EdTechSmith

Growing your PLN with Voxer.

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:44:00 +0000

Yesterday was one of those busy busy days at school! I ate on the run, as I worked with all kinds of teachers on everything from resetting passwords to great ways for students to show their learning in ELA. As I walked out of school, I could hardly wait to get home to my cheeky monkeys. I knew we had soccer practice, diving and a cross country meet. It was going to be just crazy!

Time was flying by when I realized that it was already time to get online to co-host my show on the EdReach Network, Learning RedesignED, with Amy Lamberti. I took a deep breath, then hopped into a Hangout.

There is something so powerful about connecting with other teachers who are passionate and excited about what they are doing in their classrooms. It just refills me after stressful days. Kelly was a fantastic guest, and showed all kinds of amazing pictures of her classroom as she has transformed to make it more student centered. What a pleasure to interview her. Be sure to check out our show.

voxer.com

http://www.leadlearner.com/

Then, she mentioned Voxer. I just lit up at the mention of it! I love Voxer! I use it to talk asynchronously with my sister who lives in Sydney, or with my busy girl friends. I love that I can send off a voice message whenever I have a thought or free moment.
Kelly blew me away when she said that she has been using it to connect with her PLN. Apparently, there are Voxer Edu groups where you an connect with teachers in group chats on Voxer. I dug around today, and found this Google Document via @Joe_Mazza with tons of teachers (#EduVoxers) all over the place connecting on all kinds of topics. Then, I went to Twitter and looked at the #Eduvoxers hashtag...another great way to find people to Vox with. Joe Mazza writes all about great ways to use Voxer for growing your PLN and PD and also for podcasting.

The part I love best about this idea is being able to listen to people's excited voices, providing feedback to one another on all kinds of ideas. Imagine putting a question out to your PLN when you have a moment, then coming back later to hear everyone's thoughts! You could ask for feedback on ideas, rehash lessons that did not go well, ask for about a teaching strategy. It would be like listening to a podcast on my way home from school...which I love doing after a busy day. It is like a little shot of positive energy refilling me after being used up.

Have you been using Voxer for you own PD or growing your PLN? I would love to hear your take on #EduVoxers.

Who uses Twitter in their Classroom? Just curious.

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 00:09:00 +0000

Today, as I sat in our Building Leadership meeting, I heard a question I hear often. "Who uses Twitter in the Classroom? Just curious."

I have learned that this question is asked when a teacher has not seen the power that connecting teachers and parents together can bring to a school.

Twitter can be just one more way that teachers can share the amazing things they are doing in their classroom. As a parent myself, I crave to get a peak into my child's classroom. Each time there is a blog post or email shared with glimpses into my kids' day, I feel more confident in the education that they are getting. I feel more connected to my school. I love my kids' teachers more. Why not embrace administration using Twitter in school?

This teacher was asking because our new building principal was reassuring teachers that Twitter is used almost like a blog for schools now. This teacher was possibly pointing out that this idea was silly, as none of the teachers, on our Building Leadership Team were using this powerful tool to share student work, ideas, much less connect with others, in my school because not one raised their hand.

Our admin was sharing how important social media can be to allow parents and the community a glimpse into what is going on in their classrooms. A way to share a quick picture with our learning community. A way to promote the great lessons or projects students are engaged in. A way to promote how competent and passionate our teachers are to the people who entrust us with their most precious beings.

Our teachers are nervous about the administration using any kind of social media to share what is going on in our school. Last year they were surprised by a Facebook page that was developed by our last administration, and some felt like they should have been asked permission before a picture of their classroom or their lesson was posted.

"Surprise" + "Social Media" = Angry Teachers.

I have learned from my dedicated and cautious to change staff, that to win reluctant teachers over to technology, a clear picture of why something is needed in school is best practice. But is the use of social media by administration really up to the teachers? Could an administrator's mandate to share good news from school be trumped by a reluctant staff?

I feel a Twitter Thursday Tech Three coming....Maybe by this time next year that teacher will asks, "Who uses Twitter in their classroom? Just curious..." more than half the teachers around our Building Leadership Team will be confidently raising their hand.
After all, aren't building leaders agents of change?

Rolling Out Google Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 21:32:00 +0000

It is already the third week of school! The days are flying by as I run around fixing tiny issues, resetting passwords, re-teaching how to set up grade But, amongst the chaos, I have managed to get some teachers excited about Google Classroom!

Google Classroom is going to alleviate most of the trouble with document sharing, commenting and assigning grades to student work. It creates a folder in your drive for each assignment you give students. Their work gets turned into that folder, and not into your Incoming (or Shared with Me)drive. So, your Drive is neat and tidy! Plus, there is a stream where students can interact with each other and their teachers. Grades can be assigned through this stream too! It is almost like Edmodo meets Google Drive. A match made in Heaven?

I rolled out Google Classroom in a Thursday Tech Three email, which I have resurrected after a year’s break, but with a twist! Instead of throwing tools at the teachers each week, I thought I would concentrate on promoting communication and collaboration between students and teachers that might reach beyond the classroom. The plans is to send out email each Thursday, with a screencast or quick tip to get teachers interested, then host mini sessions throughout our collaboration day (the one day my middle school doesn’t hold a formal team meeting during team time). It has worked out so well! Teachers come, after reading or listening to my Thursday Tech Three tip, then work together to figure out how the tool can improve communication or collaboration with students. This is the quick tip I shared with them. Google Classroom

We have been a #GAFE school for over 8 years, and still, some of the teachers are struggling to manage their documents inside Drive. I think it is because teachers like a clean surface, a clean desktop and everything sorted into their correct place. Up until now, some have been reluctant to share documents with students, and prefer to have them print them out and turn them old school style.

How do you, as a tech coach, roll out new initiatives? I would be interested to hear!

Pixel Press Floors

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Wed, 28 May 2014 14:51:00 +0000

http://projectpixelpress.com/floors/

I am SUPER DUPER excited about a new app from Pixel Press. It is called Floors. http://projectpixelpress.com/

It is a game designing product that is creative. You can either design levels in the app, or you can draw your game on the special grid paper and then take a picture of it, and then the app creates your game.
After testing and tweaks, students can upload their games to the Arcade (searching the Arcade is not great, but email, Facebooking or tweeting it to friends works really well) and share it with friends.
I gave it to my son this morning, after playing with it a yesterday, and he created a two level game in like 10 mins. He is SUPER DUPER excited about creating games for his peers.

I can totally see this used in my coding class next year! I love that the games can be brainstormed, drawn collaboratively, tested, re-tweaked and then finally published and shared with a larger audience. It is a perfect example of a great design thinking lesson! Today, on my EdReach commute (see previous post http://edtechsmith.blogspot.com/2014/03/edtech-just-tool-in-classroom.html) I learned on the 2 Guys Show, that they are going to be designing lesson plans to help teachers implement Design Thinking lesson around Pixel Press for release in July 2014.

