tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53292778261258008392024-02-06T18:50:20.619-08:00myPad Academy AdventuresSandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-64530578788399551162015-10-04T15:04:00.000-07:002015-10-04T15:04:19.480-07:00#twittertuesday for Elementary School Students<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.ccv.adobe.com/v1/player/DNMJaJSufFR/embed" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the last several years, my co-teacher, <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111543259442603321348" target="_blank">+sheila monger</a> and I have been using <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/115464622323157749688" target="_blank">+Twitter</a> with my fourth and fifth grade students. It provides and authentic writing experience with practice in succinctly capturing a main idea or essence. We encourage their parents to follow us and they work really hard to do their best work for this wider audience. I try to keep an eye on the twittersphere for trending hashtags and use them if applicable to link to current events. For example </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On #GSPD we _________________ (global school play day)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> .I limit them to ½ 140 or 70 characters...they have to fit it on the paper and I have to be able to read it from across the room.</span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nbcfMZSNHU7MWi43ROG5xk2S9LGoR0L1dKMCobvRSvRblRhSxqybD9jD0GR9UDQmHRaCbdLYbiJh_m0V-31IW2DdjwpMG5CSdgcs6L_QuFHWdbacU7K8_LCPuTu1AuICUOYi9xnN" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="egg.jpg" border="0" height="200px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nbcfMZSNHU7MWi43ROG5xk2S9LGoR0L1dKMCobvRSvRblRhSxqybD9jD0GR9UDQmHRaCbdLYbiJh_m0V-31IW2DdjwpMG5CSdgcs6L_QuFHWdbacU7K8_LCPuTu1AuICUOYi9xnN" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="200px;" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 26.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Logistics</span></h1>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Before the school year starts, I laminate 30 pieces of paper that fit on my back cabinets. I create a handle for each student using the first few letters of their first and last name. For example Sandra McConnell would be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>SanMc</i></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I write their handles and glue them to a name tag with an Egg, showing they are a new user on twitter. As the year progresses, some students created new avatars for themselves.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be sure to start the year with digital citizenship lessons. We rely on <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/112027861228496917258" target="_blank">+Common Sense Education</a> lessons. We also use the acronym RAMENN with our kids. When posting make sure it's </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">R - relevant</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A - appropriate</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">M - meaningful</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E - edited - and our students added the last two...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">N - is it nice?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">N - is it necessary?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each Tuesday I post the prompt and give students time to generate ideas and write. Sometimes the prompts generate a lot of reflection, other times not so much. After most of the tweets are posted to the wall, my </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tweeter of the week, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a classroom job, chooses one to five posts that they want to have represent our class. They rewrite the prompt in their journal (or take a picture with their iPad) and bring it to my computer to type into our class account in twitter, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/MrsMcCsClass" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">@mrsmccsclass</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Often I will have them include photographs of the students’ tweets to include in the tweet. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have them do it at my computer because I do not want the students to have unrestricted, unsupervised access to twitter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although I am not in my classroom this year, our account is still active and you can see what other types of things we post.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 21.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">General Student Instructions</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">write a draft of the tweet in your journal. Be sure to include a hashtag summarizing or emphasizing your main idea. Proofread.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have your post checked by an adult</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">make edits, then with pencil, write your tweet on twitter paper</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">go over letters with a marker (no more than two colors)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">post in the wall with blue tape at your @handle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have fun with it! For sample prompts, visit<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LHRmdQBl9MzCiKqP2Qg3W324sZargle_dxah2XGcOFw/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"> this google doc</a>.</span></span></div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-91434293090323695042014-09-20T12:39:00.002-07:002014-10-02T07:22:52.984-07:00Growing Academic Vocabulary with Storylines Comix<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvDIhZ0Y3royA2O28LD8YDG4YMLMM0UkwXQTlw8RfMonRy-Az33gROezgvQ2qU02NDr6DlKOrCaQcg7RrxEbc2YIlHV7CgPY0AW0pjsbsjZ7OllIcT5qHFJ_envadbVR0xSkDO2qA40gA/s1600/home+7+comix.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvDIhZ0Y3royA2O28LD8YDG4YMLMM0UkwXQTlw8RfMonRy-Az33gROezgvQ2qU02NDr6DlKOrCaQcg7RrxEbc2YIlHV7CgPY0AW0pjsbsjZ7OllIcT5qHFJ_envadbVR0xSkDO2qA40gA/s1600/home+7+comix.png" height="320" width="240" /></a>For the past couple of weeks my students and I have been playing around with Storylines Comix, another app by the responsive and creative developers at <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a>. Storylines Comix is an iPad only app available directly from <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storylines-comix/id898385672?ls=1&mt=8" target="_blank">iTunes</a>. With this app students are able to collaborate to build and use an illustrated dictionary, the <a href="https://storylinescomix.edmodoapps.com/launch/?comic_id=hwfJ9E4pqH#" target="_blank">Lex-o-com</a>.<br />
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Students have been actively engaged in discovering the meanings of words, including roots and derivations. They also are exploring ways to tell the story of a word, using antonyms, synonyms and hyperbole. They also are learning how not to define a word using the same word.<br />
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Beyond the vocabulary development, students are developing other <a href="http://www.p21.org/our-work/resources/for-educators#implementing" target="_blank">21st century skills </a>including collaboration, critical thinking, communication, problem solving and teamwork. Here is what we did:<br />
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Initially, I paired up my fifth graders and allowed them to explore the Storylines Comix app. I had thought I would start with my own list of words from our latest science unit, but decided to start with easier words. I let them self select words and then decide with their partner how to use pictures to explain the meaning of the word. Students logged into the app using their Edmodo credentials and were able to see the words I assigned, as well as search the general word list (there are over 150,000 defined words pre-populated in the app) The kids loved the filters that enabled them to add a variety of effects to their images. They also really liked the stickers and have asked for more. Honestly, their first attempts at defining the words were not so good. For example. to define <b>lazy</b>, they used a picture of a student lying in the grass with the speech bubble, "<i>I am so lazy</i>." However, this was a teachable moment and we had a great discussion about how best to, and not to, define words. They realized that a lot more work went into making a dictionary than they originally thoughts. Fortunately or unfortunately, due to some district firewall issues, it turned out that students could not save these first attempts.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxASEzQorkHoiFrhjKWK0hfaCN5MEMY1a8RArB0ZloLezzX-RK4v9_CJXMGwiFED4xO_uQEF8fVrLIoKuQfKt3Mx5SJWSYIta_RVPpEpIdykAo9Se5nnv_IydQ74hw9AuiTS2W4EhW98/s1600/devour.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgxASEzQorkHoiFrhjKWK0hfaCN5MEMY1a8RArB0ZloLezzX-RK4v9_CJXMGwiFED4xO_uQEF8fVrLIoKuQfKt3Mx5SJWSYIta_RVPpEpIdykAo9Se5nnv_IydQ74hw9AuiTS2W4EhW98/s1600/devour.png" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
After consulting with the app developer, <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/114504354004651718111" target="_blank">+Doug Banks</a> and our IT department, the problem was resolved. So I planned another day of word work. Students were allowed to bring small "character" toys from home to star in their comics. We had everything from lego people to Gumby. Students put more thought into how they would demonstrate their understanding of a word and which parts of speech were easier to 'illustrate'; I think they liked verbs best.<br />
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After students saved their Comix, they would see a yellow "stop light" which informs them their work is under review. I can then go in and approve their comics for our class view only or to be added to the public Lex-o-com, giving them the ;green light'. We talked about the criteria I would use to evaluate their work and when I did not approve comics, the dreaded 'red light', I was able to add a comment explaining why it was 'rejected'. Students are then able to go in and make any adjustments to then resubmit their definition<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzaVMlG_FjAsrti_cUW-SAEh_DthpcfG0ZiCl_iDwmSMq82_8QFTHSPEyWjTGkh4KeQV378dJAl_9b3E2GEDWuYn7YyVBfHJEIC98ced5LH-2FG7D6Jd-UmKLaCLUeG4T6TFFJhBtKUs/s1600/pending+comix.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzaVMlG_FjAsrti_cUW-SAEh_DthpcfG0ZiCl_iDwmSMq82_8QFTHSPEyWjTGkh4KeQV378dJAl_9b3E2GEDWuYn7YyVBfHJEIC98ced5LH-2FG7D6Jd-UmKLaCLUeG4T6TFFJhBtKUs/s1600/pending+comix.png" height="200" width="150" /></a><br />
My most frequent comments were. "I don't see how your cartoon demonstrates the meaning of the word" and, "Try not to use the word as part of the definition of that word." ,,, to the point that I found myself wishing for a drop down menu of recently used 'rejections' (I'd also like a less harsh word for the kiddos). Nonetheless, when I showed them the comics I had rejected, they understood why and were more determined than ever to improve them. The motivation of having their work published was incredibly strong.<br />
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After definitions and comics were green-lighted, my students could go into our Room 7 dictionary to view just our approved work, and to the Lex-o-com to see which of our words I had approved for the whole world to see. Students could give a thumbs up to "like" each others' comics and go home and share their work with their parents.<br />
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Friday my kids were super excited to have our classroom visited by Doug Banks. He talked a little bit about the idea behind developing his app (to give students a creative way to express their knowledge) and how he came up with the funny pseudonyms the app assigns students to protect their identity. He then observed them as they worked on their comics, making suggestions and praising ideas as he went. After each team had finished a comic, they sat down and gave feedback to Doug. My kids felt so empowered that their voices were being heard! Doug talked about what hard work it is coding and encouraged them to learn all they could about math and writing and art and teamwork! (No, I did NOT prep him to say that before hand.) He left with some great firsthand feedback from real users and my kids were left with a sense of accomplishment and pride. I don't think they ever realized they were learning!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczprhJTayaV89JwbaiLz0f0929-ePtr9xr_clX7kXk_LrsLGw2Rxjjs3Tdt2pS106e1mpTIfxaUL1om-SqKoUthsnb2HLydJWepFt4xLr_pm0MU6QwB5TO8NMg3KK15g4tKcVZ2SpR6E/s1600/exit+ticket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczprhJTayaV89JwbaiLz0f0929-ePtr9xr_clX7kXk_LrsLGw2Rxjjs3Tdt2pS106e1mpTIfxaUL1om-SqKoUthsnb2HLydJWepFt4xLr_pm0MU6QwB5TO8NMg3KK15g4tKcVZ2SpR6E/s1600/exit+ticket.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exit tickets from Friday.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-36456196831338725222014-08-10T14:44:00.000-07:002014-08-20T16:23:28.323-07:00End/Beginning of Year iPad Updates<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following instructions are for Cambrian iPad Academy teachers who are using the backup/restore method of re-initializing iPads. Please let me know if further clarification is needed. Times indicated are based on a cart of 30 iPads.</span><br />
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I usually wait until the end of summer, since every year there has been an iOs update over the summer, so I figure I might as well do everything at once. But it could be done anytime.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There had been a software change so this year I needed to start by allowing my Macbook to access or be “trusted by” each student iPad. To do this, you will need to direct connect each iPad, once at a time, to the Mac using your charging cable. You will be prompted by the iPad to trust the computer. Tell it to trust. Wait until the Mac sees the iPad then unplug and return to the cart. You should not need to do this again this year. Entire cart took no more than 45 minutes.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next you should complete all software updates on the MAC. I also go into iTunes and update all of the apps. Depending on how many updates you have will determine the time this step takes.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdr5JJtMp91pTD7jXTGLQf60C27s87PyH1ZrMivK-evVj-gPs5n-gzMbegfepOlEDpmv1Uo7sGUnSkqcE7QzOyAOQxO5XjCMVN88AOkZrJvuZGmk71-XMorTIzpaExh11bF3915fr6StQ/s1600/photo+3+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdr5JJtMp91pTD7jXTGLQf60C27s87PyH1ZrMivK-evVj-gPs5n-gzMbegfepOlEDpmv1Uo7sGUnSkqcE7QzOyAOQxO5XjCMVN88AOkZrJvuZGmk71-XMorTIzpaExh11bF3915fr6StQ/s1600/photo+3+(1).JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now it’s time to start on your student iPads. You’ll want to take a look at your “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">master</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” iPad and make sure it is set up how you want. Delete any unneeded apps, either through settings ->General -> Usage (wait a few seconds and a list of all apps and the space they take up will be listed.) Click on the app you want to delete. At the same time you should delete the apps from your iTunes Library on the Mac itself. Otherwise, the apps you delete from your iPad master will just get added back in (believe me, I learned this the hard way :( ). I try to make sure I have between 4-5 GB available. You should also go into the camera roll and delete any pictures that you don’t want on every student iPad. Remember, too, to remove (delete) any movies currently in iMovie and any other app which stores student work. On the master make sure your folders are set up the way you want and the wallpaper and screensaver are appropriate for all students. Finally, I rename the master to something like Bag07Master. Go to Settings->general_>about to rename the iPad.</span><br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This year I had to update each iPad to iOs 7.1.2 This has to be done manually, meaning you go into settings -> General - > Software update. If there is an update, it will tell you and you agree to whatever it wants you too. You can run several updates at a time though it does take awhile. I usually do 5-6 at once. This took me about 90 minutes.</span></div>
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<br />
Here I am going to turn it over to Sandra Horn and <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/106134950842083395910" target="_blank">+Lorena Karayannis</a> who came up with much simpler method to restore iPads. Below that is the slow way I did it ;)<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">To delete everything
(apps, pictures, movies) from your iPad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">While in Setting app,
select General<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Scroll to the bottom of
the page and select Reset<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Select Erase All Content
and Setting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Erase Ipad Prompt (This
will delete all media and data, and reset all settings) = select Erase<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Erase Ipad Prompt Second
confirmation (Are you sure you want to continue? All media, data and
setting will be erased. This cannot be undone. = select erase<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Choose a Wifi Network =
select Cambrian and type in the password = CamB2012 (it is cap sensitive)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Location Services =
depends whether you want this on. At the beginning of the year you
probably don’t want this on = select Disable Location Services <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Disable Location
Services Prompt? Select OK<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Select Set Up as New
iPad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Select Agree for the
Terms and Conditions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Terms and Conditions
Prompt – This is second confirmation prompt. Select agree<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Create a Passcode –
select Don’t Add Passcode (Unless you want to use them)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Don’t Add Passcode?
