Welcome to RCE Summer On-line training. This year we will hit a few new things and
revisit some old ones. There is no
connection between the different assignments and they really do not build on
each other until you have finished them all and they will be connected at the
end. Each assignment should take you
about 2 hours….or I should say you will get 2 hours of credit. You will need to read through the assignment
and then complete the assignment by writing a response to the questions at the
end of each assignment. To take this
summer’s learning to the next level – don’t just respond with your answers but
rather look at what others have commented on, add to, embellish and then come
back and respond to what others have written.
Just as in your classroom, there is the basic assignment,
support for the “remedial” learner, and enrichment for the gifted and talented
or over achiever. Feel free to do
whatever feels best for you. Know that
in the basic assignment, there are short instructions with very little support,
in the “remedial” support you will be
given more information and possibly some graphics to help you finish. The enrichment section will just give you
more ideas and suggestions to integrate into your classroom.
A big
thing to remember as we work through using technology – technology is only a
tool – a tool to help make things easier, more efficient, or more
motivating. In your classroom, don’t try
to force technology….it should be the “natural tool” to make things smoother
and better for you as an educator. Just as with any other tool, allow for
choices. Not all students will be
interested in all things. If you gain
one “AH HA!” moment this summer, let it be that technology is a tool!
Just because I like to do the hardest thing first…the first
assignment is definitely the most difficult and time consuming. After you complete the first section, it is
downhill from there!
Have fun, think about how this will help you next year….the
purpose of the summer on-line training is to give you time to explore what is
available for your classroom. As a
reminder, make sure your name is attached to any response you make…either by
using your google id or by putting your first name and last initial at the
beginning of your post. The way I
give credit is to check to make sure you wrote in each blog session.
Lesson 1:
Reading in a New Way
Technology continues to be a driving force in education. However, good teaching comes from integrating
technology in a seamless way. Using
e-books is a great way to integrate technology into the classroom. At Rummel Creek we have several types of
E-Books that can be read using many different devices. For this segment you will learn about the
e-books that are available for you to use with your students at RCE. Some of these resources are available
district wide; others are limited to only Rummel Creek students as we are the
funding source for the materials.
Why
e-books? Most of the e-books
that have been selected for Rummel Creek are multi-user – which means that more
than one student can check out a book at a time. You could have your entire grade level or
classroom read one book together on various devices. Many of our titles are best used on Wi-Fi,
rather than downloading on your own devices, however many of them can be
downloaded as well.
With the e-books – every book can become a “big book”. No need to scan, no need to do all kinds of
work to make the book show up, just open up a title using your activeboard –
you have a book to share with your class.
With the interactive ability of the promethean board – you should easily
be able to click through a book from the front of the classroom!
Enrichment:
Why
use an e-reader
What
e-books does Rummel Creek have?
Well, outside of the district books, RCE has almost 300 titles of
e-books ready for students to read. The
easiest way to find titles for RCE that are e-books is to go to the Rummel
Creek On-Line Card Catalog. If you have
never tried this – follow these directions to the on-line card catalog – you
have this at your fingertips anywhere you have access to the internet.
Go to the Spring Branch Home Page
Click on IRMS
(Library)
Click on Campus
Links (Rummel Creek)
At this page,
you can log on using your SBISD log on creditials – using your log in gives you
more access to materials and you can place holds on something that you want
Click on the CATALOG tab across the top.
This will take you to the on-line card catalog for RCE
On the next
screen, you have many pull down choices.
If you select electronic book as the material type, it will only search
through the e-books that we have at RCE.
This is a great place to start.
If you try this handout it will give you directions for using Destiny Quest –
which is the “hip” side of Destiny. It
too will search the e-books (There is also a list of the e-books at RCE you can
click on).
Assignment:
Spend a few minutes perusing the e-books available at
RCE. You will notice that most of the
books are Non-fiction. Thinking ahead to
our transition years, the acquisition of books has been to support your
classroom and curriculum needs. Also,
most of the titles are for multi-users – meaning that all of your class could
access the same title at the same time.
Open an e-book. Click
on the table of contents, the glossary, and the index. Follow this handout for more
information on using the particular books.
Each company we purchase from has a slightly different way of
accessing. As long as you log in, you
will have not have as many issues. So
make sure that you log in first.
