FINAL REFLECTION

This is my third year taking this class and I have learned so much and had fun along the way.  I have learned so many things from this class that I  incorporate in my lessons its hard to know where to start.  Today, I was using jeopardy with second graders. For grade levels 2, 3 and 4, at least once I year I take what the students generate from a topic from researching using Pebble Go and make it into a jeopardy board.  I add a caveat, they have to get the answer right and get a basket in the garbage can to earn a point for their team.  If they don't know an answer they can call on someone from their team, but forfeit the right to take a shot at the basket.  This game keeps all of the kids engaged and it is very loud and they love it.

I am currently paying for ADOBE spark and I will use it to present material at NYSCATE, ISTE and as for my annual report.  This week, I used NEARPOD, not sure if that is on your list and came up with this book and activity for a lesson for K tech next week:  https://share.nearpod.com/K5lhmuqQKV. 

I hope to take your class again next year!

Thank you.

Thing 30 Maker Spaces

The middle school librarian has a very successful makerspace program that has been going on for at least five years.  We have collaborated and for a couple of years once a month we would have a program in the elementary school and she and some of her students would come over and help facilitate them.  This collaboration was successful but it wasn't part of my schedule and I didn't like how I had to change people around to make it happen.  It also was purely by project and there was not a designated area or materials for a makerspace. 

We have something at our school called an IDEA grant.  The art teacher and I put in for money for a makerspace.  We received $8000.00 and a commitment from the PTO to donate $500.00 a year towards the program.   Unfortunately, the art teacher's schedule did not allow for her to participate.  I forged ahead mainly because I finally figured out a way that I could do a makerspace with  my schedule of 34 classes per week and no aid.  I participated in our summer PD on Schoology and designed a class in Schoology that is, for the most part, student managed.  Frankly, what I wanted to avoid the most was managing more STUFF.  So, with that priority in mind, I designed the class by belts and each belt is a kind of activity and is organized with the belt on it for a student to clearly see.  

Each belt represents a different activity that students do.  For example, the white belt represents a desire to begin the study of STEM.  Students must familiarize themselves with the STEM process through a variety of activities and learn how to post a video of him/herself.  To earn each belt, students must submit a video that shows what they did and how they applied the STEM process. The video submission prompts the teacher/facilitator to review the video and award that belt color.  Other belts are: yellow belt = puzzles; orange belt = building fundamentals; green = sewing, origami and more; blue = circuits; purple = 3d pens; red = coding; and black is make your own project/activity to add to a belt OR go into a class and teach one of the STEM activities to younger children.

Linda and I have spent a great deal of time discussing how do you assess STEM? I feel that you have to have something and finally came up with the video where kids talk about what they did and how they applied the STEM process. I have a little guide to help them form their thoughts about it before they do the video.

I had all of the fourth grade students participate in the white belt during a library class and I have some core students who come weekly. I am still working on the best way for kids to access the materials and the class. Right now I have fourth grade teachers sending 5 kids per class once a week at a certain time. I usually only have two teachers participate, which is fine. I know that if I offered to take the whole class (without the teacher, of course) I would have more participation but I am not willing to do that. I want students who are interested in being there. I have one student who has progressed to the purple belt and will be done with all of them by the end of the year. I plan to have an award for this at the fourth grade awards ceremony in June.

The nice thing about Schoology is it is easy to revise and improve each year or time you use that activity. I have joined a couple of maker space facebook groups and they have been excellent in terms of suggestions of what to buy. I also submitted this program to ISTE and it was accepted as a poster project. I hope to have this makerspace in the shape I want it to be by the time I retire, which is not that far away!

On Note Taking Thing 27

For the past ten years or so, I have been doing a common core research project with fourth graders.  The project has taken different forms and each year I try to improve it. The last couple of years I have used Schoology as  the platform. Students choose from a list of people that was created by myself and a fourth grade teacher. The famous person has to have entries in a book, Pebble Go and an encyclopedia.  Each card that goes with the source is a different color and they are guided notes. Fourth graders need guided notes. Next year, I will tweak the cards so that pebble go is just one side of a note and then they will find quotes by the famous person from the general internet. I will also have them work in teams from the beginning as the project dragged on longer than necessary.

