Monthly Archives: November 2014

11/26/14

Dafna’s Case Study: Iterative & Student Paced

Based on the resources available to her, I think that Dafna should organize the groups as duos. This would allow each group to work with one of the five guitars, and the extra guitar can then be used by one of the pairs as needed using a sign out system should they wish to have video footage of both members of the partnership using the guitars at the same time. As we do not have a great deal of information about the iMac computers, I am going to make some assumptions that they are newer iMacs and not the bubble like contraption in a glowing array of translucent colours of the late 90’s. Being that Dafna has access to four of these computers, having the students work in pairs will ensure that the students have equal access to this resource for filming and editing. Dafna’s video camera and tripod could be signed out on a need be basis by the students as they become ready to shoot their video. From my own experience, it would be likely that the pairs will reach the different stages of the video making process at different times. By spreading this project out over a longer period of time and presenting it as an iterative project that the students will be able to revisit as their skills grow throughout the duration of the term, will also help Dafna manage the allocation of resources. Pairs that are ready to shoot their video sooner can use the required equipment as soon as they are prepared to, which in turn would free up the equipment for the other pairs to use later on. Dafna should monitor the students’ progress as the term goes on and if it seems that the pairs are likely to all need the camera equipment at the same time, she should set a schedule for the students to use to fairly distribute the resources and allocation of time using them.

I am currently working on three small film projects with a group of about 35 students ranging from grade 2 to grade 6 in my Social Justice Club. We are using three ipads and iMovie trailer templates to create promotional videos to inform the student population at our school about our next spirit day and our two local social justice initiatives that are currently underway. Even though these promotional videos will only be just over a minute in length when finished, we have already spent 70 minutes preparing and filming and we will be spending another 35 minutes on the project again tomorrow. We haven’t even begun to edit and fine tune our accompanying text yet, so we are still not even close to being done the video project. I share this personal story, as I am unsure how to estimate how much time would be realistic for Dafna to plan for. Her total of 15 hours (editing and post production combined) may be adequate for this particular group of learners in this flexible and alternate setting. If I were Dafna, I would allow for some flex time at the end of the unit just in case the students require additional time or support to create their final product.

By the end of the course, Dafna should have a pretty good understanding of her students’ interests and what would appeal to them most. In light of this, based on what she thinks her students would prefer and find most appealing and rewarding, Dafna could offer her students a choice in regard to a keepsake of their video. As has been mentioned in the other posts, she can provide the final video via the SD cards that have been purchased for the class by Dafna’s Director, record the entire compilation of student videos on DVDs for the students, or use a website or other suitable web resource to post the videos (obviously with permission and/or in a password protected environment) to share the students’ work.

Overall, I think the iterative and self-directed nature of the video project would make this assignment very relevant, appealing and age appropriate for the particular student group that Dafna is targeting. If not too limited by the availability of resources, I would predict that the music video project would be a great success.

11/14/14

My Hopes for Social Media Use in my Classroom

I am not sure if these two online tools count as social media, but I have used them quite often in the past few years with a high level of success. It is critical and undoubtedly worth investing the time required to teach the students how to contribute appropriately in online settings prior to using these or other web tools. I usually begin by co-constructing a set of criteria describing ‘good’ contributors with my students and I then model what their participation online could look like. Once I feel that the students have a clear understanding of the expectations placed upon them, we spend some time using the following online tools:

padlet.com– this tool is easy to use and it is free. I often set-up themed ‘rooms’ for the students to visit and place their thoughts using a digital sticky note on the ‘wall.’ The students are expected to post content while staying on the assigned topic and identify themselves using their first names only. This is a closed ‘chat room’ as only people with knowledge of the room URL can access the online discourse area. It would be highly unlikely that someone would stumble upon our class URLs. Examples of ways in which I have used this particular tool are for things like carrying on classroom discussions that not all students had the chance to contribute to. I might have the students share a prediction about what might happen next in our class novel, or share their favourite healthy and unhealthy treat in our healthy living unit. Images and videos can also be posted by the students, but I restrict their use of these two elements until we have established further related criteria. Continue reading →

