Thing 30: Reflection Time

What did I learn?

• I learned that there is always more to learn and that no matter how in touch I think I am, there is so much more that I don’t know.
• Although I still resist using social networking tools, I have made a conscious effort to connect with more people on Twitter and I actually read the emails that are sent and decide if I want to start following one of the newest suggestions. I learned that I can tweet even while being uncomfortable doing it.
• I am excited to provide my students with a Makerspace next year. My idea of makerspaces has probably evolved the most over the past few months and I can’t wait to share what I have learned with my students.
• I also look forward to introducing my students to response tools even at my youngest grades. This is something I wanted to do earlier in the year but it got lost in the end due to lack of preplanning on my part. I will work on creating some quizzes this summer so that I have no excuses in the fall.

What’s Next?

• I will use my summer to better prepare for the next school year and develop projects and lessons that are more engaging and rigorous.
• I will try to write at least one new blog post a month about something new that I have learned. This is something I always hope to do but for one reason or other, I don’t. I really enjoy writing this blog so I hope this time it sticks.
• As I learned new things throughout the last 6 months, I shared often with my teachers the different websites, apps, and tools that I have learned.
• Up next is pulling out my 3-D printer, plugging it in, downloading a design and printing it. I can’t wait to see the looks on the kids’ faces when they see this technology come to life.

Did I like learning this way?

• Yes and No. I won’t lie — I do my best learning when there is someone leading me in person. I don’t know if it is because I crave adult connections or if this is just my learning style but I prefer learning in a classroom. On the other hand, I realize how expensive it would be to take a class of this scope so I am glad that it is available in this form. Polly did a great job pulling resources and providing challenges especially to those of us who have taken the class before. I will definitely sign up to take it again if offered.
• The only negative (and it’s really not a negative) was the overwhelming number of resources listed in each assignment. At times, I just put off doing the lesson because a video was “too long” or I just couldn’t see myself sitting down and reading everything in one sitting.

Thank you Polly for doing such a great job! I can’t wait to see what you come up with in the future.

Thing 29: Student Response Tools

My district’s policy is no personal devices are to be used by students in school and although I understand the reasoning from their point of view, I think we are missing the mark and aiming at the wrong thing this time. Yes, students can get distracted by these devices but why should districts invests millions of dollars in tools that will be outdated in a year or two when many students already have a device that we could have them use as part of their studies?

Isn’t it part of our job to teach students how to use technology responsibly?

I have a perfect example for this that just happened last week. I have several “bad” boys who eat lunch in the library every opportunity they can get. Why? Because I let them get on their phones, ipods, or YouTube and as long as it’s not inappropriate, I let them do what they want. Am I letting them break school rules? Yes. Are they hurting anything? No. Is this stopping them from learning? No, it is lunch and a perfect time for them to socialize or watch a video or play a game. But during their library class last week, one of these same students pulled out his phone and was playing games. I took his phone away and told him he could have it back at the end of class. I explained that it was class time and he needed to be working on classwork and not playing on his phone. I also explained that it is fine to do that during lunch or recess but not during a class. He grudgingly understood, handed me his phone, and got to work on his project. This was a lesson that will stick with him and he hasn’t repeated the error since.

So what does all of that have to do with today’s topic?

If a student already has a phone, ipod, or tablet, teachers could have them download a free student response app like Socrative or connect to a website like Kahoot and get instant feedback from the students. Instead of purchasing more ipads for students that already have devices, we could save the taxpayers money or we could use the money saved to purchase teacher accounts on excellent websites like Educreations.

I have a set of Smart Response Clickers but have never used them because of the difficulty getting all of the students on them at the same time and it also takes a long time to replace all the batteries in a class set. But I have used Kahoot with students and it is really easy for students to get on and it is also really easy to create a quiz or survey.

