I've actually started putting our Soda Rock artifact together using the photos and videos from our Soda Rock trip and the iMovie app on the ipads. I'm hoping to have a finished product to share after Spring Break! The artifact I'm sharing this week is the Identity Collage portion of the project where students explored how places have shaped their identities. I am still adding slides to my presentation as more students finish their collage, but I do have a few complete ones to share with you here.
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Our project is slow moving during these cold winter months as we are unable to travel to visit more locations in the area until Spring arrives. We are hoping to visit two more local sites, a sweat lodge and pictographs with local Indigenous community members. Unfortunately, road access to these sites is tricky and will rely on dry conditions. With Spring run-off and possible rain we are crossing our fingers (and toes) that we will be able to make it to both locations before the end of May. With the project deadline being at the end of May we are definitely feeling that it will be very tight to have our digital artifacts presentable by that time. Of course, this is one of the hurdles we face by having a project that relies on taking day trips in order to fulfill the project vision and create an authentic learning experience for the students. We are lucky that we were able to reach the Soda Rock site in the fall and can work on creating that artifact in the meantime. Hopefully we will have a beautiful Spring and these excursions can happen sooner in the season! Is anyone feeling a similar challenge in their projects? How do you keep your projects rolling ahead? What is our approach to assessment in this project?Our approach to assessment in this project is varied as there are multiple aspects to evaluate; the students, technology, ourselves and the overall product. Another challenging aspect is whether to assess each piece of the project separately or as a whole, as we hope to end up with at least three separate digital artifacts that represent our project theme of identity and place. I would say that the majority of our assessment is going to be observations of the students and the technology as well as a reflection of each step of the process and then the final product itself. How are we assessing the work we and/or our students are creating with the project tools?Student evaluation will mainly consist of observations around their participation and engagement in the project.
How are we assessing whether the project, the tools have been effective?As mentioned above, our assessment will focus on observations and reflections. Below are some questions we can use to help evaluate our success of the project.
First off, I need to thank SET-BC for the use of the iPad pros, apple pencils and smart keyboards. We are very grateful for such technology. The students have been VERY excited about the iPads and were eager to be testers of the apps I downloaded! I run free choice art centers in my classroom for students who are finished early or have some extra class time. I've just finally added the iPad center to the list of choices and am already amazed by what the students have created. Pure Sense Case Review ...I found cases and headphones for the iPads on amazon.ca for a fairly reasonable price. After kid-testing them in the classroom over the past couple weeks, I would give both a five star rating! The cases are fantastic for student handling, especially with the younger students who can find it difficult to manage the large size. They are easy to carry by either the handle or strap. The handle also doubles nicely as a stand. The headphones are adjustable, which is great for me as I teach multiple grade levels. I used washi tape to colour code each set of iPads, headphones, pencils and accessories so the students and myself can easily make sure everything is in order. The pros and cons ...Pros:
AppsSince I teach Fine Arts (dance, drama, music, art) to K-9 students the apps I've downloaded are related to those subjects. I have a variety of apps that are mostly music or art and are suitable for multiple age levels. As I mentioned earlier, I run art centers in my classroom, so below is a poster I've created of allowed apps for kids to explore.
I've only had the iPads fully up and running for the past couple weeks so I am still learning how to use many of the programs. So far my favourites are Garage Band, Drawing Desk, Moma Art Lab, PictoBoldo and Art Authority K-12. The more we get to play around with the Apps the more ideas I get for cool projects! The apple pencils have been amazing for drawing, shading, sketching and coloring on the art apps. Below is a few apps that I have been playing around with. I hope to have an update with more once we have a little more time trying them out.
I suppose this is about the halfway point on the project timeline, although it doesn’t seem like we are halfway through the work of the project. We have a great start, a focused vision and good resources at our fingertips to keep this project rolling ahead. I had a unique opportunity last month through the Canadian Council for the Arts to participate in a virtual artist tour with Métis artist Katherine Boyer, presented by curator (and family friend), Wayne Baerwaldt. The exhibit “To Bead is to Visit” is currently happening at the Âjagemô gallery in Ottawa. When our rural community had to opportunity to be part of an experience like this (thanks to technology), I couldn’t pass it up! Luckily the school principal and a classroom teacher were willing to take on the pre-planning and get the grade 6/7 students prepared to visit the space. This is an incredibly busy time of year for me with directing Christmas plays at both schools, so unfortunately I couldn’t participate during the time of the tour, but was informed that is was a fantastic experience! Originally, Katherine Boyer’s work was not part of our project plan, however, her traditional Métis beaded artwork is a great fit within our Living Histories project. I’m looking forward to working on a beading project with the students inspired by Katherine’s work in the New Year. Please read more about the Katherine Boyer experience here. As for the rest of our Living Histories project, there has not been too much progress since the Soda Rock trip. We have collected the student’s photographs and are currently in the process of looking at how to incorporate local songs or drumming rhythms into the piece. Our next step, after the Christmas break will be to invite some local Indigenous community members in to help us create these elements for our final artifact. Technology is one of my favourite student motivators, especially when it can boost student engagement in meaningful ways. I love watching the excited faces when I tell students we are creating a product using computers, iPads or cameras. It is important to note that these devices come with pre-lessons around treating them respectfully while using them as a learning or creating tool rather than for personal recreation time. That being said, it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun while creating movies! What aspects of Digital Citizenship have we incorporated or will incorporate into our project? Because our project is based around sharing living history through Indigenous stories, I’ve had to consider how to respect the cultures, stories and history while presenting our digital products in an authentic way. For starters, when contacting the Indigenous members about sharing their connections to the land with students, I made sure to get permission to publish their stories. I was very clear that my intention is to create a digital artifact to share with the school and community as well as on my blog. I will also be making sure they will be a part of the process from start to finish so we can make sure we are expressing their voices and stories respectfully. A large part of our digital responsibility throughout this project is having conversations around intentions and making sure we have approval before sharing content with the online world. I also check in with the school admin regarding protocols for the content before posting it online. These living histories are not my own, and I cannot make assumptions or decisions on behalf of someone else.
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