Fall+2013+Team+1

**You will use the PBI process to develop your project.**
====Be sure to design toward your rubrics for your 5 minute video and 8-10 page paper.====

__**How can we use Little Bird Tales (littlebirdtales.com) with third grade ESL students to develop and improve a natural syntax in the area of listening, speaking, reading and writing?**__
Through several steps in the lesson, we used multiple new literacy media forms to accomplish our goals with the students. We began by using **__BrainPopESL__** (www.brainpopesl.com), an online educational site that provides a fun way to learn English for people all over the world. It has games, animated movies and other learning tools. BrainPop was presented to the whole class on another new literacy tool for the classroom, the __**Smartboard**,__ so all could see together. Following this, students used the computer to do a **__Google search__** in order to obtain information on their assigned topic. Student gathered their information and put it into form, according to instructions, using **__Little Bird Tales__** (www.littlebirdtales.com), a digital storytelling tool. After the lesson, Shannon and I used **__Voicethread__** (www.voicethread.com), a multi-media way for people to collaborate and share information and comments, in order for her to share the student lesson with me, as well as the photos of the lesson process along the way. For our class video presentation, we then used __**Windows Movie Maker**__ to record part of the students' lesson, to share video between each other, and for putting together our final PBI project for class review.
 * __Lesson Rationale__**

We connected with TPACK through our use of technology, pedagogy and content knowledge. In our particular student lesson, we used the new literacy technology tools just mentioned above, considering our content and the abilities of our students. In the realm of pedagogy, we worked with third graders, where we both have experience and are familiar with effective and appropriate learning tools. We wanted something that would work well with a blended approach using listening, speaking, reading and writing. Our content area was ESL instruction. Our goal was to help these particular students, whose first language was not English, to building their English language skills through listening, speaking, reading and writing, by using appropriately chosen and designed technology tools.

Our whole lesson process was an example of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy from start to finish. See the flow of learning below:
 * **Remembering**--Students began by seeing examples of Little Bird Tales. This helped them understand what they were going to do.
 * **Understanding**--Once they had seen several Little Bird Tales, they could begin to understand the direction they were going to take for their literacy lesson. They would recognize that they would be listening, speaking, reading and writing, and that they would need to put information together into a "tale".
 * **Applying**--Once students understood the direction they were heading, they could map out a plan for their project. They decided together on a topic and each chose an animal to present.
 * **Analyzing**--Once research was completed, students needed to organize their information and decide how to present the information. Students drew pictures and then wrote about the animal they had chosen.
 * **Evaluating**--At this step, students worked with Shannon/ "Mrs. Gourdin". They read aloud their written sentences and worked with her to correct errors, such as grammar, punctuation, spelling, and pronunciation.
 * **Creating**--With errors corrected, they were ready to proceed to the creating stage. Once here, they opened the Little Bird Tales file and read and reread their sentences until the work was satisfactory, recording the final product. At this stage, their drawings were scanned into the program. Their tale was now complete.

Well-known for his second language acquisition theory, we used Stephen Krashen's theory as a basis for our literacy lesson, specifically his views of the "natural approach". Krashen feels that language is acquired through input (written or spoken) that is comprehensible. He does not emphasize grammar rules, but feels that there is a natural order to learning these (Krashen, 2009, p. 12). His focus is on meaningful communication, getting the message across, rather than a focus on speaking correctly. He feels that speaking correctly will come in time "naturally", as a result of understandable input when the learner is ready, and he limits classroom correction. Krashen seeks to reduce stress in the "affective" area so that acquisition is not inhibited by poor self-esteem, anxiety, or low motivation (Shoebottom, 1996-2013). He believes in "free voluntary reading" and feels it "may be the most powerful educational tool in language education (Shoebottom, 1996-2013)," as it provides interesting self-chosen material and reduces the affective filters blocking acquisition. It increases literacy and develops vocabulary. Stephen Krashen says it best himself. "Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding (Schutz, 2007)" and "The best methods are therefore those that supply 'comprehensible input' in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear. These methods do not force early production in the second language, but allow students to produce when they are 'ready', recognizing that improvement comes from supplying communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and correcting production (//Schutz, 2007)."// We tried to make our lesson one of interest reading, of significant listening and reading practice, of natural learning and communicating. We also limited correction to what was absolutely needed. Emphasis was on understanding and communicating, rather than memorizing rules of grammar and/or doing grammar exercises.

