KyEdRPG Spotlight: Morgan Seely, Bringing Fourth Grade "Learning to Life Through Imagination"

Morgan Seely is a Shelby County Public School (KY) teacher at Painted Stone Elementary, starting her educational career in 2011.   Seely believed strongly in evidence-based practices from the start, but the launch of Shelby County's Profile of a Graduate in 2017 helped spur her journey toward centering student agency and competency-based education in her own classroom.

Playing TTRPGs is a part of Seely's household family fun.  She began considering how to incorporate them into her classroom in the spring of 2024 with her fourth graders.  One student was particularly passionate about the Titanic, which led to a classwide mini-adventure where students experienced the difference between the survival rates of first-, second-, and third-class passengers.  Later in the spring, with the help of her husband, Seely used a simplified D&D gaming mechanic where student characters had to apply their math knowledge to solve quests.  It led to Seely vowing to do a more extensive use of TTRPGs in her upcoming 2024-2025 school year.  Of course, I was delighted to hear all of this!

When we talked in the summer of 2024, Seely shared that she wanted to kick off with a character creation activity, with the plan to play several academic-based adventures throughout the year reusing the same characters.  Once again, her husband helped devise a simplified D&D-like system that seemed appropriate for her upcoming fourth graders.  A student chooses a "species," which automatically creates two statistics of Armor Class (AC, or how hard it is to get hurt) and Health Points (HP, or how much hurt you can take before you have to sit out for the session).  A choice of "ability" -- what is called "classes" in Dungeons & Dragons -- adds a bonus to their AC or HP.   Students choose two items of equipment from a given list or can present their reasoning for something else.  Lastly, the students have to write a backstory biography about their character and explain the significance of their two pieces of equipment.  (Copies of Seely's Slides for directions and her character sheet template is available in a Google folder here.)  

I came early in the school year when Seely introduced me as a guest teacher who knew about a special kind of game where you need to depend on your imagination to co-create stories.  Would the students be interested in playing this game?  (Posing this kind of question is one of the many pieces of evidence proving Seely believes in a community of learners that has voice in the direction of how and what they learn.) The students nearly unanimously said yes.  Cut to about a month later in mid-September, and I came back as an observer and helper for their character creation kickoff activity, with a title Slide announcing that today we would be "Bringing Learning to Life Through Our Imagination."

I was impressed and caught the fever of their enthusiasm from the start.  Imaginations were visibly on display, as students became deeply invested in how their biography, physical description, and explanation of their equipment intertwined.  (Just like adults, coming up with names was the hardest part; I advised a student, "Maybe you could go with Jack Potter as a good wizard name?")  When students were ready, they queued up in line to have Seely help generate a portrait of their character in an artificial intelligence image tool.  This became a great on-the-spot lesson about prompt engineering, as students quickly realized the more details you provided, the better result you got.  A clever tech management strategy that Seely used was digitally distributing the character templates to each student as a Slide that was linked back to a master slide deck for the teacher; this meant Seely could view all the student characters in one place, as well as easily drop her AI image for a particular student's character sheet.  One student (who happened to be Seely's son) led a handful of his peers who had finished early on how to map a dungeon.  It foreshadowed Seely's goal of having student "game masters" lead small groups through adventures in the future.  It should be pointed out that Seely was very mindful of the age and maturity of her students -- she reminded them that "kindness is the most powerful ability you can have" and that whatever obstacles may lay ahead in their adventures, we were "defeating" adversaries, not "killing" them.  As Seely wrapped up the activity and brought them back together as a whole group, she had the students reflect how the day's work was aligned to an academic reading standard.

Even if this character creation activity was the end of the road, it still would have been a worthy learning experience.  But Seely promises to have her fourth graders role-play with these characters in academic quests to come.  I can't want to visit again and see them in action!

To Tech or Not to Tech: Reflecting on Blended Learning for Young Students

The world of education is quickly becoming a digitized place, and for some, this can be unsettling. Parents, community members, teachers and even students sometimes lament the shift away from past instructional tools; recently, a high school freshman wrote an opinion piece titled "Public education should be less dependent on technology." At the end, she quips, "Technology may fail, but pencils and pens always work."

The debate is important to have for all grades, but in K-3 classrooms, this argument becomes nearly an emotional one. For our youngest students, the choice can seem agonizing. Do you fully engage them by recognizing their “real” life outside of school is constantly filtered through a digital lens, and an online workforce is their present and future?  Or do you make your classroom an analog haven where traditional materials -- actual books with paper pages, physical math manipulatives, Elmer’s Glue -- give the students a digital reprieve from hours of at-home screen time?

While I won't pretend that I can definitively solve this conundrum, I offer three steps to determine a way forward.

