<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553</id><updated>2008-06-27T12:04:09.408-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Paradigm Shift</title><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default'/><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>43</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-8746235766227995058</id><published>2008-06-27T09:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-06-27T12:04:09.441-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Goodreads for book lovers</title><content type='html'>Just found Goodreads, and selected some of the books that I've read through the years, and wrote some reviews on a few of them. I also read some review from other members. It's pretty good stuff. Below is a review I wrote about a coaching book that I have read and re-read several times.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/864588.Coaching_Team_Basketball?utm_medium=api&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="Coaching Team Basketball" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1179004056m/864588.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/864588.Coaching_Team_Basketball?utm_medium=api&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=blog_review"&gt;Coaching Team Basketball&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/446496.Tom_Crean"&gt;Tom Crean&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25278964?utm_medium=api&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=blog_review"&gt;My review&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&amp;nbsp; rating: 5 of 5 stars&lt;br /&gt;
I felt like I was a pretty good basketball coach before I read this book. However, this book completely changed the way I coach. Period.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
If you have ever had poor team chemistry, selfish players, selfish parents, or a team that wasn't focused on a single goal, then read this book and do what it says.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Don't justify skipping over (not doing) some of the things in the book based on your own expertise. Institute every team component explained in the book. There are a couple of them that I wondered whether middle schoolers would buy into. But I figured, &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;If I want my players to be coachable, then I should be coachable, too&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
What I found was that middle schoolers need this stuff more than anyone (and high schoolers), because a vast majority of them don't know how to be a &lt;b&gt;great&lt;/b&gt; teammate or how to be a &lt;b&gt;positive&lt;/b&gt; verbal leader. Plus, they really like being on a team where &lt;b&gt;everyone&lt;/b&gt; likes each other, works hard, and puts the team first--oh, and wins, too.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The players have bought in, they believe in the system, in each other, and in the direction we're going. I can tell you that you should do it all--every bit of it--as each piece complements the whole concept of team play. You'll be glad you invested the time and energy in a proactive manner to build your team.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1264884?utm_medium=api&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;utm_source=blog_review"&gt;View all my reviews.&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2008/06/goodreads-for-book-lovers.html' title='Goodreads for book lovers'/><link rel='related' href='http://www.goodreads.com/' title='Goodreads for book lovers'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=8746235766227995058' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/8746235766227995058'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/8746235766227995058'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-1804641721059031855</id><published>2008-05-09T21:39:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-05-09T21:45:32.307-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Where's my Green Jacket?</title><content type='html'>Well, after completing my Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction last weekend, I am starting to get a little restless already. I really enjoyed my experience at Grand Canyon University,  and I learned a ton about designing curriculum!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2008/05/wheres-my-green-jacket.html' title='Where&apos;s my Green Jacket?'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=1804641721059031855' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/1804641721059031855'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/1804641721059031855'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-518699795715297202</id><published>2008-03-30T03:04:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-03-30T03:04:27.096-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Animoto</title><content type='html'>&lt;object id="W47ef65aa1e1617d9" width="432" height="250" quality="high" data="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/46928cc51133af17/47ef65aa1e1617d9" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent" /&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/46928cc51133af17/47ef65aa1e1617d9" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /&gt;&lt;param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value="" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;Animoto is a very innovative website that allows users to upload photos and select music to create some eye candy slideshows. I can't profess to knowing the exact educational ramifications at this time, but it sure is fun!! Here is a slideshow of our dog, Zane, which I was able to post directly to YouTube and this site from Animoto.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2008/03/animoto.html' title='Animoto'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=518699795715297202' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/518699795715297202'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/518699795715297202'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-9109144743872639934</id><published>2008-01-16T12:39:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-01-16T12:58:44.662-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Balanced Literacy</title><content type='html'>Balanced Literacy is the focus of our staff development this afternoon. To me, balanced literacy in my computer literacy allows students to utilize their literacy skills in a variety way through multiple media. I think it's important for my students to work in online environments as well as in more traditional environments, like word processing and localized documents.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Cross-curricular literacy characteristics, I believe, begin and end with critical thinking. Students need to be challenged to evaluate, synthesize, and analyze situations surrounding technology use. That means they need to read, write, and publish in computer literacy.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2008/01/balanced-literacy-is-focus-of-our-staff.html' title='Balanced Literacy'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=9109144743872639934' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/9109144743872639934'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/9109144743872639934'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-4652733561323759254</id><published>2007-12-16T03:55:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-12-16T05:25:00.219-08:00</updated><title type='text'>VoiceThread. The next big thing in collaborative education</title><content type='html'>VoiceThread lets users create online multimedia-rich presentations that other users can view, comment on, and even edit. I'll let the VoiceThread site itself give a more specific description of its features below...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
                          &lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-family:times new roman;" &gt;"A VoiceThread is an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways - using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) - and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows group conversations to be collected and shared in one place, from anywhere in the world."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
--VoiceThread website, &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://voicethread.com/about/featuring/"&gt;About Voicethread&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At the bottom of this post is the example that I created on VoiceThread. It is the most powerful piece of multimedia that you will ever see in your life, so brace yourself.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Actually, it's just pictures, commentary, and text of our dog, Zane. But imagine if you used this in your classroom...Imagine what you could do with your content, front-loading background knowledge, questions and inference...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Since I don't have anyone to comment within the voicethread, it doesn't show the full spectrum of its instructional potential. Maybe you would like to comment within the voicethread itself. Feel free to do so if you desire.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
