Passion

This week in following a blog called http://adifference.blogspot.com, I was drawn to an article entitled, "The Ten Commandments of Teaching."  On the surface, these 'commandments' seem like no-brainers, but the writer of the blog (Darren, from Canada) has delved more deeply and really explored what each rule means.  I suppose that the same is true of the actual Ten Commandments - simple, yet study brings added insight and responsibility.  I'm impressed that Darren has spent about 2 years so far working on this particular post.  Within the body of the post, he has a link to another article that I really appreciate: http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/02/05/passion-based-learning/.  Konrad Glogowski talks about how important it is to teach with passion and how using technology for the sake of technology will only be engaging for so long. He inspires me when he says that the important thing is really to show the students that the subject is important to you and why it is important.  He cites the example of his use of the Diary of Anne Frank.  He didn't choose it just because it's well-written or because it describes a part of history that everyone should know about.  He tells what it means to him.  He is passionate enough about his subject that he has written about it on his blog and other networking accounts.  In short, he makes it personal.  I agree with this.  I need to make learning personal.  I need to model this for my students and then help them to make it personal for them as well.  The question now is one I'm afraid I won't like the answer to: how am I doing?  I recognize that I still have quite a way to go.  I like to think that my students know that I care about them - and I believe that is even more important - I hope they never think that I love the topic more than I care about them as individuals.  But I wonder if I demonstrate a passion for the subject matter as well.  I know I could make it more personal than I do.  This is where the real work begins...

Teacher Tube and Copyright

Teacher tube has some excellent videos on a variety of subjects.  While I've had success in using Teacher Tube in the past, there are a few things to look out for.  I've chosen two videos that use multimedia in order to scrutinize their use of copyright law.  The first is found at: 

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=15395&title=50_States_and_Capitals__cartoon_song_

It contains a notice at the beginning stating that this is a review of the states and their capitals preparatory to a class quiz.  At the end, there are a few lines wishing the students good luck.  There is no source date whatsoever on the content in-between.  Someone very naive could assume that the contents were the original work of a very talented teacher.  But I've seen this one before.  On TV.  It's a clip from the Animaniacs, and Wacko (or is it Yacko?) is singing a very copyrighted song.  Catchy.  Probably helpful for the students to remember all those state capitals, but still wrong.  At the very least, the poster should cite the source.  They should also have obtained permission to use the cartoon and to post it online.  The use may have been permissible for face-to-face instruction, but certainly not for internet distribution.  Another solution would be to have the students create their own state/capital song and film it for Teacher Tube.

The second video I'm looking at was on the main page on a list of popular videos.  Again, it violates copyright law.  It is called We Didn't Start the Fire, and uses the work of Billy Joel by the same name without giving him any credit.  The video link is: 

http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=1465&title=We_Didn_t_Start_the_Fire

Interestingly enough, the person who compiled all the photos, videos and other materials for the video is sure to give himself credit, but doesn't give credit anyone else at all.  Some of the source material may be copyright free, but certainly the sources should be cited.  Additionally, it is doubtful that Mr Joel and others actually granted permission for their creations to be used.  In a compilation such as this, it would be cumbersome and difficult to post a legible and complete bibliography as part of the video, but it would be feasible to post a link for it, and if the authors did indeed give permission, something like, "all materials used herein used by permission, where applicable," should be written visibly at either the beginning or the end. 

Copyright is a difficult issue.  I believe that if we all obeyed copyright laws more stringently, authors and other copyright holders would generally be more inclined to be generous with their work.

Just Checking In

It's been more than a week since my last post already.  I think it's going to be a while before blogging is a habit with me.  Thanks so much to my friends who wrote me on facebook with suggestions and encouragement.  For those who have so kindly added me to their blog readers (without being assigned to do it, even!), I am grateful and I hope not to disappoint.
This week I've added a few educational blogs to my blogroll that look promising.  Mostly they are general in nature.  So far I haven't found many that are specific to teaching English or Spanish.  I know they're out there though, and I'll be hunting.  I would appreciate any suggestions for good sites.
I also signed up for 2 social networking sites: Diigo and passionateteachers.ning.com.  Diigo comes highly recommended and the other looks promising as well.
A site that I use frequently that isn't a blog is www.education-world.com for their Every Day Edits.  It gives my students a quick review of grammar and editing each day.  It is a paragraph about some notable person or event or thing with about 10 mistakes in it.  I usually post the paragraph on the Promethean board and have the students take turns at correcting with a stylus.  They seem to enjoy it, and they might even be learning something.  Even the kids with strong grammar skills are at least building their general knowledge.  Yesterday, it was about Jesse James.  Only 2 of my students had even heard of him!
On another note, it stormed and rained yesterday in the city of Provo.  Rain is good for my soul :)  Yea for Autumn!

Technology background and goals for the semester

My background in technology is limited.  I'm comfortable with the basics: email, web surfing, word and the rest.  I use the explore and experiment technique to learn about technology, and have been fairly successful.  A lot of the training I receive at work only scratches the surface, and often doesn't cover much more than I already know.  It seems to be geared to less technology-experienced teachers.
 If I haven't used it often or recently, I generally have to flail around a bit to re-find my bearings.  I do feel like I can follow a tutorial easily, although not all tutorials are created alike.  I use a Promethean board all the time at work, but I'm sure I use only a fraction of its capabilities - there just hasn't been time to train myself on all it has to offer.
My main goal for this semester is to become more familiar with the various technologies available for the classroom and all that they can do.  I also hope to learn how to identify quickly what will be most useful to me for a given lesson and how to prepare the materials in a timely way.  I welcome any and all help along the way.

...And this is my first post to my first blog

Yes, I know this is absolutely lame, but as I'm entirely new at this, I feel justified in writing an extremely bland first post just to experiment with. I'm realizing now that I tend toward very long, very comma-ed sentences. I could take a few lessons from Hemingway, except I don't like his stuff. At least I hated The Sun Also Rises.

Look for a 'real' post soon.