Finially I've Made Some Progress

Today was booked to be for technology professional development. Shane Hipwell and I were to work together on implementing my project and teaching me how to make a presentation for May 8th. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned. There wasn't a TOC available for Shane but we were able to get internal coverage for up to recess. Now my head is spinning with information on how to set up a Keynote presentation and how to add a podcast to the presentation. He had me taking pictures for the presentation and for our web site. After several hours of work, I have more than a framework done for my keynote presentation.

As of today, we also have 3 stories on the Dormick Park Digital Audio part of the web site that the students can listen to. The site is password protected so that only our students have access to it and that protects the copy write issues. We got a lot done!

It's been an information overload day and my brain is tired!

This is my third attempt to post this blog. It took four tries to post the last one, including having Gary re-invite me. If it turns up on TLN, I have finally figured out the problem. "Isn't technology for 'old brains' wonderful!!!"

Post #3

My project was web site development to facilitate the home-school connection for ESL families at Dormick Park.  The web site includes multi-lingual links: Korean, German and Punjabi to help new families to feel welcome as well as to  share important school information and updates. An audio/video gallery shares school special events and student oral presentations with family not living in Canada (especially good for international student families).  The web site also has learning links to the web for language development and English fun.  Recently, we added a blog to encourage written communication.  It seems to be going well judging by informal student and parent feedback as well as the number of hits on the site.  Next year, we would like to work more with ipods.

Kathleen Weinkam

Dormick Park ESL Teacher

Technology Project Summary

April 4, 2008

Question:

• If the cassette stories were put on line on the school website, would the students access them?
This question was then revised to:
• If the cassette stories were put onto CD’s, would the students sign the book and CD out of the library?
Now – putting them on the school website is a possibility and I’m back to the first question.

Of course, this also prompted other questions, such as:
How many of our families have computers and internet access?
What impact would this ability to listen to stories at home have on our ESL students and our struggling readers?
What about stories that have AR quizzes?
Should I try to buy audio versions of our Punjabi stories and make them available?
What about copy write concerns?

Summary:

My ESL partner, 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 a 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 classroom and at home, without needing to play the 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 the computer read to them instead of needing to rely on someone in their home to read it aloud. If the stories have an AR quiz, the students can check the box that indicates that they have had the story read to them. I would need to create a list that shows the students the stories that have an AR quiz.

This is the thought process / learning curve that I went through:

1. The issue of copy write was discussed. Marilyn Tamblyn submitted input on this topic and we decided that it would be best if I went to the CD format to avoid potential difficulties. Shelley also said that she was looking into the copy write issue.

2. Using the circulation computer, I found out that there were at least 70 kits to work with. This project is going to require a lot of TIME in order to record all of these cassettes onto the computer.

3. For my November Pro-D, Shane Hipwell showed me how to record the stories using GarageBand. I felt really successful when I came back the next week, read my notes and was able to record another story. Doing this means that I need to stay close to the computer, as the stories are recorded in real time. For 70 plus stories, that’s a lot of minutes!

4. At Christmas, I bought my husband an USB turntable that captures audio from vinyl or cassettes and keeps it in an MP3 format. It includes the software so that I don’t have to use GarageBand etc. but can go directly to the MP3 format.

5. For the February Pro-D, Shane gave a group of us a workshop on iPhoto and answered any digital or audio questions that we had. I’ve been hearing a lot about the uses of ipods and find myself distracted and wanting to explore them as well.

6. On April 7th, Gary is offering a Digital Audio workshop for any of the Dormick Park staff who are interested, besides me.

7. The newest word is that there will be a Digital Audio link to Dormick web site so that only our students will be able to access this area and that the stories will be available there. This is possible through having a password website for our school community that is hosted and stored on Gary’s server.

My biggest difficulty in following through with this project has been TIME. Adjusting to being in 2 new schools after 18 years of being at Bakerview has taken its share of my time. The amount of time needed to transfer the stories to the computer has been daunting and I’ve not done very many of them. At first, I needed to do the work in the lab, as that was where I had access to an eMac, which I needed in order to be able to do this work. I also had to choose times when I wouldn’t interfere with the classes, since the recording levels were muted but could still be heard. Once I got my own eMac in January, I was able to do the recording in the privacy of my office.

When I get all of the stories recorded, I will need to organize how they are presented, either CD or web site and what information is needed for the students to best utilize this resource.

I’ve learned that mantralingua.com has CD’s that have a story that is told in several different languages and I can purchase them through sainbooks.com. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many that offer Punjabi as a choice and that is the one that I need the most.

I am also thinking of surveying the families to see how many have computers and internet access. In order to check on the impact my project has had on the ESL students and struggling readers, I could learn how to do a podcast interview.

Future goals:

• How to take any story from the library and be able to read it aloud and show the pictures so that it can be accessed through our web site?
• Using what I learned above to make my ESL materials (stories, poems etc.) available to the students when they are away from the school by creating my own web site?
• To get some ipods for my own use so that I can explore with my ESL and LA students all of the ideas that I have heard about from the TLN blog and from others.

Project launch

I have just received my mobile Mac lab - YAY!! - and will be launching my French 9 and 10 projects this week.  I have set up a simple 5-question survey to gauge how students feel about using technology that may be new to them, as well as to see how capable they think they are of expressing themselves in French.

