Books or Screens?

This weekend while walking on the Königstraße I stopped in front of Hugendubel. The place was packed with people picking up books, browsing, reading, or escaping the unexpected heavy snowfall.  Then it hit me.  How long will this place be in business?  When will people go totally digital?  Or will people continue to have a place on their shelves for paper books?

6th Grade History Text.

Last year we started using a digital textbook in some of our Humanities classes.  This textbook by TCI can be a lifesaver for my emerging English speakers and bilingual students.  This text will read to them in English. It will highlight the main points of the section.  It will define key terms.  It will quiz them at the end of the chapter.  And when used in conjunction with an iPad, it even has a dictionary or web search function that will help them understand the words.

In my English Literature classes I encourage the students to buy a digital text.  Sure you can use your hard copy, underline things, and erase before you hand it back in, put sticky notes here or there with important notes, but why do that when you can do it digitally?  You could look up words in your own dictionary, but then you would have to get up and go find a dictionary.  Why you do that when it is right there on your iPad with pinch and hold?

Highlighting and note taking

Searching for a specific word in the text

Summary of all notes and highlights

Here is a typical scenario in an English class.   At the end of unit the students write a literary analysis on the text they have been studying.  This analysis might be a word study, an analysis of style and language, or a study of symbolism or theme.  They took some good notes during class, but now they can’t find that perfect quote that they remember was there but they forgot to mark.  If they had a digital text they could go to the search bar, type in a few words, and violá! There is the quote.  

 Using a digital text is especially good for word studies.  If I a student is trying to figure out how Shakespeare uses the word “night” in MacBeth, all they need to do is type in “night” in the search bar.  They then go through the list of quotes provided to analyze his usage of the word.  Imagine searching by hand MacBeth, page by page, by page, until you finally find “night”.  No wonder kids hate writing papers.

Don’t get me wrong, I treasure each and every one of my books in my collection.  But that is what I’m used to.  For kids its different.  Their world is digital.  That is what they are used to. 

What are your thoughts?  Books or screens?

Classroom Management Monsters!

What your class list looks like.

One eyed, one toothed monsters invaded my 6th grade classroom recently.  No, I'm not talking about my 6th graders returning from Christmas Break.  I'm talking about a new technology tool I'm using called ClassDojo.

The Problem:

I often struggle with how to keep my students engaged and interacting in a positive way on day 2, 3 or 4 of the project.  There is usually that one group that implodes day 2 in an argument.  There is the group that is trying but the one kid refuses to do anything.  There is that group of girls who gossip and doodle, look busy, and accomplish nothing.  Some days I feel like I'm playing teacher "wack-a-mole".  And when I travel around the room keeping kids in line, I end up stopping the flow of learning at the tables.

So how do I keep them all in line without a personal repremand?  ClassDojo.  Now when I travel around the room it is to answer questions, give feedback on their findings, instead of "stop it, pay attention to your group, please sit with your group, stop glue sticking Emily's notebook shut" etc.

Students working together trying to earn points for teamwork.

The Solution:

Here is how it works. Create an account on ClassDojo.  (I know, I know! Yes, you have to make yet another account.)  I created 2 classes for my 6th graders.  The program allows you to enter one name at a time, or copy and paste from your class list somewhere else.  Then it randomly assigns your students a little monster or bug.  It comes with some awards already created, but you can personalize what you want to reward your class for.  There are both positive and negative behaviors to choose from. Struggling with how to use the Learner Profile in class?  Add those to your positive behaviors list.

Once your classroom is set up you are ready to go.  Log on to your class, hook it up to the projector, and your class can now see their points and who you are rewarding.  If you want to be more mobile so that you aren't tied to the desk for rewarding your students,  download the ClassDojo app for your Android, iPhone, or iPad.  This allows you to roam your room awarding points, or taking away points, while still being able to talk with students and encourage them in their work.

Students receiving help rather than "the hammer."

