Tech Challenge #9: Animoto Book Trailers

Are you looking for a way to put a new spin on the book report assignment? Why not combine your persuasive writing unit with a reading unit and ask your students to make book trailers for their library books?

Today's Tech Tool: The Computer Lab and Animoto.com

The Goal: Students will make a persuasive book trailer to tease key themes and events of their book to an audience.

The Preparation:
1. Sign up for www.animoto.com and apply for the educator license.
2. Sign up for an extra gmail account. Trust me, this is necessary!
3.  Animoto will give you an access code once they approve you for an educator license. Now you can sign up for up to 50 student accounts with that access code. What I did was to create an account for each computer in our lab. Each students using that computer each class period used a particular log in associated with my original gmail address. This way when a student finished and produced a video, it emailed me to let me know I had a video ready for me to grade.
4. Students will need to go to the library to check out books they have not read before. They loving getting to choose their own library book, and I give them 2 weeks to read their books outside of class.

The Lesson:
Day 1
1. Students fill out a braintorming page  summarizing their book, explaining the tone of their book, and creating a story board of their book trailer utilizing sketches of images they think they will need to search for that portray their stories.
Day 2
1. Students are given 1 day to search for images and save these to their folders. I encourage students to only use copyright friendly and royalty free images. Some completely ignored this request, but I tried.

Day 3-5
1. Show students how to log onto www.animoto.com
2. Have students pick out a theme that matches the tone of their book.
3. Have students change their titles from "My Animoto Video" to their first and last names. This way when the video is produced, the student name appears in the subject line of the email.
4. Show students the basic features of animot and then let them get to work!
5. Ask students to take their scripts and stagger short pieces of the script between images and video clips. The text portions of their videos should be grammatically correct and complete sentences.
6. Ask students to have their neighbor proofread their trailer for grammatical errors.

Extender
1. Hold a viewing party during 1 entire class period OR watch 2-3 trailers at the beginning of each class day for the next 2 weeks.
2. Highlight certain book trailers that utilize specific persuasive techniques and use them for class discussion.

Pros:
1. Students gets hands on technology practice.
2. Students combine several reading and writing skills into one project.
Cons:
1. Students will finish projects at different rates.
2. There may be some troubleshooting involved! So you have to be prepared for anything.

Here is a youtube playlist I created from one of my English 2 classes book trailers.

What other programs do you use to make book trailers in your classroom?

Tech Challenge #8: Nearpod

 I try not to have too many lessons in which students are just taking notes, but sometimes at the beginning of a long unit, notes are necessary!Note-taking days are hard on everyone. I lose my voice from reciting powerpoint slides 6 times a day. Students strain their eyes to read the board. Some kids get bored having to wait on the slow writers who have trouble reading the board and simultaneously writing. It's just awful!  Nearpod has solved many of these problems for me! Nearpod is my newest favorite teaching tool for days that students have to take tedious notes.

Today's Tech Tool: A classroom Set of Ipads & a Computer with internet access

The Goal: Give students  chunks of important new information without boring them to death and losing my mind.


The Preparation:
1. First you, as the teacher, must select a powerpoint that you have ready-made. Open this file up and save the slides in PDF format by going to File>Save As and selecting PDF from the File Type. This will save eac of your slides as an individual image.
2. You must then go to www.nearpod.com to create an account in an internet browser. (The iPads will come later!)
3.  From there, you can create a new Nearpod Presentation and upload his or her favorite powerpoint.
4. You will see each of your slides appear individually. You can also embed special slides such as videos, quizzes, polls, etc to spice up your presentation. Nearpod has a draw feature that lets you upload an image that you want to students to each diagram during the presentation.
5. You then publish your finished Nearpod Presentation

The Lesson: I used a Nearpod to help my students plan out their very first persuasive essays. I broke down each part of the essay into it's own slide. I had students fill out a brainstorming foldable with an example essay during the notes. We went over persuasive writing vocabulary like types of appeals and logical fallacies as well as the names of the various parts of the essay. I used the quiz feature to test my students memory on the vocab terms. We then used the poll feature to decide which argument and evidence the students thought was the most effective. I also used the draw feature so my students could point to the area of an essay that the hook, claim/thesis, and counterargument, would most likely appear.

