Wk 4 Blog Post 4, Comments to Janene Neal

Comment to Janene Neal:

Janene I was very interested to hear about your experience this year with 2 of the extraordinary students within the class. I love that you found a way to take a potentially negative situation and find a positive contribution for the students. You are the spark for those students! You may actually be the first teacher who has used learning through technology to find a way to connect to these extraordinary students. You definitely applied rule number 6!

I plan to take your experience, and reflect on ways to do the same in the classroom with other students who need the spark of possibility. Perhaps this is the first time these students have been engaged and felt important. Great job! You are the difference!

Janene Neal's Post:

When I started teaching over ten years ago, I believe my whole body was filled with lighting ready to transfer to others. I wanted to relight a spark in my students, so they would be ready to take on the world.

Recently, I think my inner light has fizzled, and I see a dying light in my students.

Maybe it is the end of the year. Maybe I feel a little burned out. But when I read these last few chapters, I realized, I need to make a change in my thinking. I can still make a difference in my students’ lives. I can still light that spark.

How do I rekindle that feeling of making a difference? I know myself. I need to make a change with my professional life about every three to four years. Do something different like changing schools, positions, or curriculum. This really helps me with keeping my ideas fresh and new.

However, what about the students that have that darkness inside, but don’t want to let in the possibility of light? Every year, I try to motivate a student that just doesn’t want to work with me. Usually it’s a student that just wants to goof off, play around, distract others, and try to be the “cool/bad” kid. You all know them…we all have at least one in our class. This year, I just so happen to have two of them in one class. This is how I overcame this type of behavior. I gave both students a lot of leeway.

I let them work on a multimedia project together that consisted of a rap creation they created in Garageband Loops. I saw the spark...they showed the light.

Instead of me running around yelling at them to get to work, saying, “stop this”, or “stop that”, I provided my students with endless possibilities. My students found new technology knowledge, created a content skill rap song, minimized distractions, and had fun. I was able to do my job…which is mold young minds. WE all learned from this experience.

Posted by Janene Neal at 12:00 PM

Wk 4 Blog Post 3, Comments to Levonda Vickery

Response to Levonda:

I love the positive attitude you exhibit. I think your enthusiasm and energy show through and as soon as you are given an opportunity to show someone in education all that you have to offer, the spark will ignite and lead to amazing possibilities!

Getting to know you over this last year, I am amazed with your confidence and positive attitude. We need more teachers with your desire to use new technologies in the classroom, and your energy!

One thing that has helped me to at least get a few interviews, that may perhaps help you as well, is to include in my cover letter my action research website and online portfolio. My online portfolio is not fancy, but it has links to many of our projects. Here is my link if you want to take a look. I include the site on my resume as well.

http://web.me.com/kswartz3/kristiswartzportfolio/Welcome_Page.html

I actually was thrilled to get an interview yesterday at one of the only schools with even one job opening. The principal said there were over 425 applicants, and they only interviewed 18. I know my Full Sail experience got me the interview. I do not think I will get the position, but there is a possibility, and a spark! May it be so for you!  

Wk 4 Reading: Art of Possibility Chapters 9-12

I loved Zander's words in Chapter 9 about us having the "infinite capacity to light a spark of possibility" right at our fingertips and that "passion, rather than fear, is the igniting force."  Oh how true those words ring.  That not only should we ignite a spark in others, but be willing to catch any sparks they may throw at us as well.  I must say that reading Chapter 11: Creating Frameworks for Possibility was right up my creative alley so to speak.  I know that I am the happiest whenever I am creating new things or even watching that creative spark in both of my daughters.  My 15 year old is able to do things with video that I only wish I had been able to do at her age or to have even had the opportunity to learn with the tools and technology she has available to her.  

I loved the story of the teacher who shaved her head because of the student who underwent chemotherapy and the other students were making fun of her baldness.  What a great way to take charge of a situation instead of letting it get out of hand and head into that downward spiral Zander speaks of.  I have a dream to teach and believe that dream is well within my "arena of possibility."  Zander made a really good point about how a vision does not require one to win, but merely to play into the possibility.  His words on how a personal crisis can lead to the creation of a vision that turns a life of possibility sang out to me about the past year or so of my life and how I have taken the my job loss and divorce not as a sign of failure, but rather as a sign to have a new beginning full of possibilities and dreams.  This book has helped me to realize that all the negativity about not having a job and never even being called for a job interview to teach does not define who I am.  My thinking either positive or negative is what defines me and my actions allowing me to choose to explore my own world of possibilities in order to move forward in my life and ignite that spark in others around me.

