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TCEA Podcast #4: Problem-Solving Makerspace

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Thank you for listening to the TCEA TechNotes Podcast #4: Problem-Solving Makerspace, Part 1. In the first portion of the podcast, we’ll be listening to two makers from McKinney ISD. One of my favorite take-aways is their Awesome Wall:Makers

 

Listen to TCEA Podcast #4: Makerspace, Part 1

with Tonya Hinkebein and Susan Hefley

Makerspace TaskCard

The focus for this podcast is on becoming a maker and setting up a makerspace. I am thrilled to share with you, in this first interview, the perspectives of Tonya Hinkebein (@TonyaHinkebein) and Susan Hefley (@malvernmrs), both TCEA members in McKinney ISD, who recently shared their insights into creating makerspaces in their schools at the Tots and Technology 2016 Conference in Galveston. We will also be hearing from other TCEA members later in the Makerspaces podcast series, sharing their knowledge and experiences about makers.

Makerspace Example
Some of the questions, with minor edits, that I asked Tonya and Susan included the following:

  • How do you define “makerspace”?
  • Why did you decide to have a makerspace?
  • What does your makerspace look like?
  • How are makerspaces relevant to students?
  • How do you handle grading in a makerspace?
  • How do you fund your makerspaces?
  • What are your future plans?
  • What else would you like to share with listeners?

Some of the points that Tonya and Susan shared included how they manage their fixed and mobile makerspaces and keep track of data for their school principals.

Susan and Tonya consider problem solving a life skill that many students lack. Susan shares about how makerspaces can build language skills for English Language Learners (ELL) students.

Links

Makerspace time earned

Makerspace Example

 

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Good TeachingGoogle Tips and TricksPodcasts

TCEA Podcast #2: ePortfolios with Yvonne Clark

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Listen to Yvonne Clark, Henderson ISD

Today, we’ll hear about how one teacher, Yvonne Clark (@yclarkhhs) from Henderson ISD, is using Google Sites as a way to house ePortfolios.

Yvonne was kind enough to write a few words, as well as record a podcast about her experience:

Hi there, my name is Yvonne Clark and I am from Henderson ISD, Henderson, TX in the Tyler/Longview area; we are about 20 miles south of I-20. I am in my first year as the campus technology specialist where I assist both teachers and students with technology needs. I previously taught technology classes and that is where I began using Google Sites for student portfolios. Find me on Twitter @yclarkhhs or on my website.

Last year, I had several seniors that were talking about all of the forms they had to fill out for college: scholarship applications, college entrance applications, and summer job applications. My original thought was to have students make e-portfolios that they could send out with their applications. I wondered how I could make the process easier for students. I googled “portfolios” and found some ideas that I wanted to tweak and made my assignment.

Student Portfolio Assignment page

Grade sheet

And, in regards to using Google Sites for eportfolios, here is what Yvonne had to say:

A Google site was the best option for me to use as a portfolio platform because we are a GAFE school and it was free. We had practiced creating websites with Google Sites using the different page options in a previous assignment. I then had students follow the portfolio assignment page. I wanted to have my students update their portfolio throughout their high school career. Plus, I had my students add their personal Gmail account as an owner to the site so that their work did not disappear after graduation. Students can then provide a link to their portfolio on applications to future colleges and/or businesses.

What I Would Change:

  • Use Google Drawing to help personalize pages more.
  • Have all high schools students start as ninth graders collecting information.

These are sample sites that you should be able to access:

Conclusion

Thanks for listening to this TCEA podcast featuring Yvonne Clark (@yclarkhhs) from Henderson ISD. You can find a copy of the show notes online at www.tcea.org/blog, which is the TCEA TechNotes Blog, recently recognized by EdTech magazine as one of the top 50 blogs to read in 2016! Also, be sure not to miss any of our upcoming events this summer 2016. Some amazing learning will be happening at the TCEA Makers events, Tots and Technology Conferences taking place in Galveston and Frisco in June, as well as the Adobe Academy and Chromebook Academy.

If you’re a TCEA member, don’t be afraid to sign up for the free Lunch and Learn webinars (only three left this school year) and more online at www.tcea.org/events. Not a TCEA member yet? Join up at www.tcea.org/join

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via Your Mobile Device or Online! Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading and technology!

Show Notes

Weaving a Digital Tale About Yourself

Creating a digital story that reflects your voice is important. You can do this with these apps quite quickly.

Digitizing Content

Need to quickly scan paper documents into digital? These apps make doing so incredibly easy, either saving directly to Google Drive (Scanner Pro) or to your camera roll or OneNote.

