MyFakeWall :)

After my exploration, I created a list of various tools I could implement in my classroom, which would give my students the opportunity to “create” on the web.  Some of the tools found in my post Imagine & Create are tools I have used in the past and will continue to use.  When introducing new tools to my students, I want to be sure there is a definite purpose for the activity.  The tools are excellent, but I do not want to use them just to "use them".  There needs to be more.  I also do not want to introduce a new tool every activity, but at the same time allow my students to explore new tools, if they wish!  My goal for next year is to introduce my 4^th graders to around 10 tools that will give them the opportunity to ‘create.’  Hopefully, when given a project my students will have a ‘box of tools’ they can fallback on in the future, after meaningful, authentic practice and creations with these tools.

Beginning of the Year:

•  All of my incoming 4^th graders have had practice with Glogster, and I intend to begin the school year with creating an “All about Me” glog. I will encourage them to add videos and music, which are aspects of Glogster that my students may be unfamiliar with (after talking with previous teachers).

• Through Glogster and blogging, I will teach my students how to write good comments and incorporate a “critical friends” piece.  Below is a great video to use for writing a good comment:

• ·         We start the year with a social studies unit on Harrisburg, our state capital.  During our unit, I will incorporate a project using Prezi (a tool some have experience with) and also include new options: 280Slides and Google presentation.  My students will choose various places (cities or landmarks) in Pennsylvania to research, using GoogleDocs to collaborate and create a presentation.

My New "Create" Project:
On my previous post, I marked the specific tools I have used in the classroom - along with NEW tools I hope to implement next year! I have many ideas, but wanted to focus on one specifically for my project:

·         Each year we are expected to teach our students about famous Pennsylvanians, during the extensive study of our state. This becomes a challenge, when trying to ‘cover’ an entire state’s history, places, people, events, natural resources, regions, industries… For my project last year my students had the opportunity to choose anything from famous places, famous people, explorers, or Native American groups for their project.  The students became the experts on their topic.  For their presentation, they had the ability to choose between Prezi, Glogster, PowerPoint, and Google Presentation.  Well…they all chose Prezi.  This year, I plan on separating PA's famous places and people into two projects.  My students have used their blogs to learn new facts and gather information from other people around the world & GoogleDocs as a collaboration tool. I plan on using similar methods this year – however, my students are going to create a fake Facebook profile page belonging to their famous Pennsylvanian.  Here is a link to an example of Ben Franklin's page, who happens to be from PA! 

http://myfakewall.com/w/Ben+Franklin_1

I am super excited about this project and cannot wait to post my students’ work! :)

Imagine and Create...

Growing up, I was never an artist, or creative for that matter.  When drawing illustrations in the classroom I make fun of my terrible artwork, which more often than not is indecipherable. For this reason and many more, I absolutely LOVE Web2.0 tools that allow me to create and show my recently discovered artistic ability. With paper and pencil, I am a disaster. With my computer and the internet, I can create a masterpiece. This year my students began using tools such as, Glogster, Prezi, Animoto, Wordle/Tagxedo and Little Bird Tales, to create various projects and activities on the web. Just like adults, we have students that strongly dislike projects because of the 'neatness' and 'creativity' categories on the rubrics.  With these online tools, students feel confident in their design and final product. My students were motivated when given the freedom to choose and create a product that would show what they had learned, because they were using their strengths. The sharing and commenting aspect of the tools was also a motivating factor.  Over and over they would mention how special they felt when others appreciated their work and provided meaningful feedback. Exploring the web in search of these tools for my students and myself has been the highlight of my summer, as far as 'work' is concerned! :)

Thanks to Cool Tools for Schools and Go Web2.0 for an extensive list of tools! The first day of my exploration, led me to create a list of tools that sounded interesting and seemed appropriate for my classroom.  My next task was to dwindle down the list to tools that I wanted to investigate further and try out myself.  Here is my "shorter" list: 

Note: ** = used last year, and plan to use again this year!

