New VoiceThread Project

OK. I have to come up with a new project to use for the STEP Wiki that can be completed prior to the June 2nd deadline. I am going to put something together where everyone can comment. I'll give it as either a class or a homework assignment. Hoping the technology fairy is nice to me over the next few days. LOL!!!!!!!!!! Trying to keep it light with a positive attitude attached.

May have to abandon the project

I've been out of the office this week. Been pretty much out-of-commision since last Saturday. That makes me well behind my timeline for both the Online Music Careers Portfolio and the Speaking with the Instrumentalist project, both using Voice Thread. I am trying to load the videos to the Voicethread site but have been unsuccessful today. I don't know if it is the computer (using the PGCPS laptop). Just a word to the STEP Program administrators, we really need items that are able to get the work done. I've had to use my personal computer to accomplish most of my work, especially those things that require a lot of space to be used for pictures or video. If you are going to successfully get all of the projects done as well as actively use the equipment and ideas in your classroom, you need more memory and faster machines. Again, just an idea. It would keep the participants from getting so frustrated and give better quality projects instead of settling for things that take up less space.

Good Knowledge to have!

I was sharing my End of Year Photostory with my sister the other day (who also works with children as her career) and she was amazed. She explained that she is hoping to get pictures onto a DVD in a Photostory type manner, so she can look at her pictures in the future, but not have them clogging up her computer.
I introduced her to Photostory, and showed her some unique things you can do with the pictures, and she was really excited. When she is ready for music, I will be helping her convert music for the background. My only question, which I am not sure how to answer, is whether or not it can be saved in DVD format to watch on a tv....? If you are reading this, and you know the answer to my question, that would be really helpful!

It would also help to know, because in the future (since I continue to make end of year photostories every year...) I can save it to a DVD and it could be watched on tv as opposed to having to have a computer!!!

End of Year Slideshow

I have come up with a brilliant idea to put a slideshow together of all the pictures I have taken this year. I am just in the beginning process right now, but I think the final result will be worth all of the hard work. I think it will be neat to not only have technology in the classroom this year, but to also send a little bit of it home with each student at the end of the year. I will be making copies of the photostory for the children. Then we will all be reminded of the technology we used in the classroom.
After working with Photostory, I checked out the Windows Movie Maker, and realized that, even though I can start and stop songs in specific spots of the music, it is much easier to use Photostory. Not only for me, but if I have the students make one, it will be more user friendly for them as well!

Photo Story

Today was great! My effort and hard work was worth the cheers and excitement from the class on the metric system photo story. They continually asked why so many pictures, why do we need to jump, make funny faces?

After they watched the finished project the were very excited! I think they enjoyed the music more than the concept.

Podcasting (VoiceThread)

Maybe I was a little too ambitious with my voicethread project. Trying to do an online Music Careers Portfolio has proven to be much more work than I was ready for or even have time for with Spring Concert, Choral Festival, Muffins for Mom, Donuts for Dad, Yearbook, Music Field Trip, and Principal Retirement Dinner. Trying to keep students on schedule and filming them for the posts is very difficult with everything else I have going on. However, I feel it will be worth it if we are able to get imput for professionals in the Music Industry.

Wikispaces has a blog feature

Why couldn't we use the blogging feature of the Wiki spaces page instead of having to create and manage all of these accounts. Keeping up with accounts, passwords, log ins, features and limitations is a hassle. STEP should try to consolidate some of these programs to uses multiple features within one or two products. Just for meeting the requirements of the STEP portfolio, I have had to create 10 different accounts, some of which I've only used once or twice for conversion purposes. What we are doing needs to be as functional as possible so that we can continue implementing the Technology standards instead of fumbling through the access information of different sites. I love the technology and hate the multiple passwords.

Making progress

My class is enjoying the new skills that I've been teaching them. The "technology club" has become quite independent with their movie making. In fact, they prefer photostories and movie-making over PowerPoints. However, if I give an assignment, the negotiations begin immediately. "Please, let me do a photo story instead? May I come in at recess to work on my project? How about-- I do two. One the way you said and another one for 'extra credit'" I don't think they realize that they are working harder than they have to. There's little surprise that they never offer to write any report though.

