DMS’s ITRT

Digital Progress

My google reader alerted me to a new post from one of my favorite blogs, Free Technology for Teachers.  They posted a link to “Fun Atlas Jigsaw Puzzles” by National Geographic.   I followed the link and spent the next 10 1/2 minutes putting together a jigsaw puzzle online. 

I am impressed with the way the application works.  The puzzle pieces look scattered along the edges, but straighten out as they are dragged to the board.  If pieces that fit are placed in close proximity, they “snap” together and stay together as one piece that can be moved. 

The entire ten minutes of my puzzling, though, made me a little sad.  I remember putting together jigsaw puzzles with my family during vacation time from school.  We’d sort together, divy up “sections” tow complete, and cheer each other on.  Sometimes we’d stay awake half the night to continue work on our task. 

I can’t bring myself to suggest this site to my teachers.  True, students will work alone, and no pieces can be lost.  However, I’d much rather see students working together on a real puzzle, talking and conquering it together! 

While I love much of what National Geographic has to offer: their photographs and printable posters are fabulous.  I’ve had this question about other online applications as well (like online flashcards).  I wonder where the line should be drawn between “We can do that on a computer” and “We should do that on a computer.”

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | No Comments »

MovieMaker Week

This week I”m working with MovieMaker in several classes. 

I’m assisting science 6 teachers in the labs as their students create movies with labeled examples of kinetic and potential energy. 

Then, my Destination Imagination team used MovieMaker to cut and string together the music they were using for their six minute “movie video”.   I’d known I could use MovieMaker to cut and string together movies, so we tried audio, and it worked!

Tags: MovieMaker

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | No Comments »

Flash: Teaching and Learning

In Digispired this past Saturday, I was nervous.  I hadn’t yet finished the book on Flash, several students showed up this Saturday that hadn’t been at the last session, and there were a couple how-to’s in the book I couldn’t accomplish. 

The book we are using is for an earlier version of Flash than what’s installed on the machines.  I have a version in between the two, and so the bit I’d worked through in the book was different from the screen shots in the book. 

Yikes!

So we began with a warm up: we had the kids try to recreate a face at the end of chapter 5.  We told them they could do the task on their own, without following the steps in the book.  They took off, and after thirty or forty minutes, we stopped them to save their work, share any problems they’d had, and share solutions. 

Then I gave them a challenge: I admitted to them that I couldn’t recreate the red ball with a sunspot in the top left in chapter 5.  I gave them an hour to figure it out.  Within twenty minutes, the students had figured out three different ways to recreate the ball.  We had volunteers come up and show their method.  Amazing. 

I learned my lesson quickly.  If there was something I couldn’t figure out, I’d just announce it to the room.  They’d click around, research in help, and get back to me within twenty minutes with the answer. 

I learned as much (or more) from the kids as they learned from me!  Furthermore, they learned that they could figure anything out, if they used their resources!

We ended the day with an open ended assignment, and the kids created some beautiful work for first attempts at projects.  We asked them to create a two layered animation: one that had a background scene as the first layer and an object moving across the background as the second layer. The kids created space scenes, beach scenes, a castle scene, a basketball scene, car riding scenes, and some outdoor scenes.  Then as we covered one more feature in the book (the orient to path feature), they added added an object to their scene or refined their first object’s movement: a cloud floating across, a boat sailing in the water, more interesting paths of space flight. 

I couldn’t be prouder; it ended up being a great day!

Tags: animations, Digispired, Flash

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | No Comments »

EdTech 2009: Day 2

Attended four more sessions today.  First I attended a session on  web 2.0 & 3.0, including Google Docs.  I was suprised to hear of webspiration.  I love Inspiration software, and Webspiration integrates the collaborative piece.  Later in the day I learned of Intel’s free tools. All three student tools encourage students to use higher level thinking.  I’d love to see the Visual Ranking tool in groups.  Here, students rank choices, then make notes regarding their decisions.  The tool is even better than a paper version of this assignment because students can see online what others chose and their reasons.  Quiet kids would be heard here, and students would see each other’s positions and how closely they correlate to their own!