Now once you are ready to present:
1. Switch to your Ipad and make sure you've downloaded the Nearpod App on your iPad and your class set of iPads.
2. Open Nearpod and log in as a teacher. Select your presentation from the library.
3. Give the access code to your students. They will also open Nearpod and simply type in the access code.
4. From your iPad you control which slide appears on the students iPads.
5. You may now begin presenting your lesson at your own pace, but the students have a front-row seat to the action.
6. Once you've finished a portion of your information, you can have students tap an answer to a quiz or a poll. You have instant access to a pie-chart showing how many of your students understand the material.


Pros:
1. Students with glasses and visual impairments have a stress-free note-taking experience.
2. Less complaints about someone's head being in the way.
3. Since the method of delivery is flashy, students don't mind writing as much.
4. Formative Assessment is easy to integrate with the note-taking process.
Cons:
1. An ipad for every student or small groups is necessary.
2. There is a learning curve with the Nearpod website. Make sure you set aside a few days to work on your presentation and test it out to work out the kinks.

What is one of your powerpoint lessons you think would transform into a great Nearpod Presentation?

Tech Challenge #7 Mad Libs on Laptops

If you are like me, a teacher of teens, you probably cringe at the thought of planning grammar lessons. The students walk into the classroom with a full vocabulary of texting lingo (among other things) that is quickly pushing academic English out of their common vernacular. Students look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language when I ask them to use the words "whom" and  "you're" in their writing when they think "u" and "ur" will always suffice.

Today's Tech Tool: Laptop Computers

My campus has a rolling cart of ThinkPad Computers

This lesson can also be completed in a computer lab.

The Goal: Review Grammar Rules- Particularly Pronoun Usage

This week I let my students play with language rules during our grammar unit in hopes that the lesson would sneak its way into their brains. We spent several boring days going over pronouns and parts of speech as a review. To reward their hardwork, I let my students create their own mad libs using a class set of laptops at the end of the week.

The Lesson:
1. The students worked in pairs to create a 1-2 paragraph story including as many different types of pronouns as they could think of.
2. I asked the students to label the type and case of every pronoun they used.
3. Then the students were to type a version of their story with blanks for a reader to fill in his or her own pronouns that matched the labels. To make the stories even more entertaining, I asked students to create a few blanks for nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.
4. The students saved and printed  their stories. The next day I made copies of a few of the student create mad-libs, and passed them out. The result was a very crazy and very fun review of grammar and pronoun rules for the students.
5. I printed and laminated a copy of each story as it was originally written and a copy of the MadLib version with blanks. Students took turns filling in the blanks with dry erase or vis-a-vis markers as a review before our pronoun test.

This activity could be handwritten, but it is much quicker to create these on the computer. Students also like to include fun clipart to go along with their stories.

Pros:1. 98-100% Participation! There's just something about Mad Libs that the kids love. They seem to forget that they are completing a writing assignment because they want their story to be funny and entertaining.
2. The students get to discuss the different types of pronouns and parts of speech, and in effect get to tutor each other on difficult concepts.

Cons:
1. Saving and printing can be a circus because groups finish up at different times.

Here is a fun example from my class:

What kinds of lessons have you put together that make grammar fun for the secondary classroom?

Tech Challenge #6: Using One Ipad to Review for Test

Today's Tech Tool: One iPad

The Goal:
Student groups will work together as teams to answer review questions during a class competition.

The Day Before:

Create a powerpoint using questions from the test or questions from the study guides. You'll need a slide for the question and a slide with the answer.

