What the Gami?

Here is something you can use in your classroom for many different things!  The app is called Tellagami.  It only works on a mobile device (iPad, iPod, iPhone or android) - but the great thing is that you do not need an account, so you can share your device with students.  What it Tellagami you ask!  Well, it is an app that allows students to create a 30 second animation (very easily).  Students control the background, character and dialogue.  One of the best things is that they do not need to type everything on the device - they can  just use their own voice for the animation!


Take a look at mine (only lasts 20 seconds - and only took 3 minutes to make):

The only negative I have found with this app is how you share the "Gami" (that is what your animation is called) once you have finished.  Students have the option to save their Gami to the device, send it to Facebook or Twitter, send a text message or email a link to someone.  If they are on their own device they can easily just email the link to you.  If they are on a school (or your personal) device they can copy and paste the link of their Gami in to a Google Form or Google Site that you have created for the class.  If students have a blog site they could use the embed code to post their Gami there (just like I did!).  Or if you are using a social networking site with your class like Edmodo, My Big Campus or Moodle - or using a back channel site like todaysmeet.com - they could post the link to these sites.

I know you can find many different ways to use this in your classroom!  If you come up with some great ideas let me know - just paste the link to your (or your student's Gami) in the comments below.  I'd give you more details about the app...but honestly, you should just check it out for yourself - it is that easy!

Screencast-o-matic

You do great things in your classroom - and when you can't be there because you are sick, you have family obligations or you have to be out of the room because of a district wide training - you don't want your students to "lose" that day of instruction.  Why not create a screen cast and have the substitute teacher just play your video to the students?

Or maybe your students have created a great project and they want to share it with the rest of the class, school, district or world.  You could have them create a quick screen cast and upload it to your class webpage for everyone else to view!

I have done both of these things in my classroom.  I have tried different software and web 2.0 tools - but the one I found that works the best (for free) is screencast-o-matic!  This web 2.0 tool allows you to record your screen, voice and video from your webcam for up to 15 minutes for free.  When finished you have options of saving the video file to screencast-o-matic, YouTube or to your own computer.  

Here is a 9 minute tutorial on how to use screencast-o-matic:

A few other things:

• You can create an account and login so that when you are done with your video you can save it right to their website.  This also allows you to store your screen casts all in one place.
• Go Pro! - for $15 a year you can add many features to your account.  Highlights include no watermark, editing features, draw and zoom, screen shots and publishing to Google Drive.

PBS Math Club

The flipped classroom - some think it is revolutionizing education while others believe it is just another education fad that will go away soon like "No Child Left Behind". Either way you see it - this website I just found will help students learn math in a fun way while at home! We may not all agree if the flipped classroom (in any of its many forms) is good or bad for students, but I think we can all agree that if students want to watch math videos on their own time...then we should encourage this in any way we know how.

PBSMath Club helps math teachers (or parents) get their students learning on their own. This is a YouTube Channel where 5 teens are hanging out and talking/teaching math. Grace, Hannah, Jazmin, Jacob and Madison give students a quick (about 5 minute) lesson on a topic - and they include an interactive quiz!

You can also use their website to get handouts and worksheets for their videos - but you will have to create an account after you view two resources (and I still am hoping that you'll go the more paperless route).

The quiz is the best part in my opinion. If students select the correct answer they are taken to another YouTube video as a reward. If the answer is incorrect the video link takes them to a quick tutorial of the concepts learned about the incorrect question.

Another great thing about PBS Math Club is that you can access these well-made videos free of charge on YouTube! The bad news is that many schools do not allow YouTube on school computers...and PBS Math Club has only created made two videos so far...but they are funded by Newman's Own Foundation and PBS so I would expect to see more in the future!


I embedded the video and quiz for "What is an Interger" below. Take a quick look and then try the quiz!

When 20 Days = 1 year

Over the summer I had set 4 goals for myself for the 2013-2014 school year (they are listed below).  Well, my school year did not last as long as I had anticipated - I only taught 20 days instead of the regular 180.  As many of you know I have moved to a district edtech TOSA position where I will be working with a team of people to help train teachers to use technology in their classrooms - and we are getting ready for CCSS.  So anyway, since my official school year is over...I thought I would reflect back the 2013-2014 year in review (all 20 days of it)...

