I had the opportunity to speak to Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay. Two educators who are making a difference in their students’ lives as well as thousands of other students and teachers from around the world.
Vicki is a teacher from Camila Georgia. She blogs on the Coolcatteacher blog and tweets under @coolcatteacher. Julie is the E-Learning Coordinator at Beijing International School. She blogs at E-Learning Journey and tweets under @julielindsay.

These two amazing women are the co-founders of the Flat Classroom Project  and have co-authored the book “Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time“, due to be released in February 2012.

Don’t miss out listening to these dynamic and passionate teachers with concrete advice for any teacher embarking on global education and flattening of their classroom.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Flat Classroom Project
• Flat Classrooms (A community for educators)
• Flat Classroom Book
• Flat Classroom Book Club

For other Curriculum21 Podcast Episodes subscribe to their podcast channel on iTunes.

Mike Fisher and I had the pleasure to sit down with Stephen Wilmarth and five of his Chinese High School students in the International Experimental Class at the Number 1 Middle School attached to the Central China Normal University in Wuhan. Steve is piloting the first 1:1 iPad program in all of China.

In the audio podcast, Steve refers to the following movie he had shown to his students. He asks them to look for evidence of learning. These students come from nine previous years sitting in rows facing the front of the class and their teachers. They work individually on their multiple choice test booklets or work page by page  through SAT/AP prep books or listen to their teacher lecture.

Steve has to teach his students step by step what (new form of ) learning looks like. Evidence of learning, Steve reminds his students, is not reflected in high test scores for him, but by showing:

• Participation in their own learning: go beyond rote memorization and regurgitating and reciting
• Presentation: be able to communicate ideas in a variety of forms and media
• Research: looking for a variety of information that connects a myriad of subject areas- Breadth of knowledge
• Design: goes beyond basic problem solving to include imagination and creativity
• Development: deals with the concept of the skill to be able to test and strengthen their ideas by digging deeper into them- Depth of knowledge

Steve Wilmarth with five of his students.

We asked students, Mickeylla, Klaus, Kathy, Clair and Mike, the following questions in the podcast:

• How do you like learning by collaborating and discussions rather than just listening?
• What did you think about the movie (see above) you saw?
• Do you think you saw hard work? Did the movie capture just fun or learning?
• Why does learning look messy?
• How do you imagine university life in the USA will be like? How will it be the same? How will it be different?
• What will you do with all your (free) time (after used to sitting in class for 14+ hours during High School)?

Yesterday, I had a very interesting talk about school web design  with the team of It’s Elementary on EdTechTalk. Thank you Alice, Jose, Maria and Lisa for having me!

You can listen in to the recorded show on EdTechTalk or download the MP3 file to your iPod for on the go listening.

Paige McGee, Jane Cassette, Kathy Balek and I spent 3 days at FETC in Orlando, FL.
On the way back to Jacksonville we stopped to have dinner and recorded the following reflection of our experience at FETC.

Be a little fly on the wall and listen in on us talking about:

• Impressions of Twitter of a Newbie
• Power of Twitter Network
• Some uses of Twitter
  • Following a conversation, finding tweets about an event -Summize
  • Documenting
  • Sharing
  • Not as “scary” as blogging
• Dean Shareski’s Session
  • not being proprietary with anything- go ahead and share
• Tom Barrett’s “Usage of Flip Camera in Classroom“

• RT- Re-Tweeting- for spreading the word across people’s networks and different timezones
• Around The World with 80 Schools Project
• A new President, a new Congress Session
• “Teaching content, not teaching students”
• “How do you use technology in a school district, that does not allow any students’ work on the internet?”
• Why do we go to presentation sessions?
• Dean Shareski’s Session
  “Not subscribing to magazines, but subscribing to people”
• Michelle Bourgeois‘s Session- Build a PLN with Web 2.0 Tools
  • So much is out there, you can get overwhelmed. Break it down into appetizers, main course, dessert

• Making a difference: Taking a laptop to sessions to be able to immediately take notes, click through to links, tools mentioned in the session immediately. Look at it as the presenters are talking about it.
  
