Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply with thoughts and
examples to my question.
Here is my original question with the replies:
I have been working with a few teachers lately and have noticed that the
bulk of assignments are usually of the same type...powerpoints of
information gathered from the web and there is nothing exciting or new
about the work.
I am in the process of putting together some ideas for projects that would
be interesting, relative, and useful. I'd like to have students work with
web 2.0 and wanted to decrease my work by asking for any suggestions for
final products that have been done by students in your school.
Have you done a podcast? If so, what type of subjects? What was the
content?
What about a blog? What classes have used it? What are they blogging
about?
Social sites? Any use?
I guess I need a brainstorm of possibilities...can anyone help my learning
curve?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------begin:
I guess I've reached that point in my career where the old has become new.
I share your dislike of Power Points...dull...dull...dull....I have a
cartoon on my door from the New Yorker that shows Satan conducting a job
interview; he tells the applicant that he is looking for someone to take
on a special torturing assignment and then asks "How well versed are you
in Power Point?"
So it was a breath of fresh air when, in the three weeks before the Winter
Break in Dec., our new Science 8 teacher and I collaborated on a project
on alternative energy sources. He limited choice to the five major
alternative sources and I think he assigned them...but I could be
mistaken.
The end product was a poster. Students were not allowed cut and paste at
all. The only exceptions were graphs and charts. They had to do their
own drawings...tracing OK, but no Xeroxing, ... and lettering. The had to
take notes; we made it simple....asking them to jot down key words and
phrases.
For my part I taught how to get to the library section of the school
website, as well as the differences between popular search engines, more
focused search engines, and databases: we used Clusty and Grolier and some
also used Facts on File Issues and Controversies. Of course, we discussed
website eval. I also got them registered for Noodletools and they were
required to submit a "References" sheet. We used APA format since this is
what the teacher knew best.
All together we were in the Computer Lab five or six days. There was a
great deal of discussion and give and take as he and I roamed the room,
answering questions and helping kids navigate the internet.
Using an onIine rubric builder I came up with a rubric he liked and used.
The teacher asked students to be creative with their posters, to make them
from recycled materials as much as possible, and to include a
three-dimensional model...although he OK'ed stand alone models for some
kinds of energy, ex.: windmills.
He also required each student to give a presentation. I was able to
attend 2 classes' presentations. He reminded them to keep eye-contact and
speak clearly. He gave them lots of positive enthusiastic feedback and
also asked the students to pose questions.
It was a GREAT project. And some posters, models are up in a large
display case. Some are Science Fair quality.
We haven't met to evaluate, but will soon.
I confess right at the end I panicked thinking that kids wouldn't be able
to find materials for their poster. We live in a small, rural, poor,
somewhat isolated area and parental support (for better or worse) is
sparse. After reflecting on my comments, I retracted my worries the next
school day. And I'm SO glad I did. These kids really came through. I
think everyone completed the assignment.
All this confirmed my belief in project-based learning. I see it requires
teachers to really stay flexible and respond to each individual student.
And it is a huge time commitment. But, the pay off is worth it.... kids
engaged, kids learning, and kids teaching kids...but with a lot of support
from adults.
I hope this helps...I'm glad you asked. It's helped me reflect on what we
did.
--------------------
How about a Voicethread? http://voicethread.com/#home Students could make
little presentations with voice, pictures, video,etc. The site has
resources
for K-12.
------------------
I am going to have my advanced 8th graders make short 3-5 minute movies on
parts of the Civil War. They will be using stills from American Memory
Pages and other similar sources. I am going to have them narrate their
video. We will be using Windows movie maker.
----------------------
I've had great success with the Language Arts classes using the digital
postcard (http://www.postcard.fm/) for book reports. Feel free to play
the following
http://postcard.fm/8e0ffa Among the Hidden. I have a computer located
near the circulation desk that runs about 40 postcard/booktalks looped
throughout the day. My students really enjoy seeing there "work" and
peer recommendations are great! I just received 3 flip video camera for
creating digital booktalks...right now we are working on story boards
for the videos.
----------------
Have you ever used VoiceThread? It's a nice tool that incorporates
voice, photos, drawings, video, and text, with a final product that
can be embedded on a webpage. Here's a link to our VoiceThreads:
http://ed.voicethread.com/#u16209
It can be used as a simple way to make narrated slideshows, or
enhanced podcasts, but lots more is possible. There's a social
aspect, too, as kids can log in and comment on each other's work. For
my young kids, we use it to have kids comment on historical photos,
tell a story about their own original drawings, recite poems, etc. We
use it for a more traditional report, too, with narrated commentary
accompanying photos, though I much prefer it to PowerPoint, because
the kids can't waste huge amounts of time with flying titles and fancy
transitions. The possibility of peer commentary, or even community
commentary, if you open it up for that, makes kids feel their work is
being done for an audience, rather than just for the teacher.
--------------------
I have been working with some Language Arts teachers to create book report
podcasts. We are still learning what equipment we need and how to put them
on our website, but it seems like an interesting possibility. The students
would write up their book report, have it ok'd by the teacher, and then
come to the media center to record. As I said, we're just in the planning
stages, but we hope to have it a reality by the end of the school year.
-------------------
Although I'm in a K-6 school, we have been blogging video book reviews
for our book clubs. I'm about to start in again for this year but if
you go to my blog and look from January to May of 2008 you'll see some
of our videos. I did this with a MacBook and iMovie. Ours are pretty
simple but you could maybe build on the idea for your students.
The blog is at: http://csslibraryblog.blogspot.com
---------------------
HI - We are getting out feet wet with podcasting in grades K-6 and
blogging as well as Webquests. See Memorial School's website at [
http://www.mersd.org ]www.mersd.org and look at the Technology page and
Library page. The Runkle School in Brookline inspired me to push our
teachers into the podcasting. Everyone is loving it!
-----------------
We have been working with our teachers on Web 2.0 products for almost a
year now, we put together a wiki with some samples and ideas, the link is
below. I hope you find it helpful. Good luck with your project and I hope
you have a great day!
http://librestechsbisdcurr.pbwiki.com/Student+Products+for+the+21st+Century
--------------
Mary Jane Waite
High School Librarian
Franklin, MA 02038
waitem@franklin.k12.ma.us
http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/fhs/depts/library/default.htm
Currently reading Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden
Side of Everything
by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
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