Wicked Problem- Part A

As I thought of a Wicked Problem, I kept on coming back to the area of READING and in particular our NONFICTION unit.  This tends to be a unit where kids are not as engaged in their reading and it is considered more "boring" than others. 
The educational need here is to make the fifth grade nonfiction unit more motivating for my students and to get them more involved in their learning through use of technology.

Book reports can be a bit boring and tedious for students, so why not use technology to inform the audience about a nonfiction topic.  My plan is to have my fifth graders create PowerPoint presentations using the narration feature in order to share the information with others and make it more of a hands-on, interactive unit.  I would then love for them to be able to share these PowerPoint presentations with family members or online.

There is such a push for the nonfiction genre and incorporating informational texts at this age, I know that students would be much more motivated to create a PowerPoint presentation on a topic, rather than writing a book report.  It is also more interesting for their classmates to listen and learn and gather information.  I will have PowerPoint guidelines to set my students up for success and so they are fully aware of my expectations throughout the project.

Through research, I found the following information on www.investintech.com; "Have the students create their own presentations. This is a great way to teach them how to use visual aids for speeches they give to the rest of the class. It provides an opportunity for a lot of creativity while becoming comfortable with computers and a popular software program. The site PowerPoint in the Classroom has a wonderful free tutorial that can guide students through learning how to use PowerPoint. It's set up in a very fun way to hold kids' attention, and it goes over everything from adding images to rehearsing for a presentation."  The students would also be using technology features, such as adding images, embedding videos, supporting their facts with resources, etc.

My plan to implement this instructional strategy using PowerPoints is for my students to create PowerPoint presenations on our Solar System unit.  I will have the kids research using textbook resources, as well as online resources, in order to find facts about the different planets and objects in our solar system.  They will then use this research and information to create a PowerPoint with a partner. 

I will have concrete guidelines in order to scaffold student learning and make sure each of my students is able to access the information they need to do their best.  A rubric will ensure they know the expectations beforehand and how these PowerPoints will be graded.  I will not only assess the success on their own engagement in their learning throughout the process, but also the creativity of the PowerPoint presentations, and of course the final product at the end of the unit.  I will know by the amount of student engagement and motivating throughout this project if using PowerPoint presentations can make a difference in learning and teaching informational text.  I am looking forward to viewing these presentations, and I know the students will be thrilled to share using this wonderful technology resource!

Resources below:

http://www.proteacher.org/c/423_Powerpoint_Ideas.html

www.investintech.com

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/motivating-students-technology

Matthew J. Koehler, Punya Mishra, "Tracing the development of teacher knowledge in a design seminar: Integrating content, pedagogy and technology" November 2005

Slideshow Introduction

Please click on the link below to view my introduction.  I apologize but there is no sound...I will work on that!

http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/17296401

Here is my bio:
Hello my name is Lindsay Annelin.  I live in Traverse City Michigan with my husband and our sixteen month old daughter.  We feel fortunate to live in such a beautiful area.

I am a fifth grade teacher at Central Grade Elementary school.  Our fifth graders switch classes for math, science, and social studies.  I teach three sections of science and reading and writing.

I am passionate about integrating technology into my classroom on a daily basis where students can be more interactive in the learning process.  I feel lucky to have a set of netbooks in my classroom that the students can access. 

Through the use of VoiceThread, PowerPoint presentations, Skype, and technology resources for reading and writing, I can make learning more interactive and increase motivation.  This will help prepare my students for 21st century learning.

Thanks for taking time to listen, I look forward to learning from each of you throughout this course.

Final Reflection

1.  I have learned many valuable lessons throughout this course, including how to make integrating technology in my classroom a meaningful experience for all.  The more I am able to integrate technology and make learning interactive and hands-on, the much more likely I am to have fifth graders who are engaged and motivated to do the task at hand.  I found two assignments from this course to be especially effective when trying to integrate technology.  The StAIR design kept my kids engaged and excited about learning new information about nonfiction text structures.  The WebQuest I created was especially helpful in launching our solar system unit in science, and provoked a sense of excitement in the kids I hadn't seen before when they realized they would be able to create a PowerPoint presentation on an object in space for a performance-based assessment.  Both the StAIR and WebQuest incorporate technology and are effective ways for me to teach specific parts of these units.  I will definitely use these strategies next year as well.  It is a great way to keep learning interesting and fresh!

