Many teachers, students and parents are not thrilled with reading logs.

Why? Paper reading logs are flat. On the norm, they only show a list of book titles. Therefore, there is not a lot of investment. Students (often with the prodding of parents) fill out these sheets to fulfill an obligation. At the end of the year, the data only indicates the number of books read. (And honestly, do we even know if the students are actually reading?)

One fifth grade teacher did not feel that these traditional reading logs were making lifelong readers and reflectors. Therefore, she asked for volunteers in her class (with parental permission) to try out Goodreads. This site allows users to keep track of books they have been reading, but it also makes reading interactive and social. Some of these features include creating book groups, writing stories, and creating/taking book trivia quizzes.

After using the site for a couple of months, I interviewed the teacher and three of her students to get their opinions about the Pros and Cons of Goodreads.

Teacher Pros:

• Students are able to set reading goals and the number of books that they want to read.
• Students can read each other’s recommendations.
• The site allows for book conversation between the users (teacher to student and student to student).

Teacher Cons:

• This is a not an educational/school site, so there is no dashboard or classroom area for a teacher to find and manage students.

Student Pros:

• Students can explain about what they like/didn’t like about books they have read.
• Users can share what they are reading with friends on the site. This helps with future book selections.
• Users can comment back and forth about books that are being read.
• Students can form their own book groups to talk about books, authors and topics.
• Users can write stories and get feedback from friends on the site. (This makes students want to write more!)
• Users can test their book knowledge with the quizzes from others.
• Students can make their own quizzes.
• There is an iPod app for Goodreads.

Student Cons:

• Site is not entirely kid-friendly: other users (who are not even friends) may use inappropriate language that can be seen by students.

To the best of our ability we are addressing the Cons. We have set student accounts to be more private with students using anonymous user names. We have conversations with students about how to conduct themselves so that they are safe and in respectful situations online. The teacher has friended students and interacts with them at the site. Finally, an important piece is parental support. Since it is being accessed at home, students only can participate with parental consent. Parents are aware that this is a real world site, and they will need to guide and monitor students as well.

I feel that the Pros definitely outweigh the Cons. Every student I interviewed was enthusiastic about what they were doing at the site. The students and teacher are discussing books authentically. Reading is no longer defined by a book list on a piece of paper.

I welcome your thoughts and experiences with reading logs on or offline.

Many moons ago when I was a second grade teacher, I was involved in a grant that brought three computer projectors to my elementary school. Our focus was the traditional five paragraph essay and how projecting student work and our own mini-lessons was faster, more efficient and eye-catching to students. The tools, resources and technology have evolved so much in a decade; however, one thing has remained the same: having a clear view to learning opens up your world.

In my current district, stimulus funds allowed us to mount a dozen projectors this school year. Unfortunately, we have more than a dozen classrooms and specialist rooms. Therefore, we had to have a selection process. Over the years, I have seen many pieces of equipment collect dust because it was doled out to a targeted grade level or even building. Either support was not available to foster its integration into the teacher’s classroom curriculum, or there simply was no investment. (I recall many computers appearing in my second grade classroom, and no one ever showed me how to use them. That was a turning point for me. I wanted to learn and went down a new path with a Masters program. This is not the case for everyone.) Therefore, the principal and I decided to have teachers apply for projectors. We were looking for individuals who were going to figure out how to give their students that view on a daily basis.

Today, I met with the projector collaborative group. Installation took longer than the district anticipated, but many have had two months to “play”. Today we supported one another by sharing tips and tricks on screen resolution, brightness and signal loss as well as what unique ways the equipment is seamlessly helping students learn curriculum. I took this opportunity to introduce the teachers to Wallwisher as a way for us to share these fabulous integration ideas (and then in turn use this new tool with their students, hopefully). Please check them out here.

I’m hopeful that our enthusiasm will spread amongst teams and that a new application process will be funded and, most importantly, embraced.

On a side note: At the MassCUE 2010 Conference, Suzy Brooks shared this Wallwisher PDF from Passy World with her participants. Suzy’s presentation was a real inspiration on how to be “Technically Invisible”. This is what we aspire to with our new mounted projectors. Thanks, Suzy!

Will Richardson’s article “Publishers, Participants All” in the February 2011 Educational Leadership really struck me this week. We all tell our students and children not to talk to strangers. Safety is paramount whether we’re on the street or online. However, if we really want to get students embedded in a global community of sharing, we need to start depending on the kindness of strangers (Thanks, Tennesse Williams!).

A while ago, I started to do just that by using the Comments4Kids hashtag on Twitter. Wondering what I’m talking about? Well, whenever my students are blogging, I tweet out a message with a direct link to the blog and add a hashtag.

