Growing Brains!!!!

Studies have shown that growing brains are smarter than fixed brains. The very impressive Dr. Carol Dweck carried out a study in which two sets of student were given a study work shop. One set were taught that their mind was like a muscle and would get stronger if they use it. The other wasn't.
The group that was taught the brain growth approach actually did better at the end of the year then the group that didn't. And even though their teachers were not told of the experiment they could pick out the brain growth students in class. What's more the growth approach is now being used by race car drivers. It allows them to better learn from their mistakes and to do better on the track once a mistake is made.
This could be a great classroom technique. Motivation and attitude is every thing in the elementary classroom. Especially in a world stuffed to the hilt with standardized testing. If my students are "growing their brains" instead of "taking their test" then it changes the tone of the class. It also helps to make the classroom a more creative environment. It allows the student to take charge of their own learning. I am no longer giving out work sheets and assigning home work, I'm now giving them a chance to grow their brains.

Teachers' Domain

The videos I found were by a series called teachers' Domain. I saw two videos explaining how a lunar eclipse worked.

The first video was "why doesn't the moon fall". This video explains the gravitational pull of the earth on the moon. This one will be better if shown before the eclipse lesson to give an introductory explanation about how the moon moves in space. I would use this as an attention getter.

The second video "total solar eclipse animation" I would show as an attention getter at the beginning of the lesson. The video explains how an eclipse is the shadow of the moon on the earth, it also explains the corona and how every body can't witness the same eclipse.
I as the teacher would elaborate on whats happening, but the video helps as it shows the angle of the shadows and depicts the earth, moon and sun in space.

Although these videos do a good job explaining the mechanics I would still show the students a real eclipse like this one.

This way it becomes more real to them. The other videos presented sterile environments, as appose to real life environments.

ACCESS lab Pictures

Here are two lovely pictures of the ACCESS lab experiance.



This one is of an oh so thrilled student in the lab







This one is of me in the lab next to the desk that controls all the gagets in the room.

ACCESS Lab Project

The school lab I visited was in Mary G. Montgomery High school. When I walked into the class I saw maybe 9 students with laptops out. Mr. Rose (our guide) showed us (Pat and myself) the ins and outs of the lab room set up. He explained that their are two types of courses; web and IVC.
The web courses are not unlike the ones here at south. The IVC includes video casting of a lesson, which Mr. Rose does himself. The screens are set so the teacher can see the class ( or multiple classes) and they can see him. They can raise their hands to ask questions, and receive an answer through the video feed. Each class has a monitor.
The downside to all of this is that student interaction is lost, and communication is hindered. Any sort of tone or body language is lost by these courses. A teacher also losses the ability to reuse a test, as they have to fax or e-mail them to another school. Or the test can be online, but there is no way to prevent cheating. The teacher also has little control in what goes on in the class and has to rely on the monitor, who may be great, but might not be. Its not like the regular class room , but its the "next best thing".
Next Mr. Rose escorted us down the hall and got Ms. Stroud and Ms. LeGrone to give us their opinions and thoughts on ACCESS, has they also teach online.
The general consensus was that the program administrators were not organized and that communication among every one was poor. First a teacher would go to training in ACCESS, which I'm lead to believe isn't very educational. Then the administration picks out the teachers they need in a specific course. Some times the administration ( who are based in troy university) would tell teachers the day of that they are meant to teach a class, or add students to their class two weeks into the course.
Another issue is that this sort of internet interaction is new and communication needs practice. If a teacher sends a frustrated e-mail to ask the organizers at Troy a question,then the message can be interpreted as aggressive, instead of merely frustrated.
Another issue is teacher web sites. If a teacher goes through the ACCESS program to start a web site them they lose all control of it. It's actually to the benefit of the teacher and students to go around ACCESS to create a web site.
With all that said, ACCESS is a program in its infancy. It is a good program with a lot of bugs to be worked out. Hopefully, in a few semesters, the program will live up to its full potential.

Edutopia

The Edible School yard

The Edible School Yard is an outdoor classroom that takes the form of a garden. The middle school students under the guidance of their instructors plant, grow, harvest, cook and eat.
The theory behind this is that students can learn by doing. And they can. When they collaborate in their garden they can bring in subject matter from almost all other classes and solidifies what they have learned by making it meaningful. They learn skills that used to be taught in the home such as cooking, team work, communicating, how to build a community and to rely on on another.
Part of me was sad to see this clip as it is such a wonderful idea, but there is little chance I can be apart of it. As an elementary education major I realize standardize testing on basic subject matter takes more focus in schools, than problem solving or learning. If I do inconsiderate a garden in the class room it will most likely be on a small scale in flowerpots indoors. I may be able to do beans, and have the children take them home to cook with their parents. It's important that students know were their food came from. Their world should not end at the store. They need to know that there is more out there, beyond what they see, and that it affects us. It would also be a way to get parents involved.

