TUIT: Adam Hicks, Katrina Boone, Kari Patrick (Shelby County High School)

Today is the last day of school for students in Shelby County!  As the end of my tenth and final embedded school visit with Simpsonville Elementary comes to completion, I feel the inevitable wrapping up of Edtech Elixirs for 2014-2015 fast approaching.

As my last #ShelbyTUITshoutout for this school year, I want to highlight some previous work by three fine teachers at SCHS: Adam Hicks, Katrina Boone, and Kari Patrick.

(Quick plug: Adam is also our county's Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015!)

By reviewing their innovative work, we can also look ahead to what teaching may be like in our high school classrooms next year, as our 1:1 initiative begins.

Mr. Hicks, Ms. Boone and Ms. Patrick worked collaboratively on a new digital way of teaching, creating and revising writing in a blended learning digital environment. A few months ago, they discussed their "flipped writing" work at the 2015 KCTE/LA annual conference.  (Their presentation materials are on Mr. Hicks's website.)

First, as students begin writing their essays, Mr. Hicks has a series of tips pertinent to certain writing skills always accessible via his website.  (Here's an example on using text evidence.)

Next, after major writing assessments, student exemplars are chosen.  This honors excellent work and offers an authentic publishing opportunity.  However, as Mr. Hicks points out, the samples are not always from the same “good writers”; rather, a diversity of student work is showcased, since exemplars concentrate only on certain standards/skills, which exhibit the various strengths of each member of the classroom. Mr. Hicks considers this the most meaningful part of the flipped writing experience.

Lastly, students use digital remediation in a variety of ways: peer review, reflection, and revision.  The students create Google Blogs and Docs to share their thoughts and give commentary on work. (This is a great example to consider while training for GAFE next week!)

• For Mr. Hicks's student directions on how to create a Remediation Blog, click here.
• For examples of student blogs and Docs, scroll to the bottom of this page.

In addition, Ms. Boone and Ms. Patrick’s Hybrid Research Paper utilized a bank of videos, made by several 10th grade SCHS teachers, that gave pointers on certain writing standards and skills.  Students could access and revisit these videos “anytime, anywhere,” and the feedback from students on its impact has been positive.

These three outstanding teachers -- like so many of our #ShelbyTUITshoutout educators -- truly show the power of the digital conversion of learning, and how blended learning can be transformative for our district. May they be a model for the rest of us for how technology can help us aspire to heights we never thought possible.

Some last words for the hardworking teachers, admin, and staff in Shelby County Schools as they say goodbye to their students today: Cherish and celebrate! You have helped make academic growth, you have forged relationships, you have made a crucial difference in other people's lives. Education is never a final product, but always a process of becoming. Before you look forward to the summer ahead, look back and reflect on all your real accomplishments. I am proud and honored to be among you!

TUIT: Zachary Ramsey, SC Area Technology Center

Zachary Ramsey is an English teacher at Shelby County's Area Technology Center, or ATC.  He has been on my radar for a #ShelbyTUITshoutout for quite some time.

I first was impressed by Mr. Ramsey in the middle of the school year, when he came over from the ATC to attend one of my after-school PD's at East Middle School.  His enthusiasm and willingness to learn was extremely evident.  I next began noticing his online presence.  Zachary has grown his digital PLN on Twitter by regularly engaging in multiple edchats, even making a guest blog appearance about Twitter on Coaching Corner Collaborative (run by Jennifer Cox and Tracy Huelsman).  Mr. Ramsey has also began blogging on his new website (PBL Place) about his classroom's Project Based Learning.

The latest nudge that lead to this entry came from a visit I made to the ATC a few weeks ago:

Had a wonderful time visiting @EducatorRamsey & his students at the @shelbycountysch ATC today! pic.twitter.com/rUg6PJJih5

— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) May 13, 2015

It was awesome to see students take a classic piece of literature and make it relevant -- in this case, using health sciences as a way of analyzing the charged emotional choices of the characters from Romeo and Juliet.

In addition, one of his students made an aura using Aurasma, an augmented reality (AR) tool that Zachary learned from an AR PD that I had presented in February.  Interested in learning more? Here's a short video that showcases how Aurasma can work in an elementary school setting. (While it's three years old, I like how it demonstrates the use of Aurasma by students.)

Congrats to Mr. Ramsey for his well-deserved and delayed #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

TUIT: Connie Putnam and Dan Edelen (Clear Creek Elementary)

Last Friday, a principal had asked if I could arrange a tour of teachers who were doing some innovative things with technology in the classroom.  As it turned out based on test scheduling and other conflicts, the best place to visit multiple teachers was Clear Creek, so away we went.  One of the teachers we saw was Janice Bullard. I had given Ms. Bullard a #ShelbyTUITshoutout back in October, so the fact that she became CCE's Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015 was not surprising.  However, after this visit, I have to make sure Connie Putnam and Dan Edelen also have their moments in the sun for their own well-deserved shoutout.

First, we saw Janice's fourth grade classroom.  I already knew she integrated tools such as Padlet and Voicethread, but her students impressed us with their ability to do so many different digital learning experiences in the same space.  Some worked individually, some had a partner or worked collaboratively in a small group, but ALL were engaged.  We even saw some use Google Docs, which makes me have hope of how it can be integrated into the learning of younger students.

