Teacher Tech Camp and Paper Slide Videos

This week we began our teacher tech camp or as we call it STAR Camp. STAR stands for "Stellar Teachers Aquiring Resources. We came up with this name the first year we offered the camp in the Dallas Diocese. Our original intent was to do a virtual field trip with NASA but it didn't pan out. We kept the name anyways. This year we are offering two camps. One now and then one in August. The camp this week is a digital camp. Days one and two are using digital images and days three and four will be focused on video. The first two days went quite well. Wednesday we begin video and we are introducing paper slide videos.

I was introduced to paper slide videos at a Discover Education pre-con event at TCEA. However I actually have seen this type of process before in a video done by INXS:



Lodge McCammon though was where I heard about the process for use in the classroom. Paper slide videos are often used for the "flipped classroom", which is a whole other discussion. There are many links out there that you can search and see examples of how that works. Here are two:
Jerry Overmyer - Vodcasting and the Flipped Classroom
Flipped Learning
and a link to a great info graphic too large for me to embed but check it out:
Flipped Classroom Info graphic

As I write this, we finished Day 3. Our "students" completed 2 videos using a Flip camera. The did a paper slide video and then did a video where they act out the lyrics to an educational song. We took the songs from Discovery Education. If your school has a subscription to DE, it is a fabulous resource for songs for the classroom. Their finished products were awesome! Below is one example of a paper slide video some teachers made to explain classroom rules:

There are so many uses for a paper slide video. My personal favorite would be to have a collection of these types of videos to be used for tutorials. It would take some time, (a summer project perhaps) but you could create an entire library of these videos and use them throughout the school year. It would make it easy for students when studying for a test to refer back to a video that explains the concept. Not exactly a web tool but certainly a great tool for the classroom.

TechChef4u App

Back in February I attended TCEA and went to a session titled "Hot Apps for HOTS". Excellent session from the ladies at TechChef4u. Well now they have an iPhone app!


I am so excited about this app especially since I will be helping my school introduce and integrate 60 new iPads. This app should be a must have for anyone doing the same. You can always rely on the reviews and there are links out to their blog, TechChef4u, and to the AppyHour4U podcasts. As you can see from the app screen shot, you are able to search apps based on grade level and category. Nicely done. Downloaded my app this morning and I suggest you do the same!

App Description: TechChef4u offers multiple resources to support teachers and parents in their search for FREE quality apps to support their children and students. While the TechChef4u app is an educational app store that provides searchable and categorized lists of 500+ FREE apps for PK-12, the app doesn’t stop there. Check out these other features.


Here are screen shots from the app store:

Smart Notebook 11

I attended a Smart Board User group meeting yesterday at Bishop Dunne Catholic High School. (Kudos to them for hosting) The group was organized by the private schools in the area as a means to offer teachers a place to share ideas, lessons and information about Smart products. It was a great meeting and I disappointed that I had to cut out early. But...before I left the big talk was the roll out of Smart Notebook 11. Supposedly it will be available for download sometime next week. There was a "tweet" that it could be on April 23rd. After seeing all the new things that come with it, I am very excited. If you use a Smart Board or want one, check out their site and watch the video. It will give you a quick overview of what's new. A couple things that caught my eye were #1 the Embedded Web Browser and #2 the Audio recorder. The audio recorder is so neat. It lets you record audio right in the notebook page and attach it to an item. There is no need to go out, record something in Audacity, save the file, find it and then attach it. Nice and simple.

Another nice resource to read about SN11 is at the WhiteBoard Blog. A website out of the UK and they definitely announce the download date as the 23rd. Yippee! I can't wait!

One other thing to note about sharing and Smart. Heather Lamb, a Smart Board guru, hosts a virtual Smart Board User group in Texas. Besides going to her site to find out more about the virtual group, she has hints, tips, tricks and lesson ideas using Smart products. Be sure to check it out.

Animoto

Animoto is a web based video slideshow creator. I remember first experiencing Animoto when I was getting my master's degree in instructional technology. At that point we were evaluating websites for the use in the classroom. Animoto does what MovieMaker and PhotoStory can't do and that's create a very professional looking video in a very short time. With features already built in like slide transitions and even music to use, you can't go wrong with Animoto.

