Digital Identity

In order to create a digital identity that represented me as an individual, I explored the available tools in search of a creative outlet to show who I am. At first, I created a Google+ account with all my contact information, education, work experience and decided this wasn't stimulating enough. So, I broadened my horizons and stumbled upon Visualize.me. Once I saw the graphic representations I knew it was exactly what I hoped for. Given that I'm obsessed with info-graphics, I quickly explored the themes available. I decided on the Crescendo classic due to its clean and simple nature. Then, it was time to enter my information to construct ME. Within the profile options, I was able to add a summary about myself, work experience, education and links, which are the basics of all profiles. However, this is where the graphic representation of this tool really shines. While entering my skills, interests, languages, and stats, my profile began to take shape and gave it the personal touch I was seeking in a digital identity.  Overall, I'm pleased with the final product and look forward to seeing this tool build as it matures out of BETA.

If I were to give my insight, I would propose to see the links highlighted more. They are currently at the bottom of the page and if size matters, then each were misrepresented in comparison to the rest of the items on the page. They had a nice start to the available avatars to connect with your links, but it would be nice to see Google+ and Diigo added to the options. Once the portfolio section is released, this site will take on a whole new meaning, by allowing individuals to show their work in a meaningful way. I hope it is done in a similar, esthetically pleasing manner that draws the viewer in deeper.

A sneak peek into my visualize.me!

Visualize Me

Broadcasting Live

For the means of this activity I decided to sign-up and utilize Ustream to record my first live broadcast. As I was setting up the account and getting my script ready, I began to get a little nervous, thinking of the possibility that people would be watching. I intended to present on something that was pertinent to my masters and could shed some light on what I've been learning and implementing in my classroom. Given it was the day of my classes "End of the Year Celebration," I was happy to speak about some of the ways we use mobile technology in room 18. Today was a special day shared with the families of my students. I invited the whole gang and we started with a performance at noon. Grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and siblings funneled into the room. We sang three songs, then the iPads and iPhones came out! As homework, each family was encouraged to download a QR scanner which would allow them to watch an assortment of videos posted on the walls of the classroom. After, we went outside and had a picnic on the grass in the shade of the trees on a beautiful summer day in Southern California. Overall, the excitement shared between the families was priceless. It was gratifying to see the smiles and laughs shared as they watched intently, huddled in circles around the room. It was a culminating event of many hours spent preparing, constructing, and editing to reach this point, but it was worth every second. As I sat down to work on this assignment I thought that the best item to share for my live broadcast were some of the tools that made this project possible. 

I began by writing some ideas down in a Google Doc and the next thing I knew I had a page worth of notes, so I used them as a script and added ideas throughout the presentation. One of my biggest challenges was staying short and sweet because when I begin talking about any given tool or app that I'm fired up about the wheels start spinning. Next thing I know I would have talked for who knows how long about who knows what jumping around... "and you could do this! but don't forget to use the export feature... First you should create a shared folder..." As you can tell, I'm deeply invested with these tools as they bring out a true passion of mine. Here is the brainstorm turned multi-paragraph, detailed description on mobile technology.   

Once my script was complete and I felt I had practiced it enough to sound fluid, I was ready to create a Ustream account and record. Setup was simple and with an easy to navigate homescreen including the essential features, I was up and running in no time. Here are the options for recording 

As I neared the moment of truth, I sent a Tweet with a link to my video in case someone was available to watch my introduction to mobile technology broadcast.

End result... Twitter feed with my broadcast. 

Look! I'm LIVE! 

Here is my channel feed! Mobile technology in education...

For those interested in watching the broadcast, you are welcome to watch it on Ustream!

Look for the next installment soon!

In conclusion, this class has opened me up to publicly write and not be afraid to share ideas with an audience. In all of my education leading up to this point, there were no really opportunities to share my experiences with anyone other than my teacher or fellow students when it came to a presentation. I'm glad I've had this opportunity to reflect on my teaching practices in the form of mobile technology and share this broadcast with you. 

Webinar

Education Week: Webinar - Blended Learning in the Math Classroom

Strengths: Twitter, Ondemand Archive within 24 hours, Ask a question which will be answered in the Q & A at the end and Chat feature.

Weaknesses: none

Education Week is a resource that I currently follow on Twitter. They have ongoing links to educational research and articles that relate to my teaching. Given we use Dreambox in our district and they were the sponsor of this webinar, so material described was pertinent to my classroom. I would certainly participate in a future webinar of this nature! The entirety of the presentation was research based, that incorporated supporting visuals throughout the conversation. Some of the backchannel conversations that occurred in the chat feature allowed other educators to piggyback on the presentation with examples of how they are using these strategies in their classrooms. These real-life examples are profound ways for me to visualize and anticipate how I can integrate blended learning into my classroom.

