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.

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.

Stick Around iPad App in High School Psychology

In May of 2014, I introduced our staff to the Stick Around App. It is an incredible interactive app that is perfect for content area.  Today, Mr. Krause, High School Pshychology, utilized this app to solidify the parts and functions of the brain.  I introduced the basic features of the app for about five minutes using AirServer to broadcast functions of the iPad app onto our screen.  After that, we periodically would broadcast tips and tricks for about thirty seconds to the students as the situation arose in our classroom.

I was thankful that our Superintendent, Mr. Thompson, joined us today as he was able to witness a technology coach and a classroom teacher working efficiently together.

Truthfully, this learning opportunity couldn't have went any smoother!  It was awesome!

View how and what the students accomplished during this interactive lesson.



Collaboration: Students discovered links and information on one iPad and shared that information with another student on a different iPad utilizing Google Drive.
Creativity:  Students were able to decide the design and content of their puzzle.
Critical Thinking: Not only did students need to label parts of the brain, they also needed to provide additional resources for supporting the purpose of each brain part.

n2y Winner, Mrs. Morgan!

Technology can present itself in so many ways.  n2y and Symbolstix is a technology tool that has revolutionized Mrs. Morgan's classroom learning environment.

In September 2013, Mrs. Morgan approached me with the idea of entering the n2y contest in which n2y wanted to hear how the Unique Learning System was utilized in classrooms across the United States.  After understanding the task at hand which was filming and producing a video telling the story of how the Unique Learning System has helped Nalia become verbally engaged in learning, I agreed to help.

Part of the job of a Learning Support Teacher & Technology Integration Specialist is thinking about and enacting the best work flow for a task.  My initial thought was to use iPads and Skitch to tell the story.  However, I knew I needed to talk with Mr. Manning, a media teacher.  He immediately recognized the importance of the story and decided to become an integral piece to the puzzle.  From him, I learned how to transcribe each video clip (we used Google Docs so that both of us could work on the document).  Transcribing allowed us to tell the story through the teacher, students, and parents.  Our final product was well received!

The reaction of Mrs. Morgan and her students is priceless.  Congratulations, Mrs. Morgan!  You deserve it!

View Celebration that was created completely on an iPad Air with iMovie.

Google Hangout With Pulaski Alumni From Spain

Because of an idea and a training session on Google Hangouts, we were able to hangout out with one of our Alumni!

View The Video


See Modeling Google Hangout With An Educator

Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Allowing former students and experts to join students "in their classroom virtually" can add insight into the content and questions that students may have.  Google Hangouts enables for collaboration with experts!

Modeling Google Hangout With An Educator

Mrs. Brylski, high school human geography teacher, wants to connect with a former student who is in Spain.  To help Mrs. Brylski, I sat next to her desk and walked through setting up her Google + account.  (This video up to 5:00 was helpful in learning how to do this) After this, I invited her to a Google Hangout, she invited me to a Google Hangout, and finally we completed one while recording while in the same room.  The recording allowed us to explain why we were using Google Hangouts and to truly experience it under a low pressure situation.

It was also a great time for me as a tech coach to record my first Google Hangout.  I know that I'm slightly behind in doing this, but now that it was successful, I'll continue.  I have also discovered that by default the recorded video is set to unlisted.  I changed it to public.

As much as possible, I like to model tech tools and the implementation of them with teachers.

Success.

View The Hangout


View The Hangout With The Alumni From Spain


Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Allowing former students and experts to join students "in their classroom virtually" can add insight into the content and questions that students may have.  Google Hangouts enables for collaboration with experts!

Experiencing Chromebooks As A Student

Mrs. Uelmen, our Director of Instructional Technology, presented at the Green Bay Google Summit.  She included staff as students in the discovery of Green Bay, Wisconsin.  As you will see, collaboration, Google Documents, searching, creativity, and movement are all in a day's work for teachers.

I documented the hour lesson to showcase how teachers can realistically understand how the implementation of Chromebooks is significantly different than the sit and get, lecture style of learning.

View The Learning Experience

Google + Community For AP Biology Reviews

Earlier in the year, our AP Biology teacher, Mrs. Vertz, attempted to conduct an evening review session using Google Hangout.  It was ok, but at times the video lagged which caused some frustrations.  As we get closer to the AP Biology test in May, we have decided to incorporate the Google Plus Community as our method for posting pictures, discussion questions, and videos. Today, we used our personal iPhones or Android phones and classroom iPads to join the community and to post comments to questions.  The teacher also set up and event, which is scheduled for tonight at 8:30 P.M. Since the community members can respond Yes, No, Maybe, as to whether they will attend the session, Mrs. Vertz now has an indication as to the number of students that will be attending.  In addition, the community allows for students to return as much as they would like to look at the posted items.  Essentially, this could become her online learning management system.

