My final reflection, done on Empressr!
Sorry I wasn’t able to embed it into this post…I tried and tried but could not make it work. It can be found here.
Enjoy!
Author Archives: adriennedechief
Collective Cadenza
As I am doing K-8 Arts Ed. in the fall, I have been thinking of ways that I could incorporate technology into my classroom. I have been introduced to a YouTube channel, Collective Cadenza, who have numerous music videos that look at a variety of different topics. They are not songs, but use different types of music to teach about music. I would love to use one or two of these videos to engage a class, as well as introduce a project based off of what the CDZA video talks about. I think that this is something that would get the students excited about music and make it seem cool in a different way.
COPPA
Child Online Privacy Protection Act…COPPA!
In ECMP355, we get to discover all the different tools we can find online that we can integrate into our schools to help engage our students and create exciting, relevant lessons. However, one thing we do not talk about are the things we need to be careful about-privacy. In an elementary setting, we are working with a younger group of students, from ages 5-14. If you remember when you signed up for Facebook (or really any other social media site), it asked if you were over the age of 13. Why 13? Because, according to COPPA, this is the age that divides types of protection for children online.
COPPA is US legislation that sets out the regulations for websites dealing with personal information of children under 13 online. They are not allowed to have any personal information posted online for those children. While this is an American law, and technically does not apply to any other country, the social media sites we use are from the states, so use that as the rule. It is in their ToS, so anyone on that site has to follow it, regardless of country.
I read a blog post that was very well written a few months ago, with research done by a mother with a 12 year old daughter who was making the decision to let her daughter go on Facebook or not (unfortunately, I cannot find the post again, but I am searching!). She found out a lot of information that stopped her from letting her daughter on Facebook.
- Under 13s cannot have their personal information online (name, birthday, location, occupation, likes, anything)
- Privacy settings for 13-18 year olds are automatic, and the information is under lock and key-only their friends can see anything that they do
- Advertisements cannot be shown on the pages of 13-18 year olds
- Once children turn 18 years old, their privacy settings become open
The crux of this is, once the child “turns 18” on Facebook (even though they may only be 16, because they joined at 11), they are treated as an adult, and all of the privacy measures on their accounts go (visibility, advertisements). That is not good. And illegal.
This is something that I think that needs to be talked about to us as we learn about integrating technology into our classrooms, because it does need to be brought to our attention, because in Canada, we simply don’t know about it (or, at least I didn’t.)
For instance, last week I was at the school where I did my pre-internship, and I was excited to see a big bulletin board with the big Twitter “t” on it. The 7/8 classes were all using Twitter in their social studies classes. I thought this was really cool-they are using what we talk about in school. There were print-outs of Tweets that the students had sent on the board, and it looked really good. Unfortunately, there are some students who should not be on Twitter, because they are only 12. I assume that the teachers don’t know about the laws, otherwise it wouldn’t have been done.
In conclusion, there is a lot that we need to learn about the other, more serious side of incorporating technology into our classrooms, and make sure that what we are doing complies with COPPA and the ToS of the sites we use. I would love more information on what people do or know about the privacy laws, so please comment.
Can You Hear Me? (Tech Task 7)
My cell phone is working 🙂
After listening to Liz Kolb’s session on mobile devices (a little late, but it did happen!), I have lots of ideas of ways that I can integrate technology into my teaching.
One thing that would be super useful is simply the camera and video cameras that come on many mobile devices. Doing Arts Ed., assessment is difficult and can take up a lot of class time. If my students had a mobile device to record their work (a dance or drama) I would be able to review them to give detailed feedback for their work. It would also take away some of the nervousness and awkwardness that comes with performing in front of one’s peers. While I do believe that live performances are a huge part of performing arts, this is another way students can create and share their work-especially if they use editing tools (combining visual art and dance/drama/music).
I would love to use some sort of audio blogging tool in my classroom. Sharing with others online is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in our society and I would love to be able to have my students share what they create. I know that Liz talked about AudioBlogger, but I wasn’t able to find an app for that on my phone (maybe that system is old). Is there an app that works well for audio that is easy to use and free that anyone knows of?
I also think that EdModo is a fantastic tool. There is so much that can be used. I like the fact that it is all internal, so student information does not get out, which is something we need to seriously consider (check out my next blog post!). In EdModo, students can create their own blogs-with this, I might have them do some sort of arts journal (something that my co-op has her students do on paper). I also love the library tool-I would upload videos, audio files, and images for my students to view and use that to prompt their work or to reflect on (in their journal blogs!). Finally, the badges are a fun way to reward students for their work…it is like when you get a star sticker on the star chart-it is really fun and the students get a feeling of pride.
