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Tuesday, October 29, 2019
2019 Digital Citizenship Week - for Teachers
2019 DigCit Week - Student Creations
Students from ESU 8 who attended this year's Nebraska Digital Citizenship Symposium created positive campaigns to take back to their school and community for DigCitWeek 2019.
O'Neill High School
8th grade students from O'Neill High School created the following video PSAs to share with students at both the Elementary and High School buildings.
In addition, this O'Neill High School Digital Citizenship team appeared on Eagle Eye Broadcasting- Daily Announcements during DigCit Week and shared their message.
West Holt High School
7th grade students from West Holt created a social media campaign with graphics shared on their school twitter channel all week long.
Ewing Public School
6th and 7th grade students from Ewing Public School organized a TikTok challenge for Digital Citizenship Week.
Thank you, ESU 8 students, for showing all of us how we can each "Be the One" to make a difference online.
Topics and Trends in Tech Integration (ESU 8 Newsletter article)
Topics and Trends in Tech Integration
By Katie Morrow, ESU 8
The following are current technology integration projects and practices that ESU 8 schools have been busy with recently. Remember that the invitation is always open if you see something from this list that you would like to try in your classroom. Contact us at ESU 8 and we would love to help get something planned in your school!
- Digital book creation: A digital book is so much more than a book. Rather it is a container/organizer for all kinds of learning! Use a digital book as an investigation journal, a portfolio, a class collection of pages on a larger topic, or even a way to document a school event. Publish and share with the world without wasting any printer ink!
- Creative media production: Whether a quick project like the greenscreen “Wormhole Challenge” or a class project like content area student-produced videos, students can practice interview skills, speaking skills, editing and creativity. Videos are a universal way to share what is being learned in the classroom with the rest of the world!
- VR and AR: Virtual and augmented reality can bring content to life. Students can experience apps to take them places they couldn’t normally go: for example the inside of body systems or underneath the ocean floor. Also possible is students creating their own VR and AR creations with tools such as Google's Tour Creator, AR Makr app, or Blippar.
- Digital resources for research: Utilize World Book online, Learn 360, or Virtual Field Trips to connect your class with first rate global resources- all with virtually no cost. Avoid simply going on a Google search and use higher quality resources for whatever your next educational project may be.
- Blended Learning and PBL: Here’s a framework or a learning methodology to make your next project more student directed. Student agency empowers learners to be responsible for choices impacting their productivity and understanding of content. Make your next unit more personalized by blending in some project based learning or station rotation experiences.
- Gamify with assessment tools: Use technology for your next classroom review session and make learning fun! There are so many readily available formative assessment tools that you can choose a new one each unit so students don’t grow tired of any of them. Even some traditional tools have new features, so ask about ways to gamify that next class review session.
- Learning Management System tools like Canvas or Google Classroom: The easiest way to take technology integration to the next level in your classroom is to employ a system of content delivery and student interaction. Even Apple Classroom has updates to make their newest technology more manageable for all. Work with us to uncover ways your LMS can allow for more productive learning environments.
- Coding: Expose students to computational thinking by integrating some analog "intro to coding” activities. Or give them time to explore Swift Playgrounds on iPad or the code.org website. Or bring the Sphero programmable robots to your school for a coding kick-off activity. Once you get kids hooked, the sky is the limit for their future!
For additional ideas and examples from ESU 8 schools recently, be sure to check out my Instructional Tech at ESU 8 blog at: https://esu8tech.blogspot.com
Be creative to help get "back in the groove!"
The following are some of the examples. Can you think of how each activity could be modified for use in your classroom?
Creative Portraits
Expedition Map
Expedition Team Flags
Expedition Team gifs
Strike a pose! @esu8 pic.twitter.com/VINkHFJ89x— Corey Dahl (@iCoreyDahl) August 8, 2019
We are tough! @esu8 pic.twitter.com/B9BRxt0VHZ— Corey Dahl (@iCoreyDahl) August 8, 2019
Just keep swimming! @esu8 pic.twitter.com/4GPycofRNn— Corey Dahl (@iCoreyDahl) August 8, 2019
Here we go! @esu8 pic.twitter.com/0YH1QvTUrZ— Corey Dahl (@iCoreyDahl) August 8, 2019
Wormhole Challenge
Read more at https://esu8tech.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-wormhole-challenge.html
Clips Video Highlights
Spooky Science
The team brought their ideas to life with a green screen, iMovie, and extra touches with Keynote.
Congrats, ladies, on a creative, "creepy" project!
Digital Design class getting creative with dSLR camera
Mrs. Kristen Evans's Digital Design class at Neligh-Oakdale High School has been putting industry-standards gear into their classroom practices.
There are so many great resources available on digital photography, many which are free.
I recommend the following for sure:
Through an intro to digital photography they have been exploring basics of dSLR cameras as well as general principles integral to mobile photography as well.
Students use their creative "mind's eye" to MAKE photos and not just TAKE photos.
There are so many great resources available on digital photography, many which are free.
