Blended Bulletin, Issue 9

Blended Brags

In Kevin Killeen's Algebra class at JMA, ninth and tenth graders are working to develop the skills and dispositions to be self-reliant learners. While practicing solving equations, students relied on different means of support. They were asked to work independently or with partners, and to "coach, don't cheat." If students struggled with a concept, they could look to their partner for help, or turn to MathPapa, an online algebraic equation solver. What I was most impressed with was that students were more interested in understanding the process than getting the answer, and in fact, if they didn't understand the MathPapa explanation, they then turned to Mr. Killeen. Mr. Killeen and his students that understood the topic best offered tutorials throughout the class. Thanks for the great class!

Last week, almost 20 teachers and administrators from Bulkeley Upper, Bulkeley Lower, and JMA participated in Education Elements School Design Workshop. After learning about design thinking by participating in the Marshmallow Challenge and experiencing a simulation of a station rotation, participants got to work in instructional and classroom design. This group utilized the time to think through classroom challenges and discover blended tactics to solve the problems they identified. Kudos to them for their hard work, and I'll soon be in touch with the teachers who did not attend to work through their designs.

Cool Tools

This week, the tools are about you, not the students. The first is PBS LearningMedia, which is creating great open educational resources (OER) for students and open resources for teacher professional development. I'd invite you to explore what this site has to offer, as well as check out these webinars:

Apps, Tools and Tech Tips You Can Use Tomorrow

Tips for Transforming Your Classroom into a Personalized Learning Environment
Additionally, I'm really intrigued by this live, virtual field trip being offered by Alabama Public Television to take students to important sites connected to the Montgomery Bus Boycotts.

The other site I would like to direct you to is BetterLesson's Master Teacher Project for Blended Learning. BetterLesson has put together a series of vignette's by experienced blended teachers to explain systems and designs that work. They are brief, focused, and very useful. Hope you enjoy!

Professional Learning

In Why flip the classroom? ‘If kids aren’t learning, it’s not them, it’s you’, listen to and read about one teacher's decision to switch to a flipped classroom.

The title How tech is taking the terror out of learning doesn't do justice to this article's narrative description of using tech to enhance learning rather than replace teaching.

Appropriately, Mrs. Greene tweeted this resource on social media: Social Media in Education: Resource Toolkit.

News from the US Department of Education last week was all about #GoOpen, a campaign to push for open licenses of educational resources, or OER. Read about the launch of the campaign in Education Department Wants Schools to #GoOpen and check out The Learning Registry to see the government's foray into organizing these efforts.

Take Aways from iNACOL 2015

Here's a trivia question for you: What does the acronym EPCOT stand for?

Did you even know it was an acronym?

Give up?

EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

I mention this because the backdrop for the conference I attend this week, the iNACOL Symposium for Blended and Online Learning was Disney World. In my opinion, there could be no more appropriate setting for a group of 3200 forward-thinking educators.

Walt Disney created Disney World in an attempt to make the happiest place on Earth. He wanted to transport guests at the park to different immersive experiences that grew from the imagination. In short, Disney World was Walt's attempt to improve the world his guests lived in.

After succeeding with the Magic Kingdom, Walt turned his attention to the future. For him, it wasn't enough to transform the "now," he wanted to innovate for the world years from now. EPCOT was originally imagined as Walt's futuristic utopia. In Walt's own words, "EPCOT will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing, and testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." EPCOT was to be a model of city planning and organization, a testing site for new systems and infrastructure, and a home for 20,000 residents.

After Walt's death, Disney decided they could not run EPCOT as a city without his leadership, and so restructured the community as a new theme park.

While walking through EPCOT, it was not hard for me to draw parallels to the experimenting and prototyping that educators at the conference were doing, and to the innovation at work here in Hartford. With that in mind, here are my conference takeaways.

