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Exciting NEW Course Empowering Learners: Creating Flexible Thinkers

Empowering Learners: Creating Flexible Thinkers

Learning how to learn in this fast-paced world are skills that everyone needs today. Join Meg Ormiston for this five-part professional learning series created for practicing educators navigating the future of learning to develop flexible thinkers. This is an asynchronous workshop start when you want and work at your own pace. There are five videos with three discussion questions in each and additional resource collection.

Session #1 Learning How to Learn

Learners are empowered to create their learning path to the agreed-upon standards, and they create, organize, and share digital artifacts demonstrating what they know and can do. Individuals and groups create authentic models and projects and communicate this to a broader community.

  1. Balancing Structures and Freedom at the Local Level While Collaborating Globally
  2. Flexible Thinking and Production
  3. Communicating the Learning Journey Using Media

 

Session #2 Seeking Knowledge Online and Off

Learners become knowledge seekers and computational thinkers as they explore the world around them. Validating the information they find from multiple sources is critical for current and future learners living in a global society. 

  1. Identifying Trusted Sources of Information
  2. Seeking Experts as Primary Sources of Information
  3. Teaching and Learning From the Community Near and Far

Session #3 Project Management Fundamentals

Learners at every level need to learn how to learn and manage their time successfully. Learners need to be guided and coached on how to manage complex tasks by setting manageable goals. Life-long learning is a balancing act that everyone needs to practice. 

  1. Organizing and Planning Tasks within Projects
  2. Juggling Personal Goals with Group Expectations
  3. Publishing Individual and Group Work

Session #4 Reflecting and Goal Setting

Setting goals and reflecting on progress are essential skills for everyone, but do we teach learners how to manage their progress and reorganize their path to success. Outside of schooling, acceleration and remediation happen naturally as learners discover gaps in their knowledge and need to backtrack for answers.

Learners celebrate their success by sharing artifacts and projects beyond the walls of the classroom.

  1. Creating, Tracking, and Refining Individual and Group Goals
  2. Acceleration and Remediation as Needed Based on Assessments and Feedback
  3. Communicating Successes and Challenges to Stakeholders

Session #5 Technology NOW

We can help create flexible thinkers as they ubiquitously move between technology tools and apps. Learners need experience with a wide range of technology tools to help craft a toolkit of resources they are comfortable using. Digital portfolios show what learners know and can are evidence of learning.

  1. Using Real-World Technology Tools to Manage Communication and Collaboration
  2. Technology Tools for ALL Learners
  3. Creating a Visual Representation of Growth Using Technology Tools
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Humans and Computers Learning and Writing Together

A blog post by Meg Ormiston

@megormi

Reading through my Linkedin feed yesterday I came across a post by Omowale Casselle, the Co-Founder at Digital Adventures where he talks about letting computers do what they do best so humans can do what they do best. Casselle writes on Linkedin, “Google Gmail letting me know that I haven’t responded to an email that was received from a parent or school principal 3, 4, or 5 days ago is incredible. This is where I see the future of technology heading, people using intelligent algorithms to help create and deliver more value. Let the computers do what they do best and let the humans do what they do best.” Omowale Casselle

 

I commented back with: “I agree with you, Omowale, let the computers do what they do best. Speaking of that, I upgraded to @Grammarly Premium last week; it is a game-changer for me! I need to remember to let the computers do what they do best, so I can focus on the message in my writing instead of mechanics and grammar. When I write my next book, my editors will be shocked! BTW this post has a 99 overall score thanks to Grammarly. Love it!”

 

This message came back from Omowale: “Not familiar with Grammarly. But, I will take a look as I do lots of writing on a weekly basis. So, if there’s something that reduces the mental load while enabling me to focus on the message; that sounds great!”

 

As entrepreneurs in the education market, we are both focused on helping students thrive in the digital age, and this exchange had me thinking about a couple of things including writing for an authentic audience and letting computers do what they do best so humans can do what they do best. 

