Oh my goodness! How can it already be the second week of October and yet I haven't posted any EdTech News since the end of July? It must be the busiest time of the year - Back to School season. Now that we all have a chance to collectively take a deep breath it is time to share all of the exciting instructional technology stories occurring on campus. To kick us off I thought I share a beginning-of-the-year project that had its genesis during this year's NCS Summer Tech Camp - middle school multigenre autobiographies.
After reading the William Kist article, New Literacies and the Common Core, Cary Zierenberg and Elise Wallace were inspired by Kist's Mulitgenre Autobiography project for preservice teachers and decided to develop their own version for middle school students in Leading Edge and PFAA. Using questions, such as "What was your favorite movie as child?", "What was your first favorite song?", and "What was the first book you read cover-to-cover?" they took students on a journey cataloging the various types of text that had shaped their literate lives. The project had three main goals -
Have students read and analyze text in its many forms (print, multimedia, audio, graphics);
Lay the groundwork for a future conversations about the essential features of genre (audience, purpose, form, content);
Build classroom community.
Students could choose the digital medium in which they wanted to publish and many chose videos posted to YouTube or Prezis, but some chose more unique tools such as Padlet. Below are links to few of the student and even teacher projects where the teachers "wrote along side" their students.
While this project occurred a few weeks ago, Elise and Cary have already noticed differences in the way this year's students are starting to analyze text. For example, Elise has moved into her next unit on Progress and while in the past her students often treated the video clips as entertaining bits of multimedia, this year she is finding that the class discussions (face-to-face and online) are much richer with students naturally engaging in close reading and deeper analysis.
When you have a moment take a look at the student and teacher examples. This project is a great example of how we meet the demands of Common Core by creating a culture of literacy that gets students to value, deeply analyze, and create all forms of text. Or as Rick Gott said during the Summer Tech Camp, "All of us teach reading and writing, including me in my film class."
A few weeks ago I walked into Jeanne Feeney's technology classroom and saw the following scene.
No...those are marionette strings.
Using Lego Super Heroes MovieMaker, Google Drive, and iMovie Jeanne's class developed their own digital media and literacy skills while also creating videos with an important social message.
For this project the students were studying a video genre called stop-motion animation where creators produce videos by snapping images one frame at a time. Between frames they move the characters arms, legs, or heads and edit them together with audio to create a short video. This type of production really forces students to slow down and think about the narrative they are constructing image by image. Cartoon animators use a very similar process.
In the past, stop-motion videos have been challenging to create because the process required each group to have a digital camera, a tripod, and the ability to painstakingly line up shots. I tried it once in my own classroom and thought, "I will never do this again!" It took forever! However, today many of our students come to school with devices that include a camera. With the addition of a free app like Lego MovieMaker that helps you line up shots by creating shadows of the previous image on your screen these devices become great stop-motion tools that speed up the process.
The Lego MovieMaker app does have one downside - users cannot add their own audio narrations. However, if students transfer the video from their mobile devices to a computer using the Google Drive app they can add narrations using iMovie. This is exactly what Jeanne's students did. Working in groups of 2-3 students they created the video on a mobile device using Lego MovieMaker, transfered the file with the Google Drive app, and then brought the footage into iMovie to add their own narrations. Along the way they also created storyboards, wrote scripts, and rehearsed their spoken parts multiple times.
From a standards or learning goals perspective this unit is quite interesting. In one series of lessons that are part of a technology elective, students are demonstrating the Natomas Charter School ESLRs while also developing multiple content-area, technology, and life-long skills.
Students created narrative text with relevant descriptive details and well-structured event sequences (CCSS Writing 6.3).
Students produced multiple forms of text in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience (CCSS Writing 6.4).
Students planned, revised, edited, re-wrote, and tried new approaches (CCSS Writing 6.5).
Students used technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as interact and collaborate with others (CCSS Writing 6.6).
Students included multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays (CCSS Speaking & Listening 6.5).
