Working hard at #math #kispd #zaichcrewz

Learning about the history of the #Korean war very #interesting #lovelearning #zaichcrewz #kispd

field trip to Korean war memorial with grade 5 #kispd #zaichcrewz

Hard at work learning about #renewableresources #kispd #zaichcrewz

high school environmental students teaching us about energy #kispd #zaichcrewz

using a logo creator for our disaster relief project #kispd #zaichcrewz

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Word Journeys on the iPad

 My current endeavor in the world of edtech, has been to figure out how to transfer our word study program from paper and notebooks to the iPad. As this is my first test case there are obvious things I would change as I move forward. The first pass has been laid out as follows: 

1. Students use educreations on the iPad and work with a partner so that word study becomes a collaborative task. 


2. Students log into their own educreations account rather than the teacher’s, as the company has made it possible for students to create their own videos that are private and can be shared with their teacher. 


3. Daily work is laid out as follows: 

• Day 1—students have their weekly words emailed to them as well as printed on a single sheet so they can keep track of the ones they have typed etc. On this day, students type the words in individual text boxes to allow manipulation of the words. Once each word and heading is typed into its own box, students move the words around to organize them based on their corresponding heading. After this is done, students record themselves reading off the words underneath each heading. Next, students either move the words around to sort them into alphabetical order or they can move to a new page in their video and type the words alphabetically. Then again they restart the recording and say the words aloud. 


• **At the end of each day students must save their videos as you cannot restart recordings in Educreations. A really good idea is to come up with a naming convention that the students will use for all of their word study videos. 


• Check out a day one video below: 

• Day 2


• Students will work with the same partner or a different partner. Today their task is to begin to look at the word definitions. Students will start a new video and type one word on the first page. Then they will take a picture of themselves demonstrating the word. If they do not know what the word means, they can look up the definition. 


• Next, for that word they need to type or to write a sentence explaining it. 


• Now I would have them record that word and then press pause and click the arrow to a new page. 


• Remind them to save their video and use the proper naming convention. 


• See below for a video: 

• Day 3/4


• Once again students need to log into their account and create a new video. 


• Today, students can continue to work on creating the sentences and photos. 


• When students finish logging their words, then they can create a song or a story with the words and illustrate it on educreations or take photos that would correspond with the text they type or write. 


• I am eager to see how this stage plays out as well as other ways to increase the student engagement with word study. 

Overall, students have been very excited about the process. A few of their thoughts are as follows: 

• "I like that we use technology and we can draw pictures using different colors. I also like that we use the iPads."—Caitlin


• “I like how we talk through our work and for me, I learn more than just paper. We have much more fun while working on word study.”—Stephanie


• "I like working with a partner and using technology. The word study became 100 times better with the iPad versus doing it on the paper. I like taking funny pictures about the words. I think we are having a lot of fun and learning at the same time.”—Tim
  

Some of the concerns I would like to work our are as follows:

• When the students type in educreations, the iPad keyboard covers up their text boxes so it is hard for them to see what they type.


• It is difficult for them to remember where they left off and since the video is housed on the device it was created on, they need a way to remember what work they are doing.


• I would ideally like them to be able to pick up and to restart the video.

So far we are doing well, but any comments or programs that could assist in this endeavor would be marvelous.

Dance day on #Friday at #kispd #zaichcrewz

Lets work together #collaboration #kispd #zaichcrewz

Happy valentines day! #kispd #zaichcrewz

Using @educreations #favorite #edtechtools #kispd #zaichcrewz

Watching with such engagement love to see interest in #drama #inperson #notech #kispd #zaichcrewz

Adorable #play at #kispd by ms.mines so fun! #zaichcrewz

Korean food tour with@samnotkevin and@Heidi wish you were here@pzaich

Note video done with Educreations and screencasted using Screencast-o-matic

Moving Word Journeys from paper to iPad using Educreations. Students type words individually in text boxes on Educreations, create a video of their words, then take pictures of themselves that represent the words. Still working out the kinks, but would love any feedback on the ideas behind this endeavor. Will be uploading a more specific lesson plan soon. 

Edtech Mission Statement

I use education technologies with the purpose to allow students to grow their imagination, perplexity and acceptance of failure in a learning environment that is physically and digitally adaptable for independent and collaborative work that continues to focus on understanding the whys behind learning not the what. 

