My EDMODOCON 2016 Summary iMovie

Well, I did it. I condensed a nine hour EDMODOCON webinar into a movie that is a bit over 14 minutes long. Every year I learn something new watching EDMODOCON, and this year I was fascinated by ways that global internet connections are being, or will be, delivered to remote locations (by drones and air balloons). The global connections of teachers with their students connecting from around the world, was inspiring and amazing. Challenge Based Learning projects and higher level creative activities, and debating historical character responses, and collecting and analyzing formal and informal assessments, all were ideas I took away from the webinar. I revisited the flipped classroom idea. The panel of four teachers who have used Edmodo to connect with at-risk youth, with incredibly positive outcomes for their students, has reinforced the community and close knit feeling that my class has had in the past, when sharing their school year together communicating on our class Edmodo page. I applaud that panel for their efforts in helping their students emotionally as well as academically. I thought it was interesting hearing that creativity and chaos are the goals in an Activated classroom.
Once again, I am feeling thrilled to learn about new ways of bringing innovative ideas into the classroom!https://youtu.be/inD5WkNNurc

EDMODOCON 2016 is today!

EDMODOCON is today! I'm so excited to watch this live stream of guest speakers talking about how they use Edmodo to enhance learning in their classrooms. I hope to also make a movie summarizing the event, and send the results to Edmodo. I know my class will love some Edmodo swag (I still have some from last year) for my weekly Edmodo swag award giveaway.
Each year as I watch the presentation of EDMODOCON, I am floored by all the new and diverse ways of using technology in the classroom!

626 Educreations Movies

Well, my three years of teaching a 4th & 5th Grade combo class, have resulted in three math series X 2 grade levels worth of movies made by me on Educreations. I have these posted on public setting, so anyone can see them. They are mostly math movies, but some Science, STEM, and Writing movies also. Maybe some Social Studies too. I loved being a combo teacher, but will be switching back to 4th grade in the fall 2016!
626 Educreations instructional movies made, with 16,288 views, are nice to look back on and keep as references for future viewing with my classes in the years ahead teaching.
I recommend for any teacher to check out the Educreations app, and it's worth it to upgrade to a pro account so that even though you pay a fee, as a teacher, the students get access for free with the code provided by the teacher. The student made movies can also be saved on the teacher's pro account.
There's a slight chance there will be more than 626 movies by summer's end!
https://www.educreations.com/profile/1688252/

Classroom App

So cute...one of my fifth graders told me about the "Classroom" app, that could help me monitor the apps that all the students are using, at the same moment as each other. He advised me to update my iPad so that I can add the app, so that we can give it a try tomorrow.
On my iPad screen I would be able to see an icon next to each child's name, of the apps they are using, all at the same time.
Forever (about 3 years now), I have wanted a way to monitor student screen time, in another way other than the honor system (which HAS worked), and I'm thrilled with the idea given to me today by a fifth grader!
http://cdn.redmondpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/classroom-ipad-02.jpg

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!

Importing LPs on PlanBook.com

New discovery made today: the ability to import lesson plans (LPs) from one year to another, in sections selected, to replace other whole sections of LPs...using the PlanBook.com site! 

I just saved myself hours of copying and pasting lessons, one at a time. So, previous hours of work done by me, for me, for teaching math, can be transferred and moved as needed. I guess I knew it was possible, but to see it actually done, is pretty cool indeed!

With all the changes in education to common core, the ability to make such changes to my LPs, as needed, in such a quick efficient way, truly makes my ability to adapt and be flexible, easier! 

Thank you PlanBook.com! 

Holiday Card QR Code

Put a QR code on a collage of family photos for our Christmas card this year! The QR code, when scanned with a QR Reader app on a smartphone, goes to a link of an iMovie trailer of family highlights from the year (about a minute long). The movie trailer, saved on YouTube ( under an unlisted setting, so not public), has a link that can be copied and pasted into a QR creator app. Then the QR code created is saved on the camera roll of the iPad, or device being utilized. The photo of the QR code can be included as a photo, in a photo collage, since it is a photo.

I wrote a blog post in April 2013, about QR codes being utilized in the classroom. It's something I've done for a while now- creating QR codes...so my surprise now is that many people don't have a QR reader app on their iPhones! Unable to read my QR code on my Christmas card, since they don't have an app for that. However, I'm seeing the number of views go up, so there ARE those friends and family who ARE able to read the QR code. Cool.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring regarding technology that I can add to my holiday cards!

