Google Apps for Education: Blogger

I have had many people ask me how I use Google Apps for Education (GAFE) in my classroom, I have also started providing more trainings for teachers and it is helpful for me to have down in writing the benefits and uses of GAFE. I am planning a series of posts on the different ways GAFE are used in my classroom and district.

Blogger

I wanted to start with my student’s blogger accounts. I have daily journals in each of my classes (Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science and Astronomy). I used to use paper notebook journals. I didn’t notice the lines waiting for collecting notebooks and the extra time it took for students to grab their forgotten notebooks, I did notice the 70 pounds of notebooks I took home every couple weeks, the long hours grading and counting journal entries. My students now have 1:1 iPads, thanks to a counseling grant and a committed district. This has made blogs an even better opportunity, with the roll-out of iPads many of my students have been using classroom laptops for their blogs this first few weeks of the year. The boot-up time difference between an iPad and a laptop is immediately obvious, with iPads we are wasting much less time waiting for technology and even making up for lost time if we were using paper.

I am able to subscribe to each student’s blog in my Google Reader and instantly follow their progress on their journals each day. I no longer have to carry the journals home, I can grade from any computer and in any situation. An additional benefit is my students love seeing comments on their blogs and watching their page views go up.

I am hoping to implement some additional outside commenting for my students on each other’s blogs and try to bring other people in to see their blogs, like their parents and other stakeholders.

Goal 11: Ask, Perhaps You’ll Receive, iPads and Conference Fridays

My 18 month old son playing on my iPad

This goal has been a long time coming. I came up with the idea for this goal way back when I started the 30 Goals Challenge (and it has taken me much longer to get to this point than I expected, but soldier on!). The item I have decided to ask for is a classroom set of iPads. I have my own iPad and really enjoy it. I also think that I could leverage the power of the iPad in my classroom in valuable ways. The biggest thing my students complain about is the log in time for our laptops (partially the laptops fault, partially the nature of the beast). Turns out my Technology Integration Facilitator has had the same plan as I have. We are definitely getting a classroom set of iPads to test out, one for the middle school and one for the high school. However, we are writing a grant for 1-to-1 iPads for all students in the high school. This would be a big commitment and a big undertaking. It would be coupled with virtual machines to make up for the “missing Apps.” For my science class this would include LoggerPro (a program for analyzing student collected data).

The second item in this goal that I have asked for has to do with a change in the schools schedule for next year. As mentioned previously we are a small rural district where a majority of the student body participates in athletics and other extra-curricular activities which regularly takes them out of the classroom, especially on Fridays. Due to this, the district is moving to a 4 1/2 day school week. That 1/2 day is the point of this post. It has been decided that there will be no progression of content because of the number of students out of class. Which left us with about 28 minutes in each class to not do much other than review. This led our principal to ask for ideas from the staff.

A group of teachers and I, built the idea of “Conference Fridays” (the name may not stick around…). The idea is that Fridays will become much more like a conference (think also of Google’s 20% time). Staff will propose and present cross-curricular extension activities, not tied to a specific course or grade level. Students will be able to choose which “conferences” they attend and will have a month to attend the proposed conference. Each conference will culminate with a student product and a student presentation, the venue can vary from the school board, a local company, science fair, art show, etc. There are many teachers and students very excited about this idea (including me)! The best thing that as a first year teacher I have had the opportunity to spearhead this effort because of a administrator and staff members who are able to rely on each other and open to each others’ ideas.

I am presenting this idea to staff members tomorrow morning, I will also embed a copy of the presentation which explains the idea in greater detail. Wish me luck!

Make a Connection Goal 10

Google Teacher Academy was great! It was great to be in Australia, but even better to be able to connect and become a part of such a resourceful group of education leaders. I was able to connect with a number of new Google Certified Teachers, past and present, and meet, in person, a number of others In my PLN. Though GTA was fast and furious I felt like I gained a number of new ideas and uses for Google products in my classes. Most importantly, however, it was a crucial example of of how to facilitate and share Google products with other educators.

I hope to be able to take what I learned from the experience and share it with other educators to help them inspire them to try new things in their classroom. I already have three PD’s planned on Google Apps for Education and it is great to have an amazing example to follow and from which to learn.

