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!