Here's a neat idea for a smaller classroom iPad charging station.

http://technologyinearlychildhood.com/2013/12/08/dish-drainer-ipad-charging-center/

Online Conferencing/Collaboration

The end of the semester can be both exciting and exhausting. As we look forward to the semester's end we also have a flood of end-of-the-semester projects, tests, makeup work, and in some cases, exams. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day! Many of our students can't stay after school because they have to ride the bus, athletic/band practice, etc. So how about extending your time/opportunities with online conferencing and collaboration? Here are a few ideas: What if you could team-teach within your grade-level, without leaving your room? What if you could hold an evening study session online? What if you and the other teachers could take turns proctoring a homework assistance program? What if students were organized into online study groups? What other ideas could you come up with? *Most of these applications would require students to have internet access which might be a problem for some. Here are some programs/software that could be used for conferencing and collaboration that I may not have mentioned before.  

• Google Hangout - I know I've already talked about Google Drive/Docs ability to share files and collaborate. Today I'll add the Google Hangout component. Using Google Hangout you can share live video conferencing with up to 10 students for free. So you could talk while you collaborate. However, this would require students to have webcams and Google accounts.
  
• Presentation.io - This website application allows you to upload a PowerPoint and send out a link to the conference. You can basically deliver a live presentation/lesson online. There are no programs to download or memberships required. Participants would need a computer/smartphone, speakers, and the link. The free version can remain online for 4 hours before it disappears. 
• Zoom.us - Zoom allows an unlimited number of participants for a limited amount of video conferencing. I believe a conference can last for 40 minutes. No membership is required for the participants (just the teacher). There may be a browser extension that has to be agreed to and installed but not a major software installation. I have personally used this as a Skype alternative to video conference with my family. The free version of Skype won't allow multiple participants. With Zoom I have conferenced with my parents in Alabama, my daughter in Hiram, GA, my son up in his room, my daughter in college in Virginia, and my wife in her room - all at the same time! Last week I used Zoom to tutor my daughter for her Biology test in College. She sent me the teacher's PowerPoint. I pulled it up on my computer and shared it with her over Zoom and walked her through the PowerPoint, explaining the more difficult concepts!
• Oovoo.com - Oovoo is like Zoom except that each participant has to have an Oovoo account. The advantage is that it does not limit you to 40 minute sessions like Zoom. However, we probably shouldn't be doing 3 hour lectures over the internet anyway! But, if you wanted to have an open drop-in conference during the evening, Oovoo would allow you to stay online all evening.

Zoom and Oovoo work best if each participant has internet access and a webcam, or smartphone access. Google Hangout, Zoom, and Oovoo have iPhone and Android apps. Presentation.io doesn't have an app but could be viewed through a smartphone browser.   Of course the iPads would work with these in a wireless environment.

What other things have you tried?

Explore STEM Careers at Discovery

Discovery Education is a company fueled by innovation, full of forward-thinkers who are passionate about harnessing the power of media and technology to better address and empower today’s 21st century learners. For #GivingTuesday, Discovery Education will hold a livestream event for students nationwide to hear from our company’s best and brightest employees. Students will have the opportunity to experience first-hand some of the unexpected and exciting careers that are powered by science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). On Tuesday, December 3rd from 11am to 1pm EST, students will meet 4 revolutionary STEM professionals—a Mobile App Developer, Social Media & Communications Executive, a Producer & Editor, and a Graphic Designer. These 4 individuals will answer questions and share insights that will inspire curiosity about the vast array of career options that are available to students who pursue STEM. Discovery Education’s App Developer is an innovator who used his knowledge of STEM to create one of the nation’s first fully digital and interactive digital textbooks, now used by hundreds of thousands of students nationwide. Our Director of Communications is a STEM storyteller, collaborating with social media and print publications to engage the public in the important work being done by education leaders on the ground. Discovery Education’s lead Graphic Designer weaves the “A” into STEM, creating remarkable imagery and visuals using advanced computer software programs. Our Producer & Editor records and edits our incredible footage with advanced technology to create engaging programming that makes STEM come to life in the classroom. This virtual experience to engage classrooms throughout the United States, inspiring thousands of students to dive in and discover exciting career paths that STEM subjects can lead to. Hope you can join us! You can register for the livestream at the link below: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/explore-stem-careers-at-discovery-tickets-9446036349

Create Student or Teacher Lessons at Educreations

Here’s another way for students to submit work from the iPads without having student email accounts.

Today’s site has been around for awhile and is quite easy to use.  It won’t work for submitting a long typed paper but would be quite good for digital storytelling in lower grades.

