Name 

Tech PGT/ Web 2.0 tool integrated

Project 

Give a brief description of what you did for your project. 

Implementation 

1. Describe how the project integrated technology with your curricular and/or instructional goals. 

2. Share links, resources and materials you used.  Provide them as links to the files. 

3. What were you/your students able to accomplish that you could not have accomplished without technology? 

Instruction 

1. How did you use this activity to encourage higher level questions and discussion from students? 

2.  What methods did you use to provide students with feedback on their progress or achievement on this project? 

3. What feedback did the students give you regarding this project? 

Professional Growth 

1. How has this enhanced your own professional growth? 

2.  What additional technology skills did you as the teacher need to accomplish this project? 

3.  What were some lessons learned from integrating this technology into your classroom? 

Additional items for reflection: 

1. Did you have to eliminate content or activities you usually would   have done in order to accomplish this project? 

2. What would you do differently next time, or what changes would you make?   

3. What problems did you have with technology? 

4. How did you deal with these challenges? 

5.  What additional support or training would you like to see? 

Julie Baker 

Create a wiki site and familiarized parents with how to use the site.  Used the Wiki for conference sign-up, parent volunteers, an ongoing story 

Used a blog site (Think.com) to familiarize students with how a blog can work, educational purposes and to introduce technology to students who are just getting started. 

Used Think.com to get and give immediate feedback on writing, reading discussions and lessons 

Kids that would not normally have commented in a large group discussion contributed a lot to the blog discussions 

I get fast feedback on lessons and can figure out what the kids want more of. 

They always look forward to their Think.com homework 

Natural development of questions once we started.  I felt there was more honesty in their responses to questions – because there wasn’t the peer pressure to be the same instead it was a goal to be different. 

Easy to respond and give immediate feedback. 

Love it! 

I am excited and the students keep me motivated to keep up with my site and respond to theirs 

I need to become more familiar with some of the contests – the gifted teacher is motivating me to do more with this. 

Alison Barnett and Jennifer Buckley 

Jenny Buckley and I designed and implimented an online unit on Moodle.

 1. Our goal was to enhance an independent reading unit by creating individual and colloborative tasks online.

2.  edinaonline.edina.k12.mn.us (Enriched Language Arts 7)

3.  Students were able to think about their responses before replying, every student was engaged and equally participating, we saved class time, and were able to give specific feedback online. 

 1.  Before posting, we reviewed QAR (Question Answer Relationships).  Students were required to use different levels of questioning in their posts.

2.  Automatic program grading for the quizzes and teacher feedback on essays and forum discussions.

3. Our students loved Moodle and asked for more use of the program for future units.

 1.  It taught us another way to hold discussions, engage students and speed up the assessing process.

2. We attended a one day conference at TIES to become familiar with the program and to set up our class.

3. We learned to plan ahead.  Everything had to be ready to go before we opened it up to the students.  We also learned taht we were able to save a lot of resources by doing everything electronically.

 1.  No.

2.  I would add more options to the quizzes so they could be more random for each student.

3. We are sharing one space for three classes and each class is in a different place.  We are experiencing issues with grouping so that the kids can't see what other classes are doing.

4.  We are putting up with all the kids seeing everything--even if it doesn't apply to them.

5. Another workshop to learn more advanced uses of the board and to tweak our units.

Collin Bender 

web video    

Videoed demonstrations of proper use of fitness equipment at Valley View.

 1. This project integrated technology in to our instructional goals by making instruction available via the web.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch

3. Students gained an alternative form of instruction beyond the typical classroom instruction. 

1. We will use this resource as a means to test/quiz students on the proper use of our fitness equipment. 

2. It will be used as a one-time test.

3. To be completed.

1. I used Teachertube for the first time on this project.

2. none

3. to be determined 

1. no

2. some editing of the video is necessary

3. The JVC digital camera that we used for video taping did NOT directly produce a file formatted for uploading to the web. 

4. There were too many steps involved to explain here! 

Josh Bettes 

 Blog site for Reading

 I used the host site Think.com for reading

 1. Students used the site to respond to reading texts and interact with one another about their readings.

2. Students wrote summaries of texts and responding to comprehension questions.

3. Students were able to interact about reading outside the classroom.

4. Here is the link to the classroom page

 1. Feedback was given by the teacher and other students responses.

2. Student feedback on the blog was very positive, but they became less interested as we continued using the blog.

 1. It gave me a way to communicate with students outside the classroom.

2. The site required individual accounts for all students.

This blog site/ PGT was a great way to grow as a teacher. The site was difficult to use for the students outside of the classroom due to the individual log-ins. Content with-in the page was difficult to manage, but it was a great tool to relate with the students. In the future I would use the site for more than just reading.

Kevin Bjerken 

Think.com blog for current events curriculum

 Created a think.com account for my class.  Assignments are weekly and include links and student open ended responses along with alternative means of publishing.

This is a guest account to view contents only.

It takes TIME to add this to the classroom.

Jon Buckley 

 Blogger

I created a blog for LRT. Students also created Blogger accounts so they could post comments to the LRT blog.

