Reflection on 2008 spring semester

Well, this is it: my final posting on my blog for my Education 429 class. It has been a hectic semester, to say the least. Besides taking this wonderfully relevant class, I am also finishing up another Education class (relating to standards) and an American poetry class. On top of that, I am teaching high school full time at Lathrop High School, raising my daughters, taking care of my wife and father, and running my small but spirited sled-dog team. Being so close to the finish line (less than 13 days until my last final exam), I am feeling elation and exhaustion. I'm elated because I'll be finishing 20 years of college and I feel I now have the tools to help me devote my time to becoming an effective educator; I'm exhausted because I can sense my heart isn't into some of the theoretical work I still need to complete in order to finish my class work, which brings me to my final project for this class.

For our final project in Ed 429 we are being asked to design an instructional unit which incorporates some of the technological tools we learned in class into our unit's lesson plans. As usual with most projects I create that have a heavy technological component, I have a hard time deciding on what it is I will focus on. Once I am exposed to a certain technological program, my infatuation with it becomes obsessive and I'll start five or six different, yet valuable, projects at the same time. I am always foiled by the lack of time that my lifestyle allows me to really commit to such endeavours. I hate to give up on an idea, but often they die on the vine for lack of attention, or, which happens most of the time, are placed on my que of projects to complete. This assignment will not fall to such a fate, but it will have to be delayed gratification because our school year is coming to an end and there is no time to implement it.

For the sake of brevity, I will not get into details regarding this project, unless I am required to post another blog entry, but what I have planned will be very useful and I am certain the students' interest will be engaged and their final project will fill them with a pride that some of them do not usually experience when completing typical class projects.

Before I sign off, I want to thank our professor Skip Via, a true educator who imbues his students with confidence, competency, and curiosity, which is all a student needs to have success. If all educators possessed his drive and desire our schools would be what they should be: a place where inquisitive minds can be nurtured and nudged to find the path on which they will excel.

Late Semester Weekly Blog

This week's blog finds me realizing the semester is quickly coming to a close and I have a ton of work to complete. At the end of this semester I will have completed 20 years of University work. In that time, I have earned undergraduate degrees in history and English, a teaching certification, a Masters in Education, and (almost) a Masters in English (I'm two classes shy of qualifying). The stress is mounting because I have three major assignments due in the next 14 days, while also having to take care of my high school students (and my family!). I can't wait until it's over!

As I begin figuring out our final project for this class, I realized I do not know how to use Inspiration. Hopefully the learning curve is manageable and I'll be able to put together a good presentation for this class. Now the only problem is to decide upon which idea I'll focus on. At this moment I have at least a half a dozen different projects that I want to incorporate into my classes next year. On top of that, there are a few projects that I want to create for my own classroom presentations. What I envision down the road is having every technology integrated into every one of my classes. I can show succinct video clips of our daily vocabulary word; I can include a popular song in my daily lesson plans to relate to themes in the short stories or poems we're reading: and I can even feature a daily visual (and audio) biography of a famous writer we're studying. Gee, with so many educational possibilities, and the only constraints being imagination and time, I'm imbued with an excitement that was so common when I first began teaching (15 years ago), yet often don't experience as often as I'd like. I'm excited.

VoiceThread project

This week's assignment was to create an instructional unit using an on-line program called VoiceThread. This free, web-based program offers many opportunities for students and educators to create instructional units that can instruct, inform, and inspire. What I like best about VoiceThread is its accessibility and its relativly user-friendly interface.

For my project I chose the controversial Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X. I am deeply interested in the Civil Rights movement, which profoundly changed the the course of the nation, and in the future I plan to have my students pick a character from this era and present a quick biography using VoiceThread. I created this one as a model for my students, and I purposely didn't try to perfect my narration because I wanted to be able to address this aspect of the project with my students. When it comes to putting my voice on tape, or even on public display (via a speech or a radio/television opportunity), I always get nervous and "choke." I believe relating this to students will help them relax, and do a better job.

One of the most appealing aspects of this technology is its accessibility. Students will be able to work on their projects at home and create their audio text in the comfort (and safety) of their own homes. What I really like is the preparation needed on the student's part just to produce a three or four frame VoiceThread biography. They'll need to do research, create an outline, compose a narrative that gets to the essential importance of their subject, and find pictures that, in the words the poet, are worth a 1,000 words. I look forward to introducing my students to VoiceThread; I'm sure they'll love it.

