Celebrate Digital Learning Day on February 6

Digital learning happens every day in classrooms throughout the Tuscaloosa City Schools.  However, February 6 has been designated as Digital Learning Day 2014, a nationwide day to recognize digital learning activities taking place in our school, and we want to share with our community and the world all of the great ways that teachers and students are leveraging technology for learning.

Please take a moment to complete the form below if you would like coverage of digital learning activities happening in your classroom or school on February 6.

#leydenpride

I first heard of #leydenpride after meeting and then following @JasonMMarkey, the principal of East Leyden High School, at ISTE 2013 in San Antonio. Jason is a genuine instructional leader who encourages student voice and provides opportunities for student as well as teacher ownership of the school. Jason has really used twitter to encourage other educators in our pursuit of excellence. Jason was one of many of my PLN I asked for input this summer while planning for this school year. Jason was one of three administrators presented with the 2014 NASSP Digital Principal Award!

Leyden is one of many schools that has harnessed the power of social media for the good of students, parents and educators. Check out the #leydenpride hashtag to see what some students are tweeting and instagramming about their school.

This November, I visited Jason's school, East Leyden High School. The Leyden High School District 212 is a 1:1 chromebook district of two high schools with about 3500 students total. Leyden is in its second year of 1:1. Leyden High is an exciting district with many opportunities for students to learn outside of the normal classroom. I first visited the culinary classroom with a kitchen. Students were working with the teacher to prepare the catering for the East Leyden site visit the next day. Students have the opportunity to take the food and safety test necessary for certification in order to work in a restaurant.

The Culinary Classroom 

A History Classroom

Next, I visited several classrooms where I saw students engaged in learning. I visited a Social Studies classroom where students used VideoNot.es to take notes on YouTube videos used in class. I was able to see the Hapara Teacher Dashboard being used in action to manage student engagement with technology. I visited a French classroom where the teacher doled out digital assignments, giving students the opportunity to hear, speak and write in the target language. I visited English classrooms where students were analyzing literature using a Google document. I visited a Math classroom where students were actively problem solving using a calculator, a chromebook and their minds. Every student was working at their own pace. Teachers and students have continuing discussions about the use of technology in instruction. Technology coaches and administrators support teachers in the transition of a digital classroom. Parents and students attend a brief orientation before the student receives a chromebook. Students also take a class on digital literacy within their first semester of receiving the chromebook. Every part of the 1:1 program is a learning experience for all who are stakeholders in the Leyden district.

@JasonMMarkey speaking with students during an assembly

@LeydenASCI trying out @JasonMMarkey's Google Glass

One of the many takeaways I had from visiting East Leyden is student and teacher voice. Developing the 1:1 program took time. It was a gradual process of equipping each classroom with base-level technology, upgrading the network, training and continually supporting the teachers and, most importantly, continuing communication with those who are actively involved in instruction, whether students, teachers, administrators or parents. They all listen to each other. Listening is a big part of Leyden.

For more of my takeaways from my visit, click here to see a more detailed report.

Melinda Sears is the Title I Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa City Schools.  Check out her website or connect with her via Twitter.  

Chromebooks in the math classroom

For me, as a former English Language Arts teacher, I did not have any trouble imagining the power of the Chromebooks for writing and editing in a collaborative classroom environment.  But when I heard that the devices would be used in the math classrooms, I had no idea where to even start.

Our 8th grade math teacher here at the Magnet is excited to have the Chromebooks in her classroom but needed some help in finding apps, extensions, activities and the like that would enhance her sound instructional practices.  Lucky for me, there is this thing called YouTube which houses Google Hangout recordings, made by tech-savvy educators from around the globe, who talk about and show their viewers all of the cool things they are doing with the Chromebooks.

