Category Archives: Media

What does a Gr. 5 Media class look like?

Image

20160314-090421-1jdiu6l.jpg

In Grade 5 Media classes,  students begin in the Media lab and choose between TTL4,  Dance Mat Typing or Big Brown Bear software programs in which to practice and increase their keyboarding skills. During this portion of class, those students who would like to check out a library book that day are able to do so in lieu of keyboard practice.  This time also allows students who may have missed a Media class to make up any missed work using their Google Classroom account assignments feature.

This winter, we have been using the topic of black holes to learn more about online resources of information.  In our information-rich age, students and adults alike often get lost in an online “black hole”, getting sucked into the vastness of a simple Google search results list, for instance.  The essential question of this unit; what is the best resource to use according to my learning needs?

Wikipedia is an often-used resource that is widely regarded, and alternately, criticized for its free, open sourced information.  Students were engaged in lively debates over the usefulness and appropriateness of Wikipedia for this school use.  After analyzing the Wikipedia black hole article, students learned about vandalism of articles in Wikipedia, and also that the information found in this particular article was not written at a reading level that they could comprehend.  We agreed that the best online resources in which to learn about black holes were the NASA for students website and an article with supporting media found in the Britannica School Edition encyclopedia.

Massachusetts School Library Media Standard

7.7

Use critical and creative thinking skills to analyze, synthesize and evaluate relevance, reliability, and authority of sources.

 

 

What does a Gr. 4 Media class look like?

Posted on by

kidsbits

hqdefault

A Grade 4 Media class is similar to a Gr. 3 Media class in that students begin in the Media lab and choose between TTL4 or Dance Mat Typing programs in which to practice and increase their keyboarding skills. During this portion of class, those students who would like to check out a library book that day are able to do so in lieu of keyboard practice.  This is a change from their first term Media classes, in which students were in the library as a whole class activity for 20 minutes each class to ensure time for library orientation. By Term 2, most students are reading longer chapter books and do not require a new library book each week.  Library loan policy allows students to have up to three (3) library books checked out, each with a 30 day loan period.

The additional time in the Media lab allows for more focus on Information Literacy Skills.  With the recent interface partnership between Kids InfoBits and Google Classroom, students have access to content that is reading leveled, from resources not found via a search engine such as Google Search,  (magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, primary sources) giving students meaningful, technology-rich methods for them to evaluate and repackage the information they learn about.

MSLMA Standards

1.8 Gather background information by reading, viewing or listening to a variety of pre-selected and self-selected resources.

1.9

As a class, develop a student driven essential question.

2.10

Explain that there are different types of resources that can be used for different purposes: books, databases, periodicals, pre-selected class websites, reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, thesauruses, almanacs, etc.

2.13 Web, map, or diagram a main topic with subtopics.

 

6 Resolutions Every Family with Tweens and Teens Should Make in 2016

Posted on by

Happy New Year!

Caroline Knorr, an Editor at Common Sense Media, laments in her  January 4, 2016 online article , that   “8- to 12-year-olds average nearly six hours a day on entertainment media”!  However, she also reassures parents that “even if your tweens and teens know way more about media and technology than you do, you can still help them navigate the digital world safely, responsibly, and productively”.

In Gr. 6 Media classes, we are discussing the importance of thinking about the messages behind the media students see and hear every day.

One of Knorr’s recommended resolutions is to  “Encourage healthy skepticism. The ability for tweens and teens to think about the messages behind their media is more important than ever. Ads and content are increasingly becoming entwined, and studies show kids have a hard time telling the difference between them. Online stories are regularly unmasked as hoaxes. Even companies’ privacy policies are filled with legalese. Help kids to think critically about all the content they consume. Ask: Who made this? Who’s the audience? What are the messages?”

To this end, Gr. 6 students are creating advertisements in their Media classes.  The ads are based on the surveys they each conducted with their classmates in the fall.  Are their ads completely true?  Who is their audience? What are the messages?

I look forward to sharing some of the students’ work with you soon!

MSLMA Standard 5.7  Use appropriate medium to produce an original product to communicate research results.

Digital Images and Digital Citzenship

Posted on by

Cameron's Snowman (1)

Fourth grade student, Cameron DiDonato, from Ms. Davis’ class, gave me permission to use his original digital artwork in this blog post.   Thank you, Cameron!

In Media classes, students are learning how to use the Google Drawing app.   Google Drawing is a great hands-on tool to help students understand how to use images responsibly in their own digital work.

We began the unit by viewing and discussing the Common Sense Media video, Copyright and Fair Use, together in class.

In the past, Google Image search has made it so easy to take images found on the pages of the internet and use them in one’s own digital work.

It can be a difficult concept for all of us, students as well as adults, to know how to use these images with respect to copyright and Fair Use, or even to understand that we have a responsibility to do so!

It is most helpful to educators now that Google has begun to provide the web page addresses  of all the images found in its Google Drawing Image search function via embedded links.  This feature makes it so much easier for students to locate the creator of the image and how he/she has given permissions for re-use, e.g. Creative Commons license.

