Welcome to the 2016-2017 School Year!

It's hard to believe, but today our Shelby County students and teachers begin a new school year!  And whether you are an educator just starting, already started, or start next week, I wish you the best and most productive and joyous 36 weeks ahead.

Did you have a good summer?  Did you travel and rejuvenate yourself?  On the personal side, my family and I visited friends in Ontario, Canada, not far from Toronto and Niagara Falls.  Among our stops was the Waterloo Region Museum.  Although the museum itself had interesting exhibits, it was its Doon Heritage Village that truly was a memorable experience.  Strolling through a replica of a 1914 Waterloo town, complete with curators in period costumes who share what life was like a century ago, made me realize the power of immersive educational experiences in real time and in real spaces.

That's not to be too dismissive of the virtual educational possibilities of Pokemon Go, Google Expeditions or the new VR Nearpod "field trips," but authentic role playing is hard to beat!

On the professional side, I was fortunate to once again be a part of the planning and organizing of EdCampKY in July.  We had three firsts:

• We held it at an elementary school.
• Shelby County was the host -- or more specifically, Southside Elementary.
• We had a theme: Star Wars!

The EdCampKY went wonderfully, as always because of the attendees.  Special thanks to the 501st Legion, who put in an appearance that helped raise money for charity and gave me the opportunity to take a picture with a stormtrooper!  (One item can now be crossed off my bucket list.)

Last but not least...it is very exciting to see how nearby districts are launching their own Chromebook and GAFE initiatives.  In the last few weeks, I was fortunate and flattered to be asked to facilitate some start of school PD with Scott and Trimble Counties.  We at Shelby consider it opportunities to become learning partners with other districts and grow together in the digital conversion of classrooms to come.

So wherever you are in your edtech journey, remember: take risks, fail forward with purpose, and dare to transform your teaching this year!

Blended and Personalized Learning

I recently returned from iNACOL 2015, an international annual conference that specifically looks at best practices for blended learning and digitizing classrooms.  I was privileged to present on a session about Shelby's multi-year technology integration plan, along with John Leeper (our Director of Innovation in College and Career Readiness), Maddie Meyer (teacher at Southside Elementary), and KDE's David Cook (Director of Innovation and Partner Engagement). We also attended some intriguing sessions with valuable information, but I was particularly taken by a pair of keynote addresses.  The first was a highly engaging, motivating, and moving presentation by Buddy Berry, the superintendent of Eminence (Shelby's district neighbor).  Mr. Berry challenged us to stop doing school the way it's always been --  because we can show how much we care about students and truly meet their needs by evolutionizing education with digital tools and old-fashioned compassion.  The second was by Craig Kielburger (one of the founders of We.org), who talked about becoming a social activist at the age of 12.  Years later in Ecuador, he shared his story of a village chief who called a "minga" in order to finish building a school:

Had a wonderful #inacol15. I hope we can bring @craigkielburger's "minga" to Shelby County! pic.twitter.com/zmf933MwsE

— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) November 12, 2015

Isn't it time in education for us to call a minga?

An entire conference about blended learning made me reflect on what is happening here in Shelby County.   But first, some definitions.  I find the articulation of blended learning in Straker and Horn's Blended to be the most useful: "Blended learning is any formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path and/or pace.”  This focus on the student is what makes blended go hand in hand with personalized learning; although you could personalize without technology, it would be difficult to facilitate. (It should be noted that simply using or integrating technology does not guarantee a personalized experience.)  So how does one define personalized learning?  In short, unlike differentiation or individualization which is managed by the teacher, personalization is unique because it is truly driven by the student; the student has "voice and choice" what will be learned, and when.  (For a comprehensive chart comparing personalization, differentiation, and individualization, click here.)

Thanks in large part to Chromebooks, personalized and blended learning are proliferating side by side.  One example is at Martha Layne Collins High School.  Madelyn Sterrett is a math teacher who uses Blendspace as a way of digitally organizing unit materials and resources for her students.  As students combine analog and digital materials to track their progress, they take ownership of their own learning:

Mrs. Sterrett has students using Blendspace with their Chromebooks to help self-pace math learning. pic.twitter.com/w2DgpnMxdY

— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) October 6, 2015

Another math example is at the other end of the age spectrum, in third grade at Heritage Elementary.  Julia Lyles had confidence that her students needed only a few days with their Chromebooks before they would get past "how to use the device" and get down to the business at hand: a personalized learning environment managed by Google Classroom.  Now the students' math learning is self-paced.  With daily exit slips and a large chart on the back wall, Ms. Lyles can see when skills are mastered and track their current stage of progress.

Julia Lyles in front of her students' exit slip packets and class progress chart.

