Week One: iPads in the JH

Its been a great week at Howard-Winneshiek CSD with our 1:1 iPads in the Junior High. The students are actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons.

Students are learning on the go all the time with these devices in their hand. Just take a look around the community and where are the Junior High students hanging out? I have noticed groups hanging out at the local library, arriving before school or even staying after school later to all use the WI-FI access. But the BIG question to ask our selves is what will we do to help rural students in our district who live on a farm to receive WI-FI access?

The teachers are also learning how to support students in performing authentic tasks. They have been working collaboratively with one another as a team to learn new steps, processes, and Apps for the classroom. This has been a learning curve but they all have been eager to learn new technology and utilize it on a daily basis. When meeting with the staff they were overcoming how students should submit an assignment from their iPad. That evening I received a video that a teacher created from the Show Me App explaining to the students how to submit their homework. It's these types of challenges the staff is coming together to find solutions and how to solve the problem. As Superintendent Carver wrote the staff "there will be Opportunities and Challenges and I am confident we are ready for  what's next"!  

6th-8th Grade Receive iPads

iPad Launch Night

Last week was an exciting one for students at Howard-Winneshiek Middle School. While the first week of school might be dreaded by some, the anxiety was counteracted by the presentation of iPads to the students. Grades 6th-8th were presented with their iPads on Wednesday, August 22, 2012. To help assist with handing out the iPads we reached out to our local businesses within the community. So a big "THANK YOU" goes out to them because without their support the process wouldn't have moved as smooth as it did. Now comes the implementation phase and most classrooms have started using them on a regular basis. Many classes will be using the new technology for research on the internet. The uses in the classroom will be ever evolving through school year which has the staff just as excited as the students about the addition of iPads to the middle school. In launch of our iPads we have also added a new tab to our District Technology page check out: 1 to 1 Learning.

 1st Day of School

Starting with the End in Mind

Over a span of two days and over a 148 educators who traveled as far as Michigan came together to learn about Project-Based Learning (PBL). This workshop was held in Muscatine, Iowa who has implemented in their school district the Global Generation or rather known as (G2) which stands for ignite, empower, inspire, and connect.

The Project-Based Learning approach is an instructional method built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These strategies are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world. There classes are designed with an emphasis of assisting a group of diverse students to become college and career ready as they graduate high school.  The design principles which encompass this program include personalization, adult world connection, college/career ready, and teacher as designer.

When developing a Project-Based Learning lesson you are Starting with the end in mind. So here's what Project-Based Learning isn't?  Jeff Robins a High Tech High Art teacher outlines the misunderstandings of Project-Based Learning.

During the workshop we learned that the 6A's for Project Development are essential when developing a Project-Based Learning project with the end in mind. The 6A's include authenticity, academic rigor, applied learning, active exploration, adult relationships, and assessment. This resource was taken from Real Learning, Real Work by Aria Steinberg (Boston, Massachusetts: Jobs for the Future, 1997).  

Another district similar to the G2 model is Praire High School or known as Prairie2. They are implementing a similar Project-Based Learning model as Muscatine within their district. This will be their second year within the model and have been very pleased with the results and of their students.

High Tech High located in San Diego, CA: Began in 2000 as a single charter high school launched by a coalition of San Diego business leaders and educators. It has since than evolved into an integrated network of schools spanning grades K-12, housing a comprehensive teacher certification program and a new, innovative Graduate School of Education. A presenter Chris Wakefield shared some of the projects he has done with his 9th grade physics class. Take a look at Chris's portfolio and explore what you can do in your classroom. Another presenter from High Tech High was Diana Sanchez who is an English/Literature Teacher in San Diego. Take a look at Diana's portfolio and explore what you can do in your English classroom for ideas.

Over the past few days I was able to work with a group of educators to create a project-based learning design,  structure the design for success, and project tuning. The project-based learning allows for collaboration and team-building among staff members for critiques within the project tuning process. When listening to the staff members the resounding message was when coming up with a project-based design, to steer towards your passion and love of teaching and this will enlighten your students to the subject matter.   

Another district  who has embraced the Project-Based Learning Approach was Manor New Technology High School, in Manor Texas. Take a look at what changes they have implemented into their school district.










Here are some online resources which have an enormous amount of resources for you to utilize within your classroom for Project-Based Learning.

Project-Based Learning: Explained

Project-Based Learning: The Online Resource for PBL

Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century Learner

Cybrary Man's Educational Web Site: Project-Based Learning

A great book to take a look is: An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students by Ron Berger.

It's the 21st Century we must prepare our students for their future, not our past. 

TIC Conference Highlight Reels!

On June 12-13, 2012 was the 2nd Annual Technology Integration Conference (TIC) held at the Upper Iowa University Campus coordinated by our local AEA.  There were approximately over 400 people in attendance this year which, doubled from last year.

#KeystoneTIC Backchannel Archive

Photos from the Keystone AEA TIC Conference

Here are a few Highlights of the Conference:

On Tuesday our opening keynote speaker Tammy Worcester has been an educator for twenty-five years, both in and out of the classroom. She has developed numerous software applications for teachers and is the author of several best-selling technology resource books. Tammy presented 3 sessions on Tuesday which entailed Creating and Collecting Digital Work, Google Activities for Students and Tammy's favorite tech tips, tricks and tools.

Here are some of websites she shared with us take some time to explore of the summer:

• Drawzit: Is a web-based drawing application were you can create your drawings and share them with the world by sending them in email or publishing them in blogs.
• JamStudio: Free online music mixing and songwriting tool.
• Zooburst: Is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone create his or her own 3D pop-up book.

On Wednesday our opening keynote speaker Dan Meyer taught high school math for six years. He is currently a doctoral candidate at Standford University in the field of math. Dan's message was about perplexity and how to capture evidence of this and utilize it within our teaching. Check out some of his perplexity links.

Followed by our keynote speakers I went to several different sessions and talked with some colleagues who visited other sessions at the conference. 

Twitter Highlights presented by Karla who walked some of our staff members through setting up a twitter account, helping them find people to follow, and learn how to navigate twitter. If your not connected just remember that twitter provides you with endless educational opportunities. 

iPad Shout Apps presented by Deb were a hit too: They were fast paced with a huge list of apps for all grade levels with tips and ides for using them with students in the classroom. Most of them that were shown were free and some were paid. All of here sessions were standing room only.

Check out the links for Apps:

• iPad Shout Out PreK-5th
• iPad Shout Out 6-12

Another topic Deb presented on was Cyberbullying and Digital Citizenship. Her session focused on 21st century issues of cyberbullying and the role of digital citizenship in education. It lead for great discussion among educators that day. Check out the wonderful resource and see what questions might come to mind about cyberbullying. 

Google Docs for beginners presented by Julie. This was a great refresher for some people to review the basics of Google docs, spreadsheets, and more.  

Check out the handouts:

• Google Docs
• Google Docs Training Agenda

The last question on your mind; yes Helen and I performed at this conference too.  After visiting several sessions we were thinking we would do good if there were about 20 participants, wow were we wrong. The room was packed we had people sitting on the floor and out the door.  Our session was Smartboard in the Classroom for PreK-12. Here are a couple resources if you would like to update some of your notebook files over the summer.

Smartboard in the Classroom PreK-12

• Smart Exchange (You must join to download but its free)
• TEQ Education Resource Center

What type of new technology or Web 2.0 tool resource have you been exploring to implement in your classroom for 2012-2013?