1. Spreading the tech joy: All teachers at my site have–finally–document cameras and digital projectors. This has been a two-year odyssey, and we’re all pleased it’s come to fruition, but I’m not seeing it as the end of the journey. Prior attempts to do this purchase did not yield doc cameras or projectors, BUT we did end up with some really nice media carts, and nothing to put on them. They now hold the new doc cameras and projectors, but they offer another possibility that I shared with teachers. Before this week’s staff meeting, I showed teachers how to hook-up a CPU with mouse and keyboard to the projector, and voila, they add computers and internet to the mix. This was my first step into ed tech, so I’m hoping it will help others on the path to integrating technology.

2. Given the short periods, and the fact that I cannibalized the CPU I had been using for the SMART board for the project listed under number 1, I did not do much with the SMART board, but I plan on asking a first grade teacher to show me how she uses “Judy” clocks to figure out how to best implement an interactive activity on the SMART Notebook.

3. I had the fifth graders start to go to other class blogs. I’m hoping to have students start to comment and build relationships with some of these classes. It’s a start, and long overdue. I was stymied in past attempts to do this by my district blocking sites like blogger (makes some sense), and classblogmeister (brain-dead, I know). I’m sticking to edublog based sites for now to avoid any of those problems.

4. I’m starting to attend weekly grade level collaboration meetings that are held at the end of the day on Wednesdays. They aren’t really for just one grade level (K-2, 3-4, 5-6), and each group rotates, so they meet once every three weeks or so. This is really getting me a chance to work with my peers. It lets me see what their “priorities” are and support those academic goals more effectively.  One of the first projects is a Reading Buddy program between upper and primary grade classes. I’m having students do a VoiceThread on it. One of the things I learned was that some classes were a lot further along in implementing this program, which is good feedback.

5. Looking forward, next week is benchmark testing. These are standards-based tests developed by the district to see how kids are doing before state testing, but I’m really scratching my head about what it’s evolved to. We are pretty far into Program Improvement (Year 5?), and are getting enormous pressure to get scores on these tests up. The only problem? They are not aligned to our new Math curricula. Students in the last test were given numerous questions on concepts not yet taught, and the same is true for next week’s test. Central office types say it’s aligned, but obviously have no idea what is going on. This is making the staff deviate from the text (which I don’t have a lot issues with myself), and teach to the test (I’m not so crazy about that, but it’s a no-win situation).

I’m trying to get the fifth and sixth grade students to finish up work on some poetry projects (fifth on their heritage, sixth on Rosa Parks and Jim Crow in transportation for a local transit agency. Once the testing is over, I’ll be able to ask teachers to help with the editing process on this more.

SMART Board activities from A Mercer on Vimeo.

January is a time for new beginnings, and to start off this year, I’ve gotten the loan of a SMART interactive whiteboard. I’ve had it in the lab for the week. I got the board because a district middle school has gotten a number of them a few years back and want some more support on using them, which I might be doing.

There have been a lot of critiques about how “interactive” these tools really are for students, and whether or not similar tasks could be done with other, cheaper tools (here is a recent thread on this). The biggest complaint seems to center around teachers using it largely for direct and whole class instruction. With this in mind I’ve been using the it as a “center” where I pull back small groups of students, rather than using it for whole class instruction. I model the activity quickly, and then let the kids do it. I’ve also tried to have the kids explain the how-to to the next group. I have no big conclusions at this point.

Requirements:

Knowledge of how to create a VoiceThread. This is not a very high barrier. If you haven’t done it yet, get out some of those holiday pics you’ve taken in digital form and go to this page for how-tos, then create a VoiceThread on your own. Once you’ve done one, you’re ready to do it with your class. I’ll try to hit on some of the management aspects in my instructions. You’ll need at least one computer with an Internet hookup. A digital projector to share the results with the class would also be nice.