In the past, these model examples of student personalized learning may have been silo'd or overlooked. Now, however, social media has amplified teacher voice and given instructors unprecedented access into each other's classrooms.  That's exactly what Shelby County High School math teacher Bart Roettger shared in a recent meeting of Shelby's "Guiding Coalition" (a group of educators and community partners willing to share our district's vision and successes outside of a school building's four walls).  Mr. Roettger explained that, thanks to Twitter, he heard about and was inspired by the personalization of learning occurring in Mrs. Sterrett's classroom.  Now that he knows a high school resource who is a click/tweet/email away, Bart will begin his own transformation of his classroom.  How powerful that we can find inspiration not only from outside our district, but also from within!

Blended learning takes a willingness to fail forward, a strong infrastructure, and patience.  Personalized learning takes teacher time for all the required front-loading of lessons and units in preparation for students that pre-assess themselves ahead of others, and the teacher's courage to loop back to more traditional structures if the class is not progressing as they should.  And yet, even though the moon has only grown full twice since our Chromebooks have been deployed, the future of education is already becoming the present for Shelby County.

Have Comments about blended and/or personalized learning?  Please share below.

Edtech Share Fair 2015

There are two things I can say about March.  One is that it has been extremely busy...KySTE and the snowmaggedon.....ASCD in Houston....and last but not least, our first ever Edtech Share Fair.   The second thing I can say about March is that I have way too many "Post-.... Wrapup" entries.  So just to be contrary, I'm just calling this one "Edtech Share Fair 2015."  I know, I know.....the educational world is trembling at my non-conformity.

The Share Fair story lends itself well to pictures and tweets; more on that in a moment.  I will say how extremely pleased I was at the turnout (over 50 attendees, including visitors from Henry and Nelson County!), the modern facility (the newly christened Blair Center next to Southside Elementary) and of course, the presenters themselves.  All nine deserve acclaim, so I'll list them now: Makenzi Hunter, Mindi Keiner-Rummel, Maddie Meyer, Adam Hicks, Lindsay Ricke, Karen Falkenstine, James Wampler, Bart Roettger, and Eric Miracle.  (Congrats also to Adam Hicks and Lindsay Ricke for just being named Teachers of the Year at their schools!)  We were also fortunate enough to get written up in our local newspaper, The Sentinel News. The article by Ashley Wilkins is here.

From the website.  Grab a copy on the newsstand today!

I run the risk of sounding like an Oscar speech, but I want to publicly thank several people that made the Edtech Share Fair a success.  I was blessed with the support of our superintendent James Neihof and deputy superintendent Lisa Smith, who encouraged me to run with the idea and think as big as possible.  Our CIO Tommy Hurt and his IT team made sure the tech was in place to ooh and ahhh the crowd.  Our staff developer Lora Shields helped out behind the scenes and at our Share Fair check-in desk, making sure everything went smooth.  Our Instructional Coaches worked tirelessly these last few months, from getting teachers to put in a presentation proposals to getting attendees to the event; in particular, a huge shoutout to Fox DeMoisey, Maggie Terry, and Robyn Marcum for being part of our Share Fair committee who sifted through proposals, gave good advice, and were there to help as the event was running.   Last but not least, thank you to anyone that came. Without an audience, the presenters would have had a looooong afternoon staring at each other.  I truly hoped you had good takeaways!

And now the promised tweets and pictures!  I put together a Storify that captures the event well.

Did you go to the Share Fair?  Feel free to leave your Comments about the event below.

Post-KySTE 2015 Wrapup

It's a week of transitions and reflections here at Edtech Elixirs.  Yesterday, Shelby County kicked off its Thinking Strategies Institute, being held at our brand new Learning Center (the same site where our March 26 Edtech Share Fair will be held . . . hint hint, plug plug).  Today marks my last day at Wright Elementary, and I begin my embedded stay at Heritage Elementary tomorrow.   And last but not least, I have a chance to catch my breath and reflect on last week's KySTE 2015 conference.

As always, the conference was full of affirmation, inspiration, and new edtech tools, and I'd like to share some of it with you.  The following is not meant to cover every beat of every session I attended, but simply a highlight of memorable moments and tools.

