Badigian,+Martha

Here is my Deliverable #2 and my Deliverable #3:

http://skbattleofthebooks.blogspot.com/

I created a blog for SK 4th grade students to use as they participate in the SK 4th Grade Battle of the books, an annual event in our town. I made an entry for each book on the list. In this way, students will be able to click on the "Comments" that follow a book they have read (they must read a minimum of ten books out more than 30 books on the list) to share their comments, thoughts, questions about the book. I have sent this link to our district technology person to ask him to allow access to this website through our district filter, and to ask if he would recommend signed permission forms from parents to participate, or if just our standard "permission to use the internet" forms are enough. I have recommended that students use only their first name with last initial, but said they could put what school they are from in parenthesis. I have set the comments so that I must approve them before they are posted. I am interested to see if the students will use this blog- toying with the idea of either requiring that they use it, or offering some incentive to do so..thinking about this as I wait for feedback from our district technology director. Also wondering if the fact that I have set the comments so that I must approve them will be a deterrent to students interested in using the blog.

Each year, Peace Dale School has a school-wide (only a few classes choosing not to participate) Robotics Park event. Each classroom chooses a theme – anything from “Fairy Tales” to Animals of the Florida Keys” or “Bears”, researches their topic, and then prepares research-based projects. Projects range from reports and Kidspiration Webs to dioramas and models of various kinds. Many classrooms use simple programming software to make Lego models move. The work continues for approximately 4-6 weeks, culminating in a Robotics Park Celebration. Every participating class sets up their projects in the (very large!) school gym, and friends and family are invited to peruse the work on a Saturday. The event has never had an online presence, and I propose to create a “Robotics Park Blog” which will feature every participating classroom. The blog is totally in the spirit of the event, since it is in part a celebration of technology and it’s potential. The blog format will be set up such that each classroom will have a summary of its project that is able to include video (some classes videotape their work), photographs, inspiration webs and reports, as well as a “class diary” of how the work is progressing and what the classroom learns. Also, students would be able to make podcasts of their progress in various projects, or to present their findings in any one of several ways. This online presence will also allow families to be in much closer touch with the project as it progresses, and offer the opportunity for others to comment and pose questions and observations throughout. Students may even be able to post links to their online research. In addition, the blog can serve as a history archive of the event, since years of projects can be included (organized by date). Here’s another elementary school using a Blog along with their Robotics program: http://blogs.glnd.k12.va.us/teachers/randolphrobots/about/ Here’s an article about the importance of the use of blogs in transforming classrooms to places where students can be much more engaged and have a greater “ownership stake” in their own learning: http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/09/12/creating-a-learning-community-with-your-elementary-school-blog/ Here’s a very shocking short video called “Did You Know” that does a terrifci job of driving home the extent of change in the world in the area of technology, thus illustrating the importance of our beginning to make a technology tools an integral part of our schools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U And here is an article just released this November by the [|Partnership for 21st Century Skills], which is a leading advocacy organization for infusing 21st century skills into education.. The paper entitled, “Transition Brief: Policy Recommendation on Preparing America for the Global Skills Race”. Since the partnership is made up of many of the top technology companies in the United States (and the World), this organization is singularly knowledgeable about what kind of preparation we need to provide for our students to be competitive in the 21st century. This paper was prepared for submission to our new President-elect’s transition team: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/p21_presidential_transition_paper_nov_2008.pdf As for specifics, I propose the use of //Blogger// software to create the blog since it is extremely easy to use, and will cost our district nothing (in this time of shrinking budgets). My hope is that at least some classrooms will “jump on the Blogwagon” for this first year that it will be in use, and the fact that it can be used in an ongoing fashion from year to year, those who are more hesitant about using technology in our school (better than half the staff, unfortunately) will be able to see what others have done, and be motivated to give it a try. I strongly believe that a blog is a tool that proves its own worth, and a teacher has only to try this out in the classroom to see it’s value and want to find other ways to use this tool. The biggest roadblock that I can see to the use of this tool is very much the staff’s hesitation to use technology, but I propose that even if only a few classrooms participate in the blog this year, more will join next year. I would like to help overcome this roadblock by offering training sessions and help to staff members liberally. I’m convinced that when they see how easy it is to use, they will be more inclined to use technology tools. I am a member of my school’s Technology Committee. By far the greatest problem we have faced is the staff’s hesitation to use technology. The approach that has been taken in the past has been to encourage teachers to think of projects in their classrooms that would utilize technology. However, those hesitant to use technology are unlikely to spend lots of time thinking about how to incorporate it into their already crowded classroom routines. I believe that by creating this blog for use in an existing school project, and helping it to get off the ground, then introducing teachers to the blog tool and supporting them in their efforts, this would be a successful way of beginning to introduce more technology into our school.
 * Deliverable #3**/Submitted by Martha Badigian, LMS, Peace Dale Elementary School/November 2008