11/14/14

Noelene & Parent Concerns with Blogging

Due to the possible dangers of online activity it is understandable that some of the parents of Noelene’s students are concerned about their children being involved in such potentially public discourse. Upon clicking on the Dreamwidth link provided in this week’s module notes, one of the very first things that I read about this web tool on the site’s homepage was this reassuring message: “Control who can see your creation with our fine-grained privacy controls” (http://www.dreamwidth.org/). After digging a little deeper on the website, it is evident that there are a number of well thought out security features to help protect the site contributors. Students would be able to select permissions for commenting in their account settings and also have the flexibility of setting the level of comment security that they desire message by message as they add new posts to their blog. Making a ‘protected entry’ for example would allow only users that you have granted access to the comment to post their responses. Should the students end up in a situation in which they receive an unwanted comment, they are able to delete the unwanted comment permanently and the commenter cannot reverse this deletion. If a student felt uncomfortable with a particular user, they also have the option to ban accounts and or block anonymous comments. It seems like Dreamwidth has taken numerous proactive steps to ensure the privacy and security of their user accounts. If I were Noelene, I would inform the concerned parents about the site’s affordances in regard to this matter and direct them to the FAQ section of the website to seek further information (http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqcat=badcomments). Continue reading →

11/14/14

Twitter? Likely Not a Good Fit for Me

Knowing that I was going to be using Twitter eventually in my MET course work, I established a Twitter account at the beginning of the summer and have been dabbling with it ever since. I actually found it quite valuable on a personal level during the BCTF labour dispute, as it was quite easy to stay informed about the latest developments and the wealth of links provided within tweets to relevant news stories, media clips and personal blogs was very convenient.

Professionally, I have not yet found a way to really bring Twitter into the classroom. In my social justice club, I do relay some of the tweets of people that I am following who are difference makers, but beyond that, I do not make much use of it in my teaching role. I see the potential that it can have as a learning tool, but I feel limited in my use of it due to the age group of students that I work with. Because of this, I feel like I cannot really take advantage of all that it could offer. Working with 9 and 10 year olds, most of my students do not have personal devices that they can access Twitter on. Many of my students are not allowed to sign up for or be involved in social media outlets. Students that do have their own devices are not allowed to use them within the confines of the school day due to our school policy on device usage.

I am not giving up hope, however. If I can find a way to make it work in my classroom as a tool, I would like to explore the potential that Twitter has for things such as the following:
– using it to teach summarizing (concise and precise writing) since each message can only be 140 characters in length, this can be a worthwhile learning endeavour
– using it to share reminders, tips, quick facts etc. instead of relying on students to record this type of information in their planners and then share them with their family
– using it as a way to both encourage and increase the amount of dialogue that I am engaging in with my students, as well as student to student communication too
– using Twitter as an alternative to some of the other web tools that I regularly use such as padlet.com and todaysmeet.com

One of my other reservations is that my students will need to have an account to participate in Twitter, whereas sites such as padlet.com and todaysmeet.com have very minimal setup and students can access the discourse areas with a simple pre-established URL. Unlike a blog, I do not have the option (at least not to my knowledge) of previewing and approving tweets prior to them being posted. I would worry that a class generated or class intended hashtag would be discovered and used inappropriately by random Twitter users. After doing some research, I discovered that you can add a Twitter feed to a weebly website (http://hc.weebly.com/hc/en-us/articles/200513837-Add-Your-Twitter-Feed-Badge-to-a-Site). I am considering establishing a new Twitter account strictly for my role as a teacher and placing the feed on my class website in order to see what the response from my students and their parents is. I can see some of my more tech savvy students that are given a lot more freedom online at home taking advantage of this extra way to engage in conversations with myself and their classmates. I am as yet undecided. I am on the fence, but we’ll see what else I learn about the pros and cons of Twitter by the end of the module.