*+DI+Using+Technology

HanselmannEnglish/WritingTechnology Integration:1. I do not use a chalkboard at all. I have an InterWrite and the projector. I create slides or can write on a blank canvass of sorts. The best usage is with worksheets and DOL. The students do the work themselves using the board. They enjoy the technology and beg for a chance to use the board to work in class. While it happens, students look closely at what other students are doing and pay very close attention.2. The students create research reports using PowerPoint presentations. I have done this in the past. This year I added Prezi and Glogster as alternate formats. This was interesting. Most students went with what was comfortable, but a few adventurous souls took on the challenge of a new technology. The kids who used the Prezi format liked that they could work on it easily from home. The Glogster option creates a poster. This was a bit more difficult to navigate for the presentation part of the assignment, but we found a way. The students who used that option really liked that cool look and layout options. I am looking forward to using this format again next year. I will try to use each format a few times earlier in the year so the kids have some idea of what it could look like and plant some seeds of ideas.3. This year I started an alternate assessment for one student each cycle (I grade on a 6 day cycle). The assigned "helper" student does not take the exam for the material. They create a podcast teaching the material. This allows the students to find their own way of sharing the important information and fosters freedom of expression. The few we were able to do were a lot of fun and the kids loved watching them. My hope is that they will archive the lessons for the cycle and the classes will be able to use them for review information.4. We used Edmodo this year. I liked some of the features. It is a "social networking-like" format but with more strict permissions. Some of the kids enjoyed it; others not so much. I liked the one assignment we did on it. I had the students respond to a warm-up directly on the site. I could grade them only and it was easy for my to record my grades into the gradebook as they were already alphabetized. I could even leave instructional comments. I may use this again or find another that will give me the option of microblogging. That is something I want to foster.Microblogging is online chat while a lesson is ongoing. I have used it with my kids when they watch film clips related to my curriculum. The kids LOVE it and are much more willing to share their ideas. Online communication seems to take the pressure off of many of the shy kids. Plus, they get to "talk" all they want, just not out loud. The frustration comes from computer usage. Often it is difficult to get a class set of computers to use at one time. Plus, there are often difficulties with connecting to the network when there is so much activity. I haven't quite figured out how to alleviate some of these difficulties. Sharing computers only works a little. Students need to keep logging off and on in this particular case to make comments. It is time consuming and frustrating. I am open to suggestions...Well, there are some of my technology ideas. I integrate a great deal, so I won't bore you with more. But, if you need an idea...pop by.~Ilka

Ilka, I know that you use technology quite frequently and for many different reasons both as a teacher and for your studetns. I particularly like your alternative assessment idea. I am curious how you identified the students who would do this type of exam. It is an interesting idea. How did it work? Glas that you continue to investigate new, different technology options. Margaret

6/10/11 Michael Frew

My lesson concentrated on Context Clues and applying them to vocabulary words found in "If You Made A Million" from the Reading Street text. Students create their own //nonsense// word sentence to grasp the concept of what context clues are before they work with the interwrite board to complete a practice book page and use a word bank and use context clues to complete some teacher generated examples. Early finishers get to word process original examples. Students who require more assistance will work with teacher (or aide) to acomplish tasks.

Frew DI Lesson #1 Reading Street Text “If You Made A Million”
 * Subject:** Vocabulary
 * Lesson Objective:** Students will understand what context clues are and how to use them to decipher meaning of vocabulary words.
 * Standards:** R3.A.2.2 Context Clues (PA Assessment Anchors)


 * Whole group define “context clues” on the interwrite board and discuss what they are. Explain it is a process of using the words around an //unfamiliar// word to determine the meaning of that //unfamiliar//word.
 * Write example //Tommy drove his __snarfog__ to the mall to go shopping// on the interwrite board//.//
 * Ask kids to tell you what a “snarfog” is based on its use in the sentence.
 * Allow time to share ideas. Ask why they feel their response makes sense.
 * Allow children to make their own sentence with a //nonsense//word. Have them share on the interwrite board and allow other students to use context clues to determine meaning of the nonsense words.
 * Teacher takes small group in the back (SI) while whole group is working in front (if aid is available divide assignments)
 * Allow whole class to work on Practice Book 3.1 page 34 “Vocabulary”
 * Review answers. Discuss
 * Allow students to choose a partner and complete the following enrichment exercise.
 * Say “Use context clues to finish these sentences”
 * Write vocabulary from the story “If You Made A Million” on the interwrite board for a word bank. **Appraised, Approaches, Career, Gleaming, Revealed.**
 * Students copy sentences on separate sheet of paper.
 * Sentences:
 * You will have a long _ as a scientist if you work hard.
 * Unable to keep a secret, Andrew _ that he got the job he wanted.
 * Many people get nervous as the time for a test _.
 * Aaron spied the bright diamond _ in the dark.
 * When Shirley’s gold ring was _, she learned that it was worth a lot of money.
 * **Early finishers**: Write another sentence using each word from the box. Share some examples on the interwrite board or allow student to word proces their sentences in a "creative font"