1. Innovation in the classroom, in schools, and in a district is within reach if we do it thoughtfully. It is not truly an innovation if we throw Chromebooks at every students and tell them to start using a tool. Innovation is reimagining broader ideals. Because we are in the work of shifting paradigms, we need to be as open, honest, and reflective in the process as possible. Though Walt's vision was utopia, his was a community of tomorrow, meaning that perfection would never be reached. If we innovate with that in mind, we can make changes not just for next class or next year, but for the future of our schools and our kids.

2. I continuously come back to this, but the tool does not matter! Through three days of sessions, I only attended one workshop focused on a particular tool. We're at the point in the EdTech world where most of the cream has risen to the top. We'll make decisions on tech tools based on our context, but what really matters is having systems in place that allow those tools to be successful. This comes down to design thinking. How do we design authentic and valuable learning experiences for our students. It may be time to move beyond the lesson plan.

3. Which leads me to my third takeaway: We as teachers need to be ready to teach in innovative schools. The chart below summarizes this shift nicely:

The best way to teach our students to have agency, have a growth mindset, and not be happy with being "good enough" is to model it ourselves. Yeah, we may be able to get by with limited changes to our teaching and our systems, but that's being happy with "good enough." Instead, we need to model lifelong learning, challenge ourselves to innovate, and constantly reflect on how we can be improving. 

And finally, above all, there is no harm in having fun, being imaginative, and getting in touch with your inner-child along the way! As Walt Disney says, "If you can dream it, you can do it."

MassCUE - October 2015

The MassCUE conference in Foxboro Massachusetts offered an opportunity to see many of the technology that we have been learning about in action. Innovative startups, master teachers, and worldwide tech companies shared the same space, highlighting their products, practice, or interesting takes on the use of existing products.

There were several takeaways from the conference as a whole; the vast majority were enlightening and inspiring, but some left me with a measure of frustration.

Before I launch into the most interesting programs and innovations I had the opportunity to learn about, I think it is important to share that through conversations with other teachers, I learned that many burgeoning blended learning communities, regardless of the test scores and median income of the district, are experiencing the same level of growing pains as I see in my "going blended" experience. It was nice to know that other (seemingly well to do) schools and districts are also struggling with infrastructure as well; it seemed to be a common thread uniting teachers from vastly different demographics.

Now on to the tech.
Everyday Stuff
Coupled with the different programs each session featured, there was an undercurrent of common tech, used subtly, almost behind the scenes.

• Google Slides: Each speaker used Google Slides to present their ideas. It was simple, familiar, and behaved a great deal like PowerPoint. It may not be as flashy as Prezi or Keynote, but it is quick and easy, and the greater benefit is in its ability to be shared.
• QR Codes/Bit.ly: Which brings us to how they shared it. Each presenter started their slide show with a QR code and a URL shortened by bit.ly. These made it so that everyone with a device could either type in the simplified address, or be linked to the show by the QR code. 
• Padlet: Many discussions or formative assessments of new ideas were accompanied by a padlet where the participants could share ideas, air frustrations, or ask questions. 
• Google Forms: Finally, most sessions ended with feedback on Google Forms. The presenters would share a bit.ly or a QR that directs participants to a simple form that compiles all information and sends it to a dedicated Google Sheet for real, quick analysis

Apps and Extensions

Personally, the idea of blended learning has been daunting, but the simple tech above allows for easy implementation that is not scary, but helpful. The second element that I thought was remarkable was the add-ons within the applications that we already use. This aspect of the conference was both the most inspiring and the most frustrating, because the download restrictions on our school chromebooks prevented me from downloading any, and it would undoubtedly be the same for our students. Nevertheless, there were some apps and extensions that I thought to be game changers.

• Grammarly: Checks documents for plagiarism and grammar errors in writing.
• Clearly: Clears advertisements and extra obstructions from view, so that the web page simply displays the text and essential images.
• Ginger: A predictive keyboard for mobile devices that checks writing in real time, offering corrections based on a database of commonly made errors
• WOT: (Web of Trust) This extension judges the credibility and reliability of sources as students search on Google. Green sites are trusted, red are not, and the extension gives reasoning as to why they are safe or otherwise.

