Podcasts--or I don't get it...

but maybe that's because I am a VISUAL ARTS teacher---so while I love to inspire students with music from an era, country or artist, or love to read scholastic art winners richly worded short stories, poems...to inspire the development of visual imagery, I can't get too worked up about listening to podcasts. Maybe I haven't discovered the right site. I mean while I love "This I believe" on NPR and while I did listen to the podcasts of students reading their own "This I believe" (https://digitalvoices.wikispaces.com/spg tace/filelist), and while I know that some students will tune in to learn, study, review....do students of there own volition really choose to tune into podcasts verses listen to music, watch videos or YouTube? And, while I listen to "Books on Tape" on long car rides, I would much rather read or hold a real book to study from than tune in to a pod cast. I promise to keep searching and keep an open mind. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day I discover my "Eureka!"-this is the podcast of my dreams!

Thing 11-Wiki's

Now I am really lost. Note my Wiki: http://www.wikispaces.com/user/my/grahde01 I can thing of pages I want to introduce, I get excited at the prospect of art teachers editing the pages, and I can't for the life of me imagine who has the time to do all of this!? School is out finally, and I am only moving onto Thing #12. I may finish my next September. I still get confused about how to move from one format to another, how to get back to sites I have created, and how to keep it all managed. Perhaps, now that I am not managing 150 adolescents a day, I may have some dawning revelations and it may all start to fall into place.

Wiki's!

Wow-another great new internet (intergalactic) world to get lost in! I really enjoyed the Wiki that explored Flickr, and one of the educational Wikis that shared Web2.0 collaborative techniques ( Classroom20wiki). While I delved into these-like I delve into non-fiction, I really enjoyed the look and unbelievable "breadth" of the Welker's... How does one get a Wiki that organized, complex and fascinating and still have time to teach? For those of you unfamiliar with the life of an art teacher-just image teaching 3-6 preps a day, with curriculum you have to design and write, collect reproductions, jpegs, images to scan, create Power-point presentations to show visual motivation, teach technique, context, motive, create creative-problem solving objectives, manage 35 students armed with a wealth of media/weaponry and then set and break down labs every hour of every day....have I adequately shared my mania with you? Anyway, you see how I marvel at the time commitment that all this seems to involve. The time thing seems to be what gets in the way here for me. I would love to see teacher's meetings held on Wiki sites! Certainly, sharing and give and take would be accomplished, new and old business would take place, real open discussion of ideas-collaboration...instead of memo meetings, no place for new business, held at end of day-I can't function now time...perhaps I am getting into muddy water here-so I will stop! :)