In collaborating with the Spanish II team of Mrs. Van Gheem-Rottier, Ms. Sampson, and Ms. Slasarek, we developed a digital workflow in which students will be creating written stories based on a template created in Explain Everything.
This stemmed from the template that Mrs. Vertz created. She wanted students to focus the majority of their time on working through the process and not creating all of the pieces needed in the process.
Explain Everything's "export a project" option allows for "guided creativity" from teacher to student.
In this project, Spanish II students will be showcasing their creativity and language using the Spanish language by creating a digital legend. Their goal is to use the "preterite and imperfect tense" to create a story about the characters, setting, and plot of their choice. Only text will be used - no audio.
We wanted to have students write the text dialogue of the book in Google Docs so that it can be in a "story format". We believe this will give the students a better visual flow of how the story will develop. We will then "copy and paste" the text into Explain Everything.
Goosechase.com is a fantastic tool that works on mobile devices (iOS or Android) and on computers. Combine collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking into one "mission" learning experience.
While Goosechase allows for a "recreational" free option, it is intended for only friends and family. To Goosechase's credit, they understand school budgets are tight. They have provided a "request for classroom license" option which allows K-12 or College/University students to use one game per request. Requests are unlimited and does provide a way for educators to use the tremendous tools of Goosechase without purchasing anything. Please note, that the request needs to be made in advance. Allow for plenty of time before the game is played.
*Note: We are finding that emails get mailed quicker if a game does not have a password. I suggest that you send the email a day or at least a night prior to the learning lesson.
*Since we are not one to one, we are asking our students to get the app on their phones. No one has objected yet.
View how it works via presentation
View how it works via video
Thank you Ms. Slusarek for creating the video and for trying this with your students!
Get Chasin' Mrs. Jessica Moseng, high school physical education, incorporated this today (May 4, 2016). Video and images of students "getting physical fitness without knowing it" occurred during the entire time!
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.
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.
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".
The Market Place Project in Spanish II has always been an enjoyable experience. This year, we are continuing the project, but the students will utilize Explain Everything to demonstrate proper dialogue while bartering for a product.
This will be our third time using Explain Everything. Mini projects one and two were introduced through tutorials. We are increasing the levels of digital skills each time we innovate with Explain Everything. Our hope is to continue to build on the creativity and other modern day skills with the students. We are already seeing students not "concerning themselves with learning the tech" as Explain Everything is just "our tool". The process of learning the content is becoming the focus.
The Spanish teachers and I discussed the Unit 3 Market Project and collaborated on how it would look. Some areas of emphasis for me as a technology integration specialist include Creativity and Global Communication.
The Exceeding Expectations is highlighted because we are going to encourage students whose final products are pleasing to them to post them on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook with #RaiderStrong
Our Day 3 which is when the Explain Everything App is utilized looks like this:
As a help tool, I demonstrated the three skills that students will need to master
Background
Characters
Layering
Animation
Using Explain Everything.
UPDATE:
We played the video above and walked students through each of the three skills that were to be mastered. Students, all 168 of them, have completed the assessment. We are SO impressed!
Please view the conversations from "The Marketplace" that students created.
Students completed their second experience with Explain Everything. Students were to create a picture with text that demonstrates the present. Along with this, students created a part of the section of the product that included video to demonstrate the pres.prog. I truly don't understand Spanish so the exact concept is new to me.
I do know that Explain Everything has become our main focus for this year to allow students to create items that "show what they know". We want students to become so familiar with the technology tool (EE) that they don't even think about the tech tool, but simply focus on getting their knowledge to a digital medium.
Below is the information given to the students. We are focusing on "Creativity" from the four c's for the entire year.
In Spanish II, students created a postcard in Spanish that pertained to a place that they visited. With Explain Everything's features
Easily crop images
Layering
Multiple text font and size options
Exportable as a PDF to Google Drive
the students were able to create their two slide PDF, export it to Google Drive, and share it on Canvas. All within a 55 minute mod.
The students who were prepared simply copied their paragraph from their Google Doc app into the Explain Everything text boxes.
As a technology integration coach, I presented the features to Explain Everything for about 5-6 minutes using AirServer. Since this learning opportunity was multiple sessions, I taught the first Explain Everything tutorial and stayed in the classroom for the entire 55 minutes. The second time I taught the tutorial, but then left the classroom. The third and subsequent times after that the content teacher Ms. Slusarek taught the entire lesson. This will be the case when I am in Mrs. Van Gheem-Rottier's room tomorrow. As the first slide of the video displays, while the instructor is focusing on the content, we have instilled an expectation of creativity which aligns with the four c's.
(Ms. Slusarek & Mrs. Titler) developed a unit for our Spanish III students where they were asked to identify and solve potential problems while traveling abroad. Students were given the task of identifying a potential problem, brainstorming solutions/advice, and then asked to select a tech tool to share that information with other travelers. Here are a few of the examples from my class in case you are interested. (Mrs. Titler) was really happy with the results!
Mrs. Titler and Ms. Slusarek, PHS Spanish teachers, asked a few weeks ago about website building tools for students to "Show What They Know". Besides Google Sites, WIX was a suggestion I provided as it is an easy drag and drop tool to build a website.
A guest blog post is below along with student examples.
The students just completed a project where they had to make a web page giving advice and suggestions to people who want to be come different types of professions. The students worked with a partner, picked a profession and created the webpage with information such as typical day, salary, description of job duties and characteristics of a good worker. They did a great job, but I especially liked the projects that used WIX. This was a new web building tool for me and I was very pleased with how the website looked. The students said that it was easy to use, but that they needed a lot of information to fill it up. I included some examples here for you to see. There are some errors, but the overall presentation is what I wanted to share with you. Thank you for the suggestion!
Ms. Slusarek and Mr. Vanseth created an amazing app smash with the PicCollage app and the PicPlayPost app. These teachers are doing some amazing things with iPad apps and thinking outside the traditional educational box. Students are empowering their creative minds with the integration of a technology tool!
"Our learning objective is for the students to distinguish between the regular present tense and the present progressive verb tense.
To do this we are "app smashing" PicPlayPost and Pic Collage! We wanted to add text to our picture and video, but PPP doesn't include this feature. So we are using Pic Collage to add text to a picture and then combining the pic with text to the video and framing at PPP offers!"
As Ms. Slusarek stated, "There are some grammar mistakes, but I think this group captured the effective use of technology and how to motivate people to join a cause!"
Our high school Spanish teachers were looking to integrate a technology tool that would enable the students to explain their Spanish story in an innovative way.
Haiku Deck was chose so that students could use either Chromebooks or iPads while at home or in school. Having the same user experience on any device at home or in school propels Haiku Deck to the front for creating presentations.
While I don't know Spanish, I do know that the stunning images along with one sentence provides a clear story.
As one Spanish teacher, Mrs. Tewes, stated, "Students enjoyed using visuals to help tell their stories."
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.
