Teach Less! Learn More! My journey….. 

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I heard about Mystery Skyping through a blog that I read but am unable to remember which one – sorry!  The idea interested me and so I researched it (you know doing the usual – google search,  You Tube) and discovered that a number of teachers whom I had worked with in Flat Classroom Projects and the Flat Classroom Certified Teachers course were also involved.  I now just had to get interest from the teachers I work with.

I sent out an email about the idea and very quickly heard back from a Abby Cross one of our Grade 4 teachers.  We were ready to try this.  It was a bit of a scary time as I had never done this before and neither had Abby but we both thought this had real possiblitiles.

To make easier for everyone Abby had her class watch a great You Tube video that is an excellent presentation of how it all works.  We also followed the plan suggested with the different jobs.  There was considerable discussion with Abby and her class on behaviour and the kind of questions to ask.  We were going to follow the yes/no format.

Before too long it was time to hook up and with excitement we answered the call from Lisa Parisi.  Her class are old hands at Mystery Skyping so she was able to give us a bit of guidance.  What a great time we had. We were able to figure out their location first but it didn’t take long before the other class figured out where we were located.

One of the parts we did with Lisa’s class was extremely beneficial for overall learning.  Abby’s class went onto Google Earth and found where Lisa’s class was located and they did the same with our school.  While this was going on we disconnected but as soon as we knew we were all online another phone call was made.  The questions started then both back and forth as the students got an even better feel for where our new Skype friends were located.  It was interesting to notice that while there were differences between the two classes there were a lot of similarities in sports, subjects in school and pets.

One of the great supports I have found are the Mystery Skype groups on Skype.  A group called Mystery Skypers and another one called Hello Little World are excellent sources of conversation for teachers as well as links across the world to other skypers.  If you search for both these links you will be able to request admittance.  That is a fact I really like – it is protected.

Since that first call many of our teachers have gone on to be involved.  It is exciting to watch as an idea catches fire and then begins to spread across the Elementary School.  I am so interested to see where we are going to take this next year.

Resources that may help:

http://gvc-clubhouse.wikispaces.com/MysterySkype

Different Jobs

An example of Mystery Skyping

More information

How to do a Mystery Skype

Teaching Geography with Mystery Skype

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 In the previous post - Book Creator Part 1 I talked about how great the app is and some of the things that the Elementary teachers are doing with it.  This post is going to talk about sharing the books and workflow.

When I attended the incredible iPad Summit Atlanta in April one of the take aways for me was the importance of workflow and work arounds.  This is especially important at a school such as mine where we are cross platform.  Our ES lab is full of touch screen new PC’s and we have iPad carts for all of grade levels 2-5.  It soon became apparent that we needed to make all of these work together as we also are a Google Apps school.

The solution was introduced to me at the Summit in the Google Drive app.  Now don’t go the idea I didn’t know about the app.  I did and I used it but I had not really understood how powerful it was.  This is what was emphasized at the summit over and over.  Once I had a grasp on what could be done I have started introducing it to the teachers and will make sure that it is one of the first things talked about next year during inservice days.  I am bless to work with teachers who, for the most part, understand how Google Drive works on a desk top.  Now we just have to make the transition of knowledge over to the iPad. Book Creator is a great example of how Google Drive can support the teachers.

In order for this to work seamlessly you must have the Google Drive app downloaded on your iPad as well as iBooks. (It is also very important that you have the updated version of Google Drive, iBooks and Book Creator for this to work.) When the book is completed in Book Creator you can send it directly to iBooks but it is still only located on that one iPad.  I know that teachers do not want to have to collect 24 iPads and work with those so this is the genius of Google Drive but there are a few things to take care of first.

1. The students will be sending to the teachers Google Drive account so you will need to make sure that the individual iPad has the correct log in for Google Drive.  It is totally up to the teacher how you want to set up your Google Drive.  Each of our teachers have a school Google Drive account and most are using those though after the project is completed they change the password.

2.  Book Creator uses the .epub format and therefore can only be opened in an app that recognizes this format.  Google Drive does not.  You need to think of Google Drive as a bridge you must use to get to the other side.  It is not a place to park or work in directly with these projects but helps you get where you are going.

OK on with the journey! Once the book is completed or in a place where the teacher wants to assess the progress, the students will send the book to Google Drive by choosing “Open in Google Drive”.  The book will then appear in the teachers Google Drive account usually with the words “A new book – 1.epub” or something similar but always has the .epub designation.  The teacher will open that document and will receive a message  ”unable to open file”.  This can be frustrating but do not worry because either below or up in the right hand corner you will see the words “Open in….”. Touch and you will see the apps that will open the .epub format including Book Creator and iBooks. It is totally up to you which one you use.  I tend to use the iBooks because I want a copy of the book in the Library.  If I open it in Book Creator I am concerned that I may accidently change something.  You repeat this process for each of the books your students have sent you until you have them all on your iPad.

