Middleton/Kuna History Teleconference
Angie
Young and Donene Rognlie
Social Studies/Writing/3rd Grade
Links to Files Associated
with This Lesson
Planning
Timeline
Writing Activities
Assessment
Middleton ABC Book
Middleton History Paragraphs
Middleton Scripts
Content
Area Objectives Addressed:
Technology
Objectives Addressed:
Activity
Description
What was the process that your students went through to complete this
lesson?
This
project will help us learn about the history and building of the communities of
Middleton and Kuna. Our classes will create timelines of significant events in
the towns’ histories. We will
also create Middleton History and
Kuna History Websites that include information on at least 10 buildings and
historical sites around each town. The
timeline and website will be used in a teleconference with both third grade
classes to compare and contrast the history of these two rural towns in Idaho.
Students
will begin the project with a walking field trip of their town.
They will identify buildings and sites important to the town’s history
and hear tidbits of events related to those places. They will also take current digital photographs of those
places.
Inspiration will be used to collect
information and plan as the students start the process of developing their web
pages in pairs. They will use the
information they gain to write a summary paragraph that overviews what they have
learned. The paragraph will be
assessed using a 6 Traits of
writing rubric. They will also
select a historical photograph during their research.
Students will also record and
contribute at least two events to the timeline using complete sentences on a
form provided.
As students complete their summary
paragraphs they will be looking for one very interesting story or a few fun
facts to write into a script for a 30 second digital video.
They will practice this script and perform it at the actual site on a
final walking field trip.
All of these elements will come together to create a web page (using a
template) that will be hyper-linked to web page that contain basic maps of the
town.
Finally,
when the websites and timeline are complete, the third graders will share their
work and view the work of the other third graders. Both classes will compare and contrast their communities.
They will note causes and effects of change in their communities and see
if there were similarities.
How did you monitor
student progress?
Teacher observation and rubrics are used to monitor student progress.
A survey, Jeopardy (facts) game and e-mail prompts were also developed
for this project.
Was there a template or an
example that students were expected to follow?
Examples of paragraphs were used
to demonstrate what the writing should look like.
A web page template was also created so that the students could insert
their text, pictures and video.
How much time did you dedicate to this project?
Total –40-60 hours total over 6-7 weeks.
Daily (approximate) 30-45
minutes
How was the final product presented?
The final web pages have been published on the school sites.
They were also presented during the teleconference with the other class.
Who was the audience for the
final product?
The students in Kuna, other third graders in the district and the others
interested in Middleton History were our audience.
The Kuna kids have presented to the City Council and parents.
Middleton’s third graders hope to present theirs before the year is
finished.
What prior knowledge was
required on the part of the students in order for them to be successful in this
project? (Include curriculum and technology knowledge)
We have spent quite a bit of time working on word choices that build
pictures in our writing. Students
have also had experiences writing descriptive sentences and putting them
together into paragraphs. The
walking field trips helped to build prior knowledge as well as the Kuna and
Middleton History Books.
§
Experience with Word
§
Understanding of how to log on and maneuver through a website
§
File Retrieval
§
Use of the digital camera
§
Inserting text and pictures
What was the student to computer ratio?
How did you schedule your
students’ computer time?
All students were able to get on a
computer in the lab during our regularly schedule times (2 a week).
I schedule and check out the Alpha Smarts for work in the room when
needed. I have five computers in my classroom and am able to use those when the
time in the lab is not enough for certain students.
The five in my room are the only ones with Inspiration.
Small group rotations were set up to get all of the students on these
computers to web.
What was the location of the
computers and other technology equipment used by students?
The computers are located in our classroom and in the computer lab.
How would you suggest beginning
teachers obtain computer resources for their students? (Knowing some of your
strategies would be valuable for our pre-service teachers.)
First I would suggest that they wait and get into their first job so that they can thoroughly assess their hardware, curriculum and projects for that grade level. One of the biggest mistakes new teachers make, including myself, is spending too much of their own money on software that doesn’t get utilized enough. Also make sure to ASK! Go to your administrator with a plan. My experience has been that most administrators will likely spend money when they are asked and when the request meets curriculum objectives in an innovative way. Most teachers assume there isn’t any money and so they don’t ask. When the money isn’t available, at least your administrator is aware of your idea and can pass along grant opportunities that come across their desk. Also watch for small local/state grants, 50% software sales, and giveaways. I have won free software for simply submitting a lesson idea that was published in the Tom Snyder Newsletter. Inspiration offers teachers mini grants to attend technology conferences and take graduate courses. These are just a few. The opportunities are out there. Be observant, read the fine print, and ASK!
Rate the level of access for students to use computers/other technologies as they needed --high, medium, low
The level of access to computers for my students is high. I would like to see a larger access to other technologies
including: scanners (2), digital cameras (3), video cameras (1), and probes.
Rate the level of supervision required for students during the project, specifically for computer and other technology use –high, medium, low
What hardware was required for
your project?
What software was required for
your project?
Anything else?
No
What kind of assessment did you use for this project?
(Include a copy if you can.)
We used a list style rubric for student assessment and grading. A survey and Jeopardy style game were used to assess general knowledge for the whole project. The Venn Diagram was used to measure what the classes had learned about each other.
What categories did you assess? (I.e.: content, screen design, depth/breadth, etc.)
Students’ writing according to the rubric, which is used as a grade. This project is assessed for organization, ideas, details, spelling, punctuation and spelling. On going teacher observation was used to assess students’ difficulties with concepts, hardware, and software.
How does the product that you
submitted compare with other students’ products for this same project?
This is the first time the project
was done to this size. The writing
was much better than previous years and the factual knowledge retention was ten
times better. Parents commented to
both of us during conferences about the dates and facts their kids were sharing
with them at home.
What did you like best about this project?
We enjoyed seeing the writing that the students were able to develop.
They asked incredible questions during the teleconference.
It was exciting to see their motivation to learn about these two
‘sleepy’ little Idaho towns.
What did the students like best about this project?
The highlight for both classes was the filming and putting together of
the web pages. They also enjoyed
emailing their buddies at the other school.
Rank the level of student involvement in this project –high, medium,
low
High!
Rank the level of student interest in this project –high, medium,
low
High!
Would you teach this lesson again?
Both of us are moving on to different positions in the future, but would definitely do something similar with our students.