As mentioned in my previous post, an assignment the 5th graders have been working on is research for a college they had chosen and 'followed' for March Madness. The research they have been conducting is being turned into a PowerPoint presentation on GoogleDocs that they will then present to their classmates. A few things they are researching about the college include tuition costs, history, famous alumni, mascot and school colors, as well as traditions.
This project has been great in the fact that students have gotten good practice using key words to do research, inserting pictures and videos into their PowerPoint, and have gotten more familiar with features of the program, such as transitions and slide design to make it more unique.
Here are a few links to some examples (they may not be perfect because students aren't quite done with them!)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bPPZpxmlL2OgPKJsmqwrkAiIBH5d5_PMg4Ty5tcJWvQ/edit#slide=id.g991f52c57_0_0
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1fZXseeXeDFCSwxQBjBADpoGeSg_ZIVZuUecTiaDqs7w/edit#slide=id.g8d895b435_05
POETRY: At the end of 5th grade, we also make a poetry book with a collection and variety of poems from throughout the year. Students will be typing some of the poems they have created for their books, but we will also be using some online resources as well. One of them includes the ReadWriteThink website for a Diamante poem: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/diamante/ This is great because the template is ready to go and students can type, save, and print easily from the website! **Student examples to come!!
Another idea I have for the end of the year is to have the 5th graders collaborate on a GoogleDoc, with each student writing a couplet poem about a memory from their fifth grade year. That way, when it is all done, students will have a collection of memories that they worked together on to take with them as they move to middle school! We've had so much going on, we haven't gotten a chance to dive into this yet! I'm excited to see how it turns out!!
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
ISTE Standards
The ISTE standards for teachers state that, "Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments." The student standards state that, "Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology." I feel that the project my students are working on currently encompass these skills.
The project my 5th graders are currently working on is researching a college that is participating in March Madness and creating a PowerPoint presentation that includes the information that they have gathered, which will eventually be presented to the class. Research is one of the standards listed, which is a huge piece of my students' projects. As teachers, we underestimate the amount of scaffolding and lessons that could be taught to show students how to research on the internet effectively, such as key word searches, looking for reliable sources, navigating pages that have multiple tabs, and paraphrasing the information they are looking up. All of these are pertinent skills they will need as they get older.
Even though this project is individualized for the students and not very collaborative, I can see how students are helping each other when they come across a problem or need help looking up a certain piece of information. They are even learning from each other when trying out the different applications on PowerPoint, such as designs, transitions, and uploading pictures.
This was our first time doing this project, which is why we wanted to keep it simple with a PowerPoint presentation. In the future, I can see myself giving students options for how they want to present their information...whether it be through a picture book on Story Jumper, or using interactive online resources such as Glogster or Prezi. Students would learn so much from trying out different ways to present their information with technology.
The project my 5th graders are currently working on is researching a college that is participating in March Madness and creating a PowerPoint presentation that includes the information that they have gathered, which will eventually be presented to the class. Research is one of the standards listed, which is a huge piece of my students' projects. As teachers, we underestimate the amount of scaffolding and lessons that could be taught to show students how to research on the internet effectively, such as key word searches, looking for reliable sources, navigating pages that have multiple tabs, and paraphrasing the information they are looking up. All of these are pertinent skills they will need as they get older.
Even though this project is individualized for the students and not very collaborative, I can see how students are helping each other when they come across a problem or need help looking up a certain piece of information. They are even learning from each other when trying out the different applications on PowerPoint, such as designs, transitions, and uploading pictures.
This was our first time doing this project, which is why we wanted to keep it simple with a PowerPoint presentation. In the future, I can see myself giving students options for how they want to present their information...whether it be through a picture book on Story Jumper, or using interactive online resources such as Glogster or Prezi. Students would learn so much from trying out different ways to present their information with technology.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Graphic Organizers
Teaching Writing Using Traditional & New Literacies:
The article we read gave me great insight on how I can help my students brainstorm, add detail, and narrate the stories they write. In the article, there is a little blue inset toward the end that says Take Action! and I feel that trying out any of those strategies would benefit my students. One strategy I do already use is having students talk with their writing partner about what they are going to write about. I could take this one step further and continue to teach students ways (phrases/questions) in which to give each other constructive feedback, thinking of ways to help their partner strengthen their writing.
When thinking of our writing units, I think it would be great to have students draw out pictures that go along with their narratives, as well as record themselves telling the story. This gives them an opportunity to reflect and make sure they included all of the important parts. They will also be able to remember it better and come back to it if need be, rather than telling their partner then forgetting parts later on.
