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.

Folders

I finally decided to start grouping my apps in folders. The 5-6 pages of apps was starting to be a problem. I can't believe how many free apps I have found! I was able to get them all on one page by creating the following folders: books, creativity, education, grammar, news, notes, other, videos, vocabulary, voice and sounds, and word games. The "other" folder is where I put all of the random apps that they don't need or shouldn't be using. Right now, the only apps that are not in a folder, but on the bottom of the iPad are Safari, Pages, Socrative, and a link to our class Wiki.

To get through the bulk of them, I asked a class to do some for me. I wrote a list of which apps go in which folder on the board to guide them. Most of the kids did a pretty good job on their own. When I needed to finish up what the class didn't get done, I found that it goes fastest to put them in folders while they are synched with my Macbook.

Next school year, I will probably keep the number of apps to a minimum so that I don't need the folders. For now, I like to have a bunch to play with until I decide what I want to keep.

Audio Files

I am finally playing with audio files! I decided to use Sound Cloud for this. This iPad app will allow the students to navigate away from the app but continue to record. Not all recording apps would do this. The other piece that I like is that they can get a link for the audio file and add it to their assignment that they are turning in on wiki spaces. I am a big fan of their work staying in one place as much as possible.

After demonstrating how to use the program, I sent them off to try recording. Complete silence. This is the class that is typically a challenge to keep quiet. When I finally asked them to talk, they hesitated. After a few minutes, they seemed to get over their public speaking fears and begin to play with the program. I am eager to hear what they produced!

iPad App Proposals

Our sophomore curriculum this quarter is about writing for specific purposes and audiences. I wanted them to write for a very specific audience and purpose, so I created an app proposal assignment. This was inspired by the grant proposal I wrote to get the class set of iPads.  Here is the overview of the assignment:


21st Century Skills Grant Opportunity
I am awarding grants for iPad applications for classroom use. These grants are designed to support students in developing their 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Individual grants will be awarded up to $10 per application. In order to be eligible for a grant, you must complete the grant application and include a Works Cited that lists 3-5 credible sources. This application must be submitted by Friday, January 27 to cacox@aps.k12.co.us. 


The requirements that it meet 21st century skills is directly from my own grant proposal. I put in some of my own money to actually buy the apps from the best proposals. Many of them were pretty excited to do this. I liked that they could actually see results from their work. I had a few who wanted to try to write an app for games like Angry Birds, but quickly realized they would never convince me of their educational value. Unfortunately, some of the best written proposals were for apps that I can't put on the iPads at this time. One Twitter proposal was excellent, but the temptation for them to just chat with their friends is a little too much for my kids right now. I also had a great proposal for Cliff Notes. I plan to use that one at some point, but we are not reading anything to use the app with at this time.


Here are a few sample proposals:

Name the application: Book Creator for ipad

Price of the application: $4.99

Overview - In 200 words or less, explain what the application does and why you want it.

This application, Book Creator for ipad, lets you create a book and can even help make your projects and book reports way better than multiple pages and post it to ibooks for sharing with friends and the world. The reason why i would like have this app is because, its fun and enjoyable for all ages. It lets you write, draw and add pictures to make it more creative and enjoyable to read. I believe that this app will be good for the classroom because, we are able work with groups but also with ourselves, if necessary. If this app is chosen it will be good for book report and a great way to make them more interesting and enjoyable to read as a teacher. This app helps the learning environment in the classroom with collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. These are astounding 21st century skills that are appropriate for the environment in the classroom. This app will help with writing skills and with learning new vocabulary.

Choose two of the skills for a 21st Century student (collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking), and explain how the app will support student learning in 200 words (each).

Creativity: This app shows creativity through many different ways fathomable. For example, its a rate A app that is suitable for children and adults of any age. According to Red Jumper Studios its "The simple way to create beautiful books."  They have also stated that its "Perfect  for the classroom." This app will help with creativity in the classroom because, how many students want to read a book the write about a 3 page paper focusing on one single aspect? No they want it to be fun and exciting with pictures and they want to do they project, therefore if this app is chosen then there will be more students doing there work and turning it in, instead of slacking off and not turning it in. When you add pictures you put more depth into it and more meaning for the reader, so that the reader can picture it how it should be rather than the way they will picture it when they are reading the story.

Collaboration: This app, Book Creator, helps use the 21st century skills including collaboration. This app will help the students with the grammar, word order, and spelling. Your story can be posted to ibooks so that the other kids in other classes can read them and you could get feed back about what they thought about the story. When the story is posted to ibooks it is automatically scanned and searched for viruses and for appropriateness. Its a simple way for you to work with friends and able to get the work done. When you work in groups, its more comfortable so then its more likely for them to finish there work faster and on time instead of late. Teachers for all grade levels will enjoy this app, because its easy and fun, and the kids will have more fun doing projects and learn at the same time,  teachers enjoy this because its enjoyable for them to read and grade instead of reading 6 classes of papers.

Works Cited (3-5 sources using MLA format)

        L

1. "Book Creator" App Store. 

            Apple, 16 Jan 2012.

            Web. 30 Jan 2012.