Reflection:

It made an amazing difference in my classroom.  The 6th graders are always looking for positive feedback.  They want to please you.  I saw students who normally sit passively in a group actively engage.  When they noticed people around them were getting more points, they would begin entering the conversation more.

This kind of a system won't work for all kids though.  I think 6th-8th graders will respond well.  But once the students hit 9th grade, they want to know "Does this count toward my grade?"  A little cartoon monster becomes meaningless.  You never know though...maybe my 11's would love it.

...and we're back!

Don't blame me!

After a brief hiatus, a crazy week of digital citizenry, the welcoming of a new citizen, the subsequent loss of sleep and waking consciousness, and a tiny glimpse of equilibrium, the EduClick blog is back! Actually, it never really left, since Kathleen Ralf has posted some great ideas for on demand PD, among others.  So, for this edition, a recap on the previous weeks and a look at what's around the corner, starting with Digital Citizenship Week 2012.

While the week didn't go entirely as planned, the experiment was, in large part, a success.  Middle school students had a chance to think about the topics of Safety and Awareness, Behavior and Responsibility,  Balance, Reflection, as well as, Leadership and Ethics.   The morning activities engaged students in conversation, and even though it was only intended for Middle Schoolers, it seems some high school home room teachers consider it worthy of their time as well.

Lunch time activities also had ups and downs in my absence, but again, students had ample opportunity  to consider the daily themes a second time in the day.  The several performances of the Digital Citizenship Court Improv were a big hit, especially in the cafeteria.  Judge Sean Andrews, Prosecutor Abby Powers, Skie Wolfgang  Avestruss Carranza,  Attorney at Law, DDS, MD, XYZ, and Bailiff Aurora  Balogh-Zanin, who stole the show, performed a scene that highlighted the IT Appropriate Use Policy.  It asked students to consider the policy when deciding whether or not a student had misused her Google Apps account.  The audience, laughed, had fun, and reflected on the important theme of Behaviour and Responsibility.

What happend in subject classes?  

Comment below and tell us about how you incorporated the daily themes in your lesson!

Stand and face trial!

Friday's culminating assembly gave students a chance to consider leadership skills in the physical world, and compared them to similar skills necessary in the digital world.  We watched the student produced Reflection Video, reviewed the results of the Technology Use Surveys, discussed ethically questionable scenarios and their outcomes, and gave away some iTunes gift cards to students that participated in the survey.  

So what did we learn?

What the students learned may be hard to tell, for now.  We can only hope that they will apply what they've learned in their lives.  However, what we can do is to continue to bring these themes up throughout the school year.  Digital Citizenship ideas should not be relegated to a week, but should be apparent and integrated into everything they do.  

Students found her not guilty!

To that end, the IT Integration team is developing a K-12 ICT Integration Plan.  This will look like a scope and sequence of ICT skills and understandings students should have at different grade levels, as well as, support for teachers to integrate them seamlessly into their regular teaching.  The long term goal would be that this plan "dissolves" into our curriculum, with ICT Skills appearing in subject classes more like  ATL's.  If that sounds scary to you, take a deep breath, because we understand.  We won't move forward without a robust plan for supporting teachers in what we consider will be a process.  Which leads me to the next lesson learned. 

I wasn't entirely mad for planning Digital Citizenship Week the week my son was due.  I asked teachers to support students in the event that I were gone.   Several teacher were quite willing.  However, what I didn't properly take into account is that they would be willing to help, when they had time.  Obviously, with a full class load, that would be difficult for them.  Despite their willingness and good intentions, this was just not realistic.  This was an important reminder for me as a Tech Integrationist.  Though I feel I do consider the workload of the teachers, I need to remind myself to more thoroughly consider it for future events. 

Where did I save that list...?

