Thing #19

Teacherpop Ning:

I signed up for an account on the specialized social network teacherpop. It was not too difficult. Unlike other social networks I have explored, there is a wait period while the administration of the site approves ones application for membership. This makes me feel a little more secure. I have had some paranoia about Myspace, the reasons for which involve a bad experience another teacher at my school had that I described in an earlier post here. Plus the fact that our administration says, (and I'm paraphrasing here), "DO NOT HAVE A MYSPACE!!!" Anyway, the wait period made me feel better. I don't know how effective whatever administrative check they do will be at eliminating abuses, but it made me feel better none the less. I posted a reply to a post by my instructor, Dr. Wall at APSU in which she asks people to post lesson ideas for using Web 2.0 tools. My post did not appear right away so I'm not sure it made it. I did come up with an interesting idea though, I think. I will paste it here so at least someone will read it sometime hopefully.:
I was intrigued by a Podcast I found "The One Minute How to" . In this podcast, various experts explain how do do anything form how to wax cross country skis to how to find a publisher to how to file a tax extension. The gimmick is that they must do this in less than 60 seconds. I was thinking about a one minute how to that students could do on ACT problems. I think the students would find it exciting and interesting to work within the strict time requirement and would develop organization, and verbal communication skills as they attempt to develop an explanation that fits with in the time limit. I have always read that one of the main characteristics of good business communication is that it must be concise. Assigning students to look through an ACT preparation booklet, pick a problem, and produce a 60 second or less Podcast would serve many useful educational purposes. Obviously it helps them review for the ACT. It gets them comfortable with technology. It forces them to think about not just the solution but also how to explain the reasoning. Finally it develops communication skills that will be valuable to them and to the company or organization they end up working for. If social networking sites were involved with this or bookmarking, one could get other students around the country involved and soon there would be a wealth of resources available. What a good "warm up" it would be to put up an ACT problem on the computer projector screen, have the students spend 5 minutes on it and then listen to the 60 second podcast. In less than ten minutes I could do my roll, take care of other clerical duties and have a meaningful engaging warm up for class. If there were lots of these out there bookmarked, it would be almost effortless to set this up each day.
It took me a while to find the tiny "get badge" button at the bottom right, but putting it on my blogger was easy once I did so. I can't believe that I am beginning to kind of understand what html code is and where to paste it and what it does. I'm learning a lot form this class. I still would rather be outside doing something fun though.