A few weeks ago the music teacher at the ES campus approached me for help integrating more technology into her classes. She already does quite a bit with tech integration especially with grades 4 and 5. So I gladly jumped in to help. She wanted to spend a few weeks doing digital music with kids and evaluating some of the sites she had found. The thing she really needed from me was the use of my lab which I would be using to teach younger student during some of the times she needed it. Since she had already booked out the shared lab it really wasn't a big deal for me to help out in this way. I also assisted her in finding/creating a document that the kids would use to evaluate these sites.
This Unit was entirely her work and I'm very impressed with what she accomplished with her 5th grade students. Whenever I was present in the lab for a portion of her lessons, the kids were engaged, having fun and learning!
At Nha Be their teacher ignored my requests for collaboration and did not send her students with any pre-written material to work with. So I found this great Lunch Room Mad-lib. I did a quick review of the parts of speech that were featured in this Mad-lib and they set off writing.
Learning to use MS Word with Mad-libs at Nha Be
Great hand placement!
Learning about fonts and text features at Nha Be.
Hard at working writing their versions of the Mad-lib.
Some students got finished early so they added images (CC images) to help enhance their stories at Nha Be.
We saved our work to finish the next week, when I would see them again. Fast-forward one week, just before the kids arrived I went in search of their stories and much to my surprise the IT department had deleted all of them! The kids were so sad and frustrated when I told them what happened. I reassured them it would not take as long this time because they were already familiar with the program!
Meanwhile over at the ES Campus we ran into some major technical difficulties with class 3A they go their titles in and we went to save and the network failed so we could not save. We tried everything to save, but since the kids used their network log-ins there was nothing we could do. So I improvised and let them test out the font features and they had fun doing this. A week later I when I saw 3A again they we ready to go with Word. They all remembered how to open the program and get a new blank document. Many of them remembered how to select a font and center it! I was so impressed with their focus and efforts especially since this was they day the Tet Holiday Break started!
Sharing technology ideas and innovations with elementary teachers at /\IS in Ho Chin Minh City, Vietnam has prove to be a bit of a challenge at times. I work at two locations and administration has not been keen on giving me time during our PD days to share resources and the like with our staff. So I created an Edmodo group to share resources and ideas with the teachers. Every week to ten days I post on my Edmodo Teacher Tech Tidbit Group a new teach item, e.g. website, app, or program that I have used (and deemed beneficial to share with others). Or that have learned about and think it might be just what someone is looking for to push their technology integration to the next level. I have even shared info-graphics here as well when I deemed them beneficial to my fellow teachers. In addition I also share these on Twitter#teachertechtidbit, I have strayed from this very long hashtag at times and used #TTT as well.
Here is a list of all the resources listed in the above screen-cast made with Jing, next Iconvertedthe file from swf to mp4 using Online Converter.
Our School Technology Pinterest board. (American School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Pureview: This site lets you watch and project YouTube videos without seeing the sidebar content that you usually get with YouTube.com.
What should I read next?Here's a website that you can use to help those who struggle to find their next book.
This is an infographic I came across quite sometime ago I cannot determine the original creator. I think it makes a very important point that we all need to be reminded of in this technology filled world we live in today. Just remember not to use technology simply to be able to say that you're using it.
Storyline Online: a wonderful website that has a small but good collection of picture books that are read by actors.
Duolingo: was shared with me by a grade 4 teachers and the music teacher at the ES. Duolingo is for helping to learn another language. It starts of easy and gradually builds in difficulty.
A Fair(y) Use Tale: Fair Use, Copyrights and Creative Commons are a complicated subject for all of us. This video is a great resource to help us as teachers become more comfortable with copyright, fair use and creative commons.
Block Posters: Here's a great site that you can use to create posters from smaller images. This works great for printing our infographics that we find and want copies of for our classrooms!
Class Photographer- Each day, one child is in charge of photographing an important moment and writing about it for the class Edmodo page! The link below explains the use of this idea for class blogs.
Jen Simon's new web address. Same site-new location!
Thanksgiving Time: here's a great Virtual Field trip you could take your class on!
