Current Projects

 Kooser News

Even though this class has only lasted a semester, I have learned a tremendous amount. I have pushed myself to try new things and through this process have found incorporating technology into my lessons as simple, fun, and best of all… engaging for my students! My most current project, which I’m co-taught with my practicum student, has been my most favorite so far. Here’s what we did:

This unit was centered around our essential question “Who Helps You?” Students participated in a research project where they learned about an inventor who has helped make our lives easier with their creation. The class worked in partners to research this person using Pebblego and a graphic organizer my practicum student created. Here is a sample of a completed one:

Next, students worked to create a script using the information from their research. This script mimics one of a news reporter and was created using the Comic Life App. Partners transferred the information they found from research to their graphic organizer and then practiced reading parts for their presentation.

The class then delivered “The Kooser News” using a screencast, which makes them appear they are on a news set. This is how they shared their research. I also sent these links of the newscast to their parents so they could see what their child created. The links are below:

http://touchcast.com/kooser_news/a98025bf83

http://touchcast.com/kooser_news/068544f51e

http://touchcast.com/kooser_news/2a44bc9eb9  

Poetry Celebration

Another fun project my class completed centered on Poetry. My students just finished a poetry unit and for our writing celebration, I wanted them to publish their work in a new, creative way. Mrs. Topp and I decided we would work on this project together and instead of sharing with only our class, we would invite each other's class too in order to make it more special. Students began this project by typing their poem on ReadWriteThink using their "Theme Poem" resource. After typing, students were able to send their poem to me and I printed them. Next, students illustrated their poems and mounted them on paper. Lastly, I took a photo of each poem and uploaded it to SeeSaw. Students then recorded their voices reading their poem. After that, we were ready and excited to share. Mrs. Topp's classroom came to ours and we were able to show off all our hard work with our presentation. Below is a link to one of the poems. 

SeeSaw Poem

ISTE Standards

The International Society for Technology in Education has created six standards for use in the digital and global world. They are as follows:

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Working with my practicum teacher and students, we have devised a plan which will incorporate several of these standards. The project aligns with our literacy question, “Who Can Help Us?” Students will be learning about different people in their community who help them, such as coaches, police officers, teachers, and firefighters. They will also complete a research project where they will discover people from the past who have created inventions, which in turn have made their lives easier. Our class will use the Pebblego Website to complete their research with a partner. They will have to use their research information to then write a script, which outlines who they researched, facts about their life, what contributions they made to society, and how these contributions helped. They will write this script using a graphic organizer, which will aid them in developing their “News Story.” Students will then present this information to the class using a Touchcast screen that makes them appear to be sitting behind a news desk. This project teaches standards 1, 2, 3, and 6 because students are working collaboratively in groups, researching a historical person using a digital resource, and then creating a digital presentation.

21st Century Writing Workshop

Can I be in Mrs. Bogard’s classroom?! I absolutely LOVED this article and am completely inspired to try something similar to her work with my students. If this format can’t inspire and motivate my “I don’t have any good ideas” writers to create something amazing, I would be astonished. How motivating! And I’m already scheming up ideas on how I can purchase a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. Fund-A-Need, PTO money, our Ted Kooser Endowment Fund. I have to have at least one! I can think of about three students that this would save, even though I know everyone will want to use it.

Thinking to the phases of story writing, planning out a story is the first step and a very important one at that. Below is a graphic organizer I created for a unit called Authors as Mentors.

 

Our stories in this unit have five pages and it seems like the kids never have all the parts required of them no matter how many times I remind them. I like the idea of structuring the unit with a graphic organizer which lists on each page what information they should draw and then eventually write about. The site I used was Popplet. This site was easy to navigate, easy to create an organizer, and would be easy for a student to draw quick sketches in or upload their own photos with a click of the button. 

Integrating new literacies into my classroom would be refreshing to both my students and myself. Allowing them to create writing without a piece of lined paper and a pencil would immediately engage students in a meaningful and novel way. Production would increase, my constant motivation could subside, and Writer’s Workshop would change from a dreaded time of the day to a much anticipated subject. I’m excited to learn more ways to incorporate technology into writing and explore the different ways to support student learning.

 

Screencast

So I really like the idea of a Flipped Classroom. Students get the material prior to the lesson, ideally at home the evening before, they get some practice and prior knowledge on the subject, then we work on it more in depth the next day in class. Ideally, the perfect concept. Realistically, not all students have access to computers at home. I love the idea for higher grade levels because those students may be able to use computers at school during independent time. The only way I could think to use this with my students is if I checked out the mobile lab and they watched the instructional video during literacy work stations. But that kind of defeats the purpose of getting this information outside of school. I'll have to think more on that issue...

After messing around with several web-based tools, the one I liked the most was eduCanon. I loved the idea of saving time by using an instructional video already created. We have been working on mastering compound words so I searched youtube for a kid-friendly video and found a great one. All I had to do was add questions and wah-lah! An interactive, engaging lesson that took me less than 15 minutes to finalize. Here is the link to that lesson:

www.educanon.com/public/68763/197135?cn=s

This is a great review or could even be an introduction before the skill is taught if and when I determine my students all have access to a computer. Again, I love this idea and plan to explore more of these FREE services for my classroom.

