Patrick's Tech Portfolio
Shown here are the projects I've chosen to include in my tech portfolio.
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Check out my new Glogster glog for the book Leo the Snow Leopard that we have in our Fox Hill Library Media Center!
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Voice Thread is great because it incorporates audio, video, image, research, and computer skills. It’s like having the elements of podcasting and Power Point rolled into one, and as an added bonus others can also comment via audio or text to comment or give feedback.
I created this presentation on my grandfather and his time in the Pacific during WWII. I believe this is a good example of the use of this technology because not only is it telling a part of important history, this technology medium allowed me to tell a personal story as well and my own ties to the events portrayed. I believe that if other students can follow this model and are able to invest themselves in their learning by relating their own thoughts and feelings via Voice Thread their student achievement will increase dramatically.
I believe what I’ve done well in this podcast is use some personal connections to tell a story about an important historical event. This easily ties into the World History II Learning Standards in the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework section on the Great Wars 1914-1945. To better adhere to supporting that framework, in the revision of this project I tightened the focus of the Voice Thread to better adhere to the specific story of the Pacific.
In addition to the goal of supporting the curriculum framework, the other main goal of this project is to use technology to make history come alive. This could also be a vital tool for students who are more oriented to audio and visuals in their learning styles. I believe this technology supports those goals because it provides a way for students to creatively display the information they’ve synthesized on a particular topic and can be used as an alternative for standard paper report. -
Screencasts fall under the topic of “Technology for and about technology.” They are a great way to explain how and when to use a technology. They are great because for students they can be accessible from home as well as school and can be watched as many times as needed to fully understand a technology.
In my screencast I displayed a research method and showed a point of access for a particular topic. In this case, it was finding primary sources on the Civil War. What I felt I did well in the screen cast is to follow a series of steps showing students how to access a data base, telling students what a data base is, showing points of access, displaying how to find primary sources, and what primary sources are.
This would support students working on this project because they could refer back to the video if they forgot how to find primary sources in this particular data base. If they only needed one bit of information, they are also able to fast forward through the video. This is almost akin to only needed information from one chapter in a print manual.
The goal for creating screencasts such as this one would be for students to gain a better understanding of the technology that you’re demonstrating. Another goal would be to provide additional student support, and in this case that support comes in students having this how-to video available to them 24/7.
Aside from students, as a SLMS, teachers and administration can also greatly benefit from screencasts and can teach themselves particular technologies and then pass that on to students and implement new technologies into their own teaching. This technology supports these goals for both students and teachers.
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This podcasts introduces students to three additional title suggestions for summer reading. Two are classics and one is a fun read, so some variety is provided. The books are:
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
Music by Shark and Bear
E-mail me with any questions: patrick@askpatrick.edu
This is an example of a podcast I would have on the library or school page for students to download. What is also great about a service like Tumblr is that the podcast can also be streamed for those students who may not have a mobile device such as an iPhone or iPod in which to take my podcast on the go.
What I believe I’ve done well in this podcast is to inform students of new books and I’ve done this with booktalks that have a hook, meaning I’ve left off at a point that will peek a students interest and leave them wanting to pick up the book and find out what happens. This particular podcast is about summer reading, so the clear goal is increased literacy and keeping students active with their reading over the summer break.
In addition to students, this could also be a useful tool for parents because they can also get suggestions for material for their kids to read. As this takes advantage of podcast technology, even if students don’t have a mobile device, the parent may, and over the summer can bring this podcast to the library and listen so they can be reminded of the synopsis, author, and title. Expanding upon that, there is also no reason teachers and administrators can not listen as well, should they want to keep up on their lit for students and young adults. Maybe they might just be looking for a quick read themselves.
Because podcasts are relatively easy to produce, it would be a goal of mine to be creating them regularly and to be posting them not only for summer break, but throughout the year. The goal here is to not only get them reading independently, but to provide students with a wide variety of choices to aid them in developing their own interests.
Regarding choices, the original version of this podcast featured three works that are considered classics. Following Linda’s suggestion, I’ve substituted a newer work that is more of a book to read for fun. This book is The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg.
By offering several choices in a podcast, Reading and Literature Standard 10: Genre of the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework is satisfied. Framework 10.5 states: Compare and contrast the presentation of a theme or topic across genres to explain how the selection of genre shapes the message. Framework 10.6 states: Identify and analyze characteristics of genre (satire, parody, allegory, pastoral) that overlap or cut across the lines of genre classifications such as poetry, prose, drama, short story, essay, and editorial.
This technology supports these goals because it is something that can be easily accessed, referenced, and reviewed as many times as needed for students and parents looking for the information. -
In this portrayal of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Jake and Brett touch on several of the major themes in the novel.
In this Xtranormal, the technology helps bring the characters to life helping students better understand them, their relationships, and the understanding of the story and it’s themes. Revisions were made to the dialogue to focus more on the major themes of the novel - life after war, friendship, the twenties, and disillusionment.
Hemingway is listed as one of the important writers of the first half of the 20th century in the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework. As an example, Reading and Literature General Standard 11: Theme states for grades 9 and 10: “11.5 Apply knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, and provide support from the text for the identified themes.”
The Xtranormal presented highlights a number of themes that Hemingway expresses in his novel. My goal for having students use this technology would be that they could use this video as a model to create scenes from other literature. My goal would that they could clearly identify themes in literature, synthesize them, and be able to show their knowledge and understanding in a creative way using Xtranormal.
Another goal I have for projects such as this is that the will increase student literacy. Students are creative and will undoubtedly create highly entertaining video projects. It would be my goal that working on a project such as this, where fictional literary figures come alive, would inspire students to read the books and continue to explore others works with similar themes to those they develop an interest in.