Their Vimeo channel is also really awesome for mini tutorials too!
http://vimeo.com/pixelpressgame. The tutorials are great for kids because they are short and easy to navigate.

A link to the special grip paper

http://projectpixelpress.com/floors-sketch-guide/

It is only iOS right now, but they are working on an Android version as we speak.

Guys Show #32

I heard about it from my friend Carrie (@heck_awesome) and then on the 2 Guys Show #2GuysShow on the EdReach Network (@EdreachUs).

If you search #PixelPress on Twitter, you can see lots of examples of what teachers are already doing with Floors in their classrooms. Enjoy creating!

LOVE this tool!

Do You Know Your Students?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Thu, 22 May 2014 18:31:00 +0000

http://codeclubworld.org/

Yesterday, I had to opportunity visit a Jennifer Leigh's @jen_leigh1 lunchtime coding club for 3rd graders in a elementary school in my district. The students were so excited to share their learning with me. They wanted to take me step by step through the creation process. They shared what programming languages they liked best and why. They talked about how they used other student's work to build their games off of. They knew to give the students they borrowed their work, credit. The coders talked about how they wanted to learn more about Scratch so that they could make more interesting games. They were reflecting on their work and the process of learning to code freely and authentically.

The Code Club was a hive of activity. Students working together, helping each other, going to Khan Academy to get more skills, creating new games based on their favorites. They even knew which student was "huge on Scratch" because he had created lots of games that other Scratch lovers liked to play. I loved seeing students so excited about learning in school. Persevering through trial and error to create programs.

OPLAYSMINECRAFT

This has been a busy week for student creations for me.

Over the weekend, we hosted a sleepover, and O and Dylan, my nephew and my son created a video with a side by side screen perspective so that the viewers could "get the full experience". Both boys are 10. They used my computer to screencast their Minecraft Mini-Game, using Quicktime, then, used iMovie to edit the movie into a side by side view with audio, transitions, and titles. They even learned how to create a thumbnail for the video, using pixlr.com to "Make it look professional". We even had a discussion about copyright of images and their digital footprint in an authentic, teachable moment kinda way.

These boys used tools that they had little to no experience using to create a well edited video with just my guidance. They persevered through the tech to create the finished product that they had in their mind's eye. They used Google Search to figure out what to do. They problem solved together. They were excited to create the video and could not get it on Youtube fast enough so that O's subscribers could revel in the creation! They must have checked their views 10 times throughout the next two days to read comments and see their view numbers. (If you view their video, feel free to comment on their videos...it will make their day!)

Why is any of this important?

These students are all 10 years old or younger. They are all creating digital content for audiences that are larger than their classrooms. They are all craving feedback from their audience. They are all creating in digital tools that they need to learn to create their projects. They are all persevering and embracing failure because their are working on their passions. Do these students have this opportunity outside of their Code Club or their homes?

If students are excited about creating at home, could we as educators not leverage their passion to "trick" them learn content in the classroom?

CreativeCommons.org

Simply getting to know our students would help us learn about their skills. Do you know what your students are passionate about outside of school? Do you let them bring their passions into the classroom? Do you allow creation in your room?

Packets are not engaging. Worksheets don't allow feedback from an audience. Answering teacher generated questions does not help students learn.

Let them use their mad skills to create. Let them have choice. And they will happily learn.

Updating my Résumé: A Great Way to Reflect on Change

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Tue, 20 May 2014 19:05:00 +0000

This week, I have been working on my résumé. Not because I am thinking of changing positions, but because I vowed to myself that I would always have an up to date resume. As I added the tweaks to my position description and added in new professional roles, I began to reflect on my teaching practice.

I live in Illinois, and teachers have a new evaluation system. Say what you will about the evaluation process, the Danielson Framework that it is based on, does force teachers to reflect on their practice. I know that this process being more intentionally built into my evaluations has changed my practice.

Writing my résumé proved to be a good process because I did have to make changes to the descriptions of my work over the last year. Once it was completed, I sent it to my husband for proof reading, and he responded that it was amazing to see all the items that I added to it. That got me thinking about Teaching in Beta (previous post) theory. Should all teachers have to change their résumés each year even if they don't change positions? Do they take on different leadership roles within their school? Do they change methods of delivering content? Start incorporating blended learning into their classroom? Integrate technology when they didn't previously? Should they be changing their practice, and thus the description of their position on their résumés? Gawd yes!

Become connected and you too will need to update your résumé!

Writing my résumé, or better still, tweaking my old résumé allowed me to see where I am changing, evolving and letting some previous practices go to my lesson grave yard. And, better still, it allowed me to see for myself that I am having an impact, coaching teachers to change their practice and having success at it! Maybe rewriting your résumé will help you get through this Spring too!

Teaching in Beta: Do You Have a Lesson Graveyard?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:54:00 +0000

I have been listening to an EdReach podcast each day during my commute, learn more in a previous post. (Edtech: Just a Tool in the Classroom). This week, I had the opportunity to listen to another great podcast from the EdReach Network. I became inspired when Molly Schroeder @followmolly, who was interviewed on Flipped Learning with Troy Cockrum @tcockrum, discussed the idea of teaching in beta. It has been ringing in my ears ever since. I can't stop thinking about it!

First, what does "beta" mean? When new tech tools become available online, they are often offered in beta. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a beta is a "nearly complete prototype of a product". In other words, a not quite finished product. Often, these tools are ever changing. A perfect example is Google. It is always changing!

Molly contends that is how teachers should think about their teaching. Ever changing. Their lessons should be tweaked, upgraded, and the most important part...put in the graveyard if the lesson just isn't working anymore. This idea got me thinking.

I think that some teachers are reticent to embrace tech in the classroom because they think of it as "just one more thing". They add it onto of all their lessons and then feel overwhelmed because they just can't let anything go. Or, maybe, they aren't aware that they can use tech to substitute or change a lesson, and then let the paper pencil part, or the packet that they used to use go, or let the students choose how they are going to show their learning. Molly suggests that we should not be afraid to try something new, and if it fails, to use that failure as a learning for the next time. To prototype lessons, to change them as they need to be change and to put the lessons that don't work anymore in the lesson graveyard.

Slate Magazine created a Google Graveyard for all the beta products that did not have as much success as they had wanted. If Google ins't afraid to put a tool in the graveyard, after all that time and energy has been spent, then why can't teachers have a lesson graveyard too? Change is exhilarating and thinking of teaching in beta might put a spring in your step. It sure has for me!

