Raider Strong Episode 19: Lindsey Schartner

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In this episode, Mrs. Lindsey Schartner, Pulaski High Social Studies Teacher, tells us that she was in seventh grade in the Pulaski Community School District when she realized teaching was going to be her career.  Mrs. Barszcz had her students write and draw books about what students wanted to be when they grew up.  Mrs. Schartner chose a teacher.

As with many of our district employees, the people are the best part about working in the Pulaski Community School District.

She would choose to be a physical education teacher for one reason.

Golfing every week is something she loves to do.  She would also like to travel to Europe.

Why Are We Creating Podcasts?
Our AP Environmental Science teacher will be listening to and creating podcasts in May 2017 based on an item of interest.  I needed to understand the workflow and found a purpose: introducing our great staff to the world! Discover the details!

Subscribe to the Podcast:
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes!  I would really appreciate you leaving a review as this grows.  I want our podcast to be #RaiderStrong

Notability For (Track) Coaches

As Notability has been taught to our teachers and utilized by our students, educators are getting more comfortable.

Today, Mr. Jeff Braun came into my office with enthusiasm and stated how he used Notability at a track and field clinic over the weekend.  He said, "When the clinic showed the PDF version of the clinic notes, I said 'Hey, I could put that into Notability!'"

He shared with me his clinic notes.  The presenters notes are completely annotated with Coach Braun's notes!

Success! For the coach and for the athlete!
VIEW THE NOTES

PechaKucha Created With Explain Everything On the iPad For Sociology Final Assessment

*My PechaKucha example at end of post.

In spending more time in our high school Sociology class with Mrs. Krause, we have experienced a few "Show What You Know" learning opportunities with the iPad as the technology tool of choice.  We've already used  Popplet as a tool on the iPad to "Check For Understanding".



As we approach the traditional "final exam" period which comes at the end of Semester 1, we will not be conducting the multiple choice, true/false, essay exam.  Instead, students will be analyzing all of the content they discovered over one semester and apply that to their life.  We are focusing on taking one or two concepts that spoke to the students. Students will then take these concepts and demonstrate how it has impacted their life.

To do this we are incorporating a "presentation" method of PechaKucha.  Truthfully, until TIES 2015 and Ben Friesen's introduction, I had not heard of this presentation method.  Discover the history behind PechKucha or see one of many examples.

Of course, readers of iPaddiction know we are focused on creation and workflow utilizing iPads. In other words, how are we going to create a PechaKucha on the iPad?

Explain Everything is going to be our tool of choice.  Placing one image or a collage of images on a stage while recording is easy. Since we are modifying the PechaKucha format slightly (using 10 slides x 20 seconds each vs. 20 slides x 20 seconds each) Explain Everything's visible clock while recording is SO helpful.  Students will record each slide for 20 seconds.
Their thoughts. 20 Seconds. Don't Go Over!

Also, if students error while recording one slide, the entire presentation is not ruined.  Students simply rerecord the slide that is incorrect.

Another awesome feature to Explain Everything is the feature of easy access, viewing, copying, and moving of each stage (slide).  Ten slides are needed.  Since we have used Explain Everything before, it will be very easy for students to create and arrange the slides according to their needs.

Once students create, arrange, and record each slide to their liking, students will export the video to the camera roll.  Students will then "submit" this video as their assessment to Canvas which is our Learning Managment System.  Students will view each other's creations.  While students are watching presentations, students will be engaged in a discussion utilizing Canvas' Discussion option.  We provided them with a rubric and guidance.

My PechaKucha example to the students is below.  

Option:

• Have students create each slide with silence and have students speak in front of the class while their "silent movie" is running on the screen.

Creating a PechaKucha utilizing Explain Everything was extremely simple and effective.  I'll post more about the process and student examples as the students complete the learning opportunity.
Images from our "recording day" are HERE.

• Students in our Spanish II class are utilizing the PechaKucha speaking option.  Due to the "second language" concept, students are being given the "leveling up" option.  This option gives an "exceeds expectations" status to the presentation if note cards are not used.  If note cards are used, a "meets expectations" status is given.  We feel that with the added element of speaking in a second language students should have the opportunity to have note cards.  It is our hope, however, that they will be used sparingly.

Reflection:
I am so impressed with our students and the presentations they have conducted.  The fact that the "slides" kept moving motivated the students to talk to the audience as opposed to reading cards.  Students also needed to "think on their feet" if they finished early on a particular slide or "fill in" if they finished early.  There was also REAL connection from concepts in Sociology to their life.

That's what we want!

Students applying knowledge gained to life experiences.  The PechaKucha format really provided a great medium for students to "Show What They Know".

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