Nashoba Students visit over break

Nashoba students stop back to share their college experience and give advice:
Let's get this conversation started

Building an Adobe Spark Department Page with information about our courses and integrating student testimonials into the page!  I plan to use for Parent Open house and to share with students currently in our classes!

Book Creator App for iPad and Graduation Portfolios

Over the last few years, special education students have been using iPads on a daily basis.  As part of a graduation portfolio we have used the Book Creator App to share with story.

Oral History Projects

Getting ready to kick off the Oral History Project this year.
We will transition from Classic Google Site to NEW Google Sites.
- Classic Template  https://sites.google.com/a/mynrsd.com/nashoba-oral-history-projects
   Student template to edit

2017 - Options
- NEW Sites sample https://sites.google.com/mynrsd.com/nashoba-oral-history-projects 
   The Site and pages must be created, a sites template option is not available
Other Options may include curating using Adobe Spark Page

Presentation and tips - Observation 12/21/17
.

National History Day and Projects

This week I am gearing up for @NationalHistory projects with Ms. Jankun (Periods G & E). using @AdobeSpark video for the project. This year’s theme for National History Day #NHD2018 is "Conflict and Compromise in History" learn more here https://www.nhd.org 

I started this project last year with Ms. Jankun and plan to showcase some of the videos from last year to kick off the project.  I am hoping to incorporate and Adobe Spark page as a way to story tell about the projects. Here is a link to the assignment https://goo.gl/EHRhmL and rubric.

Examples - Gorbachev https://spark.adobe.com/video/drJNgEyyMIILW) and 

https://spark.adobe.com/video/7HfjYqbgRoaJG

I am looking forward to kicking off the project with freshman and collaboration with other teachers in the department in order to showcase student work later this year!

Professional Development and Olin College 12/8

Our department (Applied Art and Technology) does lots of hands-on Project Based and Design Thinking projects.  We have followed Buck Institute of Technolgy (BIE) and Design Thinking ideas generated by High Tech High in Napa California.  As part of our department PD this year we decided to visit a few schools.

We started with Olin College in Needham. A new kind of Engineering College, that believes "engineering is a creative enterprise that begins and ends with people and their desire for a better world" See what Olin students have to say about their school, video.

Even though classes were not in session, we were given a great tour by a group of students and witnessed many of the projects along with their passion for learning.  Twice a year students present their projects to the public. On Monday, December 18th there will be a presentation of student work.

As part of the tour we met with the administration to discuss how our course offerings aligned with several of the projects/programs at their college and ways to integrate some of our course with business and technology. 

Feedback from our department was very positive and we found the trip to Olin to be very beneficial!

Hour of Code December 4th-8th 2017

Students participated in the hour of code this month. We evaluated options for coding and decided on using scratch for students to design their very own  based on #GoogleDoodles &
@Google logo using scratch.

In honor of #CSEdWeek, students we taught about computer science concepts by participating in the #HourofCode activity on @scratch: http://G.co/CSFirst/log  link to Google Gif



In addition student work from our, AP Computer Science Class was showcased.  Students created videos to showcase their apps.  Hydration App

GoosechaseEdu is an app for scavenger hunts!

GoosechaseEdu is an app that combines the excitement of a scavenger hunt with mobile technology. Games consist of a series of missions that are completed by individuals or teams.



Applications for Education
Applications for Education Goosechase is great for team building for both students and adults. Games are customizable, they can be used for introducing new material or reviewing for a test. Goosechase is good for field trips as well.
Here is a link to the library https://www.goosechase.com/edu/game-library

I plan on testing this out!

Reflecting on student projects and SAMR

A few year back, several teachers took the time to reflect on using the SAMR model and I reflected about it in a post.  As we move forward in our school with two grade levels, 9 & 10 now a 1:1 device teachers should reflect on their teaching with technology.  SAMR is just one model to help guide teacher thinking.  There is a four part series by Michael Gorman to guide this discussion. 

PBL Reflection at MassCUE

Reflection back on our PBL Presentation - here
 
What a great way for teachers to share their best practice to a larger authentic audience.

Digital Citizenship Week (October 16-20th)

Collaboration with Digital Citizenship Week activities #DigCitWeek
We should always be incorporating into our classes ..ongoing conversations #nashobalearns link

 This week's discussion


Let's start a conversation! - Our Hangout this week

Next topic? Digital Drama

Portfolios for Student Work

Portfolios for Student Work -Working with teachers this week discussing the new google sites and the purpose behind portfolios.