The Idea Lady

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 14:42:00 +0000

I am the Creative Innovative Specialist in a middle school. This is a title that my associate principal gave me after thinking that Technology Integration Specialist just didn't describe my role in our middle school. I coach teachers in integrating technology into the curriculum.

The best part of my position as a Creative Innovative Specialist is working in different classrooms each day. I learn so very much about classroom management, differentiation and connecting with students from co-teaching with teachers in my school. The teachers rely on me to help them redesign lessons or help them offer more learning product choices to students especially in the area of technology. I plan with my amazing LMC director to incorporate research best practice too. It is rewarding to have the opportunity to rethink lessons, plan with colleagues (which seems to help the idea juices flow better), look at cool new tools and to design lessons that will engage the students.

There are days, like yesterday, when I hold a professional development session that I really wish I had my own classroom again! I exposed the teachers to education.weebly.com and as I drove

home, thought about all the cool things that could be done with a weebly site and students. Blogging, digital portfolios, sharing images, ideas and building their own sites. I was thinking that the teachers who came to the workshop would create a teacher website, and not choose to use the tool to change the way they deliver lessons, or allow students to connect, or encourage the students to build a digital portfolio. I was pleased that they came to learn about the tool, but worried they would not make any change to their current plan either way.

The hardest part of my position is I share a many many ideas to change lessons, or engage students, or offer more student choice, to allow the students to reach the world outside of the school, to meet the Common Core Standards, to change the classroom from teacher-centered to student-centered, and most of those ideas are never used! The staff sees me as The Idea Lady. The one who is always sharing how to change. Some love it and take me up on all kinds of ideas, while others just never plan with me. The teachers who never work with me are the people I feel the most responsible to reach.

On the days when I feel like I am not impacting education in my school, I think about returning to the classroom where I could implement my ideas and see them come to fruition. Be the master of my own universe! I could really impact a small group of students, to offer more student choice, to do Genius Hour, to blog with students, to use social media to break down the classroom walls!

Then, I remember that I love being The Idea Lady! That I impact lots of kids and lots of teachers, I am changing education in my school (slowly) and I learn so much each day from the people around me. So, I embrace The Idea Lady.

Edtech: Just a Tool in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:46:00 +0000

I am a co-host of a show called Learning RedesignED on the EdReach Network (@EdReachUs), and honestly, until about a week ago, I had not consistently listened to another podcast on this amazing network in more than a year. I have been listening to the EdReach Network podcasts each morning on my way to work. A great way to use the time wisely! I arrive at work, feeling relaxed and like I had spent a little time doing something for myself.

In a week and a half, I have learned so much about what other passionate educators think about education from how important a crisis plan is for a school (Mission Monday), to the cool new features of Google Play for Education (Google Educast).

The one thing that idea that keeps rattling around in my head is that the term "Edtech"needs to be changed to just plain education. Technology is present in all of our lives and in all other businesses. People in other industries don't have a choice to use technology. It is built into their work. Why is it so different for teachers?

Never do we give teachers classes on how to use a pen or a desk or an overhead. We don't attend conferences around the other "tools" we use in the classroom. Technology in school is here to stay! We need to use technology in our classrooms to make our instruction more relevant, to vary our presentation method, to allow students to be creative, to allow students to connect outside the classroom walls, and because it is part of their lives already!

If I was to ask how many people didn't use technology today to a group of teachers even, I will wager that no one would raise their hand! Technology makes our lives easier to manage. It will do the same for our classrooms. So, stop talking about "technology in the classroom" and start talking about ideas that work to get students to be creative, to collaborate and to be critical thinkers.

Oh, and I recommend listening to the EdReach Network on your way to work! It is like a little shot of good news each morning. Get inspired to change or rethink a strategy or try something new.

Students Involved with Technology Conference 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:38:00 +0000

On February 22nd, all across Illinois, students were sharing and learning at an amazing Saturday event called The Students Involved with Technology Conference, sponsored by State Farm. There are several locations around Illinois where kids gather. We helped organize the North Campus of the conference in Buffalo Grove, IL. I was lucky enough to hear of this event two years ago from my colleague Amy Lamberti (@amylamberti). Since, I have been singing its praises to my friends, their kids, my educator friends, really, to anyone who would listen.

The day is magical because third through twelfth graders spend the day learning from each other and creating together. The students prepare presentations on technology related topics that they are passionate about, then present to each other in a conference breakout session style. There are also SIT Sponsored presentations on creating movies with green screens, Maker Space exploration, a Minecraft Challenge room, a SIT Logo room, and a Mystery Challenge room. Each of these rooms are places where students can create something collaboratively using some form of creativity.

Carrying their "Tech Bags"

The magic really happens when you see kids, passionately sharing their expertise to each other. They shared about being Tech Gurus in their schools, how to make great movies using iMovie, how to create apps, how to use iTunesU to learn, building a great YouTube Channel and all kinds of other topics. They were not forced to present. They wanted to share their passion at the conference. They wanted to do the work. It was amazing to see 3rd graders present to a packed room with such confidence. The energy and excitement just filled me right up!

My 10 son and his 9 year old cousin presented during SIT 2013 for the first time. I don't think they could have had more fun. They presented on how to create great movies using an app called Splice (iPhone app). Watching my two little tech geeks captivate a room for kids and adults for 30 minutes got me thinking...do their 4th grade teachers even know that they are presenting at a conference? Do they know they have a YouTube channel (OPLAYSMINECRAFT) with all kinds of followers? Do they know that they love to share what they are passionate about? Probably not. Why not?

The SIT Conference has a special place in my heart because it is a day where kids who are really into tech can gather, share and learn. Be free to be who they are. Connect, get feedback and share their skills with people who are really interested in their passion too. Don't we all want to be heard? Validated?

Creating his winning entry in Minecaft Challenge.

In a previous post (Diorama to Minecraft: A Shift in Audience), I encouraged my son to use Minecraft instead of creating another diorama for school. His teacher was impressed, and mildly annoyed that I changed her learning product, but nothing has changed in his classroom. Minecraft is not just a game kids are obsessed about. It is a creativity tool that could easily be brought into school. If we can harness that excitement for creation and technology and connecting with others inside the walls of our schools, kids would be running into school, not home.

I guess the bigger question is, why are creation tools that kids are into at home so far removed from what they do in school? Shouldn't we be embracing that passion
for movie making in school somehow? Shouldn't my nephew be able to use those skills to share his learning?

Are You Connecting? Better get on that!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 14:33:00 +0000

I have just spent the weekend resting and reconnecting with my family after 4 days at the Illinois Computing Educators Conference 2014: Connect to Learn #ICE14. Each year, I come away swimming in ideas, connections and exhaustion!

