Political Ideology…Song? July 16, 2009
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in Educational Resources, On Teaching.Tags: audio, government, music, political spectrum, politics, TeacherTube
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Music on the Internet is fun and music in the classroom can be a great way to connect with students. One of my colleagues absolutely loves Pandora, one of the free Internet radio sites still standing and while Pandora is fun, it is difficult to select the specific songs which come your way.
This morning I came across playlist.com which allows anyone to set up a free account and put together a playlist of shared music. While I’m not sure about the copyright clearance of this, I love the idea so I started to think of ways my students could create a playlist that would connect with our studies and then post the list on our wiki (I played with the code and made this example). For US History, coming up with a playlist would be a piece of cake as there are thousands of songs that focus on history, but for US Government, my list was coming up a it short – yes, who doesn’t love I’m Just a Bill? (And the “updated take” on School House Rock for the Midterm elections is quite fun for a slightly older audience.) But I was thinking beyond School House Rock which took me to a search for political songs. This search led me to the Political Ideology Song on TeacherTube and I think I’m going to use it in my Political Ideology unit this fall.
Having students create a playlist or search for related content on TeacherTube and YouTube could help them extend their learning. On YouTube, however, some of the content may contradict that which is being taught in the classroom, so being prepared for a dialog with students about their findings would be wise.
Friday in Chicago April 24, 2009
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in On Teaching, Random Thoughts.Tags: TechForumCH9, tltechforum
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The annual pilgrimage to Chicago for Tech&Learning’s Midwest TechForum. Thankfully the plane arrived on time, the drive to the hotel was uneventful, and the morning is underway. The first speaker, Clarence Fisher, was truly inspiring. A middle school teacher hailing from Snow Lake in Manitoba, he challenged the audience to shift from the traditional view of a classroom to what our students need classrooms to be today and moving forward. Points which stood out:
- We need to get away from thinking about classrooms the way they have always been
- Inspiration and pedagogy should be synonyms (thought: how does standardized testing and data-driven lesson planning fit in with that?)
- The classroom should be seen as a studio
- Our students need to get comfortable with the idea that learning/information is/can be messy.
- Creativity is a national resource (thought: what are we really doing to foster that?)
- We need to use technology to engage and connect our students with the world. Find the way around the “no go” zones.
- If schools don’t change the way they offer education, schools will become sideshows. Students will attend and jump through the necessary hoops, but will get all of the information they need via the Internet.
A great keynote. Always good to take some time to reflect on where we need to go.
p.s. Listening to Clarence’s stories, I felt a tug at my heart, I really enjoyed teaching 7th graders. Not sure if I could do it now, but I sure loved it then.
Normally the “Five” Would Be Here… April 3, 2008
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in Educational Resources, Friday Five, On Teaching, Uncategorized.2 comments
But we don’t have school this Friday so I’m taking a little break, but not a total break and the Friday Five will return next week.
Earlier this week, I was catching up on my blog reading this week and found these two videos, the video on PowerPoint was highlighted by Wes Fryer on his blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity and unfortunately, I cannot remember exactly who posted the global education video. The PowerPoint video is funny – the other, a preview for “Two Million Minutes,” is a bit scary, but both offer something to think about and I thought they were worth sharing (and together they take just over 5 minutes). I really need to see the “Two Million Minutes” documentary – fascinating issues to discuss!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Wendy
Live Free or Die Hard July 9, 2007
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in On Teaching, Random Thoughts.add a comment
Sunday was a really hot day around here (99+ degrees and humid ICK!) so we decided to go to see the newest Die Hard movie. I know, the Die Hard movies do not have deep plots or writing, but I really enjoy them so we sat down in our stadium seats ready to be entertained. If you have seen/read the trailers or have seen the movie, you know the storyline, cyberterrorism drives the show.
Why write about this? While watching the movie, especially the first half of the film, I could not help but think, “This is what happens when people rely too much on computers and throw logic out the window.” No-one quickly tested anything in the movie, most of the characters (especially the government officials) let the computers think for them. In CSI New York’s season finale this year, their lab is attacked and while the computers tell them there is a problem, Mac does not lose logic – he uses it to see the alarms are false.
But life is not the media, is it? Last night we had dinner with my parents and my dad shared a story about going to the grocery store and the computer screens at the checkout not only told how much change to give, but walked the cashier through which compartments in the cash drawer to access to make the change correctly. I know Karl Fisch’s “Did you know” piece (and all of the iterations that have followed) addresses how the computational abilities of the computers will exceed that of the human brain in the not-too-distant future, but I truly hope that we still remember to use logic to drive those powerful tools, not the other way around, and that we teach our students to do the same.
