drezac

Google Apps for the Class- Create a Podcast in Google Apps!

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:34:00 PST

This week the Google Apps Marketplace opened up, and I was quick to discover that there is an audio editing tool in it. I wanted to see how quickly I could create an introduction for my Adventures in Ed Tech podcast. Never having used the tool before, it took me all but 11 minutes. I think that's a pretty good forecast for an intuitive tool. I created a time-lapse video for that, so if you want to get a peek into the tool, go ahead and watch!

Tutorials: Infinite Learning Guidance

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:42:00 PST

Scenario:
You're in geometry class, and the teacher has just finished giving a lesson on proofs. She comes around the classroom and you begin working in groups with others. You're confused. You have questions and your group isn't helping you because they can't really articulate what the teacher just said in the right way. You need the teacher. It's okay to need the teacher- except there's only eight minutes left for this period. Teacher still won't come near you, now moving on to another group.

Ugh. Bell rings.

What do you do? You go home and ask Dad. Dad hasn't done proofs in 30 years. Aha! You get an idea- The Internet! The Internet can help you! You'll just find help online. So you go to youtube, and you start searching. And searching. And- oops- no that's college geometry, but close. Not helping. Now you just wasted two hours, and it's getting late. Your homework is not done. You're tired.

Are you frustrated yet? Well you should be. You've gone through all of that and- worst of all- you haven't learned anything! This is the 21st Century, and this should never happen to any student. It's an abomination. A teacher teaching an observable skill has a duty, a responsibility to make those skills available via the Internet at any time and any place in the world. At this point in the 21st Century, this should be common sense.

Robert Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction were based on the old ADDIE model of instruction, which was originally created to get people to memorize facts. Strangely, teachers still use this model of instruction, even though the level of thinking has (hopefully) changed. The Events are still a fine way to deliver instruction, and you can use them to get kids to do more than just memorize stuff, but if you need them to perform a task or observable skill, Event 5 is the money event- "provide learning guidance."

via http://ide.ed.psu.edu/idde/9events.htm

The school day and 40 minute periods are not always suited to all learners. To get students to perform an observable skill in such a limited amount of time that schools offer, a teacher must "guide learning" by then making themselves available after school, during prep periods, and sometimes before school. But what if you could make yourself available 24 hours a day, seven days per week? What if a teacher could be available any time a student needed them? Heck, what if you could offer learning guidance even after you were dead? Well you can; it's called youtube.com. I make myself available eternally at youtube.com/misterrezac .

For some subjects, I can see how a tutorial series may not work or make sense, such as social studies or civics class, but math teachers, technology, even language arts and science can make tutorials of conjugating verbs, solving punnet squares, creating graphs, and performing experiments. With an ELMO camera, teachers can now record all of these actions; here's my test.

This type of instruction is not just for students, though. Learning guidance for teachers through tutorials for professional development is, I would say, still a duty of a Tech Administrator or Facilitator. I created a tutorial series for teachers using Google Apps for Education, and it's a resource that continues to grow and be passed on to others. How many school tech "help" sites, have links to downloadable pdf files? How convenient is it for a teacher to be looking for a solution, only to continually be downloading pdf step-by-step instructions for stuff they don't need? The last thing I'd want to do as developer of teacher tech skills is to make them more frustrated. Let's not make teachers even more frustrated by technology than they already may be. Youtube it.

There are some rules when making tutorials for students or teachers that will provide the best results.

Don't just send them to Atomic Learning. While this site can be a helpful tool, guiding a student or a teacher's learning will be more effective if it's coming from their own people- context plays a big part. Besides- you are the leader.
Try to give them step-by-step instructions. It just helps keep things organized.
KISS - Keep it Short, Silly. I'm going to say try not to go over five minutes. For some complicated tutorial steps, create two - five minute videos, rather than one - ten minute video. It's very much like the 10-2 teaching strategy, when you're in class you should take a break every 10 minutes for students to "soak it in." For some odd reason, a 10 minute tutorial can really drag on in this sound byte culture, especially if your voice is not animated.
Keep the energy high. How many youtube tutorials have you seen that have put you to sleep? Smile with your voice!
Use a professional tutorial software like Screenflow. It's the iMovie of screencast software. It uploads automatically to youtube.
Have fun, you're making a movie!

