Digital Learning Day is Coming!

March 13, 2015

http://www.digitallearningday.org/

As stated in Superintendent Britten's email to staff, it is his expectation that all of our teachers and students are to engage in at least one digital learning activity that day.  What does this mean for you as a GLPS teacher? 

• All teachers and students are to engage in at least one digital learning activity that day.  
• This could be a lesson that is fully integrated with different technology resources, or it could be a short 20-minute lesson that the students are engaged in with technology to support their learning.
• The purpose of integrating technology should be to support, supplement, or extend student learning.  Do not use technology simply for the sake of using technology! 

So, How Can You Get Ready for Digital Learning Day in Your Classroom?

PLAN FOR IT!

Everyone is at different comfort levels with using technology, so it may take some advance planning might be necessary if you are not utilizing it everyday in your classroom.

• Think about ways that technology will support your teaching and student learning.
• Not sure what to do? Do a Google search for "Digital Learning Day" and check out what others are doing.
• Check out the Digital Learning Day website for more information about the day.
• Talk with your team members, other teachers in your building, or others in your PLN to crowdsource some new ideas.
• Revist ideas from Rebel U.
• Using Kagan and/or SIOP in your classroom? The 2014 12 Days of EdTech Cheer was all about using technology to support those programs. Check it out for some new ideas!
• Still not sure? Contact your friendly neighborhood Technology and Media Integration Specialist (Sarah Wood) and she would be happy to help you plan an activity for the day.

DO IT!

Once you have your lesson planned, go ahead and do it! If you are doing something new that you haven't tried or experimented with much before, it might be helpful to give it a trial run in your classroom. This will help alleviate any stress on the actual day.

DOCUMENT IT!

In addition to implementing a lesson, Superintendent Britten is also asking you to document the digital learning and instruction that is taking place in your classrooms.

• Take pictures, videos, capture screen shots and screencasts, or anything else that sums up the digital learning that took place in your classroom.
• Share it on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) with the hashtag #GlpsDLDay.  Make sure you know and check student permissions before posting!
• Want to follow what everyone in our district is doing on social media? Check out this link for the full (public) social media posts with the hashtag #GlpsDLDay https://tagboard.com/GlpsDlDay/search. (Note: Only public posts will show up here - if your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. accounts are private, they will not show up in this feed)

Fire Prevention Week 2014, October 5-11

Come visit me over at my blog to check out ways technology can be used as a resource in the classroom for teaching about fire safety and prevention.

Integrated Technology Instruction at Godfrey-Lee

About a month ago, we sent out a survey to our teachers asking them to share three ways they use technology as an instructional or student learning tool.  Our purpose in putting this survey out to teachers was to gather ideas of best practices for ways that technology is being used within our district.  We opened the survey to teachers for a few weeks and collected many great ideas!  Some data about the teachers in our district that voluntarily participated in our integrated technology instruction survey is show in the charts below.
The chart below provides a snapshot of the ideas collected from teachers.  To see a further breakdown of the chart below, please click here to view a full spreadsheet.  To see a full list of the ideas provided by teachers, please click here.

SIOP {Lesson Preparation}: Creating Meaningful Activities with Comics

Come visit me over at my blog to check out ways technology can be used as a tool to support SIOP and creating meaningful learning activities!

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: SIOP Companion Resources

Come visit me over at my blog to check out ways technology can be used as a tool to support SIOP!

Back to School

I recently sent out a survey to our teachers asking them how they have implemented technology into their classrooms and professional practice in the first two weeks of school.  I was curious as to what many teachers were doing in their classrooms, as much of the first month of school our Tech Team is spread a little thin trying to make sure everyone is situated with what they need in their classrooms and everything is working properly.

Some of the implementations and resources that were shared with me are listed below.

