This time of the year brings some definite challenges.  Students start getting restless, traffic gets a lot heavier, and people start asking me "What do you want for Christmas?"  This year, to help out the teacher looking to add to their toolbet, this list of tech tools and resources will certainly cover all the bases.  While we know that students who are loved and cared for, along with good pedagogy, is our biggest wish, we hope you enjoy our favorites for 2014.

The HP 14 is a reliable and sturdy option for the teacher who is looking for the ultimate in battery life and portability without compromising any of the screen size.  While our students have them in white, we would recommend getting the black version to ease the cleaning of fingerprints and any errant smudges that may occur.  Either way you go on the color, the boot time, processing speed, and overall enjoyability of the HP 14 will leave you dashing through the snow... errrr classroom.

While the price may fluctuate on Amazon's site, this is a must-have for any techie teacher looking to get into media production.  There are a multitude of recording options depending on the type of sound that needs to be captured.  Are you doing a 1 on 1 interview?  Perfect, there's a setting for that.  Are you doing a screencast that is you flying solo?  Perfect, there's a setting for that.  Are you recording your classroom instruction to review and post it online?  You get the point.  The user's manual is a great teammate on this one for those who are not as fluent in the audio recording world (like us), getting you up to speend and sounding right in a flash.

The look of the Yeti makes it seem like you're the real deal, and you will feel like it soon after using USB input hooked right into your compter to record the sounds of the season, whatever they may be.  

Have you ever wondered how all of those incredible videos get created?  No, not Transformers 2 and Hunger Games!  I'm talking about the videos that teachers and schools everywhere are creating on a daily basis to support students.  Camtasia is one of those products that truly helps you understand video editing while letting you take control of what gets done.  Add layers of content, include multiple videos on one screen, highlight your cursor, and so much more.  Without a doubt, Camtasia is worth every penny of your hard earned money.  On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner, on Blitzen, all the way over to Techsmith to get your very own copy of the best video editing and content creation program available!

There is no need to ask you the question "Have you ever run out of battery halfway through the day with no outlet?" because we all know the answer.  A lot of companies have phone boosts, giving you an extra charge using a small power pack and utilizing your device's current power cord.  The PowerStick+ is a great option because it shows you the level of charge that it can offer at any given time.  If you would like to step up your game, you can add 8GB or 16GB of memory to the stick and it doubles as a flash drive.  Just wait until you're hanging out by the egg nog cooler, having a conversation about 4th period, and charging your phone or tablet all at once.  How many reindeer can say they do that? That's right - just you.

Many school districts are having an issue with Apple's Bonjour program not allowing the iPad to communicate directly with an Apple TV, Reflector, or Airserver (whch are all great ways to toss your iPad onto the screen, figuratively).  Doceri is a program that allows your iPad to serve as a controller for your desktop computer.  Navigate your slideshows and presentations, open documents, and type into your documents from anywhere in the classroom.  The fun features come in when you get into annotation mode, which allows the user to mark up documents, use custom backgrounds, screencast, and scrub the timeline to build lessons that can automatically play back in various speeds. This is truly a great tool for the techie teacher in your gingerbread house.

One of the toughest transitions to an iPad is learning how to write on it.  Use your finger? NO WAY!  Use that cheap squishy stylus you got at a conference for free?  PUHLEEEEASE!  The Adonit Jot Pro is an outstanding choice if you are willing to spend a little bit more for a high quality writing experience.  The initial concern was about the plastic disc separating the metal tip from a very expensive sheet of iPad glass, but it has yet to be an issue from anyone that we have heard using it.  Any stylus will take some getting used to, and the Adonit Jot Pro will have the best learning curve.  He's making a list, checking it twice, making sure he uses an Adonit Jot Pro while doing so.

You need to protect your investment, but it's not as simple as that.  Using your iPad as a classroom instruction tool has been a revolutionary wave that has completely revamped how we look at teaching, but we don't want to carry around something that weighs 6 pounds and is awkward to hold for 5 (or more!) periods a day.  Introduce the Educator by Maxcases and you have your solution.  With a sleeve for your hand, it is comfortable and simple to carry.  It is light, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!  There is a feature allows you to spin the iPad with your hand in the sleeve, creating the best angle for you to hold your iPad up to you. Imagine caroling with your friends all FA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LAAAAA with your new case. Plus, you can't beat their customer service.

