Explain Everything Perfect Tool For Analyzing Text in an American Literature Assessment

About a month ago, American Literature Teacher, Ms. Rheingans, wanted to assess students in a different manner than paper and pencil.

She created a tremendous document of reading options for students.  Once six texts were analyzed by students, they needed to take a screen shot of the text, place it into an Explain Everything slide, and SPEAK about the connection that they had to the piece and the connection to American Literature.

View The Moderns Project

View Students At Work
Students knew the requirements prior to starting the process.  View Rubric

Timeline Options For English Using Chrome

Options for timelines using Chrome:

• Timetoast  - account needed

Since we are a Google Apps for Education school, other options exist:

• Using Google Draw, create date images, add those images to SMORE.
• Use a Google Template for students to create timelines
• Option 1
• Option 2
• Option 3
• Option 4

All About Your Image

It's A PNG Created with Canva.com

Since using Adobe's Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash to create websites in 2008, I've wondered what the difference is between

• JPEG,
• GIF, Create one using Workflow:  Get App
• PNG
• TIFF
• RAW

TODAY! People use images ALL THE TIME!  Because the amount of images created, used, downloaded and emailed using tools such as Google Draw, Canva, Skitch, Explain Everything, PicCollage, iMovie, a person should really know the difference so that the correct image can be used at the correct time!

Finally, some clarification!


Source: WhoIsHostingThis.com

Age Of Reason Fantasy Draft in Social Studies

This is more than cool!


Our social studies teachers created a PRETTY cool video which introduced their "Age of Reason" content.

Mrs. Schartner, created a tremendous "digital workflow" to make this all happen!

• Used Google Draw to crop the pictures for the first and last "Draw" images. This allowed for editing of the NBA version.
• The entire group of images was placed into Google Slides on a computer.
• Screen Shots were taken of each of the slides while the Google Slides was open on an iPad.
• All images of people were saved on an iPad and everything was put into iMovie on the iPad
• The iPad was used because it had the music.  The Chicago Bulls theme song was added.
• Our football announcer, Mr. Nickerson (also a social studies teacher) was given a typed script.  His voice was recorded straight through.
• The audio of the announcer and the images was "matched up".
• Names and dates were added with the title options in iMovie
• The final product was exported to YouTube

I'm extremely proud of the workflow that Mrs. Schartner designed and implemented!

40 Seconds With Flex Mod Digital Workflow

As readers of iPaddiction know, Pulaski High School is transitioning to the flexible modular schedule so finally, "Time can serve students, instead of students serving time".  As a result, we are creating informational videos to answer questions.

WITHOUT the use of the iPad and all its apps, Google Drive and its collaboration capabilities, and the incredible creativity by our staff and students, these videos would NOT have been completed in LESS THAN 24 HOURS!

Making these videos required an efficient Digital Workflow.  The process included:

• Google form to gather questions from students after the introductory video
• Answering the questions in print form on a Google Spreadsheet
• Assigning multiple teachers to record videos via smartphones of students asking the questions 
• Uploading these videos to a Google Folder using the Google Drive app on smartphones
• Renaming the video questions by the question in the Google Drive app
• Assigning multiple teachers to record videos via smartphones of teachers answering the questions
• Importing a introduction "40 Seconds With Flex Mod" graphic created by our art teacher on an iMac in Photoshop into a single iPad using Google Drive
• Creating the original soundtrack by our band teacher using AudioTool in Chrome
• Converting the soundtrack from a MP3 file to an ACC file using Online Covert 
• Importing the soundtrack onto a single iPad using Google Drive
• Using "Open In" for all of the graphics, sound, and video into iMovie on the iPad
• A black background was placed for two seconds before and after the video to allow for the music track to work
• The audio track was cut at the time the student started asking the question and the teacher ended answering it.  The audio during the speaking was dropped to 30% of the original volume
• The video was renamed the question and produced to the camera roll.
• Google Drive allowed for all the videos to be uploaded into a shared Google Drive folder
• Our website designer placed them on our flex mod website's  FAQ page

Playlist

World History Digital Resources

History: Maps of World - Free

Incredible amount of maps that can provide an insight into world history.  Minus the ads due to it being free.

