iPad: Creation Tool (redux)

Projecting my iPad screen on to my laptop using the Reflection App

In the wake of the Nexus 7 announcement at Google I/O this week, it's not surprising that the buzz I'm hearing from educators is yet again focused on how tablets are essentially consumption devices, and if you have secondary students, laptops are the intelligent choice.

This morning, I woke up to this article. Apparently Google already has a Nexus 10 in the works (10 inch). I'm more excited about this than the 7 inch Nexus 7. I'm a firm believer that competition makes better products. If the Nexus 10 can live up to the hype, then the iPad will have some serious competition and Apple will push to make an even better product.

I've said it many times here, and I'll say it again. The iPad is not only a consumption device, it's also a creation tool. For those complainers out there who say the iPad (or other tablets) can't compare to the power of a laptop, that's somewhat true. There are things that are easier to do on a laptop. BUT there are other things that the iPad does better than laptops. I would argue that there are benefits to both. For my favorite creation tools, see my previous posts.

Last night I watched a video of educators discussing the latest wave of technology to be released at Google I/O. They shared my frustration that Google has yet to figure out editing of Google Docs on a tablet. By the way, this is my number one request from Google right now. Then I heard someone say that after all, the iPad isn't there yet as a creative tool - it's mainly designed for consumption. ARGH. This, I completely disagree with.

If you are feeling like your iPad isn't doing you much good aside from consumption, please send it to me. I'll put it to good use.

This past year, I regularly used laptops in my classroom. We had headaches and issues with these tools. There is not one panacea. Were the problems enough to make me want to stop using technology in my classroom? NO. The benefits outweigh any difficulties. Showing the students how to work through issues has its own benefits.

My point is, yes, iPads and other tablets are not perfect. Neither are laptops. There are problems and benefits with both. But please think before you label a device as subpar and limited when it actually is revolutionary, intuitive, engaging, and useful. Maybe you have to think outside of the box to put tablets to their best use in the classroom - but that's a good thing.

ELA Summer Suggestions

I've had many parents ask me for suggestions to improve their teenager's language arts skills over the summer break. Here are my top five recommendations:

1. Read

I encourage students to always have two books in their backpacks - one challenging book and one "fun" book. These two may cross categories at any time. Reading for pleasure encourages a lifelong love of literacy. Reading challenging books broadens our world view, introduces new vocabulary, and increases contextual understanding of complex sentence structure.

2. Write

It's somewhat crazy, but the only true way to improve as a writer is to write. Students need to dive in headfirst to the art of manipulating words and structure to create something meaningful and beautiful. Over the summer, journaling or blogging is the perfect venue for exploring a student's voice. My two oldest children (ages 9&7) are blogging this summer to improve their own writing skills. If students are unsure what to write about, I encourage them to dialogue about the books they are reading.

3. Interact

All students have interests and passions. The great thing, is that those passions all spill out into the language arts world. Interested in MMOs? Great! There are websites, forums, and blogs devoted to MMOs. Learn to communicate effectively by joining in the conversation. Follow you interests on the web and create a twitter handle or get on Google+ to find others who share your passion.

4. Play

Summer is a time for your body and mind to breathe. It's during this pause that we regain our drive for lifelong learning. Don't neglect the time off from academia that is necessary to bring everything into focus. I want my students in September to be recharged, not burnt out. Play includes all things from recreational activities, to picnics, to daydreaming by the pond.

5. Teach

One of the best ways we learn is to teach others. I encourage teenagers to find someone they can help with their language arts skills. It may be a younger sibling, an exchange student, or an ESL adult at the local library. In the process of teaching others, students take ownership of their skills and grow leaps and bounds. The summer allows the student to have free time to explore these opportunities. And who knows... it may awake a love for teaching!

Popplet

Created on my iPad

Popplet has been around for a while, but I'm finding myself using it a lot more now that I have the iPad app. While I haven't paid yet for the full version, I still find uses for the limited free version. Note - the free version does not sync between the iPad local popplets and your web-based popplets.

