Educreations app is Awesome

Well, my new favorite app on my iPad is "Educreations" and it's free. I just recorded tomorrow's math lesson and will attach it here.

I'll admit some lessons are better done than others, but the idea to record what I would have said three times in a day anyway, is extraordinary to me. In class I'll project the lesson on the front large whiteboard. Part of the time, students write on little individual whiteboards, and I can walk around the room checking for understanding.  The new lesson part of the lesson, students take notes in a math vocabulary notebook. Basically I am two people in the room. A girl in class said the other day, "It's like you are two people in the room." I loved that comment! Yes!

You can write text, write freehand in different colors, and import pictures. Meanwhile, your voice records as you are talking. My favorite part is the pause button. It's not recording the whole time, and you can pause recording if you need to.

My fourth graders like it when I'm recording and they hear my dogs barking in the background, although I don't!  I'll say, "Oh no, not those dogs again!" And the students laugh.http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/lesson-7-9-comparing-fractions/6447033/?ref=app

The Boy in the Green Shirt

Yesterday I posted a little blurb about my iMovie called "How to make an iMovie" and found that I can attach only one link per post. Then I got to think about how this one movie came to be.

What got me so charged up about iMovie making in the first place?
It was the boy in the green shirt! A year ago I went with a team of teachers and our principal to observe at an all iPad school. This means each child in the school had 1:1 ratio with an iPad!
We wanted to see how that works.

I knew about filming using the iPad and during our visit to the all iPad school, I asked if I could film. I asked in each room, and was told I could. I got so much amazing footage. The 6th grade African American boy in the green shirt was more than happy to share what he was working on.
His group was working on an iMovie about the book they had just finished reading. They were story boarding, making trailers, and filming. Each child had an acting part in the movie, and behind the scenes roles. Those roles were director, editor, writer, and camera person. I asked the boy to start over and show me what he meant by those roles and by story boarding and making trailers. I asked him if I could film his explanation. He said sure, smiling.

I watched that footage several times and turns out the boy in the green shirt is the one who taught me how to make iMovies! Here's a trailer I made about iMovie making! http://youtu.be/U1XwcFyCz3Ihttp://youtu.be/U1XwcFyCz3I

CUE conference

I went to the Cue conference in Palm Springs, CA, in March this year. I went last year too.

CUE stands for Computer-Using Educators. Went with a group of teachers and principal.

Last year I was floored by the technology presented, mostly utilizing the iPad.

I already had an iPad.  I'd say I was the first teacher to have one at my school. I thought of taping myself teaching lessons, since I teach math all day, the same lesson over and over. I was thinking since I'm repeating myself, why not tape it!

So, this turned out really well. I became my own teaching assistant. I could show the videos daily (well, three times a day) and walk around the room checking for understanding as the video played.

Over time I've found that the routine of even this exciting tool (the iPad) for instruction, can lose its novelty.

This year at the CUE conference there was a teacher who talked about "cloning herself" by flipping the classroom.  The idea of being two people in the same room, really appeals to me. She talked about good teaching. Just because we might have access to these innovative tools, this does not replace good teaching.  I have found that as time goes on, I really have become an entertainer...as a 4th grade teacher! Students have been raised with these devices around them, and much audio-visual presentation.  They are used to that exciting display, so I've had to adapt to keep up with them.

The apps referenced this year for instructional use at the CUE conference were Educreations, Edmodo, iMovie, and Khan academy. These were the sessions I attended, anyway. The difference between last year and this year, for me personally, was my ability to make iMovies. That has improved!

Here is my view of the CUE. http://youtu.be/BE0JPMdWNGM

http://youtu.be/BE0JPMdWNGM

I want to write

I decided to start a blog today. It was quite a choice to make, where to do this. I googled "how to start a blog" and got pages of choices of how to get started. I made a Wordpress blog, but it was complicated to use, and constantly asked me to upgrade (pay money).

I want a user friendly blog page, that I can access easily, and add photos, and videos.

It remains to be seen if "blogger" is the answer.

So far "blogger" is letting me write at least!

Ok, here's what my motivation to blog is: I have been a teacher for 26 years so far. I love teaching! I love it more today than when I started teaching! Isn't that something?! Wouldn't it be nice to share that enthusiasm?!

I planned on writing a lot about technology. (I think I will).
Technology has changed so much in the last 26 years, and what an amazing tool for the field of education. I want my blog page to include many of the videos I've made for instruction.
I want to make a video (on "Educreations") showing the changes in technology in my lifetime. I'll post it on my blog page once I've finished!
This school year (2012-13) I've made at least 100 instructional videos on Educreations and iMovie for my 85 fourth graders. Yes, I teach fourth grade (math) and students rotate from class to class to get the most and best from each specialized area their teachers can give. My area is math. I got a Master's of Science in Education, Mathematics just a few years ago, completing Walden University's online program. All of the course work and portfolio work done online! That was unimagined (by me) in 1984 when I graduated with a BA in Education from Arizona State University.

So there's your intro to what I'm thinking about expressing. I've wanted to write a book forever, and maybe this is my kickstart!

I'll be keeping in mind, since I've made this a public page, to be very sensitive about not sharing anything specifically about individual children or other people. No pictures, for example. You'll be seeing some of me, but that's it!

So happy I've figured out a way to share what I've learned over time!