Final day of this project.
It didn't take us long to finish up the grades. We had to watch two more movies that hadn't been played in class because the creators had been absent that day.
After finishing grading, we talked a little about doing the project next year. She wants to do it again, which made me happy. Then, because its a real possibility, I asked her if the grant ran out and there was no coach next year, if she'd still do it again. She thought for a minute, but said she would. She decided the program is easy enough that she could guide kids through it, and, even though grading by herself might take longer, she could get it done. After all, next year she'd have a rubric ready to go at the beginning, and a better idea of what to expect.
I told her how much I liked the idea of having the kids offer feedback. I don' think enough teachers do that, and I know I didn't do it enough in the classroom.
One of the ideas that they shared with CFF coaches at boot camp was the idea that conversations can lead to being able to work with teachers. And here was the progress of that. While talking with her about the feedback, I remembered, and commented on her really unresponsive 7th period class. And we talked about how it was a problem, because without feedback, she wouldn't necessarily know where to go or what the class needed. And, you could never be sure if it was a matter of kids not wanting to talk, kids being shy about talking in front of the class, kids not getting it, or kids just being lazy. So I suggested a blogging project--where kids could think out and write out their answers before sharing.
She seemed to like the idea and asked how it would work. So, I told her about the other "blog" projects I'd done. I gave her the example of the Social Studies teacher who had the kids blog outside of class, and the English teacher who blogged in class (and I was honest about how horribly that went) and the other English teacher who blogged in class and assigned kids to respond to comments by other students. She seemed to like that there were a lot of ways to go with it.
She then said there were going to be starting Greek Myths soon, and she wanted to have them do something with writing their own "journey" story. I was tempted to say they could do a Photo Story, but decided she might be ready to be done with Photo Story for a least a little while. Instead, I suggested doing something like the 1001 Flat World Tales. Then, the students could work with a partner, write their story, have a partner leave comments for editing suggestions, read and make comments on their partners' stories, and edit.
She seemed to like both ideas. And, she really liked that I could offer to show her examples of each.
Showing posts with label student reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student reflection. Show all posts
Friday, March 6, 2009
Sight Project--Assessment Day Two
Day two went a little more smoothly for me at least.
I checked in with the teacher at the beginning of the day, and she hadn't been happy with any of the grids she'd typed up, even though we had the rubric more or less finished. I offered to type it up for her and make copies. We then used the new grid to revisit our notes from watching the videos.
It was slow going at first, with a lot of second guessing. The teacher was unhappy that the students hadn't had a rubric to begin with. It was a big problem. It wasn't an oversight--we both knew at the beginning that not having a rubric was not a good idea--so much as planning/logistic/experience issue. In the end, we decided to grade the projects according to the rubric, and then give a 2% curve.
As far as the experience issue here, I think it would be good for both the teacher and the students to have experience. Of course, experience with projects, not just the same project multiple years, will help the teacher feel more confident in making a rubric ahead of time, and give her a better idea of what to look for. And, it will give the students more time to get better with the tech so that the tech is not detracting from the skills and content of the class. And it will help them to know how they are going to be graded--not just because they'll have a rubric, but they will be used to having this teacher grade them with similar rubrics (and used to having their classmates as an audience).
After getting through most of the already viewed stories, I decided to bring up some of the ideas that I'd had. For some reason I'm always nervous about that part of working with teachers. I don't want them to feel that I'm being pushy, or criticizing. And I don't want to step on toes.
I started by suggesting she introduce the background work for the project sooner--have students collecting pictures for the length of the unit. This would give them more in class time to work with the videos, and make it more likely that they would take time to find images that interested them, and not just images they had on hand. She definitely liked that idea. Then I suggested that since they would be doing it during the play, she could tie it more to the play by having it be about what students would show Helen Keller, and why, instead of just what they wanted to see. I couldn't tell how she felt about that, though.
The bell schedule was normal for day two. We watched the videos with rubrics in hand. I used the back to take notes to compare with the teacher later. I then circled what I felt were appropriate scores in each category. I'd say the hardest part was quickly getting student names on the papers so I would know which comments went with which students.
I saw a lot of the same patterns that had emerged on the first viewing day. Students often felt like they missed or lost the point of "sight" vs. dying. There were long meaningless stretches of photos with no narration, no captions, no explanation, and no music. And, several stories had sections that just felt insincere. I really believed that some students wanted to see Paris. Others, I had a hard time buying that they would ever go to Italy to see Venice "and other sighs." For the most part, though, everyone had several good elements to their story.
At the end of each class she did something that I wasn't expecting, but was really pleased to see. She just asked for feedback on the project. Apparently she does this for every project. I did this from time to time when I taught, but not nearly enough. It was very informal, too. She just asked, and kids raised their hands to comment.
Fortunately, I happened to have my computer on me and just took notes (for my own reflective benefit, and for this blog). (The computer is a good thing because I type faster than I can write neatly).
Predictably, the conversation took a pretty similar course in all of her classes. The first two offered their comments with little extra prodding. The last class was hesitant to speak at all, though. They did come to many of the same conclusions as the first too, but it took some leading questions to get them anywhere. It reminded me of the first day I'd been in that class and, as this group of girls came through the door talking a mile a minute, the teacher told me "if you ask them to talk, you get stares. If you let them talk, they won't shut up."
The most common comment from students was that they needed more time. Going a long with that, several agreed that if they had been able to work on it from home it wouldn't have been so bad. Or, they would have been able to work more efficiently (my word) if they had had more time ahead of time to learn and get used to the program. (It makes me feel like I'm doing a decent job of reflecting that I was able to anticipate this before hearing the student feedback). Some other criticism were that a lot of the projects were too similar to one another and not enough were original; the computers themselves froze or didn't connect properly which wasted a lot of in-class work time for some students; some people didn't have access to cameras so they didn't have access to personal pictures; some people had so many pictures they didn't know how to fit them all in or what to do with them; the background noise of the class made recording hard; they were embarrassed to show them; and some students (mostly the same that had been making this complain since day one) didn't see a point in having to record themselves talk. One student said she didn't see a point to the project at all, and another said she didn't really see how it was related to Helen Keller.
A lot of these problems could actually be fixed with more time, more explanation in the beginnig, and now having a few projects to show as examples. More time will let them learn the program, give them more time to plan out thier story, allow us teachers to make accomodations for small groups to record outside of the classroom, and give students time to really fine tune their projects for a better finished product. I would say that, using the analogy of an essay assignment, students did some prewriting and a first draft, but some didn't have time for much, if any, editing.
One thing I didn't anticipate was the a lot of students didn't know how (or didn't want) to limit their pictures of friends. They wanted to use every picture on their camera. Next time when I explain about not over using transitions and making the story flow and using music that makes sense, I will a) better explain what I mean about music making sense and b) explain that sometimes less is more and using too many pictures that have nothing new to add to the story will bore the audience. I would also like to add an audience grade component to the project. I don't know how many teachers would be willing to use this as part of the grade, or how heavily they would weigh it, but I think allowing students to critique one another, with their feedback being worth something, it would encourage them to a) do better on their own projects, b) feel a little empowered in class, and c) if they were allowed to critique their own projects, too, help them learn to be more reflective.
Only one comment really bothered me. One student said that she didn't see a point in using the computers for the project. She liked the idea of what they were doing, but would have prefered to just make a scrap book. I know that this particular students had a good deal of trouble with getting the laptop to boot up properly and connect to the network. And, she missed a day, and therefore missed in class time to work. I think perhaps we need to do a better job of explaining to students that they need to learn how to figure out how to do things. I hope that, even though she was complaining in class, she actually did get something out of the project, even if she doesn't realize it yet. I hope that she didn't just learn a little about Photo Story, but that she was able to reflect on herself, and to pick up a few tricks about learning something new.
There were some good comments too. I just like saving the posititves for last. Students called the project unique. Some said that, given more time, they could have really gotten into it ("I could have talked for days about what I really wanted to see.) Some enjoyed working on the project, and even used the word fun. And, my favorite comments, were the students who wanted to do it again, and felt that they could do so much better next time.
Fortunately, a lot of these same students are working on the bio project, and will have the chance, if they choose, to use a Photo Story for the creek project.
I checked in with the teacher at the beginning of the day, and she hadn't been happy with any of the grids she'd typed up, even though we had the rubric more or less finished. I offered to type it up for her and make copies. We then used the new grid to revisit our notes from watching the videos.
It was slow going at first, with a lot of second guessing. The teacher was unhappy that the students hadn't had a rubric to begin with. It was a big problem. It wasn't an oversight--we both knew at the beginning that not having a rubric was not a good idea--so much as planning/logistic/experience issue. In the end, we decided to grade the projects according to the rubric, and then give a 2% curve.
