January 19, 2017

TIS & That

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 12

Making Blended Instruction Easy with EDpuzzle

By Laura Kahre

Blended learning, flipped classroom, technology integration all these are buzz words in education today. As a classroom teacher I struggled with flipped instruction. How would I know that the student had viewed the assigned video? How could I know that my students grasped the most important points before we move on to more complex activities in class?

EDpuzzle (edpuzzle.com) answers a lot of these questions for teachers. With a free account, teachers can harness the power of YouTube, Khan Academy, TED, National Geographic, and other outstanding video sites in delivering quality instruction with annotation and assessment added to custom-tailor and verify virtual instruction.

Once a video has been chosen, EDpuzzle guides teachers step-by-step through the process of editing, supplementing, and customizing the material for their class.

Crop allows teacher s to adjust the beginning and end of the video clip to be assigned.

Audio Track allows teacher s to r ecor d their own personalized audio track to play over the chosen video. Audio tracks do have to be as long as the video in order to be saved.

Audio Note allows teacher s to r ecor d a comment, introduction, etc. that will play at a given point with the main video paused until the comment is over.

Quizzes allow teacher s to add for mative and check for understanding questions at any point in the video. Questions can be multiple choice or open-ended. When students arrive at a quiz question they will not be able to move forward until answering the question, but they will be able to review the last segment of video as many times as needed.

One of the best parts of EDpuzzle is the complete set of data available to teachers after students view an assignment. EDpuzzle collects all student answers to questions, grades multiple choice responses, and informs teachers both how long students spent on the video and how many times they watched each segment.

EDpuzzle takes the guesswork out of blended instruction. Teachers can verify that a video has been viewed and that students have an understanding of the content. For those who are gifted orators and really enjoy lecturing, videos can be imported from a user’s computer to EDpuzzle and made more interactive for remote viewing. EDpuzzle is a tremendous tool for modern and technologically-empowered educators, available completely free.

OSMO Coding

By Laura Goforth Problem solving skills are such an important skill that we need our students to develop as they learn and grow.

OSMO Coding is an amazing and fun way for students to build those important skills. Skills also include sequencing, programming functions, looping and conditionals, and parameters. Students will develop spatial reasoning skills and collaboration while working in pairs and/or groups. They are able to manipulate their character’s movement using OSMO Coding tangible tools.

Currently there are 16 levels. OSMO programming team are working on adding 12 more levels. Each level gets more challenging. Let’s Get Coding!!

By Lara Williams Alaska’s annual Dogsled race and the many websites associated with it can be used to teach Math, Reading, Science and English.

It can also teach lessons about cooperation, survival, endurance and fairness during competition.

The Dogsled Relay that Inspired the Iditarod

The Iditarod: The Last Great Race

By Lara Williams

Education World Article Iditarod Resources K-5 NEA Scholastic Resources

GPS Tracker

Lessons with Standards from Beyond Penguin History of the Iditarod Teacher on the Trail Official Iditarod Site

The Great Race

Laura Kahre’s Favorite Apps Puppet Pals- Use puppet characters and voiceover to do digital storytelling. Lots of free puppets, but expansion packs are $0.99 or a director’s pass for $4.99 gives you the ability to upload pictures to make your own puppets.

Duolingo- Free app for foreign language learning that practices using reading, writing, speaking and listening. Available in tons of languages. Duolingo for schools allows teachers to set up Duolingo lessons for their students to complete on topics as addressed in class.

Make Dice Lite- Make custom dice with any directions or information you’d like to get your students being creative, moving, etc. I use this app to practice verb conjugation and sentence creation.

Play2Learn Multi-lingual Clock- Learn to tell time in 10 different languages with this analog or digital clock. App contains a teaching mode and a game mode.

Quizlet- App version of quizlet.com this site hosts flashcards and allows users to access other people’s flashcards as well as make their own flashcard sets and engage in interactive study.

Heads Up- App is fr ee to use basic decks, but a $0.99 upgrade allows users to make their own decks.

Suddenly reviewing vocabulary terms, historical people, science concepts, etc becomes a fun, interactive class game. There is no limit to the number of cards you can put in your customized deck.

Math Rockx

By Laura Goforth

Teaching multiplication facts can be difficult.

Learning them can be even harder. Many students begin learning multiplication and become frustrated and discouraged. Math Rockx can be the answer! This APP takes multiplication facts and puts them to songs that most students know. Song tunes like "Great Balls of Fire", " "Happy", and "Born This Way" are just a few of the catchy tunes that students know that will help them memorize the multiplication facts. The students will learn the facts to the words along with then music. Then they are able to practice their multiplication facts to just the music. Students can take a quiz on the app with different levels. The beginner level has no time limit, then there is medium with 8 seconds, hard with 4 seconds, and expert with 2 seconds. There is a cost of $0.99 per times table or $9.99 for time tables 2 through 12.

