Final Posting

Well, I can say that this class has certainly opened my eyes to the new and innovative technology tools that are available to teachers and students. I have learned to use several tools that are brand new to me and how to incorporate them successfully and appropriately in my classroom. I have also used some tools that I have learned previously in new, exciting ways. I hope to continue my use of these technologies and learn to use them more often in my classroom.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed learning how to plan and implement project based learning in a classroom. I have started a mini-PBL with my own third graders and they are responding very well to it. I have seen a huge difference in their motivation and the use of their creativity and critical thinking. I hope that other teachers at my school can learn this great teaching strategy with me and begin implementing it more widespread at High Meadows.

Finally, this class has shown me the value of peer and colleague collaboration. I have learned that even the greatest idea I have can be improved on and my fellow teachers are the best people to help me do that. Bouncing ideas off of other professionals will allow me to see where I can improve as a professional and also aid my co-workers with my strengths.

Google Docs

I have found that one of the most challenging things about integrating technology into my classroom is planning the project to do. Using Google Docs for the PBL project has shown me a new, easy way for me to collaborate with colleagues (in this case peers) to plan a great project. I think that this is a perfect tool for those people who can't meet reguarly to discuss and document their plans. This tool allowed me to plan, contribute, and organize all of our ideas and documents in one place. I really enjoyed using Google Docs and hope to use it again in the future.

Moviemaker

Windows Movie Maker is a program that I have become familiar with through the coursework I have done for my degree. I have done many different projects with it, but this is the first time I have created a project that was based off of my students' work and ideas. I chose to use their work because I thought that the message would be a stronger one if they had ownership of the work. Below I have included the movie and my reflection after completing the assignment.

Digital Story Project
Jessicca Elliott
November 1, 2010

Introduction
Windows Movie Maker is a program available to most PC users that allows the designer to create movies in many formats. This type of program allows educators and students to show their creativity when making presentations. For educators, this format would allow them to design a movie that could be used as a hook to start a unit or lesson, as a way to present student ideas and comments, or as a way to provide background information to students. Students can use this program as an alternative means to create presentations. Most students are familiar with Microsoft Power Point and present their ideas using this program, but Windows Movie Maker allows the student to be more creative and to learn a new way of presenting ideas. The digital story project that I created was done as a means to introduce or hook my students in a new topic of discussion, but was done so by also using this creation as a cumulative presentation for our unit on Westward Expansion.

Target Audience
I teach third grade at High Meadows School, where character education is a big part of the curriculum. Therefore, the digital story that I created with my class is geared towards my third grade students. However, this movie can be watched by any grade level to introduce a discussion revolving around cooperation. The activity that was done to create this project can also be done by any grade level, if the responsibilities are changed to reflect the developmental level of the students participating. This activity can also be changed to make a movie about a different attitude but still using the same activity and format.

Purpose
High Meadows School is a school that puts just as much emphasis on character development as it does on academic performance. Because of this, a huge chunk of curriculum is focused on integrating specific attitudes into the units of study that are taking place in the classroom. Currently my class is studying the human migration when the United States took part in Westward expansion and we have chosen to integrate the attitudes of cooperation, enthusiasm, and curiosity. In an effort to have my students see the importance of cooperation, both during Westward expansion and in our own classroom, I have created a movie that has incorporated their thoughts on the attitude and is presenting a topic of discussion for how we can cooperate in our classroom.

Distribution Plan
This movie was developed in order to create a forum to start a discussion on how the children can use and show cooperation in our classroom and in other areas of life. Because this was created partly by the students, they worked on this project with the idea of showing their understanding of how cooperation was used during Westward expansion as the goal. However, once I presented the movie to them they realized how they could compare their own lives and situations to those they have studied during this time period. My third grade class viewed this as a whole group during our inquiry time as an effort to discuss our roles in the classroom in regards to cooperation. We have also chosen to place our movie on the public server and are letting other classrooms know that it is there to be viewed if they would like to understand or discuss cooperation.

Conclusion
I chose to use this project as a means to introduce a topic of discussion to my students. Although I incorporated my students’ thoughts, ideas, and artwork in the movie, I generated the final piece using Windows Movie Maker. I chose to use this assignment as a way for me to expand my understanding of a new tool and how to use it as an instructional tool. Although I fully believe that this tool can be used by students to produce their own movies, the activity that was involved for this particular presentation would be geared toward teacher production. I believe that it is very important to teach students to use and value technology tools, but this idea is secured by their understanding that it is used by adults as well.

Google Docs Experience

So my Google Docs experience has probably been significantly different from everyone elses since I have not been able to log in yet! However, I have used Google Docs before to collaborate with peers on a joint project. I have grown to really appreciate the convience of Google Docs because I am not one who likes to travel and physically work with other people. I love to collaborate on projects and have the different insights and ideas but hate the hassle that comes with finding a common time in schedules to meet. I think that Google Docs is very simple and easy to use making it a great tool for anyone who wants to try it out.

I have never used Google Docs in my own classroom of third graders so I'm not sure how good of a tool it would be for younger users. Does anyone have any experience using this tool with younger children? If so, what are some ways you have used it and how well did it work?

Integrating Subjects

For our latest discussion we were asked to develop two project based learning activities that would integrate three different subject areas for a specific age group. At first I found myself feeling overwhelmed with the need to integrate a "special" into my project. I typically integrate different subject areas in activities and projects in my class reguarlly, but never have I thought to integrate art, music, p.e., or library. This discussion also forced me to actually look at the GPS for each of these subject areas because I have never made myself aware of them before!

Aside from what I learned about myself as a teacher and how to create projects like these, this dicsussion also taught me something about myself as a learner. After posting my comments and suggestions to other peers I had others respond to my comments (as this was part of the assignment) and I had a few negative feelings about the comments that were given. I like to approach discussions like these as a forum to provide as much constructive criticism as I can offer because I feel like that is the purpose of the discussions, however I make it a point to include positive feedback and give helpful suggestions for improvement. Some of the comments that were made in reply to my suggestions made me feel like I was too harsh. So now I have reached the point where I'm not sure whether I have overstepped my place as a peer and not an instructor when providing feedback or if I am being too sensitive to the criticism I am receiving as a result of it. Is anyone else having the same issues? Or do you feel that some of the feedback you are receiving is out of line coming from a peer rather than a teacher? Please let me know your thoughts!

Using Voice Thread with Third Graders

So I have finally used a Web 2.0 tool in my classroom that has worked well! I am so excited to share our use of Voice Thread and how we are planning to use it in the future. I decided to use Voice Thread as a means of a pre-assessment to begin our unit on Westward Expansion. My students have had a really difficult time reflecting at the end of a unit on what they have learned. So to help with this problem I decided to ask my students five questions about westward expansion and had them answer using Voice Thread. We are going to answer the same questions three weeks into our unit and again at the end of the unit. Then my students will go back and hear their initial responses and compare them to their last ones. Hopefully this will allow them to hear what they have actually learned. The next obstical we will have to overcome is how to get those vocal ideas down on paper...

After using Voice Thread and seeing how easy it was for my students to grasp the tool, I have been inspired to continue using this tool and exploring others. I did face a few challenges using this tool (like having to pay to get the students to upload their comments instead of having them comment directly through the microphone and the file sizes being too large), but I used them as a learning experience that will help me do the next project better. Does anyone have any other tools they have used successfully with younger students? If so, what type of projects did you do with them? I am so ready to try other things now!

Comic Life

When I began to start thinking about how I wanted to approach the Comic Life project I had a difficult time deciding whether I wanted to include my students in this project or not. I ultimately decided to only use my students as subjects in the photographs instead of the creation of the comic itself due to the limited amount of class time I had. After developing my comic strip about how a bill becomes a law, I somewhat regret not finding the time to include my students in this project. I think that their participation would have been a great benefit to them in not only their understanding of how a bill becomes a law, but also in how to use the Comic Life software. I showed the students my finished product and they loved it and wanted to know when I would teach them how to do the same thing.

This led me to think about all of the different ways I could integrate this great tool into our curriculum. I'm really excited about the potential projects that we can do and the new assessment tool that I have learned to use. I have begun to brainstorm some of the ways my students and I can use this great new tool, but still haven't put any planning in to action. Please let me know how you have used or plan to use Comic Life in your classroom to help me start planning for some great lessons!

Project - Based Learning - Are They Really Learning?

So, after participating in an online discussion on project based learning I ran into many people who felt that project based learning didn't provide the necessary means to teach students all of the concepts they need to know. Especially if you are teaching at a school that focuses on standardized testing. I feel like I am in a little bit of a different position than many of the other contributors to this discussion because I have just begun teaching my first year at a private school (that doesn't take CRCTs) whose instruction is strictly project based teaching. I am currently having a giant learning curve as this type of teaching is still brand new to me and totally out of my element, but am discovering the joys and the advantages to this type of teaching. I see how engaged my students are because they are allowed to guide instruction and decide what type of projects they want to do in order to better understand the content. However, as I mentioned before, I am having a major learning curve.

I am coming from a place where I had every unit, lesson, activity planned out to a T. I knew exactly what I was doing each day, week, and sometimes for a whole quarter. Using the project based method where I am allowing my students' inquiries lead our instruction and develop the activities has certainly thrown me for a loop. I don't know what we will be doing the next week, sometimes not even the next day! I am fortunate enough to have a co-teacher who has been working at this school and in this environment for over 18 years so she has been an amazing mentor and reassures me that everything will be done as it needs to be, but I still am weary at times.

