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

I'll be the first one to admit that differentiating a lesson is my biggest challenge within a lesson.  Having a class of 39 students and planning for a smorgasbord of learning styles and readiness levels can be incredibly overwhelming.  It would be great to say that I have it all figured out and lessons are diversified to meet the specific needs of every type of learner.  In reality, things couldn't be further from the truth. 

Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of days where differentiation takes place in my algebra classroom and I walk away exhausted from stretching myself thin.  It's worth it because the students get a large chunk of their dedicated to their needs, whether it is remediation or extension.  Monitoring the students and checking for understanding are nearly impossible.

The reason that I'm chewing on this topic is because of the way that I've been using the iPad lately in my classroom.  For the most part, it has been used to replace the Interwrite/Mobii pad and interactive whiteboard.  The iPad has been used to have students explain their work to the class using Educreations and ShowMe, create step-by-step explanations on a Comic using Comic Life, and other standard classroom operations.

Recently, I had a student coming in to ask if there was anything he could do to bring up his grade.  I don't allow students to turn in late work and I don't allow students to make up any missing work from the month prior (mostly for organizational purposes, but there's a sense of urgency when there's a timeline), but they can come in and re-do any assignment within a given month.  Truth be told, I'm a softie when it comes to kids wanting to learn.  I end up bending my rules.  If they ask enough, I end up breaking my rules.  A student had a C+, wanted a B- (so he could get his iPod back), and needed to do anything to raise his grade.  The problem?  Everything from November has been turned in.

Rather than turning him away, I looked into his October grades.  Sure enough, he was missing an assignment gauging their knowledge of absolute value equations in one variable.  It's a tough standard and is very easy to make simple mistakes.  If a student wants to succeed, I want to give that student a chance.  Why have a kid go back and do 20 problems to prove that a standard has been mastered?  Nah.  Here's the iPad.  Here's a problem.  Solve the problem and, in detail, explain each step and your solution.  Oh yeah, he's an English Language Learner.  Check out his work:

Ok, so problem solved.  Not so fast, my friends!  The iPad has helped me with students who need a chance to probe that they understand a concept.  How about a pair of students who sit there bored during class and are waiting for a chance to do something unique?  It sure would be nice to let them take a project, run with it, and make it their own.  Hmmmmm....

This is less to do with ShowMe (although it's a really cool app) and it's more to do with the capabilities of a student if they are given a chance to express themselves.  Why on earth would I force a student to do 20 problems from a month and a half ago when he can clearly explain, using academic vocabulary, the steps in a video?  Why would I ever let a pair or small group of students sit through a class period full of review when they can be the ones teaching the class the next lesson through screen casting?  These are two questions that are being answered in a 1 iPad classroom.  It's possible.  It's real.  It's REALLY POSSIBLE.

How do you use ShowMe or other screen casting apps for differentiation?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

John Stevens
@appsintheclass
@jstevens009
jstevens1@psusd.us
mrstevens.weebly.com

"I can't do anything with just one iPad in my classroom"  - NOT ME

This quote can be heard on almost any campus from any teacher whose school is slowly being infused with technology.  The message is very clear- if I don't have a class set, there just isn't a very good reason for me to have any at all.  But wait- I could do something incredible with a set of 20 (in our district, that's a 2:1 student:iPad ration.  If we really start to boil it down to brass tacks, I might be able to make things work with a small set of 5-10 iPads and do my best to have my students use them at the end of a unit.

I seem to be the poor kid in the line to see Santa Claus on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, just wanting what everyone else has...

There are plenty of schools to drool over when reviewing how much technology is accessible to the students on a regular basis.  Envy, I tell you, envy.  I have certainly looked at the Fisler School, Scales Technology Academy, and Melrose Elementary to see just how much greener the other side of the fence is.  Yet, amongst all of the riches being poured down from the educational heavens, I sit alone in my classroom at the end of the day with one measly, lonely iPad 2, both of us exhausted.  

We are exhausted for a number of reasons, but none of them are remorse or envy.  My iPad and I have set out to prove the pundits and naysayers wrong.  "No, I tell you, I will NOT be a teacher's tool that the students never see", my iPad bellows out at the launch of a new day.  If anything, we have developed an incredible bond that you and your 40 iPads, iPod touches, Kindle Fire HD's, or Nexuses could never develop (although I'm sure your bond is pretty cool, too).  Because it is just the two of us, we are inseparable.

Twas' the night before class,
and all through the house,
not a creature was silent,
not even the two kids running around before bedtime...

Getting ready for the next day's lesson, my iPad is busy.  We are searching for YouTube videos, creating ShowMe lessons, or updating our Prezi for what is sure to be a knockout lesson.  We'll use Dropbox to upload the content in case anything crazy happens (just to be sure).  Diigo will allow us to save and sort all of the great web resources that we come across as we team up to plan for the next day.  The lesson is ready, and the iPad charges peacefully, knowing that tomorrow is going to be epic.

To give the parents and the students a heads up, I send out an email using TeacherKit to all of the parents and the students who have an email address.  For the students who don't have an email account, I quickly swipe over to Edmodo and send a message to the whole class so they can view the materials ahead of time (or to give them a quick heads up).

