Final Presentation

Table of Contents

1. Welcome Video
2. Three Lesson Plans 
3. Growth Plan
4. Troubleshooting Chart
5. Weekly App Practicals
6. Reflection 
7. Conclusion

Reflection: 

Before taking this course, much of the tech that I used in my classroom fell in the "substitution" and "augmentation" areas of the SAMR model. I have since seen the benefit of using tech to move towards a "modification" and ultimately a "redefinition". I am excited to someday implement my third lesson plan for the "Biomes around the World" unit that addresses students as Global Communicators and redefines the limits of education in the high school classroom. 

I have been able to implement some of the strategies outlined in the November text such as "students as scribes" and "students as researchers" and I can already see the difference it is beginning to make in creating a collaborative classroom culture. My philosophy of education has always been one of partnership between the teacher and her students, with all members of the classroom contributing equal work. When I began teaching, I quickly realized that the current model of education places a lot more work on the teacher and the students take the role of a passive learner. The technology that I have learned in this class has certainly benefitted me in redefining the student and teacher roles in my classroom though we are still no where near where I would like to be some day. Unfortunately, truly getting to the point of "redefining" education with technology is going to need to take a lot of movement from the upper administration which I hope to help move someday. 

For now, the best I can do is take the steps to make room 2057 a space where students know that they have just as much responsibility for their learning as I do and with that responsibility, a say in how they do that. I remind my students everyday that they have just as much to teach me as I have to teacher them. Alas, it will still take time to undo what eight years of traditional education has taught them. 

I would like to end this final EDU 614 blog post by reposting the video we watched a few weeks ago in class. This video has reminded me why I wanted to teach in the first place and has inspired me to continue pushing for change and not settle into "the way its always been done". 

Growth Plan

Classroom Troubleshooting

iPad-Airplay Troubleshooting Chart

Weekly App Practical: Assistive Technology

myHomework App Presentation

Weekly App Practical- Classroom Management

Weekly App Practical- Global communicators

"Biomes Around the World" Lesson Brainstorm

I would like to incorporate the apps Google Earth and ePals into the unit that I teach on Biomes at the end of the school year. Students learn about the different biomes on the earth such as the desert, grasslands, tundra etc. My idea for this unit is to connect with teacher on ePals from countries that represent these different biomes. I would then like to work on a join project with those classes, if they are agreeable, to have our students "report" on the biome that they live in. This could take whatever form the class chooses. They can write a brochure for our biomes, make a video report, or write a paper detailing the important characteristics of the different biomes in North America. We would then share our reports with the classes in the other countries and hopefully receive their reports back on the biomes that they live in. I have sent collaboration requests through the ePals site to a number of different teachers all over the globe. Uganda, Italy, Mexico, and Spain are just a few of the places that I am looking to connect with someone. Make your own account and check out my ePals profile here. 

Google Earth will come into play as I am introducing the different biomes to my students. Once we
have made a connection with another school, we can explore what their country looks like with the app. 

I would like for this to be a student driven endeavor and I would like to experiment with not grading my students on this assignment. I think that the curiosity of what it is like in another country and the chance to represent what it is like where they live will motivate them more than a grade. 

Stay tuned for how this goes! I will report back probably sometime in June as this is usually our last unit! 

Weekly App Practical- Boardmaker

I'll admit that at first I wasn't sure that I would find a good use for the Boardmaker software in my 9th grade biology classroom but Boardmaker Online proved me wrong! I created the labeling activity shown below for my students who are currently practicing labeling the parts of the cell. It took less than 30 minutes to make and was quite a bit of fun!

If you have a boardmaker account, you can actually log in and play the activity by following this link. If not, you can get the idea by viewing the screenshots below:

This first photo shows the editing mode where I created the activity from a labeling template.

This is the screen that is available to the public when searching for the activity on Boardmaker or using the URL.

Students will move the labels from the left-hand side of the screen to the appropriate boxes on the image. When they have completed the labeling, an arrow appears at the bottom of the screen allowing them to move onto the next page of the activity. 

Once the student has finished the activity, the move on to a screen that tells them they are completed and allows them to exit the screen. 

Though I will certainly use this labeling activity with my students, I don't intend to buy the software. I plan to print out the activity pages and give it to my students on paper because I don't want to get them started on something that will only last a 30 day trial. Still, I'm glad I took the time to play around with Boardmaker!

Weekly App Practical- Administrative

Idoceo Gradebook App Presentation

Weekly App Practical- Student Researcher

Ms. Boyd's Biology Search

Weekly App Practical- Student Tutorial- Explain Everything

Weekly App Practical- Student Scribe

Classroom Scribe Experiment 

Ever find yourself coming up with an ingenious example or application of the material you are lecturing to your students right on the spot? As I am only in my first few years of teaching, this happens to me quite a bit. I think of a great example that I really want to share and would love for my students to remember but unfortunately, I have learned the sad lesson that if it isn't on the screen, my students won't write it down. I decided to use Classroom Scribe strategy developed by Darren Kuropatwa to immortalize my on-the-spot nuggets of gold forever in a set of class notes.

I utilized two Apps in my implementation of the classroom scribe approach, GoogleDocs and Notability. All of my students have school issued iPads that come pre-loaded with both of these apps.

To begin, I told my students to open up a new note in Notability to start the section on the Digestive System. In addition to their own personal notes, I explained that I would like just one volunteer to record the extra examples and explanations that I gave on a shared GoogleDoc:

The student who volunteered got the extra perk that they did not have to record the presentation notes for that day and I would send them a copy of the notes after class. 

I made the class notes available for the entire class to view by posting it in the "About" section of their GoogleClassroom page:

I encouraged the class to split their ipad screen so that they could view the class note GoogleDoc as they were recording their own notes in Notability. This is what that looks like from a students ipad: 

Currently, the class notes are only available for members of the classroom to view but I do hope to someday spread this out to the internet community and hopefully have as much success as Darren Kuropatwa! 

Online Textbook:
www.pearsonsuccessnet.com

Username: mhs9bio
Password: methuen2017

Chapter 2 Study Material

Biology students! 

Prepare for your test on Chapter 2 by viewing this video and commenting here with 3 things that you will remember about macromolecules! 

16-17 Course syllabus

Open course syllabus here: 16-17 Course Syllabus

HOMEWORK!: After you have read the syllabus, complete this google form.