Diigo and Dropbox and Skype, oh my!

I really liked the format of today's class. As preparation for class, we each had to prepare a "how-to" handout for one of four technological tools: Evernote, Diigo, Dropbox, and Skype. We then spent most of class in small groups, teaching our peers about the tool we had studied and learning about the other three. I thought this was a great way to cover a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

The site I studied was diigo.com. Although I hadn't heard of it before this course, I think I will use it in the future. It's a great way to save bookmarks online so that you can access them anywhere, not just on your home computer. It also makes it easy to highlight and annotate online articles. Since so much of the material we read in this program is electronic, I think it will be really useful to have a way to store our highlighted material and notes online. One advantage of tools like this is that they make us less likely to print out online articles just so we can make notes on them. By doing it online, we conserve resources.

I really enjoyed my classmates' presentation of their tools, as well. Although I had already been a pretty regular Skype user, Colleen M. made me aware of some really interesting features I hadn't known about. One example was the "Skype in the Classroom" tool at education.skype.com. This feature provides a way for teachers to connect with experts in their field. Stephen, who researched Dropbox, gave us a great explanation of how we can share files and sync folders with our classmates using that program. Kathlyen explained Evernote, which is a really cool way to organize notes and save "clippings" like images and text from the web.

I thought that the small-group presentation format was really effective. It gave us a thorough overview of several different tools that will be helpful for us throughout the MAC program and, ultimately, in our teaching careers.

Class at the Duderstadt Center

In spite of the nagging fear that my car was going to be towed because I'd parked illegally, I really enjoyed Friday's class. We started off the session with an exercise in "decoding," in which we attempted to translate a series of fairly well-known symbols into a verbal narrative. I noticed that this exercise made me feel sort of mentally sluggish- even though I recognized most of the symbols (stick figures, airplanes, "no smoking" signs), it made my brain hurt to try to string them into coherent sentences. It was interesting, though, to hear about the different strategies my classmates used to derive meaning from the series of symbols, and to note that we were all eventually able to understand this unusual "language".

I also really enjoyed the presentation of former MAC student Tom Ward, who explained how he incorporated the Angry Birds game into his math class. I thought that was a really creative idea, and I was impressed by his willingness to be flexible enough to set aside an entire day to playing a real-life version of the game. He mentioned part of the reason his school was supportive of this was that it was an "independent" school, and thus it did not have to focus so rigidly on meeting imposed learning standards. There was freedom to explore since, as Tom put it, it was "not imperative that students learn parametric equations that day". Something to think about as we decide what kind of environment we'd ultimately like to teach in.

In the last part of class, we focused on setting up individual "teaching portfolio" websites on Weebly. I was really glad to be introduced to this site- I loved all the templates that were available and the user-friendliness of the features. I didn't know it could be so simple to set up a website, and I'm excited to have a space in which I can share the work that I do throughout the year. 

All in all, a very interesting and productive class. (And my car was still there when I got back. Yay!)

Virtual Insanity

"We're witnessing what amounts to no less than a mass exodus to virtual worlds and online game environments." -Edward Castronova

Yikes. I had a really hard time with the TED talk assigned for Friday's class. Although I appreciate Jane McGonigal's enthusiasm and her desire to use gaming skills to solve real-life problems, I really can't accept that what we need in the world is more gaming. I keep thinking about the picture she showed of the boy with the "epic win" face. According to McGonigal, that face represented the kind of deep concentration and optimism we should all aspire to. All I saw, though, was a pale teenaged boy sitting by himself in the dark, the picture of loneliness. I think there's a real danger in advocating that we devote more of our time to playing video games. Although technology does offer us novel ways to connect to other people, I think we're fundamentally more isolated than ever before. I have these horrible visions of a dystopian future in which everyone just "plugs in" and lives an entirely virtual life. The more realistic video games become, the more I worry that it would be all too easy to slip into a future like that. 