As we begin to do research in fourth quarter, I think it would be beneficial to tie in graphic organizers and mind maps to help students organize their information and notes they take along the way. 5th grade will be researching a university participating in March Madness, so using webs would help them keep track of their information, which will later be turned into a presentation.
Evaluated App: Popplet Lite (*Limits 5 popplets made before upgrade$$)
Ease of creation: Each popple has icons around it to edit it. There is a ? in the corner that explains them all. You can resize objects by using arrows and can move around popples by just clicking on them and sliding them around. The export option is great-allows you to email in different formats or save.
Clarity: Everything is easy to read.
Insert pictures: You can use pictures from your computer's library, but it doesn't allow you to get any from the web, which I would want my students to do.
Age level: I can see this being used by students ranging 1st-5th with instruction of how to use it ahead of time. It is also nice because it is an app and a website.
The article we read gave me great insight on how I can help my students brainstorm, add detail, and narrate the stories they write. In the article, there is a little blue inset toward the end that says Take Action! and I feel that trying out any of those strategies would benefit my students. One strategy I do already use is having students talk with their writing partner about what they are going to write about. I could take this one step further and continue to teach students ways (phrases/questions) in which to give each other constructive feedback, thinking of ways to help their partner strengthen their writing.
When thinking of our writing units, I think it would be great to have students draw out pictures that go along with their narratives, as well as record themselves telling the story. This gives them an opportunity to reflect and make sure they included all of the important parts. They will also be able to remember it better and come back to it if need be, rather than telling their partner then forgetting parts later on.
As we begin to do research in fourth quarter, I think it would be beneficial to tie in graphic organizers and mind maps to help students organize their information and notes they take along the way. 5th grade will be researching a university participating in March Madness, so using webs would help them keep track of their information, which will later be turned into a presentation.
Evaluated App: Popplet Lite (*Limits 5 popplets made before upgrade$$)
Ease of creation: Each popple has icons around it to edit it. There is a ? in the corner that explains them all. You can resize objects by using arrows and can move around popples by just clicking on them and sliding them around. The export option is great-allows you to email in different formats or save.
Clarity: Everything is easy to read.
Insert pictures: You can use pictures from your computer's library, but it doesn't allow you to get any from the web, which I would want my students to do.
Age level: I can see this being used by students ranging 1st-5th with instruction of how to use it ahead of time. It is also nice because it is an app and a website.
Screencast
When looking into the various websites to use for setting up a flipped classroom, I could definitely see myself using a few of them for various subjects. If I were to try a flipped classroom, I would pick content from lessons that I feel would help build students understanding, making them more engaged by watching a video of my instruction or a video where they have to answer questions. I like the idea of having students learn about the content ahead of time and then discussing it in class and taking it one step further with guided practice, etc.
Here are a few examples of how I could use this in my own classroom:
Here is a link to my lesson:
https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/adjectives-lesson/30088790/?s=CpUheZ&ref=appemail
Concerns with Educreations: I couldn't figure out if you could listen to your recording before you saved your lesson and wasn't sure if after you saved your lesson if you could go back in and edit it at all. I think it is a great resource, but I wonder if this will be even more work for the teacher to prepare for ahead of time! That's why I can see myself using it in moderation.
Here are a few examples of how I could use this in my own classroom:
- The eduCanon, Teachem, and Blubbr websites would be great to use for our science curriculum, especially when reviewing for NESA. I could look up videos that review weathering, deposition, erosion (Bill Nye) and type up questions that go along with it as students watch the video.
- Educreations would be a great tool to use with math lessons that have multiple steps, such as long division, or even lessons where drawing out pictures would help students' understanding (for example when we learn about polygons, angles, and types of lines.)
Here is a link to my lesson:
https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/adjectives-lesson/30088790/?s=CpUheZ&ref=appemail
Concerns with Educreations: I couldn't figure out if you could listen to your recording before you saved your lesson and wasn't sure if after you saved your lesson if you could go back in and edit it at all. I think it is a great resource, but I wonder if this will be even more work for the teacher to prepare for ahead of time! That's why I can see myself using it in moderation.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Twitter Experience
For my first Twitter Chat experience, I decided to get on and watch #sunchat, which happened to be discussing snow days various schools have, as well as ways in which schools make up for those snow days. I learned some great ideas that I would like to look into for when we have snow days here at LPS, which include giving students a reading challenge, providing students with a "Chilly Day List of Activities," as well as continuing assignments online with Google Classroom.