We chose to use Little Bird Tales as our literacy tool because it would provide repetition and practice in a fun and exciting way. Little Bird Tales provides a way to practice speaking and listening repeatedly and correctly so that when the students write, they are able to "hear" when a subject doesn't agree with a verb or when the order of the sentence is structured wrong. Rosetta Stone does a good job of this, but it is an expensive program that most schools can't afford. Live Mocha is also a great "free" tool, but after the second level, you are forced to pay a large membership fee. We were looking for something free and accessible for most school districts that would provide effective instruction and practice for correct syntax.

__**Lesson Implementation**__ We introduced the "Little Bird Tales" project to my third grade students by showing them Little Bird Tales projects from previous students. This helped the students understand the direction they were heading. They were able to see that they would be writing, illustrating, reading, speaking, and listening as part of the final Little Bird Tales online story. We then used a thinking map to brainstorm the topics that we had learned about in the previous unit. These topics come directly from BrainPopESL Level 3, Unit 1. (www.brainpopesl.com) Some of these topics were endangered species, inventors, inventions, farm animals, passive voice, future tense, vacations, and music. The students voted on Endangered Species. We watched the BrainPopESL video on Endangered Species to refresh our memories of the topic and the vocabulary.

Next, we mapped out a plan for our project. We used the end of the Brain Pop video that shows others animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. The students all chose one of those animals to research. The four important research questions that they had to answer were: What is the endangered animal? Where is it located/from? Why is it endangered? How can we help? Students then took turns using computers to research their chosen endangered animal on the internet. After finding the answers to the four research questions, they printed out a few images of the animal to inspire their own illustrations. Each student was responsible for two pages in the Little Bird Tales online book. Each page contained an illustration, written description, and voice narration.

After drawing two illustrations, the students wrote what they wanted to say for their written descriptions. While they were handwriting these in pencil, I was scanning in the pictures and uploading them to Little Bird Tales. When they finished with their writing, they read these to me, and I assisted with grammar, mechanics, and spelling. This was the actual "mini-lesson" that took place with each student. Each lesson was relevant to that particular student and the information that he or she was trying to communicate. Most students had difficulty with subject-verb agreement, articles, and pronouns, but there were also spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors that were addressed. Once the student and I agreed to the final draft, the student read it to me again. Then, he/she moved to the computer to type and record.

Once at the computer, students logged into my Little Bird Tales account using my name and password. They went to the Endangered Species project, clicked on their pages (the ones where their pictures were uploaded), and began typing out their handwritten sentences. They would read and re-read these until there were no more revisions. I would check with the students for typos and mistakes before they began recording the narration. If I approved, they put on their headsets, and began recording as they read their sentences. Most students recorded each page 8-10 times before they thought it was faultless. THEN, I would approve it or have them record it again. Once this was complete, they were ready to add the title and end pages. I allowed the students that finished first to work on those two pages while I worked with the other students.

After about two weeks (due to interruptions, fire safety programs, the book fair, local assessments, and student vacations), the project was complete. We watched it together on the SMARTboard, and the students were proud of what they accomplished. http://www.littlebirdtales.com/tales/view/story_id/306150

