Tableau Vivant - "Living Picture"

Tableau vivant started as a form of entertainment, then a form of art photography.  Today it is also used as an educational tool. 

Our tableau vivant activity was to take only three pictues depicting the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. While the ant toiled to prepare for winter, the grasshopper was carefree and did not have the foresight that ant did. When winter came, the ants were prepared while the grasshopper was starving. I thought the activity was a great group activity that everyone contributed to. It made the story much more interesting and memorable than if we had just read it.

Beyond just being applicable to art class, students can reenact important scenes from a novel, play or story and capture it with pictures. That same concept can be applied to historically significant  moments that students are learning about in history class.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Photos by Picnik

Using Picnik is great way to edit or revitalize your pictures! It offers basic editing like cropping and "auto-fix", effects to change your photos to black and white, night vision, pencil sketch and more! This is a useful resource for anyone who loves taking and sharing photos - you can make the most out of any shot and add variety to an scrapbook or album.

Copan Ruins - Honduras - I cropped, auto-fixed, and added a frame.

A sign in Portland, Maine - I used "Neon Sign" to change the look of this photo.

My Boys, Before

My Boys - made even cuter: I started with auto-fix, then cropped the photo. Next, I added a rounded edge and a border. I used text to write who is who and finally, I used the furball red-eye touch-up on Hank. 

Library Bill of Rights Wordle

Create your own Wordle

Standard For My Content Area

I plan on becoming a High School Library Media Specialist.
The standard I am using for this semester:
AASL Standards for the 21-st Century Learner

Incorporating technology into activities can benefit students with different learning styles.
For visual learners: having resources available for lessons filled with images, graphs and maps
Auditory learners: incorporating MP3 players into the school in addition to having a wide array of videos available
Kinesthetic learning: These types of learners "learn by doing" so incorporating role playing, games, experiments and models in addition to having students get up and get involved with lessons, not just sit still.

About the Blog I Read

The Power of Technology Blog - This is a useful blog about Education Technology by Liz B. Davis, Director of Academic Technology at Belmont Hill School. Even just reading through the first few blogs there were several things that I took note of.  There was praise for Chip Health's Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard, I have been hearing about this book a lot lately, and need to read it!
This blog also had a really comprehensive "Ed-Tech Blogroll"
The most recent post was about the much lamented by the blogger and blog followers September 4th New York Times article: In the Classroom of Futures, Stagnant Scores It was an interesting article, and made me realize everyone is not in agreement with the importance of technology in schools. Working in a higher education environment where technology is at the center of everything and just starting out in the Educational Technology program, I haven't really read about any opposition to technology in education. The article claims that there is not a lot of research on the subject and the research that has been done "...does not establish a clear link between computer-inspired engagement and learning."Is this true? It is something I need to look further into.

Teddy Bears Go Blogging

Brenda Sherry's "Teddy Bears Go Blogging" details her revamping of the iEARN teddy bear exchange program. Instead of using e-mail, Sherry uses blogging. I think it is such a creative use of technology, pen pals 2.0! The article points out that using blogs can be an effective way for teachers to spark students interest in writing. The students were actually excited about the project and looked forward to working both independently at home and in groups at school.
Blogging can be also be a tool that helps with learning internet safety as they learn about other cultures through their pen pals. Students write about the adventures of the bears at school and at home and can include photos.  Others can comment easier which encouraging the students even more. Students at all grade levels can benefit from experience with blogging.

What I want to learn in MD 400

I am excited about this class and how much experience I am going to get with a variety of technology. I am looking forward to gaining experience with Photoshop and podcasting.  I have been able to work my way through Photoshop a little bit, but I would like to feel like I actually KNOW what I am doing. I am already finding useful tips, for example the Google form, that I think I can use in the current position.  I am also looking forward to creating a web site to see how they come together.  I am taking everything in and always thinking how I can apply this to what I do now and what I plan to be doing in the future.

Learning Styles

I have taken similar quizzes in the past and had a good idea where I would fall. There were no real surprises for these quizzes. For the learning styles quiz I am logical-mathematical, visual-spatial and intrapersonal and for the "what's your style" I am a visual learner. I preferred the “edutopia” learning styles quiz over the other since there were more specific learning styles, not just the broad three. The mantras were a nice touch.

The implications for teaching are that as teachers we will have to keep in mind that students are going to have a variety of learning styles. Knowing students learning styles can help teachers be better prepared. The best way for one student to learn may not be the best way another, so teachers need to learn to adapt. Technology can offer assistance and can open up more possibilities for students to learn and study in a way that is consistent with their learning style.

MP3 Homework

Knapp’s MP3 article was very informative and I was interested to see an example of technology changing the way students study and learn. The traditional classroom is changing and educators need to know when to embrace new technology as a teaching aid.  Some students just put off their reading assignments because they don’t want to sit still for that long. If using a MP3 player means actually listening to the chapter assigned, then it can be a very positive impact on a class. The article pointed out that technology trends are changing the way people are educated. Teaching methods need to be constantly evolving to keep up. Using MP3 players can enhance students study practices and make learning more fun.
As a future library media specialist, I realize it is going to be an important part of my job to bring the newest technology to the school.  It will also be important to encourage teachers to implement the new technology if it would be useful in their subject.
As others have mentioned, students' ability to multi-task is pretty impressive. I do think that doing so many things at once can mean you are not necessarily doing the task as efficiently as you could be. This could just mean an increase in time spent studying, a student might have to study 3 hours for something if they are listening to music checking email and Facebook or going back and forth between different assignments as opposed spending less time completely focused on the one task. While reading the article I was getting concerned that reading less would result in poorer reading comprehension skills, but the article claimed that listening to books encourages reading. I think that MP3 players can be a great tool for educators.