Evernote- Penultimate

 This is an app that syncs directly with Evernote. You can be creative with your photos, math problems, and reading passages. It is a quick and easy way to create online notebook to share with anyone. There is a tutorial that comes with the app also.

Knowmia

My students recently used an app called Knowmia to present their infectious and non-infectious disease research to their classmates. This is an easy to use presentation software that is very similar to Power Point. The student will need to create an account and my students all used their school Gaggle emails and passwords to make it easy to remember. There is a tutorial video to help get you or your students started.

Mrs. Carpenter's Gateway to Technology students recently used SmartPhones to control their robots. 

In addition, all the classes are adding Google Chrome to their devices so that their bookmarks from their school desktops will sync to their devices. They are moving to GTT journals in a digital format. They are downloading Adobe Reader so that students may mark up notes from the class website. Students will organize notes in a digital notebook. Students are also using their Droid phones as remote controls for their NXT Battle Bots.  In this video, students are researching playgrounds before designing their own in Inventor. 

 

 

Mrs. Thompson's Social Studies students use iPads or classroom computers to answer questions about the French Revolution via Socrative. 

Mrs. Murphy's 6th grade Social Studies students use their devices to research the Middle Ages and create a product using their favorite app or program.  Students who do not have their own devices are able to use a Netbook from one of our mobile labs. 

Ms. Bibb's 8th grade technology students are using Alice to program a virtual world. 

Mrs. Lister's and Mrs. Gregory's 8th grade ELA Writing students video each other as they attempt to follow their partners' instructions in their own technical writing.  Back in the classroom, students will analyze the performances in the videos to see where they may need to revise their writing for greater clarity. 

 

Mr. Lawson's 8th grade math students use the Aurasma app to "uncover" answers to problems they work around the classroom.  It's magic!!

Mrs. Thompson's 6th grade ELA Reading students use their devices to scan QR codes in a content-related scavenger hunt around the classroom.  Once they find the information needed, they use it to complete the task at each station.  Notice the "BYOT huddle" as students who are unable to bring their own devices still benefit from looking on and learning with the group. 

 

Here are some notes from Mrs. Thompson:

 

1^st, 2^nd and 5^th-- We are studying how to recognize author’s bias and perform literary critiques.  The students had 8 QR codes to read with their devices.  These links took them to web pages that contained children’s book reviews, children’s movie reviews, video game reviews (age appropriate reviews) and one restaurant review.  The students had to perform a unique task with each website- compare, critique, etc. 

4^th and 6^th – We have just finished reading Pam Conrad’s My Daniel.  The book takes place on the Nebraska prairie where they find dinosaur bones. The students have 6 QR codes to read with their devices.  These links will take them to information pertaining to this book- Smithsonian virtual museum display of dinosaur bones and fossils, websites about prairie life and myths about dinosaurs.  The students will take notes and answer questions at the various stations.



Mrs. Farrington's and Mrs. Spraker's 7th grade math students are using their devices to create a presentation on how to find sales tax, tip, and discount and how to apply this to the final total cost and sale price.  Groups write a real-world applicable problem. 

 

Mrs. Wofford's 6th grade GT math students use their devices to find measurements for Shaquille O'Neal's foot.  Then, they calculate the surface area. 

Literature Circles with Google Drive

We are using Google Docs to collaborate with Literature Circles. I created a document in Google Drive for each novel and shared it with students that are reading that novel. The students still have the traditional Lit Circle jobs each week, but instead of filling out a paper (that often gets lost) they add their information to the Google Doc. This allows students to easily collaborate outside of class. As a teacher it helps me ensure that all students are doing their part along the way and not waiting until the last minute. I have noticed increased student excitement and participation about reading and sharing.

EVERNOTE

       Evernote: Remember Everything

Evernote is a great way for students to convert their typical spiral notebooks into digital notebooks. It is easy and the possibilities are endless. This is a free app for all Apple devices as well as android devices and even computers where you can sync all of your devices to keep the same digital notebooks you create from one device. My students are using Evernote for their science notes, scientific pictures and making digital copies of all their handouts. This app even allows them to take pictures and load them into their notes.  It is great for all subject areas and all age levels. For a starter video on some Evernote basics go to Evernote.

QR Reader

I have used the free Android and Smartphone app QR reader as a way to quiz my students on books we are reading, stems and vocabulary. This activity gets them moving around the building since they have to find them first and encourages them to work as a team to find the right answer. At this point they do have to write down the answer but most of them do this on their device as well and show it to me at the end. I have not been able to build the questions in a way that it could be an actual scavenger hunt but my students enjoy it anyways and they are reviewing painlessly. The following link will take you to a free site to generate your own codes; http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ You will need to save them to your computer and then print them out. Any QR Reader will be able to access them. Have fun!

Picking Pixorial

We like to do a lot of video recording in our classroom, and oftentimes, we cannot get a video camera.  With BYOT, we have the luxury of using our own devices to record and take care of this issue.  The problem comes in when we have to download or upload the final product.

However, we recently found a free app (both Android and iPhone friendly) that will help to alleviate some of those headaches.  Pixorial is a video and picture sharing program that stores media in the cloud. 

We found that using Pixorial is a very easy way to upload video (and pictures - but we weren't using pictures) so that we could share them with each other. There are many share options; the most popular ones are through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites. There is also an option to embed the image or the video, if you don't want to involve social networking.

And it also is a great tool that can be used for video editing. While we didn't need it for our project, that option is still there in case we want to use it in the future.

It offers 7 GB of free space, so while we can't upload monstrous files to the cloud, we can upload several. And after the year is over, students can use the account to share their own pictures and movies with their friends and family.

Pixorial Logo

Explore Learning

www.explorelearning.com  

Gifted and Talented middle school students have access to a useful inquiry based learning site called Explore Learning. Free trials are available also. There are logins for students and teachers and math and science lessons available to enhance the curriculum. The standard based  lessons are interactive and have assessments included with online quizes and answer keys to worksheets available online. There is now a blog spot for teachers who use the program: www.explorelearning.com/algasc .

Flipped Classrooms

                                                              
     Recently Glenview Middle School science teachers viewed a webinar on Flipped Science Classrooms. We are really interested in the positive enhancements that this can offer to our instruction but also see some cons like the lack of Internet access at home. If you are interested in flipping your classroom or if you have tried it before, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested you can view some archived webinars at http://www.flippedlearning.org/webinars or sign up for future ones at http://www.flippedlearning.org/webinars.
Here is a list of upcoming webinars:

February 13 – The Administrators’ Role and Professional Development
March 13 – Physical Education, Home Economics, Special Education, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Classrooms, and Other Subjects
April 10 – Social Studies/History
May 8 – Elementary Grades

Thinkgate

             THINKGATE

When viewing your benchmark test scores, Glenview Middle School teachers have developed a few short tutorial videos using the ShowMe iPad app to help you use the scores effectively in your classroom.






Reports:
Distractor Analysis-
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=wLMz0F6
Standard Analysis- 

http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=Chakeau
At Risk-
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=3BetT5k
Progress Report- 

http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=CcWXYY4