Wednesday, March 4
Last month, I had the pleasure of visiting Thomas Nelson High School and learning about their fantastic school culture and staff-wide deep use of Google Drive from Wes Bradley (principal) and Heather Warrell.  (It tells you a lot about Heather and TNHS when you find out her title is "Vice Principal of School Culture and Instruction.")   On KySTE's opening day, Heather had a session about the various innovations of her school. Although I already knew many of the technical ways TNHS is excelling and impacting learning, I still learned new facets at Heather's session.  For example, when the school opened three years ago, they decided not to buy any filing cabinets for teacher classrooms.  The reason was twofold: to encourage teachers to start fresh and not use the same lesson plans from years ago, and to embrace Google Drive as a digital repository, sharing and creation space.  (The integrated use of Google Drive at TNHS is remarkably dense; to take just one example, teachers create lesson plans in Google Slides saved in department shared folders, which can be commented on and viewed in real time by administrators, and are actually presented by the teachers to classes of students for "Scholar Starters," share agendas, and a guide through the day's activities.)   Heather and Wes encourage their staff to #flycloser to the sun -- to dare to dream and not be afraid of lofty goals.  Their academic performance reflects their passion; their composite ACT average has grown from 18.6 to 20.9 in just three years. But their culture is more than scores.  Every Friday they take time at a faculty meeting to celebrate staff accomplishments for the week; college acceptance letters adorn hallways; astronaut pictures (often with teachers' faces Photoshopped in) and aircraft carrier murals make the launching of learning obvious and inevitable.  In short, Thomas Nelson is a fantastic place and worth a visit if you can make it.  If you do, say hi to their purple cow!

Leslie Fisher shared new Web 2.0 tools.  I learned of a few sites I had not heard about before. Quizizz is a formative assessment tool that is similar in flashy style to Kahoot but with one important distinction: the question and answer choices are pushed directly to the device, so a projector is not necessary.   Publicly shared quizzes are available or you can create your own, and reports of student results can be exported.  Screenleap allows you to easily share your screen with others for free; students would only need your "share code" to see your broadcast. Educators can get up to 2 hours a day at no charge, but the free account is limited to sharing with 8 students at once.  (For $15 a month, you can broadcast up to 8 hours and share with 30 students.)

Another @lesliefisher tool is Screenleap. 2 hours a day per device free! #kyste15 pic.twitter.com/rp66Jg6jot
— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) March 4, 2015

Leslie also pointed out that TodaysMeet now has "Teacher Tools" for $5 a month that puts teacher's posts in a chat room at the top (easier for students to see and follow), and allows password protected chats.

Bret Foster is the CIO of Anderson County, and he discussed the recent upgrades of the school libraries of his district.   (Read the Kentucky Teacher article about the county's renovations.) His goal is to make the library used by students all of the time.  Bret shared a tip to make more space: run a report on checkouts, and donate any books that have not been checked out in five years.  After one of his libraries did this report, they gave away 65% of their books!  Many of the upgrades were inexpensive, like making the tops of some tables dry erase boards by installing shower wall, and adding casters to table legs to make them easy to move for collaboration. In the future, the libraries plan to house their own Minecraft servers for students to locally and privately build their own virtual worlds.   Bret's session really made me think on how we use (and misuse) learning space.

Per @bretfoster directions, here are my thoughts on how school space can be misused. #kyste15 #cocktailnapkinthinking pic.twitter.com/KHxxLNJDf6
— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) March 4, 2015

Thursday, March 5
Well, there was this little snowstorm that happened.  Maybe you saw something about it on the news.  I was desperate not to miss sessions as well as scheduled to present one of my own, so I dug out the driveway and backed out into the street . . . where I immediately got stuck and needed neighbors just to push my car back into the garage.

So I tried to temper my disappointment by participating in the marathon 24 hours of #KyEdChat, a side event to the KySTE conference.  After being a participant, I was the moderator later that night on the topic of augmented reality tools, and I was very grateful for the co-moderation help of Jennifer Cox.  It was exhilarating, exhausting, and fun!  We were also extremely thankful that a separate group of Indiana educators joined us who usually use the hashtag #INeLearn.  The party responsible for reaching out across the river is Michelle Green, who was fantastic enough to archive our chat as a Storify here.

Friday, March 6
Half of my final day of KySTE was spent being a presenter.  First, I was able to host my augmented reality tools presentation after all, thanks to someone else having to cancel their session.  Secondly, I took part with a group (Tommy Hurt and Susie Burkhardt) to discuss Shelby County's tech initiative and how the construction of Southside Elementary fits our 21st century goals.

I also sat in on a session by KDE's Marty Park, who shared some of the basics of how to set up Google Apps for Education (GAFE) / Google Classroom with our network sign-in structures.  (For the slides and other resources from his sessions, Marty created a special page for KySTE 2015 on his website.)

