tech4teach

I don't remember where I got this link, but I occasionally look at it for some new "techy" ideas. He has some great ideas that I would like to try. One is a choose your own adventure using youtube videos. Sounds really complicated, but it's worth a try!

tech4teach

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas break!

Sometimes, it's just that simple.

My last post "A day without laptops" had me in a quandary pretty much all afternoon.  Then, the words of Steven Anderson, our WSFCS Director of Instructional Technology came to mind:  "It's not about the devices, it's about instruction." So the simple answer to why my students didn't ask about the laptops? Because my lesson didn't "call" for it - it wasn't missed.  Sometimes it is just that simple.

A day without laptops..

So, I wanted to try something different in my classes today...  I decided to NOT use our devices.  They remained in their cart all day - out of sight, and apparently, out of mind!  Not one student asked, "are we using the laptops today?", or even "how come we're not using the laptops today?" I'm surprised. I thought they would be, like, indignant with doing things the "old" way, but they just took it in stride.  Hmmm..  Not even one student. Not one. Interesting.

Hey, I think this might be useful...

We all discover those gems of sites that seem to offer just the right thing at the right time.  The following link is just one of those.  It's called Internet 4 Classrooms, and you can click on the link below to visit it.

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/index.htm

 

 

The return to normalcy...

I've discovered a comfortable compromise between all-out tech and teaching/learning with tech.  With the beginning of second quarter, I laid out a plan to rotate daily work with our devices. I vary my "bellringers" between edmodo assignments, socrative quizzes, polleverywheres  voice recordings, old fashioned "paper" bellringers and non-graded activities like online language games, and realia.  It keeps things less robotic and routine and each application has individual benefits and reaches/appeals to different students. I still use edmodo as the vehicle to link to the other sites. It's just so direct and easy.  It's also simple to post, check work and give feedback.

Our devices are daily - just not every class and I'm finding it easier to integrate technology now.  Surprisingly, that came when I allowed myself to relax and "go back" to my style of teaching.  I just wasn't connecting with my students because I was doing TOO much technology.  Yes, Marty and others said "start slow", "ease into it" - but, I felt very strongly compelled to use the devices 24-7 - to model their effectiveness and because I felt compelled to demonstrate my commitment to the Pilot program, (oh and yes - I do love technology!!).

A big help was that our systems technicians worked their magic and now we're up and running in much less time.  That's helped immeasurably.  And finally, I moved the students' seats from groups of four to pairs of rows.  I can see all the computer screens from the back of the room at one time, yet they can still partner up to help one another while I keep more of their attention. Even though I'm feeling less than successful instituting what I perceived the Community of Learners ideals to be, I believe we've in fact become a real Community of Learners because of the bond, affection, respect and positive atmosphere we share together now that we've settled into routine and "normalcy". Come see for yourself - Room 401 - Kernersville Middle School!

Having Fun with Problem Based Learning

I have continued with PBL and things are getting better.  Last week my students worked of a science PBL which I titled "Willy Wonka's Candy Challenge".  The premise was that New Line Cinema enlisted the help of Wonka's Candy Co./Nestle to market and advertise for their new movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3.  Students had to create a candy that resembled the structure of the earth and also develop a candy wrapper.  I used a few movie video clips to engage as part of the 5E model and I hooked them right off the bat.  As part of the research students used videos, a Powerpoint, and a Mentormob presentation. 

My math PBL for the week was on ratios and required students to determine a fairer way for Nike to price their shoes, than one standard price (sizes 7-23 = $160.00).  I wish that I could take the credit for this awesome PBL but the credit should really go to Mathalicious.  I must say that this is by far one of my best finds this year.  This resource provides teachers with a lesson guide, students blackline masters, and presentation tools which are aligned to the Common Core curriculum.  Each lesson takes 50-75 minutes which is perfect for what I want to do.  I have never been a teacher to buy teacher guides or spend money on resources because I have always written my own.  With that said, I signed up for $15.00 per month.  This may sound high but if you consider what you get in return and the time that it would take you to create something of the same caliber, you would also agree that it was money well spent. 

My next Mathalicious PBL lessons are on rate, unit rate, and proportions.  I found two that I really like which deal with hybrid automobiles and when they would be considered an ideal purchase.  The other is about the aspect ratios of movie and television screens.  I'm really excited to see how my students do with these.

1st Quarter

As I look back on 1st quarter, I am noticing some things that have gone really well and some things I need to improve on.

Strengths:

The students are very comfortable using the laptops. They respond quickly to directions and they are willing to help others. Establishing a specific routine in the beginning has definitely helped my class run smoothly.

I think I have done a decent job at giving the students projects where they can create something from what they have learned.

I have showed the students a variety of sources they can use to create presentations from topics they have researched.

I thing I have kept the students more engaged in school using the computer.

Room for improvement:

I need to do better in giving them activities that are higher levels in Blooms Taxonomy. Common Core calls for students to think logically at a higher level so I need to find activites that incorporate a higher level of thinking.

I have a handful of students that always forget to charge their computer. I need to come up with an effective method to help those students remember to charge their computer.

The internet is also an issue sometimes. These laptops are very tricky to get onto the internet. Even though the students are very familiar with the routine, if a problem arises, they don't know what to do. Sometimes, I don't know what to do other than tell them to restart their computer. Of course, they get frustrated and they get further behind in completing their assignment for a reason that is not their fault.

MATH! That is the subject where I find it very difficult to incorporate the computers. I am so accustomed to thinking/teaching math in one way. I really need to work on getting myself out of that mindset.

I also want to do more PBL. My goal is this quarter is to incorporate one PBL unit per subject this quarter.


Hopefully I can wrap my mind around all this. I am blessed to have a great class, but I know from previouses experiences that establishing a firm routine is necessary to help everything run smoothly. Sometimes, I feel like I am being way too strict. However, this has definitely helped me to keep my level of sanity!

Reflecting on the 1st Quarter

Looking back on 1st quarter, here are some positives and negatives.  As I reflect more, I'll edit the post.  The sequel to this: what are my plans for 2nd quarter will be a followup.

POSITIVES
Students comfortable with laptops: 
+ Very few locking themselves out now.
+ Routine settling in: read bellringer on monitor, Edmodo? log-in link?: Get your computer up and running.
+ Computers logging onto the network faster. (yeah C. Corbin and crew!!)
+ Students being student leaders - helping one another with problems.
+ Independent learners - accessing Edmodo from home to complete work.
+ Involved parents using parent codes; calling, emailing to support students & technology
+ Creatively incorporating technology into lesson planning.
+ Giving students time and opportunity to learn basic, and necessary computer skills, copy, paste, open, close, locate...
+ community work helping with differentiation: Wallwisher, Primary Wall, Edmodo, Polleverywhere, Today's Meet.

NEGATIVES
- Used devices too much for menial tasks causing waste of teaching time. (ex: labels on shared drive)
- Used it just to use it (see above) so I didn't feel like I was wasting the gift of having them on a daily basis!
- Lost instruction/connection time.  With laptops, time with teacher is lost.  I see this as a minus, some might see it as a plus.
- activities low on Bloom's Taxonomy. - Question is with beginning languages, how far can I go up?
- students struggled with Edmodo steps, didn't complete work due to slow log in time, distractions.
- Group setting detracted from my introduction of my courses, routines and rules - should have followed by first inclination to begin as individuals and "grow" into community of learners.
- Focused on mechanical use not creative use.  Need to use WWW sources for students to benefit from OTHERS using their languages.

Pleased..

My 7th and 8th grade students were given the assignment to create an introduction presentation of a randomly picked verb they had learned last year, develop a classroom practice activity and issue a quiz to support their lesson. I charged them with choosing methods that would be inviting and help students retain the reviewed information. I asked them to consider what had been especially appealing and useful when being presented with information by their own teachers when being introduced to new/review material in their classrooms.

One group chose Animoto to present, another group chose Wallwisher for practice,  and yet another chose Socrative as their method of testing.  All three applications I've introduced to my students this first quarter. I'm pleased they feel that these three apps met the qualifications and that they chose them to apply them to teach their lessons. 

Gotta Smile...

