Web 2.0 Tools Support Achievement of NETS Standards

Webopedia defines Web 2.0 as “the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online.”

There are many sites devoted to organizing these dynamic tools and a few that are dedicated to Web 2.0 and education. Three sites that I have found useful include TEACH WEB 2.0, GO2WEB20, and my favorite—Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools.

TEACH WEB 2.0 was created by a group of Florida teachers with submissions from other sources. Each tool is evaluated for strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for use. They are alphabetized and not categorized or tagged, so you have to explore them individually.

GO2WEB20, is not dedicated to education, but it is easy to locate tools that could be used in school because each tool is tagged and categorized.

Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools. is an award winning wiki with well organized categorized list of tools with school aged children and education in mind.

The National Educational Technology Standards for Students address the following domains:

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Glogster, Storyjumper, MuseumBox, ToonDoo, Prezi are examples of Web 2.0 tools that could be utilized to meet the first standard of creation and innovation. They are all easy to use multi-media creation and publishing tools that offer students the ability to construct and display information, tell a story, or present something they have learned. This past week 5th grade students had a homework assignment to create a 4 square book report on a biography they had read about a famous early American. I had demonstrated ToonDoo, in class using the projector, and suggested that this might be an alternative to handwriting and illustrating. One student gave it a shot. The product he created was tremendous. He had uploaded clipart, and each square had a border of symbols that he had time-consumingly dragged and dropped around each or the 4 squares. It was as much effort, maybe even more because he had to learn the ToonDoo, tool, but he was so proud of his work and the risk he took.

Skype, GoogleDocs, WikiSpaces, Wallwisher, Dabbleboard, KidBlog are all collaboration and communication tools that can be used in education. Skype allows for communication beyond the classroom and eliminates the distance factor when accessing experts. The Wikispaces discussion tab is a useful mechanism for posting questions and students can respond and help each other. Wallwisher is an easy to use quick place for students to post questions or answers to a prompt on virtual “sticky notes”. Dabbleboard is a collaborative drawing and writing platform that can e used with computers or an interactive whiteboard. Kidblog is a safe blogging platform where students can communicate what is on their mind or respond to writing prompts from teachers. As with most Web 2.0 tools there is an opportunity to receive feedback through comments. discussion tab is a useful mechanism for posting questions and students can respond and help each other.

Because of the age group that I work with, the standard of Research and Information Fluency can be tricky and requires safe research systems and also teaching a new kind of literacy. Students often believe that when they use a search engine that the first choice is the best choice for the information they are seeking. Students need to learn how to evaluate and verify the information on a webpage and also how to evaluate and verify the source or sources providing the information. This Kathy Schrock link has some useful tools for teaching evaluation skills to students-- http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.html, and the following link: CyberEthics has an easy to use lesson plan too. While my students are learning the skills that they need to navigate the internet safely and efficiently I like to set up safe searches using some of the Web2.0 tools of Custom Google Search, DoGoNews, PrimarySchool.tv, Pics4Learning, and of course Discovery Education Builder Tools.

Invention at Play and Questionaut are two websites that offer game opportunities for students to develop their Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. They present puzzles and challenges that need to be accomplished in order to move to the next level. While these are fun skill building sites, there is much more to be said for allowing students to stretch their brains and construct their own games and animations around a topic. MIT’s Scratch offers students that opportunity. Although there are tutorials, students can learn how to use Scratch through trial and error as all of their building blocks are visible and they can view the result of an action immediately. Scratch also allows for “remixing” or editing someone else’s invention, and also allows for sharing and commenting. Last school year I ran an afterschool Scratch club. It was amazing how much students learned from each other and how complex some of the games were. There are also educational uses for Scratch. Students could animate the problem and solution of a book they have read, or create a game around the Battles of the Revolutionary War.

Digital Citizenship refers to understanding “human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology” and also the “practice of legal and ethical behavior.” One way to develop understanding for others is to reach out to the global learning community and share in contextual learning activities using tools such as iEarn and ePals. Both iEarn and ePals help to partner teachers and classrooms from around the world in common learning experiences despite the distance and differences between them. Both sites also have banks of lessons and projects that can be used to develop understanding for global issues. Netiquette is a term coined to describe the set of acceptable behaviors for positive digital interaction. It is important to explicitly teach safe behaviors and help students understand the indelible footprint they are creating as they walk through the Internet. Common Sense Media has advice, activities and articles for parents, teachers and students. They also have easily implemented lesson plans for teachers to use with all age levels.

