Boughman's 1st Graders

We used our clickers to text our names. Then, we worked on putting our names into ABC order. As you can see, we are not finished with the activity yet! We used dry erase markers instead of the pens to cross off the letters to see which name would come first. Next time we will use the pens. The dry erase markers don't show on a screen shot!!!

As partners, we located _ick words in books or around the classroom. Then we used our clickers to text in words. The highlighted words will be used for spelling this week. (We are still learning how to text correctly using our clickers!!!)

We listened to a story called The Happy Day. It had a surprise ending. We texted a response about a time when we were surprised. These responses are being used for our next story in writing workshop.

We have been using our clickers everyday!

Success:  We love the clickers and want to do more with them! The velcro works great on the desks!
Challenges:   First graders send before thinking!!! We are working on this!

Clickers

1. How have you been using the clickers in your classroom?
I have been using the clickers since they were passed out. I came to school and implemented them the following morning.
I use them in a variety of ways. One way, is each morning the students send in their name if they have turned in their homework. This reminds them to get their work turned in because they always want to use the clickers.
Another way in which I use them is with math. I use them for introducing a concept, or while learning the concept, and/or to close the lesson.
Social Studies is another area in which clickers have been integrated. It seems to make the lessons more enjoyable and interactive.

2. What successes have you had? Challenges?
I have had much success while using the clickers. The students are motivated and want to answer. They look forward to using them each day. It seems to engage them in the lesson.
Challenges that have been faced are minor. For instance, when some send in their answer using uppercase letters versus the same answer in lowercase, the results are shown differently. Also, our clicker 23 magically answers at times. (even though it is put away in the case and crossed off)


3. Include evidence of learning such as pictures of student interactions, screen shot of clicker results....

Using Clickers

Since I received my clickers we have been using them almost every day. I start the beginning of each class period with students conjugating verbs on their clickers. I don't typically spend much class time on conjugating verbs, and I think it has really helped students to learn the irregulars. I also used the clickers for students to rate how comfortable they are with the material, and did a multiple choice quiz with vocabulary.

I really think the clickers have improved my students' knowledge of irregular verbs. I can see how they conjugated each verb and explain the verbs that the majority missed. My challenge was the wait time between each question.

Walker

I used my clickers for the first time last Friday and this Monday. Both sessions went well. I was glad to see that the kids needed no real instructions on how to use them. We work all semester on learning the definition of technology and I used the clickers as review activity for that definition. After a little discussion I asked them to text in the first word of the definition. We then looked at who got that correct and I used a flip chart I created to add in a few more words of the definition. I then asked them to text in the tenth

word of the definition, and followed the same procedure. I did this one more time and gave out candy to everyone that got it correct that time. I did not have any problems and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Initiation

Adams, Lisa-C5
OK, I have been initiated. On Day 1 (Friday-bad opening day choice!) I broke out the clickers to give my seniors a review activity which asked them to answer a m/c question with a,b, or c. Stupid me did not limit the choices, so, to my initial surprise (why should I have been surprised-especially with seniors?!) up come the answers but not just to a, b, or c. The answers were texted in, and one in particular was NOT school appropriate! Eventually we had to put them away to be able to get something done.

After that, I was leery to use them until I could learn more about how to control them, and could get them organized...on Day 1 I just had the kids take them out of the box and I re-organized them as they returned them. I didn't use them today (Monday) because of these issues.

I need:
1. More info on how to connect a student to his/her clicker (export to the EXCEL file will take care of it?)
2. How best to organize the clickers for maximum efficiency (have been asking experienced clicker users)
3. Time to review the moodle notes (I assume/hope there are some)

I did notice that the seniors did exhibit much more interest in the questions than they would have otherwise. The problem was the aftermath-they lost interest when they had to discuss the answers. Will work on planning the time/activities in which they are used.

Hope all of your "first flights" went smoothly!

Clicking Away in Kindergarten

I've been using clickers in half-day kindergarten for all kinds of things. They've been integrated into our day as another school tool, albeit a SUPER COOL school tool! The children get their clicker from the front of my desk when they unpack each day, and then use them periodically throughout our lessons.

I started slow, by showing the children the basic controls, and they grasped it very quickly.  In the picture below, you see the demonstration lesson, followed by a child using her clicker during our Social Studies lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King.  The Scholastic news magazine had "yes" and "no" questions, and we used clickers for those...the kids really loved it!