The site/APP is called Educreations.  It’s like Explain Everything, but free!  Here are the basics:

• Teachers can create a free account and create classes that are assigned a unique code.
• The students can join that class on the iPad by using the assigned code and creating a username instead of an email.
• Students can create lessons by taking pictures on the ipad and importing them, importing pictures from a website, drawing on the pictures, adding written or text notations, and adding voice recording.  So a student can use a diagram or picture to explain a concept or story both orally and with added notations.
• When the project is saved, it will be available for the teacher to see on his/her computer.  
• If every student in the class created an explanation of the life-cycle of a butterfly, they would all show up in the teachers folder that can be viewed by the teacher on any computer at school or at home. No worrisome transfer of files from iPad to computer or opening 20 emails with attached files.
• Teachers can create lessons or explanations which are available to the students when they sign in.
• See how a teacher used this to explain an anatomy lesson: http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/agonist-antagonist-muscle-pairings/375924/
• Students could do the same thing on the iPads.

 Check out their page at:  http://www.educreations.com/
 

BYOT @ Rome High School

Recently, Rome High tried a "Bring Your Own Technology Day".  Please click on the comment link below and let us know how it went!  What were your expectations?  Did it go well?  How did the students respond?  Do you have suggestions for further BYOT's?

Have You Used Google Drive Lately?

Although I have been recommending Google Docs/Drive for a long time, I sometimes forget that some people are not aware of some of the possibilities of Google Drive.  Not only can you create and store documents in the “cloud”, you can also share documents and collaborate with others.  I’ve said that before, but after having my Google senses stimulated at last week’s technology conference, I’ve decided to share a demonstration file with you.  I have created a “shared” document that can be accessed by anyone (even without a gmail account) by going to the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AHBMddT-yul2jySO22bYjAxYV9VA-zT9VwvEKdqYeeI/edit?usp=sharing

or I can shorten that link by going to Google's URL-shortening website, http://goo.gl  and pasting in the longer link to create the shorter link here: http://goo.gl/osC9e9

Goo.gl will also create a QR code for that site, which you can access by scanning with any QR code scanner on your iPad:

Once you reach the site, anyone can edit it for all to see.  You can even see people typing on the page in real time.  Please give it a try and let me know who gets there by typing your name on the page.

There are some obvious problems with this method: Students can edit or delete other’s comments and everything is anonymous when done this way.  However, if we get school-wide gmail (which is a possibility) you could share your documents to student-specific gmail accounts and they would have to login to edit.  But even anonymously, you might find this useful in a computer lab situation where you can monitor students as they work.  For students you might find it useful to create a shared spreadsheet with labelled rows or columns to keep students from overwriting other’s data.

Another option (that works better with the iPads) to have students input and see each other’s work is to create a Google Form (like this survey on texting that I sent last year, http://goo.gl/woRPn3 ).  Then you can “share” the resulting spreadsheet in the “view only” mode so that students can see, but can’t change other’s information.

You can see (but not edit) the results of the “texting” survey I conducted last year by clicking this shared link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ask4aQhNXxIEdDJ4SDZHZ1E4OUNYcWFmNFgxbTE3SlE&usp=sharing

I created the Form.  You submitted the info.  Google compiled it into the spreadsheet.

Are you still asking for information on paper and then typing it into the computer?  That’s so “Old School” !!!

“Google it”, doesn’t just mean “search for it” any more!!!

Using the Classroom iPads to Create and Submit Assignments

I’ve been asked by several teachers lately how students can submit assignments from the iPads to the teacher.

The problem with many of the solutions you find online is that they are designed for schools that have a 1:1 iPad program where each student has his/her own iPad all the time.  In our current situation, where we share classroom sets of iPads that may be in your classroom today but in another teacher’s room tomorrow, and where students/teachers can’t install a particular application that stays logged in all the time, it is harder.  Another problem is that many apps require students to login using email addresses (which many of our elementary students do not have).  Add to the mix that we are limited to Free or Low cost apps, and the task seems difficult indeed!

However, I do have several suggestions.  There are several free APPS that allow the teacher to create a class and allow students to create accounts in that class without using email addresses.  The two that come to my mind immediately are Edmodo and Showbie.  Once you have created your class account, you give the code to the students so that they can join your class.  Any assignment they create or upload will be visible by you.

I know that Showbie will actually allow you to create documents from within the APP.  I’m not sure about Edmodo.  If not, then there are other free APPS that can then be shared with or opened in Edmodo or Showbie (or even copied and pasted into Edmodo or Showbie) in order to submit them to the teacher.   I use a 99-cent app called Notability and also the free apps, Side by Side and Documents Free (plus others that require permanent email logins).  Several of these apps will also allow you to use the microphone on the iPad to convert speech to text for students who have difficulty with typing (or for those of us too lazy to use the iPad keyboard).

Have some of you found an easier way to submit electronic student documents from the iPad without using email?  Would you share? 

