Saturday, June 28, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Thing 13
The best thing about working with the new iPads has been all the different ways I can see working them in to the daily curriculum. I can already see lots of existing lessons and projects that can be tweaked just a little bit to include the iPads. I think this will be exciting for the students and will make a lot of tasks easier, such as online research. They also make connecting students to the curriculum easier, enabling us to include students' original photographs, artwork, and voice in the work that they do. I'm a bit frustrated by the difficulty in integrating the iPads into our existing network, and the trouble (especially at the elementary level) with getting work off them, but I'm sure we will be able to work out some of these kinks as the year goes on.
The apps that I am most excited about working with are some of the creation software, like iMovie and Garage Band. Students will really be able to show their creativity in their projects. This is an area that has always been a struggle, especially when working with our GT students, but I think the iPads will make incorporating individual creativity much easier. I was not aware of the iWork suite, and am excited that students will have such a familiar platform for recording information and completing assignments on the iPads.
I didn't really have a big "aha" moment about one part of the training. As we went through the various modules, I kept coming up with more and more ways to integrate the iPads into the daily work that is already going on in my library and in our school. I really think that they will get a lot of use and will quickly become indispensable. I'm sure we will want more than 20 to work with very soon.
The apps that I am most excited about working with are some of the creation software, like iMovie and Garage Band. Students will really be able to show their creativity in their projects. This is an area that has always been a struggle, especially when working with our GT students, but I think the iPads will make incorporating individual creativity much easier. I was not aware of the iWork suite, and am excited that students will have such a familiar platform for recording information and completing assignments on the iPads.
I didn't really have a big "aha" moment about one part of the training. As we went through the various modules, I kept coming up with more and more ways to integrate the iPads into the daily work that is already going on in my library and in our school. I really think that they will get a lot of use and will quickly become indispensable. I'm sure we will want more than 20 to work with very soon.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Thing 11
Kindergarten- "All About" Books
ELA K10B-C: retell important facts and details and investigate how authors organize information in informational text; 15: write expository text to communicate information; 20A-B: locate and record information, use pictures along with writing to document research
Science K10: understand that organisms have structures and processes that help them survive in their environment, sort animals into groups based on physical characteristics, identify parts of animals
TechApps K-2 1B:create original products; 2A: use communication tools to collaborate and publish with peers; 3B: use research skills to build knowledge about a topic
All of the above are with adult assistance.
Objective: As a class, students will choose an animal of interest, gather and record information about their animal's habitat and features, organize the information into categories, and publish a class book about their animal.
Materials and resources:
Evaluation: because this is a kindergarten lesson, formal grades are not given. Students will be evaluated through teacher observations of class discussions and group work, as well as individual conferences with students. The captioned illustration students produce at the end of the project can be evaluated using the kinder expository text rubric available on the Alief Curriculum and Instruction ELA website.
ELA K10B-C: retell important facts and details and investigate how authors organize information in informational text; 15: write expository text to communicate information; 20A-B: locate and record information, use pictures along with writing to document research
Science K10: understand that organisms have structures and processes that help them survive in their environment, sort animals into groups based on physical characteristics, identify parts of animals
TechApps K-2 1B:create original products; 2A: use communication tools to collaborate and publish with peers; 3B: use research skills to build knowledge about a topic
All of the above are with adult assistance.
Objective: As a class, students will choose an animal of interest, gather and record information about their animal's habitat and features, organize the information into categories, and publish a class book about their animal.
Materials and resources:
- Class will use Padlet to record what they think they know about the animal, then will add new information learned and check confirmed information in different colors (one color per source) as they read expository text; whole and small group
- Class will read and gather information from print texts and from the PebbleGo database, as well as World Book Online if necessary; whole and small group
- When they have finished gathering information, students will move their Padlet notes around to organize the info into categories using a tree map format; whole group
- Each student will take a piece of the collected information to illustrate, either on paper or using a drawing app. Using iMovie, students will record their voices sharing the information while showing their illustration, compiling it into a class digital book or slide show, as well as a paper book. The digital book can be moved to the teacher's Google Drive or Edmodo account.
Evaluation: because this is a kindergarten lesson, formal grades are not given. Students will be evaluated through teacher observations of class discussions and group work, as well as individual conferences with students. The captioned illustration students produce at the end of the project can be evaluated using the kinder expository text rubric available on the Alief Curriculum and Instruction ELA website.
Thing 10
Part One:
I've seen the Cyberbee site before, and I like the kid-friendly format. I would like to create a "scavenger hunt" to use it with students, where they need to find certain information by exploring the different issues discussed on the page. The Purdue University site was new to me. It's a bit over the heads of elementary students but I think it would be great to use with teachers. I really liked the paraphrasing exercises, and would like to work with teachers to develop some similar exercises for an elementary audience. Before having students work on projects on the iPads, I want to develop some lessons on fair use, including when and how much they can borrow from the Internet for school work. I also want to make them familiar with the Creative Commons website, and how to find media that authors have granted permissions for students to use.
