Teachers, Meet Graphite

In education and technology, there is always the "new" thing that is out there. For educators to research products, see if they are worthwhile to use, check to see how they can align to the CCSS and then use it in the classroom can takes weeks, even months.

Graphite helps to solve that issue. Put out by Common Sense Media, Graphite collates and curates only the best, top rated applications and programs for educational purposes, reviews them, shows what grades they would be best for, and aligns them to the different ELA and Math Common Core State Standards. For educators, this is a win-win. You only get so much time with your students that you can't waste it searching for products that may not be a good fit.

Stop wasting time and start searching smarter. BTW - Common Sense Media ranks the apps by top picks and has a Teacher Center where teachers can share info about those apps right on the site. Check them out at http://www.graphite.org/.

A review of my visit to Summit, NJ: Readers and Writers Workshop at Washington Elementary

On Monday, we here at Green Brook Township Public Schools had the amazing opportunity to visit and see the great students and teachers at Washington School in Summit, NJ!

We were there to meet and talk about Readers and Writers Workshop, to which they have been doing for nearly a decade. Mrs. Lauren Banker, the school Principal, was kind and nice enough to set up a pre/post conference and four demo lessons to see both types of workshops in action. We saw students as young as 1st grade and as experienced as 5th grade in the workshop model. It was fantastic. 

My Take-Aways:

• No pre-made bulliten boards - the charts are made just for that class with those students in mind. 
• Mini-lessons are just that, mini. 10 minutes or less!
• In the workshop model, teachers get more face-to-face time with students, thus, more interaction. 
• No workbooks/textbooks here - not one cookie cutter book to be found. 
• Reading begets more reading. As the students read in school, they also continue to read at home. 
• The students work in pairs all year to increase discussion/listening skills. 
• When the students are invested in their own work, they care. Their engagement was through the roof.
• The expectations are high - the Common Core is already being exceeded here with these models. 
• The students, even as young as 2nd grade, are making text-to-text connections. 
• Enthusiasm and passion of the teachers comes through when they can share the stage and be the guide on the side.
• The kids read and read and read ... they also write voluminous notebooks worth of work. 

Here are some photo highlights of the classrooms and their phenomenal work!

A readers workshop model in action in this Third grade classroom. 

Teach your reader!

First Grade chart on keeping notes in their books!

Fourth grade chart on Non-Fiction Text Structure

Fourth grade library - Broken down by levels and by genre. 

Of course, there are challenges. Such as:

1. It takes time to build libraries, even with donation and online books. 
2. Some schools are tied to the texts.
3. Movement from a teacher-centric model to a student-centric model. 
4. Takes a lot of time to get it right (They are in their 10th year working on it).
5. It is a change in mind-set that may be tough for some to overcome. 

So, why does this model work? It is because the onus is on the students. The workshop model allows the teacher to be a facilitator and coach rather than a sage on the stage. It also allows the teacher to get out of the way of authentic, organic learner that goes on. In each and every classroom, I saw students passion. That is not something that comes across when you are reading from a textbook or just looking at a ditto. There are no "skill and drill" activities. Just real learning and passionate teaching. 

Thank you, Washington Elementary!

App-O-Da-Week #10

With only a few weeks of school left, now is a PRIME TIME to learn about some primo apps! 

Many of you have heard of Brain POP. If you haven't, it's a fantastic, educational site that contains a plethora of content and curriculum. From videos, activities, and quizzes, if you can't find the topic on Brain POP, then the topic just may not exist. Brain POP has a few sites too - including one for K-3, 4-8, ESL, and Espanol!

The drag is that you need to pay for this program but that hasn't stopped them from putting out there Featured Movie App. The App can be found in the Apple iTunes Store, the Google Play Store, and the Chrome Web Store. When you can find an app in more than one place, you know it is something that can be  all teachers and students can enjoy.