View The Day's Activities


Impact On Students:
Collaboration:  Ideally, this community would allow for threaded discussions that would lead to deeper questions and deeper discussion among students and teachers.

Explain Everything For Newton's Laws & Rube Goldberg

Our seventh grade teachers wanted a tool that would allow students to describe (explain) images and video associated with their Rube Goldberg machine.  Explain Everything was the tool of choice.

A huge advantage that Explain Everything has is that individual slides can be recorded.  This is especially important as mistakes are made.

See the tremendous detail and creation that went into a production from Mrs. Schwittay's students.

Updated video 2016


View Video


Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking: Obviously, thinking through a simple task to make it difficult takes critical thinking.  In addition, students needed to vocalize their thought process and rationalization.
Creativity: The creativity in the process was amazing.  The teacher couldn't state enough how much students put forth a fantastic effort to make a perfect Rube Goldberg machine.
Collaboration: Four students working together to make one machine and one explanation.

VideoNot.es For Reviewing The Presidential Roles

Last April, a Lunch N' Learn session focused on VideoNot.es.  The incredible tool that allows questions and comments to be synced directly with specific times in a video.  Following the learning session, one of our high school English teachers utilized this tool for implementing an assessment on her SMARTboard.

What makes our teachers fantastic is there willingness to learn something new when it hits them, "There must be a better way!"

That's exactly what occurred when Mrs. McCumber wanted to have her students analyze the latest Presidential State of the Union address from the perspective related to content in her class.

VideoNot.es allowed her to focus on "Presidential Roles" that occurred during the speech.  While it did take some time to review the one hour speech, it took mere seconds to find the exact spot in the speech in which she wanted to focus on.  Simply click on the time that you would like to view in the note and the video corresponds!

From a technical stand point, VideoNot.es saves all the notes in Google Drive.  This allows for sharing and easy access.  A newer feature is the integration with Evernote!  An additional feature is the speed of the video and how that can be adjusted.  This could be used in analyzing science experiments or sporting clips.  It would be great if the VideoNot.es could be embedded into a site or blog.  As it is now, only a link can be obtained for sharing.

View the Speech and Mrs. McCumber's notes.

Impact On Students:
Critical Thinking:   Analyzing anything requires a thinking process.  While Mrs. McCumber did the critical thinking for this activity (breaking the down the speech), students could do the same thing in an upcoming learning experience.
Collaboration: Since VideoNot.es is synced with Google Drive, students can analyze a video as a group.  Simply share the VideoNot.es with group members giving them editing rights.

Google Doc For Question & Answer During Active Research

Mr. Landers and Mrs. Koller are allowing their students to develop action research pertaining to energy uses and misuses in our school.  I like how they created a collaborative Google Doc to facilitate questions and answers that they have of the student and the students have for them.

Video Link


Impact On Students:
Collaboration: With only two teachers in classes of 25-30 students, conversations can't always happen. This document allows students and teachers to work through questions and answers relatively quickly.

Splicing iMovie and Exporting To Explain Everything

Our seventh grade science teacher, Mrs. Schwittay, is asking students to "Show What They Know".  She is asking students to create a Rube Goldberg experiment.  Instead of having every group present them one at a time in front of the class, students will be using their iPads to record the creation and hopeful success of their invention.

Students will be using the iMovie to splice the entire experiment into portions so as to describe the different science applications.
Video Link


Once the iMovie has sliced the video, students will export the entire video and portions of it into Explain Everything.  EE will be used for explaining verbally the questions they asked and the information they learned.
Video Link


Eventually, students will export their Explain Everything to their Google Drive and share it with the teacher.
Video Link


Of course, we can't forget to have students log out of their Google Drive access in Explain Everything.
Video Link


Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Working on the Rube Goldberg process will take serious collaboration.  As far as technology use, the students will need to decide as a group what parts of the video and explanation that applies to the video needs to be recorded.
Critical Thinking:  Smashing two apps together takes critical thinking.  Remember the definition of critical thinking? Critical thinking is a process that leads to skills that can be learned, mastered and used. Determining the process of bringing the movie into iMovie, splicing, producing, and inserting takes a thorough thought process.
Creativity: Not only will students need to develop the Rube Goldberg path, but producing an Explain Everything creation could take on a form of humor, fun, light hearted, serious, or determined tone.

Lunch N' Learn: Two Google + Exam Study Tools

Google has two items that may interest you.

