Inspiration from Politics?

walking on the snow

I am feeling inspired in strange and unusual ways by politics. We are no longer being lead by Climate change deniers. Trudeau is an intelligent person and a decent human being. Bernie Sanders is intelligent, straightforward and courageous. Here is one of the songs he inspired.
 http://www.civilbeat.com/2016/02/makana-sings-praise-for-bernie-sanders/

I have never in my life felt like intelligence inspires intelligence as much as I am believing it right now. Trump inspires a sense of school yard hatred in supporters and those who think he is a rich cry baby. This is the song Trump inspired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPRfP_TEQ-g


And then there is the Wolf Kill In BC -- Have you heard about the use of Judas wolves in southern BC? This is not the face of intelligence or compassion. Cristy Clark -- Shame on you
http://bctvkootenays.com/2016/02/18/south-selkirk-wolves-confirmed-slaughtered-says-wildlife-defence-league/
Now the wolves are moving into the community -- why not when the forest = death from above.
http://www.nelsonstar.com/news/369122021.html?mobile=true

And they tried to make Milé Sirius seem like a child for bring up the wolf kill as an issue when she came to Vancouver. Sometimes you just care and that is all.

Some thoughts posted in the discusion Forum

Thank you for sharing your sales person metaphors for teaching. I find metaphors a valuable way of thinking and communicating. I appreciate teachers who are direct and share their teaching preferences, styles and metaphors with their students.  I find value in the variety of approaches and individual strengths of teachers I have had. I see the value in the sales person metaphor but I also see some weaknesses so just to play devils advocate for a moment I would like to present an alternative metaphor.

My cat Winnie knows what she is doing

I find the idea of selling students a set of ideas kind of troubling. First I would suggest that we do not know everything and that much of what we do know is how to use more and more resources. But understanding that any message can be sold I will go to the more loving and Parental model for environmental education proposed by the institute for earth education. http://www.eartheducation.org/
From this perspective, scientific education has failed to inspire knowledge that helps us live sustainably on this planet. It is suggested that too much emphasis is placed on what is known. More time could be spent telling stories about the mysteries, changing theories and ways that we know what we know. To teach like we parent. To lead students to ask questions by showing love and respect for the material. The things we consider bad and taboo in education are related to our historic fear of communism and long term thinking.

Cat on Bar

There is a critique that says we have brought a cold and sterile business model to education and the environment to help transfer ideas of the western economic system and industrialization to a next generation of students. The argument goes on to say that the environment should not be something teachers can explain all the mysteries of and it should not be something we are afraid of showing strong emotions for. The fear of loving trees is being sold in many classes. I ask you how many planets our solar system has -- or does any one really know.
Some of us have already bought lots of education and are ready to sell -- Check out my blog
Camp site coming soon -- book your learning holiday --

Essential questions

Heraclitus asked a question something like "Why is it impossible to step into the same river twice." Because both the river and the person have changed -- the world is in constant flux. -- This is a great question with an answer.

My dog nose things she learns from the river.

Interesting discussion on essential questions. I like the video "what is Art for?" but I am still following up with my favorite essential question -- "who benefits?" ..... What is art for and who benefits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn0bDD4gXrE
What is Art?

I also like a challenge I found this week in this discussion. The challenge is to think about questions not to ask?
Why would a student take this course? How much would you pay for your education before it became too expensive? What would it take to make you buy a fake education online? Does anyone have any personal beliefs that are going to interfere with their participation in this course?

Mostly an introvert

My house Jan 2016 - or one rooster on the porch

So the journal assignment for the week involves reflecting on the video the power of introverts. I found the video easy to watch and inspiring. We all have something different to contribute. Lets not shame and isolate introverts. I feel like I am an introvert who needs and likes stimulation from other people. We all need balance and the world needs all of us. Great motivational speech, great images of the speaker showing up at camp with her bag of books and misplaced expectations. A funny look at growing up and a meaningful look at one of the little accidents made by a society that sets norms and expectations.

http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts

A fellow students list of digital resources. I am impressed and think this list is valuable.

 

Digital Storytelling Resources

by Jeremy Boyne - Tuesday, 26 January 2016, 11:03 AM

 

Here are links to resources to help with creating a Digital Story. If you have others please add them below.
All working links

Free/Trial Software for Recording A Project 

Video Scribe (thanks Doug)
http://www.videoscribe.co/
Windows Movie Maker
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/movie-maker
iMovie for Mac
https://support.apple.com/kb/dl859?locale=en_US
MS Powerpoint
https://office.live.com/start/PowerPoint.aspx
Prezi (presentation software that uses motion, zoom and spatial relationships)
https://prezi.com/business/
WeVideo (cloud based video creation platform)
Free version = 5min/month, 2GB max
Paid = $10/month, 1HR, 5GB max
https://www.wevideo.com/
Powtoon (create animated videos)
http://www.powtoon.com/
Capzles (Create rich multimedia movies, timelines, etc)
http://www.capzles.com/
Slidestory (free narration over pictures software)
http://www.slidestory.com/
Zeega (interactive slideshows)
http://zeega.com/

Photos and Videos (Creative Commons)

Creative Commons (Free Images, Video, Music)
https://creativecommons.org/
Flikr: Creative Commons (Non-Copyright Online photos)
https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Archive.org (free pictures, movies and pictures -- non-profit)
https://archive.org/
Morguefile (catalogue of high res stock photos)
http://www.morguefile.com/
Wikimedia Commons (free, shared photos)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Bigfoto (free photos)
http://www.bigfoto.com/
Fromoldbooks (Free scanned pictures from old books)
http://www.fromoldbooks.org/
Stockvault (Free stock photos for non-commercial use)
http://www.stockvault.net/

Music

Audacity (Free Multi-track audio editor and recorder)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/
FMA (Free Music Archive)
http://freemusicarchive.org/
Freesounds (Free music & sounds -- Creative Commons)
http://www.freesound.org/browse/
SoundCloud (mix of free to download tracks & paid)
https://soundcloud.com/
Opsound (Free music)
http://www.opsound.org/

Software - Membership/$ based

Zimmer Twins (Animated Digital Storytelling)
$9.95/month
http://zimmertwins.com/splash
Animoto (professional videos using predesigned templates)
$16/month (personal), $42/month (professional)
https://animoto.com/
https://animoto.com/blog/business/how-to-narrate-your-video/

Additional Software Resources

http://www.techlearning.com/default.aspx?tabid=100&entryid=5656

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/list-of-best-free-digital-storytelling.html

http://guides.library.stonybrook.edu/digital-storytelling/resources

http://www.techshout.com/alternatives/2013/18/animoto-alternatives/

This is the link to my video on experiencial Learning

http://goanimate.com/videos/0mrydalFp17whttp://goanimate.com/videos/0mrydalFp17w

Metaphor and Learning

Feeling both young and old
Confussed and bold
A Rebel who does what he is told 

Building projects are moving and also standing still
Basic ideas are the center of learning
New stuff is added to old
 

And what do you do when the Turkeys come for you -- No Joke the wild turkeys are back and
it is better than netflicks -- the window goes both ways.