The document camera session I attended opened my eyes.  I’ve taught three hour “how to” document camera sessions in my division.  I demonstrate hot to connect the document connected to the projector, the projector to document camera to computer, and document camera to computer.  After each setup, I have teachers practice hooking up the equipment, then we brainstorm how they can use each setup in class, citing specific examples.  This presenter reminded us of an overlooked fact: the document camera is a camera!  She uses her document camera to take photographs, make claymations, and shoot instructional videos (like how to operate equipment like a graphing calculator).  

Our keynote speaker today was Aneesh Chopra, Secretary of Technology for Virginia.  He shared his goals, focusing on STEM education.  One of the initiatives he described was the Virginia Physics Flexbook Project.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if an online, open-source, conversationally-written content was the staple of science education?  Textbooks in our schools still identify Pluto as a planet.  I can’t help but wonder how digital texts like this one could change reading for our students as well.  They could use diigo and work in groups to highlight and sticky note observations, then collaborate about what they’ve read–asynchronously.  

Factors not mentioned concerning science education: the pacing of science curriculum & class sizes.  I see a major problem with time for investigations and critical thinking in science curriculum.  Our sixth graders will cover all standards for weather in 3 weeks.  How much time will they explore?  Students will need to receive enough time for fact presentation and regurgitation or else they’ll never be able to cover all the standards set forth in the time allotted.   Furthermore, classes of 30-34 do not lend themselves to carrying out investigations. 

I was pleased to hear of the Virginia Star Program, which will allow participating divisions’ students the opporunity to learn how to refurbish computers.  They’ll earn certifications in technology, and the fixed computers would then go to low-income families.  This kind of forward thinking (and that of the flexbook, and that of lessons learned in my other sessions) can greatly enhance student learning in the 21st Century! 

Tags: Chopra, document camera, Flexbook, higher order thinking, Inspiration, Intel, open source, science, Star Program, web 2.0, webspiration

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | 1 Comment »

EdTech 2009 Keynote Address: TPACK

EdTech 2009 has given me quite a few resources already!  John Hendron taught us to use rss aggregators, Laura Lewis & Rob Dent of Charlottesville gave us some great instruction on Lit Trips in Google Earth, and Debbie Walwer shared some templates in Microsoft Publisher for foldables.  A colleague and I presented our journey integrating technology and inquiry in science units last year, and learned of the River City Project from one of our participants. 

Our keynote speaker today was Punya Mishra.  He and his colleague, Matthew Koehler, have developed the concept of TPCK or TPACK: Technological Pedagological Content Knowledge.  You can read about the concept at www.tpck.org.  

Truly, using technology in and of itself will not lead to greater student achievement or increased learning.  Pedagogy and content should align!  Mishra’s talk drove home a point most of us already support: teachers play a role in learning!  Technology itself is not a teacher. 

Mishra further developed the idea that it takes creativity to make technology tools “educational”.  Read about his experiment with microblogging in his university classroom.   Mishra and Koehler’s work looks at through the lens of technology integration in a different perspective, but one I fully support! 

I think I’ll add Mishra’s site to my google reader now.  Thanks, John! 

Tags: Professional Development

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year, Professional Development | 1 Comment »

Digital Storybooks

This past Thursday, my Digispired kids and I had the pleasure of hearing Jean Gralley, children’s author speak.  We also stood in line and got her book The Very Boring Alligator signed. 

I found her digital storybooks (done in Flash, which the students and I are learning to use) mesmerizing. 

Take a moment to watch her digital storybook, Books Unbound, which explains what digital storybooks are. 
Ms. Gralley saved time at the end of the presentation to hear comments and questions from her audience: reading specialists, teachers, and students.  The conversation was quite interesting. 