• Fruitnotes; Online syllabus/class webpage
• Planbook.edu
• Twitter
• I used flip cams for students to create videos after doing a "MacQuest" to get to know their Macbooks. The videos were shown to the class as a teaching tool for them.
• This year I created an opening day powerpoint including images to help my students learn my PBIS expectations. I also included procedures for fire, tornado, and code red drills. It was very helpful for the visual learners and it was a very user-friendly way of introducing expectations to every class so that I did not forget anything important.
• Google Docs and additions to my Google Site
• Moodle; Google Docs; I will be trying to record my lessons and posting them on my youtube channel.
• Google Earth tours.
• Using the IPEVO to project assignments or explain activities. You tube videos for counting, and PBIS videos on the shared drive.
• We've been using more Kagan Techniques in my classroom.
• Keeping documents online for easy organization and access. And, creating a google form.
  (http://gelstudentsupport.weebly.com)
• Used internet websites.
• I took their pictures on the first day of school and put them on the screen for them to get to know each other, then printed them off to use for centers and for work that will be put up for parents to see.
• Trying to integrate Discovery Ed Techbook.
• Had students do some exploring of different websites and apps and how we could use the, to learn English. Also, I usually start out with a unit to help Newcomers become familiar with the school and incorporate technology as we go. I will still do this, but this year I started with some basic technology instruction such as basics of an iPad and logging in to RebelNet. Students with experience in these areas were tutors for Newer students.
• Adding the Apple airplay capability to classroom instruction
• Attempting to hook up more web links on our school page.
• We're using ClassDojo to track behavior and participation. Comments from ClassDojo data will be added to report cards at the end of the tri.
• I have completely changed the way that I instruct the marching band, while using technology. The use of the iPad has changed my life. I am still working on integrating the audio part, but the growth is happening.
• I began storing my lesson plans, links, and documents in Dropbox to help me with organization. By putting everything relating to my units and lessons in organized folders in Dropbox, I can easily bring up a document or link relating to the unit. I also started using DocScan on my phone to take a picture of documents I am using so I can easily store them in Dropbox to add to my lesson plan. This also came in handy one day when Edmodo was down. I was able to quickly pull up the scanned document in Dropbox and email it to the students. I didn't learn about either of these directly in a Rebel U session, but after MEAP, I do plan on having students create videos and use the editing tools in YouTube that I learned about from Ron.
• I'm trying to keep all my calendar items online.
• Because this is the first year that I have had technology to use in my special education classroom I have been able to use a lot of different tech based resources that I have never been able to use before. Having resources is absolutely wonderful and I think my special education students will really benefit from having access to them.
• I have used a Prezi! I have thought long and hard about how to use remind101

If you are interested in viewing some of the data about those that replied to my survey, please click here.

The responses to one question in particular I found to be interesting. On the Wednesday before school began (which was on the following Tuesday), our Technology & Media Team put on Rebel U for technology professional development for teachers. When asked if what they had done in the first two weeks of school was something that they had learned about at Rebel U, there was a decent number of teachers who responded "yes" to the question. This was very encouraging to me to see that some teachers were so excited about something new that they learned, that in less than a week, they found a way to try it in their own classroom.

So, how did your school year begin?  Were you able to use technology in a new way?

Learning Design Web Resources

Come visit me over at my blog to check out some resources that can be used as part of a universal lesson design model!

Summarizer Idea: Memes

Come visit me over at my blog to check out how memes can be used for summarizers!

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: It's All About the {App}lications!

Come visit me over at my blog to check out some resources that can be used for utilizing iPads as an instructional and learning tool.

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: Lesson Activators

Come visit me over at my blog to check out some technology resources that can be used for lesson activators!

App Highlight {Secondary Teachers}

As our teachers are acquiring different devices that meet their needs, as well as the needs of their students, the district has been working to support a variety of devices.  As many teachers are finding iPads to be a good solution to their classroom needs, the question that is most commonly received is, "Which apps should I use?"?  While there are many app recommendations that one can make for a fellow educator, the power of apps lies in that of their implementation and applications.  We surveyed our secondary teachers who currently have access to iPads to find out which apps they find most useful and how they are using them in their classrooms.  Below are their favorite apps and how they are implementing them.

