Our Spoken Word Poetry Showcase With Ipads – Chromebooks, Regina Berg, Librarian, Brooks College Prep

It’s the end of the year and my students are getting ready for their showcase. The poems are written and shared on Google drive. The poems are done and they are now working on performances. The iPads have been excellent tools for self-assessment.  The students video taped themselves as they worked toward their final presentations. One of the requirements for the group pieces was that they be memorized. The students were not happy with that. I wanted them to be able to see themselves as the audience will. After viewing the videos, they agreed with me. They were also able to listen for problems with articulation and movement. I have included a few of their videos here.

https://vimeo.com/127299889    and   https://vimeo.com/127299890

 The school had Chromebooks last year, but they weren’t solely for the library. My Chromebooks have been integrated into my curriculum this year, even more than last because they weren’t being pulled for things outside of the library. Many of the things I learned with my students were easily transferred into projects with other teachers and I anticipate greater things next year.

The Final Report, KC Boyd, Librarian, Phillips Academy

The opportunity to use iPads and Chromebooks with my students has been a wonderful experience.  Two clubs have been formed at my school as a result of this grant,  The “Behind the Paws Student News Crew”  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-SsLLOiwNg

and “The Phillips Anime/Manga Club - http://phillipsanimemangaclub.weebly.com/ 

The students in these clubs have influenced students and teachers alike to become more comfortable using technology.

My students recently supported the school’s very successful ‘College Decision Day’ celebrations.  They created promotional materials such as promo videos that were played on the monitors throughout the building.  Some of the promo materials included a digital animation/music video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOex4nEjQiM, and a student generated hashtag, #PhillipsDecisionDay that was used on Twitter.  This involvement gave them a sense of pride and also recognition among their peers for doing something positive.

Were there bumps along the road?  You betcha!  Sometimes I just wanted to push the iPad and Chromebook cart back into my office and scream.   Ironically, the students mirrored my feelings as well.  When they used Animation HD Creator for the iPad for the first couple of times, they grew increasingly frustrated that they could not get the program to display the desired outcome result.  I also can recall how the students got frustrated when they couldn’t import the desired animation into Google Slides.

Despite this outward expression of frustration the students and I experienced, all of us had to recognize that when you begin a new journey in trying something new, there will be successes and many failures.  It is through the failures you benefit the most from.  I’m very proud of my students for many reasons.  They didn’t give up and they hung in there.  I take my hat off to them because through all of my grandioso ideas, my leave of absence, and do overs, they survived the journey and will apply what they have learned during their post-secondary experience.

Google Slides Comic Strips, KC Boyd, Librarian, Phillips Academy

Anime/Manga is a genre that is often misunderstood yet insanely popular among teens from around the world.   The books have a visual stimulating colorful appearance and have book series that seemingly goes on until eternity.  Moreover, these books focus heavily on character development which is not as present in American comics.  It is this character development that keeps teens fan loyal and wanting more and more.

I got the idea to create comic strips out of Google Slides from Google teacher, Eric Curts.  He has a ton of material online so I suggest that you check him out.  His YOUTube video, “Creating Comic Strips with Google Presentations” provided me with the extra push to move forward with this project.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cisL47_k_E  According to Curts, there are several reasons why students should use Google Presentations to make comic strips.

First of course it’s absolute free!  My students are already gmail users through school and their own personal accounts.  Animation can be added to the comics and the students can edit and use the same project at the same time.  As the teacher, I love that I can view their work at any time, handheld device, desktop computer etc.

At first, my students were a little hesitant to get started on this project.   Eventually they did get on board because this was yet another avenue for them to express their love for the genre and show off their creativity.  As I explained to them, creating comics through slides is another way they can create AMV’s and express their passion for the genre.

The end result has been positive.  The students work has been posted to our school’s Pinterest page in support of the College Readiness curriculum https://www.pinterest.com/pin/490892428110264459/  .  In addition, some of the content level teachers enjoy viewing the student’s work.  My hope is that the students can take a simple concept taught in class, create a comic and give it to the teacher to use as a ‘Do Now’ or another resource that can be used when teaching the lesson.

Powtoon with Chromebooks, Marcia Mariscal, Goethe Elementary

 I wanted my middle school students to do a book summary for the month, but needed something new and lively.  I was excited to see that Powtoon was an available app that could be accessed through Google Drive. What is Powtoon? Powtoon is  a program that allows you to create energy filled animated videos with eye-popping images and active text sequences.  This application is similar to PowerPoint presentations, with an animated feature, so it is easy to use.  What I really liked about using Powtoon is the variety of animated characters that could be used to capture your audience’s attention and imagination. It was very exciting to see that almost all of my middle schoolers  had never worked on Powtoon before. So here are the steps I gave them for accessing Powtoon.  