To comment on the voicethread, you need to establish an account, which is free and easy. &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;In fact, as a K-12 educator, you get a free version of their &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"&gt;PRO Account&lt;/span&gt; which gives you unlimited everything (this is a good thing). &lt;/span&gt;All you have to do after you have established an account is to click on the &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"&gt;GO PRO!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;account tab in the upper right corner of the page.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Anyhow, there are several tutorials available at the site to check out. There is even a &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"&gt;Classroom&lt;/span&gt; category (top, middle of the home page) that addresses the educational uses that VoiceThread utilizes. They're definitely worth a look. I learned a lot from them.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So, here it is...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;object height="360" width="480"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=34904"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=34904" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="360" width="480"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2007/12/voicethread-next-big-thing-in.html' title='VoiceThread. The next big thing in collaborative education'/><link rel='related' href='http://voicethread.com/' title='VoiceThread. The next big thing in collaborative education'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=4652733561323759254' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/4652733561323759254'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/4652733561323759254'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-1196909316263819418</id><published>2007-07-27T22:10:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-07-27T22:38:46.915-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='DUH Scale'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Photo Editing'/><title type='text'>Snipshot: Great Photo Web-Editor</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://snipshot.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Snipshot&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; is a simple, but great, web-based photo editor. It has basic tools like resize, crop, rotate, enhance, and adjust (saturation, sharpness, etc.). It also has a Firefox Add-on. Best of all, there's no registration.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It receives the prestigious &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;0 Manuals&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; (the lower, the better) on our &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;DUH! Scale&lt;/span&gt;.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2007/07/snipshot-great-photo-web-editor.html' title='Snipshot: Great Photo Web-Editor'/><link rel='related' href='http://snipshot.com/' title='Snipshot: Great Photo Web-Editor'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=1196909316263819418' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/1196909316263819418'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/1196909316263819418'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-114253052406767398</id><published>2006-03-16T08:35:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-03-16T10:07:51.826-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Viva Basecamp!</title><content type='html'>I've been slowly (no kidding, really?) integrating &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.basecamphq.com/index.php"&gt;Basecamp&lt;/a&gt; into my Computer Literacy classes to build an online learning environment for my students.  I believe it's important to give them exposure to how instruction can be delivered in an online environment because it's only going to become more prevalent in the coming years.  Soon, I'm going to do a full review of the the project management tool (&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;still&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/basecamp_free_basic_plan_for_teachers.php"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;free for teachers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;! I think.) and lend some insight as to how I'm using Basecamp in my instruction.  I'll include the set-up and infrastructure of how I use the many features offered by Basecamp.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2006/03/viva-basecamp.html' title='Viva Basecamp!'/><link rel='related' href='http://www.basecamphq.com/index.php' title='Viva Basecamp!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=114253052406767398' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/114253052406767398'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/114253052406767398'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-113243071498857258</id><published>2005-11-19T11:25:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-11-19T12:47:44.393-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Basecamp is now free for teachers!</title><content type='html'>That's right!  The good folks over at &lt;a href="http://37signals.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;37signals&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; have made it possible for teachers to use this powerful project management tool for free.  This is, &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;potentially&lt;/span&gt;, a huge gift to help teachers track student work.  I say "&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;potentially&lt;/span&gt;" not because the product is incomplete or somehow insufficient.  I say &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;potentially&lt;/span&gt; because it still relies on the individual teacher to use it to it's full capacity.  &lt;a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Basecamp&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; streamlines the process of offering individualized and diversified instruction to our students and evaluating their learning.  It allows us to easily track their progress and success.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
No matter what they're working on.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Or how long it takes them.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I believe we, as educators,  need to take full advantage of this gift.  Even if you don't swim in the &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;technology pool&lt;/span&gt; (but really, would you read this blog if you didn't), you can still stick your big toe in the water without fear of drowning.   Find one or two  students in a class and give them a learning extension so you and the student(s) can take this instructional tool for a dip.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Basecamp has great potential.  And so do we.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;As a teacher, all you need to do to get a free Basecamp Basic Plan is &lt;a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="mailto:email@37signals.com"&gt;email&lt;/a&gt; them at &lt;a href="mailto:email@37signals.com"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;email@37signals.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/11/basecamp-is-now-free-for-teachers.html' title='Basecamp is now free for teachers!'/><link rel='related' href='http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/basecamp_free_basic_plan_for_teachers.php' title='Basecamp is now free for teachers!'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=113243071498857258' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/113243071498857258'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/113243071498857258'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-112965393619312641</id><published>2005-10-18T09:24:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-10-18T09:45:36.230-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Long time, no blog</title><content type='html'>Man, the days really have a way of flying by if you're not careful.  It's been a couple of months since my last post, and 3 months since my last podcast.  Sheeesh.  Well, I'm hopeful that I can get a show out this weekend.  I've been exchanging some emails with Dan Weinstein of the &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://dantoday.blogspot.com/"&gt;DanToday&lt;/a&gt; educational blog.  He has a number of great tools and thoughts dealing with educational technology!  With any luck, he'll be our guest on Paradigm Shift's "&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Season Premier&lt;/span&gt;."</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/10/long-time-no-blog.html' title='Long time, no blog'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=112965393619312641' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/112965393619312641'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/112965393619312641'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-112366719577109438</id><published>2005-08-10T02:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-08-10T03:50:58.126-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Summer is going, going...GONE</title><content type='html'>Well that was certainly quick.  Summer just evaporated.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I'm looking forward to starting school in 12 days, it's the meetings next week I'm struggling with.&lt;br /&gt;
