Thursday, August 15, 2013

Helpful Tool for Twitter Searches

I often hear the question, "How do I search on Twitter if I am new to it?" aka.....I have no idea how this thing works!!

One place you can start is
search.twitter.com

There you will see a link to operations and this image will appear.

A bit of trial and error will help you navigate to a list of resources for your topic.






Post a comment, if it helps you!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Classroom Update

WOW!    Crazy stuff went you give students a VOICE!!!

Here is our classroom today:




Here is a picture of the kids removing my desk to make room for them!



Stay tuned....Bretford soft seating should arrive any day!!!

SXSWEdu Take Aways

Last week was really incredible for me.  This is true for many reasons.  Subsequently, I am still sorting it out.


Monday morning I completed high-jump practice with four very talentent young women with great enthusiasm for the sport.  Then I heard some heart-breaking news that can only be described as a gut-punch.

Emotionally on edge, I continued on to SXSWEdu that morning and immediately began being bombarded with new ideas and new methods of learning.   I was introduced to GeekDom and Spark Ed.  I hope to visit their space with students sometime soon.

At lunch I had the pleasure of seeing @dlaufenberg, and had the good fortune to go with her to hear the PBL session by Alfred Solis of the Buck Institute.   He shared lessons he completed at San Diego HTH.  WOW!

Some Key Points he made:
1.  Start with a field trip to get students invested.
2.  Give kids Voice and Choice
3.  Do the project yourself FIRST and build the rubric in your head as you do it.
4. After the visit do a Blog-o-Thon (Blog-o-Con not sure which), notice that this gives quite-types a voice.
5. Make your Guiding question UnGoogleable ex.  Does Music Make Waves?


I arrived too late to attend the session on Personalized Learning Systems by Andrew Butler to Duke University and Richard Baraniuk of Rice University, but again I had the good fortune to hear the session entitled "Got Game?  Learning through Play. Seriously."  (links to the Podcast)

Monday late afternoon, I again, was blown away by the session, "Meet the Educational Stars of YouTube." (links to the podcast).   Incredible!  I am sad/embarrassed to say that I didnt even know Smart Girls at the Party existed, I had never spent time on the Vlog Brothers or Crash Course YouTube Channels, and I never dreamed the creator of Ted Ed was a 30 yr old.


This was all in ONE DAY!!!!







Service Learning....its about time

These two weeks we are working on Giving Back.

I feel like our students are so blessed. We have been given iPads, new furniture and most of us have plenty to eat.

Three weeks ago I did some research on Service Learning.   Once again I felt miserably behind the country's educational leaders, as there are so many programs already in place.

Apparently its catching on as I noticed the pins on Service Learning have doubled in the past three weeks.


I'll be sharing our project this week.   They are due on Thursday, May 16.   We have a wide range; from lemonade stands to tree planting to a new You Tube Channel.



Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Collaboration Across Grade-levels

It all starts with the students.

I showed my classes a 30 sec clip from a video on how to use BookCreator.  I found this clip and a wonderful guide to making iBooks in Lisa Johnson's (@techchef4u) incredible iTunesU course.

I asked my students what we could do with this app.   This was the result.  Thanks to TechChef4U for making the video.


 
There are so many things to share about this project.  My students wrote children's books about the topic we were studying in class (Washington), they created instructions for the Elementary students to guide them on drawing illustrations and we met in person to record the Elementary students' voices.

Ann Root (5th gr teacher) ,  Katey Crowley (3rd grade teacher)  and Marianna Husain (EdTech) welcomed the idea even before we knew what we were doing.

Its taken me forever to get this post up.  You how the end of school is.  I plan to make an iTunesU course with all of the materials you will need to replicate in your classroom, so stay tuned.

Here are all the finished books.  Thanks to Marianna for making this!





Wednesday, March 6, 2013

@Rocksauce was a GREAT trip!

On Friday 2/22,  13 of my students and @techchef4u joined me on a wonderful fieldtrip to @rocksauce studios.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Our group was amazed by the hospitality of Rocksauce and their team.   They welcome us in and shared all parts of their app dev team.   Our group was thrilled to see the process of making apps and many commented that, "They had no idea how involved app making was!"

Here are some of the students' reflections on our trip.