Next, we visited Ms. Putnam, a second grade teacher.  After the students worked together on a learning objective ("Today we are....so that we can.....I'll know I have it when..."), they quickly moved into learning centers to apply and practice their math knowledge. Some students had iPads, others used pencil and paper.  At the end of the lesson, Ms. Putnam used Plickers as a way to check for understanding as well as pre-assess what students may need her help on Monday.   However, I learned two ways to use Plickers that I didn't know before (and to think I considered myself an expert after this blog entry!); both involved the Smart Board.  The first is that a student who wanted to change their answer could go up and uncheckmark their box, which would enable his/her card to be scanned fresh.   Not only was that a helpful tip I didn't know, but I like how Connie had students take responsibility to make a do-over.  Second, after student answers were recorded and while still in Plicker's "Live View," Ms. Putnam asked for a volunteer to come up to the board and demonstrate their work.  Using the Smart Board pens, he did just that, writing in the empty space between the question and the student names. It was a clever way of integrating the Smart Board into the learning of the whole class.

Last but not least, we visited Dan Edelen, another second grade teacher who just passed his KTIP.  Dan and his students moved seamlessly through several tools: they started with a Kahoot (more about this tool in a previous entry), wrote reflectively in their KidBlog, and finished by sharing their work to Mr. Edelen's MacBook Air (which was hooked up to his Smart Board) via the downloadable program AirServer.  Like a virtual cloud-based AppleTV but without any need for special hardware, AirServer allows students to simultaneously share their screen with a main display computer.  There is a PC and Mac version, and the program has an one-time cost of $7.99 to $11.99.

Mr. Edelen showing his AirServer in action. Note the multiple shared student screens.

As the year draws quickly to a close, I was excited to see so many teachers in one building embracing a digital conversion of learning.  I should add that while all these CCE teachers check out school devices as often as possible, none have a class set full time.   Despite not having a daily 1:1 experience, they are still facilitating fantastic learning with their students.  Kudos to Ms. Putnam and Mr. Edelen (and a nod again for Ms. Bullard) for their #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

TUIT: Traci Georges, Simpsonville

I have struggled throughout this school year to find a good video editing tool to share.  It's certainly not from a lack of choices!  I have played with iMovie on an iPad as well as my MacBook Air; in the past, I have had my own students use Windows MovieMaker for projects; I've edited personal films at home with Adobe Premiere.  There are things about each of these I enjoyed, but for practical classroom use they have limitations.  iMovie and especially Adobe Premiere are costly, and the learning curve can be steep.  All are limited to a certain OS and can only edit video stored on the local hard drive of that particular computer/device.

I had heard of WeVideo before (and had known some Shelby teachers who used it), but I haven't had the time to check it out.  When I discovered Simpsonville's National Board Certified art teacher Traci Georges was using it with her elementary students, I was finally motivated to try it, and what I found inspired me to give her a #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

The advantages of WeVideo are quickly apparent:

• It's free, although there are some limitations, such as 5 minutes a month of publishing time.*
• It's cloud-based editing and storage, so you can access your projects anywhere you can get to the Internet, on any device or OS.
• Besides the website, you can access your projects via an Android or iOS app, and it can be integrated into your Google Drive.
• The URLs of finished videos can be shared and played straight from WeVideo.
• It's easy to use, yet adaptable to your learning curve.  You can start with a Storyboard mode (which reminds me of MovieMaker) and move up to Timeline mode for a more professional, Premiere-like experience.

*An annual $249 K-12 account gives you 50 student accounts with 10 GB of cloud storage and one  hour a month of publishing time per account.

Here's a short video that shows the Storyboard interface, but also serves as a good introduction to WeVideo:

Back to Ms. Georges!  She has had multiple roles in her 25 years in education.  Traci spent 13 years at Southside Elementary as a Hearing Impaired Teacher, then 12 years at Simpsonville teaching many different grade levels.  This year is her first as an art teacher, although she has always been an artist.

WeVideo is not the first video editing program she has tried to use with students. "I have used MovieMaker and had lots of trouble," Ms. Georges explained. "We tried xtranormal in 4^th grade several years ago.  The students had fun, but our computers were too slow to handle the site. WeVideo is so much faster. Very student friendly."   Her students have edited several projects with the tool, including a "virtual museum" of Ft. Harrod with fourth graders, and a reoccurring school news show (WSES) focused on the Seven Habits.

We are thankful for Traci's years of experience and her willingness to challenge our younger students with technology integration!  Congrats to Ms. Georges for earning a #ShelbyTUITshoutout.

Do you use WeVideo?  Have another favorite video editing tool?  Share your thoughts in the Comments below.

TUIT: Nicholas Edwards, Painted Stone Elementary

I'm about to finish my first week at Simpsonville Elementary, my last embedded school of the year.  But let me do a quick flashback to my previous school, Painted Stone, in order to give a #ShelbyTUITshoutout to Nicholas Edwards!

Nick is a 5th grade teacher who heard of EDpuzzle from one of my PD presentations.  (If you're unfamiliar with the tool, read more in my previous blog entry.)   Mr. Edwards decided to try it as part of his sub plans over multiple day with different substitutes, which caught my attention and I therefore reached out to see how it went.

How easy was it to make the EDpuzzle video?

Extremely easy, I just had to watch the video and add captions.

You had explained to me earlier that the students didn't have an account to answer questions individually, so you used EDpuzzle in a more presentational way.  How did that work? How easy was it for a substitute to follow your plans?

The subs really seemed to like it, and I just had to leave them the video and the link and say play the video. I told them the video explained the information, so they led the discussion as the questions came up.

Any last thoughts or reflection on EDpuzzle that you want to share?

It was extremely easy to create, and easy to use. It makes videos more interactive for the kids as I had them reflect about the video and the questions.

Congrats to Nick for earning a well deserved shoutout!

TUIT: Melissa Young, Wright Elementary

One more full week at Painted Stone Elementary!  Time truly does fly after spring break.  As I near the end of my embedded tours -- my last three week stint will be at Simpsonville Elementary starting on May 4 -- I realize that the hardest thing is often finding time to loop back and check how things are going at schools I have previously visited.

