First Name: Carole
Last Name: Colburn
Title: Technology Literacy Teacher
Role: PROJECT: HOUSE Teacher/Coordinator
School:
Work Email: colburnc@howellschools.com
Summer Email: carole@cablespeed.com
Summer Phone: 517-623-0367
First Name: Christopher
Last Name: Eldred
Title: Applied Technology Teacher
Role: PROJECT: HOUSE
Teacher/Co-collaborator
School:
Body of Application
Learning philosophy or learning
goals for the team this year. (5 points)
Chris and I are an unlikely team. In fact, I am not part of
an official team, nor is Chris. We teach Encore subjects (electives) and are
not “teamed” officially by the district. But please don’t stop reading just
yet. We may not teach in the same school, and our respective buildings are
about fifteen miles apart, but with technology, those barriers are completely
eliminated and I do what I can to “team” whenever I can. (See my website: www.colburnscorner.com) Chris and I share
the same vision for teaching, the same philosophy that technology can take us
and the students anywhere we want to go…and that freedom really allows students
to achieve to their utmost capabilities. We believe teaching 21st
century learning skills are key to the success of our children and we work to
meet the challenges daily of doing this in innovative ways. Therefore, the
learning goals for this team were: 1) Collaboration, 2) Integration (of core
area and encore area concepts), 3) Making community connections and community
involvement, 4) Service Learning, and 5) Authentic Assessment.
The first goal Chris and I had was to collaborate with each
other, but also bring other teachers (and students) into the project. We wanted
as many students (and teachers) as possible to be a part of this project. We
also wanted to integrate core area and encore concepts (standards) into this
project. In addition, the goal was to involve the community by making
connections between students and community members as well as to instill a
sense of civic responsibility (service learning) in the students by having them
work with a charitable organization. Throughout the project, students had
opportunities to reflect on what they had learned and be authentically assessed
for their achievement. PROJECT: HOUSE (Helping Out Underprivileged Students
Everywhere) was done in a nine-week period because that is how long our
respective courses last. Chris and I respectively actually get all new students
each nine weeks. To view other projects I did (collaborating with other
teachers through the course of the year) please visit: www.colburnscorner.com Click links
for PROJECTS: SHED, SHARC
and SKILL to read about those
nine-week long projects.
Chris and I believe that with technology, there are no
limits to what students can achieve and we also believe that part of learning
with technology is the ability to apply what is learned to the real world to
make a positive difference in the world. PROJECT: HOUSE was conceived as a way
to meet all of the goals mentioned above and in a sense, as a way for students
to reach out (through technology) to each other and to their own community to
achieve something good and wonderful for others.
1. Students produced multi-media Microsoft
Power Point slide shows.
2. Students created doll houses.
3. Students created flyers using
Microsoft Publisher announcing the project and raffle.
4. Students tracked donations in
Microsoft Excel.
5. Students wrote script for 20 second
long Public Service Announcement using Microsoft Word.
6. Students collaborated with each
other to film Public Service Announcement, using digital video cameras and
equipment.
7. Students edited film using Microsoft
Movie Maker.
8. Students sent finished slide shows
to Livingston County Habitat for Humanity.
9. Students held a community-wide
raffle using the doll houses as prizes.
10. Students sent all money collected to
Livingston County Habitat for Humanity.
11. Students considered their
involvement in the project by writing short reflections and submitting these
reflections through our respective websites.
12. Students also submitted a “Final
Reflection Paper” using Microsoft Word.
13. A “Day of Authentic Assessment” was
held where students displayed their work for public viewing
14. Student’s doll houses and work were
publicly displayed at two locations in the Howell community.
15. All other core and Encore students
who participated in the project viewed the slide shows.
16. Art students created miniature
furniture and art pieces which were placed inside the doll houses.
17. World Language students created
labels in French for all art and furniture.
18. Life Skills students created paper
doll families which were placed inside each doll house.
19. Communication Arts students wrote
and filmed skits about Habitat for Humanity.
20. All students contributed to the
success of PROJECT: HOUSE.
