Inserting an Apple Logo  Led Me to "STOP" Using the Word "Projects"

I was curious as to how to place an  Apple symbol into a blog or text message.  I found an article from April 2017 on how this works.  However, the January 2018 version is slightly different.

This leads me to the practice of allowing students to "consume content" while teaching.  A perfect example of this happened this week. A teacher had a famous person in history projected in front of the class.  The instructor asked students, "What do you know about this person?" The high school students didn't say a word.

Not. One. Word.

The instructor discouragingly proceeded on by giving the students everything the teacher knew about the famous person.  After observing this, I mentioned to the teacher that at the moment they asked what the students know, the teacher could have provided students with three to five to however long the "investigating" minutes takes for students to consume content that could be a website, a video, an image, a pdf, etc.  Allowing students to "critically think" about the content that they are "consuming" and then sharing that content is a great skill for our students to develop and master.

The teacher tried the strategy the next day and emailed me a tremendous "thank you" as the discussion was so much more valuable and productive.

STOP using digital devices and tools "just for projects".  Utilizing the tools for consuming content, critically thinking about that content, collaborating with others, and creating/sharing solutions can all be incorporated into a single learning experience.  Furthermore, STOP calling all of these "learning experiences" "projects".   Avoid saying, "We are going to do an iMovie project."  We don't say that this weekend I'm going to do a "hammer project".  We say, "I'm going to build a deck and these are the tools I'll need: hammer, saw, nails, etc."  These "projects" are simply opportunities that allow students to build skills through learning experiences that help them move closer to contributing to their college, career, or community while in school and after graduating.

This leads me back to this morning.  I wanted to learn how to insert an  Apple symbol into a blog or text message.  I was able to consume the content, but needed to critically think about that the information I found "shortcuts" from the article

was slightly different than what I was seeing as "text replacement".

Once I did that I was successfully able to insert an Apple symbol on my iPad.

Freshmen Physical Education Creation Tools

Throughout the week, all freshmen students experienced learning opportunities pertaining to creation tools.  Civics and English 9 instructors wanted students to create or publish so we gave them tools to choose.

The tools for physical education were different.  See the presentation below.

Civics: Amendment Assessment With Choice

Students were provided an amendment and then asked to create something to show their knowledge.

Google Expeditions: Leader and Followers

Google Expeditions (Get The Scoop) enable teachers to bring students on virtual trips to places like museums, underwater, and outer space.  Read Google's Expeditions Help Page



Learning Opportunities in School (suggestions):

• Metals: "Explore a Car Factory" - relating classroom experiences to world experience
• English: "Slavery in America"- book settings
• Geography: "The Art of Yangzhou" - culture, museum, poetry
• ELL: "Field Trip to Hispanic Historic Sites in the U.S." - relating to people in our school
• Spanish: " Field Trip to Spain" - See the places speaking the language
• Math: "Nasa's Modern Figures" - STEM in the world
• Social Studies: "World War I" - Visit recreated trench system
• Business: "Girls Power to Beat Poverty in Bangladesh" - beginning own business
• Chemistry: "Hydrogen Burning" - Inside a burning hydrogen reaction and explanation
• Autos: "Subaru of Indiana Automotive" - Inside a "zero waste plant"
• Speech: Students lead tours with other students in class to practice public speaking skills

Currently there are roughly 600 expeditions!  Plenty of opportunities for use!

Things that I was impressed with while leading a group through Expeditions:

• Teacher as the leader
• Direct students to the exact places you want them to go
• Read word for word information on each item in the expedition
• See exactly where every "follower" is on your tour

Things that I was impressed with while following a leader during an Expedition:

• Student as follower
• With an arrow, I was directed toward the site of the information being explained by the leader
• Amazing real images
• Felt like I was there

Since we do not have viewers for every student in the class, we have shown students how to use their iPad to experience the expedition.  For high school students, I think the iPad isn't as good as a viewer, but good enough to experience the images and information.

I really like the "List of Available Expeditions" that someone created.  Combined with the free lesson plan presentations, and these really are a special experience for students who may never get there in reality.

The video below was created by Pioneer RESA Tech and displays both screens well.

Raider Strong Podcast: Workflow That Makes It Happen

I finally understood and completed the entire workflow for creating and producing a podcast to iTunes!

I made the intro and exit music in Garage Band on the iPad. (Starter Book) I made the art work in Canva on the iPad.  I recorded the actual interview on the iPad.  I uploaded it to Google Drive where it can be produced into an MP3 on the iPad.

Here's where the entire process on the iPad could stop and people could listen to it via the Google Drive Folder.

However, that's not officially podcasting.  I needed to get it to a host, I chose Soundcloud for now as it allows three hours of free hosting.  See the product.  After that, I connected with iTunes Connect. This is the official "housing" area of all iTunes podcast accounts.  I used my iTunes account, completed all of the information, and waited 24 hours for Apple to approve.  Now, you can find my podcasts on iTunes OFFICIALLY!   

UPDATE:  Once the Soundcloud app is installed, use the Garage Band's "sharrow" to produce the podcast directly to Soundcloud.  No computer needed.

MY GOAL: Interview as many Raider Strong employees as possible which will help promote the GREAT people that work in our district. 

RELATING TO STUDENTS' LEARNING EXPERIENCE:

After conferences with Ms. Thut, we created the beginnings of how it looks for students.  Our students will focus on:

• Consuming quality content using Environmental podcasts found on iTunes
• Critically think about what makes an exemplary podcast both from a technical stand point and content stand point.
• Collaborate with experts on YouTube or in the community to develop a passion for an environmental issue that is important to them. 
• Create a series of three podcasts that directly relate to the environmental issue that they want others to know about.

While all of the creation can and will be done on an iPad.  Our students will spend time in the library downloading their podcast from Google Drive and then back up to Soundcloud. We will also use their Pulaski iTunes account to establish an official Podcast account.

I'm thrilled at the final results and can't wait for our students to experience the thrill of podcasting!

UPDATE: [June 2, 2017] Students really did a great job, and had fun doing it! They created unique "entry music" to their podcasts along with rich content.

UPDATE: [February 1, 2018] teacher asked for no frills step by step directions.  Read Them

Some of them can be found HERE.
All of them can be found HERE if the permissions are correct.

GIVE IT A LISTEN, Subscribe, and Review

If you are interested in more of an elaborate set up, THIS post provides great information!

Global Issues Using Flipboard with Criteria and Implementation

Completed setting up Flipboard magazines with students this morning.  Mrs. Brylski set parameters for the entire semester. (See board picture) We also made students create a title, share the magazines with Mrs. Brylski so she could follow them and comment, and set their "cover page".

Flipboard in High School Geography

Notability Student User Guide Complete With Entertaining Clips To Stay Focused

As we progress through using iPads, Notability is a must have app for students!  I used the Notability app to create a High School Student User Guide and a Middle School Student User Guide.

I was also given the task of creating a video tutorial for our high school homeroom within a flex mod schedule day.  There are certainly hundreds of tutorials out their, but I felt it was important to capture all of the features of Notability while maintaining the interest of fifteen to eighteen year old students.

I used Camtasia  for the screencasting and Canva for the video thumbnail.  Truthfully, this project has used about 10 hours of my time to create.  Was it worth it?  I hope that it keeps the attention of the students and teaches valuable skills to be a successful Notability user.