Siena Project, Phase II

1. Describe your thoughts on using technology (i.e. eBook creator, the website, and translator) to help you work with non-English speaking future students.  Don’t just say it was great…provide details to these items. A) Describe the strengths and B) Describe the challenges.
2. Describe your thoughts on the quality of your eBook as it compared to your Italian middle school students....disregard the fact that you may not be able to read the Italian.
3. Describe another way you could use student eBook publishing to support learning for your future students.i.e. How else could you use iBooks Author – (or some other eBook publishing tool) to support learning of some content.Be specific…provide an example!
4. Describe your thoughts on this specific learning experience.i.e. What did you like about it? What would you change? etc.
5. Feel free to add photos (screen shots) of your eBook (not required).

1. Before this, I had never used eBook creator before. It was challenging at first because I had to learn the programs and the tricks to it. Once I became more familiar with it, I was more comfortable with using the eBook creator. I have used google translator quite a bit when I try to translate my English to Dutch, so I was familiar with how to change it from English to Italian. Even though it does not always translate 100% correctly, it is a great way to get your thoughts and ideas across so that the non-English speaking students can understand what you are trying to say. 

2. While I was unable to read what they wrote, I thought they were good quality eBooks. The pictures they used really helped me understand what they were talking about in their book. I feel that my book had more writing and descriptions of the pictures I used then some of their eBooks. However, it was easy to view and understand what their book was about, and they chose good pictures to go a long with it.

3. For my future students, I could use the eBook publishing to help with language arts. It would be a creative way for students to create a project, such as a book on a place, person, or a fiction story. It really allows students to be creative and use their imagination. It also provides the students with an opportunity to use technology rather than writing a story in a journal. 

4. I really enjoyed this learning experience. It allowed me to explore a part of technology that was unfamiliar to me. Now that I have learned it I can use it in the future for myself or for my own students. I also learned a lot more about my hometown than I knew before starting this. I liked it because I was also able to learn about another culture and collaborate with students who live half way around the world. At this time I cannot think about anything that I would change with this project.

Phase III

• Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

1. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
1. I promoted, supported and modeled creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness through the use of Pixie. In my first lesson, I had my students create a map of a familiar place. Through Pixie they were able to bring to life this familiar place and add their own images and creativity to their “place”.

2. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
1. I did not have them explore real-world issues and solving authentic problems. However, I would incorporate this into my map lesson. After the students pick their place, they would find out a problem that is currently occurring there and find a hypothetical solution to this problem.

3. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
1. My reflection was more based on the individual not collaborative. To make it collaborative I would have them work with a partner using a Google Doc Powerpoint and have them research a current problem in the city we are living in and develop facts and a solution that they would present to the city to solve the problem.

4. model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.
1. Working with partners allowed the students to engage in a face-to-face way, and working on the Google Doc about the real-world issue will give them a virtual environment to collaborate in.

• Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

1. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
1. The students were able to incorporate digital tools and resources into the lesson. They were given assessments in Pixie and in Kidspiration, both which promote student learning and creativity. Also, in the assignments like lesson II where they had to create their own math problem, they were able to be creative and think of a Halloween related problem and then illustrate it.

2. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
1. Students are actively involved in setting their own educational goals and managing their own learning as well as assessing their progress. Students are given a set period of time, but also given the freedom to explore as long as they do it in a safe and legal way and relevant to their learning. Students are given a variety of tools to help them create their map, or math problem, and they are able to choose to create it in a way that they choose so they are in charge of what they are learning.

3. customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
1. The map activity of creating a familiar place allows students to use their own learning styles, working strategies and abilities to use digital tools. They get to customize and personalize their learning. Their map can be really complex, or simple, as long as they include the main parts of a map that they learned about in the lesson. For students who are more gifted, they can create a really detailed map of a larger area, and for students who have a learning disability can stick with something more simple such as how to get from school to their house.

4. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
1. I used both Pixie and Kidspiration as assessment tools. This way I could see how the students used both programs in their learning. In both of my lessons post-assessment the students were given a specific program, but otherwise given the freedom to create their assessment using their own ideas and creativity. Students were able to explore parts of Pixie and Kidspiration that they were unfamiliar with to develop a better understanding of the programs.

• Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

1. demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
1. All of my students demonstrated fluency of their current knowledge on the programs we used. While we used familiar programs, we used new areas of that program for what we were learning. They sought help from their peers and me as a teacher to help them with any questions they had on the new areas of the program. Overall they were able to effectively use their current knowledge of the programs to the new technologies and situations that were presented.

2. collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
1. Collaborating with others will allow students to get more information on their real-world problem. They can ask their peers, parents, and community members about the real-life problem from their place and get suggestions or feedback they have. After, they can go back and edit the powerpoint and add information from what they have learned through others.

3. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
1. Students will use the Google Doc Powerpoint to share their ideas and information regarding the real-world problems to their peers and other students. They will also be able to access the file from home so that their parents can look over their ideas of solving the real-world problem and give further input.

4. model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
1. I modeled and facilitated effective use of current and emerging digital tools to support research and learning because students were given multiple tools: youtube, internet, Pixie, Kidspiration and their peers to use as resources for both lessons. In creating their map of a familiar place they were able to use tools to analyze information about their place and evaluate what would be useful in their own rendition of the map.  They then used Pixie to bring their map “to life” through images and information they had gathered during their research.

• Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

1. advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

9. At the start of the school year, I would have a lesson that focused on the safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology. We will watch a video and have a discussion on right and wrong ways to use the internet and the computer. Students will be paired up and given scenarios to act out, and then the class will “vote” whether it is ethical or not.

2. address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.

9. I addressed the diverse needs of all learnings by using learner-centered strategies. Working in pairs would give the diverse learner a “second set of eyes and ears” to help them with the lesson and provide clarity. Also, the computer can be adapted to change the font or lighting to help the students with visual impairments.

3. promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.

9. Using what they have learned about safe and ethical use of technology the students are responsible for promoting and modeling digital etiquette and responsible social interactions. When working with their partner on the Pixie and Kidspiration activities as well as the google doc they need to use appropriate language and pictures that are relevant to what they are learning. They will be monitored by the teaching walking around, as well as reviewing their work before being submitted.

4. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools.

9. Since we focused on familiar areas when working on our maps, I would expand this in another lesson by focusing on an unfamiliar area. Researching an unfamiliar area will provide them with cultural understanding and global awareness by researching a map from another culture. They will do this with a randomly selected peer and use digital age communication and collaboration tools to research and create a map on this unfamiliar place.