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Wk 4 Blog Post 2, Publishing/Leadership Project

Image from Journal of Digital learning in Teacher Education Website

Image from Education Technology Research and Development Journal Website

My Publishing/Leadership Project consists of a journal article I hope to have published in the Education Technology Research and Development Journal which is the only scholarly journal focusing on research and development in educational technology. This would be a great place to share my project regarding educational technology regarding blogging about independent reading.

The other publication I would like to be published in is the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education. I am excited about sharing my Literature Review and Action Research Project regarding blogging as motivation to read independently. Interest in reading and reading independently are great indicators of student success. Blogging proves to be a way of bridging reading with technology. By combining an important area of learning with technology, educators can help students find success inside and outside of the classroom.

I would be excited to have the article published in one of these two scholarly journals. I look forward to receiving feedback from the Wimba session with classmates and look forward to making my article better.

Publishing Blog Post 1

http://swartzbloggin.blogspot.com/2011/05/wk-2-blog-post-5-publishingleadership.html

Publishing Blog Post 2

http://swartzbloggin.blogspot.com/2011/05/wk-3-blog-post-4-publishingleadership.html

Swartz_Kristi_PublishingProject

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AlcvhFVPHhYpPkbgdK84jKOIwbw6LwaUCFu92d_IAzE/edit?hl=en&authkey=CLWHxNQB

Wk 4 Blog Post 1, Readings

Flickr photo by Suzie T

This week after finishing The Art of Possibilities I reflect further on how this book has changed my perspective. I understand the idea of being ready to participate, offering the gifts we possess for the good of the community, and being open to others eagerness to catch the spark and share it with others. This is a great model for teachers today. We can participate in the students learning in our class sharing what we know and learning from our students’ gifts and knowledge. We can definitely instill sparks within our students creating students who catch the fever to learn and grow in everything they do.

The whole enrollment thing did throw me, however. I prefer to think of it as participation, as discussed in an earlier chapter. The idea of enrollment seemed redundant to me.  I look forward to others thoughts on enrollment.

My favorite part of this reading dealt with the Nelson Mandela address of the words of Marianna Williamson. The idea of this poem in regard to sharing our power and light and how that can spark others to shine their light as well, was inspiring to me. I actually read over this several times and typed it out to print at a later time. I love the idea of all people being born to manifest the glory of God within us, all of us. That was an inspirational message, and a spark, a light,  I hope to share my students through my actions!

Wk 3 Blog Post 5, Wimba Reflection

Photo by Kristi Swartz

I was interested to learn more about the Publishing/Leadership project through the Wimba archive. I am creating a paper for publication for my project. I did get a lot of information from this Wimba session to aid me in my publication revisions for my final submission to a scholarly journal next month.

I will be very excited to get a chance at the last Wimba session to hear about other Action Research Projects through this sharing session. There are so many ideas regarding technology and education that have been researched through our class this year. This sharing is a great way to find research-based ideas for our practice as educators interested in technology use in the classroom.

It seems like a lot of our courses consist of similar students, and although I love this, I am excited to find out more about other students’ Action Research Projects, as well. Looking forward to Monday!

Wk 3 Blog Post 4, Publishing/Leadership Project

Photostream Photo from ccNL Translation

I definitely think creating an article for possible publishing is the best idea for me and my action research project. I do have a lot of media that I can use to create a presentation later, or use for my final presentation next month, but I feel like publishing a research based paper could aid more educators in understanding the potential for blogging within the language arts classroom. When I was researching scholarly articles for my AR Project Lit Review, I did find a lot of information regarding blogging and the language arts classroom, but did not find information in regard to blogs for motivation to read independently. Since blogging has proved to be a motivation for reading independently among my students, it could benefit other teacher's students as well. Perhaps this scholarly article will be a way to reach educators around the world!