__**Challenges and Success**__ The difficulties that we faced mainly had to with working with an overseas school and its regulations (or lack of) and with time issues. As for successes, the accomplishment of each child in completing the Little Bird Tales project with listening, speaking, reading and writing aspects was a success. Completion of each segment of the project along the way was also a student success. In particular, Hannah has the most difficulty with speaking. Several times she wanted to give up, but she worked (the hardest) and completed her project, too. Specifically, she had difficulty with subject-verb agreement and the pronunciation of certain words. Now, she seems really secure saying these words. Notably, she is using these words more often than previously, most likely, due to the repetition of the word while recording her voice. An interesting curve ball was when the vice-principal came in to do a "snapshot" observation. She pulled aside a student to ask her questions about what she was learning, why it was important, and how Mrs. Gourdin was helping her. I instantly thought to myself, "I wish I was recording that!" It was such a impromptu interview with great introspect on the student's part. She reflected well on what my objectives were with this project.
 * Time zone difference--With Shannon in South Korea and me (Roberta) in the States, it was a challenge to figure how we could "meet" and plan. Due to the time difference, we could only meet on the weekends. We would plan our meeting in advance, and also plan a back-up day and time that same weekend, just to cover us in case something unexpected happened. Otherwise, if we were to miss a meeting, we missed our whole opportunity to meet until the next weekend (if it was even available).
 * Fall time change--This was tricky! Once time change came, we had to re-figure our time to meet with time change happening on my (Roberta's) end, but not Shannon's. We figured what time we thought would work, and then planned to be available at the next hour also, just in case we were off by an hour.
 * Trying to do the project with the kids together, all at one time!--Shannon planned to do each step of the project together as a class, but that was far from how it actually worked in reality.
 * Unexpected family vacation--Right in the middle of the semester, the family of one of Shannon's few children in this class, decided to go on vacation, disrupting our project and slowing progress.
 * Interruptions in class time--As a "pull-out" ESL class, Shannon is dependent upon the sending teachers to receive her students for ESL class. In the midst of working on our project with the five students in this class, she had the difficulty of having teachers hold students for a fire safety program and for testing.
 * Needy children--As Shannon worked with her class of five, she found that they were all working at different levels at the same time. The children needed a lot of individual assistance. The project was work-intensive, individually.
 * Obtaining parental permissions--As expected, there were parental permission slips that needed to be signed related to using the children's names, using their images and using anything that they created in our project. These were obtained, except one, which took much longer. Shannon finally had to talk to the girl and request that the mother come in so that she could discuss the project with her in-person.
 * Technology problems--There were a few times with Little Bird Tales where the program would not allow the children to "save", and it would freeze. They had taken too long typing in their work compared with the window of time the program allowed. This made it difficult and discouraging because it was already quite a slow effort for them to type in their work. In losing it, they had to start all over again.

__**Collaboration**__ We did our collaboration from 13 hours apart, which became 14 hours apart during the project. With Shannon in South Korea, while I am in Cary, North Carolina, we have done our collaboration planning on Skype on the weekends and email during the week. We always had a second meeting time planned on the weekend in case the first one didn't work. Since Shannon had the classroom, she did that work at a distance and I (Roberta) could not be a part. She planned her program according to what she felt would best work in her situation, while meeting the specific needs of her four ESL children. I (Roberta), on the other hand, took responsibility for most of the writing process and editing, in order to balance the scale. Shannon worked heavily on the technology while I took part where able, including video clips. In addition, Shannon helped me with technology questions and issues. She also sent me her classroom video with narration so that I could be aware of progress with the children. We checked each other's work and made adjustments and/or suggestions as we went along. It was stretching for both of us. For me, learning how to do the video correctly (with trial and error) and getting it sent was a challenge. For both of us, the collaboration across time zones and time change was a learning experience that went well, I believe.

