I'm a bit behind in blogging.
Friday was the last day of the Business Plan project.
As had become very predictable on Thursday (and even to some extent on Wednesday) almost every group needed a turn on the camera.
It wasn't as bad as I had originally predicted. There were some definite conflicts, with students having nothing to do but wait while another group used the camera. I hope that some of those students made the connection that, if they had done the requirements of the project in a different order, they could have been recording on an earlier day instead of sitting around idle, waiting on a camera, and worrying about failing the project.
The largest disappointment was that hardly any students actually edited the video. One group, that had taken the initiative to stay after school and record on Thursday, was able to edit. They added some color filters, a title, and some scrolling credits. And, they were able to edit out mistakes. I was very proud of this group. But I was very disappointed that out of five classes, only one group accomplished this.
A few students with access to equipment, or who had stayed after, were completely finished at the beginning or part way through class. This was a great convenience for me, because I was able to use them as assistants to help classmates with the camera and the software. It was a shame though, that they were able to help with very little editing since no one was editing.
Most of the students did the best they could in a single take, and saved that as a movie.
I think I would approach this project slightly differently in the future. Part of the point was the put some responsibility on the students. And, from what the teacher said, this is not the first long term out of class project in which most of the students put everything off until the last few days of in class time. I think, if it were my class, I might take a page from one of the Science teacher's books. During the creek project, the science teacher left the students to do the large project outside of class time. However, about half way through, she had a check up day where all of the students had to prove some sort of progress.
These are freshman students. I am a firm believer in teaching responsibility by placing responsibility on students. I think, in my own classroom, I might take a half way approach between the Science teacher and the Social Studies teacher. In earlier long term projects, I would have check up points, either half way through or even more frequently, when students had to turn in proof of progress for a grade. As the year progressed, I would continue providing students with time lines, but have fewer check ups. This would hopefully at least give students another tool for organizing their project and managing their time, while placing gradually more responsibility on the students without the incentive of "points."
Showing posts with label Social Studies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Studies. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Business Plan Project--Day One
On Tuesday, we had a district wide inservice day.
I had a great opportunity to present to the fifth grade teachers. By the end of the year, each fifth grade classroom in the district will be equiped with a Promethean board and ActiveStudio.
I downloaded a good presentation from promethean planet that showcased how teachers can use ActiveStudio to create a better learning environment by making lessons interactive, adding some pop to the normal, using the board to improve classroom management, and doing neat and unexpected things. After that, I went through the basic tools on the tool bar and the power tools.
I only had 45 minutes to present (and might have gone over by about 15, actually). On one level, I was really excited, because that is the longest space I've been given to officially present ActiveStudio to any teachers. At the same time, I was a bit worried. No teachers had laptops, and I was not able to give any time for processing or practicing. I know that some of the teachers were very overwhelmed by the presentation. It was a lot of information to squeeze into just 60 minutes.
I was a little disappointed to reflect that, even though this presentation went well and was a great opportunity, I have not been able to give this level of training to the high school teachers I am supposed to be supporting. The longest I have been given for any training on ActiveStudio at the high school has been twenty minutes. I've had a few one on one opportunities to go through some of the functions, but that is generally on a teacher's planning period, where they can't really give me the full 45 minutes.
I'm hoping that the fifth grade teachers will provide positive feedback about the training. If the fifth grade teachers do more to use the boards effectively in the classroom, it will hopefully send a message that this type of training, and more, is needed even at the high school level.
I gave all of my contact information to the fifth grade teachers, and hope to hear back from some of them. Most of them do not have the program installed yet, and therefore are not needing an support for technical or integration issues. I'm planning on sending out a follow up email in the next few days, though. It is important to stay in touch with teachers, especially those who might feel that, because I am supposed to work at the high school, their questions are a bother to me.
I think that this was one of the most important professional development opportunities I have had so far at my school. Hopefully progress will come from it.
I had a great opportunity to present to the fifth grade teachers. By the end of the year, each fifth grade classroom in the district will be equiped with a Promethean board and ActiveStudio.
I downloaded a good presentation from promethean planet that showcased how teachers can use ActiveStudio to create a better learning environment by making lessons interactive, adding some pop to the normal, using the board to improve classroom management, and doing neat and unexpected things. After that, I went through the basic tools on the tool bar and the power tools.
I only had 45 minutes to present (and might have gone over by about 15, actually). On one level, I was really excited, because that is the longest space I've been given to officially present ActiveStudio to any teachers. At the same time, I was a bit worried. No teachers had laptops, and I was not able to give any time for processing or practicing. I know that some of the teachers were very overwhelmed by the presentation. It was a lot of information to squeeze into just 60 minutes.
I was a little disappointed to reflect that, even though this presentation went well and was a great opportunity, I have not been able to give this level of training to the high school teachers I am supposed to be supporting. The longest I have been given for any training on ActiveStudio at the high school has been twenty minutes. I've had a few one on one opportunities to go through some of the functions, but that is generally on a teacher's planning period, where they can't really give me the full 45 minutes.
I'm hoping that the fifth grade teachers will provide positive feedback about the training. If the fifth grade teachers do more to use the boards effectively in the classroom, it will hopefully send a message that this type of training, and more, is needed even at the high school level.
I gave all of my contact information to the fifth grade teachers, and hope to hear back from some of them. Most of them do not have the program installed yet, and therefore are not needing an support for technical or integration issues. I'm planning on sending out a follow up email in the next few days, though. It is important to stay in touch with teachers, especially those who might feel that, because I am supposed to work at the high school, their questions are a bother to me.
