The greatest resource for success is the effective and knowledgeable people or experts that we encounter each day. I have requested the assistance of our grade team technology guru to demonstrate how to use the webcam with our class SmartBoard for Skype. She has a retired English teacher that reads to her class each Friday through Skype. She has also suggested that I implement and teach Skype etiquette prior to our collaborative project beginning. Our cooperative learning class is still awaiting approval from their school to join us in this endeavor.
I have also applied for a grant to pay for a classroom subscription for VoiceThreads. This tool would provide multiple means of expression and presentation of materials and understanding of my diverse students. My students would have the ability to work individually or as a collaborative learning group or team. This would also scaffold the media format so that all my students could create projects or presentations in their best learning modality. This would allow my students to be as creative as they can be. The auditory option will assist my low readers in their various content area classes such as science and social studies.
I am currently researching reading strategies and high interest low- level text for my struggling readers. I currently have 11 out of 17 students reading below our third grade level. Six of those readers are reading at kindergarten level. Unfortunately, many of my students are unable to read content text or class level materials. I am in the process of downloading our class basal reading text CD’s and podcast, so that students can listen to grade level reading and concepts. These instructional tools are examples of assistive technology that will enhance the learning experiences of all my students(Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P., 2009).
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.).
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4 comments:
Connie,
Your implementation of SKype to communicate with other classrooms is a great way to open the doors of your classroom for your students. Do you have a special project set up to work on collaboratively with the other classrooms?
Voicethread is a wonderful resource and has so much possibilities. Your planned use for Voicethread to include all students is commendable. This way all students can make contributions.
Dolores,
We are going to begin with a weather project. We are going to talk and graph the weather in each location. The other school is helping us to plan our field trip to Columbia, their home town.
Connie,
I never thought about writing a grant for voice thread. I was just going to use the free version but like the idea of using the full version. My union has a grant offering every year and it would be perfect for voice thread. Thank you for the great idea.
Hey Connie!
Is this your first time applying for a grant? I am a second year teacher, and I am new to the whole grants and scholarships. Can anyone apply for one in your school or does it have to be like a chair person or an instructional coach?
I think using Skype is a great way to expose your students to 21st century technology tools and to meet the needs of diverse learners. Have you contacted anyone from another country? I think it would be great to have students working collabortively on a Voicethread with students from a different culture. I would be very interested to see how your GAME plan turns out. Good luck!
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