Last but not least, what visit to KySTE would be complete without going to at least one session of Donnie Piercey, the Google certified educator and eminent Eminence educator?  He focused on tips and tricks of Google (a well as other useful sites) that were geared toward the K-5 crowd.  I encourage you to check out Donnie's Google doc with more, but here are my top five of his shares:

• If you type an equation into Google's search box, you can not only get the answer, but an interactive calculator will appear.  (You can just Google "google calculator" as well.) Google can even recognize order of operations and do higher math functions like an area of a rectangle or plotting a line graph.
• Do you have a class economy with cash, salaries, and jobs...but hate keeping up with the paperwork and the photocopied currency?  Mykidsbank.org can create a virtual economy for free for up to 50 students.
• In a Google document, you can Insert > Image > Take a Snapshot and use your webcam to take a picture.  Donnie gave an example of students answering a math problem in a shared doc, but if you want them to "show their work," have them take a snapshot of their pencil-and-paper computations.
• Peanut Gallery Films uses your spoken text and incorporates it as titles in a silent movie.  The final short film can be shared via URL.  Perhaps you can use it for teacher reminders (they would have more fun hearing about a project deadline if a movie is telling them), or for students to do short captures of their understanding ("What did you learn today?" "What was the key facts from today's content?").
• I knew that Google was archiving thousands of newspapers for accessing online.  (Reminds me of my student days in high school when I went to the library to look at microfiche.)  However, I didn't know this trick: after you find an article, click on "Link to Article" on the right.  Next, click on a headline, and you will get a URL you can share that will take students straight to that newspaper article.

I look forward to KySTE 2016.  Except this time, there better be no snow.

If you attended KySTE this year, share your thoughts below in Comments!  What were some of your favorite sessions?  What new tool are you excited to try out?

KySTE and our first Edtech Share Fair!

As I desperately try to thaw out, I look ahead to March, which will bring warmer weather and some busy times with it.  Today I want to highlight two events that happen next month, KySTE's spring regional edtech conference and our inaugural Shelby County Edtech Share Fair.

(Quick side note:  both of these events are on Watson's World under the "District PD Opportunities" page.  I update this page periodically.  Here's a link.)

KySTE

KySTE is the local regional chapter of ISTE.   Every spring at the Galt House in downtown Louisville, KySTE hosts the largest Kentuckiana edtech conference of the year.  I have had the privilege of attending as well as presenting at the conference several times.

This year's March 4-6 conference theme is "Welcome to the Future."  I am attending all three days and presenting at two sessions: one on augmented reality (Thursday, March 5, 10:30 am, Coe Room) and another about the construction of Southside Elementary (Friday, March 6, 10:30 am, Coe Room).  Southside just opened in August 2014 and features some of the most sophisticated intelligent classrooms in the district. The Southside presentation will be a group effort, and features Tommy Hurt (Shelby CIO), Kerry Whitehouse (Assistant Superintendent of Operations), and Susie Burkhardt (principal of Southside).  Several Shelby County instructional coaches and teachers are attending the conference as well, and I can't wait for us to share what we will discover at the sessions.

For a list of #KySTE15 session topics, click here.

Edtech Share Fair

This week, we began to officially beat the drums for our first ever Edtech Share Fair on Thursday, March 26 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm at the district's new Learning Center next to Southside Elementary.   I'll share our "press release" with links to more information; I will embed our Smore flyer and our ThingLink page underneath.

Be sure to get your tickets ASAP!

Step right up, step right up!  Our inaugural Edtech Share Fair is coming to the new Learning Center at Southside Elementary on March 26, 2015, 4:00 to 5:30 pm.  Nine teachers from around the district (elementary, middle and high school in several different content areas) will set up their “station booths” and give short presentations on various tools, as well as lead mini-discussions with audience members.  Hear how they have integrated their edtech into their classrooms and impacted student learning, while getting a chance to visit our newest district space.

But this is no typical PD!  With Adam Watson as your carnival barker, be prepared to rotate through only the stations you select in the order that you want.   There may even be some popcorn on this midway of learning.  So come one, come all!  Help make our first Edtech Share Fair a success!

To get your FREE ticket, please visit our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/edtech-share-fair-spring-2015-tickets-15803660173

To take a virtual tour of our Edtech Share Fair, explore this Thinglink page: http://www.thinglink.com/scene/626833573361483778

For a Edtech Share Fair FAQ and a preview of the nine presenters and their tools, see this Smore flyer:  https://www.smore.com/dgk17

Be sure to follow our event hashtag: #scsharefair   twitter.com/hashtag/SCsharefair

Lenovo Yoga: fixing your audio for HDMI connection

The new Southside Elementary, which just opened in August 2014, is unique in our district when it comes to technology.  As they built the school, they made sure that input plates to the new projectors reflected current standards.  Therefore, one of the ways you can hook up to the projector is via HDMI.

Yesterday, as I was preparing for some PD I will have here on Feb. 13 (topics include Google Forms, Augmented Reality, and SMART Board power tips), I plugged in my Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga device to a SMART board.  First, in order for the SMART Board to work as a touchscreen and use the Notebook '11 software, you need to plug the Yoga via a USB cord to the input plate.  Here's the first hurdle: you need to use the USB on the RIGHT side of the Yoga or you will get an error message.  Next, you need the display to show up on the screen. The Lenovo Yoga has a mini-HDMI port on the right side, whereas the wall plate has a normal size HDMI input.  This leads us to the second hurdle: make sure you pick up a mini-HDMI to regular size HDMI cord (one online store with good prices is here).

