animoto-boatin'-away

For my final blog post, I found a really awesome website, Animoto, where you can transform photos into little 30 second music videos for FREE (anything longer than 30 seconds costs $money$)! You can use pictures from picasa (where I used mine from), facebook, flickr, smugmug, photobucket, or upload them directly to the site. You can add your own music (mp3's) or choose from their collection of music clips. Although what you can do is limited (it's FREE for crying out loud), it is a different take on the slideshows or static photos found on so many websites.

I used some of my favorite pictures from the hilarious LOLcats website, icanhascheezburger.com. If you love cats and funny captions, you'll love this site! Although animoto cut off some of the words, and they moved through very quickly, it still turned out to be a pretty cute video. What do you think?

This is an appropriate ending as I "animoto-boat away" from TPTE 486 and head off to enjoy the last five weeks of my summer vacation. I have learned so many new things during this class that I hope to use in the (near) future. I am even thinking about making my own interactive spreadsheet (we didn't get to do that this semester as in the past) for chemistry! Of course, the biggest problem with all of this technology stuff? TIME. Here's hoping I have lots more of it to be able to incorporate even more technology in my classroom!

A Fair(y) Use Tale

I hadn't had a chance to watch this ADORABLE (and informative) video on copyright laws and fair use until this week and forgot to blog about it. I absolutely LOVE Disney movies, so this video was right up my alley! It used quick clips (one word or a few words) from all kinds of Disney movies to talk about copyright laws and fair use. It included clips from Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, The Emperor's New Groove, Finding Nemo, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Incredibles, The Jungle Book, Lilo and Stitch, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Monsters, Inc., Mulan, 101 Dalmations, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Tarzan, Tarzan II, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Treasure Planet! (phew!)

I'd definitely like to use more technology in my classes, especially this new forensic science course, in which I plan to have plenty of labs and lots and lots of collaboration and group work, so I can see myself showing this video as an intro to copyright laws and fair use (what a great discussion-starter).

If you haven't ever watched it, and you're interested in copyright laws and fair use, it's worth the 10 minutes of your day to check it out:

Wookie? Walkie? Wiki?

As this summer session is wrapping up, so is our Secondary Science Wiki. I've really enjoyed using this wiki this summer because it was very easy to use and would be a great idea for collaboration amongst teachers in Knox County Schools. I'm not sure how hard it is to actually set up because ours was set up for us, but I can't imagine it would be too difficult. It would be great to have a wiki for chemistry teachers, for biology teachers, for physics teachers, etc. to share websites, documents, PowerPoints, pictures, and more. My biggest problem with the wiki is that anyone (with access, of course) could erase something by accident. Other than that, it's been a good learning experience with wikis, and now I have a better understanding of how wikipedia works, too!

"iSpy with my little eyes ... iMovie!"

Since I will be missing the last two days of class to travel to a forensic science workshop in Scotia, New York, I spent today working on the final project for this class: an iMovie! After collecting some great pictures off the internet and making a storyboard (which was pretty much just what text I wanted, what photos I was going to use, and the order of everything), I was ready to rock 'n roll!

After spending a month with my lovely Apple computer, Limbo13, in the computer lab at UT, I still prefer PC's. The Mac has grown on me a little bit, but I think it's mostly because I love that guy (Justin Long) off the Mac/PC commercials! I'd heard horror stories about this project and using iMovie, so needless to say, I wasn't super excited to get started all by myself. However, the program wasn't terrible to use (after visiting the help section numerous times), and I actually really enjoyed this project.

I decided to make my movie on an overview of forensic science. I included the four standards for the forensic science curriculum I submitted to the state department of education this past spring and photos to accompany the topics for each standard. Using TelevisionTunes.com, I found the theme song for Law & Order for free, which is always good. I'm pretty darn proud of my movie, and it only took me a day to make. Hopefully, I won't have to make too many changes when Dr. O'Bannon gets back on Thursday ...

If it didn't take so long to make this "story", I would definitely use this technology for the classroom more often. I LOVE LOVE LOVE short little video clips and music videos. However, I think it would probably be easier to use videos that other people have made when I'm running short on time (which is pretty much all the time ...). Some of my favorite chemistry videos come from Mark Rosengarten, and he has them all on YouTube for free! The lyrics are original and useful, the images are accurate and sometimes funny, and the songs are catchy and creative. Either way, the idea behind using short video clips in the classroom isn't new to me, and I would love to make more movies in the future (especially now that I feel like I have conquered iMovie!).

