Our first run at BYOD

We are five full days into a new BYOD project in the Shepard third grade classrooms. It's something we've wanted to do since the start, but wanted to wait until the day to day projects were well underway. After just a few days, we've seen that students will bring in a device; they've had several each day and we think that number will only increase with time. Since we are doing a bit of trailblazing, it's good to step back and reflect on the process. So here's a look at the process we used to get started:

Teacher Buy-in
I think this is the most important part. When I first brought up the idea of BYOD way back in the summer, I could tell that Leanna and Susan weren't sold. That didn't surprise me because they didn't have the vision of what their classrooms would look like with the infusion of technology. However, it wasn't long after they got their ten iPads that they wanted more. It was easier for them to see the value of having devices in the room for easy access to information and project creation.

School Buy-in
Our district has a BYOD policy in place: School Board Policy. However, it's not readily used because it relies on having buildings and teachers invested. So after several weeks of the school year passed, we went to Shepard's administration to bring up the idea of BYOD. Because they had seen all the great things that were going on in the classroom, it wasn't hard to get the go-ahead. However, we wanted to institute some limitations to the devices and some safeguards with the process because we're talking about third graders. So we worked together to come up with a concrete guide to the process. Here's the Shepard BYOD Plan. 

Parent Buy-in
None of this would work if the parents didn't think it was worth it. That's another great reason to push back your BYOD until they've seen what's happening in the classroom. Really, why would you buy or send in a device if you had no idea what they would use it for? I wouldn't. So we sent home information about the process and set up a parent lunch for more information and questions. The Monday after the note went home, both teachers had 4-5 permission slips in hand and both had students with devices on the first day! I think that says a lot about the parent buy-in. About ten parents from both classes came to the meeting. They had great questions about what devices would be appropriate, management procedures, trust in their children, and more. It was clear from the meeting that we needed to put together a guide for what devices would be preferred. Here's a look at our BYOD Device Recommendations. That was tough to put together because there are so many variables and price points. However, I would also maintain that I would rather spend more money on a device that everyone knows will work in the class and be able to withstand heavy usage. It's the old adage, you get what you pay for. 

Student Buy-in
Easiest part. All students (at least the ones that I've known all my life) would want to have access to their own device. One concern that popped up during the parent meeting was that of student perception. How do students feel if they don't have something when others do? A perfectly valid question. But how do we tell another student that they can't bring in their device unless everyone has one? We all wish everyone had equal access to technology at home, but that's outside our circle of influence. All we can do is offer every student the opportunity to use what they have. 

Who knows what the future holds? BYOD is completely optional and nobody is going to be left behind if they don't have a device. That's the benefit of having the ten-pack of iPads in each class. The one thing that I've heard several times already is having just one or two additional devices in the room makes a huge difference in accessibility. My vision is that as the year progresses, we'll see more students bring in a device. 

Looking forward, we also need to guarantee parents that their students will be able to use the device in years to come. I would happily spend a few hundred dollars on a quality device if I know that my child would be able to use it for several years. But if next year's teachers won't allow it, that might affect my decision to purchase. Running a small pilot is important to iron out details and to offer insight on how to push the project out on a large scale. 

I've enjoyed the last few weeks. We moved slowly and have seen promising results. Please let me know if you'd like to chat about how to make BYOD work in your schools. 

How-to list for iPad Success

So we brought together all of our iPad pilot teachers last week to see how everything was going. I will say that it was the most productive and enjoyable meeting I've been a part of in a long time. It was great to see what everyone is doing in their own spaces. We wanted to give the opportunity to share successes and troubleshoot issues. Here's a rundown of the topics that each teacher shared:

Susan

• Big success with Genius Hour research. Learning how to be more efficient with note taking and project creation
• Educreations was fun to use to create some learning projects about roller coasters

Leanna

• 30Hands has been great for student created videos
• iMovie was used for classroom tutorials, learning from field trips, and author studies