I looked at the information on note taking.  I especially liked the first article, Note Taking A Research Roundup by Jennifer Gonzalez.  It reinforced what I have noticed, that kids, especially young ones who are new to typing and writing, are more efficient note takers on paper.  I looked at the other articles and may refer back to them at another time, but in the elementary school, on-line note taking is not practical.

 I always meet with the fourth grade teachers and we discuss what worked and what did not from the previous year.  This year’s conversation resulted in a change of the famous people and the teachers shared how difficult it is to get the kids to write.  Consequently, I added to my Schoology page and made a five paragraph essay writing template with notes from me in text as well as a Screencastfy they can access by clicking on the title. I also gave them a sample writing piece and rubric. Hopefully, they will use the material. Frankly, I couldn't do this project without using Schoology as otherwise it is just too many students to manage, but so far I have not been able to entice the fourth grade teachers to use it.

First students took a quiz to find out who they knew about and who they selected. Next they made a google slide with three pictures and three clues about their famous person. They then watched a brainpop about note taking and responded to me in the discussion forum of Schoology telling me one thing they learned about note taking from they video. They then took notes from a book, a database, and an encyclopedia. They then graded themselves and did a video in the discussion part of Schoology answering the question of who cares? I added the who cares part this year because I had found in previous years that after taking all of the notes, some kids still had no idea about what was so great about what their famous person did.

Grade Yourself - I respond using the same rubric in schoology

Book Note Cards

Writing Rubric

Writing Template

Thing 16: Digital Portfolios for Students

I started using Seesaw last year with a kindergarten tech class that I co-teach with kindergarten teachers.  Last year there was not too much in the library that you could use.  This year, there is so much to choose from it is overwhelming.  For example, last year there was a hodgepodge collection.  This year you can choose by grade level and topic. 

I did not get too fancy last year.  I used it for Valentine's Day, What did you do over vacation and sight words and practicing nursery rhymes that they were doing for music.  This year I expanded my use.  I had always wanted to participate in the Global Read Aloud.  There are SEESAW face book sites for connecting.  I found another librarian with five second grade classes in Madison, Indiana.  We read the books and blogged back and forth.  It was not as successful as I had hoped.  Part of the problem is I only see the kids once a week and half days and other things conflict so the project dragged on longer than I would have liked and the kids grew tired of it.  Also, there was not enough time to respond fully to the other school. I would have liked to have used an older grade for this project but it just wouldn't work out.  Second graders still have trouble signing in with their login and password which you have to do to use seesaw.   On the plus side, the books are already chosen, the kids learn about something they would not have and the lesson plans and activities are mostly done for you.

My other problem is that there are only 10 free accounts and I typically have 6 of each grade level so I have to rotate a level off before I can take another one on.  Hopefully, we will be purchasing SEESAW for our district and this problem will be resolved.  I see a great deal of potential for SEESAW.  I am waiting for someone to come up with demonstrable grade level competencies/assessments in writing and/or library and/or ELA assessments that could be used and saved as standardized portfolios. 

This year I did get a bit fancier using SEESAW and my kindergarten classes.  I looked at the library for ideas and found one I liked about Abe Lincoln's Hat and  Valentine's day.   I used other peoples activity templates.  Initially, I then paired up Lincoln's hat  with "Looking at Lincoln" but the first kindergarten class I used it with did not like the book.  So, I found another one "Do You Have a Hat."  I scanned it in using my copier, dropped it into slides, then screencastified it, downloaded and then uploaded it to SEESAW.  I think that there are probably copyright issues with this so I do not share my stuff with the SEESAW library.  I also did another one like this with "Guess How Much I Love You" and a valentine's card.  What prompted me to do it this way was I looked at youtube videos but I didn't like the quality of what is available in terms of read alouds.  Moreover, the kids get a kick out of knowing it is me reading the book to them.

Here is an  example:
https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?share_token=1t0_gBUeTNu3m_jLHXy5QQ&prompt_id=prompt.93087c31-1cab-4964-9a8e-9f734a58a78b


I have the Lincoln one too.  I just can't seem to find it in my library although I did share it with my classes.  I'll have to figure out how I do that so I have it for next year. 