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Teacher: Brian Conway

Grade: 7th Grade
Favorite App: Class Dojo
How do you use this app in your classroom?  This app goes along with the classroom management program found at classdojo.com where students are assigned an avatar and receive points based on positive behavior and lose points for poor behavior. It is nice to have the app because you can have it open during the class and can quickly and seamlessly adjust points with out having to go back to the computer. I set up a two week period where students compete to score the most amount of points. This seems to work well with middle school students and below. I am not sure how well it would go over in the high school.

Teacher: Vlad Borza

Grade: 6th Grade
Favorite App: Socrative
How do you use this app in your classroom?  Similar to the online version of the popular quiz program, I have direct access to all of my stored quizzes at my fingertips. I can start a pre-made quiz or quickly create a new one to use as an exit slip.
This app also allows me to see the live results and student progress to know how far along in the quiz each student is.
Any other comments or helpful hints you would like to a teacher who is trying this app for the first time? Students can also download the "student version" on their personal devices, alleviating some issues with not having enough working computers in the classroom. The platform is extremely easy to use for students and even has built in games where students can race each other or other groups while taking a quiz.

App Highlight {Elementary Teachers}

As our teachers are acquiring different devices that meet their needs, as well as the needs of their students, the district has been working to support a variety of devices.  As many teachers are finding iPads to be a good solution to their classroom needs, the question that is most commonly received is, "Which apps should I use?"?  While there are many app recommendations that one can make for a fellow educator, the power of apps lies in that of their implementation and applications.  We surveyed our elementary teachers who currently have access to iPads to find out which apps they find most useful and how they are using them in their classrooms.  Below are their favorite apps and how they are implementing them.

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Teacher: Katie VanArk

Grade: Kindergarten
Favorite App: Letter School
How do you use this app in your classroom?  For handwriting and letter recognition.
Any other comments or helpful hints you would like to a teacher who is trying this app for the first time? This is far and away the best handwriting app I have seen. It's very engaging and gives students feedback when they try to form the letters without the correct technique. It has multiple levels and you can select your district's handwriting program.

Teacher: Katie VanHaven

Grade: KindergartenFavorite App: Spelling Magic
How do you use this app in your classroom?  This app allows the student to view and hear a CVC word and then make the word with as much help as you program into the settings.
Any other comments or helpful hints you would like to a teacher who is trying this app for the first time? Every student in your classroom can use this app, no matter their reading proficiency. It will give the three letter choices of the word or it can give double letters words like "hill" for more advanced students.

Teacher: Sarah David

Grade: 5th GradeFavorite App: Virtual Manipulatives
How do you use this app in your classroom?  This app is free and has virtual fraction strips. I use it to compare fractions, find equivalent fractions and also +, -, x, / them.
Any other comments or helpful hints you would like to a teacher who is trying this app for the first time?

Here's a list of other apps I use:
ELA
SpellingCity
SpellGrade 1-5
Mad Libs
Storia
iTooch Grade 5 English

Math
5 Dice
Block Builder
MathEdge Divide
Long Division
iTooch Grade 5 Math
Dice
My Math App
Teaching Table
Equivalent Fractions
KickBox
BigSeed
Basic Fractions

Other
iTooch Grade 5
TourWrist
Paper EX
PBS KIDS
ShowMe
Khan Academy
Kidblog
Toontastic
BrainPOP
PBS
AirSketch Free
Groupboard

