QR Code Job Chart

It seems like just yesterday, I was finishing out last school year and now I'm already preparing to go back to work and teach a new group of students. I am really looking forward to a new school year, I have a lot of new things to do with the students and can't wait to see how they like them. One new thing that I have added to my class this year is a QR job chart.

So, here is how the QR Job Chart works. If you look in the bottom left of the picture you will see a piece of orange. That is actually an orange envelope that I have attached to the wall. At the end of the day, all QR codes are placed in the envelope. This year, students will have a new classroom job everyday, instead of keeping it for a week. When students come into the classroom, they will take turns getting a QR Code out of the envelope and then placing it on their number. I attached velcro to the back of the codes and on the calendar, that I have turned into my job chart. Students will then take out their iPad and prepare to scan for their job.

There are a number of free QR Code Reader Apps that are free for the iPad, the one viewed in this photo is Qrafter. As you can see it is easy to use for students and gives a quick scan, but will not create QR codes unless purchasing the Pro Pack. However, if you do want students to make their own QR Codes on the iPad, you can get a free app called Easy QR. Both apps are available on my students iPads for them to use. 

Once the student scans the QR Code, it will show the student what their job is for the day. 

So, I know many of you are probably wondering how I will know who is doing what job for the day because it seems like I would spend a lot of wasted time trying scan all the QR codes to figure this out. So, with this job chart, I created the job "Job Manager." This person is responsible for scanning all the codes with their iPad and using a google form (with one of the extra classroom iPads) will just check off which students have what job. I will then be able to access the form as an excel sheet and quickly be able to keep track throughout the day. However, it is up to the Job Manager to make sure all jobs are completed by the end of the day. 

Have questions? Use this QR Code to email me, post a comment below, or follow me on twitter @21educator.

Busy, Class Play, and QR Codes

I feel bad for not posting in a while, especially since I just started this blog. Things have just been a little busy, but I was reminded earlier today that that is how the month of May works. In a school setting, May is the month of getting everything in before the end of the school year. Tonight, I'm a little exhausted from a busy week:

Monday: Afternoon faculty meeting, followed by P90X with my friend Molly
Tuesday: After working all day, I gave a one hour private tutoring session, followed by a 40 minute run, Volunteer Appreciation Dinner for the parents at the school, which was followed by a PTO meeting (Needless to say, I left the house at 7:30am and arrived home at 8:40pm.)
Wednesday: 1/2 hour math tutoring session, 30 minute bike ride, 30 minute run, 1 hour Zumba class, and P90X with Molly
Today: I went to school early for a conference before the school day started, had a 1 hour private tutoring session after school, then went on a 50 minute run

I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow. :) I love Fridays!

This definitely has been an unusually busy week for me, and it doesn't help that on top of work I'm training for the Marine Corp Marathon in October and my first triathlon in August. During the mean time, I tend to run at least one local race a month. Although, training definitely takes up a lot of time, it is a great time for me to think and hash things out while I'm out on runs. I tend to do my best thinking while I'm out, I think because I don't have any distractions with the computer or cell phone.

Well, I wasn't really sure what to write about, so I think I will brag about my students. Today my class performed in the play, Red Writing Hood. It is a fractured fairytale play that incorporates many other fairytales and nursery rhymes. My students have been practicing for at least a month on this play. The students had to audition for the their parts, memorize their lines, and they also learned to ad lib.

My fourth graders did such a wonderful job with their play, that they received many compliments from parents, teachers, and students. Each year, I try to do something special with my class, last year I rewrote the lyrics to the Brady Bunch Intro and the children sang the Dooney Bunch. They performed this song for the school talent show and also danced the talent show act from the Brady Bunch Show, Keep On. Of course, the third graders were very impressed with today's performance of Red Writing Hood and were already asking what play they were going to do. It left me thinking, what am I going to do next year? Do I have the students put on another play or do we do something completely different?

On top of the play, I had the students help with as much as they could on the bulletin board in the hallway. The class voted on the background color and the border they wanted. All the students used their iPads to take pictures of each other. Afterwards each student selected their favorite picture to post on the bulletin board and printed them using the new color laser printer in the school. I must say I'm rather impressed by the quality of this printer. The students also wrote their own autobiographies and turned them into QR codes, which were posted in the bottom corner of their picture. Let me just say right now, our bulletin board is the talk of the school! Students who are not in the fourth grade were asking what a QR code was and how do we make them? After scanning one with my iPad yesterday for students in the hallway, I quickly found myself scanning all the codes.

Well, it is rather early, but I think I'm going to call it a night and get some much needed rest before school tomorrow.

QR Codes

I have never thought about using QR Codes in the classroom until I attended a conference in Baltimore. Of course, I sat there thinking, "Why didn't I think of this?" I tend to have a go-getter personality, so I sat at this conference contemplating how I was going to use QR Codes in my classroom. Since then, I have developed a QR Code job chart for next school year and how students could use them for getting the homework. Currently, students are testing, which means no homework this week, so we aren't able to test out the QR Codes for homework, yet.

However, next week my class is performing a play for the school, Red Writing Hood. It is a cute fractured fairytale play, that incorporates many of the fairytales and nursery rhymes all in one play. The children all have a part in the play and had to memorize their lines. Wanting to make this small 20 minute play seem like the real deal, today we worked on autobiographies to post on the bulletin board in the hallway. But instead of posting the actual autobiography, I taught the students how to create a QR Code that we will post by their picture and part.

At first the students, were a little puzzled as to if this would actually work. So, I created a demo QR Code using http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ to link to our school website. I projected this code onto the Activboard took out my iPad and scanned the code. Some of the students were a bit questionable as to if this would actually work, could the iPad really scan off the Activboard? Within a couple seconds, everyone was viewing the school website off of my iPad. Hooray, I had won the students over on creating their own QR Code.

The students worked eagerly to write their rough draft, which I approved for the next draft. Tomorrow we will finish our final drafts, take pictures, and create QR Codes for the bulletin board. This will be the first time the students have used QR Codes in the class and I am excited. How do you use them in your classrooms?