Flipped Classroom free webinar series

Announcing the Flipped Learning Network’s 2013-214 webinar series                             Hosted by Cisco WebEx with additional support of TechSmith.     Registration is now open for the free series starting in November.  Join one or all of these online interactive events.  For an overview of all of the events, click here.  Click on the links below to register for each event. Don’t worry, once you enter your info, the system will auto-fil the others! November, 2013 Collaborative Flipped Learning -- Part I English teachers from opposite coasts, Cheryl Morris and Andrew Thomasson met via twitter at the FlipCon12 annual conference and spent a year creating videos and sharing lessons for their classes. They finally met face-to-face at FlipCon13. Hear how they work collaboratively from California to North Carolina. Wednesday, November 13 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free. Register now. December, 2013 Collaborative Flipped Learning -- Part II Zany math teachers Steve Kelly and Zach Cresswell create possibly the funniest, yet informative, videos for their students. With costumes, props and nicknames, the duo works collaboratively at the Mt. Pleasant High School in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Wednesday, December 11 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free. Register now. January, 2014 Open Educational Resources in a Flipped Classroom Dr. Beatriz de los Arcos with the OER Research Hub Project at the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK, along with the Flipped Learning Network, conducted an online survey spring of 2012 looking at how flipped educators are using OER. This webinar will cover the survey results and share examples of how teachers are using OER in their classrooms Wednesday, January 8 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free Register now. February, 2014 Ready or Not -- CCSS in a Flipped Classroom Jon Bergmann and Jerry Overmyer, flipped learning pioneers, will discuss how the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Standards are being used in flipped classrooms to ensure students are college and career ready. Newly minted Dr. Overmyer will also present his research findings on flipped math classrooms Wednesday, February 12 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free  Register now. March, 2014 Flipping in an Early Elementary Classroom Kristin Daniels, FLN board member and national trainer, will lead a lively interactive session with early elementary teachers and how they flip out with their younger students. Examples of flipped lessons and units in a variety of subject areas will be given. Wednesday, March 12 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free  Register now.  April, 2014 Flipping in Higher Education Dr. Helaine W. Marshall, FLN board member and noted researcher, will moderate a session with other professors who implement flipped learning into their college classes. Don’t confuse MOOCs (with absolutely no interaction between instructor and students) with flipped learning where the key to success is the interaction between the learners. Wednesday, April 9 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free  Register now. May, 2014 Book Release with Jon and Aaron and others Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, authors of Flip Your Classroom: Reach every Student in Every Class Every Day (ISTE, 2012), will host a session with other co-authors of the next book looking at subject- and grade-specific flipped classrooms. Hear from nationally known experts in their field on how they became converts to the Flipped Learning model. Wednesday, May 14 at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 PM Free  Register now.  These free events are brought to you by Cisco and TechSmith. It is through their generosity that the FLN can offer these as a benefit to the members of the NIng, our online community of practice.    Visit Flipped Learning Network Ning at: http://flippedclassroom.org/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Cyber Bullying: Should Parents Be Responsible?

The sad case of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick (see link at the bottom of the page) prompts my question: Should parents be held responsible for minor children involved in cyberbullying?  Perhaps this case hits a little closer to home because I have two daughters .... and one of them is named .... you guessed it ... Rebekah.
Perhaps you'll say, "My child wouldn't do such a thing." or "My children know better."  But, what if your child becomes the target of some other child through no fault of their own, or even BECAUSE they refuse to take part in a group bullying?

Most responsible social networking sites do not allow children under the age of 13 to have accounts.  This is true for Facebook and the other accounts mentioned in the article below.  Some sites even require parent permission for younger teens.  But the truth is that children routinely lie about their age to create these accounts.  That's where parenting comes in to play.  How do children access these sites?  Are they using the family computer?  Do they have a computer in their room?  Do they have a smartphone? So what's a parent to do?

First of all, we should enforce the age limits for our children.  They are there for a reason.  What do we teach our kids if we routinely ignore rules and allow them to lie about their age?  We should not allow them to have social networking accounts before the proper age (even if EVERYBODY ELSE has one). Let's not jump off that bridge with them.

Secondly, we should periodically monitor the internet devices that our students have access to.  I've had many conversations with parents who give many different reasons why their young children NEED smartphones and laptops in their rooms.  There are different opinions on that.  But, if they have one, do you monitor the APPS that they use?  Do you have internet filtering on your WiFi network at home?  Do you check the internet history from time to time?  Did you know that they can use their Wii or XBox to access the internet if you have a WiFi network in your home?  You should require that they "friend" you.  I know that there are ways around that, but every little bit helps. I know a number of parents who have joined Facebook, Twitter, and others just so they can monitor their children from time to time.  My wife has not been shy about telling our children that they should un-friend some people due to the language and content of the posts that show up on our children's pages.

Thirdly, we should have conversations about what is allowed and not allowed online. Do they know what type of information is safe to share online?  Would you put a sign in the front yard indicating that you would be gone for a week?  Yet we often use Facebook to tell all our friends (and sometimes the whole world if our privacy settings aren't right) that we are headed for the beach!

