Authentic Learning

First Blog as a Techno Tiger

2009-11-01T16:56:00.001-08:00

Each year my class comes up with a unique name. Last year my class was the Global Gorillas. The Gorillas were a tech savvy group. They created wikis and blogs. They started their own digital sports program that was published on iTunes. Their knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools was outstanding, and they used this knowledge to create weekly literature circle responses. The Gorillas dabbled in podcasting and video production including the use of green screening.

The year before the Global Gorillas my class named themselves the Cyber Chickens. They were also no stranger to technology. They hosted a blog and a podcast about “The Series of Unfortunate Events” books. They created a blog to teach others about cyber bullying and another to help others prepare for the Pennsylvania State Assessment. The most impressive feat of all for the Cyber Chickens was the work they did to force a local company to clean up their hazardous waste mess near our school. They published their work on a Project Trinity wiki and a Project Trinity blog. The Cyber Chickens had a pretty impressive resume.

The Historic Hippos were there the previous year, and they were no slouches in the technology department, either. In their day, they were cutting edge! They were the first class to produce and publish their own podcasts on iTunes. They had their own email accounts on Gaggle and they were the first class to have a wikispace.

A new year has begun, with a new crop of students. They have named themselves the Techno Tigers. The Tigers have big job ahead of them. Will they be up to the challenge? What new ground in technology will this class break? I’m not sure, but I can’t wait to find out!

Techno Tigers

2009-10-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Global Gorilla Blog Roll

2009-07-29T17:36:00.000-07:00

Global Gorillas

Cyber Chickens Blogroll

2009-07-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

Cyber Chickens

Dog for Obama

2009-04-16T17:25:00.001-07:00

The Obama's have chosen the new "First Dog." Check out our research to help them make the decision.

Dog for Obama

(Special Thanks to my partner Denise Whiteman.)

Click to learn more about Hypoallergenic Dogs.

Check out past President's pets.

Click to view our wikispace.

Wikis, Blogs, and Diigo

2009-04-06T18:16:00.001-07:00

Web 2.0 has changed the way we as educators look at technology integration in our classroom. I used to think I was so tech savvy, because I had a website and my students made Power Point presentations. Web 2.0 tools opened my eyes to a whole new way to use the world wide web to make my students not only more tech savvy, but global collaborators. Below I will tell about two tools that are ever present in my arsenal and one more tool that I haven’t opened up to my students yet, but plan to now that I know the possibilities.

I discovered wikispaces about two years ago at a conference, and since then I can’t believe I ever lived without them. Wikispaces can be used as an easy website interface, as a place to provide links for students, a place to provide information for parents and a place to showcase student work. There is no html code and ftp uploading or any of the other things that make web design so awkward. An example of a wiki acting as a website would be Mrs. Abernethy’s Global Gorilla Wikispace.

Wikis are much more than glorified websites, however. They can be used to collaborate. Students can work together to create a website even if they’re not on the same computer, in the same room, in the same city or in the same country. My first experience with interactive wikispace work was on Project Lemonade, an international collaborative project my students participated in last year. As a part of the project, my students worked together collaboratively to create their own interactive wikispace called Project S.C.A.T. The collaborative nature of wikispaces is what makes them a true web 2.0 tool.

Here is a great video on how and why to use wikis in a classroom.
WIKISPACES

Wikispaces provides their own interactive tour on how to get started. Included is an introduction and how-tos on personalizing your wiki, adding files and pictures, and personal settings. Wikis can be as open or as protected as you choose. For use with young students, it’s best to set up the privacy settings for them to be sure they are safe.

BLOGS
Blogs can be used in a multitude of ways. They don't always have to be for typical journaling. I create new blogs for topics we are learning about. They make it simple to embed student projects or provide a place for students to interact with each other's projects by leaving comments. This year we have created blogs for our class election, for the Revolutionary War, for Literature Circle projects, for Science, for Pi Day, for PSSA Preparation and more! The students enjoy being able to share their work with family and friends. They really love it when someone leaves a comment on their blog!

