iPads for Starters Follow Up

As a follow up to my post yesterday, I say a great article on Edudemic about iPads, starters, and failures.

Here is a clip:

Allow for Failure

Your classroom should be a hot mess at first. Enjoy this, even relish it. Every time someone makes a mistake or something goes wrong, celebrate it like they did at the Apple Distinguished Educator Institute with an arm-raising “Woo Hoo!” Let kids know that failure is okay, and not everything will be perfect. Have fun with failure and messiness that might come from trying something new – it really is the fun part of the process. Another great article to read: Failure is Mandatory – Creating a culture of innovation

Here is the rest of the article that I highly recommend - http://www.edudemic.com/teachers-ipad-guide/

Check up time - First two weeks

Well. That was a whirlwind. 

The fact that two weeks of school are already over is mind boggling. I feel as if I just read 10000 books back to back to back. 

In any event, it has been an up and down few weeks. While the students and teachers are learning, we are hard at work, keeping the infrastructure up-to-date and making sure everyone has what they need. Even when we do room checks over the summer, there are always a bunch of little things that we need to fix - and that is okay with us. 

The media centers are bustling with students at all times of the day. Since our office resides right in one of the media centers, we get to hear and listen to the learning and excitement that is going on. We have over 50 iPads in the Media Center and students are always using them. They are using them to take Accelerated Reader quizzes, access their Ebackpacks, check out information, or just play a game or two. It is really quite something and it makes me feel great that we are going to embark on a BYOD initiative pilot program later on this year (but more on that later).

We held two, really great training's this week for our staff as well. One for OnCourse and the other for E-Backpack, which has been in our district for now going on three years. 

I love the team over at https://www.ebackpack.com/ . They are helpful and always willing to lend a hand when it comes to how to use the program. 

Our students love using the iPads with eBackpack and the integration with Google Drive and Dropbox make it so that students can truly access their items anywhere, at anytime. 

Finally, there are some really good conferences (or unconferences) coming up. One such is:

This PD event will be held on October 12th - more information can be found at http://www.edtechnj.com/

Check it out! Really great keynotes by +Jeffrey Bradbury of Teachercast and +Angela Maiers of the Passion Driven classroom are planned, so make it a priority to come!

The return of the blog! (2013 Edition)

After taking the summer off to relax and work on other projects (such as grad courses, raising baby, and you know, going to the beach), the blog is back and better than ever.

School started two weeks ago now (wow, where did the time go) and thinks have gotten off to a heinous pace. After a rocky start in which some things went down the night before the first day of school - because really, why wouldn't they - we rebounded and are making sure the students, teachers, and classrooms have what they need to succeed.

Another year under the belt means something else to me though - knowledge. Last year, we were working in new territory. We understood what needed to get done but not necessarily the best way to do it. Somethings we got it done quickly, other times it was a pain. But we learned. We failed. We grew.

I am happy to report that we have grown a lot. So much so, that we are rolling out a lot of new projects and products this year. Not only are we going to pilot a Bring your own Device initiative at our 5-8 Middle School, but we are also going to prepare for a PARCC test pilot, 1:1 pilot at the lower grades, and an expanded network to handle the load. It is going to be a crazy year.

That is why I came up with the GBTPS Technology Institute for the 2013-2014 school year.
I will be running, with hopefully many special guests from within and outside our district, a bunch of great workshops that are aimed at truly bridging the gap for EDTECH in our schools.

GBTPS Technology Institute 2013-2014

Take a look and let me know what you all think! If you want to be a part of a day, I would love to have you be a part of it and share what you do in your classrooms or schools. Please hit me up here or on twitter @MrCsays

Until next time, Carpe Diem folks.

iPad Summit Recap

"I don't know how to do this, I never received Professional Development on it" - said No Student, Ever. (Thanks +Tom Murray for the great quote)

iPad SUMMIT 2013

I recently held two summits in our district. These summits were designed to focus on learning and best practices with iPads, iOS, apps, and technology in general.

Many a twitter chat, blog post, and podcast as of late has been about a call to arms to actively take back PD (professional development) from the one hour, one day, one time slate of PD that has been given and change it into something more authentic and useful for teachers. This call to arms has also put its cross hairs on technology PD and the problems there within.

