MVHS Pathfinder - Issue 1

February 2018

Issue 1

MVHS PATHFINDER A Newsletter for MVHS Teachers who like to wander

THIS ISSUE INCLUDES: ___________________________________

PODCASTING IN THE CLASSROOM ___________________________________

GOOGLE EXTENSION OF THE WEEK: DRAFTBACK ___________________________________

POSSIBLY USELESS: COLORZILLA ___________________________________

ARTICLE OF THE WEEK: Age of Distraction- Why It’s Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus

This Week’s Issue Podcasting in the classroom Incorporating student voices into the classroom can be a powerful tool for engaging students.

This issue discusses a few options for creating podcast in the classroom.

Draftback If you have ever wanted to quickly see the changes students made in a Google document Draftback can help.

ColorZilla You love that color on a website and you want to use it for a presentation, document, or image for your classroom, but you don’t know the color.

ColorZilla identifies the color and much more!

Article of the Week This weeks article focuses on teaching students the skills of attention.

MVHS PATHFINDER

January 2018

Podcasting

Issue 1

Podcasting in the Classroom When creating podcast for the classroom, both by the teacher or by students, there are a number of options. Some allow for students or teachers to edit and create complex podcast (of the quality of something on the radio or through iTunes) while others are useful for short and quick recordings that focus on spontaneity and ease of use. Below are some options teachers can use to bring podcasting into the classroom.

Start That Podcast! Edutopia Article Vocaroo Vocaroo.com is first on the list because it is the easiest service to use when recording audio. This ease of use comes at a cost however, as it does not have many options for editing the podcast.

Students can share a link of the podcast with teachers or download the recording to share with a teacher. If you want to know more click on this link for a short tutorial.

MVHS Student Example: At this link

Photo courtesy of KEQD News TwistedWave TwistedWave has a lot more options than Vocaroo. Students can edit their recording as well as save it directly to Google Drive. If you want to take a look at a short instructional video for TwistedWave you can do so at this link here.

SoundCloud SoundCloud is probably one of the most commonly used resources for recording audio. It allows students to also choose an “album� cover for their podcast. One of the nicest features of soundcloud is the ability for teachers and other students to add comments to a recording. This is a great way to give feedback to students. If you want to take a look at an instructional video for SoundCloud click this link.

Inspired By Serial, Teens Create Podcasts As A Final Exam Mindshift Article

MVHS PATHFINDER

January 2018

Google Extension of the Week: Draftback

Issue 1

Google Extension of the Week Have you ever wanted to see inside a students head as they completed their school work? That question of “what were they thinking?” haunts teachers everywhere. While you may not be able to completely see inside a students head when they work, DraftBack does allow you to see the writing process of students to some degree.

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While you may not be able to completely see inside a students head when they work, DraftBack does allow you to see the writing process of students to some degree.

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Draftback takes the revision history of a document and plays it back as a movie.

Teachers can speed up or slow down the movie. What this does is illustrate what students wrote and when. If you notice students have a big chunk of text appear at once, then this may a sign that the student was copying something or someone.

Additionally, draftback provides a document data/summary that illustrates when a student made changes, for how long, how often, and where in the document changes were made.

Click to View Video MVHS PATHFINDER

January 2018

Possibly Useless

Issue 1

Click to View Video

Possibly Useless: ColorZilla-Color Picker This weeks possibly useless tool is for those people who have spent hours trying to find the perfect color for their presentation, website, or document.

ColorPick is a tool that makes finding that perfect color much easier.

ColorPick allows the user to click on any website, or image in chrome, and the tool will instantly tell you what the color is. Not only will it tell you the color it will also tell provide you with the HSV and RGB, which can be used to replicate the color in anything from a Google Document to a Microsoft Powerpoint. In the classroom ColorZilla can be a way to “spice� up presentations and instructions with colors that are not part of the default colors used in most software.

MVHS PATHFINDER

January 2018

Article of the week: Age of Distraction

Article of the Week: Age of DistractionWhy It’s Crucial for Students to Learn to Focus

Issue 1

Research on concentration and attentiveness shows that the ability to concentrate is the strongest predictor of success. With research finding that more than IQ, socioeconomic status, or the family you grew up in, the ability to concentrate was more related to future success than other factors.

Katrina Schwartz article in Mind/Shift is a good summary of what we know about students, technology, and distractions in the classroom.

Schwartz explains how, not only are teachers concerned about student use of technology, parents feel as well that more and more homework that is done online leads to distractions. What the research shows is that these concerns are warranted, and this is why teaching students how to concentrate and shut out distractions is incredibly important.

Dale Golemann a psychologist and author of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence emphasises that teachers need to cultivate skills of attention.

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The real message is because attention is under siege more than it has ever been in human history, we have more distractions than ever before, we have to be more focused on cultivating the skills of attention.

-Dale Golemann Psychologist

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Golemann emphasises that the parts of the brain that are wired for managing emotions are the same parts of the brain that are wired for managing distractions.

This part of the brain also oversees keeping emotions in check and empathizing with others.

This means teachers need to be more mindful themselves about how they are teaching students mindfulness and attentiveness.

Goleman does not advocate removing technology from schools, as this would not prepare students for life outside of school, where technology is a constant distractor.

Instead, the focus needs to be on modeling how to take breaks from technology and focus intently on an activity. Part of this is expelling for students the “myth” of multitasking.

Students need to be told and expected to focus on one task, rather than having “continuous partial attention.” As Coleman says “It’s about using the device smartly but having the capacity to concentrate as you need to, when you want to.”

MVHS PATHFINDER

January 2018

Hardware & Software

Issue 1

3D Printers!

The Information Learning Center (ILC) now has three 3D printers. If you want to gather some ideas of what is out there to print, you can take a look at thingiverse and other resources online.

Large Format Printing Reminder the large format printer is up and running! If you want a poster or large format image printed fill out this form.

What are some ways you can put images on your classroom walls that make students feel more “known� and part of your classroom?

MVHS PATHFINDER