Finished

Well, it is official! I have put my projects all up online, and I am finished! Even though it was frustrating at times, I have learned new and interesting technology tools to use in my classroom. I used Voice Thread in one way, having the students respond to questions about a book we read in class. As I sit and plan for my weeks' lessons, I know that I can also have the students complete a project and then talk about it online. Then I can have professionals go on and comment to them! It is really a neat tool that both the students and I enjoy.
The digital camera is also nice. Not only can it be used to put together educational lessons, but I can also use it for my "End of Year Slide Show". I am now headed to work on that!
The Document camera as always is proving to be a good tool. I know that if I want the students to see the money we are working with, we can put it under the document camera. Then students can manipulate the money as we are counting its value, and other students can watch to agree or disagree!
Technology overall is excellent! It gets the classroom out of the normal "paper and pencil" everyday work. It puts the excitement back into learning not only for the students, but also for the teachers!

Embedding

How easy is the embedding technique? I think STEP should teach us how to embed at the first session and review it at the second session just in case someone hadn't actually tried it independently between sessions. That way as we complete our projects, we know exactly what to do and how to accomplish it. My group and I weren't familiar with embedding. Actually I didn't even consider that it was different from linking documents to the page. Once I got the hang of it, I was embedding everything and enjoying the look of embedded media too. I even called my mom on my way home and started explaining it to her.

Elmo Use

I have been using my Elmo with my students to look at math problems. The children volunteer to come move manipulatives around, and the other students then look at the board and can see what is being done. I usually have manipulatives in front of each child so they can work with theirs as the volunteer is working with my set. I have taken notice that the students really enjoy this interaction. To take it further, I have the students explain what they are doing while the other kids are watching.
Another way I have been using Elmo in my classroom is to help with reading. The students are able to get out of their seats and come to the board. I am trying to train the kids to point at each word as they read (1-1 correspondance) and the Elmo is a great tool for this. The other students can watch as the volunteer is up in front showing how we read sentences correctly.
Overall, I feel the Elmo is an awesome tool that not only engages the students' attention, but also gets them involved!

Metric Conversion

WOW, what was I thinking??? I have wonderful ideas for my photo story only to find I got myself into some serious headaches!

I had visions of having a very fancy project, I have taken close to 300 pictures only to find that I had to go back and take close to the same amount again because I forgot little things.

The biggest problem I encountered was that photo story is not user friendly for what I was trying to do. Editing music, you can not do this with photo story, so I had to use windows movie maker to edit my music, then burn a disk. I found that I have gone through countless Cd's trying to get my music perfect. If anyone wants a copy of my edited music, just ask. I have no idea what to do with all of these Cd's. I guess I will give them to the students?

I am one of those people who are totally uncomfortable hearing my own voice on tape, so I decided to do most of my narration through my music. I know that it does not meet the guidelines of STEP, but my point gets across the lesson I am teaching.

I have spent countless hours putting this photo story together. If I was ever to tackle such a project again, I would just use windows movie maker.

Although, I do enjoy photo story for it's simplicity. I feel that is better for student projects.

MICCA

The conference has come and gone! Overall I thought the experience was a good one. The technology the presenters were sharing was very informative and made me want to better my classroom with those tools. The only problem I ran into was the fact that we do not have the money to buy all the expensive equipment that was being talked about. Our STEP team walked around the vendors, and we talked to a few people about what they were trying to sell. I especially liked the Ellison Machine that was all computerized so the letters could be made bigger/smaller depending on the size you needed! As a team we really enjoyed the ID maker, and to go with it, the tardy checker. Then we would run into the road block again, and that is the means of getting this awesome technology to our school.

Being at a Charter School, us teachers want the best for our students. We want to give them a good opportunity to learn and succeed. We also want to give them the access to the best tools out there (technology being one of them). It's just hard when we hear how much money the "neat technology" is costing.

I know I used the term "we" a lot in this blog, but I feel as a group we pretty much felt the same way and agreed that having the technology would be awesome, but how can we afford it!?

To top the conference off.. I won a free student laptop. I sent away for it in the mail, and I'm anxiously awaiting !

Voice Thread

In science we did an experiment about density that went over excellent! I decided that since I "wowed" them I would use voice thread to check for understanding and comprehension.

I used the opposite science class for my models, than I used for the photo story. I wish I would have been able to incorporate more of them into the videos, but it just worked out the way it did.

The student models had a great time recreating the experiment. They followed the directions given and the one video makes me laugh everytime I watch it.

When I showed the finished product to the classes they were very excited and excited to respond. They keep commenting to me about my music selections and the timing. I did use windows movie maker to produce the videos I used.

I spent only 40 minutes creating the three videos used, compared to countless hours I spent on my photo story project. I also think the students really enjoyed the pictures I used when creating their identities. I have nicknames for most of the class and they enjoyed the pics I used. I did not have one student ask me to change their picture. I spent about four hours locating and making each identity. Other students have responded, just so I will post a crazy pic for them! I just hope they are learning and not doing this for their 15 minutes of fame?