•  Digital Storytelling Tools
• **Little Bird Tales: Allows children to upload their own artwork or use a drawing tool when creating their story on the web. The author can use text and/or record their voice. (Elementary)
• Storybird: Collaborative storytelling - Begin by choosing an artist or theme (visual images) and use these pictures to tell your story...
• Story Jumper: Start a story with a seven-step story starter process. When you are finished you can choose to share the book or even publish into a hardcover copy ($$).
• Tikatok: Students can create and share their own book - this site also gives an opportunity to publish your book.
• Presentation Tools (These tools all have the same purpose, I look forward to giving my students many different options to choose from.)
• **Prezi: Easily create exciting and engaging presentations that zoom in and out around the canvas!
• 280Slides: Similar to the Powerpoint, with the ability to access anywhere and share with others on the web. This tool has built-in media searches for Flickr and YouTube, which makes it easy and handy to add videos and images to your presentation.
• PreZentit: Working on a new version...but looks neat.
• Empressr: Create an online slideshow to share with others - includes 3D transitions.
• Viddix: Create a video presentation and connect various content to your video (images, documents, websites) on a second panel.
• Animation and Videos
• **Animoto: Great video slideshow maker, the biggest challenge for student use is that the videos are short unless you pay for an account or are an educator. 
• Memoov: Struggling to access their website, but looks interesting.
• **Blabberize: Take any picture and make it blabber! :) 
• **Voki: Customize your avatar and add your voice - can be embedded into blogs and websites. New: Voki for Education!
• GoAnimate: Make animations easily, similar to Voki.
• Others:
• GoogleMaps(My Places)/MapMe: Create maps of your favorite places and destinations - so many creative ways to use these tools in the classroom.
• Pixton for Schools: Interactive and teacher-moderated comic strip creator, which looks awesome to use (easy to use and fun) -- only downside is a cost for the program.
• ToonDoo: Free tool to create cartoon comics or books.
• **Glogster EDU: Create online posters. Easy to setup your class with usernames and passwords.
• **Wordle/Tagxedo: "Generate word clouds from the text you provide."
• Creaza Education: "An engaging suite of creative tools (4) where learners can create, publish, and share digital stories." - This looks really neat, I am still looking into this! Any comments or advice would be much appreciated!
• My Fake Wall:  Students can create 'fake' Facebook profile pages for characters in story or famous people, groups, etc.  Excellent tool and excited to use in my classroom! :)  
• Museum Box: Make a virtual box using text and media to describe a person's life or event!

My explorations have led me here...now to determine which of the above tools to use for my project. :) If you have any classroom experience with any of the above tools, I would appreciate your advice and expertise! :)

A lesson learned...

"One fails forward to success." - Charles F. Kettering

Luckily, I received my current teaching job a few weeks after graduating from Eastern University. This was definitely a check off my life's to-do list! Making lists is an obsession of mine, and a habit I try to break! I have grocery lists, classroom lists, around-the-house lists, and so on...obviously, I would have a life list.  My life list is the only one I do not write down, since that would be strange to say the least! I was ecstatic to start the school year, while being slightly apprehensive to begin my career with 6th graders. From other teachers and friends, I heard 'rumors' about 6th grade behavior, difficulty of curriculum, and not to mention talk about individual students in my room.  Am I ready for this? 

Failure #1: Classroom Management

Each and every year, I enjoy my students' unique personalities and talents they bring to our classroom family.  I would not say my students were out-of-hand my first year, but I made the mistake of wanting to be "liked."  Maybe I was having my own popularity contest...I wanted to be their friend and their favorite! I spent the previous summer setting up my classroom and diving into the curriculum.  I did not take much time to "visualize" my classroom routines, management plan, or much else.  There were behaviors I did not address the way I should, which later turned disrespectful.  A few months in, I realized my problem. It was time to sink or swim, do or die. I took my Christmas break to research strong management plans and decide the specific plan that would be best for myself and my students.  I had a classroom meeting with my students, apologizing for my lack of discipline and management system, explained the new procedure, and jumped right in! I struggled with being consistent for awhile, but by the end of the year my classroom was running smoothly and I felt more comfortable in my own skin.  

Each year I tend to change my classroom management system - sometimes in small amounts and other times all together.  I am going into my fourth year of teaching (now in 4th grade) and I am still trying to figure out what works for me!  My students and I work together throughout the year to create a safe, accepting environment where we can learn from each other and have a good time! Lets just say I no longer "forget" my management plan! :)

Failure #2: "I am the teacher."

As you work with your curriculum and teach the subject matter - you begin to learn more and more about what you are teaching.  My first year - I knew what was in my teacher manuals.  It was hard for me to get my head above water (wow, there is so much you learn EVERY year, but especially year one!).  I did not feel confident during each lesson, because I was 'afraid' that I would not be able to answer their questions. Come on, I was the teacher - I should know this stuff! One day, a student of mine made a correction to something I said, adding his expertise to the discussion.  Not wanting to look 'bad', I made the mistake of telling him that he was wrong.  Maybe not exactly in those words, but nevertheless it was my point.  I felt terrible, actually sick to my stomach all night. I researched the topic and his thoughts, realizing I was ultimately wrong.  The next day, I discussed in science class my error and apologized to the student.  I explained that we all make mistakes and I do not know EVERYTHING.  I could sense my students' appreciation, and felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders.  We created a poster saying "questions we have" and would list specific questions after lessons, activities, reading assignments, etc. My students would be motivated to solve our problems & questions.  

This failure reminded me a lot about the inquiry-based learning we read about this week.  Ultimately, this experience changed my view of my students. We are all learners in the classroom.  I appreciate their knowledge and strengths, giving them opportunities to 'teach'.  The past couple years, I have continued to encourage my students to ask questions about what I am teaching...