A Night in the Global Village

This program seeks to give students a more real understanding of poverty. The program separates students into teams and has them stay over night in "third world" conditions. Each team lives like a different country and no team is given every thing they need for the night. In each team one person was "pregnant" and was given an empathy belly and one person was "missing" a hand and hand that hand bandaged to function like a stump. There is also one member that is two years old and one that is an elder.
This set up forced the student to barter, collaborate, and support their fellow team members. It was amazing to see these middle school students reflect on their experience in such an adult way. The whole experience really let them see beyond themselves.
Again I am a little dismayed to see a wonderful program I have little likelihood of being apart of. I can teach about poverty and hunger and implement reading programs on the topic, but nothing will come close to the sort of experience that the Global Village provides.
To promote the same values (team work, communication, empathy) I could set them into classroom teams each with a task that no one has all the tools for. One task could be to build a bridge between two desks, another could be to collect and scavenge certain items, and so on. I would have to set aside a large amount of time for it though.

Picasa!

For this photo I darkened then sharpened. This looks like the door knocker on Belle's castle from beauty and the beast.

More Picasa

I like this photo becuase I was able to brighten it up. Just use the saturation feature to bring the color out!! This photo looks a bit trippy huh?

Picasa

This is a photo taken straight from Picasa, another program from google. Once you load your photos you can click on the blog this button, and voila!! Instant blog photo!!

More Amazing Podcasting

SmartBourd Challenge
This podcast is for educators on how to use their smart boards to their fullest potential. Ben and Joan (your hosts) talk about, explain, explore, and judge the pros and cons of links they've found. They even discuss lesson ideas to use their links. They even respond to e-mails educators have sent in and share links from other teachers. They also warn teachers about inappropriate links for students. These are two links they mentioned in episode 146.

whitebordchallange
wordle.com (to create word clouds)

They go through a lesson slide by slide and how to create the lesson. They incorporate charts, flash video, websites and how to use these to reach all different learning styles, and to make the lesson interactive by letting them place information on slides.
This podcast is designed to encourage educators to be creative with the tools available to them.

Geek!ed!
This podcast can be found on itunes under education, more education K-12,or at their web site. This podcast is some times student inclusive , even to the point of having students on the show (one cast included high school students talking to congressmen about a program to connect students in Africa and the US using technology) But mostly its for educators who are interested in technology.
There are four hosts ( they keep mentioning the table they're around) who are clearly computer nerds. They are based in Michigan. Mostly they discuss ways to incorporate technology in schools, both in the classroom and administration.
Some times they have guest geeks on such as in episode 101, were they were talking about school/SISCO collaboration.
Some times the jargon can be quite technical. Although any one can listen and keep up, it helps to be technology literate. Discuss lab tops, smart boards, and all manner of classroom technology. As well as funding issues, reliability of technology, effectiveness of collaboration and administrative issues.

Kidcast
Dan Shmit is our host. His cast is concerned solely with the classroom, teachers, and pod casting. Unlike the other casts his is extremely focused. He still however incorporates alot. He goes to a teacher technology retreat, he has guests to talk about interactive teacher communication podcast forums, mac-world conferences....every week he's doing some thing new exclusively with pod casting.
He discuses everything podcast ( getting started, using within the class, lessons) He has a fastening podcast about educating about citizenship, especially given issues such as politics, news, political ethics, voting. (episode 47) He wants students to gather information about an ethical/political question from 3,4, or 5 sources and respond in podcast about their findings to teach that their are not just two opinions (liberal vs. conservative) He also warns of the dangers of this project. ( name calling, preaching, teachers leading student toward an opinion...)

EdTechTalk
This cast is based in Main, but has guest over the phone from all over the world. (Australia) The guests share what they're doing and topics on incorporating technology in the schools. This cast is very teacher interactive. The cast is recorded during a live web cast .Educators can get on skype or the chat room to further discuss the show.
This is a great idea, as it connects teachers all over the world, but some times there are long periods of time were they cast the computer issues they're having with the show, such as loosing a connection with a guest.

MacBreak Weekly
The first thing that struck me about this cast is the advertisements in the beginning. This cast is alot more cooperate, and regulated.( Obviously ran by the Mac Company) This cast is focused not on education, but on Apple technology, even to the point of discussing the stocks of apple technology. They also include guests, talking about other tech podcasts. They are alot more tech literate than EdTechTalk, there is an audio and video portion to the show, however the information is not as pertinent to educational issues. But again they are a podcast produced by a company to update the listeners on their products, they are amusing though.

TWiP
This week in Photography has sponsors they advertise for in the beginning. They also mention competitions and workshops. Their cast (like the MacBreak) is designed to keep listeners updated. Which given how fast paced technology is, can be considered a necessity. They also offer the opportunity for fans to communicate and post they're photos through flickr.