Category: playingwithmedia

  • Tips for Using Jamboard

    Jamboard is a useful and free collaborative, digital whiteboard which is now included as part of the Google Workspace tool suite. (Google Apps.) This is a 5 minute tutorial video I recorded today. Here’s the description and video! Some tips for using Google Jamboard with students. In this video I demonstrate how to save a…

  • The Story of Bella Tunno (Narrated Sketchnote)

    Michelle Buelow is a successful entrepreneur and the CEO of Bella Tunno. Michelle presented about her journey and lessons learned in both life and business to our students at Providence Day School on September 14, 2022. This is a “narrated sketchnote” of her talk that I created during and immediately following her presentation. The original…

  • iPad Screen Recording for Narrated Sketchnotes

    I love creating both sketchnotes and narrated sketchnotes, and helping students learn to create sketchnotes! I’m now teaching media literacy and robotics at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and our secondary students have iPads to use as their personal digital learning devices. For our sketchnoting unit, we’re pairing communication skill development with sketchnoting…

  • Podcast480: Pedagogy Matters with Shelly Fryer

    Welcome to the first of a new podcast interview series I’m titling, “Pedagogy Matters.” This episode, recorded on May 30, 2022, features the pedagogy of my wife, Shelly Fryer, which I would summarize as “A Pedagogy of Computational Thinking: Constructionism, Coding, Robotics, Play, and Student Choice.” Shelly started her journey as a classroom teacher in…

  • Podcast478: Updates and Classroom Favorites

    In this podcast episode, Dr. Wesley Fryer shares a variety of updates about his current and changing teaching situation, geographic location, academic interests (media literacy!) and recent conferences / presentations. This podcast also includes audio from Wes’ recent video, “15 Things I Love About My Classroom (and teaching situation!)” Check out the podcast show notes…

  • Tales by Light

    I started my morning this Thursday of our spring break by watching episode one of an amazing Netflix series, “Tales by Light.” In this post I’d like to reflect on how this documentary combines my loves for digital storytelling, photography, the stewardship of our planet, and powerful media narratives that can both enthrall and inspire…

  • GeoMap Job Hunting

    As a geographer and teacher, I love the way maps can help us better understand information and data geo-spatially in rich, meaningful contexts. My wife, Shelly (@sfryer) and I, will be moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, this summer, to start a new adventure together as “empty nesters.” I’m looking forward to teaching and collaborating with…

  • Conspiracy Theories, Apollo Moon Landings and SIFT 

    The last 3 days, Shelly and I have WONDERFUL learning and networking experiences attending the NASA 2022 Space Exploration Educators Conference (#SEEC2022) at Space Center Houston (@SpaceCenterHou). For the past two years, I’ve taught a media literacy unit to my 6th graders called, “Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories,” focusing on the Apollo Moon landings, YouTubers who…

  • Benefits of Video Feedback

    In the summer of 2019, I purchased a $100 propane smoker before our summer family camping trip to Colorado, and after multiple iterations, figured out how to smoke some pretty amazing brisket with it. After considerable research and debate with myself, 9 months ago I become the enthusiastic owner and backyard barbecue chef user of…

  • Social Media Stories, Instagram Reels and Mojo Videos

    I love to play with media. As my wife, Shelly, has become a health coach this fall and learned more about ways to use social media to “share our story” of weight, diet and health transformation, I’ve been learning some new things about social media along with her. One of the things I’ve learned in…