For example, my tweet may read: Read and comment about Flat Ryan’s latest adventure in Germany http://abbotflatstanley.edublogs.org/2010/12/23/flat-ryan-in-germany/ #comments4kids .

What I’m hoping for is that my PLN on Twitter will see this tweet and choose to visit the the link and leave a comment. An added bonus would be if my PLN retweeted my request. If the request is retweeted it has the potential of being read by people outside my PLN who may decide to visit and comment on the blog. There is also the chance that it could be retweeted again. The cycle could continue infinitely, and the “Flat Ryan” author no longer is writing to just his teacher, classmates and me, but anyone who uses Twitter.

Of course, my tweet may not catch the eye or interest of my PLN in the Twitterverse. We’re all busy, right? That means no new visitors to the blog, and Flat Ryan will not be able to have any conversations to extend his learning.

Now, adding the hashtag (#comments4kids) to the tweet takes it to another level… and a new audience. Created by William Chamberlain, here is his original post on the idea. Essentially, you can filter/search Twitter by using a hashtag. People who are interested in commenting on kids’ blogs will follow #comments4kids. Therefore, my tweets requesting comments on a student’s post will not just end up in the vast worldwide sea of tweets, but rather flow into a designated pond that is being fished. Critics may say that we’re putting our students into a possible dangerous situation. Maybe, people who are not teachers and up to “no good” will follow this hashtag? My response is that you still have to teach your students to be safe online. We use generic usernames and don’t share private information. Teach them how to swim, not avoid the water!

I can’t even describe the excitement of my students when they receive comments from around the world. They realize that they have a voice, and it motivates them to write more! And who doesn’t want that?

This whole system works on the idea that if “strangers” comment on your students’ posts, then you need to comment on other students’ posts as well. Hence, a community of sharing grows and flourishes! Want to increase the traffic on your students’ blogs and get them engaged in the learning process? Go here to find out more information on how you can rely on the kindness of strangers.

Normally, I like to highlight tech tools that are FREE. There are so many great services popping up on a daily basis during some weeks that we do not seem to have a shortage for integration into our studies. Honestly, it often is overwhelming… which one should we try now? The key is finding something that truly meets your need. With that in mind, this school year, we did something that we rarely do. We paid for a subscription to a tool: BrainPOP.

BrainPOP is a service that creates short, animated movies on, what seems like, every topic in science, social studies, English, math, technology, arts & music and health. An interactive quiz, suggested experiments/activities and a comic strip for each topic also is a part of the package.

What I like about BrainPOP: It has been created with kids in mind. The content is appropriate for upper elementary with just the right amount of silly humor to keep them engaged. Also, educators are a part of the creation process at BrainPOP, so a teacher can be reassured that the information is accurate. There is an academic standards search tool, too, making it easy to find what you need on a topic. Finally, knowing that the students are on a safe, academic website that they could navigate independently is a perk as well.

What is the appropriate setting for BrainPOP? That depends on the teacher, the students and your circumstances.

1. A teacher could introduce new units or concepts by showing the BrainPOP movies to a whole class using a classroom projector.
2. Students could use laptops to review concepts by watching the movies and taking quizzes.
3. Likewise, in a computer lab, students could access topics simultaneously and review at their own pace.
4. A one computer classroom could utilize BrainPOP as a center for students to rotate through to explore a topic.
5. Add a headphone splitter to desktops or laptops, and students could work as partners.

My school has opted for a school subscription, so we can access it anywhere in the building during the school day. This flexibility will allow teachers to be spontaneous and capitalize on those teachable moments, such as when a current event happens. Maybe, there’s a BrainPOP video topic that will help students understand?

One last thing that I’m impressed with are the teacher resources. BrainPOP Educators is a free membership with great ideas, tutorials and professional development opportunities. Even if you don’t have a subscription to BrainPOP, you can join. Of course, then you have to plan around finding free movies to try out all of the cool stuff.

I’m curious about how others are using BrainPOP, or if anyone has any suggestions or advice for us.

Thanks for reading!

Last week, I attended the MassCUE Conference where I had the honor of being a presenter on both days. One of my presentations was a sharing of our MassCUE Initiative 2010 Grant. As nerve wracking as it is to prepare and give a presentation, I always find them to be such a wonderful way to reflect on what I’ve learned when it comes to the integration of technology. When you write up a grant, you’re never really sure how your bright ideas are going to work out. I even wrote about VoiceThread in an earlier post, outlining some tips and an explanation of the project that we were undertaking.  I’d like to take this opportunity to share the results of our VoiceThread project via SlideShare (embedded below). You will see that we set up a classroom blog that served as the backbone for the project, giving the students easy access and so many opportunities to communicate their learning. As always, your thoughts are welcome!

We are six weeks into the 2010-11 school year, and now that the dust has settled, some inspiration has hit to get me blogging again.

