Grade 4 and 5 Passion Projects 2018

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It takes a village! At St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School, the collaboration between the media specialist, @baileypalm, the STEM coach, @robbinsimons, innovation coaches, @jennyd28 and @StacyLopezEDU, and myself, @ingewassmann, creates a time on our schedule where we can work with students in grades four and five on Passion Projects. Since January, we met once every six days for Innovation Time.

We used Design Thinking with our students to emphasize the learning experience, not the product. Each mentor took on five students in each class to guide them through the process. That didn’t mean we didn’t help out others who could benefit from our expertise. Students were free to explore what they wanted to learn about, thus giving them an opportunity to direct their own learning.

Yesterday, was our showcase with a real audience. Students spoke and presented with poise to parents, faculty, and fellow students to explain their purpose and takeaways. Watch the video to find out what these young students were able to do!

Amazing!

 

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5.29.18 Tuesday Tips for Educators

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The school year is coming to an end and at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School our teachers use constant innovative lessons and units that are in line with our strategic plan and vision, never forgetting the whole child and importance of nurturing relationships. Creating a culture of trust and innovation is at the heart of it all.

Tip #1 What’s going on in your child’s brain when you read them a story?

In a media-rich society what are the effects of auditory only, animation, and imagery and voice storytelling? The author uses the Goldilocks effect to classify each one. One is too cold, one is too hot, one is just right. Which one do you think it is?

Tip #2 Strong Conferencing Practices Help Kindergarteners Learn to Advocate for Themselves

Michayla Bell, Kindergarten teacher,  shares her experience with conferencing. What stood out for me were her following words: “Regardless of the purpose of the conference, in order to be effective, trust is key, so I need to build a strong relationship with all of my students and be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. That sets me up to make sure my time with each child positively impacts their learning.”

Tip #3 6 Ways to Build a Culture of Empathy

Trevor Bryan and Rich Czyz from Four O’Clock Faculty  came up with another great visual sharing ways to build a culture of empathy, either in the classroom or in school as a general. It is all about relationships!

Tip #4 Classroomscreen

Customize your screen with needs for the classroom! Quickly get a timer, textarea, drawing tool, name picker, work symbols and more. Completely free!

 

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4.24.18 Tuesday Tips

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At St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School our teachers exhibit constant innovative lessons and units that are in line with our strategic plan and vision. Creating a culture of innovation is at the forefront of it all. Together we are better!

Tip #1 Tony Vincent reveals new iOS iPhone and iPad tricks!

When doesn’t Tony Vincent teach us something new? He gives clear instructions on maximizing iOS use.  You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram. You will be amazed at some of these simple tricks! Screen recording and narrating in any app with iOS 11 is my favorite.

Tip #2 Make Checkboxes in Google Sheets by Alice Keeler

If you are not following Alice Keeler yet, you should. She is a Google Guru! If you are like me, I am sure you have created Google sheets in the past and wanted to have an option to add checkboxes to it. Now you can! Alice takes you through the process.

Tip #3 How to Use Empatico to Connect to Classrooms Around the World by Dr. Monica Burns

Empatico is a free online service that facilitates connecting classrooms around the world. Students can learn about life in another country or compare and contrast studies with their peers in other parts of the globe. Monica explains how to use Empatico in her blog post.

Tip #4 18 Free Image Sites and Tools for Schools by Eric Curts

Eric Curts created his Control Alt Achieve blog to share his expertise on technology and transformation in education. In this post, he lists many sites that have high-quality pictures that can be used in schools without licensing concerns. Very useful!

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4.10.2018 Tuesday Tips

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Tip #1 Adobe Launches Spark with Premium Features, Free of Charge for Students!

Adobe Spark is a fun, cloud-based storytelling application that runs in every browser. Students can creatively express themselves using graphics, web stories, and videos. They can log in at any location, any time, making the use of a device a choice! Look for many tutorials and ideas on the following websites:  Adobe Spark for Education and Adobe Educators Exchange. 

Tip #2 17 Little Known Tips, Tricks, and Hacks for Using Google in the Classroom 

At Spring CUE 2018 Conference in Palm Springs, California sessions touched upon many add-ons, extensions, and hacks for Google Suite. Tools ranged from music to time-saving shortcuts and ways that help struggling students. Click the link above to find out which one could help you!

Tip #3 Junior Historians at Work

Project Based Learning in elementary school should incorporate many different subject areas to complete a real-world experience. This article explains how students explored social studies, math, literacy, and 21st-century skills through this one project.

Tip #4 12 Good Tools for Creating Educational Games

Create your own game or let students collaborate to create their own game. This infographic shows 12 different tools and gives a brief explanation of each one. Check it out!