As far as the experience issue here, I think it would be good for both the teacher and the students to have experience. Of course, experience with projects, not just the same project multiple years, will help the teacher feel more confident in making a rubric ahead of time, and give her a better idea of what to look for. And, it will give the students more time to get better with the tech so that the tech is not detracting from the skills and content of the class. And it will help them to know how they are going to be graded--not just because they'll have a rubric, but they will be used to having this teacher grade them with similar rubrics (and used to having their classmates as an audience).
After getting through most of the already viewed stories, I decided to bring up some of the ideas that I'd had. For some reason I'm always nervous about that part of working with teachers. I don't want them to feel that I'm being pushy, or criticizing. And I don't want to step on toes.
I started by suggesting she introduce the background work for the project sooner--have students collecting pictures for the length of the unit. This would give them more in class time to work with the videos, and make it more likely that they would take time to find images that interested them, and not just images they had on hand. She definitely liked that idea. Then I suggested that since they would be doing it during the play, she could tie it more to the play by having it be about what students would show Helen Keller, and why, instead of just what they wanted to see. I couldn't tell how she felt about that, though.
The bell schedule was normal for day two. We watched the videos with rubrics in hand. I used the back to take notes to compare with the teacher later. I then circled what I felt were appropriate scores in each category. I'd say the hardest part was quickly getting student names on the papers so I would know which comments went with which students.
I saw a lot of the same patterns that had emerged on the first viewing day. Students often felt like they missed or lost the point of "sight" vs. dying. There were long meaningless stretches of photos with no narration, no captions, no explanation, and no music. And, several stories had sections that just felt insincere. I really believed that some students wanted to see Paris. Others, I had a hard time buying that they would ever go to Italy to see Venice "and other sighs." For the most part, though, everyone had several good elements to their story.
At the end of each class she did something that I wasn't expecting, but was really pleased to see. She just asked for feedback on the project. Apparently she does this for every project. I did this from time to time when I taught, but not nearly enough. It was very informal, too. She just asked, and kids raised their hands to comment.
Fortunately, I happened to have my computer on me and just took notes (for my own reflective benefit, and for this blog). (The computer is a good thing because I type faster than I can write neatly).
Predictably, the conversation took a pretty similar course in all of her classes. The first two offered their comments with little extra prodding. The last class was hesitant to speak at all, though. They did come to many of the same conclusions as the first too, but it took some leading questions to get them anywhere. It reminded me of the first day I'd been in that class and, as this group of girls came through the door talking a mile a minute, the teacher told me "if you ask them to talk, you get stares. If you let them talk, they won't shut up."
The most common comment from students was that they needed more time. Going a long with that, several agreed that if they had been able to work on it from home it wouldn't have been so bad. Or, they would have been able to work more efficiently (my word) if they had had more time ahead of time to learn and get used to the program. (It makes me feel like I'm doing a decent job of reflecting that I was able to anticipate this before hearing the student feedback). Some other criticism were that a lot of the projects were too similar to one another and not enough were original; the computers themselves froze or didn't connect properly which wasted a lot of in-class work time for some students; some people didn't have access to cameras so they didn't have access to personal pictures; some people had so many pictures they didn't know how to fit them all in or what to do with them; the background noise of the class made recording hard; they were embarrassed to show them; and some students (mostly the same that had been making this complain since day one) didn't see a point in having to record themselves talk. One student said she didn't see a point to the project at all, and another said she didn't really see how it was related to Helen Keller.
A lot of these problems could actually be fixed with more time, more explanation in the beginnig, and now having a few projects to show as examples. More time will let them learn the program, give them more time to plan out thier story, allow us teachers to make accomodations for small groups to record outside of the classroom, and give students time to really fine tune their projects for a better finished product. I would say that, using the analogy of an essay assignment, students did some prewriting and a first draft, but some didn't have time for much, if any, editing.
One thing I didn't anticipate was the a lot of students didn't know how (or didn't want) to limit their pictures of friends. They wanted to use every picture on their camera. Next time when I explain about not over using transitions and making the story flow and using music that makes sense, I will a) better explain what I mean about music making sense and b) explain that sometimes less is more and using too many pictures that have nothing new to add to the story will bore the audience. I would also like to add an audience grade component to the project. I don't know how many teachers would be willing to use this as part of the grade, or how heavily they would weigh it, but I think allowing students to critique one another, with their feedback being worth something, it would encourage them to a) do better on their own projects, b) feel a little empowered in class, and c) if they were allowed to critique their own projects, too, help them learn to be more reflective.
Only one comment really bothered me. One student said that she didn't see a point in using the computers for the project. She liked the idea of what they were doing, but would have prefered to just make a scrap book. I know that this particular students had a good deal of trouble with getting the laptop to boot up properly and connect to the network. And, she missed a day, and therefore missed in class time to work. I think perhaps we need to do a better job of explaining to students that they need to learn how to figure out how to do things. I hope that, even though she was complaining in class, she actually did get something out of the project, even if she doesn't realize it yet. I hope that she didn't just learn a little about Photo Story, but that she was able to reflect on herself, and to pick up a few tricks about learning something new.
There were some good comments too. I just like saving the posititves for last. Students called the project unique. Some said that, given more time, they could have really gotten into it ("I could have talked for days about what I really wanted to see.) Some enjoyed working on the project, and even used the word fun. And, my favorite comments, were the students who wanted to do it again, and felt that they could do so much better next time.
Fortunately, a lot of these same students are working on the bio project, and will have the chance, if they choose, to use a Photo Story for the creek project.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sight Project--Day Four
Day four was much better than day three. I was really impressed by how well the students from the class that had all of the issues got over it. I've seen in the past that if something goes wrong with a project, students can write that project off all together and adopt a very negative attitude. But, at the beginning of class, they all got out their computers and started working. This is either a resilient class, or a class that really likes this project.
There were significantly less technical issues overall. That made the creating process go much more smoothly. And, I was better prepared to deal with the few issues that did come up.
I was impressed by students awareness of one another. After it was clear that some students were beginning to record, everyone automatically switched in to careful whisper mode without being told. A few students preferred to be out in the hallway to record (probably more from being embarrassed about talking to themselves in class than concerned about background noise.) And I was pleased to see students helping one another out. A few kids did figure out some parts of the program I hadn't shown them and, not only did they use them, they helped other students figure them out as well.
There were varying degrees of planning for narration. A few of them used the notes section on the recording page to plan out their narration. Some of them wrote scripts. A few decided to ignore all advice and wing it. I am curious to see how the presentations compare.
And that idea also ties in with something I overheard later in the day. I'll come back to that.
This was the last time the students had inclass time to work on their projects. As a result, a lot of extra kids showed up to the study hall later in the day. It was so packed that kids were sitting on the floor. Quite a few students even elected to stay afterschool to work on the program.
The teacher and I both stayed about a half hour past our contract hours. I don't know if this was something she was upset about or if she was okay with it. She didn't seem particularly put out, though. I was very tired by the end of the day, but more than happy to stay and help the kids out. I knew that, to some extent, they didn't get enough class time for the project. If I knew that all of the kids had access to Photo Story at home, and could have planned out their narration while watching their videos, even if they couldn't record, I would feel differently. But, I know that for most students, they weren't able to work on it at all outside of class. So I was happy to stay and give them the extra time they needed.
I was a little dissapointed by one comment I overheard. A student had just finished the narration for one slide--describing what she would do with her very last day of sight--and turned to the girl beside her and said, "not that I'd actually do that." I felt that she had missed a large part of the point. This project was supposed to be about her, and she just made it about the pictures she happened to have on her camera at the time.
In the future, I would like to introduce this project to students earlier, and give them time, outside of class, to collect pictures of things they would miss if they went blind. I might start having them do this at then beggining of readin "The Miracle Worker." That way, they would have time to think about what was important to them, and to find pictures of it. I might even start encouraging them to find and download internet pictures of things they couldn't acutally take pictures of. That way, studnets would be better prepared for the project, and it would have more of a connection with Helen Keller.
Another interesting twist might be to have them collecting these photos and images while reading the play, but with a different objective. Instead of collecting what they would want to see with three days of sight, they could collect what they would want to show Helen if she got her three days to see. That way, the students would not only have a personal connection with the project, but with the play, and would have to reflect on themselves in a different way. I'll have to share that thought with the teacher. The idea of more prep work ahead of time will probably appeal to her. I'm not sure how she'll feel about alterin the purpose of the project though.
And now back to the comment I over heard. This was either afterschool or in study hall--for some reason I can't remember which. One student basically said that the had really disliked this project, but now thought Photo Story was really cool. He wants to use it for a project he's doing in his bio class.
The reason seems fairly simple. Students don't know how to use these programs. They get frustrated. They want someone to take them by the hand and give them all the answers. But, if forced to figure some things out--or led through some problem solving--they will slowly get it. Once they get it, then they can focus on the project and not the tech.
I've been eager to get teachers to use tech in an appropriate way--in a way that supports their learning goals. I'm rethinking. I shouldn't focus on "which tech can achieve this for you" but on "how can the tech your students are familiar with achieve this for you." I would like to see teachers doing more projects, using the tech more frequently. If they started the year with an easier project--a learning goal that was simpler for students to achieve--the students could focus on learning the tech without loosing sight of the context of the project. As it stands, some students lost this project while trying to make Photo Story work.