Now, I got the display on the screen, and the SMART board's touch capability was working fine.   However, I could not get my sound to come through the room's speakers!  So that leads us to the final hurdle: you need to update your Lenovo's drivers to get both video AND audio to output via your HDMI cable.

1. Go to the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga driver website.
2. Look for the "Conextant CX20751 Audio Driver for Windows 8.1 (64 bit)" (see picture below).
3. Download and install the driver.  This will take a few minutes and require a restart of the Lenovo Yoga.
4. After a successful installation, there is nothing you should have to do; when your HDMI is hooked to a display, both video and audio should automatically work.

Two final thoughts before I end this entry:

• If you are having other issues with your Lenovo, check out some previous Edtech Elixirs entries.
• The driver fix above will need to be done regardless of what display device your Lenovo Yoga is hooked up to via HDMI.  For example, if you plug it up to your HDTV, you still need to update the driver or the sound will not come through the TV's speakers.

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: Maddie Meyer, SSE

Today's #ShelbyTUITshoutout is a throwback to my previous embedded school, Southside Elementary.   After last Thursday night's open house, kudos must be given to fifth grade teacher Maddie Meyer.

Before we get to what Maddie did at open house, a little background. When it comes to technology, she is not afraid to jump in with both feet.  For example, she learned about Kahoot from PD I presented before school began, and set up a quiz with students within the first few weeks of class.  (They were excited and definitely engaged!) At another PD of mine, she heard of Educanon, and when I observed her classroom, she tried it out. She hit a bit of a technical snag getting the video to stream, and here is where she won my admiration; without missing a beat, she switched to an "analog" version of the lesson (she read a book aloud and stopped periodically to question students).  By the end of the literacy timeframe, Educanon was up and running and she continued with the planned edtech.  It's a marvelous example of dealing with the reality of our 21st century classrooms.  We will occasionally hit a tech snag (a computer glitch, a network hiccup), but we don't have to let that rattle us -- give us four walls and a voice, and we can teach! -- and we cannot ignore the power of edtech by giving up either.  We just have to develop our "tech grit," push through, and try, try again.

Back to Maddie's open house. I discussed Flipgrid in a previous PD (and a post), and she wanted to use it in a unique way with her students.  Ms. Meyer created a Flipgrid for her students to record video responses: "Our 'class technology supervisor' [used an iPad and] handled the taping of all of our video responses, and the students got to see their responses live the next day." (Another student taking a leadership tech role!)  In the videos, students spoke about what they had learned in social studies so far this year. For open house, parents were given access to the Flipgrid so they could watch their child (and others) speak about their learning with their own voices.  According to Ms. Meyer, parents were impressed. "Parents were excited to see Southside’s new technology go to good use - student use!"

I briefly interviewed Maddie about Flipgrid and her plans for edtech.

Using Flipgrid for open house was pretty inventive!  How do you see using Flipgrid in the future?

I will be using FlipGrid in the future as a study tool -- my students can record responses as to what they’ve learned in class, and have access to the grids so they can watch and re-watch their videos!

What other edtech tools would you like to try with your students?

I can't wait to try BuildWithChrome.  I can already tell you that my students will be building Jamestown with this software as soon as we begin our unit on colonization.  I’m really counting on my Minecraft junkies to step up and teach everyone the ropes! We'll also be using Aurasma  during our first science unit.

Maddie Meyer, a well-deserved #ShelbyTUITshoutout for you!

Last day at Southside

My embedded tenure at Southside ends with a library tiger stealing my MacBook Air.

I will miss our embedded time together, @tigernewsSCPS. But I will return and visit, I promise! pic.twitter.com/sc4lI5541e
— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) September 5, 2014

Thank you to all the wonderful faculty and staff at SSE who opened their classroom doors to me, made me feel right at home these past weeks, and was patient as I did my first runs of presentations and observations.  Special shoutout to Ms. Burkhardt, who was not only a kind colleague but a great sounding board and partner in configuring how a coach embedded for a limited time at a school might work.

And my journey continues.  Next stop on Tuesday: Collins!

TUIT: Makenzi Hunter, SSE

When I asked several Southside staff members for a SSE teacher that comes to mind when you think edtech, the name Makenzi Hunter (@makenzihunter) came up repeatedly.  That perfectly corresponds to her peers recognizing her as the 2013-2014 Southside Teacher of the Year.  I interviewed Makenzi about her use of edtech.