Part Two:
I liked how the teacher in the CSE video used a digital literacy topic to give students an opportunity to practice text evidence strategies. I know our teachers also consider using supporting evidence to be a central skill for their students. The teacher incorporated current media with which the students were familiar. It was clear that the lesson had a big impact on the students; the two girls who were able to make connections to events and choices from their own lives were evidence of that.
I could work with fourth (and maybe third) grade teachers to develop a similar lesson for elementary students using existing media from YouTube and the information from sources like the Cyberbee site. The lessons in the video seemed to start with an exploration of the vocabulary and concepts around fair use, and then a lesson where they have to use these concepts to evaluate someone's creation.
I've seen the Cyberbee site before, and I like the kid-friendly format. I would like to create a "scavenger hunt" to use it with students, where they need to find certain information by exploring the different issues discussed on the page. The Purdue University site was new to me. It's a bit over the heads of elementary students but I think it would be great to use with teachers. I really liked the paraphrasing exercises, and would like to work with teachers to develop some similar exercises for an elementary audience. Before having students work on projects on the iPads, I want to develop some lessons on fair use, including when and how much they can borrow from the Internet for school work. I also want to make them familiar with the Creative Commons website, and how to find media that authors have granted permissions for students to use.
Part Two:
I liked how the teacher in the CSE video used a digital literacy topic to give students an opportunity to practice text evidence strategies. I know our teachers also consider using supporting evidence to be a central skill for their students. The teacher incorporated current media with which the students were familiar. It was clear that the lesson had a big impact on the students; the two girls who were able to make connections to events and choices from their own lives were evidence of that.
I could work with fourth (and maybe third) grade teachers to develop a similar lesson for elementary students using existing media from YouTube and the information from sources like the Cyberbee site. The lessons in the video seemed to start with an exploration of the vocabulary and concepts around fair use, and then a lesson where they have to use these concepts to evaluate someone's creation.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Thing 9
I found a lot of good ideas on the Skype site. One that I want to try is setting up a literature circle with students from another school. I think this will be great for my GT kids. I also saw a number of collaboration projects that I want to share with teachers at my school. We are already using videoconferencing at our school quite a bit, and see a lot of student engagement when they get to connect with other students this way.
I would like to use Padlet with my kinder students when we do research. We usually create a circle map on chart paper where the students tell me what they already know and we write it on sticky notes. Then as we gather new information, confirm what they knew, and rule out misconceptions, we add things in different colors. We could do this on Padlet, and the teacher could also access it in the classroom to add information. For the older students, groups could use Padlet to compile the information that each student gathers into one location so that the group can use it for their final product. Using the iPads rather than pencil and paper for these types of collaborations makes them much more flexible.
I would like to use Padlet with my kinder students when we do research. We usually create a circle map on chart paper where the students tell me what they already know and we write it on sticky notes. Then as we gather new information, confirm what they knew, and rule out misconceptions, we add things in different colors. We could do this on Padlet, and the teacher could also access it in the classroom to add information. For the older students, groups could use Padlet to compile the information that each student gathers into one location so that the group can use it for their final product. Using the iPads rather than pencil and paper for these types of collaborations makes them much more flexible.
Thing 6 Activity 2
My screencast is a visual "tour" of book locations in my library. It isn't complete, but gives an idea of how I might use this app. I could post this on the library webpage for students to reference.
This would be a good app to use for student portfolios. Students could take pictures of their work and then add narration to give additional info and explain their choices. Groups could also use screen casting to culminate a unit, sharing what they learned about a topic.
One barrier is not being able to use video (or at least I can't figure out how). Another issue I noticed with some of the posted lessons is background noise when recording the audio. Students would need a quiet place to make their recording.
Thing 4
Okay, finally got this to work. Thank you Ashley for all your help.
Here is the original picture:
Here is the manipulated version from iPhoto:
I cropped it, manipulated the color balance, and used one of the Ink effects to created the brushstroke appearance. The process of using iPhoto was easy and I think would be fun for kids. I am very interested in the thinking skills behind having students choose and manipulate images from around them to illustrate their work.
The difficulties I had with the assignment had to do with getting the images off the iPad and actually uploading them into my blog. I'm hoping that using Edmodo will make this process easier, because using Google Drive on the iPad has been difficult for me, and our elementary students will not have accounts anyway.
I want to use this process with fourth grade students in creating book trailers. Choosing a limited number of images to represent the themes and important events in a book will help students with summarizing, understanding theme and symbolism, analyzing characters, and other higher level thinking skills our fourth graders need to move deeper in their reading.
Here is the original picture:
Here is the manipulated version from iPhoto:
The difficulties I had with the assignment had to do with getting the images off the iPad and actually uploading them into my blog. I'm hoping that using Edmodo will make this process easier, because using Google Drive on the iPad has been difficult for me, and our elementary students will not have accounts anyway.
I want to use this process with fourth grade students in creating book trailers. Choosing a limited number of images to represent the themes and important events in a book will help students with summarizing, understanding theme and symbolism, analyzing characters, and other higher level thinking skills our fourth graders need to move deeper in their reading.
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