last post I wrote " Until I have a mobile device that supports the internet, the instant updates of Twitter cannot be fully utilized."
Yesterday, I figured out how to receive Twitter updates via text message. Now I can choose whose tweets I get and be updated wherever I am, 24/7!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
FOLLOW ME AT: hintonzach
The uses of Twitter in my personal life are relatively limited. As far as I know, none of my close friends are Tweople. All of them are on Facebook; this provides all the connectedness and personal networking I need. My main use of Facebook is to make my friends laugh by posting on their wall and sharing funny links. Because I have Facebook, I have very little use for Twitter. I typically do not read or watch the news (general news, non-sport news that is) but as I progress into adulthood I suppose I should become a more educated contributor of society. By following newsfeeds such as the New York Times, Twitter can provide me with constant updates regarding the general news. I will still get my sports news from Pardon the Interruption (a daily show on ESPN), insidelacrosse.com, and other various sports websites. The sports news I want typically requires reading articles or viewing Fantasy Football stats. But by following the right sports sources on Twitter, I can be tipped off to a story earlier than usual and then go follow up on a website. Until I have a mobile device that supports the internet, the instant updates of Twitter cannot be fully utilized.
Twitter makes much more sense in my professional life than it does in my personal life. The network of educators on Twitter can be very supportive of teachers, from first-years to seasoned veterans. When I begin my career, I know that I will have a ton of questions and need the support of experts in the area. I may not be able to rely on the other PE teacher(s) (he/she could be as young as me or not be there at all). The administration may have no PE experience. If this is the case, then I can turn to Twitter to follow experts in the content area and tweet some questions, looking for ideas, becoming a better teacher. I had never thought of Twitter as a self-betterment tool!
Here are the basics for how to communicate on Twitter. A DM is a Direct Message, a short, private message sent between you and another person on Twitter. Use the @ symbol to reply to a tweet (the short message you post for your followers to see) and always include the Twitter ID following the @. RT stands for Retweet, in the case you want to post something you saw in another tweet to share with your followers.
The uses of Twitter in my personal life are relatively limited. As far as I know, none of my close friends are Tweople. All of them are on Facebook; this provides all the connectedness and personal networking I need. My main use of Facebook is to make my friends laugh by posting on their wall and sharing funny links. Because I have Facebook, I have very little use for Twitter. I typically do not read or watch the news (general news, non-sport news that is) but as I progress into adulthood I suppose I should become a more educated contributor of society. By following newsfeeds such as the New York Times, Twitter can provide me with constant updates regarding the general news. I will still get my sports news from Pardon the Interruption (a daily show on ESPN), insidelacrosse.com, and other various sports websites. The sports news I want typically requires reading articles or viewing Fantasy Football stats. But by following the right sports sources on Twitter, I can be tipped off to a story earlier than usual and then go follow up on a website. Until I have a mobile device that supports the internet, the instant updates of Twitter cannot be fully utilized.
Twitter makes much more sense in my professional life than it does in my personal life. The network of educators on Twitter can be very supportive of teachers, from first-years to seasoned veterans. When I begin my career, I know that I will have a ton of questions and need the support of experts in the area. I may not be able to rely on the other PE teacher(s) (he/she could be as young as me or not be there at all). The administration may have no PE experience. If this is the case, then I can turn to Twitter to follow experts in the content area and tweet some questions, looking for ideas, becoming a better teacher. I had never thought of Twitter as a self-betterment tool!
Here are the basics for how to communicate on Twitter. A DM is a Direct Message, a short, private message sent between you and another person on Twitter. Use the @ symbol to reply to a tweet (the short message you post for your followers to see) and always include the Twitter ID following the @. RT stands for Retweet, in the case you want to post something you saw in another tweet to share with your followers.
Friday, February 19, 2010
tools reflection script
My favorite digital storytelling tool has been Jing. It is extremely easy to use. No matter what application you are running on your computer, you can capture it. I used Flickr to tell a story in 5 frames and digital version of “The Giving Tree” for my book talk. Although there is a five minute time limit, it is great for creating any web tutorial that does not exceed that time.
My computer is approximately six years old so the processing speeds are pretty low compared to the new laptops on the market. I am proud of how well this computer has handled all of this new software. Jing has run especially smooth. With regard to system requirements, a broadband connection is recommended for both windows and Mac systems. Windows requires XP, Vista, or Windows 7, and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0. The Mac System Requirements are Mac OS X 10.4.11, or 10.5.5 or later and QuickTime 7.5.5 or later.
My Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 has worked impressively as well. The resolution is outstanding and the software was very easy to install- as soon as I plugged the camera into a USB port I was prompted to install the software and everything worked without any problems. The system requirements for the camera are as follows:
Windows® XP (SP2 or higher), 1 GHz (2.0 GHz recommended), 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended)
Windows Vista® or Windows® 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
1 GHz (2.0 GHz recommended)
512 MB RAM or more
200 MB hard-drive space
CD-ROM drive
OS-compatible sound card and speakers
Hi-Speed Certified USB 2.0 recommended
And if you want to use video calling they suggest:
Dual-core CPU with 1 GB RAM
Broadband Internet with 256 kbps upload or higher
Because of Jing and my webcam, I feel like I could teach an online PE class to elementary school kids! While it may be a few years before this situation arises, I do look forward to potentially using some of this technology in my classes. Students, especially young ones, will love to see themselves onscreen after they have been filmed. After each child had been filmed performing a particular skill, the video can be uploaded to the school’s server. I can use Jing to create a screen cast to walk the students through the steps of opening their video from the school server and then add narration to their video using a media program (such as windows movie maker). The narration would be identifying and describing the parts of a skill (perhaps the video is in slow motion); upper grades can describe biomechanical principles that determine why a skill is performed the way it is. For example, we start with our side to a target to allow for sequential body rotation. Then the final projects could be uploaded to TeacherTube, YouTube, or Vimeo so that the parents could see!
My computer is approximately six years old so the processing speeds are pretty low compared to the new laptops on the market. I am proud of how well this computer has handled all of this new software. Jing has run especially smooth. With regard to system requirements, a broadband connection is recommended for both windows and Mac systems. Windows requires XP, Vista, or Windows 7, and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0. The Mac System Requirements are Mac OS X 10.4.11, or 10.5.5 or later and QuickTime 7.5.5 or later.
My Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 has worked impressively as well. The resolution is outstanding and the software was very easy to install- as soon as I plugged the camera into a USB port I was prompted to install the software and everything worked without any problems. The system requirements for the camera are as follows:
Windows® XP (SP2 or higher), 1 GHz (2.0 GHz recommended), 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended)
Windows Vista® or Windows® 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
1 GHz (2.0 GHz recommended)
512 MB RAM or more
200 MB hard-drive space
CD-ROM drive
OS-compatible sound card and speakers
Hi-Speed Certified USB 2.0 recommended
And if you want to use video calling they suggest:
Dual-core CPU with 1 GB RAM
Broadband Internet with 256 kbps upload or higher
Because of Jing and my webcam, I feel like I could teach an online PE class to elementary school kids! While it may be a few years before this situation arises, I do look forward to potentially using some of this technology in my classes. Students, especially young ones, will love to see themselves onscreen after they have been filmed. After each child had been filmed performing a particular skill, the video can be uploaded to the school’s server. I can use Jing to create a screen cast to walk the students through the steps of opening their video from the school server and then add narration to their video using a media program (such as windows movie maker). The narration would be identifying and describing the parts of a skill (perhaps the video is in slow motion); upper grades can describe biomechanical principles that determine why a skill is performed the way it is. For example, we start with our side to a target to allow for sequential body rotation. Then the final projects could be uploaded to TeacherTube, YouTube, or Vimeo so that the parents could see!
Book talk
http://www.screencast.com/users/zhinton/folders/Jing/media/e49e1df2-0518-4e42-8639-9021df766a34
Here, I flip through "The Giving Tree" and note some philosophical discussions regarding the 1960's children's book.
Here is the link to the wiki page I mention: http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/The_Giving_Tree
Here, I flip through "The Giving Tree" and note some philosophical discussions regarding the 1960's children's book.
Here is the link to the wiki page I mention: http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/wiki/The_Giving_Tree
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
DST review
The EdTechTalk site featured a discussion hosted by three educators with Jason Ohler, their special guest. Dr. Ohler has an extensive resume in the field of digital story telling. Now retired, he speaks, educates, and provides workshops regarding “using technology effectively, creatively, and wisely to learn, work and play in the digital age (from jasonohler.com). The podcast was an open discussion between Ohler, the three hosts and also featured questions from a live chat room. When Ohler does a workshop for students he likes to tell them, “We aren’t writing, we are media scripting, like in the movies!” The students are very excited that they don’t have to “write” and get to “media script”. This shows that the stigma against writing in schools is an attitudinal, inspirational, and motivational issue, not a cognitive issue. I found this interesting; the implementation of technology is a great way to motivate kids and can act as a “distracter” from the fact that they are still writing.
