Day 2 A because it was only group A.
Class started with a warm up asking students to list rules or policies for editing the class wiki, group wikis, etc. I wasn't sure what to expect. The answer were fairly consistent--don't be mean, don't be inappropriate (both in terms of staying on topic and not saying anything not proper for school) don't post any incorrect information, and keep an eye on spelling and grammar.
Not a bad list.
With some guidance the discussion came around to editing each others pages (I would assume that this hadn't occurred to them) and the conclusion that students should not interfere with each others pages, and that they had to stop editing mine.
I gave them a quick overview of how to use the message boards, and we had a quick posting discussion. One student asked why he had to type something to someone in the same room, and another student was able to remind him that this was to make working with students from the other class work better.
The students played around with the editor for a few minutes and I explained that sometimes wikispaces like to just ignore your formatting if you click in the wrong spot at the wrong time (at least it does that to me from time to time).
The group seemed pretty into the idea of creating web pages. Several if not all are intrigued by having online discussions. We talked about using appropriate language, and we reviewed the idea of not not having control of anything posted online after it is posted--my rule is don't post it if you wouldn't want to see it on a billboard 30 ft. high.
My goal is to make sure students are cautious when posting, and never post without fully considering it, but not afraid to post or create content. Something I really like to stress with this group is that right now, and during these types of projects, they are in a closed, rather safe online environment. And that they are more or less practicing for real life. I want to make sure they are using some judgment if they are using sites like facebook outside of school or in the future.
Next up is password security and resetting passwords. Followed by navigation and linking and creating a "sandbox."
Monday, February 7, 2011
4th Grade Animals project day 2
Day two of the project was similar to day 1.
The students worked on finding information using the provided links. I'm starting to see a trend that will, without intervention, only increase as students get older. I intend to intervene.
Students want to allow a search engine to do all the work for them. Even though about a half dozen really good links were provided, some students went straight for askkids.com. This is rather a foreshadowing of what I see in 5th and 6th grade.
But beyond wanting to use a search engine, they also want to simply type in a question and get an answer. It leads to students writing down answer based on the short blurbs provided on the search result page (and attempting to cite google or bing or blekko, etc., as sources) and to trusting completely sites such as answers.com and wikianswers.
To combat the use of search engines as sources, I work with older students to understand what a search engine is. To combat the use of "answers" sites, we talk frequently--in 4th grade and up--about who is providing those answers and whether or not they can be trusted. I'm a big fan of teaching students to just verify everything they find with another source. However, I fear that they are still seeing it as "busy work" that the computer teacher makes them do rather than a skill that needs to be applied to internet research in all other areas. But persistence usually pays off for me, so I'll just keep at it.
That got rambling and slightly off topic of fourth grade.
What really went well today was that students did research in two groups, first the boys and then the girls. The non-research group worked on a reading assignment. I commented to the teacher that the students were so much more focused and calm this way. She said that she had found that herself. Its a conveniently even class--11 and 13.
Next up is a bit more research, an intro to the student server, and then inspiration.
The students worked on finding information using the provided links. I'm starting to see a trend that will, without intervention, only increase as students get older. I intend to intervene.
Students want to allow a search engine to do all the work for them. Even though about a half dozen really good links were provided, some students went straight for askkids.com. This is rather a foreshadowing of what I see in 5th and 6th grade.
But beyond wanting to use a search engine, they also want to simply type in a question and get an answer. It leads to students writing down answer based on the short blurbs provided on the search result page (and attempting to cite google or bing or blekko, etc., as sources) and to trusting completely sites such as answers.com and wikianswers.
To combat the use of search engines as sources, I work with older students to understand what a search engine is. To combat the use of "answers" sites, we talk frequently--in 4th grade and up--about who is providing those answers and whether or not they can be trusted. I'm a big fan of teaching students to just verify everything they find with another source. However, I fear that they are still seeing it as "busy work" that the computer teacher makes them do rather than a skill that needs to be applied to internet research in all other areas. But persistence usually pays off for me, so I'll just keep at it.
