Share the Buzz

I hope that you know what I'm talking about, because I wish that every teacher could hear the buzz on a regular basis.  It is why I go to work every day.  One of my favorite things about the collaborative projects that I have completed this year is listening to the buzz that my students make when they're really REALLY excited about their learning.  It's that quiet chatter of excitement mingled with laughter and awe as students collaborate and work on a project together.

This semester one of my goals has been to share my students' writing digitally.  During third quarter, students wrote research reports and published them on Storyjumper.  They were able to share their digital stories with parents during our research author celebration.

In addition to sharing our research with parents, we were able to share it with third graders digitally.  Sara Tracy and Angie Zulkoski had their students log into Storyjumper using my teacher account and make comments on my students' work using two stars and a wish.  Here are some of the comments that we got:

• Work on spelling.But I liked the bolded words keegan
• I liked your book those rattlesnakes and it was cool book by sajad
• I like that you put a lot of detils.But you need to put puncshuion.

For fourth quarter, my students published their Explanatory writing using Puppet EDU.  Once I had the links, I organized them in a symbaloo to make it easy to collaborate with others.  My students were able to share their work with many parents on our Campbell Technology night.  After viewing students' videos, parents and students left sticky notes with feedback on the published research.  The next day, my students also got to share their Puppet EDU videos live with a 4th grade class.

Today my students got to experience the other side of collaboration.  They got to be the audience.  I put students in groups of two and they logged onto Sara Tracy's third grade Storyjumper account.  Before I had students comment, I explained that I wanted them to include their name and a star.  We reviewed the sentence stems for giving a star for writing.  I wish you could have been in my classroom to hear the buzz as my students read the third grader's fractured fairytales together.  Since you weren't there, I have posted some of my student's comments below.

My new personal challenge is to provide meaningful activities to create that buzz in my classroom.  Have you heard the buzz lately?  In what ways have you used collaboration to enhance learning in your classroom?  

NETA 2015 Engaging Elementary Students with Augmented Reality Apps

Although technology (specifically the wifi) did not work in our favor during our presentation, I enjoyed my first NETA presentation.  I hope that I was able to share ideas that would be useful to other classroom teachers.  Our presentation (link below) includes ideas for using Augmented Reality Apps with iPads in the classroom.   I was able to share how I have watched my classroom come alive through the use of Aurasma in combination with Chatterpix, Tellagami, and Puppet EDU.  My students can open a book and use Aurasma to view a video that they have created to connect their learning to the curriculum.  

It meant a lot to know that my friends and teachers came to support us as well.  Their support was a glimpse of the way teachers can encourage and challenge each other as a part of a Professional Learning Network. I am excited to share my new learning with my PLN and colleagues and hopefully inspire others to be the change that our students need!

NETA 2015 Resources Symbaloo

Technology Integration...Lessons Taught and Lessons Learned

Seven months ago, I wrote the following professional goal: "My Professional Goal is to maximize and enrich instruction through the use of technology in my classroom. I would like to enhance my instruction by connecting technology resources with the curriculum and having students productively use technology to enrich their learning.  I also hope to help students make meaningful applications to the world through the use of technology."

Looking back over the past semester, I have had many opportunities to grow in the area of technology use.  Over time, I have developed a Twitter PLN of passionate educators with the goal of educating future-ready students.  I have followed technology blogs and have had the opportunity to learn from technology mentors.  These experiences have helped me to refine technology integration in my classroom.  

I remember teaching one of my first technology integration lessons in January.  I had created a Kahoot to prepare my class for a comprehension test.  Students were engaged and I was amazed at the immediate feedback I received.  I realized how powerful a tool like Kahoot could be in my classroom.  This was my view of technology integration then: a single lesson created to maximize student learning and ultimately help them perform well on an assessment.  

As an advocate for other educators and someone who is passionate about preparing students for their future, I hope to teach others that this is NOT the sole purpose of technology integration.  There are many positive effects of technology in the classroom, but preparing for tests does not get my students ready to be productive citizens in the world.  In my classroom, one of the most powerful impacts has been the way technology allows for natural collaboration.  Using multimodal digital texts, students and teachers can interact and use literacy in new and exciting ways.  Teaching students to interact digitally is one step towards creating responsible citizens.  

Since that first Kahoot lesson, my view of technology integration has definitely evolved.  As I reflect on the past few weeks in my classroom, I recall many new experiences.  I hear students working together to demonstrate "How-to" writing planning videos using FreeFlow.  I feel my excitement as my classroom filled with parents and students that had come to see my students' "How-to" videos.  I see the joy on their faces as they received feedback about their videos.  I watch my students using Aurasma to make their Wonders Anthologies come alive with Tellagami and Chatterpix overlays.  

