Eric Hougan's Blog, page 3

ePals Ideas: Living on the Ring of Fire

Ashley Stamper ED Tech

ePals Ideas: Living on the Ring of Fire

Grade level: 7th grade

Content: (Natural Science- Plate Tectonics)

Materials:

-          Skype or ePals

-          Interview questions

Summary: Students will be asked to interview students from a “globally” different classroom. The questions designed by the students must relate to how living in a geologically active location, like the “Ring of Fire”, affects their daily lives.

Some sample questions will look like:

-          What does their environment look like?

-          Are there safety measures in place, what are they?

-          What’s it like to live in their environment?

Students will be encouraged to get to know their ePal by asking personal questions about their daily life, allowing students to inquire about similarities and differences they may have with one another. Students will then present both their ePal’s profile and their own by comparing and contrasting specific traits they share. Students be will asked to answer “How plate tectonics effect their life.” This project can be done through the use of either Skype (video) or ePals- Global Community (email).

Links

http://www.epals.com/find classroom.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&country=&language=0&num_students=0&p=1&region=&search_text=

Technology-

-2.3.2 … Select and use online applications.

Students will be using e-pals to communicate with their Classmate From around the world.

Next Generation Standards-

-NGSS-ESS2B… Earth Materials and Systems

-NGSS-ESS1C… Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale Systems

ePals Ideas: Internet weather blog of Mexico

Created by: Elizabeth

Grade level: 2nd grade

Content area: Weather comparisons

Description of activity:

Internet weather blog of Mexico

The lesson that students will be partaking in is a look into another countries’ weather via an internet field trip. The students will have been researching the weather and are to begin a weather journal for Washington State. The students will relate their weather charts to that of another country through the use of an E-pal who will also be recording their areas data. Students will write each week about what the weather is for that day, and attach a picture of the two countries. To see a visual representation of the changing weather through the season’s, students will create a power point presentation through the use of Google docs to display how the weather changes throughout the weeks. On the last slide the students will complete a bar graph that compares the weather in the two countries.

Monday:

1 Have students take a picture of the weather.

2 Write in ePals a description of what the weather is doing

3 Track the weather in the Google doc graph

4 If new season, create new slide in Google doc

 

Nets Grades PK–2 (Ages 4–8)

3. Engage in learning activities with learners from multiple cultures through email and other electronic means. (2,6)

This standard is seen in the activity through the use of web journals between the two students and comparing photographs of their countries weather weekly. The reason that I incorporated this in my activity because it is a great way for students to interact with other students and get to know about a new country.

EALRS

EALR 1 – Integration

1.2: Collaborate: Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

This standard is portrayed in my lesson plan through the use of a blog between the students that allows them to collaborate on a weather journal. Digital media is used by means of a google doc presentation of the two countries weather and the epals blog.

EALR 2 – Digital Citizenship

2.3: Select and Use Applications: Use productivity tools and common applications effectively and constructively.

This standard is incorporated in the activity through the use of google docs to work collaboratively on a presentation

ePal Ideas: Weather Report in Mexico

Created By: Sonia Arali Flores Lopez

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Content Areas: Natural Science, Writing, Arts

Description of Idea:

Weather Report in Mexico.

One of the most frequently asked questions when visiting another country is, “What does the weather look like over there?” There are usually many misconceptions and generalizations about the weather and characteristics of the country people are from. In this activity, students will be collaborating with students from schools located in different parts of Mexico. In teams of three, the students will create a monthly bulletin board at the school depicting how the weather looked like in Mexico in the previous month. The students will use information that they will receive from their foreign peers.

This activity will occur throughout the school year. The students will use technology, such as monthly videoconferences  and cameras to communicate with their peers. They will be encouraged to exchange written, graphic and verbal information. At the end of the school year the students will do a report about when and where they would like to visit Mexico based on the information that they have gathered.

Standards:

According to the NETS for students Standards for grades 3-5, standard number 7 states:

-Conceptualize, guide, and manage individual or group learning projects using digital planning tools with teacher support.

Students will effectively use technology in order to collect information. They will learn cooperatively and guide their own knowledge.

-Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Students will be accountable for accurate information; therefore, they will decide what they have to portray in the school bulletin board using some skills, such as decision making and critical thinking.

According to the EALRs for Educational Technology for grades 3-5

EALR 1 — INTEGRATION: Students use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate, innovative ideas, investigate and solve problems.

Students will use technology and work together to demonstrate their learning through creating the bulletin board. Investigation and problem solving are necessary in order to discriminate the information they want to use.

