QR Codes and Organization

I was having a discussion with a colleague about students who seem to be struggling in a class because they fail to turn in assignments. Our teachers are expected to post homework assignments on our online grading system on a weekly basis. Unfortunately I think this has resulted in many teachers not writing it on the board as they might have done in the past. Consequently, if a student has any issues with logging into the system they will likely not remember the assignment and therefore not turn it in on time. The teacher and I talked about how some students need to physically write down the information. Just seeing it posted online doesn't make the connections for them. A 7th grade student also commented that she felt too rushed at the end of class to write the assignment down and always felt like she was in a hurry to get to the next class. We also have students who, no matter how many times they do it or are reminded how to do it, having trouble logging into websites to get the information they need.

So what to do? One of the solutions we discussed is one that I have often recommended to teachers to use for their students. Yes, this does require some technology but I do think it would help many students. A dynamic QR code could easily solve the problem of "what is the assignment?". So what is a dynamic QR code? This is a code that does not change but the information attached to it does. Another option: You could also have a QR code linked to any type of editable webpage where you might list the daily assignments. As a teacher, you would go back to the site on a regular basis and change/add the information on the page. The student would only need one QR code glued to the inside of their notebook, assignment book, calendar or whatever tool they use. It could even be printed off and hung up on their refrigerator at home! The point is, this QR code would stay the same all year long but every time they scan it they would see new information.

So try this out. Here is a code:

i-nigma

Come back in a day or so and scan the code again and you will see the page has changed. The QR image is the same but the information on the page has changed. For students who have trouble logging into sites (remembering passwords, etc) this would be a very easy solution for them. The only thing needed is a QR reader for a smartphone or tablet. There are many available but I recommend i-nigma. It has been a favorite of mine. Fast and reliable.

Want to see a nice list of QR code generators and what you can do with them? Check out my colleague and co-presenter's website Hold the Mayo.

Tots and Technology

Do you live in Texas? Live near Texas? Just wish you were in Texas?

Well you should consider attending Tots and Technology presented by the Texas Computer Educators Association. Awesome little conference geared toward PK-5th grade teachers but middle school teachers (6-7-8) could benefit also. You get a lot of bang for your buck so you really need to check it out! And it's in Galveston...on a beach...

Let's Make a Movie!

My sixth grade students are working on a research project about composers. Each student researched one composer and wrote a brief summary about that composer including items about their life such as education, influences and compositions. They will each dress up as their composer and we are going to video them giving their talk as their composer. The cool thing though is that we are going to "blue screen" it and put images relating to the composer in the background. It has it's challenges but this is a project well worth the time. So I'd like to share some awesome resources that I and my students will be using to create these composer movies. I'll share one when we are finished. We are going to be using Windows Movie Maker 2.6 to edit our movie.

Let's start with some videos that will tell you all you need to know about how to do this.These come from Lamar CISD in Texas and their Interact Cafe. The videos are presented by Chris Nilsson. I first saw Chris present at TCEA. Chris includes on the site the XML files you will need to add to Movie Maker to use the blue screen. This is a great resource. While you are there, you should check out some of the other things on the Interact Cafe site. Some excellent tutorials.

To read their script, the students will be using a site called Cue Prompter It is exactly what it sounds like, easy to use and FREE.



We are using iPads to record. Online-convert (another of my favorites) to convert the videos to wmv so we can import them into Movie Maker.

And btw- my "blue screen" is a plastic party table cloth that I bought from the local party supply store. Works perfectly!

And yes, there are other tools to do what we are doing. And yes, there is an iPad green screen app. BUT, using the tools we have this is what we are doing. Doing it this way though does give the students an experience that they won't find with an iPad. I think knowing that you can make a program like Movie Maker do something it didn't before is valuable knowledge. I also think putting all these pieces together gives you a sense of greater power over a creation. Yes, there are easier ways with different tools but why not this way? And to top it off, I just read this great article on how creating movies involves Higher Order Thinking skills so there you go!

NCEA good stuff like OZOBOTS

I recently returned from the National Catholic Educators Association conference in Orlando (nice!). Co-presented on two topics: Extending the Classroom with Edmodo (dear to my heart!) and Formative Assessment: Requirement for Learning. Both sessions went very well. My co-presenter, Carol Mayo, and I were quite pleased. The sessions I attended were good also. One of my favorite was Full STREAM Ahead with Fredy Padovan. (remember this name and follow him on Twitter and wherever else he roams) And while you are at it you should check out Immaculata-La Salle's 1:1 iPad program website. 

We got to play with Ozobots. Nice and simple robots to introduce students to robotics and coding. App is free. Little robots are @$50 each. But you don't even need an app to use these cool little robots. All you need is a piece of plain white paper and red, green, blue and black markers. Quite impressive and tons of fun!