Kahoot is free to join and has an option for students to create their own account so they can join in all of the fun. Although I have never used Kahoot with my class, I have seen it being used in a “flipped” classroom. The teacher had student work in groups since there weren’t enough ipads for each student to have their own. The students quickly entered the code and raced to see who could answer the questions correctly the fastest. This was an inclusion class and all students were engaged and excited about the quiz. I haven’t used it yet but when I do, I would like to use it for understanding checks during a lesson. Today due to a shortage in substitutes, I had to teach a 3rd grade class. Kahoot would have been the perfect way to do a vocab lesson or even a math lesson on basic math facts.

I have used Google Forms many times but the most useful to me was a survey for parents to take at the end of my annual Dr. Seuss birthday celebration. I have been hosting the celebration for six years and have often wondered if the parents appreciate all that is provided but I didn’t want to ask in a way that they would feel they had to lie. So, I created a survey that asked the parents about the favorite activities, any changes they would like to see, and most importantly if they would still come if prizes were given out. Thankfully, parents graciously took the survey and only one parent answered that they wouldn’t attend if prizes weren’t given. My faith in humanity (at least my student’s parents) was renewed and I look forward to hosting the event again next year.

The future is fast approaching and if we don’t embrace the technology available to us, we run the risk of being left behind both figuratively and literally if we’re not careful.

Thing 28: Emerging Tech

As I was scanning the various articles, I noticed a pattern of student-centered learning processes: authentic learning, project based learning, and deeper thinking; all of these processes require changing how we teach students and our expectations for their learning outcomes. For too long, at least in my mind, teaching has been all about the teacher standing in front of the classroom lecturing while students sat passively at desks taking notes. What we really want is for the students to start thinking and using their learning in ways that shows they understand the importance of what is being taught. But changing my teaching takes more than my own willingness. I need support from the teachers and administrators as far as the schedule goes and providing a more flexible schedule.

Emerging tech like augmented reality (AR), makerspaces, and apps to showcase learning can be used to move toward more student-based learning. As I was reading the various articles, at first I didn’t understand what everyone meant by AR. According to Mashable, augmented reality “is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data”. Huh? I think this means taking a real-life object and linking it to something on the computer. Aurasma is an AR app that is easy to use. I have seen it used by a teacher to link a worksheet to a video providing instruction on how to complete the worksheet. I have also seen it used to link an out of date book to a website with current/accurate information. AR would be an easy way to include more visual information for students to use.

I addressed makerspaces in Thing 23 so I won’t go into too much detail at this point. I do think it is important to say that makerspaces, although a trend, provide a way for authentic learning, problem solving, and creative thinking by students. Why? Because an integral part of makerspaces is that the students decide what they are going to make, how they are going to do it, and what they will need to do to make it. Throughout the process of making something, students will need to overcome any problems that arise which often mimics what it will be like for them when they are out working in the real world.

Lastly, Joyce Valenza is encouraging librarians to rethink their collections by curating apps for different uses. I am always looking for new apps that I can use with my students but it didn’t really occur to me to put my knowledge in a place that will be useful to others in my school. Although I often share an app with my teachers that I am excited to use (like Write About This), I didn’t think to place it on my blog, or website, or even in a quick email out to all teachers. Now that I am thinking about it, I could include a quick blurb in the school newsletter about an app that parents might find useful.

Emerging tech and keeping up with trends can be overwhelming and scary but also exciting and enriching all at the same time. I can’t wait to see what the next few years hold especially when you realize that the iPad is only 5 years old. Think about it. Can you actually remember, really remember, a world without cell phones, tablets, and computers? I can but I don’t want to go back there anytime soon!

Thing 27: DIY — FlipSnack Edu

I decided to learn how to use FlipSnack Edu for my DIY because I just discovered it was free for a year with my renewal to AASL. FlipSnack can be used by students to showcase their new learning or it can be used by a teacher to provide a more interactive and motivational way for students to engage with new content.