I think that this was one of the most important professional development opportunities I have had so far at my school. Hopefully progress will come from it.
PD for Social Studies.
One of the biggest challenges I have faced as a CFF coach has been a general lack of time for professional development.
Last Friday I was able to act somewhat proactively and find time with some of my teachers.
There was a scheduled in-service day on Friday. The, because of a quirk in the schedule, it was closely followed by a second in-service day the following Tuesday. I heard through the grape vine that because of this, the first day had a large amount of time allotted to department meetings. My school does not have regular department meetings, so I rarely have the opportunity to speak to a large group at once.
Taking some initiative, I sent out an email to all of the department chairs, offering to give some professional development--on any topic or program, for any length of time. I figured that being flexible would make the offer more attractive. If a department head only had fifteen minutes to fill, and was afraid I was asking for an hour, it would have been a missed chance.
I heard back from both the Math and the Social Studies departments. Math later had to cancel because they had to focus more on curriculum, and, as the department chair told me, they had a rare, engaging, and productive dialogue going on.
Social Studies offered me a two hour block in which to present whatever I wanted.
I had to sit down and give this some thought. I wanted to present something useful, and something fun that would grab their attention and help them see me as someone who can help enliven the classroom and not just someone who drone on and on about technical issues. I decided to go with Photo Story and xtranormal, and to end with a demonstration of the new ActiveInspire software that we are hopefully adding to the computer images over the summer.
Photo Story did not go well. I had originally anticipated having about a half dozen high school teachers with teacher CFF laptops. I knew that about half had Photo Story and about half did not. That was a decent mix, because I was planning on having teachers work in pairs to create a short story. I gathered pictures for me to use to make a presentation while demonstrating, and another set of pictures for them to use to make their own. That way, I we could save time but not having teachers have to search for pictures. Unfortunately, my plans were for nought. When i arrived, there were about a dozen teachers, from the middle school and the high school, and two of the teacher with Photo Story were not able to attend. So, almost everyone needed to use a student laptop, but those had been recently re-imaged and no longer had Photo Story. I did a very quick presentation, that even I knew was getting dull and boring, because no one could follow along. All they could do was watch. I kept it to about ten minutes, and showed just the very basic buttons. I also showed parts of two student generated Photo Stories as examples of what students can create in a limited time. The examples were by far the best part of the presentation, and I was glad I had thought to bring them.
I very quickly moved on to xtranormal. This was a program I chose because I knew most of the computers had updated flash, so most of the computers could run the program. Also, I know that it is always a big hit. It is fun, easy to use, and most educators can envision ways for either themselves or their students to use it in the classroom. About half the computers did not have the latest flash, so mostly everyone worked with a partner, but even that went well.
I started by showing a demo video I had made. In it, a British Ninja and an Australian judge discuss how easy xtranormal is to use. I then pointing everyone to the website and had them sign up. I then walked them through selecting characters, voices, and a setting. As a group, we came up with a few lines of dialogue. I demonstrated switching between characters, adding camera angles, and adding actions. As I was doing this, everyone was able to follow along and add their own actions, angles, and lines.
When I finished the short demo, I gave an assignment. Each group had to create a movie with at least six lines, two actions, two camera angles, and, for "extra credit" two looks at the cameras, two facial expressions, and one point.
It went well. Everyone completed a movie. I don't know if everyone met every requirement, though. I really only used those as guides to encourage exploration and creativity.
And most importantly, they had fun doing it. Everyone was laughing, and sharing their movies as they worked. And they were talking about making movies for their classes, or having students do them. All in all it was a great success.
I then demonstrated tinyurl as a way to easily get a link to everyone's finished video to share with the group.
In the end, we didn't have time for the ActiveInspire demo. But I think that this was time well spent. Several teachers were exposed to a tool they didn't know they had. Several were inspired to see how easy some technology is. And, I hope, a few saw the value of working with me to show them these tools so they can use them to reach their classroom goals.
Last Friday I was able to act somewhat proactively and find time with some of my teachers.
There was a scheduled in-service day on Friday. The, because of a quirk in the schedule, it was closely followed by a second in-service day the following Tuesday. I heard through the grape vine that because of this, the first day had a large amount of time allotted to department meetings. My school does not have regular department meetings, so I rarely have the opportunity to speak to a large group at once.
Taking some initiative, I sent out an email to all of the department chairs, offering to give some professional development--on any topic or program, for any length of time. I figured that being flexible would make the offer more attractive. If a department head only had fifteen minutes to fill, and was afraid I was asking for an hour, it would have been a missed chance.
I heard back from both the Math and the Social Studies departments. Math later had to cancel because they had to focus more on curriculum, and, as the department chair told me, they had a rare, engaging, and productive dialogue going on.
Social Studies offered me a two hour block in which to present whatever I wanted.
I had to sit down and give this some thought. I wanted to present something useful, and something fun that would grab their attention and help them see me as someone who can help enliven the classroom and not just someone who drone on and on about technical issues. I decided to go with Photo Story and xtranormal, and to end with a demonstration of the new ActiveInspire software that we are hopefully adding to the computer images over the summer.