As I got ready for the chat, I was nervous I wouldn't know how to navigate Twitter and respond correctly to whatever people were tweeting. For a first time user, it was very overwhelming. I knew I could click on "view conversation" to see how tweets were connected to each other, but I wish I understood a little better about how that works and if there is an easier way to filter the topic/conversation you are looking at. It amazes me how fast it updates and how many people tweet at a time. I was able to comment on a few tweets, but I think I messed up on one because I didn't add the #sunchat at the end....so not sure if the person saw it or not. I definitely need more practice and need to learn more about how to use Twitter!!
As I got ready for the chat, I was nervous I wouldn't know how to navigate Twitter and respond correctly to whatever people were tweeting. For a first time user, it was very overwhelming. I knew I could click on "view conversation" to see how tweets were connected to each other, but I wish I understood a little better about how that works and if there is an easier way to filter the topic/conversation you are looking at. It amazes me how fast it updates and how many people tweet at a time. I was able to comment on a few tweets, but I think I messed up on one because I didn't add the #sunchat at the end....so not sure if the person saw it or not. I definitely need more practice and need to learn more about how to use Twitter!!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Common Sense Curriculum
After reading through some of the lesson plan ideas for digital citizenship, I was able to find three lessons that I feel would fit nicely into my 5th grade curriculum. These lessons are great to use in the classroom to help students be more aware of what is "proper online etiquette" or appropriateness.
The first one that I feel would be a great starting point was the Rings of Responsibility, which helps students understand what it means to be a digital citizen and the responsibilities they need to take seriously. I liked the downloadable worksheets that went along with the lesson, allowing students to think about their responsibilities to themselves, their friends and family, as well as their community. This lesson also has great resources to help students understand protecting themselves when using private/personal information, as well as what to do in a cyberbullying situation.
The second one I liked was The Key to Keywords, which will help students when they are using search engines to look up research for various projects--in 5th grade, I can see my students using it for science fair research, as well as the research they complete for their 4th quarter writing assignment. This lesson is great to discuss with students the reliability of various sites and it even has a video called "Solomon's story" that shows what a student might go through when searching something on the internet.
The last lesson I thought would be beneficial in my classroom is Whose Is It, Anyway?, which is a lesson that goes over plagiarism with students, as well as the importance of paraphrasing when conducting research and taking notes. Just as I mentioned above, I can see myself using this for science fair research as well as the research students do for writing.
The first one that I feel would be a great starting point was the Rings of Responsibility, which helps students understand what it means to be a digital citizen and the responsibilities they need to take seriously. I liked the downloadable worksheets that went along with the lesson, allowing students to think about their responsibilities to themselves, their friends and family, as well as their community. This lesson also has great resources to help students understand protecting themselves when using private/personal information, as well as what to do in a cyberbullying situation.
The second one I liked was The Key to Keywords, which will help students when they are using search engines to look up research for various projects--in 5th grade, I can see my students using it for science fair research, as well as the research they complete for their 4th quarter writing assignment. This lesson is great to discuss with students the reliability of various sites and it even has a video called "Solomon's story" that shows what a student might go through when searching something on the internet.
The last lesson I thought would be beneficial in my classroom is Whose Is It, Anyway?, which is a lesson that goes over plagiarism with students, as well as the importance of paraphrasing when conducting research and taking notes. Just as I mentioned above, I can see myself using this for science fair research as well as the research students do for writing.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Preparing Students for the 21st Century
I enjoyed reading this article and learned a lot about how to incorporate new literacies involving technology into the classroom. I'm excited to explore the various methods the article talked about (Internet Workshop, Internet Project, WebQuest, Internet Inquiry). I believe all of the methods would be great to try to incorporate into our curriculum, but realize timing and available computers will also need to be considered. When reading through the various methods, I can also see that some can be implemented pretty easily, while others will need a little more instruction on how to go about them--including lessons on locating information, evaluating it, and communicating it with others.
An idea that I have for my own classroom is the start out with the Internet workshop. In fifth grade, we have our NESA science testing, which is cumulative and covers all of the content students have learned in previous grades. As teachers, we are always coming up with ideas of how to review this information with students. Given the internet workshop, I was thinking about looking up various web sites that have to do with the science topics we are reviewing, such as life cycles, food chains, solar system, rock and minerals, etc. I could then make jump codes for these sites and have students visit them. I can either have a worksheet made up prior that has questions they need to find as they visit these websites, or I could have it be more open ended and have students write down what they think are the important ideas to take away from the websites. Since the NESA test has a lot of vocabulary, having students look up definitions on these websites and/or drawing a picture to go along with it will aid their understanding. This is not something I have tried yet, but I will be looking into it!
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