1. One of the goals of LRT (Literacy, Research and Technology) is to model, teach and provide experience using technology as a tool. The LRT blog served as an organizational tool for students (all homework assignments were posted on the blog), a forum (students were required to comment on many topics) and a communication tool (happenings of every class were posted on the blog).
2.  I used Blogger as our LRT blog (www.mrbuckleyslrtblog.blogspot.com).
3. Many students who struggle with organization were able to follow along and complete assigned tasks. Students increased their reading and writing skills as they had to read the LRT blog and write comments to various topics. Because, my students are "digital natives, many students were naturally engaged and more involved in completing the blog tasks. This resulted in increased reading comprehension, thought process and writing development.

1. Students read blog entries, reflect and then comment. Students also examine student comments and respond to each other.
2. Students filled out a Blog Log. I also would put my blog on the LCD an randomly look at some comments in front of the class. We'd discuss the actual comment as well as the breadth and depth of the post. I also personally comment from time to time on the student responses.
3. Students answered polls, posted comments to a blog entry related to their blogging experience and also discussed personally with me in class.

1. The blog has helped me plan and organize my class. Since this is a semester-long class, I've also been able to go back and look at the detailed explanation of what I did first semester and then revise and improve each activity. In addition, I've sought student feedback through polls and comments. It has made me a better teacher.
2. I learned how to create a blog and use that blog as an organizational, communication and discussion tool. Before school started, I had never used or viewed a blog. I now understand blogs very well.
3. There were several things that I learned from integrating blogs into LRT:
   1. Students are naturally engaged by technology.
   2. There still have been several problems with blogger. Students also forgot logins and passwords. Write it down.
   3. Students have problems with technology--both in the classroom and at home. Be flexible and provide extensions for such problems. Students get frustrated. Don't exacerbate the problem.
   4. Adding another technology piece means more work for me and another thing for students and parents to remember.

1. Although students do much of the blog outside of class, I did have to modify and shorten other activities to include the LRT blog.
2. I would have students record their username (email address) and password when creating their blogger account.
3. I had a lot of problems with technology. First, I did not have one computer per  student and the computers were incredibly slow. I had to spend a lot of time trouble shooting hardware issues with outdated technology. This consumed more classtime than necessary.
4. I had students log in at the beginning of class. I'd then conduct other "non-computer" activities while the computers loaded. I also assigned some activities that were better suited for to be conducted in class as outside homework.
5. For the purposes of the class I teach, I need one new and powerful computer per student.  I received tremendous training support through the CoP, Mike Walker and Molly Schroeder, and attending the TIES Conference. I'd certainly like to continue to receive that training in the future.

James Capar 

 wiki

 The use of a wiki for homework managment

1.We trained students in the proper use and etiquite of a wiki.

This project had a rotating group of students update classroom assignments daily. They could use it for sharing ideas and other bits of information.

 2. Here is a link to our wiki   www.7wonders.pbwiki.com

3. This shifted the burden and time necessary to update every assignment given in class. It made the students accountable to review each day's lessons.

 As students would log on they would pose questions to each other and share ideas. It allowed parents an up to date calander of what was happening each day.

This gave the students a fun and engaging way for students to juggle a very complex schedule of school.

 As middle school students they were more concerned with the look and not the content. Looks was everything, students would change the font and color and complain when someone else would change what they did.

Jeremy Constantine 

 Blogger.com        

 My thought was to give a technology topic and have student’s blog their opinions and thoughts.

 http://mrctechedclass.blogspot.com/ 

 I have not used this activity with my classes but if I had this done this activity it would have allowed the students to use their knowledge of the technologies to think about questions and post comments that are meaningful to them. 

 This has allowed me to try new technologies which otherwise I would have not considered. 

Challenges that have faced me: 

How to incorporate this with 160 students? 

What content could I eliminate from my canned curriculum to incorporate blogging? 

Another issue would be the time that would have to be used in introduce and the management issue. 

If I chose a specific class how would I choose the class that would do the blogging? 

Problems that would arise would have to deal with the accessibility to the technology. 

Xan Converse 

 Voice Thread

 I've had students share some of their writing in their own voice using Voice Thread. Each student was assigned a past Newbery Award-winning author to research and write a paragraph about. They wrote, revised and edited their paragraphs in class , then recorded themselves at a classroom computer. Finally, they searched for images to add to their pages.

1. This project integrates technology by allowing students to record themselves reading their own writing and to post their page on to a class voicethread project. In addition, kids search for digital images to include on their page(s). It also allows me to provide feedback to each student directly onto their page.

2. Here is a link to one of the projects my class worked on.

3. Without technology, we wouldn't have been able to preserve the kids' 'performance' of their written work or share it so readily with parents.

1. When composing the paragraphs, we were able to have a rich discussion about audience, author's purpose and using voice in our writing. The fact that this project was going to be viewable/audible on the internet was an empowering motivator for the kids.

2. I was able to give direct feedback on each student's page. I chose to give textual feedback, but I also could have recorded my own spoken comments using the tools available on Voice Thread.

3. Student feedback on this project was positive. They got a kick out of sharing their work with a wider audience.

1. This project has given me another stragegy for engaging kids in the writing process.

2. The program itself was pretty intuitive to use. It did present some organizational and time challenges which I was able to overcome with the help of our media support staff.

