Super Tech Talk

Monday, May 12, 2014

Connect authors and students through Skype

Today the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders had the exciting privilege to Skype with Fablehaven author Brandon Mull. It was an AMAZING experience! Students have been reading his books all school year and we have several devoted fans. Many students have even purchased a signed copy of his latest book, Five Kingdoms: Skyraiders. Students have been waiting for months for this opportunity to meet a real author.

It's hard to see Mr. Mull on the screen in these pictures, but he was really there - right from his own home in Utah!

The students gathered in the school's MPR where I had set up my laptop and a projector. When I placed the Skype call they giggled at the sound of the phone dialing, and when he answered and his picture appeared in the video feed a cheer went up! They were excited to finally meet the author we have been talking about for weeks!

We had a 3rd grade student, who described himself as Mr. Mull's biggest fan, introduce Mr. Mull to the school. Mr. Mull then talked about some of his books and the inspiration behind them. He described the process he goes through for writing and he gave some hints about current and future writing projects.

He selected 3 students from the audience and played a (virtual) game with them to demonstrate how students can use their own imagination to create their own make believe world for a story. The kids loved that activity.

Prior to the Skype we had students submit questions they had for Mr. Mull. Several students were then selected to ask their question. One of the students, who was obviously a huge fan, practically swooned at the computer as she asked her question. The questions were excellent questions: Which of your novels is your favorite? What is your favorite non-Brandon Mull book? What do you read to your kids?

This was a fantastic experience for all the students. They were engaged, focused, and really excited to meet one of their favorite authors.

Skyping is an excellent way to bring authors right into your classroom to inspire budding readers and writers. If you are interested in Skyping with an author, Kate Messner has created a fantastic resource to connect with other authors who Skype: Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs (for free!)

Skyping is not limited to just authors. You can bring almost any expert into the classroom. Skype in the Classroom offers resources to help classrooms connect with experts in a variety of fields. Check out their resources on their Guest Speakers website.

What has been your experience with Skyping with authors? If you could Skype with an author, who would it be?

Cool and useful website: Goodreads

In a post at the beginning of this school year I mentioned that I have discovered a renewed passion for reading. I'll post later about the results of sharing my passion with students in my school. The purpose of this post is to share the Goodreads website as a way of recording my reading and possibly use it with students in my school.

One of the things I've tried to do the last several years is to record all the books I have read. This was mostly so that I wouldn't accidentally check out the same book. I kept my reading list in an Excel spreadsheet on my laptop. This wasn't always convenient because the spreadsheet was on my computer and not always available when I wanted to add a book I had finished. Or I was at the library browsing shelves and couldn't remember if I had read a particular book. I kept me Want to Read list in my list making app on my iPhone - meaning those two lists were completely separate.

I've seen many people mention Goodreads, and, in fact, used it to get book cover images, summaries, and read reviews. But I didn't bother to create an account. I finally decided to create and account and start exploring so that I could see how to use it in a classroom and compare it with Biblionasium, which I'll review in another post.

Account Creation

Creating an account was extremely easy. I could have used a Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Amazon account, but I chose to create a new account from scratch. It does require an email, which becomes a problem for elementary classroom use as I'll explain later. Once the account was created I could start adding my books.

Shelves

Goodreads includes three shelves by default: read, currently-reading, and to-read. You can add as many custom themed shelves as you would like by clicking the Edit button next to the My Bookshelves section. For example, I read chapter books to my children at night, so I created a shelf named read-to-kids. I also read a lot of picture books to them, so I also made a shelf named picture-books-read. I came across a Twitter conversation about the power in wordless picture books and somehow managed to generate a lost of 20+ wordless picture books that I've started to read to them.

Recording Books

It's extremely easy to add books to any bookshelf. You can search for the book title, click the books icon next to Want to Read, and choose the shelf you want. The green Want to Read icon appears next to any book title at any time, making it very convenient if I'm exploring suggested titles or looking at what others are reading.

I widget appears on my main page listing the books on my Currently Reading list. From there I can update my progress with that book or mark it as read. Selecting the list for all of my books also shows a column where I can easily change books from one shelf to another.

Extras

There is also an iPad/iPhone app with complete functionality. You can add books to your shelves, scan barcodes, make reviews, get recommendations, etc. There are even widgets that can be added to your blog or website so you can show off your reading lists and goals.