6/10/11 Vanessa Stackhouse For my lesson integrating technology and differentiate instruction I had my students explore pattern blocks using [|www.mathplayground.com/patternblocks.html]. At the end of the unit they created a photostory displaying their pattern block creations. My lesson was from the Everyday Mathematic Series. I passed out different pattern blocks and we brainstormed and discussed how many sides and corners on each shape. I then discussed with the class that each of these shapes were polygons which is a shape that has all straight sides that touch only at their endpoints. The students then used their math templates to draw specific shapes. The differentiated component of my lesson then took place. Advanced: To explore polygons relationship the students created a design using pattern block shapes. They used their pattern block template to record their design on a piece of paper. Once they had their rough draft they went onto [|www.mathplayground.com/patternblocks.html] and created their masterpiece. The students then completed a graph showing how many of each shape they used. On Level: To provide experience with identifying pattern block shapes the children used their fingers to draw a pattern block shape on their partner’s back. The partner then tried to guess the shape. Below Level: The students practiced shapes by drawing a square and a rectangle that they saw in the classroom. They used the interwrite board to complete this activity. //The students really enjoyed this week long lesson and seemed to grasp the concept.// //Shelly and Allysa, What a terrific idea! I really like the student choices and the websites that you incorporated into your instruction. Great job girls. Have a great summer. Margaret // 6/9/11 Heather Kupres I integrated technology into my science weather unit by having the students in the class become Jr. Meteorologist for the day as a culminating activty. Using laptops and a teacher generated website, the class worked in triads to predict the weather for the next three days. The students were grouped heterogenously in order to provide support for struggling students. Results were graded and a printed copy of the results was generted. Heather, Your students work so well together incooperative groups that I am sure this was a very successful project. Great idea. I am curious how the predictions were made, graphs, charts, words,etc. Hope you continue to find ways to use technology across all subjects. Enjoy your summer. Margaret
 * __Tiered Activities:__**
 * Throughout the week during centers students were asked to create a masterpiece of pattern blocks on the above website. We then created a photostory of their creations. The photostory is on my edline page html://www.edline.net/pages/Plainfield_ES/Classes/1011_106_99. Scroll down to Mrs. Stackhouse’s Pattern Blocks and click J //

6/9/11 Amanda Disidore & Linda Mondschein Writing- Endangered Species Research We integrated technology into a Writer's Workshop during which the students researched endangered animals. The students used a Jog the Web that we created ( [|http://www.jogtheweb.com/run/xKadd5cR2K7F/Endangered-Animal-Research-Project#1]) to complete the tasks and conduct research on an animal they chose. The students used various 5 paragraph essay graphic organizers to guide and organize their research and write a final copy of a 5 pararaph essay. To present their information, the students were given three options to choose from, all including technology at a variety of levels. All of the projects required the students to include various graphic aids of their choice (at least one picture or drawing of the animal, maps showing their habitats, charts, graphs showing changes in population, etc).

Choice 1- Create an animal trading cards using [|www.bighugelabs.com] (very user friendly site- great for students who have difficulty navigating through other programs) Choice 2- Create a Photo Story with voice recording (a little more challenging but still very user friendly) Choice 3- Create a Power Point with voice recording (has the most options for customizing the presentation for students who wanted to get a little more creative)

The students all presented their information to the class and were graded using a presentation rubric and the P.A. writing domains rubric for the 5 paragraph essay.

The students did very well with this project and had some great presentations to share with us at the end. The process worked very well for them and all of the students were able to successfully complete the project and present their information. Definitely a lesson that we will do again!

//This does sound like it was very motivating and engaging for students. There was a lot of choice and you came up with a unique way of incorporating the 5 paragraph essay using technology. I am sure the graphic organizer was useful as well. The 2 of you work so well together that I am not surprised this was a huge success. Keep up the good work. Rest and relax, but don't spend your whole summer with school work Amanda. See you next year. Margaret//

6/08/11 Robyn Luczkowiak 1st language Arts I chose to focus on adjectives from the Unit 4 Scott Foresman Reading Street Series. Being a child of the 60's and 70's, I have very fond memories of School House Rock. Thankfully, I was able to access SchoolTube.Com and found the video and song Unpack Your Adjectives //which I proceeded to show my kids everyday for a week. My students love music and singing so this was a lot of fun for them and will probably be ingrained in their brains for life. We spent a lot of time talking about the use of adjectives and how boring reading and writing would be without them.We then spend the week doing activities that revolved around adjectives.// I started with an adjective game that I like which I call "Guess Who?" On the board, I wrote a sentence and the students got three guesses to try and figure out who I was talking about. With each sentence, I added another adjective until it became very obvious who the sentence was about. Here's an example; I know a man. I know a handsome man. I know a handsome man who is bald. I know a handsome man who is bald and is the boss of the school. The purpose of this lesson was to stress that adjectives help you paint a picture in your head and the more details (adjectives) you add, the clearer the picture becomes. I then had the students pick a person and I had to guess who they were writing about. It was a fun activity and really made the students think about the words they chose. We also created list poems using adjectives. The students could pick any animal and then had to use words to describe them. __Cats__ big cats fat cats old cats new cats furry cats scary cats The students typed up their poems on the computer and added a picture from clip art to the bottom. In addition, we read various stories which were loaded with adjectives and stopped to discuss the different adjectives the author's used. I noticed that even when the students were free writing in their journals, their use of adjectives increased dramatically. [] //Robin,// //Very clever way of using technology to teach parts of speech. The times I have been to your room I have seen very creative and unique ideas generated to produce projects and activities that are fun and motivating for your students. Nice job. I hope you continue to have the creative juices flowing next year. Margaret//

