Service Projects

Allison and I were working with Austin, so before I had to leave I gathered as much information as I could for him KWL chart so I would be able to put all the information in when I got home, and shared it with his mom so he could change anything he would want to. Another task that I had was creating a storyboard for him so he could learn how to prepare a movie efficiently. I did my best to create a storyboard that was basic so it would be user friendly. What is nice is all the of the documents that we worked with we had them on GoogleDocs so we would all be able to access them easily and edit them. It is a wonderful resource to use and I think its something that Austin and his mom learned as well. The last assignment that we worked with Austin before we left was creating his Blog so he would have his own place to put his VoiceThread and talk about his experiences.



I worked with 2 of the kids I babysit to create a video. When we got on my blog I showed them my video and others that were made so they got excited about seeing what kind of movie they were going to make and very creative ideas that they wanted to us. We were going to do a VoiceThread, but I think they realized the video was a lot more work then they thought it was going to be. The first thing that we did to figure out what kind of movie we were going to make was deciding a topic. I noticed that this time when I went over each child had their own cage with caterpillars in them. They loved the idea of using their caterpillars and especially Peyton because he already had learned about their cycle of life in school. So I opened the KWL chart i had previously made for them and I started writing down what he already knew about caterpillars to see if he wanted to use any of this information in his video. Next I decided to write down the various steps and I started working on his StoryBoard online, so he told me directly what he wanted me to put on it. It was hard to do this step first because he was very anxious to get started recording. We started working on recording his video and looking for pictures so we would be able to show what we were talking about when we were saying the different steps. In conclusion was creating the video, and they decided that they would rather not use sound because it was take away from the video ...even though as much as I tried to convince them. They loved the ending result the only thing they wish was that the voice did not cut off as much as it did at the end up, but we didnt have another camera at the time to rerecord. Overall I feel as though they enjoyed it very much and they were excited to show it to their parents.

New Project

Since I had the difficulty of losing my student, and parent I was going to be working with I'm getting the wonderful opportunity to work with another student in my class (Allison) and her student Austin. We are going to have the first meeting today, so during class we took the time to plan out exactly what we have planned for our first meeting. We made the KWL chart for Austin to be ready to do right away, and Allison had already typed up the open-ended questions on GoogleDocs so I just took the time to add a couple more questions to the document. I'm very excited to get started and I'm going to enjoy the opportunity to get to work with someone else so we can both learn a lot from one another.
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We had our first meeting with Austin, and his Mom. And he was an extraordinarily smart young man. I started to feel as though, that I'm sure I could learn a lot from him about his project on Volcanoes. We started working on his VoiceThread right away as he gathered some pictures from offline. He was very anxious to get started, and just wanted to do everything himself!! As we started getting ready to record for his VoiceThread, we realized for some reason we couldn't get the sound to come out ...because it was recording but nothing was coming back when we would play it back. So we got started on his KWL chart and creating his blog for him.

1st Face to Face Meeting

I had my first meeting with the parent of the student I'm going to be working on this project last Friday. We met during the day so of course Jolie was at school, so we just went over what was going to be going on because she wasn't too sure what the project was about. The parent wasn't really sure that her daughter was studying Greek Mythology so we just talked about the different tools we would be using to help her daughter with researching the project and the neat stuff we would be using to show what she will learn. She just took a look at my blog so I could show her what exactly I was talking about and she was making plans to email her students teacher to ask about what the project was going to be consisted of.

....When i checked in with her she let me know today and she is a little busy to be working on the project with Jolie so much, and the teacher said this was an extra activity. She informed me that Jolie would not feel comfortable working on this without her mom, so she pulled her from the project. Now I'm going to be on the task of working towards finding another student to complete this project with!

My Wedding Budget Plans!!

Above is a graph on the differences between the predicted about of money estimated cost (blue) that I would spend on my "wedding" and the red is the actual cost that was spent. On my Spreadsheet is list that my budget was $40,000, in which i spent almost $27,000. I was still extremely below this budget which was good that i didn't go over. But this is an example, and introduction to Spreadsheets, along with graphs and how they can be beneficial tools in the classroom.