Teachers, this is an APP that your students will LOVE!! Students are able to battle each other using the same device. This APP is for grades Kindergarten through fifth grade. The math skills include addition and subtraction (basic and advance), multiplication, division, fractions, factors, primes, and geometry. The students do not need to be on the same level. You are able to change the skills based on what the individual student needs to practice on. In order to do that, you will only have to pay $2.99 to unlock all features.

Apps for Mental Health

By Lucia Perrotti Roughly three years ago I began my journey in alternative education, passionate about helping children who were in great need. Shortly thereafter I embarked simultaneously on another path in technology integration. I was nervous and unsure of this second path. What exactly did technology integration mean? Some educators hear the words “technology integration” and immediately think of computer labs and Microsoft Word or Power Point.

However, true integration of technology into the classroom is much more than just these tools. When technology is effectively integrated into the classroom it has the capability to enhance instruction by challenging students to think at higher and more complex levels than they previously had before. It provides unlimited opportunities for creation and innovation. Moreover, it allows for collaboration and sharing of knowledge among peers and professionals in the community, as well as, across the world! Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But what about those students where academics are the last thing on their mind because their basic needs are not being met. How do we effectively integrate technology for those students?

As an alternative educator, I work with students who have experienced trauma. However, traumatized children are not only found in alternative education, they can be found in every classroom, in every school, across the state, across the nation, across the world. It is estimated that one-half to two-thirds of children experience trauma.

Trauma is a response to a negative event or series of events that surpasses a child’s coping skills and can come in many different forms. Schools play a vital role in providing these children a safe place to cope and to grow.

Technology can be a highly useful tool to connect them with supportive resources, as well as, developing behavioral interventions and curricula to meet their educational needs.

Over the last couple years I have the opportunity to learn about a plethora of applications and websites that can be used to provide school staff, students, and families with resources and valuable information to help meet the educational and emotional needs of children. While attending the 2015 West Virginia State Technology Conference I heard of a wonderful site called Thisissand. It is a simple site that can used to reduce stress or just help the brain take a break. This year I was introduce to another fantastic resource, Remind. Remind is an application that allows you to stay in contact with your students via text message, only without having to give out your private number.

This is a great tool to help foster communication and positive relationships between school staff, students, and parents.

Apps such as Thisissand and Remind, along with the others listed, are wonderful resources to help to meet the emotional and educational needs of traumatized students. In addition, these applications can also be used in any classroom as part of a behavior and/or classroom management plan to help build a positive classroom and school atmosphere!

1Maura McInerney Esq. Senior Staff Attorney and Amy McKlindon, M. (2014, December). Unlocking the Door to Learning: Trauma Informed Classrooms and Transformational Schools. Retrieved from Education Law Center: http://www.elc-pa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Trauma-Informed-in-SchoolsClassrooms-FINAL-December2014-2.pdf

Lucia Perrotti’s Favorite Apps & Resources www.thisissand.com Relax Melodies Remind

Breathe2Relax

Smiling Mind

Mindshift

SAMSHA Know Bullying

iChill

The Check-In App

Talkspace

Happify

SAMSHA Suicide Safe

Virtual Hope Box

I Am A Witness Keyboard

Laura Goforth is a Special Education teacher at Kimball Elementary in McDowell County. She is in her 4th year of teaching and loves every minute of it. Laura joined the SPED TIS Cohort to learn new ways to bring technology into her classroom, as well as her school.

In her limited spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with her family and working puzzles.

Laura Kahre is a foreign language teacher at Musselman High School in Berkeley County with nine years of classroom experience.

She joined the TIS Cohort to increase her ability to use technology in her classroom as well as help others in her building find good technology resources. Outside of school, Laura enjoys knitting, crocheting, and traveling internationally.

Lucia Perrotti is a general education teacher at Focus Mon Learning Center in Morgantown, West Virginia, and specializes in secondary Social Studies. In addition, she serves as the TIS for alternative education in Monongalia County. She is in her 2nd year of teaching and is eagerly looking forward to continuing her journey in education. By joining the 2017 TIS Cohort, Lucia hopes to bring fun and innovative new ways to integrate technology into the alternative world of education to help meet the educational, mental, and physical needs of all children. In her personal time, Lucia loves spending time with her 2 year old daughter Amiya, cooking new recipes, and taking the family dog to the dog park.

Lara Williams is a School Counselor/Lead Teacher at the Ronald C. Mulholland Juvenile Center in Wheeling, WV. She is in her 11 th year working for the West Virginia Department of Education Office of Diversion and Transition Programs (formally known as OIEP).

As part of the 2017 TIS Cohort she shares what she learns about technology integration with the teachers and students at RMJC. In addition to working at RMJC, she is an adjunct professor for Wheeling Jesuit University. In her spare time she enjoys Wheeling Nailers Hockey, running 5K races for charity, deer hunting and spending time with 3 beautiful granddaughters. She lives with her husband and several pets on 65 acres in rural Jefferson Co.