THING 2 Student Blogging and Writing

I like to use what I do for this class.  After looking at what I am going to do with my classes in March, I decided I would try a padlet for the purposes of showing students how to use SORA.   I also had run across a post from someone of my librarian face book feeds that PADLET was something that they could not live without. I already had a padlet account and I looked at some youtube videos on ideas on how to use it and just how to use it.  I ended up creating an instructional padlet that I added to our technology page that shows how to sign into SORA.  Here it is:


HOW TO USE

THING 26 Media Skills

I have been using video much more this year in my library classes.  My third and fourth graders have made use of the discussion feature of schoology where they can video tape themselves responding to prompts and comment on their classmates' entries.  I also use SEESAW with kindergarten and I used it for the Global Read Aloud with second graders.

I looked at the information in this entry and I have used CANVA before.  I know how to take screenshots.  I didn't really have any projects in mind for resources such as Pixlr.  It also wants you to sign up with a credit card that you cancel once the free time is up which I was not interested in doing that.

I have used word art before so I didn't really have an interest in that but I was intrigued with the Camscanner and after reading the tips from Joyce Valenza, I downloaded camscanner on my IPAD and my phone.   Last year my phone died so I ended up scanning things off of my phone that I didn't want to lose again and downloading them into my IPAD photos.  I could have done this with my camera but I was interested in seeing the quality of the scans.  They are quite good and I used the multiple scan feature too and was pleasantly surprised.  I will use this helpful too frequently in the future.  Thanks for the information.

Thing 25 Green Screen Fun

I read the information posted and decided I would try the idea described by Nicole Rosen with one difference, I would use teachers' faces superimposed on their favorite book.  So far I have about three done and hope to have more for Read Across America on March 2nd.  I have noticed that a teacher's book recommendation goes a long way.  I was hoping this activity would not only provide a laugh and be a community builder at our school but also inspire some reading.

I ended up going back and forth between by IPAD and google drawings on my laptop.  I didn't have much luck with the free green screen sites.  The two I tried wanted payment before you could download something.  Since I just had my bank card suspended for such a purchase, I didn't want to take that route. 

I ended up getting the background to blend in by using the format color option.  Here are my efforts so far:

Amelia Bedelia

I Really Like Slop

When Randolph(s) Turned Rotten

Thing 7 Presentation Tools

I tried to combine something I have to do anyway with presentation tools but it did not work out.  I have to give a presentation to faculty next Monday on how to use the databases at our school.  I thought I would jazz up a google slide presentation by doing something else.  I checked out Haiku Deck, Ludus and buncee.  None of these would work for me because, from what I could see, you can't insert a hyperlink.  I looked at ADOBE spark and realized that I already had an account with ADOBE.  I also remembered that I had used ADOBE last year to do my annual report.  I really think that is a great way to do an annual report.  It looked nice and you only have to have enough text to accent your points which is all readers pay attention to anyway.  Here is the link to my annual report that I did last year using ADOBE.  https://spark.adobe.com/page/urBBpi7OFAnVW/.  I also have it off of my webpage and I see that it has 45 views and 2 likes! 

I started the project that I have to do for next Monday.  I like the updates to ADOBE.  Mainly that you can add music.  However, since I couldn't get or figure out, insert link, I ended up using google slides.  I even paid for a month thinking that would maybe open more features, but I still didn't see it there.  Here is my failed attempt  https://spark.adobe.com/video/BTatZoEGqCrph.  Lastly, here is my google slide show that I am still working on for next Monday.

I would like to keep working with google drawing because I can see the potential, I just have trouble leashing it.  After trying different things with no results I decided to try all of the items listed in the article, "Eight Ways to Supercharge Your Documents with Google Draw.  Since I wanted to be able to use what I produced, I decided to do something with Valentine's Day.  I wound up using google draw to make a document that I posted in Schoology.  Students will watch a video about facts they learned about Valentine's Day and then post a video of themselves telling me which fact was the most interesting and why.  I didn't have any luck inserting a video in a google slide so I just inserted it as a link in the document.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MMTu165Kz6BfN1I-RaYds8XWLuEE5-5gSuUFeXWxVU8/edit?usp=sharing

I would like to submit another cool tools submission using google drawing if that is OK with you.

