Ed Philosophy Details

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5EeN8jShzk

Here's the link to You Tube. The making of this short video was pretty fun. I had some trouble in the beginning and throughout as well. Every time I couldn't figure out how to do something I got a little frustrated. The tutorials weren't very helpful because I was using iMovie 2008, or something. The newest version is different from the version in the tutorial. The tutorials that were available in iMovie were geared more towards video editing, which is something I think we will be doing next semester which is pretty exciting. I think if the images (students) were actually moving then the video would have been more fun to make.

I'm quite pleased with the way it all turned out. The music really makes it all come together. I think I could have shortened the frame of a few images and made them at 2 seconds or less. I liked where the song ended up and that's why I kept it at the length that it is. I would have liked to do more transitioning with the images but I couldn't figure out how to do some of the more interesting stuff like in K. Oleska's video. I would have also liked to change where the song started and ended or clipped the song a little, but I also couldn't figure out how to do that. I think if I were working with Photoshop and some sort of music making program then I would have an easier time making it all come together better. I still wish that I knew how to utilize some of these programs more. Maybe I could take a class on video editing, music making, and Photoshop all in one!

Ed Philosophy

YouTube video

Tools for the Mind

I. Stacy Naden suga_bb@yahoo.com November 12, 2007
"Tools for the Mind" Mary Burns

II. Overview

This article was about teachers using and implementing technology into the clasroom, what sort of technology tools are commonly used, to what extent they are utilized, and potential ways to implement deeper understandings through using technology. The article states "schools have conflated technology use with instructional quality." Some of the most common uses of technology are power points, word processing, Internet, Publishing, Web editors, spreadsheets, databases, and emails. The author then states why these tools aren't being utilized and follows up with examples and ideas for utilizing technology in the classroom to promote higher level thinking.

III. Bulleted Reference Points

• online collaboration
• content- oriented simulations
• spreadsheets
• databases
• higher order thinking skills
• critical thinking
• thinking inductively
• thinking deductively
• geographic information systems

IV. Reflection & Significance to me

This article was interesting to read due to the simplicity of the argument. I can see how teachers are not utilizing technology to inspire critical thinking. However, I don't believe that the goal of many schools or teachers in general is to motivate students to critical thinking. Reflecting on the educational system that I grew up in, this goal was certainly not prevalent. I see a focus and a trend in some of the classes that I am currently enrolled in to focus on the outcome of the learning, through education. I don't really see a focus toward higher level thinking at the middle shcool level. Perhaps I am thinking about higher level thinking at a middle school level in too complex of terms. In my understanding, students are directed to take information, recite, remember, use, know, understand, and use in daily life in order to achieve higher level thinking. In which case, yes, sometimes this is achieved at the middle school level.

Watching the video...

Reflection:

The presentation of my power point needs to be prefaced with the fact that I had many technological complications upon recording myself presenting. I attempted to record myself with a friends' digital camera. This option proved to fail after three or four attempts at wishing the camera would record for longer than two minutes. As you can probably imagine, this amount of time was not sufficient to capture the full four and a half minute presentation. This effort failed and I was bound to return on a later date with more sufficient equipment to record myself with.

Efforts to record resumed on Friday afternoon after school let out, after substitute teaching. As one can probably imagine, Friday afternoon isn't the best time to get a whole lot of work done, considering the burnout factor. However, I was very determined to complete this complicated recording stuff and call it a day. I then attempted to record myself presenting with my very own digital camera. Initially I was hesitant because I didn't know how to record a video, then I quickly read the manual and realised that it sounded pretty simple. However, after presenting and recording and once again failing because I wasn't able to determine if my camera was recording the audio or not, I resolved to record myself with a UAS video camera. Attempt #4 proves faulty as the video camera was unfortunately checked out to me without a video tape.

Moving on, I decided to borrow a friends video camera. That same day, I picked up the borrowed video camera and returned to school. Friday after school at some hour after everyone else has gone home for the weekend, I hopelessly attempt to record myself again. It seems simple enough, press record and off you go! Well, not really quite so simple, as the fifth attempt provided the video camera with a still frame, apparently I pressed a button that I was unaware of and the camera recorded my voice without me. The sixth attempt didn't quite work because I somehow managed to erase the power point from the computer and it was only projecting on the projector. Ahh, so then the seventh attempt proved to be the one that actually worked. Yet, by this time I have had more than my share of fun with the whole ordeal.