Prompt- This is a second confirmation prompt. Select continue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Diagnostics – select
don’t send<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Welcome to iPad – select
Get Started<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Now the iPad is
ready <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here is my old way of doing it:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally you can start your backup of the student Master. Go into iTunes on the Mac, select the master iPad and click on “backup now” (on the Summary page for that iPad). This will take 10 minutes or so. Once the backup is complete, you will use that backup to restore each and every student iPad.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personally I recommend doing only one iPad at a time. Since the restore renames each device to the name of the master, it gets confusing and last year I made quite a mess of things.</span></div>
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<br />
<ol style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unplug the master from the Mac/cart</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Select the iPad you want to restore (I do it in order, 1-30). </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click on “Restore Backup” on that same Summary screen.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead of backing up to the default, which is the device you are on, select the master from the drop down menu. Click on Restore. This process will take at least 10 minutes per iPad, so have something else you can do, while checking on the progress every 5-10 minutes. </span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You will know the device is backed up because it will have the name of the master. You will see this on the left hand side of the iTunes window.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unplug that device and remove it from the cart.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Start to back up the next device.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4oX5I3ToAhPPjkUmbwx6wmIIWT_70p3X5WSop17t20-Z9QSRdB84vxUpuqfVyztNimezIZAekodalwvCt0crP1v_Hq0i_QFK3QDOfSxr1yzLBvZO9FRXanSWyVDgMOs4jvexd4arGHXE/s1600/photo+1+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4oX5I3ToAhPPjkUmbwx6wmIIWT_70p3X5WSop17t20-Z9QSRdB84vxUpuqfVyztNimezIZAekodalwvCt0crP1v_Hq0i_QFK3QDOfSxr1yzLBvZO9FRXanSWyVDgMOs4jvexd4arGHXE/s1600/photo+1+(1).JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Open the recently backed up iPad, it will ask you to set up a wireless network. Select Cambrian and type in the password.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then go click on Get Started.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go to Settings ->general ->about and rename the iPad to its proper number, ex. Bag0702.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Either now or before step 9 the device will prompt you to enter your student iTunes password.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Exit out of settings and return iPad to cart.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point I do NOT plug it back in, because if you do, a backup and sync will take place. I don’t want to put additional load on iTunes + Mac so I leave all updated iPads unplugged until I am done.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Somewhere along the way my Master had some of the apps I deleted re-installed, because I hadn't deleted them from the Mac, so be careful to maintain the integrity of your master until all your backups are done.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Congratulations, in about 6-7 hours you’ll have a fully updated cart! Have a great year!</span>Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-45777883486364937892014-08-03T16:21:00.002-07:002014-08-03T16:21:41.939-07:00Using Edmodo with Younger Students: part 4 - App-a-loozaUsing Edmodo with 4th and 5th graders has opened my mind to a variety of creative possibilities. After attending my second #<a href="https://www.edmodocon.com/2014/" target="_blank">edmodocon</a> in person at <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> headquarters, I was challenged to begin using apps. Having 1:1 iPads in my classroom made this endeavor easier, but there is a lot you can do with 5-10 devices, whether mobile, laptops or desktops. Due to an <a href="http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-most-important-lesson-theyll-learn.html" target="_blank">incredibly difficult year</a>, I was not as successful as I would have liked in trying new apps, but at least I dipped my toe in and am looking to dive in next month when I get my new class. Trying a variety of apps became easier when in the fall of 2013 I won the <a href="https://blog.edmodo.com/2013/11/15/power-of-one-contest-winners/" target="_blank">Power of One contest</a> and was awarded a substantial amount of Edmodo app store credit to share throughout my district. At this point I was blessed with an overabundance of apps and set my students on a quest to explore and review new apps.Here are some highlights.<br />
<br />
Some apps were great for students who had finished their work early and could work independently. My students liked Manga High's <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/pemdas-game-from-mangahigh" target="_blank">PEMDAS</a> for math. They also liked <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/animal-cell" target="_blank">Animal Cell</a>, <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/thirteen-colonies" target="_blank">Thirteen Colonies</a> and <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/slim-the-ogre-connectives" target="_blank">Slim the Ogre apps</a> for ELA. With a nod to gamification, they really liked when they were awarded badges automatically. I used <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/112027861228496917258" target="_blank">+Common Sense Educators</a> <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/digital-passport" target="_blank">Digital Passport app</a> as a refresher whenever a student violated our classroom agreements.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Demonstrating understanding and Storytelling with Cartoons</h4>
My students loved using <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/109556691958494003742" target="_blank">+PowToon</a> , <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/103264400377507708981" target="_blank">+go animate</a> and <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/102025250590377532799" target="_blank">+Pixton Comics</a> We used these somewhat interchangeably, and students decided which tool they wanted to use to suit their purpose. With <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/goanimate-for-schools" target="_blank">GoAnimate</a>, they realized they needed to so a lot more planning than they'd anticipated. They realized the benefit of storyboarding, for which they used <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/storyboard-that-trial-2" target="_blank">Storyboard That</a>, as well as editing their work.<br />
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Last winter we participated in the CSEDWeek/Code.org <i><a href="http://csedweek.org/" target="_blank">Hour of Code</a>. </i>We used the LearnStreet app which had a special 'course' where students could code their own holiday card.<br />
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<a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/storylines-pages-0-1" target="_blank">StoryLines Pages</a></h4>
Inspired by the story <a href="http://onekindact.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/the-lasting-power-of-kindness/" target="_blank"><i>All Good Things </i>by Sister Helen Mrosla</a>, StoryLines Pages asks each student to express (in one sentence) something unique that he appreciates about his classmate. In my <a href="https://blog.edmodo.com/2014/05/22/kindness-matters-writing-with-storylines-pages-edmodo/" target="_blank">blogpost about this project</a> I explained how this project worked well for all abilities, and helped me identify some grammar, spelling and punctuation trends in my students. I think this app would work well with much younger students as well.<br />
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<b><a href="https://snapshot.edmodo.com/" target="_blank">Snapshot</a></b><br />
I started using Snapshot after I returned to the classroom in late April. Snapshot is a Edmodo app that helps you see what your students know (and what they don’t). With real-time feedback and multiple ways to view results by student and standard, Snapshot helps you take the guessing out of assessing common core standards. It was really helpful for me to get a handle on what they had learned while I was gone. I also used it to help double check meeting of standards for our report card. This coming year I am looking forward to using Snapshot for pre- and post assessments, both on a lesson-by-lesson basis (exit tickets, etc) but also for broader concepts.<br />
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<b>Apps I want to try</b></h4>
There are many apps in the Edmodo app store that I want to dive deeper into including<b> </b><a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/educlipper" target="_blank">Educlipper</a> and <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/instagrok-classroom" target="_blank">instaGrok</a>. I also plan to use <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/app/?app_id=1591" target="_blank">Curriculet </a>and <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/home#/store/subject/?subject_id=2" target="_blank">Subtext</a> for reading comprehension and literature circles.<br />
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Using Edmodo with younger students has proven invaluable in helping me manage my time, increasing student engagement and providing my students with real and authentic ways to become good digital citizens. We've participated in groups with classrooms across the country and we have an alumni group to keep connected with our past students. Edmodo is a game changer! And I feel like I have barely scratched the surface!<br />
<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-13279709939719929692014-07-28T11:01:00.001-07:002014-07-28T11:14:01.059-07:00Using Edmodo with Younger Students: Part 3 - Assignments<span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">In my second year of Edmodo+students I was challenged by our <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> rep to make more use of assignments. Always up for a challenge, I tackled this one. </span><br />
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First I started with just short answer assignments that they could answer in one sitting. For example, as part of California Social Studies in 4th grade, I asked "Why did your family (ancestors or current) move to California?" I also used it to track grades they had submitted on paper, so that their parents could see assignment status. Then I moved on to assignments that students would create in <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/112893701314508522131" target="_blank">+Google Drive</a>, which links up elegantly with the Edmodo student backpack. For example, as part of our participation in Global Read Aloud, started by <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104022283752588041439" target="_blank">+Pernille Ripp</a>, students wrote a 'deleted scene' from the book we were reading.</div>
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Finally, I used Edmodo assignments when I had detailed instructions for completion. That way I could include a word or google doc in the assignment or in an Edmodo folder for them to refer back to. <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">For example, we did a Road Trip project that took about two months to complete. The initial project sheet with milestones was handed out on paper and via the Edmodo assignment. Each milestone had a corresponding assignment, so students and parents could see due dates and progress. I also made sure that rubrics for each milestone and final product were in the folder in our shared library. Some of the assignments could be "turned in" via Edmodo using Google docs or attaching a Word.doc. Students also used an app to make a comic about one stop on their road trip using <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/102025250590377532799" target="_blank">+Pixton Comics</a> via Edmodo (more on apps later). </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">However some milestones were not digital, such as a poster advertising a product of the state they visited. For these I collected their assignments by hand, graded them and then input the grades into Edmodo. This is a very quick and easy process. Again, I found a benefit in parents and students being able to see in a glance whether an assignment has been submitted.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Later students learned how to submit movies to Edmodo so they could submit video projects as well, such as 6-word weekend, water and rock cycles (using <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111720959748177608906" target="_blank">+Educreations</a>) and book reviews.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Students without access have the option to come in before or after school, or at lunch to complete the assignment in Edmodo, or to do it on paper and then I just manually grade and enter into the Edmodo grade book. At the end of each quarter I export the grades to my grade book. The only problem is that the Edmodo grade book combines all grades, regardless of subject, unless you were to create a unique group for each subject. I just export the whole thing into excel and sort, then move columns around, then export sections from excel into my PowerSchool grade book. It sounds more cumbersome than it is.</span></span><br />
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Completed assignments get sent only to the teacher. <a href="https://support.edmodo.com/home#entries/25630425-teachers-guide-to-parent-accounts-" target="_blank">Parents</a> can see them as well. Parents can see the assignment, their child's submission, assignment comments and the grade of their child's work from their Parent account<br />
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I always have at least two kids that do not submit assignments properly and post their answers to the group (parents cannot see this). I do make them go back and "Turn In' the assignment properly so that they hopefully will do it correctly going forward. <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">If I want the kids to see each others' work, I give the prompt as a post and ask students to reply to my post. </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">So far no one blatantly has "borrowed" answers from these assignment posts. I am waiting for it as a teachable moment about citing sources and plagiarism.</span><br />
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It hasn't always been easy to get others on board. We have an RtI model for our reading classes when students leave their homeroom and go to another classroom for reading. I planned to use Edmodo with my reading group for response to literature and other check-ins. One of our teachers was not willing to have her students sign up their parents, and she asked me to print out each assignment that students submitted. I obliged for the first grading period, however I also included links and instructions for reviewing assignments online. After that first trimester, she saw the benefit and uses and "allowed" me to discontinue printing. (Actually, I just told her I wasn't going to do it anymore.)<br />
