Curriculum Video Description

My video is about the program that I teach, which is called Read Right. This is a reading intervention program designed to help struggling readers. It is a somewhat complex program that many people don't fully understand. If you aren't trained in it, it is a bit of a jump from traditional reading theory. Many administrators, as well as staff don't understand it, or agree with it, or believe in what it can do. It is thought to only be a fluency program, but it is not. I wanted to create this video for students, as well as staff and parents, so they would have an understanding of what it is. However, if I would show this to students, there are parts I would edit out because I think it goes somewhat over their heads. They don't know anything about reading theory, so I wouldn't want to bog them down with that stuff! I have seen amazing success and transformations from my students that they have not had before. I completely believe in this program.

I edited a few of the pictures. I put a daisy border around the picture on the opening slide because I thought it needed something to make it stand out. I blurred the faces of students and the teachers because these are not people from my own school and I borrowed the pictures from the Read Right website and Facebook page. I don't have any pictures of kids with me at home this week, during spring break, so I borrowed those. I would use my own students for the video I will show staff, in order to make that connection. I also added the text bubble stickers and text to the final picture to show what doors reading can open. I had a lot of fun with it, and found picnik to be so useful. I would use this with students, as well as at home. I also cropped and re-sized the photos.

I find it very difficult to summarize this program (as well as summarizing in general!) so please let me know if this makes sense to you, and is understandable in "laymen's" terms. I rearranged slides many times in order to get it right.

Curriculum Video--Read Right Introduction

Podcasts

I have to say that I had quite a difficult time trying to find things that I wanted to listen to. I subscribed to CNN for Kids to anything because I couldn't really find what I was looking for. I think podcasts could be quite useful, but I would have to spend much more time searching for things. I did like the CNN for Kids and Discovery Channel. The problem was that these were not just audio clips, but visual as well. I don't teach science or social studies, so I think these would be a challenge to work into my day. However, I love to do things with current events, and I think kids need to be connected to current times. I know that there is enough literature/language arts themes I could work with using these podcasts. They seemed very geared towards history and science. Though, I did find some podcasts about language. One I liked was Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. These were less than 10 minutes and discussed grammar issues. I think these could be used as extensions for lessons, however, I think these were above middle school students. There was quite a bit for ESL, which I think would be applicable to native speaking students. There were several vocabulary podcasts that I thought could be useful. I liked Fun English Lessons.

iTunes U was interesting and would be beneficial, but it was quite higher learning, not for middle school. If I could find the types of podcasts I want to use, I think podcasts would be fun to use in class. It could be something at the beginning of class to start with and grab attention. If my students had more access at home, I could record myself and put it out to be listened to at home, if students were absent.

Animoto/Picnik

Using Animoto in the classroom would be a wonderful tool and experience. I think students would connect with it and be excited to work on presentations, or projects in this format. This would give students a chance to use images to express the concepts and ideas, but also the ability to do some writing. This would be a good way to have students summarize, since there isn't much space to write on the slides. Group work could also be done through this tool. I think it would take some time to develop how to use it and also how to find/save/import images to use. It might take time to do some pre-teaching and working with the skills to find images, unless you found certain sites or pre-determined images. If students were able to take or use their own images, this would be another great way to connect. I think this would be fun and engaging, and capitalize on their technological interest, as well as capture their creative sides.

Using Picnik would also be fun. I didn't alter my photos except to crop them to manageable sizes. I did play around with colors, and it was fun to see the photos in different colors. I didn't like how that fit, so I didn't use it. In retrospect, I could have added stickers or even text boxes for the students to show thought bubbles about reading. That would have worked. Hindsight is 20/20! However, I plan to use this for my own personal photos. I told my husband about it and he is very interested. He uses Microsoft Paint in order to "fix" images. We used to have a pirated copy of Microsoft Picture It, which allowed us to fix red eye, or erase dust on very old images and make them like new. I think this is a much better program. I think students would have an absolute ball with Picnik. They could change colors, add art/stickers, and really be able to express themselves with their images. Talk about making things personal to make that connection.

I'm hoping to be able to teach summer school this year, and teach language arts or reading, not the intervention program that I do. If I'm able, I plan to do a lot with Animoto and possibly PhotoStory, and Picnik. I have time to plan what I can do, especially with pictures, cameras and flashdrives. I'm even trying to figure out a way I could work this in to my class. It'll have to probably come at the end of the year, like the last week of school, but I think we could do some fun stuff!

Animoto Video

EDU 552 Video

Letter for week 1

Hello and welcome to me!  My name is Jamie Short.  I grew up in Fremont, NE and went to school at UNL (go Huskers!)  I met my husband David there, and we've been married 10 years.  Though I grew up about 40 miles from Omaha, I was never allowed to travel to Omaha, except with my parents. Who would have guessed this is where I would live and teach!  I teach 7th grade reading at Norris Middle School, and have been there for all 9 years of my teaching career.  I teach a reading intervention program called Read Right, and have done that for the last 3 years.  Prior to that, I taught, what I call "regular reading", where we worked on reading skills and reading novels. 

I feel the I am very technologically capable.  I don't know that I really have the choice, as my husband is a software analyst and this is what goes on in my house.  To get along, I pretty well have to be!  I'm lucky, because I enjoy learning about technology and using it.  Whenever I need something, I have my own personal tech support!  Because of him, I've been exposed to the tech world, and my eyes have been opened.  I've learned more and more about how to navigate and operate websites, computers, and programs over the years.  I am fortunate because I have him.  Whenever I want to do a project, or power point, or create a document and I don't know how, he's right there to help me.  But he doesn't do it for me.  He'll guide me, but he wants me to learn it and figure it out so that I can do it on my own without him.   I am a PC person, mostly because of my husband since he is more or less anti-Apple.  I haven't used a current Mac, but this is because of my husband.  We use Office 2007 and run Windows 7.  At school, we all have laptops that run Windows XP.  Because my class is an intervention class and specific to the program, which doesn't allow for any deviation, I don't use technology in my class.  I have no need for it.  However, we all have an LCD projector, which is also why we have laptops.  If I taught, and created lessons, I would also have a Smartboard in my class, that I would LOVE to have and use.  I'm jealous of the other staff.   If I could use technology, I would create power points, show videos/teacher tube videos for students. We have two mobile labs that are available for use, and I know I would be using them often!

I'm pursuing my master's degree because my friend Shelby, who is also in this program, called me and told me about the program.  She asked me to do this with her, and I had talked about getting my master's for years, so this just made sense.  We also finally had the money to afford it, and Peru's program is much cheaper than other colleges.  I won't lie and say this was motivated purely out of the love of learning, because it wasn't.  The opportunity and price were right, and I look forward to the increase in pay. It just happened to be the right time.  I always wanted to get a masters in reading, but after learning the program that I teach, I'm glad that I didn't narrow my world to reading.  Even though I don't have lessons to plan for, these classes have helped my teaching and my mindset.  If, or when, I am no longer teaching the program that I do, the material that I've learned will be extremely beneficial.  With every class, I put myself back into my shoes of planning lessons, and I can see where I need to improve and reflect on how I would do things now.  I do enjoy learning, as I think all teachers do.  Even though it'll be awhile, I'd like to get my middle level endorsement as well.  Middle school is definitely where I belong.