Accessing information on the Internet is a behavior most adults still haven't mastered, but accessing information is a much more important skill these days than memorizing facts. If two students both don't know an answer to a question, but one of them knows how to find the answer, that's an authentic skill that will help that student many times over in their future.

I still get excited when I hear a student or teacher say, "show me." I will show you, and now I can- even when I'm dead. Now that's eternal learning guidance.

Google Apps for the Class: Exporting Google Earth to My Maps

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:41:00 PST

Okay, so Google Maps is not part of Google Apps. However, it is still possible to use this tool to share students' work. This next part of my tutorial series, Google Apps for the Class shows you how to take students' Google Earth folders and files, and bulk upload them to a Google Map or My Map.

I have middle school kids and would not sign them up for regular Google accounts just so that they can use the My Maps feature, so what I am doing here is just using my own Google Maps account. I know that there are other ways to do this, but I found this way just fine. Hope it gives you some ideas. Enjoy!

Oh, and here is the link to my students' completed Olympic Venues Map.

The Phenomenon Effect

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:48:00 PST

Let me tell you a few things about The Phenomenon Effect:

It didn't exist before 1995.
It's not so much an addiction, as it is a condition.
It doesn't involve John Travolta or Kyra Sedgwick, but it was inspired by that movie.
It may help you solve problems that known scientists have been trying to solve for years.
To feel its effects, you must have a high speed Internet connection.

Graphically I like to use this image to explain it:

What you see above are two ideas. They might be the most random of ideas, but as you can see above, that they are only millimeters apart from connecting. They are so very close.

Now one idea could be- a theory of time travel, and the other could be about how to bake the best cake in high altitude:

What matters is that both ideas need answers, and in 2010, the first mode of answers for most folks is going to be the Internet, or as some folks call it, our Collective Intelligence. Now, before 1995, and the commercial Internet, the probability that the idea of baking a cake at high altitude could inspire a particle physicist was probably small, but today the Internet is flowing with good (and bad) ideas everywhere and connecting the most random of people. If Einstein was inspired by the music of Mozart then what could he have accomplished with a blog, and an online community of millions (or billions)? What if he gave TED talks like Sean Carroll? How many would he have inspired?

Okay- but that's not really the big picture. Really what you see above is a side effect of The Phenomenon Effect, or a by-product. And why is it related to that (sometimes cheezy) movie? Because that movie had a premise that is commenting on our present condition.

Can the Internet make you move objects with your mind?

George Malley (John Travolta) is a lowly small-town car mechanic, who, one night, sees a bright light in the sky, which knocks him off his feet. Consequently, he begins to tap into unseen amounts of intelligence in his own mind, staying up most nights, reading every book imaginable, and creating usable inventions that could revolutionize agriculture and our planet.

The unforeseen premise this movie left out was- the Internet. The Internet was only a baby when this movie came out. The idea that a person can just, at any moment right now, tap into the collective intelligence of the human population wasn't even foreseen in Gordon Moore's law (Intel's co-founder), which states that, "the number of transistors on a chip will double nearly every two years."

via Intel.com

What happens to technology when people begin sharing all of their ideas via the Internet, and ideas previously unheard of begin connecting with other random ones? Shouldn't Moore's Law begin to start looking like this? Instead of doubling, shouldn't technology (okay, transistors) begin to triple or quadruple if we're collectively starting to share information?

To make this point, I think of The Human Genome Project- it finished ahead of schedule and under budget mostly because scientists pooled their research and essentially crowd-sourced their scientific data to other scientists. On the Internet you have millions of ideas passing over each other, like ships in the night, and it's only a matter of time before one of those ideas connects and becomes a practice or a fact.