Be sure to check out my first attempt at making a video with iMovie:

Inspired by Inspiration

Yesterday and today we worked with the amazing program called Inspiration. We had to create a diagram using this program, which was actually more of a concept map.

I chose to do a concept map on something for the forensic science course, so I think it took me longer to find the information to include than most people. I chose to do Illicit Drugs, which was really kind of interesting to research last night. I was very frustrated with Photoshop Elements 4.0 though because it kept crashing every time I tried to fix some of the images. Maybe it's because it's an older version of the program. Or maybe it's because I'm having to work with a Mac, ugh.

Inspiration was incredibly easy to work with, and I was amazed how simple it was to learn. You can add headers and footers to appear when you print it out. You can add notes (I have notes for the standard, a definition of presumptive tests, and definitions for the different types of drugs). I could spend all day working with this program to create all kinds of concept maps and diagrams that I've been previously doing on Microsoft PowerPoint. Unfortunately, I know we don't have this program at school, and with the budget being so tight, I don't really forsee getting it in the near future. However, I would like to make another concept map or two before this class is over (maybe in all the spare time I have, haha).

Here's an image below of my Illicit Drugs concept map. Click on the image to open a larger version. And if it was actually opened on Inspiration (or an Inspiration Viewer), you'd see links to websites on all of the different drugs!

Science in Nature Scavenger Hunt

Today we did a "digital photo scavenger hunt". I worked in a group with the other science teachers (Rachel and Jimmy). I was really excited about it because I love to take pictures and be outside. Unfortunately, there were a few things that ruined the experience. First, it was about 95 degrees and absolutely sweltering out - sweat anyone? Second, I think that we had the hardest list of things to find (especially since we were the last ones back to the classroom). Third, our list was all about "science in nature" and geared towards the life sciences (while the three of us all teach the physical sciences).

However, we completed the assignment (everyone can't love every assignment). Instead of heading across to the agricultural campus (probably about a mile walk) in the extreme heat, we started off towards the biology and ecology departments. With all of the construction going on around campus, it was hard to find things that were on our list. We found a lot of posters in the ecology building (Hess Hall, I think), so we took some pictures of a picture. We couldn't get into any of the labs that worked with frogs or lizards or salamanders because the Animal Safety teams were here today for inspections. Even though we had to take pictures of things that weren't actually living (our list didn't say it had to be ALIVE), we had everything we needed and headed back to class.

After downloading the photos onto the computer, resizing them in Photoshop Elements 4.0, and uploading them to a new album in Picasa, I was ready to make a Google Presentation (part of Google Docs). I did have to take one or two photos from the internet because our digital pictures didn't turn out perfectly. Google Presentation is like a simpler form of Microsoft PowerPoint, except internet-based and with less options or bells and whistles. I do like the template I chose - it's a notepad (school) sitting in grass (nature), and I think it enhances the point of the scavenger hunt. Check out my final presentation:


As for the usefulness of this assignment, I definitely think it could be adjusted for the classroom. I would create a list that involves more creativity in the scavenger hunt - instead of finding a frog, students would find something green (or something with four legs, or something that moves). Part of learning is creativity and originality. After hearing how the math group was searching for pictures of "parallel lines" and "angles", I was jealous of how much more creative and resourceful they had to be to accomplish the assigned task. But overall it was a good learning experience.

Collecting Digital Images

Today we learned all about the different ways to obtain digital images. You can use:
* original photos taken with a digital camera
* scans of anything (printed photos, book illustrations, drawings, etc.)
* images from a CD/DVD clipart or photo collection (such as the Big Box of Art)
* free images on the internet
* screenshots

After collecting all five digital images, I uploaded them to Picasa Web Albums and shared them with my teacher.

This was a fun activity and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Big Box of Art collection. I found over 60 images to use this year in forensic science of all different types (black and white photographs, color photographs, clip art, and something I didn't know about - photo transfers - which are basically images that look awesome). I really enjoyed this and can definitely see myself using most of these different types of digital images (except for scanned images because I don't have a scanner easily accessible at home or at school).

Here's a taste of some of the cool images I saved from the Big Box of Art today:

Fun Forensics Facts

Yesterday we worked on a curriculum connection assignment. We created an abbreviated lesson plan and a research guide (for both the student and the teacher). I chose to do a research activity on fingerprint analysis for my forensic science class. I really enjoyed this project because I created an awesome product that I am actually planning to use in the fall. It was somewhat time-consuming because I had to find good, usable websites at an appropriate level for high school students, but the first time you teach a course, there's always a lot of legwork involved (unless you have some great people willing to collaborate!).

Check out my final product on my classroom website here.

What's a WebQuest?!

Before this class, I thought I knew what a WebQuest was, but I was clearly mistaken. Simply put, a WebQuest is a type of inquiry-based, on-line learning activity. However, not all WebQuests are made equal. Before we could go analyze WebQuests in our subject area, we first did a WebQuest about WebQuests.

WebQuests will normally have the following parts at a minimum: Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion, Credits/Resources. We formed groups of about 5 students to evaluate five different WebQuests in the high school math/science field. Each student had a specific "role" tied to what they were looking for in a great WebQuest. There was the Efficiency Expert, the Affiliator, the Altitudinist, and the Technophile. I was the Technophile and examined the different websites for attractive color scheme, working links, useful links, links to interesting sites, animated gifs, and anything technologically related. The Efficiency Expert looked for a website that gives the most educational "bang for the buck" (the most information in a decent amount of time) while the Affiliator looked for individual learning in a cooperative setting. Finally, the Altitudinist tried to find the level of higher-order thinking on each WebQuest. And believe me, WebQuests come in all forms: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

Our winner: How Did Life on Earth Begin?
Our loser: A Mathematical Look at the Electoral College

This activity was useful because we each had an individual role that we then shared as a group to come to a final consensus. It was very quick and easy to do (it was especially easy to pick out the super bad WebQuests!). I can see myself using this in the classroom to evaluate the pros and cons of any WebQuests that I'm thinking about using. After looking for a WebQuest in my subject area, I found an AWESOME one! It's called Bones & the Badge and I am already planning to use it as an introductory activity in my forensic science class this fall :)


Finally, a really great, searchable database for WebQuests is QuestGarden.com. Be sure to check it out if you're looking for a good (or maybe not so good ...) WebQuest!

Facebook and MySpace and Wikis, oh my!

Tonight I watched two videos online from commoncraft about using social networking sites (such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter) and wikis. I really enjoyed watching these videos (Social Networking in Plain English and Wikis in Plain English) because they provided a short introduction to the overall benefits of using social networking sites and wikis.

Social Networking Sites
A lot of teachers are against using social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and/or Twitter. However, I think that these sites can be a tremendous asset to the classroom if used properly. For example, Twitter could be used to send out tweets to students about homework assignments, study tips, or general classroom reminders. There seems to be more of a shift in high school away from MySpace towards Facebook, but both social networking sites have great potential. I have a professional account on Facebook that I use to communicate with former and current students, parents, and my own family. Through Facebook, I am part of the Robert Noyce Scholars group, which is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation that seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teacher through an open forum and collaborative efforts using this social networking site. You could even create a group on Facebook for each class that you teach to send out reminders, host on-line study sessions, and use the blogging features of Facebook.

Wikis
I never actually knew what a wiki was until this week. I didn't even put together the "wiki" in Wikipedia! But Wikipedia is a great example of a wiki, an interlinked site shared and edited by multiple users. We created a secondary science wiki for science teachers in secondary education in TPTE 486 using PBworks and really started using it today. I've never used a wiki before and I like the concept, but dislike that anyone can edit anything on the wiki. What happens if I had the correct information (or I liked the way the formatting looked) and someone else in the wiki disagreed? I could see this going back and forth with changes, almost a struggle for power. We did add annotated links to the websites we evaluated today (see my earlier post), and will continue to update our wiki throughout the rest of this summer session. It is funny though because we have a wiki for secondary science, yet in our section all three of us are looking up three different topics (chemistry, physics, and forensic science). They are all inter-related, yet completely different curricula.

Final Thoughts?
I can definitely see myself continuing to use the latest social networking site in my teaching - if students are using it all the time, why not communicate on their level? It was very easy to create a Facebook account when I originally made one. I didn't actually create the wiki, but it was very easy to join it once the secondary science wiki was created. I can't imagine it would be that hard to make one myself on PBworks. I'd really like to start using Twitter, but right now I don't know a lot of students that are tweeting or would want to read my tweets about science class.