I overheard one of my not-interested-in-foreign-fanguage students this week as he was writing the verb conjugations for "ecouter" on the dry erase board, setting it up for his classmates to play "fly swat" as a verb review before issuing a quiz that he and his partner created, say, "I'm working here!" - In this amazed, incredulous tone - as if it was a novel experience, (which it has been!) to him.

I followed up with, "yes, and when you take your quiz, you'll know all the answers! Can a day get any better than that!!??"  He laughed and agreed with me that, no, it really couldn't.  What a positive learning experience it was - for us both.

Did I waste my time?

     I have spent the past week and a half working on two PBL lessons in class.  The first was a lesson on multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers.  My Top Chef Challenge was taken straight from the reality show and the students bit on the idea.  The idea was to take a few recipes that fed 4, 6, or 8 people and use it to feed our teaching staff of 75.  We started with a KWL chart, downloaded three apps (recipes, converting, and substitution), drew knives to pick teams, and threw in a mystery ingredient....an apple.  There were a few twists along the way.  All three chefs ran out on an ingredient and had to find a substitute ingredient (used an app) for their dish.  Paula Deen pops by and the chefs had to take an original recipe and cook for her in a Quickfire Challenge (dividing fractions and mixed numbers).  There was a writing component where students reflected on the experience and wrote about the math and apps used.
     My second PBL required students to write a picture book using the Storybirds program.  The topic was what makes Earth unique and able to sustain life.  We watched a video of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  From there we watched a few short videos on Goldilocks Planets.  Students transitioned to research using a few links that I provided.  Additional research was to move beyond what I included on the handout.  The book was to teacher the reader about 5-7 unique features of Earth that are different when compared to the other seven planets from our solar system.  They were to discount the possibility of colonization on the other seven planets using the plot from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  The book was to conclude by taking the reader to a Goldilocks Planet where students explained the possibility of colonization based on the traits mentioned earlier.  Students sent the URL code of the book to Edmodo where I copied it and posted it to a Tizmos dashboard program for others to read.  I titled this page New! Student Artifacts.   
      Overall, I expected some excellent artifacts. Surprisingly, I had to return half of the Top Chef group projects because the math was wrong. Ughhhh!  I planned to use a rubric to grade the Storybird but had to throw it away three books into grading because I quickly realized that all of my students would have failed.  The books lacked strong research and mimicked a free writing exercise.  I am sure that I have plenty of room to adjust and stengthen the two of these but I can't help but feel deflated.  Have I wasted my time?  Is this what I can expect after investing a huge chunk of time into an assignment? 

Was ist das?

Das ist ein video about Classroom Items a couple of my World Languages students compiled using Animoto.

Im Klassenzimmer by Kate & Chelsea

Genießen Sie!

Next step...

Monday started with classroom visits from Steven and Evan.  Professionally, I welcome visitors to my classroom, but personally, I'm always anxious.  Is my lesson strong? Are my students on task?  Am I using the devices in the most beneficial way?  Monday was a "B" day too.  On "B" days, I deliver five (5) different lesson plans over three (3) grade levels through six (6) classes.  "A" days are easier - four (4) different lesson plans - three (3) levels - five (5) classes.  - And it was ... Monday.  Looking forward, when classroom devices become a reality throughout our District, juggling/managing preps, student population, classroom location, administration, and teacher personalities will all factor in.  The human side of technology.

Strong strides came from Steven and Evan's visits.  I've been struggling with slow start up time because I was having my classes log off/shut down after each class. I've been ten - sometimes more - minutes just trying to complete the bellringer portion of my class lesson using side lessons for those quick finishers.  From Steven's visit, (followed by Marty's the next day), we decided to try just logging off - not shutting down between classes. I'd been trying to save the battery, but with the Lenovo x130's,  it's just not necessary. (hoorah!!) That's helped.

Evan's suggestion to put my Wallwisher links on Edmodo to cut down on the time it's taking for students to type in the quirky web addresses is helping me make my start up time more manageable too.  I'm also considering starting the class differently. More on that later.

From their visits, I've recognized that I need guidance and recommendations to improve instruction, flow of classtime schedule and how to maximize my devices' capabilities to get good "bang for the buck".  It's time. Marty affirmed just that.  It's the next step in his implementation plan. First quarter was the "burn in" time - working out the mechanical and introductory "problems".  Now, it's time to work on lesson implementation, structure and guidance to support strong program delivery.

Step by step by step.

Idioms

Idioms

Here is the other video my kids created. I can't wait for them to see it!

Similes

My Animoto Video


So here is the first video. A little rough, but the kids enjoyed it. At first, I had them post their pictures to edmodo thinking I could pull the pictures from there. However, it would not let me save any of them! So, I had to go to each child individually and save their photo to a flashdrive. I thought it was pretty successful, but had I done it differently, I need to find another way for them to post photos!! Any suggestions?

More Dog Training...

Journal Entry:
The second day of training...

I went back the tech training and tried to have an open mind. It was another hard morning.

My grandfather always said to step back and to take a good look at the things that are going on around you, to scope things out, to try to learn everything about a situation, and then to take action. He said to migrate toward positive open-minded individuals, to watch them, and to learn from what they do. He said to do a lot of listening.

I spent the next hours watching others and tried to learn as much technology as I could from the groups around me. I took notes. By lunch time, I felt that my note-taking was not much help, but I continued to do what my grandfather had suggested years ago. (He was a great man of intellect and wisdom.)

After the second day of training, I sat  down once again and chatted with Mr. Creech. I began to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. I was still very frustrated. Was it time to throw in the towel and call it quits? I knew that I was in over my head from the beginning...but this was a pilot...wasn't a pilot a time to learn, grow and try new things?

Before I left for the day, I voiced those concerns to Mr. Creech. I was prepared to quit. Mr. Creech told me to reflect.

That afternoon,  I went home and reflected. I decided that the knowledge wasn't going to come quick enough. I prepared a written statement to the program leaders and planned to meet with them Friday afternoon.  The last day of training would be completed.

On the way home, I stopped to get gas at a local gas station.The owner knew that I was piloting the program  and asked how things were going. When I responded "very rough", he reassured me that everything would come together because everything I needed would come, and that I would learn it. This gentleman was from Egypt and, through hard work, had overcome obstacles that brought him to America.  

Still, I left the station with lots of doubt.  As I pulled into my driveway, a friend called and asked about the tablet. Her comment to me went something to the effect of ..."You're not giving up, are you?"...
The call ended.

I walked out to get the mail, carried it into the house unopened, and went walking, thinking about my friend, Mrs. Moore, and how Mr. Moore had talked about walking the fence line on their family farm the morning of Mrs. Moore's funeral. Walking the fence line is something my grandfather used to do when he needed to think clearly.  So I got in my car and drove down to the family farm where my grandfather had walked so many times. I walked the fields and the fence lines. I reflected...

Just because you can... doesn't mean you should..

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's posts.  Each entry brings feelings of relief, hope, comradeship - and absolutely, competition.  There are so many great uses of technology appearing in this blog that I feel inpired and desirous to add to the growing list of the great learning opportunities occuring.  I question how I'm using these awesome - and I do mean awesome - tools - (hoping that I NEVER take them for granted!).  But, last week, I took a step back from technology.  Most of my students grumbled, (loudly).  The reason is the purpose of this post.

I have said before, I love Edmodo.  It's got pretty much all a teacher could ask for, (and probably has those too - I just don't know how to access them yet.)  After two weeks of using Edmodo daily for my students' classwork, I was faced with a mountain - a Kilomanjaro actually, of assignments that needed grading!  Of course I knew I was creating Assignments daily, but over the course of the ten day period, I had amassed a total of over 600 "turned in" assignments to grade!!! - Yes, I had been whittling them down, but you know that "out of sight, out of mind" addage?  I must have been out of my mind!  And progress reports were coming due!

So, back to paper/pencil we went.  We still used our laptops; Audio Dropbox, Tagxedo, Symbaloo, and of course, Powerpoint, as well as Word, Voki, BBC for Kids, other Foreign Language learning sites, but I stayed away Edmodo and I told my students what I had done and that we would return when I had cleared the decks, so to speak.