Evidence of regular team planning
meetings to develop lesson plans, examine student work, monitor student
progress, and assess the effectiveness of instruction (25 points)
Because
Chris and I teach in different schools across opposite ends of the district, we
relied heavily (and almost exclusively) on email correspondence to keep each
other updated throughout the quarter. We corresponded daily through email. We
also met in person at least once a week after school at a local coffee shop
that is located about half way between the schools. In addition, we used our
respective websites to post student work and monitor the student’s progress and
assess the effectiveness of our instruction. Originally, Chris and I met in
January (several weeks before the project was to begin) to discuss the
possibility of working together and drafted an initial proposal to submit to
our respective principal’s. That first proposal can be found here. http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/PROJECT%20HOUSE-1.htm
As we
refined our work, a more complete lesson (including Michigan Educational
Technology Standards) was developed. It can be found here: http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/PROJECT%20HOUSE-Complete_Lesson_With%20_METS_Standards.htm
Examples of
student work as well as pictures of the students at various stages of the
project can be viewed at the following links:
http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/HOUSE_HOME_PAGE.html
http://www.appliedtechonline.com/project_house/project_house.html
Examples of
the work of the Art, Life Skills and Language Arts students can be found here:
http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/ART_LIFE_SKILLS_FRENCH_EXAMPLES.html
Examples of
instructional guides created by me for students to use can be found here: http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/HOUSE_HOME_PAGE.html
Chris used
Exam View Pro to create online reflections for students to fill out during the
project. These weekly reflections allowed Chris to monitor what students were
learning as they progressed through the project. Carole had students go to her
website to find all instructional guides and materials as well as the “Final
Reflection” guidelines. http://www.appliedtechonline.com/project_house/project_house.html
http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/HOUSE_HOME_PAGE.html
We were
able to assess the effectiveness of our instruction through various stages of
each component of the project. I had students turn in rough drafts of their
slide shows and then held and individual conference with them to discuss
changes and ways to make the slide shows more effective. Students also filled
out “Peer Evaluations” for each other and helped each other to make appropriate
changes to their work. Here is the Peer Evaluation sheet students used when
evaluating each other. http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/Peer_%20Assessment_Sheet.html
Students also turned in rough drafts of their brochures in Publisher and peer
edited these brochures before finishing the final copy. I had all students save
their work in a folder created especially for each of them on the district’s
Shared Network Drive. This allowed me to burn a CD of their work any time I
needed to bring home for assessment. This was very helpful to me as I live 25
miles from the school and it is not as easy for me to come in on weekends to do
grading of work.
Illustration of how technology
assists the team in meeting their goals (10 points)
As
mentioned above, without technology (specifically email and the web) this would
have been a much more difficult endeavor. Our goals were: 1) Collaboration, 2) Integration
(of core area and encore area concepts), 3) Making community connections and
community involvement, 4) Service Learning, and 5) Authentic Assessment.
1) Without
email and our district’s Global Network Drive, this collaboration would have
been much more difficult if not impossible. We used this technology as well as
our respective websites to update, revise, assess and monitor our own and
student progress. We were limited in time because we only had the particular
group of students in our classes for the nine weeks they were assigned to us.
This limitation made using every available means of communication and
technology imperative for the success of the project completion. Through email
correspondence, I was able to invite other teachers to join in meetings and to
get and receive daily and weekly updates on how the project was evolving. I
used the Microsoft Outlook Calendar to schedule meetings and invite others to
join as well as to keep track of who would be attending, etc. I used Microsoft
email to send all correspondence to Larry Pfeil (the Director of the Livingston
County Habitat for Humanity) and to the Press & Argus, the Chamber of
Commerce and to First National Bank (they displayed one of the doll houses for
two full weeks in their bank lobby.)
2) Using
our
3) Again,
email was critical in corresponding with the Director of the Livingston County
Habitat for Humanity to keep him posted on the progress of the project. When he
came to speak to the students at both
4) Through
the use of the web, students were able to get a vast amount of information
about Habitat for Humanity, both at the national and local levels. Through this
knowledge and using PowerPoint to create the multi-media informational and
inspirational slide shows, which they showed to the Director of the Livingston
County Habitat for Humanity, they began the process of servicing their own
community. They sponsored a raffle of the doll houses and challenged each other
by classes and by school to “out raise” each other in terms of raffle sales.
