New Year, Now What?

Now that we are back at school, it's time to get back to the fun stuff!

The first week back we started with the Imagination Stations. Stations are the students' favorite thing in the media center. Each week when I announce that we are having stations this week they actually cheer. The sad part is that this works the same on weeks when I have a lesson. When I announce that we are not having stations for that week there is an audible groan. Ha!

I used a video to introduce the stations to students in August. 

I usually give directions and act things out with students in grades K-2.

So, this was the first week that I introduced stations to kindergarten. I had so many directions to give them about where stations are located and where they can go once they get their station tub and how to make their choice on the chart, but they did an exceptional job of listening and understanding how it all works. 

This week I also reintroduced OverDrive to students in 3rd-5th and introduced it to 1st and 2nd for the first time. 

OverDrive is a platform that students use to check ebooks out to read and enjoy. This week I addressed how to search for books when you don't know what you want to read. Many students will search for Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries. If those are already checked out they give up and say that everything is already checked out. So, this week we looked at the home page and discussed how to use the categories to search for things that you are intereste. We also discussed how to just click "view more" to see more on the homepage on the topics that are already there like Most Popular or New Additions. Students seemed to appreciate this information and understand how to use the platform more easily.

We also discussed the three types of books available on OverDrive.

1. Ebooks- just a regular ebook with text that students click to turn pages and read themselves.

2. Audio Books- audio books are books for listening only. They do not have pictures or words for students to read.

3. Read Along Stories- These books show the pages and pictures as well as narration.

Overall, it was a successful week back at school.

This week looks more like this:

GAETC Recap 2017

Yes, I realize that it is 2018 and this post is about the Georgia Educational Technology Conference from November of 2017, but the info is still good and I've been meaning to share. I will keep the descriptions short and to the point for you.  Some of these are websites, some are ios apps and some of chrome extensions.

As a side note, I took the Level 1 Google Certification test this week and I am now:

 You can make url shortcuts that will look like shoutkey.com/my or shoutkey.com/feeble This is great for presenting and needing everyone to go to a certain webpage.

 Easily create bingo cards, hangman game, word search etc. by importing lists from google sheets.

 Is available for chromebooks. You can create 40 books for free. 

Deep L is a language translator.

 an ios app that takes a picture of something (a person, book, receipt, anything) and tells you what it is. Download this app on your phone and play with it. It tells you what it is looking at. For example, you can scan a person and it will tell you how old the person is. Honestly, not sure how I’d use it in the classroom, but I’ve been having fun with it guessing people’s ages. My colleagues and I have enjoyed using it. It would also be great for someone with vision deficits. 

 You can change the qr code destination. Basically create a QR code and give it out as a code to get to homework and instead of changing the qr code every time homework etc. changes, you can instead change where that code takes you. 

 I downloaded this app on my phone and I've started using it for making my grocery list and I share it with my husband. That way he can also add to the list and whoever goes to the store always has the list. I like that it allows you to immediately click on things in the list to mark them out instead of having to click backspace/delete for each letter of the word.

 A trivia game where you place a pin point on a location to answer the trivia question.

 Shows a picture and you can make a guess about where the picture was taken by placing a pin point on the world map. There is also a challenge mode.

Allows you to see where if you tunneled through the world at one location, where you would wind up on the other side of the globe. 

Played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. It has totally transformed the way students learn about the world in my school.

 Can cover parts of the screen while you are presenting. This is great for covering an answer and then revealing the answer to a math problem. 

Can use this to send students a message that will open in a new tab and can remind them to get to work, etc. You can send the messages, but they can not reply.

It was interesting to learn that you can make a youtube playlist using google sheets. It even has a little thumbnail of the videos that you put in the playlist.

My husband is in the Innovative Champion program for the county and was also sent to GAETC. It was basically like being able to visit two sessions at once, because he could tell me everything he learned from the sessions he went attended.

Co-Teach with Technology October

For one week out of the month, I go into classrooms and Co-Teach with Technology with teachers. Teachers are able to sign up on a google doc for a time and session of their choice that interests them.
This week the sign up ended up looking like this:

We had so much fun learning about Flipgrid, Google Slides, Google Docs using an iPad, Chatterpix, Incredibox, and Epic.

Here's a recap of each:

FlipGrid
FlipGrid is a terrific website that allows you to create a grid with a question. Students can then answer the question by recording a video response and add stickers to their response before posting. Students can then view the FlipGrid and see each student response. They can add a celebretory emoji as a reaction after viewing their classmate's responses or write a comment or even respond with a video.

I've created one to use with my reading bowl students.
This week I worked with teachers to create FlipGrids for students to tell their understanding of the Phases of the Moon, Number Talks, and to even read a book aloud for others to view.

This is an extremely easy to use tool.

More info about Flipgrid

Google Slides and Google Docs

In my district, K-2 have 1:1 ipads and 3-5 have 1:1 chromebooks. We just received these last month and have been working hard to learn how to effectively implement using the 1:1 devices. I am helping each teacher create a Google Classroom account and put all of their students into their classroom. I've also started exposing teachers and students to the greatness of google docs and google classroom. K-2 teachers were excited to learn how to use these apps on the iPads and connect it all to their Google Classroom. The 3-5 teachers were happy to learn how to share google slides for multiple students to work on the same presentation at one time. 

ChatterPix
ChatterPix is an app that allows you to take a picture of a drawing and then record audio to make the picture talk.

We watched the read aloud of Creepy Carrots from this youtube video:

Then students drew a picture of their very own creep carrot and recorded themselves retelling the story.

More info about ChatterPix

Incredibox is a really neat website that I just learned about even though it has been around for a long time. On this website you can create beats/harmonies/music for background of presentations. I showed this resource to the music teacher and she is excited about what she can do with this. The graphics on the website are fun and engaging.