Take, for instance, the vid I found below.  Yes, it is 48 minutes long, but this one video contains a volume of helpful information for the middle school math teacher who has just been handed 30 Chromebooks.  Do not bother with the first 3 minutes of the recording -- there are long introductions, technical difficulties, and sounds of babies or small children in the background audio at times -- or with the long stretch in the middle (see item 6).  Skip straight to about 3:00 to start.  Some highlights, in order of appearance:

1. (3:00-10:20) Google Draw for:
 * math projects, posters, starter activities, collaborative assignments, student accountability using revision history tool, templates, graph paper
2. (10:21-11:20) Movenote (Movenote.com), Google app:
* These are "presentations with emotion"; recorded at students' desktops; saved and shared via email; examples and tutorials for Chromebook use of this app on movenote.com
3. (12:03) Daum equation editor, an extension available on Chrome web store
4. (15:00) Interesting discussion on problems and solutions of implementation of Chromebooks in math classroom
5. (17:54) Ideas for assessments of math concepts, such as triangle congruences.  This is very cool. The author of fishing4tech.com discusses and shows his students' proofs of understanding on this website. Link: www.fishing4tech.com/triangle-congruences.html
6. (23:00-37:20) The participants discuss at length the problems and solutions of giving Chromebooks to teachers and students without training.
7. (37:20) Brief mention of Scoot and Doodle , a collaborative drawing tool to use with Google Hangout.
8. (40:20 - 43:40) Socrative for exit tickets. Participant refers to Mathy Cathy, a teacher with a blog and great ideas for math teachers. Follow her on Twitter: @mathycathy
9. (43:40) The Chrome extension, Lucid Chart, a tool to create the ubiquitous thinking maps and flowcharts we know and love.

Ideas for Chromebooks in the Middle School Math Classroom

Lavanda Wagenheim is the IB Coordinator for the Tuscaloosa Magnet School - Middle.  Connect with her on Twitter, where her handle is @ELavanda.

Start with the Standard....then Run with IT!!!!

When 8th-12th grade English teachers arrived to their classrooms this past August, they were greeted with a classroom set of shiny Chromebooks.  The TCS Digital Conversion had begun!  While teachers were excited about the prospect of being able to use the device EVERY SINGLE DAY, some still felt trepidation regarding how exactly the tools would be utilized.  As my inbox began to flood with questions, I took a few minutes (heck, really a few days........) to mull over just how I could best help teachers.  And here's what I came up with.....start with the standard.

Yep, it was that simple.  After all, the Chromebook and the myriad of technology it brings really are just all instructional tools.  Like a graphic organizer, or biopyramid, or reciprocal teaching cards, the Chromebook is an instructional tool.  Thus, as I plan with teachers, we start with the standard and then we evaluate our tools....including Chromebooks.

So, for this post, I thought I would list two writing standards and then share how Google Docs could be used to teach the standards.  The two standards I chose are under the anchor standards of Production and Distribution of Writing:

W.CCR.6:  Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others

W.CCR.5:  Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach

To me, Google Docs is like Microsoft Office on steroids.  Users can create documents, presentations, insert images, add tables, and add links.  But what makes Google Docs the ultimate collaboration tool is its sharing function.  Once you've created a document, you just click "share" and then invite people to edit your document.  What's impressive is that all edits of the document are saved and you can see who made the edits!  There's also a chat function so that you may chat with your collaborators.  If you can't collaborate in real time, you can also leave comments for your collaborators to look at when they open the document. How cool is that?!

Imagine the power of meeting the previously mentioned writing standards through Google Docs.  No longer do your students have to swap papers and edit via red pen.  They can now write, collaborate for peer edits, and provide feedback all through Google Docs.

If you would like to discuss using Google Docs in your classroom or for any planning help, please email me at sbogert@tusc.k12.al.us.  I'd love to come visit you and your students!

Shannon Bogert is a secondary curriculum specialist with the Tuscaloosa City Schools.  Email her at the address mentioned above or connect with her on Twitter (@shannonbogert1).

True Confessions of a Former Technophobe

When I started reflecting my use of technology during instruction I thought about the types of technology I use, the cool websites I have taught the students use, and my favorite - Edmodo. I realized though that before I could get into explaining and highlighting the different tools I used I need to first discuss why I didn't use technology in my classroom. And that was a mixture of pride and fear.

I am not a "tech guru."  For several years, I went without using  all of the cool resources I had available because I didn't want to admit I didn't know how, and I was afraid of not having it work and looking silly in front of my students. As I began to realize that my kids were really missing out on some great opportunities for learning, I had to be brave.  I had to figure out the technology.