Today In History iPad Edition - Free

Significant world history easily found via  a "Choose Date" section.

World History Matters - Portal to World History Websites - Great starting point!

Coat? Not A Coat? PBIS

We had a great amount of fun making this video for our PBIS initiative.  Our media teacher, Mr. Manning, and one of our English teachers, Mr. Mentink, did a great job putting this together and Mr. RecessDuty himself is the coat model!

*As with most teachers, this is in the job description under, "Whatever else needs to be done!". 

Starting New Semester or Removing Students From Google Classroom

Mitosis Project & Explain Everything Student Reflection Survey

As many readers of iPaddiction know, I have been in a three week process of learning with the Biology teachers and integrating the Explain Everything app.

All of which have been documented:

Step 1 - Teaching Teachers

Step 2 - Teaching Students

Step 3 - Exporting the Project 

Step 4 - Lesson Reflection

Step 5 - Student Reflection

An additional piece of data needed to come from the students.

I utilized Google Forms to acquire information to students on the final day of production with the Explain Everything app.  Students completed the survey on the iPads.

I was in the process of using Piktochart to create an infographic of the details but realized I didn't have the time to create a detailed infographic of the data.  Instead, I used screen shots of the "Summary of Responses" from the spreadsheet in Google Forms and placed them quickly on a Google Draw palette.  The information is here or below.

Some thoughts after viewing the results:

• Students REALLY enjoyed using the iPads and Explain Everything
• Three questions had over 63% of the students liking/enjoying the Explain Everything learning experiences over a traditional lecture/multiple choice test.
• Students may not have "learned the content better" because they didn't feel like the teachers spoon fed the information in a lecture format.  Students were given the basic information of mitosis with the option to become "proficient or advanced" via self learning while creating the Explain Everything product.  This was different for students.

Some free response from students to the question "In what ways did you feel you used your brain more to know the content using the iPad versus a multiple choice test?:

• The iPad gets kids interacting with technology.
• You have to know how to present the information instead of just filling in blanks and bubbles.
• I had to put things into my own words.
• I feel like in order to create this presentation we really had to be educated and know what we were talking about.
• You had to find things out for yourself, as well as figuring out how to do some of the things you wanted to do.
• You got to be more creative and think more about the topic.
• Personally, I am a hands on learner so using the iPad and explaining it to someone else helped me more than just memorizing and forgetting.

While it may have taken a few minutes to have the students complete the form, it certainly provided some insight in moving forward.

Mitosis Project Reflection Time For Biology Teachers

Today was reflection time with our biology teachers.  Forty minutes of uninterrupted time with the teachers guided by a Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse Coaching Tool designed by Krista Jiampetti.

Our Reflection:  

Our reflection time was truly beneficial for the establishment of success, things to consider, and student reactions.  We, the biology teachers and myself, were truly blessed with uninterrupted time to talk through the learning experience from start to finish.

I should be able to add more student creations along reflections on the rubric after student creations have been assessed.

View one student creation: 

I am truly humbled to have been a small part in this entire process.  I feel that the entire "peer coaching" model was followed with successes and failures.  Our biology teachers and students were tremendous to work with during the process.  

Step 1 - Teaching Teachers

Step 2 - Teaching Students

Step 3 - Exporting the Project 

Step 4 - Lesson Reflection

Step 5 - Student Reflection

Chopping A YouTube Video With TubeChop

One of our seventh grade teachers, Mrs. Kust, would like students to choose a song, more importantly a 30 second clip of the song, to represent one of six themes from the book, The Outsiders.  To do this we are utilizing TubeChop.  Some features of TubeChop:

• Exact time of video able to be acquired
• Preview chopped video
• Slider or exact time available for chopping the video
• Able to embed chopped video
• Able to link to chopped video

Process For Chopping:

• Find YouTube Video
• Copy URL
• Travel to TubeChop
• Paste URL into TubeChop Site
• Determine Length of Clip
• Preview
• Assign Title To Chopped Video
• Chop It
• Copy Chopped Link
• Paste To Teacher

Watch the Process:

TubeChop is NOT new, but it is the first time that I created an instructional video for this tool that will be utilized in a classroom.  If you need other examples of how a video can be chopped, the Teachers & Technology blog has some examples.

