Innovation @477 - Hour of Code & Computer Science Education Week 2017

Hour of Code 2017

December 4-10 is Computer Science Education week, also known as the Hour of Code. The focus of this week is to promote computer science opportunities for all students. I've compiled a list of resources and ideas in this week's blog for you to introduce coding into your classroom. Additionally, I have blocked out my schedule to be available to help with coding activities in classrooms. If you would like to work together on teacher your students coding, email the days and times that work best for your class. I will do what I can to accommodate all requests.  😀

The goal of Hour of Code is for EVERY student to get at least one hour of coding completed during the week. ALL students, preschool-high school, can learn some form of coding. See below for just a few of the reasons why introducing all students to coding is important and strides made in our own state to put more value into computer science education. 

Why should all students learn about coding?

Computer Science Education in Minnesota

MN currently has 11,888 open computing jobs 

The average salary for a computing occupation in MN is $90,134. The existing open jobs alone represent
$1, 071, 512, 992 in terms of annual salaries.

Minnesota only had 895 computer science graduates in 2015, only 15% were female.

Only 694 high school student sin MN took the AP Computer science exam in 2016.

Only 39 schools in MN (12% of MN schools with AP programs) offered the AP Computer Science course in 2015-16. There are fewer AP exams taken in computer science than in any other STEM subject area.

Universities in Minnesota did not graduate a single teacher 

prepared to teach computer science in 2016. 

What is already planned in 477 for Hour of Code week?

Primary School - during technology class with Mrs. Anderson

Students will be focusing on code.org plugged and unplugged activities

Intermediate School during tech specialist with Mrs. Baird

Students will complete the Moana, Minecraft or Google Doodle challenge activities on code.org

Middle School during Computer Apps with Mrs. Arens

6th Grade students will use Scratch to practice coding

High School during lunch/advisory

Our Nerd Herd students will be available to teach any interested staff and students how to start

coding right away! This opportunity will be available all month. 

Resources

Hour of Code Classroom Activities - offline, online, pre-readers through high school seniors. There is something for everyone here! 

Hour of Code with Kodable
This app is already available on all iPads at PS, and it can be accessed through chrome on iPads or chromebooks at the IS. Everything you need to help your students complete their Hour of Code. This resource includes plugged and unplugged (no devices needed) activities. 

Hour of Code with Disney
Activites and videos to get your students coding right away. Featuring Moana, Anna & Elsa, Big Hero 5 and Star Wars!

#SeesawCoders
Seesaw is offering several live webinars (K-12) during Computer Science Week that you can watch with your students. They include How Do You Build an App, Product Design,  Jobs in Coding and more! Click the #Seesaw Coders link below to see which webinar is perfect for your class. These are much like virtual field trips where your class will watch live and possibly have the chance to interact with the content. 

This Week in Innovation @477 - Creation

In the world of EdTech we often hear we want to move students from consumption to production. The idea being the device should not just be a replacement of paper, it should be a tool that allows our students to produce and create their own learning.

 But a shift you’ll see down the road is that tech will be used less for presenting content and more as a tool to design and create and explore and connect to other learners, to experts around the world. It will be much more of a tool to enable new types of learning than it will be a tool for distributing content. -Ricchard Calcutta in EdWeek

This is the direction many of our classrooms are heading. Growing access to 1:1 technology in our buildings is supporting this change. Tools like Seesaw, Flipgrid, Google Slides, and more give students an avenue for creating and producing their own, individual products to demonstrate their learning.

Staff Highlight:
Melissa Kisch, 4th grade teacher, took the common back to school practice of sharing classroom rules and expectations with her class and allowed her students to teach one another. Students responded to the Flipgrid question: What Does Tiger Pride look like in each of these areas?

Kisch Flipgrid - Showing Tiger Pride

Tool Highlight:
Flipgrid is a tool that allows students to record up to a 1min 30 second response to any question. Many of our teachers who attend Digital Bootcamp, and were introduced to Flipgrid, are now using it in their classrooms.
Here's a great list of ways to use Flipgrid in your classroom.

Share your creation projects below or send them to Jodi! 

You never know when a shared idea will be inspiration for another teacher. 

Innovation @477 Get To Know You with Technology

Welcome back to another great year in Princeton Public Schools. This year our 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th graders will all have 1:1 devices with increased access for all other grades. With more technology at hand, it's time to see how those tried and true back to school activities can be done using technology!

