Interdisciplinary unit with SMART boards

With easy access to a multitude of sources and the ability to save and share files the SMART board could be an accessible way to have an interdisciplinary unit between classes. I can see a couple week unit between a history and an English course. The classes could instant message or use a discussion forum. One class could research, the other could write creatively based on the research. This could all happen instantly, allowing two classes to individually focus on different aspects of one issue. It seems that the separation of classes has been predominant; this would be an easy to fuse them back together.

Facebook Debate Results

Last week I blogged about my students choosing to debate about how much regulation to put on social networking. The two different camps were the “we need more regulation in social networking” and the “we need more responsibility and less regulations” side. Each side was comprised of six students, with a three person jury and a non voting moderator. The debate took two days to complete, after a few days of group research and preparation. Each team member had a subtopic speech, an opposition speech, and an impromptu response to opposition speech. The first day was somewhat rough as they got used to the format of a formalized debate. By the second day they got a good flow going. Both sides were well-researched and came up with valid points. On a two to one decision the jury ruled that students should have more personal responsibility about what they post on the internet and that regulation was not the way to go. They even suggested that a teacher in the high school teaches a unit specifically on being smart with social networking.

Two Sides of Visual Literacy

The underlying theme of this semester has been the increased need for visual literacy. However, the definitions of visual literacy have varied from location to location. This has also been an opportune time because I am getting a SMARTboard within a few weeks. I did find one article that gave me a definition that I liked. In the article, “Visual Literacy in teaching and Learning: A Literature Perspective”, Suzanne Stokes contends that in order to teach students visual literacy we need to not only teach decoding of visual messages, but also the encoding of visuals as well. Just as we do with written language, we not only teach how to decode (read), but we also teach how to encode (write). When dealing with visual literacy the teacher must be able to convey that a message can be created by analyzing the visual, that images must be derived. Not only do the students need to be able to figure out how to analyze pictures, but also be able to use the tools of visual rhetoric. With the increased use of digital media there is a call for more teaching visual literacy. The best way to do so is by teaching them not only to consume, but to create.

High School Kids and Tech Fads

Periodically throughout this semester I will update my students as to what I am doing in college. They are genuinely interested, especially when it comes to technology. They want to know what I am finding out about that they might not be aware of. Making a website was unthinkable to them. Apparently they are comfortable using, but not creating; although this may be because the process has been simplified with programs for more novice users. When it comes to Twitter the students had no clue what it was. So we took five minutes to define it and explain the good and bad aspects.
When my 10th grade speech class had an opportunity to choose the topic for the formal debate they chose, “What is too much on social networking sites?” The sides were completely divided between kids can handle the responsibility, to neutral, to needing more controls over the youth that use social networking. It is interesting to see how divided they can be. I will post next week as to how the debate turned out. Also an update from a prior blog, I now have all of my worksheets online and it has been quite successful for parents and students alike.

Pecha Kucha (Peh Cha Chka)

One of the first things that inevitably comes up when considering Pecha Kucha is how it is said (Peh Cha Chka). In the few weeks that I have know about it I have heard no less than 10 different pronunciations. This new delivery method was devised recently by Asrtid Klien and Mark Dytham as a tool to get architect designers to get to the point. In a pecha kucha presentation there are 20 slides at 20 seconds a piece for a 6 minute 40 second presentation. There should be little to no text and the pictures are meant to reinforce the speech. The slide presentation is meant to supplement the speech and not the other way around. This presentation form has been catching on in all circles. There are pecha kucha clubs all over the world, (181 of them) including one in Minneapolis. If you see my teachnology presentation, it is in pecha kucha format. Look at some of the links below, it is quite interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecha_Kucha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGaCLWaZLI4&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NZOt6BkhUg&feature=channel_page
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/minneapolis-stpaul

