There are many facets to creating a daily tv news program in schools. From my experience, which is very little, having properly working tools and equipment is the first major consideration. Secondly, who and through what measures will students be chosen for participation. Finally, an equally important condsideration is how to best utilize time without taking students from their academic classes.
A school can't have a news program without the proper equipment. As I am researching other school's methods of creating a newscast, I am surprised at the amount of money that is required for equipment. Some schools like Aviara Oaks Middle spend up to $12000 for their equipment and studio. Where in the world do they obtain that kind of funding? We struggle just to get decent books on our shelves. There must be a creative and less costly solution, right? The research continues....I stumbled upon some more realistic ideas from a school in Henry County. Here they have a list of Suggested Equipment for a School TV News Porgram. Compared with today's technology, it looks a little 'old school' but, I think that we have most of the suggested equipment in my media center. We have a camcorder, VCR's, and background stands. We still need a wireles mic and I think that $150 is more realistic for my school than the thousands that are spent in some.
So, it looks like our school is almost ready to produce TV News. How does the media specialist go about choosing the participants? At Pleasant Grove Elementary in Henry County, students from the Gifted Program are allowed to participate. In an elementary setting that may work best for scheduling since most students are pulled out of general ed classes a couple of times per week. However, in middle school, I would want a cast that represented the entire student population. Many of our students that do not do well in their academic classes are gifted in many other areas, especially when it comes to using their hands or allowed to work with technology and/or equipment. Ideas for castmembers and crewmembers should be well-thought out and considered. Once all positions have been determined, the media specialist should begin interviewing interested students.
Some things to consider and question are:
Is the student: Responsible, Energetic, Compassionate and a 'Go Getter'
Do those considered for anchors possess the following: Interpersonal Skills, Speaking Skills and Writing Skills
Do those considered for crewmembers possess the following: Responsibility, Trustworthiness, and will they take pride and ownership in protecting the equipment
Will students be able to get to school early?
Will other activities cause conflicts with morning duties?
How frequently are students absent?
Currently, my school does not have a tv news program. I am interested in speaking with the media specialist about the possibility. We will definitely be starting from a humble beginning.
But, schools like Southern Columbia, which have a fantastic school tv news program had to start somewhere!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Social Networking Sites in Schools
As we work to meet the learning needs of a changing generation of learners, technology becomes increasingly important and even essential in the education of students. Social networking sites such as Flickr, Library Thing, Delicious, etc. can be valuable tools when creating activities for students. Flickr has a wonderful tagging fuction that allows you to associate pictures with specific parts of the world. This would be a wonderful way to teach students history and geography in a way that is meaningful to them. Delicious can be used to create a resource list of websites for students that may guide them in a project. I have personally considered creating a Facebook page for the Jr. Civitan club, a club that I sponsor at my school. Since so many high school students have facebook accounts, this would be a very effective way of communicating dates and upcoming events. Unfortunately, many educators are not allowed to use these sites at school because they are blocked or forbidden from use in the school environment.
It is in my opinion that if we want to reach all learners (not just the motivated, high achievers) we are going to have to employ more creative strategies such as using social networking sites. In my county, most social networking sites are blocked by the county, inluding Library Thing. Library Thing could be a valuable resource for me as a media specialist. For example, if a teacher is looking for a novel about Native Americans, but he cannot remember the name, I can use tagging in Library Thing to help me the book he is looking for. I have heard that some libraries are using Library Thing as their primary online catalog to save money on an OPAC system. I also love that on Library Thing, you can create a list of books that you have read, you are currently reading, or have plans to read. Teachers could have students keep track of their books for the 25 book campaign on Library Thing. Students could also search for new books they are interested in with this site.
I think the answer to internet filtering, social networking sites, and education is common sense. Teachers, don't let your students go into the computer lab and go to a social networking site with little direction on what to do. If you are going to use these sites, create a plan. Think about how you will avoid issues before hand and provide high structure in the lesson. I think this will allow us to use social networking sites with less potential for online danger.