The following picture shows my favorite lesson to date.  A teammate used a worksheet she found online as an image, and imported it into an ActivInspire chart.  We put the magnetic letters at the bottom, and the kids used their clickers to name the initial consonant for each word.  After checking our class results, we moved the magnetic letter up into the blank.

We've been clicking away...the children have been tremendously excited to use their clickers.  So far, we've explored text, numeric, yes/no, and pre-programmed question formats.  All have been successful for the most part!

Intro to History Lesson

The Lesson
This is an introduction to US History Class using digitally modified pictures. At the beginning of the year I start the semester with iconic pictures in US History. Students must identify the era, place or event that is shown in the pictures.

Procedure
The pictures that I will show from the link below have been digitally modified by taking out the main characters or components in the image. When the images are shown I plan to have a class discussion related to the specific era's in time that are shown. Also we will focus on the importance of how these images help preserve history and it allows for a discussion on primary sources.

Iconic Images in History

C5 Garcia, driving in Germany

Here is my ELITE project I used with German 3 - Prezi and Glogster


Project description:

Das Autofahren in Deutschland Projekt

In this assignment you will examine and then present an aspect about driving in Germany. You may choose any topic that you would like, but it must be approved by Frau Garcia.  She has a sign-up sheet to put your idea on after you have discussed it with her.

You may work alone or with one other person.  You have the choice to either make a prezi, power point, glogster or any type of presentation method to use during your presentation.  Anything written on the prezi, power point, etc. must be in German (Level 3 Honors) and in your own words.  Anything taken directly from a website or written using a translating program/website is plagiarism and will be given zero points.  You will present your poster or power point to the class and the presentation should last about 2 minutes.

Link to student project:
http://prezi.com/bvpmx9durvr0/shared-space/



I think the students did an admirable job trying new technology instead of just relying on powerpoint.  I didn't really teach them how to use it, just told them to try it out during our computer work days.  Most students preferred Prezi.

Adams-C5 BookRecommendations

Adams-C5
Project Rationale: My goal was to create short informational presentations on books being read by my College Prep seniors as part of a Life Studies unit they complete over the second semester. They often struggle to find a book that they like, so I wanted them to have a way to streamline their decision process. In this way they get visual and spoken information from their peers who have read and liked the books. This project is a step towards my ultimate goal of compiling our recommended reading into a "recommendation library" of sorts, where students can go see and hear about interesting books from other students. I am not sure that present.me is the format I will use to do that, but since others were curious about this program at our last ELITE meeting, I thought I would use it so they could see how it works and explore it as an option, too.


The (Intended) Process: Using present.me, we recorded power points and opinions about books we are currently reading. Each student created a short (2-4 slide) power point of their book and composed a short description of the book, which was to prepare them for presenting their power points into the webcam. The Actual Process was that I spent a lot of time incorporating the students' power points into my power point (either you use one big power point or everyone does their own-I just added theirs to mine), and I had to enlist some stand-ins to take the place of the students' spoken parts, because my students were too embarrassed to talk into the camera in front of their friends (we did this project in class)! If I pursued this project using present.me, I would create a "broadcasting space" that was private (a hallway or the library, for example) and I would make sure the spoken parts were well-written and practiced before filming-it's not easy to talk smoothly into the camera, as you can see by my video! I also plan to require more specific information about the book....these presentations are really just short reviews, not book talks, but right now we are just experimenting to see what program will work best for our purposes.

Resources/student work: We used present.me at http://present.me/index.cfm
The students at work and rudimentary samples of their work are shown in the presentation, which can be accessed using this link: http://present.me/view/5232-6th-hour-book-talks
Although each student composed a short recommendation and powerpoint, we only included parts of two.

Reflection: I like the visual and audio elements of this program-it offers pictures/graphics/data and the opportunity to see real people (that students may actually know) talking to them.

On the flip side-I thought the editing process in this program was somewhat cumbersome. Also plan any "changing of the guard" at the webcam and practice, practice, practice speaking (I obviously didn't do enough and it shows.) I was frustrated at being tied to the camera, and getting a good webcam angle can be tricky, as can the use of props.