This year, for the first time, I presented a half day workshop with two of my amazing colleagues, Jenna Hacker @jennahacker and Carrie Baughcum @heck_awesome on "How to Speak the Twitter". It was such a rewarding experience! The workshop had interested educators who knew the power of Twitter, but needed help managing the noise and understanding how to get into the conversation flow.

Every time I even think about presenting I feel like I really need to step out of my comfort zone.
Sometimes I wonder who wants to hear from me? Or, what do I have to offer when there are so many amazing educator speakers out there who are so much more respected than I. After this weekend of reflection, I have come to the conclusion that I connect with people each time I present. The teachers I help, then become part of my PLN, and I then get to learn from them in turn. Also, as innovators it is imperative to share what we are doing. If we are to move education in the direction we know it needs to go, then the people who are changing their pedagogy have a responsibility to share what they know.

Those who know me think of me as chatty, gregarious and outspoken. But, the truth is, I sometimes have trouble picking up the phone to call for pizza. The thought of speaking to a crowd of people I don't know, makes me feel paralyzed. Then, once I get going, take the first leap into the session, I get this feeling of confidence, almost like a high.

I would encourage any one of you to reach out, present, share and connect with other teachers. If I can do it, so can you! I feel strongly enough about connecting with others to venture to say out loud (well in a blog style out loud) if you are not connecting with other teachers at conferences or on social media, then you are going to become obsolete. The idea that you already know everything because you have been a teacher for a long time is wrong! We need to change our thinking. Gone are the days of copying what you did last year for this year. When you connect with other educators, your eyes become open to the shift in education from worksheets, to project based learning. Real world connections for kids. Students want to share what they know outside the walls of their schools. They want to connect with experts, to share their dreams for the world. A poster board project just can't do that! Getting connected changed my professional life. It can do the same for you!

If you are thinking about becoming connected through Twitter, check out our How To Speak The Twitter Presentation, or our Thinglink. It is a great place to start!

HandBrake to the Rescue!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:02:00 +0000

How do you create screencasts as tutorials to teachers? I use Quicktime Player most often. It allows you to capture the whole screen, or a portion of the screen very easily. It is my go to tool!
I do also use Mimio Recorder too, and I love that you can pause the recording, then resume it when you are ready. What a handy feature! If you are not on a Mac, you can also use Screencast-o-matic. It is really handy also!

Today, I needed to capture a promotional video for fundraiser we are doing in our school from a DVD. I spent two class periods trying to figure out how to screen record from a DVD to include on our announcements at school on my Mac.
I tried my favorites, Mimio Recorder, Quicktime Player and Screencast-o-matic. Did you know that all of these record the audio input not output? I learned from Googling my problem (thank goodness for Google right?) that these tools only record input audio. Then I hooked up speakers to the computer...still no luck! Then, I remembered HandBrake! What a great free app that you can download to capture video from a DVD. It worked like a charm!
I have in the past used Handbrake to move DVD movies to our iPad for students and my own kids...shhh! That's a secret!

Anyway, if you follow the prompts in HandBrake, you can take a video from a DVD and convert it to an .mp4. Awesome! A tip: Notice how long the video is you want to convert. Then it will be easier to select the right movie file on the DVD to convert in HandBrake.

This is why I love my position at school! Each and every day is different. Some days I am working with students on projects. Some days, I work with teachers in PD. Some days I have time to learn new tools or tricks to make all teachers in my school better at using tech to change their curriculums. Each and everyday I learn something new...that is the best part! It's all about the learning.

Diorama to Minecraft: A Shift in Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 16:09:00 +0000

Last week, my 4th grader came home with another science project to do at home. The final product was to be a shoebox diorama of a temperate forest biome. My initial reaction was annoyance, as at home science projects become parent projects in my opinion. My second reaction was disappointment because a diorama is a decidedly low tech option to learning product. Also, we have made a diorama each and every year for different reasons, and we are not crafty people. Plus, I had not saved a shoebox in preparation!

Last winter break, Dylan came home with a Solar System project that I know my neighbors spent beaucoup bucks at JoAnne Fabrics and Hobby Lobby getting supplies and then hours and hours cutting, folding, painting, etc. We encouraged our son to create his on his own from supplies we had at home. The Solar System he created was not a thing of beauty, but he did learn about scale and how to transfer that to a replica of the solar system, and the order of the planets. String, balls of colored paper and a bend coat hanger did the job.

This 4th grade science project was to create a shoebox diorama of a temperate forest. We had to have a balance of living and non living elements, to site the sources for research, use copyright free images and to write 5 interesting facts. He started by going to find images to print out. Scale is important in this project also, because the mushrooms couldn't be bigger than the rabbits or foxes in the representation of the biome. That's when he got frustrated! He is not a PhotoShop expert, so he struggled to get the sizes right. After several sizing failures, Dylan got an idea!

My son is a HUGE Minecraft fan, and spends a lot of time creating hotels, farms and buildings with the neighbors in all kinds of worlds. He asked if he could create the biome in Minecraft. He wanted to create the world, record himself doing an explanation of the biome (like he sees on YouTube all the time) and then add in his interesting facts at the end. I took a chance and emailed his teacher. She thought it would be a great idea!

I am so proud of my son for taking his learning into his own hands and asking his teacher to change the project. I am so pleased with his 4th grade teacher Ms. Lardo, for taking a chance and allowing student choice to modify her lesson plans. I hope that other teachers will see this project, and perhaps allow student choice to transform their projects from a very low tech diorama to a more 21st century project, with an authentic audience and that embraces creativity.

When I checked before writing this post, he already had 2 comments and 54 views of his video, and I have only shared it on Facebook! Talk about an audience larger than his teacher or class! Dylan saw the comments people left for him earlier today, (thanks @jepke and @JMGubbins for taking the time) and was so pleased to have feedback from viewers. He eyes lit up. I had tears in my eyes.

Oh...and I know he knows a lot about the characteristics of a temperate forest as well.

Are You A Professional?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:13:00 +0000

This last week, I had the amazing opportunity to be on a curriculum review committee in my school district! To me, this is an opportunity to read about best practice, look for great resources or lesson plans, and best of all, to plan with peers, who are teaching the same topics. Planning collaboratively is when the best ideas come about! Sharing tips, tricks and lessons that worked are the best part of teaching! We have autonomy to change our plans, the structure, or the lesson standards to best meet student needs. Talk about creative freedom!

Curriculum reviews are very touchy subjects when it comes to teachers though, because it means that they might, or more likely, will, have to change their lesson plans, their projects and maybe topics within their curriculum.

It comes as no surprise to us teacher that teachers don't love change! We all know colleagues who ask, "Why are we changing this? I have been teaching this for a long time, and it is still working just fine." Or "Why do I have to change? What is wrong with these kids that they aren't grasping the material?". During our first couple of meetings, those very ideas surfaced.