I have a rough layout of my publishing, and plan to refine what I have before next Monday. I look forward to the Wimba session next week to get ideas from classmates to make my publishing better!

Wk 3 Blog Post 3, Comment to Anne Alsup

From Anne Alsup's Blog Post

I love how you describe students developing areas of interest. If students can see what is good in each person within the classroom, they can learn to use their own gifts as they learn from others gifts, as well. In our Full Sail classes this year, we have been given freedom to express ourselves, as we desire within parameters. If we allow our students to do the same, they will contribute to the world in meaningful ways.  

I do think it important that we as teachers challenge our students to step out of their area of expertise, and grow in their weaker areas also. With the idea of personal contribution and passion, students will feel the goal is to grow, take risks, and contribute, not to excel at everything. So much in our world today says everyone must be great at everything;  we can shift these ideas and help students see everyone has varied gifts, and all students can grow from each other every day, by sharing those talents and growing our areas of weaknesses together! What a better world we would have at the end of the day without competition, but with inclusion!

This weekend an amazing thing happened at our area high school. The prom king and queen who were crowned this weekend were both downs syndrome students. The high school students were able to love these students for who they are, and see their amazing qualities, and reward them for being great friends. When they were crowned, all of the high school students at the prom cheered; not competition, but unity! May we hope for this from our own students!

Anne Alsup wrote:

The teacher, like the conductor of an orchestra is not the true power in the classroom. The teacher derives their power from the success of the student. Some teachers may see their role as enlightening their students with their vast knowledge, but I disagree.  Perhaps more can be learned from the conductor.

One of the most difficult issues that I faced during my action research project as I moved my classes from the traditional teacher-centered classroom to a student-centered model was the role of the instructor. Almost universally, students perceive the role of the teacher as supplying knowledge and answering questions, a notion that has been perpetuated by an arena of high-stakes testing. While this methodology has merit for the conveyance of basic facts and principles, it falls short of moving the student to transference of the principles at higher levels of intellectual and cognitive application.

It is not the conductor's role to play the violin, only to direct the violinist. Like the conductor, it is not the teacher's role to answer the question, but to ask the question and point the student in the direction of knowledge. My research indicated that the teacher should literally say nothing that would interfere with the students' thought process. Students should be encouraged to develop the ideas, based on their previous knowledge and define the concepts for themselves.  This approach transcends the power of the conductor and empowers learning to take place from any chair. Through this collaborative orchestra of thought, knowledge is generated beyond the scope of any individual effort.

Is it necessary that every student masters the laws of physics, understand Shakespearean literature or solve a quadratic equation? I think we know better. Our world would be a better place if each child could discover and develop their passion. Establishing graduation requirements and competency testing does little to promote passion for learning. It is time to apply Rule #6 to the educational arena.  Yes, we should have some basic requirements and children should be exposed to wide variety of educational opportunities, but the sooner we help children develop areas of interest, the better chance we have lessening the control of the calculating self and free the child to find the central self. Imagine a universe of possibility where each person is able to express their inner desires in a positive direction by contributing to their world.  A world in which each person participates in the part that they were born to play and plays it with unbridled passion. 

Wk 3 Blog Post 2, Comment to Susan Calland

Image from Susan Calland's blog post

I loved your thoughts on Rule number 6. This took me back to our video analysis of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Steve Jobs seems to live by this rule. Although he is passionate about his product, he knows how to create a positive atmosphere and keep things light and interesting. He certainly is a risk taker! I know that a little humor always increases student engagement. Student involvement and the use of student ideas within the classroom give students a sense of ownership of their learning. Creating connections for students through stories, metaphors, images, and videos can really keep them interested and lead to better end results for student learning. Risk taking should be rewarded with applause. The teacher across the hall from you gives us all inspiration. I think passion and enthusiasm make all the difference.

My sons attend a camp each summer that is Christ centered. The camp counselors are all in their early 20’s and are enthusiastic about everything they instill in the children. One of the girls explained, if we are excited about what is going on, our campers think it is worth being excited about as well. May it be so with teachers!