Students in Grade 5 have been demonstrating their understanding of the concept of giving credit to the creator of the images they use in their own “Fish in a Tree” Google Drawings.  (Fish in a Tree, by Linda Mullaly Hunt, is a book that many classes here at Spofford Pond School, as well as classrooms in Topsfield and Middleton, have read together as a part of the Global Read Aloud project.  To read more about this, click here.  Our Media projects are an extension to the this ELA project.)

Fish in a Tree

This is the example I created in Google Drawing.  I look forward to sharing some students’ Google “Fish in a Tree” Drawings in my next blog post!

Happy Holidays!

Ms. Boulay

MSLM Standard 4c. Ethical Behavior in Information Use

Survey Says! Creating meaningful data with Gr. 6 students

Posted on by

Screen Shot 2015-10-25 at 6.20.33 PM

Google for Education provides its users with many useful digital educational tools for students and teachers.

Students in Gr. 6 Media Classes are creating their own surveys using Google Forms, and then deciding how to successfully share the resulting Google Form surveys with others in order to gather relevant data.

In class, we have been examining and discussing the (3) sharing tools provided to us by Google Classroom.

The email sharing feature is not available to Spofford students at this time, nor is the sharing via Social Media outlets such as Twitter or Facebook.

This left us with the option of sharing the link to our surveys with fellow students in our classes.   Although this approach worked for some student surveys responses, some student surveys did not receive sufficient responses (data) to make their surveys meaningful enough for data analysis.

Together, the students and I agreed to try the strategy of sharing all of their surveys only with me, via links, so that I can then aggregate all of their survey links in one Google Doc format, and then share the document with classmates to access and respond to all surveys.

The survey screen shot above was shared with me via a Google Forms Link by Sarah Green.

I am looking forward to reporting out student survey results.

We will all learn more about student preferences for favorite author, genre, sport, pizza toppings, pet dog and more as reported via online survey.

Up next:   Critical thinking skill . . .  how reliable are surveys?   What factors, if any, could influence survey responses?

Yours, in learning together,

Ms. Boulay

Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standard 3.5  Research: Gathering and Using Information.  Use online tools to gather and share information collaboratively with other students.

Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standard 3.6  Problem Solving:  With teacher direction, use appropriate technology tools (e.g., graphic organizer) to define problems and propose hypotheses.

 

What is digital citizenship?

Posted on by
Pause and Think Online

Image from Common Sense Media

Beginning this week in Media classes, all grades will participate in various discussions, activities and instruction in digital literacy and citizenship and will continue to do so throughout the school year.

We will be using some of the educational resources available from Common Sense Media’s Education curriculum. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators

This curriculum is designed to help teachers and parents “empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world.  These 21st-century skills are essential for students to harness the full potential of technology for learning.”

Our students ” . . . today are using the immense power of digital media to explore, connect, create, and learn in ways never before imagined.  With this power, young people have extraordinary opportunities, and yet they face potential pitfalls”.

I encourage everyone in the Boxford Schools’ Community to become familiar with this free, standards-aligned resource and learn more about the many resources available that can help all of us learn and grow in the digital age.

 

Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standard 2. Demonstrate the responsible use of technology and an understanding of ethics and safety issues in using electronic media at home, in school, and in society.

 

QWERTY in Media class

Posted on by

What is QWERTY, and why is it important to our students?

qwerty  Whether we are “thumb typing” or using a “hunt and  peck”    technique with our index fingers when creating an email or    document on a computer or a text  message on  our  smartphones or tablets, we are using the  QWERTY  keyboard.

 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/qwerty

Today’s students need to know how to navigate the QWERTY keyboard.  It an essential part of their 21st century education.

Students may be asked to word-process a research paper, participate in an online classroom blog, collaborate in project created and managed online, or take an online exam such as PARCC or MCAS.

All students will benefit from the familiarity with and regular practice using the QWERTY keyboard.

In Media classes, Spofford Pond students will be introduced to and encouraged to choose from and practice their QWERTY skills using the following:

TTL4 – http://ttl4.sunburst.com/downloads/

Dance Mat Typing http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr

Big Brown Bear http://bigbrownbear.co.uk/learntotype/

Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards:  1.4 Demonstrate intermediate keyboarding skills and proper keyboarding techniques.

 

 

 

 

School network accounts are good to go!

Posted on by

All students in grades 3-6 were able to successfully log in to their school network accounts during Media classes.

With the support of Mrs. , Spofford Pond School Digital Learning Specialist and Mrs. Joyce, from Spofford’s Instructional Technology support staff, each student is now able to access the network on any computer throughout our school, as well as in the Media Computer Lab.

20150913-164123.jpg

 

Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards: Internet and Multi-Media.

1.16. Explain terms related to the use of networks (e.g.,username, password, network, file server).  1.17 Identify and use terms related to the Internet (e.g., Web browser, URL, keyword, World Wide Web, search engine, links).