Class Dojo

I was recently introduced to Class Dojo and am excited to start using it in my classroom, especially at this time of the year.  Has anyone else used it?  I'm not sure what the best way is to go about it.  I like the idea of an app for the phone but I feel like that would drain my battery throughout the day.  The option for letting you email parents updates is fantastic.  

Behavior has become a huge issue at our school since we have essentially stopped giving consequences.  This program looks like an easy way to track behavior and students will hopefully like it because it involves technology.  Can't wait to use it.

Video Editing?

This past week in class we learned about video editing.  We had already learned about in camera editing and I had a lot of fun with that lesson.  This week was a little different.  My group had an easy time coming up with a PSA topic, treatment, and story board.  We had fun recording our video and felt confident that it was good.  Unfortunately once we uploaded it to the computer things began to fall apart.  Laura, one of my group members, began editing the video while I looked up some music for our intro.  Near the end whenever she edited a video the next video became deleted.  After much time our professor finally said to just present what we had.  It was okay but not great.  Another groups video deleted completely!

So what did I learn.  First, if you are going to use technology it's important to know whether it is compatible with your computer or not.  We learned the hard way that it wasn't.  Second, it is important to take a step back and breathe when working with technology.  When you need it the most is usually when it doesn't work so always have a back up lesson, just in case. Three, video editing is much more challangeing than I thought and doesn't allow for a lot of collaboration during the editing.  It was hard for more than one person to edit and so it fell on one person's shoulders.

Would I use this in my classroom?  Maybe.   The pros are having students synthesis the information they have researched into a 30 second clip.  They have to take into consideration their audience, their purpose, and their style.  The con would be the amount of time it would take them to complete the videos.  As adults who were familiar with the process it took us 2 1/2 hours from start to finish.  I would say at a minimum triple that for a classroom so 7 1/2 hours would probably be too much time to take up.  Oh time, isn't it always the problem?

Edmodo...how I love thee!

Recently a colleague, Emily, introduced our students (we share, I teach them math, science, and social studies, she teaches them important things like how to read) to Edmodo.  She had asked me about it but with grad school I didn't even have time to get back to her.  Well, our students love it.  What is Edmodo?  It's similar to Blackboard but much friendlier to use.  The layout makes it look like Facebook so it is important to talk to your students about the importance of academic discussions only when on Edmodo.  Students do not have the ability to chat with each other on Edmodo so that alleviates one issue.

We have both been using it in different ways.  Emily uses it as a place for students to have discussions about the books they are reading.  I have decided to use it with science.  As a trial run I have been posting a video each week about the science topic we are learning about.  Students are expected to watch it and respond with scientific inquiry. The students who do not have access to the internet at home are able to look at it in class throughout the week when they have free time.

While Edmodo is not the answer to getting kids to do their homework it sure is a great incentive.  The kids are excited and can't wait to see what video I post and they love to read each others comments and share their own thoughts.  A rare day when students are excited to do their homework!

Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

This week my professor has asked us to take a lesson we created before using Web 1.0 and adding in a 2.0 feature.  Interestingly enough I am currently teaching the rock cycle unit.  Here is a summary of my original lesson:

Students from around the globe will team up to identify different rocks found in their community.  Join us in this collaborative project, comparing rocks found around the world.  The focus of this project is to identify rocks in your community, decide which of the three different types of rocks (sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic) they are, and to compare them with other classroom findings around the world. All students are welcome to participate, however, it is recommended for upper elementary and middle school students.  There is no fee to participate, but before registering, please read the "Project Instructions" page to become familiar with a checklist that displays all of the expectations of participants.

In order to make this Web 2.0 I would have students use discussion boards to help one another identify rocks.  They would be the experts in the classroom and when students submitted their rocks they would have to determine whether the students from around the world were correct or not. This would be a great way for them to continue their knowledge of the rock cycle and would allow them to collaborate about their scientific reasoning.