Wrapping Up Another Year - Let the Fun Begin!

The end of another year has come.  I've had time to reflect on successes and failures of the year, of which, there have been both.  I finished up some school meetings yesterday, and this is my first official day off!  Guess what I did?  Well, aside from a chapter in a murder mystery, some photography, and some chores, I hit Twitter looking for new ideas for next year!

So what did I find?
Google Expeditions coming in the fall to use with Google Cardboard was an interesting read.  Where have I been?  I didn't even know about Google Cardboard.  I did play with the Cardboard app by putting my phone in my antique Stereoview.  Medium cool.  I'm on the fence, though, as to its long term usefulness.  After video-conferencing with scientists in Alaska, this seems like a step backward in connecting, but I may be wrong.  It happens... often!

In reading a favorite blog, I found the SeeSaw app which promises to be a great portfolio tool!  I am excited to use it next year.  Students can add photos of work, voice recording, video, and links to our productions.  Parents who have signed up for an account get a notification when their child adds something.  They can only view their child's work.  Awesome!  Padlet walls have been a great tool for gathering student work, but this is a very promising organizational tool...And, drum roll, please.... it's free!  I wondered why the company would offer all of this for free, so I did some more research.  Free parent accounts allow parents to view work from the last 30 days.  If they would like to pay $9.99, they have access to all of their child's work from year to year.  I guess the company is banking on parents wanting to keep things.  

I know I have told you how much I love BoomWriter, but I wanted to update you on the latest additions.  They now have nonfiction writing sections and a vocabulary piece. 

Here's what the site says about the vocabulary section:

WordWriter delivers an interactive vocabulary experience that lets students write, read, and share newly learned words in original content.

WordWriter enhances students’ vocabulary development through application into their own written work, and it provides teachers with an effective tool that allows them to gauge students’ understanding levels and provide individualized feedback.

I am already figuring how we can use all of the components next year.  I will be posting ideas as they pop in my head.

May your summer be filled with blessings, fun, rest, and a growing enthusiasm for the new year!

Classcraft Has Come to Rm31Corp!

Yes I have an avatar, and I look awesome!

After the TCEA Convention in Austin, our class has picked up a new tool!  I have to say our class is already a dynamic learning environment.  My kids and I live every day in "Beta".  We are constantly trying new things, tossing the ones that don't work, and adding the good ones to our keeper pile.  I found a jewel at the convention!

Classcraft turns your class into a living video game.  Each student becomes a character.  You are the Game Master.  You control points, powers, and random events.  It is Class Dojo (which bored me quickly) in overdrive.  I was uncertain how long the excitement would last, but I am amazed that my students are still very involved in keeping their clans alive.  I will keep you posted on how it all plays out by the end of the year.  Be sure to check it out at Classcraft.  There are free, freemium, and premium accounts.  I chose the freemium which allows more teacher access.  It also gives students an option to spend up to $4.99 on outfits and such.  I made a NO PURCHASES OR YOUR CLAN DIES rule.  It has worked so far!

The Writing Fire

I love to write - journals, blogs, stories, articles, scripts - it doesn't matter.  I ought to own stock in the company that makes composition books!  A fast moving pen on paper excites me, and the "New Post" boxes on my collection of blogs are quite addicting, as well.
Now, I'm not about to say I write well, or even consistently.  The world is so full of opportunities to share ideas in the techie world in which we live, I have a hard time lighting in one place too long.  Maybe that even adds to the adventure!
I think I heard a "So what?" out there.  Kids.  That's what.  I look into each face and see. possibly, the next Shakespeare, Rowlings, or Geisel... remember him?  How do we, as teachers, light that fire in young writers?  How can we share the craft, so that they never want to stop telling their stories?

