Middle/High School – Page 28 – iLearn Technology

Twitter in the Classroom and Twitter Posters

March 9, 2011Kelly Tenkely32 Comments20877 views

I think it is fabulous when schools decide to intentionally use social media as part of the learning day. I am working with a school right now that has hired me to help them do just that.

A little background before I tell you how we are doing it: This is a kindergarten through eighth grade private school. There are three classes at every grade level up to fifth grade. Sixth through eighth grade looks like your typical middle school with a variety of subjects and teachers. Every classroom has a Promethean interactive whiteboard connected to a Mac Mini as well as two additional Mac Mini’s for students to use and a teacher MacBook. Full disclosure, this is the school that I taught technology at for 7 years so they know what they are getting when they pull me in on a project like this! When I was at the school, I used Twitter myself and created a school Twitter account and a school Facebook fan page. I used think.com with my students to teach and model proper use of social media tools. In September, the superintendent and communications manager for the school called me in to find out how social media could be used to tell others about the school. They wanted to build up the school community and tell the wider community about what makes the school special using social media tools. I worked to help them understand that social media does not make a good broadcasting platform. What makes Twitter and Facebook work are the connections it enables and the stories it allows to unfold. My recommendation to them was to bring the students in on telling that story, they have the most authentic voice, and a unique perspective within the school. Because we are working with kindergarten through eighth grade students, creating student accounts was not an option, the majority of students at CHC are under 13 years of age. My work around: create classroom accounts.

I created a classroom account for every staff member in the school, all 58 of them! Next I connected each classroom Twitter account with a classroom fan page on Facebook. I set up the Facebook fan pages so that commenting, photo, and video are turned off (this will be the case until teachers are comfortable enough and want to interact in both spaces). The idea here is that parents who use Twitter and the wider education and local community will follow the classroom and school Twitter accounts. Parents who are not on Twitter but have Facebook accounts won’t miss out on any updates because the Twitter account is feeding into the page.

Teachers will be using the classroom Twitter accounts with students to post updates throughout the day. Posting will be done as a class using the Mac Mini connected to the Promethean board. Classes will be using Twitter to reflect on learning, as a class they will share, reflect, engage, inquire, and report. This doubles nicely as a form of informal formative assessment. Classes will also use the Twitter accounts to connect with other classrooms and experts. Students will not be permitted to post to the accounts without teacher permission because of the Twitter age limit. I wanted students to be involved in the tweeting not only for the learning opportunities, but also for the opportunity for teachers to model proper use of social media.

The main school Twitter account will be used to retweet (RT) posts from the individual classrooms to the larger community, pass along school-wide messages and information, and as a point-point-of-contact for customer service. Administration and school leaders will be tweeting their unique perspectives about what is happening in the school. Together, CHC will be writing it’s stories of learning 140 characters at a time.

Participation by teachers is optional. I presented the idea to the teaching staff at their last staff meeting using this Prezi. I invited interested teachers to a Tweetup in a few weeks where we will meet up and learn about using Twitter. I really pushed to make this optional for teachers, I didn’t want it to feel like one more thing for them to fit into their schedule. 85% of the staff signed up for the tweetup! I am training teachers off site at a local coffee shop where it won’t feel so much like a typical tech training (hence the tweetup) :). I’ll fill you in on all the details of that tweetup training in a few weeks.

In the mean time, I have been creating posters for the classroom. The school asked me to create rules for teachers to follow and rules for students to follow when using social media. I also created posters with ideas for using Twitter in the classroom, authors using Twitter, a web of ed chats and hashtags on Twitter, and Twitter Lingo (Twingo). I’m sharing these posters below, you can check out the original version that I made for CHC (branding and school hashtags included) and a version for any of you who are interested. Feel free to download and print the 11×17 posters for your classroom.