So, in relation to George Malley's gift, I think that it's clear now- we all have that gift. We are discovering that we all have the ability to learn beyond what we previously thought was imaginable. The collective intelligence of the Internet, blogs, and the sharing of information via Twitter are allowing us to reach an untapped potential in our own minds. How many of us are staying up later at night listening to Bill Gates speak about the future of energy on TED.com? How many of us are risking our life Twittering in our cars (please, pull over) because you absolutely must respond to the folks that offered you a new idea about creating a Digital Learning Space at your school? Or- in strictly commerce terms- how many of us have discovered a new way to streamline a product because of a video or podcast we saw on the Internet? Have you begun springing out of bed in the morning because you know- you absolutely know- that you are going to learn something new today? It's like a prophecy; it is written.

Most notably- how many more of us are writing more than we ever thought we could, in hopes that one of our own ideas will have one of those miracle connections, and, two ideas will meet and become a practice, a fact, or an experience?

This is The Phenomenon Effect. This is life!

So, if you, like me, are suffering The Phenomenon Effect, please take heed: it's okay to be addicted to learning. As long as you're sharing that learning with others.

How to know your "suffering" from The Phenomenon Effect:

You sometimes think that if you think hard enough, you could "figure out" interstellar travel; it's just one night's sleep away.
You feel like, if there's a problem, you can always find a way to fix it. Always.
You think that using The Force is a very good possibility. "Just give me time..."
Webinars are where you go to eat breakfast.
You have more ideas than you know what to do with. "Hey- have you heard of Ning.com?...."
You believe everything is a teachable moment.
Learning trumps lunch.
Podcasts trump NPR
You have (at least) 1000 colleagues, and that's not even considered a lot.
You just know that someday you're going to find the "magic bullet" to inspire a child to learn.

So, have you seen the light?

via Mario Armstrong A Digital Learning Space:

NYC Uses Motion Capture in Classroom.

It's About Process! Streamline Teaching Strategies with Google Apps!

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:28:00 PST

This is my presentation on using Google Apps with some of your favorite age-old teaching strategies!

Link: http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AWWzaaRnYL0HZGNmZzliNjZfMzgzNjk5c25tczY&hl=en

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Teach More! Manage Less! Learning Management in the Cloud

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:19:00 PST

This is my presentation on learning management resources for the ICE 2010 conference.

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Using ELMO Cameras to Record Math Tutorials

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:50:00 PST

I am not a math teacher, by any means, but, as a technology teacher, I do teach observable skills. I have therefore been on a crusade of late when it comes to creating tutorials. If you teach observable skills, I believe you have a responsibility to post your tutorials online so that students can get further guidance from you when they leave the classroom. You may not agree with me, but I know my students and they're going to go to youtube for tutorials anyway. Why not watch mine?

45 minutes is a very short time. How many math teachers have the time to get around to every student during a math lesson? It's very difficult, especially if you are teaching complex skills like algebra or calculus.

What if your students could rewind you, or fast forward you? Or pause you? With an ELMO document camera, and your PC or Mac, they can! Below is my second example of using the ELMO for a sample subtraction lesson that I did. Of course, I'm not a math teacher (but I did use manipulatives- dots!), so please accept my rudimentary example.

After a lesson, you let students practice, right? Here's how I think you can be super successful using tutorials in the classroom:

1. Model the skill live.
2. Have students then view a different example on your youtube channel. (here's my channel).
3. Allow students to practice, and let them access the tutorials as much as they need.
4. Check for understanding - give them a problem to see if they "get it" without using the tutorial.
5. Give homework. They'll have access to your tutorials at home (hopefully), so they can check if they need any more guidance.

A couple other things:

Make sure your tutorials are step-by-step, not a glossed over version of your classroom lesson.
The shorter the better. If you wax and wane for 10 minutes online, you may totally lose their interest, and they'll find your tutorials boring. Short, sweet, and to the point.

