ECDC Service Project Voice Thread

On Wednesday morning in the ECDC, my group (animal 7, Maritza and Xavier) had very little work left to do in order to complete our project. They had already expressed an interest in the life cycle of the cicada so we thought that it would be a great idea to use our inquiry skills in this situation and ask HOW they grow up into such ugly insects. We had already gathered all of the pictures and written out our script for the voice thread so all we had to do was record it. This surprisingly went off without a hitch! The three of us went into the hallway with a laptop and a microphone and recorded our voices within 30 minutes. Maritza and Xavier were so excited to hear their voices on their very own blog and see their pictures up there as well.

Along with completing my work with the ECDC students, I have also gotten in touch with my online correspondent, Ashlyn, and asked her to comment on both the students' voice thread and blog. Once she does this, the students will be able to see that other people appreciate their hard work and it will be exciting for them to hear the comments of people they have never even met.

Although this project got off to a slow start, working with Ms Reynolds' class was extremely successful. We all worked hard and got the work done, no matter how many setbacks we had (such as lack of computers).

Here is the voice thread that I created with group 7 about the life cycle of the cicada:

ECDC Service Project Week 3

When I arrived at the ECDC on Monday, my group (animal 7, the cicada, Maritza and Xavier) was drawing the life cycle of the cicada. They had been doing research outside of the classroom and were creating a cicada life cycle poster. This poster included a lot of information that they gathered through inquiry-based learning. Maritza and Xavier both wanted to know HOW the cicada grew into such an ugly insect, so they decide to learn about the life cycle.

Not only did their poster include the process of a cicada growing from an egg to a nymph to an adult through metamorphosis, but they also each drew pictures individually of an adult cicada. In the corner, they also listed their favorite facts about the cicada. They both expressed that this is the information they want to be using to make our voice thread.

We have already gathered all of the pictures for the voice thread and Maritza and Xavier have helped me write out what they want to say. When I visit the ECDC again on Wednesday, all we will have to do is add the voice to our pictures in order to complete our voice thread.

Here is a picture of the posterboard that Maritza and Xavier completed:

ECDC Service Project Week 2

Wednesday was my first day to meet with the students in the ECDC. I was working with group 7 (Martiza and Xavier) which was assigned the Cicada. During our time in the classroom, I first had them show me their KWL chart from the first day and show me all of the research they had done outside of class time. They did a great job of gathering information and filling out the L column of their KWL. They also had a lot of success looking at pictures of cicadas on the internet and gleaning facts from those. For example, they learning that the cicadas have orange wings and red eyes from this.

After we filled out the entire KWL chart, we started our first blog post. The students were very excited to have their own personal blog and even typed most of the sentences themselves. We then attached their KWL chart to their blog which they thought was amazing. You can see our blog for group 7 here. When we were done with our first blog post, I explained to the children that we would be adding other posts as well and then showed them some voice threads and talked about how we were going to make our own that would be all about cicadas.

I have been in contact with my online partner (Ashlyn) and have discussed how we need to have a storyboard done by the end of Monday's meeting with the children. I plan go to the ECDC again on Monday but I know that this is a large task for only 45 minutes. Because of this, I plan to get as much of the storyboard done with the kids as I can and then pass the file along to Ashlyn so that she can work out all the kinks.

I am excited to meet with the kids again next week. They seem passionate about their research and I think it is fun for them to have us helping out. Hopefully Monday will go just as smoothly as Wednesday!

ECDC Service Project

For my service project, I will be working in the ECDC. Things have not exactly worked out as expected so far since the children have had other commitments to tend to. In the mean time, I have been working on planning and preparing to meet with the students.

An important part of this service project is sharpening our inquiry-based learning skills. I need to make sure that when I meet with the children in the ECDC, I am letting them do their project while I am only there to oversee and spur them on in the right direction. Because of this, I have been preparing many open-ended questions to ask the students so that they can describe to me what they imagine their project to become.

