Final Project by Sharon

My final project includes coaching teachers how to teach weather to students using technology.

Some of the components include using a camera to take daily pictures of the sky and weather activity occurring outside.  Use the "VoiceThread" website to allow students to narrate their photos. Make it accessible to the public and allow others to comment.  The Google calendar can be used to record in words what the weather is doing that day and also to record the temperature.  If thermometers are not available a website like www.weather.com can be used to find out the weather report temperature in your area.  Any website used will be documented in diigo so that students can easily get to them.

I would suggest to teachers to choose "reporters" to do a weather report in the morning.  This could include students writing a quick script, edit it, and present/produce it for an audience of students.   It could be done daily as part of the morning announcements.  These reports could be recorded either before or during the presentation so that students can review them to look for ways to improve and comment on what they like.

I would encourage teachers to use Quizlet by going to http://quizlet.com to either practice weather vocabulary already in the databank or to create your own cards with relevant vocabulary.

Another component I would add is to find someone or a class in another location that may have different weather, ie:  Maine vs. Florida, and Skype with them to discuss weather patterns, daily weather, differences in temperature, etc.  Also, students could discuss what is done with leisure time relevant to weather and climate, ie:  skiing, snowboarding vs. surfing, water sports.  It can show how climate can effect how people live, ie:  paying for heat in the winter in Maine vs. paying for air conditioning in Florida.

To see what is going on in other parts of the world a good resource is www.earthweek.com.  This website has a newsfeed component to keep you updated on earthly conditions.  It tells you the hottest and coldest temperatures on earth documented that particular week.  Other extreme weather information in the world is also documented in this website such as if a hurricane or typhoon occurred anywhere and where that location might be.

voicethread by Sharon

I reviewed the "voicethread" tool.  This was something I viewed as being a great way to enrich and expand projects.  I was only able to review what it was about but learning it would take more time.  An example that was posted was a first grade class project on fish.  The students were able to add a recorded  "fish fact" in their own voice to play while their self created fish was displayed in a slide show.  This program allows you to add a recording to a video, photo, slide, etc. to explain or comment on that clip.  Others can also make comments by either writing one or recording one with a window that shows on the side.  They also reviewed the different ways to record comments including one that allows voicethread to call you on the phone and prompt you on what to do to record.

The teacher then posted the slide show to the school website so that others, including parents and the school community could view it and make written and/or recorded comments.

I would definitely investigate this tool further to be able to try it in my classroom.  To access it go to http://voicethread.com.

Reflection

So far what I have learned has exceeded my expectations.  I particularly liked the flash card tool that was presented by Lisa during our "sharing" session.  This is a useful tool that can be applied to all grade levels and one that I would use with my students.

Final Project Idea - Revised

My final project idea is coaching teachers how to use technology we have learned in this class on the topic of "weather" to elementary students. 

Reflection on "Turning on the Lights" by Sharon

I am now seeing that all types of technology can be used in the classroom setting and that powering down can actually hinder students' growth in the area of technology.  The only thing that concerns me is are the distractions that go along with electronic devices like the girl who did not get her project completed because she internet shopping.

I like the idea of using the cameras on cell phones to record and enrich learning and recording devices like mp3 players to use music for projects or to have access to recorded material.

I have been in a middle school with laptops for every student for the past eight years.  This is something that is going to be a challenge for me in my new position because my students used them every period, every day whether it included the portaportal, research, education games and sites, word processing, etc.  I have also learned that not only are the students not going to have "immediate" access, they give the teachers PC's which are not even compatible with the Mac's the students use.  

I used portaportal in the past for students to access my chosen websites easily but the benefit of diigo is that it will search and sort the websites for you.  It is much easier to research and log in a systematically what information you find.

I do not know the policy yet of my new school, but here in Maine, students were not allowed on social networking sites like Facebook even at home, were not allowed to email each other on school time,  forbidden from noneducational sites like gaming, could not leave the laptop unattended, and the student and the parent had to complete a class offered by the school before the laptop could go home.  Cell phones and iPods were not allowed to be in class.  They were supposed to be turned off and in the locker.  I now know there are ways to allow electronic devices in the classroom with purpose and responsibility.  The biggest challenge if I were still there would be the hairy eyeball I would get from colleagues because I did not follow the discipline code regarding electronic devices.

Professional development should be offered on this topic to show teachers the value of being "plugged in" and how good teaching practices can be a part of utilizing the technology students have in their locker. Just enlightening teachers by showing them how to search for ideas and topics might be what they need to spark that desire.  Sometimes fear of the unknown can limit us but if it is no longer unknown we can develop that comfort level to utilize these skills on a regular basis.

What I Have Learned by Sharon

Despite sometimes being frustrated, I am very happy with what I have learned so far in this class.  In addition to the valuable and useful websites that have been provided, I now have a broader perspective on how to view technology and its uses.  I just wish I could better grasp the starting points and procedures for each of the tools we are using in the class.  Maybe a step by step instruction sheet would help so that I can reference exactly where to go to start that blog, make that label, and so forth.

Learning about iTunes was helpful because prior to this I did not realize there were free usable downloads.  This is something I will use in future.

Up until now I assumed blogs were just other people's opinions.  I did not realize that many of them are valuable resources with factual information.  I know some of that information will have to be sorted out but a great deal of it can be very useful. 

Literacy Article Blog by Sharon

Literacy now encompasses many facets of communication which is outlined in this article.  It involves being both a consumer and a producer.  Teachers have to change their way of thinking and encourage their students to experiment without distraction.  The writer uses the term "media collage" giving a vision that communication can occur in multiple ways.  I see it as almost an "organized chaos."  It does not necessarily mean ridding us of the old to make room for the new.  It is just developing and adding to our toolbox.  Also. the issue of digital responsibility is addressed and how to use the it wisely.  Now they want to take literacy one step further to fluency and make it the leadership point.

Teachers are the vessels to make this progression but they are feeling overwhelmed.  The writer would like teachers to concentrate first on expression and then add in the technology piece later.