Showing posts with label Engagement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engagement. Show all posts

Monday, April 15, 2019

Exploring the Respiratory System with Augmented/Virtual Reality & More in Seventh Grade Science

Students in Kaylene Boos’ seventh grade life science class at Minnetonka Middle School West are studying about the respiratory system. In the past the lesson involved a lot of lecture and note taking. Naturally students didn’t find this past method of content delivery very interesting. Teachers are always improving their instruction, and over the past few years, middle school science teachers have restructured the learning activities to be more engaging for the students. On Monday afternoon when I was present, students were rotating among eight different stations for five minutes each, very engaged in activities.

At one of the stations students used the Virtuali-tee app. This augmented reality app allows students to scan a special T-shirt with their iPad and see the body systems inside the torso of the person/shirt, including the respiratory system. Funds from the PTO were granted to purchase the shirts for each seventh grade science teacher. As pictured, students could hold their iPad like a window into the respiratory system. As they moved it around, they were able to see inside a lung. Augmented and virtual reality show a lot of promise in the opportunities that will be available for learning, and activities this seem to just be the start of what’s possible. 



At another station students watched a video about the respiratory system and answered questions, recording their answers in Notability. At a third station, students completed an online labeling activity in which they had to race to beat the clock identifying the parts of the respiratory system. Another station consisted of sorting vocabulary terms and then photographing and inserting the image of the result into the Notability file. Students also researched answers to questions online and took a Schoology quiz at two other stations and the last station had a model of a working lung made out of a 2 liter pop bottle.

These activities cover multiple dimensions on our Minnetonka Teaching & Learning Framework: communication, collaboration, personalized learning, critical thinking, use of technology for learning, and more. Switching stations every five minutes kept the students active and moving around. They also worked on each activity in shorts bursts, so I did not see them losing interest or becoming bored with the learning. I certainly would have preferred to learn in this manner myself back in school. Plus when I was teaching, I should have designed more active learning opportunities like this for my own students!


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Monday, March 25, 2019

2nd Grade Book Creators Publish Their Learning


Last week I was in second grade teacher Traci Preciado’s class as students were working on writing books on a research topic of their choice. Students eagerly showed me their work and read their books aloud. The topics they selected ranged from animals like cheetahs and sabertooth tigers to Native Americans to British Soldiers. Each student was engaged and excited about producing a book on their topic and motivated to write and find images to illustrate their work using the Book Creator app.


A few weeks prior to this, students had been learning about polar animals, polar lands, and people who live in polar regions. Students had written summaries of each areas and then chose one area to publish as a book. Traci then showed them how to use the Book Creator app and they spent a couple class periods putting in their information. This was practice for their own research project.


The following week students choose an animal, person, or place to research. The wrote questions, researched and read about their topic using Pebble Go, and then wrote about it. They used Book Creator in iPads to type up their writing and insert images. When they finished the class has a publishing fair, inviting in their parents to come in and hear the books being read by students. Traci also emailed each students’ parents a copy of their book electronically as a PDF.
This is a great example of students having voice and choice in their learning as well as creating and communicating their work with an authentic audience, all components of our Minnetonka Teaching & Learning Framework. Traci tied in numerous nonfiction reading and writing skills throughout this project as well. Students were very motivated to learn and use technology to showcase their work.


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Monday, July 9, 2018

FlipGrid is Now Free--Great News for Online Discussions & More

Although I was aware of FlipGrid, I hadn't used it until this past week since it used to cost money. We'd had some teachers in our Tonka Online program try it out with their students and they liked it, but because of the cost we hadn't paid to allow all our teachers to have an account. A couple weeks ago right before the ISTE Conference in Chicago, FlipGrid announced that Microsoft had purchased it and was making it free for everyone (more details here). This was great news and created quite a buzz at the conference (#FlipGridFever). There were a number of sessions and mentions about FlipGrid so I learned a lot more about its many possibilities.

This past week I tried it out myself. I used FlipGrid in the online class I teach through Saint Mary's University of Minnesota with teachers who are working on their master's degree. Because the class is entirely online, I had students record a short 1-2 minute introduction of themselves to post to our class FlipGrid. All FlipGrids are password protected, so it offers a private way to build an online community. As I watched each video to learn about my students, I was able to easily and quickly record a response to each of them, welcoming them to class and asking some follow up questions. I'm really impressed with the simplicity of the tool and can see it taking off this coming school year when we show it to our teachers in Minnetonka. There is also a built in rubric feature that can be utilized. I plan to use it again in my course in a few weeks, too.

 Two different sessions I attended at ISTE mentioned GridPals, including Matt Miller of Ditch that Textbook (pictured). GridPals are basically video pen pals using FlipGrid. It's a great idea and there are a lot more details about it online. Matt has additional ideas about uses for FlipGrid I'm excited to show our teachers and students in the coming year. I'm thankful to Microsoft for making this tool available for free!

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Monday, July 17, 2017

Immersive Technology Accelerates Learning in Science


Minnetonka science teachers use a variety of technology tools to enhance understanding, feedback, collaboration, and make learning engaging for students. Starting 15 years ago when interactive whiteboards were first used in our classrooms, our science teachers have been using all types of technology tools, software, websites, simulations, and more to accelerate learning. Now with 1:1 iPads for all of our grade 5-12 students, students each have continual access to these great tools and resources every day.  

