Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: ONE Singular Sensation

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams." ~Arthur Shaughnessy

My first memory of hearing the "One singular sensation" song comes from, like many people, Sesame Street. Counting, that was the way to go, learning what each number was and a little rhyme to go after it. My second memory of "One" is hearing it in a dance recital as a kid and standing in awe as the kids older than me danced in a kick-line and just wowed the audience.

As we come away from the inaugural ONE Conference this past Friday, can't help but think of this song, and define for myself what "One singular sensation" truly was throughout the conference. I loved Molly Schroeder's speech about living in beta and making connections with my learners. I enjoyed passing by the Rock Star Stage and was motivated by those speakers to try something new.

Even more, I was inspired by my students that came with me - the kids that gave up a day off to come help me out with a presentation. Through their eyes, their words, the magic of using technology and learning with it came alive. This truly helped ground me and see that it matters, it makes a difference. Those moments of on-the-spot learning where they had the courage to talk with an educator in Waukesha that they didn't know, or their initiative to fight through nerves to say why Notability "works for them best" or that Explain Everything is the "way to go." That's what it's all about - when our learners can articulate how the technology is helping to learn and understand better, and make instruction and assessment and more, more meaningful.

Yesterday, we had some professional development about strategies to impact behaviors and keep the flow of our classroom going, and the term "grit" was brought up - what is it, how would we define it? Not only do I believe each of my students' has grit, the power to overcome obstacles that are in our path, but especially each one of us as educators. It's that passion to work one-on-one with a student who needs that additional support; it's a perseverance to keep going when something tough happens in our personal lives and put a smile on for our students; it's the presence of mind to take a risk with technology even after all devices have seemed to shut down and not work on the same day when you had the coolest lesson planned!

All of the presentations were excellent - from learning about QR Codes, to Thoughtful Logs, to Aurasma, to our Core Apps - so many good resources to find and look at and try in the classroom. Each of these strategies and tools and more can be our ONE Commitment, our ONE singular sensation, to take a risk and try something new!

Yet remember ultimately, for us, as teachers, grit is coming into work and knowing, we are going to give some kid a safe place to be, to make some kid's day, some kid smile. That's grit. That's passion. That is who we are. We are educators and teachers.

Check Out our Waukesha BB9 Instructional Strategies Course for handouts on sessions!

If you're looking for a start on Core iPad Apps, click icreateatwaukone.weebly.com

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Mission POSSIBLE

So we have successfully made it through the first two months of school. WHEW! I don't know about you, but I'm tired. Lately, my students have been very savvy to my persona as to whether I have indulged in coffee or not lately. Somehow, they are just able to tell if I've had a morning cup of joe, or if I've lacked and am staving it off. Must be that time of year...

Coffee always reminds me of the SAMR, as I seemed to best understand technology practices in modification and redefinition through coffee. Take a look below to the image that Kathy Schrock uses to explain technology integration.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway, is that we do not have to always "live" in modifying and redefining uses with technology. Substitution, Augmentation is okay. Technology ebbs and flows - the intention and true meaning comes with instructional design. Consider what makes the learning come alive, the true target of the lesson and the reason for why the technology enhances the learning. 

And remember, it doesn't need to be the 'next big thing.' Maybe, you can just shoot a rocket to the moon, measure how far it goes or the angles. Record it and integrate a writing piece on any of the mathematical components as well.

(Thanks Sarah Sierszyn for the usage of your video)...

Start small, shoot for the stars, and trust yourself as a pilot and your co-pilots in your co-teachers and colleagues. Together, we can make each day Mission: POSSIBLE.

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Making Sticky NOTEs on ABILITY

My colleagues know I love sticky notes. I use them as an organizational tool, as they are often to-do lists on the "Sweet Spot" of my MacBook, as well as prioritized in order of need to complete on my desk. Just the way I roll. Recently, I've tried using them as quick tickets or exit slips and BOY ARE THEY EFFECTIVE! Students view them as something quick, and I view them as the ever-needed formative assessment of their learning, their connections, their understandings. Pretty awesome use...although I'm running out of them currently...

As we have begun arranging songs and creating new movement games, my students have loved the Ability to be Noted within the SDW Core App, Notability! With feedback being an applicable use to this app, students are listing rules, descriptions and able to draw within the very app, making the learning seamless and the connections even greater, and quite easily, I can share and comment on their work. Additionally, with typing, writing, drawing and highlighting all at once, this app is awesome for just about any subject or project! Aside from that, Notability would be what many label as "intuitive," where students just seem to "get it" and make sense of how to use it a little bit easier. 

If you've been reading my posts, you can probably tell I'm a pretty structured, in-the-box, liking to be planned person. I love scheduling, planning, color coding, and organizing - just who I am. Our students are often the same way - they like predictability and routine, knowing what will happen next, and the ease of application to use the tech tools we place in their hands. The tech we are doing in my classroom isn't huge right now - we're all still learning along the way and getting back into the routine, so before taking on the radio shows on GarageBand, the lyric breakdowns in Explain Everything, or the Skype/Google Hangouts with others, or even sharing and collaborating upon Google Docs with peers, my learners are getting back into the flow of utilizing Core Apps and the features of each, as well as organizing them. 

Notability is one way to do this - it has changed my personal workflow, and can change the way of your students' learning to make the important NOTEs truly stick, so students can show their learning and ABILITY in an organized, intuitive and amazing ways :)

How has Notability worked for you? What other tools are you using? Please share your thoughts and ideas as we build upon our professional learning networks together!

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Couldn't Say It Better Myself!

Students teaching other students - just love seeing that in my classroom.