• Is it rude to have your laptop open, texting on iPhone while in a session? Is it rude or paying homage to the presenter?
• Learning how to multi-task
• Administrators seemed to use less laptops in sessions than other attendees. They seem to have more paper & pencil note takers.

from edtechworkshop on Twitter

• Technology to teach, Technology to assess.
  
• Technology as a teaching tool, as a learning tool
  

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Here is a long overdue episode of Langwitches Podcast.

Melanie Holtsman from Once Upon A Teacher and I met in Canada, although both of us have never been there. We found out that we actually lived in the same town in Florida. How could this have happened? Listen to the following conversation I recorded when we met face to face at a local Paneras (a national chain of bread bakery/cafe).

We started talking and before long over and hour had past before we turned my iPod with the iTalk recorder attachment on. You can listen to about 20 minutes of us talking about web2.0 tools and technology integration ideas we are implementing and experimenting with students and teachers in our respective elementary schools.

Melanie is an amazing teacher who is not only teaching gifted students several days a week in the classroom, but has also taken on to be the technology integration voice, coach and advocate for her colleagues and administration. It was a great opportunity for me to be able to talk with someone face to face from my PLN.

You can also subscribe to the Langwitches Podcast by adding the following feed to your podcatcher such as iTunes:

http://www.langwitches.org/blog/podcast/episodes/RSS_feed.xml

for K-12 Online Conference to be held October 23rd through November 3rd, 2006

1. "iPod" is a brand name. They are MP3 players made by the Apple company. There are many different MP3 players on the market that have the same capabilities as the Apple brand.
2. Definition of an MP3 player
   1. An MP3 player is a digital music player
3. Cost
   1. iPod Shuffel (Apple)
      1. 512MB shuffle – discontinued
      2. 1GB shuffle- $79 (clip form)
   2. iPod Nano (Apple)
      1. 1GB nano has been discontinued
      2. 2GB nano – $149,
      3. 4GB nano – $199 (5 different colors)
      4. 8GB nano is $249 (black)
   3. iPod Video (Apple)
      1. 30GB iPod – $249
      2. 60GB iPod – discontinued
      3. 80GB iPod – $349
   4. iRiver
      1. T10 512MB (through ebay) about $30 (includes a built in microphone
      2. H10 -20 GB – $169.99
4. Accessories
   1. Cassette Adapter (listen through the cassette player in your car)
   2. Roadtrip from Griffin (transmission through Car radio)
   3. RCA Video/Audio Cable
   4. iTalk: attachment for iPod to record
   5. iPod Camera connector
5. You can use them for:

• Audio Files
• Photos
• Videos
• Storage

1. Lectures
2. Photo Slideshows
3. Podcasts/ Vodcasts
4. Teacher created
5. Student created
6. Downloaded elsewhere
7. Music Archive
8. Movie Archive

• MP3 player with recording capabilities (iRiver or iPod with iTalk)
• Computer with internal or external microphone
• Cell phone calling in line . (K7.net )

If you would like to contribute to a future episode of Langwitches.org’s Podcast call the following number (USA) 206-984-0684

• Sound editing software
  • Audacity (Windows)
  • Garageband (Mac)
• For Video:
  • • Video Converter ($24.95)
      WinAVI 3GP/MP4/PSP/iPod
    • Windows MovieMaker (Win) comes pre-installed with your Windows PC.
    • Microsoft Photostory (Win)
    • iMovie (Mac)

• Play Tagger
  Play Tagger allows you to easily play mp3 files directly on your website or blog. Simply include a tiny javascript, and your mp3 links will automatically become playable right on the page.
• Gabcast
  create podcasts, record via phone or VoIP, post audio to your blog, host conference calls