Tutorials are not a replacement for teaching, but a super compliment and great for guiding learning during practice. There's also a caveat to making tutorials- they need to come from the classroom teacher- context is extremely important. So- better to come from you than some guy from Illinois!

Thanks to luckyguy for the image.

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Using Two Mice with Your Mac

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:12:00 PST

This is a quick share, but I wanted to share this quite easy and helpful accommodation for the Mac. In my classroom we have a student who does not use his right hand. Now, most of his aides (and myself) all use our right hand, so this creates some logistical issues when we try to help him (and try to do it quickly and seamlessly). So I thought I'd plug in a mouse to the other side of the keyboard, just to see if it would work with both mice at the same time, and... it worked!

It reminded me of drivers ed, where you use a car that has two brake pedals.

Hope this helps some folks out there!

Jigsaw - a teaching strategy for the deadpool

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:11:00 PST

I'm a huge fan of Doug Buehl, as evidenced here, and this is his writing on the Jigsaw Strategy.

If you follow his guidelines for this strategy than you will find success in your classroom, no doubt.

However, I rarely have been involved in or have seen this strategy used as nothing more than a quickie way to brainstorm, or have students "teach the class," which is unfortunately not usually the result.

I've been witness to seeing this strategy failing *over* and over and over again. Sadly, I've seen it fail in my own graduate classes most! I have never seen a teacher or professor use this strategy effectively. If you are one of these teachers, than you are very, very special. Teachers often think that "gee - students can teach the class!", so they hand out a reading and break kids up in groups, and have them become "experts" on that chapter, so they can share the high points of that chapter. While I think that putting students in a facilitator roles is a super-important thing to do, which is why I also like the idea of students creating tutorials, don't expect the end user to learn something.

The process of having the student present their chapter or "expertise" in front of everyone is the real benefit in this strategy- it's to the presenter. The process of the facilitator role is where the learning happens, which for this strategy, leaves all of the other groups in the lurch.

Almost every time I see this strategy implemented, it's in a poorly thought out, last minute attempt to get kids (or adults) to disseminate a whole lot more information that they probably can take in at one time.

Maybe this should be added to the teaching "deadpool." Handle with caution.

Team Bloom's Posters

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:07:00 PST

This is a quick share, but I finished designing Bloom's Critical Thinking posters for my entire team: Band, PE, Spanish, Technology, and Art. The idea is when you are in class, and you write an objective or an "I can" statement on the board, use a Bloom's verb and color code the verb. That way you will bring students into the learning process, and they will be let in on the level of critical thinking that you are having them do. It also makes the teacher accountable to the level of thinking they offer in their practice.

I previously shared my Technology poster, and now all five are complete and here for you, if you like.
The link is available at my drop: http://drop.io/bloomsposters

Here's a preview of the Spanish poster. Enjoy! And get those kids thinking!

2010: Arthur C. Clarke and Three Wishes for a New Decade

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:53:00 PST

Hollywood always likes to dream that progress will happen a lot faster than it does. And Arthur C. Clarke liked to do this more than anyone. One has to give him a lot of credit when it comes to dreaming big. He always used the most current science in his novels as a way to tell stories of the future, whether it be Halley's Comet or Supercomputers.

I wish there was an educational equivalent to Arthur- someone who was so forward thinking when it came to education, that your mouth just salivated at the idea of learning a certain way or of joining a certain learning community (see, Arthur didn't let politics get in the way of the ideas; in Clarke's future, people got over their divisions in the name of progress).

Before Arthur died in March 2008, he made the below video. In it, on his 90th birthday, he had an overall wish for the 21st century:

"I would like to see us overcome our tribal divisions, and begin to think and act, as if we are one family."

Relative to education, this statement is telling because right now, there are so many tribes and so many voices, that very little is being accomplished nationally. It's a jumble-muck; let's hope that we can overcome that.

