Podcasting Help

Hi friends! I know some of my classmates have been having trouble uploading their podcasts to a server and then placing them in their blog, so I wanted to post some help tips.

Podcast Machine was the first server suggested on our Tech Resources page. http://podcastmachine.com/

Once you upload your podcast on that site, you will be taken to a page that provides you a link for the audio file as well as an embed code for your site. The code should look something like this:

You need to copy that entire code and then paste it in to your blog. When you are in your blog creator page, you need to make sure you are in HTML mode before you paste. Here's what it looks like for my Blog site:

I hope that helps some of you. If not, send me a message and I'll try to help!

Podcasting with my Peeps!

Today I had the opportunity to interview three of my students to get a better understanding of their thoughts on technology. We discussed their personal uses of technology and some ways technology is being used in school. The students also shared other ideas for incorporating technology in the classroom and how it may shape their future. Take a listen and see what you think!

21st Century Skills

 

As educators, our job is to prepare our students for the future. Sure, we have to teach them how to read, write, and do math, but if we don’t teach them how to be functional adults, hold a steady job, and be contributing members of society, I believe we have failed. The problem with trying to prepare our students for the future is that we don’t know exactly what the future will look like. There have been so many advances in technology that we’ve only begun to explore the benefits and skills in our classrooms.

The web site Partnership for 21^st Century Skills is a great resource to begin to look at the 21^st century skills needed in education, and begin to understand what changes need to occur in our schools to promote these skills (www.p21.org). The mission statement for “P21” as they are referred to on the web site is “to serve as a catalyst to position 21st century readiness at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders” (http://www.p21.org/about-us/our-mission). To me, this statement encompasses the ideas that should be at the forefront of educational reform as we look at the road ahead. School districts must form a partnership with community members, businesses, and leaders to determine how to address the needs of our schools and our students in relation to changes brought about by technology and the new outlook of work environments.

http://www.p21.org/about-us/p21-framework

One of the things I like about P21 is the way they breakdown the skills necessary for 21^st century learning and employment. Like most researchers and organizations, they focus on the need to improve the “3 R’s” – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic, as well as subject specific content areas (Science, Social Studies, etc.). However, the focus is not only on those subjects but how we as teachers can incorporate the “4C’s” into our subject areas. The “4C’s include: critical thinking (problem solving), collaboration, communication, and creativity (innovation). I like this simplistic memory device because it helps me focus on the important skills that can enhance student learning.  The “4C’s” helped me look at 21^st century skills in a new way in that I don’t feel as overwhelmed when trying figure out ways to blend the skills in to my lessons and curriculum.

After reviewing P21’s information, I couldn’t find much to disagree with. I was a bit disheartened (but not surprised) to see Pennsylvania was one of the states not working with P21 to incorporate their statewide initiative (http://www.p21.org/members-states/partner-states). P21 also discusses the vision of 21^st century citizenship and what we must do “to make sure that all students are able to develop into true 21st century citizens” (http://www.p21.org/our-work/citizenship). If we are looking at a partnership between schools, community, and the workforce, I believe our focus should be on educating students, but it should not stop there. How do we educate and work with generations who don’t have experience with technology and grew up during a time where drill and practice where the means of instruction? Who is responsible for connecting and educating all generations for this ever-changing world? If we want to promote 21^st century skills in our youth, it is also imperative we make a push to have everyone exhibit these skills. So, I believe if P21 is looking at this full-circle, there should an initiative to bridge the technological gap with some of the older generations.

As we move forward, it may seem like a daunting task for educators to change their practices to include these 21^st century skills. In reality, it may take some extra planning and collaborating with other expert teachers and staff members as well as some “out of the box” thinking, but many of these skills can be incorporated in to what we are already doing in the classroom. We just have to begin “do different things” to promote change. The first step is to understand the skills and competencies needed to function in society and the work place, and revise our curriculum to incorporate these literacies.

In what way are you reshaping your curriculum to address these skills?

http://21stcenturyhawthorne.wikispaces.com/

Blogging in the Classroom

http://blogs.worldbank.org/category/tags/blogging

Over the past several years, my experience with blogs has only been on a personal level (usually to check up on the latest happenings and recruiting news surrounding Duke basketball). With a push to have students gain 21^st century skills, many teachers are experimenting with ways to use blogs to improve writing skills and have students collaborate with one another.

 If you haven’t taken the time to read up on how blogs are currently being used in the classroom, I encourage you to do so. Richardson’s (2010) book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms is a great starting point for the novice blogger. Again, Edutopia has a tremendous amount of resources as well. (http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration). I like checking out the current uses of technology via Edutopia because I am one of those people who try to avoid reinventing the wheel – if it’s out there on the Internet and I can apply it to something I’m doing in my classroom, why not (with proper citation when needed, of course!)? 

Taking in to account some of the ideas from Richardson’s book, I would like to try blogging with my 7^th and 8^th grade special education students. I’m not sure how “doable” it will be given the amount of filters and blocked sites from our district’s server. I’ll also have to tackle the task of creating student emails to access the blog site. If you’ve ever had students manage accounts and passwords, you know what a tremendous undertaking it can be. There is always one student every week who can’t remember their password, and/or can’t find where they wrote it down. It may sound silly, but that’s one of the biggest problems I have with using technology – students forgetting their passwords!

As you may know, I teach Direct Instruction Writing, so blogging would easily fit in to many of the writing projects in my classroom. In particular, I have students respond to journal topics on a monthly basis. This addresses their IEP goals by having them understand paragraph formation, use details and descriptions to enhance their topic, and use the proper conventions of writing. In the past, I had my students write about simple topics (tell a funny story, share a time when you felt scared), and I had them submit their entries to me using an iPad application called iDiary. The students like iDiary, but there is no room for collaboration and students are unable to publish their work for “the whole world to see”. Blogging would change this. In a previous graduate class, I also reflected on how I would like to revamp my journal topics and have students discuss current events or issues in society. I believe if I introduced blogging by creating a class site for students to share their journal entries, it would allow students to begin to collaborate with each other, expand on each other’s ideas, and it would force them to focus on their writing and grammar skills since the blogs would be published publicly.  Obviously, this tool would influence students to dig a little deeper to create quality responses and think about their writing on a deeper level, so they are clearly conveying their thoughts and ideas for others to review and respond.

 I know there are many more teachers using blogs in much more meaningful ways. How have you used blogs in your classroom? Have you seen more creative ways to use blogs as an educational tool?

http://amillionblogs.com/the-best-free-online-blog-sites/