Monday, December 1, 2008
December 1, 2008
Can you believe it is December already?? Take a moment to talk about where you are now in your "tech journey". Is anything getting easier? Are there areas you need support with? As a learning cohort we are all here to help one another. If you see a comment or a question by a colleague, respond to it if you have a strategy, suggestion, etc.
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26 comments:
I have collected a few film clips of two students I am following and am working with premiere, but can't get the timing the way I want, does anyone have any sugestions? I love the activboard and use it on a daily basis, I love making scaffolds and having the children use their active votes for lunch count, what else does everyone use the active votes for?
Gabrielle
I used my ActiveVotes a lot more in the content area of math. I am not teaching math this year and as a result am not using the votes as much. My students really enjoy the votes and I find the data useful, but would like other ideas about how to integrate them into language arts.
Sara Jo
I feel much more comfortable using the activboard and also use mine on a daily basis. Now that I have a better grasp of the tool, I would like to know how to do some of the fancy special effects a little better. I watch other teachers give presentations using the activboard and it is neat to see everything it can do - but I only know how to do the very basic stuff. My biggest weakness is trying to find the time to create new scaffolds. I have had a lot of success with the scaffolds I already created and have tons of new ideas, I just can't seem to find the time to create them all. As far as active votes are concerned, unfortunately I am not lucky enough to have them yet so I don't have any new ideas.
Things here are going well. For me, time is just a challenge as we have computer lab twice a month for an hour (and vacations have fallen on our lab weeks).
I am happy that I started a daily rotation to get the kids on the classroom computers more often (they are numbered off 1-5 and on Monday, the #1's have extra computer time, on Tuesdays, the #2's have extra time, etc). This is helping with keyboard practice and EDM online games. Any other ideas for what they should do at this time?
I love ACTIVbook reader and the kids are currently working on a visual art lesson called "Shape Your Words."
I've been experimenting more this year than I did last year, thanks to ITP giving me the kick in the pants that I needed! I've done three ActivBooks with my kids in computer lab this year - two language arts books and one multiplication book. Now that the kids are becoming independent with ActivBooks, they are really getting a lot out of the lessons!
I've also been working on getting a class wiki up, using one of the lessons in PdPoint. That's been a slower process for me, because I'm really not happy with the formatting options allowed on Wikispaces. Has anyone else run into trouble getting their Wiki to look the way they want?
The ACTIVbook Reader has been so great for our computer lab time and beyond. I have done numerous lessons which compliment our current study in Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, and even Science. All of the lessons have been meaningful and memorable for the students; they are always asking for more lessons! Have any of you found some interesting ACTIVbook Reader choices?
I have also been gaining confidence when using the ActiveBoard, and stretching myself when creating new flipcharts. I was even able to create a lesson which combined strategies from my GLAD training into a flipchart poetry lesson.
Thanks ITP for making me and my classroom more techy! :)
I also use my ACTIVBoard on a daily basis but do not have ACTIVotes (yet). I am becoming more bold about just clicking until I get what I want, which is a "new" skill for me. Before, it was always asking someone for fear I would get to someplace I couldn't get out of or lose something I had been working on. The whole ACTIVboard flipchart thing, as far as developing new ones, still takes me quite a bit of time. I am hoping that it will become easier and quicker.
I use the activboard every day for math lessons, found poetry, handwriting, and anything else I can find -- we love it!!! I've used the Flip Video several times during our Daily 5 Literacy Block and shared a video of a student reading with her parents during conferences. I just started using the votes last week and the students are using them for lunch count. I plan to use the votes for informal assessments -- quick and easy. I love everything and have enjoyed it all! I attended the extra activboard trainings at the district offices and found the classes to be very helpful and take me a little bit beyond the basics.
The students and I have been experimenting with a lot of different tech stuff in the classroom and in the computer lab. We have tried a few different ACTIVbook reader activities but many prove to be difficult simply because many of the kids are still not comfortable using the keyboard and the mouse.