Photo Story did not go well. I had originally anticipated having about a half dozen high school teachers with teacher CFF laptops. I knew that about half had Photo Story and about half did not. That was a decent mix, because I was planning on having teachers work in pairs to create a short story. I gathered pictures for me to use to make a presentation while demonstrating, and another set of pictures for them to use to make their own. That way, I we could save time but not having teachers have to search for pictures. Unfortunately, my plans were for nought. When i arrived, there were about a dozen teachers, from the middle school and the high school, and two of the teacher with Photo Story were not able to attend. So, almost everyone needed to use a student laptop, but those had been recently re-imaged and no longer had Photo Story. I did a very quick presentation, that even I knew was getting dull and boring, because no one could follow along. All they could do was watch. I kept it to about ten minutes, and showed just the very basic buttons. I also showed parts of two student generated Photo Stories as examples of what students can create in a limited time. The examples were by far the best part of the presentation, and I was glad I had thought to bring them.
I very quickly moved on to xtranormal. This was a program I chose because I knew most of the computers had updated flash, so most of the computers could run the program. Also, I know that it is always a big hit. It is fun, easy to use, and most educators can envision ways for either themselves or their students to use it in the classroom. About half the computers did not have the latest flash, so mostly everyone worked with a partner, but even that went well.
I started by showing a demo video I had made. In it, a British Ninja and an Australian judge discuss how easy xtranormal is to use. I then pointing everyone to the website and had them sign up. I then walked them through selecting characters, voices, and a setting. As a group, we came up with a few lines of dialogue. I demonstrated switching between characters, adding camera angles, and adding actions. As I was doing this, everyone was able to follow along and add their own actions, angles, and lines.
When I finished the short demo, I gave an assignment. Each group had to create a movie with at least six lines, two actions, two camera angles, and, for "extra credit" two looks at the cameras, two facial expressions, and one point.
It went well. Everyone completed a movie. I don't know if everyone met every requirement, though. I really only used those as guides to encourage exploration and creativity.
And most importantly, they had fun doing it. Everyone was laughing, and sharing their movies as they worked. And they were talking about making movies for their classes, or having students do them. All in all it was a great success.
I then demonstrated tinyurl as a way to easily get a link to everyone's finished video to share with the group.
In the end, we didn't have time for the ActiveInspire demo. But I think that this was time well spent. Several teachers were exposed to a tool they didn't know they had. Several were inspired to see how easy some technology is. And, I hope, a few saw the value of working with me to show them these tools so they can use them to reach their classroom goals.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Business Plan Project
I started working with one of the Social Studies teachers last week on a video project. It was part of a larger project that, at the beginning, I didn't know much about.
The larger project was for students to create a business plan. The video part of the project is for students to create a commercial.
I began by going back and getting a better handle on movie maker. I haven't looked at it in a very long time, and I've never really used it. I felt it was my first duty to know the program in question. I took an afternoon to look at the connections, how to transfer files, what the file types were, and how to work with the video. It was pretty easy.
I next managed to find a few minutes with the teacher to go over how the program works. He didn't seem to think it was too difficult, either.
I then created a set of directions for students. I ran them by the teacher, and made a few changes. We then started talking about turning the projects in. In the past, the teacher had not known anything about video editing. Students had just had to rewind and re-shoot any mistakes. Then, the teacher simply uploaded all of the videos to his own computer. He wanted the directions to include saving to his computer, but I pointed out that that would mean having each group use his computer to edit. That would have been a large logistical nightmare.
In the end, we decided to contact the tech department and set up a teacher workspace folder for him. This is a folder that all students and the teacher can access. In this way, it pretty much fills the function of a drop box. There is less security, but I don't think most students would think of it that way. I had the teacher go through and set up a folder for each class under his workspace folder.
Now, each group will be able to record their video, edit out any mistakes without hogging the camera, edit it on their own computer, and share it with the teacher easily.
One of the important aspects about being a coach, in my opinion, is having the experience and the mind set, to be able to foresee issues, and see a way around them.
The larger project was for students to create a business plan. The video part of the project is for students to create a commercial.
I began by going back and getting a better handle on movie maker. I haven't looked at it in a very long time, and I've never really used it. I felt it was my first duty to know the program in question. I took an afternoon to look at the connections, how to transfer files, what the file types were, and how to work with the video. It was pretty easy.
I next managed to find a few minutes with the teacher to go over how the program works. He didn't seem to think it was too difficult, either.
I then created a set of directions for students. I ran them by the teacher, and made a few changes. We then started talking about turning the projects in. In the past, the teacher had not known anything about video editing. Students had just had to rewind and re-shoot any mistakes. Then, the teacher simply uploaded all of the videos to his own computer. He wanted the directions to include saving to his computer, but I pointed out that that would mean having each group use his computer to edit. That would have been a large logistical nightmare.
In the end, we decided to contact the tech department and set up a teacher workspace folder for him. This is a folder that all students and the teacher can access. In this way, it pretty much fills the function of a drop box. There is less security, but I don't think most students would think of it that way. I had the teacher go through and set up a folder for each class under his workspace folder.
Now, each group will be able to record their video, edit out any mistakes without hogging the camera, edit it on their own computer, and share it with the teacher easily.
One of the important aspects about being a coach, in my opinion, is having the experience and the mind set, to be able to foresee issues, and see a way around them.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Presidential My Space--Assessments
I offered to help the Social Studies teacher grade the wiki project when we were finished. I fear I wasn't that helpful. I only managed to help with a small handful. He was pretty well finished by the third day of grading, and I just wasn't moving as fast. I did get a chance to look at most of them, and even leave a few comments for him/the students.
Some of the projects turned out really well. Students were creative, and found resources online to make things more interesting.
A few students disappointed by plagiarizing. Only one went so far as to copy another student's project. No one, at least, sabotaged anyone else or defaced a page that did not belong to them.
