Newsletter Article

NEH Ed Tech

Leslie Pralle Keehn

Over the last two months I’ve been working on a self-designed internship for my graduate coursework that is based in educational technology.  As a part of this project I have gotten to be a part of some amazing projects with the teachers and students at Northeast Hamilton. The following are some examples of the kids’ work.

(See example in previous post)

These are word clouds that Owen Jones (K) and Lillian Chamness (9th) and Rylee Keehn (K) and Kyler Rapp (9th) created. The Kindergarteners read books to the 8th and 9th graders (who practiced new technologies and citizenship skills) and created hats shaped like the hat from the Cat in the Hat to go along with their study of Dr. Seuss and word families. The third graders joined in on the fun, as well so they could learn about making this type of word cloud in the future.

The first and fourth graders have been working on writing stories based on pictures they found in magazines. Mrs. Schimp, Mrs. Smith, Dylan Greenfield, and myself are getting the students set up to load pictures for their stories onto a computer program called Little Bird Tales so the students could record their stories to share as e-books. The Kindergarten will be working on a similar project using Mr. Bunny and his journal so that they can all share in his adventures. 

Several teachers were also able to get together to Skype with Shannon Miller from Van Meter school district to learn about the different types of technology that they are using in their one-to-one school. 

Mrs. Leksell has created a Wikispaces page for her English students to use for discussion and collaboration, Mrs. Brandt uploaded her concert videos to her teacher page so that her students could view them and reflect on the concert, and the 8th graders are creating Google Maps that encompass the highlights of the Civil War. These are just a few examples of the ways that NEH teachers and students are coming together to use more technology in the classroom to really enhance student learning.

The Trojan Tech Team also came together to work with the teachers at their professional development meeting earlier this month. Several members, including Jacob Brim, Tristan Nicholson, Hunter Dilley, Tyler Dilley, Dylan Greenfield, Taylor Olson, and Mark Frohwein came into school early to lead sessions and work with me to offer training in Google Apps, Wikispaces, and Twitter. These students have also stayed after school to work with teachers in a one-on-one setting.

I have had a lot of fun getting to work with new classes and different teachers over the last two months, and I cannot thank the students, staff, and administration enough for the experiences. Seeing students creating, leading, and volunteering has truly been the highlight of this process, but it wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing staff, who have all stepped up to the challenge of including new opportunities for students in the classroom.

Kindergarten Chaos

Having never taught elementary, although sometimes I think my seniors revert back to those days - just kidding guys - kinda :) having 20+ 5 & 6 year olds in one small computer lab was a new experience. Plus 25 8th & 9th graders, and a few 2nd & 3rd graders! It was loud, it was busy, and it was FUN! My favorite way to learn!

We ran into some time constraints, so not all of the Kindergarten students got to type their own project, but they did all get to read their words to the older kids, and create a picture like the one in my previous post.

We have another join venture using Build Your Wild Self when the Kindergarten students start their zoo study before their big field trip. I definitely have some adjustments to make before then, but Mrs. Oakland was a great sport, and the kids had a good time, so she wants to do it again!

So we all learned something, and we have ways to make it better for next time!

New Elementary Opportunities

Thanks to the amazing Shannon Miller (@shannonmmiller) at Van Meter the NEH elementary teachers are super excited to try out some new technologies. I have 3 new projects that I'm working on over the next week.

1. This afternoon my US History students (9th grade) will pair up with both a 3rd grade student and a Kindergarten student to collaborate on a project. It is a good "citizenship" activity for the 9th grade, a great teaching/technology/learning opportunity for the 3rd grade, and a great technology/literacy opportunity for the Kindergarten!

The Kindergarten has created a list of word families during their study of Dr. Seuss. The 3rd graders are going to share their class wiki with the older and younger kids to access the Tagxedo website and a graphic of the Cat in the Hat's hat. The US History students will mostly be around for technical support, but it's a good chance for the students in our PreK-12 building to make connections!

