Teaching with Technology

Mrs. Vest’s class create a Voicethread on Batty Facts to go with their lesson on facts and opinions.  Creating voicethreads on a specific topic gives students a chance to write, practicing reading, and listen back to information, which helps them learn and remember it better. They are also a great way to practice fluency and oral speaking skills.  Students are always amazed the first time they hear themselves read, and I always give them the option to redo their reading if they don’t like it.  It’s neat to see how quickly their reading changes when they can hear themselves! Take a look at their project (and feel free to leave them some comments).

Mrs.  Hudson’s and Mrs. Graves 5th grade classes at Clearbrook Elementary are blogging!  I’m so proud of the hard work both the teachers and the students are putting into this project!  The kids are very excited, especially about comments they’ve received from some college students in Alabama.   They worked really hard on writing posts about instruments to go with the sound unit they are studied in Science, and they are working on entries about their visit to Apple Ridge Farms.  If you have a few minutes to leave them some comments, they would love it!  It’s so motivating for them to know that their writing is read by a “real” audience!

Here are their blogs:

Mrs. Hudson

Mrs. Graves

I’ll keep them linked to this blog (on the right) in case you want to check back on them later in the year!

First Grade classes around the county participated in an O.R.E.O. project, including Mrs. Chapman’s class, Mrs. Williams’ class, Mrs. Braun’s class,  and all of Oak Grove’s First Grade!   It was tons of fun, and it all centered around cookies!!

Students stacked cookies to see how tall of a tower they could make before it tumbled and tallied their results. Then, they entered results on a spreadsheet to find a class average and to view a graph.  They discussed the data using words like greather than, less than, and equal to (see example below). 

Oreo Project Example

Click here for a  blank version of the spreadsheet.

Here’s a few pictures from the event:
O.R.E.O. Project 2009 on PhotoPeach

Oh…and just in case your wondering, we did NOT eat the ones we stacked! ;)

I love Jennifer Wagner’s projects for elementary students. They are very project/themed based, and she always has a mix of “old favorite” and “new ideas” each year. When you participate in one of her projects, your students also have the chance to collaborate with other students around the world. I’ve had teachers participate in her Oreo project, Room with a View, and a Valentine Card Exchange. They loved them! Here are some exciting ones she will be offering this year:

Projects to Sign Up for Today

Guess the Wordle:

• Open Ended start and finish (Do as little or as much as you want)
• Great for grades 3-5, but could be used by any grade.
• Helps with higher level thinking
• Could be used as a welcome activity in the mornings

O.R.E.O. Project

• Runs from Sept. 21-Oct. 16
• Could be completed in 1 or 2 class periods, but includes enrichment ideas to take it further.
• Entails stacking Oreo cookies and comparing results from around the world.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

• Learn about weather, tall tales, and compare and contrast.
• Runs from August 31 to September 18
  
• Looks great for K-5

Upcoming Projects that Look Good

You’ll need to keep a watch on these projects so you can register for them.

Where the Wild Things Went

• Runs from Oct. 12-Oct. 30 (Corresponds with movie version release)
• Students will extend the story of “Where the Wild Things Went” using a wiki
• Skype may be included for classroom reading

Holiday Card Exchange

• Runs from Nov. 30-Dec. 18
• Classrooms will participate with 24 other classrooms from around the world
• Classes will mail one card to each class (so count on postage for 24 cards)
• Google Earth will be used to map places
• I’ve had third graders participate before in a similar Valentine’s Day project, and both teachers and students loved it!!

There are more projects too….to see a list of all projects, visit the Projects By Jen website!  Click here to see a description of all the projects she will offer this year.

And, if you decide to try one of these projects, please let me know!  I’d love to lend a helping hand!!

Last weekend, the Big Lick Geobug was sent on it’s way to Ms. Deyenberg’s Class in Alberta, Canada! If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, then read this article on geocaching.

Sending the Big Lick Geobug on its way…. on PhotoPeach (Pictures by Meg Swecker)

Basically, the idea is that our Big Lick Geobug will travel from cache to cache with geocachers…all the way to Canada. It will be a slow process, possibly, since some caches aren’t found for weeks at a time….but hopefully some geocachers can take it long distances. Meanwhile, classes in Salem and Roanoke County (with Meg Swecker) will track it’s movements!