"The app world is very complicated. The code and development is very complex and, it seems like, endless. The companies who develop apps run on a type of development process that has many "checks and balances." The app development process can take between 4-24 months and is very tedious." 
__CE

 "Rocksauce Studios has different types of people working there. They develop a client's app idea. There are different stages to the app making process. They are in charge of fixing bugs within the app. Most of the artists majored in graphics design in college. They work well with one another. They have to finish and release version one of an app before even thinking about version two."  BC


-thought leaders- where on a social media program, others ask the company questions or advice
-#appdevchat
-you can have any kind of background and still be a part of app development
-there are app maps for each screen and what they lead to 
-after, each layer such as a button (the shape, letters etc) is separated
-one section of the company makes the requirements (what it has to have) another reformats and designs that same information in a different way
-when making apps for ios and android you have to use two separate kinds of development
-you can draw a character and then have someone else program/process it into the app
-rating is like status and is very important
-it can take 3 months to 2 years to make an app meeting to store
-you have to have a basic format for the first version of an app before you add transitions 

--MB





So overall, the trip was HUGE success.   We are now hoping to host RockSauce on our campus.   What a wonderful example of community involvement outside our classroom!


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

iFlock visits Rocksauce Studios 2/22

This Friday our tech club at HC, iFlock (@iflockHC on twitter), has the incredible chance to visit an indy app development company here in ATX.

We are taking 10 students and two teachers on this field trip.   Rocksauce has been so kind to invite us to their studio.   We are really excited!

Unique Opportunity

Today during C lunch, my students have the wonderful chance to talk to a Stanford Professor of App Development.   We are using this day as a chance to test our communication systems and prepare for a longer chat in the near future.  One of our HC student's uncle is the Stanford Prof, so its a cool in house connection.   We look forward to sharing the results!

Visit to Elementary was a HUGE Success!

After an overwhelming response to our first attempt to teach younger students, we are planning another trip!   This time we plan to work with 3rd and 5th graders at Bridge Point Elementary.

My students have voted on the school and grade level they want to visit.

Now we are preparing for our iLessons.

For 3rd grade we plan to collaborate with 3rd graders.   The 8th graders will provide the text of the eBook and the 3rd graders will illustrate and narrative the story of George Washington's Presidency.

For the 5th grade we will split into small groups and teach mini lessons that the 8th graders have prepared.






Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Classroom Update

With the introduction and use of iPads 1:1 in 8th grade, it became clear early in the year that my classroom was going to change!   It has in so many ways.

One unexpected change, at least to me, was the need for different furniture.   My students brought this up in November.  They said that they are uncomfortable all day long and would learn much better in a more warm and inviting environment.

After a little bit of research, its clear that my students are not alone.    It appears that individual and collaborative learning that the iPad allows, is driving a whole new 21C way of furnishing classrooms.

My students researched what models and brands they liked.   They contacted sales representatives and invited one to come meet with them in our classroom.   They moved all the furniture out of our room, took pictures, made plans and presented them to our PTO.

Here are some of the designs they made.


Here is also a thinglink picture with their ideas and the products they requested.



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Collaboration across grade levels

Here is the final video of my classes' trip to Cedar Creek Elementary's 5th grade classes. Special thanks to @joliejennings, Amy Tillman, Amy Puga and Scott Johnson for making this possible.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Today we visit Cedar Creek

Today and tomorrow we are taking two classes of 8th graders to Cedar Creek to teach their 5th graders.   I am so excited to see how it all works out and what the students say about the experience.

Here are some of our students.   Nearpod was the favorite by far for both 5th and 8th graders.   WAY increased engagement and interest.





Another example of students interacting and excited about the American Revolution.








 Here is the form for 5th Graders to fill out after our project is finished.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Thinglinks and the 7 Principles of the Constitution

Thanks to MathyCathy and Techchef4u, I found ThingLink.com. Here is one I made for the 7 Principles of the Constitution.

It links to a WONDERFUL resource called Law Related Education. Feel Free to use mine or make your own.



Monday, January 14, 2013

Introducing Mrs. Tanna Fiske's class on iTunes U

Hello and WOW!   How wonderful and easy it is to create a course on iTunes U.  If you havent been there yet, take a second to click on the link above, you'll be glad you did.  I'll wait for you....go NOW, its awesome!!