I'm not sure that I'll really use wikis outside of TPTE 486 in a classroom setting due to time constraints to actually teach the kids HOW to use a wiki, but I may or may not use it in my personal life. That one is more up in the air for me than the social networking sites. Besides, Rome wasn't built in a day, so I probably won't start using ALL of the different forms of technology at once!

The GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY of WEBSITES

Today in class we had to find a website and evaluate it based on various aspects of a good site based on the research in the literature. I decided to look for a great forensic science site because this fall will be the first semester I am teaching this course (and the first semester that it will be offered at Karns and also for science credit in Knox County)!



The website that I visited was Forensic Science: Let Evidence Reveal the Truth. I think this is a really great website for an introduction to forensic science. I may even use this in the fall to have my students get started at the beginning of the semester. It was created by students as part of the 2004 Oracle ThinkQuest competition. Although it hasn't been updated since the competition, the information is still accurate and the references are tremendous. There are even fun interactive games to get away from all of the reading/text. This would be a perfect "sub day" type of plan if you could come up with questions for students to find ahead of time.

As I'm sure you may have seen while surfing the net, there are different aspects to having a good website, such as author credibility, user friendliness, aesthetically pleasing appearance, updated information, and more. Hopefully I can find a few more good websites dealing with forensic science during this class that I can use in the fall! It was very easy to follow the rubric for this assignment and answer all of the questions for the evaluation. This was useful because I could modify the evaluation criteria a little bit to have students evaluate websites that they are using for various projects in class.

"Pay Attention"!

We watched a video outside of class this week called "Pay Attention". Not only is it the perfect title for teachers (can't you just hear a teacher telling his/her student to 'Pay attention!'?), but it's a great motivational video to get teachers interested in WHY we should use technology in the classroom.

I actually think that I'd seen this video before this class (possibly at one of our monthly Technology Training sessions at school?), but it was great to watch it again. Our students are using technology every day - why should we not do the same in the classroom? It will help ENGAGE and ENHANCE learning! I've never heard anyone say "No, we shouldn't do this because the students would be engaged", have you?

If you haven't seen this video, you should check it out:


I wouldn't use this video in the classroom because it is more geared towards teachers. It would be great to show everyone on an in-service day or at a faculty meeting to motivate others to start using technology in the classroom. It was easy to access at home and would also be easily accessible at school because it is a TeacherTube video. Overall, it was good motivation to keep up with all the latest technology!

The Wonderful World of iGoogle!

VS.

Last week, we set up our iGoogle accounts. I already had a Gmail account, but I had no idea about iGoogle! I'm not quite sure how, but I'd never even heard of it.

iGoogle is neat because you can not only access your e-mail, but you can add all sorts of neat gadgets like a calculator, the weather, a clock, comics, news, YouTube, Facebook, recipes, and more. The possibilities are endless.

I've set up my iGoogle page with a forensic science theme at the top because I am teaching a new forensic science course in the fall. I also included Science Daily, one of my favorite websites that shows brief highlights of interesting scientific research and some comics for a smile at the start and end of my day. I really like that I can not only access my e-mail, but also have access to an array of things that I like to check out on a daily or weekly basis.

Here's a screen shot of my iGoogle homepage.



I thought that it was extremely easy to set up my iGoogle. Since I already had a Gmail account, I just had to change the URL address I was going to. I would definitely recommend that my students check out and use iGoogle because I think it's a better way to check your e-mail while checking out some of your favorite websites all at the same time. I don't really see myself using this in the classroom per say because I'm not sure what I would use it for. However, creating the iGoogle also allows for using blogger, creating a website, sharing files on Google docs, and many more.

I Don't Ever Want to be "That Teacher"

Welcome to my technology blog! As part of my Theories and Practice in Teacher Education (TPTE) 486 course that I am taking this summer (June 2010), we are creating a blog to follow our journey through technology. I hope to learn some new things to use in the classroom (since I am currently teaching and working on my alternative/transitional license), and am looking forward to a fun class! I also hope that I never become a teacher that is not willing to learn the latest updates in technology like in the comic below :)