How my class got a new mac mini!

I went in today to tutor at school. I'm not fully sure what I was thinking on scheduling myself to tutor after returning home from an awesome trip with @mollymittura. Last Tuesday morning, we got up at 2:30am to get ready to fly to Boston to attend the BLC 12 conference from Wednesday through Friday. Then on Saturday morning, we took a bus to NYC and that evening took another bus to Mt. Laurel, NJ. On Sunday, we went to visit Philadelphia and then went to Atlantic City. We came home last night. It was so much fun, but a little exhausting. I think if we do this again, I may rethink the amount of clothing I bring because after the first few hours I cannot even begin to explain how heavy my backpack felt carrying it around NYC and Atlantic City. Thankfully, we did not have to carry it around Philly. Sorry, got a little bit off right there, but back to the story, since I was at the school to tutor I found a lovely new shipment of iPads and a new Mac Mini for my classroom.

When I speak to people about my classroom and I mention that I run a 1:1 iPad program. For people who do not have them in the classroom or have not seen them in the classroom, they are amazed, and are quick to say that they wish their school had the funding to do a 1:1 iPad program. But the truth is, is that I teach in a very small school and money doesn't necessarily grow on trees for us, so how are we able to fund this program? Simple, we have a Race for Education.

For the past two school years, every Spring students and teachers mail out letters asking relatives, family friends, etc. to sponsor us in running/jogging/walking for one hour. And the one thing the PTO was great about was motivating the teachers to take part by allowing us to use 100% of the money we raised to purchase items for the classroom. Okay, I'm not sure how motivating it is to all teachers, but I send out at least 100 personalized letters for this fundraiser. Last year, I raised enough money to purchase an iPad for the classroom. In this past school year, the parents enjoyed seeing what we could do with one iPad that they decided to use some of the money raised from the Race for Education to purchase an entire set for my classroom.

This school year, I raised over $1,000 to purchase things for my classroom. I allotted money towards a new Mac Mini, web hosting, digital camera, tripod, and green screen. All these things, were purchased for my students to use in the classroom. My expectation with these new tools is to teach my students how to create a classroom website and maintain it on the Mac Mini, use their iPads to link their blogs to the website, and create a news station and share what we do in the classroom. I'm also tossing around the idea of starting a podcast.

I guess what I am hoping to get across to my readers in this blog is, don't use the excuse we don't have the money for that. If you really want to see your school or classroom become a 1:1 program, it is possible. The Race for Education is great fundraiser because the school keeps 100% of the donations and you will find many people are very generous for this fundraiser, especially when they receive a handwritten note from a child.

Skype in the Classroom - Teaching From Afar

Recently, I attended the BLC 12 conference in Boston. If you have any interest in 21st century education or technology in the classroom, I would recommend that you attend. One of the sessions I attended while I was there was a session on Blogging for Your Students given by Sylvia Tolisano. You can follow her on twitter @langwitches. While sitting in her session, it gave me the inspiration to write a blog post that I meant to put on here before the end of the school year. Unfortunately, towards the end of the school year, I had a lot on my plate. I had taken some time off of work to help with my father because my father was very ill. Needless to say life was rather busy after returning back to work with wrapping up the end of the school year and being in charge of printing report cards for the school, but after sitting in Sylvia's session, I realized that I had this great idea that I should share with other teachers.

As I stated earlier, I am the teacher responsible for printing report cards for the entire school. Before you start thinking that this a a huge task for a teacher, please know that I work in a one track school meaning we have only one grade per class. However, the first and last time printing report cards for the year does require a larger amount of time. This means that usually the first and last time we get ready to print report cards, my class will have a substitute. My classes are usually pros when it comes to having a substitute because I teach the students how to run the class. In fact, this past year, they told one of the substitutes that she was not doing something correctly and took over the lesson. The substitute said she was amazed at how little she had to do because the children did everything. So, while I do not worry about the children's behavior for a sub, I do feel that I miss out in hearing some of their discussions on different lessons that are taught in the classroom while I'm out.

