Beverly Ingle on 21st Century Learning

Beverly Ingle, president of the Colorado Education Association has a video news conference out on YouTube talking about meeting the 21st century's challenges in our schools. In this video, she talks about the importance of preparing today's students for the challenges in the global marketplace. She mentions the importance of highly qualified teachers and mentions that quality teaching is the most important influence on student learning. Part of that quality teaching involves integrating technology in our classrooms and preparing our students to compete in the global economy. The skills that she mentions in preparing our students involve: analysis, critical thinking, evaluation, creative problem solving, and multiple communication skills. When questioned by a reporter on the challenges of teaching these skills to students she followed that all students have the ability to learn and added, more importantly in my opinion, that all teachers can also learn. I would add to that by saying that all teachers MUST learn to incorporate technology and critical thinking skills in their classrooms. I applaud Beverly Ingle in making this a priority. You can view here video here.
Crossposted on the Global Learner Blog

Resources for Digital Equity for Spanish Speaking Students

Equity and diversity in education are important themes in education today. Paul Gorski, in defining multicultural education mentions that, “Every student must have an equal opportunity to achieve to her or his full potential” (EdChange Multicultural Pavilion). Linguistic minority students do not have the same internet resources available as English speaking students and may struggle with the technology to locate them. One of my goals with regard to multicultural education is to help close the digital equity gap. EdReform.net lists the five dimensions of digital equity as: Technology resources, quality content, culturally responsive content, effective use of resources and content creation (http://digitalequity.edreform.net/, 2003).With that in mind, I've added a page to my website for Spanish language elementary web resources (https://sites.google.com/a/adams14schools.org/mrfisher/resources). The resources presented on my webpage are intended for students, parents, and teachers of students who speak Spanish. Teachers are constantly searching for quality web resources for their Spanish speaking students and parents frequently ask me for web resources they can access at home to further their children’s learning. The purpose is to consolidate on one page some of the best Spanish language web resources for primary age students. I'd like to solicit your feedback on additional web resources available in Spanish that I could add to this.

References:
Gorski, P. C. (2003). : The Challenge of Defining “Multicultural Education”. EdChange Multicultural Pavilion. Retrieved October 11, 2008 from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/initial.html

cross posted at http://principianteglobal.blogspot.com/2008/10/digital-equity-for-spanish-speaking.html

Virtual Manipulatives, First Grade

This evening we just had a great skype chat on Using the SmartBoard in the standards-based classroom. The focus was on what was working well and we talked about engagement, math, and literacy. The consensus was that there was a need for more training or refresher courses. Some ideas where bandied about regarding students teaching other students or creating short training sessions in peer to peer learning. I like the idea and I'm going to share some screen capture tips in one of my subsequent postings. Much of the focus was on math and so I'd like to show a short clip of some place value work we did this week using the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives at http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vLibrary.html.

Specifically we are using base blocks to represent place value. This address the Grade Level Essential Target of 1.2C: c) Uses objects to show meanings of = ,<, >, from 0 to 100. e) Uses multiple models to develop initial understanding of place value of ones and tens (base ten blocks, abacus, computer, manips). This is a great place to differentiate because while all first graders need to represent up to 100, many of my students can use blocks to show numbers in the thousands. (Please note this website is available in Spanish as well)What I like about the base blocks virtual manipulatives is that they are easy to move around, you get immediate corrective feedback from the number counter, and it is a fast way to demonstrate mastery of a difficult concept.

Here is a short video of my class doing some base block exercises. In the first two segments I am filming but for most of the class work my students film everything and do all the documenting with the digital cameras. Each week I assign a class photographer who take all the pictures and videos. They are filming the third segment. As you can see, it is a bit shaky (Note to self "Get tripod"). Mildly reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project.

First Grade Internet Workshop

Here is an internet workshop I developed for my first grade classroom.

Website, Content, and Rationale
This activity will involve a trip to the Great Plant Escape website at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/index.html. I chose this website for several reasons. First, it introduces our classroom unit on plants. Second, it is available in Spanish which is the primary language of all of my students. Finally, it is fairly easy to navigate; it has few external links, and does not contain advertisements or other distractions. Of my 28 students, 12 have a computer at home and of those students, seven have internet access. A website that is simple with large colorful images to support the content is appropriate for students at first grade and appropriate for students with limited internet experience.

Activity and Objectives
Students in groups of four will work together to navigate through the portion of the Great Plant Escape dealing with growing plants indoors. The objective is threefold: Students will identify the basic needs of plants. Students will demonstrate and reflect on their ability to work together. Students will demonstrate beginning internet navigation skills including following a bookmark, navigating by hyperlinks and navigating by navigation arrows. The standards associated with these objectives are:

Colorado Model Content Standard 3, K-2 Benchmark 5: Organisms interact with each other and with nonliving parts of their habitat to meet their basic needs (for example: food, water, air, shelter, space) (Colorado Department of Education).

Illinois Social Emotional Learning Standard 2C: Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others. Demonstrate cooperative behaviors in a group (Illinois Department of Education).

National Educational Technology Standards 6. Technology Operations and Concepts:
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. 6a: understand and use technology systems (International Society for Technology in Education).