Lastly, I have used Remind101 on the student end, through groups and classes that I am in, and think it is great for reminders and for getting last minute notices to all the students. I have also been on the teacher end of it, setting my co-op from my pre-internship up with it to use for the students in the musical. She really liked it and it was nice to be able to get the message out to everyone quickly. We scheduled notes to go out to the students at the beginning (ie: Lines and music need to be completely memorized in one week!) which was nice to get that small admin stuff out of the way. I don’t think I would use this in my internship, because I am not going to be involved with anything that will need frequent reminders, and I am only with that group for a little bit.
There are so many options for using mobile devices in the classroom and I am very excited to explore Liz’s website to see what else I can use it for (classroom management?! 🙂 ) Thanks Liz!
Kinky Boots!
3 Notes to Start:
- Strange, slightly uncomfortable title, yes. Please read anyway (I promise nothing bad will come!)
- The craziness of the title makes it catchy! (Thanks for the tip Sue Waters!)
- I am seeming to be on a roll tonight… 🙂
I am an avid Broadway fan (you should see my iPod..). Tonight is the biggest night in Broadway…the Tony Awards! I had a wonderful evening watching some fantastic musical numbers (including lots with kids…it was the year of the child and I was shocked and amazed by the remarkable young talent!), amazing Broadway stars, both new and old, and of course, the host, the fabulous Neil Patrick Harris! (I could go on for days about him!) However, I will get to the meat of this post, not go on and on about everything, because I definitely could!
This year’s winner for the Best Musical was Kinky Boots, music and lyrics by Cindi Lauper (Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Time After Time, True Colours); libretto (or book, or script) by Harvey Fierstein (who I love…he originated the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray on Broadway!); and directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell (who won Best Choreography for this show as well). It was destined for greatness with a group like that. Now, you may be wondering, what exactly is Kinky Boots (because it doesn’t sound like anything really good..). It is the story of a young man who inherits a shoe making shop from his father. He makes boots, but doesn’t like it, until he meets Lola (who is played by a man…Harvey Fierstein loves the cross dressers!) who shows him it is okay to be yourself and do what you want, not what is expected of you. Then, they make pink, shiny, 2.5′ high heeled boots. (What can I say, it is a musical…good old fashioned cheesy fun!)
What I love most about this is the message (although the songs and dances are catchy fun). Be who you want to be. Do what you want to do. You are your own person, not who someone else expects you to be. Kinky Boots isn’t the only show that has this message. I can think of two more, very well known musicals that tell us the exact same thing: Hairspray and High School Musical. Yes, they are cheesy. They do have great dance numbers and catchy tunes. But most importantly, they have a fantastic message.
Maybe Broadway has overplayed the message a bit (not surprising…those stages are filled with people who have been ridiculed and pushed away from their dreams), but I think this is so important for us as teachers to emphasize, because our classrooms are growing increasingly diverse. We have the responsibility to show our students that it is okay for them to be whoever they want, that they will still be accepted and loved by those who matter most. It is a tough job, especially fighting against the rest of the world who isn’t quite as open to differences, who influence their children.
What are ways that we can help students feel comfortable in their own skin? How can we show them it is alright to be someone just a little bit different?
Where Are We Headed?
I stumbled across this document on Twitter this evening, from the Twitter handle Libraries and Learning, retweeted by the STF Library. It is a document outlining technologies coming out and their impact on teaching. If you click the link for the short list, it outlines different technologies and their expected years to come into effect. This relates directly to our ECMP355 course, as we are looking for new technological tools to bring into our classrooms. I think it is really cool to see what we have to look forward to as well! (Wearable Technology!?!)
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life…Some Inspiration?
This past semester, I was asked to speak at the Faculty of Education’s Celebration of Academic Excellence. It was quite an honour to be asked to speak to my peers, and I raked my brain for weeks about what I could possibly say. The prompt that I was given was about challenges that I have faced during my time at university. It was tough-I am lucky to not need to work throughout the year and I have a supportive family behind me. I felt there really isn’t anything that I was challenged with in any way more than my peers.
What I came up with is my own personal journey in becoming more organized and less stressed with life in general. This is something that I have been working on for two years, but was truly inspired this past year by one of my music professors, Dr. Dominic Gregorio, who I had the pleasure of singing under in both Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, as well as learning from in my Choral Conducting class. Dominic’s philosophy is to keep out the negativity and see the good things in what is around us (a great example is when we still had snow at the beginning of April, he said numerous times how beautiful the snow is, and the landscapes we get to see are unique to our province, while we complained about it.)
Below is a copy of my speech. I hope you appreciate some of my journey, and maybe be inspired to make some small change in your life 🙂
*This was uploaded and embedded using Scribd, a really easy and free way of posting documents online 🙂
*Here is a video of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, from Monty Python’s Spamalot
It is the sing-a-long concert version, so no dancing, but the best sound and lyrics!
Let’s Make a Circle…It’s Story Time! (Tech Task 6)
I love the idea of digital storytelling, and can definitely see myself using these tools in an Arts Ed. classroom, for students to use to create as well as prompts for their own creations.
For this Tech Task, I chose to create stories using Five Card Flickr and creative prompts from The Daily Create.
