Creativity Quickfire

Creativity Quickfire. Writing activity.

First ten minutes:

Every student receives three slips of paper. Students will write the name of an everyday object on one slip. Teacher will model appropriate examples. Students will write the first sentence of a story and the last line of a story on the other two slips. Teacher will again model appropriate examples:

Object: model airplane
First sentence: Yesterday I got my first tattoo.
Last sentence: And now I know I love macaroni and cheese.

Tells students to stay away from first sentences like, "Once upon a time" or "One day I was walking down the street." Encourage them to choose quickly without over-analyzing.

Teacher will gather the slips into the 3 separate piles or hats. Students will be divided into groups of 3. One member of the group will pull out of a hat their group's first sentence, object, and last sentence. As a group students will write a story or a character's monologue using the three pieces of information. They must use the starting sentence to start their story or monologue and end with the last sentence. They must mention the object at some point in their writing.

Technology component:

Students will use iMovie to create a short video where they will read their story, accompanied by appropriate images and choose music to accompany it. Music must help to establish the writing's mood.

Students will have 20 minutes to write their story and 30 minutes to create their iMovie.

Students should concentrate on creating a compelling character or a story with narrative flow.

Their images should be taken from an Advanced Search on Google Images: go to Usage Rights and choose "labeled for reuse" in the dropdown menu. They must save the links from their chosen images and site them at the end of their iMovie.

Personal Growth #4

I would like to create a Big Idea for Spanish and tie it to a powerful image for my students. As Punya suggested, I would like to revisit this idea and image throughout the year. I also plan to concentrate on the M.A.P., create experiences that allow my students to Master skills while giving them chances for Autonomy and making sure tasks have Purpose. I will ask my self if I have forgotten what it means to be a Spanish novice or a theatre novice. I will see my students in terms of their realms of experience. How can I discover where they are? How can I tap into prior knowledge and use it to propel us towards new learning? How can I reorganize their thinking? How can I positively meddle in their cognitive space and provide experiences that will expand that space?

As for technology, my students can speak Spanish and hear themselves in Audacity, so they can self assess. Students can communicate with me about their learning with Google Forms. Students can self-direct their learning by choosing their own area/topic of Spanish or language learning to investigate and then create a presentation in Prezi or an iMovie demonstrating their mastery. I will also use the term "digital citizenship" frequently and define/model it constantly. I will revisit this topic throughout the year. I will educate my colleagues about digital citizenship as well. I want to use my iPhone in class and model how it can be a valuable addition. It doesn't have to be taboo. I plan to discuss this with my administration. I also want to begin the discussion with them about how we can effectively use cell phones in the class, like Poll Everywhere. This will be an uphill battle, I feel, with my administration, but I do know they will listen to me. They will be open-minded and if I can begin the discussion and invite them to my class to see it in action, I am doing my part to begin a shift in their thinking.

I feel confident that I have the skills to plan and incorporate these technologies into my class. I know I will encounter difficulties. I will be moving from class to class and I will need help. I am lucky to have Bill to go to at school, but I will go to my MAET classmates for help as well. I will ask their advice and see what is working in their classrooms.


Personally, I will be thinking long and hard about if I want to stay in my current position. I want to "live the questions now (Rilke)", but I plan on being open-minded to see if doors begin to open or if new ways of thinking are starting to lead me into a different direction. I want to take risks, pedagogical risks, creative risks. I also want to continue my study of mediation and mindfulness in an attempt to keep the nightmares and anxiety at bay.

A haiku:

Balance. Foreign face.
Will you stay for awhile?
Learning. Living. Now.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship Vodcast

Demotivation.

created by: Jamie Perry, Jillian Johnson, Bill Marsland, and Chris Popowski

Script for Vodcast

Three educators, working towards a Master’s degree in Educational Technology at Michigan State University, are asking their colleagues an important question:

What does digital citizenship in the 21st century mean to you?

video clips MSU students answering that question briefly

We only wish we knew the perfect way to answer this question. But it’s not going to be that easy. The solution isn’t going to be black and white. In order to navigate this digital world in which we currently find ourselves, we need to encourage an open dialogue amongst its inhabitants. Each digital citizen has the opportunity to contribute their own unique perspective to this issue.

Digital Citizenship - Let’s start the conversation

video clips MSU students speak to specific points they are contributing to their efforts in educating digital citizens


Are you discussing this at school? With colleagues? With students? At home with your own children?

Are we, as educators, discussing it enough?

Let’s talk about it more. Together.

Let’s continue this conversation.


What can you add to the dialogue?

end



Storyboard

Wicked TPACK Challenge

Issue: How to create meaningful displays of comprehensible Spanish without direct translation.

Technology Pedagogy Content

a. What is the TP knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)

I have chosen to use peer-partner learning to engage my students in a usually dry topic. Students will have to collaborate and negotiate to successfully create meaningful digital media depicting their topic. When creating compelling images/videos as part of a group, students will have to negotiate and problem solve, which will involve holding a dialogue to produce and agreement and results (successful completion of the project). Using tools like iMovie and digital images will be collaborative because I will require students to include more than one person in what they create. Roles will have to be assigned: who will film? who will write the script? who will act? who will edit? All of these activities must be completed in collaboration.


b. What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about representation.)

Basic questions and answers in Spanish can be a dry topic, and since it’s dry many students do not remember long lists of them, aside from “Como estas?” Students will use digital photography, Picnik, and iMovie to create compelling images of themselves and their partners to illustrate everyday questions and answers in Spanish, without displaying the direct translation. This is possible because if an image/video is engaging and specific, an audience will see the meaning clearly. Direct translation will not be needed. This mimics real-life natural language acquisition. This technology will help this specific content become more meaningful because it allows for students to create rather than just look at teacher-created images or visuals from a book. These digital images will then be displayed around the classroom or school to help reinforce the meaning without direct translation.

c. What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies

In the area of creating comprehensible Spanish without providing direct translation, my focus has been teacher-centered in the past. My goal is to have a more student-centered lesson. Learning languages should involve peer-partner learning and negotiation. This mimics how languages are learned naturally, outside of a classroom. We learn to speak through interaction. So, if my students are collaborating and problem-solving to create compelling images/video, they are not just repeating a teacher’s language, they are creating their own. By encouraging them to show what they mean and not just translate it directly in their project, they are creating a more memorable image which will give the action meaning. By using their peers and chosen media to demonstrate the meaning of Spanish questions and answers, this lesson will be more intellectually accessible and memorable, for themselves and whomever see what they create.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship by Bill, Jamie and Chris

Our group plans to create a vodcast discussion of the differenct aspects of digital citizenship.

Preliminary research on the Internet shows that there is already a ton of information about the promotion of digital citizenship available in various formats on the Internet. For example there are websites, blogs, youtube videos, pdf files, etc.

Post onto the blog, Monday, July 19th?

Our group will specifically discuss why the need to "preach" digital citizenship to our students is becoming increasingly urgmore important.

Tools we will use: clips from relevant videos, images, imovie

Projected time line:

1. First blog post to describe the vodcast. Preliminary research, gather on line resources - Monday, July 19

2. Storyboard the vodcast and coordinate the videos & images, write the script using a nice narrative flow between the video clips and images. Record and shoot the project. Post the outline/storyboard and script onto our blog pages - Tuesday, July 20th

3. Edit & finalize the project, Wednesday, July 21th