How the Digital Sausage is Made

One of the greatest things about students creating digital projects and assignments is that the final products are almost always more dynamic and powerful than a tri-fold poster or diaroma scene of a pioneer settlement. That being said, creating and managing digital projects isn't for the faint of heart. The ultimate goal of project-based learning is more than just the final product. An emphasis is placed on practicing and perfecting the skills of teamwork, problem-solving, perspective-taking, and a host of real world abilities that will help them to be successful in the future.

Case in point, my latest project in my 8th grade U.S. History class to end our Constitution and Bill of Rights unit. In order to demonstrate their understanding of the civil liberties protected by law in the United States, groups are creating movie/book trailers for a dystopian future stories in which some (or all) of the rights protected by the Bill of Rights have been limited or eliminated completely. In doing so, the hope is that they build a greater respect and appreciation of the rights and opportunities that they enjoy in a democratic system.

Having a vision for what you hope your students will learn and the process in which they learn it are sometimes two very different things. To an outside observer, it may appear that a classroom full of 13-year olds are running around with swords, small picket signs, and laser guns, but as is always the case, when you give a young person an iPad and the freedom to use their creativity, the final product never ceases to amaze. Sure there are disagreements between group members, and technical difficulties at the eleventh hour, but these are nothing new to most adults interacting with other human beings in the larger world.

Just like an amazing meal, sometimes the final product cannot be judged by the seemingly random, chaotic, and frustrating process to make it come into being. The kitchen may be a mess, but you forget about that once you sit down to the spectacular meal awaiting you in the dining room.

Creativty Bundle by Doink

I am SO excited that Mrs. Sanchez and I were able to purchase and load the Creativity Bundle by Doink on the i-Pad cart. The Creativity Bundle contains two apps: Animation and Drawing and Green Screen. These two apps will provide many opportunities down the road for cross-curricular collaboration between Expressions and Technology Classes.

Cross Curriculur Dias de los Muertos Podcasts

I am so thrilled to be in a new teaching position, at a new school, in a new district, with a new philosophy. It has afforded me the autonomy to design learning experiences for my students that empower them to tell their stories. I have also had the pleasure of designing these experiences with my new colleagues.

Imagine 3 teachers (me - the tech teacher, the language arts teacher and the art teacher) sitting around a table waiting for a staff meeting to start in early August.
     "So in October I usually do an immigration writing project that coincides with the Dias de los Muertos art unit in the art class," says Cary, the language arts teacher, "but I want to change my project up this year to teach my kids how to write a biographical narrative using an interview as the planning piece. Would you be willing---"
      "Could we podcast the narratives!" I almost scream out excitedly.
      "That would be totally cool," Cary agrees.

Four weeks ago my 7th graders began their podcast project that coincided with creating Dias de los Muertos skull art, alters, etc. and writing biographical narratives and poems about family members in language arts. Students chose which family member they wanted to podcast about and created a list of interview questions in language arts. At the same time we started a genre study on podcasting in my technology class. We listened to podcasts from Storycorp and Radiolab and analyzed them for audience, purpose, content, context, and structure using this form. We especially paid close attention to structure because we needed ideas for how to structure our own podcasts. We also used these KWHLAQ charts (idea from Silvia Tolisano) to keep track of our learning. Next we explored Garageband for a few days to learn how to import audio tracks, create original music, and edit tracks. We then launched into putting together our podcasts about our family members, following these instructions.

I am so excited to share some of my students' work. Through the course of designing a learning experience that encompassed multiple disciplines and the learning of new tech tools, students were given a voice to share their stories. It is through their storytelling that you learn about who they are and where they come from. These podcasts will now be shared via QR codes within the Dias de los Muertos Art Exhibit in our multipurpose room in a few weeks. 

This project made me laugh, cry, and allowed me to get some perspective on my students and their families. Not only did my students learn some valuable academic lessons, I learned about my students. I call that a win-win!

Literally giving my students a voice in this project allowed them to learn on so many levels, gave their families a role in the learning, and gave the opportunity to create a keep sake to cherish for a very long time. 

Middle School Film Making

As we've worked to embed more digital projects into our curriculum, certain material needs have come up. In video production, the shaking cameras necessitate the use of tripods, and voice-overs require high quality microphones that don't pick up ambient noises. How, then, do we fix this problem with our limited budget for materials?

This year, I applied to Donors Choose to facilitate the purchase of this much needed recording equipment. I asked for eight new tripods and eight snowball microphones, enough to support small groups of students in classes. Chevron funded the project and now teachers in our program will be able to check these out for students to use on their projects!