Weebhoys Education Discussions: February 2008

Sunday, February 24, 2008

A number of websites for Smart Board technology designed for both teachers and students.

http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=29194

MacArthur Students Find Even More Ways To Use Smartboards

LAS CRUCES – MacArthur Elementary School fifth-grade bilingual teacher Ricardo Rincón

has found even more uses for the Smartboards – interactive, electronic white boards – that

fourth- and fifth-graders at MacArthur have been using for the last several years to enhance

learning in everything from mathematics to language arts.

Interactive Whiteboard Evaluation

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which the Whiteboard technology was integrated into a numbers of areas in the curriculum during the first half of the Summer term, 2000.

Teachers who volunteered to pilot the technology received minimal training. The technology was applied to existing lesson plans, used with existing software and the Internet and evaluated in terms of the learning and motivational gains of the students.

Staff and 78% of students reported improvements in motivation. All staff thought the Whiteboard was effective in terms of learning gains and 11% thought it was essential for their learning outcome to be achieved.

Most were enthusiastic about the Whiteboard and all were impressed by its ease of use.

http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/pubs/smartboard.htm

Quick! Get the (Digital) Camera!

Craig Nansen, technology coordinator for the Minot (North Dakota) Public Schools shares some of the ways his students use both digital and non-digital photography in the classroom. Included: Education World offers two dozen digital camera activities guaranteed to make life easier for you and more interesting for your students.

"We use digital cameras in just about all grades, from kindergarten through high school," Craig Nansen, technology coordinator for Minot (North Dakota) Public Schools, told Education World. "We use digital cameras to take pictures of students for use in the classroom, and to take pictures of projects and activities to show at open houses and (with parental permission) to publish on the Web.

"For example," Nansen added, "In our area, [the expedition of Meriwether] Lewis and [William] Clark and Sakakawea are big events; some of our students created on our Web site a virtual reality movie about Sakakawea that was done with digital pictures taken during an elementary field trip."

Other Minot students created a Web page about the area's history that includes pictures of the Mouse River Flood. Although the photos were not taken with digital cameras, students worked with the local newspaper, obtained original photos of the 1969 flood, scanned the pictures, and posted them online. The Web page also includes a section about Minot's downtown featuring two pictures taken by Minot elementary students that were award winners in Technology & Learning's photography contest.

"One of the main goals of students using technology (after the normal ones of getting comfortable, doing research, and putting the results into a project) is to become creators of content," Nansen said. "Pictures of field trips or area events, local historical or geographical sites, of the school and city, documentaries of athletic and cultural events, and artistic photography all are great examples of students creating content.

Sally Jenkins, who teaches Minot's gifted and talented students pointed out another good reason for using digital photography in the classroom. "Careful, purposeful observation is one of those skills that is not spelled out in the curriculum, yet is fundamental to many of the skills and 'pieces of content' we want our students to master," Jenkins said. "Looking through the eye of a lens gives another perspective that is so important when looking for the 'big picture' or zooming in on a detail. Both viewpoints can be a starting point to draw conclusions, test a hypothesis, or creatively interpret what we see. Common things become uncommon; the expected becomes a surprise -- all because our skills of observation are bound by what we see through the viewfinder. You can see this skill put to practice in the work of an artist (Georgia O'Keefe for example) or in science or in..."

Quick Digital Camera Tips

Craig Nansen shares the following tips for using digital cameras with your students.

* Purchase inexpensive cameras for student use and more expensive cameras for teachers. That way, students have the experience of taking pictures, but you make sure you get good pictures of important events!

* Let students work with the images, cropping, editing, and so on. Students need to learn how to optimize images for the Web and get images down to a useable size.

* Photoshop Elements, which runs on both Macs and Windows, is worth investigating. Have at least one computer set up with Elements and such plugins as PhotoGraphicEdges to fix up the images.

* Consider having pictures printed locally at a one-hour processing center; it's less expensive and produces much better quality than using ink-jet printers. In our area, I pay reprint prices of 29 cents for a 4-inch by 6-inch print, and bring the images to them after burning just the ones we want on a CD-ROM. Make sure photos are cropped to the 4-inch by 6-inch ratio before taking them to be printed.

