Flipping at Mercy

Looking back on this past school year, I think we made our smoothest and most profound technology transition. We adopted Schoology as our new Learning Management System based on the study and recommendation of a large, open committee of teachers, administrators and staff. One of the great advantages of this LMS is the performance of its iPad app.

Most of our teachers did a great job of leveraging this platform to allow for 24/7 learning.  In this 1:20 minute video, a student and teacher describe the advantages of "Flipping the Classroom" which allows students to engage with content outside of the classroom and take advantage of classroom time by diving deeper or asking questions (rather than taking notes on lectures).

Schoology allowed Mrs. Scrimscher to continue instruction and interaction with her class, even though she could not attend school for periods of time. iPad apps like ShowMe and Explain Everything have proven to be terrifically useful for the creation of "flipped" materials.

Recorded by Gary Bank; edited by Larry Baker

Shadowing the Shadowers of Mercy's iPad Program

On Wednesday we hosted an English teacher and science teacher from a local grade school which intends to go 1:1 iPad in the upper grades next year.  I set up three classroom visits for each visitor.  I decided that for fun I would pop in and observe some of the iPad action as well. So you could say that I shadowed the shadowers.

First Period

In Ms. Riley's biology class the students reviewed for a test by going to lab stations.  They used iAnnotate PDF to write notes on their digital worksheets. They also accessed their iBooks for information.

Ms. Harris-Schultheis's class had recently visited the Holocaust Memorial Center. When I stopped by the girls were listening to a Camp Survivor anthem accompanied by visuals.  The students accessed the lyrics on their iPads through Schoology.

Second Period

In Ms. McGavin's anatomy class I observed juniors using the iPad and seniors using the HP Tablet.  The students used their devices to access diagrams, highlight key items and take notes about the human jaw. As you can see in the foreground a student is holding a skull. Ms. McGavin was also projecting the images and notes through her Apple TV. So the students had many different ways to access and add to the information.

Ms. Hallie Smith's ninth grade English class was also studying the Holocaust. Via an Apple TV they watched a YouTube of Hitler giving a speech, and then discussed it after looking up additional information using the Safari browsers of their iPads.

Third Period

In Ms.Waldsmith's Women in Literature class the girls (like the student in the foreground) supported their discussion with digital resources accessed through their devices. I was surprised that most girls preferred a paper rather than digital version of their novel, but most girls took notes on their iPads.

During Ms. Schrimscher's chapter review (chemistry), many girls took notes with their iPads using Pages. Students had reviewed digital resources before class, including a video that they could review through Schoology.

Observations from the Visiting Shadowers  
At the subsequent debrief my new friends shared a number of impressions. They noted that each classroom teacher had used the iPad differently, but all provided students with digital resources that were at their fingertips.  They were impressed by how so many assignments and assessments were paperless. The shadows also noted that grading seemed easier with the iPad, particularly with the tight integration that exists between Schoology and Power School.  They heard about interesting instructional uses of the camera and other apps like Socrative and Explain Everything.  They were also impressed by how adept the students were at moving from app to app and from screen to screen. They also noted that when students were assigned to groups they automatically created collaborative documents as a first step.

It was fun hosting our guests and seeing your educational technology through their eyes.

How Teaching Is Changing, Educators Flooding Twiiter-sphere, and Must-Have Apps

How Teaching Is Changing

The Old: Delivering content shaped for universal consumption

The New: Modeling affection and curiosity

The Difference: Truly valuing how students think

http://tinyurl.com/k3z2q2r 

Twitter Exec Reports that Educators Dominate the Twitter-sphere

Educators like to tweet! Out of the 1/2 billion tweets that post every day, 4.2 million are related to education, according to Brett Baker, an account executive at Twitter.com. To put this in perspective, while you read this past sentence, over 3,000 edu-related tweets have flown across the Twitterverse.

http://tinyurl.com/nzte2sg

Stop talking tech: 3 tips for pedagogy-based coaching

Many tech coaches feel pressured to be the expert in the room, especially when it comes to technology. However, it’s often more effective to approach teachers as learning partners. By asking questions about specific learning activities and areas where a teacher might be interested in collaborating, coaches can provide a more personalized learning experience.

http://tinyurl.com/q72rbst

Top 10 Apps in an Established 1:1 iPad School

Showbie allows you to assign, collect and review student work. As a tool it meets a demand that used to be supplied by a school VLE. The difference here is the ability to ‘open in’ a multitude of apps to create content or provide feedback. A couple of taps sees a student assignment opened and annotated with audio feedback or viewed in the teachers app of choice. It is then just as simple to return the assignment to the student for immediate viewing. Showbie works very well with larger classes where the transfer of information is common and often.

http://tinyurl.com/otzmngu

How to turn your iPad into a desktop with these remote access apps

The following guide is intended for individuals that have a single desktop computer sitting at home that they personally use and wish to access from across the internet on their iPad.

http://tinyurl.com/nzpjkwp

10 Must-Have Free Math Apps

MyScript Calculator

Math vs Zombies for Fluency

Coordinate Grid for iPads

etc.

http://tinyurl.com/k436v3v

Ten Things for Three Labs

As I recently wrote in Experimenting with a Google Apps Lab, Mercy's approach to professional development has recently shifted from presentations and workshops to one-to-one help in "labs". Our first lab ooh place during our Final Exam period and focused on Google Calendars and Google Sites. We had 8 volunteer trainers and about 35 attendees, which I considered a terrific success.