GRAPHICS class October 19th and 20th - teach from site

Teachers are using for specific content (Photography, graphics, multimedia) and discussing how to connect to career opportunities with a more multi purpose use.

Link to Portfolio

Level one is integrating into a content area.  We will explore building wide portfolios and what students would like to showcase this year. I plan to revisit this post http://www.gettingsmart.com/2012/07/5-essential-questions-eportfolios before jumping into a building wide portfolio with stakeholders before piloting and working on a template.

Fall Newsletter - Digital Citizenship week 10/16-20th

Fall Newsletter link shared with staff - Using Smore to design a newsletter to communicate with staff.  The design of a newsletter is more appealing than an length email.
I am hoping by modeling new ways to communicate news with staff, we will begin to think about design of our communications, postings and lessons.

Exploring Creativity Options

I have been seeing lots of posts on Book Creator and decide to take a look at how it can be using on chromebooks.

Here are some resources to review.
Sample below

Creativity with Chromebooks

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

https://read.bookcreator.com

Parent Open House - October 5th

Parent Open House link here -

Presentations for October!

Getting ready for BSD Future Ready Conference, October 6th 2017
Google Keep Note for Presentation

Presentation below on Google Keep and all the new features:


MassCUE - October 25th  - PBL Presentation with Spark

Google Lit Trips * Catcher in the Rye - Presentation

PLT Late Starts - Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work

PLT Late Starts - Book Club

Getting ready to start a book club during our PLC/PLT (Personal Learning Community or Team) focused on the bookShop Class as Soulcraft: by Mathew Crawford  
An Inquiry into the Value of Work 

A philosopher/mechanic's wise (and sometimes funny) look at the challenges and pleasures of working with one's hands Called "the sleeper hit of the publishing season" (The Boston Globe), Shop Class as Soulcraft became an instant bestseller, attracting readers with its radical (and timely) reappraisal of the merits of skilled manual labor. On both economic and psychological grounds, author Matthew B. Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a "knowledge worker," based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing. Using his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford presents a wonderfully articulated call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world.
Questions for PLT Group - Tim Castner

Twitter #ShopClassAsSoulcraft

 Link TEDxEast - Matt Crawford - Manual Competence 
https://youtu.be/xdGky1JZovg 

A great read to start the new year! - What Teachers Want Administrators to Know

I have been following  Jennifer Gonzalez on twitter @cultofpedagogy for several years, along with her blog  Cult of Pedagody blog and enjoy reading all her great posts!  Yesterday a colleague recommended I listen to her podcast What Teachers Want Administrators to Know or can read the post, stream online. I decided to download the podcast from this site https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pod  and listed to it on my way into work this morning.  It was about 20 mintues and at the end of it, I felt the post capture many of the feelings I am hearing from teachers over the last several years.  I hope to share with my colleagues and admin and start a converstation with teachers.  Here's to a postive year of learning!

Heading back - Find Your Marigolds.

Back to School season! Whether you’ve already welcomed your students or enjoying the last few days of preparations, I would suggest you read this inspirational post by Jennifer Gonzales (a.k.a. Cult of Pedagogy):

Check out the post, Find Your Marigolds. It’s become quite a viral post, especially this busy time of year. I’m sharing this with my colleagues and many of her other podcasts (Jen’s podcast )at Cult of Pedagogy.

I highly recommend following her on twitter, her blog and podcasts are very inspirational!  It's time to find your marigold or better yet, be one!

Google PD

There are always resources online for learning and improving classroom delivery.  Here are three

themes, four #GooglePDWeek Youtube Live streams about professional growth, time savings and student learning goo.gl/AF4Mtg and link to presentation.   Here is a link to managing change in a 1:1 ennvironment, more on planning and managing change here.

Test Google Mymaps with college data and Online PowerPoint/Skype

 Test PowerPoint online linked with skype signin and embed code

PBL and Children's Books

Eariler in the month I blogged about our PBL late start and all the projects teachers worked on. Today the published books from Lulu  arrived for Mrs. Foley's class!  I wanted to capture the excitement with twitter and curate using Storify/link to model reflecting as part of the PBL process.  I couldn't be more proud of this teacher, class, project and group collaboration!

Reflection and PBL Design Elements and Essential Project Design Elements below.

I attempted to bring one of the books into Book Creator on the ipad and record a few of the pages and test out the new publish feature on the ipdad. Here is a sample of "Colorful Crowie" link  I am excited to read that Book Creator will be available for the web and chromebooks next year!  We keep reflecting on ways to improve as part of our design thinking process and I hope we do this project again! I am anxious to see the student do a Google Hangout with other schools in our district and share their work!

  

Our PLT's allowed us time to collaborate with each other and to understand the elements of projects versus true PBL.  What a great way to wrap up the year with PBL projects and showcase!

Sharing and Reflecting on PLT - PBL Story

Our PLT that met during late starts for the 2016-2017 school year will be sharing our PBL story here with out staff today.  Our group created many great projects that will will share with our colleagues.  Some of the projects include cooking videos, children's books, coral reef project, DECA Best Buddies and Graphics with our Vinyl cutter just to name a few!

Presenting to our colleauges is a great way to reflect on our teaching practices and decide how we will continue to improved our teaching practices.

Link here https://spark.adobe.com/page/BNS9cp5BF3RqG/
We hope to blend PBL with Design Thinking next year and launch new products!

We will also look to submit and RFP to MassCUE next fall and present this presentation to a much larger audience!

If you are intereseted in defining our PLT for next year contact me before June 1st ifyou would like to provide input and/or help facilitate our PLT next year along with Tim Castner's book club on "Shop Class as Soulcraft"

Next year's Design Thinking topic here


Addtionally, our grou has submitted and RFP to the MASSCUE technology conference for next fall in order for our team to share their best practices.

Lit Trips on Chromebooks with the New Google Earth and Other....

In the past I have used Google Lit trips and Google Earth on a windows platform by downloading a KMZ file and running in a lab evnironment.  With students using more chromebooks I have not been using as much over the last few years.  So, I was very please to see there is now a new version of Google Earth that runs in the chrome browser on the chromebook. I plan to revisit lit trips this week and how it works with Google Drive and test out with a class.

Here is a video explaining the new process along with a tutorial post.

Steps below for lit trips:
1. Google Lit Trip Library here

Other topics:
On twitter this week there was apost on EquatIO, by Texthelp, that is now available in the Chrome Webstore. EquatIO is a Chrome extension that will allow you and your students to create math equations in Google Apps…. and other places. Today’s release only works in Google Docs and Google Forms but Google Slides and other web content sites will soon be able to utilize EquatIO.
This in combination with the new Chromebook Acer Spin 11 (with a stylus) coming out this spring may allow for many of the interactive features we using out Tablet PC's and touchscreen devices. Here is an video review of the Acer Spin 11 along with some ways to use the new Acer Spin 11 one of my favorite apps Google Keep.  I have been a big advocate of Tablet PC's, inking and Google Keep it's great to see these items availalbe on new touchscreen chromebooks.  I hope to convince my school to take a look and I am hoping the price in only slightly more than a standard chromebook!

More info here by two bloggers that I follow ...  here  and here 

School PD and Demo Slams

I have done lots of  Pd over the years but one of my favorite sessions has to be a Demo Slam.  This is where you get to share out quick tips and trick with colleagues.  I will be part of a panel this afternoon and some of the items I will focus on will be:

CastEDU
Expeditions
Flippity

Thinking back to our first slam when teachers saw Kahoot for the first time. It kicked off a year of engagement and students loved it.  Now that our 9th graders are 1:1 the level of consistent usage of technology continures to grow!  I am excited our district is now using Sched to list our PD sessions!

Link to session and 

presentation https://goo.gl/x4nQ09 

Checkout our learning on #nashobalearns

Teaching and modeling Snow Day Options

Yes, it's March 31st and we are preparing for another snowstorm and a possible early release.  This got me thinking about the best way to use technology and keep students on track.  Some school districts are exploring a different model of making up snow days other than tacking them on to the end of the school year.  (ateMany Sates  time requirements for public schools mandate 180 days of learning per school year, and if too many snow days occur, days are added at the end of the school year to fulfill the 180-day requirement). Many schools have 5 snow days are used, and they are added to the end of the school year.

There are three ways communities outside of Massachusetts are implementing different snow day programs. The first way is by creating "blizzard bags" that are sent home with students. Five blizzard bags would be created. The bags would contain worksheets and writing assignments that would be completed at home on the snow days. On the first snow day, bag one would be used, and on the second snow day, bag two would be used, and so on through the fifth day.

