Day 1- TCEA Convention

Hello!

I am in Austin Texas this week at the TCEA 2012 technology conference . I am attending many wonderful sessions with many integration ideas.

The first day I attended break out sessions from the Technology Applications Network.

The Technology Application Teacher Network is a collaborative project between the twenty Texas Education Service Centers and the Texas Education Agency and is designed to provide Texas teachers with resources to implement the Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills in the K-12 classroom.

This web site contains resources to teach the six dedicated High School Technology Applications Courses (Digital Graphics/ Animation, Desktop Publishing, Web Mastering, Multimedia, Video Technology and Computer Science). It also contains resources to integrate the K-8 Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills into the content area classroom.

Note: You will need to registered with the Technology Applications Teacher Network to become a member to have access to all information.

Click on the link below to access the Technology Applications Teacher Network http://www.techappsnetwork.org/

At the end of the sessions, they gave us a CD with all the presenters and their handouts. I copied this CD on the shared drive.

Session 1: "Blogging in the Primary" by Kerrie Gustin in Magnolia ISD
http://magnoliaisdcommunities.org/communities/kgustin
Their school district has a uniform blog system which is an extension of the classroom. They post projects for the students complete and she also sets up research modules for the students with live links in the blog. The students visit these sites (such as the San Diego Zoo) and post their responses to questions provided by the teachers. The students also read and respond to peer comments- they have "web pen names" instead of real identies. They also used Skype to do videoconferencing. The students even made a movie about the water cycle and posted it on their blog for others to view and comment. It's like sharing what is going on in the classroom with the outside world. She says students are motivated and inspired to share their comments.

Session 2: "A Decade in Space" by Terri Henry
This session was presented by a middle school teacher where each group of students researched a different decade of science exploration. They each created a timeline of events and then used PhotoStory 3 to create a movie of their decade. Then the teacher used Movie Maker to put all the student projects into one video. This lesson could be adapted to research any subject or topic in elementary school. I was very excited about displaying research as a video instead of the traditional dreaded "research paper." The kids were much more engaged in their learning.

1. The instructor set up a "pathfinder" or webpage with all the links the students will need for the research. This could be set up on a teacher's webpage, blog or powerpoint slide.
2. The students took notes about important events in their assigned decade.
3. Students saved pictures from the NASA website into their student folders.
4. Students then opened Photo Story 3 and imported all their pictures.
5. They used the text box to type all the notes they took for each picture event.
6. They recorded the text using a microphone for each picture. This guarantees that the slide will not advance until the text is read aloud.
I posted all of her documents on the shared drive. Look under Core 6-8 History and Henry.

Session 3: "Using Google Earth to Teach Math" by LeaAnn turner-Temple ISD
TEKS can be met with real data as students travel across the U.S.A.
Students will use Google Maps to explore Math and problem solving with real data. They will learn concepts ranging from addition and subtraction, comparing numbers, finding averages, creating charts, tables, and graphs, elapsed time, and more. The use of Google Maps to teach math allows studentownership in decision making and problem solving as they explore the U.S. through Math.

• The example she gave was using Google Maps http://maps.google.com/ to calculate Elapsed Time.
• Students find directions, mileage, and estimated times between two cities.
• They document the starting time and ending time in an Excel spread sheet.
• Then they calculate the Elapsed time between the trip.
• Students use the information from Google Maps to create tables, charts, and graphs

Other applications: Students can write word problems based on their data. Examples:
1. If you stop to the bathroom every 200 miles, how many times will you have to stop?
2. Find the gas mileage for a Prius vs a Chevy Trailblazer, how much gas will you use?
3. Which one is the longest trip?What is the difference between the longest and shortest trip?
4. Estimate the trips to the nearest hundred or thousands?If you drive 6 hours per day, how many days will it take you to get there?
Instructor set up this wiki with a few project ideas that you can use as a resource add to. http://teachingwithgooglemaps.wikispaces.com/ She has an excel template here.
To view lesson plan, go to the shared drive and open Grades 3-5 and L. Turner. I will add this to the wiki above as soon as she gives me rights up load documents. It is also posted on The Technology Application Teacher Network.


Awesome Lesson on Google Earth and Google Maps on Habitats.
http://googleearthmapstatn2008.pbwiki.com/


Session 4: "Digital Storytelling" by Kelly Manzano
http://primarydigitalstorytelling.pbwiki.com/
Teach students how to create digital storytelling videos and Photo Story 3. Students record and publish concepts learing in any content area.
The wiki includes her powerpoint presenation and links.
Each student creates their own file in Pixie 2 and exports as a Jpeg to a common folder on the student drive. The teacher uses Photo Story 3 to bring in all the pictures. The kids can narrarate their picture in Photo Story. Note: you can also use Pixie 2 (share to make the video)
In Pixie 2 there is no transition so the slides don't move around. Students narrate their pixie 2 work then save it as a Pixie 2 file and the teacher opens all the files at one time and creates the video by click on Share>Presentation.

Project Example:
The Very Hungry Turkeyhttp://vve.eanes.k12.tx.us/kmanzano/Projects%202008_2009.htm
Click on "Click here to see The Very Hungry Turkey." link at the bottom.

Watermelons: http://vve.eanes.k12.tx.us/kmanzano/Pictures%202007_2008.htm


Here is another good wiki: Digital Storytelling in the 21st Century Classroomhttp://digitalstories21.wikispaces.com/
It includes links to tools that you can use to create your digital stories.

Note: I did a project last year with 5th graders where they created a habitat commerical. The kids were excited about doing the research so they could create their video. They downloaded pictures of their habitat and animals in that habitat and brought directly into Photo Story 3. When you are saving pictures to download, make sure the resolution is greater than 600 x 600 or the picture will look blurry..