From the handout (one
used to send home with parents) you will see that some books (those from
Follett) will allow you to make markings in the books and take notes. The notes will only appear under your log in
– not the students. Students may also
mark in their books as well. Play around
with marking and highlighting in the e-book you are using. Open it up again later, and you will see that
it will still have your notes. How Cool!
More e-books are available on the Library
Resources Page – Click on e-books and read all of the information about Overdrive. You may want to download overdrive on one of
your devices. Look at the district books
that are available. Most of these are single
user licenses – only one person can use at a time.
Still more e-books are available on the DATABASE page: Pebble Go and the Power Kids Science. These e-books are designed to read over the
web.
Another cool thing about e-books is that most of them do have
an audio link to read the book.
Select an e-book – click through it and try all of the things
that it does. Imagine your students using e-books in your
classroom, homework, research….how can using the e-books stimulate unmotivated
students.
If e-books are not enough – check out the other databases
found on the Library Resources Page.
(Check my e-mail for the password list!)
On the
blog, respond to these questions –
How can you see e-books help your students in reading? Do you think some students will want to read
more with an e-reader or not? How will
you incorporate the e-books that are available in your classroom? How can e-books be a tool to use in your
classroom?
We really enjoy using Power Kids Science and Pebble Go. Power Kids Science is user friendly and has a wide variety of Non-Fiction information. Pebble Go is another favorite of 2nd Graders because it is also easy to use. I love how it sorts articles based on relevance! I have not used the Follett E Shelf as much as I should be using it. Maybe that will be my next goal for the upcoming year... so I chose that to explore more... As I did, I noticed that there was not a "tab" called CATALOG on my screen - but maybe that is because I'm using Safari and not Google Chrome.... Nonetheless, if you click on LIBRARY from the RCE website, you can get to Follett E Shelf to look up books. This is going to come in handy when we move into the transition campus because of the limitations we will have to the library - they way we "know and use it" now will look, sound and feel totally different! This is just one more way we can have something at the tips of our fingers!
ReplyDeleteI do think kids will love reading self-selected topics / books using our devices. I like how we can highlight and take notes to the side of the books in the Follett E Shelf. That will be engaging for later discussions amongst reading groups.
I'd like to know if these E-Books can be downloaded to a Kindle or would it be best to use the iPad. I think we did run into some issues with viewing some of the video clips on the Power Kids Science using the iPad - but that is more of a "Flash" issue.
The best thing about these books - is that you can't really ever misplace them in your classroom!!! That is going to make the end of the year go smooth!
Amy White
ReplyDeleteE books could help students in reading by being able to put students reading books that are on their level. This could help them because the students could have multiple titles available to them on their level. They would be able to consume multiple books to get the practice they need to promote fluency. Some students would be motivated to read with an e-reader because they can read books above or below their level without other students knowing what level they are on. Other students just don't want to read at all whether they have an e-reader or not. I would incorporate the Science e-books that are available. These are non-fiction books that would be used in various units of study to research different topics. The students could use them as resources when working on a project or when learning about various topics. I would use the e books as a tool in the workstations. Different students would be able to research different things at different times and on multiple subjects. E books are a great resource to use across multiple subject areas. They provide a way to differentiate instruction and they are motivating for students to use.
Jennifer Brouse
ReplyDeleteE books could motivate those students who don't like reading very much by getting them motivated by using technology and getting their interest that way and gettting them to find books they have interests in and wanting to read that way and gathering their friends together to create a group of readers on their reading level and like interests. In my room I would use this in literature circles and have the group decide on their book title and they become more in charge of what their group is going to do with the book they are assigned to read rather than me guiding them through the book, they guide their group together because they have like interests because of the technology. In these groups I can really see the kids getting more involved across subject areas and having more interest in reading no matter what reading level they are on because this is something new and interesting,
E-books can be helpful to all readers. Lower readers can read the books on their level without the worry of others knowing that they are reading on a lower level. Higher readers have an easier time with books instead of lugging around a huge book everywhere. E-books have been helpful in class because they don’t take up room and with the searchable database all interests of all students can be accommodated.
