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Thing 11: Why Re-invent the Wheel…or Photo?

June 26th, 2008 by Barbara Perkins

Don’t get me wrong. I love my digital camera. As a matter of fact, I have two. One is pocket-sized and thinks for me. The other allows for videos as well as still photography and is kind enough to let me add my two cents when I want. On the other hand, if for whatever reason I can’t get the shots that I need –let’s say for a PowerPoint to use in my Harper Lee unit– why not explore the Creative Commons section of Flickr? I might possibly find just what I need.

Annual TKAM ProductionMonroeville, AL

Annual TKAM ProductionAnnual TKAM Production

 

Melinda Shelton/s Photos

 If you teach literature –or any other subject for that matter– you must visit David Jake’s Classroom Uses of Flickr. I love his ideas on digital storytelling in the blog Sandburg Meets Flickr. David speaks of this new literacy as the “the ability to take a personal story, add voice, video, imagery and music to create a truly compelling message that can be shared online.”

The photo in this blog is of Harper Lee’s Monroeville, AL courthouse, the setting for the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird.  I’m happy to share that it was found in Flickr’s Creative Commons section via the advanced search. I am free to “copy, distribute, display, and perform [this] copyrighted work –and derivative works based upon it” as long as I give credit to the originators. WooHoo! …I have created dozens of PowerPoint presentations for my classes, but now that I can use Flickr as a source, I will revise some of them. Admittedly, some of my presentations contain photos obtained through ill-be-gotten means on my part. I vow to do better.  

 A worthy postscript: In the text, “7 things you should know about Flickr,” Educause discusses the implications of Flickr on teaching and learning. “Students who are engaged with content demonstrate better learning outcomes, and the immediacy of visual media facilitates that sense of connection to subject material.” Whether it’s related to the visual arts, language arts, or sciences, sources abound to show us how Flickr can be a valuable tool for us as teachers and for our students as they learn. [Please check out other interesting reads in the monthly Educause series, “Everything you should know about…”. Educause boasts the mission of “Transforming Education through Information Technologies.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love my digital camera. But, let’s get real. If Flickr can provide us access to resources that we can confidently use in our lesson plans, why not take advantage of it?

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thing 10: Tip of the Creative Commons Iceberg

June 19th, 2008 by Barbara Perkins

It’s true! Since the 1980’s we’ve all become paranoid about using much of anything to enhance our teaching. And I must say that for those of us who have a few years under our belts, we’re a tiny bit suspicious about this whole “CC” thing. But I’m all for taking a deep breath, relaxing and giving it my undivided attention. Afterall, what could be better than to be able to “share, remix, reuse –legally”!

 Let’s see. “Taking out the intermediaries” has to be a good thing. Right? For too long teachers, like other professionals, have felt compelled to ask permission even when permission was not necessary. But with Creative Commons on our side, as creators we now have an easy way to tell the world that we desire and encourage certain usages of our work …and as users of the creativity of others, we now can use, be inspired by, and learn from their efforts.

This will not only help us become better teachers, but it will help students help themselves. If in this new Conceptual Age we want to teach students the importance of right-brained activities, CC will support them in their ventures to become more creative, to recognize the connections, and to see the whole picture. And it truly does appear to compliment rather than compete with copyright laws. Let’s hear it for Creative Commons! Hip, Hip, Hurray!

Stretch: Wait a minute! Before you go, let me mention one of the frostings on the cake. OER Commons, for example, opens up a whole new world of resources. No matter what your area of teaching might be or area of special interest, OER will provide more than you’ll ever be able to digest. Brewster Kahle, for example, is on a one-man mission to make the totality of human knowledge accessible to the entire planet! Just think. If I hadn’t perused OER this morning, I would have never known about this guy and his self-appointed task of indexing human knowledge. It turns out he’s a veritable archiving wonder. Check it out!

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Thing 8b: My Three Favorite Wikis…for the moment!

