Monday, October 26, 2009
Friends Forever - An Amateur Hour(s) Journey in Voice Thread
The creative side of Voice Thread is invigorating but what is in my mind that I want to do and what I can figure out to do are two different things. Creating the story line with pictures and deciding what to mix with music, comments and text titles was engaging in a way text only isn’t. The pictures and story FF (Forever Friends) influenced each other. Choosing pictures fit the theme and then what pictures were chosen drove the text. Loading pictures was easy, navigating the tutorials and changing settings was also. Challenges with recording and uploading were met with stubborn tenacity. After many detours, an amateur first Voice Thread has evolved. The preplanning and having a clearer picture in the future will help. This text changed several times until I landed on text messages for the titles. Now I hope my friends will accept the invitation and join me in creating a better FF (Friends Forever) story.
In my teaching I want to engage students in more collaborative learning and the resources from our book and Dr. Beach for Digital Storytelling. This chapter could be an entire course.
Quote of the week from the University of Houston The Education Uses of Digital Storytelling:
" British photographer, educator and digital storyteller, Daniel Meadows defines digital stories as "short, personal multimedia tales told from the heart." The beauty of this form of digital expression, he maintains is that these stories can be created by people everywhere, on any subject, and shared electronically all over the world." ." Be sure to check out Daniel's work. I love it when he asks of his documentary and digital work, "Predator or Collaborator? " Take a look; it's 1:13 into the Bus.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I'm a Believer
Besides learning about the topic of digital use it freed me to think more expansively. When writing I’d start with an idea from my character’s position and outlook and while looking for information to support it would find that it needed to be modified to be substantiated. The same thing happened as I read other posts. As a high engagement learning process using collaboration to share ideas, information, positions, and creativity, it’s made me a believer not only of role plays as a classroom tool but the power of the interactive space to change learning. This was not a worksheet or essay in virtual space. Searching the net it seems that higher ed is taking a lead in this area with conferences posted at EdITLib, blogs, books such as Creating Thinking Professionals: Teaching and Learning about Professional Practice Using Interactive Technology. Wikipedia has a section called Roleplay simulation but lacks resources. The articles we read for class should be there and maybe some of our reflections!
I’ll be interested to learn how deeply the teacher monitors and evaluates the depth of discussion and authenticity of links? How do students self evaluate? Do group members give feedback to each other based on the rubric and then use that feedback in their self-evaluations?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Role Play and Simulation
Post #4 - In what ways do you already use role-play and simulation in your classroom for
purposes of learning?
This month mentees and I will assume the roles of an administrator and new teacher to prepare for their first Teacher Performance Appraisal observation and conferences. We'll also role play parent teacher conferences, phone calls, and any other teacher to adult, teacher to student, professional interaction that they would like to practice. We role play at other times in the year and have created fishbowl role plays to model professional discussions in our LINKS class, the year long teacher induction course in our district.
In our Teaching and Learning Professional Development team, we often assume roles to practice cognitive coaching, mentoring conversations, Problem Solving Protocols, etc. The ability to take on a role frees us to think about the process and detach some of ourselves to make taking risks fun and safe.
Most of my direct teaching is in partnership with teacher colleagues and involves explicit instruction, explorations, meta cognitive think aloud, modeling and then guided practice with colleagues' students around professional development topics in literacy. Right now providing professional development on one on one reading assessment QRI-4, DRIA2, CORE, mentoring new teachers and RtI protocols. Usually we don’t role-play because we jump right in with students that the teachers know. On occasion if a teacher is hesitant, I'll ask if a role play where I’ll pretend I am a student and the teachers assess me role-playing that they are my reading teachers would be helpful. It’s not high tech but it works for some teachers as a way to scaffold their own learning.
The hole in all of the role plays with adults is the lack of meaningful interdependence.
Perhaps in their Moodle post (secondary teachers) or blog post (elementary teachers) instead of reporting, they could role play and write the response from the perspective of:
* the student. It might help the reflection process to not only describe what they observed but to speculate or interview the student on what they learned to get accurate feedback or
* the student's parent with a letter of reflection on what their child gained academically, socially and emotionally during the school year.