IDroo: Online educational multi user whiteboard

March 7, 2011Kelly Tenkely2 Comments7189 views

What it is: IDroo is an educational multi user whiteboard that lets students instantly collaborate online. Everything that is drawn or written on the whiteboard is visible to all participants in real-time. IDroo supports an unlimited number of meeting participants, the only limitations are computer power and internet connection speed. There is a professional math typing tool built-in making it easy to teach or work through math problems collaboratively. Best of all, IDroo can be used with Skype! IDroo is free for non-commercial use. Now for the downfall (and this is a HUGE downfall in my humble opinion), IDroo is currently only available for Windows. I know, disappointment for us Mac lovers. *sigh* If you are using a Windows computer this is a great way to collaborate online!

How to integrate IDroo into the classroom: IDroo would be a great app for collaborating with other classrooms around the world. Students can use the multi user whiteboard space to work together, share ideas, and brainstorm. IDroo would also be fantastic as a way for teachers to tutor students virtually. Set up an “open lab” time once a week online where students can drop in and get extra help. Virtual lab times are especially helpful for elementary students who can’t dictate their own schedules and often can’t stay after school for extra help.

Tips: Don’t forget to allow IDroo to access Skype API after you download!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using IDroo in your classroom!

Pilot Handwriting: Turn Handwriting into a Font

March 7, 2011Kelly Tenkely7 Comments5725 views

What it is: This is a fun site. Pilot Handwriting let’s students turn their handwriting into a font of their own. The site is easy to use: print the template for students to fill out, take a picture of the completed template with a webcam (scanner and digital camera options also available), click on individual letters to adjust the look, save the handwriting by creating an account, click “let’s write” to use the font. Writing completed on the Pilot Handwriting site can be emailed. Saving the handwriting does require students to create an account. The account has no age limit but asks for an email address. If you are teaching students who don’t have an email address, they can use a @tempinbox.com or @mailinator.com ending so they don’t have to create an email account.

How to integrate Pilot Handwriting into the classroom: I’ll be honest, I am not a big fan of handwriting worksheets- this is due to my own experience with them. I remember feeling like the practice page was endless and in the end didn’t give me a good feel for handwriting (especially in cursive) because I was writing letters individually; how often do you do that in real life? The Pilot Handwriting font creator would be a fun way for students to end those handwriting practice sessions. When they have a letter down, they can write it on the template. The template could be filled out over several weeks as they learn and practice new letters. At the end, they can turn all that practice into their very own computer font…as unique as their fingerprint! The finished font can be used for learning how to write a friendly letter. Students can compose a letter to a teacher, another student, or a parent using their font and send the finished letter via email.

Pilot Handwriting let’s students create multiple fonts within one account. Students could create a font at the beginning of the school year and again at the end of the school year (or in subsequent years) to compare their growth. Handwriting can tell us so much about how students are developing and thinking. This is a great way to record that development digitally.

My students love creating their own font, it makes all writing and practice more fun. I caught a fifth grader typing out her spelling and vocabulary words just so that she could use her font. In that one exercise she was practicing her handwriting, typing, and spelling/vocabulary. Not too shabby 🙂

Tips: This is a neat site for students to share with their families. I have great handwritten notes from my grandmothers, recipes from my mom, and birthday cards from aunts and uncles. There is something about a handwritten note that feels so personal and meaningful, it is capturing a piece of who that person is. Students may want to ask their family members to create a font with their handwriting. I had one student who was creating a family tree for class, he had each member of his family fill out the template and create a font. He then asked them to send an email to him with the information needed for his tree using the font. He cut and paste these onto poster board. It was honestly the coolest family tree I have seen, he had his family get involved and created a keepsake in the process.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Pilot Handwriting in your classroom!

“Facebook” profile pages for literary characters

March 4, 2011March 18, 2014Kelly Tenkely35 Comments17200 views

Today I worked with a mixed seventh and eighth grade class who is reading To Kill a Mockingbird. The teacher was looking for ways for the students to explore the characters more in-depth and think about how authors develop characters. I thought having the students create a fake “Facebook” profile page would be a great way to accomplish all of those learning goals. As one of the students said, “It is totally fun!”. The challenge with this particular classroom is that we are working within a mixed platform environment. There are PC’s and Macs of all different operating systems and ages. The one common we have going for us is an Internet connection.