He also, surprisingly, talked about technology "tools:"
"Technology tools help us to gather and disseminate information. But we also need qualities like tolerance and compassion to achieve greater understanding..."

See? Even Arthur knew it was about more than tools. Folks in education have been talking a lot lately that it's more than just about the tools; it's about critical thinking, and learning. Although Arthur Clarke wasn't really talking about education, per se, it's really all about education, and it's good to hear him say this three years ago, now that we're almost becoming buried in Web 2.0 tools.

Arthur also had three wishes on his birthday:

1. I would like to see some evidence of extra-terrestrial life

2. I would like to see us kick our current addiction to oil.

3. I dearly wish to see lasting peace (established in Sri Lanka)

When you listen to Arthur talk, it's like he just knows. He knows what is possible for us, and what we are capable of. If tele-communications can grow so big so fast, why can't peace (or the graduation rate)?

So, in this new decade of the "tens," I have three wishes that I'd like to see:

1. I wish the pedagogy and the process of teaching will see more light in the conversation about using technology to improve teaching.
2. I wish that students will have a bigger voice in their schools as stakeholders, from kindergarten all the way up- that they'll be connected to their schools in such a way that they'll always be able to give back.
3. I wish that new ideas of education management and administration will begin to see a tipping point, and that those in education will begin to act as one family.

What do "open" educational systems look like?

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:00:00 PST

Open Government.
Transparency.
Open Systems.
Open.

We've been hearing this word "open" a lot in the past year or two, especially since Bush left office. You may have seen this letter from Google titled "The Meaning of Open." One phrase that stuck out to me was this:

"...innovation in a closed system tends towards being incremental at best (is a four blade razor really that much better than a three blade one?) because the whole point is to preserve the status quo. Complacency is the hallmark of any closed system."

It makes me think about the struggle many educators feel who live in an open system on the blogosphere and on Twitter, sharing ideas, lesson plans, and strategies- only to have to go back to their closed systems when they go to work. This is sad.

So, if open systems breed innovation and collaboration, what does a pure open educational system look like? I've set up a topic in Google Moderator, and will let this idea grow for a few weeks.

The link to the topic is here, and I urge you to add your ideas. You can attach a video if you'd like. Should we really be trying to live within this current system? Or should we re-design it? Let us know, and I'll continue to share your ideas on Twitter and the like. Thanks for your contributions.

http://moderator.appspot.com/#15/e=124bbe&t=124bbf

What is Your School's Mission?

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:14:00 PST

This goes out to principals everywhere:

You know, if Google Teacher Academy taught me one thing (other than giving me a shiny badge- har har), it's that Google has a crystal clear mission. Now, I'll be the first to say, I drink the Google Kool-Aid, but mostly that's because I've never used a learning tool as intuitive as the Google Ed Apps suite. I wish that there was a larger conversation about how Google Tools are incorporated into pedagogy and best practices, but that conversation is just not happening very much.The tools have helped me incorporate previous best practices, like text coding, very easily into my teaching.

But, the more and more I go to school websites, I see something lacking: a mission, a vision. Or if there is one there, it's a standard cracker-box type of mission.

Where's the mission?

Does your school have a clear mission? If you go your website, do you have to search far and wide for it, or is it pretty easy to find? If one can't find it clearly, what does that say? Is it currently in development? Or does that mean that your school's mission is, by default, to comply. And by comply, I mean, to comply with RTI, to comply with CIPA, to meet AYP. There are things your school is required to do to keep some funding, but is that a mission? A vision? Is meeting AYP a mission?

Is maintaining the status quo a mission? To have affective leadership, a school has to reach farther than meeting standards. Illinois standards are confusing and lacking, anyway, and I'm not sure of others' state standards.

Here's what I know:

Meeting state standards is a goal.
Meeting AYP is a goal.
Complying with CIPA for E-rate is a goal.
Complying with RTI is a goal.
___(Add your own)______ is a goal.

These are all goals, but what is the mission? What makes a school stand apart from the rest? Or is standing apart not important?

