Using the Camera

I got an idea from my colleague Peggy Cooksey.  I taught my students how to take video with the camera on the I-pad.  Then at the literacy center "read to self", the children record themselves sharing a book they have read.  The children share the title and their favorite part of the book.  When the children share their literacy center work, they bring the I-pad over and share the video with the class. The children just love recording each other and sharing with the class.  I love adding the I-pad to the reading center thanks to Peggy!

Flipchart

I used a flipchart that I downloaded at the last session called Sound Sort.  The children had to figure out the beginning sound of the picture and drag the picture to the correct letter box.  I still have quite a few children who struggle with dragging an object with the pens.  It was good practice for them.  We discovered we couldn't click and drag with both pens at the same time.  Once the children and I are more familiar with the tools in Active Inspire, I can make this flipchart a literacy center.

Show Me

I started showing my students how to use Show Me.  They are writing a sentence.  If they have time, they will draw a picture to go with the sentence.  Then they record themselves reading the sentence.  I think this is the feature they like the best.  The children can email their Show Me entry and I can share it with the class. When the class is comfortable using Show Me, I can make it a literacy center.

Flipchart

I used the flip chart to write the daily message to the class.  I had left letters out of words and I had students come up and use the pen to fill in the missing letters.  The children have a hard time writing legibly with the pen.  It is giving them exposure to the pen and they are practicing their handwriting.  I can also see if the child knows how to spell the word.  After we finished filling in the missing letters, I had children highlight or circle words they know in the message.  The children like coming up and using the pen.  I also like how big the message is on the whiteboard as opposed to using chart paper.  When we are finished reading the message, I print the message out for my teacher helper to take home.  I do think the Activinspire tools are easier to use than the Epson tools.  I do miss the lined background on the Epson program.  I should figure out how I can put that background in the Activinspire program.

BYOD

While I think BYOD can be very successful in intermediate grades, middle and high school, I am still having a hard time invisioning this working in a kindergarten classroom.  The children in the video knew how to read and write.  I am not sure how I could manage 22 children with different devices and mostly non-reader sand writers to make BYOD time productive and meaningful.

Keynote Speech

After watching the video, I have more questions than answers.  I agree with Kevin's idea to get children to love to learn.  I thought he asked more questions than providing a framework of how to go about teaching project-based learning.  I thought it was also hard to watch the video.  There was a lot of movement of the camera and the sound was in and out.  While he made several good points, the video was about 18 minutes longer than it needed to be.

Writing Relaunched

The article about digtial writing was interesting.  Children should have the opportunity to write many kinds of pieces.  I did like how the article stressed the importance of knowing how to write and orangize throughts.  Once children can write conventionally, then they can use digital tools and write creatively.  I think their should be a balance in the classroom with conventional forms of writing and writing using 21st century digital tools.