:-)&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I'm going to do a podcast before school gets going.  The only question is "When...?"&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Since summer basketball finished, I've been filling my time by doing a little home improvement and a lot of edging in the yard. Have I mentioned how I can't wait for school to start?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A few weeks ago, I started a blog and podcast about the Green Bay Packers.  It's called the &lt;a style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://packercast.blogspot.com/"&gt;Packer Podcast&lt;/a&gt;. Catchy, eh? No, I didn't stay up all night thinking of the name. It features all the latest Packer news with my own commentary sprinkled in for flavor. So, those of you that are Packer fans, check it out. If you're not a Packer fan, certainly you know one that would love the &lt;a href="http://packercast.blogspot.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Packer Podcast!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;    Like the Paradigm Shift, the Packer Podcast is available (&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 153, 0);"&gt;FREE!&lt;/span&gt;) at the iTunes Music Store.&lt;br /&gt;
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I've also been reading &lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1402202350/qid=1123669200/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-5787017-5499865"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Young Patriots&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, a Charles Cerami book that investigates the important roles that James Madison and Alexander Hamilton played in framing the Constitution. I'm not very far yet as I tend to read non-fiction much more deliberately than fiction. So far, I'm very impressed with Cerami's writing. Having never studied Hamilton's background, I didn't realize just how brilliant our first treasury secretary truly was. One of the most impressive things about Hamilton is that he was such a quick study and would consistently gain insight beyond that of his mentors.&lt;br /&gt;
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I do that, too.&lt;br /&gt;
:-)&lt;br /&gt;
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Well, back to the book...</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/08/summer-is-going-goinggone.html' title='Summer is going, going...GONE'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=112366719577109438' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/112366719577109438'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/112366719577109438'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-112007672375334115</id><published>2005-06-29T13:20:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-29T13:25:23.776-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Thoughts, reactions and strategies for teaching ESOL students</title><content type='html'>Click &lt;a href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to go to the overview of my blog entries regarding the English Language Learners class I recently completed.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/thoughts-reactions-and-strategies-for.html' title='Thoughts, reactions and strategies for teaching ESOL students'/><link rel='related' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners.html' title='Thoughts, reactions and strategies for teaching ESOL students'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=112007672375334115' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/112007672375334115'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/112007672375334115'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111994256491932692</id><published>2005-06-28T00:04:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-28T00:09:24.936-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Kathy Schrock Interview Reposted</title><content type='html'>In honor of the NECC Conference, I'm reposting a link to our &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Kathy Schrock&lt;/span&gt; interview we had under the show's former name.  She is incredible!  She has so many great instructional tools for teachers!  Check it out &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://teachnology.podlot.com/Teachnology04-03-05.mp3"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/kathy-schrock-interview-reposted.html' title='Kathy Schrock Interview Reposted'/><link rel='related' href='http://teachnology.podlot.com/Teachnology04-03-05.mp3' title='Kathy Schrock Interview Reposted'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111994256491932692' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111994256491932692'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111994256491932692'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111993307937104350</id><published>2005-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-27T21:31:19.376-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Podcasting Just Got Easier</title><content type='html'>Adam Curry's much anticipated podcast recorder, &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.castblaster.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5"&gt;CastBlaster&lt;/a&gt;, is out in public beta. I downloaded the trial version free, which is a full-blown version but limited to 10 minutes of recording. It's pretty slick as it automatically adjusts volume levels to keep them consistent and for lead-in voiceovers. I'll use it for my next podcast. It seems to work great! The full version will set you back 50 smackers.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/06/26/adam-currys-castblaster-podcasting-app-in-beta/"&gt;Download Squad&lt;/a&gt; has a little blurb on it as well as a link to a very informal screencast about it (the user is experimenting with it as he screencasts)--that served as a pretty effective tutorial for me.</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/podcasting-just-got-easier.html' title='Podcasting Just Got Easier'/><link rel='related' href='http://www.downloadsquad.com/2005/06/26/adam-currys-castblaster-podcasting-app-in-beta/' title='Podcasting Just Got Easier'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111993307937104350' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111993307937104350'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111993307937104350'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111977177134358539</id><published>2005-06-26T01:50:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-26T02:51:37.103-07:00</updated><title type='text'>English Language Learners</title><content type='html'>Here's some thoughts, ideas, and strategies resulting from the &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Enriching Content Classes for Secondary ESOL Students &lt;/span&gt;class I recently completed in Colorado Springs.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;We covered everything from the differences between primary and secondary language development to specific instructional strategies to help ELL students in content classes. If you scroll down, you see them in the reverse order that I posted them because this is a blog. So I've added links to the bottom of each post to take you to the next post and make it a more natural read (hopefully).&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" &gt;For those of you, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;like me&lt;/span&gt;, that have a hard time keeping track of acronyms, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;ESOL stands for English for Speakers of Other Languages&lt;/span&gt;. I didn't even know &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; before the class started. I'll switch back and forth between acronyms but for the purposes of this discussion, they all mean about the same thing (even though they do have their own nuances and distinct definitions).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Below, I've added the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;links to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;all three posts and a brief description of each.