I Heart Podcasts. :) Keeping Up with Tech! #busedu @techmeme

So often in my technology training travels, people ask me how I keep up with so many "new things" and that I must spend all my free time practicing Adobe programs and reading textbooks. I assure you, I do not. Well, I do spend too much time learning new programs (but I love it!) but I also have a great PLN on Twitter/Facebook and that helps a ton!

This summer, though, I ran across a podcast that just really blew me away. I wasn't even familiar with TechMeme, but apparently they've been around awhile. They aggregate technology news. Simple enough. They look for new tech news so I don't have to. But, I don't have time to read more articles. (Come on, I have curriculum that won't rewrite itself.)

They do, however, have the TechMeme Ride Home podcast, which I listen to through Castbox, but you can access through iTunes or any plethora of podcasting apps. Let me give you a simple example of what I heard on my ride to work this week!

1. Uber: I love Uber and use it frequently when I travel. They talked today about the new Spotlight feature, where you can light up your phone with a special color specific to your driver. Your driver will receive a message telling them what color to look for, so you can just hold your phone in the air. 
2. Facebook: Though this wasn't "United States" news, a German court ruled you can inherit Facebook content like a letter or a diary (based on a parent wanting access to their teen's FB to determine if she was suicidal). Under its current policy, FB allows relatives only the ability to change the page into an online memorial or to delete it entirely. They wanted full access.
3. Photoshop: Did you know the full version of Photoshop will be released this next year for iPad? Yep. Seems to be the case. 

Earlier this month, I learned how Netflix is removing their movie review feature soon (all ratings except thumb up or thumb down). They won't allow new user reviews and they were completely remove all current reviews. 

But, five days a week, they put out a 15-20 minute podcast. I listen in my car either on my way to or from work. No reading, just listening to some new trends happening in tech, and this will be great fuel to use to get my students talking in my classroom when they get back to school. Friends, it's such as easy way to stay "up" on technology happenings.

Check it out!

Prime Day is Just a Prime Example #busedu

Well, yesterday, Amazon users "broke the internet" trying to surf for deals online. I was actually online that morning with my daughter helping her pick out a swimsuit for our upcoming vacation and wasn't even worried about waiting until the big deals came out later that afternoon, but my Facebook feed went crazy with anticipation and then with questions about whether Amazon was down. Memes started happening comparing this to the Build-a-Bear fiasco of last week. It seems many businesses are trying innovative techniques to get customers in the door (online and offline) and often, they can't deliver.

What a PRIME EXAMPLE (pun intended) of our society today! We are just go-go-go, want-want-want, and give-give-give me NOW! About everything. I'm at fault, too. Let me be clear. I prefer to DVR my television shows (mostly) so I don't have to deal with waiting for commercials. I binge hardcore on Netflix for hours (thanks, $mom). And, I check reviews online while walking through Best Buy before buying something like some crazy secret shopper.

Let's go back to my youth for a minute.  I communicated with my dad when I was little via the CB radio we had in the house (while he was out on visits to people in the community). I was excited when I got a cassette walkman (which I recorded songs off the radio "live" in order to listen later). I learned to type on a typewriter with no easy spell check. I had a phone with a long cord and no voicemail. I called my boyfriend on the grocery store pay phone to avoid charges to my house. Oh, and we didn't have remote controls for our televisions. Such depravity!

But, I won't criticize people for accepting the wonderful technology advancements we've been blessed with. Likewise, I try to be accepting of businesses when they try hard to accomplish something and don't quite live up to the hype (heck, I'm still shocked I can order something online and have it here two days later!). As a business teacher, it's important for me to help students see that as well. Students must learn from the mistakes of others, but not be afraid to try something, even if they fail.

There is a great lesson out there folks (for Amazon users, it might even be patience). But, this wasn't totally surprising. Do you remember the first Prime day, which is when their "lightning deals" originated? Three years ago, Prime day was considered a bit of a let down for different reasons back then.

The reality is this. As teachers, it is our responsibility to help our students see this as an example, like any other example... an example of how to hype up something (though hopefully with better follow-through), how to take failure in stride (I did have some friends online who jokingly commented how they met all the Amazon dogs yesterday), and how to push through and move on when things do not go as planned (I'm sure Amazon will be just fine and still make tons of money this week). 

As for me this time around? My cart is empty and I'm totally okay just watching the events unfold.  

LEGO Movie Posters UPDATE **check 'em out! #busedu #legos

So, last month, I made a post about my new idea for a Lego movie poster. You can read it here, including how I scored it and the examples.

But, I'm so proud of my students and they allow me to share, so I wanted to share a few of my faves. Can I just say again how excited I am to really be able to "see" that they mastered using masks and adjustment layers by having them submit these with screenshots on a Google Slides project?

Anyway, take a look!

Back to the Future

Saving Private Ryan

The 15:17 To Paris

Indiana Jones

LEGO Fun in Photoshop! #busedu

It's been several years since we've created movie posters in Photoshop class and I wanted to bring the ol' project back but with a twist. So, after talking to some students and tossing around ideas, I decided to create some LEGO versions of non-LEGO movie posters! Fun, right?

I took a simple poster for The Post and gave it a LEGO spin. They will be required to use masks for selections/blending, adjustment layers (I made his shirt blue), and keep with the "feel" of the original poster, but it doesn't have to be an exact match.

     

My students maintain a Blogger portfolio in the class, but I am going to have them submit this as a Google Slides project (and embed it in the Portfolio) as I want them to visually include their Layers panel and a "before and after" Adjustments to show me the changes they've made to the original images. 

Embedded below is my Google Slideshow I will show tomorrow to go over the project that includes my scoring criteria for mastery and some examples of others I found online (oh, and my Jumanji one! I'm pretty proud of it!). I hope to be able to show you some cool examples from my students in the near future!