RESULTS: Our students completed a Google Form that allowed them to submit three videos that matched a theme from the book.  VIEW THE RESULTS

Exporting, Reflecting and Follow Up With Biology Teachers and Explain Everything

As we progress from Coaching Teachers Through Using the Explain Everything App and Large Group Instruction in Biology with Explain Everything, it is now time to export the projects to student's Google Drive and share the final product with the teacher.

Each teacher has placed this on their board with the teacher's email being placed where the blacked out marks are located.

In addition to exporting students will be reflecting on the process of learning utilizing technology.  A Google Form will be completed by each student within the next two days.

We will also be evaluating each student's creation via a rubric that has six aspects of mitosis content and two aspects pertaining to creativity and communication skills.  The teachers will be analyzing the mitosis aspects and I will be contributing to the evaluation of the Creativity and Communication Skills.

A fantastic discovery by one group of students, Inserting GIF into Explain Everything, has surprisingly been taught to a number of groups throughout the mitosis project!

On Friday, the biology teachers and I will meet to discuss the good, bad, and changes that need to be made to improve the entire process.

Step 1 - Teaching Teachers

Step 2 - Teaching Students

Step 3 - Exporting the Project 

Step 4 - Lesson Reflection

Step 5 - Student Reflection

If you are interested in another "complete digital workflow" process of a techcoach, @techchef4u created Project Planning to assist with getting the word out about what takes place during this entire process.

Winter Holiday Tech Tips Lunch N' Learn

The last few Lunch N' Learns have been slightly heavy on content.  Tuesday will bring some tech tips that can brighten your day!  See you on December 2, 2014 for insight into the newest Learning on the Loo edition!

Link To Live Version

View All Learning On The Loos

Vertical Video Syndrome is a serious problem.  See how you can fix it!



Shopping Deals?

We'll look at them!
See them all!

Unroll.Me
We'll see how that works!

Christmas Videos?
Watch Them!

The shopping list and Christmas videos were created with Sqworl!  A "Simple Visual Bookmarking for Educators" Try it for the next grouping of links that are needed!  View how our middle school counselors utilized Sqworl!

Inserting GIF into Explain Everything

Step 1 - Teaching Teachers

Step 2 - Teaching Students

Step 3 - Exporting the Project

Midwest Google Summit Discoveries Shared At Lunch N' Learn

Google Similar Pages Chrome Extension
Perfect tool for use during research!

4C's Above SAMR

Designing educational experiences that focus on collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity is easier to understand than following SAMR, substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.  (Discussed in L N' L on 11-5-13)  SAMR focuses solely on technology tools, while the four c's focus on instructional design of a lesson with technology seamlessly integrated.  The keynote, Mark Garrison, also completed a great session on Google Apps 45.

Google Communities
An incredible set up communities for professional development.  We'll search for communities that you might be interested.  Same content, same co-curricular activity, same interests!

Google Hangouts in Education
A tremendous tool for connecting with professionals and experts outside of our school. Use these for

• Professional Development
• Book Talks
• Academic Learning
• Lessons To Life
• Connecting Classroom

Jen Zurawski, West DePere, presented many great features/uses/tools from Google.

View all of the Midwest Google Summit Resources

PowToon To Promote Middle School Forensics

Ms. Barszcz, Title One Reading Support Teacher, asked me if a video could be made to promote participation in middle school forensics.  While a video could be made, some challenges always arise with creating videos that include

• Time to shoot the film
• Who's going to be in the film
• Where's the setting
• Time to edit the film

Instead of filming a video for the promotion of forensics, I suggested PowToon.  I created a promotional video for our bi-weekly professional development at the high school and middle school.