Susan wrote:

In reading the four chapters, one main concept I am taking away is that fact that it is always more important to ask what makes a group lively and engaged instead of asking how good am I.  The students will definitely learn more if they are engaged and the focus is on them, not on the instructor.  My students seem to react when I admit to not knowing something that they ask or admit that I made a mistake.  Students also react very positively if one of their ideas is accepted and used.

Rule number 6:  Don’t take your self so seriously!  I have found in my classroom that my students respond in a positive manner when I am in a better, lighter mood than when I am too serious.  The same amount of learning still gets accomplished, but laughter makes them relax and more willing to take a risk.  I agree that if students can give up their pride, they stand a lot better chance of learning than if they let their pride get in the way.  My students may laugh at me when I do crazy things, but they love it all the same. 

Giving Way to Passion:  The teacher I have taught across the hall from for 14 years is retiring and she is a perfect example of having passion for what she does.  In this last year of her 39 year career, she still goes at it full force.  She is very passionate for reading and language arts and can still get kids excited about reading even if they aren’t good readers.  She has a gift for not holding back. 

In reading the four chapters, one main concept I am taking away is that fact that it is always more important to ask what makes a group lively and engaged instead of asking how good am I.  The students will definitely learn more if they are engaged and the focus is on them, not on the instructor.  My students seem to react when I admit to not knowing something that they ask or admit that I made a mistake.  Students also react very positively if one of their ideas is accepted and used.

Rule number 6:  Don’t take your self so seriously!  I have found in my classroom that my students respond in a positive manner when I am in a better, lighter mood than when I am too serious.  The same amount of learning still gets accomplished, but laughter makes them relax and more willing to take a risk.  I agree that if students can give up their pride, they stand a lot better chance of learning than if they let their pride get in the way.  My students may laugh at me when I do crazy things, but they love it all the same. 

Giving Way to Passion:  The teacher I have taught across the hall from for 14 years is retiring and she is a perfect example of having passion for what she does.  In this last year of her 39 year career, she still goes at it full force.  She is very passionate for reading and language arts and can still get kids excited about reading even if they aren’t good readers.  She has a gift for not holding back. 

Wk 3 Blog Post 1, Readings

The 4 chapters we focused on this week again had me thinking in a new way. Leaders are always said to be the strong, loud, commanding type, yet, in this reality, the leader is the one that makes others strive to have a vision of what is possible. As I read this week, I could not help but think of my son’s 4^th grade teacher. He truly is the best teacher I, or any of my own children, have ever had. I began to reflect on the readings and this particular teacher’s qualities. What quality does he possess? How does he lead? This is what I found. His quality is inspiration. He leads quietly. He leads by making each student feel worthy of great possibility, of vision.

When my son had this particular teacher, we attended a short play the students created in the classroom. We have all attended classroom plays, yet this one was different. Student made invitation letters went home, student created props lined the walls of the classroom. Student actors and actresses played the parts of the student written scripts. There were even student created commercials between the acts. All students were involved and the leader sat silent and just took it all in. A student made the introduction and all the leader said in the end was a simple thank you for coming to see you students amazing production.

At the time, I did notice how different the feel of the classroom was that day. Students were empowered to learn and grow, and proud to show the product they had created. The reason that teacher is such an amazing teacher is because he gets what Zander spoke of in his video this week and through The Art of Possibility. He gets that it is a teacher’s job to inspire possibility and watch students live into that vision. May it be so for all of us as educators.

Wk 2 Blog Post 5 Publishing/Leadership Ideas

I have decided to create an article for publication based on my Action Research project regarding blogs and motivation to read independently. I am excited at the prospect that others could actually benefit from my findings and ideas, as I know my own practice will benefit. I know research based practices in education are important to results for students and would love to be a part of this research community through a published article.

I am looking at 2 publications right now for possible submission. The first publication I found interesting was Education Technology Research and Development. The online submission process seems to be laid out very well with guidelines that seem easy to follow. This publication focuses entirely on research and development in educational technology. I would be thrilled to get my article published here. The URL for the site and submission criteria is here: http://www.springer.com/education+%26+language/learning+%26+instruction/journal/11423

My second site I may submit my article is the Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education. This journal provides computer and technology education to pre-service and in-service teachers. Technology in teacher education is shared through this journal. This site also seemed to have clear submission criteria. The URL for this site is here: http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/submission-information/journals-submission-information/jdlte-submission-guidelines.aspx

I am excited to think that the hard work we put into our projects this year could actually aid other educators looking into technology use in the classroom! I look forward to getting started on this project!

