Educational Technology

This past week I was tasked with coming up with a way for students to create a short 30-second video project for reviewing some math concepts for end-of-year testing. We previously completed projects using Flipgrid, ReCap, Screencastify and Google Slide in a traditional presentation mode. I decided that stop-motion may be a fun alternative presentation project. I played around a bit with a stop-motion animation app on the Chromebook and then remembered + Eric Curts presentation about Google Slides being used as Stop-Motion. I made a tutorial for the students by focusing on basic transportation, thinking the movement of transportation would be good to show the students. I started with a storyboard concept and duplicated the background in all the slides 30 times first. I picked thirty slides knowing that my default will be one second per slide when I publish. UPDATE: May 22, 2017 - After speaking with several colleagues, I have been told that copying one slide at a time (...

This week is Spring Break for my school system. Before my thoughts get too far away from school and toward a honey-do list and fishing, I shall  discuss my first true teaching  experience with Kindergartners.   As a former high school teacher for 16 years,  I have no preparation for Kindergarten. But, as an i nstructional technology resource teacher, I am assigned several different schools including Moneta Elementary  in Moneta VA  about once a week, every week. And, I have to be honest, I could've avoided Kindergarten if I wanted to. Fortunately for me, I met Mrs. Haywood early in the year and we hit it off.  Due to the willingness to have me in her classroom, Mrs. Terri Haywood and I have formed a wonderful team the one day per week I get to interact with her students. Due to her openness,  I have had the pleasure of getting to know her class of Kindergartners  this year like I have no other.  We have created "This week with...

Good day:  This week I will discuss BreakoutEdu student innovators and  experimentation with Flipgrid. Two 8th grade students at my middle school tackled making a Breakoutedu game for their peers and we introduced Flipgrid afterward to reflect on the experience.  Several weeks ago, I introduced a Breakoutedu to several 8th-grade students in an exploratory science class. Two of these students convinced Mrs. Blake, their English 8 teacher, to allow them to work on a breakout activity with me in their extra time. The boys worked diligently for two weeks whenever they got the opportunity. Lots of work went into the 8th grade English VA SOL review Breakout. Mrs. Blake, the two boys, and I contributed and we are all very proud of the outcome.  We came out with a nine-question SOL review game with locks embedded every couple questions. We used all 3 English classes to play throughout the day. We set up 4 duplicate boxes and ran 4 groups simultaneou...

Good day:  This week I will discuss how two weeks of Breakoutedu Digital has changed project-based learning/gaming in our school.  So today... BreakoutEdu Digital craziness. In April 2015, +John Larmer    wrote an article, Gold Standard PBL: Essential Project Design Elements . In it, he discussed what he considered the gold standard for productive, essential project-based learning. This model is used to  "help teachers, schools, and organizations to measure, calibrate, and improve their practice." He outlined why teachers should use PBL to improve student learning of content, concepts, and depth of understanding. According to Mr. Larmer, Students need a challenging problem/question, with sustained ininquiry, authenticity (real-world learning), student voice/choice, reflection time, critique & revision time, and publicity. I agree. Project-based learning is neither new or controversial. Many great academics have proven i...

I presented at my first EdTech Google Summit on March 11th and 12th and this is what I learned from it. So, I found out 3 days prior to the conference that I was bumped from Day 2, Session 7 to Day 1, Session 1 due to a presenter's unfortunate ill-timed relationship with a stomach virus. Holy crap! (no pun intended) ~ I would be the first presenter that many people would see. I am the introduction of what this conference means for people.  I was the WalMart greeter of the Google Summit and I was super pumped and nervous. I remember when I went to my first summit and the feeling of the unknown. I practically worshiped those presenters/ rock stars. Ok, so I might be a closet groupie. The idea behind it is, I want to provide a high-quality experience to those who are new.  I hold Google Summits to a high standard and I want to live up to that standard. After a fantastic keynote by  +Molly Schroeder  Bennett ( @followmolly ), everyone was dismissed to Sess...

Good morning: This week I will discuss how I opened a Twitter account and attended two stellar conferences in two states, in one week. I did present at my first Google Summit this past weekend, but I need to catch my breath and digest how awesome it was. So, next week I will debrief on that experience. So today... Why Twitter and what conferences? So, as you may know, I recently became a Google Certified Trainer (GCT). As part of the orientation process and to become a more effective GCT, I was told to create or expand my personal learning network or PLN. It was up to me to decide how that would look. I was already on Google+ but I wasn't seriously connecting with anyone. I posted once in while, I took suggestions, but I wasn't "active". To get connected with people, I needed to create a digital footprint. I didn't even know who George Couros  (@ gcouros )  was, let alone understood that I was trying to model my online presence after his idea of a growth mind...

Good morning: I am excited. Many things have happened since I last blogged. I opened a Twitter account, relaxed a bit about the Google Directory and Eduapp, was accepted as a presenter for the VA Google Summit by EdTech in Charlottesville and attended two stellar conferences in two states, in one week. Wow. Where to start...? Let's talk Google Directory & the Google Summit today. The Google Directory and EduApp ended up being just a matter of time and patience, which can be a challenge for me. But, I did the dance when I saw my picture and bio in the directory. I am currently one of a few Google Certified Trainers in Southwest VA. Since I have become a GCT, I have recommended to a few people to go for GCT as well. I realized very quickly that there are many people out there that have more knowledge, patience, innovation, and skill than I. I hope they take advantage and complete the application process. Education is a better place with all theses people connecting. Rela...