It is in my opinion that if we want to reach all learners (not just the motivated, high achievers) we are going to have to employ more creative strategies such as using social networking sites. In my county, most social networking sites are blocked by the county, inluding Library Thing. Library Thing could be a valuable resource for me as a media specialist. For example, if a teacher is looking for a novel about Native Americans, but he cannot remember the name, I can use tagging in Library Thing to help me the book he is looking for. I have heard that some libraries are using Library Thing as their primary online catalog to save money on an OPAC system. I also love that on Library Thing, you can create a list of books that you have read, you are currently reading, or have plans to read. Teachers could have students keep track of their books for the 25 book campaign on Library Thing. Students could also search for new books they are interested in with this site.
I think the answer to internet filtering, social networking sites, and education is common sense. Teachers, don't let your students go into the computer lab and go to a social networking site with little direction on what to do. If you are going to use these sites, create a plan. Think about how you will avoid issues before hand and provide high structure in the lesson. I think this will allow us to use social networking sites with less potential for online danger.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Is There a Place for Social Networking in Public Education?
In a day and age where test scores drive the curriculum, educators must carefully balance the amount of time spent on true teachable moments and what the data dictates for classroom instruction. Is there a way to incorporate the manner and medium in which our students best learn, through technology, or should educators practice skill and drill techniques that worked in the past?
More often than not, I hear, "When I was in school, we ....." Those 35 and older can fill in the blank. I agree that children are children, but today's children have grown up with technology. Even in a low-socioeconomic setting, children have cell phones, PSP's, MP3 players, computers and Ipods. It is our responsibility, as educatoors, to stay current with technology and how we can best utilize it in the classroom.
Personally, in my experience with middle grade students, getting children 'hooked' has been most difficult. I know that if I had been more tech savvy, my lessons and instruction would have been more engaging and appealing to my students. Social networking offers endless opportunties for the use of technology and what the kids view as 'fun' learning.
We know that we get better results when we are able to tap into what our students already know and are able to build from there. As a general education teacher, it has been difficult to meet the needs of all my diverse learners. But, what if we were able to utilize the tech tools available and allow students to show us, rather than attempt to exise what they know?
What if students were allowed to use Flickr as a way of sharing what they know about particular places they have visited or as a medium for sharing their personal narrative that are directly linked to the GPS? Or, what if they were allowed access to Delicious for research in their Reading class? What if we wanted to be eco-friendly, tech savvy and encourage healthy competition among our readers by allowing them to use LibraryThing as a medium for recording and responding to texts they have read? It all sounds great, right?
One of the biggest problems that I have experienced while trying to incorporate new technology as I become exposed and attempt to apply within my classroom is district and IT policies. A couple of weeks ago, I showed some of the Wikis that I had come across to my students. I told them of my plans to create one for our classes. They were extremely excited about my proposition; they were most impressed with the uses of Podcasts and YouTube. I shared my thoughts with our IT department and was told that IF we were able to access and use the technology and websites that all of our data/information would be destroyed each night and that it could not be saved to my hard drive. One can imagine how disappointed the students would be if all of their hard work was destroyed.
In my district, I think that we have a long way to go before we are best utilizing our technological capabilities. I have looked at other school districts and their websites, Wiki's and blogs in more 'liberal' states that truly allow students some freedoms and opportunities in their educational and learning paths. When I allow my students to view these, they get excited about learning. What more could we want?
p.s. - Yesterday, I almost fainted when students begged to take a quiz! Really! I recently introduced BrainPop to my students and have been using it as an activating strategy. The lessons are about 2-3 minutes in length and then offer a quiz. So the first day, I showed the introductory segment on my Promethean Board and allowed students to come up to the board with the InterActive Pen to conduct the quiz questions. The following day, I showed another introductory segment and told them that we did not have time for the quiz. The response was unbelievable....they WANTED to take the quiz! Inevitably, I changed my lessons for the rest of my classes.