Technology has been one of the biggest criminals when it came to the one hour, one time sort of PD. I, myself, have been the victim and a suspect with receiving and giving this sort of tech PD. I'm not proud of it and of course, hindsight is 20/20; but now our foresight should encompass this as well. We shouldn't give PD about a what a tech is. Rather, we should be giving them all the time on WHY the tech is essential to unlocking learning and engagement in students and HOW it is transforming our culture, schools, and the way we teach/learn. My good friends at #edtechchat and #edchat have spoken about this at length with  +Tom Whitby and +Nancy Blair speaking about this specific change in their podcast.

If educators stop learning and trying new things, what message does that send to our students? Thankfully, I have some great educators in my district that are always willing to learn.

How can we make school look more like life? Summits like these help us mix the paints together. 

I wanted to take that model and truly help out my teachers. I wanted to make the technology less about the technology and more about the learning, engagement, and excitement that can come from it. I wanted to make this iPad summit about not just apps, but about the collaboration, creation, and communication that can happen with them and the transformation of student learning that can come from using them.

Using my trusty brain, my resources, and my PLN, here is the presentation:

We focused on three areas - function, purpose, and apps. This tiered strategy helped those who needed some basics with the iPad and gave those with experience some purpose: they helped out their colleagues who needed it, just like I would have my students do. 

To show off how to get to certain parts, I used AirServer via AirPlay. If you don't know what that is, take a look at my prior post about it - http://tinyurl.com/m64ptnj

We shared tips and tricks, looked at how to import and export and even talked about how the iPad can be used to help learners with disabilities by going through the accessibility functions within the device. We used the iPad as a document camera and shared what we were working on (we were all connected at once!) with the rest of the groups and some fantastic education ideas came out of just that. Imagine you students working on a document and then sharing it with the class. Have multiple students to this would truly bring communication and innovation to the forefront. Finally, we stopped at guided access, which really was a fantastic area for some teachers when it came to locking the iOS in a certain app to use during centers or the like. 

Finally, we looked at just a few apps that were really high on the SAMR scale. These included:

• Explain Everything
• E-Backpack
• Class Dojo
• Google Drive
• PuppetPals HD
• BrainPOP
• Google Maps
• and more... 

But it wasn't about the apps. It wasn't even about iPads. It was still about learning and the students. Shedding the light on why technology has failed in the past and where we need to go as a population of educators to prevent those pitfalls from happening in the future. I had teachers and educators of all content levels, backgrounds, and grades. Experience with tech, teaching, or iPads was not necessary and I had teachers that were vets and those who were new share ideas with each other. And that is the true purpose of PD. It's not about learning something once and never talking about it again, its about learning something, talking about it with your peers, and taking it and making it your own so that your students benefit from it. 

Truth be told, I didn't know how it was going to go. I thought the summits may have bomb.

After three minutes in each one, the educators in them let me know - they want more, they want to learn, and they are eager. 

App-O-Da-Week #7

It's that time of the week again!

It's APP-O-DA-WEEK time! 

Thanks for coming back! We are going for nearly two months now. We have brought you both paid and free apps but this app is a bit different... it's both. 

The app that we will be highlighting this week is called "Puppet Pals."

Now, this app is free but to access all the content, you do have to pay for an upgraded version. These apps are generally refered to as "freemium apps" because they rope you in the the FREE word but then make you purchase more to access everything you want to. 

You might be saying to yourself that this is a waste of a FREE app - and most times, you would be correct. But, I would also argue that the paid version of Puppet Pals, which is $2.99, is well worth the investment. The full version is called "Puppet Pals Directors Pass" and you get a lot with it. 

This app allows you to create free puppet shows with user created or app created content. You can do voice overs  move characters around, and create some seriously wicked presentations! The app is easy to use and is one of those creation and collaboration apps that can be scaled for any age group from grades K-12.

Here is how the app makers describe their own app via http://tinyurl.com/a9deaat:

STAR IN YOUR OWN CARTOON in this creative, award-winning app!

Kids and adults alike love the simplicity of puppeteering and voicing characters while creating movies to share.

Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later. 

This app is as fun as your own creativity. Act out a story of Pirates on the high seas, fight as scary monsters, or play the part of a Wild West bandit on the loose. You can even combine any characters however you want! 

Your creations are only limited by your imagination!