Popplet is a mindmapping tool. Its intuitive interface encourages creative diagramming. Double click your workspace, and a popple appears. Change the color or size of the popple, insert an image or a video, draw in the popple... your imagination is the limit (some features only on the web app). Popples can be linked together. Once they are linked, popples interact. You can click and drag a popple anywhere on the screen. Popples can also be automatically arranged, using the organize setting on the web app.

Popplets can be shared and are collaborative - both on the free web app or the paid iPad app. Embed your popplet into an ePortfolio or share on Twitter.

I use Popplet in the classroom for easy seating charts and project management.

I received a notice today that Popplet (at least the web version) is moving towards a subscription-based model, although they promise that there will always be a free version for users to play around with.

Positives:
- Intuitive
- Useful
- Collaborative

Improvements:
- Other shapes for popplets (circles would be nice)
- Font colors

Telling My Story: Part 1

My new favorite tagline that I pass on to graduating seniors is: Live your story. This year, I want to help my students become better writers by exploring their own stories. To prepare, I think it's a good exercise for me to do this myself. Without further ado, here is my story.
------
I was 17 years old, turning 18, and full of dreams and ambitions when we packed the rented van full of my personal belongings in preparation for the 21 hour drive to Point Lookout, Missouri. I already had a full year of college behind me, as I had taken classes at the local community college.

At 17, my dreams were solid. I knew what my path was going to look like. I was going to be an elementary teacher. I was going to finish college as quickly as possible and head to Hungary to teach English. Why would I do anything else? The two summers before I left for Missouri I taught at an English camp in Szeged, Hungary. I loved the people, the culture, and the city. Everything was perfect.

Me (front, center in the green shirt) with my team and students, the first week of English camp in Szeged, Hungary.

Except... it wasn't. I wanted to stay in Hungary. I didn't want to come home. I willed there to be some way for the plane to turn around and head back to Europe. It didn't. I had to face the reality that there was work to do before I could return.

So a month after arriving home, I was on my way to a part of the country as unfamiliar to me as Antarctica. The school I chose, College of the Ozarks, appealed to me because of its work-study program. All tuition is covered by students working on campus at various job sites for 10 or so hours a week. I loved the idea of exiting college debt-free, ready to do anything and go anywhere.

I got to campus a day or two after orientation began, due to a scheduling conflict at home. All incoming freshman and transfer students were put into "families" with an upperclassman Mom & Pop. I can't remember how big my family was - maybe about 10 people or so? I felt awkward coming in to a situation where everyone had already met and formed bonds. I was the odd one out. But then, everything changed that night in the cafeteria.

To Be Continued...

Using Google Docs to Teach Tweeting

Before my 10th grade World Lit students started reading The Scarlet Pimpernel this past year, I came up with a project to help them see the story from multiple perspectives. My students sit at tables - an arrangement I pushed for because it gives them space to work on projects and encourages collaboration. I assigned one character to each table group.

• Table 1: Marguerite
• Table 2: Suzanne
• Table 3: Armand
• Table 4: Chauvelin
• Table 5: Andrew
• Table 6: Percy
• Table 7: the Comtesse

The instructions were simple:

Work with your table group to create 30 tweets that accurately represent your character's thoughts throughout the book. Each tweet should be in this format:

FishyFisherman - Mr. Jellyband
@scarletp sent over a fresh new batch of frogs today. No wonder the inn stinks. #britishforever

Remember!! Each tweet must be 140 characters or less (including spaces). Each tweet must include at least one hashtag #

** You may include up to 15 tweets from other characters written to your character. For example:

AngryBantam - The Vicomte
@Jellyband I request full refund for last night's meal. #disgrace #duelingfordummies

Your tweets must be chronological.

As many of my 10th graders had no experience using twitter, this was a good introduction to the format. 

Google Docs worked well for this format. The student groups shared a document where they created the tweets together in real time. The students could see who was typing what, and leave comments off to the side as they worked. The collaboration was interesting to watch as there was a blend of face-to-face communication happening around the table at the same time as online conversations.