More often than not, I hear, "When I was in school, we ....." Those 35 and older can fill in the blank. I agree that children are children, but today's children have grown up with technology. Even in a low-socioeconomic setting, children have cell phones, PSP's, MP3 players, computers and Ipods. It is our responsibility, as educatoors, to stay current with technology and how we can best utilize it in the classroom.
Personally, in my experience with middle grade students, getting children 'hooked' has been most difficult. I know that if I had been more tech savvy, my lessons and instruction would have been more engaging and appealing to my students. Social networking offers endless opportunties for the use of technology and what the kids view as 'fun' learning.
We know that we get better results when we are able to tap into what our students already know and are able to build from there. As a general education teacher, it has been difficult to meet the needs of all my diverse learners. But, what if we were able to utilize the tech tools available and allow students to show us, rather than attempt to exise what they know?
What if students were allowed to use Flickr as a way of sharing what they know about particular places they have visited or as a medium for sharing their personal narrative that are directly linked to the GPS? Or, what if they were allowed access to Delicious for research in their Reading class? What if we wanted to be eco-friendly, tech savvy and encourage healthy competition among our readers by allowing them to use LibraryThing as a medium for recording and responding to texts they have read? It all sounds great, right?
One of the biggest problems that I have experienced while trying to incorporate new technology as I become exposed and attempt to apply within my classroom is district and IT policies. A couple of weeks ago, I showed some of the Wikis that I had come across to my students. I told them of my plans to create one for our classes. They were extremely excited about my proposition; they were most impressed with the uses of Podcasts and YouTube. I shared my thoughts with our IT department and was told that IF we were able to access and use the technology and websites that all of our data/information would be destroyed each night and that it could not be saved to my hard drive. One can imagine how disappointed the students would be if all of their hard work was destroyed.
In my district, I think that we have a long way to go before we are best utilizing our technological capabilities. I have looked at other school districts and their websites, Wiki's and blogs in more 'liberal' states that truly allow students some freedoms and opportunities in their educational and learning paths. When I allow my students to view these, they get excited about learning. What more could we want?
p.s. - Yesterday, I almost fainted when students begged to take a quiz! Really! I recently introduced BrainPop to my students and have been using it as an activating strategy. The lessons are about 2-3 minutes in length and then offer a quiz. So the first day, I showed the introductory segment on my Promethean Board and allowed students to come up to the board with the InterActive Pen to conduct the quiz questions. The following day, I showed another introductory segment and told them that we did not have time for the quiz. The response was unbelievable....they WANTED to take the quiz! Inevitably, I changed my lessons for the rest of my classes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Media Center Web Pages
Well after looking at several web pages I am torn between a web page as the traditional style and a wiki. The main reason that I would lean more towards a wiki is the fact that things can be added by others instead of everything being the media specialist job. When I say others I really mean the teachers when they find great information that others teachers would like to use.
I found some really great stuff on the other web pages that I look at but some just had to much. I think that a web page, whether traditional or wiki, should be user friendly and simple. This is where I think that a wiki would be easier to use. A wiki could have links to many different topics without all the clutter. Some of the things that I think would be essential on a web page or wiki for the media center would be:
Contact information
Hours
Calendar
Library News and Upcoming events
Policies and Procedures of the media center
How to use equipment and technologies
Pathfinders of assignments, project, or research that teacher have assigned for students
Pathfinders for teachers as resources to teacher lessons and the material available
Catalog
Book list and awards
AR information
Research and citation information
This is just a few things that I think would be helpful to teachers and students. Make the web page or wiki interesting and inviting for the users. You want the students and teachers to use your web page for information that they deem necessary. This is probably one of the most visited pages on a school web site.
Another thing that I was very excited about was the tutorial on the Creekview High School web page that had to do with the GALILEO tool bar. Many of you may have known about this before but I really thought this was wonderful so installed it on my computer and tried it out and it was so much easier to get into GALILEO. This was what I learned today. It is always good to learn something new everyday. I wish I had seen this earlier because I have used GALILEO alot and it is always so frustrating to use.