2. There are more techology resources out there than anyone realizes, however, not all are up to date or reliable and as a teacher, I have to be careful about what my students are researching and how they are getting their information.  I enjoyed evaluating other web-based technologies, especially the WebQuests because it also gave me the opportunity to see what other WebQuests are out there for use that would apply to the curriculum I teach. 

3.  I am proud of what I have learned in this course and already been able to apply within my own classroom.  My fifth graders are currently creating PowerPoint presentations on planets and other objects in our universe and are thrilled to have this opportunity.  We have spent a great deal of time researching, collecting notes on Google Docs to share with partners, and they can't wait to show off their presentations for their family members next in two weeks.  I have been able to share much of what I have learned not only with my students, but also with colleagues and administration, which was a goal of mine. 

4.  I always am setting goals for myself and when it comes to technology, I am hoping to continue to share information regarding ways to integrate technology into the classroom with my students and colleagues.  I am planning on teaching others at a staff meeting how to use Google Docs and other Google resources, as well as VoiceThread.  My goal is to continue to use PowerPoint as a way to teach new information with the Kiosk form, and also to create and use new WebQuests for other areas in the curriculum. 

Educational Technology

I have found through my technological research that the two sources of technology that would benefit my teaching and my student's learning are the following:

• WebQuests
• Wikis

WebQuests are such a wonderful way to incorporate what students are learning into an interactive online presentation.  I feel students can participate in a WebQuest in an curricular area, however, the WebQuests that are most beneficial to my teaching are in science.  I love the user-friendly format for kids to navigate and participate in these WebQuests.  They are able to learn new information throughout the process, and the objectives are laid out in a clear format in order to make sure students are applying what they have learned.  I am looking forward to using many more WebQuests throughout this year.  My fifth graders loved the format and were so motivated to create the final assignment in the WebQuest I created for the Solar System unit in science. 

When I think about my fifth graders moving on to middle school, I think about how efficient Wiki pages would be for our end of the year field trip and organizing information that way.  Or the Wiki page I created, for example, demonstrates how you can use a Wiki to help prepare kids for middle school from supply lists to organizational methods to behavior recommendations.  It would be a great idea for an elementary school teacher to use a Wiki to share with parents and have them be able to add and include their own ideas and communicate to parents and students using this type of communication. 

StAIR Creation

The following is the StAIR I created to enhance a Reading Workhshop lesson for my fifth graders.  I feel a format like this is motivating for students to learn new information and interact with the nonfiction reading curriculum.

StAIR Creation

Central Grade Elementary

I found my school's page on Wikipedia right away after I did a search for "Central Grade Elementary."  I only made one change to the page and that was to add our mission statement for our school.
The following is what the page looks like:

Central Grade School is a historic school in Old Towne Traverse City. The school has held many students in its halls for decades. The school covers one city block. However, only the first two floors are utilized today. In 1922, the Lars Hockstad Auditorium was added to the original building. The Auditorium is still used today for many school and community programs. Central Grade School currently enrolls around 600 students. This includes K-5 general education, 4th & 5th grade talented and gifted, young 5's, ECP, and preschool.
Central Grade's Mission Statement The mission of historic Central Grade School, a center for diversified cultural and educational opportunities, is to enable students and families to achieve their fullest potential by promoting lifelong learning, cultivating talents as valued community members, and developing skills to face the challenges of our changing environment.


I also created my own Wiki at the following site:
Wiki Page

UDL Reflection

Universal Design for Learning Checklist

As I reflect on Universal Design for Learning and my lesson, it is encouraging to me to see how I strive for equal opportunity among all of my learners.  It is also interesting to see where there may be barriers in my lesson for one reason or another.  I found that the most barriers in this particular lesson were in the areas of "Providing Multiple Means of Action and Expression."  I will modify my lesson so that I can provide multiple means of action and expression for my students.  It is imperative that as teachers plan their lessons/objectives, we take into account all aspects of student learning: the child's background knowledge, educational opportunities, different skill levels (whether one is gifted or if the student has special needs), and of course HOW the child learns best. 

The link below is the UDL checklist for my lesson on Identifying Nonfiction Text Structures:

UDL checklist and reflection