Week 3 - Tools for Collaboration, Communication, and Creation...and Some Others, Too!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jona Neufeld on February 6, 2010 at 12:34am

1) Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.

Teaching with technology in the classroom creates a rich environment for our students in today's world. I have known for some time that teaching with a SMART board and iTouches and document cameras and all the bells and whistles would be such a benefit to my students. TRC has allowed that to happen. Last week my students created a great presentation for Kansas Day. Tish, our facilitator found this amazing interactive power point museum. We all decided that this was the way to go for our celebration. The only trouble was that 1/2 of us had power point so the templates that could be downloaded were right there but the other half had keynote, thus, no template. In preparing for this I figured out how to make a keynote presentation just like the one we found for power point. My students figured out how to make their cards and what information they needed and how to put it together. Then, on Kansas Day they brought another class in, hooked the computer up to the SMART and without practicing, presented their virtual museum to their peers. I was so proud of them and so wowed by the skills they had to be able to pull it off!

Permalink Reply by Deborah Bantam on February 8, 2010 at 12:16am

They did do a great job. . . my class loved coming in and joining. Their presentations were so natural and "well done". It was a great experience. In fact, my students want to create some more virtual museums!

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on February 9, 2010 at 3:04pm

Great troubleshooting, Jona! We would love to see some of your final products =)

Permalink Reply by Tish Havel on February 12, 2010 at 9:46pm

I'm glad you shared this Jona! The KS Day activity pulled together so many things and was a great collaboration!

Permalink Reply by Jill R. Pfannenstiel on February 6, 2010 at 5:34pm

1)Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.
In my classroom, I have been using photo sharing and movie for students to create "movies". We were learning about the geometrical shapes and students were put into six different groups. Each group was assigned to one geometric shape. Each group took a digital camera and had to walk around the school finding examples of their shape. Some students were very creative, finding a triangular prism in the sky light, a trapezoid in the legs for a chair, etc. They took several different pictures of their shape and brought the cameras back to the classroom and I put all of the digital pictures on the computers. Then each group got on their laptops and used the pictures in PhotoSotry to create a movie about the geometric shapes.
I have also started using BrainPop to explor a lot of different subjects. I have used this for making inferences and supply and demand so far and plan to use it more.
I've used the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives in my classroom in preparation for the state assessments as well. http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html.

Permalink Reply by Kari Hinkle on February 6, 2010 at 8:42pm

1. Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.

I know that in my classroom the Smart Board has become a tool I could no longer teach without. It took me awhile to get going with the Smart Board and I honestly can say I don't think I could go back to teaching without one. I project Math ACE activites onto the Smart Board and the students can highlight important parts of the question and then some go up and strike answers and explain why they aren't a possible answer. I have also used it for some Reading ACE activites and have highlighted pieces of a passage that may answer a question, highlighted important parts of a question, and put a strike through incorrect answers. I have also had students go up one at a time and work at the Smart Board while their classmates are at the same site working on their laptops. They are all engaged and no one notices the person at the board working because they all have the same site directly in front of them. That beats the day when a student went to the board to work and all eyes in the classroom were on that student to see how they performed.

4. Share some of the favorite virtual resources that teachers use in your school.

One resource our K-5 faculty discovered was www.ixl.com. Teachers in grades 3-5 are using that resource to help prepare our students for the State Assessments. We can go to the reports section and check on each student's progress, from where they have been and what skills they have worked on, how long they practiced at each skill, and if the skill is mastered, needs improvement, or is satisfactory. From that we can find what we need to reteach or review. I know that my students are always eager to go to ixl.com and often ask if they can go there when they are finished with a different assignment.

Another resource I find helpful, but I have not become accustomed to using yet is Delicious. I have developed a habit that when I find a site I like I put it into my favorites, which doesn't help me any if I am not at my computer. I am trying to train myself to put sites I find, like, and utilize into Delicious.

