Resources

The first thing I did was purchase a book from Chapters. The book is called the, "Missing Manual For Ipods." This book taught me all I need to know about ipods. It was an excellent resource. I also went on this webstite http://www.apple.com/startpage/. I went to Tom's workshop on creating webpages. This is place that I might post my podcasts. I have been surfing on the net for information. I have been playing around with an ipod and using its features.

Resouces

UPDATE, UPDATE, READ ALL ABOUT IT....WHO'S YOUR DADDY?

In my last post, I said I was going to work on collecting data and setting up a survey over the Christmas holidays. Well, I lied.....I couldn't wait for the Christmas holidays so I set one up on Friday (Dec 21st). I just had to create a survey before the 2 week break because I know I would have been miserable had I not.

Anyhooooo, it was 4:30 am. My husband was getting ready for work and I couldn't sleep anymore. I decided right there and then that I had to attempt this survey business before going to work. I went to PollDaddy as Gary had suggested and attempted to create a survey. In my haste, I created a poll. When I posted the link, it didn't work. Actually, it did work but the poll did not appear on my site. I wanted something on my site so I went back to PollDaddy and this time gave the survey a try.

Between testing the survey and tweaking things on the site I realize it is now 6:45. I'm still in my pjs. I have to get ready for work....but the survey is almost ready. My husband is long gone but I'm sure he's thinking that he left a 'nutso' behind who kept cheerfully squeaking at her computer "woohoo,who's your daddy POLLDADDY?" (HEY GARY...WHERE DO YOU COME UP WITH ALL THESE FUNNY NAMES...POLLDADDY, DELICIOUS, ETC...?)I'm just so excited that I figured out how this thing works that I am determined to finalize things before I get ready for work.

It's 7:10 and now I'm in a total panic....I have to be at work before 8:00 and it takes me more than 45 minutes to get ready. My kids are screaming at me from upstairs to get off the computer which I do reluctantly. I upload my website one last time and rush to get ready. I have no idea if the survey looks good. All I know is that it works. It's now 7:45....I finally leave for work.

Last day of school, the students are excited. My teaching partner (Tanis Veldhoen) is away today but she did the most amazing and smart thing the day before...SHE BOOKED THE COMPUTER LAB FOR THE ENTIRE DAY. Here was my perfect opportunity to tell the kids to fill out my survey and so they did. It's my first collection of data but not my last. I look forward to posting more surveys.

WHO'S YOUR DADDY? www.polldaddy.com

Cheers everyone!

Louise Jenkins
CDGMS
http://frenchaudio.net/ljenkins/Welcome.html
louise_jenkins@sd34.bc.ca

Time to check in again.....official posting #2

"IT TAKES A COMMUNITY TO RAISE A CHILD....EVEN AN ONLINE ONE"

Ok, so my classroom website is pretty much setup the way I want it to be. There are just a few more things that I would like to add, but I think these changes can wait until the Christmas Holidays when I'll have more time on my hands.

So what have I done so far and what is the purpose of all the stuff on my site?

Page 1 - The welcome page: why talk about this page, right? Well I thought it would be important to mention that if you want people to really check out your site, put very little info on the initial page. I treat this page as my title page with an abstract for an essay. I recommend that you give just enough info to tease the mind of the user. The page has a welcome message, the school address and my contact info, and a picture of the school. I am thinking about adding music to it....perhaps an instrumental version of "Crank that" by Soulja Boy....I'm sure that will attract the kids' attention 'cause it's the 'IT' song of the year. What has stopped me from adding music to my site is that I personally hate going to sites that have music....especially ones where you cannot shut the thing off. I think that if I add music, I will have to add a feature that allows the user to turn the music off.

Page 2 - LFI & Curriculum page: Here I wanted to make sure that parents had access to info about the program and what is being taught. One major problem in French Immersion is that parents don't know what to expect from the program as far as the process that a student goes through in a second language acquisition environment. On this page I have copied and pasted (and cited of course) information from Canadian Parents for French. The document that is posted talks about the Late French Immersion program (what it is, how the child will progress, etc...). While the CPF is a National organization with Provincial affiliates, it seems that very few parents are aware this little gem of an organization exists. The CPF is a support unit that has tons of good info about the French Immersion program.

