Paper Slide Video

A paper slide video is a type of video that is made using new technology and old technology. A student draws out a skit on paper and then video tapes it and posts it on a video sharing website. The slide part comes in to play when students slide the paper out of the video cameras view. The process of making a paper slide video is super easy. It does take a lot of collaboration to write the skit and figure out how to work out the details as to who is going to hold the camera, slide the papers and talk. I think that my fifth grade students would be very capable of doing a paper slide video and they would really enjoy it. Paper slide videos could be used in the classroom for lots of different things such as book summaries, character charts, sequencing events, etc. It is just a fun way for students to show a teacher what they know about a certain topic.

Final Project

I. LESSON INFORMATION

A. Moon Glog Project
B. This lesson will focus on learning about the rotation, revolution and phases of the moon.
C. Grade 5
D. Tiffany Consalvi

II. GOALS FOR THE LESSON

Students will be able to work in partners to create a moon glog that will later be shared with peers and parents.

III. STANDARDS FROM CURRICULUM FRAMEWORKS
Framework: Science and Technology
Topic: Earth and the Solar System
14: Recognize that the earth revolves around the sun in a year’s time, and that the earth rotates on its axis approximately once every 24 hours. Make connections between the rotation of the earth and day/night, and the apparent movement of the sun, moon and stars across the sky.
15. Describe the changes that occur in the observable shape of the moon over the course of a month.

IV. OBJECTIVES
-Students will learn how the moon moves related to the earth
- Students will learn about the different phases of the moon
-Students will work in partners to complete a glog that will later be shared with peers and parents


V. ASSESSMENT

I will be assessing students on the quality of their glog. Student glogs will be prepared in a question/answer format, and I will be assessing students on the quality and accurateness of their information. Students will also be assessed on how well they are able to work with a partner to create this project.

VI. STUDENT INFORMATION

Accommodations/Modifications: Some students will receive re-explanation of directions, frequent check-ins, help from a special education teacher, preferential seating, scribe when necessary, positive reinforcement, and seating away from visual distractions.


VII. THE LESSON SEQUENCE

A. Initiating Activities:

Students will be assigned partners based on ability. Higher level students will be paired with lower level students. Students will get together with their partners and write down at least four questions they have about the moon. The teacher will then read “The Moon Book” by Gail Gibbons. This book explains the phases of the moon and its rotation and revolution. The teacher will then do a simulation of the moon, earth and sun by using the students body as the earth, a lamp as the sun and a small ball on a stick as the moon. This simulation is necessary for students to understand the rotation and revolution of the earth and moon. This can be a very confusing concept for students to understand, so doing the simulation will help to better understanding.

B. Execution of the Lesson
Students will go to the computer lab and do research on preapproved websites so that they can get the answers to their moon questions. They will then write their questions and answers in a google document and email their documents to the teacher so that the teacher can make sure all information is accurate and precise before students publish the information on a glog. After students information has been approved, students will then create their glogs on glogster.com. Students will be expected to have at least four questions and answers, 3 pictures, a background and sound.

C. Conclusion of the Lesson: A website will be created by the teacher that has links to all students glogs. The teacher will send an email to the parents sharing the website and inviting them to look at and comment on the students hard work.

VIII. MATERIALS, RESOURCES, AND TECHNOLOGY
Materials: “The Moon Book” By Gail Gibbons, lamp, “moons”, pencil, paper, computers
Technology: Google Docs, Glogster

Bitstrips Comic

Stop Bullying comic strip I created for my technology class...

Review of Textbook "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology"

Overall I thought that this book was very informative. It gives a good history of American education and the ways that education has changed and evolved throughout history. Although the authors of this book are clearly technology enthusiasts, I think that they did a good job of presenting the technology skeptics argument. I think it's great that they so clearly tried to show both sides of the argument, even though they were completely in favor of one side. The authors make a good argument in saying that schools are out of sync with today's technology and that most of the changes in the way that people acquire information is happening outside of school. They give lot of examples of new ways that people are learning such as learning centers and distance education. The authors state that they understand that there may be losses as well as gains from implementing technology into schools, they do not just try to push what they think should happen, but try to take into consideration opposing viewpoints. I think that this text was very informative and I would recommend it to someone who was looking for a informative read on technology in education.

Animoto Video

Try our slideshow creator at Animoto.

Sample Survey

Reflection on Chapter 4 and 5 of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology

Chapter four in Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology is about the development of American schooling. The author's state that in the first half of the 19th century, education went through a large transformation during the Industrial Revolution, in which it went from a system based on apprenticeship to universal schooling. The author's argument is that this transformation is a precursor to the Knowledge Revolution that is happening now in America, and that education needs to change again to accommodate this new revolution like it did in the 19th century.

The change in education during the 19th century has made schools what they are
today. But our society has changed so much in the last 30 years, that schools are not preparing students for the future but for the past. The facts are that most workplaces in today's society use some sort of technology, and that a lot of jobs that our students will have someday do not even exist yet in today's society, but you can bet that most if not all will be technology based. Schools are not preparing students for the 21st century, because they are refusing to see the changes that need to be made in order to do so.

The reason why school's are out of synch with technology could have a lot to do with budget, and that technology can be very expensive. But most of it has to do with the resistance to change that a lot of teachers and administration feel, and the reluctance to change a system that up until the last 20 years or so was working well. I do think that something needs to change, it is not okay for schools to be so far behind the rest of society when it comes to technology. It really is not a good thing when you have students doing tons of worksheets all day, teachers using chalkboards, and students rarely ever using any type of technology. Most students probably get to interact with technology at home, but they may not have people in their lives to teach them the proper ways to use it, or to guide them in forming safe online communities. I think that schools need to find a balance between what we have now, and allowing technology into students school experiences. I do not believe that students should only be using technology, and never interacting face to face or with their teachers, but I do think that the use of technology could really benefit all students,and that teachers should take the risk and start to implement it into their classrooms.