I have learned that technology integration is not isolated lessons that teach to the test.  It has permeated everything that we do in my classroom; it has become a way of life.  As a life long learner, it is exciting to think about the future of technology in my classroom.  I plan to continue to perfect what I am doing with the goal of meeting curriculum standards and most importantly creating responsible and productive digital citizens.  

How-to Writing Unit with Technology Integration

For our next unit in writing, the Second Graders learn to write a "How-to." Normally at the beginning of this unit, students spend time dialoguing with peers about things they know how to do before choosing their topic. We discuss things that they can make (crafts, pictures), things that they can do (sports, tie a shoe), and foods they know how to prepare (PB&J, hot chocolate). This year, I plan to have students actually bring an object in to demonstrate their how-to.

For my model how-to, I use a shamrock craft to demonstrate. Students have the opportunity to make the craft on one day. After having the experience of making the craft, the class helps me plan and write my how-to. I experimented with Popplet, Lucidchart Diagram, Inspiration, and Pictochart.com, and finally chose to have my second graders try Popplet to create a graphic organizer. In previous years, students have used a pencil and paper to draw each step and write bulleted lists of the directions. This year, I will have students use a similar method, but on Popplet.

I like Popplet for a few reasons. First, it is very easy to create individual student accounts. One thing that I have found in using technology to enhance my teaching is that students often need more time than they would have in just one period of work and it is ideal for students to be able to save their work if possible. I plan to have my students create their own accounts using their lps.org email and their district password. I also like Popplet because of how easy it is to navigate. Students only have to double click to create a new Popplet. There are also editing options at the bottom of each Popplet. They allow you to change the color, add text, draw free hand, and insert pictures into a Popplet. For my students' purposes, I plan to have them freehand sketches for each step and then add notes to the graphic organizer.

In their research, Bogard and McMackin (2012) discuss several ways that technology can enrich student writing. The use of technology allows for natural collaboration while planning, writing, and editing a project. According to their work, collaboration throughout the writing process pushes students to think about their work critically and get authentic peer feedback. In this way, students are constantly polishing their work to create their best product. Because I am having my students bring objects in to demonstrate their how-to, it will be natural for them to use technology to create a video of themselves using my iPad or iPod. Because I only have two devices in my room, I needed a way to store my students' work in the cloud, rather than on devices. I ended up using http://freeflowapp.com/ to film videos, then we could access the videos from any device, as long as we were logged into my account. This worked out wonderfully. It gave students several different opportunities to collaborate throughout the process and it scaffolded those that needed further support.

Bogard and McMackin also demonstrate the power of publishing using technology. In the past, I have used Storyjumper for this purpose. Since it's the time of year for NESA, I knew that I would not have much availability in trying to check out the laptop cart during writing. I ended up deciding to publish writing by creating videos. Puppet EDU was perfect for this. Students created their videos with the help of a partner and we organized the links from Puppet EDU on this Symbaloo.

The really exciting part of organizing the videos in a Symbaloo was the many opportunities for feedback that it gave. At Campbell's Technology night, parents and students were invited to my classroom to view videos and use sticky notes to provide feedback after watching. They attached the sticky notes to the correct "How-to" book. The buzz in my classroom the next morning was priceless. My students were so excited to read the feedback from the many people that had visited our room. Our class also got to share "live" with a group of 4th graders the next day. The joy of watching student collaboration in action was priceless! This has by far been my favorite technology integration of the year! I plan to try something similar with each writing unit!

ISTE Standards for Teachers

The International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Teachers provide a basis for how teachers should strive to use technology to create a collaborative environment where students take ownership for their learning. It is striking to compare these standards to those that have been shaped as a result of the Common Core Standards. Many teachers feel obligated to plan and guide instruction related to State or Common Core Standards with complete fidelity. Such fidelity leaves minimal room for the creativity described in the ISTE Standards for Teachers.

According to the ISTE Standards for Teachers, educators should “Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.” Students should be exposed to “real-world issues and solve authentic problems using digital tools and resources.” Additionally, students should have the opportunity to engage in learning collaboratively, in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

When I reflect on how my current classroom practices would rate according to these standards, I think about the independent projects that I have challenged my students to engage in this school year. With the projects I have assigned, I have given somewhat open-ended questions for my class to research. For example, I have assigned Wonders LibGuides projects to my students and given them the opportunity to collaborate on the projects and share with their peers.

One thing that would make the learning even more meaningful is for students to come up with their own ideas for research projects. Student ideas could still connect with the curriculum Essential Question, but they could have some freedom in choosing research that is meaningful to their learning. Students could also assist in creating physical or virtual audience members that could give feedback and continue the collaboration.

As I have implemented projects where my students have had more freedom, I have definitely felt less comfortable. I have worried that I am losing control with my students. But ultimately, isn’t that what my job is…to gradually disappear into the background, and allow my students to shine and take control as they learn to become productive and responsible citizens?