Ken Bajorek's 23 Things

Thing 11

2012-01-30T11:52:00.000-08:00

What do you like / dislike about leaving comments?

Leaving comments is a good way to give feedback and advice to other people. I have often found that I prefer advice form an individual when it is directed towards me specifically rather than the results I might get if I searched for answers to the question at hand. For example, just yesterday I asked for advice on which software is good for a home recording studio. Sure I used Google to search for information, but this is far less valuable than the specific personal responses I received from other members of the forum.

How did you feel when you received your first comment? Why do you think commenting is so important in online communities?

Receiving comments is always exciting because someone is talking specifically to you. It opens engagement that may not otherwise occur. In the above example when I asked for recording studio advice, the comments I received likely came from miles away. This interaction with someone that is interested in the same topics simply does not occur without web 2.0.

What might this mean for students who share their writing online?

I feel like I sound like a broken record, but the anonymity of the Internet means that the students may get extreme criticism in the comments. If you take a look at any post or video's comments you undoubtedly run across extremely negative feedback.

Thing 10

2012-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

Add comments to the video you embedded. Why did you select it? Were you also able to download a video?

This is an awesome video that depicts the effect of "adding another zero" or in math terms, increasing the power of ten. It's a great video that I use whenever teaching scientific notation or exponents. The Simpsons even did a spoof in one of their intros using the concept.

Thing 9

2012-01-30T11:20:00.000-08:00

What do you like or dislike about YouTube? Did you find videos that would be useful for teaching and learning?
Is YouTube restricted in your building?

YouTube is awesome! I have always maintained that some students can instantly grab a concept if they get another person's perspective on explaining it. YouTube is a seemingly endless supply of teacher created tutorials that are easily found and shared. I distinctly recall an Algebra student that asked, "Why didn't you just show me this video in the first place?" after I showed a video on graphing with slope-intercept form. Clearly the woman in the video said or showed something that clicked with this student.

Thank goodness YouTube is not blocked, however I like to try and download the videos if possible, so that I have my own copy of the video file. This prevents potential problems if the Internet is down or the video is removed.

Thing 8

2012-01-30T11:03:00.000-08:00

The Parraghi horse photographs I took in Summer 2011

I believe that using photo software such as those suggested in Thing 8 are where the educational value of images really takes off. For example a great assignment in Language Arts would be to create a magazine cover featuring the image of a main character and article teasers that contain plot information, themes, etc.

In math I used a website called Glogster that allows students to make online posters that has hundreds of themes, frames, animations, and so on. The students had to design a poster that demonstrated their knowledge of combining like terms, inverse operations, and the distributive property. It worked really well.

Thing 7

2012-01-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

My photograph of my cousin's roping horse.

Think of ways you may be able to use Flickr in the classroom or in your work and share your ideas. What issues might you face?

Copyright issues are always an issue with using online images. Also, using the images of minors is something that I do not feel comfortable with without specific written consent. On the other hand, students are often very proud and therefor possibly motivated by the potential of their picture being featured on a website. Earlier we discussed a classroom project where the winner of a tessellation design project would have their design painted on the ceiling of our classroom. Having this design featured on website would be an additional motivator.

A link to my horse photo album.

Thing 6

2012-01-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

Why did you choose a particular photo?What is it about the photo that you found interesting?

I chose this photo for 23 things because photography is a hobby of mine and I was interested in the street photographer's edit of this shot. I don't really love the vertical composition (I would have cropped more form the left side) , but the lighting and depth are nice.

Thing 5

2012-01-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

RSS can be a difficult concept for some to grasp right away - what questions do you have? It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of blogs out there - how do you handle information overload and how do you think RSS might help with that? Find anything in your searching that you'd recommend to others?

As I mentioned in my previous post. I use iGoogle widgets to organize and prioritize my RSS feeds. I am very comfortable with this method and have been using it for years. This helps control information overload by putting the blogs that I read the most at the top of my iGoogle page. I highly recommend using iGoogle to organize your feeds.

Thing 4

2012-01-30T10:05:00.001-08:00

How might you use RSS in your personal or professional life?

RSS makes everything really simple. Currently I use iGoogle as my homepage. When I first open my personal favorite browser (Chrome) my homepage is set to iGoogle. This page contains the RSS feeds of all the sites that I prefer to get regular information from as well as previews of my email, calendar, and facebook information. This is done by making a widget to display a feed. I sort of look at it as designing a personal newspaper page as my homepage. With 23 Things I plan on making a subsequent tab that will be the education section of my personalized newspaper.

Which method of subscribing do you prefer?

As mentioned in the previous section, I enjoy organizing my RSS feeds with iGoogle. I typically subscribe to a feed through this Google service. I prefer this method since it allows me to locate feeds of my choice at specific spaces within the page. For example, If I'm really into the Hobo Teacher blog, I can put his posts front and center of my iGoogle page every time I visit.

What didn't work or doesn't make sense?

Everything went fine.

Thing 3

2012-01-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

How might a blog support the work you do?

A blog can be a great way to keep parents informed. I like using them as an ever-evolving newsletter that they have constant access to. Any trick that gets parents involved and keeps them informed is a worthwhile tool to have in my bag of tricks.

How might you use a blog with students?

I love the idea of having kids respond to a prompt of some sort in the comments section of a blog. Something like "find a real-life example of a situation that would have a negative slope." The students can then publish a response that is out there for everyone to read.

How might they respond to a blog assignment?

Some students may not have access to the technology or the skills necessary to fluently participate in a blog assignment. At first the novelty of using web 2.0 would increase the excitement of an assignment, but eventually it would probably lose it's luster.

What concerns do you have about educational blogging?

Student privacy is always a potential issue. Also, the anonymity of the internet always increases the risk of unfriendly comments being directed toward a student.

Things 1 and 2

2012-01-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

Q. Why are you participating in 23 Things? What do you hope to learn?

If I am being honest I am participating in the 23 Things as a requirement. After looking through the overview, I was underwhelmed by the topics we are to discover as I am already extremely familiar with them.

Although I know the 23 things well, I certainly do not claim to have mastered their use in the classroom environment. My first blog was created for my fourth grade classroom in 2008. During the 08/09 school year I used that blog far more effectively than any subsequent year. Could it be that the novelty outweighed the actual educational impact? I'm uncertain as to exactly why I seemed to have used the tool less and less since its creation.

I have a small amount of hope to learn how 2.0 tools can be used more effectively in the classroom through the 23 Things. My fear is that this program is meant for the technologically illiterate and I speak tech fluently.

Q. What new insights did you have during Thing 1?

In the Steve Hargadon article he discusses the "new web or web 2.0" as being the future of education. I agree with the notion that web 2.0 is a powerful tool and important for educators to understand, but the idea that this is "new" is incorrect. Web 2.0 has been around for the better part of a decade. MySpace was widely popular in 2005 for example. The Hargadon article itself was published nearly 4 years ago only months before my first classroom related blog was first used. Web 2.0 has been around, but isn't making the impact that it could or perhaps should.

Q. How does writing on the Internet, knowing anyone could read it, change how you write or feel about writing?

What you say on the Internet depends greatly on whether or not it is being typed with anonymity. When my writing is attached to my actual identity, I'm far more careful about grammar, stating controversial opinions, and so on. Nothing actually goes away when it is online. I've heard many horror stories about people not getting jobs because of their Facebook profile activity and results of simple Google searches. I wonder in the 2032 presidential election if we will be criticizing a candidate about a MySpace picture from 25 years earlier.