We also learned a bit about student behavior.  The results of the survey may be a bit surprising.  Most respondents seemed to spend at least equal, if not greater, amounts of time doing productive work on their computers.   Students spent less time doing things like consuming media, shopping, and viewing social networks, than creating content, researching and communicating.  Well, at least this is what they've reported.  Even if they fibbed a bit on their report, perhaps the act of reflecting on their time spent will get them to consider if a change is necessary. 

In the end, it was a great first step into bringing a better understanding of technology's role in our community.   I want to emphasise this point.  It was a first step.  As I mentioned before, this is only the beginning of a process that will take a few years for us to master, and should become a permanent part of our practice.  

You play an important part in this, and so your feedback and collaboration are critical.   What do you think we should chamge for the next run? How should we be using technology in a way that teaches students about appropriate use? How can we all contribute? After all, if Saint Nikolaus is getting in on the action, shouldn't we all?

Professional Development, Free, and When You Have Time for It:

Japanese iPad mini buyers show off their new purchases. Photo: Bloomberg

One of the things that Glau and I have been charged to do this year is to try out new tools in our classroom and then bring them to you.   We teach the way we always have taught, but we both have a firm commitment to using our students “toys” to their full advantage.  If they have a phone in their pocket…how can we make them more engaged in the classroom with that phone. (or iPad, or Laptop, etc)

So how about making YOUR iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows Phone more useful for you?  Here is the scenario: You can’t get away to go on a PD but you would sure like a little help with your EAL (insert any discipline) kids.  Or you wanted to go to this cool Math conference, but your department already sent 5 people on trips this year.  Well have no fear, PD is right at your fingertips, and whenever you have time for it. Its called Zites. 

Zites is a free App for that creates a magazine just for you.  If you have ever used Pandora, it operates in much the same way.    You are given magazine, newspaper, and blog articles that interest you.  At the side of the screen it will ask you…"Did you enjoy reading this?”  By clicking yes, you will get more articles like it.  By clicking no, you will not longer receive articles of that type, writer, etc.   It also gives you options to add more “tags” to your reading lists to make your reading more specialized.  This then personalizes the news and information that you want to read without you going out and searching for it yourself.

You set up your account by telling it what you want to read.  It will give you various buttons to click like World News, Architecture, Gadgets.  But what about Educational topics?  There is a search bar in the set up that allows you to type in the topics that are more specific to you.  I have Education, eLearning, mLearning, iPads, History, Pedagogy, etc. 

In the one hour I was on it, I discovered:

-how teachers are using iBook to create manuals for their students to download and use.  For example if you have certain types of assignments that you do over and over, why keep printing out the instructions.  They make electronic booklets for kids to download, use and annotate themselves. 

-using Notabilty (a note taking app my 11th graders use on their iPads) to give feedback on student writing.  I can give my verbal comments by recording my voice onto their document instead of writing all over their work, them not reading it, or not being able to understand my writing. 

-using Twitter (free) to set up a Professional Learning Network for myself.

-how Scotland has had great success with 1 to 1 iPad classrooms in all age brackets.

-“Smart Desks” are being created that allow students to interact and learn together in the classroom…it’s a desk, its an interactive whiteboard, its super cool.

Now its time to go make breakfast.

Those Crazy QR Codes

Some of you were very intrigued by our recent tech fair.  So many cool things that can be done.  Because of the nature of our "quick hit" fair,  I wasn't able to answer all of your questions.  Here is a quick summary of what I did followed by some links to other great QR code activities.

The Lesson

Basically I played the mixer game of who is the person taped to my back.  You know the one.  Somebody places a random card on your back and you have to go around the room asking people questions to figure out who or what you are.  This then forces you to meet and greet people.

I had read about this activity while looking for ideas on how to use iPads/cell phones in the classroom on our history curriculum website, TCI. The blog post introduced using QR codes to review for the AP History exam.  I thought...why not try this to review what my students read the night before about World War I.