At the end of the year, I gave my class a choice of two books to read for the last novel of fourth grade. The students in the class chose to read On My Honor, despite my many warnings of this being a very sad book, this is the book they chose. While many will find this a depressing book, it opens up a lot of classroom discussions: lying, making right and wrong choices, peer pressure, etc. So of course, having to work on report cards, I was a little discouraged that I would not be in the classroom to listen to the discussions that needed to take place while reading this book. Then I realized with all the technology out there, even though I'm not in the classroom, I could still take part and listen. 

The morning of having to work on report cards, I went to school early, so I could install Skype on the iPads. I put one child in charge of running Skype throughout the day and inside the office I sat with my iPad next to me and a pair of headphones to hear the students. Since there are a number of people who come in the office, I was thankful for the mute button that Skype offers. I instantly fell in love with Skype, not that I didn't love it already, but I loved that it offered me a chance to be a part of my class when I wasn't in the classroom. It gave me a chance to hear the students discussions, to ask them questions, and it also gave them a chance to ask me questions when needed. 

iPads, Macbook, iMovie, and iDVD

When I go in other teachers' classrooms, I tend to find some of the cutest crafts. I am beginning to feel like my craft gene was replaced with a technology gene. Last week, all the craft gened teachers were in full working mode making the cutest Mother's Day crafts. I was left trying to figure out what I was going to do, when it suddenly occurred to me, use technology to create a gift worth keeping that has never been done before for the mothers. 

The assignment was to write a poem and create a video using the iPad where they read the poem to their mother and wished her a Happy Mother's Day. I wanted this to be something that the children could said they made all by themselves. With that said, there were all kinds of videos: videos of students looking down at the iPad, up the nose shots, weird angled shots, etc. I didn't say anything because this was their Mother's Day gift. After the students created their video, I showed them how to upload their video to my MacBook. 

The following morning, I took the first student that came into class and showed him how to use iMovie to put text in before his movie and then export the movie to iDVD. In iDVD, I showed him how easy it was to pick out a menu background and burn his DVD. After the first student was done, I had him teach another student. This actually worked out great, I taught only one student and the rest of the class was able to create their DVDs without my help. 

More on Class Dojo

I know I have blogged about Class Dojo already, but I absolutely love their program. Recently they have done something that my students have been begging for without me even writing to Class Dojo, STUDENT ACCOUNTS!!! After a week of using class dojo in the classroom, my students were asking if there was any possible way for them to access their points at home. A few months later, their wish has come true and now every child in my class can access their weekly points and see why they have earned points. Another awesome feature is the ability to change their avatar, which has definitely become a huge hit. Student avatars seem to be changing on a daily basis.

With a 1:1 iPad classroom, it was easy to get the student accounts started. Thankfully, everyday my students are becoming more and more tech savvy. I went through the basics of how to get them started and for the most part they were able to set up their own student accounts. Way to go fourth graders! I had a couple students who had some difficulty, but I have learned a little comment that makes life so much better in a 1:1 iPad classroom. "Yes, I will help you, but you are going to have to wait a few minutes." Within a couple minutes, I start hearing, "Never mind I figured it out." Before people start thinking I am a mean teacher, my goal of making the students wait is to see if they will attempt to figure out how to solve their problem on their own. I find that with certain students in my class, they will automatically try to figure out how to do something on the iPad without my encouragement, but there are a few students who will not attempt trying something new on their own and causing them to wait will encourage them to try, especially when other students are commenting on what they are currently doing. I'm not looking for my students to be able to do everything on their own, but I am looking for them to try.

I think I have gotten a little ahead of myself, so let me rewind here rwrwrwrwrwrw. Just in case you didn't know rwrwrwrwrw means rewind. One of my students used this in her journal today, entertaining, YES! When I introduced student accounts to the class, I told the students I had exciting news for Class Dojo. Before I continue, you should know that my class has mixed feelings about Class Dojo. The students who always wear the correct uniform, have their homework done, get their assignments completed on time and follow classroom rules love Class Dojo. The ones that have some difficulty throughout the day are not big fans, because it forces them to be good students! Now you understand why I love Class Dojo! But when I announced student accounts, all the students were excited.

