WebEX

I was really nervous about the online presentations. I got especially nervous when Susan, Corrina and I were having trouble getting WebEx to work. However, once we figured it out it turned out to be a really good assignment. It was a bit lengthy, but it was neat that we could all come together even though we were miles apart.

Final Reflection

Final Reflection

Shanna Leviner

Lesley University

ECOMP 6016 Teaching and Learning with Digital Media

October 22, 2011































Teaching Pre-Kindergarten for 10 years has really strengthened my ability to use many different teaching and learning styles. It is a necessity in the early childhood classroom. Four-year-olds are very active learners and have a very short attention span. Therefore, I need to present information in a way that will get and keep their attention. I feel I have developed this skill well over the years, but this class has given me even more insight into teaching and learning with many different media.
According to Najjarr, “multimedia information is most effective when presented to learners with low prior knowledge or aptitude in the domain being learned.”(Najjar, 1996) Being a Pre-K teacher, my class is made up almost entirely of students who have a very low aptitude or experience in general. Therefore, this research is very exciting and promising to me and my students. The movie assignment for this class has given me another way to reach my students, and I am very excited that I learned how to use the movie maker software for an educational purpose. It never crossed my mind that I could make educational movies for my students, or better yet, they could make their own movies. The software was surprisingly simple to use. I was a bit afraid of it to begin with, but I am very glad I learned how to use it.
Other tools that I learned about in this course that I hope to put into use or already use include posters, edited images, voicethread, and again movies. Posters are already a big part of my teaching. When we begin a new subject, we always start by making some type of poster to illustrate how much we know about the subject. We then know where we need to go in order to broaden our understanding of the subject. I use images all the time to help my students better understand certain topics. We recently studied the stars and used images of the constellations. Voicethread is new to me, but seems like it would be a great tool. The children love to hear their own voices, and they take pride in anything they make themselves. Therefore, I can see us using voicethread to record stories to share with the class. Once again, I plan on using movies a lot. This is such a great interdisciplinary tool in which the children can eventually take control over. I can see them choosing a topic like shapes, taking pictures around the school, and then putting together a movie about shapes to present to the class. Not only have they learned about the basic shapes, but also how to use technology to present their learning to others.
As far as my projects for this course, I feel I did a pretty good job. I have never used movie maker, so I was very happy with my final product. I can definitely use this movie in my classroom to introduce the four seasons. However, I think it would be best if the children were allowed to make their own movie about the four seasons. We could make one as a class about general things that happen in each season. Then, each child could make his/her own movie about what they specifically do in each season. This would be a great way to bring in some cultural diversity for the students. Different cultures have different holidays and celebrate the seasons in different ways. So, what a great project; to allow the children to each tell what happens in their family in each season.
My apple lesson is one I have done many times over my course of teaching. However, I have never done a movie at the end of this unit. This is a great way to end many units, not just apples. The children have a great time in the process and really enjoy putting the movie together. They are very proud of what they have made and learned. I think doing projects like this give the children more ownership of their learning. The idea of making a movie gets their attention, and then they want their movie to be the best, so they work really hard to learn the material in order to make a great movie.
The online presentation was something completely new to me. I have never done one before, and I have to admit I was really nervous about it. I was especially nervous when my group could not get the site to work in the beginning. However, it turned out alright. It was actually a really neat assignment. It went a little long, but it was fun seeing everyone’s projects and being able to all come together even though we were in different places.












































Resources

Najjar, L. (1996). Multimedia information and learning. Journal of Educational
Multimedia and Hypermedia, 5 (2), 129-150.

Apple Lesson

Apples


Grade: Pre-K

ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and Innovation
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression
2. Communication and Collaboration
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
5. Digital Citizenship
b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports
collaboration, learning, and productivity
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
a. understand and use technology systems

Content Standards
Math: making and understanding simple graphs
continuing and creating simple patterns
Reading: color recognition(red, yellow, green)
letter and sound recognition-Aa
Science: identify parts of an apple(skin, stem, core, seed, flesh)

Lesson Description
During a week long study of apples, the children will be learning and labeling the parts of an apple. They will also have an apple tasting, and then make a class graph of their favorites. Each child will be making his/her own apple pattern using two of the three apple colors during centers. While all of this is taking place, the children will have access to digital cameras. They will be able to take pictures of themselves working and of their finished work. At the end of the study we will use movie maker to make an apple movie for the children to demonstrate what they learned.

Instructional Objectives
-colors
-graphing
-patterns
-parts of an apple
-digital camera operation
-assist with movie maker

Whole Group Introduction
I will bring in an apple for the group to investigate.
What do you know about apples?
What can you tell me about this apple?
What do we do with apples?
What are the parts of an apple?
We will make a circle map of all the things we know about apples.

Diverse Needs of Learners
Visual: looking at apples, seeing patterns, seeing class graph, watching movie
Auditory: listening to others directions, repeating patterns out loud
Kinesthetic: making patterns, investigating apple, taking pictures
ELL: labeling apple parts, watching movie, being immersed in the language

Student Products
-apple patterns
-apple graph
-labeled apples
-movie

Assessment
-student work
-movie
Grading Rubric
Unsatisfactory-U
Satisfactory-S

Participation

U-Did not contribute to class discussions or activities.
S-Provided input and asked questions during activities.

Neatness

U-Work was rushed through and very sloppy.
S-Attention was given when completing work and end product was very clean and neat.

Completion

U-Work was not finished.
S-All requirements were completed on time.

Materials
-apples
-books
-apple cut-outs
-smartboard
-cameras
-computer
-movie maker

Prezi

Wow! It took me a while to figure this out. I can see where it would be a great tool to use, but it has a little bit of a learning curve I think. It is not that it is hard to use, you just have to figure out exactly how to make it do what you want it to. As I was making my prezi for my presentation things kept getting bigger and bigger on the canvas and I could not quite figure out how to fix that. You will see when I do my presentation. Haha However, I got it done and I'm glad to know about this site and plan on using it once I learn it a little better.

Assistive Technology

The video I watched was very interesting. It brought up many ideas I never thought about as assistive technology. I use the smartboard everyday in my Pre-K classroom and this could be considered a type of assistive technology. For children who cannot manipulate a regular computer mouse well, the smartboard allows them to use their hands to touch icons on the screen. Other ideas I already use in my classroom are picture cards. I use them to help children put things back where they belong, and also to help children who need a visual clue in order to understand what is being asked of them. Assistive technologies are an essential part of the classroom these days. We want each child to be independent and anything that will help them is beneficial.

Apples

Grade: Pre-K

ISTE Standards

1. Creativity and Innovation

b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression

2. Communication and Collaboration

d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems

5. Digital Citizenship

b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports

collaboration, learning, and productivity

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

a. understand and use technology systems

Content Standards

Math: making and understanding simple graphs

continuing and creating simple patterns

Reading: color recognition(red, yellow, green)

letter and sound recognition-Aa

Science: identify parts of an apple(skin, stem, core, seed, flesh)

Lesson Description

During a week long study of apples, the children will be learning and labeling the parts of an apple. They will also have an apple tasting, and then make a class graph of their favorites. Each child will be making his/her own apple pattern using two of the three apple colors during centers. While all of this is taking place, the children will have access to digital cameras. They will be able to take pictures of themselves working and of their finished work. At the end of the study we will use movie maker to make an apple movie for the children to demonstrate what they learned.

Instructional Objectives

-colors

-graphing

-patterns

-parts of an apple

-digital camera operation

-assist with movie maker

Whole Group Introduction

I will bring in an apple for the group to investigate.

What do you know about apples?

What can you tell me about this apple?

What do we do with apples?

What are the parts of an apple?

We will make a circle map of all the things we know about apples.

Diverse Needs of Learners

Visual: looking at apples, seeing patterns, seeing class graph, watching movie

Auditory: listening to others directions, repeating patterns out loud

Kinesthetic: making patterns, investigating apple, taking pictures

ELL: labeling apple parts, watching movie, being immersed in the language

Student Products

-apple patterns

-apple graph

-labeled apples

-movie

Assessment

-student work

-movie

Materials

-apples

-books

-apple cut-outs

-smartboard

-cameras

-computer

-movie maker

Video Redo

I forgot my CONFU notice on the first one, so I added it and changed the musci. I think it runs much smoother, now. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sme_gNJcb0M