Student Work - Table 3: Armand

While the students were working on these projects, I regularly checked in to their document (it was also shared with me). The student could see when I was perusing their document and used the chat feature to say hi. The check-ins allowed me to see how the groups were doing, and gently encourage them in the right direction. Some groups struggled with spreading out their tweets, especially when their character was only a major part of the beginning of the book. This project forced them to think outside the box, imagining what their character would be doing and feeling during the latter part of the book.

Student Work - Table 4: Chauvelin

When it came time to assess, I made ample use of the revision history in Google Docs. This allowed me to see who typed what and when, which is the age-old question when it comes to assessing group projects.

Ignite Classroom Version

As I can't travel to San Fransisco this summer, I'm following ISTE's conference on twitter and G+. Already I'm seeing posts and tweets about Ignite, so I thought I'd share my experience using it in the classroom.

This year I used the format with both my seniors and my sophomores. For my senior British Literature Honors class, I had the students choose a British poet and create 5 minute presentation with the slides on a timer (20 seconds per slide). The students were confused about the format, so to kick things off, I did my own presentation. This helped tremendously.

We had a lot of fun with these presentations and I was impressed with the quality. There is a lightheartedness to this type of presentation that keeps them fun, yet relevant. 

For my 10th graders, I decided to use an abbreviated form of the Ignite format. In this case, the students each had 3 minutes and 15 seconds per slide for a total of 12 slides. Again, I gave a sample presentation as a kick-off. This time, I limited my students to no more than 10 words per slide and also introduced the concept of hand-drawn slides.

Naturalist Presentation (For whatever reason, Blogger won't let me embed both presentations in one post)

The sophomores completed a project at the end of the year looking into career options. We started out with a fun aptitude test and then students picked a career to research. First, my students interviewed someone in their chosen field. Then the students wrote a 5-7 page paper exploring the history of the job, job requirements and expectations, preparation for the job, and at least three related college programs. The final project was the presentation where they summed up their findings for the class.

I loved using the abbreviated Ignite format because it kept the presentations short and snappy. Students stuck to the big ideas, and the entire class got a good overview of job options by the time we were done. Even shy students did well because they knew that it was only 3 minutes and the slides would move on with or without them!

All in all, these exercises were enjoyable and I look forward to repeating them next year.

Code Avengers

Over the past few months, I've been teaching myself coding using Codecademy. While I easily pushed right through HTML/CSS, I stalled on Javascript. In small bursts of mental gymnastics, I've made it halfway through the course.

The problem? The instructions are not written for non-programmers. Nine times out of ten, I'm finally able to understand what they are asking for by working backwards after looking for the answer in the forums. I do like the format, though - and I enjoy the projects. I've encouraged coworkers and students to check it out.

Yesterday, I stumbled across a comment on a blog post (unfortunately now I can't find it) where Code Avengers was offered as an alternative to Codecademy. Code Avengers breaks down coding into much simpler bites (haha) so that the average lay coder can tackle Javascript (and in the future, other languages). The format is a bit juvenile, but that may be the intention.

Simple layout

Whatever it is, CodeAvengers is FUN. I'm a visual learner - so the robot programming tutorials appeal to me. I also like the badges, although they aren't as creative as Codecademy's.

I feel like I'm playing with LOGO again!

Codecademy's strength lies in its user-base. By attracting a large number of users and creators, Codecademy is set up to continuously recreate itself into a better system. As it is now, it's still in the baby phase. However, just because you know how to code, does not mean you know how to teach coding. The guys at CodeAvengers, on the other hand, apply a sound teaching method. First, an overview of each topic is presented (topics are arranged in 10 lesson sequences). Then, over the course of the next eight or so lessons, the topic is taught and practiced. In the final lesson of that sequence, the user is quizzed. The quiz games are a bit hokey and annoying, but thankfully the animations can be turned off. I found the intro>teach>review method to help me retain far more information than I learned at Codecademy.

Small bug: not sure why I have the 2K badge when I only have 762 points.

CodeAvengers, like Codecademy, is still in the beginning stages. I see great potential, and I'm looking forward to new courses being unlocked.

Spread the word! It's an excellent teaching tool.