6/07/11 Elle Molinari// Kindergarten media type="file" key="patterns photo story.wmv" width="265" height="162" The above files include technology plans that you can use to differentiate in reading, math, and writing. I have also included several different files to explore that correspond with my lessons. I have attempted most of these ideas in one way or another in my classroom and have found that students enjoy the use of technology and are actually quite savvy in using it. There are a few websites that I wanted to include that I often use with the Interwrite mobi board. __Math__: __Social Studies__: __Reading__: > Ellie, Wow!!! What a terrific job you did including many useful resources for teachers. I know you utilize technology quite often and encourage you to continue to motivate students with technology for instruction in the future. Have a great summer. Margaret 6/6/11 Carol McMillan Algebra I Radical Lesson. File contains, activities, websites and test.
 * To practice subtraction: []
 * Counting, ordering/ sequencing, money, shapes: []
 * Various ideas/ games: []
 * Various kindergarten materials and resources: []
 * Various available games for work in phonics and other language arts skills: []

Carol, Great resources Carol. I am so glad that you have begun to integrate more technology into instruction. I am sure you will find that the more you use it, the more engaged and motivated students will be. Have a great summer. Margaret **06-02-11 Swanson/Thompson** “Math Arcade”- Create an arcade atmosphere in the classroom! The students rotate throughout laptop stations and play games to practice math skills that were the most missed problems on the math 4-Sight. Prior to setting up the arcade, we reviewed the 4-sight data to determine which overall skills the students needed additional practice. We searched for appropriate games for skill and grade level. Teachers were also at stations to provide additional practice and review skills that were not able to be practiced using technology. This is an alternative to data analysis using only the projector that can be done as a review prior to the upcoming 4-sight test. Some of the websites that have been used and the skills that are practiced are listed below: ** Expanded and Standard Number Form ** //** [] **//

//** Weight and Capacity **// //** [] **//

//** Lines of Symmetry **// //** [] **// ** [] ** //** Coordinate Pairs **// ** [] ** //** (without negative numbers) **// //** [] **// //** (with negative numbers) **//

//** Multiples **// //** [] **//

//** Input/ Output Activity **// //** [] **//

//** Decimals **// //** [] **// //** Tammy and Roxanne, **// //** What a terrific idea! It sounds like you took what would normally be a very traditional 4 Sight review and made it both fun and engaging for students. I hope this proved successful for the students and inspired you to consider this for other situations, although too much may not be good either. Enjoy your summer with your children. Margaret **//

**05-28-11 Bohanon** As part of the culmination of the school year in READ 180, my students read the novel **Max the Mighty**. As we read the novel, students are given several projects to complete. The projects all include opportunities to use technology and I try to hit upon all learning styles and learning levels. Some of the activities the students can choose from are: creating a CD and cover that include songs that one of the main characters would have, writing a letter to the author of the book, creating a TV commercial or radio ad, preparing a food that relates back to a character and so on. The final project is the creation of either a cartoon or movie, using XTRANORMAL or TOONDOO. If you would like to view the finished producst…let me know and I can send you the ID and passwords for the sites as they are saved on each site. Students are able to choose which project to create. They are given rubrics that reflect the expectations. I will be adding more options for next year such as creating a short play with other students in the class that alter the ending of the novel, or write a new ending for the story. In my Inclusion English class, Kristin and I had the students create a Facebook page (using a template) for a character in **The Pigman//**. Kristin and I modeled for the students how to use the template. The students were placed into small groups to complete the task. Each group was given a character from the novel and an instruction sheet. The students had to work together to complete the FB page by rotating through the required sections of the FB page creation. Students were given a rubric to guide them. When the group pages were graded Kristin and I graded the groups as one and also individually.

Sheila, I have seen all of these lessons in action and found the students work well to accomplish all of the requirements. I have also seen some of the student products and they did a terrific job. I am sure you would agree that reluctant learners are very motivated when asked to use technology. Have a good summer. Margaret

5/26/11 Oakley I have created a webquest on zunal.com that teaches the concepts of air masses, fronts, and the weather they bring. It also allows students to make the connection between what they see on the weather map and what is actually happening in the atmosphere. The site was relatively easy to make and just needed a little bit of time. The students worked in pairs. The final project involved answering questions, diagraming maps, and a 5 paragraph essay to sum it all up. The students appeared as if they enjoyed completing it. They also submitted their completed assignment to me electronically which made it paperless. I folowed it up the next day by assessing the knowledge taught and felt that most had a good grasp on it.