There was some debate over whether or not the books should be narrated.  Some suggested that hearing the words read would build literacy as students would read along and build fluency.   However, I lean toward keeping the stories not narrated. First, I think it was Laura Bush that said that half the fun of reading storybooks was being held in someone’s lap and sharing the time together.   Second, I think forcing children to read the words encourages them to unlock the story by decoding the words.  I have put my three year old in front of books via Disney Preschool time online, and he does enjoy listening to them read to him and clicking to the next page. He also listens to some books on CD and follows along in the books, or just listens to the story being told.  However, when I sat with him and read Tooth off her website, it was a completely different experience!  He talked asked questions about the story and wanted to go back to earlier pages the same way he does with paper story books.  I’d hate for children to be idly placed in front of storybooks such as Jean Gralley’s and left to hear via narration.  These creatively written books play with language and deserve to be treated differently than video clips or audio recordings (which also have their place). 

Should there be musical accompaniment or not? Some people said they were moved by the music; others said they were distracted by it.  I was in the camp of appreciating the music.  When my son and I watched A Tribute to Marianne Carus, together, he announced that the music was pretty.  While I’m sure he didn’t get the metaphor of book, he did get that it was a “happy story” because of the music.  I guess just like with narration, music could be muted.  As a sidenote, I showed my son the Tribute again two days later.  As soon as it started, he began announcing the events in the polot before they happened, so he really remembered the story! 

There was also discussion as to if children would need to read the words in the story.  That was met with a resounding yes!  The clips cannot be truly understood unless one reads the words or hears them read.  The children in the room were asked if they read the words, and they agreed that they had.  They also stated that they enjoyed the digital storybooks. 

When will these be available?  Ms. Gralley said she hopes to distribute digital storybooks via schools.  I certainly hope they are!  I also hope that they are not limited to elementary.  Secondary students would learn much from intermediate storybooks like The Full Treatment.

Tags: Add new tag, digital storybooks, Flash, Jean Gralley, music

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | No Comments »

Readicide: A Web 2.0 Discussion

I’m looking into buying a Kindle.

I borrowed a digital reader (not a Kindle) from my boss so that I could read the secure .pdf of Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide without killing my eyes reading it on a computer screen.  It was wonderful!  The background was not bright; in fact, it was kind of like reading a paper book!  It was light, saved trees, and easy to navigate.  In my mind, I could see the shelves of books I don’t have room for making way for a nice, light Kindle that can fit in my purse. 

OK, back to Readicide.  I’ve been reading Bill Ferriter’s blog, The Tempered Radical, and I could not pass up the chance to read a book for free.  The Reading Specialist at my school and I each downloaded the copy and have been reading it all weekend.  Ferriter then set up a VoiceThread on the book (see his blog entry for the link), where he posts questions to the author.  Gallagher answers the question, then the Thread is open for anyone to comment or respond.  I love that Ferriter has prefaced the VoiceThread with “Conversation Tips” so that the experience is most beneficial.  Ferriter uses this opportunity to demonstrate a technology tool while keeping the focus on the book.

I also love how web 2.0 tools make learning asynchroneous.  I was able to finish reading the book earlier this evening, put my child to bed, spend some time with my husband, then listen to all the comments on VoiceThread before typing my “script” to record on the Thread myself, on the strands I’m most interested.   I’d never used VoiceThread before, although I’d heard quite a bit about it.  It is user-friendly, and I like how the audio bar at the bottom lets one know how long a sound byte will last.  It’s possible to skip forward or back a sound byte, and there is an option to use a webcam or to type responses. 

Tags: blog, Professional Development, VoiceThread, web 2.0

Posted in Professional Development | No Comments »

Review for 9 English 9 Weeks Test

Today an English teacher and I teamed up during her class period.  We set up stations for students to rotate through:

• Station 1: review topics on Study Island on the computer
• Station 2: SMART board activity on prefixes (borrowed from Wichita Public Schools-thanks, guys!)
• Station 3: packet on inferences and predictions

This worked out really well because:

