Cherry Creek Bright Spot: Technology at Liberty Middle School

As a district Technology and Learning Coach, I often have teachers ask me how technology fits in with math instruction, beyond just allowing kids to play math games on the Internet during free time. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely a variety of good websites for math instruction and reinforcement, but how do you make technology an integral and seamless part of your math classroom?  

Jasmine Solano, a math teacher at Liberty Middle School, recently invited me to observe her math classes. In doing so, I was able to see how easy and effective it could be to make technology a regular part of her classes, and how much the students are learning and growing from this practice. Check out the Bright Spot video below to hear from Mrs. Solano and some of her students...

If you would like to learn more about integrating math with technology at your school, please contact your Technology and Learning Coaches by filling out our form. 

Think Outside the Cart: Covering Your Bases When Testing Impacts Technology

cc photo courtesy of Max & Dee Bernt

For baseball fans (like me),  March typically means that Spring Training is in full swing and the MLB season is getting closer.  This year, however, March also marked the beginning of our online testing season.  We're hearing concerns about online testing taking classroom technology out of the lineup.  So, to both honor the imminent baseball season and to address those concerns, here are some ideas about keeping the ball in play (apologies for the foul puns).

cc photo courtesy of  Jamie Campbell

Make a Call to the Bullpen.  In baseball, your "bullpen" is your pitching relief  (pitchers who come in to "relieve" or take over for other pitchers). Maybe a Chromebook cart is like your starting pitcher, but if it's not available, you might want to remember other technology at your building,  In our case, Chromebook carts supplemented any existing technology at a school.  That means that school labs, other laptop carts, M&A's, iPads & iPods & other tablets could come back into the game.  Even if you can only bring in a few, you could use them creatively for learning.

The Double or Triple Play.  If you get two or three players taken care of in one play, that's a double or triple play.  It's possible that not every machine is being used for assessment. While people tend to think of needing the whole cart, remember that great stuff can happen when kids collaborate together when sharing a device.  If you can get your hands on 10 devices instead of 30, it might actually be more effective than 1:1, depending on your learning goals.

Put the Shift On.  Sometimes, players in the field will move from their traditional spots and "shift" to specific areas, based on where they think the ball will go.  In a classroom, you can think about this like using learning centers or stations.  If you have as few as 4 or 5 devices, you can "shift" students to different centers/stations in the room, based on the activities you want them to do.  Using centers or stations is good practice anyway, but when faced with limited technology, it can be a game-changer.

The Hidden Ball Trick.  Sometimes, a player will "hide" the ball and deceive the runner into thinking s/he can step off the base, but the ball is still live.  We often ask kids to hide their own technology (mobile devices) or put it away so we don't see it.  But, cell phones are incredibly powerful devices.  If you set some ground rules about using them for learning, you might be surprised at how well students behave when given the chance.  If you teach younger students who don't have cell phones, you may want to ask your parent community if they have any "old" phones to donate.  If you take away the phone functionality, smart phones are just mini tablets with WiFi capability.

The Pinch Hitter.  A pinch hitter is basically a substitute batter -- a player not in your game day lineup who steps into the box.  If testing means that school-provided technology isn't an option, maybe it's time to explore substituting what you have with BYOD (or Bring Your Own Device). Parents are probably well aware that testing is affecting student access to devices, and explaining your need for student-provided technology, even temporarily, could be a way to keep you on your game.

cc photo courtesy of Scott Ableman

The Play at Home Plate (and Instant Replay).  Sometimes, the most exciting plays happen at home plate.  More and more teachers are trying out the concept of the flipped classroom or flipped learning (see our blog posts this month for more about flipped learning).  That term refers to students getting some part of their instruction on a device, often at home or outside of the classroom (maybe from a site like Khan Academy or teacher-created videos).   Besides leveraging time in an efficient way, this also provides students with the option for instant replay if it's video-based.  Didn't quite get the concept?  Just replay the part you need.  And since our district has Schoology, we already have digital spaces that can be used for learning outside of the classroom.

Finally, if you're worried about access at home for students during testing windows, remember that local libraries have computers for student access (and many schools have drop-in locations available during the school day).  Also, remember that anyone with a smart phone has access to the Internet.  If a family doesn't have a desktop or laptop at home, a smart phone is another access point.

Testing doesn't have to mean that technology for learning is benched during our assessment windows.  If you are creative and think outside the cart, you can continue to hit home runs for learning with your students.