Last week, week we held our first lab during summer vacation. Again this was very well attended and we had seven volunteer trainers. This lab and the ensuing July and August labs will focus on specific skills that we wish all teachers to possess by the beginning of the next school year. In fact fellow Associate Principal, Colleen Rozman, and I wrote some instructional modules for our staff. Colleen was the chief architect and modeled the approach after the Learning 2.0 Program (conceived by Helene Bowers). Here is a condensed version of the skills that our program includes

• Setting up and Organizing a Moodle Page
• Creating and posting a Google Calendar
• Using the iPad to take a photo, edit it and post it
• Shooting, editing and sharing a movie
• Using Evernote
• Creating a document with CloudOn and sharing it through Dropbox
• Creating a video explanation with ShowMe or Explain Everything
• Communicating through Google Groups

These tasks created some fun activity at our very well attended lab. Staff plunged into the skills and received significant individual attention. As a trainer, I can attest that I learned a number of "tips", too. I continue to be impressed by how determined most of my colleagues are to prepare for our shift to Mercy 2.0. I am already looking forward to our next lab in July. . . . But now I have to get back to my own "Ten Things"!

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Screen Shot from Mercy "10 Things"

Experimenting with a Google Apps Lab

As we shift into a summer mode at Mercy, we are also going to shift our professional development format. In May we presented some "Super Tuesdays" (and Thursdays) -- These were after-school workshops dedicated to the introduction of specific iPad apps like Dropbox, Noteshelf, Evernote, and Explain Everything. These sessions were very well attended even though they came at an exceedingly busy time for our teachers. Volunteers presented the workshops and it was unreasonable to expect them to give make-up sessions or post lots of resources.

So for summer, we will try to slow down and individualize. In June, we will host two "labs". This was the suggestion of our incredibly tech savvy, Alison Kline-Kator (someone you will be hearing more about in an upcoming post). She suggested a "drop-in" environment where folks could come for the 1:1 or small group training they desired. About eight staff members answered my call to serve as "trainers" for these two hour periods.

The first lab will be held on June 4, and it will focus on anything Google. Going to Google Apps was a key facet of our transition to Mercy 2.0. During a Keynote in April, Lucy Gray gave us a taste of all the interesting instructional possibilities for Google Apps. In addition, since across the school we are transitioning to Google Calendar, fluency in that environment will become essential for all staff. About 25 staff members have indicated that they will probably or certainly attend.

Two weeks later we will present a lab for all things iPad. I will be very curious to see how many people drop by, and that will pretty much determine whether we will offer another couple of labs during the summer.

In my next post I will describe a scheme for our newbie teachers that is a little more intense!

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CC illustration found at http://bit.ly/LTaWcl

New Adventures in Staff Collaboration

As we implement Mercy 2.0 we are moving forward with innovative professional development plans which I wish to document through this blog.  

In April we "unboxed" our iPads and participated in two days of PD with Lucy Gray.   After listening to our colleagues' conversations with Lucy, we decided to offer some workshops after school on specific productivity apps.  The first one on Tuesday was attended by about forty staff members.  This was truly inspirational.  Here is our program, called Super Tuesdays:

May 1 - Dropbox 

May 8 - iAnnotate 

May 10 - Noteshelf  

May 15 - Evernote for Beginners 

May 22 -  Explain Everything

May 24 - Intermediate Evernote 


In addition we are assigning a bit of homework to each staff member.  iPad app and Google app exploration will be organized by our academic departments. By August 23, we will all report our findings to each other on Google Groups.  Besides the obvious benefits of sharing important information, I hope
that this exercise will implicitly encourage all of us to use this
Google group format to ask questions and share Mercy 2.0 discoveries.


It is exciting to be involved in a collaborative venture that holds such promise for serving our students. But what is more, I think we are piloting some really interesting approaches to professional development.

Explain Everything

App Recommendations from MACUL 2012

Naturally, when I was at the Macul Conference last week, I was on the look out for promising iPad apps.  Here are half a dozen that I have downloaded to my iPad for future investigation:


Zite
"Zite is a free personalized magazine for your iPad that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter every time you use it. Zite delivers all the great news, articles, blogs, and videos you want – and helps you discover new stuff that you'll love."


EMD PTE
"This is by far the best periodic table app out there. It's receiving continuous updates and it's free."

EMD's dynamic periodic table of the elements

Wolfram|Alpha
"With Wolfram|Alpha on your iPad, you can explore a vast world of knowledge, whether hanging out at the local coffee shop or relaxing on your couch. Use Wolfram|Alpha to discover new information about the world and to breathe expert knowledge into any facet of your life."  

iPhoto

"There’s so much power built into iPhoto for iOS, you need to touch it to believe it. Using only your fingers, you can make a blue sky bluer. A landscape greener. Or a smile brighter. From the moment you touch the screen, the way you see things will never be the same."


Prezi Viewer
"View and present your prezis anywhere with simple, intuitive multitouch gestures. Drag to pan and pinch to zoom in or out of topics, just like you do in any map apps. Revise and retouch your prezis, correct typos and adjust your presentation on-the-fly. Prezi Viewer is the perfect companion to your Prezi experience."


Explain Everything
"Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. You can create dynamic interactive lessons, activities, assessments, and tutorials using Explain Everything's flexible and integrated design."