Web 2.0 Camp Reflection

I think the biggest difference for me between this workshop and other technology workshops is that going 3 days in a row allowed me to repeat actions/steps enough times that I remember what to do and will start using the tools consistently.

The biggest drawback for me was having to create new usernames, passwords, and profiles for all the different websites I need in order to use the tools I've learned.

Hyperlinking Documents to Use in Your Blog

My next issue was that not everything I wanted to hyperlink had a URL. Most of the hyperlinks I wanted to create were from documents in my N drive.

Solution: google Google documents. It will allow you to upload documents onto your website so that when you retrieve them, they have a URL.

Oh what joy!

Creating Wikis for Use in the Classroom

I took a course last year on wikis and left confused. This year, it is finally making sense for me. It helped me to look at other educators' wikis to get an idea of what exactly I could use it for.

Since I don't have a classroom, I decided to create a wiki for a grant 2 other teachers and I wrote last year. The HITLit (High in Technology) Book Club grant allowed us to order 38 award-winning novels (8 books for each title) for GT students in grades 3 - 5 to be shared among Metzler, Haude, and Schultz Elementaries.

Because there are multiple schools using the books from the list, using a wiki makes perfect sense of how to manage all the discussions that will happen before, during, and after students read the books.

We created a blog to be shared between the 3 schools. The blog had a picture and synopsis of each book so students could read the summary and decide if that is the right book for them.

Not many students posted comments. It might be because of the format. I can't wait to see if the wiki will work better.

2nd Grade Family Heritage Homework Assignment

One day this spring, my son came home with a Social Studies homework assignment/project. It was due in 2 weeks and needed to be about his family heritage.

3 days before it was due, Adam and I started working. Because of our own procrastination and Adam's writing deficiencies, we decided it would be best for him to create a Photo Story.

First, we had to collect family photos. Some we took that day and some we retrieved from the digital family archives. Next, we had to collect the information so Adam called his grandparents who live down the road and arranged a "visit." When we arrived, Me-me and Pa-pa had already been in the attic to find the family artifacts that had been passed down. An accordion, homemade wooded toys, and currency from different countries were just some of the items. Adam immediately became engaged and excited.

During the interview with his grandparents, Pa-pa began to cry as he told about his hardworking mother and father. It touched all our hearts and will be a memory we will treasure forever. Watch the video and see Adam's final outcome.

Photo Story is a wonderful tool to use with GT kids. Don't assume they already know how to do the research, what steps to take, and what to do in general. All these things need to be taught. With most GT kids, once you teach them how to do it the first time, they can take it from there.

I am in the process of placing the heritage project on Kleinshare and then I can create a link.

2nd Grade Biography Unit

This year, a 2nd grade Haude teacher and I worked together to create a biography unit that lasted 4 weeks. From a teacher created list, students chose an American historical figure that they wanted to learn more about.

One week was devoted to searching for reliable sources--books and media included. One week was devoted to guided research lessons. One of the best guided research lessons was called "Trash or Treasure?" Another week concentrated on writing a 1st person autobiographical sketch from their notes and that included lessons on the writing process. The last week had students finishing all the projects that went along with the unit.

The project options were given in a menu format. The menu of projects were introduced at the very beginning of the unit so students would know what kind of information they needed to look for (keeping the end in mind).

I took pictures of the illustrations some of the students chose to do. Students were also videotaped reading their autobiographical narrative. These were just 2 of the final project options. 4 different rubrics were used throughout the unit for major grades. Within each rubric, 3 or 4 minor grades were given.

Now, how did we differentiate for GT students? Before even introducing the unit to the class, the teacher and I chose different types of historical figures. For example, some were humanitarians, some were scientist, some were inventors, some were presidents, some were well known, and some were not.

We let the GT kids choose from a different list than the regular ed kids. Humanitarian historical figures involved a deeper understanding of moral issues. Also on the GT list were little known historical figures so that GT students would have to go to several different sources to find the "just right" information. For the below grade students, the teacher and I found articles on their reading level ready for them to use.

During the research process, GT students worked by themselves whereas the rest of the class were in partners (differentiation based on readiness). After all the primary/generic information was found, GT students were given task cards with the depth and complexity icons/questions that had to be answered. Then the GT students used the information to fill out a comparison chart so that generalizations could be formed. This step was not done with the others.

Using RSS feeds and Google Reader

I love the idea of having the news delivered to me through RSS feeds but. . . it feels like I'm like the newspaper delivery gal who is running around with a multitude of newspapers but forgot which addresses to deliver them to.

These are the accounts I have: Google Reader, Yahoo!, Klein ISD Wiki, Blogspot, and Delicious. Then of course I have the old school way of receiving news and that is to pull down My Favorites menu and select my favorite website for news.

Maybe I don't quite get it yet and need more time to practice. I hope that I will get it before the 21st century becomes the 22nd.

If you would like to view the Klein GT blog in which elementary principals tell their thoughts about GT services and current articles on GT, just click the link.

21st Century Blog Link

Here is a fabulous link to a fabulous blog by a fabulous teacher. She teaches abroad and if you e-mail her with questions, she will answer you. Kim even helped me create 5th grade pen-pals between Haude and the school she serves overseas.