The students really dug in to this project. and jumped at the chance to share their knowledge. Although they were loath to speak openly in front of the class, I think they would have done it in a more private setting in order to share their "finds." I look forward to further experimenting with this and other programs.

C5 Griner

PollEverywhere as Attention-Getter

The Lesson:  I decided to utilize Poll Everywhere as attention-getters/focusing activities for two different lessons with a English 4--College Prep English class.  We have been analyzing and evaluating rhetoric, as well as examining arguments for logical fallacies.  On the day we were to read a particularly one-sided but influential essay called "I Want a Wife" by Judy Brady, a noteworthy text for the feminist movement in the 1970s,  I asked the students to read the short essay in class, then text in their initial reaction to an open-ended poll on PollEverywhere (http://www.polleverywhere.com/) so students could get the initial personal reaction comments out of the way, as well as use it as a springboard for discussion.  For the second activity, a few days later, I created several multiple choice style polls to use to review logical fallacies before a quiz.  This allowed us to discuss why certain fallacies did or did not correctly describe a rhetorical situation in the question. 

Technologies Used:  PollEverywhere.com, student electronic devices, Epson Projector
Reflection:  The students really liked the activity the first day, but we had lots of technical issues.  Many students (at least 6) were encountering errors in trying to text in their comments and codes, and my student teacher's response kept getting sent back with a "Bad Words" or "Inappropriate Content" error.  (There was obviously nothing inappropriate about her message.)  Other students would get error messages that may have been particular to their phones.  However, it served its purpose, and allowed us to discuss the stereotypical reactions first, transition into a discussion of different intended audiences (men/women) and how student reactions represented similar reactions in the 1970s, and finally move into a more in-depth discussion of Brady's strategies. 

The second activity had no technical difficulties, but only 18 of the 24 students in class could participate (they did not have phones with them, or do not have text capabilities, and refused to get on the computers in back to participate that way).  It worked well to review the material and kept all students engaged, but with my novice experience switching back and forth between polls and the transition time of waiting for EVERYONE to text in, it took 15 minutes to complete what should have been a 5 minute review.  I would try this again for both purposes, definitely as an open-ended discussion starter or as an end-of-discussion wrap up activity.  I think other technologies (like the Promethean flipcharts or just even OneNote would be more effective with the review activity.  I can accomplish the same thing in a much quicker time period just by having the students write a response, and once the novelty of texting a response wears off with the multiple choice polls, I worry it would be as effective at holding their attention.

C5 Mertens

I utilized COOLTOOLSFORSCHOOL.wikispaces to have the students create a flipbook to demonstrate their knowledge on a specific issue that is relevant to WWI. The directions for the project are as follows:

For this assignment you will create a flipbook that displays a significant event or concept from WWI. This flipbook needs to include important information and facts that will help the class understand the significance of your topic. Your flipbook must be a minimum of 80 slides. You will be graded on completeness, how artistic it is, how well you used your time, and how much effort went into the project. Click add a new entry, and put your name in, then hotlink your project in the blank box.

Have Fun!!!


This is a link to the website that the students used:
http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbookdeluxe/


These are links to examples of students work:
http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbookdeluxe/player.php?id=374342
http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbookdeluxe/player.php?id=374336


As far as the success of the lesson goes, I feel as though the students enjoyed the project, and hopefully will remember some of the different technologies that were present in the War, but I think that the media limited what the students could do as far as the transmission of information so that their classmates could learn from it. As a result of this, I would look to see what other unique websites and technologies I could use in the future (from cooltoolsforschools) to improve upon the lesson and its value to the students.

Simple Machines project

Real life examples of our simple machines

http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/SimpleMachines16

Link to our symbaloo

The objective was to use information the students found in books and on my symbaloo simple machine links to create a poster and an activity to demonstrate what they learned about simple machines. They also took a photo of a real life example of their simple machine. They shared what was learned about their simple machine on wallwisher. Each group used their poster and demonstration to teach the rest of the class about their simple machine.

Kindergarten- Symbaloo

I wanted to give the students the opportunity to revisit songs that I use during whole group lessons.  I created a Symbaloo giving a direct link for each letter. During center time students clicked on the letter of their choice and enjoyed the music.  The students loved visiting these sites again and hearing the songs.  All the songs have a great beat and get the students excited about learning.  This is a great tool for ELL or a struggling learner later in the year.
Credit to http://www.havefunteaching.com/

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/abcsongs

1st Grade -- Primary Wall & Tux Paint

I tried two lessons for my Elite 3 project.