For the rest of the year, and next year, I will beging talking with my teachers about this idea. I hope that they will see it and understand. I think it will also help with the teachers learning the tech. As much as I enjoy being in the classroom with the students, I know that the teachers are not becoming as comfortable with the tech as I want them to be. I we focused on one or two programs, and made them fit the learning goals, then the students and the teacher would have time to learn the programs and become comfortable with them. Then, by the time harder projects came around, the teacher wouldn't even need me any more.
Hmmm...a very smart man once said to me that his goal was to be obsolete. Funny. Guess it took me this long to really understand what he was saying. We had different learning objectives for our students, but the same goal for ourselves.
There were significantly less technical issues overall. That made the creating process go much more smoothly. And, I was better prepared to deal with the few issues that did come up.
I was impressed by students awareness of one another. After it was clear that some students were beginning to record, everyone automatically switched in to careful whisper mode without being told. A few students preferred to be out in the hallway to record (probably more from being embarrassed about talking to themselves in class than concerned about background noise.) And I was pleased to see students helping one another out. A few kids did figure out some parts of the program I hadn't shown them and, not only did they use them, they helped other students figure them out as well.
There were varying degrees of planning for narration. A few of them used the notes section on the recording page to plan out their narration. Some of them wrote scripts. A few decided to ignore all advice and wing it. I am curious to see how the presentations compare.
And that idea also ties in with something I overheard later in the day. I'll come back to that.
This was the last time the students had inclass time to work on their projects. As a result, a lot of extra kids showed up to the study hall later in the day. It was so packed that kids were sitting on the floor. Quite a few students even elected to stay afterschool to work on the program.
The teacher and I both stayed about a half hour past our contract hours. I don't know if this was something she was upset about or if she was okay with it. She didn't seem particularly put out, though. I was very tired by the end of the day, but more than happy to stay and help the kids out. I knew that, to some extent, they didn't get enough class time for the project. If I knew that all of the kids had access to Photo Story at home, and could have planned out their narration while watching their videos, even if they couldn't record, I would feel differently. But, I know that for most students, they weren't able to work on it at all outside of class. So I was happy to stay and give them the extra time they needed.
I was a little dissapointed by one comment I overheard. A student had just finished the narration for one slide--describing what she would do with her very last day of sight--and turned to the girl beside her and said, "not that I'd actually do that." I felt that she had missed a large part of the point. This project was supposed to be about her, and she just made it about the pictures she happened to have on her camera at the time.
In the future, I would like to introduce this project to students earlier, and give them time, outside of class, to collect pictures of things they would miss if they went blind. I might start having them do this at then beggining of readin "The Miracle Worker." That way, they would have time to think about what was important to them, and to find pictures of it. I might even start encouraging them to find and download internet pictures of things they couldn't acutally take pictures of. That way, studnets would be better prepared for the project, and it would have more of a connection with Helen Keller.
Another interesting twist might be to have them collecting these photos and images while reading the play, but with a different objective. Instead of collecting what they would want to see with three days of sight, they could collect what they would want to show Helen if she got her three days to see. That way, the students would not only have a personal connection with the project, but with the play, and would have to reflect on themselves in a different way. I'll have to share that thought with the teacher. The idea of more prep work ahead of time will probably appeal to her. I'm not sure how she'll feel about alterin the purpose of the project though.
And now back to the comment I over heard. This was either afterschool or in study hall--for some reason I can't remember which. One student basically said that the had really disliked this project, but now thought Photo Story was really cool. He wants to use it for a project he's doing in his bio class.
The reason seems fairly simple. Students don't know how to use these programs. They get frustrated. They want someone to take them by the hand and give them all the answers. But, if forced to figure some things out--or led through some problem solving--they will slowly get it. Once they get it, then they can focus on the project and not the tech.
I've been eager to get teachers to use tech in an appropriate way--in a way that supports their learning goals. I'm rethinking. I shouldn't focus on "which tech can achieve this for you" but on "how can the tech your students are familiar with achieve this for you." I would like to see teachers doing more projects, using the tech more frequently. If they started the year with an easier project--a learning goal that was simpler for students to achieve--the students could focus on learning the tech without loosing sight of the context of the project. As it stands, some students lost this project while trying to make Photo Story work.
For the rest of the year, and next year, I will beging talking with my teachers about this idea. I hope that they will see it and understand. I think it will also help with the teachers learning the tech. As much as I enjoy being in the classroom with the students, I know that the teachers are not becoming as comfortable with the tech as I want them to be. I we focused on one or two programs, and made them fit the learning goals, then the students and the teacher would have time to learn the programs and become comfortable with them. Then, by the time harder projects came around, the teacher wouldn't even need me any more.
Hmmm...a very smart man once said to me that his goal was to be obsolete. Funny. Guess it took me this long to really understand what he was saying. We had different learning objectives for our students, but the same goal for ourselves.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sight Project--Day One
The sight project got off to a slightly rocky start. The teacher and I weren't on exactly the same page about the path the project was going to take.
Students have to decide what things that want to see with their last three days of sight. I was under the impression that students had already been told to start gathering pictures (bringing them from home) and thinking about what they wanted. The teacher was under the impression that students would start planning out their projects on the first day in class.
Basically, the first class was instructed on how to use Photo Story, and then told to start planning things out before going on a hodge podge truck through google images, searching for anything that popped into their minds. So, they rather predictably put aside paper and pencil that were meant for planning, and started going searching and saving, and importing photos. During class, I wrote an "order of operations" for the project on the board:
I can't say that I'm 100% satisfied with that order of operations. Again, though, it comes down to not necessarily knowing the class as well as I would like. For some students, especially less organized students, this is probably great structure. For others, its going to be restrictive. I don't think kids need to find ALL pictures before importing, but it might help them stay organized. I don't think that all students need to import ALL pictures before creating--creating covering all aspects of using the program, including scripting, ordering, etc. I think for some kids, it would be good if they felt that they could do a little--write a note or a caption, befor they forget some good idea they had.
I do think, however, that some students will do things in their own order despite what was on the board. So, again, I think that the organization will help some students, and I hope that it won't hinder others. I do agree with the teacher that having kids plan out WHAT they want before beginning an image search will prevent them from being wasteful with their time. However, I hope that students who have an idea or two know that they can still go back and add it, even if the've moved on to import or create.
For the rest of the classes, I went through the "order of operations," as I for some reason insisted on calling it, before showing them how to use Photo Story.
I was rather pleased with how my intro went. I think Photo Story is very easy to use, and most students could have picked up on it without much help. However, I took the opurtunity to go over some other computer basics. I stressed the importance of checking for network drives before beginning any work. I don't know if it is a laptop issue or a wireless issue, but frequently, students cannot connect to their network drives. They work half the class, and then can't save. Sometimes they end up saving to the desktop without telling anyone, and lose their work. So I stressed that, if they do work, they deserve to have something to show for it.
Then, when going over saving photos, I went over file organization. I talked about putting things in folders, putting things where you will remember them, and naming things with some amount of logic. I'm sure a few kids already knew what I was talking about, but my experience tells me that most of them didn't. I think we live in a world where kids have always had the latest technology, and we assume they can use it. Largely that is true. But that doesn't mean that we don't have to take a minute to teach them old time skills like organization. Most teachers know student folders end up a mess, with papers sticking out, for a majority of students. I don't think its safe to assume their computer folders look any different. I probably didn't win any converts to the cause of hyper organization, but I think I opened a few eyes to the idea that they don't have to have one giant folder full of files they can't recognize.
I also focused on the idea of this being a story telling project. I talked about how, if they scripted themselves, they would sound better. I talked about giving the narration some interest. I tend to get a little sarcastic in front of classes. So to demonstrate what I wanted, I demonstrated what I didn't want. I started with "this is a...um...a picture of my friend Janet. I would want to see her...uh...be-uh-cause...she's my friend...and, uh, yeh...that would be good to see." Then, in a monotone: "This is the ocean. It's pretty. This is a flower. It's pretty. This is my mom. She's pretty." The kids laughed--which was the point--but I think they got it. Modeling is important. A lot of times things seem obvious to teachers, and we are frustrated by students who "don't have any motivation." But, I've found that modeling will improve student outcomes significantly. Just because its obvious to a teacher, doesn't mean its as obvious to a 14 year old who is going to be a bit less self aware. And, humor sticks with people better. I think just showing them a well put together example would have been good, if I'd had one (this is the first time doing this project, so I don't), but showing them what not to do--and making it funny--is also helpful in terms of modeling.
After going through the intro, I let students get started on the project. A few kids have photobucket accounts and were looking through them for photos. Others pulled out cameras. Many went straight to google images.
