Today I worked with my inquiry group to make a group ebook on my iPad. Our theme was "our school". We started out by taking pictures around the school of things the kids thought were important. We then put them together using an app called Book Creator. We created a nine page book with recordings of the students reading each page in about 45 minutes. Here is the book in PDF format without the sound recordings.
This was a fast and easy project. I did most of the manipulating on the iPad as the kids crowded around me. They took the photos and dictated all of the text. They immediately wanted to know when we could share it with the rest of the class!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Using Google Presentations for a Body Systems Presentation
Mary is using what she learned at the conference to help students create interactive body systems presentations. Students paired up and got a copy of this template:
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AUDljXwAABVnZGdxdnA0M21fOGZrNmM4ZmRu
They are working together at school and at home in developing their presentations. Some of the students are using Google Chat as they work from home. It was an exciting beginning. Mary collected all the student email addresses and typed them in while the students were starting up, so by the time they opened their computers they had the template. She encouraged them to just get started and the students caught on right away on how to use the interface. She found that she needed to give them more specific directions on how to rename their copy of the document. They loved having "the power" to give Mary limited access to the document!
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AUDljXwAABVnZGdxdnA0M21fOGZrNmM4ZmRu
They are working together at school and at home in developing their presentations. Some of the students are using Google Chat as they work from home. It was an exciting beginning. Mary collected all the student email addresses and typed them in while the students were starting up, so by the time they opened their computers they had the template. She encouraged them to just get started and the students caught on right away on how to use the interface. She found that she needed to give them more specific directions on how to rename their copy of the document. They loved having "the power" to give Mary limited access to the document!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Google Earth for Educators
At the CLS Technology Conference I went to a Focus Session called Going Geo with Google Maps and Google Earth. The presenter, Ken Shelton, a history teacher at a middle school in L.A., taught us how to use Google Earth for creative projects, geography, Social Studies and History (ancient times through present times) and literature. For example, if students are reading The Grapes of Wrath they can trace the route of the story. They can also use Google Lit Trips to mark the journeys of famous characters from literature using Google Earth.
Google Earth is a free, downloadable tool anyone can install if they have enough RAM. Ken taught us how to use the various layers on Google Earth. It was fascinating to view the National Geographic or Discovery Network videos on one of the layers, to visit ancient ruins, to track Earthquakes, as well as "flying" around the globe to view a place from distant space right down to street level. I found a tutorial on Google Earth for Educators which you can view here: Google EarthTutorial.
I haven't used Google Earth yet with students but I'm excited at the possibilities!
Google Earth is a free, downloadable tool anyone can install if they have enough RAM. Ken taught us how to use the various layers on Google Earth. It was fascinating to view the National Geographic or Discovery Network videos on one of the layers, to visit ancient ruins, to track Earthquakes, as well as "flying" around the globe to view a place from distant space right down to street level. I found a tutorial on Google Earth for Educators which you can view here: Google EarthTutorial.
I haven't used Google Earth yet with students but I'm excited at the possibilities!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Reviews of Digital Curriculum
One of the talks I went to was hosted by the California Learning Resource Network. CLRN is a free clearinghouse of reviews for both free and paid online resources and other digital materials. They review software, online courses, digital textbooks, websites, tablet apps, and more.
Each review has descriptions, alignment to state standards, alignment to digital literacy and learning standards, and so on. It looks like a good resource to check before making a major software purchase or for searching for free resources on a particular topic.
Each review has descriptions, alignment to state standards, alignment to digital literacy and learning standards, and so on. It looks like a good resource to check before making a major software purchase or for searching for free resources on a particular topic.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Joy's Intro
My first classroom computer was an old Apple which I used with the kids with CD Roms like Math Blaster. I had one computer in my 2nd grade classroom and everyone wanted to use it, that was back in 1985. Later, I used computers as word processors but didn't have internet. In the 90s-2000s, in my personal and professional life, I used computers to look up websites and gather info., send emails, download, edit, print and email my photos. More recently I joined facebook, which I rarely check. In the past several years I've taken workshops in Power Point, iLife Suite, Promethian Board, Digital Story-Telling, and attended the CLS Technology Conference. I learned many exciting skills and applications at the Conference but haven't used any of them with students yet. I have helped students do research, print pictures, do some film with Flip Cameras, download films and helped do some editing with the help of other students or Deb. I am developing confidence with much of what I've learned recently and need to put in some time to play and learn. I admit that a lot of the Tech stuff is like a foreign language to me. At the conference I was immersed in that foreign language and I began to acquire an understanding. But just like learning a new language, we begin to understand but cannot yet express. I am not yet fluent enough to fully comprehend and definitely not fluent enough to teach. So I am relying on my Personal Network of friends/colleagues to remind me to practice, go slow, try one new thing at a time, and jump in!