TWO DOZEN DIGITAL CAMERA ACTIVITIES

The best way to get started using digital cameras, according to Nansen, is to "Just jump in. Take pictures of each student in the room and put them on the bulletin board or use them in a computer presentation. The worst thing that can happen is that you'll make mistakes and waste a little time -- but that is part of learning too."

Why not "jump in" today by trying one of these two dozen activities for using digital cameras in the classroom!

Photograph students dressed up as what they want to be when they grow up and use the pictures to illustrate career reports.
Take lots of pictures while on a class field trip. Have students write a caption for each picture, post the photos and captions to a Web site to create a virtual field trip.
Photograph “a day in the life of your classroom" for parent Open House. Create a slide show to run as parents tour your classroom.
Store a photograph with each student's electronic portfolio.
Assign pairs of students to walk through the school to find such examples of geometric shapes as circles, triangles, parallel lines, obtuse angles, and so on. Label each photo and create a geometry book.
Photograph community landmarks and have students create a brochure about your community.
For younger students, take pictures of easily recognizable signs in your community and assemble the photos into an "I Can Read" book.
Use photographs to illustrate the process for complicated projects or for science experiments.
Write a class novel and illustrate it with live-action photos of your students.
Take pictures of class procedures and display them in the classroom as a reminder.
Create a seating chart with photographs for substitutes.
Take pictures of each child’s eyes, nose, feet, or mouth only. Have children try to match each student to his or her body part.
Make picture frames for a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift. Glue each photo into a decorated jar lid and glue a magnet to the back.
Document the growth of classroom plants or animals with daily or weekly photos.
Take photos of school staff performing their duties. Write a caption for each photo and create a Community Workers book.
Snap a black-and-white headshot of each student, size it to ¼ page, and place a box frame around it. Place a blank box the same size as the framed picture beside it. Have students draw ½-inch to 1-inch gridlines in pencil in both boxes and label the gridlines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on in each direction. Then have students try to duplicate their pictures by drawing only what they see in each grid.
Take a photograph of each student at the beginning and end of the school year. Have students complete Venn diagrams of themselves, showing how they have -- and haven’t -- changed during the year.
Compile a set of file cards naming such abstract concepts or emotions as freedom, love, hate, honor, joy, sorrow, patriotism, responsibility, and respect. Have students select a card at random and take a photograph illustrating that concept.
Have each student choose a letter and find an object that begins with that letter. Take a picture of the child with the object and use the pictures to create a class alphabet chart.
Arrange students into groups and assign each group one of the five senses. Have each group photograph the appropriate sensory organ and then have them take pictures of objects that organ might best perceive.
Take pictures to illustrate such science concepts as food chain, biodiversity, biome, and so on.
Have students go on a photographic scavenger hunt, taking pictures of the objects they find rather than retrieving the objects themselves.
Take pictures of plants or animals in your community and use them to create a field guide of local wildlife.

”We're just beginning to realize the potential of what digital photography can do for us," Lori Miller, technology instructor at Wacona Elementary School in Waycross, Georgia, told Education World last week. "Embrace it and share your ideas with others who might be hesitant. Brainstorm with students and fellow teachers. Try some of the ideas you come up with, write down what works and what doesn't work, and then, brainstorm again. The more you learn, the more you'll want to learn about digital photography."

For tips about using digital cameras in the classroom -- and for more than a dozen additional digital camera activities -- see last week's Education World article Smile! Digital Cameras Can Make Your Day.

Smile! Digital Cameras Can Make Your Day

Teachers across the country and around the world are discovering the many valuable uses for digital cameras; uses that both engage students and make their own professional lives easier. If you can use a camera, you can use a digital camera… so, what are you waiting for? Included: More than a dozen easy activities for using digital cameras in the classroom.

Just a few years ago, digital cameras were too expensive to be considered a staple of most school technology departments. Those schools lucky enough to own one were unlikely to consider it a tool for classroom use -- certainly not one that could be entrusted to a student’s clumsy fingers.

Today, however, many affordable digital camera models are available, and both teachers and students are finding a multitude of uses for digital photography in the classroom. Digital cameras are easy and fun to use and they offer teachers nearly unlimited opportunities to engage students and to incorporate technology into their curriculum. If you can use a camera, you can use a digital camera -- and you can teach your students to use one too!