During Class: 

1. Divide students into groups and assign each group a team name. My team names were characters from the book we have just finished..
2. Two desks are arranged face-to-face at the front of the room. An iPad is place on the center of these two desks. The iPad is open to a free app called "Game Buzzer."
3. The groups take turns sending one member to face another group at the front of the room.4. One group members takes the news summary to the class computer to type in their article.
4. I show a question slide and read the question to the class. Students are instructed not to buzz in until I've finished the question.
5. The timer gives the student 6 seconds to answer the question.

6. The teacher can keep track of the scores on the whiteboard.

Lesson Extender:
1. The class can go through the questions a second time as a group to discuss the correct answers and clarify any confusion.


Pros:
1. 100% Participation!
2. The students get an idea of the types of questions that will be on the test.
3. The teacher gets an idea on any last minute items that need to be re-taught.
4. Students really enjoy the class that day.

Cons:
1. They get REALLY competitive. I had one class shouting by the end of the game because they were so mad that they lost. Clear expectations have to be set up from the start or the game can take a negative turn.

Do you facilitate a similar project in your classroom? How have you used one one iPad in your classroom activites?

Tech Challenge #5: Using 1 Computer to Review Class Novel

Today's Tech Tool: One Classroom Computer

My English 2 classes and Pre-AP English 2 classes will be taking a test over The Pearl and Lord of the Flies respectively at the end of the week. Using one classroom computer, the students put together a summary of the book to use as a study guide.

The Goal:
Student groups will work together to summarize one chapter from the novel. They will incorporate creative writing to turn their summaries into an eye-witness news article that reports the main conflict from their chapter.

The Day Before:

There really is nothing to prepare for this lesson! The kids do all of the work.

During Class: 

1. Divide students into groups and assign each group a chapter.
2. Students must come up with a catchy newspaper headline summarizing the chapter in one sentence.
3. Group members must then write out a summary as if they were newspaper reporters traveling into their book to report on what they saw happening.
4. One group members takes the news summary to the class computer to type in their article.

End of Class:
1. The teacher sets up the class computer for student use.
2. Pull up the website: http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp
3. One student from each group comes up to type their chapter number into the headline box. (The program does not leave much room for an actual headline)
4. Their actual headline is typed in as the first line of their story.
5. The students then type in the body of their article, paying attention to the word limit.
6. Have students click "Generate!"
7. Then have the students click the link under the image of their generated article to save it to the computer.
8. Have the students save their article using their chapter number.

Extender:

1. The teacher can show the images on the screen and have the students take turn reading the summers out loud in order. 

2. Or the teacher can print the images and copy the articles for the students to take home as a study guide for the test.

Pros:
1. There isn't much prep time at all, if any.
2. The students get to practice summarizing skills and writing from different points of view.
3. The students get to work with each other to decide on the major events.
4. Every student gets to benefit from eachother's work.
Cons:
1. If one group does not work well together, the entire class misses out on a good review of that chapter.


Do you facilitate a similar project in your classroom? How have you used one classroom computer during a lesson?

Tech Challenge #4: A Novel Review in Texts

Today's Tech Tool: The camera phone.

My students just finished reading Lord of the Flies, and I needed a hands-on way to review the students for their test for those who read the book and for those who admittedly did not read the book. It took a little bit of prep time, but I came up with a review that took groups of students around the campus to act out scenes from the book.

The Goal:
Student groups will act out an assigned chapter of the novel. They will use props and costumes to pose in a picture representing an important scene from their chapter. Students are to text their picture with a caption that summarizes the major conflict to the teacher which will later be gathered into a slideshow to use as a novel review.


The Day Before:
Come up with a location on campus for each chapter.
Print out directions, chapter summaries, and clipart of different props.
Assemble an envelope for each chapter to give to the groups.

Beginning of Class: 
Divide students into groups. (I had each class act out 4-5 of the chapters.)
Appoint one group member to be the prop-master.
Appoint a group member to read the chapter summary to the group.
Appoint one group member with a camera phone to direct and take the picture.