1. Research and writing: Likely you will have already done some of this, just not enough for each student to come up with a one, two, or five page report.  The idea at this point is to gather what knowledge they have gained.
Lab version: I had them in the lab, so they read on the Internet. The topic was Astronomy. I had them go to sites with information about the topic. NASA Kids has a whole encyclopedia of information on astronomy topics they can search. I’m more concerned with the lexile level at Wikipedia, than the quality of information (since science sections are pretty well-maintained, they can be more up-to-date than encyclopedias). WikiJunior has an astronomy section as well at a more accessible reading level for elementary students. I had the students write short blog posts summarizing a paragraph they read. I could have had the kids correct each other online by replying to each others comments with editing suggestions.
Class Version: If the class is doing a thematic unit they should be reading on paper as well as the Internet. Have take turns in pairs on computer looking up the online topics, and then have them look through books in the classroom as well. Have them do quick writes (a couple sentences) paraphrasing what they learned. You could have them pass the quick writes around for a “buddy” edit.

2. Getting photos: Visuals will make this more engaging for the kids and give them something to speak to.
The NASA site has a number of excellent pictures if astronomy is your topic. Flickr Commons is also good for other topics. VoiceThread will let you use creative commons photos on Flickr by using the Media Sources button when you are adding photos/video to your VoiceThread. You may want to “pick out” photos by searching Flickr in advance, as the VoiceThread tool is really great, but the search facility is not as strong as Flickr’s. A tip for looking for astronomy pics, add NASA as a search term (all government photos are public domain and can be used) to get the best photos of planets, etc. Pull one or two of the kids back at a time to pick out photos to use.

3. Add students’ voices: This is where the small parts they have learned will be gathered together and hopefully make something of more depth.
Have the students come with their quickwrites (or if you’re in the lab, pull up their comments on the blog), and have them read what they wrote as a comment on an appropriate picture. Ask them a follow-up question to see if they have picked up knowledge beyond the recall level. You can also have them come up in pairs or trios. Since you’re recording, you’ll want it quiet (although I never get it “silent” and you shouldn’t worry about that). Make sure the other students know to give you silent signals, etc. at this time. You might want to consider a small coloring/drawing project to keep the other students engaged, then you can scan or take a picture of the best ones to put up on the VoiceThread.

4. Listen and learn: Play the VoiceThread for the class via projector, or have them go up in small groups and listen. Ask them to share something they learned from others. If time permits, you can have them leave comments.

Is this as good as a research report? Is this going to have a lot of higher order thinking? Maybe, maybe not, but it will make the work they’ve done more useful and long-lived than just stopping abruptly, and not completing the reports. It will also give you and the students some closure on the thematic unit.

Here are the results I got:

There was  a lot of good stuff, but one class continues to give me a headache (I think it may be mutual at this point). I asked the assistant principal to observe me teaching the class and give feedback. Here is what I hope to gain, and what I know won’t be happening:

1. This is not just about the kids behavior. It’s not a chance for me to “show” how bad this class is.
2. This is a chance to show that the class, and myself, may need some more advanced strategies to deal with each other productively.
3. This is a chance for me to get feedback from an adult peer.
4. Just because the student complaints I’m hearing are from kids doesn’t mean there isn’t some validity to them.
5. The students may be articulate in their grievances, but that doesn’t make them either right, honest, or honest with themselves about what is going on.

Wish me luck, and I’ll try to share what I learn.

No one ever comes out to say they don’t like my more political posts, but I am regularly told by others that I’m “so political”, which means that not everyone is comfortable with what I have to say. I’m not going to argue with folks about this, but instead let readers know if you love reading about what I’m doing in the lab, but you’re not so crazy about the rest of what I write, there is a simple solution. I put all of my lab reflection posts in one category, “Week in Lab” which you can access in the sidebar, or subscribe to it on RSS. I’m not going to change who I am and what I write about, but I’m if that’s not what you want to spend your leisure time reading, I offer this easy solution.

If you hate when I gas on about what I’m doing in my lab, you can do the same by looking at or subscribing to the Politics/Policy category.

Here is what is going on:

Second Graders on Kindness. I’ve been using VoiceThread to capture what we are learning. This week’s focus is on manners for hosts and guests. I added some video from a Flip camera and I’m pretty pleased with the quality.

Third Graders are still working on how we interact with the environment in City Wildlife, but we haven’t been doing much writing or VoiceThread, but they are doing important background work by learning keyboarding via Dance Mat Typing. They will be writing a paragraph on the computer in a few weeks.