So the TED talk got me pretty anxious. I started breathing normally again, though, toward the end of the video, when McGonigal explained that while the increase in gaming was "rational for now," the ultimate goal was to take what we've learned from gaming and use it to enrich the real world. (I also dug the Herodotus story.) I can understand the point that was made in the TED talk, as well as in the Gee article, that we can learn something from games in terms of how to create stimulating learning environments. I liked Gee's phrase "pleasantly frustrating"- this relates to what we've been learning in our 606 class about the "zone of proximal development," where learning is challenging but not impossible. When we tackle a problem in that "sweet spot" of difficulty, we really enjoy it, and it doesn't feel like drudgery. I think that is a great thing to keep in mind as we prepare to become teachers.

I'd like to hear our professors' take on the relationship between video games and learning, and I'm hoping to learn more about the online portfolios discussed in the Niguidula article. I'm interested to see what kind of discussion arises in Friday's class- it should be a good one.

Soda Ban- the Remix

I went into Friday's class with some trepidation. It would be a double session- 6 hours of one class- after a pretty exhausting week, and I'd been told that we would be working in groups to discuss how to incorporate the NYC soda ban into a lesson within our respective disciplines. I had thought a bit, while writing my last post, about how to work the ban into a French class, but I wasn't entirely confident that I had enough to build on- trying to plan a French lesson around soda had felt sort of awkward and forced. (And I'm betting our professors expected that result- I'm sure they understand the merits of making their students a little uncomfortable at times!)

When we were assigned to our groups, though, I discovered that I'd been put with the English majors (English is my minor). Honestly, I was a little relieved. I thought that the discipline of English would lend itself fairly easily to a lesson on the soda ban, since it incorporates broad and flexible topics like oral and written communication. (French involves communication too, of course, but before a certain level, it's difficult to get students to discuss complex ideas like the ones brought forth by the soda ban.) When we started our small-group discussion, though, it turned out to be more complicated than I'd imagined. All of my group members had come prepared with really interesting ideas, but we initially had trouble narrowing our focus for the purposes of constructing one specific lesson. Another complication was presented by our varying perceptions about the assignment itself. Kristin had started out the day by explaining that the process, rather than the product, would be the focus of this exercise; still, we had trouble letting go of the idea that we had to create something solid, something that we could present in a formal way.

Those complications aside, however, we had a really interesting discussion. We ultimately came up with the sketch of a lesson that would incorporate research as well as oral and written communication skills. The first thing we would do is ask our students to find articles related to the soda ban, encouraging them to consider bias and the credibility of the source. Then we would arrange interviews, to be conducted via Skype or Google+, with people having varying perspectives on the soda ban (a street vendor, an intern at Mayor Bloomberg's office, an FDA representative, etc.). Finally, we would have students write "letters to the editor" about the soda ban; these letters would be posted on a blog or wiki page so that other students could respond to them.

It was interesting to talk about the ways we could incorporate technology in our classroom, and the media specialist we worked with was a big help. She encouraged discussion of when technology might or might not be appropriate in the classroom, informing us of several helpful resources (including thenerdyteacher.com, a really cool blog about integrating teaching and technology).

All in all, I think the work we did in our groups was really beneficial- and it gave us a glimpse of what it will be like for us in the field, when we're planning with our fellow teachers.

And in the end, the double session I'd been so daunted by actually went by pretty quickly- it didn't hurt that we got to play around with podcasting for a couple of hours in the afternoon!

Un coca, s'il vous plaît

So it's week 4(!) of the MAC program, and I'm still trying to get my head around all the information there is for us to take in. It's amazing how much more I know about teaching than I knew a month ago, and I'm already finding myself using ed-speak more frequently (metacognition, anyone?). At the middle school where we're interning, though, I'm finding myself increasingly intimidated by my classmates who seem to be "natural" teachers. There are some among us who can walk into a classroom and make an immediate connection with the kids, engaging them in easy, free-flowing conversation and finding novel ways to help them learn. Meanwhile, I often stumble over what to say to the students, still a little unsure about my role (friend? mentor? authority figure? fellow student?). And I'm having trouble implementing the practices that the MAC program has already convinced me are so vital, such as helping students get to an answer on their own rather than providing it myself. It sounds relatively intuitive to say to students, when they come across an unfamiliar word, "What does it sound like? Have you heard it anywhere before?," etc. But what do you do when the reply is "no" or "I don't know"? I find myself constantly fighting the urge to just tell them the answer. Just throwing that out there in case anyone else is struggling with this! I'm sure we'll get much better at handling these situations as the year goes on, and we'll become more adept at keeping thinking alive through questioning rather than imposing a definitive answer.