It had been several weeks since I had visited Wright Elementary, so I recently emailed out to Wright staff to see how edtech integration is going.  One of the responses led to the Q & A below, and a well-deserved #ShelbyTUITshoutout for Melissa Young, a fourth grade teacher who specializes in math and word work.  In particular, her discussion of using edtech to differentiate led to some interesting anecdotes and insights.

Melissa, introduce yourself to our readers.  How long have you taught at Wright? Where did your learning of integrating edtech begin?

I have taught at Wright since 1998 after graduating from the University of Kentucky. I think my initial integration of edtech began when I applied for the Intelligent Classroom. I do recall not having to order Vis a Vis Markers and transparencies and being elated that I could show student thinking and work under the document camera. I was one of the first recipients or first group of teachers to receive the equipment and really just began to implement and use whatever I could get my hands on from additional PDs, blogs, and peers. I am also following your blog!

Tell us about some of the ways you are integrating technology this year.

One of the things that I have done is create the “Menu” of Activities to differentiate instruction from your training on ELL and Differentiation.  To be more specific, I created a Fraction/Decimal Centers Menu based upon students who had and had not mastered the standards from our fraction unit. There were several students who needed to work towards mastery of three different fraction standards. As well, we were in the middle of our decimal unit. Therefore, the centers that I created focused on the following by trying to incorporate the usage of the MacBook Airs, iPads, and digital cameras. Students were given the opportunity to play two games focused on comparing decimals and fraction/decimal equivalencies. Since I didn’t have enough iPads, I recorded the instructions and modeled how to play the game on my RCA SmallWonder cameras. Then, when or if students had questions or needed to see the game modeled, they could watch the short video clip. I wanted to put the video clips on the iPads but I couldn’t guarantee that I would have the same iPads checked out each day.

For two additional  centers, using the MacBooks, I created a template in which students watched video clips on the standards. One standard focused on students being able to multiply fractions, and I had them watch a short “music” video on the procedures for multiplying fractions. It had a very catchy melody that several were singing. (I was trying to hit those auditory and kinesthetic learners.) There were several links and websites that the students could access like mathplayground.com to complete the paper practice in their notebook, type in the answer, and receive immediate feedback. I used several different websites like Khan Academy to help provide the additional instruction and practice. The students enjoyed the centers and having the option to go to a variety of different stations based upon their needs. 

I had one student that went to one of the centers who had met mastery so I was a bit confused on why she was there. However, after conferring with her (mastery was set as 8 out of 10 questions correct) she stated that she felt that because she only met mastery by answering 8/10 instead of 9/10 or 10/10, she needed to practice that standard some more to make sure she had it. It was eye opening to me because had I assigned students to go to particular centers based on simply meeting mastery, I wouldn’t have had her rotate to that station. It was an “aha” moment for me that if I give the responsibility of learning to the students (and don’t carry all of the workload) that they will make those decisions to ensure that they understand the content. 

Glad to hear how edtech is making differentiation easier!  In what ways did you try differentiation before technology?

To differentiate before integrating technology, I still used the workshop model and attempted to address as many multiple intelligences and trying to accommodate every subgroup or population in my classroom. However, I would go through and explain each center or activity in depth and model which took a great deal of time when not all students would rotate to that station. However, I think when that aha moment hit was when I could use just one device for a group to view or browse websites such as Math Playground or Khan Academy that would provide students with sample problems that they could work out in their notebook that I could check when monitoring. The students liked the immediate feedback of the websites and the “hint” buttons to get them started. In addition, when introducing games focused on helping students develop their understanding of the content or to practice in a “fun” way, I would have to review the instructions or intervene and model again. However, by creating videos, students could watch the game being modeled without me being pulled to that group. You really hooked me in with the endless possibilities of how I can incorporate the few devices we have without having that desired one to one ratio of each student having a device. Therefore, when you focused on "these are the things that you can do with just one device," you encouraged me to think outside the box of how I could use one device per group or center/station activity. I really felt like there were several of "me” in the room and that students were engaged in learning. 

I'm flattered and happy that I could help. What edtech tools are you looking forward to using in the near future?

I am really looking forward to those edtech tools that are going to allow me to formatively assess students, collect data, and make those instructional decisions during instruction instead of assessing at the end of the lesson, etc. I use a great deal of student self-assessments during the lesson; however, my students and I don’t always agree on whether or not they “have mastered the standard." I think something like using Plickers embedded into the lesson is going to help improve instruction and monitor student understanding. 

Thank you, Melissa, and congratulations!

TUIT: Julia Lyles, James Morgan, Colby Wilmoth, and an entire high school

Happy April Fool's!  As the days count down to spring break and the end of my embedded tour at Heritage Elementary (Painted Stone, I'll see you Monday the 13th!), I wanted to squeeze out one more Edtech Elixirs entry.

Looking over my latest blog posts, I realized that I haven't given a #ShelbyTUITshoutout recently. Luckily, I have several reasons to do so today.

Julia Lyles is a new 3rd grade teacher here at Heritage. Last week, she asked me to help co-teach her class and we used Nearpod in a work station setting.  (You can read more about Nearpod in a previous entry.)  Ms. Lyles reminded me that even if you have only a few devices, Nearpod can be useful in a rotational station format.  I was glad to see her integrating Nearpod in a lesson with such young students, and happy to help teach in her classroom.

James Ray Morgan is Heritage's music teacher.  He already had an interest in edtech before I arrived, but after our consultation, he is now in the process of creating a YouTube channel of helpful videos for his students.  For example, Mr. Morgan wants to create tutorials for next year's classes to learn to play a recorder (or use the videos for extra practice, support, and enrichment).  In addition, he is creating a website as a launching platform for his class; you can view it here. He's well on his way to flipping and blending his instruction! (Note: if you want help recording directly on YouTube with your webcam, check out one of my how-to videos below.)