I titled the video "The Outcome of Many Failures". The enthusiasm and quality of my presentation personality has no real value to me and I hope that I never feel quite that frustrated when attempting to teach an actual lesson. The video is viewable at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y4eBLDlewNY and the power point presentation has been appropriately formatted and is now viewable at: http://www.slideshare.net/suga_bb/plastic-bags. My weaknesses as a presenter are of course; my enthusiasm, my obvious frustration, my slightly monotone speaking voice, my incessant blinking, and my general angry appearance. I'm pretty embarrassed about my presentation as a whole and I really hope I never encounter such difficulties again. My strengths as a presenter include: I enunciate well and I can be heard, I don't seem to have too many annoying fidgeting habits (but those really only come out when I'm nervous). When I'm nervous I often fidget by moving my arms and hands around due to the abundance of moisture that accumulates on the palms of my hands. Overall, it's really difficult to watch myself. I assume I'll get more comfortable with it when I have more experience as a teacher.

I would modify the video by starting fresh with a new topic for a completely different project, say a project about my educational philosophy. I would like to be done with this project and not have to ever do this presentation again. I feel more confident about recording myself and I also feel slightly more tech savvy. I know my past difficulties and would do everything in my power to prevent these errors from ever happening again. I guess I would modify the video by deleting it from existence. Which I would like to do as soon as possible, although it really makes me laugh now. Perhaps it can make others laugh as well.

Power Point Presentation

The power point presentation was successfully uploaded to http://www.slideshare.net/suga_bb. The only problem with the upload is that some of the fonts that I used to create the power point presentation didn't upload to slideshare.net. I am very aware that this makes it a little difficult to view in the manner it was intended to be viewed. However, I spent a bit of time making sure that the font I selected was one that I really wanted. This font could be a potential problem when I open the power point from an older computer. I am aware of this and will be forced to change it at that point. I would like to keep the font as the original at this point for the video presentation portion of this assignment. The issue should be resolved in about a week or so.
The power point presentation is about the environmental impact of plastic bags versus the environmental impact of reusable bags. I did a simple study that compared the average number of bags given to you at the two local grocery stores when spending a certain amount of money. I compared the average number of bags with an average dollar amount of groceries since I usually buy similar items when I go to the grocery store, spend about the same amount of money, and receive about the same number of plastic bags. I used the average numbers to find out what the numbers would be over a span of time. I estimated the amount of money I spend on food each month and I got results that gave me an estimation of the number of plastic bags consumed over the course of one year to ten years. I also averaged the largest number of reusable bags needed each year and found that the reusable bag numbers were drastically lower than the amount of plastic bags.
This information is presented on one power point slide. The rest of the information on the slides is research that I found on the Internet. Some are news articles, others are environmental activist websites, others are websites containing information on where to find reusable bags on the Internet. I enjoyed searching for images and selecting the text layout. The power point presentation is pretty successful other than the fact that my chosen font didn't upload.

The Educator's Guide to the Read/ Write Web

I. Stacy Naden suga_bb@yahoo.com 10/04/07
The Educator's Guide to the Read/ Write Web Will Richardson

II. Overview of Article
This article is a brief introduction to the tools available on the read/write web. It gives some brief information about weblogs, wikis, podcasts, and RSS, or Really Simple Syndication and how these things can be utilized in the classroom. Weblogs enable anyone to create their own personal or group website without needing to learn hypertext markup language. Students can use these blogs to communicate with other students, teachers, and sources of information all over the world. Some other classroom technology tools discussed were wiki, or wikipedia, an information source kept accurate by the users. Really Simple Syndication enables people to subscribe to various feeds of information. Data are continually streamlined and collected into a file with the help of aggregators. Another tool mentioned was pod casting which is creating and broadcasting content that may be listened to at one's leisure.

III. Bulleted Reference Points

• Weblogs
• Wikis
• (RSS) Really Simple Syndication
• Read/ Write Web
• Aggregator
• Professional mentors
• Information sharing
• world-wide classroom partnerships
• Student ownership of work

IV. Reflection and Significance to me

The article's utility to me as a teacher is mostly just good information to have. I recently learned that wikipedia was a resource created by users and regulated by users. I thought the information of wikipedia was more credible than that. Instead, it is kept credible by the users, in which case, it's credibility is in question in my opinion. I didn't know what pod casting was and I have yet to listen to a podcast. I'm still a little unclear on what they consist of. I understand blogging, but I am curious as to the degree of popularity with the kids. The RSS, or really simple syndication is a completely new concept for me, I have never heard of it and even after reading about it, I am still unclear on how it works and what it looks like. I understand that people subscribe to various feeds of information which are streamlined and collected into a file with the help of an aggregator which checks this information stream regularly to see if there's anything new for RSS subscribers to read. I think that it's a new way of collecting information, yet I wonder how much is filtered, and how much is relevant to the subscriber.

Energy Conservation Project research plan

1. Are re-usable grocery bags better than plastic bags? What are the pros and cons?

2. I found some data using google including: www.reusablebags.com , www.sierraclub.org/bags/, and www.bettercontainers.com

Through reading some of the information on these web pages, I found that

• Reusing a bag meant for just one use has a big impact. A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags.
• In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by 109 tons and save $11,000 in disposal costs.
• Plastic bags carry 80% of the nation's groceries.