And finally, parents should educate themselves. Many are surprised to learn that 12-year-olds aren't supposed to have Facebook.  How would you know?  Does anybody actually read those terms of service?  There are a lot of good things available on the internet.  Use the internet to help educate yourself on how to prevent the bad!

Link to New York Times article on the bullying-induced suicide of Rebecca Sedwick:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/felony-charges-for-2-girls-in-suicide-of-bullied-12-year-old-rebecca-sedwick.html

Another Virtual Technology Conference Coming Up!

DEN VirtCon

Did you know that the Discovery Education Virtual Conference, VirtCon, is coming up soon? The Discovery Educator Network Fall VirtCon will be taking place on October 19th from 9am to 4pm ET. This is one of Discovery Education’s annual flagship community events, and typically has more than 2500 educators from all around the world attend!
This is a free professional development event that gives us an opportunity to support YOU, our community of educators, and help you learn about creative and effective ways to use our services, especially Discovery Education Streaming Plus, Techbook, and Progress Zone.
This unique blended virtual conference features 3 keynotes, more than 20 concurrent sessions and is 100% free to attend.  While thousands of people do attend virtually, the VirtCon is a great opportunity to host a Discovery event at your own school or district!  We provide nationally acclaimed keynotes and presenters, and you can craft your own individualized Professional Development day around it.  Some schools set up a projector and run the sessions all day.  Others display the keynotes, and then take a break to reflect, discuss and synthesize the presentation as a group.

I have other obligations on that day, Saturday, October 19^th and can’t attend.  Otherwise, I would consider organizing a Face-2-Face event where we could participate together and discuss.  If anyone is interested in hosting such an opportunity at your school, I would help you organize it.  Although being able to participate at home in your comfortable clothes is very convenient.  It can be even more fun if you get together to share and discuss the event with your friends (It’s a good excuse to bring a few snacks and order a pizza or two also!).

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 5 #BacktoSchool management tips for innovative edu...

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 5 #BacktoSchool management tips for innovative edu...: A version of this post originally appeared in Partners in Learning 1:1 Hot Topics Chatting with friends, playing games, cheating, crui...

Safe Social Media

Here's a link to a video of the Online Social Media Safety program presented at Marietta High School, sponsored by the Georgia Attorney General's office, WSBTV, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Facebook.

http://bcove.me/1x9srdq3

Tradigital Storytelling

I was looking through my email and articles from Discovery Education when the title of an article caught my attention, Tradigital Storytelling.  How do you merge traditional story telling, digital technology, and encourage the shy student who hates to write?  This answer might surprise you!

Many articles have been written about a myriad of modern day tools to create digital storytelling projects.  Google it, Bing it, or just ask Siri, and you'll get a long list of tools and websites for recording audio, video, talking cartoon animations, etc.  For the geeks and those who have all the modern hardware, these can be fun and exciting tools for both teachers and students.

But what about the teacher who is not so confident and/or competent in technology use?  Here's a "low-tech" suggestion that can be upgraded to a higher level, or not.  Most schools still have a bunch of old overhead projectors sitting around taking up shelf space.  (Personally, I always kept one in my classroom as a backup plan in case the digital projector wouldn't work, the internet went down, or the computer died in the middle of my presentation.) 

With nothing more than an overhead projector, some transparencies, and a thin white shower curtain or sheet, you can create an instant shadow puppet theater!  Students can write their story, draw the background scene on a transparency, draw, color, and cut out the main characters on transparencies, and present their story from behind the curtain.  The picture projected from behind and showing through the curtain will be reversed to the viewers in front of the curtain, so text doesn't work well.

Next, you can add technology enhancements.  It could be as basic as videoing the presentation with an iPad or smartphone and uploading to your website.  Or, you could add to the presentation itself with background music, sound effects, pre-recorded voices, etc., using a microphone and the free program Audacity, or using an iPad app.  You could also do something similar using your ELMO. 


Take a look at a sample of an overhead story presented by a second grader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AKBsMcPBLg&feature=youtu.be

Convert Poster Projects to Digital Projects

Start The New Year With Technology - from Discovery Education

Many teachers have been pinning ideas for the beginning of the school year on Pinterest.  But what became apparent to me was that none of the ideas that I saw used any technology, but each idea could so easily be transformed into a technology-rich lesson.  (Don’t get me wrong- they are all GREAT lessons/ideas- I am just a Technology Integration Specialist- so looking for the tech- OK?)  So, if you are interested in using more technology in your classroom this year, let’s start from DAY 1!  Here is how to transform some of these ideas:
1.  About Me Graphic Organizer:

This first cool idea comes from the Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher blog.  A graphic organizer is a great, visual way to for students to learn about each other about the beginning of the year and also reminds students how to use an organizer for subject areas.  Instead of drawing, have students create beautiful, visual graphic organizers with Popplet- which is available as an iPad app (I suggest the FREE version: Popplet Lite) or online atwww.popplet.com.  Students can easily add boxes of information that can contain text, images (imported), drawing, and videos (in the web version).  I prefer the iPad app over the web version since the web version requires students to log in with an email-based account.

