I am currently building a sister site to Jamael's Shorts called Jamael's Shortcuts :-) It is a technology toolbox, a hodgepodge of tools for tech integration. It is still in its infancy, but please check it out- there are some things up that you may find useful. Hope to see you there!
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Oh, Google. You really do have it all, don't you? While looking for good blogs to find lesson plans for math and science, what do I come across? Google for Education! A little-known Google app for integrating technology in the classroom. This is LITERALLY what I have been spending the last 3 years of my life learning how to do, and here it is, right in Google. The lesson plan part searches just like any other Google search, but the site is really a resource guide for teachers, parents, students, and administrators for integrating technology in education, *AHEM* excuse me, integrating GOOGLE: hangouts, drive, YouTube, scholar, translate, etc. All the Google lovelies, but forming a perfect union for the sake of education. Shall I quote my former employer again? "If I could, I would totally marry Google." Some things I learned from 517:
How are we supposed to know what we don't know? It's always interesting to learn something new, but what if it's your JOB to be the first to know about something? How do you learn about it? I recently set up a professional development system for myself. It was necessary for me to have everything come to my phone, because I rarely have time to sit in front of a computer for whatever reason. So here is what I came up with: Twitter: A great RSS feed with great educational and technological minds tweeting about cutting edge research, techniques used in the classroom, and what works and what doesn't. Some great people/groups to follow: @edutopia - "Inspiration and information for what works in education" @InnovativeEdu - Lisa Nielson, "Educator. Innovator. Author. Blogger. Speaker. Passionate about #StuVoice #EdTech #BYOD #Homeschooling #mlearning #Authentic-Assessment " @JaneBozarth - "World's Oldest Millenial, E-learning Coordinator, Author: Social Media for Trainers & more, Positive deviant, Doctor of Learnin' Stuff" TED Talks and the TED Ed blog. Boy, do I love TED Talks. I know I've mentioned it here before. So many great ideas, so many great lectures, it really is just mind-blowing. I would love to go to a TED convention sometime, but I saw that it costs like $950 to go... Umm not on my daycare teacher salary... TED stands for Technology, Education, and Design and it is a conference where educators, scientists, engineers, ohmygosh geniuses of all trades come together and share their brilliant ideas and research. They are typically 15 minute presentations and there is something for everyone. Choose which one strikes your fancy! TED Ed is just for educators- not videos of talks like the TED conferences, but LESSON PLANS. I had a teacher once that said in this day and age, a good teacher should never have to write his/her own lesson plans because there are so many great ones on the Internet. TED Ed is right where you find those. It is also a blog that can be followed via RSS feed or email subscription. Yes, please! Finally, I think this video sums up how Professional Development should be formatted. No more of those workshops. Please, who reads those packets anyway? I keep all my "important documents" from those things in the trunk of my car... ~ Jamael
We were talking about leadership in class: the different types, most effective types in different situations, our own personal type, and the kind of leader we want to be in a classroom or district. I interviewed Bernie Van Tilberg, my amazingly successful younger sister's high school teacher that sparked her interest in her field. Leah is a production manager for a large television corporation in Los Angeles at the age of 22! BVT taught her the initial skills to work well in teams and be a good leader in such projects. He is the founder of the Media Technology program at a vocational alternative high school where we grew up. The best piece of advice that I got from BVT was learning to delegate tasks. Delegate, train, then supervise. Anyway, I had to make a video about what I learned. And I decided to write a children's book for it. My other sister, Noelle (the youngest) illustrated it. She was a published illustrator at the age of 8, so I knew she was right for the job. Well, here's my book! I knew this would be a tough semester. I really did. Perhaps I'm coping better than I thought I would. But it has so far been nothing short of crazy. Why didn't anyone tell me working full time and going to school full time would be ridiculous?? Oh yeah, they did. Anyway, I'm launching into another semester of Educational Technology as my major at Baldwin Wallace University. The class that you guys are concerned about is the one where they prepare their students to overcome resistance and obstacles as leaders in technology. It has so far been a really intriguing class. I am LOVING the new tech tools we have been introduced to. They are different than the types of tools I have reported on in the past. Before I dive into a few of these tech tools, check out my Prezi on ISTE Coach standards :-) Cute, huh? Anyway, what I loved about my former Technology class at Akron was that it was inspiring. I started this blog (which admittedly I'm pretty terrible at keeping up on), and we were introduced to real and practical technology tools that kids love in the classroom. This class is about introducing tools that are useful to us as teachers and prepping us to deal with administration in making classroom technology accessible.
I will be posting more this semester. That's a promise (and a requirement). *innocent smirk* Jamael For an assignment for my class on Education for Children with Special Needs, I will be creating a resource guide on information for parents and teachers on numerous disabilities. So far this class has been quite insightful, and I think this resource guide will be one of the most resourceful (couldn't help being redundant) and useful assignments I could ever get. I will be linking useful articles with general information, accommodations/adaptations, and tips for parents for EIGHT different disabilities. The point of the assignment was so that when I am a teacher, and a child has been diagnosed with a disability, I can direct them to my Resource Guide! page and they can find whatever they want to know about this new diagnosis for their child right there. Most people in my class are making binders, but I believe in saving the planet and making use of this website I have. By the way, thanks to all the strangers that check this thing. I was totally expecting like 20 visitors in the past 6 months when I checked the stats and I had over 2,000!!! I wondered if there was a glitch in their calculations, but if not, I would love to know you guys are out there!
