App Smashing St. Paddy's Day!

(Originally posted March 26, 2015 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches in Action! blog at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/app-smashing-st-paddys-day-because-everyone-is-irish-at-least-once-a-year/ )
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Introducing my upper elementary 4th and 5th grade classes to the concept of app smashing is something I had wanted to do for a while. Being able to do so with a creative, engaging, holiday-inspired, nothing-short-of-fun project was the goal and St. Patrick's Day was perfect timing!
 
We started our St. Paddy's Projects with a fun, free, St. Patrick's Day Mojo Masks app by Image Metrics.  The app uses a type of augmented reality through the iPad camera to overlay one of three styles of masks on the face of the user.  Once the user chooses the mask they like (in this case either shamrock glasses, green ribbons, or a full-face Irish flag) they can either record a video or take a still photo with the mask appearing over their face.  

Because of it's use of augmented reality, this app was a perfect, fun start to the project since I have been exploring augmented reality technology with all my students, the older grades in greater depth.


  
After masks were chosen and applied, students were instructed to take a "selfie" with the mask using the app, and save it to the camera roll on their iPads.  

At this point, they thought the project was over.  They had, after all, made a nice little St. Paddy's Day photo and this was a St. Paddy's Day project.  What else was there to do? ...

App Smash, of course!
  


With their masked photos saved, students were introduced to another fun, free, holiday-themed app - the St. Patrick's Day Photo Booth.  With this app they were instructed to upload the photo they had just saved to their camera roll and add to it in any way they chose - options included Irish-themed stickers, hats, beards, shamrocks, word bubbles, stamps, etc.  Once they finished doctoring up their photos with this second app, they saved this latest creation to the iPad camera roll.
 


For the final app of the project, I wanted students to create a short video using their photo and what better tool than ChatterPix?  

Several of my younger students have used this app for various classroom projects, but the older students had not.  This provided the two-fold opportunity of teaching them a new, usable technology tool and engaging them with a fun, creation project that took advantage of several creation apps/tools in the making.  Win.  Win.  Win!
 
Though they had never used ChatterPix, the app is very user-friendly and they required little, if any, instruction on uploading their photo, creating the mouth slit, and recording a short audio message.
 
This St. Patrick's Day technology project with App Smashing was a quick, engaging, creation project that was tons of fun and allowed students to not only learn about new creation tools, but also practice following specific instruction, use applicational procedures, and get a new look at a technology their obsessed media specialist has harped on for months - augmented reality!

While I know they had an absolute blast creating these fun projects, they also learned about using the wealth of apps and creation tools they have at their fingertips together as a means to create truly specific, original work.  This was their first encounter with App Smashing and it was successful in showing them just how creative they can be in presenting information and knowledge, not only for fun, holiday clips, but also for informative educational projects.

 

Gaming to Teach a Love of Learning

(Originally posted March 16, 2015 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches in Action! blog at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/gaming-to-teach-a-love-of-learning/ )
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Some days, I literally stand back and let my students teach me...

particularly when it comes to using our new MinecraftEDU server.  I recently won the server by entering a class photo into an Instagram contest hosted by Teachability (Pearson Education.)  I knew how much my students loved the popular game, and I couldn't keep the Minecraft books on the shelves during our fall Scholastic Book Fair!  So, I entered the contest with the hope that if things went in our favor, I could use the software to work towards my goal of helping teachers integrate technology in the classroom by promoting and providing ideas, instruction, and lessons that incorporate meaningful and engaging instructional technology applications.

What I've learned along the way is that educational gaming is a perfect way to do all those things.

By using gaming technologies we meet students where they live.  They are digital natives.  They don't know a world that does not include mobile computing devices, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and home computing and gaming systems.  I do remember such a world.  And while I am not a gamer, I have a strong desire to teach my students to love learning and to be life-long learners.

What better way to do that than by using the technologies they love to teach them the skills - both social and academic - and the curricular content they need?

