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!