For the most part, though, it wasn't plagiarizing as much as a lack of summarizing skills that plagued the students. As a result, the teacher even went so far as to give the plagiarizing/badly summarizing students the chance to redo the project instead of loosing credit.
So, the Social Studies teacher and I talked about the lack of summarizing skills. A lot of students think that copying and pasting an article, and removing or replacing a certain number of words, is the same as rephrasing. They also think that picking out key phrases or sentences, and copying them word for word, is summarizing. The English teacher from that team happened to stop in during this conversation and said that, although she does teach summarizing, she hasn't gotten to that part of her curriculum yet.
First of all, this made me wonder if it would be a good idea to have the teams sit down, looked at shared skills, who is teaching them, and when they are being taught. After all, it would be really good practice and reinforcement for students to learn summarizing in English, and then have a summarizing project/assignment in Social Studies the following week. And, it would save the Social Studies teacher a good deal of aggravation if he held the summarizing project until after the topic was covered in Social Studies.
Summarizing happened to come up as a topic on twitter just a few hours later, and I was able to pass this resource along. There were some interesting ideas. I also made the suggestion of giving the students an article, and having them write a "text message" to a friend explaining it. I do think most of these kids can summarize--they just don't have the skills to make a connection between how they "give the short version" to friend and what teachers want out of them in a writing assignment.
By permission of the teacher, I've copied a few of these wikis over, and removed student names from them, so I can show some samples. I picked a few at random from each class, and then copied the ones I liked best as examples. Check them out here.
Some of the projects turned out really well. Students were creative, and found resources online to make things more interesting.
A few students disappointed by plagiarizing. Only one went so far as to copy another student's project. No one, at least, sabotaged anyone else or defaced a page that did not belong to them.
For the most part, though, it wasn't plagiarizing as much as a lack of summarizing skills that plagued the students. As a result, the teacher even went so far as to give the plagiarizing/badly summarizing students the chance to redo the project instead of loosing credit.
So, the Social Studies teacher and I talked about the lack of summarizing skills. A lot of students think that copying and pasting an article, and removing or replacing a certain number of words, is the same as rephrasing. They also think that picking out key phrases or sentences, and copying them word for word, is summarizing. The English teacher from that team happened to stop in during this conversation and said that, although she does teach summarizing, she hasn't gotten to that part of her curriculum yet.
First of all, this made me wonder if it would be a good idea to have the teams sit down, looked at shared skills, who is teaching them, and when they are being taught. After all, it would be really good practice and reinforcement for students to learn summarizing in English, and then have a summarizing project/assignment in Social Studies the following week. And, it would save the Social Studies teacher a good deal of aggravation if he held the summarizing project until after the topic was covered in Social Studies.
Summarizing happened to come up as a topic on twitter just a few hours later, and I was able to pass this resource along. There were some interesting ideas. I also made the suggestion of giving the students an article, and having them write a "text message" to a friend explaining it. I do think most of these kids can summarize--they just don't have the skills to make a connection between how they "give the short version" to friend and what teachers want out of them in a writing assignment.
By permission of the teacher, I've copied a few of these wikis over, and removed student names from them, so I can show some samples. I picked a few at random from each class, and then copied the ones I liked best as examples. Check them out here.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Presidential My Space--Day Three
Last day of the project.
Projects are not due til the following day, so students can work on them from home, or stay after school.
One of the benefits of this project was that students could easily access their work from anywhere. There was no saving of files involved. At the same time, it was not a public web space, so student privacy was maintained. This is probably the #1 reason I'm such a big fan of wikis.
I was in and out of the class today, because I was starting a project with another teacher. For the most part, students made good use of their time, and worked throughout.
One thing I saw was that honors students, who had to follow the general rubric, as well as extra directions that were posted on their class page, were forgetting the extra directions. In the past, when a teacher has divided a wiki into classes, I have them post all of the directions on each classes' page. Its redundant, but I think it helps the students stay organized. I think in this case especially, it would have been a very good idea.
As the project went on, and, as is common, a lot of student were more concerned with how things looked than the content, the teacher and I came up with the idea of using the directions/rubric as a check sheet. We suggested to students to print it out, and check off requirements as they were met. Quite a few students took the suggestion. I think I'll remember that for similar projects in the future, and encourage teachers to either do directions in more of list form, or to have a list version of the directions. Its easier to check off items on a list than in a paragraph.
Towards the end of one of the classes, I asked the teacher about grading the project. He seemed pleased to have someone to help him grade, and suggested that I go through the projects, make grade suggestions, and he'd either take the suggestions or not. Part of me regrets the offer, because its more work. Most of me knows that I haven't assessed anything in a long time. It will be good to get back into it. Also, being useful to teachers helps build those relationships. If another teacher asks me to help put together a project for the simple reason that he/she thinks I'll do all the grading, than that is a great opportunity to introduce yet another teacher to using tech in the classroom.
The projects look very good. It seems that most of the students included most of the required content. I don't know how many students went outside of their comfort zone and had fun being creative, though. I probably won't get to assessing anything today. I'll have to update on how the finished projects are, once I've been through some of them--I even got permission to post some examples once I remove student names.
Projects are not due til the following day, so students can work on them from home, or stay after school.
One of the benefits of this project was that students could easily access their work from anywhere. There was no saving of files involved. At the same time, it was not a public web space, so student privacy was maintained. This is probably the #1 reason I'm such a big fan of wikis.
I was in and out of the class today, because I was starting a project with another teacher. For the most part, students made good use of their time, and worked throughout.
