[Replicable Practices] Hello, it's me. I can't believe it's been 512 days since I last saw you. I miss you too. Ancient but always useful - RSS & Newsreaders

Wow, has it been that long? I cannot believe so much time has passed since my last post. Curious? I was. I took a moment to try and calculate how long it has been since my last post (in other words I tried to find a date-to-date calculator). Thanks to timeanddate.com I figured out that it has been 512 days from my last blog entry to this day or 1 year, 4 months, 26 days.

Alternatively, for those that like this sort of math stuff it has been:

• 44,322,383 seconds
• 738,706 minutes (rounded down)
• 12,311 hours (rounded down)
• 512 days (rounded down)
• 73 weeks (rounded down)
• 140.55% of a common year (365 days)

So why not follow up with an equally ancient web tool, RSS & Newsreaders.

This little unfamiliar icon refers to a news feed, or a Rich Site Summary. Web users can use a compatible browser or a news reader to stay informed. Users are able to stay informed by getting the newest information posted from the websites you most frequently visit. As an example this blog (shameless I know). Still confused? Check out the YouTube Video.

CommonCraft. (2007). Rss in plain english [Web]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/0klgLsSxGsU

My Thoughts on RSS as a Replicable Practice:

Imagine if you were gathering up to date / minute news on a current event or scientific discovery. Perhaps you are a history teacher covering a particular day in history or a technology teacher tracking the Internet of Things. Using an RSS enabled internet browser or news reader not only saves you time but also allows you to be right up to date to provide timely information to your students.

This makes teaching easy.

Well that may be a bit of an exaggeration, however managing, consuming, broadcasting and reproducing information found online has become more manageable, more efficient and more personable, more exact and more relevant. Can I get a little help on how to choose the sweetest oranges?

Copied Directly From Wikipedia.org - RSS

Several major sites such as Facebook and Twitter previously offered RSS feeds but have reduced or removed support. Additionally, widely used readers such as Shiira, FeedDemon, and Google Reader have been discontinued having cited declining popularity in RSS. However, RSS still remains a widely used standard. RSS support was removed in OS X Mountain Lion's versions of Mail and Safari, although the features were partially restored in Safari 8. As of August 2015, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer include RSS support by default, while Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge do not. Additionally, reader services such as Feedly provide synchronization between desktop RSS readers and mobile devices.

[Replicable Practices] Sir Ken Robinson - RSA Animate: Changing education paradigms

Robinson, S. K. (Lecturer) (2010). Changing education paradigms [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Comments:

I had to watch the video a few times before I began to understand the concepts that Sir Ken Robinson was referring too. When I think of education reform I think of it in terms of Newton's Cradle.

Some external catalyst or motivation begins the motion to reform education. In this case the catalyst for educational reform is the preparation for the changing economy in the 21st century and the the maintenance of cultural identity. Both in my mind very valid starting points to trigger reform. Using Newton's Cradle then the ball represents the idea of an education reform. Once the ball or reform is released it goes through a series of cultural and societal institutions.

Each institution takes a piece of that reform, absorbs it, and in turn (hopefully??) uses it to change educational practices. However, if with each transfer of idea the only thing that takes place is the absorption the reform eventually stops. In other words the pendulum stops swinging since all energy has been used. What needs to happen in order to keep the pendulum swinging is a reinvention and application of a particular educational reform so that new reforms can contribute back and redistribute ideas (energy) back to the institutions thus maintaining momentum.

Educators need to embrace the new reforms which in many cases do not come from the professionals or other institutions but from the learners themselves, the students. I like to think of myself as the student rather than the teacher.

[Replicable Practices] YouTube: Test Taking Strategies

An expectation in the General Learning Strategies (GLE) class is to model test taking techniques. I have found the Paul Devoto's YouTube Channel that covers this topic.


A description Paul has wrote for his Test-Taking Strategy Videos:

This series shares the best strategies for improving your score on multiple-choice tests. The episodes are produced by Paul Devoto and hosted by math teachers at Jonas Salk High-Tech Academy middle school in Sacramento, CA

[Replicable Practices] Teacher Tube - Edutainment

TeacherTube

Finding resources that will help me Entertain/Educate (Edutainment) students has been difficult. Aside from trying to infuse interaction with technology in lessons or assignments I often rely on flashy/catchy informative YouTube clips to help me grab and sustain their attention. Based on the familiar YouTube site I discovered TeacherTube.

[Replicable Practices] The power of an Apple iPhone and iPad to transform classrooms!

Apple iPad

For a long time whenever anyone mentioned an Apple computer I immediately thought of two things, graphic designers and classrooms. I suppose one reason is that Apple themselves marketed and aligned their products for a particular market.  Secondly it may have been the ease of use and availability that guided Apple computers into those segments.This thought had me thinking of the new Apples products such as the iPhone and iPad and how they could potentially transformation classrooms.

Google search "hand held classrooms" and at the time of this post about 2,950,000 results were found.

Here are a couple of PDF articles worth reading

• Mobile Learning and Handheld Devices in the Classroom by Robby Robson, Eduworks Corporation, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.
• The Handheld Classroom: Educational Implications of Mobile Computing by Mark Finn and Natalie Vandenham from the Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society.

YouTube search "hand held classrooms" and at the time of this post about 302 videos resulted plus 567 videos under the search "classrooms of the future" and "Ipad in the classroom".

This shift is going to happen.

[Replicable Practices] My Team on TEAMWORK!

On June 2 2010, I had the privilege of presenting and working with a group of exceptional teachers. A sincere thank you is sent to Genevieve McDonough, Julie Cosentino, Lisa Gambardella and Bernie Costa for their hard work and preparation that went into preparing our 30 min presentation. Each teacher utilized their talents and put on a great infotainment production.

References:

 Simari, M. (2008). I wish I knew then what I know now, so I can know more: A handbook of successful leadership practices. St. Catharines, Ont.: Brock University, Faculty of Education.

THOMPSON, D. (2002). Teachers and teacher assistants: building effective relationships. Retrieved from http://www.uleth.ca/dspace/bitstream/10133/840/1/Thompson_Dawn_M.pdf

[Replicable Practices] Food Inc. Hungry For Change?

Hungry For Change?

Taken directly from the Official Food Inc. website:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Food Inc. is an excellent documentary that in full or in part should be shown in class. The accompanying educators manual can be used in part or as a complete package, however, I advise you take a look at it for yourself since there are many visuals and topics that might want to advise the student's parents the type of topic that you are going to present.

Food Inc. can easily lend itself nicely into various curriculum strands. I have used specific sections as a topic of discussion for a media awareness unit and critically thinking component.

The official Food Inc. website also has a trailer of the movie. You can find additional videos and discussion guides on the educational material page.

[Replicable Practices] Conversation "Video" Sparkers!

I really like the series of videos from the Shift Happens series. I find that these series of videos are great conversation sparkers. My experience in showing them is to create a spark that ignites a really great debate. I have watched the video and come up with a series of questions that I ask before the video and then again at the end. I use them to guide the discussion, however in some classes I find that the students initiate the conversation. I normally let them be and guide only if necessary. I find that showing them at the end of the year the students can take their prior knowledge, merge it with their new knowledge and altogether have a new schema around certain topics.

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[Replicable Practices] I will stop procrastinating . . . tomorrow!

One of the topics that I cover is my GLE class is the topic on avoiding procrastination. I always begin each lesson with a replicable practice that deals with a hook or an attention grabber, or any other unique way to motivate interest in the lesson. Many times I turn and seek assistance from a very close and dear friend of mine, YouTube.

Tales Of Mere Existence: "Procrastination"