Grab some popcorn and lets reflect

How you might use instructional video projects in your teaching?

I can even think about how many times I made a powerpoint when I was in school. I feel really comfortable with the software and the technology behind it now. I was always very proud of how pretty and informative mine turned out to be. But now I will more teachers had come up with new technologies that we could demonstrate our knowledge with. Obviously this takes more time, but I think it would be memorable for the students and in the end worth it.

Finding pretty images on Flickr

Everyone knows that in order to become a good searcher, one must learn how to narrow down the results to get the most beautiful images.

For the recent assignment in this class we need to find Creative Commons-licensed pictures on flickr.

So Say you search for "ice cream."
(550,198 results)

Okay. Too much to handle. Narrow the results by using Advanced search to get Creative Commons-licensed content only.
(69,848 results)

Still far to many. Well, there is a magic button you can hit that will give you the prettiest pictures first.
Ahhh the Interesting button. Where you can find This:


("Holsten's Uploaded on October 3, 2008 by EJP Photo)


("Mister Softee" Uploaded on July 30, 2008 by Pabo76)

I'm going to make a movie project for my students!

Why would I do that?
The purpose is to connect to historical events and people from their previous knowledge of them. It is also a way for me to assess what my students already know so I know what to teach them about Lewis and Clark.

How am I going to go about doing this?
My students will create a 3 min video about what they know about Lewis and Clark from their own lives such as a movie about them, a book, or from a previous class. This video will represent the kind of work your students would create for an assignment.

They have to include the following:
What they know about Lewis and Clark
What their family knows about Lewis and Clark
Where their previous knowledge of Lewis and Clark comes from
And What they would like to learn about Lewis and Clark.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AbHOCDrFF7ARZDVoNG5wdF82MGQ0eHFnM2Rr&hl=en

Perhaps we didn't start the fire..

I like to stick with the Billy Joel theme. First of all, obviously the song is way more than 10% of the work, because the whole thing is featured. Billy Joel is not pleased! There is also a number of other things that are copywritten that would be fine in the classroom, but on the internet it creates a problem. There are a number of clips and pictures shown that are not cited such as: Bowling for Columbine, book covers, movie posters, historical photography, music videos, movies (Elvis) and others. Plus it is unclear where the pictures of the historical figures came from as well. It would have been just as easy to include this type of information in the credits because the credits did exist!



This is one of those viral videos for social studies teachers. I am sure any teacher who wants their students to memorize the state capitals has shown this clip or played this song. This obviously threatens copyright because I do believe that you can buy this song but now nobody has to because it is one the internet! Also, again, nothing is cited. And I have one more bone to pick with this clip... I am quite sure that buffalo never roamed Utah, they are native to the plains! Misinformation in the media is something history teachers battle enough of. Can anyone say disney's Pocahontas?

Personal Technology Project

(Here is a link so you can download it and actually play it) Something that I have decided to make a priory in my teaching career is to teach my students much more in depth about the US presidents and require that they memorize them in order. My plan is to use 3 different ways of teaching to reach all my students and I created this game as a way to review those ways of teaching. My unit plan can be seen here.