Last Thoughts

This class truly surprised me! If I am honest, I will admit that I was not looking forward to this class at all. I thought I would not be able to use much of the material in my teaching and remained skeptical for a few weeks. Now that the class is almost over, I have to admit that I truly enjoyed it. I learned many new tools such as Animoto, Voki, VoiceThread, blogger, Kidblog, and Wordle. I enjoyed blogging every week and would like to keep it up going forward. I think it would be a great way for collaboration and research among teachers. I would also like to set up Kidblog in my classroom next year to get my students blogging. I think they would benefit from this context of writing. I would also like to use more Animoto with the students. When we finish a text set or unit, I believe the students would enjoy and benefit from being involved in the planning and producing of more videos.
Here is a Wordle I created with some words that reflect what I took away from Technology and Literacy.

 

The Wonderful World of Plants

The last unit I completed this school year with one of my small groups was all about plants. I included a variety of lessons, strategies, resources, and tasks in the unit and decided to document it all using Animoto. Animoto is a new tool I learned about in my grad class that is wonderful for creating short videos. I used my iPhone to record students and take pictures, then uploaded the images to Animoto, and created a short film. Before I show you the video, I will quickly explain the outline of the unit.

I began the unit with a text set of Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, and How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan. We used Planting a Rainbow to learn about the life cycle of a plant and complete life cycle graphic organizers.

We used The Tiny Seed to learn about what a plant needs to grow and thrive and what causes a plant to die. We completed the cause and effect graphic organizers.

Lastly in the text set, we used How a Seed Grows to learn how to plant a plant. The students participated in discussion and used that information to write their own how-to books. You will hear the students reading their how-to books to you in the video.

After writing their own how-to books, the students were required to plant a bean plant by following another student's how-to book. In an attempt to have students participate in discussion and give constructive feedback, I encouraged the students to give one strength/compliment and one area that needed improvement to the author of the how-to book. This was a great way for the students to think about what worked well in their writing and what they need to improve.

As a final activity with the unit, the students completed observation journals. Every time the small group came to my classroom, the three students would write a sentence or two documenting what they saw in their bean plants (dirt, stem, leaves, etc.) and draw a picture to match their sentence(s). The observation journals gave the students the opportunity to make predictions about their plants, give thoughtful reasons as to why their plants may not be growing, and participate in science.

Overall I my students LOVED using the iPhone to take pictures and videos. They loved being recorded and then commenting about their readings for the video. It was a great activity to introduce students to movie making and all the steps that are involved. I plan to have students use more technology to make videos and document their learning next year.

I thoroughly enjoyed this unit and I know the students did as well. Hope you enjoy the video!  

My First Animoto Video

As part of an assignment for my EDUC 584 course I was required to create an Animoto video. I had never heard of this video tool before and was intrigued... but I will admit I was not extraordinarily excited. I have used iMovie before a few times, but that is the only experience I've really had with movie making tools. I was able to successfully make a few videos of different trips, but I remember iMovie taking a long time and not the most user-friendly. I've always wished I was more well versed in the tool, but when it comes to technology I need explicit examples and hands-on experiences. All that said, I was a little precautious about another video making tool.

I decided to start my first Animoto with a simple subject I felt comfortable using. I decided to take a few pictures of student activities documenting how they practice letters and sight words in fun interactive ways. Here's what I came up with!

I found Animoto to be VERY user-friendly. I could figure out how to easily upload videos, change the order, and watch the previews. I would love to show my students this video and let them see how I used their hard work in a video. This also gave me ideas on what I can create next for my students regarding letters and sight words.