What did we learn about ourselves in the midst of collaboration?
 * Roberta--I really liked being organized from the start so that I knew exactly where we were heading. Planning meeting times ahead, having a meeting back-up plan, and allowing ample time at the end for the "unexpected" was also great. All of these made me feel confident and relaxed as we progressed, even when there were bumps in the road. Having an overall plan and assigned sections of the project for each of us was also very freeing; I knew what I needed to do. I also liked working with a partner who understands the issues of overseas connecting, who is at least "visibly" relaxed, and who allows me to do my part while she does hers without micro-managing. Since we lived overseas for 25 years, I really enjoyed working on a project with someone overseas, but that was no surprise. Like Shannon, I tend to work alone; collaboration slowed our progress, yet I realized that collaboration, itself, was part of the project intention. I feel we did well in this and were mostly involved together throughout the process in the various sections of the project. We were at a distance, yet we did not work entirely alone. I was reminded that although I generally work alone, I can learn new things from a partner. This collaboration may slow me down initially, but its benefits may come back to help me later on in the same project or in another down the road.
 * Shannon--I realized that I enjoy working independently instead of with a partner or in a group. Roberta was a great partner, but I find that I worker faster and more efficiently when working alone. There was a lot of time spent on collaboration using Skype, Voicethread, email, and the Wiki that I saw as a waste of time. The project itself would have been a lot more fun and probably more effective if I didn't have to record the students or collaborate with a partner. I know this was part of the experience of the PBI, so I see why it was necessary to have a partner and list the pros and cons of working with someone virtually. I also learned that recording videos while simultaneously teaching is not an easy task. Looking back, I should have had a colleague come in and record while this was going on, but everyone is so busy that I was afraid to ask. I'm glad that Roberta had overseas experience, so Skyping and time zones were not foreign to her. She was a great planner and kept us on track with the pacing of the project.

__** Resources: **__ "007aud", (2009, August 4). Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/007aud/revised-blooms-taxonomy

Brain Pop ESL. http://brainpopesl.com

Schutz, Ricardo (2002, July 2). Stephen Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

Shoebottom, Paul (1996-2013). An introduction to the work of Stephen Krashen. Frankfurt International School. Retrieved from http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/krashen.htm

Krashen, Stephen D. (internet edition--2009). //Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition//. Retrieved from http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf

Little Bird Tales. http://littlebirdtales.com

Voicethread. http://voicethread.com

II. Design space for video documentary development
1. What is your compelling question? How can we use new literacies with third grade ESL students to develop and improve a natural syntax in the areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing? (I LIKE YOUR QUESTION-HILLER)

We would like to use a tool, similar to Little Birds Tales, that would provide repetition and practice of speaking and listening in a fun/exciting way. The problem is that I, Shannon, have already used this technology in the classroom, so it's not new for me. So we would like to find a cool tool that will provide my English Language Learners with a way to practice speaking and listening repeatedly and correctly so that when they write, they are able to "hear" when a subject doesn't agree with a verb or when the order of the sentence is structured wrong. Rosetta Stone does a good job of this, but it is an expensive program that most schools can't afford. Live Mocha is also a great "free" tool, but after the second level, you are forced to pay a large membership fee. My school district has a BrainPopESL account that works for this purpose, but not all districts have a strong PTSO that can fund this program. We are looking for something free and accessible for most school districts that will provide effective instruction and practice for correct syntax.
 * 2. What initial ideas do you have for your PBI? **

One of the ideas we talked about is for us to voice the sentence(s) ourselves, using a literacy tool, and have the students repeat what we have said, even multiple times to get it correct. Then they write the sentences down themselves and read them. Any ideas for a tool or tool to be used?

3. What is your target age group? We will work with a third grade ESL class. This class includes beginners, advanced students and those in between.

When thinking about the PBI project and TPACK, one of our challenges is that Roberta and I (Shannon) are at the opposite ends of our technological journeys. I am finishing my Masters and she is beginning. So, I have taken many classes that have "schooled" me in technology use in the classroom. It is difficult to find a technological tool that will take me out of my comfort zone, while Roberta admits that most of these will challenge her. We chose the content of Language because I teach English Language Learners, and we both have pedagogical knowledge in the area of 3rd grade students. We were partnered for the last project and we chose GoAnimate. We realize that this "cool tool" would not fit pedagogically with 3rd grade students. So now we are actually on a search for a tool that we could use that would be different than any I've already used, easy to use for a 3rd grade mind, and meet the objective that we want the students to learn in the area of Language. Pedagogically, we would like the students to learn by listening and by doing--a blended approach.We are particularly interested in subject/verb agreement, pronoun usage and speaking fluency.
 * 4. Think about TPACK. What content will you focus on? What pedagogical approaches will you use? What technologies will you use? **