FEATURES 

- Create an actor from a photo

- Use a photo as a backdrop for your storytelling

- zoom and rotate your characters using two fingers

- flip them around with a double tap

- a wide variety of creative characters to download (including famous talk show hosts and politicians)

- limitless possibilities of story creations

All in all, its a pretty great app. Students can get engaged and tell stories using premade characters or they can take pictures and put themselves in the story! Other in app-purchases may set you back some but the basics should keep people coming back!

App-O-Da-Week #6

Back by popular demand.... it's the App-O-Da-Week!

Thanks to all those who have been supporting this great movement over the last month and a half. It makes writing this and bring apps to you folks fantastic!

Again, because of the demand, we are bringing you not one, but TWO apps. One paid. One free.


Starting with the PAID, let's focus on an app that is breaking waves in education. It's allowing students to explain, well, basically everything. And wouldn't you know it, the app is called "Explain Everything," and for $2.99, it certainly does much more than that.

Folks are calling this one a game changer. Explain Everything allow a student to annotate, create, screencast, and share everything from anywhere. When they are done, they have the ability to upload it to one of many services we currently have, including E-Backpack or Google Drive. 

For those who want a more "techie" answer about what this app does, just look to what the maker, MorrisCooke, says about it:

"Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. You can create dynamic interactive lessons, activities, assessments, and tutorials using Explain Everything's flexible and integrated design. Use Explain Everything as an interactive whiteboard using the iPad2 video display. Explain Everything records on-screen drawing, annotation, object movement and captures audio via the iPad microphone.  Import Photos, PDF, PPT, and Keynote from Dropbox, Evernote, Email, iPad photo roll and iPad2 camera. Export MP4 movie files, PNG image files, and share the .XPL project file with others for collaboration."








WOW - that's alot. It means that students aren't only creating, they are redefining and sharing what they have learned with others in a way that was never before possible. When looking at the SAMR scale of technology use in classrooms, this app is way up there at the top.

Eventually, students will be able to use this app to create fantastic screencasts of their work, share it with their teacher (who in turn will give feedback and give it back to the student) all in one fell swoop. No computer necessary!

With Common Core become law, there a ton of technological aspects in here that can be used to your advantage. Remember, Common Core has a lot to do with technology and assessments and wouldn't you know it, students can actually use this app as an assessment tool. Teachers can record their lesson plans, activities, and even them reading to the class all in this app.

There aren't many killer apps out there but if there is one that needs to be purchased right away, this one is it.

App-O-Da-Week #5

It's Friday, Friday... gotta get my apps on Friday! 

It's the App-O-Da-Week time again and this week we are serving up two apps for the price of one. 

One paid, one free! Two reviews = you win!

First up, we have Sushi Monster. This app was made for Scholastic and is a fantastic FREE app (we love that word) that allows gamers to bone up on the mathematical skills in an entertaining way. Students feed their Sushi Monsters by correctly choosing two numbers that when added or multiplied result in the number that the monster wants to eat. When the monster has been fully fed students move on to feeding a new monster. 

It's fun and addicting!

For a more detailed review, check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mqXeHr6bkNE

Our next app is an all time classic. Many companies are taking their most popular books and turning

them into interactive reading apps for a new generation. 

That is certainly the case with "The Monster at the end of this Book" which start, lovable, furry old Grover. 

This was staple in my childhood. We would read this book every night  gestating how Grover would and acting out all the parts. It was great. Now, with this $4.99 book app (which is a steal if you consider how much books cost), you get a great interactive story with real life voice and sound effects!

The Review from About.com lays it out perfectly. "Grover’s expressions, which range from sheer overconfidence to utter dejection, are also a hoot, adding that Sesame Street personality to the tale. His comments are quite Grover-like and amusing as well."

Here are just some of the great features - taken from the iOS store site - 

Funny, furry features include:





• Lively, interactive animation that responds to your child’s touch



• Narration by lovable old Grover himself

--and tapping Grover makes him talk!

• Engaging activities that empower readers to decide how and when to move the story forward—plus encourage kids’ spatial development and listening skills



• Word highlighting to help build beginning reader skills



• Easy-to-follow parent tips for helping kids tackle common fears, reflecting the book’s underlying curriculum messages about courage and labeling emotions

• Bookplate personalization — add your child's name!