The importance that students will find with using spreadsheets is a great way to help them organizing information they gather. I often remember using excel and spreadsheets, throughout school age years, but as I got older and more in my later years of High School I stopped using them. The usage of spreadsheets are very beneficial in different subjects for example Science, Math. Being able to record this information helps us get a better of picture of all the information while we are able to look at a chart give a better pictures for example students who need to be able to see items in a different way to help them comprehend. There are various times of charts/graphs that can be used which helps give a wide variety to users.

Inquiry-based Questions:
1. How can a line graph help you understand a graph in the change in the numbers over time, or over a long period of time?
2. What is the difference between a chart with numbers and a graph? And how can a graph be more helpful then a chart?
3. Is it important to use different colors when you are talking about two different topics in your bar graph? If so, why can't we use the same colors ...doesn't it do the same things because they are two different columns?

My Movie (Using Windows Media Maker)

Before using Windows Media Maker I was very apprehensive on software because I was a little confused on how it was going to work. Seeing an example of what I was going to be doing, and what was expected made it a little harder because I started thinking how am I going to be able to do that! But once I got started it was so much fun and I really enjoyed it! The hardest part other then thinking of a Unit Question, or topic for my movie was the part of actually getting started. All the planning that I had already done made it easy for me to know what my materials were going to be and how i was going to be using them to making my movie.


Movie Maker is an awesome resource to have students play around with when they are working on research projects. It some ways I think it can be easier that doing an actual PowerPoint presentation. For example early age school students can put something together with just finding pictures, and adding the text or their voice on the pictures to relay their information. The use of putting video on their projects for the little students can be the teacher recording the overall idea of what they are doing for the students. It is very important for students to learn how to use all sorts of resources and experiement and have fun, because its the whole part of learning. The more they are able to experiment and have fun with what they are doing the more they are going to want to learn.

Overall the process was a great learning experience, and with more practice I'm sure I am going to continue to enjoy the Media Maker more and more. I plan on becoming more experienced with the tool because I want it to be something that I know exactly what I'm doing with I start working in my Special Education class. In my class I hope that I'm able to make this movies after every big lessons, or project that my students do, and/or for field trips. This way their parents are able to watch these videos from home on the blog that I'm going to have open to all of my students parents.

Planning for Digital Storytelling

My Movie Maker project is going to be about the Water Cycle, and the 4 different stages which contribute to this natural part of our life that we often don't take notice to often enough. My project is going to be as though I am the actual student doing this topic in the 3rd grade. I will be using audio, video, and pictures to help me understand all of the process in which I hope that my students will be doing as well later in the classroom. To help me understand what I was actually going to be doing I read over the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling, and created my own document of Notes of what it actually is (if you go ahead and click "notes", you are able to read this and get another overview of what Digital Storytelling is and its benefits).

The planning required before actually starting is very important because it is giving an actual starting part of where I should begin rather then just rushing into something and getting stuck often because I didn't plan up to the next point. During the planning part after you have selected the topic in which you want to do your project on it is important to gather all your images you want to use right away and save these so you don't have to go searching later, and its a great idea to help keep yourself organized. To help myself get prepared and organized I put together a Storyboard that helped me outline what exactly what I was planning on doing.

Digital Storytelling

Digital Storytelling can require the narrator to virtually tell a story. While using Digital Storyteller you should be able to mute the video, and there will still be a story, or plot being reached without sound. Audio can make it very entertaining, but it is also important to be able to tell a story without speaking to allow students to learn visually. Through Digital Storytelling it can be used as a very productive teaching instrument, in many different ways. It can be used by the teacher, and also by the students. In both ways it opens the area to teaching that way, it can make the lessons a little more interesting and fun for the students rather then just reading the text books, or listening to the teacher lecture.

An interesting question to ask students is if you are able to tell a story without words. I'm sure for most grade levels in Elementary students will give a wide range of answers, but most of the students realizing that maybe you can't tell a story without words. I asked this question to a students I'm tutoring, and he wasn't really sure how to answer this, when I went back to read his answer I didn't really understand the point he was trying to make.