Isn't it time to do something innovative with technology to support this initiative especailly at the high school level? How do we make this pitch?

Mentor Meeting at Nashoba

Tomorrow I will be presenting at the District new teacher mentor meeting.
We have created a Google Classroon, and I posted a presentation of a few articles on the "Charecteristics of a 21st Centruy Teacher).  I plan to run in a Google Slide Presentation modeling the Q&A feature for collaboration.

In addition, I have been asked to present on Adobe Spark and plan to stress the importance of an one PLN with Twitter. I plan to have teachers post to a padlet to reflect on their teaching using Adobe post.  I will also take the opportuity to showacase my blog as a way to reflect on teaching practices and my professional learning both here and using twitter.

 I am excited to when working with teachers to plan technology lessons and implement new teaching strategies and techniques with them! View here or below!

It's great to collect what teachers can create in a short period of time!

Adobe Spark Digital Day of Learning and School PD #TellYourStory

Friday 3/10 - NRSD Full Day PD - Get Inspired with Adobe Spark
Time: 8:00am - 9:55am Luther Burbank RM D-123 1 Hollywood Drive, Lancaster, MA
I'm excited to attend "Get Inspired with Adobe Spark" at March 10, 2017: A Day of Exploration at NRSD. Come with me? http://sched.co/9PNY  We implemented SCHED for the PD Day!
Presentation  and   link 

I also presented a similar session earlier in the week at Medfield's Digital Day of Learning.
Adobe Spark Overview Medfield Digital Day of Learning
Wednesday, March 8 • 10:30am - 11:20am  - Rm 110  
 Tweet -Presenting w/ @cshei "#TellYourStory with Adobe Spark" Medfield Digital Learning Day 2017  http://sched.co/9VPt #dldmedfield @nelman17
Come get inspired with Adobe Spark, a free online and mobile graphic design app that allows you to easily create beautiful images, videos, and web pages that help tell your own story. Explore how you can Adobe Spark to teach concepts, assess learning, and prepare your students for success as digital communicators. This session will focus on the power of Digital Storytelling and is aimed at teachers wishing to start their journey in understanding and using digital tools to create captivating digital stories, presentations, and communication. On mobile, the Spark collection is a trio of apps Adobe – called Spark Post; Spark Page; and Spark Video. Come get inspired to tell your story! Adobe’s suite of creative apps make it easier than ever to communicate digitally and can be used across all content areas.   Adobe Spark Page 


Resources from Adobe

Establish a shot & then get close to create a classic scene construction. Watch the #video & try it today! (Click for sound.) #socialmedia pic.twitter.com/tD2i1cB0MS

— Adobe Spark (@AdobeSpark) March 6, 2017

Just released! Our free kit with everything you need to host a school @AdobeSpark Digitial Storytelling PD session. https://t.co/7kqZYBaKr4 pic.twitter.com/X4F01dbGNW

— Ben Forta (@benforta) February 27, 2017

Google Palooza, Keep updates, Book club, instagram and more

During my Feburary vacation I continued to work on my professional learnig by doing the following:

1. Presented fours sesssions a the MassCUE Google Palooza on Feb 23rd in Lunenburg for 110+ educators on the following topics:
   - The NEW Google Sites, Google Keep, Hyperdocs and Adobe Spark and Google Sites
   * Some tips I learned during the Google Demo Slam (kickyoutubevideo to download, quiet and gif to a video) I plan on trying out all three!
2. Launch Book Clubs
   #launchbookchat Thursday evening discussing Chapters 3-5 of the book!
3. Other items this week, I am learnig online from twitter about design thinking and how it applies to curriculum  connected with the Launch book!  Updating spring course offerings for grad classes and planning summer courses!
4. Instagram - New features see video  and instagram blog
   Seeing we just opened instagram in our school I am anxious to use with the photography students.  I just saw on twitter that Instagram just announced this week that one post can have up to 1- photos or videos for a slideshow.  I need to explore how this could work and link to student portfolios! See vacation posts album... now to figure out how to get the embed code
   https://instagram.com/p/BQ5lsnCB-XiApAAxIacUVl3tLDWtfnf_iA65Cg0/ 

I plan to introduce photography students to this!

A post shared by Instagramers Boston (@igersboston) on Feb 23, 2017 at 5:25pm PST

More options!

MassCUE is hosting Googlepalooza on Feb 22nd

MassCUE is hosting Googlepalooza  Wednesday February 22nd.  

