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.