Sophia: Pintrest… “pro-ana” (pro-anorexic) if looking for pix of skinny girls, there u be. Make boards on topic. Add visuals from all over. Can “pin” things you like. Can be added to your blogs. Trend of text cluttering.
I enjoyed Sophia’s presentation and her first hand knowledge of the website. I tried it out and unfortunately I was not impressed. Upon signing in I had to automatically choose 5 Pintrests to follow. I deeply resented this, I have never been on the website and did not know what to choose or where to go to find something of genuine interest. Once I realized that I could not circumvent this step, I then had to choose. I explored a few categories, and to be honest I felt insulted. I did not appreciate being labeled in the “Geek” category. Why is Tolkien and Star Wars geek? Why is it predominately considered a male category too? I felt that this was a “needle in a haystack” website, where I will have to shift through a TON of stuff only to find something so small. Plus I am deathly allergic to cats, I do not cook, and I do not feel that I can use this site which is “pro-ana” since I teach and am a role model for middle school girls. Over all I do not think that I will be using this website. I will though pass it onto the 2 visual arts teachers at my school, in case they are looking for another online way to document their classes artwork.
Amy: social bookmarking (easy to use, able to organize, able to annotate, able to share it, needs to be pretty/visual). “zootool” http://zootool.com/ “educlipper” https://www.educlipper.net/ “draggo” http://draggo.com/ “delicious” https://delicious.com/
I enjoyed Amy’s presentation and her knowledge and flexibility about so many different websites, I’m never going to use these though, as I already have too much to do already, and my school has me on all things Google and Powerschool. This is just another thing to do and password to remember. I am quite capable of managing my bookmarks bar and files. I also use hyperlinks in my e-documents! I also prefer paper to mind map on, as I can put it up on the walls and use that to create “an environment of learning.”
Jorden: “Genius Hour” students pick a topic – “passion projects” 20 minutes a day, an hour a week, teacher chooses. (Structure? Free-range inquiry based – what are the results? How are they assessed? Where does this fall into curriculum? As a CCA?)
I enjoyed Jorden’s presentation and her enthusiasm for her topic. However I was seriously concerned about how unstructured this “Genius Hour” is. I’ve been in Inquiry Based programs for the last 10 years and I was very surprised at how lenient this was. I had many questions to ask Jordens’ peers who run this:
Is this just a “free period” once a day or week? What are the results? How is the knowledge shared? Is this assessed? If so, how is it assessed? Does this go onto the repot card? If so under what subject? Where does this “Genius Hour” fall under for curriculum? Would this be better as an after school club or activity? Where are the unit planners to back up this idea? Where are the scaffolding documents to support the learners? How would a teacher keep track of the students and 20 some odd different task? Where is the task sheet? What is the end goal? How will the teacher document the “baby steps” or formative assessments, which the students take along the way? How does one recognize if this is a success or failure?
I do love inquiry based learning, but not like this “free range” approach. Inquiry based learning is a bit more labour intensive but the results can be phenomenal! I do not think that I could support this idea with out a better understanding and documentation.