Week 11

Essential Question: What technology will I use to allow students to demonstrate they have met the standards targeted by my rubric? What are the classroom management considerations that I must address?

First I'll start by elaborating on the project I posted for week 10.  The rubric I posted will be for the final performance task - the digital story.  However, along the way, there will be other rubrics posted as well (for the written story and the story board) which incorporate the writing standard I chose.  The first part of this project involves writing a fictional story.  My students began that process last week.   They will use the writing rubric and calendar I posted on our class site.  

The technology students will be using will include:
1. Their drafts in GoogleDocs for peer and teacher editing
2. The use of the class site to check on the project directions, due dates, links, rubrics, help videos, and anything else I post there to be used as a resource.
3. Storyboard That software
4. Their blogs on Blogger
5.  Keynote
6. SlideShare
7. Various music download sites for free open source music, or GarageBand for original compositions

Classroom management considerations are many, as this is a large class (30 students).  Levels vary quite a bit in this 6th through 8th grade group.  This is a technology class, so these students are all familiar now with blogs and several slide show tools, such as Keynote, PowerPoint, VoiceThread, and Google Presentations.  They are also familiar with searching and citing images. I am working with the middle school English teacher as well, and although we are doing most of the writing in my class right now, she is also taking time to work with these classes (she has each grade separately) on revising their drafts and creating their story boards, which will speed things up in my class.

I post the project on my class site so the students will always have access to it.  I also post any links to specific tools they will need so they can always find them.  As I see the need, I will add any "how to" videos, but as yet I have not done this. The students all have their own blogs, so they have a ready-made place to post their work.  They have been given choices from the beginning of the project -including choosing their own topic.  They will have a fair amount of leeway in putting together their digital story as well, in terms of the pictures and music they choose, and how they will interpret their story visually. The rubrics and checklists provide structural guidelines as they go through this process.

As we finish the writing portion, I will be showing a variety of digital stories in class and having the students analyze them using the story arcs. Some of these will be posted on the class site for students to reference.

Students are always working with their own material throughout the project, and making decisions about how they will use that within the guidelines of the project. There are several opportunities for students to work with others (self-selected groups), such as when we do peer editing, work with the storyboard software, begin planning and taking pictures, and when we work with the presentation software.  I have found that these spontaneous collaborations are great support for the students as they add more ideas and solve problems throughout projects.

Since students are often working at their own pace, and on their own personal projects, I have a lot of latitude in my opportunities to work with individual students during class time.  I have found that having students working this way is actually a far better use of my time, as I can address individual needs more thoroughly, and students who are in the flow of their work can push on uninterrupted. Often students will seek answers to small problems from classmates. 

A note about my rubrics - when I am posting rubrics for students, I dislike posting "proficiency levels" with points attached.  I feel the focus then becomes too much on the grade, and not on the content.  The multi-levels of performance add confusion (especially for middle school students) and also convey the idea that it's ok if they don't meet the highest standard, and that there are parts of the project where "good enough" will still get them a passing grade.  I only post a 1 column rubric, so that students can simply focus on what the performance expectations are, and use it as a check list to refer to.