Teach Aide is A+

I've been looking for a way to digitally compile student points and grades that works for me, and have tried several apps before this! Last year I'd write grades on paper as I read student assignments turned in on Showbie, and then record the grades on individual pages in another app on the iPad. It was too many steps, and I wanted a way to record the grades on my iPhone at the same time I was grading assignments on my iPad. I think I've found a solution, and it's an app called Teach Aide with an icon that says A+. The app is on my iPhone and can be backed up on the iPad, or by sending an email to myself of the recorded grades.

It has an email feature for sending the lists of points to parents, for each subject area. There's nothing I don't like about the app. I've found what I've been searching for! So cool to have made this discovery! 

Keeping My Ears Open!

I'm so excited to start another school year of teaching! The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) thing is awesome! I'm in my third year as a BYOD 1:1 iPad 4th and 5th Grade Combo Teacher, although it's year number 29 in the grand total. Too bad I didn't fit that on my t-shirt!

I'm eager to listen to students as they bring in their enthusiasm and knowledge of new apps and features for using iPads in the classroom. On the first day of school one of my returning fifth graders asked if he could share and teach about the apps we utilized last year that we will be using, and I agreed. It was a beautiful thing to see him presenting and teaching the information to the new students! 

Then another student shared an app called Shou for filming what is on your screen as you are talking. I haven't tried it yet, but the ideas just keep rolling in from the students, and I'm keeping my ears open!

EdmodoCon 2015

This is the third year in a row that I've spent a day in August glued to my iPad all day, watching a live webinar called Edmodocon. This time I heard about a teacher who has her class skype with classrooms in five different countries around the world, and students were paired with those classes to work on digital projects. I heard more about flipped classrooms and making math videos (I do this and love it!) I heard about students being paired with published authors to work on creative writing projects, and student writing improving as a result. I plan on trying some of those ideas, and adding giving more badges on Edmodo and using NoRedInk for grammar in a fun way! I'm really looking forward to trying some of these new ideas in my 1:1 iPad classroom! 

Here's my movie summary of Edmodocon 2015! 

http://youtu.be/btkeluibcvg

Kahoot.it

Kahoot.it is a free site where the teacher can sign up for an account, and find pre made lessons on a variety of topics. This is similar to the Nearpod app, and is a student response system. Kahoot.it shows student answers and the correct answers to science questions. My class and I thought it was an excellent prep activity before the Science CSTs that fifth graders took in May. Totally motivating and fun! We found that one of the kahoot.it science lessons matched the online released science questions that I had printed out into a packet. 

We were so excited about this site, that we shared the idea to use it with our 2nd grade Tech buddies at our school. The buddies were paired and they answered questions about the life cycle of the butterfly. The 2nd graders were studying that in their science lessons, so it was thrilling for the tech pairs to work together to answer the butterfly questions.

What a fabulous discovery for use in an all iPad classroom! 

Rediscovering the Subtext App

My class just started reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland using the Subtext app. I have a class code, and gave the code to my students so they can see the library of books I've included on my Subtext class page. When there is a free book, like the one we are reading now, I can push that book out to the class. Along with the audiobook of the story that I purchased on iTunes, and opened in the iBooks app, the class is reading the book together, with all students having a copy; reading a copy on their iPads.

Students can highlight main ideas and post those for the class to see. They can comment on each other's posts about the story we are reading! Great interaction and collaboration about what is being read. Finding evidence in the text is made easier by using the highlighting feature. 

There are assignment ideas given, that I read verbally, and students follow those directions about what evidence I want them to find in the text, after we read.

Earlier I had posted a blog entry about being able to share library books using Subtext with my class, however that's only one copy of the book on my screen. The free books within the app, can be seen on all student screens. There are many classic novels that are free within the app. Students ask,"Can we read in Subtext today?" Their enthusiasm is inspiring! 

Innovative Apps for Educators in 2015

Stumbled upon this article on Twitter, of innovative apps for educators in 2015!

https://www.noodle.com/articles/32-innovative-online-tools-to-use-in-2015

 Looks good! Edmodo being on the list drew my attention, since I'm using that one to organize my class lesson plans, and communication. I also use the Edmodo gradebook feature, and my library is filled with my bag of tricks!

I see Khanacademy on the list, of course, and iTunes U and instaGrok.

Those I have used in the classroom with my fourth and fifth graders.

Some of the other apps on the list I haven't tried, so I'm going to look a few of them up, at least! 

As a teacher friend of mine said, "I don't think we even know what the possibilities are yet, of using iPads in the classroom!"

Movie Making

I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't making about ten movies a week for my classroom and school. This week I made an iMovie and a movie trailer to go along with it, that will be shown at our school fundraiser next weekend. The movie theme is about technology and STEM at our school.

I went on my planning periods, which are few and far between since I teach a combo 4th and 5th grade class, to all the classrooms in the school to film. 

I looked for signs of use of iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, computer workstations, and computers in our computer lab, and filmed teachers and students utilizing the technology to transform learning. It was amazing! I was so impressed by the diversity at our school, and the creative ways teachers are enhancing learning through use of technology. 

The STEM activities I filmed included robotics, automation, and building of simple machines. We have various grant winners on our staff, and wow, I was floored by all I saw. Lucky me to be a filmmaker this week!

I love the iMovie app still, and it's only limits are the user's imagination! 

Periodic Table Movies

This is so cool! My fifth graders are just starting to learn about the Periodic Table of Elements, and this amazing TED link shows the table with movies attached explaining each element. The movies include experts and experiments. You click on a box, an element, and a movie pops up explaining the element. Amazing! Awesome! I posted the link on my class Edmdo page. This makes the Periodic Table memorable and exciting!

http://ed.ted.com/periodic-videos

Genius Hour Presentations

My students have been giving their "Genius Hour" presentations in class, and I'm thrilled with the diversity of their topics and the creativity shown! 

The idea was given to me, and not my original thought. Apparently the concept is taken from companies like Google, who give their employees time at work, to think and explore ideas of their choosing. Having this time to be creative, has proven to have some amazingly productive outcomes for the companies.

So, in the classroom, my fourth and fifth graders are given an hour a week to do nothing. Well, not to do nothing, but to sit and think and research and focus on any topic they'd like. The topic should be of high interest to the child, and of their choosing.

Then the directions were that students should prepare a presentation of their genius hour topic, to share with the class.

I didn't create a rubric for scoring or grading their work. It was a free and open assignment.

The results have been nothing short of genius!

Some of the topics presented so far are: Greek Mythology, baseball, roller coasters, softball, waterpolo, piano, music, Washington DC, various religions, restaurants, helping homeless people, a futuristic Nasa Space Station, and archery. 

The method of presentation has varied from PowerPoint to Prezi, to Minecraft, to TouchCast to Educreations, to iMovie! These presentation apps have been utilized for presenting the Genius Hour topics, in ways I haven't seen them used before. For example, using Minecraft for taking polls, was something new to me! 

Genius is the right word for this project! The students are asking to do this assignment again!

I'm sure that we will, and now my internal debate is whether to create a rubric for the activity. 

Once again, my students have amazed me with their creativity!