The Cool Factor Matters

When creating lessons teachers often work backwards.  They have their learning objective laid out and they know where they need to end up at the end of the lesson or lessons.  Sometimes it's the path that can present the biggest challenge for teachers.  How am I going to get my kids where their learning outcomes need to be?

When sharing a technology lesson or activity, I have heard “Well that is cool, but so what?”  So what?  Well I say the cool factor does matter!  Technology increases the cool factor for kids and their learning.

Like Dave Burgess asks, “Would you pay to sit through your own lesson?”  In other words, is your lesson cool enough?  

I remember being the cool teacher who had the only SmartBoard on the 4th-6th grade wing.  It was cool because my lessons looked different and my students couldn’t wait to manipulate content on the board.  We used web tools and videos along with the SmartBoard to increase engagement and yes, even the cool factor.  I had kids lined up at my door at the end of 3rd grade begging for me to be their 4th grade teacher the next year.  

Unfortunately, by sixth grade many students do not expect much of their daily learning experiences.  They have become used to desks in rows, worksheets, sharpened pencils, lectures, and walking in nice quiet lines around the building.  It doesn’t have to be this way!  Learning can be cool, engaging, and noisy.  

Here are 5 ways you can increase your lessons’ cool factor:

1. Worldwide Connections.  Use Skype for Education or Google Hangouts to connect with students from across the world.  These platforms take your students outside their classroom.  Geographical knowledge increases, conversation skills improve, and collaboration happens.  Check out how one teacher uses her laptop to increase global awareness with her students.
2. The Osmo.  Called one of the best inventions of 2014, the Osmo turns your one iPad into an amazing learning center.  The Osmo comes with four apps that increase critical thinking and problem solving skills.  Check out how you can get your own Osmo here as well as how one teacher uses it in his classroom.  

Students using the Osmo

1. Use the Do Ink Greenscreening App.  The Do Ink Greenscreen App can be loaded on to one iPad and baam! With some green butcher block paper, one iPad and the app you have yourself a greenscreening studio for groups of kids.

Videographers in the Making!

1. Aurasma  Aurasma uses auras and trigger images to bring content alive.  Some teachers have used Aurasma for parents teacher conferences, history studies, or as a replacement to the traditional book report.  Read this post from Ann Feldmann about how Aurasma was used to teach NE history.
2. QR codes.  Scanning QR codes is a great way to get your kids up and moving around the building, outside, or in the classroom.  Creating QR codes at sites like www.qrstuff.com is super easy.  Kids can easily scan the codes which takes them online to websites, texts, images, and more.  Place a QR codes outside your classroom door to provide easy links to your classroom Facebook Page, contact information or Twitter handle.  Here is a great way to try using QR codes for a lesson.

Smiling faces, creative kids, and movement in the classroom is cool. And guess what? You can meet learning objectives using cool lessons. Why not give it a try? How do you use the “cool factor” in your lessons? What “cool” can you add to current lessons? Drop us a line and let us know.

Written by Jenny Krzystowczyk

@jennykbps

Google Hangouts! Connecting Your Students to the World

Google Hangouts are a great way to connect your students to the world.  Recently, Mrs. Keene from Leonard Lawrence Elementary hung-out with a teacher from Raleigh, North Carolina.  The end goal is that these two classes will embark on a blogging buddy journey this year.  Each student will have a buddy who leaves comments and suggestions on each other’s writing pieces posted on their respective Kidblog.org sites.  

But first, they had to figure out where the other class lived and what grade they were in.  There are several roles involved in a good hangout.  Here are the roles we used to make the hangout successful:

• Greeters:  These people had a clever opening and welcome greeting for the other class.  
• A Videographer:  This person is in charge of capturing the video as the hangout is happening.
• A Photographer:  This person takes still shots to be used in a video once the hangout is over to showcase the hangout, (see below).
• Inquisitors: These students work in groups to come up with closed ended questions that help the mappers determine the location of the class in question.  For our Hangout we had three different inquisitor groups.
• Documenters:  These people work on a collaborative Google doc to take notes during the hangout to document questions and answers in case anything is questioned later on.
• The Mappers:  These students have maps in front of them.  Based on the answers to the questions being asked, they mark through areas that are eliminated.  
• Closers:  These students say a polite “thanks” and close out the hangout with follow up steps if necessary.  

I was impressed with their questions and they learned a little bit about time zones, different foods, and sporting events in both states.  Our goal was accomplished!  Not only did the students learn a bit more about their world and others in it, they had to use deductive reasoning to solve the puzzle.

And now the fun begins!  I can’t wait to see how their blogging buddy partnership is going to flourish and impact their motivation for high quality writing.  The whole thing took about an hour including prep time, and I think was worth it.  Check out the video below from their experience.  

Written by:  Jenny Krzystowczyk

@jennykbps

Google Hangouts + iPads + Awesome Teachers/Learners/Communiuty = Innovative Project Based Learning

Children at Bellevue Elementary had a unique opportunity this summer to go on an innovative three week long global reading and writing learning adventure with Mrs. Evon (@mrsevon1) and Ms. Braasch (@brittanybraasch). Led by Ms. Jena Ball (@JenaiaMorane) , author co-founder of Critterkin LLC, (@critterkin), via Google Hangouts, students learned more about kindness and demonstrated mastery of learning in a variety of ways, including reading, writing, blogging, quilting, and even a one act play!