I can now report, I am almost at sea level again, but I've also found another consideration!! (Close a door.. Open a Window!) Today, I used Wallwisher for my bellringers!  - Talk about a community of learners!  I posted questions for each class, and the students, in the target language, responded.  The ones who "got it", were done quickly, those who struggled  - as they realized they'd been given the "pattern" by their peers' answers, they were able to complete theirs as well!  And it was a great way to see at a glance who didn't "get it"!

It was a "village"! I had the students identify themselves with their last names, and took a screen shot of the site for a grading reference later.  I'm looking into other "boards" as well. So far, Corkboard Me, Pindax, (more feature/complex), Popplet, (have to log in). Any others that you've found successful?

Dog Training and more...

Journal Entry:
Early August

Today was the beginning of a new month. Summer was quickly fading away. Today was also our first day of real training. I was beginning the technology with lots of excitement yet some uncertainty... could you really teach an old dog new tricks? We'd soon find out.

It was great to see our team face to face.

Our training was not the normal every day technology training where you went in and sat at the computer and people spoon fed you what you hoped to learn, needed to learn, or wanted to learn.

I think that we were all taken by surprise. I know that at least I was surprised. We didn't sit behind the computer screens and listen to the average lecture-type jargon. It was a real hands-on experience!

The training was geared toward problem-based learning, inquiry, and teamwork.  I knew all about problem-based learning, having been trained in it several years ago, and having used it on a regular basis in my classroom. I used inquiry all the time in science and math. No Problem! Then came the teamwork part.  In most of the situations that I had experienced, roles or positions were appointed. Not in  this case.
The trainers were waiting for us to jump in and go at it.

We spent the first half of the morning trying to get know each other and how we fit together as a team. Most of the team fit perfectly together...their common tie...the  knowledge of technology. I was the weak link. The lack of technology was holding me back, and therefore, it was holding the team back. This was not what I had anticipated.

We were given a problem-based assignment and expected to produce a final product. I approached the task with more confidence as this was real-world learning much like lessons that I used in my classroom.

I realized quickly that I was not a tech-savy teacher. All of my other team mates were rolling out those technology talents. I had little-to-no skills at this point. My future did not look good!

By lunch time, the team was meshing, and I was frustrated because I didn't know what I was doing and was confident that that feeling would remain.  I ended the day on a down note.

So much to do!

I constantly am feeling overwhelmed but having a great group of kids definitely helps! I am trying to integrate technology everywhere I can, make sure I am "going deeper" and becoming more rigorous, and trying to incorporate some systems thinking in there too!
I think there have been some very successful projects. We have been communicating with a classroom in Canada via epals and skype. We have sent out emails and have met a few times on skype (when technology has allowed us to). I think this will be a great collaboration for the students to have. Hopefully, we can tie in parts of our curriculum together and the students can do projects together.  How cool will that be to do a project with a student in another country?! I am pretty excited about it and I know they are as well.

Glogster has also proven to be an effective way to present a project. The students have completed glogsters on a famous scientist (one that ties into the common core of course) and they have also completed a glogster on a famous explorer to the Americas. Once the students finished their presentations, we were able to compare explorers and document where explorers from different countries went.

We have also used the laptops to take notes. I have posted sheets on edmodo for the students to download and fill in during a presentation (well actually, they have to save the document to their desktop, go to open office, re-save the document in the odf open office format, then delete the original-they have gotten very good at this process because they have to do it every time I post a document!). These forms help them to have an idea of what material they need to pay attention to. It also significantly reduces the chances of them losing it or the dog eating it since it is saved to their computer!

Edmodo has also been awesome! The kids have been able to turn in assignments and I am able to grade them quickly as well. I can also post links for them to use as well. I was worried about them not having a student shared folder at the beginning of the year, but edmodo has helped alleviate those fears.

Tomorrow, I am going to allow my students to create pictures of different types of figurative language like similes, metaphors, idioms, personification, etc. We will then create an animoto video for each type of figurative language. Once the videos are completed, I will post them to edmodo so students can make comments on the videos. Hopefully everything will work out. I will blog about it tomorrow or before the end of the week :)

Finally, I found a way for my students to use twitter! It's not exactly on the computers, but the students enjoy it at least! Plus they can keep a record of everything they write about what they learned throughout the year. If anyone has another way for them to keep a record of their thoughts, please let me know!

5 weeks in & still going strong...somedays...

So we are 5 weeks into school now (which, can I just say, seems like SO much longer!).  It seems like everyday I'm learning something new about these tablets.  Unfortunately, most days it seems like I'm learning something new that I can't do on them (cue the sad puppy dog eyes).  

Most recently, I assigned my Honors Earth Science students their PBL for the Rock Cycle.  I decided it might be fun to let them create a children's book about the rock cycle in which they personify a rock.  In an effort to "Go Green" and such, I decided it would be fun to find an online program which would make their story more realistic (and conserve some paper!).  

MY IDEA: I ran across StoryJumper (<--Click if interested) which allowed students to create children's books for scratch, or from using a template.  What was also cool about it, was that you could set up an educator account, which allowed me to create my class so that I could keep up with what they were doing and make it easier for me to grade and such.  I've learned to do a brief "pre-test" for cool stuff like this on the tablet because 9/10 times it doesn't work or doesn't work to its full potential.  It seemed to do OK when I did my brief test and decided to give my  kids the option to create it on this website if they wanted.  They ALL jumped on it and, to begin with, thought it was really cool like I did!

THE DRAWBACK: Unfortunately, as it seems more often than not, there were several features that didn't work on the tablets.  Students couldn't upload there own pictures from their files, some of the icons worked off and on, and the screen would freeze up.  I then told them if they wanted to take it home and do it on this software that was fine.  I then opened back up the option to do a paper children's book.  Bummer.

REFLECTION: It seems like my creativity gets hindered SO much by these tablets.  I hate that they have so many things that don't work on them like a laptop or PC does.  I would have NEVER guessed that tablets would be so different and picky when it came to stuff like that.  All the cool ideas I've came up with my classroom that include any kind of Flash Player or interactive element seem to ALWAYS fall short on these tablets.  With all subjects moving towards a common core, and several of them becoming online interactive tests, it seems these Tablets are not very helpful in preparing the students.  There are many days when I wish I had laptops in my classroom so that I could make all my technology ideas come to life.  It's not only frustrating for me as the educator, but for the students as well.  They get excited about my ideas just as much as I do, and also share in the disappointments.  

It is my opinion, at this point, that tablets are not practical for a classroom setting.  

Trying to do More...A Little at a Time

So Close!

My week started out GREAT!  Marty Creech asked if there were any issues that we needed fixed and I quickly texted back.  I let him know that I didn't have access to my science and math interactive game tabs from my webpage.  I was also experiencing difficulties playing anything that needed Adobe Flash.  I tried Chelea's fix but it didn't work.  Believe it or not but Flash is no longer usable on the Galaxy tablets.  What's that about??? 

Marty sent a text to Steve Anderson who then tweeted his followers for a fix.  Minutes later Marty told me to install the Dolphin Browser.  It seemed to fix the issue and I was able to run a few games.  The following day, some of my students finished their classwork early and they were directed to play some math remediation games.  They didn't work...what a bummer!!!!  Not really sure what happened other than to guess that the games that I tried didn't require a Flash player.  I am sure that there is a fix out there and I feel confident that my students will have access to all of the tools on my webpage.  What I was most impressed with, through this whole problem/solution process was the power of Twitter.  Steve Anderson has a huge following and it is apparent how useful this can be as a trouble shooting tool for teachers.

 

Moving Up the Bloom's Ladder

Our sixth grade math and science PLC meeting are always filled with ideas that we share with each other.  My biggest takeaway from last week's meeting was given to me by Duncan Maye, in regards to answering questions using a three stem response.  As we move forward with common core curriculum and try to meet the needs of providing instructional opportunities that provide students with higher thinking level opportunities, it's always nice to hear a "best practice".  The three stem response requires students to respond to questions by saying:

 

3 Stem Response

I think the answer is...

I think this because...

I solved this by....