“Kids love to take photographs and with digital cameras,” said Lelia Cross, computer teacher at Community School in Roanoke, Virginia. “They don't have to wait to have the film developed, and you don’t have to spend big bucks on film. Not everyone can pick up a pencil or paint brush and be happy with the results, but anyone who is willing to try can be really creative with a digital camera and some basic software! If you goof up, it's a simple matter to start over. Using digital cameras just makes you feel good.

”I use digital cameras with students from kindergarten to middle school,” Cross told Education World. “Our younger students take pictures of one another and use them in ‘All About Me’ pieces at the beginning of the year. Those photos are imported into Kidspiration or KidPix.

“Our 7-10 year olds also do the ‘All About Me’ project and, later in the year, use the cameras for the class yearbook,” Cross added. “They include photos from field trips, photos of teachers, special activities, and of course, the kids themselves. We just got new computers with CDRs (CD writers), so I'm thinking of putting the yearbook on CD this year. We will be able to include .mpeg movies (We have two Sony FD100 cameras that will record short movies without sound) and, in general, have a multi-media format.

“Our middle school offers ‘Wednesday Groups,’ which are a series of electives that run for six to eight weeks,” Cross noted. “We use the digital cameras for a newspaper group and a digital photography group.

“We document class projects and special events with the cameras,” Cross said, “and the children incorporate photos into their reports and multi-media presentations. They can also edit the photos to create all kinds of art. This year, each student is creating a design for mouse pads to sell as a technology fund raiser. Some of the kids are embellishing photos of themselves for the mouse pads.

“I also use photos on the school Web site,” Cross pointed out. “It’s a way for parents to be more a part of their child's day, and it's nice for relatives who may not live near the child to feel more connected. This fall, I’m encouraging teachers to use the cameras with their students to adopt a section of our campus and keep a photographic record of the seasonal changes.”

INTEGRATING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Lori Miller, technology instructor at Wacona Elementary School in Waycross, Georgia, also is a fan of using digital cameras in the classroom. "Students love taking pictures as much as they love being in them," she told Education World. "And using digital photography helps students become more involved with the subject."

Miller, who uses digital cameras with students in grades K-5, offered the following suggestions for digital camera projects:

Snap pictures of body parts and allow students to make puzzles with them.
Photograph important places in the school, such as the main office, nurse's office, and media center, and display the photos to help students visually identify key places in the school.
Photograph parts of the daily routine and using them for sequencing activities.
Photograph objects that are the same color.
Take pictures of students and let them make trading cards with facts about themselves. Print the pictures and let students write basic favorites or facts. This is a good activity for the beginning of the year when they're getting to know one another.
Take pictures to represent nouns, or of students in action to show verbs.
Take pictures related to whatever topic you're studying. Display the pictures and have students write journal articles or short stories about them. The pictures provide a good visual prompt for creative writing.
If you really want to be creative, let students save pictures of their favorite cartoon characters. Have them take pictures of their own faces. Then, using a graphics-editing program, let students brush out the character's face and insert their own.

"A project our 5th graders will do later this year is compile an online directory of our school's staff and faculty," Miller added. "They'll take the pictures, put them on our shared drive, do any editing that's required, and upload them to our Web site. Then they'll make Web pages about each faculty or staff member, with a bit of personal information added so visitors to our site can 'meet' the people at Wacona.

"I allow students to use the camera themselves," Miller noted, "but younger children need constant supervision. (Keep one of your own hands on the camera as much as possible!) I also guide younger students in deciding what they will photograph and in determining the purpose behind a project. Then they are responsible for carrying out the project -- with my supervision."

"My older students decide for themselves what their projects will be and -- after getting my approval -- complete it on their own," Miller added. "They do, however, need to be taught to understand the integration of digital photography with other technology skills, to recognize the value and usefulness of the photography itself, and to make connections between the actual picture taking and the why of picture taking. The process becomes a cognitive one as students plan what pictures to take based on why each pictures is needed. Random snapshots are okay sometimes, but students need to learn to be selective when using the camera."

