Skitch your way to better presentations

A major issue that I have with my students is crappy presentation visuals. A typical student presentation uses Power Point slides with all of their notes on the screens: not so interesting for the audience. I have come to realize that they do this because it is all that they see in a classroom. They are modeling their own presentations after what they see their teachers doing; it's hard to blame them for this. This was the first major distinction I needed to make to them: you are not teaching a concept to your audience, you are entertaining them. This will better support them in their future because most of them have no intention of becoming teachers.

Another main issue I see is that they use Power Point because they already know how. They don't want to spend the time to learn a new program when they have something due tomorrow. My idea to fix this is to use class time to teach them some new strategies. Enter: Skitch. This app can help them to create the types of visuals that I want as their audience. Essentially, the goal is to use the visuals as a supplement to what they are saying rather than restating it.

In order to get them to create presentations that truly demonstrate critical thinking and creativity, they need a topic with some substance. After a suggestion from my literacy coach, I decided to have them create presentations that demonstrate a critical interpretation of a poem. They choose a poem from my list, read and annotated, then planned a presentation. I gave them a planning template that was basically a two-column grid. The left was for what they will say, and the right was for what they will show. Here are the technology requirements:

• c  Fewer than 10 words on the images (total, not per image)
• c  Vary text color and size
• c  Use an online image
• c  Use an image taken with the camera on the iPads
• c  Use a blank background
• c  Use the drawing feature
• c  Use the shapes feature

I demonstrated how to use all of these steps before setting them loose to create their visuals. I thought that it would take them about 20 minutes, but it took about an hour. Since they were on task, I didn't mind, and the results were worth the wait.

They presented in groups and videotaped themselves to do some self-evaluations of their speaking abilities. They were SOOO much better than the other presentations that they have done in the past. For most students the visuals did exactly what they should: they were a supplement to the presentation. I am hopeful that they use their new skills to put together awesome and engaging presentations for their final capstone projects.

iMovie make anyone a great director

I used iMovie with my seniors, and I LOVE it. I couldn't believe how easy it was for them to create video. My objective was to help them to see the value of a detailed plan or storyboard in creating an effective video. The previous videos that they have made have been pretty boring. I want them to be able to use video effectively as they continue to work on presentations.

I had them use the trailer templates so that they could see how the storyboard helps them to create a polished looking video. In about 45 minutes, EACH of my students finished their videos. It looked like total chaos, but they were all totally engaged and on task making their videos. I had about half of my class in the hall and the rest in the room. They were in groups so that they could be in each other's videos.

We took about 10 minutes to share in groups, then a few shared with the whole class. They also answered some reflection questions in Socrative about what they learned. In our group discussion afterwards we talked about how they can expand their skills by making a custom project. They seemed eager to use this again, and I, too, am excited to see what they create next.

iPad Presentation - Agenda

Learning Objective: Analyze how social media applications can support student learning and professional development.
Success Criteria: Review a blog and Twitter account using Sound Cloud and a blog to facilitate discussion.

1. Download Sound Cloud and Socrative
2. Skim my Blogs and Tweets (10 min)
3. Prepare for discussion:

• What is a strength of using blogs or Twitter for reflection or professionally development?
• How do blogs and Twitter support 21st Century skills?
• What would you do differently in a blog or Twitter?
• What should I add to my blog to support someone beginning implementation of iPads in a classroom?
• How could you use blogs or Twitter for your own professional development?

4. Record your discussion using Sound Cloud (10 min)

• Do not use Facebook when creating an account (You need a private account to obtain links for the sound files.)
• Make the file "Private" when saving to obtain a link to share.

5. Post a link to your discussion in the comments below (5 min)

• From the main menu, select the file, select "private", select the share (arrow) button, then copy the link.
• Paste the the comments below
• Listen to other files and comment about something that you like in the option below, or mark the spot in the file.

6. Socrative exit slip - What can you implement in your classroom? (5 min)

Is it really my fault?

I keep hearing that my iPads are the reason for some of our trouble with network and internet. I'm not totally sure that it's true. We had plenty of issues before my iPads arrived. Once I began using them regularly, I didn't hear about an increase in problems. I actually don't have any problems. When all of the other classes and teachers are yelling at their computers, I just sit quietly and say to my Macbook,  "I love you." We don't have any problems with the iPads. Other teachers have issues with connectivity mostly and often issue with slow loading. I have awesomeness.

We had an upgrade to our system over the break, and it has been a huge issue for people. Many people with Dell laptops (only a year or two old) have network cards that need to be upgraded. There  were a few days, where many people couldn't use anything. What a huge frustration! I know that my iPads connect differently, but if they are taking all of the bandwidth, why is it that I am not experiencing issues too?

Clear up confusion

My poor students have had to endure a bit of confusion this year. I began the year with a Promethean Board and clickers. We would often use the clickers for assignments or submit major essays to turnitin.com, but most of their work was written on paper then turned in to a basket: pretty simple. When I learned that I got the grant, I set up the class on Wikispaces and had the kids try out discussion posting. Once the iPads came, I had so many things that I wanted to try. We continued to use wikispaces, but I also played with clicker apps, notes apps, and e-mail. They seemed to have a different app for each assignment. I was searching for a great plan, but I think I just confused them.

Next year, I will commit to 1 way to turn in work, with few exceptions. I am also keeping a running list of assignments and where they are turned in on the class wiki homepage. I am realizing that I have to be EXTREMELY clear about what they need to do and where they need to turn it in.

Sound Cloud Rocks!

I used Sound Cloud to record my students in group discussions. It was amazing! I gave them a handout to support them with what they needed to discuss about the poem, then put them into groups. Each group used one iPad to record their discussion of the poem using Sound Cloud. Once they began, it was almost creepy to see them all so on task. Since they knew I would be listening, they stayed on topic in their discussion. When they finished the discussions, they copied a link to the sound file and pasted it onto the class wiki page. For the most part, I could hear the discussions very well. There were very few students who sat too far away from the microphone. It was so wonderful to hear some great ideas from students who typically sit silently in class discussions. I hope to use this more and more!

Updating

Updating took FOREVER! It took me about 3 days to get through the iPads. The problem wasn't the operating system update, it was the app updates. Pages took at least 15 minutes. I started with all of them plugged in to my Macbook in the cart, but didn't want to sit there all day long since it seemed to be updating them one at a time. I decided to pull 5-10 iPads at a time and just lay them out in front of me instead. I am confident that there is a better way to do this, I'm just not sure what it is.