From here you are able to review and assess what the students have done.  If you have made corrections or suggestions in the books themselves you repeat the process and send the books back to the Google Drive account.  The students then can open up their individual iPads, open up Google Drive and get their book and upload it to the Book Creator app.  From there the teacher can move forward.

You do not lose the books from the Book Creator app unless you deliberately delete them.

Update

While I was in the process of writing this post the Spanish teachers who had created the Guatemalan project I talked about in Part One rushed in to figure out how to get the books from one iPad to a bunch of iPads as parents were coming and they wanted to show off the students work.  That is where we learned the importance of having the apps updated because we could not get it to work in the beginning.  In desperation I checked for the updates and after those were downloaded everything worked beautifully.  This afternoon parents will be able to see the work their children have done plus also make sure they download a copy if they wish to do so.  Life is good.

During the past eight months I have slowly introduced iPad apps to the Elementary staff.  Apps like iMovie, Show Me and Evernote were at the top of the list.  It has been exciting to see the products that have been produced by these apps by both students and teachers. But by far the most interesting app that I was able to introduce was Book Creator.  

It all started a few months ago when one of the Grade 3 teachers was telling me about a project her students were going to be working on that involved writing and illustrating a book.  She wanted to know if I knew of an app that would help with this.  I had literally just read about Book Creator a couple of weeks before and had downloaded it on my iPad to check it out.  I showed the book I had created to her and immediately she knew this is what she wanted. I was able to get it on the Grade 3 cart and she was ready to go.

I had created one book to see how it worked but it was really with the help of the teacher and her students that I learned more.  What a great job the students did and they loved it.  The produced their own books and were able to share them with each other and with parents.

Of course, her success led to other teachers coming to me and wanting to know how to use the app and the ball started rolling and has gained momentum especially over the past three weeks.  I have been able to share it with almost all 40 teachers and they have come up with some wonderful projects.  We are already talking about what can be done during the next school year.

It is an extremely intuitive app to use and with each update the developers add more exciting features.  In fact, I learned about one yesterday while showing one of our Spanish teachers how to create a book.  I had not realized that you could put a soundtrack on that ran through the whole book. It was one of those discoveries that was by accident but a feature I had been wishing existed.  I really don’t know how long it has been part of the app but I love.  Previously I had only been able to get music on one page.

For the most part our teachers have created fiction books with their students and they have been very good.  What I like about this app is that it is really the final step in the creation process.  Students need to plan their books out, write the text, get the pictures which many are being hand drawn and then photographed to be imported into the book, edit and then finally move to Book Creator for the production.  When the book is finished it is uploaded to iBooks.

As this app produces the book in the epub format it works best in iBooks but the book can also be made into a pdf and sent to parents who may not use Apple products.  The pdf format works very well except that any recordings or music do not appear in the book.

Another book that our Grade 2 Spanish teacher is producing is a Guatemala Tourist Guide to all the monuments in the city.  Guatemala City is made up of different zones and there are many monuments in each of these zones.  The students each studied one of the monuments and created it out of plasticiene. A picture was taken for a page in the book and then the student recorded the information about that monument.  The book was completed and uploaded into iBooks.  The pictures below give you a bit of an idea of how a couple of the pages looked.  The best part is that there are now excellent books created that the teachers, students and parents can share and also use them for information.

Monuments made out of plasticene

Monument in Zone 14

Yesterday I was invited to one of our Grade Five classes by the teacher to observe the students take a look at using a back channel for the first time.  It was exciting to watch what happened and also participate. We were going to be using Today’s Meet and excellent and easy to use backchannel program as you do not need to have an account and can be used on computers and the iPads.

I was invited to share a bit about what a back channel was and how I had used it. We also reminded the students about the importance of good citizenship being used in this new adventure. Some of the students got the concept immediately and helped to share with the other students but there were a lot of questions.  They were told not to worry that everything was under control and they would be guided through the process.

Once the students had the iPads and were situated they were shown the URL for the Today’s Meet room and told to log in with their name.  It was exciting to hear the reactions as the students were able to see their names appear and some started a conversation immediately.  There were the students who had difficulty but again other students helped support them and finally everyone was into the room.  There were the usual comments written and then their attention was pulled back to the teacher as she explained that they were going to do another experiment.  Ears, including mine, perked up immediately.  She held up a QR Code.  A lot of questions happened but after a few seconds everyone settled down and followed the instructions on what to do.  I was very interested to see where this QR Code was going to take us.

The Grade Five classes have spent the past several weeks studying the development of Civil Rights mostly focused on the US from the 1880′s to the present. This time they were going to read an article about women’s rights in Kenya today and compare it to women’s rights from the 1800′s.  Interesting idea.  They found the article using the QR code reader and just that easily another skill had been introduced to the class.  A quick review of how Safari works on an iPad and the students were ready to move back and forth from the article to Today’s Meet discussion.

