CEDo 515 - Post 2

This week we started out with Chapter 3 in the text. This chapter about putting together communication learning projects in the classroom was of great interest to me because I am planning on doing more of this next semester. I plan to have chat forums for the entire class, as opposed to some in-class debates, and I also plan on doing an individual project that students share with each other and comment on each other's projects online. This chapter gave me some great ideas as to how I should set up these activities.

We are also learning about how to make our searches more effective. It's funny because I remember learning how to do a lot of these little tricks to make searches more effective back in high school and college, but somehow I got away from using them. I don't know why I got away from using them, but I'm glad that they're back so that I can save myself some time.

We're also learning about some different word processing programs that most people don't know about, and the different types of features that you can use in them. I feel like I know slightly more than a lot other teachers about some of the features that are a part of your regular word processing program. I remember at the beginning of the school year I was working with a close teacher colleague and I pulled out some little trick in Microsoft that I thought was pretty common knowledge, especially for a fairly tech-savvy person like my friend. He saw what I did and it kind of blew his mind and he said, "Wow! I should start hanging out with my local library media specialist more often." If a fairly tech-savvy guy like him doesn't know about some of the basic things, that means that most of the other teachers know virtually nothing at all, so this lesson is bound to make me even more knowledgeable for those little tricks that, to me, make creating written documents a piece of art more than just written words.

CEDo 515 - Post 1

First of all, I love taking Louis' classes because I love the huge number of great Web 2.0 sites that could be used for my classes. I always come away with more resources from these online classes than from any other classes I've ever taken. I love hearing about and trying new online programs, especially when they could be really fun and useful for teaching. The problem that I have come across in my experience has been that I allow students to use these new programs that they have never seen, and they get really into them, but they get into them in the wrong way. They want to spend all of their time trying to make the characters look like themselves or like LeBron, and they don't spend any time putting in any content material. This is something that I'm still trying to work on.

One thing that really had me worked up about this first lesson, as much fun as I had playing around with all the online programs, I had trouble with the time constraints. It is not possible for me to read a 30 page textbook chapter and do entire sets of questions in 1 hour. Really stressing me out.

CEDu 521 - Week 6

I really enjoyed listening to and looking at over everybody's unit plans. They were all very well done and I've taken some ideas from them myself. I especially liked Andy's idea of recreating an Ellis Island experience. I think I could make this a really fun, really authentic, and really meaningful for my high school students. I would hand out different immigrant profiles to each student in class. They would read them over and have to act like they were one of the immigrants. I would sit up on my throne in front of class, and they would line up in front of me trying to get into my country. I would act like the soup nazi in Seinfeld and bang my hand if I didn't let people in for being poor or sick. I look forward to using this in the spring.

This was a good class and I learned a lot, but I'm looking forward to a few weeks off and, hopefully, being done with my certification in December.

CEDu 521 - Week 5

I'm feeling very good about my unit plan. I like the fact that this is a type of unit that I have taught before, and I plan to teach again, but I had not yet had the time to sit down and go into any detail about how much time I needed or what I really wanted the students to get out of it, etc. Now I have a much better idea of all these things and it is going to make the unit immeasureably better. Throughout the duration of this course, I have complained to myself about how I really don't want to do this unit plan because I have done things like this for countless education courses, in the end it has been helpful.

As this course draws to an end, even though it is at the end of summer, even though I am sick of taking classes once a week nearly non-stop for the past year, and even though I barely have any time to give these classes the time and attention they deserve for me to get the most out of them, I am once again glad that I took this course because I did get some good things out of it. I also loved a lot of Dave's stories in class each week and some of the small interesting facts and research he would mention...fascinating. Thanks, Dave!

CEDu 521 - Week 4

Sorry this is late and I didn't get it posted by Sunday, Dave. I moved this weekend and didn't realize that I would be without Internet access at home indefinitely. So this is the first real chance I've had at the Internet in some time. Anyway, I really liked the presentations in class on Wednesday. I learned a lot from several different aspects of the project. I learned from the research that I did about what it takes to increase and house hardware and software. I was able to memorize what LoTI is a bit better from having to explain what it is. I learned about my partners' topics from discussing the presentation with them. I learned from the other group. And, finally, I learned from what Dave had to say in his critiques of the presentations. Overall, this was a well done project and I learned a lot from doing it.

