Tag Archives: PD

Back to School PD

August 10, 2013Ed. Tech ResourcesiPads, PD, Workshopelcordei

Teachers are back to school! Weʻre going 1:1 iPad this year and we were fortunate to have Kristin Ziemke work with our teachers at Kula Haʻahaʻa (our elementary school) and share best practices using iPads. Below are some of my takeaways from Kristinʻs presentation.

Meet the needs of diverse learners

Good teaching is good teaching and technology does not replace the teacher. As a classroom teacher I used to struggle meeting the needs of of all of my students and I would often teach to the middle. Then I learned how using technology helps address diverse learning needs of students. When text is digitized, for example, it allows for an interactive experience for learners. Students who have a hard time with vocabulary can use built in tools to find definitions. Students who have challenges reading, can converted text to audio. This can be used for a large body of text and even just a simple word a student needs help pronouncing. More exciting is the opportunity for students to enhance their text with media, information, and questions. When writing stories, students have a variety of ways to express themselves; making movies, creating slideshows, creating a podcast, etc. It allows for more student choice and voice.

Cultivate student discovery and expertise

How many times have we heard, “donʻt worry, the students will know”? More than I can count for sure! Technology allows students the opportunity to share, not only with us, but with the world! Allow them to create tutorials and let them know their work will be published online (which is another takeaway…open up real world audiences). Better yet, let them know you (the teacher) donʻt know how to do something and have them figure it out for you. Talk about empowering students. Set up spaces in your classroom where students fell comfortable collaborating and sharing.

Model, model, model

One of the ways to cultivate discovery is by demonstrating discovery. Itʻs okay for students to see their teachers donʻt have all the answers and then learn how their teachers find answers. Want your students to give peer feedback? Model what that looks like. Kristin shared an example where her fifth grade partner teacher asks students to give her feedback. They learn how their feedback helps in a safe way. When commenting on a blog post or in edmodo, show students what that looks like and model it. My dear friend, Mr. Bowman, calls this commentiquette and has a special page on his blog that describes it.

Get connected

Kristin shared she used to think twitter was for following the rich and famous and looked at it as “bad sharing”. When she discovered how it could be used for professional development, it changed her life and has actually saved her time. I can totally relate! Itʻs allowed me to develop an amazing personal learning network (PLN) where I learn from other educators. In our journey in going 1:1 iPads, for example, we are able to learn from educators and schools around the world who have also gone 1:1. And itʻs not just twitter, itʻs a variety of social media.

Make time for play

This was my favorite. In addition to helping relieve stress, play can make work more productive and enjoyable. It helps us manage our negative emotions. We know if early ed, play is often part of learning and in the upper levels…not so much. Kristin and her colleagues realize the importance of play not only for students, but adults and have created a new kind of conference called PLAYDATE. Thatʻs the kind of conference I want to attend!

Needless to say, it was a great day of learning and this post can not include it all. Check out Kristinʻs Website to learn more.

Oh, and check out Kristinʻs Ten Tech Tips You Can Try Tomorrow!

Book Creator PD

April 19, 2013Ed. Tech ResourcesBook Creator, iPad, PD, Play dateelcordei

We had a great afternoon of learning and playing at our Book Creator PD (Professional Development AND Play Date) Session. The afternoon started off with a short presentation on the Book Creator app along with some examples of products created by students. Teachers were then put into groups and challenged to use the Book Creator app to create a book and:

Luckily, we had some awesome fifth grade student’s from Mrs. Ah Hee’s class who were Book Creator experts and were able to help the teachers who were all focused on making sure they received the total number of points possible in the challenge.

As I walked around the room, I could tell the teachers were having fun and really enjoyed the app. They were all surprised at how easy it was to use and were thrilled to have the student help. After the challenge, groups shared the books they created as well as ideas for how they might use Book Creator in their class. In the original presentation, there was a bonus points activity for teachers to use Wall Wisher, now Padlet, to share ideas on how they would use Book Creator to modify a current lesson. Well, we found out Wallwisher isn’t a great tool to use on the iPad (but I still love it for sharing ideas) so I added a field in my Google form feedback survey and here are some of them had to say:

I could use it for recording student work done in social studies, use for story response, use in publishing.