In Early December the much anticipated arrival of MinecraftEDU was upon us. So I shared a few resources to help some of our teachers learn more about this wonderful educational piece of software. A Beginner's Guide, Ideas for Using MinecraftEDU and A Pinterest Board where I had compiled a whole bunch more resources to help the teachers get started.
Frog Game - At the time I shared with app it was FREE but is has since returned to it's normal price. it focuses on improving auditory processing through phonological awareness skills that are essential for the development of reading, comprehension and spelling.This site has a list of FREE apps for both Android and iPad that you might want to take a look at and possibly suggest for your students (who have devices at home) to try out over the vacation!
ABC@2Learning: Leave it to Canada to create such an awesome data base of online resources! I discovered it has countless online (mostly FREE) resources for all grade levels!
PD opportunity at a low cost look no further then the Vietnam Tech Conference! It is here in HCMC this year on March 7-8, 2015: (yes that is a weekend, sorry but hey at least you won't have to write lesson plane! It is sponsored by SSIS & UNIS Hanoi. The conference will be held at SSIS campus in HCMC. this conference is open to all educators!
Turtle Diary: "Online Games for Kids At turtle diary, child experts and educators design interactive online games for kids. Our learning games for kids help in building skills needed for success in school. While playing our fun educational games, kids learn to read with phonics, build skills in math, language, social studies, science and much more. Our educational videos encourage children to keep learning, even after school hours."
blog post from Free Technology for Teachers: with are Four Ways to Create Digital Records of Physical Items Your Students Create!
The Amazing World Atlas from Lonely Planet Kids is normally $3 and right now it's free! At the time this app was free, it is now back up to it's normal $2.99 price tag.
Flash card ninja: at the time this app was free, it is now back up to it's normal $1.99 price tag.
A Great little write up from Sunday on Free Technology for Teachers! Featuring some neat Mapped writing options for you all!
Going Creative with Arts related technology items today! The Getty Museum has put more than 250 art books online for FREE! As has the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection of nearly 400 FREE art history books! They are all available on Google Books for FREE as well!
Udemy is platform for on line learning they have some great FREE courses and other that you have to pay for.
Connect Fours: A fun new FREE game to review with created by @RusselTarr.
After watching several videos on Creative Commons, Copyright, Fair Use and Public Domain I gave my students a rubric I modified from iRubric by Rcampus to fit their assignment. I had them all sign up or add my class if they already had an account on Powtoon.
Next, I shared with them an example of what I was looking for that I had created. I told my students that my Powtoon. I also informed them my Powtoon would not necessarily receive full marks on all categories.
I gave them entire next class period 90 minutes to work on their commercials.Since our next class fell on Friday and would not occur because of a school wide Tet Festival, I told them that they had until 11:59PM on Friday to submit their videos. They were to submit them two ways on Powtoon and via twitter. Their penalty for late assignments would be one point off for every day it was late and that after Tuesday, at the start of our next class I would not accept any more late projects, as we would be doing a peer critique.
Working in class on their Powtoons.
Doing additional research and working on the copy for their commercial.
Working out design issues.
Reminder about due date and submission requirements.
They all worked really hard on this project and all of them except for two got it turned in by the deadline. Only one student did not complete this project. Here is a link to all the student's finished commercials on the Critique page I created for them. For the last class before the Tet Holiday break they watched the videos and gave each-other feedback using a Google survey that I created for them. I was shocked at how much thought they put into their open responses.
After the great success of KidPix with my Kindergarten students I decided to give a go with grade one and make it a more in-depth for them. I decided to introduce twice as many tools at a time and see how they managed.
I showed them the chalk, pencil, crayon and marker, the color pallet, paint brush, dropper, spray paint and buckets, as well as slide show, erasers, text and Electric Mixers I showed them how to change the diameter of the tool they were using as well as how to change the kind of like they drew, straight curved or squiggly. Finally, I showed them the shape options for these tools. Then they set off to log into KidPix and start drawing. As they created their digital masterpieces I went around and walked each student through how to save their works and where to save them.
Getting creative and experimenting at Nha Be.
drawing trees at Nha Be.