Voices from the Classroom: Big Plans for Technology

The Office of Instructional Technology has had the pleasure of working with extraordinary teachers throughout the Cherry Creek School District.  We decided that we would launch "Voices from the Classroom" as a way to highlight innovative teaching and learning from the teachers themselves, in their own words.  

Our guest blogger today is Faye Ampe from Rolling Hills Elementary.  Faye has been teaching 4th grade for 10 years.  Faye has her master’s degree in literacy and endorsements in Reading and ESL.

Big Plans for Technology
In the beginning

There I was, sitting at my end of the year review with my principal discussing my achievements and goals for next year.  Everything had gone well until I noticed I had been marked as partially proficient in technology.  At first I panicked slightly and then realized I completely deserved that mark.  In fact, my principal was generous in giving me that. I barely used technology in my classroom and that was simply unfair to my students.  It was time to do something about it.  I emailed our district technology coaches with a plea for help.  The title of my first email was “Big Plans for Technology.”  The thing was, I wasn’t quite sure what those plans would be yet.  In late August I had the privilege of meeting and working with my technology hero, the best coach EVER!  She was there to help me fulfill my technology dreams.  We began right away in building my Schoology account.

Why do this?

I had always dreamed of having a classroom web page and had attempted several times in years past, only to fail due to the difficulty of keeping up with them.  Schoology hasn’t been difficult at all.  It is a place where I have created many folders in which I store resources for myself and my students.  I have created many assignments and discussions for students across curriculum.  I have created assessments that I had always done previously with paper and pencil and put them in Schoology. It has allowed me to differentiate in a way I have never been able to do in years past.  And my students love it!

Big plans played out

I have learned many things about Schoology in a short 4 and a half months.  I have learned how to use resources where I have created folders for each subject area.  Within the folders I have more folders for different units or activities.  The folders can be shared between resources so I can keep them for myself and share with my colleagues and my students.  

One of my favorite folders is the “Wonderful Words” folder.  This is where we house our classroom words plucked straight out of our read alouds.  The students uploaded videos of themselves in small groups stating the word, giving a definition, using it in a sentence, and then creating an action for it.  After the words were uploaded, the students went back and in the comments section of each word they wrote a sentence using that specific word.  They knew the public (their classmates) would be seeing their sentences so they did their best to impress.  This is just one small example of how I have used to folders to make learning and technology enhance my students’ learning.

I have also begun to scratch the surface of Schoology by using updates, the calendar, the gradebook, and badges.  I send updates to my parents through Schoology.  This is where I have created a calendar for the year with special events.  I upload my weekly newsletters to the updates for my families to access.  And parents can check out the gradebook for their student to see how they have done on their assignments.  I have even had a little fun creating and giving out badges to my students for their wide variety of accomplishments.  They get so excited to receive a badge.

It’s worth it!

Creating the Schoology page has taken time and effort and I am so glad I have done this.  One of the best things I have done is set up bi-weekly coaching.  This gives me the opportunity to learn about something in Schoology, practice it, and come back with questions and celebrations.  I have definitely stumbled along as I experiment with Schoology more and more and that is fine because I have learned so much.  I keep trying because it has been so beneficial for my students and their families.  I can’t wait to see what the next 5 months brings in my technology journey.  And I can promise I will not be scoring partially proficient on my end of the year review again.  I am making sure of that!

Our deep thanks and appreciation to Faye Ampe and all that she does for her students!

Cherry Creek Bright Spot: MinecraftEdu in the Classroom

Should students be allowed to play video games at school? Absolutely- if they are playing Minecraft in Joel Solomon's technology classes at Village East Elementary or with the Minecraft Club at Thunder Ridge Middle School with Cary Joice and Justin Cantrell.  

These educators have leveraged student interest in gaming and use MinecraftEdu as a way to use to reinforce the teaching of standards. They focus not only on 21st Century Skills like collaboration, communication, and digital citizenship, but also on standards for core subject areas such as math, science, social studies and language arts. Check out the video below to learn more about Minecraft and using MinecraftEdu in the classroom.

For more information about using MinecraftEdu with your students, contact Joel Solomon at jsolomon2@cherrycreekschools.org or visit minecraftedu.com. 