Wk 2 Blog 4, Wimba Session 2 Reflection

Flickr Image from MikeBlogs

As I reflect on the Wimba session, a few ideas you shared about copyright in regard to fair use come to mind. I was appreciative of how the ideas of fair use laws and how they apply in education. I have never been aware of what was allowed, or disallowed in the classroom under copyright law. The idea that a teacher can only use media in a classroom lesson if it is the only way to get a lesson across and even then can only use a small snippet, seems absurd. I really do hope sites like Creative Commons can begin to change this outdated form of copyright.

Wk 2 Blog Post 3, Comment to Brian Thomas

Taken from Book Cover

I was taken aback at first by the text, thinking it was going to be like a self help book, looking at greatness, but pleasantly, found it just the opposite! Chapter 4, Being a Contribution, probably had the biggest impact on me. I am always looking for ways I can grow. One area I can grow is through being a contribution and also recognizing everyone has the ability to be a contribution as well. By recognizing not only my own ideas, but also the ideas of others and their importance, I feel I can live my life in a better way by making a contribution a priority as a teacher, and as a Christian.

I also found this chapter to shift my thinking in the classroom. My students often reflect on their learning each day. This chapter forced me to go another direction and examine what might happen if I get students and myself more interested in contribution. That might mean contribution to class work, contribution to our class as a community, or contribution to the world at large. This takes pressure off students to be right, and allows them to take risks and be involved, to contribute.

I am glad to see that after you made it through the first few chapters of the book you were able to make a connection in chapter 3 and to the video. Sometimes I think just being open to other people’s point of view can change our perception of the world and of them even if it does not change our mind about how we feel.

Brian’s Blog Post:

I think the thing that I learned most from the first two chapters of this book was something about myself. This “thing” is something that I’ve had to deal with throughout this course and upon reflection, throughout my entire life. I’m talking about the types of books that speak to me and the type that I really cannot in any way relate to. Unfortunately, this book seems to be of the latter. I would classify it as more of a philosophical get-in-touch-with-your-inner-self type book. After finished up the first couple chapters, I felt a rush of all the books I’d read come back to me – those I enjoyed and those I did not (regardless of the genre or content). As an individual with a severe case of concrete logical-mathematical thinking, I realize that my brain has a particularly hard time processing text that is deeply philosophical, yet reading a physics, chemistry, or calculus text is relatively easy. As is reading any manual on whatever the topic. And I find some of the statements in the book particularly hard for my brain to accept. Take this passage on p.20 for example: “The pie is enormous, and if you take a slice, the pie is whole again.” (Zander, 2000) Now, as we all know, if you subtract a part from the whole, as long as the part is > 0, you no longer have the whole, as is insinuated by the authors.

Poor mathematics aside, the awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses in reading opened my eyes to the difficulties that some student may have in reading such texts as I enjoy, and quite truthfully, this was my greatest take-away from the first couple chapters.

So, that aside, I do see the value of thinking outside the box, as explained in the text. Another part of the text that resonated with me was the part about scarcity thinking. I believe as Americans, we have really fallen into that mind-set and try to accumulate as much as we possibly can, without much regard for those that have little to nothing.

Moving into chapter three was fearful (because it was much longer than the infinitely long previous two chapters combined) but I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the authors take on “giving an A” and thought at length about what kind of effect that would have on a student population I might be working with next year.

Ironically, I didn’t really start to get into the text myself until I watched the TED talk (which I had seen a couple years ago) and remembered how much I enjoyed watching Ben Zander. And at that point, I decided to give the book an A, and have enjoyed it much more ever since.

