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#MayTheTechnologyEngageYou

Dot Day and Peardeck

September16

International Dot Day is celebrated on September 15th of each year.

International Dot Day was started on September 15, 2009 when a teacher, Terry Shay, introduced his class to Peter H. Reynolds The Dot.  The purpose of the book is to inspire creativity, courage, and collaboration.  In  the book, a teacher encourages a student who does not believe in  themselves to “make their mark.”  The student starts with a dot that leads to a breakthrough in her courage and self-worth.

Throughout this week,  Mr. Burns and our students have been working on Dot Day projects.  Our kindergarten and first grade students used paper plates to express themselves using markers, crayons, and paper.  2nd and 3rd graders used construction paper to create something to represent them.  Mr. Burns provided the students a variety of circular items, i.e. cds, paper towel rolls, and coins, to create dots on their papers.  Some students wrote a short summary about their drawings and what it meant to them.  Our 4th and 5th grade students used construction paper and glued  a black dot to the paper.  Then, they created works for art using the black dot for inspiration.  Look for the students art work to be on display during Open House this week.

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For those of you who missed the Peardeck training on Tuesday, you missed a laughter-filled afternoon.  We had a blast working on an interactive Peardeck in both teacher and student paced modes.  Those teachers in attendance showed their skills on slides about math,  RLA, science, and social studies.  Look at a few of the slides below.

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On the teacher side, you can look at the responses as a whole group or individual.  For example, on a draggable slide, you can have the student responses layered and immediately see if all students understand the material or if you need to review.  One of my favorite things about Peardeck is that you can view individual responses and choose to share one or a few on the projector.   The best part is the student will remain anonymous when you do this.  This allows your shy students to still shine in the classroom.

A few Peardeck highlights (just my opinion):

  • I love the takeaways.  How awesome is it that students can view their responses and the teacher’s notes on their own time?
  • You do not recreate the wheel.  Peardeck allows you to add interactive slides to existing Google Slides presentations.
  • Peardeck has many interactive types – draggable, open-ended, multiple choice, and websites – just to name a few.
  • You can toggle between teacher-led and student-paced during all presentations.  This allows the teacher to check for understanding and bring the class back together to clarify misconceptions.

The best part, our campus has access to all of Peardeck’s features through December.  This includes all interactive features and their massive template gallery.  On Thursday, they added a gallery for Social Studies and more templates are to be released in the coming weeks.  Get with me if you need additional help or support  with Peardeck.

 

 

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How has technology changed in the classroom

September9

I remember back when I took my technology class at Sam Houston, my professor considered an overhead, a pencil, and manipulatives as forms of technology.  It was easy to get marked high for technology on your observations because everyone used an overhead.  However, these same tools would not be considered technology today.  So, what do we expect to see in a classroom now?

As technology has evolved, so has our opinions about how we use the technology in our classrooms.  I worked as a classroom teacher for Willis when we did the first rollout of devices at the middle school.  For those student take home devices, we just hoped the students were using them at home appropriately.  The next round of devices were a few teachers with a set of tablets in their classrooms.  I vividly remember attending a meeting with Mr. Harkrider telling us he expected them to be used often and for more than just research.   I looked at my partner and asked her are we sure we want to do this?  We jumped in, full steam ahead with support from administration and our campus iCoach.  We learned a lot and tried many new things during that time.  I remember how nervous I was about turning students lose with the devices and what happens if they do something I do not know how to fix.  It was not always smooth sailing, but some of my favorite years in the classroom.  Looking back now, I am still amazed at how differently classrooms look in relation to technology than they did when I started fourteen years ago.

The vision for the instructional technology department is to empower learners to create, innovate, and collaborate.  Thinking back to my college professor’s view of  technology,  I realize it was all about how the teacher used the technology.  Now, it is about how is the student using technology.

ISTE Student Standards Poster

We want our students to take the information they are learning and create a product that illustrates their understanding or extends what they know.  No longer do we want students to create for only their classroom or their school.  Instead, we want them to publish and collaborate outside of our school walls.  To ensure their success, we have to equip them with the tools to do so.  Check out ISTE‘s webpage to learn more about the International Society for Technology in Education student and teacher standards.  It is a fabulous resource for our digital age learners.

With all the new changes with technology in the classroom, how can I help you?  I’m going to share some advice that helped me in the classroom.  First, do not be afraid to ask for help.  My best resource during my technology transition was  my iCoach.  She was always willing to listen as I walked through something I wanted to try, offering suggestions or support as needed, or just being an extra set of eyes and hands when trying new things.  My goal is to support you in using technology to ensure all students will learn at high levels.  Just let me know what you need from me: support during a lesson or planning, researching ideas, or just a sounding board.  I am only an email away.  Secondly, learn from  your students.  Our students are growing up in an age of digital learners.  They will be ahead of us every step of the way.  Let them teach you.  Finally, reflect on your lessons.  With technology, things will go wrong at times.  Reflect on the lesson  and think about how to make it better.  It could be something as simple as giving clearer instructions or working in partners instead of independently.  It is sad to see technology removed from lessons because it went poorly when a small change would have changed the outcome.Bitmoji Image

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Week of April 22 – April 26, 2019

April29

I feel like weeks with a student holiday seem to be the longest weeks for teachers.  I know I was out for two personal days, and only working three days felt like an entire week.  It seems I was always doing something on the days I was in.  On the plus side, I got well over my desired steps for the days and will achieve over 100 miles for the month of April.