When is the last time you were sent a PDF and asked to sign and return it?  Here's the old way: open it, print it, sign it, then figure out a way to send it (don't even get us started on finding a way to fax over documents).  How about a newer, more efficient way of writing on documents, whether they're PDF or not?  This is what we love about iAnnotate.  It makes for a smooth and efficient method of writing on any document and, to add to it, exporting the annotated version is a breeze.  The pricetag will scare many teachers away, but think about the time and resources it takes to print and send files.  iAnnotatePDF is an app that you will not regret spending all that new coal from your stocking on.

So you have an iPad or an Android tablet and now you want to do screencasting or use it as an instructional whiteboarding tool.  This is a basic and essential feature of any mobile device that you have in your classroom.  There are quite a few free whiteboarding apps out there, yet none of them can do everything that Explain Everything does.  One of the newer features is the ability to go back in your recording and make edits.  This means that you have a simplified video editor built into the app itself.  Not just that, but you can also import video, files from Dropbox and Google Drive, export directly to YouTube, and a sleigh full of other incredible options.

Do you have something that is missing from our list but absolutely needs to be on here?  Give us a holler on Twitter or toss us an email and we will mull it over in Santa's workshop.  Happy Holidays!

Ever had that idea that you just couldn't shake?  You know, the one where you put an ice cream cone in a waffle maker?  Maybe the one where you put wheels on the bottom of shoes?  See, you're not inventing something new.  In fact, there's a good chance that it will never take off.  Then again, it might just turn into the next revolution in that market.  Well, a long, long time ago, there was this dream about being able to interact with videos.  It was more than just cool - it was amazing.

So I had this idea and it was a surefire winner.  No doubt about it, people were going to love it.  The only problem was that I didn't know how to program, couldn't build a website, and had no idea what to do with video.  Before I knew it, the idea had faded into another useless thought along with a phone that could search the Internet.

Fortunately, people much smarter than me had a similar dream and were actually smart enough to make something of it.  TouchCast, a free app on the iPad, allows users to create interactive videos.  Yes, INTERACTIVE VIDEOS!  Through the use of what they are calling "vApps", or virtual apps, the creator of the video can embed web links, images, polls, quotes, maps, whiteboard, annotations, and so much more.  That in itself is impressive, but it gets better.  If the viewer is accessing the link through the TouchCast site, they can actually press on the vApps and they swap screens with the recording while it is still playing.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we call impressive.  No, this is what we call mind-blowing. Below is a sample that I threw together for my class as a way to try it out for the flipped classroom.

The bottom line is that we are moving into a digital age in which the video and reality as we know it are evolving into more interaction, more manipulation, and more of the personalization that creates the best possible learning environment for our students.  I am excited to see what the future holds for TouchCast and whoever else decides to steal my ideas.

For any help or ideas in implementing TouchCast into your curriculum, feel free to contact me or find me on Twitter.

On our way to the gym, we started a conversation about how to review for the upcoming CST (state test).  We were planning on doing the same old stuff that pretends to get our kids ready for the test.  Unfortunately, this is what it's come down to.  Since our schools (and district) are in program improvement, we are whittled down to the necessity of preparing our students for filling in 65 bubbles to prove that they are worthy of treading forward into the next laborious adventure in life.  Instead of making it boring, we rebelled.  Here's how it went down.

Mr. Rivera (R): Stevens, what are you doing for review?

Mr. Stevens (S): Man, I don't know. I'm thinking of having students create something on their devices, maybe a website or a presentation.

R: That sounds good. What do you think about doing a competition between our classes?  

S: That would be legit.  I like the idea, but how are we going to do that?  What about doing something on TodaysMeet?  We could have the classes put in their answers for time.  Maybe we could use Skype? I've seen some folks on Twitter setting up chats with other classes around the globe.  

R: I like the competition, but it would be cool to see the screens as well. How about using Google Hangout?  We could use the Reflector app, project our iPads for the groups competing, then the class would see their competition as they're working and we could pin them against each other.

S: Dude!  That works.  Since it's March, do you want to do a little "March Madness" style bracket where we take our best 8 groups versus your best 8?  

R: Perfect. The winner could get a prize, like a dinner paid for by us. You in?

