Betty’s Instructional Technology Blog

I came across a very comprehensive resource for all things Web 2.0. It contains information about everything from blogs to podcasts to wikis to digital storytelling to resources like Animoto and Jing and Photo Story and on and on… It also provides resources on digital citizenship issues like copyright and cybersafety. Another link that shows a creative way one district encouraged their staff to enter this Web 2.0 world can be found here. It contains a detailed plan including weekly tasks and incentives provided throughout the year.

 I learned about it through listening to the Ed Tech Weekly podcast from Ed Tech Talk. It still amazes me how much information is out there and how great is it to be able to access it through listening to podcasts and reading blogs. The idea of these “digital subscriptions” coming right to my computer still blows me away. 

Are you familiar with the Discovery Educator Network? Educators from across the country share wonderful resources through this network. Just this week I found two really great resources I can use.

The first was a podcast by Hall Davidson. He provides some down to earth, easy ways to use media in the classroom. The podcast is from back in December. I just came across it this week. Resources for it are posted on his blog entitled, ”Media Matters.” I listened to it from a different blog called “Bit by Bit.”

The second resource, I just found tonight. It contains some nice PowerPoint tutorials on various media resources including Photo story, Adobe Premiere Elements and Web 2.0 tools like Animoto, Del.icio.us, and Voicethread. The link to this resource is: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/matt.monjan/the-bird-house-your-source-for-geekybird-stuff/ Thanks to the author, Matt Monjan, for taking the time to create these resources and for sharing them with us. I am looking forward to sharing some of these links at workshops I’ll be giving this summer.

We recently obtained parent permission to post a sample student Reader’s Theatre project. The following is a sample third grade project where students created backgrounds in Max Paint , used Photoshop Elements to superimpose photographs on top, and then imported them into Photo story where they added narration. The sample is called “Jessica.” Check out this link: http://www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/jessica_movie_for_web.wmv

We have been working on different ways to share our student’s stories digitally. An exciting project was completed by third grade students this year. It involved using Photostory. The goal was to improve students’ reading fluency through a Reader’s Theatre project. We used the following steps:

1. Students selected stories to illustrate and read aloud
2. Students used Max Paint ( a program that is part of Tom Snyder’s Scholastic Keys) to design background images for different parts of the story
3. Digital pictures were taken of the students
4. The digital pictures were superimposed on their backgrounds  using Photoshop Elements
5. The images were saved as jpegs and uploaded to Photostory
6. Students recorded their voices into Photostory
7. Video files were created.

I’ll try to add a sample if I can get parent permission to include student pictures. For now, I’ll attach a sample of the backgrounds without the pictures and audio.

readers-theatre

Students have been working on podcasts over the last couple of months. Two “Blogs” were created to share these completed products. Students did extensive research on the Internet as well as tin the library. I have shared the link to the first podcast before. It is http://rogem6a.edublogs.org/ . A new feature was added. One student used Voicethread to conduct an interview with a teacher in another district. The interesting thing is that the student and the teacher never met or spoke to each other live. Difficulties with schedules made it impossible to conduct a traditional interview. So, thanks to the help of a wonderful educator and skilled technician, we were able to email questions to the teacher and obtain audio clips of the responses. We recorded the student’s questions then recorded the teacher’s answers. The direct link to the interview is: http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=136299

A second group created a series of podcasts using Audacity and Photo story. To embed the link to the video podcast, we uploaded the Photo story files to Teacher Tube, since You Tube is often blocked in our district. The link to their site is: http://rogem6b@edublogs.org .

I will be presenting at ETTC’s From My Classroom to Yours Conference. My presentation will be about using Web 2.0 tools in the elementary and middle school classroom. I will show how our district has begun to utilize these tools. We are starting out slowly and carefully being cognizant of Internet safety and legality issues. We will be looking at sites like Voicethread, Animoto, Edublogs, and programs like PhotoStory, Audacity and Google Earth.

The following is a link to my presentation: http://www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/Web2.0&Standards/Web2.0&Standards_files/frame.htm

 Please feel free to comment and share ways you are using Web 2.0 tools to engage learners.

On Monday, May 12th, I will present a workshop on implementing  the NJ Tech Standards to the ESL, Library and GEM staff members as well as the middle school teaching and learning facilitators and lab teachers. This presentation will highlight various ways we are integrating technology across the curriculum and some Web 2.0 tools we have been exploring over the last few months. The link to the presentation can be found here: http://www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/tech_st_libgemesl/Tech_ST_libgemesl_files/frame.htm

Sixth grade students from Roland Rogers Elementary School completed their research on “going green.” View their blog and podcasts at this site: http://rogem6a.edublogs.org

The students used Photostory and Audacity to create the podcasts. We uploaded the completed Photostory “videos” to Teacher Tube since you tube is blocked in our district. It was easy to embed the videos into our edublog site.

They will  finalize their project by including a list of their references and  a link to bookmarks they made that can be printed.

Another group working on a different blog for “sustainable living” will be posted soon. 

I’m so excited! I have been working with a class of students over the past couple months. They have been researching various ways to “go green.” As a culminating project, the students have created podcasts to share what they have learned.

It is our first attempt. We are all still learning. The following are three examples. They will eventually be posted on a class blog. I am also considering creating a wiki for them to share all they have learned.

I hope you enjoy our podcasts.

Intro -  www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/go_green/intro.wmv

Reuse - www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/go_green/reuse.wmv

Reduce - www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/go_green/reduce.mp3

As I continue my quest to find web 2.o tools that enhance teaching and learning, I  found Sketchcast, a site that allows you to create tutorials on any topic by simply using a mouse or a graphics tablet to draw as you speak. I thought this tool would be perfect for a blog project I am working on for my district involving creating math tutorials for students and parents. When we have it up and running, I’ll post a link. I hope to convince an upper grade teacher teach have his/her class create some content for us soon. 

On the Sketchcast site I came across an example for lattice mutliplication, a topic that eludes most parents since they learned to solve multiplication problems much differently.

I decided to sign up for a free account at http://www.sketchcast.com/ and created my own. It was pretty easy to do. I played with it for a couple of minutes. I couldn’t figure out how to change colors, but I will continue to explore. My sample shows a corny example for solving a problem using the Pythagorean Theorem. The link appears below:

http://sketchcast.com/swf/player.swf?id=ir80cNI