• Google + Email Setting

Video Link

Google Drive Activity Gif Below Source

Video Tutorial of Google Activity Button Link

Semester Exam Study Tools

Last year, I provided a long list of study exam tools that teachers could present to students to prepare for for semester exam.  This year during Lunch N' Learn, I am focusing on three tools that, in my opinion, are the best of the list.

View Presentation



Impact On Students: 
Semester exams are a debatable topic.  Whether your school or individual teachers administers them is not something I want to debate.  However, if the exams exist, lets help students study by offering them quality tools.
Collaboration:  All of the tools can provide collaboration opportunities.  Thinking, processing, questioning together can help remember concepts.
Critical Thinking: Once concepts are presented to students through one of these tools, students can critically determine the right area to obtain the answer and decipher the best answer to remember for the exam.

Lunch N' Learn Promotion-Semester Exam Study Tools

Lunch N' Learn Topics:

• Google + Settings
• Semester Exam Digital Tools To Provide To Students

See You Tuesday!

Video Link

Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Many of the tools can be created by and used individually or with a study group.
Critical Thinking: Students must decide which tool is best for them.  Do they need text, pictures, or video?

Basic Anatomy Students Helping Patients

Last year, Mr. Anderson embarked on a problem-based learning opportunity for his Anatomy students.

Read.

This year, Mr. Anderson invited my to his classroom for the final days of the learning environment.  Students were introduced to a patient.  That patient was shown an informational iMovie describing the body part that was being affected.  The iPad provided a great conversation starter between the patient and the students. Within that movie, students provided factual information along with specific footage of the students describing the body parts functions. (Special thanks to Mr. Gosse for being a patient)

Video Link


Impact On Students:
Collaboration: Students worked in partners to develop an information iMovie that would provide patients with some of the knowledge they needed to understand what was ailing them.
Creativity: Students need to use a multi-media approach complete with audio, video, and still images to convey information in a clear and concise manner.
Critical Thinking: Students experienced a wealthy of information and placing the correct information into the video was vital.  In addition, students needed to transfer the knowledge they had of the body parts to the patient while having a conversation.  It wasn't all about the technology.  Students needed to critically think about the most important information and provide that to the patient.

LucidPress For Class Newspaper

LucidPress was presented by me as an option for seventh grade students to create a collaborative newspaper. Collaborative in the sense that all students across multiple classes have different responsibilities ranging from report to writer to layout to tech.  The students immediately recognized the features that would prove valuable in a class creation.

LucidPress Has Effective Features:

• Google Drive Integration:  this is it!  Students write articles in Google Drive and share it with the students who are in charge of layout.  Students who are designing the layout of the paper can connect LucidPress with their Google Drive account.  The article immediately appears in the newspaper with the options of changing the design.
• Templates:  There are enough templates to start to resemble Microsoft Publisher.  Since we are a Google Apps For Education school, Publisher as been eliminated.  Now it is back in some form!
• Collaboration:  Multiple students (in this case the designers/layout specialists) can work on the same newspaper.
• Publishing:  Multiple methods for publishing including instantly on Twitter & Google Plus via a link.  I like how the published item is a flip book format.

Listen to what the students say!

LucidPress Tutorial

Impact On Students:

• Collaboration:  Multiple students designing a LucidPress publication.  Multiple students contributing to the LucidPress publication through their Google Docs creations.
• Creativity:  While templates do exist, the blank publication is available as well.  Students need to make decisions on design, placement, colors, texts, and publishing.
• Critical Thinking: Students must decide so many facets of the design.  Layout of the design continues to be a critical thinking skill.

Google Maps Tour Builder

Because of @rmbyrne 's FreeTech4Teachers post on Google Maps Tour Builder, I was able to create a tour of our school district's schools.  Our district encompasses a large geographical area consisting of five elemendary schools, one middle school, and one high school, a Google Map Tour was a perfect medium to show case our schools.

In 2009, my students created Google Earth Flying Tours.  While it was easy in the end, there was a learning curve that caused some students to struggle.

Google Maps Tour Builder required little to no learning curve.  Since we are a Google Apps For Education school, logging in and creating a tour will be a very simple process.

An additional bonus is the ease at which one can keep the tour private or share with a peer or staff member. Sharing documents through Google is second nature to our students so this process will be efficient.

View My Tour   View How To Make A Tour

Google Earth is available in BETA for Chromebooks
Google Earth integrated with Google Maps

The impact on the students...

• Collaboration--Students could work in partners or groups to create their tour
• Creativity--adding additional pictures that students take or find to each destination can provide additional insight.  The opportunity to include additional comments for each destination is important for deeper understanding.  Students need to determine the best path for their tour.
• Critical Thinking--similar to creativity
• Citizenship--students will understand that the map while by default is private, it may be shared with peers and teachers.  The map is on the web!