Erin Franson, 5th grade teacher at our Intermediate School created this great activity that could be used in just about any classroom! It's the tech turn on Two Truths and a Lie where you each student tells two truths and one like about themselves, the class has to guess the lie. Erin has put this activity into a Google Slides format. She will share the slides with her class, giving each students the ability to edit the document. This could also be shared using Google Classroom quite easily!

Once the students open the document, they will find the slide with their name and work on entering their two truths and a lie. Putting student names in the document ahead of time makes it easier for students to find their workspace without accidental writing on or deleting information on on a classmate's slide.
A couple of options for how to use the completed document:

• Project it on the smart board and go through each slide as a class, taking guesses together. 
• Share it on Seesaw (it will share as a pdf) and have students share their guesses using comments. 
• Have students access the document and go to each slide, using the comments feature in Google Slides they can give their guesses. 

Other ideas? Share below in the comments!

Here's the link to the Two Truths and a Lie document for you to use!

Make a Copy, Rename it and put in your own student's names and you are ready to go!

Thank you to Erin Franson (@eefranson on Twitter) for sharing her great idea!

Two Truths and a Lie

Innovation @477 This Year in Tech Integration

My first year as your technology integration specialist has been an incredible ride. I truly never imagined I would have left the classroom, but I am beyond grateful to those who suggested and supported me taking on this new role. My stepson explained it best when he explained my new job to family "she gets to do all the cool technology things she loves and help other teacher even more because she doesn't have to teach a class at the same time." I love getting to work with all of you and am really looking forward to another year of technology integration awesomeness in our district. This last post of the school year features many of the projects we have worked on together this year. Thank you for inviting me into your classrooms, PLCs and planning time.
Jodi Burling

1:1 Access

Our four year implementation of 1:1 device access for all students in grade 3 -12 started this year. The first year of implementation started with iPads for all 3rd graders and chromebooks for all students in 6th, 7th and 9th grades. For 2017-18 our 3rd graders will continue with iPads and we will add chromebooks for all students in 8th and 10th grades. Additionally, we are increasing technology access in our Early Childhood and Primary buildings with classroom carts of iPads for each grade level. Having 1:1 access has allowed our students to take  more ownership of their learning while growing their 21st Century Skills set.
     

BreakoutEDU

Several teachers jumped on the Breakout bandwagon, finding ways to review and introduce material while helping students to refine their 4 Cs (Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Communication & Creativity). We were able to grow our materials from 2 boxes to 7, allowing for teachers to have smaller groups of students working together and racing against other teams to solve break in to their boxes. This summer I will continue to update our 21st Century Skills website with a list of games that are prepped and ready to play in your classrooms.

 

 

Makerspaces

Through grants from the EdCamp Foundation and Century Link MN the Intermediate School was provided with a mobile maker space cart. This cart includes various items for students to explore, create and learn through play. With the Century Link grant, there are now class sets of Bloxels, littleBits and Lego WeDo 2.0. Class sets will allow teachers to teach their entire class how to use these sets for truly creative, innovative learning. Most importantly students will discover their learning style and new passions and interests while finding innovative ways to demonstrate learning.

The primary school has their own mobile creator space and Lego Lab. This cart includes Lego Learn to Learn, Lego Story Starter, Kinex and other creative products that promote learning and refining the 4Cs through play!

Makerspaces have proved to be a vital asset in districts across the county and across grade levels, which is why we will be looking at expanding makerspaces into our middle and high school media centers in the next few school years, while continuing to grow our spaces at PS and IS.
 

Co-Teaching Technology

One of the biggest parts of my job this year as been co-teaching technology with classroom teachers. Co-teaching allows for teachers to learn new apps, websites or innovative teaching ideas with their students. Several teachers had me in their classrooms this year to co-teach this school year and I look forward to continuing this practice in our next school year! A small sampling of lessons I co-taught with teachers this year include: Seesaw Introduction and Seesaw lessons, iPad apps and challenges, BreakoutEDU, Lego Learn to Learn, Lego Story Starter, Google Classroom, Assistive Technology options on Chromebooks and iPads, Standards Tracker, Virtual Fieldtrips, Google Hangouts with other classrooms in and out of our district and more! Samantha Heitke and I also teamed up to teach Genius Hour with many Kindergarten teachers and research skills with 2nd grade! I'm looking forward to helping teachers integrate more technology in their classrooms next year through co-teaching experiences!



Have an amazing summer!