The truth is, like most other professions, there are professional responsibilities that we need to embrace if we are going to be professionals. For me, that is being connected to best practice research based learning strategies. Learning about reading strategies, or technology integration strategies, or honing my skills in teaching digital citizenship, or research tools.

The best way to stay informed in our profession is to become a Connected Educator. I can't tell you how many more articles, ideas and posts I have been reading since I have become connected. Being connected means that you are reaching out to other educators and listening to and sharing ideas, through Twitter, Edmodo, Facebook, RSS feeders or reading blogs by respected members of our profession.

Some educators are the kind that always have professional reading on their desks, and are interested in honing their craft, changing their management style, embracing technology to allow students to connect outside the classroom walls, looking at the newest best practices based on new research. Then, there are the others who are simply not reading about best practice in their profession at all.

What if your doctor never read about new discoveries in disease control, or drug interactions? What if your mechanic didn't stay abreast of the newest technologies in your car? What if the architects didn't change plans or ideas based on new research and materials on earthquakes or hurricanes?

If you are not reading about how our students's learning styles are changing, the Common Core Standards or the personalizing of education movement, or how to embrace the power of technology in your classroom, then you are not fulfilling your responsibilities as a professional.

Get connected. Read. Grow. Change. Be a professional.

To Google or not to Google?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Our inquiry project (see previous post for details) is has been going on for several days. The students have been looking at images, political cartoons, and paintings of the Reconstruction Era.
Some are making connections and asking good questions about Reconstruction.

So, now we are at the point where students need to research their questions. Do we send them to the databases or to google?

I know that the databases offer articles that are more middle school oriented, with built in lexile levels, images and engaging videos. My favorite database is Student Resources in Context by Gale at the moment. But, students don't like using the databases! They want to Google everything.

In the past, the librarian would set up "Path finders" for students, and bookmark reliable sources, great videos or organizations that had good resources. The librarian did a lot of work vetting the sources for the students. The students went to the resources and found the answers to their essential questions without worrying about knowing about transliteracy or how to evaluate sources. Does this serve the students well in the long run? Isn't part of learning knowing how to find the answers?

This is where I struggle. I know that databases offer the best articles for kids, but what if they can't access the databases? Shouldn't they know how to evaluate the sources? How to use the advanced tools to search more effectively? Shouldn't the students learn how to look at images, videos and other media to gain information?

We are going to give them a tour of Student Resources in Context, and World Book Online today. We will encourage them to use these databases today, but tomorrow we will give them some tips and tricks on evaluating good websites and how to search effectively on Google. We will see which method yields more results.

Reconstruction, an Inquiry Project? Is that even possible?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:47:00 +0000

Over the last week, I have been planning with an 8th grade teacher to do inquiry project. This is a HUGE moment for me and my role as Creative Innovative Specialist. Not because this is the first time I have planned for instruction with a teacher, but because this is the first time this teacher is going to try and let student interest guide the project! The tough part has been how to structure the project for Greg. He picked a topic that is probably too limited for real inquiry learning, and is very fact heavy. The topic is American History, specifically Reconstruction. I am not even sure that a try inquiry topic can have such a narrow focus, but we are going to give it a shot!

So, how do you create a student directed project on a topic that they don't really think about or wonder about. That's where it got difficult! So, we decided to go with images the time period as the jumping off point, instead of articles or textbook writings.

The images are stunning, engaging and will hopefully trigger the students to wonder about the time enough to come up with a plan of action!

There is some debate on creating the essential question for the students or letting them come up with their own. Ewan McIntosh (@ewanmcintosh) would say that it is essential that the students come up with the questions to investigate, but Greg felt that a guiding essential question is the only way to ensure that the students learn about Reconstruction, which is part of his curriculum guide.

Day 1: Our essential question is "Does racial equality depend on government action?" The plan is to give the students some background knowledge before showing them the images by doing the "K" in a KWL chart with the students, then presenting them some facts or ideas in a video that Greg created.

Day 2: Show the student the images, in an art gallery type setting, ask them to come up with some questions that the people in the images might be asking, and do some wondering about the actual locations, time period and intent of the images. Then, ask the students what they are wondering about after working with the images. They will share their wonderings with their group, then do a some research on one of the questions that they came up with in their groups.

Day 3-7: After a little bit of research, we are going to ask the students to come up with a question that they are going research further. (We will be there to guide them away from Google-able ones, of course!) The students research their questions and look for present day connections and then find a way to share their learning with their peers.

So, is this really an inquiry based project? Not in the purest sense for sure...but, I was so happy to work with Greg to change his normally very structured question asking, fact finding projects into something that might ignite more motivation, understanding and interest in the roots of racism in our students.

I will write more posts as the unit progresses. If you have any tips or ideas, please let me know! We need all the help we can get!

Want to become a Connected Educator? It will change your life.

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 01:48:00 +0000

"Connected Educators" are defined as teachers who are actively involved in connecting with their peers, their students and the world through blogging, social media and chat rooms and bring back what they learn to their classroom, school and district.

The old days of isolation and closed classroom doors are a distant memory. Connected Educators are honing their teaching practice and sharing about learning by talking to experts, colleagues and reading about best practice online. The discussions between teachers are shifting from complaints in the staff rooms to creative problem solving and shifting pedagogy.

For me, the journey to become a connected educator has been eye opening, uplifting and has shaped who I am as a person. It has changed my ideas about education, teaching and learning. I feel like I get filled up by being connected to educators around the world. I love learning, reading about what others are doing, seeing student work, hearing about what does not work and where teachers are going on their own journeys.

It's like working with a creative, helpful, positive friend who is always in the classroom next door! I have not felt so inspired and supported since I was so lucky to have Lori Feeney as a teaching partner. Lori and I planned together, shared ideas, reflected, laughed and were there for each other every time we tweaked our lesson plans. Now, my "Lori Feeney" are all the teachers on Twitter. Since I became connected, I spend time reflecting on my own teaching, tweaking it with each lesson, blogging, and sharing on Twitter. Instead of complaining about how hard my job is, I talk to my Personal Learning Network (PLN) about what they are doing, and together, we shift the focus from what is not going well to what we can do to fix it.

I have three favorite ways to connect with my PLN. Twitter, Edmodo and Pinterest.

@jmaclaurin

I spend the lion's share of my time on Twitter, sorting by hashtag (a total must), and clicking on links for blogs, web tools or online documents shared. Often, I store (because we teachers are gatherers aren't we?) and then incorporate them into my practice. I can't tell you how many times I have gone into another teacher's room and said, "Hey, I saw this on Twitter..." when we co-plan.