I hope this weeks installment will get you through until next week & remember, join me for #appyhour on Twitter @MrCsays

Super, ridiculously large iPad infographic!

I love iPads. I love what they can offer to students and teachers. But sometimes, their "coolness" gets in the way of what they can really do, transform learning for students and educating for teachers. Here is a great info-graphic (information graphics) that lays out EXACTLY what they can do. I wish I came up with it but I didn't, so I will share it. 


Via Tony Vincent @ http://learninginhand.com/blog/2013/4/7/ipad-as-the-teachers-pet-infographic?buffer_share=9875c&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer%253A%252BICTEvangelist%252Bon%252Btwitter

iPad as Teachers Pet

App-O-Da-Week #4

As a good friend and fellow Social Studies teacher once said to me - "In the end, history matters."

Some students dread coming to Social Studies, while others are as excited as can be. 
And while Social Studies (or history if you still teach or call it that) gets NO LOVE on state assessments (I'm looking at you, NJ ASK, PARCC, and anything else), we do get some massive love in the APP world.

So, in this weeks edition of our App-O-Da-Week, we are highlighting the apps that are filled with a bunch of maps and old dead people from history, that's right, the SOCIAL STUDIES APPS.  We will be highlighting two apps this week, one for elementary school students and the other for middle school students. Both apps will deal with Geography.


One of the lost arts today is looking at, and figuring out maps. Well, there is a great app for that!

Its called Stack the States - $0.99 -

While not entirely free (there is a FREE lite version that I would recommend trying before making this huge purchase...) it is a great app that teaches state recognition and capitals and the like in a progression like fashion, unlocking states as they go along. Perfect for kids in grades 1-4. It's fun and addictive, which is the crux of any good educational app. Make it fun and they will want to learn even more!

Even Commonsensemedia.org wrote a nice piece about it! Here is what they said:

• Help kids search for interesting facts or landmarks in each state to keep learning fun.
• Plan imaginary visits to state capitals. Map out the trip and sights to see.
• Encourage kids to dig deeper into the history of their own state, or states where relatives live.

Stack the States has great educational and entertainment value. Kids will fall in love with its ease of use that should keep them entertained and learning. Enough said. Take a look!

The second app is aimed at older students - particularly in middle school. This app is FREE. Yes, we love the word FREE in education and this one is a good one. 

It's called History: Maps of the World. 

The maps are rendered in beautiful HD quality. There are literally hundreds of maps. Even Edudemic thinks its a great app!

"History and geography (duh) collide on this very popular resource, which provides access to maps past and present so users can watch how borders and projections shift over time." - Edudemic, 50 Must-Download Apps For Lifelong Learners

Here are the key features:

- Wide variety of historical displays
- Support for Category/Era view
- Keyword Search
- Displays the source about each map
- Zoom in/out (zoom-in/out with pinch, zoom-in with double tab, and zoom-out with two-fingers tap

A local school district in Alabama came up with this great video on the App - check it out!

I like this app because it gets to the point - there is no need for an Atlas. Students have historic, geographic, and others maps at their fingertips. 




So, for our recap:

App #1 - Stack the States - $0.99

App #2 - History: Maps of the World - FREE

While I may be biased on these apps (and oh yes, I am), I think both are great pickups that will enhance learning and won't cripple your wallet. 

Remember - in the end, HISTORY matters. Plus, we rock.

PS - join us on Twitter for this gem of a chat!

Learning wherever, whenever!

Last night during our weekly #njed Twitter chat (and subsequent teachercast.tv live video feed), we discussed how and why you should take learning outside. 

We came up with, as current and former teachers, a number of reasons. Learning shouldn't be confined to the four walls that surround you. In fact, the only thing walls are good for is keeping bugs out. 

When it comes to learning - you can learn anywhere as long as there is a group of people who want to learn and there is someone there willing to facilitate. Some of my best lessons were outside, walking the campus and asking questions to students. There minds weren't pent up looking at the same thing. They were learning via nature. 

I bring this up because our students just went on a trip to the local Apple Store. And while it wasn't nature, it was a trip. The useds iMacs, Mac Books, and iPads to crunch numbers and use that app to figure out real world finance issues. 

It was fantastic. The staff was helpful, the kids wanted to use the tech, and the trip went better than planned. Learning can happen anywhere, as long as you have the drive to learn.