Maggie

• Keynote has been used for showing learning during the disease unit
• They used Google Earth to find their grandparents' houses on Grandparent's Day
• Use an App of the Day structure to learn about new apps

Allison

• Notability has been great for guided reading groups - Here's How
• Uses Today's Meet for students to write about the class read aloud

Jenifer

• Uses Explain Everything to explain everything
• Student Google accounts to house documents and for sharing
• Has students thinking about the difference between the mode of delivery (app) and the content they are sharing

Cindy

• Loves using Pic Collage for student projects; works for any content
• Story Creator

What a great list of applications for the first few months. When we talk about using devices to transform the learning in the classroom, this is what I envision. Students have been able to access information more efficiently than ever. And they can quickly create products to show what they have learned. I think we're off to a good start. I can't wait to see what they come up with around the corner. 

Getting some ink

Carlin Wagner of the Columbia Missourian just published an article about some of our work. Check out the article here: Columbia Elementary School Teachers Integrate iPads in their Classroom

It was fun reading the great quotes from our teachers. The worst part of the article was having to see my picture published. I prefer the anonymity of the podcast. 

Getting students on Google Drive

It's been an exciting few days for Mrs. Heath and Mrs. Guillory's third grade classrooms. Over two class periods, we successfully got 52 students signed in to their Google accounts, created shared folders, and wrote their first documents. It was so smooth. Really. I do this all the time with adults, and I can say the experience was easier and more fun with the students. Here's how we set it up. Feel free to use anything you find helpful.

Google Apps for Education
I started by creating every student an account in our Google Apps domain. This step is key because third graders can't create their own accounts. But what makes the Apps domain so awesome is our control. I created generic school accounts, grouped them, and then shut down everything except Drive, Blogger, and Sites. The students have no access to email, Google+, Hangouts, or any other social site. Parents will get their student's account information in order to support learning at home as well. 

Tutorial Videos
I wanted to try out something different, so I flipped the instruction. Kind of. I created three short videos to explain the three steps of the process. Next, I uploaded them to my YouTube channel and gave the links to the teachers. Before I arrived, the students watched the videos to get a feel for their task. Here are the links if you'd like to use them:

• Accessing Google Drive
• Creating and Sharing a Folder
• Creating a Document

Step by Step Handout
I wanted the students to be supported to work through the process independently. So I created a simple handout to guide them through the process. Here's the link: Google Account Handout

Account Information
This was a bit tricky. I made a slip of paper for each student that included their Google email address and password. We passed these out to the students when they were at their computers. Then we recorded the name with the account for future reference.

Success with Mrs. Heath's class!

Lab Time
Now it's time to brag on those students. By the time I started walking around the lab, most students had accessed Chrome and were starting to enter their account information. Literally, it took less than a minute. Ten minutes passed, and most had their work folder created and shared with their teacher. By the twenty minute mark, everyone was busy typing their "All about me" document from the shared folder. It was ridiculous how efficient the process turned out to be. It was so impressive to see the student partnerships supporting each other. The biggest issues, just like with adults, was entering the email and password correctly. Minor bump. And some didn't know how to type an "@". That's it. 

Seriously, that was the most productive time I've ever spent in a computer lab. With students or teachers. The students were so excited because they had confidence and were doing a complicated task with relative ease.  The next step will be to show them how to access their new accounts on their class iPads. It's going to open up a world of possibilities. 

Teacher Improv

Improvisation was the skill I was most interested in when this whole project started. I knew they would use the tools and strategies when I was scheduled to be there and with the planned projects. What I wasn't sure about was how often the teachers would use the iPads during "spur of the moment" activities or without talking with me first. Not that they need my permission or guidance. But I do like to feel needed. 

This past week, all three teachers have done some pretty cool things without me. Here's a quick rundown of their improv:

Mrs. Guillory - iMovie
Her class got started right away with making their own iMovies. I showed them a trailer highlighting some things about me. And right away they were making their own trailers. Groups created videos about the Seven Habits and how to incorporate them into their days. 

