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Student iPad Boot Camp
As students in fifth through eighth grade embarked on a 1:1 iPad adventure I collaborated with teachers to identify the best way to help students learn the ins and outs of their iPad and it's workflows. We settled on a hybrid Boot Camp that would combine face to face sessions with online learning modules. Teachers identified basic apps and skills they wanted students to have and in what order the apps and skills should be introduced. We worked together to identify activities that coordinated with advisory or curriculum topics as a means of introducing and teaching the apps. For example, to introduce the iMovie app's trailer feature, students were given the task of creating a trailer about a book they read over the summer. Videos were shared with classmates and one advisory created a RedBook (similar to a RedBox) station where classmates could watch book trailers to find new books to read. Through this hybrid design, students were able to learn workflows and apps while retaining reference materials for future use. Tasked related to their school work helped to reinforce how the apps and workflows were used. Overall, teachers felt that this process improved students' ability to use their iPads […]
Art of Animation
High Flying Hijinks Creative Processes In collaboration with the art teacher, 4th graders learned about clay and stop motion animation techniques. We became animators, thinking through the story writing process and discussing what makes a good story. Students learned about the storyboarding process to plan their animations and sketched out their sets and characters. During the character creation phase, students learned about how animators use armatures to build characters. We also explored 2-dimensional animations using construction paper. Once characters and sets were constructed, students learned about photographic techniques used to create stop motion animations. Stop motions were created with clay and construction paper. Enjoy More Stop Motion AnimationsSmall But MightyKlever KittyStop Motion Animation Playlist DSC_0007 DSC_0006 DSC_0005 DSC_0003 DSC_0001
Family Hour of Code
Celebrating Computer Science Week Every December schools across the country celebrate Hour of Code as part of Computer Science Education Week. We celebrate with students throughout the school day and invite families to celebrate during an evening event led by students. Middle School students work to research and develop a coding activity for various age levels to share on that night. Student projects have included a MaKey MaKey coded with Scratch to create a Magic 8 Ball, a Tynker tilting iPad game, Dash robots programmed to draw shapes and letters, Kibo robots, and BeeBot robot activities. Parents and students spent the evening discovering, learning and creating. DSC_0708 DSC_0707 DSC_0698 20151208_184248 IMG_2482 IMG_2483 IMG_2490 IMG_2499 IMG_2505 IMG_2514 Hour of Code ResourcesHour of Code ResourcesTynker Tilt Game Instructions
Family Creative Learning
Bringing parents and children together adds value to a learning experience. In the winter of 2015 my colleague and I offered a 5 week series of technology workshops focused on student/parent engagement and creative uses of technology. This program, Family Creative Learning launched by MIT, was designed to help parents better understand the technologies their children are exposed to in order to better support their child's explorations and learning. Over the course of the 5 weeks, students and parents learned about programming with Scratch, how a MaKey MaKey worked and how to program with Scratch and a MaKey MaKey. The workshops used a design thinking model to guide families from the beginning of programming to developing their own project that integrated a variety of media, Scratch and the MaKey MaKey. Throughout the process, families worked collaboratively and independently to acquire knowledge of programming and circuits. Families brainstormed potential ideas, drew up plans for a prototype, built a prototype, tested, revised and started the process again. The group was supported by parents who were programmers and engineers by profession. The final day of the workshop was spent finishing family projects for a project showcase. Each family shared their creation and […]
The Great Kapok Tree
Kindergartners ventured on an expedition to learn about theatrical productions in order to produce their own green screen story retelling.
iPad Training & Integration
In the summer of 2012 my school launced a 1:1 initiative with iPads for our 7th graders. At the time the shcool had one iPad cart of 20 iPads shared among grades SK-8th. Teachers had no tranining on these iPads, nor training on how to use them in a 1:1 classroom. Over the course of one week the 7th grade team learned iPad basics, explored potential apps, identified integration activities and developed student expectations. Following the pilot year, the 7th grade team continued their 1:1 education by reflecting on the previous year. Challenges and success were identified and used as a jumping off point for increasing the level and type of iPad activities students engaged in. The second summer focused on the SAMR model and how curriculum redesign could result in more meaningful use of the iPads. During the same summer the 8th grade team began their iPad 1:1 adventure, learning from the 7th grade team's experience. This summer the 5th and 6th grade teams will join the 1:1 program. iPad Icosathlon Teachers, new and experienced, competed in an Icosathlon (double decathalon) of iPad events designed to introduce them to the various features and abilities of the iPad. […]
Teacher 2.0
The Chocolate War Remix Teacher 2.0 was a week long summer institute at National Louis University designed to introduce teachers and university faculty to digital tools for teaching and learning. The workshop focused on creating an online presence, tools for classroom use and organization, communicating and collaborating online, multimedia for teaching and creating multimedia with online tools. Each participant created their own wiki page consisting of projects and resources related to each of the 5 strands. View the Teacher 2.0 resources and project examples on the Teacher 2.0 wiki.
Visual Poetry
The Poe Visual Poetry project was a collaboration with 7th grade Language Arts classes. As part of a unit on Poe and poetry, students analyzed meaning, tone and mood of a poem that spoke to them. Based on their interpretation, students choose photos and music reflecting the poem. Using Movie Maker, students created a visual interpretation of their poem.
Stories of the American Revolution
Stories of the American Revolution is a digital storytelling project done in collaboration with 6th grade Social Studies teachers. Students were given a person, place or event that was significant to the American Revolution. Students researched their person, place or event and wrote a first person narrative. These narratives were recorded and turned into digital stories. The student project page can be found on the TechEdOnline wiki. This project was selected to be presented at TECH 20xx, an initiative designed to bring students and legislators together around educational technology. Project Lesson Plan View the Stories of the American Revolution lesson plan and rubric.
Autobiography ePortfolio
Humanities students embarked on a 5 month exploration of their lives and what they learned during the school year. Students were given writing assignments, each containing a technology component. Students created Animoto videos, iMovies, audio recordings and Glogster multimedia posters to supplement or present their writing. All writing and multimedia was added to the students' wiki pages to create an electronic portfolio. This Humanities writing project was created using a private wiki. Each student created their own collection of pages to share their writing and media projects. Included are screenshots and examples of their work. Images to the right represent the Room Sweet Room project and the Quality Personality project. Click an image to view the student's work. Below are examples of other projects from the portfolio. Advice to the Young Students wrote advice to younger students about what they wish they had known growing up. Using Voicethread, students created a video filled with wise words. Metaphorical Definitions Students used character traits and emotions to create metaphores and definitions. The definitions were turned into a visual dictionary. Color Your World Students chose a color about which to write a poem. The poem was illustrated using Animoto. Synectics Which […]
Perspectives on War
When we think of World War II, we think of the Holocaust or, perhaps, the attack on Pearl Harbor, D-Day. Although these are significant and tragic events that shouldn't be forgotten, there are millions of voices we rarely hear about. In this project, you will work in groups and be assigned the perspective of an ethnic group living in the United States during WWII. This project provided eighth graders the opportunity to approach World War II from a different perspective and see how the war impacted people in the United States. Students worked in groups to research the experiences of Japanese and German Americans in the United States during WWII. Using their research, students wrote a first-person narrative about life as and "alien enemy" during WWII. Throughout the project, students used a wiki to collect information, communicate as a group and grade, and share and access resources. Each Group page contains a collective word bank or vocabulary page as well as links to each group member's research notes. Perspectives on War Wiki View the student project page on the TechEdOnline wiki.
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