Here were the four goals I set for myself at the beginning of the school year - and my success level for each during my 20 days:

1. Be in class

This was a big one since I had missed 18% of the school days last year!  Well I am happy to report that I had perfect attendance this year :)  Sure, it was only 20 days - but I was asked to go to two meetings and a training during that time and I said no to all three so I could be there for the students (before I left them).

2. Blogging
Oops!  The goal was to blog twice a week - that just did not happen.  My last blog was on Aug 25th!  That means that during my 20 days of teaching I only blogged one time.  I would count that as a total failure - or as the students say "Epic Fail".  I keep thinking that  my new position will give me new topics to blog about...so we'll see if I can get to blogging more often.

3. Flipping the classroom
This was both successful and not - if that is possible.  I created all the videos and I posted them online for students to view.  But since I knew I was only going to be in the classroom for a few weeks I decided not to do a full flipped classroom model.  I taught the "old fashioned" way but gave students access to my at  home lectures if they wanted.  Some students loved the ability to re-watch lessons - others never clicked on the link.  Overall I think it would have been awesome...but I didn't have the best situation to try it out.

4. Going paperless (or using less paper)
I'm going to count this as a success.  I did not make a copy until my second to last day on the job this year...and that was a common assessment that I had to give on paper :(  My syllabus, safety contract, 5 labs, two study guides, 4 activities and 2 tests were all paperless!  I do have a confession to make though - I was using printed out sheets of paper from last year...like the lab sheets from last year were used again this year.  So during my 20 days in the classroom (including 3 prep days) I only used 172 sheets of paper!  I had to print out 150 sheets for the common assessment (I had some left over from last year for the other 30 students - large class sizes!) and I printed out my roster (12 pages) and my seating charts - twice because I move the students once (5 pages).

In the beginning...

Every summer I take some time to reflect on the last year of teaching and how I can improve, what changes to make and any new things I want to learn over the summer.  This year is no different.  Looking back I have to admit it was not my best year.  I was out of the classroom 18% of the time - most were school related...but still - 18% is a lot of day!  Being out of the classroom that often made it difficult to keep classroom management in line and it felt like we were always playing catch up!

So in the coming year I have set four goals for myself professionally:

1. Be in class

This seems obvious, but I say "yes" to many things which means I end up going here and being there all too often.  I am a member of our district's advanced SDAIE training team, I am part of a cohort of teachers piloting a 1:1 netbook inquiry program, I am a BTSA support provider and last year I was a mentor to another teacher who needed some help getting on track.  Anyway, my school year is usually pretty busy - but I want to be in the classroom more than just 82% of the time this year!

2. Blogging

I started a blog last year and it lasted for about a month and only contained 3 blogs.  This year I am going to (try) blog at least twice a week.  I am going to force myself to sit down and reflect on what I am doing in the classroom each week.  I also will tweet them out and I am sure my great PLN will help keep me focused and offer advice as needed.  I believe blogging will help push me forward...after all, tt seems like all the awesome teachers/admin I follow on Twitter have a blog...and suggest blogging to everyone else.  

3. Flipping the classroom

My chemistry class is broken up in to four units - two before winter break (when did we stop calling it Christmas break?) and two before state testing.  Last year I tried to flip my class after the first unit - but the students did not approve.  I blame myself, I did not really explain what it was or how it would help them.  This year I am going to start off using the flipped model and hopefully things will go a little more smoothly.  I have started making my videos - but what I am most nervous about is the class time - or the prep for the class time!  I know flipping will give me more time to do labs...but labs take time to set up and put away...so hopefully I end up with an awesome TA!

4. Going paperless (or using less paper)

I recently had the pleasure of co-moderating #CAedchat with @SamPatue and @JenRoberts1 about the paperless classroom.  I was inspired by all the teachers who are looking to do the same thing as me - use less paper in the classroom.  This morning during that in and out sleepy state - you know it...the time after you have looked at the clock but before you actually get out of bed - I had a dream.  It was the first day of school and I did not have a syllabus ready for my students.  I quickly grabbed last year's syllabus and ran to the xerox room.  As I was dream copying I was beating myself up over using so much paper on day 1.  When I woke up I knew I needed to get my syllabus ready and put it on Google Docs so I won't need to use paper for it this year!  That will save my first 185 or so pieces of paper!

• By the way - for a great 'going paperless' blog read Sam Patterson's blog  
• Jen Roberts has been nearly paperless for years! Here is her blog

Well that is it! Those are my goals.  I will have to refer back to this post in June to see how it has gone!  Wish me luck...and I wish all of you luck with what ever your goals are for this year!