Using an iPad App to Support Bloom's Revised Taxonomy

Having the opportunity for my kindergarten students to use the iPads this second semester has been fantastic!  As my students have become more tech savvy, I have been trying to find ways to incorporate Bloom's Revised Taxonomy.

Story Kit has been an excellent way for my students to create.

Story Kit allows each student to create his/her own book.  Students can write text, record their own voice reading the text, and add pictures either from photos, the internet, or draw a picture.  When finished, the books can be emailed home to parents!  

We use Story Kit in the classroom for children to free write, for projects, and as a way to evaluate what a student has learned.  Here are a few examples:

I like to swim with my friends! (kid spelling)

I like to play soccer with my friends!  

Ways to make numbers.

Hope you enjoy Story Kit as much as we have!  (And it's FREE!)

Geocaching

My student teacher was able to get the kids outside for a little geocaching in order to prepare for the AP test in a unique way.

He and I spent the morning typing up personalized examples of literary devices they seemed to be struggling with.  Each of the samples featured one of the students.  We hid them outside all over campus in sandwich bags, making sure to plot each of their locations with device.

Students spent their mornings finding each of the literary device clues.  Once they found one, they used their iPhones (or iPod Touch) to tweet the example and notate which of the literary devices it was.  This kept all the groups that were spread out around campus truly "connected" to each other as they all were posting to and reading from the back channel.

Facilitator...

With the opportunity to have iPads in my classroom this year I have become much more a facilitator of learning. I still have those teaching moments in which I have to spew facts about the significance of the Fall of Constantinople or the impact Gutenberg had on the world far past his death. However, I can also guide a class of learners who search for knowledge on a particular subject to where to find the answers and then they can relay that information to others in there class and vice versa.
In the learning groups that I constructed on Edmodo I have given each group a different topic to research and had them report out on their findings. I find this has surprising results, as well as results people remember. Another good thing about the learning groups on Edmodo is that I don't have to constantly rearrange the room when we work in groups a student on one side of the room and the other side of the room can share data and ideas without getting up. One note of caution here is to include yourself into all of the small groups to avoid the inevitable off task cyber-chat.
I'd be amiss to say that I have a student who is homebound and is able to contribute to class from the comfort of his own home. He only has to log on to Edmodo and he can leave post-its on my virtual bulletin board at padlet.com (formerly known as wall-wisher) which I use to introduce subjects or review.
For the end of the year I am having the students plan a trip, research how much it would cost, and write up a detailed itinerary for their trip. On the linked "wall" I am having them report their destination. Trip Planning   Have a great summer!

iPad Activity: Host your own Classroom TEDTalk

A TED talk you say, what is this and who is TED? 

This conference first appeared in 1984, in attempts to bridge three worlds together: Technology, Entertainment and Design. The theme revolves around, 'Ideas Worth Sharing,' demonstrates the influence of how ideas change attitudes, lives and ultimately make impact the world. TEDTalks have evolved into being a global community fueled to seek a greater understanding of the world around us. 

So, how can you do this in your classroom? After recently attending the local sponsored TEDx Hickory, the idea hit me; why not inspire students to think globally, use 21st Century skills and to think 'outside the box' in the same manner? Each student possess unique talents I, even as their teacher, am unaware and may never see unless they are provided with the opportunity to share them. 

Classroom Outline for Lesson using iPads:

• Pre-Activities
• Watch a TED Talk, discuss revolutionizing idea and its level of impact on society.
• Students were assigned a specific general topic and asked to research links between any TEDTalk given and current research being done to associate and identify the level of impact locally, state and globally. Students used the iMovie trailer app to present their findings.  
• TEDTalk Activity
• As a review for AP Biology approaching College Board Exam, I assigned students a specific unit/topic. 
• Students used Google Drive app in their student work folder to plan and outline their presentation. 
• Students were asked to blog on Blogger (private only to classroom), about their topic and after the classroom hosted talk were required to make a minimum of 5 blog postings. 
• Using the auditorium and whatever props they needed, students had a maximum of 18 minutes (TEDTalk requirement) to present. Recorded each student using iMovie.
• During the talk, students used iPads to follow on Twitter posting.

      

Using Evernote with One iPad to Build an Online Learning Community

Having only one iPad in the classroom presents unique opportunities and challenges.  I feel that a resource is at the height of its usefulness when it is accessible to all students; however, 28 students can't simultaneously use one iPad.  While many of the resources an iPad brings to the table can be found on computers (and often in more powerful forms), the mobility and freedom provided by the iPad create new opportunities for student utility.  Specifically, I like to have my students use Evernote to create an online learning community.

