Common Core Training January 2012

Today's Common Core training was in a conference style format at Morgan Elementary. Kudos to the Instructional Technology department for utilizing this format that made for a much more interactive and informative day!   Here was the schedule an the group session descriptions  

The focus was technology as a Tool with sessions centered around:

• Access and Gathering Information
• Organizing Information and
• Communicating Information

We should not design lessons around a tool, but how do we train teachers to incorporate these tools around an already created lesson or curriculum?
 

TPACK 

• Technology  
• Pedagogy 
• Content knowledge

• First question is what content am I going to teach?  Then what activity?
• Learning activity types/ William and Mary school of education

• Marlo showed us a "knowledge building types document" that describes the technology tools that might be used with various curriculum-- will have a draft by Feb 20 meeting
• Other common core areas will be getting this document too.

• These notes will be posted on Learning Village in the Common Core resources area

I attended the following sessions:

Symbaloo

I created the following Symbaloo to organize all the links and that were part of the sessions today:

Symbaloo/Doreen Anderson

• How can you use it? 
• Personally for your favorite "go to bookmarks" place 
• For classes: as a web mix for students 
• It's free 
• You can use another person's web mix as a starting point and also edit existing web mix 
• You can search for existing tiles 
• Doreen showed us this website http://www.arkive.org/
• it's an awesome site about animals --  lots of free pictures to use 
• You could also use a picture editing site like jing or picnik to grab an image from a website and use for a tile 
• Tiles can be dragged and dropped wherever you want them
• We tried adding a file like you can do on livebinder, but think the only way to do that on Symbaloo is to upload a file somewhere else (like School Wires) and get the link for a tile. 
• You could color code by type of tile

• If you are sharing your Symballo, Stop sharing while u are editing, and then you will  have to re share
• Tabs across the top can be grabbed and moved 
• You can easily rearrange your Symbaloo view by deleting a tab or rearranging the order 
• You can search for existing webmixes in the Gallery search by category or by name of author?

Marlo Gaddis/Clickers

• She is using Promethean today because that's what is in place at Morgan, but is talking from all perspectives of clickers (Smart, CPS and Promethean) 
• Only one thing she is showing today that can't be done on smart devices--is a Self paced assessment 
• Easiest way to engage kids is to start them on something like a self paced assessment at the begininng of class.  Have several questions for them to answer and clickers on the desks.
• Marzano did research on interactive white boards (iwb)
   
• Found anyone who had a iwb with clickers scores 17% higher than those classrooms without (used same teachers in the study to avoid the comparing apples and oranges issue) 
• Learn response/feedback issue: 
• When the do nothing with the response.then iwb did not help learning 
• Sometimes too many visuals hurts the improvement too 
• Do things in small meaningful segments 
• In order to be effective, you must talk about the right and wrong responses and item analysis 
• You have to highlight the built in distractor answers and explain why they are wrong 
• Marlo showed us Amy Mallory, a math teacher and featured teacher on Planet
• The lesson to solve two step equations, and the clickers provided immediately feedback that allows teacher to alter the lesson as it proceeds
• Clickers are not just assessment tool...For example, you could use them to:
• Teach writing,  talk about word choice--students text in suggestions for a better word to use in a sentence 
• Everyone gets a voice and encourages competition and interest 
• Clickers can be used to get interaction going 
• Ron Clark videos...Marlo showed use one of Ron Clark live at a tech conference using clickers to engage students 
• Ron had the students do three steps in an algebra on active expressions clickers--
• He tells the students that If they get the first step right says "You are hot", so he builds in re enforcers 
• Ron Clark has several suggestions for incorporating clickers in class
• Use them to starts class with a sense of urgency 
• For example, you might enter three basic questions and get them to work on that as they come in  
• Bring science experiments to life, by entering steps into active expressions 
• Use them "to score a touchdown" where they do certain steps to earn points toward a goal 
• Create a scavenger hunt by  entering clues in active votes so students might have to go measure a door for example, and then go somewhere else
• Bring silent sustained reading to life by having students answer a series of questions on their active votes about what they are reading 
• Use them to review large amounts of information  for example the periodic table, break information into chunks by asking questions on active votes along the way 
• As part of instruction not "the lesson" 
• Bring traditional lesson to life-- for example have students crossword puzzle with clues in active expressions 
• Also check out ei community:  https://www.eicommunity.com/
• Tpack tie in: 
multiple ways to engage students with clickers

Livebinder/Evan Herreid

• How you organizing your resources?
•  Youtube on live binder: 
• http://www.youtube.com/user/livebinders?blend=8&ob=video-mustangbase

What can you do with your Live binder?