Omowale is great on Linkedin posting almost every day, and I always take a few minutes to read what he has to say. I have been following Casselle’s work with Digital Adventures through Linkedin for over a year and in a chance meeting last Sunday I met Omowale for the first time. Once I connected the dots, I quickly could recall many of the ideas he shared in his posts and his progress to grow Digital Adventures. His children were with him, and they thought it was funny someone would recognize him for his online writing on Twitter and Linkedin. I knew him because he writes for an authentic audience almost every day, and people like me are reading and giving him feedback in the form of comments. We are learning together using technology. 

 

As you look at our public exchange we are learning together as Omawale shared his Gmail tip, I shared my new Grammarly Premium discovery. Collaborating is what humans do best, they learn together, and the technology we highlighted are just tools to connect with an authentic audience and help us be more productive. After our face to face meeting, we could have jumped over to email and kept our conversation between the two of us. Instead, we are transparent learners sharing strategies that work for us, and I believe this is precisely the digital world we need to prepare our students for.

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We Won a Learning Magazine Teachers’ Choice Award for Professional Development!

What an honor to celebrate winning the Teachers’ Choice Award for Professional Development with my four co-authors on the 3-5 NOW Classrooms book. This is one of the books in the five-part series and how fun to say we are now “award-winning authors”. Time to celebrate with Sheri DeCarlo, Sonya Raymond, Grace Kowalski (Worrell), and Justin Gonzalez. I’m so proud to be part of this team! Meg Ormiston

Award Information 

Learning® Magazine 2019 Teachers’ Choice Award for Professional Development

Product: NOW Classrooms, Grades 3–5: Lessons for Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Technology – TCA Professional Development

Comments from reviewers:

What aspects of this product did you like the most?

I love the glossary that lists all of the different websites in the book. It is a great way to scan for something I previously read in the book. I also like that each section shows classroom connections (e.g. Language arts, math, etc.).

I liked this book a lot. I was able to learn from it, and I really enjoyed reading it. The authors wrote in a way to get me to really understand what they were talking about. I have wanted to up my technology game in my classroom and this book will help me do so. There are a ton of resources to use listed throughout the book and also on the website given. I love how that is organized by chapter and all you have to do is click on the link, and it takes you right there.

This book is amazing! It is filled with practical lessons and ideas for incorporating technology. The lessons are so well thought out, provide differentiation, and give teachers all the resources needed. I learned about so many new sites and programs. I can’t wait to use these lessons with my students. Our technology presentations will be so much better this year. This book is easy to read, full of ideas and has everything you need. Love the appendix also.

How would this product need to improve to better support your curriculum?

I do not see any area that needs improvement at this time.

Since technology has been such a huge push over the past few years, I feel that this fits into our curriculum perfectly. Our district is slow moving, but recently we have been able to have more access to computers for our students which has lead to the opportunity to do more with technology in our classes.

This is an awesome book!

What did you learn from this product?

I learned about several new websites/apps and some interesting ways to use them in the classrooms. I also like the suggestion to check app stores for the newest apps for a particular purpose. In this case, it was recommended for coding, which will continue to update frequently.

What haven’t I learned I feel like is a more appropriate question. I learned a lot about being a digital citizen which is normally covered by our library media specialist. I also found a lot of sites and resources I can use that are great for my students. I plan on teaming my fifth-grade class up with a third-grade class to complete different activities throughout the year. I have some new ideas on how to do this through technology thanks to this book too.

I learned about so many new programs and lessons. The lessons all give ideas for all subject areas and lessons are laid out in an easy to follow format. I am excited to do these lessons with my students and help them learn more about technology.

How will you apply information from the product in your classroom?

I have already used some of the websites and ideas in Now! Classrooms and I have collaborated with colleagues using some of the ideas in the book.

I plan on trying to create a technology time at least once a cycle (we have a 6 day cycle in our district). This will be time for me to teach using technology and give students the opportunity to use it as well in a variety of ways. I have dabbled here and there in the past, but I think if I put the time in the schedule, we’ll be able to accomplish so much more.

I look forward to using the lessons provided to teach my students about digital citizenship, good resources, how to use the technology properly, and improving all our technology projects.