Her creation rocks, was created in a few short hours, and will be shown today and tomorrow in homerooms!

Large Group Instruction in Biology with Explain Everything

A little over one week ago, I coached our Biology teachers on the power of the Explain Everything App.

Today, was our large group instructional time.

• The App
• The Project
• The Rubric

As students entered the room, I had OK Go's Here It Goes Again video playing.  As students were settling down in their seats, I turned down the volume, but left the video playing.  I emphasized with students the background of the group and their creative videos.  So much collaboration, critical thinking and creativity is present in the video.  It was a perfect example for this project.

I liked this idea of music videos so much, I started a YouTube Playlist for videos that are filled with creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.  There are not too many videos in this list as of yet!  More to join the list in the future!

You can see how students experienced this as they entered the room.

On Monday and Tuesday, students will be creating!

I truly believe this was an awesome experience for our classroom teachers who were able learn the details about the app an additional time.  Students also were able to get a field trip to our Large Group Instruction Area.  I was able to teach students which was the first reason I became a teacher.

Step 1 - Teaching Teachers

Step 2 - Teaching Students

Step 3 - Exporting the Project 

Step 4 - Lesson Reflection

Step 5 - Student Reflection

Digital Workflow in High School Photography

It took some time, but we were able to determine a "turn in" folder for our photography students that meets all the criteria for efficient digital workflow.  We are using iMacs and Google Drive.  Some items that needed to be considered

• Teacher able to view all pictures from students
• Students not able to view other student pictures online
• Method for students KNOWING the teacher received their picture
• Assignment organization
• Student organization
• Class organization

Learn More About It

Lunch N' Learn PowToons Promotion

2014 Midwest Google Summit Day 2 Resources and Reflection

The second day of my Midwest Google Summit has a variety of speakers and content that allowed for me to learn about a number of great topics.


Ryan Bretag - SAMR, ESM, IPI for Measuring Success

Important Statements:

• Anything Is Measurable
• "In Flow" Is Time in Which Students (People) Start Learning Something and After A Lengthy Period of Time Don't Even Realize Time Has Passed (Usually Hours)
• Three Types of Measurement
• ESM - Experiential Sampling Method
• IPI - Instructional Practices Inventory
• SAMR - Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition
• After Forms/Surveys Have Focus Group
• Engagement Needs Roots That Are Data & Facts
• Think Success Is A Straight Line, But Success Is a Curvy Line

Jennifer Zurawski - Google Hangouts and On Air

Important Statements:

• Start in Gmail or Google Plus or Google Calendar
• Tons of Different Uses
• Hangouts Not Recorded; Hangouts On Air Recorded
• GAFE accounts = 15 people; Personal accounts = 10 people

Caroline Haebig - Google Drive on iPad

Important Statements:

• All Mobile Google Apps Can Be Found Here
• Any App Can Be Pushed To Google Drive For Sharing

Ryan Bretag - Google Communities

Important Statements:

• Loved the Statement: Pencil & Pixel
• Three Tiered Fish Bowl For Discussion
• In 2014 We Must Be (Digitally) Agile
• Alive, Active, Blended
• Flex Mod: Entire Group of Students Use Communities & Grading Teacher Use Classroom

All of MY SKETCH NOTES can be found on Pinterest.

• I truly enjoyed creating Sketch Notes during the conference.
• Sketch Notes allow for total focus on visualizing the concepts that the speaker is presenting.
• I chose Pinterest because @Braddo recommended it
• I will continue to learn and enhance my Sketch Notes.

Day 1 Reflection

2014 Midwest Google Summit Day 1 Resources and Reflection

The 2014 Midwest Google Summit began today as a two day learning opportunity for educators.  Teachers were focused on integrating Google Apps for Education by certified Google Teachers.  My notes were taken with the Paper 53 app which allows for tremendous creation opportunities.  I used the #Sketchnote option to produce ideas.  I chose this method because all of the resources that presenters create are online.  I wanted to create the notes so that they make sense in a visual way.  Below are the highlights of my learning day complete with visual Sketchnotes and written information.