Welcome to Edtech Elixirs!  Please introduce yourself to our blog readers.  

My name is Makenzi Hunter and I teach visual art to K-5 students at Southside. I am beginning my 4th year of teaching. I first learned of integrating education and technology in graduate classes at UofL. I was introduced to Prezi as a graduate class assignment and continued my own exploration after that.

How have you used your document camera to create a blended learning environment in your classroom?

In my classroom, the document camera is essential in preparing for instruction. Most of our projects are divided into 3 or 4 class periods. I use the document camera to record myself creating the artwork required for each class period. I play the video while introducing the lesson and it remains on while students are working to serve as a continuous model.

I heard you have used Aurasma, which is an Augmented Reality (AR) iOS/Android app.  Tell us about it.

The SSE related arts team was looking for an engaging way to present one of the Seven Habits of Leader in Me to the staff. The music teacher, Erin Jump, read about the app Aurasma and brought it to the group. Each of us created an Aurasma profile, recorded a video discussing part of the habit and uploaded it. We asked the staff members to bring their device to the meeting and download the app. Staff members were then able to walk around the halls, point their device at the prepared document [which triggers the video to play], and learn about the habit at their own pace.

What other edtech tools are some of your favorites?

I use Socrative as an assessment tool, SafeShare.TV for showing videos from YouTube and Evernote as an organization tool.

How important is it for an art teacher to integrate technology?

I feel that being an art teacher requires the use of technology. My students will only learn so much from the limited knowledge and experiences I have to offer, so I feel that it is my obligation to expose them to far more than that. I want to offer students the opportunity to visit a museum online,  converse with an artist through Skype, leave feedback for one another on a digital platform and document their experience through the use of technology.

What tools have you heard about recently that you are wanting to try out for the first time?

I am interested in trying Flipgrid as a tool to gather student feedback and Nearpod as a way to have more interactive instruction.

Any advice you would like to share with other teachers wanting to integrate edtech?

My advice to teachers wanting to integrate technology would be to only try one thing at a time. Full integration lends itself to trial and error which can be frustrating. Choose one tool that blends well with your current style of teaching and give it a try.

I want to thank Ms. Hunter for graciously giving her time.  She definitely deserves a #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

Odds and Ends: TUIT, TodaysMeet, Outlook Popups, Bulb Life, AppleTV Snoozing

I'm nearly at the end of my embedded initial stay here at Southside Elementary.  As the time whittles down at this wonderful school, here are some odds and ends.

Let's start out today with a #ShelbyTUITshoutout to Southside's Sarah Gregory!  During a drop-in yesterday, Ms. Gregory had her third graders posting questions via iPads in a TodaysMeet room.   Great way to integrate discussion strategies with technology!

Sarah Gregory from @tigernewsSCPS using @TodaysMeet on iPads with 3rd graders! @shelbycountysch #ShelbyTUITshoutout pic.twitter.com/XZPaiOqlPL
— Adam Watson (@watsonedtech) September 2, 2014

TodaysMeet is a popular and free "backchanneling" tool. Teachers can create a chat room for just an hour or have it open up to a year.  Students enter the room, give their name, and can begin replying to each other and the teacher.  Once finished, you can print out a transcript of the entire session.  It can be a useful way of making discussion more equitable and getting participation from all members, particularly if paired with a rubric and stated expectations of quantity and quality.  I particularly loved using it while watching videos; students were much more engaged, practiced their visual literacy skills in a way I could observe and assess, and I could quickly answer questions and probe students to think deeper without ever hitting pause.  Over the summer, TodaysMeet did a major upgrade.  Now teachers can create an account where their created rooms are "saved" under their profile.  Among other new features are moderation tools, such as the ability to delete specific posts. I highly recommend TodaysMeet, and for some different ways you could use it in a classroom, read this article.

Moving on!  I have three quick edtech tips today:

• By default in Outlook, new emails and alerts will pop up on your screen.  However, when using a computer that is projecting to a screen, you are unintentionally sharing that parent's email,  child's medical information, IEP meeting requests, etc. with other students.  For MacBook Airs, turn off the popups by opening Outlook program, go to Outlook (next to Apple icon at top left of screen), Preferences, Notifications & Sounds, and uncheck mark the box for "Display an Alert on my Desktop."
• Nothing taxes a projector bulb more than leaving it on a blue screen for hours, or worse, overnight.  Bulb replacement is a major expense for a technology budget. If you are going to not be projecting for a long period of time, please turn the projectors off.  At Southside Elementary, we have two projectors in each room (SMARTBoard and secondary ceiling) that unfortunately work by the same remote.  If both come on but you only want to use one, use your body as a shield: turn your back to the projector you want to keep on, point the clicker to the projector you want off (I hold the remote clutched to my chest, like I have T-Rex arms), and turn it off.
• Some teachers have reported problems with their AppleTV, but it's just asleep.  Look for a small white light that indicates it's awake, if you can see it (sometimes the SCPS sticker is over it). If not (or you're not sure), press any button on the AppleTV remote to wake it up.  If your AppleTV is on but you don't see your room number come up for AirPlay, try resetting the device: go to Settings, General, Restart.