TIPS FOR TEACHERS

"The main issue teachers need to be aware of when using digital cameras with students is the risk of damage to the camera," Miller pointed out. "Digital cameras are still relatively expensive, so students must be taught proper handling and safety rules when using the camera. I do one-on-one training sessions with students to ensure that they understand how to handle the camera. Then, when students 'pass' the required training and demonstrate knowledge of the careful handling rules, I take their picture and issue an 'Official Photographer' pass with the student's picture on the front and the rules on the back. Whenever a student is to use the camera, he or she must show the pass (just like a photographer for a newspaper or other press)."

"The second most important issue to remember is ensuring that students take appropriate photographs," Miller added. "The ease of using a digital camera allows students to snap many nonsense pictures. Plan on spending some time going over basic photography rules with students and explaining how to frame or set up a picture before it's taken. Some casual snapshots are okay and encouraged, but they need to be aware that some are inappropriate and to be able to judge for themselves what they should or should not photograph. You should also teach students to be choosy about the pictures they choose to print. Although paper and ink are less expensive than the cost of buying film and developing regular pictures, students still can't be wasteful."

"Privacy is another issue to keep in mind is when publishing photographs," Miller noted. "Some students do not have permission to be photographed. Be aware of your school's policies and check with your principal before publishing any student picture, whether on paper or online."

"The most important tip for using digital cameras is, don't be afraid," Miller said. "Scan the manual that comes with your camera, but get your hands on it and use it as often as possible. Take snapshots throughout the day to let students get used to the camera. This will stop them from mugging every time they see a camera and it will give you a chance to become familiar with the camera and how it operates. Don't be afraid to push buttons to find out what they all do. That's the best way to learn."

"Above all," Miller added, "remember that digital photography isn't just about taking pictures; it's about using the camera as a tool to help explore and understand other subjects!"

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Lesson Plans For The Digital Camera

A number of lesson plans for different subjects and grades.

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/edu/lessonPlans/

Analyzing Movement Performance With a Digital camera

A lesson plan to analyze movement with a digital camera.