That got rambling and slightly off topic of fourth grade.
What really went well today was that students did research in two groups, first the boys and then the girls. The non-research group worked on a reading assignment. I commented to the teacher that the students were so much more focused and calm this way. She said that she had found that herself. Its a conveniently even class--11 and 13.
Next up is a bit more research, an intro to the student server, and then inspiration.
An unexpected demonstration of multitasking and adaptation
I'm a very social creature by nature, and generally find I'd rather be spending time with students than in my office (even when being in my office means I'm doing very important, frequently time sensitive work that I'll end up taking home if I don't finish). So, when the math teacher came over to have me help him double check that a website he wanted to use would work, and after seeing him and his students go into one of the labs, I just couldn't help but go over and visit.
The students were using classzone, a website I wasn't familiar with. The math teacher said it was set up to work with their math books, and was free. I had poked through it after testing, but wanted to see it in action.
The students were using it for practice problems and practice quizzes. While I was there, one of the kids vaguely griped about needing paper to do the work. I suggested using a drawing program, such as sumopaint. I bit my tongue right after it came out, not sure if I was now stepping on toes or not, but the math teacher was very interested to see it in action.
It was fortunate, but about half of his seven students were in one or more of my electives where I'd introduced the program. It was used to varying degrees of success. I reminded one of the girls she could use layers to "hide" past problems and work on new ones. I had to remind others to adjust their brushes to be more useful. Some kids did not like having to erase, and others just weren't into use the mouse as a pen (I can't blame them). I'd say about half the students used sumopaint for paper, while the other half found the recycle bin next to the printers and used real paper. (Except one student who appeared to be doing all of the work in her head, which impressed me since it was all decimals and fractions).
A few minutes later, one student pulled out a calculator, and the boy next to him decided he needed one also--but he hadn't brought one. I had him google the term scientific calculator, and suggested he click on the web 2.0 calculator because it sounded promising. Shortly, several students had that tab open on their browser.
I showed one student, and the math teacher, how to use tab+tilde to tab through different firefox windows (obviously I'm a mac school). Some students used that trick, other used the F3, other used their mouse.
a few minutes later, I saw the math teacher showing one student Khan Academy. At the end of class, he said to me that the students had impressed him by being able to multitask so well that he wanted to try one more tool and see.
I'm blown away. Not only did the students rise to a new challenge, the adapted. They each were responsible for deciding which tools to make use of and which to abandon. The used processes individualized to their own needs. And the teacher stepped up "just to see." I can't say enough about how much that impressed me.
At the very end of class, the math teacher called the students over to see the result for one student who had attempted a quiz. He showed how the system marked answers right and wrong, and how as students that could use that to determine which topics they needed to focus more on, and which topics they could comfortably decide they were strong in.
I think in the end the entire period was in exercise in students defining their own learning. I would wager that most students don't remember all of the websites used, but I'm forwarding the links along to the math teacher.
classzone
sumopaint
web2.0 scientific calculator
khan academy
The students were using classzone, a website I wasn't familiar with. The math teacher said it was set up to work with their math books, and was free. I had poked through it after testing, but wanted to see it in action.
The students were using it for practice problems and practice quizzes. While I was there, one of the kids vaguely griped about needing paper to do the work. I suggested using a drawing program, such as sumopaint. I bit my tongue right after it came out, not sure if I was now stepping on toes or not, but the math teacher was very interested to see it in action.
It was fortunate, but about half of his seven students were in one or more of my electives where I'd introduced the program. It was used to varying degrees of success. I reminded one of the girls she could use layers to "hide" past problems and work on new ones. I had to remind others to adjust their brushes to be more useful. Some kids did not like having to erase, and others just weren't into use the mouse as a pen (I can't blame them). I'd say about half the students used sumopaint for paper, while the other half found the recycle bin next to the printers and used real paper. (Except one student who appeared to be doing all of the work in her head, which impressed me since it was all decimals and fractions).
