Pre-K Butterfly Blog: Part 3

Today was our final day making our video! The students had so much fun and learned a lot. We used multiple intelligences to maximize learning and the results were obvious. Students were a part of every process and loved the responsibility. It was fascinating watching these young students take charge of their learning! Their blog really reflects the hard work they did.

Because I have had practice with Destination Imagination, I am good with questioning. I know how to ask questions to make the lesson worthwhile for students and it really worked. They are creative enough without me, but guiding them to where they needed to be was where the work was. Plus, the students are so bright, it wasn't even work!

To make our video, we used both pictures and video clips taken with my digital camera. We utilized PowerPoint and Windows Live Movie Maker to put it all together. An instrumental version of the song "Mermaid" by Train was used for the credits. Pictures and videos were captured before, during, and after our learning so we could watch the process unfold. One time my battery wasn't charged completely so better planning could have helped me out there, but other than that things went smoothly. Different lighting could have helped me as well.

I am so proud of my students for getting this together, learning, and having fun while doing it. They did a great job making their video, too; please watch and tell us how we did!

Assisstive Technology

As a special educator, assistive technology is crucial. Everything is modified and accommodated specifically to each student. Assistive technology is especially important when it comes to students with special needs. Different examples of assistive technology include wheelchairs, prosthetics, and reading equipment. Corpus Christi Independent School District has teachers come up with plans for what they need in their classroom and send them off for review and acceptance.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the International Reading Association's 58th annual convention in San Antonio, Texas. There, I was able to speak with Mr. Doug Rosette about the a program called "TextHelp". TextHelp is an assistive technology program that helps with reading, fluency, spelling, and language. There are five programs that include features such as text-to-speecch software, highlighting, spell check, text and picture dictionaries, and word prediction. This program works on computers, phones, and notebooks. I was able to preview some of this program and discovered what a fantastic tool this is. I would definitely use it in the classroom because I know how much my students with special needs would benefit from something like this.

Assistive technology comes in all forms, but it's what and how we use it that changes our student's lives.

Pre-K Butterfly Blog: Part 2

Because I am working with four year olds, I had a little more control over research than what would typically be expected. However, these students knew what they wanted and knew what they wanted to see! Through our KWL, we searched for answers to questions we had and learned all about caterpillars and butterflies!

During the process, I explained what I was doing and why. We discussed functions of a computer and students helped come up with their thoughts of what to do next. Most times, if I modeled students would catch right on and were able to tell me how to do it the next time!

These students are so smart; I can't wait until next time!

Pre-K Butterfly Blog: Part 1

Eight students and I began learning about the life cycle of a butterfly! It was a wonderful experience working with such young, fresh minds and hearing their thoughts and ideas. They have so much to say and they know so much! We created a blog for them focusing on the preliminary parts of our unit.

Leading them through inquiry-based learning was not as hard as I thought and I'm so glad to have had this experience. These students are so brought and were able to fly through a discussion and questioning even without me around!

A parent letter was created for this class and I'm glad to have this created. This may be used in my future classroom and it's already done and out of the way!

Copyright Issues

Because the internet makes resources so available, there are many copyright issues. As soon as something is on the internet, it is copyrighted. However, most people do not know that just because it is on the internet does not mean it is a free for all; credit must be given where credit is due. If something is found and you want to use it, it is only okay to use if you have permission.

I learned about a ton of amazing resources to make my time as an educator one free of copyright infringement! Copyright Clearance Center finds licenses of works on the internet and lets viewers know what is acceptable in regards to that specific copyright. I had no idea that there was an advanced search on Google images to view only “free to use or share” files. This is incredibly helpful because I would like to use images others are okay with me using!

A great resource that handles copyrighted information exceptionally is TeachersPayTeachers. This is specifically for teachers and contains lesson plans, lesson ideas, clip art, images, and more for others to use either free of charge or for purchase. When downloaded, there is a required page from the “seller” to talk about themselves and include the copyright information. Every page is handled specially so the seller never loses credit.

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are CRUCIAL in my classroom! They have been important all my life! I love using planners and spreadsheets to organize my thoughts and schedule and have been using them since I was a child. This obsession organization technique has helped me greatly so far in the classroom! I use a spreadsheet daily to track what my students are learning about and how we are doing with their lessons. I use a spreadsheet to track their grades and students are responsible for using a spreadsheet to track their own grades and incentives.

Students do daily "Mad Minute Math" sheets as a warm up for their math lesson. They are to complete a set amount of problems in a certain time. If they finish, they grade it and record the grade in their spreadsheet. If they don't finish, they take a blank copy for homework. Another way they use spreadsheets is to record their incentives. Throughout their lesson if they are doing a good job, staying on task, following along with the reading, etc, students are able to earn "chance cards". At the end of the lesson they are to record their grades in that spreadsheet. Students catch on quickly and use these daily.

In my third-grade co-teaching math class, students have a hard time with tables. We use a spreadsheet to create the tables and have students fill in the blanks where necessary. They are working with these and the progress is eye-opening. It is amazing to be in a classroom and watch students "get it". I can't wait for more opportunities like this to come!

