Students in Ms. Dyson’s Earth Science classroom researched information about earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis. In part one of the project, students were taught internet safety and copyright law while gathering information from traditional and digital sources. In part two of the project, students were asked to create informational movies or news broadcasts like those seen on the evening news or on learning channels such as Discovery. As part of the process, students created a storyboard to organize their work, wrote and recorded their scripts, and organized their pictures in a video presentation. To accomplish the creative portion of this project students used Garage Band.
Congratulations to Dr. Adria Hoffman who was a finalist for the Henrico 21 award for using creativity and innovation in the classroom. Dr. Hoffman is the music teacher at L. Douglas Wilder Middle School. She had her class identify and utilize music notation software and digital audio recording devices to create original musical compositions. The end product of these compositions reflected the student’s musical interests, social identities, and school community. Click on the play button below to listen to a student sample.
Our 7th grade Social Studies teacher Mr. Berry used Mash-On, an online website, to enhance digital pictures that students took in order to show their understanding of the Great Depression. There were 10 questions that students needed to answer for this assignment. The questions were:
1. How did the stock market crash affect investors?
2. How did tariffs affect the US economy?
3. What role did the Federal Reserve play in the Great Depression?
4. How did foreclosures affect people?
5. What happened to banks during the Great Depression?
6. How did the Dust Bowl affect farmers on the Great Plains?
7. What were breadlines and soup kitchens?
8. What was the goal of the New Deal?
9. How was American society affected by the WPA and CCC?
10. What ended the Great Depression?
Students then answered these questions in picture form. For each answer,they took one picture and added a caption that answers the question. Each student created his or her own comic strip about the Great Depression. The results were fantastic!
AudioPal.com is a great site for students to make audio recordings that can be easily embedded into a website, blog, or social network. This site has many advantages and allows for students to record audio clips via cell phone, computer keyboard, computer microphone, or they can upload already existing audio clips from their hard drive. The sample below was recorded by a student pretending to be Thomas Jefferson. The assignment was to make believe you are an important person in American History. Your objective was to leave a voicemail to one of your contemporaries stating relevant facts and posing questions that relate to the Virginia Standards of Learning. This created an enthusiastic, and modern take on the Revolutionary Era. To listen to the sample below, just click on the play button.
The students in Mr. Cross’ 8th grade English class spent some time studying abridgements. (Specifically- The Princess Bride) After finishing their study, they were given the task of taking one of the Grimm, Perault, or Anderson fairy tales and abridging it. In groups, they wrote, directed, filmed, edited, and starred in their own “abridged” versions of the fairy tales. Students used iMovie to create their movies. Here is an example from a group that abridged “Little Red Riding Hood”
6th Grade students in Ms. Cannon’s Social Studies classes utilized Google Earth to create a virtual tour of the Continents, Oceans and the US Regions, and Waterways for SOL USI.2a, b, and c. Click on the link below to download and example of the their adventure.
(Please note that in order to view this project you must have Google Earth Installed on your computer. This is free software and can be downloaded from Google.)
Ms. Myers 6th grade Reading class worked collaboratively using the ActivStudio software to summarize and illustrate the journal, Trapped By the Ice, written by Michael McCurdy. Their small group projects where then collected to form a short story video about the real-life story if Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. Click on the links below to find out what happened to these brave men in 1914!
Mrs. Martin’s science class created Facebook reports on African American scientist and inventors. Once they completed their research, they posted the information on the Facebook template to share. They included important facts and a picture of the person they researched.
Ms. Landis works with her 8th grade creative writing class to create an online newspaper. Students decided the layout of the paper as well as the content that was included. The students conducted interviews, created original editorials, along with other staples that you would see in your local newspaper. The class in continuing to improve the online paper and wants to include blogging so that students can respond to editorials and create a discussion on important topics relevant to our students.
Ms. Alcazar used literature circles in her 6th grade reading classroom to allow students to openly discuss topics within the assigned book Surviving the Applewhites. After students read and discussed the book in class they were given the task of creating a digital project. Students were allowed to choose the media in which they would present the project but were asked to include the following criteria: book title and author, main character(s), conflict (and what type of conflict it is), important vocabulary words from the book, a one paragraph summary of the plot, using the words exposition, climax and resolution, a one paragraph review of the book – what was good or bad and why. The 1st picture is from an iMovie and the 2nd is from a keynote presentation.
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