Useful Programs to Look Into

No matter your subject area, there are programs available that allow for deeper and more meaningful understanding of material. Both of the programs featured below are available for free, but you also have the option of subscribing for a more in-depth experience.

• Animoto: Animoto is a program that allows students to create unbelievable short videos without filming anything. Using a simple template, students input publicly shared images and their own text, with music in the background to display their knowledge on a subject. In the session I attended, we were instructed how to create a book trailer to show overall knowledge of a novel
• Piktochart: This program allows students to make bright vibrant infographics that show information as a supplement to writing, and/or a presentation. The ability to experiment with professional levels of visualization allows students the freedom to display their knowledge, as well as educate peers.

Overall, there were some very inspiring sessions in which teachers showed how THEY use the programs, which showed their true practicality through implementation.

Good luck, and happy tech-ing!!!

Blended Bulletin, Issue 8

Cool Tools

Ourboox is a free digital publishing tool that lets students create picture or text-based books and publish them. Unlike some digital book creators, Ourboox allows users to upload any images, rather than using their limited library of images. Digital storytelling is a great practice in having students demonstrate their understanding of a concept!

Common Sense Education's Graphite website has provided a list of online museums that students virtually visit for free. Though not as immersive as the Google Expeditions that were highlighted in a previous Bulletin, these sites are great alternatives for experiential learning.

Professional Learning

In How to use video and Google Forms to encourage deeper learning, a high school social studies teacher describes how she elevated the use of video in her classroom by releasing control and responsibility to her students.

Learn these SAMR model essentials straight from its creator provides an overview of a useful framework for deciding when and how to use tech in your teaching. 

A college student describes how student agency is fostered and developed in ‘Student Agency’ Is Not Something You Give or Take.

Blended Bulletin, Issue 7

Cool Tools

Kudzoo "is a free student benefit program that grants students access to deals, giveaways, scholarship opportunities, concert tickets and once in a lifetime experiences based on student's grades and achievements." Students can download the app, scan the report cards, and receive rewards points at places like McDonald's or Pizza Hut. I wish this existed when I was in high school!

Recently, I was shocked to learn that there is an algorithm for taking the square root of a number. In my math classes, taking the square root was only the press of a button on a calculator. It was never necessary for me to memorize the algorithm because technology did it for me, and then I could apply it. Ok Google is a technology that has the potential to decrease the time teachers and students spend memorizing formulas and algorithms and increasing the time spent in applying mathematical ideas to complex problems. Ok Google is simply a voice-activated search with the not-so-simple capability of completing complex tasks such as graphing parabolas. I urge you to activate this feature in your browser and test its limits!

Professional Learning

The Role of the Teacher white paper delineates 10 reasons why a teacher is vital to the success of blended learning. Each reason details why teachers make blended learning "click" (ha!).

The article How Modern Education is Adapting to Millennial Lifestyles details some of the reasons why digital tools are so effective in reaching our students. 

Teacher Laura Thrash details the challenges she had to overcome in being a blended learning first year teacher in The Curious Case of Missing Computers and the First Year Teacher.

In 'A Cat is Not a Dog' and Other Advice for Blended Learning Teachers, a high school student presents some strong do's and don'ts for blended learning teachers to follow. I would listen to her if I were you!

Blended Bulletin, Issue 6

Blended Brags

In Susan Johnston's English class at JMA, students are working through personalized learning paths in grammar. Students are using NoRedInk in an independent computer station as they look to increase their skills in grammar, editing, and revising. In the span of five minutes in Susan's class, I heard one student proclaim, "I HATE THIS!" "Why does this have to be so hard?" and "Wooo! Finished! What's the next one?" Students are learning through struggling, and it is great to see!