3. Students respond enthusiastically to the opportunity to share their work with a larger, "real world" audience. The motivation this provides brings out their best effort. 

 1. I did not significantly alter or eliminate any instructional content in doing this project.

2. I might enlist some parent help to assist kids with the recording. While it's relatively user friendly, there is some navigation around the page that could present some problems for kids.

3. Some school computers would not allow me to record onto Voice Thread. At times the connection to the page was slow. I'm not sure if this was a district server issue or an issue with Voice Thread's server.

4. I had to be flexible in when/where I had kids complete their recording. I also received help from media staff at my building.

5. No more training necessary.

Dean Dahl 

 gaggle.net       

 online Languages Arts Assignments & Journal Blogging

1. Each student has their own gaggle.net email account. 

2. Once logged in they have access to email and their blog.

3. I have used gaggle.net for online Language Arts assignment and the blog as their ongoing 6th grade journal.

 1. I use this technology to replace the traditional notebook journaling.

2. This method allows students to read/comment on each others blogs.

3. I give blog feedback comments as well as individual email messages to their account.

 1. I have learned that gaggle.net has many tools that fit 6th grade education quite well.  I have also learned that I can't rush through the early stages of understanding gaggle.net, for it take time.

2. I needed to have the vision of planning for a slow student server. Idle 6th graders waiting for their initial login, creates behavior problems.

3.  I was expecting more depth on their submissions, due to the ease of entering information.  I got the opposite and more challenges for students to submit blog entries with correct grammar.

Lisa Dooley 

 Wiki    

I created a pb wiki page to serve as my media web page (since I haven’t been able to edit on Highlands old page). 

I wanted this to be the portal for research in the school as well as library lessons that I do with students when they visit the media center.

1.        This provided a direct integration of technology with my curriculum because I can create updated links to sites and resources that are immediately relevant  to what is happening at Highlands.  One stop resource and research shopping! 

2.        highlandsmedia.pbwiki.com 

I was able to provide daily updates without changing anything about the users’ access point.  Teachers can input book ideas without sending e-mails, calling, etc...Some teachers added the wiki to their centralized web page so students didn’t even need to remember the address.

1.       Choosing and evaluating resources.   Internet Safety lessons.  Finding books at their level. 

2.       Their performance and success with classroom projects making use of this online access point to resources. 

Still collecting – informal verbal comments

1. improved use of web 2.0, comfort level,

2. a little html for having the links open in new pages

Tara Dunning 

Students will use think.com blogs to show their learning in the area of reading with their Book Bingo reading, read aloud books, reading anthologies and other shared reading. 

Blogs will be used to make learning a bit more fun for the students. 

Blogs will be used to enhance curriculum and enrich learning. 

Blogs will enhance student awareness of the digital world they live in and help them safely participate in an online learning activity. 

When we first started blogging, it was new and fresh and everyone was involved.  The students loved it, but then I didn’t keep up with the maintenance and teacher part of it and it has fallen on the side. 

Motivational way for students to interact with one another in regards to curriculum. 

Through think.com you can use “stickies” and send them to kids and the kids can send them to you after they have finished a posted assignment. 

Verbal 

Current technology that students are familiar with and now that I have tried it, I would like to have it as a whole part of my curriculum next school year. 

How to individually use a blog. 

You have to stay on top of it in order for it to be useful in your classroom. 

Mary Elliott 

Perry Forster 

 Podcasting

 Students created a podcast with their immigration project.

 1. Students research when their first ancestors came to America. In the past they have created a summary report from their research and interviews. They recorded their final report using Audacity softward to create a podcast.

2. We used free downloaded software from www.audacity.sourceforge.net to record the podcasts.

 1. Students asked how to get the software on their home computers in order to create other podcasts. I showed them how they could do this.

2. Students were given a rubric prior to the project to show expectations. The rubric was used as feedback as to how well the expecatations were met.

3. Students feedback was very positive. They had a great deal of fun being creative and also liked being able to listen to other students podcasts.

 1. I have learned how to use a new software tool to enhance a project that students were already doing.

2. I had not used recording devices (microphone) on the computer before. I had to experiement with the front and back audio jacks until it worked properly.

3. I learned that when playing back the student podcasts, they would automatically open in iTunes. I would override iTunes and play the podcasts with Media Player.  This added the visual color sound waves which makes the presentation more enjoyable to listen to.

 1. No, we used a project that had been done in the past without the technology enhancement.

2. In the future if more microphones were available it would be much more efficient to use the lab to record more podcasts than one at a time.

3. We had the issue as stated of not having microphones to record multiple podcasts at one time. 

Patty Frier 

*Set up a blog spot for parent communication---conferences (office hours), field trip volunteers, room volunteers.  http://discovery4thgraderswiki.pbwiki.com/  

*Started a Fourth Grade Reading blog for the students to share their just right reading books and give a recommendation of their book they have read—the goal is to have each student enter at least once a month.  http://www.discovery4thgraders.blogspot.com/

*Started the students with Think.com---we are at the “playing” stage of letting them get to comfortable adding questions and surveys.  We just introduced a month long reading project—where they will have to add to their Think.com space with a project connected to their book they are reading.