The Twelve Tools of December: Realtime Board

During the weekdays of December, we're sharing one tool per day as part of our Twelve Tools of December series.  Some of these tools are designed to be used instructionally, some can help you be more productive, and some are just fun.

Today, we're sharing about Realtime Board.  

What is it?

Realtime Board is an interactive, collaborative, online whiteboard. Similar to a regular whiteboard, it allows you to write, erase, and add more writing. The benefit of having it online means that anyone can not only write on the infinite space whiteboard, they can also add links, images, comments, documents or notes and save it all for later. You'll never run out of space, and you won't have to erase (hey, that rhymes!) and lose everything! 

Using Realtime Board
Realtime Board (free or paid versions) would be great for use with students to help collaborate on notes, brainstorm ideas, work on thinking maps, and share resources. Realtime allows you to add content from your computer, your Google Drive, or search the built in library of icons and images in real time (ha ha, get it?) for collaborators to see immediately and review, or to view later. Realtime Boards can also be embedded into Schoology, or anywhere else that accepts embed codes, for students to refer back to later if need be or view from home if they missed your really awesome discussion in class. 

Similar Tools for mobile devices
Although the promise of "coming soon" mobile device apps from Realtime Board is exciting, for those teachers using tablets in the classroom who need-this-in-their-classroom-right-now-OMG, there are some alternatives. Syncspace is available for download (paid and free versions) on iTunes and in the Google Play Store. It is also a collaborative work space, but doesn't have the same features and functions as Realtime Board. Other alternatives to explore: WhiteboardMe, Educreations, Whiteboard. Also, check out the list Graphite.org put together, "Top Interactive Whiteboard Apps".

Where can I learn more?
Realtime Board has several examples and tutorials about creating and collaborating on a board. Check it out here!




If you know of other similar tools, leave a comment about it below!

Tuesday Tech Tip: Using Nearpod in the Classroom

Many teachers use a digital presentation in their classroom to help them keep students engaged, to keep themselves on track, and to incorporate technology into their instruction. While presentations can be a great way to share information with students they are mostly a one way tool; students don’t really interact with the presentation, and often times it is merely projected at the front of the room. Nearpod is a presentation tool that allows teachers to create a presentation and bring it to life by pushing it out to students and guiding their activity in real time. It involves the student in the presentation by having them interact with and submit responses on any device. The teacher can monitor and measure student results, which is something that can be difficult to keep track of when students are only participating verbally or sporadically in class.

The process is simple. Log in to Nearpod, go to your library, select the presentation you wish to share with students and launch a live session. A pin/access code will pop up and you’ll share it with your students. Once students join the session, you will advance the slides and take them through the presentation with you and give them the opportunity to interact with the embedded activities. Hooray!

To start with Nearpod, create your free account. (While Nearpod has other paid options, this post will only focus on the features included in the free version.) You can use the web app from any device, or download the app for iOS, Android, Windows, Nook, or Chrome. Once you’ve signed up, you have several options.

 My Library will take you to any presentations you have created and saved, once you have them of course.

• Explore allows you to see other presentations that have been created and save them to your library, use them, or modify them.
• Join directs you to enter a code to join a live presentation.
• Create brings you to the presentation creation menu.
• Reports give you access to session reports. They show aggregated data and student details. This can also be downloaded as a PDF to review offline.

Teachers have numerous options when it comes to creating a Nearpod presentation. When you start a presentation in create mode, it automatically provides you with a welcome slide and a thank you slide (both of which can be deleted). Adding content to your new presentation is fairly simple. You can create a slide from scratch, add a video, or import a slideshow, images or other content you've already created by pulling it from your drive, Dropbox, or access it on your computer.

The activities that teachers can add to their Nearpod presentation are shown left.

• Open ended questions require students to type a response, which can also be shared with the whole class by the teacher.
• A poll allows you to ask a question and give students several options to choose from. Teachers get immediate data as students select their answer.
• Quizzes also give you immediate information about their performance. Images can be embedded in the question as can math functions. The only question type available at this time is multiple choice.
• Draw it gives students the chance to draw a concept or an idea, or write a response. Drawings can also be shared with the rest of the class by the teacher.

Nearpod is an easy to use, free tool to help keep students engaged, track data/responses, and share information with students. Give it a try in your class, or in your next PLC/PLT meeting and let us know what you think!

Want more technology? Do the math on paper.

Want to read this post?  You can find it on This One Goes to 11.