My Life as a Reader Infographics

Reflection
Visual Communication
Thinking of oneself as a reader
New forms of writing
Presentation skills

These were some of the goals Karin Hallett and I had in mind when we decided to end the school year by having 4th graders create "My Life as a Reader" infographics. The process was simple and engaging, and the results were beautiful. Even my most vocally negative-about-reading student was talking happily about his earliest reading memories as he created his graphic.

We used Piktochart. It didn't work on our iPads, so we had to check out laptops which students enjoyed as a novelty since we have used iPads all year. I had them create accounts with school email so that they could save their work.

Although I feel like I already know my students really well as readers, I learned new things about each child and those books and experiences that define their reading lives.

First Attempt at Clay Animation

Second Grade.

Life cycle of a plant.

Here is a link to the lesson plan I used.

Here is one of the finished projects.

Character Blogs

This is one of my favorite projects. First of all, this project represents for me a model of true technology integration. I love the way the classroom teacher and I worked together. Secondly, I think it is a great project which has real depth and strong academic content and integrates technology for all the right reasons in all the best ways. 

Project Development:

It started with a conversation with Deb Kuhr, the middle school English teacher. She told me that the 7th graders were reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and would be using the book to focus on the element of character. Did I have any ideas for technology integration? I thought of the idea of having the students blog "in character."

From there we really worked together as we developed and taught the project. One challenge that arose early on was the school's content filter which blocks most of the popular blogging sites. In searching for an online home for our blogs I revisited a site I had learned about years ago, Think.com. There are pros and cons to using this site. Think.com is a very safe site; in order to get an account you must have an educational affiliation. No one can enter the site unless they have an account. Teachers must approve image content. There is a lengthy list of banned words. Although Think.com boasts members from around the world, and you can invite other schools to join you in your project, the interaction I have seen is pretty superficial. 

Since a large part of blogging is reading the blogs of others and leaving comments, we added the requirement that the characters must read and interact with others' character blogs in character. Because of the nature of Think.com you can't leave "stickies" or comments on project pages. However, you can add an interactive element to your page, such as a message board. So, we had the students use these elements for interaction.

All in all, I judge this project a huge success. I think the students really learned from putting themselves into the mind of the character and extending their thoughts about the novel. We even had a blog for Bob, a character that died early in the novel, called "Bob's Blog from Beyond." I know that they were motivated by the activity; they found blogging fun and enjoyed having a think.com account. They all created Think.com home pages as well, a page they could create as themselves (as opposed to their character from The Outsiders). I was impressed by the quality of the work. We are now in the second year of this project, and it is again going well. As with any unit, it is easier the second time around -- all of the planning is finished, we know what to expect, and it is just a matter of doing it. 

What I think could make this project better in the future would be interaction with other students who are also reading The Outsiders or at least a chance for a more public audience to read their blogs. I think that I would like to try a different blogging site next year, maybe class blogmeister or edublogs. Any suggestions? It would have to be a "safe" site. If you would like a copy of the rubric we used, leave a comment here or email me at andreals@comcast.net.

Here are some pictures of Mrs. Kuhr's bulletin board from last year's blogs. She had each student print out one or two favorite entries and create an artistic representation of their character.

Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt

The thing I think I love most about my job as technology coordinator is that I enjoy so many areas of the curriculum. And it is so easy to integrate technology with anything! 

Here is an activity I did earlier this year with second grade. It was a great way to use digital cameras to get the kids to focus on nature and explore our school's beautiful surroundings. When I told them we were taking computer class outdoors they were skeptical (because there are no computers outside), but when we hit the trail they were exuberant.

We had two digital cameras to use so we worked in small groups. We briefly discussed the nature-lover's creed "take only pictures, leave only footprints." I  then gave each group a clipboard with a list of items to find and a camera and told them to take as many pictures as they liked. The following week in the lab they chose their favorite photos and created slideshows using Rock You.  What I like about using Rock You with young students is that you don't have to log-in, and it couldn't be easier to use. I created an account for myself, and after the students were finished I saved their slideshows to my account so I could share them with parents. What I don't like so much about Rock You for young kids is that a lot of the music choices are not school appropriate. So our slideshows are quiet. Just like nature. Well, just like nature without a large, happy group of second graders.

I've done this again, and it is remains a wonderful creative, collaborative learning activity. Here are some more student creations. These are from first graders, and we used Animoto for the slideshows.

Inspiration Appreciations

I would like to share (with my many and faithful readers) a wonderful and valuable classroom activity I am currently doing in the computer lab with my third graders. Last year I did this with the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. I haven't decided yet, but I may go ahead and do it again this year with 4th and 5th because I think it is a lesson that bears repeating.

I call it "inspiration appreciations" because it uses the software Inspiration and is an exercise in appreciating others. I believe that all humans, large and small, crave positive feedback from their peers. I also believe that a positive, cooperative classroom where students feel valued for their unique contributions is a safe place for children to take risks, which are necessary for learning and growth to occur.

The procedure is simple. It works quite nicely in the computer lab, but could be adapted for use in any classroom and doesn't rely on computer technology at all. I have students sit down out the computer, open Inspiration (a wonderful software for visual diagramming) and put their name and picture in the "main idea" spot. Then all the students stand up and move to their neighbor's computer, sit down and add an illustrated appreciation about that person.

Some guidelines we use:

-comments are anonymous

-no one reads their own comments until the end

-comments are not to be repeated more than twice

-don't use "generic" appreciations like "you are nice." Really think about a specific example of why that person is nice or something kind they have done for you.

I love this activity for a number of reasons. I love watching the kids go back to their own computer to read their "inspiration card" and seeing the pleasure on their faces as they read all of the things their classmates admire and appreciate about them. I have noticed that giving genuine positive feedback is challenging for them at first, and that, like anything else, they improve upon it with practice.