I've had a digital camera for years, but until this week it hadn't really changed the way I used photography. Instead of sticking film in an envelope, I stood at the photo kiosk for a half hour every month or so.
I have been carefully filling photo albums for all of my adult life. Yet, it wasn't until last week that I asked myself: Why am I doing this?
I guess it was nostalgia for those childhood afternoons spent poring over the family albums on the coffee table shelf. Turning those pages, I looked into the faces of my younger selves and developed some sort of identity half constructed of memories. I wonder if my kids will get that same sense of transcendence using Flickr.
...
After Week 3's class, I plugged in my camera card, logged on and started to play. It was fun, but when I got to the tags the lightbulb really flickred (couldn't help myself) on. A photo of my son, Nick, holding up a blue gill is tagged with fishing, Nick, summer 2008. If I ever do a compilation of family fishing photos I'll type in fishing and it will pop up. For a slideshow of Nick, I'll type Nick and it will come up again. This sure beats hours spent digging through boxes and flipping through pages - not to mention the tedious task of putting all the loose photos back when the project is done.
I shared my photostream with a few contacts I'd lost touch with over the years and was excited to learn that my cousin, Kate, had stopped for a view. I'm going to take pictures at my family reunion this fall, collect e-mail addresses and invite everyone who is interested to take a look.
Don't get me wrong, I still plan to print out some pictures for my albums and my real blog - the front of my refrigerator - but otherwise it's Flickr from here on out.
Showing posts with label preservice teacher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preservice teacher. Show all posts
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Classroom Culture
Just read Pamela Felcher's "It's culture, not just class size" in the LA Times opinion blog.
This reminds me of something professor Mary Flynn (she doesn't have a blog) told her future teachers the first night of class: "You will have very few problems with behavior management if you take the time to build your classroom culture."
How do you do that?
By taking the time to get to know each student as an individual, by letting each student get to know you, and by letting them get to know each other.
There are many web tools available that have the potential to make students feel part of the classroom community as well as the global community of learner. But these are only tools. It's all in how we present them, teach them and use them.
The human touch is the real link.
This reminds me of something professor Mary Flynn (she doesn't have a blog) told her future teachers the first night of class: "You will have very few problems with behavior management if you take the time to build your classroom culture."
How do you do that?
By taking the time to get to know each student as an individual, by letting each student get to know you, and by letting them get to know each other.
There are many web tools available that have the potential to make students feel part of the classroom community as well as the global community of learner. But these are only tools. It's all in how we present them, teach them and use them.
The human touch is the real link.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
If I Have But World Enough and Time...
I plan to use all the stuff I'm learning in Digital Media: collaborative word processors, RSS, wikis, blogs...
Here is one simple way: I plan to create a blog for reflecting on what I learn while in the process of earning my teaching license.
I'm trying to connect to other teachers-in-the-making (please send me links when you come across them) so we can share ideas and resources and support one another. So far I've crossed paths with a few good mentors willing to share their insights.
And so it begins.
Here is one simple way: I plan to create a blog for reflecting on what I learn while in the process of earning my teaching license.
I'm trying to connect to other teachers-in-the-making (please send me links when you come across them) so we can share ideas and resources and support one another. So far I've crossed paths with a few good mentors willing to share their insights.
And so it begins.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Getting My Feet Wet
This is my first blog, really my first time putting something "out there" for other people to respond to. I feel shy and excited at the same time.
I need to do this so that I can teach students effectively.
In an age of imagination and communication, my subject - English - is more relevant than ever. If I try to teach it to my students using only a pile of dusty textbooks and some worksheets, what message would I be sending them? Why would they bother to listen?
Literature teaches us to think deeply and critically, to tell our stories and connect them to the stories that have been told before, to write and edit with grace and clarity. And to find poetry in unexpected places. English teachers of the past had to work so hard to engage their students. I am an English teacher of the future. Everything is right there for me. Students are already and engaged and doing this. All I have to do is convince them that what they are doing in all those hours they spend online is "English."
There's an article on Louis' Tech-Lou-ology about finding ways to use students' cell phones in the classroom. The last line of the article speaks to the unstoppable power of technology: "Now that the genie is out of the bottle, don't expect it to be put back."
Why on earth would we want it to be?
I need to do this so that I can teach students effectively.
In an age of imagination and communication, my subject - English - is more relevant than ever. If I try to teach it to my students using only a pile of dusty textbooks and some worksheets, what message would I be sending them? Why would they bother to listen?
Literature teaches us to think deeply and critically, to tell our stories and connect them to the stories that have been told before, to write and edit with grace and clarity. And to find poetry in unexpected places. English teachers of the past had to work so hard to engage their students. I am an English teacher of the future. Everything is right there for me. Students are already and engaged and doing this. All I have to do is convince them that what they are doing in all those hours they spend online is "English."
There's an article on Louis' Tech-Lou-ology about finding ways to use students' cell phones in the classroom. The last line of the article speaks to the unstoppable power of technology: "Now that the genie is out of the bottle, don't expect it to be put back."
Why on earth would we want it to be?
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