We have used applications such as Nearpod, FlipGrid, Edpuzzle, iMovie, google classroom, google documents/slides/graphs, Socrative, and Padlet. These programs have allowed my students to collaborate with one another in person and/or at home. They are also able to communicate their learning in various ways while showcasing their unique skills and interests. 

All of my students have goals involving rate of completion, time on task, and other learning behaviors while instruction is presented: Our homework completion rates are at 100%, student in-class on task rates have skyrocketed, and latency to initiate a task after a given directive has significantly decreased." 

Attached is a short video of a student working on an iMovie project in Mrs. Hall's class. The students are able to narrate their learning easily!

“The classroom should be a safe environment where students are allowed to make mistakes (both digitally and not) and our role as teacher is to correct that behavior. Also, we can't plan for every misbehavior, a lot of them will occur in the moment, and we have to take the opportunity to explain why it's inappropriate and teach the correct behavior.” 

This shift in thinking has been transformative for our staff in their instruction and behavior management, but also in the way that teachers view their own professional learning. Teachers are willing to try something new, take a risk, and fail (First Attempt in Learning) in the goal of improving instructional practice and student learning. This new culture shift that has pushed us to be more collaborative, more supportive, and more innovative! 

Below is an image of our teachers attending a training on GarageBand at our local Apple Store. This training took place on a Sunday — our teachers were SO EXCITED to give up a few hours on their weekend to learn something new! 

“As a veteran educator, my initial feelings toward our school's digital instruction initiative were apprehension and fear.  That apprehension and fear were directed in the areas of classroom management and the change in the use of traditional systems.

Immediately following our school's rollout, my doubts and fears became minimal due to high level of trainings that we received from our school's Verizon Coordinator and the positive response that we received from students.  This allowed for an easier transition into utilizing advanced levels of technology to enhance instruction and the use of assessing student achievement.

Overall, the daily use of the iPads have positively impacted student learning.  The level of student engagement is high due to an abundance of content features for extensive learning.  Also, the use of Google Classroom has allowed for increased management of students due to the abilities to streamline student classwork, assessments, and grading.” 

The second thing that we have seen in regards to teacher practice is more student-led, student driven lessons. Our student Tech Team coordinated embedded professional development last week for our entire staff. The students selected the apps and iPad features that they felt the teachers could be utilizing more effectively for their presentations. Some students even created slide decks to share with the teachers for later reference. This collaboration between teacher and student has been so important as we move towards higher level digital instruction and student choice. Attached is a photo from the tech team training last Friday. 

 

My second idea is to have my students create Virtual Tours of Newburg for their Informational piece.  They will get to work as individuals, partners, or a group of no more than three.  This will require them leaving the classroom to interview and film staff, coaches, etc. and capture pictures for their video tours.  I know this will be highly engaging for the students, but coordinating it could become a logistic problem, but I have ideas around that.  I was wondering if this could become a contest for the best entries to: win a posting of their virtual tour on our Newburg website; and, win a small prize of some kind.  (Hey, it never hurts to ask, right Nicole?)

 

Let me know your ideas about my ideas.  I am ready to jump into Redefinition (SAMR) with the Virtual Tour idea.

 

Deborah Gandenberger