Edmodo.com

My next favorite is Edmodo. Edmodo is like the perfect balance between Twitter and Facebook. Teachers signed up either through their district or on their own, originally to connect students. But, as time went by, teachers formed groups and then began sharing tips and ideas on Edmodo. It is a great place to start for those who aren't ready for the rapid fire noise of Twitter.

http://www.pinterest.com/jmaclaurin

Pinterest is awesome for people who aren't really exactly sure what they are looking for. It is very visual, amazingly easy to find great infographs, teaching rubrics, lesson ideas, images, and all things crafty. Recently, they added a comment section, allowing a little bit more back and forth in terms of communication too.

Becoming a connected educator is not just about gathering information though! It is about building relationships, sharing and reflecting on your teaching.

Are you looking to learn how to speak The Twitter? Recently, my great friends Carrie Baughcum (@carriebaughcum) and Jenna Hacker (@jennahacker) and I presented to teachers in our school district. Carrie (carriebaughcum.com) created a really helpful Thinglink to help people get all the resources they need to begin getting connected. P.S. She also designed the graphics for my blog! She rocks.

Marketing Your Classroom: For Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 13:33:00 +0000

I have a new mission! I have recently become passionate about sharing the amazing things that are happening inside classrooms in my school, in my children's classrooms, and in the school I work in. The media does not see education in a positive light right now. We, as teachers, have the power to change the way teachers and education are being discussed! Simple tools like Animoto.com, Youtube and Thinglink.com can really help you market your classroom to the community.

Recently, my littlest cheeky monkey (4) started daycare. Each day, I get a picture (or three), a

little description of the lessons she participated in, what they ate for lunch, and where she played, read and whether or not she napped! I can't help but feel that I know what is going on in the classroom academically, but also, I get a feel for her experiences too. I also have direct knowledge of what happened, so at dinner time, I can initiate a conversation about her day and get more than "Nothing Mum" when I ask, "What did you do today in school?"
Because we have pictures of happy kids sent home every day, I have very positive feelings about my child's school.

I am not so naive as to think that teachers could spend that kind of time daily sharing about each student with their parents! That would be not time well spent! But, what about taking a picture of the students as they gather around the rug? Or working in the library? Or, using the iPads for research? Or working in groups? Spending time discussing a recent novel? Debating a news issue? Then, adding a simple tag line or short description of what is happening! A picture is worth a thousand words right?
Why not send home those images each week through email to parents?
Why not assign a new classroom job or two to students? Maybe a reporter? Or photographer can help you create the images to market your room?

I don't think a newsletter has the same power as a video. And, we teachers have all spent a lot of time creating those, haven't we?

Last year, in my school, I started a student club that was in charge of communicating with the students and community all the amazing things that are going in school. Students take the pictures, shoot the video, interview the students and teachers, then compile them into a 2-4 minute broadcast.

Sample SMSNews Broadcast

We sometimes edit the movies, or simply add the images into Animoto.com. This tool is so slick and easy to use. People will think you are a tech wizard, and it takes minutes to upload and share a ridiculously amazing video. (SMSNews)
The parent response to this email has been phenomenal, and the students love creating it and watching it each week in homeroom. What a great way to share the AMAZING things that happen each day in a school, right?

Or, what about sending a Thinglink interactive image. http://www.thinglink.com allows you to add hot spots on any image like text, links or even other images. This could be a great two or three minute way to market your classroom too!

The tools don't really matter. The images you send home do!
Of course, be sure to ask for parent permission to use student images online. I don't recommend putting student names under images either! Also, put your group emails addresses into the blind copy box so that the parents' emails remain private from one another, and remember to keep the descriptions or text upbeat, and positive!

You have the power to change the style of communication in your classroom. An animated dinner conversation about a great day at school goes a long way to changing the way parents feel about their child's education too!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

"10 Years Ago, I Created a CD..." said a teacher.

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:11:00 +0000

I have been mulling over something that a teacher said to me last week as we began a project, and I just can't get it out of my head! This great teacher (I am not being sarcastic...he is a wonderful teacher) said, "Jen, can you find the civil war music we put on CDs ten years ago so the kids can put them into their iMovie projects?"

I, of course went digging around in our computer lab cabinets and found the pile of CDs, but as I was digging for the music, I thought about what that means for this teachers' curriculum and how he integrates technology. What it means to the students experiences and engagement in my school and how technology is used in the curriculum.

I have been working with teachers to think about their curriculum, the tools we have available to us and the way that they design the learning in their classrooms. There are some, like this great teacher, who use technology for specific parts of the curriculum and do the same project year after year.

The idea that in May, we make a Civil Rights movie with music of the time, images taken from a Google image search and then put into iMovie with full sentence descriptors scrolling over the images, prevails, even today!

I have been assisting with this teacher on this project, and don't get me wrong, the students are engaged. They are collecting facts, searching for images on google and then going to YouTube and selecting background music for their projects.

I am struggling with this type of technology use in the classroom for a number of reasons.

1. The teacher comes up with the essential questions.

2. The students collect facts and retell the facts without creating anything new from the facts they have learned.

3. The production of the movie takes 10 days for 30-40 minutes a day!

4. The students are grabbing audio and images from the web without any regard for copyright.

5. The students are checking off each item on the rubric as they create.

6. The students don't have a choice of product. Everyone makes a movie.

7. The students watch 6-8 final projects in class, on the same subject, often with the same facts explained.

I love that the students are engaged, and they are collaborating, but oh my! there is a lot of room for improvement in this instructional design!
My job as the technology facilitator is to work with the teachers to change, evolve and look at their curriculum as a changing, fluid program.

This great teacher and I are going to be working very closely next year, as I implement my, "Adopt a Teacher" program (described on my blog last week). We will look at the design of the lesson, and hopefully, shift the question generating to the students. Then, I will recommend that the students are offered choices of final products. While the curriculum unit is going on, we will look at copyright laws, and certainly, the students will be encouraged to use EasyBib (which can easily be saved into GoogleDrive with one click sign in)

to create a bibliography. In addition, the National Library of Congress has an amazing selection of primary sourced images, music, interviews, etc. available. The resources are so much richer than using Google Image searches. I use any opportunity to showcase this great resource to kids! Finally, the students will be given the learning standards instead of a rubric, and then encouraged to grade themselves based on the learning standards. Each group will generate 3-5 higher level questions that can be answered by others as they review their learning product. The end products will be shared on a social media site like Edmodo, and then the students will be asked to review the final projects outside of class.

Students will post their comments and reviews on Edmodo.

When I think about my teaching style, I find it amazing, that each May for 10 years, that someone would be teaching the same topic in the same way.
I guess, I am looking for other ways to encourage this great teacher to look at his "May Civil Right Movie Project" and transform it into a more student focused blended learning lesson.
Reach out to me @jmaclaurin on Twitter with your ideas.

