Theresa\’s Blog on Mac Computing

As Mary said yesterday, the most important thing to keep in mind is that technology is not a magic bullet for assessment. It is a tool. It can help your students create dynamic, engaging final presentations of what they have learned. It can assist you in keeping track of standardized test scores and in finding patterns in the data. It can also provide unique opportunities for students to assess themselves.

What have I learned this week?

I have continued to discover new Web 2.0 tools and to develop and increase my skill in using them. This week’s tools of note include Voicethread, Library Thing, and Audacity.

I think the big shift I have made not just this week, but in the past three as I have journeyed into Web 2.0, is seeing my teaching more concretely as a way to prepare students for their futures. Their futures are going to be shaped by the Read/Write Web and other transformations that I cannot even anticipate. I need to embrace making creativity a greater focus of my curriculum. My students will need flexible minds and dynamic skill sets to become part of this changing, global economy.

Why?

Over the years immigrant and refugee families have shared with me that they either don’t know what is available at library or that they are confused about the procedures there. Often a large fine resulting from confusion about the rules deters families from going back. Our yearlong partnership with the public library and this proposed service learning project is a response to that. One of the goals of the public library is to develop a tour in different languages. Voicethread, a cutting edge Web 2.0 tool that allows people to share and discuss photos, will fit this project perfectly. It will also allow me to sit with students and give them feedback on their work/performance. As a tool for formative assessment, Voicethread allows for endless editing.

What?

I have created a demo Voicethread presentation with 5 photos, recorded comments from me and a “guest,” and typed comments from a protostudent.
My students will use Voicethread to create a tour of the public library as part of a service learning project and yearlong partnership. Using the “Switch Identity” features of Voicethread will allow students to comment on the photos without signing up for their own account. Students will be represented in the program with first names and avatars. We can make our presentation public, but closed to additional comments, perfect for the end goal of the project. The timeline will probably be 2-3 weeks from start to finish for the comments in English. If we expand into native language comments it may take a week or two longer because we will need help from language facilitators.

How?

To develop this tour, we will take pictures of the features of the public library. We will have to work with the library to determine all of the important elements to include (staff, date due sheet in book, etc). Then back at school , we will upload the photos and start drafting our comments. Depending on the skill level of the students we may try our first draft as recorded oral comments or we might draft a script. In conjunction with the library staff who we will invite to add comments to ours, we will draft to a publishable stage. In the final step the tour will be posted publicly on Voicethread, but be closed to comments. One possible bug that will need to be worked out is doing this behind the firewall. I think Voicethread requires Flash Media Player. I’m not sure if this will be a problem or not.

My original project idea was to figure out podcasting so that I could use it to assess students’ growth in oral English and reading skills. I wanted to interview students three times a year and also have them read a just right book three times a year on a podcast. I think I might still try that this school year. However, I know that I can use Audacity to create a podcast, and there would not be much more for me to explore between now and Friday without any students to teach podcasting to. So…

I’d like to explore voicethread. While I was learning about podcasting, I stumbled upon voicethread. Voicethread is a vehicle for people to share and discuss photos. Depending on the level of security you choose, you can do this with just a few people or with anyone who has a voicethread account. Comments that people submit can be moderated. I’m not as clear as I was with podcasting how I will use this for assessment, but as I explore the program I suspect ideas will start to come to mind.

Why?

Voicethread is a dynamic publishing tool and is bound to have assessment applications as we move through our units this year. The application that springs to mind most readily is using voice thread to help us in our service learning project with the public library. We were hoping to shoot a tour of the library and explain the features of the library in English and native languages. This might be a terrific tool for that.

What? :

I will create a demo voicethread presentation.

How?:

Some applications of this program in the classroom include producing tours of the school or other familiar places, sharing field trip experiences, and using stock photos and/or original photos to share out content learned. For example, a class could show the trees of the schoolyard classifying and identifying them.

first-podcast.mp3

I chose to learn more about podcasting and how it can be used in the classroom. On the KidCast blog,

http://www.intelligenic.com/blog/

I found a fantastic podcast by an elementary class in Virginia. The class’ podcast performance won the 2007 Kidcast Award for drama. I found it to be a humorous radio show as well with lots of jokes centered on what modern day people would say to historical figures from the Revolutionary War period. I encourage all to take a few moments and enjoy.

http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/ward/fitzpatrick_f/PodcastDrama.mp3

Another Kidcast award winner is a wonderful example of a podcast that combines photos, kids’ drawings, and audio. This tour of an elementary school in York, Pennsylvania, is also worth your time.