I did see a few lists started. The teacher instructed students to break their project into 3 days, since it is the last three days of sight. They have to specify what they will see on day one, day two, and day three. For the most part, I saw lists for day one. This is not exactly the amount of planning the teacher wanted--she wanted full lists that could be divided by days later--but at least it is something.
One thing I noticed during class was that a few students had lists that made it look like they were going to die, not go blind. I told the teacher, who laughed, and said she'd make a small announcement tomorrow.
Since the students didn't have a full day to work, most of them focused on pictures that came easily to mind--friends and family. I'm curious what they will think of after they get past the familiar.
Students have to decide what things that want to see with their last three days of sight. I was under the impression that students had already been told to start gathering pictures (bringing them from home) and thinking about what they wanted. The teacher was under the impression that students would start planning out their projects on the first day in class.
Basically, the first class was instructed on how to use Photo Story, and then told to start planning things out before going on a hodge podge truck through google images, searching for anything that popped into their minds. So, they rather predictably put aside paper and pencil that were meant for planning, and started going searching and saving, and importing photos. During class, I wrote an "order of operations" for the project on the board:
1. Plan
2. Find
3. Import
4. Create
I can't say that I'm 100% satisfied with that order of operations. Again, though, it comes down to not necessarily knowing the class as well as I would like. For some students, especially less organized students, this is probably great structure. For others, its going to be restrictive. I don't think kids need to find ALL pictures before importing, but it might help them stay organized. I don't think that all students need to import ALL pictures before creating--creating covering all aspects of using the program, including scripting, ordering, etc. I think for some kids, it would be good if they felt that they could do a little--write a note or a caption, befor they forget some good idea they had.
I do think, however, that some students will do things in their own order despite what was on the board. So, again, I think that the organization will help some students, and I hope that it won't hinder others. I do agree with the teacher that having kids plan out WHAT they want before beginning an image search will prevent them from being wasteful with their time. However, I hope that students who have an idea or two know that they can still go back and add it, even if the've moved on to import or create.
For the rest of the classes, I went through the "order of operations," as I for some reason insisted on calling it, before showing them how to use Photo Story.
I was rather pleased with how my intro went. I think Photo Story is very easy to use, and most students could have picked up on it without much help. However, I took the opurtunity to go over some other computer basics. I stressed the importance of checking for network drives before beginning any work. I don't know if it is a laptop issue or a wireless issue, but frequently, students cannot connect to their network drives. They work half the class, and then can't save. Sometimes they end up saving to the desktop without telling anyone, and lose their work. So I stressed that, if they do work, they deserve to have something to show for it.
Then, when going over saving photos, I went over file organization. I talked about putting things in folders, putting things where you will remember them, and naming things with some amount of logic. I'm sure a few kids already knew what I was talking about, but my experience tells me that most of them didn't. I think we live in a world where kids have always had the latest technology, and we assume they can use it. Largely that is true. But that doesn't mean that we don't have to take a minute to teach them old time skills like organization. Most teachers know student folders end up a mess, with papers sticking out, for a majority of students. I don't think its safe to assume their computer folders look any different. I probably didn't win any converts to the cause of hyper organization, but I think I opened a few eyes to the idea that they don't have to have one giant folder full of files they can't recognize.
I also focused on the idea of this being a story telling project. I talked about how, if they scripted themselves, they would sound better. I talked about giving the narration some interest. I tend to get a little sarcastic in front of classes. So to demonstrate what I wanted, I demonstrated what I didn't want. I started with "this is a...um...a picture of my friend Janet. I would want to see her...uh...be-uh-cause...she's my friend...and, uh, yeh...that would be good to see." Then, in a monotone: "This is the ocean. It's pretty. This is a flower. It's pretty. This is my mom. She's pretty." The kids laughed--which was the point--but I think they got it. Modeling is important. A lot of times things seem obvious to teachers, and we are frustrated by students who "don't have any motivation." But, I've found that modeling will improve student outcomes significantly. Just because its obvious to a teacher, doesn't mean its as obvious to a 14 year old who is going to be a bit less self aware. And, humor sticks with people better. I think just showing them a well put together example would have been good, if I'd had one (this is the first time doing this project, so I don't), but showing them what not to do--and making it funny--is also helpful in terms of modeling.
After going through the intro, I let students get started on the project. A few kids have photobucket accounts and were looking through them for photos. Others pulled out cameras. Many went straight to google images.
I did see a few lists started. The teacher instructed students to break their project into 3 days, since it is the last three days of sight. They have to specify what they will see on day one, day two, and day three. For the most part, I saw lists for day one. This is not exactly the amount of planning the teacher wanted--she wanted full lists that could be divided by days later--but at least it is something.
One thing I noticed during class was that a few students had lists that made it look like they were going to die, not go blind. I told the teacher, who laughed, and said she'd make a small announcement tomorrow.
Since the students didn't have a full day to work, most of them focused on pictures that came easily to mind--friends and family. I'm curious what they will think of after they get past the familiar.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Reading Project--End
I haven't had a chance to update on this project.
With snow days, conferences, and trainings, I was out of the building for the very end of the project. The Reading teacher told me that she had very little trouble finishing up the recordings. She had a few absent kids that she had to record after the official end of the project. She had one student who refused to read in front of the class, but agreed to be recorded after school.
We had some time to discuss the assessment for the project. Most of that was decided early on, because she had to give the students a rubric. The whole project was 75 points, with 5 points each given for meeting deadlines along the way. Twenty points were given for creativity in selecting the article and modifying it for speaking. And, 15 points each were given for accuracy, pace, and emotion. So, the bulk of what was assessed was the three main goals that she had for the read aloud. We were a little worried about having so many points for the creativity with the assignment, but it did end up being a large part of the WORK involved. The teacher took notes while the students read live, and then used the recordings to be able to revisit and look at specifics. So even grading this assignment turned into a large time commitment for her.
Throughout this assignment, we've talked about changes that we would like to make for next year. After having started the recordings, I was made aware that several teachers have actual video cameras, so I would like to use those next year. Also, we talked about using monologues that would be performance ready, to cut down on the prep time and frustration for students, and allow the project to be more clearly focused on reading out loud. I think this year, the students could very easily come away from this project feeling like it was an internet search and writing project. We are still not in agreement about having the same reading being used for the initial recording/reflection and the second recording, or having part of the grade based on the improvements listed in the reflection. i think it is important for me to try to be practical. These are not my classes, and I am not ultimately responsible for grading their assignments. Partly, I think this might be a matter of not having high expectations--the Reading teacher does not feel that the students are able to write good reflections and therefore to get much out of them. My main goal for next year will be to get the teacher to model writing a good reflection. If the reflections improve, perhaps she will see value in adding that as an assessment component in the future.
All in all I think this project was successful. The students all had to read aloud in front of the class, focusing on accuracy, pace, and emotion. There are aspect of the assignment that can, and hopefully will, be improved upon to allow the students to learn more from it in the future.
With snow days, conferences, and trainings, I was out of the building for the very end of the project. The Reading teacher told me that she had very little trouble finishing up the recordings. She had a few absent kids that she had to record after the official end of the project. She had one student who refused to read in front of the class, but agreed to be recorded after school.
We had some time to discuss the assessment for the project. Most of that was decided early on, because she had to give the students a rubric. The whole project was 75 points, with 5 points each given for meeting deadlines along the way. Twenty points were given for creativity in selecting the article and modifying it for speaking. And, 15 points each were given for accuracy, pace, and emotion. So, the bulk of what was assessed was the three main goals that she had for the read aloud. We were a little worried about having so many points for the creativity with the assignment, but it did end up being a large part of the WORK involved. The teacher took notes while the students read live, and then used the recordings to be able to revisit and look at specifics. So even grading this assignment turned into a large time commitment for her.
Throughout this assignment, we've talked about changes that we would like to make for next year. After having started the recordings, I was made aware that several teachers have actual video cameras, so I would like to use those next year. Also, we talked about using monologues that would be performance ready, to cut down on the prep time and frustration for students, and allow the project to be more clearly focused on reading out loud. I think this year, the students could very easily come away from this project feeling like it was an internet search and writing project. We are still not in agreement about having the same reading being used for the initial recording/reflection and the second recording, or having part of the grade based on the improvements listed in the reflection. i think it is important for me to try to be practical. These are not my classes, and I am not ultimately responsible for grading their assignments. Partly, I think this might be a matter of not having high expectations--the Reading teacher does not feel that the students are able to write good reflections and therefore to get much out of them. My main goal for next year will be to get the teacher to model writing a good reflection. If the reflections improve, perhaps she will see value in adding that as an assessment component in the future.
All in all I think this project was successful. The students all had to read aloud in front of the class, focusing on accuracy, pace, and emotion. There are aspect of the assignment that can, and hopefully will, be improved upon to allow the students to learn more from it in the future.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Reading Project--Day Seven
Its so easy to let this blog slip on a snow day, and we've now had two. Day seven was actually Monday, and I neglected to post at the end of the day.
