Suzanne's Ed Tech Reflections

We had a really great PLC with our Flipped Classroom team today. We are half way through the year and have begun thinking about learning projects for fourth quarter after state testing is completed. Last November I attended a conference session led by Mark Nichols of Apple on Challenge Based Learning. Challenge Based Learning, or CBL, is an engaging approach to learning that guides students through solving real world problems developed by Apple. It is collaborative, hands on, and very student driven. We invited Mark to join us at our PLC today to introduce our teachers to the process, which includes identifying an overarching big idea, developing essential questions to narrow the thought, and then coming up with a challenge to be completed. Then utilizing guiding questions and guided activities and resources, students work thorough the problem to come up with solutions. Finally you implement the solutions, evaluate the outcomes, and  reflect on their process and learning. The p

Feedly is a great app for reading and organizing your favorite blogs, online magazines, and news sites. Feedly turns webpages into beautiful cards that are easy to read and can be synced across all of your devices.

Storyrobe is a great digital storytelling app that is very easy to use: upload your  pictures, record some narrations for each photo, and share your video. There are a so many uses for this app! The new version of the app is universal for both iPhone and iPad - and right now its free.

One of our new favorite apps is Tools 4 Students. This app is a collection of 25 different graphic organizers that students can fill in on their iPads. When complete, the organizers can be saved as either a photo or PDF and then shared through email or linked to Dropbox. This great selection of organizers makes the app useful for a variety of content areas. Students can complete Character organizers or Beginning-Middle-End organizers for Language Arts. The Compare/Contrast organizer would be helpful for life science as you compare and contrast different animal species or organ systems. As you study historical events in Social Studies, the Cause/Effect organizer would work really well. As you start a new unit, have students complete the KWL or KWLW organizers to show what they already know about a topic and what they would like to learn during the unit. Just a few examples but you can see how this app could be used in a variety of ways. Here are some example of Tools 4 Students in

    One of our new favorite tools is ScootPad ( http://www.scootpad.com/ ). ScootPad is a common core standards aligned tool for practicing and mastering math and reading skills. ScootPad provides self-paced personalized practice for each student - and all for free! Teachers create a free account and then add their students. Each student has a customized log-in to access the program. Teachers have access to customized reports for their classroom and students. Teachers also receive a ScootPad Weekly Digest report via email. This report highlights each students accomplishments along with highlights and updates about the program. The ScootPad website works well on the iPads but they also have a free app. The app makes it really easy for students to access their accounts and complete their practice activities. Teachers can also access their ScootPad Teacher Dashboard through the app to manage their account. There is a ScratchPad embedded in the iPad app for doing math calculations.

This article about the mom who bought her 13 year old son an iPhone for Christmas but also created an 18 point contract about its use has pretty much gone viral. It has been referred to on many blogs, posted on Facebook, and retweeted on Twitter numerous times. If you have not seen it yet, here is the link: To My 13 Year Old, an iPhone Contract From Your Mom, With Love This is such a great idea and I love the many "touchy" subjects she addresses with both humor and love, such as not texting or emailing something you would not say to someones face, no porn, and really thinking about the photos you take. We have a great iPad Agreement we use with our students but some of these ideas really need to be addressed with them in depth also. May be making some revisions for next year! Sounds like Ms. Hoffman is a really great mom - hope her son appreciates her!