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A few other tidbits came up in my second year. When it came time to choose avatars, I realized I needed to set an example so I changed mine from a photo of me to a cartoon avatar (I used <a href="http://www.bitstrips.com/" target="_blank">bitstrips</a> but there are many options out there). <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">As noted in an <a href="http://mccipadadventures.blogspot.com/2014/07/using-edmodo-with-younger-students-part_24.html" target="_blank">earlier blog post</a>, I do allow my students to socialize after hours on Edmodo as long as it kind, true and responsible. If they do it during class, and they will, they get a warning. I've never had it go past that. </span><br />
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I am so grateful to <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/117730399521274694605" target="_blank">+Jill Florant</a> for challenging me to try the assignments feature. I love digital grading with Edmodo! No more stacks of paper to carry home. I can sit on the deck with my iPad and grade student work.</div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-61677530562061964422014-07-24T15:01:00.001-07:002014-07-24T15:01:24.507-07:00Using Edmodo with Younger Students: Part 2 - 5th graders @workI have been using <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> for professional development for 4 years and with my students for the past 3 years; 4th, a 4/5 combo and then 5th grade. (Yes, that's how I roll, something different every year.) For the past two years I was lucky enough to loop some of my students, so I had a built in set of 'experts' when it came time to introduce Edmodo to my class. <br />
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First, let me just say the students are super excited and engaged when they get to use Edmodo. It helps them feel more responsible and accountable for their work and they really do feel more 'grown up' (soon enough, little ones, please don't rush). As I mentioned in my earlier post, <a href="http://goo.gl/m3szDR" target="_blank">Getting Started with Edmodo</a>, I usually start my kids with a scavenger hunt. Not only does it help them learn how to navigate around Edmodo but while they are doing that, I get great insight into how well students can work independently, collaborate and problem solve. If I am lucky, I can also have a few minutes to insert parent codes into letters to go home that day.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TsCQGaYpt00/U9F_ydAnPpI/AAAAAAAABy0/8FkF5yjg4vQ/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TsCQGaYpt00/U9F_ydAnPpI/AAAAAAAABy0/8FkF5yjg4vQ/s1600/photo.JPG" height="153" width="320" /></a><b>My first year</b> of working with students and Edmodo, I did not really make use of assignments or Edmodo apps. I focused solely on posting prompts to students and having them reply. I was just learning how to use Edmodo as a teacher and I wasn't really aware of its capabilities. I also wanted to gain better understanding of promises and pitfalls of using the social media platform with 8-10 year olds. The biggest thing I learned during <i>year 1</i> was to do more upfront work about keeping posts <b><i>RAME</i></b>= Relevant, Appropriate, Meaningful, and Edited. Because I was hyper vigilant, I was getting notifications at all hours from students typing random messages just because they could...seriously random, one kid, I swear, had his cat walk on the keyboard and he posted that at about 10:00 pm! So I learned that I really needed to get control of their posting etiquette. I wanted to be sure, and still do, that my students had the freedom to express themselves. But they also needed a better understanding of the fact that everyone (in our group) was reading what they were posting. We did a lot of practice on paper and many times I reminded them, "<i>I get an email <b>EVERY</b> time you post <b>anything</b></i>!"<br />
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One of my class jobs quickly became homework poster. Since I rarely teach the same thing two years in a row, it is not always easy for me to predict homework enough to be able to post it on a webpage a week in advance. Daily, while we are filling out our paper planners, one student posts the homework to our class group on Edmodo. That afternoon, I will copy and share that post again to the group as well as to their parents. Often a student will forget a homework page or be absent, and Edmodo comes to the rescue. My students have taken pictures of a math page and posted it to Edmodo so that another student could complete her own homework. They will also ask for help or clarification. More often than not, they clear up any confusion before I even have a chance to respond. And if they can't, then I have pretty good feedback that a certain assignment was confusing or difficult.<br />
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I did start using the assignment feature simply to manually record who did and didn't finish certain assignments, just to give students and parents an idea of progress and where intervention might be needed.<br />
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For classroom use that <i>first year</i>, I often used Edmodo posts for response to literature and to gauge understanding of a concept or prompt discussions in science, social studies or math. Students also quickly learned how to share their work including <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/116899029375914044550" target="_blank">+Google</a> docs, videos made with <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111720959748177608906" target="_blank">+Educreations</a> and more. About a third of the way through the year, we received our iPads, as part of an initial rollout of the <a href="http://mccipadadventures.blogspot.com/2012/04/mypad-academy-background.html" target="_blank">Cambrian iPad Academy</a>. This was a game changer in many ways. As it relates to Edmodo, it meant that students had instant access to their accounts, rather than having to wait for the C.O.W. (computer on wheels) to roll in, or for our old, slow desktop PCs to boot.I played around a little bit more with assignments, quizzes and polls and my students were incredibly patient and forgiving. <br />
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Edmodo has incredible and vast capabilities and potential, however my advice for <i>year one</i> implementation is to start small. Stick with just a few key areas and learn what works for you and what doesn't. The summer after my first year of Edmodo+students, I virtually attended #edmodocon... who doesn't love PD that starts in my jammies and ends with a glass of wine! This year, <a href="https://edmodocon.com/2014/" target="_blank">Edmodocon2014 </a>is being held August 6th and I strongly recommend you reserve your spot today! My head about exploded with all of the ideas and I couldn't wait to get back to school to try them out.<br />
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Coming up soon - Using Edmodo: Year Two and Beyond!<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-58526525058605797612014-07-24T11:23:00.001-07:002014-07-24T15:03:25.073-07:00Using Edmodo with Younger Students - part 1: Getting Started<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I suppose I am what you'd call an <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> power user in our district. I am an Edmodo Certified Teacher and an Edmodo Support Ambassador, I have the t-shirts to prove it. I am often asked how I use Edmodo with my fifth grade students and how I would use it in even younger classrooms. So here are some ideas and what I have found to be best practices.<br />
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In my first day letter to parents, I include information about digital citizenship, technology use in general and how we will be using Edmodo in the classroom. I always start out the year with two weeks of <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence" target="_blank">#digicit lesson</a>s from <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/112027861228496917258" target="_blank">+Common Sense Educators</a> . Students earn their passports by completing all of the lessons with me. I then introduce them to Edmodo. I do compare it to Facebook to give them a frame of reference and we discuss the differences: Edmodo is first and foremost is a safe and secure learning community. We talk about what it means to be safe and secure. Then we focus on the fact that it is a learning community. Not all teachers choose to allow their students to post 'personal' or non school related comments and it is something you should decide on before you introduce Edmodo. While I do allow my students to post non-academic content from home, they know that they will lose privileges if they are socializing via Edmodo during school hours. And even though all notes (posts) are time stamped, some kids still seem surprised when I know that have posted, "'s'up" during class.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPzcLdx3uCbIo5B5uICGnMmWf9f3gQ0iUkSv5zPLcs7ZupFAGp3Nhw88Y_K313Mx4tNp1ggq71fFLlu0zgcZlieLoHKFIcNVboH2Bt1MI04eGIUltjnMtP9JCv-kVxqzMJD9ZQtYc5sE/s1600/think+before+u+speak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPzcLdx3uCbIo5B5uICGnMmWf9f3gQ0iUkSv5zPLcs7ZupFAGp3Nhw88Y_K313Mx4tNp1ggq71fFLlu0zgcZlieLoHKFIcNVboH2Bt1MI04eGIUltjnMtP9JCv-kVxqzMJD9ZQtYc5sE/s1600/think+before+u+speak.jpg" /></a>Next we have an extensive discussion on how/what to post and comment. We use the acronym <b><i>RAME</i></b> - is is relevant, appropriate, meaningful, and edited. We discuss <a href="http://www.spiritual-knowledge.net/tales/socrates-three-sieves.php" target="_blank">Socrates three sieves</a> - is it true, good and necessary. We then use the expanded, child friendly acrostic <b><i>THINK</i></b> - is it true? helpful? interesting or inspiring? necessary? kind? We do some role playing and I remind them that if they wouldn't say it to someones face, with me in earshot, then they shouldn't write it in Edmodo.<br />
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After all this talking, they are anxious to get started. At this point, I have already created a group for my class, usually called something like '14-15 Room 7' Each group has a unique join code that new student users will need to sign up for Edmodo and existing users will need to join the class. Generally, my students are new to Edmodo so they will need to <a href="https://support.edmodo.com/home#forums/20898860-sign-up-as-a-student" target="_blank">create a student account</a>. Even if they have an email, I do not have them enter it, since they are under 13 years old and technically not allowed to have email accounts. I also do not allow them to use their last names. I used to but then one of my previous students pointed out that she was at the public library using Edmodo and her name was all the screen for any passerby to see. So now I have them use an alias. One year I used our school name for all of their last names. Last year we had faux twitter handles, so they could use that for their name. Another teacher I know uses her last name for the kids' names, and then when they go on to another grade they change their last name (which avoids too many <i>Jennifer School-name</i> instances). It is fairly easy to change a name after creating an account.<br />
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I initially start out my students as "read only", not contributors, that way they can see what I post but they cannot yet post. It is easy to change this later, when you are ready, via the group members page. Their first activity after logging in, is an Edmodo scavenger hunt to familiarize them with basic features. In the past I have used <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/109731039942307021108" target="_blank">+Melissa Butler</a> 's <a href="http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=539565" target="_blank">Livebinder Scavenger Hunt</a>. If you use it, you will need to change students to contributor when they reach step 4. Be aware that Edmodo has redesigned some of their pages so although the activity will be the same, they look of the page might not match. That said, Melissa's <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/100222241488131609200" target="_blank">+LiveBinders</a> is a great resource!<br />
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That night's homework assignment is to tell their parent's about Edmodo and help them <a href="https://support.edmodo.com/home#forums/20888720-how-to-sign-up-as-a-parent" target="_blank">sign up as parents.</a> I generate parent letters that include an overview of Edmodo, how we will be using it in class, and instructions for creating parent accounts, including their unique Parent code (associated with their child). You cannot finalize the letter until the child has created their own account. If families do not have access at home, I invite parents to come early to Back to School Night and I will help them get started. I usually give a prize to the child whose parents are first to sign up and I award a <a href="https://support.edmodo.com/home#entries/21832755-award-a-badge-teacher" target="_blank">badge</a> to all students who have their parent or guardian sign up. It is easy to tell because that child's profile will have a parent icon by their name, on the same member's page where you can assign badges!<br />
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Some primary grade teachers have skipped having pre-writing students sign up and just had parents sign up as students to facilitate parent communication. This causes slight problems in later years when that parent wants to associate their own email ID with a parent account. This can be fixed but a better solution would be to avoid creating the problem. Have a parent or an aide help you create student accounts for your class. This will generate the parent code for each child. Then the parents will sign up and you can now communicate with them as a group. The difference is that as "students" they can post to you and as "parents" they cannot.<br />
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Earlier in July I co-hosted an #edmodochat about using Edmodo with younger students. The transcript of that chat was <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/110632547966948327868" target="_blank">+Storify</a> 'd - see below. Coming up next: <a href="http://mccipadadventures.blogspot.com/2014/07/using-edmodo-with-younger-students-part_24.html" target="_blank">Edmodo With Younger Students - Part 2 year one 5th graders at work</a><br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-46383391272185393402014-06-21T11:24:00.001-07:002014-06-21T11:24:46.235-07:00Bon Voyage to a Great Leader<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">I am taking time out from my usual #edchat to recognize the incredible contribution superintendent Dr. Debbie Blow has made to <a href="http://www.cambriansd.org/cambriansd" target="_blank">our district</a> and to me personally. Dr. Blow is moving to a new district where she can be closer to her family. I will miss her </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">inspiration</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">, </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">influence</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"> and energy. For each of the three years since I was laid off from my tenured position in my previous district, I have been invited back to an open position. Once again this year I explained to them that until they could offer me the environment and opportunities that Cambrian has offered me, ....thanks but no thanks, I'm staying in Cambrian, even without tenure. Cambrian is <i>that</i> special of a place.</span><div style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
