Life has been good!!!

Wow. I am now 27, have found my best friend and love of my life, my hubby, and about to have my second baby boy.....how god has blessed me.

What we Found!

It was really hard to do any of the internet resources here at my home computer. I really just have a basic computer with no microphone, scanner, printer or any of that stuff. My student and I did collect information and put it into a spreadsheet to see what different types of bugs we could find at the two locations.

Just view my student's BLOG to view the data that we collected.

The data of the different types of bugs that we collect was done by my student. I assisted him by just following him and being there by him. This part of the inquiry-based learning was pretty easy. My student had fun as well as I did. I feel like the only time that I assisted him was when using the computer to embed and write his blogs, but after the first blog entry he pretty much got the hang of it.

Service Project

To tell you guys the truth, I was just as nervous as the student that I was using was. I tried to sit back and "guide on the side," as was suggested in Session 2 of this project, but to tell you the truth it was rather difficult because my student was not at all used to operating a computer. In fact, he didn't even have one in his house! When we first got ready to start using the computer he was very over-anxious and click happy. When first reading about inquiry-based learning it seemed like that was for sure, in my eyes, the easiest way to teach, and I couln't understand why my teachers never really embraced this method of teaching. Now I learned that I found it rather difficult to let the child have little instructions and just completing a good portion of the lesson by simply just letting the student get started and doing it.

My student's name is Tanner Burgess and he just passed to the 4th grade. He is definetly an outdoors type of kid and is eager and excited to help and do new things. While we were creating his Blog and his Unit Plan I could tell that he loves to have as much input as he can, and he also loves to do things for himself.

Using Spreadsheets in the Classroom

There are so many different ways to incorporate different teaching tools. One of the most visual types of learning methods is using spreadsheets to show the data that is collected or researched during the lesson. I show an example of using a spreadsheet to show how our students are making goals to eating better, and also keeping track of what they are actually eating. In this example they are required to log and view what they have eaten and if they have met their daily goal. Spreadsheets can be used for many different types of things. You can use them for inputting and sorting out information that the classroom has collected and inserting it into a spreadsheet. This is a fast and simple way to organize and see how the students are participating. It is also a great way to let the students gather information and view it along with how much of their goals they have actually met.

Spreadsheets will allow students to view the information gather, see it in numerical format and ask questions like: How much do I need?
What are my goals for this project?
Did I reach my goals?

Movie Project and the Tools Used

This was actually one of the most complicated and time consuming mini-projects that I have completed, but it was also the most rewarding. I can honestly say that I am amazed with the outcome. Learning to use and incorporating tools like Audacity, Freeplay and Microsoft Movie Maker help put excellent finishing touches. It added a lot of character to my movie. Using these tools like Audacity and Movie Maker also let me personalize my movie and express myself and my ideas.

I am definitely intrigued with all these free tools and I am excited to try to incorporate a project such as this one in my classroom. I will admit at first all the different tools and steps did seem overwhelming at first, but once I got the hang of it and completed the project, I felt a great sense of accomplishment and interest with the entire movie project. I also feel that if I were to design a lesson plan with this project in mind I know that my students will definitely benefit by learning the different tools and using them later on in the future; or even actually introducing and teaching someone else how to use them.

Myself, as a consumer, I am always complaining about how much things cost now-a-days. By using all of these free tools and combining them all together to make a great simple and fun lesson it made me realize how much free stuff is out there on the web and how I am not taking advantage of it.

7 Elements of Digital Storytelling

Knowing and following the 7 elements of digital storytelling will help guide my lesson plan in the right direction to making a successful storyboard. It is kind of like using these following 7 elements as a checklist and making sure to cover each one of these elements while I am composing my storyboard on helping others eat healthier. Point of view is one of the first elements. This is when the story is told in the perspective of the author of the story. Our digital stories will be from each and every student's different point of views, and how they interpret the information that they gather. Next is the dramatic question. It is a question that will be answered by the end of the story. Emotional Content is a serious issue that will speak to us in a personal and powerful way throughout the story. The Gift of your voice is a way to personalize the story to help the audience understand the context. The Power of the Soundtrack will help the music or other sounds support the storyline. Economy is simply just putting enough content to tell the story without overloading the viewer with too much information. Pacing the story is the seventh and final one. It relates to economy, but specifically deals with how slowly or quickly the story progresses. In my unit template you will be able to see what the student will be learning as well as how this will help them grow as a student.

Interacting with Technology in the Classroom

Digital storytelling allows students in the classroom to combine technology and research and make an interesting lesson plan. It also is a more interesting way to present and teach the lesson at hand. Digital storytelling allows the students to practice a tremendous amount of hands on activities and also teaches the students how to get up in front of their peers in the classroom and present their informaion.
Digital storytelling can be used in the classroom to present group projects, view other people's outlook on the lesson, and most importantly it allows the students to express their creativity. I have created a sample template of the unit plan for this lesson as well as a sample of what the slidecast should consist of.

At Home 1 [1]

View more OpenOffice presentations from sadame1.