Sherron Gaughan 

1. Create and upload school videos using Windows Movie Maker
2. Internet Safety Lesson for 4^th and 5^th graders
3. Cyberspace Media Center
4. Podcasting PGT
5. Student Web Quests on character education – using Quest Garden
6. InterWrite Pad 
7. Site Council Wiki

1. Import video of school activities into Windows Movie Maker and put it on the Cornelia website
2. Made a web page to teach Internet applications and safety to show to 4th and 5th graders.
3. Joined in on the Think.com blog and created a media center blog.
4. I uploaded audio from a CD to Think.com for a 4th grade teacher.
5. I had created 3 webquets on empathy that I revised and linked to on our website.
6. Use of InterWrite Pad in computer lab and on mobile cart in media center.  
7. I created a wiki for the school site council using PB Wiki.

1. http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/cornelia/index.htm
2. We can share what happens at school with the parents.
3. http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/cornelia/teach/media/internet.htm
4.  Showed the students the new Web 2.0 tools and how to be smart and safe on the Internet, especially with the social networking sites and Instant Messaging.
5. http://www.think.com/en/
6.  Nothing is more engaging to the kids than real world, authentic writing online.
7. The students can listen to their Pavek Museum group projects online at Think.com
8. http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/cornelia/cares/index.htm
9. Character Education is very important at Cornelia. Now staff and students can check out these webquests at school or at home.
10. I use it for teaching and I allow students to use it as well. Very engaging for them. I can stand anywhere and continue instructing.
11. https://corneliacommunity.pbwiki.com/FrontPage?lo=47b5b6b1
12. I uploaded all the meeting minutes and information on the members.

1. Did not do with students.
2.  We talked about what happened to the Eden Prairie High school students who had pictures of under age drinking in My Space.
3. Their classroom teachers give instruction on all the blogging ettiquette and rules.
4. Did not do with students. I plan on helping more teachers create podasts with their students this year.
5. The webquests can be used by classroom teachers when we cover the virtue of empathy.
6. The kids love to use it. They get completely hooked into what is going on.
7. No instruction for the staff or parents

1. I feel more comfortable with Windows Movie Maker and will be better able to teach it to staff and students.
2. I feel these kids will be more prepared for the cyberspace activities of middle school.
3. Think.com is such a wonderful blog format for elementary students. Teachers have to see the integration of blogs into their curriculum - not as something that takes time away.
4. I copied and converted  files from an audio CD to MP3's at home because I have Nero and Roxio.
5. The Quest garden is a great site to help teachers creates cool web quests for their students! It's easy to use.
6. http://questgarden.com/
7. I do not fully use all the InterWrite Pad features yet. I need more refresher classes!
8. I don't think anybody has time to look at it. It's too new of a tool, especially for the parents.

Any technology project can be very time consuming. I always have to pick and choose what I can accomplish. I could never do all the things my job requires! I wear too many hats.

Chris Gumz 

Jodi Halvorson  and Lori Volding

 Wiki

 Created a Wiki to display Presidential Fitness Leaders by grade and gender in 5 testing areas

 1. All top student scores from SVMS PE instructors were updated to the Wiki as testing was assessed.

 2. www.pbwiki.com

 3. Students were able to view the Presidential fitness leaders across each grade level.

 1.

 2. We were able to update presidential fitness leaders as soon as testing was completed.  This provided immediate feedback for students regarding testing results.

 3.The students enjoyed seeing their results

John Hannemann 

wiki

Wiki includes: presidents challenge info/charts, tcm kids run,  cross country info, extreme tumbling, PE jokes, sport stacking club info, running survey results, jump rope for heart

 www.wikispaces.com, www.animoto.com, www.voki.com, www.youtube.com, www.surveymonkey.com, and my wiki: www.pe4me.wikispaces.com

 Parents were able to get forms that their kids had lost quickly.

 In PE, it's important to keep kids moving, so most of my technology use for students is out of the classroom when they're at home.

 Start slow - I did just 5th grade (100 students) and that was a good place to begin.

Greer Hawkins 

 VoiceThread    

Collaborated with 5^th grade teachers on a “Newbery Author research” project and a 3rd grade teacher on a “Community” project.

 

5^th Grade students read a Newbery winner/honor book and then did research on the author.  Students wrote reports and recorded a summary of their report into VoiceThread. They also uploaded pictures of their Newbery book and author.  

3^rd grade class did a Community research project.  They photographed sections of a “community” mural in their classroom.  They also made self-portrait collages of themselves.  The pictures were uploaded to VoiceThread and the students recorded voiceovers.

Information literacy skills – multimedia presentations 

Community Project (Rosie Rink’s class) 

http://cdn.voicethread.com/#q.b26864.i148817 

 Share a multimedia project online. Teachers were able to link the project to their webpages or blogs – parents were able to view these projects from home. 

1. How did you use this activity to encourage higher level questions and discussion from students?   

Teacher managed 

2.  What methods did you use to provide students with feedback on their progress or achievement on this project?   

Teacher managed 

3. What feedback did the students give you regarding this project?   

Any feedback I heard was positive.  Several parents emailed very positive comments about the quality of the research the students and how easy it was to view the projects online. 

1. How has this enhanced your own professional growth?   

Learned how to use VoiceThread 

2.  What additional technology skills did you as the teacher need to accomplish this project? 

  None 

3.  What were some lessons learned from integrating this technology into your classroom?  

VoiceThread is a little tedious to work with - but it’s FREE!

