Teaching for the Future

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Labels: dave lamorte, interview, new media literacy

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/30/2007 09:13:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

NEWS:
Schools test Edugaming in Classroom from Joystiq: This is not a new issue and we have been talking about the pedagogy of video games. I'm just glad to see the video game industry is taking notice of this gap in the market. I'd love to see some of the innovation in gaming be applied to educational games.

On Hit Lists, Anger Finds an Outlet from the NYTimes.com: Though school violence is down, student created hit lists are on the rise. Though some may consider these harmless many schools are treating these like threats.

Stitched into Memory from the Boston Globe: This is a great art project being done at a local Massachusetts school. Students are stitching small figures to signify each of the fallen American soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only is this a creative way for students to make connections and honor soldiers who were lost in the war.

TOOLS/RESOURCES:
The Boring Store from Laughing Squid: This strange store is a front for a 826 National Writing Center which were founded by author Dave Eggers. These hidden gems are spread all over.

• Brooklyn - Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.
• Seatle - Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.
• San Fransicso - The Pirate Store
• Chicago - The Boring Store

USB Drive helps find lost child from Daily Cup of Tech: This is an interesting story about how parents who used a program designed to retrieve lost USB drives to find their three year old son. Though this could have also been done with a dog tag, but I think this is an interesting application of a neat trick.

EDITORIAL:
I was inspired by short film that I found through a blog post at think:lab called "You Were Supposed To Sing and Dance...". The short cartoon created by the team that puts out South Park led by Matt Stone and Trey Parker uses audio from Alan Watts.

Notes:

• Cartoons are "easy to swallow" media.
  
• New Media's Effect on our Culture.
• New Media allows kids to be cultural producers.
• The whole point of Teaching for the Future
• My goals
• Research
• Collaboration
• Filling in Gaps
  
• What I've learned
  
• My upcoming "Podcast-iversary"
• Upcoming Changes to the Show
• What can I do for you?
• More listener participation
• Voice Mails
• Email
• Comments
• Link Backs
  

UPCOMING:
I sat down to talk with Diane Farsetta is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Media & Democracy and PRWatch.org. She explains the current penetration and the potential dangers of Video News Releases.

OTHER LINKS:

• Puffle Kerfuffle from Wired: An interesting article about discipline in a virtual world.
• Alan Watts Podcast
• Aaron "the Art Guy" Smith
  

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com.

TAGS: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, Video News Release, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: bostonglobe, dave lamorte, education, financial aid podcast, gaming, interview, media literacy, new media literacy, nytimes, podcast, teaching, technology

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/26/2007 01:45:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Welcome Soft Reset Listeners, I hope you strike podcast gold with Teaching for the Future

News:
Conservapedia is like Wikipedia, but without all of the Liberals from Wired News: The Conservapedia is a new wiki-based encyclopedia that was created to get away from a perceived liberal bias in the Wikipedia. This is an interesting article about the new site and the reaction from the online media.

YouTube for Contract Negotiations from Weblogg-ed: This is an interesting video of a group of teachers from Nashua, NH commenting on recent budget changes and contract negotiations. I think this is just more evidence of the import role new media is going to have on our person and public lives for years to come.

Sky Mall Liberation (Not Safe For Work) from Ni9e.com: Ni9e.com decided to do a visual inventory of the Sky Mall catalog. While on a flight they had decided to dissect the catalog. They removed and collected the faces of the models and then arranged them in different ways outside of the context of the catalog. I was not surprised when they separated the photos by white and non-white.

I think I'm going to steal this idea and use it in a lesson plan. I know we talk about racism and multicultural education, but this is a great way to generate a really important discussion in your class.

Girls Suspended over 'Vagina Monologues' from CTV.ca: From the article:

"A public high school has suspended three students who disobeyed officials by saying the word 'vagina' during a reading from a well-known feminist play."

I am not sure what to make of this article. Part of me is annoyed that three girls were suspended for using the proper medical term. Another part of me is annoyed that if the students were allowed to perform a play about what it is to have a vagina, without saying vagina. Related: The Hoohah Monologues via boingboing

Don't Choose Facebook Over Your Job from TechCrunch: Michael Arrington tells the story of a man who has a facebook problem. "Charlie" is a trader at Goldman Sachs who was warned by his company about his time on the facebook at work. From "Charlie's" facebook page:

“It’s a measure of how warped I’ve become that, not only am I surprisingly proud of this, but in addition, the first thing I did was to post it here, and that losing my job worries me far less than losing facebook ever could.”

The Real Cost of Facebook from Storygeek.com: Mark Bell discusses the real cost of Facebook. I think this is an interesting blog post that makes a clear argument for being careful online.

