School has been moving along at a rapid pace for me. As a rusty elementary teacher, I have been on the move trying to keep up with curriculum, lesson plans, graduate school, and a 5 month old. In all of this, I feel that my new technological goals are showing promise. Last week, I almost gave up on blogging due to school limitations. I decided to alter this goal, but still reached out for help to my professional colleagues. I received a great tip to use a site called Wallwisher. This site is not an actual blog site, but for fourth graders it gives them a chance to post responses on a screen and look at what others add to the screen. I feel this is a good start for elementary students to share their thoughts and ideas to content in the classroom. We have used this so far for a center called Daring Detective. Students read about animals and unique facts to share with others.
When blogging was looking difficult I added a goal. The added goal is to communicate with parents and students by sharing information, activities, and extra practice to enhance student learning. I have been working hard to create a place where students can take an interest using technology. Currently, I have started a class newsletter and added links that offer practice for everyone. The links are separated by subject, and include basic skills, interactive activities, and brainstorming problems. I contacted parents through open house and e-mail to share my page. I have received positive feedback from parents on the added sites, ad students are sharing their interest in my web page first thing in the morning. We just worked on a Jamestown virtual site today comparing the fort to the Powhatan village. Students wanted to know if they could access this at home. My tech supervisor has been working with me and includes these sites to the school web links page. Are there other ideas that could be added or included to a teacher web-page for students and teachers?
The use of a digital camera for learning purposes was my other original goal. I have recently checked out a digital camera from the library and sat down with our tech supervisor for some tips how to save student pictures to the network for later use. My pal is to include photographs in projects to enhance the use of technological tools. I have not begun to access a project with this tool, but in the next few weeks my tech supervisor and I will be planning together to formulate some plans. I know that teachers have cropped students pictures ad included them into historical projects. Has anyone used studetns photos with science or other subjects?
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gradrunner,
ReplyDeleteHow did your fourth graders like the Wallwisher assignment? Was it successful? I know the answer space was limited, but was it sufficient for your students to share their animals and facts? It sounds like your class newsletter is going well, too. Have you added the Wallwisher link to your site? I bet the parents would love to talk about their child’s animal with him, as well as those presented by his classmates.
Mintzer,
ReplyDeleteIt went well. Thanks for asking. My students were excited to see their animal on the wall. I never thought to pt up Wallwisher on my Website to share with parents.
I started this Daring Detective center in class. Students find interesting topics to research. After students posted on the wall, other students used the postings to dig deeper into more interesting animals. My goal with this activity, is to help students gain interest into reading and learn to share their fiding s with the class.
@ gradrunner
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on doing so well with your goals. It is commendable that you are willing to change them when you realize you are better suited for a different goal. Your students are fortunate to have a flexible teacher. Have you thought about using WallWisher during guided reading? I think it would be beneficial as kids would not be able to simply say, "I agree."
I have used digital photos in science. My students that need interventions to be more challenged are creating a voice thread about our plant science unit. They are documenting the growth and then writing a script to go along with each picture prior to recording their voices to practice fluency.
Gradrunner,
ReplyDeleteSounds like your goals have been very successful. Once you sit down with your tech coordinator about lessons involving the digital camera would you be willing to share them? What exactly is WallWisher? Can the students comment and give feedback? Sounds like it could be a very useful tool to have in the classroom. What do you have the students do on there? Sorry lots of questions!
Katie V
I also want to offer my congratulations on how you have progressed with your goals. It is great that you have accomplished so much already. I have never used WallWisher before, but am interested to see how it works!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever thought about using a wiki as a means of communicating with parents? That would be a way that you can put information out there, and you could also post student work, etc.