James Hawthorne 

Elizabeth Hokanson and Julie Maegi

Wiki space

Blog

“Peek of the week” via a wiki space.  Updated the space each week with a quick preview of the week’s content.  I would still like to have students create an end of unit review using a wiki.

1.  Web Assign allows students to interact with the content and receive immediate feedback regarding the “correctness” of their answers.

2.  http://www.weeklyupdate9.wikispaces.com

     http://www.webassign.net

1.  In terms of web assign, students are actively engaged in their homework assignments.  They ask questions and seek further understanding of the content.

2. I am able to grade and comment on students’ open ended questions.  Students, in turn, can read these comments and monitor their progress.

3.  Students actually COMPLETE their homework...on time with greater frequency than in previous years.  Both students and parents have told me repeatedly that they enjoy receiving immediate feedback for each answer.

1. This experience has forced me to “think outside the box” and struggle with  “how to”

           incorporate the technology into my curriculum.

2. I would like to have some content specific training on the best ways to incorporate

     Web 2.0 into a 9^th grade physics class.

3. Students are both more capable and more inept than I give them credit for.  I

incorrectly have assumed that they have basic skills, which in the end, they don’t.

And, they are more capable of manipulating on line interfaces than I had anticipated..

It is all a learning process.

 1.  Web Assign fit seamlessly into our curriculum.  It actually eliminated a great deal of in-class time that had been devoted to homework quizzes. 

2.  Next year I'd like to continue to learn about the interface for Web Assign to better write my own questions for differentiation between the 2 levels of physics.

3.  Students have trouble logging in, like always.  Occasionally they will log in and their assignment has been partially completed.  I'd like to be able to better investigate how this is occuring using the log-in information from the site.

4. As a teacher, you adjust.

5. More computers in the classroom that work and are fast so students can actually log in and work on their assignments when time is available.

Laurie Holland  and Tracy Pearson

 Blog    

Students from Concord and Normandale blogged about the Maud Hart Lovelace nominees and vote on whether they liked or disliked each book.

Promotes reading for pleasure, higher level thinking, sharing ideas with others, and forming and expressing opinions in a community setting. 

http://mhlbookblog.blogspot.com/

Students from Concord were able to participate in this shared project with students from Normandale.

Posted higher level questions for response. 

 Shared blog pages with  library classes periodically 

Those that participated felt proud to be able to see their opinions published online and know that students from Concord and elsewhere would be reading them.  They also liked that they could see how their vote counted.

An opportunity to learn another tool for involving students in reading for pleasure and using technology to interact with others. 

Had to learn to navigate blogspot.com and remove the header linking to other blogspot blogs. 

We really had to work to get students to take time to participate in this optional opportunity to blog.  Very few students took the initiative to do it on their own time without a great deal of prompting.  It worked better to have them add to the blog when they visited the library, however, responses were then very brief and didn’t show evidence of the higher level thinking we were hoping for.

Lisa Hopkins 

I developed a classroom Wiki used to connect the classroom and home and encouraged students to interact with it at home.   I learned to use Photo Story 3 and a Flip Camera to create a visual documentation of learning in the classroom.

http://lisaclass.pbwiki.com 

pw:  room14 

Students began to request our learning to be visually presented on the WIKI.  There were many conversations with 6-9 year olds about WHAT TYPES and WHY and HOW are learning should be displayed.   We are still determining these on an ongoing basis. 

The plan is that children/families will start contributing home connections to our school learning to the WIKI. 

Parents/Students have shared that the level of conversation about actual learning keypoints have been discussed and shared at home. 

Several Parents commented that the children are able to articulate answers to questions at home based on the ability to log into the WIKI and use it as a tool to update home about learning at school. 

Tech Skills learned:

Interactive Web Site vs. fixed website at school site

Knowledge and expertise gained in Web 2.0 tools

Actively used Photo Story and incorporated it on the WIKI

Learned to use a FLIP Camera and incorporated it on the WIKI

Lessons learned:

Fall of a first grade year too soon to expect much interaction with WIKI

Third graders are very engaged with the WIKI

Josh Jansen 

 Dance, Dance, Revolution

 Developed new DDR unit for Elementary PE curriculum

 1.  This new unit allows us to tie in technology with the fitness and dance aspects of our curriculum.

2. Directions for teachers

3.  45 minutes of non-stop activity

 1.  We use the DDR to have students create their own dance routines.

2.   Because we were the first school to use the program, I was just happy to see that the lessons were effective.

 1. It has helped me understand a new part of technology that has instantly helped class efficiency and better use of time.

Laura Kurtt 

Created a classroom blog for students to have a common place to share ideas, do projects, and get information. 

Created a wiki for parents to sign up for conferences and volunteer opportunities. 

Social Studies, Health, and Language Arts were integrated into our blog.  Students used resources from the blog to complete projects, commented on books they are reading, and respond to read aloud books. 

The wiki was helpful in getting parents in to help with our COlonial Village project. 