Even with my short week, I visited some fabulous classrooms.  Mrs. Lopez and Mrs. McDonald were using Peardeck to review the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.  One of my favorite parts for the activity was the point of view slide (shown to the right).  After discussion and reviewing the 13th Amendment, students then had to write a thought from the viewpoint of the North and the South.  Students really had to think about how the viewpoint of the amendment would be considered based on their geographic location and how it would affect their livelihood.

 

8th grade Science students were focused on reviewing Moon Phases for the upcoming STAAR test.  Mrs. Troy’s class used the Google Expeditions Phases of the Moon AR activity.  She modified the activity by having the students pull up the Moon from an AR marker.  Then, they moved around the moon and described what phase it was currently in by identifying the position of the light and dark surfaces.  Many students had great conversations about the position of the Earth and the Sun in relation to the moon.  Watch a student explanation below.

On Friday, I stopped by Mrs. Gilliland’s room to see what her ELA students were doing.  She had them use Google Docs to write a short essay.  After writing the essay, they choose a student in the classroom to share their essay with.  Then, each student used the comment feature in Google to make three positive comments about their peer’s essay and to make two suggestions to improve or extend the essay.  Students were quiet and on task because all of their comments were made on the devices.

 

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April 26, 2019

April29

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April 18, 2019

April18

“Every person I have ever met enjoys learning, but not every person enjoys school.  That gap is where I think we should veer toward ‘Let’s learn something together‘ as opposed to ‘Let me teach you something.’  It focuses on the positive experience rather than the negative.” – Stuart Easton, Vista High School

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Week of April 8 – April 12, 2019

April16

So even with STAAR testing for 7th  and 8th graders, teachers found great ways to use technology to engage the students through the long week.

I saw many teachers using Goosechase to have students review before the test or review content in a new and fun way.  Mrs. Gilliland and Mrs. Harper completed their first Goosechase on Monday to review ELA concepts.  Students raced around the building to answer questions about homonyms, parts of speech, etc.

In 8th grade Science, Mrs. Troy and Mrs. Wells used Goosechase to review multiple Science concepts for  their upcoming benchmark.  Students moved around the building in stations to make videos about each of the concepts representing their knowledge and understanding.  Check out a student’s response above.

Coach Pope and  I had a short training on Flipgrid.   He is interested in using Flipgrid to have students response verbally about their understanding and connections of material in Texas History.  His plan is  to gain an understanding of Flipgrid throughout the last month and a half of school, so that he can use it to gain insight for how to use it at the start of next school year.

Mrs.  Harrell invited me to her class to see her students use Kahoot Jumble.  Kahoot Jumble has you put four answers in some type of order instead of the traditional Kahoot where you just select one answer.  For Mrs. Harrell’s review of the essential standard on ordering numbers, she had students use the Kahoot Jumble to put rational numbers in order.

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April 12, 2019

April12

“It is critical that our students know their thoughts and conversations are valued and important.  Invite conversation whenever possible.” – Dr. Jamie Lipp, Ohio State University

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Week of April 1 – April 5, 2019

April8

National Geographic Magazine Ad from 1994

As I visited classrooms this week, I happened to walk into an ELA room that was starting class with 10 minutes of silent reading for both students and the teacher.  I did not want to disturb the flow of the classroom, so I sat down and grabbed a magazine to read.  It happened to be a National Geographic from 1994.  What I found interesting was the Microsoft technology advertisement pictured to the right.  It was student perspective on taking a field trip through the Human Body with Mrs. Frizzle and her Magic School Bus.  As I read this ad, I spent some time reflecting on how much technology for our students has changed in the 25 years since this innovative technology from Microsoft.  Our students are no longer engaged clicking through the slides or just watching the videos from Magic School Bus, but instead want to immerse themselves in VR and AR activities to decode the wonders of their education or question their world at a global level.  Think about that when planning quality lessons involving technology.

This week, our sixth grade students reviewed important concepts about ELA using Kahoot.  The students could work independently or in partners during the activity.  After the students had time to answer their question, Mrs. Herrington would discuss and review any misconceptions that the students had about the material, such as the difference between compare and contrast.

In Ms. Baker’s class, students used the VR viewers to visit the Taj Mahal and learn more about India.  Students were given time to explore and ask questions about what they could see in the viewers.  If you would like to check out the viewers, check them out in the SSO (Single Sign On).

Coach Pope and I had a great meeting about using Flipgrid for student responses to open ended questions.  He wants to have his students record their answers to questions and make connections to prior knowledge of Texas History.  We discussed how to implement Flipgrid this year and how he might considered using it next school year with his students.

Our 8th graders are gearing up for STAAR testing in reading and math.  Mrs. Gilliland used Google Classroom to engage her students with some high interest reading passages.  She preassigned her classes in Google Classroom and gave them one of two passages to read.  She gave them a copy of the reading selection and open ended questions to answer and return digitally.  Students worked in partners or small groups to discuss the questions and make inferences.  Towards the end of class, Mrs. Gilliland had students pick one of their questions and write four multiple choice answers focusing on one being the distractor.

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For T3 this week, we focused on some quick and easy activities to use with students to keep them engaged.  A few of the things we discussed included Poll Everywhere, Mentimeter, and Plickers.  One of the favorites from T3 was Bingo Baker, which was shared with me by Shae Robinson.  Every teacher at the training was encouraged to pick one of the ideas shared and use it with their students in the two weeks before our follow up T3 on April 16th.  If you did not attend the first T3, you are still welcome to join us on the 16th.

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April 5, 2019

April5

“It is hard to breathe within the space created by never.”

– Dr. Rick Rigsby

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March 29, 2019

March29

Fear has two meanings:

Forget Everything And Run

or

Face Everything and Rise.

The choice is yours.

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