What is that? QR Codes in the Library…

I have been working on this project for a few months now. There have been a few technical and logistical challenges to overcome but it is finally ready for the Grand Opening. Working with my school librarian we have been able to add student-written reviews to in house library books and make them accessible to students on the web and (probably more importantly) on their cellphones. We have done this using QR codes.

A couple of months back our library adopted a new cataloging system from Follett Software Company; Destiny Library Management. The most exciting thing I heard about the new cataloging system was the ability for students to write their own reviews of books in the library. I instantly saw this as a great opportunity to make the library a more collaborative and connected space.

After one quick discussion my librarian was completely on board and excited for this new challenge and opportunity. It took a little experimentation and prodding to get the first students to write reviews but we are off and running with a handful of reviews written which are linked to QR codes that have been pasted to the inside covers of the books.

This goes “live” to the rest of the district this week but I have been talking with other staff members to brainstorm some ideas to promote this among the students.

• Chocolate – The librarian will be offering a small treat to students who write a review for a book. Can’t go wrong there…
  

  Source http://goo.gl/iEO6J

• Advertisement – We’ve already hung a poster about QR codes in the library but we’ll be making additional efforts to let students know what is happening and get them involved.
• Integration – I’ve got multiple english and reading teachers who are making plans to integrate book reviews into their curriculum and more specifically integrate their classes with the library on new and different ways.
• Education – All of my students know what QR codes are and how they work, but that is about it in the school population. Part of this process will be sharing this tool with other students and teachers.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a new implementation of new technology in the larger school community. If you have more ideas of how we could expand or improve this please leave a comment!

A Teacher Tech Program that Works!

I’ve previously discussed my districts Digital Educators program (Digital Educator Leadership Training – DELT) here. I wanted to discuss some more about how it works in our district, some of its most redeeming qualities and some opportunities it has opened up.

Basically how DELT works is each year teachers are allowed to apply to join a DELT cohort by completing an application or letter of interest which details how they currently use technology in their classroom and how they would like to use it in the future with the addition of particular tools. Teachers are selected by a committee which includes the school principals, district tech rep and a few other administrators. I was selected to be part of the third (and final) cohort. This brought the total number of DELT members in our district to 20 (about 25% of our district on a whole).

Selected DELT members were given a fairly significant sum of grant money ($5,000+) to  use as they wish for tech for their classroom. Along with additional

Source http://goo.gl/KEBvM

money to attend an edtech conference of their choice (however, cohorts usually attend one conference together, this year cohort two is attending ISTE). Teachers make a three year commitment to DELT along with a commitment to share and instruct each other and other district staff and faculty on the technologies they implement in their classes. As part of the grant reporting process, teachers also conduct research on student learning gains and how they are influenced by the use of technology.

What I like best about this model:

1. Teacher’s choose – teachers select technology tools they want. To me this greatly increases the likelihood that the tools will be implemented on a regular basis. Tech support may hate it but when the teachers learn it their worries/suffering decrease dramatically.
2. Teacher’s become the experts – with teachers selecting their own tools they can easily become the only one in their building or district that has that tool. This requires them to become experts with that tool and the pedagogy behind it. They don’t usually want to wait for someone to come teach them how to use it and jump in to figure it out. They chose it so they learn it.
3. Teacher’s share it – teachers share their expertise. We have regular staff collaboration days where DELT members offer mini-workshops on their chosen tool, software, resources, etc. Again, the teachers own the knowledge and share it. I have recently started a district technology sharing blog (goingdigitalhscsd@blogger.com) to better facilitate this. We have also begun hosting other districts interested in our successes with implementing this program.

Source http://goo.gl/K0MQp

This final point has led to some new opportunities for me. Since I was accepted to attend the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Sydney coming up in April I have been looking for opportunities to share the experiences and expertise I have and will gain. Through DELT, GTA, hosting other districts and my involvement with the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) I will be providing two and a half days of training and professional development for ten teachers at the Big Piney schools in a neighboring school district this summer. This is a great opportunity to expand my opportunities to grow professionally and share what I am so interested in and passionate about.

I am looking forward to the great learning and growing opportunities ahead!