I found some really great stuff on the other web pages that I look at but some just had to much. I think that a web page, whether traditional or wiki, should be user friendly and simple. This is where I think that a wiki would be easier to use. A wiki could have links to many different topics without all the clutter. Some of the things that I think would be essential on a web page or wiki for the media center would be:
Contact information
Hours
Calendar
Library News and Upcoming events
Policies and Procedures of the media center
How to use equipment and technologies
Pathfinders of assignments, project, or research that teacher have assigned for students
Pathfinders for teachers as resources to teacher lessons and the material available
Catalog
Book list and awards
AR information
Research and citation information
This is just a few things that I think would be helpful to teachers and students. Make the web page or wiki interesting and inviting for the users. You want the students and teachers to use your web page for information that they deem necessary. This is probably one of the most visited pages on a school web site.
Another thing that I was very excited about was the tutorial on the Creekview High School web page that had to do with the GALILEO tool bar. Many of you may have known about this before but I really thought this was wonderful so installed it on my computer and tried it out and it was so much easier to get into GALILEO. This was what I learned today. It is always good to learn something new everyday. I wish I had seen this earlier because I have used GALILEO alot and it is always so frustrating to use.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Wiki Pages
When I first began to understand and explore the concept of a Wiki, I wondered how in the world media centers and schools can use a tool that allowed users to freely edit information. After investigating some media center Wikis, I noticed that the main page of the wiki is protected, and the discussion boards were password protected. So, there is a level of control on a school sponsored or media center Wiki. I would define the media center Wikis as media center websites where users are allowed to post or upload information in a discussion format. I am going to assume that media specialists are approving the posts generated by outside users.
One advantage of a Wiki is that they require little or no training related to posting information. Once you are familiar with how a Wiki work, it is easy to add or edit information. I disadvantage of a Wiki is that you have the potential for mischief. As I was reading in the information about wikis, I was asking myself "Could someone go in and delete all of our equipment operation assignment postings?" Well sure they could! Good thing we also submit our assignments to the assignment drop box! I believe that Wikis can be used most effectively when you have a community of individuals that need to communicate with each other in a variety of formats. Everyone needs to check the information available and update as needed frequently so the site doesn't become a "storage cabinet"
I see two practical uses of a Wikis that I could use as a high school media specialist. 1) I believe that I could create a Wiki space that contains information about the media center and allows discussion postings if the information is protected and all discussion postings are approved. 2) I believe that Wikis could be used in a high school classroom environment where students uploaded projects or information to the wiki. The wiki could serve as an online learning portfolio where you can find evidence of students' mastery of skills or concepts.
One advantage of a Wiki is that they require little or no training related to posting information. Once you are familiar with how a Wiki work, it is easy to add or edit information. I disadvantage of a Wiki is that you have the potential for mischief. As I was reading in the information about wikis, I was asking myself "Could someone go in and delete all of our equipment operation assignment postings?" Well sure they could! Good thing we also submit our assignments to the assignment drop box! I believe that Wikis can be used most effectively when you have a community of individuals that need to communicate with each other in a variety of formats. Everyone needs to check the information available and update as needed frequently so the site doesn't become a "storage cabinet"
I see two practical uses of a Wikis that I could use as a high school media specialist. 1) I believe that I could create a Wiki space that contains information about the media center and allows discussion postings if the information is protected and all discussion postings are approved. 2) I believe that Wikis could be used in a high school classroom environment where students uploaded projects or information to the wiki. The wiki could serve as an online learning portfolio where you can find evidence of students' mastery of skills or concepts.
WIKI
In education, we encourage collaboration among colleagues and students. 2 or more minds are greater than 1, right? Wikis provide an avenue in which collaboration is essential.
In education there are endless opportunities for use of wikis by both students, teachers and media specialists. In the middle grades, wikis could be a great place for students to collaborate and communicate about on-going projects, homework assignments or extra-curricular activities. Since the content can be changed, wikis provide an excellent place for students to voice their opinions and provide constructive criticism.
There are a few things to consider prior to setting up a wiki for student collaboration:
I found some great wikis online that offer tons of ideas for classrooms, media centers and schools. Mr. Klingman has a fantastic wiki with great ideas for a Social Studies class.