One thing I saw was that honors students, who had to follow the general rubric, as well as extra directions that were posted on their class page, were forgetting the extra directions. In the past, when a teacher has divided a wiki into classes, I have them post all of the directions on each classes' page. Its redundant, but I think it helps the students stay organized. I think in this case especially, it would have been a very good idea.
As the project went on, and, as is common, a lot of student were more concerned with how things looked than the content, the teacher and I came up with the idea of using the directions/rubric as a check sheet. We suggested to students to print it out, and check off requirements as they were met. Quite a few students took the suggestion. I think I'll remember that for similar projects in the future, and encourage teachers to either do directions in more of list form, or to have a list version of the directions. Its easier to check off items on a list than in a paragraph.
Towards the end of one of the classes, I asked the teacher about grading the project. He seemed pleased to have someone to help him grade, and suggested that I go through the projects, make grade suggestions, and he'd either take the suggestions or not. Part of me regrets the offer, because its more work. Most of me knows that I haven't assessed anything in a long time. It will be good to get back into it. Also, being useful to teachers helps build those relationships. If another teacher asks me to help put together a project for the simple reason that he/she thinks I'll do all the grading, than that is a great opportunity to introduce yet another teacher to using tech in the classroom.
The projects look very good. It seems that most of the students included most of the required content. I don't know how many students went outside of their comfort zone and had fun being creative, though. I probably won't get to assessing anything today. I'll have to update on how the finished projects are, once I've been through some of them--I even got permission to post some examples once I remove student names.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Presidential My Space--Day Two
Day two had a lot more work get done.
The first class of the day was the honors class. I was very disappointed with some of the students by the end of class. Most did not make very good or wise use of their time. Very little in the way of content was added. A lot of students spent class making their text look better, or trying to edit the background, or coming up with cute or funny comments to put on the pages. A few did get work done. Many started working in word--they seemed to have an easier time working with text in word (makes sense). So, even those who did a lot of work don't have much to show on the wikis.
The rest of the classes made much better use of time. This did surprise me, since they were non honors classes. A lot of students started having fun with it. The teacher was very good about allowing students to use "slang" and phrasing that would get them kicked out of an English class. He told me its hard for him to read Lincoln saying "yo yo yo, I like country cause we didn have none a dat hippity hop", but he's letting the kids do it anyways. And I'm very glad he is. The kids, despite their word choices, are using accurate info. It did occur to me part way through the day that kids who are being very conservative and straight laced with the language are having a much harder time putting it in their own words. Kids who are "my spacing it up" are actually having an easier time summarizing (that is something I will have to remember).
Also, kids who are having more fun with the language are having more fun with the project, and putting more work into it. The teacher commented more than once that a few kids surprised him. Students who don't usually do well because they are not strong academically--or because they are not motivated to put in effort--are doing well (not all of them, but quite a few). And, again, even though George Washington would roll over in his grave at the way he's now "talking," he's not saying anything that's not true.
A few students didn't make the best use of their time. And a few are still having trouble navigating pages, or dealing with going back and forth between multiple pages. However, its getting better. That makes me happy. I'm glad we did a project that requires a skill that a lot of students lack. It has been a little frustrating for all involved, but the students are getting stronger at a skill that everyone will expect them to have.
And I think the teacher is seeing the value in creativity. Because the kids are able to enjoy the project--and let themselves show through the project--they are doing better. Its not true of all kids. And some are more interested in how things look and being funny than in being accurate (or even substantial). But by letting go of something like standard English (as a Social Studies teacher myself, I can sympathize, but as someone younger, I'm taking it better) he's allowing students to be more engaged. Some students even worked on the projects from home, and have done some amazing things with layout, and using different internet tools.
The first class of the day was the honors class. I was very disappointed with some of the students by the end of class. Most did not make very good or wise use of their time. Very little in the way of content was added. A lot of students spent class making their text look better, or trying to edit the background, or coming up with cute or funny comments to put on the pages. A few did get work done. Many started working in word--they seemed to have an easier time working with text in word (makes sense). So, even those who did a lot of work don't have much to show on the wikis.
The rest of the classes made much better use of time. This did surprise me, since they were non honors classes. A lot of students started having fun with it. The teacher was very good about allowing students to use "slang" and phrasing that would get them kicked out of an English class. He told me its hard for him to read Lincoln saying "yo yo yo, I like country cause we didn have none a dat hippity hop", but he's letting the kids do it anyways. And I'm very glad he is. The kids, despite their word choices, are using accurate info. It did occur to me part way through the day that kids who are being very conservative and straight laced with the language are having a much harder time putting it in their own words. Kids who are "my spacing it up" are actually having an easier time summarizing (that is something I will have to remember).
Also, kids who are having more fun with the language are having more fun with the project, and putting more work into it. The teacher commented more than once that a few kids surprised him. Students who don't usually do well because they are not strong academically--or because they are not motivated to put in effort--are doing well (not all of them, but quite a few). And, again, even though George Washington would roll over in his grave at the way he's now "talking," he's not saying anything that's not true.
A few students didn't make the best use of their time. And a few are still having trouble navigating pages, or dealing with going back and forth between multiple pages. However, its getting better. That makes me happy. I'm glad we did a project that requires a skill that a lot of students lack. It has been a little frustrating for all involved, but the students are getting stronger at a skill that everyone will expect them to have.
And I think the teacher is seeing the value in creativity. Because the kids are able to enjoy the project--and let themselves show through the project--they are doing better. Its not true of all kids. And some are more interested in how things look and being funny than in being accurate (or even substantial). But by letting go of something like standard English (as a Social Studies teacher myself, I can sympathize, but as someone younger, I'm taking it better) he's allowing students to be more engaged. Some students even worked on the projects from home, and have done some amazing things with layout, and using different internet tools.