To achieve standard 6-Technology Operations and Concepts students have to have opportunities to get their hands on the keyboard, mouse, and track pads. They need to be part of the problem solving team when technology fails in the middle of a lesson. All of the suggested Web 2.0 tools and sites listed above when used as part of a lesson that is thoughtfully planned with content, pedagogy, and technology all considered, will allow students to develop skills around computer technology operations and concepts. Opportunities for problem solving occur everyday in every part of a student’s day, but they only have that opportunity with technology if you allow them to power it on.

International Society for Technology in Education (2007). NETS for students 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx.

Project Based Learning-Common Elements/Teacher and Student Roles

In this first week of the Project-Based Learning class, I read 3 articles and viewed 3 videos about different Project-Based Lessons. Some of the design principles that were evident in all three lessons presented included real life problems or situations, development of guiding or essential questions for students to answer in their work, group work or collaboration, integration of other curriculum skills, access to outside experts, and planned assessment.

The teacher’s role as a planner and facilitator is to present a situation, or to help students identify a problem or topic, and then facilitate a discussion that generates a list of questions.   Part of the planning responsibility is to strategically group students.  According to the project materials for the architecture project, Ms. Reeders had pre-identified students as Project Managers.  Each group had to have one Project Manager, but other than that students could arrange their group with 2 to 4 people per group.  This provides students with an opportunity to develop their ability to give and receive feedback, to share labor, and to negotiate ideas in order to produce their best work.

In all three of the projects, there were pre-designed learning tasks that included research, measurement, construction, writing, and data collection.  The teachers’ roles shifted to more of an overseer.  They provided feedback and asked questions throughout the project process.  The teacher is also observing how well the students work with their teammates throughout the project.

I found it most interesting that all of the projects provided access to professional experts from the field of study.  After reading the first article and viewing the video, I thought that it was a wonderful bonus piece, but had not considered that it might be key to the Project-Based Learning approach.  Inviting professionals into the classroom, fieldtrips to a worksite or museum, or in our new world-- online collaboration opportunities can enhance the real-world connection for students.

Assessment was ongoing, but most notably there seemed to be elements of product such as a data collection folder or a model, oral presentation in the form of questioning or group presentation, and reflection about the learning process and what the students ultimately learned.

The role of the teacher is best described as planner, organizer, facilitator or coach.  The role of the student is best described as researcher, builder, designer, collaborator, data collector, analyzer, and presenter. 

I have searched and cannot figure out where I heard it first, but someone quoted someone as saying, “The one doing the talking is the one doing the learning.”  Even though I do not know the source, the comment makes sense to me.  In the videos viewed this week the students were talking together and solving problems together, and designing their own systems for solving those problems.  If the teacher were to engage only in direct lecture and model style instruction the students become passive receptacles for information.  As the students are researching, finding solutions, or manipulating information for themselves, they are learning.  If the students are then asked to organize and present their new information or project, they have another opportunity to rehearse what they have learned, and they may even renegotiate or revise their product at this time. By the time students have a chance to sit back and reflect on the entire project from start to finish, they have had multiple active engagements with the concepts and more authentic and memorable learning experiences. 

Resources:
Armstrong, S. 2002. Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects.

Curtis, D.  2002.  March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies’ Migration.  Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs.

Curtis, D.  2001.  More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?!.  Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms.

Google Earth--A Journey of Mythic Proportion

Back in the 1980’s when I went to college right after high school I took a class called Oriental Mythology.  The class was far from the regular old freshman curriculum, and I loved it.  My mom was a professor of World Religions and Philosophies and my dad was a Congregational minister, so I felt like I was pretty well versed in bible stories and mythology.  One of the books for the course was Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and while we read about Moses, and mythology like the Gilgamesh Epic and Monkey: Folk Novel of China, I was mesmerized by the overlapping characteristics of all of these stories.  I dreamed my own story of a people huddled together on the supercontinent, Pangaea, separated one day or over the course of years by cataclysmic geologic events like our neighbors in New Zealand and Japan are experiencing.  And these people without the benefit of Wi-Fi and mobile phones, communicated through story, but could not call their grandmother in Florida to ask the order of events or verify the names of people.