Science Video

It is time for our movie debut! Students worked together to learn about character traits and incorporate them into science and health goals. We used the 7 elements of digital storytelling when we filmed. PowerPoint was used to create this video, as well as a Windows Live Movie Maker, a digital camera, and a song from iTunes. While this was a smaller video, this lesson could have been expanded. Currently, schools use the trait posters shown in this video throughout the yeart o surround students with positive examples of ideal traits.

 

 



Storyboards

My previous post about digital storytelling was all about important elements of a story. Digital storytelling can be done by anyone, but captivating an audience takes thought and dedication. There is much planning that goes into telling stories digitally. First, one must decide on a story to tell. In this instance, my partner and I thought it would be nice to have students work on science and character traits. After you have an idea of what you want, you need to plan. An activity plan comes in handy as a teacher because it shows what TEKS will be learned through the making of this video and what the expected outcomes are. After this is when you create a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual map of what you want the video to look like. It shows what the each shot is about and how long it is. When all this is complete, it is time to make a movie! Make sure you keep up with the blog; movie coming soon!

Digital Storytelling

I hadn't learned much about digital storytelling before this class, but I am glad that it has been brought to my attention! It can be a unique project to use in the classroom that will allow students to enjoy what they are learning.

Digital storytelling is a form of film making that allows people to share parts of their life with others. There are seven elements in storytelling that are crucial to the art and three types that can be made. They are to be kept in mind when making these digital stories.

This is effective for student learning because they are more interested in their learning while they are doing something fun and different. It teaches them skills they would not have acquired doing other types of projects or regular work. It may be hard to do in a special education setting, but it is definitely doable.

Emerging Ed Tech

The emergingedtech technology resource ebook is a wonderful tool for educators. There was much to be learned and I will definitely be utilizing it in the future!

I discovered that games are scientifically proven to help students learn. We always knew games helped students, but so much research has proven why it’s helpful. I had no idea here were actual “game-based classrooms”. It was crazy to me that one of the steps in having one of those classrooms was to actually play the games before students got a chance to. Page 25 of the ebook began a list of game websites that worked great in the classroom. I found certain sites like funbrain, Discovery games, sheppard software, primary games, educational games on nobelprize, and childtopia. Of the ten provided, I would use these six more so than the others. There are seven more listed under that and I know I will keep this book for the purpose of going back and looking at them!

I’m glad there was an entire section on iPads. I recently got an iPad and am interested in how I can use it in the classroom. This chapter detailed the different things I could use it for. I like that there were reviews of different apps I could download and why they worked well in the classroom. I also like that it gave me choices. For example, there were four good apps for whiteboards on the iPad, why they were good, and why others were not good. I found it extremely useful that this book included a link to an app for students with special needs.

The picture and image editing chapter was interesting because the information learned there could be used outside of the classroom as well.

How will you use your new knowledge of technology in your classroom?

Lifelong Learners

Technology is being used more and more in the classroom. At early ages people begin using and learning on different types of technology. All students at the preschool I used to work at had scheduled computer time, even at the early ages of 18 months.

I have never used blogs in school. When I was in school we weren't exposed to blogs and on the opposite side of things, as a teacher I have never used blogs in the classroom. I have used blogs to find ideas to use in the classroom, though, and those have proven to be very resourceful.

As a special education teacher, I am not sure how well I can incorporate the use of student blogs. It might work best if maybe I had a blog for the classroom and students helped contribute to it by adding pictures and captions of their work and the things we're working on. They could talk about the things they're learning in the classroom as we go through the year.

Contributing to the classroom in this way moves the participants in this class from students to learners. David Warlick noted the differences between the two in a post on his blog. This will change the way my students participate in the classroom and increase their motivation.

Inquiry and Project Based Learning

Welcome to Ms. Lopez's blog! This blog will be an aid to me and others who are learning about incorporating technology in the classrooom.


As a special education teacher, inquiry and project- based learning may help my students gain a better grasp of subjects and topics. Making connections is important and is a good skill to learn. To understand how these are important to the classroom, we must first know what they are:

• Inquiry-based learning is seeking information by asking questions. It is aninvolveent of the students in their own learning. It is also the movement away from listening to and memorizing facts that can be regurgitated. With inquiry-based learning, students must create a question related to the topic inquiry to be explored, conduct an investigation, gather information, discuss the findings, and reflect on what was learned.

• Project-based learning is a system of learning that promotes the exploration of individual interests through research. It allows students to investigate real world problems and create solutions and ideas based on research and data. This is used in the classroom as a tool to facilitate inquiry skills and helps students become self-sufficient in the quest to answer questions. It builds intrapersonal skills, collaborative efforts, and meets the end goal of learning about topics through real world situations.

Inquiry and project based learning is important to my class and unit plan because they both call for students asking questions and students finding answers. Looking at the essential question "How do disasters impact communities?" there are many ways one can think of to implement inquiry and project based learning. Looking deeper at unit questions, inquiry and project based learning can be used to discover how disasters cause change, how natural disasters affect the world, and how disasters have changed history.