 As you will see in the video, high school science teacher Jenica Dummer uses ClassKick to interact with her students and provide them with immediate feedback. She can see and check their work in real time. Even the quietest students can ask the teacher a question electronically. In addition to ClassKick, Minnetonka teachers use other formative assessment technology tools such as PearDeck, Kahoot and Quizlet Live.
Also highlighted in the video is chemistry teacher Sean Holmes. Sean uses technology with iPads to help his students understand concepts and learn more thoroughly. As shown, students use Schoology, our learning management system, to frequently take quizzes and as a learning hub for accessing files and turning in assignments. High school science students use Vernier probe ware to capture data on their iPads. Students use the iPad's camera to take time lapse video and use Notability to annotate their lab notes with digital ink. They also use Google Docs and Sheets regularly for their work to communicate and collaborate with one another.

Back when I was a middle school science teacher almost 20 years ago, I was fortunate to have four student laptops and some probe ware. Digital cameras required a floppy disk and our school had a couple available for check out. During my final year in the classroom, I had an interactive white board and projector. There was certainly a lot more time spent and work involved to access and share files back then. Today's tools have made things so much more seamless and efficient, which result in increased opportunities for learning and understanding!
You can learn more about our 1:1 program, iPads, and use of technology for learning in the related posts below:
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Monday, May 8, 2017

A New Twist on a Band Playing Test: Solo Trios with GarageBand

Minnetonka band students have embraced the iPad as an instructional tool and routinely have their iPads on their music stands as pictured, annotating music during practices and touching screens to turn the page.

Our freshman band teacher, Paul Rosen, recently shared a creative twist on the traditional playing test students do for his class. He rearranged a piece of music so his students could play three different parts of it for their playing test using GarageBand. Students recorded the first part, then as it played they recorded the second track and layered that recording on top of the first. They repeated this process again and ended up with a recording of a trio entirely played by one person--themselves--for their individual playing test. They then turned this GarageBand recording in to their teacher through Schoology, our Learning Management System.
Recording a playing test and turning it in through Schoology is a common, standard procedure for our Minnetonka band and orchestra students beginning in fifth grade in our 1:1 iPad program. Music teachers like Paul routinely have students submit audio and or video recordings for their playing tests. They assess the students in five categories using a rubric within Schoology (pictured): rhythm, pitch accuracy, dynamics, tempo, and articulation.
You can listen to a student’s playing test here. Paul explained to me that the students found this trio assignment to be a fun change from their regular playing tests. They stated that they felt like professional musicians. Some students had the metronome playing in their mix while others did not. His complete directions for the task are below.

Another band concert with director Paul Rosen
and students using their iPads.
Back when I was in middle and high school band learning to play the alto saxophone, I remember playing tests. I would practice a piece and then play it individually for our band director. We did this a few times a year. I remember our director would spend a number of days meeting with each student to assess us individually, while the rest of the band would have free time to do other homework or talk with our friends. But additional learning and practice in band did not happen on those days of school.


Taking class time for playing tests over many days has all but disappeared from Minnetonka music classrooms. It has also decreased for many other teacher assessments, too, such as world language speaking tests where students now can record their answers to questions for their teacher to listen to after class, rather than individually during the school day. This is yet another example of accelerated learning possible due to 1:1 iPads in Minnetonka.





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Monday, April 24, 2017

Grade 11 Students Create Amazing Graphic Novels with iPads, Book Creator & Notability

View full graphic novel on The Russian Revolution
I’m often amazed at the talent of our students. Their artistic ability is no exception. Our students' creativity is evident in the artwork I see in the hallways, showcases and classrooms throughout our schools. Earlier this year, eleventh grade general English students at Minnetonka High School read Persepolis, a graphic novel autobiography by Marjane Satrapi about growing up during the Islamic revolution in the 1980s. After reading it, the students were given two choices to create their own graphic novel with a collaborative group. The results are awesome!
View full graphic novel on the Weimar Republic
For this project, students worked in collaborative groups and each group member was responsible for two pages individually or the group members chose to work on their pages together. You can see the full assignment description for this task here. Students used a storyboard for planning their projects and each individual completed a self-reflection afterwards. The project was designed by English teachers David Adams, Jordan Cushing, Mary Hedstrom and Judy Thomas as part of their PLC (Professional Learning Community). Students were given two options from which to choose for the topic of their graphic novel. Students could either:
Create a graphic novel based on a revolution that took place outside of the United States before 1970. Students had to pick a revolution, research it, and tell the story of an important event during the revolution in their graphic novel. (Three examples are pictured and linked in this post.)
Or
Create a graphic novel that explores the connections between the challenges faced by a girl living in the United States and a girl living in Iran after 2010. Students researched women’s issues in Iran and America after 2010 and had to tell the story of both girls, comparing and contrasting their experiences in their graphic novel.
View full graphic novel on the French Revolution
One of the teachers, David Adams, told me he was very impressed by the work students did. He explained that students really enjoyed being able to be creative with the project. They used a variety of apps for illustrations. Many used Notability to make the pictures and then drop them into Book Creator. David explained that students felt that Book Creator was very useful for setting up the frames, pages, captions, and speech bubbles, but it didn’t have very many drawing tools. So many of them set up all of the frames in Book Creator first and then went to Notability to illustrate their pictures. This app smash project is a great example of many dimensions on the Minnetonka Framework for Teaching and Learning: collaboration, communication, use of technology, authentic and real world learning, creativity and more. It's also a great example of using iPads and the apps on them to showcase learning in meaningful, deeper ways.
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