We have had a busy few weeks with our technology at Bigelow, and it seems that all grades and classes have been off to a great start. Here is a sampling of what has been going on:
Ms. Gao's Chinese Classes Use Voicethread and Jing to Enhance Their Learning:
Students in Ms. Gao's class use Voicethread and Jing to practice their listening, speaking, and writing skills. As part of the programs, students listen to and read questions from Ms. Gao and reply to her by recording their answers. Once they mastered this skill, she has them creating their own recordings and interacting in partners and small groups. These tools have really helped her to make her class much more student centered and has increased participation. I'm looking forward to how her uses for the programs develop throughout the year.
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Clusters 6B and 6AB Use Google Drawing to Demonstrate Their Understanding of Character Traits:
6th graders have started the year by learning about what makes a character, and the difference between character traits and physical traits. 6AB targeted summer reading to create a character wheel illustrating the character traits of a main character, and 6B chose short stories from the library and illustrated character traits of their main characters. Overall the lesson was a success! Students became more familiar with Google docs, while identifying character traits and backing up their findings with evidence from the text!
All 3 Grades Use ELMO Document Cameras to Make Thinking Visible:
Thanks to Title I and Newton Public Schools, nearly all of our classrooms are now equipped with LCD projects and ELMO document cameras. Teachers have already started to use the document cameras to project student work and examples, increasing students participation and leadership. The cameras also have a wonderful feature where teachers can take pictures of the projections, and post these shots to their websites to demonstrate student work, or share class notes. We should see more and more use of theses cameras as the year goes on!
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Grade 6 Sets the Bar with the Learning.com Assessment:
This year is year 2 of the Learning.com baseline assessment. Students came in during their science classes to take this baseline assessment which measures students' technology and library skills. This baseline provides us with information on what they have mastered from elementary school, and where we should focus our energy in middle school. They will take an exit exam at the end of 8th grade, as well, which will measure what they have mastered during middle school. These assessments will help us to shape our curriculum moving forward.
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Grade 7 Set Up Their Google docs and Get Started with a Book Review:
Both cluster C and D came to the lab with their English classes to organize their Google docs. They consolidated their folders from last year into a grade 6 folder, and created new folders for this year, sharing their folders with their teachers. Once their folders were created, the students used their note taking sheets to begin writing their book reviews, following the specific formatting guidelines handed out by the teachers. It was nice to have all of the students in the lab to begin their word processing, as many had questions about formatting.
Grade 8 Use Their Google Docs to Draft Memoirs:
Cluster 8E introduced themselves to their English teacher by coming to the lab and drafting memoirs. Ms. Papazian used the commenting feature to draft and conference with students both in class and at home, and students felt the feedback was a critical piece of the project. The students loved writing about themselves! If you have an 8th grader on 8E, ask to see his or her personal memoir. They were terrific!
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Spanish Classes Use Quia to Practice Their Skills:
Quia is a great program that students can use to practice their skills, and teachers can use to create assessments that meet students individual needs. In Spanish, students have been using this program a lot already, learning their log-ins and getting started. See Ms. Martin's and Ms. Calabria's websites for more information on Quia.
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Netbook Computers will Soon be Available to all Grades:
We have spent a good amount of time reimaging, updating, and organizing the netbook computers for use by the whole school. There are 3 carts of 12 computers, so teachers can borrow one cart if students are doing partner work, or 2 carts if they want students to work independently. We hope that the netbooks will be used for student group work, Quia, and writer's workshop. They will be available for classroom use next week.
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