I think one of the down sides of this project specifically is the deadlines. Because the students can't easily send files home, and we cannot assume that even most students have access to computers or internet at home, we have to allow class time. It really isn't realistic to say, "If you don't finish part one today in class, do it for homework." As a result, we have different kids at different points. I think it gives the students who get ahead more downtime. It also gives this project a sense of dragging. This is a problem in general that needs to be addressed. It is hard to be a CFF school, or to have teachers try to infuse technology, or to try to take school outside of the classroom walls, when students are limited by lack of access. However, that is a battle for another day. For now, part of my job, as I see it, is to help teachers to plan projects in such a way as to work around that barrier instead of giving up and being limited by it.
Another problem is with engagement. We had students pick articles that we hoped would interest them and therefore lend themselves to engagement. However, the skill being addressed by this project is reading out loud. That requires practice. Based on the construct of the class, we are working with students who are not strong in this area. Like all students, when they are not strong at something, they don't want to do it over and over again, even though that is a great way to build up a skill.
As a result, students do not want to practice their readings. We encourage them and provide time. We've provided incentive in the form of having something interesting to read, and having to read it in front of an audience. However, those incentives do not seem to be enough for some of the students.
Something I need to reflect further on is how to engage students and make them want to practice doing something when they know that they are not strong at it. I know that most un-athletic kids won't practice football drills over and over because they feel they won't ever be good at football, and don't see a point. Perhaps this project needed more emphasis on a point--why do these students need to be adept at reading out loud. Also, going back to the idea of assessing them on improvement, I think many of them would benefit from a concrete goal. Its hard to be motivated by just "doing well." I think "doing better than last time in a measurable way" would work better.
I've finally had a chance to read through the reflections that the students wrote. I see what the Reading teacher meant by vague. Many of the comments are along the lines of "my pace was good" or "my pace was medium" or "I messed up a few words" or "I will improve by reading through the report next time."
At first I was inclined, as past posts indicate, to say that students were not taking advantage of this reflection. However, after reading the reflections, I don't really think that is the whole case. Once again, I've fallen into the "well they should know how to do that" mind frame. They are freshmen. They don't really know how to reflect, and they don't know how to self evaluate. In the future, I would like to see this project being with the class doing a group reflection. The teacher could play back an anonymous reading. Then, the whole class could critique it, point out what was done well, what needed work, and how the reader could improve. The teacher could record comments on the board, move them into categories, and then have students discuss if they are specific enough and how to improve the comments for a reflective paper.
Edit: 3:00 pm 1/29
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcn3kbwp_19dmzfcrcn
I've transferred three student reflections into a google document as an example
I think one of the down sides of this project specifically is the deadlines. Because the students can't easily send files home, and we cannot assume that even most students have access to computers or internet at home, we have to allow class time. It really isn't realistic to say, "If you don't finish part one today in class, do it for homework." As a result, we have different kids at different points. I think it gives the students who get ahead more downtime. It also gives this project a sense of dragging. This is a problem in general that needs to be addressed. It is hard to be a CFF school, or to have teachers try to infuse technology, or to try to take school outside of the classroom walls, when students are limited by lack of access. However, that is a battle for another day. For now, part of my job, as I see it, is to help teachers to plan projects in such a way as to work around that barrier instead of giving up and being limited by it.
Another problem is with engagement. We had students pick articles that we hoped would interest them and therefore lend themselves to engagement. However, the skill being addressed by this project is reading out loud. That requires practice. Based on the construct of the class, we are working with students who are not strong in this area. Like all students, when they are not strong at something, they don't want to do it over and over again, even though that is a great way to build up a skill.
As a result, students do not want to practice their readings. We encourage them and provide time. We've provided incentive in the form of having something interesting to read, and having to read it in front of an audience. However, those incentives do not seem to be enough for some of the students.
Something I need to reflect further on is how to engage students and make them want to practice doing something when they know that they are not strong at it. I know that most un-athletic kids won't practice football drills over and over because they feel they won't ever be good at football, and don't see a point. Perhaps this project needed more emphasis on a point--why do these students need to be adept at reading out loud. Also, going back to the idea of assessing them on improvement, I think many of them would benefit from a concrete goal. Its hard to be motivated by just "doing well." I think "doing better than last time in a measurable way" would work better.
I've finally had a chance to read through the reflections that the students wrote. I see what the Reading teacher meant by vague. Many of the comments are along the lines of "my pace was good" or "my pace was medium" or "I messed up a few words" or "I will improve by reading through the report next time."
At first I was inclined, as past posts indicate, to say that students were not taking advantage of this reflection. However, after reading the reflections, I don't really think that is the whole case. Once again, I've fallen into the "well they should know how to do that" mind frame. They are freshmen. They don't really know how to reflect, and they don't know how to self evaluate. In the future, I would like to see this project being with the class doing a group reflection. The teacher could play back an anonymous reading. Then, the whole class could critique it, point out what was done well, what needed work, and how the reader could improve. The teacher could record comments on the board, move them into categories, and then have students discuss if they are specific enough and how to improve the comments for a reflective paper.
Edit: 3:00 pm 1/29
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcn3kbwp_19dmzfcrcn
I've transferred three student reflections into a google document as an example
Friday, January 23, 2009
Reading Project--Day Six
Today was the due date for all students to have selected an article to read off of the teleprompter.
After finding an article, they have to modify it. They have to include a greeting, a sign off, and change around any words or wording that don't work for a spoken report. I have a few concerns.
Some of the students who finished early didn't want to take the extra time to practice. They will have in class practice time. But, they could have started practicing today. Some did. Others decided it was free "play on the internet time."
I see two possibilities for improving this in the future. 1) Give the students a chance to record and here themselves read this article. Either have the first recording be after finding and modifying an article, or tell students who finish early to record this in Audacity. That way, students could hear this article. They would have a better grasp on words they don't know how to pronounce, or awkward phrasing. 2) Put more of a premium on improvement. If students could use their reflections as a sort of check list, their practice would be more focused than just "read well." It would be "read so that you can work on these three specific things."
Another concern is that students are not even silently reading the articles. Many are. Some are skimming or picking articles with interesting topics. I think that for some, they will not fully read the article until the in class practice day. On the one hand, it will hopefully give them some concept of consequences for slacking. On the other, it will possibly hurt their confidence. I'm expecting some reactions of "this is too hard," or "this is pointless" from some students, not because its too hard, but because they did not take the steps to make it doable.
I came to the conclusion of not reading based on some things I saw. A few students did paste their articles into the teleprompter, making the text large enough for me to read from behind them. Some of the things I saw were phrases in parenthesis that made for awkward sentences, and large, often technical words.
Now that I think of it, some of that does come from a lack of thorough reading. Some of it probably comes form a lack of comprehension. Its not that the students are slacking (not all of them) and not trying to read. It is that they are so focused on reading aloud that they are missing meaning. They don't realize that something sounds awkward because they don't realize how it sounds at all. It is a string of words, and their goal is to get all of the words, not the sentence.
I talked to the Reading teacher about adding a component to the grade that reflected improvement on the specifics that students put in the reflection. She agreed that it was a good idea. However, she commented that most of the reflections are still very vague. They don't have specifics that students could work on. Also, she said that the things that students would need to be working on are often the things that they just don't do--perhaps things that they don't even realize they need to work on.
So, the students, by the sound of it, did not necessarily take full advantage of the reflection assignment. For me, the next thing I want to reflect on, is how to get students to take fuller advantage of that--in this or any other class.
After finding an article, they have to modify it. They have to include a greeting, a sign off, and change around any words or wording that don't work for a spoken report. I have a few concerns.
Some of the students who finished early didn't want to take the extra time to practice. They will have in class practice time. But, they could have started practicing today. Some did. Others decided it was free "play on the internet time."
I see two possibilities for improving this in the future. 1) Give the students a chance to record and here themselves read this article. Either have the first recording be after finding and modifying an article, or tell students who finish early to record this in Audacity. That way, students could hear this article. They would have a better grasp on words they don't know how to pronounce, or awkward phrasing. 2) Put more of a premium on improvement. If students could use their reflections as a sort of check list, their practice would be more focused than just "read well." It would be "read so that you can work on these three specific things."
Another concern is that students are not even silently reading the articles. Many are. Some are skimming or picking articles with interesting topics. I think that for some, they will not fully read the article until the in class practice day. On the one hand, it will hopefully give them some concept of consequences for slacking. On the other, it will possibly hurt their confidence. I'm expecting some reactions of "this is too hard," or "this is pointless" from some students, not because its too hard, but because they did not take the steps to make it doable.
I came to the conclusion of not reading based on some things I saw. A few students did paste their articles into the teleprompter, making the text large enough for me to read from behind them. Some of the things I saw were phrases in parenthesis that made for awkward sentences, and large, often technical words.