                                                              i.      http://mskurtt.edublogs.org 

                                                            ii.      http://mskurtt.pbwiki.com 

They were easily able to get forms, links, and information all in one place.  They were also able to see what other students commented to get ideas of what they should do.  Normally we don’t get a chance to share book recommendations, but on the blog, students could post their thoughts and read other students recommendations. 

I was able to schedule conferences with parents without having to email or call parents individually.  Parents could sign on the wiki and see times that were available. 

I have been trying to think about new ways of getting the students involved and interested in the blog.  It has really forced me to think creatively and to judge how I have been presenting it to the class. 

The wiki has helped tremendously by taking the organizational load of sign-ups off of my shoulders. 

How to upload documents on to the blog.

Laura Mestler 

Edublogs

This is a blog for grades 3-5 for students to enter their comments about the nominees for the 2007-2008 Maud Hart Lovelace nominees.  The blog was an attempt to create interest in the book award.

 The blog gives students a space to have input about the titles.

 Maud Hart Lovelace blog on edublogs

Students were able to publish to the web and thus share their thoughts about the nominees in a place where other students have access to comments to see what kids think about the titles. 

 I wrote the questions so that students would think about the theme of the book so overall, what could they learn and take with them from the story.   

I will use this site with the book clubs that start in March.   

 This project doesn’t require feedback, although I acknowledged to  students as they come into the library for checkout that I appreciate their input. 

This gave me a chance to experience a blog from inception to creation, through actual use.  Blogs are technology that is out there and that I should be aware of and familiar with. 

I had to know how to copy/paste titles into blog, and of course just overall general  computer skills.

If it is not required, kids don’t do it.  Perhaps blogs are more of a middle school to high school concept.  Kids overall aren’t really interested in blogging at the elementary level unless it is requried.

Cathy Nelson

Wiki

Podcasting

Used the Wiki for media center  staff, students and volunteers, used the google calendar for check out of lab time, used wiki for volunteer calendar, booktalks, Teacher Choices reviews.

Matt Pearson 

 Smart Music   

Smart Music is a computer program that allows the students to work on pieces and assignments at their own speed and level.

1.  Students open Smart Music 2.  They log on to Smart Music and their Assignment Pops Up.

3.  Upon completion they submit their assignment to a secure website that only I have access to.

4.  Here I can listen to and grade their assignment

Tracy Pearson (See Laurie Holland )

Angie Potts 

Think.com

I use Think.com as a secure, educational, user-friendly web interaction tool. Each student has their own email, webpage, and interaction tools to complete various assignments. One specific assignment assigned this past week was to post 2 journal entries we wrote while reading Stargirl.  Then comment on another student's journal post.

1. The project is used most extensively in Language Arts and Reading.  Having students post their journal entries allows students to demonstrate their writing skills I am looking for as well as the key points from the novel, in this example.   Students must also be able to demonstrate their ability to justify their comments and analysis of other students' ideas by responding to a classmate. 

2.  I used Think.com and our novel Stargirl to complete the task. 

3. Students were able to type their thoughts immediately, use spelling and grammar check before posting their commments, receive email directions that provide them with specific details and requirements that they may access as much as necessary without having to continually receive the directions from the teacher, and most importantly instantly get feedback from their peers.

1. I used this project to encourage students to dissect the novel more and use context clues to complete the journal entry question.  The task of responding to classmates made students think about why or why not they agreed with a student's comments and why; or students used the comments to extend or change their book interpretation. 

2.  Students had a rubric that I generated that was part of the packet for their novel.  Students new how they earned their points before they began by examing the rubric.  Beyond the rubric, I also emailed students with a quick 3 pluses and 1 wish critque.  Three wishes or items that they did well with the assignment and one plus that I would suggest they do differently next time. 

3. I originally provided the directions for this assignment in the students' packets and they asked me to email them the steps as well.  They prefer to have any directions for online activities.  Students enjoy the user-friendliness of the site and that they get to have their own space on the web to communicate to classmates for school.   

 1. I enjoy being able to read and interact with students in a sort of medium they enjoy. lt has made me think more about how I teach and present to the students.  I have reflected more on how to integrate technology into classes and lessons that I hadn't before. 

2.  No additional training 

3. Technology has been much more frustrating this year.  As I have tried to do more, I have become more frustrated because the resources are lacking.  I have 2 working computers in my room that don't support students who need class time to work on their assignments.  I also learned more about the frustrations that some sites (ex. Toondoo) have difficulty supporting large classes using the site at the same time.

 1. I did not have to eliminate content or activities to complete this project.  The content and activities were just tweaked to fit into a technology application.

2. I would check in with students more frequently to continue to remind them of appropriate grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.  Students frequently insert text-message lingo into their responses.  

3. Think.com changed some items aesthetically and students were confused with the new look and features.  So we had to "brush up" on the features again.  Another problem was just the processing speed and lack of resources.

4.  I extended due dates to take into account the time needed for each student to have adequate computer time and I also used some class time to show the new Think.com changes.

5. I am trying to incorporate more and more technology into my math classes.  I like when students can complete their math on the computer.  We have used Excel a little more but also some programs to do items like tessellations.  I would like to have time to find more practical math applications beyond the use of an interwrite board in math.

Chad Schwartz 

Web Video    

Videoed demonstrations of proper use of fitness equipment at Valley View.