Presentation topics - New Google Site 
Older Site merging and linking options

Session 1: Exploring the NEW Google Sites Site https://sites.google.com/view/learnnewsites and Presentation goo.gl/1yrtdY Today’s media-rich world presents opportunities to showcase our interests and talents. Google’s new version of Sites makes this easier than ever! Come and see how Google Sites can be used for digital portfolios at both the classroom and individual levels. (Level: Intermediate/Advanced) Featured Google Tools: Sites, Docs and Slides

Session 2: Getting organized with Google Keep 10:30-11:30 Link https://goo.gl/oPS9PK Trade in your Post-it notes for Google Keep, a web and mobile note-keeping tool that allows you to add labels to notes, set reminders and create notes from photos or voice recordings. With Keep, you can move seamlessly between your teacher desktop, calendar and mobile device to have your notes and appointments at your fingertips!
UPDATE on NEW Google Keep
(Check out Eric Curts Blog/Video with new features for commenting on Docs with Keep)

Lunch and Demo Slam 11:30-1:00 Session 3: What's all the Hype about Hyperdocs? 1:00-2:00 Link goo.gl/GYRbJB

Hyperdocs are so much more than a document with links. They are visually engaging, carefully crafted lesson plans that challenge students to higher levels of thinking! You can turn simple Google Docs into vibrant, self-paced lessons that allow students to tap into all that the web has to offer learners. Explore free templates created by other teachers that you can easily adapt for your own classes. (All Levels) Featured Google Tools: Google Drive, Docs, Slides & other web tools

Session 4: Google Sites and Apps Smash (Adobe Spark) for Portfolios and Projects 2:15-3:15 Link https://spark.adobe.com/page/MEzloMLWoGZId and Site https://sites.google.com/view/learnnewsites Google Apps makes it easy for students to quickly sign into the Adobe Spark or use on a mobile device. Learn how students and staff can create dynamic, engaging presentations or portfolios that demonstrate and connect to an audience. In this session we will talk about how these digital storytelling tools can be used across the content areas. Featured Google Tools: Google Sites for Portfolios & Adobe Spark Page

Tools to Explore in 2017

Time to explore new options for note taking.  Lots of people on Twitter are into Sketchnoting #SylSketch A-Sketch-A-Day #5/100 "Life" http://bit.ly/SylBook #edtechteam #edtech #edchat #sketchnoting

I have noticed many of the sketches appear to be done on an ipad or even by hand.  So I was intrigues when I came across a could-based tool on sketching that seems to work with Google Drive and allows for free-hand drawing as well.  I plan to explore, Sketchboard sketchboard.io it actually looks like a sketch, as if someone drew it by hand. This makes it feel like you’re working on paper, but better, because it’s all saved in the cloud. Sketchboard has a lot of the same features and functionality as other mind mapping tools: Users can collaborate on the same sketch, you can add unlimited items to a map, and individual parts can be moved around at will. But the items can take all kinds of shapes: squares, circles, computer screens, people; you have over 50 icons to choose from.

If your idea can’t be represented with one of the icons from the Sketchboard library, you can just switch to the freehand tool and draw it yourself. This makes your map a whole lot more visual, so your ideas become even clearer.

There also appears to be integration between Sketchboarding and Slack, a team messaging platform for team communication. Messaging takes place on Slack through channels, which are like separate chat rooms for different conversations. A channel can be public or private, making it flexible for all kinds of communication needs. And it’s more than just messaging: Users can also attach files and hold side discussions about these files within the larger conversation.

I plan on testing out with a few teachers over the next few weeks.

Google Certified Trainers - Time to recertify

I am a Google Certified Trainer, this involved taking a series of tests in each area in order to become a Google Educator. I then submitted a portfolio and a recording of teaching a lesson to become a certified trainer.  As a trainer, I needed to submit evidence of sessions at conference, hangouts, PD sessions and classes. After 12-18 months we had to re-take all the test for a second time.

I was notified by a colleague this week the NEW re-certification process was due this week, Friday January 20th. I do wish they did a better job notifying us of the changes.  I was pleased to see the test was only on the new features of G-Suite and a study guide was provided. I was able to complete the Training Sessions and log with the Activity App, share a resource and take the Product Update Exam this weekend and pass!

To learn more about becoming a Certified Educator visit here.  To learn more about becoming a Certified Trainer visit here.