Colonial Georgia depicted using Comic Life (#5)

Here are a few 8th grade Georgia Performance Standards shown using Comic Life Software. My Comic Life example covers the three principal individuals in Georgia's earliest phase of the Colonial Period - Tomochichi, James Oglethorpe, and Mary Musgrove.

I think I personally employed all 6 levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy when I selected and researched the historic figures, selected images, and then created narrative and plausible dialogue. Showing historical events and people in Comic Life will be a worthwhile assignment for secondary students. It will take time and effort to summarize the material and put together a strong graphic representation. The software itself is extremely user-friendly and I expect the students will be a lot faster putting together the final product that I was! I am ready for my next Comic Life project!

Colonial Georgia was created using Comic Life software and images from Microsoft Clip Art and http://www.georgiahistory.com/

Loving the Websites!!!!

I am LOVING the website links you have posted on your side toolbar. I used one of the math ones in my math class yesterday:) Thanks for sharing! I am sharing our blog portal site next week at our faculty meeting. Have you shared yet with your school?

VoiceThread Elementary Classroom Project (#3)

The team of five, named Techy Teachers have just survived learning a new technology at an accellerated pace and being forced to share our work products with others before they are "perfect". It has created stress, but we also realize that this is how the real world is. There is never enough time to learn everything you want to know before you are forced to proceed. None of us had ever used this technology before ... and some of us had not used the pieces of technology that support it - such as a microphone and a camara. We have each been successful creating our individual projects. Also, our group of 5 definately created a better VoiceThread Workshop Plan for the Elementary Classroom than if we had worked independently! Now that we have a grip on the Project Leader's role and what developing a workshop entails ... we are ready for our next challenge ... another technology no one in our group has ever used. Bring it on!


http://voicethread.com/#u479088.b608921.i3243831 Here is a link to my voicethread is attached. Email me at jean.martin258@gmail.com if you have difficulty with this link.

VoiceThreads: Extending the Classroom .... (#2)

The article, VoiceThreads: Extending the Classroom with Multimedia Albums, appeared in an online Edutopia publication in 2008. As many of you are aware, Edutopia is funded by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, an organization dedicated to further the use of technology in education. The article offers practical advice to teachers planning a Voicethread ... start small is the first step. Teachers are encouraged to experiment with the free version of VoiceThread and then expand into the paid version with the secure storage technology. The developers of VoiceThread are quoted on their goals with the technology. This service was developed to be extremely flexible ... allowing a voice contribution via telephone, for example, if the contributor does not have a computer microphone. The article also contains working links to internet resources on creating VoiceThreads including a wiki, and TeacherTube videos of actual VoiceThreads. I think it would be helpful to read this article (linked below) and review some of the samples and resources available before starting our own VoiceThreads.

Retrieved from http://www.mcceconference.com/handouts/monday/Erikson_VoiceThreads_%20Extending%20the%20Classroom%20with%20Interactive%20Multim...pdf

Working Definition of Technology Integration (#1)

In the elementary school, technology integration supports student learning and performance in the skills of reading comprehension, writing to communicate effectively, and standards-based competency in mathematics. Technology is woven into the curriculum (state standards) and the learning needs of the students to meet and exceed those standards. Competence in the science and social studies curriculum, in addition to the social and emotional skills to work and learn among their peers in a structured and unstructured environment are also key elements in the elementary curriculum and environment. The goal is a 10 to 12 year old who functions successfully in the social and educational environment, has exceeded state curriculum standards in all areas, is engaged in his/her individual learning, and is confident to continue learning. Integrating technology into instruction and application should increase the relevance and interest level of the learning process and help to empower students to strive towards their own intellectual and creative goals.