Bit By Bit

11 responses so far ↓

• 1 Cheryl // Mar 20, 2006 at 8:33 pm

  Oh yeah, it is great to hear you again Bob! I too have been following this conversation. I listened to Over the Pond and through the Fiber last week while I was skiing. Actually, I listened to it 3 times. Then I listened to David Warlick’s podcast, Reflections to Wes Fryer’s International Skype…… and now yours.
  The new story, I get my professional developement from podcasts and blogs and streaming webcasts. I like the point David makes in his blog account of the Reflections to Wes Fryer’s International Skype
  “Being educated today depends less on what you have learned, and much more on what you can learn, unlearn, and relearn — learning to be specialized, highly adaptable, and creative.”
  When I listen to a podcast or read a blog, I am always asking myself, how can I apply this to the classroom, how will it benefit my students. When I present at a workshop I am always presenting a new Web 2.0 communication tool with an example on HOW I could use this with my students or staff. I am giving the audience a scaffold on how to use the new tool!
  Today I presented a lesson on Think.com and let 3rd and 4th graders create a blog in a closed environment. In less than a 40 minute period each student had created a blog with a survey question. Before most had finished someone had already answered their blog with a comment or voted on their survey. That was powerful! Will these students come back to my class with an enthusiam I haven’t seen in a while. YOU BET! THIS is the New Story in progress.By the end of this 3 week lesson my students will have designed a blog, created a way to interact with others either with votes or surveys or debates, they will have read and commented on blogs of students from around the world and they will share a piece of their writing to a larger audience. Hopefully these skills will serve them throughout their school career and well into their vocation. Along the way these students are practicing internet safety, internet ethics and communication skills. The New story.

• 2 Andy Losik // Mar 21, 2006 at 3:48 pm

  Your passion for kids and making education better with technology rings loud and clear! These are tools like jackhammers, chain saws, and 777s. They are tools that greatly enhance the “tried and true”. I am still a firm believer in the great books and classics. These tools help our students draw real connections to the classics and to the scholars that know them best. They can interact with peers in real-time discussions about such fundamentals. This is not whole-language or Chicago Math, another silver bullet ready to save us all. It is a revolutionary way of doing what we know best yet faster, deeper, and better. The ditto queens are hunkering down, many counting the days ’til retirement, and still running Number Munchers. It is too bad many have gotten so defensive, they could be reveling in the thrill of creating real-life, authentic learning experiences for their students that transport them daily across the globe and back. Wow, this is an exciting time to be teaching!

• 3 Miguel Guhlin // Mar 21, 2006 at 11:43 pm

  Bob, you did a phenomenal job on this podcast. Your eloquence is powerful, and I want to thank you for sharing your response to this conversation.

  So, did you write/script this out or speak off the cuff? If written, how long did it take you? If off the cuff, how did you manage to keep everything in mind?

  With appreciation for your mentorship,

  Miguel Guhlin
  http://www.mguhlin.net/blog

  P.S. Nice job on the Seedling podcasts, too!

• 4 Janice Stearns // Mar 22, 2006 at 12:39 pm

  As I was driving to work this morning and listening to your podcast, I’m sure some people on the road thought I was crazy. It made me happy to know that I am not the only one who talks to their iPod on the way to work.

  Your contribution to the conversation of “Telling the New Story” was inspiring and insightful. Your eloquent expression about your own personal professional development through listening to your iPod in the past year rings true for me, and for many of us, I am sure. I have never been so engaged and excited about the possibilities for student learning than I have been this past year. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from so many great teachers and thinkers.

  For me, you sum it up well when you said, “When I decided to create my own blog, and then later the podcast for my classroom, it was not motivated by the technology, it was motivated by the desire to better serve the kids and their parents. I took a chance that students would be motivated to write for a larger audience, and for the most important audience, their parents. The gamble paid off.” Wow, did it ever! Thanks for always sharing your story through your podcasts, and joining in the conversation. The ed-tech blogosphere is amazing. Telling the new story is crucial.

• 5 Travis Showers // Mar 22, 2006 at 3:46 pm

  Mr. Sprankle,
  I have enjoyed the podcast for a while now and it inspired me to start one with my fourth graders. Things are going slowly, but well. I have learned a lot and am very excited to try and get out a few episodes before the end of the year.
  I recently started using garageband instead of audacity. The sound effects and loops, plus the media window are just to handy. The problem that I have right now is that the audio that we recorded (iRiver) in stereo imported as a mono track. I would much rather keep the stereo, any suggestions? I brought the audio into the voice track, could this be the problem?
  Any input you have would be very welcome. I love what you are doing and I keep picking up new tips and tricks whenever I listen. Hopefully you will consider this imitation a form of flatery and not plagerism!
  Thanks
  Travis Showers
  Ohio

• 6 Mark Ahlness // Mar 23, 2006 at 9:05 pm

  Bob, thanks so much for sharing your wisdom and insight. I listened to your podcast today in my classroom as I went through the mindless prep stuff, getting ready for another day of teaching third graders. We are babes in the woods with podcasts at http://roomtwelve.com - but at least we are getting our feet wet, with individual readings. Your classroom podcasts are my inspiration for getting our student newspaper online in a podcast edition. By the end of the year, I hope. So much to learn, so little time! Thanks again - Mark

• 7 Thoughts from EdTechBrainStorm 27 at Learning Blog // Mar 28, 2006 at 4:22 pm

  […] I also commented on the New Story conversation that David Warlick started a few weeks ago. Here are some links for folks who want to listen as opposed to hear my quick summary of the conversation: Warlick’s Original Post, Over the Pond and Through the Fiber response, Warlick’s Response, and Bob Sprakle’s Thoughts. This is an amazing conversation — enjoy. […]

• 8 Cheryl // Apr 1, 2006 at 8:08 pm

  Mark, your room 12 podcast is just great. Keep it going.
  Cheryl

• 9 paul anderson // Jan 27, 2007 at 1:27 am

  Love the podcasts. I have learned more about Drupal through them than by any other source—and they are fun as well.

• 10 leo // Feb 22, 2007 at 12:54 am

  I dont know but why i don find such informative and profitable blogs so often,I suspect blogging world is becoming so small that we cant find such lucrative blogs like this one.

• 11 steve lehman // Apr 6, 2007 at 4:28 am

  I hope you include the National Poetry Day stuff on the CD. I could see that becoming a useful Christmas present for grannies.

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