A few minutes later, one student pulled out a calculator, and the boy next to him decided he needed one also--but he hadn't brought one. I had him google the term scientific calculator, and suggested he click on the web 2.0 calculator because it sounded promising. Shortly, several students had that tab open on their browser.
I showed one student, and the math teacher, how to use tab+tilde to tab through different firefox windows (obviously I'm a mac school). Some students used that trick, other used the F3, other used their mouse.
a few minutes later, I saw the math teacher showing one student Khan Academy. At the end of class, he said to me that the students had impressed him by being able to multitask so well that he wanted to try one more tool and see.
I'm blown away. Not only did the students rise to a new challenge, the adapted. They each were responsible for deciding which tools to make use of and which to abandon. The used processes individualized to their own needs. And the teacher stepped up "just to see." I can't say enough about how much that impressed me.
At the very end of class, the math teacher called the students over to see the result for one student who had attempted a quiz. He showed how the system marked answers right and wrong, and how as students that could use that to determine which topics they needed to focus more on, and which topics they could comfortably decide they were strong in.
I think in the end the entire period was in exercise in students defining their own learning. I would wager that most students don't remember all of the websites used, but I'm forwarding the links along to the math teacher.
classzone
sumopaint
web2.0 scientific calculator
khan academy
Sunday, February 6, 2011
6th grade China Project overview and day 1
The 6th grade project is something a bit new.
This is the second time I've done something very new with this class.
At this time of year, 6th grade studies China. They will be in that unit for five weeks. This year, they are going to incorporate making a web page into the unit.
The group was divided into teams of 4-5. The homeroom teachers were responsible for making the teams and paired students based on strengths.
There was a discussion if teams should be made up of students all in one class (I would see entire teams at once for computer class) or from mixed students (I would see all teams, but only half of the members in my class). I suggested the ability to work with teams asynchronously was a good skill for them to learn. So, it was decided to make mixed teams.
We introduced the project in the combined lab class. This class always goes just a bit slower--with 23 12 year olds arranged in a circle around the room with their backs to me (I am rearranging the lab over the summer--its just too much of an undertaking until then) does not always create the best arrangement.
The 6th grade teacher introduced the teams and provided them with their printed information resource. I went over the directions of what needs to be included on the final website--including where to find it (printed packet, web and other research, and self made drawings, etc.). I also gave some requirements for making a website. I've done projects before where several students focus on displaying information and overlook creating an interesting product.
Each team made a team page on the class wiki. I introduced the concept of tagging by having them tag the page. I also showed that they can use tagging to create specialized navigation (I didn't have time to show how to do it yet).
I showed them a sample page that I had created, and allowed them to grade it for content and creativity. I scored around a B on content and D- on creativity (they were much harsher on creativity than I'll be, which is probably good for them). Having created a subpar product, though, allowed for the students to not only express their opinion, but to also express to me they understood what I was looking for. So, right now I feel very confident that a majority of the students understand what the expectations are.
I wanted to also introduce the discussion boards, but I ran out of time.
Next time I will see the teams in separate groups. I plan to introduce the discussion boards (to allow the inter-class planning and work to begin) and review the concepts of web searching, verifying info, citing sources (and where exactly to keep that information). I may address navigation and the use of multiple pages. I hope to provide a lot of class time for beginning to find and document sources. I will do the same thing in both classes.
The only problem I really had was students editing the page while I was talking. After really thinking about it, I decided this doesn't bother me as long as students are paying attention and not distracting or insulting one another. It did become a distraction to students who weren't "in on it" (only about 4 boys were doing this). And, some of the comments bordered on insulting. I will have to make sure to address the appropriateness of editing the pages during class, and online behavior. I think with this age I need to remember that online behavior has to be addressed often. They are really only saying things online that they would say face to face--but sarcasm doesn't play well online. And, of course, online comments are far more permanent than a playground jab.
Here's a screen shot of the project homepage
This is the second time I've done something very new with this class.
At this time of year, 6th grade studies China. They will be in that unit for five weeks. This year, they are going to incorporate making a web page into the unit.
