The following presentation was shared with the Board of Education meeting for March 2014 as an update of the Technology Committee's work over the past year at O'Neill Public Schools.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Student CBL Solutions Underway...
Student solutions for our English 8 "Write to Change the World" Challenge Based Learning project are being noticed around our school, community, and beyond.
Two groups of students visited O'Neill Elementary's 6th grade classes to impress upon them two different topics: 1) the benefits of good hygiene and 2) the dangers of underage drinking.
Both groups spoke persuasively, impressing upon their younger peers solid suggestions for how they could make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others. The following image shows signatures of students who committed to avoiding alcohol in high school as a result of the presentation.
Another group of 8th graders created a week-long campaign to promote adoption as a powerful choice for life. They visited KBRX, the local radio station, and created a public service announcement that has been airing each day.
Along with it, they worked with the radio station's website to create daily polls about adoption and will be publishing the results on their blog: http://adoptionstories22.blogspot.com. Already they have seen a success in the number of people who have taken their polls, commented on their blog, or shared their positive stories about adoption.
Other groups of 8th graders are busy implementing their solutions as well. One group has been selling wristbands to raise awareness (and money) towards the cause of building a new gym at OHS. They will be presenting to the Board of Education next Monday night.
Many OHS students and staff have begun to use recycling boxes provided and maintained by another group of concerned 8th graders.
Still others are working on a campaign to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline after being educated about the potential effects to our community.
These are just a few of the many examples of ways concerned students are using the power of their writing to make an impact in their world. Much more to come!
The Power of Writing: Letters to the Editor
As a guiding resource for our English 8 "Write to Change the World" Challenge Based Learning project, we were lucky enough to learn along with the Editor of the Norfolk Daily News, Kent Warneke, as spoke with our classes via Skype.
We appreciated this real-world expertise on how to write persuasively and get your point across, specifically in newspaper journalism.
We followed this up with, of course, more writing. Students wrote blog posts over what they took away from the experience, thank-you letters to Kent Warneke, and persuasive "Letters to the Editor" to the newspaper of their choosing, to try and convince others to take action on their CBL topics.
Tune in to see if any O'Neill 8th graders get published, and more importantly, if they convince you to take action and make a difference in the world!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Choose Your Own Ending Contest
The 8th grade 1st quarter Technology class participated in the "Choose Your Ending" video contest sponsored by the North Central District Health Department.
by Autumn H.
by Emily M. and Allison L.
The following creative videos were created by students, all with the message of making the right choice when it comes to underage drinking.
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by Makenzie P., Mia T., and Shea C.
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by Kyle C.
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by Josh P. and McCoy S.
AND... the Winner is....!!!
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by Deven F. and Cristian C.
The winning team of Deven and Cristian were awarded a $600 gift card for promoting such a positive message! In addition, their video will be featured on the Choose Your Ending website. Many congratulations to all the students involved for "choosing the right ending!"
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
O'Neill 8th graders publish book in iBook Store to support Nebraska Troop Support
After a long wait, the OHS English 8 class book is finally live in the iBooks Store! Students in Mrs. Morrow and Mrs. Troester's 8th grade English class wrote, compiled, and enhanced essays about patriotism in a Multi-Touch book for iBooks. The students are hoping to generate support through the purchase of their book to donate to Nebraska Troop Support. Download today from the iBooks Store and enjoy some great student writing!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/48-ways-to-show-patriotism/id764177284?ls=1&mt=11
O'Neill Public School 8th graders express their ideas on what patriotism means and share in the form of this class book. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Nebraska Troop Support.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Sharing slideshows
I have exciting news! My content is among the top 2% of most viewed on SlideShare in 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
November 21, 2013
It’s a great time to be a teacher!