The other piece of info listed on that page are the IRPs for the Late Immersion Program. I don't know how useful this document will be as it is only available in French. I put it there anyway because I wanted to show that LFI teachers do have a curriculum to follow. I am thinking about changing the title of this page to "Late French Immersion", as I also want to add research articles about the program.

page 3: About me: I really don't have issues with people knowing who I am which is why I have added this page. I am aware this is a hot topic, but my view is that people feel a connection when they see you as a human being. When I see students outside school hours in a mall or some other public location, I want them to feel comfortable enough to say hello and to talk to me as if I were their neighbour and not a stranger. I don't want them or their parents to feel that I am an unaccessible person. I am part of the community just like anyone else. Of course, my private life is my private life and I don't need to tell the kids and their parents my whole life story, but I think a glimpse or snippet of my life won't hurt. I believe it is important that people know who they are dealing with. On this page, I talk about my education and professional goals. I also talk a bit about myself, my family and my travels. I try to give my students and parents a glimpse of my personality (sense of humour). I plan on adding some pictures of my family....and my students have requested that I add a video of me doing the "Crank That" dance. I'll think hard and long on that request.

page 4: BLOG: I have always been an advocate of communication between the home and the school. In the past, I used to send hard copies of newsletters and I would do so on a monthly basis. On some months I felt I had very little to say and so my newsletters looked pretty drab. If there is something I'm totally pumped and grateful about on my website is this feature. Because of the BLOG, I no longer send monthly updates home. Instead, I post whatever comes to mind here and I don't have to wait a whole month before it is sent home. A blog is like having a continuous conversation. If I have something to say, I say it right away. As I am getting older, I tend to forget things. Having a BLOG feature on my site helps me with getting the info out there immediately. In the past, I would always forget to put stuff in my monthly newsletters and getting upset over it.....a BLOG has solved this problem. If I forget to say something today, I can always post it tomorrow.

page 5 & 6: PODCAST: I am truly proud of this page. Finally, there's a way to show parents concrete evidence of their children's progress in a second language environment. The PODCAST page is meant to showcase students' oral abilities. Currently, I only have podcasts of Div 4 & Div 5 singing some songs. My plan is to post individual podcasts of students reading (that's what I teach). Of course, since I do not have my site password protected, I cannot upload individual audio files yet. However, I think I may have figured out a way to get around the privacy issued by concealing the students' identity by using a numbering system. My plans for this site include posting audio/visual files. I'm also thinking of changing the name of this page to something more original. Any ideas out there?

page 7: NAPOLEON AUDIO FILES: The Napoleon series contains 12 booklets of the life story of a cat living in France. The booklets are easy readers and are used at the grade 6 LFI level (also useful for grades k- 2 EFI). Each book focuses on a grammar aspect and the level of difficulty is graduated. I have posted a recording of my voice reading each story as to provide a model. This is the only feature where I've had direct comments made to me by parents. All I can say is THEY LOVE IT! One major complaint I hear from French Immersion parents is that they don't understand French and because of that they fear they cannot help out with homework. By listening to my voice, parents can compare how well their children are doing. Parents don't need to understand the stories....all they need to know is differentiate sounds....something they can easily do. As far as changes to this page, well, I'm looking at adding a short lesson on the grammar aspect that each booklet introduces.

page 8 & 9: EDUCATIONAL WEBLINKS 1 & 2: A few years ago when I decided to use a classroom website as a means to communicate with students and parents, I always felt that it was necessary to add links to other sites that would be useful and educational. Since computers and the Internet are a way of life and that kids use them on a regular basis, I figured I would tap into this worldwide phenom and provide something authentic...something the kids could use all the time. The sites that I have found are either educational resources or games with an educational focus. My links are also organized by subject. Of all the pages I have on my website, these are the 2 pages that I want to see if they are being used. Starting Janaury, I will require students to keep a log/journal of the sites they visit and I will ask the students to write a brief summary of the things they have done on the site. Hopefully, I will be able to collect meaningful data on the usage of these pages.

page 10 & 11: Calendar & Homework/classroom page: the entire school year calendar is posted and I add a few items/events as they come up. As far as the purpose of the homework page, well that is quite simple and a given.....it serves as a secondary planner. It is, as I call it, the 'no excuse' page of my site. I know for a fact that all my students have access to a computer and the Internet. Students are told that if they forget their planners, they are to check the website for info on work to be done. This page used to be by far the one that I had to update on a regular basis. I found it difficult to keep the page updated on a daily basis therefore this year I decided to indicate what was expected from them on a weekly basis. I am contemplating posting bi-weekly info...perhaps starting next year (i.e. what needs to be done one week, and what is upcoming the following week.

So there you have it....my classroom website. Everything that is there serves a purpose. Now what I need to do is find out if people are using the info in a meaningful way. I will try to collect data starting January and report on my findings asap.

I don't think I will be posting a blog again until the new year (but then again who knows....when you're having fun, anything can happen). In that case, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Cheers!

Louise Jenkins
Grade 6 & 7 Late French Immersion
Chief Dan George Middle School
http://frenchaudio.net/ljenkins/Welcome.html

Web site

Harry Sayers web site is up and running! I've had very positive feedback from both staff and students. What is missing from this equation? The parents. The site has been advertised in our weekly school newsletter and hopefully the students will encourage the parents to have a look.

