SAMR - Redefinition

We are officially back from Spring Break!! It was a much needed break and I'm feeling ready to finish the year strong.

As I've stated in prior blog posts, I'm on the hunt for examples of how educators have used the SAMR model with educational technology to change their practice.

I stumbled upon Matt Miller, educator and famed author of Ditch That Textbook, discussing the importance of using technology to transform the learning in the classroom in a blog post, 10 Ways to Reach SAMR Redefinition.

To start, it's difficult to reach the transformative stage of Redefinition with technology where everything the students produce is a "new task, previously inconceivable." I know many teachers, myself included, who use Google Apps to have students type an essay and turn it in using Google Classroom. Although, the task of typing an essay online is really just substitution on the SAMR model, but I would also argue the ability to provide instant feedback on a permanently saved document has real value and couldn't be done before this type of technology. We could also take the task one step further by sharing the student's essay to a wider audience through a blog or podcast. Then we're moving towards the redefinition stage.

Here are some of my favorite "Redefinition" ideas from Matt Miller that I hadn't thought about before reading his blog:

 “Aid the community” competition: Students from various countries engage in a project to tackle an issue in their communities (i.e. reducing the carbon footprint of their communities). Students share ideas on a wiki, discuss ideas together via video chat on Skype/Adobe Connect/Google Hangout, and partner with researchers at local universities or companies. They share the findings of their yearlong endeavor in a documentary on YouTube. (Source: ECISD Technology)

 Global perspectives: Students connect with a class in another part of the world to discuss a historical event — preferably one that affects both their own countries. Students write — in shared Google Documents, blogs, wikis or any other writing tool — factually about the event and then share opinions about it. They can compare how it’s perceived in different parts of the world. (Inspired by this post.)

Read more from Matt Miller's blog: http://ditchthattextbook.com/2014/04/03/10-ways-to-reach-samrs-redefinition-level/

SAMR -- integrating technology

Over the next few weeks, I'll be digging to find ways teachers are integrating technology into their classrooms. Specifically, I'm looking for activities and ideas teachers implement to move from "Subsituting" technology for paper to a "Re-definition" of their classroom. The SAMR model is a great way to see whether or not your activities or assignments either Substitute, Augment, Modify, or Re-Define the activity with the use of technology:

Image credit: Sylvia Duckworth, via @DavidGuerin

Alice  Keeler has some excellent ideas on how to re-define your classroom using technology. She suggests using a classroom website (I use http://stecktech.wikispaces.com/). According to Alice Keeler, this allows for:

• students who are absent to access the work
• differentiating directions and tasks
• making information accessible anytime anywhere
• helping parents to support their children in their learning
• collaborating with other teachers
• consistency between class sections
• the near elimination of downtime in class
• the teacher to work one on one with students or in small groups
• the teacher to provide more high-quality feedback

I'll be continuing to gather ideas for the next couple of weeks to see how others have integrated technology and re-defined their classrooms with it.

EdTekTalks

I'm here for the EdTekTalk which features 5 presenters from the the world of Ed Technology.

Here's a link to the presenters: https://conference.iste.org/2016/?id=101009065

I'm excited to hear from: (REMEMBER -- a video of the presentation will be available on the ISTE website)

Ayah Bdeir 
"Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits, an open-source library of modular electronics that snap together with magnets. Bdeir was born in Lebanon, currently lives in New York City, and earned her master's degree in science from the MIT Media Lab. As an esteemed engineer and interactive artist, Bdeir is one of the leaders of the maker movement. Her career is focused on advancing open-source hardware to make education and innovation more accessible to the entire population."

AND

Marley Dias 
"Marley Dias is an 11-year-old from West Orange, New Jersey, who grew tired of reading books in her middle school classes about “white boys and their dogs” so she created a plan, with the help of her mother and founder of GrassROOTS Community Foundation, Janice Johnson Dias, to do something about it. They gathered 1,000 books with relatable female characters, particularly strong, black girls. The movement is incredibly successful, with the trending hashtag #1000BlackGirlBooks, and the collected books have made their way to schools in need around the country."

