed off the proverbial stage, but instead, several teachers expressed their curiosity about how podcasts can work for them and kids. One teacher that particularly touched my heart was a special ed teacher who had not taken much interest in technology outside of his personal use. He now sees a real advantage that could be placed in the hands of his kids…to express through audible words the learning that they are unable to show as fully in a written text.

Rocky Math and Reading teachers collaborate on a unit of differentiated instruction.

English and Math Freshman Academy teachers meet weekly to develop upcoming units and lessons.

Susan and Yolanda are working on a R.A.F.T. assessment for The Odyssey.

Conference for Illinois Teachers of English (C.I.T.E.)

I spoke Friday at Illinois State University where the Conference for Illinois Teachers of English (CITE) was being held. I was there to talk about and demonstrate wikis…which is one of my favorite topics. I had a great group of Illinois teachers! They were especially kind when I logged myself out of my wikispaces account and couldn’t log myself back in!!! I wanted to show them how easy getting and managing an account can be and then, humph!! it backfired. I don’t know what I did wrong, but somehow, I unwittingly sent a request to wikispaces for a new password. Well, I just punted and the group was great at receiving!!

 If you are interested in building your own wiki, take a look at what I created for my English teachers. Feel free to copy and paste anything you see there, and drop me a line. Use the “Notify Me” file tab or leave a comment here. My Teaching Wiki is a project I undertook as a service to teachers. I become totally engaged in building my wiki and adding various web tools to make it as engaging for my readers as it is for me in the creation process. My Teaching Wiki is a tool to help you understand the simple processes to creating your own interactive website for teaching in whatever content area you find yourself.

 

Post a Vote: Make Your Online-Voice Heard

Check this site out for lots of cool stuff that makes even a newbie like me look like a pro!

Bring It On!! Using Technology to Motivate Reluctant Readers

I’ve have been absolutely swamped with work this last month! That is a good thing! More and more educators are inquiring about tools they can use to motivate learners and enhance achievement.  Among other topics, this workshop in Atkinson, Illinois explored ways that teachers can build students’ literacy skills by incorporating graphics into instruction; isn’t that part of the allure that HDTV has over our viewing?

Rather than complain about how visual kids seem to have become, I say, “Embrace it!!” Use visuals to teach thinking skills and then….transfer those very thinking skills to written texts. Think about incorporating a “You Tube” into instruction, perhaps one that reviewed a book or area of study that your curriculum was designed to teach. Couldn’t we teach the skills of prediction, connection, questioning, and inference from a video and then transfer those skills to content text?

On Friday, I have a workshop in Joliet entitled “Boys and Books.” There, I will lead the group in a discussion about the differences between girls’ and boys’ attitudes and achievement levels as shown in standardized testing as well as through  qualitative studies built on interviews among those very populations. When we talk about independent reading, questions concerning assessment arise. How do we asses their reading? How do we know they have read? How do we come to see what they understand?

In the past, this has been done through book reports–a genre that I drudgingly pulled myself through about three times and then threw my hands up in despair. I hated reading book reports; no wonder kids hated writing them. From there, I went to book talks, and though they were more entertaining for all involved and more accurately appraised real comprehension because kids had to answer live questions, they were time consuming and a bit biased. Those who like the stage were more confident and therefore, able to perform at higher levels than the more shy of my students. Of course, I offered options, but book talk was generally preferred by all except the shiest who still chose to write the forumulaic book report.

Okay, where does the technology come in? The Podtalk!

I am sure someone is saying, “Well that’s nothing new! I’ve been doing that for, for, for months!” Try using G-cast, a free web-based service that allows your students to use their telephones and an 800 number to set up their podcast. Once recorded through the phone, the gcast is available online. From there, it can be posted for the world to hear, just like this one…..

Always Learning

I’m trying something new! I decided to try out Gcast as an option for an assessment on “Reviewing Podcasts.” Listened to a Chris Essex podcast on using blogs, podcasts and wikis in the k – 12 classroom. Now, Chris is with Indiana U, or he was when he made the podcast….I’m not sure if he still is—his blog doesn’t show any recent activity…but maybe he’s on vacation?!?:)? I was pretty excited about how Gcast works and since I first drafted this blog, I have shared the site with others who also have found it useful, especially for education. Students, or kids as I typically call them, can easily upload a “Gcast” and have their thoughts posted online almost instantly. From there, they can embed their posts in blogs and wikis. Pretty cool stuff. You can even use your cell phone to record the podcast; however, one administrator told me that a teacher let her students use her cell phone for that activity and was surprise to seee how those minutes added up on her cell phone bill!

Using etools for distance learning. 438 post #1

In my soul, I am a writer and I am a teacher and sometimes I have been a teacher of writing. Because I am a teacher and writer, I was afraid, at first, of technology. I saw it as having a power to undermine the beauty of langauge and world of books, two things I love.  And I worried about technology being misused as a mechanistic replacement of the act and art of teaching. But for a long time, now, I’ve appreciated the power of technology as it enlivens and enrichens langauge, stretching the reach of the written word and giving words lives they otherwise may not have had.

 I encountered a site today that clearly does all of this. Voicethread incorporates teaching and technology through words and graphics that are author centered, but socially networked.  Although Voicethread provides its own tutorials, a blog on Voicethread offers an engaging mental model of what Voicethread is and can do. Publishing on the site is free and the process is guided by a gentle easy-going voice. It took me about ten minutes to set up my site and though I haven’t yet added audio, when I get it done, I’ll invite you to share in my photo album.

Voicethread can be a powerful etool to engage students in language and communication through its combined powers of pictures and instant communication. Not only can it be an expression of students’ personal lives, therein lies powerful opportunities for them to share experiences that connect to academic and life learning.