2.  About Me Poster:

About Me posters are incredibly commonplace in the classroom.  How much money have you spent on these pre-printed forms over your career?  Isn’t it time we made them more interesting- or personal?  This is a great time to try Discovery Education’s NEW Board Builder tool with your students!  Once you (the teacher) are logged into your account, you need to set your students up with accounts.  When your students log into Discovery Education, they have a special place where they can interact with Discovery Education content including use of the Board Builder tool for creating poster-like content.  Students can add images, text, video, documents, and links to create a content poster with their own media or they can incorporate the media directly from Discovery’s resources.

3.  What I Did This Summer

This cute idea from A Love for Teaching blog has students drawing a scene from their summer adventures in a pair of sunglasses.  It is a great visual that will have students sharing about their summer fun.  However, with the addition of the Common Core standards that we will all be implementing, this is a perfect time to pull in some of those standards (such as writing from experience).  To add some technology, have students write up a little story about their summertime fun (using tech here would be good, too) and then have students choose/highlight the key words from their story to add a Tagxedo image.  The Tagxedo image is an image created of words that upon viewing should convey the basic story to the viewer due to the choice of words (character, setting, description, etc.) without reading the entire text.  Tagxedo.com comes with a variety of images to choose from, but if you need a specific image it can be uploaded.  The Tagxedo images are just as visual to hang in the hallways or on a bulletin board and add writing to the mix!

4. Getting To Know You Venn Diagrams

I love this idea from Eduperry.com.  Everyday the teacher has a new “Do you like?” question at the beginning of the day.  Students add their pictures to the Venn diagram to answer the question and to indicate that they are present for the day.  Venn diagrams are a great way to teach logic skills, similarities, differences, sets, comparing, and contrasting.  Instead of using hoops and photographs as suggested in the original article, set this up on your SmartBoard (or interactive whiteboard) so that students can move their virtual images or names into the diagram each morning.  If you don’t have images of each student, have your students create an avatar (a representation of themselves) with a fun avatar creator such ashttp://clayyourself.com. Do you like using Venn Diagrams for small group or pair activities in the classroom?  ReadWriteThink just put out a new iPad app called Venn Diagrams.

5.  Call For Parent Volunteers- and other nasty paperwork!

Every classroom needs parent volunteers and various other information that needs to be gathered- but STOP sending all that paper home!  Convert all of your forms to Google Forms where you can neatly collect all of your information from parents in one place and it will never get lost or damaged in transit.  Save the paper only for families that really need it.  If you have a gmail address (whether personal or school) you have Google Forms!  Click on the Google Drive link at the top of the screen when you are in your email and then click the CREATE button and get started!  You can email your form to whomever you desire once it is created (and you can even embed it on your web site).  Plus, you can pick pretty themes with no design skills at all.  When parents submit a form all of the data is stored in your form file where you can access it at any time- no more paper to wrangle.

6. First Week Graphing

Graphing Our Favorite Summer Activity comes from Madden’s Monsterous Masterminds.  Graphing is a fun way to use real-world math while learning about the students.  There are some great technology tools that will allow teachers to create interactive graphs with their students on their interactive whiteboards as they are discussing various topics.  Recently the iPad app Haiku Deck has added a graphing feature to their presentation app.  This allows teachers to search for an image that represents the discussion and then to instantly graph the results (such as in the middle image labeled transportation- how students get to school).  Just connect the iPad to the interactive whiteboard to share the magic with class.  No iPad?  Try a website such as the Data Handling Site by Primary National Strategy.  Here you can graph your data with a bar graph or pie chart.
There are so many more ways to use technology to transform your beginning of the year and “getting to know you” lessons.  Share some of your favorites in the comments below.  I hope I have inspired you to think about integrating technology more this year as you begin the new school year.

Everyone Loves Freebies!

Back to School Goodies for You!

Symbaloo had this nifty idea about gathering some of their friends together to give you some sweet stuff to celebrate back to school. While we are going to have some exciting news of our own headed out to STAR Discovery Educators in a few short weeks, we couldn’t help but jump in on this special chance for you to get some free stuff.
In case you missed it over the summer, Discovery Education launched STEM Camp, a dynamic series of standards-aligned curricula available at no cost to schools, districts, non-profit organizations, and parents for use as part of summer camps, after-school STEM programs or wherever support is needed. (That includes YOUR classroom.) We also are sharing tons of free resources the the Siemens We Can Change the World program. Just click on the links to access these. In addition to these free resources, and thanks to our friend Symbaloo, we also have a few other goodies to share.

SymbalooEDU – A 6 months free trial of SymbalooEDU Premium Account for your own personal teaching or learning environment, and a Basic Certification to show you how to use all the features Symbaloo has to offer.

