Lowell Students Use a Webquest to Explore Environmental Challenges
Posted by Juli on November 17, 2009 in 1, Internet Research, PowerPoint, Social Studies
Students in Dustin Wood’s classroom used a webquest to explore current environmental problems facing Earth. Students worked in teams to develop presentations about a particular topic (e.g., extinction, landfills, air pollution…). In the scenario for this activity, each student team is vying for $1 million in funding from the fictional Help Our World (HOW) Foundation. As members of the HOW Foundation, all students will vote for the team that makes the best case for its environmental issue.
Seattle Schools Network on Ning
Posted by Harvey on November 13, 2009 in Blogging, Web 2.0
Ning is a social networking site that allows anyone to create an online network for almost any purpose. The Instructional Technology group has created a Seattle Schools social network on Ning to allow educators an online space to connect and share with others. (more…)
Adams Elementary staff create classroom kits of digital cameras for student use
Posted by Harvey on October 30, 2009 in Teacher Voices
On Wednesday October 28th 2009, staff at Adams Elementary used early release time to familiarize themselves with PTA-funded classroom kits of digital cameras. Staff participated in a hands-on activity led by Instructional Technologist Meredith Blache to learn how to use the kits with their students in support of teaching and learning. (more…)
Blogging Poetry
Posted by Janice on June 9, 2009 in Blogging, Language Arts, Teacher Voices
Kristi Dahlstrom, Language Arts/Journalism teacher at Ingraham high school created a collaborative poetry project with one of her Language Arts 9 classes. Students have been writing and refining their poetry over the last few weeks in preparation for publishing to the class blog.
Besides learning to write poetry, students learned to write specific praise and constructive criticism for commenting on each other’s work. They practiced this element of the project on poems posted to the blog by Kristi and her student teacher. Kristi observed, “Students are now posting their own work and commenting with maturity and grace! Success!”
You can see their project by going to http://www.msdahlstrom.edublogs.org
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A Middle School Teacher Uses Photostory for the First Time
Posted by Juli on May 12, 2009 in Internet Research, Photo Story 3, Social Studies
Barbara Beers, 8th grade geography teacher at Whitman Middle School, was tired of using Power Point for student projects. (She’s not alone, a fun video – How Not to Use Powerpoint.) With the support of her librarian and Instructional Technology Specialist, she decided to try Photostory for the first time. In this post, you will find an overview of the project phases, links to her project files, and student work samples.
Project Purpose: to create a “sense of place” about a country in North Africa or Southwest Asia. See her project handout for details about student expectations. This project was part of a larger unit that included a UNESCO essay designed to use a research gathering tool which prompted students to gather background information about an assigned country (essay handout).
Key Resources: UNESCO website, eLibrary (great resources for pictures & maps), Photostory3 handout (QRD)
Wiki for Student Book Reviews
Posted by Janice on April 15, 2009 in Internet Research, Language Arts, Teacher Voices
David Edelman, who teaches English at Ingraham High School, was looking for a project to celebrate and highlight student success in reading and writing. After the WASL is over, students see the end of the school year in sight and need something that engages their attention. David decided to use a wiki for an online culminating project. Each student writes a book review on the best book they have read all year, and publicly publishes the review to the wiki. The wiki becomes a repository for student book reviews year after year. This year’s class will be working on their projects in May, but there are great reviews there from past classes. David says: “Almost all students, in the end, thought it was fun. More importantly, they accomplished something they were proud of.”
When you go to David’s wiki to read these reviews keep these minimum student guidelines in mind. There must be:
- a summary,
- an explanation of why they are recommending this book,
- a description of where this book can be found which includes links,
- information about the author which includes links, and
- one or two images.
If you would like to know David’s thoughts on this project and how he set it up, click on (more…)
Digital Storytelling at SBOC
Posted by Janice on April 6, 2009 in Content Areas, English Language Learners, Photo Story 3, Social Studies, Teacher Voices
What makes the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center unique is their student body. Students who come to the SBOC are newcomers to the United States often with little English and limited formal academic skills. They also have varying social and life skills, which makes it difficult to cope with their new home in Seattle. In order to support them, and help them adjust here, it is important to know what they feel about their country of origin.
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