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As a "founding" member of the iPad academy, I am part of a team of 6 passionate and courageous teachers, all of us learning as we went along side by side with <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/110923395243456754702" target="_blank">+Kirby Fell</a> and Dr. Blow. She<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> showed extraordinary vision, leadership and enthusiasm as she gave us the tools we needed to proceed and then took her seat along side us <a href="http://adland.tv/commercials/eds-airplane-2000-060-usa" target="_blank">while we flew the plane while building it</a>. As a great leader does, she trusted her team, and gave us the freedom to discover and develop best practices. We created a successful iPad Academy model that now includes 41 classroom teachers with 1:1 iPads. Our Home and School Clubs have purchased an additional 300 or so devices for teacher and classroom use. For the upcoming 5th iPad academy cohort, there were 23 applications for an available 12 slots.</span></div>
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Having the iPads has truly revolutionized and reenergized my practice and my classroom. After 2.5 years I cannot imagine teaching without them now. Using this tool, our students are reading, writing, explaining their thinking in math and science, going on virtual field trips and even coding in meaningful, authentic and thus engaging ways. Yes, they could have done much of it without the iPad, but the iPad is more captivating, genuine and helps prepare our students for their futures. Our first cohort of "iPaddians" paved the way, researching, documenting and sharing best practices. We created a <a href="http://cambrianipadusers.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">wiki</a> to share what we've learned with our colleagues. This was all under Dr. Blow's leadership.</div>
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<a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/117193050196116668333" target="_blank">+Tanya Prive</a> writes in Forbes that there are <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/" target="_blank">top 10 qualities that make a good leader</a>: </div>
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<li>Honesty</li>
<li>Ability to delegate</li>
<li>Communication</li>
<li>Sense of humor </li>
<li>Confidence </li>
<li>Commitment</li>
<li>Positive attitude </li>
<li>Creativity </li>
<li>Intuition </li>
<li>The ability to inspire </li>
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Having a background in executive management, I can tell you how critical Dr. Blow's leadership has been in the successful implementation of our 21st century strategies. As our board moves forward with their selection of a new superintendent, I hope they will seek someone with at least some of her leadership qualities, so that we don't lose the momentum we have all worked so hard to gain. Developing global citizens with 21st century skills is one of the pillars of our <a href="http://www.cambriansd.org/Page/49" target="_blank">strategic plan</a> <span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">and it is my hope that the school board and new superintendent will continue support of our academies and professional development in Educational technology to help sustain this effort.</span></div>
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Dr. Debbie Blow possesses all of the Forbes 10 qualities and although she is one of a kind and amazing, the board would do well to find someone who can continue to provide the kind of leadership, vision and commitment that Dr. Blow seems to provide so effortlessly. I hope they do not lose sight of her vision. She has been, and even in her decision to leave, continues to be, an inspiration to me. </div>
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Dr. Blow, You will be missed.</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">(This was originally posted on my teacher blog, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/">http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/</a> )</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">I partner teach 36 fifth graders with </span><a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111543259442603321348" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">+sheila monger</a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> , our inclusive education teacher (some would call her an SDC teacher, she would not). We encompass rooms 7 & 8 so we call ourselves Team Seight. If you were to come in when we are all in the same room, you would not know who was officially assigned to each teacher. <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> has been a great tool for connecting our students in authentic ways, and preparing them for the world of social media in a safe and controlled environment. This year a theme at our school has been kindness, so using StoryLines Pages, an app in <u>Edmodo</u></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">, we created a <i>Kindness Matters</i> Book for each student. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">StoryLines Pages is a collaborative classroom activity where students learn the power of compliments and encouragement. Inspired by the story "<a href="http://onekindact.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/the-lasting-power-of-kindness/" target="_blank">All Good Things", by Sister Helen Mrosla</a>, StoryLines Pages has each student in your class creating a page for each other student, expressing something he appreciates about his classmate.With this app, each student writes a “page” (one sentence) about every other student in our class. We read the short, true (verified by <a href="http://www.snopes.com/glurge/allgood.asp" target="_blank">Snopes</a>) story by Sister Helen and then the kids got to work. Some of my findings as we worked on this project:</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All students participated, and I had a quick snapshot of who was or wasn’t working on their pages, using the overall status page </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I went through and reviewed students’ pages, I was able to see common mistakes, trends and areas of need. For example, this student consistently used capital letters incorrectly. Many of my students are still misusing the contraction of you are, spelling it Y-O-U-R. Several of my students had difficulty writing in the first person, present tense.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was extremely rewarding for me to read the comments that my students made about all of their classmates. Never once was a comment checked “It is not nice” because it was mean. Some of our ED kids did have challenges differentiating between a statement (You play with me at recess. vs I like when you play with me at recess.) However, overwhelmingly, the students really had surprisingly nice things to say about each other.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my students on a 504 has significant challenges starting work. He will sit and stare into space. I was very worried about what other students would say about him, there just doesn't seem to be much 'there-there' from a 10 year old’s perspective, or so I thought. I was delighted to see pages such as </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You respect others, You are smart and funny (he is, when he speaks), You are a good listener, You are good at sitting still when others are talking. You are polite, respectful to others and very quiet in class.” </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> None of these things are untrue and I just loved seeing how they took a behavior that can be difficult and saw the positive in it! I learned a lesson myself from these kids (well,honestly they teach me something every day)</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The app was incredibly easy for me to use, and even easier for the kids. Because often the same child would make the same errors repeatedly, I could cut and paste my review comment, and they got practice correcting these problem areas.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did have a few students think they could just cut and paste and make the same comment to multiple classmates. Because I would review all of the pages by a given student at one time, it was pretty easy to catch this and comment back to them to be original and be specific.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once most of the Storylines Pages ages are done, we will go ahead and publish the book. Students will receive a link that they can choose to share outside of Edmodo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The students were so excited to read their books and using Edmodo, thanked each other for the kind words. The students then shared books at Open House. As a teacher of students with a wide range of abilities, it was great to find an activity that all students could participate in equally. This activity also served as a great formative assessment and gave me insights into student needs. Finally, it was just sweet and this time of year, in fifth grade, we can all use a little sweet!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-16884970736579392022014-02-07T08:49:00.001-08:002014-02-07T09:11:49.424-08:0021st Century Learners: Retiring the Book Report<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fellow blogger <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/112187680480960187772" target="_blank">+Kathy Kimpel</a> writes in her latest post, <a href="http://21stcenturytechlearning.blogspot.com/2014/02/retiring-book-report.html?spref=bl">21st Century Learners: Retiring the Book Report</a>: "We need to retire the "Book Report" Common Core will ask student to "Analyze" not summarize."</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Growing up in the 60's, my sisters and I wrote book reports every year, year after year, on the same book, T<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/229847.The_Pink_Motel" target="_blank">he Pink Motel</a>. So much so that in our house, 'pink motel' became a euphemism for being a slacker. We certainly did little more than <a href="http://qcsdsi.weebly.com/webbs-depth-of-knowledge.html" target="_blank">DOK1</a>. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kathy provides some great ideas for moving beyond the book report into more critical thinking with depth and complexity. She addresses both digital and non-digital ideas for our students to demonstrate a meaningful interpretation of their reading. With an iPad students can create podcasts, make trailers with iMovie, and use a variety of "show me" apps to create models of real comprehension, analysis and synthesis.</span></div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-10266974785276645992013-10-11T10:14:00.001-07:002013-10-11T10:41:15.386-07:00Our First Mystery Skype - by Guest Blogger CaLa<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 19px;">written by student blogger, CaLa:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 19px;">Our classroom had our first mystery skype with Mr. Salsich's class! If you're not sure what a "Mystery Skype" is, I'd be happy to tell you. A mystery skype is when two classes from a different place in the world, skype each other and ask yes or no questions to try and guess where the other class is. Our mystery skype was extremly noisy yet amazingly fun! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 19px;">Our class asked lots of great questions along with Mr. Salsich's class. It went pretty great and we new they were on the edge of finding out where we were. Soon after a really great question from them... they had guessed what state we were in! They were so happy! We asked away again.... We definetly got a lot closer to their state too. We got closer and closer and closer! Then, they got us! They found out we lived in San Jose!! Congrats fellow skypers! You were awesome! We absolutley loved skyping with you!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">We all worked hard to figure out where they were. We each had a specific job and we learned a lot. We learned about geography, how to work together and how to solve problems. We learned that each job is important. Where in the world will we #mysteryskype next?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">We used our iPads to look up information.</span></td></tr>
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They got us! We live in California. The were are questioners and answers... asking and answering questions from Mr. Salsich's class. But there is still more to go! More questions! :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://files.kidblog.org/282069/files/20131010-121709.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="20131010-121709.jpg" class="alignnone size-full" height="258" src="http://files.kidblog.org/282069/files/20131010-121709.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Hmm... What's the answer to this one? :l</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">ScoSch was a supervisor, helping to keep us on track.</span><br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-24578947537409443582013-10-06T15:09:00.000-07:002013-10-06T15:09:33.079-07:00Our First Mystery Skype<div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px;">Mystery Skype</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Recently, my students participated in our first Mystery Skype. According to the <a href="https://education.skype.com/mysteryskype" target="_blank">Skype education group</a>, "Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It's suitable for all age groups and can be used to teach subjects like geography, history, languages, mathematics and science."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had heard the term from my twitter PLC but hadn't really looked into it until one of my fellow Global Read Aloud participants, <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/115291142539420782711" target="_blank">+Jonah Salsich</a> , suggested Mystery Skype as a way to introduce our classes to each other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We started by introducing the idea to our students. We talked about the different roles and how important each job was to successfully guessing the location of our mystery Skype school. We practiced with me secretly choosing a town I knew a little bit about, Duluth, MN, my mother's birthplace. (It turns out I didn't know as much as I though, but google and Wikipedia were my coaches) my students, each in their assigned job, had to guess where I "was". They had a lot of fun and learned what sort of questions were helpful. They also learned what sort of things they would have to know about our own location!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GmF1ETC48-0CWVXHMwdHw9PlmqNGsBoLt18b71lDUt0NAS23ZkaQAt-RZWZHre2OgeKR8yKnv5qMc86NYrftEnjSUFfO_wbv23LIj6UQszU2PPNpLRCZWvi43vYzI9mtjdiXDqCwrZY/s640/blogger-image--935867236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GmF1ETC48-0CWVXHMwdHw9PlmqNGsBoLt18b71lDUt0NAS23ZkaQAt-RZWZHre2OgeKR8yKnv5qMc86NYrftEnjSUFfO_wbv23LIj6UQszU2PPNpLRCZWvi43vYzI9mtjdiXDqCwrZY/s400/blogger-image--935867236.jpg" width="323" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">So we proceeded to refine our process, mapping out the workflow using <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kidspiration-maps-lite/id675831529?mt=8" target="_blank">Kidspiration,</a> an app by <a href="http://www.inspiration.com/" target="_blank">Inspiration Software</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then we had our first mystery Skype! The kids were so excited! Our greeters welcomes each class o the call without giving away details about our location. My kids even wanted to keep the blinds drawn so the other class wouldn't see how sunny it was! The questioners could only ask "yes/no" questions. The filterer sent the answer back to the think tank through a runner. The think tank decided what the next question should be based on the answer. In our debrief, we decided that it would be helpful to have questions planned out like a flow chart...if yes, then.. If no then....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our mappers were key to our guessing strategy. They were really great at eliminating whole parts of the world based on answers. They used the wall map, our Big Blue Nat Geo Atlas (complete with magnifier), and Google Earth & maps.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px;">Our answerers had to prepared to answer yes/no questions about our location. When they didn't know answers, the filters decided if they knew the answer or needed to send it via a runner to the think tank. The think tank would use mappers and their own resources to research the answers. We are lucky to have 1:1 iPads so our mappers and think tank could use the devices for their research. Our note takers and recorders used Notes on the iPads and our tweeters tweeted </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;">with a teacher looking on while photographers used iPads to take pictures and movies. Could we have done it without the </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">iPads? Of course. Was it more authentic to use them? Absolutely.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our Skype partners also posted about our Mystery Skype at <a href="http://salsich5.edublogs.org/2013/09/24/mystery-skype-call-san-jose-ca/" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true">http://salsich5.edublogs.org/2013/09/24/mystery-skype-call-san-jose-ca/</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Some of our lessons learned included. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">What Qs were helpful?