2. "Reviews" Book Creator for ipad

            Red Jumper Studio, 2011

            Web. 30 Jan 2012

3. Emily, "Publish ibooks with ipad -ipad review", Padgadget.

            Padgadget, 2010-2012

            Web. 30 Jan 2012

Name the application:ThinkBooks
Price of the application:4.99
Overview - In 200 words or less, explain what the application does and why you want it.
ThinkBooks is a place to store your notes, take your notes and usThinkBooks to plan and or creat a peace. Use the outline and your notes to creat something astonishing, using paper and pencil would not be nearly as creative. I want this app because the impact of it could turn unwilling learners to willing educated students. ThinkBooks is an app designed to help critical thinking become simpler, this example points to how young minds struggle to want to learn. Saving questions that students did not get answers will help students understand more. As a student myself I struggle to know how to start projects or what layout I would use, this experience suggests that ThinkBooks can easily help myself and other students with getting started to finishing. The number one fear for most people is public speaking I am convinced that ThinkBooks will help reduce fears of public speech. I am convinced that ThinkBooks will help educators along with students collaborate.
Choose two of the skills for a 21st Century student (collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking), and explain how the app will support student learning in 200 words (each).
21st century skills involve the four c's( collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity) critical thinking and creativity persuaded me that ThinkBooks is an app that will not only help but be fun as well. It is my strong belief that creativity is what motivates young learners like myself to learn. ThinkBooks ables young minds to have notes, privet thoughts, and questions all at the same time. Using your notes and tools in ThinkBooks like layout and design a peace that is easily done and creative to work with. Ever tool on ThinkBooks is linked to work together to help students, teachers, and parents with multiple things. English class is a struggle for a lot of students, making writhing peaces and taking notes I'm convinced will be much more creative in ThinkBooks. Being a student in high school thinking critically is a struggle. ThinkBooks is an app that takes anything you put into it and helps you get a better understanding of what's going on. Writing new peaces always feels like something is missing, using this app it "helps you create, incubate, and improve your best ideas. Stimulating your thinking think books helps make great ideas even better
Works Cited (3-5 sources using MLA for) John "App Review: ThinkBook- A New Way To Take Notes" John's IPhone. Jmay Live LLC, May 6th, 2011. Web. 1/30/12Stout, Kevin."ThinkBook" 148apps. TrouserMac Industries,May 4th, 2011. Web. 1/30/12.
What is Words With Friends?
Words With Friends is a multi-player word-game almost exactly like the board game, Scrabble. This game has the same rules and point distribution as Scrabble. It's a very popular game, with over 20 million people playing it. This game can be played in the classroom or online with different people. We can use this app after we are done with our main work, or during any other free times. It can even be used as vocabulary warm-ups when everyone comes into class. Not only is this game fun, challenging, and very competitive, but it is very educational. It's a perfect game for an English classroom because it strengthens our basic english skills. This is a really great quality game, even though it sometimes crashes. Plus, it's a free game! So you can get this game for free, and spend your money on other students apps. This game is extremely fun, so students will be excited to come to class and learn english skills. Lastly, this will help limit all the talking in the classroom and will create more collaboration about english skills we need to know.

Why get Words With Friends?
Creativity: In this game, players are encouraged to be creative in making words. Players need to find the best and biggest word that can be made. They also can help themselves in winning the game by creating words that might make up a word.
Communication: Students that can't find a word to play can ask each other for help to find different words. Also, students can use the resources around them, like a book or dictionary, to find a word if they get stuck.
Critical Thinking: Players will have to use different skills to win the game. They will be using their vocab and root words to determine words they didn't know. If players have difficult letters to use, they'll be using their problem solving skills to use the letters in the game.Lastly, Players can be timed every turn, so that they will think quickly to get the best word.
Collaboration: This game will help people learn more about each other. If students play against other students who they never talk to, then everyone can see the different skills and personalities everyone has. Also, this game is competitive, so students will learn to be competitive in a classroom setting, and have fun learning in the classroom.

In conclusion, the facts clearly state that this game is the best choice for this class. This game is propably one of the best and most popular apps for any device. Students and other people have enjoyed and learned a lot from playing this game. And on top of that, it's free and has pretty good quality. If students have loved to play Scrabble, so this game will be enjoyed by the the class. As a class, we can take a day every week to have a Words With Friends tournament to see who has the best english vocab and quick thinking skills. I think students will enjoy doing that, and they will be better educated in the areas Words With Friends covers. This game will not only strengthen their skills now, but make them better for their futures in highschool, and in college. You can't deny the fact that this will be a great app to get for the whole class. To conclude my propasal, this is an all in all great game to get, and will help our class succeed in our grammer, spelling, and word usage.

notebook apps

I have been browsing through apps trying to find one I like for students to use for taking notes. My favorite so far is Notability. I needed one that can handle typing, handwriting, and sound. This does all three pretty well. I like that you can create different folders for each student, but would love it if they could password protect their folders. I am still concerned about students "accidentally" messing with each others' work.

