Every student can learn-cliche, I know

I had a wonderful week last week working with several groups of students.  My week began with the success of getting a group of of Calculus student engaged through iTunes to receive content, but the common factor with all groups I worked with introducing them to use Dropbox to receive work from their instructor and turn work in to their instructor.  What the struct me at the end of the week was that I worked with a group of students taking the highest level of Calculus at our high school, self contained VBI students, and ESL students.  All groups were able to successfully complete the same task.  Another success was that some students at each level were able to assist their classmates with the process when they were having difficulties.  This solidified what we have heard in education for year, I was just privileged to witness it first hand.

I also had the opportunity to present professional development for the first time outside of my district.  I was fortunate to be select to present at Schools Without Walls in Hot Springs.  It was a wonderful experience to be a part of an innovative community of educators striving to learn more about technology in education.  One of my big take aways was using Pintrest (yes, I know) in the classroom.  If you are familiar with Pintrest then you will understand the jargon.  The presenter suggesting having students create a project on a literary or historical figure  by "pinning" images on a "board"  that describe that character, then share that board with the teacher.  I am sure you can transfer this to your subject.

Weeks like this makes me excited and hopeful for technology in education.

New iOS, Bell Ringer, and TESS

Great past few weeks of working with teachers using Nearpod and Dropbox, I hope that the work we have done will be of good use in your classroom.

You may have noticed that Apple has pushed out a new operating system (OS).  If you have not updated your teacher iPad, I would go ahead and do it.  If you need help, catch me on the day that I am in your building and I will help you.  After you update, you will have to update many of your apps too.  My favorite feature of the new OS is the ability to put unlimited apps in a folder.  If you do not know what a folder is, let me show you when we update your iPad.  On a personal note, love the new iTunes radio on the iPhone.

Polleverywhere.com has been around for a while, but I decided you use it again this week and wondered why I haven't been using this in PD.  Great tool for a bell ringer to send the kiddos an assignment right before class and their responses get send to you via the web, generating a platform for a great class discussion.  Explore on your own, or let me know if you need one on one instruction.  You do need a mobile device with wifi or a computer to make this work.

TESS has many technology components in the domains, specifically 2e, 4e, 4d, 3d, and 1d.  I am going to start sending you articles like the ones attached to my email, periodically to help you move up the scoring ladder.  I taught the SAMR method in one PD this summer.  It is TESS for technology.

S or substitution is the lowest level where you are just replace on technology for another that does the same function

A or augmentation technology is still a substitute that provides a functional improvement

M or modification  is technology that allows for task redesign

R or redefinition is technology that allows for new tasks that were previously inconceivable

If you Google SAMR in 120 seconds, there is a good video that gives a little more detail.

Finally, I have a website that I am building piece by piece that has step by step instructions for many of the PD's that I have conducted.  It is a work in progress:

https://sites.google.com/site/broukereynolds/

Off to a great start

The past few days of school have been a new experience being outside of the classroom.  I have had the opportunity to work with great teachers getting Dropbox integrated into their curriculum.  In general, I have had positive student feedback about using Dropbox to deliver students assignments rather than making so many copies.  I believe I heard "saving trees" on more than one occasion.  The downfall...wifi.  If your classroom does not have adequate connection, then it is frustrating for both the teacher and student.

Please contact me if you would like to set up a time to get your students receiving and turning in work via Dropbox.  The teachers I have worked with are Marty Allen, MB Cox, Angie Chandler, Tonya Wentzel, and Suzzette Patterson.  Check with them and see if Dropbox is right for you and your students.

If you are a Nearpod fan, I may have some good news.  I am checking into upgrading to make Nearpod more accessible, hopefully good details coming soon.

The start of a new year and technology

As our new school year approaches, I would like to challenge you to think differently about how you ask your students to perform tasks in your classroom.

Do you collect basic student information on the first day of school?  Consider creating a Google Form to collect this information electronically.  Or have your students use Evernote to type a short biography about themselves, then they can email it to you.

We have access to Nooks and some have to have iPad carts for their classroom.  I hope that we will use this technology to make our teaching life simplistic and to enhance our classroom experience.