After students downloaded an App to their phones or iPads to scan QR codes I then explained the activity.  Students were to find out what their QR code represented about WWI.  It might be a person, a place, a battle, etc.  Then I demonstrated how to scan a code, just to make sure they could do it.

To find out what their QR code represented they were to pair up with someone.  One person scans the other person's code.  The scanner must then look through the website connected to the code.  The person being "scanned" then must ask 2 yes or no questions of the "scanner" to try to figure out who they are.  Once both people in the partnership have been the scanner and the scanned they switch to a new partner.  (The idea here is that all students will get the opportunity to read about all the items in the classroom.  Thus they get more knowledge on the topics they read the night before.)

Once I felt that 7 out of my 11 students had their topics figured out I had them pair up again.  But this time they were to introduce each others topic to the class.  But in their introduction, they had to give more in depth or different information than they read the night before.   The students then read each others web site connected to the QR code, discussed what relevant information to use, etc.  The kids then presented their topics, opened the floor to more questions, then the next set of partners introduced themselves.

At the end we reflected on what we did.  How did it go?  What did you learn that you didn't know before?  How did you learn this information?  What should we do next time to make this activity run smoother?  How else can we use QR codes in the classroom?



I switched the lesson a bit on Wednesday.  I used key figures from the Renaissance, rather than specific topics about WWI.  I figured more people would have guesses on Renaissance artists and thinkers.

How long did it take to create this lesson?

The creation of the lesson materials actually was fairly quick.  Making a quick PowerPoint with links took 5-10 minutes.  The gathering of good web sites took about 20-30 minutes.  Linking web sites to QR codes takes about 5-10 minutes.

The lesson described above included 11 students, all of which had their own tools to use in class.  The lesson took the entire 55 minute lesson.  For lower grades with more students, you might consider pairs scanning other pairs or making the lesson 2 periods long.  Scanning and preparing for introductions, second lesson introductions and reflecting.

What do you need to create the lesson?

-You need a QR code generator.  I used Kaywa.
-Students need to download an app to their phone.  I used the iPhone & iPad app Qrafter.
-Students using Android can use Barcode Scanner and Blackberry phones can use Scanlife.
-You can use a laptop to scan, but it was too problematic.

Here are other ways to use QR codes:

Here is a great video and blog post of a teacher who used QR codes to do a CSI Crime Scene in an English lesson for Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.  The blog post also includes his students reaction survey to the lesson, and a student work example.

Science teachers!  Check out this amazing Periodic Table.  Each QR code is linked to a video about the element.  These videos are made by the University of Nottingham. 

Here is a blog post from ZDNet that compiles other blogs and articles on how to use QR codes in the Classroom.  You will find literally 100's of ideas. Give QR encouragement.   Make walls in your classroom speak.  Include them on handouts to help kids check their answers or create extension activities.  Place them on an assignment sheet to link students to exemplars of the assignment.  Place on a homework handout to link students to a tutorial on how to do the math problem.  Place them in the library and link them to student generated book reviews.  Integrate with Geocaching for a scavenger hunt revision activing.  Ahhhhh. The possibilities are endless.

40 interesting ways to use QR Codes in the classroom from Brendan Jones

Trick or Treat!

I'm so Excited!

I'm excited about the corner I think the technology team at ISS has turned.  We're not entirely out of the woods.  However, I feel like we're getting our footing.  Let me tell you why I think this is.

A small group of teachers is now piloting ActivInspire, our new interactive white board tool, in their classrooms.  In particular, Kathleen Ralf is doing some really exciting things with the tool.  She wrote about her first ActivInspire experience in a post on this blog.  Others in the group that have had a chance to get started have expressed excitement and enthusiasm about the tool.  This will lead us to a standard tool that we can use across all the different interactive white board systems (SMART, Polyvision, etc.) we have installed.  

