Technology is the Future (Class Reflection)

As I sit here, at Barnes and Noble, sipping my caramel machiatto at 10:30am on a Sunday morning, I am realizing just how effective and "instruction" changing this course has been for me. Although I have taken technology courses before, I've never seen such success with technology within my classroom before this course. My literacy project blog and my Read180 digital story were possibly two of the top highlights within my classroom throughout the entire year. I also have no doubts that the Web 2.0/ Webquest will be the third.    Through this course, I have developed many useful skills and time savers related to technology. I will definitely be using Evernote in the future, along with Google Docs, Google Sites, and Blogger. I think the most important concept I realized in this course was that in order to use technology, you need to be engulfed in it constantly. In the last class I took with Arzt, I had no real application of it due to in being in the summer. My goal for this summer is to keep blogging and researching technological tools for the classroom. Practice makes perfect right? 

Web 2.0 Turned WebQuest

As I thought about what I could create that would technologically inspire and engage my students, I found that letting them use a web 2.0 tool in the classroom simply wasn't "big" enough for me. I also was contemplating about what I would teach/instruct for the last four weeks of school due to the level of inconsistency with testing, field trips, talent shows, and field days. One night it all clicked. I decided to create a "move at your own pace" webquest where students move through an interest inventory, into a career information "race track" using Drive of Your Life, and finish by creating an Xtranormal movie about their career of choice. I am SO excited to implement this within my classroom. I feel as though they are going to love it! Especially at the end of the year, where their minds are typically everywhere but on instruction. Below is both the link to the webquest and my own Xtranormal creation of my possible career choice as an astronaut!!

Ms. Freitag as an Astronaut!!!

Creative Careers Webquest

Literacy Project Literally Worked!

As I've stated in previous blogs, I used a classroom blog for my literacy project. In January the administration staff at my school asked me if I would take some of the lowest performing, behavior prone students into a group to work on their reading comprehension skills before CMTs. They basically gave me free rein of what I was to do, so I decided to switch things up and create a novel group where the majority of the discussion was online. Students would respond to comprehension questions online and also get a chance to view others' responses, which I found to be very rewarding for the students. I have to admit, this group was EXTREMELY successful! Especially for the student population involved. They gave their best effort daily, and even had some students released from discipline in the office in order to participate in the group! Honestly couldn't have been more happy with the results of this group! :)

Project Progress

Luckily, my Literacy Project has been occurring since January 31st through the form of a classroom blog. A small group of reading intervention students have been reading Diary of a Witness with me three times a week for forty-five minutes. We read a chapter a day and reflect on our reading through responding to blog posts. With the CMTs, the science fair, and spring break complete, I can now resume our group. We are approximately 3/4 of the way through the book, so I am excited to announce that I BELIEVE that the students' final project associated with the book will be complete before our class is complete! If you'd like to check out our blog so far, click here!

Hicks' Human

After our Skype session with Troy Hicks Thursday, I was happily surprised to find that he is an extremely down to earth guy. He doesn't have all of the answers. He's still trying to fight through his own problems and short falls when it comes to technology.

What I especially enjoyed was that he wasn't afraid to throw out many other resources and tools that we're found in his book. Since the class has ended, I've checked out little bird tales and using PowerPoint for creating digital books. Both great tools/resources and I definitely recommend you checking them out as well! Overall, I thought the Skype session was incredibly beneficial and engaging; nothing better than receiving tools and advice straight from the experts!

My Reading Wiz's

I could not be more proud of my Read180 students for helping me create an introductory piece for learning the reading strategies. Each student focused on a different aspect of this video. From recording to editing, from writing the script to acting, my students helped me make this vision reality. I cannot wait to show them the final product after our spring break. They're going to be thrilled! But enough about what I think of it, check it out for yourself!




Soo... what'd you think?

Overall, I had a blast creating this digital story. At first I thought it would be a little much for my students (and also take a lot of time away from direct instruction). However, we quickly developed a system and only used 10 minutes a day on it! Although my students and staff have not seen the final product yet, they were already proud, stunned, and inspired just by viewing the rough draft. As stated above I CANNOT wait to show them the final product. If I could do anything differently, I would definitely have more than one student be filmed for each speaking segment. I found that some students were difficult to be heard due to their tone of voice. It seemed like I could either have them scream or not be heard at all. Non-speaking roles might be better for these students. Other than that, I feel as though this piece will definitely be used in classes to come!

School Survey!