My French 9 class will be creating a music video about peace, using Garage Band and iMovie.  My French 10's will be creating visual magazine ads for a product of their choice as well as a radio ad using Garage Band.

Technology to the Masses

My project is both over and ongoing. It is over in that I am not actively collecting information about it any more but ongoing in that I am still trying to encourage the staff to try new technology ideas. Generally speaking, in my school there seems to be an overall acceptance of technology and most staff seem to agree that it can be extremely beneficial to kids both in and out of the classroom. I myself have had lots of fun with various games, video and other internet sites. The students tend to be very visual and as long as the video bite is quite short, they really tune in.

On the other hand, most staff also seem to feel that in the classroom, just keeping on top of the multitude of things either prescribed by the ministry or handed down from the various regions of administration is more than enough and anything else is too much. Although they would like to do more with technology, they have simply not got the time. And I suppose, even more importantly, many just do not have the technology available. It's like when you used to have to sign out a TV/VCR cart. Many people did it but it required planning and compromise and so sometimes if you just had a little clip of something, and the VCR was booked, the kids just didn't see it. It is the same with newer technologies. Those of us with the projectors, etc. readily to hand seem to use them more and more. Those without either make a special effort to get one or don't bother and quite frankly don't miss them. It is sad, really, that there can't be some standardization in the technology acquisition and use across all schools in the district. It is sometimes hard to swallow that while some schools have new technologies in every classroom and/or for every teacher, others don't. Some schools have some new technology assigned to teachers but it is squirrelled away in a cupboard and never used while those who would use it can't because they are not the "ONE" to whom it was given.

This project has reinforced the my notion that those who would like to learn about and use technology should be encouraged to do so and supported at all levels. Those who don't want to use it should not be forced to. The district pro-d currently available for teachers is excellent, if they can get to it and if they then have access to the technology to use it later.

What have I done? I have been trying to lead by example and so far have sort of become the "go to" person for some people for some (minor) computer/technology problems. I have tried to encourage people to try to use technologies that we all do have access to. I have made inroads into the heart of "techiedom" in that the computer guys will now talk to me and although I still can't speak DOS etc. they understand that some of us do want to use the technology in different but equally valid ways. They don't always agree but at least are now willing to listen. I have made several wiki pages that I am continuing to add to and although I feel like a community of one most of the time, they are there and can be used as a resource at any time. My students have this term experimented with publishing stories on the wiki and we are going to review them as a class. They have also created web posters instead of paper posters from which they will create a timeline and connections project. Others are currently working on an online research project from a web worksheet I created. I make new review games using both the software I purchased and my department paid for and we continue to press slowly on. I can't help feeling that I should be doing more, but like the rest of the staff, sometimes there just isn't time.

In conclusion, project success or failure? Both really. I learned something though, so I guess that's what it is all about.

Creative Kids

It's gone well.  First of all, we did a lot of Ginny's artworks lessons, and I added a little slideshow of what each child thought was their best work to the class webpage.  I then surveyed them to see how they felt about creating art on the computer, and they were overwhelmingly positive about the experience, as you can see from the graph. 

We then moved into doing some great songs on garageband, and making Keynote presentations.  They loved garageband.  We're going to make a class CD of their compositions, and are in the process of gathering their songs using the class hand-in folder in the lab.  A few experimented with adding voices to their songs.  I'd like to, someday, have the really musical kids have the option of adding music using a midi, but that's going to have to come later.  I'm researching inexpensive keyboards.  I've seen some reviews that some don't work with the new OS,  so I'm still looking into that.  Any ideas?

As far as audio goes, we were successful at adding audio using the ipod to Keynote presentations.  I wasn't as successful at adding it to my Rapidweaver webpage.  I'm still working the bugs out on that one.  Also, I'm learning to double check that the ipod is picking up the audio properly, as it happened  a couple times that I'd thought I'd been recording a chapter from the novel we're reading aloud, only to find it hadn't worked.  But, working out the glitches is part of the learning!

 The most exciting thing we've done is a large number of kids have made their own movies about what they've learned in science.  They wrote scripts, storyboarded their ideas, cast their characters, filmed it, and did the editing, transitions, etc. themselves.  They worked cooperatively and helped their peers throughout.  They included the rest of the class as actors in their movies.  Logistically, it was pretty tricky having as many projects as we did, as we were working with one computer and one video camera,  since the lab's  computers have a really old version of iMovie and making movies using it has so many compatibility problems that it's really not feasible.  We're all really looking forward to the new computers that are just getting set up for our school.  It's going to be great!

It was really impressive to see how proficient they are at problem-solving glitches that come along.  They also were quite amazing at performing multiple steps at one time, and using a variety of programs at once, transferring their knowledge from one program to another.  

So, as far as does the use of computers promote creativity, I'd say it's unequivocably yes!  Not only in what they produce, but also in how they creatively problem-solve to solve the inevitable technological glitches that come along.  They very competently would add Keynote episodes to their movies to illustrate an  idea they had (first nonchalantly converting them to iPhoto), and use steps to do so that I hadn't yet taught them.  It's exciting to see how confident they have become, and how intuitive some of the programs are.  The photo above is one that kids took using Photobooth to add to a movie.  As each project finishes, I'm adding it to a compiled class movie project so everyone can have a souvenir copy.  Each director team has made a DVD  right away, though, for a home showing to their families.  It's been fun!