Why I love Audacity

So I’ve been coaching figure skating for a couple years and for many different people I have to create figure skating music and instead of buying expensive software I’ve downloaded and played around with a program called audacity. Which can not only edit music it can also be used for podcast which if you want to hear a hilarious one please go to my friend Jackie website and she has one about her pet peeves.

But I use the program a little differently with figure skating you want to create music that not only has flow and fits your skater, but you want different piece of music which match each other but also have different speeds. I would like to show you some examples of this below as each piece has taken a lot of time but as I have done more and more I find the pieces go much more quickly together. It actual a hard process as first you have to find the music, blend the music and then make sure it has a definite ending and fits in the time restraint
So here are two of my examples one of the first one and one after I completed a lot more

Solo 2 Tango Inspired

Solo 6

There is a great example of this to a higher level called a mash up, Here is one example of eight songs mashed into one and there are a lot more great examples on youtube.

Mentoring with Students…

Truth is my mentorship program kind of sucks to tell you the truth. In one I’m supposed to read math blogs, which virtually all say the same thing there is little differentiation. Each blog probably answer the assignment given but it does not leave much room for comment from me. I find it hard as I look at it almost like a math journal online which is a uplifting way in my mind to look at it. Each student in their own words writes how they explain theorem, so then if they are having trouble or our out to lunch they can receive assistance. In this case it is a good idea but there is little for me to comment on, as I can see how a math journal is not only done on line but in older classes too.  SO I see the purpose and if I was teaching an upper or middle years math I might use this technique since it is a fun way to do a math journal with students but as for me to comment on blog, I’m kind of at a loss. I’m intrigued by the process and the idea but, I’m sad I can’t really do anything to help them out but I hope by reading there blog they know they are doing right by the math curriculum as thye are continuously critically thinking about math in their own way and not memorize formula like I did. My other mentorship partner told me two times he would send me things but still nothing. So what did I do I check out other parnters and talked to other classmates what are you doing, and some are doing lots some are skyping, blogging (purposefully back), sending flat stanelys and such, which is all meaningful and makes sense. Mine I’m more learning from and getting new ideas about purposeful intergration…

RPG for educational purposes

Role Playing Games are fun and do cause you to think, but do they really have purpose in the classroom? So on March 25, in my ECMP 455 class we had a presentation on RPG and other educational games and their purpose in the classroom. Regina Public has made a teen second life for their students which some teachers are embracing. Here is a video about it…

So I explored second life for a couple hours as I cannot become a member of this site since it is protected by Regina Public. I can see the good things within it such as having the ability to have guest speakers from anywhere, having students work collaboratively with one another to build a replica of something (an example being  done, where they made a Batoche replica on the site after visiting it.) But with technology we have to be careful of the assignments we are giving our students and what are they are actual doing with it, am I right? With second life there is some technology problem solving, but my question is what are we teaching? Are we teaching how to drag, drop and expand or what is the explanation we are asking our students to give with these assignments. I’m sure we all had the experiences with educational games where we are just drag and dropping and not actually learning and retaining in a lot of cases these are the websites we see.

I personally love RPG  such as (sims or GTA, I’ve been obsessed at times)  but, I wonder will the students loose interest like I did with these games? If we push programs like RPG are we in danger of making this boring or not giving students enough variety in our teaching strategies. I think the answer is if you do use these types of programs remember moderation, its not quantity but quality.

In our second half of the class we had Sylvia Martinez speak to us about the potential for gaming in education, which besides the google application class I think was the best speaker we had. She worked for Xbox and saw the potential of the gaming as for educational purpose and decided that in many cases the games that were deemed educational were not in fact but sadly drag and drop games where you didn’t need to know a thing (which I totally agree with). So she decided to take up the cause and is now making and promoting real educational games. Which involve strategies and problem solving skills which have the students really think about what they are doing and not aimlessly trying to solve a problem. A great example of this is when I interned in my school there is a program called tux type (which I have see) and in the game section of Tux there are games where if you have to hit certain letters on the key board to pass a level,  students figured out strategies to excel at the game without knowing the skill. Some would hit all the letters on the board at one time, some would continue just but watching one column and pressing the single letter that came that one letter. Most students abused the skills these games were trying to teach.So before buying into any educational games check them out and think what are the students really learning here?