Edbacker – Crowd-funding Certification to give educators all the tools and information they need to create an engaging and successful crowd-funding campaign. Use the code Symbaloo13 to receive a free consultation with an Edbacker founder.

Mackin – A free MackinVIA account to access monthly promotions include free database and useful offerings from publisher partners. Through this offer, teachers and students will receive close to 40 ebooks for 3 different grade segments.

Capstone Interactive Library – 30 day trial of Capstone Interactive library with access to more than 3,000 Capstone Interactive eBooks offer unlimited circulations with simultaneous access, iPad compatibility, and are supported by professionally recorded audio. 30 days trial of PebbleGo database for reader research of K-3.

Gynzy – Unlimited access to 200 interactive tools for your whiteboard until January 1st of 2014. Gynzy includes tools that are great for the start of the school year, like Class Arrangement and an Interactive Map of the United States for you to keep.
To get your goodies, head over to http://www.symbalooedu.com/startoftheschoolyear2013/

Use the promo code STARTDiscoveryEdu2013 to claim them.

Insert Voice Comments on Digitally Submitted Documents

Here’s one that might simplify the process of sending comments back to students on digitally submitted documents.

If you have ever had papers or essays sent to you as a Word document, made inserted comments using the review tab, and sent them back to the student for corrections, you may appreciate this app.  Wouldn’t it be nice to leave voice comments on a document, rather than a written comment? Well you can, with the app “voice comments”.

You can open documents (that have been uploaded by students into your shared Google docs folder) with the voice comment app, record comments to the student, and share them. This way you can place emphasis on the words you choose and they will hear it in your voice! The video link below will give you an idea on how to use voice comments with your shared Google docs. 

http://bit.ly/16tT3Na

DEN Summer Institute Webinar Archives

The online webinars of the Discovery Educators Network Summer Institute have been archived.  You can access approximately 11 hours of technology integration training by going to: http://new.livestream.com/DEN/events/2142733

 

 

We've had a busy week at Rome City Schools this week.  While some of you have been enjoying the last of your summer vacation others of us have been back at work.  The administrators are are all "powered up", ready for the new year after a "powerful" 2 days of the administrative institute.  Can you guess what the theme was?  LOL

We welcomed the new teachers to Rome City Schools for 2013-2014.  They have been attending the new teacher orientation workshop for the last three days.

This week was also the Discovery Education Network Summer Institute (DENSI).  Unfortunately, it was in Vermont and most of us couldn't attend.  Fortunately, they offered it also as a free online webinar as they live-streamed much of the event.  But unfortunately, many of us were tied up so that we couldn't even attend the webinar.

So, fortunately, one of the main goals of the Discovery Educators Network is to SHARE and COLLABORATE.  So I've placed a link below to a recap page with links to notes shared by those who attended.  Not only are they sharing, they are also modeling "how" to share.  Some are links to blogs.  Many are links to Google Docs that have been shared with us.  You can do the same.  If you don't like the hassle of a webpage, you can still post information in shared documents in your Google Docs.  However, to make it fully functional, you really need at least 1 webpage with a list of your Google Docs (although …. I guess you could have 1 main document that served as an index, with links to your other documents.  There are lots of ways to do this). I still maintain that every classroom should have a webpage.  If you need help with that, let me know.

Check out some of the neat ideas shared from other teachers at:

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2013/07/18/densi-2013-daily-recap-day-5

Project-based Learning

Last spring I mentioned that I’m seeing a new emphasis placed on project-based learning or PBL.  This blog will revisit that subject with a focus on assessment resources for use with project-based learning.  

What is project-based learning?  Take a look at this description from the website at: http://pbl-online.org/About/whatisPBL.htm

Project Based Learning is an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.

Project Based Learning is synonymous with learning in depth. A well-designed project provokes students to encounter (and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline.

Project Based Learning teaches students 21st century skills as well as content. These skills include communication and presentation skills, organization and time management skills, research and inquiry skills, self-assessment and reflection skills, and group participation and leadership skills.

Project Based Learning is generally done by groups of students working together toward a common goal. Performance is assessed on an individual basis, and takes into account the quality of the product produced, the depth of content understanding demonstrated, and the contributions made to the ongoing process of project realization.

Finally, Project Based Learning allows students to reflect upon their own ideas and opinions, exercise voice and choice, and make decisions that affect project outcomes and the learning process in general.

Combining these considerations, we define Project Based Learning as a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning essential knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.

Project-based learning allows for greater individualization, innovation, and creativity. It can be done individually or as a group.  But, many teachers may be uncomfortable with relinquishing control of what is being learned and allowing students to “discover” on their on.  What if the students don’t cover all the points, or miss the main point of the lesson?  That’s where using guided-assessment through rubrics comes in!

