techEteacher: Heal Thy Self

Scores Matter 

At some point in the school year, students' scores may indicate the need for intervention. Whether in math or language arts, students need help, reassurance and validation.

Just say no to "drill and kill" 

As a busy wife, mom and English teacher, I had hoped that the computer would manage it all. Much to my dismay, I found out quickly, that the "drill and kill" computer-based curriculum planned for the class, was not going to work. I started feeling stressed with the idea of having another prep and not enough time. Students were bored out of their minds and acted up daily. They all dreaded that class. I didn't blame them; I did too. It was a snore fest!

The students were not happy. They had two strikes already. One: an elective class was replaced with the intervention class. Two: they were told they were not meeting in a core academic area. It was not unusual for many of them to act up enough just to get out of the class. 

How could I reach them? How could I engage them in an effort to teach them what they had to know in order to meet academic standards and keep us all sane?

I had to show them that I not only wanted to help them, I had to prove to them that I respected their opinion and most of all, trusted them.

Come up with a plan

After reviewing scores and asking them what they thought they needed (students were very accurate), I developed several project based lessons using ELA Common Core State Standards for 7th and 8th grades.

 

I brainstormed as many multimedia tools I could think of and had the students help me.  This showed them that I valued their input.  We wrote down every single idea.  

My only requirement was that it had to be as cutting edge as we could manage with 10 iPads, a few school MacBooks and my personal devices which included 64GB iPad 3, iPad mini, and a MacBook Air.  Students were excited at the prospect of using the various tools.  I had them explore:

• PowToons
• Pixie
• Frames
• Educreations
• Visulize
• Colorful QR
• Wordle
• Voice Plus
• Word Foto

 Students all voted that the completed project should be a published iBook. 

Here is day three of the iBook Project:

Researching and Note Taking 

Let them lead the way

If you know me, you have heard me say more than once, "let's lead the way" when it comes to educational technology, BYOD policies and iPads in the classroom.  Here is the one time you won't hear it.  Through this experience I learned that by letting my students figure out what they needed, they willingly took charge of their own learning.  Each was given a choice of topics and tools to create their end product.  With guidance and expectations explained, students were eager to help each other and even help their student selected iBook editor. This freed me up to be a facilitator; not lecturer. 

Lesson learned.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My iPad Tips for Teachers

Like many teachers out there, I am constantly on the lookout for ways to engage all learners in my classroom. I have had my class iPads for several months now, so I thought I would share a few tips on what has worked for me as well as a few suggestions on apps and lesson ideas.  

My iPad  Organization

I am lucky to have ten iPad2 devices for my students to use in the classroom.  Just having them available isn't enough though.  

I had to figure out a way that would allow for all students to be engaged during a lesson, not just one holding the iPad.  

Making a real world connection was important to me.  It ranked right up there with student buy in and collaboration.  So, when I scored several round tables from a resecntly closed school in my district, I came up with naming each table after a popular, yet school appropriate social network.

Each table seats four, so to grouping allows for small group insturction, differentiation and collaboration.  A designated iPad with the same name and label is used throughout the day by different classes.  This makes maintaining the devices and the generated work much easier.  For example, when the lesson requires the class to create a short presentation, each table saves their work first by table name and then by class period.  

PinterestPeriod4 

At the begining of the year, all I needed was a seating chart.  Now, I can recall just by which class period.  I have found this system very effective and I will do it again next year.  

Saving and Presenting Student Work

It is important to know that iPads are in no way meant to replace laptops.  It would be like comparing apples to oranges.  They both do different tasks.  With that said, there is a need for teachers to be able to have students create on iPads, but what is the best way to go about it?  For me, I like to have control so I have set up all ten of my class iPads up ahead of time to connect to my account for things like, Educreations, and Showme.   The Dropbox app is used to upload, save or share files.  

Free? Yes, Free

• BaiBoard - Makes it possible to connect two or more iPads together over a wifi network.
• iPrompt -   Turns the iPad into a professional teleprompter. Great for student speeches, podcasts or video clips.  
• Trading Cards - From ReadWriteThink, this app is great for student to work on vocabulary. Here is one way I have used it in my classroom.  

 

 

Meaningful iPad Integration

The Good News

You have nice shinny new iPads in your classroom.  Your students are excited and you are really motivated to get started.  What you need to do first is take a quick inventory of each iPad, label it and assign them.  For example, I have a set of 10 iPads total.  Since my classroom was already set up into named table groups, I was able to assign an iPad for each table.  The iPads took on the name of the table assigned.  Once this was done, I logged each iPad into my account for screencasting apps: 

Educreations

ShowMe

This allowed me to review student projects from any computer or iPad as well as ensured that students took their work seriously.  Because I am a middle school teacher, I have several different classes a day.  To prevent possible management issues, I have the tables save their projects by Table Name_ClassPeriod.  

So now what?  

For me the easiest solution was to use two USB hubs connected to my computer.

The Bad News

Where do you start?  How do you sort through the hundreds of apps out there?  Is it possible to find free apps that engage all of your students while at the same time help address Common Core State Standards?   Below I have provided a few great starting points:

Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything

Apps in Education

My best advice is try  not to become overwhelmed.  Take one step at a time at a time.  One of my favorite places to get information is my PLN at  edmodo.com.  It doesn't matter what the question, someone always answers it.  Oh, that reminds me, the  edmodo app  is free.

