Our First Collaboration Assignment

Here is our first assignment as copied from the assignment page of our class:

"in your initial discussion, describe the lesson you are considering adapting or developing as the centerpiece of your Capstone I Portfolio Exhibit and explain how existing learning resources could be designed or adapted to include students' use of technology tools to research and collect information online and to create a digital product."

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Permalink Reply by Paul George on October 1, 2011 at 8:51pm

I plan to modify the following lesson which I worked on during the pre-Capstone course. At that time, it was more of a summative assessment happening toward the end of the school year in preparation for the SOL. It was also geared to middle schoolers. Now that we are at the start of a new school year, and since I am now working with elementary students, I will adapt it to fit a particular elementary math unit rather than cover the entire curriculum. Here's a snippet from my previously submitted plan:

Students will work in pairs or triads to create online tutorials to be used by themselves and their peers to prepare for the annual state SOL tests in mathematics. The goal is to provide needs-based, student-centered, corrective instruction in the form of digital tutorials so that students may master the objectives on which they currently demonstrate weakness. Appropriate permissions must be secured or verified before posting any projects or videos that include students themselves, according to the divisions Acceptable Use Policy, (4A). The permission slip might also include an item about posting student work on the web and making it available for use in future classes.

Let me know what you think about my plan so far.

Permalink Reply by Rachel Welch on October 2, 2011 at 7:51am

I think that this is a great lesson. Especially for the 3-5 grades. There are many resources that you can use to have the students create these tutorials. A few that come to mind right off the top of my head include: the recording feature on Smart board using the document camera, Photostory, possibly Blabbarize (although this may not work), or even allow the students use the flip videos and upload the files.

Did you want the "learners" of the tutorials to be able to interact or just watch? Where would you post them? Does your school have enough server space? We run into server space issues from time to time. Just something to consider.

Permalink Reply by Christine on October 2, 2011 at 8:45am

Do you all have access to quia? It is a great place to create assessments, but may not be what you were thinking for your kids.

Permalink Reply by Paul George on October 2, 2011 at 11:17am

I do not; is it free?

Permalink Reply by Rachel Welch on October 2, 2011 at 7:56am

For my lesson, I intend to also use the one that I designed during the introduction course. Since we are an IB school we teach in units of inquiry with it ending using some form of summative assessment. Take a look and tell me what you think.

During this unit the students inquire into ways in which to better organize themselves, their families, and their homes. They also inquire into the ways in which students, families, schools, communities, and careers are organized in other countries. In the past, this has been done through a lot of hands on activities, guest speakers, interviews, and from watching videos about other cultures. We often start the unit by mixing up their schedule with no explanation (for example; recess as soon as they walk in the door, reading before math, etc.) Long before the unit ever begins we place organizational tools throughout the room to allow conversations to develop. Some objects placed in the room in the past have included: notebooks, coat hangers, laptops, crates, etc.) As the students begin to have conversations about these objects we then lead the students in the direction of talking about organization.

Each student is required to complete the same final summative assessment. It is as follows:

You are an amazing author and world historian documenting how your family organizes themselves. Document your findings in a written report. Be sure to be a wonderful artist/illustrator by creating and decorating a picture to go with your written report.

I believe that this unit could be more effectively taught if I include many more technology tools and resources than those stated in the unit of inquiry and summative assessment. I would like to change the summative assessment to:

You are an amazing author and world historian documenting how your family organizes themselves. Document your findings in a multimedia presentation of your choice. Be sure to be a wonderful presenter by creating and a digital presentation that contains text and graphics. Be prepared to present your presentation to the class.

Permalink Reply by Paul George on October 2, 2011 at 8:11am

I think your new version of the summative assessment is excellent! However, in light of UDL, I'd suggest that you give students the choice to do it the old way, (poster, picture, display board), or the new, (digital presentation), or even a hybrid. Some students may not be ready or may not have the tools to make the leap.

Also, perhaps in place of the "hard copy" items like crates and hangers, you might provide a collection of web resources such as links to "The Container Store," "Bed, Bath, and Beyond," etc.

Permalink Reply by Rachel Welch on October 2, 2011 at 9:30am

I love the idea of the container store etc. I will certainly use it! Thanks!

You are correct, I should give choice. I was thinking of creating an initial survey using survey monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/MyAccount_GetStartedE.aspx to see what the students' interests and comfort levels were. This would allow me to plan around their choices as well. Do you think that this could work with 2nd graders?

Permalink Reply by Christine on October 2, 2011 at 8:43am

I like how the kids have a choice of how they present their final presentation! That is a great idea, and gives all learners to choose a format that they are comfortable with.

Permalink Reply by Christine on October 2, 2011 at 8:39am

Ok, I think you both have a very specific focus, which is wonderful! I think it is best to have that goal and then Build off of it to integrate the technology. Looking back at my plan in the intro class, I focused on life cycles. I had way too much going on and I feel like it doesn't even make sense to me anymore!

I think I am going to focus on an activity I am actually doing with 4th grade. We are doing research on important people from VA during the civil war. I have a lot of great ideas for this lesson/ research project. I want to be realistic, as I think my last plan was a little too adventurous. I want to use web 2.0 tools for teams of students to collaborate for their research. I also have a pretty cool

Permalink Reply by Christine on October 2, 2011 at 8:41am

Ug stupid iPad... I also have a pretty cool idea for blue screen videos for the kids to present their research. I know I don't have much yet, but we have picked the people and I am going to start to come up with a plan for research. Thoughts? Do I need more?

Permalink Reply by Rachel Welch on October 2, 2011 at 9:27am

I like it! One of the members of our class discussed a resource called Museum Box: http://museumbox.e2bn.org/creator/. This might be a place that the kids could create some of their presentations. I played with it a little last night and am considering using it myself. The only downside is that a teacher can't view their submitted projects for 5 days. (they have to be approved by the site) A way to get around this is just to have them long in and show you without it being submitted. This certainly could be done in teams. But again I have a lot more learning to do using this tool.

Forgive me, but what is a blue screen video?

Permalink Reply by Paul George on October 2, 2011 at 11:19am

Yuck, what's up w/ the five-day delay?? What a delay to put in the way of immediate feedback and assessment!