I'll be posting an interview with SSE's Teacher of the Year by the end of the week!

TUIT: Brandon Clark, SSE

As I've said in a previous post, Southside Elementary is in a brand new building, and inside is a host of sparkling new technology.  The installation process of intelligent classrooms is finally complete, and as district personnel go through room by room to make sure everything works as advertised, teachers are just now beginning to let the edtech rip.

While on that upswing, today I observed Brandon Clark, a second grade teacher here at Southside.  There are great edtech educators here, but the totality of the way Brandon integrates tech into learning (and in particular, uses the tool I will describe below) warrants him a #ShelbyTUITshoutout!

When I entered his room, I first noticed a learning objective projected on his SMARTboard, which made the focus of the lesson clear.  His students were doing station work.  Some were "analog": reading print books silently, reading a print book aloud to a partner, writing a response in their composition notebooks.  But others worked digitally.  A group sat on the floor around the teacher's MacBook Air, watching a story video play while listening through wireless headphones.  And then, the wow moment happened.

I noticed the room's second projector had the class's ClassDojo site up.  (More about ClassDojo in a moment.)  Clearly a computer was AirPlaying to the projector's AppleTV, but I couldn't figure out where.  So I asked Brandon.

"Oh, it's from an iPad," he said, motioning me to a table.  An iPad sat in front of a second-grader.  She was reading a print book in her hand, and occasionally looking around, then down, touching the screen. "She's our Dojo Accountant for the week and helps us keep track and assigns points."

What?  I was admittedly dumbfounded.  What a wonderful leadership opportunity for a student!  What a way to make technology (literally) be on all sides of a classroom! And did I already mention this was a class of second graders??

To top it off, Brandon and I talked about the newly installed 3D document camera that he's already used in class.

Mr. Clark, you deserve your #ShelbyTUITshoutout!  Keep pushing the envelope of integrated edtech.

*****
What is ClassDojo?  Basically, it's a digital way to track behaviors, actions and attitudes of students.  Besides a site, it's also available as an app.  Students are given colorful, cartoony avatars and the teacher (or a Dojo Accountant!) gives or takes points away.  Areas of assessment include Curiosity, Taking a Risk, or Teamwork.  Point distribution is saved, progress can be tracked individually or as a whole class, and results can easily be shared with parents.  The reward for students is cashing in their points for upgrades determined by the teacher, such as changing their avatar or a real-world gift such as having lunch with the teacher.  I can't say I've personally seen its use in high school, but it's a favorite among elementary and middle school teachers.

ClassDojo has been around for years, but you haven't checked it out recently, give it a look.  A recent upgrade is a separate iOS app that works parallel with it: ClassDojo Messenger.  You can communicate in real-time, even sending pictures or a voice message.  (Through the site, you can also send parents attachments of other files.) You can also broadcast a note to all parents.  You cannot send a message to a student, or teacher to teacher. A nifty extra is the ability to see when parents read the message. In fact, the ClassDojo Messenger App can work by itself without setting up a class on the site.

TeacherCast recently interviewed ClassDojo to talk about their app, and the last three minutes of the clip covers other new changes with their site.  The video is embedded below.

Do you use ClassDojo and/or their message app?  What age level?  What do you think of the site?  Be sure to leave your comments below.

FlipGrid

Sara Kajder (@skajder) is an educator and author.  Back in my U of L college days, I was fortunate enough to have Dr. Kajder as one of my education professors.  Web 2.0 was in its infancy, but Sara impressed me with her ability to integrate literacy with (what was then brand new!) edtech.

Recently, Dr. Kajder reached out on Facebook to her teacher Friends and asked them to share how they plan their classes, for the benefit of her pre-teaching students.  The way she did so, however, introduced a new tool to my toolbelt: FlipGrid.

How does it work?  A teacher sets up an account and creates a Grid (think of it as a class, section or period).  For each Grid, you can create Questions to pose to your students.  For each Question, the students record a video Response up to 90 seconds in length, which is uploaded to the site; students can also view the Responses of others.   Each Question has its own sharable unique URL. You can create as many Questions per Grid as you want, and there is no limit to the amount of Responses you can post.

After a Prezi on flipped and blended learning, I created my own FlipGrid and asked teachers to share a tool they planned to try out in the classroom.  (Kara Clark of Southside Elementary was the first to respond to the Question!)