Words that wouldn’t make sense 10 years ago… well at least to me

The technology dictionary, have you ever heard a term that you just don’t know like blog, wiki, tweet, tweetideo, ipod, nano, etc. And when you ask the person using the term there in disbelief that you didn’t know the term, well this is happened me and not just with technology, but with slang or other terms that I just didn’t know, so instead of looking stupid I look it up online which helps me a lot out of bad situations.

so here’s the techonlogy dictionary which I love:

http://www.webopedia.com/

Heres the one on slang, trust me this one is funny yet informative

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

And for all you Twitter Geeks like me I want you to test your tweeting personality, which one are you?

http://mediacaffeine.com/network/the-14-types-of-twitter-personalities/

Professionalism in Education

In our society, the skill, education level and knowledge of educators has caused some organizations to deem educators to have achieved professional status. The steady evolution of this term over the past 50 years has left many members of the teaching profession wondering, what are the implications and responsibilities that result from working in occupation that is granted professional status? Some members of society are still resistant to the idea that teachers should be referred to in a manner that was traditionally limited to occupations such as doctors or lawyers. However, maintaining professionalism provides an extra incentive in the field of education to follow polices and bylaws which set a minimum standard of behaviour for each teacher. Even though, educators and their pupils deserve and require the guidelines and regulations that STF uses to accompany professional status, the responsibility of teacher does not end at that point. Educators should expect more of themselves than the STF sets as minimum allowable level.
According to Young, there are three unique widely accepted definitions of professional. They are:
1) Members of the occupation possess a knowledge base on a certain subject that was both at a formal institution and is continuously learning throughout their careers about information that pertains to their profession.
2) Members of the occupation distribute a vital service to society and are held in high regard.
3) Members of the occupation both embody and regulate a code of ethics for not only themselves but for other members. As a result, professionals hold themselves accountable and look to others within their profession for advice and direction, (Young, 276).

