take aways

Needless to say, completing this project was an amazing experience for me.  I can not rave enough about what a wonderful time that I had teaching technology and watching my specific eighteen third graders grow by leaps and bounds in only the short time we have been together.  It has reignited my love for video production and continued to feed the desire I have always had to help change the world.  Seeing the students so passionate and involved was just awesome.  

When thinking about take-aways from this project, it is hard for me to select just four. 

1. Students are more passionate to help the world than I would ever have expected.  We all always tend to assume and understand the issue that children are egocentric.  We know that they have trouble thinking of anyone other then themselves.  However, as children constantly continue to do, they will surprise you.  I expected to need to motivate them extensively to get them to care about others.  Boy, was I wrong! They see problems in the world daily. They take notice and want to make a change.  I underestimated the level of social awareness and compassion that students can have even at such a young age. 
2. Students LOVE technology. No matter what it was, my students were obsessed with working with technology.  They ran to computers, pawed at IFlips, and couldn’t get enough of being in the camera’s spotlight. They wanted to learn and begged me to teach them how to work every aspect of Imovie. I couldn’t get to them fast enough! Throughout my career as a preservice teacher, I have always read about what a motivator technology is, but I had no idea until I actually experienced it.  
3. Constructivism has its limits. One of our main goals when implementing this project was that it be entirely student designed and created.  We wanted them to do all the work and have all the credit.  This was intended to be completely their project with the teachers serving only as facilitators and resources.  We wanted them to advertise, get the word out and be responsible for collecting donations. However, what we failed to consider was the fact that third graders are eight and nine years old.  They don’t keep their own schedules, aren’t in charge of decisions and rarely have little control over anything more than their outfit or lunch selection.  Asking them to coordinate a donation drive completely on their own was unrealistic.  They needed our help.  So, although they more than surpassed our expectations, I realized that as an adult teacher, there are still some aspects of their learning that I will need to be responsible for. 
4. Collaboration is AMAZING.  Working with my team this semester has been an amazing experience.  In addition to the experiences with the children, I have learned so much from my teammates.  We have shared ideas and thoughts and I finally get the intoxicating feeling of professional collaboration.  Listening to others’ ideas and using them to incorporate into mine was so justifying and meaningful.  I was able to have my own professional freedom, all while learning and working with teachers that I deeply respect.  

Suggestions for improvement:

1. Provide examples. I think that at first, the project was very confusing and ambiguous.  Visual examples would really have helped teams to understand their task and get more excited about it. 
2. Prepare students for the worst. It seems like the majority of the groups went into the school with eyes bright, expecting inviting teachers that were both excited and dedicated to the project success.  For many of the groups, this was not the case.  They were blindsided by pushed back meetings, unenthusiastic mentors and minimal classroom time. Preparing future classes for ALL types of circumstances could help give the initial motivation needed to preserver against all obstacles.  
3. Be involved at the school.  I’m not sure if it is possible, but personally, I really would have liked to had some interaction together as a class or with you at the actual school. I think that that may have alleviated a great deal of stress and anxiety that some groups had, as well as made us all feel more connected to you as an instructor.  I loved the class and know that constructivism is the ultimate goal, but I feel that preservice teachers are not so very different from third graders.  They need to be constantly assured that they are doing their assignment correctly and need to have scaffolded instruction. I think that being more physically involved at the beginning and most confusing portion of the project then gradually tapering off of the project would really help ease some tension and worry. :)  
4. More authentic documentation.  I would liked to have had more of an authentic method for demonstrating and cataloging our progress and learning within the course.  I think that adding a student selected method of evaluation, such as a video blog, website creation, ongoing podcast would have been more meaningful assessments than the Thursday Round-Ups and Reading Journals.  I know that personally, I found it a little frustrating to have so much video and lesson planning documentation of my progress but then have to take the time to write out a learning log.  I would rather have been able to post my productions of the day or even the lesson plan that was used during that week. I love the idea of a blog, but think that all of our projects were so diverse that differing ongoing assessments would have been more relatable.  

Overall, as I said, I had an amazing experience within the course and had countless takeaways.  I now feel so much more confident to teach my students each something different that they are interested in as well as to introduce a brand new set of technologies to them.  I learned a great deal and am very proud of the work that my team and I did. Thanks for a great class!!

Sit. Rep. tres.

