6th Grade Technology Grant Video

Over the summer of 2013, Mrs. Day and Mrs. Buggio co-wrote a grant that would eventually change teacher perceptions of technology integration and assist students with the development of real world problem solving skills.  With a little “out of the box” thinking our little project to increase consistent computer access in 6th grade took on a life of its own and changed one teacher’s outlook on how technology can help to deepen student learning.

“When beginning to write this grant my goal was to make computer use an integral part of the daily curriculum.  I wanted to teach the kids as many programs as I could before they moved on to middle school.  Being a bit of a control freak, I thought I would just learn programs, teach the kids, and do a project.

Then “Audacity” happened…

I had the students pick a piece of music and a poem that they thought would work well together.  The goal was for the students to do a voice over.  Ms. Buggio and I started the class by having the students download their song of choice.  Unfortunately, the songs were in all different formats and would not all download as we had planned.  What followed was the most amazing hour of my life.  It completely changed the way I thought about introducing software.  The kids jumped on YouTube and found a tutorial for their music format.  When they figured out how to do the download, they taught someone else, and so it continued.  It was loud, and to any outside observer looked like there was no control.  However, within that hour, every student had downloaded a song and was ready for the next step.

What I realized that day was that this generation of students is comfortable with technology.  They are not afraid to jump in and learn as they go.  So that’s what we now do…we learn together.

My job is to facilitate projects and provide chances to incorporate technology into their learning and have them use technology to collaborate with each other.

My goal has changed, I don’t want the students to see technology as something special, but instead, I’d like them to view technology as just another tool in their toolbox.”

Please see our highlight video of the project below…

http://youtu.be/Gqmrig85FfI

Mrs. Buggio & Mrs. Day