Would you recommend this product to a teacher at the appropriate grade / age level? 

I would recommend this book to teachers, especially those that are looking to use more tech ideas or improve their use of tech in the classroom. I also like that it is a series, and I can (and have) recommend it teachers at every grade level.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. it is a great book with a lot of information in it. I am not the most tech savvy person, but this book made me feel as if I can accomplish a lot using technology in my classroom.

Definitely. I cannot say enough good things about the book. It is ready to pick up and use. Anyone wanting to help their students learn about the proper way to use technology should definitely pick up this book. I will be recommending it to many others.

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My Journey on How to Properly Share Content with a Global Audience

“When we see teachers and students learn how to properly share content, and how their global audience takes note, it is amazing how students’ interest and  motivation soars.”

Now Classrooms K-2 book

What I am thankful for…

As a mom, I am thankful that my children’s teachers use Twitter to share what happens in the classroom.

As an educator, I am thankful that teachers worldwide share their ideas on Twitter.

As a classroom teacher, I am thankful that I found a way for my students to share, in their own words, both to their teacher, parent and other students all at the same time through the free app, Seesaw Learning Journal.

My journey on how to “properly share content”-

It all started with Twitter.  When our district started first using Twitter years ago, it was something that some teachers gravitated to and others stayed far away from.  For me, I logged on and was simply an observer for a while. I sat and watched what others were doing in their classroom and how they were sharing information.   Then one day, I got brave. After checking my “Do not photo list” I decided it was time to post about my classroom

Here are my first two posts from 2013:

What I realized quickly, was that people were watching.  My district was watching, my bosses were watching, other teachers were watching and parents were watching.  Twitter was the first avenue I used to help parents and others understand what happened in the kindergarten classroom.  It was a way for parents to engage in a rich conversation with their children about something that happened during their day.

I found a way to share my experiences with a local and global audience, but I needed something that the students could do with more independence.

In 2015, I was introduced to Seesaw.  Again, I went to a class about it and then…I waited.  I am not sure what got me to try it for the first time, but I am beyond happy that I did.  What I realized quickly, was that when I used Seesaw, “students interest soared” and SO did their learning.

Here is an example from one of my first years using Seesaw.  This is a non-English speaking student. It shows how he was able to collaborate in a meaningful way with his peers to better understand a challenging science concept.  I chose this video for the blog because I think it shows how collaboration and use of technology also has a hands-on, personal side. Imagine the social-emotional learning and cooperation that happened at this center while this student was creating this video:  Collaborating, communicating, critical thinking and creativity. He as doing it all. The best part is, that as a teacher, I could evaluate his understanding of science vocabulary and concepts (at a convenient time for me) and his parents could hear what his was doing in school.

Watch the video here.

The power that we have as teachers when we find the right tools is truly amazing.  When we can share what is happening it the classroom with peers, parents, teachers and the world, the desire to learn truly deepens.  It is my hope, you will read this today and become inspired to try something free…and new… that can be life changing in your educational career!

Tell us about your experience on Twitter using #nowclassrooms and tag me @MrsHatlen

 

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Let’s Code in Kindergarten!

 When I first began incorporating technology into my Kindergarten classroom, I would have never thought coding was something we would even talk about.  When someone said the word coding to me, I automatically thought of older students coding games and apps but I soon learned that my initial thoughts about coding were far from reality!

When first introducing the idea of code to my class, I showed students videos from the Hour of Code website. (www.code.org).  They have some great videos that introduce coding to students in an age-appropriate way and they were very interesting to our students.  They wanted to learn more!

Once my students had a basic understanding of what coding was, we practice some real life coding!   We asked our students to code the teacher! This is now an activity we do every year because it helps our students to get some hands-on practice as a large group and our kids LOVE it.  The K-2 NOW classroom book has for more specifics on how to do this activity!

The next step to coding was to let our students have some time to explore some coding apps.  There are a lot of great options, but we started with two of our favorites….codables and bee-bots.  Our students worked together in pairs to try to solve the puzzle and get from one end to the other. They were hooked and they could not get enough!