For me, that meant asking questions, finding a patient person who could show me a few things, playing around a lot, and then doing what I do best...teaching others how to use the things I had discovered. I began by using the video tutorials on the websites I was using or even using YouTube videos to figure out things I was unsure about. I also found a co-worker who was great at instructional technology and I would ask questions and work with her and her classes collaboratively in order soak in all of the technology I could. When I found new resources I spent time to make demo versions of what I wanted my students to make. I was able to anticipate the questions they had or possible glitches that might occur. Then, when I felt comfortable, I would share with other teachers in my department or in my building my newly gained skill.  This would prepare me even more and help me to feel even more comfortable with the new software, website, or tool.

By no means did I turn into a "tech guru" (true confession: I had to watch a You Tube video on how to copy and paste on my new Mac Book last month), but I am more comfortable and have more confidence so that my pride and fear will no longer be stumbling blocks to using instructional technology.

If you find yourself hesitant about trying something new, I encourage you to ask questions, find someone who will patiently guide you, play around with it, and then teach it to others. Take advantage of all the amazing resources that we have available.

And if you happen to be a "tech guru" and it comes naturally to you? Take the time to help answer the questions of someone more hesitant. Maybe even partner with them on a collaborative project. Our students will surely benefit from the time you take, and the hesitant teacher will be thankful for the support.

Carrie Jones is a reading coach at University Place Elementary School.  Connect with her on Twitter, where she's @carriekeyjones.

Use Online Curators to Find Great Content

When choosing content for my class to read, watch, and listen to, I've found it useful to think of myself as a curator. A great curator finds the most interesting and relevant material for a specific event and works to present it in a way that engages an audience. As teachers, we effectively curate multiple events for unique audiences five days a week for an entire school year. Textbooks are crucial, but we need more.

Fortunately, the vast amount of free educational material available on the Internet has made classroom curation much easier. Unfortunately, however, the sheer amount of content available can feel so overwhelming that you just might miss that one clip, infographic, chart, or lecture that will both engage your students and meet their specific educational needs.

This is where online education curators come in, and among them Open Culture reigns supreme. Open Culture touts itself as "The best free cultural & educational media on the web," and the claim is not far off. The first time you visit the site, look at the "Essentials" section in the upper right and spend a while exploring. Regardless of what you teach, chances are that the diligent, thoughtful folks at Open Culture have at some point found one or more free online resources that can take your lessons to the next level. Once you manage to pull yourself away from the Essential collections, check the post tags further down the page to narrow your search (I recommend the iPad tag, which I have only scratched the surface on.)

So the next time you fire up your browser to search for a video explaining how people spoke in Shakespeare's time, an infographic about relationships between scientific processes, an interactive timeline for understanding important historical events, or examples of how innovators use math to change the world every single day, don't go it alone; check out a curator!

Christopher Watson teaches 8th grade language arts at Eastwood Middle School.  Connect with him on Twitter, where he goes by @schoolpivot, or check out his blog.

I've Got a Cart Full of Chromebooks, Part 3: Sharing & Collaborating with Google Drive

At this year's parent open house, lots of moms and dads asked me questions about supplies and notebook setup: Does my son need a 3-ring binder?  How many inches?  What tab labels should my daughter write on her dividers?

The truth is, once we're fully running with our Google accounts and have daily access to our Chromebooks, there might not be enough paper floating around in our classrooms to warrant much fuss about these issues.  Instead, we can set up digital notebooks in Google Drive for organizing all (or almost all) of the work students do each day.

Why Google Drive?
Let's check out the SAMR model for the bigger picture of what we want to do with tech in our classrooms.

If we are to take advantage of what a digital transformation has to offer, then we must move beyond doing traditional work in a digital format.  Additionally, we must offer a more substantial rationale for our tech choices than "It's more fun/engaging for the kids."  The key word is transformation: What learning experiences can we offer our students that we could never pull off without the tech?

I am not suggesting here that everything we do must hit the Redefinition level.  However, we should strive to keep the image above in mind and push ourselves to develop lessons that leverage technology to arm our students with the critical thinking and collaboration skills that members of an active, thoughtful citizenry need.

For that reason, Google Drive is the workhorse of my classroom.  It allows my students to collaborate with one another asynchronously and in real-time, and it gives them a space for working efficiently with collaborators throughout the world, as well.  Drive makes for easy and constant revision and iteration, and I can provide more timely, more human feedback via text and voice comments.  Apps that hook into Drive offer opportunities for multimedia projects, remixes, and mash-ups, and housing their products in a digital space makes the jump to publication much more manageable.