Ms. Deyenberg is doing the same thing too. Her 5th Grade class is sending Flop the Other Dorothy Dalgliesh Dolphin to us! You can read about the geobugs below (and follow them too)!

Big Lick Geobug
Flop the Other Dorothy Dalgliesh Dolphin

It’s a long way to Alberta, Canada, so they might not make it, but we are keeping our fingers crossed!! Following the geobugs as they travel will help our students practice map skills….and Math (as they calculate how far each bug has traveled). Here’s a map with their starting and ending points:

View Geobugs! Map in a larger map

These bugs have the summer to travel, and hopefully will have moved some by the time we come back in the Fall. If you would like to follow along next year, let me know. I can come show your class how to geocache (even tie it with a topic you are teaching), and make sure you receive updates anytime one of the geobugs moves! I think we have some 2nd grade teachers already who will be following along!

I’ve been thinking about this post for a week now. I want to share this incredible lesson that was done with some of our Third Graders as part of the Trek2India Project. However, as many of you know, the actual trip to India by our superintendent was canceled due to the unrest in Mumbia, his first stop. I want to share my reaction to those events as well.

Robyn Zamorski, our speech teacher at G.W. Carver, lived in India for a short period of time. She also currently teaches Yoga at a local fitness club. So it was very fitting to have her teach some of our students some Yoga poses to go along with the India project. But what started out as purely a chance to collaborate with our Physical Education Teacher, Pam Palmer, and Robyn, ended up being one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen since I’ve been in education. While I was there only to take pictures and create a Voicethread about the project, I walked away amazed. It started with a class of third graders running into the gym with high energy. I thought to myself, “Well, this will last about 10 minutes..maybe 15 if we are lucky.” I was so wrong. As Robyn lead them through the poses, and the Sanskrit names for them, their energy dropped, and they loved it! I had started running around taking pictures, but quickly changed to moving slowly and deliberately around the room so not to disturb this incredible energy in the room. After watching that lesson, which lasted the whole 30 minutes (and the kids wanted to do it again), I was floored. In the age of stimulation, I’ve always thought we need to keep our students “busy.” I still believe that. But now I understand that kids need a chance to relax and get focused too. I share the VoiceThread below with you….put please understand…it only captures a small fraction of what went on in the gym that day.

With this Trek2India project, Pam Elgin and I had spent lots of time learning about the culture as we prepared the Trek2India Wiki that would be used as the hub of communication between our Superintendent, as he traveled, and our students and teachers here. Pam and I learned about the people, the culture, and some of the history behind India’s democracy. When I first received the news about the events in Mumbia, I was sitting in my car getting ready to pick up some of the food for Thanksgiving dinner the next day. I was floored. Heartbroken. Relieved. I was thankful our Superintendent had not left yet (he was scheduled to leave the day after Thanksgiving). His first schedule hotel stop was the Taj, was one of the hotels affected. But I was also deeply, deeply saddened for the Indian people. News about other countries does not usually affect me that much. I might feel a short sadness when reading an article.  I might thinkabout war and peace in a broad sense.  But hearing this story filled me with a deep, deep sadness. The more I thought about my reaction, the more I realized it was because I felt a tie, so to say, with the people. After spending so much time learning about them, and after almost having the chance to make connections with some of the schools in India, I felt extremely sad to watch their city in flames. I share this because I came to realize the power of making connections with other cultures on a personal level. I’ve known the power on an intellectual level, but never felt the power so strongly on the personal side. The idea I came to understand was that the more our students have the opportunity to learn about other cultures, connect with them, and empathize with their struggles, the more peace we will have in our world.

Meg Swecker is at it again! She’s currently diving in Mexico and at the same time, communicating with students in schools back in the United States using VoiceThead. On this trip, Mrs. Zamorski’s students participated! Here’s the VoiceThread they made:

In Roanoke County, students in Kindergarten are learning Spanish from students in Mexico thanks to Meg. They also used Voicethread, and Meg’s awesome new Ocean Studies Wiki for this project. I love that she was able to get students in Mexico to help record Spanish Words. Check it out here.

Last year, the Second Grade teachers at GWC participated in a Monster Project Wiki. I just ran across this presentation about the same project on the K-12 Online Conference, and thought you might want to view the way the creators of the project implemented it from start to finish.