The Search for Student Feedback in a Paperless Classroom

My second post about using technology to increase and enhance student engagement is about providing prompt and regular feedback. I have struggled for a few months on how to provide meaningful feedback to students. Since going paperless I have lost the “normal” mode of feedback; writing a few notes on a paper or test and handing it back with my fingers crossed that it meets their eyes before the bottom of the recycling bin.

Source: http://goo.gl/Aw8zP

Without this standard medium I have tried and failed at a few of my first ideas. I tried sending emails to each student, but this quickly became laborious and tiresome. I tried using my Dragon Dictation iPhone app to transcribe and the email feedback, but that was barely more effective than email.I tried using my voice recorder and emailing it to students, but that wasn’t a good fit either. I considered a Google Doc for each student, but decided most students wouldn’t remember or take the time to visit the doc. After sitting on the idea, I decided that I have worked hard to get students to regularly check and read their emails and I didn’t want to add a different mode of delivery that would detract from this. I finally settled on Google Wave.

Source: http://goo.gl/n1wKm

At first, I was reluctant to pick up and use a tool that already has its end in sight and only the promise that it “will continue into 2011.” Yet, I decided to jump in and give it a shot. I set up a Wave between each student and myself and have used this each time I grade an assignment or need to provide a student with feedback. I spent part of a day to introduce my students to Wave and ensure that they had email reports enabled.

Source: http://goo.gl/j90H

Now, for the reasons I am sticking with Wave for student feedback for the time being.

1. It provides a very streamlined interface – I can quickly search and find the wave for the student I am looking for and send their feedback with a minimum amount of clicks and typing.
2. Wave provides a simple record of feedback – Students or myself can quickly and easily review prior feedback and comments between myself and other students.
3. Its connection with email – As mentioned before my students have their new Wave reports forwarded to their emails, but Wave also keeps my inbox less cluttered. I can choose to have a report of all Wave updates hourly or daily which keeps unnecessary traffic at a minimum, especially when students are usually just recognizing that they have received feedback.
4. Allows for quick review of student comments and questions – All new updates by students are easily reviewed as new comments and questions are posted with the option to transition between new Wave updates.

I will continue to evaluate Wave as a method for providing effective student feedback. If you have questions or suggestions please leave them here.

Technology and Engagement

This year I have been focusing on the following professional growth goal “Use technology to increase and enhance student engagement in and out of the classroom.” I recently came upon a research report on using Twitter to increase engagement. This article has helped to add more focus in my efforts to increase and enhance engagement in classroom through the use of technology. This article outlined the following components of engagement in the classroom; student to faculty contact, cooperation and collaboration among students, active learning, prompt feedback, emphasizing time on task, communicating high expectations, and respecting diversity.

I have added this new focus and direction to my efforts to increase student engagement. I will be looking for ways to highlight each component of engagement and the technologies I can use to help enhance these activities in my classroom. The first area I am going to focus on is prompt feedback. I have previously discussed my efforts to teach paperless in my classroom. While this is going very well and I am enjoying I feel I may have lost some of the more obvious ways and medium for providing feedback to students. I know at time this method wasn’t very prompt (I think going paperless has improved this), but I don’t have something physical to give back to the students. I don’t think students (very often anyway) paid much attention to their returned feedback (except maybe their scores on tests). I am looking for an effective method for providing student feedback. I am open to non-traditional methods and schedules for providing feedback. Maybe not for every assignment, only as students need feedback, or different media.

I keep looking until I find something that will work…

30 Goals Challenge: A Little Behind

So life has happened and I have fallen behind on my 30 Goals Challenge, but no excuses I am pushing forward and working on them again. The last week was pretty busy I was at school for only three days. During those three days I helped my Earth Science kids build a wiki on the Geological Timeline. They have made some good progress but we still have some work to do to get it up to par before we are going to share it here. I used my bike generator in Chemistry class for our “Off the Grid” day which went pretty well. On Wednesday I loaded up an excursion and headed two hours away to the Math and Science Teacher’s Conference.

It was a great conference that lasted until Friday evening. I presented on my bike generator project, “Off the Grid,” and encouraged others to try building a bike generator of their own to engage students in learning about energy, electricity and efficiency. It is a great project that draws lots of kids into my classroom outside of regular class time. It also draws many students who would be happy to sit back and do nothing into the fray of learning. I use it to different levels and degrees in all of my classes. I am also taking it this week to the elementary school with my physics students and on Thursday to present at the school board meeting. At the conference I also had a chance to listen to and watch Steve Spangler a few times. He had a lot of good ideas for motivating and exciting students about science and learning.

