Collaboration with Claymation

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to learn the beginning steps of creating a claymation movie using iMovie. The deepest joy came as I had a chance to collaborate with a fellow teacher at my school. We commented about working together more in the future. If we had more shared planning time during the school year, this would become a reality. My vision for the coming school year is to strive to collaborate more with classroom teachers. It is a tricky goal. At our elementary level, there are few moments that we can find for shared planning.




How have you found creative ways to collaborate in the school setting? I'm eager to hear ideas from others.

Literacy Learning using Digital Storytelling

Embedded below is a movie clip of the digital stories that my First, Second and Third Graders created. I saw them edit and revise their storyboards and scripts since they knew they were going to have a real audience.

I like what Bud the Teacher said in his blog,

"The change comes when we begin to realize the power of sharing the information, of making the walls more transparent."



The Learning and Laptops blog features ninth grade honors students as they explored the BIG question, "What does literature say about human beings?"

Emotions come to the surface as I witness literacy learning at its most real and meaningful level.

mj--

Students Discovering Symmetry and Congruency in the School

My first graders used their digital cameras and iMovie software to capture examples of symmetry and congruency in our school.

Pay Attention

Please take a few minutes to watch the movie clip that I found on Teacher Tube: "Pay Attention". It motivates me to make sure that I create our students' curriculum that is appropriate to their current needs.






Teach Me More About...

* A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy
* Using Google in the Classroom - Google Tools Podcast, Google Docs Podcast, Internet Survival Tools
* Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships
* Blogs (Social Software in the Classroom)
* Wikis
* Podcasts - Podcast Creation Guide (Apple), How to podcast
* Geocaching Games
* Google Earth
* Webquests
* E-Portfolios
* Virtual Manipulatives
* Cellphones in the Classroom
* iPods in the Classroom

The life long learner is open to making her classroom more appropriate for the students that walk through her classroom door this fall.

An additional nugget for reflection: Shift Happens



The enhanced, revised, expanded, etc. Did You Know/Shift Happens video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod:




--mj