www.sover.net/~fcsu/gceit/50.doc

100 Ways To Use Digital Cameras

Take photos or videos of field trips.
Take photos or videos illustrating vocabulary words.
Take photos or videos of plant growth
Take photos or videos of community
Use photos for seating charts.
Take photos to illustrate stories or poems
Take photos or videos for illustrating emotions
Take photos or videos of classroom pet
Take photos to prompt creative writing
Take photos of learning centers for a choice chart
Take photos or videos of bulletin boards or classroom ideas from other teachers
Tape a student's photo on their desk nametag so that other students and substitutes learn names.
Use photos for attendance chart
Use photos for graphing
Use photos for story about the child
Use photos of family to create a family book
Use photos or videos for step by step directions.
Use photos for sequencing
Use photos or videos for an ABC book
Use photos to create a book about the school and workers
Create a staff directory
Use photos or videos for a school or classroom handbook
Use photos for passports during a travel unit
Take photos or videos in Physical Education to record events and skills
Take photos or videos for assessment
Take photos for a book about colors
Take photos for a book or chart about numbers
Take photos for a book about shapes
Take photos or videos of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
Take photos for a rhyming book
Use photos in thank you cards or invitations
Take photos of events and make a calendar of memories
Using photos create a body part book
Use photos to create a community workers or school workers book
Use photos or videos for concept illustration for curriculum areas
Display student work on your website by taking a digital photo of it
Send a camera home with a student to take photos of family traditions or scan photos that students bring for a Traditions Book
Use photos or videos to create an Open House slide show or display.
Use photos in letters to e-Pals
Create a digital yearbook or memory book
Use photos or videos as a reminder to a teacher or substitute of how to plug in cables to the TV, VCR or computer.
Take photos or videos to explain a hobby or collection
Use photos as graphics in student work
Take photos or videos of art concepts - line, shape, texture, form and color
Take a photos or videos of something in the classroom that is a problem area. Have the students brainstorm how to change the area.
Take photos or videos of the weather and seasons
Use photos for the classroom helper chart
Laminate photos of students for voting, selecting partners, choosing centers, graphing
Take photos of classroom events for student journaling. Write about the photo of costume day, hat day, book character day, etc.
Create a Birthday Book. Add a photo to a page that the child has written about birthday plans. Print one for the book and one to send home.
Take a photos or videos of the students on their birthday
Use photos to create classroom awards. Act of Kindness, Caught being good, Great reader
Send an email with a photo attachment of the student caught being good
Use photos to create postcards
Use photos to create faces for puppets
Scan photos that students bring of their pets for creating a book aboutcaring for pets
Take photos or videos for a classroom inventory
Document vandalism with photos or videos
Email classroom events to the local newspaper or school board
Use classroom photos as computer screensavers
Create a Welcome to Our Classroom book
Take photos of the various school lunches for a "What's for Lunch?" chart
Scan photos students bring of extended family members to create a family tree.
Take photos or videos for animal reports
Take photos or videos of parts of a plant
Take photos or videos of types of clouds
Make a Five Senses book. Students take photos illustrating each sense
Take photos of environmental print for an emergent readers' book - stop sign, Target sign, exit sign
Take a photo of an object zoomed in. Have students guess what it is.
Take photos or videos of assignments and post them to your website for parent communication
Create photo vocabulary cards for ESL students
Photograph books that you read to add to a list or chart
Photograph class schedule for special needs students or substitute
Photograph or videotape procedures for parent volunteer training
Print two copies of photos to make a matching or concentration game.
Show safety rules through photos or videos
Create photograph bookmarks
Create"It's My Turn" name cards with student pictures for choosing who gets the next turn.
Post the Character Education Word of the Week with photos of students who fit that description. For example: Punctual, Responsible, etc.
Create videos of students acting our Character Education concepts.
Create a video of directions for a project
Create brochures using photos
Use photos or videos to "argue a point"
Video a student as an assessment tool
Take photos of rhyming words
Create a chart of words that begin with the same sound using photos
Create videos of poetry, tongue twisters or other phonemic awareness activities to send home with children for extra practice.
Create a video book report complete with costumes and action
Use video to record student's demonstrations for assessment
Create video thank you messages
Capture interviews with video
Have students record their "sales pitch" for advertising on video
Photograph unit resources and place in thematic unit folder
Create a game for matching student photos and student names
Photograph samples for graduation standards. What is a "4"? What is a "3"?
Create a photo memory book for a student who is moving away.
Use photographs or video for conflict resolution role playing.
Create a postcard with the teacher's picture to send to students in the summer.
Use photographs for a visual schedule.
Use digital photographs for a student teacher bulletin board.

Activities With A Digital Camera

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

As a curriculum tool, digital cameras add a multimedia

dimension to learning. Placing a digital camera in the

hands of a K-12 student or teacher unleashes creativity

and opens up new possibilities for all areas of the education

spectrum. Beyond simply recording events, digital images

transform documents, presentations, and communications

into personalized, custom productions. Using software such as

PowerPoint or HyperStudio, projects come alive with digital

photos that showcase school activities. Students quickly master

the art of shooting photos and recording them on a video

cassette recorder to share their learning in class, at home, or far

beyond through network technologies.

Documents created on a computer can include digital

photos for making activity sheets illustrating maps or

science equipment, posters of sports positions or

choreography, iron- on transfers of national flags,

creative crests with faces, and photos of community

events. Students can write stories accompanied by

photos they shoot. Video productions incorporating

digital images directly from the camera can be produced

instantly and dubbed with a student speech or music

track from the school band. These products can be

shared in class or with broader audiences via e-mail or the

Web. Presentations can be used at the annual "Open House"

to show parents what their children are learning at school.

Sample Applications:

During a class field trip to the zoo, elementary

school students can take turns photographing animals

with the digital camera. Back in the classroom, the

images from the digital camera can be imported into

something like HyperStudio. The students can then

create a booklet in the form of an animal alphabet. In

this activity, students might illustrate each letter of the

alphabet with a different animal and description.

Poster-size pages from the animal alphabet could be

hung in the room, and a copy of the booklet might be

sent to the zoo with the thank you letter from the

class.

During the study of geometry, middle school students

photograph objects in nature illustrating geometric shapes

and properties. They build PowerPoint or HyperStudio

presentations of their interpretations of the objects, and

share their findings with the class. Next, they crop portions

of their photos to create a tessellation or a three-

dimensional animation of a shape. Such sophisticated

manipulations are possible for students who have access to

software like Adobe Photo Shop.

