(Music for today’s show provided by Bre Pettis.) Yesterday’s post was not meant to be as long as it was. My initial goal was the content of today’s post, but as I sat down to write it I thought I’d start with an overview of where I was coming from. Apparently a 2 paragraph introduction can be stretched into a 7 minute podcast. In any case, as I wrapped up my “story so far” it was painfully obvious that I’d crossed the fine line between…Continue Reading “Academic Aesthetic 175: Games in Education Part 2”
Academic Aesthetic 174: Games in Educaton Part 1 [ 7:00 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1218)Introduction and Reasoning Those who have read my blog or listened to my podcast for any length of time are no doubt aware that I’m a fan of using games as a conduit for learning. I’m not talking about the “Educational Games” market, that will certainly dominate a large part of the Vendor area at this year’s MSET (I’m presenting again, yay!), though some of those are good too. No, I’m talking about the games that kids (and adults) choose to play because of compelling…Continue Reading “Academic Aesthetic 174: Games in Educaton Part 1”
In this ‘cast I discuss my reaction to our midyear evaluations (I lost sight of what I was trying to do – it happens).
This is a brief overview of Minecraft Classic (minecraft.net), how I related it to my curriculum, and some student examples. Apologies for the size of the download (Nearly 50 MB, ouch!), but I unfortunately couldn’t make it smaller without losing a lot of the quality. Video is like that.
Episode this time is 8.5 MB. I had to use an FTP client to upload the thing. That’s how much I care. Powering Up With Technology conference was awesome. Minecraft shows potential as a tool for student learning in the classroom. We’ll see.
Moving right along. In today’s ‘cast, I ramble on about: My county’s Sharing Technology with Educators Program, or S.T.E.P. My new favorite Android App (still), AndRecorder, which I keep calling “AndRecord” because long names are abbreviated below my little phone icons. Gimp.org, because it’s free and awesome. SumoPaint.com, because it as well is free and awesome. Frames, because while it is not free, it is still awesome. A rant against looking for things because they “work in the classroom.” That’s great if we’re preparing our…Continue Reading “Academic Aesthetic 169”
Academic Aesthetic 168: Quarter End Reflections [ 12:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1260)Today I teach my last classes of the Quarter, so as I reflect on the first 9 weeks I’ve asked my students to do the same. Next quarter will be different. Why? Because it has to be. Oh, and the programming language I couldn’t remember? Scratch.
Want to know a secret? A deep, dark secret that I’ve kept off this blog for over a year now? One that will shock you? Well, too bad. I’m going to tell you anyway. Ready? Here I go … I’m not a part of my school’s Art Department. Yeah, that shocks me, too. Here’s a guy whose screen name on an umptillion of Web 2.0 sites is “The Art Guy,” who may or may not have been the first art teacher podcaster (at the time…Continue Reading “What I Teach”
School starts on Monday. No, no that’s not true. For me, School started several weeks ago when I came in during the Summer to put my lab back together. (The custodial staff needed me to break it down so they could move the desks and wax my floors.) I found out only recently that many of the students I had last year will also be returning. I met this news with mixed feelings. First, I had some awesome kids last year. There was more than…Continue Reading “Return to Technology Concepts”
The photo above is the front wall of my school. On the day I stopped by to interview for my position (one of the best career choices I ever made, in my honest opinion), I saw this wall and thought “If I was a few decades younger, I’d try climbing that.” Indeed, with all of those bricks pushed away from the flat surface, this wall was full of hand holds and toe holds. Perfect for climbing, except for the concrete and asphalt below you. No,…Continue Reading “Climbing The Wall”