Chia Grossmann

My students are working on making predictions. I will have them working in groups, making predictions before they read, and as they read at key spots in the story. They will record this process on an iPod using MobileStudio. My point with this is that several of my students think they need a "brilliant" prediction. I'm trying to get them to understand that good readers are constantly thinking and making/revising predictions as they read.

My students had to read material on their selected region. They had to summarize the readings and write a summary, using a topic sentence and important details. Once their summaries were completed, they were able to record their reading of their summaries. Then they selected photos that matched their summaries and put them into Garageband to create a podcast.

Here is the link to these podcasts.
http://www.eusd4kids.org/schools/reidy_creek/4thGrade/4thGrade/Regions_Podcasts/Regions_Podcasts.html

I also created directions for this project and I am able to change some of it for other podcast projects.

I have created a document that my students use when they record their fluency. Then I have smart playlists for each student's fluency recordings. I'm such a geek that I was excited when I used my docucam to take the photos. This was much easier as I was able to have my finger pointing to the item the students need to choose.

Here is the storyboard for a movie on noting details. A student developed the idea and wrote a storyboard. It is hard to read.

I worked with these students to create a movie to document how a 5th grade class used iPods in their classroom. The teacher had received a grant and needed this movie to document how the iPods were being used. The group of students developed the idea, script, and storyboard. They originally shot much of it with a blank white wall, which was distracting. In a discussion, we decided to learn how to use a green screen. We took a photo of one of the iPods to use in the background. They hung the green screen, it had a couple of folds, and it still worked when we put it into FinalCut Pro. We also decided that it would have been great to have video footage in the background, but perhaps it would have been distracting. Using a light shining on the back of the primary person, would probably have made the effect better. They also recorded all the voiceover audio, but forgot to switch to the external mic in the preferences, and had to rerecord the audio. This is truly a student project.

Our reading comprehension skill has been questioning. For this project, students worked in heterogeneous groups of 5-6 as they read a social studies passage. Students placed the ipod and microphone in the center of their group. They took turns reading a portion of the passage. When students thought of a question, they took the "talking stick" and asked their question. The reader stopped and they continued. The students liked reading into the ipod. However, some students were more interested in the status of the ipod. As they became more comfortable, the questions began to come more frequently. Some students are strong readers, and use this skill independently. They became the models for those students who don't think of questions as they read. As a class we discussed the results of this activity and the strengths and weaknesses. The next time, I will put one student in charge of the ipod's operation. Each student will have their own copy of the reading selection, instead of sharing. Students now understand that the microphone will pick up all of their voices, and they don't necessarily need to hold it. Students need to be spread out so that the other groups' voices aren't picked up. Students felt this was successful and look forward to doing it again.

We will create a library of student created "Book Hooks" or "Book Talks" using Garageband. Students will create a "Book Hook" based on a book they've read. This book hook will create interest for another student to try out the story. When students need to choose a book, they will have this student created resource to find a good book.

Here is the handout I created with directions.



This was hugely successful as students had to identify elements from their books that would create suspense or a desire to read the book. Here is a completed podcast for the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

Using Keynote, students will summarize a reading selection. Since one of our reading comprehension strategies is to summarize, and the one we focused on for the 1st trimester school-wide, we will create a summary on Keynote highlighting the important elements of the story.

Here is our final PSA version of our ivie entry.