The Kindergarten students will then get to practice their typing skills and enter their word clouds into the Tagxedo program. Tagxedo will create for them a hat made out of their words! I will share my daughter's hat later, once we have completed the activity.

2. The 1st graders are paired with a 4th grade buddy. Earlier in the quarter the students cut out pictures from a magazine and created a story about the pictures. Now we are going to upload their pictures (magazine and some that they drew) into Little Bird Tales, type their stories, and then record them reading their stories. The first grade teacher plans to share these digital versions of the books with parents at conferences. The parents will then also be able to access them and share them with family anywhere in the world!

3. This last project idea came from the first grade project. My daughter Rylee is in the kindergarten class here at NEH and she has been thrilled to bring home the class pet, Mr. Bunny. Each kid in the class brings home Mr. Bunny, takes care of him for the night, and then writes about him in the Mr. Bunny journal, chronicling their adventures with the pet. The activity is great, and assuming that the other kids have half as much fun with Mr. Bunny as Rylee does, the kids learn a lot and have a blast with it, too. The first time Rylee brough Mr. Bunny home she wrote 4-5 sentences (they are asked to write 3). This time she wanted to log every minute detail of their time together.

The other thing she was excited about was Little Bird Tales. While I was exploring the program for the 1st/4th project she was watching the tutorial video over my shoulder. Her immediate response was, "I want to do that!" First, I told her to write and illustrate her own story and we would put it online. Then the following idea came to me:

Anyway, so my project idea was this (and thank you Mrs. Oakland for running with it): The kids each drew (this morning) a picture of their adventures with Mr. Bunny. Tomorrow we will upload their pictures, and next week I will pull each of the Kindergarteners out individually to share their story about Mr. Bunny. I'll type this into Little Bird tales, record their version of the story, and we'll be able to share this version of Mr. Bunny's journal with the entire class. It's something they'll have ten years from now and maybe even twenty years from now. My goal is that Mrs. Oakland (NEH Kindergarten teacher) will be able to share this digital version of the kids' journal with the parents at conferences much like the first grade teacher will be doing. I know Rylee will be excited to share the journal with her grandparents, and I hope the other kids will be excited about it, too.

How will I know I'm successful?

Last week my mentor asked me how I would know that I had been successful in my project. I decided that in the short term, it will be if I can get 50% of teachers to incorporate a new technology into a lesson plan for students - AND successfully teach the lesson. In the long run I would like to see at least 25% of teachers continue down a journey of slowly but steadily increasing their technology use in the classroom - beyond my practicum! If I can inspire even a handful to continue down a journey of meaningfully incorporating technology into their content lessons, and to continue on the path of bettering themselves as educators with new practices, thinking outside the box, and creating new ways for students to learn, I will consider myself successful.

So far I have had the choir teacher help me upload videos of her concert for students to write reflections, and I'm doing a joint project with the Kindergarten, 3rd grade, and my freshmen, and I helped the English teacher get her students set up with wikis. This is a step in the right direction - all of these are lined up within 1 week of having done the initial professional development day. I look forward to continuing this journey with my colleagues!

Developing my PLN

1. Personal Network examples

*Scott McLeod - Director of CASTLE, Iowa 1:1

*Karl Hehr - Tech director at Ames CSD

*Shannon Miller - Teacher librarian/Tech Integrationist - Van Meter CSD

*Andy Crozier - Superintendent at Andrew CSD, ITEC President

1. Subject matter experts examples

*Monte DeArmoun - IACoPi leadership team, Social Studies teacher, Big History Project pilot teacher @nksocialstudies

*Nancy Movall - Ed Tech/Innovation leader for Grant Wood AEA, project leader, IACoPi visionary @nmovall

*Jen Sigrist - Social Studies department leader/curriculum at Van Meter CSD @jensigrist

1. Professional resources that can contribute to ongoing learning 

      *ITEC - Iowa Technology Education Connection

• C-SPAN Classroom  - digital resources for the classroom from C-SPAN
• #edtech Twitter feed - Those interested in educational technology
• History tech blog - Social Studies teacher and tech enthusiast
• IACoPi - Iowa Community of Practice and Innovation - Blended-learning support, Social Studies branch is specific to my needs, great teacher-leaders and resources provided, including Project Based Learning training

Topics of interest for continuing learning related to educational technology.

