Well, we are entering into challenging times. As May set in we are working hard to collect our videos and photos for our project. We have spent the last two weeks meeting with various community helpers, learning about their jobs, and the types of touch, trust and talk we use with these helpers.

Students have been using the iPads to collect photos and video of these experiences.

Media presentations for the private purple circle and blue hug circle is basically complete. Children have done the Blue Hug Circle work on Pictello, and we have used small groups on the iPads to do the private purple circle presentation. We got lots of good discussion out of this process.

This week I will begin planning the yellow handshake circle media presentation with the kids. Here there is a bit of a compromise. As with the private purple circle video creation, This was meant to be a whole class activity done on the SMART board, and there were social and communication goals to come out of this. We did the Private Purple Circle work in small groups on the iPads- this went well, but the material in the private purple circle is fairly simple. With the Yellow Handshake Circle, I do not feel  that discussion over an iPad will suffice. I have created several activities on SMART Notebook around the Yellow Handshake and Red Stranger Circles. They are sorting activities, meant to help children determine the difference between strangers and community helpers, as well as to help them  to generally place people in the correct boundary circles. The children are doing these activities in small groups on the desktop. But to actually plan the media presentation, I am going to resort to chart paper and markers to organize our ideas as a class. This is because I really want the understandings that come out of the work on this circle to be a collective set of understandings that everyone agrees on and feels a part of. I want the discussion, communication, and negotiation that I will just not be able to get as a whole class.

After we organize the old fashion way (although this itself may be challenging as I no longer have a blackboard… the non-functional SMART board is bolted on top of it) we will use the iPads in small groups to actually make the presentation.

So this week’s goal is to make a class outline for the Yellow Handshake media presentation, complete with words and what types of photos we want to use…

April 17, 2012

I am feeling a touch guilty for not having posted any media on this blog. So I thought I had better do it today, before I put it off!

So here are a few pics of two students (Abby and Yousif) using the ipads to film in the classroom, as well as a student (Pavan) using an ipad to create a story about his family using Pictello.

To view the video link click here:

pavan_ipad

Aprilh 9, 2012

So the smart board is installed… but not working. We were given a long arm projector instead of a short arm projector, which the techs declared a safety hazard on a moving board (the thing is huge) and refused to finish. So the board is just sitting there. Bolted to my chalkboard, mind you… so now I have no blackboard or smart board. Sigh…

So we have given up the idea of using the board for this project at all, and have spent the last two weeks reorganizing ourselves to do the rest of the project on the iPads. We chose the iPads for the students to use to interact with iMovie because of it’s significantly simpler interface- I think our kids will be much more successful with the iPads.

So I have got iMovie up and running on the iPads. Each child has basically completed a social story about their blue hug circle on Pictello, which they are super proud of. They did an excellent job! We have begun planning out the work for the yellow handshake circle, which will  include community helpers. This week kids will be using the iPads to video different community helpers (bus drive, police, etc) introducing themselves. This will likely take two weeks.

Goal for this week:

1. Get the kids playing with iMovie as they order photos for the private purple circle part of the presentation.

The lack of continuity with spring break, then easter, feels like it has taken a chunk of our time, and combined with the re-structuring required due to the lack of SMART board we are starting to feel the pressure of getting things moving more quickly…

melissa

Well, the SMART board and lift system was installed this week! Sadly, the projector is not installed (this is apparently Electrical rather than Carpentry…), however we have been assured that we are top of the list. Much thanks to my administrator for advocating to get this done at the board office.

In other updates, we have gotten all the apps working on our iPads, and students have begun using Pictello to create stories around their Blue Hug Circles. The students are very excited with both the increased use in the iPads and the expectation of change as the SMART board was installed. One of my most challenging students has become enamoured with the iPads (which he endearing calls his my-pad), and has become a huge motivator for him.

I have decided that likely the best way to engage the kids with actually being able to create segments of the presentation together is to use iMovie on the iPads (ideally on the SMART board se we can work collectively). iMovie on the ipads has a simpler presentation… So I am going to try to get a bit of funding from the VSB to buy Apple TV so we can connect the iPads directly to the SMART board.

Next time I am also going to post some video of the kids working on the iPads.

Oh- I almost forgot. Both Josh (my job share partner) and I attended the SMART board conference at Nightingale Elementary School on Friday last week. It was fun and we learned enough to give us a good start on SMART Notebook, although we also learned that sadly Notebook has a fair number of glitches when installed in a mac. I guess on that front all we can do is wait… Also worth noting is that I was very impressed with the students who not only helped run the conference, but were actually engaged in teaching! These students (from Livingston Elementary) were exceptionally fluent with the software we were learning, and in may cases were better able to help then the instructor! Fantastic work to these students- I was very impressed both with the tech skills and their confidence in teaching a room full of teachers!