• Can embed in your blog
• School wires will embed it 
• PTA might use it for a promotion 
• Project for a class  all the resources they need to focus on--there is less downtime 
• Computer lab teachers could use this instead of an actual folder
• Can set up to be collaborative so it's like a Wiki
• You can search through already created/featured binders 
• You Can make it private and password protect it 
• Its an open platform --but it does require an email account

Example of Live binders

http://wsfcs.pbworks.com/w/page/24138423/LiveBinder%20Examples

QR CODES/Steven Anderson 

• You have probably seen in stores for products to get more information
• Sale sign for piece of property 
• Shop by scanning a code--might take you to Facebook site 
• Or it might say something

What are the advantages of QR Codes over bar codes?

• Ease of access to information 
• Bar codes keep track of inventory, but are very limiting 
• QR  is in two dimensions and increases characters from 12 to over 200 
• YOUTUBE video--QR codes in the classroom:  http://youtu.be/hSA3YsBy_pU

What do you need to read QR codes?

• Need an app on a smart phone or tablet 
• Google goggles is what DOT recommends for Galaxy tablets and smartphones:
• http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text 
• Document camera can be used as QR reader or you can use web camera or old video camera 
• WS/FCS School Board Policy was changed in 2011:  kids can use cell phones in classes

 How do you create QR codes?

• Qrstuff:  http://www.qrstuff.com/ 

• What can you link to?
• Can link to plain text
• A telephone number 
• But, 9 times out 10 people use them to link to a url/website address 
• There is also Qr code voice:  http://qrvoice.net/

What do you need in your class or Media Center?

•  Gotta have device to scan them

• And something to create them--Check out this blog:  http://www.librarygirl.net/2012/01/from-tech-trend-to-teaching-tool-taking.html

How are QR codes being used in education?

• Daily agenda 
• Book reviews
• To get information back to kids
• kid created videos 
• Reenact scenes from books  many learning opportunities for kids to show off what they do

How does it fit with TPACK?

• Centers learning in the class 
• A vehicle to get to what u are doing

Google Voice mail/ Marty Creech

• Marty is new with the WS/FCS, came from Davie County, taught Science in MS 
• We practiced calling into google voicemail.  Marty gave us a number to call or text from our cell phones, and up on his screen popped our responses.
• It has a Voice recognition feature where it converts to text--it is a little "rough" but you can get the idea 
• You can call the number back and text the number back 
• creates an mp3 of the message--You can right click and download easily

How could you use in the classroom?

• Marty used in classroom  in October 
• Went to Renaissance Festival and students had to Interview someone at the Fair and have them describe the significance of their role in the Renaissance? 
• Students were groups with at least one cell phone 
• Interviewing person was a success
• Discussed ways to make better 
• Other Ideas?
• Pod casting 
• Quick warm up 
• It's like Blabberize? 
• Kids at home could use with their home phones/Could use as a homework tool 
• This an option for communicating instead of your personal cell 
• Kids can text as well 
• Students could Go home and interview someone 
• Call in and give your thoughts on a debate or some other television event

Google  video on youtube on how its used:  http://youtu.be/m4Q9MJdT5Ds

In class:

• Can provide immediately feedback 
• Field trip pod casting 
• Call to explain a math problem 
• Summarize today's class 
• Question survey with parental feedback 
• Wrote civil war love letters and kids translated them to text 
• Transcription goes to cell phone as a text

Getting started:

• Must have a Google account/Gmail
• Choose to create a new number 
• Put in zip code to generate a number 
• Just leave number blank 
• Enter a pin
• Will have to verify via text message

Power point on.his wiki space:  http://mcwow.pbworks.com/w/page/50093863/Google%20Voice%20in%20the%20Classroom

• There is the ability to set up Group contacts and could send message to group
• Send a picture to text message box?