We've been discussing writing on our campus.  We've asked the question, "Why don't kids like to write?"  I started thinking about what excites me.  Maybe it's the story-telling.  I love to tell stories.  Possibly because we ask kids to write a large amount of expository writing...
That's not it, though.  I write a large amount of expository writing, and I love it.  It happens I'm working at it right now.... hoping to spark an idea, share a thought - even if for just one person.  It's real for me.  I have an audience (I know I do because I read my posts to my dog) and a purpose.  Kids need the same thing.  They need an audience outside of the crazy lady with the red pen.  They need a real purpose - not a writing prompt.  Ok, I know they have to be able to write in response to a prompt for the sake of passing a test, so don't start shooting, yet.  That should not, however, be the reason we write - any of us.
An audience, you ask?  Surely somebody asked.  Ok, maybe it was the dog... but yes, an audience!  Again, with our high-tech world, opportunities for writing for a world-wide audience are at our fingertips, and our kids' fingertips, like never before.

I absolutely love to set the stage for a particular writing project.  I don't think my students even realize how much they write for me!  After some prep work this week, you could have heard a pen drop as an entire room of kids wrote for 45 minutes without a peep.  You see, it is important to them.  Their writing will be published, and, no, I'm not talking about hanging on the bulletin board!  We're just using good ol' pen and paper at the moment, but let me introduce you to some fantastic tools.

Let's start with Boomwriter.  This website can be used on computers, tablets, and phones!

A blurb from the site:

Get your class, student group, or club using technology to collaboratively write a real book. BoomWriter is totally free, and groups of five children or more can use it to read, write, compete and get published! Register your school or club on BoomWriter today.

Another great tool is Book Creator for iPad.  Students can create multi-media books with ease!  Students can collaborate and compile articles/chapters together to create a book.  These can be exported to ebooks readers without cost.

Need ideas?  Check out @mywriteabout on Twitter!  The website is coming soon, as well.  Daily pictures give interesting ideas for student writing.  I know, I said it's not about prompts, but it does have some good ones!

My post is getting quite long, but I must mention Bookemon, as well.  My kids have used this book designer for several years, and I love it!  It is web-based but has an app called bookPress.  Teachers can set up a classroom, and everything is free.  Students can actually have their books printed if they so choose - for a fee, of course!

I haven't even scratched the surface of the incredible writing tools available for our students today.  If you have some great finds, please comment and share!  Now, teachers, get those authors writing.  By the way, who's got the Stephen King of the future in their class???   

App of the Week - The Daily Monster Monster Maker

At first glance, some educators may think I have strayed from the hard-core educational app to something that would just be fun for the kids, and you might be right, but hear me out on this.  As an artist, a teacher, and a writer, I try to pull in opportunities for creativity and voice in everything we do.  I think our educational system has all but stomped creativity to death for our kids, and it's on its last, dying breath.  Testing...preparing for the testing...the test to prepare them for the test...preparing for the test that will prepare them for the test...preparing younger grades before they test to prepare to prepare to test....I know, I'm preaching to the choir.  So how do I plan to use this little gem of an app, you ask?  

First let me say as a monster-maker myself, I am biased.

Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monsters, and much more, can be found at The Daily Monster.

Before we even get to the app, I can imagine his creative story being inspirational to kids.  I have enjoyed his monsters long before I had a brainstorm about the app, but I broke down and purchased the app for my iPad yesterday - really for myself to enjoy.  As I was creating monsters (when I should have been doing 1,000 other things), it hit me!  These little guys could be an engagement ticket!  Here's the gist - Bucher creates monsters out of blown ink.  On the app, you tap (blow) your ink, then you add a variety of features to make the monster, all of which, is artwork from Bucher.  You can save them, and you can also take your picture WITH them...very cool feature!

Still you are wondering how I plan to use this to address the "rigorous" curriculum I should be teaching.  Well, we have breakfast in our classroom every morning while the morning show plays.  Why not have a student create a monster each morning while he/she eats.  It can be done that quickly.  Anyway, I'll figure out logistics later...After the student introduces him/her, the monster could be the mascot of the day.  Here's my bulleted list so far:

• Journal entry about his backstory
• Journal entry from the monster's perspective
• AR Target for some of the student's work (augmented reality)
• The monster could appear in the photo journaling on a science experiment as the narrator.
• Each student could create a monster and write his story.
• Each student could create a monster and write something from his perspective.  Then the monsters could be gathered in a book.
• Above writing could be added to a book in Book Creator with the monster's image and story.
• Poems could be written about the monster and put into a book.
• Teacher made monsters could be hidden throughout the school as AR targets to a scientific treasure hunt (I love those!).
• Pictures can be taken with the monster, saved to the camera roll, and used in apps to make comic strips that teach a concept (something else I love!)  Who says monsters can't teach science concepts?