ReplyDeleteMy kids used e-books during our daily 5 choices during read to self and read to someone. Students were able to use our technology to read. Scholastic book clubs now carries ebooks as well. I have had a few students purchase books through the book order for the scholastic storia app—for ipad and kindle fire. I have personally not used this but have heard others say they enjoy the option of ebooks. The resources we have available to use at RCE is fabulous for those that want to use e-books but don’t want to purchase or for those students that read every book they can get their hands. Personally I have enjoyed having an e-reader (kindle and also use the kindle app for the ipad and have used the ibooks apps also) due to the convenience of being able to take multiple books with me with ease.
The e-books provide many more copies of non-fiction books for teachers to use with their students. Students can take notes in the books and be able to share information with friends. As we move to the transition campus, the e-books will allow the library collection to stay robust without housing thousands of books in minimum space. Selection of the e-books has been geared around the curriculum and student interest.
ReplyDeleteLisa Davis
ReplyDeleteI started with Destiny. It was confusing at first, but I did figure it out eventually. Not all of the ebooks are available to read. There is no read button available. Otherwise, it does give a nice list of books for whatever you are looking for. The Follett e shelf is easier to use, but I didn't like the electronic voice that read to kids. Pebble Go looks like a good site for lower readers. I would definitely use that for my readers that are struggling with on level material. I use Powerkids often, and it's a great site for science and social studies. Overdrive is the last resource I looked at. It is organized by genre, which is a big deal for third graders. Kids can sort by genre and find titles that fit their needs. They can also see what books in that genre have in common. I struggled to get the books downloaded, since I needed to download the software that would allow me to actually read the book. It took a while. Not everything works on the iPad, so that would be a problem since reading on an iPad is much easier than on the big computers.
I will continue to use ebooks as I have done. Powerkids works very well. I'll add Pebble Go as needed for specific students. I will take small groups of students through Destiny, Overdrive, and Follett to find reading materials, but without iPad support we might not go far with it. Perhaps there is a way around the iPad problems. Many of my students bring Nooks and Kindles to read with, so I know that ebooks are very popular, and there's so much to be said for giving kids choice in what they read. We have to do a better job at making resources available with the technology we have.
Kate Evetts
ReplyDeleteI am excited about the idea of e-books. I explored through many of the different suggested sites. When looking through Destiny Quest, I felt like it was more of a card catalog. I don’t know that I would really have as much use for that in my classroom. Then I looked through Overdrive. Here I felt like there were great book choices that students could enjoy. After installing the needed downloads, I think it will be very useful. Students can individually or in reading groups choose books based on genre or more developmentally appropriate levels. I like that some of these can be read for you. However, it did seem to freeze a lot and therefore might be frustrating for some or at least for me. I wish there was a larger selection of books too. I did all of this on my laptop. Therefore I worry that it won’t be available to other devices such as the ipad or Kindles. I thought I liked the Follett Shelf. There are a lot more books to choose from now. When having a book read to you, it sounds like a robot. I was opening I would have been a real person, so my lower readers could see how to read for punctuation to therefore help with comprehension. When trying to use this, I was unable to log into it. I tried using my own children’s login information to see how a student would use this, but I was unable. I think after a bit of extra assistance this will be helpful for my classroom. I would hope this would motivate students to read about different people and recommend books to friends. I would encourage them to take notes and print these pages in order to share in groups. Pebble GO was very user friendly, and I thought some lower readers could use this. I look forward to learning more and more about ebooks as these sites become more and friendlier to its users.
I followed the directions EXACTLY as stated and NO luck. I have messed with it for one hour, but all that I can get to is a TitlePeek page. This shows me a cover of the book, title page, summary, and basically anything I could've gotten from amazon.com. The idea that I could possibly pull this book up and show it on my activeboard is a fantastic one. We could point out similes and metaphors as students find them and other examples of figurative language, but this is not working.
ReplyDeleteI have had books downloaded on my Itouches before and the students loved it. I agree with Jennifer that it often can entice an uninterested reader simply because technology is involved. In 5th grade we do a whole class book club with the book, Hatchet. In theory, getting 27 or 28 copies of the same book is extremely helpful. Not having to store them, not worrying about pages getting riped, students leaving with them, etc. is fantastic. However, I do not have 27 technical devices of which to load one per student on. When we transition into doing different books in the classroom, it is nice to think that I could put 5-6 students on the same title by using technology and the rest of the class could be using an actual book. This means that we have an endless list of choices and kids could read the much sought after Bluebonnet Books immediately. That would be incredibly exciting and motivating for many!