Each student created an information page about one of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird that looked just like a Facebook information page. This gave them the opportunity to think about characteristics, interests, activities, quotes, and some creative license to flesh out the details. I knew about My Fake Wall, but because of the HEAVY advertising, and request for an email address I wasn’t convinced it was the best place for students to create a character profile. For the record I like the site a lot and the results are impressive but all of the advertisements are obnoxious and I wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t get hung up by a filter. I needed a plan B. I ended up creating a Facebook information page template using Pages. The problem: not all of the students had Pages to use the template (that mixed environment thing). So, I got creative and settled on exporting the Pages document as a PDF and uploading it to Crocodoc for students. I uploaded it once for each student (so each would have a unique URL to edit). It worked great! Students used Crocodoc to annotate over the template and then could download the finished pdf it to their computers. Some students chose to find an online picture that they could use for the profile picture, other students created their own avatar type pictures of the character using the drawing tools in Crocodoc (they turned out great…such little artists).

When the students were finished, they headed over to see if they could get My Fake Wall to work. Miracle of miracles it wasn’t blocked (I was surprised!). My Fake Wall has the students create the profile page of a character where they can create posts and discussions between characters. They used the information page they created as a starting place and created a conversation between several characters. It was a big hit except they were disappointed that it didn’t actually work like Facebook. They were wanting to each create their character and actually interact as the character. If they were older I would have considered letting them use Facebook this way.

The students really enjoyed thinking about characters this way and as we were wrapping up for the day they asked, “could we go on here and create some of these for historical characters?” One wanted to take on Hitler and another Columbus. I always consider a lesson successful when students aren’t ready to stop the learning…this one was a success!

If you are interested in using the template I created, you can do so by first downloading the original from Facebook Template. Next, upload the pdf template to your own Crocodoc page. You will need to do this for each student or they will all be collaboratively working on the same document. Give students their unique URL, and they are off. If you don’t have access to computers but would still like to use my template, feel free to print it out and have students work on it the old school way.

Spent: Social Justice Simulation

March 2, 2011March 3, 2011Kelly Tenkely11 Comments4169 views

What it is: I learned about Spent from my friend @ianchia last week on Twitter. Spent is a collaboration between McKinney and Urban Ministries of Durham to show students how the decisions they make affect their lives. The Urban Ministries of Durham serves over 6,000 people every year. Students have the opportunity to accept the Spent simulation and challenge to see if they can make it through a month of living expenses. They have just lost their job, their savings are gone, they have lost their house, and they are down to their last thousand dollars. Students must find a job, make decisions about housing, food, emergencies, and more as they try to survive one month on minimum wage.

How to integrate Spent into the classroom: Spent is a social justice game simulation that helps students understand the tough circumstances that so many face that have caused them to be homeless and in need of outside assistance. The game uses scenarios that are true to life and shows students how each decision that they make has consequences. Spent would be a great game for students to play in an economics or social studies class. Students can play the game individually and come together at the end of the game to discuss how the decisions they made affected their ultimate outcome. Which students made it to the end of the month and which failed? What decision(s) led to that outcome? If you don’t have the ability for students to play the game individually, play as a class using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Make decisions together as a class weighing the pros and cons of each decision as you go.

Extend this online game by moving to a place of action. What can your students do to help those in need? Can they hold a school fundraiser to donate to the Urban Ministries of Durham? Can they create compelling call to action videos and post them to YouTube? Let your students be creative and come up with their own solutions for making an impact.

Tips: There are some great ethical scenarios in the simulation that should spark some interesting discussion and debate among students.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Spent in your classroom!

World Spelling Day

March 2, 2011Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2501 views

What it is: World Spelling Day is brought to you by the same folks who hold World Math Day. This year (2011) World Spelling Day is taking place on March 3. Don’t wait, sign your kids up now and they can start practicing! World Spelling Day is a world-wide competition between students where they engage in live games of spelling. Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 100 games to earn points for their personal tally. Students can play more than 100 games during the event but only 100 count toward the Spellometer. Students who answer the most correct question will appear in the World Spelling Day Hall of Fame. World Spelling Day has 5 levels to play and 20 games at each level. Just like World Math Day school age students (4-18 years old), individual children, and homeschoolers can register and participate. Register as many or as few students as you want (for free!). Even better, if you already registered for World Math Day, your login credentials will work on the World Spelling Day website!

