Thing 14: Podcasting and Bookmarking

Well, here's something I can get behind: Gov. Rick Perry's collaboration with Texas Education Agency to create Texas Education on iTunes U.  I love that iTunes U provides free resources for the classroom.  I looked around at the content available on the Texas iTunes U channel- and, while I think it's great for other subject areas, I didn't see much that I could use in my 6th grade or 8th grade English courses.  One video, however, stood out.  It's a McAuliffe MS E-Tutorial video on the literary element "plot."  I make a big production of teaching "plot" by doing an interactive lesson, comparing this literary element to a ride on a roller coaster.  My kids love it- but come test time, they don't always remember how the "rising action" is different from the "falling action," or the definition of "exposition."  I could use this video in different ways.  Since I already enjoy what I'm currently doing to teach "plot," I don't think I'd show this video in class.  But I could use it as part of a "flipped lesson"; my students could watch it at home, and we could talk about the different aspects of plot the next day in class.  I could also make it available to my students as a study tool, a video that they could watch to help them prepare for a short story or novel unit test.  The video's not perfect-and there's a loud cough about half-way through- but it gets the job done: It helps students visualize "plot" while giving explanations of the events in a story or novel. 

In terms of Bookmarking, I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of Pinterest.  I pin all the time- while sitting on the couch, watching TV...on my phone, as I'm standing in line at Starbucks.  When I was engaged, I pinned ideas for my wedding.  Now, I'm pinning home design ideas.  But I've also started pinning educational ideas, and I follow some teachers who have fantastic ideas about writing, literature, classroom organization, and the use of technology in the classroom.  Here are some of my educational boards: The Classroom, The Classroom: Grammar, The Classroom: 6th Grade Literature, The Classroom: 8th Grade Literature, The Classroom: Writing, and Teaching with Technology.  I'm not the most organized of people, so Bookmarking works great for me.  I love being able to click on one of my Pinterest boards and viola!- there are all my favorite ideas for me to see. 

Here are a few more thoughts on Pinterest: In the interest of copyright laws and ethics in general, with the exception of most of the educational pins (because they usually link back to the original poster), I try not to pin anything without giving credit to the source.  This is true of everything from photographs, interior design, wedding cakes, and wedding dresses.  I will go out of my way to search for the original source/creator and add that information, and I hope my fellow pinners do the same.  Another observation: I have been disappointed in  a few of my fellow teachers' unwillingness to give Pinterst a shot for its educational value/potential.  For example, I was recently excitedly talking about my educational boards with a fellow teacher, and her dismissive response was, "Pinterest?  Isn't that just for pinning home design and wedding dresses?"  And she followed that comment with, "You really shouldn't be signed onto Pinterest at work."  The implication was that when I was on my educational boards (and no, I do not pin images of curtains and paint colors between the hours of 8:00 and 3:30!), I wasn't doing my job.  I sent her the links to my educational boards, and she didn't respond, which made my kind of sad.  I have definitely improved my curricula and expanded my knowledge of instructional technology through the use of Pinterest.  People, don't knock it 'til you try it!