Team+2+Digital+Storytelling

Techno Niners

Gilbert Brashear Rubenjamin Estrada Belia Rasor

**Hi,**
**I'm Margaret Baeza and I'm excited to be part of the TECHNO NINERS! I have been teaching with the district for 17 years. I teach kinder and I love all the drama of the five year olds. Look forward to working with you all!!!**

Julie Rivas-Lopez
=== Hello group! I am at Clendenin Elementary. I have been teaching going on 11 years. I taught 3rd grade self-contained for 2 years and 3rd grade math/science for 2 years. Then was asked to take over the computer lab. I did half day lab for grades 3-5 and half day GT for grades K-3 for 5 years. Last year and this year I have taught technology for K-5. I am certified to teach Tech Apps through high school but I am NO EXPERT. I have also been the GT chairperson for 6 years. I look forward to working with you on our project! === [|My Delicious Site]

Hi I am Erica Gonzalez and I have been with the EPISD for 5 years. I taught Physical Education at Bassett MS for 2 years and I am currently at Clendenin ES. I am an avid sports fan and love to be outside and active with the kids so that is why chose to become a physical education teacher. I host an after school program called AQ Zone for 3rd-5th graders. I am excited to learn more about technology and look forward to collaborating with this great team!!!! Hi my name is Rose Baquera and I teach at Milam Elementary located on Biggs Army Airfield. I teach 3rd grade and love it! My favorite things to teach are Art and Social Studies, I find them the the most interesting. My kiddos are usually in El Paso one year so I get to meet many new children who come from all over the United States. In fact, some kids come from Germany, Japan, Holland...all over! I am an avid photographer and an even more avid Miner basketball fan! Go Miners! Picks Up!

Hola amigos! My name is Belia Rasor and I'm a third grade bilingual teacher at Milam Elementary. I've been working for EPISD for about 9 years. Being a bilingual teacher gives me the opportunity to meet students that come from all over the world. One of my favorite things about being a bilingual teacher is seeing how much my students pick up on the english language. **Working with technology is a lot fun too. I've enjoyed attending the T3 Grant trainings and using what I learn in the classroom!

//For your convenience we have copied and pasted this information into your school's team page. Please delete the directions that are *in asterisks* once you are finished.//

=
** Team Name TECHNONINERS **=====

=
** Team members **=====

Erica Gonzalez- Clendenin Julia Rivas-Lopez-Clendenin Rosetta Baquera-Milam Belia Rasor-Milam Margaret Baeza-Moreno Gilbert Brashear-Rusk Rubenjamin Estrada-Rusk

=
** Abstract **=====

=
//Tired of 'Interactive Notebooks' being 'NOT SO INTERACTIVE'?? Students will create DIGITAL INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS with smart new software! Watch as these students really jump into the future with a truly interactive memorable learning experience. No fluxcapacitor needed!//=====

=
** Problem, Issue, or Possibility **=====

=
Many schools in our district implemented "interactive notebooks" this school year. Not every campus is being mandated to do them but those that are, are expected to have all students' work look exactly the same. Thousands of composition notebooks are being consumed by the students in our district and we felt that many of the students are no longer able to show their creativity. We thought it would be interesting to find alternatives to a paper/pencil version of a notebook that would not only save money and paper but would make it truly interactive. =====

=
** Objectives and Assessment **===== Each member of the group researched a program that they felt could take the place of the notebook. Three members of our group worked on Smart Notebook with Kindergarten and 3rd graders, Springnote and Powerpoint were also tried with 3rd grade, Glogster was used with 4th and 5th graders and video journals were tried with 5th grade P.E. We all experienced success using the various programs with each having their own glitches or obstacles. Since this is something that would be a continuous project there is no way to say if we have been successful. In the long run, we would like to see the district give the teachers more freedom to choose how they would want to have their students document their work. With our alternatives, it would make it easier to view students' work from any location, rather that haul around 20 notebooks per subject. Our assessment would be student reaction to having a different way to do their work.

=
** Implementation Plan **===== Choose topic.
 * Team members research alternatives to the notebook.
 * Meet to discuss what program each member will focus on.
 * Go back to campus and begin implementation with students.
 * Document what students are working on.
 * Meet to discuss progress of each member and share what each has done.
 * Continue to document and prepare pictures and video for teaser.
 * Meet to work on teaser.
 * Finalize and create each members video for culmination and upload to dropbox.
 * Meet to review final video and discuss any loose ends before culmination.

