Winter Break arrived just when things were starting to take off in Room 118. We have been busy using our new technology tools, all of them acquired through grants.
First, we got a projector and digital camera to be able to leave those old transparencies behind. This hardware was awarded us through the Littler Foundation. It was pretty exciting. We got two sets, so we have set up in 4th grade and in 5th grade. So far, we've used it in math to work on fractions with colored power blocks.
Then we were accepted in the GK-12 Program and had money to spend on equipment.
We purchased a LabQuest to help us gather data in Science. We've already used it for one of our field trips along the Poudre River. We measured the river speed in three different locations on the river: right bank, left bank, center, to see where the slowest speed was and to see if we could have predicted it by looking at the lay of the river bank. We were correct and the data supported our prediction. We plan on using it a lot with our Human Body study as we got a ton of different attachments to measure things like lung capacity, heart rate, etc.
A number of my students are also just finishing up their published pieces to put on their wiki page at studentsinroom118.pbwiki.com. They are excited to share their writing and get feedback from others.
In addition, some of my students are now members of Questia, an amazing research management site. These students are researching Controversial Issues and will use Questia to gather information, catalog it, organize it, quote it, etc. There are school rates. I was able to purchase 30 memberships for $300.00 for a year. (I know! Money! Don't let obstacle block you - ask your parent group, a local business, your spouse, your principal, your local foundations!) Check it out at http://www.questiaschool.com/. It is amazing.
Finally, just at the end of break, I finished a grant application for another projector and an interactive board. I feel fairly confident I'll get it as it is an in-district grant application and they were short applicants so we encouraged to apply at the very end. Initially, two people per school could apply. We ended up with four applications. Cross your fingers!
So, I've spent the break playing on my computer. Check out Scratch. It is a neat animation site that is free to download. Now, I just need enough time to experiment and learn it. I also found a really good poll site that easily goes into my sites as a widget. Check out Vizu.com. I've also found so many different To do List apps online that I am sorting through and seeing which one I like. Right now, I think Remember the Milk is the easiest, but Nexty lets me organize things a bit better. Will the madness ever stop?
Check back in a bit to see what has happened next. Feel free to share ways you are Knocking Down the Walls at your schools.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
3/14/09
I haven't had much time to Knock down these walls as we just finished Parent/Teacher Conferences. Having 31 students in my class causes a great deal of prep. work plus hours of conferencing. I had three no-shows, so I've had to make them up. One came to school; another I went to his home; the third parent is out of town, so I'll try to see her next week. On top of Parent/Teacher Conferencing we have our state testing, CSAPs.
I did find some wonderful sites put out to TAKS that were science vodcasts that were brief reviews/overviews of a different topics like magnets, animals, etc. I used them with my students as a fun way to review for the science testing. A teacher, Dr. Loopy, and his cast of characters teach the concepts in a fun way. My students loved the videos, plus they think I'm actually kind of normal now after watching that group teach. :-)
My students are finally using the wiki site routinely. I check the changes made for a few minutes each day. So far we've only had one glitch, found the culprit, took care of business, and moved on. I'm really pleased with the number of stories being published. I'm frustrated with the level of comments however. Somehow I am going to have to find time to demonstrate effective commenting. Right now I mostly see a bunch of adjectives and exclamation points!
I had been emailing with a teacher in New Orleans to see about having Skype buddies. She seemed motivated at first, but then the realization that it was another activity to fit in, no matter how great it was, set in and she backed out. I'm having a similar discussion with another teacher from Georgia. We hope to have a Skype "Meet and Greet" some time in April. Then, hopefully, out students can pair up and start evaluating each others' written pieces on wikis and Skype to discuss them. We hope to get this up and running before the end of the year. Keep your fingers crossed.
I did find some wonderful sites put out to TAKS that were science vodcasts that were brief reviews/overviews of a different topics like magnets, animals, etc. I used them with my students as a fun way to review for the science testing. A teacher, Dr. Loopy, and his cast of characters teach the concepts in a fun way. My students loved the videos, plus they think I'm actually kind of normal now after watching that group teach. :-)
My students are finally using the wiki site routinely. I check the changes made for a few minutes each day. So far we've only had one glitch, found the culprit, took care of business, and moved on. I'm really pleased with the number of stories being published. I'm frustrated with the level of comments however. Somehow I am going to have to find time to demonstrate effective commenting. Right now I mostly see a bunch of adjectives and exclamation points!