The first day with student accounts did not work out as well as I had planned. I currently project www.classdojo.com onto the Activboard and use the mobile.classdojo.com site on the iPad to give and remove points quickly anywhere in the classroom. Unfortunately, there was a small glitch in the system yesterday and students could not see their points on their iPads using their personal accounts. Although I will say, the fact that the children could design their own avatar by changing their monsters body design and color was enough to make them happy.

Today I tried a different approach for Class Dojo. I used the Class Dojo app that isn't available yet in the app store, but hopefully will be soon. The app is very similar to the mobile site but makes it easier to see all your positive and negative behaviors because they fill up the entire screen. Today the children were able to see the points they were receiving throughout the day without me projecting Class Dojo. This is great because there are times that I need to project something related to what we are covering in class and students cannot see their Dojo points. Usually, when this happens students get a little antsy and will start requesting me to show their points, now they can see their points on their own iPad without me having to stop a program that we are currently using with Activboard. For example, today I was using Poll Everywhere and it was easy for students to submit their answer and then view their student account on Class Dojo if they wanted to monitor their points. This usually happens when they hear the positive or negative sound chime in the speakers. They want to know if they were the one to earn or lose a point.

I must say that since the start of student accounts, Class Dojo has been awesome for help. When I mentioned wanting to start the student accounts they responded telling me to let them know if I need any help. Yesterday, I replied mentioning the fact that the children could not see their points. They apologized and explained that they were having some server issues and that they are working on it. For a free program, Class Dojo really goes above and beyond.

Follow Class Dojo on twitter @classdojo.

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?

I love Edmodo

Shortly after I began FLIPPING my math class, I began having my students use Edmodo as a means of commenting and leaving questions on what they were learning in the videos I post on youtube. Edmodo instantly became a class hit because to my fourth grade students, it looks like facebook. My students are at an age where they still have some play that imitates the adults around them, especially their parents. Before we became a 1:1 iPad classroom, students used to create their own paper iPads because I had one, paper laptops with brands based on the brand of laptop their parents owned, and paper smart phones. Since many parents are on facebook, the children have this natural attraction to it. Honestly, the mentioning of facebook can make a lesson more interesting. Take for example run-on sentences, I told my students that most of the posts my friends post on facebook are one long run-on sentence. On that specific day, we pretended that the sentences we were correcting were facebook posts.

Getting back to Edmodo, Edmodo was easy to setup, the children were able to register themselves (without an e-mail address), and with little help from me were able to easily navigate through the website. Like facebook, students may upload a profile picture, but since this is the first year I'm using Edmodo, I have limited my students to only using the clipart pictures found on the website already. You can use Edmodo for a variety of purposes: communication, polls, tests, etc.

I use Edmodo currently just for my FLIPPED math program. For homework, I post a video on youtube, that I link through my classroom website on the lesson we will cover the following school day. The students are expected to go home, watch the video, and then go on Edmodo to either post on my wall what they learned in the video or send a private message about what they did not understand. The following day in class, I will focus on reviewing (anonymously) the questions students sent me. Because the homework is as easy as watching a video, most of my students will watch it within the first hour of returning home and then post on Edmodo. When I arrive home I will take a quick five minutes, read the posts that students write and either tell them they did a great job or ask them to expand on what they posted by asking them a question. Before I go to bed, I will check Edmodo one more time, for any students who may have completed the homework later in the evening.

Although, I currently use Edmodo just for math, I do have plans to use it in a variety of other subjects. My next goal is to add Edmodo to my reading program to allow students to discuss the novel we are currently reading in class. The one thing I have found with my math program is that if a student posts onto my wall and I return back with a question, I will get a number of students responding to the question I posted, not just the student that I originally asked. So, I really feel that Edmodo will be a benefit in many different subject areas.

There are a few rules I put in place for my class when I started Edmodo, they are:

1. You must write in complete sentences.
2. You may not use acronyms, e.g. lol, jk, brb, etc. 
3. You may not post or send information that is not school related. 

How do you use Edmodo in your class? Are there any rules you have with using this website or iPad app?