Now that I think of it, some of that does come from a lack of thorough reading. Some of it probably comes form a lack of comprehension. Its not that the students are slacking (not all of them) and not trying to read. It is that they are so focused on reading aloud that they are missing meaning. They don't realize that something sounds awkward because they don't realize how it sounds at all. It is a string of words, and their goal is to get all of the words, not the sentence.
I talked to the Reading teacher about adding a component to the grade that reflected improvement on the specifics that students put in the reflection. She agreed that it was a good idea. However, she commented that most of the reflections are still very vague. They don't have specifics that students could work on. Also, she said that the things that students would need to be working on are often the things that they just don't do--perhaps things that they don't even realize they need to work on.
So, the students, by the sound of it, did not necessarily take full advantage of the reflection assignment. For me, the next thing I want to reflect on, is how to get students to take fuller advantage of that--in this or any other class.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Reading Project--Day Five
Just got back from my last class of the day with the reading project.
Something that struck me very early on, and that the Reading teacher said before we started, and that every teacher knows is true every year, is that the different classes have very different personalities as a group. And, that effects how quickly students work through assignments.
The Reading teacher, being more familiar with the kids, does phrase things differently, and handles distractions differently in each class. I think as a coach, I'm at a disadvantage that disadvantages my teachers. As a teacher, I knew what to expect from classes--not always, but I had a feel for them. I knew when something would need to be presented a little differently, or which student I needed to win over at the beginning to prevent half of the class from declaring a project a failure before giving it a chance.
As a coach, I walk into each new class blind. Certainly b the end of a project, I have a better feel for classes. And, if I do a second or third project with a teacher, I won't have that same initial speed bump.
I would like to, in the future, ask teachers to let me come in and watch and/or interact with a class for a day or two before getting down to the last stages of planning. I think most teachers will understand where I'm coming from. And, if a teacher is already letting me come in to work together on a project, he/she probably won't mind letting me get my feet wet first.
As far as the project today, one of the things we are dealing with is students working at very different paces. Partly this is do to ability level. Because the second part of the project was writing a reflection, some students zipped through it because they did not reflect very seriously. Others went very slowly because they were being more methodical. Some were able to work quickly because of typing skills. Others were held up because they only know the hunt and peck method (although I wonder if speed could have been improved by allowing them to type it all out on a phone with their thumbs.) Some write slowly because it is not a strength. Other write quickly because it is.
Differing speeds are also due to absences and, of course, schedule disruptions. Ideally, I would like to have the ability to allow students to work on this at home. But, students don't have access to email to send files home, and we can't expect every student to bring a jump drive to school. And, we can't expect every student to have access to a computer at home.
I still haven't had time to read any student reflections, so it's still too early to decide if students made use of the first part of the assignment. However, I did have one idea I would like to incorporate if we do this project again. We had students reflect on what areas of their reading need improvement and what they need to do to improve, but we are not specifically evaluating if they improve those areas. I think, in the future, I would like to see some part of the evaluation of the second reading based on their reflections from the first reading.
About half of the students moved on to finding articles to read for the taped, cueprompter reading. Many of them were unsure if reading about a crime was going to be school appropriate. The Reading teacher took it on a case by case basis.
I was also happy to see that, in addition to practice with reading and writing, and reflecting on their skills, some of the students were also gaining exposure to current events. Most of the students were very interested in the articles they selected since we told them to find something that interested them. Several students found current events articles that engaged them.
Something that struck me very early on, and that the Reading teacher said before we started, and that every teacher knows is true every year, is that the different classes have very different personalities as a group. And, that effects how quickly students work through assignments.
The Reading teacher, being more familiar with the kids, does phrase things differently, and handles distractions differently in each class. I think as a coach, I'm at a disadvantage that disadvantages my teachers. As a teacher, I knew what to expect from classes--not always, but I had a feel for them. I knew when something would need to be presented a little differently, or which student I needed to win over at the beginning to prevent half of the class from declaring a project a failure before giving it a chance.
As a coach, I walk into each new class blind. Certainly b the end of a project, I have a better feel for classes. And, if I do a second or third project with a teacher, I won't have that same initial speed bump.
I would like to, in the future, ask teachers to let me come in and watch and/or interact with a class for a day or two before getting down to the last stages of planning. I think most teachers will understand where I'm coming from. And, if a teacher is already letting me come in to work together on a project, he/she probably won't mind letting me get my feet wet first.
As far as the project today, one of the things we are dealing with is students working at very different paces. Partly this is do to ability level. Because the second part of the project was writing a reflection, some students zipped through it because they did not reflect very seriously. Others went very slowly because they were being more methodical. Some were able to work quickly because of typing skills. Others were held up because they only know the hunt and peck method (although I wonder if speed could have been improved by allowing them to type it all out on a phone with their thumbs.) Some write slowly because it is not a strength. Other write quickly because it is.
Differing speeds are also due to absences and, of course, schedule disruptions. Ideally, I would like to have the ability to allow students to work on this at home. But, students don't have access to email to send files home, and we can't expect every student to bring a jump drive to school. And, we can't expect every student to have access to a computer at home.
I still haven't had time to read any student reflections, so it's still too early to decide if students made use of the first part of the assignment. However, I did have one idea I would like to incorporate if we do this project again. We had students reflect on what areas of their reading need improvement and what they need to do to improve, but we are not specifically evaluating if they improve those areas. I think, in the future, I would like to see some part of the evaluation of the second reading based on their reflections from the first reading.
About half of the students moved on to finding articles to read for the taped, cueprompter reading. Many of them were unsure if reading about a crime was going to be school appropriate. The Reading teacher took it on a case by case basis.
I was also happy to see that, in addition to practice with reading and writing, and reflecting on their skills, some of the students were also gaining exposure to current events. Most of the students were very interested in the articles they selected since we told them to find something that interested them. Several students found current events articles that engaged them.
New Blog Project--Speak
I'm now working with the English teacher from earlier in the year. We tried to create a wiki project, but it didn't make it off the ground.
We're now doing a composite wiki/blog project. I would loved this to have been a ning project. I would also have liked to have looked into embedding a blog into a wiki. However, the ning project would require students to verify membership through a link in email for homework, and the teacher didn't want to bank on that happening in a timely fashion. And, I didn't want to risk not having this project up and ready to go--or having her think it wouldn't be--by saying "give me a day or two to figure out embedding a blog in a wiki."
So, we are using a wiki discussion board for the book Speak. This is very similar to the Kite Runner project, except with a different book. Also, it is planned out to be an 8 question project from the beginning.
We are using wikispaces instead of pbwiki. I liked pbwiki's format of putting comments directly on the page for this project, but pbwiki refused to acknowledge this teacher existed. So, rather than waste time trying to trouble shoot a problem I couldn't understand, I suggested wiki spaces. She ended up liking the ability to put multiple discussion threads on one page, so it worked out for the best.
I helped the teacher create a wiki. On the first day of the project we are going to have the students sign up for the wiki using mailinator addresses. Because of issues in the Science teacher's class, I suggested, and the English teacher agrees, she should tell the students that every time they forget their username/password, they will loose 10 points (it's a high point class, so that is not as bad as it sounds.)
She is going to have one wiki. The main page will be directions. Each class will have a page linked from the main page. The class's page will direct students to click on the discussion link at the top of the page, and to click on the appropriate discussion. From there, students will have to reply to the teacher's question.
She is working out what requirements she wants for the discussion. She wants to make sure every student gets responded to, and is considering having students assigned a classmate to respond to. However, she is also thinkking of just letting students respond to whoever they want. I suggested that, since she plans on doing 8 questions, she could try it both ways and see how each works. As long as she takes the time to fully explain any new rules for each question, she can try a variety of different methods. She might even find that method A works well with one class and fails in another.
We talked, as I did with the other English teacher, about how students don't really interact with one another in class. Even with open ended questions, those who want to respond or discuss, will only talk directly with the teacher. I'm hoping these projects will help teachers to help their students understand that they can learn from one another and that they can learn through debate, discussion, disagreement, and defending their own points of view.
One thing I seem to see is that some teachers, who are very competent, and very confident in what they teach, feel that they need to take a back seat to my opinion just because we are infusing technology into a lesson plan. In a way it's flattering that they value my opinion. For the most part, I try to redirect and ask leading questions to find out what they teacher's goal is for an assignment. After all, I could easily try to accomplish my own goals, but these aren't my classes. I hope that experience using the tech will show the teachers that they have every reason to be as confident because they are as competent.
We're now doing a composite wiki/blog project. I would loved this to have been a ning project. I would also have liked to have looked into embedding a blog into a wiki. However, the ning project would require students to verify membership through a link in email for homework, and the teacher didn't want to bank on that happening in a timely fashion. And, I didn't want to risk not having this project up and ready to go--or having her think it wouldn't be--by saying "give me a day or two to figure out embedding a blog in a wiki."
So, we are using a wiki discussion board for the book Speak. This is very similar to the Kite Runner project, except with a different book. Also, it is planned out to be an 8 question project from the beginning.
