The iPods Come to Life!

So, I started the iPod projects today. There were some interesting moments. I have to say that overall, it went well. We recorded our interviews and uploaded them to each child's itunes account at school. I think my favorite part was listening to the boys create "interview voices" while they asked their partner their questions. It made me laugh, especially when they took on a different interview name! I was surprised to see how the children helped each other out with the technology steps and all the children met the goals (in a limited time) (issue number #1)!

The next step will be to take their interviews and turn them into a paragraph. This will be the tie to reviewing writing skills. I am excited to see how well the children do with their paragraphs. This will be a great way to evaluate their work using the 6+1 Traits rubrics. Remember, I'm a traditional girl, with a technology twist!

Then we will start the next technology part...Voicethread! Yay! This is where it gets fun!

Twitter in the Classroom

So, I have started Tweeting with my students this week. I used our closing circle time to reflect on things the class learned or are excited about. I am still trying to figure out the best way to use this time effectively. My hopes are that after a couple weeks, I can have a couple kids tweet on their own about what we are doing in class. I will be monitoring this, of course. So far we have 4 followers, including 3 teachers and 1 parent. I invited the parents, but am hoping to get a bigger following after Parent Night.

I am struggling with how public this account should be. I am still inspired by Will Richardson, who encourages teachers to be public on the internet, with their students, as a way to build their PLN. I am hearing his argument, but realize I am dealing with children that are still learning the ways around the internet. This is why I have chosen to do this project as a class. I am keeping a close eye on everyone that asks to follow us and am not using any children's names or pictures on our account. We are pretty secure, at this point.

I am excited to see how this evolves. With another teacher tweeting across the hall, it has been nice to bounce off ideas and concerns. My hope for this project is not only to communicate with parents, but to allow their children to see how we can share opinions and learning safely with others on the internet. The children are so excited every time they see me reach for the iPad to tweet their thoughts. It has definitely gotten them motivated to share their opinions. I am going to find a place for each of them to go to share their thoughts individually, but that is another project for the future! Happy Tweeting!

Traditional Education vs Technology Integration

This year, I have moved from second grade to fourth grade. Not that I didn't like second, but I am excited about the doors that have been opened for me now that I am teaching an older group of children. I already have some ideas that are churning in my mind as to what I will do with my class. The next question is what will be my limits and how much will my students be able to do?

I have always struggled with finding the balance between traditional expectations and the ability to incorporate technology in everyday assignments. When we think of elementary education, we think of teaching reading, writing, and math fundamentals. We need children to leave our early grades knowing the basics, so they can excel in learning more about things they are passionate about. I have always said that we don't teach children information, we teach them how to find the answers to their questions. Of course, technology fits right in with this idea, but we do need to find a balance of traditional ideals and incorporating 21st century learning. Fourth grade will allow me to dabble a little more in these new areas.

The first project I have on board will be a "Get to know you assignment". I am going to assign homework to create 15 interview questions (writing component). Then, they will pick 10 of their best questions and interview another classmate. They will use iPods to record the interview and use the information to write a paragraph about their partner. Then, I will upload pictures of each student into a Voicethread and the children will record their paragraphs on the picture of the student they interviewed! I will then make that into a Quicktime Movie and drop that into my Moodle course for my class to enjoy! I am waiting to see if this is too ambitious, but time will tell. I'm excited to see how they do. I'll let you know how it goes!

It's That Time of Year Again

Well, the meetings have started and we are officially back in the swing of things. We came back to the usually faculty meetings, where we announce the news of the summer, go over the summer reading articles and books, and find out all the fun that we will be embarking on this year. It is always bitter sweet getting up that first day for meetings, wishing we were still in bed and staying home with pets and family.

This year had a new feel for me. We came to school to see all the new SMARTboards hanging in the classrooms and I was excited to feel the energy. As a member the faculty that had a board last year, it was fun to teach tech to my colleagues and get them excited for the moment they had their own boards in place. I felt honored and excited to be taking on a role as a facilitator and teacher among my peers. I'm sure this year will be full of fun and also a million questions from friends who need help with their new technology! :)

We also had the privilege of hearing Will Richardson speak to the school about technology usage in the 21st century classroom. Of course, compared to some of my colleagues, I was sitting at the edge of my seat, ready to hear what he had to say. His talk was full of many facts and figures, to which I found myself nodding my head in agreement. It wasn't what he said to me that stuck with me, but the way the conference was held. He encouraged laptop usage as well as using Todaysmeet.com to facilitate our own discussion while he was talking. It was amazing how some of us could multitask and hold our own discussion, while listening to Will speak. He talked about Twitter, Delicious, Evernote, and many other 2.0 apps that I have experimented with. The one that I hadn't done much of is blogging. So here I am, blogging about my new found excitement. I guess that was the point of the lecture and Will did his job. We'll see where this takes me.

Happy school year and happy blogging.