I am
fairly tech savvy. As I was looking through the NETS-T indicators, I saw many
which interested me, but that I had to purposely avoid. With everything going
on in my life right now, I do not think that I can commit to anything that
makes me a leader of a team or committee. (After graduation, however…)
One
aspect which caught my attention was attractive to me because it alluded that I
could have fun, too. The NETS-T indicator which states that I will “Model
collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students,
colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments” seemed like
one that was right up my alley (International, 2008). Not only do I get to
teach my students about the technology and then see them utilize it, but I get
to model it as well. My students will be making commercials soon and I plan to
make a couple of my own (hopefully with some colleagues) to show as
high-standard examples. I also would like to make some (seemingly simple)
animated clips through a website called http://goanimate.com/
which the ESOL team at school used in a professional development recently. I
would like to become more proficient at creating short animated or film movies
and will try to make one a month in class.
Another
alignment I would like to use more in class is one in which I will “Provide
students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned
with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning
and teaching” (International, 2008). The majority of the projects and
assessments that I give now are paper-based and I feel that both the students
and I would enjoy more and get more out of a project that is more technological
and exciting than typing a paper. I will try to manipulate the assignments that
I am required to give to my students so that we can move more in this
direction.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008).
National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI think that there are many times that we forget that assignments can (and probably should) be enjoyable for the students to work on and enjoyable for us to experience. It is a given that when kids, or anyone, enjoys what they are working on that they will put more effort into the project. Thanks for sharing the goanimate site. I poked around it briefly and I can see some great possibilities for projects. Good luck with your game plan!
Liza
Hi Dan,
ReplyDeleteUsing Prezi instead of PowerPoint in my last class project was a way to shake up my students and engage with them in the art of using new types of digital tools. I created a Prezi based on my version of a utopia (each student group had to create their own perfect world after reading texts from our dystopian unit). Being able to show the students what I created (and endure their mostly constructive criticism!) reminded me that assessments can be fun and learning doesn't always have to be about bubbling in an answer sheet.
I wish you well with the commercials. At my last school, the students all had their own video cameras and they were able to make commercials and short videos. At my current school, I don't have any students who have cameras. Do you have a shortage of technology at your school? Or will you have your students film on their phones and transfer the videos to a movie-making site?
Regan
Regan,
DeleteI have not used Prezi before, but will definitely check that out.
We have a very good amount of technology at the school (considering), and after I did this commercial project for a couple of years, my department chair bought "the department" (me) four FlipCams which no one ever uses but me. I have had some success with the students filming on their camera phones, but the quality is never as good...
Dan
Thanks so much for linking to the goanimate.com site. I used it last night to send my brother and his new wife a congratulations message! The website is awesome and I can already see my students loving it and creating videos about the books they are reading.
DeleteRegan
Dan,
ReplyDeleteI like that you are searching for other types of assessment and agree with Regan that the commercials can be used as various types of assessment. I did get the feeling that you were thinking of other types of assessments also. I am curious to find out what assessments you come up with.
Peggy