Since ipads and ipod/touches hit the district, I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked what apps are great. I wrote about this previously (Apps) using the lens of “Relevance, Thinking Skills, Sharing and Usability” (adapted by Tony Vincent; Kathy Schrock). Another layer may be to connect the app against the SAMR model (a…
Tag: interactive technology
Where the Intersection between Talk and Courage Meet
Created with Tagul.com We’ve been working and editing our Digital Citizenship (curriculum dare I say) for a bit now (squeezed in between all the other projects). And I’ve returned to the same conclusion I had at the beginning of this journey. The only thing that is really different is that we access an online environment…
Voice and Choice – Teachers & Students Ring Out
From time to time we continue our focus on sharing practices in SD41 that create community and build connected stories using our blogs. On the Cariboo side of the city, resides Armstrong teacher, Jude Comeau. Her blog called Division 11’s Class Blog-Learning One Byte At A Time, is a hive of connected learning. Her purposes are…
An Audience of One is No Audience At All
“Students need an authentic audience.” You’ve heard this statement before. Given the vast array of opportunities, you would think that this is easy. But any number of bells are ringing in your head and you recognize it’s not that simple. Consider questions like “who will be the target audience – parents, peers, people across the…
Digital Citizenship is Minimal Requirement – We Need Digital Leaders
Digital citizenship is a topic that is gaining a dizzying momentum. The range of tools and environments continue to pop up at rates that far outstrip our ability to understand the new territory, much less navigate it. It is one thing to be able to orient yourself through a new environment like a holiday drive…
Dialogue With A Twist
How would you create opportunities for students to practice dialogue? Perhaps it’s talk between two people or two characters in a book or a conversation between you and yourself? MMhh…now that would be interesting. A bit of reflective action produced in video format. And practicing a host of literacy elements to boot. The tool you…
Digital Learning Day – Feb 5
The days of January have been whizzing by, partly due to the start of another term and partly due to our wonderful west coast weather. Having some sun certainly invites a bit more energy in the steps as well as some hopeful signs of spring just around the corner. We are hearing about so many…
App #10 of “10 Apps to Countdown Season”
App #10: Partner a beautiful image that you’ve drawn or photographed with interactivity and you’ve got Thinglink. These rich interactives provide another way to curate and organize information. I’ve written about this before using the SAMR Model as an example (developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D) and also here where I was participating in CLMOOC. Thinglink offers interaction tools that tag photos or images…
App #6 of “10 Apps to Countdown Season”
App #6: QR Codes (or Quick Response codes) are everywhere – in magazines, on professional cards, on billboards, websites, newsletters all because those little squares can be packed with information. You can even find them at the grocery store gracing the fruit section (giving you additional details of the grower). Teachers have used them to create…
How Do You Communicate?
More than any other initiative we’ve been a part, none have reached the level of activity as our wordpress blogging platform. This pilot grew from humble beginnings with the simple goal of “tell your story”. Our question – what would happen if we gave our people an opportunity to open a window into classrooms or…
Using Technologies With A Purpose
The SAMR Model [developed by Ruben Puentedura] offers a framework for viewing how we integrate technologies into our curricula. Broken into four sections [Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition], it is a simple way to group activities that provide a variety of purposes. The goal is to move towards teaching ‘above the line’. You can hover over different parts of…
A Year of Discovery
It’s June and I’m really not sure what happened to this year. The ten months prior have whizzed by and here we are again. I wanted to take this moment to share some reflections of the year and try to put things into perspective. Our Writers Workshop folks grappled with ideas related not only…
Interactive Images – Using Thinglink
There are moments when an image tells a better story than just having a bunch of words on a page (actually that’s most of the time). However when that image has a level of interactivity such that it delivers even more information, then you have a perfect marriage of visual and linguistic. On any given…
Lightbulb Moment – Conversation in the Round
Recently an email landed in my box with a link to a voicethread. For those of you who haven’t seen VoiceThread, it’s a handy tool for collaborative communication out on the web. But let’s start at the beginning. I was involved in a planning project with a school envisioning a whole flip of their library. Aaahh, “Martha…
iPad/iPod Apps ShootOut – Multisensory Blitz
District Pro-D arrived on February 22nd. Offered at two sites (Byrne Creek and Taylor Park) complete with video feed of our keynote to Taylor Park, it served as a reminder that connection, collaboration, ideas generation happen when we all come together. With over 110 sessions, it was an electrifying event. No small feat for a…
To Blog Or Not To Blog
Why blog? Your current process of emailing parents or sending written notices home works just fine! Why change you ask. What makes blogging so unique? Blogging accomplishes many goals that cannot be accomplished as well as email, paper notices or student planner comments. Yes, blogging is an easy way to share homework and expectations for projects…
Informed Choices for Writing Workshop
Even though you may love Writers Workshop, the challenge comes in keeping track of all the confer/revision comments for planning purposes. We know that immediate feedback, specific and targeted will support our students’ approximation of great writing. How do you keep your ongoing comments on students? (I used to use post-it notes – hundreds of post-its.)…
December – The Gift of Time
It’s December and most every hour is in high gear, trying to get those last minute projects merged in with winter festivities. And just this weekend, we got our first whiff of snow. Magic is in the air among the smell of gingerbread houses, mandarin oranges and other treats popping up in all locations. Not…
Getting Extra Mileage from Apps
One of the things I find challenging is the inability of the iPad to support multiple open softwares (like my laptop). Try using Side by Side. This allows you to split the screen up to four windows at a time. Read, research, download files and take notes can be integrated into a session. This app…
Power of the Many – Writers Writing
Thinking extends to greater possibilities when we’re together supporting and learning from each other. Our second session of dynamic writers took us through a series of activities to explore ideas of “writing, what it means to write in the digital age, identified the principles of writing workshop, … We had a bit of time to…