Looking for a way to bring real-world learning into your classroom with projects? Well, there are tons of things you can try out this year, from a small, one-time project, to a year-long project. Some contain extensive use of technology while others have very little. I’ve found some great ones recently I just had to share with you…I’m looking for classrooms willing to try one or more of them out!

Projects with Jen

Jennifer Wagner organizes on projects all year long with teachers around the world on her Projects with Jen Ning (and yes, this is probably blocked at school…but don’t worry…it’s safe). The third grade at G.W. Carver participated in one of her projects last February called From Me To You 2008. They really enjoyed it, so I’m trying to get other teachers to try out some of her other projects. Here’s a few upcoming projects that really caught my eye:

O.r.e.o. (Our Really Exciting Online) Project 2008!

• Runs from: Sept. 15-Oct. 10
• Could be completed in 1 or 2 class periods, but includes enrichment ideas to take it further.
• Entails stacking Oreo cookies and comparing results from around the world.

A Room with a View

• Runs all year long with a picture and a writing assignment once a month.
• Teachers will learn to upload digital pictures to a picture sharing site.
• Students take a picture from a window in the classroom/school once a month and write about what they see. The share their pictures from classes around the world to see how seasons vary.

Gingerbread Man 2008

• Runs from Nov. 1- Dec. 20.
• Contains a variety of activities to go with the Gingerbread Man story, most of which require only a little bit of technology skill.

Storychasers

For older grades, Storychasers might be a fun way for your students to improve their writing skills while learning more about their families and community. It is described as “a multi-state (and potentially multi-national) educational collaborative empowering students and teachers to responsibly record and share stories of local, regional and global interest as citizen journalists. There are a variety of types of stories your students can collect, including biographies, careers, and (the one that REALLY caught my eye) ghost stories.

Ghost Stories with Story Chasers

• Would like to do this project around October. Will take at least 3-4 class periods.
• Students will collect and share local ghost stories via a podcast or digital story.
• I’ll be really actively involved in assisting with this project in my schools, especially when it comes time to record and share stories.
• More info to come.

Regions of Virginia Project

• This project is open to 4th Grade Classrooms in Virginia. It meets 4th Grade Virginia Studies SOLs and Writing objectives. This project will run from Oct. 1-April 24, 2009. Registration is open now until Sept. 29!!
• Students will collaborate with other 4th graders across Virginia to describe, compare, and contrast regions. They will use a Wiki, Google Maps, and possibily other technology tools.
• This project is being coordinated by a group of ITRTS, including myself. I’ll be activly involved in assisting with this project. If you teach 4th grade at one of my schools, I’ll be bugging you about this very soon!

Ocean Threads

• Will be open to all grade levels. Great for habitats, ocean animals, camoflauge, and other topics.
• Students will formulate questions, as a class and in collaboration with other classes, to ask Meg Swecker. Meg will be embarking on a scuba diving expidition, and will answer the questions using actual pictures she’s taken underwater.
• I’ll be happy to help teachers in my school learn to use Voice Thread and assist you with recording your students questions. As you collaborte with other classes to create questions for Meg, I’ll help facilitate that for you.
• More info to come as Meg plans her next trip!

Math Zoo

• This is a project is in the piolot phase and will be open to 3rd graders in select Salem City, Roanoke County, and Roanoke City schools. G.W. Carver and East can participate! It will target Math and Science SOLs skills with Mill Mountain Zoo activities.
• More info to come! Let me know if you work with 3rd graders at one of my schools and are interested.

Wordle is a really fun, east web tool that turns words into art called “word clouds.” These word clouds emphasize words that are used more often in a piece of text. Wordle makes text clouds from text you enter, from blog RSS feeds, or from delicious tags. There are even options to change font color, type, and the design of the words.

Lots of people, including Pam Elgin, have been tossing around ideas for the use of Wordle in classrooms. Here’s a few you might want to try!

About Me

Have students type their name three times (this will make it bigger than other words). Then have them type words that mean something to them. This would be a great back to school activity.

Describe a Famous Person or a Literary Character

You could do the same activity, but with a famous person.

Adjective Collage

Create a collage of adjectives. In the Wordle Text box, type the noun you want to describe three times (this will make it appear bigger than the other words). Then list all the descriptive words you can think of to describe the noun. Here’s an example:

First Name Welcome

This idea is a great one from Pam. Create a Wordle with the first name of the students in your class to hang on your door. (Example by Kristin Kap)

Type in Spelling or Vocabulary Words

Use for student practice with spelling or as a way to introduce new words in a unit! Students will love making designs and changing font, color, and layout after they have finished typing in their spelling words.

