Incorportating Multimedia Technology In The Preschool Classroom
1. Incorporating Multimedia Technology in the Preschool Classroom by Didi Dolandolan and Vicki New Prince George’s County Public Schools Summer Institute June 23, 2008
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3. Schedule 12:30 – 1:00 Introductions, House Keeping, Agenda 1:00 – 1:15 What Research Says About Technology and Child Development 1:15 – 1:45 Using PowerPoint Presentation to Adapt Books 1:45 – 2:15 Using Digital Cameras in the Classroom 2:15 – 2:45 Using interactive whiteboards in instruction 2:45 – 3:00 Break; Gallery Walk 3:00 – 3:30 Participants create a presentation using technology 3:30 – 4:00 Group Presentation Wrap Up
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28. Image from the Houghton Mifflin’s Teacher Edition, Theme 2: My Family, My Community story “The Creaky Old Bed”
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32. The Creaky Old Bed Mushroom in the Rain Children can choose between the two stories and it will take them to the full version of the story Images from the Houghton Mifflin’s Teacher Edition, Theme 2: My Family, My Community story “The Creaky Old Bed” and “Mushroom in the Rain” by Mirra Ginsburgs, Jose Aruego and Arianne Dewey
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35. Photo credit from Creating PowerPoint Talking Storybooks by Richard Walter – ACE Centre, UK
36. Mouse Paint By Ellen Stoll Walsh Adapted by Lady Bernadette Dolandolan Create using pictures from Mayer-Johnson’s Boardmaker®
37. Once there were 3 white mice on a white piece of paper. 1 2 3
Using the SMARTboard, Presenters will fill up the Personal Technology Inventory sheet Presenters introduce themselves. Personal Technology Inventory will be used by the presenters to assess the group of teachers attending for the day. Participants will be asked to reflect on how they use technology. It will be helpful in identifying how comfortable teachers are in using technology, what kinds of technology are available in their buildings and whether they use technology for instruction in their classrooms as well.
Please keep cell phones in silent mode Bathrooms locations Rules Stay engaged Share and participate
Social and Emotional Development Technology cannot replace human interactions or relationships. However, computers and software can serve as a catalyst for social interaction and conversations related to children’s work (Clements & Nastasi, 1993).
While critics express concerns that computer use will inhibit language development and lead to social isolation (Cordes & Miller, 2000; Healy, 1998), rather than isolating children, research shows that:
Computer use should be brief at this age, and limiting screen time and encouraging frequent breaks will decrease the risks.
Vigorous physical activities and play should be encouraged
Computers allow presentation and actions not possible in the physical world (ex. manipulate variables like speed or gravity, and discover the resulting effect). (Clements, 1999; Seng, 1998)
Now that we have discussed the benefits of technology as revealed in various researches, let’s look closely at how to incorporate the 3 types of technologies we will be discussing this afternoon.
Show sample on next slide.
This page is from the Houghton Mifflin’s Teacher Edition, Theme 2: My Family, My Community story “The Creaky Old Bed.” Since most of the Teacher Read Aloud just consist of 3 pages and the pages are relatively small in size when presented to a class full of students, scanning and projecting them using powerpoint, a visualizer or overhead projector would be helpful.
Show sample on next slide.
On this slide, I inserted pictures I have previously cut from scanned pages and inserted them into the page. Handout 3 will have detailed instructions on how to add pictures, sounds and custom animations. The different movements objects/pictures do in the presentation is called animations.
For those who are really confident with technology, but do not know how to use the hyperlink function yet, this is a pretty amazing tool to learn and use. Again, Handout 3 has detailed information regarding how to use this function. Once you have created several presentations, you can use this method to provide choices to your students, so they can reread stories you have previously read/presented in the whole group setting. This provides them an opportunity to independently explore and revisit the stories. Show sample on next slide. Mention that the county offers workshops on the use of PowerPoint functions.
A table is set up so the participants can have a chance to manipulate and navigate through presentations using these equipments. During the break please feel free to try out the different equipments.