I recommend the following for sure:
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/digital-tools-for-the-visual-arts/id535801517 Digital Tools for the Visual Arts by Harry St. Ours
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/design-secrets-revealed/id814087040 or https://books.apple.com/us/book/design-secrets-revealed-teaching-students-principles/id858545713 Design Secrets Revealed by Keri-Lee Beasley
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/stories-through-the-lens/id1039622883 Stories through the Lens by Dave Caleb
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/basic-photography/id795960902 Basic Photography by Jeff Curto
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/everyone-can-create-photo/id1434898103 Everyone Can Create- Photos
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/perfecting-portrait-photography-better-photos-in-classroom/id861080885 Perfecting Portrait Photography by Rick Connors
- https://books.apple.com/us/book/photography-inspired-writing-using-ios-photography/id844648918 Photography Inspired Writing by Jim Harmon
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| https://books.apple.com/us/book/stories-through-the-lens/id1039622883 |
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| https://books.apple.com/us/book/basic-photography/id795960902 |
But the most important element to successful photography is simply to look, notice, wonder, and capture LOTS of shots.
This class is well on their way to developing their craft and putting it into practice in the community around them.
Monster Character Maker
Mrs. Jenny Alder's 4th grade students at Stuart Elementary were kind enough to help me create some monster characters!
Using the brilliant activity from Laura Wright's WrightStuff Interactive, airdropped via Apple Classroom, students got right to work creating unique monster characters in Keynote.
What resulted was a diverse conglomeration of mostly-friendly monsters, complete with name and the artist's autograph.
Now the 4th graders will employ their creative writing skills to bring their monster characters to life in writing!
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Animal Adaptations Infographics
For this year's ESU 8 Elementary Science Olympiad, activities were centered around a phenomenon. Students were scientists as they explored and experienced topics with connections to that phenomenon.
During my rotation we learned about animal adaptations and how they help animals survive. Each pair of students created an infographic in Keynote on iPad to visually share their scientific knowledge with others.
To replicate in your classroom, I recommend starting with the Everyone Can Create: Drawing guide book from Apple Books. Chapter 9 is all about infographics and contains solid examples as well as planning considerations.
We also examined this Snowy Owl infographic example to look for critical features of an infographic as referenced in the Everyone Can Create chapter.
Next student pairs each chose an animal that interested them and researched it on World Book Online Student Edition. ESU 8 provides access to this valuable resource to all our schools and it tremendously helped with efficient and responsible research for this age group of students. Older learners could use Advanced and younger grades the Kids Edition of World Book Online. We discussed how to cite and credit the article for their researched and then navigated to the media tab to choose the image to be the center piece of their infographic. Students copied their animal's image and then opened the Keynote app to begin to create.
Prior to students arriving, I used Apple Classroom to distribute a Keynote file where I had created a custom theme with different biome backgrounds set to 50% opacity and locked in the background of the slide design options. This was mostly to maximize time for students to create.
Using my example of a deer and its adaptations that I created below, we continued to go back and forth (or use Split Screen view on the iPad) between World Book Web and Keynote in order to add the following components:
During my rotation we learned about animal adaptations and how they help animals survive. Each pair of students created an infographic in Keynote on iPad to visually share their scientific knowledge with others.
To replicate in your classroom, I recommend starting with the Everyone Can Create: Drawing guide book from Apple Books. Chapter 9 is all about infographics and contains solid examples as well as planning considerations.
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| Everyone Can Create Drawing |
Next student pairs each chose an animal that interested them and researched it on World Book Online Student Edition. ESU 8 provides access to this valuable resource to all our schools and it tremendously helped with efficient and responsible research for this age group of students. Older learners could use Advanced and younger grades the Kids Edition of World Book Online. We discussed how to cite and credit the article for their researched and then navigated to the media tab to choose the image to be the center piece of their infographic. Students copied their animal's image and then opened the Keynote app to begin to create.
Prior to students arriving, I used Apple Classroom to distribute a Keynote file where I had created a custom theme with different biome backgrounds set to 50% opacity and locked in the background of the slide design options. This was mostly to maximize time for students to create.
(To make your own version simply create a new Keynote, View > Edit Master Slides, delete the existing masters other than the blank one, duplicate that and add a different background image to each, name each slide master and choose 'Done'.)
Now, all students needed to do was add a new slide (blue + on bottom left) and choose the biome that most closely matched their chosen animal. They pasted their image on the slide, resized and some used instant alpha to clean up the background. (Note: If students had access to Apple Pencil, I would encourage them to trace, color, and delete the original image in order to have a truly personalized look for the visual focus of their infographic.)
Using my example of a deer and its adaptations that I created below, we continued to go back and forth (or use Split Screen view on the iPad) between World Book Web and Keynote in order to add the following components:
- Title
- Name of biome
- Map of where it lives
- at least 3 adaptations that help it survive
Keynote skills the students learned included:
- Adding and editing text
- Inserting drawings
- Using shapes, callouts, and connectors
- Recording audio (for a few early finishers)
Also during this fast-paced 45 minute lesson we discussed critical design elements including, font, color, layout (proximity & space), and contrast.
After all the student groups had rotated through, it was easy to collect the Keynote files through Apple Classroom and send the completed infographics back to their teachers. You can view the students' creativity and scientific knowledge in this online gallery.
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