Fourth Grade seemed cursed. This is a very difficult age, and this particular group of kids seems to have a lot of emotional lability. I made the mistake of direct confrontation and anger in dealing with one class, and they are trying to make me pay for it. I expect it will all even itself out over time, but it’s likely to be unpleasant for all involved for the time being. That was my part, to add to it, the project I was trying to do on PBS Kids Go! Dont’ Buy It wouldn’t work on Firefox. I had to give them an IE page to make it work. So we had both social emotional, and technical problems in altogether in one big happy mess.

Fifth Grade was my just miss of last week, but it went better this week. I had the kids do Inspiration diagrams to show a season, and most did better with a pictorial representation. I’m going to have them give voice responses next week on the VoiceThread. Their work on Galileo there was pretty good.

Sixth Graders are starting to work on research reports. This week was just topic selection. Each teacher is taking a different approach. One wants a compare and contrast of two civilizations, while the other is asking them to form a question to answer. Going forward, I will be working with them on summarizing and paraphrasing vs. plagiarism. Between times, I’m having them add some information to a VoiceThread:

The unit is on Astronomy which we started by learning about Galileo. The next part was to transfer what we learned about the findings of Galileo (heliocentrism) and some more information to an understanding about seasons and what causes them. Part one went well, and many of the students got that our solar system is  heliocentric part on a straight up recall basis. The last two slides on the VoiceThread below have some of the students sharing what they learned in pairs:

The second part, on solstices, equinoxes, and seasons, did not go as well. As you can see from their responses, they didn’t get it.

What worked with the first task? First, they read a story in their regular class, then watched a movie on his life with me, so they had it not just once, but twice. The second lesson was  based on a short lecture with images, and a BrainPop video, proving Gary Stager’s point that they aren’t enough, and my point that they should be used as an into or review, rather than alone.  Still, many seemed to abandon a heliocentric view altogether in their written comments, which shows they still don’t have a firm grasp on it. What might help? I think they really need more on how the tilt of the earth interacts with the sun to create seasons, and I think they need more “hands” on activities, where they manipulate and create. I’ll be having them do some work with objects in Inspiration, chalk, lights, and globes in the period before Thanksgiving break to do this.
Link to Astronomy Unit posts
Solstice Take 1
Solstice Take 2

Self-Control Unit for upper grade

I will come back to this unit over time between other units.  The latest thing I was doing with students was having them explore frustration. I showed them some YouTube videos dealing with frustration that were short and sweet, and have them comment about times they feel frustrated, and what it felt like. Probably bracketing Winter Break, I will ask students to look back at what they came up with for dealing with self-control, and tying it more directly to the times that most challenge that self-control so they can apply the tools when they are most needed. It’s still my feeling that a low-tolerance for frustration is the root of a lot of low-performance, and low self-esteem issues for kids academically. I’m also trying to use it at home with my son.

New units

All the grades are moving onto their second Language Arts units. Since my work with students is tied to those unit themes, I needed new unit plans. I’m liking using the Understanding by Design (UbD) unit planner I learned about from Chris Lehmann. I think I’m still not using them optimally, but I feel like we are getting to the big picture ideas, which was my goal.

Second Grade on Kindness is very similar to the Friendship unit for third grade that just finished. If I am doing this again next year, I will focus on how kindness sounds (tone of voice, word choice) more with second, and dealing with differences and conflict in friendship more with third, because they are getting too similar now.
Planner
Page for kids

Third Grade on City Wildlife at the request of one teacher will have a new focus on human interactions with the environment, and how we can leave a lighter footprint. I’ve also been asked to have the kids work on one paragraph writing, which is earlier than I’ve done writing with the kids in teh past, but this is a good thing I think. I’m starting them on keyboarding with Dance Mat Typing to get some pre-requisite skills.
Planner
Page for kids

Fourth Graders on Dollars and Sense is focusing on media and consumer education. They will also be doing some work with Junior Achievement, so some basic business knowledge will also be part of this.
Planner
Blog entries for kids

Fifth Grade on Astronomy will focus on heliocentrism and understanding the scale, and order of the Universe (e.g. stars are not out there with the Sun, and planets, but much farther away outside our solar system).
Planner
Blog entries for kids

Sixth Grade on Ancient Civilization has the kids focusing on the Nile and it’s importance to the development of civilization. Their teachers will also have students doing research reports. I had the two teacher split how they want to do this. One is having them develop a question to answer, the other is having them compare/contrast two civilizations.