Mission Statements: What's your favorite?
Every year the Chicago Sun Times publishes the list of the state's top ten schools (of course this is based on test scores, but let's forgive that fact for a minute), but I thought to see if the top 5 Illinois schools had a clear mission:

1. Northside Prep: Their mission is clearly stated under the About NCP page. It actually includes a philosophy statement, which I think is very cool. (this link wouldn't allow direct links, so go to the About NCP link)

2. Walter Payton Prep: This mission was easy to find, under the About Us page. It's got the standard Mission and Vision statements.

3. New Trier H. S. The mission is clearly stated on the bottom of their home page. To commit minds to inquiry, hearts to compassion, and lives to the service of the community. That's a pretty good mission. They also have something called a "diversity statement."

4. Whitney Young Magnet: The mission is again, under the About Us page. It's a pretty typical Vision and Mission statements duo.

5. Hinsdale Central H.S.: These missions are so vast, they look like standards.
As I look at the above mission statements, it does occur to me that meeting AYP is important, a necessity in these times. But I think that at least two of the mission statements above are from schools who clearly want to stand apart and reach farther than the status quo. I'll let you be the judge as to who those are.

So what is it? Does your school wish to simply comply? Or does your school wish to stand apart?

Thanks for the image.

Blooms Digital Poster for the Classroom

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:45:00 PST

In the beginning of the year, one of my goals for my team was to standardize how the objectives are displayed in our rooms. Now, since we're "specials," our team is made up of a hodgepodge of Art, Band, Spanish, Technology, and PE.

I asked every member of our team to research their own Bloom's verbs. I used Bloom's revised taxonomy for my list. For myself, I found the edorigami wiki extremely helpful. You can check out this wonderful technology resource here:
http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/
http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom's+Digital+Taxonomy

Below is the poster I came up with. As you can see, the levels are color coded. I make my objectives for the day and post them on screen, such as:

I can produce an mp3 audio file by splitting, editing, and joining clips in Garageband.

This type of integration brings the student into the learning process, and they can immediately keep me in check with just how much I am really challenging them to think at a higher level. It also keeps me in check to remind myself as a teacher to keep reaching for the top. There are many more verbs, but using just a handful is good for a teacher who only sees his students 2-3 times per week for 10 weeks.

If you'd like to download this poster, it's available in PDF and WordX format here:
http://drop.io/rezactutorials2/asset/critical-thinking-tech-pdf
http://drop.io/rezactutorials1/asset/critical-thinking-tech-docx
Hope it's helpful!

Tutorial or not Tutorial?

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:36:00 PST

As you know I've been talking about process in my practice a lot. I'm very interested in how kids learn, and I've noticed something that my students are doing. I wonder if other teachers see this, or how it plays out.

You see, since I've begun using tutorials in my classroom to guide teaching (just about on any software), the success of computers skills and project completion has gone up meteorically. And I mean through the roof. I've started training my kids how to use tutorials to complete tasks, and it has done wonders for my classes and practice.

I started an account on youtube (youtube.com/misterrezac) strictly for my tutorials, and also created a site where my students can see them by class.

Why was today different?
Now, this new trimester, all but three weeks long, I've used tutorials almost every day for just about every skill imaginable. Things have been going superbly. Sometimes I model the small skill then tell students to watch the tutorial anyway, but today I had a quite long modeling session, and some of the students decided that they didn't want to watch all of the tutorials that went with into the task of the lesson.

And, you can guess what happened. Many of them had questions, were confused, but they didn't want to spend the five minutes to go back and watch the tutorials. So they were frustrated that they had to go back.

Just go to the tutorials. But what form of teaching is that?

I've found lately that instead of modeling, I might show the students a very brief model or just the final product, and just have them go right to the tutorials. Over and over again, I find that with computer skills, the tutorials just work. It's dramatic. I was being observed on my first week by my AP, and almost every student in my class, all brand new to Google Apps created a new Google Site from a template that I created without fail. Even I was astonished. This was the first time they were using Google Apps.