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Web 2.0 Tool

Four Tips for Green Screen in the Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

This past week, a photo of me has been popping up in various situations, from standing next to my wife as she models dresses that she is considering wearing at our daughter’s wedding in June to beautiful vistas. “Have suit, will travel” might very well describe my experience with green screen apps.

Jen Sandland (@sandscholars) recently tweeted the image shown right, which shows us all how to empower students to easily create a “green screen” in their home and see what they can create using inexpensive apps on their mobile phone. For $1.00 for one or $48 for a case of 48, you can easily equip a classroom of young photographers to setup their own green screen at home. I first heard this idea from Dr. Bruce Ellis (@drbruceellis).

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via your mobile device or online. Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading, and technology!

Getting Started with Green Screen

Camtasia Studio: Adjust Image properties on green screen image and remove a color.

Camtasia Studio: Adjust image properties on a green screen image and remove a color.

A green background works well because it is the furthest color away from human skin tones. That makes it easier to remove the green and place a background. If you aren’t familiar with green screen creation, follow the tips below to get started:

  1. Pick your app. Whether you are on iOS or Android, it is quite easy to create the special effects green screens afford. Some apps you can use include Green Screen by DoInk ($2.99) for iOS or Green Screen Pro ($1.99) for Android. For Windows or Mac users, do NOT spend hundreds of dollars on a green screen program. Instead, get Camtasia Studio for Education ($179) (you can follow this easy tutorial to create the green screen effect) or MoviePlus for $79.
  2. Decide on the type of project. Consider allowing your students to choose. For example, you might assign them a book trailer, a holiday portrait, or thank you note to a guest speaker, a commercial for a product, news/morning broadcast, or historical report. They might even decide to do something else like a sports or music video.
  3. Keep the following technical tips in mind:
  • Avoid shadows.
  • Use tripods.
  • Place your subject 6-10 feet in front of the green background to avoid “green light spill” onto your subject.
  • Make sure no one wears clothing that is green, brown or a combination of those two colors.
  • Light the green background separately from your subject(s).
  • Create a green background using one of these (in order of preference):
    • Vinyl – an inexpensive shower curtain may work (like the one from Dollar Tree above)
    • Muslin and/or other cloth
    • Green paper (matte or glossy, although the former is preferred)
  • Take advantage of a teleprompter (like the free online CuePrompter on a computer) to help cue students.

green

Ready to get started? Consider the possibilities for your classroom:

  1. Create a green screen video in your classroom
  2. Using Green Screen in the Classroom
  3. Creative green screen ideas
  4. Creative lesson ideas for a green screen and six-year olds
  5. Green screen for schools
  6. Digital storytelling with a green screen

Image 059Consider Bradley Grant (fourth grade teacher at Salado Intermediate, East Central ISD), who offers this advice:

  1. Select an overarching theme. Focus on a theme, perhaps one that you are going to take advantage of throughout the grading period or for a particular lesson. In Mr. Grant’s classroom, he chose Star Wars. Brad says, “The classroom theme…reflects the excitement and furor over the latest installment in that franchise.”
  2. Storyboard the tale. Working collaboratively, the class creates a story together on the board. Students create a transcript that will later be converted into a “movie script.” Each student researches examples from that genre and develops a character to include in the overall story.
  3. Reward innovation. “When students show extra effort and initiative,” they are awarded “power points” that can be spent purchasing professions for their characters and equipment to be used in their stories. Students find that “purchasing a Jedi costs more power points than a pilot.”
  4. Role-play characters. “Students further the plot by volunteering their impression of their character’s response to the situation presented in the story. The student then writes the cooperative story and publishes it to the character’s website as a new adventure.”
  5. Develop costumes. Students design and develop costumes, enlisting the help of parents. You can also use stuffed animals or cardboard cut-outs as characters.

For the fourth tip, consider purchasing a green bodysuit, available online and at Party City for around $35. With the green bodysuit on in front of the green screen, the wearer won’t show up at all. This makes doing some fun special effects, like manipulating puppets or having objects move apparently without anyone holding them, easy.

Need help getting started? If you are a TCEA member, you can watch the Lunch and Learn webinar on this topic that models how to create your own images with both Android and iOS apps. If you’re not a member, you should join today for just $49.

This blog was updated with new content on June 4, 2017.