S: Done. Let's do this

Once we had our idea, we went to the gym and worked up our competitive edge before we ironed out all of the semantics.  All of this was great in theory, but there were a lot of moving parts that needed to get taken care of.  For instance, what would happen as one group competed and the other 17 groups didn't?  What would we do if the connection dropped?  How are we going to line up the competition when our class schedules aren't in sync (not to be confused with N'Sync)?  What do we do if one class dominates the other?  There were just a lot of things that could go awry and we needed to plan for as many of them as we could.

Everyone Working

To ensure that everyone in the class was doing something while the two groups competed, we had students write down the problems from the board and we checked them after each round.  Some students weren't writing the problems down during the challenge because they were cheering on their classmates, but we gave them time after each day to write down the problem, try it, and review it as a class.  

The Inevitable Internet

It's impossible to prepare for everything, but we have to try.  With technology, it's bound to go wrong.  Both of us are tech nerds, so we tried every bag of tricks we could think of to make it go smooth.  However, the internet happened. A lot.  Since we both know and trust each other, a couple rounds came down to us narrating the group's steps as they worked through the problems and the first barked answer got the W.  It wasn't perfect, but we made it work.

Class Schedules

Middle school and high school schedules don't line up and this is a problem.  The way that we worked with this was trying to line up our algebra classes with whatever time we could.  What this meant was that first period had 30 minutes together. Unfortunately, 3rd period only overlapped by about 15 minutes, so it was tough to get the momentum going.  Once it was moving though, it was moving.

Lopsided Competition

Stevens has GATE and some extremely motivated kids. Rivera has everyone who limped into algebra and some who repeated it.  This was set up to be a lopsided destruction, right?  Quite the contrary.  In the period 1 battle, the rounds worked out perfectly.  Seriously, perfectly.  We each started with 8 teams, narrowed down to 4 teams from each class, 2 teams from each class, then the final match-up was one of each.  We couldn't have scripted it any better.  For the period 3 battle, it was 8th grade GATE vs. basic algebra, surely a beatdown waiting to happen.  In the "Sweet 16" round, 5 of the 8 match-ups belonged to GATE.  However, those groups quickly balanced out with  2 of Rivera's groups moving on to the final 4. The finals belonged to Stevens' group, but it was the best match-up of the day.

How We Started

We knew each other's schedules, so at the right time, one of us invited the other into Google Hangout.  We each had the presentation from Google Drive ready to go in the background as well as the iPad projected using Reflector.  Once the connection was established, the students had the iPad, and we were ready to count, one of us gave a countdown.  The fastest group with work shown was the winner.  It was that simple, considering we could see each other's screens (aside from the aforementioned technology glitch).

BOOM. 

Here are our Google Presentations:

Sweet 16 was all about multi-step equations
Elite 8 was all about graphing linear functions
Final 4 was all about systems of equations
Championships (best of 3)

Bracket of groups

We got the problems from here

Looking Forward (Adjustments):

-Create a handout that students can follow along with which includes bracket and questions being used
-Allow staff/admin to watch the live competition 


Extensions for other subjects:
-Hold debates between two classes from anywhere in the US using GHO
-Use GHO to find a local or national expert on any topic that students might be researching
-Find local/national public official to spend time talking to your class

Both of us see this as a tool that could, and should, be used across all subjects and throughout any grade level to build in mystery and competition.  For our winners, we got HomeTown Buffet to donate passes for each class' winners, but the real reward came in knowing that they had beaten another class from another school.

This year has been all about removing the walls of my classroom.  What this means to me is providing my students with the ability to interact with me and their classmates at any point of the day.  It is unfortunate when students leave for a day or two and come back so far behind that they feel helpless.  Hearing students talk about how stuck they were on the homework because the teacher didn't explain it well enough is frustrating.  Even worse is teachers talking about students who they couldn't believe didn't understand the assignment for the day as they come in clueless with their half-finished homework.

My job is to make it easier for my students to understand and master the content that I am supposed to deliver.  My job is not to make it a mystery as to how students are supposed to complete assignments, understand content, or pique their curiosity with whatever it is that we're covering (or not covering) during class.  There are options that allow me to do this:

There's this song, you may have heard it; maybe even had it get stuck in your head.  We call it "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.  In this case, I'm trying to give students and parents the easiest possible way for them to get in touch with me without compromising my personal phone number.  Initially, I thought that this would be a waste of time since students don't want to talk to their teachers outside of school and parents aren't interested in talking to their child's teacher unless it's something bad.  Let's be honest here - nobody wants to give their phone number out with the understanding that 90% of the calls are going to be negative.  Fortunately, it's quite the contrary.

