I have enjoyed every minute of this year as I interact with students and teachers as they integrate technology in their classrooms. Welcome Elementary 4th grade students have the incredible privilege of participating in a Pilot Program 1:1 Ipad initiative, which means ipads for each student. Planning with the 4th grade teachers, assisting with projects in their classrooms,and designing lessons using Apps has been the most exciting experience of my 29 year teaching career. It is truly amazing what these students are learning by researching, reading, writing, drawing, taking photos, videoing, and designing. I have never seen anything like this.

Students in a 3rd grade class at Sue Cleveland Elementary are saving paper and time as they use the laptops daily to complete their assignments that are posted to Edmodo. Reading groups are differentiated using Edmodo. Tests are given and graded immediately and instant feedback is given using this program. Students are answering questions and sharing reflections as they watch Brain Pop movies about geometry, measurement, liquids and solids. It is extremely powerful and successful. They play games that relate to the standards and use manipulatives to solve problems, while using white boards to write and draw the steps of the problem solving process. Technology is improving student learning.

4th grade students in Mr. Rowland’s room at Monaview Elementary are using laptops daily to work on Edmodo, conduct research, and publish. His students use MP3 players to listen to audio books and they play games and record themselves using iPads for assessment. Check our Mr. Rowland’s awesome blog to see his students’ projects. Mr. Rowland’s Blog

When I had my own classroom, I used laptops with my first graders all the time. I rolled the laptop cart in my room and we pulled the laptops  to create stories and movies, they visited my website to click on links to interactive games based on the standards I was teaching that week, and they could use Word and PowerPoint effortlessly as they wrote stories or presented projects to the class.

Many teachers and principals tell me that they don’t have time to do this with their students which is sad. My goal is to help teachers and principals see that it can be done. I want to share examples of students and teachers using technology to prepare students for the 21st century. Common Core standards are more rigorous, so our planning and teaching has to incorporate ways to meet our students needs by addressing these concepts. Technology is just one of those ways.

I hope you will check out the photos of students engaged in learning and look at some of their finished projects. It can be done:)

Apps, Edmodo, and Virtual Field Trips

GCSD Elementary Art Teachers

Please check out the STEAM presentation located on my blog.

Student Teacher MI and Technology Projects

My advice to student teachers as you begin your teaching career is to provide opportunities for students to use technology and design projects that relate to the real world and their interests. Immerse your students in a 21st Century Classroom where they will create, think critically, collaborate, and communicate through student projects that are real-world relevant based on Common Core standards-driven curriculum.

Establish procedures and routines immediately. Reinforce and practice them every day for 6-10 weeks or more. Begin talking about Multiple Intelligences on Day 1 of school and explain how each of us is gifted with special talents and “smarts”. Interview and get to know your students and learn their strengths. Build relationships with students that are positive and caring. Social Emotional learning is crucial to a successful classroom. “Emotion drives attention which drives learning, memory, problem solving, and just about everything else.” –Robert Sylwester

Use the laptops, computer labs, media center, iPads as much as possible. Check out equipment, sign up for the laptop cart or lab every day, don’t let the technology at your school be under utilized. .

Plan well and work with other teachers as much as possible. It is crucial that you share ideas and resources. This will make life as a teacher much richer and more enjoyable. Good luck with your career!

iTeach Cafe Agenda and Workshop

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPad_User_Guide.pdf

Part 1: Camera Tool,  Photos, and Videos
Detailed instructions are found in the iPad manual above in Chapters 9 and 10.
Video instructions are found in Chapter 12.

Part 2: Uploading Photos and Videos to Computer
Use the USB Power Cord to transfer photos from iPad to computer.

Part 3: Syncing with iTunes
Install iTunes on your computer first. itunes Download instructions are found here.  Go to Page16, Chapter 2 for more information.

Part 4: DropBox
Video Tour of DropBox

Part 5: Guided Access Video

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/19/ios-6-feature-guided-access-also-for-kids-and-kiosks/

Guided Access step-by-step with pictures guide

http://ipadeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/your-guide-to-guided-access.html

GCSD iPad Blog: Early Childhood Apps
http://ipad.blog.greenville.k12.sc.us/elementary-apps/early-childhood/

15 Basic Tips:

http://files.simplek12.com/workbooks/15Tips_eBook.pdf

Five Things Every Teacher Should Do

• lead high-level, text-based discussions
• focus on process, not just content
• create assignments for real audience with real purposes
• teach argument, not persuasion  ( we need to do more of this)
• increase text complexity and focus on academic vocabulary

I see teachers and students at Welcome Elementary implementing these Common Core Components as their students create using their iPads. They are also learning keyboarding skills and how to collaborate using Edmodo in the computer lab. It is amazing what these students can do because of the high expectations of their teachers and administration!

iPads, Edmodo, and Students Creating at Welcome on PhotoPeach

Westcliffe Elementary students in Ms. Black’s class were learning a poem about soup, so we integrated math by adding soup ingredients using the iPad.

Click here to see our lesson adding vegetable soup. Show Me Lesson

If you have laptops or a computer lab, start using that technology to motivate your students to research and create. 2 great resources to use with your students are SCDiscus and Instagrok. I would link these sites to my web page or blog and let students explore topics they are interested in, visit the websites, games, etc…. that correlate to the standards they are researching. Give students choices about how they will present their knowledge:  Using the iPad, creating a digital story with voicethread, creating a voki, making a tagxedo, designing a flipchart, upload to Edmodo, are great ways to display and publish student work for a real audience.

Click here to see our adding using a few of my favorite things. http://youtu.be/306e2yfhm6E

I have enjoyed using the ActivExpressions with students for the past few years. I especially like the Question Generator for assessing math facts. It is quick and easy to do and it grades it for you!  The sessions that I teach usually involve 3 sessions: First session is how to register devices and use the wheel of wonder. I call that teaching on the fly.  Second session is how to insert questions using the question manager: 1 question on a page at a time and choosing a template. This allows teachers to set the correct answer before the lesson and the test is pre-loaded.  Third session is Self-Paced questions with more than one question on the page, assigning the correct answer, and question generator.  I also show how to export answers into Excel.

Watch this video of ways students are using the ActivExpressions at Ron Clark Academy.

Check out the data you get from exporting the results from ActivExpressions tests into Excel. It is an automatic grade and you can receive feedback immediately about what your students know and don’t know.

Activexpression Data