Brain POP summarizes there app:
"The BrainPOP Featured Movie and BrainPOP Jr. Movie of the Week apps regularly deliver fresh movies, quizzes, and bonus features right to your handheld device. They cover a breadth of relevant topics including current events, historical figures and milestones, holidays, curricular subjects, and more."


Commonsensemedia.org lays it out pretty well what students can learn in 3 minutes: 
"Kids can learn the main points about a range of different topics -- science, math, social studies, art and music, language, and more -- through brief videos. For example, there's a three-minute video on how digital animation is made. The app features one video every day (although kids can browse topically to watch others anytime), and kids can take a quiz after each video. Quizzes are designed to help kids not only retain the content in the videos but also practice vocabulary and reasoning skills. BrainPOP Featured Movie provides well-presented material on many topics that kids learn about in school."

So there you have it! Two apps for you to digest this week. Please share these with any and all students, teachers, and educators that you know! And remember, same App time, same App channel next week!

Shifting Gears... and getting stuck in neutral. PART II

You got all that?

Common Core is about reforming standards, AchieveNJ is about reforming evaluations and tenure, and PARCC is about reforming test taking/assessments.

Wait, you don't? Well neither do a lot of other people. Their are many proponents and opponents To clear the air (and to better clarify why in the world they want to do all three of these at once), the NJ Department of Education held a seminar on all three of these. The crux of the meeting was devoted to how great all three of these things were and how they were all inter-related; and more specifically, how you couldn't have one without the other... and the other. 

They were, as Chris Cerf so aptly put it:

1. 
   

   Tim Charleston@MrCsays

   Cerf - parcc and common core are two sides of the coin. But the third side is educator evaluation tools. #shiftgears What??!!

   3 DAYS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

To be clear. I am not against changing standards. I do like the fact that these are about mastery instead of coverage and I do like the fact that they are vertically aligned from K-12. As for changing assessments and test taking, I am in agreement with the folks who say that we need to test using online assessments. In the next decade or so, many tests will be online and it just makes common sense to change it. And as for the evaluation system, yes, it does need changing as well. Some teachers have only been visited once a year by administrators and that is not enough. What the DOE are proposing and have been are decent changes.

But let's be clear. It's not about doing these. It's about doing these NOW and all at ONCE! +Eric Sheninger had  many great tweets about this, but he summed it up best by stating:

1. 
   

   Eric Sheninger@NMHS_Principal

   NJDOE moving much too fast on numerous initiatives simultaneously; I am fearful that this is a recipe for disaster#shiftgears #njed

   3 DAYS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

We need time. We need to focus. We need to understand what is coming at us. If we truly decide to do all three at once, our teachers, students, and admins are truly going to be stretched thin. We are racing to get all of these things in, like we are perpetually stuck in the month of June trying to cram things in at the end of the year. 

While worrying to get students to understand all new concepts and standards, teachers will also be worried new test assessments which are tied to their overall evaluations. 

There is still too much unknown. We don't push our students through to the next concept unless they have truly learned the one before. Shouldn't we get the same treatment? The DOE treated this seminar like a giant PEP rally for these three things. And that stuck out. I felt bad for educators. I felt bad for students. Where were their voices? Did anyone ask them what they wanted? While more and more businesses (and some schools) are moving to 80/20 time, why are we focused on THREE monumental pieces of legislation?


My good friend, +Jay Eitner, had spoken about all three of these things as a TIDAL wave crashing down on educators. 

We need to FOCUS. 

If we focus on one of these things a year, it would have a much better outcome. It would give everyone a chance to catch their breath, at least for a minute or two. 

I have faith in our teachers. I have even more faith in our students. The NJDOE should share in that faith and give us time to get it right. 

1. 
   

   Eric Sheninger@NMHS_Principal

   Cerf - "Change is hard" - yes, need 2 focus on 1 initiative at a time, get it right, then move 4ward if goal is sustainability #shiftgears

   3 DAYS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

Let's focus on the most important thing here: helping students grow as individuals. Helping them reach their passions. Helping them through the formative years of their lives. 