Vulnerability of the fiber-optic networks

Recently there was a fairly under reported story about a series of cuts of fiber-optic network cables. Now after eight years of being on the receiving end of the fear game I do not wish to fear monger; however it seems that the ability to debilitate 50,000 land lines, cell phones, and internet customers could be made a little harder to do. If we are going to (cliché warning) put all of our eggs into one basket we should make sure that it is protected or set to be supported by a back up system. There has been recent cutting of lines in San Jose, and smaller ones near South Carolina, and near DC. It took quite a bit to get to the cables in San Jose. The person had to remove a large cover, drop down about 10 feet, and then cut the appropriate wires. As of now authorities are not certain whether it was an international terrorist, an outraged former employee or a domestic anticorporate saboteur. How can we safe guard our lives which have become dependent on the internet? Shouldn’t we protect that which we depend upon? I am not suggesting that we take quick, drastic action, but some measured actions are necessary. In the fiber-optic cut in San Jose cell phones, land lines, ATMs, and elective surgeries all came to a halt. This seems to be a weak point in our country.

www.twit.tv

Work harder!

As professionals we have access to computers not only at home, but at the workplace as well. Inevitably some personal business is taken care of on the school computers. People need to be careful though because administrative oversight of internet activity can be omnipotent. What one person sees as relevant another could see as profane. Some administrative bodies restrict certain social sites from their computers. Certain popular websites, such as Youtube and Facebook, have been scapegoated in recent years. According to a new Reuters article a University of Melbourne study has found that workers are more productive when they are allowed to use Twitter, Youtube and Facebook. It was found that employees needed breaks. Many employees are choosing to take their breaks at their desks. Apparently the more rested the mind, the more the productivity. Good news for at work surfers.

Material for this blog provided by: http://TWIT.tv

Google Earth Again

Over the last semester I have been touting the use of Google Earth as a tool to help visually layout the settings of literature. The use of Google Earth for current events can help the students understand the stories in ways that a verbal rundown could not cover. This has been a topic that I have been covering, but I have only seen it in action once. While browsing the internet recently I came across a news show which uses it. On the Rachel Maddow Show she used the program to track the latest pirate hostage situation off the coast of Somalia. It was great to see the detail of the shipping lane, boat locations, prior pirate attacks, and other graphics. Once again Google Earth displays itself as a practical visual tool which reinforces geographical knowledge.

Separation

Upon reading Wysocki’s article "The Sticky Embrace of Beauty: On Some Formal Problems in Teaching about the Visual Aspects of Texts” I found myself agreeing with Wysocki’s disagreement with the separation by Immanuel Kant of humans and nature. This separation may be indicative of one of the current issues facing academia. There has been tradition in separating subjects into their different departments and focusing on an isolated set of material. In the process of the separation, the study of overlap and interconnectedness becomes neglected. I know that in my class history, art, math, and science inevitably arise, they give the students a fuller understanding of the content. In order to understand some aspects it seems that you must understand how it interrelates, for instance how conventions of design and understandings of culture do in Wysocki’s article.

Call In the Expert- Wherever They May Be

The large and bulky ITV machines have become irrelevant and obsolete. Gone are the massive and expensive systems which require a whole room unto themselves. Now we have a world of experts one or two clicks away. With the advent of Skype and existing classroom technologies, what used to be complex and expensive, is now completely manageable and costs roughly $20. The ITV systems are on their way out; Skype is on its way in.
With the advent of digital technology everything is instantaneous and available on any regular computer. No longer do you need a video camera and a TV that accounts for viewing of both ways. No longer do you need an extra classroom with massive equipment. With a $20 webcam and the computer that is in every teacher’s classroom you can have instant access to any expert in the world. Tracking down and proposing offers to the experts is also as easy as a Google search. The experts do not need to hop in a car or even a plane to reach your classroom, so money is saved. Now the expert must have a webcam and knowledge of Skype, but with the money saved in transportation, the teacher could almost buy the guest a webcam and train them how to use the technology. Bringing an expert into a class shows students the benefits of education and backs up what the teacher addresses in class with a real-world expert.

