Coding

You might have seen articles about "How all students need to learn how to code" or "Hour of Code" or "Why are we teaching our students how to code?"  Watch the TED Talk and Check out Hour of Code for more information on why students should learn how to code.

If you are like me and enjoy TED Talks, then you should check out this TED Talk all about teaching kids how to code Mitch Resnick: Let's teach kids to code.

If you don't have time to watch the video, here is a quote from it that I think is really good:

"...a lot of times people feel that young people today can do all sorts of things with technology. I mean, all of us have heard young people referred to as "digital natives." But actually I'm sort of skeptical about this term. I'm not so sure we should be thinking of young people as digital natives. When you really look at it, how is it that young people spend most of their time using new technologies? ...there's no doubt that young people are very comfortable and familiar browsing and chatting and texting and gaming. But that doesn't really make you fluent.  So young people today have lots of experience and lots of familiarity with interacting with new technologies, but a lot less so of creating with new technologies and expressing themselves with new technologies. It's almost as if they can read but not write with new technologies.  And I'm really interested in seeing, how can we help young people become fluent so they can write with new technologies? And that really means that they need to be able to write their own computer programs, or code.  So, increasingly, people are starting to recognize the importance of learning to code."

I've read some of the articles about coding, and I agree that not every student NEEDS to learn how to code -- especially at a young age.  I took a class a few semesters ago called Toying with Technology and we learned how to code Lego Robots.  After we learned how to code them to do various things, we taught students at United how to code the robots and students from all over the state came to ISU to learn how to code the robots.  My mind was BLOWN at how fast these students picked up on how to code.  It was amazing!  They were doing things in an hour that had taken us weeks to learn.

December 8-14 is Computer Science Education Week.  To celebrate that, a campaign was started to get tens of millions of students across the world to participate in the Hour of Code.  The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.  I actually participated in this last year and was surprised how easy it is.  There are so many options including Code with Anna and Elsa and Write Your First Computer Program.  Check out http://hourofcode.com/us or http://code.org/learn and encourage your students to participate in the Hour of Code this week!  Coding can be used with people ages 4-104 so don't think you are too young or too old to learn!  There is also an iPad app that can be used: Codecademy: Code Hour.

If you would like to learn more about coding, want to add the Code Hour app to some iPads, or have any other questions about it, feel free to ask me!

Handouts

Are you tired of making copies or taking stacks of papers home with you to grade?  Do you want to go paperless in your classroom?  If you said yes to one of these questions, then the Handouts app is for you!  Handouts is a paperless student/teacher platform for tablet-centered classrooms.  It addresses the creation, distribution, collection, and grading of worksheets, printables, homework, quizzes and assignments.

Here's how to use this (FREE!) app:

CREATE


Take a picture of a worksheet or import one from a digital file (like Dropbox). You can use all of your existing worksheets!













DISTRIBUTE


Select which handouts you would like to distribute, then send to your class with one tap.















WORK ON TABLET



Student can complete handouts with a stylus or their finger.













GRADE & FEEDBACK

After students complete their handout, they send it back to the teacher with one tap. The teacher can then grade and add feedback and send it back to the student.















STUDENT PORTFOLIOS


Teachers can favorite student assignments to create portfolios of significant work and keep track of uncollected handouts.

Let one of the tech interns know if you would like to try this out in your classroom!

For more detailed instructions, feel free to check this YouTube video out!

Handouts - Simple Classroom Workflow

Add a Printer

We have installed a new printer in the elementary computer lab. You will have to add this new printer in order to print things to the lab in the future. Adding a new printer to your computer is very simple! Follow the steps below to add it:

1. Open system preferences. In the second row, select "printers and scanners"

2. On the left side, there should be a list of printers you already have added to your computer. Click the + sign on the bottom left side of that box.

3. A new window will appear with a list of options. 

Find the name that says "ES Lab M602".

4. Select the drop down menu for "use" and change from 

Secure AirPrint to HP LaserJet 600 M602. 

Click add in the bottom right corner to add the printer!

5. This screen will appear once you click add. Give it time to set up. 

Be sure to select this printer when you print in the future.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us! Happy printing! 

Voice Thread

I created a blog last spring and have continued to use it to share my thoughts on technology and teaching. Check out this post about Voice Thread to find out how to use it and why it could be useful in your classroom!

Reflector

"Reflector is an AirPlay receiver that allows you to wirelessly display your iPad or iPhone on a number of devices." 

(http://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector/)

By visiting THIS website, you can download Reflector onto your computer. This is the screen you will see when you click the link:

On the left side, there is a 'for mac' section. Click the download button under For Mac. 