CEDu 521 - Week 3

I'm really starting to love using Google Docs. I have started making all of my documents in there and started scrapping the flash drives, because I have about 4 of those all with different things on that it's hard to keep track. I also constantly worry about losing them, because I've lost one already and I don't want to go through that again. It's a wholesome feeling to know that my stuff is saved somewhere out there in cyberspace. I'm still pretty careful with it, and keep my budgettary and monetary matters on my home computer, but for work and personal documents, Google Docs is my new home. It's great to be able to make and share new stuff with my colleagues and have them both comment and change it as they see fit. Thanks for the suggestion, Dave.

CEDu 521 - Week 2

I love the idea of project based learning. One day I would like to plan my curriculum completely around new projects. Each topic that I do would be a new project for the students to work on, and move from topic to topic and project to project. If a student worked fast and well and finished their project early, then they could move on to another project. I know that this is going to take time and huge amounts of effort from both myself and my colleagues (luckily the other US History teacher is one of my best friends), but it is something that my school would really get into and it is the type of work that the International Baccalaureate program (the organization/program that my school is a part of) is looking for from students. I have heard that really good change in a school can take anywhere from 3 to 10 years to accomplish, so this is something that I'm looking at building on over the next several years, but I'm really looking forward to it, and it feels really good to feel like I am starting to work on it right now - even if it is just a small start.

CEDu 521 - Week 1

Having gone through 2 years of education about education at Stritch, I have learned a lot about inquiry based learning and it's positive effects on students. I really enjoy giving students an opinion-based question, historical problem, or something of the like and letting them run with it. This means that I really enjoyed this weeks readings on project-based learning. I have only been teaching for one year and I tried this a couple of times. There were some good things and some bad things, but there is a lot of opportunity to grow and build it up into something much more grand. I plan to one day have a classroom where the students go from one project to the next and make it through almost all of American history - the fast moving one's anyway. For those that don't move as fast, they would hopefully still get more out of what they did do, but still be allowed to advance their learning and skills. The most important thing to understand about this is that it is not going to happen overnight - it is going to take years to develop, but it is years that I am looking forward to. I can't wait to talk more about this in class.

534 Week 5

This week, I learned two things that I will definitely use in my classroom at some point.

The first idea that I got was from Paul Andersen and his discussion about Twitter in the classroom. I think that I am definitely going to create a Twitter account for the different classes that I teach so that I can post what we did each day in class. I can post the homework, when students will have a test or assessment due, and maybe even days off and fun things like that. Another idea that he had was to allow the students to give instant feedback on what is going on in the class. He said that any teacher willing to do this would have to be extremely brave - which I am. I would love to have students write their feelings about what is going on in class so that I can see. It would make things a lot more interesting and I could really interact better with them and their educational needs.

The second thing that I took from this week was Blabberize. I love making these pictures talk, especially if I use a picture of a historical person and make them come to life. It's fun for me and I know that I can have fun with it with the students too. If I am ever gone for the day I can create a picture of myself speaking and leave directions for the students - they would get a kick out of it. I also look forward to having historical figures discussing things like Facebook and the Internet, and also having the historical figures insult kids in my classes.

CEdu 534 - Session 4

I think that I got more out of this week than any other week so far. I really look forward to using podcasts/screencasts in my classes. I want to make screencasts for new websites that I am teaching the students to use so that they can watch and follow along with the screencasts instead of just listening to me then trying to get them to do it. It's way better than just giving them a handout with arrows and directions. I also look forward to telling historical stories on podcasts so that they can potentially download and enjoy listening to them on their multimedia players.

After swearing that I would never get a Twitter account, I have to admit that I am kind of enjoying it. I'm not sure that I'll use it professionally that much, but I can see the point to it. I have actually started to use it for my family. My parents like to keep tabs on what me and my brothers are doing so I decided to start posting more of my recreational activities on there. If my dad has questions about what I'm doing, he can always call me, but just for daily updates he can check out Twitter.

Bachelor Party - You know he's awake

Bachelor Party - You know he's awake
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

This is my friend Dennis. He got 1.5 hours of sleep then drove up to the Dells to spend the day with us playing paintball. He was pretty tired when he got back to the hotel. Even when he's extremely tired he still seems to have the ability to draw a crowd.