Despite Young’s assertion that teacher’s occupy a semi-professional sphere, during my teaching and educational experience, I have learned that teachers meet all three criteria proposed by Young’s definition. The fact that I was held to a higher standard than others around me was especially true in the rural community I worked in. I have spent four years in university, but once I leave I will be require of myself and be required by the STF to engage in a continuous learning circle and look for opportunities to better myself and my pedagogy for my students. Young’s second criterion is also met. Teachers provide a vital service for all society as they make all other profession possible, preparing the youth of today to be the wave of the future. The final criterion is the one that I believe is most important. Teachers owe it to themselves and their students to live by a code of conduct. I believe individual educators should be self-regulating. If a teacher does not hold him or herself to the highest standard of accountability, he or she will be doing an injustice the profession. Where Young argues that teacher is considered semi professionals, I see with my beliefs and values that not only is teaching a profession it is one which you must live by.
The STF agrees with the proposition that teachers are professionals. According to the STF website “there is a public trust regarding teaching practice. …[T]eachers in Saskatchewan are given this public trust because they have the professional qualifications required to carry out their roles and responsibilities in working with students.” This public trust provides the STF with another reason to devise laws and policies, created both by and for teachers, such as the Teachers’ Federation Act (2006). This act informs educators that their conduct both on and off the job will be held to a high standard. The STF has also increased teacher accountability by establishing bylaws such as the Code of Professional Competence (2008), The Code of Professional Ethics (2000), and The Code of Collective Interests (2000). These standards set the bar, telling teachers that they are expected to adhere to each bylaw. These statements also enhance professionalism by providing a reference when discussion occurs surrounding professional development or teaching practices involving a student, parent or even another staff member. The STF’s protection of this framework allows members of my occupation to be considered professionals. The STF’s Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct provides an initiative that further strengthens the probability that educators will be accountable to others that are both in and rely on teachers. I believe all teachers should be reaching for a level of excellence in the field of education, as teachers must be continuously learning and striving to meet the needs of our students, giving them the ability to reach success within their lives.
The STF believes that professionalism can be view on two dimensions. The first is an ideological dimension. This dimension gives teachers the freedom to do what they know to be in the best interest of not only their work but their client (the student). The second is the individual dimension, where the people in a particular profession are to carry certain ethics that are actualized in their work and to uphold standards that are socially expected from them. If these frameworks are not upheld schools will become obsolete. If a teacher is not attempting to better his or her students to prepare them for life outside of school, than they have no business being a teacher.
When entering the teaching profession you enter into a social contract with society. This contract stipulates that you are a teacher, both in and out of school and as a result you must act accordingly and ethically wherever you are. When interning a rural community I found this especially true. At time I felt like I was in a fish in a bowl and was being watched constantly. I had to be aware of my actions as they could/would have repercussions. An example of this happened when I went to a senior hockey game, Monday morning the it seemed the student body not only knew that I was at the hockey game, but were under the impression that I was dating one of the hockey players. I was not but a good friend of mine from back home was (I tagged along to visit). I learned quickly that in a small community you are being watched and people expect to you to uphold a certain image. People are sending you their children/world everyday and expect you to not only teach them the curriculum but life skills as well. As STF representative Ken Moore said “teacher professionalism is a public trust” (Moore, January 29,2009). This public trust requires that you do what is right for the child and help them grow into successful, contributing members of society. If you are not living your life morally than this public trust/societal contract can be broken. If this breach happens, not only do other staff members, parents, and administrators know, so do the students. It is impossible to teach a group of students who do not respect you.
Another topic that Moore addresses is relationships with students. As a person who has been and will be a member of a professional occupation, I agree that you cannot be the students’ friend as you must first and foremost be their teacher. Drawing this line is very important in all teacher/student relationship as if it becomes blurred, you are not adhering to the social contract which comes with your career. At moments, you do need to be caring and compassionate to students, especially in my specialty of elementary education. This is reflected in my philosophy as I think every child deserves a chance and sometimes to give them this chance you have to be willing to open yourself as they share their problems.
A good example happened during my internship. By remaining in the teacher role a students was able to diverge personal information to me about abuse. As a member of a team involving staff members and social services, I was able to help that student get out of that situation and into a safe environment. This student trusted me enough as a authoritative figure to know I was going to help, but felt unthreatened by my demeanor to approach me and ask for help. By looking out for the best interest of the client/child I was upholding not only my contract with the STF but that of my social contract to society.
As a Saskatchewan educator I am expected and am responsible to raise the status of the profession, support other teachers’ in their practice, model norms of a self-regulating profession and establish and maintain the STF professional code of ethics. In my opinion, this should be ingrained into all educators. We are given the opportunity to enrich the futures of our students. These policies all aid in raise the status of teacher into professional. Educators, attend university and colleges to begin to craft their art of pedagogy. They continue to rework and remold, as they are consciously learning at how to become better. Educators put more hours and work into their careers than members of any other profession. While take the time to help our client/student find their calling in the world and succeed in most instances, we take fourteen years to reach that success? What other professional occupation can say that they spent fourteen years of process to on their product? Educators are and forever will be professionals as long as they are always held accountable to society, administrator and most importantly themselves.

