@edutopia: Today marks the Wright Brothers’ first flight

RT "@edutopia: Today marks the Wright Brothers’ first flight"
How can we encourage future inventors?
pic.twitter.com/UFlIARU9my
#holtontechtips

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) December 17, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth

December 17, 2013 at 01:48PM

via IFTTT

GOOGLE DRIVE - student to teacher workflow

This year Holton began using Google Apps for Education. We were attracted to Google Drive in order to create a more efficient workflow for material from the student to the teacher, specifically students using iPads. Note: we use finalsite course pages as our LMS to deliver information from the teacher to the student.

Testing during the summer went well. We were very confident as we entered the school year - maybe too confident. As the teachers and student began using Google Drive I received mixed feedback. Some teachers had great luck, others seemed to have one problem after another.

THE PROCESS

Students created 'hand-in" folders for each of their classes using provided naming conventions and then shared the folders with the appropriate teacher. Having the students create the folders, reduced the initial set up time for the teachers, which was a plus and specifying the naming convention of the folder allowed for easy organization, also a plus.

THE INSTRUCTIONS

Student Handout - Creating and Sharing Google Drive Folders
Student Handout - Submitting Work
Teacher Handout - Teacher Management 

THE REALITY

Unfortunately, Google Drive did not prove to be reliable. Often times students would send a document from within an app to Google Drive, on the students end it would appear in the correct folder, however on the teacher's end the document would not appear - even after quite some time. At first, deleting the teacher's app and reinstalling it seemed to do the trick. When the problem returned, deleting the students app and reinstalling it also helped temporarily. In the meantime teachers who were having trouble resorted to collecting student work via email, which turns out to be incredibly reliable. In addition, with the use of mail folders and rules, outlook can act as an organized dropbox.
While I love many of the benefits Google Drive offers, I completely understand that teachers have to use what is efficient and reliable - and for some teachers that means using email to collect student work!

UPDATE - 12/10/13

Maybe things will get better! I was thrilled to see Google released an update on December 10th to the Google Drive App. I am hoping that "some under the hood speed and usability improvements" will address the problems we have seen. Stay tuned - only time will tell!

Reframing Failure as Iteration @edutopia

Reframing Failure as Iteration Allows Students to Thrive @edutopia
http://t.co/0HO1OlMW0W #mindshift #holtontechtips

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) December 17, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth

December 16, 2013 at 04:30PM

via IFTTT

SNOW DAY! Did you get an alert?

Monday, December 9th at 5:17am before my alarm clock even thought about making a sound, I was alerted via text message that school was closed!

Despite the fact that it had snowed most of the day Sunday, a day off from school was VERY unexpected!

How did you find out school was closed? Did you constantly check the scrolling banner across the bottom of the television screen? Did you check your school's website? The first snow day of the year is not only a much appreciated day to catch up, but also a friendly reminder to subscribe to emergency alerts! If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend that you register for emergency alerts through finalsite. As always, please let me know if I can help in any way!

Friday FAVORITES

1. The Educators from The College Preparatory school in Oakland, California have compiled a list of Resources and Downloads for Collaborative Learning. (edutopia)

2. Jon Bergmann writes that The Biggest Hurdle to Flipping Your Class is the flipping your thinking about class time. (edutopia)

3. A hilarious reminder that sometimes we all need to Get Off The Phone! (rhett and link)

Happy Friday!

Embedding Video to Enhance Course Page Content

Did you know that website visitors typically stay on webpages that contain video 88% longer than webpages that only contain text? You can easily add video to your course pages to enrich the content and capture your students' attention. As always, please let me know how I can help you!

How to Embed Media on the Home Page or as a Resource



How to Embed YouTube on the Home Page

21 Favorite Middle School Apps

21 Favorite Middle School Apps @TeachersApps http://t.co/0jWKiDebM9 … #holtontechtips

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) November 29, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth
November 29, 2013 at 06:59AM
via IFTTT

Friday FAVORITES - STEM

1. GoldieBlox & Rube Goldberg "Princess Machine" Video (goldieblox.com)
2. Goldie's Field Notes (goldieblox.com)

3. What Most Schools Don't Teach (code.org)
4. The Facts About Women in Computer Science (new jersey institute of tech)

5. 15 Reasons Why We Should Be Teaching Our Kids To Code (teachers with apps)

6. The Best Engineering and Programming Tools (graphite)

Great Video From @goldieblox

Great video from @goldieblox encouraging girls to be engineers! http://t.co/9Yu4uuFy9J #holtontechtips #holtonstem #STEM

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) November 21, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth
November 21, 2013 at 03:25PM
via IFTTT

IF THIS THEN THAT

You might have noticed that my last few blog posts look a little different. That's because I am using IF THIS THEN THAT.

