In order to carry out the game plan for my two goals, I will need access to a digital camera and a program that will allow for me to handle a blog page for 4th graders. I think that as soon as I get my feet wet with the digital camera, I will able to use this tool with comfort and regularity. I just need to take a step forward. The blog page is a different story. I have already used a blog in the past, but with school limitations, it became a hassle. I was hoping to find a unique way around this, but not sure if this will happen. After reading some posts from colleagues I do not see a way around this problem.
Last week I worked with my tech coordinator in constructing a plan for students to create a slide show presentation of the 5 Virginia Regions. Since then, I have spoke to her about my growth with technology and she is willing to guide me so I can use more tech tools with comfort. She will be helping tomorrow look at the basics of using a digital camera. One of our first goals is to take pictures of all my students and save them to our network. She will then show me how to crop and manipulate photos to use for educational projects. She then plans to help me gain confidence teaching students how to do complete this task. After this training and practice, I plan to look up some ideas for projects, and set up an activity for computer lab i the next few weeks.
I have recently dropped down to teach 4th grade. I am still trying to gain some comfort with our curriculum. Does anyone have ideas to use digital cameras for educational purposes? I want to use the camera to correlate with a project that relates to content in any core subject. I read an earlier post aobut using Moodle for my blog. I heard of it, but an not familiar with the program. Has anyone used this program? Can it make blogging easier? My tech coordinator has no additional ideas other than the school directed blog page. I can't go through that again.
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gradrunner,
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about having your students create a wiki and requiring one of the features to be a picture they took? You can customize the wiki around any of the core subjects. My students loved developing a class wiki, and adding photographs was the highlight for them. It would be even better if the students were the photographers.
Mintzer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestion on the wiki. We worked on wikis in one of my grad classes. Have you used wikis in your classroom? Which wiki site have you used for your students?
My only concern would be the access and control. Our county has policies and restrictions on technology use in the schools. Is there a way to use the wiki in the classroom, and not allow for others outside our walls to get on the student created wikis?
gradrunner,
ReplyDeleteYes, I have used a wiki with my class. I used Wikispaces; it was very easy. You can set it to private so only those invited may see what is produced. This feature should meet with your district’s policies. I used my account and had each group produce a different page for the assignment; however, I found that meant only one group could post at a time. Next time, I will set up a different wiki for each group. This will allow the groups to access their sites at the same time. I really liked the site, and I will definitely be using it in the future. Let me know how it works out for you!
@ gradrunner
ReplyDeleteI use my iphone to take pictures in my classroom. This takes away the need to have a separate camera in the classroom. I have also heard of teachers sending out an email to their parents requesting any old media equipment for use in the classroom. As for how I am using pictures in my classroom students are documenting the grow of their plants and then creating a voice tread. I also use pictures for lunch count and attendance and to acknowledge our student of the week on my website by posting their picture and recording an interview with them through Audicity.
Walden Class Blog,
ReplyDeleteI like the use of the voice thread. There are so many tech tools to use. I will use this to put digital camera photos and the voice thread in an upcoming activity. I'll have to brainstorm here, but it gives me some direction. Thanks.
If you decide to blog, I suggest blogspot. I am using it with my students and they love it! Plus, it is very user-friendly. With 4th graders, parents may be weary about the idea since their children are so young... but there are safety controls that you can limit who can see their blog and your blog, and you can limit it for the students!
ReplyDeleteI also think the digital camera idea is great! I make a slide show for my students at the end of the year of everything we do during the year... they love it! And some even ask me to print out some of the pictures for them!