 1. This project integrated technology in to our instructional goals by making instruction available via the web.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch

3. Students gained an alternative form of instruction beyond the typical classroom instruction. 

Tom Sutliff 

 Blogger

 Students found an article online and linked it.  They then identified which economic concept the article represented.  Finally they commented on the blog inputs of two other students.

 This activity linked well into the basic economic concepts unit.  An example of one of the six blogs

Honestly, the activity could have been done in class using paper as I had done previously.  Students did seem to enjoy the opportunity to comment on each other's work in a blog, however, similar outcomes were accomplished by using a jigsaw technique.

1. & 2.   By commenting on students' posts where appropriate, I was able to ask why they responded the way they did to each other's posts to the blog.

3.  Student feedback was generally positive except for the problems they had with computers and the lack of g-mail accounts.

1.  This enhanced my professional growth by gaining familiarity with use of blogger.

2.  I'm not sure I needed any additional skills as a teacher except helping them with their logging in problems.

3.  The biggest lesson I learned from the experience is the limitations of the technology we are trying to use for blogs.

1.   I eliminated doing this as a paper assignment.

2.  Next time I would get more computer time.

3.  The big problem with the technology for this project was the computers in the second computer lab.  When we had that lab it was basically impossible to do the activity because the computeres work so slowly.  As mentioned earlier, the lack of g-mail accounts for students was a problem too.

4.  rescheduled computers and worked with students with their logins.

5.  I would like to see upgraded student computers in the second lab and in our classrooms. 

Holly Tomski 

-I created a blog for writers’ workshop with the intermediate students (3-5) using Edublogs.  We used the blog I set up to answer questions I posed.  Then each student had a link to their own blog page where we posted their personal narratives. 

hollywritersworkshop.edublogs.org

            -I created a wiki to be used by the families in my teaching partner and my CP family.  The primary purpose of the wiki is for conference sign-ups but is also being used as a hub for other sign-ups and information. 

www.mikeholly.pbwiki.com

- The blog created a writing community online.  The students were excited about sharing their writing with a larger audience.  The motivation to write and share ideas from reticent students was refreshing and allowed students to acknowledge the strengths of these students who often go unnoticed academically by their peers.

- Initially the students were excited about the blog.  About half of the students accessed the blog from home right away.  However, the momentum fizzled as we ran into numerous road blocks (copying word documents into edublogs, usernames for school accounts showed on their blogs, too much time commitment on my part) that eventually lead to deleting the students’ blogs.  Our next step with blogs is to begin using Think.com.  The students have accounts and I will launch this learning tool with them next month.

            -Teaching the students to use the wiki has been interesting.  In the past families have scheduled the conferences using a paper/pencil at the school. This process has been overseen by the classroom paraprofessional.  In an effort to meet the needs of all the families and make the process more efficient for us we decided to go paperless.  Many parents have had difficulty transitioning to this new form of communication.  This has lead to many e-mails and phone calls but all have been remedied by talking parents through the process.        

-I have learned to be extremely patient with myself as I learn and make mistakes using these tools.

            -Edublogs was too difficult to be student run and thus made the tool too much work with not enough benefit.  I would not use this blog site with primary students.

            -The wiki has been a great tool to keep families connected with the classroom.  Teaching families to use this tool has been challenging but once families are willing to use it they have found it is a one stop hub for communicating with Mike and I. 

            -In order to have a successful blog students need to have access to computers in school and out of school.   

Brian Voller 

  Wiki and voki

  Students were to create a group wiki to help them with a video project.

• Wiki was designed to help students coordinate resources and ideas for a video project.
• Students were able to collaborate and add ideas for their scripts/project details at any hour of the day, and edit/review each other's contributions.
  
• Voki is another tool that I'm trying out to try and reach more students
  

  This was the first wiki I have created and I felt that during the implementation of the project, I learned a great deal. 

I have also learned (or confirmed what I have suspected) that many students lack basic web-page design skills, web navigation skills, and the ability to use technology to create.

  I am going to have the students do another project with a wiki site, to try and utilize more of the "creativity" that a wiki allows.

Lori Volding 

Mark Wallace 

See Attached Document

Michelle Wright 

 edublogs.com

 My LA students write to their pen pal in TX through their own page on the blog.  

 1.  Writing through our blog integrated technology and focused on writing goals (describing, analyzing, reflecting) and internet use goals.  In part, it will also incorporated creativity when they have the ability to create their own voki. 

2.  http://micwright.edublogs.org

3.  My students were able to write to their pen pal at any time on any day between the assigned date and due date.  This gave them flexibility and involved using planning/organizational skills and time management.

 1.  The questions I posted would require the students to describe, analyze and reflect on work they've completed.  Students have also needed to use comparing/contrasting skills with their pen pal when determining similarities and diferences in the school structure, subjects, curriculumn, etc...

2.  In order to provide my students with feedback, we held large group discussions where I used great responses as examples and discussed exactly why it was excellent.  I also have each response emailed to me prior to being posted, so I can read and make comments to my students through a 1 v.1 conference.  Of course I also provide examples when assigning it as well.

3.  The feedback I've received from my sudents has been extremely positive.  They have given it to me through conferencing, large group discussions and through the comments they leave for their pen pal.  I think this positive response it largely due to being reasonable when assigning a resonse with the time frames ans expectations.