The interface is one of the simplest I've seen.  No student accounts or logins are necessary; just go to the Question's link.  Click on the plus sign, and once you give the site permission to use your webcam and mike, you can be recording in seconds. A timer counts down your 90 seconds as you record, and you keep doing it over until you are happy with the end result.

How could you use it?  As I showed with Dr. Kajder and myself, getting a different kind of feedback for PD, and create sharing across a school or district, could be a new way of  interacting with teachers. This is a fantastic and engaging way to get feedback from your students -- ALL students.  You know the one that won't pick up a pencil?  Or an exceptional child that has difficulty typing? Or an ELL student that is perhaps shy to share out loud in class?  Perhaps a discussion starts on FlipGrid, and continues in the classroom. Or have students watch at least two other responses and uptake what was said by posting on an online forum.  For flipped classrooms, students could watch your content on YouTube or a TED talk and their FlipGrid response is the accountability piece to make sure they did the outside classwork.

Downsides?  On my MacBook Air, I found that FlipGrid worked best with Safari.  (I could not record in Chrome.)  I tried to access a FlipGrid Question with my Android smartphone via a Firefox browser; I could watch Responses but I could not record one. According to their FAQ, there is an iPad app, with iPhone and Android apps in the works for 2015.  Responders will therefore need an iPad or a webcam and mike for desktop computers (any recent laptop will have both built in).  You can get a 21 day free trial to try it out, but afterwards it is $65 a year.  You are limited to 5 Grids during your 21 day trial, and 10 Grids on the K-12 paid account.   The Questions (and therefore, the video Responses) are not truly private, since anyone with the link can access, so I recommend getting permissions from parents, especially from those under 13.

Give FlipGrid a try, and if you do, please share your experience in the comments below.

[Update 5/3/17: Flipgrid now offers a limited free single grid option for teachers, Flipgrid One.  Be sure to visit their site for the latest price structures and options.]

First Day at Southside, and an AirPlay tip

I hope everyone in Shelby County (and any of our surrounding district friends on the same calendar) had a great first day with students!  Today was not just one, but two "firsts" for me.  Not only have I never "opened" a new school, but except for my own personal trip taking my oldest daughter to kindergarten five years ago, I've never had an objective opportunity to see young students actually approaching a classroom for their very first official day of school.

Let's begin by talking about the brand new Southside Elementary (SSE) building.  Yes, there is still some finishing touches to be completed, such as the gym, playground and landscaping, but inside the building it is beautiful and already humming like a well-oiled engine.  And this staff has such passion and grace.  As you can tell from open house on Monday night. . .

Let the learning begin! Southside staff is ready to ROAR! Open House is going great! pic.twitter.com/nSss6wEPpQ
— Southside Tigers (@tigernewsSCPS) August 11, 2014

 And speaking of the teachers, that's a nice segue into my other "first."  What a wonderful privilege it was to see the kindergarten teachers compassionately soothe the tears (of a few children, but also more than a few parents!) of the people approaching their doors.  Imagine the awe-inspiring moment!  The next crucial twelve years of their lives began today.  With a simple stuffed animal or gentle encouragement, I saw time and again a Southside teacher coax the uncoaxable from a hallway of doubt into a classroom of confidence.  I'm not ashamed to say I got a bit misty watching it myself.  And yes, I think about my youngest daughter making the same first day trip a few years from now.  Time doth fly.

Moving on to some edtech.  At SSE, we are working through some new building jitters of the MacBook Airs playing nice with our state network.  The good news is, we are not alone in the state, and Apple reps are aware and working behind the scenes with our own wonderful IT staff to help fix things.  (If anyone else in Kentucky or elsewhere is having issues, please comment below or tweet me!)  In some cases, the issues are related to having the correct settings in the device.  So let me end this blog post with a tip on putting out one of these fires:  getting AirPlay to correctly display in real time what is on your MacBook Air.

If the projector screen you are AirPlaying to looks "off" or doesn't display what your MacBook Air device screen looks like, check the following:

1. After turning on AirPlay, go to System Preferences (the grey gears icon, usually in the bottom dock).
2.  Click Display.
3.  Check the middle "tab," Arrangements.  Make sure "Mirror Displays" is checkmarked.  If that fixes things, great! If not...
4.  Under the tab Display, see if "Built In Display" is chosen.  If not, do so and see if that fixes the issue.
5.  Sometimes, when all else fails, restart the MacBook Air and restart the AppleTV (if you must, unplug the power cord of the AppleTV, wait 5-10 seconds, and plug it back in to force a reboot).  When everything loads back up and you see the AppleTV default screen on the projector, try AirPlaying again and see if it works correctly.

And with Day Two tomorrow, our edtech journey of 2014-2015 continues!