The Project:
Using Google Slides 3rd grade students will create a 13 slide presentation, one month at a time, over the entire school year.
The Why?
It is never too early to start building a digital portfolio and not every portfolio will look the same. But one great way to show true growth and progress is not to publish the best of the best, as most portfolios tend to be, but rather show real, individual progress and growth though the eyes, and words, of the students themselves. It’s important for students to think about, and voice, the things that stand out to them the most, their “a-ha” moments of clarity, their personal triumphs. It is also important for students to keep a record of such things and look back on them. It’s one thing for us as teachers to say “you’ve come so far” but it’s far more powerful for the student to look at a body of work and say “this is how I’ve grown.”
The How?
The premise is using Google Slides to meet two instructional targets have a file to teach, and experiment with, the different tools within Slides have a portfolio of student work, created and curated, by the student in their own words.
The Slides will use this framework:
- Slide 1
- Title
- My 3rd Grade Year
- Slide 2
- Introduction
- this will be basic to start but will be expanded, edited, and revised throughout the year
- Slide 3 – September
- created the first week of October (along with slides 1 & 2)
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspects – introducing Slides, naming files, adding slides, entering text
- Slide 4 – October
- created the first week of November
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspects – review the basics of slide creation
- Slide 5 – November
- created the first week of December
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspect – search for and insert a related image
- Slide 6 – December
- created the first week of January
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspect – format: re-arrange/re-size text boxes & pictures for unique look
- Slide 7 – January
- created the first week of February
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspect – animations
- Slide 8 – February
- created the first week of March
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspects – transitions
- Slide 9 – March
- created the first week of April
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspects – themes & adjusting formatting accordingly
- Slide 10 – April
- created the first week of May
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspects – customizing themes, colors, and slide designs
- Slide 11 – May
- created the first week of June
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 4 weeks
- technical aspects – hyperlinks: linking to external resources as well as other slides
- Slide 12 – June
- created in the middle of June, around June 15
- students select a single learning experience that stood out to them in the previous 2 weeks
- technical aspects – editing and revising all text, design, animations, and transitions
- Slide 13 – Summary/Closing/Conclusion
- created no later than June 20th
- students summarize their year and the project as a culminating statement on their 3rd grade experience
- technical aspects – publishing to the web and posting on class blog or HeathcoteTech blog
At the end of each month the students will fill in the narrative text for the previous month. At the end of September they created the file, Title, Introduction and September slides. Each subsequent month they will add a slide and reflect on the previous month. This is useful since it gives students the opportunity, and forum, to reflect on their most recent learning immediately after it ends. We will also use these new slides to teach a new technical aspect.
| Working hard |
| The first few slides |
The end result?
This is the first time this project is being done, at any grade level. The hope is the end result will be a slideshow rich in information individual to each student and specific to the learning experiences they found most valuable.
One of the best things about this project is the learning experience for us, as teachers. As a first time endeavor we are, in a very real way, learning along side the students and reflecting on our own practice on a monthly basis.
Most importantly, the end result will be every student having a 3rd grade portfolio created and curated independently in their own voice.
A follow-up blog post will happen in June, reflecting on the project as a whole and will include a few of the student slideshows as example