Badges in the Classroom

Positives -
1. Motivational
2. Assessment without grades
3. Able to communicate achievements

Negatives -
1. Extrinsic motivation
2. A piece of the "gamification" of education movement (*not a negative in my mind, but is in some)
3. Can be difficult to achieve standardization and/or recognition by others

STEM scouts is working towards creating badges to demonstrate student achievements in technology.

Well-designed & well-planned

Mozilla Open Badges is attempting to create a system whereby badges can be created an authenticated. These badges are designed to follow a person through their entire life - a visual certification system, if you will. To a simple code tinkerer like myself, it doesn't look like a feasible option for me to use... yet.

In the individual classroom, how can badges be used? Most students maintain an ePortfolio (my students build theirs using Google Sites) where badges could be displayed. At this point, there is not a simple way to create and distribute meaningful badges. Although Edmodo does allow teachers to award badges to students, these badges appear to be more like stickers praising achievements than a way to showcase skills. I want a widget for my students' ePortfolios where they can display badges that I have unlocked.

I plan to spend some time researching and playing with badges this summer. I'd like to use them in my English classroom to demonstrate when students have mastered certain skills (i.e. writing a polished essay). This may mean playing with coding myself to attempt to create a user-friendly app.

Will these badges be motivational? What are your thoughts?

Edtech Consulting

Need help building a class website? Not sure how to integrate technology into your discipline? Looking to expand your Twitter, Google+, and Facebook social media abilities? Curious how to maximize the technology available in your classroom?

I'm available for educational technology consulting within a reasonable distance from Philadelphia.

Qualifications:
Published articles in ISTE's Learning & Leading
Keynote speaker at the CCEA Teacher Convention: "Starting from the Ground Up"
Presented the following workshops at Professional Development opportunities:
- QR Codes in the Classroom
- Technology for the Secondary Classroom
- Integrating Technology in the Humanities
- Integrating Technology into YOUR Classroom (Barnes & Noble Teacher Educator Event)
One-on-One Teacher Tutoring:
- Google Docs (Drive)
- Google Sites
- Dropbox
- Web 2.0
Social Media Experience:
- Google+
- Twitter
- Facebook 
Hardware Experience:
- Mac & PC
- SmartBoards
- iPads & iPods


If you are interested in discussing rates, please contact me! I'd love to work with you. Educational technology is my passion.

Learn how to build a class website with Google Sites

iPad Fun: Tower Madness

Tower Madness - I kind of love this game. It's relaxing for me in an odd sort of way to plan a course to save my sheep from invading aliens. Tower defense games are nothing new, but this one has a special charm to it. It's intuitive, easy to learn, and difficult to master. 

The two-player mode sets this tower game apart from the rest. Using a split screen, Seamus and I compete while waiting in the hallways at the kids' ballet school.

I must admit, I've bought all the $1 upgrades (mostly with gift cards) and they are 100% worth it. The flamethrower is pure fun and the extra courses are challenging. I go through phases where I will prefer maps with predetermined alien paths and then phases where I enjoy the open maps. 

I have no shame that I enjoy games on my iPad. I'm fascinated by the way gaming and learning are connected.

Eduspeak Buzzwords

"21st Century Learning"
"Digital Natives" & "Digital Immigrants"
"Differentiated Instruction"
"Authentic Learning"
"BYOD" & "BYOT"
"Formative Assessments"

Do these words carry meaning anymore? In 140 characters, we educators swap them back and forth as if to confirm and cry out to the world that we are at the front lines of the edtech revolution. We are here! We are not those teachers. Those teachers who scoff at technology, hide their heads in the sand, who aren't active life-long learners.

But if we pride ourselves on our eduspeak prowess, able to slip the latest catch phase into casual conversations, we've lost the meaning of the words. Instead, our focus should be on creating new, engaging, innovative lessons that connect with our students in a meaningful way. Then, as we share these ideas with others, our words will be supported with rich context.

Our actions will speak louder than our words.