Each day, a different student on a rotating schedule is responsible for being the "Class Chronicler" -- the student who uses the iPad to record in-class notes.  This student records everything done and takes any notes presented in class.  The student can take pictures of class activities to serve as visual cues for students who are reviewing the class notes.  Being a science class with a lot of demos, my students love to record videos that we can post to the notebook.  Thanks to the open sharing settings of Evernote, students can access the class notes from anywhere -- including their phones!  Teachers are able to review and edit

Students enjoy documenting in-class demos.

Using Evernote in this capacity is particularly useful for students who are absent.  An absent student knows that he or she is responsible for checking the notebook before class to overview any notes and watch any demos that were performed in class.  The Notebook also serves as a great tool for reviewing before quizzes and exams.  Above all, using the iPad to create a classroom notebook stimulates a sense of community, connectedness, and ownership in the classroom.

Read Across America!

It's no secret to those that teach with me and to my students that reading is my favorite subject to teach! So, when I get the opportunity to spend a whole day doing activities to celebrate reading, I jump at the chance!!! Friday, March 1st as we celebrated Dr. Suess' Birthday, we, of course talked a lot about his influence on reading, but we also took the occasion to discuss other great authors. My favorite part was my 5th graders teaming with a 1st grade class to work on the book, "A Bad Case of Stripes", by David Shannon, one of my favorites. We begin by listening to the book being read aloud on a very neat website, http://www.storylineonline.net/. My fifth grade students then helped the first grade students create a poster of the food that they like the most. The posters looked like this:

Yes, we got the idea from Pinterest! I just love that place!!!
We completed our projects with an imovie of the book. Mrs. Fulbright painted her first grade students faces just like you see in the photo. After the imovie was complete, the whole school got together for a Character Parade in the gym on Friday afternoon. A perfect ending to a perfect week!

Check out the iMovie we created on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4qa2hINg5k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnOAFYInSjc

Technology and adaptability

Earlier this month my colleague posted four apps that saved her teaching life!  Similarly, I have encountered this blessing, but have had my fair share of moments where technology has seemingly “turned against me.”  To many, this could be viewed as a negative, but it has strengthened my abilities to adapt and think on my feet—and as a middle school teacher adaptability is one of the important tools in the teaching toolbox.  

                                                       

For example, my social studies class took a virtual field trip to The Battle of Bull Run and discussed without a sound being uttered in class.  The “Bull Run” app and “Edmodo” were hard at work and so were my students.  I loved every minute of it and so did they.  (For the record, I do encourage talking and interaction in my room!)

                                                          
Conversely, to use a football metaphor, technology requires the user to drop back and punt at times.  I began the school year with the idea of online science notebooking!  I have always had my science students create interactive science notebooks.  I thought this would be the year to save some time, copying/paper, and bring yet another opportunity for my students to see these iPads at work, and for a crucial tool used in my classes.  I spent much of the summer creating my example notebook, working on lesson plans for students to set their notebooks up, and even downloading the rubrics to place in their virtual notebooks.  It was going to be perfect!  

The first assignment for my students was to load the rubric on to the rubric page of their virtual notebooks.  The internet was freezing, the app was freezing, and my kids were freaking.  I stopped, regrouped, and had them add me as a collaborator.  I spent the rest of that class period on my computer loading rubrics while they found pictures for the cover of their notebooks!  We continued trudging through for about a week taking notes in this format.  We then had to draw a diagram.  We couldn't do that with the program I was trying to use so I had the students practice drawing their diagrams on “Screenchomp” while I loaded the diagram into each of their online notebooks.  Other issues included internet connection issues during open note quizzes.  It’s unfair to let students use their notes when only half of their notes were visible and they weren't able to add links. Nothing went as planned.
I had to take a step back from my plan and regroup.  Technology is not perfect and I needed to be flexible and do what was best for my students.  I had to offer the students options and allow them to find the program that worked best for taking their notes.  This allowed them to take even greater ownership in their learning.  It was different for both the teacher and the students.  Some students still use our original program, some use “Evernote” which along with “Evernote Peek” gives them a chance to study.  Other students use “ScreenChomp”, notepad, “iBrainstorm”, or “inkflow”.

Great strides have been made to modernize our schools, classrooms, and curriculum; however, if Rip Van Winkle woke up tomorrow morning, he’d first be able to recognize a school and its classroom quicker than anything else.  It is essential that we make education relevant for today’s students each and every day.  This is just one of the many steps needed to improve achievement.  As a 1:1 iPad classroom, I never imagined how much they would positively impact my classroom.  While they don’t fully replace paper, pencils, and books, these iPads can run circles around the same instruments good ole Rip would recognize and be comfortable with.

What apps have you found helpful for taking notes?