Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Wow, what an inspiration Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was! He accomplished so much and he was my age. He's an inspiration and what a great attitude he had even though he was dying (I loved the part where he did the push ups). I think it was his positive attitude towards his students and his sense of humor that impressed me the most. It is incredible how many of his childhood dreams he actually accomplished. Most people are lucky to attain one of the goals they set for themselves. I loved how he said he learned the most from the dream he didn't accomplish..playing in the NFL. "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted".

He gave his students the freedom to accomplished even more that he imagined and they didn't let him down. The projects they worked on were incredible. He used criticism to inspire the students to push themselves beyond their self-prescribed limits and it worked! When they blew his mind with first assignment he had to find a way to raise the bar and they just kept performing and performing! It is a testament to Dr. Pausch as an instructor that the students are being promised jobs even before they enter the program...now that's something! He has the program set up so the students learn while also having fun. What a great way to motivate students.

Randy Pausch also gave us some great advice. My favorite tip of his was to decide whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore. Do you want to enjoy life and have a postive attiude or be a gloomy gus? Randy Pausch was definitely a Tigger in a world full of Eeyores, a bright light in a dark room. I like the head fake concept. I think a lot of what children learn is indirectly. As a parent I also think that children learn more from what you do than what you say.

His second head-fake took me by surprise. The lecture could have been directed at any college class, any group of students or at a teacher's conference but it wasn't. The lecture, his last, was his legacy for his own children. I was really moved the way he accomplished so much and became so wise in his short lifetime.

I also think the head-fake is a great way to approach teaching. The students are learning indirectly- they think they are learning one thing when they are really learning something else. My favorite way to teach would be the methods he used where the students are having fun and don't realize they are learning....and working! This is something I want to try to do myself when I get in the classroom.

I also believe, like Dr. Pausch, in giving students some freedom to explore and discover what they are capable of. I love open-ended assignments where students are given choices and allowed (and encouraged) to think. When approaching learning in this way, the students will almost always surprise you. I loved how Randy Pausch's students blew him away but he couldn't let them know that. Always have high expectations for your students and help them reach beyond what they think they are capable of and they will accomplish more than they (or you) ever dreamed!

It's Not Just For Music Anymore

Using iPods for Educational Purposes

The popularity of iPods has now made its way into the classroom. Students in classrooms ranging from elementary school to college universities are using iPods to further their learning experiences. Duke University issued incoming freshmen in Fall 07 iPods with orientation material to enhance their college experience. This year, Duke is handing out uploaded iPods with class materials, lecture notes and supplements for specific classes such as music and foreign languages. The students are expected to retain the ipods for any future classes where an ipod is utilized. Students there will be able to use the iPod all the way through their senior year.


IPods are also being used in elementary classes. The itunes store also has six Sesame Street podcasts available such as "A is for Asthma" or "Talk, Listen and Connect" which is about separation from a parent. These are videos available for free download that teach younger children life lessons.
For the middle or high school student, Sparknotes are available from an online database. These contain summaries and analysis of literature such as "Tale of Two Cities" or "Wuthering Heights". For the student preparing for the SAT, a vocabulary list of words likely to be on the test is available for download.

My Take

There are so many tools available now to a teacher to use in the classroom that just weren't around when I was a student. There's also so much material that I, as a college student, can take advantage of. I think a teacher should try to become familiar with all the technology possible to enhance the learning process for his or her students. Computers are great but there is so much more you can use such as iPods. There are many educational videos and podcasts that can be downloaded to an iPod for students to use at home. Also, I think the iPod is a wonderful tool to use for those classes where listening is just as important to the learning process as reading such as a foreign language or a music class. I would like to be able to use an ipod in my classroom as a supplemental instructional aide to be used both inside the classroom (podcasts and videos) and also material for students to use outside of class. This would be used to reinforce or to elaborate on lessons presented in class. The videos and podcasts would also be a good way for students to see and hear what other students in other schools are doing.

Check out 100 ways to use your iPod to learn and study better at the Online Educational Database website.