Reflector will start to download. Depending on the settings on your computer, it may appear at the bottom of your browser, or you may need to open finder and go to downloads. 

Once it is finished downloading, open the file "Reflector.dmg". This screen will appear:

Drag the reflector icon to the applications folder icon. Next, open finder, go to applications, and open reflector. It will ask you this:

Click 'open'.

Then this screen will appear:

Click, 'I have a license key' in the bottom right corner.

Then, this screen will appear:

If you are a teacher at our school, we have a code for you. Please email one of the interns and we can provide this code for you! You will copy and paste the code into the box and then click 'activate reflector'. 

Once you've completed these steps, you are ready to use reflector! 

Learning is a Lifetime Process

Our teachers are open to learning! 

Today three of our teachers earned LEARNING BADGES for inviting a technology intern into their classroom. 

Mrs. Thein and Mrs. J. Nelson asked myself, Jenny, to come into their classroom and help their students login to Tales2Go. It can be a process with a classroom of students but with extra hands we got it done in no time! Check out this blog post for more information on Tales2Go.

Mrs. Hull invited myself, Jenny, into her classroom to teach a lesson using Toontastic. The students were engaged, great listeners, and very excited about the process. I appreciate the opportunity to teach and Mrs. Hull was able to learn about the app. We wrote about Toontastic last spring so be sure to check out the post! It's a great app to use with a variety of grade levels. It is helpful for students to create a draft of their story before they use the app. I have posted the draft template that we have used with students on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is a free download so check it out!

Share with Parents

As the end of the school year approaches, many parents want to see their student's work and progress. Showbie is a great way to document this growth over time. A simple way to share with parents the information, assignments, and projects that have been submitted on Showbie, is by sharing the login information with them.

Since Showbie is accessible on a computer, as well as an iPad, it is very easy for parents to find their student's work. As a teacher, our job would be to provide the parents with their student's username and password. Personally, I have a ton of usernames, passwords, numbers, addresses, and email addresses stored in my brain so there is no way I am going to remember all 20-something of my students. Luckily, Showbie has a solution to his problem.

As a teacher, if you login to Showbie on the computer, a list of your classes will appear. As an example, I will shown my Showbie. Since I am not yet a teacher, I only have fake students, so you'll have to use your imagination a bit!

"Jenny test" is the name of my one and only class. Underneath the title, in gray, it tells you how many students and teachers are enrolled in the class. If you put your mouse over those words, a small icon will appear to the right of the word 'teacher'. Click this icon.

Once you click the icon, a white box will appear, as shown below. This will list all your students and their username. I only have one fake student, Johny Jones, and his username is rsjohny. 

When creating Showbie accounts for your students, I would highly recommend using the same password for all the students. This will reduce the amount of confusion and forgotten passwords. If for some reason your student changed or forgot their password, you can reset it. On the right side of each student's line, there is a drop down arrow. If Johny Jones forgot his password, I would click the drop down arrow and two options would appear, as shown below.

Once you select, 'reset password', a temporary password code will be given to you, the teacher. You will have to provide this code to your student and help them change it back to the desired password. This is why a common password is useful, to avoid this step :)

Once you have all your students login information, create a personal letter or email for each student to take home to their parents. They can login on showbie.com together to see the student's work. In the letter, I would include directions to download the work so the parents can save it, if they wish.

What a great and simple way to share information!

Google Templates

The teachers at Roland Story are wonderful. We are so lucky to work with such great people! Mr. Gilroy, a 4th grade teacher, approached me with a question this morning that required me to do a little research. He wanted to customize google forms he is using in the classroom. I searched on google to find the answer and here is what I discovered...

While customizing your own theme is not yet possible for Google forms, there is another way to have more options. Check out this website to find existing templates you can use for your own documents, forms, spreadsheets, etc. It will ask you to sign in to your Google account. Once you're signed in, this screen will appear. There are 4 tabs across the top. The first is 'Public Templates', this is where you will find hundreds of templates you can use. To sort through the hundreds, use the 'sort by' options on the left side of the screen, or specifically search for what you're looking for using the search bar at the top.

The second tab is labeled 'Roland-Story Schools Templates'. That appears for me because I am logged in with my Roland Story school email address. If I select that tab, all the templates created and uploaded by Roland Story users will be shown. The third tab is labeled 'Templates I've used'. Once you begin using templates, all the ones you use will be shown in this tab. If you ever want to go back and use the same one again, it can be easily accessed using this tab.

The last tab is labeled 'My Templates'. This is where you can upload your own template you've created. Why would you ever want to create your own template? Well, there are many reasons!