South Milwaukee Flooding 2008 - 12

South Milwaukee Flooding 2008 - 12
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

This is normally a quaint a peaceful waterfall on the Oak Creek in South Milwaukee. After those torrential rains in 2008 it burst its banks. Normally it flows in between the wall on the right and another wall just like that on the left that is just out of the picture.

I included this personal picture again because I just love to see how drastically nature can change things so quickly and then go back to normal.

South Milwaukee Flooding 2008 - 5

South Milwaukee Flooding 2008 - 5
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

Nature unleashing all of it's fury on South Milwaukee Wisconsin in 2008. After massive floods raised the height and power of this normally calm, peaceful suburban stream, the waters tore down previously healthy tree and ripped it, literally, limb from limb.

This is a personal pictures and I included it because I love the way the wave action is caught being so violent and you can see up close how powerful the water is.

Northern Canada 2

This was taken after Justin and I got the pictures with the moose family. We stayed in a lab that was actually a well equipped and massive igloo. Surprisingly warm!
A Night at the Museum - 1
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

The Jurassic

A Night at the Museum - 9
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

Justin and I decided to take our future wives along with us on this trip to the past - the Jurassic Period. This Tyrannosaurus Rex was so busy feeding on a Triceratops that he never even noticed us taking this picture.

Glacier National Park

A Night at the Museum - 8
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

Here Justin and I are, pictured on our expedition to Glacier National Park. We took this stunning image at the foot of one of the largest glaciers. What you can't see is that the glacier rises a stunning 30 feet above our heads while we stand at the base.

Amazonia

A Night at the Museum - 5
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

This is my and Justin's research trip to the Amazon. We were researching small game fish and managed to land this behemoth. We didn't have a camera in the boat, but the locals insisted on putting this fish on display before we could take any live shots of it, so this was the best we could do.

Siberia

A Night at the Museum - 6
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

This is mine and Justin's trip to Siberia. We heard tell that there might be a good spot to unearth mammoth bones, but nobody ever thought that 2 enterprising young Americans would make this kind of find. It took several cold months for us to dig this up by ourselves, but it was totally worth it.

Northern Canada

A Night at the Museum - 2
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

This is mine and Justin's expedition to the northern reaches of Canada. As you can see, we studied the moose. This family actually got to know us so well that they let us get right up to within 20 ft. of them to take this picture. Unfortunately the snow is so bright that the contrast makes it difficult to see our faces.

A Night at the Museum - 4

A Night at the Museum - 4
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

This photo was taken at the museum at one of the Food and Froth nights. I included this and all of the pictures from this trip to the museum because my friend, Justin, and I had this idea when we were there that we would take pictures in all the different parts of the museum and then create an album making it seem like we actually went to all these places around the world. So here we are after taking our time machine back to the 1880 Milwaukee streets.

I don't want to have to include it on all the next pictures from this night - but I am including these pictures and captions like I was really there because I could see doing some sort of historical project like this with my students. While they are all personal pictures, I could easily use these pictures and this album as an example of what I want them to do with historical pictures. All of the historical pictures are taken at the Milwaukee Public Museum and are posted on my Flickr map (as are the South Milwaukee Pictures)

South Milwaukee Flooding 2008 - 1

South Milwaukee Flooding 2008 - 1
Originally uploaded by Matt Wood Esq

Taken in the Oak Creek Parkway in South Milwaukee. I included this because I used to drive by here on a daily basis and the creek was about 10 feet lower than this. After the rains, the creek flooded and it was pretty neat. It's a personal photo and I don't think I could really use it professionally.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

534 Week 3

I was talking about RSS feeds with my practicum librarian. She asked me if I had looked into it all and I said not yet, but I was about to. She mentioned that she signed up for some, but the biggest drawback with it, like anything, is just the time. You only have time to read and do so much, and I understand that RSS feeds are supposed to be a kind of filter so that you don't waste time looking for the stuff to read, but my worry is that I'll sign up for so much stuff that it will just end up being kind of like an email box with a bunch of spam.

Along with the RSS feeds, I've had some trouble getting into the material for this class. Part of it is that I already have so much experience with wikis and blogs. Part of it is that my life has been swamped with real life things and I haven't had a chance to focus on this class. Part of it is that I'm kind of getting sick of LMS classes at this time of year. Part of it is that I'm sick of staring at a computer screen. But for whatever reason(s) I've had a hard time getting into stuff this class.