Presidential My Space--Day One
Yesterday we started the Presidential My Space Pages.
One of the common complaints, of course, is that we aren't using real My Space pages. I should probably rethink/rename this project so that kids are not left thinking that they would rather do real My Space pages.
For the most part, the teacher went through directions with students. As a time saver, he went through how to navigate through the page to the student pages while kids were still booting up their laptops. Since the student laptops do take so long, I agreed with this decsion. However, a lot of students didn't pay attention. It led to problems later. I had to help about half the students 1-on-1 to find their pages. I had to explain to many students that there was already a page, and not to create one. And, one students edited the front page, and another deleted and edited over the rubric.
The rubric is fairly simple:
One of the common complaints, of course, is that we aren't using real My Space pages. I should probably rethink/rename this project so that kids are not left thinking that they would rather do real My Space pages.
For the most part, the teacher went through directions with students. As a time saver, he went through how to navigate through the page to the student pages while kids were still booting up their laptops. Since the student laptops do take so long, I agreed with this decsion. However, a lot of students didn't pay attention. It led to problems later. I had to help about half the students 1-on-1 to find their pages. I had to explain to many students that there was already a page, and not to create one. And, one students edited the front page, and another deleted and edited over the rubric.
The rubric is fairly simple:
For this project, you will create a mock 'My Space' page for one of the former Presidents. You may choose any former President you wish. Barack Obama is not a former President. You will create this page as if you are that President, living today. That means you should write in the first person, using 'I' instead of 'George Washington said...'. The page should contain mainly biographical information about that President. You should include at least the following sections:
Title: 'George Washington's page' The title should include the name of the President. (3 pts.)
Pictures: Include at least two pictures of the President on the main page. (2 pts.)
Background: Include Dates of birth and death, and dates the President served. Include place of birth. (5 pts.)
Biography: This should be 2-3 paragraphs about the President's life, from birth until they became President. You can include information from 'Background' instead of making a separate section for it. Be throrough. Include educational background, military experience, and any previous political experience. Talk about why these experiences prepared the man for the Presidency. (15 pts.)
Presidency: Include 2-3 paragraphs about what happened while this person was President. Include any important events, wars, scandals, etc. You can talk about what life in America was like during this Presidency. Remember, write as if you are this person. If something negative happened, try to explain why. Include at least 2 events and how the President handled that problem. (15 pts.)
Retirement: Include a brief description of the President's life after the Presidency. (5 pts.)
Creativity: A more creative page will receive additional points. (5 pts.)
Total points: 50
When picking your President, be careful to look at when they served. Picking a President who died after 2 days in office is a bad idea. You don't have to pick a famous President, like Washington or Lincoln, but skim through the bios to find someone who did something interesting, or served during an interesting period of history. Remember to make this a first person account, and use your own words. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE. That is plagarism, and will result in a zero for the entire project. This project is due Tuesday, February 24.
Most students didn't have much trouble navigating to their pages. A few got confused because, although I had provided links, they still had to click on a "create page" button after clicking the link. Many students immediately went to the "create a page" button from the home page, and started creating and editing pages there were not linked from anywhere. It was pretty easy to find and correct those students (they would loose their pages, since they weren't linked from the home page) and have them copy and paste their work onto the appropriate page. In later classes, I made every watch as showed the difference between the "create page" and "create a page" buttons. I think this should have been a more predictable problem.
The teacher has even provided three approved web sources for researching info (although a small handful of students went directly to google anyways.)
Students only worked on the project for about half of class for the first day. Everyone had picked a president, and most had a picture and a little bit of info by the end of class. Some only had a picture.
There is definately a large varience of comfort and ability when doing web based projects. Some students understood right away when I suggested they open the rubric in a seperate tab or window, so they didn't have to keep using the back arrow. Others were very confused and needed to be shown multiple times. Others needed to be shown only once before catching on.
And some students have trouble just navigating a single web page.
I was able to teach students the short cut key for pasting (ctrl + v) because the right click they are used to doesn't work in a pb wiki. One thing almost all students seemed very good at was finding a google image.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Presidential My Space
This is a project that has two teachers.
The first teachers was a bit more independent about using it. He wanted me to help him learn the technology, and I helped do some of the time consuming behind the scenes stuff to help set up. After that, he was more content to conduct the project himself. He sent one student to me with a technical issues, but did not ask for any help other than that.
Another teacher is starting this same project tomorrow. He is comfortable with the technology, but also more than happy to have an extra person around the room to help students out with the project.
We worked for the last two days on the same pre-project set up that I did with the first social studies teacher. The wiki in use is set up almost the same way. The teacher created a class wiki that he will create pages on for each project. Each project will be divided by period, and each student will be given his own page.
The teacher posted directions for what information must be contained on the page. Then, students are free to arrange the layout, and add "fun" elements such as friends, interests, heroes, etc. This sort of project seems to help in research type assignments. Students are not overwhelmed with having to write a paper. And, because they get to do something more engaging with the information, they are more willing to find it. However, as all the teachers I've worked with know, it is a fight to keep a balance between letting students be creative, and making sure they accurately, and sufficiently, produce the subject-related material needed. After all, many students would be happy to create a my space page with all sorts of funny friends, music, and movies for George Washington (and most of it would be funny because it would be based on something real) without ever caring to do the biography section.