Reflection on "Navigating Social Network as Learning Tools" by Will Richardson

I agree with Will Richardson when he says that social networks are valuable learning tools that can create connections and learning opportunities that a typical classroom environment just cannot. I think that social networks can play a valuable role in the education of students as long as they they know how to navigate them. From what I see, most students use websites such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace just as social connections and not to create learning environments. Students write about what their plans are for the day,what they ate for breakfast, or how much they hate a subject in school. The majority of students that I have come across do not use social networks to learn from others across the world, they use them to stay connected with friends and family, or to meet new people. I see nothing wrong with this, the web provides a great tool for staying in touch with people and meeting new ones, but there is so much more out there that students should also learn how to utilize.
According to Will Richardson " They (students) do not see these learning connections being modeled, nor are they being taught how to create, navigate and grow these powerful learning networks in safe, effective and ethical ways." I completely agree with this statement. Students need to learn the kind of potential the web has to offer, but most adults and teachers do not even understand the vast learning opportunities that social networks provide, so who can students learn this valuable information from? Teachers need to learn the valuable learning potential of social networks, and then teach their students the benefit of such a great leaning community. Students need to be taught how to safely share things online, how to provide feedback to others, and how to tell if someone is safe to communicate with online. Students must also learn that once something is published online, it cannot be taken back, it is there permanently and can reflect on them when they start to apply for jobs or to colleges. Teachers need to take full advantage of what the web has to offer, and take it into their own hands to provide their students with the knowledge needed for a 21st century leaner.

Reflection on Bow Drill Video

In this video, the boy asks many times for people to please comment on what he is doing wrong. I think it is very interesting that he chose to make a video of how he does it to show other people what he is doing instead of either asking someone he knows or looking it up online or in a book. What this means for education is that students can take learning into their own hands and ask for help from people around the world. A student may have an interest in something that no one they know personally does, so asking someone they know, is out of the question. This gives the students so many other possibilities and ways to learn.

Reflection on Scratch

Learn more about this project
I think that most students would really love to create a project on Scratch. I know the students in my classroom all absolutely love art class, and in this program they can draw their own characters and then make them do whatever they want them to. I would love to introduce to this my classroom and watch the students interact with this program. I am pretty sure it would be hard to drag them away from the computers! I have never done any kind of programming before, so it took a while for me to get used to it, and and as you can see from my video, I have really only learned how to do very basic things. On the scratch website, their are interactive games that people created, and I am looking at those thinking "Wow, those look really complicated! How did that person do that?"
Students need to use a lot of higher order thinking skills in order to create a Scratch project. There is a lot of analyzing going on, while they are learning how to use the program and playing around with what each script makes the characters do. They are also applying the skills they have learned to create and design a unique work of art that is something they can be proud of to share will the rest of their classmates. They are planning, programming, animating and publishing these Scratch projects.

Presentation on Technology Enthusiast's Argument

Reflection on Chapter 2 of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology

        

       One of the reasons that the technology enthusiasts give as to why technology should be more widespread in schools is that the world is changing and students need to be prepared for the world they are entering. When entering the work force, students will need to know how to use all of the new technology that has been developed in recent years.  Yet teachers are still using the 19th century technology of books, whiteboards, paper and pencils when students will most likely not be using these things after their schooling is complete.  I really liked this quote that the authors used "Trying to prepare students for the 21st century with 19th century technology is like teaching people to fly a rocket ship by having them ride bicycles."  I completely agree with this statement, and think that the types of things that students are being taught to do are not useful to them because what they will have to do in the workplace  and what they have to do in school are so completely out of sync.
       Another reason that technology enthusiasts use as to why technology should be more widespread in schools is that technology gives us enhance capabilities for educating students, so schools should embrace these capabilities to reshape education. There are so many different ways to use technology to enhance lesson plans and to allow students to interact with their own learning and interests more.  Students can create things on the computer that can be shared with other schools across the world, so that they feel like the work they are doing is important and not just for the teacher.  Students will be more interested in what the teacher is teaching if their is some type of technology involved.  Technology provides so many opportunities to enhance student learning, interaction and engagement so why wouldn't a teacher want to start to include it more in their teaching?
       I completely agree with the technology enthusiast's point of view. I wholeheartedly believe that technology can have a huge impact on education and really reform it for the better.  I think that technology will better help teachers meet the needs of all students though differentiation and that it can really make a difference in a student's education. I don't understand why schools are still using 19th century technology when the 21st century technology is completely reforming what students need to know how to do when they enter the workforce. It just doesn't make sense to prepare students for the workforce with technology that is no longer used in the work place. Teachers are scared of the change in education that these new technologies could bring, the world is changing so fast that it is hard to predict where education is going in the near future.
      Growing up, technology was not as widespread as it is now.  We had one computer in our classroom, but all I can really remember doing on it was playing games.  I learned how to keyboard in high school, and gradually how to use the internet for researching etc, but that was about the extent of my use of technology.  As an educator, I have tried to integrate technology into my lesson plans as much as possible.  I do not see it used on a daily basis in the school that I work at now, we rarely ever go to the computer lab, and students use the computers in the classroom to either type a paper or play games. I think this is largely due to the fact that a lot of the teachers do not know how to use the technology themselves, so how can they teach their students to do it?