Saturday, March 29, 2008

Record and Rejoice - Media Sharing!





OH-OH.  I think I owe Jeff an apology.  I didn't read ahead about the Flat Classroom... in fact, I often read the last chapters in a instructional text first, yet haven't lately.  

My thoughts on the teachertube thing are; they are extremely motivating to utilize in my classroom.  I can see the kids viewing them and exploring the "how-to's" as well as the "I can do make that one even better."  Either way, they're learning in a 21st century environment.  

I like the podcasts that save me time.  As Richardson says, keep your player attached to your machine" and you're good to go.  One of my favorite podcasts of all times is by Angus King, former governor of Maine... his goal was to make Maine into a state of the future, and to pave the way for those in the Vacationland to make a living without depending on the mills, and fishing.   Gov. King's feed is listed under my favorites this week.  It's based on the 600+ page book "The World is Flat," yet is under 45 minutes.  I've played it in several of my middle school classes too.

In preparation for some pod-casting, I've been using GarageBand with my 4th graders for the past two sessions.  In session 1, the students explored and used a step-by-step direction sheet created by a 5th grader (they're smarter, right?).  I suggested the students do some peer-to-peer editing the direction sheets.   In session 2, the students were asked to continue exploring, and creating tracks.  There were "Yahoo's" from most when told the assignment.  Some were really whining about it.  Is it because they aren't used to collaborating?  Do not want to share?  Towards the middle of session 3, I played a sample song created a bit ago.  It had multiple tracks and repeats (refrains, chorus).  Wow!  The lights were on big-time.  Students were rushing around the room to see and hear others.  They wanted to know which instrument and which type someone else was using.  

Most of all, I want to introduce and reinforce different styles of learning.  It's something the classroom teachers who hang around can grab hold certainly.  For me, if I had just done what I always do, read from the last chapter of the book, I would have eliminated a bit of frustration.


3 comments:

Passionateteach said...

Nice! You have to love garage band! My kids love it too. It is a lot of fun, and I am going to use it this trimester for my 8th graders to record a podcast of their overall school reflection. I think it will be neat. We will then embed it into their website they are creating. I am going to find out about this flat classroom.. check out the horizon 2008 project. Seems amazing. I listened in to a chat and webcast the other night and it was great! I think it is on teachersteachingteachers.org? Check out my blog..

Torchgirl said...

It's okay to be us most days, don't you think? I'm wondering how the traditional teachers survive without using technology all the time.

What will you use to create web pages? Would you try a wiki?

Passionateteach said...

Hi there - Well right now we code by hand the html, but I really like the wiki idea as a web page.. it has all of the ingredients that a web page needs sort of! And it is sooo easy for the kids to use. Just type, upload and wa la.. you have your own site for people to comment on your thoughts! What is better than that?? I LOVE technology! :)