To open this activity I will explain that we are going to plant some plants and we want to find out what the best way to keep them alive is. The students have practiced basic navigation using the Smart Board. I will plan a day for navigating using only a touch pad. A fellow first grade teacher and I will model working together, emphasizing how to discuss and question the web page content. We will model how to help each other when one of us does not know a word or where to click. We will also model taking turns and handling the laptops carefully. Next, I will present the learning goals in kid-friendly language and the rubric for content, cooperation, and technology.
Then, students will be assigned their groups and jobs and given their laptops and begin. I will circulate to monitor the students and provide assistance as needed. After navigating the site and taking notes (drawings with labels) we will return to a whole group and students will share what they learned about plants, navigating through the site, and working together. In addition to knowledge level questions about plant needs the following questions will be used to encourage higher level thinking:

Content:
What two needs do you think are most important?
Where would be the best place in this classroom to place the plants so that they grow best, and why?
Do you think it would be better to plant 15 seeds in pot or to plant only three? Why?
Does your lawn have to be mowed in the winter? Why not?
Why do you think we do not see flowers outside in the winter?
Do all plants need the same amount of water?
What are some plants that do not need as much water as others?
How are plants and people alike? (Or different).
What are some examples of plants that need to be cared for and why do they need to be cared for when other plants do not?

Process:
What was the best thing about working in a group and why?
What was the best thing about this website and what was the worst thing? Why?
What were some hard things and what where some easy things in navigating and why?
What would make this activity better and why?
How is learning on the internet like learning from a book and how is it different?
Who do you think made this website and why?
Would you call who made the website an author? Why or why not?
Is there a better way to show what plants need?
How could you make this website better if you knew how to make websites?

Activity Management
The students will work together to make sense of the content. They will work in four person heterogeneous groups that include a strong reader, a strong navigator, a note taker/artist, and a time keeper. They will take turns in each role at the computer and help each other. All the students will work at the same time using the laptop carts for about 20 minutes. The students will record the information gathered online by taking turns drawing pictures with labels. The students will only need their note taking sheet, a timer, and their rubric.

Rubric:



















References:

Colorado Department of Education: Colorado Model Content Standards. Retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/documents/OSA/k12_standards.htm.
Illinois Department of Education: Social Emotional Learning Standards. Retrieved February 12, 2008 from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/html/descriptors.htm
International Society for Technology in Education. National Educational Technology Standards. Retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

Using the Smart Board for Phonics Instruction

As a Colorado Reading First school with very explicit and systematic literacy instruction I often find it hard to integrate technology during my Core Literacy time. One of the nice features about the Smart Board is the ability to manipulate text and graphics. For many lessons I hand write the words to emphasize letter formation and because the speed at which I write is a good speed for first graders decoding on the fly. For this particular lesson I pre-typed the parts of the words. I wanted to emphasize common end blends. I used the Smart Board to quickly move ending “L” blends to the initial consonant. (GLET 1g: Uses word and letter recognition skills. Produces sounds to common letter combinations. ) Here is a short screen cast of that lesson.

Cross posted on the Adams 14 Global Learner Blog

How to create a student data sheet in Excel using conditional formatting

Here's a follow up to last weeks post on creating a student data sheet in Excel using conditional formatting. I posted an example file in the Global Learner Wiki under Elementary Reading: http://globallearner.wikispaces.com/Elementary+Reading

Since our district has adopted DIBELS as a literacy measure I would like to share how I use Excel to help me organize and analyse my student data. The Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Success tests has an online feature that is helpful but I like to keep student data in a format that allows me to group students more meaningfully.

First I create a spreadsheet with the DIBELS Benchmark measures. I add a column for nonsense words recoded. Then I add columns for data from the core phonics survey.

I select each column and then apply conditional formatting to populate the cell with a specific color based on a number range to indicate if the student skill is considered benchmark, strategic, or intensive. I use the DIBELS ranges for the DIBELs measures but I have my own set of cut-off ranges for Core Phonics data.

I then sort the data by Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) and NWF words recoded. Letter Naming Fluency is also a good indicator of reading ability for first graders (though sometimes not a good measure for ELL students). This gives me a general layout that allows me to make general groupings. I use the more specific Core Phonics data to fine tune my groups.

Finally, I set up additional worksheets within the Excel document for progress monitoring and for Winter and Spring Benchmark data. I add a worksheet that details what letter sounds and letter names have not been mastered for each student so that I can differentiate my instruction at the individual level. I add district writing scores and CELA scores so that I can have a very robust data set at a glance.

Cross posted on Adams 14 Global Learner Blog

Moving to block fonts

My school has anounced that we have chosen to move from D'Nealian manuscript to Block style letters for elementary handwriting. Since I think this was a district-wide decision I thought I'd share a few resources for those teachers scrambling to get practice writing sheets together.
I found a couple of nice websites with handwriting sheets to print as well as some websites that allow you to input the text you want to print. I downloaded some for printing as well as for using on the Smart Board:
Handwriting for Kids has a feature helpful for Spanish accent marks and special characters.

Kid Zone has a page that allows you to make custom tracer pages as well.

Also check out the Amazing Incredible Handwriting Worksheet Maker by Tampareads.

153 Educational Uses for the iPod

I’ve used my iPod to provide PowerPoints for my students. It makes for a great flash card tool. Great for first grade since I have a couple of students who need more help with sight words. I found this article on Yahoo tech which points to a couple of other educational resources (Online Education Database and Kottke.org) and I thought I'd share it:

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/raskin/18019

The sites they mention are:

http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/100-ways-to-use-your-ipod-to-learn-and-study-better and

http://www.kottke.org/plus/50-ways-ipod/

This link is for some really cool podcasts on Smartboards:

http://pdtogo.com/smart/ This is a cool link too. This is one I use for keeping up on my Spanish. It's a series of free podcasts (costs if you want the transcript) called NotesInSpanish:

http://www.notesinspanish.com/ Its a fun way to learn on the go. Other languages resources from OpenCulture:

http://www.oculture.com/2006/10/foreign_languag.html -sadly there is nothing under Icelandic languages.This site has tons of resources for podcasting:

http://www.podcasting-tools.com/
Okay so that's more like 154 resources.So how are you using your iPod?


crossposted on http://principianteglobal.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
Photo from Louder: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermida/390819852/