Are We Filming This?

Digital Video Editing...the awkward frontier. I'm really not fully supportive of DVE. While I appreciate and understand its capabilities and recognize the thinking skills and effort required in order to make a good, functioning DVE lesson work, I just don't see myself using it in the High School classroom due to time constraints. I think it would be great if my students could create a series of videos called "An Interview in Time" where they could interview famous dead dudes or "My Favorite Fascist" and discuss why they feel one fascist leader is more fascist then another. Unfortunately, I think the current curriculum and SOL restraints make it nearly impossible to implement these lessons effectively while giving students enough time to plan and implement an effective video. Even in our class, it takes 2+ hours to make a relatively joke-like video and that is with teachers who are motivated to complete the assignments and interested in learning the use of this technology. With a classroom of freshmen who cannot control their mouths let alone the rest of their body, I do not see a project utilizing DVE actually working or fitting into the curriculum.

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

So I had a wonderful event happen today and I figured I'd go ahead and share it here...Be prepared for venting! My AP World History classes (of which I have 4!) usually receive a reading quiz occasionally to ensure students are completing their reading assignments. Students were not performing well so I started assigning outline notes in place of quizzes to ensure students were reading. This is only the third time I've collected notes, but students have been turning them in more frequently. Today during class I noticed a student who rarely turns in homework (yeah, in AP!) had these wonderful outline notes. I realized this was a bit fishy, so I typed his notes into google, and what do you know, he copied the notes directly from a website! Now, I thought it was a random incident, but then I noticed 2 more in the same class. The worst part is the fact that the administration was like "well, just discuss with them why that is a bad thing." I guess my problem with this response is it does not address the fact that at 16, in a collegiate-level course, academic integrity should be a little more important than having a discussion about how they shouldn't cheat. I don't really know how to respond to this situation (apparently there are LARGE number of students who cheated on their notes) or how I should feel about this. I have a responsibility to help them pass this test and earn collegiate credit, but if they are willing to cheat, should I be willing to help? These are the days that try teachers' souls.

Technology for the sake of technology

So after reading about Podcasts and our exercise last class about creating podcasts, I honestly am starting to agree with Jeremy that Podcasts are not necessarily a resource I see myself using. While I see the collegiate use (recording lectures & allowing students a secondary method for note-taking), which is extremely helpful for the motivated student and I understand use of Podcasts for students in the elementary classroom (a new way to create projects and have fun while still learning), I find podcasts at the high school level to be a very time consuming activity that might not be effective. I often see High School teachers that have their podcasts on their websites, which are frequently recordings of their own lectures, however, I fail to see a high school student that is motivated enough to REALLY use that resource. Beyond the lecture recording, the high school curriculum is extremely focused and requires teachers to move very quickly, which is not necessarily helpful when using a medium that requires preparation, planning, and a deep understanding of recording software in order to be succesful. I guess my problem is that I am not completely "sold" on the idea of podcasts. I think they are fun and might be used effectively in the classroom, but I am not sure that is really true when you take who high school students are into account. What do you all think?