The three week project called “Lead with Your Heart,” was created by teaching partners Monica Evon (@mrsevon1) and Brittany Braasch (@brittanybraasch).  They designed a project based around the theme of kindness and compassion found in Jena Ball’s book, “Lead with your Heart”.  This project was built around Bellevue Public Schools Essential Objectives, which correlate to Nebraska State Standards:

LA 3.1 Students will learn and apply reading skills and strategies to comprehend text.

LA 3.2 Students will learn and apply writing skills and strategies to communicate.

LA 3.3 Students will learn and apply speaking and listening skills and strategies to communicate.

Here are the steps in this project based learning adventure along with some student samples, apps, and lessons learned along the way!

1.  Driving Question

The project centered upon the following guiding questions:

What is kindness?

What does it mean to be misunderstood?

How can you be kind to animals and others?

2.  The Entry Event 

The entry event for the project was a Google Hangout with Jena Ball, Marty Keltz (@martysnowpaw), and actor Jonathan Keltz. The Google Hangouts continued regularly throughout the project for reading, writing, drawing, and acting lessons.  

3.  Voice and Choice

Students were given a lot of voice and choice in their writing, illustrating, and acting.  For example, students each created a unique quilting square for the collaborative kindness quilt. Ms. Jena showed the students a variety of options on how to draw the individual features of the puppies.  Students were given a variety of patterns for the puppies in the fabric quilt.  They were able to choose the pattern and fabric for the dog, as well as the background fabric.  Each puppy is unique to the student.

Students wrote their own stories too!  Students loved the global aspect of publishing to kid blog where Ms. Jena commented on almost every post!

4.  Research / Activities to develop kindness

Students work on a variety of activities over the three week.

Writing via KidBlog (both as themselves, and as the dogs)

Creating a video and using Aurasma App to showcase student work

Reading Lead with Your Heart

Quilting (paper, fabric, and chalk)

Filling a heart with words that have to do with kindness (nice, love, thoughtful, considerate, etc.)

Drawing of dogs

Discussion of the chapters and any important concepts (prejudice, being misunderstood, kindness, etc.)

A visit with compassion - Dory the toothless dog visit

One act play of the last chapter of Lead With Your Heart  for parents and friends with Ms. Jena Ball joining via Google Hangout.

5.  Revision

The role of critical friends and interactive work is a key component to creating a project that is worthy of the world! A continual revision cycle is key to improving reading and writing.  Students posted their writing on kidblog.org and received comments and feedback from Ms. Jena Ball and Marty Keltz, as well as their teachers Mrs. Evon and Ms. Braasch.

6.  Public Audience

A key to project based learning is a public audience! This innovative project has two public components, kindness quilts to share with the community and a one act play to celebrate the learning adventure!  

7.  Amplify

The quilt the kids created with the help of Mrs. Dana Doran and the paper quilt that scans to videos of them telling their stories via the @aurasma app are now on display at the Sarpy County Historical Museum in Bellevue, NE.  The quilts are a beautiful keepsake of their learning adventure and something to hang proudly in the school after it makes its rounds of museum visits!  I love how each child took part in the creation of the quilts.  It is awesome because they now feel that ownership and pride.  They will see it often and remember this wonderful learning experience this summer!

I loved hearing all the comments parents made as they used @auramsa app to scan the puppies on the paper quilt discover a video of his/her child reading the story they authored.  They remarked about how much their children loved coming to summer school, how their child overcame fear of dogs, how they love to write, how they are excited to read, and one even said they may send their child to school at Bellevue Elementary next year as a result of this wonderful experience!

“We’re thrilled to have the CritterKin quilts be a part of the quilts exhibit this year. Beyond their far-reaching impact in the classroom, the quilts offer a blend of one of America’s oldest traditions, alongside state of the art technology to provide a great educational experience,” said Ben Justman, Executive Director of the museum.  

Materials:

Pencil, paper, copies of Lead with Your Heart by Jena Ball, Internet connection, fabric, scissors, crayons and colored pencils, iPads (if possible), time and patience

Apps Used:

Notability, Kidblog, Aurasma

Links

1.  CritterKin website: www.CritterKin.com

2.  Blog post by Mrs. Evon and Ms. Braasch

2. Kindness Quilt Story: http://wp.me/P37dkL-zw

3. Blog post about the Quilt: http://wp.me/p37dkL-HI

4. Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/critterkin/critterkin-kindness-quilt/

5. Student blogs about the project: http://kidblog.org/CritterKinAdventure/

6. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGlZKhCDw3U

Lessons Learned:

Using a book like Lead with Your Heart is a great way to introduce topics like prejudice and kindness in a way for students to understand.

KidBlog is a wonderful way to improve writing skills because students are given an authentic audience.  When they notice that someone outside of their teacher or classmates (in this case, author Jena Ball) is reading their writing, students are more excited about writing.  This is a great way to discuss the importance of the editing and revision process.  After introducing KidBlog, it is nice to talk about commenting and providing constructive criticism to other writers.  You can also talk with students about WOW writing, meaning Worthy Of the Web.  

Freedom in the creation process added student ownership and passion for the project.

Teamwork and collaboration are essential!  Google Hangouts, Docs, and Calendar kept us all on track!

Each of us bring our own genius to the mix. In sharing all of our strengths, students benefit and the process of teaching and learning is joyful.

Written by Ann Feldmann (@annfeldmann1)