Debbie and I collaberated on our DI/technology lesson. We will both be teaching a lesson on solving algebraic equations with variables on each side. In addition to our traditonal method of instruction, we found a video on brightstorm.com that demonstrated, step by step, how to solve this type of equation. The video gave four examples of equations with variables on both sides, progressing in difficulty. We felt that the video would be a good supplement to the lesson, and that many of the students would find it beneficial. Jason and Debbie, Nice job. The weather website sounds like it provided students with a more concrete example of what you were teaching and I really like the way use used technology to teach algebraic equations. I am curious how the students felt about it and whether or not it aided in their understanding of the concept. Margaret

2/17/11, Nomenclature, Chromey I plan to use clickers in my future nomenclature lesson. I would like to use the clickers as part of my pre-lesson, where I can make sure the students are knowledgeable in ionic nomenclature. I will teach covalent nomenclature and assess using the clickers during the lesson. I will then continue the lesson by mixing the two types of nomenclature, ionic and covalent, to ensure the students know the difference between the two and the different rules. At the end of the lesson, I will assess their knowledge using the clickers with four examples mix/match of both ionic and covalent nomenclature.

Natasha, Great way to conduct a pre-assessment and exit activity for your students! Using technology in this way can provide a quick and easy overview of student knowledge and understanding of a concept and help you in lesson planning. I hope this proved helpful to you. Margaret

September 27, 2010

Teacher Experiences using Differentiated Instruction-- 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 For my lesson integrating technology and differentiating instruction I had my students make a review game on classtools.net. They had many different game styles to choose from such as video games, memory games, and interactive vocabulary games that resembled the old super Mario game. Students imported questions that they made about the topics covered in the chapter. Students were required to use a minimum of 20 questions each. After making their game on classtools.net, they linked the games to the class Google Documents page. At the end of the day there were over 120 different review games that students could choose from to prepare for their test. Students could choose games made by other students as a way of reviewing. I gave the students a test earlier in the year to establish learning styles and they were encouraged to practice using review games from both students that had the same learning style and students that had a different style.

Overall, the class was happy to have a collaborative effort where they could help each other across different sections, not just students in the same classroom helping each other. Mike Post [|shuckchris] In the study of ecosystems, we calculated the unlimited growth of the milkweed bugs in their natural ecosystem over the course of a year. Since we would deal with billions of insects if we were do actually do this experiment within the classroom, a simulation program, provided by FOSS, was used to simulate the limiting population variables which enabled the students to see the effects of the various factors that can limit populations in an ecosystem. The students were amazed at the rate of population growth when certain factors are present and what the changes in variables can do to the population. This knowledge can be applied to the understanding that various factors can affect any ecosystem at anytime. The kids were completey tuned in due to the use of technology to show this.

Chris, This sounds like it was a great learning experience for your students. I am glad that you are using the technology based FOSS resources. Margaret

Throughout the year I have tried to integrated technology in to my lesson plans as often as possible because it makes it very easy to differentiate. One activity in which I used technology and differentiation was a project on ancient China. The students were participating in an authentic assessment in which they were traveling to China in order to participate in a game show that challenges their knowledge on Banpo Village, an ancient village excavation site. The students have the to create a map, an itinerary, and personal questions for the competition. The students have a lot of freedom of choice when deciding as a group who does what job. The choices offered in this activity allow the students to work on what they feel they are most interested in. By introducing technology into this lesson I am able to open up many new avenues of learning for the student.

Mike Peck

Mike, I have seen you incorporate technology into instruction many times but I am glad that you have added differentiation as well. This sounds like it was a continuation of a lesson I observed in my walk through. Nice job. Margaret

page contains lessons and reflection as a follow up to the Induction training Sandra Detzi/Roxanne Stevens We have incorporated differentiated instruction and technology into our lessons this past year. Here is one example of what we did. In math class we had students rotate among three stations. One station was review of multiplication facts using multiplication.com. Another station was a review of the math lesson with certain students working with the teacher while others were working independently on math journal pages. The last station was a Baseball Multiplication Game. According to abilitly level, students either played 1-6 facts or the advanced version of 1-10 facts. Another example of what we attempted to complete was a photostory. The students worked with partners to create their fall poems. Although the students completed their poems, we got started, but were unable to complete the actual photostory. It is our goal to have this year's students complete this task. Gail DeGruccio There are various technology uses in FCS (Family Consumer Science). Students use the internet to access culinary sites for information and vocabulary. (Wordle.net is a new favorite to create interesting printouts of vocabulary and poems)Power Points are used to give students an overview of different learning modules. Programs such as Paint and Photostory are used to present video of student activity (which is now posted on edline and facultyshare). United Streaming, and Interwrite have been used to further student comprehension and offer diversified instruction.