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;English Language Learners I&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Thoughts about some of the obstacles that face ESOL students when attempting to learn the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;academic language&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;different curricula&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;English Language Learners II&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Strategies to help ESOL students to overcome those obstacles mentioned in ELL I.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-iii.html"&gt;English Language Learners III&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Instructional strategies to help ESOL students decode and comprehend the text they encounter in our content classes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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I have left a lot out from the class as well as from the art of teaching ESOL students. If you have anything to add, please (&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;please, please!&lt;/span&gt;) leave a comment or two. You certainly won't be stepping on my cyber-toes as I don't profess to be an expert at, well, anything really. Plus, everyone benefits when we share ideas.&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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So please feel free to add to this rather quick synopsis.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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To start, click &lt;a href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to go to &lt;a href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;English Language Learners I&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; &lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners.html' title='English Language Learners'/><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology' title='English Language Learners'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111977177134358539' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111977177134358539'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111977177134358539'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111965008093481856</id><published>2005-06-25T23:11:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-26T02:46:38.803-07:00</updated><title type='text'>English Language Learners III</title><content type='html'>Alright, here's my final installment on what I learned in the &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Enriching Content Classes for Secondary ESOL Students&lt;/span&gt; class I took in Colorado Springs. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;The required text for this class was the study guide by the same name as the class, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Enriching Content Classes for Secondary ESOL Students&lt;/span&gt; from the &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Center for Applied Linguistics&lt;/span&gt; and the &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Delta Publishing Company&lt;/span&gt;. The study guide really helped me structure the material being presented and concetpualize it's usefulness in the classroom. Specifically, it gave me a point of reference for some of the most important strategies that we learned in the class.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;One of the strategies that we learned was a lesson modification called &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Teach the Text Backwards&lt;/span&gt;, which allows teachers to &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;increase the comprehensibility of the text&lt;/span&gt; their students are reading. Basically, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Teaching the Text Backwards&lt;/span&gt; gives students several previews of the text they're about to encounter. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;To demonstrate our learning, we had to produce a lesson plan that used this strategy. I worked with two very bright high school teachers--one taught automotives and the other taught foreign language. We decided to have students produce &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;various &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;car maintenance &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;tutorials through iMovie based on the reading in their textbooks.&lt;/span&gt; For a copy of the &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://teachnology.podlot.com/picture_library/Automotive_iMovieLessonMOD.doc"&gt;lesson modification&lt;/a&gt; in Word, click &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://teachnology.podlot.com/picture_library/Automotive_iMovieLessonMOD.doc" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;  It will help to make a little more sense of where I'm going with all this if you haven't taken the class.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;For this strategy, we start by giving the students some &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;relevance&lt;/span&gt; to the text through their lives or a tie-in to their &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;prior knowledge&lt;/span&gt;. Demonstrations of labs are popular examples of this. Jim, our automotive teacher, started with a rundown of &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;very common&lt;/span&gt; automotive fluids that could be checked, topped off, or changed very easily. Jim held each store-bought container up as he mentioned the fluid. This gives ELL students an opportunity to &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;hear the content language&lt;/span&gt; with a&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; visual representation&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
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With video guides in hand, the students (our classmates) &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;watched an iMovie &lt;/span&gt;we produced which showed all the fluid fill and check locations in the car. Their task for this was to match the store-bought fluid containers that Jim held up with the fill and check containers from the iMovie. The iMovie contained audio sound effects that provided hints as to what went in each container, plus there were &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;textual clues&lt;/span&gt; as many fill and check caps are labeled. &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;This opportunity also allows students to preview the medium in which their projects would be produced.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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That concluded the part of the lesson we were supposed to present to our classmates. From there, we simply explained the remainder of the lesson. Students would do a &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Think-Write-Pair-Share&lt;/span&gt; (a strategy that was modeled and discussed in the class) to review their video guides. Then in their same TWPS, students would &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;identify the key concepts&lt;/span&gt; by previewing the Study Questions provided at the end of the chapter.&lt;br /&gt;
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Each TWPS group would do a blind draw to determine the car maintenance tutorial they would have to produce (possibilities include changing a tire, changing an air filter, checking the fluid levels, checking and changing the spark plugs, etc.). We would make the &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;reading more manageable&lt;/span&gt; for ELL students by having each group read the section that pertains to their tutorial, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;instead of the entire chapter&lt;/span&gt;. We would do a &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Numbered Heads Together&lt;/span&gt; exercise (modeled and discussed in the class) to check for comprehension and dissiminate the answers to the study questions. This provides students with a natural springboard to producing their own car maintenance tutorial through iLife.&lt;br /&gt;
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We also worked with and created curriculum-specific models for using graphic organizers as a resource for ELL students. Graphic organizers are not just teacher to student instructional aides and Anticipation Guides, but they can also be used as student-back-to-teacher learning demonstrations or comprehension checks.&lt;br /&gt;
