I have spent the last several week with an ipad for the first time. Being a screecaster for the last few years, my first interest was finding screencast apps that I could use to teach concepts and ideas to my students remotely. The first four apps – Showme, Educreations, Screenchomp, and Explain Everything.
After I played with each app, I thought about how I might review them from the educator’s eyes. When I’m looking for a product, I am looking for something robust because I love options. Sometimes, people like it simple. The link below is to a chart that compares and reviews these four apps and gives you your best bet at the end. Some categories that I compare are: importing/exporting, image editing, and recording.
Before you view the table, I’d like to share some general ideas that you could take away and take to the classroom:
1. Explain how to do a mathematical problem.
2. Show the thought process behind writing a part of an essay, outline, or answer a question based on reading.
3. Explain the parts of a cell.
4. Show how someone explored parts of the country, the topography, or any traveler’s path.
5. Assess students’ thought process, ability to annotate text, label a diagram, graph a problem, teach a problem, or answer a question. (Student created videos)
6. Explain a grammar lesson.
7. Digital story telling and writing processes.
These are just SOME ways to use any one of the screencasting apps. ShowMe and Educreations give you access to other teacher and student videos. I will be setting up some videos from each app that showcase each one based on this chart below. I’m still working on them, but I wanted to share this information with you as soon as I compiled it!
It’s been crazy busy at school. I had to create my midterm from scratch so I decided to use Moodle for the multiple choice section. Every scoffs my moodling because it has a big learning curve. Even I (the almighty technology guru) need help once in a while. But what’s great about creating a quiz in Moodle 2.0 is that it will 1. Shuffle the questions, 2. shuffle the answers, 3. grade it for you, 4. give students feedback, 5. give them instant grade reports. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT!?!?! I’m not a big fan of testing, BUT we have to give a midterm. The down- and pitfalls of teaching in NYS. We test the life outta the kids (excuse my slang, but I like me some). Anyway, I am quite proud of my 60 question quiz that I had to format in Aiken style on notepad then upload. Once you know what you are doing, it’s a dream. My principal loved the idea. Add brownie point #68 to the list (I may be exaggerating how many brownie points I have, but you get the gist.)
Ok, so yesterday, my student out-techied me. I had to slap my forehead and say, “duh” to the class and praise this incredible kid. The students have been working on presentations in Power Point (I know what you’re thinking, but Prezi was being clunky, slideshare is blocked, animoto is blocked, and the list goes on.) I can view Youtube videos, but the kids cannot on their accounts therefore will be showing their presentations including multimedia on my account. This brilliant young mind went home, went to Youtube, and searched “How to embed a youtube video in Power Point.” She came to class the next day and taught me a thing or two! I was so excited, impressed, and definitely elated. The only problem was that, thinking was I, if you don’t want to show the WHOLE video, but only a 30 second clip, how do you embed that? I found this wonderful tutorial - http://youtu.be/EtejNC-PGNA
Think way back to the way YOU were taught English. If I can remember correctly, it was OLD SCHOOL! Skill and drill, baby. We learned by flash cards, writing out our spelling words 5 times, and diagramming sentences. I cannot seem to take off the rose-colored glasses with which I see my past. Never once did that kill my dream of becoming a teacher and loving the written word. Reflecting on those old school ways and thinking about who I am as a teacher today, I find that the two collide – in BIG ways.
I’ve envisioned a classroom where pencil and paper is obsolete. Everything digital is forever and can be accessed anywhere and whenever you want. I live off Google: Gmail, docs, Picasso, etc. I don’t need to bring my laptop with me. All I need is a wifi connection, my mobile device, and maybe a library card. I can access my files without a “computer.” Not only that, I can create my files online as well. I want to give my students that freedom. Technology can and is doing so many wonderful things for education.
Old School: Hey kids – start an essay in class but finish it at home! Don’t forget ALL your rough copies, planning pages, pencils, notes, and even more paper that you will need!
New School: Gather all your research in one place (dropbox, evernote, googledocs) and start your paper in school. Save it. Then, go home and reopen your files to pick up where you left off. No papers to lose.
Old School: Alright, pass in your tests. It will take me 3-4 days to grade them, so don’t be looking for a response soon!
New School: Finish up your test. You will get your graded test in your email in the next 24 hours. I promise!
Even knowing how beneficial the new school is, I still find it hard to tell my kids to put down their pencil and paper and pick up a device instead. I constantly hear my colleagues reminisce about the days when everyone wrote things out long hand – “Ahhhh, I remember when the nun slapped me on the knuckles for spelling the world ‘definitely’ wrong, but gosh darn, I learned how to spell it!” And I know how to diagram a sentence! My students these days couldn’t tell me the predicate from the direct object.
Oh, is that stuff so important now-a-days? you ask. Yes, yes it is. Language is very precise and mathematical. Our brains thrive on language and math. We need to be able to make sense of what we see and hear. The English language is not dead. If we all let go of the Oxford comma and the participles and the independent clauses people will get confused. English meant something and was an art form. Will we yet end up as the animals in Animal Farm, knowing no better and leaving the thinking to “scholars” because we lose track of our own language? I digress.
My points (or more pointedly, my questions) on this journey are this: How can we completely flip the classroom when English is still old school but still have a love and longing for the language as precise as it was? How can I, the 21st century teacher, bring my students back into the 20th century and back again in a way they grasp and understand? How do I make rhetoric, spelling, and grammar enticing, exciting, and enhancing to make my students the scholars? I want my students to do the thinking for themselves and to recognize when it’s trying to be done for them.
Please, fill me in. Tweet me resources, ideas, blogs, vids, and discussions – katieregan88 #engchat
Below is a link to a short video. In the video below, you will learn how to use Google Form to create a quiz, and then use the Flubaroo plug-in to automatically grade your quiz.