Mrs. Heath - Educreations
Third grade was working on force and motion. I saw some tweets about roller coasters, and even saw one made from styrofoam tubing. But then I get a tweet sending me to an Educreations video that a student made about how roller coasters work. Check out the video here. 

Ms. Eastman - 30Hands and Quickvoice
The app of the day has been 30Hands. Students were making videos showing the expectations for their morning Daily Five activities. You can see some examples at their classroom blog. They also were working on using expression and feeling during their reading. Enter Quickvoice. Students recorded their reading using Quickvoice so they could hear how they sound.  

Pretty cool, right? That's one of the reasons I like to load a lot of different apps on the iPad image. If you only have a few, you get limited by accessibility and time. But if there's plenty to choose from, the integration is more seamless. 

Setting them loose!

Yesterday was an exciting day at Grant Elementary Room 201. Team Eastman has their iPad Minis! I worked last week to get all 21 iPads imaged and cased. We were lucky to have an assortment of colors to use, so I tried to mix and match to make as many different combinations as possible. That way, because this classroom will be 1:1, the students will have an easier time identifying their iPad. 

In order to prepare for their arrival, the class came up with a set of expectations for how they should use the iPads. They wrote their list on a piece of chart paper and had everyone sign it. The students had some great examples of proper usage like always using two hands and to ask questions if they get stuck. Good examples that we all, including teachers, should practice.

So at last it was time for passing out the iPads. I decided to give the intro to the scavenger hunt first. Basically, if they had the iPads in their little hands, there would be no way they would be able to focus on me. So I gave them a few pointers about turning it on, using Smart Search, and using the Home button to get back to the main screen. Ms. Eastman then called them up in partnerships to pick out their new iPad and start the hunt. 

It was so fun to watch them work. Several groups, who obviously listened to my great advice, immediately searched for the right apps using the Smart Search and were off to a great start. It wasn't long until Ms. Eastman started to receive emails with goofy pictures made by PhotoBooth. Lots of goofy pictures (we'll have to work on our email self-control). Google Earth was showing them the street view outside the school. Actually, the most difficult part for the students was the task to take a serious selfie. Go figure. But by the end of the time, everyone had their picture on the lock screen. I think that's going to come in handy. 

It was a fast but fun hour of work. I think the students got a nice taste of the different things the iPad could do for them. It definitely sparked their enthusiasm. We heard several "I love iPads" and even a "you're my favorite teacher because you have iPads". Not sure if Ms. Eastman liked the qualifier on that last one, but I'd take it. 

Triskaidekaphobia? I don't think so.

Happy Friday the 13th! It's been a busy week in and out of the classrooms. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it into the classrooms this week. But I was amazed by everything that went on without me. I guess I'm not as important as I thought. 

Here's our week in review:

• Mrs. Guillory and Mrs. Heath have pushed on with Genius Hour, riding the wave of excitement from the students. The students have been coming up with questions all week long. 
• The tweeting has been awesome! I have the classroom accounts pulled up on Tweetdeck so I can follow what's happening. I've seen student work, learning objectives, questions from students, parent events, videos, and more. As a parent, I would love to have this kind of access to my child's classroom. 
• Kid tweeting! Several students have been given the opportunity to post their thoughts from the classroom. Mrs. Guillory gave the duties over to Katherine yesterday.
• Ms. Eastman's blog has been hopping. She's had several posts about classroom happenings. We installed the "follow by email" widget to her blog and I signed up. So I know exactly when an update has been made. Very easy.
• I've spent a chuck of time getting Ms. Eastman's iPads ready go. They are loaded, cased, and sitting right next to me ready to go out Monday. 

Next week, I get to start Ms. Eastman's class with their iPads. I've modified the scavenger hunt a bit to fit their 1:1 model. So they are going to have a lot of fun on Monday. I plan to get out to Shepard to continue our Genius Hour projects. Really, it's me getting caught up with their progress. Which is exactly what we want to happen. Can't wait to see what happens next week!

Genius Hour is on!