On Tuesday, a blog post I wrote sparked a conversation in the red room with several colleagues that has reverberated through to admin and is now on the agenda for the next HOD meeting.  It was regarding the technology expectations for teachers at school.  I'm confident it will lead to a positive change, no matter what the outcome as we'll be able to come to a clear statement about expectations that will set the tone for technology PD.  This was perfectly timed to fit with the Tuesday IT meeting where Anja and I begun discussing the creation and implementation of a school-wide technology PD plan.  

On Wednesday, most of the Upper School staff got to experience at least 3 different technologies that will help students learn.  They had a chance to see what polling with mobile devices can be like, what discussion boards might be able to offer a classroom discussion, how QR codes can lead to a fun and engaging activity, and how the new student information system can help them communicate with families and provide a more transparent view of the classroom.  Sure, we only had 40 minutes, but it was 40 minutes packed with discovery, exchange of ideas, and, perhaps more importantly, lots of smiles and laughter.  And the food and coffee wasn't bad either!  

We're listening!

On Thursday, I received lots of great feedback from Wednesday's Tech Fair including suggestions for improvements from staff.  Many expressed enthusiasm about the tools they saw, anxious to try them in their classroom.  Others were enthusiastic about the range of tools in Veracross.  It gave me plenty to reflect on with the EdTech Coach team and sparked new ideas for the next fair.  

All of this is exciting to me because I feel like we're gaining momentum.  We're seeing the possibilities. We're working together, learning together, and having fun together.  I may be wrong, but I also think we're building confidence in technology and the IT team.   

We're turned the corner.  We still have a long way to go, but we're making progress. 

Have a great holiday break!

Boo!!!

My First ActivInspire Lesson

Preparations

the "Magic Container"

David asked me to be a part of a pilot group for the new interactive whiteboard software, ActivInspire.  I was excited and went home that night to watch some videos on how to create different activities.  I have to say my initial reaction was disappointment.  I looked at these activities and wondered, "How can I use this to teach?!"  It wasn’t until a few days later that a colleague figuratively slapped me upside the head to let me know that its not for ME to use to teach… it’s for the STUDENTS to use to learn. 

At first it seemed like a way to diagram and annotate things.  It is a place to teach vocabulary.  But how could I use it to promote discussion and deeper thinking?  It wasn’t until Beatriz told me about the “magic container” that I was hooked. 

Test Flight

In the first lesson I simply took a world map out of the resource file on ActivInspire.  I projected it on the white board and annotated the map using white board markers.  Students then took notes and annotated their own maps.

The next day I felt lucky.  Let’s see what happens…  I projected the same map.  But this time the map had a blue box on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.  The students came up, one by one, to pull something from the box to place on the map.  The students took the interactive whiteboard “pens” and tapped the box grabbing a hidden label.  They then placed that label on its proper place on the world map.  If they needed help they were to choose an individual student to help them.  Then when the student was finished they passed off the pen to another student.

Me!  Me!  Me!  Me!

The class was abuzz with “Pick me! Oooh ooh!  Pick me!”  They were yelling and screaming and wanting to show each other that they could do it.  The only negative aspect of this activity was that the shortest students in each of the classes always seemed to pull out Arctic Ocean. 

Reflect

At the end of the lesson we debriefed as a class.  What did we just do here?  What did we learn?  What did we show that we knew?  What should we do next time we use the board to make it work better?

For me it was worth the extra time I spent after school to make my “flip chart” (the name given to ActivInspire documents.)  I will use it to review map skills at all age levels.   It is like anything else, it might take some time at first to make, but once its done, you can keep using it.  I see the board’s benefits for allowing students to review and categorize items.  I still need to work on the discussion and critical thinking uses, but I will certainly try to find these answers.

Now how can I use this for Diploma History? Denk, denk, denk.  I’ll find a way.
--


Kathleen is one of your EdTech Coaches and is a great resource for ideas and help.   
ActivInspire is being explored by a small group of teachers who will share their understanding with the rest of the school in the near future.