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Here's a &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;very quick review&lt;/span&gt; of some of the major &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;instructional topics&lt;/span&gt; covered in the class:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Three Principles to Help ESL Students&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;ol&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Increase Comprehensibility&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Increase Interaction&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;Increase Critical Thinking Skills&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ul&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; Specific Strategies&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;ol&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Teach the Text Backwards&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Text-to Graphics-Back-to-Text Again&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Demonstrations and Modeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;Think-Write-Pair-Share-Square&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;ul&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Group/Pair Structures&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;ol&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Numbered Heads Together&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Inside/Outside Circle&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Search and Find&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;/ol&gt;   &lt;ul&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Investigations&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;/ul&gt;   &lt;ul&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Jigsaw&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;/ul&gt;   &lt;ul&gt;     &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Mix-and-Match&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;&lt;&lt;&lt;previous ell="" post=""&gt;&lt;/previous&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Previous ELL Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 85%;"&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 85%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;ELL 1 &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;ELL 2 &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-iii.html"&gt;ELL 3 (Top of this post)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-iii.html' title='English Language Learners III'/><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology' title='English Language Learners III'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111965008093481856' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111965008093481856'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111965008093481856'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111913729539842413</id><published>2005-06-18T18:48:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-26T02:43:30.430-07:00</updated><title type='text'>English Language Learners  II</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;On my Thursday, June 16 post, I wrote about some thoughts I had regarding some of the difficulty ELL students can encounter when entering our classrooms. These thoughts were spurred by the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;b&gt;Enriching Content Classes for Secondary ESOL Students &lt;/b&gt;class I attended recetly in Colorado Springs. If there's one thing I hate it's someone who will pose a problem without offering a solution, which is what I did the other day, because it was getting real late and I had meetings the next day. So, here are some strategies for increasing comprehension in our ELL students, despite the highly specialized vocabularies each content area requires.&lt;br /&gt;
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Our instructor for the course, Sara, illustrated some of the frustration ELL students can incur in our classrooms. She played a video of a woman speaking &lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Farsi &lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;who was, in large part, non-descript in her delivery. The video was 59 seconds long, but it seemed like it was at least three times that. As a class we were only able to pick out a couple of words and that's only because they were cognates. Then we watched the same woman speaking Farsi but more animated this time and with visuals to represent what she was explaining.&lt;br /&gt;
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Since I can't do the lesson justice and I don't want to ruin it for those who will take the class in the near future, I will not go into any specifics other than to just note that we were able to decipher much more of what she was teaching us, including several details. The second video lasted about 30 seconds longer, but she spoke at about the same pace both times. The extra time came from her demonstrating what she was talking about and pausing occassionally to give us time to process the information. Now, the sceptic in you might raise the point that it took her 50 percent more time to teach it the second time. Ya, but we got it the second time.&lt;br /&gt;
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Just for the record, I didn't pick out any words from the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;first&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt; video because I zoned out after about 10 seconds of not knowing the language being used. What a great lesson on the perspective of someone immersed in another language.&lt;br /&gt;
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Later in the class, Sara delivered a short ecology lesson in Spanish. She read it from a book. Since it was Spanish, we were able to pick out a few more words than we were in the Farsi lesson. However, there was also a false cognate in there so that threw a few of us off. Sara questioned us in Spanish about the contents of the lesson and asked that we answer in Spanish as well. As you might imagine, her comprehension check revealed exactly what we learned about ecology. Not much.&lt;br /&gt;
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Even a couple of the Spanish teachers struggled a little bit with the lesson. Why? They &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;are non-native Spanish speakers--they learned Spanish as a second language&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;. If I remember the structure of my high school and college Spanish classes correctly, we learned much more social vocabulary than academic vocabulary. Hence, Spanish teachers have far greater exposure to social vocabulary than content-specific vocabulary. Again, learning the academic language of different curricula can be like learning completely different languages.&lt;br /&gt;
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After the check for comprehension, Sara delivered the brief lesson again. This time she provided important vocabulary (in Spanish), which served as labels for graphics and pictures of those words. She pointed to those graphics when she spoke them in the lesson. I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that we were able follow along with the lesson much better. Plus, we were able to demonstrate our learning by answering in Spanish (one or two word answers) or at least pointing to the answer.&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;So what strategies did I get from these parts of the class? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ol style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Label everything in English so ELL students can see the word and have a visual to associate with it. For example, I will label several parts of the computers like the keyboard, mouse, power button, USB, Ethernet, Firewire ports, internal speaker, etc.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Being animated in my teaching helps my ELL students as well as my native English speakers. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Pointing to objects and acting things out increases their comprehension.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Give them repetitive opportunities to see, hear, read, and write important vocabulary. Some of that came from some "getting to know you" activities we did at the beginning of the class. However, those can easily be changed into "getting to know the curriculum" activities, without the writing being too intense.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; More thoughts and strategies later...&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-iii.html"&gt;Next ELL Post&gt;&gt;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;&lt;&lt;&lt;previous ell="" post=""&gt;&lt;/previous&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Previous ELL Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 85%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;ELL 1 &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;ELL 2 (Top of this post)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-iii.html"&gt;ELL 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html' title='English Language Learners  II'/><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology' title='English Language Learners  II'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111913729539842413' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111913729539842413'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111913729539842413'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111890218992195253</id><published>2005-06-16T02:33:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-26T02:36:48.130-07:00</updated><title type='text'>English Language Learners I</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" &gt;Whew!!  I just finished my &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;b&gt;Enriching Content Classes for Secondary ESOL Students &lt;/b&gt;class down in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain High School. We were in class all day for seven days. I learned a ton! My head has finally stopped spinning enough for me to start thinking more extensively about what I learned and how I can use it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; I was very impressed with the course as it contained fresh information for me. It gave me some very "do-able" strategies that didn't "dumb-down" the curriculum.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;