End of Class:
A celly text is sent out to the students to return to class.
The pictures are shown on the screen, and the group members are to explain what happened in their assigned chapter.

Extender:
Upload the photos and their captions to www.animoto.com  to create a slideshow of the student's summary of the book.

***Unfortunately I haven't included any of the students pictures or our amazing animoto video to share for privacy purposes. However, I have included a few pictures I snapped around the room. The first image is a shot of the intro to our animoto video. Animoto's website had the perfect video template of a beach scene for our Lord of the Flies summary.

Alternate Tech Tool:
My original lesson plan was to use the GPS coordinates and iPad/iPhone apps to send students to specific locations to give the project a geo-caching twist.

Pros:
This activity gets the students up and moving instead of being stuck in their desks all day.
The students get to live through the events of the book and better internalize the plot.
100% Participation

Cons:
It takes more prep time than usual!
The teacher cannot be everywhere at once to monitor student behavior across campus.



Do you facilitate a similar project in your classroom? How have camera phones worked in your curriculum?

Tech Challenge 3: A Class of 20 iPads Using Quizlet

Isn't this a beautiful sight? A cart loaded down with brand new iPads is available to me anytime I wish to check them out from the library. It is a beautiful, terrifying thing! How do you pass out expensive technology to 20 students when half of your classes have over 25 students and still manage true undistracted learning?

The answer: Quizlet

Quizlet is an app that can be use online, on the iPhone, AND on the iPad. Luckily my students had access to all three of those things in my room on Tuesday!

The learning goal: Get students to study and learn their vocabulary terms.

The night before:

1. I sent out a message requesting that my students with iPhones download the free Quizlet app.

2. I logged onto Quizlet's website and typed in both of my class vocabulary lists and named them "HHS Lord of the Flies" and "HHS The Pearl" so they could be easily searched for.

At the beginning of class:

1. I had students get out their headphones and iphones and leave everything else at the front of the room. This clears the aisles so we don't have any shattered iPads or disappearing iPads for that matter.

The Lesson:

Once the Quizlet app was open and the students had all searched for our class list, we were able to get started. The students will breeze right through all of the fun things Quizlet has to offer in a matter of minutes if you are not giving them clear steps to complete. I wanted my students to get 25-30 minutes of quality time studying their vocabulary terms. By the end of the day, we had this routine down pat!

1. The List: Let students play with the sound feature on their vocabulary list. I told them to click through each word in the list and listen to the woman pronounce the words. My second period had a particular good time syncing their iPads to pronounce "Mortification: Humiliation" over and over simultaneously. It was very funny and very disturbing.  After having fun with the list, they were instructed to either plug in their headphones or turn the sound OFF.

2. Card Mode: The students were then to click through the flash-card function once.

3. Learn Mode: I then had the students complete a few rounds in the learn mode. During this mode the students are given definitions and have to type in the correct word--with the correct spelling! I put a word bank on each desk for spelling purposes. This mode tracks which words the students have learned and mastered.

4. Scatter Mode: Once they have completed learn mode, I let the students jump into a game called Scatter Mode. This is a timed matching game. They have to match the words to the definitions as fast as they can. I asked the students to try to complete the game in less than 20 seconds. They loved the competitiveness of it!

5. Final Quiz: I asked the students to log back into Card Mode to see how many of the definitions they were able to remember by the end of the lesson.

6. Lesson Extender: After I had the students logged out and the iPads stored back in the cart, I put my iPad on my Elmo. I asked the students to pronounce the words together for me as I flipped through the card mode. 

There you have it! 100% engagement in vocabulary learning for 30 minutes straight! Their eyes and ears were glued to these words for the entire lesson, freeing me up to deal with the occasional technology issue. The kids had fun with it, they learned a new resource that they can access at home, and it prepared them for our upcoming test.

I'm planning out some future lessons using literary terms and example sentences using Quizlet. What other iPad apps do you use with a classroom set of iPads?