Comments from Tslila Barzel |
| 1. How the project went: This project has been extremely successful in regards to meeting our schools goals, which were laid out before the commencement of this project. Talmud Torah’s participation was a great example as how this project can be used in other languages. Both the students and the teachers enjoyed working on the sentences; stories and message board and show great pride when showing other their work on the World Wide Web. To be able to view other students starting sentences, settings and other writing tools, was a great asset to both students and teachers. Overall, we are happy to say that this project went very well and are very thankful that we could be part of it. 2. The impact of this project on your student's learning, include comments on the impact of using the Internet and Information and Communications Technologies. The students were very excited to begin this project, with the knowledge of other fellow students from around Edmonton viewing their work. Reading other starting sentences was very helpful, because it gave students more ideas to draw from when it came time to write their stories. Also critiquing and responding to others work helped them developed their editing and thinking skills, which in turn made them able to correct and respond to their own pieces of writing better. As for the use of the Internet, it was a new experience to some of the younger ones, when they realized the capabilities of technology. Many learned that the Internet could be a powerful learning tool. The knowledge that their work was going to be on the Internet for all to see was a great motivational tool and made them take extra care in what they were writing. Their understanding of the Internet, websites, and message boards has been greatly improved. Additionally, students learnt how to use a Hebrew word processor and they practiced their typing skills. 3. Describe what curriculum outcomes/expectations were achieved and/or not achieved and why. (i.e.) what the students learned about using the web through Tools For Learning The following curriculum outcomes were achieved: International Languages and L.A. Outcomes: • 1.1 Discover and Explore: acknowledge the value of others’ ideas, extending personal interpretation and viewpoints • 1.13 Develop and Celebrate Community: 1) Recognize that different perspectives and unique reactions enrich understanding, and 2) participate in celebrating special events: recognize the importance and significance of the influence of language. • Hebrew Proficiency: Students used Hebrew confidently and competently in a variety of situations for communication, personal satisfaction and learning The following technology outcomes were covered: C7. Students used electronic research techniques to construct personal knowledge- By going to the message board and reading other story ideas, students realized the great benefits of the internet and how it can help them in their research. They learned commands such as CTRL + F, to search for something on a screen and not to use the Page Up and Down key to scroll quickly down a page. F5. Students practiced the concepts of ergonomics and safety when using technology- During computer classes students were taught how to properly sit in front of their computer and practice basic keyboarding skills. They practiced typing both in Hebrew and English languages. F6. Student demonstrated a basic understanding of the operating skills required in a variety of technologies – Students learned basic computer operations such as restart, log on to the network, creating folders and save documents in Hebrew and English 3.3 Students applied terminology appropriate to the technology being used at this division level P4. Students integrated various applications, e.g., integrate text and graphics to form a meaningful message What the students learned about writing… By sharing ideas and communicating in class, students worked together to help each other with their stories, giving each other ideas and contributing to each other’s stories. Students learned how to start a Hebrew story using appropriate and interesting vocabulary. They learned about appropriate use of Hebrew grammar and syntax. They learnt about the proper use of present and past tenses and they learned how to edit their own and other students’ work. In what ways did students work together both during the project and in creating the website? Students worked cooperatively on some of the Hebrew stories. They read and gave feedback to each other. They also responded to stories written by students in other schools. Students typed all their work using a Hebrew word processor and they decided on which fonts and colors to use. Publishing in Hebrew on the Internet is a more complicated process then publishing in English. We were not able to use the script that create web pages: http://www.2learn.ca/webauthoringtool/CREATEYOURPAGE.HTML We needed to have the Hebrew fonts installed and the capability to save our work in an HTML format. Students were informed about the complexities of the process. They learnt how to view Hebrew pages on the internet by going to View/Encoding and by picking up the correct forms. They also understood the process of using Hebrew on the Internet by saving their work as an image, cropping it and displaying it on the Internet. Your contribution to the project I worked with the Gr. 6 class. I introduced the tools 4 writing project to the students and explained to them all the different elements. We have gone through the site and looked at different opening and closing sentences as well as at some different stories. We picked several topics in Hebrew and learnt new vocabulary that is related to each topic. Students wrote their stories and were involved in editing them. Once they had a good copy they were introduced to the Hebrew word processor and learnt how to use it. They also practiced their typing skills. A web site was created and all my student’s work was published. Students learnt how to use the message board and I made sure it will be submitted as part of the project. Please share some of your student's thoughts on this project. Student Comments received from Talmud Torah students: Keyfer, Grade 5- Really like the whole concept of other students reading each others work, but wished he could have had other kids read his Hebrew stories! Molly, Grade 5- Thought that the message board was really slow loading up and though that there could be a better way of view the stories Jesse, Grade 6- A form of spell check could have been helpful, because he could not read some of the post properly Ben, Grade 4- There should be separate sections for grades 4,5,6 because there were some one in grade 6 which he did not understand. Zev, Grade 4- Loved the idea of being able to get starting sentences of the internet, and realized the great potential. Roni, Grade 4- Wish he had more time on the message board (the classes always just seemed to short) Micha, Grade 6- Wanted to have a way of know whether he was clicking on a story or on a reply Abigail, Grade 4- Thought it was very confusing to get to the site to the message board. Jeremiah, Grade 6- Loved the project in general. |