By using Digital Storytelling the teacher can educate the students through this video, which allows her to use resources outside of the school, rather then being limited to the class. For example a lesson about different habitats, as this teacher explores the water, woods, dry land and so on outside of the classroom. Digital Storytelling can also become useful to teachers when you are trying to teach about a subject that students might not be very engaged in. An example of this might include a History lesson that students might not care too much about. As the teacher you can go around filming relating the subject to students today, this way they start making more sense of it and wanting to learn more. In my video I plan on using a theme of Blues Clues for the students to follow along as I introduce maps, and different tools they will be using while looking at these maps.

For older students it can be a great activity if they were to be required to teach the class about a certain subject without speaking. The teacher can have certain topics she wants the class to cover that week, and each group has to present a video which will lead into her discussion about the topic. This will require the students to be very creative, and allow them to think outside the box. Sign Language is a great way to teach without speaking, or through pictures, and so on. To make it extra entertaining you can also have them speak in their videos, but part of their grade can be how well can they make their point without any sound. For High School students it can be part of their grade, on how much the students learned abou the subject that didn't have any sound.

SlideShare - Changes in Georgraphy

With the exploration of slideshare I've discovered a new way to help my students make presentation and be able to post them online. The positive about slideshare is also that while I'm in the class I'm able to take pictures of what the students are doing in the classroom and its another way to share this. It's a great way for parents to take a look at my blog to see how their children are doing and what they are learning about. With the fact for these kinds of activities it's very important for teachers to make sure they are getting the consent of the parents before they are able to post pictures.

A great thing about taking pictures of the activities and the work is that you're able to do this without even having to take pictures of the students faces. It's extremely easy to take the pictures of the students from behind, and just take pictures of the work that they are doing. Being able to do this helps keep the students privecey if that is what what the parents asks for.

There are many different ways to use technology to teach students, and with voicethread you are able to stories and students can all recored themselves talking, and they can put together soemthing really neat by themselves. Teaching powerpoint for students is a lot of fun because the students will learn all the cool things they can do everytime they use it. Practice is the key, and by the students learning how to do SlideShare by themselves they are able to learning more about PowerPoint and another technology resource.

My SlideShare powerpoint that I put loaded was more in an example of something a student could do on a certain subject. I picked my stubject to be about How the geography has changed over time. While a student would research this subject they will start to be learning various information that stupports their TEKs in different subjects. For example on my presentation I learned about the Georgraphy, and how it has changed and what caused it. I found a graph so I had to be able to read it, to be able to see the changes. Graphs are introduced in math, but thy carry over to every subjects for example history, and science. Language Arts and comprehension was very important, because I had to be able to understand all of the information that I was reading and draw conclusions. Learning about the glaciers melting is a big part of science, as students will have to be able to comprehend what is actually going on.

Helpful Websites

There are various websites that can help teachers in the classroom in all types of different research, learning about these and the effective ways to help students with learning effective research is the key to success. Personally I know that when I have projects to do, it becomes so much easier when I figure out where to look for things up at, and how. For students this process can be very frustrating! I used my Essential and Unit based questions, while also looking up the TEKs to help me research various sites to see what was useful. As we have also been using Blogger to help us, in using the resource effectively, some of the websites I included were blogs, and many of them include links to other wonderful resources!! While researching I also took the opportunity to just look around to see what search engines were helpful for students. Please take the opportunity to read and learn what I found was effective and I've attached my Works Cited. This way you print this document to have your own personal copy of these websites, and what the websites entail.

Blogs in my Future Class/David Warlock

Blogs to me are similar to the modern day newsletter that is usually sent home to a student for their parent to read. Now as more people are trying to "go green," blogs can be very useful as they save paper! It can be helpful for High School teachers to put helpful information for students to look on to help them with projects that they might have. Or as students are preparing for college, helping both the parent and the students looking for scholarships, grants, volunteer opportunities, and etc. It is also something that can be used positively in the summers and during winder breaks as students can look up good books they might wants to read, or various "things" just to keep them busy, and out of trouble.

I plan on working with Special Needs students in a Special Education Classroom, and the more that I think about what a blog is the more I'm considering immediately making it something that I start using at my first school. It can be something where on my weekends or during the weeks I can make post about what has been working in the class and what hasn't been working. This information will help me, make note of this information so say 5 years from now I don't keep making my mistakes. It will also be just as usefully for my coworkers can get on and make notes about what they think, about what I say is going on. Eventually what I'm aiming for is to where I can make it to where all the teachers in the district are able to get on and make notes and comments. Everyday we learn something new, and I want Blogger to be something where it becomes so positive in the classroom. I plan on updating it as I search online for various websites that have helped me come up with creative ways to help my students further their knowledge, and I hope that all the positive feedback that I get on my will help other teachers, that are in the same position as me.