At our school, we intend to use the MinecraftEDU server and classroom licenses as part of a STEMs (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Lab. The lab will mostly serve upper elementary students who are interested in the STEMs magnet program in middle school.  However, all students will be able to take advantage of and benefit from the lab, with the goal of growing their skills and knowledge through hands-on, inquiry and project-based learning.

Classroom teachers will design lessons in MinecraftEDU that teach standards-based curriculum in science and mathematics while incorporating engineering technologies and the social concepts of cooperative and collaborative learning that are uniquely appealing through gaming technologies.

MinecraftEDU contains most all the elements students love about the commercial version of the game, minus the zombies - to which I always get an, "awww, no zombies?" response when explaining the educational version of the gaming software.

Zombies or not.  Gamer or not.  As a teacher I will gladly take the extra steps I need to in order to learn the applications my students love and are drawn to so that in the end, I can help to teach them to love the learning process in a new way.  I, and the classroom teachers who learn to incorporate this technology, will meet them where they live.

Just because I am not as interested in (or nearly as good at) gaming technologies doesn't mean I can't or shouldn't learn more about them in order to be able to design creative lessons that will engage my students on a deeper and more meaningful academic and personal level. And luckily for me, when it comes to gaming of any kind, I have the best teachers I could ever ask for in my very own students.

Teaching is a reciprocal relationship, after all - a give and take of the best variety.  I try my best to impart the knowledge I have and to inspire them to learn each day and in turn, I learn from each of them every day...and I hope they never ends.

For more information about the use of MinecraftEDU in the classroom, watch this short video:

instagrok: A Pathway to Understanding Thoroughly and Intuitively

(Originally posted March 9, 2015 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches in Action! blog at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/instagrok-a-pathway-to-understanding-thoroughly-and-intuitively/ )
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As the media specialist in an elementary school of inquiry, it shouldn't be shocking to learn that the question I am asked most by teachers is in regards to good, educational, kid-safe search engines and tools for web-based research projects.

Since promoting the integration of technology in classroom curriculum and easing that integration for teachers are both goals of mine as School Technology Leader, I have been searching for good research tools that are user-friendly, reliable, and authoritative in sourcing.  When I found one that met each of those criteria - plus was intuitive and interactive - I knew I was on to something that could really be of benefit to my students and teachers.



instaGrok is an interactive search engine for educational use that not only retrieves reliable information, but helps students to develop better searching skills by presenting the information in a visual, concept mind-mapping format that allows students to see a number of searching options and then narrow those options until they pinpoint the information they need from quality, educational websites - .edu and .org sites.  Results also include photo and video content from PBS, BBC, Discovery, etc.



instaGrok is free and can be used online or through iPad and Android apps.  Users can use the research tool without registering or they may register a free account to customize searches and share concept maps.  Teachers can also purchase classroom accounts that allow them to track student progress, make and collect assignments, journal, and much more.  So... students and teachers can use instaGrok as a quick research option from the web interface or iPad/Android apps without accounts, or they can take full advantage of it's capabilities and register student and/or classroom accounts for more intensive use.  The possibilities for it's use are numerous.



Because of its interactivity and concept mapping interface, instaGrok works well for both beginning researchers as well as middle and high school students.  The limits are set only by their searches.  For example: if you search instaGrok for information on WWII, your search results will return a concept map with the WWII heading in the center and all related subjects in surrounding connected concept circles.  If you narrow that search to "weaponry", the concept map will branch off into another circle group showing results specific to weaponry used in WWII.  Each colored tab can be clicked to reveal key facts, websites, videos, images, and concepts. Plus, there is an additional section for notes.



The depth of the search is controlled by the keyword relations as well as a sliding difficulty setting in the top left corner of the search engine.  Beginning researchers may only need the overview information returned in a single keyword search.  With the difficulty level set to the far left, the returned results will be more general and simple to understand information.  More advanced researchers can move the difficulty level as needed and also narrow more and contrast their original keyword search to another keyword search, creating multiple circular concept maps highlighting results containing information specific to the relation of those keywords.