*Flipped classes - continue to look at providing the “lecture” outside of class so that we can do hands-on activities and assignments IN class - is this a better way of providing lecture or just “another” way of providing lecture, and is it meaningful?

*BYOD - Bring your own device: In a school that is not one to one, but trying to keep up with those who are, giving kids access by any means possible is an area I am interested in. 

*TPACK - Continued learning about creating meaningful, not just flashy, lessons that incorporate sound teaching strategies, technology, and content. 

*1:1 - As we continue looking at going to 1:1 as a district and with our sharing partner, it will be essential that i stay up to date on current trends and what is working and what is not. Being prepared and having realistic expectations means that we will be able to create a positive experience for our students.

I created a list feed of the top technology people and resources for my Tweet Deck. I also follow specific hashtags that relate to educational technology. Some of my favorite people to follow and favorite hashtags are listed below.l

Hash Tags
#edchat
#edtech
#iowa1to1
#IAEdFuture - Governor's blueprint currently being discussed
#IACoPi - Iowa Community of Practice and Innovation

#sschat - Social Studies
#ssia (IACoPi)
#engchat - English
#elemchat - Elementary
#midleved - Middle Level
#mathchat - Math
#iamathalg - Math (IACoPi)
#spedchat - Special Education
#tlchat - Teacher Librarians


Active Schools to Follow
#nehtrojans
#mnwcougars
#newellfonda
#vanmeter
#bcluw
#waukee
#northwoodkensett

People to Follow
@jasonglassia - Dir. Jason Glass (Iowa Ed)

@mcleod - Scott McLeod, Iowa State/Ed Tech
@jerridkruse - Jerrid Kruse, Science Methods, Drake

@cariteske - Cari Teske, Admin
@johnccarver - John Carver, Admin
@phock66 - Pat Hocking, Admin
@prallekeehn - Sara Keehn, Admin
@derondurflinger - Deron Durflinger, Admin
@acrozier22 - Andy Crozier, Admin/ITEC

@B_Wagoner - Bridgette Wagoner, Curriculum/Technology
@mctownsley - Matt Townsley, Curriculum/Technology
@shannonmmiller - Shannon Miller, Library/Technology
@karlhehr - Karl Hehr, Tech

@SMGHogan - Patrick Hogan, CR Gazette Reporter

@eolsonteacher - Erin Olson, English
@shfarnsworth - Shaylyn Farnsworth, English
@mrsashleyjdavis - Ashley Davis, MS Language Arts/SpEd
@LPralleKeehn - Leslie Pralle Keehn, Social Studies
@nksocialstudies - Monte Dearmon, Social Studies
@mhock21 - Melissa Hocking, Science
@marciarpowell - Marcia Powell, Science
@jonniebecker - Jonnie Becker, Science
@tammymassman - Tammy Massman, Elementary (3rd)

@betamiller - Andrew Miller, Project Based Learning
@tracepick - Trace Pickering, Edugaming
@robertjmarzano - Dr. Bob Marzano, Author
@rickwormeli - Rick Wormeli, Author (SBAR)

*There are too many to name, sorry if I missed you on my list!

Guest Blog - Dylan G

Dylan is a sophomore and member of the Trojan Tech Team

I feel the Tech Team teaching practice went exceptionally well this morning. I was a little nervous to begin with, but I think I did a very good job helping the teachers learn more about Wikispaces. Each of the Tech Team members taught one different teacher. At the end of the practice all three teachers understood Wikispaces and I believe the overall reception was very good.