My students could create books about Hawaiian artists…to match a series we have in class

Use it to assess, audio/verbal assessment. Use it in the social studies curriculum, writing…not only to us statute but model and redefine the action in which is occurring in the classroom.

Making class books, Progress folios, Partner books

Make whole class books cooking activity and sharing students work

Using it as a interactive notebook where student can explain the lesson through text, audio and video.

Create a class book about Earth Day and have each child name something they can do to help the environment or reduce their Carbon footprint. It could be in partner pairs and they could write and draw or video tape an action… Like turning off the lights when not in use, or making sure the water is completely shut off…

The ideas above are great, but I really wish I would have recorded the discussion. We made time for sharing at the end and the ideas kept building off of one another. I was totally inspired by the sharing and can’t wait to see how this is going to impact student learning.

Overall, teachers rated the day as awesome! They really liked the student helpers and the time to play and said they are looking forward to our next play date. They did suggest I bring food next time…maybe I will…If I conduct this PD again, I’d give teachers a topic to create their book about.

Introduction to Blackboard – Course 1 of 3

August 13, 2012Ed. Tech ResourcesBlackboard, Introduction to Blackboard, PDelcordei

Course Dates: August 30 – October 11 – Every Thursday
Course Meeting time: 3:15pm – 4:30pm
Seats Available: 8 KSH, 8 KSK, 8 KSM

Course Description for Introduction to Blackboard :

“Introduction to Blackboard” is the first course in a three part series to prepare Kamehameha Schools teachers to use online instructional and/or blended learning strategies.* The “Introduction to Blackboard” course will allow Kamehameha Schools faculty to survey best practices in integrating the Blackboard course management system(CMS), into the classroom setting. Participants will explore the basic features of Blackboard as well as the NETS standards. This exciting course will be offered Tri-Campus via Adobe connect and feature teaching methods such as instructor demonstration, guided, hands-on instruction, small group activities, online tutorials and homework assignments. As a final component, participants will create a lesson plan using the Project Planning Guide developed by ETS-i aligned to standards as well as the Working Exit Outcomes(WEO). There will be 8 instructional hours and 8 hours of required homework assignments.

* Blended Learning – 80% online and 20% face to face as identified by the Tri-Campus Blended Learning Project Charter.

Course Objectives:

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

Effectively navigate through Blackboard
Create course content in Blackboard
Understand and utilize basic Blackboard course tools
Understand basics of the Blackboard grade center
Manage users and groups in Blackboard
Create and share a lesson within Blackboard utilizing the ETS-I project planning template aligned to NETS standards and the WEO

Course Requirements:

In order to receive 1 B credit, participants will be required to complete the following:

8 hours of synchronous instruction through Adobe Connect
8 hours of class work
Creation of lesson demonstrating technology integration and relevant standards alignment
Presentation of lesson to cohort and instructor

In addition to coursework, participants must be able/willing to:

Meet once per week after school for 1 to 1.5 hours online for instructional purposes (dates and times TBA)
Have reliable internet access during instructional time
Integrate the created lesson into at least one of their current courses

Application Process:

KSH & KSM Campuses: Log-on to My Learning Plan to register and gain approval from your supervisor. Course Listing will be available August 16, 2012

KSK: Complete your Pers-35 form to gain approval from your supervisor. Once you have approval, please contact Tim Freitas (see below) to secure your spot in the course.

Please be aware that space is limited.

For more information and/or questions, please contact your respective campus ITS or ITRT.

Name	Campus	email
Ellen Cordeiro	Hawaii	[email protected]
Kelly Cua	Maui	[email protected]
Tim Freitas	Kapālama	[email protected]
Lance Ogata	Kapālama	[email protected]