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Are you north or south of some
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">landmark, airport
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Does your state start with A
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Major water locations
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Time zone
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Longitude or latitude
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</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">Which ?? were not helpful?
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Are you near ____ - be more specific
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Guessing before we had enough
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">information
</span><br />
</li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">What worked
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Greetings
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">○ </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Memorizing greeting
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">○ </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Script helped
</span></span><br />
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</ul>
</li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Cooperated well
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Runners and filtered worked well
together
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Liked having assigned stations
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</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Using sticky notes and sticking with
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">assigned locations
</span><br />
</li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Think tank stayed put which helped
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">them work together
</span><br />
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Used a “battleship strategy”, narrow
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">down area based on clues
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Paper mappers used landmarks well,
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">magnifying glass worked well
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">More practice helped, two cameras
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">were good
</span><br />
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Reporter/notetaker located close to
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">each other
</span><br />
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Note takers working well, mostly did our
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">own jobs,
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">At front table all did their jobs, runners
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">did great
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">It was noisy but people were working
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">really hard</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">What suggestions for next time </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;"> ● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Greetings
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;"> ○ </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Louder voices for skypers, if
memorized, still have script</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt;"> ● </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt;">One more runner for each Q and A</span><br />
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<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Have questions prepared for both yes
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">and no response
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Do more research about our own city,
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">state, etc.</span></li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Better way to call runners so we can get
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">answers faster
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Answering in complete sentences
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Filters need a set of questions ready,
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">that they can determine if appropriate
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Test technology ahead of time
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Video tape next time
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Reporters feed info to tweeters
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Suggestion to keep quieter so everyone
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">could hear what was being asked
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">one more supervisor – one for front
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">table, one for TT and one for maps
</span><br />
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-bottom-width: 0.750000pt; border-left-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-left-width: 0.750000pt; border-right-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-right-width: 0.750000pt; border-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-top-width: 0.750000pt;"><div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">Have a back up plan for people being absent
TT = think tank, Q or ?? = questions
</span></div>
</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-bottom-width: 0.750000pt; border-left-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-left-width: 0.750000pt; border-right-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-right-width: 0.750000pt; border-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(0.000000%, 0.000000%, 0.000000%); border-top-width: 0.750000pt;"><div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">What didn’t work?
</span><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: none;">
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">We broke the first rule,
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Sometimes did not follow jobs
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">Sometimes we didn’t know what ??s
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11.000000pt;">were being asked/answered
</span><br />
</li>
<li>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">● </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;">TT and runners were arguing about Qs,
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-size: 11pt;">Qs were not always prepared </span><span style="font-size: 11.000000pt;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;">,</span> hard to
come up with Q when it was so loud and
rushed
</span></span><br />
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-22596276763975550162013-09-09T18:34:00.001-07:002013-09-09T18:34:55.047-07:00Oops on an iPadI did not even notice this! Great to know!<br /><br />There is an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.benschersten.com/blog/2013/09/if-youre-going-to-use-ipads-with-kids-youll-have-to-know-this-trick/">undo button when typing on an iPad</a>!<br /><br />Thanks Ben!<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/09/09/2092.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/09/09/s_2092.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='209' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-1994366551078171082013-08-30T16:49:00.001-07:002013-08-30T16:49:58.284-07:00Why I love teaching #9 - Out of My MindHonestly, I don't know where it fits in the ranking, but this one is pretty high up there. A little background is helpful. My sister <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/116513960932519986015" target="_blank">+Sharon Buehler</a> is a school librarian in Oregon. She often gives me book recommendations and she knew of my inclusive education practices, so she suggested I read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Out-My-Mind-Sharon-Draper/dp/1416971718" target="_blank"><i>Out of My Mind</i>, by Sharon Draper (OOMM)</a>. I bought it over a year ago but didn't get around to reading it, so I brought it to school to add to my classroom library. Last year, one of my most reflective and deep readers asked what she should read, so I suggested OOMM. She came in the following Monday and said, "Oh Mrs. McConnell, you HAVE to read this book, and read it to the class, too!" I dutifully took it home and added it to my summer reading stack.<br />
<br />
Fast forward a bit to this past summer, and I read the book. In a day. It was, to say the least, compelling. OOMM is an incredible story of inclusion and acceptance told from the eyes of a child. I knew I would start my year reading it aloud to our kids. About a week later, I stumbled across a tweet by <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104022283752588041439" target="_blank">+Pernille Ripp</a> about something called <a href="http://www.globalreadaloud.com/" target="_blank">The Global Read aloud</a> (GRA), which she started a few years back. This year, the<i> one book to connect the world</i>, at least for my grade level, is OOMM! I knew we had to participate. It is an incredible opportunity to share and discuss this powerful book with a wider group of students. Since I am super lucky to be a part of our 1:1 iPad program, I knew the kids would be able to easily collaborate and communicate with their 'colleagues' in other parts of the world using technologies such as <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> , <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/115028376437754060789" target="_blank">+Skype</a>, <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/106255809591646893905" target="_blank">+Kidblog</a> and even <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsMcCsClass" target="_blank">Twitter</a> (with a teacher, of course).<br />
<br />
I set about acquiring enough copies of the book for all 35 of our inclusive ed. kids to read. I co-teach <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/111543259442603321348" target="_blank">+sheila monger</a> who provides services to students with special needs. Our kids are together every day for at least part of each day.<br />
<br />
I ordered 5 copies with a B&N gift card I'd received at the end of the last school year. Then I went to my trusted fundraiser, <a href="http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/classroomdonation/results_teacher.aspx?refer=fundraise&classroomid=168314" target="_blank">Adopt-a-Classroom</a>, and raised money to buy more books there. I put the word out via Facebook and my class web page. One of my friends shipped me 12 books, just because she cares about public education and inclusion. One of the parents of a student bought her daughter a copy and 2 extra copies for our classroom. Gratefully, I should have enough books for each child to read their own copy.<br />
<br />
Since we are participating in GRA13, I asked my kids not to read the book ahead of time (if they hadn't already) since we'd be making predictions with our global classmates. Today, the child of the parent who bought the books for us came in and slipped this note on my desk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaOR5_l7dL4kcwV0628AVUi6idJ5nEwwYmVmfQcxiqOsxBV5tleoBjd380z_UDWoUHkFQS1JoD-OXYDx5YoMVH1nXFi3DUPnotLAhJi6nEw6E60LOHo3c6XOZM0srf7fVi_zZLqpsrFBs/s1600/oomm+sm+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaOR5_l7dL4kcwV0628AVUi6idJ5nEwwYmVmfQcxiqOsxBV5tleoBjd380z_UDWoUHkFQS1JoD-OXYDx5YoMVH1nXFi3DUPnotLAhJi6nEw6E60LOHo3c6XOZM0srf7fVi_zZLqpsrFBs/s1600/oomm+sm+crop.jpg" height="347" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And this, my friends, is on of the many reasons I love teaching.<br />
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<br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-21191944625567429442013-08-14T17:24:00.002-07:002013-08-14T17:42:29.768-07:00Notes from Edmodocon 2013I attended this free PD in a hybrid mode - part online, part live, thanks to an invite from <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/101568942935745691813" target="_blank">+Jill Florant</a> It was amazing and I learned even more about my BFF <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a> . I created a storify to gather my thoughts, since most of my notes were on Twitter or in the various Edmodo groups. Each session had its own group, so that we could back channel and get access to resources from the presenters. It was a great day and well worth the break from summer vacation/back to school planning!<br />
<br />
After I got home, I listened to the last two sessions on my exercise bike, so no notes but there were some great ideas from the presenters. <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/108592382712329908701" target="_blank">+Anna Davila</a> had some creative ideas for building student leadership capacity including new student groups and student leadership groups on Edmodo, and using <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/109117017867379522890" target="_blank">+Padlet</a> embedded into a message, to gather suggestions. In addition to the earlier discussed Global Read Aloud, there were some other creative ideas for flattening the classroom and finally, Denise Yamashita had inspiring remarks as we closed out the day.<br />
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<br />