 



I love it!  I have started to use this when checking homework orally in class.  I am in the process of training my kids to respond in this manner when they hear "Give me three."  Answering open response questions is another opportunity to throw this at the students.  Today, I posted two questions on Edmodo which required students to answer questions about comparing fractions when given the choice of multiple strategies.  I haven't looked at the results yet and I'm sure that they will be weak, BUT eventually the students will get there.  The responses that I am looking for will become a reality.  It's a matter of training the students in what I want and providing constant opportunities to respond in this manner. 

 

 

Other Positive Moments of the Week

Book Reviews - Students read three picture books on the moon and had to write a paragraph "book review" on each, using a newsletter template from MS Word or online.  Without prompting, one student included QR codes with direct links to Amazon.  Thirty students successfully submitted an electronic copy of their book review to Edmodo.

Installation of Dolphin Browser - Installing an app onto a tablet doesn't take very long unless 30 students are doing it at the same time.  Many students are becoming troubleshooters for the class.  They finish and hop up to help others.  This week, the work around was logging off the MLC server and logging into the managed server to install the Dolphin Browser.  It seemed to speed things up and I'm always impressed when students who take the initiative to help other and save time in the classroom.

Great idea of the week - I was traveling to Greenville SC last Friday and finally had three hours of uninterrupted time to think.  This is hard to find this time of year, as all teachers know.  Earlier in the week I asked my students to respond to questions orally and I took the other side regardless of how absurd my responses sometimes sounded.  I did my best to sell my ridiculous answers but the idea was to provide two different views and let the class decide which answer was correct.  It turned into ten mini debates and the excitement in the class was high.  The question that I asked myself on this three hour trip was "How could this spontaneous idea be improved using technology?"  Skype popped into my mind.  We could debate with another class somewhere on campus.  I called a co-worker and explained the idea and that was when the idea really took off.  Daniel Bryant suggested that we open this up to all seven of the sixth grade classrooms using Google Circles.  I shared this with Marty and we spent a few minutes looking into it.  I would like to run this with one class sometime during the first semester and then try it with all of the math classes during the second semester.

Study Skills - We have created our study skills groups and will start working with our level I and level II students on Wednesday of next week.  Mrs. Abrams and I will teach math to the students who have failed the math and reading EOG's.  A huge obstacle with this is pulling students out of an elective to work on a subject that they have experienced little success in the past.  We will meet on Monday and Tuesday to develop a remediation plan around the tablets.  I'm sure that Khan Academy and Learnzillion will serve as key programs and be incorporated into our this plan.

"Can You Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?"

Can you really teach an old new tricks? We are fixing to find out in my classroom this school year. My name is Rose Ann Throckmorton. I teach fourth grade at Rural Hall School.  I will begin by saying that I am entering my sixteenth year at Rural Hall School. I've been teaching children for around twenty years.  The students and parents have basically the same outlooks on education as when I started teaching. However, the schools and curriculums have changed through the years. That is the reason you are reading this blog.

  I have been selected to complete a pilot for  the Winston Salem/Forsyth County School District. It is based on a grant to test the usage of different technology devices within the classroom. It is my job to find out what works and what doesn't work.

So, in the days ahead, you will begin to understand the reason for the title to this blog spot, "Can you teach an old dog new tricks?"

Let's start at the beginning...back in June. My principal e-mails the staff  about an opportunity for professional development  to pilot laptops or tablets in the classroom. It is a test to see which devices work in order to plan for the future when all students are allowed to bring their own personal devices to school.  It is another opportunity for my students to grow academically.

Rural Hall School is a themed-based school, our theme being technology.  Grant you, I have been at Rural Hall for several years, and I am still not what you would call your "tech savy teacher".  In fact, I struggle with it.  I've tried through the years  to learn and grow...and I have.(That credit goes to Linda McDermon, my teacher, mentor and friend. It has been through her careful, patient guidance that I have learned many things and have been given many opportunities. In some cases, we have made history together. Thanks, Linda! I am forever grateful!)

Times are changing and we are challenged to try new things...personally and professionally. We all , as humans, are challenged to grow. When reading about the pilot, I know that technology is here to stay. It is something that is not going away.

 Careers and jobs depend on the technology. I have several years left in this profession . I love my students, and I love my career. I realize that it is up to me to prepare my students, as well as myself, for the future. Technology is everywhere, in everything.

I have reflected on the things that I know that I can do with technology and have analyzed the things that I don't  know about technology. I have decided to try the pilot ...assuming that laptops are the tools to be used. I have plenty of experience with laptops and computers. I fill out the application and submit  it to the principal. I don't give it another thought. ( In other words, I have jumped in.)

From my Journal Entry:
June 19, 2012
dedicated to Mrs. Moore

This morning I got up and dressed as usual. I hopped in my car and headed over  to the school. I had made a committment to a friend that I would help her water the school campus because she was ill and couldn't do it herself. (That's what Bulldogs do!)

I'm driving down the road when my cell phone rings. (No, I do not text or talk when I drive.) I let it go to voice mail. I think to myself, I'll  get it when I get to school.

When I got to school, I listened to the voice message. It was a message from Mrs. Moore.  I walked on into the building, gathered my supplies and began to water the grounds. (I was puzzled about the message that was left on my phone. Don't ever put off valuable things...)

As I completed the watering,  the Rural Hall fire trucks rolled out to a call.  Another friend texted me to share with me some shocking news. Mrs. Moore had unexpectedly passed away. (Mrs. Moore, was not only a close friend, but also the parent of one of my students.) I can't tell you what was said in the voice message that morning. That will remain a mystery for the rest of you.  I'll just say  that it was a priceless call and returned conversation. You can just imagine what the next few days were like around Rural Hall School and our community.

In the mean time, my principal received an email  that I had been selected into the pilot program. I wasn't present to select the device I would be using, so he selected it for me. (Mr. Hall, we'll talk later!)
It wasn't until every thing settled down that I discovered the device I would implement was tablets.
How was this going to play out in my classroom?..Stay tuned for the next entries...

Journal Entry:
June 23, 2012
Things began to calm down later that week. I began to shift my thinking toward the tablet. It couldn't be that hard because I had recently purchased a Nook back in January to help one of my students in class with his reading. Both devices were similar in design and features. I was able to learn enough  technology to help this child for the rest of the school, so no big deal.  The application stated that we would be trained and could work on it during the summer. We all could grow.

Journal Entry:
June 27, 2012
Today I met with Mr.Creech and all of the other team members. It was our first day getting to know each other. I 'll have to say we all appeared to be nervous but  really excited about the opportunity that was set before us.
Today we were issued our devices. We learned the expectations of the program and some insights on how it was developed.  As an inquiry-based and problem-solving program, the lesson plans and skills were based on similar training that I had had in the past with CERTL. We talked about the grant and the purpose of the program. We were instructed to take the device and start planning and playing. I couldn't wait to get started. I was going to learn a lot of technology!

Journal Entry:
Early July, 2012
For the next two weeks, I spent time getting to know my device, as suggested, by the tech department. I tried applying everything that I knew about the desktop computer, my laptop and Nook to the new device. I spent many long hours in my classroom over the summer trying to understand how it worked. I tried to make the connections from one device to the new tablet and  found quickly that I only confused myself more and became frustrated.  After speaking to Mr. Creech, I pulled away from all the other devices and worked harder on the tablet and  started reading about apps for the device. (I had never looked at computer software, apps or any of that kind of stuff. I had always depended on my tech fi person at school to do those types of things.) I began to worry.

By the third week of July, I began to spend more and more time at school. What started out as a few hours grew to whole days. To complicate matters more, you must know, I did not and still do not have a computer in my home. I do not have internet access or wifi.   I began to travel after work hours to all types of places to learn this device...to libraries, from bookstore to bookstore, from coffee shop to coffee shop. My best friend was eager to share her home at all  hours of the day and night.  Her children began to give me pointers on certain things to do with the device.I began to reflect on the programs and projects that I had worked on in the past...voicethread, storyboard, and digital media. I reflected on the successes with the Nook and that seemed to calm me down some. I was caught playing with the gadget at the pool. (Don't tell Mr. Anderson! He would pass out. That was before, I read up on wear and care of the device.) I went anywhere I could find a wifi hook up.The traveling didn't bother me. The lack of technology skills did! I wasn't grasping the technology fast enough.