Today, while teaching recorder, a student who is somewhat shy and laid back, took the lead and demonstrated and taught his peers how to play the difficult line of "Yellow Submarine." This normally quiet and shy kid, jumped up and said "listen, listen, listen, I got it" - what an amazing moment for this young man to show his leadership and be PROUD of what he has come to understand and know. Not only did he play the passage, but he taught other students as well, enough that a couple of them were still singing it by class time, 15 minutes later. Gotta love those moments!

As our Student Tech Team is beginning the year, I asked them to create a short easy to follow video for their younger peers within our school to teach them our core apps. One student took on Book Creator as follows: 

Taking the time to go back and review basic skills, formats that you want for your students is a key to success - and part of teaching them the life skills of organization and planning. My hope is to show this to my kindergarten and first grade as a brief introduction to each core app, and to build out our first projects together. 

About Book Creator

A great intuitive CORE App for your students - use it for sharing summaries of reading, new understandings in math w/ actions/TPR videos, vocabulary and spelling word journals as well as writing journals, art portfolios and more!

Allows: Drawing, Text, Pictures/Video Support from within the App and Camera Roll, Sound Files, and true personalized design.

Export as ePub, PDF & Video.

Power of Sharing

The power of sharing, the power of giving students' ownership of the tech specs to SHOW their work and understanding can help to foster self-efficacy, pride, and leadership, as well as build community with mentor classes - allow this power of student voice to take reign in your classroom - whether just between students in class, mentor classes throughout your building, or maybe a Skype activity with another class. The excitement will amaze you and truly enhance your learning community!

Within the next few weeks I will be highlighting our CORE apps with some student perspectives, as well as discussing integral ways to utilize in both literacy and math. Share your ideas with us!

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." Henry David Thoreau

Selfies. They're all over the media - Facebook, Twitter, even award shows, the news, and more. They've become a part of our pop culture of the 2010s and will probably continue as our digital age evolves. But what makes the selfie so popular? What makes it so prevalent to "be" in a selfie?

Well, what makes someone not? Provided, many selfies are "just for fun," with comical smiles or actions accompanying them. All remembering good times - moments that are irreplaceable with memories that last a lifetime. A step further, and other pictures, maybe not selfies, but just pictures, become a deeper meaning. These pictures, in fact, end up meaning everything. Think about those little kids who get to meet their idol and get that all important picture. How about those family pictures - moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas that we cherish so deeply, along with cousins, aunts and uncles as well. Or even more, what about those pictures of friendship - caught candidly...those people that mean so much and essentially become a part of our families with smiles, tears, and laughter.

Let's take a risk, maybe something new or an expansion of an idea you've already done, and give our students the objective to take pictures of the world around them. Can they see the angles of your classroom furniture and connect them to math? Perhaps our youngest learners can describe the colors of the playground and the shapes of different equipment? Maybe some students can take a picture for each direction they take in the car ride or walk to school. The possibilities are endless, and are a simple way for students to tell their story - to document what they see, hear, feel, and experience in the world around them. Then, we can build on the learning to take those pictures to the next level - a project on iMovie or Explain Everything or Book Creator, describing their learning as a speaker or tour guide, and sharing the story of their life with deeper connections. Empower your students to take the lead, to make their pictures be worth a thousand words through their eyes, what they see and what those photos mean to them.

Me, I've never been a selfie fan. Sure, I love to photobomb all kinds of selfies being taken, but I tend to run away if someone wants me to take a selfie with them. Yet, I think of the best reason for a selfie is pride. Satisfaction to be proud, strong in your convictions in being who you are as a person. We are those people. We are teachers, changing the world of our youth, empowering them with care and compassion to become everything they will be in the future. So today, take a selfie for you - be proud of who and what you are as an educator, together with and for your students. Then, allow them to take pictures of their story, and a selfie along the way, to share and be proud of who they are as well. 

"As we look ahead to the next century, our leaders will be those who empower others." ~Bill Gates.

Tracy's Tuesday Tech Tip: Senses & Sensibility

Ever have one of those nights when you're walking along, and you catch a whiff of those delicious fries that you love? Or how about that aroma from the pizzeria down the street...the perfect thin-crust delight that you know may not be the best for you, but is oh so worth it as you savor it in the moment...

Beyond the sense of smell, what about that book cover that catches your eye while at the library so much that you have to open it and see what it's about. Even more, I love chatting it up while enjoying a delicious latte at the Steaming Cup in Waukesha, when all of a sudden a great song I haven't heard comes on the speakers. I just find myself bopping along to the beat and really enjoying the sound!

We are a species of senses - whether taste, smell, hearing, sight - we all have certain things that appeal to us at our initial reactions based on our senses. With the idea of appealing to the sense, come the thoughts behind student engagement - what can we do to make them become and stay engaged?

In this week's edition of our blog, we have two ideas for reading and math assessments that can help appeal to your students' senses!

Math Practices: Ever heard of a Photo a Day? Check out the pic below where one teacher has given his students a calendar of different math concepts, and his students are to take a picture of the concept each day. Think about tying this in with our core apps - perhaps a Notability file or Explain Everything presentation - and having students describe what their picture means aside from the text. What a great visual representation of the 

Literacy Practices: As music can define a mood, the BooktrackClassroom idea gave me a great idea to tie in another core app: GarageBand! After creating a written response to any prompt - could be part of writer's workshop, or a short analysis of a text from reading workshop, students create music to help illustrate their writing. As they are reading their response, think about the power of having their own "soundtrack" to the background! (Booktrack is also a great resource if you're looking for a way to start this idea up in your classroom without iPads or GarageBand.)

Do you have anything that you've tried in your classroom this year integrating technology into your instruction? Share with us your ideas and please give us feedback on ours! We are all learning together on this journey of transforming our students' lives with technology tools!