This week my students continued to work on their PowToon presentations. Each one selected a topic from something they had learned on a field trip to Sci-Port a few weeks ago. I taught my students how to put a YouTube video into their Kidblog post. This way they are able to share their work with other students at other schools.
One thing I am struggling with is the varied amount of time each student takes to create their presentation. I have some stragglers who are working but aren’t finished. This keeps them glued to a computer, and I am not able to move on with the other students. I want everyone to feel successful and have the time he or she needs to complete their work, but it is also frustrating. Do any of you experience this problem? What works or helps?
I asked my students to write about their experience in creating the presentation in addition to sharing the video on Kidblogs. Tyler is making his presentation about lemurs into a fundraiser. Vannisa enjoyed sharing the video with her other teachers and their classes.
I am not big on giving a lot of instructions on creative projects. I like to see where my students will go with it. I watched as they researched their topics. They would get excited when they learned something new. Vannisa interviewed me and her classmates about what questions we had about gravity that she could research. Erin wants to learn about Newton’s laws of motion and is taking notes. Like a true scientist, she is the only one who could decipher her notes. Emily was fascinated by the many species of lemurs and wanted to show what each one looked like. Her video is very visual. Using a basic rubric, I was able to allow for freedom of expression. I am pleased that PowToon motivated my students. They were proud of their videos.
Margaret, your ability to present your students with a research project and allow them to get involved in messy learning is commendable. I hear what you are saying about the length of time for the completion of these projects and issues related. Since the learning process is different for each child, it is difficult to get everyone to complete at the same time. Perhaps, a flow chart of timed activities would work. I use that when I am presenting to make sure that I can cover all facets in an appropriate time block. My entry will be late today since the wake and funeral took up much of my time this weekend.
You and your kids are endlessly creative, Margaret. I love that you give each child the gift of discovering how to “work” something out. The skills they gain and discover through this process will stay with them all their learning years.
Margaret, These are great! What a fun way to present research. The timing thing is always so tricky, isn’t it?! I know homework isn’t popular, but that’s when I find I have to assign something like that as homework and give it a due date. Since I have 90 students, and I only have each class for 60 minutes, we’d never be able to move on if I didn’t give them a deadline. We’re fortunate that 99% of my students have computer access at home, so finishing a technology-based project would not be a problem as homework. For the students who can’t, I can hold a working lunch or have them finish during our school’s intervention time. It’s never a perfect system!
These are terrific, Margaret. I have signed up for a Powtoon group, but now will need to see what projects each student is working on to see if it fits. Thanks for the sharing. I, like Holly, have deadlines too, but since it’s so individual, I don’t have that whole group issue. Best wishes for solving it the way it works best for your classes.
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Margaret,
Thank you for sharing your work with literacy learning. I haven’t played much with PowToons, but look forward do taking some time to learn more about it. I always appreciate seeing the samples of student work. It is helpful to have mentor texts to envision all that is possible.
As always, thanks for hosting and being patient with all of us on this digital journey. See you soon at NCTE!
Cathy
The program is very user friendly. We did not have success with adding music. Some students chose backgrounds that came with embedded music, but we didn’t know it until they were on YouTube.
PowToon is new to me and I can tell I need to check it out. I love your kids’ projects. I found myself thinking about all the different craft moves they had to make to produce these projects. The examples are great and if you don’t mind, ones I’d like to use with my after school digital writing club. Thanks! See you at NCTE.
My students will love to know they are mentors to others. Can’t wait to meet face to face! I’m worried that I am going to cry.