1. You have a document you wish to use again (i.e. lesson plan, newsletter, etc.)
2. You have a document you wish your students to have access to and edit (i.e. an assignment you set up that they must edit)
3. You want to reuse the same form every week to assess your students.
4. You give the same presentation every year with new information.

Even if you don't want to create your own template, try out the ones available to you! They are useful and there's many options.

Doodle Buddy

Doodle Buddy - the application that allows students to draw, scribble, annotate, and create. There are many things you could do with this app in your classroom and it is very easy to use; even better, it's free! Whiteboards are a common form of quick assessment in elementary classrooms, and Doodle Buddy could serve as a digital whiteboard to avoid an extra material needed in your classroom.

With Doodle Buddy comes some features that I will explain. As I stated before, it's really easy to use and you will pick up quickly once you start playing around with it! First of all, there are buttons across the bottom of the screen. Beginning on the left, we have the undo button. By selecting this it will undo your last action. Moving to the right, we have the trash can button. This will clear your entire drawing and leave only the background. The next button is the drawing tool. It allows students to select a color and type of writing utensil. The size of the pencil or brush can be changed by moving the white dot across the link at the bottom of the gray screen. Then they can begin drawing, annotating, or scribbling.

The next button is for stamps, or stickers. You can select small or large based on the size you need. There are many different types of stamps/stickers. I added this cute smiley face!

Next are the stencils. Pretty self explanatory - they work like regular stencils!

The next button is labeled "Tt". This allows you to add text. By selecting the button, a text box will appear and you can type your desired text. The choices across the top are the font options (helv, type, felt, times).

Then we have the option of selecting a background. There are some included within the app, but you can also use a photo you've already taken or take another.

I chose an existing picture on my iPad of the beach.

When you're all finished, select the wrench button on the right side of the screen. This will give you some options. Saving to the camera roll is the easiest for students! They could upload the finished product to Showbie so the teacher has access.

There are many ways you could use Doodle Buddy in your classroom. As you can see below, you could ask students questions and they could use the app to record their answers. Spelling tests could also be given using this app. 

Share with us how you use Doodle Buddy in your classroom!

Write About This

How many times have you heard your students complain about not knowing what to write about? I'm sure a lot! Elementary students have a huge imagination, yet when it comes to writing, it seems to disappear. Write About This is an application that erases this problem! It provides writing prompts for students to spark some ideas for their writing. There is a free version and a paid version for $3.99. The free version has a lot of limitations, but there are ways to getting around those if you aren't willing to pay $3.99.

I will go through how to navigate these 6 icons and the basics of the app. 

First, the search icon! This can be used to search for a specific topic or idea a student might have.

Next, the categories icon. This is where students can search for a topic by category. Unfortunately, with the free version, only one topic per category is available.

I chose animals as an example category. This lion picture is the only topic that was available since I have the free version. It provides a question at the bottom of the screen. Students can click the 'voice' button to have the question(s) read to them. When they are ready to write, they click the pencil, 'write' button.

Once they select 'write', this screen will appear. There is a space to provide a title and begin writing. If they wish, students can also record and audio about the writing prompt. It also includes the date, which is a great way to monitor students' progress over the course of the year.

To record an audio, click the 'record audio' button. The screen below will appear. When you are ready, click the 'record' button and begin speaking. Once finished and satisfied, click 'save audio'.

To begin writing, click on the notebook paper and your keyboard will appear. When you are finished, click the very bottom right button (icon of a keyboard) to make the keyboard disappear.

Before saving, you must create an author profile for yourself! Choose a existing picture or take one.

Then your picture will appear to show that you wrote this piece. When you're completely finished, click 'save to camera roll'. This will export the write about to your iPad's camera roll. However, with the free version, you can only save 1 write about at a time. If you don't have the paid version and still want to save it, you can take a screenshot by holding the home button and power button at the same time. This won't save the audio, but it will save the writing! The screens hotted photo could be uploaded through Showbie so the teacher has access.

The next icon on the home screen is 'random'. By selecting this, a random writing prompt will be chosen for the student. Once the screen below is shown, the same process as stated above is used to begin writing.

The 'My Write Abouts' icon will take you to all the saved Write Abouts.

The 'Create a Prompt' icon allows you or the students to create a writing prompt. The screen below will appear and you can create your own: adding a picture, text, and audio. 

For example, I took a picture of the ocean and added a question as a prompt. I added an audio clip to read the question aloud.

To save these prompts, click the 'Save to Category' button. The prompts made will appear in a 'Custom' category, found on the categories page.

The 'Quick Write' icon allows students to begin writing right away, without a prompt. By selecting this icon, the screen below will appear. Students can add photos, record, and begin writing immediately.

Next time you hear your students complain that they have nothing to write about, refer them to this app!