Reading various blogs is very effective - it's almost like reading a newspaper. As I was reading David Warlock's 2 Cents' blog I found this part about "More on What Matters..." to be really interesting! He is talking about why students are doing better now a days in school and how it is said that it is because of the new establishments of technology. He says..

We are just now starting to pay attention and to understand some of what our students are doing, but it still looks like technology to us. We see the machines, because we’re looking in from the outside. To them, it’s the information.

I believe he is right, as students are starting to be monitored better, and finding ways to help them with what they are struggling in - it is easy to say it's just the technology which it isn't. He does a wonderful job with adding in the videos as he explains what he is talking about to make it seem almost like we are talking face to face with him. It's a wonderful blog although it might seem overwhelming if it isn't read on a daily basis because there is so much to read on it!

Inquiry and Project-Based Learning

The process of learning is probably something that most, if not the majority, of people don't think about that they do on a daily basis. But there are two important various types of learning, that if we are able to understand the easier it will be for our students to be able to become more effective in the classroom.

Inquiry-Based Learning is the means in which information is finally processed for students. It's common that people can memorize without actually learning anything, and as teachers we are trying to work out students up to the point where they are able to actually learn. There are many different essentials that help students learn, for example organization and rules. Chaos is not really good for anyone in the learning atmosphere. As a teacher when a students comes to you to ask you for help on this homework, sometimes we might want to go back and check the answers on our master sheet. Well when all the papers all over your desk, you are taking time for that student as you are trying to search for your papers to find the answer, or the explanation.

Project-Based Learning is learning that the students obtain through activities. This sort of learning helps students learn in a different way. It requires the teacher to instruct the activity, and then it kind of put it on the hand of the students in groups to work together. This helps a lot of times because when a students doesn't want to ask the teacher a questions because they think it might be "dumb" they are able to ask their peers. A lot of times they will realize that it is a common question that they share, that way the group is able to ask together. For teachers Project-Based Learning helps us out, because we are able to help 4 or 5 groups of students rather then 10 individual students.

There are benefits to all types of learning!! And the more strategies that we are able to come up with the more comfortable we will become in the classroom. Here is a paper that I previously wrote explaining Project and Inquiry-Based Learning, with an example for an activity for both that can be used. I made some words italicized and bold to make it easy to locate the different topics throughout the paper! I hope you enjoy!...

Importance of Essential and Unit Questions

Welcome to my very 1st Blog!

There is a great importance in understanding the difference between Essential and Unit Questions, and believe it or not if you are able to ask these questions in an effective matter the easier it will make for us, as teachers, teaching our students.

An Essential Question is asked broad enough to make students think, for the answer, rather then just looking for the easy way out, in answer "Ummm I don't know it just is...". An example of a question that could be tweaked in ways to make it more effective is "Why are working in groups helpful?" The question doesn't give room for students to think in dept to answer it. The question can be answered by a students just saying "They help you see where you are..?" or "Because they just are Miss". Common answers that teachers are trying to avoid when we ask a question expecting students to think about the answer. The ability to ask a question is a task in it's self and we have to be able to ask a questions with figuring out the proper wording, and in a certain subject it is important for students to understand how this one topic can help the individuals in other courses/classes as well. If students are able to understand the importance the easier it is to get through to that child that didn't care before. We are teaching because we already have learning the power of knowledge, most students haven't learned that, yet.

Unit Questions are something drawn from that broad Essential Question that gives the students individual answers that they are looking for. It's important for Unit Questions to be specific to help our students know what exactly they are looking for, and this keeps the students from being confused. Confusing in a students can be difficult, because personally I know it use to be so common for me that if I didn't get something I'd just give up and not want to ask because I wouldn't want to be embarrassed.

...Here is an example of an effective Essential Question, and 3 Unit Questions. Along with how one topic can help the students with 3 different subjects and it's TEKs at one time.