We are using wikispaces instead of pbwiki. I liked pbwiki's format of putting comments directly on the page for this project, but pbwiki refused to acknowledge this teacher existed. So, rather than waste time trying to trouble shoot a problem I couldn't understand, I suggested wiki spaces. She ended up liking the ability to put multiple discussion threads on one page, so it worked out for the best.
I helped the teacher create a wiki. On the first day of the project we are going to have the students sign up for the wiki using mailinator addresses. Because of issues in the Science teacher's class, I suggested, and the English teacher agrees, she should tell the students that every time they forget their username/password, they will loose 10 points (it's a high point class, so that is not as bad as it sounds.)
She is going to have one wiki. The main page will be directions. Each class will have a page linked from the main page. The class's page will direct students to click on the discussion link at the top of the page, and to click on the appropriate discussion. From there, students will have to reply to the teacher's question.
She is working out what requirements she wants for the discussion. She wants to make sure every student gets responded to, and is considering having students assigned a classmate to respond to. However, she is also thinkking of just letting students respond to whoever they want. I suggested that, since she plans on doing 8 questions, she could try it both ways and see how each works. As long as she takes the time to fully explain any new rules for each question, she can try a variety of different methods. She might even find that method A works well with one class and fails in another.
We talked, as I did with the other English teacher, about how students don't really interact with one another in class. Even with open ended questions, those who want to respond or discuss, will only talk directly with the teacher. I'm hoping these projects will help teachers to help their students understand that they can learn from one another and that they can learn through debate, discussion, disagreement, and defending their own points of view.
One thing I seem to see is that some teachers, who are very competent, and very confident in what they teach, feel that they need to take a back seat to my opinion just because we are infusing technology into a lesson plan. In a way it's flattering that they value my opinion. For the most part, I try to redirect and ask leading questions to find out what they teacher's goal is for an assignment. After all, I could easily try to accomplish my own goals, but these aren't my classes. I hope that experience using the tech will show the teachers that they have every reason to be as confident because they are as competent.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Reading Project--Day Four
Day three was largely the same as day two. I oversaw the last of the students recording their reports. The students back in the Reading teacher's room continued to listen and work on their reflections.
Today I was back in the classroom to help students map their printers. This is a hassle, that has to be done for every student in every class, because the laptop images do not include it. The most serious part of the issue is that many of the machines will freeze during the process.
I also, for various reasons, was only able to use the LCD projector in one class. However, I think things went as smoothly as possible.
Class began with the Reading teacher passing out directions for the second part of the assignment while students logged on. This made the most logistical sense, but might not have been the best idea from a classroom management perspective. Students did pay attention to directions while waiting for their computers to boot up (they were very good about holding technical questions until she had finished speaking), but towards the end of class, as some students finished with the first part of the project, they didn't remember the directions for the second part (despite having handouts in front of them). However, had we waited until later in the class, there would have been five or so minutes of completely wasted downtime while we waited for computers to start up. Also, there would never have been a good stopping time, since students finished with the reflection at different times.
I walked the entire class through the mapping process as a group. i did it step by step, making sure to stress that if they did not follow directions, or if they tried to jump ahead, they would freeze their computers. In the first class, no one froze. It was a complete success.
In the second class, things did not go as smoothly. About a half dozen students ended up freezing and having to restart. Two students had restarted three times and were still not mapped by the end of class. However, based on experience, I knew that they could work on their reflections in word while waiting to see if the mapping would work or not. Basically, just the printer properties froze, but everything else was functioning. They would work for five minutes, check, and if the printer properties had frozen, I made them restart. For most students, this was successful--after a few minutes the printer was mapped. As I said, for two students, this didn't work.
The last class of the day was a bit more daunting. No one mapped successfully. The Reading teacher and I decided to save all of reports to my thumb drive and print them ourselves. This worked very well for a last second plan B. A few students left the mapping running in the background, and about five minutes before the bell, were getting the printers mapped successfully. The Reading teacher suggested that the delay might have been because of our distance to the printer.
I think this was one of those classes where the technology interferes with the learning. Having students stop to map a printer, or check on its progress, breaks the flow and concentration. However, it is a tech skill that they probably should have. I know several of the students will be able to map a printer without help in the future.
I've talked to the tech director and, over the summer, the school plans on having this added to the student image.
I look forward to reading over some of the student reflections and reflecting on the success of this project.
Today I was back in the classroom to help students map their printers. This is a hassle, that has to be done for every student in every class, because the laptop images do not include it. The most serious part of the issue is that many of the machines will freeze during the process.
I also, for various reasons, was only able to use the LCD projector in one class. However, I think things went as smoothly as possible.
Class began with the Reading teacher passing out directions for the second part of the assignment while students logged on. This made the most logistical sense, but might not have been the best idea from a classroom management perspective. Students did pay attention to directions while waiting for their computers to boot up (they were very good about holding technical questions until she had finished speaking), but towards the end of class, as some students finished with the first part of the project, they didn't remember the directions for the second part (despite having handouts in front of them). However, had we waited until later in the class, there would have been five or so minutes of completely wasted downtime while we waited for computers to start up. Also, there would never have been a good stopping time, since students finished with the reflection at different times.
I walked the entire class through the mapping process as a group. i did it step by step, making sure to stress that if they did not follow directions, or if they tried to jump ahead, they would freeze their computers. In the first class, no one froze. It was a complete success.
In the second class, things did not go as smoothly. About a half dozen students ended up freezing and having to restart. Two students had restarted three times and were still not mapped by the end of class. However, based on experience, I knew that they could work on their reflections in word while waiting to see if the mapping would work or not. Basically, just the printer properties froze, but everything else was functioning. They would work for five minutes, check, and if the printer properties had frozen, I made them restart. For most students, this was successful--after a few minutes the printer was mapped. As I said, for two students, this didn't work.
The last class of the day was a bit more daunting. No one mapped successfully. The Reading teacher and I decided to save all of reports to my thumb drive and print them ourselves. This worked very well for a last second plan B. A few students left the mapping running in the background, and about five minutes before the bell, were getting the printers mapped successfully. The Reading teacher suggested that the delay might have been because of our distance to the printer.
I think this was one of those classes where the technology interferes with the learning. Having students stop to map a printer, or check on its progress, breaks the flow and concentration. However, it is a tech skill that they probably should have. I know several of the students will be able to map a printer without help in the future.
I've talked to the tech director and, over the summer, the school plans on having this added to the student image.
I look forward to reading over some of the student reflections and reflecting on the success of this project.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Reading Project--Day Two
Day one went well. We didn’t get as many students recorded as we would have preferred.
By the end of day two, most of the students had been recorded. A few absent students will have to be recorded later, as well as about three who did not have time to be recorded.
Unfortunately, since I have been mostly supervising students in my room while they recorded, I have not had the opportunity to observe the students listening to themselves and working on their reflections. I hope to have a chance to do so once school begins again. I will have to work with the few students who have yet to record, but I have been told by the Reading teacher that she has not yet had the opportunity to work with the students in Word before, so I will have to be present to make sure everything goes smoothly as far as saving documents, and helping students who are not familiar with 2007.
Again, I hope that the students take advantage of the opportunity they are given for reflection in this activity. After spending a few days with the classes, and the activity, I’m beginning to think that, given the chance to do this or a similar activity again, I would avoid the word reflection with the students. It has a somewhat bad connotation with them—they think it’s a joke and/or don’t really understand what it means. I would keep the directions the same, but I would come up with a different word to replace reflection.
The students are doing well with the technology. A few have had technical difficulties, but most of those are related to students playing with the program before recording themselves and accidently changing the settings. They are also being relatively mature about using it. A few have recorded the teacher while she was giving directions, but most listened to directions and waited to record themselves. Several were very nervous about recording themselves and had to deal with “the giggles” before starting. Quite a few required a countdown to get started. However, I only had one student who was being deliberately disruptive. He was sent back to class where the Reading teacher dealt with him. He was reassigned to the final recording group and, his second time around, was as well behaved as the rest of the students.
The second part of the project is unfortunately becoming a scheduling issue. We had a vague timeline established for it. But, we had two snow days in one week, and will now not see the students until Tuesday of next week (the day we had hoped to begin the video recording). I will have to meet with the Reading teacher and figure out how we want to proceed. I am hopeful that she will not decide to forget the rest of the project because of time. She is very excited about it.
I did have the chance to look through her directions for the rest of the project. She divided the overall project into tasks with due dates: find an article, adapt the article, save the article, practice and record yourself reading the article.
At the moment, she has the students saving the webpage where they had the article posted to the teleprompter. I’m not completely sure that that will work the way she anticipates, and I will have to check on that before meeting with her. I’m also going to recommend that she has all of the students print out their adapted article so that anyone without computer access can practice from the typed article while not having to individually admit that they don’t have internet access.
By the end of day two, most of the students had been recorded. A few absent students will have to be recorded later, as well as about three who did not have time to be recorded.