Students applied existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products or processes (ISTE NETs 1a).
Students created original works as means of personal or group expression (ISTE NETs 1b).
Students interacted, collaborated, and published with peers...employing a variety of digital environments (ISTE NETs 2a).
Students planned and managed activities to develop a solution or complete a project (ISTE NETs 4b).
Students troubleshot systems and applications (ISTE NETs 6b) and transfered current knowledge to learning of new technologies (ISTE NETs 6d).
These are just some of the connections I can make as an outsider observing the unit. However, this project demonstrates how with some thoughtful planning each of us can easily construct (or digitally make over) units where students develop technology, digital literacy, and life-long learning skills while also building content knowledge and demonstrating the Natomas Charter School ESLRs.
As you begin planning for next year consider reading through the posts on this blog and the NCS Professional Development Portal to generate ideas for how you can create similar connections in your own units. I am always happy to sit down and brainstorm with you as well. Just let me know when you want to meet.
One of my edtech colleagues and English teacher in Monterey, Kevin Brookhouser, recently created a video series he uses with his students called Writing Felonies. These humorous and sometimes interactive videos highlight common grammar mistakes many of us make when writing essays, blog posts, and Facebook updates. You might find these videos handy for using with your students. Some of my favorites include:
Kevin's Writing Felonies also demonstrate a new type of educational content appearing on YouTube - teacher created videos. These short films are often only 2-5 minutes and teach key concepts educators find themselves repeatedly explaining in class or students struggle to fully grasp. Last week YouTube announced the ten finalists for their YouTube Next EDU Guru program and in nearly every case the film producers are also educators. Need help with Biology, American History, Spanish, or Japanese? These teachers will get you started and along with Kevin they are finding new opportunities to share their expertise and reach students through video.
As we saw in yesterdays's YouTube post, video can be a great tool for introducing content and generating inquiry-based conversations. However, video can also be used as a tool for helping students demonstrate their understanding of a particular concept. This week Alicia Carter's 6th grade students completed a hands-on unit where they learned how to solve equations. As a culminating activity each group was responsible for reteaching one of the concepts on video. Using the camera tool on the iPad and some basic classroom equipement every group created their own video demonstrating one of the key skills for solving an equation. Now Alicia has a great authentic assessment from each group where she can hear and see where they might be making any mistakes or are struggling with a particular concept. On top of that she also has a group of students who are hungry for more - they asked if they could view each other's videos and provide feedback for homework. If you are interested in checking out Alicia's videos for this project they can be found on her teacher website.
Once upon a time, not too long ago, YouTube was little more than cat videos and kids publishing their latest skateboarding moves. Times have changed. YouTube is quickly becoming the world's online broadcast platform and as a result has an increasing amount of educational content.
As a matter of fact, last week on World Teachers' Day Google announced that YouTube now has over 1,000 educational channels. However, there is so much content that one of the trickiest challenges can be sorting through all of it to find the videos you actually want to use with your students. To make your search a bit easier, here are three places I would recommend starting.
YouTube Teachers- Over the past two summers educators across the nation have worked with California's Computer Using Educators (CUE) to develop playlists of curated videos along standards or key concepts. Once you are on the page scroll past the logo and click on the Classroom Videos tab.
YouTube EDU Channels Directory - Many organizations or individuals that with high-quality content construct their own channels. YouTube has put together a directory of these channels. Check out the primary and secondary, higher education and lifelong learning portions of the directory.
TEDEd- The makers of the famous TED Talks recently started working with educators to create high quality animated versions of their lessons. All of these videos live on YouTube. However, searching for them on TEDEd can be an efficient way to find the one you can use in class.
Once you find the videos that are perfect for your class consider constructing a playlist by theme or topic. Playlists are automatically public, so feel free to share these with other teachers or post them on your website for students to preview for homework or personal learning. Finally, consider putting your students to work finding content for you. With a short Google Form (like this) you could easily collect resources for next year.
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