Planner
Blog entries for kids

Lesson One: I started off by recreating the Mischel “Marshmallow” experiment. I told students that I would give them three skittles or M & Ms,  and that if they didn’t eat any of them until the end of the period, they would get three more. I then let them in the lab and commenced with passing out candy. Now, I’m not a big candy for the kids fan, but it was easier to monitor compliance in a short time over repeated periods during the day using candy. Larry did this using computer access, but this was going to be too complicated as I would have to check to see if they stayed on task on computers where I would basically have to check the browser history of each machine, which is time consuming, and then what would I give them that would let them “double down”? So that was the setup or intro. I then gave them a simple activity to do (ex. from Fourth Grade) and had them do that for about 30 minutes. At the end of that period, I had them watch a TED Talk by Joachim de Posada:

and discussed self-control and how waiting to eat the candy is part of that. I then passed out the next three pieces of candy, and pointed out that even if they were not successful, in our next lessons we would be learning about ways they could improve their self-control.

Findings: Most of the kids met the test, and earned more candy. Most who didn’t simply hadn’t listened to my instructions. Some have to some work to do on self-control, but that was no more than one or two per class.  Some of the classes (six total) had everyone getting more candy.

Lesson Two: I started off by showing this slideshow, and discussing how students could grow their intelligence, and one way to help would be to increase their self-control.

I then showed this slideshow and discussed the tips with students. I pointed out how they would be used in different situations (ones where you want to resist doing something, vs. ones that are good when you have to do a difficult task that is frustrating).

I then had students comment on one tip they would try to use in the next month.

Results: I did not do this lesson with the fifth grade, and only one of the sixth grade classes got it because I will be off on Friday when I see them for the second time. Fourth grade was the only class where I saw both classes two times. They had also seen the Grass vs. Glass slideshow in the first week of the year, so I just reviewed it with them. Here is what they had for comments.

Conclusions and Followup: I will continue and get comments from all sixth graders and from the fifth graders next week. I will also continue with these lessons. When I first discussed doing the Grass vs. Glass lesson with Larry Ferlazzo, he had students who did not believe they could increase their intelligence and that some folks are just not smart. None of the fourth graders shared that thought. I have a theory that students start out with a very open sense of the possibilities, but as they experience frustration, they give up and become resigned to failure. My feeling is that the key is to build their capacity to cope and deal with frustration so that they can achieve more.

First up, second graders continued work on their story telling unit (Sharing Stories in Open Court Reading). I started a VoiceThread where I asked students to share lessons learned from the fairytale we watched (Red Ridinghood), and fables (from Aesop).

Lessons learned, I got a better response to Aesop’s Fables where the lesson is more obvious. I might start with Aesop next time, and then do Red Ridinghood.

Third Grade already had a VoiceThread going, so it was more of the same. Most of our work was on the slide with the old lady figures, (slide eight), where we talked about memory and friendship after watching a video about you boy and his older friend next door who is losing her memory.

Fourth Grade did not do heavy work, as I am trying to introduce them to replying to other student’s comments. The lesson this week had them writing about goals they have for the year, and then on their second day at the lab, sending a reply to others to encourage them in their goals. Some of them were still writing about risks and not goals, I should have caught some of that.

Fifth Grade was the star of the week as they created motivational posters using Big Huge Labs Motivator tool. The results were great.

What went well in setting this up was I had the other students do independent work (edugames), while I brought students back in groups of three to do their posters with me. I showed them how to do it at first, then starting having some of the kids stay and help their peers do it.

Sixth Graders read goals they had come up with the week before on a VoiceThread.

When I shared the project on twitter, I had others who had done a similar project with students express and interest in sharing and having our students comment on each others work. So I set that up.