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Tuesday Tips and Innovation in Action

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Innovation at SSEDS Spotlight

Tip #1 Creating Classroom Posters with Adobe Spark Post by Dr. Monica Burns

Have you ever had the need to make a poster? On her blog, ClassTechTips, Monica provides an easy to follow guide on how to use Adobe Spark Post, as well as several possibilities of what you could use it for in the classroom: posters, anchor charts, graphics, etc. 
My second tip of the week comes from Monica’s blog as well. We use the Book Creator App quite a bit at school and this new feature even enhances the possibilities. Make sure to check it out!

Tip #3  G Suite Update: Find Shared Content with New File Organization in Google Drive

You can now see people listed in ‘Shared with Me’ and click on the documents they’ve shared with you. 

Tip #4  Join Dr. Kari Stubbs on Digital Citizenship for our monthly 30 minutes Twitter chat: #ShiftinEdu – Monday, March 12 @8:00 pm EST.

Our monthly Twitter Chat focuses on innovative practices in schools. This week’s moderator is Dr. Kari Stubbs, VP @brainPop, board member @edcampusa, and former @ISTE board member. The topic she will lead is Digital Citizenship: “How might we empower students to be better digital citizens – smark, kind, and secure online?” 

 

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2.27.2018 Tuesday Tip

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Tip #1 Loneliness in the Workplace is like Smoking 15 Cigarettes a Day 

So many of you enjoyed Dr. Robert Brooks‘ Keynote during ShiftinEdu. Here is a touching article on loneliness. He discusses the importance of connections, showing empathy, and helping others, not only for our students but for ourselves in the workplace. 
 

Tip #2  Create If-Then Adventures with Google Slides

If-Then stories are a fun way for students to think creatively and strategically. They can brainstorm different ways readers might interact with a story. Below is just one part of the course to show you how easy this can be done! Of course, you are welcome to go through the whole unit!

Tip #3  Create your Own Animated Virtual Reality

Patches is a free online tool to create your own drawn animated virtual reality scenes. Students could use this VR tool to create fiction stories. In Math, this tool can be used to sharpen geometry concepts.

Tip #4  Who’s That Cat in the Hat? – Seesaw Activity 

Kristen Brooks created this easy and fun activity for Seesaw and it’s ready for you to use. You can use the hashtag #DrSeussWeek and #ReadAcrossAmerica.
           
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1.30.2018 Tuesday Tips

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Tip #1 Emphasize Words in a Google Document’s Comments 

When I met Tony Vincent, some odd years ago, I quickly realized that with Tony you will always learn something new. Follow Tony’s Learning in Hand on Instagram. 

George Couros addresses the importance of classroom culture and gives helpful tips on how to improve yours! It is never too late to introduce some of these strategies that can mean the world to our students.

Tip #3  50 Ways to use Book Creator in your Classroom


The Book Creator team shared a free new resource for teachers created, of course, in the Book Creator App. There are ideas for every subject, every grade!

                      
John Spencer shares his insights on the benefits of Project-Based Learning in a colorful way. The video below explains one of the 10 benefits: Learners discover how to engage in meaningful collaboration. John talks about students, and I took the liberty to change the word student to learners. Collaboration should happen through all constituencies in a school and we are all learners!

  

Tip #5  The KidLit Show – A podcast you have to listen to!  

Olivia van Ledtje (@thelivbits) interviews Adam Gidwitz, author of A Tale Dark and Grimm. Adam remakes the classic Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Olivia and Adam explore the world of fairy tales and a folklore. Very entertaining!

1.23.2018 Tuesday Tips

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Tip #1              AutoDraw – Fast Drawing for Everyone 

Want to draw something fast, but you are not really an artist? Artificial intelligence will help you! Google AutoDraw to the rescue!



Tip #2                                     Google Drive Tips  

8 Useful tips for teachers on how to search in Google Drive. Some I use all the time, others a little less. Looking forward to bettering my searching skills in Drive!

Tip #3         12 Apps & Websites for World Read Aloud Day  

On her website Class Tech Tips,  Dr. Monica Burns compiled these read-aloud websites. No excuse not to take part in this event on February 1, 2018!

Tip #4                             Global Math Task

Connect and share learning through these Global Math Tasks. With your Class Twitter account, you can participate! Use the hashtag #gmttc

New Tuesday Tips for Teachers

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January 16, 2018

This Apowersoft Screenshot App for Mac iOS makes it easy to annotate a screenshot. My colleague, Dr. Ashley Cross, uses this all the time when she wants to highlight a particular point in a screenshot. Timesaver! Watch the video below on how to use it.

Insertlearning, Newseumed, and Autodraw are on my list to explore. Check out Jennifer’s article to learn more about her favorite apps in education right now.


This could be an innovative way, to help students with reading comprehension. Simple and effective. New and better!


I loved the title of the article:  GETTING STARTED WITH EDUCATOR TWITTER CHATS FROM A TWITTER SKEPTIC
This will help anyone who is looking to grow their Professional Learning Network. Twitter chats, using Participate, are an easy way to connect with those who share your same interests and passions in education.