A high school Earth Science class in the mid-

west can take an electronic field trip to the beach or the

mountains by accessing the Intranet or Internet web site

created with images taken by a class keypal. The

photographs e-mailed from the remote site can be

instantly added to an HTML document that describes

the sights, links to a glossary of scientific terms, and

asks follow-up questions about the geologic features

seen in the pictures. Each student can choose an image

and use a program like Photo Shop to produce a 360

degree panorama of an area.

The elementary social studies students use their

digital camera while studying local history. To show their

understanding of the past of their area, the students take

pictures of local historical sites, important people in the

community, and portrayals of past events. The photos are

assembled into a large mural for display in the school and

local community site such as public library, city hall or

post office. The mural could even become the featured

illustration for a local publication, publicity campaign, or

banner.

At the completion of food and nutrition unit,

the Health/Consumer Sciences class in the middle school

uses digital images to demonstrate knowledge of food

groups and a healthy diet. Students photograph a variety

of foods and packages to make a game in which the object

is to arrange the food pictures into healthy meals. The class

uses the game to teach the neighborhood preschool children

about proper eating habits. The unit culminates with a health

party where the older student prepare snacks for the younger

children, and take pictures of them eating healthy food.

Over the course of the marking period, as each art project is

completed, high school students use a digital camera to

photograph their work. As the grading period draws to a close,

each student evaluates the pieces he or she has created and

assembles the best into an individual electronic portfolio or

gallery for assessment. The teacher or the class might select

images of outstanding class projects to be viewed as a digital art

gallery on the school's Intranet.

Using Digital Cameras In the Classroom

Digital cameras are becoming more and more popular, especially for classroom use. They have many advantages: pictures are immediately available, pictures are saved in graphic format, and they are easily transferred from the camera to the computer.

The purpose of this web page is to provide some ideas on how to use the digital camera in the classroom. The ideas have been collected from various educators. If we have used your idea and not given you credit, please let us know. Thanks to all who have contributed!

Remember, it's not really about taking pictures, but using the camera as a tool to help you explore and understand other subjects!

A reference site with numerous lesson ideas.

http://www.wacona.com/digicam/digicam.html

My Bio-Poem-A Lesson of Self-Discovery and Peer Introduction

Subject Area: Language Arts

Grade Level(s): 5-8

Duration of Activity:

3-5 days (depending on the number of computers available for student use)

Description of Activity:

Students will create a bio-poem. This creative writing activity is designed to be an extension activity to the unit "A Lesson of Self-Discovery and Peer Introduction." The lesson may also be used in isolation as an activity to build community in the classroom. The lesson is a wonderful way for students to introduce themselves to each other. The lesson involves the use of a digital camera, scanner, and Microsoft Publisher.

Objectives:

Use a digital camera to take pictures of other students.

Download and name pictures to a file on the computer.

Use a scanner to import pictures if a digital camera is not available.

Write a bio-poem that describes important aspects of the student's character.

Use Microsoft Publisher or other word-processing program such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or HyperStudio to create final product, a bio-poem with student's picture.
Note: This lesson was piloted using Microsoft Publisher. The program is very easy for students and teachers to use. It requires no previous training on the student's part in order for him/her to use it successfully in creating this project.

Materials/Equipment:

Digital camera

Digital camera software such as Kodak Picture Easy

Kodak Twain/Acquire software—allows user to open pictures from the camera or scanner directly into Twain-compliant software such as Adobe PhotoShop

Adobe Photoshop software or PhotoDeluxe software. This lesson was piloted using Adobe Photoshop, but either one of the photo software programs will work for this lesson.

Flatbed scanner

Three types of formula poems

Computer(s)

Microsoft Publisher or other word-processing programs such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or HyperStudio that allow pictures to be imported into a document

Handout 1: Instructions for the Digital Camera
Handout 2: Guide for Scanning Photos Using Flatbed Scanner
Handout 3: Steps for Creating Project Using Publisher
Handout 4: My Name Poem
Handout 5: A Poem about You
Handout 6: I Am

Prerequisites (skills or background needed):

It is helpful for students to have some keyboarding skill, but it is not necessary. The activity will take longer for those students who lack keyboarding skills, but they can be as successful in producing the required product as those who can type well.