Sandy, I am glad that you differentiated the ability level of the students when using the multiplication game. Using photostory to include student poems is a great idea! I am glad that you intend to expand that activitiy this year. Margaret

__**Sarah Gower's use of technology**__ In my Geometry classes, students researched the artist M.C. Escher and got to see how geometry was used to create his artwork--most notably his tessellations. Students then chose a favorite piece, analyzed it, and added their analysis to an M.C. Escher wiki along with two discussion board questions. I've done this project for a few years, but this year ran into some problems with wikispaces. Instead of having the students post their discussions on the wiki, I created discussions on Edline, which all students easily had access to--at school or at home. Although this project was a bit stressful because of the problems with wikispaces, it was a learning experience that required me to think fast and stay positive for the students. In addition to the wiki/Edline part of the project, students also were required to create a translation tessellation and a rotation tessellation on Geometer's Sketchpad. This way, they saw all of what went into constructing tessellations-geometry-wise. They saw how properly constructing parallelograms, working with vectors, creating lines of symmetry, and determining points of rotation played a huge role in a successful tessellation. The students had a fun time looking at Escher's unique art while appreciating the geometry that lies within it.
 * last year's project:** http://mc-escher.wikispaces.com

Sarah, This sounds like an excellent use of technology. I like that it was interdisciplinary and students used multiple technology applications to work on the project. Great job! Margaret

During the week of Earth Day, I created a DI unit on recycling and conservation using technology as one of my learning centers. To view the full unit, go to "Facultyshare" and click on "Kelsch DI Unit Recylcing Using Technology For Differentiating" Mary Kelsch, Plainfield Elementary, Kindergarten

Mary, The unit that you developed was very well done and the lesson plans were very well written. Hopefully, you will be able to share some of what you learned this year with other members of the kindergarten team. Margaret

Staci George and Jeanne Smith, along with their second grade students, created a photostory regarding their second grade experience and the benefits of coteaching. You can find the project on Edline in the "News" section of Mrs. George's Homepage or in "Facultyshare" saved as a "Windows Media Audio/Video File" titled "2nd grade photostory project_1."

Staci and Jeanne,

Excellent idea! I like that you were able to share the photostory with parents on Staci's homepage. Hopefully, this project has sparked other ideas for technology intergration. Margaret

For my differentiated math lesson, I had the students rotate between three different learning centers. The students worked with a buddy and had seven minutes to work at each center. There was an anchor activity at each center, in case students finished before time was up. The students were flexibly grouped by ability and needs. I started the lesson by asking pre-assessment questions, not only to get the students thinking about the lesson, but as a means of judging what they already knew about the concept and what I would need to address. I ended the lesson by having the students complete an exit slip, stating one thing they learned from the day's lesson. I used auditory and tactile/kinesthetic modalities for this lesson, and the lesson was a success. The students really seemed to grasp the objective of the lesson.

As far as technology is concerned, I really liked how Laura showed us the advanced search on Google. I use this all the time now! I did an advanced search on "Great Ways to Begin a Writing piece." Instead of browsing through a whole bunch of websites, I selected Power Points, which is what I was specifically looking for. I found this awesome Power Point, which provided students with a list of great ways, or "hooks," to begin a writing piece. It also told students how not to start a writing piece, such as "Once upon a time..." or "My name is _, and I'm going to write about _." At the end of the Power Point, there was an activity for students to practice writing great beginnings. The students had to choose two topics (motivating ones, such as Disney World, restaurants, famous people, etc.) and two ways to begin a writing piece. Then they wrote! I added the "hooks" to a list of other great ways to begin a writing piece given to us at an Act 80 day about the five paragraph essay. When the kids shared their great beginnings, many of them choose to start with a fact or opinion or a question. I think the kids enjoyed this activity. They liked writing about famous people...from music artists to famous athletes. Hopefully, the students will continue to use these great beginnings when they write. They are already writing five paragraph essays right now! If you're interested in the Power Point, just let me know!

Amanda Schwartz, Learning Support Teacher, WGMS Amanda, Thank you for sharing both your differentiated math lesson and your technology based writing activity. It sounds like the students really learned and enjoyed both lessons. I really liked the way you were able to tie in the 5 paragraph essay as well. Great ideas. Margaret

__This week I tried making my first online quiz. I used the edline "quiz building" feature to create a vocabulary quiz and the experience was positive. After the glitches were addressed (I set the access date for the quiz on the wrong day!) with the help of Mrs. Silliman, I found the exercise to be be valuable and I will certainly use edline to build tests in the future. I believe this sort of thing would be a great tool for those of us working with homebound students. It does require some additional upfront work, but it saves grading time at the end. It's probably best to not link the tests to gradebook because of any technological problems that may interfere with the tests and usage will depend on access to reliable computers.__ __Phil Fritchey, PAHS__ __Phil,__ __I am glad that you created an online assessment. I am sure that it does save time in the long run and I agree that homebound students would be able to use this form of assessment. Great tip regarding Edline. Margaret__

I used classtools.net to create vocabulary games as review in a station activity for my learning support English class. Students rotated among 3 stations. One station was a flash card comprehension review game, another station was writing, drawing, or orally presenting an alternate ending to the story we had just read and discussed as a class. My final station was a vocabulary review games on the computer, created through classtools.net. Students were able to review vocabulary from a choice of 5 different arcade games at varying difficulty levels. I also linked these games to my edline page so that students can review their vocabulary from home at any time. Students responded very positively. They asked when we could do the activity again, and some even went home and reviewed their vocabulary there. I felt that this activity was very beneficial to the students. We accomplished quite a bit of review in a relatively short period of time, and the students were motivated to learn. Beth Snyder, Learning Support Teacher PAHS