I learned several great strategies which I will reflect on here as I get the time. One general theme that I kept hearing in my discussions with my classmates was how these &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;weren't&lt;/span&gt; just great strategies to help our ELL students; they were also effective strategies for helping our resource students! Plus, they would be a tremendous benefit to many of our regular ed students.&lt;br /&gt;
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It's getting late and I have curriculum meetings all day tomorrow, as I did today. So, I can't get too much out now. However, I did want to mention at least one thing I got from the class before I hit the hay.&lt;br /&gt;
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We need to give our English Language Learners more opportunities to &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;see&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;hear&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;read&lt;/span&gt;, and &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;speak&lt;/span&gt; our academic language. Now, you might think, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;see&lt;/span&gt; our academic language?&lt;/span&gt;  Yes, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;see&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; our academic language. The more I think of it, the more I realize that that the acronyms we use for &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;our English as a Second Language &lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;students are entirely insufficient and/or grossly inaccurate.&lt;br /&gt;
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Think about it.&lt;br /&gt;
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English may, in fact, be the second language, but each curriculum has a language that has a highly specialized vocabulary. Math is a good example of a curriculum that has an academic language all it's own. Plus, when speaking "mathematically" we often use a passive voice. For example, here's a common math sentence structure: "The product of five and &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;n&lt;/span&gt; is twenty."&lt;br /&gt;
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Forget the fact that an ELL student has to learn that &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;product &lt;/span&gt;means &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;the answer to a multiplication problem&lt;/span&gt; in math&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;--&lt;/span&gt;not just &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;a direct result&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt; as it is in our common use of the word &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;or&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;a substance resulting from a chemical reaction&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;as it is in science.  &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;Forget the fact that an ELL student has to learn that &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; and &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; mean &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt; "multiply" and "equal" in math&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"  &gt;, which are entirely different than their "English" counterparts. Forget the fact that the highly specialized vocabulary we use in our curriculum can be a dicey subject in and of itself.&lt;br /&gt;
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To me, one of the real barriers that make many English Language Learners reticent to verbalize in class is the mixed messages they get regarding sentence structure in the different classes they attend. Imagine what it must be like for an ELL student to go from a math class that inundates that student with &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; and &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt;, to a Language Arts class, where&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; of&lt;/span&gt; and &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; are treated like the color red in the movie &lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;The Village&lt;/span&gt; (&lt;font&gt;dreaded and shunned by all--&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;Those We Don't Speak Of).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Now, I'm not suggesting that we neglect to teach our students to properly verbalize math sentences. And I'm certainly not saying that Language Arts teachers shouldn't teach their students to write with an Active Voice. Our students need to be able to do both.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;So what do we do about it? Well, I'll have to address that on the next post as it is getting late and I have even more meetings tomorrow.&lt;/span&gt; Woo-Hoo!&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;Next ELL Post&gt;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html"&gt;ELL 1 (Top of this post)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-ii.html"&gt;ELL 2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-iii.html"&gt;ELL 3&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/06/english-language-learners-i.html' title='English Language Learners I'/><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology' title='English Language Learners I'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111890218992195253' title='89 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111890218992195253'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111890218992195253'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111585358582969159</id><published>2005-05-11T15:47:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-18T21:35:26.366-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab</title><content type='html'>This week we're taking a look at &lt;a href="http://esl-lab.com/"&gt;Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab&lt;/a&gt;. The lab offers many features and is free to use. We're all about the free stuff here at The Paradigm Shift podcast. I found this site because Robert Diem has a link to it on his site, The Daily Idiom. Way to go, Robert!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I want to give you an overview of the site first.    So let's take a quick look at its features.  The site includes:&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Streaming audio and video content through Real Player;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Over 150 original activities and quizzes;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Activities and quizzes are categorized according to difficulty level;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Activities contain a variety of tasks and learning opportunities;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;Pre- and post-listening activities.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; You will need &lt;a href="http://www.real.com/"&gt;Real Player&lt;/a&gt; to listen to the audio files. No problem--free download and available for Mac and that other operating system that the kids like.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The Interface&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://esl-lab.com/"&gt;Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab&lt;/a&gt; is easy to navigate around and has a reasonably intuitive interface.  &lt;font&gt;The ESL students I have had working in the lab have been able to move around the site with relative ease and success. It's far too early to demonstrate significant growth (about two weeks), but they have found the lessons to be a fun way to improve their listening comprehension.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/05/randalls-esl-cyber-listening-lab.html' title='Randall&apos;s ESL Cyber Listening Lab'/><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology' title='Randall&apos;s ESL Cyber Listening Lab'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111585358582969159' title='15 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111585358582969159'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111585358582969159'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111494187693800039</id><published>2005-05-01T03:00:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-06-01T06:18:51.743-07:00</updated><title type='text'>eBoard</title><content type='html'>The show has been posted. Your media aggregator will probably create a new playlist in your audio software called Paradigm Shift. I was recording until the wee hours of the morning after experiencing a number of audio troubles, which were not to be outdone by problems with the PHP file and the feed. I apologize if I sound half-asleep at times. I was determined to get it done, though! To check out the show, click &lt;a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;. To have each show automatically loaded onto your audio player software, simply follow the directions near the bottom of the sidebar on the right.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Check out &lt;a style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://eboard.com/"&gt;eBoard&lt;/a&gt;!! It allows you to post assignments and attachments online as well as keeping a calendar and gathereing student reactions through iNotes.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