 

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ESL/ELL

Three Steps to Leverage Technology for English Language Learners (ELLs)

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“¿Como podríamos mostrar lo que hemos aprendido?” It’s a question every teacher could ask students. What are some ways that we can use technology to show what we have learned? Since technology can change the way students communicate in the classroom via rich multimedia that amplifies their voices, it introduces new patterns of discourse. Students have the opportunity to develop a “dynamic understanding that is collaboratively constructed in discussion among students” in the target language (source: Handbook of Discourse Practices). Let’s explore some ways that enable students to collaboratively construct dynamic understanding of a second language.

Leveraging Technology for ELLs

While the first impulse may be to buy content and/or apps that have technology components, my experience as a bilingual/ESL education technologist indicates that those materials are seldom available for purchase when needed. Unfortunately, “access to a rigorous curriculum continues to be a critical issue for Latino and other minority students…[researcher] cited evidence that Latino and other underrepresented students are more likely to be assigned to low curriculum tracks” (source). How can English Language Learners (ELLs) and/or dual language educators have an impact?

By leveraging technology to enhance second language learning opportunities, instructional professionals can create new patterns of discourse in their ELL classrooms with “off-the-shelf” technologies. These “off-the-shelf” technologies will seem commonplace to digital coaches, yet can offer increased interactions between students keen on technology and learning.

Key Ways to Leverage TechnologyELL

  1. Students have increasing access to digital tools, especially as they enter middle and high school. For example, most standard mobile devices are smartphones that include a built-in camera capable of capturing photos and video and multiple communication apps. Consider inventorying what technologies students personally have access to, such as smartphones, level of network/Internet access on devices, home technology, and computer access.
  2. Increase home access to technology through programs that transfer school computers unusable for education purposes, such as older desktops and laptops that can’t be upgraded to run the latest software needed for high stakes assessments, to students. Encourage your school district to follow in the footsteps of districts like Abilene ISD, Arp ISD, East Central ISD, Round Rock ISD, and Weslaco ISD, which have technology take-home programs in place.
  3. Students and teachers can use digital devices as tools for authentic communication and for accomplishing intellectually-challenging, nonremedial tasks in the context of culturally-appropriate whole activities. We have already discussed in the TCEA TechNotes blog tools like Voxer, Appear.in, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Skype to facilitate real-time collaboration. It is heartening to know that students, in flipped and blended learning settings, can take advantage of apps like Adobe Voice, Snapchat, YouTube, Kik, and Celly to connect with each other already. Even with home Internet access at less than 70% (as cited in this study at a Texas school), students at intermediate campuses and above may enjoy a higher rate of access to connected, mobile devices.
  4. Students can use technology to produce theme-centered, multimedia slideshows and electronic hypermedia books, and publish their poetry and written pieces. More on apps in a minute.
  5. ELL students can use technology to graph real-life data and explore, with audio recordings, the relationships between data and their graphical representations using programs like Google Sheets, MS Excel, LibreOffice, or the  Haiku Deck app for iOS.
  6. Students begin to learn the words for the graphics they wish to incorporate in their slideshow, as well as the processes of modifying, saving, and retrieving their work. They learn to interweave audio narration using the microphone on their digital device, with some experimenting in the target language by reading or translating their work

Three Easy Steps

Ready to get started? Let’s go!

Step 1 – Create Content

The tools for creating content have never been easier to use. Consider the following:
  • Narrated Audio Slideshows
  • Create eBooks – Students can create eBooks that incorporate audio, video, and text. (read more)
  • Digital Storytelling – Students can approach storytelling from two perspectives: oral or written composition. Remember that the digital storytelling approach can be used for any content area. And students reading peers’ content while listening to audio is powerful and supported in the research.
    • Oral Storytelling – The focus is on audio recording. Take pictures and then add audio narration. Or simply record audio of a child’s story and then have them prepare text to match it.
    • Written Composition Approach – Students write a script, match pictures to main events in the script, and then narrate it, combining all the components into a narrated slideshow.

 

Step 2 – Publish Content

If your district doesn’t have its own online space where staff and students can publish video, audio, and images, you can take advantage of Google Apps for Education with its unlimited storage, Microsoft for Education‘s OneDrive with one terabyte of space to house content, or YouTube. There really isn’t any reason why you can’t share content with a global audience.

Step 3 – Share, Share, Share
Once content is shared online, consider creating a district (or classroom) clearinghouse for awesome content in a Google Site, Microsoft’s OneNote, or a web-based sharing platform. This can be organized by grade level, reading level, etc.
Conclusion
“¡Por fin, sabemos como aprender juntos y usar tecnología para compartir lo que hemos aprendido!”
The main benefit of these three steps is that they remove some of the pressure of finding materials in the target language and help students and staff create content that shows their understanding of academic topics.
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