A webcast would be a great way for students to take ownership of their learning. The access and equity allows students to present their learning to authentic audiences on a larger scale outside of the four walls of the classroom. Teachers can bring in experts in a specific field who can provide enriched learning experiences. Personalization of material and research in a PBL setting would allow more opportunities for this tool to be utilized.

A webcast could be used in the classroom to inform students in a blended learning setting whether it be a station-rotation model, lab-rotation model, flipped-classroom model, or individual rotation model. Each of these opportunities would allow students to view and respond to material that is age appropriate and standards aligned, while other students can receive individualized instruction at their ability level. Given the videos can be viewed later in an on-demand model, students can view content at their own pace and materials can be based on the need of each student. It would also be exciting for students to create webinars as an alternative presentation model in addition to the Keynotes and iMovies we create on a regular basis.

Strange coincidence, but the fact this webinar was on blended learning it provided numerous ideas for using webinars in elementary education as we continue to push more technology into the classroom to support individualized instruction. Based off a short Google search, I was able to find a number of related webinars I would like to attend in the upcoming weeks. It is exciting to know that we as educators can continue to learn in such rich learning environments in a flexible manner for free. It is a powerful time in education for those who are interested in pushing the limitations of limited funding, time and instructional staffing to become more effective in their teaching and increase productivity.

Twitterthon

Over the last week, I've expanded my Twitter connections with some noteworthy findings. Previously, I used Twitter to follow a handful of Tech leaders and publications, along with the leadership team in my district. It has lead me to many great resources over the course of this school year, which I've used in my classroom, shared with staff members, and incorporated into my Masters and Mobile Technology Certificate. With these free resources at my fingers tips, I feel it has been some of the most meaningful professional development I've received since being in Education. Yes, this may seem bold, but before joining Twitter, the only times I was connecting was at conferences or in district adopted professional development. Now when I attend those events, most of the presenters have a Twitter account so I'm able to follow them and link to the sources they provide. Until about three months ago, I had a personal account which I used as a read only source. Now I have a school account where I often favorite and retweet articles. On this account I had some followers that I picked up along the way, but I decided to start fresh and wipe them clean in preparation for next school year, where I intend to use this account as a means to connect with parents and colleagues. To my knowledge, I'm the only staff member at my school site using Twitter, but there are a number of teachers within the district using it. 

Matt Gomez is a great resource as a Kindergarten teacher pushing technology in his classroom. He promotes #kinderchat once a week and I have found some great write-ups on his blog. 

I prefer to use my iPhone as the vehicle to access my account from bed. I often check it when I first wake up and get ready to sleep in the evenings. 

Look! People want to follow me... ;)

I love Nearpod! I've used it in my class and look forward to using it more in the future. I enjoyed this Snapguide: how to, so I downloaded the app and have been playing around with how I could infuse it into making "how to: guides" with my kids.

I was surprised to have 76 Tweets on this account because it is the newer of my two Twitters.

All about me! 

Here is a snapshot into some of the Tweets I've made this week. I'm a little bit obsessed with Infographics, so you will find plenty of them as RT's on my feed. 

Infusing Social Media

Using an already established lesson on characters, setting, and major events in a story, I plan to integrate social networking into the assignment. In this revamped lesson, students will be expected to reenact these pieces to the story as a team. They will need to show an understand of characters, setting and major events. Through the use of an app called Days students will take photos of their team, infuse them into the app, tell about the pictures in sequence of events, and provide a reaction to what happened. When they are complete they will share the lesson on Twitter, so other students and parents can view the material.

Here is the original lesson:

Now let’s take a look at Days as I explain some of the features and how I would integrate Social Media into this lesson as an extension activity.

First, you see the sequence of photos taken using the mobile device with day and timestamps. If you were to click on the pictures you have the option of adding comments. This is where students would add text about their character, setting, and major events from the story. They would be expected to have one picture representing characters, a picture of setting, and three major events from the story (beginning, middle and end). In the upper most corner you see the post feature. As I click on it, you will see the result in the photo below. 

Here I have the option of posting to three various Social Media outlets. I've linked our class Twitter to the app, so that I can share the post. This way not only parents, but other students can easily access the learning as they check their Twitter feed. They are encouraged to comment and give feedback on students work at this time.  

