Teacher and Librarian collaborate to create Tech PD, Nicole Guevara, Washington High School

A few years ago, Washington invested in three iPad carts specifically for our Argumentative Literacy classes. Our school has a strong focus on close text reading, writing and discussion. Throughout the year we noted how teachers and students were engaging with the technology and after careful consideration, a few changes were made. This year at the same time I was receiving Chromebooks from the REVITAL grant, the school purchased three Chromebook carts available to all classes.

The tech team decided to try something different with our three iPad carts. We really wanted to see iPads bring lessons to life while enhancing curriculum. Using the REVITAL grant application as a template, I created a proposal form to be completed by teachers interested in having sole access to an iPad cart for a semester. Among the winning proposal entrants was science teacher Kyle Leonard. Kyle has been using the iPads in his class every day since the beginning of school. Other teachers took notice of his great work and also of his students’ level of engagement. He shared with me how eager he was to share some of his knowledge and experience. I agreed that is was a terrific idea and offered my assistance. We decided to create a tech series open to all Washington teachers.

Kyle and I met and plotted our course of action. The first step was to create and send a Google Form interest survey to learn about participant interest and needs. Those went out electronically and in paper form. The next step was to synthesize the responses and decide on an agenda and timeline. We decided on a four-part series each with a specific theme. That information then went out electronically and in paper form. We divided roles and responsibilities and began our preparation. Kyle is going to present three of the sessions as they are programs he specifically prefers while I will present the online learning session as well as take care of the administrative tasks. I also requested these sessions to be put in CPS University so that our teachers can get credit for attending which is a nice incentive to attend.

Our “Educational Resources Tech Series” includes:

Part One: Saving Time with Tech

Monday, February 9

Part Two: Increasing Student Engagement with Tech

Tuesday, March 10

Part Three: Online Learning

Tuesday, April 14

Part Four: Communication & Managing Student Behavior

Tuesday, May 12

We recently held our first meeting. Each teacher took a Chromebook and while signing in I shared the presentation with them. Kyle spent an hour showcasing GradeCam, Common Curriculum, Tiny Scan, and EdTechTeacher. Teachers were especially intrigued by GradeCam. Teachers loved that they could save so much time by grading with a camera and even have those grades directly transferred into Gradebook. Our principal, excited about the adult learning, even stopped in to see the presentation. At the end of the Google Slide presentation, I linked a quick exit survey that I created using Google Form. We will use the feedback to inform our next presentation. Judging by the feedback, our next one will have even more tech thirsty participants.

Using Mind Map Apps with Chromebooks, Marcia Mariscal, Goethe Elementary

I have been working on teaching research skills using Kids Infobits with my 4th and 5th graders.  We worked on research grids and were now ready to organize our information visually using mind maps.  I was excited that I would be able to have my students work with google apps for education on the new chromebooks.  Since I have not been able to be added to the Administration console, I had to review the apps CPS allows our students to download.  This would be a real scenario with any teacher trying to work with google apps.  I quickly downloaded some mind maps to help me work through the ease or difficulties my students would face working with these mind maps.  I explored two mind maps:  Mindmeister and Mindmup.

The first one I chose to work with was Mindmeister.  The app seemed very simple to use in terms of adding a main topic, then adding additional topics and subtopics by pressing the + button.  Other features that were easy to use were the three font sizes and various color fonts you could choose from.  At the top right side of the app are seven images that allows you to cut, add, undo, add an arrow, and paste.  I couldn’t figure two of the images and their functionality.  There is also a red arrow that I found serves as a pointer and I couldn’t paste it to point to a picture or a specific text.  On the left side of Mindmeister is the map layout which includes default, text aligned, organized chart and a left and right aligned feature.  In creating a mind map I was able to  attach files, add a URL, and download an image straight from the web.  This is a nice feature since it allows you to download an image directly from the browser instead of having to save the image and then retrieve it from downloads.  Mindmeister also allows you to upload images from their library which contains 60 images.  For an upgrade of between $36 to $90 dollars you can upload your own image or draw your image.  Finally, you can add numbers, flags, smiley faces, votes, completion percentages, due dates, and about 60 other icons.

After reviewing Mindmup and Mindmeister, I decided to use Mindmup to have my student’s organize their information visually.  Mindmup  is a google app that you can download for free.  Like Mindmeister you can keep up to three mind maps for free.  The features that I liked on Mindmup is how easy it was to use the toolbar.  There are icons that allow the student to add topics, subtopics, cut, and zoom in or out.  I absolutely love three functions: the ability to change the node colors, attach additional information with a visual paperclip, and the collapse leaf.  When I was building my mind map I was able to organize my information by color.  You can choose 36 colors or none to have as your background.  This function is not available in Mindmeister.  When students have additional information, so they don’t clutter their mindmap they can attach it by clicking on the paperclip.  Images can also be attached.  Finally, there is a leaf button that allows students to click on and all their information is stacked up like index cards.