Our district's phone system is a pain, to put it nicely.  We can only make local calls to land lines.  Yet, in 2013, the majority of adults put their cell phones as the primary contact number on the identification card.  Therefore, I'm stuck calling parents from my personal cell phone in hopes that they won't spam me with requests for updates on their child's progress (or worse).  

Maybe it's just because I'm a middle school teacher, but I don't feel comfortable handing out my personal cell number for my students to use freely.  My wife wouldn't be ok with it, I'm not ok with it, and that's ok with me.  However, I needed a way to meet students at their level.  Enter Google Voice.

By going through the simple setup process, which took about 10 minutes, I was able to get a free secondary Google Voice phone number that I can give out to students on my website, flyers and notes home, and even use to call parents without fear of the late night wakeup.  Students use it to ask if I'll be in my room after school, when the homework is due, and other ways to help them help me remove the walls to the classroom. Thank you, Mr. Google.

Wouldn't it be nice to let parents and students know that there is a quiz coming up?  How about reminding students that they need to bring their devices with them tomorrow?  Even better, wouldn't it be a great tool to use if something would allow your class to know that, because you were going to be absent for a couple of days, that their assignment due date will be pushed back until the following Tuesday?  Remind101 is a simple app that allows users to send out mass text blasts - it's that simple. 

The capabilities and uses of Remind101 are only limited by the scope in which you apply it.  Use this in your classroom for simple updates.  If and when there is a threatening situation (lockdown?), send a message to the parents letting them know that everything is alright (or, if it isn't, keep them apprised).  Let parents know, schoolwide, about school events and updates that are happening on campus.  Create a list for field trips o clubs to include everyone that requests information.

Here's the bottom line with this one: about 87% of Americans have a cell phone.  Cell phones accept text messages.  Therefore, using deductive reasoning, you will be able to reach nearly 90% of your students' parents by utilizing a free tool that is Remind101.  Get on it.  NOW.

There's no mystery about this one, as we've talked about Edmodo before, but Edmodo is the best way to keep in touch with your students when the walls come down.  If you know of this site called Facebook, we call Edmodo the PG version of it.  It hasn't received a G rating because there is still some Professional Guidance that is suggested when using it, but there are plenty of ways for you, as an educator, to monitor what the class is discussing all within the main thread.  

Recently, while I was out sick, I was able to maintain constant contact and conversation with students who needed clarification and someone to bounce questions off of through the use of Edmodo.  It is not mystery as to why my students feel more connected in my classroom, and out of it, compared to all of their other classes combined.  Using this regulated social media tool, students are feeling much better about asking the most relevant or irrelevant questions about anything from homework to why I was missing a day of school to letting me know who was misbehaving while the substitute was holding down the fort.  What it's all about is getting together and feeling alright about working as a group!

The love is there.  No really, I think I'm in love with ShowMe.  When students had a question in the past, they were left with the only option of hoping that they could find me before school starts the following day.  If they were really lucky, I would give them a YouTube video to watch if they needed a little help.  This year, I have started the concept of the flipped classroom, but that hasn't been enough for everyone and hasn't fulfilled every void in learning.  Every now and then, there needs to be more.  This is where ShowMe comes in.  Don't get me wrong by thinking that ShowMe is simply a gap filler used as the grease that keeps the cog moving.

Instead, using ShowMe as a supplement to the flipped classroom, Edmodo, Remind101, and other resources, the walls of the classroom are virtually destroyed.  There have been numerous lessons that, no matter what I thought of it, students didn't completely understand.  It's called life and I need to accept it.  My way of accepting it is that if students don't understand, they shoot me a message on Edmodo.  Once I get the message, I can easily create a quick video using ShowMe and have it ready for them in no time.

In the case of the "Pink Eye Teacher" that I was playing the role of this week, ShowMe saved my class from the Death By Worksheet mentality of a substitute.  In fact, the only reason there needed to be a sub in the first place was to take attendance and maintain order.  Students logged into Edmodo on their devices, got out their notebooks, and watched the assigned video that I had created to ensure that we stayed on track with our intended schedule.