WE ARE EDUCATORS. And we need to be there for them. So, let's shift the focus.

Shifting Gears... and getting stuck in neutral. PART I

This was originally intended to be one post. But as I wrote it, there was a clear break in what I was writing. Part II will be unveiled next week.

I am an educator. 

No matter what my job is now or what it may become in the future, my job is an educator. My passion is helping students grow up, learn and understand, and find their own passions in life, whatever they may be.

Since jumping to the "other side" of education, I have not been that intimately familiar with items such as the Common Core (though in our district, we have talking about it for years) and the new evaluation system in New Jersey, called AchieveNJ. I knew they were both coming, but as a former Social Studies teacher, we were usually one of the last involved. I have been very intimate with PARCC, though.

As a casual reader, or for those with their heads in the sand, most states around the USA are going through a paradigm shift in how the evaluate students and how they, therefore, evaluate teachers.

For a basic understanding, here is what all three are:

Common Core (taken from their website)

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort that established a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics that states voluntarily adopt. The standards are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit bearing entry courses in two or four year college programs or enter the workforce. The standards are clear and concise to ensure that parents, teachers, and students have a clear understanding of the expectations in reading, writing, speaking and listening, language and mathematics in school.


AchieveNJ (taken from their website)

There are many differences between AchieveNJ and the old evaluation system. After two years of piloting in 30 districts that contain over 14,000 educators, AchieveNJ has been created to better align educator evaluation with best practices that lead to improved student outcomes. Our new AchieveNJ evaluation and support system is structured around several guiding principles; each one describes improvements from the previous system.

Educator effectiveness can and should be measured to ensure our students have the best teachers in the classroom. 

Evaluations should always be based on multiple measures that include both learning outcomes and effective practice. 

Tenure and other forms of recognition should be based on effectiveness. 



PARCC (taken from their website)

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a consortium of 22 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. These new K-12 assessments will build a pathway to college and career readiness by the end of high school, mark students’ progress toward this goal from 3rd grade up, and provide teachers with timely information to inform instruction and provide student support. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year.

The PARCC Vision
Builds a pathway to college and career readiness for all students,
Creates high-quality assessments that measure the full range of the Common Core State Standards,
Supports educators in the classroom,
Makes better use of technology in assessments, and
Advances accountability at all levels.

You have all that? 

All three about talking about college and career readiness and accountability  which on the surface, no one can really complain or go against. OF COURSE we want to prepare our students to become life long learners and leaders in this world by going off to college or into the work force. And of course, we want to make sure that our teachers help our students get there. 

So, how is the NJ DOE trying to rally us around? ... just wait for part II. 

In the AIR tonight...

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking of ways to bridge the gap between what people want and what we have. Its a tricky situation at times. For one, we have tons of iPads and iPod touches in the district but people also want document cameras and the like. 

I don't want to buy tech for the sake of buying tech (as some districts and people do). You know that person. The person who will wait inline for the new launch of something (hey, I've done it before. I'm not proud of it but I have done it).

After going to some Apple seminars and visiting the Apple store with our G&T students on a field trip, my mind began to spin with some new ideas. The Apple iOS devices are much more than just app-filled devices. The basic functions of it can be used by all teachers as a camera, recording machine, sharing and creation device. 

How could we stream what is on our iPads onto our SmartBoards? Currently, some teachers were using 30Pin to VGA connectors but that kept the iPad and teacher in the same location. I didn't want to do that anymore; plus, the cords and cables were expensive. Could we buy Apple TV's for each classroom? Sure we could, but at $99.99 a pop, money could have been spent better elsewhere. I couldn't figure this one out. 

So... as I do with many questions I can't answer, I turned to my collegiate friends and Twitter PLN. Thanks to my friend +Susan M. Bearden, I was able to get the answer I was looking for: AIRSERVER via Airplay. 

  No, not the 80's soft-rock band. AirPlay is something that gives us the ability to use all the technology in our classes concurrently to create a seamless class with endless possibilities for student-student create and interaction, as well as excelled lesson plans and ideas. 