I found Mindmup to be easier for my younger students.  It didn’t have too much information to navigate through.  You do have to teach students what is meant by node, parent, child, and siblings. Usually these terms would be main idea, branches and twigs.  Another heads up, when students are adding images, they need to download images, then find them in downloads and select.  These are skills they need to practice before they add images on mindmup.  Also very Important!  The size that appears when students are adding images needs to be changed to between 100-60, then they click on the second box to the right and the size self adjusts.  If they don’t do this the image will take up the whole page.  After I showed them, it was easy for them to remember and apply.  The information on mindmup can also be moved to the right and organized in notecards in a feature called “Storyboard.” this can be arranged to look like an outline, and be exported to become slides.  Finally, Mindmup allows students to collaborate with each other in “Realtime”.  This is important when students are assigned a project to work in pairs or groups.  

In conclusion, in order for me to feel comfortable with google apps, I had to practice and practice so I could anticipate problems.  I didn’t feel comfortable the first time I taught students how to use mindmup, but if there were any difficulties, students picked up on the technology so quickly they were able troubleshoot the problems themselves.  The important thing is that they were exposed to mindmapping and were taught another tool to help them organize their research.  The best part was that it was saved to their google drive, and they were able to work on it at home.  That was pretty cool!

From Form to Drawing, Creating Infographics in Drive, Caryn Mikkelsen, Volta Elementary School

I wanted the seventh graders to learn how to create infographics without having them set up accounts on a public site.  The solution was easy using Google Drive!  

I decided for their first attempt at creating an infographic, I would have the students research a topic they were interested in and had some knowledge about.  Also, I would keep the data limited to just five pieces.  I showed the students a short  infographic video from Kathy Schrock to give the students an overview of what an infographic is.  We also looked at sample infographics.

Students then chose topics and created survey questions along with their response choices in a document.  Next, using their questions, they created a survey in Form and sent the survey to all the students in their class.  I provided the email addresses for the class. Time was given during class for students to answer all the surveys.  Once the data was collected, they went to their spreadsheet, clicked on Form and looked at the summary of responses. They used that data to create their infographics in Drawing.  They customized the size of the drawing in page setup to better fit all the data.  Students added graphics, animations and shapes.  

Not only was this an easy way to introduce them to creating infographics, but they were engaged and really enjoyed the project!

Digital Portfolios, Regina Berg, Brooks College Prep

This year I’m teaching a class in Spoken Word in addition to my duties in the library.  I am using the curriculum from Young Chicago Authors and techniques from Spoken Word for Educators, a course I am taking at Concordia University.

For my class the students have to both write and perform. We had an Open Mic on Halloween that was so cool! Students performed both individual and group pieces. It was their summative assessment for the quarter.

I created a Gmail account for the class and the students use the Chromebooks on a regular basis to compose work and to save and share their work on Google Drive. The Drive has been an indispensible part of the process for us. It gives us the ability to share and edit collaboratively.

Additionally I wanted a creative way to archive their work and show growth in their writing over time. So we created Weebly websites. Each site should now feature at least 8 poems including: a List poem, a Shout Out or Invocation, a take on “We Real Cool”, a personal statement about Ferguson, a Vignette and their group and duet poems. The List poem describes how the students see themselves. The Shout Out or Invocation is either sincere or sarcastic. The Vignette should to focus on an event and use personification. The group poem is a poem in 3 voices. Each team member contributes a piece on a common topic or theme, then edits them as a group to produce one poem.

The site will be a yearlong project with students adding written work, audio and video as the work progresses. We are spread out around the library so the Chromebooks are an essential part of the class allowing the students to work in small groups or individually. Now that we have the ability to print from the Chromebooks, I can easily add hard copies of their work to my paper portfolios of their work and compare changes and edits in the digital portfolio over time.

You can check out their work at brooksspokenword.weebly.com.

Using Chromebooks in the Library, Janice Wellborn, Hernandez Middle School

I started January knowing that I would be seeing nine different classes of students, some of them once a week and some of them twice a week.  At the end of January we were scheduled for a new rotation of students so I was looking for a project that could engage all of them for a maximum of eight class meetings, and a minimum of four meetings. Clearly I would need to make adjustments so that not all classes were doing the same project.  I decided on a Martin Luther King, Jr. biography in light of MLK’s birthday.  Overall, I think the projects were pretty successful.