Again, this week we were able to go and interact with our classes for that block of time and really make some head way on our project.  For the first time today, my crew was able to start filming and editing some of the footage that we had already gained with previous meetings.  They were so excited to get the video ready for the world to see and getting their point of saving the world across.  Some of them were writing scripts, while others were interviewing classmates from other crews and still others were picking music and title bars to accessorize our film.  It was really amazing to be a part of.  I loved seeing the progress that they were making and how well behaved everyone was because they were busy with projects to work on. There was little idle time and it showed what an asset that was to the class.  In regards to our project report draft, I think that we have more than enough information to complete.  We are so lucky to have such a great team of supportive teachers to be working with and are more than rolling with the assignment.  We still need to work through the actual completion of the project with collecting donations and actually completing the website and video, but it is progressing nicely.  The kids are all very excited and we have so much documentation to work from on the impact that children can have on the world.  Some questions that we have are in regards to the actual completion of the project.  We have forecasted that it will need to extend beyond our timeline of this class/semester and we’re hoping that presenting a working model at the showcase for this class was acceptable.  We are more than willing to continue working outside the time needed for this course because we want the kids to be able to get the most that they can from this project.  We want them to be able to see an end product and that their hard work can really pay off.     

situation Report numero 2

Today we went to P.K. again and were able to meet with our classes for that amazing 40 minute block that the teachers are so wonderful to let us have.  We met throughout the week as a team and formulated a plan of attack for today, so the four of us all felt very prepared and ready to tackle the world, which is the feeling I like to normally possess before entering the classroom.  We started off the day with all 54 third graders and having a voting session on naming our project.  We wanted to allow them to choose the name that we would be calling the project, but also had a pretty limited schedule, so we gave them a list of four names to choose from.  The vast majority decided on "Little Hands, Big Hearts" as our community headline! Then, we split up into our crews and were in three different classrooms, each teacher with 18 students, and Raihan overseeing and recording video.  I was able to explain all about the video that we were going to be making, talk about the jobs we would need in our crew, ie anchors, cameramen, editors, directors, etc. and even go over some video production terminology that they were somewhat unfamiliar with.  We discussed what a "scene" was and even created a storyboard together as a class.  So far, everything has been going great and the plan for next Wednesday's meeting is to assign specific jobs and let the students explore and play with the video production equipment that they will be using, cameras, tripods, editing software, scripts, etc.  I'm really a lot more confident in the project than I originally was because everything is starting to become more concrete and outlined.  We don't all four have the exact jobs that we thought we would in the beginning, but splitting up the crews has made everything more manageable and individualized for us and the students.  Now, instead of us all dealing with 60 children, we are able to each give our 18 a more exclusive and memorable experience.  We are all very excited to be finally getting the ball rolling and actually talk amongst our specific crews about the plans for the project.  I personally am really looking forward to next week when my crew gets to experiment and just learn on the equipment.  I'm really ready to hear more of their ideas and see them work.

Situation Report

Working with third graders has proven to be one surprise after another.  Our group has currently met with all three third grade classes as a whole twice and both times, they have come up with such amazing ideas, I find myself blown away. Our initial meeting with the students began by showing them a video that Raihan found which featured a group of students in Australia who had done a number of impacting things in their classroom to help the world.  The students were immediately inspired and came up with amazing ideas for how they wanted to impact their community.  We asked them to generate their thoughts on what problems they saw around Gainesville that they wanted to help with.  After this initial meeting, we compiled the list of the children's concerns and decided to go with a majority consensus.  We discussed with the children that we would be voting on one topic, so we knew that they would be alright with the idea of only focusing on one specific area of  concern.  They were so excited to be helping the needy around Gainesville.  So far, our project consists of three crews that will be working on different areas of a major donation drive.  We are going to be collecting items to donate to the Arbor House for homeless single mothers in Gainesville.  The three crews of our project are going to be a news crew, responsible for documenting and creating a finalized video of the entire project, a website crew, responsible for creating the project website that will display what we have been doing and the goal of our project, and finally an outreach crew, which will be responsible for collecting donations and making the community, local businesses, etc aware of our mission.  I personally am going to be in charge of the news crew and helping students design and create the video that will be a representation of our final project. I’m so excited to see that the homeless and needy around the area is such a high priority for them and am really ready to get started working!  I’m a little concerned about the level of involvement this is going to take because right now, it’s a lot to comprehend and “rap my head around” but I am confident that my group and I will be able to work together to figure it out. So far, everything has been going GREAT!!