(image from the cover of The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander)

Posted by Brian Thomas

Wk 2 Blog Post 2, Comment to Josh Tolar

I love your example of the box. In our world today, we are inundated with worry for the future. Our financial security, job security, getting richer, being better, everyone looking only at tomorrow. I too, love the way our readings make us reflect on perspective and its importance on the here and now. If we truly open ourselves up to today and create a positive existence doing what we can for others, our tomorrows will take care of themselves. We do need to remove ourselves from the box and live a life that matters by affecting others in positive ways. Nothing makes me feel better than when I do something for someone else without their knowing. If we look at contributions, both others, and ours I agree we can be the difference.

In regard to our journey with Full Sail, I too, think it will be significantly different without all of our time spent growing and learning. It shows me, I am definitely a person who is a lifelong learner. I do intend to keep going with technology in education one small step at a time, and hopefully end up making a contribution.

You are gifted with music and I love that you can begin to see the contribution that can have for the world. Keep making music and doing what you do!

Image by flickr user: trixnbooze

Josh's post:
I keep thinking about the current situation about my job and how it happened so fast.  While I was hastily updating my resume to look for a new job to cure my unhappiness with my current one, an opportunity came out from no where and basically slapped me in the face.  I’m now in a new position with the same company, but I don’t know for how long.  I have this hidden fear that one day this position will be over and I will have to go back where I used to work and fall into an unhappy lifestyle again where my expertise is nothing but a title on a sheet of paper.  It is here that I have enclosed myself into a box and never stopped to think about the opportunity I have right now and how it might actually affect my future; An opportunity to seize the moment.

By reading the first 4 chapters of “Art of Possibility”, I realized the potentials I have as well as the weaknesses I have had and still have.  When thinking about giving an A to someone, it somehow calms my nerves from expecting too much and allows me to focus on how to contribute to someone else’s life or a project.  This IS a realization, but NOT THE END of realizations.  While giving an A to someone might make it easier for two people to work together in a more harmonious fashion, there is still the realization of giving yourself an A.  For so many years I have been controlled by a never-ending urge to please everyone.  It has caused me to go above and beyond to the extent that my body shuts down and causes many problems like stress or an occasional illness.  This is from my past of always having to live up to an A or suffer the consequences or living up to the expectations of a parent and it never stopped.  It never stopped because I never allowed it to stop.  I have always given in to the persistent calculations and measurements in my head.  I have always been afraid that if I don’t do the best possible work then I would fail or cause someone to feel disappointed.  I have always been in the realm of self-doubt despite of what others say.  This is just like what Ben Zander was describing about his students and how giving an A would open up the possibilities of being creative and not focusing on the measurements in their head.  If I give myself an A first, then I feel I can start handing out A’s to other people and I can then start a successful domino effect of contribution.

Life is constantly changing and the past year at Full Sail has not only given me strength and trust in myself, but has shown me that when you work with others and recognize their contributions as well as your own, amazing things start to happen.  I have always been told, “If you put your mind to it, anything can happen”.  This is so true in so many ways, but you have to first realize that if you give in to self-doubt and the measurements that we are so conditioned with, you start to focus on the negative instead of the positive.  You become enclosed in a box.  I think that by realizing our contributions and the contributions of other people, we can start to open the lid of the box and slowly come out.

“Think Outside The Box (Evidence & Metaphor)” by Flickr user trixnbooze used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
Website Address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martyportier/4656059096/

Posted by Josh Tolar at 4:15 PM 0

Wk 2 Readings Blog 1

My Contribution

I love Zander’s idea that a leader does not doubt peoples’ abilities to do what it is they are to do. As I look at education I ask, What if all teachers believed in the abilities of all of their students? How would education change? Stop thinking about everything along the way, and see the big picture. Have a vision, a long line, and see it through! How would education change?

Zander’s video on Ted was moving and showed the connection possible for classical music through Zander’s determination and perception.  His connection to the conductor as a person to make others powerful, and make others feel it is possible. I loved his question: Who am I being if my children’s eyes are not shining?  I hope to take this and use it in the classroom. I want a classroom with children’s eyes shining.