But what about Edmodo?
When I decided to make the switch to housing most of my students' work in Drive, one of the biggest questions I wanted to answer for myself was "What does this offer that Edmodo doesn't?"  The kids know Edmodo and tend to be proficient in using it.  Widespread use throughout our school and system has made parents comfortable with it, as well.  However, Edmodo doesn't offer much to support student collaboration, nor does it play well with other tools.  So while I do use Edmodo still for quick notifications and occasional posting of resources, Drive tends to meet our current needs in ways that Edmodo does not.

How do you set it up?
For our general purposes, I start my students out with two folders:

• a personal class folder they can edit, in which they create their assignments (in our class, we call it their writer's notebook) - each student shares this with me so that we can communicate about their work throughout the year
• a  view-only folder in which I'll place documents they need for their work - students have access to this folder but cannot make changes to documents in it

Step 1 is to make that view-only folder, which I create myself, naming it "[Class Name] Handouts" or some other informative label.  Then I share it with students using the Can View setting.  Students will be able to view all documents I place in this folder but will not be able to change or move them, making it an easy place to deliver electronic handouts.  

See the video below created by the ed tech facilitator for Norfolk Public Schools to guide you through this process with both teacher and student views.  The video also demonstrates how students can make a copy of a document if they do need to place it in their own folder and edit it (i.e.lab reports, templates, etc).

Step 2 requires the students to create the class folders that will house their work for the year.  They make these, naming them using criteria I specify, then they share it with me at my email address, giving me Can Edit rights.  Once they've completed this step, I'll have access to every document they place in the folder.  I can drop in digitally as they work and offer feedback or assess a class's progress without lugging around stacks of notebooks.

Here's a video walk-through of Step 2 from the student perspective.  Please note that, for consistency's sake, you may want to develop folder naming protocol at the school-, grade-, or team-level.

For those who are a little more comfortable with Google tools, there are ways to automate folder setup using Google templates and scripts.  If you're interested in learning more, check out the instructions here.  

Once your folders are up and running, you've got a powerful system for managing student work and a space in which students can collaborate with others both within your building and beyond.  What ideas do you have for using shared folders in Google Drive?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below. 

Check out the first two posts in this series:
Part 1: I've Got a Cart Full of Chromebooks. Now What?
Part 2: HP Pavilion 14 Tour

Laren Hammonds is an 8th grade English teacher at Rock Quarry Middle School.  She's @_clayr_ on Twitter and blogs about her classroom experiences at Game to Learn. 

I've Got a Cart Full of Chromebooks, Part 2: HP Pavilion 14 Tour

The machines issued in the TCS English and math 8-12 classes for the 2013-2014 school year are HP Pavilion 14 Chromebooks, most notable for their 14-inch screens.

Check out the short video below from SlashGear for a little tour of the Chromebook you'll be working with, which includes information on the available ports, battery life, and other features.

So what does this mean for our daily classroom use?

First up, the USB 2.0 ports allow you to access files for upload and use in web apps (think photos needed for presentations and photo-editing apps or Microsoft Office documents you might want to access via Google Drive).  You can also use these ports for peripherals like USB headsets or mice.

The HDMI port is handy for video output and will allow you to display your work on a separate monitor, TV screen, or through some projectors.  Most of our classroom projectors use VGA instead, though, so these aren't likely to work with them.  The good news is that everything students and teachers might create and want to project will be stored in the cloud and easily accessible from any computer with an internet connection, so swapping out machines attached to a projector in class probably won't be necessary.

The 4-5 hour battery life means that on days of heavy use you may want to plan for a quick mid-day charge to keep your devices going until the last bell.  Your mileage may vary when it comes to battery life, so gauge your usage in the first few days and weeks, and establish a plan that works best for you.

You'll also note that there's no option to hook up a Chromebook to a printer.  There are work-arounds, but the best advice I've heard is this: "Don't print.  Create, publish, share."  The how of that will come in blog post form soon.

Do you have practical tips about the Chromebooks or observations to share? Post them in the comments below!