Kudos to the people at the store - you did a great job!

Apple 21.5 " iMac 2.7GHz Intel Quad-Core i5 Desktop Computer - MD093LL/A (Google Affiliate Ad)

Apple MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 Notebook Computer - MD101LL/A (Google Affiliate Ad)

Why do I need this? - Apples and iPads, a Crash Course

I've always been a proponent of gadgets. Even as a kid, I would fawn over the likes of the "Talkboy" and other toys that I could never, ever get. That was until 2003 when I got my hands on a third generation iPod. With the ability to carry all my music around and not ever have to purchase another CD again (lies, all lies - I just bought a CD last year), it was a revolution in my hand. 

Fast forward ten years, which in terms of gadgets and technology, is light years  and we have come to a common crossroads. Not only can we have gadgets that can hold all of our music, but we can have ones that can carry our lives. Our memories. Our future. iPads, tablets, and touch screen micro-conversion PC's (heck, even Windows 8, I guess), have changed the way we live our lives. We are no longer beholden to where things are in the world because these devices bring the world to us. This is especially true in education. 

We have been test-piloting Apple iPads and iPod touches in our classrooms for the last year and a half. While my inner geek wants to purchase the latest and greatest, I always want to make sure that everyone else feels the same way! The pilots have been going wonderfully - integrating them into different content areas and being use by over 150 students! Even better, we have iPads in our Media Centers that can be taken out for loan by any student - our Media Specialist scans them into the library system and away that student goes!

In any classroom, you need to try things out and play with them before you move forward. My hope is that we can move to becoming a paperless classroom and school. Notes, worksheets, tests, reports should all be delivered electronically and eventually, I hope to move to an electronic book. I understand that there will be a learning curve for the teachers and students who have not yet used an ipad or the specific apps that can be employed. It's important, however, that this process be as painless as possible, therefore, the plan is to introduce the most used apps one at a time. One or two days of practice with the app and then the "app questions" need to be held for the end of class or individual work time. You have to get in there and play around with it - think of this like anything else in your classroom. 

Unfortunately, with over 40,000 educational apps and many more for productivity use, it can be hard to narrow down exactly what apps to choose or which ones to use. Thankfully, Apple and many other sources have made it easy for us to figure this out!

Apple Education Apps - http://www.apple.com/education/apps/

(Good site that breaks down content level apps) (Not only that, but there are collections of free apps as well, which in a school setting, always makes life easier).

Ipads in the Classroom - http://www.schrockguide.net/ipads-in-the-classroom.html

(This is a mecca site - loads of information, plus help understanding how to integrate

 i-Products into your classroom).

(Also, this is the site that I pulled the video from at the start and this great poster to hang in your rooms!)

50 Tricks to use with the iPads - http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-u=1_328373&N-fa=3071669&N-s=1_3147560&N-f=1_3147560&N-p=24674436&N-play=1

More iPad Collections - http://ipadschools.wikispaces.com/home

Even more! - http://teacherrebootcamp.com/2012/12/04/45-teacher-recommended-educational-apps/#.UVh94ljCVtQ.twitter

So, what can we take from this? Some people still might ask - how do I use them in my class? Personally, I believe that to be the wrong question to be asking. How can you not? These devices and technology (especially the internet), have flattened the landscape of technology and allow students to learn on a one-to-one basis and can give the teacher more resources to use in front of and away from the classroom. Learning can become personalized with different apps and students engagement (a big, buzz word right now) will spike. As Kathy Schrock labeled it, iPads have revised teaching and learning and even Bloom's! No longer is there a hierarchy  but the cogs are all working together as our students create and learn.

Apple and iOs products can be used daily - they shouldn't be relegated to the side or a one day a week item. There has to be an investment made and a change of heart when it comes to delivery of material. With helpful websites and colleagues (and of course, your local Tech Department), cutting down the App-Jungle will be much easier and more fruitful. 

Be on the look out for the App-O-Da-Week and the App Educator of the Month!

For more questions or comments, leave them below or contact me via email at tcharleston@gbtps.org

iPad 2 Wi-Fi 16GB - White (Google Affiliate Ad)

iPad with Retina display Wi-Fi 32GB Black (Google Affiliate Ad)

Apple iPod Touch 64GB 5th Generation - Blue (Google Affiliate Ad)