Let me know if you think of other ways we could use this resource in the classroom.

Epic
Epic is a free website with a collection of audiobooks. You can set up a class account and assign students specific books based on lexile level or interest. During the co-teach session, I helped teachers figure out how to create collections and assign these collections. We are also working to create some basic templates that students can respond to on google classroom after reading stories. These templates will have students tell about characters, setting, plot or text features.

This was a fun and productive week!

Using Technology to Publish Student Writing

Blabberize

Blabberize allows you to add voice to a hand-drawn picture that you upload to the site.

I have used this website for students to publish writing. I often integrate science or social studies into my writing block. 

For example, for third grade you can have students write about a region of Georgia to go along with your science standards. Then have students draw a picture of an animal from that region. After that you would take a picture of the drawing and upload it into blabberize. Lastly, you will record the each student reading their writing. When you play it back it will look as if the drawn animal is talking and reading the writing. 

Some ideas for each grade level (based on 2017 Georgia Standards of Excellence):

K

1. Have students illustrate a picture of themselves and write about themselves or their family at the beginning of the year. Record their dictation of their writing.
2. Have students draw a picture of the Statue of Liberty or Bald Eagle and tell about American Symbols after writing about the topic.
3. Have students draw themselves and then tell about rules and why they are created.
4. Draw police officer, fire fighter, etc. and write about the work they do. Record each student reading their writing.

1
1. Students can draw a picture of Johnny Appleseed (or other person you've recently learned about)
Have students write what they have learned about Johnny Appleseed.
Record students reading their writing about Johnny Appleseed.
*same activity with Ruby Bridges, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Sacagawea, etc.


2
1. Students can draw a picture of Jackie Robinson (or other person you've recently learned about)
Have students write what they have learned about Jackie Robinson.
Record students reading their writing about Jackie Robinson.
*same activity with Mary Musgrove, MLK, Juliette Gordon Low, Jimmy Carter, etc.

3
1. Students can draw a picture of John Cabot (or other person you've recently learned about)
Have students write what they have learned about John Cabot
Record students reading their writing about John Cabot.
*same activity with Henry Hudson, Christopher Columbus, etc.

4
1. Students can draw a picture of Paul Revere (or other person you've recently learned about)
Have students write what they have learned about Paul Revere.
Record students reading their writing about Paul Revere.
*same activity with John Adams, Patrick Henry, Benedict Arnold, etc.

5
1. Student scan draw a picture of Thomas Edison (or other person you've recently learned about)
Have students write what they have learned about Thomas Edison.
Record students reading their writing about Thomas Edison.
*same activity with George Washington Carver, Alexander Graham Bell, Langston Hughes, Babe Ruth, etc.

Examples:




Example 1

Example 2



Example 3

Storybird
This website allows you to set up a classroom account for free. Students can then create their own books and use professional illustrations in their book. 

I use this website for students to create ideas based on the illustrations provided. Students can get as creative as their imaginations allow.

You can share their finished book by embedding the book on your webpage, sharing it in an email or even through class dojo and google classroom.

Voki

Your students will absolutely love Voki. You can publish any piece of writing that your students have completed by creating an avatar on voki and having the avatar read the writing. I often have students type their writing into a google doc and then copy and paste that into the text portion of voki for the avatar to read. My students especially enjoy the strange accents that the characters have.

Example 1

Example 2

Voki Tutorial

My First Half of the Year as a Media Specialist!

My First Half of the Year as a Media Specialist

This is my first year as the media specialist at my school after last year's media specialist retired. Something you should know, I am attending school online to gain my media degree while being the media specialist this year. 

So, my thoughts so far...

Let me just start by saying, as a classroom teacher, I was absolutely in my prime. I could not be more comfortable than when I was in front of "my" class teaching reading, science, math, social studies, having a class meeting, reading a book aloud, or laughing at a student's joke. 

As a media specialist, I am able to find that same comfort. The main difference is that "my" students do not consist of 20 students, but instead consists of all the 750 students of the school. They all know my name and smile as they come to visit once a week during their specials, and also during the week as they finish their library books and  visit to check out new books, or in the hallways. I feel that I am making such a huge impact on the entire school opposed to my one classroom. I am still able to teach and laugh with students each day.

So, to the question I hear constantly, "Do you like being a media specialist more than being a teacher?" I'd like to truthfully answer that they are both enjoyable in their own way, but I feel that I am making more of an impact on the entire school as a media specialist.

There are so many things that I enjoy about each day, but here are some that stand out.

I really enjoy Coding Club and using Code.org with students.

I enjoy going into classrooms to Co-Teach with Technology and teach teachers as well as students about technology. So far we have learned about Google Classroom, Storybird.com, Plickers, Galileo, Online Research, Google Docs, Sway, Adobe Spark, Blabberize and Popplet. 

I've enjoyed inspiring students to be creative inventors. Here are some examples of their Cardboard Challenge projects.

I've enjoyed my media courses at West Georgia. Here are some of my presentations and coursework thus far.

I learned to make a screencast. It's not perfect, but I enjoyed learning how to do it.

This screencast is a tutorial of how to use Voki.com 

I created a Digital Story about the Imagination Stations in the media center.

I wrote reviews for online reference sites.
This was an extremely time consuming task, but also extremely informative.
You can see this on my weebly site created for my college course. It's a student account, so I'm not sure how long the link will work now that the course is complete.
http://caseycrumbley.weebly.com/

I also gave my school website a makeover using smore flyers.
School Website

I also use smore for monthly newsletters to the faculty and as a tutorial for how to use new technology.

I learned to use Canva for creating clip art and flyers. I created one about FERPA.
FERPA Flyer

All in all, I've learned and enjoyed so much thus far. I look forward to continuing to soak up everything as a media specialist.