I will continue to learn the site better and hope I will be more successful.
Call me crazy, but I had a bunch of trouble figuring out how to log on and how to manipulate the sites. By the time I downloaded the needed software that was different for every one of these programs, I was a little frustrated and had spent well over an hour. I am wondering how this would be helpful at school when it is this unfriendly for the user. Once I got in, I liked Overdrive and Pebble GO a lot. I see myself using it with book club, and I do think kids would be motivated to use it because it is different and fun. Knowing me, I will get familiar with one of these and use it the most. Honestly, thought, I don't see myself using all these different programs until they are more user friendly. I will use eBooks for research with non-fiction and when kids need to be in different books. I like that it provides a variety of levels and the same books are repeated in different levels. It will provide kids more choices when they are below level. I want my kids motivated, but I do not want this not to work when I'm in the middle of presenting it. It will require me to do more front loading of my lesson which is fine, but I need to know it will be available and accessible consistently. Sorry to be the grumpy one, but it was frustrating for me and I'm in the middle of summer with a good attitude.
ReplyDeleteBecky W.
ReplyDeleteE-books could be used in many ways in the classroom. Chapter books can be downloaded to the student's personal electronic reader or the classroom ipad. This can be used for the child's independent reading or for book clubs. When browsing, I noticed alot of biographies. They also good for when we start our genre study in reading. The non-fiction Follet Shelf e-books are great for all subjects. While browsing, I found some books on the Alamo, Comparing Fractions, Ecosystems, etc., that I can display on the ActivBoard to introduce the concept. I liked how all of the text that was highlighted shows up on the when you click on the 'Book Notes' tab. That is beneficial when wanting to see all of the important info. that you highlighted all in one place! It would help the reader collect all of the main ideas to write a summary. I also liked how you could zoom in and increase the font, helping kids that might get distracted with too many things on a page. Although the electronic voice sounded a little weird, it would be helpful for our ESL learners, especially with non-fiction. Pebble Go is a good site for lower readers and could help them when we are doing research.
I am looking forward to using more of these resources in my classroom this year!
Lesson 1-
ReplyDeleteDebbie Moore- Having a kindle of my own, I have learned to appreciate the value of eBooks for my own personal enjoyment. Most of our students at RCE have their own personal devices Therefore using eBooks will be easy and convenient even at their own homes. In Health Fitness our goal is to keep the students as active as possible. Reading in class would only be available and useful for those students that cannot participate due to illness or injury. I do think it would be good to use pieces of books to enhance our health lessons in class. Another use in Health Fitness would be to have some reading assigned outside of Health Fitness class and then shared with the classes the next day or later in the week. With eBooks many students can have access to the same book at the same time without checking them out and worrying about loosing them. Such eBooks as Enjoy Your Meal, Eat Healthy, and Muscles would easily fit into our health lessons. Some students that don’t like to read as much as others could benefit from having eBooks on Sports readily available; such as “Football Fugitive” and “Baseball Pals” and others. Math could be integrated with sports also as found in books like “Math of Football” and Math of Baseball”. I found it interesting to see what was available and look forward to seeing even more!
I also had a difficult time getting it to work. I will continue to try to make them work in the classroom. I love ebooks. At our house we all use ebooks. I love that you can hear about a great book then can immediately download it and read it. I get ideas from magazines that do book reviews and I can then go and start reading it right away. I also like that even when the library is closed it is available to students with ereaders. I am hoping that when we get back into it I can get the kids to try to download to their readers and they will be more successful than me!
ReplyDeleteKerry L
ReplyDeleteWOW Ebooks seems like a great tool for the little ones I worked with last year. They really enjoyed the IPADS last year and found the computers a little harder to manage with the read aloud activities. The easy of turning the page and the read aloud is key for PPCD kiddos. They were more excited about working on the IPAD then an actual book, so I think it would hold their interest. I think it could be used to expand their verbal skills and reading skills with repetition. Hopefully, it is another way they can connect with their families. They can log on and see what book we are working on in the classroom and do the same at home. Can't wait to see how far they can go with this.