Journal Entry:
July12, 2012
As I crossed the parking lot one morning, I met an indvidual who noticed the device. He probably had ten years on me. He quickly gave his opinion about the device and technology. I quote him, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". He was joking. He just added to my frustration even more.

  I entered the building to find that one of my close friends had just resigned her position. She was tired. She was frustrated. She had been pushed beyond her limits. She was getting out! I turned around and went right back out of the building. My stress levels were high and my morale was very low. The technology was still moving too slowly.  What was I going to do? Training had not come yet. I met with Mr.Creech to share my concerns. He told me to focus on the lesson plans and to continue to work on the tablet.

 However, I quickly discovered that the apps and programs did not work in the same format on a tablet, as they had with the laptop and desktop.

 I didn't have the technology skills to do this job. I had to wait and  see how training went.

Journal Entry:
Mid to Late July
 Frustration was piling up more and more. I began to stay up later and later into the night. The tablet became an obsession. At this point, I wanted to fling it out the window.

Suddenly, one night, I couldn't get the device to turn on. It would not power up. I guess I had torn the thing up trying to learn. What had I done?

I ended up having to return the tablet.

I went without a tablet for about a week and a half. Parts of me grew more intense with worry because I really needed to be working on that technology. However, the down time gave me time to plan and organize lessons.

I quickly shifted my focus from tablet to curriculum. I contacted various people that I knew about technology and problem-based learning. I gathered resources and compiled ideas. (Thank Wake Forest Baptist Hospital and CERTL Problem-based Learning!) I developed and planned my lessons. I wrote drafts of the year at a glance and sketched it out on paper. I began to organize materials and arrange the future in my classroom. I made charts.  I prepared my room and curriculum for the fast approaching school year.

Most importantly, I calmed down. The week or so from the tablet was just what I needed.

In the meantime, I continued to look for resources. (One of which was the manual for the tablet that I had struggled with so much. Thanks, Miguel!) I continued to complete my summer committments of workshops on other technology skills and leadership opportunities.

Journal Entry:
August 1, 2012

Another device was issued. Would I be able to do this?..
More updates will be coming...








The week had been an emotional one. The good news about the opportunity to pilot the tablet came at a good time. (You'll begin to understand the reason for my giving you this tidbit of info about Mrs. Moore later in future blogs.)

My First Day with Tablets

The day finally came!  My first day with my tablets was Friday, August 31st (yeah, I know...I'm a week late...I'm a busy working girl!).  I will, from now on, refer to this day as: Project Tablet Intro and Set up (aka Project TIS)

PREP WORK

1. I decided to label my tablets 1-15A & 1-15B since each box only holds 15 tablets.  Each student was assigned a tablet number for the rest of the semester.  
2. I got the idea from Mike McDowell to use shelf liner as a way to keep their tablets from sliding around on their desk.  Once you cut it up to fit the tablet size, the students keep their tablet on the liner on their desk and it doesn't slide around. WHOO HOO for avoiding accidents, or at least trying to.
3. I also got the idea from Cici, one of our tech gurus on the project, to use a wash basket as a way to store them during the day while they aren't plugged in.  Now, silly me, only bought 1 wash basket to store 30 tablets.  Lesson learned.  I now have 2 different colors and have the "A" tablets in one basket, and the "B" tablets in the other
4. Because the tablets don't have any kind of cover on therm, it has become VERY obvious that the screens get dirty super easy.  So  I plan on cutting up some old rags and t-shirts to keep around the room so the students can wipe them off and keep them clean as needed.

If you plan too much, it bites you in the butt...

Alright, so I've FINALLY come to the conclusion that I can't be prepared for EVERY situation & EVERY mishap that may occur (But I sure did give it an honest go!). So my original plan for Project TIS was to have my classes do the following:

1. Do the initial set up for the tablets (This was just my 1st Period Earth Science kids. Once you set the tablets up you don't have to do it again)
2. Have each class download an app from the play store
3. Get the students to register for glogster and make a glog about themselves..  I PLANNED on using this a lot this year so I wanted them to get comfortable with it doing something they'd put a lot of thought into = exploring = not being lazy and actually figuring it out for themselves.  Good plan right? hahaha....

So 1st period went swimmingly.  My Earth Science honors kids are truly a well behaved a sweet group of kids (aka my "sweet children" as I call them every morning...but I say this to all my student so....).  Anywho, I made a ppt taking screenshots of all of the screens they'd see when they turned the tablets on the 1st time.  Then, slide by slide (and screenshot by screenshot) we powered through the initial setup pretty smoothly.  I was super proud of this ppt and it seemed to REALLY help the kids keep up and know where we were.

Then, after the set up, we decided to download an app, and found that all 30 students trying to download an app at the same time was SUPER slow! Lesson Learned!

Not available in my country?!? But I live in the U.S.!

So as my classroom activity, I decided to let the students do an "About Me" glog on Glogster.  For those educators that haven't had the glogster experience, check out edu.glogster.com.  It's FANTASTIC!  It's a virtual poster maker with lots of features, like animations that move, complete personalization, and more.  Fun right?  Oh, but that'd be too easy!  Come to find out, you need Adobe Flash to make glogster work. And oh yeah, apparently Adobe Flash is available to be installed on my tablets in this great land we live in. Wait...EXCUSE ME?!?!  Oh no bloggers, you didn't read wrong, it is NOT available.  Goodbye to all the flash interactives I wanted to use in class.  Goodbye awesome virtual webquests.  Most of all, toodle-loo glogster.  Cue sad face.

BUT WAIT!! Thanks to my awesome Uncle, I found a way to download the flash player from an outside source instead of the play store.  Cue evil laugh.  Now all my tablets have Adobe Flash and all my flash stuff works.  YAY!

Unresolved Issues

1. My only unresolved issue now is finding a way of mass charging the tablets.  Because it is thought that the boxes are made for ipads, there seems to be an issue keeping the tablets charged.  They will charge them for a while and then stop.  So for now, my students just spread out around the room and charge them.

Success!

It sneaked up on me and I almost missed it.  Last Friday, all of my students (110+) were able to "LOG ON/LOG IN", (our code  to Log onto our Network and Log into Edmodo) without incident.  What a great day!!

Using the laptops last week felt like "the norm".  We've used the laptops daily since we introduced them on the 6th day of school.  Each day, each period, my students come in, log on/log in and complete their bellringer in Edmodo.  It is taking longer to accomplish than it would on paper, and Mr. McDowell has raised an important question, "do you stop and teach a tech skill, or just do it for the student?"  One morning a good part of my Spanish lesson was spent demonstrating/supporting a segment on how to "Ctrl+c/Ctrl+v".

Last week we tried Socratize - (wow! - you've got to try it - it's easy to set up/deliver/receive feedback) for a Spanish numbers quiz. Last week, I also relaxed a bit and gave my students access to my Symbaloo sites linked using BridgeURL (another VERY useful app) after they completed their bellringer. I've also started using "games" to allow the students independent learning time. My 6th grade students spent a portion of classtime playing counting games,

We recognized and recited the numbers, did some activities and then I gave them time to "play" games that I had posted a link to in Edmodo, (I've tried bit.ly, but sometimes that is even too long to get "right".)  After playing the games, I pulled them back together for another round of recitation and their voices were so much more confident and stronger than before - I liked it! (and so did they!).  The other huge success this week is the audio dropbox my students are using to practice pronunciation - and I will have an audio portfolio of their language skills over the course of the year!

I think what I'm recognizing is that having laptops in the classroom is not about having the applications to perform "wows" (which are still cool and very appealing to a middle schooler..), but using the applications to complete the work that needs to be done.  I see some of my students beginning to demonstrate a deftness at manipulating his/her laptop - treating it as a tool, not a novelty.  When I ask my students to go to their audio dropbox now, check the mic volume, log on and record, it's done in the almost same fashion as getting a piece of paper, a pencil and jotting down a few notes..

Great Support makes all the difference.

