A Chat with Mrs. P

Think 18 – podcasts

dlpritchett — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:11:29 +0000

So in my class I am supposed to subscribe to podcasts – preferrably in my subject area. I went through every one and did not find one I like in the science. A lot of people who spend the time it takes to create such things are not really scientists and don’t fully understand what they are seeing, hearing, reading, learning. They follow the skewed ideas of the media that follows whoever gives them the best ratings – those spewing fear (*cough* AL GORE). So, in the time frame I have at the moment, I have not found one. I’ll keep trying though. I’m interested in the science, but I also want to find some good ones that science classes put out there. It just takes patience and time.

Think 8 – Fair Use Reflection

dlpritchett — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:43:10 +0000

The Fair Use Act is one I have studied in previous classes. I took a quiz to see what I knew, and I did how I expected. I know that teachers/educators have access to copyrighted materials as long as we use it in an educational setting – in our classroom. We can also only use a portion of the material; though I don’t remember exactly how much, 20%?

Something that really irritates me, though, is the technology that keeps me from doing such things. I have some great clips from movies I want to show and can’t get them off the DVD. I end up taking the whole DVD in and wasting time finding the section. I want to use Movie Maker and other such things, but I can’t pull the file off. Who do I talk to about that? I want to remind them that I have fair use of that material, and they are violating my rights to use it!! Oh, it’s not my right? Oh, then…okay.

So I’ve been combing the blogs I follow looking at their copyrighting signatures. I can only find one, and it is fully copyrighted since the blogger gets money from selling his science teaching ideas. Hmmm… I haven’t seen anything else for the rest. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Think 4 – Google Reader

dlpritchett — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:59:28 +0000

I found Steve Spangler!! Steve Spangler is a great science teacher featured on news and such that has great hands on ideas that don’t take much. Last year I used a news cast I found of his using Bernoulli’s Principle to roll yards! The kids loved it. If you are interested in great science class ideas, visit Steve Spangler here .

More proof that you CANNOT pop popcorn with your cell phone. And, no, kids, you’re not going to get cancer either!! J

Think 3 – Reflection of RSS

dlpritchett — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:57:18 +0000

There are some wonderful things I can follow – especially with the science world. Scientific knowledge and current science events are ever changing and can be very difficult to keep up with. RSS will help me stay current and bring about some great RELEVANT ideas to my classroom!! I don’t follow blogs because of the time, but this will save me the time!!

Think 2 – Thoughts about Web 2.0

dlpritchett — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:56:19 +0000

I love the idea of the podcast and blogs for the students. I would like to podcast the classes for several reasons:

helps me keep my attitude in class and treatment of students better since I know the parents and Misty could potentially hear every word
students can go back on the lesson in case they missed something
parents can listen to have conversations with their students
more and more…

The Social bookmarks are a great idea to help students with projects and research since they tend to go to other unreliable websites.

The shared spreadsheets are great to use with other science teachers – SO and Phys Sci!!

There are so many applications that I feel a little overwhelmed and want to digest the information before I really start to think and apply.

Think 1 – Reflections on Lifelong Learning

dlpritchett — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:54:00 +0000

Wow – lifelong learning. How important is that? Watching a slideshow about the habits of a lifelong learner got me thinking…(as most things do)…

Most challenging habit for me: To keep my sense of humor. I can get so bogged down in what I need to do and get so task oriented, I forget to laugh at myself. My grandfather had motto I absolutely love:

You have a choice on how to react to anything life throws at you, you can laugh at it or you can cry. Laughing is a whole lot more fun!!

I forget to laugh, though. When I forget to laugh, I get stressed. When I get stressed, I am not fun to be around. When I am not fun to be around, my students will not want to enter my room. If they do not want to enter my room they will not learn anything – period.

Easiest habit for me: Accept failure as a way to learn. As a science student I have found that failure teaches me so much more than success. When an experiment failed, I had to think harder about what I was doing. It was also A LOT easier to prepare the lab write-up than for a successful lab. Some teachers and parents want to take away the challenges and the failures from their children. Remember, students, especially middle school students, are like catepillars undergoing metamorphosis. If you help the butterfly out of his crysalis, you will kill the butterfly. The struggle is what makes them strong enough to live!

Most Important for my class: To accept problems as challenges. I get frustrated when technology doesn’t work as it is supposed to. I personally know some people who like to spend time figuring out why the technology is not working – I DON’T. So, as I work with the new technology for my classroom, I will need to view the problems as challenges and patiently work through them. I can’t call Geek Squad that much!