I don’t exactly love to write grants.  But, I love writing grants that tell you up front, “Here is the rubric we will use to evaluate your grant application.”  The major items that must be included are listed and assigned higher point values, etc.  I know exactly WHAT they want, and WHERE to concentrate my effort. It’s up to me to write the grant and make it unique, so that it stands out above the competition. Project-based learning rubrics for students can be specific enough to guide students toward the required content while still allowing for creativity and collaboration.  If the rubric is designed well and given to the students ahead of time, every project submitted should meet competency goals and include required elements of the standard being taught.  The rubric itself can be a learning tool prior to the evaluation.

I have listed below several excellent resource pages about project-based learning and rubrics:

http://ipadsatburley.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-assessment-meaningful.html

http://www.schrockguide.net/assessment-and-rubrics.html

http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/index.shtml

https://www.forallrubrics.com/

What are some examples of project-based learning projects?  What are some new 21^st Century applications for creating these projects (no poster boards or PowerPoints, Please! )  Perhaps those are topics for another day!  

Technology Recommendations for Starting the New Year

There are a million things to do prior to that first day of class and no matter how long you’ve been teaching, there’s not enough time to get it all done.  Losing pre-planning time due to furlough days compounds the problem and makes it essential that we put careful thought and planning into getting ready for school. How can your technology help?

IS YOUR TECHNOLOGY WORKING?First of all, your technology must be up and running.  Over the summer most of your technology may have been disconnected and moved so that floors could be cleaned and waxed.  You may need to re-connect computer, monitor, printer, internet cables, speakers, Elmo, projector, and Smartboard.  Make sure they are all working.  If they are not working, check with a nearby teacher (who is maybe a little more tech-savvy) or check with your media specialist.  If it’s still not working, put in a work order as soon as possible.

COLLECTING DATA

Let’s consider all the information that you have to disseminate and gather in those first few days of school.  Depending on your situation you may have anywhere from 18 students to 150 students.  Again, depending on your school situation, they may or may not already be in PowerSchool as being registered for your class.  If they are, you are ahead of the game.  You have 24/7 access to class rolls and student demographic information, addresses, etc.  If not, you may want to collect that information that first week.  [More on PowerSchool preparations later]

How can technology help you collect data?  In the past you may have sent home a paper form to fill out.  If you have a gmail account, you have access to creating online Google Forms as part of your Google Docs.  You can create a form which asks for all the important information that you need and/or allows parents to give you extra information you need to know such as “my child is allergic to chalk”.  The results are collected automatically in a spreadsheet that is available from anywhere.  Not all parents will use the online form, but each one that does will keep you from having to type that information yourself.  You’ll have to add in the ones that still elect to fill out the paper form.  See an online YouTube tutorial on how to create an online Form Using Google Docs. 

DISSEMINATING INFORMATION

What about all the other information that you have to send home?  Some of it is on Rome City Forms that have to be returned.  Some of it could be posted online for parents.  Could you save paper and copies?  Again, you’ll have some parents/students with no computer access, so you’ll need to be prepared with paper copies for those that need it.  Perhaps that could be one of the questions on your paper/online data form ….to see who prefers to get information online (or by text) and who requires a paper copy.  Be careful how you ask that, so as not to embarrass anyone.  You could ask, “Do you prefer to get classroom information or communications through papers sent home, email, text messaging, or the classroom website?”, rather than asking, “Do you have a computer with internet access?” 

How do you post information online for parents?  There are many options these days, but a classroom website should probably be the minimum.  If I’m looking for information on just about anything these days, my first question is, “Is it listed on their website?”  Many parents are the same way. You should probably get this decision out of the way and give out the address to your classroom website with the materials that you send home the first day.

CLASSROOM WEBSITES

Each teacher can create their own classroom website through http://Myschooldesk.net/rcs.  If you haven’t signed up before, you can go to the website, scroll down to the bottom of the page and register.  You will need an RSVP code: wolf.  I do have a demo site that I have used when teaching a class on this. It has not been updated in a while and uses the built-in blog rather than the blog I am currently using, but does give you an idea of the different things you can do on the site.  I have also recommended that you take a look at David Musgrove’s site (Thank you David!) to see how he uses the classroom website at Rome High.  Of course, there are other options (both free and paid) for websites.  You could use Weebly, Google Sites, or others.  Whatever you choose, my suggestion is to start with just the basic information that will stay up all year.  You might post a personal introduction (not too personal … more on that later), any special classroom rules, classroom supply lists, important dates or projects, etc.  I would not start out with posting each night’s homework.  That gets too cumbersome very quickly.

STORING AND SHARING FILES FROM THE “CLOUD”

You can also make information available through several cloud-based sharing applications such as Google Docs, Dropbox, etc.  The files you store are private, but you can elect to “share” files so that anyone with the address can access them.  It’s basically the same process as sharing a poll or Form survey document, as described above.  Of course, you still have to get the word out by sending the link to the file on paper, by email, text, or on your website.

Many of these things can be done by using Socrative as your classroom website and communication tool.  See the previous information on Socrative in one of my emails, my blog, or Facebook account.  If you are going to use Socrative, it’s probably a good idea to start setting it up now and publicizing the information on how to join your class that first week. 