 

ePals Ideas: Rain Wars

Created by: Mr. Siers

Grade Level: 6th, 7th, 8th

Content Area: Water and Weather

This activity allows my students to interact with other students outside of their own community. The other community I would like my students to focus on is located in Hawaii. Students will compare rainfall in Washington to rainfall in Hawaii. We will be using the ePals Global Community to communicate with the students in Hawaii. The students will be gathering water samples outside with small bowls left out from the previous day. Students will then place the water from their bowls into a graduated cylinder or rain gauge to measure the rainfall for that day. The class will pool their data and digitally download it to the other class via Google Drive. This information will include the yearly average rainfall for Washington and the class data down to the milliliter. After the data is entered we will use ePals to contact the other students in Hawaii to compare the data we have accumulated.

This will satisfy EALR1-Integration: students use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate innovative ideas, investigate and solve problems.

1.2: Collaborate: Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. This will be satisfied by the use of Skype, Google Hangout or ePals. These are all video applications where students can chat face to face with each other.

1.3: Investigate and Think Critically: Research, manage and evaluate information and solve problems using digital tools and resources. The students in the class will be using GoogleDocs to collaborate with the students in Hawaii. This will consist of data and charts via GoogleDocs spreadsheet program.

ePals Ideas: Class Buddies From Another Country

Created by: Nicole

Grade: Kindergarten

Subject: Culture/Diversity

For this activity I would contact a teacher in another country via ePals and arrange for our classes to be buddies. Once a month, our class would create a video and send it to our buddy class via email. Before we make our videos, the other teacher and I would decide what we wanted to discuss. We would also arrange a day to have our videos sent by. In each video our classes would share about the topic for the month. For example, the first video would probably be a tour of our classrooms and an overview of our daily schedules. Some other topic ideas could be; foods we eat, music we like, books we read, what our homes look like, games we play, what our cities look like, etc. After watching the video we would have a class discussion about the video we received from the other class. We would talk about similarities and differences between what they do and what we do. We would also talk about any questions that we might have for our buddy class. After the class discussion we would send an email back to our buddies with our questions and any comments that we had. During this activity I would have the class sitting on the carpet in front of the screen. I would have the video on the screen for them to watch and I would also type out our questions and email response on the screen so that they can see and help construct them. Once we receive the questions and email response for our video from our buddies, I would put the email up on the screen and have the students be involved in answering them.

Ed Tech GLEs

1.2: 
 Collaborate: 
 Use 
 digital 
 media 
 and environments 
 to 
 communicate 
 and 
 work 
 collaboratively 
 to 
 support 
 individual 
 learning 
 and 
 contribute 
 to 
 the 
 learning 
 of 
 others.

This GLE is met by sending emails to our buddy class. When sending and reading the emails I would have them pulled up on the projector screen so that the class is able to see them. I would also have my students decide what we wanted to say to our buddy class.

2.2: 
 Operate 
 Systems: 
 Understand 
 technology 
 systems 
 and 
 use 
 hardware 
 and 
 networks 
 to 
 support 
 learning.

2.3: 
 Select 
 and 
 Use 
 Applications: 
 Use 
 productivity 
 tools 
 and 
 common 
 applications 
 effectively 
 and 
 constructively.

These GLEs are met because the students will be using a video camera to film a video. I will show my students how to use the video camera and allow them to help with the actual filming. I will let them push the record and stop buttons and allow them to hold the camera during filming. My students will also learn how to construct and send emails. When reading and replying to the emails from our buddies I will have the email projected onto the screen. I will then show my students the steps of setting up and email. I will also have them decide what to say to our buddies.

ePals Ideas: “I Spy” Your Country

Created by: Jen Elvig

Grade Level: 2nd Grade

Content Area: Geography, General

“I Spy” Your Country

                I have set up a corresponding classroom in Vienna, Austria. We play a version of “I Spy” with the other classroom. Each week we receive a picture of a landmark or area near the Vienna classroom. A picture comes every other week with three clues and a video that reveals the answer. As a class, spend the week researching the clues and the picture to try and figure out the mystery. Use the books from our classroom library and school library that I have selected to do research. Break the students into their table groups every day and allow them to look through the books to see if they find anything that looks similar to the picture. Each group will rotate from one book or research area to the next. Allow 10-15 minutes at each station. One group will be allowed to use the computer to do research. Be sure to have an adult at this station to assist the students during their research. At the end of their research time, have students give their ideas or the information they discovered during their research time. Write these ideas or facts onto the “Where in Vienna” board at the front of the class. On Friday each table group will give their answer to what or where they think the picture was taken. Video tape their answers along with their reaction when they watch the video of the other classroom telling them the answer. Send that video to the other classroom along with a picture of a place from our area. Have the students come up with the clues and record them saying the answer. Be sure to send this before Sunday so that the teacher in Vienna has it for Monday morning.