My job is a little different than the people who are working at CCMS because I will not be working with the students outside of the classroom and will not have parental involvement. Since we have not been able to meet the children yet, we have been trying to set up as much of the project as we can without the initial introductions. In order to make our first meeting go smoothly and efficiently, I have already set up the blog space for Ms Reynolds' class so that as soon as the children describe their project ideas to us, we can blog about them on the various blogs set up for the different animal habitats.

Although we have gotten off to a slow start, I think that the service project in the ECDC will be a great success. We will get an opportunity to work with multiple students and help them with their projects while also perfecting our technology skills that we have learned throughout the course. I look forward to meeting the students next week.

Using Spreadsheets in the Classroom

Spreadsheets are an extremely effective tool in the classroom because they can help children see collected data visually. You can collect information as a class or leave it up to students to create their own spreasheets.

This method of teaching is vital for my essential question on the importance of numbers because numbers are needed in order to create ANY spreadsheet. With the numbers in the spreadsheet, students will be asked to do certain functions such as addition and subtraction in order to compare data. It is also a good way to use inquiry-based learning in the classroom beacuse the teacher can ask their students about their favorite type of candy (example shown below), how many brothers and sisters they have or how long they watch TV during a week. When all of this information is put together, the class can see how their answer compares to the answers that their friends gave.

I could use spreadsheets in almost every learning subject in the classroom. Here are some examples of unit questions that I could ask my students and later turn the information into spreadsheets in the subject areas of math, science and language arts:

What is your bedtime and what time do you wake up in the morning? (How many hours of sleep does this give you?)

How many seconds did it take the marble to roll down the slope when the incline was at 1in, 3in and 5in?

How many pages did you get finished in your reading of the assigned text today?

Below is my example of a spreadsheet that I have created for a wedding budget. I have also included an example of a spreadsheet that I could use in my classroom to look at the variety of preferences that my students have when it comes to candy.

Here is the graph for my wedding budget spreadsheet:

Making Movies: Not Just for Directors Anymore

This week was my first time to use Window's Movie Maker to make my Digital Storytelling movie project. As mentioned earlier, I incorporated the 7 Elements of Digital Storytelling into my project in order to make it easier and more exciting for the students to understand and watch. I used many technological tools that were new to me this week in order to make my project a success.

The goal of my project was to inspire my students to create their own movies and explore the importance of numbers in areas other than math. In this case, I challenged them to focus on history and their own lives by giving examples of how numbers are used in each.

By using a camera with video capabilities, I was able to record my beginning and ending instructions for my students. In the middle of my movie presentation is an example of a video project that the children to follow. This was created by collecting pictures from not only various websites, but also from my personal photo albums. By using the tool AVS Audio Editor, I was able to record my voice over my selected music track so that I could have soft music playing in the background of my movie. This tool helped me successfully mold the two audio files together while making sure that my voice was clearly heard and the music was not distracting. After I had perfected my audio and video clips, I imported all of these along with my pictures into Windows Movie Maker and was able to use this tool to make my movie. This made it extremely easy for me to blend all of the elements of a movie together with the correct timing and save it in a proper file. From this, I was able to upload it onto the internet with ease to share with others.

Using these technological tools to implement the important aspects of digital storytelling, I was able to create a movie that would inspire my students to do the same. Both parents and students alike would be able to watch this movie and be able to make their own example of why numbers are important.

Here is my first attempt at a digital storytelling movie project which will aid me in teaching my students....

Planning to Make a Movie Using Digital Storytelling

In my digital storytelling movie which I will be making from the perspective of a student, I will be explaining the importance of numbers in subjects such as history and will be talking about what life would be like without numbers. In order to make a good movie, I will be incorporating the 7 Elements of Digital Storytelling: point of view, dramatic question, emotional content, gift of your voice, power of the soundtrack, economy and pacing.

