When I walked out of the computer lab after my class on Thursday, I was pumped. Not only did the technology work, and not only did the links get through the prohibitive filters, but my students were excited about creating a collaborative presentation.
It helps that we have a real live audience. It also helps that we have already made connections with our audience in Wisconsin via a Skype meet and greet. My class already had the opportunity to ask their counterparts some interview questions. We also are fully aware that they will be creating a presentation about us as we create a presentation about them.
We are part of a larger community of schools participating in the Global Read Aloud Project. But today was about learning how to collaborate in real time.
The Project: Collaborate as a class to create a online presentation about Monona, Wisconsin. Complete with researched information, pictures, music perhaps, and/or video.
I went into the computer lab first thing that morning to check that everything was working: the blog wasn't blocked by our school board filters, the embedded discussion board was functioning and not requiring students to login, and most importantly the link to the Google presentation worked and allowed students to edit in Chrome (thank you to our technician who installed Chrome on all the machines in the lab last week).
With little assistance from me, most students found their way to the joint Blog and the Google presentation. They help each other figure out how to insert photos using URLs. They became excited when they noticed one of their classmates' cursors and text appearing before their eyes. Photos appearing elicited comments of "Cool! " and "Whoa!" There was definitely stresses when somebody accidentally deleted someone else's contribution or when somebody deliberately changed the presentation theme and applied it to all the slides.
It was extremely difficult for me to hide my glee when one student corrected another's capitalization and spelling mistakes. Some of my students have acquired a track record for apathy and lack of effort. Yet, on that day they cared about each other's learning, their own learning, the process, and the product. No wonder I felt so pumped.
Love it!! It's so great when it all comes together and works well (both the students AND the technology!). I'm sure the students are loving it, too. We're going to try FaceTiming with our partnered math class tomorrow morning - I hope it goes as well as yours did!
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how much of what you're doing with your students is GRA-mandated (well, not mandated, but suggested/recommended) and how much you and your counterpart in Wisconsin get to come up with? Are there GRA guidelines for what paired classes should do together?
I hope it continues to go well!
Heather, thanks for the reply.
ReplyDeleteThere are virtually no guidelines from GRA. You know how much I like to fly by the seat of my pants (NOT!). This is so out of my comfort zone. Working with a complete stranger, building trust, collaborating purposefully, and getting results has been an incredible experience. We brainstormed on a googledoc, skyped, shared resources, created templates, worked through time-zone obstacles, and general timing issues for the GRA. This week, our students will be paired to research and create a Collaborative Presentation about Anne Frank and Amsterdam to prepare for that portion of our reading of Fault in our Stars.