Today was an exciting day at the Shepard classrooms. I got to come out and launch our Genius Hour project. This project is probably the thing I'm looking forward to the most this year. If you aren't familiar with Genius Hour, check out the site I created to house our resources: CPS Genius Hour. 

I think the best part about coming out to the classrooms now is that they all seem so excited to see me. I imagine that's how grandparents feel. So for today, I walked them through a couple of things. First, we all experienced a Kid President pep talk. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out. I wasn't sure how it would translate to third graders, but I think they understood quite a bit. After the pep talk, I asked what the Kid President's message was. They offered great ideas like "never give up", "you're in charge", and "we are all on the same team". And it's a funny video, so that always scores points. 

Second, I went through a Haiku Deck presentation I made to highlight the goals of Genius Hour. It was really fun and easy to make. The students really loved the pictures, and because you can't put much text on the slides, the message was very clear. Basically, we are going with four rules of Genius Hour:

1. The project must be approved by your teacher
2. You must research your question
3. Create a passion project to show your learning
4. Present and share your project to others

By the time we were finished, you could feel the excitement in the room. We could tell that most of the students already had ideas in mind for their first projects. Several asked whether they could make slideshows or videos. Yes and yes. Some wondered how many projects they could do. As many as you want. 

The next step is to start coming up with questions and wonderings. Mrs. Heath and Mrs. Guillory have their boards up and ready to receive responses. I look forward to coming back next week to see what they have put up there. If this first meeting is any indication, I think it's going to be a great year.  

Classroom Evernote Accounts

iPads are a great productivity tool. You just have to rethink the old ways of doing things. For example, the biggest complaint I still hear is "there isn't Word for the iPad". Who cares? There are several great, free alternatives. Evernote has always been one of my favorites. So when it came time to think of how our students could research, word process, and publish with their iPads, Evernote seemed like a great place to start.

Last week, I created two classroom accounts, one for Mrs. Guillory and one for Mrs. Heath. The plan is to use these as a shared drive for students to create and manage their work. There are several benefits for Evernote in this structure. 

First, we can create a notebook for each student to use. It will take some teaching, but the goal is for students to learn how to create notes in their notebook. Then they'll be able to store all of their files for the entire year, a kind of portfolio. Yes, they'll have access to their classmates' work, but they've always had that with their shared drives as well. So I don't think it's that big a deal. 

Second, the Evernote app allows for sign-in/sign-out. I went and signed in on each of the ten iPads in each classroom. Now when the students open the Evernote app, it automatically takes them into their class account. We aren't going to need to sign in each time which will save a lot of instructional time. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this works. I think it will be great for word processing and compiling research materials. I'm sure we'll have to make modifications along the way, but that's what makes it so fun. 

All about me

Last Thursday, I got to spend time with all three of my current third grade classrooms. It was a lot of driving around, but well worth it. Each teacher gave me about 30 minutes to introduce myself and tell a little bit about my life. I decided to make an iMovie trailer to show what I'm all about. You can watch it here:

All about Mr. Villasana video

We also were able to chat about the fun things we are going to do this year: iPads, Genius Hours, blogging, tweeting, and more. In Maggie's room, I also read the new classic, Goodnight iPad. It was a lot of fun.

First Student-Created Videos

I'm impressed. It's just the third day of school and we've already finished our first student-created videos in the Shepard classrooms. The project was to create a tour of the classroom that we'd be able to share with anyone. Here's how we made it happen.

We decided to use the app 30Hands to create the video. If you aren't familiar with the app, you should check it out. It lets you take pictures, add narration, and publish as a movie. Both classes organized their video first by brainstorming the content. They came up with a list of spots in their room that were important for day-to-day operations. Examples were the lunch tub, class library, desks, iPad area, and classroom job board. Then students were assigned expert areas to highlight in the video. That was the hard part.