This activity hits on all of the components of Ed Tech GLE’s listed for EALR 1 which is integration 
and having students 
use
technology 
within 
all 
content 
areas 
to 
collaborate, communicate, generate 
innovative 
ideas, investigate
and solve 
problems because the students are collaborating to solve the mystery of the picture. They are using critical thinking while doing their research which is both written research and digital media/technology. Those components are:

1.1:
Innovate:
Demonstrate 
creative thinking, 
construct
knowledge 
and develop 
innovative 
products
 and processes
using 
technology.
1.2:
Collaborate:
Use 
digital
 media 
and
 environments 
to
communicate 
and work 
collaboratively 
to 
support 
individual
learning
 and
 contribute
 to
 the
 learning
 of
 others.
1.3:
Investigate 
and 
Think 
Critically:
Research, 
manage 
and
evaluate information
 and 
solve 
problems 
using 
digital 
tools 
and
 resources.

Since students are researching the geographic area of Vienna, this activity also meets the Washington State Standards for Geography EALR 3.1 in which students will understand the physical characteristics, cultural characteristics, and location of places, regions, and spatial patterns on the Earth’s surface.

Share the Love of EdTech

In the comings weeks we will be sharing ed tech resources (software, social tools, hardware, apps, etc) that you can use for teaching & learning.

Your Teacher Feedback Needed on New Software!

As a teacher, I designed TeachSpark–web-based software–to simplify how teachers exchange feedback & collaborate with other teachers.

We need your (teacher) feedback on how the software works for you, and in what ways it doesn’t work for you.

Please join our beta pilot. Please message me directly with your email address (eric[at]goteachspark.com) and I’ll happily add you to our beta group.

Thank you in advance for trying out TeachSpark!

How are you doing as a teacher? Get the feedback you need to become a better teacher.

Concern

When I was teaching I was evaluated twice a year.  Is that enough to identify areas of improvement, provide targeted professional development and feedback, and measure its impact on student achievement?  Absolutely not.

Evaluation as a Tool

Don’t wait or hope for administration to tell you how you are doing or what you can improve on.  Rather, use the single most important resource in your class: the student.  The student knows when they are learning, engaged, and in a productive learning environment.  Twice a semester (4 times a year) I asked my students to evaluate me on a series of criteria: curriculum, instruction, learning environment, teacher professionalism, and teacher support.  I did this for every class.  Sometimes I created a quantitative analysis from the results, but most of the time I can just looked at the data/comments and get a feeling as to how to improve.  I usually then jotted down my thoughts and steps that I will take to improve.  It’s the only way I could remember it after a few weeks, plus it provided a record (baseline) that I can measure my progress against.

It’s a little unnerving at first, but the more I do it the easier it is.  Couple tips before implementing this:

Talk to your students about how you take this serious, using this data/info to change your practice.
Ask for constructive feedback, reinforcing the idea that they should not hold back.
Tell students not to write their names on the evaluations.
Have a student collect the surveys in a manila folder
Avoid giving this right after doing a REALLY FUN activity or bribing them with candy; this defeats the point

Problem/Solution

Once you receive this date, pick 1-2 items you can improve.  In one of my reviews, students ranked me lower than I would like in “listening to their needs.”  Problem is I start class right at the bell and I am off running, leading to little time for 1-1 student comments/concerns.   This is not to say I didn’t address individual student needs, but its an area that I need to work on.  So, I decided to take action.  I implemented a question/concern box (wrote about this in my book) that I used in middle-school.  Students put their questions (not related to curriculum or day’s objective), concerns, and/or comments in the box.  I replied to the students within 24 hours, via note or call home.  It was really effective, providing increased time and attention to the students’ needs.  Students were happier.  Not to mention, I am calling home more often, which is a positive.

Please see attached a copy of the evaluation I have my students use on me.  If you have one yourself, please email me (eric@road2teaching.com) and I will post it as well.

RESOURCES

Student evaluation of teacher effectiveness

P.S. If you are a student teacher, this is  great evidence of your ability to evaluate and reflect on your own practices.  Be sure to include your reflections in your teacher portfolio.

A Recent Review of the Best-Selling Road to Teaching Book