Favorite Finds

Last week I had the opportunity to attend some great sessions at the TCEA Conference. I enjoyed collaborating and learning from technology leaders through the face-to-face sessions I attended. I also enjoyed being able to follow fellow conference attendees on Twitter as they shared resources and information using the conference hashtag, #TCEA15. It was especially beneficial to debrief with fellow Dragons and talk about how to apply the knowledge and ideas we gleaned. Carroll ISD was well represented by Teachers, Coordinators, Principals, and the Technology Department.

As we reflect on our learning, the Instructional Technology Team, along with other TCEA attendees, will be sharing some of our “favorite finds”—web sites, apps, and ideas—with you over the next couple of weeks. I hope you will find an idea, resource, or web site that inspires you to try something new. 

Here are my Top 3 Favorite Finds:

• Innovation Day- The idea of an Innovation Day is so exciting as we strive to teach our students to take ownership of their learning. What better way to do this than to plan a day in which they can work on anything they want!
• An entire day is dedicated to self-directed learning.
• Students can work on ANYTHING THEY CHOOSE.
• Students must show evidence of their learning.
• Teachers are the guide on the side.
• Workspaces are organized by interest groups.
• NO GRADES are taken.
• NO AWARDS are given
• Plickers (free) Not enough devices in your classroom? Plickers is a simple, formative assessment tool that allows teachers to use their mobile device to collect data without the need for student devices. Students respond using downloadable response cards. Response cards, Apple and Android apps are all available on the Plickers web site.
• Post-It Plus App (free) I love post-it notes for brainstorming and collaboration. Now with the app, you can have the best of both worlds. You have the visual and kinesthetic appeal of the physical post-it notes. And with the app, you can easily scan all the post-it notes to digitize your ideas. Once scanned, you have the ability to organize them digitally and share in a variety of formats!

Make Any Video a Lesson

"Teachers who use instructional video report that their students retain more information, understand concepts more rapidly and are more enthusiastic about what they are learning."~NTTI. Using videos take students to places that may not be able to go...field trips, inside the body, outer space, or around the globe. Videos can illustrate complex concepts that in other realms are not visible for students. Videos can bring literature to life. By using videos in the classroom, a teacher can reach visual learners and engage students. Are you using videos in your lessons?

Read about new video tools that allow you to make any video a lesson.

The first find is EDpuzzle. EDpuzzle is a free webtool.

Likes about EDpuzzle:

• Import any video off the web or from your file
• Crop the video
• Add voice over (for the entire video)
• Add audio notes (Add multiple notes in various spots)
• Embed quiz questions (M/C, open-ended)
• Create a class and have students join with a generated code
• Assign videos to a class
• Share video creations via social media or a web link (login required)
• Monitor student progress
• Block skipping ahead in video assignment
• Student iOS App now available 
• Viewing is better from the app than the web. 
• The video displays across the entire screen 
• Quiz questions appear in another screen instead of beside the video.
• Class assignments show grades and progress

Dislikes about EDpuzzle:

• You cannot show different parts of the same video or combine two or more videos into one assignment (you must create a separate assignment for each “chunk” of video).
• You cannot rearrange the order of video assignments within a class (although you can hack this by numbering the video assignments when you name them).
• No partial voiceovers – you must either record an audio track for the entire video or none at all.
• Link to assignments for students require login 

JUST ADDED LAST WEEK: EDpuzzle now has a FREE iOS student app to make the viewing process easier. Click the icon to download this free app.

The view of the app reveals the progress of the student.

Take a quick look at an EDpuzzle video.

The second find is Zaption. Zaption has a free version and a paid version.

Likes about Zaption:

• Records skips
• Add questions and make them required
• Track viewer progress with analytics
• Import videos from YouTube, Vimeo, your computer
• with pro account you can add multiple videos
• Can add these tools to your video (free account):
• Text slide
• Image slide
• Drawing
• Open Response Question
• Multiple Choice Question
• Checkbox Question

Dislikes about Zaption:

• These features are only available with the Pro (paid) version:
• Import multiple videos into same lesson
• Put students into groups
• Integrate with Canvas LMS
• Numerical, discussion, and drawing response questions
• Jump feature

Demo: http://youtu.be/4s1762oZ0d0 

The third find is Metta. Metta is another free video lesson editor.