IF THIS THEN THAT is a free service that lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement:

I first learned about this super cool tech tool from Catlin Tucker who provides an excellent step by step tutorial. After trying it out for a few days I am sold! IF THIS THEN THAT links the tools you are already using allowing them to work together - and by working together the tools really start to work for you!

This is how it works:

1. Create an account at IFTT.com
2. Create a recipe by choosing a trigger (if this) and an action (then that).
3. Sit back and watch the internet work for you!

The recipe above shows that I am using IFTTT to connect Twitter and Blogger. Each time I tweet with the hashtag #holtontechtips, a blog post is automatically created and labeled, IFTTT and twitter. How cool is that!? What I love most about this particular recipe (besides the fact that the internet is literally working for me) is that the readers of my blog who are not on twitter can still read the information I share on twitter. It took a little playing around to find the recipe that works best for me. I quickly realized that I didn't want every tweet to create a post on the blog, by changing the rule to read "new tweet by @MrsDobroth with the hashtag #holtontechtips" I can easily control which tweets create blog posts.

I know I am easily excited about new technology tools, but this might be the coolest tool I have come across yet! Check it out today and for more information and a step by step guide, check out Catlin Tucker's post on IFTTT! 

A Design Thinking approach to Digital Citizenship

A Design Thinking approach to Dig Cit via @lizbdavis
Thanks @jsvoorhees for sharing! http://t.co/0f6HfgVSTS
#holtontechtips #digcit

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) November 18, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth

November 18, 2013 at 11:23AM

via IFTTT

Privacy Settings Can't Always Protect You

Privacy Settings Can't Always Protect You http://t.co/LzQEnlgGRP via @MartiWeston
#digcit

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) November 18, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth

November 18, 2013 at 08:02AM

via IFTTT

They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets

They Loved Your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets. http://t.co/caEwkP8Edk
#digcit

— Mary Dobroth (@MrsDobroth) November 16, 2013

from Twitter https://twitter.com/MrsDobroth

November 15, 2013 at 05:29PM

via IFTTT

Friday FAVORITES - GOOGLE

1. All Things Google eBook
A free ebook from Teq to help teachers make the most out of all things Google - Google search, drive, forms and earth (teq.com).

2. Getting Started with Google Sites 
A quick step-by-step guide I created to help get students started creating Google sites as a means for  creation of digital portfolios or collaboration trough class wikis (m.dobroth).

3. Ideas for Using Google Presentations with Students
Catlin Tucker's blog post with 5 ideas of how to use Google presenations with students such as having students create flipped lessons or crowd-sourcing information as a class (catlintucker.com).

4. Get More Out of Google Searches
An infographic displaying tips and tricks to help students - and teachers -  refine online searches using Google to be able to search more effectively and efficiently (hackcollege.com).

5. Collaborative Brainstorming with Google Docs Drawing Tools (cooltools.blogspot.com)
Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners' blog post describing how Google docs drawing tools can be used by students to create collaborative, mind-maps. 

4th Annual Blended Learning Lab - RECAP

Thank you to all who were involved in making Holton’s 4th Annual Blended Learning Lab a success! Over the course of two days participants heard from a variety of speakers, participated in classroom simulations, explored blended learning tools and most importantly connected and collaborated with other educators. 

Here is a quick recap:

 

What is Blended Learning –

• Warm up activity using Today's Meet as forum to "crowd source" questions and comments while participants viewed What is Blended Learning.

• More ideas of how to use Today's Meet for real time discussion - The Beauty of the Back Channel.

 

 

Featured Keynote Presentation by Catlin Tucker – 

 

• Catlin Tucker's Blog

• Blended Learning in Grades 4-12

 

 

 

 Steps to Blended Learning –

• Steps to Blended Learning Presentation

• Redefinition Considerations Worksheet

 

Project Tuning Protocol –

• Project Tuning Protocol Presentation 
• Project Tuning Protocol Explanation
• Project Tuning Protocol Project Planner

 

Design Think Process  –

• Design Thinking as a way to think about redesigning a lesson
• 20 Minute Design Think Challenge (adapated from OESIS presentatiion Incorporating Design Thinking into the Blended Model, Matthew Cavellier and Hannah Sobol, Shattuck-St.Mary's School)

 

Meeting the Students Where They Are –

• Mobile Stats Video
• Geared towards businesses, but contains great stats about the mobile world we live in today

The focus of this workshop was to hear from blended learning veterans and beginners, provide basic tools and resources for exploring blended learning, and provide hands-on experiences and exploration. If you were unable to join this year, we hope to see you next year!