After reading the first couple of paragraphs the teacher asked the students to share a question that the article had made them think of and to write it in Today’s Meet.  It was interesting to read what was coming up on the screen.  I didn’t respond in this section but kept an eye on what was appearing.  For the most part the students were focused on the task.  Continuing on throughout the article a couple of more in depth questions were asked and the students responded.  You could tell immediately who was grasping the concept and who was struggling or possibly not paying attention.  I wondered if the students were going to be introduced to using @ when they want to talk to some directly but the teacher decided maybe the next time so as not to overwhelm them.  A few minutes later she responded to a student directly using @ and we waited to see what would happen.  A few questions were asked about what it meant and there was the quick opportunity to explain what it meant.  Very soon we started to see the students use the symbol.

There was a bit of time for the teacher and I to reflect on what she had experienced and what I had observed.  It was good sharing.  She is going to spend some time figuring out how this will best work in her classroom to enhance learning.  I was thrilled to see it work so well.

It is certainly an approach that can and should be used in the elementary classroom.  I am not sure at what grade level we can start using it but definitely with Grade Five.  Because you are able to safe the transcript of the discussion in Today’s Meet it enables the teacher to revisit what actually happened and reflect as well as get a handle on who participated and who struggled.  I think this is something that should be shared with the students as a way for them to reflect upon what they wrote.

As I mentioned before I was privileged to attend the iPad Summit in Atlanta last week (April 9-12).  EdTech Teacher did a fantastic job sponsoring the conference and I have nothing but respect for their small but mighty organization.  I do want to mention the incredible food that provided though that is not what this post is about.  When I mentioned it to the ladies at the registration table they told me that it was felt that teachers needed to be treated to the best as it very seldom happens.  I so appreciate the sentiment.

Anyway, while I have been slowly making my way through all of the resources and learning that happened last week (how to people get long and in depth blog posts out the next day?), I decided to go to the EdTech Teacher site and discovered one of the best resources for the iPad I have ever come across so decided to share.  It is called EdTech Teachers iPad As……

While we try very hard not to make the iPad all about the apps there is no denying that apps are what make the iPad such an incredible device for education.  You cannot escape the apps but it is all about how these apps are applied to the learning that is happening in the classroom.  What this resource does is help you focus on what the end result is that you want your students to achieve and then provides a list of apps that will do this.  The apps are listed and include the price, a description, a rating from 1-5 of the app and whether is is Easy, Medium or Hard.

For example if I decide that I want my student to record and edit video on the iPad I would chose that section.  You are also provided on some of the sections a link to other instructional tutuorials.  It is an exciting approach.  I have literally spent the last two days researching this site and comparing it to what we are already doing in our school.  I believe this is the missing piece that I have been looking for.  It is always difficult when you know you need something to make a connection but you can’t describe what it is you are looking for.  Well, I found it. Thanks EdTech Teacher.

The next Summit will be in the Fall 2013 in Boston.  I would really encourage attendance.  The summit rocked my world in a way that I am still trying to get a handle on and share with my administrators and staff.

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I am at the iPad Summit in Atlanta waiting for the Opening Keynote to begin. There are over 750 educators here. There is so much excitement in the air.

The Keynote speaker is Angela Maiers. I am so glad to hear her as I was so impressed with her opening Keynote at the the 2011 K12 Online Conference. It is funny that her slides would not work at a tech conference. She didn’t miss a beat and continued on while the great people of EdTech Teacher got the problem solved.

PASSION MATTERS is the driving theme. It was interesting to realize that the Latin root for the word is to suffer. Our English language changed it to a more positive image.

Angela was speaking with so much passion that I could hardly get the notes down let alone actually process what she was saying. I do know that the feeling I got from the whole presentation was excitement. I wanted to jump up and yell and cheer. If I had been in church you would have heard a lot of Amens.

In order to keep up I just wrote down ideas that she said and I have put them down that way rather than reworking what she said.

“Nothing great in the world has been or will be accomplished without passion.”

“The smartest person in the room is the room”-not one person but the combination of the entire group.” ( I paraphrased that one)

She shared that at a recent US education policy makers conference the word that was heard the most was Accountability plus more rigorous assessment. Angela’s tweet, “If we do not secure their hearts we do not have a shot at their brains or business” @angelamaiers went viral and hit a cord with educators all over the world.

On the other hand at the recent SXSW the word passion was used on Twitter 485,000 times in one day.

A student said “I have one goal is to keep my soul by the time I graduate”. The Passionate Gap is REAL. Human beings at their very core need to know that they are noticed, valued, respected. If you ignore the heart you get nothing.

