Thursday, December 12, 2013
#INeLearn Christmas Shares
I was presenting at my school district's board meeting and just recently got home, which caused me to miss the Twitter Chat. Here are my shares via Thinglink and this blog post. Click the links below associated with each block. This image and idea was created by the extraordinary Michelle Green
Google Santa Tracker
This is just a simple share through a post. I wanted to share the link to Google's Santa Tracker. With each day in December a new Christmas-related game or tool is unlocked, keep up with all 24 days until the 25th. Day ten had a cool voicemail creation tool with a Santa chat window. Check out Google's Santa Tracker. Here is a link to the message I sent to someone.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Universal Design for Learning
I recently attended a Universal Design for Learning session at the Central Indiana Service Center for Education and reflected on my experience with the app Haiku Deck. Below you will find my notes via this "deck."
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad
Gear up for the #HourofCode
Why the hashtag? Because if you participate, I think you should share your success or failure with Twitter. Failure is a first attempt in learning, and should not be hidden. Try it and if it doesn't work don't discredit it. Instead reflect, evaluate, and revamp your coding lessons.
The Hour of Code week runs through December 9th to the 15th. This week is considered Computer Science Education Week. To review the #Hourofcode, the following video does a great job explaining this campaign and how to get started. Following the video, there are a list of links to get students coding for varying amounts of time in the classroom.
If you would like to participate in "Hour of Code" activities. Use these ideas in lieu of your regular Science content for a day. Try to create a Coding Center in the room for free time. Complete one or multiple activities listed at these links. Or at least, take a look at the activities and try them out when you have time. Maybe it doesn't happen during this upcoming week; however, try to engage students in these activities sometime throughout the year.
Here are a list of resources for getting started:
Cargo-Bot - This puzzle app challenges students to make a robot move crates with a series of up, down, left, right, and looping commands. Cargo-Bot is a great example of how a game promotes concepts related to coding. I would recommend this app for Kindergarten and up. The image above displays the Cargo-bot interface during play and immediately following a successful program.
Daisy the Dinosaur - This app promotes computer programing concepts with an easy to use drag and drop interface. Students can quickly grasp the idea of using objects, sequencing, and loops to animate Daisy the Dinosaur across the screen. When students first enter the app, they can choose Free Play or Challenge Mode. The former offers the freedom to get to know the available commands, while the latter provides students with direction on what you need to get Daisy the Dinosaur to do. The image above displays the Daisy the Dinosaur interface.
Hopscotch - This might be the coolest solution because there is an associated tutorial to follow along during the #Hourofcode. The tutorial provides three links: one to download the app, one to watch the tutorial, and one to get a certificate of participation in the #Hourofcode. The image above displays the Hopscotch interface.
Light-bot tutorials provide students with a step-by-step guide on how to use the Light-bot web-based app, which will provide the students guidance as they work through the tutorials.
MakeGamesWith.us is a tougher activity, but still a great experience for students to get a taste of real coding. The coding language used with this program is called Objective-C, which is used to developed iOS apps. App development is great field to get into currently and I can only image it will become even more promising in the future. Of course, coding languages will change, but using this language can help students understand how the interactions within an app are created.
Scratch is log-in required web-based coding program that many schools have been using on a regular basis. When I coached Lego-Robotics, some of the students were dabbling in Scratch for the fun of it. It is drag-and-drop coding interface similar to the easy-to-use Daisy the Dinosaur mentioned above. If I started an after school program for elementary students, this would be one of the programs I would focus students attention on because their are a lot of options with this web-based programming tool.
As a kid, I wanted to become a game designer. I grew up with Mario and Luigi, and Nintendo games made me wonder how complex it would be to develop my own video game. When in high school, I asked my student counselor how to pursue this career. And as well-intentioned as can be, she could only offer me a drafting class and art class. Both classes could only get me so far and did little to make me want to continue down the path of video game development.
How many of your students would probably enjoy creating video games, animations, interactive websites, apps for mobile devices, etc? Now, think of how many opportunities they have to actually explore this career pathway. So, even if you don't have time this week, think about offering students a choice to use any of these applications in order to expand their horizons.
Last but not least, here is a final advertisement for the #Hourofcode.
The Hour of Code week runs through December 9th to the 15th. This week is considered Computer Science Education Week. To review the #Hourofcode, the following video does a great job explaining this campaign and how to get started. Following the video, there are a list of links to get students coding for varying amounts of time in the classroom.
If you would like to participate in "Hour of Code" activities. Use these ideas in lieu of your regular Science content for a day. Try to create a Coding Center in the room for free time. Complete one or multiple activities listed at these links. Or at least, take a look at the activities and try them out when you have time. Maybe it doesn't happen during this upcoming week; however, try to engage students in these activities sometime throughout the year.
Here are a list of resources for getting started:
<iPad Apps>
The following apps are kid-friendly for the Hour of Code.
Daisy the Dinosaur - This app promotes computer programing concepts with an easy to use drag and drop interface. Students can quickly grasp the idea of using objects, sequencing, and loops to animate Daisy the Dinosaur across the screen. When students first enter the app, they can choose Free Play or Challenge Mode. The former offers the freedom to get to know the available commands, while the latter provides students with direction on what you need to get Daisy the Dinosaur to do. The image above displays the Daisy the Dinosaur interface.
Hopscotch - This might be the coolest solution because there is an associated tutorial to follow along during the #Hourofcode. The tutorial provides three links: one to download the app, one to watch the tutorial, and one to get a certificate of participation in the #Hourofcode. The image above displays the Hopscotch interface.
<MacBook Resources>
These are the web-based apps that Code.org recommends for students during the Hour of Code. Because these are web-based tools, they will work for students using MacBook Airs and not require an application to be downloaded. Nevertheless, students might need a flash plugin to run Light-bot. If that is the case, have students try different browsers before calling it quits.
MakeGamesWith.us is a tougher activity, but still a great experience for students to get a taste of real coding. The coding language used with this program is called Objective-C, which is used to developed iOS apps. App development is great field to get into currently and I can only image it will become even more promising in the future. Of course, coding languages will change, but using this language can help students understand how the interactions within an app are created.
Scratch is log-in required web-based coding program that many schools have been using on a regular basis. When I coached Lego-Robotics, some of the students were dabbling in Scratch for the fun of it. It is drag-and-drop coding interface similar to the easy-to-use Daisy the Dinosaur mentioned above. If I started an after school program for elementary students, this would be one of the programs I would focus students attention on because their are a lot of options with this web-based programming tool.
<Unplugged Resources>
This list will provide you with all of the "unplugged" resources available to engage students in an hour of code without having wireless access.
fuzz Family Frenzy - "Designed for use with plain paper, the fuzzFamily Frenzy is an introduction to programming logic for kids 5 and up. A teacher should explain the game, then students program a partner to complete a simple obstacle course." - Computer Science Education Week 2013
Binary Buables - "Students learn about representing and storing letters in binary, as functions of on and off. At the end, the class gets to encode their own initials to take home with them." - Computer Science Education Week 2013
My Robotics Friends - "Using a predefined "Robot Vocabulary" students will figure out how to guide each other to accomplish specific tasks without discussing them first. This lesson teaches children the connection between symbols and actions, as well as the invaluable skill of debugging. "My Robotic Friends" works best as a group activity and includes a teacher workbook for classroom use." - Computer Science Education Week 2013
</In the End>
I understand that the life of a teacher is a busy one, and there always seems to be little time in the day. But, these skills can offer many students a productive and rewarding outlet for their affinity with technologies.As a kid, I wanted to become a game designer. I grew up with Mario and Luigi, and Nintendo games made me wonder how complex it would be to develop my own video game. When in high school, I asked my student counselor how to pursue this career. And as well-intentioned as can be, she could only offer me a drafting class and art class. Both classes could only get me so far and did little to make me want to continue down the path of video game development.
How many of your students would probably enjoy creating video games, animations, interactive websites, apps for mobile devices, etc? Now, think of how many opportunities they have to actually explore this career pathway. So, even if you don't have time this week, think about offering students a choice to use any of these applications in order to expand their horizons.
Last but not least, here is a final advertisement for the #Hourofcode.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Giving Thanks as an Educator
Warning: This is an opinion piece. Read at your own risk. Then again, most of my posts have a layer of opinion. Ah, just read it.
Analyzing standardized testing results, sitting in on random committees, chances for merit pay, summers off, goals to receive accolades, and providing students with grades do not make me thankful to be an educator. In fact, some of these items listed here can make me want to leave education, but that is not what I wanted to share. I want to share "why I am thankful," and why I stay in education rather than flee when somedays become humdrum, tedious, and unnecessarily busy.
Like an addictive drug, students keep me here. Specifically, I love when students learn and create without direction. Sometimes the smallest comments from a teacher can inspire a student to go home and write a story, draw a picture, bring in something from home, write a blog post, create a slideshow, research a topic, create a message with an app, or send in a digital postcard with WWII paraphernalia on it. These are all moments that have "made my day" as a teacher and provided me with the motivation to continue in this sometimes emotionally draining career.
Over the last three to four years, as I have become a more digitally aware teacher, I have seen students motivated more and more to create digital products that can be shared through different online platforms. These moments rekindled my passion to teach and motivated me to do more and be more than just a 30 something year-old. I truly want to be a teacher. As a teacher, we get to see some pretty spectacular milestones in a student's life and it is easy to overlook these moments.
Most teachers won't receive a fancy "Teacher of the Year" accolade, but our accolades should be watching students become passionate about creating, collaborating, reflecting, and overall learning. Here are just a few times, I received recognition for my accomplishments. I just had to take the time to appreciate these moments.
When I taught fourth grade, I shared the tool Digital Vaults with students on Veteran's Day. This was just to provide students with the knowledge that primary sources from the Library of Congress could be retrieved to research and learn about the wars some veterans served during. One of my students was a typical unmotivated learner and I was "warned" about him prior to the beginning of the year. Then one night, I thought I received spam from the Digital Vaults and deleted the email from my inbox. But, something told me to look at the message before emptying my trash. After reading the message, I realized my unmotivated learner who built a bad reputation within the school just spent his free time engaging in the curation of Digital Vault sources to create a Vietnam War poster online.
This same student, went on to publish blog posts after school and over the weekends without a cue from me. He didn't complete a lot of his assigned homework, but he did work on projects that would awaken his appetite to create and share. Most of the time, he worked hardest on web-based projects and these moments that sparked his interest enough to try made my day as a teacher.
Most recently, in a period of two days, I received two more gifts from inspired students. The email below is from a teacher working on a PBL unit focusing on Native Americans. She is doing most of the work of course, but I think demonstrating the power of the research tool in Google Docs increased their efficiency as researchers, and they seem to be "hooked" as I work continue to work with them.
This next image displays a Google Drive share I received from a student using Edmodo. This student created a QuickTime movie recorded in Keynote. The other day, I demonstrated how to use Keynote, record a presentation, export the file as a QuickTime movie, and how to share files in Google Drive for a classroom. This was just a quick presentation. Then later that night, I received a movie presentation on American Girl Dolls. I'm not a fan of content, but I was floored by the fact that the student was inspired to capture her passion with the tools I shared. Let me say that it was a great presentation for an elementary student.
These incidents that I refer to above are most likely meaningless to the readers of this blog post. Nevertheless, they provide me with small moments of inspiration to feel like I am making a difference in a student's life, and this is what I am thankful for as an educator. I am always thankful and appreciate when students are hooked and passionate about learning. Students learn regardless of my actions, but I think I at least had a little part to play in their cognitive growth. So as I am still stuffed like a Turkey with Thanksgiving food, I would like to say, "thank you students for creating and sharing when you're passionate about learning."
Analyzing standardized testing results, sitting in on random committees, chances for merit pay, summers off, goals to receive accolades, and providing students with grades do not make me thankful to be an educator. In fact, some of these items listed here can make me want to leave education, but that is not what I wanted to share. I want to share "why I am thankful," and why I stay in education rather than flee when somedays become humdrum, tedious, and unnecessarily busy.
Like an addictive drug, students keep me here. Specifically, I love when students learn and create without direction. Sometimes the smallest comments from a teacher can inspire a student to go home and write a story, draw a picture, bring in something from home, write a blog post, create a slideshow, research a topic, create a message with an app, or send in a digital postcard with WWII paraphernalia on it. These are all moments that have "made my day" as a teacher and provided me with the motivation to continue in this sometimes emotionally draining career.
Over the last three to four years, as I have become a more digitally aware teacher, I have seen students motivated more and more to create digital products that can be shared through different online platforms. These moments rekindled my passion to teach and motivated me to do more and be more than just a 30 something year-old. I truly want to be a teacher. As a teacher, we get to see some pretty spectacular milestones in a student's life and it is easy to overlook these moments.
Most teachers won't receive a fancy "Teacher of the Year" accolade, but our accolades should be watching students become passionate about creating, collaborating, reflecting, and overall learning. Here are just a few times, I received recognition for my accomplishments. I just had to take the time to appreciate these moments.
When I taught fourth grade, I shared the tool Digital Vaults with students on Veteran's Day. This was just to provide students with the knowledge that primary sources from the Library of Congress could be retrieved to research and learn about the wars some veterans served during. One of my students was a typical unmotivated learner and I was "warned" about him prior to the beginning of the year. Then one night, I thought I received spam from the Digital Vaults and deleted the email from my inbox. But, something told me to look at the message before emptying my trash. After reading the message, I realized my unmotivated learner who built a bad reputation within the school just spent his free time engaging in the curation of Digital Vault sources to create a Vietnam War poster online.
This same student, went on to publish blog posts after school and over the weekends without a cue from me. He didn't complete a lot of his assigned homework, but he did work on projects that would awaken his appetite to create and share. Most of the time, he worked hardest on web-based projects and these moments that sparked his interest enough to try made my day as a teacher.
Most recently, in a period of two days, I received two more gifts from inspired students. The email below is from a teacher working on a PBL unit focusing on Native Americans. She is doing most of the work of course, but I think demonstrating the power of the research tool in Google Docs increased their efficiency as researchers, and they seem to be "hooked" as I work continue to work with them.
This next image displays a Google Drive share I received from a student using Edmodo. This student created a QuickTime movie recorded in Keynote. The other day, I demonstrated how to use Keynote, record a presentation, export the file as a QuickTime movie, and how to share files in Google Drive for a classroom. This was just a quick presentation. Then later that night, I received a movie presentation on American Girl Dolls. I'm not a fan of content, but I was floored by the fact that the student was inspired to capture her passion with the tools I shared. Let me say that it was a great presentation for an elementary student.
These incidents that I refer to above are most likely meaningless to the readers of this blog post. Nevertheless, they provide me with small moments of inspiration to feel like I am making a difference in a student's life, and this is what I am thankful for as an educator. I am always thankful and appreciate when students are hooked and passionate about learning. Students learn regardless of my actions, but I think I at least had a little part to play in their cognitive growth. So as I am still stuffed like a Turkey with Thanksgiving food, I would like to say, "thank you students for creating and sharing when you're passionate about learning."
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