I am thankful that I have such a strong team to work with this year. The teachers I work with are great about being willing to discuss anything related to education and how we can better our practice. We eat lunch together, so my dialoguing with them took place over the course of the beginning of the year until now as I came kept redesigning and implementing different aspect of my project. Through these discussions, I realized that I really wanted the focus of my project to be the demonstration of student knowledge and understanding in a visual/visible way. I think I’ve hovered between that focus and a focus on real-world problem solving without realizing that I had two goals.
When I discussed the issues with technology with two of my teammates, they asked me what I wanted to gain by using the technology. Would it really enhance the understanding? This caused me to really think about T-PACK and whether my plans were hitting the sweet spot. They had experience with using Chromebooks last year, and they said that it would take a long time for the students to be able to navigate their use without a great deal of help. Part of my ImagineIt is for students to create an online portfolio. In order to do that, students would need to be able to use the Chromebooks and understand how many of the features worked. In other words, they would have to be taught a great deal in small chunks. Additionally, I wanted to use GarageBand, and students had little or no background experience with that (I know this because I asked them at the beginning of the year.).
These conversations with the teachers, which began in the summer, initiated some activities that I planned to address these issues. So, while this may not be exactly how I was meant to address the issues with a small focus group, I decided to take a few field trips and to use Quickfires with Google Classroom.
First, I got in contact with the Apple Store, which happens to be a 5 minute walk from our school. I spoke with Katie Damm, the field trip coordinator, and expressed my desire for the students to learn GarageBand. She was extremely accommodating, and very willing to help. We came up with a plan for the students to come to the store over the course of three weeks, an hour and a half each session. They would use GarageBand and iMovie to create a 1 to 2 minute movie. Then, there would be a showcase where all the students would come to the store and their movies would be shown. We just finished the third visit this week, and it has been a tremendous experience. 92 students created 46 movies with soundtracks created from GarageBand, and next week, on Wednesday, October 28th, from 8-10:30, all the sixth grade plus parents will get to see the movies on the “Big Screen!”
Second, I decided to implement QuickFires as a way to address the technology deficits with Google Classroom and the Chromebooks. I did the first one with my class of 16 students (I see them after 40 minutes with the whole class of 30) this past week. I planned to do it earlier, but we didn’t get our Chromebooks until recently due to a technical oversight when they were bought. I focused on three students who I knew were less adept at using technology. They had many questions that were very basic, but I was very surprised at how willing other students were to teach them how to do something, even at the risk of not completing their own task. This compassion will be key to helping me overcome the different dilemmas with technology that will occur with this project.
When I discussed the issues with technology with two of my teammates, they asked me what I wanted to gain by using the technology. Would it really enhance the understanding? This caused me to really think about T-PACK and whether my plans were hitting the sweet spot. They had experience with using Chromebooks last year, and they said that it would take a long time for the students to be able to navigate their use without a great deal of help. Part of my ImagineIt is for students to create an online portfolio. In order to do that, students would need to be able to use the Chromebooks and understand how many of the features worked. In other words, they would have to be taught a great deal in small chunks. Additionally, I wanted to use GarageBand, and students had little or no background experience with that (I know this because I asked them at the beginning of the year.).
These conversations with the teachers, which began in the summer, initiated some activities that I planned to address these issues. So, while this may not be exactly how I was meant to address the issues with a small focus group, I decided to take a few field trips and to use Quickfires with Google Classroom.
First, I got in contact with the Apple Store, which happens to be a 5 minute walk from our school. I spoke with Katie Damm, the field trip coordinator, and expressed my desire for the students to learn GarageBand. She was extremely accommodating, and very willing to help. We came up with a plan for the students to come to the store over the course of three weeks, an hour and a half each session. They would use GarageBand and iMovie to create a 1 to 2 minute movie. Then, there would be a showcase where all the students would come to the store and their movies would be shown. We just finished the third visit this week, and it has been a tremendous experience. 92 students created 46 movies with soundtracks created from GarageBand, and next week, on Wednesday, October 28th, from 8-10:30, all the sixth grade plus parents will get to see the movies on the “Big Screen!”
Second, I decided to implement QuickFires as a way to address the technology deficits with Google Classroom and the Chromebooks. I did the first one with my class of 16 students (I see them after 40 minutes with the whole class of 30) this past week. I planned to do it earlier, but we didn’t get our Chromebooks until recently due to a technical oversight when they were bought. I focused on three students who I knew were less adept at using technology. They had many questions that were very basic, but I was very surprised at how willing other students were to teach them how to do something, even at the risk of not completing their own task. This compassion will be key to helping me overcome the different dilemmas with technology that will occur with this project.