Would love feedback and thoughts…

My Edtech Mission Statement

Throughout the past year, my teaching style and emphasis has undergone quite a change. From focusing on making lessons innovative simply by using my own brain power, Google search and the copier, I have become a Twitter enthusiast, Tumblr loving and tech inspired guide in my classroom. No longer do I create a worksheet and print it off, but I push myself to find a technology tool I want to explore and then think about whether or not a lesson could utilize that tool in a positive way. 

Over the past year I have tried to create a mission statement for myself in regards to technology in the classroom. Thinking through why I use a technology before how I will do it and what I will use is vital to a progressive lesson. 

Some important learnings over the past year since I embarked on a self revolution: 

• Students need to be perplexed in order to want to learn 


• Engagement differs from learning


• Technology use should not just be done for the sake of doing it


• Twitter is as useful in education as air is in life


• Pick a selection of go to tools for you and your students in the classroom to use.If you bounce around too much they get confused and you become overwhelmed (mine are my Google Site, Educreations, Khan Academy and Blogger for my kids)


• GIve to online communities if you want to receive. 


• Use technology to increase imagination and creativity not reduce it. 


• Collaboration is just as important as independence. 


• Adaptability, failure and discovery of concepts are key. 


• Kids are way more tech savvy than us no matter how smart we think we are. 


• Teaching responsibility trumps the possibilities of being unprepared for class in reference to 1:1. 

So my first draft of my technology mission statement as of now is as follows: I use education technologies with the purpose to allow students to grow their imagination, perplexity and acceptance of failure in a learning environment that is physically and digitally adaptable for independent and collaborative work that continus to focus on understanding the whys behind learning not the what. 

What’s my#unitrate? Math class is super fun #zaichcrewz #kispd

Using #ipads and @educreations to do our #wordstudy #zaichcrewz #kispd

Using #googletranlate to create a company name #zaichcrewz #kispd

Minecraft in Schools--take the risk or not? What do you think?

Source: http://images.eurogamer.net/2012/articles//a/1/4/8/2/5/3/2/Minecraft_360_049.png

Recently I attended a conference in Hong Kong and a session on using Minecraft in school stood out to me in and edgy, risky way. As a teacher eager to learn new technologies and to think about how to incorporate them effectively into my teaching, the idea of using a game that my students LOVE intrigued me. Rob Newberry was a dynamic speaker, discussing the intense creativity necessary to both create and to survive in Minecraft worlds. I’ve looked at a variety of articles discussing the pros and the cons of video games as well as investigated a few TED talks on the topic of gaming as well. Previously I was very against video games, thinking that they sucked people into a digital world that then negatively impacted their interpersonal skills. However, having done some research, I do think that creation games like Minecraft require a set of skills that can be incredibly valuable in an adaptive world. That being said, I do not think that people should spend a great number of hours on games, but I do think that using an interactive platform like Minecraft has potential to redefine the way that we teach certain subjects. For example, using Minecraft to teach about culture and community could be an innovative way for students to explore what is essential to life and to living with others. I am eager to think through and to understand the place that Minecraft could have in school. Some questions I have about integrating it would be: 1) understanding from parents that the game could be useful as a tool to teach content 2) what if kids don’t like or want to understand the game, how would this impact integrating it? 3) would it be better to simply have a club after school?

My questions and thoughts continue to pour out of me in regards to this controversial topic. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I will be beginning to assist with a Minecraft club soon that is focused on creating a world and a culture. Students will then compare these two worlds analyzing why the are similar and different. Here’s to new adventures, new horizons, and lots of time spent watching YouTube tutorials.

Working on #ratios #proportions after watching @khanacademy video #kispd #zaichcrewz

Creating digital tools to help in disasters #zaichcrewz #kispd

Here we go! Stoked for 1:1 iPads #kispd #kisipads #zaichcrewz

Reading poetry for our poetry passports. Nice to get back to beautiful picture books. #zaichcrewz #kispd #redefineedu

#superbowl2013 #korea with most wonderful people and #delicious food @samnotkevin @hstahlberg @johnberry @dandan

Thinking about our most vital #tech #tools via an #nytimes article #zaichcrewz #redefineedu #kispd

Uploading our#podcasts from @soundcloud to our blogs #redefineedu #zaichcrewz

Analyzing poetry #zaichcrewz #kispd

Check out one of my students’ author podcast interviews. Students used Garage band to create an interview with their favorite author. The project was a great success. Check out the podcast lesson assignment here.