Saturday, March 29, 2008

Episode 13 In Service Insanity

Episode- 13 In-Service Insanity
Show notes:
Discussion: @ 4:00
Jeff n' Dan discuss workshop and professional development days: what makes us insane, what we need more of.

Tech Talk: @ 42:06
Jeff Reviews some online photo editing tools:
Adobe Photoshop Express
LunaPic
http://www.pixer.us/
http://www.wiredness.com/index.php
http://www.splashup.com/
http://www.picnik.com/
http://snipshot.com/

Media Integration: @ 50:49
Dan discusses Flocabulary


Book Talk @ 59:58
Dan talks about the book Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso.

Didya See?: @ 1:07:58
The draconian budget cuts across the state

Listener Feedback @ 1:16:33
No love for Incredible Hulk but Yay Doogie!
“Big Fat Liar”
Congrats to Mark on the new baby!

Music in this week's episode comes from Penmachine Podcast. “Meltdown Man” intro music by Derek K. Miller.

Listener feedback is encouraged. Contact us at wickeddecentlearning@gmail.com or leave us comments at http://wickeddecentlearning.blogspot.com
This episode was recorded March 28, 2008.

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's Late, But We're Recording!

Dan here:

Friday night, folks, and we got us a late start, but we know how much better the shows go when we record in the PM and after a brutal week of work. Yeehaw.

We're hammerin' on in-service insanity this week, along with a look at online photo editing, SAT hip hop, and the great Satchel Paige.

In the Masters of the Obvious segment, we talk about how many educators and support staff are going to be looking for other work this summer because of the fabulous choices made at the state level with regards to funding education.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Episode 12 Sir, What's this Technology Doing in My Soup?

Episode- 12 Sir, What’s This Technology Doing in My Soup?
Show notes:
Discussion: @ 4:11
Jeff n' Dan discuss a user suggested topic of effective Technology Integration.

Tech Talk: @ 39:11
Jeff Reviews some fun and functional online comic creation tools.
http://comicjuice.com/
http://www.bitstrips.com/create/comic/?full=1
http://www.pikistrips.com/
http://www.stripcreator.com/make.php

Book Talk @ 53:24
Dan talks about the book What a Song Can Do: Twelve Riffs on the Power of Music edited by Jennifer Armstrong.

Media Integration: @ 58:56
Dan discusses the video streaming site www.hulu.com

Didya See?: @ 1:05:00
Neither did we…

Listener Feedback @ 1:08:10

Music in this week's episode comes from Penmachine Podcast. “Meltdown Man” intro music by Derek K. Miller.

Listener feedback is encouraged. Contact us at wickeddecentlearning@gmail.com or leave us comments at http://wickeddecentlearning.blogspot.com
This episode was recorded March 20, 2008.

Thursday Night - We're Recording!

Dan Here:

We're in the geek lair, hard at work on this week's episode which amounts to Jeff finding some really great sites about generating comics online and Dan trying to finish the program for his middle school actors' dinner theater this weekend while trying desperately not to get lost in the hulabaloo of Hulu.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Episode 11 Going Pro

Show notes:
Discussion: @ 2:24
Jeff n' Dan discuss their ideas of teachers as professionals.

Tech Talk: @ 39:57
Jeff Reviews some blogging tools.
http://blogger.com
http://think.com
http://21classes.com
Blog Meister
http://classblogmeister.com/

Media Integration: @ 49:13
Dan discusses Youthcast from PRX
http://generation.prx.org

Book Talk @ 53:33
Dan talks about the book My Sister’s Voices: Teenage Girls of Color Speak Out by Iris Jacob
See excerpts on Google Books
http://books.google.com

Didya See?: @ 58:16
Maine Can Do Better Demonstration in Augusta
http://mainecandobetter.org/event.html

Listener Feedback @ 59:24
Thanks to Mark, Harold, Jim Burke, Micheal Richard, Mr. Byrne and others for helping us promote the show.
Great discussion and comments on the blog check ‘em out.

Music in this week's episode comes from Penmachine Podcast. “Meltdown Man” intro music by Derek K. Miller.

Listener feedback is encouraged. Contact us at wickeddecentlearning@gmail.com or leave us comments at http://wickeddecentlearning.blogspot.com
This episode was recorded March 16, 2008.

We Just Finished Recording

Dan here:

Jeff'll post the show and the show notes in the super-near future, but I wanted to let the people know it is on the way.

We haven't recorded on a Sunday in a while, much less a Sunday night and well . . . yeah. . . not my strongest effort. I'm sorry, coach. I gave what I had but it just wasn't good enough. I let my teammates down, my fans, but most importantly, I let myself down. This was what we might call an anti-Hoosiers moment.

But Jeff delivered the goods as per usual so we've got a lot about professionalism, some great resources for blogging in the classroom, a youth-generated podcast, a book about teenage girls of color speaking their voices, and handful of shoutouts.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Recording on Sunday this Week

Dan here:

Friday night and no recording?

Nope. I had me some improv troupe directing to do and I'll have some more o' that tomorrow night as well, along with some middle school theater directing and some high school theater admiring.

So Jeff and I will be recording on Sunday afternoon. We think we've got a pretty swell topic for this week, so here's looking forward to Sunday.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Help Us Spread the Word

Dan here:

Now that we are at 10 episodes, Jeff and I are starting to feel like this is really happening. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge one for ideas, but not always so awesome with execution. Heck, we first sat down to talk about doing a podcast oh .... over a year ago? Something like that?

Well, now that we've got some product out there, we'd like to build our audience.