Today I observed Colby Wilmoth with her second graders.  What was impressive was not just the edtech tools themselves (a SMART board interactive clock activity, a document camera to demonstrate drawing a clock face, and so on), but how seamlessly she moved from one to another.  In addition, Ms. Wilmoth reminded me of the need for balancing your tools.  Her students drew large clock faces onto their desks with dry-erase markers, then practiced in pairs putting the correct hour and minute hand for a list of times.  Of course, there are digital equivalents you could do for this, but the tactile analog nature of drawing on a desk has its own benefits for engagement and learning.

Last but not least, I have a historic shoutout to give: to an entire school! At Martha Layne Collins High School,  Instructional Coaches Jennifer Cox and Tracy Huelsman (along with the enthusiastic encouragement of principal John Leeper) gave their staff a Twitter challenge this week. Using the hashtag #TitanStrong (created by Mr. Leeper), Ms. Cox and Huelsman have asked teachers to tweet every day, once a day, all week long.

Be sure to follow MLC @MLCTitanNation Ts tweeting with #TitanStrong this week.Goal is 1 tweet per classroom per day! pic.twitter.com/o5kF4iPXi0
— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) March 30, 2015

The results have been fantastic and it has been very fun to follow the hashtag.   In some cases, teachers are tweeting for the very first time.  Good job, Collins!

A well deserved shoutout to MLC, Ms. Wilmoth, Mr. Morgan, and Ms. Lyles! Enjoy your spring break and the mild weather.

TUIT: Kate Herrick and Lillie Hall, WMS

I arrived at Wright Elementary on Monday and have been settling into my new embedded home for the next three weeks: the library.   That means it's time for a new Instagram photo!

My MacBook Air hanging out with its much bigger edtech cousin, Wright Elementary's new library SMART board!

A photo posted by Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) on Feb 11, 2015 at 9:55am PST

Meanwhile, as I just begin my whole-school PD and plan for some classroom observations with the Jets, I wanted to give one more West Middle School #ShelbyTUITshoutout.  As I mentioned in previous entries, WMS had an unusual amount of teachers that paired together to tackle an edtech tool....which leads us to English teachers Kate Herrick and Lillie Hall.  Ms. Herrick is a first year teacher, working with veteran educator Ms. Hall.  They have partnered together to integrate Edmodo into their classrooms.

For those that don't know, Edmodo is a Learning Management System (LMS).   Student sign up is simple, and teachers can easily reset passwords of enrolled students.  In Edmodo, a teacher can make and assign a quiz, create assignments and have students submit work, have discussions via forum posts, send alerts of upcoming deadlines and important news, and maintain a calendar of events.   Last but not least, a teacher can upload files in a library so digital media can be shared.

But there are other uses for Edmodo.  As Ms. Herrick explains, "In my instruction, I plan to use Edmodo both inside and outside of class to allow students to respond to written prompts or to watch short clips, view images, or read short texts to develop background knowledge for class the following day." In other words, Edmodo will help create a blended and flipped classroom experience.

The site also continues to improve.  There is now an Edmodo "app store" (some free, some for a fee) that allows another level of interaction with and between students.  Recently, Edmodo added a built-in assessment tool called Snapshot that can automatically generate Core Content-related questions and give teachers valuable data on their students' proficiency.

An overall class example of Snapshot results.

Still, some parents may balk at Edmodo because of its perceived social media appearance, especially for younger students.  Ms. Herrick addressed these concerns in a letter to parents, which read in part:

Edmodo can be accessed through downloading the app or simply by visiting Edmodo.com. Edmodo looks like Facebook, making it familiar and exciting for students, but it is not a social media site. Some of the features include:

1.  Students can direct message me, the teacher, at any time with questions or for homework help; however, students cannot message each other. This is a great way to open up communication between me and students without offering a “social media” type communication between students.

2.   Edmodo allows for online discussion, giving students an authentic audience for their writing and an opportunity to engage in written communication with each other.  As a class, we have established norms for what our “cyber behavior” should look like. If students cannot follow the norms, they will lose privileges of Edmodo and will be faced with appropriate consequences, just like with any other unacceptable behavior in the classroom.

3.      My favorite feature of Edmodo is that it allows guardians access to see what both I and the student post on the site. For privacy reasons, guardians can see only what their individual students respond. I will soon be reaching out to guardians with directions on how to access Edmodo with a “parent code.”

I agree with Kate on #3: when I used Edmodo the last few years I was a high school English teacher, this was also one of my favorite features. Each student that enrolls in a class gets a corresponding parent code (accessible by the teacher), so a parent can register and see his/her child's Edmodo classes on their own.  I posted what we did in class every day, not only so absent students could figure out what they missed on their own, but so parents of struggling students could see what we were up to in order to support their child.

There are certainly other LMS's that are more powerful; to give but two examples, Blackboard and Canvas by Instructure are used in higher education yet are increasingly seen in K-12.  Few are as user-friendly as Edmodo, however, and by partnering with other webtools like Edpuzzle, make Edmodo even more compelling.

As our 1:1 student device initiative begins next school year, we will be able to utilize tools like Edmodo even more in an "always online" environment.  Kudos to Kate Herrick and Lillie Hall for starting to experiment with that environment now.  Congrats for your #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

TUIT: Matt Denton and Emmanual Stone, WMS

I've had a great run at West Middle School.  Starting this week, I'm holding over at Southside Elementary for a few weeks before beginning my three embedded weeks at Wright Elementary.

As I mentioned in the last post, several of the WMS Warriors partnered together before tackling a specific edtech tool.   Our next #ShelbyTUITshoutout goes to a pair of social studies teachers who began incorporating QR Codes in their classrooms: Emmanual "Manny" Stone and Matt Denton.

What are QR Codes, you ask?  QR is short for "Quick Response."  Use a QR Reader app on your smartphone or tablet (there are tons out there, many of which are free) and by scanning the code, information is decoded.  It could just be text (if so, you don't need a wifi or data connection to see it!), or contact information you could save to your device, or a URL address that you can quickly visit.   QR codes can be printed out on a worksheet or on a wall, could be embedded in a website, or just projected on the screen in your room.

What are some advantages of QR Codes?

• It's quick.  Students don't have to type in long URL addresses, just scan and go.
• Differentiation is easy and anonymous. For example, you could find three videos that teach the same concept but in differing levels of complexity.  Everyone has to watch a video and do work afterward, but WHICH video they watch can be easily assigned by three different QR codes.
• Become paperless.  In theory, you could project a code on the screen and students get your "handout" without ever passing out a single piece of paper.
• Increased engagement.  Whether it's QR scavenger hunts or creating mystery rewards or assignments, students won't know what they have until they "play."

A Google Slides presentation I created on QR Codes is available here.  If you are interested in an online list of resources, scan the QR code pictured below.

One of my favorite websites for QR codes is The QR Code Generator.  Not only can you easily make both dynamic and static QR codes, but you can even turn your webcam into a reader by using the site's "Scan" tab...without installing any programs!

Manny and Matt were intrigued by QR codes after one of my PDs, and within a few days were trying them out in their classroom in the middle of a Greek myth unit.  I was observing his classroom when Mr. Stone tried it out; Manny projected a QR code on the screen, and students eagerly scanned it to see a site of unusual natural phenomenon.  Matt handed out small slips of paper that had three different QR codes linked to websites: a picture for a writing prompt, a shortcut to Kahoot, and tips for writing a myth.


Congratulations to Mr. Denton and Mr. Stone for their #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

TUIT: Brandon Gabbard and Ben Carter, WMS

As I near the end of my last full week at West Middle, I'm excited to see so many teachers trying out my edtech tool suggestions.  Interestingly here at WMS, several teachers have taken a partnership attitude toward first attempts.  This is actually a brilliant idea that I will suggest at future embedded visits: by finding a partner to take the leap with you (whether in your department or grade level or even across town), you can learn together and not feel alone.

On that note, I have a few WMS Warrior pairs to give a #ShelbyTUITshoutout.   Our first shoutout goes to social studies teachers Ben Carter and Brandon Gabbard, and their use of Nearpod!

For those unfamiliar with Nearpod, it's a great bridge between what you already have and taking your edtech integration to the next level.  If you have already made a fantastic PowerPoint for content delivery, you can import it into Nearpod and be 90% finished.

Nearpod is basically an interactive presentation, or as some call it, "PowerPoint on steroids."  You create slides of content inside the site, or import PowerPoints, PDFs, and JPEGs to make as slides.  (Quick tip: I recommend "writing" the bulk of your presentation in PowerPoint, then import into Nearpod; the editing, writing, and template choices  inside of NearPod is rudimentary and not as robust.   Also, you can't easily edit slides once imported, so be sure your PowerPoint is a final draft.)   Next, add any interactives. In the free version, your interactives include quizzes, polls, open response questions, and even a drawing function.   Save and publish your pod when finished.  When it has finished processing, you can run a Nearpod by making it a "Live Session." Students can either go to the Nearpod website with the  browser of any device (or download and use their free app) and join the session with the PIN number that you give the students; Nearpod generates a new PIN every time you fire up a session.   As you push out the interactives, you can see their answers in real time, and even share an individual response (without their name displayed!) to the whole class.  At the end of the session, you can run a report showing all the individual student submissions for each interactive.

One of the great things about Nearpod is that you don't even need a projector, since all the content is pushed to the screen of the student devices.  A teacher can start a live session from their mobile device (say, their iPad or laptop).  While walking the classroom floor, she can "steer" and push the interactives and slides at will, looking at her live dashboard as students answer and interact.

Note that for the free account, you can only run "live" sessions.  For the Gold level (approximately $120 a year), you can run a session as homework and use Nearpod as another way of flipping your classroom.  (Gold level also gets you more space for more Nearpods, as well as additional interactive options.)

Another thing about Nearpod is the ability to get already made Pods from their "store" (some free, some for a charge) or from other users.  The steps on how to share Pods with colleagues are unfortunately not as intuitive as it could be, so I'm providing the instructions below.
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To share presentations between users you must:

• Go to your Home Screen (“What would you like to do?”) and go to the Create tab.  (I know, this seems counterintuitive, but trust me.)
• Select the presentation you want to share.  There should be options at the top of the page.  Find “More” (with the three dots and the down arrow) on the far right, then choose “Share."

• An email dialogue will pop up with a default message.  Put the email address of the person you want to share the link with.  (It may help if you use the same email address that they use to log into Nearpod.)

• Once the user receives this message, they can click on the link (which will ask them to log into Nearpod) so they can import the Pod into their own library.  Once they have it, it is their copy to use and edit. You can send to multiple people at the same time.

Note:  if you are in “My Library” and choose a Nearpod, the “Share” button doesn’t work in the way detailed above; it only gives you an embed code. The embed code is for a website and not for a live session or homework. 

Purchased presentations cannot be shared.
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When Mr. Gabbard and Mr. Carter heard about Nearpod, they began collaborating on one the next day.  As social studies teachers, they of course already had PowerPoints of content, so it was just a matter of importing one into a Nearpod and adding interactives.   Were the kids engaged? See this example from Mr. Gabbard's class:

http://t.co/yRdldwhjBU captured the attention of all learners in Mr. Gabbard'a Geography class! @watsonedtech pic.twitter.com/S08Lgt0ZlK
— WMS-Warrior Nation (@ShelbyWMS) January 20, 2015

Congratulations to Mr. Carter and Mr. Gabbard for their #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

Do you use Nearpod in your content and grade level?  What do you think?  Reply in Comments below.

