I am now an official member of the American Library Association (ALA) and the Georgia Library Association (GLA)!
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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. 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. This week, my supervising media specialist showed me the media center inventory. Since Spring Break is beginning, she completed an inventory before students went on break. While this was not as extensive as the end of year inventory, it was still pretty extensive. My supervisor does inventory by printing out her materials, and keeping them in a big binder. If something is weeded out, she marks it off her sheet, and deletes it from the system. This helps her ensure items are where they belong in the media center (along with continuous reshelving). Probably what amazed me the most about her inventory, was the fixed assets.
One section of her binder is dedicated to fixed assets, such as computers in each classroom. She should me that the district actually has a database to help LMS keep track of each computer. On Acorn (the district intranet), there is an area that media specialist can use to look up any computer serial number (or work station tag). Once looked up it can tell the LMS which user last logged into the computer, and when they did so. This helps her determine its approximate location in the school. If a teacher has logged into it multiple times, it is more than likely in his/her classroom. If only the teacher logs into it, it is more than likely a teacher computer or projector computer. If students primarily log into it, it is more than likely one of the student work stations. I thought this was a pretty handy tool for LMS to complete inventory, and keep track of computer use. 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.
Today was Read Across America Day! In celebration of Read Across America, and Dr. Seuss's Birthday, the entire school had a door decorating contest. While it wasn't so much of a contest (since everyone who participated won), it was an opportunity for me to create a school wide display. Where is the best place for a school wide display in Gould Elementary? The gym doors! The gym is at the very end of the main hallway at the school, and can be seen as soon as you enter the main doors of the school. For my display, I decided to create a display I have seen done on Pinterest. Using the doors, I recreated a "Readbox" (instead of Redbox, the movie rental service). Fourth and fifth grade students wrote summaries of some of their favorite books the previous week, and I used the summaries as "teasers" on the cover of each book. Also, instead of advertising movie rentals, I created a sign that read, "Free Book Rentals now available in the Library!" While the idea came from a Pinterest image, the addition of the student work element was my own. Also, I added a digital element to the display by adding QR codes on each of the books. Once scanned, the QR codes would take the scanner to either a book trailer of the book, the official site of the book, or an unofficial fan site of the book, in order to help "advertise" the book for check out at the media center. Today I viewed a webinar created by our district on Google Chromebooks. The district has purchased many Chromebooks for various schools, and has been offering many opportunities to learn about the laptops and operating system (OS). A video created by the district (as another opportunity) can also be found here on their tiny url link.
I believe that webinars are beneficial for two primary reasons. The first is that live webinars are almost on par with talking to a real person. Webinars provide interaction and the chance to ask questions. Some believe you can have more interaction with the host in webinars than in the traditional conference or workshop setting. Personally, while I am a tech nut, I would still rather the face to face interaction. The second primary reason webinars are beneficial is because it allows a quick way for teachers to stay on top of advancing technology, often in the comfort of their own home. In this case, it provided me with a chance to familiarize myself with an OS that is quickly on the rise. I am a primarily Mac user myself, but am familiar with Linux, and very familiar with Windows. I have used Android extensively in the past, but have had limited experience with the Chrome OS. I believe it is vital for LMS to stay on top of new technology, even if you prefer a different OS or manufacturer, teachers and students should be exposed to all types, and thus the media specialist must know a little about everything in order to support that. 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 created a technology display used for school wide information. I choose to create this display just outside my own classroom because it is one of the places parents often congregate during PTA and school wide events. My classroom is next to the gym, were PTA and school events are often hosted, and the PTA Sign-In sheet is often placed across from my classroom.
On the display I created (or obtained) QR codes for various school sites used to disseminate information to parents (such as the school website & Facebook group). I also created a how-to display about QR codes for parents who are not familiar. While parents stand in line to sign-in, or are waiting for PTA to start, they will be able to scan QR codes of important sites from the school! |
Jason SmithJason Smith is the 3rd & 4th Grade Gifted Facilitator at Gould Elementary. Archives
March 2017
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