Sunday, October 27, 2013

It's a love-hate relationship...REALLY! Techno & me!

I'm in my 2nd year with a class set of iPads and you would think it would be easier! I should know what I'm doing by now, right? Well actually, it's just the opposite. This year I am using a new program called Apple Configurator.  The idea of Configurator is great and sounds as though it would make your life much simpler.  BUT...it has not done that yet.  Because of configurator, I have had to wipe my iPads completely 3 times this year.  That means, all the work my kids have done is lost each time.  Multiple times, I've come to look at the iPads and found issues with e-mail, apps, settings, etc.  I loved the idea of Configurator but have HATED working in it.  After the last issue during testing, I knew I had to start over completely!  So that is what I did.  On Friday, my tech friend spent the whole day going between my cart and another teacher's cart.  We "unsupervised," wiped, prepared, created a back-up, restored, assigned and finally today I can say that my iPads are all ready to go.  iPads are assigned to individual students!  iPads are labeled with individual number and name of student!  Their picture is the home screen!  Dropbox is set up!  Settings are safe and secure!  Find my iPad is turned on and locked!  Folders are made and all pretty!  Guided access is on and passcode is set!  Web clips are even downloaded!  The iPads are all clean and ready for my class on Monday.

We are going to use a the iPads for research, taking notes, creating graphs, and multiplication fluency practice!  I can't wait to break the iPads back out and use them fully!  Hopefully my kids are as excited as I am. :)




Saturday, October 19, 2013

Almost Catastrophic Technology Fail!!

Well even the biggest technology users have technology fails sometimes!  The thing that matters is if you roll with it and quickly recover.

Our district prints our Benchmarks for us because it is so much paper, but I had opted out.  Who needs paper pencil tests when you have technology?  It was going to be perfect...BENCHMARKS on the iPads.  Bubblesheet automatically imports the scores into Mastery Connect - piece of cake.  I even heard cheers about benchmarks when the kids found out it was on the iPads!

I knew Thursday (a week ago) I was having some problems with my iPads when two kids brought them to me because it said "plug into iTunes."  Never a good sign when nothing is on the iPad.   My amazing district tech specialist came out to help me the next day.  As we began looking at the iPads, we noticed about 5 of them now had that same sign.  I toted those few home to fix over the weekend because I needed them Monday for two tests.  After a few hours on Saturday, those iPads were restored and ready to be used.

I got to school on Monday morning and plugged those five iPads in along with the rest to make sure they had that final charge before the test!  The kids got the iPads out and we went to specials.  When we came back, we got ready to take the benchmark and as the kids started opening their iPads I heard chaos erupt as one kid started with, "Hey! What's wrong with my iPad?" and then another and another and another and ANOTHER AND ANOTHER...15 kids!  Their iPads were now saying the same thing that the five over the weekend had said!  With 15 iPads out there was NO way the test was possible with technology, but we had to get started!  I got another teacher to cover my class and frantically ran up to the work room to make copies!  Thankfully, the 'Wonderful Monday Copy Mom' was up there and made the rest of the copies while I went down and got the kids started on page 1!  During lunch I went and made the second benchmark copies for the PM testing session.  (Oh and the good-front-to-back-staple your whole packet copier was BROKEN TOO)

My dear friend and technology specialist came back out to my class and worked furiously ALL afternoon and into the evening so we could have iPads working for Tuesday's test.  WE DID IT!!  Tuesday morning, my kids were able to download the reading test into their "Note Anytime" app and write all over it!!  Saved by Kennemer!

Although we recovered the iPads so that we could take the benchmarks, there is still something not quite right with Apple Configurator and the iPads.  I must unsupervise my iPads, wipe them clean, and start fresh, but not until we looked over the tests on the iPad because we will loose everything!

Technology fails...just roll with it...make do...and keep fiddling with it!

Saturday, October 12, 2013

A couple of my favorite apps right now!

KNOWMIA:
This free app acts as a Screencasting tool.  You can insert pre-made Powerpoint slides or create slides directly in the app.  Then you record yourself (voice, writing, and video) as you work through the problems & teach the lessons.  You upload to the Knowmia website!  Your kids can access your videos through the website or insert the link on Edmodo.

Knowmia also has a website with different capabilities.  Definitely worth checking out especially if you are working to "Flip" your classroom!



NEARPOD:
Nearpod is a replacement for the SMARTBOARD!  If you go to Nearpod.com, you can create presentations or upload previously made presentations.  When your students get to class, they get out their devices and sign in to your class.  They have the presentation screen by screen (interactive slides if you want) at their fingertips.  You can insert quizzes, draw it slides, and more.  Kids are engaged!  Although their is a paid upgrade, the free version lets you do quite a bit and all I have! Exciting stuff!

Every kid wants a good playground!

So how do we get a playground that even the "fifth" graders think is cool?  We let the kids design their own!

After choosing a standard of adding and subtracting decimals, and building on an existing playground project (from another teacher in Midwest City), my kids began the playground project!  We started by researching playground safety and writing and informative paragraph combining two different articles.  Then the kids used google forms to create surveys asking what kids liked and wanted on their playground.  After they collected their data, they analyzed the data on their google spreadsheet and created a graph using an online graph maker (It is a gov website, so right now it's down).  Next, the kids listed all the items they wanted!  They rounded the prices and got an estimated total before they found the actual cost.  The actual cost had to be under $40,000! 

We did this project last year, but I added the google form surveys and graphs as well as the informative playground safety writing!  I know this is a short version of the layout.  If you want more information you can message me and we can talk.

The kids will pick the project BACK up when we get to area/perimeter/volume!  They are super excited about the project.  

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Well school is back in session!!! Parent Contact Information

Where has the time gone...it is ALREADY October, and I haven't posted anything, but believe me, my students have been BUSY on the technology!

Who hates paperwork?  Well most teachers do, and it just clutters up our desk!  So I thought I would try something new this year!  I created a Google Form and had the parents fill out the information online.  The google form was very easy to create and the ONE Spreadsheet with EVERY child's information is wonderful!!

Go through your Google drive and create From
Choose your Background
Insert the questions you want. (You can change the type, I did all "text")
I required certain questions like Student's name, and a question on internet access at home.

Example spreadsheet: (This is not the one I used but something similar.)
Parent Survey