ISTE 2014 is just around the corner and the
excitement is building. If you’ve never been, it’s an educational
technology candy store with something for everyone. This year I’m
fortunate to be attending and presenting. While I’m presenting several
times over the four day conference there are two overarching themes that I will
be sharing. These include Making Thinking Visible through Choice, and
Building Student Learning Networks to Connect with the World. For those
unable to attend ISTE let me share some of what I plan to share.
Making Thinking Visible Through Choice
I have been extremely fortunate to be in a 1:1
iPad situation for the past two years with my grade one students in Surrey,
British Columbia. This has allowed my students and I to explore different
open-ended creative apps for making thinking visible. Student choice is
also key as my young learners often chose how they want to show what they know.
With the larger learning intention in mind, my students pick the tools to
practice, show and share their learning. It helps foster self directed,
independent learning at a young age.
Our classroom open-ended creative apps tend to
fall into three main categories - documenting with images, documenting with
voice, and documenting through stories.
Documenting
with Images
At present my students three favourite apps to
document with images include PicCollage, Skitch, and Poplet
lite. These free apps allow my students to
show what they know through images. Specifically, PicCollage allows my
students to arrange images to demonstrate a concept. They can create their own
images in another app or with a photo of their non digital work and then
combined their ideas together into a collage. Text can be added to the
collage. Skitch allows my students to add text and arrows to further
explain what their image is demonstrating. Popplet lite allows my
students to create a graphic organizer with images and/or text to show
information about and/or relationships of concepts.
Documenting
with Voice
With the introduction of technology and more
specifically the ability to record voice my students now have many ways to add
voice to their digital and non digital creations. Some of the tools they can
choose from include Croak.it, AudioBoo, Tellagami, Chatterpix, Draw and Tell, Educreations, and Explain Everything .
Croak.it allows you to record up to 30 seconds
of voice. You then receive a unique link which can be shared with parents via
email, or can be used to create a QR code to add to a student creation.
Tellagami, and Chatterpix are fun ways to add voice directly to an image.
Tellagami creates an avatar and the student records what the avatar
should say to explain the learning behind the image. Chatterpix adds a
mouth to an image so it looks like the image is talking. Draw and Tell,
Educreations, and Explain Everything are three similar but different screen
casting apps. Each are chosen for different reasons to show learning.
Documenting
with Stories
Stories can be shared in many different
formats. Typically my students share their stories in book, movie, or
presentation form. Our favourite book creating apps include My Story and Book Creator. In these
apps my students create both fiction and non-fiction books to show/share their
knowledge. Movie making is also extremely popular. iMovie is very popular. Other tools we’ve explored to share in video
form include 30 Hands, GreenScreen , and iMotionHD. Haiku Deck is another excellent and easy to use tool to share a story.
You can find me sharing making thinking
visible through student choice during the following ISTE sessions.
Primary kids can! Let's tweet, blog, or Skype to connect [Poster
Session]
Saturday, June 28, 7:00 pm–8:30 pm
GWCC Murphy Ballroom Galleria, Table 21
Genius hour 20% time: Best
practices inspire creativity not chaos [Panel]
Sunday, June 29, 12:45 pm–1:45 pm
GWCC Sidney Marcus Auditorium
With iPads you're never too
young! Capture, create, document and share [$ Workshop]
Sunday, June 29, 4:30 pm–7:30 pm
GWCC A406/407
Making Thinking Visible
with iPads and Young Learners [Presentation]
Interactive playground featuring iTunes U, iBooks Author and iPad
Tuesday, July 1, 9:00 am–1:00 pm (9:30 am presentation, 10 - 11
app exploration)
GWCC Building B, Level 3 (near Room B313)
Visible thinking: BYOD tools for quality questioning and formative
assessment [BYOD]
Tuesday, July 1, 1:15 pm–2:15 pm
GWCC A402/403
Building Student Learning Networks to Connect with the
World
Building student learning networks to connect
and learn with the world is another one of my greatest passions these days. I
am always looking for ways to connect, learn and share with colleagues. I
want the same for my students too. Some of the ways I do this with/for my
students is through blogs, twitter, video conferencing, and co-creation.
Blogs
I maintain a class blog (with help from my
students) and my students maintain their own individual blogs. Both blogs
are open to the world to read and comment on. Commenting is one way we
connect with others as we visit other class blogs and learn with them.
Twitter
We use Twitter to share our learning. The simple
fact that we share on twitter invites others to learn along with us. We create
hashtags such as #lrrh13 to tweet in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, or #2d3dshapes
to share facts and clues about two and three dimensional shapes. We tweet
from a class account @MsLsClass and invite others to join along and learn with
us. We’ve met and connected with many classes from around the world
through sharing on twitter.
Video
Conferencing
Video conferencing has been another way for my
students to expand their learning communities and connect with the world.
My students have learned with other classes, app developers, various
experts, and authors. They have also used video conferencing to teach others.
Co-Creation
Co-Creation is yet another
way my students connect and learn with others. We have used the iPad app
Book Creator in conjunction with Dropbox to co-create stories. We’ve used
iMovie and dropbox to co-create movies with other classes around the world.
This fall we invited classes from around North America to submit to our
two global read aloud projects. Co-creation is another way to connect
with children beyond the physical classroom.
You can find me sharing building student
learning networks to connect with the world during the following ISTE sessions.
Primary kids can! Let's tweet, blog, or Skype to connect [Poster
Session]
Saturday, June 28, 7:00 pm–8:30 pm
GWCC Murphy Ballroom Galleria, Table 21
Building Student Learning
Networks in the Early Years [Presentation]
Little learners, technologies and big learning
-- come play in our playground
Sunday, June 29, 12:30 pm–4:00 pm [2:30
presentation]
GWCC Building B, Level 3 (near Room B313)
With iPads you're never too
young! Capture, create, document and share [$ Workshop]
Sunday, June 29, 4:30 pm–7:30 pm
GWCC A406/407
Making Thinking Visible
with iPads and Young Learners [Presentation]
Interactive playground featuring iTunes U, iBooks Author and iPad
Tuesday, July 1, 9:00 am–1:00 pm (9:30 am presentation, 10 - 11
app exploration)
GWCC Building B, Level 3 (near Room B313)
Visible thinking: BYOD tools for quality questioning and formative
assessment [BYOD]
Tuesday, July 1, 1:15 pm–2:15 pm
GWCC A402/403