Procedure

Teacher Component:

The teacher needs to be familiar with the digital camera. He/She will need to model the use of the camera before the students use it. Also, the teacher needs to write out a step-by-step procedure list that instructs students how to download pictures to the computer, name the picture, and save the picture to a file. Handout 1: Instructions for the Digital Camera.

The teacher needs to be familiar with using the scanner to create image files. The teacher will also need to create a procedure sheet that takes students step-by-step through the process of using the scanner, naming the picture, and saving it to a file. Handout 2: Guide for Scanning Photos Using Flatbed Scanner is a suggested procedure sheet.

The teacher needs to be familiar with using Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or HyperStudio to create a product. It helps for the teacher to create the product first so that he/she can better instruct the students in the process. See Handout 3: Steps for Creating Project Using Publisher for the steps in this process.

The teacher needs to have copies of the three formula poems for each child. These formula poems include:
Handout 4: My Name Poem
Handout 5: A Poem about You
Handout 6: I Am
Stress that students need to use the format that will enable them to describe themselves successfully to other class members. (Many students choose the acrostic poem simply because they think it requires the least amount of work. The teacher may want to set guidelines that would require not only single words but also phrases.)

The teacher needs to have access to a printer in order to print out final product. Color is optional, but it really enhances the student's work.

The teacher will display the final product for all students to see. Mount poems on colorful construction paper and create a display in the hallway. Bio-poems may also be laminated and framed. They make great gifts to parents.

Student Activities:

Students will use a digital camera to take pictures of other classmates. Students will push the POWER button to begin operating the camera. Once the camera is on, students need to be sure the setting is on CAPTURE. Students need to get good, close-up face shots of other students.

Students will connect the digital camera to the computer to download pictures following the teacher's Handout 1: Instructions for the Digital Camera

Students will name picture and save picture as JPEG file to a diskette, CD, Zip disk, or hard drive.

Students and teacher will discuss the definition of a bio-poem, a poem written about self. The poem emphasizes personal character traits, feelings, goals, etc. The poem will be the means by which the student will introduce himself/herself to the class.

Students will follow one of the three formula poems in creating their own personal bio-poem.

Students will write a rough draft of poem.

Students will conference briefly with the teacher concerning poem and will edit work.

Students will create the final product on the computer by using Handout 3: Steps for Creating Project Using Publisher.

Students will save the final product to the file designated by the teacher.

Students will print their poems.

Accommodations:

The lesson activities may easily be modified to accommodate special needs students. Students help each other use the digital camera. Students who are proficient in downloading and naming pictures can easily guide those students who need one-on-one help with the process. Peers can also help guide special needs students in the use of the computer.

In some cases, special needs students may need to dictate poem ideas to another student who acts as a recorder, or they may dictate the poem using a tape recorder. The student recorder may then help the special needs child type the poem. The classroom teacher will decide on the final product expectations based on the specific needs of the individual student.

Extension Activities:

Students will create a bio-collage. Using the bio-poem as the focus of the collage, students will collect pictures that represent their likes, dislikes, family, hobbies, goals, achievements, etc. These pictures may be gathered from personal home pictures, magazines, and the Internet. Students will mount the bio-poem on a large piece of poster board and will surround it with their collection of pictures. Students will present projects to the class.

Integration:

In social studies, students may choose a particular country to research. Students will write a short report or create a poem based on what they learned through researching their topic. Students may collect pictures of the country from several sources: the Internet, travel brochures, postcards. Students may scan or download these pictures into a picture file. Using a word processing program such as Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or HyperStudio that allows students to import and manipulate pictures and text, students will create a travel brochure about their country.

For science, the student will create a brochure about local wildflowers. The student will take pictures of the flowers using a digital camera and will research the specific flower. The student will then create an informative brochure using Publisher or another word processing program that will include text and pictures concerning topic.

Assessments:

Teacher observation and questioning techniques will be used throughout the project to assess the student's understanding of the lesson objectives and progress. The formal assessment of the project may be a rubric designed to assess the use of technology and creative writing. The following sites offer information about creating rubrics.