Every year I am amazed at how easy it is for kids, and really for all of us, to identify the differences between others and ourselves. We struggle to find that common ground.  My thinking is that these myths and the idea of the archetype of the hero might be a place to start.

By noting what is common in these stories from around the world I hope to provoke group discussion about different cultures and other possible areas of overlap in the ten cultural universals.  I also hope to generate some self-reflection as the students look at their own lives to see if maybe they also have heroic qualities. By studying other cultures and providing activities that help students to personally connect, I can encourage the development of the respectful and ethical minds in my students.

The Massachusetts state standards addressed in this lesson include: Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks

7.32 Describe the myths and stories of classical Greece; give examples of Greek gods and goddesses, heroes, and events, and where and how we see their names used today. (H)

7.8 Identify polytheism (the belief that there are many gods) as the religious belief of the people in Mesopotamian civilizations. (H)

7.21 Describe the monotheistic religion of the Israelites. (H)
A. the belief that there is one God B. the Ten Commandments C. the emphasis on individual worth and personal responsibility D. the belief that all people must adhere to the same moral obligations, whether ruler or ruled E. the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as part of the history of early Israel.

 7.32 Describe the myths and stories of classical Greece; give examples of Greek gods and goddesses, heroes, and events, and where and how we see their names used today. (H)

This lesson is not isolated to just one strand of learning.  By using Google Earth a sense of distance and space is modeled, and the students can easily spot geographic features that they have learned about in their text such as the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the islands that comprise Greece.  Although students will not necessarily choose to present their assignments in a traditional writing format, by using the Read, Write, Think planning tool, students will learn a system for organizing their ideas toward composition and presentation. In addition, students will gain skills working with computers and online tools that can be applied in both the educational and social contexts.

Enjoy The Following Google Earth Virtual Field Trip:
A Journey of Mythic Proportion  
A_Journey_of_Mythic_Proportion.kmz

Developing My Five Minds

Developing My Five Minds for the Future
Gardner, Howard. (2006). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Developing the Respectful and Ethical Mind

Julene Reed suggests in her article, Global Collaboration and Learning, that “Digital Storybooks" are one way that “Students can capture the essence of their lives.”   With that in mind, I have been trying to find a way to help my small group of students get interested in using iPads for composing text.  Part of my rational is to get the kids used to the flat touch keyboard of the iPad, so that they can efficiently use this tool to meet writing requirements in the classroom.  The other part of my reasoning is that we have been doing a lot of what I call heavy writing, meaning essay writing or writing in response to assigned reading. They’re not having fun, and I can see the words “I hate writing” creasing into their foreheads as they concentrate on forming letters to meet the demands of their 6th grade curriculum.

I located an iPad app called 99 Words that allows students to co-author a progressive story.  In order to build a relationship with the two fifth graders and three 6th graders attending a rural K-6 school in Trout Creek Montana, my students in Shrewsbury Massachusetts can choose a genre with my support,  and then start a story.  Each of the 5 students participating from my small group class will write a chapter, which can consists of anywhere from 1 to 99 words. When they have finished, they pass the story to their Montana classmate to compose the next chapter of 1 to 99 words.  When 10 chapters have been written, the book is ready to publish and share. 

I would like to have some sort of videoconference, read-aloud session where each student meets their co-author partner via Skype, and then they read their story together chapter by chapter.

I know that Trout Creek, Montana does not seem like a huge stretch when we are talking about “global education” and “global citizenship,” but there is a vast socio-economic and cultural chasm between this small school and community to the one my own students live in.  For example they have a total of five 5th and 6th graders while my current school has close to 1,000.  The number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch at the Trout Creek Montana School is 61% and at my current school is 10%. Trout Creek’s median household income is $33,724, while Shrewsbury’s is more than double at $81,643.  One possible advantage their school has over ours is that their total per pupil expenditure is $15,845, while ours is $10,235.  

