First Tech Lesson EVER!

It was the first time for my host classroom to visit the computer lab this school year (aside from the MAPS testing done three weeks ago). The students were really excited to spend time on the computers. I did a brief group meeting in the classroom and we went over how to ask for help and the objectives of learning Voice Thread.

We walked down to the lab and students turned on the computers. I had written the log in and password, [student: student] on the board. A few students did not know how to turn on the Mac desktops. The hard part was signing on to Voice Thread. The log in was jess_smith@hotmail.com and none of the students knew how to make an @ or _ symbol. Kathy and I had to help every kid sign in and it took almost 10 minutes!

The kids weren’t able to edit and add their comments on the Kathy Hocker voice thread but they did listen to my tutorial on how to make the comments. They looked at the Kathy Hocker voice thread and picked out their images that they will be making a comment on. They will be making those comments tomorrow, 10-28 (Friday during Reading). In hindsight, I would have presented this lesson as a mini lesson in small groups of 3-6 students. It would have been easier to differentiate the lesson for small groups and answer their questions as they came up.

Problem solving was mostly worked out when kids asked a teacher how to solve an issue with the program. There needs to be more scaffolding and I should have done this in small groups. I wrote the directions on the white board and used all the spelling for the different log ins and passwords. Next time I will ask IT how to sign in on all the computers from one desktop and save the Voice Thread on each computer. It will take more time but would eliminate the time of signing on. The students can work on signing onto the computer with their personal log ins before learning how to sign in to Voice Thread.

The kids were not able to record their comments but working with the program made them excited to use Voice Thread. It was good to see how the motivation of technology can get the students excited to work on literacy and art projects. I will add more reflection on how tomorrow goes with the individual students using voice thread during Reading.

STEP 1 DESIRED RESULTS

GLE(s)/Standards:

·      JSD Tech Standard A: Use technological tools for learning, communications, and productivity;

·      JSD Tech Standard D: Use communications technology to exchange ideas and information;

Objectives:

·      Turn on computer and log on using (student: student)

·      Introduction to Voice Thread:

o   What is it, how does it work, what will the students be using it for?

Students will know and be able to:

·      Open Voice Thread and log on to class site

·      Listen to class tutorial and learn how to record their comments on the microphone.

STEP 2 ASSESSMENTS

Evidence:

·      Students will record a short 10-30 second voice comment on their scientific illustrations (from Kathy Hocker sketchbooks)

Assessments:

·      Check for student’s understanding of computer use

o   Turning on

o   Logging on with (student: student)

o   Keyboard/Mouse use

STEP 3 LEARNING PLAN

Learning Opportunities and Differentiations:

·      *  Computer Lab – Turn computers on and sign in to student-student ·     *   Introduce Voice Thread and objectives of lesson      ·      * Objective: Learn how to record their voice onto an image of their sketchbook ·      [5-8 minutes] ·      * Sign onto ‘Room 220’ ·      * Password 123 ·      [4-5 minutes] ·      * Using SmartBoard ·      1. Open Voice Thread ·      2. Click on MyVoice ·      3. Click on ‘Room 220 Adventures’ ·      [7-9 minutes] ·      4. Listen with headphones ·      Ask for questions/comments?? ·      [If time…show kids the DIPAC voicethread] ·      Open DIPAC voicethread for an example of what they will be doing on the Kathy Hocker voicethread ·      Ask for questions/comments ·      Open Room 220 Scientific Illustration voicethread. ·      Kids practice with headphones recording their voice/comments on their image. ·      Show students how to save their comment. ·      Close Voice Thread ·      Log out and turn off computers

·      * Write student-student on whiteboard        * Use SmartBoard to model for students where to click – use this throughout the lesson plan.         * Student objective: Learn to use a Voice Thread and practice using a microphone to record your explanation for your scientific illustration.          * Practice hand sign for taking headphones on and off. [Teacher sign is miming head phones on/off ears]         * If the Voice Thread does not allow more than one user to make comments at the same time, kids are explore the 5 voice threads I added to ‘MyVoice’ while they wait for their turn to record.