As I mentioned in my last post, our professors in 504 were really good about keeping thinking alive in their classroom as we discussed the NYC soda ban. This type of engaging classroom discussion is something I would love to implement in my future French classes. It would be interesting to spend some class time discussing the reactions a similar law might elicit in France. I might ask students to brainstorm some of the differences between France and the U.S. in terms of cultural values and ideas about the role of government, then ask them how those things might shape the public's perception of a law like this. I could use the lesson as an opportunity to teach some vocabulary related to policy-making and government.

As I'm writing this, I'm aware that my proposed lesson is very France-specific. I find myself getting caught up in thinking about how France would respond because that's where I've spent time, but I recognize that my class discussions would benefit greatly from the incorporation of perspectives of other French-speaking countries. I'd like to learn more about the government and culture of other francophone nations; I want my students to understand that the language they are learning is being constantly adapted, expanded and enriched by the many cultures who share it. I'm looking forward to navigating these and other challenges throughout the coming year.

Creating Engaging Learning Environments: Reflections on ED 504, Day 1

I've realized that this blog's address looks like "You can call Memsk," which sounds like a reference to some imaginary Eastern European city. You can call Memsk if you want. I don't think anybody will be home.

Anyway, "You can call me Ms. K" is something I've found myself saying quite a lot this past week, as we started our field experience at a local middle school. One of the more brazen seventh-graders I encountered walked up to me, looked at my nametag, and said by way of introduction, "Not gonna lie, I have NO idea how to say your name." That's ok. You can call me Ms. K.

But should they? Am I over-simplifying things? Should I have them sound out my (not outrageously hard-to-pronounce) last name, turn it into a literacy exercise? Or is it more important to establish a personal connection first, and does having a simple moniker facilitate that? This is just one of the things I need to explore as I figure out the kind of teacher I want to be.

I'm already learning so much just by observing my own teachers (who, being teachers of teachers, really know what they're doing). On the first day of ED 504, we had a great conversation that really encouraged active learning. As we discussed an article by Bill Sheskey on the impact of technology in teaching, one of our professors, Jeff, walked around the room asking for input from anyone who had something to share. He seemed completely engaged with what each person was saying, taking notes and making insightful comments that expanded the discussion. As a group, we were able to highlight some of the key points in the article, like the idea that technology in the classroom can create a state of accountability; if students know that their work will be shared digitally with the rest of the class, they are likely to put in more effort. We also discussed the power of technology in turning learning into a sensory experience; the vividness of digital images and video can have a huge impact on the extent to which students engage with a learning activity. Additionally, we explored the concept of "digital natives" and "digital immigrants," which drove home the idea that we, as teachers, have a responsibility to become fluent in the current technology in order to "speak the language" of our students.

As we shifted our discussion to an article on the NYC soda ban, something really interesting happened. While our professors were talking, whispers began to bubble up around the room. As the volume of the voices increased, several students turned to glare pointedly at the source of the disruption. Our professor Kristin, however, realized that this was something more than restlessness. After getting our attention, she said that it seemed like we might benefit from some small-group discussion. "One of the things you'll learn," she said, "is that sometimes when people aren't paying attention, it's not because they're not interested." Sometimes, she pointed out, students are just so engaged with the topic that they feel the need to share their thoughts with those around them. With that in mind, she gave us five minutes to talk in small groups about our thoughts on the soda ban. I was really impressed by her flexibility; where another teacher might have obeyed the impulse to scold her talkative students, Kristin recognized that those students were expressing a desire to learn in their own way.

The first day of 504 was a great exemplification of the kind of classroom discussions I want to have with my own students. I may have a lot to learn about the kind of teacher I want to be, but I'm starting to understand the kind of learning environment I want to create- and maybe that's more important.