Thing 17 E-Book Creation

I watched the video by Jennifer Gonzalez about how to use power point as an E book creator and learned a few things.  I wondered if google slides worked the same way or you can probably start it in google slides and then download it into power point.

I checked out book creator and as is typically the case, I had been there before.  I decided I would try to make a sample book that mirrors what fourth graders in a combined library/classroom project with biographies.  I made a biography about Abraham Lincoln and will share it with the fourth grade teachers as a new option for the written piece of the project.  Here is the link:



https://read.bookcreator.com/wOYMuWoQ7lONLdYuwKn1D7CcLeH2/h8wY8I-eRQW1EnOguusZXA

Thing 26 Note Taking Tools

I read this information about a week ago and didn't have the time to post my blog.  I was interested in this topic as every year I do a research report with fourth graders.  It is a common core requirement that fourth graders collect information from a variety of sources.  For this assignment the fourth grade students work with me on note taking and then they use their notes in class for a writing assignment that is spearheaded by the classroom teacher.  The fourth grade teachers are more than happy that I do this part of the assignment as it is like volunteering to do a spring cleaning of the yard when you have a couple of dogs; it is messy, hard work and not very pleasant.  So, I was interested to see if there were any note taking apps that would be useful for this assignment.  There were not.  However, personally, I think I will a great deal out of google keep.  I will be staying with my current method.  I use excel to generate cards, two for a book, one for an encyclopedia and one for a database.  I have questions on there that will help the student refine their focus when they get to writing the assignment.  I actually  have the cards in publisher.  Here is a copy of an example that I show the kids:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LecGmjarrtsBse6YlR47_Hr3DYWaNVUeWlw61uz4mP8/edit?usp=sharing

THING 8 DATABASES

I am a big fan of databases.  This week in library for third grade we have been studying Australia and will be moving into books about Egypt.  I read the book, The Sandwich Swap, to the students and we talked about how different countries have different foods.  I then showed students that they would be using SCHOLASTIC GO and would find another thing that was different about the two countries.  They also had to match up two pictures, The Great Sphinx and Ayers Rock and determine which of the two countries it was located in.  My students are used to using Pebble Go and I always make my research projects from scratch because what Pebble Go has to offer is the lowest level of Bloom's.  Still I was surprised how many students found this assignment to be difficult. 
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rGApsR2vUeUCrj8iQXsi0_AUoWl0Hgw7Gr64X6t4788/edit?usp=sharing

I came across this idea for this particular assignment when I was checking out NOVEL's Brittanica.  There is a feature where the names of two countries are typed in and comparative data is shown.  I also like the geography game that they have for younger kids.

I read the articles and especially liked the piktograph and the comparative chart of databases versus the general internet.  I sent them both on to colleagues who hare going to present to faculty on databases.  This year the three of us are polling our respective faculties to see what databases they are using and/or would like to use for purchasing decisions.  Below is a copy of my survey:

https://goo.gl/forms/dCjkK0jzm0J3oVmm1

Thing 7 Audio Tools

This past week I used seesaw with kindergarten and the kids loved the audio part of that.  They made on-line valentines and then added the audio that was sent home to mom and dad.  I wanted to follow up using seesaw and I plan to do something with 100 Days.  I made a template where the student could in theory, click and drag to their picture to add to it but that is not possible in Seesaw.  This led me to think about how I often mistakenly click on the record feature in slides/documents.  I designed a Choose Your Own Adventure where students can pick a character, pick a setting and then type in a problem and the solution.  Afterwards they record their story and submit it to me.  I will probably do this in Schoology because it organizes submissions and I will probably do it with fourth graders. Skills to practice are clicking and dragging, the audio portion, typing as well as the creative side of story making.  I think they will have a lot of fun with this.  I know I did!  Here they are:

Template
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U0IUWTR6uq4k_I94bPopqsh3CVlJcULaRxSmEUQTOB0/edit?usp=sharing

My Example

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1feVuLHjspK2zPl1cbd7AmSONxtvyzhVkPoHqEsAGJhc/edit?usp=sharing

I plan to refine this page, make the girl as big as the boy, have more room for the pictures and less for the text as needed but my home computer was not cooperating so I will do that at work.