Trout Creek, MT---March 1, 2011

There are many winter days that students cannot get to school because they live so far off the beaten track that it takes days for them to dig themselves out.  They do not have a large peer group to challenge them or to choose from for friends.  Several of the children live off the grid and use combinations of alternative energies to preserve food, warm water, and to stay warm.  There are families that have lived there for 17 or more years without indoor plumbing and on-demand hot water. There is not cell phone service until you are a good 15 miles out of Trout Creek, but there is free Wi-Fi access at the Naughty Pine Saloon (I posted a Moodle discussion for EDIM-501 from the parking lot this summer☺ 

One of the biggest deciding factors for me in wanting to link with students at this school is to widen the social-cultural network for both sets of students. I knew a family that lived in that area.  They were so far back that they could not get their kids into town to go to school, so they homeschooled.  The web tools available to many families who must, or who choose to homeschool today, were not available.  As the children got older, one went away to Missoula to go to college, but quit after 1 year.   The other child enrolled for high school, but could not handle the experience either.  It was not the academics.  They had eaten every book that came their way, they invented and built all kinds of contraptions, and they had amazing number process skills, and they passed their state tests.  It came down to a social disconnect.  Neither young person could relate well in the larger society, and when they did not understand the expectations and had their first real social mishaps, they killed themselves.  They did this within a few years of each other. It was heartbreaking, and I keep wondering if there was something that could have been done in their younger years to better prepare them.

Hopefully after the initial story writing and video-conferencing we can keep the relationships going. I know that my students would benefit from learning about alternative energies, inventing to survive, and they would learn to respect their partners for the individual talents and skills that they have acquired from their parents and their unique experiences.

I would hope though, that we are not the only ones gaining something. I would like to think that our Montana student partners would benefit from using online collaborative tools like 99 Words and Skype, and that they would see this as an opportunity to build relationships outside of their community.  

Maybe by shortening the distance between Montana and Massachusetts, one lasting friendship can be forged and maybe a future business partnership can be built. All of the students will grow in their understanding of people with a safe, virtual step outside of their  own neighborhoods.

Reed, J. (undated). Global collaboration and learning. Retrieved March 27, 2011 from EDTECH Focus on K-12 
        Web site: http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/events/updates/global-collaboration-and-learning.html.

Solar System Glogster Project

I am not particularly crafty and I do not have a great eye for putting things together visually. I cannot draw, and I’ve never been into the whole scrapbooking phenomenon. I know what I like when I see it, but cannot always put it all together so that it is visually satisfying for me.  Glogster verified that even digitally, I don’t quite have a knack for the visual presentation☹ That being said, I think that what I did put together will still be an exciting opener, and will add a twist to our 6th grade solar system research lesson later this school year.



The 6th grade Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering and English Language Arts Learning Standards addressed in this unit include:

• Science Learning Standard 10-- Compare and contrast properties and conditions of objects in the solar system (i.e., sun, planets, and moons) to those on Earth (i.e., gravitational force, distance from the sun, speed, movement, temperature, and atmospheric conditions).

• ELA Learning Standard19.16-- Write brief research reports with clear focus and supporting detail.

• ELA Learning Standard 24.3-- Apply steps for obtaining information from a variety of sources, organizing information, documenting sources, and presenting research in individual and group projects: use an expanded range of print and non-print sources; locate specific information within resources by using indexes, tables of contents, electronic search key words; organize and present research

Because Glogster does not work very effectively through our building’s wireless system, my plan is to reserve the computer lab for science class for 5 consecutive days.  Our first day would be a whole group presentation and individual exploration of the Solar System Glog that I designed as an overview.  My students will access the Glog through their class assignments on Discovery Education (also available through this link: Solar System Project) so that they will already be logged in and the animations will open on one click.  After pointing out some of the features of this Glog, and modeling how to access the audio, video, and hyperlinks, I would point out that at the bottom of the Glogster there is a link back to the assignment.  Because I want the students to take some time exploring the wonder of Glogster, I am going to ask them to avoid going to the assignment page for at least 20 minutes and just enjoy the brief animations and video segments.

