Completed Genius Hour Projects

Genius Hour with the fourth graders go a bit crazy. I posted awhile ago about starting Genius Hour projects with all fourth grade student in a modified version.  Genius hour is based on Google's 20% in which you give students the freedom to learn about any topic they are interested in.

Since I only see students once a week for 45 minutes I needed to give some guidelines and continue to teach some lesson or months would go by.  We started with a "What are you interested in?" sheet and students picked a topic and developed an inquiry question.  This was hard! Their classroom teachers and I did not let them get away with "thin", "skinny", "simple" questions.

Then we rehashed evaluating websites and the students were on their own.  This proved to be too much for some students; they needed a worksheet, a set of questions to answer.  Others really took off .  Students worked their way through the Big 6 Research Model and as a class we developed a timeline to help them along. (Of course testing and unforeseen absences prevented us from sticking to that timeline.)

Students continue to research as I introduced different ways they could present their information.  Being the Technology specialist, all presentations had to incorporate technology.  Students could come up with their own way to present but I offered: PowerPoint, Glogster, BrainyBox, Tellagami, GreenScreen, Live Video, and StopMotion Animation.

Check out some of their presentations.

PowerPoints:

Student's Genius Hour Project on Numbers from ariellehg

Student's Genius Hour on Living While being Illterate from ariellehg

Student's Genius Hour Project on Surviving in the Deser from ariellehg

Glogsters:

Brainybox:

Videos: (There were a few students with green screen screen videos which were great but I cannot share sudent's faces)

PARCC

PARCC is, it is the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers.  This is a " set of assessments that measure whether students are on track to be successful in college and their careers." https://www.parcconline.org/ 

Students take computer based tests in math and language arts twice during the year; once after 75% of the year has passed and again after 90% of the year has passed.  The first assessment is performance based and has short and extended answered and requires essays and conceptual knowledge.  The second assessment, the end of year is mostly short answered and skill based. 

Discussions started in 2010 with 23 states including the District of Columbia.  Now in Spring of 2014 when field testing is occurring participating states are down to 16 and the District of Columbia.

I feel lucky enough to work in a district that is well prepared for this test.  The computer lab I teach in has newer iMacs and the school shares carts of iPad 2s. Our network is well equipped and can handle testing more students than my school has.  Unfortunately this is not true for all of New Jersey, or all of the states participating.

Switching from a paper and pencil test to a computer-based test was/is nerve-wrecking.

• Will the students scores reflect their knowledge or their computer skills?
• Will the different technology effect how they respond to questions?
• Are they strong enough typers at grade 3/4 to type short answers and an essay?
• Will the students copy information from the screen to their scrap paper correctly? Will they then copy their answers correctly back to the computer?

This week I learned that the technology does effect the students responses.  When asked to write a long response students were given a small box so they're responses reflected that.

PARCC has provided computer based sample questions for students to practice on.

Keyboarding has been a BIG concern at the young grades, the grades I teach. Here we have had students in grades 2-4 typing away weekly on Type to Learn 4.  This is a HUGE upgrade from what we did before (see below) and students have shown improvement all around.


Before getting Type to Learn students used to type in different programs when they would finish an assignment or as a class in-between assignments if their class was ahead of the other classes in their grade.  We used:

• Keyboard Climber and Keyboard Climber 2
• Dance Mat Typing
• And a series of other games I've collected: https://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/keyboarding40
• Third and fourth graders always received free Typing Web accounts so I could track their progress. 

The other tools PARCC offers a tutorial for all the tools in their test: http://practice.parcc.testnav.com/#. Students can highlight during the text, flag questions to return to, eliminate answer choices,  and easily review and go back to any question on the test. The students seemed to fair well though we did not take the math section so we did not have to deal with the math tools.

While the issues I had were few and far between, a quick power outage, trouble connecting to server briefly, or having to logout and back in, I think we may have just been well prepared.  I can only hope everyone had it this well, but I know that us not true. 

Graphite

If you are teaching in a state that has adopted Common Core, this site, Graphite, is going to be a great resource: http://www.graphite.org/standards/common-core

Graphite finds apps and websites that align with the Common Core Standards.  It is extremely simple to use.

This site is great because:

1. You search by Common Core Standard.
2. Apps and websites are reviewed by their specialists and by teachers

The homepage looks like this:

Select Mathematics or Language Arts, then the grade, and the Common Core subject. Below is a sample of fourth grade writing.

Each standard has a number of apps or websites connected to it.  A column on the right shows you how many products are available for each standard.  You can view them in the same window, the tools will be shown below the standard, or open them in a new window.

Each app or website offers a quick description, price, Learning Rating, and some offer a Teacher Rating.  Click on the title and you will receive more detailed information.  The detailed information provides the others standards this tool can be used for, as its pros and cons, and its levels of engagement, pedagogy, and support.

Teachers are struggling with implementing both technology and Common Core and this is such a great tool for infusing them together.
Graphite has compiled what they think are the best Math and ELA tools. Click the links to view: ELA and Math


Don't forget to SHARE this amazing resource

New (to me) Tech

I'm always patrolling the web for new tech. Usually I'm looking for new ideas for the classroom but sometimes I come across things that just entertain me.  Here are a few new ones, at least to me.  I'm sorry if I'm late to the scene.

Artisan.com Picture Book Maker

This is the best picture book maker for the younger students I have found so far. With a cover, back cover, and 6 pages, the students writes and design their own story.  This website has premade images

and backgrounds for the students to choose from for their pages.  There are 8 backgrounds, 4 different characters that can be scaled and switched to look like it performing a different action, and 20 extras such as fences, trees, clouds, skateboards, soccer balls, and more. With the pencil tool students type in their words and can scale those as well. While I do not love the typing part, the illustrations are fun and in the end you can email a link to the final book.

Take a look at my sample book: http://www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/picturebookmaker/captures/stf/index.php?incomingNum=17299

Croak.it

This is a free website that allows you, the user, to record up to 30 seconds of audio.  This user interface is one of the easiest on the web.  Click the large croak button on the page, record 30 seconds or less of audio, and select Proceed.  Name it, Tag it, and tou can share via a link, directly share it to Facebook, Twitter, or Google+, OR you can get an embed code to put it on your website.  They even have a mobile version for iPhones and Androids.
Coming soon: the ability to mix to croaks.

For the classroom this could be fun to download on the iPads and have students work on quick facts to add my website.  Or book recommendations to add to the website.  As I mentioned before I LOVE using QR codes and so do the students so I can have students record information/recommendations about books, link the croak with a QR code and add it to the cover a book.  As a classroom teacher students could record answers in groups and record quick answers for me to check later.

Wonderopolis.org

This is fun and great for getting students more interested in Information Text.  Wonderoplois is a website where the answers to things you are naturally curious about are answered.  There are short passages of non-ficiton text as well as video and interesting topic to keep any students interest.
This would be fun for a quick research project in between the large projects. 

Todaysmeet.com

The last few large meetings and conferences I have attended have had Today's Meet up and running. It is a great tool for backchannel talking in large groups.  Once a room is created people with the link go in, and with no registration need, can post ideas and questions.  The entire conversation can be saved.  This is a great way for students to interact with each other in the classroom as well with students in other classes nearby, in another state, or anywhere around the world!

a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery - See more at: http://wonderopolis.org/about/#sthash.Dg7X2GPB.dpuf

a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery - See more at: http://wonderopolis.org/about/#sthash.Dg7X2GPB.dpuf

a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery - See more at: http://wonderopolis.org/about/#sthash.Dg7X2GPB.dpuf