The Remediation of the Pen Pal

It seems that learning occurs when students are taken out of their comfort zone. When students are exposed to material which is unique to them they are much more likely to gain information. With the advent of digital technology we should take advantage of the instantaneous, world-wide communication which is available. Perhaps a remediation and a resurrection of the pen pal is in order. This could be set up on several levels: college to elementary, high school to high school. An Instant Message set up might not be sufficient due to large time differences from one continent to the next. Email or a discussion board form may be a more sufficient fit for this exercise.
In the process of composing letters the students would have to choose words carefully and avoid slang so that others who are reading English as a 2nd language will understand the students emails. The students will also have an opportunity to share in a culture which is not their own. At a high school level students are still very unaware of different cultures, so I think that this would be a good exercise for opening their minds to diverse ideas. Plus, it is fun to get mail (email) which is more fun based rather than business based.

Tweet Comm

The internet has allowed everyone to be connected socially through virtual means. It can easily connect people of similar interests and backgrounds. People are not the only entities being connected however. One of the most popular recent programs is Twitter. One of the reasons this program is popular is because it is simplistic and commercial free. Slowly the commercial industry is finding its way into Twitter though. Using programs like Backtype companies have an automated scan set up on Twitter so that when a specific word or set of words is mentioned the scan will pick it up and send an automated message. For instance it has been said if you Twitter about being sick the Xycam company will send you an automated response saying they’re sorry that you are sick and give you a 10% off coupon.
It is good that teachers try to incorporate these tools into their classroom. These programs are the forefront of social networking and digital composition. How much commercialization is okay in class? Right now Twitter is fairly commercial free, but it seems as if a door has been opened. How will Twitter address the issue? Is it wrong for them to block commercial entities from the use of Twitter and if so where do you draw the line? Can media companies use Twitter? I really do not have answers to this, but it does seem to be an impending issue.

Home Invasion 2.0

There was an interesting story in the news of Web 2.0 in action. Recently David Praeger awoke to someone walking into his home. It became instantly clear that the guy was inebriated and Praeger didn’t feel as if he were in danger. So Praeger pulled out his Iphone and began Twittering the play by play. The passed out man was in the bathroom. As the scene progressed so did the humor of the tweets. Praeger began to Ustream the event live online as he had to yank the passed out guy out of his bathroom. He never called the police and had a short struggle as he got the guy out of his house. After the guy was kicked out he tried to come back in, but the locked door was enough to deter him. Praeger stated that he regrets using as many curse words that he did since it was being broadcast. Since this home invasion occurred for the world to see in real time there has been critics on both sides. Some people said he should have called an ambulance and some people said he should have beat the guy up. As Preager tweeted, he had several people commenting live. Web 2.0 what an amazing concept.


http://www.businessinsider.com/revision3-coo-twitters-through-home-break-in-2009-3

Information for this blog from TWIT podcast

Influencing Change

As technology has advanced in the field of composition, some language arts instructors have stubbornly resisted, sticking with the time honored pen and paper or its remediation, the word processed text document (only after being drafted on paper first). In the process of taking a hands-off approach to technology, some of the commonly accepted tools within digital technology are substandard and have been allowed to flourish unchecked by the authorities within the field. The more involved professionals in the field are, the better of an educational tool digital media can be.
One standard and mediocre tool of digital composition is Microsoft Word spell check and grammar check. With out the voice of the professionals in the field these programs have been allowed to become authoritative in the area of digital composition. Many students take the results of these programs as gospel. I recall tutoring college students who automatically switched red underlined words to whatever the top word in the spell check result was. Language Arts professionals need to weigh in on the choices their students make about creating, modifying, and publishing their digital documents. The direction of the field is inevitable; the outcome is still being determined though.

File Sharing compromises security

The interconnective nature of the internet has done amazing things for the media world and for the educational world, but it can go too far. We all know identity theft has been a problem for the average everyday American. This can be a real pain, but for the most part you can bounce back. It was revealed last week that the plans for the President Obama’s Marine One had been downloaded into a computer in Iran. The whole schematics of the new helicopter had been revealed.
Apparently a defense contractor was using Limewire on their computer and gave others all access to the files on his computer. I could just see a teenage kid doing this on their parent’s laptop and their parents catching the grief from it. Computers with access to critical American documents that deal with American security should not be hooked up to the regular internet, let alone file sharing programs. A big time oops.