This post is Part 2 of an ongoing series intended to orient teachers to their new devices as part of the Tuscaloosa City Schools 1:1 digital conversion.  You might also be interested in Part 1:

I've Got a Cart Full of Chromebooks, Now What? (classroom setup basics)


Laren Hammonds is an 8th grade English teacher at Rock Quarry Middle School.  She's @_clayr_ on Twitter and blogs about her classroom experiences at Game to Learn.

I've Got a Cart of Chromebooks in My Classroom. Now What?

If you're a TCS math or English teacher in grades 8-12, you're likely coming back to school this year with a cart full of Chromebooks to use with your students.  Check out the tips below for a bit of guidance on getting started and managing them for student use.  Please note that this is not a post about transforming your instruction but rather a bit of practical advice for getting acquainted with your new devices.  Future posts will discuss possibilities for classroom use and share specific ways TCS students and teachers are harnessing the power of Chromebooks and web tools to make meaningful shifts in learning.

First up, what's a Chromebook?  It's not exactly a laptop.  It's clearly not a tablet or desktop.  Check out the video below for a brief overview.

So here's the gist:  Google Chrome is a web browser, not unlike Firefox or Internet Explorer.  A Chromebook uses the Chrome operating system.  This means that everything you do on the Chromebook is web-based.  You start out with a basic suite of tools like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and other resources, and you can easily add other apps from the Chrome Web Store based on your needs and the needs of your students.  Because everything is web-based, the work your students do is not tied to the device they work on or to the school network.  It's stored in the cloud, so the kids can access their stuff from a variety of devices - at home, at school, anywhere - by simply logging in to their Google accounts.

Number and assign your Chromebooks.  When you begin distributing the Chromebooks among your students, you'll want to make sure that there's some level of accountability in the event of any issues or damage.  Some prefer to attach small labels; however, I find that fidgety fingers tend to make short work of these.  Grab a sharpie, and write small numbers (1-30) in an inconspicuous spot on the outside of the Chromebooks.  I recommend not writing the numbers on the inside of the devices because you don't want to have to open every Chromebook up each time you need to place it back in your cart.  Speaking of the cart, once your machines are numbered, place corresponding numbers in each space in your cart to provide a designated space for each Chromebook's storage and charging.  The final step, once you've got your rosters for the year, is to assign each student to a Chromebook.  This will be the device they will use for each work session, so if you ever have questions or concerns about one, you know who to talk to.  Keep your Chromebook assignment lists stored or posted somewhere for easy access throughout the year, and make sure that you distribute the devices to the students yourself at least the first several times they are in use to ensure that students get in the habit of getting the same assigned machine.

Secure your cart key.  This is a very small piece of advice based on personal experience.  If your cart has a keyed lock (and odds are it does), make sure that you pull the key out of the lock if you're moving the cart from room to room.  Narrow doorways can be deadly for keys left in the cart locks; I've got two key fragments in my classroom to prove it.  On a related note, when your cart is locked, keep the key somewhere secure.  Though it may be handy to hang the key on the cart via a lanyard, this practice pretty much eliminates the effectiveness of locking the thing up.

Get your students logged in.  Logging in to a Chromebook requires a Google account.  If necessary, both teachers and students can log in using an existing Gmail address and password.  However, current TCS students also have Google accounts through our system's Google Apps for Education.  All they need to do is log in here, reset their passwords, and they're ready to start using Google Apps and the web.  I suggest assigning one time (for example, all English 9 classes) for taking care of the initial login process to make this first step more efficient and to avoid overlap.  Folks at the CO will be distributing student login info soon.

Assign student helpers.  Pick a student or two per class to assist you in collecting and plugging back in the Chromebooks once they're returned.  Having a few extra hands to facilitate the shuffle, along with beginning the process a minute or two before class ends, will help to reduce moments of frenzy between classes and ensure that the next class starts with a clean slate.

So that's it for now.  One of the best things about Chromebooks is that setup is a breeze.  What tips or questions do you have about getting Chromebooks student-ready?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Upcoming posts will recommend great apps to use, share instructional practices, and help to answer a very big question: what happens to these things when the network goes down?  Stay tuned!


Laren Hammonds is an 8th grade English teacher at Rock Quarry Middle School.  She's @_clayr_ on Twitter and blogs about her classroom experiences at Game to Learn.