Web 1.0 become Web 2.0!

During my online courses for the ITS program this past summer, I was tasked with creating a telecollaborative design project that incorporated the use of web 1.0 tools to help my students find deeper meaning in a novel we read each year.  This project is based on the successful completion of the novel, Letters From Rifka, about a young girl who is forced to flee her native country of Russia with her family during the post World War I era in hopes to find a better life in America.  Because students who read this book often ask if there is a sequel and suggest that there should one be based on Rifka’s new life and adventure as an American citizen, I thought this would be a great opportunity to foster collaboration among students who are passionate about the outcome of this character’s life, as well as a way for them to improve upon their writing abilities based on their understanding of literary elements.  Students will post their ideas about possible outcomes and new adventures for Rifka to experience by adding them to the forum.  They will  then be tasked with considering what others have posted before them as they decide what to add to Rifka’s story.  They will need to think about the time period that this story is set in in order to keep the events of the plot as realistic as possible.  The project creator will monitor the submissions and guide the participants with suggestions to keep the plot moving and help them to know when it should come to a close.

        If I were to take this same project and infuse some of the web 2.0 lessons I've learned over the course of this past semester, I think the most obvious tool to use would be a wiki.  Students would be able to add their ideas to the online forum at any time and could easily edit or revise the ideas as they pop up.  Like we have been doing with our ITSopedia wiki, students would all have an opportunity to contribute their ideas, but by doing it through a wiki site, they could do this from anywhere at anytime and it would always be a working document that was open for interpretation by all.  The same basic elements of the original project would be in place, but by using the wiki concept, students could really see the transformation of the story as it unfolds in front of them.  It would be a great way for them to take much more ownership of their ideas for the story as well as the feedback and revisions they provide to their peers.

Digital Video Editing



So this week we spent more time working with the Bloggie cameras to create a PSA for our advocacy group.  After getting some good practice last week, my group did a great job coming up with a script and taping our segments of film to be used in the final production.  Even though we felt pretty confident in our use of this equipment and editing software, we still managed to run into some roadblocks along the way.  I guess this is to be expected as we still explore and play with the many different feature this technology affords its users.  Be the end of class, we had a pretty good finished version of our PSA that we are proud of and feel like we have a whole new bag of tricks to rely on for future projects. 

I think about my students all the time when doing these projects in class because they LIVE for activities and assignments that involve the following things: groupwork, ipods/ipads/smartphones--basically anything digital, and making up some sort of skit.  They are actually working on a unit right now that gives them a lot of creative license to utilize technology and work in groups to act out scenes and pieces of the novels they are currently reading.  I had one group that created a news report based on some of the main events of their book and I was blown away by their expertise with the software for creating a video that had background music and all sorts of other special effects.  They could give ME lessons on how to do things.  I think that when I give them praise for their tech-savvy ways, they think I'm just being a teacher who is giving them the obligatory "pat on the back" but I am genuinely amazed at the things they are capable of at such a young age and it makes me more excited to take the things I'm learning from the ITS program and combine them with what they already know to make some really cool products that showcase what they are learning in my class.  I am definitely trying to come up with a way to have the kids create a PSA for the upcoming 6th graders next year.  At this point we will have plenty of time to work on these after they complete their SOLS due to all our makeup snow days.  I guess that's my silver lining??  :)

Making a PSA

This past week in class, I was tasked with creating a video PSA with some of my classmates.  We chose to take the sarcastic route to get our message across and reach our audience through humor.  I can honestly say we made an impression and left them with something memorable.  :) The process of creating the video was fun and allowed for a lot of creativity.  The importance of writing a script is definitely evident as it helped to keep us on track when we began to tape each segment of the video.  I am always beyond amazed at the latest equipment that is available to make this production so easy.  The computer programs used to edit all of the film segments are really cool and although I think it definitely takes someone with a knack for knowing their way around their computer and having some familiarity of the program, I think once you get the hang of it, it's pretty simple.
 
Any chance my students get to create some little skit and incorporate their ipads or video features on their cell phones they are elated, so I could see this idea of creating PSAs as a great opportunity for them.  I will keep you all posted if we find a way to make this a reality in my classroom in the near future!  :)

Social Networking

Social networking is a phenomenon that seems to be inescapable these days.  While there are some people out there who still shy away from it by refusing to create their own Twitter or Facebook accounts, there are few ways in which they are still not affected by the participation of others.  I can't help by think of my own dad who as a former high school principal was less than enthused and impressed by all the hype that Facebook had created.  He had no interest in joining this social networking community until he attended a meeting for the Woodbridge High School Hall of Fame committee back in 2009 and learned what a perfect tool it was to reach out to former athletes and get the word out about the nominees they had decided on.  He finally broke down and set up an account and now he is affectionately known as "Mr. Facebook" by many.  Since retiring, he has remained a large part of the WSHS community and in the past year has launched  massive campaign for a 50 year anniversary celebration.  He has pretty much employed every facet that Facebook has to try and get the word out to the thousands of students and faculty from the past 50 years of the school's history.  Through this window to the world, he has managed to sell thousands of dollars of "50 Years of WSHS" merchandise to help pay for this huge event, as well as to help support the athletic boosters. 

In terms of using social networking in the classroom, it seems like that is an entirely different thing to consider.  My county has recently "unblocked" Youtube so both teachers and students can access the multitude of videos that can be used daily to help make class lessons and projects interesting and engaging, but has still remained intent on keeping Facebook blocked (for what I think sounds like obvious reasons).  Unfortunately, they have also blocked any types of blogs, which would make it difficult to create one for a classroom.  I know there are ways to work around this by creating a blog on a program that is approved by the school board, and I am definitely interested in looking into those.  All schools have their own Schoolfusion websites, which do have a feature for an open forum type page for students to post comments, thoughts, questions, and ideas as they relate to each teacher's class.  I've used this before and it's been a neat tool to experiment with and my students have always seemed to enjoy it.  I will have to see what other avenues I can explore to get more social networking in an educational way going on for my kids!