Many of the things we try at school have also been done at home (obviously those thing the kids can access at home)and there has been a lot of positive feedback. I can see the students this year are much more excited about the tech stuff simply because I have a little more to offer them.
My students are definitely seeing technology as a tool ... we've done ActivBooks, used Excel and PowerPoint for all kinds of things, and started using Word as a way to revise our writing and give/receive feedback using the comments and track changes features - so powerful! My co-teacher gets to use the ActivBoard more than I do because it's in her room for math each day. But I know she loves it :) And I've made it a goal to create a new flipchart for each Science Unit - one down, two to go! Also, we just started our classroom blog - inspired by our ITP blog and Tia's class blog. So far the response has been great :) Quick question: What tips do you have for helping students research a topic online? - Dana Verhoff
I've used my activ votes many times for science activities. For example, I might say, "Vote for A if you think this will happen. Vote for B if you think this will happen. With the results, the class can compare what we thought before an experiment and after what really happened. Also, someone was wondering about how to use computers in the classroom. I have 6 computers plus a teacher station that can always be used. Every day in reading, I have the kids rotate through different reading stations (silent reading, fluency, reading games, and guided reading. For the reading games, the students may choose to work on the computer on a web site called Phonics Interactivities. It is free(!) and the kids have many different reading activities from K-5th grade. I've used this site for a couple of years and the kids love using the computers every day.
Merry Christmas to everyone (or whatever you celebrate!)
I am feeling more comfortable with technology and eager to learn to get better. I have used my flip to share examples of student behavior with parents at conferences. This was helpful for them to see exactly what I am dealing with. I use my board daily for recording temperature and predicting with votes the temperature for the following day. I used the camera tool to capture the precious months' results for comparisons. We vote on surevey questions and I have found several seasonal flip charts on Promethean that have been fun to tweak and use. The kids love it!
Tech is definitely more of a priority in my room that in previous years. I am getting very comfortable using in using the ActivBoard every day, but find it very hard to make time to create my own flipcharts and scaffolds. It just takes so much time which is a scarce commodity. I like the Activbooks, although many have some kind of glitch which throws the kids and myself for a loop. I need to make time to do more PdPoint lessons, too.
I've started using the activboard more with my kids in math, but still prefer the easiness of the document camera. We also experiment with the activeboard every Friday, and they enjoy that. In Jan., I'll use my scaffold that I created for my polar reports, with hidden text. Hopefully it will go well! I took another 3 sessions of the activeboard classes in Oct. with Colleen, but there is so much to remember, and I haven't created anything new yet. I am definitely more tech savvy than before ITP though!
I was in LOVE with my Activboard, until it decided to not work early November. I was in the middle of teaching from my scaffold, where the kids were learning how to stretch their sentences, using adjectives, nouns, verbs and prepositional phrases...we didn't get to finish it! I really miss using the Activboard for EDM as well. No more taking lunch count/attendance with Activotes, or giving pre and post assessments for health and science. I'm in mourning! I'm hoping to have my Actiboard back SOON!
I am becoming more comfortable with the ActivBoard in my class. I use it primarily when I've been working on Health and Fitness concepts and would like to find ways to use it when doing sport skills as well. I have some ideas but just haven't had the time to explore them. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the kids to use the computers more without taking away from the physical activity part of my class, that seems to be a challenge for me right now.
Gina
I am totally enjoying my "tech journey". I use the activboard daily and get my students on it as frequently as possible. They know a lot of the basics so if I can figure out a reasonable project for them to do during this next trimester, I might have them create their own flip chart and "teach" our class. I had some problems with the Activotes when I switched using my laptop to a kid station when teaching on the Activboard, but figured it out after much trial and error. My class is so enthusiastic about Activotes they actually "beg" to take a test with the votes. They are so funny! . . . even taking attendance in the morning using the votes is still a novelty for them. I've used the Activboard quiz master a few times just to create a "quickie" quiz on whatever we're learning in class just to appease them. It's been a great way to do a fast assessment. I've taken a few clips on the FLIP, even personal ones when I've forgotten my digital camera, but happen to have the FLIP on me. It's so easy to use. I'm still trying to get better with the editing of the footage. I'm not doing too well in that department.