After approximately 20 minutes we will go to the assignment link together.  That way I can answer questions and help students weed through a large list of resources for which individually they will probably only need about two or three. Any time left in that first day will be for students to continue exploring the Glog and to choose their topic. 

By the next day they need to have chosen a topic and decided to do either a Glog or a poster to present their research.  While I want to encourage students to use Glogster, I know that some students will be more comfortable using a traditional poster to show what they learn from their research.  Also, because some students will access Glogster from home, I want students who are just as enthused about the research and presentation of their chosen topic, but who do not have internet access from home to have another option.

Sample Note-Taking Guide

The second day in the computer lab will allow students to view the associated videos and to use the Custom Google Search to do their research on their chosen topics. To guide their research for their solar system object/topic, I will give them a note-taking sheet to help them gather up the “must-have” information. 


The third and fourth days in the lab will be for students to construct their individual Glogs or posters.  They can compose text, and locate images or any other media they might feel inspired to utilize.

The fifth day will be presentation day. Students will publish their Glogs, or hang up their posters for a museum walk. Students will have a note-taking chart as they view the work of their peers, and we will all discuss which planet we would like to visit, and why, based on the persuasive elements used in the Glog or poster.

I think that once students become familiar with Glogster, it becomes another medium for students to show what they know and also to express themselves creatively.  In the same way that I would be horrified if I were required to share my knowledge about strategies for co-teaching by singing a song, many of my students are horrified that they have to show their understanding of a subject by writing an essay, or by drawing a picture, or by orally presenting.  Trust me--you would be miserable if you had to listen to me singing my knowledge, and I am often disappointed by the products that my students are required to produce. I have to remember that they are often not working in their best medium.  In addition to introducing and providing practice with new tools that we can add to the project menu, it is important for me to continue to offer students choices.

Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework, June 2001, pp. 73 & 88.
Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework, October 2006 p.33.

Student Perspectives--Creativity in the Classroom

This week I interviewed two high school freshmen regarding the role of creativity in the classroom, what they value in their current learning environments, and what they would change in terms of digital media and technology.

After listening to the Robinson TED Talk, I was really expecting to hear many complaints, and that school is boring and does not inspire creativity.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the two girls rattle off a multitude of opportunities for creativity that have been shared in their school experience this year. Both girls said that they had had opportunities for creative expression in ELA, World Civilizations, Foreign Language class, and even in Physics (though they felt that there were fewer opportunities there). They both felt like they had not had any creative experiences in math class this year and rarely in the years prior.  They remembered tessellation projects in 5th and 8th grade. I inquired if they had ever been assigned to design their own math problems, and they both said that they could not recall a time.

Some of the assignments that they described that called for creativity on their part included creating a report card for early European leaders, writing a short story that included elements of irony and symbolism based on a famous painting, composing and illustrating a political cartoon regarding the French Revolution, designing a travel brochure for an island vacation using French vocabulary, and selecting and organizing a CD soundtrack for Of Mice and Men using current music. In physics, most recently they were assigned to design insulation for an egg drop experiment.

The student felt that their opportunities for creativity had increased this year in large part because of the requirement to take electives.  One student was taking band as an elective all year, the other student had taken Theater Arts for first term and was taking Electronic Music for this second term.

When asked what they value about their current education, they both agreed that they preferred classes that encouraged talking and working with people as opposed to classes where the teacher is doing most of the talking, and they’re actually told to be quiet.

The students both would like to have more access to technology at school, but described one problem for access as there being so many elective classes that need the computer labs, that teachers can not get time in the labs for traditional academic classes.

Regarding using social media for learning, one student knows of a group of seniors who have set up a study group Facebook page for one particular class in order to share notes, and have discussions.  They know another student who has a blog where he reviews movies.

Ideally, they said it would be great if every student had their own laptop, and that it would be nice if social networking sites could be accessed from the common areas of the school, like in the cafeteria and library.   They also both agreed that it would be more realistic for students to take notes on a computer since they rarely pull out their notebooks away from school—but are on the computer regularly after school hours.

Do Schools Kill Creativity? and 1 Digital Media Tool I Use to Encourage Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk titled, Do Schools Kill Creativity? was thought provoking and very entertaining, but I disagree with the notion that schools kill creativity. The idea of SCHOOLS, meaning all schools, KILLING, meaning extinguish to never have life again, CREATIVITY meaning, all types of creativity, is an extreme concept most likely titled thus to gain viewers.

