2.19.16 - Classroom Spotlights

This week started out with a PD day on Monday for our staff. I was lucky enough to start my Monday off with Google Forms and then spend the rest of the morning with eBooks. 

This week I also had the chance to tag team a presentation with a coworker about Google Classroom. As teachers explore Google Classroom, they are starting to love it and all of it's features.  

Arthur ES also held a technology showcase to highlight their use of iPads in the previous three months. 

Classroom Spotlight

I love to highlight classrooms as I visit. We have some great teachers doing great things in our district. We also have good teachers who want to do more and be better.

This week I visited a Special Education class where they are working on integrating technology. The iPads were originally purchased for intervention, but the teacher is interested in doing more with them!

I also visited a 6th grade classroom where I caught the students during intervention time, but they are prepping to start using Google Classroom...oh, the possibilities.

Finally, I visited an entire 5th grade. We worked on getting all of the students logged in to their district Google Drive so they can start using the new chromebooks.

I love being in the classroom and working with teachers!

iPads & PBL

I am working with an elementary school who currently has iPads, but they use them for testing and skill & drill. I had the opportunity to meet with each grade level to discuss project based learning (PBL) and how to incorporate the iPads.

We started off by discussing creation type apps such as ShowMe, Educration, Explain Everything. We used the app ShowMe. Then we moved on to and quick example of PBL...The Marshmallow Tower challenge. I had to shorten the activity so we had 6 spaghetti sticks and 1 large marshmallow. Then each team had 4 minutes to construct the tallest tower they could. During the building process they had to take pictures. After 4 minutes, we took 5 minutes to create a narrated slide show about the process of building the tallest tower.Here is an example of their final project.





We also had a few minutes to debrief about the process. The response was positive and they reported having a better understanding of PBL. We laughed all day and enjoy creating projects on the iPads rather than skill & drill!

iPads...

Our team worked with the Special Services department to roll out ipads. First we met with the coordinators for deployment. Next, we facilitated a blended training with face to face as well as online course work to help familiarize the coordinators with ipads general features. We are now entering the phase of offering trainings every quarter.

Last month, I watched a webinar with TCEA, Accessibility Features of the iPad. This week I am offering a similar training. We are watching the TCEA webinar and then spending time exploring those features and discussing how they work with our students.

Hopefully, they will find this experience useful and meaningful.

Educational Technology Learning Challenge

Whoa...what is an Ed Tech Learning Challenge??? This is a series of tasks, or challenges, presented to staff members. The participants learn how to use and integrate new technologies in the classroom.

This semester I am working with one elementary campus over 12 week. We started out working through the SAMR model using ipads. Next we moved to Google Drive and now we are working with SMART Notebook and SMART Boards. We just completed week 6 this week. The next 6 weeks will include flipping, coding, project based learning, social media and more ipads.

The conclusion of the challenge will be a peer showcase so we can all show what we learned and how we customized it for our classroom and students.This campus has a great staff and is a joy to work with every week!

I will post more after the peer showcase. There will be some amazing sharing at that time!

#OTAEM14

So, I spent the last two days at OTA. Personally, I enjoyed this conference more than any other in Oklahoma thus far. Below are some observations!

1. OTA appeared more professional than other conferences.
OTA had a feel more like a Texas style conference and not so informal. I cannot put my finger on it, but it felt more professional, or maybe, more like what I'm use to coming from Texas.

2. We have amazing and innovative teachers in OK.
It was nice to see so many teachers presenting and facilitating sessions. As educators we get stuck "within our classroom" but sharing helps then entire profession and all students, not just your 24 students. Sharing and collaborating not only helps those actively involved, but also aids in the progress of the field.

3. We need to share resources more.
Okay, so maybe I talked about this in #2!

4. I have a great team.
I learn from my teammates every single day. They are a passionate, well read group of master educators. The conversations within the group grow not only our department but the district and field of ed tech as well.

5. If you're not on social media, you're illiterate.
Social Media, Twitter in particular, is a form of literacy. If you are not participating, you are illiterate in this 21st century skill. Jump on it! We are adding this as a challenge in the ETLC Fall 2014, but need to look at adding more coaching about social media and building PLNs.

6. GAFE trends
There were tons of sessions regarding GAFE, most dealing with apps, add-ons and extensions. There are many schools in our area going GAFE. It was nice to hear how other schools are using Google in various grade levels. I think principals and teachers were also presently surprised as to the many ways they could use Google in their respective roles.

7. iPads & App Smashing trends
iPads have been a trend and there were several sessions discussing the combining of apps to complete projects. It was also SO nice to hear more about using ipads for creation of new ideas and projects and not just for games.

As with any conference, talking with others in the field is always insightful and exciting.