Because October is Connected Educator's Month, I would also like to highlight the long-distance connection that Justin Taylor has created between his students and students in a classroom in Memphis, TN. Justin and Zach Seagle, a social studies teacher at The Soulsville Charter School, have co-planned an American Politics course and are holding discussions between the two classes. Justin and Zach are using Vialogues, reviewed below, as a means of sharing videos of class discussions and allowing the students to comment about the other class' discussion. Here is a link to one of the videos that you can view upon creating a Vialogues account, and a screenshot.

Cool Tools

As described above, Vialogues is a great tool for video instruction. Read my full review here!

We all know that parent communication is very important, but it can also be a challenge. Remind is a free communication tool that allows you to send bulk or single messages to parents from your computer or mobile device. The ingenious idea is the Remind does not communicate through your phone number, but rather one generated just for the use of the app, thus maintaining your privacy. Remind has also recently added Spanish translation.

TalkingPoints is also a free parent communication app that functions in a similar way to Remind. The key difference is that TalkingPoints has some added features like a library of messages and polls to send home. Most importantly, TalkingPoints translates over 200 languages, both in the messages you send and the messages sent back to you.

Professional Learning

In the webinar Adaptive Technology: Driving Dynamic Blended-Learning Environments, Michael B. Horn discusses much of what he wrote in our summer reading, Blended.

With Arne Duncan resigning as Secretary of Education, EdSurge created an informative interactive timeline of his term: Timeline: Notable Moments Along Arne Duncan's Education Journey.

Nicholas C. Donahue, president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, authored We can do better than one-size-fits-all education to make the case for student-centered learning and personalized learning.

CNN provides an interesting look into how social media has affected being a teenager in #Being13: Inside the Secret World of Teens.

In What to Do When Your Flipped Classroom Flops, Carolyn Fruin shares the lessons she learned when her flipped classroom initiative failed for her, her students, and her students' parents. This is a great example of failing forward!

Blended Bulletin, Issue 5

Welcome to October!

Blended Brags

Last Wednesday, Google came to Bulkeley!

In its attempt to improve experiential learning, Google has created Google Expeditions. Expeditions are immersive, virtual reality field trips to places across the globe and solar system. The concept is simple: View Master meets phone app. The result has the potential to be brilliant. Four Western Humanities classes piloted Expeditions and had the chance to view ancient Roman ruins up-close. 

As "Oohs" and "Ahhs" filled the room, possibilities for classroom application seemed endless! Currently, Expeditions are only available through the Expeditions Pioneer Program, but the free app along with Expedition kits will be hitting the market soon. 

Cool Tools

HSTRY is a digital timeline creator with a lot of capabilities. As a teacher, you can create a class and view the creations of your students. The timelines are very interactive, allowing for pictures, videos, sound, and quiz questions to be embedded. Students can also collaborate on a timeline. Here is an example of a timeline I created in collaboration with students on the BHS Moot Court Team.

GoSoapBox is a web-based student response system. This program will allow you to give formative assessments that can take the form of polls, quizzes, students determining what question should be asked, and a confusion barometer. Check out these unique features here. 

Kahoot! is another web-based student response system. Like the above website, this tool is great for formative assessment. It allows you to conduct quizzes and polls and has the feel of a game.

Professional Learning

While digital tools should only be part of the decision-making process in blended learning, when you choose a tool, you want to make sure it is high-quality. In Five Simple Steps to Edtech Dating, the author describes a process for evaluating a tool's usefulness. You might try it out with some of the tools I have suggested above!

This past weekend, the first national Digital Citizenship conference was held right in our backyard in West Hartford. Read about DigCit expert Mark Ribble's baseline for digital citizenship in The 9 essential elements of digital citizenship and learn why this topic deserves a national spotlight.

We all know about the equity issues around Internet access in our community, so you may find it a relief to know that some members of Congress are also concerned about this gap. Read about a bill that proposes to solve this issue in Digital equity bill targets ‘homework gap’.