Dan Rather Interviewed by Andy Carvin: Andy is an interesting guy that I met at Beyond Broadcast 2007 and who happens to be the DC Metro correspondent for Rocketboom. This is a great video that he did of an interview with Dan Rather.


Bum Rush The Charts: On March 22nd you can help promote independent music and education at the same time. More information in the podcast and at BumRushtheCharts.com.


Editorial: What is Education?
For centuries artists and art historians have always asked the question, "What is art?" As the years go on it seems that this question is getting increasingly harder to answer. On a recent episode of ABC Radio National's Philosophers Zone host Alan Saunders discusses what art is with Arthur C. Danto, Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. They spent a lot of time explaining how this question has become harder to answer since Marcel Duchamp's The Fountain. Danto makes an interesting point how we never know if we are in the presence of art.

"I was invited to give a talk for some of our history students, and I walked past a classroom that was being redone, and I thought to myself, How do I know that that's not just an installation? How do I know that's not a work of art that happens to consist of ladders and paint buckets and so forth?"

Education is changing in the same way. Teaching and learning is no longer confined to the classroom as there are more opportunities to gain enlightenment. When we watch TV, read the paper, or listen to a podcast we are learning without realizing it. These instances are rich learning experiences that need to be incorporated into our schools. How can we capture these powerful experiences to be able to educate in a way that is both effective and profound?

I'm beginning to realize that that the answer is proper assessment. The way we assess student learning is a direct reflection on our values as educators. To check for understanding and to create a rich learning experience we need to have rich assessment. We live in a world where students get information in many different ways, so we need to check up on them in different ways. Writing in art, singing in health, and crocheting in math.

I'm being overly dramatic, but I think we need to be assessing students more often and in ways that allow them to make connections with what they are learning. What's important is that we are giving them chances to check in with us. How we assess makes a clear statement to students what we value as teachers. What does your assessment say about you?

Upcoming:
How can you help with Teaching for the Future? Well that's easy. You could leave a review in iTunes or link to us on your blog or podcast page.
Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: dave lamorte, education, facebook, financial aid podcast, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, teaching, technology, texting

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/20/2007 01:27:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

News:
The End is NEAR from TechLearning.com: As an artist the medium is always part of the message, but what if your medium is a Pringle? David Jakes talks about all the new ways we are getting information. He talks about a bunch of interesting online and off-line ways of spreading a message. This could be an interesting article to work into a lesson about different kinds of literacy. It would be interesting to ask your students how the message changes when it is a YouTube video, on a potato chip, or etched into a plant.

Big Brother State by David Scharf and Stephen Taylor: I cannot remember where I originally found this video, but I think we need to share it. It deals with interesting ideas of surveillance. I'm not sure where I fall on this issue, because as a podcaster I live a lot of my life in public, on the web. I'd love to get your comments on this. Related: The Real Cost of Facebook
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New Media Super Heroes by Dave LaMorte: This is not really news that I'm working on my graduate thesis. My work is going to be arts based, which means my paper needs to have a body of artwork to go with it. I put up my first bit of artwork recently in the form of a low-tech web comic. You can follow my thesis work at my personal site at DaveLaMorte.com.

School Without Google? from TechLearning.com: This is an interesting look about how blocking web tools can put teachers and students at a real disadvantage. Wesley Fryer talks about how blocking things like Google is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The comments on this post are also pretty interesting. You should also check out Wesley's podcast on his homepage.

Recently access to YouTube was shut off at Lesley University. Which is another case of not realizing the learning potential of a lot of these new media sites. Related: Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban, Don't Choose Facebook Over Your Job

Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use: This is an interesting document that I learned about at Beyond Broadcast 2007. This is a great document that explains the rules of fair use as they stand. Though it is written with filmmakers in mind, this is a valuable resource for content creators who may want to use content from other artists.

Other Links:

• Bum Rush The Charts
  
• Apple iTunes staffers have become music's unlikely power brokers.
• Georgia is to introduce two literature classes on the Bible in public schools.
• Conservapedia is like Wikipedia, but without all of the Liberals.
• Sky Mall Liberation. (Not Safe For Work)
• Girls Suspended over 'Vagina Monologues'
  
• Who Knew People would be upset over White Power?
• The Real Cost of Facebook
• Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban
• Don't Choose Facebook Over Your Job

Thanks:
Thanks to HappyKatie for the image of the TV and to Dan Flannery for all the great music.

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: dave lamorte, education, lesley, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, teaching, technology, wikis

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/12/2007 11:06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Stumble It!

Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/06/2007 09:57:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post