It's Google Time...

Our district is transforming into a "Google District", and I'm really excited about it. Staff and students have access to Google Apps via their EChalk accounts. Collaborative learning and student engagement will increase dramatically with the addition of Google Apps. Most importantly for me, all student will have access to productivity tools via Google. I'm also excited about cutting down on paper use! 

Pitsco Modules

We are almost done with Rotation 4 of our Pitsco modules. In the above photo, students are working on programming robots, soldering electronics, and flight simulators.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

We are currently exploring desktop publishing. This is an exciting and creative adventure for the students. Our first deliverable is creating a Fight Card with a partner. We are using Microsoft Publisher for this assignment. We used an actual picture of the students, and even assigned our selves boxing nicknames! Don't get intimidated just yet, the only thing we plan to knockout is this unit!

For Your Viewing Pleasure.

Today we watched all of the completed PSA's. I regret not getting any pictures, but we had so much fun viewing the PSA's I didn't even think to grab the camera. After watching the PSA's, the students completed an individual reflection on our EChalk class page discussion board. I am overjoyed at how successful each group was with this unit. If you are a Holub Hawk, you can view the PSA's on the student common, in the "Winston" folder. Have a great 3 day weekend!

Editing..... The Final Countdown

Today, we were busy finishing up our PSA's today. We used Window's Movie Maker to edit our PSA's to perfection. Once everyone got the hang of Movie Maker, I noticed some very creative PSA's. We had a few groups that did not finish, but we will all present tomorrow! The countdown is on to the premiere of our PSA's!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Today was a big day for the students, they had the oppurtunity to film footage for their PSA. The storyboards, scripts, and location request were instrumental in making today a success. Overall the students made realistic actors. Practicing their scene, getting serious, and getting their giggles out was hard for others. I am super proud of the hard work put in today, and was happy to see various group members step up and take control!

Guest Speaker &16 Career Clusters!

 Today we had the pleasure of having Mrs. Jones from Elsik come over and talk with us about the 16 career clusters available in our district. I was excited to hear about all of the options available to students. Not only was Mrs. Jones a fantastic presenter, but she also came with iPads. I was so happy to see that many of the kiddos already had an idea of what career cluster they may be interested in choosing for high school.

Video production PSA 10/3/13

We have started a new unit called "Video Production". We are doing this unit seperate from our traditional Pitsco modules. The students have already created groups to work with. Each group has an (1) Director (2) Producer (3) Actor(s) and (4) Editor. Today's task is to create a storyboard for their PSA. Each group received a PSA subject from Mrs. Winston. Stay tuned the next steps are to type the script, film the PSA, and finally edit it.