Ohler mentions a “magical point in the evolution of story telling”. It sounded like he thinks technology (DST to be specific) can restore what has been lost with regard to creativity in schools. The teachers hosting provided examples from their students, citing that students ask questions such as “what is this supposed to look like?” and “what color should this be?”. Some of our schooling has become so strict that students are getting trained to not be creative. Ohler attributes part of this to NCLB. He states that the time spent making sure students can pass standardized tests could be used for creative processes. Additionally, he thinks that NCLB is taking away from the “art of teaching” and that it limits the number of teachable moments, so perhaps teachers are losing some of their creativity as well. I agree with Dr. Ohler, providing opportunities for students to think critically and create should be maximized in schools, not limited to a simple standardized test score. Much valuable assessment can come from analyzing the process of a task, not just the end product.
(Podcast from http://edtechtalk.com/taxonomy/term/618)
The “10 Technology Enhanced Alternatives to Book Reports” webpage was interesting. While the 10 suggestions are all great for classroom teachers, it was the introduction that intrigued me the most. The author, Kelly Tenkely, notes the dreadfulness of book reports and notes a the term read-i-cide, for which she provides this definition, “Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools.” http://stenhouse.com/html/readicide.htm.” Tenkely suggests technology as a cure for read-i-cide. I think technology can be part of the cure for “x-i-cide”, where x is anything school related (school-i-cide, learning-i-cide, writing-i-cide, exercise-i-cide, etc.). When I long-term-subbed PE at
The Cogdogroo webpage (http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryIdeas) provides suggestions on how to synthesize story ideas. The first suggestions are story prompt questions, such as “what was your favorite childhood pet?” and “what is the most adventurous thing you have ever done?”. The next set of suggestions provides visuals that have a certain mystic to them that could be potentially story-provoking. I found the phrasr tool very cool (http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/index.php). Type in any phrase and a picture is assigned to each word that represents the word in some way. This site stressed that the topic of the story was not crucial; one should pick a topic quickly and then get to know the technology. The point of the workshop is to gain experience being creative with the DST technologies. While this contradicts Dr. Ohler’s webcast thoughts, where he says that the story is what makes a good DST (not the technology) I understand that for the purposes of learning the tools that the content manipulated is not of highest importance.
Digital storytelling can be used in my classroom when addressing the affective domain. When I want my students to demonstrate how they feel in my class, DST can be a great tool. Using images from class, students can add their own emotions to a scenario. This will make me a better teacher as I will be able to know first hand what activities the students enjoy, dislike, find boring, want more of, etc. At the upper grade levels, students can observe their performances and describe what was going through their minds, or add a creative twist to the image of the athlete. The completed projects could be posted online; I bet parents would love to how PE has changed since when they took it!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
JingProject Tell a Story in 5 Frames
http://www.screencast.com/users/zhinton/folders/Jing/media/32ae8233-65f4-4313-a457-75a711d0c8a9
Tell a Story in 5 Frames with Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/visualstory/discuss/72157623404204974/
How could you use this activity to support literacy?
I would use this tool in order to break down skills. I could show a sequence of frames that display a movement from start to finish. For example, the first frame could be a bowler beginning his approach by stepping with the opposite foot. The second frame would display the "push away" as the bowler pushes the ball away from them and begins the backswing. The third frame would show the back swing and step, the fourth the follow throw and toe drag. I could then have the students describe what is going on in each frame to assess their knowledge of the proper form and terminology. Using photos taken in class of the students would add a personal touch and provide some extra motivation.
How could you use this activity to support literacy?
I would use this tool in order to break down skills. I could show a sequence of frames that display a movement from start to finish. For example, the first frame could be a bowler beginning his approach by stepping with the opposite foot. The second frame would display the "push away" as the bowler pushes the ball away from them and begins the backswing. The third frame would show the back swing and step, the fourth the follow throw and toe drag. I could then have the students describe what is going on in each frame to assess their knowledge of the proper form and terminology. Using photos taken in class of the students would add a personal touch and provide some extra motivation.
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