But then I started getting into and finding RSS feeds that I'm really interested in. I went from really not liking this, to being able to get updates about the Packers and my favorite TV show that is making a comeback this month on Comedy Central. I've started liking the RSS feed feature and will probably pay more attention to it, especially in my recreational life.

As far as picture sharing online, it's really just taking my pictures one step further. I already put all of my digital pictures on my computer, so all that I really have to do is upload them. I'm kind of looking forward to this because I do like to take and share pictures, so this is a lot of fun - plus I'll get to go back through all of my old pictures now!

5314 Week 2

This week I was given a new perspective of wikipedia, but I was not yet convinced to use it as a reliable source in itself. If my students are going to do research on a research project, I'm going to make them use sources that have been reliable for years. If they want to start with Wikipedia and then check those facts from more assuredly reliable sites and sources, fine. But they're not going to use Wikipedia for their entire project.

I think that photosharing could be the most useful tool of anything on the web. There is nothing that students love to do more than look at pictures. The only problem I have is that I teach history. The best way to do this for class might be to share pictures of historical places that I've gone and invite students to share pictures of themselves when they have gone to a historical place, then offer extra credit for them if they put together a presentation about the history of the place they visited.

The fateful day has come for me. I finally have a Twitter account after always saying that I would refuse to get one. I don't like it. I just don't like the idea of it. I understand that it can be useful for sharing links about professional development and hobbies and everything else that is important in life, but that's why we have friends, and why we make new friends when we start going out and doing the things we like. I know that Twitter is really just an online form of this, but it still bothers me. I think maybe it's just part of my personality, and part of it is that I'm not in a real good mood doing this work right now, but Twitter just gets on my nerves. I suppose that I might be able to figure out how to do a project with it if students pretend to be a historical figure and then have to tweet their way through an important part of that person's life.

534 Week 1

As always with digital media classes I learned more about some incredibly useful sites. I would say that I'm more than comfortable with using and trying new things when it comes to digital sources, I just find it hard to find the time to really work with and get into new things. I really like the type with me website (when my computer wasn't too slow to use it effectively), but I also found it kind of redundant. To me, it's not sufficiently different from a google doc, and I don't think that it's any better for having online conversations than simple message conversations or voice conversations over the radio. I think that blogs can be a powerful tool, but I don't anticipate using any of those blogs that we had to go through in class just because my school has an online learning community that is sponsored by the district and kids have already used it with other teachers so they are already comfortable with it.

February 7th

This class has come to an end so fast. While I'm glad that the class is ending, I'll hopefully have another 3 credits under my belt as long as I don't fail any of the work, and we'll have a week off before the next one starts, I really quite remiss that Wednesday is the end. I have mentioned several times that this is one of the most useful courses that I have ever taken. I feel like I have learned so much about all of these fun new programs both for personal and school use. I have created some really great things that I can use with my students and I'm really looking forward to using them. A lot of the work for this class was a lot of fun and educational at the same time. I wish we could go on for another couple weeks (without having to pay more, of course).

As far as this week's work goes, I basically made a whole project along with the rubric for a Pecha Kucha that I would like my students to do once I can get them into the computer lab. This is fantastic! It will force students to speak to the class while giving a presentation without just reading off of the slides in the presentation. I don't really know what else to write about this week, I guess I'm just ready to finish up all the work. Sorry to those of you who have to reply to this, there's not much to reply to!

Aaaargh!

For the most part I have really enjoyed this class and everything has been pretty useful. There are a lot of new that that I think that I really can use in my classroom once I take the time to really learn how to use them efficiently. One of those things is Prezi. At this point, I've been sitting on my computer for about 5 hours on my Sunday trying to do all of my LMS stuff for this week. I started doing my Prezi presentation and everything was going well, flipping pictures, writing stuff upside down, blah, blah, blah. Then I tried making a path to show the presentation. As soon as I started doing that it was like my computer was trying to run through wet cement with 20 pounds weights on its personified feet. I don't know if it was Prezi or my computer or a combination of both but it didn't make me happy or make me want to finish my Prezi tonight.