Lesson 1: We visited primarywall.com. It is a web based sticky note tool designed for schools that allow pupils and teachers to easily share ideas and information in a collaborative environment.  It works in real time.

We posted Ways to make 10. http://blue.primarywall.com/3     Then we worked with partners to locate and post words with the chunk _ook.  http://blue.primarywall.com/7

Another idea we are going to try is posting “How many words can you make from these letters” like “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Lesson 2: We visited tux paint. http://tuxpaint.org/download/ It is a free drawing, painting, and stamping program. The first graders “painted” a picture on the program. Then, they wrote a story to match their picture. It has been a high interest activity. These are story drafts.  They have not been edited.            

Creating Books Online With Storybird

1.  In writing we used the website Storybird.  This site contains artwork as well as words that have various pictures associated with the words.  It allows students to explore various themes for writing a book.  Each student has his/her own login and password.  Students use a picture to help them create a book.  Teachers can give assignments on various topics and students work on these assignments independently. They go in, check assignments, and then begin writing their own book.  The class can view each others books.  After the book is finished, students can choose to save(publish) or delete their work.
2. http://www.storybird.com/
3.  I really enjoyed working with the kids in storybird.  They were totally engaged the entire time and anxious to select a theme and begin writing a book.

Kindergarten Tux Paint

I created a center using Tux Paint.  Prior to students actually using Tux Paint they were instructed to write a sentence about a topic of their choice.  Students then had the opportunity to visit the center.  The goal was for students to illustrate and type their sentence using this program. 

Edmodo

I decided to use the website Edmodo with my students so they could interact and contribute to assignments, polls, quizzes and regular notes. This is a wonderful and easy to use website that allows the kids to see what their friends are saying about the topics, etc. that are presented by the teacher.

I used it to have the kids compare and comment on the two books we just finished reading in class...The Doll People and The Meanest Doll in the World. We will be doing more with it in the near future because my little ones absolutely looooved it! They feel like their big kids on Facebook as it is formatted much the same way.

The thing to know about this website is that you can create the accounts for your kids (no personal information or email address is necessary) and immediately add them to a group (people have to be added to the group by you). You can have control over passwords and screen names. I set up a profile for each kid and gave them all my last name which they thought was hilarious! It took only minutes to make 13 generic pages.

www.edmodo.com

Kindergarten Symbaloo

My project was to create a symbaloo mix to use in my classroom so that my students would be more independent during center time when they had to go to the computers. They love It! I was frustrated at times creating the webmix but they did get easier and it is well worth the time for my class to use because of the pictures. Here are some pictures of my students using the symbaloo.

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/readinggames1

Research Project Jeopardy

My 5th grade students produce a TRIAD project every year. They choose a topic to research, write a 5-8 page paper on their topic, contact and interview experts in that field, turn their research paper into a speech, and create a PowerPoint presentation to enhance their speech. Before we begin this process we talk extensively about the writing process. After several classroom lessons on both the writing process and research writing, we played Jeopardy as a review.

To create a Jeopardy game board, I went to Cool Tools for Schools and went to http://jeopardylabs.com/. This site had a great Jeopardy game already created for writing which I used. I later created other Jeopardy games having to do with other aspects of the TRIAD process (ie: producing PowerPoints, interviewing, researching techniques, etc.).

We modified the game using the Promethean clickers so that teams could buz in. The students had a blast with it once they learned to phrase their answers in the form of a question.

Drawing Simple Machines

We learned about simple machines in Science. After we learned about what simple machines are and what they do, we drew our own illustrations to show what we learned.
Here are some examples...
Our class blog
The website we used was http://www.tuxpaint.org/.
The students did well and it was so great to see all levels of learners be so successful explaining their thinking using pictures. This program kept students so much more engaged than just writing. The only negative side was the sound. It is very noisy and distracted many students. I would turn the sound down or off before students begin if I use this again. I would recommend this site for teaching math vocabulary, science and social studies concepts or even creating illustrations for stories.

Symbaloo

Focus Project:

My Student focus project was to have the students use the webmix “Smybaloo” and choose an activity to utilize or complete.  Smybaloo is a website that allows someone to create a place where several links can be stored and viewed regularly.  Similar to a checkerboard, links are added/created and then shared.  All links are placed on individual tiles that have a visual icon and title.  These tiles will take the student to the assigned website they seek. 

