Teaching with Technology
I am a picture learner stink at details. I learned information better if I could put dates and people into stories. I remember that my mom used to teach me mnemonics and other techniques to remember facts I had to memorize. I think that what made me enjoy working with Virginia Studies classes on projects this year: I watched the teachers make history memorable and understandable for students with these projects. If I had teachers that allowed us to do projects like these, maybe I have had a much easier time learning history back then!
The first project was a podcast about the 4 regions of Virginia. Mrs, http://www.shopcocktaildress.co.uk - red cocktail dress . Ingram at East lead a group of students as they wrote 5 different segments for each region. It turned out great, and they even had a catchy way to remember the regions.
Press on the button below to listen:
The next Virginia Studies project involved using Timeliner, a program for creating a visual timeline of certain events. Mrs. Barnett and I worked with two of the 4th grade classes at East to help them create broad timelines that included the most important events in Virginia History. Mrs. Barnett wanted students to see the time span between events that happened, http://www.manyou88.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=39841 - http://www.manyou88.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=39841 , especially the large span of time between the American Revolution and the Civil War. This was a way of placing details into a big picture context. Take a look at some of the ways they displayed this information:
The most recent project was a podcast created under the direction of Mrs. Crotts at GWC. The students met with her and wrote their own scripts for this podcast, http://www.pandorahome.co.uk - pandora bracelets . I was unable to be at the school to help them record, so a couple of students learned to use an MP3 player to record their classmates all by themselves. All that was left for me to do was add music and put it all together. I always amazed at the creative ability of students when given independence result was incredible. Take a listen:
Ready, Aim, Fire! SOLs! American Revolution
In the end, the students even wrote thank you notes to both Mrs. Crotts and I for helping them with the podcast, which totally made my day!!!
All three of these projects were wonderful ways to engage student creativity and to help them see the broad picture and stories behind history facts using technology!! Thanks, Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Ingram, and Mrs. Crotts for allowing me to work with you and your students this year. Carver? If so, you might have noticed all the colorful cards, letters, and brochures from schools all around the globe! The students in Mrs. Naves, Ms. Pillis Mrs. Hughes, and Mrs. Travitz classes have been participating in a global penpal project called, Me to You 2008 organized by Jennifer Wagner on the Technospud Project Website. Carver and Salem, Virginia. In return, they are receiving cards from other classes, and learning all about places all over the United States and beyond. Students will even have a chance to view the location of all the classes on Google Earth (and learn how to use the ruler in Google Earth to measure distance)! If you haven had a chance to take a look at some of the things they have received, take a walk by Third Grade. If you want to learn more about this particular project, you can check out the project homepage here.
Also, if you think you might be interested in doing a global project, I highly recommend looking at some of the other ones on the Technospud Project Website. It looks like an exciting project for K-3 is about to start in March for St. Patrick Day (involving Lucky Charms and lots of Math) , one later in the Spring for grades 4-6 based on Prince Caspian (the 2nd book in the Narnia Series), and more! If you choose to do one, please let me know. I love to help!!
Last week I had a chance to go spend time in NYC. This was only my second time ever visiting, http://www.storethomas.co.uk - thomas sabo sale , http://www.sunpost.co.uk/news/plus/view.php?aid=1777131 - http://www.sunpost.co.uk/news/plus/view.php?aid=1777131 , and really the first time I had a chance to check out some of the famous places there. Even though there are sites out there that allow you to download pics for educational uses, http://www.insureok.co.th/webboard/index.php?topic=234593.msg240704#msg240704 - http://www.insureok.co.th/webboard/index.php?topic=234593.msg240704#msg240704 , there are a number of reasons why doing this is difficult (or not safe) for younger students. Having a folder of pics that match SOLs that students can use freely would help. I add the ones I brought back from NYC. I already made it to a few classes, and the students have had a chance to record what they learned on a collection of Mrs. Swecker pictures in Voice Thread. This VoiceThread will evolve as I finish making it around to the other classes.
Meg and I also had a chance to sit down and talk about the project from our perspective as ITRT and I also learned some of the other neat ways she extended this project with her students in Roanoke County . We recorded much of the conversation as a Field Report for the GenTech Podcast. If you like to listen, here the link.
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