The group was divided into teams of 4-5. The homeroom teachers were responsible for making the teams and paired students based on strengths.
There was a discussion if teams should be made up of students all in one class (I would see entire teams at once for computer class) or from mixed students (I would see all teams, but only half of the members in my class). I suggested the ability to work with teams asynchronously was a good skill for them to learn. So, it was decided to make mixed teams.
We introduced the project in the combined lab class. This class always goes just a bit slower--with 23 12 year olds arranged in a circle around the room with their backs to me (I am rearranging the lab over the summer--its just too much of an undertaking until then) does not always create the best arrangement.
The 6th grade teacher introduced the teams and provided them with their printed information resource. I went over the directions of what needs to be included on the final website--including where to find it (printed packet, web and other research, and self made drawings, etc.). I also gave some requirements for making a website. I've done projects before where several students focus on displaying information and overlook creating an interesting product.
Each team made a team page on the class wiki. I introduced the concept of tagging by having them tag the page. I also showed that they can use tagging to create specialized navigation (I didn't have time to show how to do it yet).
I showed them a sample page that I had created, and allowed them to grade it for content and creativity. I scored around a B on content and D- on creativity (they were much harsher on creativity than I'll be, which is probably good for them). Having created a subpar product, though, allowed for the students to not only express their opinion, but to also express to me they understood what I was looking for. So, right now I feel very confident that a majority of the students understand what the expectations are.
I wanted to also introduce the discussion boards, but I ran out of time.
Next time I will see the teams in separate groups. I plan to introduce the discussion boards (to allow the inter-class planning and work to begin) and review the concepts of web searching, verifying info, citing sources (and where exactly to keep that information). I may address navigation and the use of multiple pages. I hope to provide a lot of class time for beginning to find and document sources. I will do the same thing in both classes.
The only problem I really had was students editing the page while I was talking. After really thinking about it, I decided this doesn't bother me as long as students are paying attention and not distracting or insulting one another. It did become a distraction to students who weren't "in on it" (only about 4 boys were doing this). And, some of the comments bordered on insulting. I will have to make sure to address the appropriateness of editing the pages during class, and online behavior. I think with this age I need to remember that online behavior has to be addressed often. They are really only saying things online that they would say face to face--but sarcasm doesn't play well online. And, of course, online comments are far more permanent than a playground jab.
Here's a screen shot of the project homepage
Thursday, February 3, 2011
4th Grade Animal Project--overivew and Day 1
I usually see 4th grade in halves--12 kids at a time. I am no doubt spoiled.
Today I had all of 4th grade at one time, and two other teachers. It was still a lot more than I'm used to, and I'm still no doubt spoiled.
We are working on an animal project. This is a slight update of something 4th grade has been doing for quite some time.
The programs included are using a wiki as a class homepage, using various teacher posted web sites for information, using askkids.com for searches, using inspiration for information organization, and ultimately creating a glogster. Students will then be doing a writing assignment about their animal.
Today was the fist day in the lab. We had all 24 kids together. I wanted to talk to them about using the web sites, doing a search on askkids, and how to use wikipedia. The 4th grade teacher and I discussed breaking them into two groups and going over the info twice, but I thought it might take 20-30 minutes to get all the info across, and that would mean 10 or less minutes for immediate application. It seemed better practice to have the full group, go through the set up, and give everyone a half hour to immediately apply.
As anticipated, it took a good 5-10 minutes to get all the students situated in new seats (had to assign seats) and logged in (they frequently rely on auto complete and take much longer to get signed in once new seats are assigned--this group are fantastic at keeping track of passwords, and just not as good at user names).
I used the same wiki that we use in class. I had students read the directions for today. I showed them where the useful sites were. After that we talked about Wikipedia. A lot of teachers are very gun shy with Wikipedia, but so far no one in this building is unwilling to use it. So, I had the kids discuss the benefits of letting anyone edit that site, and why it can cause problems. And, with some guidance, they were able to come up with why you can use Wikipedia, but you have to double check the information (that policy seems very standard to most teachers here).
