NIS ALI Project Reviews

*Digital Tableaux
*Gr 6 & 7 (my classes with MACs & Comic Life)
*English A
*Character Analysis ("walking in someone else's shoes")
*Students are assigned a critical scene in a work of literature and create a posed freeze-frame in which key characters/figures are represented making key decisions. The scene is documented with a digital camera and then, using iPhoto to import the photographs and make adjustments, students use ComicLife to create thought bubbles of what the characters in the tableau are saying, or more importantly, thinking. Using this experience, students learn to think beyond their own point of view and consider multiple perspectives on a work of literature through playing different roles.
*This is an updated way of doing the tableaux - I'll definitely let students use ComicLife to do this task.

I found this in Collections by topic ( secondary science)
Water IQ from Secondary Science
Grade level most likely 5-8
Topic area would be Environmental Issues
Water Conservation

I chose this because I thought I might be able to use in with my environmental chemistry option in IB chemistry but it really should be used with younger grade levels. The site has a slideshow which encourages students to brainstorm about how water is used and how it can be conserved. There are some assessment activities which are okay. One invites students to calculate how much water they use everyday and another goes into the different ways of conserving water. There are some good websites listed on the resource page.
( they look good but I have to admit that I did not actually go to the websites).

Collections by topic (secondary Language arts)
Literature Study Guides
Grade 9 above
Language Arts
Create a single page study guide for a literature work
Students work both individually and in pairs to create single page study guides for each of the 15 scenes in the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. Students “harvest” study guide information during the reading of the play. Afterwards, in pairs, they synthesize the collected data for a specific assigned scene and reduce it to essential information that can fit onto a single page. Students then enter their information into a Pages document, add images, proofread their guide, and revise it for final publication. All of the scene pages are then combined into a complete literature study guide.

This lesson idea is useful for any language art. I will use it in my teaching. It will work better if the class size is not too small.

Research on Stem Cell
Biology Diploma
G11-12
A group of educators has embarked in a project using biotechnology and are trying to create a series of lessons that will address stem cells.
The project is not completed but looks very promising. There are a lot of resources to use including videos and keynote presentations to download.
I will definitely use this in my teaching.

Fluency in Foreign Languages
Foreign Language
G9 and above
4 students in this project, using i-movie to film and practise on the language learned.
This is a very good idea to encourage the students to use the language they learned. Speaking is one of the important component in learning a language. By making a movie, students will not feel the presure of learning. I think I will try to let my students use this technology to learn the language.

* Project Name: Ipod Reporters
* Grade Level: All
* Curriculum Area(s) Language Arts, Technology, Journalism
* Topic: Newspaper reporting
* Brief Summary of project: Students plan a class newspaper and design the content. Journalistic interviews are conducted to fill in the content for the newspapers. Students use Ipods to record dialogs
* Your thoughts about the project: This is a good group-based project that can help students to apply language in the context of specific goals. It can particularly help students to realize the academic value of tools such as the Ipod, which often get a negative reputation for their misuse.

Project name: Digital Camera Maths Problems
Grade level: EY/Primary
Curriculum area: Maths
Topic: Counting, shape, symmetry, number problems, pattern, measures
Summary: Students use digital cameras to create a presentation about the chosen topic, e.g. an imovie that demonstrates a number problem, iphoto collection to show numbers 1 to 10/different shapes in the environment/symmetry
Although the examples given were basic at times, this would be a wonderful tool for getting maths out of the classroom and using our school environment. Students could develop digital maths trails for each other which would be exciting. I will be thinking about opportunities to use this

PodCasts -
This was about using Podcasts in teaching. In PE, students learn about concepts related to fitness. These may be difficult to link and connect in writing. Students creating their own podcasts will allow those students to express themselves orally about fitness and they can submit this to me and share them among other students.

* Project Name: The Soundtrack of One's Life
* Grade Level: Middle School (6-8)
* Curriculum Area(s) Music, Language Arts, Social Studies, Technology
* Topic: Research of historical person and creating a biography using music and images to represent that person
* Brief Summary of project: Students work in small groups to conduct research on an historical figure. They write a short biography of that person and then locate pictures or film footage of them. They have to choose 4 contemporary songs that represent the person. The students create a one -to two minute iMovie presentation on that person using the information that they have collected.
* Your thoughts about the project: I think this is a great idea as I get the students to create do an assignment called "My life in a box". I could change this to use technology and have the students take photos of their artifacts and create a movie on themselves, using music, interviews etc. They could have digital autobiography--very fun!