 “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” 

–John Dewey

SUPER COOL TOOL - POWTOON

I am so excited to share a animated presentation creation tool I saw in action at OESIS!

So often both teachers and students are looking for a more exciting alternative to PowerPoint, not that I have anything against PowerPoint. Prezi is a common solution, however Prezi is not always the best tool for the job!

PowToon is "online presentation software tool that allows you to create free, cool, and awesome animated video explainers as an alternative to PowerPoint"

I encourage you to check out PowToon the next time you need to create an engaging, informative presentation. The PowToon website contains easy to follow tutorials and tons of examples to help you get started! Of course, I am always here to help as well!

 

No Need to Create an Account!

The best part is, you do not need to create an account with PowToon, be sure to select "sign in with Google" and enter your full Holton email address and Holton password. 

 

 

Student Example

Design Thinking for Educators - created to demonstrate the type of simple presentation that could be created by a student to show what they know about a specific topic.

Teacher Example

Green Human Project Video Introduction - created by Elizabeth Frank to introduce a new project based assignment to her elementary school students.

 

Resources

PowerPoint alternative? Why?
PowToon video tutorials  

OESIS - Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools

October 10th-11th I attended the Online Education Symposium for Independent Schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  As you will see from my conference session choices, my focus in attending this conference was blended learning. My goal in attending a conference like this is to walk away with a few ideas and tools that I can either share with the teachers at Holton and use in professional development trainings I offer. While I intended to write a quick post to share the highlights from my favorite sessions, the post turned out to be MUCH longer than anticipated. Clearly this was a conference worth attending!

Blended Learning, from Pedagogy to Practice

Darby Carr, Head of Laurel Springs School

• The most important thing to do right now is to do something - dip your toe in the water
• Try something small
• You can always change it later.
• If it works build upon it, if not change it!
• Think about how many times you have changed your curriculum thought the years - adding new activities and resources.

 

Blended Learning Workshop: Designing Blended Learning

John Watson, Founder of Evergreen Education Group

• Good classroom teachers have always blended their methods, "using the right tool in the right situation for the right purpose."
• "Today's blended learning approach effectively combines two things that make each other more powerful, a face to face classroom with a talented teacher combined with technology and computer mediated activities to form a synergistic integrated structural approach."
• "Blended learning really becomes an opportunity to provide differentiated instruction for individualized and personal student learning."

Blended Learning- An Introduction to Blended Learning by edurevolution

Blended learning is all about solving problems, achieving an educational goal and expanding opportunities.  You need to know why you want to blend in order to know the approach to take. 

 

What Do We Do Now That We Are Here? Maximizing Classroom Time in a Blended Learning Class

Meredith Stewart, Teacher and Department Chair, Cary Academy

• Continuing the Conversation

EX: Project a short video to either spark conversation around a topic or to introduce a topic for the first time. Have students post reactions, key terms, and observations in real time using TodaysMeet.  The resulting transcript not only records the input from all students, but also serves as a starting off point for the discussion that follows.

• Assessing prior knowledge

EX: On board, ask students to arrange wars in chronological order, or list in terms of number of casualties - the great thing about doing this on the board in class is that you really get to understand what the students currently know - can't look up things on the internet

• Complicating Content

EX: Ask students to come to class having prepared to write perspective from one side, then when students come to class pair them up and ask that they write a perspective that both sides would agree to

EX: Pose a question that has no correct answer (Indentured Servants - Were they more like claves or free colonists?). Ask students to write their initials on a post-it note and place it on a continuum to represent what they think. Look at the spread. Then have students read an account (person who traveled with indentured servants) and repeat the exercise with a different colored post-it note. Discuss how opinions have changed 

 

Resources

Meredith's Presentation 
Meredith's Blog
TodaysMeet

 

Incorporating Design Thinking into the Blended Model

Matthew Cavellier, Director of Academic Innovation, Shattuck-St.Mary's School
Hannah Sobol, Blended Learning/weCreate Coordinator, Shattuck-St.Mary's School

• Design thinking process as a way to design more effective lessons - identify the problem and find a great solution - every one of us is doing design thinking when we design our lessons, constantly thinking and rethinking about what we are doing to make it better and more successful
• 20 minute design thinking  - way to identify a problem, brainstorm, analyze, and get clean feedback even if we are not being true to the entire design thinking process.

Resources

Virtual Crash Course in Design Thinking
PowToon - A super cool tool to create animated presentations! EXAMPLE

 

The Expansive Use of Blended Learning in an Independent School

Nick Stoneman, President, Shattuck-St.Mary's School

• Blending learning is not just a teacher offering online stuff
• Blending learning is a pedagogical shift that redefines teaching
• Blending learning is not about hardware or software it is about a fundamental shift! 

Once you are there - what else can you do...

• Winterim - stop classes off two weeks - all classes are delivered virtually  - students can focus on something else
• Parent Training - interactive resources with live chats, web chats, recorded lessons, links, etc.
• Alumni or Parent Book Club - onsite and virtual meetings
• Alumni courses - Taught by beloved faculty
• Alumni mentors - Alumni offering virtual student mentoring sessions for career path choice and discussions
• Outreach - Provide teaching resource to schools in emerging markets
• Ted Talks - Produce Ted talk like videos from faculty, staff even students! 

DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP WEEK

Did you know this week is DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP week?

This week is a great time to continue empowering students, engaging families and connecting teachers to "think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly online". While digital citizenship is an important part of our everyday curriculum,  I couldn't pass up an opportunity to share Common Sense Media's newest poster, reminding us all to pause and think about our online presence.  

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/digitalcitizenshipweek

In observation of Digital Citizenship Week, I encourage you to check out Common Sense Media's RESOURCE ROUNDUP!

If you haven't visited their site before, Common Sense Media is a phenomenal resource "dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology". We use Common Sense Media at Holton-Arms as basis for our digital citizenship curriculum and we encourage parents to take advantage of their free parents resources as well. If you haven't already, check them out today!

TAKE A BREAK!

Its so easy to get caught up in your work and forget to take a break. More and more I am finding that we all need a reminder to take a break!

According to Dr. Robert Fechtmer, an ophthalmology professor at the New Jersey Medical School, using a tablet does not harm the eyes for kids or adults, but tablets can cause eyestrain and dry eyes. To counter this effect, Dr. Fechtner recommends the 20-20-20 rule. (Family Fun, September 2013)

I first heard this rule while spending time in Mariana McCormick's 5th grade class. She gently reminded the girls that for every 20 minutes working on their iPads, they needed to take a 20 second break and focus on something about 20 feet away. I absolutely loved it!

The 20-20-20 rule is a such a simple, but effective way to help you remember to take a break!

In addition, Dr. Fechtmer suggests that "increasing on-screen font size, holding devices as least 13 inches away from your face, and switching the screen to a black background with white type can also be helpful".

How long have you been staring at your screen? It is time to take a break?

7 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT iOS7

iOS7 introduces a clean look, new features and an easy to use interface that will (hopefully) make your work faster and more efficient. Many apps have a new look, but the overall functions are the same, this allows you to be as productive as possible right from the start!
Below are the top 7 things you should know about iOS7.

1. CONTROL CENTER

Swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen with one finger to reveal the control center. The control center allows you to do what you need to do even more quickly, turn on or off Airplane mode, Wifi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb and Mute. Adjust the volume and brightness of the screen. Connect to AirPlay enabled devices. Share using AirDrop. Even quickly access the camera and clock. 

 

2. NOTIFICATION CENTER

From any screen, swipe down from the top edge of the screen with one finger to access the notification center. The notification center gives a quick summary of your day, lists calendar invitations, new mail, and reminders that need to be completed.

3. MULTITASKING MADE EVEN BETTER

Multitasking has always made switching between app easier, but now it is even better. Double click the home button to see all of the open apps running in the background. Select an app to switch to that app, or swipe the app up off of the screen to close out of it.

4.  SPOTLIGHT SEARCH

Now access Spotlight search from any home screen. Just swipe down in the middle of the screen to quickly search across your apps, contacts, notes, events and mail. 

5. AIRDROP

Quickly and easily share pictures and videos with a share button. Tap Share, select the person you want to share with and AirDrop does the rest. No set up is needed and all transfers are encrypted which means they are safe and secure.

6. SAFARI

Browsing is bigger, and more beautiful in Safari with iOS 7. Accessing your bookmarked favorites is easier too! Favorites appear as icons on the page when you click to open a new Safari tab, one more way to do what you need to do quicker and more easily.

7. ORGANIZATION

Folders now expand to full screen when selected, allowing you to more easily select the app you are looking for. You can also add more apps to each folder, to allow you to organize apps the way you really want to.

"When something is designed to work beautifully, it tends to look that way too."

-www.apple.com

 

STILL WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Check out these resources for more information.

APPLE - iOS7

FORBES - 15 Tips and Tricks

TECH CRUNCH - A Few Tricks...