Permalink Reply by Deborah Bantam on February 8, 2010 at 12:36am

1) Share a powerful teaching example using one of the tools from the chapter.

I have used Wikis in my classroom (third grade) for a couple of years. I like using the wiki to supply information for students and parents. I list the activites for each week and reminders for assignments due ect. I also post all classroom links like study island, spelling city, math sites and others that we use frequently in class. Actually it has become a great little tool . . . and has replaced my website to some degree. The students like the idea that they can view the week at a glance for school . . . great way to help students along with the responsiblity factor.

2) Share some virtual resources that teachers use in your school.

I love using google docs and think it is a great collaborative tool. We have used google docs for several collaborative efforts in our PLC weekly meets. Last year I created a school memo wiki for our weekly memos from the office. I liked how everyone was able to edit and add their own "special" for the day. I felt that this really helped with bldg communication as well as collaboration.

Permalink Reply by Melanie Farmer on February 8, 2010 at 1:20pm

I just did a Web 2.0 lesson with my undergrads and they showed me a GREAT language arts site called Zhura that provides an interface for single or group play development. You can check out the review on their blog.

Permalink Reply by Casey Wise on February 8, 2010 at 1:34pm

Share some of the favorite virtual resources that teachers use in your school.

As many of you know we constantly battle to have things opened in our district for teacher use. We truly feel that there are some great resources on YouTube so we started having trainings for teachers to use www.zamzar.com to convert videos for use in their classrooms. We demonstrate how to convert them to .swf or .flv to import directly into their Smart Notebook files. This allows them to use the videos without linking out to the site. We have a handout and instructional video on our tech in-services website.

Main Site – www.gckschools.com/techinservices

ZamZar Page – http://www.gckschools.com/techinservices/resourcefiles/zamzar/zamza...

We also use Henry Anker’s site (http://henryanker.com/ ) quite a bit for flash videos of activities kids can use. We show teachers how to import these directly into Smart Notebook as well to build complete lessons that keep students focused on the task and not out on the web off task.

Permalink Reply by Jenny Gridley on February 9, 2010 at 1:03pm

Share a powerful teaching example using of the tools from the chapter:

I would like to share how two of my teachers are using their document cameras as web cams and Skype to team teach with one another during reading. The teachers call each other on Skype then using their document camera one broadcast her classroom (being the lead teacher) while the other uses the document camera to show the article being discussed. Then the students read the document together using either choral reading, echo reading or another read aloud strategy. While the students are reading, the co-teacher is walking around monitoring behaviors. After the section is read the lead teacher asks questions discussing the literary elements of the piece.

After the article is read the co-teacher becomes the lead teacher and discusses the questions associated with the article. It is so much fun to watch, these teachers are amazing when using this form of technology and the students are fully engaged. It's an unusual way to use a document camera as a web cam but it sure works for them.

Permalink Reply by Mary Lawrenz on February 14, 2010 at 11:29pm

The interactive white boards have become almost an overnight success and necessity to our teachers. I'll share a couple of examples.

Using the SmartBoard for ACE activities provides a great way to reinforce the test-taking strategies that we want our students to use on the state assessments. It works beautifully! Students identify and highlight the important information in the question. Students strike the incorrect answers first, explaining why that answer cannot be the correct answer. Students are anxious to participate, and they learn as much or more from the explanations as to why an answer is incorrect.

Using Google Earth and the SmartBoard recently brought a literature location and setting alive for our fourth grade students. While completing the novel study, Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes, students enjoyed traveling to Hiroshima to see Sadako's statue and Memorial Park.

There were so many resources listed in these two chapters. I am anxious to be able to explore them. Time to investigate all these wonderful tools seems to be one of my greatest challenges! Special thanks to Amber, Jana, Melanie, Melinda, and all the TRC facilitators who have shared so many resources and activities with us. As novices to developing 21st century skills for ourselves and for our students we really appreciate each of you!

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