* Project Name: Comic Life Retell
* Grade Level: Lower Primary
* Curriculum Area(s) Language Arts
* Topic: Visual Retelling
* Brief Summary of project: Photograph students and scribe what they think/said/know happened in the stories.
* Your thoughts about the project: I could do this with my ESL students as we are starting the Storytelling unit. It's a bit easier for them to orally recount before putting pen to paper.

Just found a great lesson plan for creating a radio drama/show. Good for middle school.
http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/story.php?itemID=10664

Did anyone find any ESL friendly projects for Grades4-6?

* Project Name: Fact vs. Opinions
* Grade Level: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-6)
* Curriculum Area(s): Language Arts, Technology
* Topic: Students create an iMovie demonstrating their understanding of the difference between statements that are facts vs. opinions.
* Brief Summary of project: Students select "interesting" things around school to talk about, either using a digital camera or digital video camera, to capture their thoughts. Students put their digital photographs and digital video into an iMovie. They can record their voices over the digital photographs.
* Your thoughts about the project: I think this is a good activity, as it gives students an opportunity to create their own fact vs. opinion statements using their own topics of interest. After the initial stage of modelling and working together as a class to look at photos to generate fact and opinion statements, this activity gives the students a chance for independent work and the teacher an opportunity to assess them. It also integrates technology skills.

Project Name: Propaganda Principles: Using Garageband in the Language Arts
Grade Level: Middle School
Curric. Area: Language Arts
Topic: Advertising
Brief summary: This idea fits in really well in with my final unit in Grade 10 on commercials and propaganda. Students, using Garage Band, construct radio ads and learn how to deconstruct ads to identify the propaganda techniques that are used to influence buyers. I was impressed with this relatively simple idea and will definitely adapt my unit to incorporate Garage Band. I think that I have students do both a print ad as well as a radio ad for the same product so that they can compare and contrast the 2 types of ads.

How stuff works
MYP
Design Tech
How solar cars work
This is a great site. How stuff works has been around since the chalk board! but for me about to introduce a solar buggy project with grade 7s I can use this in my introduction to the project and then base assignments and perhaps the practical task around it.
Isn't Technology Groooovy....

Project Name: Steinbeck revisited

Grade 8 Mice and Men unit would benefit from the use of primary source material.
The problem that surfaces is that it is often difficult to know where to start in planning a unit that incorporates technologically based learning experiences. This exhibit’s purpose is to provide teachers with standards-based technology resources that will enhance the instructional process of teaching John Steinbeck and his works as this exhibit there are collections of web links for various texts.

Project Name: Culture and Awareness: Knowing Me, Knowing You
Grade Level: 9-12 (may be adapted for 6-8)
Curricular Area: Language Arts (may be Humanities)
Summary: Student write interviews after narrowing a topic related how individuals retain their own culture while constantly interacting in a foreign culture or a culture of internationalism. Students then create an imovie linking the ideas.
Comment: I really enjoyed the thoroughness of this project as posted (including an example and the rubric for evaluation). I will use this format but adapt the question somewhat to reflect the other side of the culture coin. I will pose the question "How can we integrate across cultures?" My ESL students are primarily from a single-culture/language group. Many of these students resist integrating with other students--perhaps because they don't know how to do so. The format of this project will give them a concrete reason to discover the answer to the question--how can we integrate? I like the suggestion too, to follow up with an individually created "This I Believe' assignment to learn through reflection and writing about the topic.

* Comic Life retelling in Early Years Literacy
* Grade 1
* Curriculum Area(s) Language Arts
* Sequential retelling

In this project the teacher worked with a guided reading group to retell a story. She captured the students words on the fly into speech bubbles, so they could review their cooperative retelling for correct order and missing details.

I think this would be an excellent modeled activity during shared book first and then during each guided reading group. I would like the more able writers to then use this as a formative assessment tasks to create their own independently. I would also like to adapt it to cover the elements of the story map. I would need

Project Name:Comic Life Retell in Early Literacy
Gread Level:Early year
Curri.Area:Language Arts
Topic:Storytelling
Brief summary:Capture the auditory element of retell into a visual modality.
Using Comic Life, the teacher types the retell words of the students in a guided reading group.
With the retell words written down, the teacher can then review with the students the
strengths and weaknesses of the retell, improve the retell,
and then print it and send it home with each student.