Writing With Video

Maria Lovett, instructor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a documentary filmmaker noticed that her younger brother, still in high school, wasn't having an easy time getting started on a paper he'd been assigned. When she asked him if he could have done video paper instead, he said he'd have started on it weeks before. It gave her an idea for a video writing course. With Professor Joseph Squier from UIUC's school of Design, the course was developed. What do you think about video as writing? What is the role of video in today's classrooms and in research papers? Are "traditional perceptions of language" being challenged in today's world?

Did You Know/Shift Happens

If you haven't watched the presentation Did You Know/Shift Happens that was created by Colorado educator Karl Fisch, you'll find it packed with facts that will get you and your students thinking about the future. How is the world changing? How are we educating our students to cope with the changes? Can we even imagine what the job market will be like when today's preschoolers, the Class of 2021, enter the work force? Michael Petrilli, in a Hoover Institution article, If the World Is Flat, calls Thomas Friedman's book The World Is Flat "the most influential prod to education since A Nation at Risk." Although the book doesn't specifically target education, it is about education, isn't it? Is it like Fisch's presentation a wake-up call for American education?

Let Your Voice and Your Students' Voices Be Heard: Net Day Speak Up

Project Tomorrow's Speak Up is designed to collect feedback from students, parents, and teachers; to use the data to stimulate discussion; and to raise awareness. If you'd like to sign your students up to add their voices to the NetDay Speak Up, take a look at the How to Speak Up Guide, register, and get your students involved in the NetDay Survey before December 15, 2007. Topics included in the survey are: Teaching and Learning with Tech (Web 2.0), 21st Century Skills and Workforce Preparedness, Science Instruction & Global Competitiveness, Emerging Technologies in the Classroom (Gaming, Mobile Devices, Online Learning), and Designing the Ultimate School of the Future. As of 11/17/2007, over 100,000 students and 7000 teachers had already added their ideas to the survey.

Geneva Logic Visionary Grant Opportunity

Thinking about what a classroom management system might do for your teaching? Visions from Geneva Logic lets teachers share their desktop with individual students, projects computer screens, monitors all computer screens in classroom, stops inappropriate computer use, helps teachers find out which students need help, engages students in chat sessions, etc. If you are interested trying out Visions, go for the 30-day free trial and then apply for one of the classroom or school grants. The deadline is December 28, 2007.

Always Fascinating

Even if you are not a science teacher, you'll enjoy receiving headline news from NASA. It will keep you and your students up-to-date about the latest sky events, so you won't have to hear about them after they happen. Did you miss the sky show on November 5, 2007, for example? At dawn on that day, NASA predicted "a fantastic display of stars and planets-and maybe a couple of spaceships, too." The news (up to 4 science stories and/or projects) is available in English and Spanish and is delivered free to your email box every week.

Staples Foundation Grants

The Staples Foundation offers grants three times a year in amounts of up to $25,000. Grants are awarded to local nonprofit tax-exempt organizations that use the funding to help students, especially disadvantaged youth, with job skills and education. The Staples Foundation emphasizes teaching, training, and inspiring in order to provide educational growth opportunities for all. The next grant application deadline is December 7, 2007. Check the Staples Foundation site after that for 2008 deadlines.

Do Today's Kids Think Differently Than Adults?

Do They Really Think Differently, a 2001 article by Marc Prensky, makes great reading for all teachers. Thinking patterns change with different experiences, which means that different cultures think differently. Environment and culture shape not only what people think about but how they use their brains. Think of how brains change as people learn to read and how computers are retraining brains. According to Prensky, kids growing up with computers and computer games don't think linearly, the method used in most teaching. Their minds reach out in all directions as they multitask instead of steadily moving forward. Teachers often perceive this behavior as students' not having the ability to pay attention. Could it be that they don't have sufficient attention spans for linear learning? Have their brain patterns changed through intense digital activity over time? -And if so, what does this mean for how we should be teaching our children. Prensky advocates educational games. What do you think?

What Happened to Honor Codes?

Cheating. Do the Internet and digital communication encourage cheating by making it easier to do so? What does a good teacher do to encourage students not to cheat? Do honor codes work or do we have to devise "Big Brother" systems each time kids take tests? Consider the new test center at Penn State. An article in Business Week by Genaro C. Armas claims "the process of qualifying to enter it may be worthy of the CIA." To get into the center students use digitized, photo ID cards. They are assigned to private testing rooms complete with a computer on which they can only take their test. They can't get to the Internet to get answers or to find friends who can get answers for them. Texts and worksheets aren't allowed unless specified by the professor. Although not installed yet, there will be video cameras watching the students take their tests. Some say such testing centers make students more serious about testing. -But what happened to honor and trust? Have they vanished in the digital age?  Perhaps technology is just taking the place of good old teacher supervision?

Are We Media & Tech Literate or Not? It Depends

Of course, if you are reading this you are media and tech literate, and probably a great deal more knowledgeable in these areas than most of the population. When you think about it, we are all experts when it comes to certain topics of media and technologies. One area of media and tech literacy that's confusing to just about everyone is fair use and copyright law and how it pertains to our classrooms. We can use some media items, but maybe we can only use part of them, or maybe we can use them for a certain amount of time, or our students can use them in essays and reports, but not for outside-of-school competitions, etc. It gets so complicated that people don't want to think about it. -But the reality is that we need to know about fair use and copyright so that we can transfer this knowledge to our students. Two of Power to Learn's Internet Smarts case studies tackle media literacy, copyright, and fair use. Check out Fair Use: Beg, Borrow or Steal and Music Downloading: Paying the Piper.  You'll find materials that will help you and your students.

Robots in the Classroom

From kindergarten through high school, it's fun and educational to include robotics in the curriculum. Sometimes, however, it's difficult to find the resources needed to bring that just-right robotics education into your classroom. To help, Vex Robotics has created an Education Web Page, which provides information about key resources for robotics education. The site includes robotics packages for middle school and high school and free educational materials to put robots to work in learning. Another excellent robotics resource area is the Botball site, which offers a Botball robot store/catalog, a robotics competition, and a list of robot resource links. The fee for BotBall competition includes classroom materials such as controllers, sensors, motors, software, tee shirts, curricular materials, technical support, and other items to get a school robotic team going. If you are interested in using robots with younger children, you'll fall in love with the little Bee Bots (robots that look like happy bumble bees). The Terrapin Logo site offers ideas for use of Bee Bots, Pro-Bots (a yellow car robot), and Roamer Turtles (happy turtles). Bee Bots and Roamer Turtles can be used with preschool and primary-age children, and while older elementary-age students will love using Bee Bots and Roamer Turtles, they'll find the Pro-Bots more challenging. Bee Bots, Pro-Bots, and Roamer Turtles can be used in a variety of subject areas both for learning and reinforcing learning.