How I Had to Become Techeteacher: How Anyone Can Change a School, a District, a Mindset

Have you ever wondered how people get where they are in life and maybe what motivated them to get there? I was wondering that of myself as I, like many other educators, sometimes need reach out and find inspiration.

 Here is mine:

So how does an English Language Arts teacher become an outspoken techeteacher? Below I have included five ways I had to transform into the teacher I am today.

While at iSTE in San Diego I overheard someone from my school district say:

"I used to think we were ahead of the game. Now I realize we're not even in the game."

This was somewhat alarming to me while at the same time, eye-opening. I realized that he was correct, despite all of my efforts in the previous years to implement the latest educational technology in my lessons and have students creating multimedia examples of their learning, I was only one teacher in a district comprised of over 500. Being a teacher of language arts in a middle school, what kind of pull did I have to get my peers or my principal to be motivated to change things? How could I even make a dent in anything?

Where to start

1. My focus was on my students. I had to make a difference with and for them. Once I had them, everything else seemed to fall into place.

Think about Flipping

2. When there wasn't enough time to get to my content, I started flipping lessons, and putting content on the web for students to access. I did this at first with www.livebinders.com. From there, I went to Edmodo. I could embed my lessoncasts (that is what I call them), I could provide links of Google Docs and provide a true virtual classroom for my students. They loved it! I found myself promoting edmodo so much, one would think I owned stock in it.

Take Risks

Edmodo: A Teacher's Best Friend

3. It is not always advisable to do first and ask permission later, but that is just the way I do things. I took it upon myself to create a sub domain for my school and brought forth the idea of expanding each teacher's PLN (Personal Learning Network). I explained how joining would be a huge time-saver. That helped a ton. Get your colleges to use Edmodo. I pitched the idea to staff in this way: PLN's have been around as long as there have been teachers. We have always wanted to learn from each other, get ideas, modeling lessons, all of it. The only difference now is in the way we are able to get that same information. Advancements in technology have made it possible to expand our PLN's globally and grow them instantaneously. When you think about it in that way, it doesn't seem as scary. Not only can we help our students make these connections, we can help all staff.

Twitter

4. I created a twitter account for my school @castledomems and started tweeting out basic information for parents.

5. I promoted #CDMS via my own twitter account @techeteacher signed up to tweet out as @connecteded for the first day of school. This helped put my school on the twitter map.

Reach Out: Make a Name for Yourself

6. I reached out to colleagues, principals and even my own school superintendent. Singing the praises and advantages of Edmodo, Twitter and several other educational technology pieces, I made sure that when I had an idea, the email would be cc'd to influential people in my district. It is risky, but like I said, I am not one to stand by and let things be pushed under the rug. You have to be relentless.

Here is a screenshot I sent to the person I quoted. I pointed out features and advantages using Skitch. I even point out my school, Castle Dome, in this District One break down of schools with sub domains. Note, my school is the only one with a school mascot avatar? I am hoping to change that soon.

Since sending that email, I can happily report that school has joined Edmodo and created a sub domain.

All staff members can benefit through PD, Online Professional Learning Communities such as EDMODO, the FlippedClassroomNetwork and even sites like LiveBinders and our own local YETC Trainers' Wiki. Helping teachers be more aware of what is out there and how they can use it in their classrooms will help alleviate the fear and partial paralysis I have seen in some teachers when thinking about using a technology tool in their classroom. They are afraid they are going to fail.

In Conclusion

So, you see, one teacher can make a difference. I encourage anyone wanting to make a difference at their school to jump in and try.  You CAN make it happen! My own school has jumped on board with BYOD and getting that much closer to my own personal goal of leading the way.

 I had to transform from an English Language Arts teacher to techeteacher for my students. My school had to update a few things for the benefit of my students. My district is letting it all happen for my students. Would I transform back? Not for a million bucks.

 

A Teacher's Tip to Students

 Some might find it odd that I, an English teacher and lover of literature, would be given a computers class to teach. Ok, I would agree that it is slightly strange, but when you think of the truly technological renaissance we are going though, you might see it as totally logical.  Take for example the iPad. What sort of things can you do with it? You can play games, you can draw, and oh yes, you can write.  Yes, I said write.  Not convinced?  Take a look at what you are reading right now. My blog. According to Wikipedia, blog is a portmanteau of the term web log.

A tool for you to use make jobs easier

What you are seeing right in front of you is the meeting of two worlds: writing and technology.

But don't limit yourself to thinking all technology is solely electronic gadgets and touch screens. Technology is a device. It is a tool for you to use make jobs easier, more efficient and yes, to create.  That pencil you are using to take notes in class, it has some pretty cool features to it.  Maybe it mechanically advances the led.  You don't even have to click the eraser at the top.  It does it automatically.

 It’s top of the line, as far as mechanical pencils go. It sure makes writing quicker too, doesn't it? No need to get up and use the 20-year old sharpener in the back of the room. You have your led neatly packed in your binder. You are all set! 

What are you going to do with it?

Oh, wait, "there is one more thing."  You have to take the notes.  It is up to you. That top of the line pencil is useless without your creativity, your effort, your knowledge.   I guess that is my point. Whatever type of technology you use, just like that pencil; it's in your hands.

So I end with a question:what are you going to do with it?