When first setting up a blog, it is important to set up the correct comment protection. I choose comment moderation and allow anyone to comment. That way you are not shutting out opportunities to collaborate globally with people who may read your blog. On the other hand, no comments can be viewed on the site unless you approve them first.

Allowing students to blog creates another set of concerns. Gaggle provides very safe blogging that can be opened up to the public or closed off to just the classroom or the school. Regardless of what avenue you take for student blogging, it is the teacher’s responsibility to approve or reject all posts before they are made public.

Here are some tutorials (one for Blogger and one for Word Press.)

DIIGO
I have been using Diigo for about a year to accumulate, highlight, and code websites for my own consumption. Only recently have I realized the possibilities for classroom use. Creating a group with my students can change the way we collaborate and share resources on research projects. Jennifer Dorman is an expert at using Diigo in the classroom.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Diigo Tutorial

View more presentations from Jennifer Dorman.

The Proof is in the Project

2009-03-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

Project based learning is deeply seated in research as an effective way to engage students and produce better test scores. As the body of research builds, I decided to do a little research on my own. What is Project-Based Learning (PBL)? If you’d like to see PBL in action, spend some time with Mrs. Abernethy’s Global Gorillas. Whether students are reading, performing science experiments, or preparing for the state standardized test, students are deeply engrossed in a collaborative, project-based environment. How do they feel about this type of learning? View the results of a recent survey below.

Survey in a Google Document

Survey Analysis

1. When asked whether technology has helped them learn better, students responded unanimously, “yes.”
2. Given the choice between a paper-pencil test and a project for a grade, 83% chose project.
3. Students were asked which they would prefer to do the most to help them learn. Their choices and responses are as follows: read a book (15%), have the teacher tell you (12%), or work in a group (73%).
4. Students were given a list of projects they participated in this school year, and they were asked to choose the project they liked the most. A description of the projects and the results are below:
a. Class Election: Students participated in a simulated election. Click to see how the election worked. Students participated in a primary, held convention parties, gave speeches, planned campaigns, and participated in debates. In addition, the electoral vote process was employed in the actual class election. Before the election took place, students went to the polls to see firsthand how it was done. Later in the week after watching Barack Obama get sworn into office, our new class president and vice president were sworn into office, too. To learn more about this project go to our Election Blog.
b. Literature Circle Projects: Students are required to read one novel per month. Each week students create projects to demonstrate comprehension of the novel they are currently reading. Students are given latitude to exercise their creativity and they really do. From web 2.0 tools to paper-pencil, regardless the medium, students show what they read. To learn more, please visit our Literature Circle Blog.
c. Dinosaur Collaboration: Our class does quite a few collaborative projects with Mrs. Blazosky’s first grade class in Clarion. This is one of those projects. Students have been collaborating to build a Dinosaur Blog. My fifth graders created projects to teach her students about dinosaurs. Her students responded with projects of their own. From movies to Toon-Doos, the multimedia is rich. In addition, the fifth graders edited posts done by their younger collaborators.
d. Morpheus Fortuna: A traveling bog turtle, Morpheus makes his rounds to various classrooms around the state of Pennsylvania. Students enjoyed their visit with Morpheus and created movies and more for his blog and wikispace. It was meaningful to them that other students in their state would be reading and viewing their projects.
e. PSSA Projects: Students created their own projects to give tips for PSSA test taking. They created movies, interactive Power Point presentations, and other media rich projects. They shared their knowledge with other test takers across the state on a PSSA Blog.

Student results were as follows:
a. Class Election: 34%. Although this project was done at the beginning of the year, students chose it as memorable. Some reasons given were personal in nature. For example: “We got to choose our class president.” “…I got to run for Class President and we got to do awesome commercials.” “I remember doing signs and voting for Cassie.” ”I was a candidate till the primaries.” In reality, the students probably remember this project so vividly because it was so real and correlated with real life happenings (the Obama election.)
b. Literature Circle Projects: 23%. Some comments include: “What made this project memorable was that you had to do one every week. And I would always try to make the best one I could.” “Because we did them so often and their were so many different things to do.” “I’ve done tons of stuff for it, easy and hard. I’ve done things I’m very proud of during Lit Circles.” In my opinion, the variety, the hard work, and the use of web 2.0 tools will be very valuable skills for these students in the future.
c. Dinosaur Collaboration: 19%. Student comments: “Dino project because I made a video.”
d. Morpheus Fortuna: 11%. Student comments: “He was awesome and so much fun to do projects on.” “…I liked taking him to music and gym..”
e. PSSA Projects: 11%. Student comments: “Because I had a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I got to work with a friend.”