Reflections on TechForum 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Sun, 05 May 2013 00:24:00 +0000

On Friday, I was fortunate to be able to attend Tech Forum, a one day conference put on my Tech & Learning Magazine.
It was a day filled with meet ups with friends and colleagues who work in technology in education. It is always so great to chat with people who do what I do. Often, I feel alone in my school as no one else does the job I do. This year, as most years, I look back on the school year and wish that I had more of an impact in changing the way students learn in our school.

TechForum and the people I heard speak have reignited me. Andy Kohl, Elizabeth Greene and Dan Rezak's presentation about how to approach technology integration holistically really helped me to take stock of our progress in my school. After sitting, talking and listening to their presentation, I have decided to change some of my strategies to get teacher by in.

Each week, I do a Thursday Tech Three email (also shared in their blog)to the staff with links to videos, great apps, nice resources students, motivating blog posts, really, a spattering of different resources. The staff tell me they love it, and I have cotaught with many teachers around the tools I have shared in that email each week. But in reality, upon reflection at Tech Forum, I realized that it probably is helpful for the teachers who are open to changing their delivery methods, but those teachers who are still "covering the curriculum" and "getting through the material" with their students are really the ones who need the resources more are not even opening it.

Adopt A Teacher
To reach the reluctant teachers, I am going to change my co teaching style. I am going to "adopt a teacher", and work with one teacher over a longer period of time. That is, we will set some big goals together, and then I will be in their classroom with them each day, each period if need be, to support them as they teach. I will be there as an extra hand, a sounding board for their ideas, bring tech creativity tools, help the teacher let the students uncover the curriculum, work in more creativity, choices, collaboration and freedom. I have worked often with some of my teachers, and the more time I spend with them in their rooms, not even teaching, but supporting, the more risks they take, the more tech they integrate and the more creative their students become.

Tech Avengers/ Tech Deputies
Students are the ones who are the most comfortable with the tech, so I am going to give them the lisence to be the experts in the classrooms. I will start a club, which I had done in a previous school with much success, and train students on web tools, simple trouble shooting, how to care for the computer carts, etc. I will get to the teachers through the students. The kids will create screencasts of how to use apps, or tools that would be great resources to use for sharing student learning. The kids will be Tech Avengers, and they will help (or push) the teachers to let them try new tools in the classroom. They will have a form to complete if they need more help, and one to submit each time they do help in the class. That way, we will have data around the good they are doing in moving our building forward!

Gather the Cool Ideas
I am going to start a document gathering all the great tools, student samples and what successes the students are having in different rooms with different teachers. It will be a simple spot where I can track, store and celebrate what is going on each day in our school. I want to gather the successes! Track the change, see who is doing what...so that there is evidence of the change our school is accomplishing.

Get a Seat at the Table
I am going to approach my Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction and ask for a seat on the Social Studies curriculum review committee. I am going to ask if I can be present during the meetings to listen, to share ideas, to ask good questions and to be a part of the change from the moment that it starts. One of the problems I see in my school and in education generally is that we adopt a new curriculum, ask the teachers to change habits, tools, resources etc. then ask them to layer technology on top of all that change. Then, the teachers have the out of using tech because they are "so busy learning the new curriculum". If I am at the table, then the tech can be integrated and seen as a value from the beginning. To help the teachers move beyond substitution and automation in the SAMR model.

Okay, that was really 4 ideas I am going to implement going forward...I can't wait to get change going!

Minecraft in School? Too much Drama?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:56:00 +0000

For several weeks, studens have been asking if we could host a Minecraft Club after school in our middle school. I am not a Minecraft expert, so before we agreed to host a club, my colleague and I decided to do some recognizance. We read articles, scoured the blogs, watched videos, talked to my 9 year old son who loves to play, and to other tech people in our district schools.

Minecraft is a hugely popular game that can offer students amazing collaborative, problem solving learning experiences. But, it can also expose students to bullying, hurt feelings and frustration too. We want our club to be successful and a real asset to our school. So, we plan on taking baby steps!
This week, a peer and I, hosted our first Minecraft Club meeting. We knew it was going to be a popular club, but, we had no idea how popular! The classroom was filled to the gills with Minecraft t-shirt wearing middle schoolers, most of whom were boys.
We didn't actually play any Minecraft that day. We simply gathered the students' ideas about what they would like happen during the club meetings and what kinds of activities they were interested in engaging in inside Minecraft. There were lots of games that they wanted to play that I had never heard of! I was so glad that the students were open with us about playing "Hunger Games" (playing to the death, just like the movie), "Capture the Flag" (just like outdoor game), "PVP" (player versus player until you are the last player still alive), "Mob Survival" (still working on figuring that one out), "Team Faction PVP" (play until your team has killed all the other teams), and some others.

Both my colleague and I were very concerned about keeping the students feelings safe and to make our club a fun, positive and great place for kids to come build and hang out.
I was surprised at how open the kids were with us about what they do in Minecraft at home. Four kids even raised their hand and admitted to 'griefing" (MC speak for destroying other players' creations).
We now have a game plan!
1.The students will play in Creative Mode (no killing, only building) in the LMC next week.
2. We are going to have groups of 3-4 students log into their already created Minecraft accounts and work together to collaboratively build a Wonder of the World, or a Chicago landmark.
3. We will not allow:
a) the chat function
b) no TNT (they can use it to blow each other's structures up)
c) any one caught "griefing" will be asked to log off

We are hoping eventually to get a server for our club that we can control, but we are going to take a chance with online servers until we can get the funds to create our own.
We are cautiously optimistic that our club will foster community, and then we can open up more options to the students as we learn how we are going to operate as a group.

We have also roped our building support technician, Paul, to help us with the kids. He has played a lot of Minecraft and knows who to set up a server, and all the games that the kids play we don't know about! He is going to be an amazing asset!

Stay tuned for next's week's episode of Minecraft Drama!

Creating Images to Capture Research

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:30:00 +0000

In the coming weeks, our school will be going on an outdoor Lorado Taft in Illinois. The students have all been assigned to a camp group with a name of a Native American tribe.
education trip to
Our Social Studies teacher wanted the students to do research on their tribe. That's where the librarian and I came in. Instead of just "fact finding", we encouraged the teacher to focus the students' research around an essential question. Then, look for evidence of character traits in the articles and then choose an image to represent the tribe based on the characteristics they found. Essentially, to do a short research project (a la Common Core) from one or two sources, and come up with an image to represent their tribe at Taft.

In this case, the essential question was "How did characteristics of Native American tribes vary depending on their geographical area? How does one tribe differ from another?"