FlipSnack Edu has many features that make it desirable to use in a classroom setting. First and most importantly, it is compatible with all devices without needing to download an app which is especially important for those of us that do not have control over what is added to the iPads. A second feature that is extremely helpful is the evaluation system to use with student created projects. In an educational system that is pushing rubrics for everything, it is nice to have a way to quickly create a rubric for a technology project that is relevant and easy for students to interpret. Another plus is that FlipSnack is relatively easy to use with a low learning curve. It was pretty intuitive on how to make changes and add in different objects. Lastly, with a premium account, you can download your FlipSnack to have permanently in another location along with the ability to share on social media websites or embed on a website.

There are some negatives however with the first being the relatively high cost for a classroom account. I would have a difficult time justifying the cost given that there are apps that provide a similar product for the fraction of the cost. Secondly, although it is easy to use, I found that it was extremely basic without a lot of extras to make it look good. Now this may just be user error, but I couldn’t figure out how to change the background of the page so that it wasn’t just plain white. The tutorials were extremely basic and not really helpful. Is this a deal breaker? No, but for the price, I would expect more frills.

Since I have a free classroom account for the next year, I will take advantage of using it with a class next school year but I’m not sure I will renew it when my account expires.

Below is a very basic FlipSnack I created in about an hour showcasing my son’s recent competition at the Science Olympiad National Tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska. For some reason, it is not embedding correctly but the link does take you to the FlipSnack I created.

http://files.snacktools.com/iframes/files.edu.flipsnack.com/iframe/embed.html?hash=funiqnpz&wmode=opaque&forceWidget=1&t=1431911742

Thing 26: Connecting with Stakeholders

I am going to start this off with a bit of a rant. Some people might consider me “difficult” because I fight for my library program. My feeling on this is that it is part of my job to fight for my library program and if this makes me difficult, then so be it because I’m not going to stop. I hate when administrators tell me how important the library is to a school but then they do not back it up with funding or even a visit to see how things are going. But just as important — what about the librarian?!!

Now that I got that off my chest, I realize that when talking with my administrator I need to focus on the positives that are happening in the library and stop complaining. By doing this, maybe my administrator would be more interested in visiting the library and me.

Moving on — thankfully, I am a little behind in my posts because a recent workshop, Tag — You’re It, at the SSL Annual Conference in Tarrytown last week addressed many parts of this topic and got me thinking about branding and getting my community to feel an emotional attachment to the library and what it adds to the lives of the students. Keynote speakers also noted that we need to get away from “library statistics” and move toward how our program is impacting students. This has given me a lot to ponder. During the workshop while working in small groups, we came up with the following slogans:

• exploring the universe together
• the “buc” starts here (our mascot is the buccaneer)
• the book is only the beginning
• digging deeper together
• questioning the world together or finding the answers together
• opening the door to new knowledge
• your future starts @ your library
• far more than you expect
• building strong students or building student with inquiring minds

I like the idea of the slogan eliciting collaboration or working together since that is often what I try to do with my students. I don’t think any of these are just right but I will keep working until it is what I want.

Right now I market my library primarily through the school newsletter and my website. I often lose sight of marketing to my teachers and I really like the idea of a short weekly tip for the teachers and plan to implement it in the fall. As far as the students go, I think I have done a good job of promoting the resources and arranging materials in a way that it is easy for students to locate them. My circulation is down this year but I think that is a product of the schedule and classes starting earlier than they have in the past. I will add interactive displays in the fall and more student work on the walls to help students feel like the library belongs to them and that they are the most important part.

After looking at several end of the year reports, I hope to create one that includes data pertaining to student’s STAR test scores and how often they checked out a book. I also want to include information on the number of projects that were collaborated on with teachers and the numbers of students that completed a research project with me in the library. I will include information on the standards that were taught and examples of student work.

But before I do anything too radical, I need to start creating a positive relationship with my administrator.