(To view more complete answers and answers to other questions, please take time to view the Google Document.)

What all of the student comments have in common is an enthusiasm for learning. Students enjoy working collaboratively with other students in their classroom and with others via the world wide web and video conferencing. In this day of state standardized testing, how do you justify project-based learning? Let’s turn that around. In this time of testing, how do we justify not using it? If you need further proof that project-based learning is effective, meaningful and worthwhile, please visit our website, and take a look around.

Creation of a Schoolyard Habitat

2009-03-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

About nine years ago, my students and I embarked on a PBL (Project-Based Learning) experience. While learning about animals and their habitats, the class decided to create our own habitat for native species in our schoolyard. We began with a persuasive writing exercise to convince the schoolboard and administration to allow us to transform a part of school property. This was only the first of many letters the students wrote during the project. Letters to local business owners afforded us the opportunity to buy tools and plants for our project. Students even convinced businesses and individuals to donate plants, mulch and tools. A newsletter created by the students went home with with everyone in the school explaining the project and making the plea for help.

In addition to writing skills, students did research on multiple topics. They learned through the National Wildlife Federation that we could become certified as an official Schoolyard Habitat. I learned as an educator that there are national standards that can be met just by doing the project. I now had justification in case anyone questioned the validity of our project. After researching the requirements to become a certified schoolyard habitat, students began researching plants and animals native to our area. They also used mathematical skills to map out an area of the schoolyard to create the habitat.

After a lot of preparation, in the spring of 2000, the students were finally ready to break ground. A year later, the habitat was certified as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Students were recognized in the local newspapers and we were interviewed on television by a local broadcast station.

The schoolyard habitat still lives today, and is maintained by my fifth grade class each year and students who volunteer to help during recess and after school. In addition, there is a schoolwide cleanup of the habitat in the spring on Earth Day. Go to our website to learn more about our Schoolyard Habitat or click below to watch the powerpoint.

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by jabernethy

CountriesThat Visited

2009-01-10T14:35:00.001-08:00

Above is a Wordle created at worldle.net. The countries found in the wordle are the countries that visited Mrs. Abernethy's Global Gorillas Classroom Website in 2008. The size of the country correlates with the number of visits from that country. Therefore, countries that visited more often are larger. A total of 67 countries visited in all!

First Blog as a Global Gorilla

2008-11-01T16:50:00.001-07:00

Wow! Just finished grades for the first nine weeks and I realized I haven't blogged on this site yet this year. New school year...new class...new class name. Let me introduce the Global Gorillas. They are something!

Probably the reason I haven't blogged is because those gorillas have been keeping me busy. Since the beginning of the school year we have not only been following the election closely, but running an election of our own.

We started the first day of school, when I explained the two party system and explained that we had two parties in our class. Our two parties were the boys and the girls. We ran a primary and came up with two candidates (a boy and a girl.) Students not elected were given the option to work on a winner's campaign or being a part of the election board.

The election board remains neutral (until the election.) They have important responsibilities such as doling out money to the candidates, keeping track of what they spend on advertising, registering voters, making ballots, and preparing the voting booth.

Each campaign composed of all the rest of the class consists of vice president, treasurer, TV reporter, speech writer and a variety of other roles. Each campaign planned and executed a convention party. This consisted of one half hour for each candidate on a Friday afternoon. They could do whatever they wanted (within reason) to convince their classmates to vote for them. There was food, games, decorations, music and more.

Candidates also participated in a debate, had town hall meetings to discuss issues, made commercials and gave speeches. They also learned about electoral votes and in a surprising twist, I informed them that they each had two states' electoral votes. With 25 students, this accounted for all but Washington D.C. which one of the candidates won in the flip of a coin.

