Book Clubs

I can't believe we are already almost finished with the semester. It's been a whirlwind. Students in all of our 8th grade Language Arts classes have been busy using technology for a variety of different activities connected to their Book Club book. We got our book club books on audiobook so that students had the option to listen to their book on the iPod Touch as they read. I formed groups on our class Ning so that students had a place to respond to what they were reading and could get feedback from their teacher and from other students. The feedback has not been able to be as frequent or instant as I had hoped because we only have six computers, but I found that students were excited about responding in this way. If we had more computers, the Ning would be even more effective. Students have also been taking turns using the computers to complete research for projects connected to their Book Clubs. Just recently, students used the computers to create their own hero as a pre-writing activity for their hero's journey creative story. The website is called Hero Machine 2.5 and the students absolutely loved getting to create their hero. I think it really got their creative juices flowing and hopefully, their final products written products will benefit from this activity. My students seem to be getting used to the different processes they have to go through to log in to Google docs and to our Ning. Some still need help, but overall, I think it is starting to get easier. I'm excited about next semester. There's so much more I wanted to accomplish by this point, but I have to remind myself that we got a slow start since we didn't get to kick off the year with the technology in place. I really feel like next semester, we can accomplish so much more since we'll have everything in place from the first day of school.

Greek Mythology videos

My Pre-AP students finished working on their Greek mythology videos, and they are hysterical! This project required them to research one Greek god or goddess to go along with The Lightning Thief. Some groups chose to use the flip cameras. I can't believe how easy it was to point, shoot, edit, and publish! Other groups decided to use xtranormal videos, and those came out really cute too. With very few exceptions, I was thrilled with what these students produced using technology!

I'm including a video. Enjoy!

Just "Ning"ing it!

Hurrah! All of my students have now joined my Ning sites. I have two sites: one for my two Pre-AP classes and one for my two Academic classes. The students really seem to enjoy having a place where they can all come together. I have created groups for each Book Club and students are in the process of joining the groups and adding to discussion posts on certain chapters. It's been a little crazy trying to get everyone in and to get everyone started, but I think it's going to be a really great way for students to discuss what they are reading and for me to give immediate feedback to their thinking. I know this has many more possibilities, as well.

Another First!

Today, my Academic students used the Dell minis for the first time.  I used my ActiveBoard to guide them through the steps of logging into their Google docs account for the first time.  It took a long time to get through the steps, but it ran pretty darn smoothly, considering.  They did not get much time to actually type their drafts, but I'm hopeful that one more day will be all they need to finish.  After having our Pre-AP students type in shifts, we decided that it would be easier to have our Academic classes log in all at once this first time.  Now that they know the basics of accessing Google docs, we can go back to rotations next time.  I'm eager to start my class Nings, but I'm waiting for permission slips.  Argh!  I don't want to introduce the steps of logging into the Ning more than once per class, so I'm waiting to collect all the slips.

Currently, the Pre-AP students are working on a project where they have selected a movie that follows the Hero's Journey.  They will outline the Hero's Journey in the movie using Google docs to make the presentation.  Then, we will convert their presentation so that they can record narration on Keynote on the Mac and download it into iTunes.  Then, all the students can view the presentations on the iPod touches.  

We are starting Book Clubs tomorrow.  I created a short Keynote presentation of Ch. 1 of The Giver focusing on clarifying certain words as I recorded myself reading the chapter.  The Giver group will be able to read their book along with my recording of the chapter. Our team has plans to record key chapters of the other Book club selections so that other groups will have a chance to listen, as well.  We also hope to use the Flip cameras and Nings for students to respond to their Book Club books and share with other groups who are reading the same book.

Overall, it has been very exciting using this technology, and I am very appreciative.  My only wish is that the ActiveBoards had arrived a little later.  I feel like when those showed up, my stress level really shot up.  I love the ActiveBoard, don't get me wrong, but I'm feeling pressure to use so many different types of technology all at once, and the amount of time it takes to use them all well, while at the same time, keep the focus on what students are learning, is a little overwhelming.  I'm all about making changes this year, and so far, I'm adjusting to the changes pretty well, but I just have to make sure I don't lose sight of my students and their needs in all the excitement and rush of trying to incorporate technology into everything.  I've always prided myself on giving my students plenty of individual attention, and I'm feeling like that may be slipping a tad as my creativity and energies focus on technology lessons and projects.  I know their learning and engagement will increase once they are in the habit of using all of this new stuff in my room, so I guess it will all balance out.  

I agree with Melissa about the blog.  We have not gotten very creative with our blog postings yet which is regrettable, but I'm hoping that once we get into the groove, we will be able to improve.

Here is Ch. 1 of The Giver that I mentioned above.