1. Kids got instant feedback from Study Island.  They also knew their grade was easily accessed by their teacher.  What they don’t know is how she can drill down to specific skills they may lack.
2. Students got lots of turns on the SMART board.  I worked through first 5 or so with the group, modeling, reviewing, skipping a difficult question to return to later.  A capped highlighter was handed to the child in the chair to the left.  Using it kept kid from accidentally double clicking on the text box and served as a “talking stick”-only the child with the highlighter was allowed at the board.  After each question, the highlighter was passed to the next classmate.  Much praise was given to students who brainstormed other words with the identified prefix.   I left the groups after that, to work with teachers stopping by for help and collaboration.  Before rotating, I removed the blue boxes in the activity and we discussed any “wrong” answers. 
3. Teacher then had time to work in small groups with the inference packet group.  This was as close to “one on one” as she’d been able to be all year. 

Tomorrow I’ll be out of the building, so the teacher and her inclusion teacher (who is only with her every other day) will continue with her even day classes.  I’ll only be an email or instant message away if they have technical difficulties. 

She was so impressed with the increased one-on-one time she got, she’d decided to use this setup much more often.  I’ll keep you posted!

Tags: English, SMART Board, Stations, Study Island

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | No Comments »

Cell Division: 3 approaches

There are three life science teachers at my school, and all three of them used technology in the unit on cell division.  One had students visit Cells Alive.  Another had students create minibooks in PowerPoint.  The third had her students create claymation videos in pairs. 

The claymation represents cell division as a process.  It’s hands on, and students follow a help sheet to organize the pictures in MovieMaker and add labels.  The help sheet directs them to label each phase in a text slide before that phase, but the teacher prefers that the labels be placed atop the video.  This requires students to consider each picture and classify it as a particular phase. 

Though this was the second year her class has done the claymation, we are still tweaking the project.  Her students have worked for nearly four eighty minute blocks, and nearly everyone needs more time.  While some movies are stellar, other students’ have unfinished videos…they are still not done with the playdoh! 

I maintain that the kids will learn much from this project, but both the science teacher and I have agreed to mull over ideas of how to make the project more efficient and more relevant to students–several said they were confused throughout the process.  The groups we worked with one on one seemed to get more out of it than others, but how to be in 16 places at once?

Tags: claymation, MovieMaker, science

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | No Comments »

That’s a Wrap!

I filmed my seventh and final Glen Canyon Dam green screen student project today.  I’ll give the science teacher the DVD I burned of all seven movies so he can show them to the class.  Summary of each movie (I supplied titles):

• The Protest: one boy is “sitting” on the dam, thanks to a well-placed cart covered in green.  His friend explains the negatives of the dam to a pair of girls passing by.  The girls, in turn, list positives.
• Birds & Fish: Two “birds” discuss lack of breakfast.  Only the boys’ heads are showing above a green sheet, with their hands flapping, crossed over the neck, as “wings”.  Camera cuts to two scientists checking water quality who converse with a fish from the resevoir.
• The Ghost of Glen Canyon Dam: This flick contains three scenes.  The first shows a worker falling off a dam, the second shows him haunting the construction foreman, and the third records their precedings in court.
• Builder, Camper, Trout, Game Warden, Engineer: Each offers a fact or two from his or her perspective.
• Boating: Three friends discuss the dam on a boating trip.
• White Water Rafting: A guide, a “know it all” (who doesn’t know all the details), a well-informed citizen, and a curious tourist relay positives and negatives of the dam in their dialogue while they raft.
• The Documentary: Two anchorwomen interview a passerby and a striped bass fish.

I had to learn to coach more than I ever have in the past.  The kids needed help creating characters.  I found it easiest to let them choose their scene first, then figure out who might frequent that place.

What kids did NOT need help with was coming up with camera tricks: they sat on a dam, sat behind benches, popped out of water, “flew”, floated in rafts or boats–all with the help of green fabric draped strategically. 

By hooking kids with this media, we incorporated characterization, plot development, and expression in their reading from a teleprompter while they sythesized what they’d learned in science.

Tags: Project-based, science, video, Visual Communicator

Posted in 2008-2009 School Year | 1 Comment »