Redefining Ready Scholarship: Student Perspectives

By: Kim Miklusak & Rachel Barry

District 214 has introduced a new scholarship opportunity for current seniors.  The District 214 Foundation is offering a $1,000 Redefining Ready Scholarship in a new and exciting format: a video!  For students to apply for this scholarship, they are to submit a 30-second video on how they found their career path and post it to Twitter with the hastag #redefiningready. 

We, Kim and Rachel, got involved in this project when the teacher of the Teacher Internship Class asked us to step in to show multiple apps for students to use to create these videos.  The apps included Adobe Voice, Explain Everything, Educreations, and ShowMe.  We showed students how the apps worked and what videos from the apps looked like and then discussed with them the pros and cons of each based on what they wanted to accomplish with their project.

Students were then given time over the next few weeks to work and explore the apps to see which would best tell their story.  Here are some finished student samples:

Patty's Student Example           Jasmine's Student Example

Here is what Jasmine had to say about the process:  

As soon as I heard about the #RedefiningReady Scholarship, I wasn't so sure, if I would want to record myself, because I am not a good speaker when it comes to recording myself, or me being recorded with a device. Then when I found out I have 2 of my classes that are giving us an opportunity to work on the Scholarship in class, I was starting to consider working on it. The next step was finding an app that I could use for the recording, which was not hard at all. I already had iMovie on my ipad for a previous class project. I then had to start writing a script and find pictures and music of what I wanted to say in the scholarship that shows that I am Redefining Ready. I changed my mind on what I wanted to talk about so many times! Once I got my script written out, I asked my brother to help me record myself [but he didn't, so] I had to figure out how to use voice over on imovie. It took me about 26 tries to get the right video that I wanted. i enjoyed making this Scholarship. I learned many new skills that I have never knew how to use them. I encourage all seniors this year and in the near future to take this opportunity.

More information about the scholarship can be found here.

Complex Literary Analysis & Student-Created Presentations

Written by Matt Snow - English Teacher

Collaboration with colleagues and students, and a willingness to try new things for the first time, can lead to inspiring examples of learning with our students!

Recently I had the opportunity to “borrow” a wonderful teaching idea shared with me by a Wheeling teacher named Laura Wagner.  The idea was created by another Wheeling teacher Mike Burke.  It involves breaking down literary analysis into four levels, and it is designed to introduce students to this very complicated skill set that is necessary in AP Language and AP Literature.  The four levels are Literal, Metaphoric, Philosophic, and Aesthetic, and they obviously increase in complexity and difficulty.   Students truly struggle with literary analysis, and the breakdown into isolated skills really helps.  While we had practiced over and over, some of them still weren’t “getting it.”

Around the same time I was working on this system with my students, I also had the opportunity to watch Joyce Kim’s students do a presentation on Adobe Voice.  (For more on those presentations, check out this previous Collab Blog post.)  It struck me fairly quickly that this App would be a great way for kids to demonstrate mastery of this four level analysis while allowing creativity and genuine student engagement in the project.  Essentially, their job was to choose a photo of any type that they felt they could analyze.  It could be a painting, photo, advertisement, political cartoon, etc.

Of course, doing something for the first time, I wondered how they would do.  Would the App do what I wanted?  Would they buy into it?  Most importantly, would they get it “right?”  The results were encouraging, and I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I didn’t see the value in the App.  Their presentations made their thinking and learning visible in a creative way that also allowed me to see if they really "got it."

I also see the value in collaboration and what goes on in the Collab Lab.  With minimal time commitment on my part, I learned about something quite valuable to my students, and they, in turn, demonstrated proficiency in their assigned skills.

Check out these examples of their presentations:

                                            




To curate all the presentations from each class, students uploaded them to a Schoology Media Album.  Having the presentations in a Media Album allows the teacher to easily access them to share/present them to the class.  Also, students can access all the presentations for peer review.  The curated examples can also serve as models of work for future students.