Recently at the TCEA conference, I attended a session on using Animoto to create book trailers. It was a great session and even though I had some experience with Animoto, taking the extra time to play with the site was time well spent. Animoto videos could be used for many things such as introducing yourself to your class, highlighting events throughout a school day, month or year, sharing a students work, the list is only limited by your imagination.

This is not to say that MovieMaker, PhotoStory or iMovie are not as useful or any better or worse. These are all great programs to use. But give Animoto a look. You can create an educator account which gives you a longer length for your videos plus added features. You will also be able to give your students a code so they too can have access to the longer length and added features.

My compadre, Carol Mayo, and I will be sharing a session on Animoto at the Region X Technology Planning Conference on May 8th.

Here is the book trailer I created at TCEA.

Musical Fresh Ideas from TMEA for the iPad

Post #2 today is all music related technology. I attended the Texas Music Educators Conference in San Antonio recently and although most of the conference sessions for elementary are geared toward singing, dancing, playing instruments, there were a few that talked about iPads in the music classroom. After attending TMEA, I realize I need to be presenting there about integrating the iPad in the classroom. Ah well, another post for another day.

Back to my TMEA ideas. One of the sessions I attended was led by Dr. Lynn Basinger. This would have been really great if I could have just sat down to dinner or lunch with her and shared ideas back and forth. But it was a good session and I have some new apps to try. I'm big on free apps so most of what I mention here will be free.

JoyTunes Recorder Master (apparently only for iPad2)
I downloaded this on my iPad and found it fun but a bit challenging to play. Pretty cool but I do like my successes to come quicker and I was ready to quit after the second game! I tend to get frustrated easily with video game but I think kids would find it fun and easy to play. They seem to have more patience than I do!

Pluto Learns Piano HD is an app for both iPad and iPhone. Cute little app for note recognition. And it's FREE.










She mentioned some other apps I would like to try, but they are paid apps and I don't have the freedom to purchase apps on my iPad (it belongs to the school). But here are a few that intrigued me:

The History of Jazz looks really cool and the price really is good. Looks worth the purchase.

The one app I would really love to buy and try, but it lists for $14.99 is Notion. Dr. Basinger said that this app is the closest she has found to a good notation app. Would really like to see this one in action and know more about it.








Here is a link to Dr. Basinger's blog for iPads4MusicEd. She welcomes your thoughts on apps and the use of iPads in the music classroom.

Fresh Ideas from TCEA

I am just back from two fabulous conferences. The first was the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference in Austin, Texas. This was followed in quick order at the end of the week by the Texas Music Educators Association conference in lovely San Antonio, Texas. It was a whirlwind of a week and my mind is reeling from all the information I tried to stuff into my notes and my brain. I will begin with TCEA.

One of my goals at TCEA was to learn more about integrating the iPad in the classroom. Not just using apps for drill and kill, although those certainly have their place and there are wonderful apps out there to help students practice what they learn in games and the like. What I wanted to see was how to use the iPad and it's many apps to create lessons and products. I must commend two amazing educators, Lisa Johnson and her partner in crime, Yolanda Barker. They are the authors of a FREE book in iBooks called Hot Apps 4 HOTS. (HOTS = Higher Order Thinking Skills)

This was used for their session at TCEA and showed how apps can be used to create products and be used in lessons. Their book is set up following the different levels of Blooms with an activity including, task, apps used, directions and other resources. Even if you do not use their ideas, perhaps it will give some thought about other ways to use apps in the classroom. Lisa and Yolanda can be found on their Appy Hour radio podcast at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/appy-hours-4-you/

Lisa also has great tips on her blog Techchef4u. Their session probably had the most impact on me. I have shared with many teachers at my school and their ideas on how to use in their own classes is very exciting. Made my trip to Austin worthwhile!