As with most technology, the best way to understand instaGrok is to use it.  Give it a try by clicking here.  I think you'll easily understand how advantageous this search engine can be for both beginning and/or struggling researchers as well as those who are a little more advanced in their searching skills.  I personally love the interactivity and intuitiveness of it.

For more ideas on how you can use instaGrok in your classroom, see the video here:

Intro to Augmented Reality... With a Heartbeat

(Originally posted March 4, 2015 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches in Action! at:  http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/intro-to-augmented-reality-with-a-heartbeat/  )
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Trying new technologies and finding ways to incorporate them meaningfully in the teaching process has been a goal and focus of mine all year as School Technology Leader.  As so, I've been flirting with Augmented Reality and it's application with elementary students for a while now and recently took the plunge with a school-wide introduction to the technology and it's use in engaging elementary instruction.

 

What Augmented Reality does, basically, is takes a static image and overlays or superimposes additional information - video content, photo content, weblinks, and/or just about any other digital content, including scanned images and original videos.  The technology itself presents limitless possibilities for projects in all curriculum areas.

 

I introduced the technology to students with HeartCam, a free iPad app that uses Augmented Reality technology to allow users to "see" into the body and watch a virtual heart pumping.  I chose this app because as an introduction, it allows students to see the end product.  It opens the door to discussing how the technology actually works and to how it can be applied to projects in the classroom.

 

My goal was simple... I wanted even the youngest students to be aware of the technology, be able to recognize it when they see it used, and to be able to give it a name.

 

When you create an original Augmented Reality project, you use an Augmented Reality app (such as Aurasma) to scan in a static image - a photo, drawing, graphic, or in some cases, a special AR Mat. The technology uses that static image as a trigger.  Once the image is scanned, you then link the related content.

 

When the end user scans the original trigger image with the Augmented Reality app, the additional content (video, animation, photo, weblinks, etc.) is displayed over the image - similar to the way QR (Quick Response) Codes are scanned to direct your browser to a specific destination or webpage.

 

The difference between QR codes and Augmented Reality technology is that with Augmented Reality, the overlaid information appears hovering or superimposed over the original static image. You aren't simply scanning an image and being taken to a predetermined weblink.

 

The possibilities for technology rich projects within any standards-based curriculum unit are nearly infinite.  Students conduct the research and locate or create the content - both static images and digital content.  They learn the technology application, create a traditional display with the trigger images, and then overlay the related content.

 

Viewers can view the project as a traditional, static bulletin board/mind-mapping type display or they can be given iPads loaded with the Augmented Reality app and literally be able to participate in the learning process through the technology!  They can be shown video content, directed to informational websites, taken to scanned writing work authored by students, or invited to join in interviews conducted by students with local project-related community leaders.  If you are really courageous, you can even link an image in the display to live streaming content - presentations, interviews, performances, etc.

 

Basically, you can do as much or as little as you like.  Media related lessons for such collaborative projects include research skills, note-taking tips, source citations, teaching the actual Augmented Reality technology, and of course, preparation and completion of the technology content.

 

Augmented Reality is not a new technology but it is emerging and changing in application.  Just as QR codes are vastly more prevalent now than they were 5 years ago, Augmented Reality will become more and more the same, growing in it's use and daily application.  Because of this, I wanted all of my students - kindergarten through 5th grade - to be exposed to it, to explore it, and to be aware of it for future projects

 

To demonstrate how Augmented Reality works within the HeartCam application, I gave each student a small HeartCam trigger image with tape on the back and asked them to place it on their chests where their heart is located. Before I had them try the app, I asked for a student volunteer and had them come up in front of the class and scan the HeartCam image I was wearing to see what happened.  Their reactions were absolutely priceless!  They were amazed that they could "see" inside my chest and watch my heart beating.

 

After the demonstration, I asked students to work with a friend to scan each other's HeartCam image. It got a little loud with their "oohs" and "ahhs", but it accomplished exactly what I wanted to accomplish, without fail.  Every class wanted to know exactly how it worked.