In both classrooms, we pulled the expert groups to create their segment. The other students had other work to do while they waited. The project was completed on one iPad to make it simpler. Each group only took about five minutes to make their segment, which would have been shorter had we not needed a few minutes to show how the app worked. We had two jobs, the photographer and the speaker(s). One took the pictures, we quickly worked up a short statement, and then recorded. If a mistake was made, it was really easy to rerecord. Of course, they loved listening to their finished segment.

After all the groups were finished, we simply published the video to the camera roll. We then let the class see the finished product via Airserver. It was great. And so easy. I'm heading back there after school to work on publishing the videos to the web. I'll send out the links as soon as we get that part started. 

Scavenger Hunt in Action

Today was an exciting day at Shepard! The students got to use the iPads for the first time. In the morning, students worked to come up with a contract for how they should use the iPads (I'll put examples up later). Then when I arrived, we got going on the scavenger hunt.

I was really impressed at how easily they went through most of the tasks. I gave them a little bit of background and just a few hints. I showed them how to access the smart search to find apps. We walked through what to do when you get certain popups like "push notifications" and "location services". They handled it well. 

The toughest part of the hunt was definitely sending their picture to the teacher in an email. Mrs. Guillory's class found out that they could just type in "Leanna" and her email popped up. I don't think Mrs. Heath's class found that out. But it was really cool to see all the emails appear on the teachers' screens announcing the arrival of a funny picture. I think that's going to be a huge help during the year. 

We ended up with a QR code. They did an awesome job of reading the code. Those are going to be all over the place this year, both as teacher created resources as well as links to student work. 

I couldn't have been happier with how today turned out. They handled the iPads very well. They were excited and then disappointed when it was time to stop. In fact, Mrs. Guillory's class decided to skip recess and Mrs. Heath's class didn't even complain even though it was approaching 90 degrees in their trailer. Hot. 

First Day of School 2013

Usually, the first day of school is pretty slow for me. Teachers are doing their own things and don't usually need support. But this year was much different. Susan and Leanna invited me in to be a part of their first days. It was a lot of fun getting to help pass out papers, organize supplies, and see the cool things that they prepared for today.

First off, both Susan and Leanna made a short video about playground expectations using the app 30Hands. I gave them this assignment so they could learn the app and model how students would be using it. We plan on using the app with students later this week. It went really well. The students were so engaged. They learned in five minutes what would normally occur in a half hour walking around the playground. Of course, it will be seen how well the information was learned. I left before lunch/recess...


I was also impressed with Susan's surprise use of a word sorting app. She had all the students' names on cards with headings for how they would be getting home. While some students were setting up their desks, other passed her iPad around and moved their name to the correct heading. And she was displaying it using Airserver. Very cool. 

This afternoon, both classes were going to work on their iPad handling and usage expectations contract. They'll have those signed before they start using them tomorrow.

I was a great morning. I think it was a nice blend of using new tools alongside the established routines. Which is exactly how we were hoping to start out. I'll let you know tomorrow how our scavenger hunt goes. 

Sites are ready to go!

After just a short time, Leanna and Susan have their classroom blog/site ready for publication. They were surprised at how easy it was to put create posts, pages, and add helpful widgets on the sidebar. Our goal to start the year is to have one post written each week. That's the theme: start small. Here are the links to their new sites. Follow them to keep up with their learning throughout the year. 

Susan Heath's "Thoughts of a Third Grader"

Leanna Guillory's "Third Grade Class"

Going Mini

Things just keep looking up. Julie, my amazing boss, has just allocated 20 iPad minis for our third grade project. I'm looking forward to building an image for them this week and getting them set up and ready to go for day one. 

We'll have to figure out the best way to deploy them. My initial thought is to break them up and put ten in each class at a full time basis. Our other option might be to have all twenty in each room for part of the day. I'm leaning towards the former, but we'll have to see what Susan and Leanna have to say. Because we'll be launching a BYOD initiative this fall, having the small number of minis might not matter at all. I'm hopeful. 

Using Google Forms for Parent Contact Information

Are you getting ready for a mound of paperwork to start off your school year? When I was in the classroom, I always distributed some colored sheets of paper asking parents when and how I should contact them. Then I spent the next several weeks getting them back and placing them neatly in each student's manila folder.