Thing 25: Power up your browser

To be honest, I am very familiar with the settings in Google Chrome which is my choice for browsing the Internet. About the only setting that I didn’t remember reviewing was the content settings under privacy. After looking at everything, I left the settings where they were which was on the recommended setting. Recently, Chrome added a user profile tab to the top of the browser page. I did not realize that there was a setting that would allow anyone using my computer to create their own profile so I have disabled this function although really no one else uses my computers so the point is moot.

It’s a whole different story when it comes to apps and extensions for Chrome. Who knew there were so many useful extensions to add. Up to this point, I had 4 bookmarklets: Pinterest, Evernote Web Clipper, AdBlock Plus, and Japanese Word of the Day. I use the Pinterest one frequently and it is definitely the easiest way to add something to Pinterest when I am on my computer. I would highly recommend everyone add something like the AdBlock, especially if you like to click on ad heavy links posted by friends and celebrities on Facebook.

After checking out a few, I added Readability and Buffer to my bookmarklets. I chose Readability because this is a function that I love using on the iPad and I didn’t realize that there was anything available for a PC that would provide this same service. AdBlock is great at stopping ads but it does not make crowded websites look less cluttered. I also like the ability to save articles to go back and read later. I think I found my new favorite extension.

As a cautious user of Social Media, I like that Buffer provides a seamless way to share on multiple platforms. Even as I add new followers on Twitter despite my sparse tweets, I find it hard to believe that people are interested in what I have to say. Buffer provides me a way to share things that I find interesting and I only have to share it once. Now I just need to find something to share and take the plunge over the social media cliff.

For those of you who are not using Chrome as your browser, check out this video on why you should be using it (or at least consider switching to it).

Thing 24: Infographics

I love infographics — both visually and how succinctly they can represent the information they are presenting.  I struggle with them only when it comes to how can students use them to represent their work. My students have used Glogster in the past but not really as an infographic but more as a way to present their work. I would love to use an infographic to have students compare similar objects or countries but again I struggle with how to do this. My second grade students are currently doing research on U.S. symbols. It might be interesting to have the highest level students create an infographic called “U.S. Symbols by Numbers”. For example, students could represent the number of star & stripes on the U.S. flag; the number of faces on Mt. Rushmore; and the number of bathrooms, elevators, and rooms in the White House.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, my school is a Focus school and in May the school will have a site visit to determine the effectiveness of the school. As part of this process, I will be meeting with these representatives presenting information related to the Tenet that I was assigned as part of a team. This year the focus of my team has been determining the impact of the various programs we have in place to meet our students’ social and emotional health needs. Proving that something is working is a lot harder than saying it is working! We developed a short survey to see how well one of the programs was working. Below is an infographic I created showing the results of the survey. The infographic is pretty self-explanatory and shows the results of the survey with a few select quotes thrown in about the program. Although the data speaks for itself, I chose quotes that matched the message that I wanted to present and not a quote that might have been perceived as negative.

 

To create my infographic, I used easel.ly. The first thing I did was create a free account and then clear out a new board. I didn’t want to use a template already created because I wanted to start from scratch. I chose a simple background and gave it a title. It took me a few seconds to figure out that you needed to drag the object onto the main board but from there it was really very easy to find and change whatever I needed. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was if it was possible to show numbers within the graph as this would have helped clarify the information a little bit better. Overall, I would use easel.ly again for my own personal use but I am not sure I would use it for my students.

Before I used any online program, I know that it would be vital for my students to have a written representation of what they would like their infographic to look like before I even considered letting them get onto the computer. Why? Because many of them would spend time looking at all the objects, stickers, and other distractions instead of choosing objects that they need. My students have a difficult time understanding that work they do for school has different expectations from something they would create for pleasure.

The bottom line for me is am I having students do this to increase their knowledge or just to increase their use of technology? If the latter, then I am not sure it is worth their time.

