Final Project: Media literacy, Popular Culture & Education

Final Project:
National Junior Honor Society  (prezi)
NGMS SIT (google site from template)
NJHS (weebly for honor society)

Last slide of class:
by Bill Ferriter

    My expectations before taking this class were to learn some “new” technology applications to bring back to my school to train teachers and improve student learning. My idea of Media Literacy was to do a google search for an educational video to engage students in the current curriculum topic we were studying. Throughout the course Dr. Bogad was probing my educational beliefs while engaging my technological quest.  I do not think I really understood the marriage between the two until the last slideof the class, which I think I can sum up by stating the difference between using technology vs technology integration. The former being my mindset before Dr. Bogad’s Curr 501 class and the later being my mindset after the class. This transformation will not only benefit my teaching practices, but my students' learning, and my professional development for NGMS staff. 

               The transformation will take time and energy, which I will relate to a gymnastics competition each element in the transformation as important as the next (i.e. strength, flexibility, power, agility, coordination, and balance), when integrated together is an artistically creative production. This is what I envision for my students as producers rather than consumers as well as myself. My initial pedagogy can be related to "Julie" the cruise director on the Love Boat . In other words, how can we have fun with math and still be learning, nothing too deep or controversial. As I always say, "personal propaganda in the hallway", which allows more time on math, but limits the social impact of their math work. It limits the importance of math in their lives and in our society. The Common Core State Standards not only calls for such connections in the Mathematical Practices Standards, but also in the Grades 6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. Math is a Technical subject that can be used to bring cultural awareness and social justice . Infusing the technical subjects (i.e. math) with cultural and social issues will help students develop much needed critical thinking skills such as problem solving, simulation, application, synthesis, performance etc.Integration of technology can be an important aspect of reaching these higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomies. There is actually a great visual that supports the integration of technology with Bloom's Taxonomies. Developing a critical pedagogy will take strength, flexibility, power, agility, coordination and balance as well as time and energy, but these skills are much needed to reach the vision of our school "to prepare every child for the college/technical school or career of choice". This type of pedagogy is also supported by the 21st Century Learning .

         Do we need technology to get to the critical pedagogy we need in today's learning? As my mom always told me there is a difference between needs and wants. But if we have the technology we need or want, then integrate it rather than just use it. There is actually a great checklist for helping us integrate technology rather than just use it. Beth Holland, Communications and Instruction at the EDTechTeacher, relates using technology as a crutch rather than innovation and recommends getting rid of the crutches  in her blog. Bill Ferriter in a blog on Center for Teaching Quality, stated that students do not need technology to be motivated. They need opportunities to make a difference. In Dr. Bowser's blog, she claims "In order for our students to compete in the 21st century, they must be provided with an education that will arm them with the skills necessary for success in this new global world." She also, outlines the benefits of integrating Smart Boards into the classroom. Since there is no turning back from the technology takeover, we as teachers need to invest in becoming proficient as digital immigrants in order to effectively integrate technology rather than just using technology as another tool to deliver information for students to consume. As the technology support person for our school, my goal is to help teachers use their Smart Boards and technology more interactively for students to produce rather than just consume. 
       In my project for this class, I created a Weebly website for the National Junior Honor Society as well as a Prezi presentation for the induction ceremony. I am always scrambling at the end of the year with the SIP, SLOs, grades, graduation, etc. I really needed time to explore the Prezi and the format.I was not sure how I wanted the Prezi to look, so I searched for NJHS Prezis already made and got some ideas. There were over a 1000 Prezis made about this topic. Some Chapters make a Prezi for each meeting. I started creating my own and chose different designs, then I decided to edit the slides to incorporate my three favorite styles. I referenced the originals on the first slide instead of the last. I also fixed the title by hovering over the title before going into edit. Finally, I embedded the video to play as the presentation clicks to the slide. Over all I think it was a success. I will be sending it to my principal for approval.
         When we first were learning about Prezi presentations, I thought I was a more linear thinker and this was not going to work for me. After exploring and creating several different Prezi presentations, I am not sure why some one would ever use Powerpoint again. I know how difficult it was to create Jeopardy games using Powerpoint because of their linear nature. What is great about the Prezi, the path can be altered very easily without deleting any slides. You can just take them out of the path, but leave the slides changing the paths depending on the audience. Again, I need to rethink how students can be producers and demonstrate their knowledge using Prezi. 
      I am tutoring this summer, so I decided to have the student participate in a Webquest on Pythagoras and the Pythagorean Theorem and create a Glogster Poster to summarize his learning. He was actively engaged for 3 hours. While creating the Glogster, I noticed he put a picture of Pascal's Triangle, and we had a great conversation of why that triangle did not represent the theorem we were studying. He was a consumer in a nontraditional method as well as producer.
      I was also inspired by the Google Calendar to explore the Google Sites. I used one of the templates and 3 hours later I have a great site for the School Improvement site with the same calendar as the NJHS. They are the same link, so less to update.
       In conclusion, I have learned to rethink my goals when integrating technology and my goal to create more opportunities for students as producer. I am working on creating a school website to organize all the teacher sites and resources for our school. As the technology support person, I will emphasize integrating technology to "raise awareness, start conversations, answer student's questions, join partners, change minds, make a difference, take action, and make a difference" (Ferriter, 2013) The transformation will not happen overnight, but by exploring, applying, synthesizing, and producing digital literacy in my classroom and others' classrooms, we will closer to being proficient digital immigrants supporting our digital natives.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins from myfitnesspal