 

Door open.  Let the learning begin.

 

Admittedly, I was a bit hesitant to use this lesson with kindergarten for fear of frightening them with the computer animated heart video.   But with appropriate preparation prior to using the app, kindergartners actually handled and understood the technology better than some of my older students. They understood it wasn't a real heart, or their partner's heart, they were seeing.  They understood that it was computer animation and not real.

 

I prefaced each of the lessons with a short talk about Augmented Reality and how it works - very basically for kindergarten through 3rd grades and a little more in-depth for 4th grade.  My 5th graders are getting ready to start collaborative Science and Social Studies based Augmented Reality projects, so I covered the technology in more detail with them.  After viewing the HeartCam app, we began brainstorming our project and how we could use the technology to tell our story.

 

We just started research for those projects last week and I am super excited to see what they will come up with because what I have learned with every level of student I teach is that if they are engaged and excited about the end product, they will do everything in their power to learn what they need to know - curriculum and technology-wise - to present their very best work.

 

 

Story Sequencing with Animated Film

(Originally posted February 18, 2015 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches in Action! at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/story-sequencing-with-animated-film/ )
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Story sequencing and retelling stories typically requires little more than a great book and a willing audience.  But when you have a goal of incorporating instructional technologies in your library lesson plans in order to model technology integration, it requires a little bit more.



For the past few weeks I've worked with kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades on a story sequencing unit.  We started the unit with a basic, technology free lesson, that included reading a story together and having students retell the story, putting the events in order.  After that initial lesson, I wanted to use technology to reinforce what they had learned by introducing different ways of sequencing events and different types of stories to sequence.  I did so by using animated short film.  Not only animated short film, but animated short film without dialogue.  My question to them was: can we sequence a story without any words that isn't even a book?  They were intrigued.

I used PreziEdu to create a presentation outlining story sequencing and embedding the short animated film Gopher Broke by Jeff Fowler.  The short film is perfectly engaging to students because of it's humor.  Without dialogue, it presents repetitive action that is easily understood and sequenced for retelling by students.  Through the Prezi, we discussed story sequencing and whether or not stories could be sequenced if they did not have words or dialogue.

After watching the film, students worked cooperatively as a class to sequence the events of the story by choosing screenshots to put the action and events of the story in order. Afterwards, we looked at the screenshots in their correct order and determined the beginning, middle, and end of the story and that even though it had no words or dialogue and was a film and not a book, the events could still be sequenced and retold based on that sequence.

Once the Prezi part of the lesson was complete, students were dismissed into the library where they used iPads and the Dog and Bone app to practice story sequencing.

 

Dog and Bone is a free app that uses an interactive fable the user can either read or have read to them by touching the text.  Once they have read or listened to the story, there is a sequencing game and a sequencing quiz that gives them interactive activities to practice sequencing.

 

Overall, this unit of study on story sequencing used presentation and interactive practice technologies to reinforce learning.  Students were engaged by the presentation and the animated film and also by the interactive Dog and Bone app, which allowed them to read a story themselves and use what they had learned to order/sequence the events on their own.

 

This was an entertaining, interactive, technology infused lesson I will definitely use again!

 

Our Week on Teachability

(Originally posted February 17, 2015 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches in Action! blog at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/our-week-on-teachability/ )
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Last week I was offered a wonderful platform from which to tell a bit of our daily education story in the library and I couldn't think of a better way to work towards my goal of promoting technology integration than by showing others - both locally and across the world wide web - the things we're doing here in the library at Hodges Elementary/Greenwood School of Inquiry.

Teachability (Pearson Education) hosts an Instagram account and gives teachers from all disciplines across the country the opportunity to "takeover" their account for a week and use the technology to tell their specific story.  The goal is to highlight and share the wonderful things happening in all facets of education.  I hope I helped further that goal and gave viewers a glimpse into the things happening in our little corner of the education world.  I took great pride in presenting a glimpse into the daily life of our school library.  Based on comments I received and contacts I made, I definitely feel the week was successful.  It was certainly an honor.