Mark Garrison - Keynote

Important Statements:

• Experiences In Technology Involve Innovation
• It's Not What The Teacher Knows About Tech, It's What The Students Create
• Ask Students To Change, Need Teachers To Lead
• 4 Cs are Above SAMR
• Start Stop Share

David Freeburg - Google Apps On The iPad

Important Statements:

• Google Search App is Under Used
• Google Earth and Google Maps On the iPad Can Be Integrated
• Google Play For Adding Books

Jennifer Zurawski - YouTube: From Consumer To Producer

Important Statements:

• Four Stages of YouTube Use: Funny Videos, Tutorials, Publishing, Google Hangouts On Air 
• Funny Videos For Hooks and Discussion Starters
• Tutorials For Sub Plans and Video Tutorials of Lessons
• YouTube for Uploading of Content, Web Cams, Hangouts, and Editor

John Taylor: gMath Google Add-On

Important Statements:

• Created By John McGowan
• Math Equation Editor For Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms
• LaTex is the Language That Makes It Work, Preview Is What Makes It Make Sense

Day 2 Reflection

Book Creator Exporting Options Using Google Drive

Our sixth grade teacher, Mr. Pratt, a model classroom teacher in our district will be utilizing the Book Creator app for an upcoming creative learning opportunity for his students.  As always, it is important to develop/create/understand the work flow of completed project to a sharable format.

To understand the workflow I created a Stick Around App book using the Book Creator app.


On Monday, November 25, 2013, I blogged about illustrating a Book On an iPad or Online and the Book Creator App for the iPad was a choice.  Since then, I haven't revisited the app.

Today, I created a book about the Stick Around App in high school Anatomy and pushed the three different types of final products to Google Drive.  These final products are placed in a shared folder.  Students and teachers can "open in" the file from Google Drive to iBooks or any other application.  Of course, this is an app smash.

This tremendous App Smashing presentation from Miami Vice helped in the process.

View The Process



VIEW THE THREE DIFFERENT PUBLISHING OPTIONS

My Final Creation

PicCollage and PicPlayPost iPad App For Present Progressive Tense In Spanish

Ms. Slusarek and Mr. Vanseth created an amazing app smash with the PicCollage app and the PicPlayPost app.  These teachers are doing some amazing things with iPad apps and thinking outside the traditional educational box.  Students are empowering their creative minds with the integration of a technology tool!

As Ms. Slusarek states,

"Our learning objective is for the students to distinguish between the regular present tense and the present progressive verb tense. 

To do this we are "app smashing" PicPlayPost and Pic Collage! We wanted to add text to our picture and video, but PPP doesn't include this feature. So we are using Pic Collage to add text to a picture and then combining the pic with text to the video and framing at PPP offers!" 

The directions are below.

Utilizing SQWORL For Individual Planning Conferences

Today, Mrs. Gerth and Mrs. Wagner, school counselors contacted me about a way to have all the web resources (six) available with one click while conducting eighth grade planning conferences.

We initially tried "pinning" tabs in Chrome, but was unsuccessful in keeping them pinned after logging off/logging on.  Not sure why, but it could be that we were on a virtual machine.

Because of that failure, I remembered creating multi urls a year or two ago and decided SQWORL would be the best.  SQWORL touts itself as "Simple Visual Bookmarking for Educators".  One of our counselors created an account.  It took about 15 minutes to create the link.

The LINK works perfectly and is now able to be shared with other counselors.
(This would not have happened if we pinned each teacher's Chrome browser)

Introducing the Flex Mod Schedule To Students and the Community

As we progress to the flexible schedule for our high school in 2015-2016, our communication intensifies.  To do this, our art teacher, Mr. Sperduto created a tremendous infographic that will be displayed throughout our building, given to students, and distributed throughout our community.

In addition, I created a video with raw video footage provided by Mr. Manning and Mr. Mentink. The video was created with Final Cut Pro X, which is a Mac program I learned about at the Apple Distinguished Educator Institute in Austin in 2013.

