I don't remember where I first heard or was introduced to the idea of a digital word wall. The first example I saw dealt with math and was a great way to have a constant review of vocabulary or other important terms that students need to remember or learn. I've since seen other examples from various other classrooms from my PLN.
So, I thought that I'd give it a try as well. I wanted to start off a little smaller so we used the vocabulary from some of the texts that we have been reading in our reading group this week. Students worked in groups of threes to create posters for each of their vocabulary words. There was a poster created of the word, the definition, and a picture representation. This is the first attempt.
For this particular Digital Word Wall, we put it together using Photostory. Students were able to load their pictures themselves and arrange them in order. I have seen other Digital Word Walls put together in other applications using Powerpoint and the uploaded to sites such as Slideshare, and 280Slides to name just a few. Our plan is to have this digital word wall playing continuously on our television screen during our reading class. Students tend to pay attention to things in which they create themselves.
I can see this idea being more effective for larger topics during math or even to help teach plot during reading class. Other possibilities could include adding a video of students acting out the word similar to those of Steven Kimmi's students
Another wonderful example is from Mrs. Hines 4th grade class in North Carolina, in which they used a digital word wall to show their knowledge of Polygons in math.
While this is essentially no different than teachers creating their own powerpoint slideshows that rotate vocabulary throughout the day; this is taking things one step farther and tapping into students higher order thinking skills when you begin to have them making connections to the words through pictures and reinactments in videos.
The Digital Word Wall
Who Moved My Cheese for the 21st Century?
I remember several years ago watching the "Who Moved My Cheese?" video as our school district was getting ready to make some BIG changes. Now, I feel as though the moving of the cheese is referring to the digital age.
As an introduction to our building wide staff development, we are planning on showing this video to our fellow teachers. How will they react? Will they think it's something important or "just one more thing"? Which percentage of teacher did you fall under?
Hopefully, as far as technology is concerned, the cheese isn't moving too fast for us to keep up with it.
Peer Coaching Video
I came across this little gem in my archive of files and liked the way we used technology to not only develop as students but to also help in the development of our school's staff. Last year, my principal asked if I could give a short presentation on how I was using Literature Circles and peer coaching in my reading classroom for an upcoming in-service. Of course I agreed to do it, but we wanted to put a little spin on things. The kids were excited about creating a short presentation for all the teachers. Students in my group were beginning to get pretty good at creating a podcast and wanted to try to make a movie. So, with a little digital camera and Windows Movie Maker, we created a short 5 minute video about our Literature Circles. The students filmed all the scenes themselves and narrated it as well. They also had a hand in writing the script too, but I did some modifying of my own. We used a small MP3 to create the narrations and then placed them and the video clips into Movie Maker and *poof*. We are finished! The movie worked out great as it incorporated our Literature groups without a disruption, helped us work on some much needed writing, and gave us the opportunity to practice some 20th Century skills as well.
I am hoping to be able to create more movies like this during the upcoming school year. We tried our hand at making stop motion movies over a novel we read which seemed to take way longer than anticipated or needed. We might try to create some live action movies this year instead. I think it would also be really neat for students to create a video over stories their reading, research projects, science experiments, etc. The possibilities are endless.