One thing that I do feel that I can bring to the table is my technology integration. Even though my co-teacher has a ton of experience with our PYP units, she isn't as technologically able as I am. This is allowing our class to flourish with new ideas and resources when the students' inquire about things we can't readily find answers to in our classroom. Last week I asked what is the best way to introduce new technologies into primary classrooms and found that Katrina's comment really proved to be beneficial. Nancy, my co-teacher, and I have decided to stick to one tool for right now until our students have become proficient with it and then we will add new tools. Right now we are working with ikeepbookmarks.com where the students can find teacher selected websites for their research and practice. You can view our site by logging in with the user name Bingham - Elliott and no password.

As for how I feel about schools that do need to focus instruction on test scores, I think that project based learning has its place there as well. The only difference would be to have it scaffolded more by the teacher and to limit the amount of the day/curriculum that is done through this method. If there are specific skills that are going to be assessed in a specific way, it certainly makes sense to directly teach the specific things they need to learn. However, is this how we really want our students to learn? Do we want to teach them that the only relevance that a specific skill has in their life is for the test they will take at the end of the year? How is that meaningful, beneficial learning? And if this doesn't work, how do we find the happy medium where the students DO have meaningful learning but are still mastering the skills at a rate that helps them perform well on a standardized test?

Blogging - How Am I Doing?

After using a blog for about a week, reading texts about blogging and reviewing some of the other blogs from our class I have learned so much. There are many things that I have noticed that I need to improve in order to make this blog a successful learning tool. The first thing that I need to work on is the visual aspect of my blog. I think that I will change the colors and the layout to make it a little easier for my viewers to focus on the content here. Please give me feedback as to how my changes help!

Secondly, I realized that in regards to my posting I need to use them as a means to begin online conversations that my followers and I can learn from. The purpose of this blog is to share ideas and learn how to best integrate technology so I hope to use my posts to faciliate this type of dialouge among my followers. In order to begin this difficult task I am hoping to pose questions at the end of each post and hope that others will comment to create an ongoing conversation.

So, here is the first question/dilemma I am posing to my followers. The biggest obstical I have in technology integration is teaching my students to use new technologies. Even if I know how to use the tool, my third graders often have difficulty picking up new technology skills. In an effort to eliminate wasted classroom time what is the best way to introduce new technology? I'm talking even the most basic like learning to use the internet. What are some of the things you have done in the past to help this situation or what suggestions do you have for me and my third graders?

The Blogosphere

I recently read an article titled Fifth Graders Soar into the Blogosphere on Education World's technology channel site. The teacher, Gillian Ryan, describes how she requires her students to enter entries into a blog. She says that this type of assignment keeps her students engaged and excited about writing because they aren't writing an entry on a piece of notebook paper to her, instead they are able to share their thoughts with the whole cyber world. She describes how she uses blogging in every subject area in her classroom. The blog allows her to look into the minds of her students in a way she never had been able to before. The ideas, questions, and thoughts that come out in the blogs are so much more profound and in depth from her students that she shares how the blogging has truly changed they was she will teach forever.

I found this article to be very inspiring and hope to find some interesting ways to incorporate blogs into my third grade classroom!

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech253.shtml

Is Technology Always Our Friend?

Today I hit a roadblock with my students and their use of technology. I don't know if it was because it was a Monday or if because this activity took place in the afternoon, but whatever the cause the learning did NOT take place. I had my students researching one of the thirteen original colonies on an internet site that I had already pulled up and modeled how to use. However, there was not one student in my class who was able to pull the required information from the site without a mishap. They either closed out of the internet so I had to pull up the site for them again, had no clue how to use the site because they weren't paying attention before, or sat and stared at the information not knowing how to use it. I found myself very frustrated because I felt that using the computers would have been a fun way to engage my students in the information because we had been using textbooks for the past few days but instead it backfired. The lesson that should have lasted 30 minutes took more than an hour and will have to be revisited tomorrow to even make sense of the goal. Now I see why rookies to technology integration come in hesitantly and turn away quickly...

What is technology integration?

As an elementary classroom teacher my definition of technology integration probably differs from that of an educator in another setting. However I think that most educators can agree on the generic statement that says technology integration is using technology to support learning. In my own experience I have taken this definition and expanded on it to make it my own. I define technology integration as any way that an educator can use any form of technology to enable students to better understand what they are learning and remain engaged in the lesson. I have done this in many different ways, through many different tools and have found that it substantially adds to the learning that takes place in my classroom. I hope to continue this practice and expand my knowledge of available tools and their uses to better myself as an educator.