What I've posted below is a form letter you could use for an e-mail to help spread the word about Wicked Decent Learning. The more listeners we have, the more feedback we have the potential to receive, and the more the show becomes a dialogue which is where Jeff and I really want to see things go. So please feel free to use the below -- I know I will be.

And thanks for the assist.

Like the fair loon that swims with the best of them but has serious issues and looks awfully goofy when trying to get airborn, a new education podcast has taken flight in the podcast-o-sphere and the blog-o-sphere: Wicked Decent Learning. Created by two practicing educators, Wicked Decent Learning examines issues in education of importance to Maine and the world beyond. Each episode features a discussion as well as a number of integration suggestions related to technology, literacy and media. And, ayuh, we throw our fair share of western Maine shenanigans into the mix, too.

Wicked Decent Learning is available through iTunes as well as our blog, http://wickeddecentlearning.blogspot.com

Keep fighting the good fight,

Dan & Jeff
Hosts of Wicked Decent Learning

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Episode 10 Group-ease

Show notes:
Discussion: @ 3:18
Jeff n' Dan discuss their experiences and ideas with group work.
Bernie Dodge’s Page of Webquest Roles for students
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html

Tech Talk: @ 42:19
Exploratree
http://www.exploratree.org.uk/
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/
http://www.bubbl.us/
http://www.mind42.com/

Media Integration/Book Talk @ 53:36
Dan talks about the book Money Ball by Michael Lewis.
Sites for Fantasy Baseball
http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/baseball
http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com
http://www.rotoworld.com


Didya See?: @ 1:02:30
More Budget Cuts for Schools (KJ)
Gardiner (SAD 11) Votes to Stand Alone in Consolidation
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4231875.html
Rally- http://mainecandobetter.org

Listener Feedback @ 1:14:37
Marc, mRichMe, Deb,

Music in this week's episode comes from Penmachine Podcast. “Meltdown Man” intro music by Derek K. Miller.

Listener feedback is encouraged. Contact us at wickeddecentlearning@gmail.com or leave us comments at http://wickeddecentlearning.blogspot.com
This episode was recorded March 8, 2008.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Saturday Night Live Recording

Dan here:

We're hard at work on the next episode tonight. So far, it would seem the hellacious weather we were supposed to get amounts to a whole lot of water.

I'm stoked at the moment because our high school's competition one-act took home first place in the regionals today! States, baby, States! I couldn't be more proud of 'em. And a student-written, student-directed production no less!

Anywho . . .

This week's episode is about group work -- the opportunities, the pitfalls, the habits, the awesomeness. We'll talk about how we might better make group work function better in our own classrooms and hopefully shed some insights into your work.

Jeff is gonna talk mindmapping and graphic organizers in the Tech Tools segment.

I've doing a two-fer and talking about the possibility of integrating fantasy sports media into the classroom along with the use of sports publications and excerpts from Michael Lewis' Moneyball.

And we'll yap about the most recent developments in consolidation and budget news. (Spoiler Alert: Things ain't any better! Shock! Awe!)

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Gah! Another snow day!

Dan here:

Believe this -- I'm thrilled to have a day to catch up on some correcting and hang out with the kiddo, but jeez...

Anyone else out there about done with this winter? (Yeah, like that isn't the number one photocopier discussion, having recently just edged out, 'How was your weekend,' and 'Did you see that e-mail we got?' for the top spot.)

On the flip side, I had a really cool experience with my seniors this week involving video games and trade shows. I reckon I'll be yappin' about it this weekend on the new episode.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Google Sites Video

Jeff here:

I was surfing around and found a video for the Google Sites section of Google Apps that I talked about during Episode 9. Here's the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KnC2EIS5w

And here's the video itself...

Better Late Than Never & Retraction...

Jeff here:

I realized during the recording of Episode 9 that I had not fulfilled my promise from Episode 8 to elaborate on wiki tools in a blog post. I finally did it and here it is.

Also a listener emailed with some news that forced our first retraction: data can be used as a plural noun. Dan and I had criticized the MEA for their use of it as follows:

"These data prove..."

After defiantly reacting to the listener's objection, I unfortunately verified that it is used correctly by checking Dictionary.com and Grammar Girl.

I wonder if this listener comment was a function of an intrepid sense of urgency to preserve the English language or the innate need for my little brother to prove me wrong once again...(we won't mention the Blair Witch Project debacle).

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Episode 9 Being Part of the Solution

Show notes:
Discussion: @ 4:46
Jeff n' Dan discuss their experiences with effective models for school decision-making and problem solving.

Tech Talk: @ 39:17
Jeff Reviews Google Apps for schools and organizations.
https://www.google.com/a/
And mentions the simplest web page building wiki tool on earth-- Jottit
http://jottit.com/

Media Integration: @ 49:45
Dan suggests a daily online comic, American Elf , despite the occasional bad apple.
http://www.americanelf.com

Book Talk: @ 58:30
Dan reviews the book Candy Freak by Steve Almond.

Didya See?: @ 1:05:04
TeLL results courtesy of the MEA Educator
MEA Educator touts Regional School Unit #1
Waterville Schools Pull out of Regionalization. Courtesy of the KJ.

Listener Feedback @1:10:57
GEEK!ED! Podcast gives a mention, well, almost.
First Episode turns 50.
Gabcast Tool.

Music in this week's episode comes from Penmachine Podcast. “Meltdown Man” intro music by Derek K. Miller.

Listener feedback is encouraged. Contact us at wickeddecentlearning@gmail.com or leave us comments at http://wickeddecentlearning.blogspot.com
This episode was recorded Feb 29, 2008