Teacher+Testimonials

Maggie Jackson Grade 4 Teacher This year my students used the internet to go on virtual field trips to Ellis Island and learn about immigration in 4th grade. Then. they each created passports based on the group of immigrants they studied. The 4th grade teachers collaborated with the Tech. Teacher and Librarian for this project. For our All School Meeting in November our theme was "Belonging." My students found images of different cultures online, using a Google image search and choosing appropriate key words. Then, as a class we created a montage of pictures and recorded our voices saying "Belonging" in many languages. We used Photostroy3 to do this. (I've attached that video). Some of my students created skits as a Reading Response. I was able to record this with my Flip Camera and then one of my students used my personal MacBook to edit the video using iMovie. Finally, for one of our staff meetings on Literacy, my colleagues and I used my flip camera to record some different literacy activities. I then edited the clips together using my personal MacBook and iMovie. I've attached that file as well. (it's pretty huge) One thing I'm interested in doing is using a recording program on my computer so that students can read passages and evaluate their own fluency. Ideally, I'd like this to be a station during Literacy block.
 * Ambrose **

Leah Ferullo Elementary Teacher I use technology in my classroom as often as I can now that we have the laptop carts. It is a 24 computer cart and combined with my laptop and a projector it enables me to give the students hands on learning as well as a lot of self-discovery. Some programs we use that are loaded onto the laptops include kidspiration, microsoft word and successmaker. This helps me incorporate laptops into any subject I feel would be beneficial. I have just begun to use and have kids play around with Animoto so that they can create their own 30 second video based on our current social studies curriculum. My projector is a huge asset to the class as it makes my computer and the internet accessible at any moment. This enhances curriculum at a blink of an eye by making much of the material relate directly to the real world. This makes the material more concrete as well as more interesting for the students. With only 30 portable laptops in the whole Muraco School it makes it difficult to schedule time as often as I would like, because I honestly feel that the more the students are on these computers and the more they are exposed to these programs,the easier it becomes to use in the classroom. Comfort levels rise and students are willing to take the risks necessary for independent learning.
 * Muraco **

Pat Devries Computer Ed Teacher McCall teachers have moved forward in incorporating Web 2.0 tools and interactive white boards as well as other technology methods into the middle school curriculum. The Internet has many tools that connect people from within the classroom to around the world. To further expand the student’s technology experience and knowledge and to develop life long learning skills teachers have created many units which integrate these skills which will remarkably impact their future.
 * McCall **

Some sample Web 2.0 units include: · Creating online multimedia presentations in VoiceThread · Students collaborate and communicate their planning of a podcast in Wikispaces on the topic of intellectual property and copyright. · Producing skits about bullying to share with the elementary schools. · Students work cooperatively to create a PSA movie to raise awareness about a health, Internet safety, or an environmental issue. · Blogging in the social studies curriculum. · Edline virtual classroom to survey student opinion.