One iPad

This past year, I taught with one iPad. I dream of a classroom set of iPads, but the reality is that I have one iPad. My iPad. Bought for me by my husband as a present. And I have put this thing through the paces. It has walked the hallways of CCA as often as I have.

Here's what I've learned this year with a single iPad: use the technology you have instead of whining about what you don't have. Does this mean I don't press on, encouraging and hoping and educating and dreaming of future possibilities? No. BUT it does mean that I use what I have, when I have it, attempting for maximum potential return.

With one iPad:

- I take daily attendance
- Create presentations
- Write handwritten comments on student essays
- Look up student passwords for forgetful students
- Enjoy relational time with my homeroom crafting goofy videos
- Impress students with my Temple Run high score
- Use side-by-side Shakespeare to help students make sense of the bard
- Read, read, read - anything and anytime and anywhere I can
- Watch reruns of HGTV (guilty pleasure)
- Control my Smart Board
- Record class behavior (classdojo.com)
- Email a student right when they ask for something
- Brush up on my art skills with Draw Something
- Follow tech blogs

My final exam has a section for comments about the class. Some of my favorites were those from students who mentioned that sometimes they weren't sure if they were in a literature class or a computer class. Bravo. Technology should be so integrated into the classroom that it's not a shiny new thing that excites students - it's a tool that unlocks potential.

Once on a Time

My 1962 Copy

Thirteen years ago, I wandered the stacks of UVA's Alderman Library while working on a research project. Tucked in a dusty shelf, I found some treasures. The world knows A.A. Milne for his Winnie the Pooh books. I know A.A. Milne for Once on a Time. It wasn't until I read this book that I fell in love with this man's writing style, and I think he deserves a place next to P.G. Wodehouse in the British author hall of fame.

Once on a Time used to be difficult to find. I remember cleaning out Half.com's 1980's copies for my Brit Lit class in 2005. My favorite version, by far, is the 1962 copy with illustrations by Susan Perl.

Why do I enjoy this book so much? It truly is the perfect storm of witty dialogue, droll characters, humorous illustrations, and enchanting plot line. In the note from the Publisher, Milne says:

This is not a children's book. I don not mean by that. . . 'Not for children,' which has an implication all its own. Nor do I mean that children will be unable to appreciate it. . . . But what I do mean is that I wrote it for grown-ups. More particularly for two grown-ups. My wife and myself.... This is a Fairy Story; and it is a Fairy Story for grown-ups because I have tried to give some character to the people who wander through its pages. Children prefer incident to character; if character is to be drawn, it must be done broadly, in tar or whitewash. Read the old fairy stories and you will see with what simplicity, with what perfection of method, the child's needs are met. Yet there must have been more in Fairyland than that. . . . Life in Fairyland was not so straightforward as the romancers pretend. The dwellers therein had much our difficulties to meet, much our complex characters wherewith to attack them. Princes were not all good or bad; fairy rings were not always helpful; magic swords and seven-league boots not the only necessary equipment for fighter and traveler. The inhabitants of that blessed country were simpler than we; more credulous; but they were real men and women. I have tried to do justice to them.

The Countess attempts to convince Princess Hyacinth that she is funding a large army... when it is in fact only Woggs running around a group of trees repeatedly.

Milne even when so far as to call Once on a Time his best work. It's so hard to sell this book to others. I find that Milne agrees with me there (again from the preface):

...But as you can see, I am still finding it difficult to explain just what sort of book it is. Perhaps no explanation is necessary. Read in it what you like; read it to whomever you like; it can only fall into one of the two classes. Either you will enjoy it, or you won't. It is that sort of book.

If ever a prince deserved to be turned into a rabbit/lion/thingish thing... it was Udo.

This is true. My senior students seven years ago loved the book. I've heard from several of them through the years and this book, along with The Code of the Woosters, remains at the top of their favorite list. But then, I shared it with a book club and had mixed reactions. Most did not understand the book. To me, this book is not to be understood. It just is.