At the ES creating nature scenes.
Drawing monsters at the ES.
Painting hearts at the ES!
Creating a night time road scene at the ES!
Painting abstractly at the ES.
Checking out what we have in our slide shows at the ES!
Drawing with the erasers at the ES!
Painting a Christmas Tree at the ES!
Getting Funky with the Mixers at Nha Be!
More fun experimenting with Mixers at Nha Be!
Drawing Monsters at Nha Be!
Using Text at Nha Be.
Writing a story at Nha Be.
Spray Painting at Nha Be!
Taking advantage of the touch screens at Nha Be!
To say I was impressed by the creativity of several of the students at both the ES and Nha Be campuses would be an understatement. They had a lot of fun but learned and practice some great digital arts skills!
I am currently taking an on line course for the computer program Minecraft. From time to time I will be writing post that are intended for this course.
Assignment: You are asked to identify the different platforms that you can play Minecraft on e.g. Console, Tablet, PC etc... and produce a comparison describing the differences and limitations of each. This comparison may be done on your own personal blog or as a YouTube video. You can also submit a poster or other suitable document like a GoogleDoc.
We are looking for you to show your understanding and knowledge of the different platforms that Minecraft comes on and clearly show us what each version is capable of or its limitations.
Though I have only every played (very little at that) MinecraftEDU on a PC I have spoken with many of my students at the Elementary level about where they play Minecraft at home. Not surprising to me most preferred playing on a MAC or PC, other did prefer to play on their tablets. None seemed keen or experienced with the XBOX version.
Minecraft for PC/MAC: From what I have read about the this version it seems to have a very large community. Game modifications appear to all be fairly equal. Exploration is nearly infinitive (aka the worlds can be quite vast)
Minecraft for XBOX: From what I have read about this version it's world is not as vast/extensive as the PC version. They have a local multi-player options which sounds great for getting a group of friends together to play but this seems to require higher quality TVs and inputs, etc.
Minecraft for tablets (Pocket): From what I have read about the this version it seems to have a smaller community then the PC/MAC or XBOX communities, but obviously a larger one then the EDU version. It sounds as though (again from what I have read) that it is more of a challenge to do multiplier with the pocket version. Game modifications appear to all be fairly equal. Exploration appears to rather limited with this version.
MinecraftEDU is the platform I have the most experience with thus far. One of the things that I think is beneficial about is that community is just your class/school. The teacher has control over many aspects in a god like role. It provides a great level curriculum enrichment opportunities in all subject areas. Game modifications appear to all be fairly equal.Exploration is nearly infinitive (aka the worlds can be quite vast). Teachers can "freeze" their students to get their attention to give instructions or to correct behaviors, etc. It's also in my opinion super easy to set up and get stated with.
My research/reading on these platforms for this assignment was done here:
Green, Angelica. "A Comparison of Minecraft for PC and Pocket Edition."VentureBeat. Venture Beat, 02 May 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.
Sansing, Chad. "Minecraft or MinecraftEdu at School? Pros, Cons, and What It's Great For." Minecraft or MinecraftEdu at School? Pros, Cons, and What It's Great For. Graphite Common Sense, 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.
O'donnell, Liam. "MinecraftEdu vs Regular Minecraft: The Teacher’s Dilemma." GamingEdus. GamingEdus, 4 Jan. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.
Merrell, Sergeant. "Should You Download Minecraft for Xbox 360 or PC? A Comparison." Sergeant Merrell. Personal Blog, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.
When it came time to teach my grade 9 students about Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain and Fair Use I wanted to keep it as interesting as possible since it's such a dry, dull topic. So I turned to Youtube and some other video resources I have come across in the past to help introduce this complicated topic.
After watching these videos I then sent them onto YouTube to look for two more videos that they felt helped them to better understand Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain and Fair Use. They then had to share these on Twitter!
Over the weekend they had to read and answer some questions on Copyrights and Wrongs "Mad Men and Assessment" from Common Sense Media.
The final piece of this mini-unit on Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain and Fair Use students will be created a commercial using Powtoon geared towards grade 3,4, and 5 students.
