Heatwave Sonic pics
Here is the first student's attempt at creating a sonic pics project with the HM story Heatwave (4th grade).
Third Project: Sonic Pics
My third project was a little time consuming. Students were asked to visualize their reading with the use of storyboards (a practice we have performed numerous times this year). It was time consuming this time, as students were more worried about their final product and took longer. (They knew I was taking a picture and making a "movie" from it) Then, they were asked to record their thoughts orally using the visualization to support them. I trained two students on this initially. One student had been out repeatedly due to illness and so I relied upon the other student to provide a rough drawing...first attempt with a storyboard that was already done. When I went to upload, the audio was not working...or sounded so low that it was undiscernable. So the attached version is one that was re-recorded today for a demo at the iRead meeting.
What I learned about this project was not to front load the students with too much info at first. The students really enjoy the visualization project and they show me what they feel is the most important information visually. I can see if they have the main points. In the future, I will wait until they are done with the visualization piece; then I will slowly acclimate them to think about their thinking...(metacognition) which is another method that was introduced with this project. I feel that this project can be done successfully after the students have been taught how to visualize and think about their thinking. I will introduce all of these techniques early in the year and then add on the recording part (sonicpics) after. This could be a project that I work on during the second theme of HM.
I was also given the chance to be a 1:1 iPod teacher for the next 6 weeks. A little overwhelming at first...but, now I know what my management will be, so we are full speed ahead. All students will perform a sonicpics project with visualization during the 6th Theme of HM.
Third Project Proposal
My Third project will be using the Sonic Pics application. I want my students to prepare to use Reel Recorder...and the Sonics Pics is an easier way to start. I will have students take the first story of the last theme from HM and prepare to use photos of their own visualization (story board). They will put voice to this and retell the story from their own words. This is a focus on visualization, not summarization. There will not be many words on the pictures...only for those that are hard to discern. This project is more geared for my second language learners, I will differentiate for my advanced GATE learners. I want to transfer my visualization practices and routines into a more technological avenue. My students will endeavor to work with more effort...if the iPods are the perceived "reward".
SECOND PROJECT FINAL RESULTS
The following two examples are of two students who are exceeding the comprehension skills required at the 4th grade level. I chose to display their reading abilities, as they are students who are part of my SEM-R experimentation. I have not been fully trained on SEM-R, so this was my attempt at giving students reading material above their reading level, listening to them read it, discuss possible improvements and then allow them to reread with an effort to make improvements. The students were capable of reading the texts The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Prince and the Pauper. My other students are reading more familiar texts.
After choosing these texts, based on students reading levels, I chose a page within each for the students to begin reading. This is a "book hook" technique to get students interested in reading books above their level. A true book hook would incorporate reading a chapter or slightly shorter version rather than a single page. Again, this is experimentation with the SEM-R program.
After reading through the single page, I went over the corrections with them and asked if they had any goals for improvement. One student didn't know what to improve, and was very shy. While another student wanted to slow down and work on enunciation. My students are new to the process of goal creating, but seem to enjoy the task. They really enjoy meeting their goal and being rewarded.
second project test
attempting to upload the mobile me audio. Successful after third attempt. Previous attempts were thwarted by server disconnect. 
2nd project
My second project will use the iPods and students voices. The students are being trained with the iPods and the speakers. They are practicing with iTalk to practice recording their reading/fluency. I am also training the students on mobilestudio. Once the students are trained with mobile studio, they will be given a challenging reading prompt to read for the first time and record with a saving process. Then they will read the prompt again after analyzing their first reading. They will orally discuss their progress, where they want to improve, make goals for themselves, etc. Then they will reread and record. Again they will discuss their progress. Fluency is the GOAL.
the how to!
The project that my 4th grade students participated in is attached in the zip file below.
The topic of study was life science and we were learning about living things and their environments.
The students were given a partial picture of an animal. Their objective was to finish the picture using their knowledge of inference, background knowledge, and prediction. As a class we have been discussing what these three terms are and how we use them in every area of academia.
The students finished their pictures and then wrote about their process. Students typed up their projects and then transferred them into their keynote page.
The first keynote page for each student is an identification page. The second page is their writing about their inference process. The third page is a picture of their completed drawing with their notes on how it was completed.
This project is not fully completed. I would like to add students reading their keynotes. Without microphones this proved a little tricky. I endeavor to complete the audio as soon as we have microphones and can implement this technique.
Updated proposal
To further understand the qualities of Inference, predictions and background knowledge my students will be creating projects that demonstrate their understanding of the academic language. The final project regarding iRead has been changed to allow for students to use their predictions, background knowledge, and inference to create a finished product when given a small piece of a puzzle (picture of an animal). Each student was given an small section of an animal (picture). They needed to use a prediction as to what the animal was. Next each student was to use background knowledge to complete the picture and inference on how to create a background for their animal. Students were to write about this experience and then insert their writing, drawing, and notes on how they created their project into a keynote. Without microphones, students were not successful in adding voice at this time. We endeavor to add voice in the near future with the use of ipods and microphones.
Proposal for Dec. Keynote
My 4th grade students are reading Stone Fox, a 4th grade core literature novel. They are creating "pop-up" books that summarize each chapter. My proposal is that all students will create a page on keynote that demonstrates their use of summarizing one chapter of the novel. We will combine the keynote pages into one keynote, that will include oral reading (voice) and possibly a picture of their pop-up page they created.
This is the original keynote that you can edit: