World History Twitter Template

Students will be creating three tweets on behalf of a famous person in history.  While we could be "real tweeters", some students do not have a Twitter account.  Because of this we modified a Twitter template that we found online for our purposes.

Students will create a copy of the template using an iPad which has a specific workflow.  Find the specific presentations below.

We feel that this learning opportunity helps students to practice being great communicators, critically thinkers all while creating good content.

The Twitter Template



The iPad Workflow

Marketing Students Hear From College Freshmen Whose Done It

On Wednesday, January 31, 2018 our Pulaski High School Marketing Principles class experienced a thirty minute interview with an Ohio University School of Business Honors Student. Brock Reisler (BrockReisler.com) has developed a positive personal brand through his website.  He is featured on the Ohio University Honors page. He also secured a 2018 paid internship by November of 2017 after sending 400 emails to colleges and university athletic departments throughout the United States.

As a teacher, this was a great way to utilize

• Communication (with "experts" outside of our school)
• Create content as we recording the entire hangout
• Critically thought about the content that Brock presented to our students as they are going to be creating a personal brand

As a father, I am so proud of the responsible young man that Brock has become.  I liked one of the things Brock said in the interview:

"Everything In High School Matters" ~Brock Reisler 1-31-18

Watch the interview conducted through an event on Google Hangout!

Read through the Tweets:

.@OhioUBusiness freshman @brockreisler gives back to @PCSD_PHS Ss by explaining how to positively brand yourself in a competitive #business world. Great intro to a digital marketing campaign for the Field of Dreams. https://t.co/5quz5aviiC #RedRaiderFuture #RaiderStrong pic.twitter.com/mio1ra0siZ

— Ben Otto (@phsbjotto) January 31, 2018

@brockreisler telling @PCSD_PHS students to take initiative to lead. Great discussion on how to make an impact and create a positive personal brand. #RaiderStrong pic.twitter.com/PhsUrAUrat

— Ben Otto (@phsbjotto) January 31, 2018

Changing The Narrative - Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity

Spending the entire day teaching the "tips" about GarageBand to over 250 juniors was a tremendous honor.  The U.S. History team of Mrs. Schartner, Mr. Krause, and Mr. Rodal want students to develop a 3-5 minute radio show.  As they progress into the era of the 1920's, students will see that radio was the "window to the world" for almost every American household.

As I worked my way through the presentation below, students were given three opportunities to "play" instruments, record voice, and record multiple tracks of instruments.



The content of the U.S. History curriculum is so important.  My teaching role allows students to experience additional learning opportunities while experiencing the information.

My main focus was NOT ANOTHER project, but an opportunity to develop the skills that will help them during their time in high school and after they leave.  I addressed their "attitude" as one more thing to do by changing the narrative.  It's not another project.  They heard me say that this is a tremendous opportunity to get better at skills that employers continue to seek from our students.

Communication.
Creativity.
Critical Thinking.



As always, the impact of the message is undetermined at the beginning.  I'm not a motivational speaker.  I do know that my message is helping students to view learning opportunities in our school differently.  In my time of co-teaching technology tools, GarageBand engaged students to the end of the learning time and beyond better than most tools.

All of this became even more validated for me because of the podcast I listened to this morning.  Education with an Edge, Mike Smith of The Bay  Visit It

Flipboard Magazine Resource For Journal Reflections in Communication in Writing

In the past, one printed article was handed to the students for a "response journal" in Communication in Writing class.  Students read the exact, single article that was given to them from the teacher.  Reflect and apply it to their life and the assignment was complete.

With the implementation of Flipboard we accomplished two objects:

1.  Introduce students to a tool (Flipboard) that can provide quality written and visual resources to get them interested in topics they love.
2.  Create a quality magazine developed by the teachers that centers on  articles based on Communicating in the Workplace.

Introducing Flipboard reminds of the times in elementary school that we

used Play-Doh.  The teacher always let us "create whatever we wanted" for about 10-15 minutes and then it was time to develop a clear product based on teacher direction.  The way Flipboard sets up their "Get Started" page on a mobile device sucks users in because the students get to choose the topics they love.  As soon as they are done choosing topics based on their interests, Flipboard immediately populates riveting articles and resources to view and read.

Even the most reluctant students get sucked into the greatness of Flipboard.

While students choose one article to reflect on via the magazine that
Mr. Mentink created they respond to questions on paper.  (Created by Mr. Manning)
View Action Photos

View Flipboard Magazine.

The Minutes Leading Up To A Presentation

Presenting in front of four year old students or forty year old adults isn't always easy (however, it is fun!).  I've presented in front of many people, and I am a firm believer that music makes things better! Last night, prior to the presentation Experts At Your Fingertips, music was playing.

 In 2008, I started "Fun Music Friday".  Music was played while students walked into the classroom in the morning.  It was amazing to see the positive attitudes that transcended because students heard uplifting music.  Dancing even started!  What a great way to start the day!

Below are nine songs that say,

• Welcome
• Hello
• Get Ready, 'Cause This Is Going To Be Awesome
• Just Try Not To Be In a Positive Mood

I do not have the videos playing for people to see.  The presentation that will about to happen is in one tab and the music is in a hidden tab.  YouTube continues to be a great tool to get free music and playlists are an easy organizational tool.

If you are presenting or getting in front of people to speak, consider the playlist and get your presentation off to a rocking start!

One of Three Things Happens To All Educational Information Acquired In A Learning Environment

Lately, I've added a few more podcasts to my learning network.  Because of this, "The Sport of Business", especially episode 49, has provided me with some thinking material.

Matt Scanlon, Business Mentor and owner/operator of CrossFit Memorial Hill in Kansas City, MO recently stated in a podcast that three things happen to businesses.

• The Business Closes (goes out of business)
• The Business is Sold (or acquired)
• The Business Gets Passed On To Someone Else (as a legacy business)

Over the last week, I have been team teaching with Mr. Todd Rodal, allowing students to learn, comprehend, and present information based on four groups.  Students need to meet the objectives, but have choice in how they learn the information and in how they present the information.

Because of my recent team teaching experience and "The Sport of Business" podcast, I have added important information to designing lessons.  Of course, collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and creativity are always prevalent while designing learning opportunities.  However, combining that with one of three things that happens to all educational information acquired in a learning environment may drive designing a lesson to new levels.

• Students Disregard Content Closing It Out Of Their Brain
• Students Ask More Questions To Dig Deeper Into A Concept
• Students Pass On The "Amazing" Information That They Learned To Someone Else

Think about that!

Students take the information and disregard it!  They can't see how it relates to ANYTHING in their life.  To a greater degree, they start asking questions, because they are somewhat engaged and intrigued by the information that they would like to know more about it!  Finally, the information is so amazing, the students have asked so many questions to know more about it and feel motivated, compelled even, to tell someone else about how great the information is so that the information can be utilized by other people in a positive way.

The next time it's "lesson design" time, consider how the "three things that happen to all educational information acquired" will influence the educational experience for students.

Come to think of it, what are you going to do with the information in this blog post?

Snapchat In Education: I'm Using It; You Should, Too!

I'll admit it!

Snapchat was not my thing.  In fact, I know the very time and place I was TURNED OFF to Snapchat.

November 2013.

Pulaski High School Library.

A student (who shall remain nameless) stuck his finger up his nose, "snapped" a picture and sent it to a friend via the Snapchat app.

Immediately, I was not a fan.  I even "warned teachers" about the use of the app!

Fast forward three years, and I have found many uses, including but not limited to Spring Break!

I had been using Twitter for communicating with athletes, Instagram for sending images of team accomplishments, but truthfully, athletes weren't engaged.  I heard about all of the research.  Students are leaving Twitter and Facebook in droves for the more "personal" social media tools.  Always wanting to connect with students and meet them where they are at, I found a way to communicate with them.

Snapchat.

I am able to see students' stories which allows me to have a connection with them.   For me, coaching athletes and connecting with them in a positive way is a continued need to build team unity!  I have challenged football players to "check in" everyday with "how they got better"! It's working!

I'm not the first educator to utilize the powers of Snapchat.

Michael Britt, adjunct professor at Marist College in upstate New York, uses it to provide real life situations his students are studying. He states, "The best way to learn new material is to try to personalize it."  He does this by creating "snaps" of concepts that pertain directly to items he sees in life.

While Mr. Anderson is not specifically using Snapchat, he is allowing one of his students to utilize Snapchat's drawing and text features to quickly annotate images in Anatomy & Kinesiology.

Even further, I see multiple businesses using Snapchat! (Over 10 Billion Videos A Day!)  They know where the customers are at.  Sports teams, especially Major League Baseball, recently had a "Snapchat Day". The entire day was devoted to Snapchat stories that gave tremendous behind the scenes action and drew me in closer to the team, especially my Dodgers!

Snapchat updates stickers 5-24-16

Examples of Snapchat uses in education:

• Sociology group dynamics - attaching terms to items viewed in local or global society 
• Psychology - attaching terms and concepts to visuals that students can view
• Mathematical concepts found in the world
• Chemistry definitions that can be found in the world
• Global Issues that can be found in geographical location of a high school
• Civics definitions that are found while experiencing everyday situations
• English - pointing out grammatical errors found in advertisements, news stories, and more
• Motivational quotes and challenges for athletes
• Reminders of upcoming opportunities for learning
• Biology terms and real pictures of the objects
• Environmental Science - sharing real world concepts!

Steps for connecting students to an educator.

• Create an account after downloading the app on iOS or Android
• Be sure to choose a name in which students or athletes will recognize you/your classroom
• Get the settings to represent what you want.
• Share your Snapchat handle in class
• Start snapping
• Talk with students about Digital Citizenship.  Sending inappropriate snaps can and will get you in trouble.  Even if the snaps go away, these images are present forever.  Explain to students that sending inappropriate snaps will get them blocked from classroom/athletic material.

Creative Methods For Bringing Characters To Life in College English

Really enjoyed teaching with Mr. Krause, College English teacher!  I thought we did a great job of presenting content together.  Each of us added relevant information in a timely manner to keep the presentation lively!

When done correctly, team teaching is a "whole lot of fun"!

 

Book Creator App on iPad Export as Movie and eBook

Book Creator App on the iPad which we have used since 2014, will be our creation tool of choice to create both videos and eBooks for "7 Minute Workouts" developed by students.  We chose the app because it can be published as an interactive eBook (suitable for the iBook app), a PDF, or a movie.  All of this can be sent to our Google Drive for sharing!  We also wanted the ability to have words, images, drawing, and embedded video.  Lastly, we wanted to try a different creation tool.  Readers of iPaddiction know that Explain Everything is a go to app, because it's that good!  We'll allow students to use this app to broaden their creativity toolbox. 

The Movie

The ePub Book that can be opened in iBooks. At this time, we are not sending books to iTunes so the iBooks are not interactive.

The PDF book that can be opened anywhere. Video examples of exercises won't work.

During the day, I team taught with Mrs. Logue and Mr. Karcz.  I taught two of the classes while Mrs. Logue observed.

During the third class, Mrs. Logue taught the entire technology piece.  I supported her a few times during her presentation.  However, she did a great job of teaching with confidence.  This was a perfect demonstration of the gradual release teaching strategy.

From Subject Line To Signature: Emailing Correctly in a Professional Educational Setting

As we are in our second full month of the flex mod schedule, students continue to communicate with teachers on a variety of topics.  From missing assignments to acquiring resources, students must provide proper, professional emails.

On Thursday, our homeroom will focus on teaching students the proper way to email teachers to get fast, productive results.

The presentation provides a great video from Forbes magazine on proper business emailing techniques and a specific example of an email conversation between a student and a teacher.  Combined with discussion questions and after participating in this educational setting, students will know the correct aspects of properly writing an email to their teacher.



The motivation for this presentation can be found here.
The presentation template can be found at Slides Carnival.

Media Class Press Pass

Mr. Manning has several media classes which require students to exit the room to obtain video footage.  In the past, he has created a Word document to create media passes.  He asked me yesterday if there is a better way than trying to resize the picture accurately every time in Word.

I had remembered Big Huge Labs and the many great creation tools they have.  They have a media pass template.  Great features include.

• Automatic picture formatting
• Expiration date of the pass
• Customized colors

Great tool to help with the efficient use of a teacher's time. Some examples are below.

Tweetbeam

Tweetbeam could be a great tool for live, visual representations of events or discussions as they pertain to the classroom!

I recently created a #WEMTA2013 tweetbeam that provided live tweets in visual format!  Awesome!

Twitter A Spanish Conversational Tool

Today, I co-taught with the Spanish teacher.  It was the second time that Twitter was being used.  The purpose for using the tool was to have a place for students to converse in Spanish.  While we didn't expect any technical issues, we experienced them.  What isn't present in the video is the wonderful team teaching that occurred. In each class, two to three students didn't know their password or Twitter wouldn't recognize their account settings immediately.  The classroom teacher took these students aside and worked on configuring the accounts.  I took care of using Twitter for the purpose that the classroom teacher wanted.  Also, one student hadn't created an account.  I worked with that student to set up the account while the classroom teacher set out the Learning Targets for the day.

It was a great example of team teaching!

See how it works:


She also created a wonderful Digital Footprint Agreement with the students.  The students needed to read and digitally sign before heading onto twitter.  See her blog post.

Remind 101 Used By Spanish Teacher

Using Remind 101, the Spanish teacher will be communicating with parents and students.  View the method.