The students used Google Drive to capture their research so that they could collaborate with their tribe members. Also, when we went to create the Tagxedo (Wordle like Web2.0 tool), they could paste their analysis and evidence of the characteristics of each tribe into the word box to generate for their image.

The students researched using World Book Online and Cengage Learning, both databases we have paid for a subscription.

Then, once the students read the articles, they came up with three characteristics that would best describe their tribe. Then they wrote an analysis of the evidence.

The evidence from their research and the analysis was copied and pasted into Tagxedo. (Silverlight 5 might need to be downloaded for the application to load.)

The image that the students wanted to represent their tribe was loaded into Tagxedo, they played with the colors and voila! a beautiful image to represent their tribe!

Each student in the tribe created an image that we saved to the shared student server. Then in their tribes, the students voted on the best image, and that image was printed and then will be taken to TAFT to represent the whole tribe during the outdoor education experience.

We were pleased with the outcome because:
1. The students used 1-2 well chosen sources to look answer their essential questions.
2. The usual "fact finding" was transformed into a valuable short research project.
3. The students needed to think about their tribe and chose an image carefully.
4. I loved that the images were not ALL printed, and the students could vote on the image that represented their tribe best. There were some heated discussions about the choice of images...indicating that the students chose their images with purpose.

If I was to change the project, I would allow the students more time for research and to discuss with the students how they were chosing their images. They went to Google Images and uploaded images. I would have liked to discuss in more depth where they could go to select images that were in the public domain.

Student Presentations: Oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:04:00 +0000

Every day in my school, students use Google Presentations to share their knowledge and to "tell facts" to their class. It is torturous for both students and teachers.

The teachers and I really wanted to challenge the students to give engaging presentations, where the audience is engaged and learning. Then, I remembered the keynote speeches I saw last summer.

I was fortunate enough to attend Building Learning Communities (#BLC13) Conference that Alan November puts on each year in Boston, last July. What struck me about the keynote speakers was that they taught us all kinds of things without the traditional presentation slides. In fact, they displayed amazingly engaging images and few words.

When I saw the educational visionairies present, I thought, this is exactly what I have been trying to describe to my students! So, it has been my mission this year to challenge the students at my school to transform their presentations. I won't lie, it has been an uphill battle!
When I explained the new process to the students, I showed them TED talks, Eli Pariser's on online filtering, partly because it was an engaging topic for 8th graders, but also because his talk was a great example of the style of presentation I was proposing.

The students discussed what they noticed about the slides, then the candance of Eli's talk, but also about the stage. Once I pointed it out, the students noticed the teleprompter in the floor.
From there, we came up with a plan to create two presentations in Google Drive.
One presentation was the "teleprompter" with all the words the students were going to share. The other one was the presentation that the audience would see, with engaging images and little to no text. Then, on presentation day, the students had the projector hooked up to one computer, then another laptop for their teleprompter.
The teachers and the students loved the process because it allowed to students to give their presentation confidently because they had their notes in front of them to refer to, and then the audience loved it because they were engaged in the visually stunning images.

We are working on moving from telling of facts to creating something new with their new found knowledge...baby steps.

Mission: Communication

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:09:00 +0000

I have been on a mission, this past year, to improve communication with our parent community. This mission arose from my own frustration with my children's school, where the communication about my kids is sparse at best. As a parent, I struggle because I don't really have any idea what my kids' day consists of, or what they are actually doing in school.
So, this year, I have been thinking about how to improve communication to our parents and to give them a glimpse into their own children's school life.
One of the tools that we use each week to share images is animoto.com. It is such a visually stunning tool that is so simple and quick to use. In fact, for the first two months that I was creating videos for the school, people thought I spent hours editing. There is also an app for Animoto, and it makes creating and sharing even easier!
I shared the tool with some of the multi-age special education teachers, so that they could create videos from their field trips, or special events. The parents of those children have been so thrilled that they can see their students doing things at school that they have never seen them do at home...imagine the power in that! Amazing!
The other tool I use is kid power! I have a club afterschool where the students go out and interview teachers or students, and take pictures of the events going on at school. Then, the students meet with me and we develop a YouTube video to share with the community on our own SMSNews25 Channel.
The videos are shared on our school website and through a listserv that the parents sign up to receive.
In the coming months, I plan to get a Twitter account for our school and share and tweet some of the school projects we are doing and invite the world to comment and collaborate with our students. Our teachers are just now getting ready to have a two way conversation with the world...baby steps!
I believe that improving communication with the community can only help teachers and schools. Parents want to know what their students' days look like, to participate in their learning, and lots of packets of papers coming home misses the mark! As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Other tools to explore:
1. ThreeRing.com an online portfolio spot
2. Classroom blogs like Kidblog, Blogger, etc
3. Smore.com to create beautiful newsletters so easily
4. Inviting parents into your Edmodo groups.

Communication from your classroom or school should be more like PR. Market yourself and the great things you are doing with your students...I know I would be so happy if my kids' school did it for us!

Conflicted: Amplify by Rupert Murdoch

noreply@blogger.com (Jen Smith) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:51:00 +0000

Can change in educational practices be fuelled by Joel Klein and Rupert Murdoch of News Corp? His company released the Amplify tablet a couple of days ago that might well change education in America. It might force schools to use technology as a tool for learning, rather than a fun tool or neat project. The tablet allows students and teachers to be connected minute to minute, to differentiate curriulum and to engage students all at the same time. It seems to be different from iPads because, all the machines are all connected, all the time to the teacher. The teachers can monitor, assign items and students can collaborate, create and analyze problems on their own tablet. It sounds like it might be a great way to get reluctant teachers to change their teaching style. To move away from reading textbooks, directing and choosing what the students will learn to a more student centered approach. It might help those teachers who don't like that students "can be on that Youtube" when they are supposed to be at the Library of Congress to meet students' interests and way of learning half way. Kids need to connect, collaborate, create to learn. Kids need to ask the questions not give the answers...tech can create that kind of environment, if the teachers would only let go of the power.

As a teacher and woman, I find it hard to think about anything that Rupert Murdoch says as anything but greedy, self serving and a little gross frankly! But, the change agent in me feels like anyone who participates in the the ed reform (#edreform on Twitter) movement in the United States might be asking the right questions, pushing teachers to change and look at the whole system as fostering and maintaining inequality. I spend time reading on Twitter the posts from both educators (doing amazing things with kids #eduwin), and reading what the reform movement wants for our system. I believe that most teachers are changing, trying to meet the needs of our tech savvy students, growing and learning as professionals. But, some are not.
Maybe, I have to look at the tools that Rupert Murdoch's company is producing, and what it might do for education, rather than his personal failings and Fox News affiliations!