I'm planning on working this back into my Brit Lit rotation next year. Now that the book is public domain, I'm going to add it to my anthology I'm putting together with iBooks Author.

iPad: Creation Tool

Last week, I attended an Apple Educator event in NYC. While most of the presentation was review for me (iBooks Author, iTunes U, etc.) I was most frustrated with the way the iPad was presented. As a glorified advertisement for local educators to purchase Apple products, I expected more from the presentation. Over and over the point was hammered: the iPad is a consumption tool.

If you know me, you know that I vehemently disagree with that statement. I wanted to stop the presentation and take over with one of my favorite soapbox topics.

You see, the iPad isn't merely a consumption tool. It's a creation tool. 

Many parents and students have asked me what the difference is between an iPad and a Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet. Beyond a much smoother operating experience, the iPad surpasses other tablets because it is a creation tool. If you are only looking for a small screen to watch movies and play games, then yes, maybe another tablet is right for you.

BUT, if you are looking for a dynamic tool for yourself and your students, the iPad is what you want.

Taking notes? Try GoodNotes (I have a review coming out in an upcoming issue of ISTE's Learning & Leading). BTW, GoodNotes is on sale for .99 right now.

Video editing? Try iMovie

Animating? Try Animation Desk

Mindmapping? Try Popplet or Pearltrees

Archiving? Try Evernote

Creating a presentation? Try Paper

Curating information? Try Storify

... and the list goes on.

Summer

Summer is here (finally). School is out and I have more time to reflect, write, and read. As an English teacher, it's a given that I love books, but it's hard to find the time during the school year for anything besides academic reading and the occasional quick read. But summer is my time to delve deep into books.

This is my first week off, but already I have accomplished many "bookish" things.

1. I read both Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie. Of the two, I enjoyed Matched the most. Matched is not unique in the dystopian genre - it echoes The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, and The Hunger Games. However, it is fresh, clean, and engrossing. I found several quotes that I saved for future use in my literature discussions:

"Is falling in love with someone's story the same thing as falling in love with the person himself?"

"I don't know. I don't know if he's real," Ky says. "If he ever existed."
"Then why tell his story?" I don't understand, and for a second I feel betrayed. Why did Ky tell me about this person and make me feel empathy for him when there's no proof that he ever lived at all?
Ky pauses for a moment before he answers, his eyes wide and deep like the oceans in other tales or like the sky in his own. "Even if he didn't live his story, enough of us have lived lives just like it. So it's true anyway."

 
I was excited to dive into Crossed, but it lacked the driving plot line of the first novel and the thoughtful prose. In Matched, the reader (and Cassia) are not sure who is who and what is what. Who can be trusted? How can we know truth? Crossed is most definitely a middle-series story. It's an enjoyable read, but not as engrossing as the first. I'm looking forward to Reached, which is scheduled for release this fall. Hopefully it will capture the energy of Matched.

2.  Years ago when it first came out, I used and loved Overdrive. After we moved across states, however, our new library didn't have as large of a selection and I stopped using it. This week I happened to look into it again and what a pleasant surprise! Our library now has many, many new and classic eBooks and audiobooks to download and enjoy. I was pleasantly surprised with the Overdrive iPad interface. Controls are intuitive and the app runs smoothly. I also like the option to return a book early - this was not there last time I used Overdrive. Well done, Overdrive.

What English teachers do for fun - alphabetize books!

Best bookshelves EVER.

3. I finally organized by YA & Adult Lit collections. I've slowly been adding all of my books into Delicious Library, and my goal is 75% closer after this week. In our new house, we put seven bookcases in the living room so all (ok, most) of our books could live in one central place. The bookcases are loosely organized, but this week I went the extra step and alphabetized a couple sections after cataloging the books in Delicious Library. It was such fun "finding" old books that were in odd locations on the shelves. Delicious makes it easy to know at a glance what books I own, what books I have lent out, and the current worth of my collectables (or at least the going rate on Amazon).

4. Book sale! I hit up a library in town that had a bag sale and nabbed close to 100 books for $10. I grabbed some old classics including The Happy Orpheline and All-Of-A-Kind Family Uptown. Good stuff.

5. Summer Reading Infographic. Stuck on a finding a book for the summer? Check out this nifty chart from Teach.com posted this week on Flavorwire: