Using Social Media and Web 2.0 to Differentiate Instruction
By: Mary Marotta Instructional Technology, Professional Development Consultant and Adjunct Professor
This week a social studies teacher and I planned a Google Expedition for an upcoming lesson on the Great Wall of China. The teacher and I met to discuss an upcoming lesson and practice the use of implementing VR/Virtual Reality in the classroom. While planning the lesson, we pulled in both the principal and assistant principal to experience VR.
As part of the planning, I had the teacher create a twitter account to share out the experience. The lesson was being planned for two periods (D and F) on Friday, November 30th.
We delivered the lesson today and I am delighted at the experience I observed students having in the classroom. Check out Mr. Denson on Twitter! It's always a great day when you can inspire teachers and students to take a risk. I'm very proud of a new teacher taking a risk and allowing others to observe the experience! Next up, we will be exploring Google Tour Creator https://vr.google.com/tourcreator and the use of the rioch theta 360 camera to capture the experience.
For the last several years I have worked with History teachers to create student oral history projects. Here is my post from last year. I will be working with a few classes tomorrow on setting up their project portfolio.
This year I am thinking more about this project due to a conference I attended, where John Spencer @spencerideas discussed his book Launch and specifically called out a project and teacher that encouraged his self-directed/ (genius hour, although not a term then) "History Day Project". John discusses his teachers Mr. Darrow and Mrs. Smoot, her quote resonated with him, "when you hide your voice, you rob the world of your creativity? John cared about social justice, history and baseball. His project (PBL) was on Jackie Robinson. Here is a link to his reflection on the importance of that project and how it shaped his voice and belief in himself.
So this year, as I work with teachers and students, around the role of technology in the project I hope to look for ways to inspire students to select a topic they are interested or passionate about and just maybe this might be a defining point for some students.
For the past several yeas, we have been using Google Sites for the project and I was surprised to learn you can not transfer ownership of the new Google sites with another account. I may recommend to students they use their personal gmail accounts, particularly if the project has a personal connection to their family. I want to make sure if this story is important to students they can take the project with them or even share as part of a portfolio. Another option to share the story could be creating the story in Adobe Spark Page, however, not all students have used a Google Site to create a portfolio. I will be checking with the teacher to review options.
Link to the presentation here http://goo.gl/i5MmLt
A few things I plan to stress this week is the sharing of the project (after graduation) filming tips now that most students use their phone and any updates to youtube.
Watch: Five tips for shooting high-quality video on your iPhone *also added to slide 9 or the presentation. Article here - HOLD your phone in LANDSCAPE mote
A reflection and examples of the project will be posted here when completed.
Our PLT has been working on topics pertaining to the Hour of Code this year. We will plan to showcase a variety of examples and possibilities to spark curiosity in our students.
We will continue to explore resources and connect with students over the next few weeks and add to the presentation and social media #HourofCode - draft schedule HERE
Additionally, I am working on a presentation http://bit.ly/hocmarotta to capture so of the items I will cover with students and classes.
Globe Article
"Root looks a bit like a Lilliputian, six-sided cousin of the Roomba vacuum cleaner. But it can do a lot more than just suck up dust. When you stick a whiteboard marker into a hole in the center of Root, it can draw lines. (It comes with a whiteboard surface you can put on a table, but thanks to a set of internal magnets it can also work on vertical whiteboards that have metal backs.) It can light up, play music, sense when you touch its surface, when it hits a barrier, when the environment is light or dark, when it hears a noise, or even when it rolls over a particular color.
Get Talking Points in your inbox: An afternoon recap of the day’s most important business news, delivered weekdays. Enter email address Sign Up All those features enable Root to make not just drawings — one of our first projects was a snowman, with a few notes from the “Frozen” song about snowman-building played at the end — but also to respond to things happening around it, and to play games. And what makes it likely to endure as an educational toy in your home is that Root supports three levels of coding in its companion app (available only for Apple’s iOS devices at present). The first level is entirely graphical, with icons that show the robot turning or playing a musical note or seeing light. The second level, which my 10-year-old likes to use, gets into computing operations like if-then and repeat, but there’s a library of action elements to choose from. The third level is completely text-based — real coding in languages like JavaScript and Python. To help kids progress from one level to the next, the company offers a set of lessons called Root Academy for $5 per month, but it’s not essential to getting a lot out of the bot. Trial and error is a big part of learning how to code, and it’s fun to debug things when Root takes a wrong turn or draws something you didn’t intend.
I tested out the Root Robot with some inspiration from @codewithroot and the snowman activity I found on twitter. I needed to download the Root Coding ios app charge the device and start to explore.
After getting some basic controls and understanding the levels of the robot I found lots of interesting examples online and tested out the snowman on the mat provided with the robot. I the tried on a large sheet of paper and then the whiteboard. Unfortunatley the whiteboard snowman was not a clear and the mat example. once I tweeted out my example @codewithroot let me know they were working on a firmware update and provided me the link to the globe article. I love the fact this local company from Cambridge has developed a way to engage students in coding at all grade levels.
1. The Q-ball was featured on Shark Tank and on twitter. Learn more about the Q-ball here
2. Coding with Root Robotics Root is a fun and easy-to-use educational coding robot that teaches coding, creativity, and problem-solving skills to kids from pre-readers through high school. Problem-solving is as easy as 1,2,3. Learn more at www.rootrobotics.com What can you do with Root?
Explore your artistic side Code Root to draw whatever you can imagine from words and letters to amazing fractal creations. Through drawing and movement, code your outline then color in your creations to create your own unique artwork.
Compose music Turn Root into an instrument by coding musical compositions. Use the scan and play abilities to create a color guitar that plays different notes for each color it sees.
Create Games Build games using your imagination. Race a friend by coding a Root racer. Turn your tablet or phone into a controller and use Root’s color sensors to get boosts or slow down. Learn more at www.rootrobotics.com
2. Spero Mini Sphero Mini Blue: The App-Controlled Robot Ball
Sphero Mini packs tons of fun into a tiny, app-enabled robot about the size of a ping pong ball. Drive Mini using different modes with the Sphero Mini app, or just by using your face. Yes, you read that right. Face Drive is a hilarious new feature that uses your facial expressions to drive the ball.
Explore curated VR/AR content that is compatible with the MERGE Goggles.
4. CoSpaces Edu: Make AR & VR in the classroom https://cospaces.io/ Discover how to use VR and AR for education and engage your students to learn by creating. Runs on mobile, tablet and desktop, including Chromebooks.
New this month CoSpaces Edu - Add-on see video here
5. Rocketbook Everlast and theThinkBoard is here Think Board X is a peel and stick
whiteboard that can cover any smooth surface. And the best part? It’s compatible with the Rocketbook App! Draw, sketch, or take notes on a small 8" x 11" Think Board X or large 2' x 3'Think Board X and then use your Rocketbook App to send them to your preferred cloud service. Ideal for classrooms, boardrooms, college dorms, office environments, or the person who just likes to keep organized in his or her personal life
6. Ricoh Theta 360- Camera (coming soon) (Amazon) RICOH THETA, experience the world in 360° Shoot photos and videos of the entire space with a single push of a button. Introducing a 360-degree camera that easily shares impressive video. This seems much easier to use than Google Street view and I am looking forward to exploring with the new Tour Creator.
Tour Creator https://vr.google.com/tourcreator makes it easy to build immersive, 360 tours right from your computer. Having seen lots of AR/VR options at MassCUE and Greg Kulowiec's presentation at EdTechTeachers summit I am looking forward to exploring.
Recap of the day. It's alway's great to visit Bedford, NH and attend their Future Ready Conference (even on a day off). I am impressed by the number of teacher and guest presenting at Bedford High School. I am glad we presented at Medfield's Digital Day of Learning over the last several years and it's great to see Bedford making their own mark on their in-school PD day. I am excited for our keynote and PD Day in March! This year Bedford had John Spencer has their keynote. I love the connection behind the story. Craig and I read the Launch Book when we delivered our FSU class and modeled it after participating in an online book club with Tina Zita a few years back. Craig then ran a book club on "Empower" and engaged a number of teachers in his district.
Keynote: John Spencer @spencerideas used his story from the Launch book to present and connect to the audience. Although I read the book and did a Google Hangout with John a few years ago it was very inspiring to hear his story and connection to his "History Project" which really seem like a genius hour model, before it was identified as that term. John's teacher encouraged him using Project Based Learning (PBL) and empowered him by giving him a voice when presenting his project. It made such an impression on him, it has impacted his learning and teaching models. I enjoyed sitting in on several presentations and connecting with John, Craig, and friends in Bedford.
We kicked off the day with a conversation and picture with John Spencer and colleagues. Craig (tweeted the pic) and did a great blog post on Empowering Teachers and Students. It was great to see the book spread and the enthusiasm throughout the Bedford School District. There were many great sessions, but more importantly, I enjoyed watching this district move forward in embracing and using technology thanks to Craig's leadership! I am so impressed with his dedication and leadership in his district.
At the conferences, I presented on using Adobe Spark Page link and curated the learning throughout the day by using a spark page. I was extremely proud of my colleague Taryn Grigas who joined me on her day off to spread the word about Design Thinking and using the extraordinaires design studio to allow teachers to experience the design thinking process.
We will then present at the EdTech Teachers Summit in Boston, the next day.
Thought of the day... Keep learning and connecting with others! It's so inspiring!
This week a social studies teacher and I planned a Google Expedition for an upcoming lesson on the Great Wall of China. The teacher and I met to discuss an upcoming lesson and practice the use of implementing VR/Virtual Reality in the classroom. While planning the lesson, we pulled in both the principal and assistant principal to experience VR. 