Completely rested and full of enthusiasm, my iPad and I embark on another day of a 1 iPad setting in my 8th grade algebra classroom.  We begin the lesson by having students complete a warm-up on Whiteboard Lite or the whiteboard screen of Educreations.  Then, still using Educreations, I dish off the iPad to a student as he explains the steps and solution to the warm-up problem given.

At this point, the iPad is stretched out, confident, and ready for a period of full integration.  We open up the Prezi viewer to deliver today's lesson, remotely controlling the Prezi because of our other friend, the AppleTV.  The students ask engaging and higher order questions because of the amazingness of the Prezi, so it's sure to be a good lesson.

The poor iPad just got an intense workout.  To give it a break, I put a few problems up on the whiteboard using Educreations and have students work in small groups to solve together.  Once the problems have been written down into students' notebooks, the iPad is rested enough to hand it to a small group of advanced students to they can create a comic about the steps for solving the problems using ComicLife, ELL students to verbalize their steps using Dragon Dictation, or intervention students who can walk me through their steps through ShowMe.  Students can save their work to the Camera Roll, email me their results, or upload them to Dropbox in some cases.  We can go back on Edmodo, have further conversation, and post our pictures so the entire class can see our incredible products!

At the end of the school day, my iPad and I are truly exhausted.  I'm tired because I teach with everything I have.  The iPad is tired because it has spent the entire day directly assisting and enhancing the learning of more than just the instructor.  While we would certainly welcome the opportunity to share our experiences with more iPads, we are making the most of the opportunity that we have been given.  I take care of the iPad and the iPad takes care or my students through an amazing transformation of instruction.

Do I want more technology in my classroom?  Of course!  What 21st century teacher wouldn't?!  However, given the opportunity to reflect on what has been presented to me, I'm going to have to say that my students are getting the most out of it.  Between enhanced instruction, immediate intervention, unique differentiation, and dynamic extension, "my buddy and me" are having the time of our lives.

John Stevens
@jstevens009
@appsintheclass
jstevens1@psusd.us
mrstevens.weebly.com

“Let’s Give ‘Em Something to Talk About”

The art of classroom discussion is nebulous at best.  Sometimes profound, other times a total loss in terms of student participation or the quality of input, whole-class discussions can make or break a lesson.  In short, sometimes as a teacher you end up feeling like this guy:

Going fishing is all about having the right gear.  You need to do your homework, understanding what kind of fish are biting and what they like to eat.  Is it the sardine?  Could it be the anchovie?  For all you know, it might just be the yo-yo jig.  You get out into the open ocean with all of your research and the proper gear for the trip.  At this point, you have invested so much time, money, and effort into this trip that it would be a shame if you didn't have a great story to tell at the end.  Little did you know, this was about to be the biggest "hookup" of your life!

When I was a kid, I wanted to be just like Bill and Ted…you know, those guys who had a totally gnarly, totally Excellent Adventure?  Here’s a video clip to refresh your memory:

This time of year, spooky things happen.  Some can be explained, but many others can't.  Maybe it's the full moon, the change of the seasons, the weather, or the flu season to blame.  Or maybe, just maybe, it's the student buy-in piece that all of a sudden creates an incredible desire to create incredible products using the tools that they have.  We may never be able to explain the transition as we watch our little Frankensteins become the Mozarts of Multimedia.  In all honesty, we don't really need to.

This time of year, students are becoming increasingly comfortable with the technology and tools that they have at their disposal in the classroom and outside of it.  They have had more than 2 months to get comfortable in their new setting and are ready for a challenge.  Now is the time to challenge our students and make them use process-based learning to create a truly incredible product.  For example, check out the video of this haunted classroom:

As election season creeps up on us like a herd of thundering rhinoceroses, I am constantly reminded by CTA that I should vote to support education (no kidding?), reminded by the district that our situation will become dire unless much needed fiscal relief arrives in the form of propositions passed (is this how Marie Antoinette felt pre-guillotine slice?), and reminded by my wallet that I really need a bigger classroom budget if I’m going to pull off the 2012-2013 school year.  As the budget gap widens in the state of California, educators are getting more and more creative about how they get things done.  I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen this guy wandering in and out of the staff room at my school site:

If you give a school a principal with a technology vision, technology will become a priority.

If you make technology a priority, you will find a way to fund the new technology.

If you find a way to fund the new technology, every student at your school will have access to the newest, most efficient and dynamic technology available.

If you give every student at the school access to the most dynamic technology out there, it is bound to fail.

Another school year is about to begin in Palm Springs Unified, and we've spent the past two days enjoying various forms of staff development.  This morning at our district kick-off, it was revealed that our district has decided to implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) network that will be made accessible to teachers and students.  Our reaction?  Finally!

With the impending advent of an open network and the sudden ability to increase the amount of technology in our classrooms, one of the first practical uses of BYOD is being able to use QR codes and with greater frequency and effectiveness.  So, let's talk about QR codes and I'll take this opportunity to also practice my colloquial middle schooler speech in preparation for the first day of school...