PBL Ideas

We have been discussing the focus of our PBL proposal via Google Docs. Brian, our group leader, is looking to focus on a problem area that he frequently sees with the students at his school. One of the factors affecting their motivation is the fact that they see little relevance between what they are learning at school and what skills get put to work in the “real world.” Brain’s idea is to center our PBL proposal around creating relevance for his students by making a clear connection between what they are learning in school and what is occurring in their community. One way to do this is to involve members of the community when possible in the learning activities.

The first idea that came to me involved students tracking the stock market. Middle school math and social studies is not my expertise, but I can see students buying fictitious stock and tracking its growth. At the end of the project, students can see who made the most money, figure out what their average stock price was, discuss when it is smart to sell or buy, etc. Then a stock trader from the community can come in and speak to them about the realities of the stock market.

After thinking some more about Brian’s idea, I also thought about perhaps involving local banks and builders in a school project. Students could be in charge of coming up with a construction plan for a local park, playground, community center, etc. They would have to draw up a budget for their building with how much each needed supply would cost them, how long it would take to build, and a sketch of the building. They would have to contact a bank for a loan and calculate interest on their borrowed money. The culminating event could be a visit to a local construction site and a talk with the contractors and/or architects. They could also visit a bank and talk about what it takes to get a loan, etc. This could be easily connected to the struggle that builders are facing now to get loans and sell their current inventory.

We are still in the initial planning stages, but I think we have some great ideas circulating!

DL Reflection

Last semester I completed a Digital Storytelling course that used Windows Movie Maker pretty heavily. At the beginning of the semester, as we were choosing projects to become the leaders of, I immediately leaned towards becoming the leader for the digital storytelling project. I felt that I had a solid enough base of knowledge to be able to guide people through the process and provide them with resources that have helped me along the way. Now that the project is complete, I felt that I fulfilled what I set out to do. Windows Movie Maker is an excellent tool that can be bent to support any curriculum standard for any grade level. Although the program (like all programs out there) comes with its quirks, it is fairly easy to learn. I have found that my students need minimal modeling time to be able to navigate their own way through. This will be my fourth year utilizing the program and it gets easier every year as I eliminate the different hurdles I come across.

I am currently using Windows Movie Maker with my students; their assignment is to create an instructional video on the important event of the Civil War that was assigned to their group. Topics range from Sherman’s Burning of Atlanta to the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Not only are my students incredibly motivated by their task, but the creation of their movies is helping them become experts on an important event of the war. After the movies are completed, we will have a viewing where groups will show their movies to the class; this is a way for students to showcase their work and give the class a solid review of the key concepts of the chapter. In the past, I have also used Windows Movie Maker to create silent movies illustrating the changes of the Roaring Twenties. The movie-making process gets easier on both the students and the teacher every time you go through it and students reap many learning benefits from using it.

Being project leader of this assignment led to some self-discovery for me. As it is, I’m not sure I would describe myself as a leader. Sure, I lead my students every day, but when it comes to being a leader among my peers, it is a different story. I find that I choose to lead out of necessity. If nobody else takes charge, I will, but usually only as a last resort. In the last few months, I have noticed a shift in my leadership tendencies and I think it has to do with my confidence level. As I become more confident in myself as a teacher and as a technology-user, I am finding it easier and more natural to take charge. I have enjoyed being the leader on this project and sincere thank you goes out to my group for being such hard and helpful workers.

Thoughts from Boss and Krauss

As I was reflecting about this week's topic, there was one specific part from Boss and Krauss that was extremely applicable in my eyes. In the Technology Focus section on pages 84-87, Boss and Krauss discuss what is needed by the students and the teachers to aid in the management of a project. The authors recommend developing a way to assess the load balance among a team to avoid one student doing too much or too little. This seems to be a constant problem for me year after year. I developed a form that my students complete at the end of projects describing the participation and role of their fellow group members (and themselves). Their comments and my personal observations go into a participation grade for each project. If students are warned ahead of time that this is the procedure we will be following, sometimes the inequalities like Boss and Krauss were describing can be avoided. However, if one or two members do the bulk of the work, at the end it is too late to do anything about it. I'm thinking a mid-way group assessment could be the answer, but all of these assessments just serve in tacking on time to a project.

Boss and Krauss also discussed the technology tools that are ideal to use in a collaborative group setting. The authors started with a discussion on the shared school server and how it can be extremely useful in sharing and storing work files. I am a testament to this fact! I often use the shared drive for technology-based projects that I have my students complete. We are currently working on Civil War movies and I have a toolbox already created for them on the shared drive full of images, music, movie clips, and sound effects for their movies. Creating a "toolkit" like this can really save time. The only problem lies in the fact that anyone can manipulate the shared drive, including students. On several occasions I have had folders magically disappear to find them later within another folder. Accidents can happen with the slip of a mouse, but utilizing the shared drive is definitely the way to go!

Movie Maker Article

I read and reviewed the article "Digital Storytelling Finds Its Place in the Classroom" by Tom Banaszewski. In his article, Banaszewski, an educator to older elementary students, explains how he incorporates digital storytelling into what he calls his "Place Project." For this project, his students compose a writing piece on an important place and turn it into a movie. To further develop his students' writing and make sure there was a clear beginning, middle, and end, Banaszewski asked probing questions about the place they selected. Banaszewski also discusses the importance of trust in the Digital Storytelling process. The classroom must be a risk free environment where students feel comfortable sharing their ideas in order for digital storytelling to really take off.

He also outlines several challenges that present themselves throughout this process. To begin with, teachers really must surrender control to be effective leaders of digital storytelling. Due to the creative nature of the work, the students need to be the directors every step of the way. Also, by nature, digital storytelling is a time-consuming process especially when students are first learning about the technology. Timetables can vary wildly from student to student as they move through a long-term movie-making project. Teachers must have supplementary activities available for early finishers. Most importantly, Banaszewski explains that the technology component must take a back seat to the storytelling process. The finished products that some out of his "Place Project" never cease to amaze him1

Thoughts from Egbert

As I was reading our selected readings for this week, a few things really jumped out at me. A focus at my elementary school for the last few years has been higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). I am fortunate to be able to teach in a fairly affluent area where my students, for the most part, come ready to learn. We have a high percentage of students that exceed standards on the CRCT, but at the same time, many of our students are unable to really think. They shut down in the face of a challenge instead of meeting it head-on. I tell my students that it is okay to struggle sometimes; the best learning comes out of a little struggle. However, our typical student wants the "right answer" and a quick fix to a problem. According to Egbert, students reap many benefits from beings exposed to HOTS like academic independence and a willingness to stick with a task until completion. We as teachers have the obligation to not always lead our students to the right answer. If we want to encourage independent thinking, they need to be able to lead themselves down the path of discovery.

DS Progress

Just a little update on our group's progress working with Digital Storytelling and Windows Movie Maker. We are in the stage now where we are experimenting with Windows Movie Maker and trying to solve the little obstacles we encounter along the way. Most of the group members have thought about their topics and zeroed in on a specific area of focus. Betty is thinking of completing a movie about the American Revolution. Sheila is thinking about a movie on flags as symbols of America and Charlotte is thinking of guiding her students in a video project journal using Windows Movie Maker. Everybody has gotten off to a great start on their individual projects while Lindsey, the project leader, is focusing on the directions handout for how to use Windows Movie Maker and the Digital Storytelling Power Point that will be used for staff development.

ComicLife

I love your Civil War ComicLife. Your idea of having them write their own strip would be interesting to most students. They will learn to enjoy writing and social studies. You did a great job.