We've also got &lt;span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a style="FONT-STYLE: italic" href="http://englishcaster.com/blogs"&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Daily Idiom&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/b&gt;by Robert Diem&lt;b&gt;&lt;b&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Next week, we're going to review &lt;a title="Excellent listening practice. Most of the content is free. American English. " href="http://www.esl-lab.com/"&gt;Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
My brother, Marshall, has just become a published author. His book, &lt;span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-STYLE: italic"&gt;Adventures As Dogboy&lt;/span&gt;, is available through Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Congratulations, Marshall!! I can't wait to read it!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/05/eboard.html' title='eBoard'/><link rel='related' href='http://eboard.com/' title='eBoard'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111494187693800039'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111494187693800039'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111482939138958663</id><published>2005-04-29T22:44:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-30T13:55:54.923-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Flash Drive</title><content type='html'>A few weeks ago on the show, &lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;Kathy Schrock&lt;/a&gt; talked about how students could benefit from loading a flash drive with OpenOffice and Mozilla's web browser and email client, &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Firefox&lt;/span&gt; and &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Thunderbird&lt;/span&gt;, respectively. Now, she has even given teachers some &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://kathyschrock.net/soap/"&gt;text instuctions&lt;/a&gt; to follow in order to configure this for students.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Once again, she's done all the testing and hard work for us!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Thanks, Kathy!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/04/flash-drive.html' title='Flash Drive'/><link rel='related' href='http://kathyschrock.net/soap/' title='Flash Drive'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111482939138958663' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111482939138958663'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111482939138958663'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111424671774323540</id><published>2005-04-23T01:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-23T02:31:42.886-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Podcasts as an Instructional Tool</title><content type='html'>Podcasting has exciting potential in education that is just now being explored. On this week's podcast, we're going to talk about some ideas for podcasting as an instructional tool.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Most references and links are contained in our collaborative blog, &lt;a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://onthecuttingedge.blogspot.com/"&gt;On The Cutting Edge-ucation&lt;/a&gt;.  However, there are a couple of additional links I can leave you with.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p:colorscheme colors="#FFFFFF,#000000,#00007D,#000000,#9999FF,#9999CC,#666699,#CCCCE6"&gt;&lt;/p:colorscheme&gt;&lt;p:colorscheme colors="#FFFFFF,#000000,#00007D,#000000,#9999FF,#9999CC,#666699,#CCCCE6"&gt;  &lt;/p:colorscheme&gt; &lt;div shape="_x0000_s1026"&gt;  &lt;div class="O" style=""&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://mrmayo.org/"&gt;George Mayo’s&lt;/a&gt; 6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="position: relative; top: -0.45em;font-size:100%;" &gt;th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;grade students at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;p:onmouseclick hyperlinktype="url" href="http://www.brandonms.vbschools.com/"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.brandonms.vbschools.com/" target="_blank" onclick="window.event.cancelBubble=true;"&gt;Brandon Middle School&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p:onmouseclick&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;:  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;  &lt;ul&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="position: absolute; left: -4.95%; top: 0.22em;"&gt;•&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;publish an &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;p:onmouseclick hyperlinktype="url" href="http://mrmayo.typepad.com/magazine/"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mrmayo.typepad.com/magazine/" target="_blank" onclick="window.event.cancelBubble=true;" style="position: relative;"&gt;online magazine&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p:onmouseclick&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;that&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;consists of student blogs;      &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;   &lt;li&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style="position: absolute; left: -4.95%; top: 0.22em;"&gt;•&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" &gt;&lt;p:onmouseclick hyperlinktype="url" href="http://mrmayo.typepad.com/podcasts/"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mrmayo.typepad.com/podcasts/" target="_blank" onclick="window.event.cancelBubble=true;" style="position: relative;"&gt;podcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p:onmouseclick&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;shows that highlights those blogs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt; We've got a couple of fun clips of the students podcasting that you'll definitely want to hear!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Also on the show, I'm going to talk about &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://educasters.net/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"&gt;EduCasters.net&lt;/a&gt;, the new site that Steve Dembo is cooking up to help educational podcasters!!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Finally, if you have an idea, brainstorm, thought, or activity that integrates podcasting into instruction, please email me and I'll send out an invitation for you to join the &lt;a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://onthecuttingedge.blogspot.com/"&gt;On The Cutting Edge-ucation&lt;/a&gt; blog so you can post your ideas.   Of course your comments are always welcome either way.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
--Eric&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div class="O" style=""&gt;&lt;!--[if ppt]--&gt;&lt;span style="visibility: hidden;font-family:Georgia;font-size:67;"  &gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 125); position: absolute; left: -5.16%;font-family:Wingdings;font-size:75;"  &gt;n&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:12;"  &gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;    &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/04/podcasts-as-instructional-tool.html' title='Podcasts as an Instructional Tool'/><link rel='related' href='http://onthecuttingedge.blogspot.com/' title='Podcasts as an Instructional Tool'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111424671774323540' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111424671774323540'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111424671774323540'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111406391509664138</id><published>2005-04-21T00:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-21T00:11:52.923-07:00</updated><title type='text'>This Week's Show</title><content type='html'>Well, I went ahead and did it. I purchased the domain name &lt;a href="http://paradigmshiftpodcast.org/"&gt;paradigmshiftpodcast.org&lt;/a&gt; to move this site to in the very near future. Paradigm Shift will be the new name of the show because I've become aware of a site that proclaims to own the name Teachnology. The one time I think I've got an original thought and ker-&lt;span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"&gt;BLOOOEY!&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;:-)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In fact, they even sent a cease and desist letter to Dan Mitchell of &lt;a href="http://www.teachnology.org/"&gt;Dan Mitchell's Teachnology Blog&lt;/a&gt;.   In response, he has neither ceased nor desisted.  Good for him.  He used the name first, I believe.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
