Wicked Problem project - Part D (Findings and Implications)

1. Formative: Did the project get implemented as planned?

With the exception of some adjustments and bumps in the road, the project was implemented as planned. When I first proposed my idea for the project, I had intended on involving multiple students. With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, however, I realized this would be incredibly difficult to do, given the amount of end-of-the-year work and assessments I still needed to do with each student. Thus, I decided to take my most at-risk reader and focus the project entirely on him. This way I could really devote a lot of time and energy to the project and my student. Another bump in the road was the student’s lack of attendance. As noted in my podcast, this has been an issue all year, so it wasn’t a great surprise, however, it did make full implementation of my project difficult. Out of the 15 days I had devoted to the project, he was absent for 6. Thus, we didn’t get to record as many audio books as I had hoped, nor did we get to move on to record books at the next reading level (which was one of my main goals for him, as he has barley made progress as a reader this year). Overall, I really had to adjust the project to math his attendance. When he was there, we’d find time to work together and record books. When he didn’t come to school, I would use the time I would have spent with him to assess and work with other students. Again, with the exception of some adjustments, the project was implemented as planned.

2. Summative: Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice

My initial reason for implementing this project was to motivate and engage struggling readers. Now uncommon, my most at-risk readers have the most difficult time staying focused and on-task during independent reading time. Thus, it was my hope to take my most at-risk readers and give them the opportunity to record their own audio books to listen to during independent reading time, to keep them engaged. As stated above, I only ended up having time to implement the project with one student, my most at-risk reader. Although we only worked together on this project for a total of 9 days, I noticed his increased motivation and level of engagement during independent, among other things. The most exciting result I saw from this project was the student's increased level of engagement during reader's workshop, his excitement and enthusiasm for recording books and then having the opportunity to listen to them, his motivation to participate during guided group time and when working with me one-on-one, and most importantly, a complete change in his attitude towards reading. These were all huge successes for him.

3. How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

The biggest change I would make is starting the project earlier in the year. This is definitely something I would want to start as soon as my reader's workshop has been established, the students are used to the rules and routines, and I know my students as literacy learners. I would start with my most at-risk readers, but ultimately I would like to have all of the students create their own audio books at some point throughout the year. I think it would also be great to allow students to listen to each other's audio books during their Listening-to-Reading center time.

4. What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

The biggest lesson I learned while doing this project, and the lesson that was continuously reiterated throughout my first year of teaching, is that you have to be flexible. Teaching is full of surprises and, as type-A as I may be, I really had to learn to go with the flow this year and adjust things accordingly. This was especially true during this project. Even though I had it all mapped out, I didn't plan for my student's lack of attendance, and I had to be flexible and adjust the project to fit his attendance. 

5. In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

The biggest change I will make when implementing this project next year is attempting it with all of my students, at some point throughout the year. Initially, I will start with my most at-risk readers, and those students who seem the least excited/motivated about reading (typically these are the same student). Because of the overwhelming success I had with one student, I think this would be an incredible project to use with all of my students. Moreover, once the other students saw student X getting to record his own audio books, they all wanted to do it (who wouldn't want to record their own audio book?). I think it'd be great for every student to record an audio book, at their reading level, immediately at the beginning of the year. Then, I'd love to have each of them record a final one, at the end of the year with their ending reading level, and for them and their families to see their growth!

 

 

Group Leadership Project: Part B - Storyboard and Script

For our Group Leadership Project, we decided to teach about Google Docs. In our first web conference it was decided that I would present Google Documents, Laura would present Google Spreadsheets, Kevin would present Google Presenter, and Lindsay would present Google Drawing. For our storyboard, each of us worked on the parts previously mentioned. We also decided we would each record our own part and then put them all together in a movie file. So far, everything is on track and going great, and we will be meeting again via web conference, next week, to start pulling our final project together.  Below is a link to our storyboard.


Group 3 Storyboard

Mobile Learning Lab

Below is a screen capture of the poll I created for the parents/guardians of my students to take via cell phone.

I really like the idea of students being able to use cell phones at school, for educational purposes. I think it's a great way to help resolve the constant battle of teachers trying to eliminate cell phones in the classroom. I think, if, instead of trying to ban cell phones from classrooms, teachers tryed to embrace the idea and teach students how to use them for educational purposes, it could really cut down on the time teachers spend fighting with students about the issue. I realize there would be some students who would abuse the privilege, but overall I really think most students (and teachers) would love it, and it would increase the level of student engagement and motivation to complete assignments. I know this is something I would have loved as a teenager.