Last Thursday evening, we all gathered at Mt. Tabor for our first 1:1 Device Pilot meeting.  The absolute highlight of the gathering was sharing our triumphs and our failures.  Charging devices, downloading apps, juggling technology with pacing were some of the repeat topics.  As each took a turn of sharing a plus and minus, the others of us could be seen nodding in agreement, making notes at an offered remedy, groaning in shared frustration or snacking on some candy corn, popcorn and mints (Katherine is a gracious hostess, thanks Katherine!).

We have so much in common and so little.  I can't help but wonder how big that chasm of difference will be when we go full District 1:1, but I'm sure it will demonstrate the same comraderie and support that we share amongst us go-firsters.

I'm attaching a pic of the Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid  that shows the apps we've used these past three weeks and where the activity falls that we applied it to - We all noticed they were low on the pyramid, but agreed, it's early yet - If we are still seeing the same pattern as the year moves forward, then we'll need to look more closely at our plans.

We posted our apps and what objectives were being met.
You can see, we're just starting to climb!

Learning Communities

Any teacher with a few years under their belt has heard a myriad of reason why students didn't do their homework.  Not to say that children don't have real problems, but sometimes students fail to follow through with their responsibilities.  What is a teacher to do when a student tells you that they didn't know how to do it?  Learning Communities is my preemptive strike against the "I didn't know how to do it" line.  On my webpage, a new tab has been created to help those who seem to forget an entire day's worth of curriculum and need a tutor at home.  Housed here, students can access math and science interactive tutorials and practice.  Learning has never been so easy.

I was so impressed with myself that I wanted my students to use it before their first quiz of the year.  Stations were set up with different concepts tested.  The kids rummaged through the math links in pairs and created a list of specific resources to use that night as they prepared.  Homework was to get the students to focus on their weaknesses using the tutorials found earlier in the day. 

Shock/Reality - All good ideas don't equal success.....you still have the human factor to consider.  Some kids need more time to buy into what you are trying to sell them.  I have to admit, it took a few days to recover from the terrible test scores that crossed my desk.  Despite the initial failure of my idea, I still believe that this will turn into something useful.  More exposure for the students and better communication with the parents will probably go a long way towards determining whether this addition to my webpage becomes a common site for students to find academic help.

   

Loving it so far but I want to do more...

We are progressing through Edmodo, learning and doing a little more each time we log in to the program.  Last week I posted an assignment which attached copies of a book review assignment.  Students will have to turn in their finished product electronically using the "Turn In" function.  Baby steps....

The book review assignment is an interdisciplinary activity that marries science, reading, writing, and technology as the students rotate through four stations.  They were required to read three picture books and then post a professional book review from a newspaper, magazine, or other source onto our Kidblog page.  By Monday, they have to pick one review from Kidblog and print it out so they have an example to use for ideas when writing their own.  I was a little surprised that less than five students knew how to cut and paste using the Galaxy tablet so the exercise with Kidblog (cutting and pasting links) was a great learning experience for all (me included).  Many students immediately asked me how to cut and paste and I reminded them that they had a tablet in their hand...."How can you answer this question for yourself?"  We are working on becoming problem solvers and I'm doing my best not to swoop in with quick answers.  The biggest problem with this approach is the investment of time.

I found our monthly meeting of participating teachers and central office technology specialists to be very inspiring.  We have such creative teachers in the county and I feel like a sponge every time I have the chance to talk shop.  The energy and excitement from that meeting motivated me to spend my Friday evening going through some of the bookmarked pages on my computer.  I found several wiki pages full of web 2.0 tools that I have been meaning to go through for some time.  The resources are overwhelming but I did manage to come away with something...a newly created link to my webpage titled Learning Communities.  I want this page to be used by students and parents who have questions with the curriculum or to prepare for future assessments.  I used sites that are tutorials for math and science like Khan Academy, LearnZillion, Gooru, Hippocampus, Number Nut, Show Me, and Mentormob.  Many of these interactive tutorials also include a "practice component", which I know will prove beneficial.  I also used the time to add Khan Academy tutorials for our upcoming quiz onto my Math Video Page.  Either of these additions should help in preparation for Tuesday's quiz.

How can I do more?  I want students to access material through a VLE (virtual learning environment) other than Edmodo.  I found Lore and I love its look and feel.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't let complete the initial setup because of "cross scripting".   I would like one location to post...

• Essential Questions
• Agenda for day
• Links
• Videos
• PowerPoints
• Interactive Games
• Polls
• Assignments
• Homework

Striking a balance.

Edmodo, Tagxedo, Audio Drop Box, Google Docs, online Flash cards, Symbaloo, Powerpoint, Twitter, Blogger, ..  just some of the applications we've used in my classrooms the first two weeks.  By far Edmodo has been the most useful and used, but I think I'm OVERusing it.  The assignments are too involved, copying pasting cognates from an article to the TURN IN note section, opening flashcards then writing down vocabulary they don't know yet.  I think I'm stuck in mile-wide, inch-thick assignments. The students are spending so much time completing the assignments, I don't get to the meat of the lesson.

My students have a bellringer each day when they come into class.  This week, I feel like the bellringer has been taking up to 20 minutes! - between not having forms signed, forgetting log-ins, locking themselves out (how are teachers doing it if they don't have the ability to unlock users on the network?!?!?), not understanding the assignment, not knowing how to perform the task, (copy/paste), there's the not knowing the material we're covering!!!

Today, during sixth grade encore, my students copied simple vocabulary words in French in Edmodo - they were cognates, and began with alphabet letters. We pronounced them, and compared them. Then I pulled out my ABC song cd, my 8 1/2 x 11 laminated paper flashcards with those same words on them in photos and their beginning alpha characters and taught.

I moved around the room, I sang and hummed, I called on students.  They sang, and repeated and looked up from their laptops for the first time in weeks!!  For the past two weeks, I've been so geared towards getting technology integrated, I didn't realize it had BECOME the lesson.  I have not been teaching.  I'd been pinned to the front of my classroom operating the projector with the powerpoint visually explaining the steps to be taken.  I know my students are learning about technology, but I've got to INTEGRATE it, not let it take over my classroom. 

There are lots and lots of shiny apps my students can use to learn/learn to use, but less is more I'm coming to believe.  To use technology just to use it is not the best use of technology in the classroom.  I'm looking forward to our 1:1 Device Pilot group meeting tomorrow evening.  I hope I'm not the only one who's looking for a way to strike a balance.

Edmodo... I think I love you.

Sunday evening and I'm looking over my "papers" to grade.  My A Day students accessed Edmodo on Friday, completed a Bellringer, and looked for cognates (words that look/sound like words from your own language) on Spanish/French store sights, (Furniture, Grocery, Electronics & Department stores) - definitely authentic learning! One of my students was seen copying my Symbaloo URL so he could revisit the Hot Tub deal he found! (Wonder what shipping will be from France!!??).  I like being able to leave personalized comments on my students work.

 A few of my very social students used Edmodo to "backchat".  I'll need to share with them about the purpose of Edmodo as a classroom tool.

Most of my students found the "TURN IN" box tocomplete their work, but some will have to re-do their assignments because they "posted" their answers instead of "turning in" their assignments.  I did find out that if you group the same work for several classes, the answers come back together too.  Edmodo will take some time to figure out, but so far, I see it being the vehicle for a lot of our classwork.

I ran into a parent Sat. a.m., running errands and she said her daughter introduced her to her classroom "Facebook". It reminded me I need to gather my parents' emails (from the Laptop Rules form they filled out) and send out offerings to use the Parent code feature in Edmodo.

Looking to this next week, all of my classes will be using Edmodo.  My "most looking forward to" this week is that my World Language classes, after learning about Communication, (speech, writing, gestures, sounds, symbols) will be working on my first generated PBL.  They are to decide on a message and a mode of communication to introduce us to the Martians.

Another Week in the Books

This was a short week (Labor Day holiday) and the three day weekend was a much needed break as it gave me a little time to plan this week's adventures using the tablets in the classroom.  In science I found three astronomy webquests that I plan to use for moons, seasons, and tides/eclipses.  I tried webquests for the first time last year, and I found them to be a break from the norm.  My kids from last year enjoyed them and I knew that this would be an easy way for me to implement something new with this year's group.  Two of the webquests are introductory activities and one is a higher level PBL project. 

