Showing posts with label Professional Development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Professional Development. Show all posts

8.07.2013

Launchpad Edu

I just finished participating in a wonderful webinar from Launchpad Edu.  They brought together the creators of the apps and teachers implementing those apps in their classrooms.  To hear about the design and the actual implementation is powerful and has me thinking!  I can't wait to implement ideas like using Brainpop, Brainpop Jr., Brainpop ESL and Brainpop Spanish to differentiate for students! I think I will use the Brainpop daily video to begin the class thinking and asking "I Wonder" questions!  Motion Math Games can be quick opening challenges and introductions to daily lessons.  Toontastic creates writers in your classroom as students create these one of a kind animated movies.  It would be a great idea to create a Brainpop type explanation video in Toontastic!  The best part of these apps is that they are all tied to the common core standards and take the work out of flipping your classroom.  Understand the standard you are going to teach and then give you kids a menu of options to demonstrate mastery of that standard.  Using this list of apps is a great start!  Watch the webinar, it is short and worth your time as a teacher!  They have also launched a site that includes lesson plans and ways to implement this into common core!  http://launchpadtoys.com/edu/#leaders

Great Apps for the Classroom

T

7.31.2013

Pecha Kucha



I first became acquainted with this presentation format at the Denver Nature and Science Inquiry Academy last summer.  It is a week long immersion into inquiry and I came away a changed being.  We have Inquiry Days in my 21st Century Learning Classes and my students often tell me that those are their favorite days!  We have examined ice blocks, I mean really examined with flashlights and probes and adding salt and food coloring and asking questions and trying other things.  It is amazing what you can see in a block of ice.  We have gone into a dark room and used static electricity to light a light bulb.  Inquiry is engaging and magical! As a teacher you have to give up some control and let the questions guide the journey and the lesson.  Your work is to come prepared with something to ask questions about. Pecha Kucha is a way to present all of your learning and can be a wonderful, concise assessment tool.  Students should be learning how and becoming comfortable with presenting.  20 slides at 20 seconds each lets them do that.  You could even start smaller if you wanted depending on the age of your students.  How about 6 slides at 20 seconds each? Or give each student one slide in a collaborative presentation. Set the timer in the powerpoint presentation and then focus on the content and turn it over to the kids to demonstrate their learning.  Here is a video tutorial about how to use Pecha Kucha! And it is fun to say!!!

7.22.2013

BYOD?

My school is contemplating an introduction into the world of BYOD.  I came across this article that includes numerous resources to help with that decision.  Budgets are forcing us to consider options like this in order to provide opportunities for kids to utilize technology.  What do you think?  Click on this link to read more about and access 20 BYOD Resources for 21st Century Schools!  

7.19.2013

Tech Tools for the Elementary Classroom

#1 – Livebinders
Ok, Livebinders is kind of amazing!!!  So think about the binders you have in your classroom that hold all of your resources.  It’s just like that, but web based!!  You can access those resources from any computer, anywhere!  You need to create an account, but it’s F-R-E-E!    You can view other people’s binders as well!  
Have you ever been to a restaurant or a store and seen those signs that say “Text ‘blahblahblah’ to 55552 to receive coupon codes”?  Well this is just like that!!  You can give your parents a code to text to a number and then you can send them updates via text message!  A good example of this would be to remind them of upcoming tests, parent conference reminders, school event reminders, etc.  SO COOL, right?  Check it out!
#3 Kerpoof
It is a bright, colorful website where you can create movies, cards, drawings, and little books/stories!  This would be awesome to have students use this to create a drawing and/or picture to go with a story they wrote!
“ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books.”  This is similar to Kerpoof, but it’s a tad bit more user friendly (in my opinion).  So this would probably be great to use in primary classrooms.  This is also available as an app so you can have it on you iPad!
 It’s like all your bookmarks on one screen!  It creates little “tiles” for you.  You can also create different “webmixes”.  You can have a “webmix” for math and bookmark all your favorite math sites there.  You can create one for language arts, and have all of your favorite online language arts resources right there.  You can also search for other people’s tiles and add them to your “webmix”.  And they tiles are cute little icons, which is great if you are a visual person like me!  It might sound a little confusing now, but go check out the website and play around on it and you will see what I’m talking about!!  You MUST check this one out!!  It’s amazing!  Here is a symbaloo that I have posted on my library website:



TIPS on Reflection, Picture Editing and 21st Century Learning

21st Century Learning