Five Card Flickr
(I know we were supposed to embed these, but mine would not work…all I would get are the codes when I would preview the post. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :))
This was extremely easy to use, once I got past my internet connection issues. It was nice to be able to pick out which pictures I wanted to use (out of a set). A challenge would definitely be kids not being creative or not trying to think of ways to use the pictures. I would love to use this in the classroom in multiple ways: for students to create stories for drama or dance inspiration or to create collages. I could also use it to create prompts myself to present to my students to work from.
The Daily Create
Audio:
Record a sound familiar to you, but strange to others (creak in the stairs, whine of an engine)
Take a listen 🙂
(it is the clicking of my keys on my laptop)
Writing:
Write a story from the point of view of your favorite food, but don’t say what it is. Make us guess.
Check out my previous post: Intro to Daily Create!
Photography:
@IamTalkyTina wants to be everyone’s friend. Make a photo that represents that kind of friendship
An edit (albeit quite simple-I am not a photoshop expert!) of my friends for @IamTalkyTina! (who that is, I have not a clue)!
I thought that this program is easy to access and there are posts of varying difficulty or time needed. A challenge I found with it was needing to get accounts on Flickr and SoundCloud, which, while it is not difficult to do, it might be a challenge to do it in the classroom with privacy and parent permission. However, I could still see myself using Daily Create in my classroom, particularly because I want to be in an Arts Ed. setting. There are some really creative prompts that I would use and I think that I could take some and adjust them or create my own for my students. I don’t think I would use this as a daily task for my students, because it has the potential to take up a lot of time, but I might do it for all the classes for a month, or do it once or twice a month for the entire year.
Intro to Daily Create…My Favorite Food (Guessing Game!)
In an awesome, late night Wednesday ECMP355 session with , we talked about Digital Narratives. One tool really caught my eye, , from an online Digital Storytelling course. They post prompts everyday, asking their followers to be creative and submit results in many forms, including writing and photography. Things like this, everyday ritual and creative, pique my interest and I think this is something that I would explore beyond the requirements for ECMP355.
Here is today’s prompt:
Write a story from the point of view of your favorite food, but don’t say what it is. Make us guess.
Here I go! (Please guess! :))
As we hit the pot of boiling water, my skin comes to life, slipping through the water, touching the others. It is hot, the sharp contrast with my frozen skin bringing me to life. My insides slowly cook, fluffy and warm, until we are all pulled out, the hot water leaving us, and we are thrown into slippery, greasy butter, waiting there for a few moments. Stabbed by a fork, one-by-one, we are lifted out of our bowl of butter, and put onto a plate, nestled with sausage, cabbage rolls, and smothered in sour cream and onions.
Delicious!
What Do I Look Like? (Tech Task 5)
After the fumbling of the tech problems from our Monday night session with , we were able to watch a past video of him speaking about digital identity, distinguishing professional and personal lives.
This post includes all three parts of the tech task that has to do with George’s presentation:
Part One:
After watching George’s presentation, I followed him on Twitter and sent him a quick tweet of thanks! 🙂
Part Two:
I, like many others, have googled myself before (for that sometimes needed ego boost!).
On the first page, the first entry is my mother’s twitter handle. Why? I don’t know.
Going through this page, you can see my family on ancestry.com and geneology.com (which wasn’t my doing, but one of my extended family members). Farther down, you can see my involvement in the 1 Second Film (from a $5 donation each of my family members gave when I was 12!), as well as dance in Estevan, my profile on Souris Valley Theatre’s website, on the staff page, then my involvement on city council and on the Education Students’ Society. There are a couple of things on here that I have no idea about, and they have to be me (as there is no other Adrienne Dechief..) and have my picture. They are and . If anyone knows what either of these are, or if there is a way to get me off of it, help would be very much appreciated!
Page two is interesting as well…there are two videos of me from my participation in the university choirs, as well as a couple pages from the Education Students’ Society. There are a couple of other random profiles ( and ). There is also a submission I apparently had when I was in grade school.
There are also pictures of me, which you can see , mostly recent, from participation in various activities and jobs, as well as people who are also on those pages. There are some pictures from the ancestry pages of my long-passed relatives, which is cool for me to see.
Overall, I think that googling myself shows that I have been involved in a variety of things, but does not include any of my social media profiles. I am not sure how to change it, but it will change. Also, I can include information for my about.me page. There isn’t anything bad that I don’t need to worry about (I don’t think) and I am lucky no one else has my name, especially not someone who has a bad rep!
Part Three:
I have created an about.me page (check out the WordPress widget for about.me to your left!). I think this is a really cool site and a nice place to have everything centralized. I really like having the links to Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress, as well as some information about myself. I hope to explore this page some more and be able to really utilize this tool for my professional identity.
Thanks for reading and seeing just what I look like to anyone who is looking for me online 🙂
(P.S. notice the headings? Applying what I discussed in my last post (Better? (Tech Task 4))
Musings 