Phipps-Dorencamp,+Sachelle+Louise+cool+tools

Cool Tools Sessions

On Tuesday there were two cool tools sessions. The first was the Cool Tools Carousel and the second was the Cool Tools and Hot Topics session. Though I liked the idea of the cool tools carousel, I found it to be a lot of tools thrown at the groups in a short period of time. Despite the quickness of the cool tools carousel, we did learn a lot of great tools an my favorite tools were blabberize and animo to. I think both blabberize and animoto are fun tools that students would really enjoy using, and definitely tools I plan on incorporating into my class. The biggest problem with the carousel was that we did not have time to use the different tools we were learning. I found that I learned more through out the week when I was able to collaborate with my group and work with these tools. I did not like the Cool Tools and Hot Topics session. My particular strand, problem based learning, was just terrible. The presenter did not seem to understand the questions that were being asked of her and I feel like the students spent more time arguing with the instructor than was useful. I did find her use of google docs to be very helpful. I found Wednesday’s Cool Tools session to be extremely useful and informative, and I liked how it was broken up into subject matter. I attended the Social Studies Strand with John Lee and I really liked how we focused a lot on the new implementation of the common core in our classrooms especially with using the SCIM strategy to help interpret digital history and thereby incorporating ELA Common Core concepts into our classrooms. I will definitely use the SCIM website in my class next year. The other tool we used in this strand is gapminder, which is a visualization tool, and a fantastic resource for a social studies classroom, especially when it comes to looking at data and patterns! I immediately shared this source with the ELA teacher at our table. Finally we quickly looked at chronozoom, another really cool visualization tool, that is an interactive timeline. I was so impressed with this tool that I immediately shared it with the science teacher in our group.

Action Plan

Next year, Jones Senior High School is going to be 1:1. All of our students will have Macbooks to use in classes and I can see many of the tools we learned in class being used on a regular basis. Firstly, BJ Lewis, the science teacher, and myself have already discussed having all students create online binders on wiki or pbworks (neither of us likes livebinders) to keep track of their work throughout their high school career, which could eventually be a technology portfolio. As an AVID teacher this would definitely help in my class, since part of AVID, is having our students stay organized. Besides pbworks and wikis, one of the first tools I see myself using is Animoto. One of the first activities I do in class is called Social Issues in Music. It stimulates the students to start thinking about issues that are important to them and it engages their interest because they are analyzing music they enjoy for class. Incorporating a web 2.0 tool would take student engagement for this activity to another level! First, students would be expected to find a song that speaks to an issue important to them. I can see having students create an animoto about the important social issues that they found in the song and why these issues are important. I can then see having students create a second animoto or even an iMovie about a song or poem that they created about a social issue.

Lesson Plan

Title of Assignment: Social Issues in Music

Subject: Civics and Economics Grade Level: 9-12

Major Standards: Analyze the roles of citizens of North Carolina and the United States in terms of responsibilities, participation, civic life and criteria for membership or admission Analyze the obligations of citizens by determining when their personal desires, interests and involvement are subordinate to the good of the nation or state Explain the changing perception and interpretation of citizenship and naturalization
 * CE C&G 4.3: **
 * CE.C&G.4.4 **
 * CE.C&G.4.5 **

Goals: Students will understand what a citizen is and what is expected of American Citizens Students will be able to analyze current forms of music Students will be able to understand civic issues and speak to issues that they care about

Final Product: Students will create an Animoto about a song that they feel discusses a social issue in our society. They will then write their own song or poem and create a music video using imovie and/or garage band about a social issue that speaks to them.

Formative Assessments: Animoto Song/poem using garage band and imovie

Summative Assessments: Daily quizzes using Google Docs

Key Content: Vocabulary: Citizenship, communication, Patriot Act, Homeland Security, sedition, civil rights, equal protection under the law, jury duty, Selective Service Act, rule of law, eminent domain, voting, interacting successfully with government agencies, organizing and working in civic groups, volunteering, petitioning, picketing, speaking to issues.

Technology Integrations: Google Docs Rubistar Animoto Garage Band iMovie