flip VDO

So...it has been quite a while since I have updated this blog. Sorry wonderful followers of mine. I am sure you have missed my witty comments.

...But anyway, digital video = awesome. I used a few flip videos in my class last week. As part of my first FACTS unit, my students are creating a science website. One of their pages is called Experiments. Each group got the chance to video tape themselves doing an experiment that they created. The video is going to be imbedded on their website. The students had a great time with videotaping. They were realy excited for it. A few groups had an experiment that they recorded over a period of time and got the chance to use moviemaker to splice their videos together. I haven't done any teaching with movie maker, but am really excited to create a lesson for my students. I think they will have a great time. As I already stated, digital video = awesome!!

w...i...k...i

Well...on to wikis this week. I am not sure I have much to say about them. Until now, I haven't had much/any experience with them. I like the concept of a wiki and think that it can DEFINITELY be useful in the classroom, but I haven't had time to play yet. In order for me to incorporate something new in the classroom, I need sufficient time to play with it. Unfortunately, time is at a minimum at the moment, with all of the crazy work this semester. I am enjoying creating a wiki in class, but still need more time to play/prepare for classroom use.

high speed learners

So, I am not one for just blogging about things that happened during the day, but this one is kind of fitting. I was having a chat with another teacher today about a student's performance on a math test. I don't know exactly what the problem was, but somehow she had 8 + 4 = 32. Now for a sixth grader, that is just an obvious, rushing mistake. Then I was also reading some of my students' writing and noticed how poor their structure is. They had great ideas, but structure/flow was awful. And we got into a discussion about how students need to learn how to slow down and take their time. But as we talked through it, we realized that maybe this wasn't the case. Students live in an incredibly fast-paced world. Everything is instantaneous, and as soon as they are done one thing, it's on to the next. It seems that teaching students to slow down is counterproductive and possibly even futile. We decided that it's the education that needs to catch up to the fast pace of the students. I know we have talked about this in class, but it really hit home today.

Yikes...that's a lot of writing. Hopefully you were able to listen to one of my songs as you took the time to read.

some ideas...and more toys

It was nice to have the day off, as it allowed me to actually do the readings for the week. I had to go back and read a few pages a couple times because my mind got lost in ideas for blogging. I really like the idea of having students update their blog every day after a writing lesson. I like the idea of creating an online textbook through a blog. I like the idea of a blog as a class page, more than Blackboard. I think it would allow more interactivity and easier access. And...

I got some new gadgets. I need to be done with the gadgets because I found myself spending a half hour playing with HTML code to get the sidebar wide enough. No more, and I am happy with what I have.

found some toys

So, I am starting to see the interactivity and personalization of blogs. I found where to add gadgets and had some fun personalizing my page. I am still not sold on the contents of blogging, but am slowly warming up to the possibilities.

Blog-mania

First-time blogger. Not a big fan of reading blogs. They always seem to be written about what someone is doing or what happened to their dog that day. Don't really care. Trying to turn my opinions around and see how beneficial they can be in teaching.

Any brilliant ideas of how to use with sixth graders?? Thanks.