Use as a Hook or a Visual Cue

Create a Wordle to introduce a new unit of student or to help give students a visual of a concept. Here’s one for question words:

Create a Funky Twist on an Acrostic or ABC Book

If you want the words to fall in somewhat ABC order, make sure to check “prefer alphabetical order” under layout.

Quickly Make a Funky Sign

Brainstorming on a Topic
(Music example by hbryson)

Book Review

Have student list all the words they can think of to describe a book or a chapter. Remember to have them type the important words more than once so they are bigger.

Vocabulary Words to Practice Reading
(Dolch Word List)

Letter Hunt (for Kindergarten)

You could do different versions with different fonts!

Pre-Reading Strategy

Show students the words from a poem or story and have them predict what it will be about. The Wordle below is from the poem Cannonball by David Crwwley.

Misuse of Common Words

Have students type in a story to see what words they use the most. Make sure they choose “Do Not Remove Common Words” under “Language” to see them all. Here’s an example from one of my summer school student’s blog (most used words include I, like, and):

And another in which the student started almost every sentence with “He.”

I could go on and on and on…I LOVE this tool! What kind of things can you think of?

Word of Caution: Be cautious about the Gallery. I’d recommend you NOT allow your students to browse through it….anyone can make a Wordle, and some are not as nice as others.

Update: Just learned something new, thanks to JBlack’s Awesome use of Wordle! You can keep words together in Wordle if you use a tilde (~) mark between words. So here’s another idea (and yes, I promise to stop now)!
Idioms
Create a Wordle with Idioms. To keep words together, put a ~ between each word in the idiom. (Spill~the~beans.) This may be a little tedious for younger kids, but shouldn’t be too hard for older ones!

I’m in the middle of teaching Summer School to some great second graders, and they have been posting to a class blog to practice writing skills.  They are really excited about the possibility of recieving comments from people, as well as intrigued with the cluster map on the blog.  If you have a free moment, would you mind leaving them some comments?  Click here to visit our class blog! Thanks!

Students who earned 100 or more AR points at East Salem Elementary created a Voicethread advertising their favorite Accelerated Reader Books. Here it is!

I was horrible at history when I was in school, especially if it involved memorizing dates and names. I am a “big picture” learner…I stink at details. I learned information better if I could put dates and people into stories. I remember that my mom used to teach me mnemonics and other techniques to remember facts I had to memorize. I think that’s what’s made me enjoy working with Virginia Studies classes on projects this year: I’ve watched the teachers make history memorable and understandable for students with these projects. If I’d had teachers that allowed us to do projects like these, maybe I’d have had a much easier time learning history back then!
The first project was a podcast about the 4 regions of Virginia. Mrs. Ingram at East lead a group of students as they wrote 5 different segments–one for each region. It turned out great, and they even had a catchy way to remember the regions.

Press on the button below to listen:

The 5 Regions of Virginia

The next Virginia Studies project involved using Timeliner, a program for creating a visual timeline of certain events. Mrs. Barnett and I worked with two of the 4th grade classes at East to help them create broad timelines that included the most important events in Virginia History. Mrs. Barnett wanted students to see the time span between events that happened, especially the large span of time between the American Revolution and the Civil War. This was a way of placing details into a big picture context. Take a look at some of the ways they displayed this information:

The most recent project was a podcast created under the direction of Mrs. Crotts at GWC. The students met with her and wrote their own scripts for this podcast. I was unable to be at the school to help them record, so a couple of students learned to use an MP3 player to record their classmates all by themselves. All that was left for me to do was add music and put it all together. I’m always amazed at the creative ability of students when given independence…the result was incredible. Take a listen:
Ready, Aim, Fire! SOLs! — American Revolution

In the end, the students even wrote thank you notes to both Mrs. Crotts and I for helping them with the podcast, which totally made my day!!!

All three of these projects were wonderful ways to engage student creativity and to help them see the broad picture and stories behind history facts…while using technology!! Thanks, Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Ingram, and Mrs. Crotts for allowing me to work with you and your students this year. I’ve had a blast! I hope your students did too!