 

 

 

Student testimonials:

I really enjoyed using the app! I would highly recommend it. It had very unique features that were useful and efficient. I would like to use this app again for other projects—Mereesa Valera

I really enjoyed using Adobe voice. I found it easy to use and one thing that surprised me was that the music choices are actually good. Most presentation apps I've encountered have sub par music, but I really like the vast options that Adobe Voice offers. Although the music is great, I did find it a bit irritating that if I stopped a recording on a slide, and I wanted to add to what I was saying, I had to erase the entire recording for that slide and restart. Overall I liked the app, though, and if I had the option to choose an app to use for a presentation, I would definitely choose Adobe Voice--Nicole Vassiliou

I really enjoyed using this app. I really like apps that allow creative thoughts. It gives me more motivation to give it all that I have. It's usually fun choosing fun background music, background pictures and styles in the presentation because it lets your imagination run wild. I was really looking forward to a project with this kind of creative freedom—Shuayb Qadri

Have you discovered new ways to engage students with creative ways to demonstrate complex thinking skills?  Please share your ideas with the Collab Lab!

Teaming on Tuesdays #2: Student Presentations Made Easy!

By The Collab Lab Team

Today was our second Teaming on Tuesday of the Second Semester.  Our Teaming on Tuesdays offer staff an opportunity to participate in a short professional learning experiences, as short as ten minutes, that usually involves a brief visit to a classroom to see a strategy in action, followed by collaboration time in the Collab Lab to brainstorm applications in our own classroom and/or "play" with the apps.

The American Literature team invited us to observe their students doing presentations with Adobe Voice. Students projected their creation through Apple TV, but also gave an introduction in person and shared their presentation with their teacher digitally--mainly through a Media Album on Schoology. Much like ShowMe, Adobe Voice allows students to include images and text, then record their voice in the same slide. One advantage of Adobe Voice is that if a student makes a mistake, he or she can re-record one slide without having to record the entire presentation again.

When we returned to the Collab Lab, we brainstormed possible applications of Adobe Voice. In addition to presentations, one idea that emerged was to have students summarize the day's lesson in Adobe Voice as an exit slip. They could add one slide a day so that they have a review activity by the end of the week. We also discussed how students could create their own review videos to share with class--a type of podcasting, for example.  Other teachers liked the idea of having students take their own photographs around where they live and to create their own "About Me" presentations for their foreign language classes.  If you have more ideas and/or examples, please share them with us as the year goes on.

Here are some more examples of some of the American Literature students' projects!
1.  Mahatma Gandhi
2.  Dennis Rodman
3.  Lorde

Easier Presentations for All Subjects with Adobe Voice

By Kim Miklusak

I was first introduced to Adobe Voice through pre-service teachers who raved about the app, citing that it was so easy that kindergartners could use it!  I hadn't had an opportunity to try it out in class until this week when our American Literature class began preparing for our oral communications unit on a real-life nonconformist after having read Sula by Toni Morrison.  This will be part 1 of a blog; next week I will share out student samples and provide more feedback.

I cannot stress how simple Adobe Voice is for any subject or grade!  It's the best of a few apps all in one.  Also, it's free, which is always helpful.  The app first allows you to name your presentation and select a template if you want one.  All this does is set up key words for certain slides.  You are welcome to change, add, or delete slides to meet your goal.

There are several simple and pre-made template for backgrounds and slide transitions as well as layout design.  The downside (or upside) of this is that you cannot design these slides as you want.   You can also select music--which I wouldn't suggest if you have students speaking over it.  If you are not speaking in the presentation, you can set how long you want each slide to play for.  Otherwise the slide stays on the screen for as long as you talk.

When you want to add a photo, you are given a few choices including from your camera roll, taking a picture, or searching.  All of the search options are copyright safe!  This is a huge digital citizenship teachable moment for students.  One thing I noticed, however, is that there is not always a huge amount of photos.  I found more available for reuse through Google; I simply saved them to my camera roll.

After the presentation is done, students can record their voice if they would like.  This is the easiest option ever.  You simply hold down the record button and speak.  If you would like to record over what you just said, you just press the button again!  This is a huge bonus over other similar apps in that you don't have to re-record your entire presentation if you mess up on one slide.  The down side in comparison to some other apps, however, is that you cannot write or draw on any of the slides, which may not be a problem depending on why you are using it.

When you're ready to share, it's as easy as ever.  Among the options are emailing a link or tweeting.  For example, here is a link to the sample I made to share with my team and students.  However, the option I'm most appreciative of is the ability to save it to the camera roll because then I can upload it and have students upload them to a Schoology Media Album to share!  Now every student in class can provide feedback on all of the presentations.

I will post again next week with student samples and more feedback.