Instructions for Students *

1. First to to your CPS Google Drive
2. Click on Create or New (red icon)
3. Click on Connect More Apps
4. Search Powtoon EDU, and click on the green connect button
5. Proceed to go back to Create/New (Red Icon) and click on it and the Powtoon icon should be there.
6. Once Powtoon opens, go to “Edit Ready-Made Powtoons” to get started.

*Instructions could change based on Google Drive updates

Quick Wins about Powtoon

Powtoon has ready made animated slides (Less than 1 ½ minute in length)  that can be edited to fit your project. I had my students choose “Edit a Ready-Made Powtoon Book Report.”  Then they quickly click on the ready-made templates and fill in the blanks.  It is that simple.  It includes eight slides with an introduction and an ending.  The notebook paper theme, animation, font, and music have been selected for students who are beginners with video creation. Animation tools that help you create professional-looking animation videos are located on the top of the page.  Some icons include, add and delete slides, undo, redo, cut, copy, paste, text, sound, image, and embed video icon.   You also have the option to change your presentation from an animated video to a slide presentation.

For students that are more advanced, they can add additional animation, change the music and theme.  I usually have a 45-minute class period.  As I circulated to help my students, I found Powtoon to be a safe and easy application to use by all my students.  Since my students have different varying degrees of video-editing experience, it allowed for my advanced students to explore its additional easy to use features.  For the tech-advanced students, you can point out that the bottom of the page bar controls the sequence of the text, animation, and music in the video.  They can manipulate the icons to where they want them to appear on the page.

Another quick win is the ability to be able to access Powtoon in their Google Drive.  It is important for them save it or the changes will not be able to be accessed in Google Drive.  When they are ready to share they can do so through their CPS Google Drive (click on the box, share it) or publish it.  When it is published they cannot edit the video.

Suggestions

Here are tips for guiding students through when working with a ready-made Powtoon:

1. Play the animated video for each slide and then pause, so that you can see what changes need to occur.
2. You won’t notice until the arrow goes over each section, but there is a tiny pad and pencil on the left side of the text box. Students need to click on this icon and then they can edit.  Or they can do it the traditional way of double-clicking, that sometimes is not as quick.
3. Always change the font size.  Some of the font sizes are 40 and can be too large when sentences are added.
4. Students should not write paragraphs, which they want to tend to do because they want to summarize the book.  It is vital to choose words, phrases to describe the book.  The slides are animated and move to fast for the reader to be able to read what has been written.  This is usually very hard for students to do.
5. Finally, students tend to want to add many animated free features.  Set a limit or you will have overkill.  

I find that using Powtoon for book reports was a way to get my student to really think what were the important themes, plot, strengths, and weakness in the book.  Using a few words or sentences was the hardest part for them.   The best part about teaching students to use Powtoon is their ability to transfer this knowledge to their other classes.  Some of my student told me they were now using this application to present projects for their other teachers.  This made me very happy.  Thanks for reading.

See a sample here:  http://bit.ly/1DGjO0i

Smyser Students DRIVE their Chromebooks, Emily Porter, Librarian, Smyser Elementary

Using Chromebooks in our library has allowed us to practice saving ongoing projects in the Google DRIVE. Each class in grades 4, 5, and 8 have a folder and documents saved in the DRIVE dedicated to artifacts created in library or media class.  The flexibility to store photos, documents, and audio clips is beneficial to long term projects. At my school, I am asked to teach in the classrooms during MAP and PARCC testing so that the upper grade classes can rotate through the library’s computer lab in order to take the exams. The Chromebooks and DRIVE make the transition into the classroom seamless because we can continue our library lessons without bringing all of our class materials with us. This shift in my lesson planning wasn’t too difficult. I took materials that I had already created as a Google Doc and shared them with my students through the DRIVE. I found digital activities through PBS Learning Media that could enrich units relating to classroom activities. The Chromebooks allow the classes to connect wirelessly to any internet resource.  The greatest advantage to using the DRIVE has been teaching the students to organize their class work in a folder called LIBRARY. A long term goal I have as a teacher is to measure student skill retention using a portfolio model from one academic year to the next. The DRIVE is a terrific place to store student work and help the students learn to self evaluate, review work from previous years, and create new learning activities as apps and GAFE develops. Being able to scaffold student learning from one year to the next is an exciting way to watch the students I teach develop as learners. The Chromebooks make this effortless. In four years, I will be able to measure the impact my teaching has on library learners long term. It will be exciting to look back at all of the library activities we conducted over the years and analyze which ones work and which ones need to be changed - all done with input from students as we examine authentic artifacts that represent six years of being MY teaching on these students.