Digital Citizenship

 

It’s imperative to teach young children how to effectively use technology in order to enhance their learning. However, with the use of technology also comes the teaching of how to use it effectively, appropriately, and safely. Below are three areas I feel are most crucial to incorporate into first grade curriculum.

1. Sending an Email: (Relationships and Communicating) Each Friday I send the students’ parents an email in an effort to communicate our current curriculum, important dates, and any other pertinent information regarding school events. As I was reading over the Digital Citizenship curriculum, I realized I can teach my students how to create their own newsletter to send to their parents. This way students are learning how to send emails and communicate with their families what we are doing in the classroom.

2. Staying Safe Online: (Internet Safety) Navigating the internet is a challenging task for young students. Educating them on how to choose appropriate internet is overwhelming, so that’s why I always appreciate suggestions on how to teach my students. The stoplight activity lesson was creative and a great way to help students understand the importance of thinking about which sites are appropriate for them. This lesson could be adapted to fit into our animal research unit easily. I like the idea of creating a Symbaloo page with different pages all on animals, but some not appropriate for students, whether too difficult to read, or sites with opinions or falsities on animals. These sites can then be sorted into “safe” sites or sites not appropriate for young students.

3. Using Keywords: (Information Literacy) I think this skill is extremely useful to begin teaching students. Using keywords to search online can provide students with many opportunities for learning. If used effectively, students could extend their learning beyond the curriculum using the internet as a way to research a question or learn more about a specific topic. Many times students will ask questions that I can’t answer and I always look it up online. Teaching them the importance of keywords will yield the best results for their inquiries. This easily lends itself to our animal research unit, but really could be taught and applied in any subject area that students have questions on.

It’s imperative to teach young children how to effectively use technology in order to enhance their learning. However, with the use of technology also comes the teaching of how to use it effectively, appropriately, and safely. Below are three areas I feel are most crucial to incorporate into first grade curriculum.

Tweet!

I have officially joined Twitter. Quite a simple process and my first thought was "It's Pinterest, but less photos and more explanations." After a little more exploration, I'm not sure that first thought was accurate. Here's my take on the initial experience: 

1. I like a specific topic. I participated in a few different chats and was drawn more to the ones focused on specific subjects, like PLCs. I found some links to great articles and it was neat to read what other people wrote about their work in their districts. I was not a fan of general education chats because people were posting about a wide range of topics and it took me much longer to find something which held valuable information to me.

2. Professional Literature. While I was exploring different chats, I found great readings on several different topics. This will definitely be a site I visit when I have questions regarding strategies and best practices. I like that I can somewhat filter my searches with hashtags and then search those chats for pertinent information and suggested ideas and readings.

3. Additional Resource. My usual go-to to is Pinterest. Although this site has cute ideas on how to teach a concept, I know an important part of teaching is understanding best practices and I feel I can find more resources on Twitter to support my instruction. Pinterest is for my students, and Twitter is for my teaching.

I'm excited to spend some more time exploring Twitter and getting used to navigating the site. There is a limitless amount of information I can gain from great conversations over really any topic!

New Literacies

Thinking of incorporating the new literacies in my classroom and it seems obvious that the most beneficial way to show first graders would be through the Internet Workshop. It’s easiest for me to go through the list one at a time, so here goes what I think would be a great learning opportunity for my students:

Asking Questions: This works perfectly with our reading essential questions each week. I’ve wanted to take my class to a dairy farm outside of Lincoln and have put in a grant in the Fund-A-Need project but it was unsuccessful so why not create somewhat of a virtual field trip that answers the question, “Where Does Food Come From?” This could be the first workshop and once students are more familiar with the concept, they could take over the questions and create their own.

Locating Information: Given my students’ age and knowledge of the internet, I would provide specific web pages that students would visit to answer our question. This could go several different ways… We could explore one topic in depth. For example, students could learn about how milk is made, specifically. Going through the milking process, the heating process, bottling, etc… OR we could skim the surface of many different kinds of products and focus on how they get from the farm to the table. So many options! And although I will provide the resources, it’s important to discuss with my students why I chose them and how I know that they are good resources.

Evaluating: This literacy correlates perfectly with our Habits of Mind sourcing strategy where students look at a document and answer questions about who created it, when, and why they created it. Students are familiar with this skill and can apply their knowledge when looking closely at webpages. It would be meaningful to find a website with false information so that students realize not everything they read on the internet is true.

Synthesizing: This literacy seems to produce the greatest challenge for students at this age level. It would be easy to just set students free on a search engine to find information but that would be extremely unethical to do and would create chaos. In order for young students to practice this skill, I would have to create a limited amount of websites for students to visit and learn through. Possibly along the lines of a Symbaloo page. Then students have choices in which sites they use and can build that external text, but it’s a safe search for them as well.

Communicating: Throughout this process, students will be gaining available insight into how food begins and what happens to it along the way, just before we see it in grocery stores. Students will share this information through a workshop session where they can present their information to the rest of the class.