This is how the digital story looks when posted to Twitter. Slide 1...

Slide 2...

Slide 3

In this example, you see how clicking on a picture allows you to comment on the post. This is where students have an authentic opportunity to communicatie and collaborate with their peers. 

Days is a great way for teachers to have students tell digital stories or keep a digital journal about their day. The content can be easily added to Twitter and shared with others. I plan to use this tool during literacy time, plus Today's Meet as a way for students to have backchannel communication. While staying to the 10-2 rule, I can ensure students have an opportunity to collaborate with their peers and synthesize their learning. 

Creating a space for your class to communicate is as easy as this. No need for logins or passwords and the information can be kept for 2 hours or up to a month.

Pose a question and students begin typing their responses. A bonus is you can encourage students to stay within the character limit to be clear and to the point in their writing. 

Interview: Mobile Technology

Working with a second grade teacher from my school site I was able to see how she is utilizing mobile technology in her classroom.  It was powerful to see her perspective on how her year is going, along with the successes and challenges. Given the district provided her with a set of six iPads, she wanted to fill the void and be able to obtain as close to a 1:1 environment, as possible. She reached out the community for used iPhones and/or iPod Touches. She was able to wrangle eleven more donated devices and has filled the remaining slots with BYOD of those students who enjoy bringing their device to and from school. At the beginning, when she was trying to go through the proper channels to green light r this program, she was hitting roadblocks from the technology department. She felt they viewed her ambitious effort as more work for them by ensuring all devices were working properly on the network and fixing any glitches. Instead, she decided to take matters into her own hands and run with the program on her own terms. There were no policies in place to stop her from the BYOD model. It was strictly that our district has kept a heavy hand in deciding the direction the program will go. It is exciting to see the accessibility she has had throughout the year and hopes that next year with the addition of more district mobile devices she won’t rely on as many BYOD. I owe her a great deal of respect for blazing trails on her own terms.

Considering she moved from Kindergarten after ten years of work, second grade was a big shift in the beginning, but it has proven to be rewarding. She reflects, “I never thought I would have more parental involvement than in Kindergarten. Parents are in their first year of their child’s education, they are excited and try hard to be involved. However, I had almost two-thirds of my students for the second time and I had established relationships previously in Kindergarten. With the addition of technology, I saw a huge shift in parents relationship with their students and offering feedback to others. It was exciting to see those who were unable to help in the classroom, spend time with us via technology. They were commenting on our blog, contributing to Google Docs, Voicethreads, etc. Each parent took it upon themselves to collaborate with us!! Overall, I had never seen such parental involvement in regards to academics.”

Some of the biggest challenges included: managing the devices, setup, updates due to the assortment of devices, and organization. She stated, “It was new to me just like the kids. We were learning together and they were so excited when they figured something out or helped solve a problem; truly empowering. One of the biggest hurdles are logins for students on a variety of web tools and apps that we use. When creating these accounts it often takes a great deal of time and then we have to make sure that each student has the information for future use. With every professional development opportunity that I attend, I am introduced to unique ideas and projects that I want to implement in my classroom. However, I have to be selective in what I try because it means exponentially more for me and my students. My goal has been to focus on a handful of tools and dig deeper with their functionality.”

What she has learned resonates deeply with me and my experiences with technology. She states, “I have never seen such high levels of engagement and interest in students’ learning! With every unit, I can see substantial growth in their academics, social skills, and it’s maturing them at rates I did not see before technology. It is exciting to see that from such an early age, these kids are learning lifelong skills that will eventually help them in the workplace, which is a huge advantage over kids just a few years ago.”

We are opening doors and opportunities for our students at an alarming rate. It is an exciting time to be in education and share these successes with an amazingly talented colleague. Our conversation inspired me to think outside the box and continue to push myself and my students outside of our comfort zone. Taking risks is often rewarded through the use of technology. Although it can be a large investment of time at the start, you begin to reap the rewards at the end of the school year with the social, academic gains your students make.

Digital Storytelling

Through the use of Comic Book! I was able to use my iPhone 5 to create a Digital Story of my path as an educator. Using some lifestyle photos, I tried to put a fun twist on the story...

In conclusion, it was an exciting journey from third grade with Mrs. B, to where I am today. I'm glad that I stuck with it and all the hard work has truly paid off. I couldn't be any happier and the adventure was a great learning experience. PS Mrs. B just recently retired and I keep in touch with her as my cousin now dates her daughter; small world!