What this lesson showed me was that there are no walls to room 205 and that I shouldn't be uncomfortable with being out of the classroom.  I truly believe that online learning is a waste of time for elementary, middle, and high school students, but there are times where a blended learning environment would work best for some students.  Utilizing apps like ShowMe allows the instructor to intervene immediately and support with visuals, drawings, and screencasting that you couldn't do before.  Plus, the love is felt by every device, unlike other screencasting apps out there.

John Stevens
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Happy Fishing

I have been using an iPad in my classroom since November and it has been an overwhelmingly beautiful process. I wanted to try everything and so I did try everything. Some things have worked and other things have bombed. Nevertheless I have kept doing what I can with what I have. I would like to share a little piece of my classroom flipping experience.

First I would like to share that I teach ninth grade Algebra which translates to students that have struggled with math at some point in their academic career. Regardless of their level of motivation I enjoy my students’ quirkiness, their, at first glance, shyness, and watching them blossom into young adults. I have also been met with the realization that their definition of hard work and perseverance is different than mine.

I was introduced to the topic of classroom flipping in September and once I received an iPad I ran with it full force. I removed all paper homework assignments and signed everyone up edmodo.com and started posting videos on my website and edmodo.com. It turns out that regardless of how I assign homework, via textbook, worksheet, or video, it was going to be a battle for my students to complete the assignments. The average turn in rate for homework assignments would yield about 40% completion. Of my 190 students that seemed pretty normal compared to my colleagues. Once I started assigning video homework that number dropped, I would get comments like “Why can’t we just get regular homework?” or the ever so popular “I do not have internet.” And so I scaled my assignments to make sure the assignments did not drop the average of the class too much and I chalked it up as a learning experience.

And then second semester rolled around and I attacked with better know how and even more reassurance that I was doing right by my students. I adjusted my videos to one video per week that covered two topics, and one questionnaire per week. I even gave students an alternative, albeit lengthier, paper assignment. The results were BETTER and then not so great. It has been exactly 4 weeks into the new semester and here are some numbers of homework completed on time:

1st week – 96 students

2nd week- 117 students

3rd week- 60 students

4th week- 87 students

So what have I learned? Well taking into account that weeks 3 and 4 were shorter weeks I understand there should have been a little drop in completion but only 60 students? Another thing I noticed is that in weeks 1 and 2 I used computers in my classroom to work on another assignment and when students finished they then went onto our website and completed the assignment. But the most encouraging thing is that students are not fighting me on the homework anymore it has become part of my classroom norm. My students ask if the video will be up at the beginning of the week. They have accepted that I will not budge on the video homework assignment and it is more than reasonable to expect them to finish the assignment. I have and will continue to increase the length of each video and the questionnaires have and will continue to become more rigorous.

So was 117 students a fluke or can that be normal? Or can it get even better? I say that accessibility is part of the issue. Students want the material as easy as possible. If pulling out a computer is more cumbersome than pulling out a book they would rather attempt the paper assignment, if they will complete the assignment at all. I would like them to have the same determination I have and not quit because it is too inconvenient, I want them to care as much as I do. But in their minds they are trying and they are caring. So we meet at 50% and hopefully with time I get more than but I have already learned so much and it has been a wonderful learning experience.

-Eduardo Rivera

I have a confession.  

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone who really knows me, but…

 I’m sort of a geek. 

If I was put on trial to determine whether or not my geekiness is legitimate, there would be plenty of evidentiary support.  For example, instead of eating lunch with friends in junior high, I would take a floppy disk into the lab full of Macintosh Performa computers and work on writing my first novel.  I never really made much progress.  If I’m honest, I think I just liked the experience of typing and being able to help my peers understand the difference between “save” and “save as.” 

In high school, instead of reading issues of Cosmo magazine, I decided I’d rather teach myself to code websites.  The content of my first website was limited to all of the reasons I adored the Backstreet Boys, but I loved the process of coding almost as much as I liked to draw hearts around Howie D’s head…

And in college, my friends and I decided to make a television show for fun. We thought it would be great to produce an original sitcom with the intent of getting it aired on the community public access channel.  We cast the show from amongst our friend base, checked out the super cool equipment we needed from the campus IT department, and had a blast filming our first episode in two feet of snow.  (Thanks, Wazzu, for the quality tech you made available to students.  “World class, face to face.”  Holla!)  I don’t think we finished very many episodes, but that is the first time I can remember editing raw footage into a cohesive whole to tell a story.  Now, I teach my students to do that – and I have to say…the tools have definitely improved! 