With days until the big date, students are busy polling, preparing, and bribing. Thankfully, it has been a much kinder and gentler campaign than the national election. John McCain and Barack Obama could learn a thing from these two candidates.

If you want to learn more, please click on the link below, or better yet watch their election commercials below. You choose the best candidate!

Election Blog

Move Up Day

2008-05-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday, students participated in "Move Up Day" where 4th graders go to 5th grade, 5th graders go to 6th grade, etc. My students came to me and asked if they could make a podcast for the upcoming fourth graders. Below is their podcast.

powered by ODEO

"Take Your Kid to Work Day"

2008-04-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today was "Take Your Kid to Work Day." Students had the opportunity to go to their parent's place of employment. Midway through the day, I received the following email from one of my students:

Hi Mrs. A!
It's me Kristen. I'm at the hospital with my mom so you can contact us here. I'm working on a powerpoint for the Oncology Patient care fund. Oh and tell the class I said Hi! And HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bye

A little later I received another email with a Power Point Presentation attached. (See below.)

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by jabernethy

Happy Birthday Mrs. A.

2008-04-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

The benefits of having computer savvy fifth graders: A surprise birthday podcast!

powered by ODEO

Students also made these wonderful cakes for their literature circle response (and my birthday cakes!) Recognize the book? Misty of Chincoteague!

PSSA Preparation

2008-04-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

As we strive to provide authentic learning for our students, ever present in the back of our minds is "the test!" Whether you teach in Pennsylvania, New York, Florida or any of the wonderful states in our country, you most likely have a state test to answer to. In Pennsylvania, our test is the PSSA. Despite the circumstances, all students are expected to perform, do well, and make their teachers shine!

Over the years, I've come up with some tips that seem to help most students relax and do their best on the test. I try to sprinkle these throughout the school year, and as the test day nears, I find the students can quote most of them verbatim. This year I decided instead of reviewing these tips with the students, I would have them create their own reviews to share with their peers.

Providing students with no rubric and minimum directions, I asked them to choose partners or small groups and create a presentation that would help others to perform well on the PSSA. Students chose to create movies, podcasts, powerpoints, and smartboard presentations to showcase their tips. I posted them all on a blog called "PSSA Preparation." Here is a link: http://pssapreparation.blogspot.com/

Below I am embedding some of my favorite projects. If you like these, by all means go to the site and check out some more.

| View | Upload your own

Of course, I worry about PSSA results like every other teacher in Pennsylvania. From the first day of school, I am ever mindful of the standards and what I know my students need to know by that fateful day in March when they "take the test." On the other hand, I know there is a lot my students need to know that is "not on the test." I found this video that really hit the mark for me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

The Letter Writing Strategy

2008-02-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

When the Cyber Chickens attended their first Trinity Task Force meeting, Attorney Wallace introduced them to the "Letter Writing Strategy." He talked about a character in the movie Shawshank Redemption who worked in the prison library. He wanted new books for the library, so he wrote a letter to the state every week requesting money. Eventually they got tired of the letters, and they sent him $200. When he got the money, he started writing two letters a week.

Today the Cyber Chickens mapped out their "Letter Writing Strategy" for Project S.C.A.T. The goal: to expedite the cleanup of the contaminated site next to our school. Trinity Industries has already been ordered by the courts to clean the site, but they seem to be dragging their feet by trying to drag other parties into the lawsuit. It has been over a year since they were charged, but cleanup is not foreseeable in the near future.

We started with a brainstorming session. First, the students discussed who our audience should be. They came up with a pretty comprehensive list including the governor, The Department of Environmental Protection, State Representatives, USA Today, Oprah Winfrey, CNN, Time for Kids, and Newsweek (for a start.)

Next, they discussed what should be in the letter. (This is when the teacher in me kicked in.) While they talked, I took notes in Microsoft Word and projected it onto the SmartBoard. When they were done, they had an outline for their letters (and I had a rubric to grade them.)

