The Death of the Flip Camera - What a Big Mistake!

http://http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/the-tragic-death-of-the-flip/?ref=personaltechemail&nl=technology&emc=cta1 Although I have had only three occasions to use the Flip Camera, I am totally sold on what a great product it is! As I am not very tech-savvy, I appreciated the user-friendly appeal of the conveniently sized device. I just used the Flip camera yesterday, to capture our kindergarten mega-learning stations event, with about 12 different measurement centers and 44 rotating kindergarteners, over an hour's time. I had never used the Flip without a tripod, and so I was a little doubtful about the quality of the footage I would create. I went from station to station, to try and record the essence of the station's objective - kids having fun learning about various facets of science. I have to say that, in that hour's time, I was able to video each child, engaged in whatever station he or she visited, experimenting, exploring, sharing what was learned with their group members. I must have recorded about 25 different short segments, and I was impressed by what I saw on each one. The picture quality was great - the color and clarity were super! If I decide to use the audio, that was audible in each case. I found that due to the light-weight aspect of the camera, it was so easy to manipulate, as I panned from one child to another. Also, by just the touch of one button as a toggle switch, I could quickly catch special moments on video, which I probably would have missed with a more complex device. As to the New York Times article by David Pogue, I would totally agree with him. He was absolutely correct in giving the Flip camera a '10', for all the reasons I stated above. I didn't know all the 'behind the scenes' reasons that the parent company likely discontinued the Flip. If Pogue's allegations are correct, what a sad decision the company made, on several counts. Getting rid of a great product, eliminating all those employee jobs, not realizing what a gold mine they really have - all ridiculous, from the point of view of those who would be buying such a wonderful product. All future novice videographers will be truly missing out on access to a tool that could ease them into the world of technology. I plan to get as much use out of our school's Flip camera before it dies a natural death - at least ours will have lived a useful life and made this teacher happy!

ISTE February 2011 issue article - Brain Training With Video Games

http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-february-march-2011.aspx I just read an interesting ISTE February 2011 journal article, Brain Training With Video Games, by Curtis Boehmer. He has worked over 30 years in a Michigan school with speech and language delayed students, and has sought effective ways to support their academic achievement. He certainly seems sold on an intensive, research-based intervention program using video games to teach attention skills, visualization, sequencing, patterning and spatial relationship abilities. The program does involve a 45 minute, 4 day a week commitment by the students, over a 12 week period. Boehmer admits that teachers of these students didn't see any visible progress until after 6 or 7 weeks, but then noticed academic gains from the students. I agree with Boehmer that the video games' inherent engaging format, repetition of skills, and integration of different abilities is what helps make it successful for these students. But he also admitted that after students "peak" at a certain point, they don't really show more gains unless their teacher steps in with encouragement, to spur them on to further achievement. It seems as if the combination of technology (to "hook" students and keep them engaged with repeated practice and the intrinsic motivation to succeed in the games) and human contact (teacher praise and encouragement) is likely the key to the program's success. I know in today's world, we can't fight students' attraction to video games - they are addictive. But I was glad to see that human contact and intervention also play a part in helping struggling students. Technology can be rather distant and sterile, and most everyone likes to share what they have learned or achieved with other people, or someone significant in their lives. So while I understand that "brain training" may be the way to proceed with students, I hope we teachers don't neglect that human touch. People still need people!

Three Web 2.0 Tools and Help Videos

I thought that the three Web 2.0 tools - Kerpoof, AnswerGarden, and Symbaloo - all had some educational value, perhaps moreso at one grade level than another. For me as a kindergarten teacher, I thought that the first tool, Kerpoof, held the most promise for use with students in the classroom. I teach emerging readers and writers, and they need help with the whole literacy process. Kerpoof offers young elementary students the opportunity to compose, spell, create a storyline, illustrate and share with an audience. I like that it is so user-friendly, and clear for the students to understand as a literacy tool. They are very imaginative, and would really enjoy being a part of the creative process in developing a story from start to finish. We read from the 'Magic Tree House' series, which is an adventure fantasy that gets their attention, keeps them interested and prompts lots of comments! They would therefore enjoy working together as a class in sharing their ideas, while learning about the writing process and its basic steps. They love any type of animation, and would love to re-read the stories and revisit the characters, perhaps even creating a series of their own! The AnswerGarden tool might be more appropriate for older elementary students, and I like that it gets them involved through an online poll activity. It also provides a great visual for brainstorming together. The Symbaloo tool is wonderful in that it helps a teacher be organized by grouping websites according to common themes, topics, etc. Having the visual of each icon to click and access the websites is very user-friendly, especially for those new to navigation. It's a very effective way for anyone to manage resources and reference others to use them.

ITSE March/April 2011 Issue - Article: Is It Time To Make Mathematics More Fun?

In working with kindergarteners, I need to both teach content and make learning fun. Since kindergarten may be the first formal education experience for these young students, I realize that in order to get their attention, keep them focused and engaged, I have to "make learning fun". In some ways, these children may have already been exposed to the attitude, either blatantly or subtly, that "math is hard, and you won't like it", perhaps from an older sibling, or even a parent! Math is actually a fascinating and amazing subject, but it also requires some abstract thinking at gradually higher grade levels. I think the conceptual nature of math puts people off, and makes them think math skills are unobtainable. (I don't exactly think of myself as math-skilled, as I have problems with logic and reasoning.) However, using the tips from this article, I think I could present math in such a way that it will intrigue and interest students better. Counter to that from my own math education, the author's perspective begins with the advice to let students use calculators to solve equations or problems. He believes that the most important thing in math is not necessarily being able to do the algorithms - it is more important to make math a part of our lives by making it relative to what we want to know (the weight of something, how large an object is, etc.) Making math a natural aspect of a student's life can motivate him or her to want to use math skills to find out answers. Another tip is to present math in a game-like format. I know this is good advice, because my own students love to play math games in computer lab - and they are very good at it! They enjoy seeing how many points they can acquire, or if they can "get to the next level" in a math game. It surely makes the learning fun! The third tip is to teach the reasons behind ways to solve a problem. Some children can devise their own method, which makes perfect sense to them. Perhaps more sense than solving a problem through rote steps which work, but don't lead the student to understanding why they work! I really liked this article, as it is so "kid-friendly", and even moreso, "kindergarten-friendly"!

March 30 - First Night of class

I am amazed and impressed by all the Web 2.0 tools available to learn and use for this course! I am especially interested in learning more about creating videos to introduce a unit, teach a simple concept, review material, or have some active participation with my kindergarteners. I think they will be especially attentive and remain more focused, if they have an animated character to listen to and watch, like the one created with the xtranormal video program. I also am interested in learning how to use the Animoto tool. One thing I have not done is create a class webpage, for the kindergarten parents to view and access. I have often wanted to update families, let them know of some new or exciting learning activity, an upcoming event, or just share some pictures of things their students have been doing. The webpage would be perfect for this! I hope to learn ways to use this technology to make my teaching more current and interesting to my students. They are often so tech-savvy, that I need to keep up with them!