Game-Based Learning and Classcraft

One of the trends in education that is gaining popularity and has growing data to support its positive impact on students is game-based learning.  The concept is not completely new; many older graduates and teachers today have fond memories of Oregon Trail (which first began in 1978!).  The phrase "game-based learning" still makes some shudder, suggesting teachers are letting students play video games all day instead of utilizing real skills or learning content.  But just as "edtech for the sake of edtech" should't be done, I am not suggesting games alone are the key.  As always, it is the way the games are integrated into a classroom that can transform the educational experience:

• Novel way of learning content.  Which one do you think would be more engaging -- a PowerPoint lecture about the Great Depression, or roleplaying as a young person on a Dust Bowl farm?
• Immediate feedback and gratification.   By the nature of a typical classroom experience, we are all about the delayed gratification.  You study or research, apply yourself to an assessment or write your essay, turn it in...and wait, sometimes days or even weeks for a grade and feedback.  In a game, you know as soon as you try whether you succeed or fail.  And if you fail...
• The power of a 1UP.  It's fascinating that the same young people who never want to revise a paper or "try again" are willing to sweat through a game level over and over until they defeat their big boss.  But the philosophy behind the way a teacher assesses and grades is also interesting to note here.  Is it right to only give students one chance with no "do-overs"?  In standards-based grading, reaching proficiency in various areas is a continual process of opportunity, not given only once on that Friday in September.  ("You failed the test, so you can never learn that skill.  Let's move on.")
• The power of a "Leaderboard."  For many modern video games, there are virtual trophies you earn for achieving certain goals, called badges.  Of course, this leaderboard of badges can be shared socially with other gamers as a point of pride.  Although I used Edmodo my last few years of teaching, I regret not trying out their "badge" system in my own classroom. However, other teachers have totally embraced this approach with their own students (and not just with Edmodo!).
• Cultivating creative and cooperative skills.  Last but not least, we shouldn't ignore the creative and cooperative juices that get flowing with games.  It takes intelligence to problem solve a riddle or determine when to use the right power at the right time.  To take one popular game example, "modding" in Minecraft is the pinnacle of creativity (and recently in our own backyard, a group of enthusiasts are creating the whole city of Louisville as a Minecraft map).  In team based endeavors, the virtual stakes are high to work together to achieve a goal where all will benefit.

If you still feel ambivalent about gamification of education, see if Jane McGonigal convinces you in her TED Talk that "gaming can make a better world."

In Shelby County, game-based learning is not completely uncommon.  For example, the elementary students periodically play Dreambox to learn math skills.  But a few months ago, I learned of a site for the first time that kinda blew my mind.  The site is Classcraft, and the teacher that told me about it was Tim Oltman from Martha Layne Collins High School.  Which is why Tim gets a well-deserved #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

Setting up an account in Classcraft is free.  Teachers first ask the students what kind of role they want for their character ( Mage, Fighter, or Healer) along with some limited customization of the character's looks.  The teacher then inputs the students and their character choices into Classcraft, grouping them in teams, and gives the students login information.  From that point on, Classcraft becomes something that quietly runs in the background until the teacher has an event occur where students can gain or lose experience points (XP) or health points (HP).  (These events can be customized by the teacher.)   There are also peer incentives to do well in class; for example, not turning in a homework assignment can affect everyone on your team. Over time students can earn class rewards or use XP to get upgrade armor, spells, etc. for their characters; this part is typically done outside of class.   Keep in mind that currently Classcraft is static.  There are no moving parts, no animation, no actual jumping/scrolling/fighting.   In a way, it's a much more glorified and clever system of digital badge delivery.

The following video gives a quick overview of what Classcraft is, how it came to be, and what it looks like:

I recently visited Mr. Oltman at MLC HS, and he was kind enough to submit to an interview.

Tell us about yourself!

Here at MLC I teach the Project Lead the Way engineering classes.  This will be my 4^th year teaching.  I learned about integrating edtech in my college classes and enjoyed it because I have always been using technology plus it is a great fit with engineering classes.

How have you integrated Classcraft in your classroom?

In 3 of my classes I have Classcraft running in the background during class and as questions are answered I can quickly add experience points to the characters.  However, they get their main experience points after assignments are added to their characters.  The other advantage I have is we are already 1:1 in the engineering classes [each student always has a desktop computer], so they have their characters running in the background because they love to keep up with their experience points.  You could also do this with cell phones because there is an app also.

Sounds like the students enjoy Classcraft.   Do you think it has improved learning?  In what way?

The students love the game.  They come into class and ask to the daily spin [a random event generator] to see if they get anything that day.  They want to use their powers whenever they can.  It has improved learning because once again the students are more invested in their learning.  [The academic work in class results in rewards.] They can see something they are getting out of it.  The game allows you to alter many of the spells and achievements they get so you can alter the game to fit each of your classes. 

A student's character takes health point damage from a random event.  If the team has a Healer, however, they can recover quickly, adding to the cooperative nature of Classcraft.

In the "dashboard" of the teacher's account, Mr. Oltman surveys the state of the various teams in his class.

Before Classcraft, what did you think about gamification in education?  Had you tried any game-based learning before?  How has Classcraft and other tools changed your attitude toward gamification?

I have always loved the idea of gamification in education.  Being an avid gamer myself I have seen many ways games teach lessons in a way that can work for education.  I have never tried gamification before because I have been looking for the right game to integrate.

What other edtech tools are some of your favorites?

Other favorites I have is Canvas [a free Learning Management System] and of course our 3D printer.  I love Canvas because you can get everything on one place for the students and then let them submit assignments online.  It is also nice because I never have to answer the question what did we do yesterday because they know to go online and look for it.

