I was supposed to focus on one technology but in my exploration for that technology I stumbled across a few interesting ones that I’d like to share.
At first I got really excited about this site because it uses primary sources. Anyone can use the site, but perhaps there are more perks if you have an account. The sources available seemed very limited. They mostly have artifacts from the past 100 years. It seems to be geared towards teachers especially those of late elementary to middle school. Like I said, perhaps it is a totally different experience if you actually have an account. It seems to be able to produce pretty sweet projects if students are focusing on the eras and subjects the site highlights. For example, this is a video created by students: http://www.primaryaccess.org/show.php?id=1691. I also wish there was a navigation on the side so I could get back to the other site pages without having to click the back arrow on my browser.
It’s an online journal which looks quite similar to a real notebook and you can even insert images. If I used this in a classroom, I would incorporate it into their daily or weekly writing time. Students would have the choice of using Penzu or a real notebook but they would have to stick with that media for the whole year. Most of their entries would be private so that the teacher would not even see them. This works very well if the writing time is a free-write. I would have prompts each time but students are not required to stick to the prompt if they feel moved to write about something else such as if they are having a bad day or want to write about something exciting in their life. However, it would be required that they send a certain number of their entries to the teacher for credit, but they get to choose which ones to send. The site facilitates emailing an entry which makes it convenient. Also, they can choose entries to elaborate on for larger writing projects. This shows students that writing can be for themselves and that free writing can help generate ideas which can be used later and revised.
Pandora is an online radio in which you create your own stations based on songs, artists, or genres that you like. For instance, two of my 17 stations include: Classic Rock and Alicia Keys. Pandora plays music similar to the styles you like. You communicate to it by giving a song a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down." You can also skip over a song if you don't want to listen to it any longer. You have to create an account to use it but you don't have to pay unless you want the upgraded version. The downside of the free version is that you are limited to 40 hours a month and you still have periodic commercials.
What does this have to do with education? Some teachers play music while students independently work. Some play the radio, but most put in CDs or hook up an ipod with set playlists to control what is being played. Pandora is another option. There is even a setting you can choose that ensures that no "adult content" will be played. Pandora could be used as an indirect way of teaching students about different music genres or important historical singers and groups. For example, you could play music by Astrud Gilberto and give a quick summary of his background in Brazil before they begin working or play a Billie Holiday station and say a few things about her importance to Black history. These would just be quick summaries before they begin working so it doesn't distract from their projects.
That is another thing- it IS a legitimate argument that playing music during work time is a bad idea because some students find it distracting. This is something you could find out through taking formal or informal surveys of the class about what the conditions they need to work or study.
I had never even heard of Primary Access. That sounds pretty neat. I have been using Pandora all through college. I am not sure what I would do without it. However, I must admit that I had never thought of ways that it could be used in the classroom. That is an awesome idea. It is easy to overlook some of the things we use everyday that could be great tools in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI love Pandora and fully intend to be playing music from it everyday when students walk in. I think it sets a fun and interesting atmosphere for the classroom and exposes students to music they would not normally listen to.
ReplyDeleteI am also very interested in checking out Primary access. I'm going to be in a middle school next year and am on the search for technologies specifically targeted towards middle schoolers.
I'm not sure about Penzu though. I'm a big fan of students writing in journals, and actually writing, not typing just because I think the act of writing by hand is dying out. But who knows, maybe students would prefer the online writing and I guess as long as their writing that's really what matters.
Yeah, I'm never sure how I feel about writing by hand and typing and if one is better or what. It would be an interesting study to do to see the effects on the brain. I think there should be two groups of participants: digital natives and digital immigrants. Perhaps that makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteAs one of my instructors says, "Writing is thinking." Although, I'm not sure if "writing" literally means writing by hand or just the act of composing.....
Personally, when I'm trying to write a paper, I go back and forth between writing by hand and typing. I feel freer and more creative when writing by hand, but I get frustrated by how slow it is when my mind is moving so quickly and I dont' like the inefficiency of editing by hand compared to how easy it is to edit on the computer.