Beth, The technology activities that you created were outstanding and your students really enjoyed them. You and I spoke about other ways to use these games as well and I hope you will be able to expand your use of technology for reinforcing skills as well. Margaret

[|Shira916] I enjoy using a variety of tech resources in my classroom... From the occasional United Streaming video to the use of the Interwrite board to work on open ended math problems and directly teach reading comprehension skills. At this current time, I am working on using Skype to introduce my students to other students their age from around the globe. My students plan on writing letters to students in Canada and compare their lives to the lives of those students. Then, through Skype, they will meet those students and share creative writing stories they composed. With regard to the students' creative writing stories, the story starters they used were created through the Scholastic.com Story Starter Machine, which was a fun and random way to give them an idea to get the ball rolling on their stories. When they complete their stories, they are going to use a website called the Zimmer Twins to create an animated version of the story they wrote. Another lesson that I am planning with Skype is having my students prepare to read a story to a Kindergarten class. My students are reluctant readers and technology would be a motivating factor to encourage them to practice their reading. Lastly, I am constantly looking for interactive websites that my students can use to practice the math skills that I am teaching throughout the year. I have listed these sites on my Edline account as well as posted them in my room for the kids to see in order to access the sites when they have the computers.

Shira, You have some great ideas for technology integration. I like that you are using Edline to post sites for students and parents to use. I learned how to Skype this past school year and it gave me a lot of ideas for its use both at home and school. Margaret

Over the course of this school year, I have tested out several modes of technology with my students in my foreign language classes. One activity that my students enjoy is creating dialogs and then recording them onto handheld PC's. They like to hear themselves speaking the language and it helps me to work with them on pronunciation. My students also enjoy working through scavenger hunts that I have created on the laptops. I usually provide them with a website and they have to use the site to answer questions. United Streaming has been a valuable resource for my classroom. The site has beginner level Spanish lessons that reinforce grammar and vocabulary. In addition, I have found useful videos that relate to various countries' cultures, history, and geography. This year my students used Microsoft Publisher to create a brochure about a Spanish-speaking country. For many of them, it was their first exposure to the program so we worked on formatting and inserting clipart and other images. I use Rubistar to make my rubrics for their major projects so that the students are aware of the expectations and how the projects will be graded. Lastly, I have found many uses for the Smartboard. It makes my lessons much more interactive and exciting. I enjoy using the Smartboard for Powerpoints, especially when using the interactive Jeopardy board as a review before a major test. I plan on continuing to use these programs and materials, as well as keeping up to date with the newest technology.

Andrea Millheim WGMS 8th Grade World Language Teacher

I do my best to use differentiated instruction and technology into my lessons as much as possible, but the differentiated instruction lesson that I wish to expand on helped motivate lower-level algebra students how to graph lines in slope-intercept form. I used the Interwrite board for this lesson, which is a portable interactive board that is linked to a computer that students can write on, graph, and do nearly all the functions and capabilities that they can on a computer. The screen is projected using an overhead for all to see. To start the body of the lesson, each student was given a sheet of graph paper with six coordinate planes on it to graph all the lines during the lesson. In order to build on prior knowledge, students were questioned on a review of what slope-intercept form is and how to identify the m (slope) and b (y-intercept) values for a line in this form. Next, I demonstrated how to graph a line in slope-intercept form by first graphing the b value on the y-axis and then using the slope to get the other point of the line (the two points are then connected to form a line). As soon as I demonstrated this, students were eager to show how much they knew by graphing the problems presented to the class. Students were so eager for their turn to use the Interwrite board that numbers were assigned to students for an order like the deli line. Students were also eager to explore the features of the Interactive mode, including different colors, thicknesses of lines, the highlighter tool, types of lines (regular lines, lines with arrows on both sides which is ideal and proper for graphing lines), and the eraser tool to fix errors. During the lesson, students were given a problem to graph at their seats. After a minute or two, a student was picked to graph their answer on the Interwrite board. Students would then politely confirm or deny the correctness of the student chosen. If the student chosen to graph the problem was incorrect, another student would revise their work. The technology itself and the portability to give the technology to different students at their seats to access their grasp of the material at any given time was great to differentiate instruction, motivate students, and allowed me to assess their grasp of the material very quickly and efficiently. Most students were very eager to start their homework after gaining confidence on how to graph lines properly from slope-intercept form using the Interwrite board.