The idea of enhancing our quality of life and the quality of life for those around us as we have the power is really meaningful to me. I think this year has been eye opening for me as I look and understand perception and the big part it plays in each of our version of reality. I have looked at this through my Masters courses, my own Bible study, through the students I teach, and now this book. It is amazing how life opens something up to us, and we see it all around. I see this as the power of God.  In this book, I feel the importance of perception and I love thinking about how our brains constructs our reality, and how that reality is just ours, we can not know if it is the reality that is real, or created, because our brain constructs our own thoughts. The idea of it all being a story we tell, can change our own thoughts about every situation. For me, the closer I become to God, the more I want his will, this leads me try to be a better person, think about others feelings, and desire good. I love the idea in the book of setting the context and letting life unfold

I loved the thoughts on giving an A, not just in the classroom but also in the everyday world. It is so true that we measure everyone according to a standard measure. When we can believe everyone has a unique gift to share, and that not all of us have the same gift, we can begin to accept and love people for who they are, learn from their gifts, and accept their differences, as well. I love the idea of giving A’s, looking at what is great about this person I meet that I can learn from, rather than comparing them to a standard measure I set.

I love the question, what did you achieve today becoming, how did I contribute today? So now I ask this of myself…How did I contribute today?

Wk1 Blog Post 4, New Media

Wanted: New Media in the Classroom

Ron Smith Interview- Use Any Method to Reach Students

In the interview I watched, Ron Smith discusses animation use by high school students. He explains how he uses anything to get students interested in what is happening in the classroom. He integrates new technology and students express themselves in their own way.

I feel there is a real need for teachers to be aware of the new ways of expression in the classroom, which students use, everyday outside of the classroom. Students need to be as connected to the world inside the classroom as they are outside the classroom.

Ron Smith explains that a teacher who uses a PowerPoint thinks he is really techno-savvy. Teachers do not see the full benefits of digital teaching because this requires a new type of planning by teachers. Ron Smith explains how he builds the semester before the class even begins when using new technology. Most teachers work day by day, the new culture is preparation before class with more freedom during the day to aid student creation.

This article was interesting to me, but since it was an interview with a teacher of high school students, I need to adapt his ideas for the upper-elementary classroom. How: First, I love the idea of showing students a bit about several web 2.0 tools and then encouraging students to experiment with those tools to create a project, letting students choose the tool they wish to use for the project. For upper elementary students, I would begin with applications like Wordle, Glogster, StoryJumper, and ToonDoo. Once students are comfortable and familiar with these applications and how they are used, I would add more web tools for project presentation. I do try to create media for use in the classroom when I have free time that can be used in later classes to increase interest. I include a Prezi I created to use with students to share information about myself at the beginning of the school year. I encourage you to do the same. The more media we create and save, the more engaging our classrooms become!

I know students would love to have control over how they demonstrate their knowledge, and would likewise enjoy the presentation of final projects because they are all unique. Students would learn from each other’s final products! Final products can also be shown and shared with a larger audience, and perhaps used by many other teachers in their own classrooms! I know this type of learning would interest students and engage them in the learning as well!

New Media in the classroom? I’m sold!

Wk1 Blog Post 3, Comments to Michael Wood

Kristi's comments to Michael Wood's video

Michael

First of all, I loved the copyright glasses on your blog site. Very creative!

Comic inspiration by Kristi Swartz

I enjoyed your reflection on the comic strips you drew as a young person and how that led to a job for you later in life. (You inspired my photo using a comic strip theme in photo booth!) Anyway,

our students in contrast will use creative remixing to land jobs in communications or advertising in much the same way in the future. I know My 3 sons spend a lot of time drawing and creating on paper but spend just as much time altering and adapting works on the computer. Do they have a clue about copyright issues or infringement? Absolutely not!

Interesting to hear about your experience with high school students using and remixing images in your classroom. The fact that high students do not know copyright laws and are not held to strict standards in image use, does show our need as 21^st century teachers to change with the times and begin to spread the word about freeware and sites like Creative Commons. . In the elementary and upper elementary classrooms, students are just excited to find images they like, much less worry about their copyright. I feel it is important for students to be taught to use sites like Creative Commons, perhaps by making it easily accessible for students. Students must be taught early to credit sources in their works if our

Culture is ever to change.

Costly images are not the way of the future, perhaps what we need to do is have students begin to create more images to place on Creative Commons for use in new media. No time, of course no time, but perhaps A high school photography class could be a great place to begin to show students how to copyright their own images and share those images through sites like Creative Commons. Imagine how many creative high school students would be interested in taking interesting images. No question that times are changing, I remember spending a whole semester in high school learning to develop our own pictures! Not so today!! Not so today!  