Synthesis Journal Entry

When thinking about the role that social media plays in the lives of 21st century learners, a common question that educators find themselves pondering is to what level this revolution effects their students. I personally feel that an easier question to answer is what level it doesn’t. Children and adolescents of today’s generation have been surrounded by social media since conception.  For me personally though, even growing up in a world where computers were more of a commonplace household item and the internet was accessible, it is hard to consider the concept of elementary aged children sharing information and communicating via the web.  I like to believe that I will be their introduction into this vast realm of learning about social media, but I know that is a naive hope.  The reality is that even if I teach children as young as kindergarten, they’re going to be capable of interacting with this field at levels. I can only imagine the Facebook pages of my potential 3rd graders and the blogs of my 8 year olds.  As was stated in the article Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, written by Jenkins et al,  

“The media landscape will be reshaped by the bottom up energy of media created by amateurs and hobbyists as a matter of course.” (Jenkins et al, 2006, 9)

This should prove to us that no longer do you have to be skilled or qualified in any specific field to create content for postage on the internet.  You now only need the access, which children of today have.  It is illogical to think they aren’t creating pages, posting pictures, and interacting with one another.  

Personally, I love the challenge of incorporating this movement into the classroom environment.  I am a huge proponent of engaging and interactive lessons that limit the “bore” factor that is all too prevalent in schools.  I feel that social media is one of those many facets that can make learning FUN!  Having students interact with one another, share thoughts with kids around the world and digitally publish their experiences is something that they want to do. Isn’t it a novel idea to let them do something they like, all while being learning directed? 

When reading both the 2010 K12 Horizon Report and the Dragonfly Effect, I was instantly inspired to get started on learning more and more about social media.  The notion of Collaborative Environments and knowing that they are a mere one year (or less!) away from integration into the classroom according to NMC drives home the reality that getting kids to work together is a good idea.  Also, the Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith proves that social networking can not only lead to better learning, but a better world.  When thinking about the possibilities of social media in the classroom, rather than thinking of it in terms of “What can we do?,” I think a better question is “What can’t we do?” I’m excited and ready for it to become more of a part of the educational environment.  

Thinking about the technology project that I will be helping to design at P.K. Yonge Developmental School this semester, one word really comes to mind: excitement.  I’m not only excited about the actual designs we are going to be creating, but also about working with my team.  I was fortunate enough in this project to be placed with three students that I have worked with in previous classes.  We know each other pretty well and I think that this gives us a huge advantage.  We are able to communicate in any number of ways and are knowledgeable of each other’s unique personalities.  I envision that we will meet face to face for a lot of our time, but will also use a wiki that we created to communicate.  We want to all ensure that we are able to contribute equally, sharing responsibilities whenever needed. The goals that I personally hold for this project are pretty basic but of limitless importance, I think.  I want the students we work with to be capable of creating their own information on the internet, to be confident in their ideas, and to care about something, anything.  In more tangible terms, our ideas thus far have been for the students to either independently or in groups create a website about something they care about.   Whether it is saving bottle nose dolphins, promoting cultural awareness or getting people to use biodegradable cups in place of styrofoam, they will create a site and connect with others passionate about the same thing.  While this is still a rough draft, having not met with the teacher yet, we like to think that the basic core principles will remain the same.  Also, as inspired by the text from another technology class that I am currently taking, EME5405, I want the students to learn how to navigate the internet independently and perform efficient and effective searches for information.  My goal would be for them to be educated and versed in navigating the internet by being able to distinguish reliable websites, creating blogs/podcasts, and finding relevant resources.  The text Web Literacy for Educators by Allan November gives concise examples for creating student friendly navigation on the internet and is a great resource for this project.  It has helped made the idea of teaching internet skills much easier to tackle.  Overall, we want our students in this project to simply realize that social media can cause change and that they can actively make a difference wherever they see fit. 

I envision my role in the team as, the main contact with the teacher and the organizer.  We all have different strengths and putting things into place is kind of mine.  Raihan is great with technology, Abbey is very creative and Sam is great at saying what needs to be said.  We will all be working actively in the classroom and contributing to assignments due.  I really feel that it is going to be a great experience and we will all ensure that things are taken care of.  Being equal partners is a very important aspect of our team.  

Resources 

Aaker, J, & Smith, A. (2010). The dragonfly effect. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2011, 31-35

Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2010). 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium

Jenkins, et al. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: media education for the 21st century . Mass: MacArthur.

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Corwin Pr.