Of course a highlight to TCEA, was being able to co-present with Carol Mayo on Mouse Mischief. Mouse Mischief (MM) has been called the "poor man's clicker" but we like to call it the "alternative student response system". Sounds fancy, doesn't it? MM is a free download from Microsoft that works through PowerPoint. Using wireless mice, it enables you to create interactive lessons in PPT where your students can work either answering individually or as a team. You don't have all the bells and whistles that you would with the popular clicker systems but for formative assessment on the quick, easy and inexpensive, this might be your answer. You can find information at Carol's site Hold the Mayo

There were many sessions that I attended and will address another great one in a subsequent posting about making book trailers.

Music Tech Ideas

Well it is a good thing this is not Twitter because I am worse at "tweeting" than I am at blogging. It seems I am always apologizing for my lack of posts. I would love to be one of those weekly writers but it never seems to happen. I promise this will be the last time I whine about never posting! Moving on-

I will be away from my classroom and wanted to leave some assignments for them using technology. It is always nice when I can send them to the tech lab and they can work on something that doesn't require a sub to monitor too closely. Many of our teachers use Edmodo as an extension of their classroom and students regularly turn in assignments through their class pages. Edmodo is often called "Facebook for the classroom" and that is a pretty good description.

My junior high students will be using it while I am gone. They will all be logging into their Edmodo account where they will find their assignments. Once there the sixth graders have a link to the Rhythm Trainer. Rhythm Trainer is a fantastic site by John Blank created as part of his masters project while at VanderCook College of Music. The site lets you practice hearing rhythm patterns in two different ways. There are options for tempo and a variety of notations to choose from. One of my favorite parts is that my students can email me their results. When I get the email, it tells me their name, how many correct, how many wrong and the best part....how much time they spent doing it. Great for when you aren't there and wonder if they are really doing what they should be doing.

My seventh grade students will be working in Jam Studio. Jam Studio pretty much helps you write a song. You have the option to choose your chords, tempo, meter (4/4 and 3/4) and all of the instrumentation. Very fun and they enjoyed using it.

The eighth grade has a bit more complicated assignment. After signing in to Edmodo, they will access 4 links. The first will take them to a Google Site (You are welcome to take a look) that I created to help them discover some things about musical form. They also have links to two Google Forms where they will answer questions as they go along. I will be curious to see how they handle all of it. Sometimes they are very focused and receptive to using so much technology and other times they act like they've never seen a computer before!

Please be sure to share these marvelous sites with your music teachers. They are all easy to use and your students will enjoy infusing a bit of music technology in their learning.

STAR Camp

Tomorrow is the first day of the Dallas Diocesan Teacher Tech Camp. We call it STAR Camp for Stellar Teachers Aquiring Resources. This is our 3rd year and I have helped teach at each camp. The camp is a wonderful opportunity for teachers to learn about ways to integrate technology in their lessons. We have had some fantastic teachers come through and it is so exciting to see them work so hard. They are always enthusiastic and eager to learn about a tool that will help them engage their students in new and exciting ways. I am so excited and I love it!

So my link for today is the link to our STAR Camp wikispace. It is loaded with lots of information and links. It would be a great resource for anyone looking for tips and guides. Plus there is a link to our Delicious bookmarks. So check it out and maybe find something new.

April mid month

The end of the school year is looming before me and I am trying to get it all in before I run out of time. It happens every year. You would think after 29 years in teaching that I would get it by now. Which actually brings me to my topic for the day- time.

I've written in papers and posts about the evil enemy of teachers. Time. Every teacher I know works far more hours than anyone would ever guess. They certainly spend far more than the usual 40 hours a week. Teaching is not a 40 hour week job. If they didn't have families they would probably spend 80 hours a week at their job. Some of them nearly do. And so because of this, finding time to try new things is so very difficult.

I've worked with countless teachers to introduce them to amazing technology tools. They are all so excited when they begin but then that tick of the clock gets louder in their heads and they revert back to the tried and true methods in their classrooms. Please don't think I feel that this is wrong. What they have been doing has worked well for them and children learn. I mostly feel sad that they find it time challenging to use something new and to offer their students a new and engaging way to learn.

This is what I hope to do someday. To help teachers create those lessons that use the "cool tools" of the web. Use those Smart Boards, make a podcast, develop a wiki. There is so much that is just too easy but time time time steals away those opportunities.

24 hours in a day? Never enough.