My main goal this year is to learn how to use the ActivBoard. I took the first ActivBoard training through the district and learned some of the basics, but there is so much more to learn. I feel comfortable using it with the EDM flipcharts, but I have a ways to go with the other subjects. The one thing I want to do is find more ways to allow the kids to use the ActivBoard. I would love to hear how you are having your students use the board. I would also like to use Activbooks more often. There is so much to do and so little time! :)
Erin
Where am I? Well, I am one of the lucky 1.0 participants who has their mits on a set of ActivVotes. They are technically for my 5th grade team, but as they aren't using them...I've been trying to incorporate them more for quick feedback on lessons and knowledge retention.
Also, our building's CIP is writing, so I'm focusing on my scaffolds being a support for my writers, especially the low bunnies.
As always, I have more ideas than time, more things I want to do than I have resources to develop. I feel a bit like I'm spinning my wheels. As tech savy as I like to think I am, I'm struggling with giving the kids the ownership of the technology rather than it just being a tool for me.
I enjoy using ACTIVbook Reader and use it often. The students really enjoy using it as well. Also, I've been using my Activboard on a daily basis and am getting better at creating my own flipcharts! -Megan Norman
I'm doing OK in my tech journey. At this point the kids are getting computer time about 1 time per week and I've got my 3rd grade buddies helping out by leading games/lessons on the activboard with the kids. Before the break, I was getting in at least one large group lesson per week related to the theme, but that's been a bit challenging in January. However, it was really cool to use the mind mapping stuff on Kidspiration. The kids responded really well to it and I'm planning to do it for each book we focus on.
I think that my biggest challenge (like most everyone else) is the resource of time. There's always a shortage of time and of course everything has to be created at this point. As I get more of a "database" set up, I anticipate it will be much easier and efficient to just tweak previously made lessons to fit for new concepts/themes.
My journey has been a long and bumpy one...Ha, Ha, not really! It just seems like that some days! I LOVE the Activboard and use it daily. I use the district EDM daily lesson resources but then always "tweak" it a bit to fit my needs--but I really appreciate having the bare bones there for me to use. I also use the Activboard nearly daily for my spelling lessons and have used it a number of times for both writing and science lessons.
I used my flip camera to record some math interviews I did with students for some homework for DMI. It is really useful to be able to go back and take another look at exactly what they did when they were explaining their thinking.
The bumpy ride I've been on lately is the work I've done with pdpoint. For some reason it is not going smoothly for me--I have started 3 different programs now (gave up on 2 of them because of technical difficulites or user error--I'm not sure which!) I have finally now completed one lesson but it has taken me HOURS. Is that the intent? Or am I just a slowpoke?
Carol
I took ActivBoard training in the fall and am using the board daily for math lessons, and fairly frequently for spelling too. My class and I are enjoying it so much. They can't wait to come up and write or drag on the board. I had only been using Activotes for lunch count, until recently when I came up with a flipchart that involved voting. My kids loved it. The problem I have with making flipcharts is that it takes such a long time, unless I am using the computer at my workstation. I tried for hours at home and on my tablet before going to the workstation. I too am finding that I am spending a lot of time to accomplish tasks like the pd point classes, etc. I have been using Activbooks whenever they correlated with what I was teaching. They are perfect for the computer lab. I only wish that I had more time!
I just started using my active votes a bit ago, and I must say that my kids absolutely love them! In 1/2 day K, it's very challenging to find the time to use them, but I have used them to ask about: favorite school activities, answers to math problems, the spelling of sight words, etc. In full day K last year, I used the votes every morning for attendance and the lunch count. The kids loved that.
I'm feeling as though my tech journey isn't what the ITP dream is. I've used some flipcharts from Promethean...haven't taken/made time to make my own yet. I don't feel like I have made any kind of scaffolds for the kids. Maybe it's because my student contact time is so short. I'm feeling kind of like an ITP flunkie right now.
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