Podcasts

As with most of the technology activities we have experimented with in our ITS class over the past five semesters, podcasts were no exception to being grouped with several others that I had heard of, but had very little knowledge about before we actually were forced to dive right in and analyze/create them.  I definitely think I learn more when I am put in a situation where I have to kind of figure things out as I go, rather than reading about how something works.  It was interesting to make a podcast with a classmate this week and I will admit, even a bit FUN.  One thing that I think I could appreciate about them when I compared them to the video assignment we had in the past was that, while we still had to put time and effort into researching our content and composing our script, it was much easier and I think a lot less pressure when it was time to actually record the segment.  Knowing it was only our voices we had to concentrate on, and having the safety net of a script we could actually read from was much more comforting than having to perform in front of a camera. 

It also was easy to come up with a lot of neat ideas for how I could incorporate podcasts into my classroom and lesson plans with my students.  It is a simple enough concept that I think even 6th graders could handle, without having to designate an entire week or more to the project.  My kids love making up little skits, so this would be a way for them to still play with the idea of taking on the acting role if they wanted to, but isn't as complex as having to actually perform in front of a camera and take three days to film the "perfect" scene where no one messes up their lines or makes a goofy face or any other little distraction they let get in the way.  I thought they could take something we read, like a novel and model their podcast after an interview with the author.  They could also pretend to be characters from the story they read and put themselves in their shoes based on what they know about their personalities, setting and plot of the story as they answer questions for the host.  It seems like the possibilities are endless and I think they would LOVE sharing their podcasts with each other as well.  I'm excited to see how I can incorporate this different tool into my classroom. 

Wikis

So I'll admit that when I first heard (not read...heard) the word "Wiki" I was immediately taken back to my childhood when I used to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in Tampa, Florida at Christmas time.  We used to always to go this silly little theme park called Weeki Wachee Springs which I remember mainly for some brightly colored parrots and the REAL LIVE MERMAID show that I was just obsessed with.  I remember calling this place "Wi-Kee Watchee", so naturally when the word "wiki" first started popping up as it is linked to things like Wikipedia, I couldn't help but have a flashback to the good old days.  But I digress...  As I was tasked with writing about wikis this week, I couldn't help but think about those fun times in Florida almost 30 years ago and wonder what the heck the word "wiki" means and did it have any connection to the name of that crazy park?  After conferring with my buddy, Google, I discovered three things: the word wiki means "fast" in Hawaiian, the park that will forever be engraved in my most fondest of memories is called WEEki Wachee...so there is actually no relation at all, and lastly, it surprisingly still exists today and still boasts of it's famous live mermaid show on it's website! 

So back to the real wiki...I can understand where the computer gurus got the idea for the name considering it is just that....a really fast way to get information shared on the internet.  No one ever said it had to be credible or significant information, but fast information is definitely part of the deal with wikis.  As I learn more about them through the creation of the couple we have in the works for our ITS class, I can definitely see some of the benefits to creating one.  I guess the most important part is making sure you can trust the people you work with to make sure they are doing a good job of putting reliable information that is actually worth sharing up, at least if that is the type of wiki you are going for.  I'm interested to see what our Advocacy, ITSotopia and On the Run Wikis will turn out to look like when they are completed.  It's interesting to see the process of creating them.  To be continued...

http://www.weekiwachee.com/  (for those who are interested! ha!)

 

 

A Blog About Blogs.

Although I'd like to think I'm somewhat up to speed on some of the latest trends in terms of social media and other forms of online communication and interaction with the outside world, I don't necessarily subscribe to a lot of it.  Blogging would be one of those facets of the internet I've never had a huge interest in.  I have come across blogs through Google searches or that others have recommended I take a look at and found some to be somewhat interesting, helpful, and even entertaining.  I even know a few people who have their own blogs and thought they turned out to be pretty neat.  However, that's about as far as I've ever delved into this corner of the cyber world.  This semester of "forced" blogging should be interesting as I explore exactly what this new arena of sharing information, in both a personal and professional sense brings.  I have already learned that people blog for what seems like a million different reasons.  That being said, they all have one thing in common; they have chosen to share their insights with the world (unless the blog happens to be part of a school assignment, through which they did not magically come up with the idea on their own.)  There must be something to blogging if so many people go out of their way to set up an account and give up their precious time (spare or otherwise) to chronicle their thoughts, feelings, discoveries, etc.  With that revelation, I've decided to overlook the fact that I did NOT choose to create my own blog and will try to embrace all of the positive things  I uncover along the way that seem to draw so many millions of people to take part in such a crazy concept!   :)

Caitie Wieland is a teacher at Bull Middle School in Gainesville, Virginia.  In her eight years of teaching she has primarily taught 6th grade language arts as well as 7th grade social studies and language arts.  She graduated from Radford University in 2006 with her Bachelor's Degree in Middle School Education with endorsements in language arts and social studies.  Caitlyn is currently in the final stages of earning her Master's Degree in the Integrating Technology in Schools program at George Mason University.  She hopes to take the tools and lessons she has learned with her as she finds meaningful ways to bring technology and the affordances of the 21st century into her classroom for the benefit of her students as they become lifelong learners. In her spare time, Caitie likes to spend time with her husband, Jonathan, a high school special education teacher and her 10 month old daughter, Skylar.