Thursday, January 9, 2014

The following FREE math apps were installed on our seventh grade iPads today.  Below are some reflections of each math app.

Chicken Coop Fraction Estimation Game


  • Be aware of the music.  Fortunately, there is a button that can mute the music.
  • Three easy, three hard levels
  • Proper Fractions, Proper Fractions of Numbers, Improper Fractions, Improper Fractions of Numbers
  • Middle school students may find it humorous that the chickens raise their backsides an "pop" an egg out
  • Chickens will "fire" an egg toward the correct answer
  • Get the answer wrong and things will get messy
  • The "hard" problems are challenging
  • No method for pausing and calculating while still looking at the problem
  • If a student does pause to work on the problem, the answer is given immediately upon "continuing" of the game.
  • Can adjust "time per question", can create a "no time" game
  • Can adjust "accuracy"

  • Word problem based
  • Diagrams & labeling first, numbers added to the model next
  • Can't proceed to next step without "checking" first
  • Built in calculator 
  • Writing on iPad capabilities
  • Instructions for students (should they choose to read them)
  • Checks along the way provide "new" mathematical manipulatives
  • CONFUSING: Number pad to enter answer, "Calculator On" button to obtain calculator for work

Mr. Rodal decided that over Christmas break he was going to remove 19 desks.  Not all the desks, just some of them.  Group, collaborative work happens every day in his classroom.  The desks were taking up a great deal of space and required constant arranging and rearranging.

He fixed this.

He removed 19 desks from his classroom.

We are documenting his classroom experiences with candid responses from both students and teachers.  Let's hear from the teacher, first!

Video Link


Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Students are able to create their own learning spaces.  They are not confined to a desk.  They must also decide how to utilize the large white boards that are now in the room.
Collaboration: Removing INDIVIDUAL desks has eliminated INDIVIDUAL borders.  Gathering in learning groups is efficient.

More to follow...

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Congratulations to Tina Mills, PCMS communication arts teacher, for winning the 2013 App Smash Challenge!

Mrs. Mills had students combine the PicCollage app and the iMovie trailer app.  As Mrs. Mills states,
     
"In the past, students have used the iMovie trailer and had a blast with it.  The only problem is that sometimes they want to include more than one word or image (in a spot in the trailer) and can't change the templates.  I have had them use PicCollage to add multiple texts and images into one image.  They then can insert the PicCollage picture into the iMovie trailer."

Thank you, Mrs. Mills, for accepting the first App Smash Challenge!








Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Today, I learned about the iVisual info Touch iPad Infographic App through Richard Byrne @ iPad Apps For School.  We have implemented infographics in our high school Human Geography last year so I was intrigued to see if an iPad app could be used with students.

I created an infographic for Lunch N' Learn statistics.  This is the first full year of volunteer learning opportunities for our high school staff.


Positives of iVisual Touch 
  • Free Form Writing Lines
  • Multiple Backgrounds
  • Four Pages of Icons
  • Colorful World Flags
  • Color Palette
  • Seven Fonts
  • Add Pictures (Great to use with other apps such as Skitch or PicCollage)
  • Grid Lines for Creating
  • Save To Camera Roll (Great for uploading to Google Drive)
Negatives of iVisual Touch
  • No Locking Options of Objects
  • No Undo Button
  • No Automatic Save
  • Free app great to try, but limited options (I purchased the full app)
Impact On Students:
Creativity: Students can continue to use their imagination to create graphics that express their summary skills.




Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Our calculus teacher was tutoring a student on a Friday.  He forgot to mention a crucial part of the solution. He emailed the student the critical part to the solution.  On Monday, he asked the student, "Did you get me email?"  The student replied,

     "No, I never check my school email!"

Solution: Create a trigger and action using IFTTT.  IFTTT is so simple, a teacher almost can't afford to not offer it to their students.



Great thing about this was that I created the trigger and action on my iPhone in front of the teacher.  He sent me an email and the text showed up on my iPhone.  Demonstrating how it worked so quickly was a selling point!
Video Link
Saving video to an iPad from Google Drive was not possible until I found a solution courtesy of one of our IT people, @kenwestphal.

Collaborating with multiple students on different iPads or taking video with an iPhone or iPod was a difficult task because the Google Drive app only allowed downloading of images for use in iMovie.  Using the G Drive (Green) app now allows for videos to be imported into iMovie once the video is uploaded to a student's or teacher's Google Drive account.