Teacher: Olivia Alkema

Grade: 5th Grade

Favorite App: Evernote
How do you use this app in your classroom?  I have been using this in our math lessons. Students can easily add a "note" to a "notebook" to use as documentation of their understandings. A note could be written, a picture, or audio file. All added with the touch of a button.
Any other comments or helpful hints you would like to a teacher who is trying this app for the first time? If you are only using this for one class, I set up a teacher account and made one notebook for each student to use. If you are looking to use this in several different areas, you could have each student set up an account, and share their notebooks with your account.
Other Favorite App: ShowMe/ScreenChomp/Educreations
How do you use these apps in your classroom?  All of these free apps can be used by students to create documentation of their understanding. They can use the app to draw what they learned or write out a problem (like a whiteboard), then record what they learned in an audio file. Can also be used to have students teach students. A student can record a "how to" for a task and other students can use this file as a strategy for remediation.
Any other comments or helpful hints you would like to a teacher who is trying this app for the first time? Some of these apps require you to create an account to share or save your creation. Check it out before handing it over to students.

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: Summarizers, Reflections, and Exit Strategies - Oh My!

Come visit me over at my blog to check out some technology resources that can be used for exit strategies.

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: February 2013 - "Resource Catchers"

Hop on over to my blog to get your very own "resource catchers" that are aligned to Bloom's Taxonomy!  These provide a great way to provide students with choice in their learning as well as integrating technology.

Making Your Files Work for You - Cloud Storage

Let's face it, we are all busy people.  Our schedules sometimes vary from day to day, our workload isn't confined to a 7:00am-3:00pm day, and our access to technology resources sometimes varies depending on our location.  As a result of this busy life of an educator, we often have digital resources saved in different locations and have different kinds of file types.  As part of a service provided to Godfrey-Lee Public School employees, all employees have access to their files saved on the district's network through Stoneware (also known as "RebelNet" in the district).  One of the great features of RebelNet is that it provides anytime, anywhere access to network files from any device.  Although this is a fantastic feature, in working and talking with some teachers, they find that they would sometimes like a little more flexibility in access to their files.  Sometimes Google Drive provides the necessary functionality, but other times a different option is still needed.

This is where Dropbox enters the conversation.  Dropbox provides a way to sync files across multiple devices.  The great thing about Dropbox is that users can easily manipulate files, edit, and have real-time access to all files saved to Dropbox.  By simply creating a Dropbox account, users are not only provided to online access to files, but have the ability to download the Dropbox application to their device to have even easier access to their files (allowing users to open files in windows similar to their "My Files" on Windows devices or "Finder" on a Mac).  The video below further describes how Dropbox works.


As a Technology Integration Specialist, I utilize many different tools.  I use RebelNet to store some files, I use Google Drive heavily for others, but I also frequently utilize Dropbox.  I have had people ask me how I utilize these tools, and I thought I would share a bit how I put these tools to work for me.

• I am <ridiculously> over-connected.  I have 3 computers I use (2 for work - 1 Mac, 1 PC; 1 for home - Mac), an iPad, and a smart phone.  I use all of these devices almost daily, but use all of them differently.
• Why I Like/Use RebelNet
• Ties many resources into one common location
• Stores my passwords to several web resources utilized by the district
• Provides secure access to district files and resources
• Why I Like/Use Google Drive
• Allows me to share files easily with others
• Can collaborate with others to create files
• Allows me to create files and easily share and embed them in other places so that others can easily view them without having to have a specific program
• Why I Like/Use Dropbox
• It syncs all across all 5 of my devices
• I can access it online as well as my devices
• Very user-friendly
• Easy to transfer large files - I sometimes take pictures and edit them on my personal computer, put them in Dropbox so then I can access them when at work.

Regardless of which tool you use (even if it is something other than one of these), the important part is that it is something that works for you.  Just because everyone else is using something, doesn't mean that same tool will be the best fit for you.  So, feel free to try different tools until you find the one that best suits your needs!

Google Forms in the Classroom (& Flubaroo)

Hop on over to my blog to read more about how you can utilize Google Forms for assessments in your class in conjunction with Flubaroo for some awesome self-grading capabilities.