<script src="//storify.com/sandramc59/edmodocon.js"></script><noscript>[<a href="//storify.com/sandramc59/edmodocon" target="_blank">View the story "Edmodocon" on Storify</a>]</noscript></div>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-85651571562190469342013-07-12T12:51:00.000-07:002013-07-12T12:51:23.695-07:00My 11+1 Essential Tools for using Social Networking as Professional Development<div style="font-family: Tahoma; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">"Real PD starts with wanting 2 learn Not with learning something once for one hour once a year Take control of your profession" </span><strong style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Tim Charleston (<a href="https://twitter.com/mrcsays" shape="rect" target="_blank">@MrCsays</a>)</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In May, I presented at the iPARA Expo in Los Gatos, CA. My topic was the opportunity that social media and networking provides for educators. I started with what I know...after some thought I realized I use at a minimum 9 different social media tools every week day! I sure thought computers were supposed to simplify our lives! Here is a screen shot of just the apps I use, not to mention the websites.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqic76pzMngIdAlnvrOdEf-G5_9w-aC7rFKcCx57iDmBYG2awSEcEqMGne5Asxgs-vAvVjW62grK1DJMIo_zUz2efW4Gl9hP0fWODrdC8KeKaYJUrrbWN70dYKr-qWABv4wqsBNBNo_dg/s1600/sm+pd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqic76pzMngIdAlnvrOdEf-G5_9w-aC7rFKcCx57iDmBYG2awSEcEqMGne5Asxgs-vAvVjW62grK1DJMIo_zUz2efW4Gl9hP0fWODrdC8KeKaYJUrrbWN70dYKr-qWABv4wqsBNBNo_dg/s320/sm+pd.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.edmodo.com/home#/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">edmodo</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - In addition to using </span><a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/104012349079198887413" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">+Edmodo</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to communicate with students and parents, I also use communities and groups to connect with other educators and learn about new ways to integrate technology with curriculum.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/sandramc59" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - I read twitter like some people read the news. I check it daily to see what new things are going on with education and technology (#edchat).. In his post, </span><a href="http://tomwhitby.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/twitterati-progressive-edu-leaders-or-outliers/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Twitterati: Progressive EDU leaders or outliers?</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://tomwhitby.wordpress.com/author/tomwhitby/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Tom Whitby</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> writes </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today’s technological tools for collaboration now enable it globally, timelessly, and virtually endlessly. The key factor in good and effective collaboration is connecting with right sources. </i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Youtube is a great resource for teachers and students. I have not yet begun to tap into its vastness of instructional and professional development videos.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blogs - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only do I write for reflection but I also follow several other bloggers in the field of education. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grace from </span><a href="http://blog.simplek12.com/social-media/10-ways-to-use-social-media-for-professional-development/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Teacher Learning Community</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">suggests: <i>R</i></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">eflect on your work from time to time by blogging about your experiences. Decide what has worked and what hasn’t? What should you do different next time? You can always draw from other people’s expertise as well. Social media is all about collaboration, and what better way to do that then by teaching and learning from other passionate educators? Then share your blog with your colleagues. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build a list of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">blogs</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to read for professional development purposes…and make sure you subscribe to them so you know when they’ve posted new content. There are many teaching related blogs out there.</span></i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wikis - I use </span><a href="http://cambrianipadusers.wikispaces.com/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">wikispaces</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as a repository of information. Our current wiki is managed by a group of us involved in a 1:1 iPad pilot. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">facebook -I do not use this yet for professional purposes but this year plan to use a professional page/profile for parent communications</span></li>
<li><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">google +</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - I find this a better source of professional information than facebook.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.diigo.com/profile/mrsmac59" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">diigo</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - social bookmarking - Not only can I save my bookmarks for use from any machine, bt I can also see what others are bookmarking and find new and interesting </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://pinterest.com/sandramc59/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Simply a great source of ideas!</span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/sandymac" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.tioki.com/profile/121305sandramcconnell" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Tioki</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which is kind of like a </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">linkedin for educators, connects users with job opportunities. </span></li>
<li><a href="https://edshelf.com/profile/mrsmcc59" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Edshelf</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - -Find the right educational tools for your needs - Reviews and recommendations of tools for education</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This just in - <a href="http://www.graphite.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Graphite</a>, a recently launched resource from <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/112027861228496917258" target="_blank">+Common Sense Educators</a>, provides curated recommendations and reviews of educational apps and tools.</span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jason Tomassini from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/teachers-gravitate-to-soc_n_2433747.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Education Week</a> suggests via the Huffington Post that teachers check Twitter for hashtags related to education technology, elementary education, and 1-to-1 computing initiatives featuring iPads. He found what is certainly true for this teacher, that we use Facebook in our personal life but we aren't on Facebook with our "teacher hats on." I know for me I am more likely to use a designed for teachers and not likely one frequented by my students, current or past. I don't even accept friend requests from parents of my current students. I know they can see my posts in a roundabout way, but it is just a line I have drawn for myself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ascd.org/conferences/conference-daily/ac12/social-media.aspx" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Eric Sheninger,</a> "online idea-sharing tools like RSS feeds, digital discussion forums, and blogs have the power to expand PLNs to previously unimaginable sizes. </span><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By using social media tools such as Twitter, social bookmarking sites, and social networks, educators can participate in the new era of professional development—an era of idea exchange that is accessible anywhere, anytime and that connects the field’s brightest minds. These tools are real-time, cost-effective, and accessible around the world, and they are driven by practitioners, not just consultants. </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></em>
<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social media–facilitated idea sharing and online personal learning networks also bypass the challenges of traditional professional development, including time and money constraints, uninterested participants, and an overemphasis on irrelevant or boring content. </span></em><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="https://twitter.com/gcouros" style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="color: #333333;">George Couros</strong><span style="color: #999999;"> </span><span style="direction: ltr; font-size: 12px; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #bbbbbb;">@</span><b>gcouros</b></span></a><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b> "</b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Connecting on Twitter has not only created higher expectations for myself in education, but for people in general. So much awesome out there"</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indeed</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">!</span><br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-54872324142841013752013-07-10T14:39:00.000-07:002013-07-10T14:39:27.845-07:00Kids Blogging<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have blogged with my students for the past three years now
and have been trying to figure out, within the bounds of our Responsible Use
Policy, how to up my game. I started
blogging with my kids as a way for them to find their authentic voice. We mostly wrote about books we were reading
and I have also had students respond to journal type prompts. I used Google’s
blogspot as my platform as it was free and easy. I posted and my students would comment
anonymously using only their initials as identifiers.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> I moved to a new
district where they required all student writing to be within the ‘walled
garden’. So I moved to <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/106255809591646893905" target="_blank">+Kidblog</a> <a href="http://kidblog.org/home/">http://kidblog.org/home/</a>, a free app where students post freely and
privately within just our class. Again,
we mostly used the blog for journal prompts and reading logs. I was most excited when, without prompting, one of my students started a story, to which other students added chapters!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But still, I want more fro my kids from this experience. I want their real and authentic voices to shine through. I want them to learn the value writing. And I want them to learn to be responsible citizens, both in the virtual and real worlds!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This summer I discovered <a href="http://www.pernilleripp.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pernille Ripp</a>. Within 24 hours, I came across two or her posts about her blogging experience with 4th graders.
She had some great ideas that I wanted to capture and share. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p>From <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/113029532013056038577" target="_blank">+Ian Jukes</a>'<a href="http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/07/02/101-meaningful-steps-to-student-blogging/" target="_blank"> Fluency 21 blog</a>, Ms. Ripp gives practical eleven steps to blogging with students. </o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I love the idea of starting out on paper. I often take for
granted that kids know how to do something which they have not yet learned to
do. Blogging on poster paper with post-its for comments provides opportunities
to discuss real time issues like safety and style.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The second post came by way of<a href="http://smartblogs.com/education/2013/06/21/how-to-give-students-a-voice-in-their-education/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Smartblogs.com</a> Here she talks at a higher level about how to
give students a voice in their education.
How and why and most of all, listening to those voices then reflecting and
revising based on what you hear.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She has some great ideas for ‘blog challenges’ with categories such as <i>about me</i>, and <i>about school</i> at <a href="http://www.pernilleripp.com/2012/04/student-blogging-challenges-list-of.html"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Student Blogging Challenges - A List of Ideas</span></a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, Ms. Ripp has some great suggestions for <a href="http://www.pernilleripp.com/2012/10/ideas-for-integrating-student-blog-into.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">integrating blogging throughout the curriculum</a>. </span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 15px;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the end, blogging should not be a burden in your already full day. Students should love blogging, not see it as a chore (which is also why I never grade my students’ blogs) and they should be eager to express themselves and expand their worlds.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So this summer I will be researching ways to 'go global' with our blogging as well as integrating with curriculum, not just language arts. I also want to learn more about how to use twitter with my students.</span></span></div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-67079682334225157842013-07-10T13:39:00.001-07:002013-07-10T13:46:51.991-07:004 Essential Apps for 1:1 classroomToday I attended #AppyHour with Graphite and <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/112027861228496917258" target="_blank">+Common Sense Educators</a> A team from Graphite presented 4 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68iVSk8fMnI" target="_blank">essential apps for 1:1 classrooms</a>.<br />
<br />
<a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/103802127389693006752" target="_blank">+Kelly Mendoza</a> moderated two teachers:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li> Lisa Butler- middle school teacher, PA, 6th social studies teacher, their school is 50% 1:1 and 50% BYOT </li>
<li>Jennifer – Pittsburg, PA Her hot tip? check out <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.vine.android">google vine</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ol>
<li><a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/111651998107051417603" target="_blank">+Animoto</a> Educator Pro <a href="http://animoto.com/pro/education">paid version</a> or a scaled down but completely functional free version for <a href="http://animoto.com/education/classroom">classroom use</a>. I have used this for years and love it. It is easy to use for me and my students. Only problem I have is that with preview, you cannot hear the whole song or all of the lyrics. So I only let students use instrumental versions of songs OR I have to preview their product before they can watch it. Great idea from Lisa Bulter (@srtalisa) to use animoto for kids to produce tutorials on other tools (ex symbaloo)!</li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/earth/index.html" target="_blank">Google Earth</a> – be sure you have clear learning goals for students to follow in geography, math, science, writing and reading (<a href="http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html" target="_blank">google lit trips</a>) </li>
<li>Google art – Amazing source for all things art. Can be used for story starters, use with art vista/docent program, view world wonders. You can take virtual field trips! Check out lesson plans and ideas under <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/culturalinstitute/worldwonders/education/" target="_blank">educator tab</a>! </li>
<li><a href="http://www.shmoop.com/" target="_blank">Schmoop</a> – free paid, 0-12 grade Tools and resources to help make learning fun. It can be used as homework help, to introduce topics or to support classroom teaching.</li>
</ol>
Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-63232954390507033112013-07-10T11:08:00.001-07:002013-07-10T11:08:35.418-07:00West Valley iPad Expo<script language="javascript" src="//storify.com/sandramc59/ipad-expo.js" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript>[<a href="//storify.com/sandramc59/ipad-expo" target="_blank">View the story "iPad Expo" on Storify</a>]</noscript>Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-73610347246928462612013-06-14T12:07:00.001-07:002013-06-14T12:09:25.540-07:00Digital Citizenship SummitLast month I attended the Digital Citizenship Summit at the Microsoft Silicon Valley HQ. it was an informative day and I kept notes by tweeting. Here they are, with some helpful links.<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://sfy.co/p8sj">Keynote with Anne Collier</a><br /><br />Notes from other sessions using <a target="_blank" href="http://sfy.co/q8uV">storify</a>. <br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br /><br /><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Microsoft,%20Mountain%20View&z=10'>Microsoft, Mountain View</a></p>Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-47489961576034409072013-03-17T17:03:00.001-07:002013-03-17T17:03:28.628-07:00Sir Ken Robinson @CUE 2013<br />
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGSg9LyzhyphenhyphenQRAC3i_Ucqdp9G4ov2zntWn97qxMco8zh7LDGww0POiXgXt2THZRHHhnmlJR7SVwjMpi11qICCL_pL4ofb7VBH_GdzqVf4FZpXqT6z3oocODXAALwsrY9KoLoyXA7dhB_Ew/s1600/sir+ken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGSg9LyzhyphenhyphenQRAC3i_Ucqdp9G4ov2zntWn97qxMco8zh7LDGww0POiXgXt2THZRHHhnmlJR7SVwjMpi11qICCL_pL4ofb7VBH_GdzqVf4FZpXqT6z3oocODXAALwsrY9KoLoyXA7dhB_Ew/s200/sir+ken.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The keynote speaker at CUE 2103 was <a href="http://www.principalvoices.com/voices/ken-robinson-bio.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Ken Robinson</a>. His presentation was worth the price of admission! He is such an amazing, inspiring, articulate, intelligent and funny man! <span style="font-size: 19px; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">I am really not sure how to even compile my notes, so I am just sharing sound bites (bytes?) along with (my comments). It should be evident which is which. Feel free to ask me to elaborate.</span></span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On earth, over the entirely of human existence, there have been about 100 billion lives. Yet, each life is unique and unrepeatable. You are at a unique moment in human history.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We feign knowledge we don't have. <span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dalai Lama - "I don't know"The mark of a great teacher is to say at times, I have no idea, what do you think?</span></span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To be born at all is a miracle. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">You should never resent growing old. It's a privilege denied to many. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">It is a miracle we are here. It's amazing how little people settle for.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Human talents are like natural resources, they are often buried and need to be drawn out</span></span></div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><br />
</div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is our differences that make us interesting. We have to cherish our diversity. It is our best hope for sustainability. Education currently does the exact opposite. Human beings are naturally creative.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'My own personal Everest'. Getting his PhD was his "own personal Everest". (I love that idea! what is your Everest?!)</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where you stand now is not governed by where you started out. So what are you going to do with your life? You don't get your resume with your birth certificate, you control who you become. </span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Education has a narrow view...it is focused on what they thought was wrong with you, not what you could do! You should teach the child, not the subject (Monger says he stole her line)</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The effect of standards is to narrow the curriculum. (Amen.) Who says Americans don't get irony? The person who named No Child Left Behind GETS irony. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">NCLB has had the effect of shrinking the curricula. We are confusing the symptom of the problem with the causes. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Rather than narrowing we need Expansive that celebrates diversity...Organic development and change...</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Effect of mimeograph machines on teachers was profound! (Tee hee - I think you had to be there)</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcgzeKC97MvyB7h7PoCXEHNXv_9TyR3VMSeJGi46LTo2o1ho_WixoXKuAnLDxmo0FsYMWF4G8b11QYSbt_Z3VSKsSjdXduydss5YO7ZBpW0_bdwTeJRMt5rhHopLCEsdxiu9n83tJT74/s1600/Sir+Ken's+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwcgzeKC97MvyB7h7PoCXEHNXv_9TyR3VMSeJGi46LTo2o1ho_WixoXKuAnLDxmo0FsYMWF4G8b11QYSbt_Z3VSKsSjdXduydss5YO7ZBpW0_bdwTeJRMt5rhHopLCEsdxiu9n83tJT74/s200/Sir+Ken's+book.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Out-Our-Minds-Learning-Creative/dp/1907312471" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Out of Our Minds:Learning to be Creative</a>. his new book </span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">10 years ago... No smart phones, social media - perhaps it should be called Asocial media (This made me laugh later that night, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/111543259442603321348" target="_blank">+sheila monger</a> and I were sitting next to each other, (Y) ing each other's facebook posts, rather than just talking to each other). </span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are the largest generation in human history. There are more people on earth now than anytime in humon history. We don't know if we can make this work. - (I am paraphrasing for sure here) essentially, he said that if everyone on earth would consume what the average person in India consumes, we'd be fine. Yet if we all consumed what the average American does, essentially we'd need 4 more Earths.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Current forms of Education are locked into the previous century. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">We need a radical personalization. There are </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">4 drivers of the need for change in education:</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Economic. If people are better educated we think they'll be in a better position to get a better job and be able to be economically independent. I can't tell you much I want my son to be economically independent. </span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cultural. The world existed before ou got here and will continue. But the world that is you only exists because you are here.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Social. </span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Personal. In the end, education is always personal. Could not be a greater irony that we are cutting funding to Ed and increasing funding to prisons. In the US, 30% of students don't graduate. In some areas, 60%. 1 in 31 in US in the penal system. We have to get away from standardizing education to personalizing it - technology is the key.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empty-Space-Theatre-Deadly-Immediate/dp/0684829576" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Empty Space by Peter Brook</a> Is about how he set out to transform theater. Before we can ask how, we have to ask what is it? What can we take a way and have it still be theater? An actor in a space and someone watching. It is the relationship. There is an analogy to Ed ...our job is to facilitate learning. They'll do it on their own so when we add ourselves into the mix, we have to add value. Facilitate. Enable, inspire, recognize diversity, recognize possibilities inside them. Too many distractions- unions, building codes, etc that have gotten in the way of education.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our job is to teach students not subjects.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recognize learning styles</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Broad set of experiences</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Individualize schedules. ex. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arthur-e-levine/the-school-of-one-the-sch_b_288695.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">School of one in NY</a></span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kids learn at different rates... Multi age</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">New technologies are disruptive but give us the means to change education. By the way, Technology is not technology if it happened before you were born.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhATeFi7D1VtvVCSUtKnVmkCsk4zNQsy8ItETAGWFFGjazJbEGnti1uXEEEc5CMM6b2dlNNymqyIA6Z5xvvaelh_DYrayIk8tyPTYIpgg0gB1QoUaABeXgS0sfJHDYofg4O7vMeOPGO0/s1600/DEVA-Wildflowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhATeFi7D1VtvVCSUtKnVmkCsk4zNQsy8ItETAGWFFGjazJbEGnti1uXEEEc5CMM6b2dlNNymqyIA6Z5xvvaelh_DYrayIk8tyPTYIpgg0gB1QoUaABeXgS0sfJHDYofg4O7vMeOPGO0/s200/DEVA-Wildflowers.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #006600; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;">Photo by </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zota/7349653/" style="background-color: white; color: #003300; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;">zota</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #006600; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2;"> via flickr</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Death Valley - it is not dead, just dormant. What happened with extreme rain in spring 2005 was amazing display of wildflowers. </span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Seeds of possibility. If conditions are right, life is inevitable. Fill them with hope and a sense of ambition. Education has (and still does) define students by what they CAN'T do rather than what they CAN do</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Celebrate our creativity along with our students' creativity. The focus on education should be LEARNING. Nothing should be added unless it contributes to learning.</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It takes more resources to block effective Ed than it would to do it right</span></div><br />
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-66182889258530871252013-03-17T15:36:00.000-07:002013-03-17T15:36:05.784-07:00Technology for Planning and Teaching to the Common Core<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Brian Balaris, Chris Morel, Todd Reed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you are implementing technology, there are several ways to provide necessary Staff PD to help inspire, prepare and support your teachers. In their district, they use independent contractors and send teachers to conferences to see what is going on</span><br />
<ul style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">boot camp - at the beginning of their school year, one day (paid) is devoted to technology training using a boot camp model. There are a variety of workshops that people can sign up for. They get low or no cost presenters (the price of lunch for some) and teachers can sign up for the things they need, such as Google sites, <a href="http://drive.google.com/" target="_blank">Google forms</a>, iPad basics, <a href="http://aplusitech.com/aplus2013/" target="_blank">SMART</a>, <a href="http://edmodo.com/" target="_blank">Edmodo</a>, etc. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwqwUiybWxGp58CT1ZhUyqp2ALrSYWQ_xhn4HN9fAedWDfw4kJ8as1ORH9Bo08q88fZMCZmtLWOo8_LC0tL_SjJMvV73elLaOAtYIpvSv8HzEhQMw0KPCTwwz5HwqPOQWFUUpJ1PdF1gc/s1600/ipadettes3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwqwUiybWxGp58CT1ZhUyqp2ALrSYWQ_xhn4HN9fAedWDfw4kJ8as1ORH9Bo08q88fZMCZmtLWOo8_LC0tL_SjJMvV73elLaOAtYIpvSv8HzEhQMw0KPCTwwz5HwqPOQWFUUpJ1PdF1gc/s200/ipadettes3.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Site early outs - on some of their early out Wednesdays, they continue with the staff PD for tech, which is especially helpful as teachers have begun using the technology and have some new and more complex questions and challenges. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">
<li style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grade level pull outs - these would address specific grade level needs</span></li>
</ul>
<ul style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">
<li style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pedagogical PD</span></li>
</ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpphI13-7HtJJEEWFMjT9cipxdVJ1GMxf_AMREtn93BQLLXP4FYLZPrE0Tb2dribNlFUDOhYG8CZ7GWF4NAU24VDvjhF3Is9soRLzvHrpRs6286Fa2_sQwKipdiR1XdsdHKk0qk-MTEzs/s1600/nets-t-indicator.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpphI13-7HtJJEEWFMjT9cipxdVJ1GMxf_AMREtn93BQLLXP4FYLZPrE0Tb2dribNlFUDOhYG8CZ7GWF4NAU24VDvjhF3Is9soRLzvHrpRs6286Fa2_sQwKipdiR1XdsdHKk0qk-MTEzs/s200/nets-t-indicator.png" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.iste.org/standards" target="_blank">ITSE NETS</a> (National Education Technology Standards) for Students NETS-S and teachers NETS-T - It is essential to know technology standards for teachers and students and use them in backwards planning of units and your school year. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is an interesting resource I found while poking around ITSE , an implementation wiki for NETS standards!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They also recommend a <a href="http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-coaches" target="_blank">coaching model</a> - to provide help with how to, to model lessons, research and share new ideas, generally, to spread the wealth. Coaches can take what they see at one school, one classroom and pollinate it throughout their district.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This session blurb said it would "provide teachers and administrators with a detailed understanding of the technology needs embedded in the common core and how to start the process of using these skills. The integration of more technology into engaging teaching and learning activities are the themes presented." My slight frustration with this year's CUE started with this presentation. I know WHY we need to use technology with common core, I want to know HOW to best implement real projects with tech+common core! They had some great ideas to support staff using technology, but no actual projects, lesson plans, nor implementable strategies. I am hoping to follow Balaris, Morel and Reed and do some investigation into how they actually are implementing tech+CCSS in their schools going forward.</span>Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-34689271291843236542013-03-17T13:58:00.001-07:002013-03-17T14:25:07.978-07:00The Bedley Bros' Research Communities<br />