June 16th, 2008 by Barbara Perkins

LESSON ONE: “Flat Classroom Project” – This global networking project involves students from Los Angeles, California, USA, Vienna, Austria; Melbourne, Australia; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Shanghai, China; and Camilla, Georgia, USA. Divided into eleven groups, students researched, networked, shared, and demonstrated what Thomas Friedman considered the ten most prominent “flatteners” in our world today.  Students created their own learning and teaching experiences in the form of digital stories which became the fruits of their labors. Three examples of these digital stories inspired by Friedman are: “Google Takes over the World,”    “The Changing Shape of Information,” and “Connecting the World Online.”

 LESSON TWO: “FHS Wolves Den”: – This site is the result of a collaborative effort between a U.S. History teacher and literature teacher. The sight supports both courses in multiple ways: class notes, past projects postings, test reviews, research paper resources and instruction, grammar review, novel notes…along with resourceful links and fun activities to enthuse the students. If this wiki shows us nothing else, it shows us that as a wiki creator, you are limited only by your own imagination and efforts. To think that not too awfully long ago, teachers were quit satisfied with handing out hardcopies of their syllabi on day one of a new school year. What inspired me most about this wiki is the potential explosion in learning that can happen when teachers collaborate and students participate.

LESSON THREE: “Westwood Schools Computer Science” - Vicki Davis has invited her students to take part in a multi-layered, interactive, electronic classroom. Via a BackChannel,  Davis and her students can enter a live room and take part in live chats relative to the current topic. As with other award-winning classroom wikis, this one puts everything from key links & resources, to class notes, to indepth instruction, to test review at the students’ fingertips, 24 X 7. Since I began this Web 2.0 course in May, I have not only read about but experienced firsthand how in the 21st century, school hours and learning opportunities are ongoing. School hours are now any hours that you and your students want them to be.

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Thing 8a: What a Wonderful WIKI World! Who Knew?

June 16th, 2008 by Barbara Perkins

My Confession: Somewhat embarrassingly, I admit that I created an imposter of a Wiki last school year. I never could understand why my students weren’t as enthusiastic about it as I was. Well, I must come clean before moving forward. My wiki was a lionized EMAIL connection! If any of my ‘07-’08 juniors stumble onto this blog post, please accept my sincere apology!

Okay, my conscience is a bit clear. I’m starting with a clean slate and with all of the best intentions this time. Vicki Davis has helped me see the light! In her blog “Wiki Wiki Teaching,” I learned that you/I can’t have an authentic wiki without TEAMWORK! There is no ME IN Wiki! …What’s more, she trained her students on how to use wikispaces by having them research, summarize, link, question, edit, paraphrase, and demonstrate. Amazing! Her students were actually doing most of the work and loving it while my students, on the other hand, were participating very little …and hating it! Go figure! Lastly, Vicki followed through with “an authentic assessment as to their understanding of the use of wikipages” by having students create their own wikipages.

Yes, there will be wikis in my future. Authentic wikis, I hope. And with proper guidelines and assessments, I hope I, too, can turn my students loose and allow them to fuel their own learning!

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Thing 7a: Asking the “Essential Questions”

June 10th, 2008 by Barbara Perkins

Susanne Nobles helped me rethink my overall goals for teaching American Literature to my juniors. In her June 9th post, she reminded me of the value of rethinking/redefining primary goals for a course. She suggests that if courses are not well-defined, well-designed, and a result of good teaching, what’s the purpose anyway? How can we justify giving grades if we haven’t done our part to make sure the course is worthy of our time and our students’ time. …She sat down with colleagues at the close of her school year with this very subject in mind. If you are interested in Junior English/American Literature, you must visit this post to see the two very basic goals that she and her colleagues came up with for this course. What I appreciate most is the gentle reminder of how we can’t allow sweating the small stuff to interfere with our overall purpose as educators. …Take time for meaningful collaboration with colleagues and take time to see the big picture; afterall, we are now part of the Conceptual Age! [If interested in reading about this new age, check out Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind.]  This is one of the summer reading book choices for teachers at GACS. I’m glad I chose this one…a great read!

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