I also gave them options to work with Paper Port and Notes Plus. They both have the features I like, but I prefer the look and navigation of Notability. Since these notes are for student use and won't be graded, I don't care where they put them for now. If I need to grade them, I can always have them send their work via e-mail. I am still not loving any application to keep track of my feedback. Still searching...

gmail is killing me

I have been battling with gmail for over a week now. I tried to set up individual accounts for each of my iPads through gmail so that they can easily send their work from the iPad without having to log in with their private accounts. The initial set-up was time consuming but had minimal issues. Once I set up about 20 accounts, I needed to use another IP address to create the rest.

I went through each of the iPads to set up the accounts and still didn't seem to have any problems. The issues began when I tried to use the accounts. Over half of the accounts didn't send. I had to go through resetting passwords on most of them. They would work for a while, then not work. EXTREMELY frustrating when I was having them e-mail me their work. In my attempts to reset passwords, I often had accounts disabled for suspicious use. When I used my phone number to get verification codes, I hit a limit where I couldn't use the number anymore. I tried to send gmail a message asking for help and still have not had a response.

I am assuming that it has something to do with their privacy policy updates because google docs hasn't been working well the last few weeks either. I have deleted all the accounts from the iPads for now and will give it another try in a few weeks. BUMMER.

Prezi video

Here is a tutorial I created for my 10th graders. We are beginning to work on research. This was a huge help. I found myself saying the same thing again and gain, but now I can just send them to a video. 

I created a Prezi, then I did a screen recording as I played the prezi. I uploaded it to You Tube, but I also synched it to the video on the iPads. 

Bye Bye Clickers

I think that I have found an app to replace my Active Expressions clickers: Socrative.

I was originally planning to use Lan School to monitor students and poll them about content. I decided that it was more than I needed. Since the students have their iPads flat on the desk most of the time, it is pretty easy to see what they are working on, unlike laptop screens that can hide Facebook easily. As long as I am up and around the room, they are staying on task. Since I don't need it to monitor students, I only need it for polling students.

I have a set of clickers that work great for keeping students engaged by asking them multiple choice, short answer, and true/false questions. I found that with the iPads, I wasn't using them because it seemed like too many devices to keep track of during a class period. I love the way the Active Expressions works, and am hopeful I can find apps to replace all of the functions I was using.

Socrative was extremely easy to set up. I created an account and downloaded the apps to the iPads. Ready to go in 10 minutes! I can verbally ask questions and have them answer with the app, or I can create a quiz for them to take at their own pace or my pace. My first attempt was great and it was simple to e-mail me the results after they finished. I also loved that they can take the quiz, then hand it to another student to take as soon as they are finished. This will come in handy with my large classes since I only have 30 iPads.

Back from break with a dilemma

So, I am in love with my iPads, but it is a challenge to figure out how to do some things like turn in work. I have run through many different programs, but keep running into problems.

Moodle- I like the way this program functions for teachers, but not students. They don't have the option on ipads to upload files. This means that they are limited to using the online text for assignments which is not a friendly view for them. It is also a big challenge for anything that needs formatting. The other problem I run into is collaboration. It isn't a very good tool when I often have students working together on assignments.

Google docs- I like the collaborative aspect as well as my feedback options. My big concern is having so many students working on it at the same time. We have enough problems with wireless and bandwidth already. Another thing I want to be pushing is more video and audio, and I just don't know how well that will work.

Dropbox - This could work well with net books, but not with an iPad. There are few apps that will upload to Dropbox (Paperport) and none of them are very good with essay formatting. All that they can really do with the app is look at assignments they already have in there.

Evernote- On a computer, this works great, but on iPads, you can only share your notbeooks with another to view work, not edit. This presents lots of challenges in terms of student feedback. However, I am a really big fan of the audio options with this. I like the idea of students showing their understanding in ways other than writing on occasion.

Wikispaces- This is my current favorite. I am really liking the way my students are using it as a collaborative tool. They did great work with the discussions for our class novel, and it has been a great way for them to work on projects in small groups and pairs. It has great options for feedback as well. My concern is with their independent summative assignments. I want to have a place for them to do some assignments that are not available for the rest of the class to see.

Pages- This has a great look for text typing, but the issue is with turning it in. There are several options, but none of them are ideal. I can't seem to get iTunes to work without me having to take too many steps to see each student's assignment. It shouldn't be more that a click or two to go from one student's assignment to the next. I tried to play with iWork and iDisk, but found the same problem. I know that the e-mail option is the way to go, it just has some issues as well. Since each iPad is shared between 5 students, I don't want them to use their own e-mail addresses; they regularly forget to log out of things. I have decided to try creating a new e-mail address for each iPad so that the students can send their work as a PDF. If you send as a Pages or Word file, it requires saving before opening. I am looking for the fewest number of steps.

Here is my plan:
Wikispaces- This is where I can keep all of the class notes, calendar, and practice/formative/group work. I like to use the discussion posts for short things like exit slips, discussion, topic ideas, and grammar practice.

Pages- All summative/independent work will be done here. They can e-mail their work to me as a PDF and cc their own e-mail. I can "reply all" to give them feedback. If they want to work from home, they can use the same e-mail feature to send their work back and forth.