Digital Video Editing

My first digital video editing project done in class was a super fun experience. It was so much nicer to be able to add in the transitions so that it actually looked like the characters were interacting, even though the scenes were recorded at different times. In the end, it ended up being a hilarious video that incorporated lots of new techniques I'd never used before.

I also really liked that we took on the format of an interview because it helped my group to think about our topic in a different way.

There are so many ways to use digital video in the classroom...my mind is already stirring with ideas! Check back to see what I've come up with...

Podcasts in 2nd grade

So I pose the question to myself: How can I incorporate podcasting into 2nd grade? So many ideas are going through my head. Famous explorers...Native Americans...meteorologists of the day...and then I think...DAILY NEWS!!

At the end of every day, my students and I do a shared writing about our day. We meet on the carpet for only about 5 minutes and write a paragraph describing our day. It's a great way to daily revisit many of the writing qualities that my students need to develop as a 2nd graders. As I write on my easel, the students write in a notebook. What if, at the end of every day, there are 2 students who are responsible for then recording a reading of our daily news, and then posting it to a class blog? (which is slowly becoming a big goal for NEXT year...everytime I sit down to start on it...something else comes up!!) This would be a great way to keep parents informed on what we do in class each day, and each episode really would be coming to them from The Surf's Up Kids in Room 202!! I'm pretty excited about how this will play out!

Podcasting

Before reading about podcasts, and discussing them in class, I had not been subjected to them in any way before. (I say it like this because from what I gather from others, you have to be a specific type of person to love following podcasts...and currently I don't think I'm one of them!) I had an understanding that podcasts were something that was recorded and completely audio, and could be added to an ipod, but that was about it. I was very surprised to see all the sites out there that offer podcasts! This really is a culture that I wasn't aware of!

After having to create our own podcasts in class, I found that that PROCESS for creating the podcast was extremely beneficial and could be for my students in various ways. Not only did I have to RESEARCH Thurgood Marshall and search and sort through lots of information to determine what was important, I also had to decide how to put that in my own WORDS as we created a script. Then, we had to read it, and therefore, take ownership over this newly learned (or reviewed!) information. This process is extremely powerful as it incorporates DEAPR and can easily be attached to an authentic problem!

Trying out a wiki?!

So in thinking about wikis, I've been having a hard time seeing it's use in my 2nd grade classroom. As I feel apprehensive about it, I also feel excited about the possibilities. I think back to the fall when I had my 2nd graders use Microsoft Word to create a page in a non-fiction book. MANY of them were able to type with ease, and learned to navigate through Microsoft Word very quickly. Aren't the skills needed to edit a wiki similar?

I've decided to try it out with my highest reading group. We've been working on retelling fiction stories...being sure to include the characters and setting, as well as details from the beginning, middle, and end.I thought it would be great if these 6 students could take turns logging onto our class wiki and retelling the story! They can editing each others additions if necessary, and add any details they feel they should. In the end, we should have an excellent, collaborative retell! When I told them about it, they were super excited. I can't wait to see what happens when they acctually do it!

Wikis

To be honest, my knowledge of wikis is pretty slim. In fact, before reading, the only thing I knew about wikis was that wikipedia was a wiki, and it was a place where anyone can post. I remember when I taught 5th grade 3 years ago, I had been warned about the validity of wikipedia, and so as my students did research I did not allow them to use wikipedia. I like that in the book Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, Richardson addressed this. Perhaps wikipedia (and other wikis) do actually contain accurate information. The only way to find out, however, is to do some research!

I think the cool thing about what a wiki could provide in a classroom environment is that students can work together on the same work AND also share this work with live audiences. What an awesome way for students to create community! I think that using a wiki is also certainly a great way to help students become good users of information!

I love the wiki prayer at the end of chapter 4 in the Richardson book. (Please grant me the serenity to accept the pages I cannot edit, the courage to edit the pages I can, and the wisdom to know the difference). Personally, I can see how it could be hard to add information to something knowing that it just may be edited by someone else! However, I think the benefits are huge. After all, one of my favorite quotes is, "None of us know what all of us know." A shared collection of information is more likely to be accurate and include more information than just one person's thoughts, right??

Another thought on blogs...

So I never actually thought about how blogs could really be used in the classroom until I read a little more about them. I see that this would've been AWESOME when I was in high school! How great could it be if the whole class really was paperless (I strive to use the LEAST amount of paper possible in 2nd grade). I know this is happening more and more in high schools (and maybe middle schools?) and I think it's a great way to keep track of assignments, keep a record of learning, and act as a collaborative space. In addition, I think this is a great way to not miss that reflection piece of a lesson/unit that often times gets passed by due to time (or one of the other millions of things that we as teachers do each day!) Now, whether or not I can use this with my 2nd graders in this way...I'm still not sure.

What I do think I can do, however, is keep a blog for the parents of my students. There's so many times we do cool activities and I take pictures and want to share with my parents immediately. Blogging seems like a great way to do it!

Blogs

My experiences with blogs have been pretty limited to this point. I do not regularly follow any blog. One of my friends just had a baby and posts pictures and milestones on a blog. I do check this from time to time. I see that she is really dedicated to the blog (what with all the time on her hands as a stay at home mom with a 7 month old?!?!) I'm amazed that each time I visit is has been updated within 2 or 3 days. It makes me question whether or not I could ever have my own. I feel as though I would have to have something I felt strongly about in order to keep it up!

I teach at a school that is only in it's 4th year. One of our biggest challenges is parent involvement and building a community that includes others outside of our school building. We also recently got a new principal who has taken on the task of pulling in the community. One of the ways she has done this is to regularly update a blog that is available on our schools website. (Check it out!) If parents, and others in the community are checking the blog, they can become more informed on things that are happening at our school and hopefully somehow they will get more involved.

I look forward to learning more about blogs this semester and especially seeing ways that I can use them in my own classroom. I'm interested in seeing how 2nd graders may be able to participate in blogging in some way!