Our principal, Mr. Matczak, completed a voice over of a Google presentation that Mrs. Mathys and Ms. Koch created.  The voice over was completed in Camtasia because the Google presentation was able to be screencasted.  Also, the editing features were perfect for cleaning up the voice over.

The Final Cut Pro X and voice over were combined using the Camtasia Program.  Worked perfectly.

Promotion of Causes Using the iPad

Mrs. Titler and Ms. Slusarek, Spanish teachers at Pulaski High School provided a Problem Based Learning opportunity with their Spanish students.

Students used different mediums to create their product that helps to create awareness for their cause.

Below are some of those options (some links may only work if you have the correct rights.

Charla animal - Blog

La Cruz Roja - Video

la obesidad en la niñez - Twitter

la hambre del mundo - Twitter

As Ms. Slusarek stated, "There are some grammar mistakes, but I think this group captured the effective use of technology and how to motivate people to join a cause!"  

View The Video

Coaching Teachers Through Using The Explain Everything App

A week from now, the entire population of Biology students at Pulaski High will be describing mitosis using the Explain Everything app.  To coach the teachers on the intricacies of Explain Everything, I

• Demonstrated the tools on Monday with the expectations that they would create a storyboard for their personal creation during the day on Monday.

Note: one of our teachers's children became ill and she was unable to be at school on Monday.  No problem, she used her personal iPad and another device to join in the learning through a Google Hangout!

• coached them through their creation on Tuesday while using the Explain Everything App.

Next Friday, I will be utilizing our school's Large Group Instruction area to demonstrate features of Explain Everything to all of the biology students .  This should take about 15 minutes or less.  Students will then formulate their storyboard in their classrooms so that during the next class period, they will start creating using the Explain Everything app.

Below is the Protein product that one of our biology teachers, Ms. Thut, created.

This was the first time that the entire process of coaching teachers using a technology tool occurred in this sequence.  Teacher's time is very precious and not taking an entire prep period to discuss technology integration was a benefit.  Extending the learning for teachers over the course of two days was also a benefit.

I'm looking forward to teaching the tools of the Explain Everything app to the students knowing the teachers know the tech tool because of a personal learning experience.

Some might say that we use the Explain Everything app too much.  We do use it numerous times, but as students become  MORE familiar with the app, the technology tool becomes invisible.  Students and teachers don't think twice about using a writing utensil because it is essentially invisible.  The thoughts, ideas, and solutions that come from the writing utensil are what matters!  So it hopefully will be with technology tools!

Step 1 - Teaching Teachers

Step 2 - Teaching Students

Step 3 - Exporting the Project 

Step 4 - Lesson Reflection

Step 5 - Student Reflection

Shadow Puppet on iPad and Storybird via Chrome For Creation

Students creating content on the iPad and or using a Chrome browser is all about what students know or can formulate.  It is truly one of the best assessment and or creation methods that can be integrated into the educational setting.  Two applications that have gained my attention over the last week are below.  One is for the iPad and one is for the Chromebook/laptop.

Storytelling can take two forms.  One can be of pictures that the student takes and develops written/auditory words that explain the pictures. Another form can be writing that revolves around pictures that others create.

Examples of Storytelling in the educational setting:

• Explaining a process such as mitosis or steps to solving mathematical problems
• Developing sentence structure
• Providing details of a solution to a problem
• Examining/clarifying lab results
• Comparing and contrasting two, three, or more concepts
• Alternative to semester exam; describe the concepts learned throughout the semester
• Promotion of ideas

I also recently decided to purchase the Paper 53 complete set of tools in the app (I have had the free version on my iPad for more than a year).  I really like the way Paper 53 makes a person with zero artistic talent have some semblance of artist capability.  I have also been intrigued by the Sketch Notes that many of my PLN are utilizing. Brad ADE Class of 2010 is the first person I saw Sketch Noting at the ADE Institute in Austin.



Using an iPad?
The Shadow Puppet app is a free app that allows for no nonsense, easy creation of ideas, thoughts, and productivity.  I like how the final video creation can be sent to the camera roll which lends itself to easy uploading to Google Drive.
A Tutorial


My Creation - Took less than 15 minutes to make.  Took screen shots from the iPad, and started the creation.