Thing 25 Student Assessment and Feedback Tools

There is so much here to explore. I did use padlet to introduce myself. It was quick and easy.  I have used flipgrid myself but have not used it for any of my classes yet.  I know that many teachers in my building use RemindChat and find it very helpful.  I have been looking for a platform that I can use for my kindergarten tech class. We tried WIXIE which is a paid subscription.  We use clever and couldn't use it with a trial so that was an added step that made Wixie not really workable.

 I have heard about SEESAW and checked it out to see if I could use it for my K-tech class and we will be using it next week.  It is very easy to upload students names and the QR code that can be used for the students to log in is ideal.  I have added one class (five more to go). I also added a template of a heart.  Our first activity using Seesaw will be for the students to decorate a Valentine and add audio to send home

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?share_token=ksIKAvmWSEumdyu8JhT_IQ&prompt_id=prompt.7e24a027-59db-4877-8b6a-1058b66dab6c

Thing 6: Curation Tools

I like the idea of content curation.  However, I don't ever typically get to that point.  For example, I start summer vacation saying to myself that this is the summer I will get my google drive in order, but it has yet to happen.  I definitely see the need for content curation and if you are starting in the digital world now, it is probably something that will keep you sane.  I read through these materials and I am thinking about how I could implement a start with my third and fourth graders, or at least get them thinking about how to stay organized with all of the information out there.  With that goal in mind, I started myself by signing up for Diigolet.  I think this will be a useful tool for me to keep the information that I encounter over different platforms that I want to refer back to. I successfully saved an article that was posted in Facebook on one of the librarian groups. Facebook too now has a new feature that lets you save articles which is where I saved it first and then moved it over to the Diigolet account.  It does make you sign back into facebook when accessing from Diigolet.  If you are not familiar with this website: https://www.understood.org/en it is worth checking out.  There is even a simulator of how it feels to have certain disabilities in school.

Update on the 360 goggles - So far I have used them with three kindergarten classes.  The first one was a little rocky but successful.   It would have been better to start with a more docile class but schedule wise sometimes that just can't be controlled.   Since I have the K students before or after tech for library, I also made my library lesson applicable.  We read the story, What Do You Do With An Idea along with a non-fiction book about skyscrapers.  I showed them a clip from brainpop on how they are built and a five minute youtube video on the Top 10 Skyscrapers you should use before you die.  I also had some third graders create a process video using screencastify  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V9Too9dQmbtgCDIKEXl0bIAwReegn1J7/view  I also had bags of materials for kids to build their own "skyscraper" but the kids were so enthralled with the glasses that they were not needed.  I will use them for the STEM session I host with the middle
school for fourth graders on Thursday.

Thing 15 Augmented and Virtual Reality

We have something in our district called and IDEA grant and teachers can write a proposal for a special project.  One of the teachers at our school did this and got a class set of google VR viewers.  I am using the viewers the week after next for our monthly STEM session with fourth graders.  I run this event monthly with the middle school librarian, Linda Fasano and her middle school students.  Typically, what her kids do in her maker space Monday we do on Tuesday with the fourth graders.

I read through the information posted for this assignment.  I especially liked the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast that talked about the distinctions between AR and VR and future applications.  I went to ISTE this past summer and went to a workshop on aurasma.  The facilitators had loaded historical information about different buildings in downtown San Antonio and using our phones we took a walking tour of the sites that had been aurasmafied. 

What I am going to do next week with the google expedition glasses is I downloaded a whole bunch of different towers from around the world.  Students will select 2 or 3 of the towers to look at and then with a partner and some materials, recreate the tower.

I am going to try this with kindergarten too.  I'll keep you posted on how they went.