How about you cut down on some of the work by using Google Forms to organize some of your important information? Here's how we are going to make it happen in our classrooms this year.

Create a Google Form for your parent contact information. Include all the standard questions: What is your email address? Phone numbers? Best time to call? Do you need a paper newsletter or will you use our Twitter feed? Then insert a really fun background theme. 

During Meet the Teacher Night, set up several laptop or iPad stations. Have the Form bookmarked and easy to access. Then the parents can sit down and fill out the form in the classroom. In case you aren't familiar with the process, the submitted information is sent straight to a spreadsheet in your Google account. And in case parents don't make it that evening, email them the link or include it on your class webpage.

I see several benefits for going this route. First, it's convenient for you and for parents. All the information is stored in your account, so you don't have to carry paper copies around with you. It's always available on any device. Second, and maybe most importantly, it sets the tone for digital communication. Parents quickly see that you'll be doing things differently, more efficiently.  

If you have any questions, please let me know. Good luck!

Twitter time!

Susan, Leanna, and I met yesterday to discuss how Twitter can help them on their journey. They needed a little convincing, because like anyone new to Twitter, it can be a bit intimidating at first. But after minimal debate, we fired up the iPads and downloaded the Twitter app. 

We (well, really me) decided it was best to think about living with two Twitter accounts. We created teacher accounts first in order for them to get familiar with how Twitter works and to get comfortable with the tweeting process. After playing around this summer, we'll make new accounts to be the official communication of their actual classrooms. This way, they can follow whoever they want in order to learn about all the great integration ideas, and then have a fresh account in August. 

Then it was time to start tweeting. They both fired off their first tweets and then learned how to follow people (yes, two free followers for me!). I suggested some other folks to follow in order to get them started. Then we worked through the hashtags, mentions, retweets, and favorites. They both tweeted their first pictures. And at that point, I about lost them.

It was like a light went off. Immediately, they were navigating around, finding app ideas, and following other people. It was cool to see how after just a few minutes, they were able to see the power that Twitter has to connect professionals. We even made our first connection to a third grade classroom in California.

Today, I was sitting in an all-day training and suddenly realized I needed to spark them. So I sent an email (not completely transformed to Twitter yet) and challenged them to tweet an update from their days in summer school. Less than a half hour later, I learned that Susan's students were working in their writing journals to make connections to their reading (complete with a picture). Leanna's students were planning out their first writing piece. Just made me think how I'd be able to keep up with what my child is learning in class in just a few seconds. 

So if you are on Twitter, please follow along with @mrsguillory3rd and @mrsheath3rd as they learn new ways to challenge themselves and their learners. Hope you can join us!

Welcome to our Journey!

I'm very excited to make the first entry in our new blog. For the next year, we will be sharing our transformational journey. You will be able to follow along with our successes and flops, and apply what we've learned to your classroom. Here's the short backstory.

Basically, this all started because I wanted to be a bigger role in the classroom. I enjoy my support role, but after a few years out of the classroom, I started to miss the opportunity to work long-term with students. So the motivation is partly selfish. 

Bring in my good friends and former colleagues Susan and Leanna. They are third grade teachers who have both been through our district's EnTICE technology integration program. But they were looking to try some new things. It was the perfect combination. 

I approached them about my idea of an "immersion classroom": a partnership of a technology integration guy (me) and classroom teachers (them). The idea would be that I would spend a significant amount of time team-teaching in their rooms, planning activities, and helping them change their instruction by embedding more technology. Nothing crazy (at first), just subtle changes to what they've already mastered as teachers. Keeping it simple.

We met last week to work through the big ideas. Check out the top tab labeled "project goals". I knew we needed to get a foundation laid during the summer, so we decided to meet periodically to get things going. 

And now you're up to date. I hope that you check in often to see how we're doing. I think you'll be able to get quite a few ideas to use in your instruction.