Technology and more technology

My learning has been growing exponentially this past couple of weeks and I want to document some of that learning here.  

• Scanning and converting to PDF files : while this is probably just barely considered to be technology by some, it was an accomplishment for me!  We were asked to hand in our first term art portfolio electronically in the form of a PDF.  I had a physical book, some trading cards and a photograph which had to become one file.  It turned out that my fear surrounding this task was unwarranted.  Scanning to a PDF and saving on a desktop is as easy as selecting those options from a menu in the VueScan for Mac software.  Saving a photo as a PDF is also easy!  You simply import the chosen photo into MS Word and save it as a PDF.  The last step was to drag the new file I had created onto a thumb drive and copy it onto my Profs computer.  Huh.  Who knew?
• Dropbox.com:  This is another tool that I had never used.  I needed to find something, though, because I had a file that turned out to be too large to email.  So, I created an account and shared an MP3 file that I created in GarageBand with a couple of classmates.  It is not hard to do and a great way to share large files.  
• GarageBand:  Right.  Did I mention that I created a file in GarageBand?  It was even more complicated than that!  First, I chose some YouTube videos of music with parallel harmonies.  Next, I saved those videos as MP3 files.  They automatically saved into iTunes.  Then, I took the files from iTunes and imported them into a new audio file that I created using GarageBand.  I needed to split the files and manipulate them in order to create one file (around a minute long) with several samples of parallelism in music.  Saved it, uploaded it to Dropbox and shared it.  Sounds like a success experience but not quite yet.  For some reason, it saved as each complete MP3 file instead of the edited version.  So, back to the drawing board but I will figure it out today.  

That's it for today but I am slowing beginning to become more comfortable navigating my way through new technology without having my hand held.  There's hope for me yet!

Today, the PDPPPosse Resources Club met with several students from GNS Middle School to talk books.  We talked with a group of  grade 7 students who were asked to introduce us to their chosen book by answering a few simple questions (book title, author, why they chose it, brief synopsis, would they recommend it, what will they read next).

We met with the students via BlueJeans, which now seems to be working without a hitch.  Yay!  If you want to see a summary of the books that the students introduced us to, feel free to refer to another blog that my cohort of pre-service teachers is maintaining (http://pdppposserc.blogspot.ca).  We are beginning to gather a sizeable resource list for (mainly) Middle School resources.  We are also being introduced to books in our Reading class and I will share those on the pdppposserc blog at a future date.

Next up for the online/in person book club is to have a more in depth meeting with GHMS students (I am meeting with their librarian shortly) and to see if there is an Aboriginal school that would like to meet with us also.

Next week, the PDPPPosse Book Club is inviting Glenlyon Norfolk House middle school to join us and share their favourite books (or the book on their nightstand) with us.  To add focus to this discussion, the kids will talk to us about the following:

• Name of the book and author
• Genre
• Why did you pick it up to read?
• A brief synopsis of the book  - could be main theme (a couple of sentences)
• Would you recommend it?
• What will you read next?

I will share this loose structure with GHMS also (who we have already heard from), and we will have a follow up meeting with these questions in place.  I think this will focus our discussion and also alleviate some anxiety on the part of the students.  They will know what to expect and be able to prepare answers in advance of the meeting.  

In a subsequent meeting, we might go deeper.  I'm not sure how or what that would look like at this point, but I have an idea that students can discuss what has lingered with them from the book: a new idea, a feeling, a world of possibility or wonder, synthesis of a personal experience through a character or situation in a book.  This last bit might be asking a lot of middle school students but then again . . . maybe not.   I know that, as an adult, I enjoy reading but my favourite is when a book "stays with me" for a long time; when I become so lost in a story or a world that I live in it for a while.  Really great books can do this for us and I would love to hear kids sharing their experiences.

Well that was fun!

Our PDPPPosse Resource Club just finished a successful meeting in which we were joined via BlueJeans by a group of middle school students, a teacher and a librarian from Gordon Head Middle School.  On the technology side, Rich McCue once again came to our rescue and assisted us in setting up the technology from our end.  The next step for me is to learn how to be independent in this process.  I have enough confidence now that I am ready to take that on.

On the sharing of resources side of things, it was great to hear from middle schoolers!  They took turns telling us about their favourite authors, favourite books and favourite genres.  We heard that middle years students are interested in death, dystopia, fantasy and relationships. The series that came up several times were Harry Potter (talk about staying power!), Hunger Games, Divergent, Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl.  In addition, the authors that are capturing the attention of this group were John Green, Wendy Mass, Kit Pearson, James Patterson and even Steven King.  They are interested in a variety of genres also from Manga to paranormal to relational.

Personally, I was impressed by the breadth of literature that the kids are reading and by their capacity to name the genre that moves them.  Hearing the word, "dystopia" from a 12 year old was surprising to me.  (I have a feeling that students will never cease to amaze).  The students didn't use the word "empathy" but they are gravitating toward books and characters that they can relate to and in whose shoes they can metaphorically walk.   Relatable characters are key in literature and these students can recognize that.

On our PDPPPosseRC blog, in which we are collecting great resources, I will list the authors, books and series that the kids mentioned and, as an extension of their learning and to enrich our blog, the students are planning to blog about their books too.  I will provide that link soon.