Over the span of four days I was able to get most of the students through the webquest on the phases of the moon.  We experienced a little trouble with some of the links opening, so we pulled them up on the Smartboard for teams to preview together.  I had to omit one of the tasks (simulation) because it was impossible to get 14 groups on one classroom CPU.  I did preview the webquest ahead of time at home on my desktop, to be sure that it ran smoothly for the kids in class.  Lesson learned...but it wasn't a big deal.

Note to self:
1) Try activities out on a tablet instead of the desktop.
2) Continue to roll with the punches.


I posted my first "quiz" on Edmodo today.  It was actually a five question assessment on factors/prime and composite numbers/rules of divisibility that I will count as a daily grade.  Overall, this is a great way to assess student understanding.  The assignment is instantly graded for you, students get immediate feedback, and it's paperless.  As a bonus....the teacher is provided with an item analysis which informs you on which topics need to be retaught.  Loving it! 

Notes to self:
1) Be mindful of the timer feature if you think that time might be an issue.  I set it for 30 minutes and we had to go to lunch.  I had to ask a few kids to stay back so they wouldn't time out of the quiz.
2) Be sure that your answers are correct.  Mistakes can be corrected by cloning the original quiz and making changes, but it's always better to get it right the first time.
3) In the future, I will create the Edmodo accounts.  My kids input their user ID and password and I gave them a record sheet for this data.  They still can't seem to login, which means creating new accounts.  Real headache!


My Kidblog account is finally up and running.  The program is easy to use and I went ahead and input their UID and passwords to save a little time.  We hope to use this as a platform to openly reflect on our experiences with math, science, and technology.  Hopefully this will also serve as evidence for a successful 1:1 classroom pilot. 

Note to self:
1) Remind students that they are writing for all to read.  Proper writing mechanics need to be a focus, as others will read their writing. 


   

Deployment and post-Deployment issues

So I have to start off by saying how incredibly grateful I am that not only was Marty in my classroom but so was Sandy and Doreen first thing in the morning. I had distinct plans in my head about introducing my kids to edmodo and guiding them in creating a tagxedo of themselves (which is such a fun cool site! I wish I knew about it earlier!). Everybody was excited about getting the computers up and running on the newly created wireless network created just for my kids! Surprise! It didn't work :(  So then we moved on to plan B. We had to log each computer onto the guest network as the students were coming in to the classroom. So I tried to manage them and instructed them to write in their journals quietly. By this time I had about five people trying to log onto the computers, Matt was trying to fix my board (yeah my board wasn't working on the deployment day either), two other people observing the project, and I am really expecting my students to keep quiet?! But they did! They were amazing! One by one, we called them to get their computer by their number, which they had already memorized.

Logging on to edmodo was a success! They were excited about it looking like facebook. They answered the questions I had posted and answered the poll question as well. The next step, the project I was most excited about, was not so successful. I instructed my students to   go to my website and click on the symbaloo link. They started getting very chatty when they saw all the cool sites they would experience. I told them to click on the Tagxedo and....IT DIDN'T WORK!!! So quick thinking, I told them to go to wordle instead. They loved it and they loved changing the colors, fonts, etc..

Of course, a wordle is not as easy to save as a tagxedo. We had to go through multiple steps to use the snipping tool, save it as a jpeg, then turn in the assignment to edmodo.

I felt like a broken record constantly repeating the steps. My kids did so well following instructions, but it really helped having so many hands in the classroom.


The next time we got out the laptops was the fun part...I was determined to teach my students to go through the five step process it takes to log onto the network. This is a time when my patience was tested. I did not even finish talking before I had ten hands in the air and kids trying to follow me around the room. I knew I couldn't do this every time we had to use the laptops. I used flags to help with this issue. I had a stack of three colored cups, one per student. I told them the green cup on top meant you were good, the yellow one meant you were struggling but trying to solve the problem, and red meant major problems.

The next time I tried to use these flags, I told the kids that if they knew how to sign on to the network, they could go ahead while I gave instructions to the rest of the class. Most of them were able to sign on, but I still had those few who just gave up and raised their hands the second they had a problem.

I was a little frustrated still because I couldn't get everything done that I wanted to accomplish because I had so many students who were relying on me to do everything for them. I went to my principal for advice. He said to let them struggle through it. They will work it out eventually. I tried just that and it was actually much better! Most of the students really tried to figure out and solve the problem. We were on the internet and getting our work done much quicker!

Now that the internet issue is sorted out, I am really looking forward to using these laptops more and more throughout the year!

DEPLOYMENT - It wasn't pretty.. but it was cute :)

I guess I with thinking/hoping all would go smoothly today when my students finally got to log on to their laptops.  I was wakeful all night long last night watching the clock in anticipation of the big event.  I arrived at school about 45 minutes early, to get the laptops out on the table tops, (the signal that they're available for use and should be logged onto) and to grab a Mountain Dew, (power up!!). 

Help arrived from Central Office, (Yeah Colleen!! - Couldn't have managed without you - Great, great patience!) in time for our first class:  8th grade World Languages.  Only the students who had returned their signed forms were able to use the laptops, so ~8 students were out of luck.  Those students got 2 readings on "Why learn a Foreign Language" to read and write commentary. (I know - no competition against the glitz of technology).

After a myriad of small issues, (mostly forgotten passwords or being locked out from trying their forgotten passwords..) all were able to access the network. Their first job was to log into Edmodo, create an account, if they didn't already have one from another teacher and answer a question, then, look at the articles assigned to the non-laptop users and take a poll.  Edmodo threw the first curve..  Students trying to create an account received an unknown error which resulted in immediate failure to launch.  We adjusted the line up for 2nd period, and they went to my Tech Survey first, followed by Tagxedo leaving out Edmodo until we could come up with a fix. I even remembered second period to go through the routine we'd created; (When I greet the class, that's the signal to drop the screens to 45 degrees to get the class intro info).

My biggest hurdle today came from students who didn't have their forms turned in.  The seatwork was just so unappealing in comparison to the laptops that in one class, they just couldn't stay on task. I called their homes this evening to request parents help get the forms in so their students would have the privilege of using the laptops on Friday when I see them again.

With Tagxedo, I challenged the students to "figure it out" on their own.  I didn't tell them which icons to click to create a new design, nor did I tell them to click on "form" to add words.  I encouraged the students to share with their tables as they figured out something, and in one class in particular, joy burst out in cheers when they put it all together.

Tomorrow is another "Day 1" with my "B" day classes.  I'm looking at alternate assignments for my "no forms" students - to help alleviate the off task behavior.  I've dropped Edmodo for now, and after Tagxedo, I've set up a Bridge URL of videos for each subject areas, (to show off the screen and sound quality of our new tools).

Wish us luck!

Lessons Learned

5 days of school makes 1 weak.. I mean week.  With a student count of ~240, names are going to be something to work on, is there an App for that?? Hmmm.. Face recognition with an uploaded student roster and photo db!!

I have an Aday/Bday schedule, so I only saw my students at most three times. On Friday, my Aday students finally got to touch, (yes, only touch - not turn on) their devices.  I passed out 1:1 Pilot Device Addendums, and Laptop Rules/AUP forms to my students on the first day.  By the 2nd day, I realized I'd goofed.  I hadn't put MY name on the form, (homebase teachers were getting them, office staff, counseling, computer tech. teachers, ..).  I also forgot.. how forgetful our students are.. I planned to USE the laptops Friday.  Students were told, "without signed forms, you'll sit and watch longingly as other use their devices.  Friday would have left almost half of my population in that sad position.

Good fortune shone on me because Friday turned out to be an excellent OVERVIEW day.  The devices were in the middle of their table groups, (the signal that they will be used that day).  After completing unfinished business, we reviewed the three signed forms (had they read the forms before signing? (answer: no)). 

Then, each retrieved their assigned device, and by way of a powerpoint, we examined them, and their ports and dedicated keys. We talked about their handling and care and procedures (like a new pet); "45", (closing screens to give their attention to me), "90", (re-opening),  closing the screens for off-task behavior,  and "Ask 3 Before Me", (thanks peers in our Device Pilot group! - great advice.)