Robinson never actually says that schools kill creativity, but rather says that, “all kids have tremendous talents. And we squander them, pretty ruthlessly.”  I agree that we do NOT provide a venue for certain talents to be displayed.  Robinson also explains that, “we don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.”  This occurs largely because of the value placed on certain subjects over others.  In describing the “hierarchy of subjects,” Robinson says, that “At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and the bottom are the arts.”  He also explains that there is more value placed on art and music than drama and dance.  I agree with this too. 

When is the talented moto-cross rider supposed to share his talents or develop her skills?  What about the potential video game developer, or stand-up comic?  Have we given them a platform from which to catapult their creativity, or are we telling them to turn off their phone, or sit down and be quiet?  I find it interesting that even in this talk about educating kids out of their creative potential, that the only creativity acknowledged by name and example are the traditional academics and arts.

For many reasons, including a lack of resources, when teachers decide to incorporate creativity into a lesson, it almost always involves drawing.  My students cringe.  They’re smart, so they know that they cannot draw, or even shade, the way their peers can.  In fact, drawing occurs daily or weekly in classes.  So, my students are mortified daily or  weekly.  Illustrate your story or this new concept; draw a symbol to represent your vocabulary, etc.  I also regularly see role-plays and readers’ theater incorporated into language arts and social studies classes.  Rarely are students given the option of creating a rap around a concept, or putting ideas to music, and I have yet to see a teacher assign students to choreograph an interpretive dance representing the solar system, or to compose a montage of dances to represent the various European countries or cultures that settled the 13 colonies.

What about the young person who cannot draw, act, carry a tune, or move to a beat?  Perhaps their talent is solving mathematical equations, or designing controlled experiments, or playwriting, or discovering economic or political trends. Then school would not have killed their creativity, but in fact may have exposed their distinct talent.  Sir Ken Robinson defines creativity “as the process of having original ideas that have value.”  My students do have original ideas everyday, and part of my job is to help them see the value of those original ideas.

One digital media tool that I use to encourage creativity in the classroom for my students who have trouble with all of those drawing activities is ToonDoo.  Students can use the tools to write original text, draw original artwork, or they can use any of the provided artwork or upload photos or clipart from other approved sources.  My students can use the tool for quick vocabulary activities, and also from home for longer assigned visual media projects.  For example, after learning about an ancient civilization, students are asked to create a ten-square Facts and Illustrations project focusing on the 10 Cultural Universals.  Students also report out on their independent reading books once each month.  This months report was a storyboard presentation. ToonDoo was easily used for this project from home and then presented at school by students who chose to use it. ToonDoo can also be used for social skills training.  Kids create cartoons around social situations and share them during small group.

While music is not often assigned as an option, (mostly because it is very challenging to find a quiet space to record and any space for the kids to practice) students have used garage band and flip video cameras to record their music or create a music video.  We also had a few students take on a seafloor spreading Claymation project, which was very time consuming but the process was worthwhile for the students who partcipated.  For the most part, teachers are willing to let kids try anything that is safe, free,  and truly connects to the curriculum that we have been challenged to teach.  So if a student asks to modify an assigned project by creating a product using a different format, the teachers that I work with are agreeable.


Another way to encourage creativity is to bring talent together.  I am not particularly crafty, but I have great ideas!  So, I am always telling my students what I believe they are good at, and ask them to identify someone that has a talent they need to execute a task. A storyteller paired with an illustrator, a musician paired with a poet/lyricist, someone with an eye for fashion with someone who can actually sew, can each maximize the value of their original ideas by collaborating.

Reflection on Media-Infused Presentations

5 Key Events of the Revolutionary War
EDIM 508 Project 1

The media-infused presentation that I designed using PREZI focuses on 5 key events from the Revolutionary War.

http://prezi.com/wvrtoy9f3utf/copy-of-key-battles-of-the-revolutionary-war/

In a 5-week unit, students learn about the major battles of the American Revolution beginning with the Battle of Bunker Hill through the surrender at Yorktown. Students learn about the advantages and disadvantages experienced by the British and the American colonists and how the colonists were able to defeat the British to gain independence.

