Another tip...

When doing "Reverse Teaching" were you have a student connect their laptop to the projector and you are in the back of the room.... a laser pointer is a must.    It will allow you to point to the area you want the kid to click on.  Also you will be able to remain in the back of the room to keep an eye on other students.


While being "Transparent" there are new eye-fi cards that will allow the students to take pictures and the wifi sd card will automatically upload pictures to a web album.  I use a Picasa Web Album that is NOT published to the public.  It allows you to check to make sure now one who can't be on is there or anything inappropriate gets by.  I find if you involve students they will self regulate and you only have to catch the kids in the background.  Picasa will also upload videos as well (I don't do them longer then 60 sec) and it now will tag pictures.  I will tag kids pictures with their Avatar names in a web album to start the year then it automates from this point on.    If you tag the kids who CAN'T be on web it will notify you when the album uploads.   Then just move pictures you want to another web album you then embed to your blog.


A good way to get parents to connect to your site is to have students do progress reports by having their parents comment on a blog post.  They need to use students Avatar names and you will have to approve the post, but it allows students to show their parents what they are doing.  *I make sure kids know NOT to make parents do this late at night or early in morning I give them weeks to finish.  Any student without internet access at home I print a picture of them from the site for their parents to sign.

Mike's Project (Students are doing)

Well I've officially hit a huge snag in the road to completing this project. Google SketchUp is not on the students netbook image and there isn't either a.) time b.)time c.)time to load SketchUp onto the image of 83 student netbooks.

SO...what I think I'm going to do is have them do a research project on a specific plate boundary and either through my FirstClass website OR blog I'll load pictures, videos, and the actual Google presentations of their research (or at least a few of them for size constraints).

What I need to know is this something that is okay? If it is I should be good to execute the project.

What Kids Will Be Doing

I thought it would be fun to share the actual performance task document that I've handed out to my kids.  Hopefully the pictures will show up!  This is what they'll be doing:

iWEBMASTER

Elements of Fiction Project

Project Requirements:

1.     You may work with another person. 

2.     You must use Google Docs to create a website that will define and explain one of the elements of fiction we have discussed in class.

3.     You must include examples of this element of fiction from at least two of the stories we have read in class, as well as at least one real-life example.

4.     You must include a bare minimum of three pictures.  These pictures can be found online or they can be pictures that you take or create yourself.

5.     You must present this website as “educational materials” to the class.

6.     You will eventually share the site with our class, and possibly with the other section of this class.  Be prepared.  Public speaking IS involved.

Creating Your Site:

1.     Sign in to Google Docs.

2.     At the top of the page, click “Sites.”

3.     Click the button that says “Create New Site.”

4.     Name your site and choose a theme.

5.     For right now, these sites should remain private.  Click “More Options” and be sure to choose the button that says “Collaborate With: ONLY PEOPLE I SPECIFY.”  We do not want this to be a public site!

6.     DO NOT click the button that says “Let anyone in the world view.”

Editing Your Site:

You will be keeping this to a single page, so don’t click the “create page” button.  Click the button that says “Edit Page” and your site will turn into something that looks more like a document.  From here, you can add and edit text, add photos, and change your layout.

To Add a Photo:

1.     Save the photo on your computer first, and make sure to end the file name with .jpg so that it will be usable.  Some browsers can’t see certain photo types, but everyone should be able to see .jpg.  Make sure that you save it somewhere that is easy to find.

2.     At the top left-hand side, click “insert” then click “image.”

3.     Click the “browse” button and find your file, then click “OK.”

4.     Play around with the buttons that appear when you click on your image, and see what you can do with them!

Grading Rubric

	(4) FTW!!	(3) Pwnage!	(2) Noob…	(1) Epic fail…
Elements of Fiction Explained The element of fiction chosen by the group is:	explained in depth, accurately, in a way that makes sense, and in a way that is helpful to other students.	explained accurately, in a way that makes sense, and in a way that is helpful to other students.	explained accurately, but in a way that is somewhat unclear.  The explanation is not very helpful to other students.	explained inaccurately, or in a way that is difficult to understand.  The explanation is not helpful to other students.
Class Examples There are:	clear, in-depth examples from two or more of the stories we read in class.	clear examples from two of the stories we read in class.	clear examples, but they only come from one of the stories we read in class.	examples that are unclear and that only come from one of the stories we read in class.
Real Life Examples There is/are:	more than one clear, in-depth examples from real life.	one clear, in-depth example from real life.		no examples from real life included on the website.
Pictures There are:	more than three pictures on the website.	three pictures on the website.	two pictures on the website.	two or fewer pictures on the website.
Presentation The materials are:	presented to the student’s section of the class and to the other section of the class.	presented to the student’s section of the class.		not presented to either section of the class.