SUPER COOL STUDENT TOOL - PADLET.COM

In addition to being a super cool,teacher tool, Padlet is also a great student tool!
Students can use Padlet individually or collaboratively to document progress, build upon their knowledge and display their understanding of a topic.

IDEAS

• brainstorming
• digital poster creation
• portfolio pages
• timeline creation
• book reviews
• collecting individual research
• sharing group research
• creating diagrams and outlines
• Padlet.com gallery of examples

HELP

• PADLET GUIDE for teachers and students
• Padlet.com FAQs

SUPER COOL TEACHER TOOL - PADLET.COM

WHAT IS PADLET?

 "Padlet is an Internet application that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device. Think of it like a multimedia friendly, free-form, real-time wiki." -Padlet.com

• Students do not need accounts to post 
• Information can be added and edited on any device
• Add text, images, links and documents
• Add as many posts to each wall as needed, the wall will continue to grow
• Check out the Padlet gallery for some great examples!

source: http://padlet.com/gallery

GETTING STARTED WITH PADLET

• Click BUILD A WALL
• Click MODIFY WALL to change the properties of the wall (background, layout, privacy, etc)
• Double click or drag a file anywhere to post.

Need more help? Check out the Padlet Knowledge Base. A full step-by-step guide for Holton teachers and students is coming soon. 

HOW YOU CAN USE PADLET

Padlet is the perfect tool for:

• Providing instant, easy collaboration
• Brainstorming
• Collecting group research
• KWL charts
• Exit surveys
• Visual timeline creation
• Real-time group discussions 

GRADE 8 SOCIAL STUDIES EXAMPLE @ HOLTON

At the start of school the Grade 8 Social Studies teachers planned to have their students interview someone older who had a memory of September 11th. The teachers were looking for a quick and easy way for their students to share a short paragraph and picture. For the teachers planning the project, it was important for all of the girls to be able to see the information their classmates were posting and of course for it to be as easy as possible. For me, it was important that the girls not have to log into a new system, that the selected tool work seamlessly with our learning management system (finalsite course pages), and that it work on both an iPad and laptop.

We investigated several options including Pinterest, Google Sites, and Google Docs, but ultimately it was clear that Padlet was the best tool for the job!

The Grade 8 Social Studies teachers created one board for each of their sections and embedded the board as a resource on their course page.  In class, the students simply double-clicked on the embedded Padlet page to post their short paragraph and picture. Immediately the girls were able to see their classmate's posts, read the interviews and look at the pictures. This provided a great starting off point for the in class discussion that followed. Padlet proved to be a super easy way to provide instant, real-time collaboration! 

LINKS TO RESOURCES WITH MORE GREAT IDEAS

Technology Resource Teachers - Padlet

How to Use Padlet in the Classroom
32 Interesting Ways to Use Padlet in Your Classroom

HOLTON'S 4TH ANNUAL BLENDED LEARNING LAB!

I am so excited to invite you all to Holton's 4th Annual Blended Learning Lab on October 17th and 18th from 8:30 am to 3:30pm.

This lab will provide you with the basic tools necessary to get started with blended learning and resources for taking the next steps. Discussions and hands-on activities will constitute a large portion of the lab, so participants will be able to get a head-start on their own blended learning initiatives. You will leave this lab not only with a new blended learning toolkit, but also with a network of peers who share an interest in the topic and can be a source of advice and inspiration for our respective journeys.

NEW THIS YEAR:

• We are proud to be bringing in Catlin Tucker, a Google Certified Teacher and the author of Blended Learning for Grades 4-12: Leveraging the Power of Technology to Create Student-Centered Classrooms as our keynote speaker and break out session leader.
• Two-day format to provide for more hands-on time to redesign your lesson.
• Project tuning strategies will be explored to help all participants design the most effective Blended Learning lesson possible.

TO REGISTER:

Register Online!
(Holton Teachers: In order to register for this lab, just send me an email, no need to register online.)

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Catlin Tucker is a Google Certified Teacher and CUE Lead Learner. She teaches 9th and 10th grade English language arts at Windsor High School in Sonoma County, where she was named Teacher of the Year in 2010. She has also taught online college level writing courses. She spent the 2011-2012 school year on leave finishing her first book, Blended Learning for Grades 4-12: Leveraging the Power of Technology to Create Student-Centered Classrooms (Corwin). She is an experienced professional development facilitator and trainer, education consultant, curriculum designer and frequent Edtech speaker. She earned her BA in English from UCLA and her English credential and Masters in Education from UCSB. She is active on Twitter @CTuckerEnglish and writes an education technology blog at www.CatlinTucker.com.