What am I learning: Field Week 3

We used our digital story as part of our lesson. The students were impressed by the fact that we made a movie, and asked their teacher if they could learn how to make one themselves. Our class really enjoys technology. The only problem I found with using the Digital story was that our students were not engaged during the movie. It was hard to keep them focused, they spent a lot of the time visiting with their neighbors.

I have learned that using technology as a teacher is very important. It gives a variety to lesson plans, as well as provides examples of the technologies available to the students. Field has been a great experience and I feel like I have learned and improved a lot.

What I am learning: Field Week 2

This was our week to teach our lessons. For our technology rich lesson, we decided to have our class research Utah's Native American Tribes using the mobile computer labs. We brought in a lap top for each student and gave them different topics to research. The kids loved getting to find information using the laptops instead of a worksheet or a text book. The lesson didn't go exactly as planned but the students really enjoyed it. We also showed our Digital Story this week. The kids enjoyed it and were impressed that we made it ourselves.

What am I learning: Field 11/3-11/10

Our first week of field we have spent most of our time observing, as well as preparing our lesson plans. Our digital story is coming great. we decided we wanted to tell the story of the Utah of the Native Americans and tell how they have impacted us. We have our storyboard complete, and all of the pictures lined up. We are ready to put music to the lineup this week.
We have also finished preparing our technology rich lesson. We are going to show our Digital story to our students to introduce our Native American Unit, and then have the students work in Cooperative Learning Groups researching the different tribes. It is part of the 4th grade curriculum to learn to use search engines, and use the internet to do research. We hope it will go according to plan, keep you posted.
As far as the Technology our class is learning, they are developing their typing skills. Most students are working on the home row in their keyboarding rotation but a few are on other rows.
Until next week....

What am I learning: October 21, 2010

This week in class we worked on our Digital Stories in class and researched different acts and laws having to do with copyright. It was really interesting to learn about the different laws and acts.

What am I learning: Digital Story 1

What? 

This week we learned how to format a story board for our Digital Story. We watched a lot of great examples of how our digital story should evoke emotion, and tell a story.
So What? 
I think that learning each of the steps to making a digital story week by week will solidify my ability to create a digital story. As a future teacher, learning this will allow me to teach my students these skills as well my colleagues. We are learning this so we can have another tool to use to grasp and hook our students on what we are learning.

Now What? 

I would really like to teach this skill to my future students, I think it will be a great tool for them to use as they continue their education. I could even make this a collaborative assignment to help the students learn how to work in group. This skill can be used and integrated with any other core. it is a great skill to have.

Key Assignment: Vidcast Reflection

                                                               

Key Assignment: Vidcast Reflection

The name of our vidcast is The 3 R’s, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. This vidcast meets the Health Education curriculum for grades 4-6, Standard 3, The students will understand and respect self and others related to human development and relationships, objective 1, Practice ways of showing respect for self and others.

We chose to do our vidcast on recycling because we feel that while it is important for students to show respect to their family members and peers, it is also important for them to learn to respect their surrounding environment. We believe that part of respecting others is to understand that where we live, where we go to school, or where we play is home to everyone. We all deserve to have a nice place to live. Students will benefit from the vidcast. It will teach them to treat their surroundings with respect; they will learn to take care of what they have.

Our vidcast relates to the Health Education Standard 3, by allowing the students to develop knowledge about different ways to respect those around us. Recycling is a form of respect to others because it makes it so future generations will have everything that we have. It is also a form of respect because it keeps our earth clean for everyone.

The potential drawback of using this vidcast in the classroom, is that students’ may not receive support at home helping them to recycle. Though this is a drawback, recycling in the classroom will be enforced. This may help students want to continue to recycle in the future. We plan to show this to our future students to initiate recycling in the classroom at the beginning of the year. We will track how much we recycle each month, and see what we have preserved by doing so.

What am I learning: Vidcasts

What? This week we were introduced to vidcasts. Our assignment for the week is to create vidcast with our class partner. The vidcast can be something to do with the core or a "how to". My partner and I chose to do How to Recycle.

So What?

As a teacher, student, and colleague I can use vidcasts on many different occasions. Vidcasts can be used to teach a lesson when if I ever have a sub, or to excite the kids about a new unit we will be studying, use it as a sort of "trailer" to introduce the unit. As a student I could use a vidcast in a presentation. I feel we are learning this technology to provide us with another way of presenting our material as a teacher. As a colleague I can use vidcasts to share my material with fellow teachers.

Now What? 

As a future teacher, I don't know if I will use vidcasts. I feel like in some cases they can be kind of cheesy. However, I will teach this technology to my students so they can utilize it in their own lives. I will have them do research on what we are studying and have them create a vidcast and present it to the class. Though vidcasts are not the thing for me I still think they can be beneficial for others.