You can use picture communication symbols in 2 ways: Use picture symbols to illustrate words being said in an illustration (example on next slide) Use picture communication symbols to illustrate the whole story to avoid distractions. (Mouse Paint slide)
In this book adaptation, the teacher scanned the pages of the book and on the opposite page, used picture symbols using Writing With Symbols or Boardmaker software.
On this version of the Mouse Paint, the teacher used the Boardmaker software to illustrate the whole story.
Show actual switch and how it works.
Show actual Book Worm
Show a sample of the adapted mouse and how it works
Show sample on next slide. Demonstrate how to use voice output devices while presenting a story.
While showing this slide, allow child to press on appropriate matching animal to activate the sound. In this presentation, I also used a ‘Big Mac’ and assigned it to a student whose primary job is to press it every time the book mentions: “The bed creaked.” For the sound files, there are a lot online resources to record sounds from. The for the Big Mac, I recorded real creaking sounds and for the cheap talk, I played and captured it from the internet.
Show the Intellikeys keyboard, explain that this is just like the regular keyboard except it is modified for use by children with visual impairments.
Here is a sample template of a Talking Book that everybody can use in making or adapting their own stories. Later on you will have an opportunity to try and create an adapted story using what we have learned today.
Here is a sample of the template of the “talking book.” Everybody will get this template.
If you do not have the time to adapt books. There are a lot of online resources you can turn to. There are many ready made media books available today. I have cited 3 sites that caters to early childhood.
How many of you use a digital camera at home? (Show of hands ) How many of you use a digital camera at school? (Show of hands ) Why would we want to use a digital camera? (Solicit a response from the audience)
Generally, people use digital cameras to record events happening in their life. The same can be said for using a digital camera in the classroom. However, in most situations, the adults are the ones that are taking the pictures. Now that there are digital cameras made specifically for children, they are finally given an opportunity to help document events that they see as being important.
Regardless of who is taking the pictures, there are many different ways that digital photos can be used in a classroom. For example, pictures taken on field trips can be shown in a slide show format and used for follow up activities such as journal writings. If your class participates in multiple field trips, pictures from two field trips can then be used with a Venn Diagram. This allows the children to compare and contrast field trips. Both receptive and expressive language skills, as well as memory recall are consistently being enhanced with the use of digital photos. Digital photos do not only have to be displayed in a technological format, but can be printed out to make books for the reading area. For example, photos can be used to make an action book that not only focus on action words but alliteration. In addition to the examples that we have given you, in your folder, you will see Handout 5 from Scholastic.com which lists 100 Ways to Use Digital Cameras. During the break, you may look at the sample books that were made from digital photographs.
Children’s photographs may not be perfect, however, we need to remember that these photographs represent what is seen through a child’s eye. Even if the pictures are not of what they were intended to be, you may still be able to use the picture for another activity. And do not be surprised when the children tell you which photos they took.
Regardless of what kind of interactive board you may have, how you choose to use them in your classroom is what is important. For example, if you want to show the children how to use a particular interactive website, you can use an interactive board to show the children, in a large group setting how they can navigate the webpage. Of the interactive boards that the county has purchased, they all have folders on their web pages of sample lessons.
This is an online resource where you can get ready to use SMART-created activities to use with your interactive whiteboard.
Here are some samples of teacher created interactive whiteboard activities. This is a rhyming word game where children draw a line to connect two pictures that rhyme.
Here is a sorting game where children will use their fingers to pick an apple from the tree and sort them between the red and green baskets.
Here is another sorting activity, this time, it uses a 3 column table. The children are learning early literacy and print awareness concepts by sorting letters, words and pictures.
This activity uses a venn diagram to illustrate and distinguish which letters have lines, curves or both.
Now you will have a chance to work as a group and create something using the talking book template using PowerPoint or the SMART notebook software. We will provide teachers with books from Themes 1 and 2 so they can have something to take back to their respective classes. If participants are not able to ‘make’ their own book that day, we will just ask them to make a storyboard of how they want to adapt a book or make a presentation.