In light of my own personal geekiness, I guess that’s why I tend to take exception to comments I sometimes receive from other professionals (and yes, even colleagues).  Here are some examples:

•  All of this new technology drives me crazy! It’s too hard to learn.
•  You’re a tech person.  Of course you want to advocate it.
• Your students can do that, but mine can’t.
• Technology is for students to use at home and has little impact on my lesson.
• People have been teaching without technology for years and kids managed to learn just fine.

You may have heard similar comments at your school site.  These are prevalent attitudes toward technology integration that can be found all over the place in our profession.  As part of the AppsInClass team and a technology leader in my district, I think part of my job description includes being an advocate for the purposeful use of student-centered technology in the classroom.  I often feel like shouting my favorite Billy Joel lyrics at the top of my voice: “We didn’t start the fire!  It was always burning, since the world’s been turning!” 

It is rather shocking to me how many educators view most forms of technology (even something as simple as a web 2.0 tool) as too crazy-new-scary to use. Sometimes I need a pep talk just to maintain the forward momentum of my advocacy.  Here’s what I watch when I need encouragement:

Now that we’re all encouraged, let’s take a look at some resources we can use to address each one of the arguments from above.

Sounds like this person needs some resources!  Let’s start them out with some easy to integrate iPad apps, shall we?

And how about some great web 2.0 resources with video tutorials? Go to the Web 2.0 section of my website, Tech In Progress.

Oh! And how about an iTunes U course that includes an original iBook to get them started? Check this AppsInClass iTunes U course out!

Guilty as charged.  You are right, I am a tech person, and here’s why you should be, too: Watch this.

Being limited by the expectations of others sucks.  My students tell digital stories and that teacher's students can, too.  How about an iTunes U course that includes an original iBook that details exactly how to scaffold the digital storytelling process from beginning to end? Subscribe to Digital Storytelling: Film Challenges.  

Or, would you like some easy to use digital storytelling apps your students can figure out how to use on their own? Check it out:

Our students are digital natives who need to graduate with a solid understanding of how to search the internet effectively, judge information credibility, consume media responsibly, engage in digital citizenship faithfully, and produce media creatively.  How about a video to show you just how essential technology is to our world today? 

As a passionate educator, a lifelong learner, and someone who wants to make a difference in the lives of students, why wouldn’t you want to leverage every tool possible to enable student success?  Whether you see technology as one more thing you have in your professional “grab-bag” of strategies, or whether you see technology as the be-all-end-all of education, it is part of our world today.  Technology isn’t going anywhere.  We’ve got an entire generation of kids who are growing up geek.

So:

Tech up, rock out, and get your geek on, already.

Join us.

There is a feeling I get when a lesson is going well - you know the one, because you've felt it, too.  It's similar to the way my stomach drops whenever I hear the opening strains of "Phantom of the Opera," or that moment just before I hurtle over the edge of the waterfall on Splash Mountain at Disneyland. What is that feeling?

Excitement. Enthusiastic anticipation of a good thing. An excellent experience in the making.

The act of teaching is the art of bringing many components together and orchestrating them into a meaningful whole: the student, engagement strategies, pedagogy, relevance, and authentic experiences.  Teaching is like conducting; it's knowing when to let a single instrument play and when to let the whole symphony soar.  Maybe that's how some teachers know when it's time to make a change - when the song becomes just another song and the notes are no longer special.

There are so many moving parts to a good lesson, it can be difficult to harmonize them all.  As teachers, we have to foster in ourselves a keen sense of timing and what it means to facilitate, as opposed to direct.  While effective direct instruction is not a bad thing, the lessons that I (and my students) enjoy the most are those which allow autonomy and encourage investigation.  No matter what we do, technology is almost always a main component.  

At my school site, I am responsible for training others about Common Core State Standards as California transitions to the CCSS over the next several years.  I've begun piloting Common Core ELA lessons in my classroom and last week I decided to test drive a Common Core lesson plan that I wrote for Social Studies.  In the end, the week long lesson proved to be a veritable symphony of project-based learning, iTunes U, and collaboration. 