Please ask your Technology Facilitator (me) to assist you to accomplish any of the tasks you want to complete.  I have enjoyed visiting with many of you as your share your goals and have allowed me to work with you to accomplish those goals.

The key to successful technology integration in a classroom setting is teacher preparation and comfort level.  Don't force or overuse, find the natural fit for you and your students.

August 11th PD

Did anyone notice how hot it was?

Great day of PD, I appreciate everyone being patient with technology and the heat.  We did not get to cover Edmodo, so if anyone is interested, contact me.

I enjoyed hearing how people are using Remind 101 with their students and parents:
Parents not primary custodians can still get information
Able to communicate without giving out cell number
Can set up time to send text

Use Dropbox and Drive:
To collaborate with colleagues
Share documents with students
Allow students to turn in work
Send quizzes and surveys via Google Forms

If you have any great ideas to share, send me an email so I can include it in my next technology blog.

Thanks for making my job fun!!!

June 27th PD

It was great to be back in NLR after a great ISTE conference.  We had another productive iPad professional development with innovative educators.

Answer to question:

Haiku decks can only be created on the App, not the web.

Summary of responses from participants:

Videolicious:

Kim Haydon - I think this would be great for kids that are terrified to get up in front of the class.

Girdler - Videolicious would be great to do short training videos without videotaping myself. Videos are easy to post on the district web page with a link and not the actual video. With all the new changes coming through the system, more resources need to be available for teachers.

Suggestions:

Girdler - Insight 360 cost money but combines several of these apps into one. I would have purchased with my own money if I were still in the classroom.

Hart - I used the dictionary app in class a lot for my students. They liked to hear the words pronounced.

Ms. Billings - I plan on using the financial football app in my financial class for review.

Drop box:

Girdler - Dropbox is like having a mobile network drive. Helps transferring files to iPad.

Kim Haydon - Students can save things at school on Dropbox and then have access to them on their devices at home. When students save to their J:/ drive they can't get to it from home.

Haiku Deck:

Hoggard - During the first week of school, put the students in small groups and have them do an introduction presentation.

Kim Haydon - For when students are working in groups so they can update what they have discussed for the rest of the class

Bonus apps-Remind 101 and iPick a student, both free

Thank you to all of the participants, I had a wonderful day working with dedicated educators.

Have a great summer!

June NOOK PD

What another great day of PD!!!  I appreciate all of the participants and their willingness to absorb so much material in so little time.  I am going address unanswered questions and post some great thoughts from Edmodo.

Links:
SAMR Model-four levels of using technology in your classroom

60 uses for Twitter in Classroom

Online Etiquette/Safety

Texting App-ability to text students at once

Unanswered Questions:

Edmodo-if the you only want the teacher to see the assignment, then the student clicks "turn in", if you want the entire class to see the reply, then the student will just comment on the assignment, as we did today.  If you click turn in, then a file can be attached.

Nearpod: I could not find anything about students accessing presentation after the teacher closes it, but I did see on their website a section about the possibility of students going at their own pace, so that might be something to explore.  Your absent or homebound students can also access presentations from home, if they can login when you are delivering the presentation.

Dropbox:  Could not find anything on password protecting files, but Mr. Huff and Ms. Bennett suggested sharing the link to the file rather than sharing the actual folder to prevent students from changing files within the folder.

Great responses from today:

Nearpod:

Mrs. Mock - Great for visual learners and also to keep students on task as monitoring around the room

Mrs. Leger - Helpful for students with vision or processing issues who can not take look at a screen and then write down what they see! Will allow students to create and upload their own presentations to use with their classmates

Mrs. Wiggins - Students can see powerpoint clearly from all over the room. Will check to see if they can see it if they are homebound or home sick.

Evernote:

Rebecca P. - Student note taking. Hopefully they can share notes with students who are absent

Mrs. Bennett - This can really come in handy during productions - to share notes and "to do" lists with my tech crews.