Box Logic

It was not long after I engaged with Geoffrey Sirc’s article, “Box Logic” that the 35 pages began to be “a box” which held my various contextual items. At first I questioned the sanity of the participants, like we are trained to do so. Could compulsively collecting various odds and ends of “junk” to thematically collect in a shoe box be healthy? Answer: just as healthy as any other compulsion. Arguably Duchamp and Joseph Cornell created a new mode of communication. I myself am a self-confessed pack rat. It is my contention that this can be traced back to the Great Depression in my family. The attachment and meaning of each individual object and then the collective synergy of the items allow the message to go beyond the box.

Not only would a strict written explanation of box logic be good for a composition class, but so would making an actual thematic box. This unto itself is a composition of sorts and different genres of writing could be assigned, as the box evolved, so could the writing. As I read the article I began to add in and explain the context of my understanding: what pen I was using to take notes, what songs were playing on my ipod, where I was in my house, what blanket I was using, random drawings, and zany notes. I liked the idea that the more we interact with something the more likely that we are going to be able to remember it. By placing some of my personal “belongings” into the box of this essay I will be able to make a more full connection with my experience of reading the essay.

Pirate’s Bay- Copyright Law

Something big is bound to happen when concerning copyright law. Now that all digital media is available through download on one’s computer how can the media corporations control the material which is out there? Log on to Youtube once. How often do users have copywritten material on their page, whether they modified it or just redistributed them. Right now media corporations are pushing for US laws to include anybody guilty of piracy getting their services cut. The point has been brought up that not only does this cut people off from downloading, but it also severs their access to the modern world. The corporations don’t seem to be boding well as the fight against the tidal wave. How can they go with the flow of change in order to capitalize on this change?

One large legal battle is taking place at the moment. Pirate’s Bay, a bit torrent site, is being sued by Sweden for violation of copyright law. The owner’s of Pirate’s Bay are not taking the charges seriously, even throwing a party in Sweden as they are on trial. The vast majority of torrent files on Pirate’s Bay are legal. The nature of torrent files also means that there is no illegal materials on the website itself, torrent files point to files elsewhere. The site was established out of necessity and the administrators do not control the information, it is user generated. Not only that but copyright laws vary from country to country. It looks like there is going to be no way that they can be pinned down, but only time will tell.

Material from this blog was derived from the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/

Online Communication (my high school website)

One of the major things that set me out from the other candidates that applied for my job was relatively low fear of technology. Since I have started my job I have consistently updated my website each year. Every time I update the website I will add another dimension to its existing capabilities. We use the rschool system at my school, this serves as a good template where the teacher just has to essentially punch in the information and the program puts it into html language.
The first year I put up vocabulary flash cards and lesson plans for 9th grade since I teach three sections of 9th grade language arts. The next year I put up 9th and 10th grade, partially because I wanted to expand, but also because it was expected of me. This past year I put up lesson plans, links, and flashcards for all of my classes. Since the beginning of this course I have began experimenting with new features on my website. Some things that I have recently tried are surveys and discussion forums. The discussion forums have been wildly successful as a tool for collaboration and studying. In February I got 1400 hits on website, when you consider that I only have about 115 students, that’s pretty successful. Having good online communication has also helped reach out to parents and a lot less of my time is spent soothing parents, which is priceless at the high school level.