Although, plastic bags have a lower envirenmental impact than paper bags, they still produce a large amount of waste.

3. It will be necessary to collect more data on the subject. I will be searching for numbers and statistics and I will also be searching for a stance on continuuing the use of plastic bags.

4. My methodology will mainly be researching on the internet. I will possibly take a survey at the local grocery store and count the number of people using plastic bags and the number of people using re-usable grocery bags.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfs8st5b_0cm7gpk

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfs8st5b_0cm7gpk

Stacy Naden suga_bb@yahoo.com
Blatchley Middle School 09/25/07

Being an Anthropologist- Understanding Your School's Technology Culture

What I did for this assignment includes a variety of tasks. I started with the last four questions. I referred to Robert Holt for the answers. He then referred me to some other people who gave me some more answers. I questioned students, the librarian, and other folks. Then I put the assignment aside. More recently I scanned 6 pages from the student hand book. I reviewed other questions completed by fellow M.A.T.er's and realised I had a document that contained the student's technology competencies. I then scanned this document (5 pages) and also formatted all of the documents into JPEGS since I wasn't able to forward them to the rest of the group, the documents were too large. Finally, I reviewed the first set of questions and modified #1 to make sense for my classroom. Lastly, I posted the document in Google docs where I tried to open a new account but just realised today that the account is the same for the blogger. So, I changed my password, and recently realised that this is all connected.
In doing the assignment, I realised the school utilizes technology much more frequently than I would have thought. I have been listening to more of what the students are talking about while working on art projects and I hear things about downloading, just the other day I learned about on-line gaming and that it is an incredibly popular activity for many young kids. All in all, I've learned a lot about the school's technology procedures and capabilities. I've become more aware of tech talk and I think I have a greater understanding of what the kids get excited about and are interested. Cell phones might be the largest thing, but also video games, Internet games, and downloading music. I think many student's have experience with digital cameras and a select few are making videos, music, and art.

Listen to the Natives

Stacy Naden suga_bb@yahoo.com 09/18/07
Listen to the Natives Marc Prensky



This is a very opinionated article about updating our schools. The author thinks that all students have advanced and thrive in the digital era, I disagree. He states that schools need to key into the students' interest in technology, such as cell phones, blogging, instant messaging, and downloading. Rather than prevent the students from accessing these things in the classroom, we need to channel this technological energy and use technology as a learning tool.

• Collaborating with students electronically
• Programming (A key skill for 21st century literacy)
• Net Day (www.netday.org)
• Speak up day and student voice
• Flexible organization (making instruction more adaptive and more effective)
• Student Engagement (outside of school, electronically)
• Digital Tools (I pods, Camera phones, myspace)
• Learning partners (internet connection)

This article is significant to me in preparation to being an art teacher because there are many technology tools I could potentially utilize in an art classroom. For example, digital cameras, scanning, computer design, web page design, video imagery, photoshop, and others. I am even more inspired to develop and plan ways to connect students in the classroom. Although I found some of the language in the article to be very loaded with opinionated language, it was a good resource to be exposed to and was even a little interesting.

I finally figured out how to post a photo! ooof

EPIC 2015

Ha! I thought this video was brilliant. I don't think that the history of google, amazon, friendster, MSN, and the New York Times accurately sums up what largely exists on the internet today.
I think it was a focused attempt to create a convincing outcome- or future. All in all the video implies that technology is the way of the future. The internet is an integral part of the classroom and of the world. It's often difficult to filter factual information from non-factual information. It connects cultures, people, classrooms, continents, etc... Technology is an amazing tool when used effectively.
It's easy to get caught up on the sensational qualities of the internet and technology, such as shopping, networking, random everything. Yet, when used effectively technology can really connect our worlds.
Did I say, when used effectively yet?
Effectively as a learning tool. Teaching technology as a tool for learning and how to access factual information.

Fox Becomes a Better Person

This video would have to be assessed differently than the last one. It seems like fewer students were involved in the making of this one and it would be difficult to assess the whole class in regards to this video. On the other hand, if there were only a small group of students that made this video, then I could see an assessment looking something like this:

The video showed the students' comprehension of a Tlingit story.
The drawings were appropriate for the story and were parallel with the story line.
The video showed students' understanding of Tlingit culture.
Editing techniques learned in class were used in the making of the video.
Background music is relevant to the subject of the video.

School Train

How would I assess this project?
I would probably focus on the quality of the video- did they use a variety of video making techniques?
Did they edit appropriately?
Did they use all of the techniques learned in class, or atleast most of them to create a visually and auditorally stimulating video?
Did the images correlate with the words flashing?
Did it make sense? (Was the metaphor used appropriately throughout the entire video?)
Did it get the point across?
Was the whole group involved?
Did the background music go with the video?

That's as much as I can think of.
I thought the video was really cool, I was incredibly impressed.