To wrap up our brainstorming session, they planned out their strategy. In groups of two to four students, each group will focus on an audience for their letter. Letters will be mailed out every other day to each audience with a total of 26 letters being mailed out per week. Their plan (keep in mind) is for each student to write a letter each week until the end of the school year. I did contribute at this point by suggesting we add a Google calendar to our wiki, so that we can keep track of who is getting letters when.

Finally, it was time for lunch and I announced we would put their plan into action next week. In my mind, I had already written my English plans for next week.

On the way to lunch, a student said to me, "Can we start after lunch?"

Another said, "Would it be okay if we start writing the letter this weekend?"

I said, "Sure. I think that would be okay."

The Cyber Chickens Go Erin Brockovich

2008-02-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

This week my students and I took authentic learning to a new level. Tuesday evening we attended the first ever Trinity Task Force meeting. It was amazing. Sitting around a table at the Greenville Chamber of Commerce was Attorney Dan Wallace, Greenville's Mayor Dick Miller, State Representative Michelle Brooks, about twenty concerned community members, myself and ten fifth grade students. In Dan Wallace's introduction, he made it clear that these fifth graders were not only the future of Greenville, they were every bit a member of this newly formed task force as everyone else at the table. As the sign-up sheet made its way around the table, my students proudly added their names and gaggle emails to the list.

How did these fifth graders end up in such a serious meeting discussing serious matters in a serious way? It all started with Tom McGee's Project Lemonade, where students are coming together from around the world with a common goal: to make a difference in the world. My students decided to make their difference right in their own back yard. Literally next door to our elementary school is an abandoned industrial site.

Trinity Industries, a major corporation, packed up their train car manufacturing plant and moved the operation to Mexico several years ago. In addition to the economic devastation they inflicted upon the town, they left a site contaminated with hazardous waste. Over a year ago, the company was taken to court by DEP and found guilty for environmental crimes. They were fined and ordered to clean up the site. Over a year has passed, and very little has been done to set the clean up in progress. Trinity, a large corporation with lots of resources at their fingertips, have chosen to use these resources to stall the process rather than expedite it.

So what is the goal of the Trinity Task Force? As stated in the meeting, we would like to see that the site is cleaned up as expeditiously as possible without sacrificing the safety of the community. We plan to be the watch dogs to make sure all the t's are crossed and i's dotted.

How do Mrs. Abernethy's Cyber Chickens plan to help? For starters, they already have a wiki and a blog. These have been set up to keep the public informed of the problem and the progress. It's also a place we hope the community can come to for discussion.

Students have already learned a lot with the added bonus of meeting quite a few state standards in their quest to learn more. Researching the history of the site, interviewing former employees, reading and analyzing newspaper articles and legal documents are just a few learning activities they have indulged in so far. Just think of what's to come.

If you're interested in following their project, by all means check out the wiki and blog and add them to your reader.
Project Trinity Wikispace
Project Trinity Blog

A 21st Century Classroom

2008-01-31T19:03:00.000-08:00

What does a 21st Century Classroom look like? About ten minutes before lunch today, I looked around my classroom. I grabbed a pen and paper and walked around the room recording what students were doing.

Three students sitting at a laptop using Audacity to edit a podcast they made for literature circles.
Two students adding titles and descriptions to Morpheus Fortuna's Flickr page.
A student typing his blog entry on "What is Project S.C.A.T.?" (Stop Contamination at Trinity)
Three students quietly reading newspaper articles to research for Project S.C.A.T.
Two students using laptops to research the history of the Trinity site (taking notes in Microsoft Word.)
Two students looking up Trinity stock prices on Yahoo Finance and recording in a table on a wiki page.
Three students down the hall using an iPod and Tune Talk to record an interview with a teacher whose father died from asbestos exposure.
Two students sorting through printed material and dispersing to students according to topic.
Two students researching the chemicals Trinity dumped on our school's neighboring lot.
Four students using laptops to research and record websites and small blurbs on a wikipage
Two students saving pictures to network folder

I rang the classroom bell to let students know it was time for lunch and I heard a collective groan as students slowly pulled themselves away from their work.

Do you think that's what a 21st Century classroom is supposed to look like?