With School in full Swing....

Hopefully your projects are going well.   Don't forget to take pictures, videos and save students work  so you have it for your transparency.   Even if you have not done any thing with them it is better to collect them.  Remember you can have the kids responsible for this.

Project Plans

Finally back into the swing of things!  Like Mike said, we had a few heavy personal issues happen in August, but we're back in action, and happy to be here.  

I've also hit a technology snag.  Many of my students have not been issued their school computers as of right now.  We've been having a server malfunction at my school recently, and the IT geniuses are using all their time trying to get it fixed.  Laptop distribution has been put on hold for now.  Until further notice, I've got about 40% of my kids without computers, which makes the idea of asynchronous pairing even more difficult.  Also, the balance of my classes is unusually skewed this year.  One section of the class I want to do this project in has 21 students, and the other section has 11.  For this reason, I have decided to allow students to work with a partner in the same class as them, with the added requirement that they must share their work with the other class in a "guest speaker" format.  As of right now, I am still working on the logistics of this plan, and I'm thinking it might even become a video that they create and share somehow.  I'm not sure, though.  It's still a work in progress.

Luckily for me, all freshmen at my school are required to take a class called "Tech and Career," in which each of them is already required to use Google Docs.  Thanks to this class, I won't be responsible for introducing the overall technology idea to them, only the specific pieces I need them to use.  I'm thinking it might be fun to coordinate with the Tech teacher and see if there is a way students can get credit for this project in both classes.

Cathy's Digital Portfolio Project

 

I have already hit one snag with my student's creation of digital portfolios and that is they won't get their laptops for a while as we continue to work on moving into the new school. We are looking at the end of September and probably sometime in October.   I do have a portfolio template set up that they can use when they get their computers and it has a link to a video I found to help them copy the template to their account and then make it their own. I have created a website that the 7^th grade teachers will be using to post assignments so the students will have access to them from home. My team will be discussing having all the assignments on one page vs having a page for each teacher. I created it with a page per subject but not everyone likes that idea.

I still need to discuss with our computer tech the students being able to use their laptop cameras. I am not hopeful about that and won't be bringing it up right away as he says he is still very busy with all our new technology and I know that's true.

I do intend to get my students set up and going on their e-mail if I can even before they get their laptops as most of them do have internet access at home anyway. Getting that going will be one less thing to have to teach them before we can get going on the portfolios.

I haven't forgotten the reverse teaching and am planning on assigning some Khan Academy math at some point in the year so they can come to class with some knowledge ahead of time. We have done a Scavenger Hunt through our new math books to help them become acquainted with all that's available in their new books. I would love to claim that as my idea but I got it from our 8^th grade teacher and then tweaked it to fit the 7^th grade book.

Project Set-Up

I've been going all around the mulberry bush about my project. This is what I've finally landed on. I'm going to do a 'challenge activity' with my students that will tie into a novel we are reading. If it works out well, I would like to do more of them as the year goes along. The challenge will be available to students when they are finished with their traditional work and they will be expected to do the work independently. I will provide them with the challenge and give them a week of time to complete. It won't be required. Students will get credit for doing it or not. I won't give any assistance in the challenge. They have to figure out how to do it on their own. So...here is the first challenge from the book Countdown by Deborah Wiles.

Franny mentions her old school in comparison to her new school. Find the names of both the schools in Chapter 1 and then follow these steps.

1. Find out if each school is a real school.
2. If the school is real, find it on a Google Map.
3. Take a screenshot of each school that you find and upload it here.

BONUS:

Include a document with any other facts you find about the schools and/or the school websites. 

One of the challenges that I've had in the past is having enough work for students who finish early. This 'challenge' idea would provide extra work that is also self-directed and technology focused. 

These challenges will be part of the Moodle that I've created for ELA. I also have my school website up. I've put a blog up that I will write in every Friday to update the parents about what we've been doing. On my website I've also added a Photos page to post pictures and videos of our activities. The reason my blog is an iWeb blog and not a Blogger is because we are prohibited from using Blogger at my school. This will be a real downfall because iWeb blogs don't allow for comments to be posted without uploading through Mobile Me - which I'm also prohibited from doing. So parents will have to email comments. 


So that's my progress on my project.