Recently, a third grade teacher asked me if there were any podcasts “out there” that taught the parts of speech. She was looking for some reinforcement for the nouns work that they were doing in the classroom. This would be a good avenue to reach the different learning styles in her classroom. Excited to get iPods into the hands of third graders, I did a little searching and came across this tremendous resource that I would like to share: mrcoley.com .

This site has wonderful examples of podcasts by both students and teacher (and one fit the bill for the parts of speech topic); however, this site is has even more to offer beyond podcasts. It has gotten me and some of the teachers at my school thinking about how we can use our Nanos in a whole new way: for flash cards.

It’s a basic concept that Mr. Brent Coley, a 5th grade teacher, explains with step by step directions and tutorials (Thank you!). Using PowerPoint or Keynote, make simple slides that teach or review a concept. Then save them as pictures that can be loaded on an iPod.  By clicking “next” on the photo album’s contents on the iPod, a student can review at his/her own pace. By having the iPod “play” the slide show, it now is more advanced for such subjects as math facts, adding in the element of a timer. Now, third graders are trying to “beat the iPod” to the answer!

Sure, the students could do their fact practice with paper flash cards, but this “hook” of using the iPods makes the learning very exciting and motivating. One teacher reported to me that 19 sets of earbuds came in on one day’s notice. (Students have to supply their own earbuds to use our Nanos, and if you don’t have earbuds, you can’t use them.) She said that getting permission slips back in a timely fashion never happens, but using an iPod got their attention! Engagement is up! (Even in the bus line on the way home, students enthusiastically were telling me that their teacher was signing out the iPods again for another lesson.)

Wondering how slides will look on something as small as an iPod Nano? Here’s what an Explorer review that I created looks like:

Nothing fancy, but it is easy to read. Its linear fashion allows a student to review for the benchmark by reading a question on one slide and then following up with the answer on the next one.

Everything doesn’t have to be in a quiz format either. Perhaps, a teacher could take a PowerPoint that was used to teach a lesson and convert it to work on the iPods, too. Students could use the lesson for reference to do assignments or to study at school or at home on their own device. The implications for special education and ELL  students are vast. I’m even thinking that students could create their own “flash cards” or content slides to share their learning.

My brain is percolating! Where could this take us? I’d love to hear others’ thoughts.

** Don’t forget to check out the great examples on Mrs. Coley’s site as well.

I would like to share this wonderful resource that was passed along to me via Twitter a few months ago. Martin Jorgensen, a member of my PLN, created Building Community in Your Classroom as an extension of his web site, The Digital Narrative.

This resource is a great idea generator and quick start guide for teachers about what technologies are available. Blogs, podcasts, VoiceThread, Glogster and wikis are a few of the topics highlighted. This resource is written very simply and clearly with great tips and suggestions of how to use the tools effectively in the classroom.

I particularly like the rationale about why this site was created. I agree that these social web sites are tools for creating a global community of sharing of ideas. I don’t believe that this technology isolates us, but rather brings us together in a forum without walls or borders. The tools certainly can enhance your classroom and teach students to be responsible, contributing members. And as Silvia Tolisano says, ‘It’s Not About the Tools. It’s About the Skills.’

Please bookmark Building Community in Your Classroom!

Looking to increase students’ vocabularies? Or make learning about parts of speech more engaging? PicLits is a web site that lives up to its slogan: ‘Inspired Picture Writing’.

You choose a photograph from the site’s gallery. Based on the picture selected, the site supplies a word bank  of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs and a category called universal that incorporates pronouns as well as punctuation . Then you simply drag-n-drop the words onto the picture to make lists, phrases, sentences, etc. (The site’s creator says he was inspired by the refrigerator magnetic poetry that was popular a few years ago.) There also is the option to freestyle instead of using the word bank. You simply type in what you want. Have a little writer’s block? To the right of the freestyle section, a few ideas or keywords are provided to get you going.

I discovered this site from reading Ann Carnevale’s blog post. She had a great suggestion of taking screen shots of the completed pictures, so that the images with the words could be inserted into other work and projects. This suggestion is a good one especially if you would like to use the site without creating an account. The benefits of having an account are that you can save your work, make future edits and get code for embedding. You have to decide if those features are necessary for you and your students.

When I first visited PicLits, I immediately thought it would be great for ELL students or any student who needs vocabulary work. Furthermore, the word bank and suggestions are scaffolds that many students need. I especially like how the site uses interactive pop-ups to suggest adding capital letters or different forms of the word.

The pictures are perfect backdrops for poetry writing. See my example below.

Overall, PicLits looks good for instilling good, old fashioned, creativity!