Panraven storybook project - Shea Stadium Memories

This week's blog has my Panraven storybook project called Shea Stadium Memories embedded above. This medium is another wonderful tool for both students and teachers. I have shared my last two projects in this class (poster and Flickr Slide Show) with the baseball fans in my high school class, and they like this one the best. Apparently they enjoy the slide show with the captions explaining each image of Shea.

This was an enjoyable project, but it wasn't as user-friendly as the last few projects we completed. The issues of limitations on text (on my slide-show the words seem too small, or perhaps my aging eyes are showing their weakness), and lack of manipulation objects of the individual pictures are minor flaws, and students should be able to produce a compelling story with very little direction and not a whole lot of man-hours.

One project I'll start with my students using Panraven will be autobiographies of their favorite poets. They will have a biographical theme, which will lend well with pictures and text. I may start this before the year ends, because it is fairly easy, and students should be able to garner pictures of their poets on the web. Overall, this program gets easier the more you work with it, but even a novice can produce an adequate, educational, and instructive final project on a first attempt.

Flicker Slide Show of Shea

This flickr slide show was created to honor one of my favorite places on this planet: Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York. The stadium first opened its doors in 1964 (the year before I was born), and sadly, it is to meet its demise at the end of the 2008 baseball season. I am saddened because I have countless memories (most wonderful) attached to that building, so I figured I'd create something to honor those feelings and, perhaps, allow me to revisit a time long ago when life was simple.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I enjoyed working on this program for a few reasons. The first is the storage capacity and accessibility of the Flickr website. What a wonderful resource! Students doing class projects will be able to store all their pictures on Flickr, without worry of gumming up the computer they are working on, and also enjoy access wherever they like. I also appreciate the slide show aspect because I can envision my students creating informative slide shows that strengthen their narrative skills. I will begin using this program immediately for students who leave class for a week or two on a cheap, off-season family vacation. They can submit a slide show with a narrative of their vacation, and then they won't be buried with make-up work when they return to the class. I also have plans to allow students to create civil rights narratives, which I hope will further their understanding our country's recent past, to coincide with our novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Once again, the only limit to this technology, like so many of the others we've been introduced to, is imagination.

Comic Life assignment

This week's assignment was to create a collage of pictures that represent a theme that has some importance to the artist (me!). I chose Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, N.Y. because it was an important part of my childhood and it is to be torn down soon. I also wanted to create a tangible homage to a place that I hold dear, and I think this poster will be a great gift for many of my extended family and friends who share my sentiments.

Originally opened in 1964 to house the New York Mets, a team created to replace the recently departed N.Y. Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, Shea has never been considered a landmark like its crosstown rival Yankee Stadium. While the elitist Yankee fans raise their noses at Shea, for two wonderful years (1974 & 1975) the Yankees were forced to play their home games at Shea while the house that Ruth built was being remodeled. Imagine my nine year old joy to have both teams playing in my favorite stadium all year 'round. Pure baseball bliss!

I really enjoy working with Comic Life because the graphics are easy to apply and imagination seems to be the only boundary to creating aesthetically pleasing projects that can inspire, amuse, entertain. I plan on using this technology, some how, to have students explore evocative themes such as Civil Rights, American politics, literary movements, and important inventions. The sky is really the limit with what a student can create. Imagine a genealogy project or a family tree that a student can take home and perhaps, one day far from now, give to his grandchildren. I love the possibilities!

Comic Life - KinderComics

This past week we were introduced to Comic Life and I am amazed at its possibilities in the classroom. Students can work on a creative project that can combine artistic ability, visual graphics, and writing clarity, all in one package. After my initial introduction I left class with a number of ideas for educational applications and I believe I have one that we'll begin working on soon. My English Tutorial class, a class comprised of Freshmen and Sophomore students who are identified to be at-risk, weekly read to elementary students and a Comic Life project would be right up their alley, so to speak. All I have to do is work out the logistics, especially the parts concerning computer access, a digital camera, and computers that have the program (of which our school has none).

The reason this project should work is that the students can learn a new program, have artistic control over its direction, and have something tangible when the project is complete. On top of that, they'll be able to give their KinderComic books to the students, who should love them. I'm really looking forward to this.