Anyway, now that I've got that out, it's hard to believe that we only have one more internet class then one more in-person class left, but I'm looking forward to it. I think that all of the stuff that we've been given and all of the programs we've been taught how to use have been very valuable. The only thing is, I feel like I have had no time to try to master them, which is kind of annoying. It's like when you go out and buy 3 CDs, or download 3 albums at a time now, and you really like the first one you listen to so you keep listening to it and you never ever get to listen to the other 2. That's how I kind of feel like this class is shaping up with all of the things that I've learned. Hopefully I can take some time this summer and go back and really do something useful with each of these programs so that I don't forget them. Then by this time next year I'll know what I'm doing with those and I'll go out and look for 10 brand new things that are awesome that I could use but won't feel like learning.

Something that I have been learning about the Presentation Zen approach of making presentations for my classes, it seems like it should be harder to make a presentation because there are all of these rules, techniques, and principles to follow but, when you actually get into making a presentation, it's a heck of a lot easier and more fun than the old way. You don't have to sit down and read through the textbook and pick out which definitions or points you're going to put in there. You basically just come up with pictures and a title, and it's really quite fun! I used to really like making presentations so that they were fun for the students and fun for me using sarcastic quotes, funny but relevant pictures, etc., but now it's even more fun putting myself into the presentation, and hopefully that will get across to students.

For example, I was making a presentation for a class about technology that I teach. Instead of talking about the different things that go into technology, I was able to represent them with pictures. I used a speaker system that all of my students could relate to for the "systems" slide. I used a picture of bright, fiber optic cable to demonstrate communication. Then I gave them the handout as well and they were able to follow along and kind of be part of the presentation by reading definitions and examples.

I really like the www.everystockphoto.com and the other websites for finding pictures. This makes me feel like a better person because this way I know that I am not breaking any copyright laws. The only problem is that sometimes it can be really hard to find a good picture of what I'm looking for. This just helps me to be patient and to tell myself that, "Hey, not every one of your presentations can be done or redone overnight to blow people's socks off. It's going to take time; years." It also helps me to remember that no presentation is static and I should always be working to make the presentation that I gave last year better.

Digital Storytelling Week 2

I've been thinking about how I can use digital stories for what I do since we started this class. Actually it was even before that when I received Presentation Zen over winter break and started paging through it. I am a history teacher right now. I am getting my LMS certification, but only because it allowed me to get my full-time teaching job. As a history teacher, this book and this class have completely changed my outlook on what I want to be doing in my classroom. All that history is, in the end, is a collection of stories. Even if it is just data, that data can be turned into stories. I am making it my unofficial goal, and I'm thinking about making it my official goal in my PDP, to become more of a storyteller in my presentations. I believe that I should be able to have at least one good story with a presentation per unit. I know that as I teach the same class longer I can started building up my stockpile of stories. What I would like to do at this point is just start some brainstorming away from the computer and finding great stories about and from people that have lived throughout history.

I loved Voicethread. Once I got in there and started messing with it, it just got easier and easier. I can't wait to find a way to use this in my class.

Week 1 reflection

I greatly enjoyed this first lesson. I believe that this class has the potential to be the most worthwhile college class that I have ever taken - I hope that it truly lives up to this. I remember back in high school when I would think I would have this great story to tell my friends about something hilarious that happened to me or that I witnessed. I would get into it, but my story would fizzle out real fast and my friends would laugh and I'd laugh because my story sucked so bad, even though what happened was really awesome. We weren't laughing for the reason that I wanted them to laugh. Slowly, I started listening to people who I thought were good story tellers. When I was sucked into listening to somebody I would ask myself, "Why do I like the way this person is talking?" So I started copying those things and now I consider myself a better story teller.

Something that I've learned is that I believe that I can really get into a story and draw people in now. I am excited to use digital media to both assist and tell my stories. I think that this will be a huge benefit for me as a history teacher, because all that history is is a collection of stories. I am hoping that this class will make me fluent in creating all kinds of digital stories using all kinds of digital media.

First class

First night of CED 531 - here I am in class! I am always somewhat weary of learning new technology because there are soooo many new programs all the time that do so many neat things. Then I start learning how to do those new things and they are awesome, I just need to find time to really learn how to use all of them with proficiency. Hopefully, this class will start to help me do that.