If a significant portion of your class parents have access to texting (many people have cell phones and texting instead of a regular phone line now) and/or would rather communicate by texts, consider setting up an account with Remind101.com or Celly (http://cel.ly ) and send information home the first week on how parents can subscribe to this without either of you knowing each other’s cell phone number.  Messages would go straight to their phone without getting lost in book bags!

All of this may sound like a lot of work.  However, just like anything else, a little work before school starts could save you a lot of time or make you much more efficient and effective later

ThreeRing.com and EdmodoCon 2013

Thanks to Randy Stafford for finding this video tutorial on how to use Three Ring, the app I mentioned last week. The link is to a YouTube video that can be found here: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19otInjcuM8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Registration is now open for EdmodoCon 2013!  EdmodoCon is an all-day live-stream conference on how to use Edmodo in the classroom.  Unforunately, the rest of the country doesn’t start school as early as we do and the conference is during a school day, August 7^th, for us.  However, it will last until about 9 pm.  So you should be able to catch some of it.  Register for free at: http://edmodocon.com/

Tune in Wednesday, August 7th to watch educators present live about the ways they’re using Edmodo in the classroom, while back channeling with other Edmodo educators around the world. It’s will be a day of collaborative learning and professional development that will leave you inspired and motivated to start the new school year.

They’re live streaming EdmodoCon globally. This means, you will be able to see all speakers as they are presenting.

The streaming platform will allow you to participate from most internet-enabled devices (Yes, this incudes the iPad!). You can check to see if your device meets system requirements at http://webcast.on24.com/view/help/ehelp.html.

Each presenter will provide you with an action plan to help you kick off the new school year with Edmodo! 

ThreeRing.com - Another great tool

Have you heard about ThreeRing?  Perhaps you are familiar with Evernote?  ThreeRing is sort of like Evernote for your classroom and students.  It helps you organize and document student work digitally, and makes it available to all your devices.  What a great way to have documentation for SST, RTI, parent conferences, etc.  And, of course, it’s FREE. 

Take a look at this summary from the Three Ring website: http://threering.com

Three Ring unlocks the power of your mobile phone or iPad. Now it's easy for teachers and students to document evidence from the classroom. Capture anything, regardless of format, in just seconds.

Take a picture of any paper, drawing, or board work.Record presentations or discussions with audio or video.Students can upload their own work from any mobile device or computer.

Stop hassling with stacks of binders or complicated filing systems. With Three Ring, it just takes a few minutes to set up your organizational system and you never have to worry again. The search engine allows you to find any combination of artifacts whenever you need them.

Classify work automatically as you add it to Three Ring.

Tag work by Common Core Standard, unit, assignment type, or however you like.Find anything in a snap with Three Ring's speedy and elegant search engine.

Three Ring makes it easy to use assessment for learning. Share exemplars to communicate expectations and criteria. Encourage students to compare artifacts and analyze their work. Provide descriptive feedback through ongoing dialogue and comments.

A simple tool for peer- and self-assessment.Perfect for Project-Based Learning, Standards-Based Grading, and other innovative approaches.A detailed source of information about student growth. 

Using Google and Flubaroo for Assessiment

Using Google Forms for Assessment, Polling, and Data Gathering:

We’ve looked at Socrative.com and Testmoz.com.  Now let’s look at an older option that you may not have used.  It’s more technical and requires more work up front than Socrative or Testmoz, but allows for more customization. 

I’m talking about using Google Forms for collecting data and assessing.  You’ve all used Google Forms to answer surveys that I’ve sent out on various subjects (Title II, Technology Surveys, etc.).  But have you ever created and used it for your own class or family?  I’ve even used it to gather my family’s Christmas wish lists!  Google Forms (polls) are extremely easy to create.  All you need is a gmail account!  Google will host your forms (polls) as part of your Google docs (now referred to as Google Drive).

Don’t want to use your personal gmail for work purposes?  No problem!  You can create a separate gmail account for your classroom purposes.  I actually have a personal gmail, two gmails that I use for Rome City Schools, one for my classes at Georgia Highlands, and one I used for communications with my class reunion last year.  Why so many?  That’s a subject for another day!
Back to using Google Forms for assessment – Once you’ve created the form to gather the data, test question answers, etc., you give out the link to the live form and wait for the results to pour in.  After all the results are in you can view the results in a spreadsheet or have Google print out a summary of the results complete with graphs.  You can even get the spreadsheet to grade multiple choice or short answers.  You can do this manually if you are familiar with using IF formulas in Excel.  If not, there’s still hope!  You can use Flubaroo.com.  Check out this introduction video on Flubaroo at: http://www.flubaroo.com/instructional-videos

For help, or more information you can contact me or …… try a YouTube search on how to do any of these.  There will probably be a 10-year-old kid with a video on how to do it.  LOL!