Student wrote down their findings on a printed out diagram of an inspiration mind map--to be transferred to inspiration later. My original instinct was to propose just jumping into inspiration from the get go first, creating maps, and then filling them from web research. Fortunately, the 4th grade teacher made the comment that this way students could have one thing at a time. I think a lot of 4th graders are good at multitasking, but some are not used to doing it on a computer. And with so many new things going on--and having to balance web research and book research, and using multiple websites at one time--I think it probably is for the best that they do all research first, then move on to recording and organizing their information.
Things went really well. As research went on, I could tell by the questions what information was hard to find and started finding and providing addition "useful sites." And, students started suggesting them as well. I think they like the idea of being able to suggest sites.
Some students are having less luck than others (chinchilla) finding information, and information on baby animals is being less than easy to come by.
The biggest issue was that I overlooked telling students that the top links in blue were adds. Unfortunately, this was a result of being so entrenched in searching myself, some part of my brain doesn't even so those links. I suddenly saw a few students on target and was befuddled as to why for a few seconds. At that point, most students were using the useful links and not askkids, so I decided, instead of breaking the flow of the class, to make a point of explaining that at the beginning of next class.
I think this project started strong. I'm pleased with the progress, and I think the other teachers are as well. I'm excited to jump into inspiration and glogster soon.
Useful sites: NatGeo Kids, Yahoo Kids, San Fransisco Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Discovery, Sea World, Discovery
Today I had all of 4th grade at one time, and two other teachers. It was still a lot more than I'm used to, and I'm still no doubt spoiled.
We are working on an animal project. This is a slight update of something 4th grade has been doing for quite some time.
The programs included are using a wiki as a class homepage, using various teacher posted web sites for information, using askkids.com for searches, using inspiration for information organization, and ultimately creating a glogster. Students will then be doing a writing assignment about their animal.
Today was the fist day in the lab. We had all 24 kids together. I wanted to talk to them about using the web sites, doing a search on askkids, and how to use wikipedia. The 4th grade teacher and I discussed breaking them into two groups and going over the info twice, but I thought it might take 20-30 minutes to get all the info across, and that would mean 10 or less minutes for immediate application. It seemed better practice to have the full group, go through the set up, and give everyone a half hour to immediately apply.
As anticipated, it took a good 5-10 minutes to get all the students situated in new seats (had to assign seats) and logged in (they frequently rely on auto complete and take much longer to get signed in once new seats are assigned--this group are fantastic at keeping track of passwords, and just not as good at user names).
I used the same wiki that we use in class. I had students read the directions for today. I showed them where the useful sites were. After that we talked about Wikipedia. A lot of teachers are very gun shy with Wikipedia, but so far no one in this building is unwilling to use it. So, I had the kids discuss the benefits of letting anyone edit that site, and why it can cause problems. And, with some guidance, they were able to come up with why you can use Wikipedia, but you have to double check the information (that policy seems very standard to most teachers here).
Student wrote down their findings on a printed out diagram of an inspiration mind map--to be transferred to inspiration later. My original instinct was to propose just jumping into inspiration from the get go first, creating maps, and then filling them from web research. Fortunately, the 4th grade teacher made the comment that this way students could have one thing at a time. I think a lot of 4th graders are good at multitasking, but some are not used to doing it on a computer. And with so many new things going on--and having to balance web research and book research, and using multiple websites at one time--I think it probably is for the best that they do all research first, then move on to recording and organizing their information.
Things went really well. As research went on, I could tell by the questions what information was hard to find and started finding and providing addition "useful sites." And, students started suggesting them as well. I think they like the idea of being able to suggest sites.
Some students are having less luck than others (chinchilla) finding information, and information on baby animals is being less than easy to come by.
The biggest issue was that I overlooked telling students that the top links in blue were adds. Unfortunately, this was a result of being so entrenched in searching myself, some part of my brain doesn't even so those links. I suddenly saw a few students on target and was befuddled as to why for a few seconds. At that point, most students were using the useful links and not askkids, so I decided, instead of breaking the flow of the class, to make a point of explaining that at the beginning of next class.
