In the past, I have been part of many grants. I was part of a Title IID Technology Grant in 2008 to 2011. I have written mini-grants for both my classroom, as well as had many successful projects on Donors Choose and iPevo's Wishpool. At this particular point in time, Gould Elementary was in search of funding to attain tools and licenses for programs that could be used to improve reading, and collect data for purposes of RTI. When an opportunity arose, a group of teachers, including myself, decided to work together in order to make the grant as strong as possible. The group selected a spokesperson, and then began to work together and coordinate the written aspects of the grant. Over the week, the group met (including digital meetings/emails) to discuss which program was best to write into the grant, and allow teachers and students the most benefits. Scootpad was decided upon, and the group began writing portions of the grant, and working together to make sure the grant flowed, and described the need for technology in our school.
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Many of the lessons created during my practicum have revolved around information literacy. During each unit, at least one class session plagiarism and digital citizenship were discussed. At this point in the practicum, I felt students did not need a specific lesson on fair use, but instead needing something that would continually remind them what we had learned and discussed.
In my off time, my wife and I have been developing various teaching units and design items for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers. Using what I have been working on during my personal time, and what was needed in my practicum, I developed these posters. The goal of these posters were to fit into a classroom theme or be added into any classroom. The posters contain a summary of the meaning or item displayed in the headlines. Displaying them in areas such as the media center, the computer lab, or the classroom, will help remind students what is expected of them when researching and writing. Tonight was the culmination of my collaborative unit with second grade. Students came to PTA tonight dressed as historical figures to put on Gould's 4th Annual Night at the Museum! Over the past month, I worked with second grade teachers to help their students write speeches to use during the 4th edition of their yearly "wax" museum display. Students have worked on research skills, discussed how to find relevant information, as well as fair use and copyright. Using these skills, students wrote facts into a prewritten (by their teachers) speech framework. While I helped teach students information literacy skills, teachers focused on CCGPS with lessons on main idea and details, as well as standards on some of the famous figures on display at the PTA performance. The lessons and performance turned out to be a hit (just see some of the photos below)! The second grade teachers were very appreciative of the help and support from the media center. By helping them with the research skills, it provided them some extra, and much needed time, to focus on the CCGPS. The final product turned out wonderfully! Below I am posting the lesson plans for this unit, which include some additional reflections and insights into the lesson, along with some things I would do differently next time.
Gould Elementary has an exciting time celebrating Black History Month each February. This year, the multicultural committee decided to hold a Poster Contest for students to research a famous or historical African American, and create poster to display what they learned. Working with fourth and fifth grade teachers, I decided to use this as my enrichment unit. Over the past few weeks, students have researched their chosen figure. Students used their research to write informational paragraphs on their person. During this time we also discussed copyright, plagiarism, and fair use. We also discussed how to give credit and site work. At this point I placed a template on the project page. The template was a powerpoint file, with a picture, headline, tagline, and basic body text. Students placed their own text and information on the template, and then they adjusted fonts, colors, and text sizes to make the posters their own. Students also used Google to search for images using the "labeled for non-commercial use" search filter. Once a photo was found, students placed a photo credit on their posters. I was very proud of the results and final posters the students produced. Some of the final products are shown below. This week I worked with a fifth grade class using the flipped classroom model. After discussing with a couple of the fifth grade teachers, we decided that many of the students did not have basic digital etiquette or digital information literacy skills.
Using this information, I created three modules. The first module is based around cyber safety, and what things should or should not be posted on the internet. The second lesson revolves around cyber bullying, and how it can be a dangerous thing, and many could be a perpetrator without even realizing it The last module dealt with information on websites, and how a student can evaluate a website to decide if it is reliable or not. For each session, students watched the videos, or viewed the websites at home, and then discussed, participated in role plays, and other group discussions in class. Students who did not have internet access at home were allowed to come in the media center or computer lab before or after school, as well as during homeroom. The last module based on website evaluation, has a printed packet that could also be given to students without internet access at home. I would have to say that Lesson 3 was by far my favorite, and went over the best with the students. They loved the off the wall topics many of the fake sites were on, and agreed that it is sometimes very difficult to determine the validity of a website based on looks. This week I worked with teachers from both West Chatham Elementary, as well as my own, to work on using Google Drive. While setting up for this workshop, I created many smaller modules and placed them on my iGould website for teachers to use and work through as needed. These smaller modules can also serve as long distance learning or as refreshers in case someone forgets some of the items discussed in training.
The training was given in workshop fashion. This allowed me to see where teachers needed the most help, and allow me to offer assistance. Gould Elementary has begun to use Google Drive as its primary method for collecting and collaborating on lesson plans. West Chatham and the Savannah Chatham County School District (SCCPSS) are both moving towards Google Drive, as the district as already purchased Google Apps accounts for all its employees. The workshop format worked perfectly as I was able to curve my training towards the areas needed. Many teachers were still learning how to share their plans with colleagues and administrators. Others needed help uploaded or moving files for organization. Overall, I believe the workshop was a success. Today Mrs. Jackson and I looked over the Library Media Program Self-Evaluation Rubric. Mrs. Jackson explained what each of the criteria was looking for, and also explained many of the difficulties that budget cuts and high class sizes have placed on various expectations within the rubric. She explained the scoring for each section, and how exceeding in certain areas does not guarantee an overall score that exceeds expectations. Some problems that arise that I did not realize is the difficulty in collaborating and planning with classroom teachers. As a classroom teacher, I had always welcomed input and help from anyone who would give it. Part of that reason is because I viewed it as possible help in alleviating the ever growing pile of tasks added to a teacher's plate. However, Mrs. Jackson explained that as a media specialist you have to keep in mind that not everyone welcomes such help or assistance. She said it was a fine line that has to be walked at times. If you offer too much assistance, some could view you as pushy, but if you do not offer enough, then you are not available. This perspective offered me something to think about as to what would be the best method when I am a media specialist? Afterwards, Mrs. Jackson asked me to review the rubric and takes notes of ways the Gould Media Center could improve on in hopes of achieving an exceeds mark in every area of the rubric. This year, before school started, I created a website: iGould. This site began as a way for my classes and students to start each class, as well as provide resources and games they can use in their homeroom or at home. From there, it has morphed into a resource for parents, as well as a resource for teachers. This has easily become my staff development website and web 2.0 tool. The teacher section of the iGould website is broken into three sections: useful weblinks, my App and website blog, and resource modules. Teachers have expressed to me their appreciation for having many of the websites used within our school or district in one place. Some have even begun to use it as their home page on their school computer so they have an easy jump page to needed websites.
What needed to be added was a "2.0" area. This is what sparked the blog. Many teachers have asked me for useful apps or websites to work on various skills or concepts. On the flip side, many teachers also share with me many websites they find. The blog will become a place where I can share apps and websites I find whether on my own or shared from a colleague. This in turn allows comments from colleagues to discuss how they have used the item in their classroom, or even other tools they have found! |
Jason SmithJason Smith is the 3rd & 4th Grade Gifted Facilitator at Gould Elementary. Archives
March 2017
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