Unfortunately, since I have been mostly supervising students in my room while they recorded, I have not had the opportunity to observe the students listening to themselves and working on their reflections. I hope to have a chance to do so once school begins again. I will have to work with the few students who have yet to record, but I have been told by the Reading teacher that she has not yet had the opportunity to work with the students in Word before, so I will have to be present to make sure everything goes smoothly as far as saving documents, and helping students who are not familiar with 2007.
Again, I hope that the students take advantage of the opportunity they are given for reflection in this activity. After spending a few days with the classes, and the activity, I’m beginning to think that, given the chance to do this or a similar activity again, I would avoid the word reflection with the students. It has a somewhat bad connotation with them—they think it’s a joke and/or don’t really understand what it means. I would keep the directions the same, but I would come up with a different word to replace reflection.
The students are doing well with the technology. A few have had technical difficulties, but most of those are related to students playing with the program before recording themselves and accidently changing the settings. They are also being relatively mature about using it. A few have recorded the teacher while she was giving directions, but most listened to directions and waited to record themselves. Several were very nervous about recording themselves and had to deal with “the giggles” before starting. Quite a few required a countdown to get started. However, I only had one student who was being deliberately disruptive. He was sent back to class where the Reading teacher dealt with him. He was reassigned to the final recording group and, his second time around, was as well behaved as the rest of the students.
The second part of the project is unfortunately becoming a scheduling issue. We had a vague timeline established for it. But, we had two snow days in one week, and will now not see the students until Tuesday of next week (the day we had hoped to begin the video recording). I will have to meet with the Reading teacher and figure out how we want to proceed. I am hopeful that she will not decide to forget the rest of the project because of time. She is very excited about it.
I did have the chance to look through her directions for the rest of the project. She divided the overall project into tasks with due dates: find an article, adapt the article, save the article, practice and record yourself reading the article.
At the moment, she has the students saving the webpage where they had the article posted to the teleprompter. I’m not completely sure that that will work the way she anticipates, and I will have to check on that before meeting with her. I’m also going to recommend that she has all of the students print out their adapted article so that anyone without computer access can practice from the typed article while not having to individually admit that they don’t have internet access.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Kite Runner Blog--Day One
I began the "blog" project with the English teacher yesterday (and didn't have time to blog about it). It quickly became a wiki project.
I had created a plan B--a pbwiki--just in case. First thing in the morning, I was very happy to see that the plan B wouldn't be needed, as the blog had been unblocked. I quickly checked to make sure, and it was unblocked.
I went to the lab first period. I explained the project to the kids--what we were doing, why, and how. That all went relatively well. I was having the students write their responses in Word originally. The idea was that, since the question was multi-part, they would be able to save as they went, just in case.
I walked the students through setting up google accounts using mailinator so that their names were recognizable for the teacher. There were a few bumps, but nothing I didn't expect.
And then, about five minutes after letting the students start, many started complaining that they couldn't post. Upon closer inspection I saw that even though the blog had been unblocked, the students were still blocked from posting comments. It was not something I had even considered.
I quickly shifted the plan. In order to have the students have accountability, I had to give them user names, and therefore passwords, for the wiki. I didn't do this in the best possible way. I had the kids come up one at a time to pick them.
By the end of class, all of the students had user names, but no time to sign in and post. School was canceled today, so the English teacher and I have yet to decide what to do as our next step.
The later classes went much more smoothly. I started the class by having students write down user name/password. I then sent them to the blog to begin working on their answers in Word. It took about five minutes to sign up all of the students. At that point, I stopped class, sent everyone to the wiki, and was able to trouble-shoot specific sign ins as they became issues. Everyone was able to post twice successfully.
I was a little disappointed to be using the wiki. Students were not able to reply directly to one another's comments, so they had to just put another student's name in their comment. However, this did address privacy issues.
My original thought, that students would not see the value, and would therefore do the bare minimum of two comments and not focus on engaging conversation, were right. I think, even had some been inclined to try for better conversation, the peer pressure would have probably prevented them from doing so. However, I am still inclined to think that, with continued exposure, positive feedback, interaction with the teacher, and access to resources, the students could start finding a project like this interesting.
I had created a plan B--a pbwiki--just in case. First thing in the morning, I was very happy to see that the plan B wouldn't be needed, as the blog had been unblocked. I quickly checked to make sure, and it was unblocked.
I went to the lab first period. I explained the project to the kids--what we were doing, why, and how. That all went relatively well. I was having the students write their responses in Word originally. The idea was that, since the question was multi-part, they would be able to save as they went, just in case.
I walked the students through setting up google accounts using mailinator so that their names were recognizable for the teacher. There were a few bumps, but nothing I didn't expect.
And then, about five minutes after letting the students start, many started complaining that they couldn't post. Upon closer inspection I saw that even though the blog had been unblocked, the students were still blocked from posting comments. It was not something I had even considered.
I quickly shifted the plan. In order to have the students have accountability, I had to give them user names, and therefore passwords, for the wiki. I didn't do this in the best possible way. I had the kids come up one at a time to pick them.
By the end of class, all of the students had user names, but no time to sign in and post. School was canceled today, so the English teacher and I have yet to decide what to do as our next step.
The later classes went much more smoothly. I started the class by having students write down user name/password. I then sent them to the blog to begin working on their answers in Word. It took about five minutes to sign up all of the students. At that point, I stopped class, sent everyone to the wiki, and was able to trouble-shoot specific sign ins as they became issues. Everyone was able to post twice successfully.
I was a little disappointed to be using the wiki. Students were not able to reply directly to one another's comments, so they had to just put another student's name in their comment. However, this did address privacy issues.
My original thought, that students would not see the value, and would therefore do the bare minimum of two comments and not focus on engaging conversation, were right. I think, even had some been inclined to try for better conversation, the peer pressure would have probably prevented them from doing so. However, I am still inclined to think that, with continued exposure, positive feedback, interaction with the teacher, and access to resources, the students could start finding a project like this interesting.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Reading Project--Day One
I got into the classroom with the reading project for the first time today. All in all I think things went really well.
As the teacher said, each of her classes has a very different personality.
The project, in my opinion, is really worthwhile. And that is largely because of the reflective element that the reading teacher based it off of.
Yesterday, the students did a pair reading. They listened to one another and gave each other feedback. Based on the feedback, they had to reflect on APE (the things you need to not sound like an ape when you read)--accuracy, pacing, and expression.
She wasn't entirely pleased with their reflections from yesterday. She revisited what directions they had been given and created a writing assignment for today. After the students recorded themselves, they had to listen to themselves at least twice. While listening, they had to read the article and find miscues and errors. Then, taking that information, they had to reflect on APE. She gave students specific directions. For each letter, they had to find two things they did well, two things that need improvement, and two ways they can work on improving them. They have to find specifics from their recordings.
This is of course in preparation for the next project where everyone will hear them read. This way they get a chance to hear themselves and a) realize how important it is to practice and b) figure out what they need to work on.
We didn't get as many kids recorded as I had hoped. However, that was largely do to some house keeping that needed to be taken care of. We'll still be able to finish most if not all of the recordings tomorrow. My biggest worried--the microphones picking up too much background noise from other kids reading--was not a large problem. Its low level buzz, but students can still make themselves out clearly on their own recordings.
I think the teacher is currently pleased with how the project is going. She also said that, especially now that it is started, she's very happy to have a second person.
I am anxious to see how much the students improve between the first round of recordings and the second. In other words, I'm anxious to see if the students are taking advantage of the reflection and learning from the work they do.
As the teacher said, each of her classes has a very different personality.
The project, in my opinion, is really worthwhile. And that is largely because of the reflective element that the reading teacher based it off of.
Yesterday, the students did a pair reading. They listened to one another and gave each other feedback. Based on the feedback, they had to reflect on APE (the things you need to not sound like an ape when you read)--accuracy, pacing, and expression.
She wasn't entirely pleased with their reflections from yesterday. She revisited what directions they had been given and created a writing assignment for today. After the students recorded themselves, they had to listen to themselves at least twice. While listening, they had to read the article and find miscues and errors. Then, taking that information, they had to reflect on APE. She gave students specific directions. For each letter, they had to find two things they did well, two things that need improvement, and two ways they can work on improving them. They have to find specifics from their recordings.
This is of course in preparation for the next project where everyone will hear them read. This way they get a chance to hear themselves and a) realize how important it is to practice and b) figure out what they need to work on.
We didn't get as many kids recorded as I had hoped. However, that was largely do to some house keeping that needed to be taken care of. We'll still be able to finish most if not all of the recordings tomorrow. My biggest worried--the microphones picking up too much background noise from other kids reading--was not a large problem. Its low level buzz, but students can still make themselves out clearly on their own recordings.
I think the teacher is currently pleased with how the project is going. She also said that, especially now that it is started, she's very happy to have a second person.
I am anxious to see how much the students improve between the first round of recordings and the second. In other words, I'm anxious to see if the students are taking advantage of the reflection and learning from the work they do.
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