They announced this challenge daily on the student created and produced
“Morning Show Announcements” which are viewed in each classroom via TV’s. Students
worked at the Howell Chamber of Commerce sponsored Home show to sell the
tickets and also at the
5) This is
the goal that was almost exclusively met through technology. All of my
student’s works were saved on the
Summary of at least two supporting
sample projects, including student work, which illustrate the use of technology
as part of the learning process (40 points)
PROJECT:
HOUSE was a nine week long project that incorporated several components and
projects in my class (Technology Literacy) and in other classes: Applied
Technology (at
In addition, while Applied Tech students were busy building
the doll houses, the Art students were busy creating the miniature furniture
and art pieces to go inside the houses. At that time, the Life Skills classes
also created the paper doll families for each house and the French class
students spent time making labels for all of the furniture and items in French.
Click here to view samples of these items. http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/ART_LIFE_SKILLS_FRENCH_EXAMPLES.html
I also developed and delivered three
other collaborative projects over the course of the year and each one had a
different set of co-collaborators. Please view PROJECT:
SHARC (Students Helping the American Red Cross), PROJECT:
SHED (Students Helping to Eliminate Diseases) and PROJECT: SKILL (Student Knowledge
Inspiring Lifelong Learning) to see my pattern for creating innovative,
integrated projects to instill 21st century learning skills into my
classroom.
Examples of
student achievement connected to the team’s projects (this does not necessarily
mean test scores (10 points)
Because this was
not a class or project that could be assessed through paper and pencil testing,
the assessments throughout the course of the project were all authentic.
Students demonstrated their learning through the products they created and the
reflective writing they did. The students in Applied Technology built eight
doll houses and also wrote about their work with short writing reflections
online. You can view examples of the student’s work in Applied Tech (throughout
the process) here: http://www.appliedtechonline.com/project_house/project_house.html
or here: http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/HOUSE_HOME_PAGE.html
In addition,
Technology Literacy students demonstrated their achievement through and
“Authentic Assessment Day” held at the end of the project as well as writing a
“Final Reflection” paper. Examples of these papers can be viewed at: http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/HOUSE_HOME_PAGE.html
Students in Art
class created miniature art pieces and furniture to go inside all eight doll
houses. Students in Life Skills class created paper doll families complete with
sets of clothes for each house. Students in World Language class created labels
(in French) for all of the furniture and items that went in the houses. http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/ART_LIFE_SKILLS_FRENCH_EXAMPLES.html
Habitat for Humanity is an
organization whose foundation is built on the very concept of collaboration and
service to others. Students who participated in this project reported that they
learned “how to help people in my own community, and how just time, or a little
money can help save a family in my town, not have to live on the streets!” and
that they felt proud “because you’re getting the message out there so that we
can help the people who need it” Students reported that they thought this would
be a “fun learning experience because it helps us learn not only how to build,
but how to help in the community” and that it would “be a fun learning experience because it will
help me to work in a group.” This project was more than about raising money for
the Livingston County Habitat for Humanity. It was, more importantly, about
raising awareness and through the slide shows that twenty-five students
created, several hundred more worked together to achieve this goal. It was
about raising student awareness but also about raising awareness in the
community. All of the work was authentic. All of the assessments were
authentic. Look at the websites http://www.appliedtechonline.com/project_house/project_house.html and http://www.carolecolburn.com/Lessons/HOUSE/HOUSE_HOME_PAGE.html
for verification and demonstration of student achievement.
Area of significance that your team
would like to include in this application (10 points)
The
students involved with this service learning project discovered that Habitat
for Humanity does good and wonderfully powerful work all over the world.
However, their education would be incomplete unless they can do something to
help Habitat in some way.
It is also our hope that this
project can be duplicated throughout many communities in the world so that the
awareness grows beyond our own small corner on the planet. Personally, when we
do this project again, Chris and I have talked about adding more people to the
team. We also would like to bring local builders into the group as well. By
being selected (hopefully) to participate in the Innovative Teams Forum, this
project would have a national exposure and give others that very opportunity.