Changes in Ms. Thomas’s Classroom November 5, 2008
Posted by Dottie Black in : George Watts Montessori Magnet, Morehead Montessori, Video , add a commentWhat I learned about Tadpoles from Ms. Bethea’s Kindergarteners. August 13, 2008
Posted by Dottie Black in : George Watts Montessori Magnet, Projects, Technology, Video , add a commentI spent three days working with Ms. Bethea’s Kindergartener’s creating Pixie 2 slide shows about the Life Cycle of the Frog. First I brought the laptops into the class so they could play with Pixie2.
The second day we created the slides with the 5 stages and the third day we added words, background colors, music and narration. The students decided what they wanted to say in the narration and then we wrote it on a white board for them to read into a microphone. They did a fantastic job as you can see below and I learned a lot about tadpoles and frogs. (and how much fun it is to work with kindergarteners)
Internet Safety for all of us August 6, 2008
Posted by Dottie Black in : Teacher Resources, Technology , add a commentI had the pleasure of attending a presentation on Internet Safety at the McKimmon Center at North Carolina State University on August 5th. The presenter was Linda Criddle, an expert on Cyber Crimes and Internet Safety. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the presentation. I was concerned that it would be more about controlling what our students have access to instead of teaching them responsible behaviors. I was thoroughly fascinated with her presentation. Ms. Criddle put herself in the role of a criminal to illustrate how easy it is to glean information from seemingly safe Internet activities. I was taken aback at how much I did not know about the subject. Until yesterday I considered myself to be somewhat “web savvy”, now I know better. There is way too much information to relay here so I suggest you check out her website. It is chock full of good information including and her book and a course for educators.
NECC 2008 July 14, 2008
Posted by Dottie Black in : Teacher Resources, Technology , add a commentI attended NECC 2008 in San Antonio. It has been two weeks and I am still learning and processing what I experienced. Here are several highlights:
There is a new version of Hyperstudio that will be released soon for both PC and Macs.
I was very impressed with the demonstration of IspireData by Inspiration Software,Inc.
Ed.voicethread is the coolest Web 2.0 program I have seen so far. Check out the MathCast wiki with all kinds of examples of using this program for math lessons.
www.jott.com is a great way to send yourself emails using your regular cellphone. Just set up the account and call the jott number and speak your email. You can also send a text message with voice recognition.
The new Classmate PC by Intel is very impressive. There were several vendor booths representing this product and they were crowded every time I went by. You can buy the consumer version on Amazon for 399.00.
I purchased Volume 1 of copyright/royalty-free music from Soundzabound Music Library. You can buy it on CD,CD and online, or just online downloads.
Schooltube.com is another video upload site for teachers and students. Video’s are screened by approved educators before they are approved.
Illustrating the Elements of Poetry with Technology June 23, 2008
Posted by Dottie Black in : Events, Projects, Rogers-Herr Middle School, Video , add a commentThis is a description of a project Ms. Spataro did with her 7th grade language arts classes.
Poetry Project using Movie Maker:
This year I decided to assign my students a project to complete after the End of Grade (EOG) tests. Each year the last two-three weeks of school is hard to accomplish something because the EOG signify the end of the school year for the children and they are less likely to complete standard class assignments. This year I tried a different route.
We were in the middle of our poetry unit when the EOG’s were scheduled. I always like to have the children create their own poetry to demonstrate their understanding of the literary elements that make up poetry. Typically, I have them complete a poetry book with a class element that they have to take home to remember the year by. This year I decided to have them do something different. I noticed that anytime we added the element of technology to a lesson or project, the kids were more engaged and willing to complete the assignment. Engaged is what I wanted them to be during these few weeks that they are normally in “shut-down mode.” So, I designed a poetry project that required the children to create a piece of poetry that included the literary elements I would normally require them to demonstrate, but add four additional steps. First, they would need to find pictures that displayed and demonstrated the theme of the stanza. They were required to write a five-stanza poem, which would then require 5 pictures: one for each stanza. We used www.freefoto.com to find pictures. This site allowed the pictures to be used for educational purposes without being sited back to the site. Second, the students went to www.freeplaymusic.com to choose an instrumental music track that related to the mood or tone the students wanted their audience to feel while viewing their project and reading their poem. Next, the students put the first three steps (poem, pictures, and music) together using Windows Movie Maker. Finally, students recorded themselves reading their poem and added this to their presentation.
While completing this project, I noticed that the students really enjoyed it. I didn’t hear the normal complaints of “Why do we have to do this?” “School is over, why are we still working.” They dug in and were excited to put together this visual and auditory representation of their thoughts. A lot of the poems the children wrote were about what they were dealing with at the time in regards to their peers. Many students wrote about finding love or being picked on by their classmates. Others wrote silly poems that reflected their individual personalities. It was amazing to see what the kids were thinking and feeling. Things we as teachers sometimes miss or don’t notice as we interact with them all year.
Another quality that was noted was the children who normally don’t do well on standard writing projects really excelled with this project. They created a high quality poetry piece which would have only been sub-standard if it was just hand written. In most of these cases, these students were the first to complete their project. These students were asked and gladly accepted to help walk their classmates through the steps of converting their project into a video and then importing the video into a new project in order to record their voice. These children, who in most cases sat on the sidelines most of the year, stood out as being an expert. It really made them feel important and special.
Since this project was assigned during the last few weeks of school we had several schedule disruptions that took time from class . At our school we have a class period called Core Plus. This is a class like study hall that students can work on homework; receive extra help, read a book, etc. During this time, I took groups of children to the computer lab to give them extra time to work on their projects. Each morning I had students come up to me and beg to be able to go work on their project. At the end of each class period they would also ask if I could put them on the list for the next morning. The kids were so involved in this project that they wanted to come work during a period that by this time in the school year meant “free time.” They all wanted to finish their projects and to proud of what they accomplished. This was really nice to see from a teacher’s standpoint.
All in all, I think this project was a huge success and will definitely use it again. The children were engaged at a time in the year where everything around them was being brought to a close. There were no disruptions, behaviorally that normally may have happened. Finally, the kids completed a project that was creative, included all the elements they enjoy (music, pictures, and individualized thoughts). This year, language arts ended with a movie day of our poetry videos that were enjoyed, celebrated, and appreciated.