Bob Pipech - Mathematics Teacher PAHS

I chose to teach my DI lesson with my 6th grade reading remediation students. The students needed to use the reading strategies and skills that were taught throughout the school year to teach the rest of the class a lesson about mummies. To build knowledge students created a KWL and watched a video about Egyptian and Incan mummies. In order for the students to “teach the class,” they decided which section of the book, __Mummies and their mysteries__ they wanted to learn more about. Students were grouped based on what they wanted to research. They had the following choices: How Egyptian mummies are formed, Incan Mummies, Cave mummies, and Ice mummies. I created power points that contained some of the important information from the book, __Mummies and their mysteries__. After the information was presented, the students completed their task. The activities students completed depended on the topic the student chose. The Egyptian mummy group created a filmstrip to show the sequence of events that took place in order for a person to become a mummy. The students used a website where they were an embalmer’s assistant to learn what to do. The Incan Mummy group compared and contrasted Egyptian mummies and Incan mummies. The cave mummy group summarized the different types of cave mummies that have been found and the ice mummy group created a news report after watching a video of the Ice Man. Students then reported to the class what they learned and interesting facts. Students graded each other using a rubric from rubistar. Having the students work in groups was a great change, however it was challenging. I usually use this time for direct instruction and many of my students struggle in the same area of reading comprehension. This activity was a great opportunity for the students to showcase what they learned and boost confidence in presenting to a small group. I would do this again, however, I would allow for more time to work on the project in groups and maybe provide the students with more direction. During the presentations it was obvious which groups spent "just a little more time" than other groups. I would also plan the project for earlier so I can prepare background knowledge for students. Overall, the students enjoyed the project and it was successful. ~Erin Cain, Reading Remediation - WGMS

I used Photostory with a group of 5th graders to make a movie describing the instrument families. Before we made the movie the students spent a week learning about all of the different instruments within the instrument families and getting to test them out. Afterwards each student was assigned an instrument and given a coloring page of that instrument. Each student had to color in the instrument so it looked correct and had to come up with one fact about the instrument. In hindsite I wish I had checked the facts before we recorded them, because some are a little off. To do this project I took pictures of them and uploaded them onto my personal computer. My laptop has a built in microphone that the students used and that was really exciting to them to use something that didn't belong to the school. They were very careful with it and worked extra hard. The students all did a really good job and they are very proud of what they accomplished. I'm sure I will be using photostory again in the future! media type="file" key="Instrument Families_1.wmv" width="151" height="147" INSTRUMENT FAMILIES VIDEO -Kaitlin Huggins - General Music - WGMS

I decided to differentaite not only through a tiered assignment, but through the technology that I had each child use. I divided the class into three groups and had them work on three different reading strategies including summarizing, sequencing, and character analysis. I used a pretest and warm-up strategy to help create my gorups, along with observations that I have made throughout the year. First they completed a graphic organizer to help better understand and organize their strategy. Next, on the computers (and laptops) students used PhotoStory (Summarizing Group), PowerPoint (Sequencing Group), and Interactive Character Trading Cards from Read-Write-Think (Character Analysis Group) to help demonstrate their understanding of the strategy they were assigned. I used an Exit Card to help me answer specific questions after Day 1 and I also gave each child a "Task Card" to spark interest and deliver their individual instructions for their assignments, rather than telling the instructions whole group since they all had such different assignments. (I had the groups using PhotoStory and PowerPointwork in pairs to help each other with the more difficult technology being used.) Also, another thing that worked very well was instead of having the children search for images for their assignment, I created a folder on Public that was filled with images, and digital photos of the students' work (they made a picture book of the story previously) that applied to the story. I demonstrated how to retrieve these photos and that was the bank of images they had to choose from for their projects rather than surfing Google Images (which they so love to do!!) After the projects were complete, I had all groups and individual students present their projects using the "big screen", while the observers filled out both positive and constructive feedback for each group. I asked all of my students to reflect on the project and they expressed how much they loved using the computers and were truly proud of their work. I really enjoyed this lesson and it is something I look forward to using again in the future! CHECK OUT OUR PROJECTS! You can find them on Edline in My Reading Folder! They are under "Pioneer Girl Projects!!"[|Our Projects on Edline] -Patty Colelli, 5th Grade, WGMS

I used Photostory 3 to create a video version of the Sound-A-Bet that we practice in Kindergarten. I took pictures of the kids and they were able to record their letters. It was REALLY easy to do and the kids were SO EXCITED to make a movie. They love to watch it and are so proud of their work. We are using this to do our Sound-A-Bet during school. The students that need extra practice can access it at home using Edline. I think I might do their word wall words next so the students that are struggling can use it to practice the words! Here are the links to the vidoes. Click on these links in Edline then scroll down to the video links in the NEWS section.  [|Ternosky AM alpha video]

[|Ternosky pm video]
- Amanda Ternosky, Kindergarten :) I used Photostory 3 to create a video of our observations of Spring. Since I do not cover Science in my room I used this activity for our writing. We took our clipboards and pencils outside each day to write down and draw a sketch of what we saw. We even used the camera to take live pictures of the things we observed. At the end of the week I put all of the pictures on the computer and typed the kids sentences. They then were able to record their sentences for each picture. After we were finished we put it to music and the kids had a great time picking the music. They thought it was great that they go to see their sentences on a video. Each student had a role in making the video and they really enjoyed it. The link below will take you to my Edline page where you can click to watch the video. I hope you enjoy :) Thanks!