Friday, January 20, 2012
The Power of Forms
One of the tools that got recommended over and over again at the CLS Tech conference was Google Forms, one of the many types of Google Docs you can make. I think almost everyone on our team went to at least one session about using forms. The talk Mary and I went to specifically about this was "Google Forms for Interventions, Assessments, and Classroom Walkthroughs" by Jody Oliver. (presentation and sample forms here)
One of the great uses she shared with us for these was as a short formative assessment at the beginning or end of class (for our program, I thought we could even send them as homework). You set up 3-5 questions to check for understanding and embed the form in your class web page or email it to students. Students answer the questions and submit the form. All the data goes to a spreadsheet where you can quickly look to see what problems were missed. For even better analysis of the data, you can use a tool called Flubaroo which works with Google Docs. Hints: Make all the questions required in order to submit the form. Have a space for students to put their name.
In another talk, an English teacher described how she had a generic form on her web page which included a space for a name and then an open space for a typed answer. She used this same form over and over again when she wanted to do a quick check for understanding and then emptied the resulting spreadsheet before asking the next question.
Jody also talked about using forms to do classroom walkthroughs when administrators are evaluating teachers and to share student concerns among staff. For our small school where we don't see students every day, the latter use seems like a great idea. Deb, who also went to a talk about Google Docs, even developed a form like that for us during the conference.
One of the great uses she shared with us for these was as a short formative assessment at the beginning or end of class (for our program, I thought we could even send them as homework). You set up 3-5 questions to check for understanding and embed the form in your class web page or email it to students. Students answer the questions and submit the form. All the data goes to a spreadsheet where you can quickly look to see what problems were missed. For even better analysis of the data, you can use a tool called Flubaroo which works with Google Docs. Hints: Make all the questions required in order to submit the form. Have a space for students to put their name.
In another talk, an English teacher described how she had a generic form on her web page which included a space for a name and then an open space for a typed answer. She used this same form over and over again when she wanted to do a quick check for understanding and then emptied the resulting spreadsheet before asking the next question.
Jody also talked about using forms to do classroom walkthroughs when administrators are evaluating teachers and to share student concerns among staff. For our small school where we don't see students every day, the latter use seems like a great idea. Deb, who also went to a talk about Google Docs, even developed a form like that for us during the conference.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Backchannel
On Saturday at the CLS Tech conference, I went to a talk entitled, "Using the Backchannel to Empower Students" by John Miller. (Notes from this talk available as a Google Doc here.) This was a great talk by a practicing teacher about using the concept of the backchannel in class. We'd been introduced to the idea at the keynote the day before, but at this workshop I was able to use my Android phone to actually participate in the backchannel.
The basic idea is that you use an online service that allows you and the rest of the audience to send short notes in real time while you are listening to a presentation or a speaker. You can use Twitter and mark all your comments with a hash agreed on beforehand or you can use one of several online services (TodaysMeet and Chatzy were two that he suggested) or Edmodo or you can create a Google Doc that is shared with everybody. At the beginning of the presentation, you announce the address and then the audience (or class) can ask questions, make comments, disagree, or whatever. Think of it as the substitute for talking behind your hand or passing notes.
It was pretty exciting to participate in the backchannel during the presentation. Audience members threw out additional ideas, their opinions about the tools, and even asked a few questions. In the presentations at the conferences that used backchannels, some put it on the group screen for a short time, and others never looked at it during the presentation.
John described how he used the backchannel in class as a way of checking for understanding by asking a question aloud but then the responses are sent on the backchannel. He also used it while Skyping in guest speakers by having six or so students using the backchannel to summarize what was said. For some other ideas about how to use this tool in the classroom, check out this blog post.
Because we work mostly with small groups at our school, I'm not sure how useful a backchannel would be for our work with kids. It also requires 1:1 computing, which we don't have in a large group. I'm thinking it would be interesting when I do presentations for adults and could give me a lot of useful feedback about the work I do in curriculum consulting.
The basic idea is that you use an online service that allows you and the rest of the audience to send short notes in real time while you are listening to a presentation or a speaker. You can use Twitter and mark all your comments with a hash agreed on beforehand or you can use one of several online services (TodaysMeet and Chatzy were two that he suggested) or Edmodo or you can create a Google Doc that is shared with everybody. At the beginning of the presentation, you announce the address and then the audience (or class) can ask questions, make comments, disagree, or whatever. Think of it as the substitute for talking behind your hand or passing notes.
It was pretty exciting to participate in the backchannel during the presentation. Audience members threw out additional ideas, their opinions about the tools, and even asked a few questions. In the presentations at the conferences that used backchannels, some put it on the group screen for a short time, and others never looked at it during the presentation.
John described how he used the backchannel in class as a way of checking for understanding by asking a question aloud but then the responses are sent on the backchannel. He also used it while Skyping in guest speakers by having six or so students using the backchannel to summarize what was said. For some other ideas about how to use this tool in the classroom, check out this blog post.
Because we work mostly with small groups at our school, I'm not sure how useful a backchannel would be for our work with kids. It also requires 1:1 computing, which we don't have in a large group. I'm thinking it would be interesting when I do presentations for adults and could give me a lot of useful feedback about the work I do in curriculum consulting.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)