Challenge #3 Show Me the Learning!

For most of us, we are already in week three of the new school year. The first two challenges were designed to go along with common beginning of school activities. So now it is time to focus on integrating technology to enhance student learning. I am really excited about Edtech Challenge #3, Show Me the Learning! For this challenge, your task is to have your students work in collaborative groups to demonstrate understanding of a learned concept using a whiteboard app or web tool. There are many free apps and screen-casting tools available. Show Me, the app that inspired the title of this blog post, is just one of many ipad apps/web tools that allows students (and teachers) to articulate their thinking using voice, drawings, and images. Teachers use these tools to make tutorials and flipped lessons for students, and students can use these tools, too! Screencasting and whiteboard apps are also a great way for teachers to formatively assess student learning.

How does this fit in to your curriculum? Allowing students to express their ideas through media and work in collaborative groups to build understanding and solve problems are key points in the Common Core Standards. Here are some examples for how students can utilize this technology in different subject areas:

• Math: Demonstrate how to solve a specific type of problem and compare methods with other students. 
• Reading: Import a document or image as the background and annotate to explain a piece of non-fiction text. 
• Science: Draw diagrams and use pictures to explain a specific concept. 
• Social Studies: Illustrate understanding of New World Explorers by using maps as the background images as students explain the routes taken, reason for exploration and outcome. 
• Early Learning: Display pictures, letters, colors, shapes as the background, younger students can circle each object while stating its name.  
• World Language:  Demonstrate learned Spanish words by annotating and circling objects.   

Here are some things to consider as you attempt this Edtech Challenge:

• Explore different whiteboard apps and programs and decide on one that will work for you and your class. Here are a few to explore - Show Me, Educreations, Explain Everything, Screen Chomp
• Have students work with partners or in groups to promote collaboration and communication.
• Allow students time to work together to explore the app or web tool and practice using all of the features.
• How will students share their creations? Will they post them to a class website/blog or a wiki?

As always, have fun with this challenge. I look forward to learning about your experience with this Edtech Challenge by reading your comments. Please share links!

Challenge #2: Techy Time Capsule

Photo Source: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2433739

Sticking with the same theme of icebreakers and routines for week 2, the next Edtech Challenge is to have your students create a "Time Capsule" using technology. 

Here are two ideas:

1. Younger students that cannot write or type can use voki to create a speaking avatar. They can create an avatar with similar physical features and then record a quick narrative about what they want to learn this school year. Click here to view the lesson plan that inspired this week's challenge.

2. Older students can use FutureMe.org to type a letter to their future selves and schedule the email to be sent back to them on the last day of school. 

Here are some things to consider as you attempt this Edtech Challenge:

• Create a classroom account for voki and have the students login using that account. 
• To record the student's voice for voki, you will need to connect a microphone to the computer. If a microphone is not available, you can use the text to speech option.
• Futureme.org does require an email address. If your students do not use email (from google apps for education or epals), then you will need to create a class email account or have the students enter your email address. 
• Facilitate creativity by allowing students to design an avatar that represents who they are as a means of personal expression. 

Reflections from Challenge #1

Last week, the Edtech Challenge was to document your students using video as they demonstrated classroom rules and procedures. I also took part in the challenge this week during my lessons with the   5th and 6th graders. Every year our students must sign our district's AUP (acceptable use policy). Instead of just reading through the document with the class, I split the class into collaborative groups and assigned them a specific section of the terms of agreement. Together, each group developed an understanding of their section. After a brief discussion with their group, they then had 10 minutes to  figure out a way to teach their section to the rest of the class. Some groups made a poster, wrote a song, or created a skit. Here is an example of one of the skits created by some 5th graders. They did an awesome job writing and rehearsing this skit in just 10 minutes. The students also used a flip cam to film the video. For this skit, I was asked to play the small role of "mom".

Thank you for the wonderful comments for Edtech Challenge #1. There is always still time to participate!