As a first grade teacher, however, I don't really see the need for students to use cell phones in my classroom, nor do many of my students have cell phones (both due to age and the socioeconomic status of many of the families). I actually have yet to see one of my students with a cell phone (aside from the toy ones they love to bring to school). 

On the other hand, I do know that many of my students' parents/guardians do have cell phones and I think this may be a GREAT way to increase parent-teacher communication. In fact, I notice that many of my parents even e-mail from their cell phones throughout the day. Thus, I thought using Poll Everywhere, may be a great way to get feedback from my parents. I could post the polls in my weekly newsletters or on the webpage and get their feedback. For example, the poll I created asks parents how they feel about their child having homework on the weekend. This is a battle I fought at the beginning of the year. Having parent/guardian input on issues like this would be great for the upcoming school years. Again, this is definitely something I can see myself using in the upcoming years to improve parent-teacher communication.

Wicked Problem Project - Part C (Implementation)

My Wicked Problem Project - Part C (Implementation) Podcast


One of the Student's Original Recording

This is a slideshow of the student who is recording the audio books. I have been unable to take photos of him recording/listening to his audio books because of his inconsistent attendance.

Regarding the podcast, I was also having issues finding my podcast using iTunes, so I followed in Laura's footsteps (Thanks for the idea, Laura!), and downloaded Juice. I also added in a screenshot of my subscription and podcast.

Group Leadership Project - Part A (Brainstorm Session)

Recordings:

1. http://www.screencast.com/t/vVFYRKTx1W22

2.  http://www.screencast.com/t/ph1nLhsw 

3. http://www.screencast.com/t/pHiWPjryo1aM 

4. http://www.screencast.com/t/tHe1qGjt 

5. http://www.screencast.com/t/DPFvAxPA0R

1.What web conferencing tool did your group use?
Our group decided to use Vyew as our web conferencing tool. Each member of the group has explored Vyew and felt it would work well for our purposes. We attempted to use Jing to record our group session, but found it didn't work well given the length of our web conference. Both Lindsay and I attempted to record our web conference but were only able to get 3-minute recordings using Jing, and we had to record our conference in segments. We are still working on compiling the recording to post to our blogs. Needless to say, for our next web conference we will try to find a different means of recording our session.

The web conference itself went fine, but I was not overly impressed with Vyew. Although we were all able to meet and get the ball rolling on our Group Leadership Project, it was not without some difficulty.

2.What were the advantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?
Overall, I found Vyew to be fairly user friendly. It's easy enough to create and sign up for an account. Also, the introductory tutorial is brief and to the point, but gives you a great "snap shot" of what you can and cannot do with Vyew. I think the biggest advantage to using Vyew is that is was free. It was also very easy to create a meeting room, invite others, and create a link that all group members could easily access to ensure we were all in the right place on the day of our meeting. From my end, I found it easy enough to use the webcam and talk feature and it was nice to put some of my group members names with faces/voices. Furthermore, I found it beneficial that all group members could upload content, add text and edit our "meeting space", as we could all contribute to the brainstorming that was occurring.

Aside from a few technical glitches, Vyew was easy enough to figure out and use and we accomplished what we needed to.

3.What were the disadvantages to using the web conferencing tool to discuss this project?
I feel the biggest disadvantage was not being able to record our web conference using Vyew. It was quite the inconvenience to try and figure out how we were going to record our web conference (given the issues we had with Jing), while remaining fully engaged in the group conversation. Furthermore, we had a lot of issues with the audio and getting a lot of feedback. It ended up being too difficult to have a conversation using the mics, so we all eventually resorted to using the chat feature instead. I know a couple of my group members had issues with the webcam feature, as well as getting kicked out of our session entirely. Also, because we were all using the chat room feature, the text box seemed to take up much of our work space and it was difficult to add text and content in such limited space. Again, we spent a lot of time focusing on the technological glitches, which made it difficult to remain on-task.

4. What will you do differently for next time?
While it may be easier to use Vyew next time, as we had the opportunity to become familiar with it and use it as a group, we may consider switching to Adobe Connect.

5. How could this tool be useful in your classroom?
Given the age level of my students (first grade), I could see this tool being incredibly difficult for my students to use. However, I could see using this tool for "virtual field trips" of sorts, in terms of web conferencing with other classrooms within the district, the state, across the country, etc. In terms of this technology's usefulness in classrooms in general, I could see this being a great tool for older students to use to work on group projects together, for teachers to use when they are unable to meet in person/over the summer, and again for classrooms to use to connect with other classrooms/schools.Although difficult for my students to use individually, I could see them really enjoying it when used collaboratively, to connect with other first grade classrooms.