Jamael I'm not sure if I ever revealed this on Jamael's Shorts, but I love to knit. Love it. I learned when I was a senior in high school from an art teacher that decided to make us knit a garter stitch scarf for a project. I fell in love- even after having to start over 25+ times because I didn't know how to fix my mistakes and mistakes were absolutely unacceptable, at least to me they were. Well, not only do I love to knit, I love teaching kids how to knit even more. I know that knitting really isn't very difficult with practice, and I've seen 6-year-olds out-knit me, so I know it's possible. I love seeing the possibilities of young creative minds once they understand how a knitted piece is constructed. I love to see young knitters show off to their friends what they made. I love seeing young knitters grow up into knitting superstars. I know most people don't get started until the second half of their lifetime, but still, I wish I learned when I was 6-years-old. In fact, I remember asking my mom around that age if she could teach me how to knit because I really wanted to know. She said "Oh sure, Knit One, Purl Two." Of course, she didn't know. I wondered if somehow with that information, the yarn would knit itself and my fingers would follow suit. Of course, it didn't.
I started a knitting club at my church for Junior High students - alas, only girls showed up and as my small group of regulars grew up into high school, my knitting club disappeared. But don't be so sad! Now that I work after care at an elementary school, I decided to teach a few girls that expressed some interest. The next day I brought 3 sets of needles and 2 skeins of yarn- way more than I thought I would need. I had 6 kids begging me to teach them to knit, including 2 boys!! I definitely didn't have enough materials; we had to use pens instead of real knitting needles (Which by the way, I HIGHLY recommend for teaching the cast-on. You trace the path of your needles beautifully on the inside of your hand). I rolled with it. I started to realize that knitting practices fine motor skills in children, and it really helps the high-strung to busy their hands and minds and keep out of trouble. Plus, there is instant gratification in the project. When I ran out of needles and pens, I taught a first grader how to finger knit. I figured it would be easier and less frustrating than trying to maneuver the needles for her. This is her after every row: *GASP!!* HEY LOOK! IT'S GETTING LONGER!! I can't wait for her to finish that scarf and wear it proudly to school. And yet, that isn't even my greatest success story. One of the boys was so excited to knit, he would finish his homework in record time so he could knit for the remaining two hours he had before his mom came to pick him up. He's been taking his knitting home and coming back with progress every day. Once while in the gym, all the kids were playing kickball, and this 2nd grade boy insisted on sitting on the stage with me so he could knit instead. You know what he said? "Miss Jamael, I'm sad for all these kids... because they are missing out on all the fun of knitting." Quote of the year. Jamael Apologies for the one year hiatus. I came back to look something up and found I had random people checking out my blog- I'm honored and embarrassed at the same time.
Well anyway, a lot has happened. I'm married now (YAY!), I switched schools *bites fingernails*, I changed my program to Middle Childhood (Grades 4-9) Math and Science (No, they don't scare me), and I got a new job working after school care with K-5 *fist pump*. I'm currently procrastinating studying for a test I have tomorrow, so I should make this quick, but I've learned a lot from this new job of mine. The biggest thing I've learned: Classroom Management. I've always been afraid of disciplining kids that weren't my own (and no, I don't have any, and no, I'm not sure when I will) and I've always been told by other teachers that discipline is THE FIRST thing you need to get a handle on when you are in front of a classroom. Being thrown in front of 17 kids ages 5-11 by myself taught me how to discipline REAL FAST- like minutes-to-days fast. I've only been at this job for 2 months now, but I can hardly remember what it was like to be afraid of discipline. Just the other day we had a new kid in the bunch acting up. I asked him to stop, he continued, I asked him again, he continued, I asked him a third time, but this time quite sternly and he said "Geez Miss Jamael, you're bossy!" I was tickled. What a compliment- I NEVER would have thought I would assert authority to a 10-year-old enough to come off as bossy. Progress! And just like the cartoon below implies, nobody teaches you how to handle a bunch of rowdy kids, but a bunch of rowdy kids! I just began my summer classes yesterday, and yes, I know I'm crazy. I've got 12 credits this summer - two 4 credit classes in Summer I and one 4 credit class in Summer II. My first class of the semester was Biology I, a class I was dreading because Biology is my least favorite of all the sciences. I was really praying for an awesome instructor to make the pain a bit more manageable. Well, as he was explaining the syllabus, he asked if any of us knew what an "enhanced podcast" was. I DO! I DO! In a room of about 75 students, there were probably four of us that knew what it was - ME INCLUDED! The idea was that he would wear a microphone and screen record to create an enhanced podcast of the entire class. He calls it a "coursecast." I couldn't wait to go home and check out this podcast. The software is called Panopto, and it's not free. I don't know how much it costs to use it, but it was free for me to log in and listen to the lecture as a student. As my professor clicked through the slides, the podcast software actually made bookmarks of each slide and named them the first line of that slide. The whole thing was about 50 minutes (though I'm sure they will be much longer later on) and I couldn't help but fantasize about all the things I can do with turning my lecture into an enhanced podcast. I don't know if I would make this sort of podcast available to all the students because it is way too tempting to skip class. Then again, in high school, they aren't allowed to skip class so it might be alright. This is perfect to make available for absent students, students with special needs, parents that want to know what their kids are learning, or studying for a test.
It amazes me how many great instructors there are that have never been told how to teach. Actually, I've ran into more good teachers in college, PhDs that never sat through an education class in their lives, than I can remember growing up in primary and secondary schools, where teachers are required to prove they know how to teach (and many don't). But nevertheless, I have high hopes for this class, and a great study tool to go with it! Jamael |