Mr. Oltman's  first generation 3D printer.

Any advice you would like to share with other teachers wanting to integrate Classcraft into their classroom?

Integrate the game in one of your classes to start with.  It does take some time to get used to and definitely get the students involved in helping to design the game that way they are really part of it.  You will have some students who do not want to play to start with but after a week all of my students have gotten really involved in it.  Remember too you can make it a large part of your class or a small part depending on how the students take to it.

Thanks again to Tim for his interview and insights! How do you feel about using games in the classroom?  Do you already use gamification?  Please share in the Comments below.

Update 1/23/15:  After publishing this entry, I saw a tweet (embedded below with a great infographic) that led me to a detailed article about the differences between gamification and game-based learning.  I realize now that I somewhat vaguely used these terms interchangeably, which is incorrect.   So please check out Steven Isaac's article on Inservice ASCD.

The Difference Between Gamification And Game-Based Learning http://t.co/Ded403RWdh pic.twitter.com/ALCQ7kzvdG
— Ian Jukes (@ijukes) January 19, 2015

SCHS Media Arts Showcase

As our Shelby County winter break begins, I wanted to highlight a special occasion that occurred last Thursday night, and in the process give Jacinta Newsome a #ShelbyTUITshoutout.  Her two Shelby County High School multimedia classes,  along with a few other Shelby County students, presented their multimedia work for the public.  I was flattered and excited to be a judge to help score student presentations, along with some other Shelby County colleagues: Ryan Allan (our district PR person and voice behind its social media), Julie Webb (LMS of SCHS), and Lee Louden (our network guru).  Kathie Wrightson, a SCHS teacher who got her own shoutout recently, also helped Jacinta in orchestrating the showcase.

Here would be a good point to give a hurrah to Matt Simons.  Resulting from a request from Jacinta for help, I reached out through a Kentucky tech leader listserv looking for tips and assistance on running a digital showcase.  Matt contacted me and generously offered his workplace facility Creative-Image Technologies as a host location for the showcase.  (C-IT is responsible for installing much of Shelby County's intelligent classroom edtech, as well as offering training sessions to our district personnel, as I wrote about in a previous post.)   It is a beautiful and modern environment to highlight student work, and we were very fortunate for the opportunity.

Each judge met with about ten students, who presented their work one at a time in a different room in C-IT. When they finished, judges and the audience were encouraged to ask questions; each judge was to assess the product and presentation using a rubric provided by Jacinta.  Her instructions were clear: hold the students and their work to a high standard, so the feedback would help them grow.

And the work was impressive.  Students presented everything from video games to digital magazines to music (in appropriately designed CD cases) to short films.  Here are some pictures of the evening taken by Gerald Tegarden, a Yearbook staff member at SCHS.

A screenshot of a video game created by Jaime Rosales (junior, SCHS).

Brenna Gargan (senior, SCHS) presents her digital literary magazine.

Morgan Allen (senior, SCHS; pictured on screen) filmed a documentary about "true beauty."

A certain judge/blog writer looks at a logo from Barby Womack (sophomore, SCHS). Her project was a film about love, cleverly interviewing and editing together the responses of four couples.

Of the work I judged, one of my favorites was a short film by Cole Ivey.  Not only did he compose the music, but Cole shot and edited the video.

Congratulations to all the students who presented work, demonstrating the passion, ambition, leadership, and creativity of Shelby County youth. Thanks again to Matt Simons and C-IT. And a tip of the hat to Jacinta Newsome for providing her students with an authentic learning experience!

The Hour of Code in Shelby County

As many of you know, we are at the end of Computer Science Education Week, when students worldwide have been challenged to complete an #HourOfCode.   Programming is not only for future computer science majors.  As the Steve Jobs quote at the beginning of this video reminds us, "Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer...because it teaches you how to think."

President Obama made history by being the first President to participate:

Today Obama became the 1st US President to write a computer program #HourOfCode @WhiteHouse http://t.co/tg0Xcdu1w0 pic.twitter.com/kPeLZRSu4A
— Code.org (@codeorg) December 9, 2014

Of course, coding is a gender-neutral endeavor, not just "for the boys."  As a father of two daughters, I am heartened to see the efforts of others (and websites like this) that give young female programmers a starting nudge.  After all, as this tweet reminds us:

A 31yr old female wrote the code that landed Apollo 11 on the moon. She coined the term Software Engineer. Thank you, Margaret Hamilton!
— Sarah Pressler (@sarahpressler) December 10, 2014

 Computer programming may seem daunting at first, but from small beginnings big things come.  Websites  like Code.org offer fantastic resources -- for free! -- that teach coding in modular small steps that even our youngest students can learn from.

While at East Middle, I knew that Amber Hall taught a technology class to 6th and 7th graders, so I asked if I could slide on by.  Sure enough, she was having her students use Code.org to independently practice code.  The website allows the teacher to create accounts for the students and monitor their progress as they complete modules.  The students were incredibly engaged and dedicated to making their programs work.  For many of the lessons, it involves moving your game-like avatar around the screen in a prescribed way.  The code algorithms are "drag and drop" elements that can easily be rearranged, although the actual code can be seen with a click, much in the same way that the "compose" in Blogger shows "what you see is what you get," but you can click on the HTML button to see the underlying code.

An example from a student's Code.org screen. (from Heather McCall's class, SCHS)

Here is a tweet from Amber showing her students in action:

Ms. Hall's classes are excited about #hourofcode @watsonedtech pic.twitter.com/hadRW4GBRY
— Amber (@Ambnichall) December 10, 2014

Amber is enthusiastic to receive some new Windows laptops in January so that she can have students assemble and program robots, using the same basic code algorithms they are practicing now.  Awesome stuff.