Recipe
preheat oven to 325 degrees
1- box of Chocolate cake mix (I like Devil's food)
1-16 oz can of pumpkin ( I like Libby's)
1 C. of water
Chocolate chips (optional)

Beat chocolate cake, pumpkin and water for two minutes, add chocolate chips (optional).
Spoon generously into cup cake pan (I usually use Pam and spray lightly). Bake 15 minutes or so, test by sticking a knife in the center of the cupcake and it should come out clean.

You are connected... to what or to whom?

con·nect·ed

  [kuh-nek-tid]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

united, joined, or linked.

2.

having a connection.

3.

joined together in sequence; linked coherently: connected ideas.

4.

related by family ties.

5.

having social or professional relationships, especially with influential or powerful persons.

Reference: (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/connected?s=t)

Each generation defines connected differently in terms of societies norms of the time. I have always been conflicted as a mom raising 3 children in today's society too much technology or too little? I believe Socrates (or some great philosopher) said written books were going to be the down fall of society, since what made us intelligent was the ability to debate issues through conversation. Now, some philosophers might say technology is going to be the down fall of society, since again the art of conversation will be lost. Well, books never went away, so it is safe to say technology is not going away. Instead of resisting the inevitable change in society, we as teachers, parents, or people living in today's society need to adjust, adapt, alter our methodologies to educate today's child. Our roles as teacher and learner are changing. Ben's Blog is very entertaining and supports what I am trying to say here.

Turkel's article is not against technology, but rather a better understanding of the false sense of connectedness. She also points out the ability of people in today's society to be able to multitask and even explains a new skill: "My students tell me about an important new skill: it involves maintaining eye contact with someone while you text someone else; it’s hard, but it can be done."  The only people her students are fooling are those other people multitasking. Those of us who are not multitasking can spot the hesitations in a conversation, the nuances, the body language that their not completely there. Students are also not fooling their brains according to UCLA Associate Professor of Psychology Russ Poldrack in "The Multitasking Mess" by Carol Mithers. I usually explain this to my students, if you want to learn something short term, than fine do your multitasking. If you want to learn something long term and be able to retrieve the information months down the road (NECAP, PARCC), than don't multitask when your studying. I think Mithers says it better than I: "In other words, if you or your kids want to learn something permanently and usefully, do something very old school: Shut up, sit still, and pay attention."

The question is who or what are you connected to?