I also came across an informative resource that discusses how to overlap the features of a blog, a wiki and a moodle. BPS
This is a resource that I will definitely save for future guidance and ideas for my media center.
In education there are endless opportunities for use of wikis by both students, teachers and media specialists. In the middle grades, wikis could be a great place for students to collaborate and communicate about on-going projects, homework assignments or extra-curricular activities. Since the content can be changed, wikis provide an excellent place for students to voice their opinions and provide constructive criticism.
There are a few things to consider prior to setting up a wiki for student collaboration:
I found some great wikis online that offer tons of ideas for classrooms, media centers and schools. Mr. Klingman has a fantastic wiki with great ideas for a Social Studies class.
I also came across an informative resource that discusses how to overlap the features of a blog, a wiki and a moodle. BPS
This is a resource that I will definitely save for future guidance and ideas for my media center.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Wikis
As I read through our assigned readings, I thought about the Wiki the media specialists use in Cobb County. When I was introduced to it, it was the first time I had used one. I found that it was a great tool for us to share ideas and lessons without inundating our email space. Like other Wikis, we have an index with topic areas that we can click on and add our own thoughts, ideas, and lesson plans.
As I searched through the Wikis of other schools, I thought about how that would benefit my media center in an elementary school. They looked much like the media webpage I have now with links to research tools for the students to use. The additional information I noticed was that it had links to the grade level topics. While I could use a wiki to include the same topics, my question was if it would be beneficial to change from using a webpage and begin using a wiki. The pros would be the teachers could add information for the students in their classes, the students would be able to complete assignments that require group work without taking up as much class time, and give the students more independent learning. The cons would include the access of computers for students who do not have one at home, who would be the moderator to maintain a safe environment for the students and teachers, and if it would actually be used.
While wikis are great for middle and high school students, I'm still not sure they would benefit the elementary level. Can anyone give me any pointers on how I would be able to get my teachers on board with doing one for our school?
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Podcasting
While reading the assigned readings, I was thinking about my school and how we could improve our newscast. Our technology specialist already uses a Moviemaker to record our newscast and converting it to a podcast shouldn't be that much more. It would allow all the students to view the newscast rather than a select few. Our portables do not have access to our closed circuit channels. Therefore, our Second graders do not get to see what they have to look forward to in Fourth Grade.
As I think about my response to a teacher who is requesting a podcast, I think of the reasons why it would be beneficial to students. First, it would allow the students who are absent the ability to learn what they missed for the day. Second, it would help the students who are nervous about speaking in front of the class the opportunity to work on their public speaking skills while not standing in front of their peers. I also would inquire as to how the teacher is planning to use the podcast. Knowing this information will help me to know the best way to help them. Depending on what the teacher is wanting to do will dictate what kind of additional technology we would need.
The largest concern I would have is obtaining the parents' permission for their students to be on the podcast. While many of our parents would not have a problem, there are a few that would be concerned with the accessibility. If we could guarantee a "safe" podcast posting, more of the parents would be on board. There is more research for me to do to ensure that the students involved remain safe even if the podcast is only viewed through the school via the Intranet rather than the Internet.
As I think about my response to a teacher who is requesting a podcast, I think of the reasons why it would be beneficial to students. First, it would allow the students who are absent the ability to learn what they missed for the day. Second, it would help the students who are nervous about speaking in front of the class the opportunity to work on their public speaking skills while not standing in front of their peers. I also would inquire as to how the teacher is planning to use the podcast. Knowing this information will help me to know the best way to help them. Depending on what the teacher is wanting to do will dictate what kind of additional technology we would need.
The largest concern I would have is obtaining the parents' permission for their students to be on the podcast. While many of our parents would not have a problem, there are a few that would be concerned with the accessibility. If we could guarantee a "safe" podcast posting, more of the parents would be on board. There is more research for me to do to ensure that the students involved remain safe even if the podcast is only viewed through the school via the Intranet rather than the Internet.
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