Likes about Metta:

• Crop videos
• Add questions
• Add images
• Lessons visually appealing
• Allow teachers to combine more than one clip into the same lesson

Dislikes about Metta:

• Does not have the same level of teacher reporting such as...
• seeing if each individual student watched the lesson
• how they performed on the quiz 
• Not as robust as EDpuzzle and still experiences kinks inside the webversion and the app.
• Unable to login to account on the app using Google+ even though the account was great using Google+.

Resources:

"Video Strategies." National Teacher Training Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Sept. 2014.

"EDpuzzle Review: Easy-to-Use Tool Lets Teachers Quickly Turn Online Video into Lessons | Edudemic." Edudemic. Edudemic Staff, 30 Sept. 2014. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

Teach Like A Pirate

Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?

If your students didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?

This summer I read the popular book, Teach Like A Pirate. The author, Dave Burgess, gives us a glimpse inside his classroom and shares anecdotes about how he transformed his teaching. The book is part manifesto and part practical strategies for designing creative, engaging lessons.

The Manifesto
He doesn’t advocate looting and pillaging but rather that we adopt the spirit of a pirate. “Pirates are daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success. They reject the status quo and refuse to conform to any society that stifles creativity and independence.”
PIRATE is an acronym for the following concepts: Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transformation, and Enthusiasm.

The Practical
The second half of the book contains over 30 hooks designed to captivate your students and brainstorming questions to help you redesign your lessons.
Here are a few examples from the book. (I have added the digital tools and web resources that complement the presentational hooks.)

• Kinesthetic Hook- How can I incorporate movement? Try Go Noodle to get your students moving! 
• Mozart Hook- Can students change the lyrics to popular songs to reflect the course content? Yes! Have you seen, Weird Al Yankovic’s video, Word Crimes? 
• Drama Hook- Can students reenact historical events? Have your students create fake tweets from the perspective of a historical figure. 
• Picasso Hook- Can students create visuals of key information? Have students create interactive images using Thinglink to show their learning. (Be sure you sign up for an educator account.)
• Contest Hook- Create game-based lessons using Kahoot or try other student response systems listed in this article, Seven Good Student Response Systems That Work On All Devices. 

Treasure Chest

To learn more about Teach Like A Pirate: 

• Visit the Burgess web site
• Listen to the Edu All Stars podcast
• Participate in a twitter chat, #tlap

Welcome Aboard
Have you read the book? What ideas will you try? Would you like help redesigning a lesson to make it pirate-worthy? Contact the CISD Instructional Technology Team and we'll help you chart a course to discover some treasure of your own.

ClassFlow ... The Newest from Promethean

We have previously discussed student response systems like Kahoot, Socrative, InfuseLearning, and PollEverywhere. The newest kid on the block with a twist is ClassFlow. As of January 2014 teachers are able to sign up for a complimentary ClassFlow account. The website states that with ClassFlow, teachers can build and access interactive lessons from any web browser, share lessons with other peers, and collaborate using the latest mobile and student response technology. Not only will ClassFlow help teachers save time at the planning and setup stages of lesson development, but it can also facilitate a more connected classroom. They got my attention with the ability to use my 5 iPads, 6 netbooks, 12 students with Smartphones, 12 ActivExpressions, and 3 laptops all within the same lesson in ClassFlow.  The ability to send graphs and images to the students (similar to InfuseLearning), have them complete a task, and send it back also gained my attention. 

 Ron Clark says ClassFlow really makes lessons more engaging. The kids get feedback on their work and everyone collaborates together. ClassFlow really connects us all.

Points of Interest for the classroom teacher:
•    Deliver, create, and easily organize lessons from any web browser
•    Develop lessons by seamlessly incorporating a variety of teaching resources and formats–video,  PowerPoint, documents, webpages, new content and more
•    Collaborate with a community of teachers by sharing lessons online
•    Unify your classroom technology, from your interactive whiteboard to tablets or any student devices.
•    Make edits, save changes, assess students, deliver and even share your lessons. 
•    Information goes two ways with ClassFlow. Send and receive feedback from your students - even photographs

The following Youtube video shows ClassFlow in action.  https://classflow.com/how-it-works
Check it out at https://classflow.com/ and let me know what you think.