Web 1.0 become Web 2.0!

During my online courses for the ITS program this past summer, I was tasked with creating a telecollaborative design project that incorporated the use of web 1.0 tools to help my students find deeper meaning in a novel we read each year.  This project is based on the successful completion of the novel, Letters From Rifka, about a young girl who is forced to flee her native country of Russia with her family during the post World War I era in hopes to find a better life in America.  Because students who read this book often ask if there is a sequel and suggest that there should one be based on Rifka’s new life and adventure as an American citizen, I thought this would be a great opportunity to foster collaboration among students who are passionate about the outcome of this character’s life, as well as a way for them to improve upon their writing abilities based on their understanding of literary elements.  Students will post their ideas about possible outcomes and new adventures for Rifka to experience by adding them to the forum.  They will  then be tasked with considering what others have posted before them as they decide what to add to Rifka’s story.  They will need to think about the time period that this story is set in in order to keep the events of the plot as realistic as possible.  The project creator will monitor the submissions and guide the participants with suggestions to keep the plot moving and help them to know when it should come to a close.

        If I were to take this same project and infuse some of the web 2.0 lessons I've learned over the course of this past semester, I think the most obvious tool to use would be a wiki.  Students would be able to add their ideas to the online forum at any time and could easily edit or revise the ideas as they pop up.  Like we have been doing with our ITSopedia wiki, students would all have an opportunity to contribute their ideas, but by doing it through a wiki site, they could do this from anywhere at anytime and it would always be a working document that was open for interpretation by all.  The same basic elements of the original project would be in place, but by using the wiki concept, students could really see the transformation of the story as it unfolds in front of them.  It would be a great way for them to take much more ownership of their ideas for the story as well as the feedback and revisions they provide to their peers.

Digital Video Editing



So this week we spent more time working with the Bloggie cameras to create a PSA for our advocacy group.  After getting some good practice last week, my group did a great job coming up with a script and taping our segments of film to be used in the final production.  Even though we felt pretty confident in our use of this equipment and editing software, we still managed to run into some roadblocks along the way.  I guess this is to be expected as we still explore and play with the many different feature this technology affords its users.  Be the end of class, we had a pretty good finished version of our PSA that we are proud of and feel like we have a whole new bag of tricks to rely on for future projects. 

I think about my students all the time when doing these projects in class because they LIVE for activities and assignments that involve the following things: groupwork, ipods/ipads/smartphones--basically anything digital, and making up some sort of skit.  They are actually working on a unit right now that gives them a lot of creative license to utilize technology and work in groups to act out scenes and pieces of the novels they are currently reading.  I had one group that created a news report based on some of the main events of their book and I was blown away by their expertise with the software for creating a video that had background music and all sorts of other special effects.  They could give ME lessons on how to do things.  I think that when I give them praise for their tech-savvy ways, they think I'm just being a teacher who is giving them the obligatory "pat on the back" but I am genuinely amazed at the things they are capable of at such a young age and it makes me more excited to take the things I'm learning from the ITS program and combine them with what they already know to make some really cool products that showcase what they are learning in my class.  I am definitely trying to come up with a way to have the kids create a PSA for the upcoming 6th graders next year.  At this point we will have plenty of time to work on these after they complete their SOLS due to all our makeup snow days.  I guess that's my silver lining??  :)

Making a PSA

This past week in class, I was tasked with creating a video PSA with some of my classmates.  We chose to take the sarcastic route to get our message across and reach our audience through humor.  I can honestly say we made an impression and left them with something memorable.  :) The process of creating the video was fun and allowed for a lot of creativity.  The importance of writing a script is definitely evident as it helped to keep us on track when we began to tape each segment of the video.  I am always beyond amazed at the latest equipment that is available to make this production so easy.  The computer programs used to edit all of the film segments are really cool and although I think it definitely takes someone with a knack for knowing their way around their computer and having some familiarity of the program, I think once you get the hang of it, it's pretty simple.
 
Any chance my students get to create some little skit and incorporate their ipads or video features on their cell phones they are elated, so I could see this idea of creating PSAs as a great opportunity for them.  I will keep you all posted if we find a way to make this a reality in my classroom in the near future!  :)

Social Networking

Social networking is a phenomenon that seems to be inescapable these days.  While there are some people out there who still shy away from it by refusing to create their own Twitter or Facebook accounts, there are few ways in which they are still not affected by the participation of others.  I can't help by think of my own dad who as a former high school principal was less than enthused and impressed by all the hype that Facebook had created.  He had no interest in joining this social networking community until he attended a meeting for the Woodbridge High School Hall of Fame committee back in 2009 and learned what a perfect tool it was to reach out to former athletes and get the word out about the nominees they had decided on.  He finally broke down and set up an account and now he is affectionately known as "Mr. Facebook" by many.  Since retiring, he has remained a large part of the WSHS community and in the past year has launched  massive campaign for a 50 year anniversary celebration.  He has pretty much employed every facet that Facebook has to try and get the word out to the thousands of students and faculty from the past 50 years of the school's history.  Through this window to the world, he has managed to sell thousands of dollars of "50 Years of WSHS" merchandise to help pay for this huge event, as well as to help support the athletic boosters. 

In terms of using social networking in the classroom, it seems like that is an entirely different thing to consider.  My county has recently "unblocked" Youtube so both teachers and students can access the multitude of videos that can be used daily to help make class lessons and projects interesting and engaging, but has still remained intent on keeping Facebook blocked (for what I think sounds like obvious reasons).  Unfortunately, they have also blocked any types of blogs, which would make it difficult to create one for a classroom.  I know there are ways to work around this by creating a blog on a program that is approved by the school board, and I am definitely interested in looking into those.  All schools have their own Schoolfusion websites, which do have a feature for an open forum type page for students to post comments, thoughts, questions, and ideas as they relate to each teacher's class.  I've used this before and it's been a neat tool to experiment with and my students have always seemed to enjoy it.  I will have to see what other avenues I can explore to get more social networking in an educational way going on for my kids!