The CIF in Saskatchewan Pros and Cons

The Continuous Improvement Framework (CIF) is an initiative by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. It is designed to aid school divisions in the planning process to improve certain areas by providing strategies, support and a means to measure outcomes. According to the Ministry of Education the ultimate goal of the Continuous Improvement Framework is to strengthen teaching and learning for improved student outcomes.
The CIF system is not perfect and may lead to disadvantageous outcomes. The Ministry outlines the objectives to provide province-wide types of standards. As different school divisions face different issues, this type of standard setting may force school divisions to divert resources from important local issues. Also, each school division must report their progress on a yearly basis. The pressures associated with such constant reporting requirements could cause teachers to react as if they are on a chopping block and create incentives to focus on raising test scores. In this scenario, teachers may improve their standing in the eyes of the ministry while simultaneously shortchanging their students.
The particular goals of the CIF may also lead to unwelcome results. Currently, the CIF is anchored by four provincial priorities that can be found on the ministry website. These priorities are Higher Literacy and Achievement, Equitable Opportunities, Smooth Transitions and System Accountability and Governance. When examining the Higher Literacy and Achievement and System Accountability and Governance priorities, Jan Chell made some compelling arguments about why some teachers view these initiatives with reluctance. According to Chell, the major apprehension teachers have regarding the CIF is that measuring these priorities will require the government to administer more standardized tests. As a result, teachers will become fearful of having students score poorly on the test and become overly devoted to teaching the test. This type of teaching stresses product over progress and will hurt students within the system.
Chell’s writings on the potentially disastrous results of relying on quantifiable measures to judge student success are particularly important when the United States is considered. In the U.S., school’s have been compared to each other based on tests scores. Test scores are generally higher among children with affluent parents. If funding becomes contingent on these test scores, students who are already in a position correlating with success will benefit from increased resources while those students that are disadvantaged will be left further behind.
Although the C.I.F. system does have potential drawbacks, I believe that the four objectives, if properly implemented, will prove beneficial to any school division. As Saskatchewan lags behind much of the rest of the country and the world in literacy (AFL, CAT, PIZA), making literacy a priority could prove a useful adaptation for our learners.
I also believe that our low scores can be accounted for by our diverse, growing populations and our former reliance on the traditional tranmissive model, lecture style of teaching required that the student primarily be a receiver of information. The Ministry of Education’s focus on supporting change from the transmissive model should improve the education of students in Saskatchewan.
I also think that measurable goals relating to transitions will make it more likely that an issue that is often forgotten practically will be given sufficient attention. During my time as an elementary school teacher, I have seen the importance of providing smooth progression through the school system in the early years of formalized schooling. This provincial priority reinforces the idea that members of a school must work together in order for a student to be successful. Skills must be built-on and improved in each grade, rather than compartmentalized into a specific year. Following the CIF program will require teachers to continually check the progress of students and work with colleagues to ensure that the transitions from grade to grade are smooth. This course of action will decrease the drop out rate and provide greater opportunity for students to be successful members of society.
The last priority of the province’s CIF program is System Accountability and Governance. I believe requiring educators and administrators to exhibit a certain level of professionalism is appropriate rather than unreasonable. The Ministry of Education ensures that teaching professional are doing all they can to help students succeed. Laurie Gateski, the vice principle of Henry Braun, presented us with a particular strategy presentations that provided accountability for teachers while adding value to the assessment process: pre-testing and post-testing. This practice, which is slowly becoming more widespread, allows educators to see both where the students were when starting out and where the students are now.
In my opinion, the Ministry has chosen initiatives that are very broad. Constructing the initiatives in this way ensures that each school division has the freedom to mold these broad guidelines into something helpful for their specific school population. I also do not believe that the government has made educator accountability a priority in order to fire people. Instead, by placing importance on providing educator’s with proper professional development, the priority allows educators who are having problems to receive the necessary help to ensure they are doing everything in their power to give their students a good education.
Other features of the CIF are beneficial. By narrowing down the number of prime initiatives to four, the ministry has made the planning stage for school divisions sufficiently manageable. Allowing teachers a legitimate voice in the CIF planning process (through allocated days in which teachers meet in groups called Professional Learning Communities [PLC]) helps school divisions focus on goals and allows teachers to work together as partners to build a stronger school system for their school division. Since the school division and the school educators generally are working cohesively to better themselves the objectives proposed by the school division should not surprise members of the PLC. However, in the event there is a disagreement between the two parties, the PLC group can respectfully and professionally voice their concerns to the school division. If successful, this type of exchange of ideas could result in positive changes for the students. If unsuccessful, the lines of communication remain uncoloured by disrespect, ensuring PLC’s and school divisions do not become forces working against each other.
PLC’s have other advantages. The PLC system creates more groups united by a common interest. These different organizations reduce the odds that “groupthink” will take over and good ideas will be left unsought or unsaid. While no school can be perfect, all can continuously improve. PLC’s provide a great opportunity for teacher’s to experience personal growth and to see how colleagues are working towards similar objectives.
During my internship, I have had the opportunity to take part in multiple PLC’s. While no two PLC’s were the same, I found it significant that in more cases than not, teachers exhibited high levels of professionalism. From what I saw some teachers used the PLC to begin planning for assessment (pre-testing and post-testing). The teachers worked together to come up with assessment strategies that they could use to measure their students success and then shared it with one another.
In my opinion, the CIF generally improves the state of education in Saskatchewan. It makes teachers accountable for their actions and encourages professional collaboration. By describing the strategies broadly, the ministry has ensured that schools are able to adapt these goals to deal with the school community’s particular population and dynamics. This flexibility allows each school division the freedom to improve in their own way. Through PLC’s, the CIF allows teachers to mold objectives in such a way that individual student growth and group improvement are both possible. By working collaboratively towards a goal, teachers will help students achieve smooth transitions and will develop needed styles and ideas that will work for students. Jan Chell said it best when she stated, “the goal of the CIF is not to ensure that one child in your class will succeed but instead to ensure every kid who walks in your class will succeed.” (Jan Chelle, March 5, 2009).