The content Learning Goals include:

1. Students will list and describe the results of major battles and events of the Revolution, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill, the Battle of Saratoga, Valley Forge, and the Battle of Yorktown.

2. Students will explain how the Americans won the war.

Skill based Learning Goals include:

1.  Students will use a map to interpret the sequence of events during a battle.

2. Students will sequence the events of the American Revolution on a timeline.

Gardner explains the 4 essential steps to achieving a disciplined mind.  The steps require that  “truly important topics or concepts” be identified, that a “significant amount of time” be spent on the topic or concept, that the topic be approached in a “number of ways,” and that there are “ample opportunities” for students to “perform their understandings under a variety of conditions” (Gardner, 2007, pp. 32-35).

The Massachusetts Department of Education has identified this as an important topic for 5th graders to learn in Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework for Grade 5 Learning Standard 5.17. 

Our district social studies teachers and curriculum coordinator have determined that approximately 5 weeks should be spent on the topic.

While we do have some common learning activities, overall the teacher is responsible for creating and presenting activities to help students understand the topic.  It is my intention to use the Prezi that I created as a topic presentation tool.  I am hoping that the audio and visual elements will engage the learners and help them better connect with this topic from history.

All 5th graders participate in a summative Common Assessment in addition to mapping and timeline projects.   I am also planning to use this Prezi as a review toward the end of the unit to prepare students for the 5th grade American Revolution Common Assessment.

Gardner also suggests that, “various forms of intelligence gravitate toward different forms of synthesis ” (Gardner, 2007, pp. 66). This may mean that in order for students to take all of the pieces of information, including the people and their individual stories, the time frame, the geography, the strategies, and the outcomes, and then put them together into a meaningful context that could then be applied to other patterns of history or could be re-written into a novel of historical fiction will most likely require us to present models of different forms of synthesis to our students.  A media-infused presentation, like the Prezi I developed which has several reenactments of key events from the Revolutionary War, music, and images can help me to provide examples of various forms of synthesis.

Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Massachusetts history and social science curriculum framework, August, 2003. p. 31.

The Synthesizing Mind

Gardner states,  “that the most ambitious form of synthesis occurs in interdisciplinary work” (Gardner, 2007, p. 53).   He says that for work to be considered  “genuinely interdisciplinary” it needs to have a “proper combination of at least two disciplines” (Gardner, 2007, p.53). 

I am not certain that this was the “proper combination” but the project we took on as part of our Social Studies and Language Arts unit on Greece did seem to produce a high level of engagement, students did collaborate and share their individual expertise, and the end result for each group did seem to bring new understanding.

Students read about Ancient Greece in their textbooks and on a ThinkQuest website. Then they broke down how the 10 Cultural Universals are represented in that early civilization. As part of their study regarding the ancient Greeks’ attitude toward the unknown, students read myths and viewed videos of myths from Discovery Education Streaming. 

After discussing the Greek Pantheon and completing character study activities for the Gods and Goddesses, students were strategically grouped to compose their own myths from Mount Olympus Middle School.  They designed a storyboard with penciled illustrations and text notes. After each group was satisfied with the story line of their myth, they used the digital cameras from the library to recreate their pencil drawings as a still shot photograph of the group members posed to depict each scene.

The students uploaded each photo to www.storyjumper.com , and added their text notes to the opposite page. The groups continued to work together to discuss, argue, revise, and ultimately improve their myths from notes to complete sentences, to pages and finally to published stories.  The links to the myths on StoryJumper were shared in the team’s weekly newsletter so that the other groups and parents could read and view the product of each collaboration.

Combining their background knowledge of Greece from social studies research and their understanding of myth and character from language arts with their skills of technology, storytelling, and basic writing mechanics, students were able to collaborate to learn and create something new.

It was interesting and refreshing to see how capable the students were at conveying their understanding of the Greek perception of the Gods’ and Goddesses’ personalities, their understanding of myths as a genre, and their deeper understanding of how the ancient Greeks viewed nature, mortality, and immortality. 