I'm going to be in the classroom to help with the project tomorrow. Mostly, the teacher is concerned that he won't be able to answer questions that the students have about using wiki spaces. I personally think he would be fine, but part of my job is building relationships. I think it is a far better idea to think he'd be fine, but to help him as much as I can, than to send him out on his own.
The first teachers was a bit more independent about using it. He wanted me to help him learn the technology, and I helped do some of the time consuming behind the scenes stuff to help set up. After that, he was more content to conduct the project himself. He sent one student to me with a technical issues, but did not ask for any help other than that.
Another teacher is starting this same project tomorrow. He is comfortable with the technology, but also more than happy to have an extra person around the room to help students out with the project.
We worked for the last two days on the same pre-project set up that I did with the first social studies teacher. The wiki in use is set up almost the same way. The teacher created a class wiki that he will create pages on for each project. Each project will be divided by period, and each student will be given his own page.
The teacher posted directions for what information must be contained on the page. Then, students are free to arrange the layout, and add "fun" elements such as friends, interests, heroes, etc. This sort of project seems to help in research type assignments. Students are not overwhelmed with having to write a paper. And, because they get to do something more engaging with the information, they are more willing to find it. However, as all the teachers I've worked with know, it is a fight to keep a balance between letting students be creative, and making sure they accurately, and sufficiently, produce the subject-related material needed. After all, many students would be happy to create a my space page with all sorts of funny friends, music, and movies for George Washington (and most of it would be funny because it would be based on something real) without ever caring to do the biography section.
I'm going to be in the classroom to help with the project tomorrow. Mostly, the teacher is concerned that he won't be able to answer questions that the students have about using wiki spaces. I personally think he would be fine, but part of my job is building relationships. I think it is a far better idea to think he'd be fine, but to help him as much as I can, than to send him out on his own.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Social Studies Project--Presidential Wikis
A Social Studies teacher approached me and wanted some ideas on a few lessons he is covering. He wanted to slightly alter some of what he is doing.
One suggestion that I gave, that I don't think he took, was for the presidential cabinets. He usually has students work in groups to research one cabinet office, and then do a round robin to share the info. I suggested having the groups create poems/song lyrics/raps, etc. I figured it would be more engaging, and easier to remember. I'm not sure if he went with that or not. He seemed to like the idea, but he was covering the lesson in the very near future. I hope that either he, or someone else, can use that idea for some topic.
He also has the students do a project every year where each student researches one President. They usually do a poster or a powerpoint. This year, I suggested, he does the projects in the "my space" wiki format. He really liked the idea.
He's not the sort that wants a great deal of help. He's very confident with the technology. So, I showed him how to set up the wiki. He, unlike a lot of teachers, was more comfortable with doing multiple layers of links and not having everything linked from a list on the side. Most teachers were overwhelmed at the concept, and therefore set up multiple pages--one per class per project. This Social Studies Teacher was happier with the idea of one massive wiki--knowing he could keep track of the links--thank managing multiple wikis. I have to say that I'm of the same opinion.
We discussed having the students sign up during class, or manually creating accounts. He decided not to waste class time with students signing up, and had them create user names and passwords for homework. I showed him how to input those, and did several of them to save him some time (its tedious).
Other than help with the mechanics, he does not want any help in the classroom. Once in awhile he will send a student and a laptop down to me with a specific issue, but he does not want to have me in the room on hand "just in case." It does worry me that this is the attitude of shutting the door that we want to break down with expanding learning beyond the classroom. But, it could just be a sense of wanting me to be more available to help teachers who are less confident with the technology. Either way, I think it is important to allow teachers to move at their own pace. If he is not ready to have another teacher in his space, then I won't push. If I do, he might never be willing.
One suggestion that I gave, that I don't think he took, was for the presidential cabinets. He usually has students work in groups to research one cabinet office, and then do a round robin to share the info. I suggested having the groups create poems/song lyrics/raps, etc. I figured it would be more engaging, and easier to remember. I'm not sure if he went with that or not. He seemed to like the idea, but he was covering the lesson in the very near future. I hope that either he, or someone else, can use that idea for some topic.
He also has the students do a project every year where each student researches one President. They usually do a poster or a powerpoint. This year, I suggested, he does the projects in the "my space" wiki format. He really liked the idea.
He's not the sort that wants a great deal of help. He's very confident with the technology. So, I showed him how to set up the wiki. He, unlike a lot of teachers, was more comfortable with doing multiple layers of links and not having everything linked from a list on the side. Most teachers were overwhelmed at the concept, and therefore set up multiple pages--one per class per project. This Social Studies Teacher was happier with the idea of one massive wiki--knowing he could keep track of the links--thank managing multiple wikis. I have to say that I'm of the same opinion.
We discussed having the students sign up during class, or manually creating accounts. He decided not to waste class time with students signing up, and had them create user names and passwords for homework. I showed him how to input those, and did several of them to save him some time (its tedious).
Other than help with the mechanics, he does not want any help in the classroom. Once in awhile he will send a student and a laptop down to me with a specific issue, but he does not want to have me in the room on hand "just in case." It does worry me that this is the attitude of shutting the door that we want to break down with expanding learning beyond the classroom. But, it could just be a sense of wanting me to be more available to help teachers who are less confident with the technology. Either way, I think it is important to allow teachers to move at their own pace. If he is not ready to have another teacher in his space, then I won't push. If I do, he might never be willing.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Projects Update
The famous Americans project was redirected because of curriculum concerns. In order to fill a curriculum requirement, the teacher has to have the students give a speech. I remain optimistic, though, that another project will happen with that teacher.