Itunes is for more…than music

Holy smackaroons! Okay I’ve had Itunes for years and I never knew all the wonderful things it could do, all I usually do is use it for music and placing music on my ipod. I’m ashamed to say I’ve actually never explored the entire program all I’ve known is that it can make CD’s, moving pictures, movies and music to my ipod, I know quite sad isn’t it. I’ve always had the notion that it was just for music and that you had to buy everything, because in a store all you can do is buy stuff how many stores just give you so many things for free. I have not been a big podcaster to tell you the truth but once I started looking and started thinking about my interest like figure skating and cooking but wow there is so much out there I didn’t mind the podcast but I really enjoyed the videocasts what a great idea, what a great way to demonstrate things to others especially if its specific. I also liked how you could specifically put in categories and you could pick and choose what you want (some free some not).

One which I found after searching was one by Tom Sextro who is an a tech director of a school division and teaches and show educator how to embrace and use technology in the classroom. The podcast I listened to was short and to the point and to learn more about have a homemade smartboard in the classroom I actually visited his website. I am always intrested in way to get technology in the classroom which are cheap, because as we know technology is expensive and not all school divisions have the money or iniatives to imporve technology in the right ways. So I urge teacher to check out this new SmartBoard which is easy on the wallet.

All this information I gained from the internet and it all started with one little podcast, which then lead me to the creators website, which lead me to youtube where I found Johnny Lee ( the video was actually from TED talks but uploaded to youtube), which lead me to his website and he agrees with me that accessablity needs not only to be for a select few but for everyone. I’ve uploaded one of the video of Johnny Lee which I hope you like? Wondering if there is anyone else out there I should look at…

Oh yah I’m wondering what other think of Steve Wozniak on Dancing with the Stars, I love it!

Video Digital Editing

In my Ereading class we have been going out to residencal school where the children are way below average or can just not surrive in normal school. My student is completely ESL and knows little it anything about the written english langauga, but we are making progress, which is a good thing. He is beginning to read phonemes and has started blending them together this is a huge jump from were we were in february where it was just the names f the letter. So any ways my studnet is quite hyper and does not like to sit still for very long also he hates doing activities without purpose, so what do I do. Well I bring my laptop and my camera and we talk about digtial moives and I promise I will help him make one, the first day is all experiementing with the camera and the computer because they are two new items which are in our environment that he has never used before. Like the idea to slide your finger on the pad was abnormal to him but he soon got it. He had a lot of fun in one day and how I taught langange is on the slides (pictures) he took of people I had him write a sentence about each person it was a wonderful exercise and we are definately expanding on it on Thrusday as I had his total engagement and he worked well and hard with the camera and that what I want to see. This is a video I did at the beginning of the year about me and I hope my student will be able to do this too.

Facebook Status

I’m addicted I’m not going to lie, I was away for the weekend and when I finally returned home what do I do I go on facebook to see what everyone been up to I need to get my fill some way and I have to make sure I am not behind in any of the gossip. The worst part I’m not the only one, just shows us how the connected we are and how connected we need to be after we realize how important connectivity is to us. I love love love this video and after seeing Jackie Zaba facebook page with her video I had to post one myself…