The purest representation of synthesis in this exercise came from the students’ collective ability to join the story of an ancient civilization and connect it to their own modern day myth.  One student, who regularly contributes “What ifs?” to the class discussion, made me smile when she said,  “What if a class 4,000 years from now finds our myth, and thinks that we really believed all this?!”

An example of one of the original myths from Mt. Olympus Middle School can be found at the following link: Persephone and Hades

Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Digital Media

As a special education teacher, I am responsible for supporting students in all four subject areas in the inclusion setting, and also for providing direct instruction in what is called a Learning Skills/Academic Support class.  The LS/AS time is small group time that allows for me to work on individual skill development with a specific student as well as to pre- and re-teach content information for one or more students. Pre-teaching provides background knowledge and experience, so that my students can feel confident to take risks and participate with their peers in their general classroom activities.

In the 6th grade science classroom we are currently working on a unit about the Changes in Earth’s Surface.  We have recently studied concepts of Pangaea, continental drift, seafloor spreading and other topics related to the theory of plate tectonics. Our newest topic will be Earthquakes and Volcanoes.  The Discovery Education digital asset that I am planning to use to preview this topic with my small group is Science Desk-Earthquakes and Science Desk-Volcanoes available at the following link: 

http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=60FE45E3-9393-463F-9CAA-DB9EE0241947
 

I can set up the projector with my computer to share the tool with the small group of students.  Because the Science Desk has many different buttons for accessing animations, videos, spoken vocabulary, and even a shared reading selection, many students can go to the computer to choose and share the next element of the Desk to explore. 

The Desk topics appeal to visual learners by using short, colorful, animated videos, and real-life videos to explain the causes and effects of earthquakes and volcanoes.  By presenting the Science Desk tool in the small group we have the ability to stop and talk about the scientific vocabulary that can confound some of my students who have language-based learning disabilities.  The vocabulary is paired with audio for correct pronunciation and also with a picture.  We can also discuss any topical misconceptions, and most importantly pause to hear the connections that my social learners inevitably generate.  There is also an interactive earthquake simulation that models the destruction that lower and higher intensity earthquakes can cause.  The students determine and adjust the intensity on the simulated Richter scale. There is also a volcano simulation that models what occurs under Earth’s surface and inside the volcano to cause an eruption.  

An additional benefit to the Discovery Education Science Desk tool is that I can share it with one of my student’s who has a heart condition.  She has been sick and unable to come to school.  We have been sending her books, and worksheet assignments to work on when she is able.  This would be an interesting and more interactive way for her to engage with the topic. 

While the outward effects of earthquakes and volcanoes are more comprehensible for my 11 year-olds, the causes of these phenomena seem somewhat mystical and abstract.  They struggle to get their brains around ideas that they cannot see and hold.  If seeing is believing for my young students, then the Earthquake and Volcano Science Desk tools may provide the visuals and virtual manipulatives that will help them gain access to this topic.

iKnowthat.com. (2005). Science Lab:Earthquakes. Retrieved February 1, 2011 from Discovery Education streaming website: http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=60FE45E3-9393-463F-9CAA-DB9EE0241947.

iKnowthat.com. (2005). Science Lab:Volcanoes. Retrieved February 1, 2011 from Discovery Education streaming website: http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=a13003d0-3b8f-426a-96d6-f511b2a25cc5.

 

Introductory Blog:728 Challenge

1.  I am Melissa Sommer. Mother of 3, wife to 1, and inclusion special education teacher. When I am not teaching, I go to Montana to relax.
2.  I want to generate lessons that will infuse media into middle school curriculum. I want students to be inspired to create and motivated to learn.
3.  I believe that all children can learn. It is my job to teach students how to gain information and skills that will open doors for joyful engagement in the career of their choice.
4. Technology and digital media can make school current for today's students. Technology can be used for student input and output--learning and creating.
5.  One big concern is how to manage the surprising content that can find its way through Barracuda to the eyes and ears of middle schoolers.
6.  Students used a custom google search to become an Early Explorer expert.  Each student created a single slide with images, bullets, and audio.  The slides were merged to create a class Early Explorer presentation.
7.  When I was in 5th grade, if you wanted to show a movie, a student on the AV crew would come set up the reel on the projector.  Now, all kids could be on the AV crew.