Animoto

Created an Animoto video that could be used as a preview to my class study of Europe. Tried to embed so we'll see if it shows up...

These videos are fun to create!

Launching Research

Am starting a new research project today that I have never tried with students. Although I am only working with 3 of my 5 sections on this project, I am still curious about how well the students will do. Today, I am introducing a note taking strategy, reading short excerpt from a similar assignment, and reviewing the project guidelines.

We head to the library armed with note taking skills and the laptop cart tomorrow....I have added a link of the sharetabs that I created for students to access the information easier. I am hoping that this streamlines their research and avoids the mindless google searches that some students end up getting mesmerized with during laptop and library computer use. I also plan to encourage the students to use at least one book, but it is a hard sell when they see some of these websites as a "mecca" of information while the books are often dated.

South America Project

During the upcoming vacation, I hope to finalize my South America project. While I have figured out the assignment, I have not figured out which form of technology that I want to utilize with my one class. I had considered using a class blog or Wiki to post information, but I feel that I know very little about what the advantages or disadvantages would be to one over the other. Alternatively, I don't know if I should consider Moodle as an option although I have not used it at all. Thus, I hope to find the time to try to set up a sample site and work with it to determine the effectiveness for my 7th grade class.

I feel like technology will increase some of students' interest and that it may make this project easier for some students, but I feel like there is so much additional work to it for me. I am also worried about student access to technology if I cannot secure the laptop cart for more than a few days....

Overwhelmed

Phew! I started a new project this week and I used a video that I created as part of the hook. I am also having the students use the laptop carts but I wish that I had consistent access to technology. It makes it so hard to only use it periodically. I also tried to sign out the carts again in a month and they are all already booked. Ugh! Am hoping that I can figure out an alternative.