N

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I am so excited….it has been a while since I have been this excited about something.  When I moved to China and eight years later moved here to Guatemala everyone assumed I was excited.  I wasn’t.  I was going into the unknown and I am not always good with that.  I was looking forward to the new challenges and the new adventure but excited was not the adjective I would use.  So why is it that going to an iPad Summit in Atlanta has me truly excited?

Well, one reason – there is no unknown.  For once I am travelling to a place where I can speak the language and will understand the culture.  That is different as usually when I travel, other than going home to Canada,  I don’t speak the language and have to work around that situation.  Another reason is that I am looking forward to being in Atlanta.  I lived there one summer back in the 70′s but that was my only visit. It is always great to visit a new city.

Of course the main reason I am excited is this is an iPad Summit.  This is not about the apps but about truly discussing how to incorporate this incredible piece of technology into the classroom.  The opening paragraph about the Summit says this: “This event will bring together educators, researchers, tech directors, principals and school leaders for a three-day event full of presentations, workshops, hands-on sessions, smackdowns, and informal gatherings and conversations to identify emerging best practices and exciting new directions for putting iPads in the service of learning.”

This is exactly what I want.  After spending 8 months incorporating our iPad program into the Elementary School I am ready to help my teachers move forward. In order to do that I must first move forward.  I know that this Summit will help move me in that direction.  I look forward to meeting new people (though this is hard for me) and learning new things (this is not so hard for me).  I am also making it one of my goals to write in my blog so that I can keep each of you posted on what is happening and what I am learning.

Again, only 4 more days and I am on a plane out of Guatemala City to Atlanta.

The hashtag is #ettipad.  Why don’t you check it out?

Spring Equinox in the Library Garden at CAG

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by here in Guatemala. I am sure that if I was still in Beijing time would move but I am now convinced that because we do not have a winter season or for that matter really cold weather time goes faster. I didn’t have that feeling that I usually get in February when it is so cold that winter may never be over.

I have been here for 8 months and we are well on our way planning for next school year. Again, where has the time gone.

Our Elementary School iPad initiative has gone well.  There are still many things to work out and yet when I really sit down and think about where we were when school started and the push back I got from a number of teacher I am please with the progress all the teachers have made.

In the beginning I was putting on a lot of apps that I thought would be great for our teachers.  They would be great but then there has to be time to show them how they all work and then make the transition into the teaching time and curriculum.  I am finding that I must come to my meeting with the teachers with a plan on how it can be used in order for it to begin to be incorporated into the class continually rather than a one off situation.

Each of the apps that I have put on the iPads I can defend the reason why I chose that particular app and yet I think that when we start again next year I will be more hesitant on what I want to have put on the carts.  Hopefully, we will not have to keep adding new apps every month as we will have made a good decision on at the beginning of the school year of what must be put on as mandatory apps.  At least this is my plan.

Many of you may have seen this story on the news but I in a day and age where school often comes with students coping with bullying or worse I wanted to share an example of a student making a difference when he did not need to do so.

What struck me in the interview was the student saying “I have been taught…”  I am sure this includes home and school but I loved the words.

Enjoy the video.

One of the areas that has really caught my eye since we began ETMOOC is curating.  I mentioned in the previous blog post that I had never really thought about curating but was going to investigate further.  Well, I have started that process and while I don’t know if my mind is any clearer on how I personally want to curate I have started to look at some of the tools that were mentioned in the Introduction to Social Curating session. The first one I am looking at is called Rebel Mouse.  I love the name.

I easily set up my account and then began reading about it.  They have pretty decent instructions on how to link to your different feeds though I am struggling to figure out how to delete my Pinterest feed.  Rather than just get my feed I seem to be getting everyone’s and I don’t want that.  I have to investigate a little further obviously.  They do have a good FAQ section and I was able to work out some of my issues by following that but not Pinterest.  I think the issue I am having with Pinterest feed that is coming in is that I am looking at Rebel Mouse as a way to curate by professional life not my personal life.  I only have one Pinterest account that is a hodge-podge of this and that.  I am thinking that I am going to have to set up another account that will only represent what I am involved in and learning professionally. Enough about Pinterest as I can spend hours lost inside that great app.

OK back to Rebel Mouse…. they do have a nice small bookmarklet that you can drag up to your bookmark bar.  I haven’t used it yet but I will shortly.  I am hoping that this works the way the Pocket bookmarklet works which is many instances is too easy. I still have over 300 items in that file to work through.

So while I don’t have a lot of detail on Rebel Mouse I am looking at it.  I just want to figure out how to get my Google Reader feed into it also but maybe I am trying to stretch the possibilities of the program.

The other question I have is this.  Am I just going to use Rebel Mouse for my own curating or am I going to use it in a social way and share with others?  Maybe for a now while I am investigating I will use it as my Personal Knowledge Management System.

Cross posted to My Learning Journey