EDTC 606 Multimedia ii
Reflection
Time flies when you’re having fun! I have learned an incredible amount of new technology and its applications to my classroom in this class! Animoto, Puppet Pals, Little Bird Tales, Screencast-o-matic, Audacity, iMovie, and Skype are a few of my favorites. My first artifact is a video remix I made using the program Animoto. We had just studied about the US symbols and had our US symbols day in class. I created this video to display what we did in the classroom and to reinforce information that we studied about these US Symbols. I put it up on our class website and the kids, parents and grandparents loved watching it! Even a month later during our Friday Fun day I saw some kids on the computer on the website watching the video. What a great way to reinforce the US symbols. After seeing the effect this video had on my students, I also created videos to reinforce what we learned about magnets and our reading strategies. I found a great tool in Animoto! Combining video clips, photos and music has never been so easy.
My next artifact is the digital story I created called “How the Bobcat Got Its Name.” I learned how to add pictures and record voices using iMovie. The most challenging part iMovie was figuring out how to zoom in and out on the photos the way I wanted. Once I finally realized how to do this it was no trouble at all. While making this video, it occurred to me that we really do learn by actively having direct interaction with the content. This is nothing new, I know this constructivist approach to learning and have my kids “doing” all the time, but I did not realize how true it was until I created this movie. My video teaches our school’s four character traits of respect, responsibility, integrity and kindness. Of course I know what these traits mean, but I didn’t really know what each of these looked like in different parts of our school until I spent time and analyzed what each of them look like in the cafeteria, hallway, playground and classroom. After making the video I now use these character traits by name more in my class. For example, when someone comes in and hangs up their backpack and chooses their lunch, I praise them for being responsible. I learned more from creating the video than I would have if I just watched a video. Does this sound familiar? Blooms highest level of thinking, creating!
NETS*T Standards
*Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
*Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
*Model Digital Age Work and Learning
*Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
*Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
21st Century Skills
*Creativity and Innovation
*Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
*Communication and Collaboration
*Information Literacy
*Media Literacy
*Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
*Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
*Model Digital Age Work and Learning
*Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
*Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
21st Century Skills
*Creativity and Innovation
*Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
*Communication and Collaboration
*Information Literacy
*Media Literacy
Research
I learned about I-reporting. I-reporting is a way for kids and the average person to contribute to breaking news stories by submitting stories, photos and videos. In the classroom teachers can use this to give their kids authentic learning experiences. It is a way to encourage participation and have them try extra hard on an assignment because they know that “real” people and not just their teachers are going to be reading what they write. I-reporting is about telling stories, personal feelings----REFLECTING. Isn’t that what we try to get our students to do every day! Why not have another avenue to have their voices heard? I-reporting also encourages students to think critically about what it means to be unbiased, to present competing viewpoints, and to earn readers’ trust. In Kindergarten we celebrate the 100th Day of School! We do activities all day that have to do with 100. We stamp 100 times. We write our numbers to 100. We write 100 letters. We write about what we would buy if we had $100. We do 100 exercises. We even pop 100 balloons! The day after this day we could be I-reporters describing and writing about what Mrs. Kalvels’ class did to celebrate the 100th day of school. We could blog about it to our Kindergarten blogging buddies in Mrs. Moran’s class and ask if they celebrate the 100th day and ask them what kinds of things they do to celebrate their 100th day.
I learned about “Skype in the Classroom!” This Website brings together teachers from all over the world who have ideas about connecting kids. It is amazing how fast it works. I contacted a teacher in the United Kingdom that expressed interest in finding out about Thanksgiving in America. The teacher wanted to know why we had this special day and what people did to celebrate this day. I sent her an email, and she responded the same day. My kids had just learned about the Mayflower and Thanksgiving. What a perfect culminating activity, Skyping with Miss Bailey’s class to teach them about why we celebrate Thanksgiving was perfect. My kids loved it! They all wanted a turn to speak and ask questions. They were especially entranced by their accents. We study Europe and all the continents in January and February, so I will be sure to keep her contact details so they can teach us about Britain and those Double Decker Buses! It’s so exciting!
I completed lots of research about simulations and the impact they can have in the classroom. Simulations let children be in control of their learning. They are in charge of where they go, what they press, and what options they choose. They see different outcomes and learn from that exploring. Giving children control is powerful and simulations do just that. They can experience how things would be in the real world, but in a safe environment. They can take chances and discover what it takes to be successful. In my classroom we teach about animals and their habitats. During this unit I’m going to use the simulation Build-A-Fish to reinforce adaptations and why animals have certain features. I will have each of the kids play the game and create their own species of fish that would live in the habitat of their choice. They will then draw a picture of their new fish and its habitat and write about why they chose each of the body types for their particular habitat. This is much more engaging than me telling about different habitats.
I learned that Podcasts can be used in the classroom to develop reading, speaking, writing and listening skills. Students can listen to podcasts created by their teachers or they can create their own. Children will be excited about communicating information to real live audiences. They will develop 21st century learning skills. Podcasts can be used by students to show evidence of their own learning or as a way to self-reflect. Below is a Podcast I created for the volunteers that come into my classroom.
Resources