Letting the Technology Help with Parent Conferences

It is Parent Conference week at my school, and I'm running my meetings differently this year with the parents of my students. First I project the Edmodo grades from my laptop to the overhead projector, pointing out the ways that some grades were recorded and interpreted in each subject, determining report card grades. Next I show the Showbie app on my iPad, with the turned in assignments, and my written and voice message attached comments for each assignment. Then I show student made educreations videos called, "What I've Learned So Far This Year" that showcase the different subject areas covered in class. Student summaries of academics and preferences are noted in the movies they've made. 

Parents ask questions, and analysis ensues, and in several cases there are words of thanks and hugs. I say, let the tech help you along with your conferences!

Creative Apps for Teaching

As the years go by in teaching, I'm finding myself being more of an entertainer than I ever was before. The students entering elementary school these days, are digital natives, and used to instant access. A song and dance helps to keep their attention.

I'm looking at the Sock Puppets app, suggested by one of my students, and at the TouchCast app, which was a discovery I made at the Fall CUE conference, as ways of presenting info in new and exciting ways.

Sock Puppets is a one-take, 90 second movie. The time constraint might be good in that I'd like to get my point across quickly. To save a sock puppet movie, I save to camera roll, and then to YouTube. 

TouchCast I'm still working with, but the idea of the student interacting with the video is super fascinating to me. 

I'm pretty happy about the prospects for the applications for both apps, in my classroom!

http://youtu.be/4WF1P2Z-Qio

An Aha Moment Today

The tremendous task of preparing lesson plans for two grade levels (for my fourth and fifth grade combo class) presented itself again this weekend. Both groups have assessments in math, that have not been seen or created before. Today I created them, both for units 2, and study guide movies to match the unit summative assessments. Wow! What a task!

But in there somewhere today was a pretty cool moment when I saw a light shine,dare it be a ray of sunshine and light...a lightbulb going on over (or in) my head? 

I found premade test questions, the new way of writing them (I'm talking common core here). Then I copy and pasted...well, not exactly that, I transferred from an online site with questions, directly to the Notability app, and placed into one file, individual math questions matching the common core state standards, CCSS, addressed in the units I taught.

A test was miraculously compiled, and besides being saved on/in Notability, I sent the creation to Edmodo. The test will appear on Thursday morning for the students, since there is a scheduling feature on Edmodo.  I'm having my fifth graders save the test in their Notability apps, annotate (that means to write) on top of the test, and send the completed tests back to me, turned in on Showbie. Ahhhhh, well that just makes sense! No paper this time, people! 

Fun at the CUE

Last weekend I spoke at the Computer Using Educators (CUE) Conference in Napa about starting a "BYOD 1:1 IPad Elementary Classroom". I made an iMovie trailer for the apps I like to use in our BYOD class, to introduce and talk about each app. It also gave a good glimpse of the versatility of the iMovie app. 

I spoke about PlanBook.com which has been the greatest discovery for me! http://youtu.be/jEBlbFMLRns

Here is the Edmodo trailer I made to introduce talking about it:http://youtu.be/VrL1NgIp5G4

The educreations app is great for creativity:http://youtu.be/67U42n1czE0

Notability is so versatile for writing and annotating all assignments:http://youtu.be/NC3RFOo9Nmk

Showbie is great for turning in all assignments online. I can give direct feedback:http://youtu.be/GMgL90neEjA

It was a fun weekend for me, not just because of the sharing at CUE, but also because of the learning! I learned about TouchCast which is a free app on the iPad, for making movies, inserting webpages and polls. It is an interactive movie application. Wow! I was reminded of Minecraft, and all the fantastic endless possibilities there. Coding discussions included Tynker and Khanacademy, and so much more. I was very impressed with all the sessions I attended at CUE!

Sharing and Collaborating with other Teachers!

I, in general, freely share what I'm doing in class with other teachers, usually via Edmodo or email.

 With the change in education toward the common core, CCSS, and the change in design of how and what we focus on to teach, it is a time of transition. 

When I share my lesson plans (PlanBook.com plans) with others, and Educreations math movies, I don't hear back much about that "free" sharing, and feel sometimes like I could/should stop. Do others really want the info? Then a thing happens, and I'm brought back to the realization that it is the best thing to do!

I was cornered by a teacher from another school this week, who said there was a very difficult new math lesson for fifth graders, that the teachers were stumped about at their school. Then the group of teachers watched my movie of explanation, that I made to show my fifth graders after they tried the difficult word problem, and the lesson was made more clear to that group. The teacher told me that they showed the movie to their fifth grade classes.

So, to share freely, or not to share? For sure I'm going to continue putting my answers out there. 

It's cool too, to see something I need on that Edmodo site, that helps with my instruction! I found a fifth grade assessment that another teacher in the district painstakingly created, and I used it with my class, and thanked her! 

In such a hard transitional phase of time in education, and interesting too, the time to share is now! Cool how the technology helps us to collaborate more readily!