Do any other teachers find this is true, and if it is, couldn't the same be true with math tutorials and writing tutorials as well?

What do you think?

Google Apps for the Class- Fun With Images in Google Presentations

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:03:00 PST

This very short version of Google Apps for the Class shows off a couple of neat things that you can do with adding images to Google Presentations.

Animated Gifs: Did you know that you can input animated gifs into a Google Presentation? Well, I personally didn't even know that websites used animated gifs anymore, but here's a whole bunch of holiday themed gifs!
http://www.webdeveloper.com/animations/Holiday.html

Incremental Reveal: Presentations never had a lot of capabilities for animating your slides, but it does allow you to slowly reveal images in a presentation. Have fun!

Google Apps for the Class: Using Google Presentations

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:09:00 PST

If you've never used Google Presentations before, here's a handy tutorial to get you started!

Google Apps for the Class- Using Site Templates

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:05:00 PST

This is the next installment of my series Google Apps for the Class. Site templates is a new feature in Google Sites, and here I show you how to create a functioning blog or online journal that you can then feed out to a group of people, or in my case, students. This one's a little longer, but I hope it will be helpful!

The Wilderness Classroom: Real Life Meets Indiana Jones

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:30:00 PST

What if Indiana Jones was able to talk directly to his students straight from The Well of the Souls?

Or if he and Marion created a vodcast during the opening of the Ark?

Don't you think that experience would have been worth something to his students?

I do. Read on.

The Pitch

"On April 22nd, 2010- Earth Day- an Illinois teacher will take his teaching practice, literally, into the wild. Testing the boundaries of technology, a public school teacher will be teaching remotely as part of the North American Odyssey, creating podcasts, video, and chatting directly from the field with his students."

That teacher....will be me.

I've always had the vision in my mind that a teacher can be much more than this statue in the classroom, this person that hands out worksheets and asks kids to memorize stuff. Sadly, that is still the case for many of America's teachers. I became a teacher because I loved the outdoors, I loved science and technology- and I wanted to share all of that with my students. I wanted to be a vessel for my students. Next year, if all goes as planned, I'll be hiking, paddling, and trekking with the leaders of the Wilderness Classroom.

If you haven't checked out the Wilderness Classroom, please check out that link above. The Wilderness Classroom is an online experience, that allows students to remain in contact with educators as they embark on some pretty awesome journeys. They podcast, create video, chat from the field, and use a fully written curriculum guide to create content from the field. These folks have already paddled the entire Amazon River, and this, the North American Odyssey, is their next great journey. The red on the map indicates kayaking. Alas, I will miss the dogsled as I'll only be joining this first part of the the trip.

It's an awesome online experience for kids, and I highly recommend it to any educator. They will even come to your school to do pre and post-trip assemblies. Check out this Kid Zone from the Trans-Amazon Expedition. You'd think this was part of the Discovery Channel or National Geographic.

Why Only One?
Some of us had at least one teacher that inspired us, but why was it only one? Why, when you remember back, don't you remember all of them working their bums off to inspire you to be more that you ever dreamed of? Shouldn't you remember all of them?

I remember a teacher who went on a great journey, she was going to teach from a very remote location and the whole world was going to be watching. Remember this woman?

What is the purpose of a teacher?
The teacher, for me, is an adventurer. It's someone who experiences life, and shares that experience with their students to give their knowledge meaning, to give it context. Technology has brought us to a place where the teacher can literally share those experiences in real time with their students.

Shouldn't we, as teachers, all be reaching for the stars?

How can we expect our kids to reach that high, if we don't set the example?

Thanks to Wikipedia for the Christa image .
Thanks to Ign for the Indy image.
Thanks to Wilderness Classroom for the image.

Google Apps for Education: A Primer

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:51:00 PST

Here the presentation from IETC, 12:45pm session. Thanks for stopping by!