You get the idea!  That was just my list written down from the time I started playing until I put it away for the evening.  The difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is not in the big things, but in the details.  Those little details make the difference when engaging kids!  And, maybe I just like monsters!

Interactive Vocabulary Possibilities with ThingLink

As I am enjoying the ThingLink Summer Challenge, I am considering what I would like to get accomplished before school starts.  I would LOVE to have a fully-loaded Padlet wall stocked with the first six-weeks of science vocabulary!  Looking at my schedule, I doubt I'll get it done.  So....ThingLink will be on the list the first week of school, and my students can stock the Padlet wall with fantastic, interactive vocabulary images- An even better idea!  

Why not do a little app-smashing for your classroom?

Toon Doo (or BitStrips) + ThingLink + Padlet = 

Reflections on Being a Maker - #SummerLS

The summer has flown by once again, and I have not posted anything in almost a month!  I have, however, been deeply involved in learning!  I have learned more and participated more this summer in professional development than I ever have before, and it's all happened online.  I am stoked for the coming year!
I have joined in Todd Nesloney's Summer Learning Series (@techninjatodd, #SummerLS), and I have enjoyed getting involved in each weekly challenge.

This week involved using Google Forms with a fantastic lesson from Chris Kesler (@iamkesler), which I am excited about including this year in my flipped classroom, and a challenge from Jessica Allen (@jessievaz12) on being a maker.  She asked us to reflect on the Maker Movement and how we will incorporate it into the coming year.  I thought on this, and the fact is...

I am a Maker.  I have been since I could hold things, and I always will be.  I am a Maker - both in and out of the classroom.  I can't help it.  It's something deeply ingrained in who I am, and I can't help but bring it to the classroom.  We are Makers.  We call ourselves production teams, design teams, engineering teams, the EXTREME Team...but we are Makers.

I thought on how this has been an integral part of our classroom and on the things that are most difficult for me.  How can I make it better?  That required a hard look at where I fall short.  One of the most difficult challenges I face is keeping focused on making sure my kids can pass the state testing.  I get so wrapped up in changing the lives of my students, creating innovative thinkers, teaching life-lessons, that I have to rein myself in to reality....they must pass.  I teach 5th grade science, social studies, and writing, and we are tested on science in 5th grade - all science they have learned up through 5th grade.  I refuse to revolve our lives and our learning around that test, but it's a cold, hard fact that they have to pass.  I must find ways to better assess the "test" after we complete a production.

Another area where I am working to improve is the timing of projects.  I have a tendency to go BIG, and our schedules simply don't allow us to produce as BIG as I dream.  The kids jump right into the complexities of something with me, and before we no it, we are out of time.

  We end up working lunches, through other class times (whoops), and still, sometimes, fall short on where we were aiming.

Sometimes we are successful...

and sometimes we come up with a whopping fail...

We will, however, still aim BIG, think BIG, and continue to set our sails to uncharted waters.

Click HERE to share your thoughts!

The ThingLink Challenge

It's not too late to join us for this summer's ThingLink Challenge 2014!  Those who have dropped by before know that I love ThingLink, and this is a great opportunity to build some useful and innovative things for the coming school year.  This week's challenge is to create a Digital Me.  What a great idea for students in the first weeks of school!  I've already had a flood of ideas on how students could document the productions in the classroom in a virtual Digital class of Avatars!  Cool, right?  So here is my Digital Me...

Imagine what you can accomplish with your first tech lesson-

• A How-to on ThingLink
• A built-in internet safety lesson
• A mini-lesson on copyright
• Huge insight into your kiddos (using only first names, or better, funny AKAs)
• A landing place where students can share goals, accomplishments and tech productions!!

A bonus:  When students update their image, it automatically updates wherever you have gathered this virtual avatar classroom.  I can hardly wait to build mine!

 Won't you join us?