I had intended to read this one through the weekend, but to be honest, it’s a quick read, and I was rather into it, so I stayed up and finished it last night. Now, I need to preface this review with something… Continue reading
Teach Like a PIRATE Book Review #tlap
This seems to be the summer of reading… wait, aren’t all summers summers of reading? No, hold on, reading is always good, summer or not. Well anyway, enough of that. Recently, I finished a great book by Dave Burgess, Teach Like a PIRATE. Let me tell you, it was a treat.
Now, let’s start out with the nitty gritty. Yes, the word PIRATE is all in caps. That is intentional. Work with me here and we will get to that.
Collaboration and Google Apps for Education (GAFE)
Yesterday, I participated in a great discussion about utilizing Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for collaboration. Tweets were flying back and forth with great ways to collaborate with peers. One of the things mentioned was that not all teachers are comfortable using EdTech to collaborate. In fact, there are many that are not comfortable with collaboration at all, EdTech or not. In the interest of giving some level of comfort to everyone, I decided this would make a great topic to blog.
Easy Ways to EdTechinize a Classroom
Yes, I created that word…. EdTechinize. (well, I think I did at least) Lately, several people have made statements along the lines of how difficult it can be to bring technology into a classroom where there has never been tech before. More than a few fellow teachers have asked about easy ways to start to try bringing it in, so, VIOLA, here you go. Continue reading
Teaching Science using EdTech
Ok, so yesterday I delved into teaching History/Social Studies using EdTech. While I started that as more of a personal flaying of myself for not having noticed just how under-taught history is in schools, it turned out to be a rather interesting and popular topic.
So, on that note, I am diving into the area of science. Another of those courses that often gets a raw deal. There are A LOT of teachers out there who are only concerned with their subject area. It’s the old “My subject is the most important yadda yadda yadda” syndrome. Or, the really vulgar thoughts, “My subject is tested this year, it counts more.” Continue reading
Teaching History with EdTech
It’s good to be back in the swing of things. We have been on a little road trip/vacation. We had the chance to visit some of the Lincoln historical sites in Springfield, MO while on our trip. Watching my daughter take in the history was eye opening. My daughter has always been well read, and very interested in learning. However, it wasn’t until we were at the Lincoln museum that we realized just how ‘under-taught’ she was in history.
Twitter, the Ultimate PLN and Global Connection
Twitter. People either love it, or they hate it. Those who hate it, tend to hate it vehemently. Those who love it, swear by it. You will find a few that fall somewhere in between.
Twitter has the ability to be incredibly powerful. Using Twitter, you have the ability to reach tens of thousands of people extremely quickly. That reach can be compounded through retweets. So your potential audience is HUGE!
An 11 year old girl learning to solder, mount components, and a bit of how things work…
So, yesterday, I posted about ARRL Field Day. We went to the W5UMS field day operation, and had a great time.
Ben, WF5N, held a how-to session on how to solder. While my soldering skill existed before going, I would not say it was great, by any stretch of the imagination. My daughter had never soldered anything before.
Upon arrival at the Lafayette County Central Fire Station, we were greeted by numerous amateur radio operators, or “hams”, who were anxious for field day to begin. We made our way inside to the area Ben intended to lead his session.
Ben stepped us through the process of mounting electrical components to a printed circuit board. He took the time to show my daughter how to solder correctly, and we were off and running. Following a combination of the schematic, and Ben’s input, my daughter managed to construct a home made “home brew” Morse code oscillator.
I was extremely impressed with how quickly my daughter picked up soldering. She had nice, neat work, and was a stickler to making sure everything was neat on the board. Ben did an excellent job of teaching, and a great time was had by all.
When we finished the oscillator, we moved over to the antenna station. We intended to construct “Tape Measure Yagi” antennas. Several of the members of the W5UMS club were assembling them while we were working on code oscillators, so by the time we got there, we had the benefit of their experience. I had my daughter do the bulk of the measuring, while I did the cutting. Everything came out as expected, and we got it assembled and tested relatively quickly.
As if the building of some cool home made tech wasn’t cool enough, my 11 year old daughter got to get on the radio. She made several contacts all over the country.
We would like to thank the folks of the W5UMS Amateur Radio Club, the Lafayette County Fire Dept., and all of the hams who made yesterday a great experience for everyone. I would especially like to thank Ben, who took the time to lug all his equipment and components to the site and set up, willing to work with us on our building projects.
All in all, this was project based learning at it’s best. Amateur radio offers many opportunities for students and adults alike to be involved. Take the time to do a little searching, and see who is around you who is a ham. Odds are, they are more than willing to help you and your students experience ham radio. Another fine resource is www.arrl.org, a site full of great information. Ham radio gives students not only the technical side of the hobby, but hams are big into public service as well, something we tend to miss out on in school all to often.
So, as we say on the radio,
73 (look that one up if you are curious 🙂 )
ARRL Field Day, a different kind of EdTech
Today, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), begins their annual field day. Field day was initially designed as a way to allow Amateur Radio Operators (hams) to practice operations under less than ideal conditions for emergency preparedness.
Today, with the availability of technology such as generators, solar panels, etc., the exercise is less about emergency communications, and more of a contest and learning opportunity.
I will be spending a large portion of my day at the W5UMS Field Day, here in Oxford, MS. I will use a portion of my day to operate (talk to people around the world), and another portion to learn to build some things I am not so familiar with.
One such item I will be building with my daughter is a “Tape Measure Yagi”. This is a directional antenna that allows one to focus their radio signal in a single direction. I want to build one so I can show my students how at school, and my daughter will learn to solder, practice measuring, and so forth in the process as well.
Additionally, I will teach my daughter to operate the radio herself. She is studying for her Technician Class license, and this will help keep her motivated. I am currently an Amateur Extra operator (K5ATA) and Cyndi is a Technician (KD5YGK). We hope to have several kids come by so we can teach them a little “old school tech”.
The term “Old School Tech” is actually a bit of a misnomer. Radios have progressed over time, and now fully interface with computers. We have full digital modes where hams can operate and type messages using radio waves. These have the added advantage over voice communications in that they require less output power to travel great distances.
Each year, I try to get at least a few kids licensed. This is a way for students to have real world interaction with some rather complicated math, electrical theory, and communications skills. Not to mention, kids really enjoy getting to connect with others around the world.
If you have a few spare minutes today, visit the website arrl.org and look for a field day operation near you. You never know, you might just learn something new.
Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
I recently finished reading a great book, by Matt Miller, called Ditch That Textbook. For those of you out there who are at least considering the move to being more paperless, I highly recommend this book.
Miller describes his transition to getting rid of the traditional textbook in his foreign language class, a journey similar to what we have experienced doing the same in our English classes. I rather like that Miller does not just paint it as a happy go lucky experience, where everything went perfectly. He kept it real, which is what educators need. (though not always what educators want)