My partner and I were very much on the ball with this assignment.
We began our journey at a nice sized elemenatry school in sherwood park to drop our power point onto the key of one of their grade 4 teachers. After giving her our package of research information and running her through the program, she seemed really impressed with the work and promised to run it with her class. As a first indication of how teachers will react to our work, it was a very positive experience for us.
Next, we took the peaceful hour long drive to Thorsby and set up shop in the computer lab...where we met our first glitch. Apparently, the teacher working with us was not very computer literate and explained to us that there was NO WAY to share pieces of information with all of the students. Also, we didn't have a portal to plug in our key. Very discouraging, because we had planned to do with work at individual students, working in partners.
No worries though, we thought quickly and ended up being able to find a portal via an extention piece of hardware used for photoimages. We downloaded the poewr point and then placed it in the teacher's personal file...then, we were able to open it in his classroom and we did the project together with the class. This worked well, because we could talk them through it, and we could also choose all ten locations.
The lack of linking to both Dorothy and Cereal, simply meant that we kept them until the end and we just dealt with swithching the screens during those places.
In the end, the teachers were impressed, and the students were engaged. We did find out that it's totally possible to place the work into the correct folders, but we found that out later - and through a different teacher. But all went smoothly, as smoothly as possible, and the overall day was positive.
I did speak a little too much during the presentation, and I need to be sure to work through who will say what if we ever present again, so as to leave a bit of room for my associate. Sorry dear.
Anyway, good opportunity. I'm pleased.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Our Virtual Field Trip
I have to say, I have never been through such a whirl wind of a project. We lost a week by choosing a topic we couldn't work with, and we couldn't get our hyperlinks to work and re did them five or six times, we couldn't convert our movies into usable files and had to pay a lot of money for that to work, we paid more money for research and photocopying for the performance based assessment, we couldn't figure out the music as it was deeply embedded in the project, and we struggled with it not only up until the presentation, but right up until the school performance. I can't imagine anything else going wrong. Honestly I put more work into this project than any other school project of my life, not to mention time and money. We cried, we lost sleep, and we got sick. I can't say that I'm sure that the result outweighed the result...but I know that I was glad to finish. I think that if it had been first in the semester, I would have felt better about putting the time in, but right now, I feel like I had to not put as much effort into all of my other subjects, and therefore, began to resent the project.
All of that said though, I would like to say that I am pleased with the result. Whether the final hyperlinks work or not, i think it was a worthwhile project, and I think that I learned more about both PowerPoint and about computers in general that I could have any other way. It was a bit expensive, but we couldn't have figured it out without the expense. I also wish we'd had the full two weeks with this idea, instead of changing it part way...and I wish the weather had been better so we could have filmed outside, but I am proud. Honestly I am. I think we have a great project and had it been the only thing I was working on, I would have loved putting it together as well.
When we presented the power point to the grade four students, they were engaged and happy. Everyone wanted to participate, and all of the students learned something from the activity. The clips were enjoyed by all and both of us left feeling relief and even a little pride.
Overall, I'm happy for the opportunity, but I am so glad we're finished. I also hope that we can get everyone else's VFT so that we can use a few others when we go ahead and start our first jobs. I feel like having a few of these projects to pull out would give everyone a bit of a head start.
Thanks for everything.
All of that said though, I would like to say that I am pleased with the result. Whether the final hyperlinks work or not, i think it was a worthwhile project, and I think that I learned more about both PowerPoint and about computers in general that I could have any other way. It was a bit expensive, but we couldn't have figured it out without the expense. I also wish we'd had the full two weeks with this idea, instead of changing it part way...and I wish the weather had been better so we could have filmed outside, but I am proud. Honestly I am. I think we have a great project and had it been the only thing I was working on, I would have loved putting it together as well.
When we presented the power point to the grade four students, they were engaged and happy. Everyone wanted to participate, and all of the students learned something from the activity. The clips were enjoyed by all and both of us left feeling relief and even a little pride.
Overall, I'm happy for the opportunity, but I am so glad we're finished. I also hope that we can get everyone else's VFT so that we can use a few others when we go ahead and start our first jobs. I feel like having a few of these projects to pull out would give everyone a bit of a head start.
Thanks for everything.
Entry #4 - setting up student success
Of course it is difficult to know if what you are teaching, and the work that students are putting in is being effective in helping that student grow in knowledge, skills, and maturity. However, there are a few ways to make sure that you are making a difference.
The first is Assessment. Through self reflections, assessments for learning, and periodical quizzes or tests, and performance based tasks and assessments, you will be able to see what the children know. Some will have different learning styles and will potentially score a little differently depending on the type of assessment, but overall, you will have a good idea of where your class is in regards to what you're teaching.
Another way, perhaps a simple way, is to ask questions all the time about everything that you're saying, and even a few random questions that might test their knowledge. Perhaps as a passport on the way out, or playing the game around the world, or just a vocal quiz to see where your class is at.
Performance based assessments often compile several different ideas into one topic. Creating a big idea and having the students show their information in a form that is chosen by them, or through a multi-faceted project is just the ticket to learning what your kids learned from their unit, and often those presentations are fun, and the students are proud.
Being sure that you have planned proper SLE's to be checking for their understanding on is also crucial.
Ultimately, ensuring that you are being an effective teacher and your students are being set up for success by gaining knowledge, maturity, skills, abilities, and readiness for the future is possible most of the time, for most of the students in your class as long as you're constantly thinking about various ways to assess and check for understanding.
The first is Assessment. Through self reflections, assessments for learning, and periodical quizzes or tests, and performance based tasks and assessments, you will be able to see what the children know. Some will have different learning styles and will potentially score a little differently depending on the type of assessment, but overall, you will have a good idea of where your class is in regards to what you're teaching.
Another way, perhaps a simple way, is to ask questions all the time about everything that you're saying, and even a few random questions that might test their knowledge. Perhaps as a passport on the way out, or playing the game around the world, or just a vocal quiz to see where your class is at.
Performance based assessments often compile several different ideas into one topic. Creating a big idea and having the students show their information in a form that is chosen by them, or through a multi-faceted project is just the ticket to learning what your kids learned from their unit, and often those presentations are fun, and the students are proud.
Being sure that you have planned proper SLE's to be checking for their understanding on is also crucial.
Ultimately, ensuring that you are being an effective teacher and your students are being set up for success by gaining knowledge, maturity, skills, abilities, and readiness for the future is possible most of the time, for most of the students in your class as long as you're constantly thinking about various ways to assess and check for understanding.
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