Problems with using in classroom

This website has a few problems that might make it difficult to use in an elementary classroom. Sites like this have a 13 year old age restriction. Requiring an email address at account creation is one way of verifying this. In my district students can have district provided email addresses, so they could use that to create their account. A Google for Education might also have email addresses available for student use. This is also a very open site - and there is nothing to prevent students from exploring other areas. Reviews are not moderated and can contain inappropriate language. There is danger from any social media site.

Create a Class group

One way to get around these problems is to create a private group for your class. That group can then be used to host book discussions, share recommendations, and explore different titles. Searching Google or even the Goodreads groups can show you many classrooms, even elementary ones, that successfully use groups. Regardless of what you do, make sure you get parent/guardian permission for your students.

My Goals

My goal with this site is to use it 100% for tracking my reading lists. To do that I will need to transfer all my "have read" and "want to read" lists from my current spreadsheets and apps. I've already got the apps on my iPad and iPhone so now it will be very easy to add my books to my various shelves. I've added my currently-reading shelf to my blog so I can share what I'm reading. I need to figure out a reading goal for this year and set that as well.

Do you have a suggestion for another website that can be used to track and share reading, especially for elementary students? How do you use Goodreads in your classroom?

Cool and useful website: GeoGuessr

image from geoguessr.com

How well do you know the world? Think you’re a geography expert? Test your knowledge with the cool and useful website GeoGuessr.

GeoGuessr is a web-based geographic discovery game designed by Anton Wallén and first released in May 2013. The game utilizes random Google Street View locations and requires players to guess their location in the world using only the clues visible in Street View.

The game is very easy to play. The game starts by showing you a random Google Street View. You can move around the picture, zooming in and out on landmarks, and changing compass directions. Once you've made a guess "pin" the location on the map in the upper right corner and click Make guess.

You will be awarded points based on how close you were to the actual location. You are presented a total of five locations to guess. Once you've mastered the basics, you can set a time limit for yourself.

A beta version is also available. The beta version has a more modern interface and also allows you to select only certain countries in which to test your geographic skills. Currently only the United States, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Japan are available.

Other features of the beta version are:

modern interface
ability to post your results on social media like Twitter and Facebook
challenge a friend
go full-screen
see your progress and current score

This would be a great website to use as a challenge with another classroom across the globe. Classes or students could post results on class blogs and compare results. Students could discuss how they used visual clues, landmarks, and maps to help refine their guesses.

How else can you use this website with your class?

Global projects for your students

The ISTE Standards for Students include many opportunities for students to work collaboratively to support and contribute to learning.

Communication and collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media

Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats

Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures

Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems

I love involving students in global projects where they have opportunities to collaborate with other other students to contribute to a common cause. Many of these global projects require teachers to sign up early in order to make those connections. It may be the end of this school year, but it's time to start thinking about these projects for next year. Take some time to check them out and sign up your class!

Global Read Aloud

I worked with several classes this year on the Global Read Aloud. It was a great experience communicating with other students to hear their thoughts on a common book. It was neat to know that other classes shared a love for reading and found commonality in a great book. This year's Global Read Aloud is structured a little different, but it still promises to be a great opportunity for anyone involved. Choose a book to read, connect with a class, and discover a common love for great books! Sign up as soon as you can - the official project start date is Oct. 6, 2014.

Save Our Rhinos

This project was started by a teacher in Capetown, South Africa after watching some rhinos during a vacation in 2012. Realizing the enormity of the problem of poaching, she launched this project to bring awareness to the plight of rhinos - calling it the Save Our Rhinos project. Classes can sign up to host a traveling rhino (much like a Flat Stanley project) and complete a few other activities to promote awareness of the endangered rhinos. The project is scheduled to be completed by December 2014, so be sure to sign up before space runs out!

The Global Classroom Project

Started in 2011 by two teachers on opposite sides of the globe, The Global Classroom Project is a rich resource for finding new ways to connect, share, learn and collaborate globally. You can find all kinds of projects to collaborate on with classrooms in over 35 countries. You can check out a variety of projects from the current year and start making connections.

