Google Docs

Google Docs is such an effective tool for collaboration on projects. I have started to use it for my group PBL project we are doing for my grad school class, and I really love how we are all able to use the Google Docs to communicate about our project. It is much easier than sending everyone an email, especially because sometimes the emails don't get sent to everyone, or I sometimes forget to reply to all in the email. Gogle docs is also fairly easy to use. I like how you don't have to worry about saving your work because it automatically saves for you. I have not used Google Docs much before, so this will be a new experience for me. So far, I like Google Docs and how it allows for collaboration with group members. This is a great tool for students to use as well when working on projects. I am looking forward to learning more about Google Docs as we continue working on our group PBL project.

Creating PBL Activities

For my last discussion on PBL in my graduate class, we had to create PBL lessons. One lesson had to integrate Math, Social Studies, and Art. The other had to integrate Science, English, and Music. I think through creating these lessons and reading my classmates comments on creating PBL, many found that PBL is much easier to use with integration in the elementary level classes. Collaboration is much easier when the teacher teaches the majority of the subjects being taught. In Middle and High School, many of the subjects are departmentalized, which involves a lot more collaboration when planning an integrated PBL. Time seemed to be another issue. I often say to myself...If only there was more time in the day! Think of how many projects and fun engaging activities we could do in the classroom if we had more time or if standardized testing wasn't so pressured. I feel that PBL is a great way for students to learn, but it also hard for many teachers to see past the "fun activities" that engage students to see that they really are learning the same if not more than if they were doing a worksheet or work from the textbook. PBL definitely makes students take more ownership and makes them much more involved in their learning, as well as excited to learn new concepts. I really enjoyed viewing my classmates' activities that they created for the PBL discussion and would love to hear any other ideas or PBL activities anyone out there has tried in their own classroom! It always helps to hear what works for others!

Voice Thread

I have provided a link to my Voice Thread Project. It is also embedded in the post that shows up right after this one.

Voice Thread is a great program to use in the classroom! I completed my Voice Thread project by having my students record cinquain poems they wrote and posting them in the Voice Thread. My students left comments on each others' poems.

I have learned many great things about Voice Thread. It is a great tool to have students comment on each other's work. It is also a great way for me to post a lesson or project the students are going to be working on and having the comments available for them to ask questions while completing the project or on the lesson.

While completing my Voice Thread, I learned how important it is to not procrastinate. I didn't wait until the last minute, but I do wish I had done a few of the steps prior to the day I set aside to work on my Voice Thread. I chose a Friday because I only have half of my students due to Target. I thought this would be a lot more manageable than having all 25 students. Unfortunately that day our internet was working very slow at school. This caused uploading the poems to take a lot longer than I expected. I ended up spending the entire school day working on this project. I wish it had not taken this long, but was glad I was able to complete the project. My students really enjoyed leaving comments on each other's poems. I also learned that it good to be specific on what your expectations are for the students. I was not very specific on how I wanted them to comment on the poems. Every student left positive comments, but some of the comments just said things like, "I like your poem about cats because I have a cat at home." I would have liked for my students to be more specific about the parts of the poem.

I also wish I had more time to complete the project. I think it would have been very effective if parents were able to comment on the Voice Thread. I am actually going to add the link to my school blog, which will allow parents to view the Voice Thread and leave a comment if they wish.

If you have any suggestions after viewing my Voice Thread, or even without viewing my Voice Thread, of some other ways that Voice Thread can be incorporated into the classroom, please leave me a comment. I would also love for you to leave any feedback on ways I can improve my Voice Thread.

Cinquain Poems by students in Mrs. Turco's 4th Grade Class

Comic Life

Here is a link to my Comic Life project on Native Americans.
This link provides a lesson plan as well as some assessment options that can be used.

Comic Life is such an amazing tool for students to use to show what they have learned about a certain topic.  Unfortunately, Comic Life is not available at my school and it is something that we do not have permission to download the trial version onto our computers either.  I was able to create a Comic Life Project from my home computer using  Social Studies and Language Arts standards.  I created my project on the six different Native American tribes we study in 4th grade. The following is what I included in my description write up for my Comic Life project on the lessons learned while creating the project.

Because of limitations and restrictions on our school computers, I was unable to use my students in this project. I wanted to use them and have them help me write the comic, but those limitations kept me from doing so. I decided to create the comic for an upcoming unit we will be studying in Social Studies. I learned many lessons about myself and learning online throughout this project.

I will honestly say I waited until the last minute to create this project. I usually do not wait until the last minute to do my work, but my teaching job has been very stressful this year and caused me to put less focus on my graduate school work. I began working on this on Saturday. I was quite surprised when I finished all the comics on Saturday and just had the write up to finish on Sunday. I worked all day Saturday and drew all of my pictures to use in the comics. I think I took the hard way out as far as drawing all of my pictures, but I wasn’t sure how to add my students’ faces into a picture with the background I needed for the Native American tribes. I learned that if I work hard, I can get my work done fairly quickly. I also learned, that I get very stressed out when I do wait until the last minute because I am so pressed for time. This is not good if something does not go right because it can cause me to turn the project in late.

I enjoy learning online. I thought the comic life project was fairly easy, which is great because I know that if we are ever able to get the program at our school, I will be able to use it with my students. The only problem I have with learning online is that I am not sure how to set up the wiki to post my project. I am hoping I will be able to do this successfully, so that my classmates can view my Comic Life project.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Comic Life project and if you see anything that I should change to make it better please let me know.

Reflections on PBL

Many of you reading this may wonder what does PBL stand for?  I, too, once wondered what in the world this was.  Going through school not too long ago, this was not something I had heard of.  Since teaching in Cobb County schools, I have heard more and more about PBL.  PBL stands for Project-Based Learning.  Many of the lessons the county has provided for teachers to use, that were made up by other teachers or people from the county, are project based lessons.  I have found through using PBL in my classroom that the students are more engaged in their learning.  They actually understand the material so much better because of the problems they solve while learning a certain skill.  PBL allows for students to apply concepts to real life.  This helps them to see the importance of the concepts and why they need to learn them.  Many students like working on projects instead of reading from a text book.  I am now realizing through the readings in this class how much technology can help with the PBL.  I have been using PBL in my classroom for 3 years, but have not always applied technology to the lessons.  This would add a whole other degree of interest and engagement for my students in the classroom.

Thoughts on the Blogging Experience So Far

I have learned many new things about blogging.  I use to keep a blog when I was in college, but used it more for my insights on certain topics.  I have enjoyed creating a blog for technology integration.  I have also learned things from my other classmates.  Blogging can be a great tool to use for collaboration and it provides an opportunity for people to show their personalities as well as inform others on the topic they are discussing in their blog.  There are many tools you can add to blogs to help others as well.  I enjoyed viewing my classmates' blogs and saw some things in theirs that I can change or use in my own blog.  So far this has been a GREAT experience!