On Tuesday mornings, there have been a small group of girls in the hallway next to the computer lab. I haven’t been sure what they are doing, but they seem to be very engaged in their activity. One day on my way to a meeting, I decided to be nosey and ask them. They showed me that they had scripts and were planning a Readers’ Theatre for their class. I asked them if they only did live performances and would they consider making a movie for the class? Immediately, the twinkle of excitement could be seen in their eyes. Recently, their classroom teacher had recorded each student’s weather forecasts with a digital camcorder, and I had assisted in turning them into QuickTime videos to be inserted into their weather PowerPoints. This was a great science presentation experience; however, this time I wanted to put the tools in their hands directly. I suggested that they use Photo Booth, a built-in piece of software on our Macs.

Photo Booth can take snap shots, but if your machine is running OS 10.5 or higher, it has video recording capabilities. All someone has to do is select video in the program, push the record button and perform. It’s that easy. (If editing is desired, the footage can go to iMovie. If a sound track or sound effects are wanted, put the footage in GarageBand.) This version of Photo Booth also has the ability to drag and drop backgrounds to set the scene.

So I’m acting as consultant to the Readers’ Theatre group. I have suggested that they divide their play into scenes or acts. Next, choose an image or design a background (in a program like KidPix to be screenshoted) that represents each scene or act and drag/drop each image/design to the background slots of Photo Booth. They then will record each scene/act separately. When they are done with that, they either can show them to their class via a projector by running each separate file (They will play as QuickTime movies.), or I will teach them how to to pull the clips into iMovie and add transitions before they show it to their class. It all depends on them, and the time they have. I am always willing to make something into a multimedia extravaganza, but then at this age level, I tend to need to take over, and it can become more about the tool versus the content that the girls were trying to share with their peers.

What I like about Photo Booth is its simplicity and ease of use by students. And that’s the key.

Next month, I also am going to be working with some 4th graders using Photo Booth. They are going to make animal masks, add a habitat background in Photo Booth and record themselves in character giving a top ten list about why they are the best animal based on what they have researched. An interesting way to do the traditional animal report!

The source of my inspiration for using Photo Booth? Suzanne’s blog from my blogging alliance! Check out the super, simple video on her post. My PLN rocks!

Sample added 4/28/10… technically not a Tuesday! But this is what this post got in motion! 3rd graders will pretend to interview a president. I used Keynote to make the background in Photo Booth. Thanks again, Suzanne!

Movie 4

This month, I’m very excited to start working with VoiceThread with students. VoiceThread (VT) is a medium that works like an interactive scrapbook. A creator uploads pictures and can add written, verbal or video comments. A VT can be shared with others who also may leave comments. Moreover, there is a doodle tool that lets a commenter draw directly on the image in the VT. This feature is superb for highlighting and accenting key points. You know how most sites have made instructional videos? The makers of VT do a wonderful job of using their own tool to explain and demonstrate how to do things in VT. Check out how to make one here… it’s very fast!

Previously, I have used it in a professional development course that I co-taught. Essentially, I snapped lots of candids of the class learning how to podcast using GarageBand. I then uploaded the pictures as a VoiceThread. Next, we asked the teachers to visit our VT and leave comments reflecting on their experience. It was a great summarizer of podcasting as well as an authentic use of VoiceThread.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had a classroom collaborator until now. A third grade teacher and I co-wrote a MassCUE Initiative 2010 Grant that will allow her social studies students to act as detectives. They will analyze primary source documents, specifically portraits, from the American Revolution. Students also will create their own document (using a drawing program, such as KidPix) to challenge others to analyze the picture clues. We have chosen to use VoiceThread as our tool because of its easy to use voice recording and doodle tool features. These components will allow students of all abilities in this inclusion classroom to share their knowledge. The grant has allotted us the opportunity of purchasing a one year subscription so that her students may have individual accounts in an educational setting of VoiceThread as well as give us additional storage space for all of our images.

However, this is not a tool that a teacher needs to spend money to use. A teacher can sign up for a free account and use the “identity” feature. The teacher can make enough identities for an entire class. This is ideal if the teacher logs into the account and wants to have students interact with a VT as a class, but wants each student’s contribution identifiable. The drawback is that the students are logged into the teacher’s account, making all work created by the teacher accessible with the potential of being deleted accidentally. Another option is for students to have their own accounts since an email only is required to sign up. This option probably is best for older, more independent students since the teacher will not be able to manage and monitor the student’s work. VT does a nice job of discussing pros and cons with its education manuals. (BTW- Just like Glogster, there is a non-educational setting as well.)

There are tons of resources at the site as well. There is a VoiceThread ning. Also, this slideshare presentation has some great examples. A member of my professional development course and math resource facilitator at my school has given me permission to share her Finding Equal Groups VT. (Thanks, Katie!)

What inspirational work have you done or would like to do with VoiceThread?