 1.  This has enhanced my own professional growth because I have been able to incorporate a piece of technology that is somewhat familiar to my students which has made me able to connect with my student's interests.  Even those that were new to blogging, loved that something different was happening in the classroom.  They embraced the enhancement of using technology more.

2. I needed to have time to play around and figure out the options available to me.  The workshops were great because they provided assistance if needed - no time wasted!

3. Lesson learned - review of expectations and ethics of internet use is important, give enough time to complete the assignment, and continue to educate yourself to introduce new pieces of technology.

 1.  No, I just changed the form in which we accomplished the content/activities.

2. I implememnted it slowly, so I did not run into an major problems.

3.  Availability of a computer, although it was an easy fix.

4. I'm aware of their schedules, so I talked them through their problem and showed them that they could definitely get it done within the time frame alloted.

5.  Continue with workshops when new pieces of technology arise so we can have time to figure it out and decide how to best use it in our classroom if necessary.

Dan Wymore 

      WIKI

  Students would research and add interesting information   about astronomers to our class WIKI

•   Edina's 6th grade curriculum has space exploration as on of its units. State standards asks that students understand humans roles in science and scientific discovery. Students needed to integrate the use of technology in researching the various astronomers and then WIKI building.
• Students were able to discover in depth  understandings of the scientist/astronomers personal lives and their work.
• 
  

Scott Johnson 

  Podcasting

  Assisted teachers in creating podcasts for use in their classroom

  Kany Seck - teacher at Normandale Elementary

Michael Walker 

• Podcasting
• Blogging
• Voicethread
• Voki

Assisted staff with integrating various Web 2.0 Technologies

Assisted Julie Morales, Marsha Gullickson, Kaela Loo and Gina Nelson with Podcasting. Julie and Marsha's projects were set up for delivering curriculum, and Kaela and Gina's were student created podcasts.

Assisted Tammy Kaminsen and Tom Sutliff with creating blogs for their classes, and Rhonda Jonas-Geere creating a blog for her CoP.

Assisted Rhonda Jonas-Geere and Jennifer Buckley adapting a project for Voicethread and Wiki.

Assited Michelle Wright with using Voki on her blog.

The Podcasting projects gave students the additional advantage of listening to a story to improve their reading in ELL, and it gave Loo and Nelson's students the opportunity to reflect on their reading and share information with an authentic audience at a higher level.

Voicethread allowed collaboration on a multimedia project, and for others to comment on it.

After some initial technical dificulties, the podcasting projects seemed to go extremely well, and the teachers were satisfied.

Student blogging without e-mail addresses created a challenge for setting up blogs and using them consistently.

Working on these projects has expanded my expertise in integrating technology in the curriculum.

Web 2.0 tools provide students with an outlet that gives them an authentic audience outside the classroom, and has improved the overall quality of the products.

Issues with student login time on machines, and sound inputs need to be addressed for future projects to be successful.

Tracy Purdy 

 Google Maps    

 A fourth grade classroom was doing a state research project.  We created an interactive google map of the USA in which each student was able to "tag" three different locations of interest on this interactive map.  When we were finished, each student could see all the tags from each student and we had a map of the USA with information learned from the students.  They could also upload a picture to their tag of the location.

 This project allowed the students to share what they knew about this sate.  It also helped them get to know the geography of their state.

4th Grade Google Map

Google Maps Directions

R:>Technology>

Digital Storytelling>

Google Maps

 This activity allowed students to think about what locations of interest they wanted to tag and for what purpose.  We were ablt to have a conversation about what was noteworthy and interesting to people.

In order to provide feedback we looked at different tags from people willing to share and discuss what makes a good tag and what are some things we need to think about when tagging, ie: capital letters, sharing interesting things, putting a title on each tag.

Students loved this project and it was fun for them to see what other people had tagged.  They were able to get feedback from not only their teacher but from their community.

 This enhanced my professional growth because I had to see what kinds of technology problems might arise with an entire class logging into the account at once.  It has also opened up a great new toolbox (google) for educators.

The technology skills that I used were google maps, copy and paste of pictures, copyright knowledge, etc.

A few lessons learned were that all students CAN be in google maps under the same account at the same time.  I also learned that students haven't had a lot of conversation about copyright. 

 Lisa Jacobs

blog spot for students to share ideas, specifically for online book clubs

wiki site for parents for various types of sign ups

Students will use the blog spot to have book chats with their book club that are more student directed.  I will pose higher-order thinking questions but will also ask students to post questions and respond to others questions online.  They will look at author websites for various purposes. 

think.com

lisajacobs.pbwiki.com

Connecting outside the classroom, experiencing an online virtual community, having an authentic audience for work, using websites for information.

Blogging will allow 3^rd graders to think about the virtual global community, online safety, and connecting outside the classroom.  I hope that modeling deeper questions and answers will help students to the same.  The broader audience of think.com will push and motivate students to put their personal best work online.

After looking through the blog as a whole class the students were thrilled.  Many students said they’ve never done anything like it, which should increase student engagement.

The CoP has pushed me to use and try more Web 2.0 technology with kids and parents.  I have felt supported by the CoP to push limits.