Link to my site: http://www.rschooltoday.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi

NY Times Kindle

In the past decade the medium of print has continually faced harder times. More and more consumers of the news turn to the internet and to podcasts. Not only has the newspaper industry suffered an assault by the internet, but like most other businesses it has been hit by the global recession as well. It is not just Americans newspapers which are suffering. One of America’s newspaper giants is on the verge of bankruptcy: The New York Times. The issues of the reproduction and the distribution of physical items has become daunting in the time of virtual reproduction and distribution. It has been stated that it would be cheaper to give long term subscribers (2 years or more) to the New York Times an Amazon Kindle, a virtual book/newspaper reading device, to view the virtual edition of the NY Times. In fact it would it would cost them 1/2 as much as distributing print. Everyday at 5 AM the digital NY Times is distributed to electronic devices world wide without Jimmy Brown the paperboy.
There are obviously good reasons for the NY Times to go digital. When $63 million dollars a quarter year is spent on raw materials, it is a lot of overhead. But will fans follow to digital press? Will fans have to? While the direction seems to be inevitable I think that an experience will be lost. There is an experience to a newspaper which involves the smell of ink, the portability, the cheap cost, and tangible feel of the page under your thumb.


Material from this blog was derived from the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/

When technology backfires

This past week I have hit a speed bump on the road of technology. Midweek I discovered two students cheating on the AR system. I personally am not that big of a fan of certain aspects of the AR system, but it has been entrenched in the institution. After talking with the culprits, as well as other random students, it has been revealed that the password to log on to the system had been out for the past year and plenty of students had been cheating. For instance they would exchange books; each of them reads one book and then they take their own test and one on the same book for a friend. Only five people in the building have the password, so it is kept fairly tight. Apparently a teacher wrote it down for a substitute (if this is indeed the truth, mistake to write it down) and a student saw it on the desk.
I addressed the situation only after consulting with other language arts teachers, the administrator of the AR system, and the school administration. I have no way that I could believe the integrity of the scores throughout the year; although I would have a hard time reversing old grades so I could not go back too far. The grades are compounded on a quarterly basis and we just finished a quarter three weeks ago. What I ended up doing was punishing the two that were caught with adding extra points to their goals and calling their parents. As far as the test scores, since I knew that the cheating had indeed went beyond these two students, I ended up voiding all scores for the quarter so far. The theory is that if they read the book, with a little review, they should not have a problem retaking a test. The people who did not read, will not get the points.
We (the five with the password) have made it our goal to change the password more often and keep it under lock and key. While addressing the issue I threw out the suggestion of everyone doing individual book reports on the same book, that was not received well. With the advent of the computer it seems that wide-scale cheating has become easier for kids to get away with because we assume that the securities that have been built into the programs will do our jobs for us. Not that there wasn’t cheating before computers.

Backtype- Blog organizer- Persona Defender

The program Backtype allows people to enter and search themselves. The program aggregates all comments from blogs and other commentary and bulletin sites. Anytime a person’s name appears in commentary the person will receive an alert. The alerts can be sent when the name is published, on a daily basis, or a weekly basis. Unlike Google alert, this program goes beyond names popping up on a website, it goes into the commentary subsites as well. You can punch in various names or spelling of names, just in case people misspell your last name. This would be a good way for teachers to protect their digital name against tech savvy students. Not only can the site serve as the eyes, it can also credit digital teachers for the comments and the blogs that they post. It tracks and compiles your comments into one site so that people can track and follow your randomly placed comments. Amongst the mass of blogs this device would help navigate through the endless amount of information available.


www.backtype.com
http://twit.tv/

Indaba Music- Musicians Unite

The internet’s spirit of collaboration has taken another step forward with the advent of Indaba Music. Indaba is a Zulu word for collaboration. The site is basically a social meeting spot and a virtual studio for musicians to team up and make music. The possibilities of this are exciting because it could potentially create melds of different cultures. For instance a drummer from Kenya could do a solo in a, American metal band’s song. You set up a profile and note want instruments you play, the bands that influence you, and what genres you cover. This ideally allows musicians to search for people who would ideally fit into their hypothetical song. Whether you want to use your own mixing program or the one offered on the website. The mixing program is easy to download and easy to use (although it is better if you have a little bit of background in music production). Once you start a session others can offer to join in. Periodically there are collaborations which feature 100+ artists.
For instance in a recent interview Stephen Colbert “retorted” common file use without copyright. He then said, “I hope people don’t make this into a sign,” cuing his audience to make it into a song. Indaba music picked it up and hundreds of artists picked it apart, making dance music with a periodic sampling of Stephen Colbert saying “Don’t remix this”. On a recent show of The Colbert Report Indaba co-founder Daniel Zaccagnino hand delivered some of the renditions to which Colbert further challenged his audience and Indaba users to do more remixes. Currently on Indaba home page they have the challenge and lots of Colbert quotes that’d make a great song. Communication via the internet does not necessarily have to be confined to printed documents or emails messages; it can take the form of musical communication.

http://www.indabamusic.com/

Alternate Uses for Existing Technology

As technology becomes more available to the classroom teacher we should be aware of alternative uses of existing applications. PowerPoint has been in the classroom for over a decade. It has been a means of combining icons and written documents for ease of display. However PowerPoint can be used for more than just that. PowerPoint can be helpful as an organizational tool for a high school course (ideally Language Arts).
After the students choose a topic have them search the internet for research (you may have to make sure that they know how to find a credible website or perhaps you could require a couple non-internet sources). When they find information they can copy and paste the whole portion into a PowerPoint document. As they are building the slides with this word for word information they should also be building a works cited page. The general rule for PowerPoint is to have limited notes for a more extensive speech. The next step for the students would be to cull the information into an outline of general ideas. Whether you would want them to present at this stage would be your choice.
What will be left over at this point is a rough outline for a paper to write. Since they no longer have the full quotes they can not plagiarize. All of their paper will have to be summary and synthesis of their sources and all sources would have to be cited directly or indirectly. This would be a good exercise not only for showing students how to outline a paper, but also a good exercise to train them on how to avoid plagiarizing. The activity is interactive and interesting to students who are used to working on computers.

Thanks to a coworker for the idea.

Photo Synth

So there is a new photograph based technology around: the photo synth. Currently it is not available for private use, although CNN recently got their hands on it. Photo synth essentially takes various photos and stitches them together. This technology is much like the panorama shot which is available on most digital cameras; however, you don’t need to line up the pictures as well. If you misalign a digital camera shot the picture can be botched fairly easily. This photo synth can also meld photos from different cameras together.
In fact it can meld hundreds of photos together if put to the task. However, in order to attempt this, a place where hundreds of people were was needed. How about 2.8 million? CNN tried to conduct a large scale experiment on January 20th, 2009 while President Obama was being sworn in. When Obama put his hand on the bible people were supposed to all take a picture and then send that picture into CNN. Photo synth is a computer program that you load pictures into and then it finds the common ground in between them and turns them into a navigable space, a 3d world. As time allows they have been building and building this virtual space. All of the photos are seamless. While navigability could be improved, it is quite intriguing.
The “photo” can be viewed here: http://photosynth.net/inauguration.aspx
Material from this blog was derived from the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/

Creating a classroom recommendation list by using a in class blog

As an English teacher I am always giving my students recommendations of books to read for their AR or for their personal interest. Often this suggestion is followed up by a look of, “Yeah right, why would I like anything you suggested, you give me homework.’ Instead of doing standard book reviews in your class where minimal time is spent in the production of props and everything is thrown in the garbage afterwards, why not create a long lasting blog. This way the students can easily access the blog and get recommendations from their peers instead of a big bad adult. You could even post pictures of the covers along with the blog. For ease of use a common ranking system could be used (good enough to read again, okay, don’t pick up this book). Also the books could be lumped into genres or pinpointed by certain key words (ex: baseball, action, best friends, etc- similar to how videos are searched for on Youtube). Having a blog of this sort would make it virtual, interactive, searchable, and from their peers.

Studying video games

When considering technology and the study of it seems like video games always get the short end of the stick. Video games have been a scapegoat of American parents for a couple decades now; although we should look at how video games have been an asset to society. I think it would be captivating and educational to do a unit on the history of video games in a high school arts classroom. Video games provide a basis for examining story telling, technology development, intermedium story telling, world making, and creating a personal story through a virtual world.

Video games have served as a catalyst for the expansion of the computer. In “Vide Games: Behind the Fun” by The History Channel points out that we do not need 32 bits of color for word processing or spread sheets. All the way from the first video game, called Space War and invented on the MIT campus for fun through Second Life, humans have sought out virtual worlds where their persona can be altered. In some current cases there have been divorces as a result of a virtual world occurrence. People have invested emotional energy into these worlds making the line between virtual and real blur. This unit could cover specific elements of technology (for instance motion capture), could consider the ethical decisions made during game production, or could follow the interactive story lines of some of the more popular games. The unit could be culminated with a series of observations on various consoles from various points of the evolution of video games. Some people might need some convincing, but I guarantee the students would be engaged.

New Media and the Obama Administration

After record fund raising and unprecedented organization via the internet during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, it only makes sense that he continues using this successful tool as the president. President Obama has dedicated his administration to the use of new media by appointing the first ever Director of New Media, Macon Phillips. New media technology will allow for what Obama calls “the most transparent presidential administration ever.” Moving into the White House, the new administration found the computer equipment to be quite outdated. Obama’s spokesman Bill Burton said, “It’s kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari.” Obama himself gets to keep a Blackberry throughout his presidency, except this one has been built by the NSA to have advanced security from hackers. Obama also wants to spend a significant portion of the proposed stimulus package to renovate/modernize 10,000 schools and expand the access of broadband internet to more Americans and American businesses.

As someone who advocates the use of New Media, the Obama administration is building and maintaining the new Whitehouse.gov site. There are fun things to do on the site, such as the presidential slideshow and the White House quiz. However, there are also aspects which are built to meet the three goals of the administration: communication, transparency, and participation. There is an aim to keep communication consistent and up to date. The webpage includes presidential blogs and the weekly presidential address (which can be uploaded as a podcast). Using the internet as a tool, transparency is more accessible than ever. All executive orders, proclamations, and intended spending can be viewed on the whitehouse.gov website. When (or if) the presidents economic stimulus package has passed, all spending will be posted to recovery.gov for public scrutiny, a website set up solely for that purpose. If one prefers all updates (proclamations, executive orders) can be had through the emailing service. The general American public is encouraged to participate as well. Participation can be had through the educating of oneself through linking to various cabinet sites or brushing up on our history. It can be had through usaservice.org, a website where people our locally linked to volunteer projects near to them. Another easy way to be involved is through the email suggestion/questions option on the site. For instance I suggested periodically featuring polls on the website as a way to increase the interaction of the American people with the Executive branch.

The unprecedented availability of this information could be used in various aspects of a Language Arts classroom (not to mention it is a virtual goldmine for our coworkers in the Social Studies realm). For editorial writing the students can have direct access to the administration or the administration’s documents for citing noteworthy information. I often do current events that could now use actual documents instead of the secondary news sources, while also paying close attention to the careful wording of the document. In a New Media unit you could use this as an example of how the internet allows mass and fairly intimate communication. Perhaps the students could even debate of how communication could be improved and then submit it as a suggestion to the administration. It is exciting to see a president who is not only going to be using these tools to increase his own communication, but those of the American people as well.

www.whitehouse.gov
www.recovery.gov
www.usaservice.org
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/change_has_come_to_whitehouse-gov/

Fiction Plus One- Going Digitally Beyond the Book

One thing that teachers try to do, hope to do, is have students take the lesson beyond the book, beyond the classroom. Teachers can use the current digital technology to allow students a creative production and publishing assignment. Instead of the standard posterboard presentation, why not create a deleted scene movie for a novel. You might not even need any extra equipment. The video can most likely be shot with a student’s cell phone and emailed to a computer for editing in the computer lab. Students can be creative and go outside the boundaries of the normal classroom presentation. A movie could have a few students (3-5). After completing the movie the kids could publish their video on Youtube or even as a feature on your school website (certain copyright precautions may have to be taken).
Not every student is going to be an actor, editor, and camera operator. Open up possibilities that match up with other types of learners. A soundtrack to the book, a photo montage via cell phone, creating a board game, creating original songs and recording them, writing an extra chapter, etcetera. All of these options have the potential to be published. One could almost look at this option as a virtual hallway in which anyone can visit. The communication devices that have been created over the last five years do not only transmit verbal communication, but artistic communication as well. We (teachers) should capitalize on the technology and the current trend in teenage communication.