Finally, we moved from the basic Novice and Operational lessons of coding to the Wow! We were ready to code a toy Mouse.  Our students worked in small groups using problem-solving skills, taking turns, listening, observing, and speaking to one another to get the job done! The 4 C’s of collaboration,  creativity, communication, and critical thinking were evident throughout the entire activity!   Our Kinders love any chance they get to practice their critical thinking skills to code and we often integrate them throughout all the subject areas!

Here is an example of some coding we did this week with Earth Day and 3D shapes!

Earth Day Shape Coding in Action!

The students were proud to share their work on @Seesaw with their parents and an authentic audience on Twitter. I hope our student products inspire other teachers and students to try coding in the classroom. Please share your examples with our authors and readers using the hashtag #NOWclassrooms


Students were again asked to code our toy mouse but first, they needed to create a pattern using the 3D shape Earth Day pictures.  The patterns they created varied in difficulty from simple AB patterns to more difficult ABC and ABB patterns. They even tried to “trick” the mouse by putting the wrong pattern throughout the open portions of the maze.  This activity was out at our centers all week and they asked for it again this week! That is a teacher win! Check out the K-2 Now Classrooms book for additional activities you can use right now to integrate coding into your curriculum because Kindergarteners can code too!

By: Kristy Hopkins Kindergarten Teacher @HopkinsKinder

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The Power of Great Teachers!

February 19, 2018

By: Beth Hatlen co-author of the k-2 NOW Classrooms: lessons for enhancing teaching and learning through technology book

Working in a 1:1 District and having my own children that attend the same district gives me the unique opportunity to celebrate when teachers have incorporated authentic and natural integration of technology in a meaningful way through education.  

Last week, our family sat down to watch the opening ceremony of the 2018 Olympics.  My children were amazed with what what they saw.  Their excitement was partly due to what they had been learning in school.  My first grader came home telling me all about bobsledding and the rules of skeleton.  I looked at him in shock as I said, “Where did you learn that?”  At school, of course was his answer.  All week he had been studying and reading online and in print all about the Olympics.  Additionally, my third grader had been doing the same thing.  Of course learning about the Olympics was great, but that wasn’t what really impressed me.  

As we sat watching the Olympics, my daughter sat on her iPad.  I asked her to put it away and watch the Olympics with us (I figured she was watching KidsTube), but I was pleasantly surprised when she told me that she was creating a presentation for her class about the Olympics.  I knew this was something she was capable of, but when she was creating a presentation as the Olympics played on in the background, I was a proud mommy and delighted at what my child had been taught by her teacher.  She also didn’t stop there.  She immediately shared the presentation with us and also emailed her teach that Friday night to ask her if she could present it to the class.  With delight, she presented that Monday as the introduction to a unit about the Olympics.

What this example showed me, was that what my daughter is learning in her classroom, is #NOWClassrooms approved.  She took interest in a topic, learned how to research, created a Powerpoint presentation, learned new information and presented it to her class.  Her sense of pride was huge and her excitement to present what she created was genuine.  

This is what we hope will happen in all classrooms across America.  The ability to create and share learning with peers.  The ability to deepen knowledge of a subject and share it with others.  When students are taught how to use technology in a meaningful way, that is what they will do, both at home and at school, and hopefully in their future as a contributing member of society.  I am so thrilled that my children have teachers that uphold all the NOWClassroom ideals.  I feel lucky!  Keep up the good work teachers!
Here is presentation my daughter created (not perfect-but kid work she was proud of!):  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LEEwgQ87B9XV9dxHm1d87fgj-TlsULtO

@MrsHatlen

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The Use or Abuse of Chromebooks in Classrooms

This fantastic blog post by Andy Losik has been bothering me all week because it made me think deeply about my work with schools, and the real work that is ahead of all of us in edtech!

This report by the company Go Guardian has me really worried about the use of Chromebooks in the classroom but I don’t think this problem is limited to Chromebooks I think IF we could look at data across all student devices I think these trends would continue.