This leads me to goal #8 of my 30 Goal Challenge “What’s Your Personal Theme Song?” So it’s difficult to pick one song, but I figured I would stick with my favorite band. I chose Grand Canyon by Sister Hazel.  This song (and most songs by Sister Hazel) help to motivate me to do just about anything, it is a great pick me up.

 

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone: 30 Goals (#5,6 & 7)

Student Attendance from a Friday (student names erased)

I spent the time to go and update all of my online profiles (at least those I could remember having). It was interesting to see what outdated information I had on there. I was also impressed with all of the ways to link them all together and connect them with each other. These seem like powerful tools for networking that I am not currently using! I also joined a few new networks that I hope will prove valuable, one is a new Facebook fan page. I’m looking to keep this goal going and add a few more “professional” items to some of my more commonly used profiles.

I set up Google Alerts for my name, blog url, and usernames. It is always a little interesting to see some of the things that end up getting sent my way with my first name being London. It both provides a powerful net of diversions and noise if someone is trying to find information on me. I guess it just means I have to do more to make positive things more visible.

My goal for “Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone” is to adopt paperless Fridays. I did this Friday and it went pretty well. I emailed each student their assignments and they were able to have continual access to them there. I haven’t decided if Google Docs would be a better alternative (less likely to get deleted) or if I will stick with email. I would like to get my students more in the practice of checking their emails regularly so that I can use it as a more viable way of contacting them outside of the classroom. Hopefully paperless Fridays will help. “Paperless Friday” also helped with another unique aspect of our school. We are a rural Wyoming school with a small (~220) but very active student body and students can need to travel great distances for sporting academic, and club activities. This usually makes Fridays a very sparse day at the school. I regularly adjust my teaching plans throughout the week as I figure out the numbers of students that will be absent on Friday, luckily the district is considering a 4 1/2 day week. If managed properly I think this could greatly help both teachers and students. Anyway, paperless Friday made it so I could assign  and notify students of their work while they were absent. I’m looking forward to using this more in the future, in fact I would love to go entirely digital with my students but I currently don’t feel like the computers I have in my classroom would allow for this. I proposed a classroom set of iPads to my Technology Integration Facilitator, she said she would look in to it… stay tuned! (with your fingers crossed…)

Goals #3 and #4: Start an Adventure and Support a New Blogger

Today was the first day back to school with students I am excited for the new semester and a chance to get back to trying new things. I’ve decided to implement digital portfolios in all of my classes. They are going to be based around a set of five goals that each student will set regarding my class and others of their choice. This is the biggest thing I am changing/adding and looking forward to this semester. There are still a lot of questions of how this will all work out but I have spent a fair amount of time researching and thinking about this so I hope that will pay off.

As far as my two goals for the last two days (Start an Adventure and  Support a New Blogger) here they are! For my adventure I decided to start a class, luckily this is very much a at my own speed course (I actually have started two! and I am working on finishing another – I seem to always have this problem.) The first course I have to finish is the Earth and Environmental Science Podcast by Dr. Christian Shorey from the Colorado School of Mines. I am about 70% done with this and have been at it for a couple of months. The other two course I have decided to start are a Quantum Mechanics course from the University of Oxford. I’ve always felt that my Bachelor’s in Physics Education was lacking the Quantum Mechanics course that I wanted. I have decided that I will give this a shot. My hope is that it will be a conceptual Quantum Mechanics course as a mathematical based course will be difficult with audio only.

One of my other passions in life (aside from my family, teaching and technology) is photography. I have been taking whatever photography courses I could since I was a young teenager. I really enjoy photography and I am also looking for ways to expand my experience and knowledge. I have signed up for a course titled Sensing Place: Photography as Inquiry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Open Courseware (got to love it!). Each one of these courses comes from either an iTunes podcast or an iTunes University course.

As far as supporting a new blogger I have posted a comment on a edublog that I wouldn’t necessarily call a “new” blog, but it is one that I follow and found a post that I felt good commenting on. It is definitely a boost to realize that someone has read your post and thought it was worthwhile.