How to integrate World Spelling Day into the classroom: It couldn’t be easier to get your students involved, just sign them up by registering, pass out usernames and passwords and away you go. Students can play in a computer lab setting (they like to try to login at exactly the same time so they can play against each other in games) or on classroom computers in 60 second rotations. The 60 second time limit on games makes it easy to pass all of your students through a World Spelling Day center on classroom computers. In addition, students can take their login information home with them to play at home. World Spelling Day takes place every March, now that you know it is coming, plan to make it an Olympic type event in your classroom. I have been known to hold opening ceremonies in my classroom prior to the event.

Since your students are competing against students from around the world, why not use the competition to practice using a map and identifying countries? Since I had a Promethean board, I did this digitally with a Google Map. Each time a student competed against a country, they would come up to the board and put a “pin” in the map. Don’t have an interactive whiteboard? The paper map and actual pins are just as fun!

Tips: There is a free World Spelling Day app for the iPad, you can get it here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using World Spelling Day in your classroom!

We Choose the Moon

February 18, 2011Kelly Tenkely6 Comments4359 views

What it is: This site has been around for a few years, I am constantly using it with students and assumed (wrongly) that I had shared it on iLearn Technology. I think sometimes I use a site so often that I think that it is common knowledge or that I have already posted about it. I’m redeeming myself today and sharing the truly INCREDIBLE site, We Choose the Moon. The site drops students right into history where they get to witness, and take part in the Apollo 11 launch and mission. Time travel might not exist yet, but I’m telling you, this site is the next best thing. Students actually hear all of the chatter from Mission Control, control the launch, view all 11 stages of the mission, read mission transmission, and follow the mission in “real-time”. I cannot say enough about how truly awesome this experience is for students. At each stage, students can explore more in-depth by looking through actual pictures from the mission, videos (including JFK’s We Choose the Moon speech), and a “map” of the stages Apollo 11 took to get to the moon. I wasn’t alive to witness this piece of history first hand, but I can tell you that this interactive gives me goosebumps, makes me appreciate the giant leap that our country took, and makes me swell with pride. Not something a textbook can deliver.

How to integrate We Choose the Moon into the classroom: We Choose the Moon plops students right in the middle of the action. Students can experience this solo in a one-to-one computer lab setting where each has access to their own computer. Students can explore at their own pace and “rabbit trail” for more information as needed. My favorite use of this site is as a whole class using a projector-connected computer or interactive whiteboard. The site has such a sense of nostalgia and it gives the opportunity to remember how the nation stopped and focused on the monumental moment in time. Children everywhere were riveted to their TV sets watching men being launched into space to travel to the moon. Students born after the era of the space race have a hard time recognizing just what an event this was. Viewing the site as a class gives students the opportunity to discuss the fashion, technology, and viewpoints of the day. It gives students the opportunity to “witness” history first hand as if they have traveled back in time. Take time to look through the photos, watch the videos, and reflect with students. Turn the interactive into a creative writing opportunity where students choose a view-point (of JFK, a child, an astronaut, someone in mission control, etc.) and write about their reflections and thoughts as they witness and are a part of this history.

Don’t be afraid to let your students “rabbit trail”, click here to see where students I worked with took the learning.

If you have students who are still crazy for more “moon” experience, check out Google Moon and NASA’s Moon virtual tour. I cannot get over how amazing technology is! Do you ever just stop and marvel at what we have at our finger tips? Wow.

