More Fun with RPC

The students who were absent yesterday started their research projects. It was so fun to say to them"you assignement for today is create a RPC for this project, print it and write down all the answers to Step 1." They all knew what they were doing and got busy. One student who was new this quarter needed help, but not with finding things on my website, other studnets showed her where to go and how to complete everything she just was asking for more information about the RPC!!! She's so excited to have this as a tool for next year at college.

Also today as the studnets went more in depth about their topics they were calling me over to ask my opinion about the reliability of different websites. Whoooda thunk it!!!

Tomorrow I have a challenge, due to IB testing several students will be absent I need to find the right place for a podcast of the lecture they will miss. I'm hoping the district can support it and I can keep it on my web page at school. I will check this afternoon.

Thanks for this opportunity. Over the summer I may even come back here to blog and share my experiences as I learn and do more with the tools I've learned about here.

Pleased and Impressed

I haven't finished with all that I want to but I'm am so pleased and impressed with what I learned and accomplished and with what MILI has shared and taught me. I'm also very surprised to see how easy it was to accomplish the 23 plus 1. I need to spend more time going over everything I've learned and finding more ways to apply it to my classroom. This is the way to reach our students, but more importantly we as teachers need to know more and be better at what we want our students to accomplish using the internet. It's too easy to sit back and say, this is their way of learning. If we don't know what we're doing we'll have no way of helping our students. We still need to know, understand and lead. Thanks for the tools to do this!!

SlideShare

Took a look through the list and Thing 19, Just for Fun. Who isn't looking for fun!! After googling Edutopia I looked through the list and found slideshare. As the article says, it's not your Father's slideshow. This tool supposedly beats "powerpoint." Here's the challenge: tomorrow, Tuesday May 6 I begin my last research project of the year with my classes. I will offer 50 extra credit points for students who use Slideshare instead of powerpoint. The I'll see. It's one thing for me to play with it but how productive and useful will it be for my students? Hmmmm, we will see. Too bad we don't have time. But never fear!! I will post on my blog the results, June 4th is presentation day. Stay tuned.

Podcast: The Beginning

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Playing Catch Up

Being out of the country really puts one behind. And going a tour with your a chamber ensemble also puts you behind!! But all of that is over and now I can catch up.

What fun the last session's homework was!!! My homepage now has many fun gadgets. My favorite 2 are the World Sunlight Map and the webcam. But I'm having trouble gettinga webcam to show up on the window. Having just visited the Seattle Space Needle I thought tjeir webcam would be fun but it won't show up. I need to consult. I also added the document to PDF converter. That should be useful some day.

This class has inspired me to look into technology and I've been looking at possible coursewrok for a master's in education and technology. One place I've looked into is a cohort group through Lesley University. I've also checked out UST and Mankato. We'll see.

MN Link etc

I am now registered at more sites than I ever thought I would be!!! It's OK because I think I will use them with my students. One site, although not of such immediate good use was WorldCat. The big projects that my IB students work involve world music and this year some of them had a lot of trouble finding sources. Looking at WorldCat helped them find several more options and let them see how much information there is out there. It's too late to order the materials for this year but now I'm ready for next year.

Bibliographic Tools

I really wasn't going to cheat and write 2 blogs in one night, especially since I did it last night, but I am preparing for this weeks class and I realized that there are several of these "things" that I have done while enrolled for this class that I haven't documented. As I refelcted on updating my homepage I realized that as this class has unfolded I have been able to add several bibliographic tools for my students to use. One of them is Citation generator, but the best one is the site that is devoted to citing music and all the variations associated with music, from compositions to live performances.

My students have always known that they need to reference their sources. It has always been so important to me that if their bibliography and citations aren't correct they can only earn 75% on their research paper. I don't know if that's a little or alot but their ears prick up when I tell them that the highest grade they can hope to earn is a C if there is something wrong with their bibliography. I just hope their learning and understanding. The best thing about this focus is that they understand that it's OK to write what other people say BUT!!! they must cite their sources. Their research paper is the way they combine their research, not the fact that they have become "experts" in their subjects. That comes later right????

Homepage

I've kept my homepage updated and now that I spotted that as "one of my 6 things" I can blog and reflect. I've added the RPC, an excellent music citation reference, a dictionary of folk music, several other music sites. Pretty cool stuff. As I look through the internet I do add to it. I feel more comfortable with my school webpage and I consider it my homepage. I know my studnets have linked to it so when I add a resource they have instant access. It will be noice when they come up with a way to allow us to have the right passwords to allow our students access to United Streaming. I know they would love to see all the resources there. But then they have YouTube with lots of other great stuff. Hmmm. We need a little of both.

YouTube

Just re-read my blog and realized I hadn't reflected on my experience with YouTube. I was able to find two of the coolest videos. One is an interview with John Cage about his ideas on music and the use of sound and silence. One of his most controversial compositions is also performed on another YouTube clip. In that piece the performer sits at the piano and the piece begins when s/he closs the keyboard lid. The audience sounds and sound occurring in the hall are the "composition." There are three movements and each movement begins with the closing of the lid and ends with the opening. The piece ends after 4'33" when the performer opens the lid to the piano. Kind of strange watching a video of it but there it was!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HypmW4Yd7SY Here's the link to watch for yourself. Now my problem is how can I use it when I can't access it at school? I've searched teachertube but it's not there. Where do I look and what should I do now?

Streaming Videos

Had a chance to use a video from the Annenburg Media site. How great!!! It was so slick and easy to use the LCD projector and one click and the screen was filled. Also signed up for United Streaming. Wow what a great resource!!! Almost too much to look through. But the kids really seem to enjoy the change from standard videos and naturally from lectures. The best thing about this video was the opportunity for my students to view live performances of world music instruments and performances.

As you sow, so shall you reap

Good seeds are the most important element!! After that is the soil, now one might imagine that it is necessary to have fertile soil but it's amazing when you use "plain ol' dirt." My classes using the RPC have now begun turning in their projects. Across the board I have NEVER had such good results. Of course I will not claim that they have understood everything I've tried to teach, but the improvement in the end result is so wonderful to see!!!

Now it's important to follow through and be sure that the rest of the lessons imbedded in the RPC can be adequately taught. In class we have started the fine tune search words and search engines. It's exciting but daunting to see all the information and all the possibilities and yet to know that there is still such a limited time we have with our students.