Where I am in my project...

I have started my students on this project which is a persuasive movie made on Movie Maker. They've researched their topics and are getting into their interview questions and brainstorming ideas for commercials. It has been so interesting to watch them come to their own conclusions about very heavy topics such as corporal punishment, gender issues, and school violence. It makes me feel good that they are beginning to really think critical about real world issues. They will be working on their project for about a week and a half more until they put it all together in Movie Maker. I am so excited to see the final products!

Barriers to Implementing 1:1

I'm afraid there are many barriers to implementing 1:1 computing in my school. As in most schools this year, our budget has been trimmed down substantially. Unfortunately, we just don't have the resources right now to introduce 1:1 computing. If we did have the resources, however, I'm not really sure that they would go toward funding such a program. We are still working on getting LCD projectors in every academic classroom, so I think that would be the first order of business.

Another barrier I see with 1:1 is our system server. I think it would just give up and shut down if that many computers were logged on at the same time. We would need more tech people which means even more money for jobs that isn't available.

When talking about 1:1 computing with my students the other day, we came up with countless ways that it would help in the classroom. Since I teach in a very affluent community as it is, my students are very up to date on technology. There are so many things that we could do in class with computers but are able to. My students could teach me so much, and I could help them enhance their learning as well with the implementation of 1:1.

Digital Citizenship Presentation Night

I loved the digital citizenship presentations that were done in class for so many reasons. I think they were great, because they taught me a lot about topics that I wasn't familiar with. Also, many of them took web topics to a new level, which I really appreciated.

I think one of the best things about these presentations was that they could really be used to show students, parents, and teachers the dangers that lurk on the web as well as some precautions to take while on the internet. I think that so many students and parents have no idea about the dangers that are present when they are on the internet, and many of the presentations were very savy about some ways to stay away from those dangers.

Many of the presentations were also helpful in showing students, parents, and teachers how to communicate effectively and safely while on the internet. This is so important, because we do live in a quick communication world. Students need to know how to connect in a safe and legal way.

Overall, I think all the presentations were extremely helpful and well put together! :)

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an issue I think a lot about in my classroom. Since I am recently graduated for UGA undergrad, I still have the resounding sounds of "higher order thinking" in my head. I am constantly bombarded with the thoughts of critical thinking in my classroom, because I refuse to be a worksheet teacher.

I am troubled by critical thinking, however, because my students are so against it. I teach 8th grade language arts, and I know for a fact that most middle schoolers hate to think! :) It's like pulling teeth to get my students to think critically, but they are getting better and better.

Introducing technology into the picture usually piques their interest, and critical thinking is much more accessible for that vantage point. I am very interested to find more and more technology resources that provide critical thinking facets, because my students tend to gravitate toward the technology based projects.

The thing I love most about critical thinking is seeing my students really revel in the outcome. They are always surprised that they can think in that manner, and they are also surprised that they can come up with some of the ideas and solutions to problems that they do. I love the "light bulb" effect!

Resources I will use most...

I think I will use the digital storytelling resource the most out of all my resources. At least it is the one that I want to use the most. I was really looking for a way to integrate technology into some of the more mundane aspects of Language Arts, and I think digital storytelling will do just that. Most of my students are super creative, and I think this would give them a great outlet and something new to try. I'm looking forward to using this tech tool in many different facets, not just for telling narratives. I think that it can be used in all my units, so it will be fun to see which ones work the best. :)

Thoughts...

For my project, I really wanted to use MovieMaker. I am having my kids take a position on a school related issue and interview peers, make a commercial, and debate about their position. I was planning on having them use Movie Maker to put all of this together, but the program has been very slow at our school lately, and I'm worried about the execution of the project. Any ideas on another program that can incorporate video, audio, and word processing? We have PCs, so iMovie won't work.

Other than that, I'm feeling really good about the project. We're almost in to our persuasive writing unit, and my kids are super excited. I can't wait to see what they come up with. They are so creative and get really into our projects, so it will be fun to see. :)

Adding Creativity

I really loved our toipc last Tuesday, because creativity is really important to me. I am definitely a "think outside the box" kind of person and always have been. I enjoy creative elements in everything, especially when it comes to the classroom. I think that in language arts students feel there is more freedome to explore creativity then in some other subjects. I believe that one can create creative elements in any area though. Isn't that the point of being creative?

In my project, I allow for a lot of creativity. Students will be making up commercials, skits, and other advertisements in order to get their positions heard on their persuasive issue. They will have to be very creative in making these advertisements appropraite while still compelling. I think it is imperative that students get to use the freedom of creativity on this project, because I don't want to hold them back from any ideas that might help to make their projects more successful. I know it will take some coaxing for some of my students, but I believe they can all pull through.

Blog Post #3

Where am I with my project?

I am doing well with my project planning, and I think it's going to work out well with my persuasive unit. Writing the project pre-plan really help concrete everything for me, so I'm happy about that. I am still a bit nervous about getting all of the technology in sync, but I think once I know when to implement the project, it will all fall into place. I've hinted around the project to my students, and the response has been awesome. They are so into creative projects, especially ones that involves video, so I am so excited to see how it turns out!

Thoughts and concerns about assessment....

Honestly, I feel pretty good about the whole assessment. I think that getting the students involved in the process is going to be essential. They seem to do better when they are a part of the grading process. Having them provide input for the rubric will be great, because it doesn't leave all of the work on me, and they get a chance to voice their opinions. This is going to be awesome!

Blog #2

* I want to apologize to y'all for not having my blog up for this week's class. I was having technical issues with it, so I wasn't able to post on time. I hate being that person, so please forgive me? :) *

Anyway, on with the show...or blog. This week we discussed LoTi and its value on our technology implementation in the classroom. Looking over the different levels of LoTi really got me thinking about how we use technology within our schools. My school is really starting to put technology in each classroom. We now all have LCD projector that connect from the computer to a screen, which is really nice. All the science teachers have a SmrtBoard, and the students really love those.

I'm really looking forward to changing my Level 3 and 4 lessons into Level 5 lessons. We talked about how to do that in our Break Out room, and I don't think we ever really came to a conclusion. I'm hoping that we'll really sink our teeth into that issue as the weeks go on, because I hate doing mediorce lessons that I know could be really awesome with the right technology.

As for my project, I ran the Movie Maker idea past my students, and they all seemed pretty excited about using digital technology to create a language arts project. They are used to doing that kind of thing in social studies and science, but never in L.A. My problem with it is trying to connect it to actual writing practices. Since 8th grade is so concentrated on the writing test given in January, I want to make sure I connect with that element. Suggestions?

Initial Project Ideas

So, I've been thinking about my project and what unit of studying I will be in when it's actually implemented in my classroom. The conclusion I've come to is... I have no idea. I teach 8th grade L.A. and we don't have specific blocks of time set aside for when each unit has to be completed. So, that left me with a bit of a quandry. Flexibility will be key in my project, because I want to make sure it fits with whatever we are studying at the time.

I really want to do something that includes Movie Maker. I'm really into videos and live presenteations, and since learning how to present is required through our GPS, I thought that Movie Maker would fit in well. I have access to video cameras and digital cameras at my school, so I think my classes could pull this off.

We will either be on persuasive writing (my personal fav), poetry/drama, or research. No matter which one of these it is, I'm sure I can come up with a better plan for incorporating some funny yet educational videos. My students are all about video taping themselves doing crazy things and posting them to YouTube, so why not make a project out of it?