Another idea is that instead of a Power Point explaining what they observed as new teachers implementing new strategies and frameworks, they take on the roles of different students and staff in their class and write a school newspaper, explaining their teaching and why their class is a respected in the school community.
If all the new teachers in the new teacher class took on a role when they wrote to each other, it might engage them more quickly as a community that learns together while apart.
I'm not sure and need to ponder this more. The ideas in Jenkins are stretching me to think more expansively. Ideas anyone?
PS Role Play 'ruled' my classroom when I was an early educator both in preschool and grade 1. Children naturally gravitate to roles to try on how they feel before they make them their own and to provide a cloak of safety and courage as they learn new ideas.
Achieving Learning Outcomes Through Online Role-Play Simulation which is sponsored by AACE EdITLib the Educaitona dn Informaton Techology Digitla Library
AACE The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
The ONLINE ROLE_PLAY SIMULATION PLATFORM
Motivating Learning Experiences that Deliver Real Change
This role play, Needle Stick is an active problem solving senerio involving the issues of a needle exchange program for drug users within close proximity to a school.
purposes of learning?
This month mentees and I will assume the roles of an administrator and new teacher to prepare for their first Teacher Performance Appraisal observation and conferences. We'll also role play parent teacher conferences, phone calls, and any other teacher to adult, teacher to student, professional interaction that they would like to practice. We role play at other times in the year and have created fishbowl role plays to model professional discussions in our LINKS class, the year long teacher induction course in our district.
In our Teaching and Learning Professional Development team, we often assume roles to practice cognitive coaching, mentoring conversations, Problem Solving Protocols, etc. The ability to take on a role frees us to think about the process and detach some of ourselves to make taking risks fun and safe.
Most of my direct teaching is in partnership with teacher colleagues and involves explicit instruction, explorations, meta cognitive think aloud, modeling and then guided practice with colleagues' students around professional development topics in literacy. Right now providing professional development on one on one reading assessment QRI-4, DRIA2, CORE, mentoring new teachers and RtI protocols. Usually we don’t role-play because we jump right in with students that the teachers know. On occasion if a teacher is hesitant, I'll ask if a role play where I’ll pretend I am a student and the teachers assess me role-playing that they are my reading teachers would be helpful. It’s not high tech but it works for some teachers as a way to scaffold their own learning.
The hole in all of the role plays with adults is the lack of meaningful interdependence.
Perhaps in their Moodle post (secondary teachers) or blog post (elementary teachers) instead of reporting, they could role play and write the response from the perspective of:
* the student. It might help the reflection process to not only describe what they observed but to speculate or interview the student on what they learned to get accurate feedback or
* the student's parent with a letter of reflection on what their child gained academically, socially and emotionally during the school year.
Another idea is that instead of a Power Point explaining what they observed as new teachers implementing new strategies and frameworks, they take on the roles of different students and staff in their class and write a school newspaper, explaining their teaching and why their class is a respected in the school community.
If all the new teachers in the new teacher class took on a role when they wrote to each other, it might engage them more quickly as a community that learns together while apart.
I'm not sure and need to ponder this more. The ideas in Jenkins are stretching me to think more expansively. Ideas anyone?
PS Role Play 'ruled' my classroom when I was an early educator both in preschool and grade 1. Children naturally gravitate to roles to try on how they feel before they make them their own and to provide a cloak of safety and courage as they learn new ideas.
Some interesting LINKS as potential for our class role play.
Achieving Learning Outcomes Through Online Role-Play Simulation which is sponsored by AACE EdITLib the Educaitona dn Informaton Techology Digitla Library
AACE The Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
The ONLINE ROLE_PLAY SIMULATION PLATFORM
Motivating Learning Experiences that Deliver Real Change
This role play, Needle Stick is an active problem solving senerio involving the issues of a needle exchange program for drug users within close proximity to a school.
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