However, for me and where I'm at, I believe I need to change names for two reasons. Most important, I think it's crucial to set a good example for my students and fellow teachers in terms of copyright law. Secondly, I want to host a show that is original in content but also in how it's identified. Clearly, Dan Mitchell used the name long before I did, so in deference and respect to him as well as the copyrighted site, we'll switch it up.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
To make the switch as seamless as possible for our listeners, we'll do a couple shows under both names as we get everything moved over to our server space at PodLot.com . It's important to note that you &lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;won't need to change the feed&lt;/span&gt; you've entered into your media aggregator to continue to listen to the podcast.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It's past time to get another show out! I plan on getting it out on Friday. We're going to talk about some of the great ideas, thoughts, and examples for using podcasting instructionally that educators have posted at the &lt;a href="http://onthecuttingedge.blogspot.com/"&gt;On The Cutting Edge-ucation&lt;/a&gt; site.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;So, please join us as we begin our own &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 51);"&gt;P&lt;/span&gt;a&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"&gt;r&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);"&gt;d&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;i&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"&gt;g&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"&gt;m&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);"&gt;S&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"&gt;h&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"&gt;i&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"&gt;f&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;...&lt;/span&gt;</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/04/this-weeks-show.html' title='This Week&apos;s Show'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111406391509664138' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111406391509664138'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111406391509664138'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111309405157226079</id><published>2005-04-09T17:37:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-09T17:53:13.006-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Using Podcasting for Instruction</title><content type='html'>We're building a repository of instructional ideas and strategies for using podcasts in schools.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I'd like to generate a bank of ideas (anything from a quick brainstorm idea to refined activities and units) that teachers could contribute to, draw from, and even refine.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Click &lt;a href="http://onthecuttingedge.blogspot.com/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to check it out. If you would like to contribute ideas or activities, just email me and I'll send out an invitation to you.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
We'd love to hear from you!&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
--Eric</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/04/using-podcasting-for-instruction.html' title='Using Podcasting for Instruction'/><link rel='related' href='http://onthecuttingedge.blogspot.com/' title='Using Podcasting for Instruction'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111309405157226079' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111309405157226079'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111309405157226079'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111250898265330965</id><published>2005-04-02T22:10:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-04-09T13:03:35.396-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Kathy Schrock Interview and the Schrock Guide for Educators</title><content type='html'>Kathy is the Administrator for Technology for the &lt;a href="http://nausetschools.org/"&gt;Nauset Public Schools&lt;/a&gt; on Cape Cod, Mssachussetts.  Plus, she is the creator and proprietor of the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;Schrock Guide for Educators&lt;/a&gt; at &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/"&gt;Discovery Schoo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/"&gt;l&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Join us for this intriguing question and answer session.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The show notes for this one are real simple. Click &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; to go to the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;Schrock Guide for Educators&lt;/a&gt;. The &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;Schrock Guide&lt;/a&gt; is an incredible repository of educational web sites. It has links for curriculum areas, searching tools, and teacher helpers such as &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry.html"&gt;Fry's Readability Graph&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html"&gt;Assessment &amp;amp; Rubrics&lt;/a&gt;, and one of my favorites--&lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/gadgets.html"&gt;Digital Gadgets&lt;/a&gt;,  just to name a few.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Some of the best features of the site are the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/sos.html"&gt;Sites of the School Days&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/newlist.html"&gt;New Sites This Month&lt;/a&gt;, the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/newtheme.html"&gt;Theme of the Month&lt;/a&gt;, and the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/content2.html"&gt;Content-Rich Sites&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Kathy Schrock puts sites through a very &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/content.html"&gt;rigorous process&lt;/a&gt; before she links them to the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;Schrock Guide for Educators&lt;/a&gt;.  Rest assured, these are worth your valuable time.  There are great teaching tools throughout the &lt;a href="http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/"&gt;Schrock Guide&lt;/a&gt;, so check it out!!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/04/kathy-schrock-interview-and-schrock.html' title='Kathy Schrock Interview and the Schrock Guide for Educators'/><link rel='related' href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/Teachnology' title='Kathy Schrock Interview and the Schrock Guide for Educators'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111250898265330965' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111250898265330965'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111250898265330965'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9949553.post-111171177377129031</id><published>2005-03-31T16:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-04-02T22:59:03.843-08:00</updated><title type='text'>iPodder 2.0 has been released</title><content type='html'>Click on the title above to get it.  It's much better than the previous version!</content><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/2005/03/ipodder-20-has-been-released.html' title='iPodder 2.0 has been released'/><link rel='related' href='http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/index.php' title='iPodder 2.0 has been released'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9949553&amp;postID=111171177377129031' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.paradigmshiftpodcast.org/atom.xml' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111171177377129031'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9949553/posts/default/111171177377129031'/><author><name>Eric Jefcoat</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10645971851811331153</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry></feed>