Thing 23: Makerspaces

I love the idea of Makerspaces and want to incorporate it into my library but there are 2 obstacles in the way: space and the dreaded master schedule. So not having enough space is really just an excuse for not doing it because there are lots of ways to overcome limited space: carts, bookshelves, a cabinet, etc… but changing the master schedule to allow time for enrichment is something that will take administrative approval and their belief that it is important.

Let me give you some background on my school. I am in a small urban school district with over 60% of my student population receiving free and reduced lunch, and my school was placed on the NY State Focus Schools list a few years ago because we were not making AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) on state exams. After a lot of hard work by teachers last year changing our teaching styles and differentiating everything, our students made progress last year. Yeah!!! If we make progress again this year, then we will be taken off the Focus status.

So why is all this related to the schedule? Because of our test scores, the administration has placed tight restraints on the schedule requiring 120 minutes of literacy and 90 minutes of math every day and let’s not forget science, social studies, lunch, and specials. This means that there really is very little time for enrichment. I can’t do before or after school clubs because our district does not support after school programs at the elementary level.

All that being said, I have a 3D printer on order and will be incorporating it into each of my classes next year. I even have a teacher all lined up to work on a project this year even if we don’t get the printer in on time. An essential part of makerspaces seems to be allowing students the opportunity to create whatever they would like given the objects they have on hand. I really like this idea and will embrace it in my classes and will encourage my teachers to allow students some freedom as well. But as the filament to print is not cheap, students will need to follow some guidelines before they will be able to print which will limit their creativity somewhat but hopefully not too much.

The more I researched about makerspaces, the more I realized that I had a limited idea of what it meant and that I need to broaden my definition to include computer applications that can be used to create something. As a crafty person, I used to see makerspaces as being a place where students could knit, sew, crochet, scrapbook, use legos, and other interlocking toys. I have been limiting myself by not including computers which I readily have available in the library. I have a 4th grade math enrichment group using Scratch to create a game with multiple steps and this would definitely fall under this category especially since the only guidelines they were given was to create something that had multiple steps and was interactive. Where they took it from there was up to them and they were pretty creative.

After reading some links, I will have to try out Roblox, Minecraftedu, and various online journaling and photography websites. I also want to peruse some garage/yard sales this summer and maybe I’ll find some of the really cool interlocking toys that are too expensive new.

I’m ready to get started. Now I just need to find someone who can come in and teach the kids how to knit and crochet.

Photo Credits:

Makerbot Replicator Mini (360 degrees turntable view) by Creative Tools (https://www.flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/16171009504/) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)%5D, via Flickr

Interlocking toys: By Ctd 2005 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kikisdad/164602945/) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Multilink cubes: “Multilink cubes” by Annielogue – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Multilink_cubes.JPG#/media/File:Multilink_cubes.JPG

Thing 22: Create a Resource Guide

I have a page on my school website that has links for teachers related to different topics and last updated it in the summer. I really like the idea of using Pinterest to create a guide that is continuously updated with new content and ideas. My main concern with using Pinterest would be organizing it so teacher’s could find what they are looking for with relatively little effort on their part. I will post more on this after I have created my board. But first, I am going to try it with Scoop.it!.

Scoop.it!

So the first thing I did was sign up using my Twitter account. Other options included Facebook and email (although this was in a smaller font in a difficult to see gray color and clearly what they didn’t want you to use). Also, the free version seems to be quite limited and might not serve the purposes that I would like. For the last hour or so, I have been cruising the web looking for resources and then posting them to my “Websites Useful to Teachers” page on Scoop.it!. I added the bookmarklet to make it easier to grab content although it did not work with one of the pages. Otherwise, it made it easy to grab websites and add them to my page.

When I first created the page, it provided suggestions for websites based on the tags that I had provided. One downside to doing this instead of finding my own pages was that I didn’t really know what I was adding beyond the headline. Part of what I really liked about Scoop.it! was the ability to add my insight on why I chose this website; I couldn’t do that initially with the websites I rescooped although you do have the ability to go back and edit.