For students who wish to enroll copy and paste this link

http://itunesu.itunes.apple.com/enroll/KAR-JKD-DLB



Sunday, January 13, 2013

Fiskeclass Pinterest makes Top 20 Innovators List



Edudemic made a list of the top 20 innovators on Pinterest and the Fiskeclass Pinterest Boards made the list!   You can follow us at the link above or use the button on our sidebar.    It is an honor to be on the list with such distinguished educators.

See the article HERE.

Two New Student App Review Videos

Here is another installment in our classroom project of creating student video reviews of apps.



SketchBook Express
A student who is very proficient at this app made this review with our campus EdTech, techchef4u.




Explain a website from the makers of Explain Everything


Hill Country Welcomes State Leaders to witness iPads in the Classroom

Hill Country Middle School welcomed leaders in education from across the state on December 11th to view our classroom use of iPads.


Over 30 educators and education leaders came to our school and classrooms to see how we are using iPads in the hands of every 8th grader.   A group of about 8 educators rotated through four of our classrooms to observe the iPads in action.   Following this, they attended a teacher and a student panel discussion of our iClassrooms.   Here you can see the teacher panel where I am one of the teachers.

Please click on the link  "See Event Details" below

Westlake High School and the Superintendent Visit My class

Members of the Westlake High School TV program and our Superintendent, Dr. Nola Wellman,  visited our campus and my classroom to see how the 1:1 iPad program is working with our 8th graders.   See our classroom on this video.

Digital Parent Pannel

In an attempt to bring greater communication and understanding to our community regarding the use of technology, particularly iPads in the classroom, a panel discussion was planned by Mr. Carl Hooker and his team.  

He invited me to participate and I gladly accepted.  The panel included parents from the community, educators and a University of Texas Professor.  Each participant was asked to describe the use of technology in their professional and personal lives.  Many of the members of the panel were also parents of students in Eanes ISD.

The event was recorded and can be viewed here.  Please click on the "See Event Details" link below:

A Video for Teachers--C5

Last Spring as a member of our campus Technology Vision Committee, I was asked to make a video to share with teachers at Hill Country Middle School to help alleviate some of their initial concerns over placing iPads in the hands of middle school students.  The committee came up with the name C5 as our campus theme for the iPad initiative.  The words are theirs and are the vision that group had for iPads in the classroom.

I worked with an amazing group of students to make this video.  I shot all of the footage with my school provided iPad and edited it on my personal MacBook Pro.   The students wrote their own scripts and brought in their own pictures.    It was a great success and really fired up the campus for our 1:1 iPad initiative.


Thursday, January 10, 2013

8th Graders as Teachers

In the beginning of this year, one of the things that most excited my students was the idea of connecting with younger students.   We watched the anti-bullying PSA made by students in the district, and it really sparked their interest in being more involved in our community.

Before the Winter Break, an opportunity presented itself for us to collabortate with a nearby elemenaty school, Cedar Creek Elementary.   It is within walking distance which would make the legistics much easier.

After letting my students decide what they wanted to do to connect with younger children, they elected to teach a lesson on the American Revolution.  We used the state standards for the American Revolution as our starting point.  In Texas, 5th grade social studies has very similar standards to those in 8th grade.   Additionally, the 5th grade at Cedar Creek Elementary had a 1:1 iPads in their classrooms.  Our goal was to make several mini-lessons on a variety of topics and then compile them into a iBooks Author eBook to share with the 5th grade.

I formed homogenous groups. Then as a class, we viewed the standards on the projector screen and students chose the topics of their interest.   Once the topics were assigned, student groups were to decide what they believed would be the best iPad medium to explain their topics to 5th graders.

Some groups chose to make Puppet Pal shows using the characters of their much beloved "Liberty's Kids" show.   Others would make Nearpod presentations to share on their iPads. 
 Still others decided to make Keynote presentations with You Tube videos embedded.  All of my classes worked on these projects until the Winter Break began.

After we returned to school in January, my students were very excited to resume working on their projects and it was decided we would go in two groups to Cedar Creek to share in our work in rotations.  In order to trouble shoot in advance, we did mock presentations of our work to each other.

I created this form for students to record their evaluations of each other.


Please use this form to complete your evaluation.