Students were told to first do individual research using the desktops and the Chromebooks. They were instructed to find biographical information on MLK.  Their results were submitted to me via Google docs using either of the computer types.

Next, students were told to find another student or two (or opt to work alone) to research specifically what was King’s role in the Civil Rights Movement.   They were to identify speeches, protests, or organizations, that Dr. King had participated in. For this part of the assignment all students were using Chromebooks. Their completed research was added to one of their googledocs.

With the research complete, students were given the option to either make an iMovie incorporating five or more photos from Dr. King’s life, or to make a Google Presentation slide show of his life using the Chromebooks.  The difficulty in this assignment came when I found my class kicked out of our huge library space which is very conducive to making iMovies, and instead we had to put 30 people in a regular classroom trying to make movies at the same time.  The iPads picked up a lot of ambient sounds so that the movies were somewhat diminished. Many students at that point changed their minds from making movies to making slide presentations.

As we were at the end of our semester together, I noticed how much the students had grown in independence using either device.  The Chromebooks are very new to the kids, but they have used them in other assignments so they knew many of the shortcuts and tricks and  did not need much instruction. The students really enjoyed the independence of making products which they created by themselves.  I find as time goes on that my role becomes much more of a language arts teacher as I help them to edit and clarify their work, and they become so much more proficient and confident using the new technologies I have helped them to master. The only advice I would have for someone starting to use Chromebooks is to take the time to figure out a few shortcuts and the different methods of downloading photos, as there are some differences between desktops and the Chromebooks.

Turnitin.com and Google Drive with the Chromebooks, Lindsey Mangurten, Lincoln Park High School

My last blog post was about using the google extension save to google drive with the chromebooks. I was interested in learning about other popular extensions for students with the chromebooks. The first one that sounded intriguing to me was the use of easybib. I generally encourage the students to conduct their research using databases which provide the citation within the article so they wouldn’t need easybib. However, many students still chose the google route and need to use easybib to create their citation. Once I explored easybib it got me thinking about turnitin.com

Last year when we became a Wall-to-Wall IB school our school purchased a turnitin.com account for all students. Turnitin.com is a program that provides an account for each student and allows the teacher to create an assignment. The students have an open window for uploading the assignment onto the website and then the website screens for plagiarism. Since this is how all papers are turned in I wanted to explore if there was a way to use turnitin.com and google docs and there WAS.

At first I was worried the students would have to work in google docs and save to microsoft word in order to upload to turnitin.com. It was just one extra step but always best for things to be fluid when turning in an assignment. Once the students logged onto their turnitin.com acocunt they were prompted with several options on where to find their final paper for submission.

1. From this computer
2. Choose from Dropbox
3. Choose from google drive

Once the students selected choose from google drive one of two things happened

If they were already logged onto the computer it would automatically open up their Google Drive account and allow them to find the document or folder to upload. If the students were logged in as guest they would have to log in to google drive first and then locate the document to upload. Once they selected upload it was as if it was a normal Microsoft word document.

This option on turnitin.com and google docs saves so much printing and useless copies of rough drafts. The teacher now has the paper electronically in two places. The submission through turnitin.com and shared from google drive. The hope is eventually to cut down on printing especially since our chromebooks currently are not set up to printing. Before this option was created students would have to work on the chromebooks and when they were finished needed to print/upload from the desktop. This has been a great feature added onto turnitin.com that works perfect with the chromebooks for our entire student population. We did not run into any trouble having the students upload the assignment (as long as the assignment was there, which could be teacher error)

The Amazing Chromebook! Erin McDonald, Nightingale Elementary School

The Chromebooks have been amazing!  I never thought that I’d like them over the iPads, especially for the primary grades, but they have proven to be perfect for their little hands and by using them, the students have learned so much more about the Internet than I anticipated.  

To be honest, I just had to jump right in.  I would say the first half of many of my lessons looked like complete chaos.  But after one or two sessions with the Chromebooks, they students really improved.  I had to do a lot of traveling from one student to the next and I heavily relied on students helping each other.  So the first and second graders began with “Browsing as Guest” and my third and fourth graders logged in under a shared library gmail account.  

Next step was opening Chrome and learning to type in a web address.  I normally have a link to my library website and provide the students with images and links to click from there.  Using the chromebooks naturally led to lessons on browsers, search bar, correct URL’s.  It was great and the students were completely engaged.  They considered the Chromebooks to be baby laptops and that added to their careful of handling the devices.

My students were quickly using the Chromebooks to access the internet.  From there, we moved to having more than one site open at a time.  They learned to use the tabs at the top to move from one site to another.  They began bookmarking and learning to navigate using the tracking pad.