Challenge 15: BEST LEARNING STORY

For the past semester of graduate school, I have been learning to "flatten classrooms and engage minds". Challenge 15 asks me to share my best global collaborate story to all other teachers out there. My story starts with a minimum of three students per homeroom that set up Edmodo accounts in the library. These students work with other students in France under the same group code. Students read and review the same book and share their thoughts. It is like an online book report with the help of other students in another country! The kids are overwhelmed with excitement when it is time to go to the library to talk with their friends in Italy. It is motivated and most of all ENGAGING!! 

-Ms. Edens

4/15/13

Challenge 12: SHARE

CHALLENGE 12

For Challenge 12, I chose to complete a PowerPoint Presentation. I am very familiar with how to construct a PowerPoint, and I know many people know how to access them. My recordings are set up like narrations for each slide. To complete this challenge, I chose to focus on summarizing by taking five things I learned this far that I believe to be most important and beneficial. I put my slides together by using screen shots and graphics.


One flat classroom-style project that I would think would work for my 6th graders would be connecting in a reading group with other students around the world. Students would be interested and would finish book that they check out from the library if they were required to read it with a partner from another country. I would then have them "report" on the book so that I know they read it. It would be a way I could access students without doing a boring book report. 

-Megan Edens 

Challenge 11

**I have updated Challenge 10 by adding the ISTE standards.**

Project: Explore the characteristics such as plants, animals, landscape, and weather of a biome. The biomes are Tundra, Desert, Rainforest, Deciduous Forest, Savannah, Ocean, and  Grasslands.

Allotted Time: 30 minutes a day for 1 week

Grade: 6th grade

ISTE Standards: 
NETS.S 4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
-Students make decisions as a group such as topic and report as they complete their project. 
NETS.T 1.d Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
-Students are given choices on how they want to complete their project as a group.
NETS.T 4 Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsiblity
-Students are responsible for posting their projects on site. 

Standards:

Science: 6.7) Describe Earth's biomes. Examples: aquatic biomes, grasslands, deserts, chaparrals, taigas, tundras •  Identifying geographic factors that cause diversity in flora and fauna, including elevation, location, and climate

Technology 6.5) Use basic features of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation software. Technology 6.2) Publish digital products that communicate curriculum concepts. Project Plan: Students will work in groups of 4. They will choose which biomes the want to research. Students will research their biome using books from the library and the internet. They will research the animals, plants, landscape, and weather of the biome. They will then choose to report their research using PowerPoint presentation, constructing a diorama, or submitting a video to the classroom's Edmodo page.

Teacher will:
-review the different biomes using pictures on PowerPoint before beginning assignment.
-show examples of finished examples.
-supply rubric while reviewing rubric with students before starting project.
-progress monitor.
-ask students if they need anything.

Students will:
-decide on a biome after discussing with group members and decide which project they want to complete.
-research biome.
-begin working on their project report.
-display/present project.

Assessment: Students will be assessed by the rubric of the project report that they chose.
-Powerpoint: Includes information requirements. All group members participated. Post on Edmodo.
-Diorama: Correct information requirements are seen in model. All group members participated. Picture posted on Edmodo.
-Video: Includes information requirements (animals, plants, landscape, weather). All group members participated. Post on Edmodo.

Project Plan

Project: Explore the characteristics such as plants, animals, landscape, and weather of a biome. The biomes are Tundra, Desert, Rainforest, Deciduous Forest, Savannah, Ocean, and  Grasslands.

Allotted Time: 30 minutes a day for 1 week

Grade: 6th grade

Standards:

Science: 6.7) Describe Earth's biomes. Examples: aquatic biomes, grasslands, deserts, chaparrals, taigas, tundras •  Identifying geographic factors that cause diversity in flora and fauna, including elevation, location, and climate

Technology 6.5) Use basic features of word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation software. Technology 6.2) Publish digital products that communicate curriculum concepts.

Project Plan: Students will work in groups of 4. They will choose which biomes the want to research. Students will research their biome using books from the library and the internet. They will research the animals, plants, landscape, and weather of the biome. They will then choose to report their research using PowerPoint presentation, constructing a diorama, or submitting a video to the classroom's Edmodo page.

Teacher will:
-review the different biomes using pictures on PowerPoint before beginning assignment.
-show examples of finished examples.
-supply rubric while reviewing rubric with students before starting project.
-progress monitor.
-ask students if they need anything.

Students will:
-decide on a biome after discussing with group members and decide which project they want to complete.
-research biome.
-begin working on their project report.
-display/present project.

Assessment: Students will be assessed by the rubric of the project report that they chose.
-Powerpoint: Includes information requirements. All group members participated. Post on Edmodo.
-Diorama: Correct information requirements are seen in model. All group members participated. Picture posted on Edmodo.
-Video: Includes information requirements (animals, plants, landscape, weather). All group members participated. Post on Edmodo.

Challenge 8 and Challenge 9

Challenge 8: SHARE

COMPARE AND CONTRAST A COLLABORATIVE WIKI PROJECT OVER TRADITIONAL IN-CLASS GROUP WORK

Collaborative projects are much more engaging than traditional in-class group work. As a teacher and as a student, I would choose researching biomes using the internet and posting findings on Wikispaces over using the internet in a group in class project. This give students the opportunity to work on research at their convenience and can add to or take away at any point. Other members can check their partners' work and edit at any time. This gives the group a feel of security that the information they found is correct. Students and teachers can also see what students did what and how much work they put into the project. This teaches students another way to collaborate with others. I am so glad I found WIKISPACES!

-Megan Edens

Challenge 9: Share

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS

I use rubrics in my classroom, a lot. We have used them for projects completed at home, projects completed in the computer lab, and also collaborative projects. Making rubrics is the easy part. There are several to choose from online. Rubristar is a website that I use to make many of my rubrics. Grading the students using the rubrics is the hard part. Actually decided how many points one student deserves depends on the group in a whole. You have to see what a "100" looks like from students participation in the group and go from there. Many times I have used one rubric for the whole group to avoid having to complete an assessment for each child. By adding the names of each student across the top of a rubric, this process is much less time consuming. I like that!

Challenge 4

Edmodo can be used as a synchronous tool due to the fact that my students communicate as a live chat session when they need help on homework or need help using the technology. They share their homework and comment and discuss back and forth as a live chat session. They like to wait on the Edmodo site to see when their classmates log in. Watching them socialize and communicate back and forth really gets me excited about using technlogy in the classroom. They also talk to each other and schedule a time that they will log on their account so that they can be on at the same time. We LOVE Edmodo!

-Megan Edens

Yesterday we had Mr. Steve Jones come visit our science class to talk to us about earthquakes and seismology! We even made it to his facebook! Check us out----->www.facebook.com/alabamaquake