Mystery Skype

Mystery Skyping is probably me new favorite activity. I tried it for the first time this year and was blown away by how engaged the students were. I've scheduled several more Mystery Skypes before the end of this school year. I've heard about classes Skyping with all 50 states and many countries around the world. That's a goal I want to have for next year: Skyping with all 50 states!

Adventure '14

This a global cultural project scheduled to take place in November 2014. For one day this year you can take your class on a worldwide adventure with 275+ Schools from 30 Nations without leaving your classroom! Thousands of children across the globe would like your class to join them on possibly the world's biggest virtual cultural exchange! Using a webcam and projector you'll meet children from across the world, get to know a little about where they are from, and work with them on a global project! More information and sign up can be found at the Adventure '14 webpage.

There are many other ways to collaborate globally. What have you tried in your classroom? What other projects can students get involved with? Let me know in the comments below!

Check out the books for the Global Read Aloud 2014

I blogged about the Global Read Aloud at the beginning of the school year, here. We had six classes participate here at Triggs ES: Rurtledge, Lucero, and Cervante's second grade classes, and Brock, Harenberg, and Buechler's third grade classes.

The books for the 2014 Global Read Aloud have been selected. This year they have decided not to assign specific books to specific grade levels. Instead, teachers are left to use their own judgement to decide which books to read with their class.

The books to choose from are:

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
One for the Murphy's by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Take a moment to sign up for the next Global Read Aloud and check out the FAQ for further information.

I worked with a 2nd grade class today to get started on their blogs. We had been using a class login to make simple blog posts about what was happening each day. Students took turns writing the daily blog post. This gave them experience with the blogging format. Today we unleashed them to write their own individual blogs.

Before we started with individual blogs, I wanted students to have a good understanding of how to comment on each other's posts. Using an idea I read about from Pernille Ripp, Paper Blogs: A Lesson In Commenting On Student Blogs, Ms. Schrimpf, the classroom teacher, had the students write out an initial blog post on paper. I then talked with the students about what makes good comments: asking questions, sharing experiences, using details. I then gave each student a pad of Post-It notes and had them rotate around the class, writing their comments on the Post-It and then placing it on the paper "blog".

During this time the student engagement was 100%! There was total silence while the students were totally focused on reading their blog posts and writing their comments.

After about 15 minutes the students came back to their own paper blog and answered any questions that someone may have asked. I put a few blogs and their comments on the document camera as we talked more about what makes a good comment and how students could have a "conversation" on their blog.

In the afternoon we went to the computer lab where students received their Kidblog login and made their first blog post. They were also allowed to comment on their classmates blogs. We only had 50 minutes for this part, but, again, there was 100% engagement!

Hopefully we can continue with this activity as students create more blog posts, either as a center rotation or as a homework assignment. Their initial enthusiasm and engagement is certainly exciting to watch!

ISTE NET-S Standards

2.a Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
2.b Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats

Resources

Join the testing conversation

image from testingtalk.org

It's that time of year! I got the letter from my son's school to make sure he got enough sleep, ate a healthy breakfast, and came prepared for....not learning, but testing! Schools all across the nation have stopped any learning that they were supposed to be doing and started those standardized tests that are so important for some reason.

Students in my school where I teach haven't yet started taking the CRTs - that will happen after their return from Spring Break. They are going through CRT preparations though (even though we are not supposed to teach to the test). At my son's elementary school they started the CRTs this week. Some states are piloting the SBAC, others the PARCC, and others are using state created assessments.

Whatever your role in education (parent, teacher, etc) or whatever your opinion is about standardized tests (I'm completely opposed), your opinion and experience about them should be heard.

Enter the newly created Testing Talk website. It was created by a committee of experts from various fields in education. Right up front the homepage spells out the site's mission:

This site provides a space for you to share your observations of standardized tests your students are taking this year. What works? What doesn't? Whether your district is giving its own, CC aligned test or is piloting PARCC or Smarter Balanced, we want to pass the microphone to you, the people closest to the students being tested. The world needs to hear your stories, insights, and suggestions. Our goal is collective accountability and responsiveness through a national, online conversation.

Your opinions can be completely anonymous, but still provide important feedback about these tests. Don't just complain and criticize the tests. Offer authentic experiences about what the tests and questions are like, how the students are responding to the tests, and the affect they have on your instruction.

Take the time and be a part of the conversation! And spread the word so others can join the conversation as well.