To quote Andy “In short a huge amount of Chromebook use is being spent on educationally questionable video games, low-level assessments, and YouTube with the two highest trending websites for over 5,000,000 learners (after G Suite for Education) being CoolMath Games and Renaissance Learning, the parent company to Accelerated Reader and other assessments.”

I’m right there ranting with you Andy especially when you hit a very sore spot of mine about creativity when you said “Zero sites for creativity are listed in the study. We know fewer kids are getting to create with Keynote, iMovie, and GarageBand due to device choice, but it doesn’t look like they’re getting many chances to use any of the Chrome-based alternatives to these apps either. No Soundtrap. No Canva. No WeVideo. No Pixlr. No Emaze.

Creativity is so important and being able to convey a concept in multimedia is a skill all industries are demanding now. A local school board president was asking me about what’s next in edtech and the discussion led to content creation. He holds a high-up position with a multi-national company that creates automobile interiors and he agreed.”

Again, I agree with Andy and the school board president, we have a ton of work to do in the world of edtech. When our team of 27 co-authors was writing our #NOWclassrooms series of books I had to constantly remind them of the real current reality in schools where technology devices are being used for low-level tasks and often just to keep kids busy.

I know my co-authors did not believe me during the writing and editing process, BUT that is because I picked some of the greatest teachers to join my NOW team. These teachers are not the ones on Cool Math Games or “drilling and killing” using digital worksheets. Instead, their students are creating, building, and sharing their work beyond the walls of the classroom. Check out our #NOWclassrooms Twitter feed to see their student artifacts.

Our series of five books are based on the ISTE standards and a big focus is on the 4C’s of communicating, collaborating, creating, and critical thinking as students use the digital tools to demonstrate their learning and as I like to say “get it out the door”. One thing each of our team did is we did not focus on specific devices, we wrote the lessons for teachers regardless of the devices they have. Use the technology you have for higher level thinking, problem-solving, group work to solve real-world problems.

Andy your rants have inspired me to keep working on the shift to create, build, and share student products with whatever device you have. I know it is possible because my dynamic team wrote five books about what IS possible using technology in the classroom. Help us get the word out there!

#ThanksAndy

Meg Ormiston

Author, Teacher, Mom

@megormi

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Retelling through Code!

Using technology in a meaningful way is the key to success in the classroom.  As a former kindergarten teacher and the current reading specialist, it is so very important to use technology in an authentic way that meets the needs of students and their learning targets.

In our book, Now Classroom: K-2, we lay out how to move from basic coding with online apps and websites (such as Code.org),  to unplugged coding (without a device), and then coding with coding toys such as Bee-bots, Ozo-bots, Sphero or Puzzlets.  These toys allow  for coding through play.

Recently, our school librarian and resident technology specialist, Sandy Kampman, had the students retell a story using the  .  She had been working with the first grade students on a unit about Robert Munsch.  She had read and introduced many books by Robert Munsch.  The culminating activity was coding Bee-bots to land on parts of the story and retell it as the Bee-bots moved.

Working in small collaborative groups, different stories were given to each group to retell.  Students had to work collaboratively to determine the proper coding sequence to make the Bee-bot move appropriately.  Then the students had to also retell the story as the Bee-bot moved.  What a powerful retelling lesson!  Mrs. Kampman seamlessly taught coding through the use of authentic text that was meaningful to the students.  

Activities such as this example create a powerful lesson for the students.   Lessons such as this help them to internalize both literacy and technology.  I hope you will take some time to try this lesson with your students!  Please share anything you do with us at #nowclassrooms on Twitter so we can see how you are integrating technology with learning in your classroom.

Beth Hatlen

Author Now Classrooms K-2

Reading Specialist

@MrsHatlen

 

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Technology’s Place in Early Childhood

Parents everywhere debate this topic. Teachers debate it. Policy makers and pediatricians debate it.  The American Academy of Pediatrics current recommendation focuses on quality of screen time and discussions that families and teachers have around digital media. According to the APP, “For children ages 6 and older, place consistent limits on the time spent using media, and the types of media, and make sure media does not take the place of adequate sleep, physical activity and other behaviors essential to health.” They also suggest creating a digital media plan for your family (and classroom).