Using a Chromebook?
The Storybird Chrome Store App is a free app and service that allows for the creation of short stories. A great set of video tutorials have been created if you would like to set up a classroom of students.  This would be great for management of the creations.  If you don't want to create a class, have students sign up as students and create individual accounts.

I have found a very detailed tutorial by another tech coach, Megan Ryder, that outlines everything. She really does a great job.
One of her tutorials is below.


As always, I am willing to help a teacher learn, understand, and co-teach these tools in the classroom if they meet learning objectives that need to be mastered.

American Literature Using Explain Everything to Discuss

Students used Explain Everything to show what they knew to the instructor.  The question posed to them was "Is Emerson's philosophy about individualism a real possibility for society? Why or Why Not?

Ms. Rheingans stated, "As I was listening to these, I was so amazed at how well I was able to see how much they actually understood from reading."

In my opinion, having students "show what they know" provides some truthful insight as to whether they understand and can communicate their understanding.  A traditional multiple choice test may not provide this type of insight.  Of course, there is a time and place for every type of assessment.

This appeared to be the right time and place for students using Explain Everything.

Belkin Headphone Hub For Student Collaboration on the iPad

Yesterday, in Mr. Pratt's class, I noticed that he had a number of Belkin Headphone Hubs.  Students use these to listen collaboratively to videos in which they are learning a specific concept or idea.  This girl gave an insight into how easy it was to use the iPads for learning.

*I apologize for the sound, there was slightly too much background conversation.

Google Drive Turn In Folder

Our middle school students in AgriScience class are creating portfolios.  We are going to use Google Turn In Folders as the repository for the artifacts.



In 2012, Chad Kafka made an excellent video.  Some of the terms have changed (collections to folders) but this is a great tutorial.

YouTube Safety Mode On/Off

Google Drive Updates For Staff

I used Camtasia Studio to record, add highlights, and to edit audio.



If the video above won't play, you may have YouTube's Safety Mode enabled.  View how you can disable that feature.

Stick Around App in High School Anatomy Class

Mr. Anderson integrated the Stick Around app into the "learning about the skull" activity for students.  The Stick Around app was a perfect tool for students to create interactive learning opportunities for students based on student textbook resources.

View The Students Working and The Workflow


Note: We were able to publish the Hour 2 projects as puzzles and export those puzzles to the Google Drive folders.

Students now have 18 interactive puzzles to master the bones of the skulls.

Creativity & Critical Thinking:  Students needed to establish the exact placement of the stickers and the answers so that no answer areas were conflicting.

Collaboration: The puzzles were created in groups of two or three.  Students were held accountable for their creations as all of the puzzles were shared with the teacher and placed in a Google Drive folder.  This allows all students to view the creations of students.

iTunes U & iBooks Content Introduction For The Classroom

iTunes U and iBooks have an enormous amount of K-12 information that can be utilized for all content in the classroom.  This content could be used as

• Investigative research material
• Supplemental information to support other resources
• Personalized learning plans for all or parts of concepts
• Station work for use in the classroom or in Personal Learning Areas
• Independent study for students

Teachers have used iTunes U content in many different ways.

To access the iTunes U content, download the iTunes program to your laptop if you haven't done so already.  This can be done be visiting the Software Center on your desktop.  It looks like this.

Once iTunes is installed, iTunes U content can be accessed.  You will need to agree to the terms of use.

After clicking agree you will be able to access the information.

To access all of this information on the iPad, the iTunes U app is needed,

iBooks app

The iBooks app provides SO many interactive learning opportunities.  Most of the books allow for a SAMPLE to view the first 20-30 pages of each book.  These books could be purchased as one book, placed on an iPad and shown through the AirServer app as a supplemental resource.

If you would like to have a book placed on the iPads, we can do that!  

***This is a Lunch N' Learn that can give you an idea of what these two resources can provide you.  Please consider attending so that the resources can be viewed.