Mary is one of the amazing colleague's I get to work with on a regular basis. She is our staff artist and she has a great touch with other artistically minded educators. I remember shadowing Mary on a workshop that was helping music teachers learn the Finale Music Notation Program. To demonstrate the power of the program, Mary sang a few bars of "Amazing Grace" in front of the whole room. She immediately won the respect and admiration from the entire group of highly trained music educators. (and me!) She could not only walk the walk... but sing and talk! It was brilliant. Mary is a wonderful talent to work with. She has a great mind for technology and for creativity. A really awesome combination. Please check out my interview with Mary, and follow her on Twitter !
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!--Change wideo width and height here--> So I have been very active is perusing online education tools. One of the trends I began to notice is the use of creative animated videos. Many of the videos have snappy cartoonish avatars and animated shapes and figures. Many of them are very effective in outlining some quick and easy educational objectives. So I started doing a little research on the cost and availability. One of the "freebie" sites I came across was Wideo.com. This site offers various pricing models, but I tried out the free version to run my crash test.
My Review? I really liked it! It was pretty user friendly/ intuitive, had some creative starter images to use, and allowed for sharing in multiple ways. i.e. Youtube. So you can see my first trial was not super crazy with detail, but from a teacher's perspective, you probably want quick and easy, over time consuming and Hollywood stylized. So Wideo was a good fit overall for these objectives. If I were to be picky, it did take me some time to figure out animating objects and I'm not sure I have it completely mastered, but I think there is some good potential there. Also, to make a good narrated audio with music I had to go to Garage Band to help with that piece. For a PC you could use Audacity or another sound/music recording program. So overall..... I give this 4 out of 5 Sugar cubes for your coffee.. Recently I have been introduced to the concept of Guest Blogger. Namely, instead of writing your own post, have a friend or colleague write one for you. Its a great idea for several reasons, but in my case it is very synchronous with my goal of this blog: learning about innovative Educational Technology practices by talking to innovative thinkers. With that in mind, I asked my colleague and co-conspirator of the Heir of the King Project, Mary Howard to be my first guest blogger. Mary is a 6th Grade teacher at Grand Island Central Schools. Mary is creative, innovative, and driven to push the boundaries of Edtech. She has been a perfect fit to collaborate in my bleeding edge virtual world project. Mary and I will be presenting our work at the CIT Conference at the end of the month. Want to learn more about how Mary approaches education? Read below and then check out her blog: Yoursmarticles INNOVATORS: Purposeful Pioneers or Involuntary Insurgents? By: Mary Howard Technology innovators are often referred to as pioneers; the ones who forge the way. Unfortunately, I may not be as brave and purposeful as the word “pioneer” implies. Call it whimsy. Call me capricious, but my storm chasing and manipulation of putty just happens. I am a technophile AND an educator with ideas that are anything BUT the status quo. I promise, however, that I am not brave or necessarily purposeful in my initiatives. If there is such as thing as an involuntary insurrection against traditional pedagogy, then that might be the best way to describe my technology drive. Innovators need to be inspired. My grandfather loved clocks. A painter and fisherman by trade, he spent hours each evening buried beneath springs and gears, pendulums and numerically adorned faces. It happened upon him by accident, through boredom, actually. He was in bed ill and had nothing to do, so he disassembled a clock. The wonders within drew him to explore and seek more. He found his hook and was inspired to seek more knowledge and to exact change. Innovators need to be captured and enraptured. More importantly, they need to be willing to thrive on the process, not reliant upon an extrinsic reward; but how? #1. Glom. (Is that a word?) Stand on the shoulders of the giants before you. Build a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Follow technology educators through whatever social media resources you can: Twitter, Instagram, Edmodo. Pinterest, and more. Follow (and read) EdTech blogs. As far as the educators that are gangbusters about technology, you don’t have to “be” them, just “see” them and see what they’re doing. #2. Share. Start a blog. Present at a conference. Podcast. Pin. Share, even if you have nothing TO share. Merely having an audience will drive the creation process. #3. Fail. “Every new beginning comes from some other new beginnings end”. It happens, and then we learn. I often tell my student teachers, “You can’t break the children with your mistakes” and you can’t. You’re human. The more human you appear to them, the more willing they are to try (and help you!) Mistakes spawn innovation. #4. Have it YOUR way. Not to offend the king, but I can be impossible….ask my colleagues. If it’s not in the font I like, I change it. If I don’t think my students will enjoy it....I don’t do it. If someone says “it can’t be done” I stand with an outstretched arm like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix and wave in the challenge. You know your students. Provide them with opportunities that light their fires and help them become 21st century creators and seekers of knowledge. #5. Just Do It (Alas, another media inspired slogan) Adopt one new strategy or one new idea, even if it’s not all that well thought out. Take a risk. There’s no formula for innovation. Some would say that innovators are inherently inquisitive…to the point where they’re willing to chase an idea to a possible dead end. But that’s ok. (See Rule #3) Eventually you’ll find a way to see the world differently, and when you do, you’re an innovator. Whether you’re a purposeful pioneer or an involuntary insurgent, be proud. Inspire. Celebrate. In the end, you’ll know when you’re getting it right. Google Hangouts are fast becoming one of my favorite communication tools. I was and still am a fan of SKYPE, but Google Hangouts are easy, dynamic, and... for lack of a better term... FUN. Oh and free!