Tips: Do you have parents or teachers who fail to see the brilliance of technology in the classroom? I defy any parent or educator to experience a site like this and not have their minds changed. This is one of those sites that upon stumbling on, I immediately sent to my dad. He LOVED it.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using We Choose the Moon in your classroom

YouTube saves the day: Busting Conspiracy Theories

February 18, 2011February 18, 2011Kelly Tenkely5 Comments4986 views

As you may remember, I am currently working to bring a school from zero technology integration to full technology integration in a one to one laptop setting. I am working alongside a WONDERFUL teacher who is eager to learn with her students. The school initially asked me if I would just teach this group of middle school students technology as a separate subject. I explained why I would rather work alongside the teacher so that both students and teacher could learn technology together and we could integrate it into the learning that was already happening in the classroom. They agreed and I am now working with the teacher to weave technology into the learning that is already happening in the classroom. On Fridays, I model how to use technology within the learning they are doing. Today the learning focus was astronomy. I had the students start out in Capzles where they are building an interactive timeline of the astronomy events that they are learning. Each time they learn about a new discovery, historical figure, or space mission, they add images, reflections, and information to their timeline. I have to say, the Capzles interface is turning out to be the perfect place for them to collect all of their learning and creations in one place!

Throughout the week, students are keeping a night sky observation journal on Capzles. Not only are they studying about historical figures who made astronomical discoveries, they are adding their own discoveries to the timeline. Capzles lets students add blog posts right within the timeline. Students are taking pictures, and writing about their observations, reflections, and questions as a nightly blog post. In addition to adding their pictures to Capzles, students will also be uploading their photos to Planet FOSS where they have the opportunity to view other students night sky observations and add their own.

Today I taught the students how to add a YouTube video to their timeline. I have to admit, this isn’t the one-step process I would hope for (either the ability to use the YouTube embed code or just copy/paste the link to embed). Students first searched for videos about the moon using NeoK12. Then they click on the YouTube link within the video so that they can view the video in YouTube. In front of the YouTube URL the students typed “kick” so that they could download the video to their computers. From here, they can upload the video to their Capzles. You can view my step-by-step instructions for that process here. Even though it isn’t a simple one-step process, it still isn’t difficult and it gave students the opportunity to practice downloading and uploading files- bonus tech skills that are built-in is always a good thing!

After students learned how to embed video, we headed over to the site We Choose the Moon. If you haven’t seen this site, it is a MUST. It has been around for a few years and is absolutely incredible. It drops students right into the Apollo 11 mission and gives them the chance to “re-live” that experience. The students were totally engaged and excited to look through the pictures, video, comment on the fashion of the day, how much technology has changed, etc. The dialogue as they explored and completed the interactive was incredible. This interactive let students travel back in time and made them feel as if they were witnessing history first hand. Incredible. Reading a text-account just can’t do an event like this justice. During the interactive one of the students casually mentioned that he didn’t believe that we had ever really been to the moon, he thought it was a conspiracy theory and started pulling up websites supporting his claim. This led to a lively class debate.

I remembered seeing a Myth Busters episode where they busted those moon landing conspiracy theories. I pulled up the YouTube video on my iPad for students and we watched as the Myth Busters busted each one of the conspiracies that the boy had found online support for. It was an AWESOME learning experience for all of the students as they learned about perspective, atmosphere, vacuums, and light.

You know what I love about technology? It spurs and enables learning experiences. Without technology in that classroom today, the conspiracy theory student might have mentioned the theories he had heard. Kids would have chuckled and rolled their eyes and that would have been the end of it. Because we had access to technology, the conspiracy theorist was immediately able to pull up evidence to support his claim. He even had some students who were initially rolling their eyes believing that the theories might be true. Other students immediately jumped in to support the opposing view, that Americans had indeed landed on the moon. This is authentic learning at its best. Students practiced searching, taking a position, forming a persuasive argument, debating, and going through the scientific process of hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion. None of this was in our learning plans for the day… it was SO much better than anything I could have planned. We were able to immediately pull up a Myth Busters episode on YouTube (yet another example of why filtering policies need to be re-thought!). The class ended with students making plans to re-create some of the Myth Buster experiments so that they could see the outcomes first hand.

Today reminded me of why I am passionate about technology in education. It also reminded me of why I love learning.

Best quote of the day from a student: “This is cool, I thought we would just learn about technology, I didn’t know we were actually going to get to use it.”

What a novel thought, using technology as a tool to learn.

