Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Service project Day 3 Tristan Razzo -Wrestling

Last day of project with Tristan.  We have gone over survey of things he likes, we have done handouts over wrestling terms, and definitions, and went online and viewed wrestling websites and videos on youtube.  I think he learned alot and had fun.  We made a video of him wrestling with his toys.  He also wanted to post other pictures of him and wrestling themed stuff. We really had a good time and I think he was able to learn more about searching online, making videos, and posting online. 

Service project Day 2---Wrestling and Me-Tristan Razzo 9yr old

     Day two of service project and Tristan and I are meeting at Galvan library where we will go online and begin to do online search of WWE content.  I found that most content is mature and not meant for kids and parents should be aware of what sites their kids are on.  That being said, I was able to help him navigate the WWE website and only view content that I felt was suitable for him to view.  As our search went on we were directed to WWE kids which is a very kid friendly site with a ton of content and activities for kids to view and participate in.  He did have fun on this site.  After several minutes of being online I directed him to search for videos about kids wrestling.  We went on YouTube and found several videos of kids wrestling.  Here is one with kids wrestling.  We found other videos and with kids wrestling and discussed dangers and possible injuries that could happen when kids wrestle at home.
 
Service Project-2nd Grade Tristan Razzo Day 1.
Wrestling Fun
     Tristan is a second grade student who like all boys his age loves wrestling.  As a ice breaker I handed him a survey sheet to tell me about him.  After he did this survey sheet I went over it with him and we discussed what he answered and what are his favorite things.  Tristan said that Wrestling is his favorite tv show to watch and he loves WWE Magazine.  He said his favorite wrestler is John Cena and Brock Lesner.  I dedcided to make a lesson out his passion for wrestling.  I told him that I would make a lesson and incororate a word bank, word search, wrestling definitions, and read alouds with wrestling centered themes.  I choose to do this topic to encourage him to read more and increase his fluency in reading and language.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Unit Plan

Here is the unit plan I developed for 3rd grade history class.  The topic is timelines and how they affect you?

Digial Storytelling

   What is Digital Storytelling you ask?  Digital storytelling is using digital tools to tell a story. It can be interactive, use of digital cameras, movie maker, and other technology tools.
Digital story telling can include still images,Video clips,Voice over narration,Soundtrack Sound effects,titles, and Transitions.

   There are three types of digital storytelling that are used.  They are personal narratives, historical events, and stories that inform or teach.

   Teachers can use digital storytelling to enhance lessons and to make content more understandable through the use of technology which can also help the students retain knowledge presented and aids in comprehension. They can create their own stories, research topics, and give their ideas and opinions through digital literacy.  Global literacy, technology, visual, and information are some of the full compliment of literacy skills students develop that help to  research, write, and organize through the use of  technology.  They also learn to use presentation, interview, interpersonal, problem solving, and assessment skills.  
   Some problems can be that bad stories developed will lead to bad digital stories, also copyright issues, students being able to formulate sound arguments of educational material presented.
     Digital Storytelling is a valuable resource that will help teachers in the class present topics through the use of powerpoints, video, voice threads, and cell phones, pda, and other technology.  I know I have and will embrace technology to tell a story to the students and thus reach them on levels that they can relate to.

Internet Resources and uses in the class.

I would like to share with you some information over internet resources and uses in the classroom. In these days and times anything and everything is online. There is an app for this and an app for that and can you hear me now over this network with 4G technology and LTE. What? There are ways that teachers can use all this techie stuff to our advantage and use the internet and all its resources to capture the minds of the children we are teaching. Having the ability to incorporate many of these new found resources into my lesson plan can make my day more interesting and not as bland and boring to the students. I have seen many blogs online of other teachers and educators that share their activities online. You will find that almost every educators ideas are recylced and reused.  I have found other blogs for instance that talk of Social Skills

Blogs and the uses in the classroom environment

I have enjoyed learning on how to use blogs and being able to incorporate them in my teaching strategies. I would like to use my blog to inform parents of the students about the daily activities we are doing in the classroom. I feel it is important to have transparency with parents who deserve to know what is going on in the class. Creating a daily blog can be a resource that parents can voice their concerns or questions they may be have about my lesson and childrens progress. Another use for the blog is to allow the students to log in and work on some activities. Giving the students the links that I have provided and ability to work with technology!