The standards I decided to address were a blend of my content area standards and the CCSS Literacy Standards for Social Studies, History, Science, and Technical Subjects.  Here's a breakdown:

Inquiry based learning lends itself very well to Common Core, so I decided to take a PBL approach to this lesson.  To provide structure, iTunes U seemed perfect.  It only took me several hours to construct a course on Ancient India's Caste System.  (Go ahead - subscribe to it!)  The most difficult part was compiling a list of resources for students to use during the inquiry process.  Here's a screen cap of the materials in the course (click to enlarge):

Because my students are piloting a student-centered BYOD program, I asked them to download the free iTunes U app ahead of time.  In class, I showed them how to search for my course in the catalog and subscribe to access content.  Since students are already used to working in collaborative groups, I was able to quickly walk them through the interface of the iTunes U course I made and then set them free.  

Students did an incredible job utilizing the course to help walk them through the PBL process: developing an inquiry plan, creating a reasonable schedule, conducting research, compiling notes, and creating a product to demonstrate their learning.  The duration of the project was an hour per day for five consecutive days, and the essential question under investigation was, "How was ancient Indian society organized and how does it compare to our society here in the United States?"  

Check out this video clip of my students.  This is around the time that I started getting that insanely wonderful feeling of a successful lesson in progress:

During the final stage of the lesson, kids were able to choose how they wanted to showcase their learning.  I gave them several app suggestions, but students were free to use other apps if they felt they could accomplish the task given (click to enlarge):

And these are a few of the fantastic products that students were able to create:

Because having an authentic audience is important, student projects were uploaded to our classroom website and shared via QR Codes in our school's main hallway, as well as on a bulletin board in our classroom.  At the end of the week, my students felt proud of themselves, the choices they made, and the work they accomplished.  

There's a feeling I get, when a lesson went well - you know the one, because you've felt it, too.

Success.



If you have questions about the process I used or any aspect of this post, please feel free to leave a comment.  

By Jessica Pack
 jpack@psusd.us
 @Packwoman208
www.packwomantech.com 

#What #is #all #of #this #hashtagging #about #anyways?

The pound symbol (#) was nice and peaceful for years, only being used a certain # of times (see, it used to represent a "number").  Once Twitter came along and the little blue bird took over social media, the hashtag has evolved into a trend-setting moniker.  If you want something to become popular, you begin with a hashtag.  If you want to follow something that you enjoy, you search with a hashtag.  If you want to learn about something specific, follow that trend using the appropriate hashtag.

Or, if you're Jimmy Fallon, use a hashtag to gather all of the best ideas from around the world:

#thingswillpass.  They might, but realize that kids are being named after the growing trend.  So let's get down to the application of trends in education.  

#edchat - full of great teaching ideas
#edtech - all about using technology in the classroom
#mathchat - where all of us math geeks unite
#flipchat - tons of resources about flipping your classroom, as well as #miflip
#eduawesome - all things that are awesome in education, started by @billselak
#ntchat - community of new teachers started by @teachingwthsoul
#21stedchat - gathering of educators about 21st century education ideas

If you're new to Twitter, this list of trends to follow is a good start.  However, as you begin to develop your Professional Learning Network, you'll find trends that meet your needs.  If you're into cooking, there's a hashtag for that.  Maybe you venture off into math jokes.  There's pretty much a hashtag for #everything.  

Just, whatever you do, make sure you don't get out of hand with all of your #hashtaggery.  You might get in trouble from the #hashtagpolice.

By John Stevens
Follow me on Twitter
Hashtag me #salty
www.fishing4tech.com

One of the reasons I love teaching 6th grade at a middle school is that I get to watch my students slowly develop all sorts of awesome qualities over the course of a year, including wittiness and a dawning understanding of repartee.  In September, they’re so overwhelmed by the middle school learning curve, they don’t quite register all of my lovingly sarcastic quips, but after the holidays, it’s the long haul toward becoming a teenager – and something never fails to unlock the Sarcasm-Center of their brain.  That’s when learning gets really fun, because there always seems to be plenty of laughter to accent the “a-ha!” moments.

So, today, when one of my girls said, “Hey, Mrs. Pack.  Are you sure this is ELA, or did you just decide we could take some time off?” I almost burst out laughing, thinking she was being sarcastic.  However, when I realized that this twelve year old was entirely serious, as evidenced by her truly bewildered expression, I decided to lay my best possible answer on her: “Well.  Learning is supposed to be fun, right?  This must be ELA, then.”

What was her reply?  A hug. 