=
**Evaluation and Results**===== Julia Rivas-Lopez- Since I work in a lab setting it has made each activity take a lot more time than I had anticipated. I only see students once a week for 45 minutes. If the students worked on Glogster in the classroom on a daily rotation I can see them using it as a successful alternative for some of the activities that they currently do in the notebooks. If the teacher allows it, they could also work on glogs from home, library or lab. I did have lots of glitches because Glogster EDU is a fairly new resource. They still had bugs to work out so there were some days that we did not get much accomplished because of technical issues. Glogster is something that I would like to continue using with the students through the end of the year. The students seem to really enjoy using it. I will probably survey them about how they felt about the program and if they would want to continue using it the following year. I did have to pay for the subscription myself this year because we were without a principal that could authorize purchase.

Rosetta Baquera-I decided to work with SPRINGNOTE. SPRINGNOTE is a reasonably easy program to use. Putting it simply it is AN INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK in the true sense of the word. My students used Springnote as their Social Studies interactive notebook. All of their work was done on Springnote - notes, vocabulary, photos, uploading power points, research etc... My students love doing artwork and then glue it into their notebooks. Students did their artwork using regular art supplies, then took photos of their work and uploaded it into their interactive digital notebook on Springnote. It takes time to get used to using all of the features of Springnote, but once my students got a firm grasp on how to use the software they did a wonderful job. Pros and Cons: It takes time to a. learn the software and b. work on the interactive notebook. Therefore many times the students didn't complete work that was assigned. They also needed a great deal of teacher help at the start. I had to help them and learn the software as well. Of course there may not be enough computers to go around for each child to have their own interactive notebook at the same time - rotations would work best. Children were wanting to print out their Springnote classwork but the high cost and low availability of colored ink does not allow that. Children who have computers at home can work on their digital notebooks at home and print out their work if they have a colored printer at home.Parents can also view their child's digital notebooks on their home computers. Students can also choose from various designs and fonts to personalize their Springnote pages. There are also features such as a calendar / planner which would be very helpful for middle, or highschool kids. My students really enjoyed using Springnote. They are looking forward to showing and sharing their work with other kids and teaching them how to use Springnote. All in all it was very interesting and inspiring to see how using digital technology can push our students into the future!

Belia Rasor- The programs I used with my students were PowerPoint and Paint. I found that using these programs were somewhat easy to use for the students as long as they had plenty of practice. Students were given the opportunity to play around with the program for a couple of days, before starting our actual lesson. I chose these two programs since all our classroom computers have one or the other and not all our classrooms have access to MacBooks. One inconvenience I ran into, was student's wanting to print a hard copy of their project. Unfortunately, the cost of ink does not allow us to print too many copies. However, one solution to this problem is loading their projects onto the teacher's website so students and even parents can view them. Overall, the students enjoyed using these two programs.

Gilbert Brashear- My students worked with Smart Notebook program. The students were excited to use another form of expressing their learning and understanding. They looked forward to it and even reminded me of their time to log in their entries. It did take time to train, instruct, and direct them on this for of notebook. However, the results have really been terrific.

Rubenjamin Estrada- In working with Smart Notebook, I noticed a lot of excitement with the idea of using a computer to have digital notebook. The students who used it felt this was better to use than a paper notebook and was a lot more fun. I could see how this could work if we had enough technology in the classroom and if the students were trained properly on how to use the program. There was a concensus that this would be an easier way to have notebooks in the classroom many of the students and teacher's interviewed agreed. The problem seemed to be the amount of time and the accessibility of technology to get the idea going. It is also hard to assess this because they have not had enough exposure to it.

Margaret Baeza- Working with Smart Notebook, just one phrase Kiddos love love love working with this program, instead of using paper pencil. I will continue to work with Smart Notebooks in my class but moving towards language arts and math. It was a big task but once the students were used to using the program it became better. The students worked together and that is what I loved!

Erica Gonzalez- In my physical education class I decided to use video journals and video cameras for students to record their work. I had a few students use the video cameras and they were excited to be on camera and using something different. You can tell the students enjoy seeing themselves on camera and also interviewing other students. I feel that this is a smart and easy way to use the notebooks in a unique way. Many students feel that this way helps to clean up the environment and waste less paper. I had a ton of fun with the students with this project.

=
//*Please include lessons learned and takeaways. How did it turn out? Where are you now in the project?*//=====

=
**Artifacts and Documentation**=====

=
//*Please share any and all materials developed throughout the project. Artifacts can include videos, meeting notes, surveys used, presentations, pictures, supporting documents, URLs, slide sets, etc.*//=====