As I walked through the front doors of the school on this chilly November morning, I didn’t anticipate this to be a day more remarkable than any other. And surely, as I rushed from one class to the next, I could easily have passed it off as “just another day.” Certainly this was just one day, in a school year filled with many. And while there will be days both better and worse as the year continues, taking a moment to reflect on this one seems to be in order. I often proclaim the importance of promoting the positive and celebrating successes… and in this one ordinary day there were many.
Before the first bell had even rung, students were in my room asking for help in loading their iBooks Author history projects on to multiple iPads so that students could view and interact with their content while they presented it to the class. They proceeded to demonstrate via AirPlay what they had created. This all in a history class where the teacher knew nothing about iBooks or iBooks Author, but yet encourages his students’ creative freedom by giving them choice in the content they create. Not only did they demonstrate their curricular knowledge in innovative ways, but also spread the excitement for new technology and diminished the fear of learning new things. This grassroots approach has proved especially successful for the faculty at O’Neill Public Schools and it was encouraging to see it in full force this morning.
Also during first period, two high school seniors requested help in setting up an interview with a panel of officials from our state senator’s office. They were scheduled to drive three and a half hours to our state capital of Lincoln, but the weather was less than favorable. In order to complete their scheduled interviews in the application process for the Naval and Air Force Academies, they used Skype and a quiet room. They were able to successfully complete the interviews and avoid the dangerous and time-consuming drive.
Second period each day brings English 8 and a room full of 26 teenage writers. To accompany a journal prompt referencing the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, we clicked on a link to a Google Hangout where a JFK historian was showing students the Dealey Plaza and Sixth Floor of the Book Depository Building live from downtown Dallas. In the conversation that ensued, students shared their lack of knowledge about this fateful day in history. A quick YouTube search resulted in the sharing of the Zapruder film, and many intrigued young historians were inspired to learn more than any assignment I had given them in the last several weeks.
During 3rd period I was delighted to help a third grade class doing research on our community for their reading unit. Each young student used an iPad or iPod touch to capture a personal interview with a community member who grew up in O’Neill. I helped aggregate the videos into one place and facilitated the recording of a few more so that scripts can be written prior to the creation of a class video.
4th period students worked asynchronously in an online forum to exchange peer reviews of their latest writing projects. Collaborative groups consist of students from four different schools and four varying age levels.
Following lunch I connected for a few minutes to a live UStream from “Rock Our World’s” Family Night celebration. Having participated with students in the past, it was exciting to view classrooms all over the world sharing their work from this latest round of global collaboration.
Next I tuned in to a live stream from the White House as President Obama honored ten teachers as “Champions of Change,” two of which are my Apple Distinguished Educator friends. Amazing, indeed!
I spent some time in a freshman English classroom. They have been transforming their creative writing into multimedia masterpieces with the help of some iPad apps. Students once again were teaching the teacher: self-directed, creative learning at its finest. One of the unanswered problems that arose stumped me as well. As soon as I could, I emailed the app developer and explained the problem several students were having with the app “Puppet Pals 2”. Before the day was even over, the app developer emailed us back. Not only did he express his appreciation of our helping find a bug, but also he pushed out an update to the app so it wouldn’t happen again!
The afternoon was far from complete. With each question, contact, or request came another discovery or celebration. Setting up Google apps accounts for this year’s 4th graders for an upcoming collaborative project. Helping a 5th grade Science teacher create a self-grading quiz with Google forms and Flubaroo. Receiving a student project via Airdrop to be published on our “Student Sharing Gallery” a.k.a. YouTube Channel. Or even just the random iPhone camera capturing the escapade of a junior high band student who accidentally lost her retainer in her tuba. Every moment enhanced by technology. Every opportunity, every thought process, every “teachable moment” enriched far beyond what may have once seemed even possible.
Some may say our lives are consumed by technology. But I will forever attest to the fact that they are accentuated by it.
Not bad for a day’s work as a technology integrationist. And the best thing is— tomorrow will be a whole new set of adventures, discoveries, and opportunities.
It is an INCREDIBLE time to be a teacher!
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