The resources that I have found extremely useful in my project are: Gary's workshops on Making A School Web Site and his most recent one on Making A Survey. I have added a survey to the web site and we'll see how many people respond. I also have a counter on the site to give me some indication of how many visitors we've had.

Gary came to our school and presented a mini workshop on Making a Class Web Site. He has now broken the world's record for the number of web sites produced in a one hour period! The staff is very keen and have realized how easy it is to make a web site. ( the hard part is maintaining it!) Anyway, I have now linked a number of classroom web sites to the main school site.

I'm looking forward to Gary's next visit to Sayers ( hey, Gary, you could be on staff here!) on using the iPod. Pod-casting!!!!

I enjoyed the audio session that Gary presented not long ago. It got me thinking about when I read novels aloud to kids how it might come in handy to have a recording of it, so if kids are away they can easily catch up, or if someone wants to reread or read along they can.

We already have an ipod Nano with the Griffin microphone, but I wanted something more unobtrusive. I'd seen an SFU presenter once record his session with a lapel microphone and an ipod, and a trip to the local Mac store later and we're set. In case you're looking for a lapel microphone, this one did work with the nano and the black Griffin microphone (like the ones that are in the nano kits through the media centre.)

here's the website for the lapel microphone

One cool offshoot of using the microphone was boy, were the kids ever quiet and attentive while I read! They wanted good clear sound for the recording. I plan to insert the chapters on the class website soon, and I also put the mp3 of the chapters I've done so far on the hand-out folder on the school network so kids can access it easily. I wish I'd thought of it earlier--we're already a few chapters into the book so I'll need to add record those chapters later.

Also to do with the novel, we're taking turns creating a comiclife book summarizing the novel. At the end of each chapter we draw a name from a hat and that child gets to do the comiclife plot summary for the class communal book. They're having fun doing it, and bonus!--they listen well so they're prepared in case it's their turn to do the comic. Last year, the kids did a keynote summary of a particularly convoluted read-aloud book in the same manner, but they added a voice recording of themselves reading the chapter title. They had a blast doing it, and it was lots of fun checking it over before heading off to the next adventure in the novel. They got really creative, and enjoyed one-upping each other for who could have the most interesting builds and transitions on the page.

An interesting site you might enjoy has a clip of a keynote address that talks about schools and creativity. The presenter has some really interesting ideas and a dry wit. If you're interested in thinking about how schools affect creativity, check this one out. It seems to me that we're all interested in creativity, and have chosen to look at that through technology.
Click here to view the video.

Check this out....

I have been working on a classroom website.....

check it out at:

www.menagh.notlong.com



now I'm wondering how to find out if and how parents/kids are accessing the site....

French websites

Well, first off I'd like to say that the website is going over well. I've had positive feedback from the parents on how much it helps them and their child, especially for studying spelling. I try my best to get everything up and update on the site although, as you are probably aware, technology doesn't always go smoothly!
Now, on to the resources:
I mainly use my own voice and images from Google. Other than that, I have created a links page on my website. Feel free to check them out and copy any link you want. Or, link your website to my links page if you'd like. I don't mind sharing! Some of the links I've found are:
Reading A-Z (For French and English stories - the parents will have to subscribe to be able to print them all off.)
French Audio Dictionary
French Vocabulary (for adults and kids)

Those are just a few. I have others on my website too. Check them out!

TLN Update

Greetings!

I hope things are going well as you navigate this busy season. With the Christmas break just 2 weeks away, I want to bring you up to date on a couple of things.

Wednesday's workshops were very well attended. I had many people leave the Audio Workshop excited about using digital audio as part of their instructional practice. It sure was great to have people there from the French Audio group to verify the power of using Digital Audio with their students. If you are interested in seeing a good example of this, head on over to Loius Jenkins' website. http://frenchaudio.net/ljenkins. James Klassen also had a large group of teachers at his workshop (Easy Classroom Websites with FirstClass 8.3) and a great deal of enthusiasm around starting to use this resource with their students and school community.

Here are the things we should have accomplished by the end of December:

1. The Second Blog Post finished

Your first official blog post was a description of your project and the research question you are pursuing. The Second Blog Post should be centered around the useful resources related to your project that you have discovered so far. This will be a critical blog post because it will allow us as a group to pool a
huge wealth of information into one place. Many of you will have found web-based resources. You can list these in the blog post. May I suggest learning how to to make a link in blogger? Click here to learn how. However, if some of the resources you found were anecdotal in nature, or print-based, simply jot these down (names of books, authors, etc) in your blog.