It will be obvious through my movie that I believe numbers are extremely important and that we could not live without them; that is my point of view. At the beginning of the movie, I ask the question: What would the world be like if numbers did not exist? and answer it continuously throughout the presentation. The emotional content is involved when talking about birthdays and how we would never get to experience them if it were not for numbers. In order to use the gift of my voice, I will make sure to pause at the appropriate times for dramatic effect and enunciate clearly. For the soundtrack, I will be playing the instrumental version of the song 100 Years by Five for Fighting throughout my entire movie. The song flows at a good pace and is also highly appropriate because it talks about how we only have 100 years to live and how they go by quickly.

My movie contains five examples of the importance of numbers in my own life and history so there is not too much information to overload my audience and just enough to inform them: this means the economy is good. Along with this, I will move at a slow enough pace that my audience can understand what I am trying to convey, but not so slow that they will become bored. All of my plans are extensively laid out in my storyboard and my specific unit questions and lesson plan which I will be using for this digital storytelling activity are described as well.

Digital Storytelling

Below is my SlideShare presentation of how I would teach my students the importance of numbers. Digital Storytelling is a new and fun way for teachers to teach and interact with their students. Although this method may take a long time getting used to, it is something that can help inspire children to learn even when they don't know they're learning. Especially in today's age, kids love technology and spend most of their free time using it; whether this involves video games, computers, televisions or cell phones. Even if a student is sitting in a classroom watching an informational slideshow, they can realte that to when they are at home watching a movie and will enjoy learning. Digital Storytelling can be used in various ways by teachers. They can be thought-provoking, where students need to interact with the SlideShare and answer questions or they can even be something that the students helped create as a class project. My favorite example that I found on the web of using a SlideCast (the same thing as a SlideShare, but with audio) was a classroom's project for mother's day. Each kindergartener drew a picture of their mom and then whenever their picture appeared during the slideshow, their voice could be heard, listing all the reasons that they loved their mom. This example proves that even the youngest children can use and be excited about technology for learning purposes.

VoiceThread, SlideCasts and SlideShares are all technological tools that I could use to help me with my unit plan on the importance of numbers. They are all slightly different; for example, SlideCasts are simply SlideShares with sound linked to them. As displayed below, I have already used a SlideShare to help teach my students a lesson on numbers and how they are not just used in mathematics. I would love to make a SlideCast with my class after they viewed my presentation. Each student can come up with their own personal example of where they use numbers in their everyday lives. They can all draw a picture of their idea and record a voice clip explaining their picture and where they see numbers everyday. After everyone finished their own masterpiece, we could create one big classroom SlideCast of all of our ideas about numbers.

These digital storytelling tools are things that I would love to use in my future as a second-grade teacher. I think they are perfect for fun holiday activities. If I choose to only use SlideCasts and VoiceThreads for special occassions, children will begin to view technology in the classroom as a special treat and will learn start looking forward to working with it instead of dreading it beacuse of its difficulty. I love the Mother's Day idea that was previously stated and I think it would be great to incorporate this same skill into other holidays such as Christmas or even President's Day. For Christmas, my students could make their own technological wish list that could be sent out to the parents. This slidecast could have a picture that each of the students drew of the present they want and their voice asking Santa for that present. For President's Day, we could do a history lesson about the presidents. Each child could be assigned a different one and would have a chance to reasearch and learn more about who they were assigned. After everyone has all their information and has recorded their part of the VoiceThread, we can listen to and watch it as a class to learn about all the presidents that the other students researched.

These are only a few of my ideas for using digital storytelling in the classroom. I'm sure as technology advances, there will be even more tools for us as teachers to implement into our teaching.

Slideshare Presentation that I Could use with my Students

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

The Importance of Numbers

View more presentations from bethillia.

Here is the works cited for my slideshare presentation, explaining where I found the materials necessary to create it.

