Working with Audio - Workshop Fall 08'

12/11/2008
5:00 PM
Working with Audio
Michael Byrne

In this workshop Dr. Byrne introduced the class to a program known as Audacity. It can be used for podcasting and all around recording. He explained the many different effects we can apply to our projects and showed us how to save them as .mp3's to store in our itunes library. This can be helpful for teachers because they could record their lectures and post them online for students to listen to. Teachers can even listen back to their own lectures and see what they liked/disliked about their lesson. We created our own projects and combined background music and vocals to get the idea of how the program worked best.

Embracing Our Differences: Photography, Technology, Conversation II - Workshop Blog

10/25/2008
11:30 AM
Embracing Our Differences: Photography, Technology, Conversation II
Bette Schneiderman, Allyson Uttendorfer, Bill Grabowski, Martha Hanley

This workshop took place at the Huntington Museum of Art. It was the first time I had ever been there and was pleased with everything it had to offer. Allyson showed us how to create panoramic photos of places of interest (such as a museum) and import them into a program to create virtual tours. This is very useful for teachers to incorporate into their teaching because it allows students to "visit" places they would not normally be able to see with such detail and control. As an Earth Science teacher and avid traveller, I could take a succession of photos of science related sites and show them to my students without having to actually take them to the site.

Adobe CS3 Dreamweaver Refresher with CSS - Workshop

10/4/2008
1:00 PM
Adobe CS3 Dreamweaver Refresher with CSS
Cristina Abreu-Perkins

This past summer, I had decided to create my own website to display my portfolio. I decided I would use Dreamweaver to accomplish this. I read many books and watched countless tutorial videos on Dreamweaver CS3 and eventually came to the conclusion that accomplishing what I wanted was not going to be easy. Christina answered many questions I had regarding CSS and cleared up many of the confusing elements to it. Most importantly, I learned that Sans Serif is the best font to use on the web when looking to add lots of text to a site. If I wanted to create text with more flare than Sans Serif type fonts, I should do so in Fireworks and save them as jpeg or gif files. I look forward to taking more workshops with her in the future.

Supplementing my Instruction with Technology Tools

Last week, Red Owl showed us how we can use Google Docs to create online quizzes for our students and have their scores automatically reported on a spreadsheet. After a lecture I could assign a homework assignment that asks students to take one of these online quizzes, relating to what I just taught that day. I would tell students that they can use any resource they wish to answer these questions but if they follow along with my lecture and take good notes they will see that the quiz is very easy - and covers all the learning standards that I covered that day. They could even do the quiz during a lunch break or at the end of the day in the library - this way the information will still be fresh.

The questions on the quiz should be very familiar to the students because I will be addressing them all throughout the lecture that day. They should be fresh in their short - term memory until something else stimulates them when they walk out the door and continue their day. I ask them to open their notes when they get home and answer these questions because I will then be asking them to transfer information from their short term memory into their long term memory. I could even take all the quizzes that I have created for a unit and make a test from the exact same questions, but with more fill in the blank and free answer responses.

Using Concept Maps and Advanced Organizers in the Classroom

As we must know by now, not all learners are the same. All cannot process new information equally. As instructors it is important to create pathways and connections between content inside of a larger picture. Using graphics to enhance text or to complement a lecture is fundamental in keeping learners engaged and cognitive of these connections.

Graphic organizers tend to make information less "fuzzy" and more precise for learners having trouble grasping the desired concepts. They allow students to separte what is imporant from information that may be interesteing, but not as critical to the overall cognition of the topic at hand. Personally, whenever I am assigned a text reading about something I do not always use graphic organizers. I wish more teachers would have used them in their instruction with me because I think it would have made clear the areas I really needed to focus on, instead of the areas I just found interesting and easy to comprehend.

They should be created by teachers and students, not just looked at and discussed. Students need to learn how to build these structures for themselves, after thoroughly be instructed on how to do so. It is recommended that the teacher first show the students how to set one up, then the class does one together. After this, students should work in small groups followed by working individually on constructing their own.

The ultimate goal of using concept maps and graphic organizers is to encourage students to become strategic learners. They need to be able to apply analytical, critical, and creative thinking skills in all walks of life - not just the classroom.

Learning Styles

Learning audiences are not homogeneous. Students bring to class their own approaches to learning and possess diverse learning styles and strategies to get them through their courses. The differences in these learners has some teachers aiming their content and instructional style at reaching an individuals best perceived learning style. I find this enabling approach restrictive to a students all around intelligence and intellectual growth. Teachers should not direct their instruction to specific students learning styles.

I feel as though this approach is enabling because it only caters to a students perceived strengths. How will this student develop auditory, visual and kinesthetic skills if he or she is never challenged to use them? Outside of the classroom they can be sure that they will need put their perceived weaknesses to test in order to succeed in other areas of life. The role of an educator is expanding and teachers are expected to improve students performance across all curriculum, not just their specific content area. Reading/writing, listening, note taking, and social skills should all be integrated into a teachers lesson plans.

Furthermore, designing lesson plans to address the majority of the class' learning styles can leave a teacher feeling frustrated and unsure of how effective a particular lesson went. Suppose I want to teach my earth science class a lesson about rocks and minerals. If I feel as though my class learns best by listening to a lecture and viewing slides, would this be the best approach to have students comprehend the difference between certain rocks and minerals? No, rocks need to be held and examined for things such as texture and hardness. They would not be able to feel this if I did not place a rock in their hand and have them explain to me what they determined. This is why I feel as though teachers should not teach a students perceived learning style and must direct their instructional styles to the content that needs to be taught.