Magnoto: Online blog, photo, video, creation space

February 17, 2011Kelly Tenkely4 Comments4786 views

What it is: Magnoto reminds me of a mashup of a Tumblr blog, Wallwisher, Glogster, and Stixy. Essentially Magnoto gives you a “magnetic” display where you can post and share text, audio, video, and pictures. My favorite feature of Magnoto: content can be added to the page via email. You can set up your Magnoto so that anything you send to your special Magnoto email address, automatically gets uploaded and placed on your online page. With a few minutes of setup when you create your account, you can create an online space that is updated from your email. This is great for teachers who aren’t as comfortable with technology or don’t have the time to manage an online space. I find the Magnoto online interface to be a little bit cumbersome (I expected everything to be drag and drop onto the page but it is much more “analogue” and you have to click “place on page” from the preview. Certainly not difficult but also not as clean as I would like…guess I’m spoiled!) On the upside, Magnoto provides a lot of room for customization in frames around the pictures (click on the “M” on the picture), “magnets”, and the ability to free drag items anywhere on the screen. The online page can be easily shared with a unique url that you choose, and updated on the fly. Magnoto also has the benefit of allowing up to 4 users to contribute to and create one online space.

How to integrate Magnoto into the classroom: For students with an email address, Magnoto can be used to create a flexible online space where students can create virtual posters, brainstorming boards, virtual project portfolios, and share learning with others. Students can work together on the same Magnoto space for group projects.

Teachers can use Magnoto to create a quick class homepage for students and parents to access. Because Magnoto is so easy to update via email, it makes for a really fast build with impressive results. Update daily with links, assignments, and resources for your students; pictures you snapped of learning; or to reference class information. Create a new Magnoto page for every subject, semester, or special project. Invite a few parents to join as users of your account and encourage those room moms (or dads) to email pictures they snap of class parties, field trips, or special events on the class Magnoto board- the pictures can be emailed to the special Magnoto address and will be instantly uploaded. Pretty cool! Magnoto would make for a great online weekly newsletter space. Parent’s will always be in the loop for classroom happenings and everything will be easy to access in one place.

Because you can add up to 4 collaborators, Magnoto would be a good space for grade level teams to collect and share resources for students. This keeps all of you from having to create and update a separate page; instead, you can all upload and share from the same space. Again, the email feature is really nice for this type of use!

To change your account settings to allow emailed content to be directly uploaded:

1. Click on the “Page Admin” tab on the right side of the screen.

2. Click on “Options”

3. Choose either “Classic” or “Floating” options

4. Click “Publish New Entries” via email at once

Tips: Magnoto is in Beta, I found that it works better in Firefox and Chrome than in Safari. Don’t forget that students can use a @tempinbox.com account or @mailinator.com account for sign up if they don’t want to use a personal email address. No email confirmation is necessary to begin using Magnoto.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Magnoto in your classroom!

Science Fix: Video demos and experiments

February 16, 2011Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4604 views

What it is: Science Fix is a fantastic video blog that I learned about from my friend and PLN colleague Kyle Pace. The videos are all recorded science experiments and demos from middle school science teacher Darren Fix. The majority of the videos are chemistry related but there is also some good physics videos in there as well. The videos are hosted on YouTube so if you don’t have access, you may have to use one of those tricky ways to download and save from home. (See Tips below for ways to do that.)

How to integrate Science Fix into the classroom: Science Fix is a great place to find demos and science experiment videos to share with your students. These videos will help your students better visualize and understand the concepts that they are learning in your class. We don’t all have robust resource budgets, sometimes we have to pick and choose what we will be able to demo for our class live. These videos are a big help in bringing those experiments to our classrooms when budgets don’t allow us to do it live. There are great descriptions and additional links and resources along with each video.

Tips: For those of you who don’t have access to YouTube in your building, you can still use these awesome videos in your classrooms with a little bit of pre-planning. Download and save YouTube videos so that you can show them at school without accessing the YouTube site. UseKeepVid, YouTube DownloaderHD, Kick YouTube, SaveVid, or Zamzar. Some of these tools will even let you download at school if you know the YouTube url. The downloaded video should have no trouble playing at school!

You can follow ScienceFix on Twitter here.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Science Fix in your classroom!