Internet Resources

In today's technologically sufficient world, students as young as elementary school are challenged to use the internet as a resource for their research and learning process. My works cited has given a long list of different means that can be used to help teachers teach students about the importance of numbers in the classroom. Blinkx.com was a helpful video site that allowed me to find serveral videos on how to teach my students the importance of numbers in subjects other than math. My favorite site that I think would be extemely effective in the classroom was google.com/coop. This site allows teachers to create their own customized search engine for their students. It not only gives freedom to younger students who are not quite as qualified to find reputable sources on their own, but it also saves much time that a child might waste searching through thousands of articles on a topic. Through this customized search engine, students can search key words and come across sites that the teacher has designated for their students.

In my classroom, I could use this method while we are doing a history study and making timelines to teach the children the importance of numbers even in social studies. I could add importat sites that give the dates of crucial occurances in history that I want the kids to learn. From this information, students can take notes and then create their own chronological timeline from the dates that they gathered. Even when students are not right next to each other, they can use instant messaging to communicate and collaborate across the classroom without disturbing anyone else on sites such as Yahoo Messenger and Google Chat. VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol would also be a great way for students to work collaboratively even from home. It is just like being on the phone with the person, except through your computer and without those pesky long distance charges. This way, students can do their work from home and still get constructive feedback.

Overall, the internet is a great tool for students to find resources, no matter what their age. Even younger second-graders who I would like to teach can learn how to use a customized search engine to glean information. The web is now a place for people of all ages.

Using Technology in Education

Times are changing, meaning that children today are more technologically advanced than generations before them. Many kids spend their down time playing video games, surfing the net, or logging onto online personalized sites such as Myspace and Facebook. Because of this, I believe that it is essential to incorporate technology into teaching at every age group.

In David Warlick's blog entitled 2 Cents Worth, he speaks about how even if a child doesn't have a love for doing their schoolwork, technology can still be used effectively as a teaching strategy in his post, More on what Matters.... Blogging is a variation of something that most students do on a daily basis. They talk to friends via instant messaging, text messaging, and many other avenues; blogs are just another venue in which students can interact. Even if it is schoolwork, children can view the relationship that it has to their daily lives which makes this more exciting.

Even though Warlick is speaking about high-school-aged kids in his post, I believe that the same will apply for the younger age groups. When I was in elementary school, I was hardly using computers at all in my social life. In today's world, there are special sites made just for kids where even the young ones can play games and interact such as Disney and Club Penguin. Students will immediately be able to see similarities between the conversations they have online with their friends and the discussions they have in the classroom about their posts. Because of this, blogging can be used for almost any activity in school, especially when it comes to language arts. If a class is reading a book, students can create their own blog and write down their daily thoughts about what they read. This way, their peers can comment on their thoughts and talk about how their ideas differ. Not only will this increase literacy, but it will give students a fun way to stay organized, discuss topics in an educated manner, and give them a sense of ownership when they create a blog that is a space created completely for themselves.

Introduction: Welcome to my blog

Why are numbers important? This is an essential question that I will plan on asking my students continually throughout their studies. We can answer this question in almost every area of learning by answering more specific unit questions. For example, if we are doing a language arts lesson, we can ask: How can I find a page number I am looking for in my book? This will help students realize that without numbers, it would take a lot longer to locate a desired page in their reading. Other questions revealing the importance of numbers that can be asked come in both history and math lessons: How do I know when something happened in history and How can I show someone what number I am talking about without holding up that many fingers?

In order to help my students answer these essential and unit questions, it is necessary to use both inquiry and project-based learning. Sometimes it will be easiest for me as the teacher to demonstrate certain unit questions which would make students learn through inquiry. I could show the children where page numbers can be found in a book and how to use a table of contents and then they can try this skill themselves, asking as many questions as they need to. Project-based learning is also crucial when figuring out the essential question of why numbers are important. When dealing with the history question of dealing with when something happened in the past, students can do a timeline project. They will be able to work with other students to create a large timeline of important dates in history, learning how to organize them in chronological order. Although very different in theory, both inquiry and project-based learning are great tools to use when teaching students how to answer question effectively.