Innovation @477 Tidy Up Technology

In my classroom, I always had a theme week for the last week of school. Things like Lego My Monday, Wrap it Up Wednesday and Tidy Up Thursday. Fun activities that kept myself and the class focused on all the end of the year things that needed to get done, while also celebrating the community we have built over the year. 

As you start your own end of the year routines, please don't forget about your technology! Here are a few helpful ways to Tidy Up your Technology for the end of the school year. 

iPads - for 1:1 and ALL Classrooms

Have students help, or take over this project entirely!

• Clear all pictures and videos off your iPads. 
• Clean iPad screens with an electronics wipe or wrung out Clorox wipe. 
• In Chrome and Safari, close out all tabs. 
• For apps requiring a login - go into each app and logout IN THE APP. 
• Swipe apps off the screen once all apps have been logged out. 

Follow  these iPad collection directions for packing up iPads. 

iPad Collection Information Sheet

Staff Desktop or Laptop

These are not required, just helpful suggestions to help keep your work organized, keep you sane and your device running efficiently. 

From the great and powerful Luke: Write down your computer login information for the fall. Recovering passwords is not a pretty picture!

Delete your downloads, they are taking up too much space. 

Rumor has it a certain tech integrationist had a ridiculous amount of downloads slowing down her computer 😳  so you're not alone!
Go to your finder and select downloads
               


Use shift and click to select multiple downloads

Go to the settings icon and select move to trash

Empty your trash

Move files into Google Drive

Your computer should be doing this already if you went through the Google Drive migration. Having your files in Google Drive makes the accessible from anywhere and safe from getting deleted or lost! Click here for Directions on Google Drive Migration or contact a building tech coach. 

Delete files, pictures and videos you no longer need.

Important information for deleting shared files in Google Drive. 

Empty your trash.

Innovation @477 Summer Tech PD

Summer is here and for many teachers that means looking for opportunities to grow and refine teaching practice. Here's a list of summer technology PD offered in MN! Opportunities are separated by month and dates, and at the top of the list links are provided to the informational fliers and websites.

Take note that EdCamp MidMN is coming up fast in early June! Princeton's attendance at this fantastic EdCamp has grown every year as educators appreciate learning from true experts, their fellow, local educators.

Princeton is also hosting it's first Code.org workshop with tech integrationist extraordinaire Angie Kaltoff. This is a class for EVERYONE, teachers and parents, techy and non techy. The skills and knowledge you take away will greatly impact any students in your life.

Summer Tech PD 2017

Click on each opportunity for more information and to register (if applicable)

Many opportunities listed are free or at a low cost.

Informational Fliers/Websites

EdCamp MidMN 3.0 477 Summer 1:1 PD Lake ECMECC Resource Training Summer Catalog T3 Trainings in Braham

📱 June 🌼

Tuesday, June 13

T3 Training - Digital Photography

Braham HS

Code.org CS Fundamentals

Marshall, MN

Wednesday, June 14

EdCamp MidMN 3.0

Dr. SG Knight Elementary in Randall, MN

Tuesday, June 20

T3 Training  - Prepare for Google Level 1 Certification

Braham HS

Tuesday, June 27th

T3 Training - Implementing MPCC & OER for Math and Science

Braham HS

💻  July 🌸

Tuesday, July 11

T3 Training - Prepare for Level 2 Google Certification

Braham HS

Tuesday, July 18

T3 Training - Implementing MPCC & OER for ELA and Social Studies

Braham HS

July 19 - 21 - 4th, 8th and 10th grade teachers

1:1 Digital Learning Bootcamp

Princeton MS

Tuesday, July 25th

Code.org CS Fundamentals

Mountain Iron, MN

Wednesday, July 26th

Code.org CS Fundamentals

Bemidji, MN

Friday, July 28th

MIT Scratch Day

College of St. Benedict

💾 August 🌻

Tuesday, August 1st

EdCamp SE Minnesota

Austin HS

Tuesday, August 8th

Code.org CS Fundamentals in Burnsville, MN

Wednesday, August 9th

Lake ECMECC - Expedition Unknown -  Cambridge-Isanti HS

August 15-17 for 4th, 8th and 10th grade teachers

1:1 Digital Learning Bootcamp - Princeton MS

Tuesday, August 15th

Code.org CS Fundamentals in Shakopee, MN

Friday, August 18thCode.org Workshop @ Princeton Middle School with Angie Kalthoff

Princeton MS

Innovation@477 This Week 5/12: Appy Hour

Appy Hour is an idea many of the tech coaches have read about in our study of Carl Hooker's book: Mobile Learning Mindset: A Coach's Guide to Implementation. In Appy Hour, you get together and quickly share apps, extensions and websites that are making a difference in your classroom. Our first Appy Hour will be digital, we hope to take these "live" in your buildings this fall!

If you have any awesome app, extension or website to share please send it to your friendly tech integration specialist! 

The QR Code Generator & The QR Code Extension

QR codes are excellent way to get students to a website quickly. Using a QR code scanner on their iPad or Chromebook, students scan the code and are immediately directed to the website. This is a quite a time saver as students of all ages can fumble with entering log web site addresses. This website and extension are slick for creating and downloading codes. 

Once you install the extension, it will show up on the side of your Chrome web address bar. Anytime you are on a website that you would like to create a QR code for, simply click the extension icon and a code is automatically created that you can download.





Chatterpix or Chatterkid
Many teachers are doing end of the year research or genius hour projects. Chatterpix provides a quick, fun and creative way for students to share their learning. In this app students take a picture of an object (or upload a pic they saved) and add a "mouth" to the picture. Then they record their voice sharing facts about that object or person. This project can be finished in short amount of time and students can share the finished project easily in Seesaw or on Google Classroom. Chaterpix or Chatterkid is installed on Primary and Intermediate school iPads.

Example project from 2nd grader sharing what she learned about tornadoes!

Brittanica School

If you've ever told your students to just "google it" you have likely noticed that many students (across all grades) have no idea how to research with Google. Samantha Heitke and I found that to be true in talking about experiences with students. We did some research and discovered Brittanica school is an excellent resource for all students. When you first login you can choose elementary, middle or high school. From there students choose a topic of interest. 

Each topic is written at that specific level, however at the top of each article students can choose level 1, 2 or 3. The levels correspond to Elementary, Middle and High, yet when a student is on the high school page, and selects level 1, the screen doesn't change to the elementary looking page. It simply changes the content to a lower reading level. This will allow all your students to work on the same resource but get the information at their reading level!

Example of Galileo from each level:

Samantha and I have created a lesson that uses all of these sites/apps to create a quick mini-genius hour project for the end of the year. Let either of us know if you'd like it sent to you!

Assistive Technology

This week I had the opportunity to attend Charting the C's, an assistive technology conference. In my new role I was asked to be part of our Assistive Technology team here in Princeton. It is my goal to update our Tiger Tech Tips website with Assistive Tech resources throughout the year for all staff. We have an excellent team of dedicated educators including Mary Ward (PS), Amy Smith (HS), Dillon Naumann (HS), Jen Gross (MS) and Erin Dohrmann. We all attended this week's conference and came away with great ideas to share with staff and students.

So what is Assistive Technology? It is the use of any type of technology (not necessarily electronic) that helps a student overcome a barrier to their learning. If you have been in an IEP lately, Assistive Technology was probably considered for your student.

Here are a few of my takeaways for the week, and a fun learning opportunity for your classroom to try out in the next month!

Supporting ALL students with mobile devices

As our district moves to more and more 1:1 devices, looking at how we can support ALL students is vital. Both iPads and Chromebooks have accessibility features. 

To access these features on a chromebook, click on the settings in the bottom right corner of your screen. From here you can select accessibility options such as screen magnifier, high contrast, larger cursor and more. 

Click here for more information about Chromebook and Chrome Browser accessibility features. 

To access these features on your iPad go to the settings icon, select General and then Accessibility. From here you access to a large variety of features. 

Click here for more information from Apple about all their features. Scroll to the middle of the screen where you can select information about features for vision, hearing, physical and motor skills, and learning and literacy. 

Amazing Alexa

Alexa is one of the newest devices from Amazon. It is a voice activated search device that allows the user to search the web and control other devices and apps with just simple voice commands. For students with disabilities, Alexa provides the opportunity to interact with knowledge without the barrier of having to type or control a mobile device. I attended a session on Alexa presented by a woman who was paralyzed from the neck down. She presented with a woman from the Courage Kenney Instititue where they use devices like Echo, Echo Dot and Google Home on a regular basis. The presentation included many fun and innovative ways Alexa can be used at home and in the classroom.