Earlier in the week, I emailed and tweeted out to Shelby County teachers to share their Hour of Code stories and pictures.  Here are some of their responses!

Valerie Ricchio at the Shelby County Area Technical Center had her students do an Hour of Code.

Laura Smith at West Middle is having her 6th and 7th graders in Robotics program their robots to move around.

Lest you think programming is only for middle and high school students, here's a Clear Creek Elementary student programming with the Smartboard, shared by LMS Vicki Stoltz:

Vicki also created a Symbaloo webmix of coding sites.

Heather McCall, an Engineering teacher at Shelby County High School, has her freshmen through senior students do programming all year long.  "We use ROBOTC to program motors and use input sensors to create robots and machines to accomplish different tasks. In Computer Integrated Manufacturing we program a CNC machine to mill parts out of wood or polycarbonate materials using G&M codes and AutoCAD for 3D modeling."   Here are some of Heather's tweets:

We are participating in the #HourofCode at Shelby Co. Over 100 lines of code so far! pic.twitter.com/nKrXlGchN2
— Ms. Heather McCall (@msheathermccall) December 10, 2014

Engineering class doing an #HourofCode #CSEdWeek pic.twitter.com/2apfEItksL
— Ms. Heather McCall (@msheathermccall) December 11, 2014

Let us come full circle back to East Middle. Using a class set of iPads, the students of Tina Eden (7th Grade Science) and Terry Walther have written over 6000 lines of code this week in an "Flappy Bird" coding program:

As a final tribute, here's' a Magisto video to Shelby County Hour of Code 2014!

The week may be ending, but that's no reason to stop teaching computer science and programming.  The free curriculum is out there, so keep using it!  Don't stress out if students know more than you do; learn beside them and let them teach you.  Take a breath and remember:

From http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-carry-on-coding-100.png

A very special #ShelbyTUITshoutout to all of the above educators, and thank you for sharing your stories!

TUIT: Mindi Keiner-Rummel, EMS

Mindi Keiner-Rummel is a veteran educator.  In her 23 year career she has been a teacher, counselor, and administrator. Mrs. Keiner-Rummel has been at East Middle School since 2005, mainly in the role of ECE teacher, but also recently as a Math Intervention specialist.

Mindi is also proof that even after more than two decades in education, you should never stop learning and growing . . . particularly in edtech, which is why she is getting a #ShelbyTUITshoutout.  To help her team of teachers gather data on students, she created a Google Form for the first time.  Now they can easily submit observation data on the fly, and the information goes to the Form's Google Sheet for later analysis by Mindi.  Additionally, she is using Symbaloo.  Mrs. Keiner-Rummel first saw it in a differentiated instruction/ELL PD that I had at EMS, and realized its potential for organizing and sharing resources with others in a graphical interface.

Symbaloo is a free and easy tool to use.  You create a "webmix" of resources by making tiles that are directly linked to URLs.  (No long web addresses to type -- just click and go!) The tiles can be customizable in different colors and icons.  Once ready, you can publish the webmix and share the URL for others to visit.  You can edit it as often as you like.  Symbaloo can help with DI. Imagine color-coding tiles red for one group of students, blue for another, and so on; when students visit the webmix, they know what resources/content/activities they are to click on by what color grouping the teacher has assigned.   Of course, you can make many different webmixes: one for each period, for each grade level, etc.  It should be noted that Symbaloo is not limited to webmixes created by teachers. Here is a popular video made by a 7th grader where she discusses using Symbaloo to organize her "personal learning environment" (PLE):

Mindi has been working on a Symbaloo with math sites her colleagues can use. Click and check it out!  Again, it is a work in progress, but already has several useful sites for middle school math.

Mrs. Keiner-Rummel inspired me to finally make my own Symbaloo.  So here's a "Greatest Hits" of my favorite edtech from my various presentations and blog entries so far.  Note the deliberate arrangement of the tiles.  On the left side is student productivity tools, top center is apps, bottom center is data collection/formative assessment tools that create reports and allow tracking of performance, and the right side is tools that help a teacher better organize or manage their classroom environment. (When you are the creator of the webmix, Symbaloo gives you an embed code to plug it directly into your website, as I've done below.)


Congrats to Mindi for her well deserved #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

TUIT: Lindsay Ricke, MLC HS

Lindsay Ricke is a science teacher at Martha Layne Collins High School.  Integrating technology in her students' learning is nothing new -- in fact, Ms. Ricke was recently part of instructional coaches live tweeting from her classroom using the hashtag #theyet -- but her recent use of Smore caught my attention and I had to give her a #ShelbyTUITshoutout.

I have talked about and even embedded Smores previously in Edtech Elixirs, but I haven't really taken a moment to explain what they are.  Basically, they are online flyers, but that simplifies what they are capable of showing.  Yes, Smores can publicize events, but they can also be used as student productivity tools. Think of them as interactive posters. You start with a template and can choose from several categories. Pictures, YouTube videos, hyperlinks and text can easily be added.  You can print the finished Smore or save it as a PDF, and since it's published to a URL, the flyer can be shared online or through email.  For teachers or students, Smores could also be a viable alternative to other visual digital presentation tools, like PowerPoints or Prezis.

Yet Ms. Ricke came up with another idea. Instead of just doing lab reports on a pencil and paper worksheet, she had her AP Chemistry students use Smore.  Not only does the use of multimedia enhance the finished product (students took pictures and even video of the stages of their experiments), but since their reports are published, their work now has more validity than the typical "teacher as audience" and can be returned to later for reflection or to help study content.  Two student examples are below.  (Note that in the first example, students shot their own video, uploaded to Vimeo, then embedded it in their Smore; in the second, they found an appropriate video on YouTube showing aluminum reacting to copper.)  Very impressive!




Ms. Ricke, thank you for integrating technology as often and as well as you do!