Up and Running!

We're officially up and running now! I'm proud to report that we're using the laptops nearly every day, or at least a group of students use them, and we're using the i-pod touches once or twice a week. The students definitely consider using the technology a privilege, so they are respectful and responsible. In fact, using the technology towards the second half of the period ensures that we eliminate (or minimize!) discipline problems. Overall, I'm LOVING it! :)

My academic students are posting examples of figurative language on their class blogs. The best part is that students look at the other students' examples, so they recognize and can come up with their own examples. Clearly, this approach has been successful in that even some of my more difficult students eagerly pointed out when they came across examples of figurative language in The Lightning Thief, our class novel. Yes!!!

My pre-AP students are continuing their research on their Greek god, titan, or monster, also in relation to The Lightning Thief. They are beginning to plan out their video and to divide up roles, all in preparation of making a video about their Greek god. Some students have decided to make a music video, others a commercial, and still others are making a skit or movie trailer. Most of the groups will use the flip cameras to record their videos. I have two groups who do not want to be in their videos, so we are exploring www.xtranormal.com. I'm hoping this will work. Otherwise, we'll keep coming up with new ideas. Honestly, my students know far more about computer programs and websites than I do, so they are coming up with amazing ideas!

After going to the Power to Learn meeting last night, Jen and I were so impressed with all the other teams' awesome ideas and successes. It was great to hear what other schools are doing and to imagine using some of those ideas in my 7th grade classroom. However, we also saw the other teams' blogs, and we realized that we need to add to our blog a bit more. Of course, it's so difficult to find the time to add to our blog. And when we do have a free minute, we're using it to further our students' access to the technology, not so focused on recording our progress. Now we all have access to the blog though, so we can all add to the blog in our own usernames. Hopefully it will make updating the blog a bit easier.

My students started prewriting and drafting a personal narrative, so as we continue drafting, revising, and editing, I'm hoping to have them type their writing in Google docs. Again, though, we're just trying to find the time. Over the next two weeks, hopefully the students will use Google docs, and my pre-AP students will use the flip cameras. Look forward to updates soon.

Loving This New Technology!

We’re off to an exciting start with our new technology. Last Friday, I divided my students up into three groups, each rotating to stations around the room. One group of students used the i-Pod touches to watch a slideshow on the hero’s journey. While they were watching, they were taking notes and responding to questions by tracking the hero’s journey in The Lightning Thief, our class novel. I created the slideshow using Keynote because I, too, had trouble with Garage Band. Keynote worked perfectly, and it was easy to export the file to iTunes, and then to sync iTunes with the iPods. My only difficulty with Keynote was when I tried to include short videos in my Keynote slideshow. It worked well on Keynote, but once I exported the file to iTunes, the videos didn’t match the voices. I ended up just including the videos separately in iTunes, not as a part of the slideshow. It worked out well and the kids seemed to LOVE this fresh approach to learning.

While some students were working with the iPod touches, another group of students worked with the laptop minis. These students were using the internet to research the Greek gods that are included in The Lightning Thief. I met with these students and briefly discussed reliable resources on the internet, and I was pleasantly surprised by how critical students became of unreliable sources. They quietly pointed out helpful websites to their group members and added to their notes on the Greek gods. I loved listening to the great discussions coming from these students!

The remaining students were reading their SSR books or catching up in The Lightning Thief. Of course, everyone wanted to spend all of their time using the technology, but because all students completed the three rotations, everyone worked well together and completed their assignments.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my students. Chaos? I can’t even believe how well it worked though! The students were focused and engaged for the entire period. And perhaps the most exciting part is that even my tough, difficult students who rarely seem interested were doing some of their best work. Clearly, Friday was a success! In fact, Friday was so successful that on Monday we used our technology again.

I’m excited that now we have email addresses for our students. I’m ready to get started on our class Ning. I can see using the Nings, a separate one for each of my classes, frequently. There’s so much you can do on Ning!

My pre-AP students are getting ready to start a group project on the Greek gods, and we’ll be using the flip-cameras. I can’t believe how easy they are to use! Then, of course, the students will be able to upload their videos on the laptops or the ipods. Exciting!!!

Now that we’ve gotten started using this technology, I can’t believe how easy it is to work with the district curriculum and to strengthen daily lessons to make them more memorable and engaging. After making my first slideshow, the ideas started flowing. Unfortunately, while I’m trying to sleep, new ideas will pop into my head. That’s getting old. I need my sleep!

I’m disappointed that I don’t have a common planning time with the 8^th grade team, and as the only 7^th grade teacher with this technology, that means that I’m creating all of the lessons. On the bright side, though, the ideas really are flowing now, so I’m not too concerned. I just wish we had more time in the day. Then again, I’m sure I’ll become more efficient as I learn.