I forgot to mention that although the IT and carpentry have all been out to look several times, we have seen no movement with installation of the SMARt board. In the meantime we are planning on using the desktop in small groups to engage the children in creating and planning of the different circles presentations…

So this past two weeks we have made some progress with using the technology.

I was able to take the video that the students filmed around Touch, Talk and Trust and edit it to create a short video vignette, using iMovie. For the next video, I would like for the students to write the script. It would be great to get them involved in the video editing also, but I don’t think that any of the kids in this year’s class are capable of video editing…

However, we have also started collecting photos to create a photo essay of the Private Purple Circle. The students have planned the takes, and then executed photo demonstrations of this circle. We are using the iPads for photos. I think I could take small groups to work on the student desk top to organize the pics and add text. I have not yet decided on the format- If we should use iMovie directly or make a powerpoint or something like this and then import it… I will decide which is easiest for the students to use and play with ease of compatibility this week…

I also started sending our classroom digital camera home with the students for three days at a time, for students to take photos of their families. As soon as all the students have their photos we will get started on using pictello to create digital stories about their blue hug circle.

I have downloaded pictello onto our desktop, as well as a few other apps, but we are having trouble with syncing the apps. Everything else on the desktop synced beautifully with the iPads (music, pics, etc), but the apps are not syncing… So we need t work on figuring out the glitch in the settings this week.

So goals for this week include:

1. Getting all the apps synced from the desktop to ipads

2. Completing photography sessions for Private Purple Circe and decide on which format the students will use to create this photoessay.

3. Begin organization of the Private Purple Circle Photoessay with students, and decide on an audio that may be necessary.

We are also throwing around the idea of students creating their own social stories of each circle using pictello. We will see where this idea takes us…

Well, I did get some filming done with the kids this week on the basics of Touch, Trust and Talk. I had two students video tape using the iPads, and one child took photos. So three “camera people”, and the rest of the class were “actors.” However, I did not have a chance to sync with the iPads with our desk top, as we had a difficult “behaviour” week, with a few major incidents with a couple of kids…

We did make some progress with pushing the installation of the SMART board, and IT actually came out twice this week!

I was able to install the SMART notebook software on the teacher lap top, and I registered for a SMART board conference for Feb. 17th pro-D.

For Next week:

1. Sync ipads, and work on editing the video we made

2. Download pictello and get it onto the iPads.

I also wanted to give people some background on the circles program. I have attached a student workbook that explains the basic idea of the circles program. We have modified this slightly in our classroom- We feel that there are too many circles for our students, and that this complicated and muddies the teaching, so we have eliminated the Green and Orange Circles for the Elementary Life Skills level. So this leaves our students with the following circles:

Private Purple Circle- The closest circle to them. The private purple circle extends an arms reach around them, and is their own private space.

The Blue Hug Circle- Family belongs in this circle. Here, hugs and cuddles and talk of all kinds are safe in this circle.

The Yellow Handshake Circle- Teachers, friends and neighbours fall into this circle. A handshake, sideways hug and some personal talk is safe in this circle.

The Red Stranger Circle- This is the circle where people you do not know belong. There are strangers in this circle, and no amount of communication or touch is safe with a stranger. There are also community helpers in this circle, who are allowed some talk, trust and touch depending on their job (doctor, police officer, etc)

In all their circles, the student is the one to decide about what kind of Talk, Touch and Trust happens in their circles

Click Here to see the Circles Workbook:

Circlesworkbook

January 22, 2012

Ok! So the equipment has arrived! This week we received a set of three iPads, a student iMac and a teacher lap top, as well as a SMART board.

I spent the week setting up the equipment:

1. I created a classroom gmail account.

2. I created a separate gmail account for each iPad

3. I created a classroom apple id (in order to purchase apps) using an iTunes gift  card and the classroom email account.

4. I set up the mac student desk top, with the classroom email account as the mail default. I used the parental controls on the iMac to prevent access to youtube and other sites that our students find challenging. I also set up two different users, one for the students, and another for teachers for doing video/photo editing (with student help) so that students are not able to get in and change the work done on the iMac without realizing.

5. I set up the iPads, using the same apple ID, and assigned each iPad one of the gmail accounts I had created for them. This way, when we buy apps we will do so on the iMac, then sync to the iPads using iCloud. This should allow us to only purchase the apps once, rather than three times (for each iPad)

This weeks goals are:

1. Sync the iPads to the iMac for the first time.

2. Get some of the applications we have determined that we need on the iPads.

3. Teach students how to use the iPad camera and video camera, and begin filming/photos of the Private Purple Circle

Concerns at this point:

INSTALLATION OF THE SMARTBOARD!

The VSB is notorious for taking a long time with installation, and the presence of the hydraulic lifts makes this more of an issue as it is outside their usual range of experience. Our principal has been advocating for us with the IT group, and we have been promised a visit from IT with a SMART rep, hopefully this week.

So this is week one!

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