I was so excited about what I was learning, and what I found through some quick Google searches that I purchased and Echo Dot for myself. Of course we will be using it at home but I am also planning to bring it to school to test out ways it can be used in different classrooms. I've found many great resources with ideas I'd like to test our with you and your students! Let me know if you'd like to schedule a time with our Echo Dot in your classroom! I'll come with a list of ideas, games and activities we can try out with your students. 

Some of the resources I've found are listed below, let me know if you try any of these yourself!

Ask Alexa pdf - common questions to ask Alexa

Alexa: Your New Teacher Assistant - a great article on classroom uses for Alexa

Clearly this is just the very tip of the iceberg of what there is to share about Assistive Technology. Watch for future blog posts about how innovative Assistive Technology to use in your classroom. Check our page on the Tiger Tech Tips website frequently as well! Feel free to share your ideas and solutions so we can share them with others. 

Jodi

Innovation @ 477 This Week 2/10/17

BreakoutEDU

In BreakoutEDU students hunt for clues and solve puzzles to break in to locked boxes. These boxes have anywhere from 1-5 different locks, including word locks, directional locks, key locks, and number locks. Students have to find out which clue helps them solve each specific lock.

Games are created with varying degrees of difficulty and across all subject domains making this activity perfect for any grade level.

Currently our district tech coaches, Mrs. Cook's 2nd graders, Mrs. Johnson's 4th graders and 5th graders from Mrs. Harvala, Mrs. Franson and Mrs. E. Ryan's rooms have participated in different breakouts. All groups have really enjoyed the experience!

To learn more about doing a BreakoutEDU in your classroom, contact Jodi or chat with one of the "Breakout Veterans" listed above!

History Day MN

Today I was honored to be invited to judge the websites created by students at Princeton MS as part of History Day! I was beyond impressed with the hard work and enthusiasm students put into their projects. This year's projects all focused on the theme of Taking a Stand. Students were able to pick their topic, anything they felt represented the theme and then could choose how they would present their project. Display boards, websites, documentaries and performances were included in the assignment choices. Students in every category were selected to have their project go to regionals where they will compete for the World competition! 

This type of project is true 21st Century Skills and innovative learning at work. Students being able to choose a topic of interest to them, explore and represent their topic in such an individual manner is exactly what 21st Century Innovative learning looks like in action! 

Congratulations to all the students for their impressive projects and to all a huge thank to the teachers who made History Day happen. Mr. History from the History Museum shared that no other school attempts history day on this size and scale. He said not only is it impressive to have all students participating but even more impressive to see how students progress in their projects, research and presentations through the years. Great job MS Staff!

Innovation at 477 This Week 2/3/17

MakerSpace

MakerSpace is a huge trend in education across the country. This week Princeton joined the wave by adding MakerSpace carts at Princeton Primary and Princeton Intermediate. At Princeton Primary, a Lego Lab & Creator Space cart includes Lego Education tools including Learn to Learn and Story Starter. Both of these tools include standards aligned lessons for students in reading, math, engineering and science. Additionally this cart has Kinex Math and Geometry education kits, Art Tub and a Marble Maze.

At Princeton Intermediate a former laptop cart was repurposed into a mobile MakerSpace. This mobile cart includes a Lego Education Story Starter, many Lego pieces and a Lego table for building and creating, 5 Makey Makey sets, Little Bits STEAM kit, Art Tubs, Learning Games, Maze Challenges, a United States Map puzzle and more. Most of these items were purchased with funds from a EdCamp grant, applied for by the Tech Integration Specialist. 

Why MakerSpace?

MakerSpace (or Creator Space) allows students to develop their vital 21st Century Skills in a fun and engaging manner while still meeting state and national reading and math standards. Allowing students to create and demonstrate their learning in creative ways makes for better learning connections. Look for future Innovation at 477 This Week updates to see how these carts are being put to use!

Podcast

Principal Barb Muckenhirn at PHS, along with two students launched a new podcast this week. Recording of Episode 1 of Now We Go will be available next week. This podcast is a passion project for Principal Muckenhirn, the purpose of this podcast is to talk about some of the things that make our lives go better and keep us going!  Now We Go!  The show is being edited and produced by junior Josh Fuller and will features guest senior Damon Rademacher for the first 5 episodes. 

Innovation is happening every day in or schools. If you would like to learn more, subscribe to our blog for weekly Innovation Updates! Teachers, contact Jodi Burling if you would like help with collaboration on ideas or co-teaching any innovative teaching ideas!