Tour of Stonybrook Elementary School in York, Pennsylvania

The Kidcast blog is full of resources and examples. I intend to reference it as I develop my own podcast project.

I searched Technorati for a classroom blog about English language learners and found the following blog post about a speech by Jim Cummins:

http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/07/nclb-and-ideology.html

This was not a classroom blog, but it provided an important perspective from a leading voice in TESOL about NCLB. Cummins railed against the effects of NCLB on the education of poorer students. He lamented the “teaching to the test” and the loss of teaching time to the seemingly endless standardized testing. He inspired me by pointing out that even in the most pitiful situations, teachers still can make choices about what they do.

This blog, http://www.littlemiamischools.com/mo18

was for a second grade class. Among other things, the classroom teacher included posts about spelling words, the daily schedule, pictures of the room, the supplies students should bring from home, and homework. I can see how this would be a very helpful resource for kids and parents. Seeing pictures of the classroom ahead of time should help with first day anxiety.

High points today include constructing my Lego avatar, getting my comment posted to Will Richardson’s blog, finding my blog in Technorati, and watching Sir Ken Richardson’s video on Teachertube.

As this is my third week delving into Web 2.0, I find I keep getting sidetracked by all the interesting things I can do, and I am having a bit more trouble settling down to my classwork and project.

That said, I think I am going back to my original plan for this week. I’d like to pursue using podcasting as an assessment tool for oral English skills and reading. This would be formative assessment or “assessment for learning.”

Tomorrow I’d like a chance to record a demo podcast (audio only, at first) and post it to my blog.

Epiphany by Sir Ken Robinson

It profiles how people found their callings.

“Your daughter is not sick. She is a dancer.”

Maine is joining the 21st Century partnership.

“We need to focus on creativity!”

isight for making movies of student reading

Why do kids like video games? Because they get to go to the next level. Change over time is motivating.

Kids adopting trees in the schoolyard

iPhoto page showing examples of types of trees

Videotape readers’ theater

Robert Munsch (Love You Forever) reads his books online

Webquest is a task oriented explorer activity — simulation (ala Oregon Trail)

There is a library of them.

To learn collaboration, work in teams.
To learn critical thinking, take on complex problems.
To learn oral communication, present.
To learn written communication, write.
To learn technology, use technology.
To develop citizenship, take on civic and global issues.
To learn about careers, do internships.
To learn content, research and do all of the above.

I found it difficult to relate the article “New Skills for a New Century” to my own teaching situation as it was clearly focused on the high school setting, and I teach 2/3 grade ELLs. The above is a list of one high school’s view of how to get to the 21st century skills.

Comparing my teaching to this criteria, I would say that historically I have been the strongest in my pursuit of the 21st century goals:

of learning technology by introducing my students to Safari, Appleworks, and Kidpix

of written communication by having the students write and READ (a skill which I think should be mentioned and isn’t)

of oral communication by teaching and facilitating the acquisition of basic oral skills and academic language in English through readers’ theater, structured classroom participation, and presentations

of learning content by doing basic research using the school library

I find it a little daunting, but not surprising to consider that a computer for eveyone is not a quick fix and that the standards I am trying so hard to get my ELLs to meet are not enough. I wish for a different ways to talk about education and what we need to teach these digital natives. The thought of trying to negotiate these types of changes within the political environment I am currently working in is overwhelming. Can you teach a class of nine school committee members this fall?

“Did you know?” “Shake it up!” videos on teachertube / youtube

Would these be intimidating to teachers?

You can only listen for about 10 min.

Google for educators

wiki site — – wetpaint.com

State of California is creating a curriculum wiki and saving millions of $ in textbooks.

India is paying young students to create wiki “textbooks.”

Firefoxes extensions – snapshot, weather

reallyclever.com — logo avatar