This particular webmix was set up with our classroom Reading Curriculum in mind.  Tiles are color coded based on what web focus is being utilized.  I have tiles for students to listen to a short story, tiles that offer booklists, current book reviews, and recommendations.  Other tiles give and explain several different reading strategies.  I also have a few tiles that offer students reading activities and one site that displays many different graphic organizers. 

Reflection:

I love the concept of this and my students seem to as well.  The real plus is they like the idea of being able to access this from their desks.   Most everyone (that was able to log in) did.   Some checked out samples of graphic organizers, reporting back to the class on how they could be used in their journals and I even had a low reader listen to a short book.  I assigned a few students to search and recommend a new book to our class.  But with that being said, I’ve also had a few hiccups with it.  I have not been able to receive the embed code I need for the students to access it on their own and the site has recently been shut down “on and off” for the last week or so.  I know once these things are cleared up though, it should prove to be a worthwhile site for all involved. 

http://www.symbaloo.com/

Fraction Review

My lesson was a math review over chapter 15 and 16 for 5th grade. I divided my kids into groups and they were each given a skill that they needed to teach the class. They had to make up a problem and then teach the class how to solve the problem. Then, they used thier devices to video taped themselves and post it to you tube.
 My kids loved the lesson! It was successful because they were all involved and now they all have an online math review that they and their parents can watch. The only thing I would have done differently, would have the kids zoom in on the problem and make sure they are close enough so you can hear the "teacher" the student.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrsturek5thgrade/videos

"Getting the Message Out" About Gifted Education Video

Project Description

Students entered a video contest entitled, “Getting the Message Out,” which the Gifted Association of Missouri (GAM) puts on to promote gifted education programs. Students worked in groups of 2-4 to write, film, and edit a video lauding the benefits of gifted education. It is a public service announcement, of sorts. Most students edited using MovieMaker, but a couple of groups utilized their own iPads and edited using iMovie. The video could not exceed 2 minutes. Students were encourage to work at their own ability level, so some kept the video simple, while others added background audio, voice overs, and text. Students then burned the videos onto a DVD to be sent to the contest.

Websites Used

Maker Video Editing Tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXK68NS7gU

Evidence of Learning




http://youtu.be/6BH7CnNyVaU

Reflection

This unit was successful in that students did create a movie. I would definitely repeat this lesson next year. The next time around, I would spend more time upfront teaching the basics of MovieMaker. I would have students do a short, “Get To Know You” video about themselves at the beginning of the year, and then complete this more complex video after having that experience. I would also hope that the library or my own department could purchase more video cameras that are compatible with MovieMaker. I may adapt this for an upcoming project by using it for my 6th graders’ commercials. In the past, I’ve simply filmed their commercials. I may add on the students editing their own commercials this year.

A Stranger in Paradise?

Project description:
I wanted to become more familiar and more comfortable with Moodle. I decided to place a prompt on the Moodle page so the students could respond via the computer for my access to their question.

We were reading a story about a young migrant worker. The students’ prompt was “A stranger” and they were asked if there was ever a time when they felt like a foreigner/stranger in a situation. If so, when? And what happened to resolve the situation?

Upon reading their responses, I was able to gain an insight and a view of the school and their situation I may not have previously considered.
From here I can use their responses as teachable moments/character ed pieces and also for grammar review.

14 December 2011
En mi vida, me he sentido como un extranjero, cuando llegué a la escuela de Lindbergh. Yo no conocía a nadie y la escuela era mucho mas larguísima que lo que había visto. Las clases eran muy duras y difíciles y no tenía amigos por muchas semanas. Me sentí muy triste. Un día conocí a una chica que no conocía a muchas personas tampoco. Nos hicimos amigos. Por muchas semanas, yo no tenía a nadie a ser mi amigo, pero cuando me encontré con la chica, sentía mucho mejor y nos encontramos con más personas. Finalmente, conocí muchos amigos. Se puso feliz y ahora hoy tengo un montón de amigos en la escuela de Lindbergh.


