Jodi Altringer 20% Project

I started a blog and published several blog posts for my 20% project.  The first step was to research blogging tools.  Once I chose a tool, I searched for information to help me learn the basics needed to get started.  Finally, I wrote and published 5 posts on the blog I titled Early Intervention Playground.  

 This experience has increased my knowledge in the area of digital-age work.  Blogging is a popular digital tool with which I was not all that familiar.  By experiencing the process first hand, I have a better understanding of how powerful this tool could be in the classroom and for professional development.  I have experienced the feelings that students may encounter, such as nervousness about publishing, apprehension about whether people will appreciate your work, and excitement when someone shares your work or comments on it in other forums.  Having experienced this, I can help students work through those feelings so the first two do not become obstacles to getting to the third feeling.  Writing the posts has helped me gain confidence in my ability to design and develop digital age learning experiences.  My posts represent several activities I have designed and developed that can be used in early childhood education.

Blogging is also a tool for professional growth.  The focus of my blog has been sharing my experiences with technology related to the early childhood field.  I am working hard to apply what I am learning from the K-12 world of technology to the Early Childhood world.  I am hoping that other Early Childhood professionals will follow my lead and find a way to share their knowledge and experiences with others so that we can build capacity in our field.  My blog is a tool for helping me organize and document my thoughts, experiences and learning.  The bonus is that I can share it with others who might be interested.  I believe my blog is a vehicle for my professional development to come full circle.  I have learned so much from others on Twitter, and blogs, now I am also sharing.   

Melanie Olson's 20% Project

I was able to accomplish a lot with my 20% project time!  I loved being able to justify taking that much time to work on things that I was interested in, had every intention of exploring, but hadn't been able to take the time to play around with because I was putting other things first. 

Each week I eplored something different.  I took time to look for meaningful apps to use on my five student iPads that helped students with math, literacy, and creativity.  I played a lot with screencast-o-matic and was able to use that tool to help my short term substiture learn about the technology that I had been using with students so that she could continue what I was doing while I was gone.  I was able to search a lot of creativity tools for the kids to play with along with presentation tools to share what they have learned. 

While working on my 20% project I was able to accomplish many things in the NETS*S standards. 

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:

b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.

 

I was able to design and develop learning experiences and assessments incorporating new tools for my students.  I think that the activities I have planned have and will continue to challenge students to further their learning in all subject areas. 

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teacher:

d. model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning

 

I have been a model for students in using technology.  They often help me with using the iPads or introduce me to new apps, but I have been able to be "the expert" to share new tools with them.  The students get really excited when I announce that I have a new tool to share. 

5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teacher

c. evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.

Having learned so much about new technology tools, I have been able to grow as a teacher and share my knowledge with others.  I am currently planning for net school year with my QUEST team and am incorporate more technology usage into our lessons and activities for students.

Overall, I feel that I have grown a lot as a teacher and will continue my journey incorporating more technology into my classroom and into the lives of my students. 

---

Jill Lubben's 20% Project

My 20% project was spent adding phonics links from youtube and other websites to my smart board slides for Reading. I added about 15 links to different weekly smart board slide themes.  I also worked on finding math games online for telling time, addition and subtraction games, measurement, and geometry activities. I informed parents in my weekly newsletter with a list of math sites their child can use to practice math skills.

The project and unit have helped me model 21st Century Technology tools to my first graders. They have had an opportunity to write and draw a story online, made a class voicethread, and have watched and physically moved to phonics songs from youtube and other websites. My students have been able to participate in smart board activities that engage and teach first grade skills in a fun learning environment. I feel this meets the Nets standards in all areas.  I also presented about some technology websites to co-workers on a workshop day in March.

Jackie Behr 20% Project

Throughout the course, I jumped around a bit when it came to my 20% project.  I spent the first couple weeks creating screencasts using Screencast-o-matic.  I created screencasts for the new 6^th graders that demonstrate how to access their teacher websites, online textbooks and resources for math, science, and language arts, and grades portal.  I plan to continue to create additional screencasts this summer.  After creating these screencasts, I realized I had no where to put them.  During the next week, I created my own YouTube channel as a hub for my screencasts.  I also spent time finding Khan Academy videos that matched with concepts we were learning in math.  I put these on my YouTube channel as well.  I also spent time becoming familiar with the SMART Board recording feature.  I invited some of my students to make recordings of math examples that we could post to our classroom website.  Finally, I spent the last couple weeks creating and modifying a classroom Google site.  I currently use Wordpress and have decided to switch over to Google Sites because of our Gmail switch for next year.  Although the course is coming to an end, I plan to continue working on the various components of my 20% project in order to have everything up and running for the start of the 2012-2013 school year!

            NETS*T #2 and #3:  Before beginning this cohort, my technology integration consisted of daily use of the SMART board and my classroom blog.   There was little student interaction with technology.  Students were not using technology to create and collaborate.  This was partly because I had no idea where to begin with student technology.  I felt overwhelmed by the online resources available and had no guidance as to what direction to go.  After dabbling with online resources each week during this course and discovering how the resources could be used to enhance student learning, I was fired up!  I began to have my students use Google Apps (forms, documents, and presentations) on a weekly basis.  I created online student polls, increased my use of video clips in my lessons, I invited students to make SMART notebook recordings of math examples, and encouraged my students to use digital story-telling as an alternative format for a science project on matter.  Much of the work I did was in front of my students so that they could learn how to create with the web tools.  Since increasing student-technology in my classroom, my students are eager to learn and use more web tools in our lessons and at home

            NETS*T #5:  I have begun sharing what I’ve learned during this course with my 6^th grade science colleagues.  I have requested time for curriculum writing this summer and plan to create additional online learning experiences.  Everything that I create will be shared with my team during our science curriculum writing time later this summer. 

Molly Schroeder's 20% Project

Write Reflection Here

Patti McMullen's 20% Post

For my 20% project, I got my classroom Google site, up and running. For some not a daunting task...for me it was the very definition of 'daunting'.  Lot's of trial and error!  But in the end I was successful.  It's called Mrs. McMullen's First Grade Corral. I played around a lot with colors and themes and some clip art.  I added pages for Monthly Bulletins, links for parents, and show-cased student work through slide shows, iMovie and a class book created using littlebirdtales.com








(NETS*T #3) As my navigational skills with my Google site improved I was able to model for my students any updates to our site. They helped pick my cowgirl clip art image and background theme. 'My' website soon began to evolve into 'our' website. I modeled how I made a slide show using Picasa and my students dictated the captions for each photo.  They helped choose the art work for our 'Art Gallery' page and watched as I uploaded the photos.  They 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' when we added our class movie created in iMovie. I did have to practice how to upload it and then model it for them because first grade can get really squirmy when 'TECH GOES BAD'.  (NETS*T #2) With the use of my Smartboard and lap top, each student contributed a page to create a class book about hibernation using the website littlebirdtales.com  and added it to our website.  My next adventure is 'Guess What I Am?', using Voicethread.com.  I created a voicethread with a super up close image of an ordinary everyday item and will have the kids guess what they think the image is.  


(NETS*T 5) I work on an awesome first grade team, and we are constantly sharing and creating together. I actually forwarded Molly's screen cast about creating a Google site to some of my team members and they used it to start their own Google site. It's been a never ending conversation of "Hey guys, I learn this new thing in my tech cohort...".  Tatanka Elementary is becoming a STEM school next year. My team and I jumped on the opportunity to do some curriculum writing this summer to incorporate technology into our current reading, math, science and engineering curriculum.