Mrs. Birgel and I started to work with the students on the Romeo and Juliet project. It involves giving students the creative license to retell an Act from a Scene. They are working either alone or in pairs and choose the Act and Scene by “claiming it” in the Moodle discussion forum so all classmates can see what is open. Of course there are scenes available for extra credit.
So far students are using the following software tools:
Garageband to record
Skitch to illustrate their recordings
iMovie to record a narration with video (video shot with the Flip Mino HD)
iChat to create a chat sequence. Screenshots are being taken to compile into Keynote. I have to let the students use my computers so they can get around the filter and blocking to make it happen. They also knew how to do the rest. I call this the learning back story or the learning that happens outside of the classroom. Most teachers are never aware of its existence although some are beginning to harness it into their Moodle courses.
Scratch to create their Romeo and Juliet game
Comic Life to create comics to be used in Keynote or for print
Keynote for presentations which will become QuickTime Videos
So far students are using the following hardware tools
Flip Mino HD to shoot scenes
Logitech headsets
The reason this is so awesome for me is because of Daniel Pink’s book Whole New Mind as we are touching on the elements he discusses.
Last week I was having these same students take a Technology Assessment at Atomic Learning based on the NETS standards. Once they took it, they then started to work on creating their digital portfolio which will consist of a Word, Excel and PowerPoint document. Not my choices but are desired by the Upper School to show that students are capable of handling the curriculum from a technology point of view. If students complete all of the elements successfully, they will be exempt from taking any technology courses for the next four years. I only hope they get to work with a teacher like Mrs. Birgel who will employ creative projects that demonstrate all aspects of learning and the mind.
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Not my choices but are desired by the Upper School to show that students are capable of handling the curriculum from a technology point of view.
I am not sure how using a specific brand of software makes sure our students are ready to use technology when they get to the US. Are we going to test their ability to use Bic pens as well?