flipcamera for Thanksgiving play

The students in Wolfe's class created a setting for the characters, who were pilgrims, then wrote a dialogue for the characters as a project before Thanksgiving. After creating their dialogue, they took turns filming and reading dialogue for their Thanksgiving diarama. Monday, when we returned to school, we watched and commented on the lighting, the voice level, the filming and what we really liked best about each presentation. Fun was had by all! C.Wolfe

iFlipr Intro

Estelle & Christa met this morning and went over how to create flashcards using iFlipr. Christa learned how to create them both through the app on the iTouch and via the computer through www.iflipr.com. She is really thrilled at the concept and picked up on creating the virtual cards very quickly. Way to go, Christa! I know your students will love using them and creating their own too. [efm]

Challenges using Google Docs for the first time...

As the influx of signed technology authorization is slowly tapering off, I have decided to go ahead and have students log on and use Google Docs to send me their assignments electronically versus the old pen and paper medium. Alas, I didn't realize that accounts from www.students.mysbisd.com first had to be logged in through a computer before the service could be used through a mobile login, i.e. on the iTouches. Since I currently don't have the Netbooks and nor slot for the computer lab until later, I have set up all of my students' accounts by manually entering their email accounts and passwords, so we can start using Google Docs in the very near future. Needless to say, after entering data for close to 100 kids, I have a bit of a carpal tunnel syndrome! [efm]

FLIPCAMERA HEAVEN!

The students in ELL Newcomer - WOLFE's class- are excited about using the flipcameras to interview their families. We have written and edited questions that they will be asking and today they all had a camera in their hands after checking it out through the library. Tomorrow, we will begin using it by going outside and filming various things we find using the phrase: "This is....,These are....., That is....., Those are......" [cw]

Using iPod Touch to listen & talk French

My 7th grade French students enjoyed listening to the skit that I had downloaded onto the iTouches. From the feedback I got from them, it helped them memorize the skit and focus the pronunciation better. My first podcast was without frills and I just read the script from a french dialogue about time. Students got to listen to the dialogue at their own pace for approximately 7 minutes --it was a tad noisy, since we didn't have headphones, but it was well worth it. Afterwards, students tested their own french pronunciation by recording the skit using the iTalk and listening to themselves speak. The app was a hit with everyone, and even the most timid kids were speaking aloud in French. It not only allows language-learning students to hear themselves talk but also offers the opportunity to correct their pronunciation and ask for help from me when unsure about how to say a word. Needless to say, the thumbtack microphones were the coolest gadget ever in their opinion! One thing that I need to work on with Karen Justl is figuring out how to use the iTalk sync that I downloaded on my teacher PC so that students can send me their their recordings without having to email it --not all of my French students have returned the parent authorization, so I haven't dabbled with email yet. We finished our very engaged technology journey with students filming each others' performances, and let me tell you that some are really ready for Hollywood! [efm]

Technology Update from the Woods.

We will not have a technology meeting this Friday with Karen Justl, since most of us are on duty on 11/06/09. Everybody is feeling good about where they are and feels no particular need for a meeting at this time.

1. Estelle has been taking care of labeling everything with Tim’s thingy.

2. I have been getting my kids on line and blogging which was a nightmare. Talk to me before you do it I might have some tips for you. I will try to get them written up on line on our blog. I just have to think of the right words to use. I don’t think @#$%&*** is acceptable. Kidding. Definitely plan to do it in very small groups there are a lot of hitches. We are getting our first posts up and beginning to make comments to each other.

3. Christa is still working on her family projects and getting the kids to ask good interview questions.

4. Christa and Laurie have all of their permissions in.

5. Estelle is doing flashcards with sound. Today the students are going to listen to a podcast of a skit and then use iTalk to record their role-playing and check their pronunciation. They will afterwards film each others' "performances."

6. Activ board- several of us have been attending Tim Stapley's activboard workshops on Tuesdays off and on.

7. Mary is working on her blog and using flip cameras

8. Maya has used the flip cameras and is working on getting all of her permission slips in. [lp]

Lesson plan for blogging, posting, and commenting on Word Press

October 29, 2009 Blogging with the Newcomer ESL Students

Objective: Given a small group the learner will open an email account at UserNamemysbisd.com google. Then, open their blog account at word press. And make comments on other blogs by using technology. This took us about 8 -9 class periods mostly because of the problems that we had with Word Press and gaining access to the blogs.
1. Hand out student account and blog explanations.
2. Watch two short clips about blogging.
3. Open DELL net -book mini computers and go to email accounts (the shortcuts on the computer do not work so the kids had to go to “ed tech” button. Scroll to bottom left and go to google students. )
4. Log in with district provided user name and password and go to email. Use minimize button and put at the bottom of the screen.
5. Log in to http://mysbisd.com/wp-login.php and type in user name, go to bottom left of message and hit register, very small letters.
6. Help students think of a blog title that they will like. (I had them use their first name’s, a color and a place. Some chose other things as long as it made a little sense I let them do it. We can change it out later if there is a problem. I would play with blog titles before we start next time. )
7. Follow the directions on this page and have the students check the agreement and “gimme a blog.”
8. The next page says to go to their email and wait for a password and to activate their account. (Here is where the problems begin, I called in the big general, K. Justl to help me on this day. It probably would have been easier if I didn’t want them to have the same password as their email account but, there are so many passwords to know and remember that I felt that one was best for their sanity and mine.)
9. Close the blog site and go to the email account. There should be an email stating that they can activate their account. Read it carefully. Click on “activate my account”
10. You will be on a page that states that the blog has been set up activate the account. Have the students press “log in” Now you have to take them back to their email and get their new password. They have to go into the email and copy the password that they are given by Word Press. (I wanted mine to use the password that they were given by the district for everything. So, they will log in with their user name and then paste in the word press “password” and log in.)
11. Then, they will be on their dashboard page. Scroll down the left side of the page and look for “users.” Click or highlight that and go to “user profile.” Go to the bottom of the user profile page to the part that says new password. Have them type in their email/district password 2 times and save it with the button at the bottom left of the page. (I ended up having to do this for each student individually with K.Justl’s and C.Wolfe’s help. Many of the blogs got messed up somewhere in ether land and K. saved the day back at her office by cleaning up the little messes that I couldn’t correct.)
12. Then, take them back to the dashboard and click on view site at the top line of the page. They will see their site in the word press skin. Yuck.
13. Take them back to their dashboard. Have them go to “appearance” and select “themes” They will go to a page that has a connection to 15 pages of skins or themes for their blogs. They can push on preview to see what it will look like. Push on activate to select the one that they want. Tell them to find a skin with 2-3 columns so they can put lots of widgets. This will take a period.
14. Take them to the dashboard and have them go to posts and add new. Show them the title line. Type in #1 My First Blog. (I stopped here and had them write on paper a mini blog. I gave them these questions. 1. What did you do to make your blog? What do you like? What is easy about blogging? What is difficult about blogging? I proofed their writing and had them enter it as their first post. Remind and teach them how to publish with the buttons on the right of the screen.
15. Widgets are in appearance also, you can teach them about widgets now if you want. I had them all load “meta” as it gives them a way to go back and forth between their blog and the dashboard with one click. Also, you can have them load their friend’s blog addresses into blogroll widget if you like. I showed them how I have some of my favorite kid games on my blogroll under math or science depending on the subject and I did this easily in widgets.
16. Introduce and have a “netiquette” lesson from an activboard presentation so that students know about internet etiquette. Demonstrate for students how to go to each other’s blog’s by using http://mysbisd.com/computername/ Or using the blogroll widget if that is finished. Practice making, publishing, approving and responding to comments.