Another project

For what it's worth, I created a Moodle page for my Wednesday Title 1 workshop that leads one through a digital storytelling project. It's available on the SJUSD Moodle. Enjoy and feel free to copy/borrow/use anything that might help you.

YeeeAAAHOOO!

I'm finished. I hope you'll enjoy my project on studying abroad.

Still a work in progress

I'm curious what this will show you. I'm not quite ready to publish. Still have some polishing to do.

Goody! It works. Click on the link and you can see the project so far.

Digital bummer, dude!

Have run into the inevitable, unavoidable roadblocks that are inherent in using technology. No matter which avenue I choose, I'm having difficulty putting the finishing touches on my project. First, QuestGarden wasn't registering the changes that I had made to my rubric and twice erased it in spite of my clicking the 'save' button (that only made the whole thing disappear). So then I tried to open a new project under a different name to transfer info and when I would have both windows open, eventually they would become the same page instead of one of each. Frustration reigned!

Of course, it was around that point that I discovered a different template which probably would have been a better fit and DEFINITELY would have been less complicated than the template I chose. Refusing to surrender, I'm forging ahead. There may be fewer details in this but I'm bound and determined to have a complete project today (might not happen until 4p.m......).

Tomorrow's the day and so I'm scrambling to finish. While QuestGarden is nicely sequential, I really prefer the way I could have created this on TaskStream. It's a little more sophisticated. Either is better than ALI which doesn't let you upload files, other than a single media one.

Even though I'm putting all the pieces together and trying to make sure that I have all the dots connected, I'm realizing that this won't really be complete until it has had its first run through with a class. The first time a project is actually put to use is when you see if all of your brilliant plans actually work out the way that you want them to. Watching the kids work through it shows you where you missed the mark. Teachers are masters of flexibility and figuring things out on the fly; we'll be able to jerry-rig solutions to problems and then rewrite the lesson plans to avoid the stumbling blocks of the first time through.

When I try a particularly ambitious inaugural project, I front-load expectations by letting the kids know that they are my guinea pigs. It seems to make them rise to the challenge of being the pioneers of the project. When they finish, they are quite proud of what they've accomplished.

Mixed Blessing

While I'm thrilled to be celebrating my first 4th of July as a citizen, I still HATE neighborhood fireworks. &^%$#@! Piccolo Petes are driving my dog nuts in spite of the tranquilizers that he's been given.

Check these out!

Neat website I found when I was trying to articulate the higher ordered thinking skills that my project would incorporate and it shows how different strands can integrate technology into the curriculum.

Last week, Jon showed me a Technology Integration Matrix that had student samples woven into it.