If students are recording video using an Android device, the video will need to be converted before G Drive will import it into iMovie on the iPad.  We use Any Video Converter.

G Drive (Green) App
Google Drive App

View how it works!  Don't forget to have students log out of the G Drive app.


Video Link

Sunday, December 15, 2013

I searched for a web tool that students could write a book about Canada and would, according to a middle school teacher,
  • Drag and drop pictures or easy to insert pictures from web or upload
  • Easy to add text
  • Embed on blogger
  • Log In with Gmail or easy to create an account
  • Chromebook or laptop/desktop
I tried Google Drive tools and couldn't get into the template gallery according to an error message.

I tried widbook.com and it was a social site that I didn't think students needed to mess around with.

I tried storybird.com and it was also a lengthy sign up process and constituted social networking.

The above products, while great in their own right, didn't meet most of the criteria that the teacher was looking for.

I decided to look at Haiku Deck for creating an online book.  We have used Haiku Deck for a number of other creation projects and I believe this tool will work for creating a book. View short book.



Thursday, December 12, 2013

I learned about Printing YouTube video clips from SLATE!

The directions are easy.

The result lands in your Google Drive or on paper.


Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking:  Teachers print the YouTube video out or create it digitally.  Students write a reflection to summarize their learning or pull out video elements.

The Trading Card activity was taking to a level by Mrs. Brylski that actually had the students print the Trading Cards and trade!

Video Link



Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Students needed to decipher the information that should be placed for each question.
Collaboration:  The discussion that incurred during the trading of cards was pretty in depth.  Some great feedback was provided for each student by each student.
Today, was a classic "go slow to go fast"!

Mrs. Vertz has decided that a Google Hangout would be the best tool for an "at home" review session. Prior to today's lesson, Mrs. Vertz walked through information for setting up personal accounts.  We spent an entire class period dedicated to setting up personal Gmail accounts.  We needed personal Gmail accounts so that Google Plus and Google Hangouts could handle more than one person.  Our district has decided that Google Plus will be enabled for teachers only.

The best way to connect students was for the teacher to search Google Plus for the exact email address that students created for their Google Personal Gmail.

The mobile devices connected for a number of students as well as personal computers on our network.  We did run into a few error messages for students when connecting to Google Hangouts.  This could be for a number of reasons which we are investigating.

Tonight, we have planned a practice Google Hangout.

Video Link



Impact On Students:
Collaboration: A review session is a perfect time for staff and students to pool their resources together to master a topic.  With Google Hangouts, many people can review together in the comforts of their own home or on the go!
Critical Thinking: Students will have questions and both students and staff will determine the best answer. With Google Hangouts, screens can be shared and therefore, resources can be shared!
Citizenship:  Students needed to create personal Google accounts.  Connecting with the proper students from the class was a lesson that forced students to choose the correct contact.

Monday, December 9, 2013

If you have SMART notebook files with text/images and you want to combine this with a Google Presentation, there is a small process that will make this work.

Remember, you can write on a Google presentation by following these steps.

Video Link



Video Link

Looking forward to a great session tomorrow!
Last year, Mr. Anderson embarked on a problem-based learning opportunity for his Anatomy students.

Read.

This year, Mr. Anderson invited my to his classroom for the final days of the learning environment.  Students were introduced to a patient.  That patient was shown an informational iMovie describing the body part that was being affected.  The iPad provided a great conversation starter between the patient and the students. Within that movie, students provided factual information along with specific footage of the students describing the body parts functions. (Special thanks to Mr. Gosse for being a patient)

Video Link


Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Students worked in partners to develop an information iMovie that would provide patients with some of the knowledge they needed to understand what was ailing them.
Creativity: Students need to use a multi-media approach complete with audio, video, and still images to convey information in a clear and concise manner.
Critical Thinking: Students experienced a wealthy of information and placing the correct information into the video was vital.  In addition, students needed to transfer the knowledge they had of the body parts to the patient while having a conversation.  It wasn't all about the technology.  Students needed to critically think about the most important information and provide that to the patient.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Because of a tweet by @mrbadura and his compilation of App Challenges, I decided to present the challenge to our teachers after yesterday's Lunch N' Learn topic.

The app challenge was promoted as this...
  • Combine Two Apps for a lesson in your classroom
  • Chrome/Web Based OR
  • iPad Options
  • Submit challenge USING any method (email, link, Google Drive)
  • $25 iTunes Card to the Best One (undefined)
  • All submissions combined and shared with all teachers
  • Deadline Dec 17; 4:00 PM
I also had PRINTED copies for the teachers as this was something that could be taken with them when the left Lunch N' Learn.  


Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Encouraging students to integrate two apps together challenges students to take their thinking to a higher level.  Determining the "work flow' forces students to think "how best can I make this work?"  This is a life long learning lesson.

Critical Thinking: (Similar To Creativity) Encouraging students to integrate two apps together challenges students to take their thinking to a higher level.  Determining the "work flow' forces students to think "how best can I make this work?"  This is a life long learning lesson.

*All credit for this idea needs to be given to @mrbadura and a large thank you to him for sharing!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Tired of trying to organize the plethora of Google Drive files you create or that have been shared with you?

Stop.

Learn to search with key shortcuts that will help you be more efficient.
  • Dropdown Menu Icon
  • Search Operators
    • " " Quotes
    • OR
    • - Hyphen
    • from:
    • to:
    • type:
    • before: YYYY-MM-DD after:YYYY-MM-DD
    • owner:
    • title:
Video Link


Add Apps Search To Gmail
Video Link


Search Your Google Drive

Engaging New Web Tools!
FutureMe 
Make Badges

Engaging New iPad App Tools!
Tellagami (Free)
Fuzel (Free)
Fuzel Tutorial Video Link


I recently discovered the redesigned Fuzel App. There are many apps that all for creation of collages, but this one seems to have an enormous amount of templates in which to insert pictures.

Sharing options, including save to camera roll, can provide easy uploading to Google Drive.

Video Link

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Teachers don't expect or want to be absent, but it happens.  In terms of writing lesson plans, there are numerous digital options for teachers.

All options can be integrated into Aesop Online which is our online absent request for teachers. Aesop is also available through your mobile browser.

ITEMS TO CONSIDER:
  • NEVER provide your username & password to subs
    • They are provided a temporary username & password when arriving at our school
  • Writing lesson plans is ok, you just might not want to write everything out!
  • Use a Google Doc template to find the perfect lesson plan template for your content. View Mr. Mannings easy to use version. View Amy Uelmen's CCSS related lesson plan.
  • Don't worry about being perfect when you "speak to the sub" through a digital tool.
  • Include pictures or video!  This will greatly reduce your typing time when "writing up lesson plans"  
  • Include audio!  It is so much easier to speak your lessons versus writing them.  
  • If you want to use a combination of typing, voice, or video combine them all into a Google Doc for a cloud based link that can be added to Aesop Online.
  • Include a QR code created by Google URL Shortener and it would be easy for the substitute to obtain the link using their smart phone.  Use shortened link for description in sub plans.
    This picture can be 

Tools
Google Drive: Any video recording, audio recording or picture of any document can be uploaded. If the blue sharing button is clicked and the settings changed to "anyone with a link", the link can be pasted into the "Notes to Substitute" section.  Include a small note stating, "copy and paste the link below into a new tab on your web browser" and substitute teachers can view your digital documents.



Cellphone:  If you own any smartphone (iPhone/Android) you can use the camera app to either record a video or take pictures of information the sub will need to see.  Use the Google Drive app for uploading the picture/video to the cloud.  Share the link containing the content.  Don't forget that using the Skitch app can annotate the information on the picture. Get Skitch for iPhone or Android.
Video Link


iPad/iPod:  Using the camera, consider talking through the content that you want the substitute to cover during your absence.  The video below was uploaded to YouTube and unlisted.  However, with the ease of Google Drive, simply upload the video and share the link associated with the video.



iPhone/Android YouTube Capture App:  With one click, record your lesson or instructions for your lesson and send them directly to YouTube.


Flip Camera/Bloggies:  These cameras are available for checkout from the library. There are plenty to go around.  One touch record, USB connection, one hour record time, upload video to Google Drive.

Digital Camera:  Most digital cameras take photos and videos.  If you can snap it or record it you can upload it to Google Drive.

Laptop (SMART Recorder/Screencast-o-matic.com):  If you would like to be present in the classroom, but not physically there, create a video recording of your computer screen using the SMART Recorder or Screencast-o-matic.
SMART Recorder


Screencast-o-matic


Google Presentations: Similar to PPT, but so easy to share with teaching using a public link. View the three part series to making great presentations.

Vocaroo: One click audio recording only.  No username and password needed. Example

Soundcloud: A great place to store multiple recordings.  Listen to an example.



Audacity: On our computers to record audio.  Create file and upload to Google Drive.



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