From the Mouths of 6th Graders... "Bad Teachers" #busedu #teach

Yesterday, my Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter hosted our annual Career Fair at a local middle school. Sixth graders moved around the gym and heard from over 20 speakers about various careers--dentist, health care, police, plumbing, travel, etc., for five minute talks.

One of the businesses didn't show up, so I was asked to pinch hit by our organizer (my fellow adviser). Thus, I ended up leading a "teaching" station and talked about what it's like to be a teacher. I wasn't too excited. I didn't have any props, presentation, candy to hand out, or promo items, like most of them had. But, I took it as an opportunity. I essentially said that I wasn't there to convince them to be teachers. I didn't want to be a teacher at all during my k-12 school years. And, I felt that "good teachers" needed three important things-- to be good at what they want to teach, to be passionate about/love the topic they want to teach, and to want to help students learn. It's not enough to be good at math; that doesn't make you good at TEACHING math. You have to be good at explaining it, passionate about why people should learn it, and patience to work with students until they understand.

To try to get the students talking, I asked a few questions. One of those questions was if they ever had a "bad" teacher and what makes a teacher a "bad" teacher? Even students who were busy with the balloon that some station gave them (thanks) stopped playing and shot an arm up to answer. They all had opinions on this. Feedback was pretty consistent from group to group, but I wanted to share the highlights:

• "Teachers who are always in a bad mood."
• "Teachers who are rude and sarcastic."
• "Teachers who find some reason to get onto me all the time."
• "Teachers who pick favorites."
• "Teachers who are always on their phones."
• "Teachers who just sit at their desk all day."
• "Teachers who won't help you when you ask."
• "Strict teachers who won't let you do anything."
• "Teachers who hate kids."

I had about 50 groups of students today (around 400 total) and these were the themes. There were some isolated other complaints (like teachers who send me to the office all the time or teachers who put a kid out in the hall and never even go talk to them or teachers who give homework) but those listed above were mentioned multiple times.  On occasion, I'd call on a student and they would be one of the lucky ones who only had good teachers and didn't really have anything to contribute. But, the general consensus is that most students have had teachers who are inattentive, cranky, or who don't equally show attention in the classroom. 

Hey, I'm not perfect. These were sixth graders, but I teach high school and know that I occasionally lean on sarcasm to try to get attention (and probably will be more aware of that in the future) but I felt truly sad to hear that children (I mean, most of these kiddos were probably 11 years old!) had already had teachers who obviously didn't enjoy teaching or who consistently spent time ignoring students either at their desk, on their phone, or just through their attitude that made students feel like they couldn't ask questions.

I have made a big attempt this semester to walk around more and ask students if they have questions one-on-one rather than the blanket statements or just waiting until they ask me. I have a teenager of my own who honestly is pretty poor at advocating for herself because once a teacher snaps at her or seems upset with her, she just shuts down and pretty much refuses to ask for help.  I'm also one of those "strict" teachers who just doesn't let students sleep in class, play games, and I push them to complete work and won't let them just have zeroes if I can avoid it. If you forgot to turn it in, I'm probably going to approach you about it! But, I certainly try not to ignore students.

Note what is NOT on this list; there is no mention of teachers who just aren't good at explaining or aren't the smartest. Most of what they had to say had more to do with perceived attitude than skill.

As teachers, let's think about that list. Some of these things are subconscious. We don't try to pick favorites. We don't want to pick on certain students, but they just won't listen or constantly push our buttons. But, it's time to stop making excuses. Start over with kids. Let them know that you WANT to help them. Let them SEE that you want them to learn. Try different approaches.

And, for goodness sakes.... SMILE. No student should think their teachers hate kids. Wear your passion on your face as much as possible. And if you have to discipline or negatively spotlight a student one day, be sure to counter that with something positive the next day.  Show students you care, regardless of their past.

It's important.

 

One of my favorite projects-- Copycat Magazine

Every year in Photoshop, I challenge my students to find a magazine cover layout (I have a collection of about 150 for them to choose from) that is more than just simple text and words. They have to evaluate the fonts (serif, sans serif, narrow, slab, script, etc.) to try to match them with free/open source fonts, examine the use of shapes/line/color, and then recreate the cover with new content (different words, their own photos, etc.). There are some parameters that allow them to change color schemes, but they must try to font match (even down to bold, italics, etc.) and keep the same feel (may change the exact shape, but keep layer styles--strokes, shadows, etc.).

It's honestly one of my favorite projects. Students don't realize the power of a good layout until they apply their own content into one. I have many colleagues who have their kiddos do magazine covers, but students tend to create "simple" covers and this exercise helps train their eyes to look for creative layouts, so hopefully they can then better create their own in the future without need for duplicity.

Here's my example (I try to do one each year along with them):

And here is the magazine layout I used:

Scoring guide--  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LX1ur5ty1W3dby5K6sZHv31vacDbsrYerZcbAxcUmGc
 (Links to an external site.)

My example reflection post (I don't have them turn in printed scoring guides, so this is how they address the requirements)--

 http://skindawg17.blogspot.com/2017/12/copycat-magazine-cover-project.html 

Typing Practice... for Web Design! #busedu

Today, while looking for a typing racing game for my early finishers in Computer Apps (which, btw, they can add friends on and race friends when it shows they are online), I ran across this interesting Google integrated login typing site called SpeedCoder. If you teach a coding, programming, or web design class, it has various languages:

So, they are typing code! I am much slower (50 wpm) at typing codes!

Another cool thing is you can paste in code (Upload Custom Code) and then type your own code as practice. So, they could be typing code from an activity they already did in class to reinforce their knowledge (or an excerpt you provide on your website or a Google doc that they can paste in). Check it out!