• Dictionary
• Class lectures
• Pronunciation guide and practice
• Record book talks/reports on the iPod and then keep an iTunes database in the library. When students want to check out a book, they can then listen to the book talk before hand to see if they think the book is for them.
• Podcasting in Target Language (listening to authentic podcasts and producing own podcasts)
• Podcasting
  • as cultural exchange
  • Pod Buddies
  • as resources
  • Where in the World…Talk about the country without specifying where
• Read-a-long
• Country (Study) Interviews
  • Where in the World Geography Quiz
    • Subscribe to Where in the World Podcast
    • Download detailed instructions on how to participate in creating an episode(.pdf )
• Current Events (Target Culture in the News)
• Cooking Lessons
• Word of the Week
• Mnemonic Devices (Donkey Bridges)
• Soundseeing Tours
• Reportage of a cultural event in your hometown
• Music
  • Sing-a-long
• Videos
  • Interview
  • Commercial in target language
    • Music Video
    • Language Lesson

  Video Examples

  ---

  French Weather Video by Ryan Productions

  ---

  9 de Julio; Widest Street in the World

  ---

  Pepsi Commercial Germany WM 2006

  ---

Episode 1: Podcasting in the Foreign Language Classroom.

This episode will answer questions like:

Why would FL and ESL teachers be interested in Podcasting? How to get started of setting your own recording studio up at home or school on a low or zero budget? Also, listen to some great chants ready to be used in your classroom (in Spanish, English, German and Italian), contributed by teachers across the country. There are several ways to do download/subscribe to the podcast: You can go to the website http://www.langwitches.org/podcast/index.htm and right click the title of the Episode> Save target as> and download the MP3 audio file to your computer. Add the following rss file (just copy and paste) into your podcatching software such as iTunes or yahoo Podcast. http://www.langwitches.org/podcast/episodes/RSS_feed.xml Since this is the first episode, I would love to hear comments. Was it easy to understand? Sound quality?Interesting topic to you?What future topics would you be interested in? You can e-mail me silvia@langwitches.org or call in the listener line and leave a message (206-203-4393)

Technorati Tags: Langwitches Podcast

I have received some great responses from Foreign Language Teachers across the country through the listener response line. All the chants will be incorporated into the podcast, which hopefully will be uploaded this weekend.The programs that I am using to record messages and the podcast itself are free to download, easy to use and most of all pretty good quality.

Watch out for Langwitches.org’s first Episode: Coming soon….

Technorati Tags: Langwitches Podcast

I am getting ready for a Langwitches.org Podcast.

The Podcast will be geared towards Foreign Language and ESL teachers and how to integrate technology into their classroom.
I am jotting down ideas and topics for several episodes.

In preparation, I have downloaded a program (PowerGramo ) that will work together with SKYPE and is capable of record conversations/interviews.

I have also signed up with a free service (K7 ), that provides me with a phone number where listeners of the podcast can call in with questions, comments or contributions.

I have posted on Nandu listserve , which I read everyday and am waiting if there is any interest and response to my post.

Now that I have completed my Masters, I have "too" much time on my hands
and I have started my next project. I am working on a podcast about Technology
Integration in FL and ESL classrooms. They will be posted for download on my
website Langwitches.org: http://www.langwitches.org/podcast/index.htm If you would like to participate in the the first episode, you can contribute
your favorite chant/rhyme that you use in your classroom (All languages
welcome!). You can do this by calling 206-203-4393 and recording the chant into
the phone. No singing voice required, just the wish to share with colleagues
something that worked with your students. I have read so many times on this list
serve how great it would be to actually hear each other when someone is
recommending a song, poem or chant. Podcasting makes this possible to share it
with everybody. So, don’t be shy and jump right into this newest technology wave
that seems to be especially designed to work for us foreign language teachers.
Let’s pool some experience together. Hope to "hear" from you soon and I will
keep you updated on the progress of the first episode of Langwitches.org’s
Podcast.

Technorati Tags: Langwitches Podcast