iTalk

My students just finished up making short podcasts on an energy source using iTalk yesterday. Originally I had wanted them to be able to go back and edit their recordings and add in sound effects and pictures, but with the limited amount of time we had I think the iTalk application worked out really well. It was very easy for the kids to use and they really enjoyed being able to record themselves. As you might expect, it went really smoothly with my small classes, but got a little stressful with the larger ones when I ended up trying to download several recordings at the last minute.

There were a couple of really cute podcasts I got, including one where they decided it was ok if the windmills killed some birds because you could just take them home and cook them for Christmas dinner. You gotta love the creativity! I think they could have been even better if we had done this project after the talked about persuasive writing in their Language Arts classes. There is a lot of potential for interdisciplinary projects with the technology if we can find a way to make the timing work.

On another note, I am excited to get a chance to test out one of the Activslates today in class. It was incredibly easy to configure and get set up, but might take a little time to gt used to using. Hope it goes well!

Bring on 2010!

Well, for the last 4 months I have listened to my coworkers discuss what is working on the technology and what they would do differently in the future and I must admit I am just chomping at the bit to get my chance.... and that chance is only about a month away. Pierce and I are going to be working with the iTouches and the MacBooks and NetBooks next semester. I am a little nervous about handing this technolgy over to the kids. I tend to be a bit of a control freak when it comes to doing something a certain way in the classroom... but I am also pretty excited about them being able to research in the room! In some ways it will make my life much easier, in other ways much more complicated!!

Making Progress

We had a few technical issues with our netbook computers and needed to have them reimaged which was accomplished so they are back in working order. Over the last couple of weeks I have been in contact with the ESL Newcomer teacher at Landrum MS who is doing some remarkable things with her newly arrived ESL students using iPods. She was able to show me some great sources for videos as well as some of her student's projects which are really amazing. i have also been in contact with my teacher friend who assisted with podcasts in Australia last year. I'm hoping in the second semester we can set up some podcasts so we can hear some from her students and she can let her students hear some of ours.
I have been giving the Journalism students their student email accounts and we have begun using them to access a class Wiki. They are excited about the possibilities and wanted to add their classmates as their friends immediately. This is still a work in progress and after one initial glitch in accessing the site, it has been going smoothly. As we move towards final exams, we will be using the netbooks to finish up projects.
I have been researching applications for my Broadcast, Journalism and Electronic Experiences and have found several that are going to blend in very well with my class activities. The Electronic Experiences classes are especially anxious to get to use the iTouches.

Time

I am in the process of having my students take their CBQ tests online using the netbooks. This will save a lot of time and give them practice with real life.

My frustration is that I have spent 2 hours of class time getting each student their username and password. Then we go through the lengthy process of inializing the GMail account.

I am at the finish line of getting this completed and we are close to taking CBQ's online..

I know even though it took me a good chunck of time up front it will be worth it in the long run.

Jennifer

Tomorrow I am starting a project with my 6th graders. It's a pumpkin pie recipe. They have to go an find a recipe on pumpkin pie and answer various questions about fractions and multiplying them. This is a 3 day starting tomorrow and concluding Monday and Tuesday next week. Since next week is Thanksgiving week I am hoping this project will keep them interested and diciplined due to the holidays....will keep you posted on the turn out

How time flies by! I have to apologize for not adding to the blog every week. I'm still trying to get in the habit of using it. With all the wonderful developments in technology it would be great if we could figure out a way to add some extra time to our days or at least reduce work somewhere else! It's just becoming impossible to keep up with all the tasks we all have to do each day. I've been very busy with all my classes creating their iMovies about themselves. They are making progress ever so slowly. We are now working on adding images & video of pictures of family & friends from home as well as learning to use the digital sill cameras & the Flip video cameras to record around school. Students are learning in small groups about proper procedure & policies for camera use. This includes proper downloading of images/footage and getting it to their iMovies and deleting from their cameras. The students will then reinforce their newly acquired knowledge/skills by teaching their classmates.

In addition to the Flip cameras coming in, Gail & I were finally able to get to Best Buy to purchase our items with our grant we won last year! Yippee!! So, now I have a new all-in-one printer/copier/scanner which we'll be able to use for kids to scan any photos in to their files. (My old scanners don't connect to the new Macs & most weren't working anymore too.) Not all of our kids have digital cameras or cell phones to take pictures. Plus, I encourage them to bring in any older photos of their parents, grandparents, etc so they can get them digitized. This is part of my genealogy interests I've acquired from my Mom.

In using all the new Mac applications and the new equipment, I am barely able to keep ahead of the kids right now! Next on the agenda, is learning all the ins and outs of iDVD for the kids to then turn their movie in to a DVD. After that, time allowing, I hope to have them design their own DVD covers in iPages. Needless to say, they are very excited about all of this! By now though, my students are well-grounded in creating Garage Band music loops, iPhoto slideshows, editing images in iPhoto, photographing and videotaping themselves in Photo Booth and importing all in to their iMovie. They know how to add titles, transitions, video & sound effects, and import their music loop for background music. They know how to access the Video Tutorials to use whenever they need more help. And they usually show me something new every day too! So, we are having lots of fun while we're working hard every day!

Art Teacher Conference

I am ever so thankful that there is the TAEA Art teacher conference coming up this Thursday-Sunday. Since I missed last year due to Mitchell, but it was worth missing (sort of! *laugh). One of the classes I am taking is called "Boxes with Fires: Wisely Integrating Technology into the Art Classroom" which will include integrating digital technologies such as PPpresentations (which I know already, but...), podcasting art style, imovie, wikis, web sites, mind mapping, social bookmarkings, blogs and improving student learning to stimulate educational reform. This is one of many technology classes offered this year, which I have not seen in the past. So, for this year, I'm not going to all the hands on cool art project classes, but things like this. Hopefully this can help us get technology used effectively in the fine arts wing as well... something besides just using the computers to look up images and play games on. I know there's gotta be something more! Can't wait!
I'm also going to be attending 4 upcoming different web classes on how to keep the SBISD web art page updated with the new branding stuff. I am looking forward to being the photographer and co-webmaster for that endevour! So hopefully, that will help us all also with stuff that we want to put on our website here at school...