I'm attaching each post I made to the Teachability account here.  You can click each photo to see the full post.  If you like the photo and have an Instagram account, click the photo to link to Teachability's account where you can "like" it.  Thank you all for following along on this journey with us!

Teachability Instagram Homescreen

Introduction

Getting ready for an intro to augmented reality with HeartCam

Kindergarten's first experience with augmented reality

Promoting our blog

Upcoming Augmented Reality Project with 5th Grade

Setting up for Story Sequencing with Animated Film 

Story Sequencing with Animated Film

Dog and Bone App to Practice and Reinforce Story Sequencing

For the Love of First Graders

Independent Checkout

iPad Cart Updates

New Otter Boxes for an Older iPad Cart

School Website Updates

WHOD Morning News Program

Processing New Books

Prepping for 3rd Grade Animoto Book Trailers

5th Grade Exploring Augmented Reality Technology with the Heart Cam App

Behind the Scenes Work

MinecraftEDU Server through Teacher Gaming

3rd Grader Gathers Photos and Information for her Animoto Book Trailer Project

Students Teaching MinecraftEDU to the Teacher

Thank You from Hodges/GSI Library!

Thank you again for following us on this journey!  I had a blast telling our story through photos on the Teachability Instagram platform.  Social media is a wonderful tool for sharing the great things going on in our library and for learning from others through the wonderful things going on in theirs!

 

Christmas With the Storybots

(Originally posted December 18, 2014 on Greenwood 50's Technology Leaders and Coaches In Action! blog at: http://kidblog.org/stls/823673c8-64ee-4e47-81b0-aca3e1d5b807/christmas-with-the-storybots/ )
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The week before winter break is always more than just a little hectic.  My strategy for containing some of that chaos in the library  was to provide a technology based activity that was creative, engaging, and most importantly, fun.  It is the holidays, after all!  When I found the StoryBots Christmas app, I knew I'd found the tool I needed to accomplish my goal and get in some extra technology practice while having a lot of holiday fun.  And fun, it was... (Think amusing kid selfies atop oddly animated cartoon bodies.)



StoryBots is a Web 2.0 tool and iPad app that allows the user to become part of a ready-made video or story.  I used the technology in a collaborative and cooperative lesson that had students working together in groups of 4-5 to create and cast their group videos.  Working as a group, they had to cooperatively take their own or each other's photo and then individually manipulate them into the space for the face on the app.  Then they had to collaboratively cast the video by choosing who would be which character.



I completed this lesson this week with every grade level, kindergarten through fifth grade, with the exception of first grade, which I did not have because of special activities.  The kindergartners required a bit more hands-on assistance at first, but quickly picked up the art of taking their own photo and placing it appropriately.  With the help of the kindergarten assistants, I walked them through the first round of videos, instructing them on using the app/iPad camera to take their photos and then using two fingers to pinch and manipulate their photo into the correct place.  I was thrilled to see that with the time they had left after finishing and viewing their first video, they were taking their own photos and casting a second video all by themselves.  Their ability to pick up technology is always so amazing to me.



The only drawback wasn't really a drawback at all, but actually a positive.  StoryBots is a KidSafe app/tool from JibJab Bros. and as so, requires an email login.  I simply set up my own account and then logged the iPads the students would be using on with my account.  We used no more than 8 iPads in each class, 4-5 students per iPad, so the process wasn't as daunting as it sounds.  The positive part was that because each group was using the same account (mine), every photo head synced to each iPad, which allowed students to see their classmates photos as well as their own.  It also allowed me to go in and pull faces from each class to create a video to share with each of their classroom teachers, introducing the app while showing them what their students had been doing in the media center this week.  Needless to say, the videos were a huge success with students and quite a hit with their teachers as well.  Overall, it was a very fun holiday activity that required students to work cooperatively in groups and practice and/or add to their technology skills.