The blog project is moving ahead. The teacher involved is being more independent of me than others. He is also having students do most of the work outside of class. I helped him set up the initial structure. The students will be presenting in class as usual, and blogging about it outside of class. I will keep in touch and discuss how to evaluate the blog entries, but I think he has a pretty good idea of what he wants for that as well. I am most curious to get his feedback after the project is complete/once it has gotten started (the structure is set up but the first blog entry probably won't happen til after the break). In past years, students have given feedback to the presentations via a worksheet. I am curious if they will find this method more engaging, and if they will participate in more back and forth as a result of the more interactive nature of the medium. I am inclined to think that they might not, being that they are given only a 24 hour window in which to comment. I plan to suggest that in the future the teacher requires students to comment within 24 hours but gives some motivation (aka extra credit or such) for students to continue the conversation after the first day.
The blog project is moving ahead. The teacher involved is being more independent of me than others. He is also having students do most of the work outside of class. I helped him set up the initial structure. The students will be presenting in class as usual, and blogging about it outside of class. I will keep in touch and discuss how to evaluate the blog entries, but I think he has a pretty good idea of what he wants for that as well. I am most curious to get his feedback after the project is complete/once it has gotten started (the structure is set up but the first blog entry probably won't happen til after the break). In past years, students have given feedback to the presentations via a worksheet. I am curious if they will find this method more engaging, and if they will participate in more back and forth as a result of the more interactive nature of the medium. I am inclined to think that they might not, being that they are given only a 24 hour window in which to comment. I plan to suggest that in the future the teacher requires students to comment within 24 hours but gives some motivation (aka extra credit or such) for students to continue the conversation after the first day.
Friday, December 5, 2008
A Few Classroom Projects
I am currently working on three projects with three teachers.
Two of them are very similar.
English--One of the English teachers wanted to update a project that ends with a speech on a famous American. Students spend several days in the library learning research skills and finding information about a famous American. The project usually ends with every student giving a speech. Instead of having students sit through speeches, they are going to take their research and create "MySpace" pages for their Americans in a wiki. They will have to give a bio including what the American did that was significant, and why they are still important today. We are going to include some fun categories that will require some creative thinking from students--blurbs, friends, favorites, etc. After creating the wikis, students will then have to read three classmate's wikis and, in first person of their own American, "post" to the other person's "wall." This will require them again to be creative and decide how people from different time periods who never met might have reacted to one another.
Science--somewhat similar to English. Instead of famous Americans, we are having students create "MySpace" pages for parts of the cell. This project is replacing a poster/PowerPoint assignment. They will again have to use real research and information. They will have to be creative in coming up with favorites. Students will have to collect pictures and create a gallery, and will have to link to their online info sources. They will be required to write one blurb about a cell they met that was lacking their part --i.e the nuclues groups has to write about meeting a cell without a nuclues and what that cell was like. Hopefully, they will also be posting to one another's walls.
Social Studies--this teacher came to me wanted to add a blog for a reflective part of a project. Students have to research a country, and then create and deliver an inclass presentation trying to sell that country. In the past, they have been required to also create a worksheet for others to follow along. At the end of the worksheet, the students in their seats had to explain why they wouldn't buy the country. Now, instead of filling out a worksheet, the students will have to blog about why they wouldn't buy the country. They will have one day after the presentation to post. This gives students more time to reflect, and hopefully the chance to actually interact with one another. We are using a wiki discussion board because a) the teacher liked the organization of doing each country with its own page and b) I'm more familiar with wikis, so I was able to give him more info on how they work and function, etc.
I'm very excited. I'll post updates as they go.
Science is next week
English is the following week
Social Studies is sometime after the break.
Two of them are very similar.
English--One of the English teachers wanted to update a project that ends with a speech on a famous American. Students spend several days in the library learning research skills and finding information about a famous American. The project usually ends with every student giving a speech. Instead of having students sit through speeches, they are going to take their research and create "MySpace" pages for their Americans in a wiki. They will have to give a bio including what the American did that was significant, and why they are still important today. We are going to include some fun categories that will require some creative thinking from students--blurbs, friends, favorites, etc. After creating the wikis, students will then have to read three classmate's wikis and, in first person of their own American, "post" to the other person's "wall." This will require them again to be creative and decide how people from different time periods who never met might have reacted to one another.
Science--somewhat similar to English. Instead of famous Americans, we are having students create "MySpace" pages for parts of the cell. This project is replacing a poster/PowerPoint assignment. They will again have to use real research and information. They will have to be creative in coming up with favorites. Students will have to collect pictures and create a gallery, and will have to link to their online info sources. They will be required to write one blurb about a cell they met that was lacking their part --i.e the nuclues groups has to write about meeting a cell without a nuclues and what that cell was like. Hopefully, they will also be posting to one another's walls.
Social Studies--this teacher came to me wanted to add a blog for a reflective part of a project. Students have to research a country, and then create and deliver an inclass presentation trying to sell that country. In the past, they have been required to also create a worksheet for others to follow along. At the end of the worksheet, the students in their seats had to explain why they wouldn't buy the country. Now, instead of filling out a worksheet, the students will have to blog about why they wouldn't buy the country. They will have one day after the presentation to post. This gives students more time to reflect, and hopefully the chance to actually interact with one another. We are using a wiki discussion board because a) the teacher liked the organization of doing each country with its own page and b) I'm more familiar with wikis, so I was able to give him more info on how they work and function, etc.
I'm very excited. I'll post updates as they go.
Science is next week
English is the following week
Social Studies is sometime after the break.
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