The picture you see up above is one of my favorites because it represents exactly the power of Google Hangouts. My work is fast paced and requires travel on an almost daily basis. Getting our team together for meetings outside of regularly scheduled times is difficult, because my colleagues could be almost anywhere in Western New York on a given day. So communication across the miles is very vital. Google Hangouts allows us the ability to communicate in a variety of ways from video, IM, to Voice. Also it allows us to share our screens, share live-time documents, and even do remote desktop help and support. There are many more tools to use and Google always seems to be developing even more. Additionally, Hangouts can also be recorded via livestreaming called, Hangouts on Air. Honestly... it is revolutionary. One more thing about the picture from above. My colleagues and I needed to meet from various points. The picture above was a screen shot from our communication using Google Hangouts. What I love about this picture is we are all in different working environments separated by many miles... and Melanie... is out in her car on her phone! That is what Google Hangouts, and 21st Century communication is all about! To learn how to use Google Hangouts in Education... Check out this useful guide by Lee's Summit R7 School. A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of having Lisa Nielson come to the WNYRIC and present: Teaching Generation Text: Using Mobile Devices and Social Media to Enhance Learning. Lisa's presentation was what all good presentations should be: Lively delivery, ample breakouts for discussion, hands on tools, and key take-aways that empower educators. Lisa is a a passionate educational blogger. Her Innovative Educator blog is one of my all time favorite places to go to learn, think, and reflect. I had the honor of introducing Lisa here at the WNYRIC and will share it here, because I think it captured the blogger I have come to know! Lastly, I was fortunate enough to interview Lisa at the 2013 NYSCATE Conference. Check it out below! Last winter, Producer Marc Hunt and I had the great opportunity to travel to the lovely village of Springville, NY. Here in a cozy Coffee Shop called The Beans To Brew Cafe, I caught up with an amazing team of ed-tech visionaries, Ben Higgins and JoAnn Depue. Ben is the district's Technology Integrator and keeping up with all of his new and innovative ideas is quite impossible. No technology can go without being tried and tested by Ben, his imagination, and the students at Springville. One of Ben's most publicized endeavors was the Stratosphere Balloon Project which got the attention of several news outlets including nationally with CNN. The recipient of the prestigious, Making IT Happen Award from ISTE, Ben never stops exploring the powerful uses of technology to enhance learning. Paving the way for Ben's initiative and vision is Director of Technology, JoAnn Depue. JoAnn is a powerful advocate for technology integration and works tirelessly to promote edtech learning opportunities for the students of Springville Griffith Institute. As a team, Ben and JoAnn promote a culture of growth and innovation that is helping push the boundaries of learning and technology. To emphasize this spirit of innovation, JoAnn brought along Springville Griffith student and daughter Morgan Depue. Morgan provides clear evidence of the far reaching effects of technology integration as they relate to student academic growth and learning. There is a magical feel to these interviews. One reason for this is the dreamy elegance of this gem of a cafe in the heart of this lovely village. The other reason is the subtle intensity of Ben and JoAnn's vision for educational technology. They have high expectations and big ideas that keep getting bigger! They are inspiring leaders, and I was honored to meet up with them and catch a little bit of their inner flame. Also, it was great to have Morgan provide the student perspective, which is the ultimate bell-weather of a successful technology integration plan. Had a great chance to catch up with friend and colleague Rob Miller. Rob has been doing a lot of work integrating various tablets in schools in our area so I wanted to pick his brain about the some of the advantages of each tablet. Specifically, Rob has been working with iPads, Windows 8 Surface tablets and Chromebooks. All have fantastic potential with some features that make their brand unique. Catch Rob's analysis and his readiness for the Battle of the Apps at this year's Digital Wave Conference (NYSCATE). Lastly make sure you watch until the end as Rob answers the Speed Geek and Uber-Geek Questions.
Want to know more about Rob professionally? Connect with him via Twitter or Google Plus Twitter: @robkmil Google Plus: HERE Panama Central 6th Grade Math teacher, Pam Warner, will be doing a presentation for us about Class Dojo, a behavior management application and website, that she has found is producing great results with her class. Get a sneak peek of her presentation by watching my short video below. Make sure you watch until the end so you can hear Pam's answer to the "Speed Geek" Questions. You might be surprised! A few years ago I was asked to do an opening day presentation to get teachers excited about educational technology. I wanted to inspire teachers to believe in the power of technology. At that time wikis and blogs were coming of age in education and so I wanted to encourage teachers to use blogs so that they, and their students could contribute their ideas, knowledge, and talents, not just in their school but around the world using these amazing technologies. As I was developing the presentation, an image started trickling into my thought-stream and my mind traveled back to the movie, The Dead Poets Society. Specifically, I remembered the classic scene where Robin Williams, as Mr. Keating, encourages his students to love art and poetry by paraphrasing from Walt Whitman's classic poem, "O Me! O Life!" The scene is incredibly choreographed with Williams in a huddle with the students, and as he says his lines the camera pans to the excited looks on the students faces. It captures their innocence, excitement, and enthusiasm to take on the world. Watching the movie on my own, often brings tears to my eyes as you see looks on the eager students' faces. Isn't that the look, as teachers, we strive to generate? I think that scene did exactly what I wanted it to do for my presentation, namely to exemplify how we live in such amazing times that allow all of us to share art, beauty, ideas,and love across the world, using 21st century technology. Here is the scene: As I was watching football this past Sunday, Robin William's lines from this scene came from a commercial and I was instantly transfixed. Apple created a wonderful advertisement about exactly what I had in mind for my presentation. Namely technology can transform the world by bringing art, beauty, poetry, and love to people around the world. I hate to say great minds think alike, because I certainly don't consider myself to have a great mind. But I was so happy to think that I made the same connection with this scene as someone else. Teachers.... parents.... be inspired to use technology to let your children, your students, yourself... contribute a verse! Apple's Version |
the Geek
My name is Andrew Wheelock- I am a technology integrator who's fascinated with my fellow educators and their powerful uses of tech for learning. Archives
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