2. Some Baseline Data Established

When looking at a research question, you are usually looking at something changing over time. Learning gained. Student achievement increased. Your understanding expanded. In order to report this out, a good understanding of where you were before you implemented some changes is crucial.

If your reseach question is centered around student achievement, then some baseline data on where the students were prior to implementing the change will be important to gather. Samples of student work, audio/video interviews, surveys of parents and students, journal entries reflecting on your observations at the time all are great ways to gather this baseline data.

Remember: You want to be able to look back at "something" and compare what you see at the end of the project against that sample.

3. Plans made to attend the workshops being provided for the TLN

As part of the TLN we are expecting members to attend 2 workshops during the course of the project. Many of you have already attended one held this past Wednesday.

These are the workshops you can choose from:

1. Interactive School Websites or Easy Online Surveys ~ December 12, 3:30 - 5:00 Click here if you haven't registered yet.

2. Assessment and Data Mini Conference being held at Bakerview on January 16 3:30 - 6:30. Includes dinner.

THIS WORKSHOP IS REQUIRED AS IT WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH ESSENTIAL SKILLS NECESSARY TO REPORT ON YOUR FINDINGS Click here to register.

3. Multimedia In the Classroom ~ January 30, 3:30 - 5:00 Registration will be forthcoming. We are still working out some details as to the workshops we will offer on this day.

Over the next couple of weeks, the STaRT Ed staff are planning to drop by and visit with you at your school if we haven't done so already. If I don't see you before the holidays, have a Merry Christmas!



Gary Toews
STaRT Education Technology Trainer
Gary_Toews@sd34.bc.ca
Cell: 604-614-8308
Fax: 604-853-5281
_________________________
http://start-learning.ca

outdated technology in the library

November was an eventful month for me when it comes to technology and ideas.

When I submitted my proposal, I was considering how I could make library lessons and ideas more accessible to teachers, since K-5 librarians are going the way of the dinosaurs. That may happen in the future, but my thoughts have changed.

At the beginning of the month, our LA teacher was sharing her excitement - using ipods to have the students who have difficulty with writing output, record their story ideas and then play them back repeatedly until they were able to write their ideas down. I didn't know that you could record on an ipod. I began to think that there may be other technolgical ideas that I may wish to explore.

A few days later, my ESL partner and my principal and I were talking about ESL and oral language at the Rojas workshop. I brought up about the large number of stories that we have that also have cassette tape version of them. Since cassette players are not readily available, and the tapes usually look like spaghetti after the students have used them a few times, we came up with this idea - transferring the cassette stories to the computer so that we can make them available in the classrom and at home, without needing to play a cassette. Having the stories, especially some of the dual language books, available to the students at home, should help with their home reading. They can sign out the book and then have it read to them without needing to rely on someone to read it to them. If the stories have an AR quiz, the students can check the box that indicates that they have had the story read to them.

For our last pro-d, I was shown how to record the stories onto the computer using Garageband.

NOW I need several things.
- since I don't know much about ipods etc., what else is out there that I might want to use? (i.e. What is a podcast?)
- how best to make the various stories available on the school web site
- what workshops would best serve my needs for this project
- how do I write this as a question?

My Project

Okay. I've got the web site for Sayers up and running. Now, for the survey part. Gary, I've signed up for your workshop on surveys so hopefully I'll be able to put the survey questions on the site. My question; do all the survey questions have to be yes or no or am I able to have some questions that involve more parental input? In other words, I'd like to have both types of questions.

Middle School honour roll and adapted ESL audio program

I've come across a new problem that I didn't anticipate. The Grade 6 ESL learners are using audio through their I-pod for most subjects now and experiencing success. Therein lies the problem. Some of them are "reading" grade level material and responding with A responses. (On a rubric getting 3 (fully meeting)). Even when I include reading assessment marks of 1 (minimally meeting) or include their STAR testing mark which is from 3.0 to 4.7, that isn't enough to overshadow the marks they are getting for responding to the big idea, or inferencing or for that matter, any of the reading strategies. While that doesn't create a problem for most subjects because I am going after understanding , it does in Language Arts. On the report card I indicate that they have received an "A" adapted, or a "B" adapted (because they are on audio) but when I figure out honour roll which is based on averages some of them are making the top Honour Roll category (which is calculated on %). These are students with good writing and speaking skills.

One way I've thought of to "solve" this for next term is to put their marks under the "Listening" category instead of the "Reading" category in Easy Grade Pro. Because Listening is only 30% of their mark and reading is 40-45% it should result in a lower grade which may be more indicative of their combined language arts level (they are mostly reading level 3.0 to 4.7). Another way, is that I could "weight" the marks so that the reading assessments are more valuable than their responses (I only do about 2 per term). The problem with this last idea is that I post their marks daily on the web and weighting sometimes takes hindsight.

Any other ideas?