PLE Zen Den
Your Guide Toward Becoming a PLE Master
September Zenspiration
"When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better." Anonymous
Before you come through the computer screen, hear me out. The FLIPPED classroom model is a large part of the PACE program at your schools. Fortunately, the beauty of the flipped environment is having the knowledge you need prior to engaging in the hard work. Involving yourself in the videos, PowerPoint presentations, websites and more allow you to walk into our PLE sessions with an air of confidence. When you have confidence, you have everything. Every middle school teacher in Guilford County who actively engages in personalized learning WILL make things better for the students we teach. Your PLEF will provide you with the tools. The hope will appear when your ideas become a reality in PLCs and in your classroom. The accomplishment will come when your students are engaged, facilitating their own learning and genuinely enjoy being in your class.
Whatever is holding you back, let it go and you'll begin to grow.
It's September and by now we know our students. I see the e-mails and I know that learning inventories were issued at both Allen and Guilford. Kudos! Now that you have the student inventory data, use the Me At A Glance form featured in the August newsletter to help you best relate to students in a way they understand. Tigers and Vikings conquered the KNOW THE LEARNER aspect of our PLE triangle which explains why I am the only PLEF who serves schools in which both of the admins are finalists to be Principal of the Year - congratulations, ladies!
This month new digital formative assessment tools will be shared as well as information about the student training modules. The Web 2.0 spotlight features a mind blowing resource then I'll leave you with a nugget that will cause you to jump for joy. Hop on in!
Allen Educator Spotlight - Jillian Williams
JIllian Williams starting using tablets with students before deployment. Last year she lead the charge in creating the digital library card for all of Guilford County. This year she models the versatility of the tablet by using it as a teleprompter for the school Morning Show. Additionally, Jillian created a tablet app for GCS Reads 20, the county's newest reading initiative. Jillian is pioneering new technologies that serve to inspire all Vikings.
Guilford Educator Spotlight - Aislynn Denny
These woman make me proud to be a member of the Library Lady community.
Tablet Rock Stars!
iFakeText.com
iFakeText allows you to emulate an iDevice text conversation. This visually engaging tool can be used for students to demonstrate what they know or as a great display to introduce your bell ringer/DO NOW/early finish activities.
- Conversations between two famous people, book characters, animals, friends discussing a movie or event text one another
- Formative assessments for independent reading
- Displaying vocabulary and definitions in a fun ways
- Writing prompts
- Poetry activities
- In addition to these literacy activities, iFakeText could be used to teach students proper texting etiquette and digital responsibility.
Student Training Modules
- Every student must complete the student training modules prior to receiving a tablet.
- Teachers will administer the modules in class based on the direction of your school-based PACE team
- Schools are responsible for all copies. If making copies are an issue then make class sets and have students write responses on their own paper. Be creative, use any form of assessment that allows you to keep a record of student performance.
- All results will be kept with the homeroom/AA teacher. He/She will keep test results AND the forms signed by each student/parent.
- Training modules are found on our Edmodo PLE page. Make the presentations your own and adjust them to best meet the needs of your students.
Contact your friendly neighborhood zenPLEF should you have additional questions.
Access TONS of Free Digital Content via @EDpuzzle and Personalize It for Your Class!
Here are 5 reasons why you should use EDpuzzle:
EDpuzzle gives you the ability to remix current YouTube videos with your own voice, or insert audio notes. Students learn best from people they like. So explain with your own words and connect with your students. Build your relationship with your student also through the videos.
#2 - Makes video lectures an interactive experience
One of the biggest frustrations of any teacher that uses videos is that they do not know if the message is delivered to the students. Are they watching the video or chatting on Facebook? With EDpuzzle you can track the amount of times a student watched a section of the video or if they skipped parts of it. Any teacher knows that a lesson is an interactive experience between teacher and student. Well, EDpuzzle makes video delivery an interactive experience because teachers can build in questions for students to answer: open ended questions, multiple choice or comments. Now, you can sparkle their curiosity by asking “What do you think about this?!” in the middle of a video.
#3 - Makes any video perfect for your unique classroom.
“This video is almost perfect, but I just want to use part of it”. How many times has that popped in your mind while watching a video on YouTube? With EDpuzzle you can crop and take only the part that is useful for your lesson. Make it to the point.
#4 - Powerful tool for Project Based Learning.
Students usually know more about technology, videos and YouTube than any teacher. They spend on average 7 hours per day watching media! Well, EDpuzzle enables teachers to assign their students a project. Students are empowered with the editing tools to create their own lesson. The teacher privately receives all the videos created by the students and can give feedback to each one of them. The cool part is that teachers can save and assign to the rest of the class any video created by a student.
#5 - Building a better education together.
EDpuzzle offers multiple sources of educational videos like YouTube, Khan Academy, Learnzillion, etc. Also, you can find your video from a repository of lessons with quizzes and comments created and tested by teachers. But if you already created your own video, EDpuzzle gives you the possibility to upload your own videos directly from your computer, laptop or iPad.
I highly recommend checking out this product- it’s free for teachers and students, and will ease a lot of the frustrations that come with using videos in the classroom!
To get started, visit www.edpuzzle.com. Sign up and play around- it’s fairly intuitive.
Thank you, Erin! Be sure to follow @KlienErin on Twitter for more tips and tricks.
Admin note: Use this tool to to flip your faculty meeting. Add comments and create deliverables all in one place. Tamika will help you create your first one, just ask!
Teachers, this website is not currently available on the tablets, but you can use it and display the videos on your classroom computer in a small group environment. Use it as an additional resource for home use and link the video to your Edmodo page. Please review this tool as we will begin to create our own EDpuzzles in a future PLE meeting.
Knowledge Nuggets
- The Chrome browser is coming soon to our school computers. If you currently use Chrome then you know the perks of using this Google powered web browser. The greatness for Amplify users is that Playlist Builder works beautifully on Chrome and PLEFs highly recommend that you use it once available for anything tablet-related.
- Secondly, teachers will soon be able to access YouTube on the tablets, other handhelds and personal laptops. More information is coming regarding this perk but think of the possibilities.
Stay tuned for an e-mail from Tech Services that will share more about these updates.
Flexing the Environment with Edmodo
- Amplified Allen: whgtpm - Allen School Code: fjq9fr (does not expire)
- Guilford Gurus: v9ufq3 - Guilford School Code: 0p5dic (does not expire)
Tamika M. Davis, PLEF
Email: davist@gcsnc.com
Website: http://ple.gcsnc.com
Location: Serving Allen MS & Guilford MS
Phone: (336) 370-3287
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pace.plefs
Twitter: @zenPLEF