MAC Week 3 Comment 2 ~ Draney Melville

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Draney Melville

Mac wk 3 Abstract proposal

Wow, this one is going to be a doozy for me this week. It's Saturday, I am in the beginning of labor, having contractions and I still need to work on my abstract for my action research project. Where do I begin? How can I summarize a year's worth of work and analysis in 120 words or less. Usually, this would be an awesome task considering we usually have to produce a lot more written work than an abstract. How do I share all the information about my project without saying too much or too little?

Since I have not started this daunting task yet, I will share more about the process when I start working on it.

**** Update *****
I finished the abstract, on time nonetheless, and it really wasn't as difficult as I thought it was. I am hoping I did it correctly and don't need to do much updating. Now I've just got to start working on my presentation for class for my leadership project.

Until the next blog folks!

Elizabeth Granberg

First and foremost, congratulations on your (almost) bundle of joy! Things don't seem as difficult for me now that I know you are going through labor during your assignments! If you can get them done, then by all means so can I! I am also a little hesitant about an abstract being only 120 words. Unfortunately I tend to drag on and on when I am typing or writing, so I feel that it will be a challenge for me. My literature review also needed to be chopped down a few times because it was over the word limit... I'm crossing my fingers...

MAC Week 3 Comment 1 ~ Sharon Clay

(picture from Creative Commons: photo by 05com)

Sharon Clay

MAC Week 3: Publishing/Leadership Project part 2 of 2

Pennsylvania Educational Technology Exposition & Conference Preconference

While I originally had my sights set on submitting a proposal to the South Carolina EdTech Conference I had to change my plans because I missed the submission deadline (June 15, 2011).  This conference would have been an ideal place for me to showcase my research because it’s in close proximity to my home (about 2 ½ hours away) and many of my colleagues attend the conference each year. However, I used the resources provided by Sue Bedard and registered for the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Exposition & Conference Preconference.  The conference is in February, which gives me more time to build my confidence, and presentation skills by presenting at district level workshops this upcoming school year.  One of the reasons I chose the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Exposition & Conference Preconference is because I will be on winter break during that week and I will have an opportunity to travel with my children to Pennsylvania and present my research. 

Elizabeth Granberg

Sharon, I agree with Drew's comment as well. I give you a lot of credit to go out and present at a conference! I would love to present to my current school district, but since this is my last week with them, I do not know how that would work. I think I am still going to try to set a meeting with the board over the summer because the school district inspired my Action Research Project. Eventually I would like to come back to the school district as a teacher, they are just not hiring for next year, so I will be teaching elsewhere. Although I am thankful for the job, I am hesitant because there is absolutely no technology in my new school. However, it almost makes me want to start the project over again and aim it towards the benefits of integrating technology into the classroom. The principal of the school is strict on the curriculum, etc, but as long as you can prove that something would benefit the children, he is all for it! Maybe that will be my new approach.

MAC Week 3 Blog Post ~ WIMBA

(photo from Creative Commons: Picture by David Goehring)

This WIMBA session was a bit shorter then the other two, but still jam packed with information like usual. The beginning focus of the session was on the Abstract and P/L Project.
In regards to the Abstract, it is solely based on our Action Research (or Challenged Based) Project. We basically need to take the entire project and condense it down. Take approximately one sentence per section (ie: overall question, lit review, phases, findings, conclusion, etc.). It must be 120 words or less. We are also to put the Abstract on the Final Presentation page of our Action Research Website.
For the Publishing / Leadership Project we need have two 'Think Out Loud' blog posts. The first one is focusing in on if we are going to publish or present and why. The second one focuses on where you are doing what you are doing. We need to come up with what we want to do / how we are presenting, etc.
 Week 4 sharing - we need to post the link to our document or presentation. When we get together we have a short version of what we did and quickly walk through our project. Feedback will be given by classmates. We only need to sign up for one night. I tentatively (there is a ? next to my name) for the Thursday June 23 time. I say tentatively because I am trying to change my work schedule around, but I am not sure if it will work in my favor. Thursday is the last day that I am with the child that I see after school for ABA.
The Van Halen "Right Now" video was really interesting. It was the first time that I saw the video and it really made you think. During the first poll, I liked the quote about, "If you believe in it, then you do something about it". It is very true, and speaks to our reading in our text book. I have never read the book "The Secret", but it seems like something that would be an interesting read.
Chapter 4 was also one that meant most to me so far as well. I truly enjoyed the practice section that talked about declaring yourself being a contribution and also someone that makes a difference. Now that I am starting a new job and growing up (and wiser I'd like to think) I truly see how our own thoughts and actions decide our self esteem and attitudes. It reminds me of the quote, 'Be the change you want to see in the world". If we want change or something to happen, we need to take the reigns and get to work.

MAC Week 3 Blog Post ~ Article Review

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Fortunately my school was discarding all of "The Reading Teacher" magazines yesterday, and I scooped them up. I was not planning on reading any of them until later in the summer, but the one issue on the top of the pile caught my eye. There was an article about podcasts. Since we had a discussion board topic about podcasts last week, I have truly opened my eyes to their ability for the classroom. Throughout the course of the Full Sail EMDT program, I have created a few different podcasts. However, I have not seen their true value until I read the article.
The article entitled, "The Atoms Family: Using Podcasts to Enhance the Development of Science Vocabulary", was truly an eye opener for me. Since I will be starting my first years teaching this upcoming September, for a school that has limited technology access, I am finding that a podcast would work wonders in my classroom. The article goes on to explain about a study that was done with students in a science classroom. What I liked about the podcasts that they created was that they incorporated song into them. The charter school that I will be teaching at actually focuses on music. That is really what drew me in to the article.
It was a great read for anyone that uses or wants to use podcasts at any educational level. The article gives suggestions for creating your own podcast, websites to access podcasts that have already been created, etc. If you have any spare time, take a few minutes out to read the article.

Article can be found at:
http://www.gearyschools.org/pages/uploaded_files/The%20Atoms%20Family-%20Using%20Podcasts%20to%20Enhance%20the%20Development%20of%20Science%20Vocabulary.pdf

References

Putman, S., & Kingsley, T. (2009, October). The atoms family: Using podcasts to enhance the development of science vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 63(2), 100–108. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.2.1

MAC Week 2 Comment 2 ~ Sharon Clay

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Sharon Clay 

MAC Week 2: Free Choice - My Action Research Project

It seems like I have worked non-stopped for the last year to reach this point. Now, it’s here and I am very anxious. The final AR push! Getting all of my information posted on my website seemed so far away a year ago. I remember when gathering the references for the literature review felt like a daunting task.  Now, I am here and I know I have all of the pieces to the puzzle but for some reason it doesn’t feel that way.

Elizabeth Granberg

This week I decided to comment on the Action Research Project posts because I myself cannot believe that we are here already! Anxious is definitely a word that I would use to describe the feeling as well. I have a bit of work on my hands because I need to fill in a lot of my data for both Cycle 1 and Cycle 2. Never the less, we have made it through this far and we will finish out strong! It was definitely a fun journey this whole way. Learned great things, met some great new friends, and learned a lot about technology for sure! I hope you are as happy with your final project as I hope to be with mine!

MAC Week 2 Comment 1 ~ Drew Clausing

  (Photo from Creative Commons: By Walter Wilhelm)

Month 11: Light at the end of the tunnel...

Drew Clausing

Week 2 Activity | Website

This project was and has been very time consuming for me.  I remember mentioning on my last blog post how I thought the cumulative effect of doing each of these projects on a month by month basis will make the finished website very quick and easy to produce.  Well, I’ve had quite a few things to correct before submission and now it is starting to become much more long winded than I expected.  Oh well -- will be done soon :)

Elizabeth Granberg

I absolutely agree with you! When we first started the program and had the monthly outline, I thought it was great that we were going to be doing projects a little bit at a time. Since procrastination is my middle name, it was a good change of pace for me. I hit a few speed bumps in the road with my project, so things did not go as smoothly as I had planned. Currently I am finishing up my website to submit for review. Good luck with your Action Research Project!

MAC Week 2 Blog Post - WIMBA

Lesson learned from this week’s WIMBA session: There is a line – do not cross it…  Yes that can pertain to many different subjects and events in our lives, but I especially like it when it pertains to copyrighting. The session started off with a review of the copyrighting and fair use tutorials. All of the videos I found to be very informational (and entertaining too!).

Charlie asked another great question this week, which pertained to classical music. The question pertained to classical music and whether it is considered public domain or not. It is great that he asked that question because I had no idea that it was considered to be public domain. It is great that we can take classical music and perform them ourselves. We cannot, however, use generated sheet music or performances lets say done by the New York Philharmonic. That would be copyrighted material.

Another section of the WIMBA session focused on fair use. We went over nature – or how it is being used, amount – or the percentage of music / video, and commercial use. There is a podcast on Full Sail iTunesU that you can watch (and I will be sure to) that pertains to fair use.

There was a bit of confusion on the blogs and where to insert our comments and posts. This month I too find it a little confusing to have all of our weekly activities bunched under one title. Personally I like everything to individually show up on the dashboard or activities page, so it is taking a little time to get used to.

Work on the Publish/Leadership Project for the final week. Note to self – look for a drop-box to send my files there.