The first asks for hard reflection. You must consider how much bang for the buck you are currently getting for your traditional “this is the way I’ve always done it” approach.  Pencils and pens may never fail, but clearly across the United States, students do. Are your math and reading scores rising every year, or have they become stagnant or even declined?  On any given day, are students fully engaged and actively learning, or more distracted than ever and only passively receiving content?  If your current state tends toward the latter in both of those questions, recognize your present instruction is not having your expected impact, and change is necessary; you need to at least consider a different approach to teaching with additional or different (possibly digital) tools.

This is a good segue into the second step: analyze not how much you are using technology, but how you are using it. Just like any effective pedagogical tool, technology should enable students to be collaborative, creative, and critical thinkers. Two recent tweets (both of which reference TeachThought) shared to me by my colleague Lora Shields sum this point up nicely. The first uses side by side columns to show the difference between mere usage and intentional integration:

You're using technology in the classroom (I hope), but are you truly integrating it? Do you know the difference? https://t.co/dhKi1d5rvo pic.twitter.com/iJPK5AwPCM

— TeachThought (@TeachThought) November 17, 2017

The second tweet looks at Bloom's Taxonomy verbs from a digital perspective. What are students doing with the tech? Clearly, the higher up the scale, the higher order the thinking:

pic.twitter.com/KPdj3sES2M

— Moker (@MokerKQ) November 18, 2017

The third step is to reject the either/or false dilemma nature of the question of "to tech or not to tech."  A modern classroom will likely have both digital and analog tools side by side, where technology usage is not seen as a “reward” or for a special hour on Friday.  It requires balance and moderation -- in short, a blended learning approach.  This can take time, a growth mindset, and patience.  It also requires moving the blended learning classroom from a "substitution" model -- where the pinnacle of achievement is merely digital flashcards and online dictionaries -- to a “redefinition” model where teaching is truly transformed and recentered . . . a place where students are exploring creativity, impacting their environment, and active reflectors of their own learning.

If you need to see a blended learning model, look no further than Jodie Collins and her kindergarten classroom at Wright Elementary. Ms. Collins (like all Shelby K students) has a 1:1 class set of iPads. After a recent visit, I knew she would be a great person to interview about the challenges and successes of integrating technology with our youngest students.

Ms. Collins, welcome to Edtech Elixirs!  Share your story. 
I began teaching in 2000. I taught Head Start. I finished my BA in Early Childhood Education in 2003 and continued with Head Start at Wright. In 2005 I began teaching Kindergarten here. I went to Georgetown and obtained my Masters in the Teacher Leader Program in Instructional Technology. Technology has always been a love of mine. I have always loved being innovative in my teaching. I started just by using technology in my classroom. I used to hear, “Oh, kindergarten students can’t use technology to learn.” Yes they can and they do! I do a lot of blog reading of other teachers and technology. Technology in primary is powerful and necessary considering the world our kiddos are growing up in!

How have you used your class set of iPads to create a blended learning environment in your classroom? My students use iPads for different avenues of their learning. The basic one is apps. We use apps for educational games. They also use iPads as a listening center. They scan QR codes and listen and watch stories being read to them. We have math stations during the week and students will use an iPad to access the video I make to show them how to work in their math station. They access this through a QR code I create to connect them to the video. The video helps them see and hear the rules for the station but also different ways to play the games and the learning targets they will be working on while in that station! [Editor's note: if you don't have a mobile device, you can scan QR codes with the webcam of a laptop or Chromebook using The QR Code Generator website.] I also use iPads for personalized learning in Kindergarten.

Personalized learning in kindergarten?  How do you do that?  
Yes, you heard me right! My students are on an app called Boom Learning (Boom Cards is the name in the app store). I created my free account and added my students. I am able to assign task cards to my students based on their individual needs in the areas of Math, ELA, Science and Social Studies. I can create task cards, but the website has a ton of free task cards in their store or I can purchase decks through Boom Learning and on Teachers Pay Teachers. My students are able to work on skills they need and on their level. Not only does this help the students but Boom Learning keeps reports for me to access how my students are performing on each skill. I see their accuracy, the number of times the deck was attempted, and I can even see the rate at which the student is answering or performing the skill. This helps me see if they lingering on a certain problem for a long time, and I can check in with them and pinpoint where they may be struggling and intervene to help!

Some stakeholders are concerned if we are using too much technology, especially with primary students.  What is your opinion on integrating digital tools for K-3 students?  How do you balance and manage digital tools with more traditional, analog approaches to learning? 
I think we are doing our students a disservice if we do not use technology in our classrooms. That is the nature of the beast and the world around us is filled with technology. We want our students able to use technology appropriately and efficiently. Yes, I use a lot of technology in my classroom, but I also use pencil and paper and crayons and markers. My students are well balanced in learning from both technology and traditional tools in Kindergarten. We write daily, we color daily, and we are learning to type too!