You might be wondering what the heck we did in Language Arts this week that would elicit such a grateful response… 

Answer: We made movies.  

My students have been reading a fantastic book of short stories by Gary Soto called, “Petty Crimes.”  The short stories all take place in the same neighborhood, but feature different characters.  Since most of my students are Hispanic, they love Gary Soto’s writing and they especially love his characters, which include wannabe cholos, fierce cholas, endearing abuelitos, and menacing tias. When I noticed one of my classes was having trouble isolating the main events of each story, tending to focus as much on details as major plot shifts, I decided to have the kids retell their favorite chapter of “Petty Crimes” using iMovie trailers on a couple of iPads. 

First, I divided students into groups by drawing names out of a hat and had each group choose their favorite short story.  Then, everyone worked together to choose the most appropriate trailer template for their project; this led to a very cool, totally organic discussion about how the preset iMovie music and graphics in the trailers communicate a certain mood and tone.   Students were very successful in making appropriate choices, all of which resulted from fantastic group conversations. 

Since digital storytelling is still a fairly new concept for this class, I delivered a quick lesson on film angles.  Next, everyone worked together to retell their story in words and planned the action they needed to film to fill in all of the video clip spots in the trailer storyboard.   The fact that the trailers have limited space for words and images increased the need to retell stories effectively, choose wording carefully, and search for powerful synonyms.  iMovie for iPad was a breeze for students to learn, and the biggest challenge was helping students remember to film with their iPad in landscape.  

Over the course of the week, we spent about 15-20 minutes per day working on our trailers.  Students brought in an insane amount of costumes and utilized my prop box to help them tell their stories more realistically; even in 6th grade, kids love to dress up.  In the end, not every movie was perfectly filmed, but all of the students managed to successfully retell the major events of each story – and they had an absolute blast!

To finish out this blog post, I thought I’d share a few student products:

Comments?  Questions?  Feel free to leave a comment or email me at jpack@psusd.us.

By Jessica Pack
@Packwoman208
www.packwomantech.com

On this past Monday, one of my former students stopped by my classroom.  I always love to reconnect with students who have moved on to 7th and 8th grade, and I love hearing how their lives are changing, what they’re up to, and how their families are doing.  Occasionally, I’ll run into students who have graduated from high school and I’ll see them behind the counter at Starbucks.  It can be a little strange to see kids who are so much older than the last time I saw them, but somehow I’ve always been able to remember their names – it’s a weird talent.  Anyway, this one kid, who’s now taller than I am, popped his head into my classroom after school last Monday and said, “Yo, Mrs. Pack.  You still using iPads like a rockstar? I got a question.” 

For those who may not know, Urban Dictionary defines the phrase “like a rockstar” as an adjective that means, “to do something well – be it musical or not. Example: She can knit like a rockstar.”  The thing is, I’ve always wanted to be a rockstar but have no musical talent whatsoever, so it’s sort of a relief to know that I can be rockstar-like while doing other things that I am actually good at.

There are a ton of video tutorials on YouTube that attempt to teach people to do a number of tasks like a rockstar. For example, check out this tutorial that teaches you how to pack a suitcase like a rockstar:

I think one of the ways you know you can use iPads and other iOS devices like a rockstar is when you begin to author your own content.  Thanks to the advent of iBooks Author, writing my own book feels like delivering a soaring guitar solo to a sold-out stadium.  Publishing a course on iTunes U and using my book as a multimedia source feels like jamming next to Springsteen, Steven Tyler, and Mick Jagger. 

In light of that, here are a few tips on how to author content like a rockstar:

Download my book, Digital Storytelling: Connecting Standards to Movie-Making
Subscribe to my iTunes U Course, Digital Storytelling: Film Challenges

Being able to share what you do in your classroom and what you’re passionate about teaching kids is an amazing opportunity.  Disseminating ideas has never been so easy.  Between social networking and the incredible publishing tools of iBooks Author and iTunes U, teaching in isolation isn’t really a danger for a tech saavy teacher. If you haven’t yet started publishing your own content – what are you waiting for?!  Download iBooks Author on your Macbook, sign up for an iTunes U instructor account (or check with your district to see if they have an account you can be affiliated with), and start authoring like a rockstar.  You can do it! 

Questions? Want to know how it’s done?  Comment on this post or email jpack@psusd.us.

By Jessica Pack
@Packwoman208
Packwoman's Tech in Progress