Check out my Southeast Region Project Podcast!
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#2 Podcast October 22, 2007
10/22/07 Assignment October 22, 2007
I have learned a great deal from this class so far this year. There are many things out there that I never knew of or have seen before. Some of the things I have seen before, but have not had the opportunity to indulge in. One item that I would like to really get my hands on and use in my classroom was Scratch. I think that the kids would love using this, and it seems so easy to use. It would take a lot less teacher directive. I could definitely use this to have my students create an animated writing piece. Another item that I would absolutely love to use is the SmartBoard! We had an inservice on this product a couple years ago, but we were never given them. Since I don’t have overhead projectors that stay in the room, I could use the SmartBoard instead. I like how it’s very interactive, and the students could really get involved in it. The last item that I would like to try out, but don’t know how well it would work in the classroom is the Clickers. It would be interesting to see if I could easily assess the students this way, and how accurate it would be. I think the students would love this!
10/15/07 Assignment October 15, 2007
I worked more with our tech coordinator to get our template completed for the students. Since I was in the process of moving over the weekend, I am unable to look at my textbook to give specifics. I had to leave all my items in school for the substitute. Although, I am still looking at having 2-3 students in each group to research a certain state. They will each be responsible for completing between 2-3 pages of the Keynote PowerPoint. I’m looking to have the students find pictures that relate to what they are researching. For each picture, they will need to write in a fact or two. Along with the fact, the students will be recording their voices to give further information about their state. I’m refining all the details and hoping to start this with the students by the beginning of next week. I have to finish up my Science unit first.
10/8/07 Assignment October 7, 2007
I think I’ve finally narrowed down my ideas. I’m going to be doing this project on the Southeast Region of the U.S. The students are going to work in two or three’s to complete this project. They are each going to be assigned a certain state from the southeast region to complete research on. I will give them the guidelines for their research. The students will be completing their final project by using Keynote. The tech coordinator and myself are going to create a template for the students to use in order to eliminate some of the technical difficulties the students may encounter. I think it will make the process of this project go smoother. Instead of the students focusing on the technological details, I would like them to focus more on the content from the states.
10/1/07 Assignment October 1, 2007
I’ve now decided to change the tool I’m using for my presentation. I orginally thought it would be neat to try ComicLife, but the more I play around, I’m noticing I’m limited to what the kids can do. Therefore, I’ve decided to use Keynote. I can add sound, whereas in ComicLife I was unable to do so. I’d like the students to find pictures and information about the states. Also, I want them to have the opportunity to add their voice and sound. I will be able to accomplish this by using Keynote. I’m currently working on a sample for the kids to view and get an idea of what their end product should look like.
9/24/07 Assignment September 24, 2007
So I’ve been discussing my project throughout the week with the tech coordinator at my school. We narrowed our content areas down to using the regions in Social Studies. I believe I’ll be teaching the Southeast or Middle Atlantic region. I’ll have to wait to see how far I get along. I decided to use the regions for the project, since the book we use in the classroom is old and boring. I’d like to spice up the content the students are learning. We’re still debating a bit whether or not we’ll use ComicLife or maybe Keynote. I’m hoping to have this decided by the end of next week.
9/17/07 Assignment September 17, 2007
Since I’m doing my project in my own classroom, I decided to correspond with our tech coordinator. We were thinking of trying a new tool with my students. It’s called ComicLife. We had a few ideas of how to use it. We were thinking of using it in Social Studies for teaching the regions. The students could research a state and find information to add to pictures. Another idea was having the students create a story and transfer it to a comic. These were our first two ideas that come to mind, but we are still trying to brainstorm. Please let me know what you think about using ComicLife for my project. I thought it would be neat to try, since it is something new to the students and me. I think they would really enjoy creating their own Comic and find it fun to use the information they are learning from a subject.
September 3rd Asssignment September 3, 2007
Since I already teach in a 4th grade class, I will be doing my technology project with my own class. I have 25 students in my class, and also I teach all subject areas. Please remember if you are doing your project in an elementary school, your project must be clear and it would be helpful if it matched up with the content the teacher’s are teaching. Not all teacher’s are tech savvy. I have a few ideas that I would like to try out with my students this year. I would like to do an animated PowerPoint story that the students write and design. I would also like to try doing Podcasts with my students. I would use this with groups of students who would research a certain topic. I would like to try creating iMovies with my students as well.