My students and I are incredibly grateful to have all this technology in our hands!

--Melissa Weedin

We've Started!

The last week has been crazy! The iPod touch devices were delivered on Friday, Sept. 11th. That Saturday, Valarie, Jennifer, and I attended a workshop about Macs and iPod touches. We were really eager to use our new technology in the classroom A.S.A.P. (and so were our students), so we put a top priority on figuring that out this past week. Jen had already been hard at work on a PowerPoint on Figurative Language so after we got the Mac, she successfully converted it to Keynote (on the Mac). Our hero!

The workshop we attended on Saturday suggested we use Garage Band for podcasts, so Valarie, Jen, and I had our first recording session last Wednesday after school. The recording went pretty smoothly, but when we were done, that's when the problems began. When we tried to put the images from Keynote into Garage Band, it took Jen some time to match them up with the proper narration, but she persevered! Then, when she put it into iTunes, only the voices were available, not the images. By this point, it was late. She had been working on this way too long, already, and really needed to get home. (The problem with our Mac is that right now, we are unable to get it to open at home, so we've had to do everything up at school). I thought I'd look at it one more time after she left, and I realized that you can narrate on Keynote and that it appears in iTunes with no problem. It's so easy (but from what we were able to tell, if you mess up, you have to start all the way over). I checked to see that it would open in iTunes, and it worked there, too.

The next day during our planning period, the three of us recorded our narration, AGAIN, in Keynote. We got it into iTunes with ease, and we were ready to roll. I also had some movie clips from WingClips (Inspirational Hollywood movie clip downloads licensed for church or non-profit viewing) that I wanted to get into iTunes for a lesson on Conflict. I had them saved in RealPlayer on my Dell, but could not figure out how to get them on my Mac. I was going to just download them again on the Mac, but the internet wasn't working. Finally, by Thursday afternoon, the internet worked on the Mac, so I was able to get those downloaded on the Mac. They were saved in QuickTime, and I figured out a way to convert them to put them into iTunes. Success!

In our classrooms, we made efforts to prepare our kids for using the iPod touches. Valarie had her kids come up with their own contract for using the iPod touch, and Jen and I made one that we had the kids sign. Our 8th Grade Pre-AP students were at the spot in our curriculum where it was time to review figurative, so on Friday we did a three group rotation. One group has Silent Sustained Reading, one group took notes and did some independent practice on figurative langauge using the video we made (from Keynote) that was on the iPod touch, and one group worked on an activity connected to our class novel. Students were given about 20 minutes in each rotation. They seemed VERY focused when they had on the headphones and were taking notes. It was amazing the differences I saw between that version of reviewing a concept and when we do it whole class. If we had used that same video with the whole class, there would have not been as much engagement. Jen agreed that the rotations worked really well in her class. Of course, there are some kinks to work out (mostly with the focus of the other two groups who don't have the technology), but we look forward to discussing that and trying it again with our Academic classes. I actually was able to use the videos with my Academic classes on Friday. The students were supposed to view the movie clip, figure out the type of conflict it showed, and explain the conflict. The students were either doing their Silent Sustained Reading or were viewing the clips. It was amazing to see how those students were focused when they had on their headphones and that little screen. The other kids who were waiting for a turn were mostly really focused on their book. I would say a few students were a little distracted, but this was a Friday and the first day of using the devices. I would not say they were really any more distracted than they would be on a regular day. That was my most challenging class, and yet they still did well.

This next week we'll try the rotations with our Academic classes. We're ready to use the iPods for some different types of activities, as well. It's just that we need time to figure everything out. I think having the time to be as creative as we want to be will be one of our greatest challenges. Also, we feel bad because this year we don't have the same planning period as Melissa. She was sick and did not get to attend the workshop last Saturday. She's very good with technology and a quick learner, but we really counted on being able to team with her during planning time. I filled her in on what we've been up to, but I want to make sure she has enough support. Maybe this blog will help? I don't know. I know I would not have been able to make any of this work in my classroom this past week if it weren't for my team members. This is all happening so fast. It's a total whirlwind. Jen has grad school two nights a week, and this is Valarie's first year of teaching. They are doing a great job balancing everything.

Also, the Dell mini laptops arrived on Friday. We have not even had a chance to think about those. I think we'll wait until we get info on the Gmail accounts before we start to worry about that. This is exciting, but a little overwhelming.

Waiting to Begin

My team and I are excited about using our new technology in our Language Arts classrooms. Our only wish is that we could start using the technology today, but we understand how these things go and will be grateful to receive it when comes in September. We have so many ideas and are just curious to see how it will all go when we start trying out the technology activities with our students.