I do feel the lesson was successful. Timing of the project/assignment was not the best at the end of the semester. I can see me doing a comparable activity related to the students' reading and personalizing that which they read. I was impressed by the students' reflection on the question. I also had a sense of satisfaction upon seeing their follow through and their posts.

Google Docs + Collaborative Writing = Awesome!

My students are learning the first steps to writing a synthesis essay for the AP / IB exams.  For the exams, they have to about 20 minutes to read and analyze the essay prompt, read a short 1-2 page text, analyze an image or chart, listen to an audio text, and brainstorm/outline for their essay.  They then have 40 minutes to write.  Needless to say, it's a difficult task in English, let alone a foreign language.

I decided to use Google Docs with my students.  They were given an essay prompt and a song to analyze.  They could use the lyrics and the video accompanying the songs as evidence.  One student created the document on Google Docs and added the other students by inputting their e-mail address.  They had to change the settings so that everyone could read and edit the document.  They also added me as an editor to the document.  Students then wrote a scaled-down version of the essay - an introductory sentence, a thesis statement, at least 3 pieces of textual evidence with explanation and tie-back to the thesis, and a concluding sentence.

I was very pleased with Google Docs.  Students had class time to work, but then were also able to work outside of class without actually having to meet due to Google Docs's chat feature.  I was also able to comment on each document and e-mail the group through the document.  There were some troubleshooting moments when Google Docs wouldn't allow editing access, but those were easily remedied through re-input of student e-mails.  Students are now in the process of reading through the comments and replying to any that need more clarification.  We'll then take a class period to revise and edit our documents in order to get a finished product.  I will definitely use Google Docs again for collaborative projects.  I'd also like to use it to set up a collaborative revising / editing process with individual students.

Breaking-up in Spanish Using Google Voice

In Spanish 3 honors, students are studying relationship vocabulary. Their assignment is to leave a message on the cell phone of a made-up boyfriend or girlfriend using google voice. They must start their conversation by describing their girl/boyfriend and then explain why they are breaking up with them- all using new vocabulary and expressions covered in class. It is important that students tell their name in their message in order to receive credit.

Students will then listen to messages left by their classmates and call back with a response, acting as the ex-boyfriend or girlfriend.

I would like to make this assignment more independent in the future by using a podcast that can be accessed by all students.

 See the example!

https://www.google.com/voice

fotobabble and the genitive case

I have a project using fotobabble and the genitive case for German 2. Students choose a picture and then describe it with 5 sentences using genitive expressions. They have added their description, speaking the 5 sentences with proper vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Students can then email or upload their fotobabble to their facebook page. I chose to do this with fotobabble due to it's user-friendly features and the ability to speak and upload pictures using only the computer or hand-held device.

Glogster

I used Glogster last year when we were studying movie vocabulary. Students picked a favorite movie, and created an interactive movie poster using http://www.glosgster.com/   The website allows students to make an online poster, and also allows them to attach movie clips, sound bytes, and photos.  The students enjoyed using this program, and the posters turned out well.  (I can't attach one because I have forgotten my log-in information at the moment...oops!)

Project requirements:
1) Pick a movie that you know well
2) Write a 40 word synopsis of the film, using at least 8 new vocabulary words
3) Choose a character from the film and write a 20 word character description
4) Find a picture of the movie, or a film clip from You Tube

I did run into a few problems where I couldn't see some of the students' submissions.  I'm not sure if it was an error that they made, or if it was an error on the program itself.  I ended up just exempting those students from the grade, and gave them participation points.

Using Pedometers

I am in charge of the Read, Right and Run program at Sappington, which is part of the GO! St. Louis marathon weekend. This program is open to students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and over the course of 5 1/2 months they have the responsibility of reading 26 books, doing 26 good deeds, and running 26.2 miles. Especially through the winter months it can be tough for them to get their mileage in, so it was important to come up with something for them to supplement their miles. In order to do that some of them have been using pedometers to measure the number of steps they take, and then that number is converted into miles. PE Central's "Log It" is a website that accommodates this. This website allows me to track each of the students in a class list as well. Students also have the option to use a free pedometer app on their smart phone if they own one.

I will probably use the peclogit website again next year, but will need to make sure it’s at the start of the Read, Right and Run program. It will also be necessary to get pedometers for all of the runners. I would like to utilize an online calculator for quicker and more accurate results as well. The website Walk 4 Life accounts for each student’s stride length, and will then convert those steps into more accurate mileage. Unfortunately, this website does not have a class list option.