TeAch-nology.com
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics
DiscoverySchool.com
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html
Rubric Construction Set
http://landmark-project.com/classweb/rubrics/rubric3_build.php3
Rubrics
http://www.techtrekers.com/rubrics.html
The following site discusses how students can take part in developing rubrics for projects.
Creating Rubrics Through Negotiable Contracting and Assessment
http://www.interactiveclassroom.com/neg-cont.html

I Love Seplling!

This comment on and spelling of spelling – seplling – is derived directly from a childhood writing assignment. Currently, as a special educator, my partner teacher and I find this old declaration to be of major interest to us today. This interest manifests itself in two ways – grave difficulty with spelling and the lack of love for writing, to which struggling with encoding is a great contributor.

We are making a concerted effort to make our resource room be more than “that room where some kids go”. We want it to be the place to be where learning is fun all the time. While we service students who have an IEP, we are fortunate to be in a place where we include any child who could benefit from additional, focused VAKT instruction.

Our room is set up like a community with a construction zone, writing café, park, health clinic, outlaw word jail, basketball court, math zone, etc. In these neighborhood areas, instruction is interwoven through games, activities, brainstorming, etc. Now that we have been introduced to the Spelling Bundle our minds are stimulated as we envision our community growing with opportunities - opportunities to slip in much needed focused and engaging spelling instruction with our other activities.

One of the products included in the Spelling Bundle, Two Wise Owls, seemed to particularly compliment a technique we currently use, Visualizing and Verbalizing. This is a strategy we use in order to teach reading comprehension. This strategy incorporates a series of “structure words” that help students attend to details and create vivid visualizations with their minds eye while reading text.

In the early stages of this strategy students utilize pictures to gain an understanding of the structure words. Currently, the pictures are provided by us from magazines, calendars, etc. We feel that if the students could use the camera to take photographs themselves they will feel a sense of ownership, thus furthering the impact of this strategy. For example, one of the more challenging structure words is perspective. Students can better understand the concept of this structure word if they had the opportunity to take several photographs of a single item each from a different perspective.

To our delight, Visualizing and Verbalizing skills quickly carried over to the students’ writing. Their written responses became more detailed. When additional details were needed to enhance meaning, students referenced a structure word list to consider size, shape, perspective, etc. Once the student considered them, they could quickly add any overlooked details thus improving their response. Our incorporation of the activities (for example, SuperSpell, Spell Track, etc.) in the Spelling Bundle into our learning environment will further improve our students’ ability to clearly communicate their detailed ideas through correct writing.

In addition to our efforts during the school day we offer writing tutoring before school. In an attempt to make this less stigmatizing our tutoring is not referred to as tutoring. In fact we are a club, the Communication Club. This club participates in authentic writing experiences that not only benefit students’ writing ability but also benefit self-esteem. Currently, our club is sponsoring a school wide bowl-a-thon in order to raise money to help children with cancer. This undertaking provided a variety of opportunities for writing (writing business letters, making promotional posters, writing scripts for morning announcements, etc.) and we feel that the offerings of this grant could help us to enhance this experience as well as the students’ learning. We are always on the lookout for ways to "teach" skills in a way that fits our philosophy of meaningful learning. A camera would have enabled them to incorporate photographs on to their posters and into their Power Point presentations. Practice with spelling strategies would serve to enhance the writing practice, resulting in successful writing pieces.

As a follow up activity our students are creating craft bags for patients with cancer. When children are admitted to the hospital they will be presented with a brown bag with materials and directions for making a craft - all prepared and supplied by our students. The patient will follow the written directions made by our students in order to complete the craft. Our students can utilize the camera to add pictures to their written directions as they carefully plan and follow through with accurate steps to perform the task.

Our idea produces two products: one tangible -the craft bags - and one intangible - the process of developing the steps to achieve a successful community service activity. The idea of extending and enhancing our students’ growth through engaging, meaningful activities is extremely exciting to us. Our minds went into overdrive as we learned about this grant and the products offered by Tool Factory

Weebhoys Education Discussions

Sunday, February 24, 2008

More Smart Board Lessons

Engaging Learners The Smart Board Way

Websites To Use With Smartboard Technology