What are some of your favorite iOS apps or iPad-friendly web tools?  
Definitely Boom Learning! I love how I can differentiate with it. I have students working on addition through 20 already even though we are not to addition in our Core Content instruction yet! I found Boom Learning to be more beneficial having the iPads and also because of the reports I get from it. I also like Splash Math, ABCya, Sand Draw, Rainbow Draw, Glo Draw.  With an app called Sticky, students practice typing words. We have just started working with a few apps on coding!

What’s a new tool or digital approach you are wanting to try out for the first time?
I want to incorporate Google Classroom but we are not there yet!  Google Classroom may work better for iPads a little later in the year. I am definitely interested in coding and teaching them how to code. I am looking into some LEGO kits that do just that for the classroom!

Any advice you would like to share with other K-3 teachers wanting to integrate edtech? 
TRY IT! Yes, it can be scary and yes you are going to STRUGGLE but as [our principal] Mr. Green reminds us, it is all about the struggle! We learn when we struggle! Do not give up and be creative.  Make it work for you and your kiddos!

Thank you Ms. Collins for taking the time to interview!


In closing, here are some additional resources for blended learning and tools for elementary students:

• Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools by Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker.
• K-3 Technology Primer, with some tools suggested by Shelby staff!
• Julia Lyle’s website, a teacher at Heritage Elementary, which details her blended and personalized learning journey.
• Edtech Elixirs entries on blended learning.  In particular, I suggest “Blended and Personalized Learning.”

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: Janice Bullard, CCE

Ms. Bullard facilitates while students take turns posing questions to their "mystery class."

Janice Bullard of Clear Creek Elementary is, relatively speaking, a new teacher.  This has not hampered her ability to be a teacher who uses integrated technology in her classroom.  I was very impressed to see her class in a Google+ Hangout video chat with students in New York.   When I learned this wasn't even the first time she's had a video chat, I knew I had to interview her for Edtech Elixirs.

In a side note, Janice's son was a student of mine just a few years ago.  Small world!


Share your story!  Where did your learning of edtech begin?

This is my fourth year teaching, and I’ve been at Clear Creek for 3 of those years. I guess my learning of edtech began the summer before my KTIP year. I volunteered at a science and math camp for 4^th and 5^th grade students at U of L. We introduced kids to digital storytelling, which also meant I was introduced to it. I used some of those tools the following year, which was my first year teaching. I also used Voicethread for the first time that year; my students loved it and I found it added layers of learning to what was a fairly typical classroom activity. Students wrote a short piece titled “What I am most afraid of” and then recorded it on Voicethread. This required them to practice reading it many times, which they didn’t mind because they got to record their voice and share with the class. I realized how kids could be motivated by the technology. So that is what seals the deal for me - extra layers of learning plus motivation.

Tell us about using Skype and Google+ Hangouts in the classroom.  How did it begin?  How did you find teachers to telecommunicate? How have integrating these tools impacted the learning of your students?

I read a book by Pernille Ripp this summer- Passionate Learners- Giving our Classrooms Back to Students. Through her book and blog I learned about the Global Read Aloud project, in which students from around the world read the same books and connect with each other over them. My class is participating, and through the teachers and classrooms we have connected with I learned about using Skype and Google Hangouts. I first connected with the teachers over Edmodo; we have since set up class blogs so that our students can talk about the books. We did a "mystery Skype" which was great fun. We have also shared via Padlet.

Pictures taken by the Student Photographer, one of the roles in the project.

My kids have completely embraced every part of the project. They loved the Skype and Google Hangout. It was planned so that the kids took ownership as much as possible. They had roles as questioners, answerers, greeters, map experts, etc. They propose discussion questions and decide which ones are strong enough to put on Edmodo, and are working at writing thoughtful responses. Reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking - it’s all there!


What other edtech tools are some of your favorites?

Right now, Edmodo is one of my favorites. I also continue to use Voicethread. Animoto is great for producing short videos. Padlet is very cool for sharing thoughts about pretty much anything.

What tools have you heard about recently that you are looking forward to trying out?

My teacher friend in Canada shared https://100wc.net, where people respond to prompts and share creative writing. I’d like to introduce that to my kids.

Any advice for teachers wanting to integrate edtech?

Just jump in, pick something, and try it. Most of the time there is a fairly short learning curve; sometimes you can even let the kids just figure it out for you! I would also say be prepared to love it and learn as much as your kids!

Ms. Bullard, thanks for taking the time, and you certainly deserve your #ShelbyTUITshoutout.

For those interested in connecting with other Skype teachers, check out Skype in the Classroom.