Ms. Krebs - if kids could get used to this it could be very helpful for organizing notes for each class

Ms. Williams - Alternative way to take notes rather than paper and pencil (for the students who NEVER bring their materials to class)

NOOK Use:

Ms. Mann - I use the Nook to flashcard vocabulary, Quizlet, to enhance reading comprehension, Practicaespanol.com, to read current articles in Spanish on Flipboard.

Mrs. Doss - We used the Nooks to create a photo array from World War II. Each student chose 5 photographs to share with others. Each student used visual analysis to add to their previous knowledge on World War II. Then we "speed dated" where students presented to each other. They showed the photos on their nook while explaining it to their classmates.

Mrs. Leirer - Students have used the Nook to access their online textbook, state frameworks, download powerpoints, check edline, and practice EOC questions.

Mr. Wilson - As a music teacher I plan to use the Nook in several ways. I have worked with Dr. Purtle to push a metronome and tuner app out to all band students that have a nook. Also I could use the Nook to allow the students to listen to recordings and tap into additional resources.

Mrs. Phaup - I have used the Nook for SSR in my Read180 class. I would like to use the Nook for journal writing. If Read180 books could be downloaded to the Nook, then they could be used even more in my class.

Google Drive/Dropbox:

Mrs. Dreher - My students can upload photos of their artwork...instant digital portfolio!

Mr. Briggs - Google docs would be an easy way to sign up for lab equipment with the rest of the science staff at sophomore.

Mrs. Valentine - I would be able to have assignments for student who were absent. I can create a calendar in google drive to share with students on after school work

Mrs. Prestridge - With the Common Core Curriculum and all teachers in a given area teaching the exact same curriculum, I would suggest that those teachers in each group create a folder that they all share in order to share their assignments, creations, tests, etc. with each other. This would allow us to give up sending a million emails or worrying about downloading word doc. and forgetting where we saved them.

Remember, there are many other great ideas on the Edmodo page, these are just a few.  I just want to encourage everyone to experiment more within Google (Drive, Calendar, and Google +).

Thanks again to everyone for all of the innovative ideas you shared today.  

June 3rd PD

Great first day of PD for this facilitator and I hope the participants think so as well.  One app I forgot to cover was Apps Gone Free.  This is a great free app that gives you seven or eight apps each day that usually charge a fee, but are free for the day or a short period of time.  Worth a look each day to get great paid apps for free.

Listed below are some great comments from participants on the apps we covered today in iPad boot camp:

• Uses for Videolicious
• Library oritentation-Mrs. Toney
• Scavenger hunt-Ms. Cates
• Use to make a presentation about a time, place, event,  or person in history-Stewart
• Allowing shy students to do their speeches and build confidence-Mills
• Book Review-White
• Teaching Sequencing-Harris
• App Blast 2-suggest an app
• Wikipedia for quick fats-Deeter
• Class Dojo for class behavior management-Neumeier
• Kindle for reading-Barton
• Calorie King to monitor calorie intake-Cantrell
• Pitch Pipe and Pro Metronome for music-Banks/Madar
• Popplet, Dropbox, and Google Drive
• Sharing teaching tools-Meeker
• Students can electronically turn in assignments-Banks
• No need for flash drive-Lawless
• Popplet for graphic organizer-Woods
• Haiku Deck
• Beginning of year introductions-McClain
• Inspire visual learners-Norcross
• Learners can creatively express themselves-Huston
• End of class summary-Matthews
• Use for make-up assignments-Williams

Thank you to all teachers for sharing great ideas!!!

A Summer of New Experiences

I am really looking forward to work this summer, yes work.  I am starting my first day of summer vacation teach a six hour professional development session I think of as iPad boot camp. Prepared as I am, we all know that technology is as temperamental as my four year old. I can only hope that my goals will be accomplished.

I also get to attend ISTE for the first time, which I am told will be amazing.  I am going with great people from my school district, plus getting to re-connect with friends I met in April. Not to mention, San Antonio is a great place to visit.  

This is my fourth month in my new job, that I thoroughly enjoy.  I can honestly say that this is the first year in my 13 of teaching that I am not counting the days until school is out or the summer and that is a great feeling.