Not turning on the devices was the best way to deliver the lesson. By telling them upfront that we wouldn't turn on their devices, (collective "awwww"), we focused on laying the groundrules and learning about their devices instead "can we turn them on now? .. now? .. now?!"

It is really difficult not just putting the devices into my students' hands and beginning our first learning unit.  I'm struggling juggling content with laying a strong classroom management foundation.  I know from experience we've got to do that first, but my goodness, I'm itching to get INTO using the devices.

This weekend, I will put the finishing touches on my first unit lessons plans, (6 preps - whew!!) Following our Essential Standards and FL Pacing Guide, (thanks, Ms Baldwin/FL Peers), I've been investigating which technology will best lend itself to learning the required objectives.  I'll create Symbaloos for links. I'll also review a new link offered by one of my Twitter peeps, www.edutoia.org/stw-project-based-learning-best-practices.  ut, mostly, I'll enjoy Labor Day weekend; the time dedicated to honor the contributions all of us have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our great country.  Go USA!

First Week Back At School! :-)

I forgot how EXHAUSTING it is to go back to being a teacher!  My legs & feet were so sore after that first day & my brain was FRIED!  I did, however, get to try out some new technology ideas over the course of the week.  The first day of school I always like to get the students to fill out a student information sheet.  It includes some questions about their teachers, classes, and also some general questions to get to know them and their personality.  This year, with the help of Julie Howe, I created my very first form in google docs.  

GOOGLE DOC FORM = STUDENT SURVEY = PROS & CONS

Intro: For those of you that don't know much or anything about google docs, creating a form in google docs is like creating an excel spreadsheet but SO much more!  I used it to create a Student Info survey for my kids & also altered a Technology Survey created by some people in my RTTT  Pilot group to give my kids too.

PROS:Instead of having 90 papers of student info, I have it organized by their names all in ONE SPREADSHEET! Amazing right?!?  Yeah, it is.  As AWESOME as it was, I did run into a few bumps in the road with it. It's super easy to create the survey,and then you can share it via link.  So I decided to share the link to my kids on Edmodo.  All they had to do was log in to edmodo, click the link, and it took them to form. It's super easy to create the survey,and then you can share it via link.  

CONS: So here is where the cons started coming in.  When the kids click the link, it takes them to the survey, but they see the excel version first, not the pretty easy to fill in version.  To get to that, they have to go to "Form" and click "Go to live form."  Unfortunately, the only way they can do that is to be logged in to the gmail account that created the survey. BUMMER! So I went ahead & gave them my gmail info (it's the one I use for school anyway) & then after they all got done with it immediately went in & changed the password (BWAHAHAHA! That's my evil laugh!).  

Overall:  I think it is WAY easier than having 90 papers and way easier to organize and look at it.  I'm not sure if there is an easier way to distribute it to the kids but I'm willing to look into it for next semester.


IN CONCLUSION TO THIS BLOG....
I plan on rolling out my tablets for the first time in the hands of the children on Friday (cue horror movie scream!).  I'm actually really excited about it and can't wait to see all the fun stuff we get to do this year.  I'm hoping I can teach my kids a lot of different ways of presenting information, and wouldn't mind them teaching me a few things too!  

So until Friday.....

Day 1! The Pieces of the Puzzle

1st days always wear me out - and the students too!

Great 1st day though.  I used my Glogster Introduction, which implemented Google Docs, my website, Animoto, Tagxedo, and Voki.  After I passed out the 1:1 Device Pilot form and the Laptop Rules for the Classroom for parent/student signature. I talked a bit about what we're getting this year.  As part of the explanation I told my students that we going to use the laptops to learn - just like I used it to introduce the beginning of the year policies and procedures - as a tool, not a toy.

As an icebreaker, I bought a 30 piece puzzle and had the students come up and build the puzzle demonstrating the "each student is a piece". The puzzle was the picture of a  "Community" (clever, don't you think). After I got them to identify the community theme, we talked about our classroom being a community of learners and how we needed everyone in order to complete the puzzle; that without all the pieces, the picture wasn't done.  We also had extra pieces, so I asked who also might help our community of learners; Administration, Media Coordinator, parents, other teachers were suggestions offered.  We talked in one class how it took longer to complete as a group than doing it on your own, because everyone had opinions and ideas about where things should go, but that ultimately it all came together because we cooperated, took turns and were patient.

I ran out of time in most classes. I feel I barely scratched the surface. Once I began to go over things, I'd remember something else I wanted to cover. I need to take a lesson away myself from today's classes - I've got to remember to pace myself and lay my own puzzle pieces of how things are done in our classroom completely and carefully so that a successful community of learners emerges.

Back to school already?!?

8/7/2012
Alright ya'll...here we go...

Today I am beginning the planning process for implementing my 30 Samsung Galaxy Tablets into my classroom.  I learned yesterday that for this Fall semester, I will be teaching Global Science Issues Honors, Earth Science Honors, and Biology (AHHH EOC! SCARY SCARY!!!).  I wanted to make a couple of notes for some ideas that I am thinking about for using the tablets in my classroom:

• Using Evernote in place of student binders
• One of my goals in applying for this grant was to make my classroom a paperless one.  Wouldn't it be so much easier if the students could take all of their notes and save them online instead of writing them down and losing them?  Wouldn't the world make more sense if they could take pictures of graphs and charts I draw on the board and save them to their relevant notes to refer to later?  What about those students that want to save my actual lecture as a voice recording...wouldn't that be AMAZING?  I think it could be...so I'm looking into Evernotes.  More to come on that....
• QR Codes as my Word Wall
• I know that as a science teacher, if you can get kids to remember the vocabulary you've won 3/4s  of the battle.  I've known teachers to make word walls, writing the words up on a board or pocket protectors and such.  One of my ideas (with the idea help of Marty Creech) is to have a QR Code Word Wall.  I can type the word and insert a QR code that the students can scan with their tablets.  When they scan the QR code, it will give them the definition of the word.  So if the student forgets what a word means as they are working through a lab, they can go to the word wall, scan the code, get the definition, and VOILA!  
• SIDE NOTE:  These QR codes could be used for lots of other fun stuff.  If you are assigning research you could put some QR Codes around the room that are linked to helpful websites so the students can access them easier. 
• Project-Based Learning
• I believe that students learn more from doing projects than they do from worksheets and book work.  One of my goals is try to make my teaching more project based.  Possibly to give the students a general concept, introduce them to an exploratory project, and then let them loose to learn on their own.  One great idea I always think of was designed by a colleague (Mrs. Durkos) was teaching students about recycling and biodegradable products.  Instead of lecturing about what it means, giving examples, etc etc, she assigned a project to create their own biodegradable product.  In this way, the students are still learning about what it means to be biodegradable while making it personal.  Making it personal = Remembering = Learning!

I know that this is going to be a HUGE learning experience.  I also know that I am going to have to go through some trial and error.  This also means that there will be things that will work REALLY well, and some things that tank.  It is my hope that I can use this blog to document this experience (both successes and failures) and use it to help make me a better teacher.  

8/26/2012
Is it REALLY the first day of school again tomorrow?!?  How could this be?  It seems like we just got out for summer the other day!  Anywho, I've spent my last week trying to prepare for new kids & 3 preps (which, can I say, is TOTALLY stressing me out?). 

The technology accomplishment this week was that I created a wall of creative & helpful websites using QR codes (seen above).  I came up with a list of websites that I think my kids could get some use out of this year and created QR codes for each of them. Some of the websites I included was Animoto, Symbaloo, Wordle, & Edmodo (which I already use a lot in my class). I also included a little sentence about what the website is and how it can be used and then cut them out, made them pretty, and laminated them!  

I haven't really gotten too much into finding ways to use my tablets since I'm not rolling them out until Friday.  One of the ideas I'm really excited about is being able to let my kids do interactive stuff on them, which will help them prepare for their BRAND NEW interactive EOC (so fun!).  I also look forward to doing a "Geocaching with QR codes" next Monday with my Earth Science kids.  I think this will be a fun way to teach them latitude and longitude.  

Well, that's it for now.  More to come soon!