ACCESS Lab Visit

About a week ago, I had the chance to visit a local ACCESS lab and explore the capabilities of what the lab can actually do. As I discussed in a previous blog, the ACCESS lab is designed for students to be able to connect to other local schools and take courses that may not be offered at their own school. I and another student in my class, Brett Kittrell, visited Baker High School in order to see how they are using there lab and how they plan to use it more in the future. We met up with the lab teacher, who showed us around and gave us a little explanation about how it is being utilized at their high school.

One thing that was so awesome was the fact that we got to see the equipment that they use and how they use it. When we walked into the classroom it seemed pretty average, but there was a computer station in the back, a camera on each side of the room, a large flat screen t.v on one wall, and a microphone hanging from the ceiling. The teacher explained to us that the cameras were used to record the teacher who was teaching the class and the students who were attending the class. The video was a live feed that was being viewed by another class at another school. It is a pretty awesome concept! The reason that they do this is so that the students in the second classroom are able to take a course being taught at another school because it is not offered at their own.

Another thing that was really cool about the lab was the big screen t.v in the classroom. This was used by the students in the lab class, and they are actually able to see and interact with the students at the other school through the television. I thought this was such a great concept because not only are students able to take a class that they normally would not have been, but they are also able to interact with the other class and even ask questions! The visit was an awesome and informative tour, and I am really glad that I know more about the ACCESS labs and how they actually work. The lab is a great idea and I can't wait to see it used more and more at other schools!

Videocasts

Today I watched a very interesting videocast that is provided by WGBH's Teacher's Domain, a free digital library that has many videos that could be used as great teaching tools. The video that I chose to watch was called "A Night in the Coral Reef". The whole video was dedicated to explaining what sea life is like at night and how the creatures interact with each other. One of the fish that it examined was the squirrel fish, which uses its huge eyes to see better at night. It also talked about the carnivorous squid, bottom dwelling sea urchin, and the prickly porcupine fish.

The video states that the nighttime is a time for the day fish to hide so that they are not killed by night predators. It is also a time for nocturnal fish to come out to play. One of the things that I really enjoyed learning about was the actual coral and how it functions at night. As the night and darkness arrives, the coral has little extensions called coral polyps which start to protrude once it gets dark. The polyps sway back and forth with the water, feeding on plankton with its extended tentacles. I just thought that was such an interesting bit of information, and I know that younger students would love to learn about it too.

These videos are such a great resource for teachers, especially when it comes to teaching certain topics. One way that I would love to use this video in my classroom is by allowing my students to view it and then allowing them to make their own personal sea creatures using crafts. Since I plan on being a kindergarten teacher, crafts are a good way to engage the children in learning about the ocean and having fun at the same time. They could also create their own made-up sea creature if they would like, since I know that young children have very active imaginations!

Another way that I could use this video is by actually teaching the students about the individual fish. They could learn the colors and shape of each fish, and maybe I could squeeze in a little detailed information about how the fish live. I think that carrying on the "fish" theme would also be very helpful when teaching other topics, such as counting. I could refer back to the video and use little fish figures to help my students learn numbers, counting, and even adding. It is videos like these that open up a lot of other areas that could be explored by teachers for students. I think that these videos are great tools and I will definitely use them when I start my teaching career!

Podcasts

I had the chance to listen to a few podcasts this past week, and while they were a little slow at times, they were not quite as bad as I thought they were gonna be. They had pretty unique topics and seemed like they could really assist teachers when it comes to using technology. One podcast that I listened to was the SmartBoard Lessons, which were narrated by Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. I listened to episode #146 called "Clouds, Stars, and Saints". The portion that I listened to involved them talking about websites that they liked and didn't like, and they also read a few letters from people that asked them questions. It was a good thing for them to do, but it got pretty boring at times.

Another podcast that i listened to was the KidCast podcast. I listened to episode #51 called "Brainstorming and Planning for Podcasting Success, and the host of this one was Dan Schmit. He and two other quests discussed how to start and incorporate podcasts into their classrooms. The discussed the problem of having a great idea when it comes to podcasting but not really knowing how to get started. It was a pretty interesting discussion, especially since it involved a few people talking back and forth.

Connect Learning episode #91, which is hosted by David Warlick. This podcast was a discussion between Warlick and a group of librarians who were able to ask questions and then answer them among themselves, as well as get feedback from Warlick himself. One of the first things that they discussed was whether or not you could post pictures of students on the web after publishing a podcast that they were involved in. This was a great conversation because it is very important to know the restrictions in that area, and it was really cool to hear feedback from other librarians on the topic. They also discussed how they were gonna use podcasting in their libraries. I really liked this one!

The MacBreak Weekly podcast was another one that I listened to for a bit. This one was also a discussion between a few people about the mac book laptop. This was pretty cool because I never knew too much about macs, and it kinda gave a review about the mac book. This podcast started off pretty boring but it got better as it went on. All in all, podcasts are not such a bad thing to listen to. I could definitely see myself using podcasting in my classrooms, although it would probably be in a more interesting way such as letting the students speak on the podcast themselves.