So what does this mean for early childhood educators and parents of young children?  We have amazing tech tools and vast information at our fingertips.  Pair these with high interest activities and engaging conversations and we have some EXCELLENT instruction!

In EC and the primary grades, students have so many questions about the world around them. Inquiry-based learning, driven by student’s questions and wonderings, can help students develop a working relationship with technology as a tool.  In the NOW Classrooms K-2 book, the first lessons help teach your students how to successfully navigate a device, and then how to work with project or problem based learning AKA inquiry learning. With your guidance, we can help students become technology literate, then fluent, and finally innovative all from their inquiries.

Our job then is to be digital media mentors. Digital media – digital books, articles, tweets, comments, pictures, videos – are all consumed daily by our students both at home and at school.  If we help our students develop a healthy digital media relationship, they can truly use it as a tool for expanding their understanding of the world around them.

Does technology have a place in early childhood? Yes! As digital media mentors, NOW we can give our students the skills and strategies they need to navigate tech.

Kirstin McGinnis

NOW Classrooms K-2 Author

Literacy Coach

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Top Ten Tangible Tech Toys for 2018

Visitors to my classroom always wanted to know more about the tools and toys that the kids were learning with.  Now, in the STEAM Lab at our school, visitors still beg the question, “What IS that? Where did you get it?” The list is always changing, but here are some of my favorite tangible tech toys for 2018.

Original Hexbugs are hours – seriously HOURS – of fun! They are teeny tiny battery operated toys that move and bounce off of surfaces.  Give your students a challenge of building a path for them to get from point A to point B or fashion a chariot for them to see how much they could pull. There are also a ton of new versions that I haven’t gotten my hands on but look great! Check them out in the complete Hexbug store.

Osmo MindRacers are all the rage right now. Who doesn’t want to race cars down a ramp? Think those card racing arcade games now on your device with some Matchbox cars. Osmo has done a really nice job of adding products from their original Words, Numbers, and Tangrams.  There are now coding games and an iPhone base in the Osmo store.

Osmo Coding Jam and Coding Awbie are tangible coding blocks that link to the free corresponding Osmo apps and help students explore computational thinking.  It’s a fun challenge to get the right sequence of code to make the game functional.  

BeeBot An oldie, but goodie, BeeBot now has a BlueBot that is Bluetooth enabled. Early coders program the BeeBot arrows to get the robot to move.  Create a map of your classroom or city and code the BeeBot to take a tour!

Puzzlets takes a puzzle board and pieces with simple code and brings an app to life.  Students can sit together around one tablet or iPad and discuss how to get the characters around the app.  I love this one for centers.  Guide students to slow down and listen to each others ideas and ways to problem solve.

Cubetto A Montessori approved, tangible coding toy, Cubetto offers young learners the opportunity to explore coding and computational thinking. It is rather pricey, but worth the investment if you have a strong need in EC.

Robot Engineer combines reading and building a robot. Some students want to dive right in an build, others like to gain the background knowledge through the story before they do so.  There is no wrong way!

Jumbo Gears brings a Lego-esque experience to working with gears.  Students can build varying levels of gear systems on an interlocking board.  A great center activity and powerful inquiry learning experience.

Circuit Maze is a logic puzzle and another I haven’t been able to play with yet but I am pretty excited about it. A little more primary friendly than Snap Circuits (another good product) and teaches circuitry that can be expanded on in sequential lessons.

Sphero keeps adding on to its fleet of robots with increasingly easier to use models.  With the new mini Sphero, you can test out its robotics with your class without making a huge investment.  At our tech night this was one of the most popular stations!

Adult supervision required! Well, not really, but should be a consideration for all of these games.  Why? Because the conversation about tech tools helps students gain purpose and deeper understanding of the tools they use.  As with any tech tool, have a conversation with your students as they play and learn helps to deepen everyone’s understanding!

Some of these tools have been used in the NOW Classrooms K-2 book – check it out!

Kirstin McGinnis

NOW Classrooms K-2 Author

Literacy Coach