My Presentation

Dr. Alice Christie's Website

Dr. Alice Christie

GPS and Geocaching

The part of Dr. Christie's website I enjoyed the most was the GPS and Geocaching Podcast. Dr. Christie introduced an activity she has created using a GPS (global positioning system) to locate caches that are hidden around the country. She has a website you can go to to locate coordinates for the cache you wish to find. You put coordinates in your GPS and locate the cache. The cache is usually a plastic or metal container filled with trinkets with some significance to the person who hid the cache. Once you find a cache, you read the logbook in the cache, take out one of the items in the cache and replace it with one of your own. Then you fill out the logbook stating the exchange you made and put the cache back in its hiding place.

I think this would be a great way to introduce a geography lesson to the class. In order to find the caches, you have to use directional clues such as latitudes, longitudes, and NSEW. This would be a good project for a field trip for a social studies class. We would have to go to the website to see where some caches are hidden near our school. We could then use a GPS to find the caches. We could then take something out of the cache and replace it with something from our school. Once of the students could fill out the log stating what we took and what we left behind.

It would also be a fun project to create our own cache and hide it somewhere. Each student in the class could bring something from home, an inexpensive item of significance to them to place in the cache. We could then hide the cache somewhere near our school and register our cache on the website. We could go back later to read the logbook to see who has found our cache.
This activity is a good lesson in using technology (the website and GPS) and also in social studies (find the coordinates of the caches).

The best part of Dr. Christie's website is she gives you ideas for lesson plans using a GPS and Geocaching. She also has a tie-in for a lesson in national parks. Since the caches have to be hidden on public land so anyone can go to them, a national park is a great place to hide a cache or to find one. Alabama has numerous national and state parks where caches can be hidden so this would be an awesome field trip experience for a middle or high school class.

Click here for the Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Website

WIKIPEDIA

NPR and WIRED Stories on Wikipedia

The articles on NPR and WIRED about Wikipedia are not really surprising. I think the majority of people know that the information on the Wikipedia is not reliable since anyone that wants to contribute to the site can do so. I found some of the comments by readers about the wikiscanner created by Virgil Griffith interesting. One poster claims that Wikipedia already has a system in place to track the contributors to the site long before Virgil Griffith thought of it. This poster claimed the article was propaganda. Even though they can track who is submitting and editing information, though it might slow down how much is posted to Wikipedia, it will not stop the fraudulent misuse of the site. It is easy to just use a computer that can't be traced back to a specific person or company.

It isn't surprising though that companies, such as Wal-Mart are submitting information to Wikipedia that makes them look good. But since anyone can contribute to Wikipedia along with the ability to edit someone else's submitted information, it will be a long time before we can trust Wikipedia to give us accurate information. Until the day when the submission of material on Wikipedia is more controlled, with a fact checking system in place, this online encyclopedia will remain an unreliable source for information.

Fischbowl: Best of 2007: July Blog

NECC Reflection #1: Where were the students?

Karl Fisch's best blog for July was about a conference he went to with some other teachers from his at the NECC (National Educational Computer Conference). The purpose of the conference was improving the computer use in the schools. Karl Fisch wondered where the children were. There were a few high school students that spoke but the majority of the participants were adults. He thought a conference involving the education of children should include more children.

He then toyed with the idea of bringing some of his students with him to the conference the following year in San Antonio but there are some liability and cost factors to consider. It costs each of the teachers attending about $800 so it would be very difficult to justify paying that for some students to attend. he also considered bringing some of his students to the 2010 conference which is in their hometown of Denver but that is two years away.

The teachers of Dr. Fisch's school, Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO, want to include the children more in the planning and implementing of activities and lesson plans at their school. I agree with this whole-heartily. I think if the children have some say in the actives and lessons presented (while still sticking to the curriculum) they may have more interest in their school work. His goal is to include the children but in order to do this he needs to know what they think.

Karl Fisch's Best of 2007 Blog-September

Is it ok to be a technologically illiterate teacher?