My presentation on Tuesday: Storybird

Since I was not able to use Xtranormal to create the awesome video I had planned to bring Bob Peterson article "Math and Media: Bias Busters" to life, I decided to use Storybird . I used this program once before, so it was not totally unfamiliar. I refreshed my memory and created a story called Math and Media using Storybird. I am sorry to disappoint all the Xtranormal enthusiasts, but Storybird can be used to collaborate and create children's picture books. They even have some great books you can use created by other Storybird members. Storybird is also on twitter so you can keep up with the latest trends in story creations. They also earned a 5 star quality rating an a 3 star learning rating from Common Sense Media . There is a Techtutorial if you are interested in more information in implementing this neat tech tool into your lessons. There is also a You-tube video on how to use Storybird below.

Exploring the ex- Xtranormal

I was interested in designing, directing, writing my own animated movie, so I decided to explore Xtranormal . When I got to the website at the very top it said  " Xtranormal will be discontinuing current subscriptions, points plans, and existing services." They had a touching thank you for making us great letter and a hint of bigger and better things in the future, which they are calling ACT 2. If you have an account, you need to finish all your in progress movies, publish and download by July 31, 2013. All embedded links need to be down loaded or they will not work after July 31, 2013. Videos uploaded to You-Tube will work under the You-Tube policies.  I have not found any information on ACT 2. I'm not sure if there will be a free version like in ACT 1. Xtranormal customers are upset and are commenting on Xtranormal's Facebook account. The original program was a freeware that allowed an offline desktop creation, but many people paid money to create updated characters and features. Here is an Xtranormal video expressing the customers dissatisfaction. The video will not work after July 31, 2013 unless the creator uploads to another site like You-tube. You can find a lot of Xtranormal videos on You-Tube. Here is an Xtranormal video from You-tube about the CCSS called I choose C . Hopefully the 
uploads will still work.

21st Century kids and learning

Wesch begins his article "The Old Revolution" acknowledging there is a new movement in education called media literacy and 21st Century Skills and embraces this movement relating it to Dewey's movement from traditional to progressive education. He claims their have always been and will be  traditionalist propaganda "get back to basics", but this time, this movement will be successful. Educators, learners, and Policy makers all recognize the traditional ways of teaching are not aligned with the reality of the lives of our learners and change will happen.

In response to Wesch's article I will say balance, balance, balance. Media literacy and 21st Century Skills are important. I know this not just from experience as a learner, but our evaluation system rubrics include these concepts in best practices. On the other hand, when you are teaching students more than 3 years below grade level there is research to show the most gains are accomplished with direct teaching methods. These two teaching methodology need to find a balance between discovery, curiosity, or critical thinking and explicit instruction, basic skills, or traditional methods. Learners can benefit from both methods and the educator needs to know their students, differentiate input, differentiate methods, and differentiate output based on the individual learners. Equity in education looks different for each learner depending on the supports needed for each learner.

Digital Immigrant or Digital Native

I am a digital immigrant. I am not a native! Everything I do takes me longer than my children, I work at conventional speed in a linear fashion. I have a very, very strong accent, since I do not use "text language" on purpose. But I have been very active in learning about technology and digital media. I attended RIC as an undergraduate and have a minor in computer science. I was the first member of my family to own my own computer. Although, I started out strong in using technology my brothers have surpassed me with the amount of digital media they use on a daily bases. I tend to use my digital media for school such as PBS-media, Easiteach, TI-Navigator, Twitter, Emondo, Padlet, Facebook , Engrade etc. Like I said most media literacy I use has to do with school..so here is a video I might use in my class:

Who am I?

I am discovering who I am everyday that is about 16,000 days give or take a couple of 100. Yes, I am a math teacher and everything is a problem to solve. Find solutions, not excuses! Summer is a time to rethink and redesign my lessons and projects from the previous year. I work a bit each day otherwise I am reading or cooking or playing free cell or doing something with my family. I have a wonderful husband, a daughter 20, a son 17, and a daughter almost 14. We enjoy soccer, movies, and amusement parks. I listen to 98.5 the sports channel every morning to listen to all the stats and interpretations and to get the latest "water cooler" updates.