Apple summarizes:


AirPlay Mirroring lets you show exactly what’s on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch screen to everyone in the room.2 Show web pages, games, photos, videos, spreadsheets, class material, and more on your HDTV via Apple TV. Zoom in and out and pause for applause. Rotate from portrait to landscape and your audience sees that, too. AirPlay does it all wirelessly, so you can work the room or sit comfortably among the crowd. If you see it, so can they.

Using a product called AirServer, which was about $3.99 a license for commerical and educational use, we will be able to give this great product to all our teachers who have staff laptops. This means that a teacher is no longer tethered to a certain spot in the room. It also means that they can use their SmartBoard while mirroring to their PC. It also means that they can use the iPad as a Document Camera, video camera, or picture editor. 

This has so many possibilities in the classroom. Mr. G summarizes quite nicely just some of the ways we can use this function:

• An ELA classroom where students can share their notes, collaboratively write paragraphs, edit shared texts and compare choices, or share drafts for others to read to feedback on, with the writer making real time changes as the feedback comes.

• In Math, where multiple strategies created by the students are shared simultaneously and discussed.

• Multiple videos showing different views of the same event or object.

• A music classroom using Garageband with children combining different instruments at the same time to create a digital orchestra,combine parts of the same song for harmonies or multitrack experimentation or simply share their individual creations wirelessly.

• A Science classroom where different observations, diagrams, videos of experiments are shared and compared.

• A video and text can be played simultaneously to compare and contrast how a particular part of the story is portrayed in different media.

• Ideas can be shared concurrently instead of waiting for turns, allowing students and teachers to focus on a specific point of their choice rather than waiting for turns.

• Collaborative teams presenting the work without having to spend time cobbling all their individual efforts together into a single PowerPoint/Prezi etc. Each student can just mirror their iPad on the screen at the same time and control a video, audio clip, slideshow, comic strip, ebook, themselves. 

Not all devices can connect to AirPlay or use AirServer. Here is a list of supported devices.

• iPad 2, 3, 4 or mini
• iPhone 4S or 5
• iPod Touch 5

This is going to change how we use tech and what learning will take place with it... and that truly is the most important thing we need. 

"Its not about the technology, its about the learning that can take place from it." - +Tom Murray 

App-O-Da-Week #2

Back again, huh? Still looking for those great education apps? (You know there are over 40,000 of them in the iTunes App Store).

How the heck are you supposed to find an app in a haystack the size of that?!

Never fear - The APP-O-DA-WEEK is here!!!

In conjunction with our great #appyhour discussion on Twitter (Fridays @2pm est) (Shameless plug) - we again, have broken down the apps that you most talked about and most revered. 

The discussion this week centered around Reading, Spelling, Grammar apps to use for ELA (or LAL, or English for those who remember when it was called that) class. 

With so many great apps to choose from, it was a tough choice - though a last minute RT (re-tweet) helped to sway the judges (me). 

And the winner is.....

READING RAINBOW - you don't have to take my word for it, but read on if you do!

Wait, don't you mean the show that was on PBS for over two decades? Yes, I do mean that one. Mr. Burton and the crew are off TV now but have jumped into the mobile fray.

As the Huff Post Tech wrote: "Switching over to the tablet may prove beneficial for advocating literacy with today's younger generation. According to the New York Times, 46 percent of children ages five to eight use a computer more than once a week and 50 percent of children under eight have access to a mobile device."


The app allows teachers and parents to monitor progress and check out books. Unfortuantly, the app isn't free but for 150 books and 16 video "field trips", parents can pay $9.99 a month or $29.99 for a six-month subscription to receive unlimited access to frequently updated content.

To check out more about this app, hit up: http://www.rrkidz.com/
 To download the app, hit up: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reading-rainbow/id512350210?mt=8
   For educators, there is even some plans that go along with it, hit up: http://www.rrkidz.com/educators

And those of you who just want to hear the old theme song - this one is for you