Thing 5 Presentation Tools

I am quite familiar, thanks to your class last year, with many of the items listed under presentation tools.  In fact, we had a lot of fun last year with screencastomatic.   I had some kids who would come in to hang out with me during lunch.  Every spring I have a celebration reading assembly.  Typically, the principal or myself or sometimes we team up and act out some books.  I decided why have all of the fun when the kids could do it using screecastomatic and then I didn't have to worry about them remembering their lines etcetera.  So they picked a few picture books that I scanned in and then the practiced, practiced practiced reading the parts and at the assembly I had the books playing on the big screen while the students acted them out.  I will probably use this tool again at this year's spring assembly. 

I messed around with tellagami before I realized that it is an iOS app which I can't use at my school.  I took a look at Sutori but didn't think it was a fit and then finally I took a closer look at Buncee.  Buncee is perfect for a kindergarten tech project that I will do around Valentine's Day.  I will have the kids make an audio/visual valentine to send home.  Here is my very scary example:

https://app.edu.buncee.com/buncee/fc125d69fbd04104990ba3970d643fad

Thing 4 Digital Story Telling

I have been thinking about using story bird for some time so this assignment gave me the excuse to look deeper and see which class I can use it with.  I am going to start with the poetry assignment and third grade.  We have been looking at Australian animals so the directive will be to look at a picture of one of the fictional animals on there and create a poem about it.  I like how the poetry part of story bird gives you the words.  Having words to select from will help the kids get started.  It helped me get started.  I also wrote to the Tech person at my school to see if she can just upload a CSV file for me so that I don't have to type in all that information for my 300 plus students.  If she can't, I'll have to go to plan B.

Here is what I created as an example to show the kids.


https://storybird.com/poetry/poem/6kggtz3csy/

THING 3 Twitter and On-line Communities

I have a twitter account @mybookbests.  I took a class on twitter on-line through UB and I enjoyed it.  I look at twitter but I do not really use it.  For this class I reviewed the materials.  I was especially interested in the article, "Twitter is Stupid. (until you realize)....While I understand the point of his article, and I don't think twitter is stupid, I do think it can be a waste of time.  I try to limit my media on  a daily basis and even so I  spend a lot of time on a device. On-line I read the New York Times, and the Albany Times Union.  I love to look at the Huffington Post headlines, they are the best and I look at what is on CNN and MSNBC.  I scroll through facebook and then I might try to extend my time on the couch by looking at twitter.  However, I know that my time would be better spent, at this point, by doing one of the activities for this class or something I have to do for work.  While I know that twitter can be informative and not a waste of time, I am not interested in being a full participant.  I don't feel that I have comparable offerings like say WebMd to be a full participant and frankly who cares what project I did at school or what my thoughts are on a certain topic?  Who cares about connecting with people around the world when you don't have any time to connect with people in your building?  As stated previously  I think my time could be better spent somewhere else and I always hear my mother's voice in my head, "God knows when you are wasting time." 

I read all of the materials on twitter posted for this class.  I liked the video about the attention span of people that has dwindled because of technology and I am concerned about that.  At Christmas, I told my two teenagers they couldn't bring their devices so that they would socialize with their cousins.  They didn't bring them but the cousins did, so there was limited socializing and their cousins chose their devices over sleigh riding. 

I think that people have to start making conscious choices about their use of technology.  I try to do that and twitter just doesn't make the grade for me.  For this assignment I looked at the activities for Veteran Tweeters and ended up signing up for TweetDeck.  Below is a shot of my page that has been tweet decked:

THING 2 PHOTO FUN

I read through the information about photo fun.  I realize the attraction of services like snap chat, especially as I have two teenagers. However, since one of my roles for the district is building technology co-coordinator, I am not comfortable with the liability issues.  Unless you have a district camera (which no one does) technically you could get into trouble with pictures of students on your personal device or even school device.  I see how snapchat could be used with parents and I might try that, although, that would be a time commitment that I just don't have. 

I tried out Big Huge Labs.  I love all of the things you can do on that and I will have to test them out to see if they work on the chromebooks in my building.  I was using my IPAD.  I made a card that is a take off on a biography project that I already do with fourth graders.  I also used the photosforclass to find an image.  Here it is: