SAMR - a candy coated model

I have the privilege of presenting the SAMR model to a group of teachers tomorrow. I have been trying to figure out a way to help staff remember the 4 levels of SAMR. What better way than with candy!! :)

Substitution is the lowly chocolate kiss. It works just fine - but it's pretty basic - not anything special. In this model technology is used to do the very same thing that you were doing without tech.  The task stays the same.

Augmentation moves one step up the ladder so the chocolate kiss becomes a bit yummier with caramel filling. In this model task remains the same but technology is used to add a bit more, the tech takes the process to a new level

Modification adds peanuts to the mix of caramel and chocolate.  In this level the task begins to change.  The use of a tech tool moves the process to a different place - allowing more options than existed without the tech.

Redefinition changes everything - our candy is not just a candy but a yummy chocolate ooey gooey dessert.  Technology takes the task to a completely different place - redefining and reshaping the very activity.  

Live Healthy Iowa and Grammar in a 7th grade Classroom

activity cards

Students waiting their turns

It may seem like an impossible challenge to combine Chromebooks, grammar, and exercise, but that is exactly what Beth Fiordelise's 7th graders did today!  It was a grammar relay race in the student center.

Four teams sent one student to the lunch table with a slip of paper. On the paper was a question correlating to a Google questionnaire on the Chromebook. The student answered the quiz question and picked up an activity card.  Each card listed a different active way to return to their group or an exercise       to be completed before returning.  

Based on the both the quiz answers and the activity level in the Student Center - I would say it was a great success. 

Special thanks to Learning Center teacher Wendy Berry, for the idea and the ground work.

Mrs. Fiordelise explaining

all the tools needed - cards, Chromebook and textbook

hard at work

Connection Tools

I am always looking for new ways to connect device to one another.

Here are a two that connect you iPad to your computer for different reasons.

Chrome Remote Desktop

I introduced to a simple tool to connect your iPad to your chrome browser on your computer by Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.  This works great in a classroom setting where you want to move around the room with your iPad, but use the projector capabilities of our laptop or desktop.

In order to make this work there are a couple of preparation steps.

1. install the Chrome Remote Desktop app on your iPad.
2. install the Chrome Remote Desktop Google app found in the Google Play store
3. Once it is installed you will need to launch the app by clicking on the multicolored Apps button in the bookmark bar of Chrome.
   
4. Find the Chrome Remote Desktop app and launch it 
5. Click on "Enable remote connections"
6. Create a pin you will not forget.
7. Enable your computer by adding the pin to this window.
   
8. Open the Chrome Remote Desktop app on your iPad.
1. if you have more than one google account you will need to choose the one you want my clicking on the three lines in the top left corner
9. Click on the computer name on your iPad.
10. Add the pin that you created and connect.
    

And here is the desktop of my computer!

From here I can move to different tabs, and do whatever I need to in Chrome.

I love it!

Simple Transfer

This is an iPad app that connects devices.  I wish I could remember where I first heard about this app  - I'd love to give credit. But, sadly I don't remember.

Here is how it works.

1. Download Simple Transfer from the app store on your iPad.
2. Open the app on your computer.  
3. Click on the type of transfer  at the bottom of the screen.
4. For iPad to computer transfer - open a new tab in your browser - type in the ip address listed on the screen
5. Check out the limitations listed - 50 photos per album. If you want to transfer more than 50 pics, create another album.

This works so well between devices!  A great tool to have!

New Activities for the New Year!

Over Christmas vacation I was introduced to several new sites that grow student learning in a variety of ways.  These sites were highlighted on one of the Diigo lists I follow - so I didn't discover them...I am just passing them along.

GeoGuesser

What:  Geography game to encourage visual understanding and guessing with students.
How:  The premise is a street view scene somewhere in the world - you have to make a guess where the location is.  There are five rounds in the game.  You are scored on the nearness of the actual point and the amount of time it takes to figure out your location.  The lower the score the better you are at figuring out your place in the world.
Variables:  You can decide if you want the game to be about the whole world or a specific country.  You are able to 'drive' around and look for clues to help decide where you are. Googling the answer is always an option - but it takes time.
Draw Backs:  Some of the photography isn't as sharp as others - so it's really hard to read street signs.  I was smack dab on the right place one time and it said I was FAR away!   So take that into account.
Classroom Use:  This is be a great way to culminate a study of a country.  'Set' the students down in that place and try to figure out where they are.  It is also a great way to really hone observation and google search skills.  Geography is clear, but general knowledge of the world is such an overlooked skill!
Additional Info:  This  is a great blog post on questioning techniques and using GeoGuesser in your classroom
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Physics Toolbox

Matt Miller, in his Ditch That Textbook blog, highlighted a very powerful suite of tools in his January 1st blog post.  

He interviewed Rebecca Vieyra who has created a suite of free tools that can be used on Android devices.  They are all sorts of ___ometers.   Apps have been developed for many of these for Mac OS.

I wanted to include this for a couple of reasons...

• Vieyra is "now on leave with NASA Aeronautics as an Albert Einstein Fellow teacher." What a great way to introduce your students to scientist teachers using the apps she has created! 
• these are using the tools that many students have in their pockets 
• the post includes suggestions for using these tools in the classroom as well as on a field trip
• I don't know anything about Physics and this is fascinating to me!

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Crumbles

This is a rather unique website that pulls words from popular movies and creates a movie montage of your phrase.

Click here to experience what I am talking about.

Educational uses:  interesting way to kick off a classroom lesson!  

Draw backs:  There is no way to choose the clip image - and some may not be as appropriate as others.  Also, this is not creating a video - so you can only share the link.  To create the video that I shared I used a screen capture program and copied it to the blog.  That is why it is so tiny.

Have fun with these apps!

Genetics and Hard Work

You never know what you will learn when you walk in to classroom.  

Today I watched students "create" a baby through the flip of two coins and a series of genetic choices.  Dominant and recessive genes were stitched together into one face.  

That was the assignment.  But, I observed so much more. 

-Two languages-Spanish and English words floated around the room

-social skills of partner work displayed with varying degrees of success

-drawing expertise on display from the quiet student in the back of the room (some serious drawing skills!!)

-a teacher able to answer questions from Ebola to chicken pox and back to dwarfism without skipping a beat

-engagement with the topic and the partner

And that was about 10 minutes worth of class.  Think of all the skills and abilities that are on display every minute of every day in the millions of classrooms across the country.  There is serious work going on!

So. Reformers...you are right.

There are problems In our education system.  

But there are amazingly right things happening too!

And it is HARD work for both teachers and students.  

Let's remember that before we start throwing around generalizations!  

And just maybe you might consider hanging out in a classroom before you make statements.

Because they are pretty amazing spaces!

Genius Hour

As the staff at a local junior high is sitting and discussing Genius Hour there is a word staring down at them from the wall above their heads...

What a great environment to build a genius hour for students. Their environment beckons both students and staff to grow and discover!

Way to go!!!

Specialized Search Engine

Did you know that Google allows a quick and easy way to create a customized search engine. You can add the sites you want and exclude all others. It works great!


  Here are the easy steps.
1. Log on to your Google account
2. Go to Google.com/cse
3. Follow the directions on the page to add sites, keywords and recommended sites.
4. Click Search Features and get the embed code
5. Embed the code on to your class website

Art in Science Class

As I sat in a biology class listening to the teacher explain photosynthesis I was drawn into the lesson. I, a self-proclaimed scientific idiot, was excited to hear about the way leaves use light for energy.  I wanted to be a part of the upcoming lab! I actually cared about this and wanted to take part in the upcoming lab.

And then it hit me... I was watching an artist at work!

I would have been able to read the teachers manual and deliver the same content to the class,  but it would not be the same. It would be rote repetition.  It would not be art!  

So in the time of computer generated this and that it is the ART of the teacher that brings learning alive. Students can watch a video lesson, read about a topic or peruse a website. But a teacher brings it all together and makes it sing. 

This is one of the secrets that is hidden in school halls. There are ArtistsinResidence inside many of our classrooms!  The students know this-they know which teachers bring the subject alive.  

But, somehow this is forgotten when they leave the school walls.  The larger world seems to look down on the teaching profession believing any old person is able to teach.  It erases the dedication that artists give to their work! 

Here's to the artists who encouraged me tol learn and grow!

This is why I love working in a Middle School

Seen @ MS in Rural Iowa

This makes me smile every time!!!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 12

How do you envision your teaching changing in 5 years?

This is such an exciting question!  This is what gets me jazzed up! I think we are in a VERY exciting time in education!  

I think the main components of change will be...

• a change in grading - moving to standards rather than flat grades
• common standards that drive the skill learning and big picture projects to practice and use the skills
• personalized learning for students and staff - learning that is delivered in a wide variety of methods

I am involved in a pilot project on Blended Learning this year.  I am an observer who will provide support for the classroom teachers - I won't be doing the actual teaching.  As we learn more about Blended Learning - I think it has the potential to bring all these pieces together in one place.  Teachers need to be very well versed in the standards and skills that their students are required to learn.  Those standards are presented to students in a spiraling curriculum in a wide variety of ways - with technology, collaboratively with other students, and independently on their own.  Students demonstrate their learning of these skills through both formative and summative assessment.  I think this is all brilliant!!

But - what gets me even more excited is students learning what they want.  I don't mean complete freedom.  But, if students are given the opportunity to be responsible for their learning and apply it to a project that is authentic I think the sky is the limit!!!  So what this looks like is - teacher requiring specific skills - students demonstrating those skills in the research and presentation of an authentic problem/solution project.  I feel like I need to take a breath after I type all that!  

I have been reading Who Owns the Learning by Alan November. He explains that long ago in an agriculture based society children were needed to run the farms. Their work was directly related to the success or failure of the farm. They had a purpose.  What is our students' purpose today?  Who is working the hardest in the classroom?  Are we more focused on teaching rather than learning - and so more on the teacher than the students?

And then there is assessment. In 5 years - I truly believe that assessments will figure out how to match!  Please oh please!!!!

I am excited about the opportunity of having a part in both the pilot this year and the next 5 years!!