Educational Leadership & Technology

The day of the conference came and went, and, as usual, I met very wonderful and enthusiastic teachers who all want to learn new methods of teaching; exploring new possibilities with student learning and finding new ways to reach all students. During the Job-a-Like session, I facilitated a discussion about technology use in the classroom. Great questions came up and people seemed to get a lot out of the conversation that went on in the room. During my afternoon session, a smaller group discussed the reason for metacognitive activities and how podcasting and vodcasting could be used to help students think and process their learning. I also attended a session on Comic Life (you can download a free 30-day trial here) and learned that I wasn’t the only teacher to see the educational applications of the program. Finally, I closed out my day with a session about becoming an administrator for DOD schools; although it was focused on advancement within the DOD structure, there was excellent advice for professional and career development.

Several of the people I met at KORCOS asked for follow up information, so this post will be providing some extra information for those folks.

For those interested in the potential of a wikispace you can check out any of the following sites:

Ms. Digges Yearbook Wiki Good beginning wiki by a teacher who is new to using Wikispaces.

Mr. Brightman and Mr. Bray’s World Literature Page 2007-08 You can track the evolution of our skill with a Wiki over the previous school year. Includes examples of student writing, podcasting, collaborative exercises and movies.

Mr. Spivey’s Social Studies Wiki Here is a shameless plug for my friend and colleague — this is the third most edited Wiki in the world. Seriously! His wiki is basically the way his class works. You can find examples of just about any type of student work involving technology.

If you aren’t nesscessarily interested in wikis, but want see examples of student movies, vodcasts, or podcasts the following will be helpful.

These is from a project where my students used the play A Doll’s House to make a modern adaptions. They were only given five minutes of actual movie time (doesn’t include title, credits, and outtakes).

Stuffed Happiness Overall concept of this film was great. Very original and creative work; especially how the one girl plays two different roles by use of camera angles.

A Pet’s Life The opening film segment where the girl is primping her hair and the boy looks up at her in shakes his head from the background is a brilliant shot. That moment is a wonderful example of digital story telling; without even one word spoken, we understand the relationship and the two characters.

Rat Race Another one that overall hit the nail on the head. A little melodramatic, but it works.

The following examples are first time efforts with metacognition about the writing process and using vodcasts and podcasts.

English Seminar Scroll down the page and click on student names to find different examples of podcasts and vodcasts.

Hopefully everyone will find a little something that will make that inspiration spark for lesson planning. If you have further questions, want to contact me for support, or want to get together and discuss technology and teaching just email me at tsbray@internationalteacher.info.