I had been emailing with a teacher in New Orleans to see about having Skype buddies. She seemed motivated at first, but then the realization that it was another activity to fit in, no matter how great it was, set in and she backed out. I'm having a similar discussion with another teacher from Georgia. We hope to have a Skype "Meet and Greet" some time in April. Then, hopefully, out students can pair up and start evaluating each others' written pieces on wikis and Skype to discuss them. We hope to get this up and running before the end of the year. Keep your fingers crossed.
2/4/09
February is here and it is time to get ready for our 1950s Valentine's Party. That is about as far removed from using technology in schools as can be, you would think. However, I am going to need to set up the digital projector, hook it to the speaker system, hook it to the DVD player, and have it ready to show the "Honeymooner" videos. Every year, the parents who join us and I have a good laugh while the students in the room are just horrified at what we used to watch!
As for Knocking down these walls, I continue to try to push the envelope. I have been trying to use my laptop at school because on it I have TeacherTube downloader and YouTube downloader. I can download the videos I want to use with my students so when I show them, we don't have all of the streaming issues that cause students to lose interest, become inattentive and then misbehave. For a while, that worked well until the district engineer made it so my laptop wasn't allowed on the system because it has Vista. Ugh!
Back to the drawing board.
As for Knocking down these walls, I continue to try to push the envelope. I have been trying to use my laptop at school because on it I have TeacherTube downloader and YouTube downloader. I can download the videos I want to use with my students so when I show them, we don't have all of the streaming issues that cause students to lose interest, become inattentive and then misbehave. For a while, that worked well until the district engineer made it so my laptop wasn't allowed on the system because it has Vista. Ugh!
Back to the drawing board.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
1/1/09
Can you believe that it is 2009! It has been a pretty exciting fall for me as I have been integrating technology Web 2.0 tools into my classroom atmosphere and learning. There have been some failures but many successes, too.
Most of the failures were caused by lack of access. It is frustrating to find a tool that can be really helpful to students and then not be given permission levels to use it. Our OIT Department has been working with me a great deal; however, I've been bumping up against district-level policy issues.
The successes have been great:
1. cdn.voicethread.com - My students have loved this site. You get three free voicethreads. The one we have used most recently was a group of pictures from our field trip to our school's business partner, Norfolk Iron and Metal, Inc. I uploaded the pictures to Voicethread then each child took a turn looking at the pictures and choosing three about which to comment as a thank you to our hosts. I then emailed the link to the company CEO, Ron. I, of course, sent a copy to my principal, too. It never hurts to keep them in the loop.
2. pbwiki.com - this is the wiki site I settled on after playing with a few. I stayed with the version 1 level so kiddos didn't have to have a pbwiki.com email account. They all already have an email account through our echalk program. Each child has a page on the wiki. I do the introduction page. I try to write each Friday but it doesn't always happen. :-) On the students' pages, they can format and design them to their liking as long as it is school-appropriate. Then we upload their writer's workshop pieces or PowerPoint presentations. I sent home directions to parents on how to access the site so that they can share their children's work with their other relatives. I got a great response.
The biggest glitch came with the Comments option. My kiddos used it kind of like Instant Messaging! Once I explained that the comments were to be critiques/feedback about student uploaded work, they self-corrected and all has gone well since.
3. Camtasia - Yippee! It has allowed me to take a PowerPoint presentation and record information for each slide then I uploaded it to my iTunes account. It is really slick and easy. It also has editing capabilities which I am still learning. My plan is to turn one of my students loose on it to explore then he/she can teach me the tricks. He/she has more time is more comfortable "messing" with software than this ol' digital immigrant is.
4. I have also been accessing quite a few podcasts and screencasts to use for building background knowledge for my students. They like the multi-sensory presentation of video/sound. Plus, much of the work is already done for me; I just have to push, "Play."
In addition, my kiddos are on a nice, stable rotation for their math facts practice software called "Fastt Math." (Yes, it is spelled with two "t's".) I have 30 students in my classroom and most days every student gets a turn at Fastt Math. I have seen great increases in their general math fluency.
I have also gone to some old technology - laserdisc player - to use a great program from Tom Snyder called, "The Great Ocean Rescue." It is a science simulation which involves a lot of technological reading, inference skills, researching skills, and collaboration. It was a huge hit, so now I purchased the other one, "The Great Space Race."
