to integrate the curriculum as much as possible.

So if you're doing a lesson in the computer lab, if it's combining some

of the reading skills, writing skills, language art skills,

or their knowledge about a certain subject area,

I think that it makes learning a lot more meaningful.

>>Nicole: A few years ago, the District had to do a lot

of cutbacks on tech spending.

And I started to see that there was an advantage

of using the cloud-based, or free web apps.

And anybody who has a computer or internet, they can access them,

not only from school, but at home, so my goal is to get them so excited

that they go home and continue on with their learning.

For example, they can do their digital art, or digital drawings

in programs such as Sumo Paint, or Psycho Paint inside of Google Docs,

Google Drawing, PhotoSketch, SketchUp.

Those are just a few choices that I give them.

>>Student: This is a list of different applications

that you can use to like make music or do art.

It's just a variety of them that Ms. Dalesio put together.

>>Nicole: And then we also take advantage of a lot

of the free software that comes built into our Apple computers,

so we utilize iLife a lot for our photo

and video editing inside of iMovie, or in iPhoto.

And we also use things like Garage Band and iTunes for them

to do their audio recordings or create music.

>>Nicole: You know, you get your ingredients together in the folder,

and then when you mix them together, this is what you're doing in iMovie.

And then when you export it out, it's sort of like you're baking the cake.

>>Nicole: I gave them several choices

on the assignment that they had to do.

And all of them had to use iMovie.

The first one was to make a life story with pictures

from their childhood under three minutes.

And another one was that they could do a poem.

And another choice was that they could create a tutorial explaining a

concept that they had learned,

they knew how to do, such as a math concept.

And then the other one was that they could do a personal narrative

or other fictional story that they had written,

and turn that into video in under 90 seconds.

>>Nicole: And what's your project about?

>>Student: I did this personal narrative,

and I went to this place called Pismo Beach.

>>Nicole: Oh, okay, so you did the story about Pismo Beach.

>>Student: Yeah.

>>Nicole: Where are the photos that you're going to use for that project?

>>Student: They're on the server and in the iMovie folder.

>>Nicole: Okay, perfect,

so you already transferred them over from home?

>>Student: Yeah.

>>Student: Well, we have to make like a movie project.

So you kind of have a topic, and with your topic you speak

into a microphone, and then you draw pictures

to go with what you're saying.

>>Student: Sad is the color of dark blue.

Sad sounds like sobbing and deep misery.

Sad feels as heavy as sharp bricks.

Sad smells like tears on a damp pillow.

>>Student: When I go in the lab and do like an iMovie project.

And I'm just going to do one of these poems in here.

And I'm going to-- there's this thing called "Kid Pics."

I'm going to like load it on, like into little like sections.

Put it all together, and I'm going to put music in the background,

and I'm probably going to talk about it, too, a little bit.

>>Student: And then look at your audio, and you put it in iTunes.

>>Student: So go to this, put all your--

>>Student: They're in order.

>>Student: No, but put them all together.

>>Nicole: If you create an environment

where they can collaborate with each other, then they get better ideas

with each other, but also they help each other to finish their projects.

>>Student: My story is about basketball.

Right now I'm working on adjusting how long each photo is going to take,

and seeing where I need to place the photos.

>>Nicole: You've got the writing skills and the reading skills

and the speaking skills

and the technology skills collaborating with each other.

Organization skills all put together.

>>Student: We both were doing tutorials.

We got the audio first recorded outside.

And then we took a screen recording of what we were doing

on like this painting website.

And we like just filmed what we were going to show on the tutorial.

Then on iMovie we put the video and mixed it with the audio.

And cut off some portions of audio or clipped some portions of video

for it to kind of match up.

>>Student: Cool technique, huh?

Okay, now we can try something a little bit harder.

How about, I guess, 25 times 25.

>>Nicole: How many people got their iMovie projects uploaded

and on their digital portfolios?

>>Nicole: And then the next thing would be able

to share it with other people.

I think it makes it all the more meaningful in terms of if they think

that somebody else might see it, you know, you have the whole concept

of the authentic audience.

Another important concept that I want students to know is

that it's not just me teaching them.

We're all here to teach each other.

And each one of us is, you know, a citizen in this class,

and I want them to participate and contribute to their learning.

So definitely want to encourage them to be sharing and to collaborate

with others and to always be a lifelong learner.