Project Descriptions

Indiana Core Standards - English Language Arts - K-6

Indiana Core Standards - Mathematics - K-6

Indiana Core Standards - Science - K-6

Indiana Core Standards - Social Studies - K-6

Project 1: Team NETS Presentation and Handout 40 points Team project	For this group project, your team will use Google Docs and Google Docs Presentations to work collaboratively to create a short classroom presentation and handout on your team's assigned National Educational Technology Standard for either students or teachers. These standards will help you understand where student are (or should be) in their technological development and where you as an emerging teacher are (or should be!) in your technological development. A sample document is here; a sample presentation (in PDF) is here.
Project 2: Team TrackStar Track 30 points Team project Standards aligned	TrackStar is a way for classroom teachers to control how their students browse the web. Teachers create "tracks" of links to specific web sites. Along with the site, teachers can add notes to help students better understand what they are looking at. See an example here (click the "View in Frames" button). Curriculum teams will develop a 15-site track using the online application known as TrackStar (http://trackstar.4teachers.org). Contents of the track will reflect one of the core standards appropriate for a given grade level.
Project 3: Cyber-lesson Website 50 points Team-decision and input, but final product is solo. Standards aligned	This is project is one that your team will decide on the standard and grade-level, but that you will develop a product on your own. A cyber-lesson is, for this project, defined as a lesson plan formatted for viewing online. The various sections of the lesson plan are divided into separate web pages in a site. Anywhere you can link to external sites to take readers to resources is done. Images of lesson steps, processes, products, etc. are provided. A sample is located here. The site will be created using Google Sites, a free online web app available from Google. If you consider yourself an advanced (and I mean advanced) user, I'll challenge you to use Adobe Dreamweaver (application download is free for IU South Bend students from the IUWare Site). Prior to creating the site, you'll create a plan for the site using Inspiration concept mapping software. A sample of an Inspiration diagram of a cyber lesson plan site is here.
Project 4: iPhoto Digital Book 20 points Team-decision and input, but final product is solo. Standards aligned	iPhoto is the Mac's photos storage and basic editing application. You'll create an album of photos gathered by you and your curriculum team members. Then, using those photos, you'll create a photo book with captions. The final version of the book will be in .PDF form. Contents of the book will reflect one of the core standards. You can see an example here.
Project 5: GarageBand Podcast 50 points Team-decision and input, but final product is solo. Standards aligned	Another "solo" project! Garageband is the Mac's audio creation and editing application. We'll use it to record you reading aloud a children's book based on one of the core standards. You'll scan the book's pages and create an enhanced podcast of the book. You can listen to a sample here.
Project 6: iMovie 3-Minute Message 50 points Team project Not standards aligned	Probably the most difficult project of the term (it's between this and the web site), but certainly the most fun! You and your curriculum team will create a 3-minute message on any topic you decide (creativity a must for this!). You'll use digital video cameras and iMovie to create a digital video product that can be viewed on any computer. Challenging for sure! You can view to a sample here.
Project 7: MS PowerPoint Game 20 points Team-decision and input, but final product is solo. Standards aligned	Most of us think of PowerPoint in a very linear fashion: first we view slide 1, then we go to slide 2, then slide 3. Imagine the power of PowerPoint if you were able to click a button on slide 2 and "jump" to slide 20? Then, another button and your back to slide 3 or on to slide 4. With that in mind, you'll create a digital "game" where students answer multiple choice questions. Get it right and it's on to the next question; pick an incorrect answer and go back to try again. You can see a sample here.