Another piece of software I have been using is "Reading for Meaning," also by Tom Snyder Productions. It is a software that has you practice reading skills/concepts such as Cause and Effect as a class with a video and graphic organizers. Then you print out other short stories (three different reading levels are available with two stories for each level for each concept) and the handouts for students to do OYO (On Your Own). Inference, summarizing, main idea and details, and cause/effect are some of the topics.
We also have 16 palms; however, I haven't been very good at using them. I bought some software to use on them and had trouble getting it on the palms. Right now, we use a few math programs and the kiddos love Crazy Daisy which has little educational value!
As you can see, life is grand in my classroom. Running smoothly some of the time, too, but we are all working together to see technology's place in our learning.
In a week or so I begin traveling to teach about Web 2.0 tools to other teachers. I hope they find at least one program or idea to use right away. My newest goal is to use Yackpack. Check it out on the web. It's free and a great way to support students when they need help away from school. Let me know what you think.
Good luck with your Web 2.0 journey!
Most of the failures were caused by lack of access. It is frustrating to find a tool that can be really helpful to students and then not be given permission levels to use it. Our OIT Department has been working with me a great deal; however, I've been bumping up against district-level policy issues.
The successes have been great:
1. cdn.voicethread.com - My students have loved this site. You get three free voicethreads. The one we have used most recently was a group of pictures from our field trip to our school's business partner, Norfolk Iron and Metal, Inc. I uploaded the pictures to Voicethread then each child took a turn looking at the pictures and choosing three about which to comment as a thank you to our hosts. I then emailed the link to the company CEO, Ron. I, of course, sent a copy to my principal, too. It never hurts to keep them in the loop.
2. pbwiki.com - this is the wiki site I settled on after playing with a few. I stayed with the version 1 level so kiddos didn't have to have a pbwiki.com email account. They all already have an email account through our echalk program. Each child has a page on the wiki. I do the introduction page. I try to write each Friday but it doesn't always happen. :-) On the students' pages, they can format and design them to their liking as long as it is school-appropriate. Then we upload their writer's workshop pieces or PowerPoint presentations. I sent home directions to parents on how to access the site so that they can share their children's work with their other relatives. I got a great response.
The biggest glitch came with the Comments option. My kiddos used it kind of like Instant Messaging! Once I explained that the comments were to be critiques/feedback about student uploaded work, they self-corrected and all has gone well since.
3. Camtasia - Yippee! It has allowed me to take a PowerPoint presentation and record information for each slide then I uploaded it to my iTunes account. It is really slick and easy. It also has editing capabilities which I am still learning. My plan is to turn one of my students loose on it to explore then he/she can teach me the tricks. He/she has more time is more comfortable "messing" with software than this ol' digital immigrant is.
4. I have also been accessing quite a few podcasts and screencasts to use for building background knowledge for my students. They like the multi-sensory presentation of video/sound. Plus, much of the work is already done for me; I just have to push, "Play."
In addition, my kiddos are on a nice, stable rotation for their math facts practice software called "Fastt Math." (Yes, it is spelled with two "t's".) I have 30 students in my classroom and most days every student gets a turn at Fastt Math. I have seen great increases in their general math fluency.
I have also gone to some old technology - laserdisc player - to use a great program from Tom Snyder called, "The Great Ocean Rescue." It is a science simulation which involves a lot of technological reading, inference skills, researching skills, and collaboration. It was a huge hit, so now I purchased the other one, "The Great Space Race."
Another piece of software I have been using is "Reading for Meaning," also by Tom Snyder Productions. It is a software that has you practice reading skills/concepts such as Cause and Effect as a class with a video and graphic organizers. Then you print out other short stories (three different reading levels are available with two stories for each level for each concept) and the handouts for students to do OYO (On Your Own). Inference, summarizing, main idea and details, and cause/effect are some of the topics.
We also have 16 palms; however, I haven't been very good at using them. I bought some software to use on them and had trouble getting it on the palms. Right now, we use a few math programs and the kiddos love Crazy Daisy which has little educational value!
As you can see, life is grand in my classroom. Running smoothly some of the time, too, but we are all working together to see technology's place in our learning.
In a week or so I begin traveling to teach about Web 2.0 tools to other teachers. I hope they find at least one program or idea to use right away. My newest goal is to use Yackpack. Check it out on the web. It's free and a great way to support students when they need help away from school. Let me know what you think.
Good luck with your Web 2.0 journey!
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