I think this project started strong. I'm pleased with the progress, and I think the other teachers are as well. I'm excited to jump into inspiration and glogster soon.
Useful sites: NatGeo Kids, Yahoo Kids, San Fransisco Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Discovery, Sea World, Discovery
Overstream
I can't help but feel this is one of those things that's been around for ever, and I'm just the last one to the party.
But, at the end of the day, does it matter?
Overstream is a sight I found upon giving up on subyo. Its a basic, straight forward way to add subtitles to videos. I really want to pursue the use of subtitle video for literacy and fluency.
This can be done using imovie, which lets you add more bells and whistles. But, since bells and whistles are available, the process because a bit more complicated. And, if all you want to do is subtitle a video, or you want to help other teachers subtitle a video, really, you want something that only subtitles a video. It just makes life easier.
I subtitled the first thirty seconds of my all time favorite amv, further proving my anime geekdom. But I had to test it on something--might as well be something I enjoy.
No bells, no whistles. Its straight forward but takes some patience.
Mamboleo is a horrible thing to try this on because it goes so fast :p. That's more or less why I gave up after 30 seconds (that and its a good place to stop since the musical interlude kicks in).
But, I might have an interested foreign language teacher and an interested resource teacher :)
But, at the end of the day, does it matter?
Overstream is a sight I found upon giving up on subyo. Its a basic, straight forward way to add subtitles to videos. I really want to pursue the use of subtitle video for literacy and fluency.
This can be done using imovie, which lets you add more bells and whistles. But, since bells and whistles are available, the process because a bit more complicated. And, if all you want to do is subtitle a video, or you want to help other teachers subtitle a video, really, you want something that only subtitles a video. It just makes life easier.
I subtitled the first thirty seconds of my all time favorite amv, further proving my anime geekdom. But I had to test it on something--might as well be something I enjoy.
No bells, no whistles. Its straight forward but takes some patience.
Mamboleo is a horrible thing to try this on because it goes so fast :p. That's more or less why I gave up after 30 seconds (that and its a good place to stop since the musical interlude kicks in).
But, I might have an interested foreign language teacher and an interested resource teacher :)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Back Channeling
It would seem I have a slowly growing readership.
So, if you are reading this, that means I have to teach you about RSS--eventually--I think there is enough to be getting on with.
I've decided to attempt a backchannel at the next faculty meeting. I don't know how it will go. I have to make sure I am moderating between opening up the faculty to all of the possibilities of connection and collaboration, and doing too much to fast.
I've decided to attack the back channel from a very small, casual angle. I sent out a coffee break email calling for brave, ambitious, and multitasking volunteers. I'm planning on using Today's Meet to carry it on. For anyone not familiar, a backchannel is a live real time chat that happen simultaneously with a live event/presentation.
The goal is to have this go off, and possibly create a Valley backchannel for the NAIS conference. From what I can tell, there is no official back channel, and no hashtag, either.
My first volunteer was the first grade teacher.
I don't think there is anyone on earth more able to back channel that folks who successfully care for a room full of six year olds.
So, if you are reading this, that means I have to teach you about RSS--eventually--I think there is enough to be getting on with.
I've decided to attempt a backchannel at the next faculty meeting. I don't know how it will go. I have to make sure I am moderating between opening up the faculty to all of the possibilities of connection and collaboration, and doing too much to fast.
I've decided to attack the back channel from a very small, casual angle. I sent out a coffee break email calling for brave, ambitious, and multitasking volunteers. I'm planning on using Today's Meet to carry it on. For anyone not familiar, a backchannel is a live real time chat that happen simultaneously with a live event/presentation.
The goal is to have this go off, and possibly create a Valley backchannel for the NAIS conference. From what I can tell, there is no official back channel, and no hashtag, either.
My first volunteer was the first grade teacher.
I don't think there is anyone on earth more able to back channel that folks who successfully care for a room full of six year olds.
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