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Digital Learning Day 2013 #DLDay

Digital Learning Day 2013 will take place tomorrow, February 6, 2013.  So, what is Digital Learning Day you might ask?  In a nutshell, Digital Learning Day is a day that celebrates the use of technology by students and educators.  For more information and resources about this day, please visit the Digital Learning Day website.

GLPS Digital Learning Day Teacher Challenge
At Rebel U {Virtual Edition}, all GLPS teachers had the opportunity to create a website.  We hope that this day provided teachers with the tools to get started with a website or the time to further developing an existing site.  Now, we would like to celebrate the work you have done in establishing your site and making it a place for communication, collaboration, and learning.

We encourage you to share a link below to something you have created or posted on your website.  This could be a link to a blog post, reference tools for students, highlights of student work, documentation of something in your classroom, or anything else that you have integrated into your teacher website!  No contribution to this online celebration is too small - all accomplishments are great accomplishments!

Or, if you are interested in following the discussion on Twitter, check out the DLDay2013 feed here.

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: January 2013

Hop on over to my blog if you want to check out my monthly tech integration idea prompt!  This month my post is filled with ideas for teachers who are building a classroom website.

Guest Post: AirSketch & iPads in the Elementary Classroom

Today's guest post is written by Elementary ELL Instructor, Christi Gilbert, and 5th Grade Teacher, Olivia Alkema.  Olivia & Christi wanted to share how they were using iPads in the 5th Grade classroom as part of their co-teaching, student-centered learning environment.  Below is their guest blog post.  You can Christi online here and Olivia here.

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AirSketch Free is an incredible iPad app that is easy to use in your classroom. What is it? AirSketch Free is basically a whiteboard that your students can use to share their work with the rest of the class.

 

My co-teacher, Olivia, and I use AirSketch in our math class for students to share their thinking. We have 8 iPads and so we divide our students in to 8 groups. Then we give the students a math problem to solve. Sometimes this takes the place of the monotonous "write your problem up on the board and share with the class" instruction, or is a new way to have students work out a math word problem.

 

The students work as a group to not only come up with an answer, but also to explain their thinking and HOW they solve the problem. They record their thinking through words and drawings on the AirSketch screen.

 

Now for the fun part. At the bottom left-hand side of the AirSketch screen, there is a little button that looks like a wireless icon (upside down triangle). When you click on that icon, you will see an IP address. It looks something like this: 10.10.10.5.11. Ok, so I made that up. But you get the idea.

Take that IP address and type it into the address bar on your computer. Make sure your computer is connected to your projector, and your projector is turned on. (Simple, yes. Often forgotten? Yes.) Wha-la! Your student's work is now on your screen for the whole class to see! Each group then takes a turn explaining their work and reasoning to the rest of the class.  The best part of this is that the students's work is shown in real time.  Anything they write down on the iPad will be displayed in real time on the computer screen.  Students absolutely love to write something down on the tablet and watch it "magically" appear on the screen.

 

This instruction can work with multiple iPads, or just one.  For multiple groups using multiple iPads, we create a new tab on the teacher computer for each group. Then we gather the IP addresses from each iPad and type them in to each tab. This way, when the students are ready to present, we just click on a tab and the students' work is there. This saves a lot of time and makes the class discussion run smoothly.

If you only have 1 iPad, you can still put your students in groups. Have them record their thinking on a piece of paper or a "real" whiteboard. Then, when it comes time to share, you will simply play "pass the iPad". One group will record their work on the AirSketch screen and share it with the class. Then, they will pass the IPad to the next group who will do the same.

 

If you have an AppleTV this process becomes even easier.  You can teach students how to connect to the AppleTV and they do the "dirty work" of the connection process for the class to have a view of that groups' work. 

Monthly Tech Integration Idea: December 2012

Hop on over to my blog if you want to check out my monthly tech integration idea prompt!  This month my post is about using the Elf on the Shelf in your classroom!

Source: triadmomsonmain.com via Sarah on Pinterest