Lorraine

Lorraine Kelly's Page

Well, I am finally back at school, and boy am I glad! The students are very unmotivated, in all of my classes. Even after I showed them some possibilities for projects, they were unmoved. Seen it - don't care, attitude. Of course I shared my concerns with my family. As a birthday surprise, my son sent me a portable green screen and an app called kromath 3 that enables my iPad to make green screen composite video and photos! He knew just how to make a spark. When I explained it to my s.s class, they were really excited! The first question was, "So can I dress like Clarence Thomas and give my black history report standing in front of the Supreme Court?" and they went crazy from There! Yes, we are back!

Practice photo:



Students began their Black History reports before I returned to the classroom, so when I returned I immediately asked them to come up with another way to do a presentation of the information that they learned. A few students made posters, a couple made power points. I had a couple students who bravely used the new green screen and Kromath3 app to make a video presentation. Just the presence of the green screen and lights in the back of the room gets the students interested :). Below is an example of a student interviewnig a basketball player who tells how he overcame descrimination and racism.

password to view the video is prexies media type="custom" key="12894212"

I have no idea why Vimeo has it upside down, but I also don't know how to change it. If I figure it out, I'll re post it.

Lorraine: Social Studies can be very dry, but NOT with inquiry based learning. My students were given the assignment of researching a memorial or museum in Washington DC and to present the information so that the //other students would become engaged and learn from it.// They chose a collaborative partner, were given examples of different applications on the iPad, different web tools, and examples of ways to present. They are creating puppet shows, green screen videos, Popplet web presentations, and more. They have found ways to use the tools that I did not know existed, of course we are all learning from each other. The collaboration with each other and use of new tools motivated their learning!