5. What specific Common Core or Essential Standards learning objectives will your PBI address? (Please see #10 for further explanation.) **Grade 3 CC Language Standard** 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.  b. Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.  c. Use abstract nouns (e.g., childhood).  d. Form and use regular and irregular verbs.  e. Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.  f. Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.*  g. Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.  h. Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.  i. Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

D epartment of Defense Education Activity is my school district, and we do not follow Common Core. The following are the ESL standards that we follow as well as the Language Standard in my district that will be used in the PBI:

**DoDEA ESL Standards:** Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional purposes within the school setting. Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of language arts. Standard 3: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of mathematics. Standard 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of science. Standard 5: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of social studies.

Standard: 3E2c: English Language Conventions Students write using Standard English conventions appropriate to the 3rd grade level. Component: Grammar 3E2c.3: Identify and use subjects and verbs that are in agreement (such as we are instead of we is). 3E2c.4: Identify and use past, present, and future verb tenses properly in writing. 3E2c.5: Identify and correctly use pronouns (such as it, him, her), adjectives (such as brown eyes, two younger sisters), compound nouns (such as summertime, snowflakes), and articles (such as a, an, the) in writing.
 * DoDEA English Language Arts Standards for Grade 3 **

6. What is your timeline for implementing and completing your PBI? Our target goal for completion of each section of the PBI project is as follows:
 * 1 October (Tuesday)--PBI project initial planning questions submitted to forum
 * 7-11 October (between Monday-Friday)--Classroom lesson activities completed in South Korea with third grade ESL students
 * 22 October (Tuesday)--Draft of presentation video ready for our own critiquing (Shannon and Roberta)
 * 31 October (Thursday)--Final presentation video ready
 * 13 November (Wednesday)--Draft of paper ready for our own critiquing (Shannon and Roberta)
 * 21 November (Thursday)--PBI peer review of written report and PBI video submitted by this date, at latest
 * 2 December (Monday)--All adjustments made based on peer review by this date
 * 5 December (Thursday)--Final PBI written report and PBI video submitted by this date, at latest

7. What materials and resources do you need to be successful? At this stage of planning, we see the need for the following resources in order to be successful:
 * Shannon's cell phone--to video class lesson and other selections for presentation video
 * Smart Board in classroom--class lesson
 * Shannon's computer--used for class lesson
 * Roberta's and Shannon's computers--putting together class lesson in advance, putting together the presentation video, writing presentation paper
 * Microphone and headsets--class lesson
 * Student computers--class lesson
 * Windows Live Movie Maker for Shannon and Roberta
 * Voicethread--for editing

8. What part of the PBI do you find or anticipate will be most difficult to plan? As we discussed our project, we agreed that there are two aspects that are most difficult (or challenging) to manage.
 * 1) Since we are in very different geographical locations, we cannot meet in person and meeting online is much more difficult. Our time zone difference is 13 hours. When one of us is free to meet during the week, the other is either working or sleeping.
 * 2) The Department of Defense schools (DoDDS) have strict regulations for security. This makes it a challenge to find a way to do the things we want/need to do for our project, things that would not be an issue for those using schools here in the States. Outside sources are not allowed to be plugged into the school computers, for example, including phones and thumb drives.

9. How do you plan to prepare to overcome these anticipated difficulties? We have already worked to overcome the difficulty regarding different time zones. By working ahead and planning or structuring our meeting times on Skype //in advance// and //on weekends//, we have met a couple times successfully. We plan a time to meet on the weekend and also a //backup time// that same weekend, just in case something comes up unforeseen. Shannon's time to meet is in the morning, while I, Roberta, am meeting in my evening. We are also working to finish each part of the process early, including the final presentation. This way, we can have ample time in case of any problems that we do not yet see ahead, especially since we are only able to meet on weekends for "in-person" collaboration. During the week we email to work together, but must be sure that we are coordinated to have our assignments in on time, taking into account who will submit them and when that is due, along with the 13 hour time difference we work with regularly.