Comparing our Options, Eric Currie, Librarian, Hitch Elementary School

I started this REVTIAL journey with practically no dedicated technology at my disposal in the library.  The REVITAL grant brought with it more support from my administration, who had purchased chromebooks for the library and a couple of classrooms in the building.  Teachers saw the benefit of having these devices in their classrooms and began to piecemeal their own collections through CTU reimbursement funds, DonorsChoose, etc.  I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about when these technologies shine and how I’d like to use them moving forward.

I personally feel that the iPad excels as a creation tool rather than a consumption tool.  The device and the apps that we used are generally very intuitive to where students can usually figure out how to begin creating on their own.  Sharing out and app smashing is where things can get tricky, but this is where having an understanding of the iPad ecosystem comes in handy.  Students from one 2nd grade were able to come in during an open period to use the iPad’s Green Screen by DoInk app to film some informative texts they had made in their classroom.  WIth the help of their classroom teacher, 31 students were able to find an image and record their short vignette in 45 minutes.  Though this might be more an example of excellent classroom management, I think the intuitiveness of the iPad played no small roll.

Chromebooks, however, feel more efficient.  Maybe it’s the keyboard, maybe it’s the productivity tools that are easily at your fingertips with GAFE; but I feel that a chromebook represents a time to work.  That is not necessarily a bad thing.  Chromebooks win hands down when it comes to collaborating digitally in real time.  The iPad can do it, but the collaborative tools feel more at home on the Chromebook.  I find myself typically having students start off on chromebooks to complete research and then moving to do something creative on the iPads.  In a recent project, students conducted short biography research on the chromebooks and created a Chatterpix on the iPad.  I just started a project with my middle schoolers where I’m flipping this idea in that students are creating something on the chromebooks (a book trailer) and using the iPads as the consumption tool via the Aurasma app.

Moving forward I would really like to take some of of the things I’ve learned from attending Tech Talk 2015 to use technology more effectively in the library.  One of the biggest take aways from that event was from Wynter Rose’s session “Gamification: Personalized Learning and Assessment.”  Aside from the idea in general (which I think is a great way to get buy-in, differentiate, etc.) I like that she first looks at the skill she wants to focus on and builds the “Quests” around that skill.  Technology only plays a role in how kids are going to demonstrate their mastery of the skill.  It made me realize that I might have gotten too caught up with wanting to provide my students with technological experiences that I might have lost sight of what I truly want them to learn.  Thanks Tech Talk for getting me back on track!

Reaching for the Moon, Juan Fernandez-Saines, Librarian, Pickard Elementary School

The impact the addition of the Chromebooks have been having at our school has been seismic.  Since the start of the school year, I have calculated that the classes I have taught in the school library have yielded close to 5,000 individual assignments using only Google Drive.

On top of that, within the last two quarters we have had eight classrooms come to the library for reading intervention using the Chromebooks.  I get many requests from my colleagues to collaborate in lessons and special projects. I wish I had more devices to accommodate all the requests.  One such request came recently from Ms. Donohue, who is our 6th grade science teacher.  She asked me to help the students to do research about the moon and have the students create a slide presentation using Google Slides.

Their research was based on the higher order thinking question: Can we live on the moon?

Ms. Donohue shared a list of facts about the moon, but the students had to think critically about whether or not humans could live on the moon.  One quick question that was answered was lexicon based.  Students hit a brief bump learning the difference about the use of the words, "on" as opposed to "in".  This was a clue so to speak to encourage the students to think more critically.  Many of the students thought superficially, like many of us would.  "Of course we cannot live on the moon!  It would require too many resources that are not available".  That was the general consensus.

There were a couple of students that thought “outside the box” and answered the question affirmatively---"Yes, we can live on the moon!"  They gathered their evidence to support why humans can live on the moon if they wanted to.  Roy came up to me privately and confided, "Mr. Fernandez, look at all of the students, they are answering no.  But we say ‘yes’, because with the right balance of oxygen and water, and if we find a way to transport those elements and store them, we can live ON the moon!"  It was quite a revelation for them.  

The student scientists will share their findings when their project is due after Spring Break.