This blog was the Edublog award winner for Most Influential Blog for 2007 and for a reason. Dr. Fisch brings up some very important issues and some great points. Teachers should be computer literate but I think to what extent? I agree that it is more than using a computer to enhance a lesson such as Internet research or power point presentations as one of the comments suggested. In many of the classrooms, the students know their way around a computer better than the teachers. How can we teach what we don't know? Maybe it's time for the teacher to go back to school. I think if we want to raise children and educate students to grow up to be successful adults, we need to give them every advantage possible. Technology is a way to bridge the gap between us and the rest of the world. Giving students a way to communicate with children and young adults in other schools, cities, states, and countries can only enhance their learning. They can find out first-hand what is being done in other schools and share with other students what they themselves are experiencing. It's like having a world-wide classroom.

I agree that to some of the older teachers, the idea of using technology in the classroom might be scary (computer phobia). I admit that when I went back to school after many years, tackling web-based assignments and using Internet tools was a bit intimidating. I learned though and am continuing to learn. This is an on-going process. The day we, as teachers, stop learning is the day we should stop teaching. We need to stay current, fresh, 21st century with our students. Where technology is concerned, there will always be something new and we as teachers owe it to our students to give them the best that we can.

New Handouts

Ms. Avertt has distributed some interesting articles on RSS Feeds and Podcasting. Click on the links or visit the class blog to read the articles.

Blogging in International Classrooms

Mrs. Cassidy's class

Blogging in Canada

A first grade class in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada has a web page along with a classroom blog. Mrs. Kathy Cassidy's class at Westmount Elementary uses the blog to help invite the world into their classroom. The teacher posts assignments and reinforcements for learning along with what they did that day. The children also post to the blog on a particular topic. Mrs. Cassidy will type in after what the children were trying to say (since they are just learning to write). There are many pictures and videos of the children. This blog is a great way to introduce children to the concept of blogging. Check out this blog for some great ideas in setting up a blog for younger students.


Mrs. M's Class

Blogging in Australia

I was really impressed with the class blog title "2mGems" which is the blog of a class of Year 2's (6 & 7 year old) students in Brisbane, Australia. Their teacher, Mrs. M, has set up a blog folio for each child to post to with some posting prompts. She is introducing the world of blogging to her class. There are also news events with related tie-ins and upcoming important dates. Did you know that today is Father's Day in Australia? This class in Australia has blogging buddies, which are other classes that blog, in Canada (Mrs. Cassidy's class), New Hampshire and New York. There is also a map on the blog that tells where visitors to the blog are from. There are quite a few hits from the U.S. There is also a class wiki to which everyone can contribute. This sounds like something I would like to try in an elementary classroom.

Check out another great blog of a class of ten and eleven-year-olds (5th grade) in New Zealand called "Navigators"

Side note: most of the great blogs I found were international. I'm wondering why the concept of classroom blogging isn't catching on as much in the U.S.

Blog Use in U.S. Classrooms

Mr. Miller's class

Miller Has the Right Idea

One of the blogs I discovered while searching the Internet was created by an English teacher in Branford, Connecticut. Miller's English 10 Classroom Blog and was created by Mr. Miller, a tenth- grade English teacher at Branford High School.
This is a very detailed and informative blog to keep his students up to date with what's going on in the class. Mr Miller posts to the blog at least once a week with information for his students. There are also links on the blog for assignments, vocabulary lists, a classroom wiki (which I loved) and an email link to the teacher. Students are also required to post to the classroom blog periodically, adhering to the school rules. This teacher is innovative and is encouraging his students to use technology to broaden their scope of learning. He wants to not only introduce his students to the technology available but also educate them on it's use. Visit this class blog. You will be impressed.

New School Year, New Blog

I also found in my research a brand- new blog created by a third grade teacher from Michigan. Mrs. Myrmel teaches at Bauer Elementary school in Hudsonville, Michigan. Mrs. Myrmel's blog is a way to welcome her students to third grade and to inform them about what lies ahead (they will be studying butterflies this year). Mrs. Myrmel also encourages the students to leave comments which she will reply to. It is a way to introduce third-graders to the use of blogging which I think is remarkable because I'm not sure most third graders even know what a blog is. This is a great way for them to learn to use the technology. The blog is new this year so it doesn't have a lot of information on it yet. I will be checking back with Mrs. Myrmel periodically to see what new posts she makes. Check out her blog for some great ideas!