As far as the restrictions that come with the DoDDS, we are having to think creatively about how to do video and put things together. Shannon will be taking the video on her phone, but is unable to simply put that video into her school computer from an external source. She will do a little "trial and error" to see if, perhaps, by inputting the video elsewhere, she can then //send it// to her school computer. If not, we will need to come up with an alternative plan. We also will need permission from parents to do this project with their children. Shannon will send out notes in advance. (CAN SHANNON WORK ON A NON-SCHOOL COMPUTER TO CREATE THE PROJECT IN ORDER TO STAY IN COMPLIANCE WITH DODDS RULES? HILLER)

** 10. What other questions to you have about the PBI project? ** We need your expertise, Dr. Spires, to help us find a tool (or tools?) that we can use that I have not already incorporated into my classroom from previous ECI classes. I believe that Little Birds Tales is excellent for ESL because students are able to practice their listening, speaking, reading, and writing. I also like using Moviemaker because the repetition of editing a video helps the kids get the speaking practice that they need. YET, I use these quite regularly. I've also used Voicethread, BrainPop, and my textbook software. Can you think of anything similar to any of these where the students would be able to practice correct syntax, semantics, and morphology by simply repeating sentences in a fun way? (I THINK SINCE SHANNON IS ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH MANY TOOLS IT'S OK TO USE ONE THAT YOU HAVE USED BEFORE. YOU ARE COLLABORATING FROM AFAR SO THIS CAN BE THE ASPECT OF THE PROJECT THAT WILL PUSH YOU OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. HILLER).

Not sure how familiar you are with the "Natural Approach" to teaching language, but this is what we are trying to do with my third grade students: We have them learn to read and write English by FIRST hearing English spoken correctly and then echoing this speech so that when they read or write, they can "hear" when they have messed up the sentence structure. We plan to look through the Cool Tools modules to see if anything there would work for us, but if anything jumps out at you, please let us know.

(I THINK LITTLE BIRD TALES AND VOICETHREAD ARE PERFECT FOR THIS LESSON. HILLER).

Do you prefer that we touch on //more// Common Core or Essential Standards or that we choose a //few//, enabling us to focus a little more fully on fewer? My personal preference (Roberta) would be fewer to go "deeper", but I'm interested in what you want for this project, Dr. Spires. We have listed a number of standards, but your response will determine exactly which ones we use, and how much we can narrow down the list and focus more. Shannon feels that we will be meeting all of these learning objectives as we work on this PBI since so much of syntax has to do with grammar, morphology, and semantics. I was actually planning to use the Common Core standards as a guide to the sentences that we use for our project. Can you clarify this for us?

We have also listed Shannon's DoDDS standards, since she does not use Common Core. Does the fact that she does not use Common Core at her school, but another standard, in any way change how you would like for us to approach this project? (We listed standards for both directions with this in mind.)

(USE COMMON CORE AND/OR DoDDS STANDARDS. USE THEM IN A WAY THAT MAKES SENSE TO YOU AS A TEACHING PROFESSIONAL. I DON'T HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR HOW DEEP OR BROAD YOU GO--JUST THAT YOU ARE MAKING CLEAR CONNECTIONS TO STANDARDS. HILLER).

One more question: Are we to use one, and only one, technology in the lesson with our students, or is the project open to more than one technology, if we see that it would help our project goals? At the moment, I do not have anything in mind in particular, but am curious as we move forward and see what will work best with the ideas we have presented to you. (BY ALL MEANS USE MORE THAN ONE TECHNOLOGY. DESIGN YOUR IDEAL LESSON AND THEN SEE HOW IT WORKS IN REALITY. HILLER)

Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions for things that we might not be seeing yet? (IT LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE THOUGHT EVERYTHING OUT. CONGRATULATIONS FOR MAKING THE DISTANCE/TIME ZONE ISSUE WORK WITH THE COLLABORATIONS. THIS IS A REAL WORLD ISSUE AS MORE AND MORE PEOPLE COLLABORATE GLOBALLY. HILLER)

Thank you for your help.

Shannon and Roberta