~ Ashley Lewis, Kindergarten [|Our Spring Observations]

I have created another set of videos with my kids. Similar to Ashley's project, I had the kids write about spring. I took pictures of their writing samples and pictures and they recorded their voice over their pictures. It came out really cute and they are very excited to show their families over Easter vacation. You can view these videos on my Edline page under the News section. [|Ternosky AM spring]

[|Ternosky pm spring]
<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive;">- Amanda Ternosky, Kindergarten :) <span style="color: #ff00ff; display: block; font-family: georgia,serif;">My class has been working hard on creating their personal photo stories using Photo Story 3 as well. We worked in class on poetry writing. We read a poem called "Cloud Dragons" from our Reading Street series, which had to do with what the speaker saw in the clouds in the sky. Using this model, my class wrote their own poems with a 2 line rhyming pattern. After they "published" their work on Microsoft Word, they drew a picture to go along with their poem. Finally, they chose two more pictures to accompany their poetry reading from Google. The only problem I had was that the pictures from google became fuzzy and hard to read once they final product was saved. My class really enjoyed doing this project. I also had a parent volunteer in when we were working on the project, and she was absolutely impressed! The project was a lot of fun, worthwhile, and enriching. I am looking forward to doing a whole class photo story after our field trip to the aquarium in May. The link to our work is here! It will take you to my EdLine,and in the content section you will see "Poetry Photo Stories" Enjoy! [|3rd Grade Photo Stories] <span style="color: #ff00ff; display: block; font-family: georgia,serif;">-Teriane Johns, 3rd grade ===I used Windows Movie Maker to create a movie about the students cooking Microwave Marshmallow Treats. I took pictures of 8th, 7th, and 6th grade while they were putting the ingredients together, serving the final product, and cleaning up and made it into a movie. I was putting the movie together at home but I was adding a second song to it and my computer crashed and I lost the original movie that had more pictures and more titles. Which is a good thing; because it was 15 minutes long and the kids would have gotten bored. Movie maker was nice to use, it is a little hard just starting out. I used Photo Story for a mini ad I made for my 7th grade group and found it was just as nice, maybe a little easy if you are going to go back and edit, editing with movie maker was hard because the slides were close together and moving titles was a mess. Next, I'm having my 7th grade make commercials for their product advertisement and I'll try to post them. Here's a link to the cooking movie. [|Cooking Movie]===

Brandy Hahn, Family and Consumer Science
Here are the Advertisement Commercials that my 7th graders made, there were 5 groups and I picked the best 3. We used Photo Story to make the commercials and the kids really seemed to enjoy it and had fun using Photo Story and all the things they could do using the program. Here are the commercials.[|Group Commercials] Brandy Hahn, FC S

Robert Foster--I am green with envy with the quality of your work and creativity you have used to incorporate technology and other teaching strategies into your instructional program. Well done.

You have done a fine job with this project. this is how you participate.

Margaret Petit The quality of work and variety of technology uses chosen for this project are outstanding. I am sure your students were motivated and engaged in each of the assignments selected. Great job!

<span style="color: #000080; display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 110%;">
 * While this is not an actual technology lesson, this file is something to be shared! In light of DI, I have created "Math Circle" jobs that mimic the idea of literature circles, but they are used for solving open-ended math problems. I tried it with mixed ability groups, and it worked fantastically! I hope that it can be of use to anyone who has students with difficulties solving open-ended problems. You can find the file in the "Differentiated Instruction Templates" folder in Faculty Share, titled "Math Circle Jobs." Enjoy! ~Patty Colelli, WGMS 5th grade**

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">My Spanish 1 students just completed a mini-unit on Spanish poetry. The unit began by introducing the Cuban poet, José Martí and his poem entitled “Versos Sencillos”. The students personalized the poem by deleting selected words and inserting their own so that the poem described themselves. Next, they used Audacity to record themselves reading the poem. They drew four pictures using Paint that were from lines of the poem. Lastly, they used Microsoft PhotoStory to put the poem, audio, and images together to make a mini-book. Using technology for this assignment allowed students to work with poetry instead of focusing only on analyzing parts of the poem.

<span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">- Josephine Buscemi, Spanish 1, PAHS <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Josephine, <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">This was an excellent use of technology in foreign language. I also liked the intergration of Language Arts through the use of poetry. I hope this experience has inspired you to use technology more in the future. Margaret <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif;">

__http://penargylcff.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Project__ Using this as a guide, I created a project for my 9 General class, while reading the novel __The Pigman__. The students were divided into groups of their choosing with a designated character of the teacher's choice from the novel, and each student got a worksheet with different sections on it dealing with the character's personality, events throughout the novel, music, pictures, theme, as well as other devices used throughout. The students went through the worksheet as a group and contributed to each section, writing what they individually thought, as well as compiling everything as a group. In doing this, they are contributing in cooperative learning and social skills. After the worksheet was complete, the students were put into different "stations" on the computer, divided by each section of the worksheet. As the teacher, I created a separate page of the Powerpoint from the facebook template, so the students were able to individually look at the page without having other students editing it at the same time. For instance, while one student was looking at the pictures section, another student could be working on the "wall" because they were on separate pages. This made saving issues easier. By the end of the project, the students had created Facebook page for their designated character. I believe the stations worked very well, but not as much time needed to have been given for each; it was a matter of getting the worksheet organized prior and spending more time on that. Transferring the information to the Facebook page was easy because most students were computer savvy. -Kristin Kresge, English, PAHS