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">The past few days, some of us attended the CUE conference. </span></span></h2>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></h2>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">This professional development</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"> was opportunity was wonderful and we wanted to share what we learned. So I'll be posting notes from the sessions I attended.</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Using iPads to Build Research Communities in a Common Core Classroom</span></h2>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>by the Bedley Bros - <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/116020082415783309649" target="_blank">+Scott Bedley</a> and <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/108261546069775710389" target="_blank">+Tim Bedley</a> </b></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This standing room only CUE TIP was informative and engaging. It was a short <a class="wiki_link_ext" data-mce-href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FmpAGfGgRPq3XfMqz8IU3VDboVYZVBaEiUe7i2cAzzw/edit#slide=id.gb1ce1901_2_84" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FmpAGfGgRPq3XfMqz8IU3VDboVYZVBaEiUe7i2cAzzw/edit#slide=id.gb1ce1901_2_84" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: url(http://www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;" target="_blank">presentation</a> but packed with great ideas and examples. They talked about students can learn to research collaboratively. Tim discussed how students can delve deeper into a subject by using technology and their brains to mine reliable sources. Students were gives a topic to research and had to come up with consensus in their research community - (GLAD=>expert group)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknj3oxd4PCKtqdRfwP8DpG0hYs22tlHOD0K9qudiksD4NQ_bXHP3-LcUhAIrVQkXviTzpqJSG4Uhex50SVNYkPEMppCJcfCfz_A-dfE76qb48all-RNK_R3Gn3jEjDVaPDPjaLZLBxho/s1600/earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknj3oxd4PCKtqdRfwP8DpG0hYs22tlHOD0K9qudiksD4NQ_bXHP3-LcUhAIrVQkXviTzpqJSG4Uhex50SVNYkPEMppCJcfCfz_A-dfE76qb48all-RNK_R3Gn3jEjDVaPDPjaLZLBxho/s200/earth.jpg" title="http://www.flickr.com/photos/95572727@N00/4669186461" width="195" /></a></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim Bedley, is one of Riverside County's Teacher of the Year from 2013! He has some great info on his <a class="wiki_link_ext" data-mce-href="http://timbedley.com/blog13/" href="http://timbedley.com/blog13/" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: url(http://www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;" target="_blank">website</a> </span>about projects, his band links to some great classroom videos. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can catch the Bedley Bros. #</span><a class="wiki_link_ext" data-mce-href="http://timbedley.com/blog13/2013/02/03/bedley-bros-elemchat-vodcast-ep-1-common-core-research-communities/" href="http://timbedley.com/blog13/2013/02/03/bedley-bros-elemchat-vodcast-ep-1-common-core-research-communities/" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: url(http://www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-right: 10px;" target="_blank">edchat</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> which gives much of the information from the presentation. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim also has an amazing band Rocking the Standards, check out their </span><a class="wiki_link_ext" data-mce-href="http://www.youtube.com/user/rockinthestandards" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/rockinthestandards" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: url(http://www.wikispaces.com/i/a.gif); background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-right: 10px;" target="_blank">educational and entertaining songs</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"><br /></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Their parting piece of advise, <strong><em>Leave your voice out! I am the last resource for feedback.</em></strong></span></div>
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<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></span></div>
<span data-mce-style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;">The </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">session</span></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"> was time well spent, I just wish it had gone on longer!</span></span></span></div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-21243030087750095492013-01-12T16:46:00.001-08:002013-01-13T12:18:01.457-08:003 Classroom Apps for the New Year <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/01/12/2080.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img align="left" border="0" src="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/01/12/s_2080.jpg" height="146" style="margin: 5px;" width="110" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks HRM for the artwork!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This week I introduced my kids to three new apps which I am hoping will provide me with additional assessment information. We started a class blog using <a href="http://www.kidsblog.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kidblog</a>. It is a secure blogging platform that my kids can use to create their own blog page within <a href="http://kidblog.org/MsMcConnellsClass-7/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">our group</a>. So far we wrote about our winter break and we've started with doing our weekly reading log online. I am learning more about my students' writing and they are learning from each other. There is an <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kidblog/id565951433?mt=8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">app</a> for easy access to the blog from our class iPads. I am hoping that blogging will provide an opportunity for communication, collaboration and developing authentic writing skills. My kids know that I blog, too. It helps them to see that writing is a life-ling skill.<br />
We also started playing around with <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Khan Academy</a>. Although I did the set up on my Mac, the kids and I are now using the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/khan-academy/id469863705?mt=8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">app</a>. I know Khan has its detractors, and I am remaining open minded as I pilot its usefulness in my classroom. I teach a 4+5 combo with very independent learners and I am hoping that Khan Academy will allow my students the ability to go deeper into subjects in which they have a need and or interest.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfK5kEAHBFgOUm0E4DLvCMx6eUthrn1te-VBT1Ya1x41GjMIK0KlzWu6lOvsXYo_aBJcuebBjBun6OlV2tD__c7TZW-mGvfHG1zUR-tPJW5D2wVtLHn0He2sTItpj67ln_RrkuabFeEA/s1600/kindness.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfK5kEAHBFgOUm0E4DLvCMx6eUthrn1te-VBT1Ya1x41GjMIK0KlzWu6lOvsXYo_aBJcuebBjBun6OlV2tD__c7TZW-mGvfHG1zUR-tPJW5D2wVtLHn0He2sTItpj67ln_RrkuabFeEA/s200/kindness.png" height="166" width="200" /></a><br />
As part of our monthly life-skill focus of kindness, my students have begun a Kindness Project. We brainstormed a variety of ways that we see or hear kindness. We are now working on developing icons or memes to represent kindness. One of the tools we are using to draw them is the third app we started using: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skitch/id490505997?mt=8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Skitch</a>, which is part of <a href="http://evernote.com/evernote/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Evernote</a>. Some students are also working on short movies to inspire kindness. We were inspired by this video from +Dan Pink 's daughter, Sophia.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="220" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1EwYLZmkUxo" width="560"></iframe><br />Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5329277826125800839.post-15367566392132125822013-01-04T08:25:00.001-08:002013-01-04T08:25:30.578-08:00#EdTech Reflections from 2012<br />
It's the beginning of a new year, a time for looking back and a time for crystal ball gazing. On twitter +Vicki Davis, suggested: <i>Write a 2012 year in review about what you've done, where you've been, and the joys of the year. Take time to remember</i>. In honor of 2012, I reflected on on my top 12 highlights from the year. As I am continually trying for life/work balance, some of the highlights are related to my teaching practice, and some are purely personal. All 12 can be found on my <a href="http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">life+teaching blog</a>, but since five of them are related in some way to our iPad Academy adventures, I am sharing them here, too.<br />
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1. iPads in the classroom: In March, I applied to and was accepted into the <a href="http://mccipadadventures.blogspot.com/2012/04/mypad-academy-background.html" target="_blank">iPad Action Research Academy</a> in our school district. We received our class set of iPads in April and my students have been engaged ever since. I started a <a href="http://mccipadadventures.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> to keep track of our experiences and have had the opportunity to work with an amazing team of innovators as we have pioneered use of this technology in our district. As a group we have used a <a href="http://cambrianipadusers.wikispaces.com/" target="_blank">wiki</a> and primarily <a href="http://www.edmodo.com/" target="_blank">Edmodo</a> to communicate, problem solve and collaborate. It really has been a game changer for me, my students and my colleagues.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">5. Since I have started teaching, I have been lucky to work with some amazing educators whose focus is special needs kids: Bill Theimann, Linda Bruton, </span><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/mrspaolinisclass/all-about-julie" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">Julie Paolini</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> and a supportive staff and administration. I had just assumed that their approach of compassion, inclusion and treating all students as learners was the norm. When I left </span><a href="http://saratogausd.org/index.php/special-education" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">SUSD</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> I found that was not the case. However, I was brilliantly lucky to be placed in a room next door to the new SDC teacher, Sheila Monger. Monger, an inclusion specialist, shares my views and passion for creating a seamless education environment where all students learning needs are met. This school year, I am teaching a 4+5 combo and Monger is teaching 2+3+4+5. Having more of an overlap has opened the doors for more integration and inclusion. Together, we are gradually breaking down barriers and opening doors for opportunity for teachers, administration and students look at learning a new way.</span><a data-mce-href="http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/technology-and-inclusive-education.html" href="http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/technology-and-inclusive-education.html" style="border: 0px; color: #047ac6; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://mrsmcconnellsblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/technology-and-inclusive-education.html</a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><br />
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8. Education + Technology = #EdTech: When I decided to become a teacher, my vision was to use what I had learned "in the real world" to help me be a better teacher. I have worked hard, and spent a lot of my own time and money, to find meaningful ways to bring technology into the classroom to provide my students with authentic learning experiences. When I had to leave SUSD, I was afraid I'd have to start from zero to re-establish myself as a technology leader with my new district. At my age, (really at any age) starting from zero seems like a grand waste of time. One of my favorite expressions is that I'd rather ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. As a manager, I respected the initiative that showed. As a teacher I appreciate the perceived independence, even though I know it can sometimes frustrate my principals. So, I just did what I do and kept my principal informed. Through programs like <a href="http://creatvsj.org/" target="_blank">CreaTV</a> and the iPad Academy, I have been able to flex my tech muscles while providing our students with unique learning opportunities. I have also been in a position to help develop other teachers as they learn how to use technology to become more efficient and effective educators. In January, <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/111543259442603321348" target="_blank">+sheila monger</a> and I were honored with a Good Apple Award by our school board and recognized for our contribution in the area of educational technology. I am very proud of the work we have done to help teachers and students use technology in meaningful ways.<br />
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10. In October of this year I applied to and was accepted into another academy at our district. Cambrian and others use the academy model as a <b>choice </b><a href="http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1zrn3/NovemberDecember2012/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acsa.org%2FFunctionalMenuCategories%2FMedia%2FLeadershipMagazine%2F2012-Archives%2FNovemberDecember-2012.aspx" target="_blank"><b>method</b> for professional development</a> (see page 32). This time it is the Digital Media Academy. I saw this as a great opportunity to merge my work with CreaTV and classroom learning using digital media. Our students have started out by producing short <a href="http://mccipadadventures.blogspot.com/2012/12/student-psas-with-imovie.html" target="_blank">PSAs</a> addressing personal concerns such as <a href="http://bit.ly/Vbv4r3" target="_blank">playground safety</a>, littering, and bullying. We have been able to use student created content on our monthly television show on <a href="http://www.creatvsj.org/Inner.aspx?page=9" target="_blank">CreaTV</a>, Comcast channel 28, <i>Around Bagby</i>. Our students are becoming better planners, writers, problem solvers, communicators and collaborators.<br />
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12. Assessment. As I started this year end review with iPads, I'm ending with them. While initially I used the iPads for student engagement and learning, I also used student work on the iPads for informal assessment. However, I wanted to learn more (and still do) about ways I can use the devices to effectively assess student learning. In August, with the help of <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/101568942935745691813" target="_blank">+Jill Florant</a> at <a href="http://www.edmodo.com/" target="_blank">Edmodo</a>, I started using Edmodo not only to communicate with my parents and students but also to assess their learning. I started using assessments and quizzes. Parents are able to see their child's progress and it really has improved the home-school connection. In addition to Edmodo, I also started using <a href="http://www.classdojo.com/" target="_blank">Class Dojo</a> for behavior management. The kids love their avatars and work hard for positive behavior reports. This fall I used <a href="http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/classroomdonation/results_teacher.aspx?classroomid=168314" target="_blank">adopt-a-classroom</a> to generate crowd-funding for <a href="http://www.spellingcity.com/" target="_blank">SpellingCity</a> and our <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/mcconnellbagbyrm7/weather-wherever" target="_blank">collaborative weather project</a>. SpellingCity helps administer spelling practice activities and tests, grades the tests and provides useful reports to me and the parents. In 2013 I plan to further investigate and utilize methods for assessing student learning and engagement on iPads.<br />
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Happy New Year!</div>
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Sandrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01766705109969527871noreply@blogger.com0