Betty’s Instructional Technology Blog

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 .

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 have been working on a project with 6th grade students who will be studying Ancient Egypt and the Near East, a unit in the Social Studies Alive program. The basic plan could be used for almost any content area in a variety of grade levels.

The students are broken into groups.  Kids have a choice of one of three tasks: PowerPoint, Inspiration, or Photo Story.  Depending on their strengths, students choose one of the possible products. They will use Photostory to create a “day in the life of an Egyptian”, use Inspiration if the learn best visually with graphic organizers, if they like to organize their thoughts into bulleted lists, they will use PowerPoint. Video and web links will be included as part of the project. The students will research an assigned chapter in the textbook and then use one of the pieces of software to share what they have learned. As an extra credit option, they can use Google Earth or Voicethread to share their information.

The following site contains directions and resources the kids can use to complete the project.  http://www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/egypt/egypt.htm

Technology is  the focus of our March Staff Meetings. The following is a link to our presentation: http://www.gtps.k12.nj.us/technology/Tech_Update_Mar08_files/frame.htm

We highlight a few of our newly found resources:

• Atomic Learning, a great site with a wealth of training videos
• Russell Stannard’s Training Videos – including tips for PowerPoint & Word as well as Voicethread and blogs
• Integration is Key – links to lots of lesson templates for integrating technology, designed by Gloucester County Public Schools in Virginia

This week, I will also be training second grade teachers about NJ’s Technology Standards. I will be reviewing ways to integrate the  standards into the curriculum. The following is a  link to my PowerPoint presentation. This presentation contains links to sample lessons and web site resources.

Teachers:

As an exit ticket, please make a comment to this blog. You may do one of the following:

1. Share something you learned
2. Express a concern or ask a question
3. Tell 1 idea you will try with your class.

This week, I will be training first grade teachers about NJ’s Technology Standards. I will be reviewing ways to integrate the  standards into the curriculum. The following is a  link to my PowerPoint presentation. This presentation contains links to sample lessons and web site resources.

Teachers:

As an exit ticket, please make a comment to this blog. You may do one of the following:

1. Share something you learned
2. Express a concern or ask a question
3. Tell 1 idea you will try with your class.

With state testing around the corner, we are always looking for new resources to help our students learn various skills.

Thanks to one of Galloway’s third grade teachers, Terry Dougherty, for sharing a wonderful site that helps students in grades K-3 with reading.

Other literacy sites for grades K-8 can be found on Galloway’s student home page under literacy.

In my Web 2.0 workshop, the participants moved through stations using various software/web sites. As part of the station, they posted their ideas on how to use the software in their classrooms. Their ideas on using Voicethread are listed below: 

1. Providing examples for students to reference in order to perform mathematical operations. ex- converting fractions from mixed numbers to improper fractions

2. Paired with united streaming, this could be useful to match each video more closely with the curriculum.

3. Have students experiment to get comfortable with more advanced features.

4.  Make a station and /or use as review

5. This could be used with our Young Authors Project.  Students create short books that are illustarted.  The students could read their work and show off their books.  It could also be used as part of a poetry unit where students would write and illustrate poetry and read it to an audience.

6. Good for modeling how to proofread.

7. Good for modeling thought processes and logical thinking (Math/Problem Solving)

This is a sample of a Voicethread:

If you'd like to learn how to embed a Voicethread into edublogs, check out this You Tube Video: