Thing 11: online notetaking

I could see Awesome Highlighter having some real uses in my classroom during various research projects. It's another option for those kids who like to print off stuff from the internet and highlight it. A way to go paperless...and they won't be able to lose what they printed and hightlighted in their locker, back pack, house, bus, etc...

Earlier this school year, Travis shared a notetaking template with me that he has used . I modified it for several projects, including history day, and it worked quite well. It doesn't end plagarism, but it does force students to interact more with their sources. They need to decide WHY they are writing something down. In the case of history day, kids needed to decide if that piece of information is background information, important events, or impact that their individual made on society. I have found in the past that kids will write down anything and everything they see. These cards helped them focus on key areas.
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History Day Notes

Title of Source: _______________________________

Circle one: background actions legacies

Note(s):











Page Number:
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I still struggle with kids who plagarize. As I reflect on why this is an issue, I am worried that I haven't taught them enough about it. I certainly tell them "don't plagarize" but I haven't given them the tools.

Thing 12: Online Publishing

This afternoon finds me at school with students during a History Day work session. When not answering student questions, I have been playing around with slideshare.net

While I did not find a powerpoint presentation to use with my middle schoolers, I did find some examples of poorly executed presentations and others that were well-designed. I could see myself showing these examples before assigning the students a PPT project.

I would have liked to find some presentations directly tied to my world history content. However, what I did find was very dry and not well-suited to middle school students.

I did find an interesting presentation about web 3.0...and I'm still trying to figure out web 2.0!

Thing 19: screencasting

Diving into the world of screencasting...

I have seen screencasting before when our tech coordinator sends out links to show us how to use our gradebook. But I have never attempted one before.

I thought the introductory article was very helpful. As soon as I started reading, I thought about using screencasting with e-portfolios. The first time kids set up their portfolios is a real nightmare sometimes. Showing them where to find the template in the shared folder and how to save it in their individual user folder can be a real challenge. I have a set of written directions, but I think a screencast of the process would help those kids who need to see it done first.

The interesing thing is that the article also mentioned e-portfolios! The article's idea was to have kids create screencasts to put into their portfolio. I was inspired by the idea. I could see my students doing a narration of a powerpoint or other project they saved on the computer. What a fun way for them to demonstrate their learning.

I played around with "jing". I did capture a very basic video. There is not much to it since I don't have a mic on my computer. After some intial set-up and reading the how-to's I was able to use the product with relative ease. I could see that it would get easier and easier...

here's my lame video :)

my second attempt: I was more selective with the area that I captured. I think it looks better than capturing the whole screen. Still lame with no sound:)

RPC rocks!

I have yet to use the research project calculator with my students as a way for them to organize research. However, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the support materials. I was creating a lesson for my kids who are doing documentaries for History Day. I remembered that there were materials for making a video, and I found a storyboard and video script/shot list worksheet that I will be handing out tomorrow. I can't wait to see how these planning tools help to create more organized documentaries.

We are in the middle of History Day right now and I need all the help I can get! Thank you RPC!

History Day Blog

As some of you already know, I created a History Day blog for my students last year. I deleted all of the old comments and started fresh this year. My students got the information on how to blog yesterday. I already have 10+ posts from kids. There is one that I wanted to share with the group to show the power of blogging...

Here's the original post from a student: How do we write a para. about why the topic fits the year theme if we have a person, wouldn't we just say "they had a great impact and legacy"?

Here's the response from one of his peers: For the paragraph you do write about their impact and legacies. To dig deeper you write about what impact they had. What did your person do to change history? Also, you write about what legacies they had and how they got them. Just ask yourself questions as to what did your person do in his or her lifetime to influence the people around them.

Kids teaching/coaching other kids! Yippee!

Thing 18: Online Thought Organizers

Several times a year I have my students create mind maps for different topics that we study. I was intrigued by the idea of online thought organizers. So, I played around with FreeMind.

I don't think that I will ever have kids create Mind Maps using this tool, because I would have to do so much instruction on how the tool works. I think that would take away from my main purpose of using a mind map to teach or review content.

However, I could see some uses for this tool in my classroom. I could create one and then project it in the front of the room to fill out as a whole class activity. Or, I could print them out as a worksheet for individuals/groups to fill out. There are some fun features (blinking fonts) that would be lost by printing them off.

I created a "thought organizer" for Ancient Rome. I have had a student teacher for most of the Rome unit and he has been creating and delivering the lessons. I will be finishing the unit up after Christmas, once we have done some work with History Day. So, this unit is getting very spread out. To bring things back together, I think I will use the Ancient Rome organizer that I created.

Take a look at the Rome Review Chart under "assignments/worksheets" on my web page.

MMSA conference

Metronet was well represented at the Minnesota Middle School Association Conference on Dec 4th and 5th. Jeanne, Kelly, and I presented the work we have done with technology during 2 break-out sessions. I was pleased to focus in on some of my technology "loves": igoogle, blogging, and delicious. We also covered Wikis, podcasting, videography, wordle, google docs, etc... It was a great opportunity to show what we had done so far. I know that we gave them A LOT of information. But it's just like metronet: tons of info that people need to sort through and find the 2-3 things that work best for their classes and with their personality. I think it is so cool that our MILI experience is spreading throughout the state. Even more teachers and students will now benefit from the cool stuff we have learned. Thanks Metronet!!!!