Toondo

Elite 3 project                                                                                      

In Spanish IV we are studying media vocabulary.  Every year I do a project where they create a newspaper.  The first page has news articles.  The second page they can choose between a sports page, lifestyle page, horoscope, or comic page.  The second page can also be a combination.  They present their newspaper to the class summarizing each article and section.  In years past I have had students just copy a Spanish comic, which was not what I wanted.  This year I told them about toondo.  Many of my students chose to create comic strips and really had fun with it.  I felt it supported my class objective which is to create with the language.

www.toondo.com

Regina Davidson - Audio using conversational past tense and pictures

Student Instructions:
You and your partner will go to yodio.com and create an account for both of you. Choose an e-mail and password that you will remember.
To create the yodio, you will need a picture/or pictures (like a post card) from one the following locations:
Insel Mallorca, Chiemsee, Bodensee, Insel Rugen, die Alpen (anywhere), die Berge (in a German-speaking country), die Nordsee, die Ostsee, der Rhein, Koblenz, Schwarzwald, Berlin, Hiddensee, Bayern, Flughafen in Frankfurt, eine Jugendherberge, Italien, Spanien, ein Campingplatz, oder ein Schloss. You will be working with a partner, and both of you will share the work equally. The following items need to be recorded along with your picture or postcard.
1. Where you were 3
2. What you did 3
3. What the weather was like 2
4. How long you stayed 2
5. Picture Post Card 3
6. Speaking Points 5
Total ___/18
Due Date: _______________________________________________________

Websites: http://postcard.fm/
http://yodio.com/
http://www.fotobabble.com/
http://prezi.com/
http://edu.glogster.com/


Examples:
http://www.fotobabble.com/m/RzBQWGhSWnI5amc9http://www.fotobabble.com/m/K0dVQktXZFoyS0k9http://www.fotobabble.com/m/WGx3SVpicUFBTTQ9

The best thing about this lesson was that students had a choice of website to use. Many of them enjoyed this project. Others were not familiar enough with the websites or software to use them properly. Some of the websites would not work at Lindbergh, but they worked for students at home and on my computer at home. I would modify this assignment so that students have to create the audio and pictures at home. Otherwise it is too time consuming.

Voki Project and Reflection

Students in French 3 Honors went to www.voki.com and created an avatar during one class period. They next provided a description of what they did over the weekend. The goal of the activity was to find a fun way to speak French, as well as review the past tense.

Site used: www.voki.com
The basic program is free if you create an account; you get more options if you pay for a classroom site.

Sample: http://www.voki.com/php/viewmessage/?chsm=57915c6bb9c45286c51a84a8002a0743&mId=1007386

Reflection:

Students had great fun creating their own avatar. There's quite a collection of details to choose from: character, color hair/eyes/skin, accessories, background, etc.

There were a number of serious problems, however:

The site claims that students can record their own voice, as well as type a message and choose a voice to speak for them. Unfortunately, neither I nor the students were able to record their own voice. Students were quite happy to avoid speaking themselves, but I was very disappointed because that was one of my main goals of the activity.

The other problem is that although the site claims that students can record for up to a minute, the record portion that I was able to listen to was actually much shorter, probably closer to a minute.

I may use this site again with the same class and have students reuse the same avatar and just change the text.

How to create your Museum Box:

1.       Go to http://museumbox.e2bn.org/

2.       Once on the homepage, go to the right side of the page and you will see a big START sign. Click on it.

3.       Create a title and a description of your museum box

a.       Ex: Title: The Holocaust

b.      Description: Genocide of the Jews

4.       You can change the number of layers on your box, as well as, the number of cubes that can be displayed, and the colors. Go to the icon at the bottom right hand corner where it says “Change Box”. Choose which ever options you want.

5.       Once you have the number of cubes that you want to use start adding pictures, sound clips, videos, and text. Click on one of the cubes and it will take you to another screen. This is where you will add your mediums. There will be a total of six boxes. Click on one and add a picture, a video, etc. After you have completed your box, click ok.

How to add videos, pictures, sound clips, and text:

1.       To add an image, click on the image icon. In the museum gallery, they will have images available for you. If you don’t want to use those photos you can upload your own photos that you find on the internet. *once you choose your photo click “add to drawer”. This is very important!

