epic! Updates

I am excited to share with you that I was selected to be an epic! Master Teacher, and that means I will be bringing updates on the epic! app and website! If you haven't heard of epic! you need to check it out. It is an e-book library with over 25,000 titles for children 12 and under. It is free for educators and available for home use for $7.99 per month. It covers several genres and includes audio books and books that can be read aloud. They recently added educational videos which were a hit with my first graders! The students can earn badges as incentives, and teachers can access individual reading logs for students. Now, on to a new feature...

Teachers can now create collections of books and assign them to students! You can access this feature in the search tab. Once you find a book that you want to add to a collection click "Add to" and select collection. You can create a collection, add notes/directions to students and name it, or select an existing collection to add the book to. You can view your collections under the "My Library" tab. Click the name of the collection to assign to students. This has so many possibilities! You could name collections to correspond to guided reading groups, certain comprehension skills, or research projects!

Let me know how you might use this new feature! Follow epic! on Twitter @EpicKidsBooks or on the web at www.getepic.com. To read an article review about using picture e-books in K-6 I did for grad class, click here.

Bloomz: All in One Stop for Teachers and Parents

Here's another app that I just found this summer that is at the top of my list for next year! I need to play with it more, but it looks like it will eliminate the need for a lot of other apps. Some of the features include parent-to-teacher and parent-to-parent messaging, calendar, scheduling of parent-teacher conferences and volunteer opportunities, sign up for classroom donations, uploading pictures with parent ability to comment or "like", and uploading of PDF files (newsletters, permission slips, etc). Some new and exciting features that are coming soon include behavior tracking, video capabilities, and student portfolio features. I'm excited about using Bloomz to collaborate with students and families! Check them out on Twitter @BloomzApp or on the web www.bloomz.net. You can find an article review on the use of K-12 classroom websites I did for my grad class here.

How did I miss Seesaw last year!

This summer I stumbled upon the Seesaw app via Twitter, and I'm so bummed I didn't find it sooner! I would have loved to use it last year! If you're not familiar with Seesaw, it is a student electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) that students use to share their work with parents and their teacher. There are several format options and apps that Seesaw is compatible with, and there is a built-in teacher dashboard where all work goes for approval by the teacher before being available for parents to see. Over the last several years, I have used data binders with my students where they tracked their progress across several subjects, and then shared the binder with their parents periodically. I am going to try to eliminate those and incorporate them into the Seesaw app. What a great way for students to archive their work, and it provides their parents and myself the ability to see their growth (or lack of-yikes!) over an entire year. Once the school year gets started, I will post on our progress with Seesaw. If you're interested in learning more, check Seesaw out on Twitter @Seesaw or on the web at web.seesaw.me You can also check out a peer-reviewed article I reviewed on e-portfolios for my grad class here.

Book Review of Amplify!: Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom

One of my goals was to read more professional books, and I have made a good start! I am working my way through my "Summer Stack." Today, I finished reading Amplify!: Digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom.

This was a great book! Here are my quick take aways:

The authors, Katie Muhtaris and Kristin Ziemke, stress that you give up some control when introducing a new tool. This was a big "aha" moment for me, because I'm kind of a control freak when it comes to well...everything! But, what they're saying makes sense. No one is talking about a complete free for all, but give your students five minutes to explore the tool first. Then, have a meaningful discussion about what they noticed and what they think they could use the tool for before you launch your introductory lesson.

I also really enjoyed the video access you get with the book. Katie and Kristin include videos of actual activities they have done in their classrooms with technology. Let's be honest. It's always better to see it in action in a real classroom setting.

The book finishes up with some great concrete lesson ideas for incorporating technology tools. They can be adapted across primary and intermediate grade levels. This is helpful when you are feeling overwhelmed, and you don't know where to start. There are great links, visuals, and tips throughout the book. Definitely worth the read! You can follow the authors on Twitter at:
@KatieMuhtaris
@KristinZiemke

Get the book here (affiliate link):

100 Twitter Followers!!

Okay, so I know some of you are thinking "Big deal! I have 10K followers!" But, for me this is a big deal. One of my goals is to build my PLN using social media. While it would be easy to be intimidated by people with thousands of followers and give up, I'm going to celebrate the small steps building up to that. Also, this is not about trying to achieve some magic number of followers. It is about putting myself out there and learning. 

One of the first books I read this summer was 140 Tips for Educators: Get Connected, Grow Your Professional Learning Network, and Reinvigorate Your Career by Brad Currie, Billy Krakower, and Scott Rocco. It was FANTASTIC! If you're thinking Twitter is too "hard" or intimidating, trust me I know how you feel! Before reading this book, I had lurked on Twitter, but I was not taking full advantage of the learning opportunities available. The book literally takes you through setting up your account step-by-step and goes on to explain all aspects of the Twitter world. I can't wait to share it with my colleagues!

You can get the book here (affiliate link).

Follow the authors on Twitter 
@bradmcurrie

@wkrakower

@scottrrocco

and don't forget to follow me @techingin and help me reach 200 followers! #140EduTips

Setting Goals

Now that I've had time to decompress from the end of the school year, it's time to start thinking about the upcoming year. Reflecting on my first year in our 1:1 tech pilot, it was exciting and stressful at times. However, it did give me renewed energy for teaching after 15 years. 

I've always enjoyed technology in my personal and professional life, but this year showed me a whole new world of possibilities for integrating tech in my instruction. So, heading into summer I've been working on setting some goals for myself. In the spirit of accountability, here they are:

*Overcome my "fear" of Twitter and grow my PLN using Twitter and other social media. 

*Go back to school for another master's in EdTech (MAET). 

*Read more professional books

*Work on getting Google certified at Level 1

*Blog more consistently :)

*Try to relax (at least a little)

So there they are! Future posts will document my progress. I've already been working hard on a few of them!

Winter Break App Share #2

Winter Break App Share #2 is here! Nearpod is probably my favorite app from the teacher perspective. We use Nearpod to review skills we are learning across all subjects. It is a completely interactive experience. The teacher controls the pace of the lesson from the teacher dashboard on the iPad or computer. As students submit their responses, only I can see them on my dashboard. This allows the students to answer without the fear of "being wrong," and it allows me to see who is still struggling with a concept. I have the ability to display answers without student names so we can discuss as a class why it is incorrect or why it is a good response. After the lesson, I can run a report of student responses and activity to refer to later. Students are 100% engaged, and I can use the data to inform my instruction. There are lessons for Pre-K through high school available. There are both free and paid lessons. I was fortunate that my district purchased Gold subscriptions for all of the teachers in the tech pilot. This made most of the lessons free for us which is great! Even better, Nearpod doesn't require student accounts. Students join lessons by entering a code into the Nearpod app. Nice and easy for my first graders! Learn more at www.nearpod.com. Happy Holidays!