One good part about the interactive nature of the internet is the ability to place a visual to a lecture without any delay. In my creative writing course I do current events because the real world is ripe with ideas and inspiration. Currently we do these only verbally. Periodically I will walk over to the 3’ by 3’ world map that I have hanging up on the west wall of my classroom. Just think of the ways that I might improve this segment with the use of Google Earth.

Having a Smartboard or an easily accessible projector for this would help, but once the projector is set up it could be a quite beneficial exercise. Before my news segment I could pre-plot the locations of the story and then “tour” them as we cover the stories. Imagine how this would add to stories like Hurricane Katrina, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the airplane in the Hudson River, or a battle of the Iraq War. Any story location that had not been preplanned is just a clack of the keys away. Even finding sources that back up a story or facts that accompany a story would be very easy.

I also teach a segment on the 1862 Dakota uprising. Since Google Earth is a satellite photo I can take a shot of the fort and trace the different parts of the battles and how the different Dakota armies approached by using “thumb tacks”. Not to mention I can tracks how and where armies marched and interacted with other armies. The instantaneous navigability of Google Earth gives students a hand on visual to back up what might seem to be baseless words. This can help provide a more realistic idea of setting for a Language Arts student.

Sharing files- LARGE FILES

So as of recently I have been generating ideas of units or lessons for a Technology in English course in my high school. My brother, who is tech saavy, suggested that I listen to the TWIT (This Week In Technology) podcast. Upon listening to the first one I was happy to hear about Nine Inch Nails (NIN- a 90’s metal band) and their ongoing goal of reaching the audience by using technology. In the prior semester I did a presentation explaining how NIN has allowed the fans to interact with their material by editing songs, taking pictures at show, and using their songs as sound tracks for movies. The focus of the presentation was the world making and collective knowledge efforts of NIN’s “Year Zero” album.

NIN has now upped the bar once again. On their website they state that somehow there has been a “security breach” and 7 high definition camera shots/angles of their last tour have been released to the internet. They then imply that they want the audience to create music videos with the footage provided. There isn't just a few songs or scraps of footage either; there’s 400 GB of footage. This is available to anyone who wants it and can store it. I have the storage for it, although I will have to convert it, as I am a PC user. While some of NIN may not be appropriate for the high school classroom I definitely believe they can be used as an example of just how interactive nature of the internet has allowed fans of music to become closer with the artists. Now let’s make something clear, NIN and Trent Reznor are clearly exceptions to other copyright protected industry artists. In essence Reznor has given his fans infinite resources, saved on his own production costs, and received many videos in return. Perhaps if a clean song were found, an assignment for a video production class would be to construct a unique video from the stock footage. Possibilities are endless with 400 GB.

Here is a link to the TWIT podcast: http://twit.tv/
Here is a link to the NIN world: www.nin.com
Here is a link to the NIN footage: http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?52,378166

Being appealing and knowledgable when teaching technology to teenagers

As a high school teacher I know that technology is a moving train and if I do not get on board (and stay there) that I will miss the train completely. How do you compete with students who have been born with high speed internet, Ipods, texting, etc.? Competing with the capabilities of students in technology may be impossible. There are so many different aspects, products, and angles that cannot be covered by one person. When teaching and using technology in a Language Arts classroom it is best to use discussion as a way to incorporate everyone's individual expertise, not to mention cover areas you may not have conceivably covered. As a teacher in a technology lesson I believe it is my duty to guide the discussion to meaningful conversation, as well as provide structure to conversations of individual pieces of technology (for instance, covering mp3 players before discussing IPODs). The only way to properly teach and use technology in the classroom can not be through the mastery teacher method, but as a dialogue between the students and the teacher.