Technology Recap from GaETC!

GaETC was different this school year...as everything has been different this school year. It was a Virtual Conference and took place Thursday Night, Friday during the day on into the night and then Saturday. My principal allowed me to attend from my office in the media center on Friday. I watched many sessions that were specifically about Media Specialists of the Year, Exemplary Media Programs and Future Ready Libraries, but I also attended wonderful sessions by some presenters that are my favorites at GaETC each year, Leslie Fisher and Tony Vincent. 
I've put notes from their sessions into a Smore Flyer, like I have done in the past for GaETC Recaps.
Check out some of my previous GaETC Recaps as well. You will be shocked at how useful and relevant the resources and information from years past remains.
2016 GaETC Recap2017 GaETC Recap2018 and 2019 GaETC Recap

Integrate Science and Writing

Are you running out of time for teaching science each day with the main focus being math and language arts while science and social studies get the short stick?Well, I just may have a solution for you.

I have revamped a product that I made and used in the classroom many years ago. 
Now this resource is a PDF as well as a Google Slide.Use it in-person with students in your classroom or use it during a google meet or zoom by sharing your screen and having a discussion about the animal similarities and differences. The absolute best part of this lesson is the discussion. Kids are so funny and when you start getting them talking about animals and their prior knowledge about each animal I promise someone will say something that shocks you and is funny. Those laughable moments turn into teachable moments where you are also making connections with your students and building relationships. 

Response sheets are included that can be printed or shared in google classroom. This is where the integration of writing comes in. You can print the response sheet for in-person students to draw the animals they are comparing and write a response. 
If you are teaching remote or if you enjoy using technology instead of paper copies, you can share the slides and students can add text boxes. 

Did you know that students can actually draw on assignments in google slides?The image below shows how to get to the scribble option where they can freely draw on the assignment. This would of course be something you need to teach and I'm sure they will become pros over time. 

I've been teaching students how to use google drawing during our media center lessons and they have really been enjoying it. If you know how to use google drawing, it works exactly the same in google slides. 
If you like this product also check out Digital Picture of the Day to focus on generating ideas and making inferences. 

I've actually update all of my Picture of the Day Products in TPT. Here are some other examples:

Virtual Open House Video and Bitmoji for the Classroom

I jumped on the Bitmoji craze and created my version of a virtual library to share with students. We are now starting remote on Aug. 17th and as the media specialist, I wanted to give students quick access to many ebooks and websites. 

If you need more direction on how to create a bitmoji classroom, you should just search youtube for a tutorial. So many tutorials are out there!

I also put a link to the public library for my area so they could connect with them and gain access to the public library resources as well.

One BIG TIP I have for if you would like to make a Bitmoji Classroom, would be to not limit yourself to only the images you can find when doing a web search that have a transparent background. ANY image you find can have a transparent background if you upload the image to the website remove.bg and then download the new image. I used this to get the perfect purple library cart that matches the library carts that I use in my own library. 

I also used in on the bitmoji images to remove backgrounds when I created the google slide above that shows each special teacher's bitmoji. We are going to have classes go to this slide and then click on the bitmoji to join their google meet special for the day. A fellow media specialist shared the background with me that had the windows, but I added the purple and yellow flower window boxes to match our school colors. I've also heard of school using this concept with doors instead of windows. 

One other tip would be that if you do not want to use a bitmoji, but would rather the virtual classroom show an actual picture of you, you can use the website remove.bg to remove the background around an image of yourself. To take it one step further, my husband teaches 7th grade science and he took a video of himself waving and then uploading the video to www.unscreen.com and it automatically removed the background of the video and put the video on loop. He then put this video onto his virtual classroom.

I used this same concept on my Virtual Open House video.

I used google slides to create the presentation and then added gifs of myself. I created the gifs by taking a short video of myself waving or holding cats and then uploaded the video to unscreen.com to remove the background. I then downloaded the new image from unscreen.com and was able to drop the images into the google slide. After I complete the google slide presentation I used www.loom.com to record myself talking while presenting the google slide in presentation mode. This turned my presentation into a video with audio and students/parents will not have to click for the slide to advance. Loom is free for educators it is similar to screencastify and other screen recording options. One thing I really liked about it is there is a spot to add a "Call to Action" link within the video. So, I was about to add a button where people could click that and go to a link that I mentioned while watching. 

GaETC notes from the past 2 years!

I created and shared smore flyers with notes from GaETC from 2018 and 2019. I've included the flyers below for you enjoyment. This is the perfect time to refresh yourself on technology resources. 

The 2018 smore flyer highlights:

- lots of wonderful people to follow on twitter

- music websites

- photos/clip art/icons that are public domain (copyright free)

- helpful hints for google slides, google drawing, and google slides

- graphic organizers for google drawing

- a coding game

- background noise cancellation

- geography websites

- history and augmented reality

- fun art websites

The 2019 smore flyer highlights:

- lots of graphic design stuff

- bookstagramming

- lots of info about google

- learning activities in google drawing

- youtube tips

- stop motion animation GIF

- sketchnoting

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.

Five For Friday- January 22nd

My favorite link up of the week with DoodleBugs Five For Friday 

Evidence Based Writing and Document Based Questions

We've been learning about and trying to implement both of these writing tactics. 

I now have a Text-Based Evidence Anchor Chart hanging behind my Guided Reading table where I meet with small groups. After reading a story on their reading level, I have students write a response in their Reading Logs. I am having students use the language from the chart to answer the questions. They can use the guided reading books to cite their evidence. 

For example, we read a book about insects and how they look close up with a magnifying glass. I then asked students to write about how insects look close up, but use evidence from the text to support their answer. So far, this is working well with them having the leveled books at hand to use as support.

Let me know if you have other ways to incorporate Text-Based Evidence.

We are also learning about using Document Based Questions.

This was the first time I've seen Blendspace.

Blendspace is a free web tool for teachers to collect resources in one place to form a bundled, interactive lesson for students and colleagues. 

Here is a link to the presentation we saw about DBQ's 

We now want to start using primary sources and documents for students to read and inform their responses to questions. As a first grade teacher, I think it would be great to use these while learning about the famous historical figures in our Social Studies Standards: Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Harriet Tubman, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Washington Carver. 

Have you used blendspace or DBQ's in your class? If you have some great ideas, please share! 

Peer Observations

We recently had training about DOK in our classrooms. This week we were able to visit other classrooms and record DOK that we noticed in those classrooms. I really enjoy conducting Peer Observations and learning from others, as well as having others come in my own classroom and walk away with something they can use. I had about 12 people come observe me throughout the week. 

One thing I would suggest for next time would be to leave a post-it note in the classrooms you visit with one nice thing to say or compliment. One teacher left a post-it note on my door before leaving and I didn't even notice it until later in the day, but it made me smile. I wish I had thought to do the same with the teachers I visited.

Techie Idea- Desmos Polygraph

Our Math Coach shared this great site for students to use with a partner this week. It is a lot like digital "Guess Who" but with math of course.

Two students play on different computers. One student selects an answer while the other students types yes/no questions to try and figure out which picture/number/shape (depending on what you are learning about) is correct. 

This was on Desmos.com, but you have to then search polygraph to find the games. I am sure this site has other great things to offer, but have not had the time to look through it all yet.

100th Day of School

Before running out the door Friday, because of the snow coming. You know how it is in Georgia....

I had to hang this 100 Day of School banner for kids to see when they walk in Monday. :)

Snow in Georgia

Thanks for listening to my randomness for the week!