2.       To add text, click on the text icon. Make sure you add it to your drawer!

3.       To add sounds, click on the sound icon. Again, they have already downloaded sounds for you, but if you want to use your own sounds you can.

4.       To add videos, click on the videos icon. They have videos uploaded for you to use, but you can actually create your own video if you have a web camera available on your computer. To create your own video, click on “record your own”. Don’t forget to add it to your drawer!

5.       You can also add files and links from different websites just make sure you click on the icon.

6.       “My Drawer” is very important because this is where you will store all of your photos, videos, etc. that you will use in your box. If you do not put your items in your drawer, you will lose it and have to start all over. Once it is in your drawer, you can click and drag the item to the box you choose.

How to save and preview your museum box:

1.       Once you have completed your box, make sure you preview it. Click the “preview” icon and it will show you your entire project.

2.       After previewing it, make sure you save your project. Click “save” button. Make sure it has a title and a description.

Submitting your final museum box:

1.       After your box is completed, click the “submit” button.

2.       Finally, click “submit my box”.

Mitosis and Meiosis

Project

I decided to use flipbook. Mitosis and meiosis are major ideas that students need to master before moving on to DNA synthesis.  But historically students struggle with these ideas. I used the flipbook as the third lab activity. Students have their own laptop and I was excited to use the technology. I had not been able to generate activites with the laptops with these topics. We made old fashioned paper foldables for Mitosis and due to unforeseen scheduling issues we used the old paper flipbooks for Meiosis. I think in the end this may be beneficial to students. It is a cookie cutter lab and spoon feeds students but they hate it. I thought using the flip chart would reinforce the ideas one last time before testing, be fun and creative and familiarize them with the website so they could use it on subsequent actitivities involving the unzipping and duplicating of DNA into RNA.

http://www.benettonplay.com

http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbookdeluxe/player.php?id=374203

My example

Student work to come tomorrow.

c10Harrison

Crystal Structures of Rocks

For this Earth Science lab, my students used marshmallows and toothpicks to create one of the five crystalline structures. The students worked in groups of 3-4. When students completed their structure, they used their smart phone to take a picture of their creation and then sent it to my blog.

To view the blog, CLICK HERE

I used my blogger account to set up an email for the students to email their photo to. Once they were submitted, we viewed the pictures as a class and identified what each structure was as a class.

The only issues I ran into were some connection issues for students. Every group had at least one person who was able to submit photos via email.

I am definitely going to continue to use blogger for projects similar to this.

-Jason Wolfard

Solving System of Equations and Youtube

My project was designed for my Algebra 1 classes. The assignment was for the students to create video tutorials on how to solve system of equations. The idea is to create a go to spot for the students who are struggling or just need a little extra help. The students were partnered up and then assigned a problem and a method. Each pair then solved their problem with their method and checked their answer with me. Then the students were to create a video including the following:

• The title with their names and method
• The problem assigned to them
• Why they are using that method and why it is the most effective was of solving
• Solving the actual problem with step by step directions
• A check of their work

From here, the students uploaded their videos to a youtube account that I created for the class. This way they can easily access the videos that are all in one spot.

Here are a few samples of some of the videos that were created.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9WuPVdSsqQ&context=C30e924eADOEgsToPDskJ5AwaInXOS-LLo9Ju90ryY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVf4gHxdtVk&feature=related

I thought the lesson went very well and I believe the students enjoyed it. More importantly, it was effective in assessing their knowledge. I will definitely use this again and adapt it to other lessons. I think in the future, I will assign a few groups at a time for different topics throughout the year. There were a few things that I could definitely improve about the project. Things like creating a rubric for scoring and finding a balance of out of class work vs. in class work.

Polling in Social Studies

I started this project by asking students to go to "cool tools for schools" and find an activity they would like me to use with my class. One student told me I should add "Pollmo" to my website. Most lessons this year I ended the lesson with a question. Now that I have found Pollmo, I have added the questions to my website (www.mr.rheinecker.yearbookhigh.com) to see what the kids think. This has created a lot of discussion in the following classes. The following is an example of one of the polls I've taken:



Reflection:

I've tried polling twice now and after each poll my numbers have gone up. Now the question is how to use the data. I know that the students enjoy taking the polls and like to see the results.