Edutopia's Top 10

Edutopia released their Top 10 most visited posts from 2014.  Edutpoia usually posts articles and resources around assessments, integrated studies, project-based learning, social/emotional learning, teacher development, and tech integration. These are the top posts from these areas and can be extremely helpful for any teacher.

Project-Based Learning

As a technology teacher, my entire curriculum is based around learning through the completion of digital projects.  Edutopia posted a series of videos on how to incorporate rigor into project-based learning.  The videos include how to establish real-world connections, build rigor, structure collaboration, create a student centered learning environment, and embed assessments throughout the project. These videos are helpful resources for any teacher trying to create a more student-centered classroom environment.

Paperless Classrooms

With current school budgets, it's definitely difficult to pull of the paperless classroom (side note: it's interesting to think about how many computers we could afford if we cut our paper budgets), but if you ever find yourself with a class set of devices and aren't sure where to start, Edudemic posted an article titled, Ultimate Guide to the Paperless Classroom, to assist teachers with the transition of going paperless.  It includes first steps, managing the devices, creating a class website, and apps/websites for student collaboration, projects, and assignments.  Anything you would add to the list?

Novels: On Location

Do you love to read? Do you love to travel?

Richard Byrne's blog, Free Technology for Teachers, posted about a site, Novels: On Location, that organizes novels according to the story's geographical location using Google Maps.  If you're visiting Costa Rica in the near future, you can find novels set in Costa Rica to read on the beach.  How great is that?!?

A teacher could have students complete a similar project where they map the settings of the books they read.  Any other ways to use Novel: On Location in the classroom?

Learning to Code

From the New York Time's educational blog, The Learning Network, comes a post written about coding bootcamps popping up around the country.  Students can learn computer programming through these short, instructional courses.  Would you consider taking a coding bootcamp class?

iPad Apps for Teachers

Here's a list from TeachThought about the 50 best iPad Apps for teachers to use.  I'm always looking for new iPad Apps and many of the ones from this list sound great.  What are your favorites?

Magazine Covers

Now this is really cool!  While browsing through EduTech for Teachers, I found a post titled, "Magazine Mania with Big Huge Labs."  Big Huge Labs has a FREE program allowing users to upload an image from their computer and creating a Magazine Cover with it.  This would be perfect for our 1st grade book covers!

Best Ways to Use Tech

Emerging EdTech released their list of the best ways to engage students using educational technology.  In the article, "10 of the Most Engaging Uses of Instructional Technology," their list and explanations include:
1) Interactive Collaboration
2) Gathering Feedback from Students
3) Embedding Questions in Video
4) Active Learning -- where students are learning by working through a problem/project
5) Social Learning --  students learning form one another
6) Using Tech to Help to Ensure Engagement with Digital Content -- discussion forums
7) Student Created Presentations
8) Project Based Learning
9) Digital Makerspaces
10) Flipping your Classroom

Interactive White Boards

We have Promethean Boards in every other classroom at our school, so I thought the post from Emerging EdTech would benefit many of our teachers.  It's titled, "10 Creative Ways to Use Interactive White Boards in the Classroom," and lists many different ways to use your board including:
-Google Earth
-Team Competitions
-Teach students basic sound, image, and video editing
-Spelling Competitions
-Take a Virtual Tour
-Record Students
-Collaborate
-Download Flash Videos and Applications
-Recap of a Field Trip
-Interactives

EdTech Vocabulary

Edudemic posted an article about EdTech Vocabulary.  It's titled:

Brush Up on Your EdTech Vocabluary with this Cheat Sheet

As you can imagine, it's a cheat sheet for all the new key phrases in emerging educational technology.  It's an extremely helpful visual aid.