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.