Raising Readers and Writers

The first grade stories are finally uploaded onto the podcast server!  I saw a video clip from Bud Hunt about first grade stories being published digitally.  I immediately went to our building tech teacher and told her I wanted to do the same thing.   She had never used  iMovie with first graders, but she was willing to jump in and make it happen.  This project was huge and it wouldn’t have materialized if it wasn’t for Kathy (the tech teacher) and Betty (the media specialist).  Added to their expertise were 4 other parent volunteers and the ELL teacher, along with me in the classroom with 24 laptops and 24 eager first graders.

Steps we took:

• At the end of our personal narrative genre study, each child published his or her story.
• Kathy and Betty came in and took digital pictures of the kids’ individual books (a photo of each page and the cover). The kids helped with the picture taking by holding their books flat.
• Kathy downloaded the photos onto individual laptops and noted whose photos were on which laptop.
• THE BIG DAY!  Kathy and Betty brought the laptops to my room.  I had asked 4 parents to help with the project (one was a grandma who had never used a computer before), as well as the ELL teacher.
• The students logged in and brought up iMovie.    Kathy had hooked up the Epson machine so she could project one computer on the screen and lead them through the process step by step.
• All the adults worked together to record the students reading their books.  We recorded one page at a time so that it would be easier to line up voice recordings with the photographs.  We had kids and laptops everywhere…in the hall, the ELL teacher’s classroom, and my room.
• Once all the voices were recorded, Kathy showed the kids how to bring their photos into iMovie from iPhoto.  (At this point, the kids had reached their limit and they began to get very antsy.  We decided to stop them here and have the adults sync the voices with the photos.)
• Kathy, Betty, and I finished by lining up the photos and voice recordings.  Everything was saved to my classroom server.
• I uploaded the final iMovies onto the podcast server and you can see them here:  http://video.hboe.org/users/avyjohnsonju/.

This project was very rewarding, but one that couldn’t have been done without the collaboration of several people.  I am very thankful to Kathy, who is always willing to listen to my ideas and help me make them a reality.  Thanks to Betty, who is always available to help out in these big projects, and the ELL teacher who changed her schedule to help us out.  And finally, thanks to my wonderful parent volunteers who stepped out of their comfort zones to help us create this project.

Tomorrow will be the really fun day…showing the kids their wonderful work!

I’ve been watching the Olympic coverage tonight and saw the premiere of the new We Are the World to support Haiti. It brings chills to me as I see the world come together for one purpose. We celebrate our best athletes as the Olympics become a symbol of peace throughout the world. In the same way, musical artists of all different genres come together to aid a country in dire need.

I’ve been thinking about my post for quite awhile. Tonight’s Olympics and the airing of We Are the World brought it all together for me. It’s that time of year when I am very worried about my struggling young learners. Will they learn all the skills they need before their time with me ends? How can I best help them make the most gains between now and the end of the school year? I know that I can’t do it alone. It’s imperative that there is open communication between classroom teachers, the support staff that also works with my students, and parents. We all need to be on the same page working for the same goals. If we don’t collaborate, our kids are pulled in different directions and the adults are busy running around trying to solve the problem by themselves. It makes no sense. Unfortunately, it is our reality at times.

Choice Literacy had an article about what makes a good teacher in last week’s Big Fresh. Although there was a lot to take away from the article, one thing in particular clicked with me. Resonating among all great teachers was their mind-set. They refused to accept failures from bureaucracy, poverty, and lack of funding. They constantly reevaluated what was happening in their classrooms. There’s no denying that I’m reflective, but I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been “pouting” because I haven’t been able to meet with the other teachers who work with my kids like I want to. After reading the article, I realized that I’m not helping my kids by lamenting on what I don’t have. It’s time to reevaluate!

I have a renewed sense of purpose again! It’s up to me to make the changes that I need to make in my classroom so that I can better meet the needs of my most struggling learners while they are with me. I will continue to invite conversations with the other teachers, because I still believe that if we are going to make the most progress we need to work together as much as we can. However, if the conversations don’t happen, I will find other ways to move forward.

In the same way that all the musical artists came together for one goal, so must we teachers open our doors and invite others in so that we can best meet the needs of our shared students. It is through this important collaboration that we can most efficiently raise the achievement of all of our students and help them be the best they can be. If we all believe it is important, we will find a way to make it happen.