I Took a Risk, and I Feel Fine!

Clearly, it's been a while since I last posted. I have had every intention of returning to this blog more routinely, but today is the first day since November that I've felt compelled to do so.

I was tasked to write a protest song for a class that I'm taking, one focused on issues of social justice. Since I've been busy teaching, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to muster the creative energy required; but, after listening to some cheesy music (with some rather sketchy lyrics), I felt a masterpiece bubbling to the surface!

Perplexed by the allure of Nicki Minaj, I felt compelled to use one of her songs, Starships, to write about the civil rights issue of same-sex marriage. Although I'm not a fan of Ms. Minaj, her song's melody makes a great canvas (my daughter and husband might disagree after hearing me rehearse for hours).

I've had students create the most amazing music videos for my classes, but this was my first attempt to do the same. Having gone through the process myself, I have even more admiration for the amount of hard work that song writing and recording takes.

After experimenting with Garage Band and another iPad app called VocalLive, I discovered that doing a voice over is not that easy. I could only get part of the song to upload to Garage Band! I ended up using two computers, my iPad to play the music and Audacity on my PC to create the MP3, as a last resort.

In the end, after hours of work, I am pleased with my final project. I know that my vocals are a little hard on the ears, but the process taught me a lot about the importance of integrating technology. A project like this is a labor of love, even if it's not perfect.

Reflection on an Idea Gone Wrong

Having seen some inspiring, teacher-created blogs (such as the one created by @mseideman, called "Not Another History Teacher"), I have been feeling some pressure to make more of an effort to incorporate blogging into my own reflective practice. One of the reasons that I've been reluctant to do this sooner is a fear that I don't have much to say that anyone else would want to read. As I begin to jump into this process, I am giving myself permission to write, without feeling the compulsion to make every entry a masterpiece. I hope I'm up to the challenge.

Deep breath...

Last week, I published a blog in an attempt to start a discussion about a new online history course that I recently learned about, called the Big History Project. At the urging of my professor, I created the blog as a part of a requirement for a class I'm taking, with the idea that the site would provide a service to other educators, while helping me to build my PLN. At the start of the process I asked some colleagues and peers for feedback. While I received some useful feedback, no one made mention of the fact that I might want to reconsider including a silly little Animoto video that I'd created as an experiment (and in my haste to publish, I didn't think much about it myself).

To make a long story short, I posted the blog, along with the vapid video, and potentially repelled would-be readers from the site by wasting their time and distracting them from the site's purpose.

It wasn't until I received an unsolicited tweet asking "What are you attempting to do in this video?" that it occurred to me that I'd inadequately failed to remember my audience when creating the site. My face and neck burning with embarrassment, I deleted the video and reminded myself that failure is often the key to growth.

Lessons learned:

1. Using technology for technology's sake doesn't do anyone any favors.

2. Asking for constructive feedback from friends and colleagues is important,
but the most meaningful feedback might come in the form of an unsolicited
message on Twitter.

3. Being transparent on the web may expose one to ridicule or embarrassment,
but blogging about it publicly somehow feels right.

Google Power Search Course

So far, I've only completed three sections of the Google Power Search course. In the process, I have learned some fast ways to filter my searches by color, date, media type, and Creative Commons attribution. I have also learned how to get Google to define an unfamiliar word for me, in English, and then translate it into the foreign language of my choice. For my GED588F2012 course, I was asked to comment on ways that I might integrate some of my new learning into my instruction with students. One of the things that I've already been able to share with my students is how to filter their search of images/video/text/music to find Creative Commons licensed works. Many of them had never heard of this! I have also shown them how to use Google images to define their searches, using the color filtering and the "more" function, and I've showed them how to use the Google "goggles" program to find images that look similar to something mysterious that they might want to identify (a confusing historical artifact for example). After bringing in some mystery objects for my students to identify, I managed to stump my class with one item. Using the Advanced Search function, I showed my students how they could photograph the mystery object, use the Google "googles" program, and then attempt to identify the object that way. While they were not successful in getting a definitive answer about the mystery object, they were impressed with the potential for this search function.

Salem Witch Trial Simulation

Check out this SlideShare presentation for an engaging way way to introduce the Salem Witch Trials.

Brian Thomas' Salem Dot Game