This is a great technique when integrating technology and needing a quick turnaround in grades. You can use it for a chapter quiz, a test, or even practice state exams (heavily multiple choice).
Reasons to try it:
Kids can access it anytime, anywhere
They can work at their own pace outside of the classroom
Answers are stored for as long as you want in your google doc account (you can access outside of school)
Flubaroo will grade it automatically, giving you each child’s percentage grade and answers in spreadsheet
You can download the spreadsheet of grades and answers and sort them however you want (grades, student, class period, etc.)
Copy and paste the answers directly into your electronic grade book spreadsheet
I haven’t posted something new in a while. It’s not that I ran out of ideas or I am not interested in technology anymore. It’s quite the opposite. I’ve just been incredibly busy. Just a few weeks ago I found out that my position has been eliminated for next year due to budget constraints. I’ve been teaching 7th grade ELA there for four years now and it’s all been swept away. The worst part (or best, not sure) is that I can’t blame anyone… it happens and it is happening to the best teachers all over the country. Therefore, there aren’t any positions open for me here, in the fancy ole NYS. Yet, I have hope.
I have aspirations of being in an environment where technology is valued, where I am teaching others about something I am excited about, and working with people who are also positive, talented, and excited. If given the opportunity, I know I can excel in something new. It’s hard for someone like me to toot my own horn but I can try. I am detailed-orientated, hard-working, organized, talented, positive, earnest, honest, and humorous. I am excellent with any kind of technology you can throw at me. I learn fast, adapt easily, and take initiative. These are just SOME of my skills!
Scroll down to view my resume’.
Here is my resume highlight video that I created with Camtasia Studio (Techsmith product)
Over the past three weeks, my students selected and researched a topic of their choice with the stipulation that it needed to be a problem in the world today that they wanted to change. Students were actually really excited. I just had a thought that I might need to add another post just for the unit itself. I have so much to say and so many things to reflect on.
Fast forward
If you don’t have more than a minute to spare for reading this, watch the video below. If you want to read the rest, continue below the video.
After students researched and filled in an outline (a locked form I made with Word), they had a day to moodle. I had a great idea!
Wouldn’t it be grand for kids to see a video about their topic and then talk about it with their peers, peers that are researching not only the same topics but other topics as well? YES! The answer is YES!
Research
I started searching for videos using our BOCES media catalog. All of the videos I wanted to use were from Learn360, a company we buy into that houses all kids of digital media for students and teachers. The videos were great. I started by downloading them and I was going to try to upload them to my screen cast account. That didn’t work.
Then, I found out that I can link the forum discussion to the actual video in Moodle. I created a “New Discussion” for each topic or cluster or topics (topics that are similar) added directions, a hyper-link to the video, and discussion guidelines.
Into practice
Students came down to the lab. I instructed the students to go to Moodle, click on the discussion forum link, and follow the directions. They were so excited to see a streaming video in front of them and one that was on the topic they chose. It was dead silent in the lab and I didn’t need to help anyone, an amazing feat for a 7th grade teacher!
The students began their responses to the videos. The clickity-clack from 25+ kids at a time was music to my English teachers/tech integrator ears. Those little fingers were so eager to transfer their thoughts out into to the world that they worked at blazing speeds.
I was blown away by their responses. Sure, they weren’t all grammatically correct and there were many spelling and usage errors. I might be wrong, but at this age, I am pushing for the birth of ideas and creativity.
Closure and Student Opinion
At the end of the class, I posted a choice poll on Moodle. The question asked, “As something different, did you enjoy watching a video about your topic or other topics and being able to respond on the forum?”
out of 85 responses, can you guess how many said no? 2
I can justify those 2 that said no. The first student does/says everything opposite of what I say. She likes to get my goat even though I am there supporting her every single day. I even take the time to listen to her problems! Ugh. The other girl is the type of student that teachers like me live to teach. She is a gifted writer and I was dissapointed to see that she said no. Following up, I asked her why. I got an honest answer: The video didn’t have any information on my topic. It just plain stunk.
Not to toot my own horn, but when kids talk, I listen. Five minutes later, although she had left the room, I found a new and better video and linked it. I did it for her and students like her. I did it for the kids who were invested in this thing. Saying no to say no doesn’t bother me. Saying no because there was a problem with my materials is a whole other ball game. The rest of the day, I did not get one single “no”. I was satisfied that I paid her back.
This was one of the best teaching days of my career. Fantastic. Fabulous. I blog to never forget.
There are many different ways you can use forums with your students in Moodle.
1 -Create one forum for a unit and post multiple forum questions that students reply to throughout the course of the unit. You can assign a grade to each post and grade it directly in Moodle. Everyone can see everyone else’s response.
3 – If you don’t want students to see others’ responses before they answer, choose Q&A.
2 – Create a forum for a specific assignment but students can only respond within their class periods. Create the forum so that it is Separate Groups (setting near the bottom). I have students separated into groups based on when they have me throughout the day. It’s a little easier to control. Remember: you will need to create a new questions for each class. Check to make sure the drop down menu for groups is at the top of the forum updating page.
3 – For the student research papers, they are able to choose their own topic. I created a forum for each topic. Within that forum, each topic has it’s own questions for students to reply to. That way, students can see what others have done who have the same topic as they do, but are in different classes.
4 – Watch a video, respond on forum, respond to what others say. This is a great way to teach students digital citizenship and how to respond to each other academically and appropriately.
5 – Create a forum. Within the forum add a picture of art, a link to an outside article, a quote, or a link to video. Then, have students post responses to your media and also to respond to each other.
Check out my screencast on creating a simple forum for your Moodle Course!
