Feb 14 - Preparing Students for the 21st
Century
There are many new skills
involved in integrating technology into student learning. I work with a group
of 2nd graders who all struggle in reading and writing. This quarter
in writing we have been working on Animal Research. We are finishing up the
rough draft and some will start their final copy next week. Each student has
researched their animal using textbooks and Pebble Go. Pebble Go was a learning
experience for them as they had to learn how to navigate the web site, locate
appropriate information that was based on the essential questions (what they
look like, what they eat, where they live and interesting facts) and then gather
the appropriate notes. Once the final copy is finished, I would like to take this
project one step further. I plan to introduce the students to Shadow Puppet.
The students will download or illustrate a picture to represent the four
essential questions for their animal. These will be downloaded onto Shadow
Puppet and then the student will read each section of their report and record
it under the appropriate picture. Once they are finished they will have the
opportunity to share it with their classmates. In addition, they will have the
opportunity to learn how to attach the document to an email and share it with
their family and/or friends. I look forward to seeing their final products!
Hi Susan, I am doing a similar project with students' persuasive essays. They are using technology to find factual information to support their thesis, then they will write/word process their essays, and then use Shadow Puppet to create their presentation to share with their classmates. I have a student teacher currently and she created something similar with a couple of students and modeled first what their final product will be and the kids were excited and more motivated to complete the tasks needed before putting all the pieces together. Excited to see how they turn out.
ReplyDeleteI love the project you designed with Pebble Go and Shadow Puppet! While I am reading the research project of animals, I was thinking how to make it solid if I were you, which seems really hard. I had more experience of teaching 7+ graders, but not so connected to 2nd graders and have to teach them how to conduct the study with technology. It is an amazing and very concrete lesson plan. Be honest, if I had a kid, I want to put him/her into this class.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteAs a first grade teacher I also teach an animal research unit. Students do a nice job researching from their book and Pebble Go. I video recorded students reading a page of their final project and plan to show parents the video next week at conferences. However, it would be very neat to use the Shadow Puppet app! That way, I can email it to parents and they can have the link to view their student's hard work at their convenience. I will have to try this next year. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Susan, Pebble Go is a great resource to use for researching! I'm sure it was difficult for some to navigate through the information, especially if their only opportunity to use a computer is at school. My 3rd grade class did their research reports on a specific country. We used Culture Grams and Kids InfoBits. Have you tried these before? They are also kid-friendly resources to help students locate information for research projects. I like how to plan to incorporate Shadow Puppet!!
ReplyDeleteSusan, congratulations on challenging yourself to take your already tech-infused animal research project to the next level! Nebraska State LA Standards require student to communicate their learning using multimedia. Your Shadow Puppet EDU will help students meet this goal as they synthesize what they learned into a meaningful presentation. I would love for you to link a student sample in your blog when/if they do this!
ReplyDelete