Sally Ride Gliffy

Assignment Title:  Sally Ride Gliffy
Uses in the Classroom:   When we study organisms, students always seem to have a hard time organizing and understanding all the different parts such as archea, bacteria, and protists along with their characteristics.  I would use this to help the students organize each part.
Students will classify the essential details using their textbook and online resources to create a diagram independently.
Issues to Consider: Some students may have a hard time organizing this information independently.  It may be helpful to start one part of it to give them an example of how to use it and make it effective.
Also, some students with needs may need to map it out on paper and get an idea of what they are going to do before putting it on Gliffy.
Copyright:  The websites I used for information and pictures are:
CNN, NASA, Biography.com and Time

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/23/us/sally-ride-dead/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2533.html#.Up_VmcRm84k

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/ride_gallery/

http://www.biography.com/people/sally-ride-9458284

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2120274,00.html

Image Editing

Assignment Title:  Image Editing (Climate Regions)

Uses in the Classroom:  In the past, I've had students do a group project where they research a specific climate region and discover different aspects of the temperature, climate, and interesting facts to present.  I could use Photoshop to create (under Creative Commons) a copy of a picture of the landscape from the area they are studying and alter the image in some fashion (maybe making the picture look old, as if it were taken with an old camera).

Also, using a GIF file and having students make their own animation to put on a map of the world, creating links to their presentations is another way to incorporate image editing.

Students will create and change pictures from multiple points of view using creative commons websites to make a presentation on a climate region in small groups.

Issues to Consider:  Groups would have to be smaller, and you could always use more than one location within a climate region.  Students would also need to understand copyright laws and how to properly source their information.

Copyright:  The GIF image was created using a trial version of Photoshop.

Climate Change Infographic

Assignment Title:  Infographic (Climate Change)

Uses in the Classroom:  Teaching about climate change is one of my favorite things to teach, because the students get to analyze the information themselves and I see a lot of higher level thinking through it.  We will be starting it after Thanksgiving break so I will be able to use my new infographic :)

Students will evaluate the contribution of society using their textbook, book, and websites to debate the sources of climate change in large groups.

We have a whole unit on this issue, and at the end do a fishbowl where students get to voice their opinions on the matter.

Issues to Consider:  Climate change can be a sensitive issue with some families, as most opinions middle school students have tend to be those of their parents.  When teachers try to 'change' those opinions, it can be stressful to both parties.  It's important to not influence students with our opinions but see how students' form their own and to show them all possible sides. 

Copyright:  This infographic was made using www.easel.ly.com.  The images and facts came from www.epa.gov, www.cleanet.org, and www.climate.nasa.gov.

Assignment Title:  Instructional Video (Adding Like Fractions)

Uses in the Classroom:  This is a video I plan on using with my students when introducing adding fractions.  There are a lot of simple common errors that students make, and hopefully with visuals it will help students overcome some of them.  

Students will illustrate the essential details using this online video as well as their textbook to model their understanding of adding fractions individually.

Issues to Consider:  Not all students have access to the internet at home, so if this were an assignment it has to be available for multiple days to allow students to watch during school hours.

Also, one video may not be enough concrete examples, so others should be made to help solidify the concept, as well as giving students manipulatives to use along with the videos.

Copyright:  The video was made using IMovie, and the video and examples are from me.

This is a video explaining how to add fractions with like denominators.  I made it for my sixth grade students in math class.

Digital Storytelling

Assignment Title:  Digital Storytelling (Tracking a Hurricane)

Uses in the Classroom:  This is an assignment I've used with students for the past few years.  The students track a hurricane and try to predict the place and time of the hurricane making landfall.  After their prediction and their hurricane warning has been issued, we track the hurricane for another 24 hours, predict again, and track again.  Students will evaluate the significance of issuing a correct hurricane warning using their textbook by modeling the path of a past hurricane and predicting its landfall.

Issues to Consider:  Some students may have a hard time tracking the hurricane from the projector to their paper, so having a copy where the first few dots are already done may be helpful.  Also, it may be helpful to incorporate past or present hurricanes for students to see what's going on in the world around them.  It is also easier to do with an overhead projector and a document camera.

Copyright:  The video was made using IMovie, and the pictures and movies of the class are my students going through the activity with me.  (The activity was found in our textbook, Prentice Hall Weather and Climate)  The graph of the Atlantic Ocean was from the NOAA website (www.noaa.gov), and the picture of the hurricane approaching Florida is used under a creative commons from the website Flikr (www.flikr.com) and was taken by KaKela.  Click here for the link.

Screencast

Assignment Title: Screencast - Math 6 Online Textbook Tutorial
Uses in the Classroom:  This will be posted on my website and serve as an introduction to our online textbook, as well as showing how to use it.
   Students will operate and understand the significance of their online textbook and report the relevance and importance of its features in groups of three.
Issues to Consider: If students are going to work on this in class, having a pair of headphones for each student would be useful, that way they can listen without being interrupted by others watching the same video.  Also, it would be important for all students to have access to the internet in some fashion.  Students should also already have their own username and password to be able to log in.
Copyright:  CamStudio was used to create the video, the website was created by the author with all images either her own or from Creative Commons, and the online textbook is licensed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt entitled Holt McDougal Mathematics Course 1

Katie's Fotobabble

Katie's Fotobabble