Positives: ability to add insight, directly posts to Twitter and other social media websites that you choose (up to 2 with the free account), easy to learn and use, most recent scoops at the top, ability to follow other boards

Negatives: costly ($11/mo.), unorganized, limited with free version

Pinterest

I have used Pinterest for different education related curating and this summer even created a Three Billy Goats Gruff board and others to share with my Kindergarten teachers related to the nursery rhyme module, but it was extremely time consuming and I only got two of the nursery rhymes done. I think I would be more successful creating a board that is on a specific topic with the understanding that I will add a few websites every week not all at once. Eventually, this would be a great resource that could be used by my teachers and if I were ever to move to a new school, I could take it with me (unlike my current website). So that is what I did — I created an Elementary Art Websites board to share with my Art teacher. My only concern with using Pinterest at home is that some of the websites might be blocked once I get to school.

Positives: Free, easy to use and sign up, bookmarklet makes grabbing content easy, can be shared in multiple ways

Negatives: organization, it uploads to my Facebook unless I remember to uncheck the box

Bottom Line: I prefer Pinterest mostly because it is free. If the newsletter option on Scoop.it! were part of the free version, then it might have won over Pinterest. I will continue to add to my art board and try to create a new board for each of the categories on my website. I will share the link with my teachers and will periodically make an effort to remind my teachers that I have gathered these resources.

Thing 21: Productivity Tools

Oh, my! I started reading the blog post and now realize why I have procrastinated so long in getting started. There is so much information to absorb almost to the point of giving up. But isn’t that a part of my job — teaching students to push through all the “stuff” and find what they really need for their particular task. So, I am pulling myself out of the abyss and will push through the anxiety and trepidation.

Dropbox

Although I had heard of Dropbox, I never really felt the need to open yet another account that I would forget about and never use until I was having trouble uploading something from the My Story app on my iPad and the app offered Dropbox as an option. I wanted a way for parents to be able to access the stories in a safe manner. So, I decided to open a Dropbox account and can now share the student’s work with their families using a Dropbox link (the link will take you to the mp4 version of the story but in order for it to work I had to open it with a media player).

I really like the fact that I can save something on my iPad and it immediately shows up on my computer and vice versa. Although I understand how difficult this might be to install on work computers, it would be really handy if I could drop a document I am working on in the Dropbox folder and begin working on the same document on my home computer. It eliminates the step of emailing the document to myself, downloading it, and then emailing it back to work for the next day. I know that I can use Google Docs (and yes, I do) but I find Dropbox very convenient and Microsoft Word has options that just aren’t available on Google Docs.

I discovered an unexpected use of Dropbox when my son used it to send me his college schedule. He regularly uses Dropbox to transfer files from his various devices and to share with his professors. Other than the fact that they wanted you to use a ridiculously strong password when you signed up, I think this is a tool that I will use for many years to come. Alas, I have discovered that it is far easier to upload my student’s videos onto my school YouTube account and give that link to parent’s instead but I will definitely continue to use Dropbox for storing pictures and documents that I don’t want to lose.

IFTTT

After exploring this tool and creating a few new recipes, I fear that it is something that I will never return to but then again you never know. As a person who is on Twitter but doesn’t really participate, this could be a tool that could help me become more proficient in tweeting things that I find important or exciting and actually several of the recipes I set up are related to Twitter because like blogging, it is something I should do but I just don’t make it a priority.

My take on productivity tools is that they are good in theory but in practice, I don’t use them or forget them or maybe I just don’t quite understand why I need them. Although not directly related, I use Pinterest in a way that many use bookmarking because I post pictures of activities or ideas and go back to them whenever I need them. Of course, once on Pinterest, my productivity can decrease from many hours due to all the wonderfully, distracting pictures. Maybe someday I will become a master of my time and become more productive. In the meantime, I’m going back to IFTTT to see what other recipes I can use.

A bonus for those who don’t want to download the video linked above, here it is. Let me know what you think!