Michael's blog post: 

  

Wk1 Blog Post 2, Comment to David Remillard's Blog Post

Image from Creative Commons

By Andreanna Moya Photography

David-

I love your statement about teachers understanding and leading students to understand copyright. In younger grades, students are aware of plagiarism in books to some degree, but do not see the need to credit sources for image use, or Internet sources. Students need to have information technology taught in a way that they learn how to locate sources, use them correctly, and practice with this in the classroom. With so much confusion and uncertainty dealing with copyright, I think it is critical that our students understand copyright and respect the law as it is until it changes. The problem seems to be the grey area of what is and is not legal for use from digital sources! Without teacher understanding, our students will not understand copyright infringement in media either.  It is great to bring this issue to light in this time of picture and video exchange. I am looking forward to some clear answers in the future!

David Remillard Wrote:

Digital literacy and digital citizenship has been a recent topic among the faculty at my school. We want students to be able to find digital content and be able to analyze its validity. The phrase good digital citizen has many meanings depending on the context that you are using it in. One area that I have been focusing on is copyright laws and how this relates to my students being good digital citizens. In the education field I see photos being pulled off the Internet without any mention of the artists or link to the original photograph. Students dragging and dropping photos into a project without any understanding of the copyright laws or fair use rights for education. This weeks reading on copyright issues identify and describe the key points that students and teachers should know. Teachers should be giving students resources to copyright free material. Students should understand what can be copyrighted and what cannot be. When we look at copyright issues students today are producing more video projects to present during class time. I find they choose popular songs recorded by artists and do not have permission to use their music. By offering students alternative ways to produce their own original music for soundtracks or introductions to presentations we are fostering more creative projects but also educating students how to be a good digital citizen. Copyright issues go beyond the classroom when you look at school district performances, battle of the bands, and dances for fundraisers. In conjunction with our town officials we pay a licensing fee to broadcast music Inc. that gives the artists and composers royalties for the music that we will broadcast during special events. This is a general blanket that covers the town and the school district to perform without infringing on copyright laws. Finally the keyword still is education. Teachers need to understand the black-and-white of copyright laws and teach students how to access media responsibly.

Posted by Mr.Remillard  

Wk1Readings_KristiSwartz_Post1

Dog Images Have Copyrights, Too!

Copyright Dilemma…

Being someone who had a very limited knowledge of the copyright issues for music and film in our new social society, it was interesting to examine copyright issues this week, and learn so much about the issues with copyright for this century.

 In the documentary Good Copy, Bad Copy, the essence and complexity of copyright law and copyright infringement is explored through personal experiences.

From my learning this week, I do see the trouble for artist creation of music and film if it were to be left open to change without revenue for the creators of the songs, videos, etc. Artists put their talent, heart, and soul into creations and want to have the rights to those items. That makes a lot of sense to me. What about an image of my dog? Yes, even that has a copyright for me. Interesting.

I also enjoy the ability to use materials on Creative Commons to express my own ideas in the classroom using images, video, and audio designed by other creative individuals. I can imagine the change if teachers and students had access and the right to use original works, and could take parts and pieces of those works, put them together to share a part of history and retell a story, or express content in a new way. It could be very powerful for students. In the film Good Copy, Bad Copy this was illustrated through sampling and techno brega being created from original works.

It seems absurd that it is millions of dollars to buy out copyrights of songs from artists in order to simply use parts of the songs, or beats of the music in new creative ways. In my opinion, this aspect of copyright needs to change as we have a shift in culture to protect the artist from piracy.

If artists could share original content through a site like Creative Commons and give rights to others to use the works in new and creative ways while they still got credit and possibly profit, it could be more effective for today’s culture.

I see the use of sharing sites like Creative Commons becoming more and more popular in our 21^st century culture of Internet song sharing and digital creation sharing electronically. I do, however, also see the trouble for artists ability to keep the music, video, or work as it was intended. Quite an interesting time as this change comes. As for my dog, I plan to post him on Creative Commons!