Mathcasting with Thrill and Video

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:57:00 PST

This is one of my presentations for the Illinois Education Technology Conference.
November 20th, 2009.

Rob Parton and the Google Earth Jazz Experience

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:37:00 PDT

Today is a super day! Know why? Because Rob Parton, jazz trumpeter and Chicago jazz scholar, will be joining us in the tech room for a little jazz music. This visit is a part of my student's project Google Earth: The Journey of Jazz. Rob will be playing and talking to us about his jazz influences, a little of jazz history, and more.

From Rob's website:

"As a studio musician, Parton has played on hundreds of both local and national radio and television commercials and many local CD projects not only as lead trumpet but as contractor. Parton has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, Doc Severinson, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mel Torme, Beach Boys, Christopher Cross, Sheena Easton, Peabo Bryson, Celine Dion, Nick Carter, Yolanda Adams, Josh Groban, Enrique Eglasius, Natalie Cole and Maynard Ferguson to name only a few. Parton has traveled with Natalie Cole and most recently been a featured member of the Music Now series offered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra."

I owe a big thanks to the folks at Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights who were able to work with me in coaxing Rob to come out to class and talk to us about jazz and jazz history as part of this Google Earth project. I'm also hoping the kids enjoy hearing Rob play. I'm sure the kids will love it! I'm attempting to show this live here, so check back around 11:50am CST!

Streaming live video by Ustream

Image of Rob via: http://robparton.com

Earth: The Original Learning Environment

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:34:00 PDT

Remember the outdoors? Yes, before you were teaching that was the place you spent your time in- you know- outside? Well, the outdoors are still there. As a teacher who loves technology and science, I find myself struggling to get outside often because I'm stuck in my computer lab, and then tending to the family.

Many of us tech teachers try to to our best to "bring in" the outside world by having folks Skype into the classroom or using the Internet as a mirror to the outside world, letting kids have "virtual" experiences. A few years ago I brought in the Wilderness Classroom to my science curriculum, and with the help of the Chicago Shedd Aquarium, was able to offer my South Side Chicago students an experience they wouldn't normally have in a science classroom. You can see the results of this on one of my very early blogs.

I make it my mission to find opportunities to teach in the outdoors as much as I can, getting my podcast kids outside in the nature trail, but it looks like I might be going on a much bigger teaching adventure...

In April of next year, if all goes right, I will be joining the Wilderness Classroom on their North American Odyssey. I plan on making this trip an opportunity to teach from remote locations, to show the range of Google Apps for Education, and to have kids share in my experience in the wild. We'll use chat, share video, create podcasts, and engage with wildlife in real time.

I think that it's important to show students that adventure has no boundaries, and that learning doesn't just happen inside of a classroom. I hope to show that my desire to learn extends far beyond what an institution can offer and that I seek out any opportunity to share with my students.

Now, if anyone has some grant ideas so I can pay for all of this please leave me a comment below!

What can you learn from your first year in a 1:1?

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:55:00 PDT

I've always been a reflective teacher- reflective on my practice, reflective on the tools that I used. This presentation is, I hope, helpful to anyone who uses Web 2.0 tools in their classroom. I was thrown to the wolves in my first year as a tech teacher, and I had to figure out a lot on my own. The projects I highlight in this presentation reflect a teacher who continually strives to find the right tools for the right process.

Google Apps for the Class: Storyboard Template

redferntwo@comcast.net (Daniel Rezac) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:13:00 PDT

Many teachers are getting the bug to do digital storytelling and film making in their classes. Well, Google Docs' drawing tool makes storyboarding online- easy, environmentally friendly, and a lot of fun! Here's a 2 minute tutorial about how to use the Storyboard Template in your class. And of course, with Google Docs, many students can collaborate on the same storyboards.

Here's the link to the Storyboard Template. Let me know if it's helpful to you!

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUKY528tgMv_ZGR3MnZxeF8xNTBmc3RudHJ6aA&hl=en