Happy Halloween everyone!
This week I learned about a new tool to get students researching information: a WebQuest.
I wanted to design a WebQuest about South America. My fourth graders are studying Latin America in Social Studies, and my undergrad degree is in Spanish, so I thought it would be a good way to create something I could use with the kiddos and build on my personal interests.
I used a site called Weebly that lets you design websites for free.
Let me say, this was SO HARD for me.
First of all, it seemed like the site was really geared to people creating wedding websites, or marketing some kind of product. It took me forever to figure out how to bypass all the "themes" and create simple pages like what I want to use with my kids. Then, trying to format the text to look the same on each page was surprisingly hard. Still not sure what I was doing wrong, but even when the font type and size was the same in the "Design" box, it was appearing differently on each page. In the end, I thought it came out OK for a first try, but definitely not up to my perfectionistic standards! I want to find more time to play around with the site and try and figure out what I can do to improve the layout of future sites.
In the meantime, you can view the fruits of my labor here:
http://msmckee0123.weebly.com/
Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any feedback!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Discovery Education
This week I am taking a break from Google Classroom and trying something new with my 3-5th grade library students: Discovery Education. I am so excited to use this learning platform with them! Students met with a partner and created a Venn Diagram: "Me, Me and We." Then, students logged on to their Discovery Ed accounts. Students explored building a board about theirselves and their partners using the Board Builder tool. The wrote a headline, wrote 3 text boxes and included 3 images. I just introduced this program to them, so I plan to give them a few weeks to explore and work on the board. I heard students, even those that aren't always so enthused to produce classwork, say how fun it was. I'm excited to teach them to search using keywords, curate a list of resources, share their boards with one another, and create boards about what they are learning in class. Love this resource!
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Technical Difficulties?
This week I am reflecting on how far I have come with my tech skills. I am very interested in work more training public school teachers in technology use. Teachers are under so much pressure with ever changing curricula, and managing large class sizes. Sometime using technology feels like "one more thing to learn." I really believe teachers need to be given time to explore tech tools that are available, and get more comfortable with them. Only then will technology make their lives easier. I should know, I was technically challenged, but lately I've been challenging myself technically, and like anything it gets easier with time.
My advice to technophobic people:
1. It takes time! Rome wasn't built in a day, and no one is going to be able to master all the different ways to use computers in the classroom overnight. But, once you start using more programs, you find commonalities and it becomes easier to learn new products.
2. Google it! If you're having a problem with your computer, or a piece of software, chances are someone has already uploaded a tutorial on youtube addressing that very issue. Discussion forums can also be helpful when troubleshooting tech.
3. Si se puede! If I can figure out how to use tech with K-5 students, anyone can!
My advice to technophobic people:
1. It takes time! Rome wasn't built in a day, and no one is going to be able to master all the different ways to use computers in the classroom overnight. But, once you start using more programs, you find commonalities and it becomes easier to learn new products.
2. Google it! If you're having a problem with your computer, or a piece of software, chances are someone has already uploaded a tutorial on youtube addressing that very issue. Discussion forums can also be helpful when troubleshooting tech.
3. Si se puede! If I can figure out how to use tech with K-5 students, anyone can!
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Tech and Old-Time!
Wow, it has been a very busy week at my Teacher Librarian job, and in my Instructional Technologies grad school program. First, I made a concept map about one of my favorite topics: Old-Time Music! I was so inspired at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in SF, and hope I can improve my own fiddle playing if I ever have time to practice! You can check out my concept map here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2LOAiHwC_HPOXBXZzBWeTRta0U/view?usp=sharing
This week I also was working with kids in the library using SuccessMaker, and adaptive learning platform for elementary school students. We have been working out a schedule for teachers to use Successmaker with their students, which has been a challenge since we have a finite number of licenses. This week I'll see if I can come up with a schedule so the classes can stagger when they use the software. It must be so frustrating to pass out all the Chromebooks, only to find out students can't log on because we've exceeded the allowable number of users. I'm hoping that we're able to work out a schedule that works for everyone, and that the students benefit from use of the program.
Also this week I'll be looking more at Discovery Education, and hoping students can begin to use their online accounts. I'm excited to get them started researching topics of interest, and creating webpages using BoardBuilder.
Have a great week everybody!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2LOAiHwC_HPOXBXZzBWeTRta0U/view?usp=sharing
This week I also was working with kids in the library using SuccessMaker, and adaptive learning platform for elementary school students. We have been working out a schedule for teachers to use Successmaker with their students, which has been a challenge since we have a finite number of licenses. This week I'll see if I can come up with a schedule so the classes can stagger when they use the software. It must be so frustrating to pass out all the Chromebooks, only to find out students can't log on because we've exceeded the allowable number of users. I'm hoping that we're able to work out a schedule that works for everyone, and that the students benefit from use of the program.
Also this week I'll be looking more at Discovery Education, and hoping students can begin to use their online accounts. I'm excited to get them started researching topics of interest, and creating webpages using BoardBuilder.
Have a great week everybody!!
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Digital Story Telling
This week I was very excited to learn about a new way to integrate technology with writing, one of my favorite subjects to teach: Digital Storytelling. I even published my own digital story which you can view here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Omi2Kof_o
I think that this would be a way to motivate students to write personal narratives, because it integrates art, technology and writing. For me, it was fairly easy to form an idea for my story, which was about getting lost on Mt. Ishizuchi in Japan with my brother. Also, I'm lucky in that I enjoy drawing, and drawing the scenes was enjoyable for me. I know not all kids have an easy time writing stories, or drawing, so I could see them getting frustrated at either stage. The part I was most worried about was uploading the pictures into iMovie, and synching the narration to the pictures. It was actually was easier than I expected, thanks to some great youtube clips that clearly explained the process. However, although we have iPads with iMovie in my library, I would be a little worried about trying this process with elementary school students. I was thinking of doing a paper slide show with them, where they draw the scenes and narrate the story, filming live with the iPad.
I think that this would be a way to motivate students to write personal narratives, because it integrates art, technology and writing. For me, it was fairly easy to form an idea for my story, which was about getting lost on Mt. Ishizuchi in Japan with my brother. Also, I'm lucky in that I enjoy drawing, and drawing the scenes was enjoyable for me. I know not all kids have an easy time writing stories, or drawing, so I could see them getting frustrated at either stage. The part I was most worried about was uploading the pictures into iMovie, and synching the narration to the pictures. It was actually was easier than I expected, thanks to some great youtube clips that clearly explained the process. However, although we have iPads with iMovie in my library, I would be a little worried about trying this process with elementary school students. I was thinking of doing a paper slide show with them, where they draw the scenes and narrate the story, filming live with the iPad.
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